November 1976

(To avoid possible confusion: This chapter is mostly flashbacks or just talking about the past in general)

Annabelladonna spent her Sunday morning writing to Apollo and Asher. In their fourth year they had bought enchanted journals that would let them instantly write back and forth to one another. They had always used the journals during summer so she could tell them if she needed to get out of the house. Most of the time she went to Apollo's house because his mother Floria absolutely adored Annabelladonna , but she had spent part of the summers at Asher's and she loved it. Ashers house was juristically different than her own, it was warm and inviting, his parents always had smiles on their faces. Jaques and Esmée Adams are both muggle bakers. They own a cozy pastry and coffee shop in Paris. The shop is rather popular and they've made a decent amount of money yet they choose to live more humble lives.

Esmée loved having Annabelladonna over, she had always wanted a daughter but she wasn't healthy enough to have another child after Asher. She got pregnant three months after Asher but sadly she had a miscarriage. She was absolutely devastated but in a way she knew something would go wrong. The doctor had told them that if the baby survived long enough to be born it would be a miracle, especially having had birthed Asher only a few months prior. Esmée and Jaques would give Asher anything they could because there was a time when they could give him nothing and they felt guilty for not being able to gift him the latest toys or shoes. Their bakery took a lot of time to get up and running seeing as the couple built it from the ground up and for a while they could barely afford to live. Now they would round up all of the stars in the sky if it put a smile on his face.

When he asked if Annabelladonna could stay with them they immediately started decorating half of his room for her. At first they were going to give her a room for herself but when Asher told them about Bella's frequent night terrors they decided it best that she shared with him. They trusted Asher enough when he said that nothing would happen between them and nothing ever did. The girl was like a sister to him and he could never imagine thinking of her in a different way that's always how they'd been. It had been during the Christmas break of their first year when he had realized that he had started thinking of her and Apollo as his siblings. They were all sat it front of a fireplace sipping hot chocolate and humming holiday tunes when he'd promised himself that he'd do his best to keep them in his life. Heartbroken couldn't even describe how he felt when Bella had to leave for Hogwarts. His and Apollo's minds were clouded with guilty thoughts of how they couldn't protect her. Apollo felt even worse, he thought it was his fault that she got transferred. In a way it was. She didn't get attacked by any random werewolf. She got attacked by Apollo because for a split second she was out of her animagus form and he couldn't control himself. He didn't mean to. If he were in his right mind he would've stopped before he got anywhere near to hurting her. But the thing is, he couldn't stop and he definitely wasn't in his right mind. All he saw was a human, not the cute panda bear that was sat in front of him just moments before.

Annabelladonna didn't blame Apollo at all, not one bit. She played dumb when her parents asked if she knew who the werewolf was and claimed that she had no idea if they were even a student at Beauxbatons. She felt bad about shifting out of animagus form but she didn't regret it. Second year Victoria Grey had snuck out of her room trying to be rebellious when she caught sight of the angry creature. She froze in place and while Asher was trying to control Apollo, Annabelladonna turned into herself again and quickly grabbed the girl. Grabbing the girl by her wrist and pulling her towards the school. She ended up picking the girl up and running because they were spotted by the werewolf. She quickly shoved the second year through the entrance to the school, shut the door, and turned around. Before she could even collect her breath she felt the claws dig their way into her skin.

She had four open wounds.  Three harsh gashes across her stomach and one going from her right cheekbone to her chin, cutting across the corner of her lip. Blood spilled out of her cuts as a cane corso head butted Apollo repeatedly, he was trying to get the werewolf away from his bleeding friend as quickly as he could. The dog finally chased the werewolf away then quickly turned into Asher. He swept Bella off of her wobbly legs and carried her bridle style towards hospital wing. His footsteps echoed loudly against the floor as he sprinted and it was giving Bella a headache. She shut her eyes but when she found herself slowly drifting out of consciousness she opened her eyes in alarm. She could no longer hear the loud thumping of Asher's running and she was no longer wrapped in his arms. She was being placed onto a bed and her shirt was removed so that they could examine the damage. She felt vulnerable, not only was she physically injured but her mental state was weak too. She felt her eyelids shut and when she woke up Apollo was next to her in the bed. He had his arm wrapped around her waist and he was softly mumbling apologies as he held her. He had his face buried in her shoulder and she could feel the wet patch on the hospital gown he was still crying into.

"Apollo? Hey it's okay. I'm okay. Look at me, I'm fine." Apollo dug his head deeper into her shoulder. When he saw the scar on her face it crushed him, the guilt weighed on him like it was an anchor pulling him down towards the bottom of the sea. He knew there were more scars but he couldn't bring himself to look at them. Annabelladonna put her hand under his chin and forced him to look up at her.

"I hurt you."

"It was an accident Apollo, I don't blame you. You couldn't control it."

"You might not blame me but I do. I could've killed you. I-I could've bit you."

"But you didn't. Plus, what's the downside to death. It can't be too different to living with my dear sweet parents."

"This isn't the time Annabella, do you know how devastated we'd all be if you died. Asher would probably do something crazy and get himself killed or arrested. Gwaine would probably die of a broken heart. Ares would lock himself in his room forever, and I'd never be able to look at myself the same way. It would eat us all alive not having you here with us."

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be by your side until you get sick of me, I promise."

"We could never get sick of you Bella."

"Then I'll be here for a damn long time."

It had taken two days for the news to get to her parents and two more weeks for her parents to get her switched out Beauxbatons. When the headmistress pulled Bella out of class she new what was happening. She took the boys hands and gently squeezed them one last time, it was something they always did to non verbally say I love you. She had gathered her stuff and followed the headmistress to her office, keeping her head held high. Walaburga and Orion were waiting for her, scowls on their faces. They were disgusted. They thought that her new scars ruined the delicate appearance she had once had. To them the scar was more than just a scar, it was a representation of all of her flaws. They had sent her to Hogwarts to stop her from getting more scars, to stop her from getting anything else that would make her less attractive. They needed her to be desirable. After Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor it had placed a smudge on their family name. They needed something to redeem them in the eyes of the dark lord. They needed her to get married to a well respected man and they needed her out of trouble. Walaburga and Orion were dead set on making Annabelladonna marry Lucius Malfoy even though he had his eyes set on dear Narcissa Black.

1525 words

Leave a comment if you're liking the story or have any advice. I'm a fairly new writer so I'm still working some things out, criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive. Have a nice day!