The future came too soon. Lily was on her shift, a normal day shift like she had all week. For once she wasn't exhausted and was pouring over patient records for the person who was waiting for her in exam room 3. It should have gone without any trouble, she should have left in two hours, and gotten dinner at Teddy's house. She hadn't seen him in ages and was looking forward to spend time with Vickie, him, and Stella.
She was looking over the notes, quill in hand, marking the things that she was going to ask them. That was when the door burst open and she saw the aurors rush in. She didn't see the patient, but that was routine as aurors were trained to apparate injured people. Stepping forward to help, she felt her arm being grasped. "Go treat your patient and then take a break," Ella ordered.
"I always handle auror cases, I'm the best at curses…" She looked at her and tilted her head. "No, the last time you wanted me out it was Teddy, please tell me—"
"Potter." Her voice was steady and calm. "Do as I say."
The world felt like it tilted and it felt like she was hit as images flooded through her mind, voices too…The prophecy overlay all of that as the loudest voice in her head. "No. No…" She looked over and she saw Scorpius come in looking like she never saw him before. His eyes were wide and frightened…there was blood on his robe but he didn't look like he was bleeding. "Who was it?"
Her knees felt weak as the folder dropped from her hands and she gripped at the counter. "Please tell me…"
There was shouting across the room, exactly like she had seen in her mind. Scorpius was yelling, he never yelled, especially not at someone that was trying to do their job. As she stood frozen, she saw Albus rush into the rooms. He gripped Scorpius' arm and she watched as they talked. Albus comforted him, then the next thing she knew Scorpius seemed to collapse in on himself. The vision had seemed odd to her after the day in the conference room, but she couldn't bring herself to move. This was supposed to be the future, she could intervene, but something about it just seemed strange.
"Ella?" One of the other Healers appeared. "Charlotte sent me here due to the nature of the case."
"I can do my job," Lily replied steadily.
"Potter, you are not putting a patient at risk. I'll give you time to collect yourself, but if you can't be in that room in five minutes, I'm sending you home and you are staying there until further notice. Understood?"
She nodded. Control was something that she could not afford to lose, not in her line of work. It was common with younger Healers, when you weren't accustomed to dealing with dying. Some threw up, others cry, some simply froze…Lily had been able to handle it in strides with only a few moments hesitation. Sometimes it was hard on her when she got home, images kept on flashing through her eyes. It was part of the reason why living alone was so hard for her when she started the more hands on part of her training. Feeling, though, wasn't a weakness. You had to be able feel the emotions, let them wash over you without them taking over your actions. Eventually you felt numb to it, tears didn't prick at your eyes and your stomach didn't roll. Feeling numb was alright, as long as you still cared about what happened. If you feel numb to the point where death doesn't matter to you, then it's time to quit.
"Are you ready, Lily?" Ella asked.
"I have to do my job," she said, taking a deep breath as she looked down at the file. Al and Scorpius had sank down to the floor, her brother had a hand on his back as her friend held his head in his hands. Something inside her said that Albus would be better at dealing with it than she was. She should stick to her job, there was people she could help.
After three patients, ranging from a broken arm to a potion gone wrong, she was able to leave. She stripped out of her Healer robes and put on the set of clothes she had in her locker before she left. Her father was here now, she knew that much. He was busy fielding questions from reporters and Ministry workers. Ginny had arrived as well, but was with George and Angelina. Lily's heart broke when she saw her Uncle sitting there without any trace of humor on his face. Angelina, though, was the one with tears on her face as she gripped her husband's hand. Fred hadn't made an appearance, but Lily suspected her brother was with him.
"Lily, wait," the fill-in healer said as she came towards her with a piece of parchment. "Your brother sent you a message." She pushed it towards the red-head before going back to her work at the desk. Lily looked down and saw the note, I'm still expecting you to come over, you're not staying at your flat alone.
She shook her head with a smirk on her face as she shoved it in her jeans pocket. The apparition didn't take long before she appeared at Teddy's doorstep and let herself in. A tea kettle is going off, but her god brother is nowhere to be seen. Walking to the kitchen she takes out the teabags and prepares it with just a bit of honey and a dash of milk. Murmuring a spell to keep them warm she wraps her hand around each of the handles before wandering down the hall. "Teddy, it's Lily." The door to the bedroom creaks open and she sees his auror robe on the ground, he's seated on the chest in front. His hair is only a few shades from his ordinary blond, but it's dull like dishwater. His eyes are the stormy greyish brown of a churning river in the middle of flooding season.
"Thanks, Lil." His voice is gravely and eyes look about ready to cry. She sits down next to him and sips the tea. "Stella is at my Grandma's house, and Vicky…Vicky's with Dom."
Merlin, how had Lily not thought of Dom? Her and Roxie were basically attached at the hip since they were born. The two of them never seemed to go a day without speaking to one another. Still, they sat in silence after that before they drained their cups. Teddy sat his on the ground and Lily did the same. Before she knew what hit her he embraced her, head resting on his shoulder. She felt the dampness from the tears but didn't hear him cry. Words caught in her throat as they held each other.
"She can't be gone," he whispered. "I…She was like Vicky's sister, hell, she was like my sister."
Lily clutched at her brother. Teddy had always been an image of strength to her. Never had she seen him cry. She'd seen him angry, yelling and screaming, cursing his parents or Voldemort or her father or whatever else he could think of. He never yelled at her. There was nothing reserved for her except for fierce protectiveness.
"Stella wanted to be just like her, you know?"
Lily pulled away from him and forced herself to look in his eyes. "Don't say wanted, the Healers are trying their hardest."
"She was shot, Lily. I know our job is dangerous, but no one should have to deal with that. If I'd been—"
"No. Don't even go there. Roxie was doing her job and maybe she needed help, or maybe there was nothing you could have done except have gotten shot yourself." Lily looked him in the eyes and Teddy knew it was true.
Late that night they found out Roxie was still hanging on, but Lily knew they were only getting their hopes up unless something happened to change the prophecy. She was dressed in a pair of Victoire's old jeans and Teddy's shirt, with wet hair twisted into a mess of a bun. She was supposed to work today, but didn't have to be in until five.
"Lily, wait!" she heard someone call and saw Michael walking towards her with coffee and a bag from the café.
"You said we were over," she commented dryly as frowned looking for her physical key now that he was watching. "If you want to talk this out you should have done it a few days ago."
"I've been trying, but I finally found your schedule back." The one she had copied to give to him. He had done the same. She crumpled his up and shoved it in the drawer. "Can I come in?"
"I can't deal with this right now." Her fingers curled around the key as she pulled it out to open the door.
"Can we at least talk about why you're so opposed to telling me things? If it'll help I'll sit down and lay out my whole family history…Hell, I detail my days in the police academy…"
She sighed. "It's not about you not telling me enough, it's about me. I'm being selfish, alright? And I you know what? I don't give a damn."
"But you do," he said. "God, Lily, I just…When I first met you I thought I had you pegged for sure. Then, I find out a nurse and hear you talk about your family…Now, it's like the Berlin wall has been rebuilt between us."
"Berlin wall? What kind of shit is that?" Lily asked, looking at his face she shook head and pursed her lips. "We had fun, just leave it at that." It was more than that, if she let herself she could love him. She liked how he could make her laugh, liked how they could fall asleep next to each other, loved how he stood his ground… He was so safe, but she knew his safety was an illusion like a gun without a trigger pulled. Michael didn't even realize that his presence could be perceived as a threat. Lily knew these thoughts were going into a dangerous territory, one that Voldemort and his followers treaded into, but it was hard not to feel that way. Before she could answer the door to the stair well opened to reveal Teddy. He didn't look much better than last night, and she suspected he used a bit of his powers to camouflage the dark circles under his eyes.
"Can I do something for you?" Michael asked.
"I'm here for Lily," he grumbled, stepping forward.
"This is Teddy, my brother." Opening the door she gestured to Teddy. He wanted her to go in first, but she ushered him through, giving only one last look at Michael. It was easier this way, letting him go before she got too attached.
Inside, Teddy was looking at the photos with perplexment written across his face at the stock still photos. "So it's true, you have a muggle boyfriend."
"Had." She stood beside him, watching his eyes linger on a photo. It was one that she found and wanted a copy of, the second Order of the Phoenix. Lily didn't know when it had been taken, but his parents stood beside one another in it.
"Vicky went with Stella to Grandma Weasley's house, all of us are supposed to come over."
Lily's eyes fixed on a picture of the family, Roxie and Dom had their arms thrown around each other looking in every way an opposite. Dom's hair was long and silky, white-ish blonde in color. Roxie hair tumbled to her shoulders in wild curls, her bronzed skin, and loose vibrant clothes a sharp contrast to Dom's creamy skin with tight clothes in demure colors. Looking at the photo she saw what would never be again. Then she glanced at the Order's photo and it was like someone hit her in the stomach, knocking all the air out of her. What if this turned into a third war? What if, in thirty years from now, too many of her cousins died too young.
The next thing Lily registers is Teddy's arms around her as sobs wrack her body. Visions of past and future flash through her mind and she feels so insignificant. As a healer the worst thing that you can do is see someone dying and not be able to do a thing to change it.
Roxie's funeral was exactly a week later. Afterwards, most everyone ended up at Molly Weasley's house. None of the normal energy was there. George wasn't laughing, Angelina was nearly silent, James and Fred weren't joking…Scorpius took a cup of tea and looked out the window, he saw Lily outside and sighed. It was so much like when he first came here. He poured another and went outside to where she was.
"Thank you," she murmured. She looked at the cup he handed her and sighed. "Your speech was nice."
Scorpius delivered a small speech on behalf of the Ministry, about Roxie's work as an auror. Dom was the one that delivered her eulogy, the blonde barely made it about halfway through the speech before Angelina took over her, handling the speech with grace and not looking at her husband.
"Did you hear about Al and me?" Scorpius stood right next to her, their arms brushing. "Your dad thought it would be best to assign us to be partners. I'm on desk duty for a while though, but Al never really got of it."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"What for?"
"We never apologized to each other but sometimes I think we should have done that more often." She bit her lips and twisted her eyes shut. "Visions don't always come true, seers can look into the future, but there's never a certainty that's what will happen." Opening her eyes, it was clear that tears stood in them. "Sometimes it's nearly impossible to change, I didn't know it was Roxie in the vision." With her free hand she wiped the tears away. "While no one may have had the power to change that, I can change my own future."
"Lily, you've wanted to be a Healer for…" We both need to focus right now. The image of an 18 year old Lily drifted into his mind, explaining why they had to break up.
"I'm not quitting, I might not even leave St. Mungo's, but—"
"I applied for a position at Durmstrang, it's the only school with a slot open. There was an incident with the one of the teachers and they have to take a leave of absence."
"Lily, that's—that's halfway across Europe…"
"London may be my home, but it's time for a change." She wrapped her arms around him, then stood on her tip toes to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Take care of yourself." With those words, Lily Luna Potter walked out of his life for a second time.