Lily Potter and the Worst
Holiday
Epilogue
Standard Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
WARNING: Harsh Language and adult themes and violence
Epilogue Summary: Lily deals with the events of the Holiday and finally spends some time with her new son.
After the news of the Death Eater attack made it to the Ministry, the school was overrun with concerned parents, Ministry officials, and reporters. Due to the added chaos of the extra people and the traumatic experience she had just gone through, it wasn't unusual that the next few days were a blur for Lily. She had a vague recollection of Poppy leading the wounded students and teachers into the Hospital Ward after Voldemort fell. Luckily, none of the students or teachers were severely injured. None that is save for Harry.
Poppy told Lily that her son had slipped into a coma due to both the physical injuries he suffered and an extreme case of magical exhaustion. Apparently, besides the severe burns, Harry had critically drained his magical reserves during his struggle with Voldemort.
Lily ended up visiting her eldest son in the Hospital Ward during every spare moment she could find. She would watch his unconscious, unmoving body as he lay in the coma. Lily watched him while trying desperately to come up with a way to help her son.
Lily would often spend these visits speaking with Hermione, who had outright refused to leave Harry's side. The younger witch had gone so far as to commandeer the bed next to Harry's as her own. Lily would've done the same thing, but she had two other distraught children to care for. She had spent a full day trying to ease the nerves of Remmy and Alice, and to assure them that everything was fine.
It was during her regular visits to the Hospital Ward that Lily took the initiative to get to know the woman who had her son's heart. Hermione would tell Lily tales of Harry's life. Lily quickly formed a bond with Hermione. Through these conversations, she discovered that they had a great deal in common; they were both compassionate women who were intelligent and brave, and they just happened to both be in love with stubborn, brave, and proud men.
Hermione used this time to get to know her own family, as well. Paullina, Edward, and Emilia would often visit with Hermione during her vigil in the Hospital Ward. Sometimes, Lily happened to be in there when the Grangers would stop by and visit. Hermione took a great amount of joy in playing with her new-found baby sister.
The news of the rebirth and death of Voldemort had spread like wildfire throughout the wizarding world. The press had a field day; the main story in the Daily Prophet for several days after the attack was that the Ministry had somehow conspired with Voldemort and his followers after his rebirth and that those in charge had placed Death Eaters in key points within the government. Due to the public outcry, an investigation was immediately launched into corruption in the government. In the aftermath, a number of Ministry officials were sacked and some were even arrested on charges of corruption. Fudge himself had resigned his post on November 7th, and Amelia Bones was elected as the new Minister of Magic.
The press was also clamoring with stories about how Voldemort had been killed by Dumbledore. Of course, there were still a few random rumors that someone else was the one to actually vanquish the Dark Lord, but no one believed them: especially the one where a scrawny boy physically strangled the most feared dark wizard in recent history. Not when Dumbledore, the greatest Wizard alive, admitted to defeating The Dark Lord in a press conference. Of course, the press had eaten up Dumbledore's heroic tale.
Lily couldn't express her gratitude for the older wizard as once again, he took the 'credit' for Voldemort's downfall. Sixteen years before, Dumbledore knew that not only was Lily in danger of retaliation from Death Eaters, but that she and her family would also be in danger from the press. He realized that during such a fragile time in her life, Lily would be torn apart by the media, and that she would never lead a normal life if the truth had gotten out; that she was the one who cast the Killing Curse at Voldemort. So Dumbledore took both the blame and the credit for Voldemort's downfall. Now, once again, Dumbledore had taken the blame and the credit, but this time it was to protect her son, Harry. It was the only way to ensure that he wouldn't have to face the public scrutiny, which was sure to follow.
It was during Harry's third day in the coma, that Dumbledore invited the other time-line's Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna, along with some of the faculty, to his office. He wanted the privacy to ask the children what had happened when Harry was hit with the Killing Curse, and more importantly, how they knew it would not affect him.
"We figured that it had to do with the prophesy," answered Ron. The young wizard had become the group's unofficial spokesman since Hermione refused to leave Harry's side. "Several months ago, Harry turned seventeen and the wards around the Dursley's house fell. A few of the Order's members where moving him out of his relatives' house when the Death Eaters attacked. When the attack started, the Order members were killed right away, which left Harry to try his best to protect his relatives…"
"Even though the blighters didn't deserve it," interjected the other time's Ginny. "After the way those bastards treated him, they were lucky Harry didn't try and help the Death Eaters kill them."
"Anyway," continued Ron, "when the reinforcements had finally arrived, Vernon had already been killed when he was Banished through a wall. Petunia and Dudley were trying to escape when one of the Death Eaters launched a Killing Curse at them. Trying to protect them, Harry jumped in the way of the curse and got hit by it. Everyone expected him to drop dead. But for some reason, the curse just bounced off of Harry and struck back at the Death Eater who cast it. The Death Eater got vaporized while all Harry got was a new scar.
"Since the prophesy stated that only Harry and Voldemort could kill each other, we kind of assumed that they were somewhat immortal, except if they fought each other," finished Ron.
"So when Harry was disguised as Lucius and stated that he died when he was hit with a Killing Curse…" Lily began.
"Hermione figured that it was really Harry, and that he was trying to tell us that he was fine and to continue with their plan," Ron added. "Hermione had told us that when she and Harry where in the Hospital Ward and found out about the Death Eaters attacking the school through Harry's link with You-Know-Who, they came up with their plan to use the Basilisk…"
"They both realized that I, I mean, this world's me never opened the Chamber and that Slytherin's monster was still alive," Ginny continued. "Hermione formulated the plan where Harry would milk the Basilisk's venom and then use the monster against any Death Eaters outside the Great Hall."
"They planned on using the Basilisk to fight the Death Eaters?" asked Dumbledore. "That was very dangerous; dozens of innocents could have died."
"Actually, they never intended for the monster to come inside the Great Hall," Neville answered. "According to what Hermione told us in the Great Hall, if You-Know-Who hadn't used the mirror to contact Lestrange, Hermione would've started to drop the needed hints or even come out and simply tell him about the monster. Hermione's plan revolved around getting as many Death Eaters away from the students as possible; she knew that he would send his goons to do the dirty work. It just so happened that You-Know-Who did the hard part for her when he 'found out' about the Basilisk."
"It was Harry who used the Blasting Hex on the monster," Luna added in a dreamy tone. "He would never risk letting that thing be controlled by Riddle again. It had to be destroyed for everyone's safety."
"When Harry came in, disguised as Malfoy, and stated that he had seen 'Harry die,' Hermione knew that the plan was working," Ron stated.
"And that's why Hermione confronted Voldemort, isn't it?" Lily asked. "To distract him, allowing Harry the time to put the Homing Charms on the all of the Death Eaters?"
"Yeah, and thanks for helping out," responded Ginny. "We thought the plan was blown when V-V-Voldemort threatened Hermione." Lily was silently impressed that Ginny had finally forced herself to say that fearful name. "That's Harry's weak spot; 'don't hurt his friends, especially Hermione.'" Ron, Neville, Luna, and Ginny shared a brief chuckle at their inside joke.
"Thank you very much for filling in the details, however, I am sad to say that I have some troubling news for the six of you," stated Dumbledore solemnly. "I have been scouring the library, as well as quietly questioning some of my colleagues, trying to find some way to return you to your proper time-line and, more importantly, your families. I'm saddened to tell you that such a task is impossible. Even if we were able to recreate the accident which brought you here, there would be no way to guide your 'journey'; you could end up in any one of millions of alternate time-lines. There is no way in which we can reunite you with your families."
"Actually Albus," Lily interjected, "I don't think that's an issue. I had overheard Hermione and my son talking, before the Death Eater attack. I don't believe they want to go back."
The four young wizards and witches from the other time-line shared a guilty look.
"I can tell from what little I heard, that the war that has waged in their time-line didn't go well for them," Lily continued. "Apparently, a number of their families are dead, or worse. Only death and pain wait for them in their time. But, here, their loved ones are alive and whole. From what I have learned, I wouldn't want to go back either. I'm sure that I speak for everyone here, when I say that we gladly accept them into our families and lives."
"Thank you, Professor Potter," Ron said with a genuine smile.
Eight days after the attack, Poppy bust into Lily's office with wonderful news; Harry had finally woken up! Poppy informed Lily that Harry was fine except that the young man was running a slight fever. Normally, in this situation, Poppy just gave her patients a Pepper-Up potion, but that potion would react adversely with the other potions that she was using to continue to heal the extreme burns on Harry's hands. Because of this, Poppy had decided to let Harry's immune system fight the mild fever.
"Are you going to go see him now?" Poppy asked.
Lily's first instinct was to knock Poppy out of her way as she rushed to the Hospital Ward, to hug her son. But she knew better. For one thing, Lily had decided to let Harry spend some time with his fiancée, Hermione. More importantly, from what Lily knew of her sister, Petunia, and the way that horrid woman must have raised her Harry, and the stories in which Hermione had shared with her concerning Harry's childhood, Lily knew that rushing into Harry's life and demanding to be part of it would be jarring, even harmful to the poor boy. Harry would have to be the one to invite her into his life.
"No, not just yet," Lily responded to the Healer's question. "I'll give Harry and Hermione a little time alone. Besides I have something I need to do first."
Lily took her time as she walked to the school's kitchen. When she finally entered, Lily was swarmed by a dozen helpful and eager house-elves.
"Whats can we's get for you, Mrs. Professor Lil-Lil?" asked one particularly excited elf, as he hopped in one place, offering Lily a plateful of kippers.
"Actually, I need some help collecting some ingredients," Lily answered. "But I need to make the soup by myself, if you don't mind."
Of course they did mind. One house-elf cried softly as Lily stirred the simmering soup, while a chubby one begged Lily to allow him to finish it. Lily tried to explain to them that this was something that only she could do and that they weren't doing anything wrong. But the poor little beings couldn't understand.
After it was done, Lily conjured a bed tray, silverware, and a bowl. She ladled the soup into the bowl and placed a Warming Charm on the bowl. She went to the Hospital Ward, and her son.
When Lily entered the Ward, she saw Hermione sitting on Harry's bed speaking to him.
"…she's an absolute cutie! She's smart, and clever. Do you know she's reading all by herself now? She hasn't shown any signs that she has any magic yet, but I swear if she does, she's destined to be in Ravenclaw. Emilia can count well past a hundred, and add as well. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it is to have a sister!" Hermione told Harry. "But you're going to find that out, soon! I mean, not only do you have a little sister, but you have a brother, too!"
"I'm really excited to meet them," replied Harry, with a rosy bloom to his cheeks.
"Emilia is a wonderful child, but…" Hermione continued in a hushed tone, "she's a bit of a chatterbox."
"I have no clue where she got that trait from," said Harry playfully, as he took one of his still-heavily bandaged hands and brushed a lose strand of Hermione's hair behind her ear. "It can't be a family trait, now can it?"
"Was that a crack, Potter?" Hermione retorted. The young witch laughed. Upon noticing Lily waiting patiently, Hermione greeted her. "Hello, Mrs. Potter."
Harry paled instantaneously as he finally saw his mother.
"I'll leave you two alone," said Hermione as she stood up and left the room after kissing Harry.
"Hello… Harry. How are you?" Lily had forced herself to not refer to the young man as "baby."
"I'm fine… m-ma'am," Harry said, and Lily noticed that he stuttered slightly when he referred to her as "ma'am". As if he wanted to call her something else but could not bring himself to say the word.
"Poppy told me you have slight fever," said Lily, as she placed the bed tray in front of Harry. "There is a Muggle tradition when someone gets sick that they eat chicken soup. It's said that it helps the body heal itself."
On the way to visit Harry, Lily had internally practiced that line. What she had so desperately wanted to say was; "when a child gets sick, his mum feeds him chicken soup." But she feared that because of his troubled upbringing, Harry could react poorly and possibly shut her out.
"And because of these dreadful things covering your hands," began Lily as she gestured to the bandages covering his hands, "would you mind if I feed you?"
"Actually, I am kind of hungry… ma'am," Harry said, while avoiding looking directly into Lily's eyes.
Lily sat down on the bed next to the young man. With a tremble to her hand, Lily scooped up some of the soup and raised it to Harry's lips. With slight trepidation, he opened his mouth.
"I know this is a little embarrassing, Harry," stated Lily as Harry swallowed the soup. He shook his head with his eyes downcast. After the third spoonful, Lily asked him, "How is it?"
"Really good, ma'am," he replied. Lily noticed that he too was trembling slightly. As she continued to feed him, Lily imagined what it must have been for Harry growing up with the Dureslys.
What she knew of her sister and her family, Lily could tell that Harry was never fed soup when he got sick. He was most likely told to toughen up, or worse, locked away so he couldn't infect Dudley. And furthermore, whenever he had a scraped knee, the pain would never have been kissed away; instead he was probably told that he deserved it because of what he was. Whenever he would have woken up from a nightmare, he was never held lovingly nor reassured that the monster under the bed wasn't real. He was never told a bedtime story or sung to so he could fall asleep. He was more than likely never even kissed goodnight.
As she spooned the last remnants of the soup for Harry, Lily noticed that she was crying softly. She saw that Harry had his face down, away from her.
"Ma'am, can I…?" Harry began to ask a question as Lily Vanished the tray and its contents. Lily could tell that he was fighting back tears, much like she was. "Can I…?" Harry began again, but abruptly stopped.
"Harry, you can ask me anything," Lily said as she tried to compose herself.
"Can I call you 'mum'?" he asked softly, and looked up and into Lily's eyes. Lily could see years of pain in his eyes, years of pain because he was denied a mother.
"Yes, you can," Lily said as her tears flowed freely down her face. Lily wrapped her arms around Harry's thin frame and poured all of her love into him. "You can call me anything you like, baby."
"Hello, mum," said Harry as he melted into his mother's embrace.
Mother and son sat on the bed, just holding each other until Harry feel asleep in her arms as she sang him a lullaby. Lily gazed at the young man in her arms and thought about those fateful Halloweens. For sixteen years, that was the worst holiday, they always reminded her of the death of her baby boy. But now, Halloween will be remembered for the day her baby boy came back to her.
Three days after Harry had woken up, Poppy finally released him, satisfied that he had healed completely. That night, the Grangers, Weasleys, Lovegoods, Potters, and Neville all enjoyed a feast in a magical room known as "The Room of Requirement" that somehow the six young people from the other time-line knew. Lily would've been fascinated by the charms and the basic magic in the Room if her attention wasn't happily on her children. Harry was taking this opportunity to get to know his new brother and sister.
"You've seen the mere-people up close?" Remmy asked with awe. "What're they like?"
"Well…" Harry paused as he tried to think of a way to describe them. "They're not as pretty as you'd expect."
"Forget that!" interrupted Alice. "I heard you can cast a corporeal Patronus!"
"Yeah, Remus taught me. I can teach you how to do it," replied Harry with a smile. "I was able to teach it to a few others, including Hermione."
"A corporeal Patronus?" Remmy blurted out in even more awe. "What form does it take?"
"A stag," Harry said and winked at his father. James dropped his fork with a clatter. Harry chuckled at his father's reaction. "Yeah, that was pretty much the same way our time-line's Remus reacted when he saw it."
"I don't get it," Remmy said. "What's the deal about a stag?"
"Never mind, we'll tell you later," Lily stated, she was quite content that two of her three children didn't know that their father was an illegal Animagus.
"Do you play Quidditch?" Alice asked, immediately changing the subject. Harry nodded and Alice began to bounce in her seat. "Oh, are you a Chaser like me and Dad?"
"No, he's a brilliant Seeker." Ron said, joining the conversation. "Speaking of which, we have got to play a game tomorrow."
"Ron, I don't have a broom," Harry argued.
"Sod that!" Ron replied to which his mother chastised his language.
"Just borrow one of the school's brooms," Ginny offered. "We can have a pick-up game; the Weasleys versus the Potters."
For some reason, Ron looked nervously between Harry and his own brother, Charlie, who was a fairly decent Seeker. "Can't we do one time-line against the other? I want Harry on my team."
"Cor blimey!" Remmy exclaimed as he saw Harry's belated birthday present, or rather sixteen years' worth of belated birthday presents, from both his father and Godfather; a Nimbus X2. "Can I ride it, Harry?"
"Not until after he rides it, Remmy," Alice said. "And only after I get to ride it."
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to use best mate privileges here, kids," Ron said as he strolled across the school's Quidditch pitch. "I'm first after Harry."
"No you're not," stated Harry, as he threw his arm around his significantly taller sister's shoulders. "My little sister goes after me."
"Fine, you gonna test it before the game?" Ron asked, as Hermione stomped up to the group.
"Yeah, I reckon I give it a once around…" began Harry.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Hermione scolded her fiancé and Remmy once again muttered in fear "…all three names…" Hermione placed her fists on her hips as she continued to berate Harry. "Your family hasn't seen you fly yet!"
"So?" Harry questioned.
"So you will not fly like you normally do! You will scare them to death if you do! You will fly the way I fly, until they become accustomed to your… style!"
"Fly like you do?" Ron sputtered. "But then he'd barely leave the ground!"
"Yes, that's my point!" Hermione concluded.
"Hermione, dear," Lily said trying to calm the situation. "James and Alice are both skilled flyers. I watched them fly hundreds of times. I won't be afraid when Harry flies."
"But you don't understand…" Hermione began to argue.
"It is alright, Hermione." Lily placed a hand on the younger witch's shoulder and continued to Harry, "You can fly anyway you like, dear."
"Thanks, mum," Harry beamed, and in a blink of an eye, he was rocketing up into the sky.
Lily stepped closer to James as Harry became a speck in the cloudless sky. The first thought that entered Lily's mind was that the broom was faulty somehow. "Is it supposed to go so fast?" She asked her husband. But before he could answer, Harry came plummeting back to earth. Now she knew the damn thing was defective and that Harry had lost control! Lily's heart was dropping almost as fast as her son was.
"Oh my God!" James exclaimed, as he started to mount his broom. Lily knew that he couldn't reach their son in time; Harry was falling too rapidly.
If Lily or James had bothered to look at the other people from the alternate-time-line, they would be surprised seeing that their reactions were completely different from theirs. Luna was putting flowers in her hair as Neville was telling her the magical properties of some of those flowers. The other Ginny was trying to teach her counterpart some tricks on how play Quidditch. While Ron was idly cleaning dirt out from under his fingernails, as if Harry's life and death predicament was boring him. But the most extreme reaction belonged to Hermione; she was the only one of the five intently following Harry's descent. However she showed no sign of fear, but actual ire toward her fiancé.
By the time James had mounted his broom, Harry was less than half a second from crashing into the ground. Lily's breath was taken away when her eldest son's broom took a ridiculously sharp turn and propelled itself bare centimeters above the surface of the pitch. He was flying so low that his robe was actually ripping up a narrow path in the grass.
"HARRY!" Hermione angrily shouted. "HARRY JAMES POTTER, GET BACK HERE, NOW!"
Harry skimmed the ground as he turned around, this time kicking up dirt along with the grass. What he did next made James fall off his broom which fortunately was only three feet in the air. Their son stood up on his broom and rode it like a very thin surfboard. The broom and rider slowed to a halt in front of Hermione.
"Apologize!" demanded the brunette witch.
"For what?" Harry asked, completely perplexed.
"You scared your mother!" Hermione chastised him while indicating Lily.
Shocked at his mother's condition, Harry hopped off his broom and rushed to her. He enveloped the now ghostly pale woman in a hug and guiltily muttered, "Sorry, mum."
"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" Lily asked while patting his body down, checking Harry for any injuries. "If one has the audacity to call that flying!"
"Nobody actually taught him. But Oliver Wood told him to once 'Get the Snitch or die trying'. Harry took him literally." Hermione informed Lily. "But honestly, that stunt he just pulled was nothing compared to the time with the Horntail…"
"What? Wait, no, I don't want to know," Lily stammered. "Not just yet, at least. Maybe you can tell me after my heart returns to its proper location."
"That. Was. AWESOME!" Remmy cheered after he had picked his father up from the ground. The boy ran up to his new older brother and demanded; "You've got to teach me how to do that!"
"No, he will NOT!" Lily and Hermione commanded in unison.
"I claim Harry as my Seeker!" called James, as he brushed grass from his robes and then added with pride: "I've never seen anyone fly like that!"
"Don't encourage him!" again, Lily and Hermione ordered in unison. Both women had their fists on their hips and were standing in the almost exact same posture.
"Um, that's kind of eerie," Harry said to his father.
"How similar they are? Yes," James agreed. "Well, apparently it's true; all boys end up marrying someone a bit like their mother," James added and patted his eldest son on the back.
Lily and Hermione shared a smile as the younger witch said to the senior: "Do try to keep you man in line."
"Only if you do."
The End.
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this, and even bigger thanks to those who left reviews; I really do appreciate it. Also, huge thanks to my beta sasqch.