Hold On

Chapter 2

A week, I managed to avoid Lily and the marauders for an entire week. Now it's the weekend, easiest to avoid them, they're always causing trouble somewhere.

I walked into the common room then I was surrounded, I yelped as I backed into James. I tried to make a run for it but Sirius trapped me in his arms,
He said" We just wanna talk, Nikkie!"
I said" I-I need to use the toilet."
James said" Nice try." Sirius easily heaved me over his shoulder,
Remus said" Sorry, Nicholas."
I whimpered" Put-Put me down, Si-Sirius. Pl-Please-Please."

I was put down on one of their beds, I pouted,
Sirius said" Take off your shirt."
I said" N-N-No." I looked down as they stared at me,
" We've hunted you for a week, you're pretty unnoticeable when you want to be..."
James said" So, we waited until you least expected us to be around... aka a sunny Saturday."
Remus said" Guys, he's scared, let's just let him go."
" No, Sirius says something's up with him, so I wanna know too."
Sirius said" Take off your shirt, Nikkie." I slowly shook my head," I swear if you don't... I will." I gulped,
Remus said" Padfoot!"
" What?!"
" You can't just threaten to undress him!"
" Yes, I can!"
" No, you can't!"
" Nicholas, I swear..." He pulled out his wand,
I said" No, don't hurt me!" I pulled off my shirt, looking down, ashamed.
" I wouldn't have hurt you. Accio off your shirt, sure, but never... hurt you." His fingers skimmed a fresh cut, I whimpered and jerked away from him.
Remus said" Nicholas, who does this to you?"
" Told you lot he was being abused!" Tears brimmed my eyes, I pulled my shirt back on and took off, none of them tried to stop me.

I was hiding in the far corner of the library, no one came around here, my knees pulled to my chest, sniffling a little, crying.
I heard Remus say" I'm sorry if we've scared you, Nicholas. Sirius just doesn't like when parents hurt their children." I looked up at him,
I whispered" None of you can tell anyone, please... th-they'll kill me, they made me sw-swear- They made me swear."
" How old are you, again?"
" F-F-Fifteen." He sat down across from me,
" Why do they do this to you?"
" I-I'mma dis-disgrace, I am."
" I don't think so. You don't seem like a disgrace to me. But we won't tell anyone, as long as you let us take a look at those cuts and bruises." I looked down in my lap, slowly nodding my head," All right. Come to our dorm when you're ready, we'll be waiting." He got up and walked away, I whimpered and began crying again. My father is going to kill me... he'll find out soon enough and he'll kill me!

I slowly walked to their dorm and knocked on the door, it opened as I stared at my feet.
James said" Come on in, Nikkie." I stepped in, he closed the door and led me to the middle of the room.
Sirius said" How long have they been beating you?"
I whispered" Since I was f-four..."
" Hm?"
I said" Since I was- Since I was four." I flinched,
" All right. Let's get a look at those cuts, yeah? Remus, you're the expert." I took off my shirt, feeling really insecure, I wrapped my arms around myself, gulping.
Remus said" Are there any bad ones?" I showed him the one on the side of my ribcage, I hit a fire poker when I was writhing from the cruciatus curse.
James said" Hell, how'd you get that one?" I looked down," Sorry..."
" I'll bandage it, okay? It'll keep it from getting infected, which'll avoid a trip to the hospital wing where your shirt'll need to come off." I nodded slowly, he began bandaging it, I flinched, breathing heavily as it slightly stung." I'm sorry, Nicholas."

Once he'd bandaged that and a few other ones, I had my shirt back on, standing awkwardly in the middle of their dorm, with my arms around myself.
Sirius said" Why do they do this to you? You're a good kid, get good marks. Why hurt their son? Hell, you're barely noticeable. Ow. I meant it in a good way, Rem."
I said" I'm a disgrace."
" Ha! You are? Then I should meet your parents if they want to meet a real disgrace, pure blood?" I nodded my head quickly," Well, you don't act all high and mighty. Your parents know my family?" I nodded again," How much have you been hit this summer?"
" Ever-Everyday."
" They ever hit you with..." I shrunk down, he sighed," Yeah. Go on, you're free to go. We won't tell anyone for your sake." I scurried out, and headed back to my dorm.

The dorm was empty, I crashed onto my bed and cried, not really knowing what else to do anymore. I know I'll be dead at Christmas, my father will kill me, I don't know how he'll know but he will! He always knows everything!

It was about 2 o'clock in the morning, I was in the common room, studying.
Remus said" You don't have to be scared of us, Nicholas." I turned to look at him, he always seemed like the nicest marauder." Earlier, you were deeply afraid of us. You literally hid from us for an entire week. And I've never seen Sirius so angry for anyone outside of our friends."
I whispered" He-He gets abused too?"
" Not anymore. He ran away. He used to, though." He sat next to me on the couch, looking at me, I looked down," Hell, it's two-something in the morning, how are you still awake?"
" O-Oh, I... um, I-I can't sleep."
" Me neither. But it seems like you're used to this."
" I-I don't sleep a lot... I-I can't, um, get comfortable..."
" Because of..."
" T-The bruises, and-and the cuts... it's just... um, hard to... sleep." I blushed, and lowered my head even more, trying to hide in the invisible shell of myself. He sighed," I-I'm sorry..." I got up and scurried off, running up the stairs for my dorm. I hate being afraid of him... of them, but I can't- I can't help it...