Sunflowers

Prosthetics and Potions

Remus and Lily led the first years to Gryffindor Tower and told them the password ("Niffler"). They split once inside the common room, boys to the left and girls to the right. Lily led the five new girls to a room with their names on it and ushered them in.

"This is where you'll stay for the year. Next year you'll be in the next room up, and so on and so on until you graduate," Lily told them as they found their trunks. Thia's had been placed at the foot of the bed beside the door.

"It's about 9 now, so you can spend a little while talking, but I'd go to bed soon. Classes start tomorrow." The girls nodded, and Lily sat next to Thia on her bed, "Do you want some help?"

Thia nodded, pulling off her gloves and lifting her hair. Lily slipped her hands under the collar of Thia's shirt and unbuckled the prosthetic. As Thia pulled the arm from her sleeve, a gasp could be heard from the other girls.

"What's that?" One of them asked, surprise in her voice.

Thia flushed, but said, "It's a prosthetic. I lost my arm and leg when I was six." Lily rubbed her shoulder, keeping an eye on the others.

"How?" The same girl exclaimed, blue eyes wide. Lily cleared her throat.

"Sophie MacDonald, unless Thia offers that information, you're not to ask it. It's rude," Lily scolded. Her friend's little sister blushed, a quiet sorry falling from her lips, "And I better not hear anything being said about Thia's prosthetics to anyone, because it's not their business. You four were only shown because you are going to room with her for the next seven years. Got it?"

The girls nodded under Lily's stern gaze. Thia hugged her friend, and Lily left. The younger witch took off her leg, laying the two in the box that she put under her bed. Grabbing the crutch from her bedside, she took a set of pyjamas and went into the bathroom to change.

Once each girl had changed, they settled in a circle on the floor. Thia sat between Sophie and a girl named Brandy.

"So how did it happen?" Sophie asked again. Thia shook her head.

"Sophie," Rachael Timms warned, "You heard what Lily said." Sophie shrugged.

"So, what's she gonna do, give me detention?" 

Thia stood, using her crutch as a leverage point to get her leg under her. She looked down at Sophie.

"My past is none of your business, Sophie." When Sophie looked unimpressed, Thia bent down again, "You've got an older sister, yeah? Mary? How would she feel that her little sister was picking on Lily's friend even after Lily warned you not to? Hmm?"

Sophie paled, and Thia pulled herself upright. She hobbled over to her bed, pulling the drapes closed behind her. It was one thing to talk to Remus or Lily, but to talk to the other girls was something else.

With troubled thoughts in her head, Thia fell asleep.

~

Thia was terrified. The room she had been locked in was practically a dungeon, complete with shackles on the wall. She hadn't seen her family since they were taken from their home. Thia wasn't sure how long ago that was. Hours? Days? Years?

The door swung open, the scant light blocked by a heavyset frame. The man grabbed Thia by the back of her dress, carrying the six-year-old like she weighed nothing. She was brought up a flight of stairs, into a dingy room. There, tied to chairs, were her parents, and they strained once they saw her.

"Ah, ah, ah. I thought I already showed you the punishment for resisting," a man's voice rang out. He strode into Thia's vision, dressed in a black robe, "and I would hate for something to happen to your little spawn here."

Thia felt an urge to call out to her parents, but fear sealed her lips. The man glided up to her, taking hold of her arm. She was pulled forward until she was even with an armchair that faced her parents.

"Now, every time you give me an answer I don't like," The man purred, "I'm going to let Greyback here have a little nibble of your daughter. How does that sound, hmm?" 

"You're a monster," Thia's dad cried. The man tsked.

"Wrong answer. Greyback."  The man who brought her in prowled closer to her, taking her left arm in his grip. He smelled up the length of her arm, licking his lips. Thia cowered, trying to get away from the man.

He grasped her tighter, his sharpened teeth sinking into her flesh. She screamed, her eyes rolling back in her head.

~
"Thia! Wake up! It's just a nightmare, Thia," Lily said, her voice breaking through the fog in Thia's mind. The girl jerked upright, her hand going to rub her left arm. Brown eyes darted around, still not quite seeing the faces in front of her.

"Girls, give her some space," Lily instructed, "Thia, you're fine. You're alright. You're in Gryffindor Tower. You're safe here. I've got you."

Thia sucked in giving out shuddering breaths as she tried to calm down. The images still danced in her head, the feeling of his teeth still burning in the arm that wasn't there anymore.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Thia shook her head, "Did you remember to take your potion before you went to sleep?" Thia shook her head again, and Lily went to the girl's trunk. In a small compartment inside, Lily pulled a vial. It was a deep purple, and the younger witch swallowed half of it. Lily kept an eye on her as she drifted off again, then turned to the other girls.

"Dreamless sleep potion. Thia gets night terrors a lot, so she takes this almost every night. You may need to remind her. She'll be out for 4 hours. If she's not up by classes, don't worry. Back to bed with you, now." She waited as the last of them climbed into their beds before disappearing out the door.