Quick note about Lily Potter's friends. I know fanon likes to put Emmeline Vance, Mary MacDonald, Alice Longbottom, Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadows in the same dorm together. However, in an effort to be different I'm going to have OC's in this story. Mainly because It's mentioned in the very first book that Hagrid got pictures from James and Lily's friends. It would make sense to have a couple alive that fled or went into hiding.
Marlene I'll keep as one of her roomies, Lily seemed pretty broken up about her death in that letter to Sirius and someone that she lived with for 7 years would shake her up very badly. Plus
I pulled the names from the top baby names from the 1960s UK to name them.
Harry Potter was used to people looking at him. It was just about all the time when he left the house. Only this time it wasn't because he was the boy who lived. It was because people were interested in the trials of all the former death eaters. That he was on a hunt for anyone that's still remaining loyal to Voldemort.
Today he was just enjoying his day off as he had walked out of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Diagon Alley was packed today with students shopping for new supplies for Hogwarts. Ginny next to him as she was talking about her story for the prophet.
"Harry, look out!" said Ginny as she attempted to pull him away from a woman that nearly knocked into him.
Her books went flying as the woman herself, frazzled, straightened herself out. Ginny and Harry helped gather her supplies that had fallen to the floor.
"Thank you so much," said the woman, making sure everything was safe. Then she turned to him with a small gasp. "Oh my gosh you do look so much like James, but those are Lily's eyes. Sorry to be a bother, I assume you don't really know me."
Harry nodded a bit wordlessly as Ginny's hand was on her wand putting it away from using a silent accio.
"Are you alright?" asked Harry as he handed her the remaining cauldron in his hand.
"Oh yes, yes," she said, taking a breath. "I suspect Sirius or Remus may have said something but I look nothing like I did in school photos. My name is Mary Walker, um, if they did say anything I'd be Mary MacDonald."
Something clicked in Harry's mind as he heard that name, but where? Then the memory of going into the pensieve came back to him. Snape's memories reminded him that Mulciber did something to her for being muggle born.
"Oh, sorry Sirius or Remus never said much but, um," he said as her smile seemed to droop. "I know your name. I'm sorry for what Mulciber did to you in school. I know it doesn't mean much now but justice has been served to him. "
Mary's face paled at the mention of Mulciber and eyes welled up, her free hand covering her mouth. He didn't mean to make her cry before the glassy eyed Mary pulled him into a hug. Sympathetically, he just hugged her back as she wiped her face.
"You know Harry, your mother was always kind to me despite being a year ahead of me," she said. "I very much like to think that she passed that trait onto you. I know you're probably busy but if you ever want to meet up for a butterbeer, I'd be happy to tell you stories about your parents. Or even help you get in contact with some of her other friends."
A bubble of excitement built up in his stomach. He never really knew his mother and would jump at the opportunity. He glanced at Ginny who gave him an encouraging nod to go for it.
"I had hoped to run into you one day," she said briskly. "Or at least introducing myself. If you ignore how cryptic it sounds we have a reason."
With that she passed him a note before apparating away.
We have the answers you seek. Bring a friend or two.
Please come to 21 Winding Way
"Come this way sir," said a house elf in a child's muggle polka dot dress. Next to him Ginny and Ron shared a look before following the elf inside.
Harry's eyes darted around as he saw rose patterned wallpaper, thick fluffy matching rugs, and the air smelled flowery. The house elf led them to a bright sunroom. Magical and muggle plants filled the space with a wicker table and chairs for them.
"The missus will be right up," squeaked the house elf. "My name is Tizzy if you need anything."
With that she disappeared to what he assumed was the kitchens. Ginny had reached over to an old book sitting on the table.
"Ginny," said Ron with a disapproving tone, "we shouldn't be going through her stuff before she tells us." He looked taken aback at what he said and grinned.
She rolled her eyes and tossed a piece of her long ginger hair over her shoulder. Harry just made a note of the exits and checked for wards. Above them the floor creaked but nobody appeared before them yet.
"Harry," said Ginny as she was biting back a laugh. "This is a photo album, these pictures have your mum in them."
Startled, he peered over her shoulder. Sure enough Ginny was right. On the very first page in the book was a picture with seven women. His mother stood on the far right waving to the camera. His eyes settled on a bookmark sticking out on the side with his name on it.
Curiously, he pulled it out to see an invitation cordially inviting them over for tea.
"Harry," said Mary behind them with a bright smile. "I didn't think you'd come with such a cryptic message - "
"I told you he'd come if you sent it though!" said another woman with straight black hair apparating into the house. "Marlene would have gotten a kick out of it. Sorry about that dear, we were drafting what we should send. In the spirit of Marlene we practiced something cryptic because that's what she would have written. It appears that Mary here gave you the wrong message."
Harry blinked his green eyes a few times getting this straight.
"Wait, did you say Marlene?" asked Ginny, hearing a familiar name. "Like Marlene McKinnon? I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to her and her family."
"Yes, thank you," said Mary as she walked over to them and pointed to someone in the picture. "This one is Marlene and she was a funny little thing let me tell you. She was the Gryffindor seeker on the quidditch team when we were in school."
Harry's eyes gazed over at the women in said picture. His mother of course was the woman with auburn hair, next to her someone chubby, another had orange hair, someone unusually tall, another with cocoa colored skin, and another blond that looked a little like Neville. Of course Mary is almost right there in the middle.
"The others should be here shortly, here have a seat," she said as the house elf returned with treats piled high on a tray.
Any suspicion that Ron might have had quickly disappeared.
"I would have brought cookies or something," said Harry, his heart still racing at the idea of getting to know these women.
"Aww you know Lily would do the same," said a witch with corkscrew blond curls appearing. "She always liked to bake and cook, which is probably why she liked potions so much. They follow recipes and all I suppose. Except of course one involves magic and the other not so much."
"We wouldn't want you to bring anything anyway," said a witch with a Welsh accent.
Harry found a spot on a loveseat with Ginny. Across from him sat Ron sitting on a large floral chair looking slightly uncomfortable. Around him three witches grinned at him as they appeared, Tizzy passed around homemade treats.
"Hello Harry," said Mary, smiling warmly at them. "I know Ginny, but who's your friend here?"
"Ron Weasley," said Ron, waving awkwardly. "Thanks for the sweets."
He ate two pasties with a small smile on his face. Mary nodded before she sat back after putting the book in Harry's lap to look at.
"Now before we start telling any stories or anything," said Mary grinning. "Let me introduce you to everyone. I'm Mary of course and we've met already."
Then she gestured to a short woman with dark skin and a pretty smile. "I'm Anna Fawley," she said. "Or rather that's my maiden name. Now I'm Anna Newton."
Finally the third woman who Harry noted was chubby with corkscrew blond curls. "Julie Bennett," she said. "Formally Julie Kissinger."
Harry, Ginny, and Ron nodded at each of them as Tizzy passed around the tea. This was so odd, he thought, before looking down at the picture at the front of the book once again. He could point out Julie, Anna, Mary, and his mother.
"Who were the other three?" he couldn't help but ask. They all looked like great friends with their arms thrown around each other, laughing.
"The tall one of course is Marlene McKinnon, the ginger haired one is Karen Gibson, and Alice Longbottom, although at the time she had a different surname. Marlene died during the war with her family. Alice is at St. Mungos in the ward for irrevocable spell damage. Karen moved to New York City to get away from the war. Believe it or not, last I heard she's a model in the muggle world now!"
Slightly intrigued, Harry leaned back listening to the women talk about themselves and their current lives. Ginny had also taken an interest, while Ron was focusing on trying each of the sweets that Tizzy brought up to them.
Julie, the one with the blond girls, finally turned and set her eyes back on him.
"I'm so sorry dear for getting off topic, I'm sure Lily would be scolding us. Are there any questions that you'd like to ask us right away? Or we could just start by telling you about her."
"I don't know, Sirius and Remus would tell me stuff rather randomly. I wouldn't know where to start really," said Harry, his mind jumping from one question to a topic all at once. School days? Defying Voldemort three times? Although he supposed that they didn't know much about the last topic.
"Why don't you tell us what you do know and then go from there?" said Anna helpfully.
Harry told them everything that he knew, ranging from her favorite class to what her wand was. Each woman delighted that he seemed to know more than he initially let on. Just facts that Sirius and Remus would tell him. Of course purposely excluding Petunia's narrative, who undoubtedly saw her sister in a negative light.
"As for my first question, I guess, well, erm, uh what's her favorite color?" asked Harry thinking of the first random question he could think of.
The other ladies just shared a look and nodded toward one of them to answer the question.
"Red," said Mary without thinking much about it. "As cliche as that sounds, being a Gryffindor and all. She did say that she always loved having red hair."
"Did she like school?" asked Ron, seemingly channeling Hermione.
"At first definitely, she was a muggle born with a desire to prove herself as worthy of being a witch. Always did well in her classes eventually becoming a prefect. However the novelty wore off that it was still school. She continued to do well but she never did excess reading or independent studies. Her best class was potions but divination was her worst. She never brought herself to drop the class though because she loved to make things up," said Anna.
Ron and Harry had shared a grin, that was the exact same thing they did in that class.
"What about after school? Did she ever say any plans that she wanted to do?" Harry asked curiously. Maybe he was going down the same path she wanted to.
"Depends on when you asked her. At the end of our very first year she mentioned that she wanted to teach and take Professor Slughorn's place. Third year she wanted to run an apothecary. By the end of the fifth year she definitely knew that she wanted to work for the ministry as an auror."
Something in him knew that he made his mother proud. That she would approve of his future career. Not that he needed that approval or anything but it was a good feeling he had. Harry looked toward Ginny and Ron as if they might have something in mind.
"Did she like quidditch?" Ginny asked herself. One of the women laughed as Anna leaned in to answer the question.
"Well, Lily was afraid of heights and never tried out herself but she loved it. We watched the tryouts since they were open to everyone. We went to all the games to watch and meet people in the stands. Some of my favorite memories were at those games. I played on the Gryffindor team too myself so it was fun to catch them in the stands."
"What position did you play?" asked Ginny excitedly.
"Keeper," she said, taking a treat off the tray. "Your father was a chaser, he was quite remarkable on the field. Marlene, James, and I with the others, well, we were quite a team. I like to think that we were the best that Hogwarts had seen in a long time."
Harry noticed that the others all shared a look with each other. Apparently this wasn't the first time Anna started to talk on and on about quidditch. She appeared to be a big fan of Puddlemere United, as Harry grinned. That was the same team that Oliver Wood managed to get recruited to play for them.
Together they had a good time discussing how the team was doing. It sounded like they were going to be the team to beat this year.
What was better was that he felt himself becoming more and more comfortable. He had taken Ginny's hand as she smiled at him.
"Oh, that reminds me, I'd be curious to know if there was much truth to, er. How do I phrase this, okay, so Sirius told me that my mum liked my dad for a long time. Although in a pensieve I saw that they didn't get along. Is there a story there?"
The women sat back in their chairs with Mary practically sinking into the cushion she was sitting on.
"Well," said Julie. "I think she started liking him in our first year at least platonically. Now that might sound odd, but we were a bunch of first years that didn't really know each other well and were too afraid to talk to the older students. Anyway, I was telling her what I knew about the wizarding world, since I'm a half-blood and grew up in a magical home. He walked up to us, introduced himself and told her that he liked her red hair. I don't think that she believed him but they shook hands."
Then Anna piped up adding her notes.
"Marlene and I spied on them a little when we heard Lily wanted to talk to him alone in fourth year. We were curious girls and I swear up and down it was Marlene's idea anyway. Anyway, she thanked him for saving Severus when he was nearly attacked by something the month before. If Marlene was here, she could do a perfect imitation. Anyway, we heard her say "Maybe we'll run into each other at Honeydukes next Hogsmeade weekend" it was a small hint. It was there and we asked her about it. She said that James was and I quote, ``not that bad of a fellow if you're on the right side of him.``"
Harry looked mildly impressed that she remembered so much. Then again, maybe they had pensieves themselves? Diaries from the time? Or perhaps their time at Hogwarts gave them exceptionally good memories.
"So I guess there's some truth to the fact that she liked my dad?" asked Harry remembering those words his mother had said to his dad. Sirius said that she always liked him and they dated when his head deflated a bit, but everyone had their flaws or saw things differently.
"Any truth…? Her dad pointed out that she mustn't hate him too much at the rate she talked about him. Lily picked up talking about him two days later. Not going to lie but Lils did enjoy some of those pranks, at least the harmless ones. They lit Dr. Filibuster fireworks at the end of the school year even though they weren't allowed at school. She'd say that they were always so pretty. Or turning everyone's food green in honor of St. Patrick's Day."
"Sirius and Remus and really everyone tell me how great my dad was, never really mentioning flaws. What kind of, er, flaws do you suppose that she had?" asked Harry.
"Well she's always been a little insecure about her blood status. Stubborn and vindictive too. Then she was so possessive of her stuff. I remember her mother sending her this beautiful wool sweater and I wanted to borrow it for a date. She wouldn't even let me look at it, much less borrow it. Finally, I guess it's right to say that she's a terrible judge of character," said Julie as Harry thought of Peter.
With the help of Ginny and Ron, they had a rapid fire of answers from all the girls with their own stories to tell about his parents.
"We liked Snape at first, he was a little odd but otherwise fine. It wasn't until a little way through the beginning of second year when the tables had turned…."
"Her favorite movie was Bedknobs and Broomsticks. We saw it way back when it came out in '71 during our Christmas holiday. We got into so much trouble with the ministry since it was definitely not accidental magic..."
"James took muggle studies to help impress her and it kind of worked..."
"Your mother could be as cruel as a death eater, of course only on those that deserved it. I'm sure all of the Slytherins and maybe a few Ravenclaws called her a bitch behind her back."
"Poor Lily? Poor Petunia more like it! She was on the receiving end of a lot, no wonder she ended up hating magic…"
"She had a cat, be glad you didn't get her poor judgement on animals, it was the ugliest thing. It was this fat ginger half kneazle and cat…"
"Your mother is a bright and clever witch, but she wasn't the smartest in our year. Probably top 10 in our class but likely at 8 or 9."
When he left that night with answers and stories, Harry felt more than satisfied with their meeting. His mother was closer to him than ever. Not only that but he didn't have war to pull them away from him like Sirius and Remus. With the promise to meet up again, Harry could only hug Ginny close to him and talk non-stop to Ron the whole way home.