Leave Out All The Rest

Raging Maternal Instincts

Leave Out All the Rest

Chapter 19: Raging Maternal Instincts

POV: Third

An owl with ethereal white feathers soared through the village of Godric's Hollow, looking for the Potter home. Once it located the open kitchen window, it flew in with a graceful tilt. It landed on the kitchen table, placing the letter in its beak near the bowl of apples and oranges. It made a hoot , alerting whoever was home that mail had arrived. Then, it made way to the goblet resting at the corner of the table; it took a gulp of water, thankful that it was not Firewhiskey (Mister Potter tended to have a drink when nights were hard).

When Ginny Potter, beautiful and fierce as ever, entered her kitchen, the owl took off.

"Was that an owl I heard?" Hermione asked, raising a brow as she followed after her sister-in-law.

"Yeah, Hedwig was here," Ginny said, reaching for the letter on her table, smiling as she recognized the handwriting on it. "It's from Lily."

Hermione huffed. "It must be a long night for her, then. Lily only writes if she can't sleep. Or if she's desperate for some help on a particular school subject. Seeing as the letter isn't for me, telling me to drop my rubbish attitude, as she calls it, about cheating, I think your daughter is at her wits-end with teenage issues."

Ginny laughed. "You know your niece well, don't you, 'Mione?"

Hermione scoffed disapprovingly, but there was mirth in her brown eyes as she moved to the stove, deciding to help Ginny with tea while she read her letter.

Mum,

Yes, I've been getting yours and Dad's letters. While I realize I tend to reply promptly and have been failing to do so lately, there is no need for Dad to send Neville to question me every day. I can't exactly tell Neville to shove off—well, I can, but he is Professor Longbottom here and I don't want detention.

Anyway, I'm having a crisis. While I wish I could talk to my friends, it turns out they are all my relatives and they're all tossers, I thought you've never let me down. 

So here it goes: I kissed Liam. 

And I think he fancies me, too, but he's confused because all his friends are related to me. That's a stupid reason, isn't it? I mean, Dad didn't think about not dating you because you were his best friend's sister; he just didn't want to date you because of all the Voldemort stuff. I mean, if Liam had an excuse like that, I could understand.

Or maybe it's because I'm thirteen. But, really, is that even an issue? You weren't even a First Year when you fell in love with Dad.

I'm a mess.

Sincerely,

Lily.

"Wow," Hermione exhaled loudly as she read over Ginny's shoulder. "It was an overload of drama. When did Lily grow up and start developing problems that we didn't have until we were sixteen?"

As she asked that, Hermione remembered several memories of a six year-old Lily bursting into her room with Hugo on her heels, the two demanding that she turn them into adolescents so they could move on with their lives and use their magic properly.