character/pairing: Lorcan & Lily/Lorcan

written by: PrincessPearl/Pearl

Shining sun? Check.

Singing birds? Check.

Clear blue skies? Check.

"This is the perfect kind of day to meet the love of your life," his father tells him, smiling broadly as he wraps an arm around his wife. "I met your mother on a day just like this, you know."

Luna laughs. "I fell into a river and he fished me out."

Lorcan blinks. "Who am I meeting today, then?"

"Who says it's about you?" Lysander demands indignantly. "It could mean the love of my life."

His brother turns to look at him with unsettlingly bright silver-blue eyes. "It could," Lorcan agrees amiably after a moment of thinking. "Let's get going."

Lysander stares after him in bewilderment. Rolf and Luna exchange a smile over their son's head and open the door for them all to walk through.

"Who's going to be our age over there?" Lysander asks as they walk the short distance from their new house to the one just over the hill. "You said they had three kids!"

"The youngest is your age," Luna answers absently. "Her name is Lily."

Lysander makes a face. "A girl? Why not a boy?"

"You can play with her brothers," Rolf suggests. "They're not that much older."

Lorcan jumps over a stone in the path. "What's wrong with girls?"

"They're all noisy and annoying," Lysander mutters, no doubt thinking of their cousins on his father's side.

"I'm sure they're not all like Olivia and Maybelle," Lorcan defends.

"You shouldn't make generalizations," Luna adds, finger-combing Lysander's vanilla-blond hair, the same shade and texture as hers. "Lily is a very sweet girl. She's my goddaughter, you know."

"Which means she's amazing," Rolf grins, brushing a kiss to his wife's cheek. "Hey, I think I see Ginny!"

Lorcan and Lysander look over at the house over the hill and find a figure standing in front with trademark orange-red hair that anyone could recognize a mile away.

"Luna!" cries Ginny Potter happily, rushing forward to embrace her friend once they're in hugging distance. "It's so good to see you! Poor Lily's been wondering where you went away to! Oh, and Rolf, hello! And Lorcan and Lysander—my, you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."

Rolf laughs, accepting his own hug from her. "Last time you saw them, they were in diapers."

Ginny smiles and ruffles their hair—one almost silver, the other almost golden—and says, "Yes, and I'm very glad I don't have to do that anymore."

The adults share a laugh, only interrupted by a little redhead girl flinging herself out the open door and into Luna's arms, laughing in delight and amazement. Lorcan and Lysander watch on curiously as their mother smiles affectionately at the girl and hugs her back.

"You're back!" beams Lily Potter, pulling back just enough to flash her godmather a gap-toothed smile. "For good?"

"For good, Lily-flower," Luna laughs, nodding as Lily dives in for another hug.

"Hey, now, don't I get a hug?" Rolf interjects, and Lily practically flies from Luna's arms to his.

"Lorcan, Lysander," Luna smiles at her sons. "This is Lily Potter."

Lysander appears to be a little afraid of the tiny redheaded firework as Rolf sets her back down onto the ground and she turns her bright smile upon the two boys.

"Hello!" she greets cheerfully as Ginny beckons Rolf and Luna inside to let the kids play in the front yard. "Which one of you is Lorcan, and which is Lysander?"

"He's Lysander," says Lorcan, pointing a thumb at his brother. "And I think you've frightened him."

"She has not!" Lysander protests.

Lily giggles. "Daddy says I do that a lot." She extends a friendly hand. "I'm Lily."

"Lorcan," he says, clasping her hand. "You're very cheerful."

"I usually have Pink-Winged Dazettes in my hair," she informs him, matching his smile.

Lysander groans. "Not you, too!"

"Can I see?" Lorcan asks, ignoring his brother with the ease of years of practice.

"Oh, not right now," she tells him. They're up in my room, eating liquorice. Did you know that's their favorite food?"

"There's no such thing!" Lysander attempts to interject.

"Don't be silly," Lily tells him, turning her bright hazel gaze on him. "Of course they're real. I can show you, if you'd like."

"I'd like to," grins Lorcan.

"I wouldn't," Lysander grumbles. "Where are your brothers?"

"In the backyard, arguing over who gets to ride Daddy's new broom," Lily answers. "Come on, Lorc—can I call you 'Lorc'?—let's go to my room!"

"You can call me 'Lorc'!" he says to her on their way through the front door and up the staircase and into her room, slightly dizzy from Lily's uncontainable energy.

"Oh, good, because I would have done it anyway," she informs him cheerfully, swinging open the door to her room and entering. "Here they are!"

Lorcan inhales sharply in wonder and amazement and kneels beides her bedtime table, instantly drawn to the little teapot full of red liquorice and tiny, pink-winged creatures with round bodies and saucer-like blue eyes and thin antennas atop their heads.

"How'd you manage to catch them?" he asks in astonishment, holding out a finger to let one of the Dazettes flutter onto his hand.

"They love liquorice," Lily beams. "So, I bought a little teapot full of that red liquorice and then I put it beside my bed when I went to sleep because I could see the Dazettes sticking to my hair during the day—you know they like red things—and then over night, they hopped from my hair to the liquorice and they've been there for a week now. I think as long as they can eat, they'll stay. Oh, and I—"

"You're rambling," Lorcan interrupts, amused. "I know this stuff, too, Lily. My mother told me about it."

Lily grins. "She told me about it, too!"

For a moment, they simply stand there, smiling at each other like little children discovering a whole new world of magic.

And then Lorcan says, "We ought to be best friends. That way, we can find animals together and draws pictures and write stories, just like Mum and Dad."

Her hazel eyes light up. "That would be awesome! Let's do it!"

He gets to his feet, brushing himself off, the Pink-Winged Dazette still clinging to his finger. "Best friends."

Lily quickly attaches another Pink-Winged Dazette to her own finger and extends her hand. "Best friends."

They grin at each other and shake hands, the Dazettes rubbing together and making a bright, chirping noise. Outside, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the sky is still a gorgeous shade of blue, beaming down upon the two children who have just pledged their friendship to each other.

Because everyone knows that friendships pledged by Pink-Winged Dazettes are the sort of friendships that never, ever die.

Explanatory A/N: This is for the NextGen Fanatics forum collab. We will each be putting up a oneshot, each from a different author, each centering around the theme of new beginnings. All of us have a different oneshot centering around a different character.

So please, leave a review and tell us what you think?