The clock struck midnight.
Outside, the trees were still, cloaked in fog. But inside the ancestral manor's study, a single light burned—faint with golden light, flickering. It cast long shadows across the vast, wood-paneled room. Books lined the high walls. A fire crackled gently in the hearth, but no warmth touched the girl who sat motionless behind the desk.
Eira stared at nothing.
Her white hair was unbound, falling across her cheeks, her eyes dull and lifeless as she sat in silence. The firelight caught the sharp line of her jaw, her pale fingers curled loosely against the edge of the armrest. She hadn't spoken in hours. She hadn't the energy to.
Grief had hollowed her out like a shell.
Then the door creaked open.
Emma stepped inside, her expression unreadable. Her cloak was damp from the fog, her wand tucked inside her sleeve. She stood there a moment before quietly speaking:
"My lady. I didn't find Cecil."
Eira didn't move.
"But," Emma continued, "I found his lover. Josh. He's in his home."
At that, Eira looked up slowly. Her eyes gleamed—not with tears, but with something colder and Sharper.
"Let's go," she said.
Emma hesitated. "You wish to… visit him now?"
Eira rose from her chair like a ghost awakened. Her voice was calm, yet each word carried the weight of stone.
"Oh yes. I want to talk to him. I want Cecil to feel what I feel. To understand what it's like to lose someone he loves. I want him to feel it in his bones before he dies."
Emma exhaled quietly. "As you wish, my lady."
They walked out into the frozen night. The snow had stopped, but the clouds still hovered, heavy and oppressive. With a crack of Apparition, they vanished from the English forest.
⸻
They appeared in a quiet Muggle neighborhood.
Streetlights cast pools of orange across the sidewalks. Cars lined the streets. A two-story brick house stood quietly among them unassuming and ordinary. A light glowed from an upstairs window.
Eira's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"So," she said coldly, "this is where he lives now? I thought they moved into a manor gifted by the White family."
"They did," Emma replied, stepping beside her. "But we repossessed it weeks ago. Legally. It was never theirs. Not truly."
Eira nodded once. "Good."
She glanced around. Though it was well past midnight, there were still a few Muggles milling about—walking dogs, returning from late shifts, chatting in hushed voices under the fog.
Eira's eyes narrowed.
"Use a repelling charm. I don't want any witnesses."
Emma raised her wand and whispered the incantation. A shimmer passed over the street, warping reality just slightly. Any Muggle who approached would instinctively look away, forget, and walk in another direction.
The world became still again.
They approached the house in silence.
The door was unlocked—foolishly so. Eira pushed it open. The entrance hall was modest, decorated in muted browns and grays. Framed photos lined the walls. She paused beside one and stared.
It was a picture of Josh and Cecil—smiling, holding hands at the edge of a fountain.
Her jaw tightened.
The warmth, the affection, the easy joy—they didn't deserve it. Not after what Cecil had done.
She looked back at Emma. "Upstairs."
They ascended the narrow staircase quietly. A door stood ajar at the end of the hall. Inside, a man lay sprawled across the bed, limbs tangled in sheets, snoring softly.
Eira stepped forward, her face a mask of ice.
Emma didn't wait. She raised her hand and slapped Josh sharply across the cheek.
He groaned, shifting. "Wh—what—Cecil, I told you, I'm tired. I don't have the energy for making love tonight…"
Another slap.
Josh's eyes snapped open.
"What the—?" He blinked. "Who the hell—?"
Eira leaned over him, her voice like velvet laced with poison. "Wake up, Josh. We're going to have a little chat."
He recoiled instinctively. "Who are you?! What is this?! You can't just—!"
"Emma," Eira said flatly. "Drag him downstairs."
Josh thrashed, swearing, trying to pull away—but Emma seized him by the arm and yanked him to his feet with force far beyond her stature. He stumbled, half-dressed, as they shoved him down the stairs and forced him into the living room.
He struggled as they shoved him into a chair.
"What's the meaning of this?! How dare you invade my home! This is illegal! I'm calling—"
"Where is Cecil?" Eira asked, her voice level.
Josh scoffed. "Like I'd tell you. You think I don't know what you are after ? You're going to remove him. You might be the Matriarch of the white family but You think that means something to me?"
"Where. Is. Cecil?"
Josh leaned back, defiant. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
Eira didn't flinch.
She turned to Emma. "Use Legilimency. I want answers."
Emma's eyes narrowed. She stepped forward, her wand rising. Josh opened his mouth to protest, but the spell was already cast. His body jerked slightly, eyes glazing as Emma rifled through his thoughts.
After a moment, she exhaled.
"He doesn't know. Last he saw Cecil was two days ago. They argued. Cecil said he was going to France. Something about a meeting with a woman named Alina."
Eira's lips curled. "France. Of course."
Emma nodded slowly. "Trévér."
"Then we're getting closer."
Josh snarled. "So that's it? You break into my house, violate my mind, and threaten me over Cecil? You're both insane."
Eira stepped forward, her eyes sharp as knives. "No. I'm not here over Cecil. I'm here because of Lolly."
Josh frowned. "The elf?"
"My house-elf. My family," she hissed.
Josh scoffed. "You're kidding. You broke into my house at midnight over a fucking house-elf?"
The slap came hard and fast. Josh reeled.
"You don't speak about her like that," Eira said, voice shaking with fury. "She was more human than you'll ever be."
Josh spat blood onto the floor, sneering. "Merlin, you're deranged. What's next? Are you going to murder me over a servant? You rich freaks are all the same—twisted and theatrical."
Eira's fists clenched. "She raised me. She held me when I was too broken to walk. She stayed when everyone else was no where to be found. And your precious Cecil hung her from the ceiling like a criminal."
Josh blinked, stunned for a moment.
"Wait—you're serious? He killed a house-elf?"
Eira nodded. "She was my family. And now? I'm going to take his."
Josh's bravado crumbled.
"No—wait—please—I didn't have anything to do with it. I swear. I didn't know. If I had, I—I would've stopped him—"
"You wouldn't have done a damn thing," Eira spat. "You're pathetic. You let him ruin everything he touches, and you lap up the crumbs. You think he loves you? You're just convenient."
Josh paled. "Please. I didn't even know. If you want an elf—I'll buy you one. Hell, I'll get you two—just don't hurt me, alright?"
Emma looked visibly disgusted now.
Eira took a step back, as if the stench of cowardice sickened her.
"You think Lolly was something that can be replaced? Like a pet?" she whispered. "You think you can buy her back?"
Josh was sobbing now. "Please. Don't kill me. I didn't do anything. It's not worth it. It's just a house-elf. Just a—"
"Stop talking."
Her voice rang like a spell.
The silence that followed was deafening.
She looked at Josh with hatred burning in her gaze. He trembled before her, pale and silent, fear etched deep into every line of his face.
Without a word, Eira turned her eyes to Emma and gave a single, cold nod.
Then, together, Eira and Emma looked back at the man before them.
"Well," Eira said quietly, her voice sharp and cruel like the edge of a blade, "it seems you were unfortunate enough to be Cecil's lover. And I'm quite sure you knew what he was planning. You didn't stop him. Perhaps you even helped him. And now you want to sit there and pretend you knew nothing?"
Emma raised her wand, aiming it directly at Josh's chest.
At that moment, a soft chime echoed in Eira's mind—the sound of her system activating.
[Warning: Host, do not kill this individual.
Eliminating this person will alter the fate of the world.]
Eira blinked. Emma's wand remained steady, Eira's eyes flicked upward, toward the floating interface that only she could see. Josh, meanwhile, collapsed to his knees, begging, not to her—but to Emma.
[Second Warning: Termination of this individual will lead to irreparable disruption in the timeline.]
Her jaw clenched.
[Final Warning: The balance of fate will shift. Do not proceed.]
The third message pulsed bright red before her eyes. She stared at it for a long, chilling moment, lips tight, her heart cold. Then slowly, a sneer curled across her face.
"Fate?" she whispered, scoffing. "I make my own fate."
She turned her head toward Ema. "Kill him."
Without hesitation, Emma raised her wand and uttered the curse.
"Avada Kedavra."
The room was flooded with a flash of eerie green light. Josh's body convulsed, and the last thing he cried out, in a voice strangled by terror, was a single word.
"Cecil…"
Then silence. His lifeless body slumped sideways in the ground , mouth half-open in a final, frozen gasp of disbelief. The air hung still and heavy, thick with the residue of death.
Neither Eira nor Emma spoke. The spell's afterglow faded from the walls. In the cold, stunned quiet that followed,