InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We're both so...tall."

Lily Evans (emerald_eyes) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-03-26 20:22:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2023 08, albus severus potter, lily evans, sirius black

RP: Reunited
Characters: Lily E, Sirius, open to other Potters
Time/Date: Evening, August 26, 2023
Location: Potter home, Godric's Hollow
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Lily tries to adjust to young!Sirius
Status: Complete

When she arrived home from her adventure in the Alleys with a stack of job applications, she was informed they'd be bringing Sirius to the Potter home that evening. He would be, at least for the moment, given use of James Sirius' room - and the irony of that wasn't lost on anyone.

Lily had started in on the applications while waiting for him to arrive. She knew he was younger, was student age. She knew, too, that when he'd been that age, they hadn't been friends. She was still a year off from dating James and thus becoming accepted by Sirius, and Lily didn't know what to think of that.

All she could do was draw parallels. What if James was that young? Or younger? She couldn't well marry a 16 year old James. She doubted she'd have anything in common with him when he was that age.

She realized it was pointless, needless worry; James might not ever come back, and she was trying to cross bridges that hadn't even presented themselves yet.

Halfway through her third application, she heard the door which meant it was most likely Sirius' arrival. Setting aside the quill, she rose and moved to the hallway in front of the door and waited. She was strangely nervous, and she hoped everything would go well.

A glance to the stairs showed her that Lily Luna was patiently waiting for an opportunity to pounce, and Lily hoped that the girl waited until Sirius had had a chance to settle in somewhat.

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biscuitforblack
2010-03-28 12:46 am UTC (link)

Sirius froze, processing that.

Reg dead?

Sure, he hated the obedient little toerag and thought he was a mindless minion to whoever he thought their parents would approve of, but he'd never wanted him dead, specifically. His brother was fourteen. Even Sirius wasn't spiteful enough to wish that bad a fate on him.

"Horcrux?" Sirius asked, staring hard at the floor.

He didn't recognize that term.

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emerald_eyes
2010-03-28 03:05 am UTC (link)

"I don't understand it exactly. Harry explained it, but it ... well, it sounded horrific. I think ... the way he explained it was there was a spell that Voldemort could do. It ... it split his soul when he killed a person, and he was able to put that bit into an object. This ... this was how he came back when he should have died when he tried to ... to kill Harry."

Lily exhaled a shaky breath. "He made ... seven. Harry destroyed all of them, so he can't come back again, but ..." Lily shook her head and rose.

She retreated to the kitchen before returning with another drink for Sirius; she reasoned he could use it.

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biscuitforblack
2010-03-28 04:13 am UTC (link)

"Thanks." Sirius didn't drink this one immediately. Instead, he held it with his elbows propped on his knees, contemplating the glass as he tried to connect together what he wanted to say next.

"So... how did... What happened? Where was I when he... showed up?"

Even asking the question twinged again at the pain that was lurking just beneath the surface. It was hard to think of Prongs dying. He had never pictured it. The curse of youth, he supposed. He and James had been convinced that they were invincible.

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emerald_eyes
2010-03-28 06:00 am UTC (link)

It took Lily a moment to switch gears enough to guess at what he was asking. Of course he'd be concerned about James.

"Ah. It ..." She sighed. "It was Peter." Lily paused as she realized she'd have to rewind a fair bit; Sirius wasn't aware of any of this. "When ... Voldemort heard a prophecy that a boy born at the end of summer would be marked as his equal, or ... would be the end of him, he targeted us. James and me. There was another boy it could have been, the Longbottom's son - Frank and Alice. But .... he picked us.

"When we went into hiding, you ... you and James insisted Peter be made the secret keeper. Said it made more sense. Said of course they'd come after you because you'd be the obvious choice, and no one would suspect Peter."

Lily glanced away. "Peter betrayed us. Peter ... sold us out, and told Voldemort where we were. So he came in, he ...." Lily closed her eyes. "James ... James told me to take Harry and go, but my wand was in the other room and I didn't have time. I ... tried to keep him out. Foolish, really, a waste of time, but ... I wasn't thinking. He'd just ... killed James. So I ... I stood between him and Harry. He told me to step aside. To ... stand aside. I couldn't, of course. Couldn't let him have my baby. Which ... saved him. The killing curse rebounded and would have - should have - killed Voldemort. It gave the wizarding world a reprieve though. Fourteen years until he came back again."

Which wasn't where she needed to go with this. "You ... after you'd heard. You tracked down Peter. You knew it had to have been him, and ... he. He killed a dozen people but set it up to look like you'd done it. You were taken to Azkaban without a trial, and you were there for ... for years, love. Until you got out in Harry's third year, and found him. Told him everything."

Lily exhaled a shuddering sigh. "Peter was killed in the war. The second war, in '98 along with ... with so many others." She studied him. "Are you ... I know this is a lot. Too much, likely, but ..." Lily shook her head and reached out a hand for him in case he needed someone to hold onto.

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biscuitforblack
2010-03-28 07:01 am UTC (link)

There was no way to react to that. First there was the icy knife that twisted every time he thought about his best mate falling, and then there was the compounding fear of it being Voldemort who'd held the wand. There was a deep sense of despair that he was too far in the future to do anything about not standing at his mate's side, ready to help defend his family.

And Peter?

Sirius was already shaking his head before Lily even finished. He couldn't believe that one of his mate's would do something like that. Little fat, useless Peter. There was no way he would be brave enough to even go to sign up to fight with Voldemort.

When Lily reached for him, Sirius waved her away and shot to his feet.

He couldn't sit still. Not knowing all of this now.

"Peter? But then he's been offed, too?" Sirius turned a strickened expression on Lily before beginning to pace the room.

Movement helped. It didn't completely allay the tremendous urge to rush out of the house looking for some sort of revenge, but it helped.

"Azkaban...years..." Sirius laughed bark-like. "Prophecies and wars and one of my mates turning traitor. How could that be too much? Isn't that what every bloke imagines his life to turn out like at sixteen?"

Sirius shook his head with another strained laugh. He had thought the worst of his life was over when he'd tossed all of things out his window over the summer, loaded up his motorbike, and headed out to the Potters'.

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emerald_eyes
2010-03-28 07:14 am UTC (link)

Lily looked slightly pained as he paced and ... well, ranted. But what else would she have expected? It was a load of information - bad news under worse news and it must seem like nothing positive had happened. But really ... nothing positive had happened.

His best mate had died, he'd been chucked into prison. He'd gotten out only to be a prisoner in his own house ... and then he'd died one of the first times he'd gotten out.

"He'll come back," Lily said softly. "Love, he has to. With both of us here, now, he'll have to come back. He wouldn't miss an adventure like this." She tried to smile, to be reassuring, but with each day that passed without James popping up in the front room, she was beginning to doubt that he would ... and she was slowly working at preparing herself to move on, when she was ready.

If James never came back, she wasn't going to let the thin strain of hope keep her from living a life. It wouldn't be the same life, and she missed all of her friends, her husband, but it would be a life. Her life.

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biscuitforblack
2010-03-28 07:46 am UTC (link)

He felt fairly gutted just hearing Lily's insistence.

Sirius didn't much care for all this bollocks about the dead coming back. He didn't have the experience of dying, so he didn't consider himself proof of anything. The dead didn't come back. Once something was lost, there was no getting it back.

And holding on to such a flimsy strand of hope would be enough to drive a bloke mad.

Sirius stopped pacing at the doorway to the next room with his back to Lily and leaned against the frame, finally sagging under the whole lot of news. He couldn't process it any more.

"D'you think we could continue this tomorrow?" Sirius said hollowly, the energy draining out of him. "It's been a bloody long day..."

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emerald_eyes
2010-03-28 04:54 pm UTC (link)

Lily felt her heart go out to him, and she nodded. She had family at least - strangers though they were. What did Sirius have? Her, a her he hadn't been friends with. A her he didn't know.

"Of course. Get some rest and ... maybe things will look better in the morning." She doubted that though - things, even now - didn't look much better to her and she'd had several mornings to deal with it.

She wanted to offer him more words of comfort, but she honestly didn't know how. Not to a him at that age. It was enough to make her wish she'd come back younger, their age ... but then they wouldn't be friends at all.

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biscuitforblack
2010-03-28 06:57 pm UTC (link)

"Right," Sirius agreed, not even bothering to pretend like he believed her. Things were looking a fair bit bleak from his perspective. Enough that he wanted to go to sleep and wake up in his four-poster.

I would be nice if that happened, but even his worst nightmares hadn't dragged along for this long. So unless this was some bloody bad confuddling spell, Sirius couldn't see a way out of accepting it as reality.

"Which room was it?" he continued, not turning 'round.

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emerald_eyes
2010-03-28 07:13 pm UTC (link)

"The ... up the stairs, the one at the end of the hall on the right," she said. She'd nearly said 'my old potions room' but ... that wouldn't have helped Sirius at all.

He'd never been here when it was hers, because when he was sixteen, so was she ... and her marriage to James and moving into the house was an unheard of prospect.

She wanted to help him more, but she knew this was one of those things that would be settled with time ... and nothing else. "Goodnight, love," she said instead, her eyes lingering on his back.

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	biscuitforblack 2010-03-28 07:42 pm UTC (link)
	"See you, E-- Lily," Sirius murmured, heading off. He should have said thanks, but he couldn't bring himself to feel thankful just yet for all the bad news. It wasn't Lily's fault, and he would sort out his feelings tomorrow enough to quit being quite the git in the morning. Maybe. He would see what the morning brought. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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