If Lily Lived by faded memories



Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years ***

An AU fic exploring the possibility of Lily living. **DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS**
Rating: PG-13 starstarstarstarhalf-star
Categories: Alternate Universe
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2007.08.28
Updated: 2007.11.25


If Lily Lived by faded memories
Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived
Author's Notes:

It was October 31st, 1981, and all was quiet in the sleepy little village of Godric’s Hollow, so no one was awake to see a man in black robes appear outside a small cottage. The man, whose name was Voldemort, walked into the cottage. The family sitting on the couch looked up. Seeing Voldemort, they ran upstairs. Voldemort followed them, intending to kill only the young boy, Harry Potter. When Voldemort found the family huddled in a bedroom, he drew a long, thin wand from inside his robes. The other adults did the same.

Voldemort looked at the woman with thinly disguised disgust. “I'll let you go, Mudblood, if you just give me the boy.”

The woman, whose name was Lily, ran in front of her son, protecting him. Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at Lily. Just as the curse left Voldemort’s lips, Lily’s husband, James, stood in front of her. “Lily- I love you. Take Harry and-” Before he could finish, there was a flash of green light, and James was lying unmoving on the floor.

“NO! JAMES!” Lily screamed.

Voldemort just smiled and launched another curse at her. Lily ducked, and the curse missed her. She didn’t pull her son down quickly enough, and the curse hit him in the head. The boy, however, did not die. The curse rebounded and hit Voldemort, who promptly blew up. Lily sat on the floor and cried for a while, holding Harry. A few hours later, Lily packed several trunks and stepped into her fireplace. She pulled out a package of green powder and threw it into the fireplace. “Severus Snape’s house!” she shouted. With a puff of flames, she disappeared and reappeared in a small and shabby house. She stepped out of the grate and shook herself off. “Sevvy? Are you home? It’s Lily,” she called.

Her name was the magic word, and a thin man with greasy black hair came pounding down the stairs and enveloped Lily in a hug.

“Where’s James?” he asked. When Lily began crying, he frowned. “What’s wrong, Lily?”

“You-Know-Who killed him. A second curse hit Harry, but he didn’t die. He has a scar that’s bleeding really badly, though. Could you help? Is it all right if I stay here a while?”

Severus hugged Lily and agreed. “It’s been hard since I left the Death Eaters, but I have a nest egg in Gringott’s.”

Lily nodded and said, “So do I.”

Lily ended up staying with Severus for longer than she had intended. She had missed the company of her first wizard friend. One night, as they were sitting by the fire, Severus looked at Lily and said, “Don’t you miss the old days sometimes?”

Lily turned to Severus and said, “That’s exactly what I was thinking! You're not using Legilimency against me, are you?”

Severus smiled and said, “No, I was not using Legilimency against you. I’ve just known you since you were eight.”

Lily smiled and said, “I wonder what House Harry is going to get Sorted into at Hogwarts,” Lily said.

Severus looked at lily quizzically. “Surely you can’t be thinking about Hogwarts now? He’s only two.”

“I was just wondering. Don’t you remember when we were little? We were always talking about Hogwarts and magic and Houses?”

Snape gave a small smile and said, “Of course.”

Over the years, a romance blossomed between Severus and Lily. The summer Harry turned five, they were married.

The wedding was a quiet affair, with only Lily’s family and friends in attendance. Snape did not invite anyone, because his whole family were Death Eaters, and almost everyone hated him for it.

The dress Lily wore was a masterpiece that took Madam Malkin and her assistants three months to make with the help of one of the most famous wizard tailors of all time, Jacques Marlenge. When Lily stepped onto the aisle on her wedding day, there was a collective gasp from the attendees. Even Dumbledore, acting as the father of the bride, was astonished.

The man presiding was a short, impatient man. He rushed through the wedding, and slowed down for the vows only when Lily asked him to. “Do you, Severus Snape take Lily Potter to be your lawfully wedded wife until death do us part?”

Severus looked solemnly at Lily and said, “I do.”

The man turned to Lily and said, “Do you, Lily Potter, take Severus Snape as your lawfully wedded husband until death do us part?”

Lily looked up at Severus and smiled. “I d-”

Before she could finish, there was a flash of green light, and Lily fell to the floor, dead. Severus looked up and saw none other than Bellatrix Lestrange. She smiled. “That teaches you to marry a filthy blood traitor, Snape!” She Disapparated.

“Mum!” Harry cried. He ran over to his mother. “Don’t leave me Mummy. Don’t go! Not like Daddy!”

Severus tore Harry away from his mother’s body and held him close. “Shh… be quiet, Harry.”

Harry stayed with Severus until Lily’s will was found. It had not been updated since before James died. In her will, Lily said that Harry was to go and live with Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Snape was not sad to see Harry go because his green eyes haunted him and made him think of Lily.

Mrs. Dursley,

Your sister, Lily Snape (formerly Lily Potter) has just died. In her will, she named you as her son’s guardian. This is because of an enchantment protecting Harry, ensuring his safety. As long as he can call a place that has his mother’s blood in it “home,” he will be save from Voldemort, an evil wizard. Since you are her sister, he must stay with you. I ask you treat him as your own son.

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Dear Petunia,

You may not remember me, but I am the person who first told Lily about magic. I recently married her. Would you please take care of her son for me?

Severus Snape


The Dursleys were not pleased to have Harry Potter living in their house, so they banished him to a little cupboard under the stairs. He was only allowed to come out to do various chores and to go to school.

The years with the Dursley s were torture for Harry. He knew about his magic, but he was forbidden to speak about it. He wasn’t allowed an owl, so he couldn’t write to anyone in the Wizarding World or even get a Daily Prophet. By his seventh birthday, Harry had almost completely forgotten about the Wizarding World. It was only in his dreams that he visited his favourite haunts: a special niche in Flourish & Blotts, a special couch in Florian and Fotiscue’s, the hidden room in Severus Snape’s house. During, the day, however, Harry did not allow himself to even think about magic.

Dudley, the Dursley boy was a short, fat boy the same age as Harry. His favourite pastime was torturing Harry. In one such incident, Harry ended up on the roof while being chased by Dudley. This got him into a lot of trouble, especially because he couldn’t- or wouldn’t- give an explanation as to why and how he landed on the roof.

Another remarkable incident occurred at Dudley’s eleventh birthday. The Dursleys had to bring Harry along, much to their discomfort. While they were in the reptile area at the zoo, Harry was caught hissing at a snake. Dudley pushed Harry aside to get a better look at the snake, who was hissing back. The glass between Dudley and the snake vanished, and Dudley fell into the enclosure. After the snake escaped from its enclosure, the glass reappeared, trapping Dudley. Mr. Dursley blamed Harry for the incident and shut him up in the cupboard under the stairs for a week.

One day in July, as he went to collect the post, Harry found a letter addressed to him. Harry slipped the letter into his cupboard before giving Mr. Dursley the other mail. After Harry finished his breakfast, he slipped into his cupboard to read the letter.

The letter was from a school called Hogwarts. As Harry read the letter, it all came back to him: his mother, her death, watching her perform magic and make potions. The letter said a representative from Hogwarts was going to arrive on July 31st. Harry shoved the letter into his pocket and ran out to the kitchen. “Uncle Vernon,” he said, addressing Mr. Dursley. “How come you never let me talk about my magic? You knew I was going to be a wizard. It’s impossible to squash it out of me. I’m going to school, and there’s noting you can do about it! HA!” Harry made a rude gesture in Mr. Dursley’s general direction, and then proceeded to dance around the house. He knew the Dursley s wouldn’t dare hurt him for fear of being cursed.

He went to bed smiling and woke up early the next morning. He was up, dressed, and sitting in front of the door by the time the Dursleys got up. When the doorbell rang, Harry leapt up and pulled it open with a huge smile. “Hello. Are you-” He broke off when he saw the gigantic man in front of him.

“Hello. How are yeh, Harry? I'm Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts. I'm here to get yeh ter Diagon Alley. Blimey, I can’t believe I'm ‘ere with Harry Potter. Le’s get goin’ then, shall we?”

The trip to Diagon Alley saw Harry pulling Hagrid to all his favourite shops. They practically flew between Flourish and Blott’s and Florian and Fortiscue’s and all the other shops in Diagon Alley.

When Harry calmed down, they went into Ollivander’s. Harry tried almost every wand in the shop before he found the perfect wand. Ollivander started muttering after Harry chose that wand. He told Harry that his wand’s twin killed his father and gave him his scar. Harry rubbed his scar, something he did when he was confused. “You mean, Voldemort-” he was cut of by a strangled noise coming from Hagrid. “Oh, all right. You mean You-Know-Who’s wand had a phoenix feather from the same phoenix as mine and also wood from the same tree?” Ollivander nodded, and Harry sat down, puzzled.

When he was done musing, he went on with his shopping. He got a good cauldron, his schoolbooks, and potion ingredients as well as his school robes. The final thing he bought was a snowy owl that he named Hedwig, after his mother’s favourite saint.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were not happy about Hedwig, but they didn’t give voice to any complaints because they were suddenly scared of Harry and anything that had to do with him.

When the time came for Harry to go to King’s Cross, the Dursley s did not accompany him. Instead, Hagrid came to fetch him. Hagrid dropped him off right outside the station and gave him a friendly shove. “Off yeh go then, Harry. I ‘spect I'll be seein’ yeh at Hogwarts.”

Harry waved and walked into the station, looking for platform 9¾. He could not see it, but he did catch a glimpse of a family of redheads. “Come on, Percy. You first. Quickly now, we don’t want the Muggles seeing anything.” The boy walked up to a barrier, but before Harry could see what he did to it, a group of French tourists stampeded in front of him, jabbering away in French. As soon as the tourists were gone, he wheeled his cart over to the family.

“Excuse me?” he said politely to the mother. “Could you tell me how to get onto Platform 9¾?”

She smiled. “You just walk straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Is it your first year at Hogwarts?” When Harry nodded, she smiled again. “It’s Ron’s first year, too.”

The boy beside her smiled. Harry smiled and turned to the only girl in the group. “Is it your first year, too?” he asked.

The girl shook her head. “I have to wait a year.” She made a face and held out her hand. “I’m Ginny Weasley. What’s your name?”

Harry took her hand and said, “Harry. Harry Potter.”

Her eyes widened. “Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?”

Harry smiled and said, “Yep. That’s the one.”

At the same time, Ginny’s mother scolded her for “gawking at Harry like he’s a zoo animal.”

Harry laughed and said, “I don’t mind. I don’t like it, but it’s part of being famous.”

Mrs. Weasley gave him a small smile before saying, “Go on, then. You don’t want to be late.”

Ginny smiled at Harry. “Good luck!”

Harry ran towards the barrier. He closed his eyes half-expecting to hit it. He did not, however. He emerged into a large crowd full of parents saying goodbye to their children. Harry hurtled headfirst into a large black train. Everyone turned to look at him, and Harry heard murmurs of, “Look ant that scar…” and “Could it be Harry Potter?” go through the crowd. Harry picked himself up and dusted his clothing off. He pointed his wand at his glasses and muttered, “Reparo.” It was a spell he had seen his mother use many times on his glasses. The glasses mended themselves seamlessly, and Harry stepped on to the train.

Harry sat down in the first empty compartment he found and stowed his luggage in the rack. Ron Weasley came into his compartment. “Can I sit in here? Everywhere else is full.”

Harry grinned. “Sure. I'm Harry Potter.”

Ron smiled. “I’m Ron Weasley, Ginny’s brother.”

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