Disclaimer: Again. JK Rowling's characters and settings except for the ones you don't recognize already.
Little Lily
Chapter Four: Meeting
Lily laughed as she fell out into the Burrow's kitchen covered in soot. Quaffle bounced out of her arms, not wanting to be squished. He rolled under the table and let his tongue snake out and across the floor, hopping after an unaware Mrs. Weasley who jumped at their arrival. Her face was smudged with a bit of dirt and her hair was a mess, as through she'd been inside a wind tube.
"Oh! Here you are, I was starting to worry." Mrs. Weasley got her brush and began running it along Lily, trying to get the soot off of the yellow dress before she gave up and pulled out her wand. "Tergio!" The soot fell from Lily and she was left clean as a whistle.
"Gramma, you've got dirt on your face. What have you been doing?" Lily giggled as Mrs. Weasley rushed to check herself on the mantelpiece mirror. She quickly used the cleaning spell on her face and straightened her hair out a bit.
"I've been getting the house ready for dinner tonight. We're going to have guests for dinner… Did you enjoy Diagon Alley?"
"Oh yes!" Lily beamed and turned as Hermione and Nevvy appeared in the fireplace. "Oh! Can I show Gramma my wand! Mr. Ollivander said it was really rare, like my eyes. It's got two woods, and two cores!" Ginny took Nevvy from Hermione. The toddler whined, making a great fuss.
"Go on then, Hermione. I'll put Nevvy down for her nap."
"Are you sure? She's in quite a rotten mood."
"I'm sure." Ginny smiled and disappeared up the stairs with the irate little girl. Hermione sat down in a chair looking exaughsted. "She's been fussing for hours now. First she wanted a toy broom when we took Harry to look at a demonstration on how they make brooms and then she missed her nap… oh…" She sighed and pulled out her beaded bag, offering it to Lily. "Your things are all in here with Harry and Luna's. I wrote your names on the packages."
Lily sat down at the table, reaching her hand into the beaded bag and letting out a cry of surprise as her entire arm disappeared inside. She felt around and grabbed the edge of a cauldron that felt like it was full of her things and dragged it out of the back, having to use both hands to get it all the way out. She set it on the table. "This is mine!" She grinned and carefully placed each book and parcel down on the table, unwrapping things to show Mrs. Weasley. "These are my robes… and my scales… and my potion kit… and my wand!" She exclaimed excitedly, undoing the strings on the long thing package.
Lily pulled apart the paper and took the lid off of the box, pushing back the tissue to display her strange wand swirled with white and pink wood. She pulled it out and laid it flat in her palms, lifting it up to show Mrs. Weasley proudly.
"Oh, it's lovely, Lily!" Mrs. Weasley beamed and reached out to examine the wand, but Lily withdrew her hands quickly, gripping the wand tightly.
"Careful, Gramma. It burned Mr. Ollivander when he went to put it back in the box for me. He said I'm probably the only one it's going to let touch it now."
"That's incredible. I've never heard of anything like that." Mrs. Weasley frowned, peering over her glasses at the wand now.
"It feels just right though. Like part of me."
"That's how wands are supposed to feel." Ron said as he and Luna came out of the fireplace.
"Mine feels like part of me too." Luna grinned and dug into her mother's bag, seemingly nonplussed as to how much it could hold. She pulled out her own wand box and opened up the package. "See Gramma?" Luna's wand was made of a dark wood, shining as though it had just been polished, a band of silver where the handle met the shaft. "Ten inches, oak and dragon heartstring."
"Oooh… your wand is pretty too, Luna." Lily said, admiring it.
"They're both lovely." Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Though, you should probably keep them in their boxes until September. You don't want to accidentally do any spells and get written up for them before you've even started school. Lily, why don't you and Luna bring your things up to Ginny's room for now? Granddad will find you a trunk to take to school later."
"Alright, Gramma." Lily nodded and she and Luna gathered up the books and cauldron and other things and together, carried them up the stairs to the little bedroom on the first landing. Lily set her wand box on the bedside table.
"I can't wait to get to Hogwarts so we can use our wands." Said Luna with a sigh. She helped Lily unload the books in her cauldron onto the desk so they could examine them better. A scream came from downstairs, causing them to run for the door and back down the stairs to find out what was going on.
"A puffskein! How did that get in the house? Did one of you leave the door open again?" Mrs. Weasley was up on a chair, looking down at Quaffle who was shuddering under the table as through her screaming had frightened him. Lily ran to gather him up in her arms and he rolled himself to hide his face away from the world against her chest.
"He's mine, Gramma. Isn't he sweet?" Lily frowned, turning Quaffle around. "He's just a baby…"
"I told her it was ok, Mum." Ginny said as she came down the stairs. "Ron had one when we were younger, remember?"
"Of course I remember. It was always trying to eat the insides of my nose. I'd close the bedroom door and lock it, but it still somehow managed to find a way in."
"That's because Fred and George would pick the lock and let him in." Ginny laughed. "Quaffle won't be doing any of that. Lily's going to keep an eye on him, right Lily?"
"Yes, I will." Lily nodded, hugging her puffskein tightly.
"Besides, she'll be off to school in about a week, so you won't have to worry about him longer than that. And you liked Ron's puffskein when it wasn't trying to eat your bogies."
"Well… I suppose…" Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Alright. But you keep your bedroom door shut, Lily. And if he so much as tries to get at my nose, it's out into the hen house for him, understood?"
"Yes ma'am." Lily nodded again and looked at Luna. "The lady at the shop said we can use him to play catch so long as we're not rough. Want to?"
"Oh yes!" Luna grinned and she and Lily ran out the door and into the back garden. Harry made to follow them, but was stopped by his mother.
"Don't even think about it. You're too much like your uncles to be trusted around a puffskein."
"Aw, but mum…"
"Don't you but me. Now go help your grandmother with the dishes. She's frazzled enough as it is." Harry moped, dragging his feet over to the sink where he took up a sponge and got to work under his mother's stern gaze.
"Nevvy's out cold." Ginny told Hermione once it was clear Harry would be occupied for the next half an hour or so by pretending the sponge was a boat. "I put her up in the nursery for now."
"Good, she should sleep until dinner then, which is perfect." Ron sat down in a chair and relaxed for a moment before his mother was shooing him off of it.
"Ronald, I need you to go out into the backyard and gather the chickens. They need to be put away in their coup so that they don't cause a ruckus later. And I need you and Hermione to magic those old tables in the shed together. We're going to have to eat out in the garden tonight. There just isn't enough room in here for everyone, what with the children coming along as well." Mrs. Weasley said, looking a little bit frazzled. She'd managed this large dinners a bit more easily years ago, but in her aging state, she needed just a bit more help than she used to. She had to have everything perfect for her family, not that they would have minded if it was way less than perfect. "Harry stop doing those dishes, I can magic those. Why don't you go put the chickens up for your parents?"
"Sure, Gramma." Harry bolted out of the door, appearently thrilled to be getting out of the house.
"And stay away from that puffskein!"
After much cleaning was done and the stove was covered in hot pots and pans full of food, the fireplace in the kitchen turned bright green and the first of the Weasley children stepped out of it. It turned into a never ending spout of red hair and children for the next ten minutes. Bill and Fleur with Dominique and Caprice came first, shortly followed by George, Angelina, Marcus, and Fred. Then Percy showed up, toting along his oldest, Molly, stating that his wife and son had caught something and regrettably wouldn't be joining them tonight. Mr. Weasley arrived home shortly after this, joined by none other than Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Kingsley! What a lovely surprise!" Mrs. Weasley smiled at him and pulled out a chair. But Kingsley shook his head.
"I've come on business, Molly. Perhaps we could send the children outside… just until dinner is ready of course. Keep them out from under foot."
"Oh! Well, certaintly!" Mrs. Weasley moved about the kitchen, ushering out her grandchildren until only adults remained in the house. They all made themselves comfortable around the table as Kingsley moved to the window and peered out.
"Arthur has told me about your guest. That's her, I assume?" He pointed out of the window at Lily who was currently up on one of the lower branches of the garden trees, looking as though she was rescuing her puffskein whom had bounced a little too high and gotten himself stuck. Kingsley drew the curtain and spun back around. "Now, in light of certain… recent events… Mainly, I am referring to the current collapse of a train tunnel in the London underground that led to the death of over a hundred Muggles. Now, since the Muggle engineering experts say that the tunnel had just been inspected and found in perfect working condition, we believe this may not have been an accident. I, and a few others from the Magical Law Enforcement team, went to investigate and we found traces of dark magic." There were gasps from around the table. "This means, that either the Death Eaters we were not able to catch and imprison are making themselves known, or there is a new group of dark wizards trying to do the same. And since we are fairly certain we have caught all of the Death Eaters at this point, we are looking for evidence of a new group. It is common knowledge now, that the Order of the Phoenix exists, although we have not had a meeting in many years. If there is a new group of dark wizards out there, I wouldn't put it past them to try and infiltrate the Order so as to gain information whilst conveying messages to the rest of their gang. They would have to be cunning and make themselves incredibly trustworthy in order for us to allow them to join us. Which brings me back to the girl…"
"You think Lily is a spy?" Ginny said, her face growing red. "She's a little girl for Merlin's sake!"
"Polyjuice potion can…"
"There isn't a dark bone in that child's body." Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Besides, she'll be going off to Hogwarts in about a week's time, so why would they try and infiltrate us with a child? She won't be here to do any infiltrating! She's not a dark wizard."
"She could easily have been sent to gather information about whom is in the Order, to locate the weakest link among us, and to allow someone to worm their way into our midst through them."
"She received a letter to Hogwarts this morning!" Ginny stood up, quite enraged at this point. She held her wand in her hand, pointing it at Kingsley in pure irritation.
"Sit down, Ginny." Arthur placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder, pushing her back down into her chair.
"Letters can be easily written by anyone if you know precisely what they're supposed to say, and in the case of Hogwarts letters, they would be very easy to copy. For first years especially, they all say the same exact thing, except for the name of the child." Kingsley explained, reaching his hand out to take Ginny's wand from her before she was tempted further. "I have brought along some veritaserum. We can easily spike her juice with it and discover what she knows, or if this note…" He held up the letter that had come with Lily. "Arthur showed me is factual."
"No." Ginny spoke up again, snatching her wand away from Kingsley. "You're not spiking anybody's juice with anything, Kingsley. I understand what you're getting at, but Lily isn't some kind of dark wizard in disguise. She's a kid."
"We just need to be safe. It is in everyone's best interest, and if she is who she appears to be, then the veritaserum won't harm him at all."
"You're not going to interrogate a ten year old!"
"She's ten? I was under the impression she was eleven…"
"She'll be eleven on the thirtieth. Just in time to start school."
"Ginny, please. Calm down. We mean the girl no harm whatsoever. We just need to be sure that she is who she is. And once we're positive of that, we can get to figuring out whom would leave a child on the Burrow's doorstep."
"I already know who it was." Ginny scoffed, reaching out and taking the letter from Kingsley and holding it up. "I know this hand writing like I know my own."
"Whose is it?"
"Harry Potter's." Ginny stated boldly, her words ringing in the silence of the room. She could feel the pitying eyes of her family upon her, but she kept her gaze firmly on Kingsley.
"Ginny, Harry is dead. He's been dead for years, and we all saw his body. We buried him. You were there." Ron said finally, his voice quiet, as though trying not to tempt a crazy person further.
"Hermione! You corrected Harry's papers for six years! Tell me this isn't his hand writing!" Ginny thrust the letter to her sister-in-law who overlooked it. "Those are Harry's g's."
"They are… very similar." Hermione said, eyeing the letter curiously, her brow furrowed. "But Ginny, Ron and Kingsley are right. Harry is gone. Voldemort murdered him."
"Hermione, I can feel it in my soul. I've always been able too. He's not dead!" Ginny said, her eyes wild. "She has one of his eyes! And his hair! And his nose!" She raged, rising from her chair again. George immediately wrapped his arms around her from behind and Kingsley took her wand. Ginny struggled, her face red. But she didn't cry… she refused to cry.
"Gramma, I…" All eyes turned, unaware that the door had opened and Lily had entered upon the scene. Her strange eyes widened slightly, her puffskein in her arms. "What's going on?" She looked from Mrs. Weasley to Ginny and then to Mrs. Weasley again, confusion on her face. She couldn't understand what they were doing, or why Ginny seemed so upset.
"Oh, just grown-up things." Kingsley said automatically, moving forward. He handed Mrs. Weasley her daughter's wand and bent slightly to look at Lily properly. He held out his hand. "My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and your's?"
"Lily Carpenter." Lily said, taking his hand, soothed slightly by the big man's calming voice. She turned her attention back to Mrs. Weasley, still wondering why Ginny seemed mad but not knowing if she should ask or not. "Gramma, Quaffle's stomach is growling. Can he have a snack? I'm not so sure he'll understand waiting for dinner, because he's a baby."
"Of… of course." Mrs. Weasley moved to the cupboard and pulled out a packet of graham crackers. "Puffskeins enjoy these… here, dear." She handed a couple of the crackers to Lily who smiled. "Now run along back outside."
"Thanks, Gramma." Lily beamed and bolted out the door again, toting both puffskein and crackers with her. Once she was gone, Ginny spoke again.
"See? She resembles him."
"I do see where you might think that." Kingsley stated, kinder now that Ginny had lowered her voice to something less accusatory. "But Harry wasn't the only person on the planet with emerald eyes and black hair, Ginny. He's not ever the only person with his hand writing… there are too many people for any one feature to be solely one's own. She seems like a sweet girl, though. But I still would like to make absolutely certain."
"She's Harry's." Ginny shook her head. "I'm positive."
"You're nutters." George said, gripping her tighter as she squirmed against his hold further more now.
"I'm not nutters! That is Harry Potter's daughter! Her name is Lily! Just like Harry's mum! And she looks like him, and the note has his hand writing! There's no way all of it could be mere coincidences!"
"There was a birthmark…" Mrs. Weasley said slowly. "The one on her ankle. It's shaped like lightening."
"Like Harry's scar!"
"Coincidences are more likely than Harry having a child. He. Is. Gone." Kingsley said, trying to calm Ginny now, as she thrashed further. "If you don't calm down, we might have to admit you to St. Mungo's to have you treated for latent post-traumatic stress."
"I do not have post-traumatic stress! She's Harry's! There is no other explanation! I've always said he didn't die that night, I always have!" Ginny broke free of George and made for her wand.
"Stupify!" Kingsley shouted. A blast of red light hit Ginny and she crumpled to the floor. "I'm sorry…" He said to the rest of the Weasleys. "She needs help. Her head isn't right."
"It's alright, Kingsley. We understand. She's finally gone mad with grief." Arthur nodded, lifting his daughter up off of the floor. "I'll take her to St. Mungo's myself. They can help her better than we can." He picked up Ginny's wand and headed for the fire place. Mrs. Weasley kissed Ginny's forehead sadly as her husband took a handful of Floor powder. He stepped into the fire, dropped the powder, and shouted. "St. Mungo's!" And he disappeared.
"To think our Ginny would ever go mad." George said, shaking his head.
"She lost the love of her life when she was sixteen. You'd probably go mad too." Hermione scoffed before turning to her husband. "I think I should probably go with them, Ron." Ron nodded, knowing Hermione was the closest to Ginny when it came to matters like this.
"Go on. The kids and I'll be ok." Hermione kissed him and then spun on the spot, disapparating with a loud crack. The timer on the stove rung and Mrs. Weasley rushed to turn off the heat.
"Dinner is ready. Everyone outside, we'll be eating in the garden." The Weasleys and Kingsley headed out through the door into the graden. "Dinner!" Mrs. Weasley called to her gaggle of grandchildren. They came rushing for the tables, taking their seats eagerly, some of them clambering for one next to Kingsley who was sort of a celebrity among them.
"Where's Aunt Ginny?" Luna asked as she sat down next to Lily, looking around at the rest of them. "And mum and Granddad?"
"They had some things to take care of, but don't worry about it." Ron said immediatly, taking the other seat next to his daughter and setting Nevvy, who he had retrieved from the nursery while everyone else had headed outside, into the chair on his other side.
"Oh. Ok." Luna nodded and reached for the cup of pumpkin juice that was being sent down the table, handing it to her father, who handed it to Harry, who passed it along until it reached the end with Marcus, who kept it. Nobody saw Kingsley slipping a small vial back into his pocket as he handed Lily her cup and sat on her other side.
"Do you like pumpkin juice, Lily?"
"I've never had it."
"Well, why don't you give it a try." Kingsley prodded her and she lifted her cup to her lips, sipping at the juice. As soon as it hit her tongue, Lily knew this was something she could get used to drinking. She chugged the rest of it and then held out her cup.
"May I have some more, please? It's better than even apple juice."
"Did your parents give you apple juice most of the time?"
"I… I think so. I can't really remember much about my parents."
"No?" Kingsley raised an eyebrow and Lily shrugged.
"No. But Ginny said it's because I was sick for a bit and not to worry about it, because this is my family, even if I don't remember them from before yesterday."
"Do you remember where you're from?"
"Oh yes. Just not people."
"Just not people… hmmm… that's very strange." Kingsley frowned and poured some more juice into Lily's cup for her. She already had the veritaserum in her system. There was no way she was lying to him about anything. "Where are you from?"
"The United States."
"Ah, I thought I placed your accent." Kingsley grinned, taking the plate of chicken that was now being passed around the table and placing a couple pieces onto his plate.
"I don't have an accent. It's all of your who have accents." Lily stuck her tongue out at him and took a piece of chicken for herself. She cut off a piece of it and reached her hand under the table to feed it to Quaffle who was bouncing beside her chair.
"Do you remember the town you lived in?"
"I… no. I only remember it was northern." Lily frowned, as though discovering this information had made her quite uneasy. "It's bad that I don't remember much. But… if I hit my head when I got sick… that could have made it so I don't remember, though I don't know why I would only remember certain things and not others. I remember Quidditch… and my bedroom and that I went to a Muggle school to learn my writing and math, but not any of my friends or teachers. It's actually really scary. But I try not to think about it, because Gramma and Ginny love me. And I know that maybe I'll remember someday, once my head heals. Sometimes it hurts. Like somebody extracted bits of my brain… or maybe just my memory. I think maybe something bad must have happened to my parents. Because nobody has told me where they are yet, and I don't think they want to. But since I can't remember them, I can't be sad. I love my family… I'm safe here." Lily nodded to herself, unable to keep all of her thoughts from spewing from her mouth. She'd been thinking them every since she'd woken up in that strange new room, but she was still at that age where she supposed most adults knew what they were talking about. "Do you know my parents?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't. I wish I could help you on that one, but you'll just have to wait. Say, have you ever heard of the Order of the Pheonix?"
"The Order of the what?" Lily asked, looking confused. Kingsley gave a sigh of relief and gave her a tight one armed hug, feeling bad for her. Ginny was right. She was just a little girl and that letter was at least factual in one respect. Someone had put a Memory Charm on Lily. Who though, he wished he knew.
"Never you mind. It doesn't matter. Go ahead and eat your dinner."
Yay! Another chappie! I really hope you liked it! Reveiw if you wanna, I appreciate them. Lemme know what you think of it so far, and if there's anything I should work on.
Love always,
S.Q.O.
