Lily Potter (Harry Potter's Twin)

Chapter 70

Late in the afternoon, a few days after the New Year, Harry, Ron, Ginny and I lined up beside the kitchen fire to return to Hogwarts. The Ministry had arranged this one-off connection to the Floo Network to return students quickly and safely to school. Only Mrs. Weasley was there to say goodbye, as Fred, George, Bill and Fleur were all at work. Mrs. Weasley dissolved into tears at the moment of parting. Admittedly, it took very little to set her off lately; she'd been crying on and off ever since Christmas.

"Don't cry, Mum," said Ginny, patting her on the back as Mrs. Weasley sobbed into her shoulder. "It's okay..."

"Yeah, don't worry about us," said Ron, permitting his mother to plant a very wet kiss on his cheek. Mrs. Weasley regained control as she enfolded Harry and I in her arms.

"Promise me you'll look after your self... Stay out of trouble..."

"I always do, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "I like a quiet life, you know me."

"Same here," I chuckled.

Mrs. Weasley gave a sad smile to us both, "Be good, then, all of you..."

I stepped into the emerald fire and shouted "Hogwarts!" I had one last fleeting view of the kitchen and Mrs. Weasley's tearful face before the flames engulfed me; spinning very fast, I caught blurred glimpses of other Wizarding rooms, which were whipped out of sight before I got a good look. Then, I was slowing down, finally stopping squarely on the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office. She barely glanced up from her work as I clambered out over the gate.

"Evening, Miss Potter. Try not to get too much ash on the carpet," Professor McGonagall told me, sifting through her papers on her desk.

"All righty-tighty," I said, ignoring the look that got me. What did I even just say? I thought to myself.

"Oh, and Miss Potter," McGonagall said as if she just remembered something. "I need to give you your schedule..." She dug under a few papers before pulling out two sheets of paper.

"That's a lot," I noted.

"You missed a lot," she said, handing the papers to me. I glanced over them and then did a double take.

"Professor, I have multiple classes scheduled for the same hour?"

"Oh, yes, I would talk to Miss Granger about that," McGonagall. "She did Time Turning in her third year, turns out Dumbledore had let her keep the Time Turner," she added, disapproval written all over her face.

"Oh, okay," I nodded. The books had never specified if Hermione had given the time turner back, I always thought she would have been allowed to keep the thing.

I straightened up and stuffed my schedule in my book bag. When the others arrived, all four of us trooped out of McGonagall's office and off to the Gryffindor Tower. I glanced out of the corridor windows as we passed, the sun was already sinking over the grounds carpetted in deeper snow than that had lain over Grimmauld Place. In the distance, I could see Hagrid feeding Buckbeak in the front of his cabin.

"Baubles," said Ron confidently when we had reached the Fat Lady, who was looking paler than I remembered and winced at Ron's loud voice.

"No," she replied, putting a hand to her head in a sick manor.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" asked Ronald.

"There is a new password," she replied. "And please, don't shout."

"But we've been away, how're we supposed to---?" began Ron.

"Harry! Ginny! LILY!" said an excited voice from behind.