AN: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.
Chapter 12: Safe
Eventually, the twins turned ten. The healthy, outgoing not-so-little boy was given another broom, and many games and toys, even some books on magic they weren't supposed to learn before going to Hogwarts. The twin prone to bouts of sickness was given a day on their own in the library without any interruptions.
It wasn't a punishment for them, though. It was a reprieve from the oppressive personalities in the manor they lived in with their fellow Potters and a break from the constant screaming matches between themselves and James. Besides, they had been wanting to finish that book on blood wards and James wouldn't let them move three feet without screaming something or another, so having James out of the house was only beneficial.
They were safe from scathing comments in the library, their haven, so they never even considered protesting the isolation. It had been many years since they had thought about receiving a present or even a small trinket for their birthday, and whatever hope they had for a change had long since been extinguished. All they wanted was to stay in their library, where they were safe and nobody else went.
Outside of their library, James could find them and scream at them.
"Why are you standing there? Are you eavesdropping on us?!"
Inside the library, everything was safe.
The sound of pages turning, a quill on parchment, and a child walking between bookshelves.
So, they hid in the library, with the excessively dusty rooms where they found the books bound in flesh. They may not be safe from books that give them nightmares, but they were safe from people who made them cry and wish for an open window on the third floor.
They knew, from the few muggle books on psychology they had found, that spending so much time alone or being screamed at would prove to be an… issue later on in life, but at that point in the time, it was their only way to be safe. It was better to stay in the library for hours and hours than to be screamed at for tripping on a rug.
But they couldn't stay in the library forever. They had to go back to their bedroom to sleep, or out into the hallway to reach the bathroom, and the house elves refused to let them eat in the library multiple times a day. That meant they were not safe when they took a fiction book from the library to read before bed. When they laughed a bit at a particularly funny scene? They were particularly unsafe.
James was going to bed, passing his children's doors, when he heard a little chuckle. A chuckle at ten PM? Unheard of. So, as his face becomes red and splotchy over his usually tan complexion, he nearly breaks the door to the sickly Potter twin's bedroom while opening it. When he walks in, the child is already pale and shaking.
"Why are you being so loud? It's late, and I've been at work all day to make money for your ungrateful ass, and all I get as thanks is you laughing when I'm trying to sleep?!" James screamed, spittle flying and a vein on his forehead bulging.
"I-I wasn't trying to b-be loud, I promise! Please, I'll be q-quiet." The rather pale-looking child responded.
"You better be!" He screamed as he turned around and slammed the door.
The child couldn't sleep that night. They spent the entirety of the next day in the library, even going so far as to sleep on one of the soft armchairs in a room they had just found and eat at one of the desks. They only left the library that day when their relatives were elsewhere, and they felt safe enough to rush down the hallway to the bathroom.
After spending copious amounts of time in the library, where the only person upsetting the thin layer of dust everywhere was them, they felt like they could breathe without thinking James was behind them and about to verbally eviscerate them. With their magic bound and having been bound for years, the only thing they could rely on for safety was the library's hidden rooms with their dusty books and guides on torture.
That's how things went for the child; James would scream, they would hide in the library, and the other Potters would pretend nothing had happened. It wasn't a very good situation, but it made the safety of the library seem more pronounced.
They spent more time in the library than ever before after being yelled at for reacting outwardly to a book, even if nobody noticed.