Heart Scars

Eighteen

The day Adhara was set to go back to school was quiet.

Her face had fresh bruises, along with her ribs. A few of them had been broken.

Adhara had refused several marriage setups from her mother, and each time the woman got even angrier with her. Adhara felt broken, and she was dreading going back to school. Her father had even taken part in torturing her once or twice.

She missed the train, her mother had insisted that she floo powder there, to avoid the stares of parents on the platform. It wouldn't matter though, the kids at Hogwarts would be talking about her bruised body in no time.

"Miss Black." Dumbledore greets solemnly as he takes in her appearance. She nods her head in greeting.

"Headmaster."

"The feast has already begun, come along now." She follows him out of his office and down the halls, staying a few steps behind him so that he couldn't see her.

She stood outside the double oak doors for a moment. Dumbledore had went in the teachers door, so that he could take his seat at the table at the front of the room. Adhara wasn't so lucky, she would have to walk in and let everyone stare at her.

She pushed open the doors with a sigh.

She heard multiple gasps echo throughout the hall as people caught sight of her, and Adhara wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. She shook her head. She couldn't think like that. Adhara was a Black, and she had to act like it.

She began limping towards the Slytherin table, her broken ribs aching. She would have to go to Madam Pomfrey later.

Severus met her halfway, and wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her. She sighed in relief and let herself lean into him.

He didn't take her to sit with their friends, and she knew this was how it was going to be from now on. Her and Severus, avoiding them at all costs. Suddenly it made sense why he was distancing himself since school started.

Remus was staring over at Adhara with wide eyes.

He had been worried when he realized she hadn't come back on the train along with everyone else. He noticed that Regulus had come, but not her.

His heart broke when she walked through those doors, bruised and broken. Her eyes looked dead, they had lost the light that had become so familiar to Remus. She was skinnier too, and her skin was much paler.

"What the hell happened?" Sirius seethes, asking no one in particular.

"Mate, I saw her at the Christmas ball. S-she said-" James gulps.

"She said what, Prongs?" Sirius asks frantically.

"She doesn't want us to talk to her anymore. Even you, Remus." James whispers.

Remus stills.

"No she didn't." Remus says quickly, but he knew he was wrong. James wouldn't lie to him. Ever.

"Remus, mate, I'm sorry." James puts a hand on his shoulder. Remus shrugs him off.

"I'll talk to her on patrol. I'll find out what's wrong." He says determinedly.

He doesn't notice the pained grimace on James' face.

///

"Oh, my dear." Madam Pomfrey whispers as she strokes Adhara's hair. She had made the bruises fade slightly, and healed her broken ribs, but the matron was still fussing over her.

"I'm alright, honestly Poppy." Adhara mumbles. She was far from alright, but she didn't want Madam Pomfrey to know that.

Adhara had become close with the matron ever since she started volunteering in the hospital wing her fourth year.

"Don't lie to me, Adhara Black. You look like you haven't slept in weeks." The woman frets. Adhara doesn't have the heart to tell her that she hasn't.

"Can I stay here tonight?" She asks quietly, her eyes pleading with the matron. The woman tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Of course, my dear." Madam Pomfrey smiles at her once more before running off to her office.

Adhara wished her own mother was like Poppy Pomfrey, kind yet stern, loving and gentle. Oh how she wished to have a mother who cared.

She brought Adhara some clothes to sleep in, and a sleeping potion so that she'd actually sleep through the night. Adhara fell asleep almost immediately, and didn't dream once that night.

///

She found Sebastian Pucey early the next morning before classes.

"I need to ditch my patrol partner." Adhara clears her throat as she approaches him. He looks away from whatever he's writing to study her.

He doesn't ask about her face, which still had faint bruises, and he nods. That's what she liked about Sebastian Pucey, he didn't ask questions.

"I'll put you with Winston Corner, the Ravenclaw. Lupin can go with that Hufflepuff girl, Thalia Phillips." He sighs. Something in her stomach churns at the thought of Remus patrolling with Phillips, but she quickly shakes it off. She had to let these feelings go. She had to let him go.

"Thank you." She sighs, and he just nods, resuming his work.

Adhara went through classes that day, making sure to steer clear of the marauders. She sat as far away from the boys as possible, and always dragged Severus to sit next to her.

But unfortunately for Adhara, she had care of magical creatures, the only class her and Remus didn't have any friends in.

"Ara-" he approaches, and she clenched her jaw. She had to get rid of him, make him go away.

"Go away, Lupin." She sneers as she looks at him coldly, like he is nothing but dirt beneath her shoe. That's what her mother would look at him as, some inferior halfblood who was tainting the wizarding world.

Remus doesn't budge, which she had anticipated. Adhara knew Remus, and he wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"Talk to me, tell me what happened." He pleads. Kettleburn was droning on about unicorns, and didn't even notice that Remus and Adhara were talking. She kind of wished he'd notice.

"No. It's none of your business." She snaps. She watches as his face fills with hurt and confusion. She didn't want him to feel hurt or confused, she wanted him to hate her, to despise her very being. She needed him to hate her.

"Ara, look at me-"

"You think you're so special, don't you? Just because I gave you a little bit of attention? Well, you're not. I could have any guy in Hogwarts, what makes you think I'd want you? I am a Black, and you are inferior to me. Now, get away from me, halfbreed." She spits the last word like a curse, praying that it would make him hate her enough to leave. She didn't want to do it, but using his lycanthropy against him was her best option.

He stumbles back, as though she had hit him. She wished she had, it probably would have hurt less than what she had said. Adhara doesn't blink though, she just continues looking at him icily.

"Fine, you want to be alone? You got your wish. You have succeeded in running away every person who has ever loved you. Good job, you can spend the rest of your damn life alone." He spits, and then he storms away, away from class, away from the yelling of professor Kettleburn, and away from her.

///

"Has he asked you to do anything yet?" Severus whispers to her. They were sitting by a tree near the black lake, bundled up from head to toe.

Adhara doesn't need to ask which he that he's referring to. Adhara shakes her head.

"That's good." He mumbles.

"I'm afraid." She whispers to him. He grips her hand tightly in his own.

Somehow, Severus had become her rock in the week since she had come back to school. Her fight with Remus had happened days ago, and he had remained cold towards her since. It hurt, but she knew it was for the better. She'd choose his safety over her happiness any day.

Her and Severus don't speak anymore, finding comfort in the silence. The wind whips around them, and snowflakes begin to fall, but the two teen Slytherins don't move, relishing in the comfort that the other brings.