Squib Who Scrubbed | ON HOLD

Chapter Twenty-Three

Tania's dreams were not free from nightmares.

Tania was acutely aware of everything in the room, yet she couldn't see it. The crackle of the fire, the green of the sofa, the specks of dust behind a picture. She knew everything in this room intimately, but the fog that covered her mind made her blind to it all.

The spell was cast, a kick was given.

Words floated through the air, echoing and haunting her.

Squib.

Failure.

Disappointment.

Was she breathing? She tried to move, escape, but it was sluggish, like the air pushed against her.

Wind whipped around her, filling her mouth. Something hit her, she rolled into a hole.

Now she was falling, falling, falling. So many colors, so much hurt inside the hole she had fallen into. Yells surrounded her and she tried to over her ears. A cackle, a scream, light flashed around her.

Now she was standing. It was the laundry room, so hot and insufferable. Piles and piles of laundry towered over her. Draco's laugh echoed around her, hich, cold, and clear.

"Just a squib! Filthy, not worth the dirt off my shoe!"

Tania whimpered and tried to cover her ears. The laundry loomed over her, threatening to fall and crush her.

"Dobby doesn't like Tania!" Dobby's voice echoed over her. "Dobby pities Tania! Poor Tania, no magic, no friends, no life!"

Tania sobbed. "Let me out! I'm free!" She cried.

Laundry began to fall on her. She was being crushed. She couldn't breath.

Tania gasped awake. It was barely morning, the early morning light peeking through the curtains. She was shaking, she realized, and tears came to her eyes uncalled for.

Now she knew, she guessed. Just because she had run away from the Malfoys didn't mean they had left her. Hugging herself, she sat in bed for a couple of minutes, crying from the leftover emotions flooding her after the nightmare.

Fear kept her in bed even longer. The Malfoys would know she was gone soon, and she needed to get her disguise ready, needed to change her appearance. She had so much to do, but all she wanted to do was lie here in the safety of this fluffy bed, curled in her blankets.

Finally peeling herself away from the bed, Tania started getting ready for the day. It was a little different, not having to be ready in five minutes. There was no fear, she realized, but she still couldn't relax.

She finished readying herself with the normal routine of braiding her messy hair. With jolt, she realized in the pit of her stomach that this would be the last time she would be braiding and doing her hair when it was this long.

A smile tugged itself onto her face. She really hated her hair, and how much it connected itself to her 'mother', Bellatrix Lestrange, and she would do anything to sever her connection to her.

Exiting the room, Tania ventured downstairs to get breakfast. She was feeling hungry, and the smells from downstairs made her even hungrier. She sat quietly at the bartop, and looked up when Tom approached her casually.

"So," He began, "I need to know what experience you have for the job. If you don't have any experience for cooking or waitressing, then I can teach you or I can help you find a job where you do have experience."