she wants revenge

Florence nodded, the ghost of a smile floating across her face before disappearing entirely. She pushed off of the desk, standing upright, and held her hand out to Athena. “I can apparate us to my workspace. There are a few things there you can obliterate.” Athena’s trust meant the world to Florence. She had left the idea of a biological family behind a long time ago. In her line of work, children and spouses felt like little more than weak points to be exploited. She supposed, in her own way, she’d transferred whatever maternal urges she could have possessed onto the young women of the Knights. It infuriated her that they had been violated so violently, and that she was as useless as the aurors in discovering who had done it. The least she could do was provide Athena the opportunity to feel powerful again.

“Of course.” Her voice was even, her tone smooth, but underneath it all was a fierce care. “I’ve been tinkering with a few test dummies. It’d only feel appropriate for you to be the first to test them out.” If there was going to be another war–and it was looking more and more like that was the case–they would need to be prepared. Training was paramount.

Athena paused for just a moment then took Florence’s hand. “I’m more than happy to take them off your hands,” she said, already feeling better. Athena hadn’t realized how much the rally had been weighing on her, and now that she had a way to deal with what had happened, it was like that weight had been lifted and suddenly she wasn’t hunched over anymore. She felt like Atlas, carrying the world on her shoulders sometimes, especially with the way that her family expected her to take over the mantle of Madam Lestrange sooner rather than later, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it. Athena had plenty to weigh her down; she didn’t need to feel this loss of control like just another stone in her satchel any longer. 

noelle looked up from her notes at the sound of athena’s voice, she hadn’t been expecting a visit from any of the other knights but this was a very welcome surprise.

“ of course, i have time. now that i think about it, i might have something for you.” she replied, getting up from her desk and reaching into one of the many cabinets that were fixed across the shop’s walls.

noelle pulled out a small vial of a pale pink liquid, quickly checking the label to make sure she had the right potion. this particular one was supposed to act as a sort of relaxer that she was personally using herself but was curious to see what effect it had on other people.

noelle turned back to athena, potion in hand. “ behold, my latest project; the perfect thing to relieve stress and become even more focused than before.”

///

“ah, well, you know how i do love gifts,” she said, taking a sip from her own coffee and watching noelle with some curiosity. 

athena had never been much for potions—she could brew a sleeping draught, of course, but anything too complicated and she got lost in all of it. it was probably for the same reason why she was a terrible cook—she didn’t have the patience for it. 

she raised a brow, turning over the vial in her hands and watching the pink potion slide from one side of the vial to the next. it was almost as if noelle had seen right into athena’s mind and known exactly what she needed. 

Athena had been drinking a bit more than she should have been these days. It was enough to make her a little more shaky at work, a little more sluggish. She knew that she had to shape up and figure out what she was doing, otherwise, she would just descend further into this darkness that had opened up inside of her like a pit since the rally that had temporarily stolen her magic from her. She pressed her lips together before knocking on the door to Noelle’s shop, certain that spending some time with the younger woman would help her feel like she was back in control again. 

What was a good thing for her and for the other women in the Knights was that they all could rely on each other. They may have been ruthless in battle, but they were never in battle with each other, and that was the most important thing to Athena. She never wanted to fight with the other women who were part of the boys’ club, she wanted to band together with them. She walked in and set down a cup of coffee on Noelle’s desk. “I do hope you have a moment to chat, my dear,” she said, a crooked smile on her features. Noelle helped her figure out how to appear normal—Athena had never been particularly charming, and Noelle certainly was better at that than she was, so being with her was good practice for when she had to prove it to the world. 

//

Florence listened carefully as Athena spoke, a wry smile twitching on her lips at the thought of Athena destroying pieces of Hogwarts in grief. She understood the impulse. It was cathartic to make things on the outside look how one felt on the inside. “Would you like to break things now?” She didn’t want to be presumptuous, but if it would help the younger woman move through her grief, Florence had plenty of scrapped items at her workshop. Magic was wonderful for quick clean-up. She had been thinking a lot about how much she relied on magic, how much it was a part of her as her clever mind and her steady hands and her ability to move around without any help. Even now, in seeking solutions, it played a necessary role. She wasn’t sure how the loss - and regaining - of magic compared to losing a sibling. She hadn’t experienced either.

“Regardless, I think perhaps you should take a break from your work. I’d be happy to escort you home for another drink, or you can smash up a few things in my workshop, or we can sit here, talking or in silence.” Florence looked at Athena, pressing her lips together in a flat line, before reaching out, resting her hand almost tenderly on Athena’s shoulder. “I want to help you.”

///

Athena paused for a moment before nodding. “Can we go just hex the shit out of something?” She wanted nothing more than to feel her magic coursing through her veins again, to feel like she was in control again. Athena was always so carefully controlled, to feel so far out of control and removed from herself had not only been jarring, but it had put her in a position that she wasn’t used to being in. She had no way to deal with it, and that was clear. It was exactly why she felt like she did when her brother died—that lack of control over her situation was infuriating. She wanted to feel powerful. She wanted to feel like she could be the formidable witch she had always been. 

///

Florence nodded, a small dip of her head, as Athena moved to sit. She said nothing, waiting patiently through the silence as the young woman moved through what Florence was sure was a myriad of emotions. Athena’s soft and quiet no was all the confirmation that Florence needed. She turned, slightly, folding her hands in her lap. Too many wix these days believed that the only way to accomplish a goal was to run through the obstacles headfirst. If they were going to solve the intricate puzzle that lay before them, they were going to need to do it with a clear head. Florence pressed her lips together when Athena mentioned Nico. She knew, of course, about the boy and his death – but the details of it were unknown to her. Florence looked over, taking in the other woman. She felt a particular allegiance to the young women of the Knights. The men, she found, sort of bored her. The women were clever, intelligent, ferocious witches who seemed to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.

“When you lost your brother,” Florence started, her voice quiet and calm, “what helped you express your grief?”

///

This was why Athena never told anyone about what she was feeling. It was that look—the pity, the sadness. She hated it. She hated being treated like she was anything but the brilliant witch she knew she was, hated being treated as though she needed saving. She knew, however, deeper down, that Florence wasn’t actually treating her like that. She wasn’t looking down at Athena, she was looking through her, understanding why she was the way she was and understanding what she needed in order to make it through this in one piece. Athena hadn’t expected the events of the rally to shake her so deeply, but being without her magic was a feeling she never wanted to get accustomed to. 

She paused, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “I...I broke things. A lot of things.” She had broken many delicate instruments in the charms classroom, had thrown her books off the astronomy tower, had destroyed her dorm room in Ravenclaw, all because she needed some way to vent all of the anger and frustration and pain that had come along with Nico’s death. 

     @ohlestrangex​

     The muffled crack with which she apparated to the familiar door was almost pleasing after what felt like an eternity of being unable to use her powers. A sharp few knocks against the dark material announced her arrival; though she would have made plans in advance if it were anyone else, she’d never felt the need to explain to Athena what and when she’d be doing anything. Whether or not the other witch was bothered by her behaviour was way beyond her caring. Right now, there was only one thing in her mind and it was only somewhat, she thought, fueled by the traumatic experience they’d both lived mere hours before. 

     She hadn’t expected the wave of relief that came over her when she saw the other’s face in the doorway, as if a part of her had been truly worried that the door might never be answered, as if Athena had been truly in danger. Words failed her, as they usually did; after all, her actions were a lot more fruitful when trying to convey a message. Whether that be someone’s throat being slit, or… Her hazel hues stared intensely into the other’s for what felt like a million years before she, without a word, walked the steps that separated the two to close the distance between them. An experienced boot kicked the door shut just as her cold hands found each side of Athena’s face to hold her in place when she crashed her lips against hers. 

///

Athena wasn’t sure who it was when she heard the sound of an apparation on the other side of the door, but she had an idea of who it might be. There were few people who dared just drop in on her without much warning, and that was Florence, Charis and Ravenna. She doubted it was Charis, who would be spending the evening with Caspar, she was sure, and Florence was probably going to end up giving her some space until she was ready to talk about what happened. Florence was good like that. Before she even opened the door, she could tell that it was Ravenna, by deduction, and she stood up unsteadily to put her glass in the sink before making her way over to the door. She took a deep breath, making sure to stop the spins before she opened it. 

Perhaps a hug or a peck on the cheek was what she expected, but when Ravenna sealed her lips over Athena’s, Athena realized that was what she wanted, more than anything. She sighed into Ravenna’s mouth, tasting the whiskey on her own lips and not caring, wanting more. She pushed back, pressing Ravenna up against the door and bringing both hands up to squeeze at her waist. She pulled back just for a moment, looking Ravenna over once in an unspoken question—are you all right? Athena’s gaze flicked between Ravenna’s eyes and her lips for a moment before she leaned in and kissed her deeply again. 

///

Florence glanced at the amount of firewhiskey in her cup. If Athena had been drinking pours this heavy before Florence got here – and from the looks of it, she had been – the younger woman would be well on her way to the dark side of drunk. She said nothing, though, simply raised her glass and clinked it against Athena’s, taking note of her tight grip. Florence allowed Athena a private moment to collect herself, instead turning to walk among the various papers strewn across the room. A thoughtful hum reverberated through her chest, and she took a sip of her drink. “This is very complicated work he’s asking you to do,” she mused, positioning herself so she was standing next to Athena. “Has he taken into account the time you will need to recover?” Florence placed her glass on the table, turning her head to catch Athena’s gaze.

“Have you?”

///

Florence had a good point, one that Athena hadn’t been willing to admit to herself thus far. She sat down heavily behind her desk, the chair facing the back wall for a moment before she turned and finally looked at Florence. “No,” she admitted. She thought that throwing herself back into her work would be enough to snap her out of the funk she had been in ever since the rally, but it only seemed to be getting worse, not better. Her hands shook and she folded them in her lap. “I haven’t felt like this since Nico died.” Then, she had been young, destroying her dorm room at Hogwarts and pushing everyone away. She didn’t know how to handle overwhelming emotion then, and she didn’t know how to handle it now, either.

Athena didn’t admit to much. She liked to pretend that nothing could touch her, like nothing could faze her, but in actuality, she felt deeply. She felt deeply and keenly and it was difficult for her to pretend that what she was dealing with wasn’t weighing heavily on her mind. The fear and chaos of the day had brought up plenty of feelings she had been doing her best to repress, and it hadn’t been working.

//

Athena felt like the only lifeline in a world plunged into darkness, chaos, noise. Callidora leant on her, too weak to support herself, as they moved through the crowd. The goal of finding Charis was all that kept her on her feet, kept her moving, though despite what Athena had said, her mind was unable to entirely put off attempts at figuring out the problem, what had happened, what was causing this gaping hole inside of her where her magic should be. But there was no getting through the crowd, and Callidora stopped, forcing Athena to a halt as well. “This is impossible.” Her frown deepened, fingers itching. “There’s at least half a dozen spells that could obliterate this crowd, if I could just …” Her bitter frustration trailed off. 

///

Athena found it harder and harder to stay upright, the pain in her chest and stomach getting almost too much to bear. It was like someone had reached it and twisted all her organs together, all collapsing in on themselves because of the loss of what used to take up the space in her. “Where the fuck is my magic?” she groaned, leaning heavily against a nearby railing as she looked around for any sign of Charis. “You should find her without me. I can’t—” she groaned again. “I can’t keep going. I can’t.” She felt an emotion like something she couldn’t quite name gripping at her throat, something she hadn’t felt since her brother died. 

Well, well, well… Caspar thought to himself as he caught a glance at Athena. One of the various Purebloods that didn’t fight during the global wizarding war. Something that didn’t sit well with the Crouch family, but kept it hidden except within passive aggressive comments to other members in Pureblood society. Even so, Caspar never did anything to intentionally hurt Athena or the Lestrange family with that. Besides, there was another war brewing. Perhaps this time, those who hadn’t fought beforehand would change their mind. Seeing the fists clenched at her sides, it took all of Caspar’s energy not to arch a brow, but instead, flashed a charming grin, “Never better, Athena. And how are you? Fighting for ‘equality’ as well?”

///

Athena gave him a smile like she wanted to punch him in the face before her face dropped to something more serious. “You know, I find you absolutely insufferable,” she said simply. “And I would like to hex that smug little expression right off your face.” Athena put her charming expression back on her features. “Yes, I am here fighting for ‘equality,’ as you put it. Or, I was until everything went insane.” She locked her hands behind her back, looking at Caspar with fire in her eyes. Now was not the time to trifle with her, clearly. Caspar had some sort of problem for not fighting in the last war, but after her brother had died, she had no drive to do anything, let alone fight. If he didn’t understand that, well, fuck him. And Charis would be hearing about it.

It wasn’t usual for Florence to check in on the many young Knights she considered under her care. They were all clever, brutal young women who were more than capable of handling themselves. Still, nothing about the past few days was usual. Someone had done the impossible. In the back of her mind, Florence was turning that puzzle over, like a child with candy. If she spent enough time on it, Florence was sure she could figure out how he’d done it. How mattered more to her than why. She spotted the light on in Athena’s office window. Her lips pressed into a flat line. Without hesitating, she let herself into the shop, taking care to lock the door behind her before moving towards the office. She stood in the doorway, her face carefully composed to appear indifferent. If Athena wasn’t already drinking, she might have been able to spot Florence’s concern, hiding in the arch of her eyebrow.

“Sure. I could use a drink.” Her voice was even, her eyes darting around the room and taking in all of the components to Athena’s work. “Keeping busy, it seems.”

///

If it was strange to Athena that Florence had come to her workshop that evening, she didn’t show it. In fact, they spent so much time in that very workshop that Athena didn’t even think about it, instead just taking Florence’s appearance in stride. She poured Florence a generous measure of firewhiskey and handed her the glass. “Cheers,” she said, raising her glass to clink with a white-knuckled grip to keep her hand from shaking. She downed the rest of her drink in one go and leaned against the desk, finding that she was suddenly dizzy. She supposed that’s what happened when she, a tiny person, had three drinks in quick succession. She closed her eyes for a moment, allowed her equilibrium to come back, then opened them up again. 

“Yes, I just got a new contract from the Ministry, thanks to Abraxas,” she said. “They have certainly been keeping me busy.”

.

There was something very wrong. Callidora’s hands had reached out on instinct towards Athena, seeing her stumble, but Callidora had failed to account for her own unsteadiness. Her hands instead covered her fall to the ground. “I don’t understand,” she said. Her hand quickly grasped for her wand, as she forced herself into a standing position again, pointing it towards the stage, where the wizard had only just disappeared. “Revelio. Revelio.” Nothing happened. It was impossible, more than impossible, it went against every rule she knew, every tenet of her life. “There’s nothing. It’s gone. It’s gone,” Callidora repeated, in disbelief, feeling a sickness beyond comprehension fill her veins. She then registered Athena’s words, her head shaking furiously, “I can’t leave, my sister is here.” 

///

Athena reached a hand down to help Callidora up. “Let’s find Charis and find a way out of here,” she said, trying her best to steady Callidora but finding that keeping herself upright was more difficult than she had anticipated. She slung Callidora’s arm over her shoulders. “We’ll have to deal with that later. Right now let’s go find Charis.” Athena started stumbling forward, trying her best to both lean on Callidora and keep her upright, though the two of them were having a lot of difficulty navigating the crowd. Everything seemed to be going in fast forward, the entire crowd surging back and forth as they tried to find some point of egress and ended up getting their hopes dashed as each door ended up being locked.

Athena sought out Charis after everything was said and done. Gripped her arm tightly. “What the hell was that?” she asked in a near whisper, her brow furrowing tightly in her distress. Athena never acted like this, especially not in public, off-kilter and off-balance. She pressed her lips into a tight line and forced herself to take a deep breath. “That was fucked. Absolutely fucked.” Her mother would disapprove of the language, she was sure, but that didn’t matter to her. What mattered was finding out what happened and finding out a way to stop it. “If you get any information about how he did it at the Minister’s office, will you let me know? I might be able to make a charm to counteract it.” 

Athena hadn’t expected to see Caspar at the rally, though she supposed that he and Charis came as a set these days. It was a little sad to Athena, though that may have just been because she had always nursed a small crush on Charis. Not that she could tell anyone that, so instead, she put on a strong face and bore it, like she had gotten so used to taking care of her private heartaches over the years. Mainly, Caspar reminded her of her brother, which was the most distressing thing about talking to him—but still, she kept her face impassive and her feelings in check. She had to. So, when she saw him after the rally, she clenched her fists to keep the tremor out of her hands. “Are you all right?” she asked. 

After the events of the day, what Athena needed, more than anything, was a good stiff drink. She was holed up in her office in Diagon Alley—much preferring it to going home and facing the emptiness of her apartment, for here at least she’d be surrounded by her work, which was comforting—drinking the better part of a large bottle of firewhiskey. She was on her third drink of the night, a little unsteady on her feet, when Florence arrived, and Athena smiled at her. “Evening, Florence,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant though her voice had a slight quiver to it, betraying how off-kilter she felt. “Can I pour you a drink?” 

Callidora considered very few people friends, which made an event like this quite a problem. There were Ministry contacts she had, of course, that she was forced to cultivate for necessity, but they were not necessarily people she wanted to associate with when the choice was hers. Athena Lestrange, by contrast, was truly a friend. Callidora hastened to her side with relief. “And you, my dear. We are rather among the wasteland now,” she said, with distaste as she looked around them, only to  be startled by the bang of apparition and a wizard appearing on the stage. Callidora listened to his speech with growing horror, heard people around them begin to shriek. 

“What is this?” she hissed. 

///

Athena felt the magic start to drain from her fingertips and she started to get lightheaded. She stumbled slightly backwards, clutching onto a nearby wall for support. “What the hell?” she asked, her brow furrowing. Usually, Athena would be chastised for swearing and she would have kicked herself for doing it at all, but she was too preoccupied. “We need to leave,” she said, her voice shakier than normal, her skin paled and taking on a somewhat greenish tint. “We—” She looked around. “We have to find a way out.” 

。·:✧:· WHILE KENZIE UNDERSTOOD the point of this rally, that didn’t stop her from being incredibly annoyed by the entire thing. She knew that things like this could be so incredibly dangerous and she feared for everyone around. But not even that. No, this girl feared for the amount of work she’d have to do when all of this was over. There was a very high chance the hospital would be so busy that she wouldn’t have a second to sit down. As she felt someone step on her shoe, she winced, ready to fight them. When she noticed it was Athena Lestrange, she scrunched up her nose, looking at the girl. Of course she was the one to step on her foot. “Lestrange. Should’ve known it was you.” Shaking her foot, she tried to get a bit of the feeling back in it, as her foot was now asleep. There was something almost suspicious about her being here and Kenzie was intrigued. “What are you doing here? Hoping everything goes wrong?” She asked, scowling. 

///

“Ah yes, I am the Wicked Witch of the West and you are Dorothy, is that so?” Athena asked, raising a brow at her. The moralistic view that so many on the opposite side of their conflict took was exhausting, to say the least. Athena was never interested in all of that, never interested in what was right or what was wrong. All there was, was what’s proper and what’s improper. Propriety meant what it had always meant—that purebloods occupied their rightful place at the top of the social hierarchy, and filth like blood traitors and muggleborns were at the bottom. That was the way it had always been and that was the way it would always be. “Hoping to shout some moralistic drivel that no one is going to listen to?” Athena shot back. 

     @ohlestrangex​

     Oh, to casually walk down the narrow streets of Diagon Alley and accidentally pass the flooding crowd cramping through the tall doors into the arena. Haven’t they read the news? Or what can happen to bodies who do the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place? Some people never learned from their mistakes, they forgot and relapsed and though, yes, it made her nights a lot more entertaining, Ravenna couldn’t help but wonder if she was perhaps taking advantage of a much weaker enemy. Her doubts were easily erased from her mind at the sight of one specific set of curls, strands of hair she knew so well, she could feel the shadow of them underneath the tips of her fingers. “My, my,” she acted surprised, her face never beraying her and showing only this curious facade, as if she couldn’t wait to hear what the speaker had to say. “It’s relieving to see a friendly face,” she assured her, only loud enough that others around them would hear – she was good at covering any plotholes, she did learn from her mistakes. “This ought to be quite the spectacle, I can’t wait,” she stressed, casually reaching out her hand  to caress down the woman’s arm until she took her hand in hers. “You don’t mind, do you? I wouldn’t want to get lost within the crowd.”

///

Athena was finding herself getting more and more bored by the minute as she stood in line. She wanted something to happen already, and she wore that desire all over her face. She wasn’t particularly good at hiding her feelings, and she had to learn—perhaps from Ravenna—how to properly wear the mask of an upstanding pureblood girl. Until then, she was just going to have to figure out how to explain away her demeanor. Thankfully, Ravenna showing up reminded Athena to plaster a charming smile on her features as Ravenna took her hand. “Oh, of course, darling, you never know what kind of trouble we might run into with this crowd.”

She reached over and squeezed Ravenna’s arm with her unoccupied hand for a moment before she dropped it. “I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t be coming,” Athena replied. “You are certainly a sight for sore eyes.” Athena grinned at Ravenna. To all others, their conversation was just one between friends—vapid conversation that airheaded society girls might have, but they knew the truth. Their conversations were always full of subtext.