Remus wasn't sure what to expect behind the door of this small flat in London. But if Harry and Christina were to be believed—and they were—then his old friend Lily was behind this door, without her James and without her memories of her old life. He had to be careful. She didn't remember him, and might be freaked out if he was too friendly too soon.

Remus took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It swung open and there, in the flesh, was Lily. Oh how familiar she looked, and yet so different. Her face was more lined and her stance was different. It was more guarded, he realized. Well, Lily was a petite woman who lived alone in a huge muggle city. Of course her stance would be guarded when a strange man turned up at her door.

"Do I know you?" she asked. "You're quite familiar. I think we've met, but I can't place when or where. Sorry. I have memory problems."

"We've met before." said Remus gently. "I'm an old friend. I'm here to help jog your memory. May I come in? My god, it's really you."

Lily lead him inside and sat him down on the couch. The flat was small, but bright and cozy. Remus thought he recognized her taste in home decor, unchanged despite her memory loss. c

"Can I offer you anything to drink? Tea? Or some biscuits?'" Lily had gone into the kitchen and was pulling down a few tea cups. "Or—" she stopped short with a bar of chocolate in her hand. "You like chocolate, don't you. Who are you again?"

"My name's Remus Lupin. I'm a professor at Hogwarts."

"Christina's told me about you." Lily smiled. "From what I gather, you're one of her favorites. Is that why you're here? She's not in trouble, is she?"

"No, no, don't worry about her. She's an excellent student. She's taking to disarming spells like a real champ."

Lily took a sip of tea. "Of course you're a professor. You were a real nerd in school, weren't you?"

"Guilty as charged."

"And I knew you."

"Yes. I had a rather raucous friend group and you didn't exactly tolerate them, but the two of us got on rather well."

"That's right. We got on well, and we—we—I don't know."

"It's ok." Remus took the bar of chocolate she offered him. "Now, Christina told me about your memory problems, and that you think you might have gone to school at Hogwarts. Is it all right if I ask you a few questions about what you remember?"

"I'm afraid most of my answers are going to be 'I don't know.'"

"Again, that's fine. What's your name?"

"Lily Evans."

"And your age?"

"34."

"How long have you lived here in London?"

"12 years."

"And where did you live before that?"

"Umm. I grew up in Cokeworth. It's industrial—not a very nice place, but it was home. I went back there not too long ago. Then I went to Hogwarts, so Scotland for a few years. I left school at 18, so there's a gap between school and London."

"What do you remember about school?"

"Oh, I don't know. I enjoyed it, that's for sure. I think someone in my family didn't want me going, but I can't remember who it was or what their objections were. I had friends there. There was one—I think he was terribly annoying at first. He would always call my name—Evans, Evans. Like that. It probably drove me mad, but afterwards, after I lost my memory, I could still hear his voice yelling my name."

The blood was draining from Remus's face and he was trying hard not to show Lily how close to tears he was. "What about your classes? Were there any you liked?"

Lily frowned. "Umm . . . let's see. I suppose I must have learned to wave a wand around, but I don't remember what I did. Christina writes home about potions class and transfiguration class, so I guess I took those classes too."

"But you can't remember specifics?"

"No."

"And what about your family? How many children do you have?"

"My daughter, Christina, who of course you know. She was born in 1981. Sometimes I get this weird feeling that I had another child, but I don't remember anything about them, like not even a name or age. There's this feeling that I can't get to this other child, so I wonder if maybe he or she is dead now. What?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"No, your face. It looked very odd just now."

"It's nothing." said Remus. "I'm just thinking how frustrating it must be, to wonder if you might have another child but never know for sure."

"Thank you. I really don't remember, though, so I decided to let it go and just focus on my life here and now.

Remus nodded. "Now, Christina says the two of you came to London in late 1981, right after halloween. Does that ring a bell? Do you remember anything from that night?"

Lily nodded. "We had to leave somewhere in a hurry. It was just Christina and me that night. I fell and hit my head, which is how the doctors think I lost my memory. I think we were running from something."

Remus nodded again. "Lily, I'm going to say a name. This name belongs to a very bad person, probably the one you were running from. The name is Voldemort."

"Voldemort." Lily was beginning to shake and the blood was draining from her face. "Voldemort . . . had this laugh, this high-pitched cold cruel laugh, and he had this green light, and Christina and I, we left, we got out just in time, but I think I left something behind that night, something, something . . ."

"Lily. Do you know how exactly you left?"

"I don't know. I don't know." Lily put her face in her hands and began to cry. "I'm so tired of not remembering. I don't know anything I did before Christina. I can't even answer simple questions like, 'where did you grow up?' The worst part is, I don't even know why I'm broken."

"Hey, hey, it's ok." Remus put an arm around her. "You're not broken. You're not broken. You're an excellent mother and you've been such a kind hostess to me, despite not remembering who I am. None of us is perfect. And I think I might know how to help. We could take you to the best healers in Britain and see if they can do anything for you. It's a place called St. Mungo's."

"St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I don't know what they do there."

"They use magical remedies to help people. People who use spells incorrectly, people who get attacked by magical creatures, that sort of thing. They can figure out why you lost your memory and help you get it back."

Lily nodded. "I'd like that. I need to know who I am. Can we go now?"

"Err, we can . . . is your work schedule busy? They may keep you a few days in the hospital and I don't want you to miss work."

"I can tell them I'm seeing a specialist for my memory loss. They're very kind to me at my company, and very understanding of my problems. I'm very lucky to have them. I'll have to go call my boss to tell him what's going on."

Remus nodded. As Lily disappeared into the kitchen Remus sent a patronus to the head of the spell damage ward, letting them know that Lily Potter was coming, and not to mention anything about Voldemort or her past or her fame.

"How are we getting there?" Lily appeared in the doorway, wearing a grey coat. "I don't suppose you lot know how to use the underground."

"No, we'll be apparating. Wizarding way of traveling."

"Oh. Someone I apparated with once split themselves in half, left their legs behind. But who was it?"

Remus smiled to himself, remembering the time Sirius had splinched himself and left both his legs in the Potters' living room. But he only took Lily's arm and said, "Don't worry, we're not going to splinch ourselves today." He turned on his heel and they reappeared in the alleyway by the abandoned shop that was the secret entrance to St. Mungo's. "We're here to see Healer Smythe, spell damage." He whispered to the dummy in the window, the one in the ugly green dress. She nodded and they walked through the window into the hospital's crowded waiting room.

"Remus Lupin, here with Lily to take her up to spell damage." Remus approached the front desk.

"Oh!" The young healer working the desk gasped when he saw Lily. "Oh, she's—"

"In a hurry to be treated, yes."

"Right. I'll get Healer Smythe right away."

Healer Smythe, a tall wizard with a commanding presence, hurried downstairs to see them. "Is that—" he gasped when he saw Lily. "It's really her."

"Of course it is." Remus whispered.

"Right. Follow me ma'am, we'll take you to the fourth floor and see what's going on."

"Of course." Lily got up and followed him to the lift.

When the three of them were crammed into the lift Remus snuck a sideways glance at Lily. She stood with her shoulders back, her face calm as she gazed at the directory for the different floors hung on the inside of the door. Still, her posture was somewhat guarded in the way her arms crossed over the front of her body, both hands clutching the handle of her bag. She'd aged over the twelve years—well, he had too—but the faint crow's feet etched around her green eyes still caught him off guard. There was an aura of sadness that clung to her. The old joyful Lily, the one they'd sometimes called Prongsette, was nowhere to be seen.

"This is us." Healer Smythe interrupted Remus's thoughts. "Fourth floor."

"Spell damage." Lily said.

"That's right. Come along, dear." Healer Smythe lead them out of the lift and down the corridor, only stopping when Lily paused to gaze through an open door.

"That's the long-term spell damage ward." said Healer Smythe briskly. "For people whose damage is so severe we can't do anything about it. Don't worry, though, you're not going in there."

Remus snuck a glance inside the ward as they walked past. His predecessor, Gilderoy Lockhart, was admiring his reflection in a mirror, and beyond him were the curtains that hid Frank and Alice Longbottom from view. It was a chilling reminder of everything that dark magic took from families. Frank and Alice tortured to insanity, Lily down the hall from them receiving treatment for memory loss she'd somehow incurred in the same war. And Harry and Neville growing up parentless, both at Hogwarts now. It was a weekend, which meant Neville would be scrounging around in a greenhouse and Harry was probably trying to break into the restricted section in the library.

"Remus? Remus, come on." Healer Smythe had walked down the hall to another door.

"Coming," said Remus, making a mental note to visit Frank and Alice on his way out.

"In here, Ms.—"

"Evans.""Right." Healer Smythe lead them inside a small room and sat Lily down in a chair. "Now," he raised his wand, "Let's get to the bottom of this, shall we?"