There was no doubt in the world that Lily Luna Potter was the baby of the Potter family. Out of her 3 brothers, Teddy, James and Albus, 2 had already graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and one was in his last year. Lily on the other hand, well, she just turned 15, and her mum was overjoyed over the summer when she received the title of Ravenclaw prefect.
Ginny's reason of happiness in the particular situation had absolutely nothing to do with why Lily grinned and bragged about her gleaming badge for the entirety of August. Indeed, Lily was going to relish at the chance of taking away house points from Albus, and no one was going to stop her. It's not like he was in her house anyways.
She was very jealous of James who was Gryffindor prefect when she first got to Hogwarts, and later Head Boy. Much less because of his power in authority, but more so that he could hand out detentions to people he didn't like and reward those he did like. For sure, Lily was very spoiled by her brother in his final year. It simply came with being his baby sister (though Lily hated it when he called her that).
And that was why she would grasp the chances of "punishing" Albus eventually. Albus, unlike James never spoiled her. From the moment she had memories, Al was the bratty brother. Not that he could avoid trouble whenever Lily yelled for Teddy, James or her dad...But then it occurred to her that Albus was prefect as well, and Lily wasn't sure if taking points away from fellow prefects was a possibility. She never saw it happen before. Good riddance.
On the bright side, Al's not Head Boy either, meaning that he didn't have any more power over her than she did him.
"Oh well." Lily muttered, coincidentally precisely at the moment Ginny called for her to get downstairs.
Lily levitated her trunk down. Not even caring if her parents got a notice saying that underage magic was in use in their household.
Her dad was Harry Potter.
Ginny began with a "Happy birthday Lily," before seeing her trunk.
"You're using magic again! Are you trying to get yourself expelled?" She scolded.
"Relax mum. Jamesie and Albus both broke that rule way more often than I, and nothing ever happened to them."
Harry winked at her, looking up from the day's Daily Prophet that he was holding. "Happy birthday Lilyflower!"
Ginny crossed her arms across her chest from her spot in the kitchen. Red hair flaring in frustration as she passed her daughter her breakfast.
Lily was very impressed by the youthfulness that Ginny still carried to this day. Not only did her hair not possess a single streak of grey, but it had maintained it's vibrancy well throughout the years, much unlike all her uncles with the same head of red. Ginny barely had any wrinkles as well and her eyes shone just as bright as they had in the photos of her youth. It just adds to the fact that, from what Lily knew of, her mum never payed extra attention to looks.
Lily has been told way too many times that she looked nearly identical to her mother. Lily had the same facial structure as Ginny, had the same petite form, had the same flounce to her hair. Even the way she acted was very much like Ginny. She definitely inherited her mum's fierce nature while James and Albus clearly had more Potter genes in terms of both looks and personality.
The Potter side was much more subtle than the Weasley, but it was there. Lily, unlike Ginny, didn't have a single freckle in sight. And despite not inheriting her mother's caramel or her father's vibrant green eyes, Lily possessed a pair of hazel ones, identical to those of her grandfather and older brother's namesake.
Lily's hair colour was also not quite Weasley. Yes, she was a redhead, but it was a mixture of her dad's jet black and her late grandmother's deep cherry than bright ginger.
Sure, her dad thought that he had passed the messy black-haired Potter curse to all three of his children when she was born, but as she grew (along with her hair), it was revealed that her hair colour lightened the longer it was. Which was how she did not manage to escape from the Weasley curse either...
No one ever had problems with mixing Lily up with her relatives. Her hair, along with all her brothers, stood out very much in the crowd of vibrant redheads.
Teddy's turquoise hair was obvious anywhere and James and Albus had both inherited their dad's signature jet black mess of a head. Perhaps the only other non-redheads in her stampede of cousins were Fred and Roxanne (who were both half African) and a platinum blonde Victoire, also known as...Teddy's very pregnant wife.
"Earth to birthday girl!" A voice interrupted her thoughts. The prick, Albus.
"What?"
"We've been waiting for you outside for 5 minutes. Mum's going berserks."
"Coming!" Lily didn't exactly realize that her family had already left the table and went outside. She quickly shoved the last of the toast on her plate into her mouth and sprinted to the door, only to turn back for her trunk and find that it had disappeared into thin air.
"Dad took it out already." Albus explained and bounced out the front door, slamming it inches from Lily's face as she followed.
Lily cursed her brother loudly and shoved the front door open again. She glared daggers at him while he smirked at her for the entire car ride to King's Cross Station. All the while their parents opened laughed at their antics.
And that was why it was an extra pleasant surprise to find James and Teddy waiting just outside the wall to Platform 9 and 3/4...after her extremely Albus filled summer, seeing her other brothers could only be described as refreshing.
"And there are my favourite brothers." She sassily shot at Albus (who rolled his eyes and muttered "Yeah right" under his breath) before abandoning her trolley and leaping into James's open arms. He easily picked her up by the waist and spun her in a circle, making her giggle hysterically.
Teddy rose an eyebrow at them after James set her down. "I'm jealous. And happy birthday Lily!"
Lily giggled again and shoulder-checked him. Despite her tiny size, she was very strong. Definitely strong enough to push a distraught Teddy Lupin, Chaser for the Puddlemere United and who was at least twice her weight to the ground in a single shove.
"Whoa Lils! It might be your birthday but be gentle!" Teddy scolded as he clamoured up, brushing dirt off of himself. Lily ignored him and turned around to wink and stick her tongue out to Albus. Unfortunately, her brother did not see because he was bent over, shaking from laughter with tears streaming out of his eyes.
James clapped his younger brother on the back (hardly) and pulled him into a one-armed hug while ruffling his already messy hair.
And then, all at once, the 4 Potter siblings draped their arms across each other's shoulders (Lily was more hanging onto James and Teddy and getting a ride without moving her legs) and yelled, "Thanks dad!"
What a sight it was! The Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world, happily accepting fate pushing not 1, but 2 trolley carts onto Platform 9 and 3/4 on September the 1st at the command of his children whilst his wife laughed at the hilarious situation.
Once all the Potter's got through the barrier successfully (including Harry with the double trolleys), they set off to look for their relatives. The crowd of redheads was so noticeable in the havoc of a crowd that they were instantly spotted.
It seems that Lily delayed the family quite significantly that morning, because Rose, Hugo, Roxanne, Fred, Louis and Lucy, the only other remaining people still at Hogwarts had already gotten onto the train.
As for the occupation of the ones who were already out of school...
Teddy played as Chaser for the Puddlemere United. He told Lily that he was retiring soon and had already got accepted for a new job at the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
Victoire is a healer in training at St. Mungos.
Dominique followed her sister into healing, but she worked at Hogwarts under Madam Pomfrey who was soon to retire.
James just finished off his last year as an Auror trainee.
And Molly just started an internship in the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry, having just graduated as a very proud Gryffindor Head Girl in June.
As for all her relatives at school, well, none of them were in Lily's year. For Albus, Rose, Roxanne and Fred, this would be the final September 1st where they would board the Hogwarts Express. Hugo, Louis and Lucy were all starting their 6th year. All of them already had ideas on what they were planning to do after school, except, well...Lily.
For example, Roxy, who had been the Gryffindor Quidditch Co-Captain with her twin ever since James graduated, has already been accepted into the Puddlemere United as their new beater as of the coming July, courtesy to Teddy for getting them in before anyone else knew about the opening.
Fred was going to become a magizoologist under none other than Luna and Rolf Scamander, ready to explore the world.
Rose had applied to an internship at Gringotts bank, Arithmancy naturally being her favourite subject.
Albus, to everyone's surprise, said that he had sent a letter to the Department of Mysteries requesting an internship to become an Unspeakable for when he graduates.
And though Hugo, Louis and Lucy didn't have the authority to apply to anything yet, Lily knew without a doubt that Hugo would probably work with Ron and George in the joke shop, Louis would be an authority figure of some type, and Lucy, who had already been helping Ginny with articles and sort at the Daily Prophet, would be able to skip an internship altogether and replace a soon-to-be retiring Rita Skeeter. Much, much to the amusement of the entire family.
Lily, on the other hand, was simply wishing that she could pass her OWLs.
The warning whistle on the train blew.
"Lils, I'm going to send Kreacher over to deliver some birthday cake into your dorms later. He will also have gifts from me and your dad. Have a happy 15th and remember to write if something pops up. I love you baby girl." Ginny quickly told Lily whilst hugging her and pressing a kiss on her forehead.
Lily exchanged spots with Albus, going to hug her dad while he shared a moment with Ginny.
"We are going to miss you Lilyflower. Don't get too stressed over your OWLs but remember to revise ahead of time. Have fun! I love you. And have a great birthday." Harry muttered to her, brushing her hair out of her face.
Lily nodded and pecked him on the cheeks before exchanging farewell hugs with James and Teddy. Apparently, the two of them made lists on things to take note of during OWLs and NEWTs that Lily was to pass on to Albus when it arrives with her birthday gifts.
Lily reminded them to write often as well as threatened to hex Teddy into oblivion if he forgot about her and Albus when Victoire gave birth. And then she waved goodbye to the rest of the family and took the arm of a waiting Albus to clamour on the Hogwarts express.
Lily felt weirdly emotional. She never cried because she was leaving for Hogwarts in previous years. However, she was sobbing and shaking right now as the train whistle blew again and her waving parents and brothers disappeared into the distance.
It was only when Albus gently placed her head against his chest when she realized why she was this way today.
This was the last year she will have a brother with her at Hogwarts. She cried harder, digging her face into Albus's green and silver tie (he had his robes on already because Albus hates the cacophony of people scrambling to change in the middle of a train ride) and held onto him for dear life.
"Sh...It's okay Lilykins. Everything is okay." He soothed. She clutched him tighter.
"Um...Lils?" Albus said after a few minutes. "We are sorta causing a bit of a traffic jam here...and you're squeezing me really tightly..."
Lily quickly let go and apologized. Usually she would be furious at insensitivity in a moment of tenderness, but Lily knew that they were causing a cluster in the hallway.
"Lils, we have prefect duty!" Al hollered at her as she scrambled away, trying to find an empty compartment.
Lily froze and spun in a circle before realizing a very important issue. She did not know where the prefect compartment was!