𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄 - DISCONTINUED -

Chapter 32

"Oh good, you're all here," Voldemort, or The Dark Lord had said. My hands were shaking. I didn't want to be in the same room with one of the biggest murderers in the wizarding world to ever exist. I guess he could tell that we, or I was nervous, because he looked at us in a peculiar way.

"Well, I have met Leonardo of course, and I have seen Mr. Malfoy a few times, but you, I have not seen," The Dark Lord said looking at me, "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Emery. Black," I answered.

"A Black eh? Well you definitely aren't Bellatrix's daughter. Narcissa, maybe. Hm, maybe your that Regulus' daughter— Oh wait, he's dead," He 'joked', receiving small laughs from the other adults in the room.

"I'm Sirius Black's daughter," I stated.

"Sirius Black? Didn't he betray the Potters?" The Dark Lord said, which made me look up at him.

"Pettigrew betrayed them, and you know that! He's the reason that my father went to Azkaban, the reason the Potter's died. It's all his fault!" I yelled.

"Well, what do you think of that statement Wormtail?" The Dark Lord said looking over at one of the other people in the room, who looked exactly like the same man I saw at the shrieking shack two years before.

"H-Hello Emery. M-My goodness you look so much like your mother," Pettigrew stuttered.

"YOU don't get to talk about my mother," I snapped, "You're the reason for all of this, the Potter's being dead and my father hating me. Cedric died because of you!"

"You were a little coward, who was just too scared that you were going to die," I continued on.

"Oh, now don't give Wormtail all the credit, I told him to do all those things, betray the Potters, kill the Diggory boy— Oh, I'm very sorry about the boys death," Voldemort said sarcastically.

"Don't even pretend that you're sorry," I shouted, walking out of the room, my eyes tearing up. I was about to walk up the stairs to my room, when I felt someone grab my shoulder.

"How dare you walk out of there and embarrass me and all the others!" Lucius snarled once he had caught up to me, "If you don't come back there with—"

"I'm not going back in there."

"Oh, you aren't?" Lucius said, as he slapped me hard on the face. I could feel my cheek burning up.

"Lucius!" We both heard, "You don't ever hit Emery again!" It was Narcissa. She must've followed Lucius out of the room, and saw him hit me.

"Narcissa, she embarrassed us in front of the Dark Lo—"

"She did, yes, but you can't slap her like that!" Narcissa defended, "Now Emery, please, come back with us."

"I can't, it's too much, I don't want to be in there with Pettigrew. After what he's done to me, my family, and my friends," I cried.

"Fine. But if you don't come down here for dinner," Lucius demanded, "There will be consequences."

"Alright, fine."

"Good," Lucius said, as he and Narcissa walked back to the room that we had all just been in.

Once I made sure they were both gone, I walked back upstairs and isolated myself in my room. Once I had gotten in, I broke down, and started crying.

Everything was awful. All my friends hated me. My own father hated me, and the only person who really cared for me was gone. And the worst part was, that the person who was the reason for all of this, was in the same household as me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to run away, live somewhere far away, where no one would bother me. Somewhere, where I had a whole new identity, where I could forget about Hogwarts, and the Wizarding World.

"Maybe a life like that would be easier," I thought to myself.

***

About 20 minutes or so later, I heard a knock on the door. I had still be crying, and I didn't think it would stop any time soon.

"It's open," I said sternly.

"Hey, I saw you run up here earlier, and wanted to see if you were okay," It was that Leonardo boy, "Mind if come in?"

"Sure," I shakily said, while wiping my tears away with the sleeve of my sweater.

"Are you alright?" Leonardo asked, once he was in my room, "Wait, no don't answer that, you're obviously not okay."

"Well, I'm definitely not doing my best," I answered with a small laugh.

"May I sit down?" Leonardo asked.

"Oh, sure," I said moving over so he had a spot to sit down, "My name's-"

"Emery, yeah I know," Leonardo said, "My names Leonardo, but you can call me Leo."

"Hey, is that Diggory's jersey?" Leo asked, when he saw the ripped up quidditch jersey on my bed.

"Oh, yeah. I found it ripped up earlier today, when I came back into my room," I answered. 

"I'm really sorry about what happened to him. I know you two were really close," Leo remarked.

"Thanks, we were best friends ever since I was in first year. He was actually my first friend, now that I think about it. We would always get weird looks from his friends, since I'm a Slytherin, and he was a Hufflepuff," I rambled, "We definitely got into a lot of arguments, even back then, but we always made up."

"He was always there for me, as the love of my life and as my best friend. I mean, Ced was nice to everyone, and-. Sorry, I'm rambling," I said when I realized I was the only one who was talking.

"No, don't be. It's nice to have someone to talk to," Leo acknowledged, "I heard your father is trying to prove himself innocent. How are things with you and your dad?"

"Well, word spreads around fast," I shrugged, "We aren't really on speaking terms right now. I sort of 'ran away' from home, and that's why I'm here."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Leo said.

"It's just that, my father wasn't in my life for fourteen years, and now, when I can finally have my dad around, he rarely pays any attention to me, unless there's no one else to pay attention to." I condemned, "I feel like he just doesn't care for me anymore, but saying that makes me feel like I'm being greedy."

"And, because of my father not caring for me, we got into this huge fight, making all my friends, who were like my family, hate me too," I continued, "And of course, this all happens, when Cedric is gone, and I need some sort of comfort."

"Sorry, that was a lot of emotions coming out of me," I apologized.

"Don't worry, I get how it feels to have no one paying attention to you," Leo assured.

"Okay, well enough about me," I said, "Tell me about you."

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

"I don't know. Like, where do you go to school, what was your childhood like, how'd you end up here in the Malfoy Manor?" I said.

"Okay..." Leo stated, "Well, since I was about 2 years old, I lived in a muggle orphanage. It wasn't very fun living there, but it was better than nothing. Then, I got my letter to Hogwarts, and it was amazing there. But the summer before our 2nd year, these death-eaters were ordered to come find me, and killed everyone trying to find me, " Leo sighed, "They even killed my best friend."

"Merlin, Leo I'm so sorry," I said.

"Don't be, it was my grandfather's fault," Leo said.

"Is your grandfather a death-eater?" I asked him.

"My grandfather is Lord Voldemort."