Pura (James Potter)

-6-

Pura lay asleep in the guest bed of the Potter Manor, even in her sleep you could tell how exhausted she was, it was odd for anyone who came into the room. Just seeing the girl who was usually so lively and upbeat, curled up on a bed looking weaker than ever.

Remus was sat in a chair next to her, the bags under his eyes were so prominent they almost looked fake, his hand was holding Pura's, staring absently at her face as she slept.

Guilt is a consuming type of emotion, when you feel it, it doesn't just spark up then go away, it weighs on you, a constant steel shackle on your wrist, chaining you down and dragging you deeper into a gorge of everlasting greyness. No matter what you do to redeem yourself, how many charitable acts or assured forgiveness claims there may be, that guilt is still in the back of your mind, chewing at your esteem piece by piece until you are completely empty.

Remus' guilt is no different, as if turning into a "raging, man-eating, murderous beast" once a month hadn't been gnawing at his conscience since he was seven and completely aware of what he was. Now his parents, the people who he thought had changed, who he had grown to get along with, had been abusing his little sister, and he hadn't done anything. It was one thing to stand by and watch his friends torment random people with no rhyme or reason other than a sick amusement, but to remain ignorant to the same goings on in his own home?

It was all his fault, wasn't it?

If only he had stayed back his first year, if he hadn't gone over to James's so often, if he hadn't been blinded by the idea that his realities could be a true, loving family. But he hadn't done any of that and now Pura has payed for his mistakes, Merlin knows what she did, how little a deed it was but it didn't matter now because in the end he hadn't acted his role as a big brother and Pura, his best friend, his world, is still lying in the guest bedroom to the Potter Manor, black and blue and red all over.

A strained groan emitted from the corner of the room where Pura had been huddled up, first her nose scrunched a little, next her eyes fluttered and then she had her eyes fully open. At first she had tried to jump out of bed after examining her surroundings, thinking she had perhaps been kidnapped, before her eyes rested on Remus- just in time as well, seen as she'd collapsed on herself after seconds of sitting up, presumably because she had been in one position for so long and she had startled herself.

Briefly closing her eyes, she took the time she needed to regain her sense before meekly opening her vision again.

Remus was sitting in an armchair next to the bed, and she wondered for a second if it had been a full moon and she had missed it, which she hadn't done ever since she managed to become an animagus.

In Pura's first year when her education was finally unlimited, mostly due to the Library, she was able to become an animagus during her first year, after a first failure where she ended up with a hoove on her left hand. Explaining to Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall that she was trying to further her knowledge of transfiguration by trying to turn herself into a horse was tricky, but doable. Even earning a few extra house points from McGonagall, though she was sure that was purely because of the interest she showed in said Professors subject. Had she tried to brew Felix Felicis or repot devils snare, it probably would've been an entirely different story.

On her second try she was confident that she would successfully become what she thought would be a horse, but she was pleasantly surprised when she looked into the mirror in her bathroom and saw an animal that greatly resembled the deer from the film Bambi, just more realistic.

Pura had been immeasurably excited to show Remus, though she knew he would be a teency but frustrated at her and considering the circumstances he wouldn't be completely overjoyed because both of them would much rather Fenrir Greyback had kept to his own that night, he didn't, and Remus was a human reincarnation of Pompeii when he found out.