Okay a few things you should know before you read this chapter.

While Harry was in touch with Dudley and his wife and children, he never maintained any relationship with his aunt and uncle and thus, they did not know about Harry or his children, neither did his children know about them. While the senior Dursleys knew that Dudley met Harry regularly, they never discussed the meetings with each other. They did not want to do anything with him after that fateful new year party.

10th September 2010

Little Lily Potter crept into her parent's room, her brother's at her heels. She stopped at the door to peek in and make sure that only their father was in bed, her brothers bumped into her, propelling her into the room. She turned around to with her hands on her hips to glare at her brothers, looking uncannily like their mother. The two boys, stilled looking abashed. Lily turned back to make sure that their father was still sleeping.

Harry on the other hand had been up for a while now but was feeling too lazy to get out of bed. He opened his eyes only a fraction, he could discern the hazy figures of his three children. He shut his eyes, pretending to sleep, fighting the smile creeping on his face. Lily climbed the bed and snuggled on his chest. Harry put an arm around her and kissed her hair. "Goodmorning, Lilypad."

"Goodmorning Daddy." Lily said sweetly snuggling some more. Harry knew his sons were hiding behind the door.

"Daddy? Are you on a holiday today?"

"Yes, honey. I am, I got back from a mission yesterday. We can go flying today, on my broom if you want to."

Harry knew Lily had brightened up. She up straight and laughed. "Thank you Daddy."

There was a very discreet and miserable attempt at imitating an owl screech. Lily flashed an irritated look towards the door but sobered up immediately. Harry had pulled his glasses on by then and watched her amusedly as she smiled sweetly at him.

"That's okay Daddy but can we please go to the zoo today? All of us?"

"But then James and Al would miss school, won't they?"

Lily nodded, biting her thumbnail and thinking hard. "But it will be okay if they miss one day of school, won't it Daddy? I really want all of us to go to the zoo today, Please Daddy. Please, please, please." She said with big eyes and pout.

Harry laughed, he could never really say no when one of his children did that. "Okay, We will go to the Zoo today. And the two of you could come out, I know you are hiding there."

Al and James came running in and jumped on the bed, hooting and hugging him. Soon Harry was having a pillow and tickle fight with his children, several minutes later, the four collapsed on the bed laughing. "Your mother would kill me for agreeing to this." Harry said.

The children giggled. "Kill you for what?" Ginny asked joining them in bed, pulling Al to her to tickle him.

"We are going to the zoo today!" Lily exclaimed.

Ginny looked at Lily and smiled. "That's great. But if you want to go to the zoo, you must get ready and come down for breakfast in half an hour. Okay? Now, run."

The three children clambered out of bed, running across the corridor to their respective rooms. James had taken Sirius' previous room, he had also taken a liking to yellow, which was Sirius' favourite colour. Albus had chosen his grandfather's room, with the same blue-green walls. And Lily had chosen Percy's old room, which co-incidentally was Charlus Potter's old room with soft pearl pink walls. Harry watched his children leave before turning to look at Ginny who was also looking at the children.

"You really are okay with us going to the zoo today?"

Ginny smiled, "Yes, I think it is a great idea."

"Even if it means that James and Al would be missing school?"

"Yeah, it is quite okay to miss school every once in a while."

"Gin, is everything okay?"

"Yes, why wouldn't they be?"

"Well, for one, you are alright with the kids missing their school and going to the zoo instead. Two, you are not mad at me for agreeing to it and three, you think it is a good idea."

Ginny laughed. "Have I become such a strict mother?"

"No, you are pretty cool as a mother but I thought, you would want them to go to school."

"Oh! I do want them to go to school but its okay for today. What now with Victoire at Hogwarts too, I realized that the kids are growing up a bit too fast. Look at Teddy, I had such a hard time accepting that Teddy has changed so much in a year. I think now it would be good for us to spend some more time together."

"Oh Gin! It was hard for me too. Were we like this as children too? Did we change so much after our stay at Hogwarts?"

"I think so Harry, Mum was especially upset with Bill. But by the time Ron and I went to Hogwarts, she had sort of accepted it." She said sighing wistfully.

"Come here." Harry said, pulling her to his side. "Don't worry, love. Our kids would be fine." He said kissing her forehead.

"Yeah." Ginny sighed. Snuggling into Harry's side, life had been good so far for them. Harry avoided thinking about the time when he really didn't see a future for himself but he was grateful for each day since that fateful day 12 years ago. His life was perfect the way it was.

"Hey Gin."

"Hmm…"

"If you really look at it, I think we are doing great."

She smiled. "I guess we are. Now, I think we should get ready too."

"Want to join in and help me get ready, Mrs. Potter?" Ginny laughed, as she shoved Harry away before climbing out of the bed and walking towards the closet. Harry smirked before getting out of bed and following after her.

Harry held Lily's hand as James and Al walked with Ginny. James was enthusiastic about all animals. Al was not really fond of reptiles but he found snakes fascinating only from a safe distance and Lily declared that snakes and baby animals are the best things that could be. A white tigress had given birth to 4 cubs and it had created quite a stir, the zoo was full of people even when it was a weekday.

"Harry!" Harry turned, Ginny who had not heard anything kept walking ahead.

"Caroline? Hello." Harry asked Caroline Dursley, Dudley Dursley's wife. It had been quite a shock to the Dursleys when Dudley and Caroline's children Megan (Albus' age) and Jason (Lily's age) had shown magical abilities.

"Hi, Aunt Caroline. How are you?" Lily asked.

Caroline grinned at Lily, "I am fine, thank you and how are you, sweetheart?"

"I am fine too. Thank you." Lily chirped.

"Hello Harry, How are you?"

"I am good. I didn't really expect to see you here on a weekday though." Harry said with a lopsided grin.

"I am a vet, remember? I came in here to check on the cubs. Not even a week old and the zoo is milking them for money. I am just their care taker for now." Harry nodded.

"Would you like to join us? I am sure Ginny would like to meet you."

"I would love to meet Ginny too. But I brought Petunia with me and I need to go find her."

"Aunt Petunia is here? How is she doing? I am sorry I wasn't able to make it to the funeral, I was out of the country on a mission and Ginny, well lets just say she doesn't understand why I would want to attend uncle Vernon's funeral in the first place."

"I understand that Harry. I really do. If the way he treated Megan and Jason after finding out about their magical abilities-"

"Daddy." Lily said tugging his hand.

"Yes, sweety?"

"May I go join mum and James and Al?" Lily asked.

"Where is your mother, honey?"

"There" Lily said pointing towards Ginny, James and Al, looking at the bears.

"Sure. Go ahead. I will join you in a minute." Lily said a quick goodbye to Caroline before skipping off towards her mother and brothers. Harry watched her go halfway, but a gaggle of tourists blocked his way and when he looked up, Ginny and the kids had moved to a different enclosure.

Harry and Caroline continued to talk about Vernon Dursley for a few more minutes before Harry made his way to his family. They were no longer at the bear enclosure but had moved on to the lions.

As Harry reached them, Ginny looked at him puzzled, "What took you so long?" she asked

"Oh nothing. Just bumped into Caroline, she is taking care of the new cubs here. I thought Lily must have told you that."

"Lily? But why would Lily tell me that, she was with you."

"No, she said she is going to join you. I saw her walk towards you." Harry said, panic rising in his heart.

"She didn't reach us." Ginny said, panicking a little herself. "Okay, Harry. Hey, look at me. Calm down. She must be here somewhere." She grabbed his shoulders shaking him a little. "We know our Lily. She wouldn't just wander off. She must have gotten distracted. Let's split and cover the area, don't worry. Okay?"

Harry snapped into Auror mode and nodded as his heart raced.

"Lets meet back here in 30 minutes. If she is not here, we trained the children to go wait by the car. We would check the parking lot then, okay? And if you find her just give me a call. Okay?"

Ginny nodded. Harry grabbed Al's hand and started walking towards the bear enclosure, Lily must have gone off somewhere from near the enclosure, he needed to retrace her steps.

Al jogged beside him to match his pace. "Don't worry dad, we will find her."

Harry reached the enclosure and started looking around for possible reasons of distraction but couldn't find any. He was about to drag Al to a completely different direction when Al tugged at his hand.

"Dad look." Al said, pointing to the sign. It was the sign giving people directions towards the white tiger enclosure. A large picture of the white tiger was stuck to it. "Remember how much Lily likes baby animals?" Al asked.

"You think she might have gone there?" Harry asked, not completely convinced.

"Well, it is the only enclosure, which is a little off and not really visible and we can't see her anywhere here. It can't hurt to look, can it?"

Harry nodded as the two walked towards the white tiger enclosure.

Lily watched the little tiger cubs play around with each other. But within minutes, their mother took them and hid them in a den as she paced the floor roaring at the tourists. Lily turned to go back to her family. She knew where they were, she knew she would be able to keep an eye on them, so that she could join them later. But as she reached the opening, she realized that she could not really locate her family. Lily panicked; she wanted to go look for her parents. But her parents had warned her that there could be bad people around, who kidnapped children. So, she walked back and sat on a bench near the tiger enclosure, thinking about what to do next.

"Are you lost, dear?" An elderly lady asked kindly. Lily looked at the Lady who looked more like a horse and shook her head. Her father had told her to never tell strangers that she was lost.

"No, I am waiting for my daddy." She lied smoothly, "Are you lost, lady?"

The lady laughed. "No dear, I am waiting for my daughter-in-law to come pick me up."

Lily nodded. Petunia looked at the little girl with auburn hair and brown eyes. She looked so much like her sister Lily, if the brown eyes were replaced with the green, Petunia would have said that this child was Lily incarnate.

"You know, you look like this girl I knew a long time ago." Petunia told the little girl, not really knowing what compelled her to talk to her.

"Really? Did you know my mum, everyone says I look like her."

"Oh no! I am quite sure I don't know your mum. This girl I knew died several years ago. Her name was Lily."

"Hey, my name is Lily too. Daddy says lilies are the prettiest flowers."

"They are, lilies are quite beautiful."

"Yes. But I like sunflowers, and roses and tiny wild flowers. I just like flowers, they are so colourful."

"Yes, they are colourful and beautiful, just like you Lily."

Lily grinned at the old lady. "You know my name but I don't know your name, what is your name?"

"My name is Petunia."

"Hey, you are a pretty flower too, Mrs. Tuney." Lily said. Petunia's heart raced, no one in years had called her Tuney. "May I call you, Mrs. Tuney?"

"Yes. Yes. That's quite alright. So, Lily do you go to school?"

Lily made a face. "Not yet. I am not four yet. My cousin Hugo and I, we are the only ones who don't go to school."

"Oh? So everyone else in your family does?"

"Yes. Teddy is at a boarding school and James, Al and Rose are in their day school. Mum and Dad are at work. It becomes boring for Hugo and me." Lily said pouting.

"I am sure, you would hate going to school once you start going to school. I did when I was young, I wanted to stay home and play with my sister."

"Nuh-uh! I will love school."

Petunia laughed, "My younger sister used to say the same, but then she cried the entire term when she actually started going to school."

"Why?"

"Well, she didn't like being away from home. She was always afraid that we would just leave her there and never go back for her."

"Hmm…" Lily said, biting her nail. Petunia was reminded of Lily who had the same habit of biting her nail when she was thinking deeply about something. "Mrs. Tuney, I will be brave in school. My dad would never leave me. He loves all of us, soooooooooo much." Lily said opening her arms wide and pushing them.

"I am sure he does. You are a lovely young girl, Lily."

"Thank you Mrs. Tuney. You are nice too."

"But Lily, don't you think your father should be coming along now? Are you quite sure that he didn't ask you to wait somewhere else? If you are lost, you can tell. We are friends now, aren't we?"

Lily looked at her, biting her nail again, she was about to respond when a voice called out.

"LILY!" Albus cried, running over to Lily. Petunia was shocked to see a miniature Harry run towards them. "DAD! DAD! I FOUND HER!" He shouted, as he neared Lily. Petunia's eyes followed Albus to the man who now running towards Lily. Petunia sat frozen to her seat.

The little boy who looked like her long estranged nephew skidded to a halt near Lily and hugged her. "Are you alright? Merlin Lily, you shouldn't wander away. Scared us half to death! You really are alright, aren't you?" Albus asked, giving his sister another hug.

"Yes." Lily said meekly.

"Good, because you are going to be in so much trouble."

Lily was about to respond when Harry reached them and lifted Lily in a bone crushing hug.

"Oh, thank God. You are alright. Lily, I was so scared. Why didn't you go to your mother?" He asked setting Lily down.

Lily hung her head. "Were you here all this time?"

Lily nodded. Still hanging her head, "Sorry daddy." She whispered, with tears in her eyes. She was so relieved when Albus had found her, and she was so happy to be with her daddy again, but now she realized that she was in big trouble.

"Wait, let me call your mother and let her know that I found you. Okay?" Lily and Al nodded as Harry made a quick call to Ginny, who asked them to wait at the enclosure for James and her.

"Petunia." Caroline said as she approached her mother in law. "You ready to leave?"

Harry turned at the sound of that name, his eyes bulged a little. Sitting next to Al and Lily was none other than Petunia Dursley. "Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked as Albus jumped up to hug Caroline.

"Harry!" Caroline said with smile, as she gave Albus a hug. "We meet again!"

"Daddy?" Lily asked tugging at his sleeve. "Do you know Mrs. Tuney? She is my new friend."

Harry looked over to aunt Petunia who was not looking at anyone at all. "Yes, Lily. She is my aunt."

Albus' brow furrowed. "What aunt? Is this the same aunt that locked you in a cupboard when you were young?"

Harry stared at his son taken aback, as Lily looked at Petunia in horror.

"Albus Severus Potter." Harry said quietly, "How do you know this?"

Albus blushed and looked down, not really saying anything. "Al?" Harry prompted again, calmly.

Albus looked at Caroline fearfully, "Okay, but promise me you won't punish her." He said looking at Caroline.

"Megan told you?" Caroline asked him, her eyes wide with surprise. "But we never told her about this."

"She overheard Uncle Dudley and you and then she told James and I when we last visited. Also, we told Teddy." Albus said hanging his head in shame.

"It was not your secret to tell, Albus." Harry reprimanded his son, his voice still calm.

"I know that." Al said desperately, "But you never talk about your childhood like everyone does and when we found out, James was so angry he wanted to hunt your aunt down and- and- I knew you would be mad if he did something stupid. Teddy is the only one James listens to, so I told him."

Lily was clinging to Harry's hand, "Is it true, Mrs. Tuney? Did you really lock my daddy in a cupboard?" She asked, tears already forming in her eyes.

Petunia Dursley did not respond, she found the will to get up and walk away, so she got up and walked away. Lily looked at the rest of them before flinging herself in Harry's arms and sobbing. Caroline said a hasty goodbye and followed after Petunia, as Harry tried to calm Lily as well as Al, who had started crying after his sister.

When Ginny arrived, she couldn't understand why Lily refused to part with Harry and why Al clung to her and wept. Harry sat on the bench with Ginny and told her about what had happened, as they tried to calm their children down.

"Did you shout at her, Al?" James asked, his eyes narrow with anger.

Al shook his head. "I should have been here." James said angrily, "No one gets to be mean to my dad."

And in that moment, Harry was overwhelmed. He looked at Ginny, who smiled proudly at him as she hugged Al, who had calmed down a bit. Harry pulled James to his side and mussed his hair.

"I am glad you want to protect me Jamie. But what happened was a long time ago. Let it go!" James looked up to protest but Harry gave him a stern look. "She is an old woman now James. She has lost a lot of things in life. Give her the respect you would give any elderly lady and let it go. Okay? It is useless to be angry about the things that you won't be able to change." James nodded. Harry kissed his forehead before getting up. He knew Lily would not let go of him for a while.

The kids had all fallen asleep on the drive back home. Harry floated them to their respective rooms before going to bed. Ginny snuggled into him as he got under the sheets. He put his arm around her, they didn't say anything and soon drifted off to sleep.

Their sleep was disturbed thrice that night. First, when Lily woke up in the middle of the night in her room and walked to their room to sleep on Harry's chest; second, when James got up and walked to his parents' room to check on them and found Lily sleeping on top of Harry, so, he snuggled next to Harry; and third, when Al woke up and settled between his parents. When Ginny woke up the next morning, everyone including her were a mess of tangled limbs, she looked over to her husband. She had known him for years, but it never stopped to amaze her that he looked several years younger when he slept with a smile on his face. He rarely ever slept with a smile on his face, but today he did. So, she settled back in bed and closed her eyes. The children would miss school again because they slept in, but what harm could come from missing two days of school?

AN: And another chapter. Please do read and review! This is the longest chapter I have ever written. I hope you enjoy it. I always wanted to do a part where Petunia meets Lily Luna Potter. Anyway, I am really tired and sleepy so I leave you to the reading, favouriting, following and reviewing bit.

Happy reading!

Much love

The fishes