I know that these chapters are kind of depressing, but I promise I'll get back on a happier note soon! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 11

Ayla sat on the couch, her knees pulled up to her aching chest, her eyes dried out after crying so much, her head resting on Albus's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said tiredly, lifting her head.

Albus twisted to look at her. "For what?" he asked, stunned.

"Making you stay up all night."

"You didn't make me. I did."

That was true, Ayla knew it, but she felt guilty.

"You're not staying alone tonight," Albus had said.

"It's not like it just happened, Al. It's been happening my whole life and I've spent plenty of nights alone."

"Still, I know it all came rushing back tonight. And I'm not leaving you here. Not like this."

"Either way, thanks for staying with me," she said quietly, hugging her knees tighter to her chest.

"Anytime, I mean it. And I'm here if you want to talk, but if not, I'll leave you alone, just let me know."

She sat up farther, pulling her knees even closer to her. "I think I still want to talk," she admitted and he nodded, turning to face her.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it like when he was arrested? Like, during the trial and all that?" Albus asked carefully, not wanting to upset her.

"The trial went on for weeks. When the cops found him, you know, when he had the knife to my throat and all that, they brought him to the station into the temporary cells until they could start the trial. He escaped from there and fled the country. He was in France by the time they found him, hiding out in a dingy hotel where he knew they wouldn't check his ID. Anyway, they eventually found him and we had the trial. Even after he was finally put in jail, I still couldn't calm myself down. Everywhere I looked, I saw him. I couldn't even go out in public without freaking out because he was everywhere. I still see him everywhere, but I feel a little bit safer here since it's a wizard castle and he wouldn't come here anyway." A miserable smile flashed on her face for a second. "I spent a year and a half when I was a kid in a home my parents sent me to. Sunnydale Home for Young Wizards. Sounds fun, huh?" she shook her head. "It's a place where muggle parents send their wizard children to…to get the magic removed from them. They try to force you to become a muggle again."

"Is that possible?" Albus asked, horrified.

Ayla shook her head. "I don't think so. You would think that most of the people there would find it to be the worst time of your life, but I was actually so happy to have the chance to go there. Not because I liked it but because it was a chance to get out of my house and away from my father. At least that's what I thought. But he broke in and found me again and again. The people I met there…we used to sneak out to play Quidditch; that's where I learned how to play. But one time when my father was trying to sneak in and he saw me playing Quidditch and he just went insane. He told me he had sent me there to learn how to not be a wizard and that's when he brought me home to…" she shook her head, trembling again. "He was really angry that night. That was by far the scariest night of my life. And then, of course, everyone at the facility knew what my father was doing, but it didn't matter because I never saw them again. It was hell there, but it was ten times better than my home life, so I was willing enough to stay."

"So the last time you saw your father was…?" Albus wondered.

"The day the trial ended and he was sent here. It was the farthest prison in the country from my house. Too bad it was a muggle court so they didn't know I would end up here someday, just 60 kilometers from him."

"Well, maybe you could go to the judge that got him sent to prison and ask him to send him to a different prison!" Albus suggested eagerly.

Ayla shook her head slowly, a sad smile on her face. "They'd never do it. If they get him out of that prison for even one second, there's too high of a risk that he'll escape. He's not just a prisoner, he's a sick monster. What kind of father…" she broke off, shaking her head.

"How do you do it?" Albus asked softly and she turned to him curiously. "How do you put on a brave face day after day and pretend like nothing's wrong when it's got to be killing you inside?"

"I never really had a choice. I mean, sure, I could cry, I could feel bad for myself but what good would it do? What would that change? It's not like it would change what happened to me."

"I guess that's true," he admitted. "So, what about your mom in all of this?"

Ayla inhaled deeply. "He did the same thing to her that he did to me. Not as often, not as bad, but he still did. She started drinking, running away from home…anything to get away from everything that was happening. I'm not too sure that I'll ever fully forgive her because she hurt me a lot too—not physically, but she left me feeling worthless a few times—but I'm way closer to forgiving her than I would ever get to forgiving my father. I'm never forgiving him."

"So your mom wasn't really there for you?"

"I guess she was afraid, I don't know. But no, she wasn't there for me. But I'm used to that; that wasn't the hard part. No one has ever been there for me. The people that found out about what happened to me…they judged me. They thought I was a bad person because, yeah, maybe I've done some things that weren't perfect. But I'm not a bad person, I'm just broken. I've tried for nine years to overcome what happened to me, and I'm still hurt from it." The panic was edging into her voice now. "These scars, they're what you see but they're not half of what's happened to me. It's the emotional scars, the scars in my heart and my soul, that's what really hurts me. You can cover up the scars on your skin and maybe even forget that they're there. But you can't forget about the scars in your heart because they don't fade away."

"No, they don't," Albus agreed, blinking away his tears. "But when you have people that care about you, maybe they'll start to heal."

"Maybe," she whispered, her voice shaking, and she rested her head on his shoulder again and finally fell asleep.

X

Ayla woke up three hours later, confused as to what had happened. She opened her eyes and saw the pattern of Albus's shirt and remembered. She lifted her head from his shoulder and he twisted to look at her.

"Hey," he greeted her, rubbing his eyes.

"Did you sleep?" she asked, stretching.

"Yeah, a little," he said through a deep yawn.

"Is everyone still asleep?"

He pushed back his sleeve and looked at his watch. "Yeah, it's ten till six."

She sighed, turning towards him, sitting up straighter, struggling over her words. He looked at her curiously, waiting to hear what she was going to say. "Look, Al, now that I've slept and thought about it, I just wanted to make sure…that kiss…it didn't mean anything to me. Same with you, right?"

Al's heart dropped but he quickly recomposed himself. "Y-yeah, of course. Nothing at all."

"Okay, cool. Just making sure."

Al nodded slowly, unsure of what to say. Ayla saw a red-haired girl exit the third year girls' dormitory and Al leapt off the couch, thankful for the distraction.

"Rose!" he called and she smiled, walking over to him. "Ayla, this is my cousin Rose.

Ayla smiled sweetly. "Hi, I'm Ayla."

"Oh, you're Ayla! Hi!"

Unsure of what to make of her surprised tone, Ayla smiled back.

"It's great to meet you," Ayla said kindly. "Oh, wait, you're Hugo's sister!" she exclaimed, suddenly making the connection.

"Yeah," Rose said with a smile. "Hey, Al, my mom and dad got sort of mad that I haven't been spending enough time with everyone else in the family. We're all going to go to Hagrid's for lunch if you want to come!"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Albus promised.

"Cool. Well, I'll talk to you later; I'm heading down to an early breakfast."

"See you later."

As she left, Albus turned back to Ayla. "You're coming to Hagrid's with us," he told her simply.

"Oh, no, I don't want to intrude on your family time," she said politely and he shook his head.

"You never had a chance to have a family. I'm giving you a chance to be a part of mine."

Thanks for reading and please review! :D