Disclaimer: The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Thanks so much to Lira Veralily for looking this over for me. Feel free to review!

Be warned- this is fairly dark.

You can't run away from yourself.

Not that you haven't tried.

And it's nothing major, nothing world-shattering, nothing important (but it's something). It's the seconds that turn to minutes that turn to hours that turn to days, and the clock ticks and you're trapped and you want to scream (but there are people around, and you are not crazy, never crazy, not lovely little Lily Potter).

But the clock keeps ticking and your mind won't stop, never stops, and you run and run and run but you can't get anywhere and you don't know where you're going anyway. You go to Hogwarts - far away from home, from cages and locks and silence that breathes - and you stay there as much as possible, but it's not enough and you run.

You fall into Scorpius's arms (never mind Rose, you need to escape and she doesn't, and sometimes you have to think of yourself first), and it makes your family nice and mad, but it's not enough and you run.

You run when you're home (just plain dash through the village, and people think you're a runner for a cross-country team but Hogwarts doesn't have one and you wouldn't join it anyway), but it's not enough. And you run until your throat is sore and your ankles throbbing and you can't run anymore.

It will never be enough (because you aren't enough, for yourself or anyone else).

And once you know that, you truly get it and you stop running, you just stop. In the middle of the sidewalk, you stop and it's over and you're kind of glad but not really (running hurts but staying, oh staying hurts more). And you walk home and sit down and eat dinner like a sane person (you are not crazy, never crazy, not you).

Everything is okay - but it's not enough, and you can't run away from yourself.

So you run one more time, run away from everything else. You and Scorpius pack your bags and Disapparate and you don't say good-bye because it would hurt and you're done with hurting.

And that's how you end up in a basement, alone (cages and locks and silence that breathes). You're fed and kept alive but you can't ever leave because of the blackmail on your family, things you never thought possible, things that would ruin their lives. And the worst part is that you cannot run anywhere.

You're stuck with yourself.

And it's not enough but that's the least of your problems, and seconds (maybe? you don't have a clock down here) turn to minutes that turn to hours that turn to days, and you fall (you are not crazy, never crazy, not you, Lily but maybe you are now).

You wonder what happened to Scorpius, where they took him, but it's hard to keep thoughts together anymore and you eventually just lie back and picture yourself as you used to be.

Your dark red hair is streaming behind you (not matted and short and bloody, no) and your brown eyes sparkle (not dull and haunted, no) and you're smiling (not screaming, no).

And you run.