Eight years. Three weddings. Twelve children. An Order of Merlin, Second Class. Seven tattoos and dragons. There had been so many dragons.
Lucy watched as the trains came in and out of King's Cross station. Her rucksack felt lighter this time. Her skin was the colour of toasted honey and was a contrast to the pale blue in her dress - or rather, what was left of the pale blue after it had been exposed to dragon's blood. Her bare arms were scarred and tattooed. Her curls were a disheveled mess that, had she kept it short, would have stuck up, obnoxiously, in the back like her late uncle and cousin.
"You should go."
Lucy had come back for the same words that had pushed her to go. She'd spent years in Romania understanding why Charlie came back so rarely. Lucy had relished in every moment of uncomplicated silence that wasn't plagued by the loss of her mother, or Remus, or Nymphadora. Things were so wonderfully simple in Romania. The complexities of London and familial life made her head spin. She was not the green 18 year old who had left. She had years of experience under her belt, and yet staring at the brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10, she felt no older than eleven.
It had been eight years since she had left Harry and Ginny from this very platform. 'I don't like the floo network, apparition is monitored by the ministry and you get portkey-sick, so muggle transportation it is.' So train it had been. Almost 36 hours on a train from London to Paris to Prague to Bucharest.
"You'd be daft to turn down the opportunity."
So she hadn't. She'd accepted and abandoned ship. Or at least her father. She'd abandoned him. She'd given up on him after he fell off the wagon for the second time. Death wasn't Sirius Black's colour. Harry and Ginny had taken Cas and Leo. They were as old as Lucy was when her parents had gotten married now. That was a thought that stung somewhere deep in her bones.
It had been eight years since she had left Harry and Ginny on this platform, smiling, crying and trembling as she stepped onto the train to Paris. They'd forfeited their honeymoon for her, so she could go as soon as Newt had wanted. Rolf had been there to keep her company on the journey. He was a virtual stranger who became a quick friend.
"Stay."
Four letters had flipped her world upside down at Rolf and Luna's wedding. She hadn't expected for life to demand her presence, but it had. Lucy was finally ready to stop running. It had only taken eight years, three weddings, twelve children, an Order of Merlin, Second Class, and seven tattoos. Oh, and dragons. There weren't any dragons at King's Cross.
A/N: So there's the start of it! This story will include flashbacks to the war, flashbacks to the missing years, and of course, new details about life after the war Potter-Black style. :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! More to come!
Please feel free to leave a review about what you think of this brief teaser, and if you haven't read Devil's Backbone... Go do that. I mean, if the spirit so moves you. ;)
Lots of love,
Sophie