A/N: in this chapter Helen will basically be in tears the entire time. I mean come on, you must remember this is a tragedy as well. she's remembering so much hurt; physical and emotional. And she's talking about it.! So maybe I'll remind you every now and then that she's crying. But I doubt it…who knows. So just think of a crying person with the sniffling nose sucking snot back up there as delicately as possible without getting whiplash. Please enjoy.! And REVIEW!

Pain of Today, Healing of Tomorrow

Chapter 7

Helen began her story a little reluctantly, due to the fact that she had never spoken to anyone about her life except for a brief 'I'm scared of being hurt.' to Leigh in the common room so very long ago.

"Two years ago, my mum died in a freak car accident. She was a witch, but, they couldn't do anything, even at St. Mungo's. Her death was instant they said, so she didn't suffer. My dad's never been the same. He loved her. But anyway, he's taken to drinking and drinking more heavily in the past year. He was going to a grief counselor; you know to deal with the loss. Coping, they call it. Well he cancelled one appointment because of a hangover. Then the next one, then the next one. He's an alcoholic when he isn't at work, or drunk, rather. They've threatened his position at the office numerous times but,…Thank Merlin he's a major asset to the company. So…it really would be their loss if they fired him."

Sirius was listening intently, praying that it wasn't her father who burned her and made her scream in her sleep. His fears were shot down as Helen continued.

"He isn't violent at all when he's drunk either, okay. I don't know if you've realized it but no one has ever really notice me at school…I don't know. Alright up until sixth year I had a few friends but I seemed no guys like me. Sure I had dated a few but they just weren't quite what I was looking for. Then all of a sudden in the beginning of sixth year, this guy had caught my attention, he interested me. We started talking and he was great. It seemed he really liked me. So by October we were a steady couple. People liked us! Even his friends! Some of them were strange and a little different, like him. A few liked getting in trouble but I would stay back with Astrid even though I would get chastised later by him and his friends. Oh! Astrid! She was one of my seventh year friends, kinda big, really sweet."

Sirius nodded that he could possibly, vaguely, recall Astrid. He was still trying to think on whom it was she had been dating. Two boys form school, in their year, had died over the summer, but he had never seen either of them with Helen. He couldn't recollect either one of their names. One was a little odd who spent time with 'dark' dressed people from Slytherin, he smoked, and not just cigarettes, and he was always with another 'freak' girl. The second one was in Hufflepuff and was very quiet, despite his random arguments with no one.

"I had realized he had slight anger issues, after he had busted his fist on a stone wall. He went to the Hospital Wing and was fine in no time. But… I underestimated his rage. I got in the way a few times. I suppose it was my fault and I deserved it but he scared me. The first time he hit me, he acted horrified, I cried a lot, and backed away when he tried to touch me again. He whipped up some tears though and apologetic words. He told me to leave him. I said nothing and let him come to me. He swore he'd never do it again and so on. And I believed him. I believed him Sirius. He brought me flowers,…and I believed he was sorry." Helen cried harder. Sirius wrapped her in his arms, not willing to ever let go, but she was ready to continue.

"It was fine for about another two weeks but he changed, or started being himself. He began to tell me what to do and what to wear and what not to wear. I had to always tell him where I was going. Always. One time I didn't. I had forgotten… that was bad. He cornered me in the corridor and beat me up for it. But I listened for the most part. I was scared. And by March I was getting hit everyday at least. It seemed he didn't care. He didn't say nice things anymore; he never told me he loved me."

She then told him the story about the pink shirt.

"I hadn't told him where I was going, and I was wearing pink. I was with a few people, Astrid was one of them. He didn't like her and had told me not to be friends with her. So I guess that set him off. I was stupid for not listening." She continued. (A/N: sry I hate interrupting stories but…you may recognize what I'm going to be writing in a second because it was in the last chapter. But it has to be in here. It's important. And Sirius doesn't know.) "I had to be clumsy when a lot of people were around. I had to run into desks and doorframes and trip on stairs. I have never been like that. But I had to; I had to give an excuse for the bruises. I have been in ballet since I was two. I am not a klutz. I had a phrase…it got me through everyday that I was with him…I would tell myself. Pain of today, healing of tomorrow. I thought that…tomorrow it would be better. But tomorrow never came. By the time tomorrow was expected, it had become today."

Sirius was just in total disbelief on how anyone could live through or face something like that. It was horrible and inhumane what this coward had done to her. "Tell me what set you off in the bathroom when you picked up your toothbrush." He requested.

She looked still, more terrified. Sirius held her and said consolingly and compassionately, "He isn't here. He can't hurt you any more. You have me. Tell me, please."

Helen told him, even about the time she had ran from her boyfriend to the girls' dormitory. Sirius took her hands in his own, and lifting them to his lips, turned them over and kissed her wrists. He could feel her pulse through his lips, and it skipped when he made contact with her smooth scarred flesh.

Helen slid her arms around his neck, crying all the more. Sirius' own eyes stung. It made him so incredibly livid that this had happened to her last year, and he hadn't been there. And he hadn't known. He told her what he was thinking. Helen told him not to blame himself.

"I promise that I will never, ever, put you through that. I love you. I am so sorry that, that you had to go through that."

Helen shed more tears on Sirius plain white T-shirt. "I love you too. Thank you."

"Your welcome, baby."

She pulled away to look in his eyes. Sirius saw something there that he hadn't seen before. Her eyes sparkled. They had always been beautiful facets into her person but, this time. They sparkled. She smiled and told him, "I'm free." Sirius knew what she meant. She wouldn't have to look back on it anymore. She had no more despair, and her tears were dried.

"Helen, you never told me his name."

"Len….it was Len Harrismen." She said.

Sirius was gazing deep into her sparkling eyes and said, "It's tomorrow baby."

Helen looked perplexed for a moment, and then she understood. She gave him a big teary-eyed smile and hugged him, so tight, for the longest time.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked and she nodded and he indulged her in a slow, but moving kiss, full of emotion and adoration. When they pulled away, Sirius made a fire in the fireplace and they stretched out on the great sofa and fell asleep in each other's arms.