Written In The Stars IV -[Harry Potter xF!Oc]

Chapter Eight: Motherly Love.

Her mother was pouring some strange liquid on her arm. She hissed a little when it touched her skin, but kept going anyway. Mel froze, watching her but drifting into her own train of thoughts.

The woman in front of her was merely thirty years old. Yet, she'd lived through a war, lost both parents and her husband, raised a baby on her own and still managed to remain calm during the mayhem it had been that night, even after knowing her daughter had been close to encounter a Death Eater. The realization was sudden, but she understood why Emily had hidden everything from her. How could she explain to her six-year-old daughter that they had no relatives because they'd been killed years ago? How could she explain to her that her last name was an opportunity and a curse?

The love she felt for her mother was overwhelming, she even teared up a bit.

"Mel," Emily stood up straighter. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, quickly drying her tears.

"No– I'm... I'm fine I just– You..." She took a deep breath, sitting on the chair closest to her. "You never told me about your parents," Before her mother could reply, she lifted a hand to stop her. "I'm not complaining, I'm not upset... I think I finally get it."

"What is it that you get?" Emily leaned back on the sink.

"All there was to tell," She started. "It was easier to... not tell me."

Emily stared at her intently.

"S'not that I thought of it as easier," She slowly walked up to the table. "I wanted you to have a good childhood. Not telling you everything was the best choice; for you and for Harry, anyway. Telling you would've meant telling him, and I couldn't bring myself to put so much on his shoulders, he was just a child."

Mel nodded, watching her Mum tapping lightly on the chair's frame.

"I also wanted to forget for a while... a good decade in the dark sounded like a marvelous idea to put some space between my memories and what the wizarding world would look like once you were old enough to explore it. I was going to be able to look at it through your eyes and that sounded like such a fresh start... I wasn't counting on how little the world had changed since I left, and all the things that would come back once I was here."

"I'm sorry I didn't make things easier for you," She pouted, "running around and getting myself into all kinds of mischief thinking of it as a punishment for keeping me in the dark, when all you were trying to do was to give me a quiet, happy life. You and uncle Lupin have worked so hard to make my life better and I've done nothing to give back–"

"We never asked for you to give back," Emily responded. "Remus loves you almost as if you were his own and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter. Sure, you're a bit of a handful sometimes, I'm afraid you've inherited my ways, but you're also caring, and you wouldn't hurt a fly. I supposed I could've handle things better as you grew up, let out some information here and there, I guess... I didn't want to lose you. I still don't want to lose you."

"What'd you mean?" Mel frowned, feeling there was more to tell.

"Your family has a reputation," Emily sighed. "Difficult for the young ones, especially. Matthew worked hard to win his 'worth' , our classmates were always watching him, hoping for him to make a mistake so they could feel better about their own. That kind of pressure... it does things to your spirit, something inside of him couldn't help but want more. It kept him from enjoying his life, our life. You think of Professor Dumbledore highly, and that's why you're taking those lessons, but please, promise me you'll have a life outside the classroom, that you'll enjoy every minute as if it were the last... I know your father didn't."