Liquid Luck [Sirius Black]/editing

Chapter 133

My fellow classmates watch me gather my things and follow our headmaster out. He's treading with small strides and I have to slow my usual pace to remain beside him. "Whatever it is I'm being punished for this time, I swear it wasn't me, Professor."

He half-smiles at me. "I thought we could begin our lessons. Is now fine with you?"

"Oh! Um, yes, now is a fine time."

His office smells of sugar, which makes a fair amount of sense because his desk is covered in a range of puddings. From cakes to cookies to pies to pastries. "Are you having a bake sale?" I nervously muse.

Dumbledore chuckles lightly. "They are for you, for after this lesson."

I sit down in the chair that he's purposefully placed in the centre of the room and start fidgeting with my fingers. "For me? As kind as it is...why?"

He sighs and faces me head-on. "I will not sugarcoat this for you, Ms Holland. Our lessons will not be pleasant. I am truly sorry but in order for you to have more motivation to keep me out, I am going to have to invade your most precious memories."

I swallow. "I understand."

Dumbledore turns around and adjusts a platter of peach pie. Peach pie, I should write Duke. "As for the why, consider these my gratitude for your bravery."

"Thank you."

He's in front of me again, closer, and he slips his wand from his robes. When he point it at me I suddenly feel as if I'm being threatened. "Whenever you're ready."

It helps that he's being patient with me but I doubt I'll ever really be ready. "I am."

My brain is being twisted inside out. Memories I didn't even know I had come flashing in and out of focus.

I was three years old when Dad took Evy and me on a father-and-daughters trip to Diagon Alley. We dragged him to several shops and he bought us anything we touched. That was the first day I tasted chocolate and I'd decided it was my favourite thing to exist.

I was four when Grandfather hugged me for the last time. He was warm and gentle and he smelled of lemons and cocoa butter. I didn't understand why he started refusing to touch only me, or why his face would scrunch up into an odd expression every time he looked at me.

I was five when Dad whisked us all away for a picnic at this quaint lakeside apple orchard. Mum made me eat fruit and whenever she'd look away, I'd throw a slice over my shoulder. Evy and Benja laughed so hard their muscles ached.

I was seven when the whole family was preparing to go to the beach. I was already dressed in my favourite blue bikini when Mum stormed into my room to yell at me for doing poorly on the test she'd given me. She made me stay back at home alone to study while everyone else went off to enjoy themselves. I cried the whole time.

I was ten when Benja and I saw Everliah off to school again. We were both sad she had to go but at least we had each other. We were closer than ever that year, always talking about what Hogwarts would be like when we'd finally get to go. And every day, after Mum's studies, Benja and I'd be free to go outside to play. We would play like we were allowed do magic and we'd pretend to fire spells at each other that we'd learned that day.