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Title: Everything In Its Right Place
Summary: After falling through the Hogwarts' lake, Lily Evans wakes up to find that she's five years in the future, has a child, and she's married to the cocky James Potter- which is just wrong in itself.
Disclaimer: I only own the plot.
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Chapter Two: Soot Covered Faces
December 15th, 1980
When she screamed, it hurt her throat, terribly so. Lily felt as though she had just swallowed gallons upon gallons of salt water, which she actually had. Her scream wavered and she stopped, realizing she could breathe. She could breathe. The relief Lily felt was overwhelming.
It had all been a nightmare. She had simply gone back to the common room after the meeting, spoken to Dorcas and fallen asleep instead of going outside. Eyes still closed, Lily lifted a hand up to her chest. Her heart pounded at an incredible rate and she fought to calm it. Just a dream.
After a moment of lying in silence, Lily opened her eyes. Then closed them. No, no, what the bloody hell was happening to her? Was she still dreaming? Surely because she knew not of the room she just glanced around.
Her heart beat was picking up again and her palms became sweaty as she kept her eyes closed. You're a Gryffindor, Evans, now open your bloody eyes and look around! A voice shouted in her head, causing Lily's eyes to snap open in shock. Licking her lips, Lily sat up in the bed and took a long look around.
The room she was in was made for two people, definitely not her room. She was neither at her home nor in Hogwarts, she knew, unless Dumbledore had decided she would best be treated in a professor's quarters. A desk sat by a window and on the desk there were rolls of parchment, quills, ink bottles and wax stamps.
Curtains didn't allow Lily to see what the weather was like outside but she hardly cared. Turning her head, she took in the rest of the room. A dresser stood on the same side of the wall as the desk and beside it was a small table, with a vase of flowers and a picture. Lily bit her lip before throwing her feet over the side of the bed.
Surprisingly, the floor was not cold and Lily's body relaxed slightly. Standing up, Lily walked toward the picture. Whoever was in the picture this room, this house, had to belong to.
So it was perfectly understandable that, when she picked up the picture frame, she dropped it with a surprised gasp. For in the picture was herself and Potter, embracing.
---
"This is a nightmare, just a nightmare," Lily muttered to herself, pacing around the room.
It had to be an hour since she had woken up and she still wouldn't believe that she was truly in some house with Potter. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stopped her pacing and sat on the floor, putting her head in her hands and closing her eyes. She wasn't sure how it worked exactly.
She never before dreamt of being with Potter and, though she had destroyed the room searching for something, anything, she had found nothing to help her raging mind. All the parchments and letters on the desk were only stating things about jobs and such. Apparently, in this dream, Lily was a Healer and Potter was an Auror. There was a small amount of personal letters.
Even after searching under the bed, which hid a hand full of socks and a rubber ducky, she had found nothing of importance. The dresser proved worthless also, though there was now a good amount of robes thrown onto the floor. Lily sighed, trying to take a calming breath. Her left arm was now bruised from being pinched so much and it added to the aching of the rest of her body.
Lily lifted her head from her hands and glanced around the room. She would have to leave the room to try to find any real answers. What if this wasn't a dream? It was impossible to have a nightmare of falling through a lake, blacking out and then waking up in a random bed (and have it all still be a dream), right? Divination was never one of Lily's great spots so she highly doubted she was having one of those dreams of the future or something.
Standing up from her spot on the floor, Lily walked over to the only door in the large room. She pulled open the door quickly, as though she was sure someone was going to pop out and scream 'boo!' in her face. A wave of fresh air hit Lily and she breathed it in. This place smelled like her home, she could almost picture seeing her mum and dad right next to her, introducing her to a new house they had bought.
With an almost cynical smile, Lily shook her thoughts away. Stepping out of the room, Lily closed the door behind her. She was in a long corridor, many doors on both sides. Candles were burning as a source of light for the hallway and her eyes darted around, looking for a set of stairs to go down, assuming she was up a floor.
She began to walk down the hallway, taking the left side by a guess, but stopped when she got to the first door. Curiosity filled her and she couldn't help it when her fingers wrapped around the doorknob. Lily also couldn't help it when she twisted the doorknob and when she pushed the door open.
A new smell filled Lily's senses and she closed her eyes as dread filled her stomach. Stepping into the room, slowly and hesitantly, Lily studied the room. The dread and fear in her stomach increased, spreading through her arms and legs. No, no, surely not…
Toys, small baby toys, covered a corner of the room. A crib sat by one of the two windows in the room and there was soft music playing. Lily felt as if the world were a blur when she reached the crib and looked inside. As expected, a baby slept, his chest rising and falling in a soothing, innocent way. She watched as the baby sucked on his finger even in his sleep.
Black hair covered the baby's head, black hair that was already messy, whether from tossing and turning or genetics, Lily couldn't be too sure. Reaching down, Lily allowed her fingers to touch the baby's cheek and the baby's eyes opened with a start. Emerald eyes. Lily's breath got caught in her throat and she took a step backwards. She didn't bother to watch as the baby fell back to sleep, too sleepy to worry over his mother's distress.
No one had eyes like that. Green eyes plainly were rare, her father always told her, but eyes that shined like an Evans were truly one of a kind. Lily turned and ran out of the baby's room, running through the corridor and trying to find a staircase to get out of the house. She had to get out.
When she found a staircase, she almost tripped trying to get down it so fast. Her body was distressed and her mind was spinning and her heart was pounding. At the bottom of the staircase, there was a large entrance room. The room looked as though it were from a castle, so elegant and rich with color that Lily's eyes hurt from staring at it.
She rushed to the front door and opened it. A fresh layer of snow lay on the ground and Lily ran to it, dropping to her knees when she finally reached it. Her hands grabbed it and the snow melted right away but she didn't notice. What was happening? Why was this happening? Lily was not a mother, she was not with Potter and this was not her house!
Tears were building up and Lily closed her eyes to stop them from falling. She had cried too much today. But she couldn't help it. Despair rose in her chest, choking her, and she whimpered for air.
---
The baby was crying. That was all Lily could manage to hear, manage to think, as she sat outside of the baby's room. She felt as though she was obliged to take care of the child but she was hesitant to, she had never before held a baby, much less care for one. And after searching the whole house, which was an adventure in itself with her hyperventilating half of the time, Lily knew there was no one else to take care of the baby.
Lily finally entered the room when guilt began to bite at her. That baby was use to someone caring for him… right? It wasn't the baby's fault that Lily was confused and feeling down on herself.
When the baby saw her, his crying immediately lowered in volume. Awkwardly, Lily reached for the baby. The baby was red in the face and tear tracks ran down the side of his face. Lily felt even more guilt as she studied the child. After a moment of continually shifting the baby in her arms, all the while managing to hold the baby over the crib incase she were to drop it by accident, a comfortable position finally showed itself.
The baby's head lay in the crook of her left arm, his small hands grabbing onto her shirt, and she breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped crying all the way. His eyes took her and her actions in and Lily waited, as though someone was going to appear and tell her what to do with the child. Without knowing what time it was, and the baby's schedule, she wasn't sure if it was time for the baby to be fed or not.
Her stomach growled in response as she thought of eating and that made up her mind. While exploring the house in search of someone, she discovered the kitchen. If she went down the stairs and went to the left, she would find herself in a new corridor. That corridor had only two doors, one was to the kitchens and the other was to the eating hall.
Still cradling the baby cautiously in her arms and taking the route she had just thought of, Lily tried to think of a way to… do something. She didn't even know what she wanted to do! Lily was in quite a situation, wasn't she? After thinking for a long while, she had decided she had ether been transported into the future or she was in another dimension.
Though the latter was more frightening, she hoped that that choice was the right one. She had no desire to be married to James Potter in the future and be the mother of his child. A laugh escaped her throat at her own thoughts, her first laugh of the day, and she shook her head. The baby smiled at her laughter.
Lily had to talk to someone. That was the one thing she needed to do, she realized as she walked into the kitchen. Who could she owl? Or should she Floo them? But who? Biting her lip, Lily placed the baby in a high chair that was conveniently placed by the counter.
Dorcas. The name came to Lily as she searched for a container of baby food. This kitchen was too large. Really, how many people did they feed? And since Lily hardly ever cooked, she could not say that she was a great chief.
A smile appeared on Lily's lips as she thought of Dorcas. Oh, Dorcas would know what to do. Somehow, Dorcas had always seemed like Lily's other half, adventurous and disobedient to authority. They managed to always keep each other's heads screwed on tightly, especially when the other person thought they were going mad.
Lily found the baby food and took it down. Now all she needed was to find a spoon and some food for herself. It took her a total of twenty minutes to find herself some food. After an extra twenty minutes of trying to feed the baby, who was quite persistent with not eating, and eating the sandwich she made for herself, Lily was done. Lily eyed the baby as he began to doze off in the high chair.
It seemed true, the saying that all babies did was sleep, eat, poop and then go back to sleep. Lily pushed herself off the counter, where she was leaning, and picked up the baby. Now all he had to do was poop and the whole process would be complete. Her nose scrunched up at the thought of changing the baby's diaper. Holding the baby for a second time was less awkward, Lily noticed as she walked out of the kitchen.
She didn't seem half afraid that she would drop him, though the thought was in the back of her mind. Walking back up the stairs, Lily entered the bedroom she had awoken in. Slowly, she placed the baby on his back in the center of the bed. When he made no move to start crying or to wake up, Lily walked over to the window.
Floo would probably be best, for it was always best to talk to someone face to face rather then over a letter. So she would have to Floo with the baby over to Dorcas' house? Lily didn't even know where Dorcas lived! Sighing, Lily brought a hand up to her forehead. She had to try. Refusing to be at this house when Potter got home, if he would ever get home, Lily walked away from the window back to the bed.
"Why can't this just be a dream?" Lily whispered to the baby.
He didn't move in his sleep and Lily crawled onto the bed next to him. Resting her head on the pillow, she stared down at the baby, at his black, puffy hair. She grinned as she slid her arm under the pillow for extra comfort but stopped when she felt something poke her hand. Sitting up, Lily lifted the pillow.
Her wand. Laying under the pillow was Lily's wand. With a silent shriek of joy, she grabbed it. Wrapping her fingers around the piece of wood, Lily felt as though she was complete. She sighed in content.
---
After briefly taking a nap with the baby, Lily had decided she best try and find where Dorcas was. She had searched through her desk again, and now the bedroom was quite a mess from everything being thrown around, but had found no address books or anything of the sort. Then she took the still sleeping baby downstairs to the entertainment room, where there was a fireplace. Luckily a large, blazing fire already burned within it.
Unsure of what to do, for Floo was not used often since she lived in a Muggle family, Lily had thrown the Floo powder into the fire. The golden flames darkened into green and, biting her lip, Lily stepped into the fire. She glanced at the baby, making sure he was squeezed close to her body, before shouting, 'Dorcas Meadowes!'.
Turned out there are quite a few Meadowes' with the Floo system, all related to Dorcas but none Dorcas herself. It had been on her fourth, and last, try that she finally arrived at the right place. The entertainment room was quite small and messy, letting Lily to know she was in the right place. Dorcas never was good at keeping things clean.
"Dorcas?" Lily called, glancing down at the baby. Soot covered his face and Lily frowned, wiping at it.
The baby gave a small yawn, though he didn't open his eyes, and snuggled closer to Lily's chest. Shifting awkwardly, Lily looked up, wondering where her friend was. And it was just then that Dorcas, staring down at a jigsaw puzzle, walked into the room. She would have walked past them, not even noticing, if Lily hadn't coughed.
Looking up, Dorcas gave a shriek, dropping her puzzle and stumbling backwards. Lily blinked before her face cracked into a smile.
"Dorcas!"
Dorcas was the same, looking as though she had aged a couple of years of course, and her face lit up with joy when she saw who arrived through her fireplace. Rushing over, Dorcas held her hands out to take the baby.
"I didn't know you were coming!" Dorcas said, laughing. "I didn't even know anybody was here."
"You should get that checked out," Lily whispered, her voice choked up with relief. "It's dangerous, anybody could enter."
Dorcas grinned at Lily and pressed a kiss to the baby's face, causing the baby to groan again and shift, this time opening his eyes to give a glare. Following Dorcas, who took a seat on a nearby couch, Lily tried to figure out a way to tell Dorcas of her problem.
"Oh, yes you are a handsome baby, Mr. Potter," Dorcas said, obviously wanting the baby to wake up so she could play with him.
Looking up, Dorcas caught Lily's eyes and whatever she was going to say died on her lips. Frowning, she tilted her head.
"What's wrong, Lily?" She asked.
Lily opened her mouth to tell Dorcas, tell she was in the future or… something… but nothing came out.
"Are you okay?" Dorcas questioned, her eyes widening in fear for her friend. "Is James okay? Does James know you're here?"
"Potter? No but-"
"What do you mean no?" Dorcas' voice suddenly got very high and the baby's eyes opened.
The baby's mouth opened too and a loud cry filled the room. Dorcas' face scrunched up and she held her arms out so Lily could take the baby. Lily's own eyes widened.
"What?" Lily asked over his cries.
"Take Harry!" Dorcas ordered, a look of disbelief coming to her face.
"Harry?" So that was the baby's name. "Why?"
"You're his Mum!" Dorcas shouted.
Lily snatched the baby - Harry - from Dorcas' arms and uneasily tried to calm him. He continued to cry. It was then that she smelt it. That smell that had the ability to be burned into your memory. A look of disgust came over Dorcas' face and she covered her nose with her hands.
"Oh Merlin, Lily," She cried. "Change his diaper!"
Lily looked around before reaching up and slapping her forehead. She didn't bring any baby stuff with her! How ignorant was she? Dorcas saw her reaction and stood up.
"You have to go home anyway," Dorcas said as she took Lily by the arm and pulled her up. "You shouldn't be leaving the house without James knowing."
"And why not?" Lily asked, rocking Harry in her arms while staring at Dorcas in confusion. "Potter doesn't run my life!"
"Potter? Potter is your husband and there is a war going on. Doesn't he get off around now? He'll go home and you won't be there. He'll be worried sick!" hissed Dorcas as she took some Floo powder and threw it into the fire.
Lily felt a flash of anger as Dorcas pushed her toward the fire. And here she thought they were friends!
"You can tell me what's wrong tomorrow, or tonight even," She said when she noticed the angry flush that stained Lily's cheeks. "I'm sorry but James would kill me if he knew you were here while he was at home, probably going mad with worry."
"I highly doubt that," Lily responded with a roll of her eyes before going to step into the fire. "I'll see you when I see you."
Stepping into the fire, Lily shouted the first thing she could think of. After all, how did she know where she lived?
"Potter's house!"
---
She barely caught herself from falling when she arrived at the house. A pounding headache had arrived once she began to Floo home, what with Harry's screaming and the 'whooshing' noise of the fireplaces. Lily rushed out of the room, glad that she was in the house she had begun at, and was about to run up the set of stairs when a figure came rushing towards her.
Her breath got caught in her throat when she saw who it was.
"Lily! Where the bloody hell were you?" Potter's voice was filled with rage and, underneath that, concern.
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Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, SORRY this took so long, I truly am. I thought I had completely finished writing but I suppose I haven't. This isn't beta-read, so sorry for any mistakes. Thank you for reading and review, please?