Summary: Lily Potter may be the youngest in the family, but she has certainly never acted like it. Being quiet and shy is definitely not Lily's strong side and when she starts her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – the same school both of her parents attended – her big mouth and her knack of getting into troublesome and dangerous situations puts her in the Headmistress's office more then one time. Having an extremely overprotective family and world-famous father who destroyed the most evil wizard of all time doesn't make the whole thing easier either. But when Lily starts having extremely vivid and horrifying flashes and dreams, she and the entire Wizard Community asks themselves, is the Dark Lord truly gone? With dark times a head, Lily, her family and her friends finds themselves in the same nightmare that plagued the Wizard Community over twenty years ago. Wizards are being killed. People are living in fear.
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I swallowed. Things couldn't seriously get any worse right now. I mean, sure I'd been in trouble before, but I knew from the moment that I walked over to the gargoyle standing like a proud guardian in front of the Headmistress's office that I was in some deep bloody mess. And being a Potter like I was, you'd think visits to the Headmistress were something quite normal. Well, not so much for me. Like I said, I'd been in small situations before, but the whole answering to powerful-wizards-as-the-Headmistress was something for my older brothers, who both had tendencies to wind up in that position.
Though, answering to my father might be considered pretty scary for some people. But to me, well, to me he was just Dad. I let out a small sigh and glanced slightly at the fugly-looking caretaker standing next to me, an evil gleam in his eyes and a triumphant smile on his lips.
"You've done it this time, Miss Potter," drawled Filch in this really creepy voice that made shivers run down my spine. I threw a small glance at Filch's cat Mrs Norris that sat loyally like a stuffed-up animal besides her master's feet. You know, I've always been a huge cat lover – something I inherited from my mother – but standing there in front of the gargoyle soon to be facing my fate, I had this huge urge to just kick the goddamn cat. And believe me; this is incredibly unusual for me. I never hurt cats, like, never.
"You know, I'm usually much calmer than this," I said in a small voice as the gargoyle in front of us started to move. Filch gave me a funny glare-ish look, and I thought for a moment that his eyes was about to pop out of his sockets. "What I mean is you must mistake me for someone else. I'm really smart and all."
I looked down at Mrs Norris who had started to make a strange sound, and for a second I could've sworn I saw the cat rolls its eyes at me. I know. Completely ridiculous. I was starting to imagining things.
"What I mean is," I rambled quickly, hoping to get myself out of this mess before I would be forced to go up to the Headmistress. "I've never really done anything quite illegal. I've never broken the rules before!" I know I must've sounded like a complete maniac, but I didn't really care. The whole thing was a nightmare for me. I was going to get expelled. I knew it. First week at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I didn't even manage to stay put for five friggin' days.
"You've broken the rules now, Missy," replied Filch and grabbed my arm and started dragging me up the stairs towards the door to the Headmistress's office.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" I cried indignantly as Filch knocked three times on the wooden door. "I swear it wasn't me! It was that ghost with the bonnet and the funny bowtie!"
"You can blame Peeves all you want, little girl," said Filch and glared down at me, as Mrs Norris purred and entangled her body around Filch's legs. "But that bloody good-for-nothing poltergeist wasn't present this time, so you have nothing to blame on."
A quiet voice could be heard from the other side of the door, that I didn't quite make out. And Filch grinned evilly and pushed the door open.
Of course, I'd heard about all the stories about the Headmistress when I first arrived at Hogwarts and over the past five days I'd actually been able to gather a lot of information about her. Most of it had come from a couple of fifth year Ravenclaws at breakfast the morning of the first classes that had spilled loads of things to me.
"The Headmistress?" said one of the Ravenclaws in a bored voice. "Oh, yeah. She's a real hag."
"There are loads of rumours about her too," said the other Ravenclaw and nodded. "Only about half of it is true, but she can be pretty scary."
"I heard that she once forced a student to clean the entire dungeons," said the first Ravenclaw the other one nodded eagerly. To me, that didn't sound all to bad, since I had on more then one occasions been forced to clean my entire house after some spell-casting had gone wrong. The Headmistress couldn't be so evil. "Using a tooth-brush," finished the Ravenclaw with a gleam in her eye. Or maybe not.
When the Headmistress had spoken to the students of Hogwarts on the welcoming feast dinner, she had seemed extremely strict and severe and didn't smile once. But I thought that was maybe just part of her image. I had heard that being a cold-hearted son of a bitch as an image on this school was quite popular.
I snapped out of my thoughts and stepped into the circle formed room. I felt Filch let go of me and a second later he and his cat was out of the room. It made me feel really uneasy. Though, I have to say, even though I was pretty sure to be expelled pretty soon, I was glad it would be in here. This circle-formed room was incredible! Definitely the most interesting I've been to yet – yeah, okay so I'd only been to my Dad's, but still…
I took a few steps deeper into the circular room and threw a glance at a few weird silver instruments standing on a few tables nearby. I recognized one of them as a Pensive, - both Mom and Dad had one, they said it was good for your mind. I looked at a funny-looking table standing nearby and immediately saw the Sorting Hat sleeping soundly on it.
"Mr Hat?" I asked carefully. The Sorting Hat didn't respond at first, so I took a step closer and reached my hand out to touch it, when it suddenly came to life. I jumped back slightly in surprise. I knew I shouldn't be touching the Sorting Hat; the only one who was allowed to touch it was the Headmistress when she sorted in the new students into their houses.
"Aaah," said the Sorting Hat slowly and stared at me intensely. "A Gryffindor," I looked at the Sorting Hat in wonder. I mean, I'd heard that the Sorting Hat could read minds and all, but I'd figured that was just another rumour – rumours was very popular among the first years.
"You know which house I'm in?" I asked, my mouth open in amazement.
"Well, yes," said the Sorting Hat and gave me a strange look. "You're wearing a Gryffindor crest," finished the Sorting Hat like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Oh," I said and gave a way a little noise of embarrassment. "Right, yeah, I mean I thought…" I trailed off; before I said something I'd regret or even embarrass myself even more.
"No, I can't read students mind, Miss Potter," said the Sorting Hot. "I can only see what's in their soul when they're wearing me, that's how I remember everyone I ever sorted."
I looked at the Hat in astonishment, my eyes had snapped open when he'd said my name. "You know who I am? You remember?"
"Well, it's not all that hard to after only five days, now is it?" said a slightly severe voice from behind me. I didn't turn around first; I simply just watched how the Sorting Hat went back to his deep sleep.
I took a small soundless breath and turned around. The Headmistress was in her usual emerald green robes with her black hair tied back in her neck in a tight bun.
"Professor, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, I was just…" I trailed off as I saw the slightly cool look on her face.
"Looking and talking to my private property?" answered Professor McGonagall for me. I closed my mouth in embarrassment. I wasn't sure first if she was joking with me or not. Then again, Professor McGonagall is not the type of person to joke around with students.
She's gonna expel me, I thought and my breath quickened. She's gonna frickin' expel me.
To my utter astonishment, she simply just smiled at me. I just stared at her. The Headmistress – who rarely smiled – had just smiled at me. "I've wanted to talk to you Lily," said Professor McGonagall in a very motherly voice that I thought I'd die before actually hearing. "I didn't get a chance to ask you what you thought of Hogwarts when you first came here."
I closed my mouth. "Oh, um, it's…" I trailed off, not sure if she was just trying to make me feel better before she expelled me or something. I dragged my mind of the subject when she mentioned Hogwarts and my heart swelled slightly. I loved Hogwarts. "I love Hogwarts," I said happily, my words reflecting my exact thoughts.
"All the turrets and towers, everything's so beautiful," I said in a dreamy voice, like I was speaking about my first love or something. Can a castle be your first love? "I mean, I was nearly smashed by a door yesterday when I was looking for the common room. Isn't that a little unnecessary? You know, to have dangerous doors among eleven-year-olds, someone could get seriously hurt!" I knew I was babbling, I had a tendency to babble when I was nervous, but everything just seemed to be pouring out of me. "Oh, and Peeves, what's that guy's problem, really? Yeah, okay, he's dead, but that doesn't give him the right to blame what he does on students, which is what happened to me here. And to be honest, I'm truly curious why we can't go to the third floor. Why have forbidden floors in a school?" I took a breath and Professor McGonagall just stared at me interestedly. "And the food's incredibly good too," I finished lamely.
"You're quite an extraordinary girl, Lily Potter," replied Professor McGonagall with an unreadable expression.
"So I've been told," I said.
Which was half true, my Dad always said that my tendency to babble could come in handy one day, while I always told him that it made me miserable, of course, being my Dad and all, he kept saying that was what made me extraordinary. I was that person in the family, the small babbling Potter girl, everyone knew me for my big mouth. My older brothers, Albus – who was now in third year – was the brave and loved Quidditch player, the one who always stood up to everyone, like Dad and James – now in his fifth year – was, well, he was the prankster – Dad usually calls him the reincarnation of my Uncle Sirius, who was somewhat of a troublemaker when he was young. And me? I was nothing, just little Miss Babble.
"So, you're not gonna expel me then?" I finally managed to choke out.
"Expel you? For what?" asked Professor McGonagall and gave me a small smile. "Being caught on scene when Peeves was the one who threw fireworks in the Trophy Room?"
"Well… yeah," I said rather lamely.
"Oh, well," said Professor McGonagall and took a seat down behind her desk.
I glanced around in the circular room again, and I couldn't help but to notice that one of the portraits that had all of Hogwarts previous Headmasters and Headmistresses were staring at me intently with interest in his eyes. The old man had long silver beard and a pair of half-moon glasses that was seated on his very crooked nose. It looked like it had been broken at least a hundred times. The old man winked at me with a certain twinkle in his eyes. He seemed somewhat familiar, though I couldn't quite put my finger where I'd seen him.
"Please, sit down," said Professor McGonagall politely and gestured to the chair standing in front of her desk. I slowly made my way over to the desk, still throwing small glances at the portrait. I sat down in the chair and turned my attention back to the Professor.
"These are very interesting portraits, Professor," I said casually, still curiously eyeing the silver-haired man in the portrait. "It's of all the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts, right?"
"That's right, Miss Potter," said Professor McGonagall with a curt nod. I could tell the Professor was looking at me again with that interest; I took my eyes abruptly off the portrait of the silver-haired man and smiled sheepishly. "I saw you eyeing the portrait before."
"Who he is?" I asked curiously.
"He was the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have ever seen," said Professor McGonagall and looked up at the portrait with great admire in her eyes. "And he was especially dear to your father."
My eyes widened in surprise. "Albus Dumbledore," I whispered, and Professor McGonagall gave me a small smile again. Of course, how could I've been so ignorant? I knew who he was of course, who didn't these days? My own older brother had even been named after him. He'd died years before I was even born, when Dad was still in school.
"Wow, I didn't know he looked like that," I said quietly.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat hard and grabbed her wand from inside of her robes. She made a slight flick of her wand and a second later two cups of tea appeared in front of her on the desk. "Milk? Sugar?" asked Professor McGonagall and looked at me.
I shook my head, slightly confused. Here I was, thinking she would expel me and then instead she offers me tea, oh the irony. "Uh, I usually just drink my tea as it is," I lied, clearly in a pretty unconvincing way, but Professor McGonagall didn't seem to notice. "Actually, I hate tea," I admitted bluntly and threw another look at Dumbledore's portrait.
"Oh," came the surprised reply from the Headmistress as she slowly lowered her own tea cup.
I gave her an apologetic smiled and asked a question I knew I shouldn't be asking. "How did he die? Professor Dumbledore?"
Professor McGonagall let out a small noise, and I wasn't quite sure if it was out of horror or surprise. Clearly it was still a sensitive and sore subject. "Oh, dear Miss Potter," said Professor McGonagall weakly and put down her tea cup on the desk. "I'm not it's my place to tell you that, and besides you are too young to hear such a tragic story." Professor McGonagall gave a small sniff.
Yeah, okay, I may be young but I'm pretty mature for my age, at least my mom thinks so. I'm even more mature than James, he's like fifteen.
"You better hurry along then, Miss Potter," said Professor McGonagall and waved her hand at me distractedly. "I'm sure you have classes and I wouldn't want to keep you. Being late for class is never good." I couldn't help but to give a little snort, the last five days, my friend Hugo and I had been late for class over six times. All in all, we'd lost thirty points together only during the first week. Most of the points had been taken off by Professor Malfoy, the Potions Master.
I rose from the chair, and turned around to leave just as I heard Professor McGonagall's voice say my name. I turned to her questioningly. "Yes, Professor?"
"I know this might be hard for, you considering you are indeed a Potter, but would you please try and stay out of trouble?" asked Professor McGonagall in a voice that clearly said that she didn't want to be forced to might expel me one day.
"I'll try, Professor," I said lightly and smiled before turning around and walking out of the office. I threw one last glance at Professor Dumbledore in his portrait who winked at me, before closing the big wooden door.
-
"I guess I should be yelling at you or something," said Harry in a forced serious voice as he packed down some books in his desk. I was sitting on one of the many desks in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, watching as my Dad was cleaning the room for the day. "Preaching about how wrong it is to break the rules and all that."
"Aw, come on Dad," I pouted and gave him a puppy-dog look. "I didn't technically break the rules, it was Peeves. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Where haven't I heard that before?" asked Harry and raised his dark eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes at him. "I had a chat with Professor Longbottom yesterday; apparently you were twenty minutes late for his class, is that true?" he asked and I didn't miss the hint of disappointment in his voice.
I looked down, feeling slightly ashamed but gave my Dad a small sheepish smile, hoping it would get me out of the trouble. "Sorry?" I said innocently.
Harry exhaled loudly and ran a hand through his black untidy hair and sat down on the chair behind his desk, looking tired. Most people would probably say that I looked exactly like my Dad, with my long coal-black hair – though my hair, unlike my Dad's, had a tendency to actually stay straight – and brilliant emerald green eyes, but my face features was anything by my Dad's. My personality was also somewhat of a mystery to my relatives, since I was neither like Mom or Dad or even like my grandparents. My oldest brother, James, had inherited my mother's ginger hair and brown eyes while my other brother Albus was pretty much the exact copy of my Dad – both looks and personality.
"Dad, don't give me that look," I said to him in defence and he looked up at me, his green eyes shining slightly. "I started here five days ago. You can't honestly expect me to learn exactly where all classrooms are the very first week!"
"I also talked to Teddy," Harry kept on. "He said you're having trouble in Transfiguration."
My Uncle Teddy was also teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts. He'd recently returned from a trip to France with his fiancée, Victoire, who also happened to be my cousin. I knew, I have a pretty messed-up family. Don't worry, I've gotten used to it.
"That's true," I said honestly and threw my hands up in the air, making my hair fly a little. "Let's just face the fact that you're youngest child is a complete freak!"
Harry dropped his hand from his face and stood up abruptly and walked over to me and sat down on the desk beside me. "Did someone call you a freak, Lils?" he asked seriously and stared down at me intensely.
I hated when he looked at me like that, he made it feel like he was staring right into or something. When I was with Dad I never had to worry about him seeing right through me – but sometimes that can be a bad thing.
"No," I answered truthfully. "But let's face it, I am a freak. I've already managed to lose thirty points for Gryffindor and I've been sent to Professor McGonagall. No one could top that."
"I don't know, sweetie," said Harry with a smirk on his lips. "Your old man here might've given you a run for the money if I was still in school."
I grinned at him and he leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "So, do you forgive me?" I asked and smiled sweetly at him.
"I could never be angry at you, Lils, you know that," countered Harry jokingly and ruffled my hair affectionally.
I actually felt a little better. Yeah, sure, I'd just been sent to the Headmistress's office, but in the end she just wanted to know what I thought about the school and have some tea. Like a proud grandmother. My mind wandered back to Professor McGonagall's circular room and I instantly thought of Dumbledore's portrait.
I opened my mouth to ask my father about it, just when the door to the classroom slammed open and a tall boy with reddish hair rushed in. My older brother. Just typical. James pushed the door shut fast and threw an anxious look over his shoulder as he ran across the classroom, heading to Dad's office.
"Dad," James panted as he rushed towards the office door. "I need your help, please. I didn't do it," and with that James disappeared into the office just as the door to the classroom slammed open again and Professor Malfoy thundered into the room uncharacteristically – since most of the time, he walked pretty calmly, you know if you compare to most teachers. I choked back a laugh as I noticed that Professor Malfoy's usual white-blonde hair had turned to a shade of lime-green.
"Potter!" growled Professor Malfoy and thundered over to where Dad and I sat. "Where's that bloody son of yours? I saw him running straight into this classroom!"
"Professor Malfoy," said Harry in an annoyingly polite voice. I saw that he tried his best to keep his own laughter in, while I was giggling openly now. "I don't understand, last time I talked to Albus he was in his dorm room working on his Charms essay."
"Not him!" snapped Malfoy and his face twisted in anger and rage. "That other bloody son of yours!"
"You mean James?" I asked the angry Professor and gave him a triumphantly smile. He threw me a deathly glare. Oh, if looks could kill.
"Ah, Malfoy you must be mistaken, James is in Professor Lupin's study right now, finishing his Transfiguration essay. I was just about to go and fetch him," said Harry in a surprisingly convincing voice.
Malfoy straightened up slightly from his previous hunched over state and glared at his nemesis. "Very well then, you managed to get him out of trouble this time, Potter. But the next time you won't be so lucky, and neither will he." And with that Malfoy turned on his heels and stormed out of the classroom.
I shifted slightly, and I saw my Dad's mouth twitch slightly. I turned over to the office where my older brother had run in. "You can come out now, loser!" I said loudly and the office door opened.
James gracefully slid over to where Dad and I were sitting, a sheepish smile playing on his lips.ow Harry started to rub his temples. Poor Dad, it must be hard for him to deal with such kids as us.
"James," said Harry in a warning tone.
"Look, it wasn't what it looked like," James said and held up his hands defensively. I gave him a look and James rolled his eyes. "Okay, maybe it was what it looked like, but I didn't intentionally turn his hair green!" This time Harry gave him a look. "I was just experimenting a little and he showed up out of nowhere and things just… lost control. I swear that bleached git is following me," finished James.
"You're so paranoid," I chimed in at my older brother.
James glared at me. "Shut up."
"Kids!" Harry exclaimed and raked a hand through his black hair. "Let's just not okay? I've tons of things to do tomorrow and I'm really tired. I'm gonna take you back to the common room now before you get Detention."
"Fine by me," said James curtly.
"Deal," I agreed.
Harry grabbed his bag and with a flick of his wand all the lights in the classroom were turned off. "But this stays between us, you do not tell your mother. She'll go bloody mad if she finds out that daughter managed to wind up in the Headmistress's office the very first week of school."
Dad laid a hand on my back and escorted us both out of the classroom. We stepped out into the corridor that was now only dimly lit by the torches hanging on the wall. James turned to me, smirking. "Oh, so a trip to McGonagall's office for our little Princess, huh? It took three weeks before that happened to me. Congratulations, Lils, you officially hold the new Potter record."
"Oh, shut it," I said tiredly.
"James, be nice to your sister," said Harry. He looked the classroom door with his wand and the three of us headed down the corridor towards the Gryffindor dormitories.
-
When I got into the Gryffindor common room most students had already gone to bed. Only Hugo and Rose Weasley were sitting by the fireplace, chatting quietly. The two of them were twins so you pretty much saw them together everywhere. James mumbled goodnight to me and headed towards the fifth year's dormitory. Rose and Hugo looked up as I slowly slumped towards them. Rose stood up from her armchair by the fireplace and walked over to the spiral stairs leading to the first year's dormitory.
She smiled at me as she passed me and I whispered goodnight. I walked over to Hugo and sat down in the armchair that Rose had left. Hugo and I had pretty much been best friends our entire lives. You'd think I'd be better friends with Rose then Hugo, but I always felt more comfortable in Hugo's company then in Rose's.
"By the look on your face I'm guessing you didn't get expelled," countered Hugo and looked at me.
"Nope," I said quietly and leaned backwards in the armchair and closed my eyes. I frowned as I felt a headache creeping into my mind. I started to rub my temples, hoping it would go way. "Turns out," I said, opening my eyes. "That Professor McGonagall only wanted a little tea party."
"No way!" said Hugo in wonder. "Merlin, I've heard all tons of stuff about her."
"Most of it all is rubbish, Hugo," I said tiredly truthfully. "Let me assure you that. Professor McGonagall is actually quite nice, a little strict, but nice."
I exhaled heavily and Hugo cleared noticed my behaviour. "Are you okay?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice as he stared at me.
"Yeah," I said and gave him a small reassuring smile. "I'm just tried. I'm gonna go to bed."
He said goodnight and I rose and left the common room. I walked into the girl's dormitory and saw that all of the girls were already asleep, Rose included. I quickly took of my robes and slid into my pyjamas. I lied down in my bed and just stared at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep. My headache was still torturing me. The fact that I had been getting used to the headaches by now was starting to creep me out.
The headaches had started to torture me by the same time that I had started to have the nightmares. It was the same nightmare every single night and it had been going on like that for the last two weeks. The nightmare was still confusing at times, but I knew they couldn't be all that normal. The details were slightly hazy, but every night I found myself standing in the middle of a dark cemetery. A short man was standing in front of a huge cauldron and every night the same thing happened, the man picked up a knife and cut of his entire lower-arm to let it fall into the cauldron.
Though, I'm sure it was nothing to worry about. It was probably the usual teenage nightmare…
-
And that's the first chapter! And you need to excuse the title; I didn't really come up with anything better. I knew as soon as I was done reading the epilogue of the Deathly Hallows that a story about Harry, Ron and Hermione's kids would be awesome! Even though the first couple of chapters will probably be in Lily's point of view I'll have different perspectives in the future, like Harry's, James's and Albus's. Speaking of Albus, he's coming up in the next chapter, along with a certain Malfoy Junior.
Oh, and the nightmare at the end, yes, it's the cemetery from the Goblet of Fire. Anyway, review, I'd love to see what you have to say! And if you have a better title to share with me, then please do so.