The Order of the Phoenix was not an army, that was something the leadership had always been clear about, but that didn’t mean Lily was never a soldier. She’d trained, she’d fought in battles, she’d even had a uniform of sorts, a dark hat to hide her bright red hair, sensible boots built for running rather than looks, a pair of jeans that still had blood stains on them. Most importantly, she’d had her weapons: her wand, yes, tucked in a sheath on her forearm, but also what she called her bag of tricks. It was full of potions, most of which weren’t taught below NEWT levels, if they were taught in Hogwarts at all. Some were of her own invention, nasty little things that probably would have raised red flags if she’d bothered to register them with the Ministry. She kept the knowledge of the little bag’s contents close to her chest, but there had been a time when it hadn’t left her side.
She’d started leaving it home a few months ago, but this morning she couldn’t get herself through the door without it. It was not how she wanted to start the year, feeling like a paranoid veteran who couldn’t leave their war in the past, but with the recent escapes from Azkaban, was it really in the past? Or was that just the paranoia talking? Lily shook her head and pushed her hair back from her face, because that had always worked to dislodge unwelcome thoughts in the past. Not. Many unbidden mental images of James Potter’s ass in his quidditch uniform had been dealt with similarly, back in the day, and to the same, minimal, effect. At least that had worked out for the best, which Lily was actively reminded as Harry tugged eagerly on her hand. He’d been promised a playdate with Neville and the twins, and although Lily had her own ulterior motives for the visit, Harry’s excitement made her smile.
In a wave of red hair and a shower of toddler giggles, Lily hauled Harry up onto her hip. At 3 and nearly a half, and already clearly taking after James’ lankly limbs rather than Lily’s own diminutive stature, he was quickly getting too big for Lily to carry for long periods of time, but that wasn’t about to stop her. Nor was the teasing voice in her head, which somehow sounded like both James and Marlene, that reminded her the boy could actually walk. One tiny hand just didn’t seem like enough of a tether, especially not on days like today. So with Harry’s diaper bag, which no longer held diapers but instead a myriad of other useful things, and Lily’s purse, with her bag of tricks tucked firmly inside, to balance her out, Lily set of down the front walk before turning on her heel and aparating to the end of the Longbottom’s street.
Being a muggleborn meant never quite being entirely sure what the proper etiquette of the wixen world was but, luckily for Lily, being Lily meant never really caring about what was proper etiquette as long as what you were doing felt good and polite to you. And when it came to apparition, just suddenly appearing on someone’s doorstep felt far more rude and alarming to Lily than approaching from a reasonable distance on foot. So she and Harry made their way down the street, snuggly bundled up against the chill wind. They reached the front door in a particularly cold gust of wind that had Harry struggling to pull down his hat with his mittens while Lily knocked. Then, sweetly because, really, her son was very sweet, Harry reached up to adjust Lily’s hat, too, managing to pull it down over her eyes just as she saw the door begin to open.
“Hi!” The word came out on a chuckle as Lily flailed slightly, trying to free a hand so she could push her hat back up. “Just a moment. There we go.” Finally, she managed to shift things just enough to push her hat back above her eyes. “Hello, good morning, how are you?” she asked, still smiling. Because when you’d done and seen the sort of things she and especially Alice had done and seen, a toddler being adorable, even in an inconvenient way, was never not something to smile about.
