"Familial Endings"

The fire was lit for the final time this year. To celebrate the new year and the Dark Lord's constant rise in power, Julia had gathered the family together for a celebratory feast.

She had been sat at the table beside Lakita when Serenity apparated into the room. The brunette stood shaking with tears running down her cheeks. Her eyes were dark and stared off into the dull abyss of the space between darkness and focus. As she watched nothing, she felt everything.

She felt the eyes of her mother and sister burning into her, she felt the tear in her chest at the loss of the only anchor she had, she felt the chill of the room in the absence of her brothers. She also felt the air moving wordlessly around her and the beating of her erratic heart against her aching chest.

"Serenity? Darling, what is it?" Finally distracted from the constant replay of the image of her across her vision, Serenity finds the cold stare of her mother.

Julia had never cared much for the whereabouts and actions of her children; she cared only for their wellbeing in her presence and for them to always be in her presence. The blonde had been loyal to the Dark Lord since the day he rose to power, she had been faithful enough to be trusted immensely by him. She must have known.

Serenity waited as her mother did not rise from her seat at the table, her eyes did not betray her yet her lack of animation did. For as long as she had known her, Julia had not been a tense person. Every minute of the day would be consumed by the blonde's busy lifestyle and fidgety limbs. Yet, now she sat completely still.

"You knew," eyebrows drew close, the brunette steps towards the table, "of course you did. You always know." Lakita was now glancing curiously between the two, unsure of what was happening. She too registered the still stature in her mother.

"What are you talking about, dear? Take a seat, will you, the boys will be here soon."

"No, they won't." Serenity braces herself against the back of a chair. "They never come, you know that, so stop changing the subject. You knew but you didn't warn me!"

"Know what?" Julia's questions were tugging at a thread Serenity was trying not to snap. She could feel the vibrations of it ripple throughout her with each twang as Julia let go. She whispered the name under her breath, so faintly that she hardly heard it herself. Yet Lakita seemed to understand immediately.

The younger blonde had stumbled from her chair.

"You're lying." Serenity turned on her sister, voice projecting as her anger flared.

"Do I look like a liar to you?" Lakita's mouth snapped shut because she knew her sister and her sister did not lie- ever. Her mother on the other hand... well, it was second nature for Julia Penniman to lie. After all, she had hidden a twin sister from her for eleven years. As Lakita's eyes found their way to her mother who still sat at the table, the room seemed to move.

The pictures on the walls rattled in their frames as the fire roared and climbed higher up the chimney. A strong wind howled as it pranced around the room like a werewolf during the full moon. It gnawed at each of them, chewing at their eardrums and hindering their dry eyes.

"You knew!" Serenity cried over the noise. Tears stung her eyes as she squinted against the invisible onslaught. Visibly angry, Julia rose from her seat and revealed her wand.

"Serenity, stop this madness this instant!" When the glasses in the cupboards began to rattle too the woman glowered. "You may be my daughter but I will not hesitate!" As she raised her wand the sleeve of her robe fell to her elbow, the slithering dark mark waved up at the girls. Lakita's eyes widened in a moment of terror.

"You called him, are you insane?" Now the chandelier above them swung, it's chain creaking as the candles blew out and plunged the three women into light darkness that cast shadows across their faces. As the fire flickered, it illuminated Serenity's eyes where her grief and sorrow reflected through the sheen of tears that begged to fall. A shadow hooded Julia's eyes, leaving only her pointed scowl.

The wand clutched in her hand was accentuated in the firelight as she adjusted her grip, it was knotted in the centre where the wood led off at an angle. Specks of black added faux crevices to the dark mahogany and suddenly the once-magnificent wand Lakita had only ever wished to hold was the most terrifying thing in the room.

"Serenity, sit down this instant, I am your mother."

The brunette shook her head, lips quivering.

"You are no mother to me!"

With that, Julia had only to twitch her hand for Lakita to draw her own wand on her mother. Stepping between the two of them, she squinted through the hair that smacked at her face and hindered the image of her mother. The interference made what she was about to do all the easier.

"Protego!" A shrill yell matched with Julia's surprised shout as the hex reversed back towards the elder blonde. A ball of green light whipped at the woman's chest and knocked her back against the counter where her head connected with the edge of a cupboard.

Serenity found herself and her magic shocked into silence. The fire trickled down to mere embers and the glasses tinkled one last time from behind their wooden shields. The only noise in the room was Lakita's heavy breathing and the slowing creak of the small chandelier above them.

"What did you do?" Serenity whispers into the darkness, unmoving. The end of Lakita's wand lights up, casting an angelic glow across the room. The tears on the blonde's cheeks went unchecked as she circled the table to cast the light over her mother. The breath caught in Serenity's chest at the sight. "You killed her."

"She was going to kill you."

Julia lay sprawled across the narrow gap between the table and kitchen counter, a puddle of blood sticking in her hair as a fresh gash in her head bled gladly. The girls stood close to each other, hand in hand as they stared helplessly at their deceased mother.