Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
audere est facere; to do is to dare
✧
Anthea had grown up in a loveless home.
Almost. She knew that her parents cared for her, that they had worked hard to ensure that she grew up with their ideals and morals, that her room always had the finest of hand-painted damask wallpapers, the comfiest of pillows, the prettiest of dollhouses, that every meal she ate had been prepared with care and tasted heavenly.
Narcissa, her mother, had made sure she was dressed forever in the highest quality of clothes, that her hair felt like silk, that every ribbon that tied it back was velvet. She had assigned governesses, practised French and kept an orderly house. They spent summers in her family's French ancestral chateau, learnt manners and decorum and which spoon to use when a dinner party was hosted at their home.
Lucius, her father, took care of the family business, but ensured he was there in time for dinner most nights. He bought her a horse with the finest leather tack, ordered the library be cleaned and updated where necessary, he taught herself and her brother to fence, answered their questions truthfully no matter whether they were too young to know or not. He told them tales of time he had served as a Death Eater without much worry and made them promise not to tell their mother which ensured two giggly children running away with confirmation spilling from their lips.
Draco, her twin brother, had been her best friend for as long as she could remember.
Anthea supposed it was unfair to say that it was loveless.
Her parents did love their children, that was shown in their actions. But the love that Anthea had read about throughout the entirety of her life didn't seem to match what she had experienced. However she knew just as well that she was lucky to lead the life that she did, and that she shouldn't be upset by these misgivings when many others suffered.
And she knew there was far more for her to be upset by that she chose not to.
✧
Lucius Malfoy's marriage to Narcissa Black was seen as appropriate; both were pure-blood, wealthy, a fondness for the lavish lifestyles they had grown up with and similar anti-Muggle sentiments. It seemed like only a commodity that they loved one another too.
When they were married, they moved to live in Lucius's estate; a manor in Wiltshire complete with acres of lands, a stables and a muster of peacocks curated over generations of Malfoys before. However, despite it being expected of the woman to be quick to provide an heir, it became obvious that with the world they lived in, and as much efforts that came from Lucius into the position as one of Voldemort's inner-circle, they were in no place to have a child.
And as such, they waited. It wasn't until September of 1979 that Narcissa discovered she was pregnant. The following year, on the 5th of June, she gave birth to not one heir, but two. Draco and Anthea; not identical but indistinguishable all the same.
For their children, Narcissa and Lucius would do anything. He worked tirelessly to remain one of Voldemort's most trusted, a faithful servant and leading many successful battles for him, protecting his family from the wrath of the Dark Lord and a year after the birth of their children, Lucius would return home and inform his wife of the prophecy and Voldemort would be defeated at the hands of Harry Potter, a direct result of the knowledge within this telling.
Whilst Lucius and Narcissa agreed with the ideals, beliefs and behaviour, and Lucius had strived to show his support, with his defeat and subsequent trials, they became quick to disparage this. Not in it's entirety - no, that couldn't be done - but through a tight-knit web of connections that Lucius had created through visits to the Ministry, as well as a careful campaign of bribery, blackmail, and flattery which meant that when he was placed in front of a council and asked of his involvement, many high-ranking officials could corroborate his defence of being under the Imperius curse.
And Lucius was freed from blame and guilt for what he had done during the Wizarding War and instead continued in his content in the settled life he lived; family wealth ensured he had no need to work; and upholding his influence in the Ministry of Magic.
With the death of Lord Voldemort, Anthea and Draco grew up in the lap of luxury. They knew only the best; Lucius and Narcissa ensured they befriended the children of their peers, who came from family connections and those who shared their beliefs. Balls, dinner parties, charity events and Ministry galas where they could show off their perfect, well-spoken children.
The twins were quick to grow connections of their own; sons and daughters of those selected by their parents. Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass - and the list would go on, a group sure to remain friends throughout the years, birthday parties and assigned days for visits to manors and properties across the south.
And whilst both twins flourished within their group, it became glaringly obvious that whilst they shared the trademark blonde hair and air of a Malfoy, Anthea was a little different to her brother. Draco was a natural leader of them whilst Anthea tended to trail behind, she listened attentively whilst he interrupted with questions and corrections, he was quick to show off his skills and education whilst she only did so when prompted, Anthea showed little delight in their carefully honed beliefs of those below them whilst Draco showed much more.
Anthea seemed to flourish only in Draco's shadow, and became known so. Neither Narcissa nor Lucius - despite their many attempts - could do much to change this and instead employed the correct image that Anthea, whilst a little on the shy side, was studious and reserved, polite and conscientious.
No matter their differences, nor the number of acquaintances and friends the twins shared, nothing could quite replace the bond that came with their siblinghood. It was obvious, despite her aversion to the family's political standing, that Draco loved his sister. She was, for lack of a better term, his best friend.
Their parents, whilst love they did show them, didn't create the bond that Anthea was so prone to reading about. They didn't have children to display their love, merely as a necessity for the family. Draco and Anthea were canvases upon which they could paint the perfect image for their family, a means to further their beliefs and wishes on the world. Anthea could not speak of her worries to her mother, whilst Draco could not show emotions to his father. They were dolls to sit perfectly on the mantlepiece, never to be played with.
With this sentiment of comfort missing from their mother and father, Draco and Anthea shared it between themselves. There was mutual understanding despite missing similarities; and even at a young age they shared the knowledge that really, they didn't have anyone else in the world. Their parents would do much to ensure their safety and heirs, but loyalties could be tested. Friendships could be reduced to threads, familial devotion could turn tides and everything change in moments but nothing, absolutely nothing, could destroy what had come to the Malfoy twins over the years.
It didn't matter to him, whether Anthea agreed or disagreed with what had been drilled into them since he could remember. She was his twin, his sister, his best friend, and he would do as much as he could to ensure her safety, even in the face of Voldemort's return.
