Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"Dad, what's the best House?" I asked for the billionth time. I knew I wasn't going to get a direct answer, but I couldn't help but try.
"Lily, honey, there is no such thing as a 'best' house," Dad replied, exasperated. "Like I said about a minute ago, every house is special in its own way." I groaned. He sounded just like one of those Muggle pre-school teachers.
"For example, Gryffindors are valued for their bravery, Ravenclaws are- "
"I know, I know. I've heard what each House is special for!" I exclaimed impatiently. I was not feeling too good about the Sorting that would take place tomorrow. My eyes followed the footsteps of the eager shoppers in Diagon Alley. "But which one should I want the Sorting Hat to put me in?"
Just then, my brothers, James and Albus, strode into the hotel room.
"Talking about Sorting again, are we?" Albus playfully pushed my arm. "See, I thought the world had ended when I got sorted into Slytherin…"
"I'm pretty sure it did, from all your complaints."
"Well, only for the first few days," Albus frowned slightly, then continued. "Then I realized that Scorpius wasn't too bad. Oh, and the Quidditch tryouts were great!"
I rolled my eyes. Did becoming Beater on the Slytherin team erase all of Albus's worries? Did it make him forget which House's team he was on? Don't get me wrong, I think Quidditch is fun (not to mention that I have considerable talent in it), and Albus being a Slytherin did not make me judge him. But, getting in Gryffindor would make up for the fact that I have two older brothers to compete with. You know, it really isn't easy being famous Harry Potter's only daughter. People set high expectations for you, and if you don't quite succeed, you immediately get judged as a spoiled brat. My parents didn't put any pressure on any of us (I mean why would they, being the super well-known people they are?), but I thought that getting Sorted into Gryffindor would eliminate all my problems.
Suddenly, a loud crash and some screaming pulled me away from my thoughts. I looked up at Dad, waiting for his reaction. By the time I sought out his face, he had his wand drawn and was slowly edging outside. I jumped up to follow, but Dad flicked his wand and an invisible force kept me from tailing him.
"Stay inside! All of you!" he hissed. Right after he was out the door, my insides went cold, and I couldn't stop shivering despite myself.
I glanced out the window, and sure enough, dementors were swarming around. Some wizards and witches were freaking out, some were attempting to run away or Disapparate, and the rest were casting Patronuses. I saw a shimmering lion, Yorkie, squirrel, and Dad's stag chase the horrid, dark creatures away, and after a while, I stopped shivering and my energy returned.
My curiosity got the best of me, and so I gripped my wand tightly in front of me (like Dad had taught me), and cautiously proceeded towards the door.
"We're coming, too," I heard my brothers confirm, and they followed me with their wands held ahead of them.
As I came up behind Dad, he heard my careful footsteps. He spun around so quickly that I did not register his movement until his wand was pointed directly at my face. Wow, Auror training really gives you fast reflexes, I thought. Even though Dad was, well, my dad, I couldn't help but think of him as a tough, carefully trained Auror as I looked into his slightly lined, scarred face. I slowly backed away, because having your dad pointing a lethal weapon at you is not a great scenario. His wand followed me.
"Get back inside," he told me, his wand almost touching the bridge of my nose. At that moment, I could understand why Harry Potter, the distinguished Head Auror, was both respected and feared. He finished with his death glare, and then turned back around. He kept his wand up, as if anticipating some other attack. A furious glance my way was enough to send me on my way back.
But, before I could take more than three steps, numerous loud cracks filled the air. Dozens of masked, deep red-robed wizards had appeared several feet in front of my brothers and me. At first, I thought it was a joke: that these people were trying to scare us by dressing as crimson-robed Death Eaters. But, when a witch in the lead bellowed, "Reducto!" and pointed his wand towards a small store beside us, I knew that these people were there to hurt us.
Because Mom and Dad had taught us spells, I knew that the building directly behind us was going to explode. I knew that the sensible thing would be to cast a shield, but my hands weren't working properly. I braced myself to get thrown forward, and shut my eyes tightly.
After a fraction of a second that seemed an eternity, I peeked open my eyes to find out why I hadn't been moved. Oh yeah, I realized as I examined Dad's powerful shield. I could really use some Auror training. But, Dad was taking away the shield, and advancing upon the masked figures. He had shot several Stunners before I had even moved a muscle.
I spotted a crimson-robed man quickly approaching me, as if I was his specific target. I didn't waste any time.
"Impedimenta!" I shrieked, and he started (almost comically) running in slow-motion. He obviously wasn't expecting that from a seemingly helpless girl. Sensing that I could help drive these psychos away, I approached the huge light show of spells and curses. I had hexed two unaware, masked wizards, and dodged several green and red curses before I spotted another masked wizard, firing spells in every direction.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I yelled as I pursued him, but the spell missed by barely an inch. This is not good, I thought as he stopped in his tracks and glared at me.
"Little itty-bitty princess want a piece of me?" the crazy man cooed. He cackled gleefully. "CRUCIO!"
I knew that shields were no use against Unforgivable Curses, but that didn't stop me from trying.
"Protego!"
I quickly squeezed my eyes shut, and fell over from the impact of the curse.
Suddenly, angry, orange flames were devouring my insides. I felt a dagger pierce my neck, and I wanted to vomit. I cried out, but could not figure out how I had mustered the energy to do so. The pain was unimaginably intense and concentrated. It was horrible, so horrible that it made me want to die to end the pain. I didn't notice the rough concrete digging into my back as I writhed around. Oh Merlin, how could my dad survive this? Just let it end! I screamed in my mind.
As if my request had been heard, the agony subsided. I rolled over, gasping for breath. I forced my eyes open, and looked into the blindingly bright sun. The man who had cursed me was sprawled out on the ground, unconscious. Then, strong hands grasped me, and my eyes met the angry yet concerned ones of my dad. He led me away from all the shouting. I let out my emotions in a strangled sob, and felt his hands tighten around my arms.
"Get away from here, Lily. Go far from the battle, stay close to the hotel," he whispered hurriedly. "I know how you feel right now, but stay strong. I'll find you once this is over."
With that, he finally let go of me, and I almost collapsed. When I regained my balance, he gently nudged me along, and quickly returned to the display of curses. As I slowly trudged up the slightly tilted street, I witnessed my mom dueling two dark red-robed wizards, and a blonde witch narrowly dodging a blue jet of light. I traced the route of the spell, and my eyes landed on the determined (and now anguished) face of my brother, James. Suddenly, blood started flowing from a large gash on his side. I gasped in horror as he struggled to sit up, and sprinted to his side.
"Behind… you…" James grunted. I knew that if someone were to curse me, I would not have time to look at his face. So, I threw all my anger at the Death Eater who had wounded James into a beautiful, clear shield. I peered over my shoulder just in time to see the madman collapse from his own rebounding curse.
I turned my attention back on James, and discovered many minor scrapes and an angry, deep cut in his shoulder. Just as began to ponder which healing spell to use on him, I heard distant footsteps. As I prepared to hex the two approaching figures, I recognized my mom's voice yell, "Stop, Lily. It's just us."
My mom and dad hurried closer, and Mom knelt down beside me. As Dad immediately started casting healing spells, Mom put her arm around me comfortingly, and murmured, "Are you okay, sweetheart?" I nodded my "yes", trying to forget the Crucio incident. Dad finished mending James's cuts, and examined me.
"You look okay, Lily. Just some bruises that I should heal," he flicked his wand at the last word, and I felt a strange, warm, tingling sensation. The atmosphere grew unnaturally quiet, until Dad questioned, "James, who attacked you?"
James pointed at the masked man who had just regained consciousness, and was reaching for his wand. I saw a hint of rage cross my dad's face.
"Oh, no you don't!" Dad snarled. He leapt up and summoned the man's wand. "NO ONE TOUCHES MY CHILDREN, YOU BASTARD!" Harry Potter, the overly protective father, launched himself onto the panicking Death Eater, and began punching every inch of him.
I watched in astonishment. I had never seen Dad lose his temper like this before. I glanced over at James, who was sitting up with his eyebrows raised. Mom looked a bit surprised. Just then, Uncle Ron marched over, and levitated Dad's wand from his back pocket. Dad frowned at his best friend.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked, clearly amused.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Dad snapped rather childishly while continuing to pummel the man's chest. "I'm teaching this idiot a lesson."
"Well, you just sounded a lot like Mad-Eye Moody. Snap out of it. You look extremely immature," Ron smirked. "Imagine what Rita Skeeter would say about this: Harry Potter, Head Auror, Resorts to Muggle Fighting."
"Shut it. And give me back my wand, you git," Dad had finally come to his senses and had stopped pounding the now bleeding and shrieking wizard.
"You're seem like you would start using Unforgivables, so no," Ron stated simply. "Oh, I wish reporters would see this. The honored Harry Potter begs for his wand from the great Ron Weasley." At first I thought that Dad was going to slap Uncle Ron. But then, the two best mates burst into a great fit of laughter. They kept chuckling until Mom reminded them of our presence.
"If you two will excuse me, I'm going to be helpful and clean up this mess. And if you want to keep your job, you'd better do that, too," Mom reminded them. Dad, Ron, James and I followed Mom back to the scattering of unconscious bodies.
Ron raised his wand, twitched it, and all the knocked-out, masked people came zooming into a pile. Dad then casually twirled his wand so ropes bound the Death Eaters together, and all their wands came into Dad's outstretched hand.
A few minutes later, Albus came to us, with no apparent injuries. Almost at the exact same time, many Ministry wizards and witches Apparated into Diagon Alley. They immediately located Dad, and started discussing the attack.
"Who were they?" A dark-haired witch inquired.
"I'm really not sure," Dad admitted as he tilted his head. "There were probably around fifty of them, and once they Apparated here, they started attacking random passerbyers. I think I heard one of them call themselves the 'N.D.E' group."
"That could stand for 'New Death Eaters'," A young, tall official suggested. "Where did the remaining ones go?"
"I think some of them all Disapparated out," my dad reasoned. "But I think we got, maybe, half of them still here." A few witches went away to take the Stunned N.D.E's away for questioning.
As the conversation continued, Mom, Albus, James and I slowly drifted towards the hotel. There were still plenty of wizards and witches standing around, being questioned by arriving reporters.
"You lot must be very tired," Mom said as we entered the room. "But there is one thing that I must keep clear to you all. Your dad told me that he specifically told you all not to go outside after the Dementors had surrounded the alley, but you directly defied him. Even though you all benefitted our side, I never want to see any of you fighting potentially dangerous Dark creatures and wizards. This is the real world, and many people will stop at nothing to get in power. Do you understand?"
We all nodded obediently. James, Albus and I had all learned the hard way never to interrupt Mom while she was lecturing us. After a few more minutes of reprimanding us, Mom let us get our rest.
I flopped down on the soft bed in my hotel room, and almost immediately fell asleep.
After what it felt like two seconds, Dad was waking me up for dinner.
"If you're hungry, we're going out to eat tonight," Dad informed me. "Are you alright? I know that the Cruciatus curse leaves people feeling quite strange."
"I'm fine," I lied. He looked at me strangely. The Cruciatus curse had made me all jumpy and now I felt hollow inside. I knew that Dad, being a pretty accomplished Legilimens, would be able to tell that I was not being truthful. I tried to use the little Occlumency I knew (because who wants somebody going through your thoughts, even if it is your dad?), but I guess that the horrible curse had done weird things to my head. I felt Dad enter my mind, but exit it very soon after. He tried not to use his skill on family members, but sometimes couldn't help it when he was curious.
"Sorry," he muttered, since he knew that I sensed his presence in my mind. "It's fine if you don't want to discuss it."
A few moments later, I was out of bed and strolling in and outside Diagon Alley with my family. We ended up eating at a Muggle pub, returned back to our rooms, and then went to sleep early at Mom's insisting.
The next morning, I woke up early in the morning, feeling slightly more cheerful and excited to be leaving for the legendary Hogwarts. I bumped into Albus as I wandered around the rooms that we were staying in.
"Excited?" Al asked, a twinkle in his green eyes.
"Very," I replied, grinning. "I'm still nervous for the Sorting."
"Ugh," Al rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just please don't start on your 'which House should I be in' rant."
After a little while, Dad came into our little hotel kitchen. When he spotted me, he threw his arms around me and pulled my feet off the ground in a big hug.
"How's my little girl doing?" he smiled down at me. "Oh, I forgot to tell you yesterday, Aunt Hermione informed me that she is going to be teaching Transfiguration this year! Isn't that great?"
"That's great, as long as she doesn't contact you every time that I get a question wrong or something," Aunt Hermione seemed just the type to do that, so I had to warn him.
"It seems like all our relatives are teaching courses at Hogwarts... It's practically becoming the Potter-Weasley house!"
"Ha-ha, very funny," Dad said. "Well, you'd better pour yourself some cereal because we will probably be heading off in an hour." I quickly ate my breakfast with my siblings and parents, and finished packing.
At ten o'clock, we were all ready to go take a taxi to King's Cross. My mom and dad could have easily brought us there by Side-Along Apparition, but Dad said that the Muggle way helped us "appreciate the things that Muggles have to do". Personally, I thought that Dad was crazy, but taking a taxi dressed as a Muggle was actually an interesting experience.
When we got to King's Cross, I took my luggage and hauled it off a bit past Platform 9. Al ran towards the wall a few strides away, and disappeared.
James followed him, and left the Muggle station as well.
I paused.
"Well, go on, honey," Mom gently pushed me forward.
I took a breath, and jogged in the direction of the seemingly solid barrier. Finally, after all my ridiculous fantasies and burdening worries, I was ready to go to Hogwarts.
Author's Note (Please read!): Hello! Welcome to my story. First, I'll clarify some things:
-Lily got her wand at age 7 because her parents insisted that she did
-Harry taught Lily defensive magic before she arrived at Hogwarts
-Why? Because Harry knows his family is a huge target for Dark wizards, and he wants Lily to be able to protect herself
-Anything else? Ask if you're confused.