Lily

In

The Dresses

Lily had just put little one-year old Megan to bed. James had called her to tell her he was working late with Sirius and John, so she was about to go to bed herself. As she prepared herself for bed, something caught her eye.

There was a hinges on the wall next to the window.

Lily went over to the blank wall and felt around. She pushed on the wall and it opened to reveal a large walk in closet. Being muggleborn, she was shocked due to the fact that the back of the house showed no signs of a closet in that spot.

She walked into the closet and saw thousands of dresses from different time periods. All worn by James' ancestors. She passed dresses from the 80's, 70's, 60's, 50's, 40's, 30's, 20's, 10's, 18th century, 17th century, 16th century, etc.

When she got down to the 1st century, the room stopped. Hanging on the end of the wall, hung three dresses. One was blue with black trimmings, the second was yellow with white trimmings, and the third was red with gold trimmings.

Lily starred at the beautiful dresses hanging in front of her, almost afraid to touch them.

"Wow." She said to herself. "These are stunning."

Suddenly, a trunk caught her attention. She went over to it and lifted the lid. It was locked.

"Alorhamora." She said pointing her wand at it.

Nothing.

"Magic proof." She sighed.

Looking at the lock, she noticed something about it.

It had the same design as her mother-in-law's wedding ring that was given to her in Elizabeth's will. And it was small enough for the diamond to fit in it. So, she took off the ring (which she wore as a reminder to herself of why James would always have a little bit of a faraway look in his eyes) and slipped the diamond into the lock. The lock clicked, and the lid popped open.

The Maraudette looked in and glimpsed inside the trunk. A diadem laid on top of a white dress that had a preserving charm on it. Actually, ALL the dresses in the closet had preserving charms on them.

Lily pulled out the white dress to see a small petite wedding gown. After a quick examination, there was a charm on it to make it fit anyone who wore it. Again, all of the dresses had the same charm.

After Lily pulled out the dress, a rolled up canvas fell out of the trunk as it came out with the dress. Lily gently put the dress down and unrolled the canvas.

It was a portrait of a medieval bride and groom standing by the lake at Hogwarts. The bride was a young redhead of about 15 years of age. She was wearing the dress that was currently in the trunk while wearing the diadem. The groom, a black haired boy about the bride's age, was dressed in stunning dress robes. Lily looked closer at the groom. He bore a remarkable resemblance to her own husband.

She laid the portrait aside making a mental note to have Trixy hang it somewhere at one of the many houses. Then she pulled out a piece of parchment.

On this seventh day of the seventh month, Godric Gryffindor betrothed his only daughter, Julia Gryffindor to the only son of Viola and Stephen Potter, Proteus Potter. The wedding is to be held on the day after Twelfth Night when the children are 15 years of age.

"Fifteen years of age?" Lily repeated in shock. She couldn't imagine her kids being married at that age. She had MET Harry when he was about to turn 15. She couldn't think of what she would have thought if he had been married. And Megan…she was having a hard time imagining when Megan would get her letter, let alone get MARRIED.

Then she got to thinking of her own life. When she was fifteen, James' ego grew to the size of the mansion. She had thought he was an arrogant jerk at the time.

"Lily?"

Lily looked up and saw James standing next to the 3rd century dresses in plain view of her.

"What is this place?" Lily asked him.

"Potter closet." He told her. "Mum only told me about it. I couldn't come in until my own wife, you, found it. Every Potter female would choose a dress from their family and a dress from their time period to put into it so she can leave a part of herself. Even though I have NO clue as to why someone would put Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's dresses in here."

"No wonder you always had the latest things." She said. "It was so you could leave a legacy for future generations."

"Right." James confirmed.

"This is so amazing." Lily said looking around. "I had no idea that you own all these."

"Uh. YOU own these." James corrected. 'You won't catch me wearing them."

"C'mon James." She teased. "They have a charm so that they'll fit."

"I'd rather hug Snivellus." He said crossing his arms.

Lily and James laughed at the teasing.

"ALL of these dresses are mine?" Lily asked.

"Yes. My original intent was to ask if you wouldn't mind having Jennifer pick out what she wanted, but…" James said sadly.

Lily got up and hugged her husband. It was obvious he missed Jenny.

"It was her dream to meet you." James told his wife.

0000

A week before Halloween,

Lily was feeding breakfast to Megan when Hedwig showed up. Megan beamed when she saw Harry's owl. Lily took the letter and read it. Surprisingly, it wasn't from her son.

Lily,

There's a Halloween costume ball in a week and Hermione and I don't have costumes. Nat's going as Dracula because of his animagus form and Archimedes is going as Godric Gryffindor. I thought it would be fun for Tiria and I to dress as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Only problem is that we don't have the outfits. Do you have any suggestions? I'm sure you and your friends snuck around Hogwarts a lot. Maybe you know of rooms that would have the outfits. Thanks for your time.

Ginny

Lily thought about the letter and turned to her daughter.

"What do you think?" Lily asked the baby. "Think I should let Ginny and Hermione borrow the dresses?"

Megan nodded vigorously. She loved her brother's friends as if they were sisters.

Lily smiled at her daughter as she conjured a quill, ink, and parchment.

Ginny,

I have JUST the outfits for you and Hermione. Have Harry and Hermione set up a Hogsmeade weekend next weekend and I'll meet you and Hermione at the Shrieking Shack with the outfits. Give my love to Harry for me.

Lily

Lily gave the letter to Hedwig and the owl flew away.

"Bye bye 'Edwig." Megan said to the retreating owl as she waved.

0000

That Saturday, (which was also the day of the ball)

"Thank you so much, Mrs…Lily." Hermione said catching herself.

"It's no problem." Lily said to the two girls as they held the dresses which were in special wrapping.

"Can we look at them now?" Ginny asked.

"Sure." Lily said.

The two girls unwrapped the dresses and gasped in awe.

"They're beautiful." Hermione said.

"Can you two keep a secret?" Lily asked.

The two girls leaned in nodding.

"Those dresses were worn by Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff THEMSELVES." Lily said.

The two younger girls' mouths dropped.

"How did you get them?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"They came with James. As well as the house, the money, and the elves." Lily answered. "A couple of James' ancestors must have gotten a hold of them. One of James' personal projects is to find the true heirs of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to return the dresses. Until then, they're mine."

"Technically, aren't they James'?" Ginny asked.

"Yes. But HE won't wear them." Lily said. "I've already asked. He'd rather hug Snape."

The three girls laughed.

"Where's Megan?" Ginny asked.

"Out on an outing with Daddy and Uncle Sirius and Vega." Lily told them.

"How's Vega doing?" Hermione asked worriedly. Her mind was still on what had happened last July (See "Sirius' Scare")

"MUCH better." Lily answered. "The truth is, last July, I had found a potion to strengthen the immune system. I gave it to Vega, and she has yet to be sick again."

"That's wonderful." Ginny said.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a hand bell.

"You should get going." Lily told them.

"Thanks for the dresses, Lily!" the two girl said as they left the living room of the Shrieking Shack.

Lily smiled as she watched the retreating girls. Those girls were going to get some stares.

0000

"Harry?" Ron asked as he waited for his friend to come out of the bathroom

It was Halloween and time for the party.

"I'll be out in a moment." Harry called out.

The door opened and Harry emerged dressed as Godric Gryffindor.

"Wow. That's a convincing look." Ron, dressed as Dracula, said.

"Thanks. Helps with a picture of him hanging in Grandpa's study. Mate, your costume fits you perfectly."

"Check this out." Ron said moving his cape over his face.

POP

A bat was flying where Ron had been.

Harry started laughing

"Ready guys?" Hermione said coming out of her own room dressed as Rowena Ravenclaw

"Ready…Rowena." Harry said.

POP

"Wow. You're going to get people thinking you're a Ravenclaw." Ron said eyeing his girlfriend.

"Thanks. You make a good Dracula yourself." Hermione said.

"Thanks."

"There you guys are." Ginny said as she entered dressed as Helga Hufflepuff.

"GINNY?!" the boys exclaimed.

"Yes. Do you like it? I borrowed it from Harry's Mum." Ginny said. "She found it in a secret closet."

"She also found my dress there." Hermione added.

Are you guys ready?" Ginny asked

"I am." Hermione said as the two boys gapped at the redheaded-now blond girl.

"You should have been Slytherin. Then we'd be the Founders." Harry said to Ron.

"Then YOU be Slytherin." Ron said.

"Sorry. Not in my blood."

"But the hat nearly…"

"Let's go!" the girls said each grabbing their boyfriend and dragging them out of the room.

The End