A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 2: Chapter 21

Part 2:

Chapter 21 –

September 1st, 1976

Lia waved goodbye to her parents and Mellie, smiling at them softly as she boarded the train to Hogwarts. She was thankful for the lot of them, especially after the summer that they had.

As she walked through the corridors of the train, James and Sirius behind her, Lia grinned at the people already in the compartment.

"Lia!" Alice, Marlene, and Lily screamed all at once as they rushed towards her. Smiling with glee, Lia hugged her three friends, thankful to see them.

After the incident over the summer, Octavia had cancelled their summer party seeing as Lia was drowning in nightmares when it was supposed to happen. When she had finally started to feel better, she regretted not taking the opportunity to see her friends. More than two months without them seemed like too much.

"How are you?" Lily whispered in her ear worriedly.

Lia pulled back to look at the three of them. She had owl'd them all about what happened and explained the situation. They were horrified when they read it, and worry for their friend had consumed them, even more after James had sent them another owl, telling them how badly Lia was handling it.

"I'm doing a lot better guys, I promise," she said, directing her attention anywhere but them. Alice squeezed her hand, understanding that she didn't want to talk about it, "if you ever need to talk to us, we're always here."

Marlene and Lily nodded their head before Marlene added, "we love you."

Feeling tears of gratitude in her eyes, Lia pulled them all in for another hug before pulling back and sitting in her seat. She watched as Lily went over to Sirius, shocked when the girl embraced him in a hug.

"Thank you," she heard Lily say to him, "and I'm glad you're safe as well."

Sirius nodded his head at her, a small smile on his face, and responded, "I'll always protect her."

Lia's heart sailed at his words, a blush forming on her cheeks. She watched as Lily winked at him, "I know."

Lily ended the conversation there and sat down beside Sirius, James coming to sit on the other side of her. Lia chuckled silently at her brother, wondering if he was ever going to stop his antics.

A sound at the door signalled someone walking into the cart and Lia looked up to see Remus and Frank. Smiling at the boys, Frank came over and gave Lia a quick hug, muttering that he was glad she was okay. After leaving her side, Remus came to steal the seat next to her.

Lia automatically cuddled into his chest, his arm wrapping around her, "how are you doing?" he asked.

Lia sighed, annoyed at constantly being asked that question.

"I would be doing a lot better if people stopped asking me how I was doing," she pointed out.

She felt movement and noted it as Remus nodding his head, "understandable. But remember I'm always here."

Lia stayed silent, knowing that Remus would understand that she knew. Looking around to distract her mind, she noticed that Peter was missing from the gang.

"Where's Peter?" Lia asked, also noticing that Marlene was here herself and Fabian was missing, "and Fabian?"

Marlene looked at her, "He's sitting on another cart with Gideon, Mary, and Dorcas. They wanted to come over and see you, but I said to wait until we got back to Hogwarts."

Lia smiled at her thankfully, already overwhelmed with the amount of support she was getting.

"And Peter wrote to us last week saying that he was going to be at Hogwarts a week late," Sirius answered her second question, "apparently his trip in Peru was going so well that his parent's decided to extend it."