|Oh, I get it, they paintin' me out to be the bad guy|
|Well when's the last time you wanna see a bad guy do the rap game like me?|

"My mum used to hate the month of December. I used to be so confused as to why because that's her birth month and the month of the most joyous time of the year. Turns out she really did have a reason behind everything she did or said. Her reason behind why she hated December killed me. It still does....." ~Antares "Taylor" Sirius Black

Year: 1968, London, Britain
Setting: Diagon Alley

• • • • • • • • • •

Susan gripped Frank's hand as he shivered and his teeth chattered together. She pulled him closer to her and kept telling him it was going to be okay. Putting hope into his heart of someone coming to their rescue, they continued their journey.

She knew the truth but didn't want her little brother thinking like she did.

Boy, she hated it when they used their hatred towards her against Frank as well. You would think December would be her favourite month since it was it was her birth month. You would think December would be her favourite month because it was Christmas. You would think December would be her favourite month because it was the month of cheer and joy, family dinners and loving moments you spent with the ones you love. That's what you would think. But this was not the case for Susan and Frank Longbottom.

Both siblings got kicked out the mansion like last December for two days before their aunt and uncle came to get them. Why did those people decide to do such a thing? It was very simple in Evelyn's words:

"We're doing this for your own good. You want be a big bad wolf - you can learn how to survive like one. We really wouldn't care if you ended up freezing to death and I honest to Merlin hope we'll find your frozen body so we wouldn't have to deal with you anymore." ~Evelyn Longbottom before slamming the door in their face, 1967

Susan walked around for hours looking for an opened store with coats in it so she could possibly steal one for Frank. Susan could handle freezing, but she wasn't going to have Frank freezing along with her. Throw her in ice cold water but make sure you keep her brother near the fire.

Finally stealing one of the big coats out a clothing store, she ran back the way to Diagon Alley to avoid getting caught. It was putting them at risk but she was doing the best she could. She put her brother in the coat almost immediately once they were out of sight. He tried protesting it, telling her how she needed it also, but Susan wasn't about to have her brother freely out in the cold like her. That wasn't how it was going to go.

"W-w-why d-d-d-do th-t-the-e-they h-h-a-ate use?" Frank stuttered as Susan comforted him. She wished she could give him an answer. Susan sniffed, trying to rub off the redness her brother was visibly glancing at. Rubbing her hair for warmth, she looked around at all the loving happy people walking by as if the pair were invisible. This pissed her off.

Frost grew over the windows; every store had iceicals hanging from them - it was that cold and nobody noticed the two freezing little children just walking around trying to look for some warmth? Bull!

They had to see her and her brother shivering on the side walk, gripping each other, and yet they continued walking past them.

Yeah, Susan didn't want any stranger picking them up - she could be putting Frank's life in danger. But she also wanted her brother... she wanted him inside. She wanted him snuggled up in his bed, thanking Lanky for bringing him hot chocolate. 'I'm... sorry, Frank.' The young girl sniffed again, wiping away the salt water.

Susan stayed strong for her brother and tried assuring him it was going to be okay. You would think they wouldn't be in this situation if their parents were alive. You would think they wouldn't be in this situation if Frank's mum actually wanted to take care of them. You would think they wouldn't be put in this situation if Susan just kept her mouth shut. It always leads back to Susan. Why did she do this to herself....

"I'm sorry, brother. I'm so sorry," She apologized and rubbed the back of her brother's head.

Frank wrapped his arms around her waist, "Sorry for what?" He asked her as Susan blinked away her tears, "I'm sorry for being the reason for your pain."

~•~•~•~•~•~

"Where are we going, Anne?" Frank asked her as it was now 11 pm at night and they had to be the only two roaming around Diagon Alley.

At this point he was really hoping a fire would somehow break out so they could stop freezing. Surely, Susan wouldn't have mind a fire in his eyes. Susan tried her hardest to keep her breaths short.

Cold air is often dry air, and for many, especially those with chronic lung disease, that can spell trouble. Dry air can irritate the airways of people with asthma, COPD or bronchitis. This can cause things that get in the way of winter fun, like wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. Susan was being affected by it and she kept wiping her nose. She felt like she was getting sick and she was suffocating.

But she went through it for her brother.

"You're getting sick, aren't you?" Frank asked her and she didn't answer. Her breaths werre already lessening but she didn't tell him that. Susan then found a building that had a candle light burning in the window, letting guest know it was still opened. Feeling a new surge of happiness, she cracked a small smile.

Her chest was starting to hurt and her breathing got shorter, plus she was getting fatigue. Fatigue is also known as tiredness, reduced energy, physical or mental exhaustion, or lack of motivation. Susan feared fatigue, especially around her brother, "Come, Frank." She breathed out and sniffed. She knocked on the door and looked at the sign above it: The Junk Shop.

The Junk Shop was a junk shop located in South Side, Diagon Alley, next to Second-Hand Robes and sells secondhand items such as broken wands, lopsided scales, etc. This was the first shop she saw that was opened and she was not going to let it slide by. Hopefully they weren't cruel and the owner lets them in.

Finally after knocking for some time, an employee of the shop opened the door for them. Archibald Bennett was a wigmaker who ran a shop in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. He was also the first grown up to let Susan and Frank warm up inside a shop. "You'll be sick in the morning, I reckon. The pair of you," Archibald told Susan, wrapping the blanket tightly around them both. Susan held the hot chocolate in her hand, not trusting it to be drinkable.

Frank sat next to her, stealing quick glances at the older man, "I'm confused. Why did he help us, Anne? Uncle Alfie said we didn't deserve to be helped," He whispered and Susan shushed him, adjusting the blanket around him. She didn't want her brother speaking about what was happening to them.

If her aunt and uncle found out they would kill them. Seriously, they told them that and Susan knew they meant it.

"Just drink your chocolate," She whispered back and he slowly nodded, doing as Susan said.

Susan did have to admit someone helping them purely shocked her. For hours nobody seemed to care about two little children freezing on the sidewalk. After getting kicked out their mansion a couple of times, Susan realized how cruel and evil the world really was at such a young age. She was only nine years old and been through more stuff than a thirty-six year old Wizard. Her list of the stuff she's been put through could go on for eternity as she knew more would be added to it over time.

But she didn't want to think about that, no matter how many times her mind tried forcing her to. She knew this wouldn't last long and they'd soon have to go back to their aunt and uncle... bloody hell! All Susan wanted was joy. This comforting moment, this nice man... all her mind did was give her misery.

This was the first time they've felt love since that night. That night. Susan might just regret that night for the rest of her days. She did nothing wrong that night and there was nothing she could have done about her parents dying, but she felt like she wasn't prepared or that she could have found some place, any place, for her and her brother to stay.

But no.

They roamed around the woods for days, being the small toddlers they were, and waited for their father or mum to come back. Finally, the people who worked for The Ministry tracked them after searching for the children of Amelia and Auror Longbottom.

They went to Augusta and left them there with her. Augusta was Frank's mum - she wanted nothing to do with them. Augusta took them immediately to their aunt and uncle house after some days. Merlin, Susan hated that woman for bringing them to those people. If Susan ever sees her again...

"How old are you, little girl?" After sending an informing letter to his boss about the unexpected situation, he came back to the siblings, squatting down in front of them. Susan's eyes fell to the ground; her breathing picking up its pace. Her birthday, December 12th, was two weeks ago... instead of gifts and presents, she got beatings and bruises.

They hated her birthday - the day the first ever half-blood in the Longbottom family was born. In their words, Susan 'damaged the family's name'. She blinked away the tears at the thought of her ruining the Longbottom family's generational respective title. That's part of the reason why they locked her away. She would get them laughed at.

"I'm nine, sir," Susan answered and he then turned to Frank for his age, "I'm eight...." Frank muttered. Archibald handed Susan some more tissues, "What were you kids doing by yourselves? Where are your parents?" He asked them. The air in Susan was knocked out of her.

Their parents.....

"Where are your parents?" kept playing in her head. 'They're dead. But they'll always be in my heart.' Susan thought wanted to say. But Susan couldn't force herself to say anything as her mum's smile flashed into her mind and her father picking her up came after it. What mainly flashed through her head was that night. That night. The worse night for a five year old. That night was painful to experience, painful to think of, painful to feel, and it caused Susan's heart to become so painful.

"Remember that mum will forever love you. Even when she's not there." ~Amelia Longbottom while frantically packing their backpacks in 1965. The last words Susan remembered of her.

Her eyes glimmered with watery tears and she felt as if whole world was about to crumble thinking about how their father rushed them to hurry up and how he was trying to rush back to his wife. They were so clueless and so scared. Never had they ever experienced that before. Their parents were always with them and they knew their father had a Wizarding job, they just didn't know what it was. The conversations and the screaming. It was all happening too fast and the sound of shouting surrounding them was frightening. They didn't know what was going to happen to Amelia and they didn't know why Auror was rushing to get back to her.

They didn't know their parents were going to die; they were toddlers.

And just thinking about how fast that night went by made Susan feel the lump in her throat again. She still remembered it like it was yesterday:

"Come Susan and Frank! Come!" ~Auror Longbottom, rushing his kids through the woods.

"Dad, where are we going?! Why did we leave mum?!" ~Susanne Longbottom, trying to fight so she can go back to her mum.

"Mum and I are in a rough patch right now, Susie! I can't explain it right now but just come on!" ~Auror Longbottom, knowing he has finally lost.

~•~•~•~•~•~

Frank nudged for Susan to speak, which brought her back to the reality that her heart ached for her parents comfort but her mind kept telling her that they were long gone.

Archibald continued to look at her, waiting for an answer from the younger girl, "Um, our parents....." She stuttered to find an excuse on where they were. She couldn't tell him about their aunt and uncle. She knew for a fact that her aunt would believe she was too weak to survive and hit her once they made it back to their mansion.

But she couldn't tell him about their deceased parents. It'll make her emotional. She didn't like talking about them at all when Frank was around. Her little brother didn't have a memory of them but he still believed they were out there somewhere. She sometimes wondered if Frank hoped they would appear in front of them one day. Or maybe he had one string left of their memory and that's what's keeping him going? Susan honestly had no hopes or dreams in her after all they've put her through. She let her brother continue to hold on to that one string. It was only going to be a matter of time before it start tearing and it just completely rips in half. That's what happened to her.

She been fell down the long hole of despair and hit the ground of misery.

"Excuse me for asking... did something happen to them?" He asked her. When it was met with silence and Susan looking down, he nodded his head already knowing. Frank gripped Susan's hand and she let her brother's head rest on her shoulder.

Archibald stared at the position of the two siblings, thinking of it as a picture. A picture of two depressed siblings trying to at least make it. He knew that picture too well, "Well, you two can stay here. My boss doesn't like kids and business always comes first with him.... stay warmed up and I'll be back," He said and got a nod from Susan in return. He walked off and the two siblings were left alone. Susan really did expect this.

She learned the hard way that nobody cares about them. Of course he would let them stay only to kick them out in the cold again, leaving her to once again try and defend / protect her little brother. This was all Susan found herself doing: protecting Frank.

Frank drunk the rest of her hot chocolate. "Nobody loves us," Frank said after an hour of them being silent. Susan zipped his coat up and did a sad nod. As their aunt once screamed at her after she tried yanking the belt out of Evelyn's hand to stop her from hitting Frank:

"NOBODY WANTS EITHER ONE OF YOU AND NOBODY NEEDS EITHER ONE OF YOU!!! WE'RE THE ONLY ONE'S THAT'LL TAKE YOU IN AND EVEN WE DON'T LOVE EITHER OF YOU!!!" ~Aunt Evelyn, 1968

"But don't you ever worry about it, Frank. We love each other, we have each other, we need each other," She told him and Frank nodded in an understanding way.

Susan was the only one protecting him every night and she did everything in her might to keep their uncle from choking him, which caused her to get choked, back in November after their party and.... after Evelyn found that boy in Susan's room. She was getting it bad and Frank ran out to keep them from beating on his sister and Alfie was about to choke him for jumping in 'business that wasn't his'. Susan was not going to let him or her put their hands on her little brother so she stopped him. He threw her on the ground and wrapped his hands tightly around her neck while Lanky watched with tears filling her eyes. Her ex-owners used to do the same thing with their oldest son and everytime she tried stopping them, she would get it also so she learned to just let happen.

She tried helping him once and got beat, so she wasn't going to try and help her and get beat. She learned her lesson and her place.

Archibald had left to go home ten minutes earlier and told them they had to be out soon. But it didn't matter, getting kicked out was something they were used to, "Come on, lets go. We have to find some place warm to sleep in," Susan told him, holding out her hand for him to take it.

Frank wrapped the blanket around her. "My sister deserves to be warm, too," He said and Susan smiled. He had such a kind heart that could easily get hurt. And if anyone dared to hurt him Susan would murder them. Don't touch her little brother. That's something you don't do, "Thanks, Frank. Now come on," She told him sweetly as he gripped her hand. Frank blew out the lantern, remembering what the older man said to do. Susan took a deep breath before she stepped out into the freezing cold with her brother once more.

But hey, they're just kids, right? Kids don't go through things, right? All they have to do is go to school, right?

Ha. Pathetic....

|Thank You For Reading|