◤ ❝This war has taken the brightest of us and left us only shadows...I cannot say with absolute certainty that any of us would not have done the very same as you. Survival, in war, is not the goal. We only look for a way to end the suffering, by any means possible. For some, surviving is the only possibility. For others, the suffering never stops until life itself does.❞ ― Kal Radnor ◢

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:    PENTHOS

December 21, 1996

            "You can always come with me."

Andromeda stared expectantly at Draco, a small bag laying on her shoulder. The Room of Requirement looked different that early morning, the two of them up earlier than any other students to go test another theory on the Cabinet. Draco, as she discovered soon after the argument with Snape, had made progress. One of the spells from Epps' book that she highlighted worked to bring the green apple he had been tossing earlier back to him. Where most of their attempts ended up with nothing returning, that one had. Albeit, there was a chunk missing from the apple, but that was progress. Because of it, Mia spent the rest of the night and the early part of the morning in the Room with Draco. 

Running on a lack of sleep, and only having just changed from the red dress robes and into regular clothing, she was dead on her feet. After the night and the events of the new day, she was ready to drop any second. Her and Theodore would be leaving in an hour to go back to the Erebus manor, a place that Mia hadn't seen since June. The longer she thought about going, the more convinced she was to stay back at Hogwarts with Draco. It seemed like a safer option, even with all of the tension recently. He decided last minute that he would not be going home to see Narcissa, already having sent a brief letter apologizing before he went back to working on the Cabinet. 

"I need to see if any of these spells will work," Draco dismissed, barely glancing up from his place on the ground. He had been sitting in front of the Cabinet for the last hour, deflecting any attempt she gave in trying to speak to him. "If I can figure out the reason why the spell has only repaired a section of the Cabinet, I can repair the rest of it with something else in this blasted book. We've finally reached the halfway point in it." 

Mia frowned, looking down at him. "Draco..." 

"I'm fine, Mia. Go home." 

She paused, biting down on her lip in thought as she considered leaving the boy alone. Neither one of them had been in a particular conversational mood after the night they had, but something nagged in the back of her mind. Whether it was what Snape said to her or her own thoughts, they prevented her from moving. Maybe it was because he didn't use his acclaimed nickname for her, the first hint of his upset. Mia did the opposite of what Draco told her, and she gently laid the bag at her feet. Moving over to the empty spot at his side on the rug, she sat down criss-crossed next to him. 

He didn't look over at her, but the deep sigh that escaped him was enough of a reaction. "What are you doing? You need to be leaving. You know Theodore will be mad if you're late." 

"We need to talk," she said, simply. Her eyes stayed on his exhausted face, waiting for him to turn. 

"Could have fooled me, the way you've been acting recently." 

"Draco."

Her words were not as gentle anymore, hardening with a plead. Mia watched as his face twitched, lip pulling down into a small frown. She waited, wishing he would just talk to her already. Finally, after a few grueling moments, he turned his head so that he was facing her completely. The sight of him made her heart drop, beginning to see just how similarly the two of them were starting to look like each other. The dark circles under her eyes were replicated underneath his own, and the translucence she swore she saw before coated the paleness of his skin. What she focused on were his grey eyes, worn down and taken from so much that they lost their warmth entirely. They were just exhausted now. 

"Why didn't you tell me that you spoke with Snape before tonight?" he asked, his forehead creasing in confusion. "Is that why you've been acting so odd recently? Did he say something to you?"

Mia paused, her mouth going dry at the question. She glanced down at her hands, clasping them together so that she could have something to focus on instead. "The day that you missed Defense to sleep in...he pulled me aside after class before I could get away. He questioned me about Bell, just like he did you, and he was concerned about our health. We got into an argument, and that was when he tried to use Legilimency on me―" 

"He what?" Draco interrupted, his eyes wide. "Romy, why the hell didn't you come to me?" 

"Because something happened when he tried," she explained, looking back at him. "Almost like I was attempting it at the same time he was, and they rebounded off one another. I saw some of his memories, and he saw some of mine. Nothing to worry about on my end, but his...one of them was the memory of your mother when she asked him to make an Unbreakable Vow." 

Draco scoffed, rolling his eyes. "He's a fool for making a deal like that―"

"Is he? Because that Vow could be the only thing protecting you." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked in defense, hurt flashing in his eyes. "I thought we were protecting each other in this mess, Romy. You said that we were in this together. Have you gone and changed your mind now?" 

"We are. I haven't changed my mind. It's just..." 

Mia stopped suddenly, realizing that the words she was trying to say did not want to come out. They had been spoken before, several times, but never once had they ever been anything more than a sarcastic joke here and there. Never had it been real before, not between her and Draco. Things had changed, though. She could see the questions working up in his mind, the crease growing between his brows as he opened his mouth every few seconds to think of another thing to reply with. His words fell short when she finally built up the courage to say the dreaded words. 

Her voice barely raised above a whisper as she spoke. "But I won't always be by your side, Draco...togetherness lasts only as long as I am alive, and that statement is growing grayer by the day." 

"Wha―" he recoiled instantly, grey eyes flashing with pain. "What are you on about?"

"Snape told me the reason why I am still alive," she said quietly, swallowing hard. She could not meet his eyes anymore, staring vacantly ahead at the Cabinet instead. "I made the mistake of realizing that the Vow he made with Narcissa did not extend to my life, as well...you had to have asked yourself the same question, Draco―why the Dark Lord chose not to kill my family after my father's betrayal. Why had he recruited me instead of just ending my entire family line? I assumed it was because of the hierarchy, or perhaps a cruel final joke on my father's grave...I was wrong." 

"Romy―" 

"The Dark Lord recruited me because he believes I could be the same as him. So those are my two options left: either I become the very thing that lives inside of my nightmares or I become the no lesser than the man who died and created the nightmares in the first place."

"Andromeda," Draco hissed. Hands roughly found their way to the sides of her face, pulling her eyes back to him. His were stormy, lighting up with anger as he spoke. "Stop it. You are nothing like either of them, do you hear me? Not your father. Not the Dark Lord. Romy, you do not need to be anything like them. You are going to survive this war because you deserve to―because I know that you will fight this the right way, the way that you decide. Not based on the ludicrous words of Snape or any other. You. Are. Nothing. Like. Him."

His hands tightened on her cheeks in emphasis at every pause. She watched with blurry eyes as his face gleamed with desperation, praying that she would take the weight of his words and understand them to be true. Draco searched for any retaliation in her brown eyes, flickering back and forth across her face as he adjusted his hands so that they were just barely curling around the nape of her neck. With a torn expression, he finally met her gaze once again to see the tears that were threatening to fall down her face. He sucked in a deep breath as he continued.

"Snape may not have made a vow to protect you, but I have," he said, thickly. "Whether it is bound by some spell or not, we made an Unbreakable Vow ourselves, Andromeda. To each other. You are the only person that I have, Romy, and I'll be damned if I lose you to anyone simply because they want to see us fail." 

Mia shook her head in protest, the action making his hands fall to his sides weakly. She reached up to wipe away the tear that was threatening to fall. "You can't protect me from him, Draco. If he even for a second believes that you and I are dependent upon each other, he won't hesitate to kill one of us just for the fun of it. He knows exactly what he is doing, asking us to come here and preform these tasks. By completing them―by sending the others into Hogwarts, by deceiving Slughorn, by killing Dumbledore―I am becoming him. If we fail...if I fail...then that means I am too much like my father. I die. You die." 

"So what then?" he asked, exasperated. "You complete these missions and automatically believe that you are just the same as he is? Romy, we are in this together. If you believe what we are doing here will turn you into him, stop it. That could never happen. You aren't the only one carrying this weight―and you are not the only one who will be changed because of it."

"But you have a chance. A chance that you deserve so much more than I do. If I'm the one who kills Dumbledore, you don't have to live with the guilt―"

"And let you live with it instead?" he snarled, scoffing as he pulled away. "Let you die instead? Stop being a martyr, Mia. It isn't a good look on you. Stop acting like you dying is something that the world would not bat an eyelash at. You talk like I am so much better than you are, like I have so much more to live for, but you forget that we are the same. What, you think I deserve death any less than you do? That my life is worth enough to trade yours for? It isn't, Andromeda. I'm not."

She shook her head again, lips pursing tightly. "You are."

"No," he denied. His eyes were cold, but not in any loss of emotion. They were only defeated. "I'm not. You gave two options. The third is simple. An ultimatum―what we have been saying since this began: we finish this together, and we live with what comes after. Together." 

"Why won't you just let me do this?" 

"Because you are asking me to be all right with losing you!"

Draco raising his voice shuttered the quietness of the conversation, turning a discussion into something more. Neither one of them spoke for a few moments. The creaking of the room lulled them into a state of thought, trying to cope with the information that they had just talked about. Draco could not look away from Mia, his chest finally calming from its angry heaves as he began to see how riled up he had become. She kept her eyes on her hands once again, trying to get rid of the tightening in her heart that just kept squeezing harder. The tears had passed, but the sting of their presence was starting to burn in the eyes of both of them now. 

Finally, Mia swallowed hard and cleared her throat of the lump forming. She looked up, meeting his heavy stare, and it only added to the weight she felt. The frown deepening on both of their faces, she carefully leaned in so that she could press a gentle kiss to the flushed cheek of her friend. It burned her lips, the adrenaline from the argument rushing to his face and stinging as she pulled away. Giving him one, final exhausted glance, she reached for his hand and squeezed it to convey every emotion she was not saying. 

"Merry Christmas, Draco." 

When she got up, she made the hardest effort in the world not to turn back around. Just as she reached the door, she felt the final words burning a fire into her skull. So, she released them. Uncertain if his Occlumency was up or not, Mia projected a single thought with Legilimency before she walked out the door to the Room of Requirements.

I'm sorry. 

―――――――――――――

"Andromeda! Theodore!" 

The familiar, elegant sound of their full names rolling off the tongue of Celicia Erebus made the cousins stop hard in their place at King's Cross. All around them, students bustled to find their parents and Platform 9¾ had never been so crowded. Parents, as it seemed, wanted their children home for the holidays now more than ever. Even with the busyness, Theo's tall height came with a huge advantage. Her quiet, unsettled cousin grabbed her elbow with one hand, tugging on it and guiding her in the direction that she assumed her mother was in. 

Unsurprisingly, her and Theo spent the entire ride on Hogwarts Express silent. They had gotten a compartment to themselves, but that was spent with him looking distantly out the window and her flipping absentmindedly through another reparations book. Despite how much she wanted to pull out Slughorn's leather book, she couldn't risk Theo questioning what it was. It would have to wait until she was alone. That was how they spent the entirety of the ride; no questions asked, no suspicious looks. Theodore, much too quiet for her to bear. 

The only thing that seemed to break him of his numbness was when he heard his name being called. He continued to pull her along, sending a glare or two at the wizards who gaped openly at her (because who didn't recognize her after all of the Quibbler cover stories about her). Only when they finally came upon a woman with a head of dark hair and all-too-similar brown eyes did Andromeda finally experience the emotion she had been ignoring for so long: grief. 

Like a wounded child, Mia ignored all rational and twisted Theo's arm so that she could cling to his hand instead. Her cousin glanced down at it briefly, his blue eyes blazing, before taking one look at her fear-stricken face and understanding. Celicia Erebus had changed in the months that it had been since she was last seen. The woman before them looked like she had aged twenty years, wrinkles and circles decaying so deeply in her pale face that it made Mia sick. Her hair was pulled back―something that Celicia never did, because it was considered lazy appearances―and her clothes fit too loose for her mother's taste.

"Oh, Theodore!" her mother cooed as they came into view, her arms reaching with no hesitation to pull her lanky nephew into a large display of affection. Another change, seeing as the last time Mia had received a hug from her mother, she was ten. "You've gotten so tall! And so strong! I'm sure all of the girls at school are falling to the floor over you!" 

"Can't fix his face, unfortunately," Mia said, indifferently. The dullness of her tone reminded her of how many unresolved emotion she had building up. She glanced down at her hand, which had been disconnected from her cousin's, and then back to her mother. "Hello, Mother." 

Celicia disconnected herself slowly from Theodore, and Mia watched as Theodore stepped uncomfortably out of his aunt's grip. Clearly, the affection had been just as surprising to him as it was her. Her attention flickered from her cousin and back to her mother, who was already looking. Celicia's brown eyes truly were a replica of her daughter's―in every single way. The largest difference between them before had always been the wear. Celicia had experienced pain and grief so much that it wore down her eyes, but looking at them now, Mia realized she was only staring at the reflection of her own. The same eyes, and the same replication of trauma. 

"Hello, Mia," Celicia said softly. "Have you gotten older on me? You look so grown up." 

"My birthday isn't until February," she replied, blinking slowly. "But I would understand if you forgot. Father did when I turned fifteen. Perhaps you're thinking of Theodore's birthday. It's tomorrow."

Theo was already moving, his hand curling around her bicep as he side-stepped in front of her. She knew what he was doing, trying to block the view that her mother had of her as much as possible. "Mia, please. Not here. Everyone is watching us." 

"Has anyone started taking pictures yet or should I pose?" 

"Andromeda," the condescending tone of her mother's voice sent a shiver down Mia's spine. Celicia came into view again, her brown eyes now flickering with a hint of anger as she looked down on her daughter. "Stop acting like a child, and be more respectful to your mother. It's the holidays, and I haven't seen you or your cousin since..."

She paused, but Mia had already bitten the words out for her. "Since his funeral. Yes. I'm aware." 

Hurt flashed in Celicia's eyes that struck Mia's very core. Theodore sighed, his usual sign of resignation, before he shifted so that he could grab the luggage he abandoned. One hand holding his bag and the other reaching to grab a hold of Mia's hand again, he turned to Celicia with a weak smile. His way of apologizing for the way that she was acting, it seemed. She finally looked away from Mia, eyes still withering into themselves as she nodded weakly. 

"We will be Apparating, if that is all right with the two of you." 

The thought only made Mia's mood worsen. She scowled, glancing over at Theo, who had similar thoughts beginning to build up in his mind. Side-Along Apparition was one of their least favorite things to do in the world, if only because they clung to the memories of their fathers constantly Apparating them in and out of Death Eater parties. At a young age, they began holding onto their fathers' coattails. Both she and Theo had long since grown accustomed to the buzzing sound that rang in their ears afterwards, but that never made it any more amusing than the last time. 

Reluctantly, neither cousin said anything. Instead, they broke free of each other's hands and moved to grab either side of Celicia's arm. Clinging tightly to the material of her jacket, they shut their eyes. A small hack that the two of them learned over the years to keep them from vomiting all over the floor they were arriving at. Neither one of them watched as Celicia whisked her wand in the air, slicing through the air at King's Cross. The sensation of being sucked into a storm was the first sign that they were Apparating, and the next was the feeling that their organs were being twisted inside of their bodies. Molding to the air around them, their bodies acted in accordance to the method of transportation. 

Then, Mia felt her feet land on solid ground. The buzzing in her ears was loud, and she had every urge to keep her eyes shut tightly. Reality had not yet clung to her, and she could feel herself swaying on her feet. That was when the sensation hit her―the closing in her chest, the panic making her want to throw up her empty stomach. Her eyes shot open, blinking around wildly to find any reason why she felt like her heart was suddenly about to burst...but as she looked around, her hand clawing at her neck for air, she realized why. She was home. 

"Mia," a hazy voice called out, and she felt another pair of hands trying to desperately pry her hand from her throat. "Mia, look at me...everything is fine. Mia, breathe. Andromeda, look at me. You're hurting yourself."

The same pair of hands were finally able to free her from her throat, prying her nails away from where she was desperately trying to find a way to breathe straight. Still, she could not find any solid object or person in front of her as she blinked through blurry tears. Was that Theodore? She couldn't tell. The world around her shifted back and forth, and she hunched over in hopes that it would help with the pain that was starting to grow in her stomach. The nausea only grew stronger alongside the stinging in her chest. What was happening to her?

"Andromeda...Theodore, what's wrong? Is this from the Apparition? Have I done something wrong?" another voice cried out. "Do I need to find help―" 

"No. No one needs to come here," Theodore interrupted quickly, glancing at his aunt for a moment. He was on the floor now, bent over with his cousin's body half in his arms as she struggled to breathe. "Can you get a glass of water for her? Please, Aunt Cece. I have her." 

As he watched her walk away frantically, muttering words of concern as she rushed to find water,  Theodore turned back to Mia. Concern surged through his body like a current of electricity, and he rested a hand on her back gently. When he realized that she was trembling underneath his touch, that concern only grew. By this time, Mia had already curled into herself, the overwhelming sensation that she was having a heart attack stringing through her veins. No matter how much she attempted to breathe, the concept seemed foreign to her lungs. A breath was impossible. She choked out another sliver of air, needing more.

"Theo," she gasped out, hands reaching to clutch at his arm. "Theo, I think...I think I'm dying―something's wrong. Something...something is happening to me."

Theodore's jaw clenched in despair. "Mia, breathe. You've got to breathe, Andromeda. It's all right. Nothing is wrong. You are perfectly safe, all right? Nothing is going to happen to you."

"I can't!"

"You're all right...you're all right," he continued to repeat, his hand rubbing her back. "Everything is okay, Mia. Just close your eyes and focus on trying to breathe. It will be over soon. You're okay." 

Mia stayed like that for over two minutes, one hand clutching her stomach while the other tightened on Theodore every time her next breath got caught in her throat. Soon enough, the sounds of her cousin's loud breathing and the feeling of her heart race finally slowing down calmed the panic. Another minute had passed of Theodore trying to soothe her before she was finally able to uncurl herself from the painful position she had been in. Slowly, she moved until she was sitting on the floor in front of Theodore. There were tears streaming down her face by then, and sweat beaded down her forehead from the hot flashes.

Theodore looked no better than she did. His eyes were hooded with concern, lacing with his own tears as he stared down at her. The blue was comforting, though, and grounded her back to reality when she was surrounded by a room of unfamiliar things. 

"Theo," she croaked, eyes bleary. "What just happened?" 

He swallowed the lump in his throat, blinking his wet lashes. "I think you just had a panic attack." 

"A...wha―" 

Before Mia could say anything else, she heard the quick sounds of shuffling across the floorboards. Both she and her cousin glanced up and over to the entry of the large room. Appearing from the archway was her mother, and standing at a third of her height was the Erebus family House-elf with a glass of water in hand. Another wave of panic rolled through her body, realizing that she hadn't seen Picket since June either. The elf was already rushing forward, the water sloshing around as she tried to juggle the goblet and the struggle of walking at the same time. 

"Miss Andromeda! Miss Erebus said that you were in dire need of water! Picket has come to give you water to heal your ailment! Picket apologizes for how late she was!" the house-elf cried out, moving to the small space in between Theodore and Mia so that she could hand over the goblet. "Picket has missed Miss Andromeda and Mister Theodore very, very much!" 

As Picket rambled on, the fondness for the creature started to disrupt any of the prior feelings from before. Mia took the goblet from her hands, ignoring the way that they still trembled. Theodore was already smiling softly at Picket, watching as she continued to express how she missed them with a wide range of gestures. Since they were children, Picket had been the Erebus family house-elf. Never once, however, had Mia ever seen anyone but visitors (and her grandmother Eleanor) treat Picket wrongly. Her family, especially her mother, aunt, and grandfather, always grew up teaching her and Theo that elves must be treated kindly. Even in instances where their friends' families would not, and even Eldrice Nott, they must always respect that rule. Picket was perhaps one of the very few things that Mia missed about the Erebus manor. 

"Andromeda..." her mother started, slowly making her way across their living room. Her movements were hesitant, constantly looking between her nephew and daughter in concern. When she was finally close enough to stand over them, she spoke again. "Andromeda, what...what has happened to you?"

The question was not meant in any ill-manner, but Mia flinched at the insinuation anyway. She glared up at her mother through her lashes, teeth gritting to keep herself together. "Sirius Black murdered my father. That is what happened, Mother." 

Celicia sucked in a deep breath, her legs wobbling from underneath her. She moved to grab the closest seat near their place on the ground, and Mia couldn't help but grovel in her reaction. Perhaps she was cruel, but every time she looked at her mother, she was reminded of the picture that she sent of Sirius Black holding her in his arms. She was reminded of the mother who refused to step up and take care of her daughter. A mother that did not fight for her daughter's refusal to become a Death Eater. An unsurfaced amount of anger, building up over the months, threatened to spill out the longer that she sat in her mother's presence.  

Theodore muttered gently to Picket, telling her that she was no longer needed. It was clear to see that the conversation between the three of them would not be leading in any positive directions. Arguments always were her family's strong suit, just the same as indifference. Mia waited, not bothering to say anything, letting her frustrations fester the longer that she watched her mother. The adrenaline was already coursing through her from the attack she had earlier, and she sat in the home that carried all of the memories of her dead father. Nothing could prevent the uncivilized welcome home that was waiting between her and her mother. 

Celicia finally looked up, glancing briefly behind Mia at Theo. "Perhaps it would be best if we had this conversation in private, Andromeda..." 

"Theodore is going to be the only thing preventing this from becoming an argument, Mother," Mia said quickly, her eyes hardening on her mother. "He has been the one by my side ever since the funeral. He'll be the only one to calm me down from saying something I shouldn't. He stays." 

Mia knew that it was not the best idea, especially if she got angrier and started spouting out things that she shouldn't. Although she had given Theodore a hint about her allegiance to the Death Eaters, that did not mean he understood it. They hadn't spoken about it since their argument before the party last night.  As much as the thought pained her, having him know about the world she was trapped in, in that moment she had never wanted him to know more about the Mark on her arm. Celicia knew, of course she knew, but it was different with Theodore. He had always been closer to family than her own mother. 

"What is this about, Andromeda? I thought you would be pleased to be home," her mother said, dejectedly. She looked tired, exhausted from the conversation that had not yet begun. "I am concerned for you. You come home with this...this new personality, and you nearly die on this floor―" 

"It has been five months, Mother. You have not seen me in five months," Mia hissed, glaring at her. "You have written letters, bided your time to make believe that you care, but where have you been? When Narcissa had cared for me more in the months of July and August than you had for years. You expect me to be the same daughter that I was before what happened to Father, but I am not."

Celicia's expression darkened, but the solemn reflected carelessly in her face. "You are not the only one who lost him that day, Andromeda. Grief affects us all." 

"You grieved. You grieved for months. I was never given that time!" Mia's voice raised, echoing off the walls of the large room. "I was never given the opportunity to even process that I lost my father, because in a matter of days, I had already lost myself too. I never grieved, Mother. Instead, I became angry. I became cold. I became this. You were just far too busy mourning a man you lost years ago to even see that you lost your daughter too."

Theo's hand reached for her arm, but she didn't look away from her mother. Instead, she watched as the woman swallowed hard, trying to process the words that were being thrown at her. "Andromeda...I have been watching over you...Narcissa informs me on your wellbeing―" 

"I didn't want Narcissa!" she spluttered out in exasperation. "I only wanted my mother! And you weren't there." 

"I am trying, Mia..."

Mia paused, a bitter laugh forming in her throat as she shook her head. The exhaustion from no sleep was beginning to hit her like a train, and all she wanted to do was end the conversation and return back to Hogwarts that very second. She wanted to be back in the comfort of the Room, where the only thing that she could fight with was Draco. That was not her reality, and she had to face what was in front of her. The mother she missed so dearly and pained for, but the woman that had not been anything close to a mother in a very long time. The anger, mixed with resignation, was when she had finally decided she was finished fighting. 

"Well, then...congratulations, Mother. You have no need to try any longer. There is nothing to try for. It is far too late for any change now. I'll see myself to my room." 

Mia ended the conversation for both of them, moving to slowly stand up off the ground that she fell to earlier. Theodore's hand slid off her arm as she stood, watching her worriedly as she grabbed her luggage and started for the door without another word. Her movements were still shaken, and Theo frowned at his cousin in concern. As she turned around the corner to make her way up the stairs, she paused. The sound of speaking was heard once again. 

"Theodore...where is my little girl?" 

There was a small second of silence, and she almost thought that Theo wouldn't respond. Then, there was the sound of another body standing up on the creaked floorboard. She waited another  few seconds, wondering if they had put up a spell so that no one could hear their conversation. To her dismay, she had been wrong. 

"She died alongside her father that day...I watched it happen. That was no lie on her part. She is no longer a little girl, Aunt Celicia. She is only another person trying to survive this war." 

"...at what cost?" 

"I believe she has already paid it." 

Theodore did not tell Celicia that he could hear the creaking of the floorboards, or that he knew with absolute certainty that his cousin was still listening in on the conversation. He could only cope with the world that was being laid out in front of him―complicated and messy as it was, Theo was beginning to see that his only loyalty in this world lied with his cousin. Not with his father, or Andrew Vaisey, or even his aunt. Andromeda was his only loyalty, his only family. The price she paid was one that he would share without a second thought, even if she tried to push him away. Even if she spited him because of it. 

It was becoming a very complicated start to a very disastrous Christmas holiday.

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Author's Note:

(Not Edited) 

Another chapter down! DROMY moments are my favorite thing to write. Ever. They are so small and subtle, but so big in the language expressed between these two. I loved and hated writing their little argument (lots of angst this chapter, just as every chapter is). Did you enjoy the arguments? Did they seem real to you? 

Finally, we're somewhere other than Hogwarts! I am so excited to introduce this entirely different side of Mia, seeing as we never really got to see much of Mia in her home (and this is the first official introduction of Celicia). I hope that you understand her anger towards her mother. I believe that it is warranted, despite everything. The picture that she sent of Sirius Black, however, was the tipping point for Mia as far as her anger with her mom. 

This was also the first time that Mia has a panic attack, though previous hints to a possible one have been stated in previous chapters (leading up to this one). As someone with panic disorder, I hope that I did the emotions justice. It can be difficult to explain, and I only hope I was able to properly express it into words.

What would you like to see more of in this story? Too much of something? Any critics or ideas? Comment some ideas or things you'd love to read in the future!

 Also, this is random, but I noticed that Romy's pronunciation could be taken differently than how I say it in my head (seeing as it's probably not what many expect it to be). Alas, I read Romy as rome-ee. Not rom-ee. 

PENTHOS: GOD OF MOURNING