I Used to Live Here Once…

By Eleanor Jane Farrell

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any characters within the books (or the films for that matter), you'll have to credit J.K. Rowling for that.

Summary: Lily died in an accident before she got her Hogwarts letter. She comes back as a ghost and meets a wizard, James Potter, who is the only one who can see her. Can James convince her family and the Hogwarts professors that she is really there, or will they think he's gone mad?

0: Prologue

(Lily's POV)

I used to live here once, before my accident. It used to be just me, mum, and my sister. The house looked the same, except for the front door. The wooden frame with the glass window taking up half of the door has now been replaced with one of those modern, plastic ones.

I remember walking through that door when I was younger. My mum would have the dinner in the oven, the appetising aroma and the heat would hit you as soon as you stepped inside. On really cold days, my mum would cook beef casserole to warm me and Petunia up. I would always eat the meat first, the rest didn't seem to appeal as much to me. The gritty feeling that the food used to leave in your mouth wasn't the most pleasant of feelings, but I'd give anything to feel it again. It seems a long time ago now since I've enjoyed eating food.

Someone else lives here now. A nice picture perfect family, a mother, a father and their son. It was somebody else's sanctuary now. Someone else's shelter and protection. I remember hiding in my room all of the time, curling up in my bed, reading my favourite stories. I always did like to have some time to myself. It seems now, that I have too much…

I first had too much time, right after my accident. I enjoyed it at first, then I got lonely. Everything all started on that day when I was playing with my sister, down by the river. She had fallen in. I had jumped in after her. I had wanted to rescue her from the water's violent hold. I didn't realise that I wouldn't be able to get out afterwards. I thrashed at river, struggling at it's hold, hoping to break through to the surface. Nothing was accomplished by my efforts. Eventually, I stopped fighting and surrendered to the water's pull. For a while after, all I saw was the cold, icy depth of the endless water; it had surrounded me in calmness and tranquillity.

That was the last time I saw my family and my home, until now.