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"Why do you care?"
Her voice came out louder than what she'd expected, but she could barely contain herself. Her family probably disowned her, even if it was unofficial. Just because she was a Parselmouth. And a kid who once singed her bedside table.
And now, her aunt, Loratrix Vanes, who had not been at her side when she was being discriminated against (even though she herself was also a Parselmouth), was begging Lauren to forgive her family for what they did. Just because she knew that if the rift wasn't healed now, it would likely become permanent.
"You've also been discriminated against by this very family just because you were a Parselmouth and a Slytherin. Why do you care? Why can't you just let me be? It's not like you were always by my side, arguing with Astote1 and Sabrina's2 every word. You don't even care about me! So what's wrong with me leaving the Vanes family permanently? They hate you, too! I thought you were disowned!"
Her aunt's face grew distorted with horror, but calmed down at once.
"You see, Lauren -- it's really complicated. I'm a parselmouth, like you, and I know exactly how you feel. When I was young, I was also discriminated, but... I think we made peace. Me and my parents. I think the rest of the family also hates me, though. But I don't really care. We stay polite and formal to each other in family gatherings --"
"You don't care! Why do I have to care, then? You pretend that you support me, you gain my trust, but you're seriously just trying to make me like them! But they hate me, so I'll hate them too! I don't give a care! They probably want me to die and fade into oblivion! I'll just leave this life behind and try to find real friends in Hogwarts. Someone who doesn't use me!"
Aunt Loratrix's stared at her in horror, then backed away. "Lauren, I say this one last time. I love you, and so does the Vanes Family."
"They don't! You don't know anything! I hate them! I hate my siblings!"
She gestured to her older siblings, Felix and Arianna, who were Third Years and Fourth Years respectively. Her parents were giving them last-minute chocolate frogs. No one seemed to pay any attention to the quarrel between her and Aunt Loratrix. Her family didn't seem to give a care on whether she hated them or not. Aunt Loratrix was definitely lying, to make her "mend the rift" between her and her family. Only for her parents, her siblings, and everyone else exploit the made peace to make her feel betrayed. Unhappy. Devastated.
She wasn't going to fall into their trap.
"As you can see," Lauren said one last time, "Everyone hates me, and I don't care."
She pulled her trunk off the platform and heaved it onto the train, not casting a second glance at Aunt Loratrix or her parents.
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