"Hey mom, I got a letter?" Gohan called out to his mother as he walked back into the house. He could hear the sound of scrubbing dishes in the kitchen so he walked towards that part of the house. "It's from that Hogwarts place you told me about."
"Oh my gosh, your Hogwarts letter," Lily exclaimed happily as she hurried over from the sink. "I just knew you would be a wizard."
"A what?" Gohan questioned. He was well aware of the existence of magic and that his mother was a witch what with all the spells she would use as he grew up, but he didn't know it was a genetic trait.
"A wizard, it means you can also do magic." Lily chuckled. "I figured some of those outbursts weren't just your ki." Using a quick wave of her wand to clean off her clothes. "Well go ahead, open your letter." she nudged her son with an expectant smile on her face.
Nodding Gohan broke the wax seal on the envelop and started to look through the letter while Lily watched her son. "I wish you were here Goku." she whispered to herself, unhappy that her husband was missing another of her son's important milestones.
"So where is Hogwarts?" Gohan asked as he looked back up to his mother.
"It's in the Scottish Highlands," Lily answered as she extended her hand to her son to see the parchment. "Let's see if I already have some of the items on the list before we go." Reading over the letter. "Hmm, well, we'll need to make a trip to get a few things, and you'll need your own wand of course." Handing the letter back to her son. "Make sure you mark accept and send it back out."
Nodding with a smile Gohan quickly ran back to the owl and tied the letter to it's leg, watching it flap it's wings as it took off into the sky. Lily stepped out of her house and waved her wand to lock the door. "Okay Gohan, It'll take a few minutes to make the apparitions needed to get to London though," Lily sighed, she had been ecstatic that Goku had learned an ability like apparition, even if it was completely different.
"I could fly us there," Gohan offered. "It would be less stress on you," he looked at her bloating belly.
"I guess," Lily relented as she knew the dangers of repeated apparitions while carrying a child. "But we need to be careful not to be seen sweetie," she said as she waved her wand and made the mother and child unnoticeable. "Just head in that direction and I'll let you know where to go once we cross into the English borders.
Gohan rocketed across the sky carrying his mother at speeds so fast he was half way across the continent in less than a minute. But as he flew he thought about his mother and her history with magic.
"Hey, I'm Goku," the innocent and kind Saiyan happily introduced himself to the little red haired girl.
"Um, I'm Li-Lily." she responded as she was startled by this strange young boy sitting on a tree branch in the park near her.
"You have pretty hair," Goku said, knowing from Bulma that girls like to be complimented. "I didn't know it could be red."
"Oh, tha-thank you," Lily blushed. "Your hair is, uh," she paused for a moment and took in Goku's wild hairstyle. "Unique."
"Thanks," Goku smiled. "I'm waiting for my friend, she said she'd be gone for a while." Swinging his legs back and forth. "Hey do you want to play?" He asked.
Nodding her head Lily smiled back. "Yeah, what do you want to play?" she asked as the boy started to fall from the tree. "Oh no," she cried out as she watched the boy hit the ground.
"What?" Goku looked around as he had been completely unharmed by the short fall, but was curious why the girl was so surprised.
"You fell almost a dozen meters," Lily exclaimed as she hurried to check the boy over for injuries.
"That's pretty short," Goku dismissed. "Come on let's play together." he laughed as he ran off into the park.
Gohan was nudged out of the memory his mother had told him of the day she met his father when she told him to start going lower so she could point out the landmarks. "Over here, this should be closer to the Leaky Cauldron." Lily commented as she indicated the downtown London area.
Gently landing on the sidewalk, Gohan looked at the dingy bar that no one else seemed to be looking at. "Really, seems kind of, gross." Gohan said as politely as he could.
"Appearances can be deceiving." Chuckling to herself as she walked into the bar. "Good morning Tom," Lily said to the bartender.
"Bless my soul, Lily Evans," Tom gasped as he looked up to see who called his name. "And still as radiant as ever. What brings you around here, its been quite a few years?"
"Oh just need to get to the alley, you see my son got his letter today." She said with barely contained excitement as Gohan entered the room and started to look around at the various patrons all wearing some manner of robe.
"Son?" Tom said in confusion. "You got a little tyke with you." Looking around and finally settling his gaze on Gohan.
"Hello sir," Gohan bowed respectfully to the bartender.
"Well mannered isn't he?" Quirking his eyebrow as most children his age were very unruly at the best of times.
"He's a good kid," Lily ruffled Gohan's hair. "Well I won't keep you, we'll be on our way." Taking her son's hand and leading him to the backroom.
As the bricks moved out of the way, Gohan was surprised to see the bustling magical shops. Gohan turned to see everyone running around, the sights, sounds and smells of Diagon Alley filled the air. "Wow."
"I know, even though you've seen so much, you haven't seen it all," Lily said happy that there were still wonders of the world that would excite her son, even after all of his adventures. Seeing her son staring into all of the stores, she chuckled before she nudged him. "We have to go get money first, they don't take Zeni here." Turning her gaze towards Gringotts, the wizard bank.
"What are these creatures?" Gohan whispered as he noticed the goblin tellers.
Lily and Gohan settled into a less busy line. "These are goblins, they run the banks," Nodding to one of the tellers. "They are a proud race of warriors, so be respectful, but don't make yourself look weak either." she instructed.
"So, like Vegeta?" Gohan questioned.
"Oh sweetie. No one is like Vegeta," she said before giggling. "Hello goblin," she greeted with a small nod of her head. "I would like to access my vault." Passing over her vault key to the teller to verify who she was. The goblin quickly barked out an order and a second goblin came and took them down a hall, leading to a mine cart.
"They are not much for small talk, are they mom?" Gohan asked as he had expected some banter with the workers.
"Nope, goblins don't believe in small talk, with non-goblins," Lily corrected. "It wastes their time and they don't like us as it is, but we are their customers so they put up with us to a degree." she snickered as she could see the goblin leading them down the hall trying to suppress a smirk. "Sorry for taking the Mickey," she snorted as she got into the mine cart with her son and the goblin. "It's my son's first time and I didn't want him to make a mistake, it'd be such a mess if he had to face goblin justice." The goblin directing the cart did not make an indication that it heard the joke, and stopped the cart not that far into the banks network of tunnels.
"Your Vault," the goblin said, ignoring the witch's amused laughter. "Key please." he said extending his hand out to receive the key for the door.
Inside the vault was a modest amount of gold, silver and bronze coins. "Goblin, are the shops roughly the same prices as they used to a decade ago?" she asked the worker. "Within a 10% inflation rate."
"Yes roughly that range," the goblin grumbled an answer.
"Oh good, so we shouldn't need more than 60 galleons to get him everything he needs," Lily said as she grabbed a sack by the door and filled it with a mixture of coins. Handing the pouch to the goblin. "Please give me an accounting of the current vault minus what is in your hand."
"four thousand, three hundred and fifty-six galleons, four sickles and nine knuts." The goblin answered as he took a cursory glance over the piles of remaining coins. With the lack of expenses that Lily had living so far out with Goku, and the prize money from the last World Martial Arts Tournament he placed in, she rarely touched the money she had earned from some side work during the war.
"Thank you goblin." Lily nodded as they got back in the cart. Which whisked them back up to the lobby. "Well time to get you your... Minerva," Lily said loudly as she approached her old head of house who was leading three people through the bank lobby. "It's so good to see you."
"Lily Evans, my word it has been almost a decade since I last saw you," the stoic woman smiled at one of, if not her favorite student.
"Oh professor, it has been too long, ever since that awfulness on Halloween, my husband, my son and I just decided to get out of the country for a while." Lily said.
Gohan thought on the story his dad had told him one time when he was young, why his mom seemed British but she lived with them in the mountains far away from Europe.
"Hey Lily," a teenage Goku said as he sat with Lily in the park they met in as kids. "I think I like you," he scratched his cheek. "But I talked to Bulma and she said this isn't a normal like."
"Oh," Blushing as she realized over the years that Goku had a very different upbringing than herself. Even ignoring her magical education, she could tell that Goku had a lot of trouble with certain normal concepts, especially understanding his emotions. Which made her pause as she thought that most people struggled with understanding their emotions, Goku was just more upfront about it, more honest, more innocent. "I, also think I like you." she whispered. "And not a normal like."
"So what do we do?" Goku asked with his hands clasped together. He was shocked when the redhead put her lips on his, but natural instinct took over and the innocent peck turned into an intimate kiss. "I, Lily, I have something to tell you, I'm, not really normal." He said raising his hand and forming a ball of ki. "I can do things other people can't."
Lily's eyes were wide in surprise before she started to laugh warmly. "Me too," she said as she pulled out her wand and cast a quick spell. "I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to tell you and then if I did, you'd think I was weird," her worries bleeding out with every word. "That's so refreshing."
After that day the two would find nearly every moment they could to meet up, Goku would talk about his training and adventures with Lily and she would tell him all about her school. To the surprise of almost everyone, they were wed as soon as Lily turned seventeen. Her friends in the magical world having never seen or heard of this Son Goku before and of Goku's friends, only Bulma suspected that he had a girlfriend at the time.
Goku was quickly informed of the secret civil war being waged in the magical Britain and after defeating Piccolo Jr at the last World Martial Arts Tournament, he was prepared to help out in whatever way he could. Until the night an old man who looked like a British Master Roshi told them they had to go into hiding.
Goku hated that time, hiding away because the evil villain wanted to kill their son for some reason. It kept him up at night as he looked at his wife and child. With determination to not let them down, the moment the door to their hiding place was blown down Goku had cupped his hands together. "KA! ME! HA! ME! HAAAAAAAA!" He roared as he unleashed all his power on the man, vaporizing him in an instant.
Goku was normally one to try to get his enemies to surrender, but this time, he couldn't take that chance, not with their lives on the line. After that Halloween night, Goku took his wife and child far away back to his home, away from the war.
Gohan was again brought out of his thoughts as he realized someone was staring at him. A little girl with bushy brown hair. "Oh, hello," Gohan smiled. "My name is Son Gohan." Gohan introduced himself. "What is your name."
"Hermione Granger." The girl reluctantly answered. "That's an interesting name Son."
"Oh, no it's Gohan, Son is my family name." Gohan corrected her as he realized that in this culture it was typical to introduce yourself with your given name before the family. "I was named after my grandfather. Are you named after the queen in The Winter's Tale?" Having read plenty of literature for his homeschooling, Gohan had remembered that particular novel.
Blushing in embarrassment. "Ye-yeah," Hermione quietly nodded, expecting to be mocked for having the name of a fictional character as many of the kids she knew did once they learned that little fact.
"That's cool." Gohan smiled. "So, did you get your letter to Hogwarts as well?"
"Yes, Ms. Granger here is a muggleborn witch." Minerva answered, informing them of the Ms. Granger's status.
"Just like me," Lily clapped her hands happily as she turned to the parents. "I am a first generation witch myself, just like your daughter." Extending her hand to introduce herself. She spent a few minutes talking with the Grangers before McGonagall spoke up again.
"And this is your son then," Minerva glanced to Gohan.
"Yes, my first," Lily said as she gently rubbed her stomach.
"Oh Lily you have another child on the way," Minerva smiled. "Goku must be so proud." While she never interacted much with the man, the few times she met him, she could see why Lily, or anyone, would fall in love with him. With his positivity, innocence and cheer was something she felt was needed in those dark times.
"I think he would be," Lily said sadly as the idea that Goku didn't want to come back to life after the incident with Cell was taken care of really hurt, and it was a fresh wound.
"Would be?" Minerva questioned cautiously, as she was fairly certain she understood what Lily had meant by that.
"He's not with us any longer." Lily hung her head as she tried to keep tears from forming again.
"Oh I am terribly sorry to hear that, he was such a charming young man," Minerva said as she comfortingly put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"It's okay, I have, come to terms with it."
"May I ask how he?" Minerva inquired further.
"Cell," Lily hissed the name, as if it was pure venom to her soul.
"Oh my," the Grangers squeaked as Cell had been the talk of the last few months after his threat to the entire world. "That whole business."
"Yes, it was, difficult," Lily nodded. "I'm sorry I have taken up so much of your time, but my son and I should be going, we still need to get him his belongings before going back home." Lily said as she took her son's hand and left McGonagall to her job and the Grangers to their own business.
As the two spent the day shopping, they quickly found that the most time consuming part was when the shopkeepers and other patrons would want to catch up with Lily. "Finally," Lily leaned against the door of Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "I'm sorry Gohan, I just can't seem to walk as much as I used to."
"It's okay mom, I know carrying the baby is hard on you," Gohan said as he helped his mother get a seat. "I can get my robes from here, you rest."
Lily nodded as she closed her eyes for a moment, not worried that her son would get in any trouble. "Well, well, well," a soft but rich voice nearby caused her to look up. "If it isn't Lily Evans."
"Oh, hello Narcissa. It's been too soon since we last met." Lily grumbled as she had hoped to avoid the classmates she butted heads with back at Hogwarts.
"Oh Lily, don't be like that," Narcissa chuckled as she sat next to the expecting mother. "Just because we were rivals all throughout our Hogwarts years doesn't mean we can't be civil. How's the husband?"
"Dead." Lily bluntly said.
"Oh," Narcissa responded, not having expected that answer. "My condolences," her tone genuine. "And I notice that you are also pregnant."
"Very much," Lily smiled as she rubbed her stomach. "It was before he died, due in a few months. It's going to be another boy."
"Another?" Narcissa asked. "Oh yes, you do have another son. How could I forget that business on Halloween."
"Yes," Rolling her eyes she nodded her head towards the black haired boy being measured. "That is my son Gohan."
Turning her gaze to see the boy she paused as Madame Malkin had required Gohan to remove his baggy shirt to get an accurate measurement. Her mind reeling at the notion that the eleven year old boy in front of her was incredibly muscular, with very little body fat, the tight corded muscles on his torso flexed and stretched with his every movement. Which contrasted a lot with the doughy look of many magicals who relied too heavily on magic and got soft. "He's, certainly a, healthy, young man," Narcissa purred before she caught herself. "I mean, um." With a blush she turned away from the smirking mother.
"My son has worked very hard to get to where he is," Lily said knowingly. "So, where is your child? I assume that is why you are also here."
"Draco is over there," Narcissa pointed to her son who was waiting to get sized up for his robes next.
"You have such a beautiful daughter," Lily said as she looked at the fair skinned blonde child.
"That's my son," Narcissa sputtered.
"Are you certain, he's a very feminine looking boy?" Lily teased.
"Yes!" Narcissa cried out.
"Sorry, he just looks so much like his father at that age." Lily apologized. "It's just, we always made fun of Lucy for looking better than most of the girls at Hogwarts." She tried and failed to contain her laughter.
"Ugh," Narcissa rolled her eyes as she vividly recalled the jokes, some of which she herself made at Lucius' expense. While Lily was snickering at old memories Gohan had finished getting measured and had come back over, donning his shirt.
"Gohan, this is Lady Narcissa Malfoy," Lily introduced her son to her old school rival.
Bowing deeply, to the surprise of the woman, Gohan introduced himself. "Hello there Mrs. Malfoy, I am Son Gohan. It's a pleasure to meet you." Raising himself back up. "Mom are you ready to go? I think I only need to get a wand next, then I can take you back home."
"I think I can do that Gohan," Lily said as she carefully stood up. "Narcissa it was, nice to see you again." Lily smiled as she realized how nice it was to reconnect with the magical world, even if it was with people she didn't like.
"I feel the same," Narcissa smiled back. "Oh Lily," the pure-blood lady called out before Lily left the shop. "We really should get together for tea sometime, I, miss our little debates." Hoping to have the companionship of one of the few students who routinely challenged her in school.
Contemplating on that idea for a moment, Lily nodded. "I think I would like that as well. I just, live in the Chinese Mountains, so coming and going would be difficult." She honestly said as she realized something else. "I would be so far away from Gohan," ruffling her son's hair affectionately as she realized that she would essentially be alone in the mountains until Goten was born.
"Oh," Narcisssa said sadly as she realized that coming halfway across the world for tea would be very time and energy consuming.
"I think it may be time I see about moving back to England." Lily sighed as she did love the quaint little home she had made with Goku. But she realized what problems could arise for a pregnant single mother, even if she was a witch. "I'll keep in touch Cissy," Lily waved to the other mother as she knew she had a lot of thinking to do.
"Lily Evans?" a manly and familiar voice called out to her as she was crossing the road to Ollivander's.
"James Potter!" Lily cried out as she recognized the voice of the young man who had been pining over her for years. "Is that you?" she said as she turned around to see more familiar faces.
"It is," James replied as he, his wife and two children approached. "How long has it been?" He inquired as he hadn't seen her since the wedding.
"Too long, how are things going?" she answered.
"Great, this is my wife, Amelia, you remember her right?" He said as he kissed his beloved redheaded wife on the cheek.
"Well you certainly have a type, don't you." Lily teased the married man.
"Lils," James gasped in shock at the barb. "I always knew you should have been one of the marauders. We would have been unstoppable." Sighing as the memories, good and bad, were dragged up. "This is our son, Harry," he nudged the raven-haired boy forward. "And our niece, Susan Bones."
"Hello, you two," Lily extended her hand out to the children with a smile. "This is my son Gohan." she introduced her son to the children of some of her friends. "We were just on our way to get him his wand, and he-" Lily stumbled as someone shoved past her, she was barely able to catch herself from falling onto the hard cobblestone. "Excuse you." She shouted angrily at the person who was quickly running down the alley. "Hey, he stole my coin purse!" Lily shouted as she realized the sack was not on her anymore.
The two aurors turned around and raised their wands. "Stop thief." They cried out and were prepared to give chase when an object blurred past them. In a moment, Gohan appeared above the purse snatcher, spinning he slammed his foot into the thief's head sending him rocketing into a wall. Extending his hand, Gohan caught the sack of coins before it touched the ground. His eyes beady and locked on the unconscious criminal until he was sure the man wouldn't cause any more problems.
Calmly the half-saiyan warrior walked back over to his mother, the shoppers staring at the unconscious thief. "Here you go mom," Gohan handed back the sack to his mother, who was happy that her son had acted quickly.
"Thank you sweetie," Lily smiled as she kissed on son on the head. "I'm really sorry about that James."
"No, no, it's fine," James said as he walked over to arrest the defeated criminal. "Your uh, son's pretty quick isn't he?"
"He's a lot like his father." Lily answered. "I hope this won't ruin your day?"
"No, just, let us handle the criminals next time." He said to Gohan. "It's our job, okay?" nodding to the kid and hoping he understood.
"Sorry, I just, acted." Gohan answered as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Meli, I'll take care of all this, you go on ahead with the kids." James offered as the paperwork for this would take a small bit of time, but one of them would have to do it.
Amelia nodded and led Harry and Susan with Lily and her son to the wand store. "Welco- eep," Ollivander squeaked as Gohan whirled on him when he tried to do his 'famous' sneaking trick. "Well I've had that coming to me for a while I'd wager." Garrick chuckled. "Madame Potter, Miss Evans, to what do I owe the honor of you two lovely ladies coming to see me?"
"Wands for the kids." Amelia motioned towards the three eleven year olds.
"Ahh, such a shame," Garrick tutted. "Always for the wands, never for old Gary." he chuckled as he looked at the three youngsters. "Well, let's get you all sorted out then."
After a couple of minutes Harry and Susan had found their wands. "Hmm, well you are a peculiar one aren't you," Garrick tapped his chin. "Seems none of the wood grown in England works for you."
"Maybe it's because I live in China?" Gohan shrugged hoping it didn't have to do with him being half-saiyan.
"Possibly, it could take me a while to procure some magical Chinese wood though." Garrick shrugged.
"I'll be right back mom," Gohan said as he exited the shop and ran around the corner rocketing off into the sky. The only place Gohan knew of where he could find Chinese magical wood. "Hey Dende?" Gohan called out as he landed on the Lookout.
"Oh hello Gohan," the Guardian of Earth greeted his guest. "What can I do for you?"
"I need magic wood so this guy can make me a wand," Gohan scratched his head. "I'm apparently a wizard."
"Fascinating," Piccolo said as he came out of the temple. "From Kami's memories I know there are magical humans, didn't think you would be one though."
"Me neither," Gohan smiled. "Mom was really excited, so I'm going to magic school now."
"Neat," Piccolo smirked. "You know runt, I could probably teach you a few tricks, if you get the time. Since some of what I do isn't ki or a namekian ability."
"Really Mr. Piccolo, that'd be a huge help, but right now I'm stumped. This wand maker said it'll be a while before he can get some magical Chinese wood, I hope it works because I'm worried none of that will work since I'm half-saiyan." Gohan explained his situation.
"Nonsense, this should do just fine," Dende said as he pulled a foot long splinter from his staff and offered it to Gohan.
"And it should hold up better in case you start mixing your ki and magic, since they're pretty similar." Piccolo added on as Gohan took the piece of wood and headed back towards London.
"Hey mom," Gohan said as he re-entered the shop. "I stopped by to see if Dende would know where to get some magical wood that would work for me and he offered me a piece of his staff." Showing off the piece of divine wood before handing it to the wand maker.
"That's wonderful Gohan," Lily smiled, happy that her son's friends would help him out.
"My word, this is," Garrick exclaimed as he examined the splinter. "This will be my greatest creation, my masterpiece. It shall rival the Death Stick in power and finesse. Ahaha" Garrick laughed as he hastily went into his workshop to begin crafting the wand into the perfect tool.
"Well then, I guess that's all we needed to do today then." Lily shrugged. "It was nice catching up with you Amelia, and congratulations on making department head."
"Lily, it is always a pleasure," Amelia said to her friend. "I would love to have you come by and definitely bring your son, it would do him some good to meet some of the other kids his age."
As the two headed back home, having finished up their business in London, Lily asked her son an important question. "Would you, hate me, if I wanted to move back to England?"
Gohan was so shocked at the question he almost dropped his mother. "What, of course not mom. I could never hate you, but what made you want to move?"
"It's just, you're going to go to Hogwarts and even on breaks, you'll be there for almost ten months out of the year, I'll be alone in the mountains and I just, it's selfish but I don't think I could do that."
"Mom it's not selfish, you need to be around people and even with the Nimbus, you apparating or being flown, it's hard to keep in touch with other people." Gohan said as he rationalized what his mother was feeling. "And with the baby on the way, you'll need people around."
"Maybe, I could reconnect with my sister too," Lily said hopefully, as she wondered how her life would be changing over the next few years.