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

Chapter 20: Hidden Plots

        My hands clenched into fists of their own accord. It was getting harder to keep my distance from him. I saw some of the things that Dudley did to him, and it wasn't pretty. I'd already had to stop myself from marching over to Number Four and whisking him away from them at least five times. It was absolutely maddening, feeling helpless. I'd come back in time to make everything better, why did I have to sit on the sidelines and watch my uncle abuse my future father? It just wasn't fair! In an effort to force myself to calm down, I stroked Athena's feathers again as she nuzzled my cheek with her head, sensing my distress. I had to get a grip on myself before I used accidental magic. That would not help my situation at all. It was so hard, though, with everything else I'd dealt with as of late. I mean, Petunia and her husband didn't even treat Dad like a human being. It wasn't right!

        I jumped about a foot off the couch as the vase next to me exploded, showering me with water and a few dead flower petals. Athena hooted as she pushed off from my shoulder, frantically beating her wings to avoid the flying shards and glaring at me. "Sorry, girl," I apologized once my heart rate slowed from its frantic racing.

        "Jeez, you'd think a witch in hiding would be a bit more careful to not blow her cover."

        I stiffened as the voice reached my ears. It was a male voice, and I knew for a fact that there were no men in my house. Turning, I searched for the owner of said voice, only to find empty space. "Who's there?" I called, slowly drawing my wand out from my pocket. "Show yourself!"

        At first, nothing happened. Then, a few seconds later, a figure appeared as an Invisibility Cloak was taken off their head and stowed in a pocket. As suspected, it was a young man, and a very familiar young man at that. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as I tried to process what I was seeing. "James?!"

        My big brother gave me a cocky smile, looking exactly the same as he had when I saw him on my birthday. "Surprise."

        Without further hesitation, I pushed myself off of the couch and raced into his arms, attacking him with a hug. He hugged me back just as tightly, and I got the feeling that he didn't want to let me go. Pulling myself back a little, I looked up at him. "Oh, Merlin! It's really you! But how?"

        He reached under his shirt collar and pulled out a time turner, very similar to my own. "Dad and Uncle Ron found it in the Department of Mysteries," he explained. "It was hiding in the corner of the room where all the other time turners used to be kept. They brought it back and let me use it to come visit you, see how you were doing." He shrugged. "Took me a few tries to figure out where you were, but I got it in the end."

        I paused at that, feeling the smile slide off my face. "You were able to track me down?"

        "Yeah. It was some sort of spell Aunt Hermione taught me - you know how she is with wand work. She even put a spell on this so that it would bring me back after a set period of time. I have about -" He looked down at his watch. "- ten minutes until then." He studied me carefully, noticing my worried expression. "Why? What's wrong?"

        "Nothing," I forced myself to choke out. "Nothing at all." I hugged him again. "It's just good to see you, James. I've missed you so much."

        "I missed you too, Lil," he replied, squeezing me tightly. "We all have. Mum and Dad have been worried sick about you ever since you disappeared."

        "How are they?" I asked, letting go of him and walking over to sit on the sofa with him. "Last time I saw them was at Hogwarts, in that mirror."

        "They're fine, and so's Al." He reached into his cloak again and pulled out a box. "Here, they sent this with their love."

        I took it and opened it without hesitation. Inside, I found a homemade sweater - probably Mum's doing -, a few of the scrapbooks I had received for my birthday, and a tiny shard of a mirror. "Is that . . ."