Review:

"You're babying me, Marls," Anna protests weakly, finally at the bottom of the stairs.

"Maybe," Marlene shrugs, rounding the corner to the Hospital Wing. "But we all need babying sometimes."

"Did Dorothy?"

The group quiets.

Thankfully, they can walk into the Hospital Wing before they have to figure out what else to say.

June 20th.

Poppy ushers her in. Emma and Wesley are the only one in beds, the others just pacing around the room.

"She has a concussion," Sirius tells Poppy. "And she isn't thinking clearly."

"I'm thinking clearly enough to know that you sound like an arsehole," Anna mutters just loud enough for Sirius to hear, but lies down on the bed furthest from anyone. In a corner.

Sirius doesn't dare follow. Now he gets what Ginger meant.

Dumbledore sits Ginger down and starts talking to her, her taking him through the story.

Lily walks over to Anna, sitting down in the chair, wordless.

Sirius and James watch apprehensively. Anna stares at her.

"I remember the first time I saw you and Dorothy," Lily says quietly. "I was trying to find Severus when I saw these seventh years mercilessly teasing him, a first year. Then I saw these two beautiful girls, my age, in Slytherin. Laughing. My first instinct was anger, because why would you be laughing? And then the blonde girl did a little wave of her wand and defeated the evil seventh years. The other girl started laughing when the Gryffindors ran away. They helped Severus up then walked away, without looking for any sort of gratitude. The next month, I started studying with one of them, then both of them. Two months later, the two girls, Severus, and I become virtually inseparable. I was very lucky to have had both of the girls."

Annalee turns over to the her other side, biting her lip to not let any sobs come out of her mouth. Instead, the tears pour out, the occasional sniffle escaping.

FLASHBACK, FAWLEY MANOR, 1968

"You are nothing but a disappointment, girl," Morenthius sneered. "You can't do anything right. Not even a simple, simple potion. You can't make a shot on a broom, you can't even fly in a straight line. You aren't worth the Fawley name. A waste of pure blood. You can do nothing. You might as well just run off to the traitor Black boy."

8-year-old Annalee Fawley started crying, sniffling, and sobbing. "I'm sorry, daddy."

"I am your father. I am under no obligation to be kind to you, but you must respect me, Annalee. Unfortunately, you were born a Fawley, so I am stuck with you."

"I didn't- I didn't mean to mess it up," Anna cried.

"Doesn't matter. Your mother is in the parlor. She will clean your pitiful self up," Morenthius commanded, pointing to said room. "You are weak, daughter. You can't even be yelled at without hyperventilating."

Anna nodded and walked quickly to her awaiting mother, her stomach still heaving with sobs.

"Don't cry, Annalee," her mother advised as she stroked her daughters cheek with a wet paper towel. "They will use it against you. If they get mad, you must get madder. If you seem weak, you will be killed. You have to look your father in the eye when he talks to you. If you are submissive, you will never be taken seriously. If you want his respect, never let him have the last word." Anna dried her tears, looking her mother in the eye. Aubrey nods. "Good. Remember, daughter. You are steel in a world of glass. Don't let them break you."

Anna stays quiet, pulling the covers over her head.

Across the room, Poppy is talking to Sirius.

"With a concussion, there is no magical remedy. Only time and staying in a dark room. I'd recommend her staying in here for the rest of the term. Granted, that's a little less than a week. Nevertheless," Poppy informs him.

He nods, "Should- should I talk to her?"

"Her thoughts are still scrambled. The things she will say, she might not mean. Not to mention, she's in grief. She just lost one of her oldest friends."

"I'll talk to her."

Poppy sighs.

Sirius walks over to her bed, gently resting a hand on her shoulder.

She shifts, moving towards him.

"Lee?" Lily asks softly. "We're here for you. Whenever you want. For now, the rest of us are going to get back to the dorm, try and sleep for a bit. There's a lot to figure out later."

Lily, James, Ginger, and Marlene walk away, leaving only Wesley, Emma, Anna, and Sirius.

He sits down where Lily just was.

Finally, she turns over, looking up at him with pleading and bloodshot eyes.

"I don't like the idea of living in a world without Dorothy Hawkins, Sirius. I don't like it at all," Anna confesses, grabbing for his hand and squeezing it tightly.

He doesn't mind.

"I don't much like it either, Love. But we didn't choose it. And we certainly didn't let it happen. We can be as angry as we want and it won't change a thing. We'll get revenge, I promise you that."

Likewise, Sirius doesn't much like the shadow that passes over Annalee Fawley's face as she chuckles, "Mark my words, Sirius, when I get my revenge, it sure as hell won't be pretty."

"You sound a lot like someone who is willing to go too far for a momentary satisfaction," Sirius says lowly. "And it's not a good look for you."

"Sirius, I am currently lying in a hospital bed because of a concussion with blood all over my hair and clothes. Not to mention my cheeks, which I'm sure are tear-stained. I have an awfully hard time caring about how I look. A good person died today and if her life goes unavenged, I'm just as bad as the one who killed her."

"So you're saying that I should've tried to kill Bellatrix when I thought you were dead?"

Don't cry, Annalee. They will use it against you.

"Maybe. She's tried to kill me before. But instead," Anna clicks her tongue, finally pulling her hand away from Sirius and doing her best to ignore the hurt look on his face, "you just ran away from home."

"Don't you dare use that, Anna."

If they get mad, you get madder.

With her mother's voice ringing through her ears that are already chiming symphonies, Anna raises her voice, scooting to the other side of the bed and against the wall, "I am using nothing. After all, we're just talking. As you said earlier, I'm just going to hurt more people. It's your job to talk crazy Annalee off the ledge, right?"

Sirius sighs, running his hands through his black hair, "You know that's not what I meant, Love."

You have to look them in the eye. If you appear submissive, you will never be taken seriously.

Anna raises her face evenly, forcing him to look her in her icy cold eyes.

"And you know that I told you not to call me that, Black. And you know nothing of loss. Poor, spoiled boy ran away from home and to his best friend's mansion," she simpers, pouting out her bottom lip.

By this time, Emma and Wes are watching with bated breaths.

Sirius grimaces, "I'm going to pretend like you didn't say that. I never had parents. I know loss."

"Same as me. And yet, I lost my brother."

"You're half the reason your brother is dead!" Sirius yells, standing up from his chair which makes a sickening screech!

Sirius realizes what he just said and is about to start apologizing when a smile curls across Anna's face, making her look clinically insane what with the crusted blood across her temple.

The smile never leaving, she jeers, "That's what I thought. You can leave now."

If you seem weak, you will be killed.

He can't help but feel used, like the comment is what she'd been probing for the whole time.

"Fine," he comments dryly, turning to walk out the door. At the last second, he turns back, "You know what? I get that you're struggling right now, that you're in grief. But the girl I know, the girl I love, would never say the things you just did. The girl I'm talking to right now is Annalee Fawley, The Ice Queen."

"The Ice Queen gets things done, Sirius. Anna is a doormat," she says without wasting a beat. "Plus, what happened to unconditional love? Much harder in practice, isn't it? See, it's so easy for you to walk away when the going gets rough. I'm sure Reg would testify to that for me."

"Regulus was the one who told me to leave," Sirius says, his voice strained.

Never let them have the last word.

Her eyes glint with a cruel sort of mirth, "And you did."

Sirius leaves, probably the best choice.

Remember, daughter. You are steel in a world of glass. Don't let them break you.