Chapter 124

Emotional Conversations

Note from J.M. Jackson: So, some new things happen here in this chapter, starting many different changes. I'll be showing some backstories soon, so some of the events will make sense. But we both hope you all enjoy the direction the story is going to take.

Lily would have been disappointed if she hadn't been kept busy with wedding planning, especially since Molly was wanting to make it the wedding of the century. There were so many people invited to the wedding that security was going to be overseen by multiple Auror's, all led by Mad Eye, who was taking every precaution.

Scrimgeour wasn't able to attend, sadly, since he was needed at work, but he sent a gift; an in depth model of the USS Enterprise, from Sirius's favourite muggle show, Star Trek, but one that actually flew around and hovered in place. Sirius loved it, playing around with it every day. It made Lily laugh, seeing her uncle like a child at times.

If there was one thing that Lily was excited about, it was that she had been asked to be the 'Best Woman' for Sirius, with Minerva giving him away as his surrogate mother. Lily knew Aunt Minnie was excited beyond belief to be doing so.

Lily suspected that she was being kept busy to give her a small sense of normality before she began her quest. Molly confessed to that a couple of nights before Lily's birthday.

"I know you have to leave after the wedding, and we might not see you again for a while," Molly said, sitting down with Lily in Lily's room, smiling sadly at her. "Ever since you came into our lives, you've been like a second daughter to me."

"And you've been the Mom I needed, Mrs. Weasley," Lily replied, matching her smile. It was true; everything she had needed a mum for, Molly had been there for her.

"It has always been my pleasure, Lily. Even teaching you to cook and bake was fun, and Ginny wanted to know as well, and honestly, that was always a dream, to be able to teach my daughters how to take care of themselves," Molly admitted. "I know this is going to be a long, and difficult, path for you both. I also know that you don't want Ginny in danger, but she won't be anywhere else but by your side."

"You're not wrong," Lily agreed.

"So make sure you both take care of yourselves. When the wedding is finished, we'll be finishing moving to a new home, one that no one knows of yet. Everyone else will be careful, of course, but we're taking every precaution," Molly explained.

"Understandable. Who knows what's going to happen," Lily agreed. "I will keep Ginny safe, no matter what," she promised, one she intended to keep.

"I know you will, dear," Molly cupped Lily's cheek with her hand. "I know it's not your birthday yet, but I have something for you, something I already spoke to Ginny about."

"Oh?" Lily found her curiosity piqued now.

"When a wizard turns seventeen, they are given a watch, but when a witch turns seventeen, they are given the family bracelet," Molly explained. "Or, at least, their family bracelet. Every daughter of a family has one, some are made to order, and some are passed down from daughter to daughter. Now, I already spoke to your Uncle about this as well, and he has your mother's bracelet."

Lily had never heard of that tradition before, but it sounded nice, and it meant she'd have an heirloom from her mother! She felt excited about that, but Molly continued talking.

"With Ginny, being the youngest of the family, she's often had to make do with a lot of hand me down items, some heirlooms, and some were things that were mine when I was her age, from her dressing table to wands and even clothes at times. For her birthday, I wanted to get her something brand new, something that began with her, because I felt it would be special, and she agreed that she'd love that," Molly explained.

She lifted up her wrist, and removed the bracelet that was on it. "This is the Weasley family bracelet. We know you and Ginny are going to be together forever, but I wanted you to have something from us, your second family," Molly said, attaching it to Lily's wrist.

Lily felt tears welling up in her eyes and didn't try to fight them. She let them flow freely as she looked at the bracelet, which was almost glowing as the sun from the window hit it. She tried to speak, but she couldn't – she was touched beyond measure. She looked up, and met Molly's eyes, and in that moment, no words needed to be said. Molly was there as a mother would be to her daughter and pulled Lily into a hug.

"I knew your Mum, and I know she'd be so proud of you, Lily Jasmine Potter, just as proud of you as I am," Molly whispered, as Lily accepted and returned the hug, holding onto Molly.

"I know Molly already spoke to you, Lily Cub, but we wanted some time with you as well," Sirius said, hours later as he entered Lily's room, with Minerva and Remus.

"Uncle Sirius, are you going to make me cry again? Because I don't know how many tears I have left," Lily teased. Sirius laughed as he sat on the chair in Lily's room. The sun was starting to go down, but it hadn't set yet.

"Well, I know Molly wanted to talk to you first, and your Aunt Minnie and I spoke," Sirius said.

"We had a lot to talk about, as you no doubt surmised," Minerva said, smiling at her. She looked like she had been crying. "I'm not going to lie; I am not looking forward to the day after the wedding."

"None of us are," Remus added, the same look of sadness in his eyes. "We know we can't go with you all the way, as much as we want to. It'd draw too much attention to you, and we've got our own missions to deal with."

"Which is what we wanted to talk to you about," Sirius said, before looking at the door behind them. "Angeline, can you come in here please?"

The door opened, with another woman walking in, one Lily recognised from the Order meetings, Angeline Vance. She had been in the first Order of the Phoenix, and Lily knew she was close with Sirius and Remus; she'd been around at Christmas as well, and though everything had been hectic, Lily knew the three of them had been very close. She also knew Angeline's older sister had been killed the year before, by Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"Are you about to tell me you're all dating?" Lily asked, smirking. "I don't have a problem with that, if you're happy together."

Minerva and Angeline laughed at the stunned looks on Sirius and Remus's faces. "Oh, I have got to learn that trick from you Lily," Angeline said, grinning. "I've never been able to make them speechless."

"Neither have I," Minerva agreed, and Lily was thrilled to see the smile on Minerva's face. Sirius chuckled softly.

"Okay, so this is why we know you're brilliant, Lily Cub," Sirius said. Lily blushed.

"Just observant. You think I haven't noticed you three sneaking around like schoolkids? Or that there's a back door to your room downstairs?" Lily asked.

"Anything else you want to guess at?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily nodded and smirked before answering, already knowing their secret.

"The fact that I'm going to have a baby brother or sister?"

This time, Lily couldn't hold back the laughter at the complete dumbfounded looks on Remus and Sirius's faces.

"Whilst we wait for those two to recover, how could you tell?" Angeline asked. "I know we didn't want to tell anyone, but we've been… well, talking and such for a few months, and I wanted to help them with their dream of having a child, so thanks to some magic, I'm having two children, one fathered by Sirius, and one by Remus."

This time, it was Lily's turn to be shocked. "Wait… how… is that… I…" she stuttered, with Remus and Sirius laughing.

"Well, revenge can be sweet," Sirius roared with laughter as he pulled Lily into a hug. "I have got to stop underestimating you."

"Yes, everyone does," Lily agreed. "Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, Aunt Angeline, I'm thrilled for you. I want you all to be happy, and if you remember, I told you I wanted you to have kids."

"We remember," Remus said. "But this isn't something we planned that far ahead, things just… happened, and we got caught up in the excitement, and now… here we are."

"Isn't that how the best romances work?" Lily asked.

"You're not wrong, Lily," Minerva agreed. "There is something else we want to talk about, but let's finish this discussion first."

"Lily, are you sure you're okay with this?" Angeline asked, though Lily could tell how touched she was at being called 'Aunt Angeline' by Lily.

"Of course I am. I want these two happy, and I know they'll be amazing parents," Lily said. "I know how lucky I was to grow up with Uncle Sirius, and I hate that Uncle Remus wasn't around because of Crouch Senior not giving him a trial. There has been a lot of mistakes made in the past, and we can't change them, but we can make the future better."

"Are you sure you're only just about to turn seventeen?" Angeline asked as Minerva beamed at her proudly.

"I've lived a harder life than most over the last six years. Not saying it was all bad, but it's been… character building," Lily said. "I've faced things no one ever should."

"Yeah, you're not wrong there," Remus agreed. "I lost track at how many panic attacks I've had since living with you and Padfoot."

"You? How about me? I found her standing over a troll in her first year, fighting You Know Who in her second, Pettigrew in her third, everything and You Know Who in her fourth, Umbridge in her fifth, and gods only know what last year," Minerva exclaimed.

"I know, and I'm sorry for making you all worry, but I've been fighting because you all raised me to care for others, and how could I not fight?" Lily asked. "How could I be anything but the woman you helped me to become?"

"Well said, Lily," Angeline complimented. "I'm glad to be part of this family; there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

"Just make sure you keep these two safe whilst I'm gone," Lily said, pointing to Sirius and Remus. "Can't leave them alone for five minutes without getting in some kind of trouble."

Lily laughed with Angeline and Minerva at the indignant looks that Remus and Sirius gave her.

"Us?" Sirius asked. He laughed, and gently hugged Lily again. "You bloody better come back in one piece; you hear?"

"I will. We all will, and we'll win," Lily promised. "You said there was something else you wanted to talk about?"

"There is," Minerva said. "I never had children, Lily, but you're as close to my granddaughter as I've ever had. Sirius has become like a son to me, despite how close he came to killing me when he was a student, with his pranks almost giving me a heart attack."

"Now, the office explosion was an accident, and I apologised," Sirius said, holding up both his hands. "I never intended for that rocket to go into your office, I was aiming for an empty classroom."

"Regardless," Minerva glared at Sirius, cutting him off. "You're family to me, Lily, and so I decided to do something different. Remus, Sirius, and I took my family bracelet, and… well…" Minerva pulled out a box, revealing a different bracelet. The one from Molly had a charm with the Weasley crest on it, but this one had four charms on it, one from the Potter family, one from the Black family, one from the Lupin family, and one from the McGonagall family on it. They were at equidistant locations on the bracelet, connected by a golden chain.

"Your Mum's family were muggles, so there isn't a charm for her family, but the Potter's charm is an old one. Remus's family one, and my family charms, we had made, and Minerva's was from her charm," Sirius explained, as Lily accepted the bracelet.

She was definitely crying again as she held onto the bracelet before fixing it to her wrist, next to the one Molly gave her. It fit perfectly on her wrist, and as she looked at it, she felt the tears drip onto her hand.

"I… damned hormones," Lily sniffed, chuckling as Minerva handed her a handkerchief.

"We wanted you to know that you have united so many families, Lily. You've brought us all together without even knowing it," Minerva told her. "Your gift of love is the most powerful one this world has ever known."

"And it's one we're all thankful for," Remus said, embracing Lily in a hug. "Without you, and Sirius, I don't know where I'd be. You risked your life to make sure the truth came out and that I was freed."

"You stopped me from doing something stupid when I was younger, and you gave me a path that I badly needed," Sirius said.

"And you gave me the family I never knew I wanted. I had been content to just teach, but watching you grow up was the greatest privilege of my life," Minerva told her.

"And you immediately welcomed me into your family, Lily. You called me Aunt Angeline, most likely without even thinking, but that shows the strength of your heart, and the truth of your character," Angeline added.

"There is nothing that will break this family, Lily. You are Lily Potter, the Girl who lived, the chosen one who will end this war, and you are so loved," Sirius said, pulling her into a hug.

Lily just sobbed as she held onto the group, thankful for all of them. She knew her next year was going to be dangerous, but this… this was why she was fighting, and it gave her strength that she knew she needed, and the courage to continue on with her path.

With the day finally over, dinner having been a big event, and Lily now in her pyjamas, with Ginny in the room with her, Lily smiled at Ginny. "Honestly, I'm fairly certain that I was dehydrated earlier from crying so much. If I didn't know them better, I'd have thought they were trying to convince me to stay here and not go hunting for the horcruxes," Lily admitted.

"I would have too, but like you said, you know them better. They were giving you the strength you needed to begin your journey," Ginny smiled as she kissed Lily softly.

"I take it your mum did the same for you?" Lily asked.

"As did Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Percy. Ron's likely coming with us, so he didn't need to, but they all came together and told me how proud they were of me, and how they knew I'd be alright, because we were together," Ginny agreed. Lily smiled as she sat on the edge of her bed.

"Well, at least we've got their support. Can you imagine if they didn't want us to go?" Lily asked.

"Oh, if they didn't, they'd find a way to stop us, but they know we need to do this," Ginny said. "Hermione's got everything packed in her back, which has an undetectable extension charm on it, and it's got multiple changes of clothes, books, a large tent for us to share, and plenty of provisions, as well as muggle money, and the Sword of Gryffindor."

"She's always good at planning," Lily said. "Her parents are going to safe, right?"

"They've already left the country; Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle got them out," Ginny replied. "Hermione was ready to wipe their memories of her, but I pointed out how much that would destroy her, so we spoke to Mum, and Minerva, who made the plan to get them out."

"Good. They've done nothing to deserve any reprisals from Voldemort and his kind," Lily said, sighing. "But today has been… well, damned emotional."

"To put it mildly," Ginny agreed. Lily sighed softly and smiled at Ginny.

"I'm glad you're with me, Ginny. I don't know how far I'd get without you," Lily admitted.

"Oh, you'd failed right away, you'd be lost without me," Ginny teased, giggling as she walked over to Lily and sat on her lap. Her smile faded. "Lily, I know this is going to be dangerous, for all of us. We've got so much to do, and so little time. But whatever time I do have, I will be spending it with you, making our future together."

"And that's what I want," Lily told her. "A future with you, a future with our family."

"Then we go and get it. We'll kick Voldemort's arse, and then we'll make sure to have our family," Ginny told her. Lily smiled, nodding.

"That works for me," Lily agreed, kissing her softly. "We should get some sleep."

"Agreed. We've only got a few days left before the wedding, so we've got a lot to do," Ginny said, as she got into the bed. Lily smiled, and snuggled up with Ginny, happy to be with her, feeling at peace for the first time in a while, and as sleep took her, she knew she'd have a happy dream. The question was, would it be the last happy dream that she'd get to have?