Lullaby
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Word Count: 556 (only actual Drabble)
Lullaby
Sweet child of mine,
Wipe those tears,
Don't you cry,
Mommy promises not to die.
Through storm, and through pain,
Even if it's in vain,
Mommy promises not to die
So just close your eyes,
Sweet child of mine,
Mommy promises not to die....
Lily continued to hum her morbid lullaby softly to her son, compelled by the sight of his face—his heart shaped, innocently sweet face she loved so much—she lifted him into the air, the silence and peace her song brought breaking as if her lullaby was the only thing keeping it, falling like an incomplete spell around her feet.
The pain rushed back all in an instant—the sound of her husband, of James falling to the ground, dead as Voldemort moved swiftly coming closer, closer, closer, to her, to her baby.
Lily held her baby closer to her, allowing her tears to caress her cheeks as she whispered to her baby for the last time, murmuring 'I love you's' and 'I'm sorry' to her little one, silently crying in her anguish over her fate: she would never see her child grow, never be there to kiss away his skinned knees, never be there to kiss him goodnight, or to cuddle him after a nightmare. Never be there to hold him when he cried, to sing him to sleep or to tell him how proud she is of him when his Hogwarts letter comes. She would never meet his future wife or husband, never see his wedding, never hold his children—her grand children-- never hear him speak again.
And she cried at what he lost. A mother. A father.
But she also cried at what was gained: he would live, she knew it. Deep in her bones, she knew her baby would live. This wasn't a mother's hope, call it instinct, but her baby would live, and he would never have peace because of it. The wizarding world would tear him to pieces, and she wouldn't be there to protect him from it.
Sweet child of mine,
Wipe those tears,
Don't you cry,
Mommy promises not to die.
Through storm, and through pain,
Even if it's in vain,
Mommy promises not to die
Lily sang to her baby softly. It was a broken promise, a worthless lullaby, but she sang it as if her life depended on it.
Seconds later, the door slammed open and he came into sight.
And not to long after that, after Lily Potter's pleading for her son's life—for Harry Potter's life—and after a green flash of light, the same emerald green of her eyes and her son's-- and after Lily's life was taken, the moment that would be repeated forever in history happened.
Voldemort was defeated.
By Lily Potter's ghost, who, even in death, protected her baby, a fierce lioness protecting her cub.
Sweet child of mine,
Wipe those tears,
Don't you cry,
Mommy promises not to die.
Through storm, and through pain,
Even if it's in vain,
Mommy promises not to die
So just close your eyes,
Sweet child of mine,
Mommy promises not to die.
Just sleep, sweet child of mine,
And dream of happy places,
of birds high in the sky,
of your father and mother's sweet smiling faces.
So,
Wipe those tears,
Don't you cry,
Mommy promises not to die.