Living in the Past: Lily Luna Potter's Story [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 3: Lost and Found

I couldn't take it anymore; uncle or no, I was not going to just stand here and listen to him lecture me like a five-year-old. I ripped my wrist from his grip and put my hands on my hips, just about to go into my 'I'm-all-grown-up' speech. However, I was interrupted as two more figures came crashing out of the dense forest.

Turning to face them, I was shocked to see a young Aunt Hermione dashing from the forest. Her light brown hair was falling out of a very messy braid, and she, too, was battered and bloody. "Ron? What's going on?" she asked, trying to catch her breath. "We heard you yelling at someone - Ginny? What are you doing here?" She had finally noticed me. I started to say something in my defense, but my voice faltered as I finally caught sight of the second figure. He was thin, slightly muscular, and had jet-black hair and bright green eyes behind round, wire-rimmed glasses. Terrific. I was now officially insane; why else would I be seeing my dad, exactly as I had seen him in my dream?

"What's the matter, Ron?" he asked, looking confused. "We thought we heard you - oh!" His face flushed deep red, and I resisted the urge to groan from embarrassment. "Ginny! I-I didn't think - I expected you to be -"

"She keeps insisting that she's not Ginny. That she's someone else," Uncle Ron said with a half exasperated, half worried tone. "I'm starting to worry that he battle may have driven her mad."

I stamped my foot in frustration. Why didn't anyone believe me? "I'm not mad! I've already told you the truth!"

Aunt Hermione and Dad studied me with concern. This was getting annoying! "Ginny, come on, that's enough. You need to stop now."

"Stop what? And who are you lot talking to? I'm over here."

That voice hadn't been mine. We all turned and saw my mum, Ginny Weasley - the REAL Ginny Weasley - walking toward us from the direction of the castle. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione looked from me to Mum, then back to me. The looks on their faces were priceless; their expressions changed from confusion to worry and back again. Dad merely looked really, really embarrassed; his face kept getting redder and redder.

Mum stopped in front of us and crossed her arms, looking impatient and slightly scary. "Well? I assume you've got a brilliant explanation for this, and I'm waiting to hear it." No one answered her for a few minutes. Finally, Uncle Ron stepped forward, his face back on 'confused'.

". . . Who are you?" he asked, and I wanted to slap him. Mum's face turned as red as her hair and her hand inched towards her wand. I noticed this and backed up slowly, not wanting to be near her when she exploded. Dad and Aunt Hermione noticed this, too, and wisely followed my lead.

"'Who are you?'" she asked, her voice trembling with fury. "'Who are you?' I come out here after hundreds of people have died trying to fight the most evil Dark Wizard of all time and you can't think of anything better to say to me than 'Who are you'?"

"I had no way of knowing who the real Ginny was! What was I supposed to ask?"

"You idiot! I'm your sister, you prat! It's her you should be asking!" She pointed an accusatory finger at me, and I gulped again, my mouth suddenly dry. I had been on the receiving end of Mum's fury once, and I had absolutely no desire to repeat the experience. Aunt Hermione, Dad, Uncle Ron and Mum were all staring at me curiously like I had just grown three heads.

Aunt Hermione's eyes widened. "You don't think she could be a Death Eater, could she?" she whispered to the others.

"She can't be. You-Know-Who called them back to him a while ago, remember?" Uncle Ron whispered back.

"You never know, she could have taken Polyjuice Potion."

"Why would she?" Dad whispered bitterly, joining in. "She has no need to hide now. The battle's still going on."

"If you lot are done discussing whether I'm a Death Eater or not, maybe you could try asking me like normal human beings," I snapped loudly at them. I was sick of the accusations. I mean, I guess I could understand the confusion earlier - I did look a lot like Mum - but this was going too far. How dare they call me a Death Eater! They were supposed to have been wiped out when Voldemort had been defeated, when Dad had been 17. Wait a moment . . . if they thought I was a Death Eater, and I had come here by a Time Turner . . . no, it couldn't be. It just couldn't.

"We're sorry," said Aunt Hermione after a few moments, looking like she truly meant it. "It's just . . . with the battle and everything, we don't know who to trust."

Battle . . . oh no. If she was referring to what I thought she was, I was in serious trouble.

There was a moment of awkward silence until Dad spoke up. "What's your name?" he asked, and I could tell from his expression that he truly did not recognize me.

I had no idea what to tell him; I couldn't just come out and say that I was his daughter, after all. "Lily," I said after a moment's silence.

One of Dad's eyebrows raised upward slightly. "What, no surname?" he asked with a teasing tone, and for a moment I was tempted to tell him the truth just to see his reaction. However, I decided against it on the grounds that it would be too much for him.

"Generally, you need to know who your parents are to know your surname," I lied. I felt bad about it, but it was going to be a while before he found out the truth. His face fell as the news sunk in.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said sympathetically. "I'm Harry, by the way."

"Hermione."

"Ron, and this is my little sister, Ginny."

Mum - or rather, Ginny - bristled at that. "I'm only a year younger than you are! That's not much of a difference!" Then she turned to me. "I apologize for anything my git of a brother has said to you."

"Hey!"

I laughed at Uncle Ron's - or Ron's - expression while Dad - Harry - intervened. "All right, you two! That's enough! We've got enough to worry about without arguing with each other." We all sobered at that. Then he turned to me. "You're lucky you managed to stay out of the fighting. So many of us got hurt and killed tonight . . ."

I could see exactly where this was going, and I really did not want to have this discussion right now. "Maybe we should head back to the castle. Unc - Ron, you mentioned something about your mother being beside herself?"

Uncle Ron's face paled at the thought, and we all started walking towards the castle together. It was eerily silent, like the calm before a storm. After a little while, I finally gathered my courage and asked a question that had been nagging at me since I'd arrived. "By the way, do any of you happen to know the date?" I tried to sound as casual as possible, but all four of them still looked at me strangely. "I haven't gotten the paper for a while, and I'm a bit behind on the times."

It was Aunt Hermione who answered my question after another pause. "We're not exactly sure of the day, but the year is 1998. We're at the Battle of Hogwarts, remember?"