Lily Hermione Potter

Author's Note: I know a few of you asked me for a continuation of this story...thanks for caring so much! I have decided to do as you wish, but it will not be Harry and Virginia in the afterlife...instead it will be each different character coping with the Harry Potter legacy, every different character learning what it means to be a part of the legend. I hope you like this part...Lily Hermione Potter is based somewhat on me, I think she is a great character. Her attitude is a mixture of her father's noble spirit coupled with a Weasley temper...here you go!

Disclaimer: Alas! Ear wax...oh yeah, and I don't own Harry Potter.

"Lily, you look beautiful." I glanced up at mum...tears were twinkling in her eyes as she watched me...she was so proud. I flushed and glanced down at the floor.

"It's just graduation...it's not like it's my wedding or something." I muttered, keeping my eyes on the floor. I knew that she had waited a long time for this day, and despite the fact that I feel so uncomfortable here, there is no way I could possibly ruin this for her...she's worked so hard to raise me and Ronald, all by herself...

That's one reason I don't think that I could ever forgive my father. He abandoned us...not in the traditional sense, I know. I suppose what he did was noble...he's a legend, now. There are those that knew him...I was never one of those people. I only know what mum has told me and what I've been taught in History of Magic...it's a funny feeling, having to learn about your own dad in class.

I am Lily Hermione Potter...and my father was none other than the renowned Boy-Who-Lived, the Man who rid the world of the evil that was Voldemort...to me he is nothing but a shadow, a name, a monument to something greater than I am, or will ever be.

"Mum, you better get to Ronald." I said, flushing again. She smiled before placing her hand on mine one final time and heading towards my brother, who grinned and threw an arm casually around her neck.

The Gryffindors graduated last...it was the Slytherins first, followed by the Hufflepuffs and then the Ravenclaws. I stood there in my scarlet and gold robes, watching as my friends roam around, laughing. Sarah was laughing, holding her father's arm. The tradition goes that all the father's escort the daughters, and the mothers take the sons. Mum will take Ronald, she'll walk him across as he gets his diploma from Headmistress McGonagall...but I don't have a father.

"There she is...there's my girl." I couldn't help but grin when I heard Uncle Ron laugh from across the hall. I ran into his arms...he was taking my father's place today. From over his shoulder I see the rest of them...Uncles Bill, Charlie, and the twins, Fred and George. I guess Uncle Ron tried to take my father's place when he died...but it just wasn't the same. It broke my heart to see his own children come to him...but that is how things go in my life. Secondhand love from my mother, who could never love me or my brother without thinking of her husband, secondhand fame from my father, because everybody fawns over me, being a Potter, and a secondhand father...who loved me as much as he can, but has his own children to care for. I hated that.

The minutes passed...long minutes. Ronald was standing behind me, poking his namesake in the back as mum teasingly swatted at his hand. In front of me was that one boy who I had always cared for, and been too afraid to say anything to...Lucas Snape.

It was funny, really. Lucas is so much like his father, and then again he's nothing like him at all. Severus is an old friend of the family, though it didn't used to be that way. Severus taught my father at school, and I've heard that he hated him...just like he hated my grandfather, yet another faceless entity, back in their own shared school days.

It amused me, I think...my father, the legend, and here was this man I've known for so long, who's really kind when you get to know him, if a bit cold at first...and he took so many points from the legend, and got into so many scuffles with him, you would have thought my father would forget Voldemort and do battle with him instead! Then again, I know Severus changed when he married...but I still think he was disappointed that his own son became a Gryffindor, when he himself is head of Slytherin...of course, he mustn't be so prejudiced now, as he is next in line to be headmaster, when McGonagall retires...

But I was startled out of those thoughts when McGonagall called his name. He turned and winked at me as his mother started leading him out across the stage...looking pale, as she always did around magic people. She's muggle herself, I think it gave her a shock to realize her husband was not only a wizard, he was also a teacher at a prestigious magic school. I blushed--- hopefully, Lucas had already turned around and didn't see.

Soon I was back to myself, though. "Potter, Lily Hermione!" I looked forward and felt my stomach churn as McGonagall looked at me expectantly. I took a step forward, and then another...finally the momentum kicked in and I started walking. Uncle Ron let go of my arm as I took the final step towards the table. She handed me my plaque as I handed her my wand.

She smiled at me as she held it high. After a moment thousands of gold sparks flew from its tip...I knew this was it. She had just shattered the contact that made it possible for the ministry to detect my wand magic...I was now a free witch. I turned...my mother was openly weeping now, and Ronald was clapping hard, whistling. I grinned and nodded my head to the crowd below...though I know I'm only getting the applause because of who I am. They expect great things out of me, being the daughter of Him.

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I looked at myself in the mirror, smiling dreamily. I knew I must look at a fool, staring at myself in a half-dazed state, but who cared? I was getting married...

The robes were perfection...my mother had worn them on her wedding day, as had her mother before her. They were plain, embroidered with silvery thread that shimmered and glittered in the light, almost like an invisibility cloak. I've seen one, of course...my brother got in when he entered Hogwarts, though I must admit I snuck it out of his trunk quite a few times, though mostly just to sneak to Hogsmeade through the passages my Uncles Gred and Forge (they force me to call them that) showed me.

I turned---she was standing there, with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione standing next to her. "Hello," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, even though inside I knew I must have been gelatin...I was shaking and shivering so.

"Lily...you are incredible." Mum said, her voice trembling. Despite myself I ran to her side and held her close, before pulling away and kissing her on the cheek.

"Mum, I feel incredible. This is the most wonderful day..."

"I know, darling." She smiles. "I remember my own wedding day. I felt like a princess...your father said I looked like an angel."

"I can just imagine." I say softly, though it pains me that today, of all days, the conversation has to turn to...him.

"I wish he was here." Uncle Ron said, putting his arm around my waist. "I can only think what he would be like...he always was a noble man. Though I dare say the idea of you marrying a Snape would put him on edge."

"Put him on edge?" Aunt Hermione scoffed. "More like he'd steal Sirius' flying motorcycle and try to get her to fly with him to America." She grinned.

"Not that I would allow it." Mum said sternly. "My baby's getting married...I can't believe that in an hour you won't be mine anymore." She grinned. "To heck with it...darling, why don't we take the motorbike and fly away to America."

I shook my head, trying to hold back the tears. "Nope...Lucas would be disappointed. I don't know what he'd do without me." I teased.

Ron kissed me softly on the cheek. "Lily, I don't know what any of us would do without you. You aren't the sweetest little girl in the world...but you sure are the most fun."

"Thanks." I said, no longer fighting the tears that inevitably streamed down my face.

The shortest and also the longest hour of my life later, I found myself by Lucas' side. He was honestly the most handsome man I think that I have ever met. His straight black hair was pulled and bound at the nape of his neck and he wore dark black robes edged with silver. And his eyes...I looked into them, into those deep blue depths and felt myself falling, falling, endlessly...

I only wish...my father may have been naught but a legend to me, but I wish that he were here.

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My mother lay on the bed, breathing what I knew would be her last breaths. Her silver hair was fanned around her face, and she looks up at me with those warm brown eyes...the only thing that has remained the same about her in these long, long years.

She said nothing...I knew she was only waiting. Soon she would leave me forever...it was a thought that I could not bear to think of. Ronald was sitting at my side, clutching my hands. He held tight as mum began to draw in breath after shuddering breath. Lucas is not here...I did not wish him to be.

I knew what it was to grow old. I had long since passed my youth, and now...now the twenty-three years that separated me and my mother seemed like nothing. "I love you, mum." I whispered, holding tightly to her hand.

It was too late, though. She had gone already. I felt my body begin to tremble and quake...Ronald was holding me, letting me fall into his chest. "Shh...quiet, Lily." He murmured, holding me tighter. "Mum is happy, now. She can go on...she can go to dad, now. They haven't seen one another in so long, Lily. She can finally be with him."

I dried my tears and looked into Ronald's face. He smiled down at me wearily. "I can't stand this." I said hoarsely, feeling my body shake. "I can't stand not having her here, with me. She held us together...even when we never had a father, she was everything. And now she's..." I froze, unable to say it.

"It is all right, darling." He said quietly, stroking my hair. "She is happy...she was happy here, but it was never what it could have been. She knew love, Lily, like we know. She lost it so young...she has been so strong. Be brave for her...be happy that she is with our father once again."

I nodded...it felt so odd, being almost like a child there with my brother, when we ourselves had grandchildren, grandchildren already nearing that age where they themselves would soon be bearing their own babes.

"Yes...I know Ronald." He held me tighter, letting me cling to him. I missed mum already...

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I will not let myself be forgotten. My name is Lily Hermione Potter-Snape. The legend, Harry Potter, was my father. But I never met him...he died when I was only a baby. I never got to know him, or find out anything about him...it is something which still makes me feel empty, as if a part of me that should have been filled long ago was forgotten, and left empty.

Lucas is standing here with me. It is our granddaughter's wedding...it feels so odd saying that. Lucas and I have lived long together...we are happy. I guess it is kind of funny, in a far-off, sad way, that my granddaughter is following in my footsteps and doing what, to my father, would have been the unthinkable.

She is marrying a Malfoy...the grandson of Draco Malfoy and his wife, Pansy. Unlike Severus, who became as much a father to me as my Uncle Ron, Draco never became what we consider a light wizard. He had too much of his own father in him to ever do that. But I approve of his son, Marcus. He is a worthy boy...he will do my Alicia well, I believe.

I do not think I will live much longer. I can feel it in my bones. I have tried telling Lucas, but he does not understand. He thinks that I am being a silly old woman, and tells me so. I admit that, to this day, he still is able to make me laugh.

In our youth I remember, we used to be so active. I think we caused more havoc as newlyweds in our village than any child ever did, which is saying something as both my uncles Gred and Forge lived there, with their wives and five sons apiece. Lucas used to roam about, finding odd knickknacks that he knew would please me, while I played the typical young housewife and made quite as many mistakes as I did triumphs.

We had two daughters...Samantha and Virginia, who we called Ginny after the name my mother used to use in her youth. They were beautiful girls...they are still beautiful.

But it pains me to think of the past and what once was. Lucas has gotten downtrodden, same as me. He likes to joke and say we are like an old pair of mules, stubborn, relentlessly carrying our shared burdens through life. He has a limp in legs that used to run about, and his back is bent, a strong back that once was able to lift me, to lift me over the stars.

I miss what was. Lucas loves me, I know, as much as he did when we first met at Hogwarts. Shifting glances at me in class, even under his father's eye flirting like the typical boy that he was. He sees me now as he always did...and despite the gray I see in the mirror and the tired circles around my eyes, I know that I am beautiful.

But I cannot help but feel the burden of my years. Every day that passes, I think I get weaker and weaker. This morning I could barely stand to get out of bed, but I knew that I must come today...it was the most important day. After today, the last of my children, of my grandchildren shall be taken care of. After today I am free...

As Alicia leaves, holding tightly to Marcus' arm, I watch, feeling myself tremble. "I wish her all the happiness that she should ever know." I whisper to Lucas, leaning into his shoulder.

"Yes, my darling...I wish her also a love like ours...a love to span all time. A love that knows no bounds." I look up into his eyes...for what I know is the final time. I gaze into those deep blue depths and feel myself slowly sinking, away.

"Goodbye..." I whisper, as my hand falls slack in his. He freezes for a moment before he realizes what is happening.

"Lily? Lily, what are you doing? Wake up, Lily. Wake up!" He pleads with me as he lowers me to the grass...it is a quiet place, outside the back of the home that we have shared for the past eight decades. I watch as he holds me, weeping. It is over, I think sadly.

"My love..." I hold up my hand in his direction, and jump when I feel a touch upon mine. I turn swiftly..."Oh, God...mum..."

She stands there before me, looking not a day older than the old pictures she used to show me, of her holding hands with my father. "Mum, you're here...you're here with me...I never realized how beautiful you used to look, how young..."

"Look at yourself, my sweet." She whispered, caressing my cheek with her once again soft, smooth hands. I wander to the small stream at the side of this knoll and see my reflection...as young and soft as the day I married.

"Is this what it is always like?" I say dreamily.

Mum smiles. "That I cannot answer, love." I wander to her side, letting her take my hand.

"Lucas...will....will he find me when he comes, mother?" I ask, looking back at him. Oh, it aches so, to see him there...he is old, now...I cannot bear to imagine this.

"You will always find one another...for love always comes to you, my sweet...even in death." And as she says this an unearthly figure comes to her, a man I had seen only in old pictures, and known only in legend.

"Father..." I whisper. He smiles at me, a quirky grin...one that I recognize as my own.

"You were right, Virginia...she is beautiful." My father reaches out and tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear. In a moment we are bathed in a bright light. "I have watched you for so many years, Lily. You are everything I ever hoped for in a daughter...I am sorry that we lost so many years."

"It is all right, father." I say hoarsely, reaching out to take his hand. Everything about him is like I ever heard, the scar and the untidy hair like mine, but he is so much more...he is love, and everything that I ever wanted...

He was home.

In a moment, the others come to surround us. I recognize them at once...Severus, and there on the edge of the circle I see Uncle Bill, and Charlie...and Fred and George, also. But I freeze the moment when I see the rest...Uncle Ron and Hermione and there, even my grandmother and grandfather...my mother's parents...

And even, on the edge of my visions, the first and not the last to die...my father's mother and father.

"Is this the place where dreams come true?" I whisper softly, letting myself fall into my father arms."

"It is the place we come to when our times have ended and we are finally allowed to love, without the pain and the ache of those that brought evil among us." My father whispered, looking into my eyes.

"Then this is heaven." I sigh. The warmth that bathes me lets me know that this is as it should have been.

And this is how it will always be.

Only in death could I know my father...only in death could we be together. Only in death.

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