Lantern of Shadow (Book I): There's Always Darkness In The Light

Chapter 3: Picking the Pieces

"The bravest thing that I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die." – Felix. H (source: Pinterest)

"Don't worry." She said. "I've got it all planned."

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After both Sirius and Severus did the first phase of their plan, Severus decided to stay in Petunia's mansion and stayed under the radar from the wizarding world.

The potion master immediately claimed the guest room and had been dead asleep after the hectic meeting with Dumbledore that morning. While Sirius had gone and quit his job as an Auror, owled Gringotts to freeze his own personal account until further notice and finally coming home with the new responsibility who was asleep after his beloved aunt read him a bedtime story.

Now, Sirius was busy writing a letter to his best friend, Remus Lupin, the only wizard he could rely on about his current situation, hoping that his friend could once again stand by his side he penned a letter to invite him to come to Petunia's Manor. After he wrote the letter he watched his barn owl took it and disappear into the evening sky. Sirius could only hope for the best.

In the large master bedroom, Petunia observed her nephew with many thoughts in her head, Lily had left a couple of Hadrian's things around the house, mainly his toys, blankets, clothes etc. However, if she and Sirius are going to take Hadrian in, she needs to buy more toddler stuff. Not to mention with her jobs being a Lawyer and an advocate for the squibs in America she needs to buy more formal clothes for Hadrian and handle his visa and passport. Then she has to visit the goblins to hear Lily's wills and consult to the goblins about the Dumbledore matter. After hearing Severus' report about how Dumbledore reacted, she needed to plan and she needs to form a foolproof one fast.

Petunia sighed heavily whilst stroking Hadrian's messy black hair. She needed to write her to-do list down and so she took her to leave from her chamber and went to her office. She took out her notepad and started to scribble out her to-do lists. After she finished her list she took a look at it and began to ponder.

Goblins (Lily and James' Wills. Consult about Dumbledore. Hadrian's visa and passport.)Hadrian's stuff. (Baby books, clothes.)Find possible allies.

It isn't a long one but it isn't clear so who knows if it's going to be more tedious or not. The goblins might be a huge help to them, they are notoriously known as one of the most thorough race within the magical beings category. The first one being the high elven but that race had gone missing a couple of centuries ago. Petunia hummed as she aimlessly scribbles on her notepad. She had to get her family out of England, living close to where Dumbledore is will be risky and she doesn't want to risk Hadrian's safety. So she needed to find a new place to live. She frowned again, things are being unravelled and her guts are telling her that she's not going to like what she's going to discover.

She was knee-deep in her mind when Sirius found her in her office. He watched her silently plotting her next move, her facial expression changing, clearly depicting her certain mood when she's thinking about something. Sirius chuckled under his breath and decided to make his presence known. He took a step inside the office and clears his throat making Petunia jumped and raised her head to see him giving her a small smile.

"Stressed out?" He asked, moving forward to sit on the sofa in front of her desk. He took her notepad and place it further from her reach before grabbing both of her hands and kissing them lovingly. "You need to take it easy, you're not alone in this."

"There are so many things to do." She huffed and hung her head low, feeling a huge amount of burden on her shoulders. Everything happened so abruptly that her emotions are all over the place. "It all happened so suddenly, Sirius. I-I... How am I supposed to react? I-I'm not ready to move on from my sister. I don't even think I am qualified enough to raise Hadrian! I-i... I feel so lost...I know I need to remain calm a-and I need to be there for Hadrian and you and Severus but-... I don't know..." She sighed heavily, the stress was getting to her, she has a lot of things on her plate already and now the responsibility of raising another human being was thrown at her. Her fear of not giving enough love to Hadrian is giving her anxiety, she wasn't given enough love from her parents, so she didn't know how to be a good one for Hadrian. She is terrified of failing her sister, of failing her nephew.