Muggle Disclaimer: I do not own this world in which I am writing, Jo Rowling does, I am just borrowing a few characters from it. Lynn, though, is mine all mine.

Witch Disclaimer: this is Lynn's story, I am just telling it.

Part One, Chapter Three: Painful Memories

In her heart, Lynn knew what Dumbledore was asking of her, and though she wanted to let it all go, something held her back. Everythingwas a large thing to tell, and she had held back for so long… over the years, she had purposefully built a wall inside her mind. Behind that wall Lynn placed any memory or emotion she couldn't deal with or didn't want to think about, and it was nearly overflowing.

She didn't want to tell Dumbledore everything, only the facts if anything at all, yet she knew that one word, one thought, one emotion, and the river would break through, demolishing every last bit of her barrier…

And then, as she realized this, all the things she was hiding inside bubbled to the surface; they rose inside her, up and over, before she had any chance to stop them. Lynn spilled the horrible memories that had haunted her for so many years, all the memories she would never forget.

"Right before the Potters went into hiding, Remus and I had a long talk. I was Lily's friends, and I was absolutely terrified so I went to Remus. We all knew that someone was giving him information about the Potters, but we weren't sure whom. I knew it wouldn't be Remus – I don't know how I knew, but… I did. He told me how afraid he was for the three of them, how he was afraid that whoever was giving that information was one of us. I knew what he meant, for I felt the same way, though it made me sick to even think about it…

"I don't know what to do," Bethalyn said, staring into her cup. It rattled around in it's saucer as her hands shook, "I feel so helpless, and I'm scared, Remus,"

Remus Lupin sat down on the couch beside her. He didn't look well. Bethalyn knew he had troubles, she had guessed long ago what he was, but thought it best not to mention that she'd figured it out. "We're all scared, Beth," he said to her, his voice trembling, "That's why they're going to hide now. They're scared for Harry."

His name brought a smile to her lips, and the thought of not seeing him for who-knew-how-long brought a tear to her eye, "I know. Sweet Harry... he ruined my favorite shirt last time I saw him."

Remus laughed, "James was the one who fed him those peas, you know. I say you should send him the bill,"

Beth shook her head, "Ah, it was worth it." They both sat there quietly, unable to speak. Bethalyn finally found her voice.

"Remus... no one's hid from him before, successfully. And so far, every trick Lily and James use... it's like he already knew they'd be using it. Someone has to be telling him," she swallowed hard.

"I know," he said, sadly.

"And... There are only a handful of people who would have known..."

"I know."

"What if..."

Remus shook his head, "No. It won't be like that, Beth. Trust me. Sirius will be their secret keeper, and he'll never utter a word."

Silence surrounded them. Bethalyn sipped at her tea, but only half-heartedly. In her heart, she had the nagging suspicion that one of them was the traitor. "Remus, will you look at me?"

"What?"

"Here," she sat down her cup of tea and turned to face him, "Face me. For my own sake, I need to know."

He gave her a questioning look, not quite understanding what she could do, but turned and looked her in the eyes anyway. She reached forward and touched his cheek, staring into his eyes. She could see... feel... her fingers warmed at the touch of his face. She pulled them away and rubbed them. He would never betray the Potters, nor could he ever, and she knew that without a doubt. She just knew.

"And after you left Remus?" Dumbledore asked her gently, "What happened then?"

"I thought about going to visit Sirius, but knew I didn't have to. I knewRemus had complete trust in Sirius, and I knew that it was safe with him. Instead, I felt like I should go and see Peter instead, I don't know why...

"Oh, uh, hello... Beth, is it? Yes, it's Beth, of course, you went to H-Hogwarts, didn't you?"

Beth frowned at Peter Pettigrew, "Peter, are you feeling alright? It's me, Bethalyn, remember? You asked me to go to Hogsmeade with you, what was it, three times?"

"W-well, yes, of course. Is there something you need?"

Beth looked at him through the small crack in the door. "I thought I could come in, just talk. I know you're worried about James, I thought maybe we could-"

"Oh, well, no. I mean, of course I'm w-worried about J-James, but I've no time now for company, you see. Perhaps another time? Goodbye!" and he shut the door.

Beth just stood there, frowning for a moment. Just before he'd shut the door, his eyesight had crossed hers... what had that been? If only she could have touched his hand or face to be sure...

She turned to leave; heading down the walk pondering what she had saw there in his eyes, when she noticed a sour taste on her tongue... a very bad taste...

Bethalyn whirled around and dashed back to his door, but didn't knock on it. Instead she just touched the doorknob... a chill raced down her spine. Someone had just Apparated inside Peter's house, and the taste doubled.

Refusing to vomit there and then, she carefully pressed her ear to the wall, listening...

"What do you have for me now, Wormtail?"

"Godric's Hollow, sir,"

"SIR?"

"MASTER! Master, don't hurt me, please!"

"So... the Potter's have run to Godric's Hollow... what was that?"

"What, Master?"

"At your front door, you imbecile! I heard something!"

Bethalyn fell backwards with fear, not for herself, but for her friends... she scrambled back, desperate to get away to warn someone, for she had no means of fighting him... She frantically reached for her wand, but it was stuck in her jeans pocket...

The knob on the door started to turn, Beth screamed... 'Potters' and 'Godric's Hollow' rushing through her brain...

Just as the door opened, she popped out of sight.

She then found herself on a street she didn't know, one that looked overly Muggle. She'd never Apparated before, nor did she have a license to do so... it had been a complete accident.

Lying in the middle of a Muggle road, she instinctively ran for cover. From what, exactly, she wasn't sure. She hid behind a large tree, where she wouldn't be visible from the street. Beth rubbed her hands together – they were freezing. Peter had betrayed the potters, and she knew it.

And Voldemort knew that someone else knew about it. That meant he didn't have much time to do...

After some time of vomiting, she was finally able to collect herself. Shakily, she got to her feet and started down the road, looking for some sign of where she was. There were too many windows open in the homes by which she walked, so she couldn't cast a spell... and though she had Apparated once, she wasn't sure how she'd done it, and doubted she could do it again. It was a miracle she hadn't sent herself into a brick wall as it was.

Urgency made her start running. The sooner she knew where she was, the sooner she could make her way back to get help...

Then Beth saw it. The houses had thinned out, and at the end of the road before her she spotted a particular house that sat some space away from the others. She guessed it was about a quarter of a kilometer from where she stood. Something about the house - what, she couldn't say - let her know that she needed to be there.

Stopping to catch her breath, and to help ease the burning in her chest, Bethalyn paused and leant against a street post. It was by sheer chance that she looked up and read it.

Godric's Hollow.

"No!" she screamed, looking back at the house. Ignoring the pain it caused to breathe so hard, she ran as fast as she could towards it. There was flash of green in one of the windows; she nearly fell on her face when she saw it. She ran harder, there was another flash of green... she was almost there...

A third flash, far larger than the other two, seemed to cause an explosion from within. While Beth didn't hear a thing, she felt it as though she had been disarmed. She flew backwards in the air, landed amid a cluster of trashcans, and the world around her faded into darkness.

Tears ran freely down her face, now. Her voice faded to a whisper and she could barely believe all that had come out of her mouth, all that she had told her friend. Dumbledore, who she had almost forgotten about in the rush of memories, sat quietly next to her, solemnly understanding what she had seen and experienced. A long silence filled the room, so thickly that it was almost visible. It was Dumbledore who spoke first.

"And what did you see when you woke, Lynn?" he inquired, softly.

She expected another flood of emotions but none came. Just as the raging river surges then dies away to amble as it pleases, her bottled up emotions had died away. Her pain had escaped, and it left her with cold clear – well, almost clear – facts.

"I woke among broken tree limbs and trash cans. I could hear a loud rumble, like an engine, nearly pounding my head to death… It finally began to fade, so I sat up and looked around...

Before Beth could quite recall where she was, a hard hand grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against a tree trunk.

"Who did this!" demanded a familiar voice.

Beth shook her head. When her vision cleared, she saw Sirius Black had her pinned, one hand on her throat and one hand holding his wand up to her face. "Sirius?" she asked, groggily.

"What do you know!"

"What happened? Oh -" she looked around. The house was demolished, completely destroyed. And she remembered, and started to cry.

"No!" she sobbed, "I tried to stop him... I tried to stop him... Sirius, please, what happened?"

He released her, and looked away. "The Potters are dead."

"No!" Beth fell to her knees and bawled. She'd been so close...

Sirius began to walk away from her, she noticed that the look in his eyes seemed dead, defeated. He was angry, hurt, and she could see that he didn't need to know who had betrayed them.

"Wait, please, Sirius!" she called after him through her tears, "Don't go, please!"

He paused only for a moment, looking her straight in the eye, something not many would ever do, and said, "I'm going to get Peter."

And then, with a pop, he was gone.

"I don't know how I got home that night, but I did somehow. Then I found myself out in Hogsmeade, among people celebrating. Next thing I knew, it was said that Sirius Black had killed thirteen people with one curse… they also were saying that he had been working for him, and he had turned in the Potters, and then killed Peter along with a dozen Muggles.

"I tried to tell people that it was a load of rubbish, Sirius working for Voldemort, I had learned Peter had been, but it didn't matter much. They wouldn't listen, and I couldn't deny that he'd killed Peter. He said that's what he was going to do. The Potter's deaths had driven him into a blind rage, insanity even. Had I run into Peter, I might have done the same thing; try to kill him, then use a curse wrong and accidentally kill others… as morbid as this sounds, it seemed possible… but that didn't make it right. So Peter was dead, and, as far as I was concerned, Sirius was in Azkaban because he had killed people. Murder is murder, even if the victim had it coming. "

She was quiet again, but Dumbledore spoke up quickly, "Now, is that why you left?"

"Yes," she said, a few straggling tears drizzling down the corners of her eyes. "I felt guilty for not telling someone sooner about Peter, and then for not stopping Sirius when I had the chance, and then there were other things, too. Everywhere I looked, I was reminded of it all. It was driving me mad, people coming up to tell me about how the curse on Harry had killed Voldemort – I couldn't even listen. Magic, even the simplest of spells, reminded me of my days at Hogwarts with Lily, and I couldn't bear it anymore.

"So I left.My finalcharms were to change my hair and eye color, and then I sent my wand and broom to you," she looked up at his gently smiling face, "I'm sorry I didn't explain. I just had to get away from it all, and you were the only one I trusted enough in case anything had to get to me. I thought that if I could just start over, as new as I could, then perhaps I wouldn't be haunted by… by three innocent lives…"

"Three?" Dumbledore asked, suddenly curious. "I only counted two."

Lynn furrowed her eyebrows, "No... Lily, James, and Harry…" Her eyes widened, and something clicked in her head. All that Dumbledore had told her seemed to be avoiding something important… it couldn't be that Harry was….?

He frowned at her, slightly, "Didn't you notice that everyone celebrated the boy who lived? The only boy?"

There was a surge of joy in her chest, making her tremble from head to foot, "Harry," she breathed, "Harry's alive?"

"Since the day he was born," Dumbledore added, giving her a knowing grin. "He lived with Lily's sister's family until he was eleven. He didn't even know that he was a Wizard until Hagrid gave him his letter. In fact, Hagrid was the one who brought him on Sirius's motorbike to me, and I left him in care of his aunt and uncle."

"They thought Sirius was out to get him, didn't they?"

"Indeed."

She wiped her eyes, "Why… if you didn't know that I didn't know he was alive, why didn't you mention him sooner?"

He threw her a mischievous grin, "I supposed you wouldn't want to speak of him at first…" His smile let Lynn know that that wasn't the whole truth.

A rush of questions filled her thoughts, things she wanted to know, things she had to ask, but Dumbledore spoke up again, seeming to hear the questions that she had yet to ask. "I know there is much to tell you," he rose to his feet, "But that will have to wait. I asked you to be prepared, and you are, and so I suggest that we both return… home."

From his cloak, he pulled a long, golden colored piece of wood, and then reached into a pocked and pulled out a bag of what she knew was Floo powder.

"My wand!" she gasped, so surprised to see it, "You kept it all these years! Oh, I know I never had to use it much really, but I had grown fond of it all the same…"

"You will need it, now," he said to her, pressing it into her hands.

All she could do was stare, and then the next thing she knew, she was stepping of her own free will into a bonfire of green flames, and into her former life.

How she could accept it all, she wasn't sure. There was only one thing, actually, that she was certain of, and that was that there was a young man she needed to meet…

More to come, soon, I promise...