Saturday September 8, 1977
There was complete silence when Andy woke up. She slowly opened her eyes and shut them again. The sun was shining very bright, and right in her eyes. She rubbed her eyes a little and yawned.
It was very warm in the bed and Andy just wanted to just go back to sleep. She looked up and saw across the room: Sirius. He was sitting up in his bed smiling at her. Sirius stood up and walked over to her bed and sat down. Andy scooted over a little so that he could sit down.
"Morning, how are you doing? Feeling better?" His smile never faded, that was one thing that Andy really liked about him.
"Yeah, my head doesn't hurt anymore," Andy said, smiling back at him shyly.
"Great! The others just went to get breakfast quickly. They'll bring us back some food of course," Andy nodded.
She felt very safe with Sirius and the other three boys. Of course she was still very cautious, but she had let down her guard a lot with them, but they never hurt her. Half of her wanted to stay with them forever. No, all of her wanted to stay with them. It was much better than going back to her "family".
The smile on Sirius' face started to fade as he spoke again, "do you know your home address?" There it was. They were going to make her go back home. A place she didn't feel safe, where she wasn't safe.
Deep down she knew they would send her back, no one would ever really want her. Especially not people as nice as them. She'd only been with them for a few hours, but she loved them more than she loved her own parents.
"Yeah, I know it," she whispered. No matter how much she wanted to stay, Adina knew she shouldn't lie to him.
"Ok," he looked just as devastated as her. "Don't worry, it'll all be alright," he lifted her chin so that she was looking at her. "If those bastards even think about hurting you again, we'll bring you right back here."
How? It's not like they could watch everything her parents do while they are still here at school. It was probably just a lie to make her feel better. But it didn't help at all.
She started to cry. Sirius picked her up and put her tiny, shaky body on his lap. She buried her head into his chest as she sobbed. He ran his fingers through her hair to calm her down. It helped a bit.
Whenever she used to cry at home, her parents would just yell at her more. It was much better to cry in Sirius' arms. Well not that she would ever be able to do that again.
"Shh, shh, it'll be alright I promise. I'll talk to the others, okay?" Andy pulled away and looked up at him confused. He wiped away some of her tears with his thumb. "I'll tell them that we can't send you back. I will beg them on my hands and knees if I have to. I doubt it will come to that though because they care about you just as much as I do. There isn't a chance in hell that you're going back there."
Andy wrapped her arms around his back and hugged him close. She started tearing up again, but this time it was happy tears.
"Thank you! Thank you, Padfoot!"
"Of course, I know exactly what it is like. My parents used to do the same until last year when I moved in with James and his family." Andy felt much better knowing she wasn't alone in feeling unloved by your parents.
She felt tired again from all that crying and started to drift off to sleep again.
When she woke up again she was under the duvet again, and there was no Sirius. All she could hear was some whispering. The curtains were closed which surprised her a little. She slightly pulled the curtains back and saw the four boys sitting on the bed next to her.
They didn't seem to notice her watching them and just continued to talk.
"I agree with Pads, it could work," Remus said. They all seemed surprised by what Remus had just said.
"You feeling alright Moony?" James asked.
"Shove off will ya? I don't know what it is about her, I just don't think I could ever do something knowing it will hurt her. Even if I'm not doing it directly."
"I agree," James said, "but how are we supposed to raise a 5 year old while we're still in school and taking N.E.W.T.s this yes."
They all sat silent for a few seconds. "What if we alert the ministry? They'd know how to help her," Peter said.
"You know the ministry is filled with Death Eaters just like her parents. They'll send her right back to them without a second thought," Sirius said.
They all sat silent again. "I think it could work. As long as we set some ground rules," James finally said.
"So it's a yes by all of us?" Sirius asked. They all nodded. A huge smile grew on Andy's face as she saw them agree she was going to stay. She wanted to jump out of the bed and hug all of them.
"Let's wake her and tell her," James said. Quickly, she dashed back under the duvet and pretended to be asleep.
Someone drew back the curtains and the bed sank next to her. As she rolled over, Andy saw Remus sitting on her bed with a huge smile on his face.
"Hi, sweetheart," she pretended to wake up and yawned. On the other side of the bed, the three other amazing boys sat.
"As Sirius already told you, he asked us to let you stay," James began, "and we all decided... that you should stay with us. It's the safest thing for you, and the most fun for us."
Even though Andy already knew it, it was still amazing to hear it again. She launched herself into Remus' arms and hugged him so tight.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise you won't regret it at all!" All five of them were smiling so wide. The other three boys sat on her bed and she took turns hugging each of them.
"Before we all get too happy, there are some rules that you are going to need to follow." They all groaned, but Andy listened intently to whatever Remus was going to say.
There were no rules that would make this moment bad.
"Don't worry, some of the rules apply to us too. Rule number one, no matter what, you cannot leave this dorm unless one of us is with you. Rule number two, we solemnly swear that we will never try to hurt you. Rule number three, we are still in school so we won't be able to spend all day with you. Rule number four, we will be gone once a month at night until the morning, but you cannot ask us where we are going. We promise we'll come back. That's all, just make sure we all follow those rules and this will be perfect."
Everyone nodded, especially Andy. These rules were going to be very easy to follow, the ones back at her parents house were way worse. Of course she was curious about where they would be going every month, but she would never ask, it wasn't worth it.
"Awh come 'er," Remus said, opening his arms for her to come hug him. She gladly accepted and crawled right on his lap. He hugged her close to his body and she squeezed him back. There was nothing better than hugging one of those four boys.
"We gotta buy you some clothes!" Sirius randomly exclaimed. Andy's head shot right up. The clothes that she had at her parents house were the same ones from when she was three. She'd never been bought new clothes as long as she could remember.
"Yeah, we'll go to Gladrags Wizardwear in Hogsmeade and buy you new clothes," James said in agreement.
"You and Moony stay here and the rest of us will go," Sirius said. "Merlin, the money I have to spend, I'll probably come back with the whole store."
Andy could not believe her ears! They were not only letting her stay with them, but spending their own money to buy her new clothes. She couldn't figure out how she got so lucky.
"How's that sound?" Remus asked.
"Amazing!" Andy said, a huge smile on all of their faces.
"Alright then! We'll be back in two or so hours," James said, as the three boys made their way into the hall.
"Whatcha wanna do, Andy?" Remus asked, sweetly. She thought for a second until she realized how hungry she was.
"Do you have any food?" Andy asked, quietly. Anytime she'd asked her parents they would get mad, but Remus never mentioned things like that in his set of rules.
"Oh, are you hungry? Of course you can have something to eat. I brought up breakfast from the great hall, let me grab it. Sirius already ate the eggs, sorry about that."
"That's alright, thank you," Andy said. Remus quickly walked back over with a plate of toast, black pudding, and beans.
"Wow," Andy whispered. She'd most definitely never had that much food in one meal.
"Dig in," Remus said, smiling wide at her astonished face. She sat on his lap and he handed her the plate. She took a bite of the toast and it was amazing.
Andy devoured all the food in only a few minutes and Remus watched her happily. It seemed that anytime she was smiling, at least one of the other four boys was smiling.
"Thank you, Moony," Andy hugged him tightly. He gave her a hug back and they sat like that for a couple of seconds.
Out of nowhere Andy started feeling very nauseous: she was going to throw up. As fast as possible she ran to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before throwing up all the food she just ate.
Remus ran in behind her. He held her hair back so she wouldn't get throw up in it. He rubbed her back a little while she continued to vomit.
She didn't understand why she was throwing up. The food tasted amazing. Something like this happened before though she remembers. One time after she went to her grandparents' house for Christmas. She ate a lot of food that day, more than usual, and after dinner she threw up in the bathroom.
Andy hated throwing up, it hurt a lot, and whenever she did vomit, it would last a long time, till there was no more food in her body.
After about another minute, she finally stopped, all of the food previously inside her, was now in the toilet. Tears were running down her face and she sobbed loudly. Remus lifted her up and sat her on his lap. She snuggled as close as she could to his chest and held onto him tightly.
"It's all okay. Don't worry, you'll be just fine. I've got you," Remus whispered to her. Whatever he said always made Andy feel better. He turned her around so that she looked up at his sweet smile. "I am so sorry, honey. I am so sorry." Andy noticed that he too had tears in his eyes, but he continued to smile for her. "How often did those bast- your parents feed you?"
"I- I only got their leftover dinner if I cleaned the house perfectly," Andy whispered. Andy could see the anger in Remus' face. His face became a dark red and his eyes were filled with rage.
"I swear, if I ever see them I'll- never mind. Andy, do you know what an eating disorder is?" She shook her head no. "Well there are hundreds of different types but the one I believe you have is when you starve so much that when you eat again, your body can't handle it. I know, it's a lot to take in, I'm sorry."
"So, will I throw up every time I eat?" Andy asked, anxiously.
"No... no, if you just eat the normal three times a day, your body will soon go back to normal. Though it might take a while."
"Oh ok," Andy buried her head back into his chest and he hugged her close.
Three meals a day? Is that true? She'd only know about dinner and breakfast. Not that she ever actually had breakfast, but her parents did. If Remus said that she needs three meals a day, she'll eat three meals a day.
"Come on, I've got something to show you," Remus said, picking her up and walking back into the dorm. Beside his bed, was a small table. On it was this big contraption that took up most of the space. It had a big circle and a long weird looking stick next to it.
Remus placed Andy on his bed as he looked under his bed and quickly pulled out a square made out of hard paper. There was a man with long blonde hair looking up and to the side.
Remus pulled a black circular thing out of it and put it on the machine. He lifted up the weird stick and placed it on the black circle.
Soon the room was filled with music:
I still don't know what I was looking for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Remus started dancing and singing along. He had a huge smile on his face, making Andy smile too. Andy had never listened to music that much, except for the classical music her parents played once in a while.
"Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!" Moony sang, loudly. Andy started to bounce on the bed and moved to the music. "Yeah! You got it, Andy!"
Just gonna have to be a different one
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
The next forty-two minutes were spent listening to the rest of the album.
They took a quick lunch break, Andy only had some carrots and a few crips. Remus didn't want her to upset her stomach anymore. She'd been nauseous for a few minutes, but she didn't throw up.
After lunch, Remus pulled out another album, he said it was called "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars," the name confused Andy a lot but she loved the music nonetheless.
While they were in the middle of listening to Starman the door opened and three boys walked inside, their arms full of bags.
Two of them let out a groan, but Sirius ran over and joined the singing.
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
"Really, Moony? You had to get Andy too?" Peter groaned.
"Shut it, Wormtail," Moony said, breathlessly.
Once the song ended, Remus took the needle off the record and the music stopped. "You should probably try on your new clothes now, Andy," Remus said.
How could she forget? She quickly ran over to James, grabbed one of the bags then ran into the bathroom. Through the door she could hear the boys chuckle.
Moony started whispering, probably about how she'd thrown up. When Remus stopped talking, Sirius screamed, "THOSE DIRTY, BLOODY, FUCKS!" Andy giggled a little at that.
She pulled out a T- shirt and written on it was 'Future Quidditch Player' and very big shorts. There were also some undergarments. There were some other shirts and some pretty blouses, baggy shorts, and one pair of pants.
She quickly put on the first outfit and tried to look in the mirror, but she was too small. Instead she reached for the door knob and walked out into the dorm. All four boys looked at her, smiling.
When she waddled closer to them their smiles started to fade. She became very confused and looked nervously at all of them.
"W- what's wrong?"
"Andy, could ya come here for a second?" James asked, calmly. She walked all the way over to them and James picked her up and placed her on his bed.
He softly grabbed her arm and pushed his glasses up his nose as he looked at her arm. She looked at her arm to see what he was so condenser about.
"Did your parents give you these bruises?" Sirius asked.
"Oh... yeah most of them are from about... a week ago. I fell asleep before doing the dishes." Andy said, unfazed. They all looked at her sadly.
Wasn't that normal? If you misbehave, you get hit. Right? They all seemed sad about what she'd said, but she just sat there, very confused.
"Andy, you know what they did was not okay, right?" Peter asked cautiously. Andy wasn't really sure how to answer. Stuff like that was a normal day; she was lucky when that was the only punishment she had.
"It's not?" Sirius looked like he was about to cry when she said that. James hugged her close to his body. He was very warm, Andy enjoyed being hugged by him.
"N- no it isn't. Your parents should NEVER touch you! Let alone hit you! I get it, my parents did it to me too. Once I moved in with Jamie, I learned how parents should treat you. What they did is definitely not normal. I am so sorry you had to live through that."
Andy stared at him with her mouth a-jar. He'd just said so much about himself, and how he'd been through the same things.
James could tell by the tone of the room and how Andy was squirming a little, that she wanted to hug Sirius. So he let her crawl away, and she sat on Sirius' lap and hugged him. They all watched how adorable she was.
"I'm sorry Padfoot," Andy whispered. All five of them were crying by now but they all chuckled.
"Why are you sorry, darling?" Sirius asked.
"How your parents treated you. And that I made you cry."
"You didn't make me cry, sweetie. But thank you," Sirius lifted her chin up so that he could see her face. She gave him a smile and he whipped the tears off her cheek.
"Come on, try on some more clothes," Sirius said, nudging her back to the bathroom. She stood up and ran back to the bathroom. "YAY!! FASHION SHOW!!"
They spent the rest of the day complementing all of her outfits. Then for dinner, she had a little Shepherds Pie.
Even though she'd only known these boys for barely over a day, it felt like she'd known them for her whole life. Hopefully, she'd be with them for the rest of her life. Maybe.