the case of dawna flynn - r.j lupin

twenty-four

Dawna hadn't really stopped crying since she arrived at her old home.

Maybe this was evidence that she actually was dependent on Remus but honestly, who could blame her really? Him and Pomfrey had been the first ones who had done the big thing and taken her in when she needed someone most.

Remus picked up some random cat who had no owner and decided that he'd take the liberties to look after her. He didn't kick her aside like Liam Powley had done or ignored her like the rest of the Gryffindor common room did. And Pomfrey, she'd been by her side since Remus left Red to her. Not once had Madam Pomfrey said a bad word about Red, and never had she discussed giving her to a pet shop. Pomfrey kept her safe and well for fifteen years. Really she owed that woman her life.

Remus and Pomfrey had loved her so unconditionally and Dawna felt it so strongly. And she loved them so.

When she'd been behind that curtain with Madam Pomfrey while the woman checked her over, the way Pomfrey spoke to her was in such a motherly way. It had brought both of them to tears and they'd sat side by side crying and holding hands.

Her dependency on Remus wasn't anything damaging to her mental health, she knew that. It was a psychological response to what she'd been through is what she was sure it was called. He made her feel safer then anything else and without him everything felt a bit off.

Her parents had tried to convince her out of her room multiple times but she'd refused. She hadn't eaten in two days now, she'd drank water but that was it. And she was hungry but she couldn't bring herself to eat.

She kinda just stared around her room. It was the same as it had been when she was a girl, obscenely pink and yellow. It kinda made it look like someone had thrown up in Barbie. She still liked it although she would definitely change a few things now.

Even being stuck in this room made her feel younger and smaller then she was. This was the room of a fifteen year old. They had spare rooms so she wasn't sure why she couldn't just stay in one of those. She had asked but her parents insisted she stay in her room.

When she was fifteen she had a habit of getting her mother to perform spells on all of her stuffed animals to make them walk and talk. It was honestly a little childish for a fifteen year old but it filled her wonder like nothing else.

Her favourite was when her mother would have the big green dinosaur, that now kinda looked like a booger with horns because of how yucky the green was, walk and talk. It was magical, literally. She had been laid with the big green dinosaur on her floor for a couple hours now.

"Dawna honey, please eat something." Her mother had walked into the room and left a plate of a steaming roast on her bedside table. Dawna just watched her in silence. Now that it was just the three of them, her parents were much more gentle and nice. They didn't yell, they weren't patronising, they didn't force her to do anything.

Well except stay at the house of course. She was allowed as far as the trees at the back of the garden and that was it.

"Please sweetpea, you haven't eaten anything since we arrived here." Her mother begged as she sat on the edge of Dawnas bed and watched the girl just stare at her from the floor.

"Let me see Remus and I'll eat a whole horse for you." Dawna snapped and her mother frowned and Dawna flinched at the displeased look in her eyes.
"We can't allow that honey, not until the healers and Aurors are convinced you have-"

"My brain is fine!! It has developed fine! I lived with humans the whole time I was gone, I wasn't isolated or stuck in a pet store." Dawna argued and her mother stood up defiantly.
"No Dawna. And that's final!" her mother pressed as she turned towards the door and pulled it open, "Please eat your dinner."

Dawna watched the door shut and she glanced at the food with distaste.

She knew she'd have to eat eventually but that wasn't now. She didn't feel like she'd be able to keep it down if she did.

She picked up the glass of water beside the plate and took a few large greedy gulps before putting it down and wiping her mouth.

Honestly, she loved being a human again. She could speak, hold things, read, but there was a part inside her that wished the spell hadn't worked or that she'd never told Sirius she was an Animagus. That she was who she was. None of this would have happened.

She wouldn't be a prisoner on her own home.

It wasn't even really her home anymore.

Remus Lupin was her home.

And if things carried on how they were she was never going to see him again.

She picked up the plate and stabbed one of the potatoes with a fork.

She had to be independent and prove that she wasn't going to rely on anyone when she got let go. She had to show that her mind had developed just fine.

She finished the whole plate.