Here is chapter 2! I don't own Harry Potter.

James awoke the next morning to find the space next to him empty. He sat up and glanced around quickly.

"Lily?" No answer. James stood up and walked out into the common room. He stopped, taken aback (and suddenly very emotional) by what he saw.

Lily was seated, reclined on the couch in front of the fireplace, and there, sleeping in her lap (half on her lap, at least), was Harry. She was looking down at him adoringly, her arms wrapped around him tightly, with one hand absentmindedly carding fingers through his hair. His head was resting on her shoulder and there were pillows behind his back, propping him up. His legs were resting on the floor. James shook his head, marveling at how big his son had gotten. 11 years had gone by like a blur. He made his way quietly over to where Lily and Harry sat. Lily smiled up at him, then her eyes immediately returned to rest on Harry. "I can't get enough of him," she whispered.

"Me either," James replied. "How did this happen?" He asked, gesturing to Harry sleeping peacefully. Lily gave him a sad smile and recounted the events of the previous night.

After Madam Pomfrey had hurried upstairs and revived Harry, she had pronounced him exhausted and dehydrated (which made a lot of sense, what with events and Harry's many tears). A couple potions later, the color was back in Harry's cheeks and he was properly hydrated again. Madame Pomfrey had sent Harry straight to bed, and James and Lily retired to the bedchamber that Professor McGonagall had fixed for them, right next door to the common room.

At about 4 am, Lily was startled awake by the sound of their door slamming open. She had shot up, snatched up her wand and screeched, "LUMOS!", pointing her wand at the threat...only to see Harry standing in the doorway in his pajamas, crying like his heart was breaking. "What's the matter, darling?!" She had exclaimed tenderly, dropping her wand on the floor and hurrying over to him and wrapping him up. His sobs had immediately transitioned from panic to relief.

"I...I woke up a...and you and da...dad weren't there and I thought...thought...thought..."

"Okay, shhhhh, Harry," Lily rocked her son, rubbing his back soothingly, "and you thought you had dreamed it all?"

"Uh...huh," he gasped, dissolving into a new round of tears.

"Shhhhh," she breathed, continuing to rock him just as she had when he was small. "Mum's right here. I'm right here. Dad is sleeping right there, see?" She let go of him long enough to retrieve her still-lit wand and point it at the figure of James lying in the bed on the opposite side. "See?" She turned back to him. He nodded, tears still coursing fast down his cheeks. She wrapped her arms around him once more as he buried his face in her chest. "I'm so sorry that you were so frightened." He sobbed something into her nightshirt and she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back enough so he could speak. "What was that?"

"I wanted to be able to say goodbye," he wailed. Lily hushed him as James stirred in the bed.

"Let's you and me go and have a sit, yeah?" Harry nodded and, still sobbing, allowed Lily to steer him out of the doorway. She shut the door softly with her free hand and led Harry into the common room and over to the couch. Once there, she sat and pulled him down onto her lap, age and size not even crossing her mind. She accio'd some pillows when she realized there was nothing for him to lean against, arranging them behind him with a levitation spell. She settled his head against the pillows and sighed, "There," but Harry sunk in even closer, tucking his head onto her shoulder. Lily's arms around him felt so good, Harry wasn't sure if he would ever move again. She smiled and kissed his cheek, wiping away his tears. She laughed a little when she realized his glasses were still sitting on the end table where she had left them the previous evening.

She began to rock him again, the best she could. "Do you know that when you were small and you would wake up crying, your favorite thing was for Mummy and Daddy to read you the book Henry Higgins and the Cauldron of Mischief? Always calmed you down. Especially when your dad would do all the different voices," Harry gave a short, watery laugh.

Lily continued, "Now I obviously don't have the book with me and I don't want to wake up your father, but I bet that with the number of times," she paused to kiss his forehead twice, "that I read you that story...well, I bet I just about have it memorized. Shall we see?" Harry nodded shyly, glad that the room was dark so that his mother couldn't see him blush. "Wonderful. Alright,"

She began, "Henry Higgins had two mittens, one was green and blue. He owned a silver cauldron bubbling. Can you guess what that cauldron was raring to do? Why, steal one mitten! Just one mitten, and Henry knew well of its mischievous plan, so he took his mittens, blue and green, and he tossed them into a-"

"-watering can," Harry muttered, half asleep. Lily's mouth dropped open and she stared at her son.

'You...you remember that?"

"Mhmmmm," Harry murmured, yawning loudly. "Keep 'oing," Lily gave a short, astonished laugh, clearing her throat and blinking away the tears that had filled her eyes.

"But the cauldron was tricky and scheming and sly..." Lily had probably "read" all of what would have been 6 pages and Harry was out cold, sleeping hard against her chest. Then and only then had she allowed herself to cry.

She cried for the childhood she and James hadn't been able to give him. She cried for his fear and his sadness. She cried for the thought of the very real possibility of having to leave her son again and return to the afterlife. And then Lily Potter had straightened her shoulders, wiped her tears away, and kissed her son firmly. She was going to be his mother-and a damn good one-for as long as time would allow.

So that is chapter 2 and that's all I have right now as far as ideas go :) Shall I continue this as a multi-chapter story? What else would you like to see? DM or comment and let me know :)

Cass xx