Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Bequeathment

"Hello, sir," Harry replied.

"There's no need for such formality between us, Harry. After all, I'm hardly your teacher anymore."

"Yes, sir," Harry said.

Dumbledore chuckled at him. "Minerva tells me that Remus left you some memories of your parents. I believe he wished for you to have more to think of them by than a handful of pictures and the memory of your worst moment."

Harry nodded. "I'm not sure what I'm going to find though. The last time I saw a memory of one of them it didn't go exactly how I'd hoped."

"Ah, Harry, you must remember that your parents were once young as well. James and Lily both grew from their time in Hogwarts to become two of the finest people that I ever knew."

The man in the frame next to Dumbledore scoffed at that. Harry's eyes landed on the figure of Severus Snape. If Dumbledore looked better as a portrait then Snape looked like a new man. The wizard's normally sallow skin had a more natural hue, and he appeared immaculately groomed. Personally, Harry thought the look suited him better than his former one had.

"You may be disappointed, Potter. Your father was no saint." The potions master didn't bother to hide his disdain, but Harry had expected no less.

"Now, Severus, you didn't know James as a man. I daresay that your opinion of him might not be the most unbiased."

Snape scoffed again, but said nothing in response. Harry thanked the two headmasters and then moved across the room to the cabinet. It swung open as though it had been expecting him, and the pensieve slide smoothly out into view. The surface was shimmering as usual, but instead of a memory materializing it remained an opaque grey.

Harry withdrew a vial of silvery memories from the pocket of his robe. He held it up and studied it for a moment. Whatever it contained, Remus had felt it important enough that he had taken steps to ensure that Harry see it. He popped the stopper out of the vial and poured its contents into the stone basin. Immediately, images began swirling around the bowl. Harry saw young faces, but he couldn't concentrate on any one scene enough to tell what was happening.

With a deep breath, Harry reached out and dipped his fingers into the substance. Immediately the world began spinning around him as though he was traveling through the floo network. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly until the sensation ended. When he opened them he found himself not in McGonagall's office, but in the Gryffindor common room.

Seated alone, in the corner, was an eleven-year-old Remus Lupin. It was odd to see him looking young and somewhat less raggedy than normal, but there was an unmistakable strain in his eyes that Harry had come to associate with his father's friend. Remus was reading a book rather intently, only glancing up slightly at a pair of loud voices coming from the dormitories. Harry looked over the cover and found that it was a book on dark magical creatures. No doubt Remus could find plenty of interesting passages in there.

The voices from the dormitories grew louder, and soon their owners came into view as they descended the staircase into the common room. Harry started slightly as he recognized his father and Sirius. He chuckled slightly at Sirius's longer-than-practical hair—clearly an attempt at rebellion—before he noticed that James and Sirius had lowered the volume of their conversation considerably. Harry moved closer as he tried to hear them.

"—we should ask Lupin to come with us?"

"Lupin? Why's that?"

James cast a furtive look at the young boy in the corner, then lowered his tone even more.

"I don't think he has many friends. Most of the time he keeps to himself. Plus he always seems so serious. We ought to show him a good time. Us Gryffindors have to stick together." James puffed his chest out comically to punctuate his last statement.