IN RUINS- James Potter

chapter seventy four

The house was quiet, scaring her a little bit, eating her cereal by herself, sitting in her room on her bed and waiting for time to go by. Her room door was open but it felt like if someone went near it, they would be cursed. It was odd, being on a different floor than everyone else sometimes, regulus' room being nearly down the hall, Sirius' room downstairs on the first floor.

The layout of the house was weird from the beginning. Kreacher always had a workout with all the stairs he had to tackle through his life of working for the Blacks, and while Nora tried to help him, he was stubborn just like the rest of them.

Her mother barley appreciated the fact Nora was around; doing chores to make her day go by faster, it didn't however, looking at the clock to barley see time go by. It was sad; but this was her life now. Her parents were just happy to know she did something they never thought she would do, now although they didn't ask to see her arm, they knew by the look on her face that she was one.

But she didn't feel like a death eater, almost moving on with her days and forgetting how she has a duty to fulfill, ignoring it everyday. It had only been a couple days after the meeting, and Nora felt numb around that talk, hearing regulus mumble about how his arm hurts, or how Evan will soon have to get it.

She couldn't help him even if she wanted to. Sitting in her room for days on end gave Nora a new sense of reality she thoroughly enjoyed laying on the ground too much, but it was confirming. The cold titles touching her cheeks, looking at the window and hearing faint birds.

In other words; it felt like Nora was slowly going insane in her room, knowing she wasn't appreciated anywhere else. The portrait of her; Sirius and regulus all laughing was taken down from the living room, watching her mother put it in the storage room, a room she didn't know existed.

Hearing her mother yell for regulus to be careful, Nora put her bowl down after finishing, seeing them aparate out of the front room, grabbing her wand. Nora wanted to spend her day today in that storage room, knowing half of the things that were taken away from her was in there, heading up the final floor and using her wand to unlike the door.

Opening the door and gasping to see all the things she once loved, Nora even noticed unopened boxes that was just thrown in here, seeing a section of all the half naked girls that Sirius purposefully put in his room, snooping around and jumping over things.

On the right of a dresser, were many letters from their late uncle Alphard, his name on one of the boxes, curious to see what was in it. Stabbing her wand to cut the tape, Nora was in awe to see all these books with muggle writers, grabbing one of the letters.

Wallie,
Don't be mad at me, I'm dying for merlin sake. Don't end my journey of you being mad at me because I'm interested in the muggle world. Please give these books to your children, lie and say they are wizards, they will learn a lot and if I were there, I would've given them to these. That little Nora of yours is going to be the brightest girl at Hogwarts, with or without help.

- Alphard.

A small smile laid on Nora's lips, knowing she's failed her uncle with the things she's been doing, not feeling very bright anymore. 

Putting the dusty letters down and turning to the boxes of old photos, Nora picked up a photo of the five of them, Sirius holding four year old regulus in his lap with Nora holding a doll, and her parents looked down at them sweetly. She remembered that day, complaining on how Sirius got to fully hold him while Walburga compromised and gave her the doll to not whine anymore minutes before aunt druella took the photo.

She knew they would never have that moment again; knowing why that photo is to never be hung up again. There were many photos of her family smiling and actually liking each other. It hurt her stomach a little to see how her family had crumbled so much, to andromeda being the first to run away, Bellatrix slightly going insane, Narcissa soon to be married, herself in crossfires, Sirius out of the frame, and regulus sacrificing himself. At one point this family was happy.