A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! I'm on school holidays now! YAY! Updates will be quicker for the next two weeks that means…then back to the dreaded place called 'school'. And I uploaded another story, called Wrongful Imprisonment, where James is in Azkaban because Fudge thinks he murdered Lily. If you have time, check it out!

Lesson learnt while typing this chapter: Save often. Unless you want to find yourself retyping a page and a half.

Wish Upon A Falling Star by Thoughts and Pondering

Chapter Seventeen: You're Dead

"Thank you, Mrs Potter, Mr. Potter," She said, turning to face Harry. "Please follow me to the Minister's office." She smiled, showing her pointed teeth. Lily followed Umbridge, past a beautiful fountain with a witch, a centaur, and a house-elf, which Lily noticed, looked rather like Dobby. There was a small plaque telling whoever read it that is symbolized unity between all the different creatures in the Wizarding world.

Lily thought if it was really true, the witch would be standing dominantly over the house-elf and centaur, however, in this fountain, they were standing next to each other like equals. Maybe it was simply the artist's vision. She could not deny that the fountain was a true piece of art.

Lily and Harry followed Umbridge into the elevator. There were many pieces of paper flitting around. Lily was about to ask what they were, but Harry beat her to it.

"Ms. Umbridge, what are those?" he asked, pointing to the paper. Lily suddenly noticed what Umbridge was wearing. What a hideous cardigan!

She answered, in her saccharine voice, "Mr. Potter, those are interdepartmental memos. "We used to use owls, but the smell was unbearable. Owls are filthy creatures." She wrinkled her short nose. "Ah, we're here." She beckoned them into a room.

When Lily walked into the room, she could not help but let out a gasp of appreciation. The Minister's office, (was it an office?) was simply beautiful. Some small nagging voice in the back of her mind told her that Minister should donate some of his wealth to charity, but she pushed the thought away. The carpet was plush red, and all the furniture was made out of fine oak. It was bewitching.

"Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter, this is the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge."

"Good morning, Mr. Fudge." Harry said politely.

Cornelius Fudge was sitting behind his oak desk, his head bent over some paperwork, but he lifted his head when he heard Umbridge enter the room. Even though he was indoors, he was still wearing his lime green bowler hat. He looked up when he heard Umbridge say his name.

"Ah, Dolores, so you managed to locate them?" He asked, putting his quill into his inkpot.

"Yes, Minister." She had dropped the syrupy voice, and now she talked monotonusly.

"Mrs. Potter! It's wonderful to see you again!" Fudge stood up and shook Lily's hand.

"You too, Mr. Potter!" He shook Harry's hand.

Lily furrowed her brow. Where had Fudge ever seen her before? In the newspaper?

"Now, I know what you're here for. I'll just go and retrieve your files from the Office of Records." Fudge stood up quickly. He picked up the inkpot and quill and took them with him.

The moment Fudge walked out of his office, Umbridge rounded on Lily. "So what really happened, Mrs. Potter?" she asked, all sugary again.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily replied. What did this woman mean, with her huge bulging eyes, sugary voice and little pointy teeth? Was it even a woman? Could it be some kind of over grown toad?

"You an I both know that you can't really be Lily Potter. People don't come back to life. Unless you're going to admit to owning an unauthorized time-turner. Because that's what I think happened. You used a time-turner, made a mistake, and ended up eleven years in the future." Umbridge declared, sitting behind Fudge's desk.

"You must have never paid attention in school. Can't go forward. You can only mess time up from the behind." Lily said, clenching her hand into fists. How dare that woman accuse her of stealing a time-turner! She, having worked in the Department of Mysteries, was actually authorized to use time-turners in her work.

"You're a liar."

"Don't talk to my mum like that." Harry whispered in a dangerously low voice, his face suddenly turning nasty. His green eyes glared at Umbridge.

Umbridge turned to Harry, and leant over the desk so her face was mere inches away from his. "Hasn't your mother ever taught you manners, you rude little brat?" She whispered, her voice losing all its sugary tones. It was loud enough for Lily to hear. She could hear blood pumping in her ears. While she, Lily Potter, was not at all perfect, how dare that…over-grown toad…criticize Harry? He may not be perfect either, but he had better manners then that... that…

"Oh…and yes, and I won't forget about how you escaped from that holding cell my good friend Dawlish was helping me with."

Lily was confused. What cell? Then she remembered. Of course! The police station! But…how had Umbridge known about her return from her dead before she even knew about it herself?

"You poor dear," Umbridge started, her voice becoming syrupy again, "You look confused. Let me explain it to you. Early on the morning of the first of August, we recorded a huge burst of magical energy, in a muggle residence. A violation of the Statute of Secrecy. I sent Dawlish in to investigate. As well as being an Auror, he has been working undercover as a Muggle policeman for quite some time now. Of course, it had to be you. While Dawlish may deal with dead people in his jobs as both a police person and an Auror, he wasn't quite used to dead people…coming back to life. Because they simply don't. Once someone is dead, they stay dead. They don't turn up eleven years later, pretending nothing has happened. One reason I think you are not Lily Potter is because her body…is still in her coffin."

Lily's emerald-green eyes were as wide as galleons. This explained nearly everything. Nearly. Umbridge was right about one thing, and that was that when people died, they stayed dead. She was staring to have doubts about herself. Was she Lily Potter? Or was she some imposter? Was she alive? Or was she a solid ghost of sorts? Or was she a shadow, a lost soul? Who was she? Why was she here? How was she here? What was she doing here? Where was she going to go in the future? When did all this start getting so complicated? Her head was spinning. Was this the truth? Or just some elaborate lies?

Funny how getting some answers could just present you with more questions. The most important one was why was she here?

Philosophers had been trying to answer similar questions for centuries. She couldn't stand it anymore. She needed something to change the subject. She voiced the one thought that had been bugging her ever since she met this Dolores Umbridge.

"Are you sure that you don't belong in a zoo enclosure somewhere?" Lily asked quietly, so Harry wouldn't overhear. Finally, the question had stopped gnawing at her brain.

The look on Umbridge's face was priceless. First she just opened and closed her mouth…then…"MRS. POTTER! I WILL NOT BE TALKED TO IN THIS MANNER!" Umbridge yelled, standing up as tall as she could, which wasn't very much. Umbridge was very short, maybe slightly taller than Harry.

Fudge chose this inopportune moment to return with Lily's files. "I'm back!" he announced, then looked at Lily and Umbridge who were both standing up, glaring at each other, and Umbridge standing behind his desk. From the look on his face, Lily could see he realised that things were not going to work between the two women.

"Ah, Dolores, don't you have some other buisness to attend to?" He asked nervously, fiddling with his lime green bowler hat.

Umbridge looked slightly embarrassed, probably at being caught in the act by the Minister of Magic. "Um…yes…I'll get going now…I'm…um…" She mumbled as she took her leave.

"Bridge?" Lily asked quietly when Umbridge passed her.

Umbridge glared at her.

Once Umbridge vacated his chair, Fudge reclaimed it. While Umbridge had looked out of place in the Minister's rich office, it was made for Fudge.

Fudge flipped open the folder. He extracted the foremost document. "I think you might want to see this, Mrs. Potter." He told Lily sadly, handing her a certificate. She accepted it curiously. When she looked at it she realised that it wasn't just any certificate, it was her death certificate.

She read it, her fingers trembling.

Certificate of Death

Lily Rose Evans Potter 18-6-1960 to 31-10-1981 Cause of Death: Murder (Avada Kedavra)

Lily's whole body shook. In her hands, she held proof. She was dead.

Dead. Like so many people had told her. Petunia, Nathian Lythdan and more recently Dolores Umbridge. Dead. She was dead. It was one thing for someone to tell you, it was another to be holding a slip of parchment confirming the fact. No, Lily, don't start crying in the Minister of Magic's office. You might stain the carpet... Oops…too late.

She started to cry. She tried to wipe the tears away, but more came to take their place. It was like a leaking tap. No matter how hard she closed her eyes, tears still came out.

In the midst of it all, Harry put his arm around Lily's shoulders and whispered, "I believe you mum, even if no-one else does."

Lily ruffled Harry's black hair again. Harry groaned. "The next time you do that, I think I'll ruffle your hair!"

Lily subconsciously fingered her auburn curls.

Fudge leant over the table. "Are you alright, Mrs. Potter?" he asked consolingly.

"I-I'm fine." Lily stammered, wiping her eyes again with the sleeve of her robes.

"I believe you, if it makes you feel any better." Fudge told her.

Fudge dug under the desk, and resurfaced with some forms. "Sign this form, and I'll be able to overturn your death certificate." He told her, handing her a bottle of black ink and his own eagle feather quill. "And sign this, and you can regain custody of Harry."

Lily dipped the quill in the ink and arched an eyebrow as well as she could with red eyes. "It's not meant to be this easy, is it? Don't you have to check with the Head of the Office of Records?"

Fudge fidgeted for a bit then replied, "Actually, he would have to report to his superior…which happens to be me. Don't worry, Mrs. Potter, I'll take care of it."

Lily read through the forms. They were pretty straightforward. She lifted her quill out of the ink and signed both of them.

"Thank-you, Mrs. Potter. I'll just put these away in here." He stuffed Lily's forms back into the folder. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"Actually, there is something. I read the Daily Prophet this morning…"

Fudge stopped Lily. "Say no more, Mrs. Potter," He told her as he removed his hat. "You must have been very upset when you heard the person who betrayed you, has escaped from Azkaban."

"Actually, Sirius Black wasn't my secret keeper." Lily admitted, sniffing loudly, and wiping her eyes again.

Fudge only looked surprised for a second, but then smoothly replied, "But he is still responsible for the death of thirteen people."

"But--"

"Mrs. Potter, this is another matter for another time. Do you have any other questions?"

"There's one more thing I'd like to ask…what else is in that folder?

Fudge bent down and flipped through it. "Ah…your birth certificate, your marriage certificate, your OWL and NEWT results…and an article… about the day you were attacked." Fudge said, choosing the wording of the last sentence carefully.

"That's alright then. I better get going now. Sorry for taking up so much of your time. You must have a very busy schedule." Lily stood up and Harry stood next to her.

"Good bye, Mr. Fudge." He said politely, pulling at the bottom of his blue jumper.

As they walked out of the room, Harry turned to Lily and asked her, "Who's Sirius Black?"

To this she answered, "I'll tell you another time."

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Harry tramped gloomily inside, leaving a trail of mud behind him. It had been raining all day, but Oliver Wood had insisted that they still train. How else would they get used to playing in the elements? Harry had always thought that elements meant fire, water, earth and air, but since it was very unlikely a gigantic fireball would engulf the Quidditch Pitch, he deduced that wasn't what Oliver was referring to. His hair was actually lying flat on his head thanks to all the water that had fallen on it.

A miraculous feat.

It was the last day of October and Harry had been trudging around the castle looking for his mother. He was headed to the library. She had been spending a lot of time there, looking up information on mirrors. To Harry, mirrors were mirrors. You looked at them when you wanted to brush your hair. Therefore he never had much use for one.

"Now, now, what do you think you're doing!" A voice called from behind Harry.

Harry whipped around. He was looking straight into the face of the Hogwarts' carekeeper, Argus Filch. He looked angry, and was holding a mop in his left hand.

Filch bared his rotten teeth at Harry. He pulled out a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "Name…" he said to himself, "Harry Potter. Crime…befouling the castle…"

"That's hardly a worthy excuse."

Harry had to turn around again, and with relief he saw his mother, wearing a light blue robe and an emerald green jumper which matched her eyes. She looked tired, and had bags under her eyes. Under her arms she held numerous essays and a book on sand.

Filch looked Lily up and down, and shuddered, his jowls quivering. "To you it might be just a little bit of mud, but to me it's an extra hour of scrubbing and cleaning!"

"I'll help you." Lily pulled out her holly wand, eight inches long with unicorn hair. She had gotten it at Olivander's when she was at Diagon Alley. "Scrougify." She spelled, and the mud was cleaned off the stone floor.

"THAT'S IT!" Filch yelled, his eyes bulging. "Magic in the halls! Detention tomorrow at eight o'clock. Meet me in the trophy room." He put the mop in his other hand, and left, probably to terrorize some more students.

"But…Mr. Filch?" Lily yelled to his retreating back. "I'm not a student. I'm a professor! Stop laughing Harry!"

Harry stopped laughing immediately.

Lily was pacing up and down the hallway, muttering to herself, "Can a staff member be fired for not going to a detention set by another teacher?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. He's just jealous because he's a squib." Harry stated, as he started walking down the hall.

Lily rubbed her eyes wearily and yawned. "I'm…just…so…wait a second! Mr. Filch is a squib!" She exclaimed, nearly tripping over Harry's feet.

"Yeah, Ron nearly got a detention with him yesterday. Filch told him to wait in his office, and he came across a Kwikspell letter."

Lily whistled lowly. "Excellent black mail material. It's payback time." She muttered to herself.

She realised Harry was looking at her strangely. "I never said anything." She claimed. "Shouldn't you be running along to the Halloween feast?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you?" he asked. "Anyway, firstly I'm still wearing my quidditch robe. Secondly, Ron promised Nearly Headless Nick he'd go to his death-day party, and Hermione and I said we'll go along with him."

"So…" Lily started sarcastically, "You're not coming to my death-day party?"

Harry looked slightly confused, then suddenly realized what his mother was talking about.

"Oh…" he started.

"I can't believe I died eleven years ago, on this day. I just can't believe it. Some days I think it would have all been easier if I stayed dead. But then I realize that would mean I could never spend this time with you. I am so grateful for this time…but sometimes I can't help but wish for more. Wish that there were someway we could make the past eleven years all go away…make Voldemort go away…be able to spend time with you, Harry, as a child. As a real child. With your father and mother watching on as you learnt how to do so many new things. Watching the look of slight understanding and slight confusion on your face when we told you that not all people in the world are nice. Hearing you tell us what you did at your first day of school. Seeing you grow up as an sweet and intelligent child…cry when you break your arm falling out of the first tree you climbed…but I'll never get to do all that. My past was taken away from me. Your childhood was taken away from you. Your father's life was taken away from him. Our family was taken away from all three of us. I know nothing's perfect…but have you ever felt that everything is happening to you, and you only? Felt like a stranger in a world where everyone knows each other? Felt like there was no one who knew what you were going through? Felt like it was you against the world?"

"Yes. I have." Harry replied. Harry just let his mum kneel down hug him.

"I love you, Harry, my baby, no one's going to take me away from you." Lily swept some of hair out of her face. You better get going, if you're going to get to Nicholas's death-day party on time."

"Where are you going to go?" Harry asked.

Lily tugged on her hair, pulling it out of its messy ponytail. "I'm going to my room to read this book on mirror manufacturing."

"That's a long shot."

"I guess it is. I better get going. Bye, Harry."

"Love you, mum."

"I love you too."

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Lily was walking back to the library, so she could return the book on sand. It had been very unhelpful. Below her she could here the students of the castle moving back to their dormitories. She reached the second floor, which housed the library, but saw there was a crowd of people surrounding a wall.

She walked over as quickly as she could, her feet making sloshing sounds. In the center of the commotion, she could see Ron, Harry, Hermione, Filch and Dumbledore. That could not be good. There was a non-moving cat hanging from one of the torches. There was water flooding the ground of the entire floor.

In the front of the crowd she saw Draco Malfoy. "The chamber of secrets has been opened? Enemies of the heir: beware? You'll be next, Mudbloods."

Lily wondered where Malfoy was reading this. Then she looked up on the wall. In chilling, red, feet-high letters, were the first two sentences Malfoy had said.

Chamber of secrets? Enemies of the heir? The chamber of secrets was nothing but a Hogwarts myth! Enemies of the heir…Slytherin's heir…Voldemort.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware!"

"You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

Lily couldn't help but feel scared. First a cat…then next time a student, probably.

And then maybe her. Could she die? Why should she be so scared?

She'd already died once, hadn't she?

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So what do you think? I hope the talk with Umbridge clarified some things in the earlier chapters of the story…so if you think that policeman was a little dodgy, you now know the reason. Reviews welcome! Any constructive criticism is also welcome, so if you spot any mistakes or things that just don't sound right, don't hesitate to tell me.

And of course, flames belong in a campfire.

'Til next time,

Thoughts and Pondering.