𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟔

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DESPAIR AT THE DOORSTEPS

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THREE days. It had been three days since Margaret had rushed to her desk and written a foot-long letter to Alice Longbottom advising her to rethink her return. Three miserably long days where Margaret had failed to sleep, tossing and turning with fear and anxiety, praying that everything would turn out just fine.

Sirius and Remus both noticed her stressed state; biting her nails and the dark circles that had found their place yet again beneath the blue of her eyes.

Margaret Potter had transformed into a creature of fear.

Sirius didn't get what the big deal was about, the war had ended, all who had done wrong seemed to be paying the price, and everything seemed to be alright. So what if the Longbottoms wished to come back? He was excited to see them.

Remus on the other hand, could, to a certain extent, understand her worry. He was more worried however about the way her hands trembled as she did the dishes, how she seemed to be unable to hold Harry for a long period of time, or how her eyelids dropped as they sat eating dinner.

Maggie Potter was balancing herself on the thin line that determined living or surviving.

"Margaret, Harry has been asking for you all day." Sirius approached her as she cleaned off inexistent dust from a bookshelf, "I think it'd be nice if you could spend some time with him."

It was late afternoon and the sun had just begun to set, the last day of November slipping by, and while Sirius tried to entertain Harry as best as he could, Margaret had stayed on the ground floor of Potter's Estate cleaning and polishing anything her weary eyes could find.

That is how she dealt with stress, dusting off floors and flattening out the cushions of the sofa, glancing towards the window again and again in hopes of catching the figure of the small owl that could only mean Alice had replied.

But as the lack of letters prolonged, Margaret's sanity seemed to worsen.

Now, she looked at Sirius, biting her lips. "What?" She asked, hadn't caught the dark-haired wizard's previous words.

"Harry wants to be with you," he said again, yet this time he couldn't retain the reproachful tone that rang on the back of his voice. "I know you are knackered and all, but he's still your responsibility too, you know?"

Sirius had bit his tongue the last few days not to say what he was thinking, but he had grown tired, and now he seemed unable to contain his need to knock her back to reality.

Maggie hadn't expected that at all and it irked her.

"Funny you say that!" She began, her voice icy yet so unlike her own, "I don't need to be reminded about my responsibilities, thank you very much. You on the other hand, you could do with some help."

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