Athea Rose King

To most people, stories of the unknown are simply that, the unknown. Myths, legends, stories of people who have changed the world for the better, stories of those who have committed unspeakable acts and their names spoken for centuries. In the wizarding world, it was stories of supernatural creatures with amazing yet terrifying abilities, those who choose to live as they were born or live a life that was forced upon them, having to deal with the many conflicts, inner and outer that plagued them daily. Some legends are told, some turn to dust and some continue to live on, plagued or gifted the life of immortality. Just one mistake, was all it took to either have your name die with you or be remembered for centuries. To some, they aren’t real, others believe they’re a myth, a story created by someone with a poisoned mind and the small minority that believe in them, they’re hiding in the shadows, watching and waiting for a perfect moment to strike and make themselves known. Demons have walked the Earth for a millennium, some have chosen to live a quiet life, and others have been doing the unthinkable work of the Devil himself, Lucifer and his daughter, Felice. Born of pure darkness and evil, she is an unstoppable, unthinkable force, taking down everything and everyone in her path.

Night had fallen over the wizarding world, a blanket of midnight blue and white stars scattered the sky as a lone figure cut through the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. There was silence apart from the odd snap of twigs, the brush of the dead leaves that scattered the floor and sounds from the many creatures that inhabited the forest that students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry students were forbidden from entering. Of course, that didn’t stop her. No creatures, human or supernatural, dared to attack for fear of pain and an inevitable death that awaited them should they decide to be so stupid. A grey mist had descended and blanketed the floor, as the hooded figure cut through the scene, clearly on a mission as she strode through like she owned the place. Hearing a loud snarl cut through the silence and a twig snap loudly enough to echo through the crisp air, she stopped and turned to see a large werewolf, fur as black as coal, eyes bright and hungry with a thirst for blood and drool dripping down its fangs and onto the forest floor, staring at her, Tilting her head to the side, she reached up to drop her hood, her eyes closed before they snapped open, revealing a pair of pure white eyes. The rarest and most dangerous of all the demons, and the most powerful, the very sight sent the werewolf into a frenzy and it ran with its tail between its legs. With a satisfied smirk on her pale features, she turned and began her path once again.

Soon enough, the sun began to rise. The first orange hued rays of the sunrise kissed the horizon as the sunlight began to creep over the small town of Hogsmeade. Brilliant orange poured across the sky, the clouds hinted with shades of pink, as dawn broke over the horizon as the bright yellow sun slowly rose and light spilled out onto every part of the town it could reach. Another day, another dawn. 

Turning her head to the right, her hazel green eyes landed upon Hogwarts, the castle lit up from the sun’s rays, illuminating every crack, crevice and crease that the ancient castle had grown over the years. Her eyes followed a sea of students on a weekend trip to Hogsmeade, a sea of different races, colours, origins and species. Raising her hand, and with a sharp snap of her fingers, her attire was replaced instantly. Black boots, grey ripped skinny jeans, a deep red tank top and her favourite leather jacket. Making her way down the hill, she slipped into the crowd of students, before she instantly separated herself from the group, her hands in her pockets as she walked though the small town, watching witches and wizards of all different shapes and sizes going about their day, her eyes casting over her classmates, in her year and some she had known for years and others she didn’t know that were younger than her.

That was until one fateful day in a dusty aisle of Hogwarts extensive library, Athea had come across a boy who captivated her, who made her believe in things she had long since forgotten about and for the first time in forever, liked her for just being her, no magic involved. Ronan Wolfe was the best – and worst – thing to have ever happened to Athea King, he brought out sides of her she hadn’t even known existed, she was the best version of herself when she was with him, she loved him with all her heart was his in every sense of the word, but no matter how hard he tried Ronan simply couldn’t love her as singularly as she loved him. Ronan’s heart belonged to someone else, had done for a while, and there was absolutely nothing Athea could do about it, unless there was some sort of wish granting genie within the castle walls that could vanquish the infuriatingly adorable Lily Leyton from the planet, Athea was simply going to have to like it or lump it.

It took the siren no longer than a few minutes to get ready in the morning, grabbing whatever clothes she came to first and throwing them on, it was a given that she was going to look catwalk ready and so she’d got used to not really trying. A minimal layer of makeup was applied to her olive skin and she smiled her impossibly pretty smile at her own reflection before grabbing her black leather jacket and heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She’d barely taken one step into the Ravenclaw Common Room before she became aware of numerous pairs of eyes watching her, she couldn’t help it, her powers were completely alien to her, uncontrollable and unpredictable, she hated them, almost as much as she hated the way her own housemates were currently drooling over her. “For the love of a hippogriff will you all get a grip!” The siren hissed, a frown creasing her forehead and causing her perfectly shaped eyebrows to knit together into a ‘V’ shape. A couple of girls scowled in Athea’s direction before punching their respective boyfriends in the arms in an attempt to bring them back to the land of the living “What a slut.” One muttered, the other sniggered and Athea answered them both with a mere roll of her eyes. “Believe me girls, if I could turn this off I would, I have absolutely no desire for your prepubescent boyfriends to look at like that, in fact I’m pretty sure I hate it more than you do.” The girls glared some more and Athea, who had very little patience at the best of times, chose to walk away rather than to get involved in something she’d fought about countless times before.

Her increasingly bad mood had vanquished any hint of hunger and replaced it with a desire to be as far away from people as possible, preferably in a pub, with a rather large glass of alcohol in hand. So that was where the brunette Ravenclaw headed, pulling her jacket closer to her body in an attempt to fend off the crisp winter air, Athea’s heeled boots clicked quietly against the cobbled stones that led the way to Hogsmeade Village. She almost made it to the Hogshead pub completely undisturbed, but had clearly thanked the gods too early as a third year Hufflepuff quickened his pace before falling into step beside the siren. “Hey Athea, so there’s this dinner party for-…” Athea’s dark eyes flashed and a cruel smirk flourished upon her impossibly pretty features. “Not interested, never will be, move along.”

“But…”

“Goodbye.” With that Athea pushed open the heavy door to the Hogshead, her expression stony, one that would usually tell people to stay away but of course, looked even more enticing to just about everyone in the room. 

These days that awkward and strained first interaction seemed worlds away from the kisses and private moments they shared together now. Athea was the first person Ronan wanted to see when he woke and the last image behind his eyelids when he fell asleep. She was with him wherever he went; they would hold hands as they walked between lessons, they would sit in the Great Hall with thighs and shoulders touching and often Ronan would surprise her with gifts for no reason. Their relationship was one that was envied by all who saw them together. Yet beneath the surface there was trouble brewing in paradise…That much was obvious to Ronan in the way Athea glared at him every time he so much as glanced at a certain strawberry blonde banshee and the way she would grip his hand tighter or flirt a little more whenever Lily would pass by. Jealousy was not a hard emotion for Ronan to spot, he’d been dealing with jealousy over Lily Leyton for years – whenever he’d seen her with Owen or Jay or any other male that wasn’t him. It was true enough that Ronan had been crushing on Lily for some time and it was a fact he had never before thought to keep secret.

But as he sat in the Ravenclaw common room with his girlfriend’s head resting in his lap he was beginning to think that perhaps for Athea’s sake he ought to find a way to get over his absurd obsession with Leyton. He had known without even having to look the moment Lily had entered the common room, he had memorised the sound of her heartbeat and the scent that radiated off her skin, and although he tried not to look at her – for Athea’s sake – he couldn’t help his gaze lifting to study her as she sat talking to Lilith and for a moment it was as if everyone else in the room vanished. At least until the brunette form of Athea blocked his view of Lily and her honey sweet voice cut through the air like a knife. Ronan had known for some time that this conversation was coming and had hoped to somehow avoid it. “Not here Thea…Can we just please not talk about this here…” Was all Ronan offered the girl in front of him, his tone full of guilt and his eyebrows knitting together in a frown. This was a conversation he couldn’t risk Lily overhearing and didn’t want the whole common room to know his and Athea’s business. Ronan nodded in the direction of the dormitory’s with a pleading look in his eyes, “I promise you we can talk about this…Just…Can we go upstairs?”

Jealousy, it was an emotion that often surrounded Athea King, although was one she had never truly felt herself before. People were often jealous of her, her beauty, her charm and her uncanny ability to get away with just about anything, but she herself had never truly been jealous of another person. That was until quite recently, the siren had found herself in a happy, stable and loving relationship – something she had never expected and something that still shocked her each and every day – but that relationship was threatened by none other than the five foot three, strawberry blonde banshee that sat on the opposite side of the Ravenclaw common room. Still in her seated position in front of Ronan, the brunette cast a quick glance in Lily Leytons direction and suppressed a scowl before turning gaze back to her boyfriend and nodding slowly.

Ronan’s response to her statement wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped it would be, she’d kidded herself into believing he would deny all feelings for the red head, but instead he did quite the opposite, causing a flurry of nerves and worry to erupt in the pit of her stomach. This was the second time in her life that Lily Leyton was standing in the way of her happiness, and if truth be told she genuinely didn’t understand what it was about the banshee that was so compelling; to Athea she was completely ordinary. Pulling herself up from the sofa Athea made her way towards the staircase that led up to the dormitories without saying a word. A number of students turned their gaze to the pair and a pair of boys nudged each other in the ribs, one winking and the other scowling, silently cursing Ronan for getting the girl that everyone else wanted. She didn’t wait to see whether or not Ronan was following, but instead headed up to her dormitory, pushing the heavy oaken door open she smiled at her dorm mate Cordelia. “Thea, are you okay?” Cordelia Blackthorn asked, placing the book she had been reading down as she got up and made her way towards her friend, worry flashing upon her pretty features.

Athea nodded slowly, and a sad smile etched itself upon her impossibly pretty features. “Yeah, I’m fine…could I, could we…” Amber flecked, chocolate orbs flickered towards the door where Ronan stood before settling upon Cordelia once again. “…could we have a minute Cordy?” Her friend glanced towards Ronan and a frown creased her forehead before she nodded, retrieved her book and pushed past the werewolf as she headed down towards the common room. Completely alone now Athea turned to face Ronan, her expression stony and her arms folded across her chest as she watched him carefully. “So…”  

"Do you hate me?"