Wow! I can't believe it! This story has gotten more hits in a day and a half than my other one had received in over a year! Thanks a load to all of the people who read this, even if you don't take the time to review. To my reviewers: there are messages at the end of this chapter.

And now, on to the next installment.

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 2

"I think it's time," she said, taking a deep breath, "that I show you something that I've been keeping from you for all these years."

Hermione sat on her bed, legs crossed, a large pile of books and photographs laid out in front of her. Lily, who was sitting on Hermione's left, lay her head against her mother's shoulder and kept quiet, shocked, through many of the stories that she told. James, like his sister, listened intently, but he blurted out questions often, and was now holding his mother's wand with amazement and awe.

"This," Hermione said, pointing to a photo in the album that was open in her lap, "is the three of us at Bill Weasley's and Fleur Delacour's wedding." It was a lovely photograph out in the sun. All three of them wore their dress robes, Hermione sandwiched in the picture by Ron and Harry on either side of her. They waved and smiled merrily out of their picture. Lily breathed in suddenly. This was the last album that they were going through, but she still didn't quite like the idea of the people in the photos having minds of their own.

"Wow," said James. He, on the other hand, loved the moving pictures, and was smiling and waving back at them. "So, um, is this the part where we find out who our father is?" he asked as Hermione turned the page.

"Yes, I think now is as good a time as any." She pointed to a photograph of her and Harry together, taken at the same event. She pointed down at Harry.

"Here he is," she said softly, suddenly feeling a small lump in her throat that she quickly tried to swallow away. Neither child spoke for a moment.

"Harry Potter? He's our father?" James asked. Hermione nodded, the lump growing larger still.

"Yes. You two were named after his mother and father, Lily and James Potter. The two of them were murdered by Lord Voldemort. They gave up their lives so that their son would be able to live." Hermione felt a tear fall down her cheek. Lily lifted up her head and gazed into her eyes. She was silent for a minute.

"Would you do that for us?"

"Of course I would, and without even having to think about it. For you, I would go to the moon and back." Another tear ran down her cheek.

"He has my eyes," Lily said quietly, unable to tear her eyes from the photograph of her parents, together. "Can we Xerox this picture? I'd like to have a copy."

"Me, too," James piped up from Hermione's other side. She hugged them both close and nodded.

"Of course. Would you like the pictures to move?" James nodded, but Lily hesitated.

"Yes," she said finally. Hermione smiled.

"Good. James, could I have my wand for a moment?" James handed it to her, eager to see her do more magic.

"Duplicio," she said, pointing her wand at the photograph. Instantly, an exact copy appeared from her wand, and she hurriedly duplicated this one, handing one photograph to each of her children. Concentrating hard, she conjured two picture frames out of nowhere and handed them to Lily and James. James blinked down at the photo and frame in his hands.

This magic thing could take some getting used to. He glanced over at Lily, who seemed to have a furious battle taking place inside of her head. James had a suspicion that he knew what this was about.

Ever since she was small, Lily had never believed in anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't afraid of ghosts or goblins or evil cackling witches or any of those things, because she didn't believe that they existed to begin with; she was a very skeptical person. However, there was no denying, now that they'd both been accepted into two different wizarding schools and found out that their parents had been an extraordinary witch and wizard, that magic certainly did exist.

"Oh, look at the time!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, startling them both. James saw Lily visibly jump. "Sorry, guys," she apologized, "It's nearly eight o'clock now, you both must be starving."

Truthfully, Lily had been so shocked since noon that she'd forgotten all about food, but James nodded feverishly.

"Yeah," he said honestly. "I didn't want to interrupt you, though." Before long, they were being ushered downstairs into the kitchen, where Hermione popped a frozen pizza into the oven. While they were waiting, Hermione brought a chess set down from her bedroom, putting it on the table.

"We're gonna play chess?" James asked, looking mildly confused. Hermione smiled.

"Not just chess," she said. "Wizard's chess."

"Wizards have their own version of chess?" James asked interestedly. Before long, they were sitting at the table, James playing a game of chess with Hermione eagerly (Lily was watching them silently). James was egging on a rather shy bishop to smash one of Hermione's knights to pieces when the timer went off and they James cleared the table while Lily gathered plates for dinner.

Dinner was a quiet meal of pizza and salad. The three of them ate in near silence, each one immersed deep in thought. Hermione had told her children quite a lot that day, from the workings of the magical world to Hogwarts to her adventures with Harry and Ron and the workings and downfall of Voldemort, complemented, of course, with as many photographs and books as she could find.

She knew that James had shown a lot of excitement toward the magical world, and was amazed that all of the odd stuff that he and Lily could do wasn't a mental problem at all, as he and Lily had originally thought. They hadn't even been upset that she'd been keeping that secret from them for all of these years.

She was, however, worried about Lily. She knew that her daughter was usually as garrulous as her son, and loved to talk and joke around as much as James did. Today, however, she had been particularly subdued, and Hermione was worried. It seemed that with this news, her daughter's life and everything she believed had been turned upside down; the news had affected her moreso than it had James. She looked up at her daughter, who was pushing salad around on her plate.

"Are you alright, Lily?"

"I'm okay, I guess," she replied softly. "Just confused."

"It's okay, I was confused when I got my first letter, too. I was sure that magic could only exist in books." Lily nodded, understanding. Suddenly, she dropped her fork into her plate with a clatter.

"What if I don't want to go to Hogwarts?" she asked, her voice suddenly strong and clear. Hermione was stunned. She hadn't been expecting this at all.

"It's all your decision, sweetheart," she said. "But where will you go?" Lily's face was screwed up in thought and indecision.

"Chesapeake," she said suddenly. "I mean, I've always wanted to go there, anyways, and—"

"Oh, come on, Lily!" James burst out, sounding both exasperated and desperate. "You can't go to Chesapeake!"

"Oh? And why can't I?" she asked, her glasses flashing dangerously, daring him to challenge her.

"Because I'm going to Hogwarts," he announced confidently, beaming at Hermione. She felt a surge of pride as she beamed back.

"So?" Lily said, acting nonchalant and composed, but Hermione could see that there was shock and fear in her daughter's face. She knew that, no matter what school she decided on, she didn't want to go anywhere without James. The two of them had never been separated, and they always seemed to draw comfort and strength from one another's presence.

"So I don't want to go by myself."

"Neither do I."

"Fine, so don't." They both sat quietly, eating another slice of pizza, keeping their mouths full so they wouldn't have to talk to each other. Hermione cleared her throat softly and turned toward Lily, who still had a determinedly defiant expression on her face.

"Why don't you want to go to Hogwarts, Lily?" she asked with concern on her face. Lily shrugged a little, lowering her head.

"I—I don't know," she said, sounding hopeless. "It's just that—well—it's so far away from you and I don't want us to go away to school and leave you by yourself. I mean, it'd be closer, Chesapeake." Hermione had to fight the urge to laugh.

"Is that all?" Lily shook her head, cheeks reddening slightly.

"Well, no, but—" she broke off. "It's stupid."

"Nothing that you could think would be stupid," Hermione said gently.

"All right, it's just that I've wanted to be a doctor for my whole life, and I don't want to ruin that."

"Oh, sweetie!" Hermione said, reaching across the table and resting her hand on top of her daughter's. "Do you think that the wizarding world doesn't have medical personnel? Of course, you can still be a doctor in the magical world, only they're called healers, and they use magic and potions to make people well."

"Oh," Lily said, going back to munching contentedly on her pizza. Her heart was lighter now, and she felt happily astonished for the first time since learning that she had magical blood flowing in her veins. She looked up at James and caught his eye, grinning. James grinned back at her.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, punching his fist into the air. Lily giggled, shaking her head.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking from one to the other, amused, though she had a fairly good grasp on what was going on.

"I guess I'll go to Hogwarts," Lily said, the decision made. She felt light and happy as she reached for a second slice of pizza, savoring the flavor. Hermione was overjoyed.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed. "Brilliant. I'll go and send your return owl and confirm your places in the class!" she said excitedly, and she dumped her empty plate in the sink and swept back up the stairs to her room. James beamed at Lily.

"I'm really glad that you're going." Lily gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess I'm glad, too."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Well," Lily began, shifting in her chair. "I figured that I'd go and learn magic, like Mom did. And if I don't like it, I can always go to a normal university and still be a normal doctor. I've got nothing to lose by trying, have I?"

"Nope!" James said. "This has been a great birthday!" Lily nodded in agreement.

"How about a game of wizard's chess?" she asked eagerly, wanting to try a hand at the rather barbaric game herself.

"Definitely!" James said, stuffing the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth and retrieving the game, setting it onto the table.

The next morning, Lily rolled over in her bed, not opening her eyes. Summer sunlight streamed through her window and fell across her pillow, warming her face.

It had all been a dream, she thought, a magnificent dream, where magic existed and her mother was a witch and she had been accepted into Chesapeake and a magical school called Hogwarts. Today, then, would be her birthday. She was 11! Opening her eyes at last, she threw off her bedcovers and threw on a t-shirt and shorts. As she was making her bed, though, something caught her eye.

It was the photograph that her mother had given to her in the dream, the one of her mother and father together during their school days, and it was sitting in a frame on her nightstand. And it was moving.

A moving photograph. Lily gasped audibly. It had been real, after all. She hastily finished making the bed, straightening her blue quilt and fluffing her pillow, and rushed downstairs, where the smell of bacon met her.

"Morning, sweetheart," Hermione said cheerfully, flipping the bacon in the pan.

"Morning, Mom."

"Is your brother still asleep?"

"Probably. Would you like to wake him up for me? I've got something else that's fun for you today." Lily nodded.

"Sure," and she turned and climbed the stairs to James' room. She fought the urge to laugh.

James was sprawled out, tangled in his blankets and his limbs stretched out at odd angles. His mouth was lolling open and he drooled on his sheets, as his head had fallen off of his pillow. She approached the bed quietly, snatching a pencil off of his desk. James had incredible reflexes, and she'd more than once been caught startling him. Aiming carefully, she poked his shoulder with the pencil.

He twitched and jerked awake, looking as if he didn't quite know where he was. He looked at Lily, who was smiling at him, and she saw his eyes move to the photo on his nighttable, which was a replica of the one in her own bedroom. His eyes widened.

"It—that—the picture—" he paused, staring intently at her. "It was real?" Lily nodded.

"I asked myself the same thing when I woke up this morning," she said as he gazed at her, amazed.

"So, we're magical still?"

"Yes, I guess so." A smile twitched at her lips. "Come downstairs, Mom's cooking breakfast, and I'm supposed to come fetch you."

"Alright," he said. "Wait a second and I'll get dressed." James kicked away the covers and once his sister was out of the room he changed into shorts and a t-shirt as well, and he bolted out the door. The two of them trekked back into the kitchen. What they saw made them grin eagerly at each other before running to give Hermione a hug.

At each of their places on the table, there was a plate of bacon, egg and toast, a glass of orange juice, and a small pile of birthday presents. They made beelines toward the table.

"I had to wait to give you those, you understand," she said casually, sitting at the table with her own breakfast plate.

"Are they—are they magical?" James asked eagerly as he picked up a box and shook it lightly. Hermione nodded.

"But you need to eat your breakfast first, don't let it get cold." She laughed as the twins began to eat at top speed. When James had shoved his last bit of toast in his mouth, he turned to the first gift in the pile and tore off the paper.

"Cool hat!" he exclaimed, holding up a rather unimpressive-looking green bowler hat. He jammed it onto his head, and almost immediately everything above his shoulders disappeared. Lily gasped and dropped the bacon she was holding.

"What?" came James' voice, apparently from nowhere. He took off the hat and his head and neck reappeared immediately.

"That's called a Headless Hat," Hermione explained. "It will make your head invisible when you put it on."

"Amazing!" he said. "That's really neat! Where'd you get this?"

"I bought it from London by owl order weeks ago, I know the owners of the shop where those are sold," she said fondly. She hadn't seen any of the Weasleys, who had always treated her like family, since before Lily and James had been born.

"Wow, this is incredible!" Lily said. She had just unwrapped her first birthday gift, which was another Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product: the reusable hangman. What appeared to be a little stick-man stared up at Lily, marching up a set of stairs leading to a miniature gallows. Hangman was one of her favorite games, and she was beaming.

More gifts were unwrapped, and both received trunks to pack for Hogwarts, an exploding snap deck to share between them, and both received books: Hogwarts: A Revised History for Lily and Quidditch Through the Ages for James. The thing that topped it, though, was what looked like a shoebox stuffed to capacity with sweets: Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Sherbert Balls, Sugar Quills, Licorice Wands, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and a large bag each of Bertie Botts' Every-Flavor Beans.

"Excellent!" James exclaimed, biting the head off of a jelly slug with energy.

"This stuff is really—oh!" Lily broke off, for she had unwrapped a chocolate frog and it had hopped out of her hand and across the table.

"Don't worry," said Hermione, noticing Lily's look of apprehension as she approached the now-still frog. "They've only got one good jump in them to start. Then they just stand still like normal chocolate."

"What's this?" she had pulled something from the inside of the package.

"Oooh," Hermione said with interest. "There's a famous witch or wizard card in every package. Which have you got?" Lily flipped over the card. A very old man with a long, crooked nose, half-moon spectacles, and long silver hair and beard blinked back at her, his eyes twinkling.

"Albus Dumbledore." James looked up at the mention of Dumbledore. Hermione suddenly became silent at his memory.

"Go on, Lily," James said. "What does the back say?"

"Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts 1949-1996: Considered by many to have been the greatest wizard of his time, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, for his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel, and for the part he played in the downfall of the dark Lord Voldemort in 1996. Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling," she read off the card, careful not to miss anything.

"Cool," James said. "I wonder if I've gotten Dumbledore in any of my chocolate frogs." Hermione was grateful to him for lightening up the mood, and the two kids happily went back to their sweets and birthday goodies.

Hermione vanished the wrapping paper strewn all over the table with a flick of her wand. She had one last gift that she wanted to give to Lily and James, as the event in concern would be taking place in a couple of days. She pulled two envelopes out of her pocket and caught their attention, handing the envelopes to them.

"What's this?" Lily asked. "You've given us quite a lot already, Mom." But James had already tore open his envelope and was pulling a rectangle of thick paper out of it, which he read and nearly dropped.

"Whoa!" he said excitedly.

"We're going to England!" Lily exclaimed happily, doing a sort of jig in excitement.

"Yes, we're going to England," Hermione said, smiling at the two of them. "That is, if you want to."

"Of course we want to!"

"When will we leave?"

"How long will we be there for?"

"Where are we staying?" Hermione had to laugh.

"We leave," she began, "On Friday. That will give me time to clear out my office and do some last things at the hospital—"

"Wait," Lily said, frowning. "You're leaving your job?"

"Yes, well, if I'm going to be in England with you two, I can't exactly commute, can I?" Both of them looked aghast.

"But mom, you love your job—"

"—not nearly as much as I love you. I promise, it's already fixed. I start at a hospital in London right after the two of you start at Hogwarts." Lily looked at her brother questioningly, and his frowned slightly in thought.

"So…" Lily said slowly, "does this mean that we're moving?" She looked mildly terrified.

"Well, I don't know for sure," Hermione said, sinking into one of the chairs at the table and folding her arms. "I thought I'd run the idea past the two of you first. I mean, I grew up in England, but—"

"Will it be hard for you?" Lily asked sympathetically, peering at Hermione through emerald eyes. Hermione sighed.

"Yes, I imagine that it will be," she said honestly. "But it's something that I have to do sooner or later. After I had you two, I realized that there was no way for me to completely forget the past. And besides," she said with a small smile. "There are loads of things that I miss in the wizarding world." They were silent for a moment. James fumbled with his airplane ticket and realized that there was another slip of parchment tucked inside of the envelope. He pulled it out with interest. Turning it over, he saw neat ruby script forming the words:

This slip of parchment is good for one magical animal of your choice (a cat, rat, owl or toad) and carrying case.

"Cool!" he exclaimed with interest. "I always wanted a pet. This is awesome!"

"What is it? Have I got one too?" she checked her envelope again, and found an identical slip of parchment. They both jumped up with glee, and Hermione couldn't help smiling. They rushed over to her, throwing their arms around her in such a manner that after a moment she could hardly breathe. With a chorus of "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" they packed their birthday presents into their new trunks and hauled them up the stairs to their bedrooms.

Unsure why, Hermione felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

It would be time, soon, to go back and reenter the world she had left behind so long ago. It would be difficult, but she knew that having James and Lily there would make it loads more bearable. The two of them had never made her happier.

To my reviewers:

Kate: Thanks for being my first reviewer. I'm definitely going to keep this story going. I hope that you keep reading!

Bexxy: Yay! An alert! I feel mildly flattered, thank you. And I definitely will keep writing.

Hermione-Potter-52036: Lets see, you're right, sort of, because everything is going to happen (one already did). The actual huge gift is the trip to London, so for that, I award 5 points to the House of your choice. Thanks a bunch for reviewing, you rock!

Monk of the Neko: Thank you very much, and I hope that you liked this chapter 

Hmm… let's see…for another challenge, you get 10 points if you can correctly guess who is the first person to see and recognize Hermione in Diagon Alley (which is next chapter).

That's all! Stick around for the next installment!

Callista Rose