Chapter 1
Accidents


Lily leaned against her mother’s side as she watched Hugo waving to her from the back window of his dad’s new car. The remains of the Potter family cringed as a whole, however, when Uncle Ron tried to pull out onto the street and nearly hit an ambulance. And all the cars behind him didn’t seem the least bit relieved that Uncle Ron hadn’t run the ambulance off the road, the way they all began honking madly.

All the same, Lily was jealous.

“Why couldn’t we take the car with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione?�

“It’s a very small car, lovely, with no magical enchantments,� Lily’s father explained, his glasses shifting down the bridge of his nose as he leaned down to speak to his daughter. “There is no way it would be able to hold six people.�

Lily watched as Aunt Hermione began lecturing and gesturing wildly through the car window, while Hugo watch with rapt attention and an amused smile on his face. He was most certainly in for an entertaining show on the ride home. “Couldn’t I just go then?�

“Lily, you’re our child,� her mother argued in a slightly teasing manner. “We can’t very well go handing you off to other people now. Who knows if we would ever get you back?�

Lily couldn’t help but smile to herself as her mother hugged her around her neck and buried her face in Lily’s hair. Her parents never would have said such a thing out loud if her brothers were here. James and Albus would always say that Lily was the family favorite. She was the Potter family’s only girl, as well as the baby of the family. Their parents were constantly trying to assure their children that they were all loved equally, but it was moments like these that would lead the siblings to believe otherwise.

“Besides, Lily Luna,� her dad said, ruffling her hair, his fingers getting caught in the tangled locks, “I would think you and Hugo would be seeing enough of each other soon enough.�

Lily eyes widened; she couldn’t believe she had forgotten. In less than a week, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione would be leaving for a month long holiday in France, and, since it was Lily’s father who was Uncle Ron’s life-long best mate, Hugo would be staying with them while they were away. Hugo had been quite vocal in his questions about his confusion as to why he couldn’t to France too. It wasn’t as though he had school lessons to worry about the way the older Weasley children at Hogwarts did. But for some reason, not one adult seemed willing to allude to the reason why.

Suddenly, the Potter family was distracted by the sounds of several very distinct, very loud pops just ahead of them. All four of the tires on Uncle Ron’s car popped like over-inflated balloons. As soon as the bits of ragged rubber settled, the horns of every car around them began sound off, honking loudly, each one trying to outdo the one before it.

“I think Hugo and Aunt Hermione are still arguing about the Chudley tickets,� Lily remarked as Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione threw the car doors open and began to survey the damage while trying to consol the angry drivers all around them.

It had been an argument that Hugo and his mum had been having for more than a day, and once Rose was packed up on the train, it had started up once again.

Uncle Ron had been able to talk Lily’s mother into sharing her press box seats for an upcoming Chudley Cannons match against the Tutshill Tornados. The Cannons hadn’t won a game in all the years Lily and Hugo had been alive—or even in all the years their parents had been alive—but Uncle Ron had had Hugo convinced that this was the match where that would all change. The Tornados had lost all their seasoned Chasers in the past season, and they had just replaced them with rookies fresh out of Hogwarts.

Aunt Hermione, however, was not so convinced, and she was not about to let Hugo miss a day of lessons just to go to ‘a ridiculous Quidditch game’, which Lily found odd, since Hugo would be missing a month of his classes while he was in Godric’s Hollow with the Potters.

Apparently the argument had truly escalated, given the scene that was unfolding in front of the Potters. Now other people were even starting to get out of their cars so they could yell at Uncle Ron, and Lily’s mother covered her daughter’s ears so that she wouldn’t learn any new words. It didn’t work.

“Harry,� Lily’s mother prompted, tugging at his arm while still trying to hold her daughter’s open ear against her abdomen, “should we do something to help?�

Lily watched as her father furrowed his brow and shrugged his shoulders, utterly confused. “What?� her dad asked. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about fixing a car, and I can’t very well use my wand with so many Muggles around.�

This was true. Although Lily’s father had been raised by Muggles, a fact that Lily’s granddad still found a subject of complete fascination, her father had completely embraced the Wizarding way of life; which also included not having any idea of how to work any Muggle contraptions invented since he came of age. Even Lily could imagine how utterly useless her father would prove in this situation, standing over the fragmented pieces of rubber beside her Uncle Ron, the two men nodding at one another, but not doing anything to actually fix the car.

Lily looked up and watched her mother’s expression become more and more nervous as Ron began facing off against the other angry drivers. It was clear that Lily’s mother wanted to do something; it was just the kind of person she was. She simply couldn’t stand idly by while people were in trouble, especially when it was one of her own family. But at the same time, she was also a fiercely protective mother, and the last thing she would be willing to do was bring her youngest child right into the middle of this great mess.

“Hermione knows more than enough about Muggle matters,� Lily heard her father say finally. “She is certainly much more capable of handling this situation than either of us would be.�

Lily’s mum didn’t seem overly happy with the decision, but all the same, she was hardly one to talk. She didn’t know the first thing about fixing cars either. And if the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee was called in, that would just make for an even greater mess. And so, the Potter family quietly sidestepped their way off the street and away from the scene of the accident. Lily felt her mother’s hands go over her ears once again as the swearing become louder. Looking up at her parents, Lily also made out her father promising her mother that they would make it up to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione later.

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Lily head snapped around instinctively at the sharp ding of the timer. “Mummy! This batch is done!�

Lily’s mother rushed in from the other room and over to the oven, lifting the hot pan with a wave of her wand.

It was traditional that whenever Hugo or Rose were coming to the Potter house to make sure that plates of sweets and the smell of fresh-baked biscuits were there to greet them. No one ever admitted this out loud, but Aunt Hermione was a horrible cook. Keeping this in mind, whenever Rose or Hugo went to visit their grandparents or their aunts and uncles, biscuits or some other form of sweets would be plentiful. Of course, it was an unwritten rule never to reveal the true reason behind this tradition.

Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione would be arriving at the Potter home in mere moments, and Lily and her mother were preparing for the arrival of her cousin alone that morning. Lily’s own father was at work. Even when nothing was wrong in the Wizarding world, as Head of the Aurors Office, there was always something he needed to do.

Suddenly, a series of knocks at the door brought the Potter women racing out of the kitchen. Throwing open the front door, the two redhead offered their welcomes in perfect unison. Aunt Hermione stood at the doorway with a suitcase in one hand and her son, Hugo, in the other. From behind her, Lily could hear the distinct sound of Uncle Ron struggling with something that sounded excruciatingly painful.

“Heavy!� Uncle Ron groaned a he strained to lift the suitcase up the stairs. “So heavy! I hate these steps!�

The bag in Aunt Hermione’s hand was notably smaller and less of a strain to carry. This was something of a pattern everywhere the couple went, and Lily often wondered to herself how her aunt continued to pull it off again and again.

After the door was opened, Hugo yanked himself out of his mother’s grip and charged at his cousin, Lily, attacking her with a tackling hug. Not out of any real affection, of course, but it was something that greatly annoyed Lily after the boy had been hanging on her for more than five minutes. And tormenting girls was always high on the agenda for boys Hugo’s age. After Lily finally got tired of playing along with the game, she dropped the boy to the ground, where he looked up from the floor with sad puppy eyes, as though such a cheap tactic could still be used on Lily Potter after all the years they had known one another.

Everyone who first met Hugo would always remark on how little of a Weasley he appeared. All of Lily’s uncles, Lily noticed, looked faintly alike, with the same shade of orange-red hair and collection of heavy freckles. But all Lily’s cousins seemed to differ from this description in one way or another. There was Victoire and Dominque, red-tinted blondes with an heir of sophistication that even their more burly brother, Louis, seemed to share in his own way. Molly and Lucy both had brown hair, bone straight, like their mother, Audrey’s. And then there were Fred and Roxanne, with their caramel-colored skin and frizzy hair.

None of the Weasley cousins possessed all of the traditional family characteristics, and Hugo was no exception. A few freckles dotted across his nose, but his same red hair was bushy in a way that was so oddly reminiscent of Hermione, it was almost laughable.

Lily had red hair too, but it was far too dark to be traditional Weasley red, and she had no freckles. All of the friends of her grandparents would remark how much Lily looked like her namesake, her dad’s mother, who had been killed when her father was just a baby. Then, it would soon be followed by remarks about how it was a shame that she didn’t have her grandmother’s lovely eyes. Lily, however, did not share this belief. She always though her dad and her brother, Albus’, eyes were strange; they were far too bright and they were shaped strangely. No, she was much happier having her mother’s brown eyes.

Once Lily was finally free of her cousin’s crushing grip, she noticed her Aunt Hermione. Sure, she was happy and smiling, hugging and chatting with her sister-in-law, but there was a nervous manner about her underneath the surface, as though she were hiding something. Lily’s mum must have noticed something was off as well, because she went right to finding the root of it.

“Hermione, what’s going on?� she asked, putting her hand on Aunt Hermione’s shoulder.

Aunt Hermione shuffled uncomfortably, and her lips pursed tightly, as though it would somehow keep whatever bad news she had a secret. “Rose was sorted into Ravenclaw.�

Lily found herself gasping in shock before she could stop herself, and Lily’s mother’s hand went straight to her mouth in an attempt to conceal her horror. A member of the Weasley clan sorted into any other house than Gryffindor? It didn’t seem possible.

Well, of course it was always something that Weasleys going into Hogwarts worried about, but nothing had ever come of it before. Despite all James’ teasing and tormenting, Albus had been sorted into Gryffindor. And despite their father’s assertion that he would be proud of his son no matter what house he was sorted into, he was secretly overjoyed and prouder than anyone could have imagined.

But Rose, as a Weasley to be sorted into any house other than Gryffindor, Lily couldn’t imagine what her cousin and her family was going through. The Weasleys had all been Gryffindors, some saying that it had gone all the way back to the time of Godric Gryffindor himself.

“What has Ron said about it?� Lily’s mother finally asked.

Aunt Hermione shook her head and held her clenched fist over her lips. “I don’t know. He hasn’t said a word since we got the owl telling us.� Aunt Hermione bounced nervously, glancing out the front the door. “I wish he would. He always holds things in and it can’t be good for him.�

When Uncle Ron came back into the house, Lily tried her best to read his expression, to try and see if there were any traces of buried rage. But all she could see was exhaustion and a slightly pained expression as he tried to drag yet another heavy suitcase up the front step. It was always impossible to read a person’s expression while they were in searing pain. Sadly, this was also something one learned early when they were a member of the Weasley clan.

Once Uncle Ron ventured back outside, presumably for still more bags, Aunt Hermione turned to Lily’s mother and whispered, “And make sure to keep a special eye out for Hugo. His…incidents…have not been getting any better or any less.�

Of course, the whispering did not work, and Lily heard every word. She even knew exactly what her aunt was talking about, because Aunt Hermione might as well have been talking about Lily as well.

All wizarding children had the occasional bouts accidental magic; it was perfectly natural and it was nothing to be embarrassed about. That’s what every adult always said. But of course, there was always an exception to every rule, and Lily and Hugo were the exception in this instance.

With Lily and Hugo, it was different. All of their older cousins had had their instances of accidental magic, but they were usually quite minor and never seemed to happen enough for it to be any worry. Lily and Hugo, however, would have at least one instance of accidental magic at least once a day. The incident at Kings Cross with the exploding tires was not even the worst of this. It was just last week that Lily had accidentally torn the doors of every room in the house after James locked her out of the bathroom just for no other reason than he didn’t want Lily to use it.

It was all so bad that it was getting to the point where their parents were beginning to have second thoughts every time they considered taking the two nine-year-olds out of the house. The population of Godric’s Hollow had its fair share of Muggles, and there was no telling what would happen if Hugo and Lily were seen using magic. There were all sorts of horror stories about little children who were all alone when they were seen using magic and there were no adults around to help them.

Neither Lily nor Hugo had a clue what Lily’s parents planned to do with them for an entire month. James had teased her that they would likely be locked in the boarded up cupboard under the stairs and would only be allowed out for meals and to use the bathroom. Of course, Lily knew that most of the things James said were complete and utter lies designed to make Lily’s life miserable.

Then again, there was that ‘exception’ rule again.