GINGERSNAPS

41. Pieces of Her

"Yeah I guess so, not sure what I'll do after though. Especially with everything changing now." She said cleaning some pillows then fluffing them.

"What did you think about doing?" Sirius asked fixing the headboard.

"Well... all kinds of things. I thought about working as a photographer for the Daily Prophet. Or documenting things for textbooks, like animals or plants. I thought about just being a artist, and paint portraits and stuff for people.... But honestly I thought that teaching would be really fun. Some of the teachers I've had have been the most inspirational people to come into my life." Olivia said smiling at Remus.

"That's very kind of you, Olivia." He said grinning softly, continuing to look behind the curtains. "What would you like to teach? If you could."

"Any of the Art classes!" She answered excitedly, "but I think my teaching career will have to be put on hold for awhile at least. But who knows? Maybe I'll travel some, or write the next great story! My options are endless."

For the rest of the day they cleaned what they could but it seemed that a permanent layer of dust was coating the home no matter what they did.

For dinner, Olivia stood in the kitchen humming to herself rolling out a pie crust for another apple pie, while her stew simmered. Kreacher walked into the room carrying something behind his back.

"Oh kreacher dear, could you do me a favor and pull out that pie in the oven? I would but my hands are covered in dough." She asked nicely dusting the surface with more flour.

Kreacher instantly done what she asked. But he was grumbling the whole time, as he placed the pie on a cooling rack.

Olivia grabbed a hand towel and wipes off her hands. "Thank you, Kreacher, would you like me To save you a slice of pie later?" She asked turning to face the elf.

Kreacher gave her a odd and confused look, and walked away. Olivia called after him, "I'll save you a piece just in case!"

The door swung open and Sirius came in. "It smells delicious in here!" He said taking a seat at the table.

"Kreacher just pulled out an apple pie out of the oven for me, that's probably what you're smelling." She said making the other pie.

"He helped you? I can't get the little bugger to do anything!" He said

"Well, are you nice to him?"

"Nice to him? He's been terrible to me my whole life. He only was ever nice to my brother growing up. I was considered to be the outcast of the Black Family. So naturally they all treated me the same."

"How come?" She asked curiously

"For starters the House of Black have all been sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts, but I was put in Gryffindor, my pureblood supremacist parents wasn't happy about that at all. But at least they had another son that made them proud, by following their beliefs."

Olivia swallowed hard, "Your brother?"

"Yeah, Regulus was my younger brother. And my mother made sure for me to know that he was her favorite."

"Oh...." Olivia felt bad for asking

"Yeah but they all weren't so bad, you know Tonks? She's my cousin, Andromeda's daughter, she married a Muggle born and had Tonks. She's pretty great, both of them really."

"That's good, that you have family that gets you."

"Yeah, they say though, that the strongest family is the one you chose for yourself. James and Remus are my brothers, even if they aren't blood." He sighed