Like Real People Do // Jegulus

CW- talks of kidnapping, implied torture, detailed description of wounds, implied suicidal ideation

Also, this is not a Lily basing fic, they just gotta figure some shit out first, you know? No Lily slander tolerated

The blood had been vanished from the wall when Remus and Regulus retuned to the girls's flat, some of the mess put back together. Dorcas sat in the armchair in the corner, blanket wrapped around herself and a strong cup of steaming tea clutched between her hands in front of her. 

Dorcas loved Marlene unashamedly passionate, with there being no possible way of keeping it a secret. They had been targeted in the past for various reasons. Dorcas was a dark-skinned, Slytherin while Marlene was a brawny, white, Gryffindor. Marlene was pureblood, while Dorcas was a half-blood. And, of course, they were both women. The only openly out lesbian couple in Hogwarts at the time. 

She had prepared for a day like that, where one of them would be targeted and taken because of who they were. She had laid in bed curled around Marlene trying to remember every distinctive mark on her skin, from the freckle on her right elbow to the scar across the top of her forehead, partially hidden by her hair, from a rogue bludger in fifth year. She had memorized every location the two of them could use as safe houses, where family members lived, people they could trust implicitly.

But in the end, it didn't matter. They had grown too comfortable. Too safe. And with one slip, Marlene had been taken. 

To the others inside the flat, it looked as though Dorcas had entered a catatonic state. She didn't blink or move in any type of way, the tea having to be scorching her palms.

Peter, Emmeline, and Mary sat on the couch, looking worriedly towards her. 

"Do you think we should..shake her? Or something?" Peter asked the room, Remus and Regulus looking between them.

To everyone else, she looked catatonic. Numb from recieving the news of Marlene's abduction. But Regulus looked closer, moving to stand in front of her.

"She's not in shock. She's occluding."

"Why would she ask for tea to occlude?" Emmeline asked.

"The heat on her hands grounds her. It's a technique Slughorn taught us."

Regulus placed his hands around hers on the cup. "I can try to reach her, if you'd like."

But Dorcas's eyes were dulled almost to the color of Reg's, and he didn't know what it would take to pull her back out.

Lily's body ached, feeling as though her muscles had all locked into place when she had blacked out unexpectedly at the flat. Time blurred as she woke, feeling the silk sheets beneath her rub against the exposed skin of her legs. Peeling back the covers, she could see that someone had changed her into knit shorts and an overly large shirt, neither of which belonged to her. 

"You're awake. Merlin, I was beginning to worry," the relieved voice of James caught her attention from the chair across the room from the bed.

"Did you...bring me to your bedroom?"

"First safe place I thought of," James shrugged. "And it's not like you aren't familiar with it, already."

Lily's face dropped into a scowl as she made eye contact with James.