Author's Note: So this is just a quick idea that I came up with the other day and wrote out, although the actual story ended up being a bit longer than I'd anticipated. I'm actually currently in the process of writing another story involving Lily that is set in the summer prior to this so if you enjoy my this, my writing and the character of Lily then stick around and I'll hopefully have a longer serial up later this year (if my parents don't pull me away from my computer and force me to go outside into 'the sunshine' which will probably just end up being rain). The actual character of Lily is a little different as the story focuses a bit more on her and some insecurities so if that's not really your thing then you might want to avoid it. Or just give it a shot. Just, whichever. :)
Disclaimer: So I suppose due to the fact that this entire website is composed of fanfiction is should be sort of obvious that I don't own any of the characters, or the wonderful world of magic that was creating by the brilliant Jo Rowling, but who am I to argue with the tradition of putting a disclaimer anyway?
For a Lily
The billowing steam flowed across the platform as the train slowed to a stop in its final destination. Scuffles and squawks were heard as the many students moved around inside, hastily gathering up their belongings and animals as they prepared to say their last goodbyes to their friends and be reunited with their family, marking the end of the school year. Once the doors to the train were opened by the conductors students streamed out to fill the platform. A few younger ones ran forward, hugging their parents and siblings who they'd not seen in so long, while a few seventh years jumped forward equally enthusiastic to share a passionate embrace with their significant other who'd left school before them. Most of them, however, moved casually forward to greet their parents or friends before rejoining the ever-growing swarm in an attempt to relocate their trunks they'd thoughtlessly left behind which the conductors were now dumping unceremoniously into a massive pile on the side of the platform. A few older teenagers were a little slower getting off the train, thinking to bring their trunks with them as they chatted to each other, enjoying the quieter company of their friends before being plunged into the abyss which was Platform 9¾ on the last day of school. As they stepped down they called out their goodbyes to their friends and after a few quick embraces a boy and girl departed from the crowd and pulled their trunks along as they walked together attempting to locate their parents.
"Where do you suppose they are?" Lily asked, her hand adjusting its grip on the handle of her trunk as she looked around, trying to see over the heads of several former fourth years.
"They're most likely at the other side of the platform," Hugo shrugged. "Come on, let's move further back to the wall and walk down behind that mess!" he indicated to the shouts of some twelve year olds who were arguing over the rightful owner to a chocolate frog card.
Lily nodded in agreement and they drew out from the hubbub of their schoolmates and into the quieter area of the platform, walking along the curved back wall and glancing into the crowd, searching for the face of their parents, or a cluster of Weasley red hair. Soon enough they found them gathered in a small group set out from the rest of the crowd chatting to one another, though they soon waved enthusiastically as they spotted their youngsters approaching them, and swept them up into brief tight hugs once they'd reached them.
"Have you had a good year?" Ginny enquired, examining her daughter from the crown of her head to the soles of her shoes.
"Of course!" Lily smiled, massaging her hand and the deep grove that the weight of her trunk had blessed her with.
Her father clamped a hand on her shoulder. "Just to think, only one year left!"
"Yupp, only one year left to cause as much mayhem as you'd like, after that, with work, it's all downhill," Lily's eldest brother James grinned as he gave her a one-armed squeeze.
"Oh, the horrors you must have working in a jokeshop!" Lily shook her head at him. "I've heard that they're incredibly tough, very stressful and so, so serious."
"You have no idea."
Lily was used to be greeted like this by her family, although this was the first year that she hadn't gotten off the train with Albus, who was now standing there, rolling his eyes at James causing Lily to laugh before asking how his training was going. Hugo was going through a similar process with his parents and Rose, although slightly less joking around as he only had his serious sister and not a James to deal with, although this meant that between Hermione and Rose he was getting a bit of grilling about school work which Ron was attempting to diffuse. After these initial greetings they both greeted their surrogate families of their Aunt, Uncle and cousins, Lily squeezing Rose gleefully and giving her a look afterwards, silently sending her a signal that they were going to talk this summer about a certain blonde someone, while Hugo cheerfully settled into casual conversation with his two closest male cousins about Quidditch. They were content to continue but once the platform started to clear they realised it was probably best to leave and they could all catch up properly later.
"So about seven o'clock at our house?" Ginny asked while Hermione nodded in confirmation. "Wonderful, we'll see you all soon then!"
The families parted from each other as they walked towards the barrier, and Lily saw Rose nod excitedly towards her in indication of what they would talk about later that night before she turned and with Hugo slid through the brick wall into the muggle world.
"Were there any exciting adventures this year that you've decided to hide away from us all?" Harry teased Lily as they walked through the barrier together, leaving Al and James to deal with the trunk as Ginny had rushed off to quickly greet a former classmate and their newborn child.
Lily laughed. "Nothing much really, just working away. Unless you want to hear about teenage girl antics such as the massive argument between Ellie and Julienne."
"Feel free to enlighten me if you wish to," Harry spoke fairly and smiled in response as they moved to the side of platform 9 to wait for the rest of the family.
"It was over a boy actually," Lily folded her arms and leaned against the wall. "I'll give you three guesses who."
"Hmmm..." Harry mirrored her and scratched his chin thoughtfully before snapping his fingers. "I've got it! Professor Sillpinnes!"
Lily snorted with laughter as she watched her father flash a rather boyish mischievous grin. Professor Sillpinnes was their Headmaster, an already old but ever ageing wizard who had formerly taught Alchemy at Hogwarts when it had been requested by a number of pupils in the older years. However, Alchemy was a bit out of fashion and he'd been left not doing very much all year around, until of course he became Headmaster (the position of Alchemy Professor had still not been filled but there had been no requests recently for the subject). Lily often wondered why he had opted to take on a greater role in Hogwarts when at his age he should really have been cutting down on work. Lily had found him to be very forgetful and even on occasion to have fallen asleep in the middle of a meeting. She supposed it was only a quick prefect meeting and nothing too pressing but still.
Once their laughter had quietened down Harry rearranged his face into a slightly more sincere one. "Does Hugo realise yet?"
She shook her head. "No, or at least, he hasn't said anything. I think he's just too preoccupied with school and Quidditch and... other girls, to really take notice of the possibility that friends may have different feelings towards him."
Harry had a faint smile on his face. "Sounds like Ron when I was at school. Like father, like son."
"What happened when you were at school?"
Harry smiled and shook his head. "A story for another day. It's also not exactly mine to tell, but keep me posted on what happens and I'll tell you whether this one has gone roughly the same way."
Lily nodded nodded understanding and then changed the subject. "How has work been for you?"
"Fine, fine," Harry said non-chalantly. "Nothing much to really say, we've cleared up the problem that we had last year, that's all finished, and... apart from that it's been very quiet. Just ordinary, non-threatening, security work."
Lily almost laughed at how her father saw security work as 'non-threatening' but she supposed living in the war must really have put a lot of things in perspective. It was that point that the remaining three of their party subtly slipped through the barrier and joined them, James ruffling Lily's hair as though she were five and teasing her about the weight of her trunk, until Lily questioned his strength and ability to use magic in that situation, which shut up him – if only briefly. They all then walked out of the station to head on home and get ready for the family dinner.
It was afterwards, she and Rose were sitting in her room, as Lily continued to shuffle through the contents of trunk which she had spilled out on the floor. Rose was looking through Lily's schoolbooks with interest, there being a few subjects that she hadn't taken herself to a NEWT level, before Lily gave up trying to put everything away and flopped down onto her bed.
"Do you miss it?" Lily asked her, watching as Rose uncrossed her legs to lean forward and put down the books carefully. Rose had been rather sad at the end of last year, having enjoyed school and been good at her work.
"No," she shook her head before pausing. "Well, I suppose sometimes I enjoy looking back on it, for nostalgia's sake, but the rest of the world is... it's good."
Rose smiled at the abstractness of her answer. "It's hard to explain. You'll find out in a couple of years."
"Everyone keeps on saying that," Lily sighed, twiddling a strand of her hair around her fingers. "People have said that to me throughout my life 'you'll understand when you're older, Lily, dear,' it can be so frustrating... but I suppose I always eventually do."
"Yeah..." Rose shrugged. "No one ever really knows it all in the end."
"Hey..." Lily suddenly sat up and shook her head. "Why have I just spent ages slaving away to put my things in the right places by hand?"
Rose giggled impishly, something Lily rarely saw in her usually sincere cousin. "I was wondering when you were going to figure that out."
"You never said?" Lily moaned. "I'm not used to being home and of age!"
She picked up her wand from her bedside table and flicked it, causing the remaining contents of her trunk to lift up and the objects to shoot out haphazardly to the different designated areas of her room. There were a few occasions when the objects didn't quite manage to land on the shelves and just ended up bouncing off the wall and landing on the floor again.
"Er..." Lily looked at Rose who just nodded.
"Not bad for a first attempt actually!" Rose commented approvingly. "Especially if you've never done it before in one sweep."
"Thanks," Lily took that as a compliment and lazily levitated the remaining objects on the floor one by one to their respectful places. "I'll need to get better at household spells, mum has always been a bit dubious about allowing me to do magic at home."
"If you find out how to cook the way she does, can you tell me?" Rose held onto her stomach briefly. "It was fabulous tonight!"
Lily laughed and agreed to before finishing putting her last possession – a photo album – away on her bookshelf and placing her wand back down.
"So..." Lily waggled her eyebrows at Rose who blushed and looked down. "Aren't you going to tell me about what's been going on between you and him lately?"
Rose's cheeks grew intensely into a remarkable scarlet colour as she twisted her mouth trying not to smile. This lasted only for a few seconds before she ducked her head slightly as her lips parted in a large grin. Lily beamed at the embarrassment of her beloved cousin whom she knew so well. The two had always been rather close, being similar ages and due to the fact their parents were so close as well, but it was only really in the last year that they'd been as intimate as this. Rose had never really been one to dwell on things such as secrets, much preferring to love books instead of boys and keep on studying hard, there was obviously plenty of time later in life to deal with the male species and the theatrics that came along with it. And... in all honesty, she'd never really been one of those girls when she'd been younger to get noticed much by guys at all – not that she wasn't pretty. She was, but not overly so, not stunning like Victoire, just rather sweet but not too delicate or pretentious. And, at the age of around thirteen, when many of her classmates had been preening themselves, styling their hair and pushing back their cuticles Rose hadn't bothered, which meant the boys' attentions had been turned to the girls who made more of an effort, and quiet Rose had been shunted even more to the sidelines. But of course, she just quietly grew up, being friendly enough with everyone and keen to help classmates with work they found hard and most of them took her a little for granted. She grew more and more beautiful until one day, when she was sixteen years old, everyone suddenly noticed her. She had a pretty face with a sweet smile, a feminine figure, was rather graceful with her movements and had wondrous hair that had the volume and curls of her mother's without the bushiness and her father's bright red colour. But she dealt well with being beautiful as she was modest about it and not vain, causing an awful lot of other girls to resent her for it. By the time the boys her age clocked on that Rose Weasley was more than just a mate who'd help them with their homework and was actually a girl it was too late, as her affections had already been fixed on someone else, who sweetly and shyly returned them.
"Well, you know a bit of it all because of the letters I've – oh!" Rose started talking but was interrupted as dazzling white light burst into the room.
Taken aback by the sudden appearance and unnatural brightness of it Lily had to strain her eyes to focus, and discovered the shape of a magnificent stag was the core of the light, with whisps of cliquant emanating from it. Lily recognised this as her father's patronus and sure enough the voice that came from it was her father's calm tones.
"Could you please come to my office, Lily?" it requested, before there was a flickering as the stag tossed its head and then faded away.
"Sorry, Rosie," Lily apologised. "I'd best go see what he wants."
"Oh, it's fine!"
"We are talking about this! I'll keep you here all night if I have to!" Lily jokingly threatened as she left the room. Rose grinned in return before absent mindedly picking up one of Lily's snow globes on her desk and watching the whirls of fake snow settle on the miniature scene.
Lily was confused by her father's request to see her, especially in his office, as she would have assumed he'd have been in the kitchen or living room enjoying Ron and Hermione's company, but she doubted there was anything terribly wrong. There was a brief moment when she was worried that she'd done something wrong and a letter had been sent home but soon came to her senses when she remembered that she hadn't done anything punishable at school for at least two years, and nothing worth sending a note home about. When she reached his office she hesitated, before knocking quickly on the door. On hearing an admission she opened it and peered in.
"Lily!" her father looked quite serious. He was sitting at the desk, thumbing through his usual mountain of mail. "Come in and sit down."
She obliged, glancing at the envelopes he was sorting through. Most of them were his serious Head of Department mail, with official Ministry stationary.
"Now," Harry looked at her, his hands resting on the desk in front of him, the letters lay forgotten at the side. "I have to apologise to you, Lily."
"Apologise?" her voice showed her surprise and confusion. "For what?"
"You turned seventeen. You're now of age," said Harry, as though this summed it all up. However, it only confused Lily further.
"Yeah... I had a brilliant birthday! You and mum sent me wonderful presents, you even dropped in briefly that evening to say greet me in person because you felt bad that James and Al always had their birthdays in the holidays."
"Yes, but it isn't really about your actual birthday."
"Oh, okay," Lily gave her father a questioning look.
"You're seventeen years old, of age, and I haven't given you anything."
"What? You give me lots things, Dad! As well as being a wonderful father and-"
Harry cut across her. "No, I mean, I haven't given you things such as Albus and James have, heirlooms, things I received that belonged to my father."
"Oh."
Lily hadn't really thought about that.
"I gave Albus my cloak in his third year on loan, but now it's officially his, and James stole the Marauder's map, the little..." he coughed to avoid the word. "But when he was seventeen, I told him just to keep it and pass it on to his kids, if he ever manages to settle down and have some. So James has the map, and Al the cloak. And then there's you," Harry explained while Lily nodded slowly, beginning to understand what he was saying. "And I never received anything else that was that personal in my youth from my father to give to you."
Lily nodded. "You don't have to give me anything, Dad, I wouldn't really much use for the map or the cloak, I'm not like Al or James who have uses for those sorts of thing," she insisted.
Harry was looking at her intently. "But it isn't fair. It feels wrong not to give you something that I used to have."
"Really, Dad, I have everything I need!" Lily reassured him, before cracking a small, slightly coy smile. "I have you, after all."
Harry laughed at that. "You can be such a charmer at times, Lil! I sometimes wonder where you get that from, James is a bit like that to... but anyway. I thought about giving you something from my time fighting Voldemort in the war, but nothing really seemed appropriate. It would be unfair to lumber you, for example, with an old snitch."
Lily shrugged. "The snitch means something to you, Dad, it's yours."
"Exactly!" Harry agreed. "And there's the elder wand I suppose, but I'd have to break into Dumbledore's tomb and, let's be honest, the elder wand is probably safer to just be forgotten and to have its power die."
They both laughed at that. "Yeah, don't go desecrate any graves on my account!" Lily nodded eagerly, with slight panic in her eyes at what her father might do. Harry caught it and laughed harder.
"But in all seriousness, I thought about it for quite a while, and I think I've managed to get something that you'll like."
"Oh..." Lily wasn't sure what to think, but she saw her father was looking quite excited although he was trying to keep his temperament even.
"So... close your eyes!" he asked her, and Lily did so.
Lily was plunged into the sort of light darkness that occurs when you close your eyes in a well lit room. She heard the screech of his chair move backwards and the clunk of wood as the door of his desk opened. Lily approved of this, if he'd been keeping it in his drawer meant it was reasonably small in side. There were small sounds of him fiddling about with something... a box perhaps? Lily was trying to figure it out when something landed around her collar and she could feel a fine chain go around her neck. He'd gotten her a necklace. Lily waited for him to fiddle about with the clasp and fit it on, before adjusted her hair out of the chain's way. He stepped back and there was a pause.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now."
Lily blinked her eyes open to see her Dad standing to the side, watching her hopefully while he held a mirror propped up on his desk. She leaned forward to look into the mirror and gasped at the sight of the necklace.
"It's..." she lifted up a hand to touch it in disbelief, making sure it wasn't an illusion or spell. "It's beautiful!"
And it was. There was no other way Lily felt she could describe it, no other words could really justify it at all. The delicate design, the way it caught the light was simply breathtaking. She leaned closer, examining it carefully in the mirror, looking at the tasteful design of tiny intricate silver lilies that were interwoven into a wonderful pendant, and the miniature set emeralds in it with another stone which Lily wasn't sure what it was, that sparkled as well. She wondered if they were diamonds, but they looked different somehow... and then she saw how they caught the light, and the tiny flickers of red as though they may have been captured flames... but it was an incredibly familiar sort of red... She drew her eyes away from necklace itself to see herself wearing it. If she hadn't been wearing an old creased top and looking as though she'd travelled every minute of the day that she had it would have worked better, but even so, it looked wonderful on her! The fine silver chain and delicate design sat so well on her, the flashes of flames were the exact same colour of her hair and the emeralds brought out the flecks of green in her hazel eyes. It looked as though it had been made especially for her... and Lily was completely speechless.
"It's goblin made," Harry looked pleased that she was so taken aback by it.
"That's just... wow!"
Lily continued to admire it in the mirror and there was a slight pause.
"It was your grandmother's," Harry told her and Lily froze; she'd thought that her father had just bought a beautiful piece of jewellery to make up for not having anything to give her.
"My mum," Harry prompted as well. "Your grandfather had it made especially for her. It's goblin silver, emeralds, and dragon diamonds."
"How did you... find it?" Lily looked at him wide-eyed.
"It was in our Gringott's vault, right at the back. I'd never really been there during school because I just went to collect money, but I was looking into it deeper recently and found a few things... I saw the necklace and thought it would be perfect for you... a bit of family history as well. I thought you'd have preferred it over the cloak or map as well... do you like it?"
"I love it!" Lily started to choke up. "It's... perfect."
"I thought so. It really suits you, Lil, more than I even expected," he smiled in satisfaction. "I've got a couple of pictures of your Grandma wearing it, would you like to see?"
Lily nodded and Harry put the mirror down, scooped up a small pile of photographs on his desk and sat down on the arm of Lily's chair holding them out to show her. The first one was of her at a formal looking event, and Lily saw her grandmother clutching to the arm of her husband as they smiled broadly out at the camera, nodding towards it, the people around them looking happy too, Harry told her it was an old Slug Club Reunion event that they had attended the year after they'd left school, it was a little hard to see, but there was a slight glint that Lily could see if she looked closely. The second photo was their wedding one depicting their upper halves so it was clear to see the necklace sitting gracefully on the collar of the beautiful woman in the photograph. Lily (the first) was smiling at the camera, the joy in her face was undeniable and one of the happiest Lily had ever seen anyone be, only topped by the man standing next to her who had his arm around her waist proudly and ever few seconds sneakily kissed her cheek while she giggled and told him off. Lily could see how absolutely stunning her grandmother had been, and the way the emeralds reflected her eyes so perfectly, it was obvious that the necklace had been made for her, and yet, the beauty of the adornment did not detract from her beauty, but only enhanced it. Lily couldn't help but feel as though it would overshadow her so much more than it had its original owner. There were a couple of other wedding photos with various people Lily wasn't sure who they were and the final photograph showed Lily again when she was slightly younger, looking around Lily's own age in a formal gown and spinning around laughing with James, obviously at some sort of ball for their last year at Hogwarts, as there appeared to be a few teacher-like adults lurking in the background. Lily continued to stare at the photograph, smiling as tears formed in her eyes. She threw her arms around her Dad, catching him a bit by surprise making him steady himself on his car.
"Thank you!" Lily sobbed into him. "It's so beautiful and... so wonderful to have something of hers."
Harry hugged her back hard before pulling back and grabbing a few tissues for Lily. She laughed at the fact she was crying because she was so happy and gladly took the tissue and dabbed away at her eyes to dry them.
"Thank you," she said again as Harry had his arm around her in a sort of hug while they looked down at the photographs on her lap. "It truly is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Harry could only really smile at her and squeeze her arm in reply. They both looked down at the photographs again.
"She was so beautiful," Lily said softly as she watched the curls of red swing around playfully as the face laughed over and over. Harry was looking very intently at the photograph and Lily could see the longing in his eye, and he looked as though he was holding back a fair few tears himself.
"You look like her," he said suddenly, his watery eyes turning to her with a sheepish smile.
Lily shook her head. "I'm not as beautiful as her."
Harry's face contorted slightly as he laughed softly and hugged her tightly, kissing the top of head as he rested his chin there. "But you are," he insisted.
Lily couldn't answer him. They both just sat there. Harry James Potter and Lily Luna Potter. Father and daughter.
Eventually they pulled apart slightly and Harry smiled proudly at her, taking her tissue from her and wiping her tears away as though she were a child again.
"Your mother will be wondering why we're taking so long," Harry laughed and Lily nodded gathering up the photographs.
"Which one is your favourite?" Harry asked suddenly and Lily shrugged looking at them all again briefly.
"Probably this one," she said, indicating to the one of Lily at her youngest. Harry nodded and took the photographs from her before handing that one back. "Keep it."
"What?"
"It's only right that you should have your own personal picture of your grandparents," Harry told her. "I think that was the night dad gave the necklace to her anyway – that's what Minnie thought – it's only really appropriate."
"Thank you," was the only thing Lily could say again as she took it. She then removed the necklace carefully from around her neck and placed it into the box that Harry had taken it out of. She held it open and looked at it again as it sat on her lap next to the precious photograph of her grandmother.
"It's too much, really," Lily found herself saying. "In addition to everything else."
"What else?"
"Just... being such a great Dad, and everything you did for my seventeenth before and... just everything," Lily looked down. "I don't really deserve all this."
"You do," Harry said simply. "Besides, there's nothing else I could really do with it. It was made for your grandmother, and it only seems right that it should be yours too. It's a gift made for a Lily."
"Perhaps a more deserving one though," Lily shrugged before closing it and standing. She looked up at her and hoped he understood how grateful she was. "I really do love it. It's..." she was still struggling to find a word.
Harry looked her directly in her eye, and Lily couldn't help having one of those moments that make you really see something so clearly for the first time. He really had his mother's eyes.
"Yours," he answered firmly. "Now come on, we'd better return to everyone or they'll think we've been attacked by a stray manticore or something."
Lily laughed and agreed and they walked to the door together, Lily clutching the box and photograph tightly in her hand.
"Besides," he continued. "Rose has been wanting to speak to you all year long and might go mad if she has to wait one more minute. And besides, I have to fulfil my duty and distract Ron so he doesn't accidentally go up the stairs and hear you two talking about you know who – not Voldemort, the, er, the other one."
"Wait..." Lily said slowly looking at her father sideways. "You know?"
"Know about Rose and the certain mysterious blonde haired boy? Of course I do!" Harry chuckled. "I'm pretty everyone apart from Ron does!"
"It's probably best that way," Lily added.
"Of course."
"So go have fun!" Harry gave her a small shove towards her bedroom door as he turned to go down the stairs. "And I'll be downstairs doing my duty."
Lily laughed at him as he did an exaggerated wipe of sweat from his forehead.
"Good luck, sir!" she called.
They both laughed again and Harry went downstairs to join the rest of the adults and Lily was reunited with Rose and the ever-looming problem of her boyfriend meeting her parents. But before Lily got right into the much awaited gossip she carefully laid down the box on top of her chest of drawers and conjured up a frame for her photograph, placing it proudly in the centre of the surface, happy to see her namesake and grandparents young and hopeful twirling around, caught in a moment of ecstasy that Lily couldn't help but adore. And for the first time, just for a brief moment, she felt truly and utterly proud that she was a Lily Potter.