*✧･ﾟ:* DEAD TO ME *:･ﾟ✧*
TW: mentions of abuse but that's it!
✧━━━━━━━━━━━✧
"I WON'T ALLOW it."
Indiana was sure her eyes might slip out of their sockets if she rolled them again. The level of frustration within her was rising to a dangerous level, and both deep breathing and avoiding the problem did nothing to help her case. It was dreadfully difficult to try and pack up all of her things while her Father followed her around the house.
"Do you hear me, Indiana?" her father's voice boomed, as he stood underneath her doorframe like a force of nature, his six-foot figure towering over her room like a mighty oak tree, unable to fall down. "You are not allowed to live with a Blood Traitor such as a Potter!"
"Good thing I didn't ask," Indiana muttered, slinging a rather large duffle bag over her shoulder.
With a swish of her wand, all of the clothes within her closet took flight before folding themselves up and settling within a medium sized box. Her bedroom, bare except for her bed and nightstand, was rather large and extravagant, but she couldn't wait to get out. Crossing the room in three strides, she halted right before her father. Searching within herself for a smidge of Gryffindor bravery, she took a deep breath.
"Please move aside," she said in a steady voice, a tight grip on her duffle bag and her fingers clutched tightly around her wand, prepared to defend herself if necessary. "I am an adult. You cannot keep me here."
"I am your father," he said in a deep, demanding tone. Indiana pursed her lips angrily.
"You sure haven't acted like it," she quipped. "So move over and let me live my life, please."
Jack Jones stared at her, his small, dark eyes trained on hers as though testing her strength. Indiana did not let her face nor her stance falter, frightened that even the slightest of movements might convince him she was bluffing. He blinked once, taking a very heavy breath, before he stepped back and aside.
"If you walk out that front door, Indiana," he began dangerously, walking over and brushed past her. Before disappearing entirely, he said, "And I find out you're living with Potter, you will not be welcomed back."
Indiana halted. She glanced at the open door of Simon's bedroom and saw the top of his head fly back inside of the room. There was a twisting in her chest at the thought of never being able to return to the Jones Manor; there was a mix of both horrific and wonderful memories in the house, but what made her hesitate was her brother. She could not leave him with that god awful man.
"Go, Indie," came a smaller voice. She turned her head to see Simon, frowning, but with bright eyes. His hands were shrugged into the pockets of his shorts, and when she stepped closer to him, he took them out to give her a hug. She welcomed the embrace, holding him tight. "Go with Potter, okay? I'll be okay."
"Simon —"
"I know you're hesitating because of me," he told her bluntly. She blinked. "Don't. I know you love him."
Indiana froze. Neither her or Harry had ever used the word Love with one another. After a good amount of thought, she figured Simon was right. Maybe she'd wait a little bit to tell him, but she supposed she did love Harry.
"Are you sure?" Indiana asked him gently, placing her hands on his shoulders. He gave her an affirmative nod of his head, his lips turning up into a light smile.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "I've only got one year left, so it won't be long 'till I'm out. Listen to me — you've been through enough this year, okay? Don't stay around just 'cause you're worried 'bout me. I'll be fine."
"You're gonna make me cry," Indiana sniffed. "I love you, Si, okay? Owl me as much as you want."
"Owl you?" Simon scoffed, smirking. "I'm just gonna show up at your doorstep!"
The walk out of the Jones Manor made Indiana's stomach a little queasy. She knew Harry was waiting outside for her (in a Muggle car! She had never been in one before!), but even then, she was anxious about leaving with the knowledge of possibly never returning. Her eyes trickled over the rather large front yards, the bright blue feathered peacocks pecking at the ground under the sun.
At the sight of the small, Roman-styled white bench underneath the lavish looking cherry tree, Indiana smiled to herself. She could remember sitting underneath that tree with her mom, who would tell her stories of Hogwarts as well as old Wizarding Tales. Soon, Simon joined them. And then, no one sat there at all.
She supposed it was alright that she'd never return. Along with the various pleasant memories of her mother and childhood, the entire Manor was plagued with those of her father. Being forced to fly in large laps around the backyard on her Firebolt until her fingers bled and her muscles tore. Having to listen to her father scream and shout at Simon until wee hours of the night. Crying herself to sleep because she knew her mother would never open her door again.
Indiana turned around, shrugging her duffle bag further up her shoulder as her eyes travelled up across the manor. In the uppermost window on the left, she could see Simon watching her leave. She lifted her free hand up to wave, and he pulled open the window before sticking half his torso outside of it. Indiana worried for a moment that he might fall, but she supposed he would be alright. Simon was always alright.
"BYE, INDIE!" he shouted, waving his hand back and forth like a fanatic. She laughed to herself, lifting a hand above her head to wave back in a similar fashion, the wind blowing and whipping her hair around her face. She walked out of the big, black, iron gates with a smile on her face.
The white MINI BMW sitting out front of the Manor was running, the hum filling the silent air with a sort of comforting buzz. The Jones Manor was practically in the middle of no where, and although it was easy to visit the other manors of the other Pureblooded families, it still felt very isolating to be there. From where she was, she could see the outline of Harry's hand resting on the wheel, fingers tapping to the beat of whatever song was playing on the radio.
When she approached the car, she rapped her knuckles on the glass window to get his attention; he jumped in surprise, not expecting her, before rolling down the window and grinning. He placed his elbow on the passenger seat, leaning down to see her.
"All done?" he asked her lightly, squinting a bit from the intensity of the burning sun that was shining especially bright that day. His blue t-shirt was clinging to his arms tightly, the veins of his forearms moving from where he clenched his fist absentmindedly around the steering wheel. She smiled.
"Yeah," she said. Gesturing to her duffle bag, she said, "How do I get this in through here?"
She poked a hand through the open window. Harry blinked, green eyes looking confused, before he let out a loud laugh at her cluelessness. He swung the drivers door open and stepped out, walking around the car to swing open the back door.
"Here," Harry took the bag from her and threw it into the backseat. Tilting his head and shifting his gaze to behind her, he asked, "You bringing that box, too?"
Indiana whipped her head around to see the box she had packed with her clothes earlier was still floating behind her. She supposed she had forgotten to stop the casting of the spell. She reached up to place both hands on either side of it, walking it over to give to Harry. He put that in the back seat, too.
"How was that, then?" Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the car. Indiana shrugged in a lackluster sort of manner. She tugged at the bottom of her orange tank top.
"M' not allowed back in there. Like ever again," Indiana told him bluntly. Harry's lips parted in shock. "S'okay. I'll just wait for the old man to die. And Simon says he's fine."
"I'm sorry," Harry frowned. "I'm sure you'll be allowed in, won't you? You're a member of the family."
"Well, maybe Popsy'll let me in," Indiana hummed. "Unless Father's instructed her not too. Who knows. It doesn't matter."
"If you say so," Harry shrugged. He stepped to the side, the breeze making tufts of his raven hair fly off his forehead, and he grabbed the handle of the passenger door to open it for her. "In you go."
"Do I just —?" Indiana asked, sticking her foot inside the car. Harry, chuckling to himself, nodding his head, placing a hand on her back to guide her into the seat. She settled in, running her calloused hands along the sandy-colored leather seats. "Where's the — oh!"
Harry had grabbed the seatbelt and reached across her torso to buckle it for her, his hand brushing over her chest. He smiled sheepishly at her and said, "Road safety."
"What's this?" Indiana said, tugging at the seat belt.
"A seat belt," Harry answered, closing the passenger door with a slam! He circled around the car before opening up the door and slipping into the driver's seat. Tugging his own seat belt down, he said, "So you don't get jostled around. The drive here was bumpy. Someone should repave the roads over here."
"This is a Wizarding neighborhood," Indiana said bluntly. "No one uses this Muggle things."
"They're called 'cars'," Harry reminded her. She mouthed the word to herself. Harry grabbed the gear shift and shifted the car into drive; Indiana instantly grabbed ahold onto the top handle bar as Harry began to drive away from the house, laughing to himself as the car bumped across the road. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Indiana said, one hand grabbing the handlebar and the other clutching at Harry's shoulder. "This is... odd."
"You'll get used to it," Harry smiled, eyes trained on the road, although his gaze kept glancing over to her as though to check if she was actually okay or not. "Let me know if you feel sick, okay?"
"Sick? Why would I feel sick?" Indiana said in a high pitched, almost panicky voice.
"Well, some people get car sick. Y'know, motion sickness," Harry shrugged. "Hermione gets car sick."
"I won't," Indiana said confidently. "I can fly up over one hundred feet on a broom, I can handle a Muggle car."
"Alright, then," Harry smirked to himself nonchalantly, one hand on the wheel with his other elbow resting out of the open window.
As the car continued to drive, Indiana slowly loosened the tightness of her grips until she had both hands resting on her lap. Harry had been right, the roads were bumpy, littered with potholes and divots that made her yelp a bit every time she'd be tossed side to side by them. Harry had turned on the radio, and although Indiana had never heard of the British pop songs playing on the radio, she found the sound of it rather nice. She was so used to classical music that it was a pleasant surprise.
"Everything all settled," Harry told her after about ten to fifteen minutes of pleasant silence. "In the flat, I mean. So... it's just your stuff."
"How is it?" Indiana asked him with the eagerness of a child, turning to look at him with bright eyes. He grinned. "The flat? Is it nice? What d'you think?"
"It's... perfect," he told her. Indiana smiled to herself, turning her head to look out the window, the wind whipping her head around so much that she might have looked like a puppy dog with his head out the window (minus the tongue). "Hey, Indiana?"
"Mmhm?"
"Thanks for this," Harry said lightly. She turned her head to shift her gaze towards him. His skin looked tanner then usual from the amount of time they had spent in the sun, and his glasses were perched perfectly on the bridge of his aquiline nose like they were built to be there. His green iris' looked bright as ever, and for the first time in what seemed like a long time, he didn't look tired. He looked happy. "For... agreeing to move in. With me."
"Thanks for asking," she quipped. "Merlin knows I was not going to stay in the Manor."
"You'd rather live in an average sized flat than a manor?" Harry said, surprised. "I mean, that thing is... is giant! It's huge!"
"Are you living in the manor?" Indiana asked. Harry pursed his lips and shook his head. "I don't care where it is. I agreed to living with you. Who cares if it's a giant mansion or a tiny apartment?"
"You're so cheesy," Harry said with a grin. She whacked him on the shoulder.
"Shut up, Potter," Indiana sent a teasingly playful glare in his direction, the apples of her cheeks turning pink. Harry, his lips upturned, shook his head a back, before extending one of his hands out to rest on her knee, his other hand on the wheel. Indiana placed her hand over it. "Keep driving, you moron."
✧✧✧
KING'S CROSS STATION
2017
"WOULD — YOU — QUIT — moving!" Indiana breathed exasperatedly, one hand slamming the brush down onto the seat beside her and the other coming to clasp on her daughter's shoulder in an attempt to keep her sitting. "I have been sitting here for four hours, young woman! I can't finish if you're worming around!"
"Are you almost done?" the young girl whined, trying to turn her head around to look at her mother. Indiana poked her cheek with the brush to turn her face so it was facing front. One of the neatly done box braids whacked Indiana in the face, but she only huffed and kept braiding. "Mum, we're gonna be late!"
"We're going be even later if you keep moving, Serena," Indiana sighed out, her fingers working as fast as they could. Serena huffed, rolling her doe-like brown eyes. "You asked me to braid your hair, that's what I'm doing, okay?"
"Okay," Serena Lily, named after Indiana's mother and Harry's mother, finally stopped fidgeting around. Indiana was grateful — it usually took them around five or six hours to do the braids on Serena's entire head, and Indiana had started extra early with the worry that they'd be late for the train. "Ugh, where's James?"
"Probably fixing his hair," Indiana snickered.
"Uhm, I'm right here," James Sirius, the eldest son named after Harry's father and godfather, came strutting out of the other room. "And I wasn't doing my hair. I was tying my shoes."
He lifted up his pair of red and white trainers, with pearly white laces that were tied in very neat bows. Indiana smiled at him, seeing that his black hair was neatly ruffled at the top of his head. He brushed by them, and she could smell the Sleek-Eazy's Hair Potion off of him.
"And where's your brother?" Indiana asked, her voice muffled due to the brush she was holding in between her white teeth. James shrugged and gave a hum of unsureness. "And your father?"
"In the other room, I dunno," James flopped down onto the couch. "Hair looks cool, 'Rena."
"Thanks," Serena muttered, fidgeting with one of the pink beads at the end of a single braid. "Ouch!"
"I have to pull, love!" Indiana told her apologetically, grimacing. "I'm sorry, you've got to power through!"
"She has a sensitive scalp," James sniggered, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. Serena swiftly flipped him the bird, holding up her pink-polish covered middle finger to her brother.
"Don't flip your brother off, Serena, and James, feet off the table," Indiana said absentmindedly. James huffed but complied anyways. Serena rolled her eyes and brought her hand back down to her lap. "Your brother and your father need to get in here, or we'll be late."
"I can get them," James moved to get to his feet, but Indiana waved a hand dismissively. He sat back down and kicked his legs onto the coffee table again.
"I got it," she said reassuringly. Halting her braiding for a split second, she shouted, "POTTER!"
"What?" came Harry's voice from the other room. She rolled her eyes. "Give me a sec!"
"I've given you many seconds, and we're gonna be late," Indiana called out rather loudly, continuing to braid. "Let's go! Oh, do quit moving, Serena —"
"REG, GET BACK HERE!" Harry yelled from the other room, and in a blur, a rich-skinned boy with tightly curled black hair and green eyes came sprinting into the living room, running laps around the couch and chairs and coffee table; in his hands was a crumpled up button up shirt. Harry came rushing in after him, void of a shirt. "He took my bloody shirt —! Come here, you!"
Indiana wolf whistled at the sight of him, and, pink-faced, Harry sent her a glare. Serena cringed at the action of affection between the two, covering her face in second-hand embarrassment. The youngest of the three, Regulus Blaise, stopped his running, chest heaving up and down; the four-year-old boy sent his father a bright, toothy grin, flashing the blank space where he was missing his two front teeth. Harry stepped forward, swiping the shirt from his son before ruffling his hair.
"Done!" Indiana dropped her hands from her daughters hair, stretching her fingers back. Serena hopped to her feet, hands already starting to fiddle with the braids.
"Thanks!" she chirped, crossing the room to slide on her shoes. Indiana rose to her feet, dusting off her thighs. Harry, who was now re-tucking his shirt into his trousers, sent her a grin.
"I could've done her hair, y'know," Harry offered, fixing his belt, the metal clinking as he did so. Indiana shrugged.
"Yeah, but you're kind of awful at it," she told him. Harry looked offended. "Look, I appreciate you learning! But I'm just better at it."
"Serena, who's better at doing your hair?" Harry called out to his daughter, whose head perked up from where she was tying her shoes. The young girl's brown eyes flickering between the two of them for a moment.
"Mom."
"Ha!" Indiana laughed loudly, shoving his husband on the shoulder. "Got you!"
"And Mom's better at Quidditch," James chimed in, feet still on the coffee table.
"Feet off the table, James," Indiana grinned. "And yes, I am."
"Uh, no!" Harry lifted a finger pointedly. "Who was the youngest Seeker in a century?"
"Who plays professional Quidditch?" She asked. Harry gave her a childish pout, sighing through his nose. Lifting a hand to ruffle his hair up, Indiana said, "Aw, are your feeling's hurt?"
"No," Harry mumbled, eyes trailing off. "Regulus, please don't do that — no, no, no —"
Harry scooped down low to pick up the four-year-old boy, who had picked up James' wand and began swishing it around. Regulus giggled as his father slipped the wand out of his miniature, pudgy hands and handed it over to the eldest son.
"Hold onto that," Indiana told James, who grabbed the wand and slipped it into his pocket. She checked her gold watch for a second, frowning. "Okay, both of you, out to the car. Harry, are you sure Teddy is coming to watch Reg —?"
POOF! The fireplace was suddenly flooded with green and black ashes, the powder splaying out onto the carpet. A single leg stuck out of it, followed by a young boy who was coughing and waving in front of his face. He was around six-foot-one, with a lanky figure and thin arms, as well as a having a head of bright blue hair that seemed to always look a mess.
"Hi, sorry!" He coughed, waving the rest of the floo powder out of his face. "Had to see Victoire off at the train station."
"It's alright, Teddy," Harry grinned. "How're you?"
"Wonderful!" Teddy Lupin's lips curled up into a contagious type of smile, one that lit up a room. "Hi, Aunt Ana."
"Hi, Teddy," Indiana smiled. "Regulus, look who's here!"
Harry set Regulus on the ground, and the young boy practically ran across the room to jump into Teddy's arms. Teddy lifted him on the floor, spinning him around in a circle; the young boys' giggled flooded the room.
"Serena, James, you guys doin' alright?" Teddy asked across the room. Serena and James broke out in chorus of responses. Indiana, lifting up two hands, silenced them.
"We need to go," she announced. "Out to the car, both fo you, let's go! Harry, I'm talking to you, too!"
"Okay, okay," Harry said, kissing Regulus' forehead good bye and slapping Teddy on the back. "Remember to feed him lunch this time, will you?"
"No worries," Teddy waved a hand, bouncing Regulus up and down. "We're gonna have fun."
"If he cries, talk about Quidditch, okay? It calms him down," Indiana called out, ushering both the kids and her husband out of the door. Teddy gave her a thumbs up. "Okay... bye-bye, Reg! Thanks, Teddy!"
SHE SPEAKS!
no way in hell indiana would let one of her kids be named albus severus. serena lily is after both indie and harry's moms, james sirius is obvi, and then regulus blaise is also obvi. also harry learning how to do braids for serena was a headcanon i thought of awhile ago and i just LJDSNVJND i love it.
i hope you liked this chapter! only two more to go!! what do you want to see in either next chap or the final one?
guys my tumblr is kind of doing so well rn. i just hit 215 followers on there which is crazy considering i've only written like four or five short one shots on there. if anyone wants to follow me or become mutuals on there, follow @/acciopietro !
thanks for reading ily you all
- s <3