A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 3: Chapter 1

Part 3:

Chapter 1 –

June 18th, 1996

"Sirius."

She stared at him as if he was the ghost of a memory, her mind racing with reminders of everything that she had once forgotten.

The first time he had stumbled into her life at Diagon Alley. When they had gone to Lucius and Narcissa's wedding together, and Sirius had done everything in his power to protect her. When she hexed every healer at St. Mungo's after he had been injured by his own family. When they had finally made their relationship official at the ball in sixth year. The first time they said they loved each other. The way he had proposed to her in front of everyone at Christmas.

Everything came rushing back as she watched the man in front of her with wide eyes, shocked at the differences she was seeing.

He had aged from the last time she remembered but was still as handsome as always. His hair was longer than it had ever been, and he was sporting a mustache that she quite liked on him, but everything else conveyed that he was her Sirius.

Hers, yet years older.

Her mind filled with the events of James sending her away and she wished that she could be angry with her brother, but the past and present faded into one and her heart hurt at the realization of how much she had truly missed since she had been gone.

Tears misted in her eyes before she could have the chance to stop them and she stepped forward slowly, her wand dangling at her side as her body pushed her to the soul that called to hers. She didn't miss the way Sirius' breath hitched the closer she got, or the way his body stood stock still as if he was scared to even believe that she was truly there, alive and healthy.

She wasn't sure what James had told them happened to her, but she imagined it couldn't have been good.

"Lia," Sirius whispered out again, his voice cracking towards the end and portraying all of the emotions that his face couldn't.

She tried to hold in the sob, but it broke out of her, causing her to stumble forward and into his awaiting arms. They wrapped around her so tightly that she couldn't breathe, but she couldn't find it in herself to make a fuss. His embrace was exactly like she remembered, warm and felt like home. His scent invaded her, musky cologne and a hint of nicotine and a part of her wanted to slap him for not giving up the habit yet.

But she truly couldn't find it in herself to ever let go of him. His breaths were panting out into her ear as she dug her face into his neck, his silky hair brushing against her nose in a ticklish sensation. His arms were wrapped around her waist, his hands brushing softly against the bare flesh and time stood still as they held each other for the first time in what she imagined was years, the battle around them only a noise in the distance.

Her tears faded into her skin, sending a path down her cheeks as she relished in the feel of his body, wondering how she ever could have forgotten something like this. She didn't want to think about the consequences at that moment or bring up what had happened to the both of them. All she could think was that she was finally home, her body melting into the man that she had always loved.

A whine escaped her lips as Sirius pulled back, his hands cupping her face. His dark eyes stared at her as if she wasn't real and she wished desperately that her parched mouth would allow her to speak more than just his name. To tell him that she was real, and she was here in front of him after all these years.

But the way his thumb rubbed softly over her cheekbones, she knew that he was figuring it out himself, his eyes gaping at her with pure wonder and a tenderness that Lia had never seen in him before.