Huzzah! I hope you missed me. We've only got a few more chapters to go, so let's make them good, aight?

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, especially to those of you who gave me that very helpful constructive criticism. My reviewers really are the best, most polite people – I brag about you guys all the time. I just wish I could repay you by writing these up a little faster, but as the story comes to a close, I get more paranoid about things like, does this make sense? Is this believable? If I were this character, would I really do something like this? etc. So, please excuse me while I attempt to make this perfect for you guys – Moses knows you deserve it!

Disclaimer: Twenty-eight down! Two to go!

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They were still crouched on the floor in the hospital broom closet, holding on to each other in a tight hug. Lily only took a second to think of what they were doing; how they were searching for something solid in this time of confusion and ambiguity. At least, that was how she felt. Maybe Harry really was about to lose his balance.

"Harry, are you alright?" Lily asked quietly.

Harry chuckled weakly into her back. Lily could feel her starchy white uniform was damp. "Stupid question, sorry," she apologized.

"No, I'm fine." Harry let go of the embrace and looked at her, wiping his eyes. "I'm just…sort of confused, I guess. And – I was wondering something..."

"Go ahead," Lily prompted.

"Well, I know you said you couldn't come for me at the Dursleys because Dumbledore made you promise not to…" Harry looked reluctant. "But still, I don't really understand why. I mean, it wouldn't have been that hard, would it? If you really wanted to, I'm sure you could have convinced him…And it was me, your son!" Harry's voice was building confidence. "You knew the Dursleys – you knew what horrible people they are, how they would treat me! And you still let me live there, when you were alive and cozy in London! How could you do that? I don't understand –"

"Harry!" Lily whispered, shocked at his sudden mood change. "I'm so sorry! I don't think you'll ever know how sorry I am! I can't defend what I did; all I can say is that I so wanted to be the one to raise you, like I should have."

"So why didn't you?" Harry spat angrily.

"I – I was scared! When Dumbledore left you with the Dursleys, he told me it would only be a short time thing, until I was well enough to take care of you myself. You don't know…I was completely devastated after James died – I wasn't aware of anything that was going on, not Voldemort's fall, nothing! I was so young then…only twenty-one, and not at all prepared to raise a child by myself! I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's true – I was terrified. And when I finally grew up a little, and you were still at the Dursleys, I was still afraid to take you. What if little three-year-old Harry didn't recognize me, what if – what if he didn't like me? I couldn't face you, no matter how much I wanted to be your mother." Lily laughed bitterly. "It's pathetic, and I'm ashamed of myself, but it's the truth."

Harry didn't say anything, but sat with his head in his hands.

"Look – Dumbledore wanted me to see him," Lily said in the uncomfortable silence. "Why don't you come with me? I'm sure he'd be able to clear a few things up for you."

Harry nodded. "But…Petunia…"

Lily bit her lip. "We won't be long. Though, it wouldn't be such a shame if we missed it. Childbirth isn't exactly fun to watch."

Harry gave a very tiny chuckle, and followed her out the door.

o-o

"Albus!" Lily stumbled into the Headmaster's office, covered in soot.

"Lily," Dumbledore rose from his chair to greet her. "I was getting worried. I was just about to send Fawkes off to find you." He gestured for her to sit in on of the chairs next to his desk, but she remained standing.

"I'm sorry, Albus. My sister went into labor, and we had to take her to the hospital," she explained.

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, she'll be fine," Lily assured, brushing dust from her skirt.

"How did you get here?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the state of Lily's clothes. "Was there –"

But he stopped, seeing Harry's head peek into the doorway. Lily looked back. "Oh. Albus, I should explain…" Her voice faded.

"Hello, Professor," Harry spoke carefully.

"Good afternoon, Harry." Dumbledore looked back at Lily and raised his eyebrows for an explanation. "Harry, would you please excuse us for a moment?"

"Yes, sir." Harry walked outside, the heavy stone door shutting behind him.

"Lily, how much does he know?" Dumbledore asked urgently.

She winced. "Everything. There was nothing I could do – he found your letter and realized that I'm a witch, so I thought that I would just tell him who I really am."

Dumbledore heaved a sigh. "You know, you could have just claimed to be an Order member assigned to watch him," the Headmaster pointed out.

Lily nodded. "I thought of that. But I also thought it might be better if he was told before I took the potion. That way, he'd be able to see the transformation for himself."

Dumbledore bit his lip, but nodded. "I suppose you're right. It must have been hard for you to keep the truth from him for this long, anyway. How did he take the news?"

"I'm not sure, actually…" Lily collapsed tiredly into a chair. "He was very accepting at first, but then he kind of snapped and started screaming at me. I don't know, Albus," she sighed. "His reaction was exactly what I was afraid of. I think he misses Sirius so much that he's become almost desperate for love."

"I see. You'll just have to be very straightforward with him. It might take a while for Harry to completely trust you."

"But what if he snaps again?"

"Every parent eventually has to deal with hormones," Dumbledore smiled slightly. "You're new at raising a son, but if I know you as well as I think I do, Lily, you'll catch on quickly."

Lily felt the corners of her mouth raise into a smile. "But there's so much to do… so much to plan…what happens next?"

Dumbledore ran his fingers through his long white beard. "Do you want to continue living with the Dursleys?"

"Definitely not," Lily said firmly.

"Well, you do want to live with Harry, don't you?" He checked.

"Of course!"

"So you and Harry will leave the Dursleys' together," Dumbledore concluded.

Lily nodded. "Yes, but where will we go?"

"Did you sell that house you were living in before you moved in with Petunia? The one outside of London?"

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "You're in a state of shock. Frankly, I was surprised you even managed to get here safely. How did you come, by the way?"

Lily blushed and cleared some of the dirt off of her uniform. "Floo. I Apparated us to the Three Broomsticks and then used their fireplace to get to the kitchens."

The Headmaster nodded. "Very well. Shall we do what you came here for, then?"

"Yes! Hang on just a minute – Harry! You can come back in now!" Lily called him.

Harry was looking a bit apprehensive when he walked through Dumbledore's door again. "So…"

"So." Lily agreed.

"You – fixed your things, sir." Harry stated, pointing at a spindly silver object on one of the shelves. It took Lily a second to realize that he was very subtly referring to his near destruction of Dumbledore's office the previous month.

"Yes, Harry," the wizard said simply. "Well, this must be quite a shock to you. It isn't every day that the dead come back to life."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry still looked nervous.

"Is there anything you'd like to discuss before Lily takes the potion?" Dumbledore asked softly.

Harry took a seat in a chair beside the wall. "I…still don't really understand this, Professor. I mean, I asked…er…" He glanced at Lily.

"Lily," she offered. "Er, unless you want to keep calling me Tabitha. Or, perhaps not, since you know now that's really not my name. Though it could be a hard habit to break…not 'mum', though, right? That's strange, isn't it? Calling this perfect stranger your mother? Well, er, maybe it's not strange for you – not that I think I know how you feel, or anything! – I – I just – "

"Okay." Harry stared at her, ceasing her rambling. "Lily. I asked Lily about what happened, with the spell you invented and everything, but I really don't…" he shook his head.

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand how you would be confused. You see, the spell I created, which I call the Sopravivus Charm, saved your mother from death by Voldemort's Killing Curse. It did, however, leave side effects on her body. The most obvious, of course, if her change in appearance."

"Were there any other effects?" Harry asked.

"I wasn't able to find any others, though there could be some minor, undetectable altercations."

Harry shook his head. "How is this even possible, though? I thought the Avada Kedavra was impossible to block."

The Headmaster sighed. "It took many, many years to create the Sopravivus. Do you remember my old friend Nicholas Flamel?" Harry nodded. "Well, he had been experimenting – using the Sorcerer's Stone to create a actual shield that would protect any victim of the Avada Kedavra. Nicholas was almost successful, but his death and the destruction of the Stone prevented him from making any conclusions. I used his original plans to create a charm that would have similar protective affects."

"How did you do that without the Stone?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I didn't. I had to create a replica of the Stone to use as the powerhouse of the charm. I, of course, destroyed the replica once the charm was completed."

Harry nodded. "Okay, so, you created this charm. So why, of all people, did you want to test it on my – Lily?"

"I didn't, Harry. I wanted to test it on you." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling almost insanely now. "If you were the one that Voldemort wanted to kill over all others, wouldn't you be the best candidate for the Sopravivus? But I was afraid of how the charm would affect you at such a young age, so I decided to put it on Lily instead. Because she was near you when the Killing Curse hit her, you were protected as well. That is how you survived death, my boy, not because of some mystical power of a mother's sacrifice." He concluded knowingly.

"Why did you put the charm on her? Why not my dad?" Harry looked at Lily quickly. "Not that I would rather –"

She waved for him to stop. "I asked the same thing. Albus didn't want to risk the spell on both of us." Lily couldn't entirely keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"I also thought the protection might have been more affective if your mother had it." Dumbledore hung his head shamefully. "I will always regret the life I could have saved. James was a good man."

Lily sniffed. "Okay. Do have any other questions, Harry?"

"Well…" He looked embarrassed again. "I understand why you left me with the Dursleys. You were afraid of how I would react, and you didn't think you could handle rejection."

"We also thought you would be safer with your aunt and uncle, Harry," Dumbledore added. "Everything seemed in your favor there – there were no wizards anywhere close to Little Whinging, and you were impossible to track, so you would be safe from harm."

"I had no idea of how they treated you, Harry." Lily spoke softly. "It didn't occur to me that Petunia would neglect you because she had hated me. And we never heard anything from Arabella Figg about how you were being treated."

"She couldn't have known," Harry told her. "The Dursleys liked to keep that sort of thing within the family."

"That sounds like Petunia," Lily growled.

"Right. There's something else, though," Harry realized. "You were actually alive when Sirius was arrested."

Lily squirmed guiltily in her seat. "That's right. I was alive."

"So…" Harry massaged his temple. "So, why didn't you stick up for him? He might have never gone to Azkaban!"

"Believe me, Harry, I wanted to!" Lily pleaded. "Sirius was one of my best friends, ever since I got to know him through James. I didn't want to see him in that awful place!"

"It would have been quite a weak case," Dumbledore explained calmly amongst the room's anxiety. "Lily didn't look anything like her old self after the Sopravivus was placed on her, and everyone believed her to be dead, anyway. I would have been greatly surprised if someone had believed her."

"But couldn't you have done something?" Harry protested at Dumbledore. "You knew he was innocent – couldn't you have gotten him moved to a normal prison, at least?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "The Council never would have stood for it. Those were terrible times, Harry – wizards were desperate for every last criminal to be locked away in Azkaban. They weren't taking any chances after Voldemort's fall."

Harry let out his breath in one long, heavy gust. "I suppose you're right," he said after a minute. "I just wish this could have worked out…better."

"I do, too, Harry," Lily agreed quietly. "I do, too."

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So, good? Terrible? I hope this chapter filled all those little gaps you guys kept pointing out to me.

I SOLEMNLY SWEAR that I will try to update sooner next time! We're almost done!

Trivia Question: How old was Nicholas Flamel when he passed? Easy one, people!

Review replies are on my profile!

Enjoy the snow, those of you in the north!

LaRohaZeta

P.S. I was a Harajuku girl for Halloween, to answer my own trivia. It was pretty sweet.