The morning light filtered through the thick curtains of the study, but it did little to ease the weight that pressed down on Jaqui’s chest. She stood before the window, the silence of the room stretching around her, broken only by the occasional creak of the old house settling. The truth from the night before had not loosened its grip on her; instead, it had only grown tighter, curling itself around her heart, filling her every thought. The name "Longbottom" echoed in her mind, unfamiliar yet undeniably hers.

  Her gaze drifted to the small, worn parchment she had dropped on the floor, the history of her true family scattered like an unraveling thread. Her mother and father’s names, written in bold ink, felt like ghosts hovering just beyond her reach. They had been taken from her — her past, her identity, everything she thought she knew had been stolen.

  But no amount of thinking would change it. Jaqui wasn’t the person she had believed herself to be. And now, she wasn’t sure who she was becoming.

  Her mind was restless, searching for a way to anchor herself in the whirlwind of revelations. She closed her eyes, taking a slow breath, trying to steady her thoughts. The moment she had been dreading — the moment she had felt coming like a storm on the horizon — had finally arrived.

  A soft knock on the door pulled her back to the present. She didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

  "Jaqui?" Neville’s voice called out, quiet but persistent.

  Jaqui hesitated, her fingers clenching around the edge of the window frame. "Come in."

  Neville stepped into the room, his face drawn, shadows under his eyes. He didn’t say anything at first, just watched her, as though he was trying to decide whether or not to speak. He had always been like this — gentle, cautious. But today, there was something different in his gaze. A quiet urgency.

  "I don’t know how to do this," he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  Jaqui didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to face him, her expression unreadable.

  Neville sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We need to talk about Theo."

  Jaqui felt the temperature in the room drop. Her pulse quickened.

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  "I’ve been keeping something from you," he continued, his eyes not meeting hers. "Theo… he’s not just anyone. He’s part of something older, something darker. He has his own plans, Jaqui. And you, you’re more involved in those plans than you know."

  Jaqui felt a chill creep down her spine. The weight of her bloodline felt heavier now, darker, as though it were pulling her toward a future she hadn’t chosen.

  "I don’t trust him," Jaqui said, her voice low and steady, despite the storm building in her chest. "Not after what he said last night. He’s been watching me — and I don’t think it’s because he cares."

  Neville’s face tightened, his hands curling into fists. "He doesn’t. He never did. He’s been manipulating you from the start, Jaqui. He’s been waiting for the right moment to claim you — claim your power."

  Jaqui shook her head, the words clashing with everything she had believed. "He said I was bound to the darkness. He said it was in my veins."

  "That’s what he wants you to believe," Neville replied urgently. "But it’s not true. Your bloodline isn’t your fate. You get to choose."

  A laugh, bitter and harsh, escaped Jaqui’s lips. "What choice do I have? He’s right. The Longbottoms — they’ve always been tied to darkness. And now… now I have to figure out what to do with that."

  Neville took a step closer, his voice soft but firm. "You have more than one path before you, Jax. And if you walk down the wrong one, it won’t just be you who suffers. He won’t stop until he has control of you, until he gets what he wants."

  A shiver ran down Jaqui’s spine. The pull of Theo’s presence, the way his words had wrapped themselves around her mind, was undeniable. But something else tugged at her, too — a voice deep inside her, urging her to turn away from that darkness.

  "I don’t want to be a puppet in anyone’s game," Jaqui said, her voice trembling slightly. "But I don’t know if I have the strength to fight him."

  Neville reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You don’t have to fight him alone. We’ll figure this out together. I’ve got your back, no matter what."

  For a long moment, they stood there in silence, the weight of everything unspoken between them hanging in the air. Jaqui wanted to believe Neville, wanted to trust that they could find a way through this — but the path ahead seemed uncertain, fraught with dangers she couldn’t yet see.

  Suddenly, a voice echoed through the room, as clear as if it had been spoken aloud. "You can’t escape your blood, Jaqui."

  Jaqui’s heart skipped a beat. The voice was familiar, and yet it was laced with a cruel edge, as though it had been carved out of shadow itself. She spun around, her hand reaching for her wand.

  But the room was empty.

  Neville’s face went pale. "Theo?"

  Jaqui nodded, her pulse racing. She could feel him, feel the pull of his presence just beyond the veil. The weight of her bloodline, of the Longbottom legacy, was calling to her. The darkness was real — and it was drawing her in.

  And somewhere, in the depths of that darkness, a choice waited.

  Jaqui knew one thing for certain: The storm was coming, and she would have to face it — one way or another.