A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I was out of the city for a few days and I've been sick since I'm back. This nasty headache is killing me. Anyway, thanks for all the lovely reviews. They're all appreciated greatly.
jessirose85 Whether Severus and Lilly will be friends again depends on Severus' behavior towards Harry when comes the time for him to attend Hogwarts. Just wait and see.
GenoBeast There's not going to be a Sirius/Lily pairing. It's hard to think of Sirius falling in love with Lily or vice versa. As for Dave, I hope he turns out slightly better than Dudley.
Karrottop I have nothing against Severus. In fact, I like his character a lot. But he's not going to be in until Harry goes to Hogwarts and I can't promise you a lovely Severus.
Quinsie I'll write about James' motivations later on. It's not all about the boy-who-lived stuff, though it plays a major role. There's going to be a long conversation between Lily and James on the matter, but it won't take place until Harry goes to Hogwarts. Probably at the end of his first year.
RebeccaRoy Sirius doesn't like Lily in that way. He may be angry with James, but he still sees him like a brother. He will never betray James like that, no matter what, since James' family was the one who took him in when he was disowned by his own flesh and blood.
RZA Back in school, Lily could be herself. She didn't have to worry about others. It didn't matter if she lost Severus as a friend. It's not the same about your blood children. Children change you in ways you don't expect. Besides, Lily never cried in front of James. Neither when she left nor when they divorced. She was strong-willed enough to leave with Harry and live an independent life. Yet, she's yelled at James before (I'll write about that later) and will yell at him again when the time comes. You just need to wait. Anyway, this fic is completely AU. I don't have to stick to the characters, do I?
Disclaimer: I've decided to dye my hair blonde…
Chapter 3: Unexpected Encounter
Lily was sitting behind her desk in her temporary office on the third floor. It was smaller than her old one, but it wouldn't be a problem since they weren't going to spend more than a week there. Their old office on the second floor had been emptied to be cleaned and changed in size and decoration and they were granted a small unused office on the third floor where the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes resided.
After a quick survey of the room, Lily focused her attention on her son. Harry was playing chess with Ron as usual while Ginny cheered Harry on enthusiastically. The almost-eight-year-old girl seemed to be fond of Harry as she encouraged him.
"Go on, Harry. You can do it. I know you can," she exclaimed, her hands curled into fists.
"Shut it, Ginny. You're distracting me," Ron protested with a deep frown which was ignored simply as the girl continued her encouraging words.
Lily looked at her son with fascination. Harry seemed to be deep in thought, oblivious to the sibling row. He was commanding the pieces like a commander would do the soldiers. Lily smiled at him as she waited for the game to be finished, hoping that her son would beat Ron for the first time. Harry's plea to stay until the end of the game was the reason they were still at the Ministry instead of home.
"Checkmate," Harry cried as he jumped up, almost knocking his chair and the table unto the floor, though some chess pieces were truly scattered on the floor shouting profanities at him.
"I won. I won. I won," he chanted happily, grabbing Ginny's hands as they bounced up and down in sheer joy.
"Look what you've done to my chess set," Ron spat in anger, making Harry to stop jumping and grin at him.
"Come on, Ron," he said. "Don't be so pissed off. It was my first time to win."
"I couldn't concentrate with Ginny yelling into my ears, could I?"
Ginny glared at her brother and then turned to Harry.
"Don't pay him any attention, Harry. He's mad that he's lost."
"I'm not," Ron yelled angrily. "I won't play with you anymore," he hissed, glaring at Harry.
"Like I care," Harry spat.
It wasn't the first time the siblings had a fight over the way Ginny cheered Harry on, but it was more renowned now that Harry had won the game. Lily shook her head at their childish row and stepped in to prevent any unexpected event.
"Enough, boys," she warned. "Don't fight over a game of chess."
"Sorry, mom," Harry mumbled and occupied himself with collecting the pieces from the floor and putting them away. He gave the set back to Ron with a smile, receiving a deadly glare.
Sighing bitterly, Lily ushered the three out of her office and into Arthur Weasley's so she could give Ron and Ginny back to their father and bid her boss goodbye.
"See you later," Harry said, giving Ginny a quick hug, and left the room with his mother. While out of the room, his face lit up again. "I really won, mom. Can you believe it?"
"You were spectacular, love," Lily complemented, ruffling her son's messy hair and listening to his happy mumblings, as they waited for the elevator. She didn't think any disguise would be needed since there were no Aurors lurking about the third floor.
Lily froze on the spot when the door slid open and revealed three familiar figures. James, Dave and Sirius were occupying the elevator as either grown-up had a hand on one of the boy's shoulders. Harry's words died down on her ears as she locked eyes with James. She overlooked her ex-husband's furious gaze and looked at her older son. Dave was looking at her with unemotional brown eyes, giving Lily the idea that he had either forgotten his mother or had not heard good things about her, even though both seemed unlikely by the words she had heard Sirius say about the boy.
Lily scanned her son up and down as her green eyes filled with old tears, though she wasn't about to let any of them roll down in front of James. She had not seen Dave from such a short distance for years. It took all her will to keep her composure and not to leap to him and hug the bespectacled boy with brown hair (like his paternal grandmother) which was clearly ruffled too much to adopt the messy state of his father's. When she looked at Dave's eyes again, there was a longing look in them, but then Sirius activated the elevator again.
The resentful look in James' eyes was the last thing she glimpsed before the door slid closed. It didn't take Lily long to realize James' resentful look was directed at Harry. She turned to her son to find him trembling head to toe while his eyes were fixed on the closed door of the elevator.
"Harry," she called, but received no answer. Lily stepped towards her son and knelt before him. Harry's big eyes were looking past her shoulder at where his father once was and he clearly looked shocked.
"Harry," she called again, her hands grabbing Harry's thin arms gently. Harry flinched at the contact and came out of his trance.
"Dad hates me," he whispered, his tearful eyes now on his mother's worried face. Lily wanted to disagree, but her mouth didn't cooperate, knowing that the boy was right. James hated him with a passion with which not even an enemy could match and their break-up had not helped it either as James believed, according to Sirius, that it was Harry's fault which had severed their ties. Feeling speechless, Lily hugged Harry's trembling body. Harry's tears washed her shoulder, but she didn't let go of the boy. A few of the Ministry employees who crossed the area glanced at the mother and son, but fortunately no-one bothered them.
"It's okay, love. He can't hurt you," Lily whispered in her Harry's ears as her hand began rubbing circles on the boy's back to soothe him. When Harry calmed down, Lily pushed him back and held him at arms' length.
"Harry," she said, a smile brushing her sad face. Harry looked at her, but didn't say anything. Lily dried his flushed cheeks with bare hands and said, "I love you."
Harry nodded, but still remained quiet. He glanced at the hands grabbing his arms again and then at his mother's calming eyes.
"C-can we go home, please?" he asked, barely above a whisper.
"Yes, we can."
Lily gave her son a quick kiss on the forehead before they departed for home.
Back at home, Harry was quiet the whole day. He had confined himself to his room and didn't even let his mother come in. Despite being able to unlock the door magically, Lily had decided to give him some privacy and wait until he would come to her. Although it was logical at first, it didn't bode well when Lily heard unexpected sounds coming out of the room. She soon was inside Harry's room to find the boy shouting desperately while he was throwing his belongings at the opposite wall.
"Harry," she tried worriedly, but there was no reaction from Harry showing he had heard her.
"No," Harry yelled in pure anger as he took his double picture with his mother from the nightstand and threw it across the room. The picture frame shattered at the compact with the wall. It was all Lily needed to realize her son was feeling worse than she had thought. Harry worshipped that picture with all his heart. He would never throw it unless…
Lily leaped to her son before he could throw anything else and tried to hug him in a desperate attempt to calm him down, but the frail boy resisted with all his might which was surprisingly high for his body.
"Harry, please."
"Let me go," Harry cried and in the next moment, Lily found herself across the room. A shocked yell issued out of her mouth as her back and head contacted painfully with the door frame, bringing tears of pain to her eyes. The unbearable pain caused by Harry's accidental magic was worth it as Harry stopped his act of anger (no matter how destructive Harry's accidental magic had been in the past years, it always relieved Lily that her son could do magic despite the fear his father had implanted in his very existence). Coming to his senses, Harry rushed to his mother and knelt by her side.
"I'm sorry, mom. Are you okay?" he asked in a shaky voice, grabbing his mother's upper arm.
Lily rubbed at the back of her head with her right hand and moaned. It wasn't wet with blood which was good, but didn't ease her pain. She cracked her eyes open and looked at the concerned expression on her son's face. She forced a smile and nodded.
"What about you?" she asked in a soft voice. At the lack of response, she took a deep breath and shifted her sore body a bit to face her son. "I'm sorry for earlier today. I wish I could do something to make up for your dad."
"I know, mom, but it still hurts," he whispered the last part as tears welled up in his eyes.
Lily hugged her son, the pain in her heart outdoing the one in her back. She pressed Harry's face to her chest and rubbed at his back gently as the boy's tears washed the front of her blouse. She didn't bother saying anything since she knew no words would do what the near contact could. She positioned Harry on her lap and let him cry his misery out. They remained like that for a few more minutes after Harry's crying had subsided until Harry felt it right to separate his cheek from his mother's chest.
"I'm sorry for the room," he whispered, looking into his mother's smiling eyes. He took a look around the messy room which resembled a battle field until his eyes stopped on the broken picture frame not a few meters away from where they were sitting. He crawled to the picture and took it in his hand, examining it to assess the damage.
"Will you fix it?" he asked his mother hopefully.
"Of course I do," Lily said, holding her hand out for the picture. She fixed it with a quick Reparo and handed it back to her son.
"Thanks," Harry whispered. "I think a lot of my things need fixing." He took another look around the room and then looked back at his mother. "Did I hurt you?"
"No," Lily lied, not wanting to hurt her son more. "We'd better start tidying your room. It's almost time for dinner."
It didn't take long since Lily could use magic. When the room was all clean, they left for the kitchen to have dinner. Setting the table together, they both sat down.
"Harry, why aren't you eating?" Lily asked when Harry kept playing with his food. "Don't you like it?"
"No, it's okay. I was thinking about this morning," he said, looking up at his mother. Lily waited for him to continue when he felt like it. Harry played with his food a bit longer and then said to his food, "It wasn't a good day. First Ron and then dad."
"It wasn't all bad. You beat Ron at chess for the first time."
Harry snorted loudly.
"And for the last time I bet," he said, looking up again. "I'm sure Ron will never play with me again. He won't accept my friendship either."
"Don't judge him so soon, love."
"Why not? He comes to the Ministry because his dad wants him to. It has nothing to do with me. What else? He sure prefers the Boy-Who-Lived to a pathetic boy. You don't believe me, ask him."
Gritting his teeth, he let go of his spoon and folded his arms over his chest.
Lily knew Harry was right. Ron would have given their secret out long ago if it weren't for the warnings his father had given him.
"You're not pathetic," Lily started. "If he doesn't want to befriend you, then he doesn't deserve your friendship. It's not your problem, but his. And guess what! I think Ginny has a bit of a crush on you."
Harry blushed at the words profusely, but tried to act normal. He grabbed his spoon again and this time, instead of playing with his food, shoved a spoonful into his mouth and occupied himself with chewing on it.
"You're still awake," Lily stated when she entered her son's bedroom that night to kiss him goodnight. Harry was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"What're you thinking about, love?" she asked.
"Nothing."
Lily could easily detect the lie behind the answer. The way Harry mumbled the word was betraying enough, not to mention the look on his face and the long sigh after the single word.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?"
"I can read," Harry said with a shrug.
"Can I lie on your bed?"
Harry slid his small body aside without a word to make space for his mother.
"Have I ever told you that you're the best thing that has ever happened to me?" Lily asked after she lay next to her son.
Harry nodded with a small smile.
"Yeah, I should've told you that at least a dozen times, but I don't think I've ever told you about the worst moment of my life."
"When was it?" Harry asked curiously, rolling to his side to see his mother's face.
"It was when you were born. You know why?" She smiled upon seeing the frown on her son's face and added, "Because you weren't breathing. When I heard the healer say that you'd stopped breathing, I felt like dying. It was the scariest thing that had ever happened to me. But then there were a few spells and you cried. I cried as well when I heard you cry. That was the best moment of my life."
She took Harry's hands in hers and looked the boy in the eyes, the eyes that he had inherited from her.
"I love you, Harry, no matter what your father says or does. Never forget that. Now go to sleep and don't worry about anything. I'm staying with you."
Lily decided to sleep in Harry's bed to make sure her son didn't suffer from any nightmares. She knew that after the encounter they had with James, Harry would relive the memories of the past, resulting in the old nightmares that had long ago left Harry alone. She was right as she woke around 4 a.m by the sound of Harry moaning. She tried to calm her son by brushing her hand into the boy's messy hair and chanting soothing words into his ears.
The next morning, as Harry had anticipated, Ron didn't show up at the Ministry with his father and sister. Having nothing to play with, the children decided to wander around the department and explore it. It was a relief to Lily that Ginny had come to make Harry company and considering they were on the third floor other than the second, she had nothing against Harry going out of the office as there were no Aurors around. Lily reminded herself to buy her son his very own chess set for his birthday which was in a month before she set to work in the strange silence.
The rest of the day was as normal as it could be until that evening at home. Harry was watching TV while Lily was reading when someone knocked on the door. Harry jumped up to open the door when his mother chastised him.
"What have I told you about opening the door, Harry?" Lily asked with a serious look on her face. Her beautiful features could easily take the shape of an enraged animal when it came to Harry's safety.
"Never open the door. It's not like wizards need to knock," Harry mumbled as he sunk in his armchair to watch the boring program. Putting her book aside, Lily ruffled Harry's hair before leaving him to open the door.
"Sirius, what are you doing here?" she asked as soon as she found Sirius behind the door of their flat.
"I should've come yesterday, but James wanted me to have dinner with them and I couldn't find a good excuse to get away. How's Harry?" he asked.
It was almost a year since the day Sirius had paied them a visit for the first time and since then, he came by at least twice a week to spend some time with his godson. By his words throughout the year, Lily had come to realize that he had not told James about their meetings and she was relieved it was the case.
"He's okay now, but he was scared and angry yesterday. Come in," she invited the unregistered Animagus in and closed the door behind them.
"It was obvious he was scared. I should've closed the door to the elevator sooner, but I was shocked as well," Sirius said as he made his way to where Harry was sitting.
"Uncle Sirius," Harry's face lit up when he saw his godfather. He jumped down the cozy armchair and ran into the open arms Sirius had offered him. The godfather and godson had come to an intimate relationship over the past year and Lily was not scared anymore to leave them in a room alone, though they had never spent any time outdoors.
"I missed you," Sirius said, pressing the boy to his chest.
"But you saw me yesterday," Harry said into his godfather's chest.
"It wasn't the same since I didn't have the opportunity to hug you." Sirius parted the boy from his chest and looked into his brilliant green eyes. "Wanna know what I've brought with me?" he asked and ushered Harry to the window when the boy nodded.
"Do you see that motorcycle?" he asked, pointing to a red motorcycle outside the building. "That's mine. Guess what it does!" Harry shrugged as he stared at the motorcycle.
"Okay, I tell you. It can fly," Sirius said, feeling sad for not taking Harry out flying before while he had taken Dave lots of times even before Lily had left with Harry. He was grateful that Lily hadn't told the boy anything about the flying motorcycle and their cruelty.
"Really? Wow," Harry exclaimed, not taking his eyes off the flying motorcycle. "Can we fly it?"
"That's why I brought it here. To take you flying," Sirius answered, ruffling the boy's messy black hair.
"Mom," Harry called, turning to his mother who was listening to their every word. "Can I go flying with Uncle Sirius?"
Confronting with those big green eyes, Lily was at a loss for words. She couldn't let her son down by disagreeing to let him go out with his godfather, no matter how worried she was. She remembered what she had said to Harry the first time they had met Sirius – that it was for Harry to decide whether he wanted to see his godfather again or not.
"Please, mom."
Lily smiled, looking her son in the eyes. There was no way she could reject those pleading eyes shining with hope.
"I'm going to change," Harry shouted when his mother nodded in affirmative before leaving for his room to change.
"You still don't trust me, do you?" Sirius asked Lily, speaking her fears out, while they were waiting for Harry.
"I don't even trust myself with Harry," Lily answered truthfully as she leaned back in the sofa. "He's so fragile I fear he might break at any second."
"What happened yesterday?" Sirius asked when Lily stopped talking and didn't elaborate her comment.
"He locked himself in his room and then started shouting and throwing everything he could get his hands on. It was a mess. It was when he knocked me to the wall with his accidental magic that he realized what he was doing. Thanks for coming to see him."
"No, you have nothing to thank for. I enjoy spending time with him."
"How's Dave?" Lily asked, changing the subject to her other son.
"Fine. He was a bit sad after he saw you, but I cheered him up," Sirius answered. "It was James who made a problem. He was talking about Harry nonstop. I don't think I need to tell you what he said."
Lily shook her head since she knew quite well every single word James would utter. She had heard enough in the five years she had doomed her younger son to the uncaring hands of her husband.
"What were you doing on the third floor?" Sirius asked, dragging Lily away from unwanted thoughts.
"I thought you knew. We moved to the third floor yesterday morning. They're redecorating our office a bit."
"I'm ready," Harry exclaimed as he ran into the living room, breaking up the conversation.
"Don't take too long. Be back for dinner," Lily said, giving her son a quick hug. "Will you stay for dinner, Sirius? Remus's coming as well."
It was Harry's idea to invite Remus for dinner. He was anxious to tell the werewolf about his first win at chess over Ron which was the result of Remus' good teachings as the boy claimed.
"I don't see why not. We'll be back for dinner," Sirius answered, ushering the boy out of the building and into the street.
Lily looked out of the window at her son who happily sat in front of Sirius on his motorcycle. She hoped James' two best friends would make up for his behavior as the motorcycle drove away to find an empty region to take off the ground.
A/N: It's not the way I expected it to be, but I hope you liked it. The consequences of the encounter will be revealed in the next chapter.
A word to those of you who have alerted/favorited this fic: I like to have some reviews from you. Nothing special, mind you. Just tell me if you like some part more than the rest or if there's some part you don't like. Thank you for your great support.