scars || sirius black

1 - the beginning

It felt like a single day had passed. But here she stood three months later, and her father was well and truly dead.

Emmeline Lupin had just finished her fourth year at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and was waiting to board a train home for the summer holidays.

This was the first time her father wasn't there waiting for her at the station. Despite herself, she searched the crowds in the hopes she'd catch a glimpse of him weaving his way towards her.

It had always just been the two of them, Remus hadn't come home since he'd started at Hogwarts five years ago... hadn't spoken to her for that long too.

She'd seen him so rarely since the accident that she could barely remember what he even looked like.

The accident was what everyone called it. Emmy had been five when Fenrir Greyback attacked her and Remus. The lycanthropy had set in soon after that and every full moon became her darkest hell.

The two of them had been so close when they were little, she could remember those halcyon days, his blonde hair and her laughter as they played pranks on their father. She missed them both a lot but Remus had stopped replying to her letters years ago and didn't even speak to her at the funeral. He had stood at the back of the room but by the time she'd turned to follow their father's coffin up the aisle, he had gone.

She hadn't spoken for days after that, it felt like there was a hollow aching hole in her heart where the two people that meant the most to her should have been. One had been forced to leave her but the other had made the choice and that hurt so much worse.

She didn't understand why he was so set on blocking her out, granted he had always had the short end of the bargain when he was sent off to live with their great-uncle Adney on the south coast of England, but that had been a decision their father had made and refused to change no matter how much she pleaded. They hadn't all lived together since the night of the first full moon after they'd been bitten; Emmy didn't remember much but it was enough to scar each other for life. The deep scars that tore along her ribs were a daily reminder of it.

She jolted forwards as Mira bumped into her,

"Oh I'm so sorry, I was just coming to find you!" she yelped as she helped Emmy up.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. Is your mum here yet?"

"Yeah, come on. She's by the florists'."

The station was packed with weary commuters but they made it through at last and into the car as Mira's mother chatted away, carefully avoiding the reason Emmy was staying with them for the summer, that she had nowhere else to go.

—————

They arrived at the Montpellier family home in the early evening and the girls sat with their feet in the pool, their light summer dresses dipped in the lukewarm water.

"You know I'll be leaving next year don't you?" Emmy said after a while.

"I wish you weren't," came Mira's reply. "But I am glad though..."

Emmy laughed, "Bit harsh, but alright."

"Oh shush you know what I mean. If anyone deserves to be happy, it's you. I mean, you know exactly what I think of Remus but if you really believe that's what you need then I'll do whatever I can to help you."