"Make a wish sweetie!"
The now 10-year-old girl blew out her candles, a look of delight on her face. She giggled slightly at her dad's expectant look.
"I'm not telling," she said.
Her dad made a playful pouty face then laughed with her while her two brothers ran to hand her gifts from the small pile on the nearby table.
"Happy Birthday Lily," they shouted.
She opened up her gifts, her dad had given her a broomstick, it was the first one that was actually hers, she gave him a big smile. Her brothers had given her books, which she had been very excited about. Her dad had told her she inherited her love of books from her namesake, her grandmother Lily.
They went out to play in the garden, then they all lived happily ever after.
Lily Luna Potter woke up crying, the blanket underneath her which served as a makeshift bed did nothing to warm up the cold stone floor beneath her. She didn't know exactly where she was, but she hasn't known that in a while, she could hear Ginny in the other room yelling at Ron. She refused to call her mum, after what she had done. Her brother James had woken up before her, perhaps a while ago seeing how he was so awake. James noticed she had woken up and smiled at her.
"Happy Birthday Lily," he said, a sad faraway look on his face.
"Any clue?" she asked, referring to her brother listening to Ginny and Ron in the other room.
"'Dunno," he said,"but she sounds desperate, who knows where she might take us next."
Ginny had taken them away from their dad a couple of weeks ago, after a big argument, she left in the middle of the night, told them lies about their dad, how he was an unfit father, Lily hated her with a passion. She always considered it kidnapping, even if her brothers tried to reassure her that Ginny was taking them back in a while, she knew they didn't believe that.
But today was different, today was the day that Lily would make a run for it, she had practiced it a lot. She was going apparate back home. She had heard it before from aunt Hermione, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. She had apparated inside the room before, she knew she could do it, she just didn't know how far she could go. Best not to think about it, she gently woke up Al.
"I'm leaving," she told him, determined.
Al sat up, still groggy but paying attention.
"Are you sure, Lily? It's dangerous, what if you splinch yourself?" he asked worried.
"You'll just have to trust me," she told him,"it's not like you two can do it better remember, I was the only one who could even apparate across the room."
She apparated across the room and back, simply for the sake of proving her point.
Al looked down and sighed, then gave his sister a big hug
"Good luck," he said,"and be back soon."
Lily nodded, tears in her eyes
"I can do it," she said, determined.
James went over and hugged her too, a tear running down his cheek, he smiled at her.
"I know you can."
She pictured her old living room, with the comfy couches and the warm fireplace, she knew she could do it, she turned on the spot and then she was gone.
She reappeared with a pop in her old living room, waking the sleeping Hermione, who was sprawled across the couch, up with a jolt. She stared at Lily, a look of shock on her face, which then turned to a look of pure joy.
"Lily? It's really you, you're safe, oh thank Merlin you're okay." the older witch said enveloping Lily in a hug.
"Harry! Harry! come down quickly"
She could hear footsteps in the upstairs bedroom, it was really her dad!
"How did you get here?!" asked aunt Hermione, worried sick
Lily could barely comprehend this, she was too overwhelmed by the fact that she was actually back home, but she managed a short answer.
"Apparated," it was all she could say.
Hermione was fussing over her like crazy, examining each visible inch of her skin to check if she had splinched herself, but finding only a small scar on her left eyebrow. Lily couldn't care less, she was actually back home with aunt Hermione, and her dad was coming down the stairs.
Harry stopped, his eyes wide with shock. He sprinted down the stairs, tumbling down the last few in the process. Unfazed, he embraced his daughter in a big hug.
Harry left with the rest of the Auror to bring back James and Albus, after finding out the destination from Lily's memory, which was put into a pensieve. Lily spent the rest of the hour playing with her cousins Rose and Hugo and her aunt Hermione. She didn't realise how much she had missed them up until now.
It turns out Hermione and her kids have been staying at her house for the past couple of days, since they were not only looking for Ginny and the kids, but also Ron, who was assumed to have aided the kidnapping since he had mysteriously vanished the same day Ginny left.
Harry came back with James and Al, and told her the DMLE had taken Ginny and Ron in for questioning.
It was only later that night that Lily had broken down and cried, saying that she didn't stop this in the first place, how it was all her fault. Harry and Hermione held her, told her she was very brave, how she saved all of them, their little hero.
It was the first night Lily was able to sleep in a comfortable bed, with her little teddy bear, and a promise to celebrate her birthday the next day, after everyone got some rest. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Lily slept with a smile on her face.