Lily Angel
Chapter 6
'You can't say that you don't like him though, can you?'
Lily stared at Cho.
'What are you on about?'
'Harry. I mean, I saw the way you were looking at him.'
'How, exactly, was I looking at him?'
'Well, uh, like you liked him.'
This cannot be happening to me. Never in my life- or death, for that matter- did I think someone would tell me that I liked my son. Not in that way.
'No, that's not quite it.'
'Yeah, right. Goodnight Lillian.'
Lily mumbled a reply and then, when Cho's snores were loud enough to drown out the sound of footsteps, she climbed out of bed quietly and slipped out the door, wishing Harry hadn't taken James's cloak with him.
She crept into the Gryffindor common room after begging the Fat Lady- who remembered her as Lily Cooper- to tell her the password, and then she tiptoed up to Harry's dorm.
It was a good thing boys snored so loudly, was her first reaction upon entering the fifth year boys dorm. It was almost- though not quite- as bad as Sirius having a nightmare.
She peered behind one curtain and found a boy sucking on his thumb, saying 'lavender' over and over. She was, of course, quite scared, as the only Lavender she knew was Lavender Brown…she didn't even want to think about what he might have been dreaming.
In the end bed, she found Harry, snoozing quietly, looking just like James, though Harry didn't drool in his sleep, apparently.
'Harry!' She whispered, shaking his shoulder lightly.
He stirred and looked at her with un-focused eyes.
'Hermione?' He mumbled, sitting up sleepily, rubbing his green eyes to get the sleep out of them.
Great. He thinks I'm a fifteen-year-old girl…how do I break it to him?
Harry groped around for his glasses, put them on and blinked several times. 'Lillian?' He said uncertainly.
'Uh, sort of. Can we talk?'
Harry didn't say anything for a moment, but then he nodded. 'Yeah…sure.'
They walked down to the entrance hall under the Invisibility cloak silently. Lily tried to think of something to say, but nothing seemed quite right. Certainly 'well, you've grown up a lot since the last time I saw you' would be quite confusing, and Sirius's idea was just plain idiotic. Not to mention stupid, and besides, it had been done.
Once outside, they pulled off the cloak and sat down on a bench.
'So, what did you want to talk about?'
See, I'm actually an angel who just happens to be your mother.
'Well…it's kind of confusing.'
Harry shrugged. 'I don't mind.'
Lily took a deep breath. 'Do you miss your parents?'
'Yeah…the Dursleys aren't the nicest people to have to put up with for eleven years…' Harry didn't really know what to say.
'Um, so, if you met them now, you'd be happy?'
'Well, they're dead, you know.'
'Trust me. I know.'
Harry stared at her, and suddenly Sirius's idea looked so much simpler.
'Look, if I said I was your mother come down from heaven as an angel, what would you say?'
'Er- I say you'd been eating Hagrids rock cakes with poison in them.' Harry remembered the photo album then, but refused to believe that this girl could possibly be his mother. If it was, why hadn't she come before this?
'If you are my mother, prove it.' He said, immediately regretting his choice of words. It sounded like she was some criminal and he was a detective gone wrong or something.
Lily looked thoughtful for a moment. 'You've got the Marauders map, don't you?'
Harry nodded, his emerald eyes wide.
'I know all the passageways, well, almost all of them. Sirius somehow managed to drop it in our seventh year, and I think Filch got his hands on it. James and Sirius and Remus invented it…it took them ages…and Snape fainted because he knew me as well, actually-' Lily stopped for a moment, looking puzzled. 'No one was supposed to recognise me. You'd never seen me- 'cept for when you were a little baby, Remus wasn't supposed to be here, Sirius- well, last time I saw Sirius he was stuffing his face with ice-cream until he found out me and James were going into hiding…he dropped it on his toe. And how was I to know Snape'd be teaching here…didn't think the git had enough brains…but Lissy isn't exactly the smartest angel, not that she's stupid, mind you.'
Harry stared at Lily in confusion. 'Who's Lissy?'
'Oh, she's an angel. She made it so Dumbledore and McGonagall wouldn't recognise me. But she obviously didn't think of school friends or anyone.'
'Hang on a minute. If you are my mother, why didn't you come before?'
Lily looked at him sadly. 'I didn't remember…I remembered something. But I didn't remember what, and then Lissy told me. So I came…but I can't stay. I'm really sorry.'
'Where's dad?' Harry whispered, in shock.
'Er- in Heaven. Probably still playing chess. Or else he terrorising the choir…or the orchestra…or the angels by the gate…once he wore a devil mask- not a clever thing to do up in Heaven, he was almost mobbed.' Lily sighed, shaking her head. 'I'm surprised he wasn't expelled at Hogwarts, when you think of all the things he did.'
'So- you're my mum?'
'Yeah.'
Harry looked at her, trying to imagine her being a mother, but couldn't.
'Well, I am a bit older than this, you know.'
He smiled. She had a nice voice. He'd been trying to imagine this voice all his life…he'd heard it in his third year, but that wasn't quite the same. She had a gentle voice, a kind voice, and a loving voice…the kind of voice he'd always imagined.
'Hi.'
