"Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that's how I'll remember all of you."
Two days later, the two arrived at Hogwarts. They figured Dumbledore would be able to answer any questions they had. Remus had not known what to tell Sirius when his friend had asked about… it just hurt so much to think about them.
They made their way into the school and up to Dumbledore's office. Once there, Remus knocked lightly on the door. From inside, they could hear Dumbledore speak, "Come in Remus, Sirius." How he knew it was they, they didn't know, but they had given up trying to understand Dumbledore in their second year.
When they came in, Sirius transformed back into a human and the two took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk. Sirius sighed and began, "I guess your wondering why we're here," at his pause, Dumbledore nodded, "well, I wanted to know what really happened to Liz, Emily, Josh, and Jimmy. When they first arrested me, they told me that angry Death Eaters had killed them all. But why would they have been angry with me? I wasn't the spy."
"I see. I remember them telling you. I don't know if you recall, but I was there when they arrested you and during the questioning afterwards. Before I tell you what really happened, I have to ask, what brought this on?"
"For the last several nights, I haven't been able to sleep. I keep having a dream. There's a girl, about 15, curled up in a bed somewhere. Emily," he paused to collect himself, "Emily would have turned 15 just a few days ago. Her and Josh. Just a few days after Harry. The girl though, looked so much like what Emily might have grown up to be. Long dark hair, with her mother's blue eyes; the resemblance was uncanny."
Dumbledore nodded and started, "Well, some of what they told you is true, as far as I know." Sirius braced himself, "As far as I know, Liz really is dead." He paused, seeing the look of pain pass over Sirius's face. "I'm sorry."
Sirius nodded, but took a moment to collect himself before he spoke again. Taking a shaking breath he asked, "What about the other three?"
Dumbledore shook his head, "Josh and Jimmy, I don't know. They were put in to British muggle foster homes. I've lost track of them over the years. But Emily, she's destined to play an even bigger part than anybody imagined. I personally kept an eye on her. She was also put into muggle foster care, but in America. She's been several different homes, but for the last few years she's been with the same family."
"Does she know anything about the wizarding world?" Remus asked.
"Yes. We gave them a box that was not to be opened until her 10th birthday and then only by her. In it I put all the school books through 4th year. There is also Liz's journal and a photo album, so she'd know what her family looked like."
"You gave the books through 4th year. So she can start here this year, and go straight to 5th year, where she's supposed to be," Dumbledore nodded, "you were planning on her coming here, even before all this happened," Dumbledore nodded again, "but she doesn't have a wand, how can she do the spells?"
Dumbledore smiled, "That's rather interesting actually. Seems she inherited a certain talent from her father, one no one else was able to do until just a few years ago."
Sirius's head snapped up, "Wandless magic? You mean she can do wandless magic?"
Dumbledore gave him a small smile and nodded. "But, moving on. I suppose you're anxious to find out where she is right now. I assume I am correct in assuming that when I tell you where she is, you're going to go get her and bring her, well, home?"
Sirius nodded, "Yeah. I'll get her back here, where she belongs. Then I plan to look for Josh and Jimmy, but I just have a feeling… I need to find her first. But before I go over to the U.S. I'm going to visit Liz's grave. Was she buried in the family cemetery behind the house?" Dumbledore nodded and Remus opened his mouth to speak, "and before you ask Moony, no, thank you, but I need to do both of these things on my own."
The other two nodded. Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Well, she's living in Nebraska," he said with a smile, "I know, that poor girl. But," he said, handing Sirius a slip of parchment, "here is the address and all. Please hurry. School starts in about a month, as well as I may need you again sometime soon. Harry too."
Sirius nodded and got up. He left Dumbledore's office feeling both better and worse then he did when he arrived. Liz was dead… one thing that had always helped him keep his sanity in Azkaban was the hope that she along with the other three, were out here, alive. But, he thought as he walked towards the Forbidden Forrest, he had other things to do. First he was going to apperate home. Home, the house that he had moved into after he graduated from Hogwarts. It was an old family home that he had inherited from his grandfather, and he hadn't been there since he got out of Azkaban. He knew now that he had been unconsciously avoiding it, the place held so many happy memories, but it also held a lot of painful ones as well. But he wasn't going in, just round back to the small family cemetery behind the house. After he had made his peace with Liz, he would apperate to the U.S. (Something that required an enormous amount of skill, but he had done once or twice before), where he would find Emily and bring her back to England with him (this time in an airplane, of course, with him traveling as Padfoot).
He could see the name on the headstone from a few hundred yards. He slowed up, and pulled out a single white rose from a pocket of his robes. Reaching the stone, he bent down and laid it on the grass in front of it. Sighing sadly, he sat down in front of the grave, knowing that this may take awhile. Taking a deep breath, he began, "Hey Liz. It's been a long time. I know you're in a better place, but I've really missed you. I guess you know what's happened in the last 14 years. Man, 14 years that you, Lily, and James have been gone. It seems like an eternity. But I know you three are somewhere up there, laughing at the predicaments Moony and I get ourselves into. Mmmhh," he took a breath to calm himself, but the tears were already making their way down his face. "Oh God Liz. I don't think I can do this alone. You remember how nervous I was about all of it when you were here. But now I have to do it alone. I just don't know if I can. I mean really, what kind of father am I going to be? I'm barely a decent godfather. I know that everything worked out with Jimmy and then Josh and Emily those first few years, but we were doing it together, and I wasn't a wanted man back then." He stopped then, taking a deep breath, as he realized he didn't know what else to say. He sat there for a moment before he glanced down at her grave to see, for the first time, what had been inscribed on her tombstone.
Elizabeth Katherine Snape Black
10/29/1963- 11/1/1986
A loving mother, wife, and friend who will always be in our hearts
"Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that's how I'll remember
all of you."
He sighed again, something that he seemed to be doing a lot lately. She had died at 23, leaving behind three children. Jimmy was four, and the twins were both just over one, having been born a few days after Harry. Only a year after graduation, the summer they turned 18, her and Sirius had married, soon to be followed by James and Lily. He smiled, a soft, sad smile, as he thought of times past. The quote on the stone was so her. That sounded exactly like something she would have said while she was dying. Only right it be put on her tombstone.
He sat there for a better part of an hour before he realized that he really did have to be getting going. Standing up, he looked longingly at the grave, as though wishing Liz, his beautiful wife, was here once again. "I have to go now Liz. I'm off to start righting some of the wrongs. First, I'm going to find our daughter. I'll take care of her Liz. Her and the boys." He paused and then waving his wand, in way of good-bye, he added another inscription to the tombstone, but this time to the other side, under the carving of a mother with a child at her breast. When he was done it read: "To my one and only love. You were my angel and now you are theirs."
Walking away, he whispered, "I promise, I'll make you proud."
So quiet he almost missed it, he thought he heard a familiar and much loved voice whisper in the wind, "You already have, love. You already have."
Author's Note: Okay, that's all. For a disclaimer, see
Chapter one.PLEASE REVIEW!! Spring Break starts on Thus and I hope to get
several chapters finished over my five day weekend, so, until then-
I am, as always, yours,
