A Dull Summer

Lily Potter sighed as she woke up. It took her a few seconds to realise there was someone in her bedroom, whispering something. She quietly stretched her arm, looking for James. Then, Lily remembered that her husband wasn't there. He hadn't been there for two months. The ginger woman opened her eyes and looked around.

"Harry?", she whispered, surprised. Her eldest son smiled softly at her.

"Sorry, Mum, I didn't mean to wake you. I heard Dalia from my room, so I came here to check on her.", Harry quietly said. Lily got up and walked over the little crib. Her daughter had been born three weeks after James had run away. He had, of course, sent her a letter, apologising for not being there.

"Does she need anything?", she asked her son, trying to forget the pain she felt whenever she thought of James. Harry shook his head.

"Mum, are you all right?", he whispered. As she started saying that she was, he interrupted her. "I know you were thinking of Dad. You always have that look on your face when you think of him."

"What look?", she questioned. Harry blushed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Good night.", he said, quickly leaving the room. Lily slowly walked toward her mirror and examined her reflection.

"What look?", she numbly repeated.

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with Mum.", Harry told his brother. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"You keep saying that as if I didn't know!", he exclaimed. "I know, Harry! I live here too! I see her everyday!"

"Well, we need to do something.", Harry muttered.

"What can we do, though?", Matthew whispered. "I mean, in two weeks, we're both going to Hogwarts. What do you plan on doing? Staying home? Telling Uncle Remus to babysit Mum?"

"We could ask him to help her with Dalia...", he suggested. His brother shook his head and he sighed. "It'd never work, I know. I don't understand why Mum doesn't want any help with Dalia, though."

"Are you really that daft, Harry?", Matthew asked. "Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius helped her with us, of course, but it was Dad who was always right beside her. And now he's gone and she's all alone."

"She's not alone.", Harry growled at his brother, but he knew he had a point. "I see what you mean, though.", he added softly.

"Poor Dalia.", Matthew muttered. "Dad's gone, Uncle Sirius is gone, you and I will be gone and Mum has gone mental. Thank Merlin for Uncle Remus."

"Mum hasn't gone mental.", Harry slapped the back of his brother's head. "And seriously, 'mental'? You've been spending too much time with Ron."

"Shut up, Harry.", the younger boy said, blushing a little. "And if Mum hasn't gone mental, then what do you call it?"

"She's just sad, Matt. She's sad, she's feeling lonely and she misses Dad.", he paused for a few seconds. "And Dalia's poop smells like shit.", Harry finished, with a silly grin. Matthew laughed at that.

"Because yours smells like roses, right?", he chuckled.

Harry and Matthew weren't the only ones who were worried about Lily. Remus had silently watched as his friend went from a vibrant, energetic woman to a zombie. Lily Potter had stopped laughing, and all she did was take care of her daughter. And cry. Remus had expected her to feel sad for being away from her husband, but her behaviour was something else. He couldn't let it go any further, he told himself. Remus got up from his chair, took his wand and Apparated to the Potters'.

"Hello, Lils.", he greeted her when he found her in the kitchen, sitting by herself. She gave him a tiny smile. It was pitiful. "Lily. We need to talk."

"Don't tell me you're breaking up with me, Remus.", Lily said. It had been dry and void of emotion, but Remus chuckled, surprised. He couldn't remember the last time she had made a joke.

"It's not that I don't love you, Lily, I just think we should see other people.", he replied smoothly. She shook her head, a real smile on her face. Remus sighed. "Lily. You're not well."

"And don't you think that I know that?", she rudely asked him. The werewolf was even more surprised at that. He had expected her to deny everything, of course, but he certainly hadn't expected her to use that tone with him. "I'm not stupid, Remus. I know what depression is."

"I see.", Remus whispered. "Well, I'm glad you're aware of your problem.", he said. "Now we need to do something about it."

"Yes, we do, don't we?", Lily said, sounding as if she didn't care either way. Remus took her hand.

"I care about you, Lily. And I love you as if you were my sister. But I won't be here anymore and the thought of leaving you like this scares me.", he told her. That finally caught her attention.

"You're leaving?", she repeated. Remus saw tears in her eyes and he felt his heart breaking.

"I'm sorry.", he whispered. "I've been offered a good job. I couldn't say no.", Lily tried to smile, but she failed miserably.

"Congratulations, Remus.", she sobbed. There was no point in hiding anymore, she thought, and she let the tears stream down her face. Her friend hugged her and held her as she cried for a few minutes. Once she had regained enough control of her emotions, Lily looked at Remus. "What's this wonderful job that's taking you away from my family?", she asked, trying to make a joke.

"It's a wonderful job that's taking me to where some of your family is.", Remus replied, a smile on his face. Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're looking at the new Defence Against The Dark Arts professor."

"Remus!", she exclaimed. "That's perfect!", she hugged him again. "It's what you've always wanted, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is.", the werewolf replied softly. "But we still need to figure out what to do with you, Lils. You have to take care of a baby and you can't do that if you're going to continue like this.", Lily looked down, her cheeks blushing and more tears coming out of her eyes.

"I can't believe I let myself reach this point.", she whispered to herself. Remus shook his head.

"You're a very intelligent woman, Lily. And a very intelligent woman once told me that we can't control our feelings, but can accept them and learn from them.", he smiled kindly at her. She smiled back.

"That woman does sound very intelligent.", she chuckled. He took her hand.

"Lily, you helped me when nobody else noticed how much I was suffering. Allow me to do the same for you. I beg you.", Remus pleaded. Lily nodded, unable to say anything else.

"Hello, cubs.", Remus said, entering the living room and finding the two Potter boys reading. "Studying already?", he asked, surprised.

"Just reading about this new broom. It's called Firebolt and it's amazing!", Harry exclaimed. Remus laughed lightly.

"You truly are James's sons.", he muttered. The two boys grinned in response. "So how do you feel about Hogwarts this year?"

"I have lots of plans.", Harry replied. "We must win the Quidditch Cup this year. And there's the study group, of course. I also want to ask McGonagall about taking the Animagus course."

"What?", Matthew shouted. Remus was just as surprised. "You never told me that!"

"It's just something I've been thinking about.", Harry quietly said.

"Well, I'm sure Minerva will be delighted to know that you're interested in that. She's always complained that her students lacked the interest needed for becoming an Animagus. Of course, she didn't know there were three illegal Animagi in her classroom.", Remus winked, before turning to the younger Potter boy. "How about you, Matthew?"

"I just want to go to Gryffindor Tower already!", he whined. "And I also want to know who the new Professor is.", Matthew added. Remus grinned.

"Well, cubs, you're just looking at him.", he said. Harry and Matthew gasped.

"No way!", Matthew shouted.

"Uncle Remus, that's awesome! You'll be the best professor ever!", Harry exclaimed. Then, he winked. "But don't tell McGonagall I said that."

"Your secret's safe with me, cub!", Remus laughed as the boys hugged him.

"Uncle Remus?", the older Potter boy whispered.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Congratulations. You really deserve this.", Remus felt tears in his eyes, but he let the boys go and lightly slapped Harry's arm.

"You keep getting sappier and sappier, don't you?", he chuckled, shaking his head. They really are James and Lily's sons, he thought.

AN: Hello! I'm really excited about this fic, I've had too many ideas about it in the past month and I can't believe I'm finally writing it! I'd like to thank everybody who's been with me so far. It's been a long journey and we still have a long way to go, so I appreciate all the reads and reviews. I actually have my stories stats bookmarked, so I keep checking how many people have read them and I almost piss myself with excitement when I get an email with a new review... Yes, I'm THAT bad. Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this story, it'll be by far the most different one, but I think that it might make it very interesting. Also, I've decided to cut most of the Summer holidays... I wrote a bit of them in the first two stories and I was bored, so I'll just send them to Hogwarts as soon as possible. And that's it!