Chapter Twelve
A/N: Thank you to ThatHufflepuff, lunalovegood564, ClaireBear1982 and Vermlog630 for reviewing.
Christmas had come around far more quickly than Lily had expected it would, as she had thought that time would pass far more slowly, as her mind had exaggerated the feelings of homesickness in September by far, and they had calmed dramatically over the three months she had attended Hogwarts. In fact, when the end of term had come around, the girl had not even been certain that she wished to leave the school, as she had come to love it so much.
As the train pulled into King's Cross Station, at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, she bid a final, tearful farewell to Caitlyn, who had become such a close friend to the redhead that they had become almost like sisters, though not by blood, but by choice. It was quite a similar relationship to that which she had shared with Teddy over the years, though not quite as close as such, as she had not had sufficient time to form such a bond. However, it was not far from it.
Speaking of Teddy, the boy seemed to have disappeared into an alcove, as had her cousin, Victoire, whose Prefect badge caught the light easily, even in the darkness of the place where she stood, revealing her position to anyone who wished to know it. Unfortunately, that included both her mother and Lily's own, one of whom had gone to fetch the blonde, whose hair was rumpled to the slight extent of her clothes, and the other who had dragged Teddy out of the niche a few moments later, complaining to him about the amount of lipstick staining his face.
However, when Ginny turned and looked at the train, her gaze met her daughter's, and immediately, she stopped talking, ignoring the sigh of relief from the Metamorphmagus boy, who wiped his head across his brow dramatically, making the redhead giggle a little, as she walked towards her mother.
The second that the two were close enough, Lily fell into her mother's arms and held her as tightly as she had ever done, even more perhaps, though the woman did not seem to mind. They stayed in that embrace for half a minute at least, until a tapping on her shoulder encouraged her to move back, only to go through the whole rigmarole again with her father, who had been the one who had tapped her shoulder.
When she drew away for the second time, the girl found that James and Albus had returned to the group and were watching her with sniggers on their faces, with a stature shared by the two of them that suggested they had been stood there for a while. Immediately, she stuck out her tongue at them, a response she had always had to their taunting, ever since she had been a tiny child, and it had always been effective, this time being no exception.
"I don't know what you two are laughing about." she spoke, in the direction of her brothers. "When you both came back from your first years at Hogwarts, you were both clinging to Mum like little babies."
Immediately, both of the boys silenced, their faces slowly reddening, a colour that matched James' uniform perfectly, but clashed terribly with the emerald and silver of Albus' tie, something that she pointed out to them with little delay, drawing a laugh from Teddy and her parents so loud, in combination, that many families stopped to stare, some of them laughing alongside them and some more conservative ones moved quickly forward, rolling their eyes at the foolish behaviour the family were displaying to the people who had followed them in newspapers for many a year. In truth, neither Harry nor Ginny really cared about seeming too joyful, and neither did their children, for they had never been taught that happiness was a bad thing, as some people seemed to view it as.
"Alright. Come on, kids, let's go home." Harry instructed, his voice at a far lower volume than his laugh had been, given that he did not wish to draw attention to himself, as rumour had it that Rita Skeeter, who had just been fired from work at the Daily Prophet, due to improper conduct in the line of her work, was looking for a job with Sorcerers Spotted!, a paparazzi magazine so trashy that it was on the brink of collapse. She had been looking for a scoop big enough to acquire this for her, and anything to do with the famous Harry Potter would have been good enough for anyone.
They travelled home by car, a favoured method of transport for the family, given that Apparition left them all, especially James, extremely travel sick for a long time afterwards. For the entire journey, Lily rested her head against the window, watching as the city and countryside rolled by. Her mother stopped talking to her after a while, obviously thinking that she had fallen asleep, and the only person that could see to the contrary was Teddy, who did not say anything to lead the woman to think otherwise, seeing very easily that the young girl did not want to talk to anyone, and merely wanted to keep herself to herself for a while.
As they journeyed on, Lily's mind turned to the place she had just left, the place that she had called a home for the few months passed. After the majesty and beauty of the Hogwarts castle, she was unsure that her simple old home would seem as magical and important as it had been before she had left for the first time. She wondered if it would be the same, if it ever could be, and hoped that it would be. She would not feel like a true Weasley, after all, if she preferred her school to the home of her family, where they were headed for Christmas.
'But I will never prefer Hogwarts to my home.' the girl told herself, smiling as she began to fall into the depths of sleep. 'I am a Potter and a Weasley, through and through, and nothing can ever change that.'
A/N: Next chapter, a Weasley Christmas! Please review!