Bexley was instructed to move to the maroon chaise lounge, she laid back precariously, the glasses from the Quibbler slipping off her head, she placed them safely in her robes.
"Now Miss Morgan," Juniper Crawl began, taking a seat next to Bexley, she seemed authoritative yet kind, perhaps she wouldn't scrutinise her memories. "I understand this is invasive, but just try to relax, it'll make the experience easier and if anything becomes painful, please remain calm, it means I am accessing memories that you may not have realised you had." She pulled out a small leather-bound book and placed this on her lap, her yellow feathered quill resting between her slender fingers. Bexley saught one last look at her parents before closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the Headmasters office, the smell of freshly brewed ginger tea, the soft humming of the phoenix and the wavering flames of the various candles, as her mind eased, her childhood appeared at the forefront of her mind and she smiled.
Ophelia and Daniel dressing her in her first-ever witch robes, their pride evident in their eyes. Her childhood friends, muggles and magical alike, despite their toothy grins, Bexley felt a pang at this sight, the world was beginning to change and she feared that these relationships would be shunned. Her first years at Hogwarts with Lily, the memories encased her. Then Sirius, their first encounter in which she hexed him for stealing her homework notes, this contrasted with her most recent memory, walking down the hallway with him, their pinkies intertwined. Remus, James and Peter appeared and whilst she could tell she was smiling, her head began to strain, the feeling of a headache approaching. Juniper focused in on them individually, inspecting Bexley's countenance.
Pausing on Remus, Bexley began to fidget as the discomfort in her head mounted, their friendship swam before her eyes, as the memories grew older, her distress grew. Herself and Remus as young children, they appeared to be getting younger and younger, until Bexley saw herself as a baby, but not in her parent's arms, but Remus's parents, Lyall and Hope. Further back the memories went, Bexley nowhere in sight, but a heavily pregnant Hope, Bexley could not contain the scorching agony which took over her whole body, she cried out and snapped her eyes open, Ophelia by her side instantly, cradling her.
Juniper stood abruptly from the chair and rushed to Dumbledore, after a moment and curious looks at Bexley, Juniper departed, but not before speaking a few surreptitious words to Bexley.
"Keep your friends close." Warmth in her eyes, Bexley was sure she saw sympathy, she nodded in response and Ms Crawl departed. Thick air filled the office as Bexley looked at her parents, curious as to what had been discovered.
"Did they find anything of use?" She asked nonchalantly, readjusting Sirius's robe on her shoulders as it slipped off.
"Miss Morgan, I'd like you to see Madam Pomfrey just to make sure you are well enough to continue the day, that took quite a lot of energy." Dumbledore smiled cordially and gestured her to the door.
"But..." As her eyes met Dumbledore's, she chose against pursuing the matter further, said goodbye to her parents and left them in the office. Bexley decided against visiting Madam Pomfrey, who she really needed to see was Lily, her best friend would surely help her make sense of the obscure events and memories. She headed to the library, occasionally leaning a hand against the wall to steady her, Dumbledore was right, she was exhausted. Entering the library, she said hello to Madam Pince who gave her a dubious look at her sickly appearance, the large robe engulfing her did not help matters as she looked small and fragile. Scouring the library, there was no sight of Lily and Bexley reprimanded herself, forgetting that Lily had a full day of lessons. As she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of Peter in the restricted section, perhaps she could extract some information from him about his interactions with Severus the other evening.
Slowly Bexley approached him, her feet slightly dragging, she opened the door to the restricted portion of the library.
"Hello, Peter." She announced herself softly and placed a hand on his shoulder, what a mistake this was. The moment her fingers brushed his shoulder, Bexley's sight blurred, and like her dreams, she saw visions, images. Peter was much older and he looked ragged, his features mouse-like, he was surrounded by thick dark smoke, in a circle with others wearing odd masks and a tall figure, cloaked in black robes. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, and another vision infected her, Peter with a marking on his arm, resembling a snake curling and twisting in the mouth of a skull, his wand drawn as he spoke the most unforgivable of curses. Bexley snatched away her hand, and then, nothing. All she could remember was the feeling of falling and a flash of green light.
***
Soft cotton surrounded her, plump pillows and warmth in her hand. Bexley's eyes fluttered open, scrunching closed and open again, readjusting her sight to the dark. Drowsily, her head rolled to the side looking around her, identify her being in the Hospital Wing, it was pitch black outside the windows, the only light coming from the few candles still lit in the wing, the curtain around Bexley's bed was drawn, a single candle burned furiously on the cabinet beside the bed.
Carefully, Bexley sat up, the warmth in her hand squeezed slight, she looked to her side to see a vacant chair. Sweeping her other hand towards the chair, her fingers brushed a silky material, tentatively her fingers curled around the material and she lifted it to reveal Sirius, draped over the edge of her bed, his hand firm around her own. The lack of cover must have awoken him, as he sat up, blinking his eyes rapidly, a smile formed as he saw Bexley, he sprang up from the seat and pulled her to his body.
"Godric, I thought I lost you." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, then her cheeks, her ears, her nose, her chin and then her lips.
"I'm still here." Bexley smiled against his lips, his forehead resting against hers as the tips of their noses brushed together, she placed a hand on his cheek, stroking it and twidling his hair in her fingers, the way she knew calmed him. Bexley kissed him again, this time more feverishly, Sirius startled at first by her neediness, quickly became accustomed and opened his mouth to her eager tongue. Her lack of experience was not evident as she took control, exploring every crevice of his mouth, her hands clung to his t-shirt, pulling him on top of her, the kiss breaking slightly as Sirius adjusted his body, ensuring she took none of his weight. Hovering over her, he noticed the patches of pink in her cheek turning red, her eyes almost animalistic as he placed his hands gingerly on her waist, waiting for her to say no, but she didn't. His hands became firmer and he placed tentative kisses on her jaw, Bexley's chest grew heavy as she became aware of her breath becoming eccentric.
"We should stop," Sirius spoke between each kiss.
"Do you want to?" Bexley asked as she placed kisses on his neck, placing one in the crook between his neck and shoulder, Sirius shivered. Her lips ghosting his skin as she waited for his response.
"You're not well. You need to save your energy." Sirius answered with a lack of conviction, but Bexley stopped and placed her head back on the pillow, looking up at him, his eyes tightly shut as he deeply inhaled.
"Sirius are you alright?" her voice laced with panic, she placed her hands on his sides, his breathe hitched. "I'm sorry-"
"No, it's me, I just, I got a bit... excited." Bexley looked down and saw what he meant, she became flushed at the thought that she did that. Bexley had never thought to attach the word sexy to herself, she seemed more cute than anything, so knowing that she had this effect on him encouraged confidence in her. Slowly, she rubbed up and down his sides, giving him time to recollect himself, his hair tickling her nose.
"You're so pretty." She spoke without thought, brushing his hair behind his ear.
"Don't think I've been called that before."
"You know what I mean." Bexley smiled and placed a kiss on his temple as his breathing returned to normal, he laid beside her, Bexley turned to face him, their fingers weaved together.
"You certainly scared me, Morgan." Sirius ran his fingers through her hair.
"I didn't mean to. I scared myself-" Bexley stopped herself, acutely aware that Sirius didn't have a complete understanding of what exactly happened, she debated what she would and wouldn't tell him. Her dream about him would remain a secret until she could figure out what it meant, but perhaps she could warn him about Peter, choosing her words carefully, Bexley proceeded to tell Sirius about her visions. Since she could remember, Bexley always had an odd sense of Deja Vue, she felt she had lived, or witnessed the moment already and as she grew up, things began to fall into place, Bexley's dreams became true. She stopped her parents from attending a gala as she dreamt that there would be an attack on it, the next day the Daily Prophet was filled with accounts of the attack on the gala her parents would have attended. At first, perhaps it was just an instinct, but as the visions and predictions became more frequent and accurate, Bexley had accepted that somehow, she could see snippets of the future. Sirius's face studied hers as she told him of occasions where her visions aided her, even the time she cheated on a test because she could see the topics, and then she unravelled about the peculiarity of what happened with Peter.
"It's never happened like that before. It was always when I was sleeping, but when I touched his shoulder, I couldn't stop it. I guess the exhaustion of the Legilimancy and that, my body couldn't take it." Sirius didn't say anything as he milled over the information. His girlfriend could see the future, and from her tone, he could tell it was more of a curse than a blessing.
"Does it hurt all the time?"
"Not usually, I get migraines with some visions, but I don't know why."
"Have you ever had one about me?" Worry etched in Sirius's face as he asked.
"No." Bexley felt guilt riddle through her as she lied to his sweet face, but she knew if she told him, he would blame himself for something that hadn't even happened, he would distance himself from her and hate himself more than he already did. Bexley couldn't allow this to happen to a boy who already had the burden of the cosmos on his shoulders.
"This tattoo Peter had, in the vision, what did it look like?" Sirius's face lightened at her response, but he frowned once again as she retrieved her school bag and some parchment, drawing the snake and skull.
"I've seen it before, I'm sure, I just don't know where," Bexley mumbled as she stared at her drawing, Sirius stretched across her and retrieved the day's copy of the Daily Prophet, flicking through the pages he handed it to her and where she had seen it before. Branded on the arm of a Death Eater, her hands trembled as she looked at the malice in the convicted man's face. "We can stop him. We have to help Peter."
"Have you ever changed the future before?"
"No, but we have to try. Where is he now?"
"Bexley no, you need to rest."
"I'm fine Sirius! I could probably still beat your ass in Quidditch in this condition." Remembering the upcoming match, Bexley stayed resigned to the bed. "What about the map? Maybe we could see him on there." Sirius reached over to the chair, where the map and James' cloak laid, tapping it with his wand, the students of Hogwarts appeared before them, their eyes scanning thoroughly until Sirius's finger landed in the Gryffindor common room.
"It looks like he's in bed." Bexley nodded in approval.
"Good, we can't give up on him Sirius. We can help him, we have to." As Sirius began folding the map away, Bexley's hand laid on his, stopping him, her eyes landing on Dumbledore's office.
"What's wrong?" Sirius searched the map.
"Why are my parents still in Dumbledore's office?" Bexley asked confused.
"Or more importantly, why is Remus there?" Sirius's finger landed on the tiny dot of Remus Lupin.
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