Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 77

Upon hearing those words, Alexandra felt as if someone had emptied a bucket full of ice on her as she froze on the spot, feeling like her knees were just about to give in.

"Edna?" she repeated, her voice feeble and faint. "Is she — is she — dead?" she whispered the last word so quietly that it was barely audible as her eyes filled up with tears.

But to her relief, Regulus shook his head. "No... no she's not. They — they've got her."

"What do you mean they've got her!?" Alexandra nearly shouted. Edna was the only parent figure she'd ever known, closer to her than a mother. The mere thought of her being hurt was like torture to her mind and soul.

Regulus nervously looked around and then went forward to grab onto Alexandra arm, leading her away until they finally reached a deserted chamber, where they could talk freely.

"Listen, they have her captive," Regulus said in a hushed tone. "They — they've become impatient."

"Impatient? For what —" Alexandra was saying, that the realization suddenly hit. "It's because of me... they've got Edna because of me... because I have refused to join them... they — they killed my grandpa — and now — now they've got Edna! This is all my fault!"

Alexandra felt as if she was having a panic attack and broke into tears, her breathing becoming rapid, as though no air was left in the room.

"My faul... All my fault..." she kept mumbling under her breath, pacing around as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Alex..." Regulus breathed out, moving forward to bring her into a tight hug.

Alexandra was trying to break free at first, but she finally gave up and clutched onto his robe, crying against his chest as he stroke her raven black hair.

"Why do they want you on their side so badly?" Regulus questioned, holding her tightly in his embrace. "All I knew was that it had something to do with your parents... but why is it so important to him?"

"I-It's because of me — b-because of my f-father's bloodline," she sobbed. "He was a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw a-and now I'm her last l-living heir."

Regulus's eyes widened. At first he thought that he had heard her wrong, but as he thought about it, he realized that it all made sense. This was why the Dark Lord wanted her on his side, and exact reason he had ordered to kill her parents all those years ago was that they too had refused to join him.

Alexandra had shown that she couldn't careless for her own safety against him and rather die than to join. But when it came to Edna — the woman who had raised her like her own daughter — she saw no choice in the matter.

"They have Edna captive because of me," she whimpered, pulling away from his arms. "They want me... not her. They'll kill her if I don't listen to them now."

Regulus had no words to say to her in order to make her feel better. Mainly because he knew that she was right. They had taken Edna as a warning; if she dared to even think about running away or rejecting them again, they would kill her.

"They've left me no other choice..." Alexandra whispered, mostly talking to herself now.

"What?" Regulus stared back at her.

"I will do it, if that's what it takes to save her," Alexander muttered weakly, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand before looking back up at Regulus. "I'll join the Dark Lord."

***

It was obvious to Regulus and probably everyone else that Alexandra had changed from that day on. She was no longer that dreamy and cheerful girl who always giggled and laughed, finding the beauty of the world in every passing moment.

The classes and exams hardly mattered to her anymore as the weeks passed by, now that she had more nerve racking matters in her mind; which was the fact that she would forever be scarred by the Dark Mark, forced to serve the darkest wizard of all time.

But she knew that if she wanted Edna to be safe, this was the price she had to pay for her freedom. After all, Alexandra knew that this was all her fault. If she had joined them last year like they had asked, none of this would've happened.

Time had lost its meaning to her. It was nothing but a reason to breathe, awaiting the day that their seventh year at Hogwarts would come to an end, and then she would have to become a Death Eater.

She barely felt the time pass by and didn't care of the results of her N.E.W.Ts after they were over with them. It didn't mattered to her if she had got top scores in them all, or whether she had failed each and every one of them. She simply couldn't care.

Even Regulus had indifference to Slytherin winning the Quidditch Cup at the end of that year, seeing as his thoughts were on Alexandra, and on her only. He tried to be there for her and to comfort her every chance that he got, but there wasn't much he could do to make her feel better and to decrease her worries.

Alexandra eventually told Regulus the truth about Marcellus Starling, and how he wasn't really her grandfather in the first place, and that Marcellus had only taken her in partly out of guilt and pity, and because the Dark Lord wanted her alive.

By the time their seventh year at Hogwarts was coming to an end, Alexandra's anxiety had multiplied, and she didn't know which part was making her feel worse; the thought of Edna being captured and hurt, or knowing that she would be a Death Eater until the day she died.