A Sliver of Change | S. Black

Part 3: Chapter 3

Part 3:

Chapter 3 –

June 25th, 1996

After much arguing and Lia having to pull a few tricks out of her sleeve that Sirius stated he did not miss, she finally got her way as she stood in front of Dumbledore's pensieve, the headmaster absent from his office. Thankfully Lia remembered the passwords he used to use and was able to sneak her and Sirius in undetected, not wanting anyone to see him due to the charges against him or any professor to question who she was. Not that she doubted they weren't all in on the secret over the past year, especially with the way she caught McGonagall staring at her sometimes.

She sighed out as she stared at the bowl, waiting for Sirius to drop the memory into it and was glad that Harry had finally conceded on not coming. The things that Lia wanted to see was nothing that she wanted him to and after some arguing, the lot of them had finally won out. He was as stubborn as his father and pouted when he didn't get his way, which was why she sent Hermione and Ron to watch over him while she did this.

Remus had told her that he couldn't bring himself to watch what happened, blaming himself for not being there and as much as she wished she could help him, she knew that it would take time for her to show him who he was again. She had done it once, and she had no problem doing it again.

A thought occurred to her as she stared at the bowl, her brows furrowing as panic washed through her.

"Sirius," she asked, "how is Remus getting his wolfsbane every month?"

Sirius' face contorted into disgust, his jaw tightening as he spit out, "Snivellus."

Lia was shocked by his response, remembering that boy who hated all of their guts and chose to side with the Dark One.

"Snape?" She questioned, "didn't he become a death eater?"

Sirius shook his head slowly, "apparently he's a double agent, but I find that hard to believe," he scoffed out.

Lia was having trouble wrapping her head around it as well and knew that it was just another question she had to add to the list, one that she would worry about later. Sighing out, she looked back towards the bowl, wrapping her hands around the sides as she waited for Sirius.

"You sure?" He asked her again, his hand rubbing softly down her back.

Lia nodded her head, knowing that if she had to do anything then it was finally seeing for herself what happened after she was gone. Sirius had only limited her to two memories, and she had thought carefully about the ones she wanted to see, finally deciding on the memories that would reveal to her the most. She needed to see it just once before she could move on with her life and look to the future like Lily had always told her to. She wanted to be there for Harry, fix what had broken inside of Remus, and save Sirius from the darkness that had welled inside of him over the years. Her brother and friends would never leave her, but she knew that eventually she would need to find a way to let go.

She watched the memory get dropped into the bowl and didn't hesitate to dunk her head in, already feeling a chill glide through her body as her surroundings changed to darkness.

Moments later the darkness faded away into a gloomy sky, rain pouring down on the people in the memory as they huddled under umbrellas and stood in front of a grave in the middle of Godric's Hollow. Lia already knew whose it was, but she still found herself curious, her feet gliding over the muddy pit as people she recognized started to come into view.

There was no casket or urn, most likely due to the fact that there was no actual body, but people continued to plant roses a top of the grave as the crowd started to disperse. Lia caught sight of the Lily she remembered, a young Harry bouncing on her hip as her tired eyes gazed at the head stone one last time.