Complexity

By ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or places, although I do own this story and some elements of the characterizations of Al Potter, his siblings and their cousins, Ben, Abigail, and Dittany.

A/N: Thanks again to all of the reviewers! And to whitehound, thanks for the help. I try to stay away from Americanisms (i.e. candy vs. sweets), but it's hard being an American and all. Feel free to continue to point out any issues I have. Also, Snape will be showing subtle differences over time, notably so far at the end of the upcoming chapter six I think.

Thanks again, everyone! Now for the Lily chapter. :)

Chapter Five: Vulnerability

Snape hears the door open but decides to feign sleep so the boy will talk to someone else that night. A week before, third-year Albus Potter had come to the office in the dead of night wanting to know about the first war with Voldemort from a host of different perspectives. "I've heard my dad talk about my grandparents – the ones my brother and sister are named for, that is – and I've listened to Dromeda when I've gone to see Teddy, as well as a bunch of other people," Al had explained. "But mostly people just talk about the second war. I like history, although I admit I can't stay awake in History of Magic, so I figured I'd ask you all."

And so, like a reporter, albeit without a Quick-Quotes Quill, he had sat in the middle of the room talking to all of the portraits who remembered. Most of them had not even been alive during the time, but they had been in that office or in other portraits hearing the stories and so seen quite a lot.

Needless to say, Snape is reluctant for a repeat performance. (The boy had tried to get him to talk about being a spy but then backed off with a sort of curious expression lingering on his face when Snape had yelled at him – "Must you stick your nose where it does not belong, Potter?" Al's next question had been for Dumbledore.)

Today, the footsteps in the room are different though. Perhaps lighter. Snape opens his eyes again to watch this new intruder. A small hand emerges from the cloak holding a thin wand perhaps ten inches long with a light on the end. Finally, the rest of the person is revealed when the child tosses off the cloak.

Snape stares at the little girl with a sneer dying on his lips. Her brown eyes are wide, as she takes in the room that she has never been in before, and her hair is shockingly vibrant red, even in the relative darkness.

"Hi," she says boldly.

"Let me guess," says Phineas Nigellus grumpily. "Another Potter?"

"Er, yes," replies the girl. "I'm Lily. My brother Al, you see, is sick, so he sent me to talk to all of you, since it's, er, tradition."

"That's considerate," mutters Dilys Derwent.

"How do you children keep discovering the password for this office?" Phineas Nigellus hisses.

"You'd have to ask Al," replies Lily with a shrug.

"I am a healer," says Dilys Derwent. "What seems to be wrong with your brother?"

"Oh, scrofungulus," Lily answers. "The whole school just got new spells placed on it since it's so contagious."

"Oh, that is too bad," the healer says. "Is he having the hallucinations then?"

"Yeah," replies Lily. "'Definitely worse than a boggart,' he said. He was screaming something awful the night we brought him to St. Mungo's. I think he might've seen some of the stuff you lot talked to him about last week. Figures. He's always been the cat that gets bitten by curiosity." She grimaces and adds, "Not that it's your fault he's sick or anything. He caught it from Colette Creevey.

"He also was hallucinating about the time when he got bitten by a dog and thought he was a werewolf for a week," continues Lily. "He didn't show anyone the bite because he was too terrified. I was about four so I didn't know what was up with him. Teddy finally got him to say what was wrong. It was infected and disgusting but not a werewolf bite."

"How is Mr. Lupin?" asks Dumbledore.

"Teddy? He's good," replies Lily. "My cousin Victoire and him will probably do something loopy and elope any day now. Not that the family objects or anything. It's just that they're two romantics." She clutches at her heart theatrically and bats her eyelashes.

"You know," she comments, "it really is sort of nice to talk to you lot. I had my reservations – no offense – but I might make Al take me every once in a while. Although, I haven't gotten to talk to Professor Snape yet, and that just has to be fixed."

She turns her bright gaze to Snape's portrait. She is vocal and a bit brash and there is a spark of her namesake in her smile. But those are not Lily Evans Potter's eyes, nor is that red hair quite her shade. It's small, but it's enough.

"Yes, Miss Potter?" Snape says, sneering.

"Al speaks about you sometimes," Lily states. "He says you're silent unless you feel the need to make a biting comment and that, really, you aren't that bad. I want to see that for myself."

"Do you have the extensive knowledge about me that your brother seems to possess?"

Lily smiles sadly. "I think so," she sighs. "My dad told us once that you were great friends with our grandmother. I wish I could have had time with her. All I have are the Pensieve memories that Dad lets us see."

There is a silence that follows. Thick and heavy. Snape has a hard time taking a breath of air (not that he really needs it, but it is comforting to return to old habits like breathing, for Merlin's sake). Lily looks almost motherly (Molly Weasley-like perhaps?) as she says, "I'm only eleven, but I think I understand these things a bit. I think my grandmother would be very happy to know that even after death you're still helping my family. Al is a bit of a loner sometimes, but at least he talks to people up here."

"Perhaps he just needs to talk to his own House more often," Snape suggests.

"Oh, Al has friends," Lily says. "He's just quiet. He did want me to tell you lot where he was though. He didn't really want a school-wide portrait search for him."

"We may have simply thought he did not feel up to breaking the rules this week," Snape states.

"Maybe," replies Lily, as she does a little skip around the room. "Anyway, I, unlike Al, need sleep, so I have to go."

"Come again any time," Dilys Derwent calls out. Several portraits declare their agreement, but Snape watches the red hair disappear under the cloak in silence. That is, until something occurs to him about what she had been wearing in the darkness.

"You're in Slytherin?" he asks the invisible girl, as she opens the door.

Lily Potter reappears. Indeed, she is wearing a green and silver snake pin on her black robes with matching earrings, as well as a pair of knee-high emerald green socks poking out of the top of her purple trainers. The strange adornments, especially the earrings, bring up vague memories of a student during his last few years. It takes him a moment to realize the student is Luna Lovegood when a bit of blonde hair comes to mind.

"Of course," Lily says with a grin. "Half my family and the school were really surprised, but then Al just grinned at me across the Great Hall the night of the sorting and everything felt all right again. It's not like Slytherins are all a bunch of Death Eaters these days. Scorpius doesn't even care a bit about blood. And anyway, I spend half of my time in the Gryffindor common room."

"Inter-house unity," says Dumbledore fondly.

"Of course," Lily replies again, and then, once more, she disappears.

Snape had felt weary and old and utterly dead upon first seeing the girl, but now there is a little life springing into him suddenly, and, he is not quite sure why, but it is almost comforting to see her. He wonders if it is because this descendent of Lily Evans Potter does not show any signs of being related to the first James Potter and then decides against it (and perhaps for the first time he can see the character of a Potter without marring the image with too many prejudices).

"Perhaps," he mutters so that none of the other portraits can hear him. Most of them have returned to sleep, and the heavy droning of snoring and deep breathing fills the room. Besides, he reasons, even dead, he has to keep with some house loyalty.

A/N: Al will be back for the next chapter. (He has to get over his bout of scrofungulus, while also getting over his annoyance of being compared to his dad all the time for his third year at Hogwarts.) Oh yeah, and feel free to let me know what you thought of Lily's character in this. She turned out to be extremely unlike Al at that age. Instead, I think she takes after the wonderfully strong women in her family. (And besides, there had to be a Slytherin Potter eventually. After all, it seemed like Harry and Al just barely slipped by the chance of becoming Slytherins.)

A/N 2: Please review! Thanks again.