Beginning of the summer for Lily. Not really the vacations we would hope for.
LILY XXIII
She woke up at around five in the morning, like every morning for the past two weeks. Luckily enough, this was the last day she would have to wake up so early again. Nymphadora groaned not far away from her.
"Ughhh! I'll be the happiest woman in the world when this day is over," the young woman said, her eyes half-shut.
Lily felt tired as well, though she didn't voice it. She was never the type to complain about her situation, and despite her advanced age when compared to Andromeda's daughter, she was used to waking up early in the morning and to long days. This was what happened when you were a single mother raising a child alone in the Muggle world, then an Auror apprentice for the past three years.
Lily went to take a short shower, like every morning. She and Nymphadora were alone in this small dormitory, which occupied half of one of the training rooms of the Auror Headquarters. She knew that the other half, separated from them by a large wall, was occupied by the other five men who, like them, had managed to get to the final examinations of the Auror training program.
Lily had heard stories about how demanding this program was, but hearing about them and living them were always two very different things. And the two of weeks of final examinations that would end at the end of this Friday were the most exacting of all.
She came out of the shower after arranging her hair into a bun. As soon as she opened the door, Nymphadora went inside the washroom.
"You took your time!" she said, slapping the door closed behind her.
Lily shook her head and ignored her comment. They had been both on edge for the past few days as the final examinations lingered and took their toll on both of them. But Lily didn't have much time to ponder about Nymphadora's mood. She had to focus on the final day of the examinations, and she went to do some last minute revisions in prevision of the final trials that would take place today.
Nymphadora came out of the washroom two minutes later. Every second mattered right now. They went to take their breakfast in the small cafeteria they arranged inside the Auror Headquarters. Lily, Nymphadora and the five other apprentices all ate in silence, all digging deeply into last verifications before the final trials began, or lost deep within their thoughts. Lily was just as eager to begin today's tests than to finish them. She wanted to be done with it and go back home. She had spent the two last weeks confined in the Ministry, forced to follow impossible schedules with little sleep, and also little food. This was part of the of the trials for the Aurors. They had to demonstrate their resilience, their endurance and their capacity to intervene in the most dire circumstances. They were also cut from their families, unable to see them. They couldn't even write to them or contact them in any way.
Lily missed her son. By now, she was used to being separated from him for months when he was at Hogwarts, but she cherished the time spent with him during the holidays even more as a consequence. Being absent for the first two weeks of his summer holidays was hard. At least, she didn't have to worry that much about what might happen to Harry in her absence. There was no Death Eater on the run to attack him now.
"There's enough food in the fridge and the pantry for the next two weeks," she had told him before she left. "You know how to contact Sirius or Remus if there is any major problem…"
"Yes, I know, Mom," Harry had answered. "Don't worry. I can survive months in Hogwarts far from you. I'm sure I'll manage to do the same when you are just a few blocks away, even if you will be underground."
It was true that the physical distance between her and Harry was short, but Lily felt far from him all the same.
"In Hogwarts, you are surrounded by other students and by teachers," she reminded him.
"And here, I'm surrounded by about twenty families of wizards, including many that have people that I know in Hogwarts," he reminded her in return.
No, Lily was not really worried. Harry was independent enough. He grew up with a single mother who sometimes had to work long hours. He was used to being alone at home from an early age. She just regretted not being able to spend any time with him for now. Well, she would reunite with him tonight after the trials were over.
The seven apprentices, including Lily, headed for a training room where they were always briefed at the beginning of each day. She noticed some people reading notes hidden in their sleeves or their robes, or that were only visible to them. Each second was used to prepare. Once in the training room, Lily had a very big surprise when she saw the person who would oversee them today.
"Okay, we don't have time to lose," Alastor Moody said in his rough voice.
None of the apprentices seemed to expect this. Although Moody still gave some lectures to Auror apprentices, his relationship with the Ministry of Magic was very strained, to say the least, ever since he was almost forced to retire. But if Alastor was to supervise the final day of the trials, Lily knew they should expect no easy task ahead.
"This is the last day of your examinations. I expect that by the end of it, more than half of you will be eliminated. The Ministry will be lucky if two or three of you makes through it to become Aurors. You must think and act decisively, with determination, without hesitation, rationally, without emotions, and be always prepared. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
Lily thought she might have become accustomed, but no. She jumped as much as the others. Over the course of her two years and a half formation, Lily saw the number of people part of her cohort drop from twenty-five to eleven people. Of these eleven people who entered the final trials, four abandoned or were removed, leaving only the seven people, including herself, who still stood in front of Alastor Moody. And considering how Alastor was, Lily was persuaded that only a few would remain until the end, like he said so himself. She felt the apprehension and stress of the last few days concentrating in her mind and her stomach.
"Now, the challenges you will face today will be many. The trial will last the entire day, so you better be prepared. You will be transported to the location of the trial with only your wand. And remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he reminded them.
Other Aurors, including Kingsley and Miranda, walked in at this moment. Each of them took the arm of one of the apprentices. Miranda took Lily's, and she quickly felt the uneasy feeling of Apparition. When they arrived, Lily noticed immediately that they were on a countryside road. They were before dawn, and you could barely notice the sunlight starting to appear on the horizon. Most of the area was dark.
"There is an abandoned house at the end of this road," Miranda began to explain right away. "The Ministry received information that it is occupied by Kazakh wizards from a rebellious group who want to destabilize the Wizarding World in Great Britain. They are on the list of criminal organizations of the International Confederation of Wizards. They have warrants against them all across the world. The use of force is authorized to stop them. Do everything that is necessary to stop them and bring them to justice, alive."
Miranda then looked to Lily. "Good luck, Evans."
And she Apparated again, disappearing. Lily was now alone on this road. This was how most of the trials took place for the last two weeks. They were provided with a mission, information, then left to their own devices. Sometimes, they were told to accomplish the mission in a very particular way, but over the second week, they were given more and more freedom to fulfill missions the way they wanted. They were also progressively provided with fewer information before the mission began.
Lily first started by taking the precautions that were in order.
"Specialis Revelio!"
She felt a wave coming out of her wand that analyzed the surroundings. There were no spells or curses she could detect. It was always the first thing to do before venturing in unknown terrain. You had to know if there were any people or elements that could eventually pose a threat to you. It was even more important to throw that spell first, before any charm to hide or camouflage yourself. There were detection spells that could detect the use of magic, and it was better to activate these spells by using another detection spell first than by revealing to the enemy that someone had gotten close to them and was using magic to hide from them. Revelation charms were less suspect and had the benefit of alerting the Auror immediately that the people he was looking for knew or suspected his presence. Once it was established that nothing could detect her in this place, Lily applied multiple spells to herself to reduce her visibility to anybody.
Then she began to walk towards her destination. As she walked, she thought about the fact that she didn't know how many people would be in that abandoned house, or the magical powers they had. She would need to proceed with caution, to assess their force and situation before attacking, and to find a way to capture them all alive. Lily could have cut through the fields. Whatever enemy awaited her, he would expect people to come at him from the road. But the fields were made of vegetables that were not high enough to provide cover for her, and despite the spells she threw to reduce both her visibility and the noise she made, it wouldn't remove footprints she would leave in the ground. The road was dry and cobbled, so she would leave fewer traces by taking it, at least until a certain time.
As she progressed, Lily kept throwing revelation and detection charms, and she detected nothing so far, which was both encouraging and stressful. There was still a possibility that someone with very advanced magical skills spotted her presence while she couldn't detect his. She also adjusted her disguise as light slowly crept into the day. The dark environment was replaced by one made of grey and dark blue shades when she finally saw the abandoned house at the top of the hill. Even from afar, it was obviously old and falling into ruins. She proceeded to climb the road leading to her target but stopped in her tracks when another revelation spell detected nothing.
Something was wrong. No spell, no magic, not even a single human presence was detected. Either this house was truly abandoned and empty, or it was protected by such powerful and well cast spells that she couldn't break through. But the odds of the latter option were very limited, almost impossible. There was something really wrong about all this. She cast another series of spells, trying to detect the slightest sign of magic or human presence of any kind, again without any results. So she carefully kept climbing until she was about halfway to the ruins.
It was then that she heard a roaring sound that clearly came from above her head. To many wizards, this would have caused huge surprise. But for Lily, who was born among Muggles and remained in a Muggle environment for most of her life, this sound was easily identifiable, and she didn't concern herself with it. Planes were no danger. She continued to walk forward with caution, and right as she was about to throw another detection spell, the world ahead of her exploded, and she was thrown away back.
Luckily for her, Lily had learned to be ready for anything while in operation. Her reflexes kicked in. She cushioned her fall with a spell thrown at the last minute. Her back barely scratched the surface of the cobbled road, and she hovered a few inches over the ground for one second before she straightened up herself to land on her feet.
Right in front of her eyes, the ruins that stood at the top of the hill an instant before were now gone. Instead, a pile of wooden materials had taken fire and crumbled on the ground. Under shock, Lily looked over at the plane that had not continued his flight. Instead, it was circling over her head, and Lily recognized at this moment that it was a military model.
She knew right away what she had to do. She had to escape. This was clearly the site of a Muggle military intervention, and she couldn't stay here. She prepared to Apparate. However, before she did it, she hesitated. There were supposed to be dangerous wizards around. And although she couldn't detect anyone, there was still a risk. Lily stopped her movement, and instead decided to hide somewhere in the area. She made it to a nearby grove of trees and hid there. It was a chance for at the same time, men with obviously advanced weapons, the kind that only military or special forces personnel could procure, came out of nowhere, surging from behind trees, bushes, and even from the high plants in the fields around.
Lily watched them from afar, congratulating herself that she didn't forget to cast spells hiding her thermal signature, which Muggle material could detect, as they slowly walked towards the fuming ruins of the house. As the men started searching it, she wondered what was going on? What kind of test was it? Did the Ministry really go as far as to throw spells to use a combat plane of the Royal Ari Force for her test? This seemed to be going a little far. But Lily reminded herself that she was not to take this as a test, but as a real-life situation. And in such a situation, she was to watch the scene. She had to make sure that no magical threat was still there, to protect the Muggles if they were attacked by any, and to ensure the Muggles would not be exposed to magic. However, as she cast new detection and revelation spells and watched the military units move, she couldn't see anything that indicated a threat to the magical world or its secret. Some of the soldiers were now discussing between them near the ruins. Lily decided to point her wand to her right ear, then towards the group of soldiers, amplifying her hearing to listen to what they were saying.
"Anything inside this shed?"
"No, sir. It looks like it was empty."
"It can't! We know from reliable sources that this was a hideout for Irish terrorists."
"Sir!" This voice sounded muffled, as if it came from far away. And indeed, another soldier was approaching the group, holding what looked like a burned sheet. "We found this in the rubble. It looks like it was hanging from the ceiling."
The men looked at it. Lily wasn't close enough to see what it was, but she knew it from the soldiers who looked at what the sheet was displaying. "It's an A," one of them said.
"And look at the curve under it. It's an A within a circle. Probably an anarchist symbol."
"Perhaps our sources were wrong. Perhaps these were terrorists, but not those we thought."
"They may well have been Irish. Some of these people are clearly anarchists. Who else would place bombs everywhere?"
"I don't think these people are really anarchists."
"Well, for me, they bloody are."
The soldiers squabbled for a time, but it soon became evident that there was nothing inside the destroyed ruins. No weapons, no telecommunication material, nothing to even indicate any human presence in this place. Only a burned sheet with an anarchist symbol on it.
"Okay, spread," the leader of the group ordered. "Perhaps there are clues around. Search for hidden vehicles, landmines, underground hideouts, anything."
The soldiers began to scatter in groups of two. One headed in her direction. Slowly, Lily pulled back and hid behind a tree. Her disguise was not perfect. She didn't wear an Invisibility Cloak, and in the nascent light of day, these people could see through her Disillusionment Charm. She waited, her wand ready. She heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. She tried to control her breathing so they wouldn't hear her. She used a charm to conceal the sounds she produced, but it wasn't infallible. Her heart was beating frantically.
She spotted one soldier walking past her about twenty meters away on her left. But she also heard footsteps on her right. Much closer. The soldier walked only a few feet away from her. He was looking from his left to right all the time. And he looked on his left at the moment he walked next to Lily.
First, he made a few steps forward, but then stopped abruptly. To Lily's horror, he turned to look straight at her and raised his weapon on her.
"Sir…"
She took action without thinking.
Confundo!
She didn't utter the word. She cast the spell non verbally. Right away, the traits on the young soldier's face changed and he stopped speaking, as if he wasn't sure about what he was about to tell his superior in his radio.
Obliviate!
The next spell erased his memory of what he had seen. Lily crept and hid in a nearby bush. The young soldier remained there for a long time, unmoving. Then he shook his head.
"Yes, sorry, sir. I thought… I made a mistake. Sorry."
Then he resumed his walk. Lily had to cast another Memory Charm when another soldier almost spotted her later, but she managed to remain uncovered. She waited patiently until the soldiers left, several hours later, after they were done investigating the scene. It was around midday now, and Lily realized she would need some water. She couldn't conjure any though, and she still had to investigate the scene herself. Whatever the Muggles found or did not find there, and whatever their business had been, the Ministry believed this was the base of a criminal wizarding group, and she had to check the site.
She slowly climbed the hill again after verifying with all the methods she knew that there was no one left around. When she finally arrived at what was left of the ruins, it was to see from up close that the aerial strike didn't leave much behind, mostly piles of charred wood.
"Why?" Lily muttered to herself.
All this didn't make any sense. Even right now, next to the ruins, her spells couldn't detect any magical or human presence. Why did the Ministry of Magic think this was the refuge of Kazakh wizards looking to destabilize the Wizarding World while Muggles believed this was a hiding place for Irish terrorists? Lily was aware of the conflict currently going on in Ireland. This was a long conflict that didn't seem to have any end in perspective. Even so, it looked excessive to commit an airstrike on British soil for this. There had to be something they all missed. It was impossible that both wizards and Muggles received contradicting information on this place, but that both information indicated a dangerous group was installed there.
She wandered around the place and even managed to get inside by moving some wood planks away. Her search proved fruitless, until she had the idea of scrutinizing the underground. She only cast spells that covered the region above the ground, not below. She adjusted her detection spells, to find out there was no more magical or human presence below than at the surface. However, her spell revealed that there was a wide open space below. She started to look around, especially on the floor, until she finally found a trapdoor very well concealed in the floor.
Alohomora.
The trapdoor opened with a creaking sound. The cavity it opened on was dark and deep. Lily lit up her wand and pointed it inside the hole, but the light barely reached the depth of the cavity. There was no stair, no ladder leading to its end. But Lily had to know what was inside this. So she jumped and used levitation spells to cushion her fall. It reminded her of the time, two years ago, when she went deep into the dungeons of Hogwarts to save her son from Voldemort. She landed softly on the ground, a mixture of bricks, wooden planks and earth. She was in a damp place, with both walls and ceilings made of bricks from another time, poles hanging on the walls. She raised her wand to better illuminate the place. It looked like a corridor. She followed it, although it wasn't long before she came face to face with a locked door.
Alohomora.
The door opened easily. When Lily walked inside, she found herself in a tiny room, only with a desk, a computer and a generator. At the sight of this, Lily frowned.
"Well, it looks like someone was really hiding here." The computer was a too recent model, and in too much a good state to have been there for long. Its installation was recent. Lily approached it. Whatever was hidden here, it was likely to have attracted the attention of both the magical and non magical world, although both didn't seem to know what was there. This was really a strange test.
"Evans!"
Lily turned and pointed her wand immediately towards the origin of the voice, but she lowered it right away.
"Savage. What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Looking on you. It seems you found something," the Auror said, looking all around the small room.
"Was that the goal of the test? To find a hidden room with a computer?" Lily asked, having a hard time believing this was the test.
"We didn't exactly know what was awaiting us here," Miranda Savage replied. "And this is no test. This is a real mission. We wanted to see how you behaved in real situations."
Lily was caught off guard by this. "Wait! Those men outside? And the airstrike? They were real?"
"Yes, they were. We didn't expect the Muggles to be involved, even less the army. We made a mistake. But I had orders, and I let you act on your own until you disappeared in that hidden place."
Lily was shaken. So she had been in danger for real the whole time? She could have revealed herself if she didn't succeed to hide from these soldiers. She could even have died when the war plane launched a missile.
"Well, people will bring all of this back to the Ministry," Savage said. "It seems we have nothing left to do here."
"Are you sure? This is Muggle technology. I don't think any wizard or witch ever spent time here. There is not a single trace of magic around," Lily said.
"It doesn't matter. We were obviously given incorrect information, and we need to know why. We have people in the Ministry who understand the technologies Muggles use better than we do."
Lily scoffed internally. Most people who worked at the Muggle Liaison Office didn't even know how to use a telephone or how to open a television. She wouldn't be surprised if many were not even aware of the existence of computers. She wished them good luck. Lily herself, thanks to her upbringing in a Muggle family and living among them for many years almost without contacts with the magical world, would know far better how to use it. All this seemed to concern essentially Muggles and not the Ministry of Magic.
"If you say so," Lily finally said.
"Let's go back to the Ministry. Your trials are over," Savage declared.
As they made it out of the hole and the light of the sun blinded Lily temporarily. She felt relief and happiness wash over her body. It was over.
"When shall I know if I succeeded the trials?"
"Very soon," Miranda said. "But before, you must fill a report about this operation, and you'll be debriefed about it."
This was the most boring part, but also the safest of being an Auror. Lily Apparated to go back to the Ministry while Miranda remained behind to take care of the recovery operation. Lily went to take a shower. She already relished at the idea of spending an hour or two under the water to relax. However, she came across Nymphadora as she was heading for the washroom. She was beaming.
"Done?" she asked Lily.
"Done," Lily replied, not without a large smile on her face.
"Good for you. By the way, Madam Bones is asking for you. You must meet her in her office in half an hour. It's to debrief you."
It seemed that Lily would have to content herself with a very short shower. Sighing in despair, she went to take a two-minute shower, then quickly wrote her report and headed for the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She was allowed in the moment she arrived.
On the other side of the door, Amelia Bones was reading a paper that Lily understood was the report she just filed in. She didn't look at Lily but raised a finger and pointed a chair in front of the desk behind which she was sitting behind. Lily did as she was ordered and sat down in the chair. Her heart was beating quite quickly, she had to admit it. Now that she thought about that, it was strange that she was debriefed by the Head of the Department. She would have expected to be debriefed by Rufus Scrimgeour at best, and most probably by a senior Auror. Why was it Amelia who debriefed her?
Suddenly, the woman sitting in front of Lily closed the file and dropped it on her desk.
"I just finished reading your report," she declared. "Is there something you would like to add to what you wrote down in it?"
"No, Madam," Lily replied, apprehensive. "Everything's there."
Amelia Bones nodded. "Good. You handled the situation very well, considering the circumstances. And you absolutely found no trace of magical activity in that zone?"
"None. Believe me, I tried to find some, but I really think that I was the first witch to approach this place in quite a while. And considering the material we found in the hiding place, I think whoever used it was no wizard."
"It seems so," Amelia said, looking thoughtful. "And you saw or found absolutely nothing else out of the ordinary while you were there?"
"No," Lily simply replied. "That information about the Kazakhs? Where did it come from?"
"One of our sources. A very reliable source, usually. It seems we will have to re-ascertain its reliability. But for now, Lily Jane Evans Potter, I am allowed to inform you that you succeeded the trials. You are officially an Auror for the Ministry of Magic."
She raised her wand. Out of thin air, a diploma appeared which, landed in Lily's extended hand. She was out of words for several moments.
"This is serious?" Lily asked.
"Very serious, Lily," Amelia said, a rare smile appearing on her lips. "Congratulations. You deserve them."
Lily giggled for a moment, placing a hand on her mouth to control her laughs. Tears of joy almost came to her face. She did it. She succeeded. She didn't remember being so happy for quite some time.
"There will be an official ceremony tomorrow. The details have already been sent to your home by owl. You'll then have one week of vacation before you start working on Monday. We will keep you with Miranda Savage for the time being. Your collaboration proved fruitful over the past year, and she appreciated working with you. You can leave."
"Thank you, Madam Bones."
Lily went out. Outside, when she arrived at the space they organized for the former apprentices, she fell upon Nymphadora who congratulated her right away.
"I knew you would get it! It was won in advance. That wasn't the case for me."
"What?" Lily asked, fearing all of a sudden. "You failed?"
Andromeda's daughter looked at her for a moment before she burst into laughter. "I finished my final test early this morning. It didn't take much time." She produced a piece of paper similar to that of Lily. "I'm an Auror me too."
Lily hugged her to congratulate her. They went together to take some lunch. Lily realized she was famished and thirsty with the privations of the last two weeks. She ate hungrily.
"Be careful. You're going to throw up something," Nymphadora warned her while laughing.
Lily left the Ministry quite rapidly after lunch. She wanted to see her son. They were separated for two weeks. She also needed a very long and good night of sleep. She wondered what Harry had done during that time, how he kept himself busy. Not that she was worried he would have been bored in her absence. Harry knew how to occupy himself. But she was curious as to how it had been in her absence. Lily Apparated into the Entrance Hall of the Abandoned Tower where she lived. She then climbed the stairs quickly to her apartment, and she opened the door.
"HERE SHE IS!"
Lily was surprised, not to see Harry applauding her the moment she walked in, but also Remus and Sirius, who she didn't expect to be there.
"I thought about organizing a surprise party for you," Sirius said, "but Remus talked me out of it. He said you would be too tired, and that we were taking a risk in case you didn't succeed."
"He was right," Lily said, laughing hysterically.
Sirius hugged her tightly, then Remus did as well.
"Congratulations, Lily," he said.
"Thank you, Remus."
"Good job, Mom," Harry said, coming to hug her as well. She hugged him tighter than the other two. "I knew you would make it."
"How did you know?" She ruffled his hair, a gesture she missed doing while they were separated.
"We received a letter for you from the Ministry. I opened it, and it said you had a ceremony tomorrow."
She wouldn't complain to Harry about opening her letter this time. Anyway, she never complained. He often did it when she was absent for long periods, in case there was an important or urgent message inside one.
"Well, you seem to already all know, but just so I can say it…" Lily started theatrically. "You have an Auror in front of you."
They all applauded again, and Lily couldn't help blushing, something she rarely did. Harry, Sirius and Remus had not only contented themselves with giving her a warm welcome. They also prepared her favourite dinner for the occasion. However, despite this, Lily went to bed early this evening, exhausted as she was, and only woke up in time to attend the ceremony at the Ministry of Magic.
There wasn't much to say about that ceremony. The highest officials of the Ministry, including the Minister Fudge and his whole office, the Heads of all Departments, Rufus Scrimgeour, the directors of each major service and office on law enforcement, all the Aurors of the Ministry, including Kingsley and Miranda, but also the family members and close friends of the four new Aurors attended the ceremony. This meant that Harry, Sirius and Remus were there, but also Arthur and Molly Weasley, who she was surprised to see there with one of their sons, Percy, who just began to work for the Department of International Magical Co-operation. Gen Chang also attended the ceremony with his chief. But aside from the number of people who attended it, it was mostly boring. Lily, Nymphadora and the two other men who managed to succeed at the trials recited an oath to protect the secrecy of the magical world and to protect its citizens, then received an ovation. To Lily, it lasted much longer than it needed to be. She went back to bed the moment she came back home.
On Sunday, Lily woke up in the morning, feeling reinvigorated and fully rested. When she arrived in the kitchen, Harry had already prepared breakfast.
"Do you have five minutes or five seconds before you head to the Ministry?" he asked her a smile on the lips.
"Very funny," she replied, pinching the top of his head. And as usual, he rubbed where she did it. "No, your mother is going to stay home and do nothing."
"Is that really the same mother I had for the last two years?" her son asked.
She shot him a derisive smile. "Your mother just earned some well deserved and needed vacation time. And by the way, how have your own summer holidays been so far?" she asked as she sat down with a plate full of bacon, toasts and broiled eggs.
"Oh, well, quiet." For a moment, she found strange that Harry didn't provide more details about his summer so far. "I played some football matches."
"I'm glad you changed your mind and decided to keep playing it."
Harry had seemed to want to stop playing football after last summer, but he finally changed his mind after he won the Quidditch Cup. Lily had attended the game, even though she was invisible to the rest of the crowd and the players as she was wearing James' Invisibility Cloak. She stole it from Harry's dormitory and put it back in place after the game was over so Harry wouldn't notice it. When she thought about it, she never told him that she actually saw his victory against Slytherin.
"I don't like it as much as Quidditch but… It's good to play it during summer. And my friends were glad that the wizard was back," he said with a sorry expression.
"How many games have you played so far?"
"Four," Harry said. "Also, we have a tournament in August. It is the weekend before the Quidditch World Cup. It may continue until the day before the Cup, but only if we reach the final."
"Are you sure that you want to participate to that tournament?"
"Well, we're going to leave early the next morning, so I don't see a problem."
"If you're fine with it, then that's no problem. I'll try to be there to watch you play."
"You don't need to attend all my games, Mom."
"After I missed your Quidditch games this year, and now that my training is over, yes, I need to. I'm not going to leave my son alone again."
"Mom, it's fine. I'm no longer a child."
At these words, Lily looked at him, a strange feeling growing up within her. It was true. In less than a month, Harry would be fourteen. He grew up this year again. And he was looking more like his father each day. It was happening too quickly. Lily had the impression that he got into Hogwarts only yesterday. She had missed so much these last two years because of her Auror training. At this rhythm, her son would be a man before she could realize it.
"By the way… There was something I wanted to tell you, Mom. I…"
"I've got an idea," Lily calmly said. "Why don't we take some time off? Together. Only the two of us."
Harry seemed stunned for a moment. "What kind of time off?"
"Some vacation. Somewhere far from here. It might be some time before we have the opportunity to do it again, and we didn't get any during your summer holidays since you arrived in Hogwarts."
Harry didn't reply for a moment. "Well, yes, I think it would be a good idea. But where would you want to go? And don't we already have the Quidditch World Cup next month?"
"It doesn't matter. The Quidditch World Cup will probably be only one day, at most. Let's spend a few days far from here."
"Okay." Harry seemed to like the idea now. It was probably the effect of surprise. "Where would you like to go?"
Next morning, they were leaving for Calais, in France, where they remained for the next five days before returning to London. Lily enjoyed every moment of it. Not only did she get the feeling it would be long before she had other vacation like this, but she also felt it might be one of the last times she would get to truly spend quality time alone with her son.
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