Chapter 4: The Joys of Having Friends

Remus walked through the door to the Potions classroom. He was immediately assaulted by two black-haired boys. "Well?" asked Sirius.

"Well, what?" Remus replied, as he tried to move around them.

"You know what. We saw you talking with Lydia at lunch," James countered.

"Nothing happened. We just talked."

"About?"

"School, mostly."

James and Sirius groaned. "What?" It was now Remus's turn to ask.

"Mate, you really need to find something better to talk about," James said.

"She's a Ravenclaw. That means she likes school."

"No, it means she is intelligent. Jeez, Remus, if you're going to try to pick up girls, you need to come up with some better conversation," Sirius added.

"When are you going to stop with the idea that I like Lydia? I don't even know her!"

"How else do you expect to get to know her?"

Remus chucked a pen at Sirius. "Shut up."

"Hey, I'm just trying to help!"

"No, you're trying to be a total arse. And you're succeeding, as usual."

Their conversation ended as Prof. Slughorn began lecturing them on Polyjuice Potion.

For Lydia, the next few weeks flew by. Her favorite classes were Care and Healing. She and Adrian spent a good deal of time together as a result of the class. They often studied together, sometimes with Rachel and Remus as well. Because of Remus and Adrian being there, James, Sirius, and Peter often came over too. Their sole goal was to distract the others. Needless to say, they performed their job admirably.

Today was no exception. It was October 20 and Lydia, Adrian, Rachel, and Remus were studying for a test in Defense the next day. Sirius, James, and Peter entered the library about a half hour after they had begun work. Remus groaned when he saw them. "Seriously?" he said. "We just started."

James laughed. "Relax, we'll be leaving for Quidditch practice soon anyway. Pete's coming with us."

Remus cocked an eyebrow, looking at Peter. "You're going to stay out and watch them for two hours in the cold?" He switched to James, "Why do you do practice for so long during the week anyway?"

"Keeps them on edge," James said, shrugging.

"And dead asleep the next day," Remus retorted.

"It's only two days a week," James reasoned.

"And then a four hour practice on all non-Hogsmeade weekends."

"I want to win this year!" James exclaimed. "We didn't even come close last year! I'm going to work them until I see improvement!"

The table started laughing, much to Madam Pince's chagrin. She shushed them from her desk at the front. "You guys aren't going to get us kicked out again, are you?" Rachel asked.

"We'll try not to," Sirius said, winking at her.

Rachel looked down at her work to try to hide the blush that was quickly spreading across her cheeks. Sirius grinned.

"All right, well, we had best be off," James said.

"So soon?" Remus asked, dryly.

Peter snickered. "You won't miss them much," Peter said, "And if you do, they'll just remind you tonight that they're not worth it."

James and Sirius expressed their indignation.

"You guys tied mine and Pete's clothes together last week and strung it across the dorm!"

"I don't recall doing any such thing, do you Prongs?"
"Nope, never. We've got to go," James said.

"But Jamesie…"

"No buts. I'm the captain. I can't be late to practice. Let's go."

James, Sirius, and Peter left. Lydia turned to Remus. "Did they really do that?"

"Yes," Remus said, disgruntled.

Lydia stifled a laugh. They worked for about another half-hour before returning to their respective dorms.

"AHHHH!"

Mary woke up to the screams of her roommate. Rachel was already by Lydia's bedside, trying to wake Lydia up. The screams subsided to be replaced by heavy breathing and crying. Mary decided to leave and let Rachel talk to her.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked Lydia.

Lydia shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. It's nothing. It's just a dream." She stood up, grabbed her clothes, and headed for the bathroom.

"Lydia – "

But Lydia ignored her, closing the bathroom door behind her. Rachel heard the lock click and she sighed, flopping down on her bed.

Lydia placed her hands on either side of the sink, her head face down. She was still shaking. She could still see it all in her head – the chaos, the death, the injured, the tortured, and the grieving. Her nightmares were of the war and of that last year at Hogwarts. She took a shower, washing away all the sweat and tears that were evidence of her recurring nightmares.

After getting out of the shower, she changed into one of her favorite outfits: a flowing white blouse and dark skinny jeans with a pair of light brown boots. With the flick of her wand, she dried her hair and styled it into a loose braid. She pulled on her Ravenclaw robe and applied some light make-up before going down to the Great Hall.

Lydia couldn't focus throughout the day. During her month and a half in 1977, she kept seeing faces of people she knew were dead. Remus, James, Sirius. She wasn't able to keep up a great façade of being civil to Peter. She usually tried to avoid talking to him. She was afraid that one day she would slip up and reveal someone's future or that she would eventually crack. She decided what needed to be done in order for her to live a normal life in this time.

Lydia waited anxiously outside the headmaster's office after dinner for Dumbledore to show up. It was a good 20 minutes before he did.

"Lemon drops," he said. The stone gargoyle leapt to the side.

"Professor," she said, standing up as they walked up the staircase. "I want you to do something for me, if you can."

His eyes twinkled curiously as they reached the office. "And what might that be, Ms. Serrao?" he asked, taking a seat behind his desk.

Lydia took a seat. "I've thought long and hard about this and I want you to modify my memory."

"And why would you want me to do that?" he asked, leaning forward and intertwining his fingers.

"You're the only person I trust to do this. I know what is supposed to happen in the future. I know that it needs to happen. I'm afraid that I'll try to do something to get in the way of what will end up happening because of my attachments here.

"I've written out what I want you to replace my memories with," she said as she pulled out a few sheets of paper. "This is what I want you to modify my memory to fit."

She also removed her locket from around her neck and opened it. She slid it across the desk to Dumbledore. He picked it up. Slowly, the miniature pictures inside began to grow. On one side was a picture of six people – her family – all seated at a table. The other side showed her with a young Indian girl, both of them beaming up at Dumbledore. "I thought this might be able to help too.

Albus Dumbledore looked hard at this girl, his blue eyes examining hers. He saw the sadness in the girl's eyes. But he also saw her determination. She had made up her mind. He set to work.