𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, Sirius Black

sixty-three

~there is no end to your light~
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****

"I didn't steal the vial!" exclaimed James, he frowned at the small potion in his hand. Lily crossed her arms with a frown "But no one else except Snape was allowed to take the potion, it's not like anyone slipped the potion into your pocket!" 

"And what if Snape did?" James immediately gasped, shocked of his own words "I take it back." He shuddered at placed the potion onto the table in front of him with a disgusted face. Lily's arms fell to her sides as she let out a sigh. "Somehow, this is the only possible way but I refuse to believe it." 

Their heads snapped up when Talea, Remus and Peter entered the dormitory. "Did someone die or why are you frowning like that?" asked the brunette girl. 

"James found a veil of Felix Felicis in his bag and is convinced that Snape put it in there" shrugged Lily, letting herself fall back onto James bed. 

Remus face scrunched up in disgust while Peter placed a hand onto James forehead "Are you feeling a little bit ill today Prongs?" Talea chuckled, making Lily's head turn into her direction. 

"Well, you're the seer, surely you can tell us who did this." Talea grinned and walked up to the veil, holding it up to take a look at it. "I do not know everything but the only thing I'm seeing here is a great way to get Slughorns memory." 

James gasped excitedly and placed his hands on both sides of her face, squishing it together, grinning from ear to ear "You my dearest friend -and soon to be family member- are a genius!" Her eyes widened at the remark but she brushed it off with a sarcastic huff "That's nothing new, is it?" 

Remus let out a quiet "Oh Merlin" his eyes wide and his nose scrunched up in disgust. All heads snapped towards him, sending questioning glances. He snapped out of his trance and shook his head as if he was trying to shake off the thoughts. 

"What is it?" asked Peter. Remus looked up and replied "Oh nothing, just realised that Sirius might be some kind of brother-in-law in the future." Talea's eyes widened again and she coughed confused " Uh- well back to whatever we were talking about?" 

"No, where is Sirius?" asked James, completely forgetting the original conversation and started to look around the room "Because I haven't seen him all day and that's highly suspicious." 

Talea rolled her eyes at the boy's dramatics and replied "He's with Regulus, doing-" she looked around the room and her eyes settled on a few school books "Doing school work." 

Remus raised a brow and scoffed "As if-" 

Talea held up a hand to silence him and held up the veil with her other hand. "Back to business, we need a plan to get Slughorns memory." 

It was later that day when Lily took a gulp of the potion, there was only enough for one person in the small veil. Her friends watched how her eyes seemed to brighten and a content smile made its way to her face. She let out a content laugh and stood up abruptly. 

James wanted to follow her but she stopped him, the only thing she said was "I think I need to do this by myself" before turning around and disappearing in the shadows of the old corridors. The tapping of her shoes against the floor was the only sound in the empty corridors as she wandered aimlessly through the school. She felt giddy and her heart warmed at the feeling of happiness. 

She didn't know where she was going, she only knew that she followed the Liquid luck that ensured her a save feeling. It was nearly past curfew when she heard the sound of another pair of footsteps in the corridor, she turned around and saw exactly the person she was looking for. Slughorn. 

"Miss Evans! It is nearly past curfew what are you still doing in the corridors?" it was then that she noticed that he stood in the doorway to his office, she walked up to him and send him a smile. 

"I was hoping that I'll meet you, Sir."

He raised a brow, even though she was out of her common room this late, his features were still friendly just like the small smile "Really, how is that? Do you want to step in for a moment?" 

She nodded and sat down on the chair in front of his desk. "Professor, do you remember the flower that I gifted you?" 

He nodded his head, smiling and turned around and placed a bowl filled with water onto the desk. There was no petal anymore but a small fish. "I named him Francis, I remember the day I walked into my office and saw this bowl standing there, there was a petal flowing on top of the water but when I took a step closer, it sank to the ground and turned into a fish. It was the Peter of a lily; I really like the gift. It is quite beautiful magic." 

She smiled and looked at the fish "I'm happy you like it Sir. But one day, Francis will be gone, it will be the day after I die. I do believe that Dumbledore trusted you with the secret that I have a friend with an ordinary gift. She has seen my future, my death. Everyone knows that time is fragile, there are ways to change the future but this doesn't mean that it'll be better. In the future she saw, I died because of Voldemort or you might know him as Tom Riddle." She finally decided to look up into the widened eyes of her professor. 

"I know what you want Miss Evans but I fear I can't give it to you." 

"Why not? Is it because you made a mistake? Sir, these are dark times but that does not mean that we have to fear that there won't be any light anymore. The dark does not destroy the light. It's our fear that pushes our hope into the shadows. Broken can be mended, mistakes can be made up for." 

She saw that Slughorn was struggling, she saw that there was a chance that she could use.

"We need these memories; we could make a great chance in the wizarding world and I believe that only you can help us professor. Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and think of what could go right. It doesn't matter what mistakes you've made in the past, it's the present that counts."

His breath was shaking when he sat down onto a chair near Lily. "I do believe in hope, Miss Evans. I have done many mistakes in my past that I'm very ashamed of, you see even in his younger years Riddle was able to manipulate and got what he wanted. I'll give you the rest of my memories, if you promise not to think different of me." 

She nodded her head with an encouraging smile and watched as he pulled out a veil out of his jacket. He raised his wand to his temple and muttered something. It seemed like his wand absorbed a silver glowing strand into the glass. His eyes were tightly shut and it seemed like as if he tried to shake of his thoughts. He closed the veil and gave it to Lily, his face pale and drained of any emotion. 

"Thank you, Sir, you are really helping us with this." She pulled her chair back and stood up "Have a nice evening Sir, I have to go back to my dorm now."

He just waved her off and slumped back in his chair "Alright Miss Evans, don't get caught past curfew." 

****

Talea slumped back in her chair, a shocked scoff escaped her lips as she just leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. She was in Dumbledore's office and they went through Slughorns memories that Lily was able to get. She closed her eyes with a sigh and muttered "There are seven Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore was leaning onto his desk and brushed his hand through his beard. "Well, I suspected it, the only question is where there are." 

She slowly sat up straighter and rubbed her eyes "We know where the locket is. That means we still have four left." 

Dumbledore nodded his head and send her a knowing glance; she knew what he wanted. She was just hoping to get a little bit more time. "It has to be done." 

She nodded carefully and stepped out of the office. She had to find Regulus and Sirius, Talea let out a shaky breath. It was time... time to take them to the cave, it was time to destroy Slytherins locket.