So what do you think of the story so far? Going on, thanks to all my readers, reviewers, and those who favourited and followed this story. A special thanks to Paula990 for reviewing all the chapters so far. Your support means a lot to me.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6 – Down the Memory Lane

Sirius spent the afternoon diligently sorting out the memories that he was going to show Lily. He selected those which concerned Lily as much as possible, keeping those containing the silly banters of the Marauders, or them hexing and bullying people as much away as possible. He also kept away the revelation of Remus being a werewolf and the memories of them becoming animagi; that was something he wasn't sure she needed to know; he could always tell her later anyway.

By four o'clock, he had a fine collection of silvery liquid-gas material swirling in numerous glass phials. It had been a tiring job, recalling the old times and pulling the memories out with his wand; it had demanded a lot of concentration. But finally it was over. Now all that was left to do was go through the memories with Lily and hope for the best.

As he placed the last phial on his bedside table, he could not suppress a yawn. Deciding to take a brief nap, he fell down on the pillows, hoping that Lily wouldn't mind if he snagged the bed for half an hour. He had scarcely finished his thought when his eyes shut on their own accord and he drifted off to the land of dreams.

-o0o-

She lay facing him on the bed by his side, looking at him steadily, her brilliant gaze unwavering. He didn't know when she had slipped into the bed, how long she had been at his side, but her presence caused a wave of happiness to spread through his body. Not willing to care about situations and consequences just then, when he had her so close, he kissed her gently on the lips, a smile spreading on his face as he soaked in the sheer beauty of her features. She smiled back at him, ardour evident in her lovely green eyes, and leaned into the kiss. Their lips moulded into each other, their movement slow and sweet. There was no haste, no urgency. She stroked his face with fingers, and he felt a joy he had never felt before as he savoured the feeling of her gentle fingers on his skin. Her hair smelt lovely, the scent of vanilla wafting from the beautiful red tresses as he buried his face in them.

"Sirius..." she whispered into his ears, and he wanted her to say it again and again, for his name had never sounded so sweet on any other set of lips. He hummed contentedly, drawing her even closer to him.

"Sirius," she said again, "I love you."

He jolted upright on his bed, his heart hammering in his ribcage as though he had just had a nightmare. He looked around him with wild eyes; there was no one in the room other than him; there was no redhead beside him. He exhaled loudly. What had that been? Why, in the name of Merlin's most ridiculous dress robes, had he been dreaming about Lily? And had it even been a dream?

Automatically, he shifted from his bed and walked out to the living room. Lily was reclining on the couch, reading an old copy of the Witch Weekly. He sighed in profound relief; it had only been a dream. But the relief was only momentary, because it brought hot on its heel the question – why had been he dreaming about kissing Lily? Hadn't he just told her that they would be friends and nothing more? Was that not what he wanted?

Lily had been following the 'friends only' policy very well; she had got back to teasing and bantering with him, and the mildest sliver of tension that sometimes hung in the air between them was the only tangible reminder of what has passed the previous day.

As he looked on at her, lost in his own thoughts and speculations, she became aware of his presence. Putting down the magazine, she looked at him questioningly.

"Anything the matter, Sirius?"

"Huh?" he shook himself clear of his train of thought. "Oh no, I...er – I have finished sorting the memories out. Do you feel up to taking the first lesson?"

She sat up and grinned. "Sure. Let's do this."

Sirius took up the Pensieve and gingerly placed it front of her.

"Wait a second." he said, and made a quick trip to the bedroom to bring the desired memory.

"All right," he said as he poured the contents of the phial into the basin, "We are going to start from the very beginning, okay? This is the memory of the first time I met you and James."

Lily nodded and stepped forward with trepidation, watching the now swirling contents of the Pensieve.

"Ladies first?" Sirius said with a small smile.

"Okay..." Lily allowed, making his smile widen. Always the true Gryffindor, he thought.

"Okay, now bend your head forward, like this..." he guided her as Dumbledore had taught him that morning. Soon she had leaned far enough and had disappeared into the basin. He took a deep breath and followed suit. The next moment he was falling, falling, through sounds and blurred images, until his feet hit solid ground, and he found himself standing next to Lily in the Hogwarts Express. She visibly relaxed when her eyes lighted on him.

"Take my hand?" he offered. "We won't get separated that way."

She nodded gratefully, and entwined her fingers in his. The contact made a shiver run unexpectedly through his body, which he ignored.

"Hogwarts Express," he elaborated to her, looking around. This was his memory, so they must be quite near to where the younger version of himself was sitting with the eleven years old James...

It didn't take him more than two minutes to find the compartment he was looking for. Two young wizards were sitting on the seats, talking loudly; one was bespectacled and the other had longish hair and aristocratic features. Sirius saw Lily smile out of the corner of his eyes as her eyes fell on the two boys. Also sitting by the window, looking out of the window, was a redheaded girl.

"James and me, when we met for the first time in the train," he explained. "And you, of course." he added softly, an involuntary smile tugging at his lips as he saw how sweet and innocent the eleven years old Lily looked.

He tugged at her hand as he walked straight through the compartment door; he had learnt from Dumbledore that in the memory, they were no more solid than ghosts.

"Come on," he said.

They settled at one corner of the compartment and watched the children. Sirius felt odd watching the scene he had left behind six years ago being played before him.

Lily took a good look at her younger self.

"It looks like I have been crying," she said, sounding confused. "Why?"

Sirius looked at the red rimmed eyes of the young girl.

"It was about some spat you had with your sister," he said, shifting uncomfortably. Lily hadn't talked about the incident at all except one small mention of it later in their sixth year, but even then she hadn't gone into the details. Although back then, in the train, he had not even spared a second glance at the crying girl with whom he sat, let alone talk to her, Sirius felt guilty about his actions now. He ought to have had been a little more sensitive.

"Er – I am sorry for being such an insensitive prat back then," he said, waving a hand towards the younger versions of him and James. "I should have talked to you or something."

"It's okay," Lily shrugged. "I don't mind...and I don't remember the times anyway."

Their discussions were interrupted by the entry of a young boy with a curtain of greasy black hair. He was already in his Hogwarts robes. He sat down in the seat opposite to the younger Lily.

"Snivellus," Sirius hissed almost inaudibly.

"I don't want to talk to you," the eleven year old Lily said, giving him a quick glance and turning back again.

"Why not?" queried Snape, a look of confusion and hurt flashing through his black eyes.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?"

She looked at him in dislike.

"So she's my sister!"

"She's only a—" he caught himself mid-sentence. Sirius knew that he had been about to say 'muggle', but had only stopped because of Lily.

"But we're going!" Snape said, trying to cheer the young girl up. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Lily nodded, wiping her eyes, and she half smiled.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," said Snape in an eager voice.

"Slytherin?" James spoke up, noticing the redhead and her companion for the first time since they had entered. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He turned to the eleven years old Sirius, who had been lounging on the seats opposite him.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," the younger Sirius said, his face darkening. Sirius remembered with stark accuracy, as he heard his younger self speak those words, the deep sense of insecurity than had crossed his mind when James had said that. He had liked James from the moment they had met, and James' words had made his fear that James would no longer like to be his friend if he got sorted to Slytherin.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

The younger Sirius grinned, as did the older one. That had been the moment when he had consciously made the wish of being different from his family. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an invisible sword. "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

Sirius heard Lily giggle beside him, not the one in the memory, the seventeen years old, real one.

"He is so childish," she said, watching James wield the imaginary sword, a smile on her face.

"He was a bit of an idiot back then, we all were," Sirius replied, chuckling at Lily's amusement.

Snape made a small noise of disapproval. James turned on him. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" The younger Sirius put in.

James laughed loudly. The young Lily sat up, face flushed in anger, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said, dragging the boy out with her.

"Oooooo... " James and Sirius imitated her high voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" they called as the compartment door slammed, and leaned back on their seats, laughing.

"Let's go," Sirius said to Lily, and held her hand as they began flying upwards at an alarming pace. Before their brains had registered much except the dizziness caused by the swift motion, they were back in the sitting room of Sirius' flat.

"Not a very lovely first meeting," Lily commented, a mixture of annoyance and amusement written on her face.

"Yeah," Sirius replied apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "We weren't the nicest of people. And I am afraid that this kind of idiotic behaviour will be common in the next few memories; we didn't reform until sixth year, you see, or rather, the seventh year, and as I already told you, you hated us for a long time."

"Well, anyway, it was an interesting experience. I'll be looking forward for the rest."

Sirius nodded. "I'll try to cover up the rest of the memories as soon as possible." And let's hope to Merlin that you get your memory back by then, he added silently, as she headed back to the bedroom.

So, what do you think? Will Lily get her memory back? How? When? We'll see ;)

Until next chapter, folks!