You know, if this wasn't a serious situation and I hadn't just had a panic attack (or something similar), Steve's face would have been priceless. Honestly I'd probably be rolling on the couch right now. But now wasn't the time – in fact, now I had other things to worry about on top of the death eaters. For instance, when was the Ministry going to contact me? Or would they even know that I just told a muggle of our existence?

Oh well. One thing at a time I suppose.

"I'm… sorry?" Steve crossed his arms, pursing his lips as he often times did when he was angry. Or confused. Or anything but happy, really. The guy needed to get some new facial expressions, because he really used that one a lot. "Did I just hear you say that you're a witch?"

Slowly, I nodded. "I'm a witch, Steve. Magic, broomsticks, potions and cauldrons. Witch. And I know you're confused, and I know you're cross, and I know you probably don't trust me anymore but you have to list-"

"Don't trust you anymore?" He scoffed. "Why should I? What else don't I know about you? Are you a murderer? A thief? Are you plotting to kill me? Because honestly it wouldn't surprise me much anymore. I trusted you, Arielle. I really did. But now I'm not sure-"

"The bowl, Steve." I interrupted. "You'll understand, and I'll be able to fill in the blanks. This is called a pensieve. You can take your memories and put them in it to view objectively. These aren't just images, or videos. These are my memories, and they haven't been altered. Before you decide not to trust me anymore, just… watch them."

Steve raised his eyebrow in disbelief. "Really? How do I know that it won't kill me? Won't harm me?"

"Because I'll do the same thing… I'll join you. Just one last time, Stevie. Trust me one more time, and then you can choose what to believe."

He rubbed his temple with his thumbs, letting out a soft and annoyed groan as he did so. It was silent. Neither of the two spoke for a minute or so, until finally Steve glanced up. "You go first." He all but ordered, gaining a soldier-like aura about him.

I nodded and braced myself for my past. That was a bit of a weird sentence, but oh well. "Prepare for a rough landing." I said before slowly dipping my finger in the bowl. Suddenly, the world became a swirl of colors as I was dragged inside my memories. The first one, actually, didn't exactly belong to me. In fact, it was actually my godfather's – well, mixed with many people's. Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Snape, Sirius, and Hagrid found a way to take their own memories (and one from my mother… apparently the killing curse took an unusual amount of time to kill her… she was able to save a memory of what happened back for the ministry or whatever to view) and in a way morph them together so that Harry and I could get an idea of what happened on the night our parents died. Honestly… I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it yet. This should be uh… interesting.

Moments after I landed in the memory with a soft 'thump', Steve landed on the ground beside me. He shook his head and quickly stood up, instinctively scanning his surroundings.

"This… was the night my parents were killed. I didn't lie to you when I was talking about the war or even that my brother and I had been told we would win it. Back in the seventies, there was a dark wizard named Voldemort, and boy did he have a severe superiority complex. Anyway, he thought that purebloods were better than any half-bloods, and especially muggleborns. Bloody snake-eyes found out about a prophecy and came to kill us… that's where this starts."

I pointed in front of me (behind Steve), and he turned around as the memory began playing.

It started out in the main living area in Godric's Hallow. James and Lily – my parents – sat inside. James had Harry sitting on the couch, and was using his wand to create sparks that Harry absolutely found hilarious. I, on the other hand, was in Lily's arms squirming and trying to reach her beautiful red hair. Everything was fine, calm, normal. But then the curtains in front of the window began flying everywhere as the wind flew inside the house. James hesitantly walked away from Harry and made his way to the window.

"Lily! Take the children and run! It's him!" James yelled, picking Harry up and practically throwing him at our mother.

"But James – what about you? I can't… he'll kill you!"

James quickly shook his head. "No, Lily. Take the children upstairs, I'll hold him off! You have to go, Lil's. I love you."

"I-I love you too." Tearfully and reluctantly, Lily began to run toward the stairs. She turned back for a moment, just in time to see their front door fly open, slamming into the wall. James waved her off, picking up his wand, and prepared for a fight. Lily quickly ran into the nursery, slamming and locking the door behind her. As she was placing the children in the crib, she failed to notice the sickeningly green light flash from the other side.

James Potter was dead.

Daddy.

I closed my eyes for a moment, not knowing how to feel about the situation. I had just seen my father die (in a way), and now I will see my mother have the same fate. This wasn't fair… why did this have to happen to them? From what I've been told, they were such good people.

Just as Lily had finished telling young Harry and I that we were loved, the door to the nursery flew open, slamming into the wall as it had downstairs. I must've flinched or something, because the next thing I knew, Steve had placed his hand on my shoulder. I put my hand on top of his in return.

"Please! Not my children – not my babies! Take me, kill me instead! Don't hurt my children!" Lily cried out, with tears threatening to fall from her emerald eyes. "Please!"

"Back away, Miss. Potter. All I want are the children – specifically the boy. Step aside, and I may let you live." The man – Voldemort – hissed. The threat went over Lily's head; she wasn't about to back down, even if it killed her.

"I won't let you hurt them. I'd rather die."

Voldemort chuckled, bring out his wand and aiming it the redhead. "As you wish." He smirked. "Avada Kedavra!"

Green light enveloped the room, and moments later, Lily Potter fell to the floor appearing to be dead. The man laughed vilely, and turned to the children with a devilish smile. "Now for you," he turned toward Harry and I, and brought up his wand. "After this, nothing will be able to stop me." He said the spell again.

Behind me, I could feel Steve tense up, and his grip on my shoulder tightened slightly.

Green light enveloped the room once more, but this time, the victims did not die. Instead, the spell rebounded from the children and hit their attacker. A small explosion happened, and the dark lord vanished through the new hole in the nursery.

The scene changed.

Steve and I now stood inside the home of the people that raised Harry and I for the first 17 years of our lives. Number 4 Privit Drive. The Dursley's home. I sighed and took a deep breath. "As I said before… they weren't kind people, Steve. They despised anything and everything even related to magic… including my brother and I. Petunia was my mother's sister. I don't know the full story, but I think it has something to do with the fact that she was jealous of my mum's magic. I don't know. But these years weren't pleasant."

"They were abusive?" Steve breathed, looking down at me with pity. I nodded. "God… I'm sorry, Arielle."

I chuckled. "What do you have to feel sorry about? You didn't cause their abuse. Besides… I'm away from them now, so it doesn't matter."

Steve sighed, and then the memory began.

We stood in the doorway of the house, watching as Aunt Petunia walked to a familiar cupboard and rapped on the door.

"Up! Boy, girl, up!" She cried, disappearing back into the kitchen for a short while before returning. Seeing that the children hadn't come out yet, she pounded on the cupboard again. "You little freaks! Get up now! It's my Dudikin's birthday, and I'm not going to let you little orphans ruin it for him!"

Then, a boy around the age of nine ran down the stairs, being sure to stomp on the way down. "Wake up Potters! It's my birthday!" He laughed, running back to the top and then back down. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and jumped up and down a few times.

Soon the cupboard door opened up, revealing two small, underweight forms. My brother and I. Our clothes were much too big for us, our hair was either greasy or just altogether dirty, dust from the ceiling of the cupboard was on our clothing. We looked pitiful, to be perfectly honest.

Aunt Petunia shuffled out of the kitchen, grabbed Harry and I by our shoulder, and dragged us inside while screeching orders at us. She had me making breakfast (eggs, bacon, and toast), while Harry was forced to clean the floors and dust around. At one point, Dudley "mistakenly" shoved into me, making me drop a raw egg on the floor. Uncle Vernon turned around with a fire in his eyes. Not the good kind, either.

"You insolent girl! It's such a simple task and you still manage to muck it up!" He yelled, throwing his newspaper down on the table. "Come here!"

Harry glanced up from his broom in fear. "It wasn't her! I swear!" He quickly walked in front of me, standing there protectively. "It was Dudley! He made her drop it! She didn't-"

"Harry, are you trying to get us both in trouble? Don't make him angry!" Little me whispered frantically to Harry, holding onto his arm tightly.

Uncle Vernon grunted and stood up, his eyes narrowing at the thought. "Really, boy? My son made this mess?" He turned to Dudley, who was searching through the fridge and acting like he didn't know what was going on. "Son, did you do this?"

"Of course not, dad! I couldn't possibly make a mess like that… the girl just doesn't know how to crack an egg right." Dudley replied, turning back toward us and giving me a triumphant smirk.

Vernon glared harshly at us before lashing forward and grabbing my arm. He yanked me away from Harry and in one swift motion, his hand collided with my cheek. I cried out in surprise and pain, squirming around to make an attempt at breaking away from him. Tears stung the corner of my eye, and I brought up my hand to cover the handprint on my cheek. "You bloody little wench! Clean that up, and get to finishing breakfast! You're lucky we even took you two in…" He spat, pushing me into the counter forcefully.

As soon as Uncle Vernon walked away, Harry ran back to me and began to check me over. "Are you okay? Why doesn't he ever believe us? This isn't right, Ari. Is your cheek okay?"

The scene changed again. Happy things, sad things. First it was Hagrid telling Harry and I we were wizards, and then it was our first trip to Diagon Alley, and then the Hogwarts express in our first year, meeting Hermione and Ron. Then it switched to finding out about the Philosopher's stone, and us fighting Voldemort/Quirrel, and Harry ending up in the hospital wing. Then it went through our second year, and then our third. This was the most difficult for me.

I missed Sirius.

After saving Sirius and landing in the courtyard, right before Sirius took off with Buckbeak, I smiled softly. This may not have been the best way to remember Sirius, but it was better than remembering his death. That would come later.

"Arielle, I want to talk to you." Sirius said before leading me away from the others for a private conversation. "You did good today; all of you. You know that? And I know that Lily – your mother – would be so proud. You look just like her, you know? Of course, you have James's eyes. But that's beside the point. Hermione told me that you always ignore everyone but your small little friend group… wanna tell me why?"

I shyly shook my head, trying to ignore the soft blush of embarrassment on my cheeks.

"Oh, come on. I've heard it all. What is it?"

After a few minutes, I finally caved. "I'm scared they won't like me… I'm nothing special, just a normal person. So…why would they?"

Sirius sighed and took a seat on a nearby bench. He grabbed my arms reassuringly. "Kiddo, I've barely even known you for a day, and I already love you. Same goes for your brother. And as for you being nothing special; I hear that you've got excellent grades, and you've made a couple amazing friends. Take it from me. Everyone is special, and everyone matters. They'll love you, but you just have to talk to them some. You know?"

Sirius always was one of my favorite people.

The scene then changed again to my fourth year – my least favorite. Or well, one of them anyway. It showed the Goblet of Fire, and the Triwizard tournament rules and champions. Dumbledore's speech. Things were going just like I remembered it. Except for me now, time seemed to slow down as the two pieces of parchment flew out of the goblet.

"What…?" I heard Steve behind me and jumped. I had almost forgotten he was there. Dumbledore called out mine and Harry's names. "But you didn't…"

I nodded in agreement. "We didn't. Someone else did, and because it had already happened, they wouldn't do anything to pull us out. We did so much; fought dragons, rescued our most important people from the bottom of a lake… almost got drowned by merpeople but you get the idea. And then came the third and final task. You'll see what happened, but let me give you an idea of why I am the way I am right now, and where my nightmares really come from. Honestly, other than my brother, no one really even knows this. How close Cedric and I were."

"Cedric Diggory? The other champion?" Steve asked in slight surprise. I nodded to confirm. The scene changed again, but this time, it was a happier scene.

Colors swirled around us, taking away the dark cold of the courtyard, and replacing it instead with the calm, light, and warmth of the Hufflepuff common room (yes, I was Hufflepuff; not a Gryffindor like everyone expected). Inside Cedric and I sat happily on the sofa in front of the fireplace, watching the flames dance around. Content smiles made their way to our lips as we each snuggled into the couch. Both of us were completely happy with the silence; we were able to think about things troubling us, but we knew we had the comfort of each other there. It was nice; some of my favorite memories with him, actually. As strange and dumb as that sounded.

"What's wrong?" Cedric asked, maneuvering himself around to face me. I shrugged in response, wrapping my arms around my legs, pulling them up to my chest. He frowned. "Arielle Lilian Potter, what is wrong?"

After a couple more moments of silence, I sighed and looked up at the male beside me. "It's the tournament, Ced… I haven't gone through any sort of proper training or classes for this. Neither has Harry. What if something happens to him? Or me? Or… what if something happens to you?"

He scooted closer to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. "You know that won't happen, Ari. Besides; you're not in this alone. You've got that Granger girl to help you and your brother through, and you know that Harry and I would rather die than let something happen to you."

"Ced, People have died in this tournament!"

"But that doesn't mean that we will. Just calm down, everything will be okay."

Reluctantly, I nodded and burrowed into his side, releasing a soft sigh. "Sorry."

Cedric raised his eyebrow. "You're afraid. That's nothing to be sorry for. You can't be brave all the time, and sometimes it's better to be scared. It means that you'll take more caution in what you do. Nothing wrong with being careful, love."

I smiled softly and closed my eyes. Cedric always did know what to say to me; in a way, he sort of read me like an open book. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The memory changed again, but this time, it showed the first task with the dragons. And then it changed to the second task, and soon, it stopped on the third task. Now, Steve and I stood at the entrance to the maze. I mentally shuddered. It was exactly as I remembered it.

Time seemed to fly by quickly, and now Cedric, Harry, and I stood in front of the triwizard cup. All three of us had a look of pride that made us look as if we were practically glowing. I turned to Cedric and Harry with a large grin.

"We did it! I can't believe we actually did it!"

"But who's going to take the cup?" Cedric asked, turning toward me. He stepped back, noticing my silence. "You take it, Ari. You deserve it."

I scoffed. "What, fame and glory? I already have a piece of fame, and it's not something I'd like more of. How about…" I paused, looking from Cedric, to Harry, then the cup, and back to Cedric. "we should all take it. I mean, it's still going to be one giant win for Hogwarts. They won't have just one winner…"

"They'll have three!" Harry exclaimed, now seeing where I was leading with this. We sent each other the trademark Potter grin, before slowly walking toward the cup.

Cedric hesitantly stayed where he had been. "I don't-"

"Diggory, get your badger butt up here! We can do it; we can win this thing, just like you said we would. Come on!" I ran back toward Cedric, grabbed his hand, and pulled him toward the cup. "Okay, on the count of three."

Harry nodded in understanding. "One… two… three!"

We all three bounded forward and grabbed the cup with one hand. Suddenly, the world swirled around us and instead of being in (or outside) the maze, we were now in the cemetery from Harry's nightmares. Harry immediately knew what was going on.

"Cedric! Cedric, run! Get out of here, just go!" He yelled, running toward me.

Cedric laughed and shook his head. "No, guys. This must be part of the task. It's fine."

My breathing hitched. I… can't say I was very excited for this part.

"Kill the spare." A voice loomed over us. Young me turned toward Cedric in horror, knowing what was about to happen. Suddenly, the familiar green light of the killing curse flew from behind us and hit Cedric square in the stomach. My heart stopped as he fell to the ground.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and turned away. Cedric Diggory was dead. My first love, my best friend. He was gone. I reached forward – and before I thought it through – grabbed Steve's hand in a death grip. If he cared or even noticed, he didn't say anything. His focus was on Voldemort's resurrection. He watched in surprise and rage as Wormtail sliced the wrists of my brother and I, and then proceeded to drain the blood into a bowl.

Wormtail. If he hadn't already been killed, I'd kill him myself.

Soon, the battle ensued. Harry managed to keep Voldemort's attention long enough for me to slip away and run to Cedric. I kept a death grip on my wand, pulling it out of my boot. I aimed it around, firing spells left and right to help my brother, and countering spells to protect Cedric's body.

Voldemort shot the killing curse at Harry, who countered with the disarming spell. The spells connected in a long green and red flashing rope. I held my breath, finding myself clinging to Cedric's shirt tightly. Then, something began to make its way out of Voldemort's wand – Cedric. He turned toward us and sent a sad smile.

"Take my body. Take my body back to my parents, please. And Arielle, Harry, don't blame yourselves. It wasn't your fault. I- We'll," he gestured to the other ghostly figures surrounding Harry, and I quickly understood who they were. My parents. "We'll hold him off."

"Harry, Ari, when we count to three, you've got to run." The male – my father – said in a rush. A stray tear fell down my cheek.

"Dad… mum…" I breathed. "Cedric, please don't go!"

The other two turned to the young me and smiled sadly. "We won't be able to spare you much time, but we'll do what we can. James-" Mum turned to dad and nodded her head, as if to tell him to start counting.

"One," he said, and Harry turned to me. I returned the favor.

"Two," Harry changed his gaze to the Triwizard cup.

"Three!"

Harry began to run toward me, pointing his wand at the cup and yelling out "accio".

The scene changed back to the maze once more, and this time we were outside it. Young Harry and I were both screaming and crying, each trying to cling to Cedric and the other. Someone – Remus, I now knew – came up behind me and began pulling me off of the body, while Dumbledore pulled Harry away.

"Let me go! Let me go! Cedric!" I screamed, thrashing and trying to break free from Remus's grip. "Cedric please come back!"

Harry did the same, although he was actually telling everyone what had happened. "He's back! Voldemort's back!" He sobbed.

Again, the scene changed, as per usual. This time, it was just small flashes of our fifth year. Students glaring and my brother and I, newspaper articles defiling our name, Umbridge's detentions, Fred and George leaving. Then it showed the battle between the DA, Order of the Pheonix, and the Death Eaters.

Sirius, Harry, and I stood back to back in a small circle, defending each other from the death eaters. Harry fired a spell and hit a death eater, same as I, earning us a proud smile from our godfather. "Nice one, James, Lily!"

I frowned, but paid no mind to it. Maybe he had just been caught up in memories of fighting with mum and dad.

Time seemed to slow down. The familiar glow of the killing curse flew forward, having been aimed at Harry and I. Sirius noticed and jumped in front of it in time, before he fell backwards into the veil.

Tears welled in my eyes again, and I gripped Steve's hand even tighter. Sirius Black, my godfather and the closest thing to a parental figure I have had, was now dead.

Harry and I turned to each other, each with tears welling in our eyes. "Sirius!" We yelled, running toward the veil impulsively. Remus and Tonks quickly ran into action and grabbed the two of us by our waists. Tonks ended up practically dragging me to the floor, rocking me back and forth quickly to calm me down. Tears fell down my cheeks. I sobbed and sobbed, clinging to Tonks as tight as I possibly could.

The scene changed to our sixth year, showing some memories of Tom Riddle. Then it went to the end of the year, where we watched as Professor Snape killed Dumbledore on the astronomy tower. Steve was silent the whole time.

Then came our seventh year and flashes of the war. It showed Ron, Harry, Hermione, and I collecting the horcruxes, and Hermione and I getting tortured by Belatrix. Then came Dobby's death, our escape from gringotts, and finally, the battle of Hogwarts. Not all of it, of course. But important parts. The creatures fighting for Voldemort, Snape's death, some fights, and then the break.

During the break, when Harry had disappeared, I was inside the great hall with everyone else, doing what most people were doing; seeing who had died. The first bodies I saw belonged to Tonks and Remus. At that point, I had no idea what to do other than just cry. I knelt down by the two of them and their hands, joining them together.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, wiping a tear from my eye. "This shouldn't have happened."

Then I got up glanced around the room. Then, I saw a familiar group of redheads. The only family I had left (not counting Harry, of course). I began to walk toward them, determined to make sure that they were all okay. And then I saw George hugging his mother and sobbing. I counted heads. Five. Ron wasn't here yet. Six. Merlin… no.

The closer I got, the more I realized who it was. Fred. My breathing hitched, my body stiffened. Fred was dead, lying on the ground with the ghost of his final smile upon his lips. He died smiling. For the second time that day, I had cried.

The scene switched. The break was now over, and everyone was heading back to the courtyard. I stood in front of George, now to paranoid to leave his side. At this point, I didn't think anything could get any worse. And then I saw the death eaters. I saw Hagrid, and I sure as hell saw the body in Hagrid's arms. My eyes widened, and my body froze. I tried swallowing the lump in my throat, but it wouldn't leave. My mind was racing. It wasn't Harry. It wasn't Harry. It wasn't Harry.

But it was.

"Harry Potter… is dead." Voldemort laughed vilely. And that was it. I couldn't take it anymore.

Ginny and I both sprang forward, screaming. George caught me in time, holding my tightly around my waist. "I just lost my twin; I won't lose my sister too." He whispered.

Not long later, Harry shot up out of Hagrid's arms, and the battle began again. I stood there in shock, watching as my brother dodged curses left and right. Death Eaters absconded. They knew that by now, they had lost.

Harry Killed Voldemort, and then it was over.

Steve and I shot out of the pensieve.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and took in a deep breath. Steve furrowed his brows, pursed his lips, walked to his sofa and sat down, saying nothing as he stared at me for a while. This was it; he hated me. I lied to him, I got people killed. Now my closest friend (that is not magical) hated me. I shouldn't have said anything. I should've just left it at "I knew the girl that was murdered". But I didn't. Now here I am, standing in my best friends apartment. Scared. Feeling more alone that I have in a couple years.

Couldn't life just give me a break?

I am so sorry for the late updates! I've been going to a summer program and boy do they know how to keep you busy (and I don't have much access to internet). Please bear with me! I'll at least try to update on the weekends!

Please favorite/follow and review! If there's any ideas you have, leave it in a review and I'll see what I can do. Thank you for your support and again, sorry for the lack of updates. - Vanna