Are we out of the woods yet? Are we out of the woods?

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CW/TW: racism, abuse against children, voldemort, murder of sibling.

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the shock of the revelation still hung around the stale air, but the magic didn't allow it to hang around any longer, as the movie started to play again.

"you filthy bitch! come back here right now!" a young boy screamed. black hair. sharp features. silver eyes mixed with flecks of brown making them look like muddy lakes.

"asshole! wait for your turn" a girl said. she had caramel hair with silver eyes clear and calm as lakes. pale, ghostly skin. melanie fawley, or rather, riddle.

the adults in the room were shocked by the vocabulary used by the six year old child, and her brother, who looked like he was sixteen. melanie still didn't come back to the hall, and anitha looked down, drowning in her guilt. regulus looked at the screen sharply, like an eagle, and so did the other family members, disowned or not.

she ran towards the busy street, finding the cracks in the crowd and squeezing through them. finally, she reached a market, where she got all her essentials. walking back home, she hummed a tune, which she could faintly remember her mother singing for her.

"you will do many great things, melanie" she whispered from afar. "great things. you are a gift from the gods."

"whatever gods those are, they clearly don't know how to bless people with a happy life" she mumbled under her breath, as she went to the kitchen of her house and started arranging the stuff she bought.

"mistress" her house elf appeared, startling her. "master riddle has called you"

"pablo" she replied, her eyes widening, "father has told you a million times not to call him that! you could be in trouble!"

"wow" sirius mumbled. "she actually cares about him?"

entering the dreaded room, melanie positioned herself so that she faced her father's back. turning to face her, tom riddle sneered, his face deathly pale, his hands like skeletons, his eyes blood red.

"melanie" he called, approaching her steadily, his voice like a snake ready to bite. "how many times have i told you" he said, grabbing the girl's neck, "not to go out without my PERMISSION" he howled like a wolf. a creature incapable of love. a sanguine monster. he threw her to the wall, whose hands didn't catch her, but let her fall to the floor. blood bloomed on her knee.

the audience either closed their eyes or turned away.

at a distance, behind her father, she sighted her brother, who had a finger on his lips.

"CRUCIO!" her father cried. melanie screamed. she felt her bones twist, pushing each other to tear through her flesh. joints, creaking like wooden flooring. her ribs, dancing to protect her heart. her blood, rushing to her brain. her nerves, mingling and twisting with each other till they formed bundles. her eyes widening with pain. her throat, pushing her cracking voice out. her lungs, clenching to let air in. she felt thousands of needles pierce her skin. she felt blood flowing out of her like distributaries of a river.

"that. is. horrifying" aphrodite muttered, her hair crazed.

"and definitely not good for health. she might die!" apollo alerted. the whole room held its breath.

"but she didn't die, clearly." athena started, rolling her eyes. "she is here with us. there's no need to panic"

"shut it, athena!" apollo sneered, glaring at his half-sister. "you don't know how it feels" he said, his eyes glowing dangerously.

"Well, it's not her fault that she didn't go romancing people with a tragic future" zeus stated, his eyes bright with glee. hera glared at zeus, her fists clenched till they were white. artemis pressed her lips and folded her arms, looking down at her lap.

"and how exactly is that related to his romances?" artemis snapped, pulling her twin close to her in a protective way. "look at yourself before pointing at others!" before anything went out of hand, the screen resumed to play the movie. but artemis and hera still had their killer glare on zeus, and apollo had tears in his eyes.

suddenly riddle stopped, his red eyes glowing like hot lava, his wand hand twitching. his throat mad an uncomfortable gurgling sound, like water being drained out by a sink. blood leaked from his neck like a dripping pipe, as he struggled against his son's grip.

"run!" he scremed. "melanie! RUN!" she ran like light. she ran like a leopard. she ran like never before. away from her father, away from her brother. but she could still hear the splatter of blood on the walls as her father stabbed her brother in the chest. only one would survive. if she had still been under the embrace of the cold, hard floor, she would have been forced to clean the mess. but now she ran as fast as she could, down the hill and to the town. in a day, someone from an orphanage for special kids would find her near the bins, crying into her palms.

regulus looked down, flinching. sirius stared at the screen, his eyes filled with salty water. he had done the same thing, but he landed in heaven, and his brother was still in hell, but he was not dead. he still didn't get to see his blood. a relief, but his heart still ached.

autumn leaves fell down like puzzle peices on the immaculate road, painting it with hues of golden, red and brown. melanie liked observing these little things, standing in the dark corner as she did it. she preferred this over getting bullying.

percy and hazel looked at little melanie with empathy, having experienced bullying when her age.

wails bounced off wall and reached melanie's ears, though she could not make out what the girl screaming said. it sounded like another language.

"shut up, you filthy scum!" the matron of orphanage screamed back, her hands like claws on the child. the girl had brown skin, soft dark brown eyes and black hair like the night sky.

"stupid curry-fingers, coming to our nation and spraying dirt everywhere!" the owner shrieked, his hands on his bald head.

anitha closed her eyes, as if wishing to be anywhere but here. all the asians in the hall looked at her with sympathy, with frank pursing his lips, wondering why this only happened to people who did nothing wrong ever in their life.

finally, the girl calmed down. she was sent to sleep in melanie's room, which she didn't share with anyone else.

"let that filth sleep with the disturbed child. heck, even that child doesn't deserve to live with that brown disappointment." melanie looked over at the girl, who clutched a book tightly against her chest.

"hi, i'm melanie, what's your name?" she asked her kindly. the voice sounded a bit forced and rough, because melanie hadn't used it since she had come here, only shaking her head and saying 'yes'. the girl stared at her, eyes wide open. her mouth quivered and she burst into tears, the salty drops falling on the thick leather book.

"amma" she whimpered, clutching the book for dear life. "amma" melanie didn't understand what she said, but she could feel it.

"don't worry. i'll be your friend" she said, giving her hand for a handshake. she took out a paper and pencil, and started to draw. she pointed at the drawing, and the girl understood what she was trying to say.

"anitha" she whispered, as if her name was a curse.

"no last name?" melanie asked but knew it would be of no use. the girl stared at her, her oaken hued skin dazzling in the sunlight.

"that's really depressing" piper said in sympathy. "i'm so sorry this happened to you"

"it's fine" anitha said grudgingly. "it's not like it's gonna stop anyway"

the sun disappeared and the moon shone in all its glory, bright with the excitement of conquering the sky. but it was interrupted by loud sniffing and blowing of a nose.

"don't cry, psyche" said girl was psyche greengrass, with dark hair and bottle green eyes. the air around her was thick and syrupy, and it weighed down on melanie, until she felt like she was breathing underwater. melanie held a large tub of chocolate icecream, licking the spoon clean as she relished the scrumptious scoop with chocolate bits.

"he said he loved me!" she wailed, blowing her nose, again.

"you were dating?" hector, psyche's older brother, asked. she nodded slowly, not meeting his silver eyes.

"who was it?!" her mother asked. athena frowned in disapproval. cordelia noticed the goddess' behavior closely, realizing that she may be related to the greengrass family in some way.

"that's none of your business" psyche said sharply, her green eyes in slits. her mother rolled her eyes while hector looked away.

"now i see where daphne has inherited her temper from" ron whispered to harry.

"she does not have a temper"

"oh yeah, and i don't have five older brothers" ron retorted, rolling his periwinkle blue eyes.

"only two hot heads can control each other, i guess" harry replied, shaking his head. Hermione smirked.

"finally, i have been waiting for this confession for months!" she gasped, smiling eagerly. harry scoffed.

"can you all shut up and watch the movie" lyra tutted. the trio shifted their gazes towards the screen.

"merlin knows how she whispers like that"

"melanie! MELANIE!" the girl was still busy eating ice cream and listening to the conversation intently. "BITCH! are you listening?!"

"from not knowing a word in english to swearing" frank muttered, glancing at anitha.

"that's really good progress! keep it up!" hazel shouted cheerfully. rue was taken aback.

"who are you and what have you done to hazel?"

"chill, red. when i was at school, i got my mouth rinsed with soap for swearing. since nobody cares, i might as well start swearing now" she replied, a mischievous smirk making its way. frank nudged her, saying it's not a good idea, while percy laughed, saying that hazel had a right to freedom of speech.

"merlin's beard, anitha! calm down!"

"you responded to me when i called you a bitch, so i guess that's your new name"

"shut up, whore. so tell me, who's this new guy?" melanie asked, her eyes gleaming in an odd way. she was holding a mirror which showed anitha's face. she was in a different place, with bustling crowds buzzing behind her. maybe a market.

"so, he's my classmate. and bench mate."

"bench mate?"

"we can't sit with friends. and he's funny, only to me though, otherwise he keeps quiet and does his work."

"so, an introvert. great! ok, will call you back, i want to finish my icecream." melanie muttered, her mouth full. she put the mirror down, smiling as she did it.

the moon left the skies and the sun reappeared, gleaming in all its glory. the sunlight entered like a thief through the thick curtains of the gryffindor dorm of the marauders, with remus, james and peter sleeping on the beds, and sirius on the couch. the raven-haired boy's pale face was covered by a maroon blanket, thick and smothering. no one knows how he slept with that over his face. the sunlight peeked through the holes of the blanket and shined on his face, which caused him to get up slowly, thin arms stretching, long legs bending. his nails, painted with different colours as if he spent the night eating colored candy and coloring with markers, clawed and steadied their grip on the white sheets on the bed above him.

"delia?" he slurred sleepily, rubbing his grey eyes. he sat on the bed, upon finding it empty. the clocked made its hand run towards 6:30. the hands shifted, and soon they pointed at 7:30. now sirius was ready, robes on, hair neatly combed and styled, falling elegantly on his shoulders, eyes sparkling like glittering, clear water, and piercings ready. he made his way out of the room, and into the dark corridors of hogwarts. he could hear the paintings whisper. muttering a spell after reaching a dead end, he entered a murky tunnel, where he walked with his wand emitting light. at the end, he caught glimpses of blue and silver. and he exited and entered cordelia's room, right in front of the door.

"so that's how you sneak out at night" lily murmured, clearly unhappy.

pandora rosier stood in front of him, her icy eyes even colder today. "where's cora?" she quetsioned, feet tapping in impatience.

"er-i wanted to ask you the same" pandora's eyebrows reached for her hair, falling into her grey eyes like waves of snow. sirius could hear loud stomping, someone coming towards them, like a troll with a never dying hunger.

"where's eli?!" lily demanded, red hair making way for her piercing green eyes, currently surveying sirius. he gulped, a sound shattering the silence which had replaced his reply.

"i-i don't know" now he was actually nervous. lily evans could even get away with murder, if she wanted too.

"she was in your dorm, with you guys, planning a fucking prank-"

sirius stared at her back, not able to imitate her classic cold stare. "i woke up in the morning, and she was gone!"

lily's eyes widened, a spectrum of lush green. "this is why i never trust you, black! i've told her from the start-"

"so you trust potter?" sirius asked, wiggling his eyebrows. lily blushed bright red while pandora opened her mouth to speak, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"it can also mean she trusts remus and pettigrew" said pandora sanctimoniously.

"i didn't ask, panda"

"then why're you listening?" the door creaked and let out a harsh sound, burping out four people: prof. mcgonagall, james, remus and peter.

"where's Ms. hawthorne?" her sharp voice rang out and woke up the room, like the trill of a morning bird.

lily ran to the professor, her green irises drowning in the invading tsunami. "professor, she was hanging out in the boys' dorm-"

"yes i know ms.evans, calm down. we will search the school. mr. potter and lupin have already searched the gryffindor tower and the adjoining corridors." lily eyed james, who was smiling nervously. remus was biting his nails, while peter looked surprisingly calm.

percy turned to lily. "why do you hate him. he seems chill"

"i don't hate him-"

"YOU DON'T HATE ME!" james shouted with triumph, only to earn a disgusted look from lily.

"you just lost your moment, mate" leo stated in a thick british and french mixed accent, shaking his head in sorrow.

remus raised an eyebrow. "who taught you to talk like that?"

"i learn only from the expert, gentleman" leo grinned, his hand snaking its way to wrap itself around lyra's shoulders.

"i do not speak like that!" lyra exclaimed, cheeks rosy red.

"yes you do!" the rest of the demigods chorused.

sirius let out a bark, clutching his stomach. "i like him" gasping, trying to control himself. "i approve!" he said to lyra, who scowled in return.

"i don't speak like that" lyra muttered, not yet admitting defeat. annabeth chuckled inside her hand.

just then someone came barging in, eyes wild and feral, dark curls like tree roots threatening to fly away from his head.

"regulus?"

he stumbled, almost falling on Mcgonagall. "i need to talk to you" the statement was directed to sirius, who raised an eyebrow, tutting.

"why now-" but regulus grabbed his shirt and pushed a bookshelf, hard, which turned out to be a secret room that swallowed them. the last person he saw was pandora, whose jaw dropped to the floor. but sirius wasn't surprised- he had come through this way a few minutes ago. regulus looked angelic in the light, a halo formed by the fuzzy light. sirius resisted the urge to smile. it had been so long since he'd seen his baby brother.

but regulus looked more serious than sirius himself (a/n: pun intended). he let out a heavy breath, then took in another one.

"i think i know where she is"

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i'm really sorry about the huge delay, and so less content in so much time. i'm not a productive person, i procrastinate a lot, and ideas keep flowing into my head but i don't have time to type them. so from now on the chapters will be shorter, and i'll try to update sooner. writing long chapters is so exhausting!

keep the love coming, it is the only thing motivating me!

love,

bladesofstardust.