What if they all lived?

Chapter 19

Saturday 22nd December 1971

Athena Black

She returned to the Common room. Lupin took a paper and his wand and left the room without another word. He was extremely red on the checks and avoided her eyes on the way out. It was confusing.

The twins were left sitting in the Common room, alone. In the Gryffindor tower, a small number of students remained over the holidays.The twins were there, Lupin and three fifth year girls who decided to stay to get work ahead for their OWLS. The two girls, Sirius informed her, who stayed, were now in the library doing exactly that.

They stood in silence until Sirius finally broke it "Thena, I need help" the girl refrained from letting Sirius know that she was well aware of that but the sarcastic coments were flooding her mind. Sirius rolled his eyes at her smirk as though reading her mind and she laughed a little.

"I talked to Remus, he left so I could speak with you. After a lot of begging he told me I could tell you. Remus can't read" she left a breath that she didn't know she was holding to escape her mouth.

 She thought Remus might have killed someone and wanted help hiding the body, although imagine Remus, I fold my socks, Lupin killing someone. She knew about that already, she thought it obvious. Thought everybody knew. It was also obvious that Sirius had somehow been already helping with that since the boy started doing his homework, participating in class and all throughout being the genius she knew him to be.

 She didn't mention her knowledge to Remus because, after she's done some research, she found that people with dyslexia often didn't like to talk about it. She could understand why, but, in her eyes, it was an illness like every other and there was sure to be some way to treat or help with it, especially with the use of magic. But she didn't want to go looking for "a cure" without Remus' blessing. But their friendship isn't really about mentioning those types of things, they usually went out for walks, as they both enjoyed them and talked.

"I know" she watched as the boy's eyes widened and then threw his hands in the air and rolled his eyes dismissively "Of course you know. Ugh" A dramatic pause because it wasn't Sirius if there were none. "So- how do you know? I know he didn't tell you because I had to beg him to let me tell you. And I don't beg. He was ashamed to have you knowing" that explained him being so red while leaving "I felt offended, honestly, I'm the one trying to help"

She turned her waist around so that her back is no longer on the couches but on its arm instead, legs rose as she threw them on his lap. He laughed and she gave him a small kick. He laughed again, "I spend time with him. I know you do too but he gets a bit stressed when around a lot of people, he gets mad easily."

"Yeah, I know that. That's the reason that I asked to help. I want to help him obviously, but I also like to spend time with him. I get why you do it so much, he's really nice"She eyed him, a little surprised by the words, as far as she knew if her brother ever had a sweet spot he never showed it.

"I'm guessing the help you need has something to do with research?"

"Right, as you always are"

"I need to know what youve got first"

"Look, Im perfectly capable of doing this alone-" "Never doubted that"

"Well-" he said, slightly raising his voice "I looked up eye sight spells, how it works, at this point I know the whole anatomy. Brain research was the most tedious though, complex stuff. And so boring. I can't find anything, not useful at least" she nodded taking the information she's just received in.

"I need your help for various reasons. I don't really have time to do this on my own, I have put homework at the bottom of the list lately, doing it really last minute" that was, she knew for a fact, true. She saw him, scribbling away, words becoming sloopy. At breakfast, some dinners, but never lunch. Lunch was sacred.

"We will do it faster if there are two of us and you like reading this stuff better than I do" she was offended by the boys thinking she needed convincing. She already said yes but maybe she wasn't clear about it. "Sirius. I will gladly help you. Starting tomorrow, I promise"

First year- Christmas Eve

Lily Evans

Christmas Eve was filled with joy in the Evans household. She would help her mom decorate the house as it was her favorite part, they would put up the tree and girnalds on the stair railing and on the windows edges. Petunia would help their mom cook, as it was her favorite part, they would do mashed potatoes, a special type of sauce (which neither Petunia nor her mom would tell anyone that tried and recreate it) would be served on the side of it. They made salad and roast vegetables, chicken and fish with lemon. Her dad insisted they eat like that because his mother used to do it this way. No one ever objected seeing as it was the best food they would have all year. It was fun. Their father did the Christmas shopping and when they would open the presents he would act surprised. Their mom would actually be surprised (she was never quite good at present making and neither was she).

But she knew as soon as she left the train that this year hse was not to expect any of that to happen, as it was clear it wouldn't.

 Petunia was not at the station, their mom stayed with her so that she wouldn't be unsupervised and her dad said that she had been really tired. She obviously didn't believe him. And it was made even clearer when they reached home and Petunia didn't say hello, didn't hug her, did not look her in the eye, she just pretended she wanted to be there. She was tired of it. She knew Petunia would be mad because she got a letter and the older girl didn't but that was no reason for ignoring her.

Their mother made dinner without her oldest daughter's help, the first sign that this was not going to be a good night. She set up the table, alone and called out for the rest of the family to sit down. They Started eating as normal, but when silence got excruciating and their parents' gazes were fixed on the plates of food, Lily couldn't take it anymore.

"What is the matter with you?!" Her mother gave her a weird look and her dad didn't even look their way.

"With me!? I am not the one that left!"

"That's not fair! I left for school, just like you got school"

"It's not fair that I am alone all year and you get magic, you get friends, you get dad to write to you and mom to worry every waking moment! I am done!"

Their dad looked deeply ashamed and their mother told Petunia to lower her voice, but the girl had already stormed out of the dining room and left everyone else in an awkward silence that filled the room and seemed to drown them with it.

Ok, hi loves, hope you like this, hope your liking Thena and love her as much as I do. Thanks for the love, make sure to comment and vote and look this up on ao3.