STORY TITLE: Lily's Secret
PART: 02 of ?
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson ( )
DISTRIBUTION: , HP Fan Fiction Archive, Archive of Our Own, Hentai-Foundry, Questionable Questing
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, they all belong to JK Rowling and her publishers.
SUMMARY: It was a simple oversight, something James wasn't aware of, but it caused a lot of problems for Lily after Halloween 1981.
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: James/Lily (past), Lily Potter/Selene Lovegood, Background Sirius/Remus
RATING: NC-17
WORD COUNT: 5,016
SPOILERS: None, if you don't know how the Harry Potter story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
WARNINGS: If You've ever read any of my stories, you know what to expect, Oral, anal, Femme-slash, Dom/sub, multiple partners. The lemons won't appear for a few chapters yet, things need to be set in place, and time passing before it happens.
BACKGROUND SLASH WARNING: In this story, Sirius and Remus are a couple, but other than a couple of risque comments Lily makes to tease them, it doesn't have a major impact on the story. There are meta-reasons for the pairing, but there will be no on-screen activities between the two, not even a kiss, so if you dislike slash, you don't have to worry.
AUTHORS NOTES: Something a bit different from me, since Harry and his generation aren't the major focus of the story, although he will appear in the story. Hope you enjoy it anyway
Hogwarts Medical Wing
Wednesday, November 4th, 1981
Lunchtime
Lily sat on the edge of the bed, waiting as patiently as she could while Nurse Pomfrey ran another set of scans. She understood the woman's concern, after all, the spell that she had designed to kill Voldemort took a tremendous amount of power, but what the nurse refused to understand was that once the spell was triggered, it drew on the magic of the target to keep the spell going. How else do you explain the deaths of all his marked followers?
She supposed she should feel bad that Sev had been one of those that died since Albus had told her that her former friend had turned against Voldemort, but she didn't care, not really. Just because he felt bad about it afterward, the bastard was still the reason Voldemort had targeted her family to start with! Let him burn with the others, he was dead, she and Harry were alive, and while she would have been happier if James had survived as well, she and Harry would get by.
The nurse finally finished her scans and gave Lily a soft smile, "Thanks for being patient, but from everything I can tell, you are young Harry are in perfect health. But if you find yourselves having any problems, contact me. I'll be there as quickly as I can."
Nurse Pomfrey glanced down at the copy of the Prophet, at the picture of James' funeral on the front page, and shook her head. "I'm sorry that I couldn't release you to see your husband buried, but I just couldn't take the chance that the grief and stress would cause a problem, your magic was still unstable until late last night after all."
Lily nodded, Sirius and Remus had been godsends over the last few days. They were the ones to take care of James' body and seeing to the arrangements. She had tried, but as logical and clear-headed as she could be in making plans for the future when she tried to think about the funereal and what needed to be done, she just kept bursting into tears and her mind refused to focus. A reaction to the grief, she supposed, but it was a relief not to have to worry about one thing at least.
And they had also managed to get the word out that she and Harry were going into seclusion to properly mourn before moving into an undisclosed location. People were willing to accept that she needed time to grieve and that she would feel uncomfortable in the home where her husband died. That was a good start, and soon enough the general public would forget that she wasn't living at the Manor, and life would go on.
The permanent 'notice me not' charm that she had put on her bracelet, to keep people from noticing that she wasn't wearing the Lady Potter ring would add to keeping people's attention away from her and Harry's situation, for the rare occasions she had to go out in public. She had far too much work to do to be socializing any more than absolutely necessary. She could do the party thing when she was magically a Potter!
She had already sent Sirius back to the house in Ottery St Catchpole, and she would be following with Harry as soon as she spoke to Filius, and he was just walking through the opening in the privacy curtains. It seemed strange to see such a solemn expression on the jovial man's face, but she could understand it under the circumstances.
"Professor Flitwick, thanks for coming to see me, I know you are incredibly busy with your NEWT students by now."
He did manage to chuckle, "Oh, it's no problem, and honestly, I appreciated the break from some of the more creative students imaginations. Granted, none of them are quite as 'entertaining' as you and Miss Ollivander were, no, not Ollivander, she's a Lovegood now. But I was actually sorry to see the two of you graduate, you kept things interesting." The reminiscent smile dropped, "But that was then, what can I do to help you today, Lily?"
Lily smiled slightly, "Actually, it has to do with some of the things Selene and I did when we were your students. I was hoping you'd be able to take me on as a Charms apprentice so I could work toward my Mastery. I love Harry to death, but I need something to keep my mind occupied or I might dig out my plans for robbing Gringotts or overthrowing the Ministry or something, and you don't want that to happen, do you?" She blinked at him innocently, and he stared at her for a long moment before roaring with laughter.
When he managed to get control of himself, Flitwick wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at her, shaking his head. "Oh dear, I remember those plans, and the frightening thing is, they might have worked then. Of course, I did send your observations on to my brethren and those weaknesses have been corrected. And of course I would be happy to take you on as an Apprentice, and there wouldn't be a problem with you bringing Harry with you at times, I know of a couple of elves here in the castle that would love a chance to take care of a little one again."
Lily gave him a thankful smile, "That would be wonderful, Professor, Thank you. I know that Sirius and Remus have volunteered to watch Harry, but I'm sure they would appreciate a break at times." She wondered what his reaction would be if she told him that some of the ideas she and Selene had come up with were the result of the endorphins generated by the orgasms they enjoyed during stolen afternoons at the Shrieking Shack. There were plenty of days that James and the others had annoyed her beyond her ability to tolerate, and Selene was fed up with Xeno's distractions, so they were always happy to help each other let off some steam. But it probably would be better that Filius never knew, it might damage his opinion of one of his favorite Ravens.
They spent the next few minutes finalizing an arrangement for Lily to start her training after the Yule Break, and the Professor gave her a list of books to read before starting.
Lily watched him leave with a sense of relief, that was step one accomplished, now to get back in touch with Selene...
LS & LS & LS
Evans' Rest
Ottery St Catchpole
Later that Afternoon
Lily sat back on the couch and sighed in relief, glad to finally get off her feet again. The last of the unpacking had been done and Harry was down for a nap, at last. Taking a sip of her tea, she looked over at Sirius, who had a questioning look on his face. "What are you thinking about, mutt? I can tell something is bugging you, and I haven't mastered Legilimency so I can't pick it out from across the room."
Sirius snorted, "And I'm very glad you haven't, with some of the thoughts that we had about you when the 'boob fairy' visited you during third year. But I was just wondering why you are going for a Mastery? You know how difficult it will be, and you know you won't need to get a job, I've put more than enough in the vault to keep you both comfortable until Prongs Jr turns 17 and can access the Potter vaults."
She shook her head with a smile, "I know, Sirius, and I really appreciate it. But it's like I told Filius earlier, if I don't have something to do that will keep my mind occupied, I might just break out my plans for overthrowing the Ministry again, and that wouldn't be a good thing. I might just succeed and who wants the headache? Why would anybody try to take over the Ministry anyway? It's full of Ministers!" She shuddered in mock horror, making Sirius laugh as he remembered some of the conversations during the last year at Hogwarts.
"And even more important, Charms gives me an area of study to find out more about the rituals that didn't happen, and hopefully find a way around them without having to wait almost 16 years to go home. This place is wonderful, and I can't thank you enough, but it doesn't feel like home, and probably never will."
Sirius nodded thoughtfully, and she decided it was time to rip the bandage off, they were going to be spending a lot of time together in the future, and there was no time for pretense. "And another thing, Mutt, you and Remus don't have to pretend you aren't together. James and I figured it out during our fourth year, and we didn't care, and I still don't. This is your home, and the place you are letting Harry and I stay, so you shouldn't be uncomfortable. I will ask that you keep the shows of affection age appropriate around Harry, I don't want to have to explain that the two of you were naked wrestling if one of you was buggering the other, okay?"
Sirius stared at her, his jaw dropping before he flushed bright red. After a minute, he just laughed, "Okay Lils, I'll let Moony know too. And we thought we were being so discrete about what we were doing. How did you twig to us, can I ask?"
Lily chuckled, "Well, let's just say that there was a time in the Shrieking Shack before the OWLs, that the two of you didn't pay attention to your surroundings, and so you didn't notice that I was already there with a lady friend of my own under some heavy privacy charms. I will tell you that we both thought it was one of the hottest things we'd ever seen, and after you left, we were so turned on and jumped each other!"
"You? Lady friend? Who? How?" Sirius sputtered, blinking rapidly and shaking his head in disbelief.
Lily couldn't help the laugh the bubbled out, after the terror and stress of the last few days, and the grief she could feel hanging over, waiting to hit her, it felt good to tease her friend like this!
"Really eloquent there, Mutt, no wonder Remus fell for you, or did he find other uses for that mouth of yours?"
Sirius just shut his mouth and transformed into Padfoot, curling up on the carpet and putting his paws over his ears, and Lily just kept laughing until Harry came toddling out of his room, wondering why Mama laughing?
LS & LS & LS
Time Passes
The Burrow
Ottery St Catchpole
Saturday, August 2nd, 1986
The front yard was full of screaming, laughing children, and Lily couldn't help but smile as she fell into a seat in the shade. Molly walked over with an indulgent grin and handed her a chilled glass of lemonade, which Lily drank eagerly.
"Honestly Molly, I don't know how you survived seven kids! Harry by himself is a handful, and his uncles aren't any older than he is, at times."
"Oh, mine are a handful at times, especially the twins. I'm not sure I should ever forgive you for introducing Fred and George to Sirius and Remus. I just hope that Hogwarts is still standing when it's time for Harry and Ron to go."
Lily laughed, "I'm sure the Castle will be fine, but I'm just wondering how many more grey hairs Minerva will have by the time Harry and Ron get there? After all, she's had to survive James and those plonkers, and Fabian and Gideon who were even worse than the Marauders. I mean, the Marauders never dusted Filius' clothes with catnip right before the leaving feast when Minerva was sitting right next to him, did they?"
Molly, whose face had gone solemn at the mention of her brothers, started laughing as she was reminded of one of their more notorious pranks. Lily only knew about it because Filius had been in a storytelling mood after their lessons were done. She had wondered why Minerva was so frosty toward the Prewett twins in Order meetings, but that would explain it.
"I'd forgotten about that one," Molly laughed, "and it was after they had completed their NEWTS, so she couldn't give them detention. She did chase them around the castle firing stinging hexes at the rears for most of the evening, though. The rest of us found that just as entertaining as the catnip."
"You see, there's no need to worry, Hogwarts will still be standing when your grandchildren are attending." Taking another sip of her lemonade, Lily continued, "I want to thank you again for helping to organize the birthday party for Harry and Neville, it's so nice for them to get out and have fun with other kids their ages. Although I don't imagine Selene is quite so happy." She finished looking over a corner of the yard.
Molly followed her gaze and when she saw what Lily was looking at, the corners of her mouth quirked up. "No, I don't imagine she would be, but they are still young, who knows if it will last?"
Sitting in a quiet corner and talking animatedly, were Harry and Selene's five-year-old daughter Luna, and it was obvious that the rest of the world had gone away, they were clearly fascinated with each other. Molly may think it will fade, but she doubted it, her son was looking at Luna the way James had looked at her from the first time they met, and Luna had the same expression on her face.
Selene probably wouldn't be happy that Luna had chosen so young, but at least Harry was a strong enough personality that he could keep the little Moon-child grounded if the poor girl was subject to the Family curse. There weren't any signs of it yet, but it was too soon to be sure.
Lily and Molly were distracted by shrieks of fright coming from the children, and looking over, she almost swore in frustration! Ron and Neville were running around, with the appearance of their hair being on fire, and Fred and George were standing next to her two idiots, all of them laughing like loons, but the twins were holding wands in their hands, and that would not amuse Molly!
With a sigh, she stood up and headed toward her other two children, no matter how old they were physically, so she could express her displeasure before Molly took her wand to them. There was a reason Molly's stinging hexes were rightly feared after all.
On the way to give them their due bollocking, she paused and canceled the illusion spell on Ron and Neville, who calmed down instantly and started to laugh, teasing each other about how loud they were screaming. Lily shook her head, bemused. She would never understand the mindset of little boys.
By the time she reached the so-called pranksters, Molly had sent the twins into the house, one to sit in Bill's room, and the other to wait in the front room. She obviously didn't want to give the two of them a chance to get a story together. Molly had just turned to Sirius and Remus when Lily touched her on the arm, "Don't Molly, I'll handle their punishment, their more scared of me than they are of you."
Molly gave the two of them a glare, but then huffed, "Are they, maybe we should each take one of them, teach them the error of their ways?"
Lily smirked at the way the two of them had turned white with fear, twirling her wand between her fingers. "Boys, you've got to the count of three to start running, then we come after you. You don't want us to catch you. One..."
The idiots were gone before she got to two, but Lily counted to three anyway and she and Molly shared a savage grin. The hunt was on!
It took nearly six months for Sirius and Remus to stop flinching when either Lily or Molly mentioned the words niffler, pineapple, or bath toy, but they also stopped encouraging the twins in their more humiliating pranks, so she and Molly eventually let them off the hook.
LS & LS & LS
The Rookery
Friday, February 20th, 1987
Mid Morning
The house was quiet, Luna and Harry were over at the Burrow having their lessons with Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, and she and Selene had the place to themselves for another four or five hours at least. Rolling over on the bed, she looked at Selene who was staring pensively at the ceiling. "Where are you, babe? You're a million miles away right now, and I know I'm good, but you are usually able to focus when I'm finished."
Selene snorted but shook her head as she turned to face her. "It's Luna, the morning after her birthday, she had a vision, it was clear as day, something that happened later that afternoon. So she's a victim of the family curse, and you know what that means."
Lily sighed, they'd discussed this several times over the years since they reconnected. "At least the connection between her and Harry is still holding strong, and Harry has the power and the strength of personality to give Luna what she needs to ground her when they get older." She paused, "Actually, we should probably check the two of them, the bond might be more than just a connection forming, it might be an actual love bond."
Selene sat up quickly, the sheet falling and giving Lily a view of her bare breasts, but she refused to be distracted, "Do you think so? I know that the two of them are getting closer all the time, but an actual love bond? That would ease my mind like you wouldn't believe. If there was the bond, we could sit down with the two of them in a couple of years and explain things. And we both know that the bond would let both of them know not to go too far, so they didn't hurt each other."
"We can check later this afternoon, when the kids get finished with their lessons. But, now that you are feeling better, ready for another round? Xeno knows we are spending the day together so he's going to be working at the Quibbler until dinner, isn't he?"
"Yes, he's extremely understanding about my need for our 'ladies days' but he does love to hear stories about what we get up to. That hasn't changed from Hogwarts, when he and James both got extremely inspired hearing our stories. It's a wonder Luna doesn't have a brother or sister by now!" Selene grinned, and moved so she was leaning over Lily, her face coming down for a kiss, "And I'm always ready for another round!"
There was no talking for quite a while after that.
LS & LS & LS
Evans' Rest
Ottery St Catchpole
Sunday, July 31sth, 1988
Lily was doing her best to hide her nerves, but this could go either very well, or very badly, and for all her planning, she wasn't able to guarantee it would go well. It was Harry's eighth birthday, and she had invited some of his future classmates so they could get to know each other. She wasn't worried about most of the parents, but some of the older families would have their daughters here, and, while she had taught Harry all she knew about the proper etiquette, and Sirius had done the same (after she had threatened to neuter the mutt if he tried to make Harry do something amusing), so her son should be able to handle most things.
At least they didn't have to worry about any of the families angling for a betrothal, since they were able to verify the love bond between him and Luna, and the Unspeakables confirmed it. No one, not even the Lestrange Family before they died out, was crazy enough to try and interfere with a bond.
She watched as Harry stood at the door, greeting each of the guests, and some of the parents looked amused at the formality, none of them seemed even slightly offended, even the Greengrass and Parkinson parents looked approving.
Half an hour later, Lily gave a quiet sigh of relief, all the guests had been greeted, and now the kids could act like kids again. She was pleased that Harry and Luna were circulating, spending time chatting with all of the guests, and not being completely wrapped up in each other. She and Selene had shown Xeno that Harry and Luna were bonded, and the three of them sat them down on Luna's seventh birthday and explained the bond to the children. They were both over the moon about the idea of spending their lives together, which was enough to give them the confidence to be friendly to other children.
They would start explaining about Luna's curse and what Harry would have to do to help her as they got closer to Hogwarts age. They were both too young, and puberty too far away for them to even start to comprehend what is coming in the future. So they can just enjoy the closeness and confidence from the bond.
LS & LS & LS
Three Hours Later
Lily was chatting with Selene, Anne Diggory, and Emma Macmillan as she idly watched some of the boys practicing their flying. Things seemed to be going well, the invitations had mentioned that there was room for flying if they wanted to bring brooms and several of the children had brought them. Lily knew that she could have hired enough brooms for everyone, but it would have looked like she was flaunting the Potter's wealth, and she didn't want anybody even thinking about the subject.
She was still researching what she could of the different family magics and rituals, but most of the information was restricted to family members only, so it was slow going finding a way to make her a Potter again.
Lily had just turned to ask Anne Diggory a question about something Amos was working on in the Ministry when there was a freak accident. One of the boys, she couldn't tell who, accidentally flew too close to Ernie MacMillan, sending him tumbling from his broom. This wouldn't have been a big deal, there were cushioning charms and the boys were only flying 15 feet off the ground, so there was no danger of serious injury. Except this time, the collision caused Ernie's broom to break in half, and the jagged edge sliced him all along the side. To make things worse, Ernie had twisted as he fell, and was going to land on his head, probably breaking his neck!
All this ran through Lily's mind in an instant, her wand in her hand and pointing to the falling boy, "Arresto Momentum!" the spell catching and slowing Ernie down as she rushed forward. Lowering him softly to the ground, ignoring the screams and shouts around her, focusing on the wide-eyed boy who was pale with shock and surprise. "Don't worry Ernie, I've got you and I'll get you fixed up as good as new."
She smiled softly at the trusting look in the boy's eyes and started casting all the wound cleaning and healing spells she had learned over the last several years. With Harry being a normally active little boy, she needed them and had pestered Nurse Pomfrey to teach her what she wanted.
Carefully removing the wooden splinters, she set them to the side and hid a frown, one of them had punched into Ernie's lung, and he was already having trouble breathing. Praying to whoever might be listening, she cleaned the puncture and used a medical transfiguration to seal the hole, and then another spell to encourage the lung tissue to heal. It must have worked because he was already breathing easier, and she relaxed slightly, the rest was fairly easy.
Casting the healing spells on Ernie's side, she nodded as the skin started to knit itself back together, leaving a faint white line of scarring, but that would fade in time. Turning, she called for one of the house-elves and soon had a vial of Blood Replenishing Potion in her hand. Helping Ernie to sit up, she dribbled the potion in his mouth and watched as he swallowed. When he had enough, she lowered him back down and smiled at him.
"How are you feeling Ernie?"
His smile was blinding, "I feel wonderful! Thank you so much!"
By this time, the rest of the world had intruded, and Emma was kneeling on the ground between them, hugging her son and then hugging Lily, babbling her thanks for saving her boy's life, and swearing they would never forget what she had done.
The party wrapped up shortly after that, with an ashen-faced Cedric Diggory apologizing over and over for his careless mistake, and thanking Lily for saving his young cousin's life. Lily did her best to reassure the boy, but she did recommend to Ernie's parents that they have his broom examined for flaws, it should not have broken the way he did, and if there was a problem with the manufacturing, it needed to be investigated. Herbert Macmillan got a steely look in his eyes and nodded sharply. Lily almost felt sorry for whatever company manufactured the broom, because if there was a flaw, they were about to have several extremely bad days!
She was just glad that Ernie wasn't going to have any bad days because of it.
LS & LS & LS
International Conference of Wizards Headquarters
Certification Board
Geneva Switzerland
Monday, June 4th, 1990
"It gives me great pleasure to recognize Lily Anne Potter as a certified Mistress of Charms. Let word of her accomplishments spread through the Wizarding World. Congratulations, Charms Mistress Potter!"
LS & LS & LS
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Great Hall
Sunday, September 1st, 1991
"Now, all of you who were here last year will recognize Hogwarts newest Professor, since she's been assisting Professor Flitwick while working toward her Charms Mastery. However, for our new students, I'm delighted to introduce to you, for the first time, Charms Professor Lily Potter!"
Harry and his friends were only the first to jump to their feet at the Gryffindor table to applaud his mother, Ernie Macmillan at the Hufflepuff table, along with Cedric Diggory soon joined in the applause, and Lily had a hard time keeping from blushing. She bowed her head to acknowledge the approval and then glanced toward Filius, who was now Assistant Headmaster since Albus retired and Minerva was promoted.
Eventually, the meal got eaten, and the students were sent off to their beds, and Lily nervously headed for her quarters to try and sleep. She was determined not to hover over Harry, and they had talked about it before he got on the Express that morning, so she knew he understood.
It was still going to be a long night, and her first class was right after breakfast, she couldn't wait!
LS & LS & LS
Hufflepuff Sett
First Year Boys Dormitory
After Dinner
Ernie was sitting on his bed, getting ready to send a letter home when Wayne Hopkins, one of his dorm-mates said, "What was the deal with the new Professor? I gather from the name she's related to Harry Potter, but why did you and the older boy jump up and applaud?"
Looking around, Ernie could see the other boys were just as curious, so he set the writing-table aside and started talking, "The reason I applauded Professor Potter, and yes, she is Harry's mum, is because she saved my life when I was eight years old."
The others listened in awe as he described what had happened, and how Professor Potter's quick reactions and the spells she knew were able to fix the hole in his lungs and all the other damage. He didn't realize it, but he had just added three new members to the Lily Potter Appreciation Society. The other three boys, Wayne, Zach Smith, and Justin Finch-Fletchley were determined to succeed in their Charms classes, they weren't going to let the wonderful woman down!
End Chapter Two