[014] all is not well in the astor home

( trigger warning for forced vomiting )

                                                      Jacques and Selene Astor made sure to run their home with an iron fist. Jacques made the rules and Selene did her best to enforce them on her daughters, doing everything her husband told her. She loved him so much but at the same time, she hated him. The mixture of love and hate, passionate and resentment, was the basis of their volatile relationship. They may not have ever physically hit each other but their words towards each other were just as hurtful and poisonous. They tried to tear each other apart with their words, the love between them turning bitter and rotten.

                                                     But despite all of that, they stayed together. Divorce only came about in death but even then, Jacques would keep his tight grip on Selene. There was no escaping him.

                                                    The beginning of their love story had been so beautiful, you'd think that it would always remain this beautiful. But the beauty had been nothing more than a facade. Jacques led Selene into a trap, and he wasn't going to let her go. T̶o̶m̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶x̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶C̶a̶m̶i̶l̶l̶e̶.̶

                                                    Camille thought that she was going to have a love story just like theirs. At least how their story had been in the beginning. Camille thought that she was going to be much smarter than them and have the love story she had always wanted. But instead, she had herself fallen into a trap - one that not even the strongest love could get her out of.

                                                    B̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶C̶a̶m̶i̶l̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶i̶z̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶t̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶.̶

                                                     For now, Camille still held onto the hope that pure love would help Tom and wash him of his sins. Wasn't that what muggles believed when it came to their Jesus Christ? Jesus' love and forgiveness was enough to cleanse you of your sins and make you clean again. Camille certainly didn't think of herself as being a god, even despite the pureblood beliefs she had engraved in her head. But Camille believed that if she loved Tom hard enough and showed him another way, Tom could turn around and change for the better.

                                                     He had made his mistakes, he had stained his hands with blood. But Camille was more than willing to wash his hands clean and try to make things work. She didn't have a choice - Tom wouldn't let her go even if she wanted to flee.

                                                   "Camille," her father slams his fist down onto the table, causing the girl to jump.

                                                      She snapped out of her thoughts before looking around her, realizing that she was seated at her dining table. Camille had been back at home for a couple days now and yet, her mind was stuck inside the Chamber of Secrets. She was always lost inside her mind, wondering about what she was going to do and how she could help Tom. But then again, Victoire was in a similar predicament - she just had a different person in mind. The two girls were practically useless and Jacques Astor felt thankful they had house elves to take care of them or else everything would fall apart.

                                                   "I'm sorry, Father," Camille apologizes. "You were saying?"

                                                     His frown deepens. "What is with you? You're here but you're not here. Your mind is elsewhere."

                                                   "Maybe she's too busy dreaming about her boyfriend," Victoire mutters, stabbing her fork into her dinner.

                                                    Camille watches the steak bleed the more Victoire applied pressure and suddenly, the girl instantly loses her appetite.

                                                   "Boyfriend?" her mother repeats.

                                                   "I -," Camille begins to say.

                                                   "Who is Victoire talking about?" her father cut her off, the look in his eyes demanding Camille to tell him the truth.

                                                   "His name is Tom Riddle. We've been in a relationship for months now. He's in the same house as me, he's Head Boy, he's charming and intelligent and handsome," Camille explained.

                                                 "But is he a pureblood?" her father inquired. That was the most important question of all.

                                                  "Of course," Camille lies. She knew better than to mention the truth. Not only would she be revealing just one of Tom's secrets but her parents would forbid her from seeing him. "You know I wouldn't dare to court anyone of mixed blood."

                                                 "Good. Now this wouldn't happen to be the same Tom Riddle who's currently staying with your cousin, Abraxas, is it?" her father continued.

                                                 "Ah, yes. He did mention staying with Brax. The two of them are very close friends so it's not a surprise. This means he'll probably be at the upcoming winter ball," Camille replied.

                                                  Although there were many events in the world of wealthy purebloods, one of the most important events had to be the winter ball held by the Astor family. Her mother loved to decorate the house and get all dressed up, treating her two daughters like dolls and dressing them up too. Camille remembered being absolutely excited every year the winter ball occurred, looking forward to wearing beautiful dresses and running around with her cousins and friends. Now that she was older, she supposed that she still enjoyed the winter ball but she knew that it was more than just an event to get all dressed up for.

                                                   It was to establish connections and most importantly, it was for the adults to marry off their children. Even at a party as luxurious and grand as the winter ball, it was all about business.

                                                   "Good. I'd love to meet him. We both would. If he's as fine of a boy as you say he is, he'll definitely be one of the candidates for your hand in marriage," her mother nods.

                                                   "One of the candidates? I really love him and I know he's the one for me. I don't want anyone else," Camille frowned.

                                                   "You still have offers. And let's not forget that Abraxas is still very much an option," her father replied, earning a scoff from Victoire.

                                                   "My cousin? I see him as a brother and there's no way I could possibly -," Camille began to say.

                                                    "The only thing that matters is duty and purity. Things like this have been done before. How dare you judge the traditions that have kept our family and countless others prosperous for years?" her father argued.

                                                    "I didn't mean to. I'm just saying -," Camille began to say.

                                                    "Silence!" he quickly cut her off, causing Camille to flinch once again. "I don't want to hear anything more about it. At the end of the day, the choice is up to me."

                                                     Camille swallows hard, blinking away her tears. She looks over at her mother, hopeful that she'd try and defend her. But her mother stays silent, choosing to pick at her food which she hadn't bothered eating since dinner began. Camille suddenly feels nauseous, causing her sister to falter. Victoire could just sense that something was wrong with Camille.

                                                    "May I be excused please?" Camille questioned, trying her best to keep her voice is shaky.

                                                      Her father just nods before taking another large bite of his food, not the least bit concerned about his daughter's wellbeing. Camille races out of the dining room and goes upstairs, locking herself in the first bathroom she could find. The tears start running down her cheeks as she opens up the toilet and falls down on her knees. She knows exactly what's about to happen, seeing as she's done this since the age of twelve. Whenever Camille felt awful or hideous or was just in the mood to punish herself, she would always resort to doing this.

                                                    Camille sticks her fingers down her throat, forcing herself to vomit her dinner. She grips onto the sides of the toilet as she finished vomiting everything back. When Camille finished, she felt a little better than before. Camille definitely felt a lot lighter. She flushes the toilet before closing it, leaning against the wall. She took deep breaths to try and calm herself down, soft sobs leaving her lips afterwards. A part of her felt guilty for reverting back to the old habit, seeing as she had gone almost a year without doing it. The farthest she'd go was starving herself but she had tried her best to not make herself sick.

                                                     But being back home seemed to be like one giant trigger for the girl.

                                                    "Milly? Milly, are you alright?" Victoire asks, banging on the door.

                                                    "I'm fine," Camille croaked, getting up so she could wash her face and her hands. By the time Camille was finished, she looked somewhat normal - except for the fact that her eyes were red from crying.

                                                     "Then can you let me in?" Victoire questioned, continuing to bang on the door without bothering to stop.

                                                       Camille reluctantly opens the door, allowing Victoire to look at her. It doesn't take Victoire long to guess what Camille had just been doing. She's caught Camille in the act of her dirty secret several times already.

                                                      "You promised me that you would stop," Victoire remarked. She didn't sound angry, just... disappointed.

                                                      "I'm sorry," Camille apologized.

                                                       Victoire sighs as she pulls Camille in for a hug, engulfing her twin sister with as much warmth and love as she could give. "I'm the one that should be apologizing. I've been shutting you out ever since Slughorn's party. I'm sorry, Milly."

                                                      "It's okay," is all Camille says as she continued to hug Victoire.

                                                        It felt nice to have her sister by her side again after everything that had happened. Although Camille couldn't tell her everything, it was nice to know that she had Victoire on her side.

                                                       "What's going on with you? You haven't been yourself lately. Is there something wrong? Does it have to do with Tom?" Victoire immediately bombarded Camille with questions, determined to get to the bottom of it.

                                                        Camille instantly pulls away from Victoire, shaking her head once again. "No, Tom has nothing to do with it. It's just... I think I've been stressing myself lately with thinking about the ball and having my parents like Tom. I really want them to like Tom."

                                                         "Is that what you're so worried about? Tom is amazing with adults - I've seen it first hand. I'm sure he'll be able to make someone as cold as Father turn completely soft. You've got nothing to worry about," Victoire assured Camille, brushing her sister's golden colored hair out of her face.

                                                         Camille only nods, a small smile soon gracing her lips as she released a soft chuckle. A part of her knew that Tom would find some way to win her parents over. Of course, that was the last thing Camille was worried about. But there was no way she could tell Victoire the true reason she was so troubled.

                                                         "Don't let Father's words get to you. You're not going to be marrying Abraxas. You're going to have your happily ever after, I promise you that," Victoire assured her.

                                                         "I want that to be true for the both of us, Vic. I want you to be happy too. You deserve it just as much as I do," Camille responded.

                                                           Victoire smiles at her but it's a sad smile. "Don't worry about me, Camille. I'll be fine. Now come on, we can go back to my room and relax. How about that?"

                                                           Camille only nods again, and she holds onto Victoire's hand as her twin sister left the bathroom and instead, walked into her bedroom. Camille was glad to be spending time with her sister again and if she was being honest, it was as though nothing had happened between them. Everything was going on as normal and it brightened both Camille and Victoire's night.

                                                              Unfortunately, this would be one of the last times the two sisters would ever be this close again.

( 👱‍♀️💘🍒 )

word count: 2057
notes: so, uh, fuck jacques and selene, they are the worst but are we shocked by that? i want to give both camille and victoire a hug because i'm really about to put them through hell