Summary: Two and a half years ago, James Potter's life ended when his wife was captured and declared dead. After intense mourning, his friends forced him to move past it, and resumed living without Lily. But an anonymous tip that brings Lily home sends his life into a tailspin once again.
Disclaimer: I own Penelope but that's pretty much it. I'll let you know on the rest. So, until further notice, JK Rowling owns pretty much everything in this fanfic except the plot, which isn't entirely mine either(see dedication). Please don't press charges, I have to pay $400 bi-annually for car-insurance, I can't afford anything big.
Dedication: The idea for this fanfic is from the case of Lt. Commander Michael Scott Speicher, a United States naval pilot, who has been missing since January 16, 1991. His status has been changed from Killed in Action to Missing in Action. This by no means is a representation of his life, only of a presumed dead soldier. This is for all the soldiers who haven't made it home yet.
Author's Note: I've rewritten chapters one through four, just to change the tone a little bit.
The Haphazard Ruse
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Lily was mentally singing as she and Celeste were being rolled down to the first floor fireplace connected to the Floo Network. They were at last going to be returned to their home.
Well, technically, it was home to neither of them, but it would be in a very short while, she was sure. They were going to be assisted with the Flooing, considering none of the personnel knew if she would speak to the fireplace or not, which Lily thought was a great joke. Being silent for a few hours could get all manner of things done. Celeste was sitting in her lap, chattering about nothing in particular to nobody in particular, and Lily listened with one ear.
This was all one great ruse, not quite as great as her unintentional almost-death, but good nonetheless. Merely by recognizing nothing and saying nothing, she had missed the impending humiliation of having to face James and his new wife. She had avoided reporters and having to give a replay of her long confinement, had to answer no questions about Celeste, and she was being taken to a new place to live with no problems.
In reality, she had given up hope of rescue the day she had been given a copy of The Daily Prophet with "James Potter's New Bride" as the headline. He was most likely the pushing force in her recovery, and with his lost of interest, she was as good as gone.
But oh how wrong she was. She had friends in the Ministry, both Aurors and Hit Personnel, and they hadn't stopped the search, even with the new lack of dedication from her husband and the evidence that supported her death. So, when she was awakened in her sleep to find the face of Sirius Black picking her up, it was a dream come true. He was always a good guy, she hadn't gave him enough credit in Hogwarts, not at all. She had pointed for Celeste too, and he had also grabbed up the small child.
She and Celeste had been taken out of the permanent encampment of Voldemort and had been en-route to St. Mungo's when the Auror's had received a change of orders, and she had been taken to the casualty at Lord Hubert's Hospital for the Weak of Mind or Body. After a check-up, where she was preoccupied with free and unrestrained movement, she was questioned. Lily had the deer in the headlights moment, where she froze, and Sirius had said, "It's understandable if you don't feel like answering our questions, we can post-pone this until later."
Lily had smiled, and it wasn't later yet.
James had came into her room and she had pretended not to know him, knowing of course, that he had remarried a few months ago.
And nobody had to know whose daughter Celeste was, the world could do with a reinstatement of the good, old-fashioned mind your business rule.
Lily was hoping for a nice house out in the country, maybe along the north border where she grew up. She could reacquaint herself with her sister and Vernon, and live a cheery little life with her daughter by her side.
Well, that was her intent, at least.
Instead, she was Flooed to an flat, which wasn't at all in the country. The lady who helped her stepped away from the wheel chair, and Flooed back, leaving Lily and Celeste with Harold Croaker, their case worker.
He nodded at Lily. "I hope you remember me. Harold."
Lily nodded.
"Good. It's equipped with the basics, appliances, enough food for awhile, there are some clothes provided by the Ministry. Your rent will be paid for two years, eight months, and sixteen days, the amount of time you were gone. Your utilities will all be paid, and you will receive a weekly stipend of fifty Galleons. If you need anything, owl me, you will find one with your name in the building's owlery, or Floo me, I still live where I used to. I will be in to check on you everyday at four thirty if you need anything. This is an all-magical building, so you don't have to worry about Muggles, and you have some nice neighbors. You know a few of them."
Lily smiled and watched Celeste buzz around the room, touching everything she could reach.
"I'll be leaving then. Have a good day, Lily, I'm very pleased that you're back." Harold turned to leave, and was ready to step into the fireplace with Lily spoke. "Thank you, Harold."
"You are very welcome." He smiled broadly and continued with his exit, leaving no awkwardness.
Lily sighed, and also began exploring her new home. It was…nice. By all standards, it was an excellent place to live, but Lily wasn't so thrilled. It was so different than any place she had every lived before, with her parents or with James. Both places had been lovely little houses filled with personal things.
This was a very functional flat. It had white walls, dark green furniture, light green carpet, and green checked linoleum in the kitchen. There were two bedrooms, a small one and a large one, both with white walls and green carpet, and Lily cringed. She was going through the closets to see what exactly they had in the line of clothing with Celeste came in. She wrapped her arms around Lily's legs in a hug since she only came to her knees. "Mummy, I love our new house!"
"I love it if you love it."
"What can we do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"We were always doing things before. What do we do now?"
"Well, we need to fix up our house a little. That will take awhile, and we both need some clothes, and Mummy needs to get a new wand, so we'll need to go shopping."
"When?"
Lily thought for a minute, then decided she wouldn't be able to tolerate the clothes in her closet for very long, and knew Celeste felt the same way. People who thought red heads only wore green needed a swift kick in the lower anatomy.
"Can you wait until tomorrow?"
"Awww. Mummy!" Celeste sighed, and wrapped around Lily's neck since she was no kneeling. "Please today!"
"No, today is too soon, we have things to do here."
"Like what."
"Well, we need to switch the clothes so that yours are in this room, and put your toys in here too. And then we'll check the flat rules about pets to see about that kitten."
"Yay! So I get this big room?"
"Yes. When I was a little girl, I never had enough room for my stuff. Little girls really need more room than their mummies."
"Yes. We do." Celeste said solemnly, and nodded her head. "Can we go find out about those kitties now?"
"We might as well." Lily sighed, she didn't actually want to go back in public, but decided she would have to sometime. Tomorrow seemed desperately close, but now was even more so. Oh, the joys of motherhood. "Brush your hair first."
"Okay."
One thing Lily had been lucky with was that Celeste's precociousness had allowed them to skip over the helpless toddler stage into the independent one overnight. After Celeste had been cleaned up, they both went downstairs, not talking to the curious faces they met. Lily hoisted Celeste onto her hip once they were in the foyer where flat rules and notices were posted on several cork boards. Celeste could read only a few words, which was very remarkable for her age, and one of those words was 'cat'.
"Mummy? I don't see anything about cats." Celeste sounded very worried by this, and Lily said reassuringly, "It'll be under 'pet'. Here we go, it says small pets are allowed."
"Goodie! Can we go get one now?"
"I think we better wait until tomorrow."
"But, Mummy, I want a kitty soooo so so so so bad." Celeste gave Lily a kiss on the cheek. "Please, Mummy? I love you so much. I love you as much as kitties."
Lily knew that the saying you were repaid for your own childhood was indeed true. "Fine."
"Now?"
"Yes, we'll go now."
*~*~*
Sorry for the wait, but I revised the chapters. Next chapter: A brief foray into public and they meet the neighbors.
Thanks for the reviews, I love them. Some of you are very perceptive: Kristen, OriginalProxy, sporadic, Moon Princess, Mistocean, Clare, The Elfin Child, hpandkiki, mooncancer, Stefanorkle, NattyNatterz, Alli, Tina, ljpottafreak, astrid, JazzyNStu, Amelia, Nicole, AznGurl, Céline, Nicole Christine Potter, Vumbu1, Julie Anna, CarmenSandiego, RBFfreak22, Sugarquill, Kelly, Julie, TheEmeraldsEye, TiltDRox, Clare, BluElvr.
Torifire126-no, I don't have my license, just a farmer's permit because….I live on a farm, sadly enough. Eat beef.