A/N: Whew...it's been a while hasn't it? I had a major road block with this chapter and re wrote it quite a few times. It is a few pages shorter then I planned. Don't be afraid to make constructive criticism I honestly need all I can get. ^_^
And don't forget to vote on my profile for what house you would like to see Lilly in. I am torn really every house effects the story line in vastly different ways in my head. lol
Hero's Tale
By Yurushi-chan
Chapter Four: Acquaintances
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters except Lilly(the younger). The plot is however all mine.
Harry wasn't sure why his heart pounded so in his chest as he checked his new trunk for everything he would need for the upcoming year. The entirety of his home had been packed away and the boxes had been sent to Hogwarts so it was not as if he would forget anything. Neither did he understand why each minute seemed to stretch longer then should have been allowed. If he were honest with himself he would realize that he was feeling very much like he had the very first day he had been dropped off at Kings cross on his way to his first year of Hogwarts. But of course, that would have been too silly of a thing to be true: so he ignored it and blamed his feelings on the stress of moving.
They only had an hour or so before he would drop Lilly off at Platform 9 ¾, and he would someone would be sent to side long apparate him to Hogsmead. He would have liked to apparate himself and not have to deal with another witch or wizard until he had to reveal himself, but truthfully he had never had the chance to master apparation before he had left and he really didn't want the Ministry involved should he splinch himself. So instead he had agreed to McGonagall's proposal on the terms that he would be allowed to use a cloak to hide his face.
With a wistful sigh Harry closed the lid on his worn, Hogwarts encrusted trunk and held the handle as he stood. His baby girl was growing up fast. He couldn't delay his return to the wizarding world any longer. It wasn't fair his daughter and if he were honest it wasn't fair to himself either. He simply could not live a lie anymore.
Things would be better now though without a raving mad Dark lord after him or his friends he could be happy. At least that is what he told himself. No one need know of his mistakes. He would tell Lilly the truth on his death bed and not before. Harry knew it was a selfish plan, but after all he had sacrificed, after all he had done…he figured he had the right to be at least a little bit selfish every once in a while.
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A thrill ran through Lilly as she stepped through the barrier and onto platform nine and three quarters. There was no doubt about it. Magic was simply amazing. 'Although...' she thought, casting a small glare at her father as she emerged from the wall behind her, 'A little warning that we wouldn't crash would have been nice.'
Lilly had nearly had a heart attack when her father had pushed her into the barrier. Really she should have expected it; he seemed to have so much fun surprising her with the many wonders of the Wizarding world. Likely he was attempting to get her back for buying a snake without telling him; at least that's what she guessed, with all his teasing when she had gotten her wand at Olivanders.
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A small bell chimed as they entered a dusty looking store at the end of the street. It was quiet inside and she marveled at the box filled shelves. Lilly wondered just how many there were, would it even be worth it to try and count them?
"Well, now, isn't this a surprise, I wasn't expecting you here, nor you Mr. Potter." Said the soft, wizened voice of an elderly man. Lilly turned to the speaker in surprise. Where had he come from? She could have sworn he hadn't been there when they first walked in. Her father answered for them, as she attempted to gather her thoughts.
"Mr. Olivander, I have to say, I'm not entirely surprised you recognized me, even though my glamour. You always have been able to see things that others couldn't."
The old man chucked good naturedly, and held out a hand which her dad shook with a small smile on his face. "If can't see what's in front of my very eyes then I have no business in the wand business." Olivander said as he tucked his hands back into his pockets. "Now, I can only assume that you are here for her wand, but I cannot help but wonder, even with the similarities…?" he left the question hanging, a curious look in his cool grey- blue eyes. She watched as her father nervously licked his lips and walked to stand behind her.
"This is my daughter, Lilly." was his answer, obviously not wanting to answer that particular question. Olivander, instead of protesting, gave him a sad, somewhat disappointed smile and nodded.
"Very well, let's get started then shall we?" With that he pulled out two measuring tapes from his pocket. Lilly couldn't help but stare as they came to life and stretched out along different parts of her body, measuring everything from how tall she was, to the length of her ears.
"I wonder if that's as tall as you'll get." Her father murmured when one of the tapes ran her height a second time. Lilly glared at him. She couldn't help it that she was short, she would get a growing spurt eventually! Instead of looking away, her dad met her glare with a teasing smirk.
Annoyed, Lilly glanced back to the Wand make and found that he had made his way to the many rows of shelves. He pulled a few boxes out seemingly at random before returning to her. "Stop!" Lilly froze wondering what she had been doing, and how to stop. She needn't have worried; the measuring tapes ceased their measuring and flew into an open hand. Without pause, Olivander tucked the tapes away again and opened one of the boxes. Inside lay was now quite recognizable to her as a wand. "Thirteen inches, Cedar, whippy , unicorn hair." he said gesturing for her to take it. She hesitated for only a moment before wrapping her fingers around the piece of enchanted wood. It didn't feel right, but before she could say so, it was snatched out of her hand and replaced with another by the shop owner.
"No, not even close." Olivander muttered. "Try twelve inches, Chestnut, Dragon bone, just a bit springy. Go on give it a wave." he instructed her. Lilly nodded and waved it with a little flick like she had seen her father do back at the house. A window on the opposite side of the shop shattered and Lily stared in shock. They went through eight more boxes before Olivander spoke again, during which time she broke two more windows (all of which her father repaired) and knocked over one shelf. "Oh my, tricky customer, just like your father eh?" he finally said taking the wand and again replacing it.
"Maybe she doesn't have any magic." Her dad joked. She rolled her eyes as the shop owner chuckled.
"Nonsense, nothing would have happened at all if that were the case." the wand maker came to her defense. She gave him a grateful smile and waved the next wand. It was another failure. "I do hope we don't need a phoenix feather." he said lightly, again looking in her father's direction. Her father laughed and shook his head.
"That would be a problem." he agreed. Lilly blinked feeling a bit lost. What did they mean? She reached for another wand and gasped when her fingers met the wood. It felt like she was getting back a piece of her that had been lost the moment she had been born. It was like it was a part of her. She lifted it out of the box and smiled as red and green sparks came from the tip.
"Ah, there we go, you see?" Olivander gestured at Lilly proudly. " Eleven inches, ebony, harpy hair, unyielding It seems you Potters like your wands rare." Lilly heard her father snort his amusement but she just smiled.
How could she not?
She had her own wand now.
She could do magic now!
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"Lilly, hurry it up! You don't want to miss the train do you?"
Lilly blinked and looked at her dad. He stood just a bit ahead of her, pushing her cart along nonchalantly. She giggled lightly and jogged to catch up. She smiled excitedly when she saw the Hogwarts express, the scarlet train was beautiful, and it felt like they had stepped into another world. After a moment she realized of course…that they had!
The dark haired girl gave her father a quick peck on the cheek, not feeling the least bit worried. After all she would see him at school. Her trunk was set in a pile along with the others near the back cart (her dad had explained that it would be taken care of) and she had a small back that held her robes, so she was free to look for a place to sit at her leisure.
Despite it being nearly time for the train to leave the station it didn't take much time at all for Lilly to find an empty compartment. It was near the front, so she was positive she would get somebody to talk to before they reached the school. With that in mind Lilly happily took a seat and left the door open.
Not having much else to do Lilly looked out the window, observing students and their families as they chattered about on the platform. She spotted one girl with two younger ones down the way. Both of which were obviously very attached for her or so Lilly supposed with how hard they were bawling. A bit closer was a mother fussing over her blond and heavily her freckled faced son. There were many children of various ages some wearing wizard robes, some in regular ("muggle", her mind supplied the term) clothes and some already in their uniform even.
"Saving seats, or are these open?" asked a confident voice behind her. Lilly turned about and blinked when she found a boy, nearly a head taller than her, standing there with another boy just behind him.
The train whistled loudly and jerked slightly as it began to move down the tracks causing Lilly to jump in surprise. A few shouts of "Good bye" and "Remember to write!" were heard through the window but she paid them no mind. She would see her dad again soon enough.
"Oh, no, go right ahead." she said politely sinking a bit back into her own seat. The boy had mousy brown hair and eyes so dark they looked nearly black. "The name's Patrick Massimo." he said holding a hand out to her. From the tone of his voice, his last name was supposed to mean something. Lilly stared at the hand for a moment before taking it.
"Lilly." she responded in turn, not bothering with her own last name, she knew better. Her father had warned her not to mention she was a Potter until after the sorting ceremony, that way she wouldn't have people kissing up to her for her name (at the very least). She supposed she understood the fuss, but that didn't necessarily mean she had to like it.
"Right." Patrick smirked and gestured to the boy behind him. "That's Alex …" he introduced him, Alex gave her a curt nod of acknowledgement but said nothing. "We're second years. I assume, since I didn't see you around last year, you're a first year?" Lilly tilted her head a bit before nodding. "Ah, I see, well, what house do you think you'll be in?" he asked as both he and his companion sank into the seats across from her.
Lilly thought it a bit strange how talkative this boy was, she didn't know him and yet he was rattling off like there was no tomorrow. "I'm not sure." she answered after a moment's hesitation.
"Oh?"
"I supposed we'll just have to find out." she finished then folded her arms in front of her a bit defensively. She wasn't sure she liked his tone but said nothing about it.
Patrick nodded. "Yes well, I guess no one knows for sure before their sorted. I however just knew I would be a Slytherin, and here I am." Lilly nearly rolled her eyes at his cocky attitude. At least he hadn't said anything insulting. However she had no guarantee as to how long that would last. "You must know all the main attributes of course…" he said looking at her somewhat questioningly. She nodded thinking back to her conversation with Professor Mcgonnagle.
"Of course." she agreed glad not to sound completely clueless on the subject. Patrick looked pleased about something.
"Well, in any case a good bit of witches and wizards are in the same house as their parents. I was any ways and Alex here is a Ravenclaw same as his mum." Said boy nodded but did not comment further on Patrick's dialogue. "What about your parents?" for some reason the question seemed odd to Lilly, like it was carefully worded.
She decided to answer anyways. "Dad said he was a Gryffindor." she said, careful to remember that her father was famous and had gone missing for several years. It wouldn't do her any good to cause a fuss on the train. "I don't really know 'bout mum, dad never talks about her, and it's not like I can ask her."
"Why's that?" Alex asked throwing Lilly off slightly with his first verbal response.
"She died when I was a little baby. Dad Doesn't like to talk about it." Lilly reiterated the last bit with a shrug. It didn't really bother her; she had her dad after all. She frowned however when the two boys shared a look. "What is it?" she asked, feeling more than a little left out of the loop.
"Was she part of the….well you know…?" He let the question hang somewhat self-consciously, his eyes shifting and Lilly's frown deepened.
"The what?" she asked bluntly, quite frankly she was getting sick of the second years' tip toeing around subjects.
"You know…the war." he said the last part softly yet urgently, as if he was uncomfortable with the subject, and he probably was. "I just figured…" he said a bit awkwardly when she stared at him blankly, "Well…. most of the adults dislike talking about it right? And… a lot of people died then." Lilly understood then.
"I'm not sure…" she said as she folded her hands on her lap. "Probably." she decided after a moment. It did make sense after all. There was a tense silence in which all three occupants of the compartment avoided eye contact with each other.
The rest of the train ride was a lot quieter. Occasionally one of the two boys would make a comment or ask a question, and at one point another pair of second years stopped by to say hello to Patrick and Alex. Not long after the visitors left, the trolley came by and Lilly tried her luck on a box of Bertie Bott's every flavored beans which she decided were truly not worth even attempting to pick through after having only three of them. (After all who in the world thought it would be a good idea to make rotten banana a candy flavor?)
Eventually Lilly decided to take a nap and it didn't feel like it was long before Patrick shook her awake and told her it was time to change. The second years then slipped out of the compartment to give her some privacy as she changed and rejoined her when she was finished. The train whistled again nearly as soon as they were once more all seated and began to slow down quite noticeably.
"Looks like we're here." Patrick said smiling slightly. "See you around Lilly, hope you aren't a Gryffindor, house rivalries can be so bothersome." Lilly wanted to asked why he cared what house she was in if rivalries was such a bother, but before she could he was already out of the compartment. She sighed lightly before getting up herself.
"Well Hogwarts, here I come." she murmured more as encouragement to herself than anything else" Somehow she thought that things were going to be a lot more complicated than her father insinuated they were.