Lily Luna Potter was devastated as she watched the Hogwarts Express pull away, taking James and Albus with it. Admittedly she spent most of her time arguing with them, but now that they were gone until Christmas, she felt even worse than she had done when Aunt Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, had died.

And the icing on the stale, sour cake was that she had to wait another two years until she could join them. Two years! That was a lifetime away- or at least it seemed like that to a nine year old.

Beside her on the platform, her Mum wiped her eyes slightly and her Dad continued waving at the train even when it had sped out of view. Great, so she had two years with no one but her parents for company. No doubt they'd spend it discussing taxes and the Ministry, or whatever else it was that parents talked about. Lily thought it highly unlikely that she'd still be alive by the time her brothers came home for the holidays; she probably wouldn't last more than a couple of weeks before dying of boredom.

'Are you okay, Lils?' asked her Mum, giving her a knowing look, as though she understood all too well how Lily was feeling.

Lily opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but to her horror she burst into tears instead.

'I miss them already!' she wailed, while her cousin Hugo- who was as comfortable around emotional people as Uncle Ron was- gave her an appalled look.

'Don't worry,' said Harry soothingly, 'It'll be the Christmas holidays before you know it, then they'll be home annoying you and you'll wish they were back at Hogwarts.'

'But I don't want to be at home on my own!' protested Lily, feeling incredibly sorry for yourself.

'Lils, your mum and I live with you as well,' pointed out Harry.

Ginny was about to say something, when the large clock caught her eye and she jumped slightly, 'Harry, I really need to get back to the office. I've got that meeting in half an hour. Will you be alright with Lily?'

Lily stopped crying and folded her arms in the way she always did when she was annoyed about something. Surely she wasn't that much of a burden that her dad couldn't cope with her?

'We'll be fine,' Harry reassured his wife, kissing her on the cheek, 'See you tonight.'

'Okay,' Ginny turned to her daughter, 'Bye, Lily, I'll see you later.'

I wouldn't count on it, thought Lily, who was already wondering if she could somehow sneak up to Hogwarts that night and beg the teachers to let her start two years early. She wasn't exactly sure where it was, though, except that it was in Scotland. Maybe Hugo could help her- he wanted to go to Hogwarts as much as she did.

She glanced over at her cousin but saw he was happily chattering away with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione as though the world hadn't just ended. The traitor, Lily thought bitterly.

'So, what do you want to do today Lils? I've got the whole day off, you can choose what we do.'

Lily looked up to see her dad talking to her, clearly trying to bribe her so she would forget all about the injustice of not being allowed to go to Hogwarts. Well, it wasn't going to work, she thought smugly.

Two hours later, and Harry's bribery had worked. While the trip to Uncle George's shop and the large ice cream that followed hadn't made Lily forget about the departure of her brothers, it had succeeded in temporarily distracting her.

In fact, thought Lily, as she enjoyed the strawberry sundae in front of her, she could get used to it just being her and her parents, if this was the kind of treatment she was going to get.

'Feeling better now?' asked her dad, giving her a smile from across the table.

'Yep,' she said, scooping up the last bite of her delicious ice-cream, 'can we come here tomorrow?'

'Maybe not,' laughed Harry, 'And don't tell your mum you had that large an ice cream.'

'Okay,' agreed Lily, feeling a lot better than she had done at King's Cross.

'You ready to go home?'

She nodded and followed her dad out of the café and back down Diagon Alley. Then she took his arm and the horrible, claustrophobic sensation that came with apparition washed over her.

'I'm never learning to apparate,' she declared, once they'd arrived back home, and Harry was unlocking the front door.

'You don't need to; you're going to be an amazing flier.'

'Yeah!' agreed Lily excitedly, jumping into the house.

She could now see that there were definite benefits to James and Al being away. There would be no one to come bursting into her room when she wanted some peace and quiet, there would be no horrible socks left on the landing, and she could play whatever position she wanted in Quidditch, rather than always having to be a Chaser.

Singing happily to herself, Lily took off her shoes and dashed up to her bedroom, where she could do whatever she wanted without being disturbed. She chose a book off the shelf and collapsed onto her bed to read it.

However, after ten minutes or so of reading about fairies and goblins, she realised just how quiet it was. Usually the house was filled with noise, as James and Al yelled at one another about something, or teased her about something else. But now it was silent.

A rising feeling of panic rose in Lily, as she realised just how much she was going to miss her brothers. And never mind choosing her Quidditch position- who on earth was she going to play Quidditch with?!

'Daddy!' she jumped off her bed and ran downstairs as fast as she could.

It only took a moment to find a rather bemused looking Harry, sitting at his desk in the study, going through some paperwork.

'What's up, Lils?' he asked, most of his attention focused on the documents in front of him.

'You need to go to Hogwarts and bring James and Albus home!' she declared, putting her hand on her hip in the way she always did when she meant business.

Harry took one look at his nine year old daughter, standing there with such a serious expression on her face, and burst out laughing. This was not the appropriate response from Lily's point of view.

'Hey!' she exclaimed, looking annoyed at first, and then more and more tearful.

'Sorry, Lily,' said Harry honestly, holding out his arms to her.

Only because she was upset (or so she told herself), Lily climbed onto her dad's knees like she had done when she was a toddler. There was something incredibly reassuring about being hugged by her dad, she had to admit, even though she thought nine year olds were way too old for cuddles.

'I really miss James and Albus,' she mumbled weakly.

'I know, I do too.'

'Really?' Lily asked, giving Harry and incredulous look, 'But they're so loud and messy.'

He laughed, 'Well why do you miss them then?'

Lily thought about this for a moment, unsure what the honest answer to that was.

'Because I do!' she exclaimed after a while.

Harry laughed again and gently flicked his daughter's nose like he had done when she was little.

'That's not making me feel better!'

'Sorry,' he chuckled, 'you know, Lily, I really miss them as well, and of course I wish that both of them were here. But I know that they'll be having a great time at Hogwarts, and that makes me happy. And I know you want them to have fun as well, don't you?'

'I suppose,' admitted Lily grudgingly.

'And,' continued Harry, 'even though I'm going to miss the boys, I'm also really looking forward to spending some time with just you.'

Lily was about to protest but stopped herself; she'd not thought about it in that way. But now she did, she realised that she hardly ever had any one on one time with her parents, because James and Albus were always there as well. It wasn't that she didn't like the five of them being together, but it would be nice to do things with her mum and dad alone.

'I do like it when it's just me, you and mummy,' she conceded after a while.

'Me too,' agreed Harry, 'but that doesn't mean I don't like it when the boys are here too.'

'Yeah, yeah,' said Lily, laughing at his typically parental response.

'And I'm going to miss you so much when you finally go to Hogwarts,' Harry added, his voice sounding slightly constricted.

The sudden realisation that in only two years' time she wouldn't see her dad everyday was rather painful for Lily. She wondered if every student missed their parents, or if she would be the only one; James had said he'd not missed any of them.

'Daddy?' she asked in a quiet voice, 'What if I get to Hogwarts and I miss you too much?'

'You won't, Lily. You'll be too busy making new friends and causing trouble to miss me.'

Lily still wasn't convinced, 'But didn't you miss your aunt and uncle at all when you went?'

Harry spluttered with laughter, 'Not one bit. Although I like to think I'm a bit nicer to you than they were to me.'

Lily nodded her agreement and they both sat in silence for a while.

'Love you, Daddy,' she said after a few minutes.

'Love you too, Lils.'

'Daddy?'

'Yeah?'

'Can James and Albus stay at Hogwarts for Christmas please?'

Hope you liked the first one shot!

The next one is going to be Ginny and James, and let's just say it'll involve Ginny finding out something she really doesn't want to know.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave me a review :)