A/N: Sorry for the wait to those that follow and review this story. A lot of things have been going on lately at my job and personal life. But I am back to update this chapter which was more or less done before stuff began to get carried away. I will begin to work on this one soon since I am also working on a short story that is currently being posted up weekly on tumblr. If you're interested and have a tumblr account, pm me and I will send you my tumblr page since I prefer to be anonymous. It adds a bit of mystique to my real silly self.
A huge shout out to my beloved friend xxdani86xx who has the greatest stories and one shots featuring my favorite pair Lily/Scorpius. She is amazing and she is one of two people that I dedicate this story to; the other one is my best friend who does not have an account on fanfiction lol. To those that have reviewed: thank you for your encouraging words! I love it and it makes me happy to know that my story is a favorite among some of you. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor any of the canon characters. Btw: HOW ABOUT DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2! IT BLEW ME AWAY! They really did make the last one the best one of them all. I cried the entire time and that scene of Snape's memories broke my heart. I broke down when Harry was walking through the forest with his companions. I was literally sobbing.
Anyway, thank you, J.K. Rowling. For creating a wonderful world that we can partake in and for a series that touched our hearts. Thank you for a decade of wonderful moments.
The Bright Eyes of Penelope Nott
Penelope was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe after hearing Lily's recounting on what happened to James after the Potters came back from their night at Malfoy Manor. Lily was grinning triumphantly as she reveled in her victory of getting James back for his silly prejudices on Scorpius and his family, despite the fact that said boy and Albus were best friends.
She had told Penelope that before her return to her home that night, she had come to the conclusion that the best way to get back at James was mental warfare, rather than her usual angry outbursts that in reality James would ignore. When they Floo'ed back home since she and Albus hated side along Apparition, she was determined to ignore her older brother and not speak to him for as long as she can manage. When she told her best friend of the anguish and torment James had gone through, Penelope had laughed herself into tears, wishing she had been there to either laugh at him in person or make it worse for him, which Lily fondly give her the nickname of "firestarter".
On the other side of the story, that night after the Potters came back from their enjoyable dinner with the Malfoys, James had been prepared for what was coming to him. He had already been yelled at by his grandmother and suffered the luck of being at the Burrow the night Andromeda Tonks was over for tea; she is Narcissa Malfoy's sister and also part of the Weasley-Potter family being Teddy Lupin's grandmother. When his father came for him, he was already dreading the lectures from him, the angry tempers from his mother and sister, and the frustrating silent treatment from Albus. What he wasn't prepared for was the change in Lily's attitude; she had completely ignored him or was indifferent to him.
Whenever he would try to talk to her she would look at him in a cold, analytical manner that scared the shite out of James. She would shrug her shoulders at his apologies or just walk away without acknowledging the fact he had spoken to her. She remained expressionless and calm; a calm and quiet Lily Luna had never been heard of and James had been frantic to make things right somehow. She maintained an aloof but calculative attitude, like a scientist experimenting on their latest hypothesis or like a potions master examining their latest brew.
Her approach would have made any Auror proud(if he hadn't been a concerned father, Harry Potter would have indeed been proud) and she had spent that week busying herself writing to Penelope and Paulina, heading to the Leaky Cauldron to see Georgie, or reading in the orchard some Muggle books that Rose had let her borrow after taking a trip to a local library by Rose's Muggle grandparents house. When Scorpius would come over, Lily would spend her time with the two best friends or barricade herself in her room, refusing to acknowledge her eldest brother. As she recalled how her mental warfare morphed into real anger, she turned to Penelope who had finally calmed down to finish listening to her best friend.
"It started off as a game, you know, Penny. But the more I thought about it, the angrier I did get. I understood why Albus was always so defensive of Scor, especially after knowing that Alastair Smith basically told him I am an evil witch in waiting. I can relate to Scor on some level, and it is so unfair how either people still judge the Malfoys or how a House defines a person. Because of my sorting into Slytherin I am somehow now evil! It makes him no different than Smith himself." Lily frowned in frustration and was already itching to hex Smith when she got back to Hogwarts, despite the fact that it was immature and beneath her to act in such a way. Then again, she was allowed to be immature since she was twelve years old, going on thirteen in December.
Penelope snorted in derision at the mere mention of Smith; after what Lily had told her, she would make sure they would make him pay in some way for his stupid rumor mongering. She scathingly told Lily,
"Don't even let that fool of a Hufflepuff enter your mind, at least not in the summertime. Trust me, he will regret the day he messed with my best friend; it's better if the hexing comes from me, since it would be quite obvious to an idiot like him to connect the dots to you. Besides, I want to try out some spells my father taught me; they're harmless so it should be fun." Penelope winked evilly at Lily who began to smirk. "How did you end up patching things up with James? The two of you seemed okay when I arrived earlier. And is Scor living here now? Wasn't he supposed to stay only for the weekend?" Penelope huffed in annoyance at the abundance of boys at Lily's house.
She liked looking at James, who in her opinion was growing up to be quite fit indeed, but she, along with Lily, was annoyed on how often he, the other random Weasley cousins, Albus and Scorpius interrupted their catching up time and she had only been there for a few hours for the past few days. "I may have to kidnap you to our home; I know Paulina wants to see you again as well. She would have come over today but she had gone over to Lyla's house."
Lily smiled at the idea and agreed with Penelope that a kidnapping was in order. She remembered that Lucy was coming over in a bit and told Penelope,
"How about we wait for the conclusion on how James and I made up? Lucy is coming over in a bit and she hasn't heard the last part. All she's known was that I hadn't spoken to him in almost a week." Penelope snickered, then immediately rolled her eyes when she heard the footsteps of one of her friend's brothers storming up the stairs. Lily looked warily at the door, waiting for the inevitable intrusion that apparently was part of being a little sister.
Sure enough Albus burst into the room with a grin on his face, with Scorpius behind him. While Albus bounded into Lily's room with no qualms whatsoever, Scorpius had shyly stayed at the doorway, gazing softly at Lily, who was frowning at her brother. Penelope noted to herself on how Scorpius was looking at Lily in an almost tender look to his eyes, while maintaining a sheepish grin while he waved at his cousin. She saw in restrained surprise on how her friend blushed at her cousin, inviting him in which was what he had been waiting for. He sat on the floor by Lily's feet, facing Penelope who was seated in the soft chaise across from Lily's bed. Albus had thrown himself on his sister's bed which luckily was a queen sized bed that easily was enough space for the two siblings.
Albus began to chatter about their plans for the day and how he wanted the girls to join him and Scorpius, but Penelope's keen eyes weren't paying attention to him as much as she was to her cousin and friend. She noticed earlier on her arrival on how Scorpius would let his gaze fall slightly longer on Lily, who in return would somehow always kept herself near him but not too close to crowd him. She had meant to ask Lily about it but was distracted on how James was more solicitous of her cousin; she then had remembered the fight between the older brother and the baby sister and had gotten caught up in that dynamic. But now here she was seeing it again, a closeness between Scorpius and Lily that seemed to have gotten deeper since the last time she saw them together back at King's Cross at the end of term. It surprised Penelope that only a few weeks had gone by yet so much had happened.
Penelope knew that Lily had spent an entire day with her aunt, Scorpius, and Narcissa while she and her twin were away visiting relatives in Wales. She had been slightly jealous that her cousin would see her best friend first during the holidays, but then Lily had owled her explaining why she had spent the day as well as wishing she had been able to spend it with the twins but they had left for the week for a holiday. Penelope had understood, and she remembered hoping her day in Muggle London had gone well. Lily had raved to her about the excursions of how Muggles lived without magic and how they had their ways of living happily in their ordinariness.
But as she eyed her best friend and Scorpius, Penelope had a suspicion that Lily had left something out. Before seeing the interaction, she had felt something was missing from Lily's adventurous day with the Malfoy women and the male heir. Lily had gone silent in a nostalgic manner and a soft smile would always grace her features after retelling the story or mentioning an activity that the twins and her should go do in Muggle London with Albus and Scorpius as well as Hugo. In that day among their adventures, Lily and Scorpius had gotten closer. It was obvious now to Penelope and she fixed her attention fully back to Albus, inspecting his features to see if he realized the sudden closeness between his sister and best friend.
But, as she should have known, Albus seemed oblivious. Whether it was because in some way Lily and Scorpius weren't as obvious as she had led herself to believe or whether it was because she knew her best friend almost as well as she knew her twin; Penelope found the latter more probable, since in Lily she had found another sister, a kindred spirit. She always felt that Scorpius had a soft spot for her friend ever since she and Paulina saw them interact at the platform before boarding the boats with Hagrid in the beginning of their first year.
After that, she had felt it was just a special dynamic between the two of them that had grown due to Scorpius' friendship with Albus. Something changed that day in Muggle London and while deep down she felt it would take awhile for anyone else to notice, Penelope was determined to seek out the missing moments of Lily and Scorpius' day that they both refer to as their "London Calling" day.
She found herself agreeing to Albus' plan for the day, which involved Muggle activities in the nearby town which had what Albus was apparently craving: pizza and a movie theatre. He mentioned that Teddy was going to stop by to visit them and it had been his idea. Lily agreed wholeheartedly while Penelope seemed bemused; she had no idea on what pizza or movies were. She had heard of them from some of the Muggle-born witches in some of her classes and from what Hugo had explained to her of the concept of movies. She had seemed intrigued but was still a bit awkward with the forming activity of the day; she had never done anything resembling Muggle activities and when Lily and her were finally left alone(not without noticing a parting glance between Scorpius and Lily) she voiced her slight fear. Lily smiled widely and replied,
"Trust me on this, Penny. You will love pizza. It is one of many things that Muggles have created that is delicious. The restaurant Al is talking about is a man who came from America and opened his eatery here; he cooks so many wonderful things and his wife is a fantastic pastry chef! Apparently the wife, Mrs. Elam, is indeed a witch who went to a school somewhere in the east coast of America. But her husband is a Muggle and she decided to remain in the Muggle world while secretly practicing magic."
Penelope found herself intrigued by the story and breathed out in an excited gasp,
"Does the husband know she's a witch?" Lily nodded her head and replied,
"Apparently that's why they moved here. You see, he was a bit jealous of his wife; who can blame him? Most Muggles would love to know magic even though they deny that it even exists sometimes. But she wanted a normal life of sorts yet she wanted to live somewhere where she can do both without fear of discovery. And she wanted to include him in her life as well; so they researched and found out about Godric's Hollow and how it's changed since my dad lived here as a baby, before..." Lily stopped and caught her breath. Penelope was already at her side, holding her together and hugging her closely.
"I think I get the gist of it." Penelope smiled knowingly at Lily, who looked gratefully at her friend for the end of the subject. Lily brightened up as she told her the rest of the story about the Elams, who have come to see the Potter children as their own and indulged them in their curiosity of Muggle life. Penelope was surprised to know that Lily had a fondness for cooking, due to her friendship with Mrs. Elam and her grandmother's superb cooking. As Lily went on about what she learned to make so far and how she is excited that her grandmother was to teach her some recipes throughout the summer, Penelope realized that the essence of cooking was a lot like potion brewing. It was already in Lily's blood to know about the art of potion brewing, since her namesake was brilliant at Potions despite having the knack for Charms. Throw in her curiosity and love for cooking, it was bound to solidify Lily as a Potions star in their year, possibly all of Hogwarts; Professor Slughorn raved about her a lot throughout their first year. Penelope knew her friend was immensely talented in Potions and loved it above the rest of the other subjects. She smiled as Lily continued on and began to ask about the summer plans.
As the best friends continued to talk about their plans for the summer as well as discovering something new about each other, Penelope found that her curiosity was getting the best of her. Knowing that time was about to run out, she decided that her usual bluntness was the only way to let Lily know that she was aware of the sudden closeness between her and her cousin. She got up to ready herself for the day and asked Lily to let her borrow one of her owls to invite Paulina over. Lily cocked her eyebrow at Penelope,
"Didn't you say she was at Lyla's?"
"Yes, but I think she would appreciate the invite since she has a bit of a crush on Al, though she is still furious at his ignorance towards your brilliance at Quidditch." Lily gasped in delight as she begged Penelope for details. She in turn replied rather coyly,
"Not until you tell me the whole day you had with Scor in Muggle London." Lily went partially white which was overcome by a blush that had rendered her dumb. Penelope turned to face her friend who was still in a sort of silent shock,
"What do you mean? I told you what the whole day..." Lily's blush became more prominent and Penelope raised her eyebrows at her feigning of honesty. She knew Lily's wasn't intentionally lying but she was holding back something.
"Lily Luna, I think I've come to know you pretty well. And don't worry, I am the only one that's noticed on how quiet you'd get when you would mention your day in London with my aunt and cousin, the only one that sees how you make sure you're around him without being obvious, how he looks at you a few extra seconds longer, and how both you manage to maintain eye contact for a brief moment before looking away while you blush and his eyes sort of glaze over." Penelope was back on the chaise, lacing up her Chuck Taylors that were a gift from her Aunt Astoria and Uncle Draco, giving Lily the time to recollect herself.
Lily was in a sort of state of shock; she had forgotten how perceptive Penelope can be. She was a master at studying people's behavior and she was only twelve years old. While Lily had always considered herself to be a good observant of her surroundings, she had learned that Penelope was several degrees above her in that aspect, which is why they both had hit it off so well. They each always had something to learn from the other; it gave both girls an outlook on life that neither were knowledgeable of, particularly Penelope, who had lived her life more or less sheltered from the Muggle world.
But Lily didn't want to share Highgate with anyone, and as much as it pained her to admit it to herself, she didn't want to tell Penelope. She didn't want to get lost in a moment that might be forgotten as Scorpius got older; he was two years above her in age and she didn't want to face an inevitable letdown when the moments she had cherished in Highgate, her secret garden, would be seen as a childhood memory. She looked at her friend, who was now eying her shrewdly and she felt vulnerable.
As Lily wrestled internally, Penelope walked over to her and linked her arms with Lily's. She proposed an idea;
"Why don't you give me a tour of Godric's Hollow? Give me a brief lesson on the ways of Muggle life while we wait for the boys to catch up with us. We'll send Lucy an owl to meet us the place you were telling me about while you clue me in whats going on, and no one will overhear us. Trust me, Lily. Please?" Penelope's voice was genuinely concerned and interested; Lily knew this was unintentionally a test of their boundaries of friendship. She knew Penelope wanted to feel included in her life outside of Hogwarts, and if Lily was going to be honest with herself, she wanted someone that was not a Potter or a Weasley to know her secret daydream, her secret garden.
Penelope and her were indeed like kindred spirits, like that book she read earlier this week. And she shared red hair with the protagonist and Penelope's hair was indeed the example of dark tresses of the girl Anne's kindred spirit Diana. She nodded happily to Penelope, who grinned in return and made way to ask Albus to borrow his owl while Lily went to call Lucy via the Floo-network.
A half hour later, Penelope and Lily were walking along the way to the village as the boys finished an intense game of Wizards chess(Scorpius and Albus were literally neck to neck) while they waited for Lucy and Paulina to arrive; neither girl missed the way Albus' eyes lit up at the mention of Paulina and Lily also noticed that Scorpius had given Albus a shrewd look which had caused her to smirk. Lily ambled along the path, deciding to show Penelope the one thing many wizarding people came to look at in Godric's Hollow after stalking the Potter cottage for glimpses of the family. Penelope didn't miss the looks and curious wizards and witches who were pointing at her best friend and she frowned in disapproval.
"Does it ever get tiring? I mean really, strangers come to look at your family! Don't they have better things to do but gawk and intrude on all of you?" Penelope's voice was dripping with disdain and Lily sighed in resignation.
"It's been like that our whole lives; the worst part is that some of those people are undercover reporters, trying to get interviews with any of us or my parents. Al and I hate it, James doesn't mind it of course but now and then it frustrates him. That's why we all like going to the restaurant that the Elams own; no one knows that Mrs. Elam is a witch. Everyone thinks she's a Muggle and she likes it that way with the exception of us and some of my other cousins. The other wizarding families that live around here prefer their own home or going to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. Besides, my dad is pretty scary when he wants to be. He only killed Moldy Voldy so I doubt anyone would want to get on his bad side. He has a mean temper."
"It can't be worse than your mum's, can it?" Penelope was incredulous while Lily smirked and replied,
"It's silent and deadlier. Combine his and my mum's and you have me." Lily smiled demurely as Penelope sniggered.
"I can't wait to hear how you got James to apologize and be nice to Scorpius...oh Lily!" Penelope's eyes widened in shocked awe as she realized where Lily had brought her. Lily was suddenly holding her hand and Penelope found herself clutching her hand just as tightly as Lily was. They were in front of the first Potter cottage.
It was destroyed, never rebuilt to its former state. Penelope figured it was to remain as such, to never forget such infamy that happened here; even though her parents were of Pureblood stature and they more or less supported the idea of having the wizarding world with Pureblood pairings, she knew that the act of killing of an innocent baby was truly heinous. She shuddered to think of being in Lily's footsteps: to know that your own father had faced death so many times, being famous for an event he didn't remember, and now more famous for saving the wizarding world.
As she stared at the first Potter cottage, she thought of Mr. Potter and how he was always kind to her and her twin, even her cousin Scorpius, the son of his rival from his school days from what she heard from her mother. She tried to remember the stories she had heard over the years of the famous Harry Potter before befriending his only daughter, finding a place in the Potter lives alongside Scorpius. His easy going temperament and youthful mannerisms made it easy for Penelope to talk with him and Mrs. Potter, who indeed was like version of her only daughter, was always excited to have another girl in the house.
Her mother had been in the same year with him though by her own admission she never really cared to know much about him, despite being in most of his classes. Her father had also been in his year, so he always had a few snide remarks about Harry Potter and his hero complex; how he always had to save someone or be caught up in something to stir trouble. She remembered the stories surrounding their 5th year when he created the now legendary Dumbledore's Army, a sort of Hogwarts version of the much more legendary Order of the Phoenix. She heard the same stories from her Aunt Astoria but in a different light; she had admired his courage despite the trouble it brought him and how she always felt sorry for him for being famous at the cost of his parents life. And as she thought of a baby Harry Potter, in this cottage after his parents death, his home and homelife destroyed, it overwhelmed her. She felt the tears in her eyes as she asked,
"Why did you bring me here, Lils?" Lily looked at her, eyes shining brightly with unshed tears; she shrugged as she replied,
"It's part of who I am, Penny. Everyone always sees me as Harry Potter's daughter, never really bothering to care about who I am, which is going to get progressively worse now because heaven forbid, I am a Slytherin now. But I wanted to come here because this is where I always felt the safest because this is where I can connect to my grandmother, Lily Evans Potter." As they walked along the path, they came across the monument that had been erected while Harry had lived with his Muggle relations, which was visible to only the wizarding world. Lily motioned for Penelope to follow her through the small property as she continued on,
"This was the house my grandmother Lily chose for them to live when they went into hiding; my grandfather James had another home called Potter Manor which was located somewhere in Essex, nearby Clacton on Sea, I believe. But it had been destroyed from what my parents and aunt and uncle discovered when my dad went through the Potter vault after the war. I don't know too much, but around the time my parents were married, my mum had her heart set here in Godric's Hollow. She knew it would mean the world to my dad and she wanted all of us to have some connection to his parents. My mum conjured up this bench for me a few years ago where we used to have talks about my dad and his life." Lily sat at the aforementioned bench which was behind the ruined house, with a perfect side view of the little graveyard that housed the families of Godric's Hollow.
Penelope ambled about the graveyard as Lily took a few moments to gather herself; coming here always made her so nervous yet it soothed her in the end. Penelope caught glimpses of the Dumbledore family graves, as well as the joint tombstone of Lily and James Potter, where she saw that a fresh bouquet of pink gerbera daisies and white lilies was placed over Lily Potter's name, while there were beautiful pink stargazer lilies and white roses over James Potter's name. She was sure this was her own Lily that thought of this, trying to connect with her deceased grandparents.
She went to rejoin Lily, noting in passing the Peverell family tomb. She recalled her father telling her while they were in Wales that Harry Potter was a descendant of the Peverell family, one of the oldest Pureblood families to have ever existed. He had been told by her Uncle Draco and how impressed he had been to know of such a connection. She herself had been very impressed, despite the fact that such lineages had ceased to be important to her as she grew up and knew more of her friend's family and friends. She giggled softly at her father's expression on telling her of Mr. Potter's connection to a very distinguished Pureblood family; in his eyes, Theodore Nott saw Harry Potter almost as an equal and Penelope had mocked her father for his arrogance. She would have been grounded had Paulina not joined in as well as their mother.
Penelope saw her best friend sitting on the bench, looking absently into the sky above her, the trees giving them shade from a rather hot sun for an early June day. She sat next to Lily and looked at her, with a softened look.
"Lils...do you like Scorpius?" Lily's face went white at Penelope's blunt but honest question. This was why Lily brought her here, to tell her of her feelings or rather mixed feelings concerning her other best friend, who was also Albus' best friend too. This little piece of history gave Lily not only sanctuary but courage; her grandmother, the brave mother to a small boy, was her heroine and she wanted to make her proud, even in the silliest of things. But as her own mum once told her, anything that concerned Lily, James, and Albus would never be seen as silly to her grandparents should they have lived.
She sighed and slumped down a bit on the bench, while trying to gather her thoughts, how to tell Penelope what's been on her mind. Penelope's head was leaning on Lily's shoulder, waiting patiently, as Lily gathered some strength.
"I think I do...but I don't know. I am two years younger than him; he is entering his 4th year and I have seen and heard how other girls see him, as well as Albus." At the mention of her brother, she rolled her eyes. "But we had an amazing day in London last week and we shared things about one another. My fear of my Aunt Petunia, and his fear of always living in the shadows of a past long dead. That's how James and I made up." Penelope's face had a look of confusion.
"How does that even relate? Oh Merlin's beard Lily you didn't tell him did you? Before me!" Penelope's eyes had clouded over in anger and Lily began to laugh.
"No, silly. You see, when Scorpius told me about Nigel and that Smith troll he made me swear not to tell Albus. But I decided to tell James instead, to compare their attitudes and how similar they were being. When I told James about Smith and Nigel and how they had tried to ostracize me to Al, he was livid. But then I told him he was treating Scorpius the same way, Scorpius who defended me to Nigel and cut off his friendship due to his inability to stand up to a pompous nancy like Smith and is Al's best friend. I made him realize he treats Scorp the way the other people are treating me now because I am a Slytherin. Also not to mention the row Molly and Lucy had the first week of the holidays."
"Ya, Lucy owled me about it shortly before Samwise came with your letter. Wow, so you really laid mental warfare into James then?" Lily smiled weakly.
"Ya...and the brilliant part was that I did it here, where we're sitting now. We brought the flowers together and I told him about what Scorp did for me, how he will always defend us to others because he is a true Gryffindor. I made him promise not to tell Al, to let it be our secret. He readily agreed and has been nice ever since, but I am afraid Smith and Nigel aren't in the clear yet. James made it clear that he and Louis and Lee Jr. were gonna make them pay, stealthily of course." Penelope grinned.
"I'll make sure to add my two cents in as well as Diego. Apparently, he has it out for Smith due to that dolt telling Diego that Slytherin's would never amount to anything but sneaking snakes. I almost feel sorry now for Smith; he has a lot of revenge coming his way. But I think we should tell James to go easy on Nigel. Smith is the one who needs to deal with the consequences. But Lily, tell me. How do you feel for Scorpius?"
Lily went silent as she contemplated her answer, because she herself didn't know how to respond. She felt so many things for the older boy: gratitude, deep affection, trust, a bond...so many things that were also twinged with doubt, hesitance, and insecurity. She was barely entering her 2nd year while he and Albus, popular and Quidditch players, were entering their 4th year. She saw how Paulina would glance at her brother, which was a look that she saw on several girls' faces back at Hogwarts at the end of term. Her brother was the spitting image of her father so no doubt he was going to be considered handsome; Scorpius, she had to admit, was becoming more than just handsome. If a young man can be called beautiful, then Scorpius fit the bill.
Her face blushed at the thought of this arms catching her when fell from the chimney and how he held her at Highgate; Penelope's face lit up and sat herself closer to her friend. She held her hand tightly, silently conveying that she was there to listen, and speak when it was time to speak. That action alone more or less broke down Lily's wall; everything came spilling out all at once.
"Oh Penny! I can't even describe how I feel for him! He's my best friend! He always looked out for me and we played pranks on Al and James when he first came to stay here at Godric's Hollow. I never knew that I can feel such things for someone. I'm only going to be thirteen! Aren't I too young to feel like this? The worst part is that even if Scorpius feels anything for me, it can fade away. He's older, we don't have the same classes, and we will be rivals when I make the Quidditch team for Slytherin. It seems utterly ridiculous, doesn't it? He will forget me as time goes by and I will only feel so silly for feeling something that I shouldn't be feeling anyway."
Penelope gave her a leveled look as Lily was practically becoming despondent as she was letting all her thoughts and fears pour out. She quietly asked her,
"What does age matter? Didn't you once tell me your mother knew she wanted your father when she was only ten years old? It took them, well your father, several years before he really saw your mum for who she was, right? Lily, why are you so concerned of him forgetting you? Trust me, please?"
Lily took a long look at Penelope's eyes and realized she wanted to share with her of the beautiful heaven of Highgate; she trusted Penelope her family life, her resignation of the public life of being Harry Potter's only daughter. She can trust her with this and maybe, just maybe, Penelope can be her ally if the time should ever come that the possibility of her and Scorpius could happen. Her mother had her Aunt Hermione. She needed to let Penelope in. She took a deep breath and whispered,
"Have you ever heard of Highgate Cemetery?"
"Mum told me that Uncle Draco proposed to Aunt Stori there; apparently its a Muggle cemetery that has an area that has a few Pureblood families buried there. Mum says its a beautiful place. I've never been but the pictures I saw were pretty", Penelope replied. Lily nodded enthusiastically and began to describe it in gushing tones: the resemblance that it has to a garden, the mausoleums looking like small museums, the winding paths around the headstones.
"The wonderful thing about it, Penny, is that how one can forget it's a cemetery. It is more of a heavenly garden; there is a Muggle book that Rose had given me to read for one of my birthdays. She insisted I would love it since I always had an imagination. Its called 'The Secret Garden' and oh Penny! Its a wonderful book that I always carried with me whenever I went to a park. This garden had magic but a different sort of magic; Daddy once told me it was magic from loving something. And the girl, Mary Lennox, loved this garden so much she brought it back to life, as well as her own heart which was marred with sadness of never being loved. I began to search for a garden like that after I read the book; I even created a small one and its quite pretty, but not what I had imagined. Then I went to Highgate with Astoria, Miss Narcissa, and Scorpius. And I had finally found it; I found my secret garden."
"Is that why you didn't want to tell anyone about Highgate? Or is there more?" Penelope raised an eyebrow, as if daring Lily to lie. Lily continued on,
"Partly, but it was also the feeling I had with Scorpius. I felt like I sort of belonged somewhere that wasn't magical or because of my family. Its hard to have something of your own when coming from an enormous family like mine. I love being a Potter, I love being a Weasley but its hard to have something for yourself when there is always someone around. And I felt like Highgate was just mine, especially since I told Scorpius all about Aunt Petunia. After telling him that I felt we were more closer than before." Lily blushed as Penelope's eyes clouded over with confusion.
"He didn't know about your aversion to your nutty Aunt? I thought everyone knew?"
"No one really knew. I hid it well, with the exception of Al since he tends to notice my reactions a bit more closely, before you that is." Lily chuckled softly while Penelope grinned.
"Well, I am the master of observation. I have very bright inquisitive eyes." Lily laughed at this and poked her friend on the side.
"Yes, I suppose. But no one really knew of my fear towards Aunt Petunia; my resemblance to my grandmother Lily unsettles her, and in return it always bothered me how she would look at me. I guess the last time we went to visit her before James left for Hogwarts was the final straw. I was so happy we only had to visit Uncle Dudley and so much time had passed I thought the fear went away but it never did. I was so humiliated on not being afraid of someone that is of no importance and I felt ashamed to tell anyone. Especially Scorpius."
"Why him, specifically?" Lily began to blush furiously.
"Because I didn't want to look stupid. I am great at flying, I play good pranks and I know how to put those 3rd year trolls in our House to shame with a simple phrase. I seem mature for my age and I liked that Scorpius always told me that. To admit to him that I was afraid of my Aunt Petunia, it's rather silly. Don't you think so?" Penelope chuckled softly,
"Not really. Everyone is afraid of something. I was afraid that Paulina would forget about me when she was sorted into Gryffindor but then you were sorted with me. And we all got close as the year went by. Lily, no one has to be strong all the time. We're part of a generation that gets to enjoy a world without something evil always looming. We have so much to live up to though, it's easy to forget that. I imagine it's harder for you Potters and Weasleys." Lily nodded thoughtfully as she processed Penelope's wise words.
"I never thought of that. Maybe that is why Al and I were accepting of Scorpius before my own father and uncle were. We're all connected somehow: our family had an involvement in the war. Scorpius also confided in me at the Manor that he still deals with prejudices at school as well as James' boorish behavior. He told me he's still plagued by his father's past and I explained to him that his dad and his grandmother were brave to defy Tom Riddle." Penelope's mouth silently shaped itself into an O and asked quietly, as if not daring to disrupt the departed resting in peace a few feet away from them,
"How much do you know, Lily, of the war? I don't know much since my mum had gone looking for my aunt since Aunt Stori fought alongside some Ravenclaws. My father, as you may be aware, always made a point never to bring attention to himself and had hidden away in the dungeons. People at school ask me random questions but I don't know much about your father or the years he was at Hogwarts. From what I gathered, it seems your parents did a good job at maintaining all of you from all the stories." Lily nodded as she replied,
"Mum had all of us enrolled in Muggle schools before Hogwarts, it was my Dad's idea. He didn't want anyone to tell us of his past since it isn't the most easiest stories to tell. He's told me some but that weren't exactly of the war. More like what those did for him in order to survive. I gather as I get older I'll learn more. I rather wait; it scares me to death that my dad was always striving to live while he was only our age." Penelope shuddered at the thought; she can't imagine her young years as they were now and that was with expectations on joining the Quidditch team with Lily. As she tried to visualize Mr. Potter as a youngster, Lily continued on.
"Scorpius was always hurt by James' treatment until recently; James finally lowered his hostility to calm and civil. Scorpius still doesn't know what changed James' mind but he forgets to ask once he sees Al and me." At this Lily blushed again and Penelope's smile widened to a grin.
"I'm glad that Scorpius can confide in you. Lina and I never made it easy for him; then again we aren't the flower of his eyes." Penelope snickered while Lily's expression changed into one of concern.
"But Penny, aren't I too young to feel this way? I know that Mum had a crush on Dad when she was my age but times were different. It seems so sudden doesn't it? He may forget our day in my secret garden." Lily exhaled, finally revealing her true fear, her fear of being left behind. Forgotten by her own personal angel. She frowned at her own sappiness and closed her eyes to regain her senses.
Before Penelope could reply, a soft voice replied.
"The heart knows no age, Lily."