Eight year old Lily Potter was a beautiful child with flaming red hair and chocolate-brown, olive-shaped eyes. A miniature version of her mother in looks, but with a manner far less hot tempered. Lily was her own individual, a cross between her two brothers: more mischievous and excited than Albus, but far calmer and not half as much a tease as James. It was clear to anyone who knew her that she was the daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter and the niece of Hermione Weasley. Though not nerdy or 'simply weird that way', as her Uncle Ron put it, she was intellectual; always thinking and always coming up with good questions. She was fast to react and adapt to situations. Her parents marveled at the high level of maturity she showed at only eight years old.

She loved her big family and getting together with her relatives, all except for the Dursleys, whom she and her brothers couldn't stand and whom they were forced to visit with once a year anyway.

Throughout the year, she hated the half-hearted get-togethers her grandparents attempted, despite half her cousins being at school. Her favorite times of the year were Christmas and summer vacations, when everyone was home. Nobody ever missed a Weasley Family Reunion. To Lily, those were the best times.

They would always take place at the Burrow, hosted by Grandma and Granddad Weasley, and all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins would be there. Teddy Lupin, who was like another cousin to her, would be there as well. Neville Longbottom usually came. And, if she was home visiting, Luna Lovegood. Usually there would be a new baby to play with, plus cousins Hugo, who was her age, and Freddie, who was a year older.

Out of all of her uncles, she liked Percy the least. He was always the first to tell her off, and he almost never laughed at Uncle George's jokes - which she loved; they always put her into a good mood.

Dinner was always a busy affair. Strangely, somebody always managed to end up with beetles in their soup. Uncle George always looked mysteriously innocent and said that it was a tribute to Fred if anybody looked in his direction when this happened. This statement confused Lily, but she never really thought much about it. Was it her cousin Freddie who always put beetles in people's soup? She always assumed so, but something about it never quite sat right.

After they were done eating, the children were usually allowed to be excused from the table to go play while the adults sat around and talked. Eventually, however, the kids were called back to help clear the food and dishes. Dinner was always followed by a fireworks display that Uncle George and Uncle Ron would set off. This had scared Lily when she was younger. By the age of eight however, she had learned to be amazed and to watch with wide eyes.

Lily was always sad to see her cousins and brothers go back to school at the end of the summer. The one thing that sustained her was looking at photographs, mostly from previous reunions, but all photographs of her big family.


One morning, at the beginning of September, shortly after she had turned eight, Lily was in the sitting room at home feeling lonely and wishing that she was old enough to attend Hogwarts along with the others. She especially missed James, now at school as well. She knew that he was getting into plenty of exciting trouble if the letters he sent home were of any indication. To occupy herself, she began wistfully looking through old photos from family reunions, some from before she was even born. She noticed how different all her aunts and uncles looked. Why, some of them weren't even married yet! Oh, how she loved weddings, especially seeing the bride all dressed up… Caught up in a sudden idea of inspiration, she eagerly ran to another shelf, one with photographs she rarely looked at, and pulled an album off of it.

There was her mother. Beautiful and young with long red curls cascading down her back and dressed in a simple but beautiful white gown, a bouquet of white roses cradled against her chest and a long train bunched up on the ground and swirling in a pool around her feet. And there was her father, waving and beaming, looking quite handsome in a Muggle tuxedo with a single white rose pinned onto his chest. He was holding her mother in his arms. Every now and then he would lean down in order to place a kiss on her cheek. They were both laughing, and the laughter sparkled in their eyes. Smiling slightly, Lily flipped about halfway through the album before finding Ron and Hermione's wedding. She flipped through their photos as well, and then she slowly replaced the album and took down another one.

There was Fleur, more radiant and beautiful than Lily had ever seen her. And Bill, looking unrecognizable with such a look of joy etched across the scars on his face. There were all the extended Weasley's, most of whom she did not know, and there was her mother's family together, with her father in it too, of course - Lily knew that her father had been considered a member of her mother's family long before her parents had even started dating. There was Grandma and Granddad, Bill and Charlie. Percy was missing, but there was George and R- wait a minute. Ron was on the other side of the photo!

Who was that standing next to George? Whoever it was looked just like him, like he could be his twin brother! Was he another cousin or family friend who was as close to the family as her father had been? Perplexed, she carefully picked up the worn album and wandered out of the sitting room to find one of her parents and ask them. She found her father at his desk. He was pouring over some office work he had taken home with him, even though it was a Sunday and he was supposed to be off.

"Dad?" she asked. "Do you know who this person is in this photo?" Lily slid the album across his desk, pointing at the person next to Uncle George.

"Hmm," said Harry, barely glancing up, "that's George, sweetheart."

"If that's Uncle George, then who is this?" She then pointed to the other one, the person she had thought was George.

Harry glanced up again to where she was pointing and started. Lily was unsure if he was about to start crying, or yell at her. He did neither, though when he spoke his voice did shake.

"Wh-where did you find this?" he asked.

"I-I was looking through yours and Mum's wedding album, and then I began looking through Bill and Fleur's photos, too. Who is it? Why do you look so sad?" asked Lily, frightened at her father's reaction when he had seen the photo. Harry composed himself by taking a deep breath.

"That’s Fred. You’ve heard of Fred, right Lily? Haven’t I ever mentioned him?” he asked hopefully. Lily stared at him and mutely shook her head.

“The only Fred I know of is…Cousin Freddie…” She said doubtfully, beginning to wonder if perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to bring the photo to her father after all. He seemed to not want to talk about it. His gaze had landed on a spot above her head and a long moment of silence passed, as though he were lost in a dream. She said nothing, but waited for him to organize his thoughts, knowing that he would speak when he was ready. Whenever Harry had something important to tell one of his children, he always made sure to think it through first. At last, when she felt almost sure that he had forgotten about her, he summoned his strength and spoke, more to himself than to her.

“I know I should have told you the truth, there is so much about your history that you don’t know, and you have the right to know. I guess I was just scared. I put off telling you, hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you, that you might hear some other way- kind of the way someone might put off taking some bad tasting medicine. Oh, if only Dumbledore were here now, I would tell him that I finally fully forgive him, that I understand him. I understand why he didn’t tell me the truth when he should have. A child has no idea how hard it is for a parent to do something that might hurt their child, even if it’s for the child’s own good, until the child becomes a parent himself. And then there was the whole issue of the fame you would receive, and me not wanting you to get carried away… I suppose that that’s only my excuse though. I know you wouldn’t have gotten carried away; your mother and I raised you to make sure you wouldn’t… Oh, Lily I dunno how I could have made such a mistake. What was I thinking?” He looked directly at her now, his expression cleared, his voice stronger.

"I know that you think you've met all of your uncles, all of Mum's brothers, Lily. But there is something important that Mum and I haven't told you. I know we should have, and not doing so was cowardly and foolish on my part. I was just so afraid of hurting you. You’re my baby, and though I know you tire of hearing it, you always will be. In the end though, if I don’t tell you then I think I would be hurting you more. Plus, you would probably always resent me for it. Am I right?” She nodded, though slightly confused.

“Why don’t you sit down Lily? I'm going to tell you something now, which I should have told you years ago, all right?" She was still confused and finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on what her father was telling her, but sat nonetheless.

"All right. The man in that photograph is one of the people I admire most in the world. He is the person your cousin Freddie is named for. His name was Fred, and he was Mummy's older brother. He and George were twins. Or, I should say, they are twins."

Unable to contain her confusion any longer, Lily interrupted with a small explosion of questions. "Were? Are? Another uncle? I have another uncle you never told me about?"

Harry nodded, and Lily thought she detected a hint of sadness behind his eyes.

"Yes. You see, Uncle Fred died a long time ago, before you were born. He died because he was fighting for something he believed in, something that your mother and I, along with your aunts, uncles and grandparents were all fighting for. Something that was so important to us that it was worth it to us to die for it if we had to. We were willing to risk our lives for it, to fight for the people we loved and the ways we believed in. To protect the world against bad witches and wizards who wanted to harm us and destroy what we believed in. To make the world a better place for you. Do you understand, Lily?"

She nodded her head, although she wasn't entirely sure that she did understand. Lily remained quiet however, listening as her father spoke. There would be time for questions after.

"Okay. See, when I was a baby, my mum and dad died fighting for the same thing Uncle Fred died fighting for. My parents were trying to protect me from the world and the evil inside it. They did protect me, in the best way they could.

“There was an evil man, the most evil man who has ever lived, and his name was Lord Voldemort. I want you to make sure that no matter what anybody tells you otherwise, you always call him Lord Voldemort, okay, Lily? One of the smartest people in the world once told me that fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”

Lily nodded her head once again to show that she understood. Harry took this as a sign to continue, and went on.

"Well, Voldemort is dead now. But when I was a baby my parents- you’re Grandma and Granddad- died trying to protect me from him, fighting him. I was an orphan, like Teddy, but it was different: Teddy’s parents left him surrounded with people who love him and take care of him. I had to live with Muggle cousins who treated me like I was nothing more than a waste of space. When I was a few years older than you are now, I met him for the first time. Everyone was afraid of him. He chased my friends and I for years. He wanted to kill us. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were my best friends at school, and they still are, besides your mother. The three of us managed to narrowly escape Voldemort for years.

“Finally, at the end of our sixth year at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore - Al is named for him - the only man Voldemort was ever afraid of, died. He was old when he died, but it left Voldemort a clear chance to try and take over the Wizarding World.”

“Dumbledore? Was he the teacher who used to offer you Muggle sweets when you were at Hogwarts?”

“That’s right,” said Harry, smiling. “Dumbledore was a huge fan of all kinds of sweets- especially a Muggle sweet called lemon drops. That was just the kind of wizard he was. He was a great man; Voldemort had good reason to fear him.

“Anyway, Ron, Hermione, and I left right after Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was the summer after he died. We disappeared for months. Almost nobody knew where we were. We were actually doing what Dumbledore had told me to do before he died - following his instructions on how to defeat Voldemort.

“Your mum and the rest of her brothers went into hiding soon after that. I'm pretty sure that this photo you found is the last family photo we have with Fred in it. At the end of that year, there was a major battle at Hogwarts. Some people call it 'The Final Battle'. Many good people died fighting that night. Like Teddy's parents, who were both very close friends of mine. Fred died that night too. I was there; I saw it happen. He died laughing, joking. He and George always used to joke - the way George still does. He died protecting the world, making this a better place for you.

“It was very hard for the entire family when he died, especially George. You know that ‘tribute to Fred’ George always mentions when we find beetles in soup at family reunions? The twins were well known for that particular prank. He is just making sure that we all remember Fred, that he is still a part of the family, and that we remember what he died for.

“Voldemort was killed that night. Defeated. Hermione, your mother’s family and I were all very much a part of the war and helping defeat him. So were Neville and Luna. So many people died that night. People so, so dear to me. However, they knew that they might die, and it was worth the risk to them - making this world a better place for their future nieces, nephews and families to live in. My parents died for that. Teddy's parent's died for that, and the way we can remember Fred and everyone else who was killed because of Voldemort and his followers is by appreciating the new world that those people died fighting to create. That is what they died for. That is what we have to live for."

Lily nodded her head, beginning to grasp the concept of what her father was telling her.

"Dad, you said earlier that Fred is one of the people you admire most in the world. If you were all prepared to die, but Fred is the one who did, what makes him braver than anybody else? Weren't you all just as brave?"

Harry beamed, amazed, as usual, by his daughter's brilliance and ability to piece things together so quickly.

"We all were, Lily," he agreed. "The reason I admire Fred is because of his - and George's - personalities. During the war, when people felt nothing to live for and all hope was lost, when there was nobody to trust, the twins were the ones who made sure to keep everybody's spirits up as much as possible - something almost impossible to do. The reason I admire Fred, above all, is because his humor, laughter, dedication, and loyalty taught me that the reason we are fighting and will keep on fighting no matter what, is because we have something most people don't have. We have something worth fighting for."