Chapter 4

Lily was happy to be home for the Christmas holidays. She always was, but this year she had a few more reasons to be excited other than the few presents and seeing her mother. This year, she would be meeting this mysterious Dylan her mother seemed to have fallen for. And this year Professor Potter would be stopping by before Christmas in order to get permission for her advanced class. Lily was intentionally not telling Eliza about her professor's visit because she knew her Eliza was very interested in what happened at Hogwarts and Lily figured that it could be a surprise for her to learn even more about the magical world.

There was one glitch in her plan for the holidays though: her mum seemed to be avoiding the topic of Dylan completely. Whenever Lily tried to ask when she was going to meet him Eliza would pretend not to hear or would suddenly get distracted by something else. It was rare that she got an actual answer, but that answer always turned out to be something vague and noncommittal like "soon" or "I'm not sure." Lily was starting to think that there was something else going on with this relationship of hers.

"Did he break up with you?" Lily blurted out one shopping trip after only a week at home.

"What? Who?" Eliza responded, quiet confused, but also distracted by the increasing prices of her favorite type of cookies.

"Don't tell me you are dating more than one bloke now," Lily said, dripping with sarcasm.

"No! Don't be silly. I just wasn't expecting that question. No, Dylan hasn't broken up with me. Why do you ask?" Eliza immediately regretted asking because she knew why Lily was so curious.

"Because you keep avoiding anything to do with me meeting him. Are you scared to introduce your witch of a daughter to him?"

"Don't say witch like that Lily."

"Like what?"

"Like it's a bad thing."

"Well, if its not bad then why can't I meet Dylan. You promised."

Eliza sighed at this truth and at her very stubborn and curious daughter. She frowned slightly realizing that this was a bad combination that Lily got from both of her parents. "I will try to introduce you as soon as I can. Its – just that – that he may not be able to leave his school much over the holidays. I guess he is the teacher on duty." Eliza hated lying to her daughter but she didn't know what else to do. She promised herself that she would tell Lily the truth someday soon but knew in the back of her head that she was going to put it off as long as possible. Little did Eliza know that this someday soon was only a few days away.

Harry had a busier holiday ahead of him than usual. First there was the meeting with Lily's mother. Then there was his date with Eliza. After that he had a family dinner with the Weasleys. Next, the holidays, also with the Weasleys. After that, he hoped to have at least one more date with Eliza before having to go back to Hogwarts. Maybe he could even meet her daughter who he assumed would be home from her theatre school.

Harry was grateful that Molly and Arthur continued to include him in their family after Ginny left. For a while there he was scared that that would severe his ties with them. Fortunately, both Ron and Molly had convinced him that he was a part of their family long before he started dating Ginny and that he was a brother and son to them no matter what. And it was true, Ron and Hermione's children called him Uncle Harry along with the rest of that generation of red-heads.

But first to the more pressing matters of Lily's class. He apparated to an alleyway near Lily's house and walked the remaining distance to the nice two-story home. It kind of reminded him of Privet Drive, but at least here some of the homes had been painted different colors. Harry smiled as he approached Lily's front door, her house was a pale yellow and not just a boring off white color that most homes seemed to be.

After he knocked, Harry could hear a woman distantly yelling for Lily to answer the door.

"Hey Professor! Right on time, as usual. Come in!"

Harry smiled and crossed the threshold into the sparse foyer. The same distant voice came from the back of the house. "Lily, who is it? I'm in the middle of planning out a new menu for the restaurant."

"You didn't tell her I was coming?" Harry frowned down at his favorite student.

"Er, no… I wanted to surprise her because she loves learning about Hogwarts. Wait here, I'll be right back. Don't worry." Lily grinned sheepishly and then ran down the hallway towards the voice.

Harry shook his head at her retreating back, willing himself not to follow or snoop around the house realizing that it would be rather rude. But he couldn't help but listen to the conversation floating down the hall.

"Who was it?"

"One of my professors from school. He wants to ask you about my extra cla–"

"One of your professors!?" the woman interrupted, sounding both irritated and worried.

"Yes. I wanted it to be a surprise because I know how much you like hearing about magic." Harry could tell Lily sounded worried.

"I – I can't see him right now. I'm – uh – busy."

"You have to though! I need your permission to continue on with those extra Defense classes I was telling you about!" Lily sounded as though she was about to cry.

The response though was cold and almost fearful. "No, I can't go out there. You have my permission. Please ask him to leave."

Harry was suddenly very frustrated by this woman. From all the stories Lily had told, he thought that telling Mrs. Finch would be much more pleasant than this. Didn't she care at all that her daughter was now going to be learning about Dark magic? At this thought, he walked down the hallway with the intention of chastising Mrs. Finch for not fully understanding what was at stake, in addition to being so rude to him.

All thoughts and purpose went out of his mind when he saw Lily's mother's side profile though. He recognized it instantly. How could be forget? She didn't seem him though and quickly turned back to the table she was working at. Harry continued to stare in shock at the back of her head and her red hair for a few moments until Lily's voice broke him out of his state of disbelief.

"Oh, Professor! I didn't see you there. Um, mum, this is the professor I was telling you about, Professor Potter."

At those words, the woman whipped her head around to finally look at him.

"Gi-Ginny?"

Eliza was desperate. Lily had just told her that a professor from Hogwarts was here. In her home. Where she was hiding. From anyone magical. And that included Hogwarts professors. She didn't know which one it was but the chances of them knowing Ginny was extremely high. Eliza practically begged her daughter to not let this person stay. She was scared of them finding her, but more importantly, she was afraid of Lily's reaction when she found out that her own mother had been lying to her about some very important things.

Everything changed though when Lily named the professor. At the sound of the name 'Potter' so many thoughts ran through her head that when she looked back at this moment, she was amazed that so many feeling occur in such a brief space of time. There was fear, guilt, hope, surprise, and the most unexpected feeling was love.

Eliza felt herself spin around and stare into those green eyes that were so much like her daughter's. No. Their daughter's. Oh shit. What had she gotten herself into? He would find out. More importantly, she would find out. At that moment, Eliza couldn't remember why she had stopped being Ginny and was just in complete shock. It wasn't until Harry said the name that she hadn't been called in fifteen years that it all came rushing back to her.

Lily was shocked and hurt by how her mother was reacting. Why was she absolutely refusing to see Professor Potter? How could she just give permission for something like that? She didn't even know what the class would include. But Lily was also confused as to why her mother sounded so scared, she had never been frightened by anything magical before, in fact, she usually embraced it. Maybe it was something similar to how she was anxious at Diagon Alley and Platform 9 ¾…

Then she saw her favorite professor standing there in the open doorway. He was looking at her mother like he had never seen a woman before. This scared her. Nothing, and she meant NOTHING, surprised Professor Potter! Not even when she was forced to tell him how she had snuck into Hogsmeade on a weekday through the secret passage on the third floor.

The thing that happened next startled Lily even more. All she had done was acknowledge his presence and the next thing she knew, both adults were staring at each other. And then Professor Potter stuttered out a name: Ginny.

After what seemed to be a few decades, Eliza seemed to have found her voice and spoke quickly and without leaving a question. "Lily, please go upstairs."

"But –" Lily desperately wanted to know what was going on.

"Go. Now."

Lily gave her mother an evil look before looking back at her professor's stunned face and stomped up the stairs, slamming her door. She quickly realized that she couldn't eavesdrop on them though if her door was closed. Silently, she opened her door and crept out onto the landing where she could just make out what they were saying.

"Is it really you Ginny?" she heard Professor Potter say. Ginny? Why would he be calling her that? Her name was Eliza. It suddenly hit her, Eliza WASN'T her real name! Was it Ginny? But that still didn't explain why he knew her muggle mother's name.

"Why are you here Harry?" Eliza sounded on the verge of tears and it panged Lily to hear her mother like this. That feeling was quickly replaced by the realization that Eliza knew who Harry Potter was. That means that she was Ginny. Whoever that was.

"I came about Lily's extra classes that I…" he trailed away in thought before saying quietly, "Your daughter's name is Lily." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Eliza, or Ginny, answered even quieter still so Lily was wondering if she even heard it right before she heard her mother add in the same whisper, "Why don't we go outside and talk. I don't want to be overheard."

Lily cursed her mother for knowing her so well and quickly ran back to her room and jumped on her bed in time to look out the window to see her professor and mother walking out the backdoor to the garden. Lily desperately wanted to know what was going on. Who was her mother? Why did the famous Harry Potter know her? What in the world did any of this have to do with her name?

Lily could see them talking and they both seemed shocked and scared yet mad at the same time. Lily kept thinking about her name. What was so special about it? Professor Potter's mother was named Lily. But what did that have to do with her? But as soon the professor started pointing towards the house and then pointing to himself she realized what it was. She was named after her father's mother. Harry Potter's mother was named Lily. He was pointing at the house and Eliza, or Ginny, was crying. Harry Potter was her father.

But this was not enough of a shock for poor Lily for one day. Oh no. What happened next flipped her world and what she thought she knew upside down. The two in the garden began arguing and yelling over something she couldn't hear but she could see their faces turning red and their eyes narrowing. Suddenly, Lily watched as her muggle mother pulled out a wand from her coat. Lily would have fainted if she hadn't begun to sprint down the stairs with only one thought in mind: her mother was a witch.

A/N: GAH! This was a difficult chapter to write. Took me forever. And the ironic thing is that this is the part of the story that I based the rest of my story around. This is the bit that I have had in my mind since the summer. I guess that was why it was so hard to write? Plus, its so much longer than I thought it would be! So I decided to split into two chapters instead and ill finish the second half as soon as I can. Anyway, I hope you all like it and, once again, I probably would have had it up earlier if it wasn't for the fact that UCLA sadly lost to USC and my friends and I decided to drive over to Chinatown and eat our emotions. The stupid thing is that I don't even like American football… I just have a lot of school spirit. So, please, a moment of silence for my dear Bruins…

And review! Thanks to those who have! Your encouragement makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :) and feel free to criticize if you deem necessary… Sorry if there are typos. It is 4am California time and I am too tired to proof read…