Chapter Three
Lily awoke to the feeling of hands gently running through her hair, she sighed and burrowed her face against the sheets and her pillow. She heard a low masculine chuckle and she smiled sleepily before yawning. "Good morning Severus, I was about to leave last night when you started to have a bad dream, I decided to stay with you, when we were younger I was able to keep the bad dreams away when I held you and I hoped that it might help you."
"You do not need to explain you are welcome to share my bed anytime you wish Lily." Severus said and Lily blushed burying her face against his chest again.
"I've never been with a man and would like to get to know you before we sleep together." Lily said and Severus continued to card his fingers through Lily's hair.
"I have ever only been with two women and two men, at the behest of the Dark Lord, I found none of my partners to be pleasant ones and claimed to have no interest in either sex to get out of having to be with another again." Severus admitted and Lily moved her head quickly to look at him, noticing the shadows in his eyes.
"Oh Sev, he's gone, he's never coming back." Lily said and kissed Severus on the cheek.
"I have only ever felt true attraction for those that I think of as close friends." Severus said and Lily stared at him in surprise. "First I was attracted to you, then for a very short amount of time Lucius Malfoy, before I realized what a fool he was and how he was only pretending to enjoy my company."
"You liked a wizard?" Lily asked and Severus stiffened. "There's nothing wrong with that, and I can see the appeal Lucius definitely has that bad boy thing going on. I overheard some of the older girls at Hogwarts talking about Lordship tokens and how Lucius could bend them over and spank them with his cane any day." She giggled and smiled when Severus laughed, she always liked Severus' laugh it was deep and clear, it sent shivers down her spine. She had been shocked when his voice changed to become so silky and smooth, she had a few dreams about him as a schoolgirl that was for certain.
"Yes but again it was only Lucius and only for about a month. Then I got over my crush on him, when I realized that he sought only to use me. However by then it was too late and I had already joined the Dark Lord. He made me believe that the only way I would get true power was by joining with him. We are still friends, as much as any Slytherins can be, but I could never trust him enough for a true relationship. He made me his son's godfather and I see them every few weeks for dinner at their manor."
"How old is his son?"
"He's the same age as Harry."
"And that would be the child of my counterpart, how old is Harry."
"He is sixteen months now, its been a month since...since..." Lily could see how Severus attempted to regain his composure. She patted his hand.
"Its alright Severus, I won't judge you." Lily said and kissed his forehead. "Remember what I told you when you were a little boy, that it was alright to be upset and keeping your emotions inside does more harm than good?" Lily asked and patted him on the back as Severus started to cry, rubbing gently as she did so.
"Its all my fault."
"From the letter you wrote me, it seems that you didn't know that it was Lily. Although you did put an innocent child in danger, you didn't have much choice in doing so, because the Dark Lord would know that you were hiding something. Once he knew you were holding something back from him, nothing would stop him from getting the information you kept back, even your death. There were also other people that could have overheard that Prophesy I think, though you didn't say where you were when you heard it."
"I wish I died in her place, that it was me instead of her." Severus said.
"Oh Sev, don't you think I feel the same sometimes? That I haven't wished that I could have saved my Severus from his fate? The fates are not always kind, regardless of the dimension. They seem to take much more than give, but they both made their choice, as did I. I chose to go to you, knowing that you would most probably love another version of me more than you loved me. I chose you over my world that seemed empty without him. At least you knew, you knew that you loved her, that she was good, strong and kind till the very end. Don't wish to die in her place, because that makes her sacrifice be in vain. Lily would not have wanted you to blame yourself, I know because I would never want you to blame yourself. It was not your fault Severus." Lily said and Severus turned his face away as tears rolled down his cheeks. Then not being able to bare it anymore, he turned from her and she sighed. "If you wish me to leave I will Severus, I'll go cook breakfast." She said and he nodded, Lily got up trying to resist crying herself.
She went to the kitchen and looked through the nearly barren kitchen, the only thing Severus had enough ingredients for was pancakes. She hadn't made pancakes in a very long time. During the war she hadn't felt like it and afterward if it wasn't for her minders at her job, she wouldn't have thought to eat she'd been so miserable that all she wanted to do was bury herself in her research projects. Minders were a necessity for the Unspeakable, there were in fact two types of Unspeakable, those that researched about the magical world and did experiments and those that took care of them. Unspeakable were some of the most brilliant people that the wizarding world had to offer, but they could also be absent minded at times. Those that were brilliant sometimes weren't very good at caring for themselves, when they got involved in a project that fascinated them. The minders made sure that the other Unspeakable remembered such things as eating and getting enough rest. Most grew to trust and sometimes even love their minders, it wasn't uncommon for those that were assigned to each other to marry. Instead of discouraging such relationships, those in charge of the department encouraged them, as it made those that experimented be more careful and their minders watch more closely.
Lily found the old radio and turned on the wireless, she hummed along with Celestina Warbuckle. She liked most of the music from the wizard world, as a child she had listened raptly to the wireless and the memory of days spent making pies with Mrs. Snape and listening to the wireless were some of her happier memories. Her parents loved her and were proud of what she could do, but they didn't understand her like Severus and his mother did. At the Snapes, she felt like she belonged for the first time, but she always had to be home by five, before Mr. Snape came back from work.
She finished the batter and started to pour them into the pan, as she finished the first batch Severus walked in and Lily smiled at him. She nodded towards the coffee pot, which she had started when she walked into the kitchen. "I made coffee, but do you prefer tea?"
"I like both just fine, in fact I switch between drinking tea and coffee in the mornings, can't wake up properly without a cup of something hot and highly caffeinated." Severus said and Lily laughed, remembering seeing him as a boy at breakfast at the Great Hall, he'd always been half awake and nearly dozed off into his porridge. Lily had suspected that the only reason he ate porridge in the morning was that it was the easiest thing to eat out of the food offered.
"I remember from school, you never were one for mornings." Lily said and passed him a plate and a steaming cup of coffee. Lily then sat down opposite him and ate her own breakfast. She was used to the silence in the room, Severus preferred not to talk at meals, particularly breakfast. As for her, she found herself thinking of different spells and either making a mental note for later if they might be possible, or rejecting them if she believed that she could never get the mechanics to work. "I would like to see my sister today, to explain what happened."
"Are you sure Lily? Your sister has always..."
"I know, but she's my sister, we were getting on fine, when I left." Lily replied. "It took a lot of effort, on both sides, but it was worth it. I got to know her husband Vernon and her little boy Dudley, they aren't the most tolerant of people, but everyone has that one relative." Lily shrugged and Severus frowned.
"Last time I heard she was living at Number 4 Privet Drive." He said and Lily smiled, that was the same addressing that her sister had lived at. Lily apparated into a hollowed out bush, by Petunia's house. She stepped up to the door and stopped a moment. Inside she heard a child screaming, not the normal childish tantrums, she was used to. No these screams were that of terror, without thinking she unlocked the door and ran to where the sound came from. She stared down at the dirty little boy, who made grabby hands at her.
"MAMMA!" He cried and without a moment of hesitation, she scooped the child up into her arms, just as her sister came around the corner a bottle in her hand and stared open mouthed at Lily.
"How could you do this to Harry?" Lily demanded.
"You are dead, how is this possible?" Petunia demanded.
"You should know by now, that magic makes many things possible. I had thought to get to know you, the person you are in this reality. Still if you would terrify a little boy, the way you have Harry, I find that I have no desire to know you."
"The feeling is mutual, I don't know how this happened, but you should leave me and my family alone." She said, putting a protective hand over her stomach.
"If you do the same." Lily replied. "If however either of your children wind up being able to cast spells, I would be happy to help."
"My children won't be freaks like you are." Petunia glared at her and Lily tried not to hex the woman, as Harry trembled in her arms. Instead she turned around and left the house, marching away quickly. Petunia did not stop her, knowing that if she tried, Lily would curse her. Lily was prone to bursts of more powerful than usual accidental magic.
She walked with Harry in her arms, remembering that you weren't supposed to apparate with children. Instead she cast a feather light charm on the boy and stuck her wand out. The Night Bus came within moments, she was glad that their route was on time. She smiled at the conductor, before paying her fee and getting aboard. She sat down and cuddled the crying boy. The child cried until he exhausted himself and Lily smiled down at him. She stepped off the bus and walked to the middle of town. Everyone in the street stopped and stared and she put her shoulders back. She needed to be alive, in order to care for the small toddler in her arms. That she would need to go about the streets of Diagon Alley, without having to worry about not being seen. If she was seen in a public place, perhaps then she would not have to worry about the Unspeakable.
She stared at the people around her, before speaking. "I am Lily Evans, Unspeakable Second Class, I have come here from another dimension. I will be taking care of my son Harry and demand to speak with those responsible for placing him with my sister, a woman who in any reality despises anything to do with magic."
"How did you arrive?" A Unspeakable questioned.
"Through the veil, I received a letter intended for another and decided that I would go through the portal, for personal reasons. I took a leap of faith, based in the conjecture that I would arrive where I was meant to. I do not know how the veil works, anymore than any other Unspeakable, I do not know how to return to my own reality, so I will be staying in this one." Lily stated. "I will not be interrogated and as I was never officially on the payroll, I do not owe anything to the Unspeakable of this reality. My vows to give my research and anything I might produce to the Unspeakable are no longer valid and I would like to file several spell patents." She said and everyone stared at her, she smiled slightly, as the cameras clicked, taking picture after picture of her. After Severus had died, it had somehow gotten out that they had once been very good friends. She had been dogged by reporters and had gotten quite good at dodging questions and not reporting the full truth. "Now if you excuse me, I have a toddler that has been through hell to take care of." She said and turned towards a store that used to sell baby products and formula, only to discover that it was now some sort of imports and exports store. She whirled around and came face to face with a young mother, carrying a little girl.
"Hello dear, I couldn't help but overhear. If you want any help with young Harry, or anything, you need only ask. I am Pandora Lovegood and this is my daughter Luna, she's about a year younger than your son. "
"Thank you Mrs. Lovegood, do you happen to know where a baby store is, the one I was familiar with, is one of the ones that is simply not here in this reality."
"There's one up the road a bit, just keep walking and you should find it easily enough." Mrs. Lovegood said and Lily smiled.
"Thank you." Lily said and walked into the store, Harry was sleeping against her, exhausted from his ordeal. She took out a cart and strolled through the isles picking up supplies for Harry. She bought a crib, as well as several stuffed animals and a variety of baby food. She also bought some magical learning toys, little cauldrons that let out sounds as you put the "ingredients" into them and a set of magical hole and block games, which would change color and shapes each time it was used. She then looked through a variety of baby clothes, smiling at the cute designs. She chose the ones she wanted, surprised at how many she found she needed. Someone at the register had told her the proper size, so she had bought some of those and some several sizes up. She then placed the packages on the counter and the man rang her up. She paid for the supplies and bought some floo powder and went through one of the fires. She appeared in Severus' home and Severus stared at her and Harry.
"What did she do to him?" Severus demanded.
"I don't know, but I found him in a small cupboard under the stairs." Lily replied and Severus took the supplies from her. She walked with Harry to the bathroom and ran a bath for him. She gently woke the boy and helped him take off his soiled clothing. Harry had a horrible diaper rash and there were little bruises on his body. He looked scared for a moment, as she put him in the warm water, with two bath toys. She'd given Dudley baths before and so she started to gently wash the boy. The child stared at the bobbing toys, if not knowing what to do. "Those are Harry's toys." Lily said and the child smiled at her, before starting to play.
"Quack quack Mama!"
"Quack, quack little duckling." Lily said and smiled at the child, she was now a mother, for Harry was hers even though she had never had a child. The child looked exhausted, but was staring up at her, smiling. She tended to him gently and carefully, until the little boy was clean. She then pulled him from the water and gently dried him with the towel. She then walked with him to where she had put the things she had bought at the store.
She then picked him up and held him in her arms. "Ba ba Mama." He said and Lily smiled softly.
"We're getting your bottle Harry." She said and stroked his baby soft hair. He sighed and nestled against her, she picked up the bottle and the formula, casting the spell the man at the counter had taught her, she watched as it warmed and filled with milk. She put the bottle in Harry's mouth, watching as he sucked greedily at the milk, his little hands grasping at it, taking deep pulls. She filled another bottle with formula and sat with him in the rocking chair that Eileen had loved. She rocked the small boy back and forth, watching as Harry finished the bottle and she refilled it with formula, after the second bottle, his eyes drifted shut and he fell asleep. She stared down at the sleeping little boy and Severus came over to her, staring down at Harry.
"You are keeping him?" Severus asked and Lily nodded.
"He's mine, I can't explain it, but he's mine." Lily stated, stroking Harry's baby soft curls.
"I understand." Severus said. "If it had been me, if I had been the one to go to another reality and found a child that had my face, that needed me, I would do as you have done." Severus said and Lily smiled at him.
"Thank you for everything Severus, for understanding, for letting into your home. For seeing what might grow between us and for accepting Harry into your home." She said and the little boy whimpered in his sleep. "Its alright Harry, Mama is here." She said gently and rocked him gently, until he settled against her. She smiled softly looking down at the little boy in her arms. She then realized that Severus had been watching her. She cast a silence charm over Harry, a charm that she had made so that Dudley wouldn't hear his parents and her talking and wake up early from his nap. She'd been given quite the bonus for that spell, when she had completed it. She smiled softly at the little boy, then turned to Severus. "Could you get me a book?"
"On spell work, or potions?" Severus asked and Lily smiled.
"Either one." She replied and Severus grabbed a book off the shelf, as Lily shifted Harry, so his head was more comfortably positioned against her arm. She took the book from Severus and started to read, she was half way through, four hours later when the child stirred. As he woke Lily smiled down at him. "Hello Harry, did you have a good nap?" She asked and the little boy nodded.
"Down!" He said. "Potty." He said and Lily set him down, helping him find the bathroom. She wiped him after he was done and helped him get his clothes back on. She then set up the playpen and let him play with his new toys, he'd occasionally look over to her and she would smile reassuringly at him. She wrote in Severus' journal, the spells she had made and how the invocations worked and the wand movements and words used to call them forth. Once a spell was called, it would work from then on, no one knew why that was, still the work involved to get it to that point was long and hard.
She finished writing down her spells and their uses, before turning to Harry. "Why don't we go out?" She asked the little boy and he nodded eagerly. Lily smiled at Harry, before picking him up. "Looks like Mummy forgot to buy you a pram, silly mummy."
"wahe Dada?"
"Dada had to go away, but I'm here." Lily told Harry and he nodded, the little boy was smart for his age and adorable. James Potter might be an arse, but he was a good-looking one. She then remembered Severus and saw that he was sitting in a chair, his eyes closed fast asleep. She wrote him a note and put it on the table for him. She then used a bit of his floo powder to floo out of the house. She carried Harry as it was easier than having him walk on his own.
She walked to the patent office and smiled at the clerk. "I'd like to file several spell patents." She said and he nodded. She took out her book and he stared at her spells open mouthed.
"Do these work here?" He asked astonished and she nodded.
"Ambelio." She said pointing to his pens and making them do a funny dance with the tip of her wand. Harry clapped his hands and watched as the pens danced around the table, until Lily released the spell, making them fall in the pattern of the Asare rune.
"Marvelous! The applications alone, though I suggest that you go to the bank and make a new account. You claimed to be Lily Evans, not Lily Potter and so you cannot access the late Mrs. Potter's accounts.
"Thank you for informing me of this." Lily said. "I will go to the bank at once."
"The goblins are a bit mad at you, they don't like being tricked."
"Well I wasn't going to rely upon the charity of others, I don't even know if I can get back, let alone if I wish to." Lily said.
"Is the war still on, where you are from?"
"No, but this little tyke wasn't even born." Lily said. "I hope I don't screw things up too badly, in caring for him."
"New parents always worry about that, you will do just fine. If the Potter boy wasn't alive, then who killed He Who Must Not Be Named?"
"A powerful sacrificial spell, the wizard that cast it, did not do as well as Harry here." She said and he nodded.
"Dark times those, well they are over now." He said and Lily frowned, she just remembered the Horcruxes that Severus had spent the better part of a year collecting. She had been in the order, but Severus had taken it into his head, that she'd never be safe in a world where Voldemort was alive, so he set about making sure that Voldemort died, once and for all.
"I need to speak with the Ministry." She frowned, Severus had written about his adventures and how he had come to destroy the Horcruxes. She had memorized that list of meaningless artifacts, artifacts that had cost a good man his life, along with the magic he had cast to save their world for once and all. She realized then that she couldn't tell the Aurors, if someone was still a supporter of He who must not be named, then it was possible that they could stop the artifacts from being destroyed. Luckily most of the more notable Death Eaters had to be undergoing a trial in order to maintain their guilt, or innocence.
She quickly went over to the bank and took care of opening another account, the goblins were displeased by her actions, but she mollified them somewhat with her knowledge of gobbledygook. She then used some floo powder and went to Mrs. Weasley's house. She stared as Mrs. Weasley held her at wandpoint for a moment.
"I need to do something, can you watch Harry? Its something very important, that simply cannot wait." She said and Mrs. Weasley nodded.
"Do you know when I can expect you back dear?"
"No I don't, I might not even make it back, under no circumstances is Harry to go back to my sister." Lily said and Mrs. Weasley nodded, Lily then apparated to the first Horcrux. The first four were relatively easy, however Lily had to cast an invisibility spell for the fifth. The spell was something a collogue of her's made and made a person both invisible and undetectable, for that reason it was only given to those that have sworn vows not to deliberately harm others, unless in self defense. Lily had simply overheard him say it one day and tried it for herself. While she could not reveal anything that was not her own work, unless she absolutely believed it necessary, she could still use it. She could even use it in public, which might lead to someone finding out about it anyway. She cast the spell and apparated to the Malfoy estate. Instantly alarms blared and she walked through the gardens and into the manor. She saw a scared Narcissia Malfoy clutch a blond haired child to her tightly, as she used the floo to escape the house. Then it was just a matter of avoiding the House Elves, until she reached Lucius' study and the book. She took it and placed it in the bag with the other artifacts, before going back out the way she came in. She then apparated to Gringotts, which was about to close today.
"I need to speak to bank manager Horich about something important, in private." Lily said and was shown to a room, with a middle-aged goblin inside it. "Honored Sir, may your gold overflow." She said.
"May your riches be many, what is this about?" He demanded. "You cannot order about the entire bank Mrs. Evans."
"I'm sorry, but I need to get into a vault that isn't mine, it's a matter of business." Lily said and he stared at her.
"What sort of business?"
"There's a piece of Voldemort's soul in the Lestrange Vault, or at least I believe there to be a piece of his soul there."
"I see and this effects the bank how?"
"He could get another body, Voldemort with another body would be bad for business and bad for the bank."
"What care we for the affairs of wizards?"
"Do you think he'd truly stop at muggleborns, half bloods and blood traitors? Do you truly believe that he will not also go after those magical beings that are intelligent enough to stand in his way? Voldemort seeks ultimate power, absolute power, above anything else. One piece missing from a soul might be enough to make a man a bit strange, well stranger than a dark wizard normally is. Still Voldemort kept cutting and cutting, until finally his soul was ripped into six pieces. All that's left of him is rage and a single minded purpose, to gain power however he can."
"I see considering what you said and considering that I am authorized to do so, I will allow you to look for this item in the Lestrange vault, while supervised."
"Thank you, I also need to set up an account."
"Indeed you do and the amount you took from Lily Potter's account will be withdrawn from your new account."
"That is only fair." Lily said and the goblin nodded, She was then escorted by a young goblin to the Lestrange vault. Lily opened it and saw the cup, she would never forget that blasted cup, or any of the other things Voldemort sought to stick his soul in, where it didn't belong. She took the cup and left once more. She bought a dark detector next, before going out into a field in the middle of nowhere and burning the Horcruxes with fiend fire. The screaming was horrible, but was also to be expected. she watched as it finished burning and apparated again, this time to Mrs. Weasley's house. The dark detector started going off the moment she landed. She ran to Harry, but the squealing sound it made only grew louder. She stared as the loudest sound was made right in front of the toddler, who started to cry at the noise. She looked at the child and then at his scar and brought out the dark detector, She cast a concentrating spell over them to get a more precise reading and settled them over her face, a intense black energy pulsated from the scar, there could be no doubt, somehow the scar was a Horcrux.
"You're back dear, what's that whistling sound." Mrs. Weasley said and Lily smiled at her in response.
"Yes, I'm just going to take Harry with me now. Its nothing to worry about really, just a alarm" She said and Mrs. Weasley nodded, Harry toddled over to her trustingly and she picked him up, she used the floo to go to the upstairs bedroom in Severus' house, she then apparated from there to a remote location she'd once camped at with her sister and parents. She cast the sleeping spell over Harry and he at once fell into a deep sleep, as she stared at the little boy, uncertain as to what she could do. That evil thing needed to be taken out of Harry, her mind thought of and rejected different ways to do it, until she settled on fiend fire and a concentration spell. She made the two spells together and felt the strong pull at her magic, she controlled little streams of fire now. She set them to the mark and watched as the darkness burned away, she then canceled the spell and stared at the child, who now had a very bad burn. She preformed every healing spell she knew, until finally the wound closed, leaving a scar that looked very much like the one the boy had before, if not a bit more red and angry.
She stared down at the sleeping child, wondering if it would be enough, if the little boy who had so much darkness in him, would wind up being a upstanding citizen, or would he choose Voldemort's dark path for his own. She stared at the sleeping child and saw no dark magic in him, she cradled the little boy to her gently, before apperating back to Severus' house and canceling the spell. She smiled down at the child who blinked up at her and started to cry, until he passed out. Lily stared at the little boy and realized that even though she might have healed him, that didn't stop the wound from hurting, she would have to take him to the hospital and explain what had happened in part.
The note was gone and Severus had replaced it with one of his own. Lily, if you are to spend the day tending to your own affairs, I shall do the same by going in to work. I will see you at around six in the evening if all goes as expected, S.S
Lily stared at the letter a moment, before grabbing the floo powder and using it to get to Saint Mungos. "I need spell damage." Lily said. "I closed the wound and healed it as best as I could, but he's still in pain."
"I'll be needing your name Mrs. as well as the..." The clerk trailed off as he stared at the boy. "That's Harry Potter."
"He's a little boy and he's suffering from fiend fire damage and possibly residual dark magic, though I think I got it all out of him." Lily said and the receptionist stared at her dumbstruck. "Well what are you waiting for, get me a Mediwizard now! Or I'll speak to your superior." She said and she was taken into a room with Harry.
"Mrs, while we treat the patient, do you consent to using veritiserum?" The mediwizard asked and Lily stared at the Auror.
"Yes, yes of course." Lily said. "As long as you both swear an oath that what I say will not leave this room, save to say that my tactics were necessary." She waited as she saw them both take the oaths and nodded, she then drained the bottle. "Back in my dimension, Voldemort was permanently destroyed by eliminating his Horcruxes. Horcruxes are essentially the nastiest form of dark magic there is, they allow the soul to be split, so that the person casting the spell has a sort of immortality. Anyway I realized that the way Severus went about things is different than what happened here, so I hunted down the Horcruxes and destroyed them. I bought a dark magic detector on my way back and altered it to give precise readings. There was a dark energy coming from Harry's scar, it was either some form of dark taint, or a Horcrux and I needed to destroy it. I took Harry with me to a place I once went to with my family and cast a sleeping spell, before using fiend fire with a concentrating spell on him. I then healed his burn as best I could and then apparated to the house of a friend. From there I removed the sleeping spell and realized that he was in a lot of pain. I determined that it was best to take him to Saint Mungos." She finished and the two wizards stared at her.
"What type of concentrating spell can be used to control fiend fire?" The Auror demanded.
"One that requires a vast amount of energy, the only reason I haven't collapsed do to magical exhaustion is that as my mother used to say, I'm too stubborn by half." Lily said and felt the ground shift beneath her. "I'm afraid you are going to have to wait in your questioning. I need a bed, before I collapse." Lily said and was taken over to the bed Harry was on, a moment later darkness overwhelmed her as she passed out.