Chapter 2

Lily’s POV

Lily Potter was afraid that she was going to have to waste energy to Incendio a hat. 'Put my son in Slytherin, honestly.' She did not have anything against Slytherin house. In fact, in different circumstances, her son would have thrived in the house of the snake. After ten years with Petunia, there was no doubt that he was cunning; he had to be. Lily also knew that her son was a parselmouth; though, she did not think that he realized it. That trait alone would have given him a lot of joy in Slytherin. Unfortunately, with the number of children related to former Death Eaters housed in Slytherin, she did not feel that it would be the safe, peaceful place that he so desperately needed.

Lily, through the years, has had the ability to watch over her son. At first, on that terrible Halloween night, Lily and James had both stayed behind to wait for Harry after they had been killed. Then, the impossible happened; the killing curse that Voldemort aimed at Harry rebounded back on him, leaving behind a crying Harry and a pile of ash where Voldemort had once stood. At that point, James and Lily stayed to make sure that someone came for Harry. When Sirius came and picked him up from the rubble, James wanted them both to leave, with the knowledge that Harry was in good hands. "Please James, just a little while longer. I need to see that he is safe." When Hagrid arrived and Sirius handed Harry off to him to chase after Peter, she started to get a bad feeling. Dumbledore arrived finally, which satisfied James. Lily almost left with James, but then she heard Dumbledore murmuring about needing to figure out a safe place for Harry.

Both Lily and James were beginning to get tired, and could feel the huge pull to move on. "We need to go Lily, or we risk being trapped here." "I know, you're right.” Lily sighed, “Albus is here, I’m sure Harry is in good hands." Lily turned and began to walk onward with James. But then, just as James was fading out, Lily heard Dumbledore say to Hagrid "Harry must be left with blood relations. Lily has a sister with a small boy a tad older than Harry. I need you to take Harry to see Madame Pomfrey, then bring him to me in Little Whinging, Surrey."

Lily turned back to look at Dumbledore, “No, what are you saying, he can't go there, Petunia hates the magical world, he will be miserable there!" Without a single glance back at the spot where her husband had been, Lily walked over to look at her son as he slept in Hagrid's arms. The sluggishness that had been nagging her could no longer be ignored and with a last look at Harry, Lily fell into blackness.

When Lily awoke, she was standing outside #4 Privet Drive as Hagrid wept over Harry in front of Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster. She heard Minerva expressing her doubts about leaving Harry with Petunia and found herself cheering mentally. 'Of course, my old head of house would never let this travesty occur. Plus, Dumbledore must really be as senile as everyone thinks because Petunia is going to laugh in his face when he tries to leave Harry with her.'

The Headmaster then left Harry on the doorstep of Petunia's home with a note. "You're just going to leave my baby, are you insane? What if they decide to have a lie-in, he could freeze to death before they find him!" Lily watched in shock and fury as Hagrid rode away, McGonagall shifted into her animagus form and sauntered off, and Dumbledore walked away to the end of the street. He stopped and seemed to release balls of light back into the street lamps. Then, he was gone.

Lily could not even begin to fathom what Dumbledore had been thinking. Knowing that she could not even think about leaving until she knew what would happen to Harry, Lily went and sat next to his basket to wait. Lily was almost frantic by the time the door to the house was opened. Petunia opened the door and immediately spotted the baby on her doorstep. She found the note pinned to his blanket and was shocked that it was made out specifically to her. Her shock turned to disgust as she read the note. When she finished reading she scowled, none too gently snatched the basket up, and strode into the house. Lily followed and watched as she paused, and then opened up the supply cupboard under the stairs, shoving the baby, basket and all inside onto the floor of the cupboard. Petunia closed the door then simply strode off and called for Vernon.

At that point, Harry woke up and was apparently frightened by waking up alone in a dimly lit cupboard. Lily was able to move through the door of the cupboard and sit on the floor next to Harry. As he cried, she reached out to stroke his cheek and her breath hitched in a sob as her fingers went right through his face. Wanting desperately to comfort him, she got as close to his ear as she thought would be reasonable and began to sing a soft lullaby.

To her surprise, Harry seemed to hear her and had soon stopped crying and drifted back to sleep. When after an hour no one came to check on him, Lily realized that she would not be leaving Harry's side any time soon.

As time went on, Lily found she could stay conscious for longer and longer periods of time. More and more often, when Vernon or Petunia had been especially cruel to Harry, she was able to sing to him at night to help sooth him. By the time that he was six, she had the energy to send a cool breeze over her son on the hot nights when he was alone in his humid cupboard. When he was eight, she was able to manifest an image of a pit bull to scare of Petunia's fat little heathen and his friend. Then when Harry was ten, Lily watched as Vernon backhanded Harry, causing him to stumble near the staircase. As he began to fall, Lily summoned up her strength and caught him before he was able to take the devastating tumble down the stairs. Knowing that the scene would only enrage Vernon further, she gathered up every last bit of strength that she could, pulled her wand, and obliviated Vernon.

For almost the next year, Lily seemed to slip in and out of consciousness. Occasionally, she would be aware of her surroundings and she would take that time to murmur encouraging words into her little boy's ear. Lily started to wake more and more as Harry’s eleventh birthday approached. When his birthday was a week away, Lily felt the strongest that she ever had since entering her limbo like existence.

     Lily practically jumped for joy when the first Hogwart's letter arrived. She could only smirk when Vernon tore up the first letter. 'Really Vernon, do you actually think that you will stop a magical delivery service?'. As the letters kept arriving, Lily was exuberant. Even when Vernon packed up his obnoxious family, and Harry, to go hide in the cabin on the rocky island, Lily was still joyous. She knew that nothing would keep her son from Hogwarts. She was proven right on the night of Harry's birthday when Hagrid burst through the door of the cabin.

     She then spent the next few weeks practicing going to locations away from Harry so that she could gather information. She went to go spy on the Headmaster, but her time with him was not very revealing. She then decided to find out how Severus was faring. By watching him in his dungeon quarters, Lily was able to gather that he truly had turned on Voldemort to spy for Dumbledore. Though, Severus often raged about James Potter, cursing his name. Sometimes he cursed himself when he spoke to himself of his love for Lily after a few servings of Ogden's finest. One night, about two weeks before the start of term, Severus was again cursing James Potter; but this time, he went on about how Potter had stolen everything that should have been his. Lily was supposed to be his wife! Harry should be a Snape, not a Potter! At those words, Lily smiled to herself as a plan began forming in her mind. That was the night she began whispering in Severus' ear.

     Now, here she was standing next to Severus and watching the rest of the sorting. She realized that something was not quite right about the Defense Professor. The very air around him seemed dead. She reckoned that now was as good a time as any to communicate her concern to Severus so she shouted her warning in his ear in a voice that only he would hear. Under different circumstances, she would have laughed at the way the dignified man dropped his fork. She then walked behind Quirrell and waited until Harry was looking at the head table to make herself visible to him. Being seen was much harder than being heard and so she did not want to waste any energy trying to make herself more obvious to Harry. When Harry finally made eye contact with her, she gave him a concerned look, inclined her head toward Quirrell, and then shook her head no, hoping Harry would understand the warning she was trying to communicate.

When Harry hesitantly nodded his understanding, Lily let herself flicker away out of sight.