I do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: I've been getting a lot of heat about Lily in the last couple of chapters. I know it was out of left field but I hope this chapter sheds some light on why and maybe you won't think so badly of her.

Harry wasn't sure how he got through the rest of the night. He didn't even remember what he said during his speech other than cracking a joke about how he'd been fighting dark wizards since he was a baby. The crowd seemed to enjoy it though and he received a standing ovation after announcing his plan to retire. He also barely remembered what Hermione said after Kingsley introduced her as the next Minister of Magic. But of course she was brilliant so whatever she said it was more than enough to get the crowd on their feet again.

Harry felt schizophrenic by the time everyone was done speaking. Half of his brain was focused on Rose and making sure she was alright, while the other half was wondering what the hell had gotten into his daughter tonight. She was laughing and enjoying herself with Scorpius again and if he didn't know better he would have sworn he imagined her with Dmitri earlier. He wanted answers.

On top of all that was his simmering rage for Charlie and he was trying very hard not to go down and kill the bastard for what he did to Rose. He needed to get out of here. Now.

"Lily, it's time to go," said Harry as everyone was standing up.

She looked at him exasperated but before she could reply Scorpius asked, "Is it possible for her to stay with me for a little while? I promise I'll bring her straight home when this is all over."

Harry sighed, he knew that the new recruits and the younger workers usually stayed late and partied but he was on a very short fuse tonight. "I'm sorry Scorpius. I really need Lily to come home with me now. But you should stay and enjoy yourself."

Scorpius looked like Harry just killed his puppy but there was nothing to be done about it.

"Say Good Night Lily," reminded Harry before he turned and helped Rose out of her chair and said, "We're going home now, Love."

Rose smiled in relief as she got up and they waited for Lily. Just as the three of them started to leave James and Al called, "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Are you leaving now?" asked Al.

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I believe Lily has some explaining to do and Rose needs her rest."

"We'll come too," replied James.

"You two don't have to come home. You should enjoy yourselves," replied Harry but they both just shook their heads and Al said, "We'll come back in a little bit."

Harry nodded and quickly made his way to the Floo to head home. As soon as they entered the house, Lily made a beeline for the stairs and he said, "I think you have some explaining to do young lady."

She sighed and turned to him and said, "You're right, I do. Do you mind if I change first though? I'll only be a few minutes."

"Fine. 5 minutes, not a second more."

Lily nodded, took off her shoes and climbed the stairs two at a time.

Why was she in such a hurry to get to her room?

"Harry would you mind helping me get settled before you talk with Lily?" asked Rose shyly.

Harry kissed her and said, "Of course I don't mind, Love."

Suddenly they heard Lily squeal or scream from upstairs and Harry was running up the stairs at lightning speed with Al and James right behind him. Huffing they got to Lily's door and saw what was the cause….

"What is that?" asked James.

"Where did it come from?" asked Al.

Lily at this point had moved to her bed and picked up a fairly large black ball of fur…

"Is that a Panther," asked Harry in shock.

Lily rolled her eyes as she snuggled the cub in her arms, and said, "No. She's a black Jaguar cub. They're very rare." Lily held the cub up over her head and it made a cute purring noise. "She's beautiful."

James moved into the room and picked up the parchment on the floor and read it out loud,

Kitten,

As soon as I laid eyes on her I just knew she was meant to be with you... As am I.

I missed you.

Love, Dmitri

"Who the bloody hell is this bloke? He breaks into our house to leave you a fucking Jaguar?" asked Al incredulously.

Lily narrowed her eyes at Al but Harry held his hand up and said, "Change now, Lily. You have 2 minutes to get downstairs." He then pulled the boys out of the room and shut the door, swearing under his breath.

"Who the fuck gives a Jaguar as a gift?" asked Al still annoyed.

"I don't know, Al, but Lils seemed pretty thrilled about it," replied James.

Al just snorted as they reached the landing. "Is everything alright?" asked Rose.

"Yes, fine," replied Harry motioning for her to move towards their bedroom, "It seems Lily's friend Dmitri got her a new pet."

Rose's eyes lit up and she squealed, "He did? Was it a cat? She absolutely loves cats."

"It's a cat alright," replied James as he turned and headed down the last flight of stairs.

Harry shut the door and leaned against it with his eyes closed for a minute trying to calm himself down. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was completely grey by the end of this year.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Everything OK?" asked Rose from the bathroom. She was looking at him strangely and he felt terrible. He was supposed to be taking care of her, not the other way around.

"Shit Rose, I'm sorry. It's been a crazy night but none of that matters right now. Let me help you."

"Thanks. I'm going to take a nice long bath if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Let me get it started for you," replied Harry helping her out of her dress before turning to the tub and running the water. He added the bubble bath that she liked so much and made sure the temperature was just right before standing up and helping her into the tub. She was slightly unsteady with her large belly but Harry thought she looked perfect. When she was settled in, he kissed her on the nose and said, "If you need me I'll be downstairs, just send me a Patronus or use Sonorus."

"I'll be fine, Love. Now go. I know you want to talk to Lily about Dmitri."

He nodded and turned to leave but she said, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Try and get her to tell you what's really going on. There are some things that you don't know. But promise me you'll listen to her, I mean really listen." asked Rose pleadingly.

He frowned in confusion but said, "I promise I'll listen to her, Love."

She nodded then put her head back and closed her eyes, just enjoying the warm water and Harry left the room to head downstairs. What was that all about?

When he got to the living room all three of his children were waiting for him.

"Is Rose alright?" asked Lily.

Harry nodded and sat down on the couch next to Al, as James was sitting on the couch with Lily and the …cat.

"Well, Lily, let's hear it. I assume you have some sort of explanation for tonight," said Harry simply.

Lily looked down at the cub purring in her lap and said, "Dmitri's my ex-boyfriend."

"That's not an explanation Lily. Try again," replied Harry quickly.

She glared at her father before looking away. She seemed to be thinking…after a few minutes of silence, Harry was losing his patience but then she said quietly, "Are you sure you really want to know?"

"I'm positive, Lily. Please, tell me what's going on with you," pleaded Harry.

She looked at him to gage his sincerity and finally sighed in defeat.

"Remember when I was little and I used to always say Daddy tickles?"

Harry was genuinely thrown, having no idea what this had to do with anything, "Yeah."

"And I would say Mommy hurts?"

"Yes."

"Lily, what the hell does this have to do with anything?" asked Al annoyed.

"I can feel magic," said Lily simply.

"What do you mean you can feel it?" asked Harry

"I mean that when I touch someone I can feel their magic. If it is like mine then it feels good but if it's not then it hurts."

When they all just stared at her in confusion she huffed and continued, "Everyone in this family has magic that's very similar, except for a few of us. Al and James inherited Mum's magic but I inherited Dad's. I've learned over the years the differences and figured out that Al and James and Mum and nearly everyone else in the family all have magic that's inherently light. But Dad, you're magic is a mix of light and dark. My magic is the closest to yours in our family."

"How is it even possible to feel magic?" asked James in awe.

Lily shrugged and said, "I don't know. I stopped trying to figure out how it was possible and just tried to learn how to deal with it. I've talked to a few people and they said it's a pretty rare gift." Lily snorted and then continued, "Gift is not exactly what I would call it. The more different the magic the more it hurts when that person touches me. There were times when I felt like screaming I was in so much pain…. usually Sunday dinner at Grandma's. Eventually I learned how to cope."

"You said that you're magic is different than ours, how?" asked James.

Lily bit her lip before she said, "My magic is…. Dark."

"Of course it's not Lily. Magic isn't dark or light, people are. You are not dark, Lily." Argued Harry vehemently.

Lily shook her head and said, "It's not a bad thing Daddy, it just is. I've always known I was different from the rest of the family save Teddy. As I got older I started to test my theory and I'm telling you, my magic is dark."

Harry looked at her unsure what to say.

"What does it feel like when I touch you?" asked James reaching for her hand and holding it.

"Like I'm being shocked. Hundreds of tiny shocks, sort of like static electricity but amplified."

James frowned and took his hand away, not wanting to hurt his sister.

"And it's the same with me?" asked Al.

Lily just nodded

"And me?" asked Harry reaching for her hand. She reached out and held his hand, smiling, and said, "It tickles."

Harry smiled and said, "Well, I guess that's good."

"Your magic is a mix so it doesn't hurt but I can only handle it for a short period of time. Longer than the others though."

"You said Teddy's magic was most like yours." Said James.

Lily turned to him, nodded, and replied, "Yes. It's very close to mine."

"What does that feel like?"

Lily looked away and said simply, "Good."

"Can you explain?" asked Al.

"It's hard to put into words... my body feels like it's humming."

"Do you know why you're magic and Teddy's is similar?" asked Harry honestly curious.

"It's the wolf. He must have inherited his father's magic or just enough of it to make his magic dark."

"And this is true for Dmitri too?" asked Harry knowingly.

"Yeah, but Dmitri's magic is darker than Teddy's."

"And how does that feel?"

Lily blushed and looked away before she said quietly, "Amazing. It's indescribable…"

"So does that mean you're magic is darker than Teddy's too?" asked James.

Lily nodded

"And what about Scorpius' magic? Where does he fit?" asked Al.

"He's like Dad. He's a mix of both light and dark." Replied Lily looking away.

"But isn't that good?" asked Al confused.

"At first it is. But think about what it would feel like to be tickled for a half hour, or an hour, or longer. It doesn't feel so good anymore, then, does it?"

Al frowned, realizing that his sister was right.

"So is that the crux of the problem, Lily? The difference in the two wizards magic?" asked Harry.

Lily shrugged and said, "Maybe... I haven't seen Dmitri all year but as soon as he entered the room all I wanted to do was touch him. It was magnetic. I couldn't get to him fast enough. And then when he touched me, all my senses just exploded. And I realized that I hadn't felt that way since before he left."

"So what about Scorpius?" asked Al.

"I don't know. I'll tell him tomorrow what happened with Dmitri. He knows that I dated him before and he knew that he was there tonight."

"I thought you loved him."

"I do love him, but…" Lily stopped, biting her lip again.

"What?" asked James?

Lily took a deep breath before she answered, "I think I love Dmitri more. I just didn't realize it until tonight."

"Why didn't you tell me about this when you were younger, Lily?" asked Harry.

"I didn't want to stand out anymore than I already did. I was Harry Potter's only daughter, Harry Potter's youngest child, and if that wasn't enough I'm the spitting image of my dead grandmother. The last thing I wanted was more attention."

Harry moved to her side quickly and pulled her into a hug, surprising her. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I had known. I can't imagine how scared you must have been when you were little, not knowing why some people's touch hurt. It all makes so much sense now. You used to cry so much as a baby but when I held you, you would always stop."

Lily could see that her Dad was starting to feel guilty, "Dad, it's fine. I'm fine. You couldn't have known."

"But you told us over and over again when you were a toddler! You said Daddy tickles and Mummy hurts for at least a year. I should have done something!"

Lily reached out and grabbed his hand to calm him down; "There's nothing you could have done, Dad, short of letting no one besides you and Teddy touch me. I had to learn how to deal with it and overcome it."

Harry sighed and pulled her in for a hug. After a minute he pulled away and asked, "Does Scorpius know about this?"

"No."

"Does Dmitri?" asked James.

"Yes."

"Don't you think that's pretty telling?" asked Harry.

Lily nodded and he continued, "I'm glad I understand better now but Lily, you can't be so reckless with someone else's heart. You need to end things with Scorpius. It's the right thing to do. Even if you don't end up dating Dmitri again, it's obvious after learning all of this that Scorpius isn't the one for you. Don't you agree?"

Lily sniffled and said, "I do, but I still love him. I can't believe how I acted tonight. I've never cheated on any of my boyfriends, ever. But I didn't even think about it, I just acted. And Scorpius deserves someone that loves him completely, someone that puts him first."

Harry pulled her into another hug and kissed the top of her head before he said, "I love you, sweetheart. Why don't you head up to bed and get some sleep. We can contact Scorpius in the morning."

"Ok, Daddy," sniffled Lily getting up. The cub was weaving through her legs as she said good night to Al and James before she bent down and picked it up, carrying it up the stairs.

"Hey Lils?" called James.

"Yeah?"

"Why did he get you a Jaguar cub? Why not a regular kitten?"

She looked at the three of them from halfway up the stairs and said, "Do you really want to know?"

Slowly they all nodded and she sighed coming back down the stairs before putting the cub down. She gave them a mischievous smile before she suddenly transformed into a large black Jaguar with bright green eyes.

Needless to say the three Potter men were completely stunned. Lily was an animagus… a black Jaguar animagus.

Author's note: So what do you think…Did Lily redeem herself a little?