A/N: I think this chapter is a little bit longer than the others. If you think Harry is a little bit too trusting, remember he is only twelve, and doesn't now about the DE's and all that.

A Mother's Love

Harry was confused. This red-eyed woman sitting on the end of his bed looked like his mother. He had stared at her image in the Mirror of Erised, and he had a few cherished photos of her. Unless he needed new glasses, this was his mother.

While he had been drifting in and out of sleep, she had been stroking his hair. It had felt like an odd sensation, no one had ever stroked his hair before.

"W-who are you?" Harry stuttered.

"It's me…It's your mum." Lily said, and hugged Harry tight.

When Harry had woken up he thought he was having some horrible hallucination, or someone was pulling a nasty prank on him. But when he felt this woman's embrace there was no doubt left in his mind. This was his mother. He wasn't sure how, and he wasn't sure why, but he felt a bond with her.

A child with his mother. He felt something fall on his shoulder and realised his…mother…was crying.

"Why are you crying?" Harry asked.

"I…I'm just so happy," Lily replied. "I'm so happy to see you again Harry…my little boy…" Lily started to stroke Harry's hair again.

Harry felt awkward. He hadn't felt such love before, coming from a single person. So this is what having a parent feels like.

And this love…was directed towards him. For ten years of his life he had been called a freak, locked away in the cupboard under the stairs like some monster. Then he learnt about the magical world where he learnt of the man who had killed his parents. And he wanted to kill him. His introduction to the wonderful world of witches and wizards may have made him new friends, but the list of people who would like to see him dead also rose a notch.

But one of his parents wasn't dead anymore. He couldn't fathom how or why, but being raised by his Uncle and Aunt had taught him to be grateful for what he got.

He was grateful…he was so happy…but he was curious as well. In the one year he had spent in the magical world, he had learnt that even witches and wizards couldn't bring back the dead.

He hugged tighter. He never wanted to let go. He was so scared this was a dream, a passing fantasy, and he'd wake up and it all be gone. Before he knew it, he was crying too.

About an hour later they pulled out of the hug.

"How?" Harry asked, looking up at his mother's eyes.

"I don't know, I'm just happy to be here…"

Lily stood up and the mattress rose a few inches. "Come on, Harry. Let's get something to eat." She went downstairs, where Petunia was cooking dinner like nothing had happened. Harry trailed after her in an obedient state of shock. His mother, though to be dead, had come back and was going to buy dinner for him.

Lily walked downstairs and spotted a ten-pound note lying on the table. She pocketed it, without an ounce of guilt for she wasn't a dishonest person and she was sure she would pay back later.

Harry followed to her a local fish and chip shop, originally called 'The Fish and Chip Shop'. There he followed her inside where Lily proceeded to order a fish with a side order of chips. She sat down at one of the tables to wait for her order.

Harry sat across from her. This was becoming more than a dream. This was reality, and his mother was sitting across from him, alive and breathing, waiting to eat dinner.

The waitress called them over and Lily picked up the food. Harry thought it smelt delicious. After all he had eaten over the past few days was a cold can of soup and a hunk of cheese.

Lily also thought it smelt delicious. Mainly because she hadn't eaten in eleven years. It wasn't much, but it was food.

They both dug in eagerly, and the food was finished in mere minutes. They hadn't shared many words, but they didn't need to. But Lily decided it was time to speak.

"So where to now?" Lily asked, rising out of her chair.

"Well…not to sound disrespectful or anything…but I don't want to go back to the Dursleys." Harry replied, surprised that she had asked for his opinion.

"To be honest, there's not many other places we can go." Lily replied.

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

"Let's take it outside." Lily shooed Harry out into the now darkening street.

"See…the Muggle police may be looking for me…" Lily said, walking down the street in the direction of Privet Drive.

"Looking for you? Why!" Harry asked, shocked.

"It's a long story."

"So why not try looking in the Wizarding World?"

"Because they might be suspicious of me…since dead people…don't…usually come back overnight. I'd also like to say thank-you to you Harry…"

"Thank me? For what?"

Lily lowered her eyes and mumbled, "thank-you for believing me"

"Er…any day…" Harry was beyond surprised. What ever he had suspected he had not expected this.

They were now in the entrance of Privet Drive and Lily and Harry opened the unlocked door and let themselves in. They walked up the stairs and re-entered Harry's room.

"It's not much." He said modestly.

"Nonsense, Harry, it'll be fine."

They stood in the doorway each waiting for the other to move first

"You can go to sleep you know." Lily said. Harry accepted this as an invitation and curled up into a ball on his bed and fell asleep, without even getting changed.

Lily smiled, and removed Harry's glasses and placed them on his bedside table. She planted a kiss on his forehead and brought the bedcovers to cover Harry's body.

She sat on the edge of the bed and watched him sleep peacefully for many hours before dozing off herself.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Lily awoke at daybreak. She yawned loudly, stretching her arms high. She looked out Harry's window and out of the…bars…she saw a normal Muggle suburb in the early hours of a summer morning. A lady was walking a rather large Labrador as a man passed her path on a morning jog and they exchanged nods. The trees rustled and the birds sang. There wasn't a cloud to be seen. But Lily didn't care. Her Harry was back with her where she belonged. They were a family. Almost. Because James wasn't here.

Tears started falling down Lily's face again. But instead of wiping them away, and pretending to be strong, she let them fall.

Lily missed him so much. They were meant to be dead, together. But now she was alive and on her own apart from her son who had aged ten and a half years in a day and her sister who hated her guts.

The old world she had known had changed in a flash of green light. She wasn't in her own world, living in hiding in a world of secrets of lies. She was in this new world, and she didn't know of the state of the magical world. Tears fell harder, leaving wet streaks down the sides of her cheeks. If she had a hankie, she would have blown her nose.

She had to contact someone from the old magical world, soon. She couldn't find one of her old friends, killing someone with a heart attack was not on top of her list of her priorities right now. She couldn't go to Dumbledore, because that pesky old fool was known for sticking his nose where it was unwanted. Like when he told her of the prophecy…she didn't want to think about that…her son…couldn't possibly. She stopped her train of thought and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt.

Lily ran a list of people she knew in her head, then she decided. This person had just become a Hogwarts professor when she 'died'.

She hoped that he would still be there. Lily shook Harry awake. "Harry, it's time to wake up."

Harry groaned and turned over, dragging the bed sheets after him.

Lily shook him harder and told him, "We're going to meet someone from the magical world."

Harry awoke at these words. "Wha? Who?" he asked sleepily.

" A certain Hogwarts professor," was all that Lily would reveal.

Harry groaned. From the few hours he had spent with his mother, he had learnt that she was very stubborn. He looked out the window. People were just getting up. It was too early. He groaned. But at least he was spending time with his mother, and not slaving away for the Dursleys.

Spending time with his mother. It was like a dream…no…a wish come true. And he was going to stay with his mother for as long as he could. To make up for lost time.

Harry bounded out of bed with a source of newfound energy.

"Wait a minute, young man. You are not going out in the clothes you slept in." Lily scolded her son. Not that she could talk, having worn the same clothes she had died in.

"But Mum-" He stopped suddenly. Mum. He was surprised at how natrual the word sounded. Mum. He finally had a person to call his mum.

He still wasn't sure if all this wasn't some wild fantasy his brain had supplied, but he wanted to believe.

"Mum." He repeated. He felt warmth fill his body when he said it.

He had a Mum.

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Anyone wanna guess this time round? It's pretty easy…

Review Responses:

Miss Piratess: Thank-you for the reviews! You were expecting James? That would be returning to cliché! Though it's usually the other way round. By the way, James will NOT be coming back in this fic.

IamSiriusgrl: hope this is soon enough.

Fiction.nottttttttt: well…try reading the other chapters. I have to say this is a nice change from "u suk."

Dweemangel: yup…it's one of my plots to take over the world…or not…