I totally forgot to update this. It completely slipped my mind. But that's ok, because there's no one reading this right?

She fell into her father's office a moment later and stared up at him from where she'd landed on the floor.

"What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" he demanded as she scrambled to her feet.

"I… I just wanted to know why."

"Why what?" his eyes were so dark and menacing. This was not her father; this was a man she had never met before.

"Why you and mum aren't together any more. Why we don't live here? I remember we used to be happy. I was at least, and I'm sure you were. These memories prove it too! So what happened? That last one… you were fighting I think, but everything was obscured somehow, like the memory was damaged. Why was that?"

"You know the Pensieve isn't a toy, Halley. Your mother and I didn't restrict you from doing too much, but we were firm on that, you're not to play around with it. What made you think-"

"Because I knew you wouldn't tell me if I asked you straight out. But I've seen it now. Lots of it. So you have to tell me! I've stayed quiet for the most part, but it's been two years Dad! Two years of 'not now Halley,' 'when you're older darling,' and 'you wouldn't understand.' You're right about one thing, I don't understand! You said so yourself, you've been in love with her since you were my age. I heard it. That doesn't just go away, so what the hell happened?"

"I don't have to answer these questions. If you want to hound someone you can go back and pester your mother."

"But I've got another three weeks here!"

"Well I'm sorry, but if you insist on acting like this then you'll just have to go early. If you were to act like the mature fifteen year old I know you to be then we might be able to negotiate a longer stay, but as it is, you're going to have to go."

Borrowing the look she had just seen Harry aim at her father, Halley turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, stomping her way up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door.

When she ventured out hours later, starving and unable to deny it any longer, she opened her bedroom door to find the stone bowl sitting in the hallway along with another two of the odd little vials.

She would have ignored them out of spite had she not seen the note, but when she found her father's words next to the old basin, she snatched them up, her stomach forgotten as her other hunger was reignited.

I'm sorry I snapped at you. Of course you can stay as long as you like. If you're insisting on all of this memory business, you should probably see these as well. Come find me when you're done,

Love Dad

Halley snatched up her wand and levitated the Pensieve onto her bed, carrying the note and the vials. Once everything was safe in her room, she closed the door and sat studying the swirling mists, trying to decide which she should choose first.

Making a snap decision, she uncorked one vial, and poured, leaning in towards it before she could change her mind.

Once again she stood in her father's office and her parents were glaring at one another from either side of the desk.

"I guess I just don't understand the problem," Aquila said.

"You do. I know you do. You were never stupid; it has to be in there somewhere."

"Say I am; pretend that I am a complete moron Draco. Tell me what's wrong."

"I am an only child, as are you," he replied slowly.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but thank you so much for telling me in such a condescending tone."

"Bellatrix and Rodolphus never had any children. Regulus died before he could father an heir, and Andromeda had a daughter. Are you following me so far?" Aquila refused to answer, she simply glared. "All of this means, that the Black line basically ends with us."

"That's not true. Halley could-"

"Halley's not a male heir. She'll get married someday, change her name. Just like Nymphadora Tonks did."

"Dora had a son!"

"Who's name is Lupin. It doesn't matter. She could have ten children, all boys; it wouldn't mean a thing unless one of them was by a man from the original line."

"So what you're saying is that we have to have a son. You want to risk-"

"Of course I don't want to. That was the worst night of my life; imagining you dying and then some idiot Healer comes and tells me they did all they could. I never want to experience that terror again."

"Well then I really don't understand. What are you trying to tell me?"

"We need to have a son." He replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world. But evidently Aquila was just as confused as Halley.

"But you just said-"

"There are ways it can be done. I've read about procedures that Muggles use when they're having trouble conceiving. It's not very well known among the magical community, but it could be done."

"There's no way."

"Aquila, you need to listen to me. You have to understand-"

"I understand perfectly. My father's line, your mother's, it's over. I understand that. The ancient and most noble house of Black," here, Halley distinctly heard sarcasm in her tone. Clearly the title didn't mean any more to her than it had when she was eleven, "will be no more than a memory when we're gone. Well so what? No, really," she continued over his attempts to interrupt. "Tell me, who will really care? Half of them were Death Eaters or secret supporters., the rest were a bunch of bigoted imbeciles.

"The only good that ever came out of that family aside from you, was blasted off the bloody tapestry and ignored. But you've forgotten Harry. He's one of us too, and Ron. The entire Weasley clan, in fact; we all came from the same place Draco. We're all family. And they may not have the name Black, but the blood line will continue through James and Albus, Hugo and Louis too. So there's no need to worry. And there's no need to try and govern something that you have no business controlling."

She left the room then without a sound and Halley was left staring at her father as he fell into the chair behind his desk. He looked defeated. Like he'd just fought in an epic battle and watched every one of his comrades struck down before he himself joined them.

As she continued to watch, he lifted his wand from the desk and held the tip to his temple. A wisp of something silvery-white trailed along as he walked to the very cupboard she'd stood in front of earlier and placed it into a spare bottle. It was an oddly shaped one she realised. Just like the one that contained her mother leaving.

The room faded around her once more and she found herself back on her bed.

"I'm sorry!" she cried out, bursting into his office, moments later, having practically flown down the stairs. "I never should have started this. I'm sorry. I promise I'll leave it alone now. I won't ask any more questions."

"Did you see them both?" he asked, looking up from The Daily Prophet. He looked exhausted; she'd never seen him like this before.

"No. Just the fight about having another baby. I'm sorry. I never knew that it had been dangerous to have me. I'm so, so-"

"Halley, please go back upstairs and watch the other."

"But I-"

"I want you to see it. Please. And stop apologising."

Back in her room, Halley held the last vial, staring into the Pensieve uneasily. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to know any more, it had been a stupid idea to pry in the first place.

"I wish I'd never started this."

"But you did," Halley looked up. Her father had followed her to her room; he was standing watch to make sure she followed through. "Go ahead. Take a look," he urged. "I'll be right there with you."

Together they bent over the bowl and Halley felt her legs lift off the bed.

When she stood right again she was in another familiar place. Hogwarts, the entrance hall. And crossing to the front doors, covered head to toe in red and gold, was her mother, accompanied by three of her dearest friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Isn't she beautiful?" her father asked from beside her. There was a younger version of him on her other side. Both of them were watching intently, oblivious to anything else.

"Disgusting," muttered the young Draco. "Such a waste of someone so pure,"

"I hadn't realised it yet. That would happen late at night, when I was seething over something she'd said to me. Just about a week from this actually. But as I stood here, I loved her."

"You sure don't look like it."

"Well no, I couldn't. And I wouldn't. Each time I was caught watching her, I would always cover myself; say something like what he just did. No one could know. That would have been the end of me. Come on, we need to go,"

He took her arm and once again, the scene dissolved, leaving behind her bedroom.

Landing on her bed, Halley was suddenly exhausted. She had travelled through thirty-odd years in just a few hours, seen so many things, it was any wonder she wasn't falling apart.

"We probably should have told you why it was that we were separating. I'm sorry that we didn't. And for so many other things. But you need to know that I still love your mother, and what I said to her the night that I proposed, did you see-" Halley nodded and he continued. "What I said that night, I meant. I will always be loyal to this family. I will always be here for you, the both of you."

"Will you ever get back together?"

"I don't think we can mend what I broke when I stupidly suggested…" he shook his head, frowning. "She probably doesn't realise it right now, but she will. I'm not going anywhere, and if there is ever a day that your mother wants to try again, nothing will stand in my way of fixing us.

"You can't let on that you know all of this, alright Hal? If you do, she'll just use that as another thing that I've done wrong. I'm sorry to put that on you, but, you can handle it, can't you?"

"Promise."

"Good girl. Now I've got some paperwork to go through, did you want to see if one of your friends can come over?"

"That's ok. I'll just wait until you're done. Maybe we could have a game of chess?"

"If you're sure,"

"I'm too tired to be any fun right now anyway."

"Ok, well, I shouldn't be too long."

"I'll be here," Halley replied. Draco nodded and collected everything associated with the Pensieve before walking out the door. Halley lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

She was exhausted. She would have loved to go to sleep and wake up refreshed to play chess with her father, but instead she found herself reliving the memories she had just witnessed, re-examining them and wondering if there was any chance that things between her parents could ever be like they were in the beginning.