Love Song Requiem

Prologue:

Memories

"Sirius? Who is that?" Harry Potter, the boy who lived, stood in his godfather's childhood home when he noticed a picture that had caught his attention. He hadn't seen a lot of pictures other than the portraits that screamed at him half the time, but this one was different. It wasn't a portrait, but a photo much like the ones he had in his photo album. It was a young girl, with dark hair and holding onto what looked like a younger version of his godfather. She was smiling brightly, and he was laughing as she held onto his neck. They were both dressed in their Hogwarts robes, a Ravenclaw crest shining brightly on the girl's. Harry took the frame into his hands, and turned to his godfather. At first, Harry thought he hadn't gotten his attention, but when he turned to him he saw those gray eyes look right at him. Harry wasn't sure what he saw in them, but he knew he saw a flurry of emotions pass over those eyes.

"Who is she Sirius?" Harry asked again, and Sirius seemed to come out of a trance.

"Her name is Emma," Sirius answered, "Emma Reeves."

Harry looked down at the picture again, the mysterious girl had a name and it was obvious she had some kind of past with Sirius. Especially enough of one that held pictures of her in his former home. She was beautiful, though some may have found her plain. However, that smile she held was intoxicating and Harry felt himself smiling just looking at this picture. He wondered what kind of history his godfather had with this girl, and he wondered where she was now.

"What happened to her?" He questioned, and suddenly felt bad. Harry didn't ask where she was, or what had happened between her and Sirius. He just assumed that something terrible had happened to her, and that just proved the kind of world they lived in.

"She died," Sirius responded, and Harry felt even worse. He had a feeling something like that had happened, just because so many had died due to Voldemort and his treachery. Harry set the picture down back in its place, and turned to Sirius. He knew his godfather had lost many, but he wondered if this girl was important. She had to be, just the picture showed him some kind of connection.

"That's you right?" Harry asked, and Sirius nodded, "who was Emma Reeve to you?"

"She was a wonderful witch, taken far before her time," Sirius sighed, "she was a good witch all her life, only her sister was not. Amelia took a bad road, and ended up dragging Emma down with her. In the end, Emma died protecting those she loved and in the end it didn't matter. Amelia still sided with Voldemort, even after her sister's murder. Emma was one of the many souls that died for nothing, one of the many that left us far too soon."

Harry immediately regretted asking Sirius about Emma, he could see the pain it caused him. The young wizard pondered on a way to get Sirius mind off of the Ravenclaw who had died, before he could hear Molly Weasley shouting about dinner being ready. Harry looked at Sirius, who just smiled.

"C'mon Harry, we'd better go before Molly starts yelling," Sirius said, before he departed from the room. Harry turned to look back at the picture once more, but the scene didn't change. His Godfather was laughing as Emma held onto him tightly, looking like she would never let go. At least in that picture, she wouldn't. Harry had more questions about her, but he knew it wasn't right to ask. Maybe if Voldemort was someday defeated, if darkness no longer sat on the world of wizards, maybe Harry could ask Sirius about Emma Reeves. When the memory didn't cause too much pain, Harry would ask Sirius more about Emma. Turning away from the picture, he left the room leaving Sirius and Emma smiling at his back.

He lifted the frame off the table, holding it in both his hands. Sirius Black had spent years in Azkaban because of a betrayal of a friend. He was locked up in the once place he had hated more than anything as a child. He walked these halls often, but he had completely forgotten this picture had existed. Emma Reeves haunted his memories, his dreams, everything around him was haunted by the memory of her. Her smile helped keep him sane in Azkaban, along with promised vengeance against the one who betrayed his friends. Emma hadn't been his friend for years like James or Remus, he had just met her during his sixth year. She didn't care that he was the play boy of the school, she didn't care that he wasn't the best student. In fact, she didn't even really like him at first, but she didn't hate him either. Emma was indifferent most of the time, but that was why he wanted to catch her. She didn't make it easy, but Emma made it fun. She made him forget how bad his life outside was, and made him realize how important his friends really were.

But like he had told Harry, Emma had been taken far too soon.

He set the picture back down, and watched as his younger self was laughing at him. Back then, they had no care in the world. He had been so happy with Emma, his life seemed to have meaning at that point. If he could go back in time, he'd tell his past self to hold onto her and never let go. The moment he had let her go, Emma had left his sight forever. Sirius could still remember that day, it had been raining when he had received the news. James had been there with him, and Remus had joined them soon after. Lily had made tea, and offered for Sirius to stay with them for the night. In truth, Sirius didn't want comfort. He had wanted Emma. It was the one time in his life when he felt like he couldn't be near his friends for sometime. After losing Emma, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He became angry, a lot more enraged than he had been and then Lily and James died. His whole world was falling apart, and now it was getting put back together. He was free from Azkaban, though still blamed for a lot of the trouble in the world, and he had his god son back. Except, Emma, Lily, and James were still gone. The most important people in his life were gone, and what was he going to do about it?

Sirius departed from the room, and headed to bed. The others were asleep hours ago, and Sirius should have joined them. However, he climbed the stairs listening to them creak as he did. Thoughts of Emma passed over his mind as he returned to his old bedroom. It was full of Gryffindor memorabilia and more pictures. Of course, these weren't of just Emma, but of everyone else as well. Sirius had lost so much over the years, and had gained so little as he did. He sat on the incredibly small bed, and made a mental note that he needed to get a bigger one if he was going to be trapped here. The pictures surrounded him, his room hadn't changed since he had left it years ago. Sirius reached for a picture of the Marauders, and he couldn't even let the appearance of Wormtail dampen the picture. They had all been such good friends, they never knew what the future had held or what pain it would bring. If Sirius had known, he felt like he would have done something different.

He placed the picture back on his dresser, and rested his back upon the bed again. Closing his gray eyes, he started to drift off to sleep with dreams of Emma and his friends floating around in his head.