( ANASTASIYA NIKITOVICH )

+..｡*ﾟ+𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 was probably the thing that stasia looked forward to most every year. not her birthday, not christmas.no , her return to hogwarts. because it meant that she'd finally be away from the manor that she'd grown up in. no, it wasn't her home. it was a place that broke her. it was the place that held all her trauma. but how much trauma could a fifteen year old really have?

the two raven haired, brown eyed, tanned teenage girls trailed behind the 6ft2, blonde, blue eyed russian man. they dared not step too close to their father but stayed in a close enough distance that people would know that they were together. although, the majority of the wizarding world knew of the nikitovichs. they were extremely wealthy.

katerina had her dark hair down in soft waves, trying to display her bright pink strands as much as possible. she got a few hexes from their father for the rebellious act but didn't dare change it afterwards. stasia only shook her head at her sisters decision, not thinking to ever piss their father off. the punishment rattling the back of her head making red lights go off.

platform 9 and 3/4 was crowded with new 1st years and 2nd years looking for their friends, bored 3rd and 4th years, 5th years who were worried for their owls and familiar 6th and 7th years who would be entering their final years. katerina would be joining the 6th years and if stasia knew her sister well enough the girl wouldn't be returning for her 7th, making this her last and final year at hogwarts.

alexei stopped midway down the platform near the malfoys, giving curt nods to his daughters with a stoic expression before katerina took off as quick as possible onto the train. "goodbye, papa" anastasiya nodded with no emotion before making her way onto the train as well.

katerina was probably with the weasley twins already, they had been attached by the hip since their first year. it was scary in stasias opinion, an opinion she liked to share with her sister any possible chance given. she preferred more quiet friends. that's why she befriended cygnus lestrange and cho chang.

cho would probably be with her ravenclaw friends and cygnus would be alone in some compartment or with draco. she hoped it wasn't the latter. she had no issue with draco, but the boy did say some things sometimes which just made her blood boil. cygnus was by far her favourite out of the black family.

"cedric" an unfamiliar voice entered her ears. the air around her becoming colder as she shivered. the voice began to repeat the boys name in her ears making her groan in frustration. its not like she wasn't used to it, but it didn't mean she liked it. especially since she remembered cedric's lifeless body so vividly.

she ignored the whispers as she continued down the cart passing multiple carriages. she passed one filled with slytherins, specifically theodore nott. his mothers name entering her ears from all angles making her frown slightly. next was longbottoms grandfather. then lovegoods mother. and finally potters parents.

halting outside of the golden trios cart to see it filled with the three gryffindors. she scowled as she let her eyes cross over all of them. the only one out of them she could bare was granger, only because she seemed like she had a brain. she'd never admit that though. she disliked harry potter because he was pitied by everyone, she lost her mother but she had learnt to live with it. and weasley she just hated him.

she just wanted to be back at hogwarts and in the kitchens with cho and cygnus eating the small snacks the kitchen elves would make for them. was that too much to ask? she continued on her way down the train to find cygnus knowing he'd be waiting for her.

cygnus lestrange was a beautiful boy. a beautiful boy plagued to die young, forced to become a death eater in a year or two, and cursed with being the child of bellatrix lestrange. he had no one in his life except anastasiya and that made her someone he cherished very deeply. someone he'd be willing to do anything to keep. she was someone he'd live for. and that meant a lot.

 her body halted as a pair of black dress shoes entered her sight, malfoy. in the same black suit he'd be wearing since their third year on the way to hogwarts. he held a mischievous smile on his face as he looked her up and down.

"bug off" she rolled her eyes as she spat out before trying to push past him, no sign of pansy or blaise behind him meaning he set out to find her all alone. the boy didn't let her get past that easily though as he grabbed her forearm quickly.

"our friends are waiting, ana" he said mockingly before beginning to drag her down the train towards a cart which had some small voices. she didn't know why she let him drag her but she wasn't too worried knowing malfoy wouldn't try anything.

she didn't necessarily trust him but she had her faith that he'd never try to hurt her. she'd give him that. he wasn't a monster like his father or aunt, he was just a child who wanted to impress his father. and that sometimes made him act in ways which unsettled her and say things which made her want to slap him.

blaise zabini sat looking out the window on one end of the cart, besides pansy parkinson had her head rested on the wall behind her and across from them was cygnus lestrange who had his body lying across the long seat.

"hello, stas" pansys voice said with a soft smile. it was hard to read pansy, one minute she'd be plotting your death and the next she'd be crawling into your bed because she was scared.  of what? anastasiya never questioned.

pansy parkinson was irrevocably and undeniably in love with draco malfoy, but draco malfoy wouldn't even give her his time of day. it was painful to watch, a girl who wanted nothing more than to be loved. pansy wasn't a bad person, she let herself be manipulated and although she believed strongly in blood purity, that wasn't her fault. it was her parents.

"hello, pans" anastasiya greeted in return as she lifted cygnus' feet of the seat and sat down placing them back onto her lap. the boy was out cold and didn't seem like he'd be waking up anytime soon.

"where have you been?" blaise asked as he finally turnt his eyes from the window to land on the girl. blaise was attractive, he got that from his mother. a boy left to be raised by a woman who had a reputation of changing husbands regularly. stasia was sure blaise didn't know what love was or that he even believed it existed. a pity she thought.

"looking for you guys" she countered as she crossed her arms. no more words were spoken between the five slytherins as they made their way to hogwarts. it wasn't an awkward silence, they were just a bunch of kids who were taught that silence was always the best answer.

told to be quiet at home, at lunch, at parties, to never speak out of line. it was all they knew. the five usually saw eachother out of school at balls and what not and had made a sort of group. they'd learnt to enjoy the silence they shared when stealing bottles of fire whiskey from their parents studies and sharing it amongst themselves.

𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐡 let herself be dragged into the great hall between fred and george weasley, the boys having both their arms looped with her so she couldn't run. they'd been bestfriends since their first year when the boys turnt her hair blue, her getting them back by leaving exploding candy in their dinner. the candy literally making their food explode in their faces.

hogwarts hall was filled with floating candles as the moonlight from outside also illuminated the students. numerous first years stood lined up in the centre, all of them nervous for where'd they'd be sorted. 

the twins walked her all the way to her table before leaving her there, ignoring the dirty looks all the slytherins sent them. no one dared shoot one in katerina's direction though knowing she'd have them dead in a second. the girl sat engaging in occasional conversation with two slytherin girls in her year, zoya and penelope, they were nice girls. and they all shared a room.

"why does your sister hang out with those blood- traitors?" draco spat as he stared at katerina and then the weasley twins and then at ana. the latter rolling her eyes at his behaviour, times like this she wished to slap some sense into him.

"maybe because they're actually interesting people?" she answered sarcastically, she didn't necessarily like the weasley twins but that was because they were rons brothers. her hatred for the weasley boy running deep. draco sent a dirty look in her direction at her answer.

"i am interesting" draco mumbled under his breath as he watched the sorting at the front, now ignoring ana completely not liking her answer. cygnus smirking at his cousins reaction before giving stasia a small kiss on the cheek.

"are you ready?" he whispered lowly as tilted his head slightly so he was whispering in her ear. his breath was warm and made her want to shiver. she wouldn't give anyone the pleasure of seeing that though.

"no. but there's nothing i can do to change that" she sighed out, cygnus frowning as he linked their hands under the table and rested them on his thigh. this would be the year that things started falling apart. cedric's death last year was only the warning.

the five teenagers sitting together were bound to become death eaters sooner or later, whether they knew it or not, it was their fate. and there was no arguing with fate. maybe that's why they stayed friends. they were all kids who had no choice.

𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠 was by far one of anastasiya's favourite people. she was a bit overbearing at first but eventually stasia learnt that was just the girls personality. cho was the one who introduced her to cedric diggory, a boy she grew to care for in their short time knowing eachother.

cho and cedric were dating and cedric knew of the two girls friendship, being one of the only people to know. he always thought the girl was like the ice queen of hogwarts, so it came as a complete shock when only after a week of knowing her she was waiting for him after his quidditch practice to complain about her father.

there was something different about cedric, she didn't know why she opened up so quickly. it worried her. but she accepted it. and then she lost him. and her world felt like it fell apart once again. and the feeling of dread entered her system and she felt it enclosing around her and any sense of hope left her body.

it definitely hit hard, his presence could still be felt to stasia and she hated it, she dreaded the day she started seeing cedrics ghost. she hadn't cried since her mother died and she wanted to doubt that she'd cry over seeing cedrics ghost. but as she sat holding a crying cho in the kitchen she doubted everything. because her eyes filled with unshed tears as she listened to her friends heart break all over again.

this is what love did to a person. this is what happened when you cared. 

ginny weasley made her way into the kitchens hoping to seek out a cup of hot chocolate from a house elf, but the sniffles of a girl and soft whispers stopped her at the bottom of the stairs. she looked up shocked to see anastasiya nikitovich, the ice queen, cradling a crying cho chang like a child with a bruised knee.

she must've been dreaming, anastasiya didn't have feelings and was only friends with slytherins. there was no way that she was friends with someone like cho chang. stasia looked up hearing ginny's steps and in that moment she contemplated shouting at the girl to leave or staying at her friends side. she chose the latter.

her brown eyes met ginny's green ones and a silent agreement was made between the two to never speak of this. ginny turnt and began making her way out. one thought racing through her mind 

did anastasiya nikitovich actually have feelings?