BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑦.

tw - abuse

To be quite honest, Hollis Rosier was thoroughly convinced that she had felt nearly every kind of pain in the world.

Starvation, having the wind knocked out of her, betrayal, being hit so hard that she almost fainted, deep cuts, being touched in ways she didn't want to against her will, bruises, bleeding endlessly, crying her throat and tear ducts raw, fear, heartbreak, lying, the burden of keeping secrets and being lied to as well.

Yet, as she sat in the northern courtyard of Rosier Manor, Hollis felt all of that melt away as she read. Pouring over the typewriter font, Hollis felt her cheeks and tip of her nose go slightly numb with the frigid wind. There was something so beautiful about being lost in a book that it seemed like the fantastical world would never go away.

But if there was one thing that she had learned through all this pain, it was that every good thing would have to come to an end. Even when she least expected it.

So, as the magenta covered novel flew out of Hollis's hands like an invisible force had tugged at it, all she did was grit her teeth and shut her eyes. Turning around on the ice cold bench, Hollis felt a stab of irritation go through her chest as she saw Evans standing in the garden behind her.

"Give it back," Hollis said, standing up and holding out her palm in front of her. 

Her older brother just tossed the novel up and down in his hands tauntingly, walking closer to Hollis with an untamed amount of arrogance.

"Mother and father want you inside and then downstairs in a half hour, the Blacks are coming over," Evans declared. "So you better hurry up if you don't want them to be pissed off. Especially after how damn idiotic you acted in from of the Blacks last time."

Hollis rolled her dark brown eyes. She knew this message was supposed to scare her, but it didn't.

"Give it back and then fuck off, Evans," Hollis repeated herself, now stepping towards her brother. "Now."

Flicking his wand aggressively, Evans sent the book's tapered corner flying towards Hollis as fast as a bolt of lightning strikes the earth. Hollis didn't see it coming at all, and the sharp, hard cover hit her right on the cheekbone. Letting out a small yelp of shock, Hollis lightly touched her fingertips towards where the book had collided with skin. A small amount of sticky, warm crimson came back.

"What the fuck was that for?" Hollis shouted at her brother's retreating back.

"Maybe you won't be such an embarrassing brat this time," Evans called to his little sister with much malice in his voice that Hollis almost flinched again no matter how far away he was. 

Hollis snatched her book off the snowy ground as Evans disappeared behind the tall hedge angrily. Taking the nearest door back into the cold manor, Hollis climbed up the stairs quickly, a shot of numbness going through her legs with every step she took. Hollis wrapped her hands around both dragon engraved handles of her black painted double doors and slipped through the small crack she formed to the large bedroom.

It had been one full week since Hollis had arrived at Rosier Manor. Surprisingly, the time had been much more peaceful than she expected. Not fully peaceful, of course, that could never be when the tension of being the subject of anger could be unleashed on her at any second of any hour. But more than she had even dared to hope for. 

So as Hollis walked into the room and held the silver clasp of her bracelet up to her mouth to speak, Hollis wasn't expecting to see her mother and father already standing in her room.

They must have been there to lecture her, most likely a bit violently, about how she was not to behave in front of the Blacks, but as they saw their daughter talking to her wrist, that intention quickly changed from the suspicious, always assuming the worst, expressions on their faces.

When Hollis saw this, she instantly shot her hand down from her lips, and regretted it. It was now way too obvious that she was hiding something.

Shit, Hollis thought, her stomach sinking. Please, just don't ask-

"Where is that bracelet from?" Vindia snapped, walking briskly across the black marble floors to her daughter. "Where did you get it?"

Hollis frowned, having to lie on the spot.

"Bought it at Moribund," Hollis replied, trying to think of an answer that would appeal to her parents.

However, this might be too appealing because of how well Vindia and Mulstone knew Hollis's rebellious nature.

"Don't you dare lie to us!" Mulstone roared, standing next to his wife. "Now tell the truth, where did you get it?" 

Hollis's breathing rate increased along with her heartbeat. 

"A friend," Hollis whispered, knowing that her voice would tremble if she raised it any louder.

And weakness was an option Hollis always tried to avoid.

"Just a friend," Hollis repeated after a few moments of silence.

Mulstone believed his daughter this time, which was still not good for her. Because he was under the proper impression that this friend was most certainly not a pureblood Slytherin.

"Give it to me this instant," Mulstone insisted, holding out his hand. "We can't have that halfblood and muggleborn filth tainting your already massively flawed demeanor, can we, Appoline?"

One, and then two, then five seconds of intense silence passed as Hollis and her father just stared at each other.

"No."

It took Hollis a few moments to realize that she had been struck directly across the face because of how blurry her vision was becoming. Her back was pressed against the cold floor, lying face up and with all of the air knocked out of her lungs. Hollis let out a strangled sob that would make any other parent want to embrace their child. But for Vindia and Mulstone, they just got a sick sort of satisfaction that they had gotten their point across through violence out of the devastatingly in pain noise.

Kneeling down, Vindia yanked the silver band off Hollis with much for force than necessary. Her pointed red nails dragged across Hollis's skin, and she felt it tear open. Letting loose another sob of completely hopelessness, Hollis shut her eyes.

She was wasting the breath it took to stand up on tears.

And then, the worst thing that could have possibly happened occurred.

Right in Vindia's hand, the bracelet heated up with a message from the other Marauders.

omg cliffhanger

1.1k words

5th chapter of day

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