A/N: I added an extra chapter to the queue a while back, so I will actually be marking this as complete now rather than… well, last chapter. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has favorited and/or reviewed this!
Lily holds her certificate in her hands and smiles out at the sea of relatives gathered together to see this year's cohort of students graduate. Those around her are gazing at proud family members, but her gaze is fixed on James. Unlike her classmates, her parents and sister aren't – couldn't be – there. She has no parents to congratulate her and tell her how they always knew she would go well, always knew she would be the dux. She has no older sister to roll her eyes at her and tell her how she supposes Lily did alright. She has no family to look over and gush about her school reference letter or individual results.
She will be able to do all of that when she gets home, but it won't be the same.
But she isn't alone. She has James. She has their friends. And, as she watches James' parents applaud for her just as loudly as they did for Sirius, a magically enhanced camera in his father's hand as he takes a photo of her standing next to Dumbledore, Lily realises that she has James' family as well.
Her smile becomes a little fuller as she looks back to James. As bittersweet as graduating without her parents there may be, she belongs here just as much as anyone else. She has been welcomed into the Potters' little crew of children without affectionate and present wizarding parents. She, Sirius and Remus are like ducklings eagerly following around the researchers they imprinted upon. However much she loves her Muggle family, she adores her wizarding one too.
The horizon seems to stretch out before her, promising endless possibilities and potential. As she steps down off the stage and lines up with her classmates, Lily can't help but think that, with James by her side, her future has never looked brighter.