𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 ; 𝒽.𝒷.𝓅

twenty-two

MALFOY MANOR

Lavinia Black walked along a long corridor in the Malfoy Manor. One side of her was a large window stretching down the entire hallway, while the other side had portraits of Malfoy ancestors. 

She hummed a nursery rhyme as she walked outside into the garden, "Brille, brille, petite étoile. Je me demande vraiment ce que tu es." 

She paid no bother to the icy air and the snow falling down. She ran her fingers over flowers that were bewitched to withstand the harsh cold weather as she looked up at the sky, "Au-dessus du monde si haut, Comme un diamant dans le ciel." She continued to sing softly. 

She picked a black rose from the garden and began to pluck each petal as she made her way through the garden, "Brille, brille, petite étoile, Je me demande vraiment ce que tu es."

"I did not know you spoke French."

She whirled around to Flynn, who was standing by a cherry tree with his hands comfortably behind his back. 

"We spoke it at home." She said, "But I was yelled at in German." She added, whispering her last sentence as she looked at him. 

"So why are you singing twinkle twinkle little star? Do you just like nursery rhymes?" He questioned. 

She held the rose tightly in her hand, not paying attention to the thorns digging into her scarred hand, "My brother, he would sing me lullabies. They thought I was insane, that I was a disgrace to the Black name. They left me out of family dinners in fear of what I would say or do... he would be the one to bring me food and calm me down after what they liked to call manic episodes."

"Sirius Black?" 

Lavinia let out an emotionless, breathy laugh, "Sirius Black." She parroted, "Is nothing more than a coward. Regulus Black. He cared about me. Thought being at Hogwarts would make me better..." She trailed off as she pulled the last petal off of the flower, "But things were no better."

"How so?"

She hummed, "Let's see..." She said, lying down in the snow, "Father is dead. Brother is sent to Azkaban for the murder of James and Lily Potter, brother is a Death Eater..."

"You're a Death Eater."

"That still has negative reactions from the public, does it not?" She questioned, looking up at him. He nodded and she continued, "I'm the crazy inbred heiress. The unreliable narrator of her own life." She said, tracing figures in the snow, "During my fourth year, I was given a love potion by the Quidditch of the Gryffindor team, he was in his seventh year. He had his way with me for a night, and made a joke of me the next day."

"Did you not tell anyone?"

She shook her head, "Who would have believed me?" She asked as she sat up from the snow, "Regulus was the only one who didn't deal with me. He took care of me. I wasn't allowed to attend his funeral."

"How old were you?"

"11." She said, her words barely a whisper. She stood up and traced her hand over a statue, "The Black family needs to come to an end. I've only got one more person left."

"Lavinia..." Flynn carefully said, "She's only a child."

"So was I when I was abandoned. I was a child when Sirius abandoned me, when Regulus died, when my parents died. Where is she?" Lavinia questioned as she slowly approached her, "I mean, I'm aware that you're only a spy."

Flynn's face flushed white, "I don't know–"

"Don't lie to me!" She yelled, "Where is she?!"

"I don't know. I swear to you. I'm not lying."