What must we do to restart,
Our innocence
And all the problems we adored?
Give us life again,
We just want to whole. – Paramore
By ThatRomantic
Prologue Part 1: We Are Broken
I knew what would happen if I didn’t do this. Not only would history repeat itself but I’d lose more than I had lost before. I would lose everything. I had to step across the threshold. I had to kill him before he killed them.
Then I saw it. The movement of a cloak up ahead. I waited for the hooded figure to walk through the door and, concealed beneath the invisibility cloak I followed after the dark wizard. I saw James standing in the hallway blocking the way to the stairs. I poised my wand, aimed at Voldemort - who was hissing something incoherent to James - and, just as I heard him say the killing curse and I spoke the same, a green light filled the room.
She just couldn’t believe that fate would be so cruel. Sirius was dead. Remus had lost his best friend. Harry had lost his only father figure. Harry. He was her best friend; her brother in many ways. She hated to see him suffer the way he did. Why was it that whenever he finally seemed secure everything was taken away from him? She knew him well enough to know that he would want to do all of this on his own. She knew that eventually it would lead to his self-sacrifice. That he would think the only way to protect them would be for them to watch from afar as he rejected any help with the pain he was in. He didn’t realise that by doing that, by doing what he thought would protect them, they were suffering too. She knew that now, with Sirius gone, he’d be tougher to crack than before. She knew he’d also have lost what little innocence he had left. She hated it. She hated standing around and watching him drown in self loathing and wallow in grief. All of them did. The only difference was that she was determined to do something about it.
That was why she spent the last remaining weeks of school researching anything to bring Sirius back. She first researched the veil and its properties. She looked into whether anyone had been brought back successfully in the time the veil had been used with no luck. She tried to discover whether there had been any attempts to bring someone back from the veil - but could find nothing. She researched the magic in as much detail as she could that the Department of Mystery used to create and maintain the veil, to find any fault or loopholes in the spells. She discovered that most of the magical properties were kept secretive and could not compile enough research to enable her attempt to rescue Sirius.
She soon turned to alternative methods of bringing him back. She had almost given up on her search for something to heal Harry’s sanity when her eyes fell upon a book that she had not seen before Tempus Maxim: When Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures by Maximilian Uhr. She opened the book and read the first page. She grabbed the book and ran to Madame Pince’s desk.
Her prayers were answered.
Concern marred the old wizard’s face. He had watched his young tutee grieve the loss of his godfather for the last two weeks with much trepidation. Albus Dumbledore did not like the fact that Harry was in so much woe. It seemed that many of his close friends were trying in earnest to comfort the boy, but to no avail. Albus felt at a loss as to what to do.
He thought of Harry as a child – or grandchild, given his age – and wanted the best for him. He wanted to bring the one thing he loved the most back to him but he knew he couldn’t. He knew how but the risks were far too high and could upset the very existence of life as he, and those around him, knew it. He was aware, however, that Harry had been trying to find a way to bring Sirius back, and for that reason he went down to the library to check out a book that if discovered could have disastrous consequences.
Heading straight to the Advanced Magic section of the library and the authors beginning with ‘U,’ he searched for the life changing book.
There was a gap where it was expected to be.
Blast it.