Crap, guys, I'm sorry this is late again. It's been a hectic day and I totally forgot about updating. I had a job interview today, had to drop off another application and resume somewhere else, went grocery shopping, and totally rearranged my room with my roommate and only a little extra help. Let me tell you guys, in case you're unfamiliar, college dorm room furniture is HEAVY. We had to use all of our body weight to move it all and we barely moved two inches at a time. I'll be feeling that in the morning...

Anyway, if nothing else PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING COUPLE SENTENCES. THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT!

This chapter has a major TRIGGER WARNING! It deals with, and goes into some detail about, substance abuse and domestic/child violence. If this is something you cannot read, I suggest skipping this chapter entirely. There are three stars toward the end of the chapter, past the worst part of it, if you're up to reading the last part instead.

As always, please enjoy and review. And of course, I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 12

As soon as my fingertips made contact with her skin, my entire body seized up. A gasp ripped from my throat. Spots danced in my vision, and my knees hit the floor before I realized that I had even fallen.

"Alyssa!" Brooke's voice shouted. Were those her hands gripping my shoulders, shaking me?

The coldness in my stomach spread out to every limb. Brooke's voice was barely an echo now. In the next second, it was gone completely.

And then there was darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a house I didn't know. Morning light streamed in through the windows. There was a woman standing at a kitchen counter, wearing a sharp business suit and stirring a cup of coffee. A briefcase rested on the floor next to her feet.

"Mummy!" a small voice called, followed by the sound of bare feet hitting the floor. The woman turned and smiled as a little blonde girl rushed into the kitchen and latched herself around her mother's leg.

I took in a sharp breath as I realized who it was. Brooke.

She couldn't have been more than six or seven years old. Her hair was tied back into twin braids, and her wide brown eyes were brimming with tears.

"Brooke, darling, what's the matter?" the woman asked, lovingly brushing stay hair away from her daughter's face.

"I don't want you to go!" Brooke wailed.

"Oh, sweetheart." Her mother knelt down to Brooke's height. "I'll only be a few days. You and Daddy will be just fine here by yourselves. You two are going to the zoo tomorrow, remember? And you have a birthday party to go to this weekend. You're going to have lots of fun without me. All I'll be doing is boring work stuff." Her eyes twinkled. She seemed like a lovely woman, and a wonderful mother.

"That's right," said a new voice. A tall, broad-shouldered man came into the kitchen. He had to have been Brooke's dad. "You don't want to go… wherever it is with your mum. You'll have a lot more fun here with me!" At that, he grabbed Brooke around the waist and tossed her in the air, eliciting a giggle and then a squeal as he began to tickle her sides.

All three of them were laughing by the time Brooke begged, "Stop it, Daddy!"

The woman stood and kissed both her husband and her daughter. "I'll be back in a few days. Don't order out every night! And Brooke, your bedtime is still the same as always. No exceptions. Both of you, understood?" Her tone was stern, but the smile hadn't faded from her face.

"Yes, ma'am," Brooke and her father chorused.

The scene faded, and I was left to wonder what happened to the little girl Brooke once was.

Unlike my previous blackouts, I didn't wake up. This exceptionally clear episode kept going.

The light came back, and I blinked at the shift. Now Brooke and her father were sitting in the living room, a board game spread out in the floor in front of them. Brooke was seriously contemplating her move.

"Any day now would be nice," her father teased.

"I'm thinking!" she said, resting her chin in her hand.

A knock came at the door, and her father laughed as he stood to answer it. "You keep thinking while I see who's at the door, all right?"

Voices drifted from the entryway, but Brooke didn't seem to be paying attention until a loud, "What? What happened to my wife?" pierced the quiet.

Brooke's head shot up. She stood and ran to the entryway, where her father was slumped against the wall, head in his hands. Two men in wizard's robes stood on the front porch, Ministry of Magic tags pinned to their robes.

"Daddy?" Brooke asked in a trembling voice.

Her father whirled around and saw her standing there. He hastily tried to wipe his face free of tears, but was unsuccessful.

"We'll leave you to talk with your daughter, sir," said one of the Ministry wizards. "Again, we're sorry for your loss."

They apparated with a loud crack, leaving the front door wide open. Brooke's father kicked it closed while pulling Brooke into his arms.

"Brooke, sweetheart," he said softly. He had to clear his throat before speaking. "There was an accident. Your mum… Mummy won't be coming back, darling."

"…Never?" Brooke whispered, tears already falling down her cheeks.

Her father shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Brooke. I'm so sorry."

The scene shifted again just as Brooke let out an ear-piercing wail.

When the fog cleared, Brooke was the first person I saw. She was a couple years older at this point. She had grown several inches, and her hair was longer. But the carefree spark she'd worn like a glove a few years before had vanished.

She knocked on a closed door. "Daddy?" she asked quietly, timidly.

She must have heard his response, because she opened the door and walked in. She and I both gasped at the sight. Empty liquor bottles littered the floor, the bed, the furniture. Some of them had to have been old, probably sitting there for weeks, but there were a few new ones in a pile around her father's feet.

"What?" Brooke's dad slurred. He teetered back and forth on the edge of the bed. He raised a bottle to his lips, and most of the booze dribbled down his chin.

"What happened?" Brooke whispered. She kept her distance from her father, a huge difference in their character from the previous things I'd seen.

It took a long time for him to respond. He blinked several times at her, like he was trying to focus his vision. It was a miracle he hadn't passed out by that point.

"Lost my job," he mumbled. He took another huge swig of alcohol.

"You need to stop drinking, Dad," Brooke said. "It's not good for you. Please, Daddy–"

"Get out, kid," her dad ordered.

"I will, but please put the bottle down–"

"I said, get out."

"Dad –" Brooke made the worst mistake she possibly could have done. She reached for the bottle, wrapping her fingers around it and beginning to take it away, but her father was much too strong, and even in his inebriated state, far too quick for her. He yanked it away from her and grabbed her arm. She whimpered in pain.

"Get. Out," he growled.

"You're hurting me," Brooke whispered.

He snarled and shoved her away from him. Brooke caught herself on her hands and knees, then pushed herself to her feet and fled from the room.

The scene changed.

Brooke was another couple years older. She and her dad were standing in the kitchen. She had her hands behind her back, and I could see the yellowish color of parchment.

"Dad?" she said.

He grunted in reply.

"Um, I– I got this letter–"

"Who's writing you?" he interrupted, not looking up from the newspaper spread out on the counter.

Brooke faltered. "It's… it's the school… the school Mum went to."

He didn't answer for a moment. "Oh?"

"Yes, sir."

"What do they want?"

"I… I've been accepted. They want me to go to school there in the fall–"

"Well, too bad for them. You're not going."

"What?" Brooke said, shocked and more loudly than she had spoken in the entire conversation. "But why?"

"Because I said so, that's why. Get your shoes, it's time to go."

"No, Dad! Tell me why you don't want me to go to school!" Brooke shouted. There was a fire in her eyes that had rarely ever made an appearance.

Her father turned to look at her for the first time. In that one look, I could tell that he was hungover, and possibly still a little drunk. Also in that look was a fury to match his daughter's.

"I'm not paying anyone to teach my daughter magic–" he spat the word out like a vile taste. "–that won't be useful to you at any point in your life! It didn't save her, why would it save you? The answer is no!"

"Dad, that was an accident!" Brooke fired back. The dishes began to rattle in their cabinets.

Her father noticed too, and glared at her. "Stop that. Stop it right now."

"Why are you still blaming the magical world for what happened to Mum?" she asked, ignoring her father. "I'm part of that world, I want to learn about it!"

"I said, stop!" He stomped closer to her, but she didn't back down.

"No! I'm going and that's final!" she screamed.

With that, her father reared back his hand. Brooke's eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. I closed my eyes, holding my breath for the moment to pass, for the sound of flesh hitting flesh, for the scream that was sure to follow.

But it never came.

"Alyssa, breathe!" a voice commanded.

I took in a huge gulp of air, my eyes snapping open. I looked straight into Lily's bright green eyes. Brooke stood behind her, looking concerned.

For a moment, I wasn't sure how I'd gotten there. I was still living in the moments I'd just seen, the glimpses of Brooke's childhood. But everything soon came rushing back to me, along with all the connections I'd never made before.

The reason she was always so careful to keep her life private. Why she never trusted anyone. Why she constantly tugged at her sleeves, like she was hiding every inch of skin she could. Why every touch set her off.

"Are you okay?" Lily whispered. "Brooke said you passed out."

My stomach churned. "Move," I ordered.

I scrambled to my feet and barely made it to the bathroom before emptying the contents of my stomach in the toilet. Lily followed me and held back my hair as I retched again. Tears pricked my eyes. How could something like that happen to such a sweet person as Brooke?

Lily rubbed my back until the heaving ceased. She felt my forehead for a fever, but I batted her hand away. I stood and rinsed my mouth out, brushing my teeth to rid myself of the disgusting taste I'd been left with.

"Are you sick?" Lily asked.

I shook my head. "Just let me have a minute with Brooke."

She looked at me in confusion, then at Brooke, who was still in the other room.

"Just go," I whispered. "It's fine." I winced at the poor choice of words.

She looked between me and Brooke one last time before leaving. I waited for the door to click behind her and for the sound of footsteps to fade before speaking.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I whispered, looking at Brooke.

Her eyes widened. "You know–"

"Yes, I know," I interrupted. "Why didn't you say anything, Brooke? We could have helped you."

Tears filled her eyes. "There wasn't anything you could do."

"Maybe not physically, but you didn't have to close yourself off from us!" My voice had gotten louder and louder as I spoke. "What good did that ever do you? Was being alone what you wanted? Hiding your life from us? You could have come home with us during the holidays. No one would have minded. You could have asked us for literally anything and we would have done everything in our power to make it happen! You didn't have to stay with your father!"

"You don't understand," Brooke cried. She swiped her tears away but they continued to pour down her face. "I couldn't give up the only family I have left."

"Brooke," I said, holding onto her shoulders. She tensed, and I loosened my grip. "Can you really call him your family if he abuses you?"

"No, you don't understand!" she repeated. "He– he went through phases. He wasn't always drunk and abusive. He would have a month or so at a time where he swore he wouldn't drink anymore, and he apologized and said he loved me. We were a family again. We went ice skating, we went on drives in the country, he showed me all these fun places and it was like none of the bad things had ever happened." She barely had the words out of her mouth before she broke down into body-shaking sobs.

Words failed me. In the span of five minutes, I felt like I understood Brooke better than I ever had.

I opened my arms to her, and for once she didn't hesitate to collapse into them. Her hands gripped at the back of my robes. I held her for a long time, slowly lowering our bodies to the floor while she let out years of pent-up hurt.

"Please don't tell anyone," she whispered a while later.

I closed my eyes, the internal conflict already building. Black would kill me if he found out that I knew something and didn't tell him. But what else was new? He hated me anyway. I'd never kept anything from Lily; she would know something was up. And Remus… he deserved to know. It was as simple as that. I'd seen the way he looked at her, how happy he looked around her. More than anyone else, I believed that they belonged together. He had to know.

"I won't say anything," I promised her. "But you know that Sirius suspects, right? Remus probably does, too. They're not idiots. They'll have to know eventually. So should the other boys, and Lily, Alice, and Marlene. They all have to know."

She met my eyes and shook her head vehemently. "They can't. They can't know!"

"Why not?"

"They would never let me go back," she whispered.

"You're probably right, but there's a possibility that you could negotiate with them." I shrugged. "Maybe you could go visit your dad every once in a while, but Merlin forbid they let you go alone. But, and you might hate me for saying this, it might be for the best that you not spend extended periods of time at home."

She pulled her knees to her chest. She took a few minutes to mull over my words. "Okay," she answered, shocking me. I never thought that she would concede so easily. "I'll tell them. But on my own time, okay?"

"Just don't take too long. Don't let them figure it out for themselves before you tell them."

Brooke nodded, then stood. "I'm going to go take a shower. Goodnight, Alyssa."

"Night."

I wiped my own tears away before making my way down to the common room. I shook my head at Lily as I passed, letting her know that I wanted to be alone. I climbed through the portrait hole and wandered down the corridor, not even caring that curfew was approaching.

"Jones."

I stopped and leaned against the wall while Black caught up to me. He stopped in front of me and took in my face. He stilled. "It's true, isn't it?"

"I told her I wouldn't say anything," I answered, but looked up and met his eyes. He read the answer there.

He slumped against the wall as well. "So what do we do?"

"Don't do anything."

Black turned to look at me, anger in every line of his face. "You want us to stand back and do nothing? Let it happen?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying." I crossed my arms. "And I'm not saying not to do anything ever, just to wait for a while. Look, I told her that she needs to tell you and everyone else herself, and that she couldn't wait for everyone to figure it out. I say we wait until she tells us and then decide what to do. But she can't go back to that house, not alone, anyway."

We stood in a silent face-off until Black nodded. "Fine. We'll wait. But I'm only giving her a couple weeks to come out with it. I'm not going to wait until the Easter holidays for her to go home and come back beaten to a pulp again."

"Fine."

For once, I was completely in agreement with Sirius Black. We walked back into the common room together, but went separate directions as soon as we were able. I went straight back to the girls' dormitory, ignoring the prying eyes all the way.

I went to bed wondering how we were going to keep Brooke safe from her father when she didn't even want to be safe.

And that's that.

So. Brooke has a backstory. A rather awful one, at that. I actually had a hard time writing this; I hated doing it to her.

So please review?