Return of James and Lily Potter

Chp 8

3rd person POV

As James and Lily walked back to the guest room at Hogwarts, they talked non-stop about Harry. They had spent hours with him in the hospital ward, making up for the years they had lost.

Lily's POV

All the way back to our guest room the smile doesn't slip off my face. We're reunited again and I'm not letting anything or anyone stop that. Not even Voldemort. I slow down as James and I approach our room and grab his arm.

"I'm going for a look around the castle" I tell him. "I just want to... You know... Explore"

James frowns. "Okay but be careful, Lils. I've just found you, I don't want to lose you this quickly"

I stand on my toes and press my lips against James' cheek. I pull away and whisper in his ear "I'll always be here, James. I'm not leaving you"

As I start to walk off I hear James shout, "I love you!"

I turn around quickly, "I love you too!"

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I put my hand in my pocket, not finding the familiar piece of parchment that I need. Frowning, I pull out my wand. "Accio marauders map!" Nothing. I sigh and continue walking down the cold corridor, pulling my robes around me tighter. It's more scary without James with me. Somehow the dark corridors seems more sinister than they did when I was at school. I press my hand to one of the cool stone bricks and lean my head against it. I've got the whole castle and the grounds to myself now that it's after curfew. At the thought of that I bounce with excitement. Where should I go? The library, where I spent most of my school days? Hagrid's hut? The charms classroom? Charms has always been my favourite class, but potions is a close second. I decide to start at Hagrids hut, because he's always welcoming and- my stomach grumbles at the thought- he always has food. He used to make delicious cakes to give me when I was in first year, but Harry says that his cakes are like rocks nowadays. I chuckle at the thought of Harry politely declining another cake, whilst struggling to bite the first one.

I arrive at the castle door and touch the handle, feeling warmth radiating off it. Once it's open I take a deep breath of the fresh, frosty air and start towards Hagrid's, already hearing the booming barks of Fang.

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"Hagrid!" I shout, pounding on the door. I started by knocking politely but he must be either deaf, asleep or out somewhere. After several more failed attempts at knocking I open the door and fang launches at me, licking my face.

"Woah boy!" I laugh, rubbing his ears. "Sit, Fang! Sit"

When Fang continues to do nothing but wag his tail I give up and look around for Hagrid. His hut is a mess. Dead rats are strewn all over the floor, half chewed by fang, there's snapped rickety old chairs in the corner and on the middle of a scrappy table is an egg. I start towards it cautiously and examine it. It's about the size of my hand, and a marbled pink and blue colour. It would be a gorgeous egg really, if I didn't know what was inside it. A Longzout.

A longzout is a lizard, but a very dangerous one at that. It's born the same colour as the egg but as it gets older it grows to the size of a human and sprouts silky feathers of gold and red. It uses its appearance to an advantage, the glowing colours attracting people and large mammals, and then, when they're close enough, it snaps, engulfing them whole, or if the victim is too large, it will sting them, causing them to have painful hallucinations while the animal eats them alive. I wince and pick up the egg. Hagrid would be upset if i killed it, but if I didn't, a deadly monster would be unleashed in Hogwarts grounds. I'm about to throw the damn egg at a wall when Hagrid enters, looking grim. His expression changes to surprise and then fury when he sees what I'm doing.

"What're you doin', eh?!" He says accusingly,  snatching the egg off me.

"Hagrid, that's a longzout! It will kill you!" I exclaim, trying to grab the egg back. "It isn't tame!"

"I'll train 'im not to hurt anyone!" Hagrid protests, putting the egg back on the table and looking at it fondly.

"You can't train wild animals" I gasp exasperatedly. "Throw it away!"

Hagrid looks at me, scandalised. "I can't do that! 'E's just a baby.."

"It hasn't been born yet!" I roll my eyes and Hagrid scowls.

"Just leave it up to me, he'll be fine" Hagrid reassures me and I raise my hands in surrender.

"Fine" I state. "But if he hurts anyone... I warned you!"

Hagrid waves away my threat. "Ah, it doesn'e matter! Ah'v just made some pumpkin cakes, fresh out the oven, ye want one? You or James are invited here anytime yeh want, see you"

"Thanks Hagrid, but I should probably go find James. I'll come see you soon if that's ok" I wave goodbye and close the door behind me, realising that the door I went out of is right by the perimeter of the forbidden forest. I squint into the woods and a creature goes flying through at an unimaginable speed. I shiver. There's lots of undiscovered things in the forest, and I'm not sure I want to figure them out just yet.

I turn away and start back towards the castle, noticing that nearly every light is off except Dumbledore's office and the guest room James and I are staying in. I stare up at the window and just make out the shape of James waving. I chuckle and wave back. As I get inside the castle I immediately feel a lot more calm. I loosen my cloak and start to find my way through the confusing corridors. As I turn a corner I bump into someone and we both jump at the contact.

"Sorry! I'm so clumsy, I-" I look up at the person and my heart stops and my mouth goes dry. I take a step back, then two.

Severus Snape. In teachers robes. My immediate first thought it what the hell is he doing here? He's a death eater! But Dumbledore did tell me that there was an old death eater working in Hogwarts. It can't be... No.  I remember what he called me. Mudblood. The word mudblood echoes again and again in my head while I stare at him. His hair is a lot greasier than I remember, his eyes are darker and cold and his nose is hooked. He stares back at me with shock and disbelief.

"Lily" he gasps, and he pulls me into a hug, but I push him away, frowning.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" I snap, wiping my robes as if trying to get filth off them.

He ignores my comment. "Lily- you're alive- Albus told me- I need to tell you something-"

"Too late for that, Snape!" I hiss. "I'm just a mudblood, remember?"

Snape opens his mouth guiltily. "We were both young, you know I didn't mean it, it's just- potter was being such an arse-"

I pin Snape against the wall and point my wand at him, growling. "Don't you dare talk about my husband like that, Snivellus. Got it?!"

Snape just stares at me, looking mildly annoyed. "I don't know why you married him and had that Potter brat. I could have treated you better! He just let you get killed"

His words about Harry and James make my face burn with anger. How dare he insult my family? If it weren't for him we wouldn't have been killed, and James and I could've raised our son in peace. I aim my wand straight at Severus and yell the spell he used on me. "Sectumsempra!"

Snape falls to the ground and blood starts gushing from him. He spits curse words at me and points his wand straight at my heart but I kick it out of his hand. "Stupid mudblood! You should've s-stayed d-dead!"

I snap Snape's wand in half so the unicorn hair is poking out. "That's what you get for insulting my family, Snivellus. See you around"

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I hope this made up for my last chapter as it was so short 💜 :) how is the story so far? xx