Lily when she's only weeks along and she hears the prophecy the first time. Lily when she looks at her 5 hours old son born at the end of the seventh month. Lily when she has to go into hiding with her 15 days old son. Lily when she looks at her son, 2 months old, and knows, without any conclusive proof, she knows. Lily when their missions fail and fail and fail and at 4 months her son doesn't cry much. Lily when there is a murmur about traitors and her 6 months old son is coughing. Lily when she hears her friends suspect each other and her 8 months old son is fast asleep. Lily when they come close, so close, to ending it all but it fails and her son is only hours old, days old, weeks old. Lily when they go from place to place, nowhere to call home, and her son, 10 months old, wants to crawl now. Lily when things are so bad they couldn't ever have been good but her son's giggles fill her heart. Lily when she's planning her son's first birthday and pretending she never thought he'd be anything more than hours old, days old, weeks old.

Lily when the war hasn't ended but they are safe, the charm so fresh it echoes on the walls of this place- this place that could be home for her little family. Lily when her few weeks old son looks at her and smiles and tries to curl his fingers around her hair. Lily when she feels hope, her son is 1 year old, and he could be- he would be years old, decades old. Lily when she sees her son, hours old and centuries old and it would be okay. Lily when she can't breathe, can't think, can't exist. Lily when she can only feel and all she feels is panic and rage. Lily when she holds her son and stares at the moon and feels it all build up, her baby sleeping and her terror wide awake.

Lily when she sees her 15 hours old son and promises she'll protect him, Lily when she holds her 15 weeks old son and promises she'll always be there for him, Lily when she looks away from her 15 months old son for the last time and begs for mercy, begs for her son's life, begs for just one little act of charity. Lily when she's told he hadn't expected her to beg, he who thought she was greater than that and he who thought less of her for hoping for grace. Lily who howls, in pain, in despair, in rage and in the last of act of motherhood.

Lily, at 19 years old, at 20 years old, at 21 years old, when she feels like losing her mind or losing her faith. Lily when she ends up losing everything. Lily when she's 21 years, 9 months and 274 days old and she'll never be older. Lily when she takes refuge in the monument they make of her family, of The Great Sacrifice of '81. Lily when she's been 21 years old for longer than a year now but she still waits because her son is a toddler now and soon he'll be a kid, a teenager, an adult and one day he might come back home. Lily when she's been waiting for years but her son doesn't come and she's afraid he never might. Lily when she's been strong all her life and only broke in the moment of death. Lily when she's breaking again and breaking worse. Lily when the wait is getting too much too bear. Lily when the home is falling apart and the gravestones are cracking in places and her wait is never-ending and her soul, as her statue, starts crumbling.

Lily who had lived longer in those years than all her life before. Lily who, even in death, finds herself on her knees, asking the same question again and again. Lily Evans Potter, mother of Harry James Potter, the hero of The Prophecy.

"Who do I have to speak to about if they can redo the prophecy?"

A/N

This fic has been inspired by Taylor Swift's 'The Prophecy' from her latest album The Tortured Poets Department- The Anthology. I do not own the characters or the song references. While I wholeheartedly recommend the whole song, and the whole album, the relevant parts of the song are-

"... I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope
A greater woman wouldn't beg
But I looked to the sky and said..."

"... A greater woman has faith
But I howl like a wolf at the moon..."

"... A greater woman has faith
But even statues crumble if they're made to wait..."