Barnaby Lee x Reader - Year 6

Year 6 Begins

(⚠️TW: mentions of abuse⚠️)

Another year at Hogwarts was about to begin. She'd found her brother, but he disappeared on her again, and Lana was making this year her mission to find him once and for all. She was so close, she couldn't give up now.

Lana was leaving for the station in 20 minutes. She'd already put on her light blue jeans, long sleeved black crop top, and white sneakers. She stuck in some diamond stud earrings, and a matching necklace, before trudging downstairs with her trunk.

Lana was excited for what this year held, despite not being able to see Bill anymore, she'll still have all her other friends, and Barnaby. But little did she know, he was having the worst time at home.

His grandmother was being the worst to him, possibly the worst she's ever been. She blamed him for everything that went wrong in her life, physically abused him, and called him different names, some not as bad as others, but still rude nonetheless.

Barnaby was used to her being a handful, but this was different. He cried himself to sleep often, and  wrote to Lana whenever he got the chance, reading her letters over and over just to make himself smile. Whatever this old lady was doing, it was getting to him more than usual...

He always hated the summer holidays. He knew where he'd have to stay, and he knew he wouldn't be able to see Lana for weeks. She was the source of his happiness, and without being able to hold her, or kiss her, or even see her, he felt empty. His house was dark, and big, and spooky, and that just added to him feeling lost.

After slipping on some blue denim jeans and a black t-shirt that was getting too small, he picked up his grey hoodie in one hand and his trunk in the other, and hurried out of the house and to King's Cross. Once he arrived, his eyes were darting everywhere to find Lana through the crowds of witches and wizards.

He finally saw her, sitting alone on her trunk at the side of the platform, and his heart started beating rapidly with excitement. His whole face lit up as a wide grin took over his features. He started running as fast as he could towards her, grabbing her attention when she heard his heavy footsteps from his big black boots.

She grinned at him and stood up, watching as he hurriedly dropped his belongings next to hers. He scooped her up into his arms and hugged her as tight as he could, burying his face into her hair and feeling an instant sense of comfort.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly and stroked his hair, kissing his head when she heard him sniffling.

"Was it that bad?" Lana asked quietly.

She felt him nod and further snuggle into her. Her chest felt wet all of a sudden, and she realised that Barnaby's tears had leaked through to her skin.

"Barny! Please don't cry...." she mumbled.

He reluctantly put her down and looked at the floor.

"Barnaby..." she said as she placed a hand on his cheek, "Look at me."

He lifted his head, his watery eyes meeting hers. He gave her a small smile as she gently wiped his tears away, quietly humming a little tune to herself.

"What did she do to you?" she whispered in shock as she saw a few small cuts on his cheek, and several bruises on his arms.

"Threw stuff at me..." he mumbled.

"She threw stuff at you?!" Lana repeated angrily, and Barnaby just shut his eyes and nodded.

Lana sat down on her trunk, Barnaby following suit, scooching closer to her and leaning his head on her shoulder.

"You are so brave. Did you know that?" she asked him, stroking his back, "You are the bravest, toughest, most amazing wizard I've ever met. Never let anyone make you think otherwise. Especially not that wrinkly old hag." she said, earning a chuckle from him as he wrapped his arms around her middle.

"I love you..." he told her, nuzzling her shoulder.

"I love you too." she said back, kissing his head.

************************************************************************

"Wotcher, Lana! Blimey, am I glad to see you!" Tonks grinned as they all gathered in the Great Hall, hugging the brunette.

"Me too. Especially after how you 'disappeared' from Bill's party before graduation!" Charlie added when it was his turn to embrace the girl.

"We didn't have a chance to ask you about it before everyone left for the summer holidays."

"I'm very happy to see both of you, too." Lana smiled, "As for that disappearance, I've been sworn to secrecy." she said seriously.

"You know who that was, though, who crashed Bill's party? The famous Auror, Alastor Moody?" Tonks asked.

"Mad-Eye Moody. That's what my dad says people call him." Charlie said.

"He was a hero of the Wizarding War. Responsible for sending countless Death Eaters to Azkaban. He's rather a big deal, Lana." Tonks continued.

"I know that now. I can see you're a big fan of his, Tonks." Lana chuckled.

"Anyone who's ever thought of becoming an Auror would be a fan of Mad-Eye Moody!" the pink-haired girl grinned.

"Hi! How were everyone's summer holidays?" Rowan asked as she joined the group.

"I spent mine doing a lot of reading about—" Charlie started.

"Oh my goodness! Me too!" Rowan grinned.

"I was gonna say, reading about the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary?" Charlie said, confused.

"Oh. No. I read about other things." Rowan said.

"I'm just happy to be back at Hogwarts with minimal bumps and bruises." Tonks said proudly, making Lana let out an airy chuckle.

"Bumps and bruises? What were you up to, Tonks?" the brunette asked in amusement.

"Nothing dreadfully exciting. But you know me..." Tonks said, "I manage to get banged up just by dismounting my broom."

"What about you, Lana?" Rowan inquired, "You'd had a tough end of the school year. What was most on your mind this summer?"

"My mind always seemed to be on my friends. I missed you guys so much this year, and after everything that happened at the end of last year, it made me appreciate all of you even more." Lana said honestly.

"Same! I thought of all of you often." Rowan smiled, "So now that we're back at Hogwarts, what's next, Lana?"

"You're awfully full of questions today, Rowan!" Lana joked.

"Well, you did tell me before graduation that everything's about to change, and you were so busy curse-breaking last year that there's much catching up to do."

"That's true. We should probably start catching up with everyone." Lana smiled as they joine stage rest of their group.

After talking to everyone for a short while, Lana noticed some anomalies amongst the students.

"No Ben...no Merula...no Beatrice..." she muttered to herself, "That's troubling..."

hi friends :)
welcome to book 3!! I hope y'all like this one as much as my other stories :)
so I'm back at school officially now, which sUcKs :') but imma try and update when my workload isn't as intense x
anyhoo, thanks so much for reading!
byeee <3
p.s. did any of u see the new trailer on the Hogwarts mystery insta page? it's so cool :')