✓ | 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒; avengers x harry potter

⁴.⁸comfort

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
𝐇𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

━MANY THINGS HAD OCCURED BEFORE THE FIRST TASK. One of those things being Ferret Malfoy, Athena's new nickname for her dearest cousin. She cared about the boy, yes, but the idea of the boy being turned into a ferret and levitated into his friend's pants had caused the girls to join in with the crowd of laughs.

"Hey ferret," Athena smiled, entering the Astronomy Tower later that night, sitting beside her cousin. "Thought I'd find you here."

"Come to laugh at me even more?" Draco sneered at the girl, a glare shooting at her. Athena laughed and shook her head.

"No, I've already done enough of that because of the show you put on." Athena grinned at him, but the grin faltered as she noticed his lack of insults being thrown. "Hey, are you alright?"

Not taking her seriously, he just rolled his eyes. "Yes. Perfectly fine."

"I get that I can be mean sometimes, but I'm honestly not that heartless. And I've told you that before."  The girl placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Talk to me."

Knowing that her statement was true, he sighed. "I just... don't like being turned into an animal, let alone a ferret."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No... that's not it."

"What do you mean? Yeah it is." The boy tried to lie.

"I'm not dumb, ferret. Tell me, and you better tell the truth." This time it was Athena's turn to glare at him.

Sighing, Draco let his guard down, looking away from the girl. "Being a part of an Ancient and Noble house means I've got to keep a perfect rep. If I don't, I'll get an owl from my father saying I'm a disappointment and all of that shit."

Athena immediately felt sad for the boy. Her father had gone through the same thing. The Malfoys and the Blacks were one of the most Ancient and Noblest houses in Europe - the Blacks having more power than the other. The Blacks had to keep up a perfect act, a perfect reputation. Toujours Pur. The motto of House Black, meaning Always Pure. Having to marry another perfect and wealthy House, to keep the bloodline pure. Like the Malfoys or the Lestranges.

She had thought that Draco was being pressured, maybe being forced. Having to act perfect, wealthy and superior. Having to show off their superioress, hanging out with other purebloods and showing pride. This was a common occurrence to pureblooded children - those who aren't "bloodtraitors".

"You aren't... getting physically punished at home, are you?" Athena asked with worry in her eyes, thinking of the times where her father had said that he would get punished physically if he had done anything wrong. "Like if you do anything wrong-"

"No." Draco replied.

"I saw Lucius smack your back with his cane back at the-"

"I said no Athena!" Draco snapped at her, his eyes glossy. "Just leave it."

Not wanting to push him, she nodded. "Come here..." She placed her arms around the boy's shoulders, Draco giving in and placing his head on her shoulder as tears silently fell down his eyes.. "It's okay, Dray. Just let it out."

The two sat there. Draco's tears were falling down onto Athena's white blouse, staining it. She rubbed his back, letting him cry onto her shoulder as she knew that he wouldn't do this around any of his friends. If they even were his friends.