Lily hummed to herself, the little tune from her music box. She was setting up her music box onto the dresser, when suddenly she remembered.
Sirius pushed open the door quietly to find Lily sitting on her bed, holding her music box in one hand, and the other hand stroking a piece of cloth in her trunk. She was crying.
"What's wrong L—Belle?" He asked soothingly, sitting down next to her. She replied in a somewhat normal voice, though still very said and very French.
"Oh, Sirius.. I spent hours packing and repacking everything important to me and then I completely forget- Almost everything important to me belonged to Lily.. I mean, they belong to me, but if I set them out, people will know. They'll know who I am." She said sort of breathlessly, beginning to sob again.
"What is with this whole other identity thing? We all miss Lily.. Why didn't you bring her back to us?" Sirius put an arm around her shoulder and brought her closer, so she could sob into his shirt like the old days.
She sat up and rubbed away a tear. "No. Can't you see I ran away to forget this life? I had to leave, Sirius, I had to change. I couldn't come back until I was semi-unrecognizable. All that work, wasted.."
He nodded as she began to cry into his shirt again. "Then what are you going to do with the things, Lily?"
"Pack them up in boxes and owl them home, I suppose." She replied, her voice muffled. "Don't call me that."
"Well, Belle, I'll bring the boxes and we'll pack, together, and I'll help you take them to the owlry." Sirius told her, pushing her away gently. "Get a hold of yourself. You're strong, you're tough. And somewhere in there, you're Lily."
Lily nodded, getting up sadly to pick up things like her yearbook, a few sketches Munguldus had given her, things like that. As Sirius left the room, she found something else very important to her.
The silver Princess frame. With her and James in the picture, on the gazebo. She sat down on her bed and began to cry again.
Blonde-curled Sean Barnes and dread-locked Nick Jordan were both playing with their own Quaffles, tossing them back and forth, as they walked up to the owlry. Their jaws dropped when they saw the very pretty French girl giggling with Sirius Black, both of them holding big, cardboard boxes.
"Oh, hello, Sean, Nick. This is my friend Belle." Sirius still had his arms full, but he nodded in her direction.
"'Allo." She said in a fake Australian accent.
"Stop it, Belle." Sirius looked at her with scolding in his eyes. "She's from France."
"Hi." Sean muttered slowly, offering his hand, holding the Quaffle in his other one. Belle looked like someone.. Though exactly who he couldn't remember. She put down the box, wiped her hands on her skirt, and shook his hand.
"Hi." Nick flashed her his infamous smile and took her hand, kissing the top of it gently. He held his Quaffle behind his back.
"Would you boys mind helping us out a bit? Belle is sending a few things home. Her cousin's things got packed into her trunk." Sirius jerked his head in the direction of the owls.
"Oh! Yeah.. Sure." Sean seemed a little confused, but he got four owls anyway. Nick got some twine.
"You sure are sending home a lot." He told her as they both tied her box onto two of the owl's feet. They were on their knees, and she looked up with a smile.
"My aunt packed my bags. She's a little spacey."
He noticed the French accent.
"Well.. Um.. You're a Gryffindor, right?" His half-grin didn't throw her off.
"Yeah." She tied the final knot. "Thanks. A whole bunch."
"Head Girl?" He was still grinning widely.
"Yeah.. Is it, um, traditional.. Yeah, that's it. Is it traditional to ask newcomers half a billion questions here?" She stood up, placing her hands on her hips.
He stood up, with the owls in his hands. "No. You just heavily remind me of someone."
Belle gulped. "Thank you, again."
Sirius noticed her nervousness. "Well, we really should get back, else McGonagall will fry us."
"Yeah, she can be like that." Sean replied coolly. "Quidditch scrimmage on Saturday, right, Sirius? See you around, Belle."
Both Ravenclaw boys noticed that though Sirius had his arm around the girl, it was in a way more brotherly than romantic.
"You boys look absolutely adorable!" Belle proclaimed in her best British, though it still was touched with French. "Like boys at Eton!"
The Gryffindor seventh year boys looked up. This was the first time they had seen Belle in her uniform, and vice versa. She had pulled away half of her curls, the top ones, with a black ribbon, and she still wore her blazer, even though it was humid outside. She sat down next to Tad.
"Yeah, they gave us uniforms free of the robes in sixth year. This one girl, that Lily girl I told you about, came out one day wearing her tightest blouse, her shortest skirt, and her tightest knee-highs. But of course, she got away with it because she was on uniform-enforcement patrol." Tad told her. "Have a bit of toast. The pancakes on weekday mornings make you feel like a balloon."
Belle took some toast and a bagel. As she was spreading the cream cheese all over it, Christopher Morgan poured her some orange juice.
"Why, thank you, Christopher." She said, still chewing a bit of her bagel.
"Please, you must call me Chris." He said with a grin. "Everyone does."
"Did you hear about Severus Snape and Zahn Michaels?" George offered the group. Belle wrinkled her brow.
"Who are Severus Snape and Zahn Michaels?" She said in an almost perfect British accent.
"Only the king and queen of the Slytherin house. You do know who the Slytherins are, right?" Ethan asked in a gentle voice that he could have used on a child.
"Yes, yes.. You were, saying, George?" Belle replied.
"Oh, well.. Zahn is that blonde girl over there.." He pointed her out.
"The one who looks like she's got dung under her nose?" Belle interrupted, horrified. The boys laughed.
"No, that's Narcissa Nott. The girl that is acting like she's the Queen of England is Zahn Michaels." Paul told her kindly.
"Anyway.." George raised his voice to get back to his story. "They had a huge lovers' spat at the end of sixth year and Snape apologized last night while you and Sirius were in the owlry, and he proposed."
Belle choked on her orange juice. As soon as she had swallowed it properly, her hand flew to the area just beneath her neck. "He proposed?"
Everyone looked at her strangely except for Sirius. Why would Isabelle Bernhardt care about a stupid Slytherin?
"I mean, aren't they a little young?" She smoothed over the little wrinkle in the conversation.
"Well, yes." Ethan said, pouring her a bit more orange juice. "But it really isn't unexpected. The two have been joined at the hip since January in sixth year."
"Plus, he proposed to Lily Evans in fifth year, and they actually almost got married." Ronan spat.
"EWWWWWWWWW!!! GROSS!!!" The Gryffindor seventh year boys chorused.
"Lily Evans?" Belle wrinkled her nose a bit. James thought it was sort of cute.
"I've been telling you about her, Belle." Tad said. "Perfectly wonderful girl in our year, looks a bit like you, really."
She looks a LOT like her. James thought.
"Oh." Belle replied.
"And do you remember in sixth year when David Morales got onto one knee to try to get her to be his girlfriend?" Remus asked Sirius. The other boys burst out laughing, and Sirius grinned embarrassedly.
Belle tried to suppress a giggle. "What happened?"
"Sirius thought he was proposing, and he moved through the crowd, sailed through the air and jumped on him." James answered. Belle began to giggle. He realized he enjoyed making her laugh.
"Didn't he end up proposing to her anyway?" Logan asked.
Munguldus laughed. "Yeah, at the Halloween dance later that year, remember?"
The boys laughed.
"What happened then?" Belle asked, not being able to touch her toast.
"She bopped him over the head with her purse twenty-seven times." Patrick told her. The boys began to laugh again.
"Did it hurt him?" Belle seemed horrified.
"Perhaps, and they had a huge row right on stage." Peter said.
"He was asking her a million questions about why she couldn't marry him, and she snapped back with a cute answer, until finally she shouted that she was washing her hair that day before stomping off." Remus said with a laugh. "Sixth year was incredible."
"Oh, we better get to class." Belle said, looking at her magical watch.
"What does it say?" Tad asked.
"Almost late for Charms." She replied.
"Let's go before Flitwick Summons us." James muttered. The Gryffindor seventh years laughed.
"Did you enjoy reminiscing about your past as an innocent outsider?" Sirius whispered. They had finished their assignment long ago, and Flitwick not only rewarded them with points, but allowed them to talk quietly. Lily was using her normal voice. They had intentionally seated themselves far away from the rest of the class, which they shared with the Hufflepuffs.
"It was sort of fun, you know? It's nice, that they still remember me." Lily dipped her head with a sweet smile on her face.
"Remember you? They can't forget you." Sirius whispered.
Lily blushed a little. "Shall we go over fifth year at lunch?"
"Fifth year is a little too painful, for us all. We prefer thinking about sixth year. Nobody died that year." He muttered bitterly.
"Oh. Right."
"Did you just forget us?" He asked her, moving his hand over hers.
"Actually, I pretty much pushed everything about this place out of my mind until the day I left France, when I had to think about it. Except for Arabella and Charity. They were always there." Lily admitted. "That's why I brought so much of my memories as my former self. I simply didn't remember."
"Alright, Belle. I can tell this is painful. Plus, you might want to put your things up. Class is almost over." Sirius turned away. Lily looked to her left and saw that James was staring at her.
"Yes, Sirius." Lily replied in her Belle-voice.
"Sirius?" James finally asked. There were three dormitories for the seventh year Gryffindor boys. In this one resided Sirius and James of course, and Remus, who was fast asleep.
"Yes, James?" He replied, his voice a bit muffled through the curtains.
"Do you blame me?" James finally expressed what had been nagging him for since New Year's.
"For what, James?" Sirius sat up, wondering where this was leading to.
"Well, you know, for making Lily run away for, for, for, well, forever." James sat up, too.
Sirius pushed back the curtains. "Why do you think that?"
"Well.." James sounded reluctant, but then he sighed. "Well, when you finally realized she wasn't coming back, ever, you sort of looked at me like you were disappointed."
Sirius took a deep breath and a moment of silence. "I was. I was disappointed in you both. Her for running away, you for not chasing after her."
"Oh." James said. "Well."
"But I never blamed you for making her run away. She ran on her own terms. That's Lily, I suppose. She's always been running from her problems, either that, or her problems run away for her. Like when you became a problem before third year, you left. No problem anymore. When her parents divorced, she got her letter from Hogwarts and didn't have to hear about any of it until summer. When her mum died, when her dad died.. She went back to Hogwarts. And when you became a problem again, she ran. Except that time, she didn't run back to Hogwarts. She ran from the country." Sirius said quietly, lying back down.
"What makes you think she left the country?" James asked him, lying back down.
"She wouldn't let her personal life interfere with her learning. She probably fled the country to go to another school." Sirius half-lied. He knew she went to another school.
"Do you think owling her would help?" James asked after a moment.
Sirius sat straight up again. "Why would you want to do that?"
"Oh, Belle said if I missed this person, I didn't explain who she was, so much, I should owl her. Do you think I should?" James intertwined his fingers on his stomach.
"It's up to you, Prongs. When you make your decision, make it well." Sirius replied exasperatedly. "Go to sleep, Prongs. We have classes in the morning."