𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
049. young and sweet, only seventeen

( warning:
mentions of sexual assault )

          𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗢𝗡 𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 with an unbearable smile creeping onto her crimson lips. She hated it—all the smile and heartwarming feelings. It made her want to rip all her hair out.

      Upon entering, she noticed the room just as empty as the Gryffindors' was, except for Severus Snape sitting on the couch and waiting impatiently.

"What did Lily say?" He asked in a hurry. 

"She's absolutely furious," she told him. "And upset, you were utterly wrong."

"I know that, and what did you say?" He asked impatiently, the lack of Lily in his life was really scrambling his brain.

"I am not getting in the middle of it anymore, Severus," Scarlet told him sternly. "I tried and she made a good point, some things are unforgivable, and even if forgivable, they're unforgettable."

"Did you even try?" He came to stand right in front of her.

"I did," she scoffed out of irritation. "You hurt her, and the last thing you want to do is force her to forgive you for selfish reasons such as finding your own peace,"

"You're saying I deserve to suffer for what those gits did?"

"I am saying you deserve to suffer for what you did, do not put the blame on somebody else," Scarlet firmly snapped back.

"You know, I doubt you even talked to Lily," Severus' tone was laced with venom. Scarlet heard the door cracking open, but her attention remained on the boy nonetheless, his eyes burning with rage. "After all, you're so busy being another notch on Black's dirty belt,"

"Don't you dare talk to her that way," it was Regulus who entered, watching the pair intensely as he jumped to defend Scarlet despite not knowing what they were arguing about. He would always defend Scarlet. Especially when someone was speaking to her in such an atrocious manner.

Severus—burning in fury still—glanced between Scarlet and Regulus as soon as the boy firmly stood next to her, ready to defend.

"You know what, Silas Abrams was right, you are a wasted and damaged wretch," he said, shaking his head. Scarlet's breath caught in her throat at the mention of Silas' name, and his words cut sharper than a knife. "The moment that blood traitor gets disowned, you'll jump the spare Black's dick so you can be the next bride the Blacks bring home,"

Scarlet lunged forward. "Do you want a broken nose like Mulciber? You disgusting, self-loathing moron!" Regulus held her back, putting himself between the pair and stopping her movement with a gentle arm on hers.

      She continued, watching as Severus stumbled back. "I'm glad Lily doesn't talk to you anymore..."

"Scarlet, shut your mouth." Severus said through gritted teeth.

Regulus glanced between the two, still holding Scarlet's body back so she would not cause harm. "Scarlet..." he whispered lightly.

A bitter part of Scarlet wanted him to hurt. "You're wrong if you think any of us will treat you better than she did because you're a worthless, unwanted piece of shit who deserves nothing."

      One could see Severus' heart dropping and crumbling to the floor like a pile of bricks. As though he could not bear it. Sure, there was regret in his eyes but it was concealed by the overwhelming power of dejection. 

      Losing Lily was one thing, however, having bad blood with Scarlet meant nobody would ever want him. Maybe she was right, maybe he really was worthless and unwanted and what he deserved was the vile friendship of discourteous people like Mulciber who treated everybody atrociously.

      He walked away, not sparing her any retort.

      Regulus turned to Scarlet, and instead of giving her a hug—knowing she despised them—he guided her to sit down on the couch and took a seat beside her. There was utter defeat written in her expression, both from allowing herself to lose her cool and for proving she was no better than those insolent individuals.

"Scarlet, you're allowed to be upset about losing a friend." Regulus said softly, running a comforting hand through her hair.

"I'm upset because the words I said should have remained unspoken," Scarlet looked at him. 

Regulus grimaced and deadpanned. "S, he called you a slut,"

"I really appreciate you for repeating that, Reg, thank you," she rolled her eyes before walking away from the boy, leaving him utterly puzzled. On a normal occasion, Severus Snape would have ended up in the hospital wing in the same way Mulciber did. However, something unusual told him that this was anything but a normal situation.

      Regulus shrugged her behaviour off assuming that she really was upset about losing a friend.

      Scarlet made her way to the toilet and reached the nearest sink, trying to throw up despite no food being present in her body for the moment. Maybe she should have gotten dinner. 

      The mortifying thought of Silas Abrams and his hands all over her sensitive skin came back in flashes. Scarlet did not forget him, nothing in existence could remove that moment of her life away from her mind. 

      When Severus brought the matter up again, this triggered a sensitive area of her brain. And she felt it all over again.

      Abrams' hands on her hips, moving slowly up her dress like a snake. His breath against her neck, his lips against her collarbones. She clutched the sink with her palms, and her shoulders shook with painful dry heaves that made her cry even harder.

      Her hands moved from the sink and rested on her hips. She started to grip on her own hips a little tighter, and a little too tight; reminding herself that she was in control. If she was hurt, she was in control of the pain. Of her body.

     You're in control, she thought to herself through heavy sobs. Only you.

      She hated herself, and how weak she felt. How every unwanted touch or the mere word 'slut' triggered such violent reactions of harsh memories.

      With shaky hands, she made her way back to the common room only to find Regulus still standing there, leaning against one of the pieces of furniture. 

His eyebrows shot up at her sight, and then the door burst open to reveal Evan and Barty, their arms draped over each others' shoulders.

      When they took notice of the quiet pair, they coughed awkwardly and detached their arms from each other. Barty held a large bottle of fire whiskey whilst Evan moved to grab four glasses from the glass cabinet.

"What's going on, you two?" Evan dropped to the floor, popping his elbows on the tea-table with a large grin on his face, his chin resting on his palms. Barty sat on the carpet too, right next to him as he poured the drink onto all the glasses.

"Yeah, why are you two mopping over here?" Asked Barty.

"Got into a row with Severus," Regulus shrugged nonchalantly whilst Scarlet's face remained as rigid as usual. "Vicious git, that boy is."

"Tell me about it," Barty chuckled, gulping down the drink. "I always said he's bad news, mingling with those lot." 

      Wondering if he was referring to Blake Mulciber or Lily Evans, Scarlet shot him a wry glance before she took a glass that Evan just passed her with a short, tight-lipped smile, she clicked her glass with his to cheer before taking in a large sip.

"Easy there, Bridget, we only got one bottle." Evan pointed with a toothy grin.

Scarlet shrugged with an assured and tired smile. 

Evan's eyebrows quirked ever so lightly, and he mouthed, 'are you okay?' to which she nodded confidently, making sure he knew that she was doing just fine.

Regulus coughed at the taste of the liquor and then tapped Evan's head jokingly, "This is exactly what we needed."

"I quite missed this... hanging out, just us," Barty slurred, swirling the liquid in his glass. "Ever since Narcissa became Headgirl, she's become a rule-following beast."

Then, all attention turned to the smirking face of Scarlet, her crimson lips curling up just at her own thoughts.

"In that case, why don't I ask Eve to get us a few more bottles, wake Dorcas up, and pull an all-nighter?" She smirked.

Evan gasped loudly and excitedly, making both Regulus and Barty chuckle at his exaggeration. "Scarlet, I'd actually kiss you if you do that."

"Then I mustn't," Scarlet put her hands up in a defensive manner, grinning playfully as Regulus groaned.

"Evan, shut up and let her do what she does." Regulus sent her a gentle smile afterward.

"'Actually'? What do you mean?" Barty frowned with confusion written over his expression. "Have you kissed—"

"It's a figure of speech, Bart." Regulus pointed as though it was an obvious thing. 

      Evan shot Scarlet a wry gaze as the girl's eyes went wide. She ignored the conversation as she popped up on her feet and ran inside her dorm room to wake Everest up. She was quite eager about what music to play and which games to start the night with.

      To say the least, it was moments like this that reminded Scarlet that she was just a girl who should not be worrying too much—only seventeen and not meant to know anything.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

icl this chapter made me
sadder than it should have.

anyways, one of the friends down
lmao. how many more to go?

ALSO. I ofc was not going to brush
over scarlet's SA.
from personal experience, I 
believe the anxiety and memories
get triggered at certain times
rather than continuous thinking
about the situation.

if you have ever been in such
a situation, please remember
to seek help and not follow 
scarlet's footsteps.

it's important to look out
for yourself!!

stay safe everybody =)

i truly love all of u guys!