Memoirs of a Lioness
Summary: Little Lily Luna finds her mother's old scrapbook when she's helping her Auntie Fleur to clear out the attic at the Burrow. So when Ginny Potter comes upstairs to find her, will mother and daughter manage to overcome their sadness and bond over the memoirs of a lioness? Set in 2018. Hugo's one year older than Lily. Inspired by TannaCarien870's Hermione's Memories.
Disclaimer: Pretty much everything belongs to JK Rowling.
"Lily! Can you go and help your Auntie Fleur in the attic please?" cried Molly Weasley from the kitchen to her youngest grandchild. Even though she was well into her sixties and had survived two wizarding wars, seven children and twelve grandchildren, Molly still refused to let anyone else anywhere near the kitchen.
"Yes, Grandma." replied Lily, putting down her copy of the Holyhead Harpies annual from 2009, shutting her mother's flying figure inside the leather-bound book.
Lily ascended the many staircases of the Burrow to the attic, stopping off to put her book back in her case, which was resting against the wall in the bedroom that she shared with her cousins, Dominique, Victoire and Rose when they stayed at their grandmother's house. She clumsily went up the folding ladder and entered the attic. Lily had been told by her mother that the Weasley family ghoul had once taken the form of her Uncle Ron, to trick the Ministry into thinking that he hadn't gone with her Dad and Auntie Hermione. Lily was terrified of the ghost and had been ever since it had left cockroaches inside her pillowcase when she was four. Actually, on second thoughts, that could've been James, but she still didn't trust the ghoul. Luckily, the ghoul had been banished to the broomshed after a similar incident with her Grandad, so she didn't have to worry about him.
The attic seemed to have a lot more space than she remembered, but she had moved out of the house with her parents and brothers by then. The last time she'd been in the attic was when her mum had moved out for good to live with her dad after she'd resigned from the Holyhead Harpies and had to move back home for a little bit with a three-year-old Lily. Since then, she had moved all of her things out and the attic was practically bare, except for small piles of boxes around the edges of the room and the thirty-nine-year-old blonde woman shifting the boxes towards the door.
"Hi, Auntie Fleur." smiled Lily, alerting the woman to her presence and, unfortunately making her bang her head on the sloping ceiling in shock, uttering a string of French words that Lily Luna didn't need a dictionary to know would make her mother clamp her hands over her ears. The little girl ran over, but Fleur held a delicate hand out to stop her.
"'Ello, Lily. Don't worry, I'm fine. 'Ow are you, darling?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Grandma sent me up here to help you."
"Oh, thank you, Lily. With Victoire with Teddy, and Dominique and Louis at 'Ogwarts and William at Gringotts, I need all ze 'elp I can get."
"It's alright. I need something to take my mind off the fact that I'm the only one out of twelve children who hasn't been to Hogwarts."
"Your time will come soon as well, Lily. You just 'ave to wait a little longer."
"I know. I just wish I was the same age as the others. Even Hugo's gone up now. He's so lucky that he's in the same year as his sister."
"'Ow is 'e in ze same year as Rose? 'E's a year younger, isn't 'e?"
"Yes, but he was born in August. Rosie was born in September a year earlier."
"Ah. So you're ze only one left."
"Yes. My birthday's not until April, even though I'm a year and a bit younger than Hugo, so I won't be going up for another two years."
"I know. I felt ze same when my elder cousins went up to Beauxbattons. I was so jealous, but I only 'ad to wait two years and I was gone. It's just ze same for you. Now, should we get started?"
"Yes. Which boxes are they?"
"Zey should 'ave a letter B on them."
"Alright."
After about half an hour, most of the boxes of Bill and Fleur's things were packed up, ready for them to properly move to Shell Cottage for the first time since the Second Wizarding War.
"Thank you so much, Lily. You've been so 'elpful to me, I couldn't 'ave done it without you." cried Fleur, wrapping her arms around her niece and planting a kiss on each of her cheeks.
"It's fine, Auntie Fleur, I had nothing else to do anyway, and it was nice to spend some time with you. I get a bit lonely now that Mum and Dad work so much."
"Lily!" came Molly Weasley's cry from downstairs.
"I'd better go down, you don't want to keep Grandma Weasley waiting." sighed Lily, making for the steps but being stopped by her aunt's words.
"Oh, Lily! Zere's something 'ere zat I found. I thought that you might like to 'ave it." Fleur was holding out a large scarlet book to the girl. Lily took it from her aunt's hands and watched the woman walk down the stairs. She then sat down on a large pile of red cushions in the corner of the room and looked down at the book. The cover was filled with pictures of a little girl, from her toddler days to her adulthood, her bright red hair the only thing that remained unchanging. Lettering was picked out in bold, glittery golden writing.
Ginevra Weasley: Memoirs of a Lioness
The youngest Potter was so absorbed in all of the moving pictures of her mother that she forgot that her grandmother had called her at all. In fact, she forgot about just about everything until a gentle hand on her shoulder made her jump and scream.
"Sorry, Auntie Fleur, I thought you'd gone downstairs-" Lily stopped as she saw that the sweeping blonde hair she had been expecting was in fact a crimson topknot.
"Mum!" cried Lily, jumping up and throwing her arms around her mother, the book falling to the floor in the process.
"Hi, darling! How are you?" asked Ginny, hugging her daughter close to her.
"I'm fine, Mum. I've just been helping Auntie Fleur to clear out the last of her and Uncle Bill's things."
"Oh, that's kind of you, darling." commented Ginny, staring down at the large square object at Lily's feet.
"Hey, what's that, sweetie?" she asked, sitting down amidst the pile of cushions and picking up the book, smiling as she looked at the cover of her memoirs.
"Your scrapbook, from when you were little. Can we have a look at it together?"
"Yes, of course we can, Lil. Come here." beckoned Ginny, reaching her arms out and pulling her little girl into her lap, resting the book in front of the pair of them on more cushions. She opened the cover and began to read aloud;
My name is Ginevra Molly Weasley, although everyone calls me Ginny. No-one calls me Ginevra except for my Great Auntie Muriel. I am sixteen years old and I am at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am in Gryffindor House, just like my parents and my brothers.
I live with my mum, Molly Weasley, my dad, Arthur Weasley and my brothers in a house that Mum and Dad named the Burrow when they got married. I have five brothers who are all older than me. I had another brother as well, but he died in the Battle of Hogwarts. My brother's names are Bill, Charlie, Percy, George and Ron. My other brother's name was Fred.
My best friends are Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Hermione Granger, my brother Ron and The Boy Who Lived, the love of my life..
I am in love with Harry Potter. I have fancied him ever since I was five years old, but I realised that I was truly in love with him when I met him for the first time, aged ten. I was almost starstruck when he came up and asked my mum how to get through to Platform 9 3/4, even more so when I found him sitting at the breakfast table at my house when I was eleven. He didn't realise that I loved him until I was in my fifth year really. He broke my heart when he was pursuing a sixth year girl named Cho Chang, but he finally came to his senses and saw that he belonged with me after the Dark Lord Voldemort made himself known to the world by appearing in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
Harry finally defeated Voldemort a few days ago. The Death Eaters were disbanded and most of them were either killed or imprisoned in Azkaban, bar a few defectors, including my enemy, Draco Malfoy, his father Lucius and his mother Narcissa. Professor Snape, former Head of Slytherin house, defected as well, but he died during the battle. One of my closest friends in the Order of the Phoenix, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, was killed during the battle by her own Aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who tortured Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity. Bellatrix was killed by my mum.
I am now engaged to marry Harry, in a Death Eater-free world, with Ron due to marry the love of his life, Hermione Granger. This is my life's dream, finally come true. I hope I'll get my happily ever after now.
Ginny closed the book, looking at her daughter, who was wearing a conflicted expression on her face. She looked as if half of her wanted to laugh, half of her wanted to cry.
"Lily?" Ginny whispered, stroking her daughter's auburn waves. "Do you want me to stop?"
"No!" she cried softly, nuzzling into her mother's neck. "No, I want you to keep going. I want to find out more."
"Alright. Well, the next pages are family."
Ginny opened the book and turned the page, revealing a large picture of a smiling redheaded family, waving to the camera from in front of what looked to be the Pyramids. There were also eight small individual pictures surrounding it, each showing a different member of the family. She turned the page again and Lily recognised the woman on it as Grandma Weasley.
Molly Weasley
You are the best mum in the entire Wizarding World! Not just to me and my brothers, but to Hermione, Harry and so many others as well. You always thought that we were too thin, especially Harry, even if we weren't, and refused to let anyone else in the kitchen, especially Fleur, but you just cared about us. You were so worried when we were waiting for Harry and the Order to get to the Burrow and that just showed how much you cared. I loved how you were brave enough to kill Bellatrix when she attacked me. I hated how you were so broken when Fred was killed.
The page turned again, revealing a slightly balding man with shabby dress robes and a patchwork hat.
Arthur Weasley
You are a brilliant dad, the best we could have asked for. You worked so hard at the Ministry for so little money, almost nothing when our Hogwarts fees and equipment were deducted, but it gave us comfort to know that you loved every fact and figure you found out in the department, that you loved learning about Muggle culture. I loved the way that you kept us all safe. I hated that you always felt so inferior to the Malfoys.
She looked up at Lily, who was laughing at her grandfather's picture, who was desperately chasing his hat as it got caught in a passing breeze. Ginny laughed along with her, then turned the page just as her father lept on the hat, holding it to the ground. It now showed a long-haired man with an earring.
Bill Weasley
You are my eldest brother and so you were naturally the most protective of me. You were really intelligent and I really wasn't surprised when you got that job as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts. I have to admit, though, I was quite surprised that you fell for Fleur Delacour, and at one point, that was a bad thing. But not anymore. I loved the way that you refused to give in and let Mum change who you were, or your hair. I hated that you were attacked by Fenrir Greyback.
"Did you really hate Auntie Fleur?" Lily asked.
"Well, not hate...I just felt that there was someone better for him than Fleur, but I was wrong. They're perfect together."
"Yeah, they are. Next page, Mum, next page."
Charlie Weasley
You were the mystery to the family if we were honest. You were definately the best Seeker this family had, and one of the best in Hogwarts, but you dropped Quidditch and your studies to go and work with your dragons in Romania. You were brilliant at it, I have to admit, and so brave as well, you could definately see that you were a Gryffindor. You never had a wife or a girlfriend and I think you probably never will, because you have your dragons, but that's fine with me. I loved that you were always so brave. I hated that you were the brother I knew the least.
Lily was silent as the page was turned, revealing a man with curly hair and horn-rimmed glasses.
Percy Weasley
You were definately the swot of the family. You always had the best grades and you were definately the most prim and proper of us all. You refused to break the rules, which was probably why you ended up as Gryffindor Prefect, and eventually reached your ultimate goal, to become Head Boy. Percy, I loved how you rebelled against the Ministry in the end. I hated that it took you so long.
Ginny turned the page again to reveal a picture of two smiling twins. Lily recognised one of the boys as her Uncle George, but she didn't recognised the other, even though he was identical. She shot a questioning glance at her mother, who began to read.
Fred and George Weasley
You were definately the pranksters of the family, much to Mum's discontent. You were also identical twins, meaning that Mum could never tell you apart, which you used to your advantage, but I could always tell you apart. You were just ever so subtlely different. I still remember how funny it was when you set off the fireworks that swallowed up Professor Umbridge, though Mum was furious that you dropped out of school. But that doesn't mean that you weren't intelligent. You came up with Potterwatch, a lifeline to the Wizarding World! I loved how you both brightened up my day. George, I hated that you had to be injured. Fred, I hated that you had to die.
When Ginny looked up again, Lily had a few tear tracks on her face. Ginny wiped away the remaining tears before turning the page, which made Lily laugh out loud through her tears. The picture was the first that Lily recognised as an image that she'd seen before. It was of her Uncle Ron in his fourth year, wearing a lace-bedecked set of frilly dress robes.
Ron Weasley
You were definately my closest brother, not just in age, but in everything, really. You were the one who looked out for me at Hogwarts, when Bill had gone up to Gringotts. You had an insane fear of spiders, an annoying sense of humour and sometimes, you were just downright rude, but it doesn't mean that I loved you any less at all. I don't really want to choose, but if I had to, you would be my favourite brother. It was so funny when you thought that the dress robes Mum sent you were for me, even funnier when mine turned out to be really nice. It wasn't quite as funny when you punched Dean for snogging me in public, in my fifth year, which was a bit rich, considering your relationship with Lavender Brown. I loved that you were so protective. I hated that it took you so long to realise that you belonged with Hermione.
When Ginny looked up to her daughter again, she didn't see her at first, but then she looked down at the floor and caught sight of Lily Luna Potter, rolling around on the floor, holding her hands over her stomach, trying desperately to control her laughter. She calmed down after a few moments and sat back up on her mother's lap, looking at the page which now contained a large scarlet and gold emblem that she knew from her brothers' Hogwarts trunks and uniforms to be the Gryffindor lion, the house emblem of her parents, brothers and entire family, hopefully the house that she would end up in alongside them. It was surrounded, again, by small individual photos, including one of her Auntie Hermione, whose hair was a lot straighter now than it had been at the time. Ginny turned the page again and her smiling aunt appeared once more.
Hermione Granger
You were always my best friend from the year above, there was never any doubt about that. You were probably my favourite of the trio during my childhood as well. Well, maybe second, after Harry. You definately were the brightest witch of your age, and to be honest, you probably still are now. You have been the voice of reason to me ever since I first met you. In fact, I can't think of a single time that your advice has left me in trouble. It was brilliant that you were friends with Ron and Harry, because it meant that I had another girl to hang around with, instead of all the boys. I loved that you didn't let people tell you that you were inferior because of your blood status, because you aren't, and you never were. I hated your cat.
"Her cat?!" asked Lily, her face scrunched up in confusion.
"I honestly couldn't think of anything else I hated about her, just flaming Crookshanks." Ginny laughed, turning the page once more to reveal a blonde girl with bizarre multi-coloured glasses, the edges of which seemed to be shaped almost like wings. She was smiling unfailingly, her Ravenclaw uniform the only thing that seperated her from her Gryffindor friends.
Luna Lovegood
The first time I met you, I was honestly quite surprised that you were a Ravenclaw, you seemed to be away with the fairies for most of the time. You were obsessed with all sorts of creatures that didn't exist, mainly with Crumple-Horned Snorcacks, and basically with anything that was written in the Quibbler. But you definately weren't as loony as your nickname suggested, and you quickly became my best friend in our year. You worked out about Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, one of the last remaining Horcruxes, and about needing to talk to the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw. Cho tried to shoot you down, but you stuck to it, and when we believed you, it turned out that you were right. 'Loony' Lovegood saved the world! I loved that you got to be right in the end and to show everyone what you could do. I hated that you were always an outsider, just because you were a bit different.
Ginny had been anticipating the opening of Lily's mouth and decided to answer the question before she could ask it.
"Yes, she is the woman you're named after. Her and your Grandma Potter."
"I know. Uncle Ron told me I was named after 'that loony blonde girl in Ginny's year that always talked bloody nonsen-!' Well, I didn't hear the end."
"Why not?"
"Because Dad told him to shut up, he swore again, James copied him and Dad punched him in the face. Uncle Ron, I mean, not James."
"Right, well, I'll be having a word with Uncle Ron about that. Moving on."
She turned the page before Lily could repeat anything else that her Uncle Ron had said. She could now see a picture of Albus' favourite professor, Professor Longbottom.
Neville Longbottom
I often wondered why you were in Gryffindor, maybe even more than I wondered about Luna's Ravenclaw status, but you surpassed yourself just like she did, if not even more again. You were always kind to me, to everyone really, and I tried very hard to be the same back to you, even if I didn't always manage it. I remember when you asked me to the Yule Ball in my third year. I was the only one of my friends who got to go, because it was fourth years and over, but you asked me. I loved that you were the one to kill Nagini. I hated that your parents were tortured by Bellatrix.
"Poor Neville." sighed Lily, her face conveying her sadness as her mother turned the page once more.
Seamus Finnegan
You were the funniest boy in our year, probably in the school after Fred and George left. It wasn't hard to see that you were a bit accident prone, especially around cauldrons, wands, feathers and basically anything flammable. It was quite funny to watch actually, especially when I saw your missing eyebrows at King's Cross. You did sometimes go down in my expectations, but you rose back up spectacularly in the end. I loved that you were so brave to explode the bridge in the Battle. I hated that you doubted Harry for so long, even though you came to your senses in the end.
"He's funny!" Lily smiled, remembering her 'Uncle Seamus' blowing up James' birthday cake a couple of years previously.
"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" agreed Ginny, as the page was turned again.
Dean Thomas
You were one of the first boyfriends I ever had, and certainly the most serious one, save for Harry, of course. We had quite a few things in common, Quidditch being the most prominent one. Our common comfort zone was with a Quaffle in hand, but our similarities were only really skin deep, and I think we both knew that it was never going to last. I loved the look on Ron's face when he saw us snogging in the Three Broomsticks. I hated that we were always fighting over nothing.
When Ginny turned the page, it was another cover. This one said 'A Special Memory'. She turned it again to see a family of three, laughing and joking around together, an older man with slightly shabby clothes, a younger woman with bubblegum pink hair and a tiny child, his hair a familiar bright turquoise.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked Lily, looking from the picture to her mother.
"Yes it is, Lily. It's Teddy and his parents. It was taken a week before the battle, the last picture ever taken of them."
Remus, Nymphadora and Teddy Lupin
For a while, you had everything you had always wanted. Even though I had really wanted Tonks to marry into the family instead of Fleur, I realised pretty quickly that you two belonged together. Your relationship had barely started when it was practically severed by Sirius' death and Tonks' subsequent depression. But when Bill was attacked by Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf that had bitten Remus in his childhood, it was actually Fleur who saved your relationship, by saying that she still loved Bill, even if he might've been a werewolf. Then you married and Tonks got pregnant and your relationship went back into the balance again, but Harry convinced you to return and Teddy was born. Then the Battle broke you. Remus and Tonks were killed together, fighting together and Teddy was left an orphan. I loved that you had your perfect life, even if it was for a short time. I hated that Teddy was left an orphan, just like Harry was.
Lily was crying a lot when she looked up from the page and Ginny wrapped her arms around her tightly. They stayed in that position for a while, watching the man and woman cradle the boy in their arms, occasionally reaching up to give each other a kiss. When they had calmed, Ginny turned the page again. This time it had no pictures, just words.
I am going to finish my seventh year at Hogwarts, so that I can get my NEWT level qualifications, under our new Headmistress, my old Head of House, Professor Minerva McGonagall, but when I've finished school, I'm going to go for a job as Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies All-Female Quidditch Team.
I'm also going to become Mrs. Ginevra Potter. Harry just proposed to me a few hours ago with his mother's engagement ring. We don't want to think about it quite yet, but we agreed that we wanted to have three children. Two boys and one girl. I want the boys to look exactly like Harry,but with my eyes, and Harry said that he wanted the girl to look like me, but with his eyes. He chose the names for the boys and I chose for the girl. He chose the names James Sirius and Albus Severus, the first after his father and godfather and the second after our two Headmasters of Hogwarts. I chose the name Lily Luna for our daughter, after Harry's mother and our friend Luna Lovegood, who's now engaged to Rolf Scamander. I hope we get everything that we want, because if there's one thing I've learnt from Harry, it's that...
Ginny turned the page once more, to reveal a realistic sketched picture of a smiling family. There was a man and a woman, with three children, two boys and a girl. There was a caption about it in a beautiful swirling golden script.
Dreams really do come true.
A/N: Please tell me what you think, I really want to know. Review!
