Hello Fanfiction World! It has been a while... actually 'a while' is an insane understatement. It has been AGES. How are you all doing? As you may have noticed... this is not a my long over-due DBQ update (which will come... someday) and it is not a story that is part of the Percy Jackson universe. I've been in love with Harry Potter ever since I was 10 years old and I've been extremely inspired by the Next-Gen fics I've been reading lately and decided I give it writing a Harry Potter fic a go. Before I forget all character and settings belong to the wonderful and brilliant J.K Rowling. So here it goes...
The 1st of September was always a hectic time in the Potter household. A flurry of books, papers and stressful late minute checks overtook the calm pace of the morning of the summer in their cottage in Godric's Hollow. And like every 1st of September since James had started at Hogwarts, almost like clockwork, Harry James Potter awoke to the sound of Ginny screaming, "James Sirius Potter! Get down here and clean this mess up!" He sighed and grabbed his old tortoise-shell glasses from his beside table. Although Ginny had nagged him to replace those glasses, Harry refused to get rid of them. In a way they were a reminder to him of who he was before he became 'the Boy Who Lived', 'the Saviour of the Wizarding World' or 'The Head of the Auror Department'- Just Harry.
As he walked down the stairs, the photograph over the fireplace caught his eye. He remembered the day it was taken. Ginny had taken them all to a small photo studio in Diagon Alley, in hopes of getting a nice family portrait to cover the hole James had made in the wall over the fireplace. He and Al has been playing 'Pass the Quaffle' indoors against Ginny's explicit warnings and she was beyond livid when she found out. After some threats and a lot of bribing, Ginny had managed to drag three highly uncooperative children (and a very unwilling husband) through the doors of the studio and take the photo. Although at first, the Potter clan had huge grins plastered on there faces and were standing in their 'proper' places- Al and James in front in their scratchy Sunday-best, Ginny standing behind Albus with one arm wrapped around him and Harry next to her carrying Lily in a puffy white dress and a butterfly headband that pushed back her red curls. But once the photo moved all chaos broke out. While attempting to pull off his scratchy knit vest, five-year old James had 'accidentally' punched his brother in the nose prompting the boys to start to start a fist fight. Ginny was desperately trying to pull them apart while the little one year old Lily Potter had managed to steal her father's glasses, leaving Harry blind.
Now a decade later, it was the first year that all his children would be attending Hogwarts. James was going on his fifth year and was truly living up to the legacy of his both namesakes. His reputation for being a prankster was only preceded by his incredible Quidditch skill and it was no surprise that he was been named Gryffindor Quidditch Captain after Adeline Wood had graduated. Al had grown into his skin at Hogwarts and was constantly in friendly competition with his cousin, Rose, for best in his year. He, Rose and Scorpius Malfoy had become inseparable since first year. And Lily... his little Lillypad... she had grown so fast. It seemed like just yesterday she was the little redhead toddler in the photograph, flashing a toothy grin at the camera. Now, she was about to go off and start her first year at Hogwarts. It was crazy how fast time goes.
Harry sauntered into their Scandinavian-style kitchen and pecked his wife on the cheek. "Morning, Mrs Potter."
Ginny smiled, not taking her focus off stirring the pancake mix. Her ginger hair was streaked with batter mix and there was a patch of flour on her forehead. "Morning, Mr Potter."
"Has James come down yet?" Harry asked, tasting a bit of pancake batter.
Ginny nodded with a wicked grin on her face and pointed the wooden spoon in the direction of the backyard where their oldest son was furiously scrubbing at the bright purple hinkypunk flem stain on the broom shed with a blob of ectoplasm-like substance stuck in his messy brown hair. " We were really asking for it when we named his James Sirius, weren't we?"
Harry chuckled, "Even if we named him Percy Neville, I think he would still be the same."
Ginny rolled her eyes as she poured the batter in the pan, " Like I would name my first-born after Percy..." She turned at looked at the clock over the kitchen table. "Oh Merlin, it's already 9:30. D'you mind waking Al and Lily up?"
Harry nodded. "Of course. By the way, pancake mix is a great hair accessory."
"Oh shut up, Harry," she shot back, running a hand through her hair.
Harry walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of Albus' room. "Al, time to wake up."
There was no response. Harry opened the door and found his youngest son engrossed in a book about the size of his head.
"Albus?"
Albus nodded and replied in a trance-like state, "I'll be down in a second, Dad. I just let me finish this chapter."
Harry sighed, and ruffled his son's messy hair. "You can finish it off on the train."
"But Dad-", Albus whined, pushing his glasses up.
"Fine, fine." Harry said, throwing his hands up in defeat and walking out the door slowly. "I guess James and Lily will just get all of the pancakes."
Upon hearing the word 'pancakes', Albus bolted down the stairs, leaving his thick book on his unmade bed.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. While his son's love for books rivalled Hermione's, you could always trust his mother's cooking to get him to drop everything he was doing and run to the dinner table.
He walked down the corridor and knocked on the door of Lily's room. "Lilypad, time for breakfast."
A small voice piped up from behind the door, "I'm not hungry, Daddy."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "But your mum's made your favourite, pancakes."
After a moment of hesitation, Lily spoke again,"I'm not hungry. I'm not coming down."
Harry sighed. As sweet as she could be usually, Lily could also be frustratingly stubborn. "Oh for the love of Merlin! I'm coming in, Lily."
When he opened the door, he saw Lily in her pyjamas, lying on her stomach on her bed, doodling in her little sketchbook. Her trunk for Hogwarts which had been packed 6 months beforehand had disappeared.
"Lily, what's going on? Where's your trunk?"
Lily bolted and sat straight up on her pink bed. Her bottom lip, began to tremble "I unpacked it, Daddy. I don't want to go"
"What? But I thought you were so excited to go to Hogwarts with your brothers and your cousins."
"I was but..." Lily blinked and took a deep breath, "I'm scared, Daddy. I'm scared when I go to Hogwarts, everyone's going to expect me to be good at Quidditch as Mum or as great at pranking like James or to be as good at school as Al or as good at Defence Against the Dark Arts as you and then I'm just going to end up disappointing everyone when I turn out to be rubbish at it all."
Harry felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, as a feeling of déjà vu swept across him. He kneeled down at her bedside, put both hands on her shoulders and looked his daughter in her eyes. "Lily Luna Potter, look at me. You're not you're not your mum, nor are your brother and you're not me. You're Lily Luna Potter, you're one of a kind. You will be great at things that your brothers are rubbish at but if you never go out there and try, you'll never find out what you're good at. There will be people who expect the world of you and want you to fit the mould that they want you to be in. But their opinion doesn't matter. The only person's expectation that you need to exceed is yours. You're going to blow them all away, Lilypad. Just be yourself."
"Thanks, Daddy" she beamed, wrapping her arms around her father.
Ginny voice called out, "Harry! Lily!"
"Coming, Gin", he yelled down the stairs. "Let's go downstairs and have some pancakes."
Lily furrowed her brows, "But Dad, what about my trunk? I-"
Harry swished his wand and Lily's trunk appeared in front of her feet. "See what you'd miss if you didn't go to Hogwarts", he said winking at his little girl.
So there it was... my first attempt at writing a Harry Potter fic. I love you guys! Tune in next time. xx A2
