Friendless » Fred Weasley

xxxv. summer at silvers manor

She could still see the outline of those glow in the dark stars she put on her ceiling when she was seven. Her father had scorned her to take them off, probably saying something stupid like "Silvers don't put stuff on ceilings."

Okay, that was a joke. She knew he wouldn't say something like that. She didn't remember what he did say anyway. It felt like centuries ago.

Victoria Silvers laid on her bed in her room of Silvers Manor. She stared at up her empty ceiling, her brown eyes tracing over each outline of the fake stars. She heard her door creak open but didn't bother to see who it was.

"Father would like you down for dinner." Her brother, Avalon Silvers, stepped in. Tori found him more intolerable than usual. Ever since he had been granted Perfect he walked the manor halls with such strut it made Tori's inside twist around.

"I'll be down in a moment," Tori replied, shutting her eyes. 'One more hour.' She thought to herself. One more hour in this bloody house, one more hour till she could go back to her family. Her real family. The Weasleys.

She had written to them every day since she had arrived back. Her best friend, Fred Weasley knew she wasn't okay like she said she was. He could see it in her eyes from the picture from the front page of the daily prophet.

"SILVERS GIVE FUNDS TO GRINGOTTS!" It was the headline with a picture of the family in front of their house. Tori glanced around at her family before looking at the camera and giving them a weak smile.

Tori got up from her bed, pushing the one hour clock to the back of her head. She brushed through her thick hair, leaving her bedroom. The dining room was quiet, Tori seemed to have entered last.

"You look... comfortable." Her mother noted. Tori glanced down at her tank top and shorts, comparing them to her family's more elegant attire. Tori gave her family an annoyed smile. "I didn't know there was a dress code for tonight's dinner."

She took her seat at the table across from Avalon. Her little sister, Dove, looked a little more grown up in her purple dress. She was now eleven, so this was the year she was coming to Hogwarts. Tori began slowly eating the dinner, silence falling over the family once more.

Ten minutes into their dinner, her father looked disgusted. He was reading the daily prophet when he came across an article talking about Muggles. "They're the problem." He told Tori's mother.

"Them and all those blood traitors who protect them. Especially the Weasleys. I don't like that Victoria's around them. They're a bad influence. You should be hanging out with Avalon's friends." He was now scolding Tori like he did many times over the past month.

Tori sighed. "We don't share any classes. I'm sure his friends aren't taking Muggle Studies." She looked over at her father, watching him get angrier by the minute. She knew he was about to make another empty threat about her not being able to carry the family name.

Luckily for her, the clock in the living room began to chime. Tori stood up immediately, not even bothering to finish her dinner. "Times up." She said. Her mother looked at her confused.

"Times up." She repeated. "It has been one month since I've arrived. I promised to stay for a month. It's over. I'll be leaving shortly. Can't exactly say it was fun." She proceeded to leave the room, walking up the steps and into hers. If there was one thing that had changed over the summer, it was Tori's attitude.

She hummed a small tune as she packed the rest of her trunk. Which was easy since she had hardly unpacked it from the moment she arrived. Tori heard the door open moments later.

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Avalon sighed. Tori laughed bitterly, "I'm not the difficult one. They... you all are."

"You're not making it any easier by reminding him about Muggle Studies and you're always with those blood traitors-"

Tori whipped around, facing her brother quickly. "Do not call them that. The Weasleys are more of a family to me then you will ever be... Avalon, look me in the eye and tell me all Muggles are terrible."

Her brother said nothing. "I'm waiting," Tori told him, daring him to say it. Avalon didn't. "You've been difficult the entire month, especially with those photographers."

Tori moved passed him, opening her closet to find her broom in the corner. "I was trying to do as they asked. They wanted us in our Hogwarts uniforms. It's not my fault Mother and Father refused."

"You could have just slipped on one of my old ones-" Tori cut him off by slamming the top of her trunk. She spoke slowly, letting every word sink in. "I rather drop dead."

Avalon stood at her doorway, looking dumbfounded. Tori narrowed her eyes, coming closer to him. "Let me tell you something, Avalon. You may be Prefect, but you're not mine. Besides, you wouldn't want a staleblood associated with you anyway." Her voice was laced with venom as she could feel her anger bubble up.

"... I wasn't the one who did that." Avalon said quietly. Tori stepped back, letting that settle in the air. She sighed, looking up at her older brother. "Well... you didn't stop it either."

Athena hooted for attention. Tori turned back, opening her golden cage as the barn owl flew in. "Pardon me, but I must be going." She grabbed her trunk, pulling it out after her.

She walked passed him but he grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Why did you even come then?" Tori yanked her arm way, glaring at him. "I didn't come for you, or Mother, and I definitely didn't come for Father. I came for Dove, that's it."

Tori left him standing there, staring at the moving pictures on her desk. She walked through the dining hall, just to have the satisfaction of making her father go red in the face one more time. She got it.

She opened the door to the lounge, slipping inside and filling the fire pit of all of her things.

"Victoria, wait." Her mother opened the door. Tori turned to tell her mother she couldn't make her stay any longer. Mrs. Silvers handed the thirteen-year-old girl a slip of paper. Her Hogsmeade permission slip.

Tori opened it up to see her father's signature. She looked from her mother to the signature multiple times. "Did he actually sign this, or did you forge it?" She asked calmly, folding it back up.

"He signed it the day you came back. Please Victoria, be safe... Things are going to start changing."

Tori nodded slowly, completely blowing what her mother said away. She shoved the permission form in her pocket and called out the name. "The Weasley Burrow!"

year three!
also i'm flying through this book, updates everyday? wow!

also let's knock on wood

be right back, just got to go punch oliver wood