Just Like Your Mother

Or

Red

Green eyes stared at me from the mirror, greener than any I had ever seen. The soft, heart shaped face was uncanny. Had I always looked like this? Was my face so wide at the eyes?

I looked at the pair of crooked glasses on top of the toilet tank, wondering if there was some sort of magic to them.

I looked back into the mirror. Huh. Turns out it was not my nose that was askew on my face, but my glasses. My brow furrowed, and seeing it do that made it jump back up into an arch, and then back into an awkward scrunch.

'Come on, Potter. Of all the things to be self-conscious now eyebrows aren't one of them.'

They just look so… naked there, though, without the rim of the glasses to hide behind.

My hair was now, if not tamed, then at least looking far more decent than usual, so that was a win on that side. After copious amounts of hair spray it didn't look like a windblown tree, but it hanged around my face in waves.

Turns out taming my hair only took copious amounts of aggressive chemicals. Nice.

I ran my hands through it, stained fingers cresting and plunging into a red sea. And that was the thing, wasn't it?

Red.

I looked at the picture sitting on the sink, the woman within it scrunched her nose and pucked her lips at me while fluffing her own red tresses.

I could not help but laugh and respond in kind. After a moment, my laughter chocked on my throat, and her face turned soft. With a smile, she covered her lips with her hands and blew me a kiss.

I blinked, tears threatening to fall, but as I caught my face on the mirror again, al I could see was a smile. The biggest smile. Her smile.

Lily Evans.

My father hugged her waist and smiled, blowing a kiss of his own from within their frame.

Curious, the overlap between bliss and desolation

I sighed and fluffed my hair again. It was kind of hard not to. This is surely going to become a new quirk, I bemoaned.

The colour had turned out perfectly, almost identical to the picture. It was so very deep. Red like cayenne, like a late sunset, like the trim of my quidditch robes.

Had I not known beforehand that my mother had been redheaded, I would never have thought that such colour was natural.

It was so different to Ron's fall leaves one.

I didn't know why aunt Petunia kept several bottles of different red hair dyes under the bathroom sink, but I was not about to complain. Seeing them while cleaning had been what spurred me.

The bell rang, making me jump. It could only be Vernon and Petunia back from the store and demanding help unloading the bags from the car.

I looked at the mirror once more and breathed in, son of Lily Potter indeed. I guess it was time to reap the fruits of my efforts.

I jumped the steps in pairs, landing in front of the door without answering to my aunt's calls, and opened the door. Petunia stood there, her head turned to the street and a paper bag filled with groceries held against her chest. She looked towards me when the door clicked open, and I could tell it took her a moment to register.

Brow furrowed, then eyes widened, then her face paled.

"Lily-"

The bag fell to the floor, spilling vegetables all over the foyer. She stepped back, mouth opening and closing in an unsuccessful attempt at wording... Something.

"You- your- What- Vernon! VEEEEEEERNON!"

It would be hard to tell what was faster, uncle Vernon reaching the door or the nosy neighbour across the street peeking his head out the window in an uncanny imitation of Petunia herself.

Vernon clenched his jaw. His teeth gritted. His face went dangerously puce while hers was dangerously pale.

The neighbor chose that very inopportune moment to crack a laugh, and Vernon started wheezing like a deflating ball. I felt my heart start thumping faster, and my legs primed to run.

It took me a conscious effort to make myself stand straight and glare back at him, even after five years.

"Get inside!" he whistled, his moustache quivering under the pressure of his exertion.

I stood still, back straight and looked at him for a couple seconds, until I saw the twitch on the corner of his eye that I knew would come, and just as he was about to speak again, I got inside.

Petunia crouched and pawed at the floor hurriedly, picking up what she could while Vernon stomped behind me. I knew I was in trouble now, but whatever punishment it would be absolutely worth it.

I only hoped that the people of my world, of my mother's world would be as moved by my… change, and that maybe, just maybe, it could incite stories like the ones I had heart about my dad these last few years. That I could then hear more about that shadowy figure that lurked in my past. That woman that had given me everything she had, everything she was.

That woman I could barely remember.

To buy me beer: ko-fi / davidtheathenai (Remove spaces, as always)

To talk to me: discord . gg / 8AaE8P5DDr (Remove spaces)

Have a nice one!

Dave

*Dabs and disappears*