|Don't give me that look – 'cause, you see, you're the last person I need to pity me|
|It's so nostalgic, maybe all the love is worth the pain|

"My uncle Frank was the most important person to my mum. She protected him like her life depended on it and thinking about how she must have felt when he was tortured kills me. And seeing how teary he got when I told him that she died still kills me. Not even insanity could keep him from loving his sister. And not even death can keep her from loving her brother......" ~Antares "Taylor" Sirius Black

Year: 1969, London, Britain
Setting: St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

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this is Susan. not as a child , but this is how early hogwarts years her looked. i added this while rewriting because in later chapters readers kept asking for pictures of her.

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Alfie read the newspaper again in disbelief. Evelyn stood next to him with a hand on his shoulder. She was in denial as well.

Frank nor Susan had knew what was going on. Pulling the string of her hair, Susan's mind reminded her of the warning not to ask. "Iris and Cindy Gray... gone missing, Evelyn... Their poor daughter. She must be terrified," Alfie sighed as Evelyn finished off the rest of her Fire Whiskey before pouring another glass.

'Iris and Cindy Gray? Are they famous? Is he actually showing empathy? Didn't know he knew that existed.' Susan thought to herself as felt Frank grabbed her hand.

Where are they? You might be asking.

Well, they're in what seemed to be a crowded reception area where rows of witches and wizards sat upon rickety wooden chairs, some looking perfectly normal and perusing newly-date copies of Witch Weekly, others sporting gruesome disfigurements such as elephant trunks or extra hands sticking out of their chests.

The room was scarcely less quiet than the street outside, for many of the patients were making very peculiar noises.

Witches and wizards in lime-green robes were walking up and down the rows, asking questions and making notes on clipboards.

Frank noticed the emblem embroidered on their chests: a wand and bone. After Alfie found out that Susan yelled at Evelyn, hell broke loose.

It resulted into screaming and pleading bouncing off the walls, Evelyn trying to get Frank off Alfie's back and trying to stop Frank from beating on Alfie's head, Lanky watching from a distance with teary eyes and it ended with Susan passing out.

Typical day in their 'perfect' family household. Alfie managed to come up with another lie towards the doctor, saying snuck out to practice her Quidditch skills.

Frank glared at them, neither noticing since they were looking at the Witch Weekly, "Well, that's the way of life over there in France. People are always missing, creating more demands for orphanages. I say Iris and Cindy might have had it coming. That's what Martina told me. You know she knows that life better than anybody," Evelyn gossiped to her husband as Susan stopped herself from scoffing, a habit of Evelyn's Susan picked up on.

The nurse came back with a potion for Susan, her sweet smile still imprinted on her face.

'I wish I could smile like that.' Susan thought and Evelyn turned her focus away from the Witch Weekly to the nurse, "All she will need to do is drink this, rest here for three more hours so it can sink in and she'll be good to go. Just make sure she doesn't sneak out of the house to play Quidditch again. You have to be careful, dear. You'll get your chance in Hogwarts," The nurse assured but Susan didn't reply.

'If only you knew.' Susan thought.

Evelyn checked over the potion: Brackium Emendo/Ossio Dispersimus - heals brachial bones. Frank helped Susan sit up, fixing her hair, "Give me the bottle," He told Evelyn, making her scoff at his tone. She didn't understand why Frank hated them.

They've, at least, been sparing him since he's a Pure-blood.

"You can watch your tone," Evelyn told him. Frank grumbled at her response. 'And you can stop abusing his older sister.' Susan thought but nevertheless stayed quiet.

Frank folded his arms and Alfie gave him a look of warning. Evelyn threw the bottle at him and Frank luckily caught it. She hit Alfie's shoulder and they went back to reading the Witch Weekly whereas Susan gave Frank a small grin.

Usually she'll tell him to watch his attitude towards them, not wanting him to get hurt, but she's proud of him. She felt proud of her brother. He probably didn't do much, but still. "I hate her, Anne. I hate him, Anne," Frank whispered to her and helped her drink the revolting potion. It was a swirl of cold mush sliding down the pipelines of your throat.

Susan said nothing in response, painfully laying her head on his shoulder for comfort as he sat down upward next to her, "I'm scared for you, Anne. All I can think about is my sister getting buried in the same spot as our parents. I can't live without you. I would kill myself without you. You're my uphold and my older sister. I love you, Anne. I love you. Why can't they just leave you alone? Why can't they stop hurting you? Everyday I wake up in fear that you're dead. That's something that would... that would lead me into insanity," He ranted on quietly so their aunt and uncle wouldn't hear him.

He's been stressing over her for the past month of October. Susan's starting to hate it more than before. She didn't want her little brother stressing. The two never argued - Susan loved him too much and he loved her too much to have her upset with him. They saw the world differently. Susan saw the harsh side; Frank saw the confusing side.

Susan wanted him to see the beautiful side of the world, even when she didn't believe there was beauty to the world. All she knew about the world was that it had cruelty and vile people in it.

As you can tell, the two siblings both thought alike but at the same time they didn't. Susan wanted to protect her brother; Frank wanted to protect his older sister. Susan tried protecting the innocence her brother had; Frank wanted to protect the beliefs she still had of him being happy. And he didn't want his sister worrying about him. She didn't want her brother worrying about her.

It was a silent battle between the two and neither used weapons but their words. They only had each other so they only wanted to protect eachother.

Once again, Susan didn't reply and felt Frank wrap an arm around her, "Remember when we first moved in with them and you used to read me those bedtime stories? I would snicker because you was still learning how to read but I found it cute that you tried anyways. I used to love it whenever I came back home from a playdate and you'd play with me. I used to also like it when you told jokes and made us both laugh. Remember when you said you'd never give up on life for me? I remember that every night. I know you didn't keep that promise but that's fine. I forgive you," Frank said, making Susan feel worse than she already did. But Susan wasn't stupid.

She knew Frank was only trying to remember those days so he could block out the situation they were in this very moment. Her brother used the past to help cope with the present.

Susan was starting to notice that, "I remember you fixing my dress attire for one of the parties so I could look like a professional businessman. I also remember you not eating for days just so you could steal me food to eat whenever we were kicked out the house. I remember you stealing me coats during December and refusing to share just so I could have all the warmth. I love you, Anne. You're the best," Frank continued, not waiting for Susan's response. 'I'm the best, Frank? Am I really? I did that as my duty as your older sister and because I love you. I'm sure mum would have did the same.' Susan thought but she didn't say it outloud. Instead she only let out a sad chuckle. She wasn't his mum and yet she was forced to act like she was.

Augusta was probably living life to the fullest knowing she didn't have to deal with them. How crappy was that?

She sighed after it, "Remember that time when Lanky dropped the pans on the kitchen floor and you got ahold of them and started making a beat with them? We spent the rest of time making music with kitchen utensils instead of actually cleaning," Susan finally replied and a smile formed its way on to Frank's lips. He nodded, remembering like it was yesterday. It was of his favorite memories.

"Remember when I had that nightmare and you snuck to the kitchen to fix me ice cream? We had to wake up Lanky to keep watch and even though my anxiety was through the roof, I enjoyed our little talk over the ice cream," Frank said and Susan chuckled, which started turning into quiet laughter.

Evelyn and Alfie were too interested in the Witch Weekly to notice the young witch actually being happy for once. Susan talking about memories with her brother made her happy. And she didn't want to think about the fact she probably won't live long enough to continue making more.

"Or how about when you used to always let me be your little helper when you 'taught the class'? I loved feeling useful. It was the easy way of learning things from you," Frank continued as Susan nodded. She didn't know why she taught him stuff that way. Maybe it was because they laughed while doing so? Whatever was the reason, it obviously helped him.

Frank rested his head on top of hers. They emotionally connected with one another by talking about their memories together. It helped Frank cope with their messy life and it helped Susan feel better, "Or how about when you used to kiss me goodnight every time I had to go to bed? Whenever you wasn't able to see me go to bed because of them, you would always send Lanky in to tell me: "And Anne loves you and wishes you sweet dreams. She wishes you a good night and she'll see you tomorrow." I loved that. It sent me to bed with a smile," As the memory left Frank's lips, he noticed how quiet his sister got. Her eyes were droopy, her head nodding back and forth as if she was fighting off sleep.

She yawned a little. Frank heard her and adjusted his sitting. He gently placed her head on his shoulder, propping her neck correctly on the hospital's bed pillow, "And whenever you had to sleep on the floor, I would sneak in and sleep beside you. Goodnight, Anne. Love you." Frank whispered softly but Susan was already dozing off.

'Goodnight, brother. Love you.' She thought before she fell into a deep sleep.

~•~•~•~•~•~

"Up! Up!" Evelyn voice woke her up and she felt a hand hit her arm two times. Susan jumped up immediately and her eyes landed on Frank before she looked back at those people. Evelyn stole a glance at her husband, eyeing him to come help. Alfie folded up the Witch Weekly and crossed his arms. Evelyn rolled her eyes at his silent protesting. She had to do everything herself. "Up, you worthless piece of-" She started to call Susan her usual nickname but the nurse came and Evelyn closed her mouth.

Frank scoffed and grabbed his sister's hand, "It's been three hours, dear. You're free to go.You seemed uneasy in your sleep, however - was tossing and turning.. and twitching. I suggest you come back soon so we can check that out. Other than that, have a wonderful day," The nurse chirped all preppy and walked off.

'How come I can't be that happy? Why is everyone happy except for me? Why can't I have happiness?' Susan thought but already knew the answer: she didn't deserve happiness.

Frank helped her out the bed and she laid her head down on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. Evelyn whispered something to Alfie before thumping Susan after he nodded for her to do so, "By the way, don't get so used to nice me. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was when everyone saw you twitching? We cannot take an disgusting half-blood like you anywhere. You've embarrassed us for the last time and I'm tired of it. Just wait until we get home. And Frank, I dare you to try and stop it," Hearing the threat, Susan started telling herself not to cry.

Frank gave Evelyn an 'I dare you' look. Susan said nothing but sniffed quietly so Frank wouldn't know she was crying.

'I don't deserve happiness. I just don't deserve it.' She thought and felt the lump in her throat grow.

|Thank You For Reading|

the droopy head thing only made it into the story because my boyfriend does that sometimes, lmao.

|Love You All|