❛Reminiscence❜ ─ Harry Potter Oneshots

✨ Wildflowers: A Nostalgic Gift

Preface:
This OS takes place after the war and is written for Harry Potter's 43rd birthday. This story negates Cursed Child completely and is based on Harry and Lily (Luna)'s relationship.

Author's Note:
I'm writing this one shot after quite a long time. Probably two months of writing break. So, I've no idea how it turned out. Let me know your thoughts, please! Also, happy birthday Harry! ;)

It was here. The day that Lily Luna Potter dreaded. The twenty third of the seventh month was finally year and along with it, she was in the Muggle railway station waiting with her parents to board the train to a Muggle locality; the name of which she never wished to learn.

"Hey, I guess that's the coach!" Her father pointed at the next chair car. "C'mon!"

Lily obliged, breaking into a run to reach him and, using the chance to take his hand. He did not seem to notice the emotional warmth he was providing to her. "I've no idea who's the Quid-sports player here." Her mother's voice panted behind them as they reached the coach.

"You're getting old, love," Harry grinned, helping Lily with her backpack. Ginny merely snorted and whispered something incoherently to him. Deciding that zoning out would be better, Lily's mind travelled distant lands as soon as they found their seats. It took all of Lily's willpower to not thinking about what would happen in a couple of minutes.

Her mother and Lily were going to Valencia due to Ginny's upcoming interview with a couple of Quidditch players. Being part of the sports press of Daily Prophet, Ginny had gotten the opportunity to visit a lot of places in the excuse of interviews and press meets. Lily usually loved accompanying her mother but the current case was exceptional. Both her brothers, James and Albus, were currently taking up their NEWTs and OWLs respectively and Teddy was off with his friends on a wedding shopping spree.

But the worst of all was that her dad was not going to accompany them. Harry was assigned to head an emergency Auror mission to catch a Death Eater in the States. This news was not greeted with enthusiasm by the teen.

"And Lu said she wants to eat something from Foodie's Corner." The mention of her name forced her back to the reality. With an inquisitive eye, she gazed at her father who was grinning. "I'm right, ain't I?"

"She barely eats in the morning, Harry. I trusted you to know that," Ginny responded with an eyeroll, but a hint of mischief was present in her eyes. Harry laughed in response and placed a kiss on Lily's hairline. "We've got seats in entirely different aisles, all thanks to your booking carelessness," Ginny continued, checking the ticket and then the seat labels simultaneously. Harry shrugged.

"Er, I did try though. I'll ask the person at seat 52 to exchange with 60 so that you can have consecutive seats. Is that okay?"

"Works fine."

"Good."

Five minutes passed in painful silence for the teen. Harry and Ginny were occasionally exchanging glances but never spoke anything. Lily figured that they were used to being separated for periods longer than just a week.

Each time a person passed by, trying to find their seat, Harry would try to "help" them by guiding them to their seat. However, the real purpose of finding the person who would be occupying seat 52 did not get fulfilled until there was ten minutes for the train to start. A man in his late forties had gladly obliged to Harry's request, granting Lily to get the seat beside her mother. After settling in their new seats, Ginny urged for Harry to leave.

"Hey, it's almost time. . ."

Checking his watch, Harry shrugged the sentence away. "We have ten minutes. Time is really valuable, you know?" He smiled at Lily, who looked away to avoid breaking down. It hurt her to be separated from her father. Sure, she went to Hogwarts and was away from Harry for most of the year. She could bear being away from him but the moment of separation was the one that really did the trick, if that made any sense.