ACT: ONE
CHAPTER i: ' oh no, there she goes... '

          Theia had been through a lot for only being seventeen years old. Not necessarily a lot of bad stuff, there was a load of good stuff too. But society seems to think a happy childhood and a believable smile warrant a good life and any complains are just minor bumps on the bright yellow road to success.

Society, in particularly, has a habit of devaluating the reasons you're unhappy. Friendly people can't be lonely because they have tons of friends. Everyone forgets you can be lonely in a sea of people. Having friends doesn't automatically solve your loneliness; loneliness is something that requires external and internal treatment. It isn't fixed by just tossing the person into a crowded room and saying "problem solved".

Clever people can't feel lost because they're too smart to be lost. If you're smart then you're not allowed to be lost. They think you're already on the right path — the path to educational success. They don't see that the education system is filled with sheets of paper dictating which social class it's students' grades will allow them to live in for the rest of their lives. No going against the system; if you're illiterate, stick to a low grade job, don't bother trying to be successful. It doesn't take into consideration that not everyone is academically smart and for the record: that's perfectly fucking fine, despite what the system tells you.

Rich people can't be sad because they're rich. People have this delusional stigma that money can buy you happiness. It can't. Maybe, it can brighten your day or cheer you up, but money have only buy material wealth; it can't buy actually buy happiness or loyalty or peace of mind. It can't buy a doting mother who notices when you're feeling blue, it can't buy you a brother that doesn't ignore your entire existence, it can't buy you friends that are good company and are actually there for you. Theia Avery knows this first hand.

Money didn't make Theia happy. Intelligence didn't make Theia happy. Friends didn't make Theia happy. Maybe, she was just another spoilt rich kid people liked to moan about. Maybe, she was taking everything she had for granted. But unless it was wrapped delicately in little brown paper for her to ignite, or being inhaled like oxygen through a hundred dollar bill, it wasn't enough to bring Theia the serotonin she needed. As shameful as it was for a pureblood like herself to purchase "muggle goods". Imagine the horror on her mother's face when she finds out her daughter is friends with a half-blood in her year that hooks her up with weed and snow. Not to mention if her mother found out her daughter was high at a very important Christmas party at the largest of five Avery mansions scattered around the UK and Ireland.

But Theia had no fear of her mother's wrath because she knew her mother would actually have to pay attention to her to realise that she was high as a horse on ketamine. She'd lost track of how long it had been since she left the party downstairs to retreat to one of the guest-rooms with Maud Greengrass. Not that it mattered, there was a large possibility her mother hadn't even noticed her absence.

Her feet were still on the ground, her body dressed in a fancy silk gown still rested on the bed beside Maud, but then why was her head in the clouds? Northern lights danced above her in a harmony that Theia didn't think she'd ever achieve. Green moved along the edges of her ceiling, prisms of colour morphed into one and many all at once. Her eyes blinked slowly and a lazy smile grew at her lips when the colours still greeted her under her eyelids. The feeling of the bed sheets felt softer than velvet and the sensation of Maud's fingers running up and down her forearm sent euphoric shivers to her spine. She drew a deep breath and felt the air around her feed her soul. A heavenly warmth found a home within her where Theia assumed her soul would be if it had manifested into a solid form. It sighed and smiled like it was an entirely different body of its own.

Reality had faded from grasp. Theia was in the spirit world now. Or at least, what her intoxicated mind interpreted as the spirit world. Everything and nothing made sense to her. She felt complete, like she was conversing with her inner self. Wild thoughts flashed in her mind before being replaced by another. Why do we live in a people pleasing society when we could simply breathe and be at peace with our inner selves? Money doesn't exist, it's a concept. So are laws and rules. We're all just souls of different shapes and colours, our bodies are the anchors that keep us attached to the roots of the earth. Eyes are a glimpse at one's soul and when you find a pair you love more than your own, you've found your soulmate. She hoped she'd remember them all when she sobered up. Although, she'd a feeling sober Theia wouldn't like them as much as high Theia did. Sober Theia didn't like hippie dippy shit.

"Get up," a voice reached out to her. It was cold and dark and full of every emotion she was trying to forget. A feeling of the new person came to her, rather than seeing their face and body walking in the door. Familiar and close to the heart. It was someone she actually liked so that ruled out her mother and brother. "Do you know how many fucking guest rooms I'd to check before I found you two?"

Theia blinked and felt the heavenly warmth in her limbs turn uncomfortable. It wasn't hot per say, it was just unwanted. She suddenly craved coolness and fresh air. Pulling her body upright, she slowly stood up. It felt too fast, like she was gliding on water, moving elegantly and swift but it only made her want to go back to her normal clumsy self. Maud still remained on the bed, pouting now that she no longer had Theia's arm to trace her fingers on.

She'd reached the bathroom before she even knew where her destination was. The coolness of the marble sink under her palms was more than welcome. It was so relieving that her elbows bent so the sides of her forearms could lean down and touch it as well. In her baked state of mind, Theia decided to focus on the cold sink and try to pull it through her skin to cool the fire in her veins. As if that would work.

Her eyes lifted when she felt a furious aura behind her. Evan Rosier stood glaring at her from the doorframe. Guilt and regret swarmed a hole in the pit of her stomach, enough to make her feel violently ill. "Don't look at me like that," she spoke but she didn't recognise the voice. Who was she? She knew the answer and so did the little voice in her head. A failure, a druggie, a disappointment. Unworthy of her mother's love, ungrateful for a successful brother like Coeus (even if he was an evil lil shithead), undeserving of the only family member she ever counted; Evan. Here, she was fucking up again.

Evan blinked and the glare was gone. "What did you take this time?" His voice was even, evan, even. It held nothing, no emotion. It was empty. Just like Theia. Sadness replaced the peace she had felt mere seconds ago, a hallow depression so strong it could cripple her. The soul that was fluorescent with colour just moments ago was curling up and recoiling, a coat of grey poisoning it's entire system. She could see in her mind the grey traveling along her veins, her bones, her skin, infiltrating her body.

She wanted to be anyone else at that moment. She wanted to be a sober muggle that had never touched an illegal substance in their life. Or a Hufflepuff so loved she could do no wrong in quite literally anyone's eyes. Anyone but Theia Avery who was high all the time to keep her sadness at bay. Bad memories flashed behind her eyes; embarrassing memories she'd forgotten; simple memories that made her cringe. Then suddenly, the shame and guilt faded with numbness. It was like Theia had taken a physical and physiological step back. Withdrawing from herself, from her pain, from her inebriated mind, from her.

"Theia?" His voice grounded her and she snapped back to reality, having been lost in her head for what felt like mere seconds but in reality was minutes. He tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder only to pull back in disgust at the sweat pooling out of her skin.

"Doesn't—doesn't matter," she blinked again and peered closer into the mirror to examine the size of her pupils. They certainly didn't look sober but she was past the point of caring. She felt weird, different. Something had snapped and she just felt numb.

Evan sighed behind her. Pity. Finally, he was readable again. She licked her lips to rid them from the dry feeling as she turned on the cold water and cupped her hands to bring some to her sahara desert of a mouth. Water just didn't taste the same sober. It was an addicting taste, like rose water, like angel tears. "Don't you think she'll notice this time?" She heard as she turned the water off. He was talking about her mother.

"She's never noticed before," came Theia's sobering reply. Evan knew there was no intoxicated slur to her words. "I'll be fine."

His eyes rolled in a different way than hers had an hour ago. "She's not good for you, you know that right?" He frowned at her. Concerned eyes pleaded with a Theia that could barely keep hers focused.

He wasn't talking about her mother anymore.

Theia didn't respond right away to his jab. She took a couple of calming breaths and pushed him out of the room so she could sober up alone. "Merlin, you're annoying. Go talk to her for a second."

She re-emerged from the bathroom more than ten minutes later and saw Evan had chosen to disappear back down to the party rather than speak to his best friend on the bed. Evan didn't like his cousin and best friend hanging out, even if they were two of the most important people in his life. Mostly because they were both bad influences on each other and more often than not got high together. He didn't need them fucking each other's lives up any more than he needed them fucking up his own.

"You sober yet?" Maud asked from the bed once she saw the whiteness of Theia's dress from the side of her eye. A grin prided itself on her red lips and Theia felt her heart ache at the sight of it. Honey hair crowned her head and glowing skin peeked out of her black risqué dress, tempting and seductive wrapped in expensive cotton. Cousin's best friend or not, Maud was fucking gorgeous and Theia had a massive crush on her.

"More than you." Theia replied smoothly before grabbing the untouched glass of champagne she'd left on the bedside table. She didn't drink funnily enough. No, she just liked to take drugs and have wild trips in guestrooms with her cousin's best friend like any normal teenager. "What did you give me?"

"A little pick me up." Maud didn't seem to have the same weird hallucination as Theia. She stood and walked towards her perfectly, no slight stumble to her step and no unusual fast pace. She was fucking normal while Theia still felt like her body was subconsciously doing stupid shit without her realising. Ah, the joys of being high. Paranoia should have been a side effect written on the side of the pills she swallowed like candies. Then again, what did she expect after taking ecstasy from Maud.

Theia didn't remember walking down to the ballroom where her mother was hosting their promptu Christmas party. Abella Avery had been all too eager to announce she'd be throwing her own Yue Ball after the Malfoys had cancelled theirs due to Lucius being on honeymoon with Narcissa in some Mediterranean island no one actually knew how to pronounce. She didn't remember when Maud left her side nor when her brother came and went with an obnoxious smirk. Obliviously very pleased with the fact he was still the reigning. Champion of the Favoured Child Award. She didn't remember when Regulus Black had showed up and replaced her champagne glass with a glass of water but she was entirely thankful nonetheless.

She'd retreated to the lonely two seater out on the back porch just a moment ago. The brisk air was welcomed by her hot body and the music from inside travelled out with her to keep her company. Her glass was set down to free both hands so that she could pop a cigarette between her lips and light the end of it. Her high was finally wearing off and she knew with a single smoke it would officially be declared endangered. The sound of the door opening beside her had her head whipping up in fear her mother had caught her smoking. Salazar knows the punishment would be as dire as getting sorted into Gryffindor back in first year.

Fortunately for her, it was not in fact her mother but instead a pretty brunette girl with wide innocent eyes that only seemed to widen more at the sight of Theia sitting with a cigarette dangling from her lips. She was pretty; an unusually natural pretty that felt angelic; untouchable. She wasn't caked in makeup like half the witches that attended pureblood parties; nor did it look like she was trying to give old man Felipe Mulciber a heart attack but wearing an over-exaggerated deep plunge dress. Theia scarcely recognised her as one of the Thatcher sisters that she attended school with. Her brother had married one of them so their families were well aware of each other.

"Want one," Theia spoke around her cigarette, pausing as she tried thinking of the girl's name. Margo, Mila, no, Marcy — it was on the tip of her tongue.

"Milo," the girl offered, scrunching her nose as she shook her head. "And no thank you."

"What's that short for?" The older of the two asked.

Milo pursed her lips slightly and huffed, "Melinoe."

Even when partially high Theia could recall all her precious greek mythology. "Named after the bringer of nightmares, ouch."

Instead of being offended by the girl's blunt words, Milo only smiled and nodded. "Yep, ouch."

"Hey, if it makes you feel better I'm named after the titan goddess of light and my mother never tires of reminding me I have done nothing but bring the opposite." Theia swallowed a gulp of her water as she took her glass off the seat next to her and nodded to it. Milo followed her gaze, a hesitance in her body language that went straight over Theia's head. "I won't bite if you wanna sit."

Milo had to remind herself not to trip over the hem of the dress her mother had forced her into and carefully edged closer to the seat. A sigh shook her body at the relief of being off her feet as soon as her butt came into contact with the cushioned chair. She felt as if she had been standing for hours on end, which she had, speaking to this and that about this and that. Her ears and legs were seconds away from falling off when she'd politely excused herself for some air.

She hadn't expected her brother-in-law's sister would have been doing the same thing. Milo's eyes inched over to the bronze skinned goddess sitting in the chair next to her. Theia's braids looked regal in a large bun on the top of her head with a single braid purposely left out to frame her face. It was refreshing almost to see the older girl with a fancy hairstyle rather than the usual lazy way she wore them at school. Her face glowed in the dim moonlight with such effortlessness Milo suspected the girl didn't even have to try to look so dewy and flawless.

Theia never noticed the other girl's staring as she brought up her hand to take another draw. She inhaled deeply and let her head fall back against the wall behind her as she breathed it back out. Her eyes closed but refused to stop flickering behind her eyelids.

"I don't think you're brother knows what he's got himself into," Milo blurted abruptly, flushing at how random the sentence must have come out. She held her own breath as Theia's head tilted slightly to the side and her sparkling eyes opened to meet hers. But if Theia thought she was weird for bringing it up so suddenly, there was certainly no sign of it on her face. "Marrying my sister, I mean."

"Why's that, love?" Theia asked in a soft and tired voice.

"Persephone isn't the placid little wife he thinks she is." Milo felt the breeze bite and nip at her skin and internally wondered how on earth Theia wasn't shivering in her thin slip gown. "She'll break him."

Confusion sprang to Theia's eyes. "My brother's married to a woman called Persephone? Damn, I always thought I was the Hades of the family. Coeus is a little more asshole-y, like Zeus!"

Whether it was the realisation Theia wasn't entirely sober, or the fact Theia hadn't known she had a sister-in-law named after the queen of the underworld, Milo threw her head back and laughed. She decided then she liked Theia. They'd talked before, of course, but never alone, never out of prying eyes and ears wanting to hear them discuss nothing other than traditional pureblood crap. Theia was always with her cousin, Evan Rosier, a guy that scared the hell out of Milo, and Milo was always with Regulus Black.

"Merlin help him then, being married to my sister." Milo giggled into her hand.

"Nah, let her chew him up and spit him back out." Theia smiled but it was hallow and desolate. "It's what he deserves."

i was gonna make this longer but i got lazy as hell so...
also milo is reguIusblacks character and this book along with narcissus is connected with her hp series so definitely check them out and show them some love!