Redux (Discontinued)

Lionheart.

When Sanyukta had thought of going away to college, she pictured missing home.

But now it scared her, the fact that she had already considered this tiny room and the bathroom she shared with Kaustuki and Vidushi  to be her home.

Kaustuki was still sleeping, her pale pink blanket around her, looking very comfortable.

Vidushi was nowhere to be seen. Her bed was made up already, in a very proper manner. The dresser next to her bed had a small notebook with a metal Slytherin crest on it.  She went and picked it up. Official merchandise, again. It seemed that Vidushi never did anything with half measures.

'Figures' Sanyukta grinned. She'd signed up for Pottermore herself and done the sorting quiz. To no one's surprise, not even her own, she'd been sorted into Gryffindor. She had no merchandise of her own, and had even tried to sew the Gryffindor crest on her socks without much luck. That was how much of a fan girl she was over the series. She'd even picked up a recipe for Butter Beer on the internet and tried to make it. Her father had been deligh--

'Ugh. Stop. You have to stop thinking about them. They aren't even thinking about you right now. They disowned you.' she bit her lip hard.

All her practice of holding in her feelings paid off. The dull pain in her lip didn't make her eyes water.

She smiled. This was going to work. She was going to make it. She was brave and reckless but she was a lionheart. And soon, they'd all know just what she was made of.

The positive thoughts refreshed her as much as the shower did.

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"Any normal girl would be less excited about attending lectures" Kaustuki grumbled. "I do not understand how you can be like this. You are crazy I tell you!"

"Hey, we have to get breakfast before we get to class, if you hurry up we might be able to get a nice hot one instead of a cold rushed one" Sanyukta offered.

Kaustuki was out of her bed before another word was uttered.

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There was a line for breakfast in the canteen. Kaustuki was not happy about it. So it was Sanyukta who ordered and stood in line for the parathas.

"Man I miss Mom's cooking already." someone was complaining about the bland sambaar.

Sanyukta gulped. Her mother's sambaar was better than any restaurant.

'Don't think of mother. Don't think of mom' she began the frantic chant in her head. 'Nope. Mom did not stop you from leaving. Mom doesn't care enough. Mom hasn't even called or messaged.'

She still couldn't unsee her mother's soft smile. Or erase the memory of how safe she felt in her mother's arms.

That was when the real gravity of the truth hit her. She was never going to see her mother again.

Despite her best effort, tears blurred her vision.

"Hey you, watch where--"

Thud.

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She couldn't see his face through her tears. She could tell it was a he from the pissed off tone and the curses he was spewing.

"Bloody woman, can't you see?" he hissed "You made me spill my coffee onto my shirt. Guess what, I'm going to blame my tardiness in class on you. Don't think I'm going to forget this."

She could hear his footsteps and knew that he was walking away.

It didn't matter. Not even when he called her a Crying, walking hazard, typically female.

She was used to it.

'Stupid idiot. You are a girl and girls are weak and only good in the kitchen. Go make me Maggi. That's all you are good for anyway.'

She heard an echo of her elder brother's taunts in her ears. Ankit had belittled her and insulted her in front of Papa at every chance he got. Papa had encouraged it.

No, they were not family anymore. They did not matter, not right now.

She had a class to get to.

A class she was already late for.

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A/N: There's another look at Sanyukta's head. She's still feeling the loss of her family but she's now feeling angry about it as well. Her focus is now going to be on not letting anyone treat her like she's just a useless woman. She's really had enough of it.

Vidushi being a Slytherin and Sanyu being a Gryfinndor is something I've always thought of. I'm a huge potterhead and there might be HP references in the story. HP is actually going to play a big role in Sanyu and Vidushi's bonding. 

Any readers who are potterheads? What are your houses?

Also, Randhir was there in this chapter. If you know him as well as I do, you'll know he's not happy. And the next chapter is all his.