𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐏A𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄, jp

Bedbound.

*Please read the A/N at the end*

The Lupin household was silent, but not in any comforting way. It was the kind of silence that weighed on the air. First days home from school were never easy. There was always tension, awkward dinners, and doors shut just a little too firmly. But this... this was different. This was a full-on storm.

Izzy lay in bed even though the sun was still up, her curtains were drawn tight, her room dim except for the faint glow of daylight peeking around the edges. Her eyes were closed, but sleep was nowhere near, her head was still throbbing from the night before. She felt hollow, as though all her anger, her grief, her hope had been wrung out of her and now there was just... nothing.

Except noise.

Raised voices echoed through the floorboards. She didn't need to strain to hear, her father and Remus were never quiet when they fought. Their argument spilled from Remus' bedroom, and they were angry.

"I told you to stop speaking to me like that!" Lyall roared.

"And I told you to get out of my room!" Remus snapped back, every word laced with hostility.

Izzy winced. Here they go.

"Remus! Enough!" Lyall bellowed, the sound of a man pushed past his limits. "This has got to stop! This attitude, this mindset that you're somehow above everyone else — enough! You've got to stop hurting your sister!"

"She deserves it!" Remus' voice cracked with fury. "She's a slut and deserves nothing, it's not my fault!"

Izzy's breath caught sharply in her throat.

She'd heard worse from him, but somehow it still landed like a punch to the gut every single time.

"You promised me you'd stop all of this!" Lyall shouted again, "you promised you'd behave!"

She wanted to get up. She wanted to storm down the hallway, shove the door open and scream in Remus' face, punch him again, maybe harder this time. But her limbs felt like lead. Her body wouldn't do it. So instead, she buried her face into her pillow and curled inward, as if she could block out the sound, the pain, the reality.

But it didn't last long.

Footsteps thundered down the hallway. A door flung open.

Apparently, it was her turn.

Lyall didn't knock. He barged in like a man possessed, eyes blazing. "And you!"

Izzy jerked upright in bed, her heart pounding. She stared him down, jaw clenched. "What the hell have I done?!"

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know," Lyall snapped. "McGonagall wrote to us, Isabella! Punching your brother in the face a few weeks ago? Really? What are you thinking? You're acting like a damn animal! You're at Hogwarts to learn, not to brawl like some street thug!"

She rolled her eyes before she could stop herself. "He—"

"Don't roll your eyes at me!" he shouted, voice sharp enough to cut.

"He deserved it!" she fired back, throwing off the covers and getting to her feet, arms crossed tight over her chest. "You can't come in here and scream at me just because he's pissed you off! You don't even know what happened!"

"Of course I do!" Lyall yelled. "You're both making fools of yourselves over something that happened years ago! And it's tearing this family apart!"

"Oh, so sorry our sister's death still affects us!" she snapped, her voice cracking now. "What's wrong with you? Or did you just get over Maisie like she didn't matter?!"