mickume/harry_potter_tiny · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 12 10.4k
Draco had no idea what he meant expect that it was probably a threat to him.
"But this is my mind. The memory stays with me", Astoria said it like a command. No one disputed that.
"How?", is all Draco managed in disbelief.
"Because it’s my mind", Nicola answered.
"Mine," Astoria hissed.
"Do you hate me?", Draco said suddenly and then shut his lips closed. It felt forbidden to ask and he regretted it instantly.
"Not yet", he said back to her.
"Are you even hearing him!?", Nicola creamed and his voice circled around them like a closing echo.
"They are looking for you everywhere. Voldemort is pushing your father to bring you to his side. They know you have the eye", Draco turned and spoke in one breath.
Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the shame. His grey eyes lingered away from her as she posed the question and suddenly there was no need to answer it. She could hear it in his mind. It was him. Draco told them. He slipped and showed them in his memories, Bellatrix was there. Astoria could see her black curls spilling over his face as sweat fell to his chin. Her wand was twisting on his forehead as she hissed and spat over him. A twitch of pain ran though her like an echo.
"I told you he is dangerous to us", Nicola screamed furiously at her.
"They were going to know, sooner or later".
"Time matters for us", he snapped.
"My cousin and my aunt? How are they?"
"I know they are personally offering a great piece of fortune for someone to kill you".
"I spoiled her and now she spends my money to wish me dead", Nicola said angrily at himself more than any of them. He threw his hand in the air and then hid his face with them in desperation.
"Why is he in your head?", Draco suddenly asked as he remembered what Potter had once told him. It was to warn him, but she didn’t seem interested in explaining.
"And my father? Is he in danger?".
"Everyone is in danger, there is a constant push to climb the ranks. You do so or you die and as one falls, others step over them and fill the spot".
"If you kill my father, I will kill you", Astoria said sharply as she stared in his eyes, she lifted a finger like a threat and her voice, her mannerism changed. "I will torture you like this for days until I wake you up only to kill you slow".
"I won’t", Draco said quietly, almost speechless.
"Tell him you saw me. Tell him I am okay".
He nodded as words got stuck behind his teeth.
"What are you doing in the castle?".
It grew hotter. There was sweat dripping from his forehead, going down his face. He could feel his hair get heavy the way it did after hours of physical training. Yet he had barely moved and it seemed to him that everything was still and dark in here. His clothes were soaked. But it was dark everywhere around him yet he felt like he was standing next to the sun itself.
The difference was confusing. It made him dizzy and energy disappeared through his pores. He fell on his knees.
"What does you Dark Lord want from me?"
When Draco lifted his chin he saw Astoria next to him. Her fingers were twisted in a grip around his clothes, she had grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him to get his attention back to her. All the boy thought was about dying, about finally resting.
"He said he admired your grandfather".
Nicola raised an eyebrow and let out a mocking laugh.
"He wants me dead".
"I think about it sometimes", she said quietly as the whisper barely left her lips. Draco shook in horror. He could feel her let him go.
"away", he pleaded with her. His fingers hugged her face as he tried to meet her eyes. There was something dying inside of her.
"I could get my fortune. My heritage. My castle. My life back – "
"No, no, no", he whispered against her face, "He will hurt you and he will separate us".
"You already did that yourself!", she hissed back at him.
"My mother – ", Draco whimpered.
Astoria held her breath. He had told her before.
"Then what about my father? Do I leave him there to his death?"
"You are the only one that matters", Nicola hissed behind her.
"Astoria, listen to me", Draco said as his head leapt back lifeless, his vision gone, "Potter is going to lose this war."
And he could feel the panic she felt in that moment. It only now occurred to him that Astoria never really weighted down the reality of her situation, of her options. It didn’t surprise her, yet she never let it be true in her mind. Harry was her friend, her only friend. He was such a sweet and charming boy. She could never imagine him dead.
"Listen to me", Draco screamed in the darkness as his body fell from her fingers and hit the floor. "Stay hidden. Stay put. I will come for you. I will take you after the war. Hide you if I must. Please, please, go away – "
Nicola stepped forward and gave Astoria his hand. She took it and they both rose above the whimpering boy on the glass. He looked down and so did she. Draco wasn’t seeing them anymore.
"He’s losing it", Nicola noted and stared at her as if to test her.
"It’s pointless", she replied, "they will use me as a weapon, or they will rid of me".
The connection broke. Draco jumped back to his feet and then fell down in an instant, unable to find strength. Theo was gasping for air a few steps away from his, gripping his own throat with both of his hands. Blaise’s body twitched once more next to Draco’s leg. There was no one around them.
"We need to go", Draco said, his voice still recovering. "Get it done."
Something sharp inside of her moved. Her body flinched on its own. A strange sensation of the lack of control over her limbs ran through her body. Unwillingly she got up from the bed but crumbled to her knees on the floor.
That woke her up. Astoria recognized the sensation, she was already familiar with it. Quite unpleasant, no mistake in that. Her eyes stared into the darkness of the room, but nothing lurked in the shadows, so she reached to the window. Something struck her attention. A rock was moved and strangely put in the middle of nowhere. For someone who spent half an year staring from that window and doing nothing else, Astoria knew every rock, every fallen leaf from the passing autumn, every dead flower and dried bush.
A sign, she figured, a warning. Her hands reached for her robe and snuck out of the room. It could be her father. It could be Dumbledore. It could be Draco Malfoy. It could be trap.
Something shined her way and blinded her for a second as her eyes forced themselves to get accustomed to the light. A reading lamp was flickering through the crack of the open door. Astoria held her breath, went still and sharpened her hearing. Fred and George, the Weasely twins, also Ron and Harry were discussing something. Hermione laughed. Anger pushed and curiosity got the better of her as Astoria peaked through the door.
They were having a late night gathering. Bottles of beer were scattered on the floor, Hermione was hugging an open book in her lap but paid more attention to Ron who seemed to be in the center of the chat.
They didn’t invite me, Astoria thought bitterly but felt she had no right over those feelings. How many Gryffindor late night drinks had she missed, her only sin, being a Slytherin. It was natural to exclude her.
She turned away. Remaining quiet was crucial. The doors creaked everywhere in this damn old house. The estate belonged to the Black’s, she figured at one point. But Sirius Black was dead and she knew no other hairs. Maybe Lupin inherited it, or Harry. He was fairly rich in her knowledge, and Sirius was like a father to him.
Wind stinged her cheeks and blew away the hair from her face. Astoria quickened to cover her head with the robe so no one could see her or at least recognize her.
Now when she took a better look, the rock below her bedroom’s window looked like any other rock/ It’s just that she spent so much time staring through that windor, looking at the same view of nature in the frame, watching seasons pass without her. If a leaf would fall, she’d memorize the place it landed and watch it decay each day.
The rook was moved on purpose, no doubt. It was harder to tell by whom or for what reason. Firstly, she examined it with her eyes from all corners and only then reached out to touch the cold surface.
It sucked her in before she could even react out of surprise. Time and space twisted around her in a loop and suddenly she felt the cold ground as her body crashed on it. It was a wooden floor, not cold ground. Astoria bruised her knuckles but got up and lifted her head. A room revealed itself to her, most of it hidden in the dark of the night, but still a abnormally large room. It looked fancy, she observed, a bit old, medieval even. The possibility of time travel occurred to her, but she dismissed it quick. This was an old house of an old and rich family. They kept their old money and furniture since the dawn of time.
It could be Malfoy Manner, but it’s familiar –
A man in a portrait faced her with two glowing red eyes. He looked like a vampire but different. Unhuman, deformed under the influence of dark magic, leaving behind their humanity. It was a result of a unnatural and long life, altered by magic. The same mutations were rumored to disfigure Voldemort’s features. Astoria was looking in a mirror that showed the feature.
But it was still a man looking at her, with black hair that ran silver on some spots and a scar on his face that ran through one of his eyes.
"Nicola Elroy", a voice that came behind her announced. "My father in his last year."
Astoria immediately turned to follow the voice and found a man, hiding in shadows. He sat in a wooden chair that looked rather simple next to a cold fireplace. Ilay Elroy was staring back at her with his brown eyes and bored expression.
"When he commissioned it, he didn’t know he’d live only a few months before Dumbledore snatches his wand and kills him".
"The most powerful wand a wizard could possess. A gift from Death"
"That’s a different story and it’s time has passed. I need to speak to you", he said rapidly changing the subject, his eyes shining, "my daughter".
"They will know I’m missing, and he could see this in your memories", Astoria interrupted him as she rose to her feet.
It was Draco Malfoy that had warned her and confirmed to her that Voldemort uses Legilimancy. And with that it was obvious he kept his soldiers in line with tyranny and fear, rather than trust and loyalty. But her father did not share her worry and fear couldn’t touch him.
"I have been tortured by your grandfather more than all his enemies combined. My mind is unpierceable unless I allow it", he replied calmly, rather bored of it.
There was nothing else to protest. Astoria held his gaze and then yielded to curiosity, stealing a look around. This could be my house, my home, she thought bitterly as she found herself liking the interior, the huge space the room offered and the freedom in it. This was in fact her home in another life. It felt familiar. The fireplace, the chair that she knew had leather seats and her crest, the same one on her pin, embodied in that same letter. It was a commission, she remembered the fine work even without seeing her and it made her dizzy as her mind flooded with foreign memories.
"Do you have a picture like that of my mother?", she said suddenly.
No rest came to her when it came to her mother. Astoria would lay awake some nights trying to remember even a glimpse of her and then spend the morning, looking at her reflection in the window. A finger dragging around her facial features – the shape of her lips, the tip of her nose and the length of it. All of it in hope to find a clue, to find something she would recognize foreign an associate it to her mother’s bloodline. Then she’d fall in a horrible dream-like state, shaking in fear around the though of her mother’s death. How did she die exactly? Who killed her? Was it fast? Was it painless? Did she scream?
There was a woman in her consciousness that screamed, but she looked old-fashioned. In a way, not modern enough to be her mother. She was crying hysterically, speaking so fast no words reached Astoria, a hand leapt from her, stretching in desperation to reach something and then she’d scream. An inconsolable desperation, that’s what Astoria felt in that memory and it was never revealed to her
"No", he said coldly, "I do not keep them".
"I barely knew your mother when she got pregnant with you. It’s still a pity what happened."
"What happened?", Astoria followed up almost immediately after.
"I wasn’t there", Ilay said slowly, looking away from her, "it would’ve been different if I was".
"Who did it? How?"
"This is not why I called you here. You are in danger, dearest".
Danger was a warning she heard almost every day. They’d always remind her she will be in danger if she left the house. If she wished to speak to Dumbledore, he’d tell her she’s in danger. Everything meant danger, but time passed by her and she wasted away. It was like watching yourself die in the mirror. Every day – wasted and gone. Her short life, shortened. Danger never left.
"I demand to know", Astoria’s voice grew louder with the fury inside. "What happened to my mother?"
"Some other time, dearest", Ilay said and his voice was desperate. That startled Astoria and she quickly changed her attitude, going still and silent. "Something happened tonight. The war is lost for you."
"What happened?"
"They are going to come now. For your friends. I don’t know if you care for them, but you need to let them go now. You will die if you stay there."
The house, Astoria realized. That small estate the Black’s had was somehow revealed to the Death Eaters. And they were coming. But Astoria didn’t have the time to waste away in doubt did she really wanted to save those people or not, because it was clear to her that the real enemy was coming for her and for them as well. Ilay’s face was stoic, almost expressionless and she tried to cheat her way in, looked for a door but found his words earlier to be true. All doors were locked and unreachable.
"What happened?", she insisted.
"I’d rather not say. I don’t want you to fight the Death Eaters. Hide away now".
"But my family – ", Astoria tried to protest but he cut her off.
"I am your family and I’m telling you to forget about me. I know Nicola tells you about duty and how you’re his hair. Forget that, times have changed, our family doesn’t have the power it did centuries ago. Fighting will only mean death".
It was true, Nicola spoke to her about that. What it means to be an Elroy. Her power, her fortune, her family’s history. Her history. Her lives. All the time it took for her to be born again, to taste life again. The feeling of nostalgia appeared. Things seemed familiar in a different way and they were sweeter now. There was a sensation that she was close, that soon the lines between past and present will blur.
"Then what am I supposed to do?", Astoria pleaded. So many expectations rested on her. So many desires.
"Live for yourself. Go somewhere you wish to go. Not in Europe. Leave this retched land that is soaked with our blood. Explore and enjoy life. This is what I want for you. I know my father will fight with you for this, but he is wrong, and his ambition got him killed and weakened us. He never considered that times change".
"You know how our – my consciousness works. Why do you pretend otherwise?", Astoria snapped because there was no Nicola anymore and he must know that.
"One is ambition. A ancient will that bounds you to this family’s curse. The other is the choice of free will and you grew up unburden by this family. Find freedom. This is your chance", Ilay said and smiled, the sincerest smile Astoria had seen.
"Everyone keeps saying that the times have changed. What does that have to do with me?"
"There was a moment in history where our name struck fear in the hearts of kings and wizards. We, you had no equal. But this is not relevant anymore. Magic has advanced. It is best, at one point in time, to move on".
"You fear him more than me?", Astoria said quietly.
"Yes I do, I have never seen anything like that", he took a deep breath after his words.
"What is he like?"

Draco had no idea what he meant expect that it was probably a threat to him.

"But this is my mind. The memory stays with me", Astoria said it like a command. No one disputed that.

"How?", is all Draco managed in disbelief.

"Because it’s my mind", Nicola answered.

"Mine," Astoria hissed.

"Do you hate me?", Draco said suddenly and then shut his lips closed. It felt forbidden to ask and he regretted it instantly.

"Not yet", he said back to her.

"Are you even hearing him!?", Nicola creamed and his voice circled around them like a closing echo.

"They are looking for you everywhere. Voldemort is pushing your father to bring you to his side. They know you have the eye", Draco turned and spoke in one breath.

Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the shame. His grey eyes lingered away from her as she posed the question and suddenly there was no need to answer it. She could hear it in his mind. It was him. Draco told them. He slipped and showed them in his memories, Bellatrix was there. Astoria could see her black curls spilling over his face as sweat fell to his chin. Her wand was twisting on his forehead as she hissed and spat over him. A twitch of pain ran though her like an echo.

"I told you he is dangerous to us", Nicola screamed furiously at her.

"They were going to know, sooner or later".

"Time matters for us", he snapped.

"My cousin and my aunt? How are they?"

"I know they are personally offering a great piece of fortune for someone to kill you".

"I spoiled her and now she spends my money to wish me dead", Nicola said angrily at himself more than any of them. He threw his hand in the air and then hid his face with them in desperation.

"Why is he in your head?", Draco suddenly asked as he remembered what Potter had once told him. It was to warn him, but she didn’t seem interested in explaining.

"And my father? Is he in danger?".

"Everyone is in danger, there is a constant push to climb the ranks. You do so or you die and as one falls, others step over them and fill the spot".

"If you kill my father, I will kill you", Astoria said sharply as she stared in his eyes, she lifted a finger like a threat and her voice, her mannerism changed. "I will torture you like this for days until I wake you up only to kill you slow".

"I won’t", Draco said quietly, almost speechless.

"Tell him you saw me. Tell him I am okay".

He nodded as words got stuck behind his teeth.

"What are you doing in the castle?".

It grew hotter. There was sweat dripping from his forehead, going down his face. He could feel his hair get heavy the way it did after hours of physical training. Yet he had barely moved and it seemed to him that everything was still and dark in here. His clothes were soaked. But it was dark everywhere around him yet he felt like he was standing next to the sun itself.

The difference was confusing. It made him dizzy and energy disappeared through his pores. He fell on his knees.

"What does you Dark Lord want from me?"

When Draco lifted his chin he saw Astoria next to him. Her fingers were twisted in a grip around his clothes, she had grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him to get his attention back to her. All the boy thought was about dying, about finally resting.

"He said he admired your grandfather".

Nicola raised an eyebrow and let out a mocking laugh.

"He wants me dead".

"I think about it sometimes", she said quietly as the whisper barely left her lips. Draco shook in horror. He could feel her let him go.

"away", he pleaded with her. His fingers hugged her face as he tried to meet her eyes. There was something dying inside of her.

"I could get my fortune. My heritage. My castle. My life back – "

"No, no, no", he whispered against her face, "He will hurt you and he will separate us".

"You already did that yourself!", she hissed back at him.

"My mother – ", Draco whimpered.

Astoria held her breath. He had told her before.

"Then what about my father? Do I leave him there to his death?"

"You are the only one that matters", Nicola hissed behind her.

"Astoria, listen to me", Draco said as his head leapt back lifeless, his vision gone, "Potter is going to lose this war."

And he could feel the panic she felt in that moment. It only now occurred to him that Astoria never really weighted down the reality of her situation, of her options. It didn’t surprise her, yet she never let it be true in her mind. Harry was her friend, her only friend. He was such a sweet and charming boy. She could never imagine him dead.

"Listen to me", Draco screamed in the darkness as his body fell from her fingers and hit the floor. "Stay hidden. Stay put. I will come for you. I will take you after the war. Hide you if I must. Please, please, go away – "

Nicola stepped forward and gave Astoria his hand. She took it and they both rose above the whimpering boy on the glass. He looked down and so did she. Draco wasn’t seeing them anymore.

"He’s losing it", Nicola noted and stared at her as if to test her.

"It’s pointless", she replied, "they will use me as a weapon, or they will rid of me".

The connection broke. Draco jumped back to his feet and then fell down in an instant, unable to find strength. Theo was gasping for air a few steps away from his, gripping his own throat with both of his hands. Blaise’s body twitched once more next to Draco’s leg. There was no one around them.

"We need to go", Draco said, his voice still recovering. "Get it done."

Something sharp inside of her moved. Her body flinched on its own. A strange sensation of the lack of control over her limbs ran through her body. Unwillingly she got up from the bed but crumbled to her knees on the floor.

That woke her up. Astoria recognized the sensation, she was already familiar with it. Quite unpleasant, no mistake in that. Her eyes stared into the darkness of the room, but nothing lurked in the shadows, so she reached to the window. Something struck her attention. A rock was moved and strangely put in the middle of nowhere. For someone who spent half an year staring from that window and doing nothing else, Astoria knew every rock, every fallen leaf from the passing autumn, every dead flower and dried bush.

A sign, she figured, a warning. Her hands reached for her robe and snuck out of the room. It could be her father. It could be Dumbledore. It could be Draco Malfoy. It could be trap.

Something shined her way and blinded her for a second as her eyes forced themselves to get accustomed to the light. A reading lamp was flickering through the crack of the open door. Astoria held her breath, went still and sharpened her hearing. Fred and George, the Weasely twins, also Ron and Harry were discussing something. Hermione laughed. Anger pushed and curiosity got the better of her as Astoria peaked through the door.

They were having a late night gathering. Bottles of beer were scattered on the floor, Hermione was hugging an open book in her lap but paid more attention to Ron who seemed to be in the center of the chat.

They didn’t invite me, Astoria thought bitterly but felt she had no right over those feelings. How many Gryffindor late night drinks had she missed, her only sin, being a Slytherin. It was natural to exclude her.

She turned away. Remaining quiet was crucial. The doors creaked everywhere in this damn old house. The estate belonged to the Black’s, she figured at one point. But Sirius Black was dead and she knew no other hairs. Maybe Lupin inherited it, or Harry. He was fairly rich in her knowledge, and Sirius was like a father to him.

Wind stinged her cheeks and blew away the hair from her face. Astoria quickened to cover her head with the robe so no one could see her or at least recognize her.

Now when she took a better look, the rock below her bedroom’s window looked like any other rock/ It’s just that she spent so much time staring through that windor, looking at the same view of nature in the frame, watching seasons pass without her. If a leaf would fall, she’d memorize the place it landed and watch it decay each day.

The rook was moved on purpose, no doubt. It was harder to tell by whom or for what reason. Firstly, she examined it with her eyes from all corners and only then reached out to touch the cold surface.

It sucked her in before she could even react out of surprise. Time and space twisted around her in a loop and suddenly she felt the cold ground as her body crashed on it. It was a wooden floor, not cold ground. Astoria bruised her knuckles but got up and lifted her head. A room revealed itself to her, most of it hidden in the dark of the night, but still a abnormally large room. It looked fancy, she observed, a bit old, medieval even. The possibility of time travel occurred to her, but she dismissed it quick. This was an old house of an old and rich family. They kept their old money and furniture since the dawn of time.

It could be Malfoy Manner, but it’s familiar –

A man in a portrait faced her with two glowing red eyes. He looked like a vampire but different. Unhuman, deformed under the influence of dark magic, leaving behind their humanity. It was a result of a unnatural and long life, altered by magic. The same mutations were rumored to disfigure Voldemort’s features. Astoria was looking in a mirror that showed the feature.

But it was still a man looking at her, with black hair that ran silver on some spots and a scar on his face that ran through one of his eyes.

"Nicola Elroy", a voice that came behind her announced. "My father in his last year."

Astoria immediately turned to follow the voice and found a man, hiding in shadows. He sat in a wooden chair that looked rather simple next to a cold fireplace. Ilay Elroy was staring back at her with his brown eyes and bored expression.

"When he commissioned it, he didn’t know he’d live only a few months before Dumbledore snatches his wand and kills him".

"The most powerful wand a wizard could possess. A gift from Death"

"That’s a different story and it’s time has passed. I need to speak to you", he said rapidly changing the subject, his eyes shining, "my daughter".

"They will know I’m missing, and he could see this in your memories", Astoria interrupted him as she rose to her feet.

It was Draco Malfoy that had warned her and confirmed to her that Voldemort uses Legilimancy. And with that it was obvious he kept his soldiers in line with tyranny and fear, rather than trust and loyalty. But her father did not share her worry and fear couldn’t touch him.

"I have been tortured by your grandfather more than all his enemies combined. My mind is unpierceable unless I allow it", he replied calmly, rather bored of it.

There was nothing else to protest. Astoria held his gaze and then yielded to curiosity, stealing a look around. This could be my house, my home, she thought bitterly as she found herself liking the interior, the huge space the room offered and the freedom in it. This was in fact her home in another life. It felt familiar. The fireplace, the chair that she knew had leather seats and her crest, the same one on her pin, embodied in that same letter. It was a commission, she remembered the fine work even without seeing her and it made her dizzy as her mind flooded with foreign memories.

"Do you have a picture like that of my mother?", she said suddenly.

No rest came to her when it came to her mother. Astoria would lay awake some nights trying to remember even a glimpse of her and then spend the morning, looking at her reflection in the window. A finger dragging around her facial features – the shape of her lips, the tip of her nose and the length of it. All of it in hope to find a clue, to find something she would recognize foreign an associate it to her mother’s bloodline. Then she’d fall in a horrible dream-like state, shaking in fear around the though of her mother’s death. How did she die exactly? Who killed her? Was it fast? Was it painless? Did she scream?

There was a woman in her consciousness that screamed, but she looked old-fashioned. In a way, not modern enough to be her mother. She was crying hysterically, speaking so fast no words reached Astoria, a hand leapt from her, stretching in desperation to reach something and then she’d scream. An inconsolable desperation, that’s what Astoria felt in that memory and it was never revealed to her

"No", he said coldly, "I do not keep them".

"I barely knew your mother when she got pregnant with you. It’s still a pity what happened."

"What happened?", Astoria followed up almost immediately after.

"I wasn’t there", Ilay said slowly, looking away from her, "it would’ve been different if I was".

"Who did it? How?"

"This is not why I called you here. You are in danger, dearest".

Danger was a warning she heard almost every day. They’d always remind her she will be in danger if she left the house. If she wished to speak to Dumbledore, he’d tell her she’s in danger. Everything meant danger, but time passed by her and she wasted away. It was like watching yourself die in the mirror. Every day – wasted and gone. Her short life, shortened. Danger never left.

"I demand to know", Astoria’s voice grew louder with the fury inside. "What happened to my mother?"

"Some other time, dearest", Ilay said and his voice was desperate. That startled Astoria and she quickly changed her attitude, going still and silent. "Something happened tonight. The war is lost for you."

"What happened?"

"They are going to come now. For your friends. I don’t know if you care for them, but you need to let them go now. You will die if you stay there."

The house, Astoria realized. That small estate the Black’s had was somehow revealed to the Death Eaters. And they were coming. But Astoria didn’t have the time to waste away in doubt did she really wanted to save those people or not, because it was clear to her that the real enemy was coming for her and for them as well. Ilay’s face was stoic, almost expressionless and she tried to cheat her way in, looked for a door but found his words earlier to be true. All doors were locked and unreachable.

"What happened?", she insisted.

"I’d rather not say. I don’t want you to fight the Death Eaters. Hide away now".

"But my family – ", Astoria tried to protest but he cut her off.

"I am your family and I’m telling you to forget about me. I know Nicola tells you about duty and how you’re his hair. Forget that, times have changed, our family doesn’t have the power it did centuries ago. Fighting will only mean death".

It was true, Nicola spoke to her about that. What it means to be an Elroy. Her power, her fortune, her family’s history. Her history. Her lives. All the time it took for her to be born again, to taste life again. The feeling of nostalgia appeared. Things seemed familiar in a different way and they were sweeter now. There was a sensation that she was close, that soon the lines between past and present will blur.

"Then what am I supposed to do?", Astoria pleaded. So many expectations rested on her. So many desires.

"Live for yourself. Go somewhere you wish to go. Not in Europe. Leave this retched land that is soaked with our blood. Explore and enjoy life. This is what I want for you. I know my father will fight with you for this, but he is wrong, and his ambition got him killed and weakened us. He never considered that times change".

"You know how our – my consciousness works. Why do you pretend otherwise?", Astoria snapped because there was no Nicola anymore and he must know that.

"One is ambition. A ancient will that bounds you to this family’s curse. The other is the choice of free will and you grew up unburden by this family. Find freedom. This is your chance", Ilay said and smiled, the sincerest smile Astoria had seen.

"Everyone keeps saying that the times have changed. What does that have to do with me?"

"There was a moment in history where our name struck fear in the hearts of kings and wizards. We, you had no equal. But this is not relevant anymore. Magic has advanced. It is best, at one point in time, to move on".

"You fear him more than me?", Astoria said quietly.

"Yes I do, I have never seen anything like that", he took a deep breath after his words.

"What is he like?"