Piece By Piece

Chapter Five: Brave New World

      In the span of just a few hours, Lily's world had been turned upside down multiple times. When she opened her eyes after the apparition she found that they had turned up inside a long white hallway. There were no doors or windows within a few meters of them. It looked almost eerie.

      "Welp, here we are," Harry said to them.

      Harry. After nearly 20 years without him, wanting nothing more than to see him, missing him so much that on some days it left her unable to push herself out of bed, he was here. He was right in front of her. If she hadn't spent the last few minutes crying, she would have broken down right then and there.

      "Y'know before I forget," started the other man, whose name Lily still didn't know. He turned towards her and James. "I'm Ron. Ron Weasely." He held out his hand.

      Lily shook his hand and smiled. "Lily Potter,"

      James shook it next. "James Potter, pleasure to meet you."

      "Likewise," Ron replied. He then turned to Harry, who was sporting an ear-to-ear grin.

      It was incredible, Lily thought, how much he really did look like James. Her guess from earlier was made based on what Harry had looked like as a baby; then he'd shown potential to keep his father's messy black hair and facial structure. But the boy- no- the man she was now looking at was, with no exaggeration, a carbon-copy of her husband. Not only did he have the same messy black hair and facial structure; he had the same athletic build, he, too, needed glasses, and even unconsiously behaved in a very similar way. The only similarity she shared with him was green eyes. 

      Harry seemed to notice that everyone was staring at him. He shook his head and straightened himself out. "Might as well show you guys around," He said.

      "Yeah," Ron said, his voice laced with a humorous tone. "It's not like we have a staff meeting to get back to or anything." 

      Harry snorted and gave Ron a light punch. 

      Lily and James exchanged a look. 

      "We don't want to keep you-" Lily began, though truly all she wanted to do was sit with her family for hours and talk. She'd missed so much.

      "Oh, no," Harry assured her, looking at Ron for confirmation. "We've already done our part in the meeting, and Hermione isn't expecting us back at a certain time."

      "Besides," Ron added, "It's a weekly 'what's-going-on' kind of meeting. We aren't missing much."

      "You'd rather be doing literally anything else, wouldn't you?" Asked James.

      The boys nodded with semi-guilty looks on their faces. Lily couldn't blame them; she'd been to plenty of weekly department meetings at the Ministry. They were very rarely exciting.

      Harry let out a short laugh. Lily noticed it almost perfectly mimicked James'. "Yeah, they aren't exactly the highlights of our week." He said. "Which makes this a perfect opportunity to give you guys a tour!" 

      "Can I help?" Ron asked; though to Lily it sounded more like a plea.

      "Of course," Harry said, moving his hand to affectionately ruffle Ron's hair. 

      It was clear to Lily that Harry and Ron were as close as James and Sirius; if not, closer. It made her happy to see that Harry had found himself a brother, since any chance of him having one biologically was long gone. 

      "Follow me," Harry said, beginning the tour and breaking Lily's train of thought. He began to walk down the hallway backwards so that he was facing Lily and James. "Welcome," he began with an almost sarcastic amount of flair. "To the humble underground Headquarters of the Joint Forces."