She was in the dark. She had been the darkness for four years. She had hung there, swinging limply in darkness like a caught fish, waiting to be reeled in. She was halted in her attempts to find the light. Halted, by an iron weight that froze her limbs, ensnaring her, and weaving around her like a spider. Something in the darkness laughed maliciously at her. She had not been able to get away.

"Why?" She thought wearily, looking at her hands. "If you knew this was going to happen, Merlin, why didn't you stop this? Why did you allow yourself to trust him?"

There was no answer to her questions. Only laughter. Sedley's laughter. The delight of destruction. Despair clogged her mind, So there had never been a point. There were no platonic ideals. There were just empty shells of people, hiding the lies of what they truly were behind masks, randomly given strength and weakness.

Teddy had been given strength.

James had strength.

Albus had achieved strength.

But what had she gotten? What did she have? What she had achieved? Weakness. She had been born with the unseen label of weak. Maybe she should have died at a young age. She blinked in surprise at the despairing thought.

Only the good die young. Because the good are weak. She huddled in the murky pool, watching the waters turn an angry, churning red, and she fought desperately against the paralyzing strength of the idea.

Princes never came. What was the point in being a china doll? Why couldn't she have been strong like her mother, or her aunt? She was like a damsel in the muggle stories her aunt would read to her when they had visited them. She would sit there curled up to Hermione, right next to Rose as Hermione told the stories of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and all those princesses. But now she realized that all she was was the weaker vessel. She couldn't shed her biology liked a cracked eggshell and rise to do battle with nature. She was weak. She felt like she was dying. Dying, warped by self-pity. Alone.


"Al!"

Albus turned in confusion, and immediately spotted his older brother rushing over to him. They had apparated nearby, unable to floo. He had been surprised that he had actually managed to apparate without splinching himself. His sister…his baby sister…how could they have not noticed this before? In hindsight, thinking back to how oddly she acted at the reunion, they should have known. But they hadn't. They hadn't…and she had been hurt.

Annemarie looked up at her husband, nudging him back into the real world. He shook his head, slightly as James finally managed to get to them, Aaron close behind. James's face was an unusual pale color.

"Dad called you?" Al asked, his voice surprising calm, deceptive of the storm that was rushing through him. James nodded, his body wracked with shudders from him running, apparently having run from wherever he had been. Albus faintly remembered that James lived nearby…but not close.

"She's still at Teddy's right?" James asked, glancing at the apartment complex. Once again, Al could only nod.

"I can't believe we didn't see…how could we not know?" James hissed out. Al was quiet.

"Come on." Annemarie finally said, her voice soft, yet she watched as Al flinched at the tone. "Let's get inside." She said, tugging Al into moving with her free hand, her other wrapped around Mary who was in being held by her. James followed dumbly, almost like she was a shepherd and they were sheep. It felt odd, being led into an apartment, going to see your little sister. It felt wrong the reason why they were being led in as well.

As they climbed the stairs, finally reaching the floor that Teddy's flat was. They knocked on the door. A few seconds passed, before a familiar click was heard, and the door was open. Ginny welcomed her sons in.

"Is she alright?" James asked automatically. Ginny sighed.

"She's better. But alright is a stretch." Ginny replied calmly.

"Where is he?" Albus growled out. "Where is that bastard?"

"Your father admitted him to a detention cell in Azkaban last night." Ginny retorted coolly. "I honestly don't give a damn. He can rot in hell for all I care."

"Agreed." James said, peering over his mother's head and finally spotting a familiar redhead who was sitting on the couch, staring at the coffee table, a cup of tea in her hands. Hermione was chatting with her, most likely trying to keep her preoccupied. Ron, who was sitting next to his wife, huffed glaring at his wife and said something along the lines of a retort, earning a glare from Hermione and from what he could see a small smile ghost Lily's face.

Something snapped in James and he pushed past his mother, going over to where Lily sat. The moment he saw her face, his heart tore into pieces. The bruise outline across the edge of her face was dark, a sharp contrast to her pale face. Her eyes were lost, haunted. He had never seen that look on her face. The closest they had seen a look similar to hers was every now and then on their Uncle George's face whenever he talked about Fred. She offered a slight smile, glancing at her brothers.

"Hi…" was all she said. Albus and James just stared at her, taking their sister's image in, burning it into their retinas. She began to look uncomfortable, pushing a strand of her hair to behind her ear, her gaze shifting down to looking at the carpet. James coughed, trying to clear his throat which had suddenly seemed to gain a peach-pit sized lump.

"Hey Lil." He finally managed to say, surprising himself at how calm his voice was. Al sat on one side of her, James doing the same on the other. Hermione and Ron excused themselves, allowing the siblings to be alone. She was silent, not offering any excuses, waiting for them to accuse. It never came.

"We're sorry." Albus finally offered. She looked at him, the haunted look disappearing, replaced with a confused look.

"Why are you apologizing?" She whispered. Why was that a repeating factor with her family? It hadn't been their fault. It had been her fault. She had let it go on for four years; she had hidden it from them…so why were they apologizing?

"We didn't stop him." James answered for his younger brother, brushing Lily's hair behind her ear. "And you got hurt."

"It's not your fault." She said, her voice wavering as she tried desperately to remain strong. "It isn't. It's-"

"It's not your fault either." Albus interrupted. "Get that thought out of your head. It's not your fault." She was silent, staring down at her hands, only offering a slight nod. James and Albus glanced at each other over her head, the same thought rushing through their head. She was lying…the Lily they knew, the one who would have been able to see that it truly wasn't her fault, was far away…it wasn't going to be easy to bring their sister back. But Merlin be damned they weren't going to give up.

They owed it to her.

ONCE AGAIN A SHORT CHAPTER…TEDDY WILL BE COMING BACK IN THE NEXT ONE PROMISE :)