Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.
Prologue:
Minerva McGonagall walked slowly through the somber halls, biting her lip and pondering the task at hand. In her long life, she had faced her share of difficult situations. She'd fought Death Eaters on more than one occasion, protected students from trolls, dementors, and one particularly gruesome Professor Umbridge, and even dealt with six and a half years of Weasley twin pranks, but this, this was quite different. Here she was, about to knock on the door of the hero of the wizarding world, a mere boy, who had lost everything he had ever held dear. And she would pat him on the shoulder and hold out the stone basin as if that would make everything all right. She was slightly disgusted with herself, but she had to do it; it was among the many demands Dumbledore had laid out in a neatly written letter outlining all his last wishes.
She knocked tentatively on the door, hoping inwardly that he was not there and she could just leave it outside his room with a short note and be on her way. However, a moment later the door creaked open and he stood there, looking tired and more than a little bedraggled.
"Potter," she croaked, not sure where to begin. He looked at her strangely, apparently wondering what exactly she was doing in the door of his room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. "Harry," she tried again, stepping into the room. She then noticed Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley were also in the room and she wondered if, perhaps, she ought to come back at another time. However, she seriously doubted if she could come back another time, so she proceeded with her task. Potter was going to tell them regardless, she assumed. "Dumbledore wished me to give you this." She held out the stone basin in her hands.
"His pensieve?" Harry asked dubiously.
"Not exactly," McGonagall explained. "The first memory is Dumbledore's actually, which will explain the rest. But Harry, this is no ordinary pensieve…it contains the memories of… your mother." Harry stood stock still as he let the words sink in and Hermione and Ron shot each other nervous glances. Dumbledore had had Lily's memories all this time and never told Harry about it? He was sure to explode with anger. Much to their surprise, though, he calmly accepted the pensieve.
"I see," he replied, quite rationally indeed.
"I hope this proves useful for the tasks you have planned for the coming year," McGonagall said somberly. She was no fool; she knew he was not planning to return to Hogwarts even if it did remain open.
"Thank you," Harry said, his eyes blazing with intensity. Perhaps he was not a mere boy afterall. She nodded a greeting to Hermione and Ron before exiting the room.
Harry turned around and sat heavily on his bed. Hermione took this as her cue to leave Harry alone.
"Well, we'll just be going then," she said softly, tugging on Ron's elbow to drag him from the room.
"Stay," Harry said simply, eyes focused on the swirling, pearly strands of memory.
"But Harry, don't you think you ought to be alone for this?" Hermione asked sensibly.
"Please don't leave me alone. I can't possibly be alone for this." Hermione gave Ron a worried look, but approached Harry and the pensieve.
"All right, we're here for you as long as you need us," Hermione said.
"Thanks. I'm going to get Ginny," Harry said. Hermione looked at him oddly, but chose to remain quiet.
"Why?" Ron finally spoke up.
"I'd like her to be here too," Harry responded, heading out the door.
"But why?" Ron asked again, quite bluntly.
"Ronald" Hermione scolded him. He wasn't sure why, but now was no time for an argument so he shrugged and sat down on the bed beside Hermione.
A moment later Harry reappeared, an arguing Ginny in tow.
"I really don't think I should be here for this. You three are the only ones who would need to know this stuff for defeating Voldemort. There's nothing I could possibly benefit from seeing all this." Ginny reasoned. Harry had not explained to her exactly whose pensieve they would be going into, just that Dumbledore had wanted Harry to see this and there was much to be learned from it.
"Ginny please. I need you here with me. This isn't like all the other memories I saw this past year. These are… my mother's. And if there's anyone I want to share this with, it is you." Harry said, taking her hand in his.
"Hey, what about us?" Ron piped up, only to be swiftly elbowed by Hermione. Both Harry and Ginny chose to ignore his comment, seeing as how Hermione was taking care of it.
"All right, if you insist," Ginny said, squeezing Harry's hand. They joined Ron and Hermione on the bed, sitting in a circle with the pensieve at the center.
"Ready?" Harry asked the group. They all nodded and leaned forward simultaneous. "Well, let's go then." Harry closed his eyes as he neared the edge of the memories, afraid of what he would find. A moment later he felt himself tip into the edge and tumble into a very familiar office.
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The next chapter will be in this sort of format, told from the perspective of Harry and company, but it will quickly move to being told from Lily's perspective with occasional comments from Harry. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!