Y/N had always been the type to keep her emotions under lock and key. From the time she was little, she learned to smile through her frustrations and push her sadness into the deepest recesses of her mind. This way of coping had become second nature, a part of her that no one questioned—least of all her boyfriends, Remus and Sirius.
Each day was a battle to maintain this façade. When classmates asked her irritating questions or professors unfairly singled her out, Y/N's response was always the same: a polite smile and a cheerful reply, no matter how much it grated on her nerves. When she felt the sting of loneliness or the weight of sadness, she would force those feelings down, convincing herself that they didn't matter.
But there are only so many emotions a person can bottle up before the pressure becomes too much. And today, it seemed like the universe was conspiring against her. From the moment she woke up late and missed breakfast, to the scolding from Professor McGonagall for a missing assignment, everything spiraled out of control. Her classmates seemed extra demanding, and her professors were relentless with their critiques. By the end of the day, she was barely holding herself together.
When Y/N finally returned to her dorm, she was on the edge of breaking. She threw her bag down and stared at the ceiling, the weight of the day pressing down on her. Without warning, the dam burst. Tears streamed down her face as sobs wracked her body. Years of suppressed anger and sadness poured out in a torrent that she couldn't stop.
"Why does everything have to be so hard?" she screamed into the empty room. "Why can't I just have one good day?"
She didn't realize how loud she was until she heard a knock on her door, followed by the concerned voices of Remus and Sirius. They had been on their way to surprise her with a treat, having noticed how tense she'd been lately.
"Y/N, are you okay?" Remus's gentle voice cut through the haze of her breakdown.
"Can we come in?" Sirius added, his tone equally soft.
She didn't have the strength to respond, but the door creaked open anyway. The sight of her boyfriends standing there, worry etched across their faces, made her sob even harder. She felt weak and exposed, emotions she had kept hidden for so long now laid bare.
Remus crossed the room in a few strides and sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her shaking form. "It's okay, love. We're here."
Sirius knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. "Talk to us, please. What's going on?"
Their kindness, their concern, only made her feel worse. "I can't... I can't do this anymore!" she choked out between sobs. "I'm so tired of pretending everything's fine when it's not!"
"We didn't know it was this bad," Remus said softly, stroking her hair.
"You always seem so put together," Sirius added. "We had no idea you were feeling like this."
The tenderness in their voices broke her, and the anger she had been suppressing surged to the surface. "Of course, you didn't know! Because I didn't want you to! I didn't want anyone to see how much I'm struggling!"
Remus and Sirius exchanged a glance, unsure of how to proceed. "Y/N, we're here to help you," Remus said cautiously. "But we can't do that if you don't let us in."
"You think I don't know that?" she snapped. "Do you think I like feeling like this? Do you think I want to burden you with my problems?"
"You're not a burden," Sirius insisted. "We love you. We want to support you."
But Y/N was too far gone, her anger and frustration boiling over. "Support me? How? By telling me it's okay? By hugging me and hoping it'll all magically get better? That's not how it works!"
Remus held her tighter, refusing to let her pull away. "We're not saying that, Y/N. We're saying that you don't have to go through this alone. It's okay to let us see your pain."
"Don't you get it?" she shouted, tears streaming down her face. "I'm scared! I'm scared that if I let you see how broken I am, you'll leave me! You'll realize I'm not worth the trouble!"
"Y/N, look at me," Sirius said firmly, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. "We would never leave you. Not because of this, not because of anything. We love you, all of you, even the parts you think are too messy to handle."
For a moment, she could only stare at him, the sincerity in his eyes cutting through the haze of her anger. Slowly, her sobs began to subside, the raw edges of her emotions softening in the warmth of their presence.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, the fight draining out of her. "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Remus assured her. "We should be the ones apologizing for not seeing how much you were hurting."
Sirius nodded, squeezing her hands. "From now on, let's promise to be more open with each other. No more bottling up, okay?"
Y/N took a shaky breath, nodding. "Okay. I'll try."
"That's all we ask," Remus said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
They spent the rest of the evening talking, the raw honesty between them creating a new bond. Y/N felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she shared her fears and frustrations, and for the first time in a long time, she felt truly seen and understood. As she lay between Remus and Sirius that night, their steady breaths lulling her to sleep, she realized that she didn't have to face her battles alone. With them by her side, she felt a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.
