The one where we meet Anna
'Smile, Lily,' James bade her, putting an arm around her waist and bringing her close. 'You look gorgeous.'
If Lily was capable of being angry or holding a grudge against James, she would have glared at him and pulled away. But, she loved him and so she just snuggled into his warm jumper and smiled for Hagrid who was wielding a camera in his overly large hand.
'Aww, Lily an' James...yeh the best!' he cried, taking several pictures in the distance of a few seconds. 'An' that Harry! As cute as they come.' Hagrid was grinning insanely as he again hid his face behind the camera to take more photos.
'You're too kind, Hagrid.' Lily said softly.
'I'm not. No' many people woul' let me take a photo of 'em. Yeh know, to keep track. No' that anyone needs ter keep an eye on yeh!'
They nodded and gave into Hagrid's urging and brought Harry into their arms to be photographed together. It was Dumbledore's idea to keep a list of what wizards were on the dark side, and which ones were on the light. No one had any doubt that Lily and James Potter were good, but it was always good to have it filed away somewhere that they were.
'Are we done yet, Hagrid? I feel like a lingerie model after a twelve-hour shoot.' James announced, stretching.
Lily stifled laughter at the idea of James as a lingerie model. 'I'm not going to comment on that, James.'
Hagrid clicked the shutter of the camera and put it back in his hut. 'Are yeh stayin' fer dinner?' he asked as he came back to the Potters.
'If Albus doesn't mind, I suppose that's fine.' Lily said, looking at James who was giving Harry to Hagrid. 'Was he getting too heavy for you?'
He grinned. 'Nope.' James lunged for Lily and chucked her over his shoulder. She screamed in mock terror and flailed her arms. He ran across the grounds to the big doors that opened to admit them.
'Potter, let me down!' She said in a terse voice as they entered the foyer.
'I rather like you like this. Helpless, screaming...' James trailed off and eased her to the ground.
Lily kicked his shins in a way that she would consider playful, but obviously, hurt James more than she thought. He fell to the floor and rolled on his back, holding his legs. She crouched down to see if he was badly injured and James opened his eyes. He grabbed her hand and made her fall over so she landed on his chest. James used her surprise at his faking pain to kiss her.
'Twenty points from Gryffindor for having such stupid former members.'
Lily gasped and looked up at Severus Snape, in all his greasy glory. He sneered at them, a newer model of his smirk he had used constantly when he was a student and turned back to the Gryffindor third year still spluttering out of outrage.
'I can't believe Dumbledore gave you a job!' Lily said, jumping to her feet. She had applied for a position at Hogwarts and been rejected, being told that there were no openings.
'I guess I am just a better teacher than you.' Snape told her, preparing to move past them.
She put a hand on his shoulder, inwardly grimacing at having to touch him. 'I could teach Potions just as well as you can. Except,' Lily drew herself up to her full height. 'I wouldn't need to keep the students terrified to get them to act properly.'
'How did you--,' he began.
'Ah, James and Lily Potter. I am so glad you could make it. I see you have found our new Potions Master.' Dumbledore cut across all conversation, his calm voice making them stop bickering.
'Professor,' Lily said, smiling and letting go of Severus' robes. 'Good evening.'
'Shall I subtract more points from Gryffindor for almost hexing me into the next dimension... and for acting like a child?' Snape asked to no one in particular. In fact, everyone present thought he was talking to himself.
'Headmaster, may we stay for dinner?' James asked, picking himself off the floor finally.
'Of course, James. Severus, will you be joining us at the Great Hall or will you take to your room again?' Dumbledore asked the scowling man.
'I believe I will join you. The children would think that Mrs. Potter has taken over as Potions Mistress. We couldn't have that happen, could we?'
'Excellent.' Dumbledore clapped his hands together once and Hagrid pushed open the large doors. He still held on to Harry. Lily claimed her son again and smiled brightly at the giant, hairy man.
'Thank you, Hagrid.'
He blushed. 'No' a problem, Lily.'
'Professor, I was wondering if I could talk to you about my affairs.'
James made a huge gasp and said in a very loud voice: 'Lily Emily Potter, have you been unfaithful?'
Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to the aging Headmaster who she had addressed first. 'I want to set up an "emergency" account where all my part time tutoring wages go,' here she shot a hateful look at Severus. 'I would give you a key to our joint account, to hold for Harry and seeing as you are the only one I really trust these days, I would like it if you held our life insurance.'
'I can see you are very worried about your safety, Lily. If it will give you peace of mind, I will willingly help you.' Dumbledore told her.
'Thank you very much, Albus. Oh, and there are a few heirlooms that I would like you to look after.' Lily sipped from the wine and smiled. 'It is the small things that catch you and I want everything to be perfect.'
'Lily...' James began, frowning.
'Don't worry, Potter. If you wife is paranoid it's probably because her husband can't protect her.' Snape turned his ever-present sneer into a strange parody of a smile.
'Don't worry, Snape. I'm sure Dumbledore won't fire you even though every time you take points away from other houses you touch yo--,'
Lily put a hand over her husband's mouth to stop him from finishing his sentence. 'James, you have a sick sense of humor.'
He leaned back in his chair. 'If I have a sick sense of humor, what on earth does Sirius have?'
Ginny sat on a lounge suite that was covered in a sheet and dust. In her lap was a red and gold blanket and a photo album that she was flicking through slowly. Her daughter was next to her, only four and yet as kind as her father, as brave as her brother, as tricky as her "Uncle Sirius" and as intelligent as her mother. She pointed to a picture of James and asked, 'Who is that, mama?'
'That,' Ginny said, smiling. 'is a wonderful man who would have been your father if he hadn't died.' It was nice that she could talk about James without it hurting. She knew that James would have wanted her to be happy, and he would have wanted Remus and Harry to be happy as well. Ginny and Remus thought it best their daughter learnt about death as soon as she first experienced it. Unfortunately, it had been when her pet rabbit got loose and managed to find a way under the tires of Harry's motorbike.
'That's Harry's papa, isn't it?'
'Yes. I loved him.'
'More than my papa?' Her liquid brown eyes looked up at Ginny with childish innocence.
She bit her lip. 'Once I did.'
'Does papa know?'
'Yes.'
'Alright.' She hugged her mother and slid off the seat. 'Papa is lying on the rug in front of the fire. I think I'll go see if he wants to take me into the forest.'
Ginny nodded, mussing up Anna's hair. Remus would probably get up from his sleep to guide his daughter in the forest near the cottage, although he was exhausted from transforming. 'Don't be too disappointed if he doesn't though, monkey.'
'Yes, mama.' Anna kissed Ginny's cheek and flew down the stairs with the recklessness of youth.
It was in the wee hours of the night when Ginny awoke, having fallen asleep looking through the dusty volumes of books. Remus was sitting on the arm of the couch, a grin spreading over his face as he noticed she was awake. He still had a wolfish air to him, but after so many years of knowing him, it did not bother her anymore.
'How long have you been watching me?' she asked sleepily, getting into a sitting position.
'Ages. Years. Decades.' Remus moved on to the actual couch.
Ginny stood up, remembering something. She dove behind the sofa and rummaged through the boxes. He heard her exclamation of discovery and then found a hat land in his lap.
'That is the hat I gave you for Christmas the first year I was in 1976.'
'Of course it is.' He put it on and cocked his head to the side. 'How do I look?'
'Wise. Why did you stop wearing it?'
'It kept telling me to stop hanging out with the Marauders.'
'Ah.' Ginny straddled his lap, her hands clasped behind his head. 'Did you visit the woods with Anna today?'
He sighed. 'Yes. She wanted to see the new baby unicorn. They, uh, were not too pleased to see me. Anna explained to them who I was and they accepted me. It was strange and, although I know that unicorns prefer small girls, they usually don't let themselves be persuaded by them. And, if she is the daughter of a werewolf...' Remus shrugged.
'You don't realize how wonderful you are, do you?' Ginny asked as she kissed the collarbone showing through the neck of his shirt. 'Werewolves may be classed as Dark Creatures, but there was a time when they were all good. Then, they were just magical creatures. You are like,' Ginny searched for the word she had seen many times. 'a white werewolf. Sacred. Well, you are to me. Anyway,' her fingers undid the buttons to access his chest. 'Anna has your blood. The unicorns believe her because she is the daughter of the white werewolf, a creature of a pure soul. And she is a girl. They would never trust you without her because you are a male.'
His eyes left her green ones that had been locked on his and traveled to her fingers that were running across his bare chest. 'You've read up on this, I see.'
'Three years last Tuesday.' Ginny laughed. 'Many of the texts are confusing, nothing more than speculation because of the mistrust of werewolves. But, the descriptions that I have gleamed from the books suit you too well.'
He raised an eyebrow. 'Care to share them with me?'
'Hmm, well...the white werewolf must be one from an early age, if not birth,' saying that reminded Ginny of her fears of her own daughter's enslavement to the curse. She had not turned into a wolf yet, but it could be in the cards. 'and they must have a pure soul. No,' Ginny kissed him to stop him from protesting. 'I know you don't think you have a pure soul, considering what you did at and after school. You did those things because you had to.
'Finally, the white werewolf must be loyal, brave, intelligent and understanding.'
'I think you have the wrong person, Ginny.' Remus said softly, shifting under her in embarrassment.
'Believe what you will, Remus. Dumbledore and I know differently.' She chuckled at his shocked expression. 'You don't think I wouldn't share my findings with my boss?'
He laughed and caressed her cheek. 'You really think I'm some sort of sacred creature?'
'Always have, Moony.'
Author's Notes: I hate the next chapter. It made me cry. I think I'll have to re-write it. Yeah. Anyway, this is just continuality and stuff.
Darth Flirt: Yeah, like a Lord of the Rings one I did where all the good guys were bad ass punks and stuff and Sauron was just a cereal manufacturer looking for his ring that his PR guy, Gollum, used as a prize to perk up sales. Wait, this is just shameless plugging for my other story my best friend and I wrote. Hehe. I'd add my other chapter up but it's shit and I have to rewrite it, like I said. It's sad and pathetic and I don't think I have the emotions right. Plus, you guys want to know stuff, so I have to add that in.
Iselin: I'll have to add these to the other (shit) chapter I have written. Ellie does make another appearance and I bet you can't guess what she is. And, in my Remus back story Alexia will play a HUGE part (being the major plot line in herself). If you really, really, really want, I could make a story of a nice Alexia just for you. But you'd have to give me your email addy. I actually have a chapter floating around of a nice Alexia. It also includes a clay pig. Yay. I like little ornaments.
Tiger Lily: Well, thanks. It is what Remus does in the how many years all his friends are from his life. A big undertaking since I want to make it darker and more plot driven than When the Past needs you. I am really happy with the first chapter, not as happy as with the second, but I'll rewrite that one too.
liltrick89: Yeah, Alexia being evil is like the opposite of a Mary Sue. She is an original character who turns out to be as evil as the evilest dude. Glad you love the story!
Jen: I know, I just like being a pain in the hole :D
Thanks to all those who read the story even if it goes from being fluffy to being plotty