Damaged (A Marauders Era story)

First Year, Part 21 (The Easter Holidays )

"Where is Daddy?" I asked, "When will he be back?"

"I don't know, Honey," Mommy was pacing back in forth and seemed quite distracted. "I don't know."

"But he promised he would read The Three Goblins to me if I was good while he was gone," I persisted. "Will he be back before bedtime?"

"He should have already been back by now," Mommy said, more to herself than to me. "Something must have gone wrong. I told him it would. He wouldn't listen. He never listens. Why couldn't he just listen, just this once?"

Mommy wasn't making any sense, and I was about to ask her what she was talking about when the door to the living room burst open, causing me and Mommy to jump back in fright.

"Daddy!" I jumped off the couch and rushed over to embrace him.

"Charles, Dear, what happened?" Mommy sounded worried behind me. "Are you alright?"

As I hugged Daddy, I felt something wet seeping through my sleeve. I pulled away and saw red stains that had soaked through the sleeves of my dress to my skin. It felt warm.

"Daddy, you're bleeding!" I exclaimed in realization.

"I'm fine, Darling," Daddy reassured me, "Just a small scrape or two."

"Let me take a look," Mommy started to lift up the hem of his shirt, "What happened?"

"There's no time for that now," Daddy brushed her hand aside. "We have to leave. Now." Daddy made his way over to the fireplace and removed one of the bricks, the one that hid the "secret puzzle piece" as Daddy had once called it.

"Here," He took out the black metal piece and handed it to me. "You hold on to this for me. I need you to keep it safe until we get to where we're going."

I nodded my head and took the metal piece from him, placing it in my dress pocket. "Where are we going?" I asked.

A loud knocking sound was heard from the hall, startling me.

"They are here," Daddy had a look of panic in his eyes. "Abigail, take Alexa upstairs and hide in the master bedroom. You should be safe there."

"What about you?" Mommy asked, scooping me up and heading toward the stairs.

"I'll try to talk to them. Whatever happens, stay hidden."

I held on to Mommy tightly as she fled upstairs, down the hallway and into hers and Daddy's room.

From downstairs, I heard a loud crashing noise and someone yelling.

"Mommy," I whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don't worry, Honey. We'll be fine. " Mommy said as she closed the door to the bedroom behind her quietly, "I promise."

I felt something pushing down hard on my chest over and over again as I came to. I felt water come surging up to my mouth and I rolled over onto the muddy ground to cough up lungfuls of water, gasping desperately for breath.

"Oh, thank goodness," I heard a relieved voice say from beside me.

"Remus, did you just kiss her?" Another voice asked, sounding thoroughly disgusted.

"Don't be daft, Pete," A different voice said, "He was performing CPR on her."

"What's CPR?"

I tried to ignore the voices around me as water came burning up my throat and I continued to cough and splutter. I was gasping for breath and I felt tears began to stream down my face. My heart pounded hard in my chest and I felt sobs escaping me. I felt embarrassed for crying in front of a group of people, but I couldn't stop the tears and sobs from escaping.