Lily and James waited impatiently near the baggage claim area. Nearly all of the other AIM students–easily identifiable as the large group of teenagers traveling alone–had come out, but Harry was not to be seen. Just as the luggage started coming out, they heard her. "Mum! Dad!"
"Harry! How are you? How's school?" Lily asked, as she swept her up in a hug.
"I'm great, school was great, how are you?"
As they gathered the luggage and returned to Potter Place, Lily updated Harry on the news from their friends and the other Light families in Britain–Remus's Floo was broken, the Marauders business was keeping everyone busy, and the political front was oddly quiet. Harry deflected most questions about AIM, saying that everyone would want to hear the details and she could tell all her stories at dinner.
Predictably, Harry wanted to head to Grimmauld Place right away, though Lily insisted she eat lunch first while they waited for Remus to Apparate over to use their Floo. Lily then sent the other three through the Floo first, to ensure they would get the brunt of whatever pranks Sirius and Archie had set up. Unfortunately, Sirius had planned for this and set a separate bucket of water to be dumped on each person who arrived. "Sirius! Our children have just returned from school, and all you want to do is set up pranks?"
"Of course!" Sirius answered. "That one was Archie's idea, to ensure you got hit too." Lily looked around to scold Archie, but he had already disappeared upstairs with Harry. "Did I mention that Archie started going by his middle name at school?"
"Sirius Black, you will not distract me from your pranks that easily."
A few hours later, after seven pranks had been disabled (Lily hoped that was all of them but was not confident), Harry and Archie found them talking in the kitchen. "There you two are."
"Hi, Mum," Harry said, hugging Lily.
Lily was surprised at how affectionate Harry was, but they never had been apart for more than a week or two before, and she smiled. "Uh, hello darling. My, my, two hugs in one day, you must have missed me more than you let on." Harry immediately stepped back. Lily sighed and told her to go greet Sirius.
After Archie hugged Lily in turn, he immediately asked, "What's for dinner?"
Lily glanced at Sirius, who answered, "Anyone not helping cook will find out when it's ready!"
She laughed. "We'd better get started, since these two have been missing our cooking for months now." Both kids nodded enthusiastically. "Both of your schools have excellent food, you know. Someday you're going to have to learn to cook if you want to eat like that."
While cooking dinner, Lily learned that Archie had also been reticent about events at Hogwarts; by the time they finished, she was more than ready to hear the stories. She was curious how Harry liked healing after focusing on potions for so long, and what Archie thought of the school he had fought to stay out of. "So, how do you like Hogwarts?"
James and Sirius seemed primarily interested in what pranks they had gotten up to at school, though as AIM didn't have nearly the pranking culture that Hogwarts did, Harry didn't have much to contribute.
Lily was concerned at how Harry and Archie wanted to fulfill each others dreams. They would learn sooner or later that didn't work particularly well. She loved being in England, but it didn't help the friends she had left behind in America. As long as Harry and Archie were fine with it and it prompted them to learn more, she wouldn't say anything for now, but she would have to see how they felt after a couple years. Remus looked worried too, and she made a note to talk to him later, when Sirius wasn't trying to convince her daughter to illegally do underage magic and implying he had set up a pie launcher at Potter Place. At least Harry was sensible enough to refuse to heal him. If she was exceptionally lucky, Harry would keep that up and stay out of trouble all break.
The next morning, Lily walked into the Potter library to find Harry studying before breakfast. "Harry? It's early for you to be doing schoolwork already. What are you working on?"
Harry looked guilty and tried to push her wand behind her books. "Mum! I had some, uh, transfiguration work that Archie doesn't have to cover, so I thought I'd get it done before he comes over."
The transfiguration book looked advanced–Lily remembered using that book in fourth and fifth years–but she was more interested in the wand. The wood looked lighter and less grained, and the wand looked more slender than she remembered. "Is that the wand we bought at Ollivander's? It looks different."
Harry looked completely panicked now. "Uh, no." She paused, apparently embarrassed. "My wand, well, didn't work right for me. So I got a new one."
"Harry, that's great!" Lily reassured her, "A wand should work for you, and if the one we got didn't work right, I'm glad you got a new one. Where did you buy it?"
"One of the professors took me, um, into town for it. It wasn't a big deal."
Lily frowned. The town near AIM was a small Muggle town, and she was pretty sure they didn't have a wand store. They should have had to go to Charleston, which had a decent wizarding district. "Into Charleston?" she checked. Harry nodded. "Which wandmaker is there?"
"Uhh, I think it was Thompson? I'm not sure."
The name wasn't familiar, but Lily hadn't been to Charleston in years. "And it works for you? What's it made from?"
Harry smiled, relaxing. "Holly with a phoenix feather core. Oh–I left my old wand there. The wandmaker was interested in it and I didn't think I'd need it."
Lily shook her head. "I shouldn't think so. Just remember, no magic over break."
"I would never!" Lily knew Harry was probably going to do magic as soon as she left, but hopefully the threat would keep her from doing anything risky.
Although, that was an advanced book, and transfigurations was a dangerous subject to get ahead in. "Is that the first-year transfiguration textbook now?"
Harry belatedly pushed her notes over the book. "No, just some advanced reading I was doing. I wanted to learn more, and my friend lent me the book."
Learning ahead was exactly the sort of thing Harry would do, though she had stuck to potions in the past. "For transfiguration? In addition to potions?"
"Yes, just the theory. Don't worry, I won't be practicing anything too dangerous." Lily didn't feel very reassured by this, but left Harry to her studying. She had more than enough to think about, adding this to the odd detachment and vagueness she picked up from most of Harry's stories about AIM. Lily hoped Harry wasn't focusing on academics too much and not making friends and settling in.
With Christmas quickly approaching, Lily spent a day in Diagon Alley shopping and another evening poring over catalogs picking out gifts for the whole extended family and a few friends–she had to find the Longbottoms something nice, and a small group of coworkers exchanged gifts every year. She stepped into Muggle London briefly to find the most generic possible gift for Petunia, quickly choosing a scented candle and card. Harry and Archie disappeared for a day, presumably to buy their own gifts.
Harry assured Lily that she would exchange gifts with her friends from AIM when they returned to school after break, to save mailing packages internationally. Lily had done the same in school, but she was pleased to see a large package arrive from Hermione Granger early Christmas morning.
They opened their gifts after brunch, and Harry seemed thrilled with the stirring rods she'd received. Sirius apparently felt no guilt over sending Archie to Hogwarts since he'd bought a basic Healer's kit for Harry. Harry thanked him and looked happy with it, but from how Archie kept peeking at it, Lily didn't think Harry would be the one using it. Harry had, unsurprisingly, brewed useful household potions for everyone, which Lily really was happy with–they were higher quality than any she could get without brewing her own or ordering from Burke.
As soon as they could, Harry and Archie disappeared upstairs with the last couple of gifts from their friends. Lily frowned. She had thought to suggest a game, and the weather was nice enough for three-on-three Quidditch, but they apparently had better things to do. She would have to ask about Hermione's gift later.
The rest of the break passed as quickly as the first part. They celebrated the new year with fireworks and trials of new pranking products. James had to work some days, leaving Lily with plenty of free time while her office was closed. Harry and Archie seemed determined to spend their entire break studying, despite her best efforts to persuade them away from the books. Harry told her a few stories about AIM, but had little to say about the professors and clubs that Lily remembered.
Lily ended up spending most of her time helping Remus develop products for the Marauders business. After Archie's incident with Lee Jordan, they wanted to be particularly careful that none of the products could be tampered with. It used the same skill set as her main job, but joking with Remus and trying to think of absurd ways a Flower Shower could be misused was much more fun.
Too soon, Lily and James said their goodbyes to Archie and took Harry to the airport for the spring semester. Harry seemed to relax on the way, and be less on edge than she had been all break. "We're supposed to learn to heal broken bones next, and then start the basics of diagnosing diseases," she explained, excited. Lily felt a pang at how her little girl was growing up and had to leave again for months on end. Pushing down her sadness, she hoped this was a positive sign that Harry was doing well at AIM.
"Take care of yourself, Fawn. Have fun, do plenty of pranks. I won't have you embarrassing the Marauders' name in America."
"I will, Dad! I'll be sure to use the new products where everyone sees them."
Lily hugged Harry. "Goodbye, Harry. Have a good term, spend time with your friends, and keep writing regularly. I love you, and we'll see you in just a few months."
"Love you too, Mum. I'd better go, I see Hermione walking in. See you in a few months!" And with that, Harry disappeared into the crowd.
