𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥 | 𝐡.𝐩

𝟓𝟓

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
☼
▕  Family make-ups ▏

. . .

    Anastasia cracked her dry eyes open, squinting when a glare of sun blinded her. She blinked a few times and adjusted to the morning light clouding Harry's bedroom. Her eyes ran up his bare chest until they rested upon his peaceful sleeping face.

    She carefully untangled their warm legs and removed his heavy arm from around her body and slipped out of bed. Harry shifted and flipped onto his stomach, squeezing a pillow to his body as a replacement for her.

    Ana tiptoed to his bathroom and examined her disheveled self in the mirror. Her hair stuck up in many places and her mascara had clumped itself underneath her bottom lashes.

    Her hands splashed cold water onto her face and she scrubbed her fingers underneath her eyes. She brushed her teeth and then ran a brush through her knotty hair.

    "Good Morning," Harry greeted with a lazy smile. She jumped a little and looked over at her boyfriend who was leaning against the bathroom door frame.

    He pushed off the frame and stood behind her, planting a gentle kiss on her neck as he reached around her and grabbed his toothbrush from the holder.

    Ana moved out of his way and they switched positions so she stood behind him while he brushed his teeth. She wrapped her arms around his bare torso and laid her head on his warm back.

    "You're getting moved today, right?" She asked quietly.

    Harry bent down a little to gather some water in his mouth from the faucet. He swished it around before spitting it back into the ceramic sink.

    "We are getting moved today, yes." He removed her arms from around his waist and spun around so they were facing each other. "You've known this for weeks."

    Anastasia kept her eyes on his chest instead of looking up at him. "I know . . ." she trailed off.

    "What's wrong?" Harry ran a soft hand across her cheek, brushing some hair behind her ear as he tilted her head up.

    "I have to go back home today," She admitted lowly. Her silver eyes glimmered into his green ones. "I have some things that I want from my room . . . and I have to talk to my parents."

    Harry pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. "Okay. Do you want me to go with you?"

    Ana shook her head. "I'm gonna go alone. I won't be long, I'm not expecting a heart-to-heart from them."

    Harry simply kissed her forehead and guided them back into the bedroom so that they could get dressed appropriately and go down for breakfast.

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    She arrived at her house through the Floo. She didn't think to give her dads' a heads up but she didn't really care to either.

    Her feet carried her up the long curved stairs and down the left hallway where the door to her room sat at the very end. Leo and Victoria's were on either side of the hallway right across from each other.

    Not a single sound echoed in the house like it normally would indicating that someone was home. Maybe they were still sleeping.

    She peeked into Leo's room first which looked empty as ever since he moved out a while ago. Then, she drifted to Victoria's room. It was still decorated in all its grunge glory with posters and records coating the walls in their same places.

    Ana moved to the poster wall that had a bunch of polaroid photos tacked everywhere. Some of Victoria and her friends, some of just her friends, and some of her family as well. Her eyes are stuck on one photo. It had black marker on the white part on the bottom that spelled ' Summer 1996 '.

    Anastasia and Victoria were covered in eggshells, egg yolks, flour, chocolate frosting, and sprinkles. The picture caught them mid-moment of them hugging and laughing together. Leo stood behind them with a mischievous look holding a few more eggs in his hands and a huge smile on his face.

    She ran her finger over the photo gently, a wave of emotion hitting her. She didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

    "I knew I'd find you back here sometime." Remus' light voice didn't startle her. Instead, she stiffened and put on a straight face.

    She refused to turn around so her back stayed facing him. "I won't be here for long. I'm just here to get some things of mine that I want."

    "Okay." said Remus.

    Anastasia heard the soft thud indicating that Remus perched himself on the edge of Victorias bed. His eyes felt like they were digging into the back of her head. She knew he wouldn't start a conversation about the obvious topic hanging between them unless she brought it up first.

    Remus never forced his children to talk about uncomfortable topic with him unless they initiated the conversation with him. He was always the best person to talk to about anything. He's so open-minded and nonjudgmental.

    "I'm not mad at you guys anymore." Ana said quietly. "I was so angry at you both for the longest time. Long before you even knew I found out. That's why I stopped sending you letters so abruptly in the middle of the year. I was -- I am hurt." 

    "I never wanted you to feel that way. Neither did your dad. We wanted to keep you far away from that deranged family as we could. Everytime we went to tell you we got scared because we thought you would go after her."

    Anastasia scoffed and turned around. "And I do. I do want to go after her."

    Remus looked at her with a small frown. "You have every right to want to. But that doesn't mean you have to let your emotions take over and impulsively go after a woman for all we know could overpower you with your grandmothers help."

    "I already almost killed her at The Department of Mysteries."

    "We don't want you to get hurt, can't you understand that?" Remus' tone was gentle and made Anastasia want to burst into tears that she'd held in for so long. "We don't want you to have the same fate as your biological parents. Surely you can understand that all we wanted to do was to protect you. Not to hurt you. Not you make you feel belittled or to make you think we're scared of you."

    "Because we aren't," Sirius drifted into the room looking more tired than usual. He rested a soft hand on his husbands' shoulder. "We could never be scared of you, tiny. We raised you with nothing but pure love and joy along with your siblings. We love you so much, more than you can imagine. The thought of losing you terrifies us terribly which is why we decided to keep that secret from you. I am truly sorry you found out through a newspaper and not through us."

    Anastasia's chin wobbled and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth to stop the ragged sob from escaping her raw throat. Salty tears escaped from the rim of her tired eyes as she stared at her parents.

    She moved from her spot near the picture coated wall and threw her arms around both of her parents. Her chin rested on Sirius' shoulder as hard sobs escaped her lips and more tears fell down her face.

    All of the anger seeped out of her bones as she melted further into her parents touch. Anastasia knew she couldn't stay mad for long especially with the upcoming war treading along.

    Life is too short to hold grudges, in her opinion.

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