beautiful - harry potter

chapter 41

Thalia nervously bit her lip as a barn owl flew into her room and dropped an envelope onto her desk. She walked over to the flat envelope and noticed how there wasn't a small bump like the envelope she'd received last year, with her Prefect pin inside.

Thalia pried the letter open and looked over her grades. All O's, as expected. She threw the parchment to the side and flipped her envelope upside down.

"You're joking," she scoffed to herself. "You're fucking joking! I've got the highest grade out of all the Slytherins!"

A sleek black owl flew into her room and dropped another letter on her desk before flying back out. Thalia let out an aggravated sigh as she opened that one as well.

Lia,

        Parkinson's just owled me and told me she's gotten Prefect. Dunno why she owled me because I want to smash her head in but anyways, I opened my envelope. Guess who doesn't have Prefect either? This is bullshit.

     - Draco

Thalia angrily held the envelope that was supposed to hold her Prefect pin and she set it on fire. How could she possibly lose the Prefect position to a girl like Pansy Parkinson? Her grades were E's and she was an ugly, disgusting little bitch.

As if it couldn't get any worse, another owl flew in seconds latter and dropped a letter onto Thalia's desk. She ripped that letter open as well and her green eyes scanned over the paper.

Lia,

       I got Prefect! Hopefully, we'll be patrolling together this year. How have your studies been, regarding the Dark Lord? You're so lucky that you get to see him all the time now. The things I would do for him to live at my house. Write back soon.

Love,

       Theo

"Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson?!" Thalia shrieked as she threw the letters onto the floor. "How? How? I don't fucking get it!" 

Theo didn't try in school and had more detentions than Draco. Draco was understandable, because his grades weren't great either, but Thalia losing to Pansy Parkinson?

Prefect was supposed to be the one thing she could control. That one time of day where she could just walk around and clear her head and spend time with Harry and use Prefect as an excuse. But now, she didn't have Harry and she didn't have Prefect, and she was engaged to Draco.

"This is bullshit! Complete bullshit!"

-----

Thalia sat at the dinner table. It was so weird seeing her father in her mother's seat and the Dark Lord sitting at the head of the table. He looked like an egg.

Thalia's father never told Thalia what happened to her mother. She only know that her mother became weak, and she wasn't meant for the life they have. Her mother could be in a ditch, she could be dead, or she could be held captive- Thalia didn't know. 

"So, Thalia," Alexander spoke up, "I heard you got your O.W.L. results today."

"Yeah, all Outstandings," Thalia replied clearly. "No Prefect pin this year."

Her gaze was still fixed on her plate and she just picked at it with her fork instead of eating. She wasn't hungry but she sat there out of politeness. And also because she didn't know if the Dark Lord would kill her if she moved.

"Of course there isn't a Prefect pin," her father coldly laughed. "I wrote to Dumbledore, the idiotic headmaster, specifically telling him not to give you the role of Prefect."

"What?" Thalia asked through gritted teeth. If she was Prefect, she would've been able to find Harry and tell him what's going on without being questioned or caught. It would've been her little escape from the real world.

"Both you and Draco have a special task together," Alexander easily explained. "Draco has two tasks but you're going to help him with one of them."

"And that is?"

Alexander hesitantly looked at the Dark Lord. "I want you to kill Albus Dumbledore," Voldemort announced in a firm, monotone voice.

"Wait, actually?" Thalia asked. She smiled a bit and forced herself to meet the Dark Lord's gaze. "I get to do that?"

"Both you and Draco will do it together," he seethed. "I trust that you'll be able to finish him off."

"I could do it on my own if you'd like," she offered. "I hate Dumbledore's guts." 

For years, she'd been losing House Cup and Quidditch Cup and getting detentions, just because she was a Slytherin. Dumbledore made no effort to stop the bullying and hatred brought upon Slytherins, nor did he speak up once. 

In fact, he encouraged it. And Thalia hated it. She hated him.

Was the bullying so awful that it made Thalia want to kill him? Not for her it wasn't. But for all the other Slytherins, it was. And they couldn't do anything about it, but she could.

There were so many times when Thalia just wanted to go up to Dumbledore's office and hit him square in the face, just knocking him backwards and breaking his nose. Now, she was finally given the chance to do much worse. Death was a bit extreme but what other choice did she have?

"I'd prefer if you and Draco did it together," Voldemort replied with narrowed eyes. "I'm not going to trust a woman to do a man's job."

Thalia gritted her teeth but didn't say anything. Instead, she just nodded and shot him a polite smile before continuing to pick at her food with her fork.

"After you kill the headmaster, we'll be pulling you and Draco out of school," Alexander stated. Before Thalia could protest, her father spoke again. "Have you been practicing your wandless magic?"

"Yes, Father," Thalia said politely. "I've been practicing the wandless magic. Can I ask why?"

"We've got fun Christmas plans," he said vaguely. "They do involve fire so I hope you're prepared. How is the fire coming along? Where are you right now?"

"Most I've been able to burn down is a table," she answered. "Where do I have to be by Christmas time?"

"A house," Alexander answered. "A very crooked one filled with poor people. Blood traitors, to be exact."

"You want me to kill people?"

"No, no, the fire will do that," Voldemort cut in. "You just need to start the fire. You don't have to set the home on fire. Just enough for it to spread."

"Oh," Thalia nodded. "That's a bit horrible, no? Just killing people? Wouldn't I go to Azkaban for that?"

"Not if everything goes successfully," Voldemort responded. "Draco's working in the Room of Requirement for his other task. You can practice there when you get back to school."

"O-okay," she replied.