Chapter 2: Lily Potter.

A red-haired girl stood smiling before a tall mirror in an ornate frame. The mirror also reflected her room, which she adored – the bed covered with a silk quilt; a graceful rocking chair with a plush toy cat nestling in it; a desk with neatly laid out books, parchments, and multi-coloured quills; and the shelves laden with photographs and Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes toys. The walls were covered with Gryffindor banners, posters of actors from Marie-Victoire's magic theater, and Al's drawings.

Lily turned toward a big photograph where her family was assembled. There was grandma Molly – she died almost five years before; grandpa Arthur next to her – his glasses, as always, slightly askew – looking tenderly at his wife; and around them – their red-haired children and grandchildren.

There was Uncle George – Lily adored his long hair that hid his only ear. Next to him was his wife, his daughter Caitlyn, and their four sons. Uncle Bill was hugging Aunt Fleur, so beautiful that Lily sometimes got angry at her, so unfair it seemed. Their daughters were next to them, with Marie-Victoire holding Teddy Lupin's hand. There was Uncle Charlie with his Romanian wife and their twins. Percy was holding his baby daughter in his arms, looking a little embarrassed. She managed to look just like him, even without glasses. Next to him was the lanky Uncle Ron. He was frowning because he had just had an argument with his wife. Hermione – for some reason she had always been just "Hermione" – was smiling slightly, her hand around her daughter Rose's shoulders. Hugo was standing next to Lily's mother – Ginny leaned her head on her husband's shoulder. Harry Potter was looking immensely content. And in front of him was his father's look-alike, James, and Al, then a toddler. Lily herself was at the very edge – she was angry at James that day because of one of his pranks.

Lily smiled at this portrait – everyone was waving and smiling at her – and then looked at the other picture frames. Her favorite photographs stood on that shelf: Mommy and Daddy at the Christmas Ball at the Ministry; Lily, James, and Albus at the "Sweet Kingdom" three years ago; and the photograph of her father's long-dead parents that he had given into her keeping.

Whining in the hallway distracted Lily's attention from the magical photographs. Apparently, Al was out of bed.

Lily returned to the mirror to take another look at her outfit. The sundress with a low waist barely reached her knees. The girl grinned – James would surely have something to say about that, but she didn't care. She would be turning sixteen in four months, and even clothes could no longer conceal the transformation of the recently awkward Lily Potter. She brushed her long flaming-red hair, winked at her reflection, and hurried downstairs. The hallway clock showed almost ten-thirty.

Lily ran lightly down the stairs, fixing the wig on the forest fairy statue's head as she passed the landing. James spread out on the living room couch, his face buried in a magazine. The cover featured moving figures on broomsticks.

"Are you planning to eat breakfast?" Lily asked her brother in passing, headed for the kitchen that emanated the aroma of toast and fried bacon.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," said James slowly from behind his magazine.

"And why is that?" Lily stopped at the corner of the hallway and eyed her brother suspiciously.

"You mean my word is not enough for you?" the youth said, never taking his eyes from the athletes on broomsticks. Lily rolled her eyes and continued towards the kitchen.

Her brother was right after all. Lily realized this as she stopped dead in her tracks by the half-opened door. She saw her parents only for a moment before she jumped back, but the love scene was still before her eyes. Her mother was sitting on the countertop, her arms around her husband, kissing him hungrily. Lily's father's hands were under his wife's house shirt. Lily never imagined that a kiss could be so… sexy and passionate. Especially her parents' kiss.

She hastily retreated into the living room. Her cheeks and ears were burning. Lily plopped down on the couch next to her brother, took the fresh newspaper and buried her face in it, holding back a chuckle.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, but I did," James said, turning over a page.

"I never thought that…"

Her brother chortled behind his magazine:

"Aha, and you and I were found in the cabbage, right?"

"That's not what I am talking about," answered Lily in exasperation, watching the Minister of Magic proclaim something proudly from the newspaper page. "It's just that…"

Lily couldn't quite put into words the slight shock that she had experienced. James merely chuckled.

A noise came from the fireplace hallway, indicating the arrival of the Weasleys. Brother and sister exchanged conspiratory glances, but didn't look up from their press. The hallway door opened and in walked Hugo – tall, gangling, freckled, with short red hair. He wore shorts and a T-shirt with his favorite Quidditch team logo on it. Rose walked in after him – slight and graceful, dressed in a cream-coloured sundress. Her auburn hair was put in a long braid. Rose held a book in her hands.

"Hello, guys" Rose and Hugo said, sitting down in the chairs. Lily and James said their hellos in unison and glanced at each other again. The noise in the hallway announced the arrival of Uncle Ron and Hermione. Husband and wife walked in, smiling.

"Good morning," said Hermione, tucking away an unruly lock of hair and looking over the room. Her eyes rested on her niece and nephew, who were still hiding behind their printed editions. "Where are your parents?"

Lily chuckled behind her newspaper and James cleared his throat, struggling to find the right words:

"They are … eh… in the kitchen… Cooking."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and Ron headed for the kitchen, followed by a chorus of "I wouldn't go in there"'s. He came right back, his ears burning and his eyes large. He folded his arms and stared at his shoes.

"Have they been… eh… cooking long?" he forced out, which made Hermione smile widely. Lily caught Rose's mocking glance and winked at her. Hugo, puzzled, looked from his mother to his father.

James finally tossed his magazine down on the coffee table, stretched, and looked at the clock, quietly ticking on the wall.

"Almost twenty minutes."

Lily made big eyes at Rose, who grinned, and Hugo finally caught on to what the others were talking about. He jumped up, but Hermione put her hand on his shoulder, forcing him back onto the couch.

"All right, I am hungry," said James quietly, stretching out his legs and watching Hermione, who walked over to the bookshelves and was looking at the books. Ron plopped down on the vacant couch and stared at the ceiling.

"We have two options. To wait… or to go in and remind them that it is time to eat," said Ron. However, no one had the courage to get up and interrupt Harry and Ginny's privacy. They were just looking at one another.

Suddenly, silence was broken by the sound of quick footsteps and Albus entered the living room, putting on his glasses. His hair was as tousled as James', but the boy still looked small and fragile, with long thin legs. His green eyes – his father's eyes – looked over everyone in the room.

"Good morning," he smiled, a dimple appearing on his cheek.

"Good morning, Al!" everyone replied in unison and then looked after him in dead silence as Albus shuffled into the kitchen, and his clear voice carried into the living room:

"Mum, I want to eat, when is breakfast?"

Lily imagined her mother and father jumping away from each other and blushed anew. Ron hemmed.

"Oh, here you are already; I didn't hear you," Ginny appeared in the room, patting her hair into place. James smiled, and Lily looked away with laughter in her eyes. "The breakfast is almost ready."

Lily got up and went into the kitchen. Albus was already sitting at the counter and eating a chocolate frog, utmost content on his face. Their father wasn't there – the elder Potter must have exited out the other door.

"Al, don't eat chocolate before breakfast," said Lily, taking the sweets from her little brother and putting them on the shelf. She then took the frying pan with the omelet from the stove and started putting it on everyone's plates. The others gathered in the kitchen. Lily's mother and Hermione were laughing about something, Rose was talking to James, as he grabbed the toast from the table and began spreading butter on it. Ron and Hugo were the last to take their seats when Harry finally made an appearance.

"Hey," he shook Ron's hand and kissed Hermione lightly on the top of her head. Lily and James exchanged glances again and then looked at their father. Harry wore a white shirt only buttoned with two buttons, and light summer slacks.

Lily looked adoringly at her father. He was already thirty eight years old, but to her he was the handsomest of men. There was no grey in his black hair, despite of all his had been through.

Lily knew a lot about her father and yet, almost nothing – he was always very kind and attentive to her, the best father and friend. He never talked about those he lost and or what it cost him to defeat the most powerful evil wizard of the modern times.

Lily saw her mother cast an adoringly-embarrassed look at her father, who winked at her. The girl asked herself whether she would be so lucky as to find a man who would look at her with just such adoration even after twenty years of marriage.

Lily barely heard the conversations about Quidditch, her father's work, the latest news in the Weasley clan; she was surreptitiously watching her parents while thinking of herself. She would be turning sixteen soon and she had never been in love. She had two rather unexciting dates; several boys invited her to Hogsmead and the Christmas Ball, but she declined all invitations – she was waiting for someone special, better.

"Lily, are you here?"

Lilly started and looked at Rose who sat next to her. Lily smiled at her cousin.

"Have you decided what to give James for his seventeenth birthday?"

Lily shook her head.

"I have three more days. We are going to the Diagon Alley today; I'll pick something out." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's a good thing that James was born on August 31 – he won't have time to really get to me. Imagine what he will be doing when allowed to perform magic at home? However, he won't be able to do much in twenty four hours and then we will be at Hogwarts and he won't have time for me, as usual."

"Are you kiddin'?"

Lily and Rose started at Ron's exclamation. The girls stared at the red-haired man, who was, in turn, staring at Harry in amazement. The elder Potter bit back the chuckle, looking at Ron and Hermione.

"No, I am not joking; the letter arrived this morning," Harry smiled, putting away his fork.

Lily understood the reason for her relatives' surprise.

"So, are you going to go? Harry, that idiot made your life miserable, and you want to go help him?" Ron looked at his friend disapprovingly.

"Of course, he will go, Ron!" said Hermione didactically and turned towards Harry. "You will, won't you?"

Harry nodded. Lily watched, as a look of complete trust passed between her father and Hermione. The girl knew that look – her father was very close to Hermione; they understood each other better than anyone else did. Apparently, her uncle's wife knew something about Lily's father that enabled her to easily guess his thoughts and predict his actions.

"Ok, tea, anyone?" Ginny rose abruptly and waved her wand. The plates stacked up and flew into the sink, where they began washing by themselves. The teacups magically placed themselves before the people at the table and the sugar and milk dishes slid off the tray.

"Al, what are you doing?" suddenly said James and everyone turned to look at the younger Potter. Al froze, his mouth full of chocolate, his eyes guilty. Thanks to Merlin, his father never had that expression in his eyes, Lily thought, getting up and taking the box of chocolate frogs away from Albus.

"Lord, Al, you will be sick, honey," Ginny patted her son's hair and handed him his tea. Albus angrily twisted away from her and the cup in front of him cracked. The tea leaked onto the table and onto the boy's lap.

"You are impossible," Lily snorted, turning away. "Thanks, everyone, I'll be in my room. Rose?"

The two girls left the kitchen; they went up to Lily's room and, once there, burst out laughing. Rose sat in the rocking chair.

"You wanted to tell me something, no?" she asked.

Lily nodded, sitting down on her bed with one leg bent under her. She bit her lip hesitantly, but then she looked up at her cousin with her light-green eyes:

"I had a dream about him again. He reached for me. I guess, he wanted to put his arms around me."

Rose straightened in her chair and her eyes lit up in anticipation.

"Did you see his face?"

Lily shook her head:

"I woke up before I could take off his mask. It seems as though I will never be able to see his face; or his hair."

Rose soothingly patted her cousin's shoulder.

"Maybe it's for the best. You shouldn't get stuck on an imaginary guy, when the real ones are all around you."

"Well, it's not that simple, Rosie," Lily said breathlessly, fumbling with the edge of the comforter. "He has been coming to me in my dreams for almost a year and never spoke or showed his face. He just comes and looks at me. What if he needs my help?"

Rose chortled just like Hermione.

"Where did you get that idea? I think it is rubbish."

"He had a wand," said Lily, remembering the details of her dream. "It was very unusual; I'd never seen the likes of it before."

Rose shrugged her slender shoulders, looking at the photographs on the shelves.

"By the way, I was made Head Girl," said Rose as though in passing, looking down at her ink-stained hands.

Lilly shrieked, jumped off the bed, and hugged her cousin, almost causing them both to tumble to the floor.

"Congratulations! Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Well, I don't know, you are a prefect now too," Rose looked embarrassed. "I did not want to supplant your joy with mine."

"You silly goose," laughed Lily, "I can only imagine how excited your parents are."

"Yes, Mummy promised to get me a present today," Rose said, sounding thoroughly embarrassed.

The door opened and James and Hugo came in.

James smirked.

"Well, well, well, the prefect council, I see," he walked past them and sat down on the corner of the desk. "I hear that you, Rose, are now the prefect of all prefects."

"Yeah, so?" challenged the girl, raising her chin defiantly and looking eerily like her mother.

"Well, I will have to be doubly careful, since I am now going to have two prefects on my case and both of them – my relatives," James chuckled, playing with the wand in his hand.

"As if that will stop you," Rose retorted, while Lily merely laughed.

"Do you know when we are going into town?" Lily asked Hugo who was quietly standing in the corner.

"Aunt Ginny said in about an hour. Uncle Harry went somewhere, and Dad went to work," the teenager calmly reported, "I think that we are waiting for your father."

"Oh, good, that gives Lily time to change her clothes," said James nonchalantly, staring down at his wand.

"And why, may I ask, do I need to change?" asked his sister looking over her clothes in search of stains. "What do you have against my clothes?"

"The lack thereof, mainly," James grinned, although the look in his eyes was quite severe. "Put on something that covers you rather than uncovers."

"Go to hell, I'll wear what I like!"

"Lily," said James threateningly, pointing his wand at his sister. She, however, had already taken hers out. Rose promptly got in between the two siblings:

"Hey, you two, you are not allowed to do magic! James, stop it, her clothes are fine," Rose's cheeks were burning and she sighed with relief when her cousin obediently lowered his wand.

"She should change! Everyone at the Diagon Alley will be ogling her!"

Rose and Lily looked at each other and grinned.