Her Father's Hair

ercy, who was one of the Gryffindor prefects, had suggested that Lily not go storming up to the headmaster’s office and demanding to speak with him, even if she was the Girl who Lived. So it happened that Percy kept pace with the (surprisingly fast walker of an) eleven-year old girl as he escorted her to the Headmaster’s Office.

“What are you talking to the Headmaster about, anyway?” Percy asked, looking at her in confusion.

“Personal stuff. I got a letter from one of my distant relatives and I’m confused,” Lily answered.

“I wonder if we’re distantly related…” Percy muttered as Lily walked up to the gargoyle.

“You have to tell it a password. That’s why I didn’t think you should just barge up to his office,” Percy explained.

“Um,” Lily stood in front of the gargoyle. “Hi. I’m Lily Dorea Potter, you know, the Girl Who Lived, and I really need to talk to the headmaster?”

The gargoyles moved apart, and Lily saw Professor Snape coming down the stairs from the headmaster’s office. “That’s not the password, Miss Potter,” he said, but his expression wasn’t angry with her like it had been in the Potions Classroom that morning, and his hand was outstretched. “Although I wouldn’t have been surprised if it would work, as I’m sure our illustrious headmaster would like to see you. Come forward, the gargoyles are still moving so I can pull you through,”

Lily shrugged, a little confused by Professor Snape’s change in attitude, took his hand so he could pull her through the magical barrier, and climbed the first step so she was level with him.

Upon noticing that Percy was still looking at their joined hands, Snape dropped Lily’s, and Lily turned back to Percy to wave to him and thank him for escorting her to the office. She didn’t notice the look that passed between Professor Snape and Prefect Weasley, and didn’t understand the implications of what Snape said next.

“Mr. Weasley, you’re free to leave now. Miss Potter is in good hands with the Head of Slytherin and the headmaster of Hogwarts.”

“Of course, Professor,” Percy nodded, and walked down the corridor.

“I’ll walk up to the headmaster’s office with you so he knows you didn’t break any rules coming here,” Professor Snape told Lily, and she nodded, accepting what he’d said.

“Severus, back so soon?” Dumbledore asked, amused, before he saw the small figure

standing next to the Potions professor. “Ah. Miss Potter. It’s nice to meet you properly. Severus, you may go now.”

Severus nodded, and walked back down the staircase.

“What did you wish to say to me, Miss Potter?” Dumbledore asked when they were alone, indicating a comfortable chair that she could sit down on.

Lily took out the letter. “I got a letter at dinner tonight from Remus Lupin. One of my father’s best friends and a distant cousin of mine, apparently. It made me wonder why I wasn’t placed with any of my distant relatives. He also didn’t seem to have a high opinion of Professor Snape, so that was something I was worried about too. And it mentioned how you’d planned on tutoring me privately but changed your mind. Why?”

It seemed silly now to be bringing drama between two adults she barely knew to the headmaster of Hogwarts, but well, she’d said it, and he was bound to ask to look at the letter so he would’ve seen it anyway.

Dumbledore sighed, running a hand through his grey hair. “Two of those are very important questions, Miss Potter. I can answer your question about your Potions Professor rather easily — your father and his friends did not like Severus very much during high school, and it appears that trend has continued. I trust Professor Snape, however, so there is no reason for you to be worried about him.”

Lily gulped. If “your parents and their friends hated him but they were wrong” was an easy answer, what kind of answers were the hard ones?

“So… why was I put with my aunt and uncle, and why did you decide that you didn’t want to tutor me personally?” Lily pressed, not sure whether she really wanted to know the answer or not.

“It relates to your scar, and why everyone is calling you the Girl who Lived. With that in mind, are you sure you wish to know?” the headmaster asked.

In a few years, Lily would not be sure whether she wished she had said no, or thought it had been the right choice to say yes all things considered. “Yes, I do,” she answered.

“Quite simply, there is a prophecy that ties the fate of you and Lord Voldemort together. In attacking you at Godric’s Hollow, he marked you as his equal and made it so that you were the only one who would be able to kill him. I initially wanted to tell you from the beginning… but I thought it would be the wrong choice to tell an eleven-year-old something like that, so I decided to not privately tutor you. But, well, the cat’s among the pixies now, and you’ve asked for an answer, so I supposed I should tell you.”

“Yeah and what does that have to do with me living at my aunt and uncle’s?” Lily said. She was beginning to shake.

“When your mother sacrificed herself for you, she accidentally cast a kind of magic that protected you until you came of age, as long as you called home a dwelling owned by someone she considered family,” Dumbledore answered.

“Yeah and there was no other magical person she considered family?” Lily was shaking harder now. Anywhere else would be better than with the Dursleys, and the headmaster had never ever considered that maybe a witch would consider other witches and wizards family more than her Muggle relatives? Lily Dorea certainly already considered Hermione to be more of a family member than her cousin Dudley.

“I do not know,” Dumbledore answered.

“You’re terrible!” Lily burst out. “You didn’t even think about what would be the best for me! You just took the easiest way out!” As she yelled, clutching her wand in her other hand, wind gusted through the office, and terrified, she ran out and down the stairs and past the gargoyles.

“Lily! What happened?” Severus Snape stood up from a bench he was sitting on near the headmaster’s office, looking at her with concern in his eyes.