Something To Remember Us By *Jily*

Intro&Hogwarts Express

It was October 31st. The day his childhood was stolen from him. The day Harry James Potter was condemned to his fate. And above all, it was the date of his parent's death. So here he was, standing in front of his parent's wrecked house, wishing his parents were alive to meet his kids, to meet his wife, to see his house.

But they wouldn't. They were long gone.

And suddenly, he felt an urge to walk into the house. So he did. And he walked a little farther, until he came to a set of stairs, so he walked down them, peering into the wreckage of the basement. A silvery light caught his eye, so he went to it, like a moth being drawn to a light. It was a rack, filled with vials and vials of what looked like pensieve. A small tidy note was pinned to the rack.

His heart leaped to his throat when he saw what the note said. In small, neat letters, the note read:

'Something to remember us by when we're old, grey, and gone.'-Lily and James Potter"

And he knew, at that moment, that everything would be clearer. He would understand how his parents came to love each other, and how his mother put up with his father, and why his father was so rude to Severus Snape.

And he couldn't wait.

So with a flick of his wand, the rack was gently levitated, and as soon as he secured it with his arms, he disapparated back to his house, carefully holding the rack.

Ginny looked, clearly confused, as it's not every day your husband comes back to your house holding a large rack filled with vials of silvery stuff. But then again, it was Harry. She had come to expect the strangest from him.

Harry sent the rack down gently and made his way to Ginny. He smiled and kissed her lightly. "Guess what I found today?" He asked her playfully. "What?" She asked teasingly. "My parent's memories." He answered casually.

She turned around quickly, thousands of questions on the tip of her tongue. "What?" She exclaimed. Harry laughed at her reaction and pulled her into a hug. "Wanna view them with me?" He asked. She nodded eagerly and responded, "It would definitely give us something to do while the kids are at Hogwarts."

Harry conjured a stone basin, not unlike the basin that used to reside in Dumbledore's office. He carefully tipped the first vial in. "Here we go!" He declared, holding Ginny's hand, and dipping his head into the pensieve.

He looked around and found himself on the Hogwarts Express, in a compartment with a crying girl with red hair and bright green eyes that were dimmed with sadness.

In the memory

Lily couldn't stop sobbing, and whenever she looked out at her sister on the platform, she sobbed even harder. Whenever she looked out the window, her sister would mouth the word "Freak" while glaring hatefully.

A boy with messy black hair and gentle hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of spectacles stepped into the compartment, hastily putting his luggage and an owl on the overhead bins.

When he saw that Lily was crying, he rushed over and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, handing it to Lily, who accepted it gratefully and wiped her eyes. She noticed the handkerchief had initials neatly sewed into the fabric, J.P, and an extravagant family crest, a wand, and a sword crossed over the background of a roaring lion, with the name Potter on the bottom in a fancy script.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly, tentatively putting a hand on her shoulder. She was about to answer when Sev rushed into the compartment, glaring daggers at the boy's hand, which was on Lily's shoulder.

"Get your hands off her." Sev seethed, causing Lily to recoil in shock. Why was he acting like this?

Before she could berate him, the boy with messy hair smirked, and asked "What are you? Her boyfriend? If not, keep your big nose out of her business." Lily stared at him in disbelief. What had happened to the nice boy who had given her the handkerchief and asked her what was wrong?