𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌// 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐎𝐂

4.0 °𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄, 𝐓𝐖𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄

JINX; AUGUST

The woman was speaking to me from toward the end of the colossally large table that lay smack dab in the middle of the room. She stood from her place, making her way across the room. A man with long blond hair joined her along with a young boy with hair the same shade. This was my family. All three of them. My family.

"Aunt Narcissa, Uncle Lucius, and Draco, right?"

"Correct, but you can call me Auntie if you like." Auntie Cissa assured, tentatively drawing closer to me. "It's been so long, Jinxie." She reached out with meek hesitance, warm hand on my shoulder. "Far too long."

"I didn't even know I had a cousin." Draco said, his face screwed up into a perpetual disgusted look. "Are you really from America?"

"Quiet Draco." Uncle Lucius harshly ordered, smacking the boy lightly with the ornate cane he carried. The top of it carried a snake carved from silver with its mouth drawn open, ready to bite. "We mustn't be rude to house guests."

A house guest? Was I visiting? Was this temporary? Would they just dump me away if another accident happened?

"She's not a house guest." Aunt Cissa hissed, the blonde locks in her dark black hair reflecting in the firelight. Pitiful warmth filled the giant room coming from marble fireplace. Green flakes licked from the hearth, crackling repetitively. "Jinxon is our family." Turning back to me, she bent down slightly to be level to my own face. "You're home, Jinxon. This is your home as much as it is ours."

"Of course." Lucius enunciated coldly. "My mistake. I must have forgotten myself for a moment. Language is silly that way, isn't it?"

"Why are you dressed like that?" Draco asked, his light blue eyes sharply piercing into me.

"Draco!" Now it was his mother's turn to chastise him, her jaw clenching. "Did I not raise you to be polite? Be kind to your cousin!"

"I don't even know her, Mum." Draco protested, stabbing glances my way.

"Like what?" I cut in, a dreadful feeling settling deep in the depths of my stomach. "Like an orphan or like I'm poor?"

"Both."

"Draco!" Auntie Cissa was furious now, seizing his shoulder. "Apologize at once!"

"But I didn't do anythi-"

"It's fine." I cut him off once again, voice accidentally breaking. My face felt hot as did the rest of my body. "I'm an orphan and I'm poor, aren't I?"

"No. No, Jinx." Auntie Cissa objected, shaking her small sculpted jaw. All of them looked carved from marble, the way their features were shaped. Especially Draco and Uncle Lucius. They were about as cold as marble. "Not anymore. You don't have to worry about such things. You have us."

"Yes." Uncle Lucius spoke slowly, a mocking edge on his voice. "You have us. Narcissa why don't you take the children into town tomorrow. Buy Draco the new Comet Two Sixty and Jinxon some new clothes." His turned up nose remained pointing to the ceiling. "She's a Lestrange. She should dress like one, yes?"

His words made me feel less than. My clothes didn't seem so nice anymore. My converse high tops seemed battered with the tears in the sides of the canvas material.