"Family Feuds"

January 1967, 1 month later

"What did we do wrong, Evie?" Chadwick leaned his face into his hand as the sleeve of his pyjama top fell into the crevice of his elbow. He sighed heavily and kicked one leg over the other, the heel of his slipper hanging lowly. "Olivia was expected, as was Anton. It makes no sense for two of our great-granddaughters to be defects; is there too many of them, great-grandchildren?" After a brief pause he chuckled. "No, you're right. It has to be Christian. He's the one that had twins with that Penniman woman, I never told him to split the girls." Pointing to himself, Chadwick's eyes widened as he justified himself to his wife. "I would have embraced them both equally, taught them equally... and then there was the other one. The Ravenclaw, honestly, he thought he could marry her without my consent?" With a scoff he shook his head. "The mudblood had it coming to her." His monologue was interrupted as the study door creaked open.

"Dad? Are you alright?" Rubbing a haggard hand over the loose skin of his forearm Chadwick looked from his son and daughter-in-law to the chair in front of him.

"Your mother and I were just discussing the defects and why there was two this generation." His smile was directed at an empty chair. "Do you have any theories, Reglin?"

Sitting down with a humph, Reglin eyes the empty seat where his mother used to sit and crosses his arms and legs. With a shake, he hangs his heavy head and rubs the tiredness from his eyes.

"If I'm honest, Dad, I think you're being harsh on the girls. They're my granddaughters- your great-granddaughters." Chadwick glowered at his son as he cleared his throat and sat up in his chair.

"They put shame to the Rier name!"

"They are children." Reglin stood and motioned to the chair by the fireplace. "Mum wouldn't have stood for this so why would you 'talk' to her like she would? Mother is dead. We lost her before we lost Olivia. My sister, the child you felt the need to disown for being Ravenclaw. It's not fair!" Chadwick launched himself to his feet, finding strength in his anger at the mention of his beloved. His nose twitched, the invisible whiskers on his face quivering as his eyes narrowed.

"Olivia was meant to DIE!" Reglin's knees buckled and he stumbled into his wife's arms, mouth gaping open.

*

Erin charged into Serenity's dorm. She took a moment to catch her breath and looked around at the five girls chatting in the room under hooded eyes. Untucking her hair, the blonde locks curtained the side of her face as she shuffled towards the bed where Serenity and Lakita lay beside eachother.

Now she stood in front of the twins, Erin finally acknowledged the similarities between the two. This was the first time the cousins had seen eachother and Serenity was in awe at how much her younger cousin had matured since she last saw her. The blonde in her hair had darkened and the baby fat was slowly dropping from Erin's face. An unknown force pushed Serenity to her feet as she encased her cousin in a longing hug.

"I miss you, 'Rin." Erin briefly buried her face into the brunette's shoulder and muttered a similar sentiment before pulling away. She offered a small smile to Lakita before looking back up at Serenity.

"We found something you should see." Serenity furrowed her eyebrows. "I was leaving the great hall and Merritt caught me and Dexter. She... she found something about Great-Granddad. I'll show you." Without another word, Erin pulled her cousin from the room. The second-year sent a weary smile to her sister before being ushered out of the Hufflepuff common room.

"Erin, what is it? What did you find?" Allowing Serenity to now walk alongside her, Erin sighed and began to wring her hands. Despite holding her head high and her eyes focussed on nothing other than her set destination it was painfully obvious that this discovery was distressing one of the most confident of her cousins. Serenity's chest ached at the display of nerves, she'd mever seen Erin like this and she would be damned if she allowed it to continue.

Yet, at the same time, Erin remained a Rier. Soon enough she would be tainted by Chadwick's teachings. Serenity slowed down, what am I doing?

"'Ren! Come on." The second-year shook her head and stopped completely. "Please! It's about our family!" Focussing on the blonde rather than the air in front of her, she continued to shake her head. Fighting back the conflicting emotions within her Serenity knew that if she was to completely renounce the Rier family she would have to begin with those closest to her.

Erin was still pleading with her but her world was shrinking. The only thing she could see know was the empty space that lay ahead of her, full of possibilities and empty of her corrupt 'family'. Where she had only heard her slow breathing, she could now hear the loud laughter of a friendly Slytherin and the familiar silky voice of the boy who had shown an interest in her. They were becoming her new family and she knew that.

"They're your family, Erin. Not mine." Without so much as an apology Serenity circled the girl she had once called Cousin and headed towards the voices.

First, she saw the brunette curls of Andromeda Black, then the faltering grin of Narcissa Black as they made eye contact. Juliet Law's laugh reverberated around the hall as she threw her head backwards suddenly and gripped onto the bicep of none other than Logan Senate. Finally, as she was a little more than an arm's length from them, Serenity reached out towards the boy with the sleeked blond hair and velvety smooth voice. Her hand gently squeezed his bicep as she slid into the gap between him and Narcissa.

"Lucius, hi! You don't mind if I join you?" The Malfoy grinned down at her with the same charming smile he had gifted her with at Slughorn's party. It was a smile that suddenly had her feeling giddy for the first time in a while.

"Of course not." When her hand lingered he found it in him to cross his arms and place his hand over hers, encouraging her to loop her arm in his. "Professor Slughorn asked me to find you before the next dinner party, he had some information he wanted me to share." She quirks an eyebrow at him.

"Do tell." He shakes his head and lowers his voice for only them to hear.

"There's too many people here who aren't in the Slug Club." Glancing up, he nods in acknowledgement to Narcissa before turning back to Serenity. This time his entire body shifted and she couldn't help but notice. "Come on."

Erin sighed and hung her head as she watched Serenity be lead down the corridor by a Slytherin boy before dragging herself in the direction of her remaining cousins. Arriving at the trophy display she found Merritt and Dexter waiting and muttering between themselves in distress.

"There you are!" Merritt hurries over to Erin, faltering as she didn't see her sister turn the corner as well. "Where's 'Ren?"

"She said this was about my family, not hers. She's pretty serious about the whole leaving home thing." Merritt began to chew at her nails as her eyebrows hooded over her eyes. The girls glanced over to Dexter who watched them with wide, innocent eyes.

"What do we do?" He asks. "Should we tell someone?"

"Tell who? Who can we tell that will believe us or have anything good come of it?" Erin, feeling the fresh burn of anger, marched over to the youngest of the three of them. "Our parents? Face it, Dexter, they're long past the point of helping us."

"My dad could; he's angry too." The two of them look to Merritt incredulously. The Ravenclaw breaks away from chewing at her nails for a moment, "he might be able to get me and Serenity home..."

Erin, wide-eyed, finds herself at a loss for words. She shakes her head and turns away from the two brunettes. Crossing her arms, she looks down at the trophy in question: a shield-shaped plaque with 'SLYTHERIN QUIDDITCH TEAM' written across the top on a plaque dated at the beginning of the century. Under the beater position, engraved in the silver metal, was one name in block letters. Sharp as the man himself and the truth so fraudulent and terrifying to the three students now staring at the letters in fear that they would tell him they knew his lie.

He would call their bluff. Manipulate their parents. Strip them of their magic.

Chadwick Rier was too powerful for the three of them combined.

A/N

Man, it's been a while. It took forever to write the interaction between Reglin and Chadwick so I'm sorry if it's shitty.

I wanted this chapter to mainly focus on Chadwick's character and the effect of Serenity leaving.

Also, my darling babies Merritt and Erin got more page time and I'm so soft for them it's crazy.