Bound to the Heart

Lottie's Letter

The Burke family had always been a family with proper ideals. Pureblood ideals. For generations it had been this way, and for many generations it had been a family that was proud. They were proud of their name and who they were, they were proud of the future purebloods and of the past. Past such as the likeness of Elizabeth Burke the former headmistress of Hogwarts.

Their pride came from more than just amazing breeding such as theirs. It also came from traditions. Traditions of Excellence. Like Elizabeth Burke or Caractacus Burke, the founder of Borgin and Burke's shop. And if there was one thing that Charlotte was clear of, it was that she had to be what everyone expected her to be. She needed to be quiet, to speak only when spoken to. She needed to be elegant and refined, at every damn moment of her life. And she needed to marry a pureblood by the age of 18. Otherwise she would never live up to the family legacy.

Her father Cadmus, had never been a death eater, although there was some speculation. Instead he and her mother, Della, had decided to leave the country after there had been rumors of the Dark Lord's return. They had met at Hogwarts their first day of school. Well, they met on the train, where it was love at first sight. From then on the two of them were inseparable. And when they got to a dating age they became a couple overnight. Years past and they kept going strong. When Hogwarts came to an end for them there were rumors of the Dark Lord. So they went to France and bought a villa in Bordeaux.

They lived there until the war was over, severing all contact with the Wizarding community in Britain. When the world rejoiced after the death of the Dark Lord, they rushed back to their home. Already married and independently wealthy, adding to the staggering wealth of the Burke Family.

The reason for their fleeing the country was due to Mordred Burke, her paternal grandfather. Mordred had been a death eater during the First Wizarding War. The Burke family had always held hatred and prejudices against muggles and muggleborns. So when a certain Tom Riddle came to her grandfather asking if he would like to join his army of Death Eater's he readily accepted. Years had passed and nothing really happened. Her grandfather never really received any tasks that did anything other than recruiting until September of 1981. Her grandfather had been summoned by his Lord and was asked to accompany the Lestranges and Fenir Greyback on an important mission. He accepted, and unfortunately he was one of the wizards that had tortured Professor Longbottom's parents to insanity. After his arrest her father at the age of 6 he decided to never leave his children's life.

Somehow, both of her parents continued the Tradition of Excellence, and in 2000 her brother Dominic was born. Nikki was the golden child, he could do no wrong. As the heir to the Burke fortune he had it made. And when he was sorted in to Slytherin their parents had bought him the most expensive broom that they could buy. With his brown hair and blue eyes, he had all of the girls swooning. And when he married Odette Zabini (the daughter of Blaise and Pansy Zabini) her parents couldn't have been prouder. He was everything that a well brought up Pureblood should be.

Then there was Charlotte who was 5 years younger than Dominic. Charlotte, or Lottie to her friends only, was a beauty, as she needed to be to land a respectable husband. With her strawberry blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was short at 5 foot 3 on the dot. She was curvaceous and her hair reached to the middle of her back. She had been the curveball in her parent's respectable lives.

Because she was a girl she was unable to inherit anything, and because she was the second, she would have been overlooked anyway. She often wasn't paid much attention, but that didn't matter because she would rather not have the attention anyway. She would rather be reading a book, imagining her life as different. A handsome young man to sweep her off of her feet. Where she had a large family that loved her desperately. Such dreams where fantasies. In fact she was sure that as soon as she graduated at the end of this year her parents would force her to marry.