Anastomosis
Warning: contains minor spoilers for TDKWWS and Cross-Pollination.
SunsetHill: I'd enjoy seeing why Lily or Severus finally told Francine about the other reality and shared the spell. What led up to that decision?
-o-O-o-
To my daughters,
Francine, my fearless, bruise-knuckled girl, and Ivy, my lamb-hearted beauty, if you are reading this letter it means I've passed away. I feel before anything else, I should apologize. I am not who you think I am. Or, at least, I am more than who you think I am. Everything you know about me now is true. I am a Muggle-born. A Gryffindor. Healer. War Veteran. Order member. Wife. Sister. Your mother. But, once, in another life, I was someone else's mother - your brother, Harry Potter.
You might be wondering now if I hadn't gone mental when I wrote this letter, but I have not. I have lived before. I lived in a world not all that different from our own. Your Uncle Sev and I have over the years begun to think of it as an alternate reality. That, however, is not what I wish to use this letter to talk about with you girls.
I want to tell you about Harry. In the first universe I came from, instead of your daddy, I married Uncle James. While my history with that James matters deeply to me, I doubt you girls will be interested in hearing about how I fell in love, married, and started a family with a man that is not only not your father, but your uncle as well in this life.
With that said, what I want you to know about Harry is what I know about him. He was born late in the evening on July 31, 1980, and James was the first to hold him after the midwife. Harry looked like baby pictures come alive of his father in all ways except one: he had my eyes. Your brother was an easy-going baby (especially once he stopped keeping us up all night with his colic); he liked to chew on my hair, thought peek-a-boo was the most hilarious game ever, and his first word was a babified version of his godfather's name, "Riris". Which he loved to shout several times in a row whenever the man paid us a visit. Harry was quite a normal baby by all accounts. However, that all changed when it came to light he was the child of prophecy. His story, my family's story, is not all that different than that of the Longbottoms.
A prophecy was said, someone overhead, and then they passed it along to Voldemort who decided it was my little boy the prophecy was talking about. As you can probably guess, my family went into hiding. We put our home under a Fidelius charm and made a friend of ours secret-keeper. Unfortunately, our mate was not as trustworthy as we thought. When Voldemort came for Harry, there was nowhere for my family to run. He killed James. Then, he came into Harry's nursery where I was with your brother.
To understand what happened next, you have to know this: I love Harry. Even now, with all of me. A mother never stops loving her child - even when death and universes separate them. Yet not any more than I love you girls, but it is important to know that I did.
It was my love that saved him and my love that killed me, after all.
Voldemort came into my baby's room and told me to step aside. I didn't. How could I? I'd have not been able to live with myself if I watched him kill my son. So, instead, I stared the bastard down as he sent a killing curse straight at my heart. What happens next is something I only know second-hand thanks to your Uncle Sev, but according to him, my love, my sacrifice, invoked an old, powerful magic that protected Harry from Voldemort's curse and caused it to rebound and kill him for the first time.
That is where my story with Harry ends. If he's alive, I'm sure Uncle Sev will be more than willing to answer any questions you have about Harry. If not, I've included several items in another envelope that will give you access to the Pensieve and the memories of your brother he once shared with me.
You may be wondering why I never told you while I was alive. I guess it's because I worried you'd begin to question how much I love you two and your father. Not one of you is a replacement for James or Harry. I love you all equally. If given the chance to have Harry and James back, I wouldn't take it. I've closed that chapter of my life and you are my now and future. That is another reason why I never spoke of them. They are my past. A very painful part of it, if I'm honest. To pick at that wound by telling you girls and having to answer all of your questions… It would have been too much. I still hurt on Harry's birthday, James and I's wedding anniversary. I know it's a selfish way to cope and I'm sorry, but leaving it compartmentalized in the back of my mind is how I'm able to survive and live every day.
Before I end this letter, I'd like to explain what else is in the envelope that came with it. In addition to instructions on how to access the Pensieve, there is a photo of Harry's children. When you two were little girls, Uncle Sev created a spell that took him back to the universe we originally came from. He ran into your brother there and Harry gave it to him to give to me. I want you two to now have it. Those are your nephews and niece and you deserve to know their faces. Along with the photo, I included the incantation and explanation of the spell your uncle used. You don't have to use it, but if you ever want to see where I and Uncle Sev came from, you can. Just be careful.
All my love,
Mum.
I hope this answered you question Sunsethill. Lily wanted her daughters to know about their brother.
Also, shout out to Coraluna who helped me improve this letter fic!
Thanks a million for reading :)