She felt a small shoot of relief as Harry accepted her offer. Her own smile was a twin to his as she reached out to ruffle his hair. Her hand stopped, though, halfway there, and instead dropped to his shoulder, to which she gave a brief squeeze.
It's too late.
Well, maybe it was. She'd missed her chance to be his Mum, perhaps. But this she could do. She could teach him what she knew, what had kept her alive. What he needed to know to defeat Voldemort for the last time.
"Believing in them is what gives them their power," she shrugged. "It's like any other bit of magic. If you don't believe it will work, all the wand waving and incantations in the world won't help. It's a force of will. Divination is rubbish because it teaches that something outside of yourself can give power to it. That's simply not how magic works. The words have power, yes, but it's the Wizard that gives them form."
She hesitated, then. There was something else to the phrophecy that Lily didn't know if Harry was aware of. But he deserved to know, if Dumbledore hadn't already told him, and so Lily sighed softly and said, "There was another couple in the order. Alice and Frank Longbottom. They got pregnant at the same time James and I did." A brief flicker of a smile crossed her face. "We were so excited. Even with the sodding prophecy. And we... It's horrible and wrong, but..." How to say it so her son wouldn't think less of her? "I would sit across from her at Order meetings and pray that her child was the one in the prophecy."
She looked sad and guilty, but that was the truth of it. "But Voldemort, for whatever reason, chose you. And that choosing, that belief, not the prophecy, is why you have that," she nodded towards his scar. "And why you're now apparently in some sodding battle to the death."
Shrugging, Lily smiled bitterly. "But he's in over his head on this." There was an absolute confidence in her voice, as if Lily didn't have a single doubt that Harry would be the one to prevail. It hid well the cold, helpless terror that had settled somewhere in the pit of her stomach and which Lily knew would not be relieved until Voldemort was defeated once and for all.
Then, nodding her head towards the corridor, she said, "Come on, then. Let's get something to eat. I bet I can bully the house-elves into making us a pizza."
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It's too late.
Well, maybe it was. She'd missed her chance to be his Mum, perhaps. But this she could do. She could teach him what she knew, what had kept her alive. What he needed to know to defeat Voldemort for the last time.
"Believing in them is what gives them their power," she shrugged. "It's like any other bit of magic. If you don't believe it will work, all the wand waving and incantations in the world won't help. It's a force of will. Divination is rubbish because it teaches that something outside of yourself can give power to it. That's simply not how magic works. The words have power, yes, but it's the Wizard that gives them form."
She hesitated, then. There was something else to the phrophecy that Lily didn't know if Harry was aware of. But he deserved to know, if Dumbledore hadn't already told him, and so Lily sighed softly and said, "There was another couple in the order. Alice and Frank Longbottom. They got pregnant at the same time James and I did." A brief flicker of a smile crossed her face. "We were so excited. Even with the sodding prophecy. And we... It's horrible and wrong, but..." How to say it so her son wouldn't think less of her? "I would sit across from her at Order meetings and pray that her child was the one in the prophecy."
She looked sad and guilty, but that was the truth of it. "But Voldemort, for whatever reason, chose you. And that choosing, that belief, not the prophecy, is why you have that," she nodded towards his scar. "And why you're now apparently in some sodding battle to the death."
Shrugging, Lily smiled bitterly. "But he's in over his head on this." There was an absolute confidence in her voice, as if Lily didn't have a single doubt that Harry would be the one to prevail. It hid well the cold, helpless terror that had settled somewhere in the pit of her stomach and which Lily knew would not be relieved until Voldemort was defeated once and for all.
Then, nodding her head towards the corridor, she said, "Come on, then. Let's get something to eat. I bet I can bully the house-elves into making us a pizza."