A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 4: Chapter 8

Part 4:

Chapter 8 –

March 9th, 1998

Lia's feet dug into the sand beneath her as she let the cool breeze of the ocean float through her hair. It had originally been in a ponytail, kept back from her face, but the wind of the day had caused a nest to form on her head as she stared into the depths of the water.

It had been a long night, one that she could certainly say was the hardest throughout their horcrux journey. The events that went down at Malfoy Manor was horrific to say the least, and she knew that they had all had a lot of healing to do.

Hermione with the demoralizing words that Bellatrix wrote on her skin.

Harry with the loss of Dobby who now laid buried upon the hill.

Sirius with the death he bestowed upon one of his former friends.

Draco with the betrayal he emitted towards his family, even if it was for love.

And Lia, well she would forever remember the ghost of Tiberius' hands forced upon her.

Sleep didn't come well to her the night before, the circles under her eyes and loopy eyelids indicating just how well she had taken in what had happened to her. She was furious at what Tiberius had done, furious that he found himself holy enough to use her in such a way, but mostly she was furious at herself for almost giving up.

She would never forgive her actions from yesterday, never let it go that she almost allowed him to use her body for his pleasure, but she sure as hell would learn from it. It was going to take some time and a lot of healing, but she knew now that she refused to let herself be victim in such a way again.

She would surely destroy any single person who thought they could dehumanize her in that way.

Sirius had been the most understanding person to her, knowing exactly how she thought without even needing to mutter the words. Last night they had finally had a bed and a room to themselves inside Bill and Fleur's cottage, and even though they both wanted to explore what they had been deprived of for months, Lia was grateful when Sirius was the one to stop them.

He understood that she wanted him to erase Tiberius' touch, understood that she wanted him to wash away the memory of it all, but after the initial hurt of Sirius pushing her away, she was grateful. Because although that was what she thought she needed in that moment, what she really needed was for him to hold her as she cried through the innocence that she had lost.

And it felt good.

It felt blindly good to let that hurt wash over her and accept that she was a victim of a horrendous crime. Felt good to cry at the way Tiberius had touched her. Felt good to just let it all go in general because she couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to.

And Sirius was behind her the entire time, brushing her hair back, rubbing soothing hands down her back as he held the sobbing Lia in his arms. When the night closed out and she had no more tears to release, her had told her that he loved her and it was all she needed to hear in that moment because although she felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest last night, it would take more time to heal and for once, she was okay with that.

A pair of arms snaked around her waist from behind, the touch having her shoulders stiffening before the view of tattooed fingers graced her.

"What's on your mind sunshine?" Sirius' husky voice filtered in from behind her, no doubt just waking up from his restless sleep.

It was well past noon, but the group of them had spent the better part of yesterday memorializing Dobby before coming up with different plans they could exhibit. Draco had been a nasty human to all but Hermione when they first arrived, but she saw it for what it was; a defence mechanism. She hoped that today would bring about a new version of him, because he was going to be stuck with the lot of them.