Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I only write this for the sake of fun and imagination. The only profit I make is my own enjoyment because who else is going to pry this damn story out of my head.
A/N: This is a re-write of my previous story, Burn. Please enjoy and feel free to leave feedback to your heart's desire.
Overall Story CW: Parental death, swearing, drugs, alcohol, some sexual situations, brief references to self-harm (but not on the page)
BURN
by cn-stardust
Prologue
When her brother dies on her eighth birthday, a piece of Theodora dies with him.
Joy wanes from the world with Cygnus's last breaths and the loss is so profound Thea is convinced she's dying. That now lost piece of her rips itself from beneath her ribcage, a thread forever severed.
Her mother's sobs echo through the corridors and Theodora sits in the greenhouse alone as the sun hangs low in the sky. The taste of salt caresses her tongue, tears dripping from her pale eyes. She squeezes her eyelids tightly, conjuring the image of her brother's smile behind her eyes and there's a brief moment where she thinks it would be easy to forget. Too easy.
She doesn't sleep alone for weeks, clinging to the brother she has left as if he will disappear as well. Scorpius is patient with her, even when she cries herself to sleep. Even when the nightmares begin and her fingernails leave crescent moon shapes in the palms of her hands.
He stays and she cries and together they get through it because they have to.
It takes months to remember how to smile, but when she can feel Cygnus smiling down at her as well.
x
When she stands on the platform at King's Cross the day Scorpius leaves for Hogwarts, a piece of Theodora leaves with him.
Her mother waves with damp eyes and her father squeezes Thea's shoulder and tells her next year she'll be the one waving goodbye.
Until then she stays at Sandwith Hall whilst her parents work long hours in London. She studies with her tutors and waits for her brother's letters because everything continues to change in a way that feels so utterly wrong. She's alone and she hates it.
But life moves on and so Thea must learn to move with it. She writes long-winded letters to Scorpius and she can tell that even though he loves school, there is a hint of loneliness in his words even though he tries to hide it.
It takes weeks to remember how to smile, but when she does, she tries to hide the little bit of loneliness too.
x
When she leaves Yorkshire for the first day of Hogwarts, a piece of her stays behind at Sandwith Hall.
Hogwarts is a new adventure but she likes things the way they are and suddenly everything is changing too quickly. Ever since Scorpius was sorted into Ravenclaw, Thea worries it will happen to her as well. But she has no intention of wearing blue.
There's hope in her father's eyes when she waves to him from the Hogwarts Express. For good measure he packs her a green sweater and Thea spends the entire train ride appealing to Salazar Slytherin himself to have pity on her.
The light in her mother's eyes begins to wane with each passing day as the dark circles grow beneath them. Scorpius doesn't want to leave but their mother promises she'll see them at Christmas. It's a promise she breaks, only not on purpose because she can't control the curse that burns through her veins. By Christmas they bury their mother next to Cygnus and this time Thea is the one who holds Scorpius as he cries.
It takes months for him to remember how to smile, and when he does, there is something missing that she never sees return.
x
When school starts again they return to school, but a piece of them both is gone forever.
There are whispers in the hall and Scorpius keeps his head down when their father's name leaves their tongues. Former Death Eater, they hiss behind their backs, only sometimes it's to Thea's face. Scorpius looks the most Malfoy but Thea has always been her father's daughter.
If she had friends before, all she has left is Albus. He doesn't scowl at her. He doesn't whisper. He only smiles and part of her wonders why he stays when it would be easier to leave like everyone else.
But he does stay.
And it's nearly a year before she remembers how to smile, but when she does it's fake because it's all she can muster.
Because it's the only way she knows how to survive.
x
A/N: This is a story about broken people, people who hide portions of themselves, people who don't know how to live up to expectations. This is a story about broken people who find each other and slowly help to rebuild themselves. This is a story about loss, about comfort, about heartache and pain. This is a story about people who fight, about people who give up. This is a story about people who live and breathe and grow. I hope you enjoy.