Little Phoenix (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

46. Grimmaud Place

"Do you really find this arrangement wise?" Snape asked after he found out about Nic staying with Sirius.

"Severus," Dumbledore countered. "She is the only thing keeping him from going mad in that house and he is the only thing keeping her sane. She had a terrible ordeal and she is much more...delicate than Harry. She feels her emotions much stronger than Harry does. When she's angry, she's really angry. When she's happy, she's really happy. And when, like now, she is depressed, she is very depressed."

"Her mother was the same way," Snape said quietly.

"How come you see so much more of her in Nic than you do in Harry?" Dumbledore inquired.

Instantly his expression soured. "Potter is a spineless, arrogant brat." Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head, before turning away from him.

Meanwhile, Sirius was sitting before a caldron, making Nic a batch of the sleeping draught Madam Pomfrey had given her before. Once it was finished, he took some up to her, and she fell fast asleep.
.............................................
Two Months Later
Nic's eyes fluttered open and she couldn't help but smile at the thought of Harry coming today. She was doing much better now than she had been before. She was more cheery and happy as she helped Sirius and Molly around the house. It was her light, perhaps, that kept Sirius from going mad while he was locked up in the house.

For, while he was in the Order of the Phoenix, he couldn't do much as he was still a wanted man. "Hey, Siri," Nic called, running down to the kitchen.

"Hello, little phoenix," he replied with a yawn. "What're you up to today?"

"Waiting for Harry," she replied with a small smile. "Hopefully he's not too mad at me."

"Why would he be mad?" Sirius asked offhandedly.

"Because he's been stuck at the Dursley's while I've been here with you," Nic said, pointing out the obvious. "Come on, Sirius," she laughed. "I thought that'd be obvious."

"Poor bloke's probably going mad with no news," Sirius remarked. Grabbing some food for himself, Sirius asked, "How are you doing this morning?"

"All right," she replied. "Honestly, as long as I don't think about it too much I'm fine. I just can't talk about it. It's triggering."

"Even with the councilor Dumbledore recommended?" Sirius asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, but that's different," Nic explained. "It's a controlled environment. How're you doing?" He shrugged. "Sirius," Nic sighed, knowing already how he was feeling. "I know you feel trapped here."

"They won't let me leave," Siri grumbled, almost childishly.

"Because we don't want you locked up, Siri," she replied. "I won't lose you, okay?"

"What about you?" he retorted. "Avoidance and trying to convince yourself that your happy doesn't work in the long run."

"Well it's working so far," Nic countered. "And besides, at this point it's all that's keeping me going."

"Heard from Tyriq recently?" Sirius asked.

"No," Nic sighed. "I've tried everything to reach him. I've sent countless owls and even tried talking to him through the witch's glass and he's not answering me."

"Probably just dealing with..." Sirius paused, not wanting to say the name. "Some things," he filled in quickly. Cedric had simply become an unspeakable name in that house. Everyone was so scared of setting her off, they refused to even utter it when she wasn't around. That was probably why she didn't spend all her time crying in her room like she had during the first few weeks.

Somewhere in there she had gotten up and started doing things again. She spent most of her time in her room reading, or so everything assumed. In reality she was brewing potions. One of the reasons she was able to be so chipper was she had started taking several potions daily. Aside from potions to help her sleep without nightmares, Nic was also taking anxiety potions daily, for she had begun dealing with anxiety attacks several times a day.

The result of this was she was able to deal with different things at different times when she could handle it. Because of this, she'd managed to almost completely deal with the trauma of basically being tortured in the maze and the first couple stages of her grief. She had gone through denial, anger, and bargaining and was currently working through depression. No one knew of all the potions she was taking, but there were times she thought Dumbledore suspected.