The Gardens of the Emperor | TomArry

Chapter Seven

(July - October)

Harry stared at his father in disbelief.

It was the day after the Order members were captured, and the day before Harry's birthday ball. Marvolo had already told him that he planned on attacking the Order Headquarters August 1rst, during one of their meetings. Marvolo had also informed him that his father had wanted to speak with him and that Marvolo would watch the boys while Harry spoke with his father.

"What?" Harry asked bewildered.

Sirius looked helpless for a moment, before he expanded on what he'd said.

"Lily is the one who killed James. She had help from Dumbledore, and Remus knew because Dumbledore told him. You can watch the memory if you like?" Sirius finished hesitantly.

Harry stared off into space for a moment, trying to wrap his head around the fact that the woman that he'd thought of his mother for so long was the actual murderer of his bearer.

"Y-yeah. I'd like to see the memory." Harry said, after a few minutes of thinking.

Sirius nodded before retrieving the memory and pensieve, before setting it up for Harry.

"Here, Harry. Do you want me to go in with you?"

Harry shook his head before plunging his head into the pensieve before he could lose his nerve.

The memory is of Lupin's interrogation in the dungeons. They'd been asking him questions about anything and everything to try and find out as much as they could.

"Do you have any information about Lily Evans?" Severus had asked almost absentmindedly. They only been trying to cover all their bases, and since they knew Lily had been an Order member they thought it important to ask.

"Yes."

Severus shared a look with Lucius and Sirius before asking Lupin to expand.

"Lily hadn't been happy about not being in a relationship with James. She'd wanted access to their vaults and to be more than a glorified baby maker. She'd gone to Albus about finding a quiet way to kill off Sirius and had promised to spy on them in exchange. She had meant to dose Sirius with a very illegal potion that would let her order him around so she could make it look like he'd had mental breakdown and killed himself. She made a mistake however and dosed the wrong person. She'd dosed James instead. Realizing her mistake but wanting to capitalize on it, she ordered James to kill Sirius when he arrived home and then kill Hadrian, then himself, leaving her with everything. She'd told Albus of her plan, and he'd told me and some others. But James fought the potion and when he'd attacked her she'd been forced to kill him. She'd then turned her wand onto Hadrian but something happened that caused a backlash and killed her. Albus said it was the family magic protecting the heir of the family. She hadn't used the killing curse, so the cutting curse she'd tossed out had come back at her and hit her in the throat. Albus only found out after he'd been able to sneak into the house and look at the scene. Sirius had already come home and taken Hadrian to St. Mungos."

Harry was ejected once the memory was finished, and he sat for awhile staring off at nothing as he tried to process everything.

"Harry? Are you alright, love?" Sirius asked, worried about how Harry was taking all of this.

Harry shook his head before standing, "Thank you for showing me this, Paddy. But I think I need some time to think about everything."

Sirius nodded before accepting a kiss on the cheek from his son, and watching Harry leave. Sirius sighed after the door closed.