Surviving......Hogwart's Fanfic

Chapter 11: We Are Family

(TW: anxiety, pain, mentions of abuse/family trauma, & brief mention of knife/blood)

Luce woke up halfway through the night from yet another nightmare. She got up, carefully, not wanting to wake Ginny.

Successfully, she grabbed her thicker coat, and crept downstairs, and outside. Although it was still snowing, Luce didn't care.

She stood on the back porch and looked over the railing to the ground covered in snow, not even three feet below her. The wind blew, making the snow fly every which way through the night sky and occasionally across the ground. Still Luce barely shivered or gave the cold much acknowledgment. She let the silent tears fall down and off her face, disappearing somewhere just before they hit the ground.

Luce wanted the pain to stop, just once. Just one day or minute that could pass where she wasn't stuck in her past, which was continuously haunting her. She's learned to live with it so far, but Luce was never going to conquer this. At least she was disowned from her biological parents, whom she had only lived with for the first decade of her life. Still, Luce was glad to have her mums and Draco and Ginny, and the others, but not even they could fix how broken she was, they'd never be able to find all the pieces.

Luce stood there frozen, her tears too, she couldn't cry anymore, well for now at least. Luce just stared ahead, her mind completely and utterly blank for moments. So much so she didn't hear the door open, nor that someone came to her side, only till they spoke. "I understand Lucinda." It was Sirius.

Luce didn't move quite yet, but responded in a whisper, her voice cracking, "How did you deal with all of it?"

"I had good friends who supported me." Sirius was quiet for a moment, the wind still blowing around snow and rustling the trees. "I never truly get over it though; still haunts me now and then, amongst other things."

"So I'm-, I'm stuck with this, like this?" Luce turned her head towards him, he smiled warmly down at her.

"You may be, but some things should pass in time." Sirius put his arm firmly around Luce's shoulders, holding her close for a few moments.

They were quiet and mutually enjoyed each other's company. Both knew the other understood, as Sirius and Luce had very similar upbringing. Luce crossed her arms around herself, the cold finally starting to get to her.

Sirius turned to her, and gently wiped off her tears stained face. "Come on, your mums would kill me if you got a cold."

The two chuckled as they went back inside of the warm and cozy Headquarters.

Luce sat down on the little table in the kitchen while Sirius made hot chocolate. "Thank you," Luce said as Sirius handed the cup to her, adding a piece of chocolate.

"Don't tell Remus." Sirius smiled, before a smirk planted on his face. "So, you and Ginny? You have always seemed quite close."

"Um-, yeah." Luce paused, before her own face mirrored Sirius's smirk. "Tho, I can say the same about you and Remus."

He laughed, "This stays between you and me, but what do you think about me proposing to Remus?"

Lucinda's face lit up with excitement. "Yes! Please do."

After another moment of silence and as they finished their hot chocolate, "I say, you might love chocolate, just as much as Remus does."

The two sat talking about their lovers and bits of their past for another half hour before they both headed up for bed.

Even though Luce felt better, she couldn't go back to sleep. Her mind continued to wander and her thoughts bagan racing chaotically with every step. Ginny had moved to the bed, so tired she probably hadn't realized Luce was gone.