Where Love Grows (Harry Potter Next Generation)

Part 6) Chapter 14: Lily

‘In a few hours, this will all be over.’ Lily told herself as she pulled on her jacket and waited for Aoife to finish getting ready. Soon she wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore, all she would have to freak out about would be school, exams and Teddy.

“Are you sure you still want to go through with this?” Aoife whispered, grabbing her bag and walking over to Lily. Lily took a deep breath and nodded.

It was extremely early in the morning when Lily and Aoife left Gryffindor tower, so no one else in the house was awake yet.

Lily had decided that at this time of the morning the best way to get to Hogsmeade would be to go through the Shrieking Shack. On any normal occasion she would have used the Honeyduke’s entrance, but the shop wouldn’t even be open yet.

Lily had known for nearly her whole life how to disable the Whomping Willow, she had been told by many members of her family over and over again. All she had to do was grab a very long branch and poke a small knot at the bottom of the vicious tree.  Lily and Aoife then began their long walk to Hogsmeade.

“So are you ever going to tell the dad?” Aoife said after a couple of minutes.

“Oh Aoife, I thought we were going to drop this?”

“I said I would, but I just can’t! Do you really think the dad will be happy with what you are doing here? He will be so upset, and it will upset you having to keep this from him.”

“Aoife don’t start, I can’t deal with this today.” Lily said a little aggressively.

“Lily you don’t have to deal with anything today, we can turn around right now if that is what you want.”

“It isn’t! I want to get rid of this baby as soon as possible! I don’t want to have a baby right now, I can’t have a baby right now.” Lily said.

“I know but…”

“No buts Aoife, if you can’t support me then you can go back, I’ll do this on my own.”

“I’m sorry Lily, of course you won’t have to do this on your own, I won’t say anything about it again.” Aoife said, rubbing Lily’s shoulder.

“Thank you.”

They continued on in mostly silence after that, only speaking to warn the other of an upcoming bump that the other could trip over. When they finally reached the Shrieking Shack Lily was relieved. It had been very claustrophobic on their way there and she didn’t deal well with small spaces.

“Ugh finally! I thought that was going to go on forever!” Aoife said, stretching her arms wide when she finally stepped into the Shrieking Shack. “So how far away is this place?”

“Not very far, about a 15 minute walk from here.” Lily replied.

Lily and Aoife made it to the clinic in 20 minutes, which was 30 minutes before Lily’s appointment. Instead of wasting time looking about the little muggle village they decided to just go on into the clinic and wait for Lily’s appointment.

“Hello dear, how can I help you?” The kind muggle woman behind the desk asked. She looked very motherly, someone who would listen to all your problems and make them go away with a plate of cookies.

“Hi, I’m Lily Potter.” Lily said so quietly it was almost a whisper. The woman behind the desk didn’t look put off by this however, she was probably used to people acting that way.

“Ah yes dear, I have your name right down here. You just take a wee seat and I will let you know when the Doctor is ready for you.” She said, giving Lily a kind smile.

“Thank you.” Lily replied. She and Aoife sat down on a comfortable sofa that was the only one in the room. There wasn’t another person there. The table in front of them was littered with old muggle magazines and lining the walls were posters and leaflets about counselling. It was like even the muggles thought that Lily wasn’t going to be able to emotionally handle the abortion, well she was going to prove them all wrong.

About 15 minutes after they arrived two women walked out of the white door in front of them. Lily was sure that one of them had either just had an abortion or went in to talk about one, but she couldn’t tell what either of them were thinking by their faces, they were totally expressionless. About 10 minutes later the kind woman behind the desk walked out to them.

“Lily, we are ready for you now.” Lily got up and straightened her jacket. “Is your friend going to be joining you?” Lily looked towards Aoife. They hadn’t really talked about whether or not Aoife was going to be in the room with her.

“Yes I am.” Aoife said, grabbing Lily’s hand and giving it a tight little squeeze.

“I’m glad you have someone dear, a lot of people find this very difficult.” The woman said.

“Now Lily I must ask you this one last time; are you 100% sure that this is what you want?” Aoife asked her.

“Yes.” Lily replied. And you know what, she was sure, she had never been so sure of anything in her entire life.

“Alright then, after you two ladies.” The woman said, gesturing towards the white door.

Lily pushed it open and walked inside.