A/N: I can't believe we've come this far. One more chapter after this one and then perhaps an epilogue so maybe two more chapters total. Just a reminder that I own nothing. All recognizable characters, places, events, plots, etc. do not belong to me. Please, as always, comment with your thoughts :)

MofDA

….

She felt like a whale. Her feet were gone and she was only six months pregnant. A lot of women, she knew, only had small bumps. Some, like Victoire, didn't even start to show until around six months. But no. Lily Luna had ballooned out at three months and just kept growing until she was her own planet. Albus liked to pretend that she had her own gravitational force.

At least her stomach was the only place that had grown. Her face didn't look puffy like Lucy's had and her feet hadn't swollen yet. It was almost Christmas and Lily had told her parents and Headmaster Neville Longbottom that she was ready to take her NEWTs in January. Things had progressed relatively smoothly with her pregnancy all things considered.

The baby's magical core was still above normal but the Healers reassured her that it was nothing to worry about. Her Uncle Ron had joked that this baby would be more powerful than Dumbledore.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had narrowed down the options of possible fathers so drastically that they were now all seriously concerned that the father was Scorpius. Harry had written Scorpius and Rose a letter inviting them over. He said that Lily needed more female companionship during this time while secretly they wanted to interrogate Scorpius.

When Rose and Scorpius arrived on a blustery afternoon Ginny took their cloaks and told Rose to go on up to Lily's room while she and Harry entertained Scorpius. Rose kissed her aunt on the cheek and trotted quickly up the stairs.

"Hey there, beautiful," Rose greeted when she peeked into Lily's bedroom. Lily was sprawled on her back staring up at the ceiling with a watermelon sized belly blocking Rose's view of Lily's face.

"Hi, Rose," Lily answered without moving. Rose giggled and sprawled out beside her cousin.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Ginormous."

"Yes, well, I kind of figured that since you look ginormous."

"Ha-ha. Is that why you came over here? To make fun of me," Lily pouted but she turned her head to bestow a smile on Rose that let her know Lily wasn't serious.

"You know it. No, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny said you needed some girl time. I thought I might paint your toenails since you can't reach."

Lily grunted and sat up while wiggling her toes. "You are the best cousin ever. I would love for you to paint my toenails."

Rose laughed and selected a bottle of dark purple nail polish from Lily's dresser then sat on the floor in front of her to begin. "So tell me what it's like. Being pregnant. Can you feel the baby move?"

"Yes. A lot of the time, actually. The Healers said that some of what I'm feeling is the baby's magic and not really the baby moving. It feels like little energetic pulses through my abdomen. The Healers monitored it for a while and come to find out, I feel the most movement while the baby is asleep in there. The Healers said that the baby is probably doing involuntary magic while in a dream-like state."

"Weird," said Rose but in a tone that was awed.

"Rose…I need to tell everyone about the baby's father before the baby is born. I thought that I would like to practice with you."

Rose perked up at that. Of course they'd all been curious but ever since her threat about eating slugs nobody really pushed the issue. Nobody brought it up at all ever since Lily really did make her brother James vomit slugs for an hour when he annoyed her enough.

"Go on," said Rose.

Lily took a deep breath while deciding on where to begin. "Do you remember Hugo's seventeenth birthday party in June at the Burrow?"

"Of course."

"Do you remember how some of us were playing hide and seek with Jasper? Well, Albus stuck himself magically to the ceiling and I wanted to find a better hiding place than him so I snuck up to the attic."

"The attic? Even now Gran doesn't let us up there because supposedly it is too dangerous. Lots of muggle things Granddad's enchanted and wizard heirlooms that Gran is worried may have curses or untouched magic. Godric, please don't tell me this is like some sort of immaculate conception. Did you touch an object up there and get pregnant? Oh! No, wait! Hugo had a few friends over that day. Did you run into one of Hugo's friends and shag him in the attic?"

"Woah, calm down there, Rose," Lily gestured with her hand for her cousin to be quiet. "Let me finish my story." She ran a hand through her long black hair and continued. "I hid in an old trunk because it was big enough for me to fit in and fairly empty. When Albus finally found me I discovered a Time Turner in the trunk. Have you ever heard of-"

"That was my mum's!" Rose squeaked, streaking purple nail polish up the length of Lily's foot. "Whoops. I'll clean that up. But Lily, that's a very dangerous magical artifact! When I was little I found it in a drawer at home. Mum caught me with it and I got into trouble. She decided it wasn't safe enough at home where Hugo or I could find it so she gave it to Gran for safekeeping."

"But do you know what it does?"

"Of course. Time Turners were invented by the Ministry of Magic in the late 1970's to transport a witch or wizard back in time up to ten hours. The intent was that a witch or wizard could get double the work done in half the time," Rose stated clearly. It sounded to Lily like she was regurgitating information she'd read in a history book verbatim.

"Er – yes."

"But they were all destroyed when our parents broke into the Ministry in 1996, except my mum's."

"Well your mum's was broken, too. It didn't take me back ten hours. It took me back nearly five decades. I landed in September 1977."

Rose's jaw dropped and she leaned back, forgetting for a moment that she had a nail polish brush in her hands which she almost planted directly onto her own cheek. "Oh…my god," Rose said finally.

"I lost the Time Turner that brought me there. I think that it would have kept taking me further and further back in time but I wrenched it off and threw it away from myself. When I landed in 1977 the broken Time Turner was gone. I fainted and woke up in the infirmary at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore was there and I told him who I was and what had happened. Time Turners hadn't been invented yet, you see, but Dumbledore told me he would go to the Ministry and help speed along the process. Of course I would also need one that went years instead of days and into the future instead of the past."

Lily paused, waiting or Rose to make a comment or ask a question but her cousin was silent so Lily continued. "It was very complicated and took a long time. I was in the past for fourteen months. I stayed at Hogwarts and completed my education. I took my NEWTs in 1978 and graduated then. I – erm – I fell in love with a bloke and married him."

"1978…Lily, that was almost the height of the First Wizard War! You could have been killed!" Rose cried.

"I came close a few times," Lily told her in a whisper. "I met Voldemort face-to-face. He wanted to recruit my husband and me. We told him no and I thought for sure that was the end. I fought Death Eaters on more than one occasion and all of the friends that I made then are dead now except for Alice and Frank Longbottom."

Dawning comprehension came crashing over Rose. "Alice…and Frank…Merlin, Lily! You were with your grandparents, weren't you?"

Lily swallowed thickly and couldn't look Rose in the eye when she admitted, "Yes, I was. I was in their year at Hogwarts. My grandmother, Lily, and I became very close. I became very close to my granddad James, too. Remus, Teddy's father, he was there and we would study together often. I couldn't even warn them…"

"But you said you fell in love and got married. Lily, who did you marry and where is he now?"

Lily fished her locket out from under her shirt and slid her wedding ring off of the delicate golden chain. When it was on her finger Rose gasped and grabbed her hand. "This ring was put on my finger in 1978 when I married Sirius Orion Black and became Mrs. Lily Luna Black."

Rose recoiled as if she'd been slapped. "Sirius Black? Lily! You knew he was going to die! You knew-" Rose cut herself off mid-sentence and slapped a hand over her mouth. "oh…oh Merlin. Lily, you're a widow. Your husband…he's dead. The father of your child…no wonder he isn't around. But then your house elves…"

"The house elves belonged to Dorea and Charlus Potter, my great-grandparents who I also met and who gave me ownership of the house elves. They, along with Potter Manor, are mine."

Rose leapt up and hugged Lily tightly. "I'm so sorry," she said softly. "I'm so sorry you had to go all through all of that. But…Lily, how could you? How could you fall in love with someone and marry him and then leave him knowing everything that you know? I just…I don't understand why you let yourself get so close to him in the first place."

"I didn't let myself. I tried to stay away from him the moment I realized I had feelings for him. But he was always around and so persistent! And handsome," Lily fanned herself with her hand. "My Godric was he handsome. Eventually I decided to stop resisting fate and let myself fall. I didn't intend to get pregnant. Well, kind of. I thought I might like to have a baby with the man I loved and I stopped taking my contraceptive potions but when I left 1978 to come back home I wasn't pregnant. This is where the story gets worse…"

"Gets worse? Sweet Salazar, how the fuck could this get any worse, Lily? You're your father's god-mother for fuck's sake!" Rose cursed violently.

"I visited him while he was in Azkaban and that's when I conceived the baby."

"You…you had sex…in Azkaban prison…with Sirius Black…" Rose stuttered. Lily cringed, waiting for the explosion. It surprised both of them when Rose threw her head back and burst into laughter. Despite her best efforts not to, Lily followed and both girls were in tears by the time they calmed down enough for Lily to finish her story.

"That's…basically it. I went back in time, I fell in love with Sirius Black, I married him, I fought Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort himself offered me a place among the ranks of his Death Eaters, and I got knocked up in Azkaban prison."

After a long and serious pause, Rose asked quietly, "You're not yanking my wand, are you?"

"No," Lily told her. "I promise that this was the whole truth."

"No wonder if you don't want to tell people," Rose stated. "How do you even begin to wrap your mind around something like this?"

"There are pictures," Luna said eagerly and reached beneath her pillow for the photos she had stashed there that she'd swiped from her father's album. "See? There we all are in the Gryffindor common room."

Rose took the picture and stared at it for a several seconds. "He was handsome," Rose agreed with a little smile at her cousin. "You all look so happy," Rose ran a finger lightly over the faces of the occupants in the picture.

Lily was smiling. "I'm trying very hard to be just as happy here as I was there."

"We could all tell you've been depressed but it's getting better," Rose assured her.

…..

"Have a seat, Scorpius," Harry motioned to the chair across from his desk. Scorpius frowned at how formal the Potters were being but he sat down gingerly anyway. "How are you? Would you like a drink?"

"I'm fine. And no, no drink, thank you," Scorpius shifted awkwardly in the chair as Ginny came around to lean against Harry's desk.

"So…pretty crazy about Lily, huh?" Harry asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I suppose," Scorpius answered.

"She is refusing to tell anyone who the father is," Ginny, always the blunt one, said pointedly.

"Rose told me that her parents and you two have been doing some investigating in an attempt to figure it out," said Scorpius.

Harry and Ginny exchanged a quick look – was Scorpius making polite conversation or was he nervous that they were looking into this mystery?

"Well she might end up just telling us before we reach a conclusion. She did say she'd tell us before the baby is born and that's only a few more months," Harry waved his hand airily and took a deep sip of his drink.

"I know you're worried about her, but Lily is a smart girl. She's the one who basically got Rose and I together at Hogwarts. If you're fishing for my opinion, I think that, for whatever reason, she got pregnant on purpose," Scorpius offered his hypothesis, which Rose had told him was a crazy one.

"What?" asked Harry and Ginny together.

"Well, think about it. There are so many ways to prevent pregnancy and Lily is one of the smartest witches I've ever met. Therefore it makes sense to assume that this was what she wanted. Or at least what she thought she wanted at the time."

"But…why?" Ginny murmured more to herself than to the others. "To try to get you to stay with her maybe?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Scorpius leapt to his feet and started to splutter indignantly. "You…you think it's me?" the last word came out in a frightened squeak.

"Well, a lot of the signs pointed to you…" Harry winced at his own words.

"Well you're wrong." Scorpius looked horrified as he glanced between Harry and Ginny. Then he shook his blonde head and turned to stride out of the office.

"Scorpius, wait!" called Ginny. "At least let us explain! It…it made sense! Lily's healer told us what she could about the baby's father based on genetics. The Healer said that the father of Lily's baby would have to be a powerful pureblood wizard, and-"

"And we're a dying breed, right?" he asked scathingly. "Not many of us pureblood blokes left. Of course you immediately thought of me – a Malfoy. How very like us to cheat on our wives with their cousins! No, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Lily and I have never been anything more than good friends. I think of her as my own dear little sister."

"But then maybe you know who it is…" Ginny pressed.

"I don't. Even if I did, I think that this is something you need to back off of. It is Lily's life and decision. Let her tell you when she's ready and stop making assumptions that only end up getting both of you into embarrassing situations." By this time they'd made their way back to the sitting room. Scorpius raised his voice and called up the stairs, "Rose! We're leaving."

A minute later Rose came trotting down the stairs with Lily waddling behind her. "What's wrong?" Rose asked as she paused on the bottom step.

"They accused me of being the father of Lily's baby."

"No!" Rose and Lily cried in unison.

Lily moaned and covered her face in morbid embarrassment. "Seriously? Are you two insane? First of all, I find Scorpius about as attractive as if he were my own brother. Second of all, I would never do that to Rose. What in the name of Merlin's most baggy y-fronts would make you think I fucked Scorpius?"

"Language!" Harry scolded.

"Oi!" Said an indignant Scorpius, "I'm not that disgusting…"

"It was a process of elimination," Ginny opened her hands in a gesture of apology. "We're very sorry, Scorpius, and we hope you forgive us. We didn't mean to cause offense."

"I still don't understand why you would think this," Rose moved to stand beside her husband and twine her hand with his.

"Parvati…Lily's Healer…she told us that she could tell from the baby's magical core that the father of the baby was a powerful pureblood wizard. Not just a pureblood wizard of average strength, but one that was above normal in power level and…well, to be honest, there just aren't that many."

"You've been trying to figure this out all this time?" asked Lily. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her parents. "You saw what I did to James for pestering me about it yet you've gone behind my back? This…may be somewhat childish of me," she pulled her wand from her sleeve. "But I don't give a fuck at the moment." Her wand slashed through the air and she cried triumphantly, "EAT SLUGS!"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in horror before Harry burped and a large slimy slug came slipping out of his mouth and fell to the carpet. The next moment Harry and Ginny were rushing to the toilet holding their hands to their mouths while Lily, Rose, and Scorpius roared with laughter.

…..

"What is the purpose of this visit, Harry?" Minerva arrived in the sitting room of the Potter home the next morning at Harry's request.

"Ginny and I are very worried about Lily," Harry began and gestured for Minerva to take a seat in her favorite armchair. Minerva McGonagall visited the Potters often enough to not only have a favorite armchair but also a favorite teacup which was already in place on the table beside the chair, still hot.

"Is she alright? How is the baby?" the elder witch asked anxiously.

"They're both fine physically. It's just…Lily is being so secretive about everything and she's been so depressed since before she even found out she was pregnant. She hasn't said a word to us about what's really going on with her…"

Minerva did nothing but raise her eyebrows and sip from her teacup.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You know, don't you? Not just who the father is but also why she's keeping this all such a big secret."

"Yes, I do," Minerva admitted unashamedly and sat up a little straighter. "Rest assured, Harry, there is nothing you need to worry about. Lily will be just fine. She needs time and support."

"Support?"

"Yes, support. She needs your unconditional love and support."

"She has it! She knows she has it. But she still doesn't trust us!"

"Harry James Potter!" Minerva snapped angrily and used her cane to whap his knees. "You complete dolt. It's not that she doesn't trust you! It's that she's having a difficult time coming to terms with everything herself. She is more scarred and more damaged than any of you realize. She needs to heal before she can rip off the bandages, as the muggles would say."

"Damaged?" Harry repeated the word slowly and frowned. "What has damaged her?"

"There is a part of her life, Harry, which she has not yet shared with you. A part of her life that has left a deep imprint on her soul. When her soul heals enough she will talk with her family about what has hurt her so deeply. Are there not parts of your past that you have kept private from your children?"

The question was rhetorical but Harry still thought on it and realized that yes, there were some parts of the war, some parts of his time at Hogwarts, some things he'd seen, that he never wanted to share with his children. He didn't want them to have his nightmares.

"You see?" Minerva prompted. "Your daughter is not a child anymore and she has her own burdens to bear. Keep that in mind."

…

The next person who Lily wanted to speak with about the truth was Neville Longbottom. Her Uncle Neville would be one person who could appreciate the knowledge she had and would value stories of his mother. Alice Longbottom had no surviving friends aside from Lily herself so the only things Neville had ever been told about his mother had come from Augusta.

Nobody alive had known Alice Fortescue better than Luna Black.

Plus she knew that this would not be quite so hard as telling her parents and other family members. Telling Rose had been much easier than anticipated so it was the very next day that she ventured out to Hogwarts. It was the day before the winter holidays so there wasn't much work to be done by the staff. Lily could walk almost straight up to the front gates of the school. The charms on the grounds alerted Hagrid to her presence and the aging Care of Magical Creatures teacher escorted her to the castle.

Waddling a little, wrapped in a thick warm winter cloak, Lily swept through the halls and went directly to the Headmaster's study. She was admitted entrance but instead of having to walk up the stairs they moved on their own, rotating higher and higher, making Lily feel more than a little sick, and finally she landed in Neville's office.

"Lily," he stood with a smile and hugged her in greeting.

"Ooh, easy there, Uncle Nev, I feel like I might blow chunks," she warned as she rubbed her hands over her stomach.

"Er – sorry," he backed up a step but was still smiling.

"I came to talk to you but you can't tell anyone that I came here. You especially can't tell anyone what I want to talk with you about."

"Now, you know I can't promise that, what if-"

"What if I promise that it's nothing that will put anyone in any danger. It's not about anything that will hurt anybody. It's a personal secret that I want to trust you with."

"Why me?" asked Neville and he sounded almost fearful.

"Because it has to do with your mother."

Neville's face fell. "My…my mother?" he frowned at her. "They said you were visiting her that day in St. Mungo's…I asked the Healers and they told me you've been back there a few times."

"Yes, I visit her. We chat sometimes though you know it's difficult for her to get her thoughts out," Lily took the cup of tea and plate of biscuits offered to her. She balanced the small plate on her round belly and sighed as she relaxed back into the chair across from Neville.

"So tell me," he prompted, "Why do you visit her?"

"Because I knew her long before she was tortured. She and I were at Hogwarts together our seventh year. I'm the last friend that she has. I'll be honest and tell you that I never knew her while she was Alice Longbottom…I knew her as Alice Fortescue."

Neville's face was stoic. "This is not funny, Ms. Potter."

"I'm not joking, Professor."

They stared at each other for a while before Neville asked, "Can you prove this?"

"Of course I can. You see my bracelet? Doesn't your mother have the same one? You said it yourself."

"They look similar," he conceded after examining her bracelet more closely. "But that's hardly proof that you were friends with her. For Godric's sake, Lily, you're eighteen years old. My mother is old enough to be your grandmother."

"I time traveled on accident," she said casually.

Neville was shaking his head. "This is madness. Maybe we should take you to see a Healer."

"I'm not crazy. I also brought you a picture."

"A picture of what?"

"Look here," she extracted from her purse the same picture she'd shown Rose. "Do you recognize these people?"

"Harry's parents," Neville answered immediately. "Anyone in the wizarding world would recognize them without any trouble."

"Right. Now look at this couple next to them. That's Sirius Black…" she paused as Neville squinted at the picture, noting the similarities between the carefree teen in the picture and the escaped convict he'd seen pictures of. "…and that's me."

Neville's narrowed eyes widened comically and he nearly dropped the picture in shock. "But…Lily, this girl certainly looks a lot like you…how can you expect me to believe that she is you?"

"Read the back," Lily flipped the picture over. "See? Luna. That's my middle name because that was what they called me so I wouldn't be confused with Lily Evans – my grandmother."

She let Neville examine the picture for a few moments longer before he spoke. "Okay, let's say that I believe you. What does this have to do with anything?"

"I married Sirius Black," she stated in a matter-of-fact way. Her ring was already in place so she brought her hand up to show it off. "Go ahead and check me, if you'd like. We were married in an official wizarding ceremony so the bonds are there."

Neville did as offered and tested her for marriage bonds. "Severed…" he murmured, "by death. Your husband is dead."

"Yes, he is," she said after swallowing the large lump in her throat.

"Lily…this is crazy. This is madness. How did you get into the past?"

"It was an accident. I found Aunt Hermione's old Time Turner only I didn't know what it was or what it did. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by people I didn't know and places that were different. Professor Dumbledore let me stay at Hogwarts where I completed my seventh year and took my NEWTs. You can look them up in old student records under the name Lily Luna Black."

Curious, Neville eyed her warily as he went to an older looking cabinet and asked, "What year did you take your NEWTs? 1978?"

"Yes," she answered.

"They're here," he said after a lengthy pause. "Holy Salazar, they are here…and high enough scores to be an Auror," he smiled at her, knowing her dearest ambition.

"That career goal has been put on pause," she crinkled her nose and patted her belly.

"Was this planned then?" he vaguely motioned to her entire body.

"Not really but at the same time I did nothing to prevent it. Part of me wanted it to happen but Sirius didn't know anything. He died not knowing that he was going to be a father."

"I'm so sorry, Lily," what else could he say?

"I didn't come here for your sympathy. I came here to tell you all that I can about your mum," when she said this he eagerly perked up and took his seat again to listen. "She was very much like you. Quiet, shy, seemingly innocent, but deep down she was really a badass. We were in Gryffindor together and by that point she was already dating Frank but he graduated from Hufflepuff a year before her…."

As Lily repeated stories of Alice to Neville and watched the emotions play across his face she knew that she'd made the right decision in having this conversation.

….

When she arrived home later that evening she had an early dinner and fell asleep on the sofa. Her dreams blurred together without much sense until Voldemort flooded her mind's eye. She could see him torturing Sirius, killing Charlus and Dorea, telling Luna herself that she was now an official Death Eater. In her dream she looked down to see a Dark Mark inked into her skin.

She woke up screaming. Harry, Ginny, James, and Albus rushed into the sitting room from different directions. "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" she cried in a panic, swatting at her forearm. "I'M NOT A DEATH EATER! I'M NOT!"

"Woah, calm down, love," Harry, who had plenty of experience dealing with emotional people, said gently as he attempted to sit beside her on the sofa. Lily gasped, took several deep breaths, wiped a hand across her sweaty forehead, and opened her mouth to thank her family for coming to her rescue. But no noise came out.

Lily's shoulders slumped. She thought she was done with this. She'd only lost her voice once since being back in her own time and then it had gone unnoticed by everyone because she simply avoided her family. Lily nodded her head and hoped they wouldn't notice that something was wrong.

"Lily?" Ginny prompted. "Are you alright now, sweetheart?" Lily gave her mother a shaky smile and nodded.

"Good," said James, "now I can get back to my own nap."

"Is something wrong?" Albus, being the more perceptive brother, asked shrewdly. Lily shook her head. "Why don't you tell me that everything's okay."

Lily glared at him fiercely and whipped her head side to side. "Now really, this is ridiculous. Say something," said Harry.

With a defeated sigh Lily tried to use sign language to communicate. Albus watched her hand movements with rapt attention. "She says that she can't speak, she lost her voice."

"You know sign language?" asked Ginny with interest.

"Yeah, he took classes that one summer every day just to sit beside that cute blonde muggle girl he had a crush on," James volunteered this information.

"Oh? And you told me that you were going to Ian's house to play Quidditch!" she remembered suddenly how one summer every day at the same time Al would leave to 'play Quidditch.'

The tops of Al's ears turned bright red – a Weasley trait – and he stuttered for a moment before saying, "Yeah, well, it's come in handy now, hasn't it?"

"How did you lose your voice?" Harry asked Lily.

Albus answered aloud for her. "She says that it's complicated, but not abnormal. Apparently she was hit with a spell on accident and now loses her voice sometimes…"

"What spell?" Ginny inquired.

"She doesn't know."

"Should we go to Mungo's?" Lily shook her head vehemently at Harry's suggestion so instead Harry offered an alternate solution. "Well I'm not letting this go untreated so I'll ask Parvati to make a house call."

Fifteen minutes later Lily sat with her mouth open as Parvati held her wand aloft looking down Lily's throat and doing a few diagnostic spells. "Dark magic," Parvati confirmed, "Although I'm unfamiliar with the exact spell. Definitely not a harmless accident. Whoever hit Lily with this spell did it on purpose with malicious intent."

Lily looked at the floor. She hadn't known that the Healer would be able to tell so much from a spell that had been cast so long ago. "Why is it still bothering her?"

"I imagine it's a side effect that has probably gotten better with time. Am I right?" Parvati addressed Lily who nodded in assent. "She would have lost her voice for a while at first then regained it and now it probably goes out on rare occasions. Perhaps when she's particularly stressed or upset. It's nothing that will hurt her or the baby and whoever the Healer was who fixed her up from this spell did an excellent job," she commented.

Lily remembered Sirius arguing with Healers and paying obscene amounts of money to bring in foreign Healers who were experts in various fields – throat, vocal chords, Dark spells, and such. Of course she'd been Healed well; her husband had taken the best care of her.

Harry and Ginny thanked Parvati and she left not long after. The entire family sat in silence for a while. Nobody asked any questions. Nobody demanded to know how this had happened. They all cared and they were all desperate to know. But still; they didn't ask. Eventually Tilly and Tippy came in with teas that would help and Lily's new favorite food – pepperoni pizza with a pickle on the side.

When she regained her voice she told her family goodnight and went upstairs to bed. Tomorrow, she promised herself, tomorrow she would tell them the entire truth and hold nothing back.

….

In the wee hours of the morning, when it was still dark, while Lily Luna Potter-Black slept peacefully in her bed, alarms were going off deep in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries.