Later that night, as Lily was lying in her bed before falling asleep, she quietly reflected on everything that had happened from the nanosecond she had started at Hogwarts.
One memory that stuck out in her mind was when she had convinced Ainsley to submit her beach scene drawing as her official entry for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition despite Ainsley's previous promise to Lily to submit the sunset and rocket launch drawing because it was what Ainsley wanted to do AND because it better represented Ainsley's true artistic talent.
Lily remembered how she had emphasized to Ainsley the importance of staying to herself.
Lily could vividly recall that when Ainsley had finally decided on submitting the beach scene drawing that eventually won the gold medal that she immediately declared that making the decision to submit the beach scene drawing had given her a sense of peace. That had been the biggest proof that changing plans was the right thing for Ainsley to do.
But there was something else Ainsley had said that day that Lily found herself reflecting on.
She could now hear Ainsley's voice in her head quite clearly talking about her decision to submit the beach scene drawing being a moment of growth for her. That growth came in the form of understanding and accepting that sometimes, that most important thing is to put oneself first.
It now dawned on Lily that there was something for which she needed to put herself first.
Lily was easily the smallest and shortest person in the Circle of Twenty Three, especially relative to the averages for their ages and years.
Others had a habit of calling her "midget." Though most people who called Lily midget were doing so in either an affectionate teasing kind of way or a poking fun at Lily for their own sense of fun kind of way, Lily did not like this.
On the contrary, being called midget bothered Lily. As many members of the Circle of Twenty Three had grown quite a bit over the previous summer, Lily's smaller stature now stood out more and more and Lily had become more and more insecure about this.
In recent months, Lily had found that being called midget had evolved from mildly bothering her a bit to making her insides squeam, squirm, and cringe. It was making her more and more unhappy and uncomfortable all the time.
Several people in Lily's circle of family and friends would call her midget, and people on her monthly Hogwarts Interhouse Teams had sometimes referred to her as midget as well. The people who called her midget the most often and the most consistently were Stephanie, Courtney, and especially Samantha.
Lily didn't blame them; they didn't know that it bothered her and would never have come close to guessing how much it bothered her.
Samantha, being the tallest member of Circle of Twenty Three, not just relative to the averages for their ages, but the tallest member of the Circle of Twenty Three period, could not possibly be expected to understand how Lily felt about this. She simply couldn't empathize with Lily's position.
And it's not as the others could be expected to truly understand how Lily felt about this either.
But Lily decided that it was time to speak up.
Up until this point, Lily had simply accepted it when people called her midget. She may have never liked it, and it may have always bothered her, but she knew her circle of family and friends was having fun with it, so she let it go.
She prided herself on being a good friend and had decided to be the good friend and allow her circle of family and friends to have their fun.
But things had changed. Since the start of the fall 2021 semester at Hogwarts, Lily had become more and more unhappy about being called midget to the point where, at times, it was literally causing her to be miserable.
Lily thought back to the advice she had given Ainsley about staying true to herself.
Lily saw a parallel here.
Lily realized that there were times when a person needed to put himself or herself first.
Lily now realized that this was such a situation.
She needed to speak up and speak out about what was bothering her.
As much as doing so was out of character for her, it had reached the point where Lily needed to put herself first and she understood that.
Sometimes, courage wasn't just about facing danger or fears. Nor was it just about standing up to others, be they friends or enemies. Sometimes, courage meant finding it in oneself to speak up for oneself and take a stand for oneself.
Ainsley had experienced a moment of growth when she had put herself first.
Lily knew that this would be a similar situation for her: it would be a moment of growth for her when she put herself first by speaking up about NOT wanting to be called midget or otherwise made fun of for her small and short stature.
Lily felt that the best time to speak up about this issue would be right after breakfast the next morning. This would allow everyone to be fresh early in the day while simultaneously being in a good mood from having just been fed.
So, the next morning, after everyone had finished their delicious breakfast of large sausage biscuits with large patties that extended beyond the edges of the biscuits, crispy golden brown hash browns, and Sunny Delight to wash it down with, Lily raised her hand.
"Lily, do you wish to say something?" asked Samantha.
"I do," said Lily matter of factly, "There is something that I need to speak up about. I want to make it clear up front that I am not mad or angry at anyone. However, there is something that has been increasingly bothering me and I am going to request the discontinuation of this behavior."
Everyone in the Circle of Twenty Three, as well as their parents and guardians, looked Lily eye to eye and gave indications to let her know they were listening.
"So," began Lily, "As you all know, I am one of the smallest and shortest students at Hogwarts. Only Debbie Dwarf is smaller and shorter than me at Hogwarts. I am easily the smallest and shortest member of the Circle of Twenty Three."
"Yes," smirked Samantha with a giggle, "You are our resident midget."
Lily felt that now all too familiar squirming from her insides, but took a deep breath and spoke up.
"Samantha," said Lily seriously, "That is exactly the thing I want to address with you all this morning. I wanted to talk to you all about how I feel about being called midget. With all of us here, this is a perfect time to speak up and let people know how I feel. I thought that talking to everyone after breakfast when everyone was feeling fresh early in the day while also being in a good mood from just being fed would give me the best results. I can inform other people, such as members of my upcoming Hogwarts Interhouse Teams, when appropriate. But this is the perfect opportunity for me to address my main circle of family and friends.
"So," realized Stephanie apologetically, "You do NOT like it when we call you midget?"
"I do not," said Lily in a businesslike voice, "To be clear, I know that when anyone in this room has referred to me as midget, it has never been in a mean way. It has always been done either in a teasing way or in a way clearly meant for the person saying it to create fun for himself or herself."
"Why does it bother you then?" inquired Devon.
"I never liked it," explained Lily, "But it has come to bother me more and more in recent months. This stems from the fact that I have become more and more insecure about being the smallest and shortest member of the Circle of Twenty Three and the second smallest and shortest student at Hogwarts behind Debbie Dwarf. Everyone in the Circle of Twenty Three except me experienced growth of several inches over the summer and so did all of my classmates in the other houses. This makes my small and short stature stand out more, hence the increased insecurity."
Everyone nodded at Lily.
"That makes sense," said Ginny in understanding, "You've become more of an outlier when you already were an outlier. I don't blame you one bit for your insecurities."
"So," continued Lily, "In the past I've never said anything about not liking being called midget because I knew my family and friends were having fun with it and I chose to be a good friend and allow it without complaint even though I disliked it. Recently, I have noticed a progression from this mildly bothering me to causing me to feel my insides go squeamish and cringe. It's become more and more uncomfortable for me, and I now HATE it."
"Lily," interjected Courtney, "I am sorry if my behavior has in any way upset you."
"I second that," nodded Stephanie guiltily, "I am also sorry for behaving in a manner that made you feel uncomfortable."
"You were not to know," said Lily kindly, "You have nothing to apologize for. I never spoke up about this issue, so you had no way of knowing how I felt."
"Lily," said Harry proudly, "I am very proud of you for having the courage to speak up about this issue. This is as much of a Gryffindor moment as standing up to a bully or facing danger. You have found the courage within yourself to speak up for yourself and I couldn't be prouder of you. You have always put others first. But sometimes you do need to take a stand for yourself."
"That's exactly what I realized while lying in bed waiting to fall asleep last night," revealed Lily, "I remembered the conversation I had with Ainsley when I convinced her to disregard her previous promise to me to enter her sunset and rocket launch drawing into the Hogwarts Drawing Competition and to submit the beach scene drawing instead. I remembered Ainsley talking about the instant peace she felt when she finally changed her plans and made the decision to enter the beach scene drawing. Ainsley called it a moment of growth for herself because she learned that sometimes, putting yourself first and making choices for yourself is the right thing to do."
"And now you are in that position, " piped up Ainsley, "It takes a lot of courage to speak up for yourself to your closest family and friends and I admire what you are doing this morning."
"This is a moment of growth for me," said Lily sincerely, "So, I am officially requesting that everyone here henceforth refrain from calling me midget or otherwise making fun of my small and short stature. If you agree to honor this request, please raise your hand."
A nanosecond later, everyone had his or her hand up in the air.
"Thank you everyone," said a very relived looking and sounding Lily, "The Saver sisters are the people who have called me midget the most often. Samantha in particular wouldn't be able to understand how I feel about this. Having always been one of the tallest in her classes, she cannot empathize with my insecurities. The same largely holds true for Stephanie and Courtney."
"Ultimately, " said Samantha matter of factly, "It doesn't matter that I can't understand how you feel about this. The bottom line is that when a friend makes a reasonable request of you, you accept that and respect that. Any true friend would react to Lily's request by saying, "Since you don't want to be called midget, we will respect that and refrain from calling you midget moving forward."
"Very well said, Samantha," nodded Hugo, "Lily is the epitome of putting others ahead of oneself, but the time has come for her to stick up for herself some. The rest of us need to understand the concept of boundaries and respecting them."
"This is part of maturing and growing up," acknowledged James, "Realizing that it's okay to speak up for yourself and that you don't have to let people walk all over you."
"I wouldn't say anyone was walking all over or taking advantage of Lily," reasoned Albus, "But the point stands about her learning to speak up for herself being a true moment of growth."
"It's also worth noting," added Hermione, "That if people continued to call Lily midget against her wishes, she could have developed resentment towards them, possibly without even realizing it. This could have led to damaged relationships down the road. It's for the best that this behavior is being eliminated."
"I saw the look of relief on Lily's face and heard it in her voice when all the hands when into the air, " observed Rachel, "I am guessing this is similar to how Ainsley felt when she finally chose her beach scene drawing as her entry for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition."
"That's the vibe I get myself," smiled Ainsley, "Lily once helped me gain peace by convincing me to stay true to myself. Her speaking up on this issue is her learning to be true to herself as she matures as a teenager."
"Thank you, everyone, for both your understanding and your acknowledgement," smiled Lily warmly.
Lily symbiotically let out another deep breath.
She felt relived.
She had learned to speak up for herself and be true to herself.
A shout out to the following members who have added Lily Luna Potter and the New Era of Hogwarts to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:
So, I wasn't on much in late December or early January. I had planned to take some time away from here around Christmas and then I got sick late at night on December 26th from a stomach virus going around my area and spent most of the 27th in the hospital. I didn't feel too great until New Year's and decided to take it easy for a few more days after that. I also had a batch routine yearly labwork/bloodwork done on the 13th and went over the results with my PCP on the 20th. Most of it looked really good. The one thing my PCP was a little concerned about was that I have an elevated TSH level of 4.25. My T4 value was in the normal range and I'm not experiencing any symptoms of underactive thyroid. However, my PCP said she was less concerned about underactive thyroid and more concerned about the possibility of thyroid cancer. She gave my thyroid area a good look and feel and did not see or feel any large spots or growths that don't belong. She's having me redo that lab test in July and if it is still elevated, she's going to have me do an ultrasound to determine if thyroid cancer is present. I started the year here by updating my one shots threads. This is the fifth of my six "true" fics to get an update in 2025. Lily Luna Potter and the New Era of Hogwarts will always be my favorite of my fics for various reasons and I look forward to its future. Thank you to everyone who is currently reading and supporting Lily Luna Potter and the New Era of Hogwarts.
Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all-Michael. :) ❤️