Second Chances

I was back at the jetty, back where it all began, or ended, depending on how you looked at it.

And once again the woman was seated next to me. She hadn’t changed in the slightest, but then, neither had I.

"It is time Lia."

I waited for her to continue.

"It is time for you to return."

"Return?"

"Yes, go back to where you are needed."

"What do you mean?"

She though this over for a while, "Lia, are you dead?"

"Well... Yeah."

"No. You are merely forgotten. After all, if nobody remembers a person, how can they exist?"

I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so I said nothing.

"There is a girl at Hogwarts Lia. She needs you."

"Why?"

"She is a Sabi."

Again I was speechless, but for a different reason.

"She will be hunted Lia. Like you have been and will be."

"Will be?"

"It is time for your return."

"What? You mean... Go back?"

"Yes."

"But... Nobody remembers me, and you said so yourself; how can I exist?"

"I didn’t say nobody remembers you."

"You mean somebody does?"

"Yes. The dark lords spell was not strong enough to reach them and they still have memories of you."

"Who is it?"

"You will find out in time. The question is Lia, do you want to go back?"

Did I want to go back? I’d only just gotten used to being dead, (well, ‘forgotten’) and now I had the chance to go back... Of course, it would be different, Lily and James would be dead, Sirius and Remus would have no idea who I was, heck, nobody would have any idea who I was. But if there was another Sabi out there...

"Do you want to go back?"

"Will I be my age now or the age I should be?"

"You are already the age you should be. Only your body is young."

"Yes, but-"

"You will appear to be thirty five, the age you are now.

"Will I see Sirius and Remus?"

"You may, but they will not remember you."

"Does this girl know she is a Sabi?"

"No."

So she was just like me.

"Do you want to go back Lia?"

"Yes."

"Good."

I awoke, feeling strangely calm for a person who’s just been given a second go at life, in what appeared to be a small middle class hotel room. The walls were covered in yellow wallpaper and a glance through the dirty window showed dark storm clouds, which, after all year round perfect weather, came as quite a shock.

I was taller than I used to be and after a quick look in the mirror I saw that my eyes and hair were still black but my hair had been cut to shoulder length and fine lines had appeared all over my face.

I had gone from being a fifteen year old to a thirty five year old. Quite a shock.

I quickly decided that, as tempting as it was, I couldn’t sit around a hotel room all day. I knew I should try find this Sabi girl, (didn’t even know her name), or at least find out where I was.

But there was something I had to do first.

It was raining softly by the time I reached the graveyard. I didn’t know if it was the right one, but according to the map of London from the draw next to the hotel bed, it was the closest.

I walked slowly through the rows of graves until I found what I was looking for. The headstone that read Lily and James Potter.

I knelt down in front of it and noticed how the ground was weed free with fresh flowers in a small vase and noticing how smooth and polished the headstone was, noticing everything but the fact that only few feet below me two of my best friends lay dead.

"Did you know Lily and James?"

I jumped slightly and turned. Aside from the graying hair, worry lines and a slight stoop, Remus hadn’t changed a bit.

I nodded, resisting the temptation to go give him a hug and burst into tears, "yeah. Yeah I did."

He peered at me for a moment then shook his head. "I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you."

I felt tears prick at my eyes and turned around again. I wanted to scream at him, how could he not know me? Instead I said softly, "no, no you wouldn’t."

Remus knelt down beside me and placed a small bunch of daisies next to the roses. I figured he must have been the one keeping the grave in such good condition. "I’m Remus Lupin."

I know. "Lia Strummings."

"Pleased to meet you. How did you know Lily and James?"

"Oh, I really only knew Lily, she and I met a year or so before she was killed." I wondered if Sirius knew how helpful his lying lessons would be.

Remus nodded again. "So, Lia, what brings you to London?"

"Business at Hogwarts."

"Ah, so you’re not a muggle. Great place Hogwarts. I used to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor there."

This delighted me, I could remember Sirius and James teasing Remus about what a great professor he’d make, though I thought the subject was a bit ironic. "Really? What do you do now?"

"I run a small herb shop just out of the city. You should stop in if you’re ever in the area."

"I might just do that." I said, then, being unable to stand the fact that Remus didn’t have a clue who I was, I stood up. "I’d better be off now, can’t be late"

Remus nodded, though he didn’t ask what I would be late for, and said, "nice meeting you Lia."

Nice meeting you again Remus. "You too. Bye."

To most people, a tiny little flat on top of a herb store would have been most unsatisfactory to live in. but to Sirius Black, it may as well have been Buckingham place. But after twelve years in Azkaban, he would have been happy with a cardboard box.

Of course, life for Sirius Black was not all peaches and cream. The nightmares, for instance, continued to haunt him even now and there was that pesky matter of Lord Voldemort. There was the almost crushing worry he felt for his godson Harry and guilt he felt whenever he thought of James and Lily. And, perhaps a more trivial complaint, there was that constant nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right. But all of this Sirius could live with. What he could not live with was the fact that Peter Pettigrew (the slimy little rat) was still out there somewhere.

For once though, Sirius was thinking of none of these things. In fact, Sirius was almost as happy as an Azkaban escapee could be. His best friend Remus Lupin out, which meant he could eat as many ham and banana sandwiches as he wanted without Remus around to give him odd looks. His best friend was at the graveyard, tending to Lily and James’ grave. Sirius had not yet been able to bring himself to visit the grave, which Remus accepted without too many questions.

"Oh Padfoot, you’re not eating ham and banana again are you?"

Sirius grinned at his friend, surprised that he hadn’t heard him come in. "I’ll be thanking you to be nice to my ham and banana Moony," he looked at his watch, "you weren’t gone for long. Don’t tell me a bit of rain made you turn back?"

Remus sat down, giving Sirius’ ham and banana sandwich an odd look and said, "no, I just met a girl-"

"A girl eh?"

"I didn’t mean it like that Padfoot. She said she was a friend of Lily and James’"

"Oh," Sirius turned serious instantly. "What was her name?"

"Lia Strummings."

"Sounds familiar. Did you recognize her?"

"Not really. She seemed familiar but I couldn’t quite place where I could possibly know her from."

Sirius shrugged, "maybe she was just some nutter getting her thrills out of seeing the grave of the famous Harry Potters folks."

"She didn’t even mention Harry. Though she did say she had business at Hogwarts."

Sirius shrugged again, "doesn’t really matter does it? Lots of people knew Lily and James, not just us."

"Yes," Remus nodded, "yes, I suppose you’re right."

I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I had to get to into Hogwarts to find the Sabi girl, but I didn’t have any idea how. The school year was starting in three days (just as long as the muggle hotel manager had his dates right and the school year still started September first), so it was far to late to even try to apply for a teaching job of any sort.

It didn’t help that my mind kept wandering back to my meeting with Remus. I knew none of my old friends would remember me, but it was still a bit of a shock having a good friend ask you what your name was.

I’d spent the afternoon reading through old history books and daily prophet archives learning about all the stuff I’d missed when I’d been ‘dead.’

I decided that I would worry about how to get to Hogwarts later and first go to Diagon Ally.

After a quick butterbeer at the leaky cauldron I was off to by new robes and a wand with the limited supply of galleons I’d found in my pocket when I’d awoken in the hotel room.

Having done this I sat happily on a bench drinking a banana smoothie (at least they hadn’t changed) and watching Hogwarts students go about buying there school things.

It was easy to pick the first years. Even easier to pick the muggle born first years. They were the ones trying to look everywhere at once with these ‘have I gone insane?’ looks on there faces.

Then of course there were the Slytherins who strutted about like they were gods gift to the world.

The Hufflepuffs, who managed to look friendly and scared at the same time.

Ravenclaws who walked with a sense of someone who knew far more then they were letting on. The exact same way Rachel used to walk.

And of course the Gryffindors. You could always pick a Gryffindor (or perhaps that was because I was one...), they walked with absolute confidence and they always seemed to be looking for trouble.

In fact, here came three Gryffindors now. A girl, a boy and... James? I blinked several times and noticed the boy had green eyes, not brown. It couldn’t just be a coincidence, he’d have to be the famous Harry Potter.

I turned back around and tried to feel, or at least look, calm as he walked pass.

"Who do you think the new defense against the dark arts professor will be?"

"Do you think Professor Lupin will come back?"

"Probably not, though I wish he would."

"Yeah me too."

I watched as they turned into Flourish and Botts, most likely to get their school books and smiled. He was so much like James! Though I supposed he got people telling him that all the time.

I stood slowly and began to make my way to make my way out of Diagon ally, still none the wiser to how I was going to get into Hogwarts.

If Rachel were there she’d most likely have some perfect solution but she wasn’t and I was very much alone.

"You look lost girlie," said the hotel manager when I got back.

I smiled at him, "no, I’m fine."

"Really? you look lost to me."

I shrugged, "I know where I am, I’m in London."

"Ah, but is that where you want to be?"

I shrugged again and wondered why old people where always so insightful? "I’d better be off to my room now anyway, got a big day tomorrow."

The hotel manager nodded, "sweet dreams."

The next morning I awoke with a plan. This was my second chance at life and I was not going to spend it sitting around Diagon ally eating ice cream. If I couldn’t get to Hogwarts I could at least get closer.

I had no possessions of any kind and my money supply was growing low, but I checked out and headed for kings cross anyway. I was going to Hogsmeade.

Sirius seemed to have good days bad days and in-between days. On good days he could almost forget all the bad things and quite happily eat ham and banana. On the bad days he often didn’t get out of bed, or if he did, he snapped and snarled at everything. More often were the in-between days where, although bad thoughts lingered in his mind, Sirius could put Azkaban aside and get on with things.

Today was an in-between day. Much to Remus’ relief, for he hated Sirius’ bad days more than Sirius.

"I got a letter from Dumbledore."

Sirius stopped flicking throughout the weekly wand and looked up, "really?"

"Yeah," Remus nodded, "the new school year starts in two days and he wanted to know if we wanted to move closer to Harry. Say, around the Hogsmeade area."

Sirius thought this was a very god idea, but could see a few problems. "What about the shop?"

Remus grinned, "he said there’s an old farm house on the outskirts for sale with a huge greenhouse that’d make a perfect store."

"Problem two, what if someone recognizes me? And what about Lily and James? You won’t be able to visit their grave every day.""

"Well, it’d be same as here. You’d only be able to go into town as Snuffles, but around he house you’d be fine." Remus paused thinking over the other problem Sirius has stated, the said, "I think James would kill us if he knew we turned down a perfect offer because of him don’t you?"

Sirius smiled broadly and nodded, perhaps this would turn out to be a good day. "To Hogsmeade then."

"To Hogsmeade."

"Can I help you dear?"

I jumped slightly then smiled at Madam Rosmerta, who looked much older then she did last time I saw her.

"Uh, yes. I was wondering if you had any available jobs?"

"Why? Are you looking for one?"

"Um, yes."

Rosmerta smiled, "well, I’m afraid I can’t pay you, but I do need a hand manning the bar and I could give you a room..."

My smile grew, this was exactly what I’d been hoping for, "that’d be great, thanks."

Rosmerta beamed, "no problem dear. What’s your name?"

"Oh," I’d forgotten she wouldn’t know, "Lia. Lia Strummings."

"Nice to meet you Lia. You can call me Rosmerta Here, let me show you up to your room."

The room Rosmerta showed me too was nicer than my hotel room, though not by much. But, it was clean and the bed was comfortable so it would do me fine.

I woke early the next morning and Rosmerta showed me around the bar and filled me in on a few of the ‘regulars.’

"It’ll be pretty slow today," she said to me, "with Hogwarts opening and all, so why don’t you have a look around Hogsmeade for a while?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, go on. Have fun dear."

"Thanks." I grinned at Rosmerta and grabbed my cloak and the rest of my galleons.

After carefully exploring the farm house Sirius decided he liked it. The fact that it was close to Harry gave it great appeal before he’d even been there. The green house, like Dumbledore had said, was the perfect place to set up Remus’ beloved herb shop and Sirius had to admit, he loved running around Hogsmeade as Snuffles.

Remus came inside and stood beside Sirius, "so Padfoot, does it pass your inspection?"

Sirius nodded solemnly, "it does."

He didn’t add that for the first time since Azkaban he felt really happy, or at least optimistic.

Remus grinned, "the only problem is, we don’t have enough furniture. The place still looks as though nobody’s living here."

Sirius laughed, something he wasn’t used to doing, "trust you to find a problem Moony. C’mon, let’s go to Hogsmeade, I haven’t seen the place for ages."

Remus smirked, "ok Snuffles. Just let me get your lead."

I sat quite contentedly outside Honeydukes devouring a large chocolate bar. It felt rather like the fifteen year old I was when I’d ‘left’ which was strange, because I’d been to so many unreal places since then it was like I should be feeling one hundred and fifty, not fifteen.

"Lia!"

The shock of hearing someone call my name was so large I actually bit my tongue and made it bleed. Cursing softly I looked up and saw Remus walking towards me with a big black dog. Sirius.

"Hi Remus," I said trying to sound casual and trying not to stare at Sirius. "I didn’t expect to see you hear."

He shrugged and sat down next to me, "I just brought a farm house and complete with a green house slash shop." He was cut of when his ‘dog’ accidentally on purpose hit him in the head with it’s tail. A very Sirius like thing to do. Remus laughed, "this is my dog Snuffles. He gets jealous if I talk to anyone other then him."

I laughed and fought to stop myself from blurting out who I was. Not that they’d believe me anyway. "He’s beautiful."

"Careful," said Remus, "he already has an inflated ego."

I chuckled at the truth behind his words and finished of my chocolate. "I’d better be going now anyway," I said, standing up and giving Sirius one last look.

"Where are you staying?" Remus asked curiously as he too stood up clutching Snuffles’ aka Sirius’ lead.

"The three broomsticks," I told him, "I’ve got a job there."

Remus nodded, "I might run into you again then."

"You might, if you’re lucky."

And once again feeling like a fifteen year old, I turned and walked back towards the three broomsticks.

"My lord, excellent news."

"What?"

"We have found a Sabi."

"What! But she is dead!"

"Who is dead my lord?"

"That, is none of your concern. How old is it?"

"It is a she my lord. At Hogwarts, she is fourteen."

"Only fourteen? Good. Does she know what she is?"

"No."

"Then see to it that she discovers."

"Yes my lord."