(HP) When Time Isn't Enough

Chapter 7

Nekhabed, Egyptian Goddess of Protection

-

I can only remember one time when Papa ever struck me.

He went through a phase where he couldn't look at me, much less talk to me. For a year, we were barely in the same room together. I managed to find a photo of Dad from when he was my age. I realised just how identical I am to him and knew that my papa couldn't look at me because of it.

I dyed my hair that night with a potion I created, making it as black as Papa's hair.

When I showed him, he couldn't talk. I've never seen him look so dead before. He was looking at me almost as if I had drawn all over Daddy's head stone.

He left the room and it took a while for me to talk to him. Every time I entered the room, he would leave. When I confronted him, his emotions finally got the better of him.

He backhanded me. Papa hit me so hard I could barely remember the words that came out of his mouth.

Papa shouted at me. He never wanted to see me lose pride in what my dad gave me. He couldn't believe that I would hide who I was like that. He wouldn't listen to what I had to say.

Before I could get out another word, he sent me upstairs to change what I had done.

I can't remember seeing him so angry.

I tried to tell him over and over again that I was proud of what my dad gave me, but he wouldn't listen. In all honesty, all I wanted was for my papa to look at me again. Covering up who I am wasn't my intention.

I just didn't want to lose my papa.

-

The first thing Harry did was run to the Room of Requirement to beg for the forgiveness of his friends. He was running much later than even he expected, all because of Scorpius and Malfoy. The two blondes were always eating away at his mind, trying to wheedle their way into his every thought.

And damnit, they were doing such a good job at it. He thought about them more than he did his school work, or even his training. The last thing he needed, really, was a distraction from his training. The defeat of Voldemort was his first priority.

Poor Scorpius grew up in a world where that defeat never occurred. He lost his entire family to the Dark Lord, just like he had.

Trying to change his thoughts, Harry entered the Room of Requirement, reaching the legendary room in record time.

Both Ron and Hermione were sitting in the middle of the room on poufs, going through spell book after spell book. They barely looked up as he stepped closer to them.

"Enjoy the Malfoys?" Ron asked scathingly, flicking through his book.

It didn't take a genius to know that Ron was pissed off. He was actually looking at a book rather than looking up at Harry.

"Ron, I didn't mean to spend any time with them at all...I was coming up here and I saw Malfoy and Nott in a fight..." Harry tried to argue.

"If it was between two Slytherins, why the hell did you get in the way of them?"

"You know that there's something going on between the two of us..."

"I didn't realise you were screwing him!" Ron snapped, now looking at Harry.

Harry stepped forward, seething. "I'm not sleeping with him, but I'm not going to sit by and watch him get beaten to death!"

"It's Malfoy, Harry! He's a Death Eater in training; he's always been our enemy."