The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Call Me Mum, Ducky

Dora Potter sang while she cooked, which Lily found very endearing - even if it was quite off key and hummed half the lyrics instead of singing them.

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket (humming) rainy day... catch a falling star and -(humming)- ... awaaayyy..."

Lily smiled as Dora waved her wand so that a quill swept over a recipe notecard as she worked.

"James will be really pleased I know how to do all this, Mrs. Potter. Thank you so much."

Dora had launched into the recipe for not only the roast, but for a cinnamon-raisin breakfast toast bread, a corresponding bread pudding, and - Lily could barely believe it - the butterbeer cookies.

"You call me mum, ducky," she replied, and she put a sheet pan in the oven and turned back to Lily, wiping her palms on the apron she'd tied about her waist. "Now listen," she said, picking up the card for the cookies and carrying it to where Lily stood, covered in flour and butter splotches, "This one you save until after I'm gone. I need something to make those boys come and visit me still, and these cookies are it. Understand?"

"Yes mum," Lily said, smiling.

"Good!" Dora handed her the card.

Lily tucked it with the others in her purse on the counter and turned again to hug Dora close. As they were embracing, Dora started coughing.

Lily patted her back gently. "Mum, are you alright?" she asked, guiding Dora to a seat by the kitchen hearth. Dora nodded and Lily turned and took a glass, filling it up with water, and handed it to Dora, her hand on Dora's back.

Dora's eyes were sad as she took the glass and sipped deeply. She paused and looked at Lily with betrayed-looking eyes... and smoke slipped from between her lips in a slow, steady stream.

Lily watched the silver tendrils rise between them, like the ghost of unspoken words, giving up a secret that was hidden in Dora Potter's lungs.

"Oh, mum," Lily whispered.

"Don't you dare tell them," Dora said, and though her tone was strong her voice shook. "Don't you dare tell either one of them. Please."

"But mum --"

"He doesn't need to know!" Dora said sternly. "Minerva and Elphinstone know and I've got healers... and the scales aren't as bad as Charlus's were yet, I have time. And I don't want my time to be -- sad."

Lily knelt before her mother-in-law, her knees on the stone of the hearth and she looked up at Dora. She took Dora's hands in hers, comfortingly.

Dora smiled sadly. "I suppose you'll be able to use that cookie recipe a bit sooner than you thought, at least."

"I don't need that cookie recipe for a very long time, Mrs. Potter. We need you a lot more."

Dora bent forward and kissed Lily's forehead. "We always wanted a daughter, you know. After we had James. I wanted a little girl so much. But we never could have one. James himself was a miracle... How many times we'd tried to have a little one before him!"

Lily smiled.

"Charlus wanted to call her Ottalie, if we'd had a girl, after his sister. But I wanted to call her Ivy."

"That's such a pretty name."

Dora coughed again, and her hands left Lily's to cover her mouth with her elbow as she patted her sternum with her other hand. Lily felt like she was violating some private matter and looked down at the stone hearth.

When Dora regained her breath, Lily looked up.

"Did Charlus always want to name your son James?"

Dora's eyes were sad. "Well... James was the name we agreed on for him. Honestly, though, it wasn't our first boy name we chose. Before James, we'd been pregnant and... we lost our first baby. Charlus wanted to name him --"