A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 2: Chapter 8

Part 2:

Chapter 8 –

December 23rd, 1973

The Christmas lights that were hung up around the house sparkled in every direction as Lia raised her lit wand, shifting the book in her hand to sit on her lap.

The morning of Christmas eve was fastly approaching, but Lia found herself not able to sleep. So instead of laying around in her bed and staring at the wall, she found herself sitting in the reading room, coincidentally reading a book. They had been back at the manor for a few days after starting Christmas break and Lia was already dreading the day they would have to go back.

Since the night of Sirius' birthday, she had been feeling off. Her and Sirius were okay, falling back into their normal routine quickly, but she still couldn't help but feel sorry for herself sometimes. Lia knew that this was just a phase and that she would surely pass it soon, but it caused her to not be able to sleep. She knew Lily had started to notice her insomnia, seeing as most nights she would sneak out to the common room, leaving the warmth of her bed to read a book in front of the fireplace.

"Lia?" She heard her brother whisper from the entrance of the room, Sirius at his side.

The boy who haunted her thoughts, was staying with them until tomorrow evening. Walburga had forbidden it, but Sirius said he didn't care, wanting to spend as much of the Christmas holiday with the Potters as he could.

Lia sighed as she set her book aside, pointing the lit wand towards the two.

"What is it James," she asked.

James silently snuck into the room, taking the seat to her left as Sirius did the same, taking the one on the right of her.

"Calling me James huh, something must be wrong," James joked but the smile slid from his face as Lia diverted her attention from him, wanting to hide her problems.

"Hey, what's wrong Lia?" James questioned as he used his finger to direct her face towards him.

Lia groaned, shaking her head from his touch, and burying it in her hands. She felt as two strong hands, one on each side, pulled them away, forcing her to face her issues.

"Talk to us," Sirius whispered.

Feeling her resolve melt away, Lia leaned her head on Sirius' shoulder, her hand slightly squeezing James' hand.

"I just-" she cut herself off with a sniffle, "I just feel like everything is going wrong, you know?" she asked the two, hoping that they would understand.

Breathing a sigh she continued, "I try so hard to be the strong one for the lot of you, but sometimes I feel like it's not enough," she whispered, "like I'm not enough."

Lia felt Sirius shake from his spot, moving his body so he was staring straight at her.

"You are more than enough Lia," he proclaimed, aiming the same words she said at him last month back at her, "You are the glue that holds us all together."

James nodded before adding, "We would quite honestly be dead or lost without you little sis. I mean remember that time you stopped us from using Belladonna in one of our pranks?" James asked with a slight laugh at the memory.

Sirius agreed, "Oh ya, without you telling us to stop we would've been goners."

Lia chuckled, remembering quite vividly how the boys had insisted that they needed it to pull a plank on the Slytherins. They had almost handled it without gloves, trying to sniff the flower to see what it smelled like. Lia had immediately put a stop to it, banning them from ever touching the plant if they couldn't handle it properly.