Lily's Lost Kitten
By Tanj

The original plot and characters all belong to JK Rowling, this is just a fan-fiction written by a fan to fill the gap of time that I am not reading JK Rowlings' real stories

This had to be hell. Lily had one arm wrapped around the edge of the toilet bowl, one hand on her stomach, while sitting on the ground in front of it. Morning sickness. Her mother had warned her about it, and now she was experiencing it first hand. It was her own bloody fault, and there was no way she could rationalize it. One new years, the only new years she'd spent at Hogwarts. There was going to be a big new years party in Griffindor tower, and her best friend had persuaded her to stay for it... Lily sighed. Too much fire-whiskey, too much chemistry, and here she was.
Damn James. The whole past term she had been noticing all the great things about him, how much he had grown up since they had met in first year. She couldn't tell him, she wouldn't make both of them pay the price of one night's stupidity when it wouldn't change anything, and she could just as easily bear it alone. So for the past four weeks she'd been pushing him away as hard as she could, much to his dismay and confusion. They both had lives to live, and futures, especially James; he was in sixth year, and she knew there were already quiddich teams looking at him with great interest.
She'd wrote to her mother, and they had worked it all out. Lily would carry the child to term, and then put it up for adoption through the muggle system. The hand on her stomach shook slightly. It was for the best, for all involved; She wasn't ready for a child, and James certainly wasn't either, a child would have a terrible life if it stayed with it's birth parents.... logically it all worked out in her mind, but that didn't stop tears welling in her eyes at the thought. She took a shuddering breath and took control of herself before she could shed a single tear. The morning sickness must have been effecting her emotions, that was all.
Feeling much recovered, she straightened up and went to the sink so wash out her mouth and straighten herself before going down to breakfast. She turned on the tap, and put her hand under the steady stream, letting the water pour over them. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the sink, she looked up at her pale face. Her red hair, green eyes and freckles made the paleness of her skin that much more strange looking. She turned off the tap and dryed her hands, before heading out to another morning of sitting at the table and clenching her teeth at the sight of food that made her stomach turn.

She held the baby once before the adoption agency took away her child, her little girl. She had black hair, and brown eyes, just like her father. Just like her father. He had sent her so many letters over the summer, talking of everything, anything. She'd already missed two weeks of the first term, and she'd had to tell him she was sick, a bitter lie. She wasn't sick not if the result of such 'sickness' was this little angel... She had never known anything she had ever wanted more than to keep that child, hold her in her arms, keep her as her own.
Lily was too weak to fight when they took the child away, but she wept, and it was because of this, that her eyes were closed while they took the girl from her arms, and she lost her chance at one last look at her little girl, her little baby. She regretted that more than anything over the next year. She knew it was for the best, but that made it hurt all the more.
She felt the child's little hand slip away from hers.

Jessica Thornton was panting, but she wasn't spent yet; no, she had a second wind coming on. "How'd you like that?!" she screamed at he boys she was fighting with. There was a hurt kitten lying not too far from her on the ground, mewling sadly. "Thats what you get for hurting it for no reason!! Fight with some one who can fight back!" Her black hair blew around her face, having escaped from the hair elastic during the fight, her dark eyes burned with anger. She was eight.
"If you want to protect the little stray so much, keep it!" yelled one of the four boys. "You should be close to it, after all you're both strays, both orphans, you have something in common!"
Jessie's eyes narrowed with anger. "You take that back Rian!"
"Or what?" He jeered.
"Or I'll make you take it back!" she was screaming almost incomprehensibly.
"Whats going on here?" Jessica's mother was walking down the garden path toward them, her dress blowing slightly in the wind, her baby boy rapped up and lying in her arms. They both had light hair and thin faces, the opposite of Jessie who was dark, with a round face.
She grit her teeth and whipped back around to face the boys at the sound of feet scuffling on stone. They had run. "Real brave!" she screamed after them. "You can torment a kitten, and even fight with me, but can't stand up for yourselves in front of an adult?! Real brave!"
The baby started to cry. Jessie stooped down and scooped the little kitten up in her arms, ignoring the woman and the crying baby. "Are you okay?" She asked the kitten in a whisper. She lifted up the hem of her t- shirt and hummocked the sad little grey tabby tabby in it, unconsciously mirroring the woman behind her, with her child.
"Jessica." She said, voiced raised a bit to be heard over the baby's crying. She bounced him a little to try and sooth him. "Jessica, why were you fighting? You--"
"They were hurting a kitten!" She yelled without turning.
"That's no reason to fight! You could have come to me, I would have put a stop to it."
"No you wouldn't-- you would have said to leave them, the noise will wake the baby! You wouldn't have cared, you have other things to care about now." Tears started to leak out of the girls eyes, falling on the hapless kitten in her arms. She sobbed, "You don't care about anything I do, you have a baby of your own now, why would you possibly need me? I'm not even your kid!" That said, Jessie took off into the garden, ignoring the calls of the woman she left behind.
She sprinted, not paying heed to the branches that caught her hair or skin, holding the kitten safe in her shirt. She ran until her legs carried her to her fort, the willow tree that had branches close enough to the ground for a small girl to reach. She put the kitten on a branch then pulled herself up behind. Straddling the branch she stroked the kitten's fur, seeing that it wasn't too badly hurt, just a little scratch on his ear that didn't even pierce the skin. He probably wouldn't even have much of a scar to show for his adventure.
She picked him up and huddled him close, leaning against the tree and tucking in her legs under her chin. "It's not fair," she told the cat. "It's not fair that I'm adopted and now mummy and daddy have their own baby. Why do they need me if they have their own baby? They don't need me; thats why they told me I was adopted just before Alex was born. To show they don't need me; I've been replaced with some one of their own." He voice cracked on the last words, tears splashing down her face. She curled up tighter, leaving only enough room for the kitten in her lap to sit comfortably, and buried her face in her arms.
The cat mewled piteously.