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Author's Notes: Yeah, I know this is a short PWP… I was just sick of DTHATCO and I needed a little bit of a break. This took like ten minutes, which might explain, though not pardon, its shortness… Beware of typos, and I hope you'll like it, though I doubt you will…

I Love You Too, Mum

In a place where hate was feeble, nonexistent, it was a bit unusual for one to brood on past regrets. Highly unusual, more so. But she couldn't help it.

As a little child and then as a teenager, through her entire adult life, she wondered on how you could have complete happiness in heaven. It was quite impossible for your soul to exist in content while your loved ones struggled through life.

The day she died, the day she flew up through the clouds and touched the face of God…she had been one huge mound of peace and felicity. Time was uncertain, days passed in minutes and minutes passed in days. She would have hated it as her earthly self.

She didn't much mind it as her free spirit.

But over a course of time that could have been a second or could have been five years, she began to notice things that were missing in her heavenly environment, most of all the one she had died for: her son.

On a moment of glorified evaluation of her life, or death, now, she had been explained the rules and regulations. As a living person, she would have found this extremely funny. As a soul, she just continued with her brilliant smile.

One of the rules, or explanations, had been as follows:

In the realm of the dead and perpetual happiness, you can, on certain issues, become a guardian angel, or, as some may say, be given your wings. Those in purgatory are held on earth by bonds that reform them into a spirit others see and communicate with, but are in a waiting stance to be judged by the Lord Himself. If in heaven right now, YOU MAY NOT BECOME A GHOST.

But, then of course, there are the possibilities of becoming an angel. If you have a mission on Earth you must complete, if you have an unfinished business there that is keeping you from the state of perpetual bliss, there is this option. The one to decide this is God Himself, and you ask Him for permission. If He grants it, you will gain your wings, and be allowed down to Earth for the standard amount of time to help the one you loved and left. If the job is not finished by this period of time, you will be brought back up to heaven and given a memory wipe. This is not a punishment. Unless you finish your job on Earth, you will never be happy unless you forget. And the only way to forget it to forget everything that's holding you down…

She had to finish her business. She had to see her son one last time. God must understand it. He must…

And so she sat down on her cloud chair and closed her ghostly eyes and silently asked for God's permission…

There wasn't a voice or a muted answer. She just suddenly felt great warmth spread through her, and when she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in her home on the clouds.

She was in a dormitory and it was night. A dim light streamed in through the tall, narrow windows, striping moonlight across the huge four-poster beds. She recognized this room as Hogwarts, and, more specifically, James's old dorm room…

"Oh," she whispered, placing her hand over her heart in surprise.

You may say goodbye, but no more. The longer you stay, the more painful and bond you'll be to the living. Say goodbye, Lily, and leave…

It was a gentle voice, loving and charismatic at the same time. As a living, she would have feared it. But now she knew the nature and great capability of His love, and understood He was trying to save her.

She was overwhelmed by it all, but knew to admire and dawdle was not the purpose of God's good deed; she had business to attend to.

She padded silently across the carpet, no more than a colored wisp of smoke, no more than an angel in Muggle clothes; she felt alive though, so very blithe.

She pulled back the curtains of the bed near the windows, somehow knowing which was his. And it was. He was asleep, looking too innocent and sweet to be fifteen. She wanted to gather him up in her arms, kiss him and tell him how beautiful he was, chastise him for being so skinny.

But she couldn't. She could merely admire him from a distance…right?

Defying her own objections, she reached out and gently caressed his cheek. He looked so much like his father, she thought, that wild hair and delicate yet stern face. She even saw glasses much like James's on his dresser, near a glass of water.

Her little boy, all grown up. She hadn't seen him in so long, but she knew it was her baby. She knew it in the way a small smile played across his features as she stoked his cheek, in the way his fist was up at his face, almost like was sucking his thumb…so much like James, so much like he'd been as a baby…

She couldn't wake him. She knew it in the way she felt God tugging gently at her wings, urging her, telling her to finish quickly or she'd never be able to leave.

But…could he hear her? Could she say goodbye without his waking?

Yes…

She trusted Him. She knew He was right.

She bent down by his face, close enough to see that his eyes and eyebrows were her own, close enough to see his eyelashes were thick and long, making him look all the more doll-like and perfect.

She kissed him cheek softly, feather-like so he wouldn't wake, but loving so he'd know she'd been there.

"I love you, Harry," she whispered. "I'll see you in heaven when you come, and I hope you won't come anytime soon. I love you. I don't want to leave. But I have to."

She softly touched his cheek again, pushed his crazy hair off his forehead…

"Goodbye, Harry. I have to go now, or I'll never be able to leave…"

She closed her eyes, ready to fly back to heaven because God wanted her too. But she didn't move. She felt God lift her and then put her back down. Something was holding her back, something was forcing the content back.

No, please, she begged herself, someone, anyone. No memory wipe. Please.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pleaded with God to give her a few more minutes. Her heart needed something else before it finally calmed…

"I love you too, Mum," she heard a small voice whisper.

And she flew on to heaven again, finally completely free.

Like always, I'd like some feedback for this extremely short PWP. It'd be very much appreciated…