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"Dad, where are we going?!" A 5-year-old Susanne screamed for the tenth time out of fear.

Adrenaline flooded through her system. It pumped and beat like it was trying to escape.

It was going so fast Susanne thought her heart was going to explode and her eyes were widen with tremor. She gripped her brother's, Frank, hand and kept him close to her, whereas their father was holding her hand and ducking / dodging while running in the woods they were in.

Susanne didn't know where they were going --- her brain wasn't functioning right from all that was happening but she had one goal in mind: stay close to her dad.

Frank was silent the entire time of their "run;" he, himself, didn't know what was happening and he was just as confused as Susanne was.

Where was they going? And why were they in the woods?

Susanne's mum, whom was married to their dad, had given them over to him after saying 'I love you' and she told them goodbye.

Susanne had to ask herself why did her mum feel the need to say goodbye. But then again them running through the woods was the only answer she needed.

Their dad kept rushing them through the trees trying to hurry up and get back to his wife before something happened to her, "To safety, Susanne!" He screamed the answer for the final time and Susanne felt the rapid beating of her heart.

She was scared and teary at the same time. She couldn't breathe, it felt as if someone was choking her. Trees and trees and more trees. That's all she saw. Some rustled and she even noticed a few creatures running away from them.

Susanne didn't like this one bit. She wanted to shut her eyes tightly and wake back up in her bed. 'Why do we need to go to safety?' she thought and she let go of their dad's hand before fully hugging Frank, who was now shaking uncontrollably.

Their dad re-grabbed them as they finally ran to a certain deep part of the woods they've never seen before. You could still see the town part they were in through the thick bushes and trees if you looked hard enough and got a good view. Frank held onto Susanne like his life depended on it and felt the tears coming up. He wanted to be home with Amelia.

Their father bent down in front of them and you could see the salty water threatening to fall, "I love you two so much. You two will always mean the world to me. Frank, never listen to anything your mum says about me not loving you. Different mums or not, I love you two to death. I am sorry Susanne that I will never walk you down the aisle and I am sorry Frank I will never help you with your first job application. Just know that Amelia and I have done everything we could for the both of you and I would have never took the job as an Auror if I knew it would lead to this. You two probably won't remember this day, and a part of me is praying that you don't....."

that's when the tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down his face that was covered in disappointment,

"... but I don't want to let you two go..." he explained, with a bit of pleading behind it, and both siblings looked at their father in confusion.

What did he mean by letting them go? He was coming back for them right? Right?

Susanne knew he wouldn't leave them in the woods. This man was her dad. Her child memory let her remember so much yet so little of their time together. Surely he wouldn't have thrown that away? No! He was coming back. He had no choice. They were his kids. You are suppose to protect your kids.

You're supposed to.

He touched both of their faces, he barely saw them behind the blurriness of his now teary vision, "She told me not to do it, but I didn't listen. I should have stopped. I should have put you two first. My two babies; my two smiles. So young. So, so young. And I.... I didn't think about that. I'm sorry. I am so sorry," he apologized and Frank took a step back.

He was too scared to force words to come out. Fear found him and it wasn't going anywhere. It spoke to him in its cackling voice. It told his legs to go weak, his stomach to lurch and his heart to ache. He wasn't processing all that was happening --- he barely understood the situation that was going on.

But yet seeing Susanne with this look of panic on her face and their dad in tears, not to mention Amelia saying goodbye to them... it just made him scared. Their dad's eyes were so different in this very moment, more soft than Susanne knew eyes could be. He looked disappointed in himself and he looked as if he wanted to hold them tightly and never let them go. Susanne wouldn't have minded if he did. She needed some sort of comfort in this moment. Them being out here in the woods made her feel so... alone.

They both stared at him with fear and confusion. The confusion got to him badly.

He didn't want to put his kids through this.

He grunted out of frustration, making Susanne back up just a little and made Frank grab her wrist.

"Look, you're too young to understand what's going on at the moment.... but forever remember this: you were both so loved by your parents. We loved you more than life itself. Frank, always protect your sister. Always. If there is anything you remember from this day, you remember this very moment!" he continued on.

Before he finished he looked over his shoulder when the sound of Amelia screaming bloody murder was heard throughout their land. Susanne eyes filled with the salt water and Frank was already silently crying.

Frank wet hot tears slid down both sides of his face, his throat closed tightly, "Dad, I want mum! Where is mum?! I want my mum! I need my mum!" Frank screamed, each word pitched higher than the last in an effort to squeak out the words that were bottled up inside him.

His face went from disappointed to panic and he kissed the top of their heads, "I have to go. Take care of each other! Frank always protect your sister! Always! And never let anybody come in between you! You fight the enemies; not each other!" He yelled as he dashed away, going through every bush and jumping over every broken tree branch.

Frank got out of Susanne's hold and started to run after their dad despite her trying to stop him. He had to be running to their mum and she sounded like she was in danger; Susanne didn't want Frank around that danger, "I WANT YOU TO STAY!" He screamed after him but Susanne grabbed him and hugged him with the tiny strength she had.

The last time Susanne Longbottom saw her mum and Frank saw his step-mum was earlier that night when she had them pack a backpack and told them she loved them. The last time they saw their dad was that night in the woods and when Susanne remembered him telling Frank to protect his half-sister.

That was the last time they saw their parents and the last time they would ever feel so much love. So, so, so much love....

~•~•~•~•~•~

"Anne, where are we going?" Frank asked his sister while they walked behind his mum in an unfamiliar Wizarding part. His brain had shut down. He was clammy and there was the glisten of a cold sweat. Not even the beauty of the neighborhood calmed him down. There stood lines of houses all freshly painted with bright green grass and housing spaces the size of a bedroom. Susanne even noticed one of the middle houses being painted blue by a brush that was doing it on its own.

It was so bright and beautiful over here and Susanne couldn't help but hate it. Susanne only shrugged depressingly at her little brothers question and remembered the funeral that was held for their parents like it happened yesterday. Susanne's mum wasn't a witch like Frank's mum ---- the two siblings had different mothers. Her mum was an Muggle.

"I don't know, Frank," Susanne answered sadly and felt him grip her hand for comfort. Frank's mum, Augusta, pushed both of them to hurry up and walk faster. Frank gripped his backpack with his free hand, "Anne... our parents aren't coming back, are they? I know it's been days... I think weeks... but they have to come back soon, right? Anne, do you think father's words in the woods that day was some form of goodbye?" He asked her in a saddened way, feeling the clogged cloud in his throat towards the end, but Susanne didn't answer him. She only wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

The young witch and wizard did attend their parents funeral and Frank was the only one who didn't understand why people were crying and why they were lowering them into the ground. Susanne didn't want to cry in front of her brother as her mum once told her to never let him see her cry. She instead let him rest on her shoulder and kept sending glances to his mum who looked like she was sort of happy about their death, or maybe it was all in Susanne's head. Augusta wouldn't have been happy about her partner and his wife dying.

What cruel person would be like that?

Augusta knocked on a wooden door in front of an fancy Wizarding house. After Augusta knocked on the door, she pulled Frank farther up by the collar of his backpack and Susanne held on to her brother more before snatching him back away from her.

Susanne has always been like this over Frank when it came to Augusta. There was something about this woman that Susanne just didn't like.

But Frank didn't mind what was going on around him --- he didn't even notice what was going on. He was too busy looking at the extraordinary house before them. The house was indeed very expensive, with wooden panels along the corridors, ornate chandeliers, and oil paintings of old bearded men in tunics and ruffs. The stairs led down into a tall galleried room with a rug spread out over flagstones and a fireplace big enough to park a Muggle car in. A long polished wooden table had been set for two.

Susanne saw all of this through the window with her own eyes. They would be living here? Or at least staying here? Why did Augusta bring them here? What did she have planned? This was her second time having to pack something and being stranded. "I miss mum and dad. Why didn't they come back for us? Anne, I don't want to stay here! I want my mum and dad back!" Frank cried again and Susanne didn't answer nor she did she show any signs of responding. She didn't know how to answer.

It was at their funeral when she realized her mum and dad were brutally murdered. It was at their funeral when she realized her mum and dad would stay 6ft under the ground forever. It was at their funeral when she realized she would have to take care of Frank. It was at their funeral when she realized that their lives would never be the same.

And it was at this moment that the last sentence would become true.....

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