Lillies and Nightshades

1986-1988

Date: October 31, 1986 Age: 7

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Cecily looked up from the Daily Prophet as the sound of little feet running on wood floors reached her. Seconds later, Harry slid into the sitting room with a small tawny snake chasing after him.

The woman smiled at her son. Harry was growing into a beautiful boy. His face was full of laughter, his eyes wide and bright with the same grassy green that his mother had, but there were a few changes on his person.

It seems, that when the adoption went through Harry's physical appearance changed in the barest amounts. His skin was perhaps a shade or two darker than it should have been, his nose a bit wider- no longer small and button like, but Roman straight and regal- his lips fuller, and his hair was a bit calmer, rather than the wild wavy hair of the Potter bloodline, he had neat and thick curls that he requested Cecily add ornaments to- "Like yours, Mama."- so she did. Now, Harry had little braids throughout his hair, that had little bells and rune beads weaved through.

Yes, Cecily thought, He is a beautiful boy. She gazed at him as the little snake jumped at him, hissing in what could be a laughing manner. Harry caught him easily and giggled, wrapping his arms around the snake- aptly named Hamlet, the Moon Adder- and proceeded to hiss back at him.

When she had discover Harry had the ability to speak Parseltongue, she had a little internal freak out.... Granted, that was expected to happen, since the last person to speak was You-Know-Who, but somewhere in her head, she reasoned it was probably a side effect from the Dark Lord. Hopefully, that was the only thing that foul wizard left to her boy.

"Mama?" Harry asked, his voice filled with childish curiosity. Cecily smiled, coming back to reality.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Can you tell me about my parents?" He asked, biting his lip tentatively as if she was worried she would deny him. But this was something he had asked for every year, ever since he had been old enough to understand what happened this night five and a half years ago.

Cecily gave a slightly pained smile. "I can always tell you about your parents, sweetheart. What would you like me to tell you about them?" She said, patting her lap and picking him up when he got close enough. Hamlet bumped his head into her cheek in greeting, giving her a little "kiss".

"What were they like in school?" Cecily hummed thoughtfully and pulled out her wand, swishing it around as she cast a spell to help Harry visualize the story a little better.

"Well... Lily was bright," The visage of his mom appeared in front of him, bright red hair and deep green eyes and a bright, bright smile. "Both in intelligence and in personality. She stuck out in a crowd and not because of that hair," At this, Cecily blew a raspberry on Harry's neck, making the boy giggle sweetly. "She was very kind to everyone, even those who looked down on her because of her blood status and that made her strong."

Harry looked up at his mama. "Strong? But she's a girl." He said, wrinkling his nose.

Cecily cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? But girls are very strong, very strong indeed, didn't you know? And your mother? She was a spit-fire, full of strength and a certain grace that most purebloods wished they had. She was fairly deadly at Charms and a prodigy at Potions as well, right up there with another student named Severus Snape." The scene changed from Lily to a black haired boy, who didn't look kind or unkind, but somewhere in between.

"He was mom's friend, right?" Harry asked, staring at the boy curiously.

"Of a sort." Cecily responded, thoughtfully. "There was a point, a time, when they were the best of friends and I believe, they even loved each other, but... do you remember when I explained the different magical cores of wizards?" Harry nodded and she continued on, the scene changing again to Lily on one sight and Severus on the other. "Well, Severus had an affinity for dark magic and your mother had an affinity to Light, or rather a lighter shade of Gray. Because of this, and because of what house Severus got sorted into, when they were old enough to choose a side, they went with what felt right to them at the time."