I Lived - Fred Weasley

A Loving Family

Over the course of the semester, Celeste had pulled countless pranks with George, Fred, and Lee. The four had also gotten almost as many detentions, but that was okay. Celeste was having fun.

When the Malfoy's firstborn wasn't spending time with her quartet, she was with Cedric Diggory. She liked spending time with the first year, he was less mischievous than her and her three tree other friends. Spending time with the Hufflepuff was refreshing, but not better or worse than her Gryffindor boys.

While her time at Hogwarts was entertaining, to say the least. It is now time to go home for the Christmas holidays. The growing anxiety she's been feeling in her stomach since she got sorted into Gryffindor is almost too much for her now. And, though she puts on a smile and a brave face for her friends, Celeste Malfoy is scared to go home.

On the platform, Celeste makes sure to hug her four friends goodbye.

"Don't forget to write!" Fred shouts before running off to who Celeste assumes is his mother.

"I won't!" Celeste shouts back before walking to her family, still wearing her Gryffindor robes. Is her choice of outfit bound to infuriate her family further? Yes. But the girl simply can't bring herself not to. If she's bound to get in trouble, she might as well do the most she can to earn it.

"Celeste," Narcissa Malfoy's sharp voice rings in her daughter's ears. "What are you wearing?"

"My robes, mother. Do you like them?"

Celeste's father and brother aren't there. Only her mother, looking absolutely disgusted at the sight of her own daughter.

Narcissa just harshly grabs her daughter's shoulder and disapparates to Malfoy Manor.

Celeste isn't greeted by her father. She is, however, greeted warmly by her little brother.

"Hello, sissy, have fun being a blood-traitor?" Draco Malfoy spits at his big sister. "You're lucky Mother and Father have allowed you to return home with you besmirching the Malfoy name."

"You're nine, Draco. You shouldn't be using words like besmirching. It's quite unsettling, really," the girl reprimands her little brother. "And you don't know what you're talking about. If you'd listen to me, I could help you understand–"

"I understand just fine, thank you. Just wait until I tell Father you're trying to brainwash me," the blonde boy smirks. "Father!" Draco runs off.

Celeste is punished for her attempt at "brainwashing" Draco. Lucius comes into her room that night and shouts at her for what feels like hours, telling his daughter just how big of a disappointment she is.

"Well, you raised me. So, whose fault is it, really, that I'm such a disappointment? You're the one who raised a blood-traitor–"

"Crucio!"

Blinding, hot pain shoots through the eleven-year-old girl's body as her screams echo throughout the entire manor. It doesn't stop until, eventually, she passes out.

—

That's how the rest of the holiday goes for Celeste Malfoy. Every interaction starts off with cold, forced civility. Eventually, something is said and Celeste can't hold her tongue. That always results in various curses from her father.

Dobby, the Malfoy house-elf, is the only one who shows Celeste any kindness in her own home. The elf brings her scraps of food and small goblets of water to keep the young girl alive. Tears well up in his golf ball eyes as he tends to his only kind master, a little girl he has come to love who is in so much pain. Regrettably, Dobby has been forbidden to tend to the girl's wounds.

Celeste has open wounds on her arms and back. They'll leave scars, if they aren't healed soon.
She gets letters from her friends. She secretly writes back and hides them from her family. Draco finds the letters and tells Lucius. Celeste's punishment is especially painful that time, she develops a temporary stutter as a result of it. Any letters she gets from her friends afterwards are immediately intercepted and thrown in the fire.

By the time Celeste gets to return to Hogwarts, her stutter is gone and most of her wounds are healed or have left scars. She is much paler than healthy and incredibly skinny, her cheeks are sunken and have lost their rosy hue. Even Dobby's valiant efforts were not enough to keep the girl from deteriorating.

When asked about her dramatic change in appearance, Celeste always smiles and replies the same. "The food back home is ghastly, I couldn't bring myself to eat a thing!" Her friends remain unconvinced, but stop asking questions. They haven't yet seen her scars, so they have no real proof she's lying.

This becomes the routine every time Celeste returns to Hogwarts after spending time at home. Another routine resulting from her family time are the terrible nightmares Celeste is plagued by for the first few weeks back at Hogwarts.

The bright side to this is that Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Celeste's remaining roommates after the other four left (they didn't want to sleep in proximity to a Malfoy), have stopped avoiding her. It's hard to think someone is a bad person when they have nightmares the way Celeste Malfoy does.

Angelina and Alicia ask about Celeste Malfoy's nightmares one day, about a week after they've returned from the summer holidays for their second year. Celeste explains that she simply has an incredibly active, and sometimes scary, imagination.

—

Celeste's second year goes about the same as the first. Pranks with Lee and the twins (who find an incredibly useful piece of parchment called "The Marauders Map") and time with Cedric. She spends time with Alicia and Angelina now that they're friends.

She also befriends a first year Gryffindor, Katie Bell, who joins Celeste, Angelina, and Alicia in their dormitory. Katie clicks better with those three than the other first year Gryffindor girls. The three older girls love rooming with Katie, so everyone's happy.

Phoebe Rosier goes from avoiding Celeste to tormenting her in subtle ways. The Rosier girl is a master of passive-aggression.

Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia join the Gryffindor quidditch team. Celeste and Lee opt to be co-announcers, which McGonagall loves.

Celeste has gotten better at hiding her letters from her family when she goes home. Lucius still finds reasons to punish her, regardless.

Celeste's second year ends with nothing too unusual. She's worried for her third year, though. Draco's going into first year. As is Fred and George's little brother, Ron. And, rumor has it, Harry Potter.