Harry felt very awkward standing in front of the Weasley's dining table. Everyone at the table was now turned towards him, with an incredulous look on their faces. The most bewildered had to be Arthur and Ron, while Percy was raising an eyebrow.
The twins were the first to break the silence.
"So Gred, it looks like Harry has a family after all-." Fred quipped.
"Indeed Forge, it seems he has gone from the boy-who-lived to the boy-who-loved." George chimed. A small chuckle escaped them both.
Molly then interjected. "Be quiet you two, I'm sure Harry has a perfectly good explanation." She gestured towards a seat for Harry to sit down at the table.
Harry sat down. "I suppose I should start from the beginning. Last night, I was going to my room, when I saw this girl lying unconscious on the floor."
Percy interrupted. "Why didn't you tell someone?"
Harry replied. "I don't know but for some reason, I felt this connection to her, like I had to protect her, it just washed over me. So I lifted her into my bed and let her rest there. Then there was this house elf, his name was uh- Dobby. He kept telling me not to go back to Hogwarts, warning of some plot to make terrible things happen, and then he started screaming and he woke her up. While me and Dobby were arguing, she started talking about her dad, and it turns out her father's name was Harry Potter."
Everyone around the table gasped.
Ron then said, with a look of bewilderment, "Surely, you didn't believe her."
"You're right. I didn't but then she started describing him, his scar, and his encounter with Voldemort. And I saw myself in her, I saw my nose and chin, and I just knew I couldn't let her get hurt. I just had to protect her. And at that moment I knew she was my daughter."
Molly had tears pricking her eyes, understanding what Harry felt at that moment. "So what did you do after?"
"I put her to bed, and slept on the floor, since I couldn't let the Dursleys know she was here." Harry shuddered. "I didn't want them to even try to lay a hand on her. I woke up the next morning, and when I went to the bathroom, there was Dobby, the same house elf from last night, once again trying to warn me of the dangers of returning. You know he took my letters so I would think you've all forgotten about me, and not return."
Ron growled before quickly saying, "Bloody hell Harry! Me and Hermione were writing to you all summer, I'd never forget you."
Molly quickly admonished him. "Ronald! Language!"
Harry smiled. "Thank you Ron. Anyways, Dobby started screaming again, and he woke up my daughter. She came rushing to the bathroom because she was worried about me. You know she broke down the door in all her fury."
Fred and George grinned then grimaced at each other, realising that Ginny had the same potential, perhaps rethinking their plans to prank her.
"Dobby was about to run out the door, but she was blocking it, and snatched the letters from him. He disappeared before we could hear more though." Harry now held a stack of letters in his hand.
Fred and George grinned at each other once again, before they quipped. "It seems your daughter can be as angry as our dear little Ginny."
Harry smiled once again. "Indeed. I made her breakfast and we agreed to leave that morning. We left quickly enough. I suppose I should tell you her name, her name is Lily Luna Potter, and she says her mother is Ginny. Yes, Ginny."
Arthur spat out his drink. "You're telling me I have a granddaughter."
Harry paused before continuing. "Yes Mr Weasley, she's from the future, the year 2018. I hope that you'll all help me protect her. I love her more than anything in the world."
Everyone around the table nodded. Molly hugged Harry. "Of course Harry dear, we love her too." There were murmurs of agreement all around.
Lily was running up after Ginny. "Mummy wait!"
Ginny ran to her room, and Lily followed her inside. It was the room she and her family usually stayed in, when visiting the Burrow. But the room was so different, gone were the multiple beds in favour of just one. The walls were painted pink and were decorated with a poster of Gwenog Jones, as well as a poster of the Weird Sisters. It was much smaller than it had been in Lily's time, gone were the various extensions. Ginny was now sitting on her bed, breathing quickly.
Lily sat down next to her.
Startled, Ginny asked. "Wh-ho are you? And why do you keep calling me mummy?"
Lily giggled a bit. "I'm Lily silly! I call you mummy because you are my mother."
Ginny stared wide eyed at her. "Bbbut how is that even possible. Who's your dad then?" Ginny looked carefully at Lily wondering if this was a joke, but she saw the same fiery red hair, brown eyes, and freckles dotted across her face. She saw herself in Lily.
Lily chuckled again. "My dad is Harry Potter."
Ginny visibly paled but Lily continued, giggling.
"Don't worry Mummy, Daddy's been taking good care of me, he even made me breakfast, and gave me hot chocolate this morning. Don't tell Daddy this but I think your cooking is nicer."
At this Ginny let out a small chuckle.
"You mean to tell me, that I marry Harry Potter and have a happy little family with him?"
Lily nodded, and Ginny looked as though she was about to faint.
But Lily broke the silence. "Mummy are you alright, you look sick."
Ginny slowly nodded. "Yes, I'm ok. But how is any of this even possible?"
"I'm from the future. I landed in the past, it's lucky I landed in daddy's room, he's taken care of me."
Ginny was shocked. Then Lily went in for an embrace. She hugged her mother tightly. She was slowly crying on Ginny's shoulder. "You know I missed you. Don't be scared of Daddy, I'm sure he loves you very much."
Ginny nodded. Remaining in the tight embrace. Before Lily whispered. "I think we should go down, I think Granny is worried about you."
Lily tightly held Ginny's hand as they walked down the stairs to the dining table. Harry was sitting down at the table with the rest of the family, as he finished telling them what had happened over the previous day.
Molly was the first to notice the pair, and she rushed to Lily, holding her in her trademark bear hug. "Oh Lily, you know you have such a beautiful name, and you look just like your mother. You know we love you. You're as much of a Weasley as any of us." Ginny blushed slightly.
Lily giggled. "Granny, you know you tell me that every time you see me."
Everyone laughed at that.
Molly then guided Ginny and Lily to the dining table, conjuring two extra seats for them, and serving them some food.
"I know your dad says you had breakfast, but I think you should eat here. Everyone says my cooking is magical. You too Ginny dear, you're going to Hogwarts soon, and I know you'll miss my cooking."
All the Weasley brothers laughed.
Fred quipped. "Too right mother dear."
Just then an owl arrived with the post, crashing into the window, with several letters.
Molly smiled at Lily before looking towards Percy. "Percy, go get that will you."
Percy got up out of his seat and went outside to fetch the letters.
Ron joked, "That ruddy bird never looks where it's going. It's practically blind!"
Lily let out a giggle.
Percy returned with the letters. "Looks like Dumbledore knows you're here Harry." Handing each of the letters to the Weasleys and Harry, but Percy was left with one last letter. He handed it to Lily.
It was addressed to:
Ms L. Potter
The First Floor
The Burrow
Ottery St. Catchpole
DEVON
The contents read:
Hogwarts Schoolof Witchcraft and Wizardry
Dear Ms. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than August 15.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
The rest looked on with shock, while Lily jumped for joy, now should definitely be going to Hogwarts, no doubt about it.
Then Lily looked towards the Weasley matriarch and with the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes. "Granny can I please go to Hogwarts with everyone else. Please."
Molly pondered thoughtfully. "I suppose we cannot allow you to miss out on your education. I suppose this is going to beyour first year?"
Lily nodded rapidly.
Percy broke the silence as he skimmed through his letter. "This lot won't come cheap, Mum."
Molly was about to respond before Lily cut her off. "It's ok, Daddy can pay for it, can't you daddy?"
Harry looked startled before he came to his senses. "Yyyeah, of course. After all, you're all family to me. Well, the best I ever had."
Lily beamed at him, while Molly looked touched by the comment. "It's ok Harry, I'm sure we'll manage."
Harry simply smiled. "Family help each other, so let me help you."
Molly's eyes were soon pricked with tears again. "We'll go to Diagon Alley soon enough, I guess we should welcome you and Lily to the Weasleys."
Lily simply smiled.
Harry and Ron looked over the new books that they'd need to buy. Most of them were by a certain Gilderoy Lockhart, who they surmised would likely be the next DADA teacher for this year.
It was also decided that Harry would stay in Ron's room, while Lily would stay with Ginny. Lily slowly coaxed Ginny out of her shyness around Harry. Although she still seemed unable to hold long conversations with him. It pained Lily to see this.
As the summer holidays continued, Harry began to settle into the Burrow. It truly was home to him. While Lily found this past world strange, the one thing that did not change was the love of her family. Harry tried to help out as much as possible especially with de-gnoming, he was now effectively a Weasley through and through. While Lily helped Mrs Weasley and Ginny in the kitchen with cooking. It was strange seeing her mother like this, clamming up around her father, it was quite different to the fury that she normally knew her mother for.
Ginny was still quite shy, but she found Lily to be a great listener to the problems of being the only girl in the family. They bonded over the commonality of being the youngest girl, who everyone wanted to protect. But they both knew one thing. They loved each other, and their families.
Soon it was time to go to Diagon Alley. Since Lily had already explained to Harry about floo, so there was no confusion there. Yet the irony that Harry knew so little of the workings of a wizarding family was not lost on him, nor on Lily. She giggled at the prospect of her head auror father being so unaware of so many concepts that she thought was second nature to them. It was quite readily agreed that Lily's cover in public would be as a distant cousin of Harry.
One by one, each member of the family yelled "Diagon Alley".
The sound of tumbleweeds could be heard in Borgin and Burkes, as the fireplace remained lifeless, nobody was coming through there, into Knockturn Alley, that's for sure.
In the Leaky Cauldron however, a large pile of limbs struggled against each other on the floor, having emerged from the fireplace. Some things never changed for Lily, particularly the awkwardness of Floo travel.
The Weasleys walked into Diagon Alley. The novelty of everything never had seemed to wear off on Harry. He remained as amazed as he had been the previous year.
They walked towards Gringotts, the grand, white, marble building towering over the skyline. Harry walked up the steps, and a certain bushy haired, very worried girl was there, at the top. She was yelling. "Harry! Ron! Where have you been? Me and Ron were writing to you all summer! You should have called! Ron sent a letter to me explaining everything about why you weren't answering your letters. I've just read all about house elves, this behaviour is strange indeed."
Harry was quiet for a second before replying. "Yeah, good thing my cousin helped me get away from the Dursleys, the way that house elf was behaving. I felt sorry for the poor thing, his ears were burnt, and he kept abusing himself. I didn't know if I would ever leave that house." Harry gestured to Lily "Have you met my cousin? Her name's Lily. She's honestly the closest family I have now."
Lily stepped forward. "Hi Hermione, I'm Lily Luna Potter, Harry's cousin. I've heard all about you. Is it true you know everything?"
Hermione blushed before replying teasingly. "Not everything Lily, as long as you read you will know a lot, especially more than these two."
Harry and Ron's faces quickly turned red.
They all stepped into Gringotts, and Harry withdrew more than enough money for everyone. Mrs Weasley, in particular, felt guilty for accepting the money but did so upon Harry and Lily's insistence. It had been Lily's signature puppy dog eyes that got Molly to accept. Arthur was also quite eager to ask Hermione's muggle parents about various muggle devices such as rubber ducks and bus stops, but a glare from Molly stopped him in his tracks.
An hour later, the entire family headed for Flourish and Blotts, where a large crowd had formed outside, mainly made up of middle aged women. This was explained by a sign above showing that 'legendary' Gilderoy Lockhart was currently hosting a book signing.
Hermione squealed. "I can't believe we can actually meet him!"
Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Lily rolled their eyes. Everyone squeezed their way inside, jostling past the various middle aged women crowding the doorstep.
A long line wound right to the backof the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. Harry, Ron, and Hermione each grabbed a copy of the required books and sneaked up the line to where therest of the Weasleys were standing, with Hermione's parents.
"Oh, there you are, good." said Mrs. Weasley. She seemed breathless and almost flushed with excitement.
Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face. Harry thought that the hubris of this man was unparalleled.
Gilderoy Lockhart looked up. He saw Ron and then he sawHarry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted to the crowd. "It can't beHarry Potter?"
The crowd parted, and Lockhart dived forward, seizing Harry'sarm, and pulled him to the front. The rest of the Weasleys were startled by Lockhart's actions, especially Ginny and Lily. The crowd burst into applause. Harry's faceburned bright red as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, like there was no tomorrow.
"Nice big smile, Harry." said Lockhart, he reminded Harry of those Hollywood actors he saw on TV, at least when the Dursleys weren't paying attention.
"Together, you and I will be worth the front page of the Daily Prophet."
'James always seems to think of it as more of the Daily Rag' thought Lily.
When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Harry could hardly feel his fingers. Hetried to sneak back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm around his
shoulders and grasped him tightly to his side. Lily and Ginny were now clenching their fists.
"Ladies and gentlemen." He said loudly, waving for quiet. He continued his pompous announcement in which he stroked his own ego before giving Harry his entire works, free of charge.
Harry was coming to dislike the man. There he was giving him all his works for free, while the Weasleys would have been forced to make do just to afford everyone's book costs. By God, he was shallow. Was he going to have to suffer with this man for a year? He wondered which would be better, the egotistical celebrity or the professor who tried to kill him. Both equally morons, nonetheless.
The crowd cheered and clapped. But Harry managed to make his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where
Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron, with Lily was by her side.
"You can have these." Harry told her, tipping the books into the cauldron.
"I'll buy my own—"
But Harry would have none of it and whispered in her ear. "Remember our daughter."
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" The voice came from a certain platinum haired boy. Lily looked carefully at him, his cold sneer was very different from his normally down to earth attitude. It was hard to believe that the boy would grow up into a fairly pleasant person, and have such a lovely son. Ginny and Lily then looked at each other, with an unspoken understanding between them. It was quite clear, nobody messes with Harry Potter, especially in front of them.
Harry straightened up and stared down at the boy. It was Draco Malfoy.