Thorn | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 25: I Have A Bit of a Temper

Briar and Sirius both sat on seats opposite each other in front of the fireplace. They both were staring into the crackling fire, and Briar was holding a steaming cup of tea in between her shivering fingers, but she still hadn't taken a sip of it. She couldn't bring herself to open her mouth since the silence had begun to stretch on for such a long time now.

After a few painfully silent moments, Sirius finally cleared his throat and sighed, "I didn't know you were coming."

"You knew of me?"

Sirius looked at Briar for the first time since they entered the room. He nodded and murmured, "Your mother told me about you. She named you Briar since she hoped you would be like her and not like your father. I never met you though. Everything happened too quickly, and I was taken away before I had even seen a photograph of you."

A silence filled the space between them as the unspoken horrors they had faced filled their lungs and made it impossible to find any air left to speak with.

Moments passed, and Briar shifted in her seat before she commented, "You called her Thorn. Was that her nickname in the order?"

Sirius pursed his lips and looked down at his worn hands in his lap. Briar could see the pain etched into his lowered brows and heavily downturned lips. He explained, "That was her nickname at Hogwarts. She did use it in the order as a sort of code name for herself though."

"And what did she call you at Hogwarts?"

"Padfoot," He replied with a heavy exhale. "We all had nicknames based on our animagi. Hers was a hedgehog, and we all jokingly started calling her Thorn after that."

Briar blinked at the sudden smile on Sirius' face as he reminisced on better times, when her mother was still alive. She began to fiddle with her hands in her lap and wondered, "Who was we?"

Sirius looked over at Briar then with a heavy expression and knowing eyes. He sighed, "Me, Remus -- er, Professor Lupin, James Potter, Lily Evans, and Peter Pettigrew, the traitor."

"Mum was friends with the Potters?"

"We were all best friends, but she likely kept it from you to keep you safe... Everything she did was to try to keep you safe and prevent this coming war from ever affecting you," Sirius confessed.

A silence fell over the two of them as they sat in their plush seats and stared into the simmering fire that burned on throughout this painful conversation. Briar watched a few embers pop out of the flames before they fluttered back down to the smoldering pile of ashes below. They each became lost in their own thoughts as the memories they had of Euthalia Davies, the woman who lost everything because of a horrible man that Briar unfortunately called father, resurfaced and taunted their minds.

As if he could read her mind, Sirius spat, "How is Gideon?"

"Father is same as always: despicable and remorseless," Briar snipped back just as venomously.

They fell into a tense silence again, each with dozens of thoughts and questions spinning around in their minds, but neither could find the words.

Just then, the door swung open and smacked the wall loudly to reveal the Weasley twins standing on the other side with some odd contraption in their hands. They both widened their eyes and sprinted away when Briar leveled an unamused stare at them. Sirius began chuckling seconds later and whispered, "Ah, your mother would always react that same way to James and I's mischief. She was terrifying in her own right, and I'm sure you have the same effect on others."

"I have a bit of a temper," Briar admitted with an unexpected laugh.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows and remarked, "Now, your mother could get fiery and passionate, but I wouldn't call it so much of a temper."

Briar pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth before she joked, "Well, passionate is one way to describe my short fuse."

"Have you gotten into fights then?" Sirius questioned, perching on the edge of his seat excitedly. He was watching her now with a giddy smile, and for some reason, this made her smile widely in return.

She nodded and cackled, "Plenty of them. I've gotten detention more times than I can count because of it. Even in first year, I was getting into fights with Malfoy when he would pick on other students or when he'd try to harass me. Once in my third year-" Briar had to pause in the middle of her rambling because she began giggling too much. She restarted a moment later, "Well, in third year, I got a month's detention after I fought a seventh year for harassing a girl in his year. Everyone was a bit scared of me after that. They had never seen a third year make a seventh year cry before, but there's a first for everything right?"

Briar winked at Sirius, and he proudly smiled. He gushed, "Oh, how I wish I could have seen that. He sounds like he had it coming."

She nodded vigorously and enunciated, "He hexed the girl's dog. Argh, he was such a slimy git; I'm glad he's graduated now."

Sirius had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that Briar was certain he likely had constantly throughout his infamous time at Hogwarts, and he leaned even closer to her to whisper, "Anything more recent?"

"Well, last year, Malfoy had hurt this really sweet boy named Neville Longbottom, and I was filled with this uncontrollable, blind rage...and I ended up breaking his nose," Briar ended as she bit her lip to contain her smug smile.

Sirius smirked. "That boy's just like his father: cruel and prideful... But Longbottom, I knew his parents back in the day. They were good folks, excellent warriors for our cause."

"What happened?" Briar demanded, her eyes growing round and wide in her sudden concern.

"Bellatrix Lestrange tortured them into insanity. She's a foul woman, and I hate that she's out there somewhere," Sirius admitted with slightly slumped shoulders.

Briar placed her hand over her mouth and slumped back in her seat. Her heart had shattered at the thought of the pain Neville must feel over the whole situation. She wanted to kick herself for not knowing this before.

Sirius noticed her expression and grumbled, "I know. It's terrible. Is that Longbottom boy doing alright? I haven't seen him since he was a baby, before I was sent to...Well, I reckon he's grown up now. How is he?"

Briar blinked heavily, her thoughts still swirling around her newfound knowledge about Neville's parents. She wished he were here right now, but nothing she ever did could change the past. She unfortunately knew that first hand.

She whispered, "He's amazing...brave, strong, kind...basically perfect."

Sirius began to study her expression more closely. He cautiously inquired, "Is he your-"

Briar interrupted his question with a whisper, "I don't know."

They both grew quiet once more. The only sound in the room was the faint crackling of the fire and the hollow sounds of voices chattering loudly in another part of the home. Both of them wore solemn expressions as they individually reflected on their largely isolated and disheartening existences as of late.

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