Snake Charmer

Welcome to my story Snake Charmer I really hope you enjoy reading it. I started this story several years ago and have rewritten it. I try to improve it constantly by reading the feedback given by my readers, whether positive or negative. I find feedback useful to develop my characters and plot. Any comments made about my story in reviews will be taken notice of.

JKR's Harry Potter series is about family and the triumph of good over evil. This story although does focus on the importance of family. It's main focus is of personal development. Consequently you may not like some of the characters at the start, but I ask you to please give them chance to grow. In this story you will discover that people no matter their age, have redeeming qualities.

For those just finding my story, please don't be put off by the large word count. This story is teen rated although some of the subject matter at times is of a mature nature. However after reading other teen rated fan fiction stories I believe the teen rating is still appropriate.

(Harry Potter Next Generation - Mainly Lily L. Potter x Scorpius H. Malfoy but contains many other pairings.)

Love and Family is everything a person could ever need. That is the Weasley/Potter way and Lily is no different. Her family means everything to her and she has a strong love for her friends. Merlin help anyone fool enough to risk her anger by messing with them.

Join Lily as she learns to love and hate and discover that people are full of surprises. Former rivals will become life-long friends and she'll realise things are rarely as they seem. After many obstacles and mistakes, she will eventually learn that the most important thing is to be true to herself and her heart. After all, no one is perfect.

Chapter 1: A Little Joy out of Misery

A red-haired girl the age of ten ran along the platform with tears streaming down her face. She waved frantically at two pale faced, black-haired boys who returned her waves enthusiastically as they hung out the train windows. "See you at Christmas," yelled the eldest boy gleefully and the girl's sobs grew fiercer.

"We'll send you a Hogwart's toilet seat," the younger joked. A pale arm could be seen slapping the younger boy on the upside of his head. Albus Potter winced. "Ok Rose I wont send her a toilet seat." Albus Potter grumbled. "But we will send you something Lily. I promise!"

Laughter mingled with the girls sobs. When she eventually reached the edge of the platform and could no longer follow, she was forced to stop. She continued to wave until the train turned a bend and disappeared out of sight. As she could no longer hear the noisy chugs of the steam engine, she gave one last sob and allowed her arm to fall to her side. That was the second time she'd had to watch her brothers James and Albus leave for school while she was left behind alone with her parents.

"Lily, come along now!" A red-haired woman called to her from the other end of the platform. She stood next to a man with messy black hair and glasses who was talking to a tall red-haired man. The sight of them brought a smile to her face and it lessened the grief of having her brothers separated from her. Lily gave one last sniff and wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her sleeves. She faced her mother and made her way down the platform dragging her feet.

As she passed a group of people, a fake wand given to her as a birthday gift from her Uncle George fell out of her pocket. She turned to retrieve it but a man had already knelt to pick it up. He had a certain presence about him that made Lily think that he wasn't the kind of man who would usually do such a thing. She had the uneasy feeling that he knew her and the only reason he had lowered himself to bending down and picking something off the floor was because of who she was. The man probably had servants to attend to his every need.

He was about her father's age, tall and scrawny, with white blonde hair scraped back revealing a receding hairline accentuating his pointed chin. Lily glanced into his cold grey eyes and felt a sudden sense of fear. She tried to keep his gaze since her brother James had always told her not to turn her back on what she feared, but it became too much. As if her eyes had a mind of their own they flickered to the other people of the group.

There was a woman around her mother's age and she appeared much friendlier than the man. She had honey blonde hair drawn back into a loose bun and childlike features that made her look like an angel. Her dazzling blue eyes were full of warmth and Lily automatically smiled at her while the woman smiled back.

Among the group were two others. They were much older, probably the same age as her grandparents. However while her grandparents were warm and caring, those two seemed cold and indifferent when they looked at her. She distinctly heard the woman say: "The Potter girl" to the man. A sneer formed on his face. He had cold grey eyes just like the man who had her wand and terrified her even more than the other's. Lily turned her gaze back to the man crouched in front of her.

The angel placed her hand on the man's shoulder and there was an instant change in him. He appeared friendlier than before and Lily puzzled over the change. What her childish mind could not identify, was that the man in front of her was someone who played up to the expectations of others. He was not the man many people thought him to be. A small smile toyed on his lips as her regarded her for a few moments.

Lily didn't now how to interpret the change in him, but was relieved when he handed her back her wand. He nodded curtly and turned to the blonde lady next to him whom Lily assumed was his wife. "Thank you very much sir." Lily said, remembering her manners despite her audience. Adding a curtsey for good measure, Lily turned and ran to join her parents, wand in hand.

The tears began to flow again and Lily launched herself into her mother's arms. They wrapped around her the instant she was in reach and Lily was surrounded in love. She felt safe and secure in her mother's arms, she felt at home. Lily held onto those arms as the next wave of sobs caused her to shudder.

"It's ok Lily," her mother said soothingly and stroked her daughter's hair. "You only have one more year before you and Hugo will be off to Hogwarts as well", she whispered kindly. Lily nodded not wanting to tell her mother that the group of blondes were partially to blame for her latest round of hysterics. After all, her family valued bravery and were Gryffindor's through and through. If Lily had any hope of joining the same house as the rest of her family, she was going to have to be brave. Unfortunately bravery was not something she felt she had much of.

James often teased her by predicting she was going to be sorted into Slytherin. Lily really did not want to be a Slytherin. Her Uncle Ron said they were a spineless lot with only a few exceptions. Lily believed him because her Uncle Ron knew everything, just like her Daddy. Her Dad wasn't a fan of Slytherins either so what her Uncle Ron said about Slytherins must be true. Lily wondered why he never voiced his opinions Slytherin's while Aunt Audrey or 'Grandma' Tonks was in the room. They must be the exceptions to the rule because Lily loved them both. They were two former Slytherin's you didn't want to cross. With her mind on her family, Lily forced herself to calm her sobs but still looked solemn.

Ginny Potter stood up and turned to her husband whilst Lily tried to wipe away some of the dampness from her cheeks. Her sleeves were now soaked with tears and so her new tears smeared around her damp face instead of being dried.

"Harry, let's go to Diagon Alley now so Lily can pick out a pet. It will give them time to bond before she goes to Hogwarts." Ginny Potter said. Lily let out an excited squeak and perked up immediately. She gazed up at her father who was looking away in the direction of the oldest white-haired man Lily had just encountered. His brows were furrowed and several wrinkles formed across his forehead. This made his lightning bolt shaped scar stand out.

That scar was his most recognizable feature. He had gotten it when he was a baby. And though Lily hadn't been told the specifics of how it had happened she knew it had something to do with a dark wizard that fought for power before she was born. Lily also knew that this dark wizard and his followers were responsible for her Uncle Bill's distorted face and Uncle George's missing ear. While Uncle Bill looked as if he had been mauled by a wild animal, Uncle George had a black gaping hole where his left ear should be. Furthermore, she knew that the dark lord and his followers were responsible for the absence of Uncle George's brother Fred, Lily's paternal grandparents, as well as Teddy's parents.

Nevertheless, these absent family members were not forgotten. As proof, their memory was kept alive by the family. She and her brother James were named after her grandparents and her father was an amazing godfather to Teddy. Teddy was more like a son to Harry and an elder brother to Lily and her other siblings. In short, he was part of their family, no questions asked.

Though Lily's father was standing next to them, he took a while to become aware of his wife and daughter waiting for his reply to their question. If it wasn't for the sharp jab to the ribs he'd just received from Uncle Ron at his side, he would have continued to stare at the old man. Uncle Ron seemed to realize where Lily's father was staring and an identical expression now formed on his face. Lily glanced back at the group of blondes leaving the platform. They didn't look back at them but the did seem aware they were being watched. Lily puzzled over her dad and uncle's reactions. The family must be bad if two Aurors were watching them with such attention.

Lily looked up at her dad not wanting to think any more about the family of blondes. "Please Daddy, I'd like a cat more than anything. Well, not as much as I want to go to Hogwarts, but I still want one a lot." Lily pleaded.

Harry grinned down at his daughter and then to his wife. "I think that's a great idea." He said finally.

Lily wrapped her arms rightly around both her parent's waists and they hobbled slightly to keep their balance. "Thanks" she squeaked affectionately "You are the best mummy and daddy ever!"

Harry bent down and lifted his daughter into his arms. He grunted since Lily was a lot heavier than she used to be now that she getting older. Lily hugged him tightly and kissed him on his bristly cheek. "It's ok. You can put me down now daddy." Lily grinned. After all she didn't want her dad to hurt himself.

Harry gave his daughter a tight squeeze and set her on her feet again. "Do you fancy coming along as well? Where's Hermione and Hugo?" He asked turning to Ron.

"We're here" came a disgruntled voice before the appearance of a slender woman with bushy brown hair. She led an auburn-haired boy sporting a grave expression by the hand. His sapphire eyes glistened with the tears he was holding back. "Hugo's been wanting an owl for a while now though I'm not sure if he deserves one at the moment" she retorted tartly.

Ron raised his eyebrow, "Why? What's he done now?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

Hermione huffed "Oh, he only handed a few first years some Ton-Tongue Toffees he got from George and tried to pass them off as regular muggle toffees. It took me several minutes to return them all back to normal. They almost missed the train because of him. Can you imagine how those poor children feel after being traumatized on their very first day? They're nervous enough. Currently, I'm considering keeping him home next year and getting him a private tutor." She huffed again. She glared down at her son but seeing his dejected look had her anger deflating. Ruffling her son's hair Hermione turned her attention to the adults. "I think George has increased the strength of those sweets. I don't remember them being that difficult to put right."

A large grin spread across Ron's face, "Really? That a boy Hugo!" Ron bellowed proudly patting his son fondly on the back. "You boy are going to make your father proud. Unlike your sister, who is a miniature of your mother." He added as a lament.

"Ron!" Hermione scowled but when she saw the smirks on Harry and Ginny's face she allowed herself to laugh. "Your father was joking Hugo. He is proud of your sister even if he doesn't say so. She has the brains to be the top of her class." Then, in a whisper to Ron, Harry and Ginny she stated "Honestly, this one is going to cause more trouble than your three put together next year." Ron's face went white at the prediction of the angry letters sent by headmaster Croston and the others laughed all the harder.

Lily winked at Hugo as she ignored the grown ups. She had more important things to discuss right then. "So do you want an owl, cat or a toad? You didn't say before. James told me you wanted a toad but I think he was joking because who on earth would want a toad? They are ugly and slimy and full of warts. At least with owl's and cat's you can form a relationship with. Toads wouldn't recognise you so all they would do is hop away." Lily finished and pulled a disgusted face.

Hugo smiled sheepishly. It was really easy to tease her. She was the youngest of the lot of them and really gullible. She took everything the others said as fact until she found out differently. She also talked a lot but he didn't mind. She was his favourite cousin after all. "Well I was planning on getting an owl for Hogwarts. You said you really wanted a cat instead of an owl so I thought I'd get one. That way, we can share him and you can send letter home with him as well as me."

Lily flung her arms around Hugo and squeezed him tightly as they walked towards the exit to the platform. "You're the best cousin ever" she sang and then took a more secretive tone as the family left platform 9 ¾. "I'll show you how to do the jinx Uncle George taught me!" She whispered to only Hugo.

Hugo looked at her as if she was insane. She didn't honestly believe that he would fall for that, did she? "You don't have a wand yet, Lily" he sighed scornfully at her attempts to trick him. Lily then pulled out her wand from Uncle George and smiled smugly. Hugo continued to look at her as if he feared for her sanity. "A joke wand won't help you cast spells" Hugo stated indignantly. He may be more mischievous than his sister but he had her brains.

Lily slapped her cousin playfully on the arm and childishly stuck out her tongue. "Don't take that high and mighty tone with me mister, this isn't a joke wand and it's not going to transform into a parrot or a herring silly." Lily whispered importantly. She glanced around to make sure that neither of her parents was listening in. They were engrossed in conversation with Hugo's parents so Lily continued, "This is a teaching wand!"

Hugo laughed but stopped at the hurt look on Lily's face. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe that Uncle George of all people would get you something educational." Their Uncle George was well-known within the family as a prankster. He had dropped out of Hogwarts without graduating and started his joke shop with his late twin Fred. He was really successful and Hugo's dad often helped out at the shop when things at the ministry were slow. Uncle Ron worked with Lily's father as an Auror but neither child knew what an Auror was exactly, only that they went after bad witches and wizards. Their parents had chosen not to tell them until they were a little older. They didn't want to worry them.

Lily mimicked her Uncle George's voice and repeated what he'd said to her when he had secretly given her the wand, "Now Lily, you are the only daughter of my only sister. I'm not letting you go to Hogwarts without you knowing how to jinx a few Slytherin. You need to be able to protect yourself because those snakes can be tricky."

"That does sound Uncle George." Hugo admitted grudgingly.

Lily beamed at her cousin. "Uncle Bill and Teddy have taught me a few as well. If you do the spell wrong it will glow red but if you do it right it glows gold. It's really clever and I think it will be helpful even after I get a real wand of my own."

Hugo stared at his cousin with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Unfortunately they couldn't carry on their conversation because Ginny and Hermione had grabbed their hands and were guiding them to the car. "Mum, can I ride with Lily, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny please? Dad's driving makes me sick." Hugo asked his mother cautiously which caused her to burst out laughing and his father feigned being insulted.

"Of course you can dear. To be honest, I'd prefer to join them too but then your dad would get lonely. He'd also get lost if I wasn't there to direct him." Hermione laughed once more and watched her son climb into the back seat of the new top of the line Range-Rover Sport Harry had just bought.

Ron complained openly about his family turning against him and went to sit in his car. Ginny made sure both children were buckled up in the back seats before climbing into the front seat next to Harry. Twisting in her chair Ginny checked on them again. She couldn't get over how much her daughter had grown. It seemed only yesterday that she was cradling her daughter on their way back from the hospital. Ginny would have preferred it if Lily hadn't grown up so fast and was saddened that her daughter would soon be going to Hogwarts. Though she managed to hide her sadness well.

Lily twisted in her seat and laughed at the sulking faced her Uncle was making as Hermione climbed into the car with him. Minutes later they were pulling out of the parking spaces at King's Cross Station and heading towards the Leaky Cauldron. Lily stared in wonder at the muggles going about their everyday lives. It was incredible to think that many of them didn't know of the existence of anything magical. Having grown up with magic all of her life, she couldn't imagine how they got through the day without it.

After a half hour drive through London, the two cars parked outside the Leaky Cauldron. That was a remarkable feat considering there was rush hour traffic.

"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron" the Landlady began. She was a tall and curvaceous woman who had short blonde hair and a pink face which lit up with a bright smile when she saw who it was entering the pub. "Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Ron: it's a pleasure to see you again." She chimed and hugged each in turn and they exchanged warm greetings. "And you have Lily and Hugo here with you. How are you, my darlings?" she asked bending to hug both of them.

"Hello Aunt Hannah! I'm going to get a cat! Lily beamed with pleasure. Hannah wasn't her real aunt but Lily called her that anyway. She'd been a schoolmate of Lily's and Hugo's parents and her husband Neville Longbottom was the Herbology Professor as well as the Head of Gryffindor house at Hogwarts. He too was a good friend of the family.

"Oh, how exciting!" she sang and straightened up. "My Delia wants an owl but we're going to get her one for her birthday" she told the adults in a hushed voice. Lily and Hugo ran towards the corner of the room to where two children sat playing with a pygmy-puff. The girl was their age and had her blonde hair in bunches and her round face had a pinkish glow about it. Her younger brother had similar colouring and was about five years of age. They both smiled when they saw Lily and Hugo. They hugged each other briefly but they were unable to do anything more than that because Lily and Hugo were ushered out to the back and through the magical door that led to Diagon Alley.

Their mothers held their hands as the six of them crossed the street and entered the pet store Magical Menagerie. The air was stuffy and made it difficult to breathe and Lily's nose wrinkled when the smell hit her. The room was dark, crowded and full of croaking, squawking, hissing and meowing sounds among other animal sounds. Lily passed cages of Pygmy-puffs in every colour one could imagine and tanks with brightly coloured frogs as she headed to the cage containing seven young kittens.

Lily shoved her fingers through the cage and giggled as the kittens meowed and pawed at her. There in the cage were two magnificent white Persians, two beautiful grey looking ones, a glorious tortoise shell patterned kitten, one with impressive ginger stripes and a little black kitten which was much smaller and scrawnier than the rest. The black kitten sat in the corner away from the others. Instantly, Lily knew which one she wanted. "Mummy, can I have the black one please?" she squealed and reached through the bars to pet it. It cowered away from her, obviously not used to the attention. The other six kittens tried to engage Lily and trampled over the little black one.

Ginny bent over the cage to look at them. The others were better looking cats than the one her daughter had chosen. It seemed to be the runt of the selection, the underdog. "Are you sure, Sweetie? He's rather small. What about one of the white ones? They are very pretty."

Lily sighed. She didn't want any of the other kittens. She only had eyes for the black one. The way she saw it, the small kitten was just like her. Since she was the youngest and smallest of the thirteen Potters and Weasleys in her generation, Lily often felt like the runt of the family. Being very much overshadowed by the rest of them. "I really want the black one mummy." she insisted. "You and daddy will get him for me, wont you?" she asked tearfully as she thought of the little black bundle being left behind, overshadowed by the other more impressive cats.

Harry stepped forwards to stand between his wife and daughter. "Of course we will Honey. If that's the one you choose then that's the one you'll get." he told her with a smile. Lily returned their smiles with a watery one. Her mother then knelt down and tried to scoop the little black kitten as it tried to run away from her and hide behind the other cats. Ginny finally caught it and lifted him out of the cage and handed him to Lily while Harry went to pay the shop assistant. Lily cradled the trembling small cat close to her chest. "It's ok, I'll take care of you" she cooed and eventually the little kitten calmed.

Without letting go of her new kitten, she stepped next to Hugo. "Have you picked one yet?" she asked interestedly. Hugo nodded and pointed to a Dusky Barn Owl in a cage held by his father. It was the colour of soot with a few white flecks on it under parts. It had a short tail and large black eyes. Lily thought the owl was rather impressive and would camouflage well against a starry sky. "He's beautiful. What are you going to call him?"

Hugo shrugged "I don't know. I have to think about it. Maybe we could name him together." he suggested. Lily liked that idea and responded, "We can think of names for them with grandma and grandpa." Both of them were going to be dropped off at the Burrow in the evening since their parents were going out for a meal. Having all their children back for the summer holidays meant that they hadn't had a moments peace in weeks. It was usual for them to take the opportunity to have some time to themselves.

Later that evening with the help of their grandparents, their eldest cousin Victoire who had recently graduated from Hogwarts and Teddy, Hugo decided to name his owl Moony and Lily chose Padfoot for her cat. The two children chose those names due to their meaning. Moony had been Teddy's father's nickname from school and Padfoot had been the Harry's godfather's nickname.

The two children found that the year passed quicker than either child expected. Lily's brothers sent her a goblet from Hogwarts but her mother made her send it back. Both James and Albus ended up in detention, but it wasn't anything new. They wrote to Lily every week about their adventures at Hogwarts, their experiences on Gryffindor's quidditch team and their run-ins with their Slytherin classmates. They came home for Christmas and Easter and it wasn't long before the Summer holidays arrived. Lily and Hugo received their letters from Hogwarts and they went to Diagon Alley to get all their school equipment.

Last edited 20/04/12. I appreciate all the faves and alerts my story gets but love comments. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.