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Dorea was the baby of the family. She was the youngest out of four. She was already a bit spoiled because of that. Her older sister seemed to resent her because Dorea got everything she wanted and she herself, never fit in when it came to the family. In fact, she remembered something happening when she was a bit older. She had heard her parents talking about how Cassiopeia was unfit for duty because she refused to marry or have any kids. At the time, Dorea hadn't understood the importance of having a family, but it was another thing Cassiopeia resented her for when she began dating in earnest, already looking for a potential husband.
Pollux was mostly indifferent to her. As he was the firstborn son, he was the heir so tended to get special treatment along with lessons, so he didn't have a problem with her being the baby of the family. As long as Dorea did what she was supposed to do, Pollux left her to her own devices.
Marius was the third eldest, only 3 years older than her. It made them exceptionally close. As a young kid, Dorea was prone to night terrors. It wasn't her parents, or Pollux, or Cassiopeia that made her feel better. It wasn't even house-elves. It was Marius. He would always hold her until she was able to fall asleep once again. He would tell her funny stories that made her tears turn into laughter.
Blacks weren't supposed to show any real emotion, or at least not emotion that wasn't related to anger. It would be terrible if her parents were to find her so scared of nothing more than dreams. The two of them hid the truth. It was their little secret. Dorea was grateful for big manor homes that put her parents on a whole other floor. She shuddered to think what would have happened if they found out the truth about her problems when it came to sleeping.
Marius was the one who spent time with her. When Pollux and Cassiopeia couldn't be bothered to play with her, or at least the Blacks' version of play, Marius was the one who did it. It never seemed to be a burden for him when it came to spending time with her. In fact, he always said, "Your wish is my command." He seemed to take joy in her company. Marius was her hero in every sense. Dorea loved her big brother more than anyone, even more than her parents, and she wasn't shy when it came to her admiration of him.
Marius never showed accidental magic. Dorea brushed it off. She thought he was just a late bloomer. Not all wizards or witches showed magic early on. She knew that. It might mean Marius wouldn't be as powerful as his siblings, but that's all. She didn't even worry when she herself began showing signs of magic, before Marius even sent out a little spark of power. Marius was her hero; there was nothing wrong with him.
Her parents whispered about Marius often. Dorea knew it bothered him, and although she didn't worry about the no accidental magic thing, she knew he did. Then one day when she woke up, Marius was gone. He wasn't anywhere in the manor.
Dorea wanted to cry, but didn't. Blacks never showed real emotion after all. During afternoon lunch, when they were all seated around the long table, Dorea felt Marius's absence more than ever. "Mother, father, where's Marius?" she finally found the courage to ask, fearing what the answer would be.
Violetta Bulstrode, her pure-blood mother that always wore a prominent frown, crossed her arms while nodding towards her father.
Dorea's gaze turned to him, waiting expectedly.
"As you all know, Marius has never showed any signs of magic, not even little signs. Even Dorea, who is younger than him, has been having bouts of accidental magic. I took him to St Mungo to get looked at. It turns out that he was born a squib."
Cassiopeia gasped. She never did pay much attention to anyone but herself. Pollux didn't look surprised by the information.
"Now," their mother continued. "We cannot have a squib in our family. It's absolutely distasteful. Marius is nothing but a shame to the House of Black. We had to rid our family of the blight."
Dorea clenched her fists, trying to keep her anger in check. "That blight was my brother, your son. And you just got rid of him, like he was nothing? How could you?"
"We didn't 'just' get rid of him. It took work. After all, we had to legally as well as magically disown him, as well as remove him from the Black family tree tapestry."
"Where is he?" Dorea asked, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice.
"That's none of your concern," her father said sternly, and Dorea knew to drop the subject.
That night, as Dorea tried to get to sleep without Marius to help her, she silently vowed that her parents would receive retribution. She'd find a way to hurt them like they hurt her.
Dorea got her means of revenge when she became closer to Charlus Potter at Hogwarts. He was a very nice wizard who treated her wonderfully. It wasn't long before they were engaged to be married. Her family wasn't the lightest family and everyone knew the Potters stood resolutely on the side of the light. Her parents hated the fact that she had decided to tie herself permanently to a Potter. There was nothing that could be done, though. They had already announced that there would be no arranged marriages for the children, so they couldn't suddenly sign a contract for Dorea. Also, Charlus was a respectable pure-blood wizard. If they disowned her for being with him, wizarding society would look badly on them. They don't care when squibs are disowned, but they did when it was a pure-blood and they had no good reason for the disowning.
Before they wedded, Dorea told Charlus about Marius and how she wondered how and where he was. She mused about whether he wondered how she was. Charlus listened intently and offered the proper condolences. He also seemed to realize why she gave in to his advances, but didn't seem bothered by the truth. She knew she'd probably never see Marius again. He was most likely in the muggle word, if he was still alive, that was.
Although her relationship with Charlus wasn't passionate by any means, they were content together and considered each other friends. They even had one son. To her dying day, she hoped Marius had found some sort of happiness. She hoped he got married and maybe had kids of his own. He deserved all good things.