Lionheart (HP universe FF) / (Marauders era)

Chapter 22. Unforgiving

This was the moment I had been anticipating for a while now, and not with fond feelings at all. I was feeling all types of feelings and emotions at the same time, and the strongest one of them was feeling scared. My time in New York had come to an end, and now it was the time to return back to what I had escaped from. Because a part of me wished that nothing had ever happened, and that I wouldn't have to go through all this....and a part of me knew that since this wasn't the case, I was up for a lot of pain.

Pain...now that's something familiar to me.

But what gave me even the slightest of feeling to calm down, was to know that I had people around me who supported me, fully. Lily was tightly holding my hand, while Euphemia followed right behind us as we finally reached the front door to the Potter manor.

Lily seemed to realise how I was feeling, stopping us from getting in just yet. "It'll be alright...we don't have to go in just yet."

But I shook my head. "No...it's now or never...and it's going to rain soon. I don't want us to continue standing here," I chuckled, taking a deep breath in.

Euphemia moved over to us, put her warm hand over my cheek and lowered her head to give me a gentle kiss on my forehead. "I will go first, to make sure that everything is settled...you can come in when you are ready," she promised.

"Thank you," I looked straight into her eyes. "Mom."

She beamed once more and then moved over to open the front door that lead to our home. I couldn't see inside, which was a lucky thing, for I was feeling even more terrified than before. "Aurora, you are shaking...do you think you would want to-?"

"It's fine Lily, it's just...so much is going to happen the instant I step into that house...and I just want to go to my room to rest and talk with you for the rest of the day," I mumbled.

She took my other hand into her hand as well and squeezed it gently. "Then that's exactly what we're going to do. No one expects you to sort anything out today...you have time."

"Expect James and...Sirius," I sighed.

"To hell with them," she chuckled sarcastically. "They might want to speak with you the moment you step inside, but I will protect you from them. You can just greet the people you want and then we can go immediately to your room. I will help you."

"You promise?"

"I promise," she repeated smiling gently. "I will hold you, keep you standing. That's what friends are for," she promised and squeezed my hand tightly. "Are you ready?"

I let out a deep breath and decided to finally nod my head. I looked at the front door and felt weird while reaching for the knob of the door. My hand twisted the knob and pushed it inside, making the two of us able to walk inside to the front hall.

It was dead silent in the house, because of the anticipation. But I couldn't really even think what they were anticipating. Were they excited to see me or were they as nervous as I was. And to even say that I was nervous, was an understatement. My heart was pounding like there was no tomorrow and I was afraid that I would actually drop dead by just seeing them...seeing him.

And as we finally got further into the house from the front hall, four figures could clearly be seen standing by the huge double staircase, waiting for us. At first my eyes landed on Euphemia, who was sending me an encouraging smile. Next to her stood Fleamont, smiling at me as well, a sense of tears in his eyes. Oh how much I had missed him...and I think he had missed me as much.

As much as I wanted to not look at anyone else than the two of them, my parents, I couldn't stop my mind from working on its own, making my eyes move to the side, seeing none other than James standing near the other staircase. He just stepped down the last step, not moving his eyes from me. He stared at me, so many emotions in his eyes. And just for a second, my mind was allowing myself to think that I could smile at him...but then it all came back to me, and I remembered the evening I had last seen those eyes.