TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH AND TRAUMA

Saturday, December 21st:

She was running through the dark forest.

She was almost out of breath but she kept going.

She was giggling as she ran through the tall trees. Her soft slippers became soaked as she trudged through the white snow, she ignored how numb her little toes became.

She had been looking through this forest for a while now. She snuck out of the house through the back door without her mother seeing. It was only 9 pm on a cold winter's night and her mother was too busy in her office to notice her disappearance.

The moon shined on the pathway that held frozen snow. Her footsteps only increased as she walked further into the home that belonged to many creatures.

"Daddy, where are you?" she groaned as she looked around clutching her dressing gown closer to her chest, she loved the cold, always had, but the weather had been a lot colder than previous years.

The crisp air made the hairs at the back of her neck stand, while goosebumps travelled their way through her small frame and appeared on brown flesh.

She huffed when she didn't hear a response and continued to explore. The birds were asleep, resting their voices so they could sing in the morning. Little shuffles of movements came from high in the sky.

When the wind picked up causing the snow that attached to the branches to fall against the hood of her fluffy robe.

She stumbled over the huge log that was in her way, narrowing her eyes at the object before kicking it so it rolled away. She grinned as she watched its retrieving figure.

As she continued her journey the sounds of the twigs gradually breaking reached her ears, the forest floor was full of them.

The little girl was slightly overwhelmed by the vast area. But she embraced the feeling, it was a few days until Christmas day and she couldn't wait to spend it with her family.

Her house was full of bright lights that livened up the decorations that kept the furniture and walls company. She felt so giddy, so excited she wanted the magical day to hurry up and arrive.

She couldn't wait for her father to come home; For him to give her a huge hug that he promised he would embrace her once he returned. He was only gone for a couple of days on a business trip, but it felt like an eternity for the little witch.

She somehow felt drawn to the huge forest that lived near her humble abode.

She occasionally played there, observing the woodland creatures that called it home. She would sometimes see over fantastic beasts but they would shy away from her, worried that she would harm them.

She slowly built up a friendship with some of the beasts after they realized she wasn't as big of a threat as the other villains that walked amongst them.

She liked the wildlife, she believed why should you be scared of the unknown when you discover and learn from it.

For some reason, she felt like she was beaconed towards the forest as an invisible force pulled her there. So she left the warmth that encased her home and began to wander through the forest

Luckily the parted trees that stood tall helped her keep on the right path, not like she tried to drift from the trail of thick snow.

She knew how dangerous it was to be outside during this time of night, yet her mind allowed her to leave her manor, almost like she was compelled to come here.

All of a sudden the wind picked up almost knocking her backwards but she stood her ground despite the ache in her legs telling her to let go and fall.

The snow that once kissed her face, felt like it was smothering her, she could barely see.

She needed to see, she didn't feel safe anymore. She felt as if someone was watching her, and it couldn't be her father.

She heard a loud crunch that came from behind her, she didn't bother to turn around, she started to run.

The ground shook with the heavy footsteps that grew nearer.

She kept on running; her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, she didn't care where she was going as long as she didn't look back.

In her haste to escape whatever was causing the heavy footsteps rushing behind her, her heart was akin to that of a battle drum as it pounded in her ears, eyes welling with tears in the darkness that provided her with no comfort.

In the forest, where she was unable to see her escape route due to the shroud of blackness that enveloped her, something reached out to grab her ankles, swiping the ground from underneath her as her tiny body toppled over what felt like a lump of rocks covered with soft fabrics.

She groaned and quickly turned her head around, no longer hearing anything, but her view was blocked by a body.

The body of a man.

The body of Her father.

He was lying there motionless, his eyes wide open, staring up at the moonlight sky.

The Body was surrounded by the insects that lived in the forest, they were eating away at his corpse, having a feast on his flesh.

She immediately closed her eyes, shaking her head hoping that the image would leave her psyche.

She prayed to Merlin that it wasn't real.

It couldn't be, right?

Her eyes fluttered open, her vision was no longer blinded by the frosty weather, the snow continued to fall freely; not being controlled by the winds that were once unsympathetic and vicious.

Nothing was in her path.

The decaying body was no longer in her way.

She let go of the breath that she wasn't aware that she was holding.

She shakily got up from the ground, content that her heart was trying not to burst from its cage.

She was about to make her way back home when a hand harshly gripped her, turning her around.

Her jaw dropped at the way her father's flesh loosely hung from its Skeleton. Tears flooded her eyes as the holes in his body gaped and allowed the vermin to crawl out. Eyes as white as the moon peered into hers.

"You could've stopped this."    

She let out a piercing scream...

Artemis gasped awake, Her cheeks were wet with tears as she blubbered out her mother's name, desperate for someone to save her from her subconscious.

She was lying in her bed at Seramore manor; she arrived at home a couple of days ago in time for the holidays. She was grateful that Daphne wasn't around to see her state.

Her body trembled; she was suffering from the aftershocks that her brain inflicted on her. Her nightmare stuck to her as if the sweat that perspired from her body glued it on.

"Mistress Artemis." A small voice snapped her out of her trance. Binky stood by her bed with a box of tissues and a glass of water. "You were trapped in your head again, Binky thought this would help." 

This wasn't the first time the elf appeared by her after she woke up from the recurring dream.

It happened once a year on the same night, Binky always remembered the girl's terrified state. The creature had sworn to secrecy not to mention it to anyone, especially the elder witch.

Each year She would come to her room with different ways to console the girl.

Her house-elf placed the glass on her bedside table and turned the lamp on. The bright light illuminated her frantic and emotional state.

It was rare for the elf to see her mistress without her facade, and see who she truly is...

A Broken little girl.

Artemis blinked by the tears that fell from her eyes, and swallowed her fear, "Thank you, Binks." her voice rasped.

Her throat restricted her words, suffocating her vocal cords prevented her from trying to speak anymore. 

She reached out and gulped the drink down, avoiding the worried looks Binky was giving her.

She placed the glass down hastily and tugged the soft tissue out of its box.

The elf turned to the door, "Binky should get Mistress Celeste."

Artemis' bloodshot eyes snapped to her little figure "Don't please don't." The witch already wiped away the evidence of her panic and shoved the soft material under her pillow. "She'll only worry."

the elf titled her head "But-"

Artemis cut her off, "She's sleeping Binky, We shouldn't disturb her."

The elf didn't  like the sound of the young witch's gravelly sounding voice, "Mistress you don't seem yourself."

Artemis held back a groan,  "you don't want to disturb her do you?"

the small creature shook her head, "No Mistress."

"Then don't Binky, okay?" the witch winced at the pain that shot through her throat.

The elf hesitantly nodded, "okay Mistress."

"Thank you, Binky."

"Sleep well Mistress." the elf flashed out of the room.

The young witch sighed and laid down staring up at the ceiling completely ignoring how the moonlight was shining through the crack in her curtains "I won't." her voice broke again, she covered her sobs by pressing her hand to her mouth, "I really won't."

***

Wednesday, December 25th:

SERAMORE MANOR:

Christmas day had finally arrived and despite the joyous festivities it hadn't changed the melancholic feeling that had already spread through Artemis' body.

For the last couple of days since her annual nightmare, the young witch had been burning sage around the house. Her mother was not surprised by her daughter's antics, but she did think it was odd.

Artemis had sworn that she had seen her fathers reflection when she had looked in her bathroom mirror. His ivory filled eyes stayed on hers until she looked away and held back the sobs that threatened to spill from her mouth.

She didn't want to alert any more attention to her moment of weakness so she kept it all in. she thought it was bad enough that her house-elf knew, if her mother found out she would have felt sick.

She didn't need to be worried about, or pitied or consoled, nor did she want to be.

So she did what she thought was best, She compartmentalized. She ignored the feeling of guilt that was caused by her subconscious, so she could carry on and act normal; well as normal as she could.   

Artemis had received many letters and presents from her friends and family. Usually, Blaise would spend the holidays with her, however, this year Ophelia had wanted Blaise to spend it with her new boyfriend.

If he survived that long.

Draco had written to her many times, checking in to see if she was okay since he knew it was the anniversary of his godfather's death. She responded, but according to him, the letters sounded off. They were too formal like she was overcompensating for the slight loss of her sanity.

Blaise knew she didn't like to talk about her feelings, neither did he. So he sent her a bucket of treats for her to binge on because he thought if she couldn't speak about what's on her mind, at least she could eat until the food clouded her mind.

Daphne and Theo knew about the death of Ezekial Seramore, many people did since it was constantly talked about in the Daily Prophet and amongst many wizarding families.

Daphne wanted to know how to handle her new friend and comfort her during this time of year, so did Theo. They had been advised by Blaise and Draco to just do what they do.

Meaning that Artemis had received many more treats and snacks from her friends.

Her grandparents had gifted her more books on top of the many presents they had bought her.

Her mother spoiled so much that most of her presents couldn't fit in her room.

Artemis was a little annoyed that when she was opening them, none of them had barked yet, she really wanted a puppy, so she wished so would end up getting one next year.

Celeste had brought Binky new shirts, despite the many times that the house-elf had refused to accept them, she still kept the gifts in her little room.

The little elf had gotten the day off, the Seramore's wanted their servant to spend time with her friends and have a day where she wasn't catering her time to them.

The mother and daughter had made their Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner by themselves.

It wasn't hard to do, since they both could cook.

Celeste and Ezekial had taught their only child how to cook and sew. They viewed these two skills as necessary. Despite being born with magic they wanted their daughter to be able to do things without it.

Artemis felt like cooking came naturally to her, just like potions. The two came hand in hand, both had recipes, both used equipment, you could change the process and the formula of them both to suit you and add your own twist to make it better.

The food they made was mouth-watering. The long wooden table held many dishes, flavours and colours.

Somehow the Seramore's managed to eat the majority of their feast. The leftovers would last for the next couple of days before Artemis would go back to school.

After their delicious meal, Artemis and Celeste spend most of their Christmas day in their living room.

Their Christmas tree stood tall in the corner of the far left wall. The silver and black decorations that covered the tree gently shook due to the wind blowing through the small gap in the window that was left open.

Lights shone throughout the large room, almost blinding at first sight, but shrunk back in fear the more you glared at them.

No music was playing but the sounds of the fire crackling held its own melody.

Artemis and Celeste sat on their leather couch, watching the fire burn and grow but stay content within the walls of the fireplace.

The young witch felt her mothers gaze on her, so she turned and raised a eyebrow, "Have you been okay Arty? I saw you burning sage a couple of days ago, Did you do anything illegal?"

The elder Seramore knew her daughter and how well she could hide her emotions, after all, she had mothers intuition.

"Nothing you can prove." Artemis shrugged and then looked at the lively fireplace.

Celeste narrowed her eyes, "I'm serious."

"So am i."

Celeste laughed, "you know I'm proud of you, right?"

Artemis hummed, keeping her eyes on the dancing flames, "I know."

Her mother always praised her, sometimes without even trying to. Maybe it was because Celeste had to be two parents since the death of her husband.

She tried her best to make a loving and caring environment for her child. But she noticed as the years went on that Artemis grew more distant, not from her, but her emotions.

When Ezekiel passed away Celeste tried pushing her feelings away to try and raise her daughter but it didn't help. She had to go and see a medi witch about her mental health, so once a month she visits her and talks about her problems.

She wished her daughter would talk to someone even if it isn't her.

"Your father would be too." celeste added. Artemis cringed at her mother's words.

A decaying body flashed through her mind. She shook the vision away and resisted the urge to bite her nails.

"Thank you, mum," she mumbled.

Celeste didn't like her timid tone, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Artemis cleared her throat and nodded her head, "Of course."

Celeste frowned and moved closer to her daughter, she threw her arm over Artemis shoulder and kissed her head,  "Ti amo, piccola." I love you, little one.

Artemis winced, she hasn't said I love you to anyone since her father's death, she did love her mother more than she could put into words; Celeste knew that.

Artemis showed her love in other ways, by helping people or buying gifts for them. She wanted her actions to show what her words couldn't.

Artemis grabbed hold of her mother's hand and squeezed it 3 times.

I. squeeze 

Love. squeeze 

You. squeeze.

Celeste hugged her daughter tighter, instantly knowing what the action meant. As Artemis regressed with her emotions, her mother progressed in understanding her daughter's secret language.

The mother-daughter duo stayed like that and went back to staring into the flames, getting lost in the movements.

One of them was enjoying the moment, while the other kept praying that they would escape their internal inferno, so they could no longer feel the guilt of a crime that they didn't commit.

***

a/n:

Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter.

Might have been a little dark, sorry for the slight scare.

What do you think her dream might've meant?

Do you take your dreams seriously? Ik I do.

Liv <3