Disclaimer: It's not mine.
Chapter One- Spring Cleaning
--"The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control"
-Jane Austen--
Susan felt tired, worn, stiff, and weighed down.
Today was her thirty-first birthday.
She felt so...
Old.
Not bodily old- no, she had lived for years and years under the guise of old age. And this felt nothing like that. That felt relaxed, patient, laid back. This felt heavy. Her nephew was graduating tomorrow, and her sister wouldn't be there to see it. Just like she hadn't been there to see Susan graduate, just like she hadn't been there to see her best friend's funeral.
Because, she was never there. And she never would be again. Susan's sister was dead.
Susan shook her head, jerked out of her memories by the sound of a hollow metal clank followed by a considerable amount of cursing coming from the attic.
Her roommate, June, was attempting to clean out the attic, no easy feat in a house shared by two certified pack rats. Susan decided that, in order to avoid any further harm to either June or the house itself, she should go up and see what her roommate was up to. June wasn't exactly the most coordinated person in the world, and Susan didn't want her destroying any priceless family heirlooms.
She squeezed past the ladder in the hall that was waiting to be used to fix the light, and pulled herself up a narrow flight of rickety stairs, only stopping when she heard the telltale rhythmic clank of something falling down towards her. She bent down to pick up the cheap, touristy snow-globe that came to rest at her feet, and continued up the stairs.
She hid a snicker behind her hand when she rounded the top steps and looked at the sight before her. June, looking rather frazzled, was sitting on a stool with one leg missing, cobwebs in her hair, half-empty boxes surrounding her, with a metal rod in one hand and what used to be a card table sitting beside her at a cockeyed angle.
"I can fix it!" June said, determinedly, when she saw Susan's dubious expression. Susan smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Oh just throw the old thing out, anyway. It's not like we ever use it."
June seemed to realize something just then, and looked from the leg, to the table, and back to Susan, and burst out laughing.
"Oh, we're so bloody pathetic!" she howled, clutching at her side. Susan raised an eyebrow.
"Pathetic?"
June, who had just started to quiet down, began laughing again. She picked up the neatly polished wand laying by her side, and burst out, "Reparo!"
The leg immediately clicked back into place. Susan took one look at the table, and started laughing uncontrollably. She wasn't sure why. It really wasn't that terribly funny. Maybe she just needed a good laugh. Whatever the reason, she simply couldn't stop. Every time the laughter died down, she would take one look at June and burst out laughing, again. And it felt good.
Once their laughter had quieted down, due mostly to difficulty breathing, the women, both smiling, set to work going through the other boxes.
"Pictures in a box marked, 'Home, 1972. Susan and Lavinia'." June read off a label.
"Keep. I don't have many pictures of Livi- the older she got, the less she liked cameras" Susan said, smiling sadly.
"You know, you never told me about your childhood. Lavinia is your sister, right?"
"She was..." Susan hesitated for a moment, and then said, with conviction, "Yes, she was my sister."
"Was?"
"She died." Susan replied calmly.
June looked horrified. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."
Susan sighed. "I've had about seventeen years to get used to it. It's fine. Really. Besides, I've lost other people too, that I miss just as much. I suppose I'm just becoming a bit jaded." She finished, smiling bitterly.
"Do you want to talk about it? I won't pry." June offered, very concerned for her friend.
"I wish I could, June. I just can't."
June accepted that, if a bit reluctantly, and began searching through another box.
"Hey... Suze... I know I said I wouldn't pry, but..."
She held up a picture of Susan as a teen, holding a baby and being hugged by a woman.
"But, Suze, why is there a picture of you with Lily and Harry Potter?"
"Lily was a family friend" Susan replied immediately, and it came out sounding extremely rehearsed. June inspected her friend carefully.
"I don't buy it."
"What? You can ask Dumbledore himself if you don't believe me." Susan snapped, sounding a bit flustered.
"Why would Dumbledore know about your family acquaintances?" June asked slowly, and then turned to dig through the box again.
"Don't!" Susan called out, and this clued June into action, who made a frantic grab at the box before Susan jumped towards her. She dodged Susan's groping arms and ran quickly down the spiral steps and into the bedroom, locked the door, and sat down with the box on her twin bed.
"June Elizabeth Edwards! Don't you dare! I'll blast down the door!"
"Your wand's in here!" June called out, out of breath. Susan seemed to realize this and swore profusely. June picked up the picture that had started this whole mess, and reached down, pulling out the first paper.
"Before you is the written will and last testament of Lily Evans Potter, as of December Thirtieth, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Nine. Verified by Gringotts Bank, London, on December Thirty-first, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Nine.
Recipients of assets are as follows: James Harold Potter, Harold James Potter, Petunia Dursley, Susan McIntyre, Albus Dumbledore, Remus John Lupin"
June thought her eyes were going to burst out of her head. Susan was mentioned among Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore in Lily Potter's will?
"To Remus John Lupin, monetary and property assets consisting of a Number Four, Privet Drive, as well as 1/6 of the monetary assets contained under Lily Evans's name, both in wizarding and muggle currency, being held at Gringotts Bank in London.
To Albus Dumbledore, property in the form of one book, titled One Hundred and One Knock-knock Jokes.
To Susan McIntyre, monetary and property assets consisting of 1/6 of the monetary assets contained under Lily Evans's name, both in wizarding and muggle currency, being held at Gringotts Bank in London, as well as items of emotional value to be chosen by Susan, excluding property being given, and mentioned in this will, to any other recipient upon Lily Potter's request.
To Petunia Dursley, property in the form of one galleon, one sickle, and one knut, a single dung-bomb, as well as 1/12 of the monetary assets contained under Lily Evans's name, in muggle currency, being held at Gringotts Bank in London, but only on the terms that Petunia Dursley swear to keep care of anything magical of Lily's bestowed upon her by inheritance, for the rest of her life.
To Harold James Potter, all remaining assets belonging to Lily Potter, not taken by Susan or any other property mentioned in this will to be attained by other recipients at Lily Potter's request.
To James Harold Potter, rights to keep anything he wishes, including anything mentioned in this will."
June blinked.
"Why in Merlin's name did you get exclusive rights to Lily Potter's property?!" She yelled at the door. Susan groaned, and June heard her slide down the door and land, sitting, with a thump, on the floor.
"Family friend?" she said weakly.
"Bullshit!" June called, almost cheerfully, and picked up the next item. Exploding Snap Cards. She tossed them aside, and picked up the next thing. It was a piece of parchment with different kinds of handwriting on it.
.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨
"Rose? You there?"
"Yeah, Lil, but you know you're supposed to call me Susan. What if somebody reads this?"
"Who would read this?"
"..."
"Exactly."
"What are you doing this weekend?"
"Hogsmeade with the Gang"
"Oh, I forgot. I wish I could come."
"Next year, Rose, next year."
"I'm serious! You can't call me that! No one here is supposed to know that you're my..."
"Sister?"
"Lily! Anyway, a trip to Madame P's in order for the golden couple of Gryffindor?"
"James and I are NOT a couple! You've taken too many bludgers to the head."
"Lily and James, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G"
"You know, for being related to me, you're pretty thick sometimes."
"At least I'm not a bookworm cough you cough"
"I just like to read! And so do you, so don't give me that! I saw you reading my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird the other day."
"Well, I'm obligated to steal your stuff."
"But of course, that's what little sisters are for"
"Lily! Not here!"
"I am glad, though, that I found you. I love you, Rose"
"I... well... I love you too, Lil, but..."
"Sorry to get all sappy... now what were we talking about?"
.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.¨.
June blinked, pinched her arm, and blinked again.
"WHO THE BLOODY HECK IS ROSE?"
June stood up, stomped over to the door, swung it open, and stood, arms crossed, staring at Susan.
"Me" she said quietly, hiding her face.
"YOU'RE SUSAN MCINTYRE! YOU ARE NOT ROSE! WHO IS ROSE?"
"Me" Susan repeated
"Why are you Rose?" June asked, stunned.
"You have to understand, I grew up as Susan."
"Suze, who the heck are you?"
"Rose Marie Evans"
"Evans? As in Lily?"
"Exactly. Lily, my big sister."
"But... you're... Susan" June finished lamely, and slid down the wall next to Susan.
"It really all started when Lily got her letter."
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A/N- Well, there you have it! The first chapter! First three people to review (nicely) get mentioned in the story!
:D - Laura
P.S.- the more reviews I get, the faster I'll upload. Really, I swear.