"A lie to a truth"

July 1995, 1 month later

There was a funeral service for Cedric at Hogwarts. It was primarily for the students to pay their respects. It was in the Great Hall. There was a lot of crying, remembrance and bitter laughter. But it was all part of the healing process.

Circi dreaded returning home and after Carmen's departure from Draco's life she feared she would no longer see her again. Since coming to Hogwarts, she had grown to see Carmen as an almost sister. She seemed to genuinely care for Circi and the attention warmed her.

The train journey home was eerily silent. The students were in mourning and even if Mica, Leslie and Circi were finally together again after an eventful half-year since the Yule Ball, they were thinking over the year bitterly. Each of them wished to forget it and Circi looked forward to turning thirteen next month.

She was deliberating, however, somehow escaping the grasps of her brother and father when she exits the train. Perhaps she could disguise herself as Leslie and pass as his twin brother and go home with him? Or she could seek out her second cousin, Professor Rier, and implore with him to take her with him. If she could not escape now, she would try as soon as she got home. There was a voice nagging at the back of her mind, telling her that the faded scar that used to be her father's dark mark would be as dark and as fresh on his arm as a spilled pot of ink.

She would know, then, the truth.

Unlike her first year, where she had been one of the first off of the train, Circi lingered as long as possible. She tried to continue her nap into the stopping time but Mica had shaken her awake.

They still hovered in the corridors, watching through the windows as the students reunited with their families. Leslie had to leave them, claiming his parents planned to take him to a restaurant. From their position by the window they watched him approach a tall biracial couple. His parents did not look like him in the slightest and Circi recalled him talking about an adoption, she smiled sadly as his mother adjusted his glasses and brushed his hair down.

Mica rested her hand on Circi's shoulder and pointed further down the platform. Draco was greeting Lucius and Narcissa, stiffly accepting a hug from his mother. Lucius was wearing his usual long sleeved robe and his shirt cuffs were peeking out around his hands, he was looking around the windows of the train with a mixture of stern superiority and curiosity in his eyes. The snake head on his cane winked in the sunlight filterin in through the windows. Circi was beginning to fear the sight of it. It reminded her of the snake emerging from the smokey symbol of the death eaters in the sky, and with each wink of light she recalled each time he had swung the cane perhaps too close to her head or used it to catch her clothes or shove Draco in the stomach.

She loved her father, as she was meant to, but after recent events she couldn't help but fear him.

"It'll be okay," Mica told her, squeezing her shoulder, "if you need anything, just write to me. That's my mum," she points elsewhere on the platform at a stout South Korean woman with greying hair in a midi dress standing beside a pale, much shorter, man in a bowler hat, "she's a bit stingy when it comes to etiquette but she's got a heart of gold."

Circi thanks her and they finally move off of the train.

Every step towards her father felt like an eternity. Shockingly, he greeted her with the same affection as he usually would and he even rested his hand gently on her shoulder as they left the station.

It was unnaturally silent in the manor. Circi and Draco weren't talking, they hadn't spoken a word to each other since Carmen broke up with him. Lucius tried to talk to Circi but she had ran to her room upon entering the premises and did not emerge for tea.

As the sky began to darken, her door opened a crack and a knock resonated into the room.

"Can I come in?" Startled at his presence, Circi snaps shut the journal she had been scrawling in and shoves it under her pillow.

"Sure," she calls and pulls her knees up to her chest, pulling the shirt she had stolen from Draco over her knees. She watches her feet as he moves to sit on the bed and places a dinner tray down beside her. Her toes curl into the duvet and she glances up enough to acknowledge the cheese sandwich and chips on the tray. "Thanks."

Lucius watches her expectantly, and she picks up the sandwich. He had made it himself, the first time he had made a sandwich in years. It was unusually flat and Circi held it up to observe the skinny meal.

"How are you?" She looks up, feeling guilty at being so startled. Taking a bite of the sandwich to buy herself time, she looks over him. His sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and she could see his forearm. As she had expected, the dark mark was prominent on his arm.

She felt sick. There was no way she could eat anymore.

It looked fresh. Almost raw. As if he had just joined them but it proved to her that those stories about his role in the first war, how it hadn't been his choice, were false. If he would willingly return to the Dark Lord, who's to say he wouldn't lie to protect his own back. Struggling to swallow what remained in her mouth, she put the sandwich down and stared directly at his dark mark.

"Can I ask you something? About my mum?"

"Circi," he sighs, "you know it's a tough topic for me."

"It's a tough question for me." She could feel her irritation rising in her chest, it ached through her. Today, her patience was limited.

Lucius shook his head, hesitated, then finally nodded and looked at her.

"Go on, then."

"Did she really curse you? During the first war?" He opened his mouth to tell her the rehearsed speech about how unfortunate it was and how heartbroken he had been but she holds her hand up to stop him. "I don't want to hear whatever it is you have rehearse, father. It doesn't make sense how you can escape justice by blaming the woman you claimed to love but when He Who Must Not Be Named returns you are one of the first to run back to him." She finally meets his eyes, feeling a surge of adrenaline fuel her confidence and irritation as she pokes at his arm. "This isn't the mark of a man who was crucioed into doing evil deeds, this is the mark of a terrorist."

Pulling his sleeve down, Lucius watched his daughter sit back. His mouth hung agape, speechless, as she seemed to perch on her knees like a predator ready to pounce. Her anger terrified him. The staple Rier glimmer that accompanied pure anger and betrayal. He had seen it in Serenity's eyes but had never been subject to such a direct sight.

Under his daughter's gaze, those almost identical eyes, he couldn't lie to her.

But he couldn't tell the truth.

"I loved your mother, but-"

"But you ruined her life. And mine." Restless and fed up, Circi storms from the room. Her bare feet slapped against the cold stone floor as she ran through the house and down the stairs. She had slipped into her slippers and ran out of the front door.

There was no plan, simply get away.

She was halfway down the driveway when Narcissa approached in the distance. Seeing her, Circi began to run, hoping she could get around her.

Thinking she was successful, Circi pushed forward, wheezing and regretting the exertion. There's a crack and suddenly Narcissa's arm is around her waist. Circi could feel the woman's dark mark slithering against her and her skin crawl.

She kicked out feebly but she had exerted all of her energy in trying to physically run away that she eventually pulled away and allowed Narcissa to drag her back into the manor by her sleeve. In the entry hall of the manor, they waited, Narcissa's grip solid on her sleeve as she called into the building for her husband.

They heard him first, the tap of his cane on the floor and the slap of his shoes. Circi pulled away. Part of her wanted to bolt for the door and part of her leaned for the staircase but Narcissa kept her in place.

Lucius looked between them, unaware of what happened and confused to see them in such close proximity away from the dinner table.

"What's going on?" Narcissa shoved Circi forward.

"Perhaps you should explain to your daughter that if she is going to run away she would be wise to wear a coat and actual shoes."

Lucius turned his eyes to Circi. She scowled at him, not allowing him to say a word as she ran back to her room. She didn't want to be in the same house as him, nevermind anywhere near him. Her sandwich and chips were on the bed still and, even though she hated to touch anything made by him, she started to pick at the food. In her anger, she changed into warmer clothes, collected her journal and scooped a handful of cold chips into her mouth.

Warmly dressed, she crossed the corridor to the other end of the manor and past the main staircase. She wasn't running away, per se, simply removing herself from the inevitability of being confronted once again.

Descending the cluttered staircase meant only for the elves to the kitchen, she ran out into the garden. The summer air was still humid even at night and she sweated beneath her jumper but it was a necessary precaution. The hedges lining the garden, hedges that concealed more garden and a maze of larger and smaller hedges, loomed in the darkness and she was brought back to the night of the final triwizard task.

Images of Cedric Diggory's dead body flashed behind her eyes when she blinked and Harry Potter's yells resonated around her.

"He's back!"

The noise seemed to settle on the air, growing thick and consuming her as if she was being submerged under water. She shook her head, looking around and she could see His mark in the sky. Blinking, it disappeared.

"I loved your mother..." She was crouching now, holding her head in her hands and willing the echoes around her away. Shadows were moving around her, growing and shrinking, reaching out to her like the bony hand of the dementors.

"Voldemort's back!"

"Don't let it ruin you." Carmen's voice, clear as the stars in the sky, spoke in her ear. Losing balance and falling to her knees, Circi looks around. The echoes were silent, the sky was clear again and the shadows were just shadows. Carmen was nowhere to be seen but her command escaped Circi's mouth.

"Don't let it ruin you." She reiterated to herself and stood up again.

Continuing her walk, Circi made it to the greenhouse undetected- or so she believed. Draco had watched the scene play from his bedroom window, which overlooked the garden and the forest a few yards past their boundary. He had a similar conversation with Lucius and Narcissa, although they were allowed to speak enough to reassure him that the Dark Lord would keep him and Circi safe.

How could she not see what was most important? They were safe.

A/N

To those who have read Serenity I would like to note that Circi will not go AS off the rails as Ren did but she is her mother's daughter and rebellion is in her nature.