When I woke the next morning, a bag full of my belongings was at the foot of the bed. I could smell the most delicious smelling foods drifting up the stairs and under the door. My mouth was watering. I dug through my bag to find some clothes, and tried to find the bathroom. It didn't take too long. It was nice to shower and wash the tears off of my face. I walked down the steps and into the kitchen. I was surprised by the multitude of eyes glancing at me from the table. I was even more surprised at how quickly the eyes turned back to their meal. No one seemed overly concerned at the stranger entering.

"Good morning, dear. Have a seat and dig in!" The older red-haired woman ushered me into a chair next to another redhead. A woman. She was very pretty. She smiled at me as she sipped her tea.

She held out her hand for me to shake. "Hello, there. I'm Ginny. Harry is my husband. It's nice to meet you."

"Amelia." My voice cracked. God, this is why I don't talk to people over the age of nine. Stick with the kids, you don't get as embarrassed.

But Mrs. Potter just smiled and continued on. "This is my father, Arthur. And that's my brother, Percy. They both work at the Ministry. And you met my mother last night. And this my other brother, Bill, and his wife, Fleur." So many redheads. Except the last one. She was blonde, and she was beautiful. Why was everyone here so pretty? I felt even more out of place.

"And somewhere around is my daughter…" but Ginny was cut off by a loud scream coming from somewhere above us.

"MOOOOOOOOOM! I CAN'T FIND MY PURPLE SWEATER. I TOLD YOU TO PACK IT." A thundering sound echoed through the house. A little girl too small to made all that racket burst through the kitchen door. She noticed me and very quickly her face changed from very distraught to bright and cheery. "Oh! Hello! I'm Lily Luna Potter. What's your name?"

I couldn't help but smile. She was cute. I liked her already. Her fiery red hair was long and braided down over her shoulder. Her eyes were a bright green, like Mr. Potter's were. She had freckles all across her cheeks and nose.

I held out my hand to her much more confidently than I had with Ginny. "Hello Lily Luna Potter. My name is Amelia. It's a pleasure to meet you." We shook.

"Amelia. That's a pretty name. Do you go to Hogwarts? I am only eight. So I don't go to Hogwarts, but I want to so bad. I've been thinking really hard about magic, so maybe they'll ask me to start early! My brothers go to Hogwarts. Do you have any brothers?"

I shook my head. This was my comfort zone. I can talk to kids. "No brothers for me. And I don't go to Hogwarts. I learn about magic at home."

"By yourself?! What's the fun in that? Did you know there are ghosts at Hogwarts?" Her eyes were huge, like this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her entire life.

"I did not know that there were ghosts at Hogwarts. That's brilliant. Do you want to sit next to me, Lily? I think it's breakfast time."

"Yeah, sure." Lily pulled out the chair and sat down with me. She chattered a lot throughout breakfast. She told lots of stories about her 'dumb brothers' who wouldn't hide her in their trunks. She also told stories about her many uncles. I really couldn't keep track of any more redheads. When she finished eating, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back up the steps.

"Come on, Amelia. We have to find my purple sweater, and then we're going to play Marauders. It's the best game in the whole world."


I turned and waited for the kitchen door to open when I heard the familiar sound of apparition come from the front door. Harry came through the door, kissed my cheek and then mum's. He sat at the table and nodded his thanks for the steaming cup of coffee mum handed him. He took a big gulp before he sighed and looked around.

"Where is Amelia? Wait, why is it so quiet? Isn't Lily here?"

You might think this is funny, but that's our Lily. She's loud. She's boisterous. She makes her presence known. Usually by name he would have accosted her father demanding his love and affection until someone else came along whom she could wrap around her cute little finger. We're definitely in trouble with that one.

"Both the girls are upstairs in the playroom. They've been in there all morning. Barely made a peep."

"Poor, Amelia."

"No, Harry. She loves it. She came down to the kitchen and looked like she might cry from all the people. She looked like she just walked through a ghost. Comfortable, worried. But the second Lily came in, she was smiling, laughing, talking. It was awesome."

Harry's eyes widened and a small grin spread on his face. Godric, is my husband hot.

"You said she babysat a lot, and I think I know why. She is brilliant with Lily. She actually got Lily to eat breakfast."

Harry actually spit his coffee out of his mouth and looked at mum for confirmation.

"Harry, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Lily didn't even fight her. She just sat down and ate. I have truly witnessed a miracle."

Lily. Dear, sweet, slightly insane Lily. I love my little girl, but she is an odd little duck. She has been boycotting breakfast for four and a half years. Ever since James went off to Hogwarts. When it first started, she had no explanation of why her protest was to not eat breakfast. She wanted to go to Hogwarts too, and when she couldn't, she decided she wasn't going to eat breakfast anymore until she was allowed to go.

Now that she's eight, her explanation is that breakfast is to start your morning off right, but she is not at Hogwarts. Her mornings will never be right until she is at Hogwarts. So breakfast has no point. Did I mention that she's eight?

"Lily ate breakfast. Bloody hell." I smacked Harry at the same time mum threw a towel at him from across the table. But we all laughed.

"Did you find Amelia's mum?" I was almost afraid to know the answer to this. Bad news was common for Harry's field.

"No." He looked pained. "But we have a lead. Ron found a note in Amelia's bed. It says, if he doesn't receive payment he's going to kill her."


I was lucky that Lily didn't hear the apparition sound like I did. I excused myself, claiming I needed the bathroom and snuck down the stairs as quietly as possible.

I listened through the door. "Did you find Amelia's mum?"

I could feel my heart stop beating. And when Mr. Potter answered her, my body froze. It went cold. It was me he wanted. But he was going to kill my mother if he didn't get me. I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't live for the rest of my life knowing I was the reason my mother died. She had already taken too much from me. I couldn't let her take anymore. I was going to stop this. I snuck back up the steps a little bit and came back down loudly so they could hear me coming. I could tell they had must clammed up, when I cam into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. Did you find my mother?"

"No, not yet, Amelia, but we're still looking." Liar. I couldn't blame him. I would lie to me too.

"Oh. Okay. I was wondering if it was possible to go back to the apartment sometime. I, uh, had a secret hiding spot. I'm afraid…"

"Ron."

"Right. Ron didn't find it. Also, I have a bank account, and I would like to make a withdrawal."

All the adults looked around at each other. I could see them thinking that Lily had brought me out of my shell. And maybe she did, but also I was on a mission.

Mr. Potter nodded his head and said we could go after lunch. I almost didn't even feel bad for what I was about to do to him. I needed to save my mother.