Disclaimer: It's not mine no matter how much I wish. 'Course this disclaimer probably isn't either.

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The New Lily

Harry sat on the hospital wing bed nervously as the woman… witch, he reminded himself, bustled about the room casting spells on him with her wand to begin the healing process, after having taken pictures of each injury, makings notes of it, and putting some strange silvery stuff into a small packet attached to a folder. When she had handed Harry the first of the foul tasting potions she wanted to give him, the phoenix started to sing, healing his injuries the rest of the way. She didn't want Harry to have to suffer through nasty tasting potions when she could do the same with a simple healing song. Now that he was away from the nasty Dursleys and the proof of his stay was documented, his suffering was no longer necessary.

"Be glad of your young phoenix friend, Harry. These potions would not have left you with a pleasant stay here in the hospital wing," said the nurse as she bustled out of the room to get on with her other duties, along with returning her unused potions to the supply room.

Harry was a little dismayed when Hagrid had said earlier on that he had to leave to talk to the headmaster, but he was relieved when right afterwards, his bird friend fluttered off of Hagrid's shoulder to land on the rail at the foot of the bed. After the nurse had left he felt the tune of the trilling of the… phoenix change a bit. All of a sudden he felt the urge to lie back to take a nap. As his head hit the pillow he was immediately sleep. Not even having the chance to see the phoenix give an almost human-like smirk.

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Harry jerked awake as he felt a hand descend onto his shoulder. He had been having odd dreams of flying with birds and bits of sticks giving off odd lights and other strange happenings. He looked around almost frantically before he remembered what had happened and where he was. Harry looked up to see an extremely old man with blue twinkling eyes and an tremendously long beard. As he looked closer he saw that underneath those twinkling eyes he saw concern, closely hidden behind a mask of amusement.

"Ah, good morning Harry. It's so good to have you among the awake this morning. You won't remember me, but I'm Albus Dumbledore," Dumbledore paused here, but continued on, deciding to leave the introduction at that. "Had I known things would turn out this way, I would never have left you with the Dursleys to begin with." Dumbledore shook his head in regret. Harry blinked, somehow instinctually realizing that this venerable old man was showing him more emotion than most people saw.

"That's okay, sir. Bird helped me out, most of the time. I can't understand why she didn't help fix things this time though," said Harry, calling the phoenix by the name he had given it when he was smaller. The phoenix almost looked embarrassed.

"I would have to hazard a guess and say that she wanted your treatment to be known by myself. Because now I can make sure you don't go back there." Dumbledore smiled fondly down at the small boy. "It's a good thing that it is indeed close to the start of term. It will give me the rest of the year to decide where you should stay during summer holidays."

"You mean I won't ever have to go back," asked Harry, astonished. Dumbledore chuckled and nodded.

"Never again, Harry," said Dumbledore, pleased he could make that declaration at least to reassure his young companion. "In the meantime, a couple teachers and Hagrid of course have demanded the honour of accompanying you on your school shopping trip. And I dare say you'll be going out into some muggle areas to get yourself a new wardrobe."

"Muggles, sir? What are they," asked Harry as he self-consciously plucked at the over sized clothes he was wearing.

"Ah, forgive me Harry. I daresay I tend to forget how little knowledge you have of our community. Muggles are what we call non-magical folk. For example, your uncle, aunt, and cousin are muggles."

Harry frowned thoughtfully before quietly saying, "Aunt Petunia said there was no such thing as magic." He thought about what had usually happened before and after each time she said that and what he had seen that day.

"I'm sure she said a lot of things were untrue, that were just to keep things… uncomplicated. Muggles tend to not want to believe in some things," said Dumbledore hesitantly. He didn't want to be too hard on Petunia. These were the things that Harry would remember as he grew up and she was Lily's sister after all. "If I may Harry, what do you call this most wondrous phoenix?" asked Dumbledore, giving in to curiosity.

Harry looked over at her in surprise. "Well, she's always been there and when I was young I didn't understand about names and all. I just called her Bird. I never thought to offer her a real name. I didn't even know what kind of bird she was until yesterday." He looked thoughtfully at the preening phoenix. She was trying to be unconcerned at this turn in topic. But what being wouldn't be concerned when something as important as a name was being discussed. Especially since she already had three or four.

"Mr. Dumbledore, what was my mother's name?" asked Harry suddenly. Dumbledore blinked in surprise.

"They never even told you your parent's names?" he asked in surprise. Before giving Harry a chance to respond he went on. "Well I suppose they wouldn't have. Your mother's name was Lily Evans-Potter. Your father's was James Potter. They loved you very much. They named you after your grandfather, if I'm not mistaken." Harry nodded thoughtfully, watching the phoenix for a reaction. She had not even paused in her preening, but her motions had become a bit more forced.

"Then I want to call her Lily if she likes it. She's always mothered me. She's protected me from the worst that Uncle Vernon would do and helped me finish chores so they wouldn't be mad. She's also brought me bits of food when they sent me to bed with no dinner. I may be wrong, but the stories we read in school all said that that was what mothers do," said Harry thoughtfully, not missing the surprised look on the phoenix's face.

"I think she likes that idea, Harry." Dumbledore rubbed the phoenix's head as he thought about the original owner of the name. Mrs. Lily Potter would be happy to know that there is a new Lily to take care of her baby. The phoenix, now dubbed Lily, held her head proudly, despite her surprise and trilled with joy, causing the old man and the boy to chuckle in amusement.

Dumbledore looked up right before the hospital wing door began to creak open, startling Harry out of his amusement at Lily's happiness. Harry watched as Hagrid held the door open for an older woman and the nurse. The nurse had apparently changed into a fresh uniform. But the older woman was wearing the oddest-looking dress he had ever seen. The colour wasn't that odd; it was just a deep blue on velvety fabric. It was the kind of fabric that made Harry just want to run up to her and hug her for the feel of it against his cheek. The cut of the fabric was what startled him. It looked like a combination of clothing from the 50s and the clothes kids wore on Halloween to dress up as witches.

"Harry, this is Professor McGonagall. I believe you already know Madam Pomfrey and Rubeus Hagrid," said Dumbledore as he gestured at each of them as he spoke. Harry waved shyly, evoking a pleased grin from the women's faces. "They'll be taking you around for your shopping."

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Harry looked around excitedly as they walked down the street of the small town nearby, which Ms. McGonagall told him was called Hogsmeade. There was so much to see going on around him that he had a hard time concentrating on any one thing. His study of the area was halted when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up at Madam Pomfrey to see her guiding him towards a shop with clothes hanging in the window.

"We won't have enough time to get everything done, but we can owl order most of the things he needs. But he will need to be here to get his clothes fitted and to pick up a few personal items. I daresay the Dursleys probably never bought him a frivolous thing to save their lives," grumbled Ms. McGonagall. Madam Pomfrey nodded in agreement before smiling down at Harry. Harry smiled back as he nervously entered into the clothing store behind the two women. If he remembered anything from the Dursleys, it was how Aunt Petunia acted when she took Dudley clothes shopping. And here he had two women with him and only Hagrid to protect him from them.

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Harry sighed as one of his worst fears had been realized. The moment they entered into the store he and Hagrid had been ignored as they tore through the clothes arguing about what colour and what style would look best for which occasion. The matronly salesperson took one startled glance at the phoenix perched on the boy's shoulder before giving her full attention to the two women. Lily watched McGonagall and Pomfrey, hardly trusting them with their clothing choices. Harry blushed with embarrassment when the saleslady added underpants to the pile on the counter.

Lily then spotted a special robe hanging on one of the second hand racks. She quickly took off from his shoulder to inspect it.

"Lily!" Harry cried in surprise, catching the attention of McGonagall and Pomfrey. Carrying the items they had found they followed Harry to where Lily had flown. She was plucking at a small set of formal robes that she had recognized from her own youth. She trilled in triumph as McGonagall reached for the robes she had found.

"This is quite the spectacular set of robes," said Pomfrey, thinking they were a bit too much for the young boy.

"Albus would certainly approve of them," said McGonagall, frowning. "I don't think he would ever have a chance to use them, however." She had almost put them back on the rack before both Lily and Pomfrey stopped her. Lily squawked loudly, snapping at McGonagall's hand.

"Actually, Minerva, there's a good possibility that he'll be in the headlines quite soon. Maybe he will need them after all. Besides, they're large enough, they would last him fairly long," said Pomfrey.

McGonagall frowned at Lily and then Pomfrey before asking, "Why would he be in the headlines?"

"Albus didn't tell you? Harry's family had been a bit… abusive. Depending on what Albus decides; there may be court cases. In addition to that I think Albus was considering adopting the boy himself."

McGonagall looked at Pomfrey in surprise, "Adopt him? That's a surprise. You would think he would ask me first though. Being that I will have to cover for him when he has to concentrate on the boy as opposed to the school." She frowned for a moment. "Not that I mind, of course. It's easy to grow attached to young Harry." At that she grinned down at Harry. He tried to smile up at her, despite his annoyance that they were talking about him as if he wasn't there. Her attention was quickly displaced as she went to place the formal robes on the counter and went off to look at some more muggle clothes.

Harry sighed tiredly. Hagrid patted his shoulder with a huge hand.

"Don' worry yerself, Harry. I'm sure they can' justify too much more clothin'," said Hagrid, trying to sound reassuring even though he was doubtful himself. Harry grinned happily up at Hagrid as Lily fluttered back down to his shoulder.

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