A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 2: Chapter 41

Part 2:

Chapter 41 –

Marcy 27th, 1978

Almost a month later and everything had changed. The group had gone back to as normal as they could but each of them always kept a watchful eye out for any trouble coming their way now. Especially since Mulciber had disappeared after his attack on Mary, leaving behind nothing but questions for the professors at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had instated a ban of any type of magic used against each other and threatened expulsion for those who didn't listen.

Not that Lia thought that it would help much, but it was a step. She had come to realize that Dumbledore may seem as if he wants to be helpful, but really, he doesn't enjoy getting his hands dirty. It was starting to annoy her to no end.

Lia had wanted to desperately ask Regulus for help but every time they saw eachother, he would shake his head as if to say it was too dangerous. And the last thing she wanted was to put him in any danger and make it seem like he was close to any of them.

So, Lia left him to himself despite how much she needed him. In the end he had still made his choice, even though she now knew that it truly wasn't what he wanted.

"Hello, love," A voice whispered in her ear from behind her, hands coming to wrap around her waist and tickle her sides.

Lia laughed out and pushed the hands away from her, continuing to giggle as she turned around to face Remus. He was shooting her a toothy grin, despite the bags underneath his eyes. She knew that the full moon was only a week away, and even with the boys and the wolfsbane helping him, he was having trouble controlling the wolf as of late.

"Hey, you," Lia punched a hand on his shoulder, "how are you feeling today?" She asked.

Remus' smile faltered slightly before it took over his face again, and he stepped forward to wrap his arm around Lia and lead them towards the direction of their tower.

"Today is not about me birthday girl," he stated, "it's about you."

Lia rolled her eyes as he mentioned that today was her birthday, and not just any birthday, but her eighteenth birthday. Although in the eyes of the wizarding world, one is technically an adult at seventeen and able to use magic outside of school, Lily had informed her that it was different in the muggle world.

Apparently, it was quite odd, in the way that muggles were adults at eighteen, but they could not legally drink until they were nineteen and, in some countries, twenty-one. Lia was grateful to the wizards for choosing their legal age for everything else at the age that they could drink legally.

Not that she hadn't already been drinking since she was fourteen, no not her.

"Just another year that I'm getting older Remus," she told him, "Nothing special about it."

She heard Remus tut his tongue, his finger waving in her face.

"You always go out on our birthdays, so we want to make sure we give back to you," he explained.

Lia felt slightly guilty at that, as she had originally forgotten about Lily's birthday this year, with everything that was going on in January. She had realized her mistake after her brother had come into their dorm with a cake that morning. She had gotten Lily the biggest book collection that one could get her hands on for it.

"We're going through a lot right now Remus," she stated, "I don't think the best thing we could do right now is throw a party."

Remus changed their direction from the dining hall towards the Gryffindor tower, causing Lia to send him a look of confusion.