Selenophile // Marauders

|36| Scars, Fourth Year

TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE

4th of February, 1975

Riley went to the owlery and gave Ollie a piece of parchment and a Zonko's product. It was Ivy's twenty-third birthday. It was early in the morning and not many people were awake. 

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Dear V,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe you're 23, you're so old! I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but let's just pretend it's good. I hope everything is alright back in town and the hospital. I missed you so much... School is getting harder and it's difficult to keep up with assignments with quidditch. 

I also attached a gift for you! So you mightn't have noticed but I did borrow the Zonko's products you had on your desk and you weren't using them so they might be with me right now... So think of this while you open your present...

I love you, happy birthday!

Love, Rey.

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She quickly left the owlery and went to the common room. She took her books and went to the Great Hall to have breakfast. The Great Hall was very empty. Only a few students were there, most of them trying to complete unfinished assignments for today. She sat at the Gryffindor table and opened her Potions book on the other side. As she was eating eggs, she also looked at the textbook which was now filled with Riley's very big and messy handwriting. She couldn't even read her own handwriting sometimes. One time, Professor Phillips returned her homework because he couldn't read it. Now, she bewitched the quill whenever he assigned something. However, she never really cared if the other assignments looked neat or not.

Pepperup Potion was today's topic.  It was known for curing colds quickly. She quickly flipped through the pages and read all the ingredients. It was red in color and steam would come out of the drinker's ears as a side effect. Some ingredients were Mandrake root, bicorn horn, and jewelweed. Soon, the Great Hall started to fill with people. The Gryffindor table was now packed with people shouting.

***

Riley went to the common room after a long night of studying Arithmancy. It was almost midnight and she was lucky Pince didn't catch her in the library. She reached the portrait and whispered the password. The portrait opened as the gate to the common room and the Marauders were now visible, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, as always. 

"Hello," she said as she took a seat on the other couch.

"Hi!" Sirius said cheerfully. 

"Were you studying?" James asked. "Boring."

"I don't wanna fail like you guys!"

"Oi, I'm not failing!" Peter said. "Well, maybe I am..."

"I certainly am not," Remus said as he laughed.

Sirius lifted his leg to sit in a criss-cross. His ankle was now visible. It had scratches, very red scratches... Riley found herself staring at him and then quickly focused back.

"Uh— what happened to your ankle?" Riley asked quietly. The smile on Sirius' face faded and he quickly tried to cover his ankle with his pants.

"Nothing! I— I— don't know..." Sirius stuttered. Riley didn't want to force him to tell but someone else was curious now.

"Mate, you ok?" James asked. "Did you fall down the stairs or something?"

Riley could swear she heard Sirius say "I wish" under his breath but didn't say anything. 

"Not really..."

"Then what?" Peter asked.

"None of your business!" Sirius said loudly. The group went silent as they looked at the floor. What was going on? What was wrong with the cheerful Sirius?

"I— I'm sorry, I didn't mean to point it out and make you feel—" Riley stuttered.

"Feel like shit? Yes, that's exactly what happened!" Sirius said sharply. 

"I didn't mean to make you feel like shit!"

There was a long silence. It felt uncomfortable, nobody had the courage to say a word. Sirius set his feet down on the ground so that the scars weren't visible. Riley was staring at the crackling fire and Remus was just staring at Sirius. He didn't take his eyes off of him. James kept looking around to search for a way to get out of this as Peter looked at the floor. After a time that felt like years, the silence was broken. 

"...It wasn't a fall," Sirius whispered. "It was them..."

Everybody exchanged glances. Them? What was that supposed to mean?

"Them? Who?" James asked confused. Before Sirius could even open his mouth, Remus spoke.

"Your parents... They— they hurt you, didn't they?" he asked softly. Sirius avoided eye contact with everyone. He slowly took his shirt's sleeve and revealed more red-looking scars.

"There's more..." he whispered. Riley's eyes widened with shock and sorrow. 

"We— I— didn't know they hurt you... physically," she said quietly, it was almost a whisper. Tears were forming in Sirius' eyes. 

"You can talk to us, you know that, right mate?" James said as he put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius gave a very small nod. 

"Let's change the topic, shall we?" he said as he gave a sad smile. 

Everyone went up to the dorm rooms as it got late. Sirius and Riley were the only ones left in the silent and rather dark common room. 

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable today," Riley said as she gulped. 

"You did, but it's alright," Sirius mumbled. "I couldn't help but notice, what happened to your cheek?"

"Oh, this?" Riley said as she pointed to the little scar on her right cheek, right under her eye. "It's from when I was ten, it's nothing really."

"You didn't answer the question, what happened to it?"

"Oh— well, someone threw a rock at my face at school. She liked to bully me for some reason... I broke my cheekbone, Ivy tried to fix it but she wasn't really successful."

"Does it still hurt?"

"If I bump into a wall, yes. But, no, not normally," Riley said. She paused for a moment. "Everyone has scars, they might not be visible all the time, but you can always come and talk about how you feel. To all of us, we'll listen..."