Hey everyone... I'm back... I've realised that I keep making promises that I can't keep... Well, in that spirit, let me make another promise.

I'm going to post the next couple of chapters within a matter of a few days.

Anyway, here is Chapter 87... Enjoy!

Oh, and... this one's set in the future. And, this is the first of a three-parter... So, truly... Enjoy!

Lily sat down quietly and picked up her diary that she had nicknamed, "The Vanishing Cabinet".

"Hi, I'm back! The past few days have been tiring. You were with me all the while, yet I couldn't write anything down. I have so many thoughts inside me, I feel like I'm going to burst," she wrote.

"I have to be careful. People around me have already started asking questions. The other day, John asked me how I was doing. He had apparently noticed that I was acting erratically. And just now, I almost got furious with Jane," she continued.

"It wasn't her fault that she spilt the glass of wine. It can happen to anybody. But, I reacted to the incident quite harshly. Even though I managed it well in the end and everything got resolved amicably, I should not have reacted harshly in the first place. It's only been a week since I found out about time travel and already people are suspecting something," she scribbled.

After a few minutes, she continued, "Maybe they aren't?" she wrote. "Am I overreacting? Maybe I'm going crazy with all of this... I don't trust any of them, not anymore. Every time they say something to me, ask me something, I get this feeling in the bottom of my stomach, that they just want to know what I know about this time travel business," she continued, scribbling as quickly as she could.

As she continued lamenting about her latest predicament, she heard footsteps and came to a jerked halt. And then she heard a voice.

"Lily?" came a faint voice.

"John? What does he want?" wondered Lily.

"Would you mind if I came and had a look around inside the basement? I'm looking for Dad's old quidditch book," added John as his footsteps continued ringing in Lily's ears.

"Uh... Yeah... Sure," replied Lily as she hastily closed the box beside her. In a swift motion, she hit the box with a spell and the box went invisible.

"I'm coming in..." remarked John and a moment later there was a knock on the door and it swung open.

"Thank you," whispered John, excitedly and seemed to ignore the state Lily was in. He went inside the storage room and a minute later walked out with a big book in his hand. Just as John walked past Lily, he came to a sudden halt and glanced back at her.

"Were you writing to your vanishing cabinet?" asked John accompanied by a slight chuckle, as his eyes fell on the diary in her hand.

"Uh... Yes," replied Lily, nervously.

"Can I sneak a peek?" retorted John, cheekily.

"What? No..." replied Lily, instantly and closed the diary strongly. "I mean... No... I can't show it to anyone..." she added, changing her tone from one of shock and anger to a shy one.

"What's got you spooked?" asked John in response, still a big smile on his face. After not receiving a reply for a few seconds, his expression changed a little. "Are you alright? And don't say you are..." remarked John.

"I'm fine, John... Not in the best of mood, that's all," replied Lily, desperately trying to get rid of him.

"Why don't you hang out with us? It'll cheer you up a bit," suggested John. However, when Lily failed to respond for a few seconds, he continued, "It's alright, you don't have to... Sorry for bothering you... Enjoy your evening," he remarked.

"Thank you," whispered and John walked out of the basement, nonchalantly.

However, the moment he did, Lily hung her head, exhausted. As she turned to look beside her, the box came back into sight. Lily opened her diary and wrote just a single phrase more, "I can't keep doing this," it said.

…

"I don't know whether I feel relieved that John didn't prod on the subject, or I feel bad for lying once again to him. I can't keep so many secrets, especially when they keep asking me if I'm doing alright," wrote Lily.

"I finally told them that I found my wand in their dad's old storage room. They seemed genuinely surprised and happy. They asked me a couple of questions about it. I made up a story about how I found my wand along with Harry's, in one corner of that storage room," she continued.

"John asked me if I would start using magic, now that I had my wand with me. Jane even went on to suggest if this had anything to do with the recent dip in my mood. I didn't correct her! If this is what will stop John and Jane from asking me how I am doing, then so be it."

Lily closed her diary, feeling drained and exhausted, as her eyes started to well.

…

A few weeks went by and things seemed to have settled down. However, that wasn't entirely the case.

"I continue to struggle with the truth, this incomplete and hence torturous truth!" wrote Lily. "I have been thinking about this for a long time now. Actually, even before I found out about time travel," she continued. "It'd be the best decision if I were to leave this house," she penned and closed the diary.

After a few minutes, she continued once again. "In distrusting my friends that I had known through thick and thin and in mistrusting the people who have been generous and kind enough to me, to let me stay with them, to provide me shelter and to take care of me... I feel like I'm digging myself a grave," wrote Lily.

"I'm constantly anxious... I'm angry... I lie to everyone, and I lie to protect my lies... Whatever glimmer of happiness I had before all of this, seems to be buried in an infinitely deep pit."

"I feel sick"

"I'm going to talk to John tomorrow. I'm going to leave this place"

"I want to quit this suffering"

"I miss you, James... I miss you, Harry..."

…

It had been a few days since her last diary entry. As fate would have it, John was travelling for a couple of days and had just returned home a few hours back. Lily came back home, from work, and decided to immediately take the opportunity.

She cautiously and nervously walked to the table.

"Hey," greeted John. "I didn't hear you coming, when did you come back from work?" he asked.

"A while back," replied Lily, blankly.

"How was your day?" asked John, with a glint in his eye.

"It was alright. How was your trip?" asked Lily in response.

"How was my trip?" repeated John, excitedly. "A resounding success... You are not going to believe this," he added. Lily stared at him, shaken and a little taken aback. A moment later, Jane walked into the hall and sat beside John. John glanced at Jane, excitedly and Jane looked ecstatic as well.

"What... happened?" asked Lily, shocked.

"Well... Jane?" remarked John as he glanced at her.

"Why don't you say it? It was your idea," retorted Jane.

"Well... Jane and I were talking about you," began John as he glanced at Lily. "How you have been feeling a bit down, a little despondent," he continued.

"We felt that you were perhaps missing your son and husband," added Jane. Lily stared at the twins, confused.

"So, we decided to surprise you with something," continued John and took out a box from his bag. As John handed it to Lily, he continued, "For a long time, as you might be aware, Hogwarts has been recording its quidditch games, especially for the scouts," he added and watched Lily's face light up.

"What?" gasped Lily. "This can't be..." she exclaimed.

"It is," remarked Jane, excitedly.

"It's not all the matches... Just whatever they could find in their storage. It contains both James' as well as Harry's games," added John, excitedly.

"I can't believe this," remarked Lily, elated, her voice barely audible. "This is... how can I watch this?" she asked.

"Well... we are working on getting this digitized. The quality would be a little dodgy, but once it is ready, we can watch it on our phones, laptops, anything..." replied John.

"Thank you so much," revelled Lily as she threw an arm around John and the other around Jane.

…

"I'm still here..." wrote Lily.

After a few moments, she continued, "My talk with John didn't go as I had planned. I couldn't tell him that I wanted to leave. I changed my mind," she wrote.

"I've just had the best day of my life of the past couple of years... All thanks to my hosts"

After a while, Lily continued, "I should allow myself to put my faith in some people. John and Jane seem like the nicest people to be with."

"There's just something about the two of them. There's something about the world I'm in. It has its flaws... but it has its ups too"

"I have been thinking... If I am going to return to my Harry, to James... There are so many unanswered questions... Answers to which lie here, in this house," she wrote and looked around, "in this basement..." she finished.

…

Soon, as weeks went by, Lily felt herself falling back into some of her older routines, along with getting back to some sense of normalcy around the twins. While thoughts of leaving the house persisted, there were bigger and more important things that kept her there.

And just as time went by, Lily started looking into Ron's work, reading the different books, files, documents, notes and other material he had stored in the basement.

"A lot of things left behind by Ron seem to be related to his regular work. I couldn't find much noteworthy in here," wrote Lily.

"But I did find a few pages in a file that seemed to be related to different types of powerful magic. It looks like he was researching some ancient powerful magic."

Some days went by and another diary entry went in.

"I found an interesting book in the pile, "The Lost Secrets of Merlin", published in 1888. I haven't finished reading it, but it reads more like fiction than fact," she wrote.

And as Lily started delving deeper into Ron's work, her diary entries started getting isolated to just one thing, her observations on Ron's work.

"I have been speaking with John and Jane, trying to get titbits on how Ron was before he disappeared, the kind of person he was, what he did in his free time. And nothing his kids have told me indicates to me that he had any interest in research."

"So, why was he devoting his time and energy to researching ancient magic?"

…

One day, late in the afternoon, Lily furiously walked into the basement and shut the door angrily.

"I never thought Tuney would lie to me," she wrote.

"Why? Why would she do this? Why is everyone acting this way?"

"She cried when she read the letter... She brought Harry up, after all. But the moment I mentioned John's mentions in the letter..." she wrote and closed the diary furiously.

After a few moments, after gathering herself, Lily opened the diary.

"I couldn't read what she was thinking. She was strongly protecting whatever she was thinking."

"She's a strong woman and has been around wizards all her life, even though she was never one. Did she realise that I knew the truth somehow? Did she realise that I would try to read her mind and find out her secrets? Is that why she masked her thoughts?"

Lily closed her diary once again, this time a little more carefully. "Is there no one who knows the truth and is willing to talk about it?" she wondered.

…

One fine evening, Lily finally decided that the pile of documents and files that lay on the table did not help her one bit, and hence decided to organize them into different categories.

It was while doing this, that she came across a potential gem mine.

At first glance, Lily did not make much of it. It was a small diary, smaller and thinner than the one she had. And when she had flipped the pages, she had found it to be empty. Lily was about to keep it aside when a thought came to her head.

"What if this diary works the same way mine does?" she thought to herself.

And with this thought in her mind, she took the seemingly empty diary and went to John, wondering if he might know about it.

"Hey, John," called out Lily as she walked over to him. "Do you know what this is?" she asked, curiously as she handed him the diary.

"This... where did you get it?" retorted John, surprised.

"I was just organizing some things in the basement where I found this," replied Lily, innocently.

John gave a chuckle and replied, "This is the first diary that I ever created... Well the kind of diary I gave you," he remarked. "This... right here... was the first one," he added as he pointed to the diary.

"Oh, so, this belonged to your father?" asked Lily, as her eyes lit up.

"Well, I gave it to him," replied John and gave a pained laugh. "I doubt he even touched it," he added. "To him, I'm sure, this was amateur magic that he brushed off as nothing," he remarked.

"But, how would you know if he used it or not? The diary won't let anyone read what it contains, right?" asked Lily, surprised at John's confession.

"Lily... I know my father. There's no way he wrote anything in here. I know, because, he didn't even react when I gave this to him," replied John. "To him, this was just another piece of junk," he added.

"But, what if he wrote something in here that could tell us where he went, what happened to him?" asked Lily.

"Whatever he wrote here, was for him to read, not anyone else," replied John. "Lily, would you want anyone to read what you write in your diary?" he asked. Lily shook her head and with that, the conversation dropped.

However, Lily did not buy the idea that Ron cared so little for his son, that he would discard something like this.

…

"I found out something very interesting today," wrote Lily, a couple of weeks after her disappointing meeting with Petunia.

"Ron was not just researching about ancient magic, looking into allegedly lost secrets of the magical world. He was also reading extensively about the powers of the deathly hallows," scribbled Lily.

"I wonder whether Ron was searching for the hallows. He wouldn't be the first one to want to be the master of death if the fairy tales are to be believed."

"I wonder if he got somewhere with finding the hallows."

"Back in my time, James and I were one of the secret keepers of the hallows. We possessed one of the hallows, of course," she wrote. "I wonder where James' invisibility cloak is now."

…

Lily was sitting calmly, holding her diary in her hands.

"I cannot make any progress without knowing more about what Ron was working on. If he has indeed travelled to the past, then how did he do it? How did he discover time travel?" wrote Lily.

And almost instantly, she sat up straight and stared at her diary, intently. "There is someone I might be able to speak with," she wrote. "I have barely seen her a few times, but if there is anyone who might know what Ron was working on, it is her," she continued.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to approach her. I have never really spoken with her before and we have only seen each other a couple of times."

After a few moments, she continued, "What if like the rest of them, she decides to hide the truth from me?" she wrote and paused.

"There is only one way to find out," muttered Lily as she got up.

A few days later, as the weekend approached, Lily decided to meet with Daisy Taylor-Williams.

The moment Lily reached Daisy's house, she got out of the taxi and stared at the house. After a moment, she walked over to the gate and entered the compound. After pausing for a few seconds to build up her courage, Lily rang the doorbell. The moment the door opened, her eyes fell on an elderly gentleman.

"Hi..." greeted Lily.

"Hello Ma'am," greeted the old man.

"I am Lily... I'm here to see Dais... I mean, Mrs Taylor," said Lily.

"Please, come in," replied the old man, with a brief smile.

Lily walked into the massive house and stood awkwardly in the middle of the hall as the old man left her alone to inform Daisy of her arrival.

After a couple of minutes, Daisy walked into the hall with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Lily," exclaimed Daisy as she walked.

"Mrs Taylor," greeted Lily with a smile.

"Welcome... welcome... How are you?" greeted Daisy as she guided her to take a seat. "And please call me Daisy," she added.

"I'm fine, Mrs... Daisy," replied Lily. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm well... Recovering from a minor injury to my wrist actually," replied Daisy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know, what happened?" asked Lily, shocked.

"Oh, don't worry, it's not a big deal. I didn't even tell John about it. He would unnecessarily worry about me," replied Daisy, coolly. "How are my kids doing?" she asked, in return.

"Both of them are doing great," replied Lily.

"Good... Good," responded Daisy.

After a few moments, Daisy spoke up, "So, what happened, Lily?" she asked.

"I came here to speak with you about something," replied Lily. Lily took out Harry's letter and handed it to Daisy. "I found this in the house," said Lily. "In the basement, along with a few other things," she added. "It's written by my son," she finished.

Daisy's eyes lit up as she took the letter from Lily. It took her a few minutes to read and re-read the letter. By the time she was done, her eyes were slightly glistening.

Daisy handed Lily the letter. "I have read this before you know?" she remarked. "It was many years ago, even before I had my kids," she added. "Thank you so much for showing this to me," she finished. Lily stared back at her with a mixture of smile and sadness on her face.

After a moment, Daisy continued, "There is something else, isn't there?" she asked.

"When I read this letter for the first few times, I couldn't think about anything but Harry," began Lily.

"But?" suggested Daisy.

"But, then I saw something peculiar," continued Lily. "Harry had a classmate called John. He also had a professor called Jane. And both of them were related somehow," remarked Lily.

Daisy stared at Lily for a few seconds. Lily wasn't sure what her reaction meant. In fact, Daisy did not seem to have any reaction of note. "Why are you really here, Lily?" asked Daisy, finally.

"I'm sorry if I have offended you," began Lily.

"Offended? I'm not offended at all," corrected Daisy immediately, with a brief smile.

"I just want to understand everything that has happened," remarked Lily. "I want you to explain this letter to me... explain this coincidence, is it even a coincidence?" she added.

"We named our kids after a couple of old friends of ours," replied Daisy, coldly. "They were important parts of our childhood," she added.

"Is that really the truth?" asked Lily.

"That is the truth," replied Daisy.

"And there's nothing more to it?" asked Lily.

Daisy stared at Lily for a few seconds and then gave a big smile. "How much do you already know?" she asked.

Lily stared back at Daisy, surprised. After a moment, she spoke up. "I'm afraid, I'm not sure. I know a lot, but I understand very little," she replied.

"Let me tell you a story, Lily," remarked Daisy.

Daisy and Lily went on to spend the rest of the day together. First, Daisy narrated different incidents from her childhood, involving Harry, John, Jane and everyone else. And then, Lily had a special request for her.

"There's something else as well," began Lily as she glanced at Daisy.

"What is it, Lily?" asked Daisy.

"It's about Ron," replied Lily and watched Daisy's expression turn. "I'm sorry... I know that the two of you separated a while back, but I can't believe that you haven't thought about him or worried about him ever since his disappearance," she continued.

"Yes, his cryptic disappearance was quite discomforting. But, what about it? He has been gone for 5 years now," replied Daisy.

"I think I know what happened," replied Lily. Daisy stared at Lily, surprised. Lily continued, "The reason no one has been able to find him, I believe, is because he discovered a way to travel back in time. A lot of evidence points to it," remarked Lily.

"What? What do you mean?" asked Daisy.

"It's just some documents and books. He was researching quite a different variety of things related to ancient magic. I know, it's not a lot. But, there's definitely more to his disappearance than just the fact that he disappeared," replied Lily. After a moment, she continued. "I need your help to find out more," she added.

"My help?" asked Daisy.

"It's a lot that I'm asking of you. And you can outright refuse me, for this is an invasion of privacy like nothing else," began Lily. "But, I'd like to know more about Ron. How he was with everyone, with his kids, with you... What consumed his thoughts, what motivated him... anything that you can tell me about him," she added.

"I... uh... don't know exactly what you are looking for," replied Daisy, a little confused.

Lily took out her wand and glanced at Daisy. "I want to perform Legilimency on you. I basically want to read your thoughts and your memories... I want you to navigate me through some of your memories with him that you believe would help me understand him better," replied Lily. { … Refer to Chapter 82! … }

At the end of their discussion for the day, when Lily was about to leave, she had one final request for Daisy. "John... Jane, no one knows that I came here to speak with you today. I'd like to keep whatever happened today between us," remarked Lily.

"You should let them in on what you are doing, Lily. But, they won't hear anything from me," replied Daisy. And with that, Lily left Daisy's home.

…

Lily came back home and immediately went down to the basement to open up to her vanishing cabinet.

"Finally, I have made some progress today," she wrote. "I spoke with Daisy about... everything. And she was willing to tell me the truth."

"I am now more than certain that Ron has travelled back to the past."

"And I am also eternally grateful to John and Jane... They have not just helped me here, they were with my son at Hogwarts. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay all that they have done."

"And I have to succeed in my attempt to travel back in time. More than a few lives are at stake here," wrote Lily and closed her diary for the day.

…

"Something happened yesterday," wrote Lily. It had been a while since she had been to the basement. Life was hectic with her juggling her muggle work and her research into Ron's disappearance and the kind of magic he was dealing with before it.

An attempt to retrace Ron's last few steps seemed to be difficult, without raising suspicion. And then there was the diary she had found, one gifted to Ron by John, the very one John claimed to be ignored and left to collect dust. Lily was not getting anywhere with uncovering any potential secrets the diary possessed.

Having failed to get anywhere in the past few weeks, Lily decided to pursue a different strategy. Even if she didn't know how Ron went back in time, or how she travelled to the future, she knew that it had been done. And if it had been done once, it was likely someone had done it before. Or at least, there had to be something or someone somewhere that had knowledge of it.

"I wish things were different," continued Lily. "I wish he found someone else. I am going to hurt him, and there's nothing I can do about it," she wrote, as a tear escaped her eyes.

"I was planning on travelling around the world, in search of the secrets of time travel," began Lily after a few moments. "I should have never told him. I should have just left without telling anyone," she continued. "But I didn't think he'd do it. I told John that I wished to travel the world a bit. That I wanted to read about different magical cultures, research about time travel, how I got here to their time... I wasn't lying to him, I was just hiding some of the truth..." wrote Lily.

"And then he told me, he'd accompany me. I tried to refuse his help, I tried everything, but he refused all the excuses I had."

"Having John around would be helpful. He speaks so many languages, that I have lost count. He understands the muggles and the wizards very well. He's well respected... He's Ron Weasley's son, after all. He's smart, he knows me and my secret," wrote Lily and gave a pause. "There's no obvious reason why he shouldn't accompany me in my search for the truth. But, I know one," she continued.

"He can deny it to the people he's close with all he wants, but he isn't being nice to me because Hermione told him to keep a watch on me. I know that he has feelings for me..." wrote Lily.

…

"Hey," remarked Jane as John came home, late in the night.

"You're up late," remarked John as he sat down beside her, looking exhausted.

"Long day?" asked Jane as she scrolled through her phone.

"Yeah... It's been a bit crazy in the department. We are lagging behind on Project Azbantium," replied John.

"Oh, I thought all was going well," replied Jane, surprised as she glanced at him.

"It was, but we are facing some challenges in making the protection impenetrable," remarked John, dejected.

"You will get there..." reassured Jane. After a moment, she continued, "Did you eat?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied John.

"Good"

After a few seconds, John spoke up, "Oh, by the way, Jane..." began John. "I'm going to France for a week," he said and glanced at Jane, looking sheepish. "With Lily," he added after a brief pause.

"What?" gasped Jane, shocked. "Why?" she asked.

"There are a few places she mentioned to me, that she wanted to visit there... She's been wanting to explore a few magical places recently," replied John, cautiously.

"And she can't do that alone?" asked Jane, suspiciously.

"She can, she wanted to go alone. But, I told her I would accompany her," replied John. "I had some work with the French ministry related to Project Azbantium," he added.

"John," exclaimed Jane, shocked. "What are you doing?" she retorted, angrily.

"Jane... calm down," sighed John, expecting the outburst.

"I don't understand your obsession with her," remarked Jane. "Why are you doing this to yourself? She's not going to be interested in you, John," she pleaded.

"Jane... I'm not in the mood for this," sighed John.

"You should tell her how you feel. And if you don't have the courage to do it, then let her go," continued Jane. "In fact, I don't understand why she's still staying with us," she added. "I mean, I don't mind having her around, but it's affecting you terribly... And you are hurting yourself for her," she finished her rant. John stared at her without any response. He didn't have anything to say, he didn't know what to say or do in response.

"Just the other day, Rose and I were talking," began Jane.

"Jane... let it go, will you?" retorted John.

"And Edward and I were talking a while back..." continued Jane. "Care for a guess, what it could have been about?" she remarked. John glanced away from her, uncomfortably.

Jane shifted closer to him and cupped his face with her palms. "I know what you're feeling right now. I know that it isn't easy... But, you have to move on, John. She's married and wants nothing more than to go back to her time. Either confess your feelings to her and face the consequence, or let her go..." remarked Jane. "We care about you and we can see that you're doing nothing but hurt yourself more and more," she added.

However, a few moments later, John removed her hands from his face. "Good night, Jane," he greeted and got up to go to his room.

…

The doorbell rang and the twins glanced at each other. John got up from his seat and walked to the door. The moment he opened the door, his eyes grew wide in astonishment.

"Aunt Luna," exclaimed John as he dove at her for a hug.

"Hello, darling... You look so grown up and handsome," greeted Luna with a big smile as she embraced him back.

"Aunt Luna?" exclaimed Jane, surprised as she walked over to the entrance, hearing their voices.

"Oh, my beautiful girl... You are so grown up too. I haven't seen you two in such a long time," exclaimed Luna smiling as she gave Jane a hug.

After a few moments, Luna entered the house with John and Jane walking on either side of her, excitedly.

"I can't believe this, where have you been all this time?" asked John, smiling.

"I have been all over the world, my dear... I have so many stories to tell you both," replied Luna.

"The last time I saw you was... I can't even remember," began Jane.

"You were last here a few weeks after Dad's disappearance," continued John. "It's been close to 5 years..." he added.

"Wow," gasped Jane.

"Ron's disappearance, huh? He's still nowhere to be found, is he?" remarked Luna, a little sombrely. "He wasn't exactly the quiet one when we were young," she added.

"I don't want to talk about him... What have you been up to, Aunt Luna?" asked Jane, diverting the topic.

"I spent the past few months in Amazon... Before that, I was in the Republic of Congo. I spent a couple of years in Egypt and before that, I spent some time in India and Sri Lanka," replied Luna as the twins watched her with open mouths. "We have been studying the..." continued Luna, but paused, for her eyes fell on someone.

Lily walked into the hall, cautiously, as she didn't recognize the woman sitting in the middle of the twins.

"Lily," exclaimed John and then almost instantly glanced at Jane with a panicked expression. Lily stood rooted to her spot.

"Aunt Luna..." began John as he got up, followed by Jane and Luna. "This is... uh... Lily, a friend of mine from college," he lied. Taking the cue, Lily walked over to them slowly.

Luna's eyes remained fixated on her. Her eyes lit up for a few seconds and she spoke up, "You have something... on your head..." remarked Luna, surprised.

"What?" remarked Lily, confused as she caressed her hair in a wiping motion.

"Vermirantur," wondered Luna to herself. "How is this possible?" she thought to herself.

"Uh, nothing... I thought I saw something," remarked Luna, with a smile. "Hello, Lily... I'm Luna... Luna Lovegood..." greeted Luna.

"Lily, this is Aunt Luna..." added John.

"Oh," remarked Lily, surprised. "I have heard so many things about you," remarked Lily, with a brief smile. "It's nice to meet you," she added.

"So, what do you do, dear?" she asked.

"I... work at the London Perfumery," replied Lily.

"London Perfumery?" retorted Luna, seemingly unaware of what that meant.

"It's a shop in the city, Aunt Luna... that makes perfumes. Lily is a muggle, she works there," remarked John.

"Oh, is that so?" remarked Luna. After a moment's silence, Luna continued. "You seem familiar, dear... Have we met before?" she remarked. "Is she one of your old girlfriends, John?" she chuckled.

"Aunt Luna," exclaimed John, embarrassed and mildly terrified of Luna recognizing Lily. Lily on the other hand stared at Luna, unamused.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, dear. I just love to pull my boy's leg sometimes," remarked Luna, smiling.

"It's alright," replied Lily. However, she was a bit hesitant to stay further in her presence.

"You can peacefully leave us to be alone with your thoughts, dear. I wouldn't mind," remarked Luna after a moment. Lily stared, shocked, at John, Jane and Luna as John smirked back at her.

"Don't worry, Lily... Aunt Luna has a freakish way of finding out what you are thinking... even though she claims she's not a Legili..." remarked Jane and cut short her sentence. John glared at her and she continued, "... she's not a mentalist," corrected Jane. Without uttering another word, Lily left the room.

"John," began Luna as she glanced at him. "Who is she?" she asked, curiously.

"I don't understand your question, Aunt Luna," replied John, uncomfortably.

"Uh-huh... So, she is living with the two of you?" asked Luna.

"Yes, for the past 3 years," replied Jane, confidently.

"And your mother knows that you have someone living with you?" asked Luna.

And for the first time, John replied confidently, "Of course, Aunt Luna... I told Mom even before Lily decided to move in," he remarked. Luna stared at him, curiously, trying to decipher the expression on his face.

"So, what brought you back to the land of people, Aunt Luna?" chuckled Jane.

Lily chuckled along and replied, "I came here to meet a friend of mine too," she remarked with a wink, stressing the word friend, as she glanced at John briefly. "I haven't seen her in so long," she added with a naughty smile.

"Oh, you have to tell us more about her... Is it someone we know?" asked Jane, excitedly.

"She's an artist..." began Luna. And the conversation between them continued for the rest of the afternoon.

…

Lily was sitting on a bench, facing the lake. She didn't frequent here much, she had only been there a few times, that too mostly accompanied by John. But, that day, Lily didn't feel like sitting inside the house alone. John was out, visiting the Department of Mysteries, even though it was the weekend. And Jane had gone out as well. Only the day before, Luna had visited the twins and met with her, a meeting she wouldn't forget for a while.

She was reminiscing about some thoughts from the past when she heard footsteps. Lily turned around to look, and to her surprise, it was Jane.

"Hey," she greeted. "What are you doing here?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Hi," greeted Jane as she walked over to her and sat down beside her. "It's a nice weather today," she remarked.

"Yeah," nodded Lily in response.

"So..." began Jane and glanced at Lily. "All set to leave for Paris tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yeah... All set," replied Lily. "I just need to get some last-minute checks done, that's all," she added.

"Oh, good... Good," sighed Jane in response.

After a few moments of silence, Jane continued, "So, why are you two going to France?" she asked.

Lily glanced at Jane with a slightly puzzled look. "All of us spoke about it, just the other day," wondered Lily.

"Well... I'm just trying to reach out to different places that could potentially help me understand how I came to this time and how I can return to mine," she replied as Jane nodded in acknowledgement. Sensing the brief silence that followed, Lily continued, "I don't really hope to find all my answers there. Even if I don't find answers to any of my questions, I hope to learn more about their magical culture. I'm sure it will come in useful at the right time," she added.

"You clearly have thought about this well then," remarked Jane. Lily nodded in response, though something felt different.

"But tell me something, Lily," began Jane after a moment. "Why are you two going to France?" repeated Jane, a little more emphasis on the word two.

"I... uh... I don't understand," retorted Lily, confused.

"I think you do," retorted back Jane, instantly. There was a look on her face that brought a feeling of uneasiness inside Lily.

"Jane..." began Lily, uncomfortably. "I... uh... am... I... didn't want this... to be the case," she stuttered.

"Lily, let me be frank," remarked Jane. "I don't like what's happening here," she said and stared at Lily. "I don't know what your deal is with my brother. And if I didn't know better, I'd say that you are leading him on to a path that's only going to hurt him," continued Jane as Lily stared back at her, shocked and hurt. "And I don't want to see him hurt," finished Jane.

"Jane," exclaimed Lily, faintly. "Why would you say such things?" she retorted, in a hurt tone. "It will never be my intention to hurt John, ever," she began. "I'm not oblivious to the way he feels about me, even if he hasn't confessed it directly. I wish he didn't feel this way about me. I dread the day he decides to confess his feelings to me. I will have no choice but to turn him down," she continued. "But, I'm not doing anything that's indicating to him otherwise," she added.

"I know, Lily... I'm sure this must be difficult for you too," began Jane in response. "John's a bit stupid when it comes to matters of this kind. He will devote himself to everything he does and everyone that asks him for help. Especially when it involves someone he likes," she continued. "And that's why I'm here," she remarked.

Lily had a perplexed look on her face.

"I want you to tell John what you just told me. Tell him, straight to his face how you feel without any sugar coating," remarked Jane, strongly.

"Jane..." began Lily, hesitantly.

"Lily... This is my only condition and I'm not backing down," shot back Jane.

"Your only condition? I... I don't understand," retorted Lily, confused.

"Oh, right... I forgot to tell you..." began Jane. "I want you out of our house. You are a great friend, we like you a lot. But, the longer you stay, the more Jon will be hurt," remarked Jane and gave a pause. "Unless..." she continued.

"Unless I reject him and then I can continue to stay," completed Lily as Jane nodded.

"And if you don't do this... I wouldn't care if it is the Minister for Magic that tries to stop me... you will be gone," reiterated Jane, strongly. "John is the most important thing in my life and I'm not going to sit around and do nothing as the universe digs him into a deep hole," she remarked angrily and with that, got up to leave Lily alone with her thoughts at the lake.

Hope you liked this one... Stay tuned for the next! Ciao!