Turning Time (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Medicine, pt. 3

“So, where to next?” Lily asked brightly. As the two boys stood up, Harry said under his breath, “Do it for her.” Snape pretended he hadn’t heard. If Harry could only convince him to be in Gryffindor, then he and Lily would spend more time with him, and it would be harder for him to get into the Dark Arts.

“How about we just walk around?” Harry suggested, and the other two agreed. 

Harry allowed the two to chat, only half paying attention to what went on around him. It was relaxing to be around all these people in a place that was familiar to him.

Being in a new house and living with the Weasleys was nice, but it made him, for lack of a better word, homesick. What home of his would he be missing? Certainly not the Dursleys, or Grimmauld Place…could it be Hogwarts? But the last time he had stayed there was his in sixth year. He didn’t want to analyze his feelings now, so he deciding a break from his problems and listened to the conversation between Lily and Snape. 

“Ooh, look at these!” Lily stopped at a flower stand. Harry was thankful it at least wasn’t one of the brightly colored little kid’s shops that were nearby. The flowers resembled ones from the Muggle world, but all had some slight magical property that made them different. One flower in particular caught Lily’s eye. The flower was similar to a lily, but seemed to be glowing faintly. The manager, who had been eying them hopefully, noticed her interest. She came over to the trio and cleared her throat, as if preparing for a lengthy speech.

“Ah, yes, that is a Moon Lily. Aptly named, the Moon Lily feeds off of purely moonlight, and releases its waste in the form of light during the day.”

Lily still looked intrigued, so the lady eagerly continued. “The average life span is 5 years, as long as it gets at least 2 or 3 nights of moonlight every week. Now, if it’s a particularly cloudy week, there are alternate ways to feed it so that it doesn’t wilt…”

While Lily was distracted, nodding along with the information the pony-tailed woman was reciting, Harry pulled Snape out of earshot. 

“Are you going to buy it for her?” he whispered, nodding slightly toward her.

“Wha—Why?” Snape seemed to honestly not know why.

Harry sighed in exasperation. “Because, she really wants it.” Snape looked back at Lily, who was now examining the petals of the flower. “If you want to show her that you…care about her…” Snape’s eyes flashed, so Harry, sparing himself from a pointless argument, added, 

“…as a friend…then you should get it for her. Not that just being here with her isn’t enough, but she’ll have this flower for a while, so…”

Snape struggled with the idea. After another long look at Lily, he mumbled, “Fine.” Then he seemed hesitant and defensive again. “And if I don’t have enough money, I’m not getting it.” He marched back to where Lily was standing and demanded, “How much is the flower?”

“Uh, it’s 2 Galleons, 8 Knuts, but why…” she trailed off in surprise as Snape set down his shopping bags and emptied his pockets. Harry knew Snape was going to come up short, so he joined the two, bent down to tie his shoe, and placed a Galleon on the pavement. When he straightened up, he saw Snape’s shoulders had sagged. In his hand was a Galleon, four Sickles, and 12 Knuts. He turned to Lily, who was oblivious to what his intentions had been. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.