Lily started by delicately taking a large section of hair in her hands and dividing it into four, even strands.

She placed the first strand carefully over the second one, continuing under the third and back up over the final strand. From this position, she took the new third strand, crossed it over the second one and under the first strand. She repeated the procedure until she could see that the braiding had a very obvious strand in the middle. It was going well, and Lily smiled to herself that she hadn't forgotten this complicated technique.

The little girl, sat obediently still in the crook of her lap, turned her head up as Lily paused to admire her handiwork.

"Will I look pretty when you are finished, Miss Lily?"

Lily smiled down. "I think you already look pretty ... Miss Hermione."

The little girl beamed back up radiantly. "Will you put daises in my hair when you are done? I have some. I like daisies."

Hermione held out her tiny hands and offered Lily the white and yellow flowers she had collected from the garden. She had crushed some of them in her eagerness to not miss a single one.

"I can do that, sweetie," Lily replied. "And how about I put a big lily at the top?"

"Ooh! Because you're called Lily! Can you? Pleeeasse?"

Lily laughed softly. "Of course I will."

"Pleeeaassee! Pleeaassee! Ha ha ha. Pleeasse!"

Lily and tiny Hermione turned to the sing song voice just to their right. It was coming from baby Harry, who was turning Hermione's plea into a funny sort of rhyme to entertain himself.

"What's his name?" Hermione asked, turning her head up to Lily.

"It's Harry. He's my little boy."

"Why cant he say his own name?" Hermione demanded with a little frown.

"He can, sometimes," Lily replied. "He just cant talk as well as you can yet, for you're ever such a clever little girl. Perhaps you could help him?"

Hermione gave a cute sort of huff and turned to Harry, as Lily continued on with her braid.

"Can you say my name?" Hermione said briskly to Harry. "Try it ... Her-my-oh-knee."

Harry scrunched his brow. "Her-me-only."

"No, no, you're doing it all wrong!" tiny Hermione giggled, mildly cross at her failure to teach Harry perfectly with her first try. "Her-my-oh-knee! Like this."

Then she reached out with both hands and lightly pinched Harry's lips together, contorting them to try and help him form the sounds properly. He still couldn't, so Hermione gave up and let go.

Then Harry brushed his lips against her knuckles as she tried to move away.

"He kissed me!" Hermione giggled in surprise. "He kissed my fingers! Aww! Did you see, Miss Lily?"

"I did," Lily smiled down fondly. "I think he must like you."

"I'll like him too, then," Hermione announced decisively.

Just then, David and Catrin Granger entered the living room. David was carrying a tray of tea and biscuits, while Catrin had two beakers of apple juice for the children.

"Harry's okay with juice?" Catrin checked, before passing the beaker to Harry's eager, outstretched little hands.

"Oh yes," Lily smiled. "James - that's Harry's father - and I often joke that he'll drink apple juice until he's eighteen - then it will be cider in his glass after that!"

David and Catrin chuckled at that.

"What does your husband do, if you don't mind me asking?" David began as he sat down.

"He works in science," Lily invented. "Medical research, that sort of thing."

"And you must work in something creative," Catrin beamed. "That braid is just beautiful!"

Lily blushed slightly. "Thank you. My sister is the real artist, though. She used to give me the most intricate Celtic plaits when we were girls. But it's easy to make something pretty when you have such lustrous hair to work with, like this. I'm very jealous of this little one. My hair gets so thin and wiry. Hermione's hair is just so beautiful."

Hermione turned her cute little head up to Lily and grinned widely at her.

"Be careful, Lily," David quirked. "It's quite easy to become a slave to the whims of this little one. Sometimes it's almost impossible to say no to her. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was some form of magic!"

Lily laughed sweetly. "Just keep her away from any magic wands then!"

"Ooh, Daddy! Can I get a magic wand?" tiny Hermione begged excitedly. "Pretty please? I promise I'll be good. And I'll be the bestest witch ever!"

"When are you ever bad?" David quizzed to his daughter.

"I can be bad sometimes," Hermione mumbled cutely, her eyes flashing with mirth. "I stepped on a weasel once. I didn't mean to. But he was biting my shoes. So I stomped on his tail to make him go away."

David laughed fondly. "Well, I'm sure he deserved it."

"Can I get the wand, then?"

"We'll see," David smiled back. "So, Lily, you mentioned your sister? What is she doing these days?"

"Settling into life as a suburban housewife," Lily frowned. "She married a man who owns a drill-making firm in Surrey, had a little boy with him last year, too. He's old world money, doesn't think she should go out to work, so it's all dinners at the Golf Club and galas at the Marina for Tuney these days."

David scrunched his eyebrows. "That doesn't sound like the Petunia I remember. She was always so spirited."

"Things change," Lily bemoaned. "I always thought it was just a rebellious phase, you know? Right up until her wedding day, I was convinced she'd call the whole thing off. Next thing we know she's cutting off contact, telling us not to phone or visit. I don't see her now."

"That's a shame," Catrin offered sympathetically.

"Yes, but enough about me," Lily chimed. "What about you? Any plans for a brother or sister for this bundle of cuteness?"

Lily gently squeezed little Hermione's shoulders, causing her to giggle sweetly.

"We ... cant have any more," David replied sadly. "We ... lost one ... and there were complications ..."

Lily felt her face drop. "Oh ... I'm so sorry. Catrin, forgive me. I should never have pried -"

"Oh, nonsense, don't be such a fuddy-duddy," Catrin replied with a business-like bullishness. "These things happen. The baby and I were perfectly fine one minute and then ... we just weren't. It wasn't anyone's fault. We went to see a Doctor Prewett, the finest Obstetric consultant in the country, and even he can't explain it, that's the most confusing thing.

"After that, my womb just packed in. No real reason. It just doesn't work anymore. I haven't got cancer, don't need a hysterectomy, nothing like that. I just ... might as well not have my baby-carrying bits inside. But I've done my crying over it. We might adopt in the future, but we have one little miracle to concentrate on first."

"That's me," Hermione told Lily with a smile and a sage little nod. Lily thought she'd never met such an adorable child. She looked back to Catrin

"I ... I'm truly sorry. I don't know what else to say," Lily offered miserably.

"Thank you," Catrin smiled back. "But it's fine, really, don't beat yourself up about it. I'm a Valleys girl, a daughter of coal miners and twice as tough! So, how about you? Plans for any more of your own?"

"Not right now," Lily confessed. "This one is a handful as it is!"

Baby Harry lifted his hands wide, as if to show just how much of a handful he could be. Hermione smiled sweetly at him.

"Well," Lily declared, sitting back and fluffing Hermione's hair in her hands. "I think we are just about done here. Just room for a little pink bow at the bottom and my work is complete!"

Lily attached the bow, patted tiny Hermione on the shoulders and let her leap up to see the results. She hurried over to the nearest mirror.

"Ooh, Mummy! Look!" Hermione sang. "It's so pretty! Look how pretty I look, Mummy."

"You look like a little angel," Catrin beamed fondly. "Now, what do you say to Miss Lily?"

Hermione raced over and clobbered Lily with a surprisingly firm hug.

"Thank you, Miss Lily! My hair looks so pretty! Thank you!"

"You're most welcome, sweetheart," Lily crooned, hugging Hermione back. Hermione broke away quickly and returned to the mirror to admire Lily's handiwork.

"Well, shall we get to the formalities?" David asked brightly. He slid some forms over to Lily. "Just sign here, here and here and we're all done."

"Apart from my giving you these!" Lily smirked, sliding over the house keys as she scribbled her signature into the boxes David had indicated. "And ... the place is all yours!"

"Thank you, Lily," David beamed. "This is such a lovely house. We can't wait to move in."

"I hope you get as much love out of the place as I did," Lily replied. "I'm really glad my old home is going to a, well ... a good home! I'm really pleased you're buying it."

"You and my old Mum, too!" David quipped.

"Right, I suppose we'd better be making a move," Lily announced, draining the last of her tea dregs. She stood and picked Harry up from the floor.

"Aww, are you going, Miss Lily?" Hermione asked sadly.

"Yes, it's time for us to leave now," Lily smiled.

"And will you come back? Will I ever see baby Harry again?" Hermione asked brightly.

"Oh, I couldn't really tell you that," Lily grinned with twinkling eyes. "But something tells me your paths might cross again some day."

"I hope so," Hermione nodded. "Maybe he'll be able to say my name by then! Goodbye, Harry Potter. Goodbye, Miss Lily."

"Goodbye, Hermione Jane Granger. Take care."

And with that, Lily Potter left her childhood home for the very final time.