WRHaF 10

Without Red Hair and Freckles, Chapter 10, Dursley Dash.

I didn’t go out of my room for another four days, mostly crying myself to sleep or reading “Saving Sarah Jane” over and over again till I sobbed some more. I was a complete mess, for the simple fact that I had not done anything about Alex. Al and James made their nightly visits to tell me what was going on with people and to “smuggle” in some food for me, even if mum had offered to make me something. James told me that dad spent most of his time writing secret letters to someone, or muttering to himself around the house.
On that Thursday, an owl came up to my window and pecked its beak against the glass. Twiddle, my owl, was let into the room, and spread her little wings out as far as she could, and making a splat on my bed. “If only you could bring heavier things,” I joked, taking the letter from her foot. Then I opened up the envelope, taking out the letter hastily, then my eyes began to stare at the parchment.
Dear Lily,
I know that you were angry at your dad, but I think you may have been a little too harsh on him. Yes, I know how he acts around you, but he is after all, your dad, maybe if you gave him another chance he could redeem himself. He is just new with the teenage daughter thing, he didn’t have to worry about Al and James getting in that trouble. Matthew Perks, it sounds familiar, but I can’t place my finger on it. If he’s a Ravenclaw I don’t think that your dad has anything to worry about, besides, you’re a good kid Lily. Your dad is just worried about you getting too serious with guys and as you’re his only daughter, he feels the need to protect you; also the fact that you are the youngest also means that he will want to protect you even more. Please think about what I said.

Teddy Lupin

P.S. Get out of your room, it’s been four days now.

I threw the letter hastily on the floor, and going to go get an owl treat for Twiddle. “What does he know about what happened,” I mumbled, opening up the jar, and throwing a little square to Twiddle, who hooted happily, “He doesn’t know anything about how dad acts around me.”
I plopped myself back onto my bed, and picked my book back up. Matthew Perks would probably be in America by now… This was a thought that was not meant to be dwelled upon, but it happened regularly. I tried to make sense of the night we had spent together, but the more I thought about it, the more I contradicted myself and I would just get frustrated and stop.
The thing that bugged me most about Matt was, he was right about Alex. I didn’t want to believe that this problem had been big, but it was increasingly difficult as the time passed by. When this thought got interrupted, by a knocking on my door. I didn’t answer it, but then the door just came open. Standing there was, Al, he closed the door behind him and told me, out of breath, “They’re here.”
The only thing that would make Al this scared, was the Dursleys. Our Aunt and Uncle came over once and a great while, but I didn’t want them to be here, especially not today. I hated my cousins on their side of the family, there was, Aunt Maggie, who smelled like prunes, cousin Tootie, who had once stuck my head under water for almost a minute, this was when I could just start to hold my breath for a short time, cousin Coco who always comments on my weight, hair, or how ugly I look. Then lastly, but certainly the most horrible, was Maple. She was just about five months older than me, and she thought that it meant she got to boss me around everywhere. Growing up, every time I would see her, she’d call me names and then she’d pull my hair, knowing that I wouldn’t fight back. Countless other things happened over the years, but that didn’t matter right now.
“What?” I asked.
“They are here,” Al repeated, “The Dursleys, I mean.”
“I can’t stand them right now,” I told him honestly, “can we just kick them out?”
“Mum already had them go into the kitchen.” Al said, having me change, get decent, and we both left down the stairs together. James was already sitting at the counter, with one arm propping up his head from falling. Mum had put on an apron, she was washing her hands, and dad was shaking Uncle Dudley’s hand. Aunt Maggie was talking to her oldest daughter, Tootie, who was tall like her mother; James was three years younger than Tootie. Coco sat next to James at the counter, gnawing on a carrot, while Maple stood in the corner. When they finally noticed our presence, Aunt Maggie and Tootie came to us first and gave us hugs.
“Lillian! It’s been too long!” Aunt Maggie told me, holding me out to look at me, her firm grip hurt my bruised shoulders. “How have you been?”
I could hear Al mutter “…Not long enough…”
“I’ve been better,” I told her honestly, “but I’ve got everything sorted out.”
I didn’t look at my dad, but I could see him through the corner of my eye that he was exchanging glances with mum. “That’s good.” Maggie told me, patting my shoulder, I winced when she did this and I thought no one noticed.
“Lillian,” she called me that, just to be annoying, I swear, “You look like you lost weight, has your mother not been feeding you?”
I heard a sharp blade hit the cutting board, hard, as mum clenched her teeth and continued to cut up different foods in all different shapes.
“She’s got a point there,” James said, piping up for the first time, looking at me strangely, “but Hogwarts has good food, you look like you lost a lot of weight…”
My temperature was clearly rising, I couldn’t tell them that my secret boyfriend, who hit me when I didn’t do what he wanted, was watching my weight carefully and putting me up on a scale in the room of requirement every week, to make sure I didn’t gain any weight.
“Yeah, I mean you were really fat before, now you’re just fat” Coco said snootily, taking a large bite out of her carrot.
Turning around and running away was the best plan I had. It was the only one involving getting the hell out of there, and away from them. I slammed my door behind me, and plopped myself onto my bed. When I did this, I accidentally hit my head on my head board, making my head hurt more than it ever needed to. This pain reminded me of something…
“Go and get the scale,” Alex ordered, I obeyed and got it out for him. I stepped onto the scale without asking and he looked at the number. “101” he murmured, trying to hide his anger. “101,” he repeated this number several times before throwing his anger all into his hands which grabbed me by the hair and pulled me off of the scale. “You gained a pound.” His face was full of rage, “You like being fat, do you?!”
My bottom lip quivered, “Well, DO YOU?!”
“N-No” I murmured, staring at my shoes.
The force of his hand made me fall to the floor, “I’m sorry,” I cried, “I’m sorry!”
“You should be,” he yelled, my eyes staring straight at his shoes, “You didn’t stick to your diet! I told you exactly what to do! You were just too-” his foot came up to my head and kicked it with so much force that my head started to throb, “-stupid to get it right!”
I cried on the floor and curled up in a ball, covering my head that hurt so much, “Stop, I’ll lose it again, please, just don’t hurt me” I sobbed.
No foot came to my head again, but he said sneeringly, “You better by next week, you will skip three dinners just to get down again, you hear me?”
“I hear you” I murmured.
I looked at my stomach, which looked flat besides one little part under my belly button, I still didn’t get boobs, and I was close to getting a question wrong in potions. I felt a pang in my stomach that had nothing to do with eating, Matthew Perks had commented on my weight once in first year, he told me that I looked great. After that he was red all day when I came into a room but if I was good enough for Matt then, what was the difference now?
Mary Flint was a rail and nothing else, so did I have to go that far to even compete with her? If I did… then, I don’t think I want to be in that competition.