Guilty :||: Loved Series #4

4) Because I Love You

Lily's POV
Harry found me sitting with Luna, Gin and Em in the Muggle Studies artefact room. I no longer took the subject and missed it, so with permission from Miss Burbage we were allowed to hang out here. He was greeted with four sets of eyes on him, making him pause awkwardly. "Uh, hey Lil, Dumbledore would like to see us in his office."

He held out a scroll whose seal had been broken. "What's he want?"

His eyes shifted to the girls either side of me and I sighed, getting up. "See you girlies." I blew them a kiss as Luna handed me my bag and I followed my brother. "So?"

"Hagrid delivered this message from Dumbledore, he wants us to come to his office, something about private lessons."

"Dumbledore gets what Dumbledore wants." I sighed.

"There's one more thing." He glanced at me. "Hagrid isn't exactly happy with us for ditching Care of Magical Creatures."

I scoffed, coming to stand before the great golden gryphon. "It's not as though you all enjoyed that class, most of the time you were trying not to get killed and as for me...well, let's just say I don't need to."

"Acid Pops." Harry recited the password that must have been written in the note and we stepped onto the staircase as it started to ascend.

He knocked on the door and a soft voice called from within. "Come in." Dumbledore looked up from a piece of parchment he had been reading and greeted us with a smile. "Ah, Harry, Lily, I see you got my message. How are you?"

We both shrugged and shook our heads simultaneously. "Fine, sir."

His eyes twinkled in amusement and we shared a glance, again note the unintentional twin moment. "Enjoying your classes?"

"Any class is better than History of Magic." I stated, putting my hand out like 'full-stop' for effect.

"I know Professor Slughorn is most impressed with you both. Lily your potion making skills seem to be surpassing even Professor Slughorns expectations." I smiled awkwardly, not really knowing how to take praise. "How about your activities outside the classroom, you two? I can't help noticing that Lily and Mr Thomas–"

"Oh, yeah, he and I are dating, sir." My cheeks were radiating so much heat I thought I'd melt through the floor.

He smiled and turned to Harry. "And I can't help but notice you spend a lot of time with Miss Granger–"

"Oh no, no, no." Harry denied and I burst out laughing at the distressed look on his face. "I mean, she's brilliant and we're friends but no."

"Oh, I see, merely being curious but enough chitchat, you must be wondering why I summoned you two here tonight. The answer lies here." He lead us over to a case full of vials, that held silvery liquid within each one. "What you are looking at are memories, in this case, ones containing Tom Riddle. This vial contains the memory of when I first met him, I'd like for you to see it."

"Sir," My hesitation had grabbed both their attention. "Will these memories help us defeat him?"

The elderly man smiled. "I hope so, Lily, I truly hope so."

We walked over to his Pensieve that we'd stumbled upon in fourth year, pouring in the memory. I put my face into the water and felt the familiar jolt of being pulled forward and fell into the swirling memory. Black bobs of the ink-like substance formed into a young Dumbledore, walking down a dirty street, an umbrella shielding him from the rain. Rubbish cluttered the gutters and no children jumped in puddles, just the thundering of grey storm clouds. Dumbledore turned into a building that had a sign above it, reading; 'Wool's Orphanage'.