Well, I'm back with Chapter 78... 2nd half of my 2-parter! It goes without saying that, this one is also set in the future and it starts right after where the previous one ends.
As you might have noticed, I'm posting this chapter at a different time than usual. This is just a small experiment that I'm conducting... If you all have any thoughts about this, let me know... Here's the chapter, Enjoy!
Lily closed her diary and got up from the floor, a little worn out. She had half a thought to erase the entries of the evening from her diary but decided against it. She had been holed up in the basement for a while now. Lily stared around the dull basement casually. Even after 2 years, she found it hard to believe how someone could have holed themselves up in there for the majority of their life. And then she looked at herself and chuckled. Wasn't that similar to what she had been up to in the past couple of years?
The basement was particularly empty and looked nothing like anyone's favourite place of the house to be in. The walls were empty and the lighting was poor. The only things that resembled an inhabitant's presence were the couch and the table, neither of which Lily had ever used. She found sitting on the floor quite comfortable, instead.
The only thing other than the couch and table that was present in the basement was the storage room. Frankly, it was more of a trash room, as Jane described it once. Before Lily was offered the basement as an escape, John and Jane had moved all of Ron's things, including his desk into the storage room, which now, looked quite literally like a dump yard.
Lily would often wonder what it was the twins' father did in his time spent in the basement. But, she had rarely ever gone venturing into the storage room to look at his things. In the times that she had ventured, she found nothing interesting of note. And that evening, Lily wanted to venture once more.
Lily walked up to the storage room and opened the door. Right in the middle of the room was an almost entirely invisible desk covered with piles of documents, papers and files littered on top of each other. She spent a few minutes trying to wade through the mess, but, none of the documents seemed to be noteworthy. Lily focused her attention away from the mess at the desk and on the rest of the storage room. This room, like the entire basement, had a dull appearance and a sombre feel to it. Apart from the desk, there were a couple of massive shelves in one each corner of the room. Lily casually walked up to both of the shelves, opened and found what she had seen during her previous visits. The shelves were just home to bigger piles of books and documents.
And just when Lily was about to leave, she saw something peculiar on one of the shelves that made her stop for a second. She saw an old worn-out cardboard box, hidden at the back, behind a careful mess of books and files. She had to look a few times back and forth and keep her eyes on the box for a few seconds before she realised it was even there. It was almost as if the box didn't want to be seen, or someone had wanted it to stay hidden.
Lily, intrigued, made an effort and took out the box from the shelf, carried it out of the storage room and placed it on the floor. She sat back down on the floor, beside the box and opened it. Right on top, tightly fitting inside it, was a big portrait. Lily took out the portrait and looked at it in awe.
"Oh wow... they look beautiful together," she thought to herself. It was a portrait of Ron and Daisy, holding hands. They looked extremely young, but their features were so wonderfully depicted that Lily had no doubts. The teenagers in the portrait were John and Jane's parents.
Lily admired the portrait for a couple of minutes before the box regained her attention. Lily peeked into the box and found a few photos on the top this time. She took them out all at once and began inspecting them one by one. "This one's John and Jane with their father..." remarked Lily, to herself and moved on to the next one. "This one has their mother as well," she remarked with a smile as she moved on to the next one. "What do we have here?" she wondered as she stared at the next one. "This one's Ron... All of them look so similar... Is this Charlie?" she wondered. "These are the Weasley siblings. Oh my God! They all look so cute. Ron looks like a child here..." she gasped, surprised. And after gazing at the photo for a couple of minutes, Lily moved on to the final one. "This is Ron..." she thought to herself as her fingers traced over the face of a fairly older boy. "Is this... this is Hermione!" gasped Lily, shocked and surprised. And then the smile on Lily's face dissolved. The photo had Ron having a shocked expression on his face, looking at a young couple, with the girl kissing the boy on the cheek. "Harry!" whispered Lily and a smile reappeared on her face.
Lily stared at the photo with a constant grin on her face. Harry looked happy in that photo. And Lily could spend an eternity staring at his face. Right when Lily started to dream about a different life, she dismissed her feelings and focused her attention back on the box.
Lily peeked back into the box and found a folder on top of the box. Lily opened the folder and removed the contents. The portrait on top sent shivers down Lily's spine. "Harry," gasped Lily as she traced her fingers on top of her son's face in the portrait. "This looks unreal," she thought to herself. Lily turned the portrait around and saw a small flower with a note, "Merry Christmas, Harry!" it said. Lily looked at the other portraits in the collection and every single one of them was a portrait of Harry and had the flower and note behind it. Awestruck, Lily gazed at every single portrait. The artist who had drawn these portraits of Harry had a similar style to the one Lily had seen earlier, of Ron and Daisy. One after another, Lily flipped through the portraits. She had tears in her eye. After the first few, Lily stopped. This one did not just have Harry, but also someone with him. "She looks pretty... The smiles on their faces," she thought to herself, with deeply satisfied happiness on her face. The next few photos had the pair in the portrait and Lily flipped through with gleaming eyes and a constant grin on her face. And then Lily stopped for a moment. With just a glance at the portrait, Lily skipped ahead. If what she had glimpsed momentarily was what was actually depicted in the portrait, she did not want to look at it again. Cautiously, Lily looked at the next portrait, hoping not to encounter another one with Harry and the girl in a compromising position. Fortunately, for Lily, there was only one in the collection of the kind. The next few photos had the young couple enjoying each other's company. And then Lily arrived at the last one in the collection. Surprisingly, this one just had Harry in it. And there was a heart beside him. For once, Harry wasn't smiling or laughing in this one. He looked sad. Lily turned the portrait around and read the note. "It was fun while it lasted," it read. "Oh! What happened?" wondered Lily, a little sad. Lily went back and forth with the portraits a few more times before she remembered the box.
Next up in the box was an envelope, but just as Lily picked up the envelope, she saw what lay beneath it. "Wands?" wondered Lily as her eyes fell on the two wands present inside the box. Lily picked up the wands as well, to examine them. However, the moment Lily touched the wands, she felt something surge inside her. It was a feeling she had forgotten. It was the feeling she had, back when she was 11 years old, at Ollivander's wand shop, the first time she touched what soon became her wand. "No," gasped Lily, shocked. "It can't be. Wh...at? How... is this possible?" she gasped. "This is my wand?" she asked herself. As evidenced by her a few seconds back, and from the memories of her life from another time that rushed back to her, the answer was "yes". She had used the wand for a decade, and she was certain it was hers. Stunned, Lily's attention fell on the other wand. It wasn't one she recognized. "This isn't James' wand... Not Sirius, Remus or Peter's... This isn't Severus' wand either. Whose is it? Could it be Ron's wand?" she thought to herself.
It took Lily a few minutes to gather her thoughts. And when she did, she remembered the envelope that lay on top of it. Carefully, she opened the envelope and took out the letter it contained. The moment Lily opened the letter, her eyes fell on the name that was undersigned, "Harry Potter".
"Hi, Mum and Dad,
It's Harry here. I don't know why I'm writing to you. I was told to write an essay on my life. And then I thought, why not write you both a letter? Not that you are ever going to read this. I suppose I'm doing this only to make my task easier. I have so many things to tell you, I don't know where to begin. I'm living with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. I love them so much and they love me too. And then there is Daisy. She is my best friend from school. My muggle school. I'm currently at Hogwarts though. And in detention, don't ask me why. Aunt Petunia didn't tell me about magic till I got the letter. I suppose she hoped I wouldn't get the letter. The magical world was so new to me. That day I went to Diagon Alley for the first time with Hagrid is something I'll never forget. I have great friends in Hogwarts too. There is Ron, Hermione and of course, John. Ron is a Weasley, he has known about magic all his life. He helps me a lot with the magical world. Hermione is a muggleborn, just like you, Mum. And she's a genius. I don't think there's anything she doesn't know, apart from maybe flying a broom. I play quidditch, by the way, just like Dad. I'm a seeker though. I'm surprisingly good at it. I mean, I only started playing last year. Professor McGonagall saw me once and immediately selected me for the team.
I'm in detention right now. And my professor just asked me to think and write this. Calling her Professor seems weird. She is actually related to John. It's a long story, I don't think I can tell that in this letter. To be fair, I myself know very little of it. But John's a fun guy. I sometimes wish you two were here, with me. Whenever I play quidditch, win a game for Gryffindor, or I do some spell for the first time, after failing many times, I wish you two were here, to watch me. Unfortunately, I can't show it to Aunt Petunia or Dudley, since I can't perform magic outside school.
I just remembered something. You wouldn't believe this even if I told you. There is this mirror that Dumbledore has in Hogwarts somewhere. Last year, I saw that mirror. It shows you your deepest desire, it seems. When I first saw the mirror, I was shocked. It had everybody in it, I mean everybody. Both of you were there, and so were Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, Daisy, Ron, Hermione, and John. All of you were standing with me. I suppose that's when I started missing you two. Aunt Petunia has been so good to me, I never realised that I missed having you two around. Hagrid sometimes tells me about you two. How Mum was a brilliant witch and was always kind to everyone. And how Dad was the popular kid in class, his pranks, and how brave he was when he fought You-Know-Who. Oh, and by the way, he is still around. But he's weak. Some say he'll never be back to his prime. But everyone is afraid of him. He gave me my scar, and everybody talks about the scar, like it's some kind of award. I don't know why I'm writing all this. Professor Jane asked me to write this so that I feel better. Let me go back to tell you about my friends. They are the best
Hi Mum and Dad. Something happened the other day. I heard voices, not sure whose it was. Anyway, I suddenly remembered this and thought I should finish it properly. I just wanted to say how much I miss you two. And if it is even possible that you're watching me write this as ghosts or something, then you shouldn't worry. I have great people with me who are helping me and making me happy at every step. That is all, bye!
With loads of love,
Harry Potter"
"Oh my beautiful boy!" exclaimed Lily, overwhelmed, wiping her tears. But the more she tried to wipe her tears and not cry, the more she started sobbing. The day had taken a toll on her mentally, and dare I say, it was just the beginning. Once Lily let go, tears started pouring down like a tap had been turned on, and Lily wept uncontrollably.
"I failed you... I failed you, my beautiful boy. Why did he have to take you away? What am I doing here? All because of a stupid prophecy..." wailed Lily. Lily felt the pain of losing her son and her husband once again, more potent than ever before and there was nothing or no one that could console her, not even herself.
Lily's face was redder and brighter, her cheeks glowed, her eyes glistened and her hair was all messed up. Physically, there was little energy inside her and mentally, she was all out. Lily read Harry's letter again and again, and every time, she cried a little more. Lily wasn't sure how long she stayed that way, but she did not want to move an inch. She lay flat on the cold floor, wiping away at her incessant tears as Harry's words from the letter ran through her mind. Suddenly, she sat up straight. Lily picked up the letter and read it again.
"I have great friends in Hogwarts too. There is Ron, Hermione and of course, John."
"Calling her Professor seems weird. She is actually related to John. It's a long story, I don't think I can tell that in this letter. To be fair, I myself know very little of it. But John's a fun guy."
"I don't why I'm writing all this. Professor Jane asked me to write this so that I feel better."
And Lily stared at the letter, baffled. She read and re-read the letter, but this time with a different hat on.
"John? Professor Jane?" she wondered. "Harry, was friends with a John as well? And he was taught by a Professor Jane? And they were related?"
Bemused, Lily closed the letter and placed it inside the envelope. She was pondering for a few seconds before she remembered that the box yet held more items. Lily peeked inside the box once again. At the bottom of the box lay a bunch of newspaper cut-outs. Intrigued, Lily took out the entire bunch. Just as she did, she peeked one more time into the box. There seemed one last thing remaining inside, another photo, a big one. Lily took out the photo and realised there were a few more small photos beneath it. Lily took out the lot and glanced at it. With just a cursory glance, Lily realised that the big one was a Weasley family photo, one with Ron, his siblings and their parents, and the smaller photos were all of John and Jane with their parents. And hence, Lily turned her attention towards the newspaper cut-outs. She picked up the first few out of the lot and stared at the headline in each one of them.
"Justice for Ginny"
"The Pain of the Weasleys"
"Beware of the Monster"
Intrigued, Lily proceeded to read the articles.
"... the chamber of secrets"
"... a threat to muggleborn witches and wizards"
"The brave first year was rushed to St Mungo's"
"Ginny is the only daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley"
"... unimaginable that a Professor was responsible..."
"... escaped from the clueless Aurors..."
"Jane Smith is also related to a student, her nephew, John Smith, who is also suspected of having some involvement in the tragedy that has struck the Weasley family..."
Lily's fascination was through the roof, and she also felt sad for Ginny. "Professor Jane was responsible for hurting Ginny?" wondered Lily as she read the allegations. The newspaper cut-outs had detailed accounts of the events, interviews from a variety of witches, wizards, ministry officials, Aurors, etc., and strong accusations on the Ministry and even Hogwarts.
After spending some time with the first few cut-outs, Lily picked up the next few that were present in the pile. This bunch had a lot to say about Jane, while there were a few more cut-outs that were about Ginny as well, including a final one that reported Ginny being taken to Iceland for further treatment. After going through them briefly, Lily picked up the final set of cut-outs. As Lily flipped through the article cut-outs, she came across a few headlines that made her stop.
"He's back"
"The boy-who-lived survives again"
"Hogwarts in mourning"
Lily's eyes widened as fear surged through her spine. Lily began reading the first article, which broke the news to the public that You-know-who was back. The next article mentioned that You-know-who was back, but also briefly mentioned Harry Potter, and how the boy-who-lived escaped You-know-who's grasps yet again. The final article mentioned John Smith, the student who became the latest victim of You-know-who.
Lily's heart rate had gone up the moment she saw Voldemort was back. It took her a few minutes to get her senses back in control. Lily convinced herself that You-know-who was well and truly gone. "These are old articles. He's gone! You have nothing to be afraid of!" she repeated to herself. Once Lily got over the fear of reading You-know-who's Resurrection, Lily collected all the newspaper cut-outs and piled them together.
Lily peeked one last time into the box and saw that it was empty. Lily looked around herself, at everything that lay beside her. This box that she had found hidden, was no ordinary box. This was a treasure, a memory, a collection of memories even. Lily's mind was numb with everything that had transpired on the day. After a few minutes, Lily decided to keep everything back in the box, including her wand that she had found. She had questions and wondered if there was someone who had answers to them. Just as Lily began to rearrange the contents back into the box, Lily's eyes fell on the Weasley family photo, that she had taken out last.
Lily's fingers traced over everyone's faces. A young man, possibly the eldest child, Bill and beside him stood Charlie. "This must be Percy, Fred and George," thought Lily and moved along to the next. "Arthur and Molly," wondered Lily as she saw the parents right in the middle of the photo. "And here's Ron, Harry..." she recognized as she continued tracing her fingers over the photo. But, Lily saw someone that made her stop. Hermione was at the far end of the photograph, but there was someone between Hermione and Harry.
Lily knew she recognized that face, but she couldn't realise where from. And then it came to her like a bolt from the blue. "John?" she wondered, perplexed.
"That's John... The resemblance is uncanny... Wow," she thought to herself. "Is this another one of Ron's brothers that I don't know of? There's Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny," she wondered as she counted the siblings. Apart from Ginny, everyone was there in the photo. "Who's this, then?"
Lily picked up the photos beside the big family photo. Lily had glanced at them earlier, they were photos of John and Jane with Ron and Daisy. Lily looked through the photos that depicted the beautiful family through the years, from when the twins were babies, young kids, to them in their teens. Lily picked one of the photos from the pack, one with just John and Jane in it where the twins looked about 14 to 15 years old, and kept it beside the Weasley family photo. The resemblance between John and the boy in the Weasley family photo looked so much more than just familial genetics. The facial features, the eyes, the nose and especially the ears... so very similar.
There were many things going on, inside Lily's mind. The portraits of Harry, Harry's letter, photo collections of Ron with his family, friends, wife and kids, the newspaper articles mentioning John and Jane. It was all swimming in a pool, and the connections were right there in the periphery of her thoughts. Something simple was needed to make the obvious connection and it came to Lily out of nowhere.
Lily closed her eyes, tired and within a few seconds, she saw traces of a shielded memory. She had envisioned these memories before, she had written accounts of them in her diary as well. The wretched night that turned her life upside-down, that took her husband and son away from her. The memory struggled to resurface, for it held trauma that she'd rather forget than relive. But, this time, she was ready to withstand the pain that it brought with it. The visions were momentary and largely inconclusive. And in the momentary vision, Lily saw 2 people. They were dressed differently and looked nothing like death eaters. But, they wanted her son. She had seen this vision before, but for the first time, she vaguely recognized the faces, and Lily opened her eyes, horrified.
Frantically Lily closed back her eyes, but the vision had dispersed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see further. She tried remembering the vision, but every time she tried, there were 2 faces that clearly came to her mind.
"I'm going mad. They warned me, I'd go crazy if I stayed in this basement, detached from everyone. It can't be. I was thinking about them and that's the only reason I saw them," Lily thought to herself. "There's no way John and Jane could have been there that night. It makes no sense!"
"John and Jane were in school with Harry. But they are Ron's kids. No! That's not right, it makes no sense! Harry mentioned John as a classmate, there are articles about John, but Jane was Harry's professor, that doesn't add up..."
Lily's thoughts started firing in different directions. But, before she could let them wander any further, she heard a voice.
"Lily, what are you doing up so late?" came John's voice and Lily heard faint footsteps.
"No!" gasped Lily. "John, don't come down here, please," she replied as she frantically began dumping the contents back into the box.
"Is everything alright?" came John's voice as the sound of footsteps disappeared.
"Yes, give me a minute," replied Lily.
Lily kept the box back in the storage room and walked out of the basement and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, stood John.
"Woah!" exclaimed John, taken aback. Lily stared back at him, confused. "Hey, are you alright?" asked John as he climbed down the stairs to meet her midway. Lily couldn't see how her face looked, but going by John's reaction, it wasn't pretty good. "Have you been crying all this while?" asked John, looking concerned.
"I... uh, no," lied Lily. "I mean, yes... I was just thinking about... everything," she added.
"You want to talk about it?" asked John, softly.
"Perhaps another day," replied Lily, with a brief smile. John responded with a smile, and Lily and John climbed the stairs. However, right before they were about to enter the hall, Lily stopped and tapped John's shoulder.
"Hmm?" acknowledged John and stopped as well.
And before he could react, Lily grabbed him into a hug. "Thank you so much for all the help you have done. Letting me stay here with the two of you, for lying to everyone to keep my secret... I'll be forever indebted to you," she remarked.
"Hey... What's gotten into you today?" reacted John, a little taken aback as he hugged her back.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble... I'm being a burden in all of your lives and I wish I could take all this back," whispered Lily.
"What? No, absolutely not. I wouldn't do that, at all. We love your company," retorted John. "Don't think all these things, you are not a burden at all," he added. Something was different about Lily and John sensed it. Lily wasn't a hugger, not with them, anyway. But, that night, Lily not only embraced him, but she stuck on to the contact without letting him go. After a few seconds, John continued. "Don't ever think like this, okay? We love having you around. And don't worry about the lying. We have no problems whatsoever lying our way into protecting your secret," he added.
After a few seconds, Lily released the hug and wiped her tears. "It's been a long day and everything has been... so... overwhelming," she said, softly. "Thanks for being there..." she added.
"Of course," remarked John.
And with that Lily and John went to their own rooms and dozed off for the night.
Lily woke up the following morning with vigour. Lily went back down to the basement and to the storage room. Cautiously, she took out her wand, the other wand that she couldn't recognise and Harry's letter. Lily made her way outside the house and decided to go to Remus' house. Before leaving, she had asked Sirius to meet her there as well. She wanted to know the truth and she was going to get it from her best friends from another time.
"Remus," exclaimed Lily with a big smile and hugged Remus.
"Come on in," greeted Remus with a smile. "Sirius is on the way," he added as the pair walked in.
Remus and Lily were casually chatting for a few minutes when Sirius arrived. Once the pleasantries were completed between the trio, Lily spoke up.
"So... boys... you are not going to believe what happened yesterday," she began, sounding excited. Remus and Sirius watched her intrigued. "You have no idea about the treasure I found yesterday," she continued and took out her wand and the other wand.
"Woah! What is that?" asked Sirius as he took the wands from Lily.
"It's my wand, Sirius," replied Lily, excitedly. "I have no idea what it was doing in Ron Weasley's basement... but I found these 2 together," she added. Sirius and Remus stared at each other as Sirius passed on the 2 wands to Remus.
"You found them in the basement of your house?" inquired Remus.
"Yes, Remus," replied Lily, excitedly. "I am 100% sure this one's mine," she added pointing to her wand. Remus recognized Lily's wand instantly as well. "Do you recognize the other one?" she asked, curiously. "I figured it might be Ron's. It's his house, the wand could be his, right? But, I don't know what my wand was doing along with it," she added.
"Uh..." paused Remus. "This is not Ron's wand. It's Harry's," remarked Remus, perplexed.
"What?" asked Sirius, surprised.
"Yes, this is Harry's wand," replied Remus.
The expression on Lily's face turned a little. She was not ready to find out that the wand belonged to her son. Lily brought the other wand along with her as a decoy.
"Oh my God, is it?" gasped Lily as Remus handed her both wands. Lily stared at Harry's phoenix feather for a few seconds before glancing back at Remus and Sirius. "But, how does Ron have Harry's wand and mine?" she asked, curiously. Remus and Sirius stared at each other, uncomfortably.
"Ron and Daisy had some of Harry's possessions... after his demise," replied Remus. "Perhaps, Ron had stored it with him to remember him by," he added.
Lily nodded along. "Hmm... I can't believe this is Harry's wand," sighed Lily. After a few seconds, she glanced back at Remus and continued. "So, my wand was with Harry the entire time? How, though? I thought he didn't know about magic till turned 11," asked Lily. Remus and Sirius did not have an answer to Lily's question. They did know the answer, John had it with him before he passed it on to Harry, but they couldn't very well tell Lily that.
Lily noticed the uncomfortable silence between the pair, before Sirius replied, "This is a surprise to us as well, isn't it, Remus?"
"Yes... yes, we have no idea. Maybe Dumbledore gave it to Harry after he came to Hogwarts?" remarked Remus, sounding surprised.
"I suppose that's possible," chimed in Lily. After a few moments, Lily continued. "You know, I searched the entire basement, every inch of it... And I couldn't find any other treasure..." she remarked and stared at Remus and Sirius. Poor guys had no idea that Lily was observing every single minute movement in their expressions. Relief washed over their faces, the moment Lily uttered those words. Just as Remus was about to say something, Lily continued. "Except for this..." she said and took out the envelope. And just like that, the relief turned into terror.
"Wh... what is that?" asked Remus.
"I was crying last night," replied Lily. "Both of you told me so many things about Harry, and I believed you. But when I read this... I couldn't handle it. Harry really had a wonderful life," she remarked, as her eyes glistened. Remus stared at Sirius as he took the envelope from Lily.
Warily, Remus opened the envelope and began reading the letter. It wasn't as bad as Remus had initially feared, but he read things that Lily could have questions about. Once done, Remus handed the letter to Sirius. Sirius read the letter calmly and he gave it to Lily.
"That was quite wonderful," remarked Remus with a smile.
"It broke my heart, Remus... That's my boy," remarked Lily. "And I couldn't be with him," she regretted. Remus and Sirius quickly hugged Lily and Lily hugged them back. The trio stayed that way for a while before breaking apart.
After a few minutes, Lily played her final play. "It's funny, isn't it?" she remarked. "Harry had a classmate named John who he was close with. And a Professor named Jane!" she added and watched the colour on Remus and Sirius' face drain. "We have so many of these common names, don't we?" chuckled Lily.
"Yeah... yeah we do," replied Remus.
"They are quite common names. Ron might have gotten the inspiration to name our J & J after them too," remarked Sirius.
"Oh, really? Why, though? Speaking of which, I can't remember you talking about John... I mean Harry's friend, ever?" asked Lily, prying.
"That..." remarked Remus and stopped.
"I... uh..." began Sirius and stopped as well.
"John didn't make it," said Remus, finally. "He was one of Voldemort's victims," he added, mournfully.
"Oh, No! That's sad," retorted Lily. "So many parents lost their kids to You-know-who," sighed Lily. "His parents were muggles... or..." asked Lily, leaving the question open-ended.
The more questions Lily asked about John, the more uncomfortable Remus and Sirius got.
"I don't know, do you, Remus?" asked Sirius.
"I'm not sure either," lied Remus. "I think one of them was a muggle," he added.
After a few minutes, Lily spoke up. "Well, this is all... I was so happy yesterday to find this, I couldn't wait to tell you both about it," she remarked, happily.
"This is quite unbelievable. I had no idea, Ron had such small things saved with him," replied Sirius, with a smile.
"I'm glad you found this," replied Remus with a smile as well.
Lily was about to leave, when, the final nail in the coffin landed.
"Lily," called out Remus. "Have you told anyone about this?" he asked.
"About what? My wand?" retorted Lily.
"Yes... and the letter," replied Remus.
"No... I wanted to share this with both of you, first," replied Lily, with a big smile. "Why?" she asked.
"No reason... This letter is precious and you should keep it with yourself," replied Remus.
"What do you think, Remus? This is my son's handwriting. He wrote a letter to James and me. I will keep this with me forever," replied Lily, with a big smile. After a couple of seconds, she continued. "I have my wand with me. You reckon I should start using it?" she asked, genuinely.
"Absolutely," replied Remus.
"Of course, you should," replied Sirius.
"That's what I thought," chuckled Lily and with that she left Remus' house, shocked, angry and chilled to the bones.
Lily rushed home and went straight to the basement. She closed the door and went straight to the storage room and took out the box. Lily sat down with the box beside her. For the first couple of minutes, her mind went blank. And then the thoughts started flooding in.
"Liars... everybody is a liar... How could they lie to me?"
"I don't know what the story is, but I know there is more to it than what I've been told."
"Sirius... Remus... how could they betray me?" wondered Lily as tears poured down her cheek. "Two years I have been here. Not a single day has gone by where I haven't wanted to go back to my time, to my son and husband. If I can travel to the future, I should be able to travel to the past as well."
"They all planned and hid this from me. They know more than what they have let everyone know!"
"Surely Remus and Sirius had a reason. They wouldn't have done this to me otherwise, right?"
"And John? He knew it too! He lived in the past somehow! It's the only explanation"
"I don't have anyone I can trust"
"John, how could you do this to me? Maybe he doesn't know completely about time travel. At least, he'd have told me, right?"
"Petunia? Tuney never trusted the wizards... She'd want to tell me the truth!"
Suddenly, Lily found herself suffocated. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't sit or walk or do anything, knowing everything she had known for the past couple of years, was a lie.
It took a few minutes for Lily to get back to some sense of normalcy.
"I am not the first time traveller. There have been a few, and if they were able to influence their will, so will I," she told herself. "I don't know whom to trust and whom not to. My heart wants me to trust Sirius and Remus, John and Jane... But it is best I stay away from everyone."
Lily slowly began to take out the contents of the box. She wanted to re-examine every single piece of information it contained. Ron and Daisy's portrait, photos of Ron and his kids, Ron with his siblings and family, news articles about Jane, John and Ginny, and then there were the portraits of Harry, Harry's wand and Harry's letter. The longer Lily stared at the contents, the longer she was certain of one thing.
"Ron's not missing, is he?" she asked herself. Lily looked around the basement. This was the place, in the entirety of his house that he stayed in, the most. This was where Lily found her first conclusive proof of time manipulation. This was where Lily ended up at, after travelling through time, to the future. And even after years, nobody knows what happened to Ron Weasley. All of it could only mean one thing.
"Ron's not missing. He's in another time. He travelled through time and is now elsewhere!"
"And I'm right here, where he was. This room has answers to my question and I'm going to find it!"
Lily took out her wand and gazed at it. After a couple of seconds, she pointed it at her diary.
"Accio"
And her diary flew right into her palm. Lily opened the diary and began to write. "You are the only one I can talk to! Wish me luck, for I am to go on a voyage!"
Phew... That was a lot! How did you like this chapter? How did you find this 2-parter, this world that's living, a few decades from where our golden-trio are growing up? And Lily...
I'm excited about what's in store... both in the future and at the current time!
PS - The next chapter will be out in a few days. Stay tuned! Ciao!