Wrong, All Wrong

Part title

She handed both pendants to me and I gave Harry his. He looked at the pendant for a moment before placing the chain around his neck. As he admired the jewel on the pendant I examined my edited Portkey. Mother had gained her Mastery in Charms with this invention. It had an extendable chain, a customizable jewel, and the ability to catalog multiple destinations for transportation without a time constraint. Additionally it featured security settings and separate trigger words for the destinations which were also customizable. Inlaid into the chain were several charms set with runes designed for safety and preventing the loss or theft of the pendant. It had taken a good year for the Ministry to part with some of its Portkey laws to allow for the invention to be mass produced for the general public.

Uncle Sirius looked at the pendants and then at Mother. "You really are leaving James, aren't you Lily?" His gaze was soft and kind, and the smile on his lips was a sad one.

Mother nodded back at him, holding in the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "I'll go get the forms now." Between her words I could hear the unspoken 'before I change my mind'. Anyone could tell that even with all of his faults Mother still loved my father no matter how much pain she endured because of it. Now, though, she realized that she loved her children more than she ever loved Father. Mother brushed away a stray tear as she looked over at Harry and me. "You should show them the library, Sirius, Aster will love it." Again there was a hidden message behind her words, 'and hopefully Harry will too'. She smiled at us before walking out the door through which I glimpsed Uncle Severus waiting for Mother. Some shopping he was doing.

'Severus is probably going to talk to Mother about what just happened. Mother telling Sirius to show us the library was merely her informing Sirius to distract us and keep us busy for now.'

I nodded in reply to Harry's statement. It no longer bothered me that Harry didn't call the other adults 'Uncle', but I did notice. He still called Mother 'Mother,' so that was good enough I supposed.

Uncle Sirius looked at me with a confused look upon his face when I nodded but didn't otherwise react. He opened the kitchen door, waving his arm in front of him as if he were a butler leading guests to their suite. "This way to the library," he said brightly. A smile lit up his face but he noticeably didn't look straight at Harry. It seemed like Harry's earlier protectiveness of me was personally affecting Uncle Sirius. I could see the false quality of his smile the same way I could tell when someone was lying to me. It just didn't look the same compared to when the expression was sincere.

Instances like this made having a photographic memory was cool, except for those horrific and gory memories that didn't want to go away.

Playing along I got off the chair and skipped to the door. "Let's go look, Harry!"

Harry softly smiled at my bright expression and stepped down off the chair in his ever-so-graceful way. Taking my hand in his, we followed Uncle Sirius down the hallway towards the library.

As we walked I could feel a thick cloud of tension growing between Uncle Sirius and my brother. Every now and then Uncle Sirius would glance back at us as if to say something, but would stop himself midway and sigh. Whenever he looked towards us he would inadvertently glance at Harry and his eyes watered just slightly. Seeing Uncle Sirius act that way just angered me. Why wouldn't the older man just do something instead of acting like such a coward? Why was he acting so depressed when he was also at fault? He should feel guilty, not the self-pity he was practically drowning himself in.

Deciding to be a little mean I turned to Harry. "I can't wait to see the library, Harry," my brother raised his eyebrow at me, sensing what I was trying to do, "I can teach you how to read!" Uncle Sirius winced ahead of me and I felt a small wave of satisfaction flow through me. If he felt so bad about Harry's situation why didn't he do something about it? Adults were so weird and confusing. I truly did want to teach Harry how to read, though. Books were so interesting and were what helped me find my brother.