The world had gone silent. The ringing in her ears covered everything else. Through her blurred vision she could see his lips moving and maybe if she tried enough she could hear an echo of her name being called, but she couldn't think. Just kept repeating his words over and over again.
"Addison Lyra Tyler...Lupin."
"Addison Lyra Tyler...Lupin."
"Addison Lyra Tyler...Lupin."
She couldn't process anything else. She couldn't even process those words. How could she? How could He?
"I-" she began, mouth gaped like a fish out of water. Lupin gave her a hopeful look and she felt her stomach twist. "I can't."
Yanking herself out of his grasp, Addi bolted out of the classroom and away from him. Her tears were constant and the ache in her lungs was becoming too much to bear. But she kept running. She forced her legs to carry her out of the castle and into the tree line surrounding the lake. Finally, she let herself stop, but only when she'd tripped over a large root and tumbled to her knees.
Clutching at her chest, her sobs only seemed to get louder and stinging pain emitted from her knees. Yet she couldn't care.
Remus Lupin was her father.
He was her father.
He had left her.
How could he leave her?
All these questions, so little time.
She cried until she couldn't cry anymore. She thought until she couldn't stand the voices in her head. All screaming at her. Telling her different things- different sides to the same story. The cold nipped at her skin, and the dark night blurred everything around her until the only thing allowing her to see was the light of the full moon.
The full moon.
Her original purpose came rushing back to her, along with the knowledge that it was too late to do anything else besides just sit back and let it happen.
Two figurers crossed a few yards ahead of where she was sat in the dirt. They were closely followed by a large, winged creature. A small smile lifted her lips as she moved through the trees to follow the figures.
"Harry! Hermione!" She called out, wiping her face to rid herself of the tear tracks staining her cheeks as best she could.
The two figures spun around with their wands raised, but put them away as soon as they saw the blonde girl. Addi met them halfway and leapt into their arms, doing absolutely everything not to break down again.
"Addi!" They chanted together, giving her a squeeze.
"What did you run off to do earlier?" Hermione questioned.
The girl shrugged, "Doesn't matter. It wouldn't have worked anyways."
Her two friends shrugged it off and filled her in on what they'd done while separated. Addi, despite her inner turmoil, grinned in utter happiness as Buckbeak trotted over from where he was trying to eat some low flying bats and nuzzled into her neck. While patting the creature, Hermione and Harry wandered over to the outer edge of the trees to see what was going on at the Whomping Willow.
A howl broke through the cool air and Addison felt all her hair stand on end, her stomach churning. Rushing away from Buckbeak, She made her way over to her best friends. They were tensed, viewing the incident from afar. A new kind of terror ran through her as Hermione cupped her hands around her mouth and howled.
"What are you doing?" Harry gritted, yanking the girls hands from her face.
"Saving your life," Hermione stated in an urgent whisper, repeating her previous actions until the werewolf changed course and began tramping in their direction.
"Great! Now he's heading straight for us," Addi whimpered, holding tight to Harry's hand.
"Yeah...didn't think about that," Hermione huffed, grabbing the other two and shoving them away from the tree line. "Run!"
Together, the three friends sprinted through the foliage trying to avoid the werewolf that was hot on their trail. Addi used her grip on Harry to her advantage, tugging them behind a wide tree for coverage as Hermione followed. Huddling together, they held their breath. Behind them, she could hear twigs snapping and the sound of snarling and sniffing.
The realization that it was Lupin inside that werewolf- her father- had Addi freeze up. Her lower lip trembled as she carefully pulled her wand out. Taking a deep breath, Addison stepped out from their hiding spot, ignoring the protests of her friends.
Her father stared at her, teeth bared in a vicious growl. Addi trembled as he stalked closer, but made now move to run. As he was about to pounce on her, she aimed her wand.
"Homorphus!"
A stream of white light emitted, shooting Lupin in the chest and sending him flying back, but the blast also causing Addi to collide with the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Coughing, she pushed herself up onto her elbows as Hermione and Harry rushed to her side. They all stared at the spot Lupin fell, seeing a body- not a werewolf. Addi felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head.
"I did it," She breathed. "I actually did it."
"What did you do exactly?" Harry inquired giving her an incredulous glare.
"Is he dead?" Hermione wailed, trying to crawl over to the man.
Addi held her back," No! I changed him back to his human form." She grunted as she stood to her feet. "He's just unconscious."
"Then he'll be fine," Harry said, brushing some dirt from his jeans. "Now we need to go see my dad save Sirius."
"What? Your dad?" Addi questioned, but then shook her head. "No, no! We can't just leave him here!" But the awful part of her brain was screaming, 'Why not? He left you.'
"He can take care if himself, Addi," Harry urged, taking a hold of her hand and trying to drag her away.
Biting her lip, she spared one last glance at her father and then allowed her best friend to guide her away.
~~~
Addi's brain felt like mush. Everything was at war in her mind- all her truths, memories, ideals, thoughts. She always thought meeting her father would be happy affair, but now that it had happened, she can only think about his sobbing face and the fact that he was there when she was born, but chose to run off.
As the three friends arrived at the lakeside, Addi slumped against a nearby tree. She watched as Sirius stumbled right to the edge before collapsing and as past-Harry fell to his knees beside him. The water froze over as dozens of dementors descended from the night sky, swarming the two men across the lake. Yet, Addi couldn't look away.
"This is horrible," Hermione whispered. Harry was grinning however retorting with the fact that his dad will come, pointing to an outcrop just ahead of them.
Addison frowned, "Your dying...both of you. Nobodies coming, Harry."
As if physically pierced by her words, Harry stumbled back with his brows sinched together. The next moment, he was surging forward to outcrop, wand raised and a determined shadow on his face.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The white light that billowed from his wand was blinding. Addi raised her hand over her eyes, squinting to be able to see as the dementors across the lake were quite literally blown away. A small, proud smile adorned her lips as the light diminished.
YOU ARE READING
Miss Brightside
Fanfiction"A mass murderer would be compelled to kill again if they escaped from prison, and Sirius Black hasn't. It makes you wonder if he really did the things they say he did," /~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ Addison Tyler was going i...
