CHAPTER TWO
THAT DAY ...
Hermione couldn't maintain any amount of attention on her book. The giggles of her daughter and laughter of her husband seemed to be all that she wanted to listen to and the sight of them running around the playground was too precious not to watch. They were playing a game of tag, or something close to it, where Lily seemed to always be it. Harry would pretend to run from Lily staying just out of reach and after a few moments he'd pretend to trip on some unseen obstacle. Their daughter would pounce on him like a cat on a mouse, squeal and run away, but he would catch her in a hug and roll around in the grass with her in his arms.
The time seemed to slip by even faster than usual and Hermione found herself trying desperately to get their attention.
"It's time to eat, you two!" She called with a smile. "If you don't hurry, the pie will be all gone!"
That was the magic phrase. If you don't hurry, the pie will be all gone. Lily heard that sentence and a squeal of dissent could be heard before she raced her father back to the blanket her mother had set out for their lunch. Harry wasn't far behind, running slowly so that Lily would win yet again.
"One of these days, I'm going to win!" Harry said through fake gasps for air.
"You just have to train harder, Daddy." Lily said matter-of-factly, a trait she picked up from her mother. "Maybe you should run more and get faster like me?"
Hermione suppressed a laugh. "Let me wash your hands, young lady." She pulled out a moistened napkin and began scrubbing the dirt stains off the small, outstretched hands.
Harry went for the picnic basket. "Hmm, wonder what we have in here ..." He said with a grin.
"Daddy! You have to clean your hands first!" Lily stomped in frustration.
"I do?" Harry said with a look of surprise. "Will Mummy clean my hands too?" He looked at his wife with a smile.
Hermione tossed the moist napkin at him. "I'm not going to get caught in that little trap." She said with a laugh. "Now, who wants a peanut butter sandwich?"
Lily started jumping excitedly with her hand in the air. "I do! I want a peanutbudder sammich!"
"She takes after you more than I thought." Harry said with a laugh as his wife handed Lily a wrapped sandwich.
Hermione slapped his knee playfully. "That's a good thing!" She said with a laugh.
The two parents ate in silence as their daughter talked animatedly about her previous day in school and how much fun she had with the clay modeling and finger painting they were doing. She had gotten a bright, golden star for knowing her numbers and they were learning the alphabet on Monday.
They laughed and oohed and aahed at the right parts in her story and shared a concerned look when she mentioned a particular bully in her class that liked to take the toys that other children were playing with. It reminded Harry too much of a young Dudley.
"Do you know what Joshua's last name was, honey?" Harry asked after he had taken a long drink from his pumpkin juice.
"It's a funny name, Daddy." She said after a moment of thought. "Everyone calls him Terdy, but I think its Dirtly."
Hermione looked at Harry with a knowing look. "Could it have been Dursley, sweetie?" She asked.
Lily smiled. "Yep! How did you know, Mummy? Do you know Joshua?"
Hermione smiled reassuringly at her daughter. "No, sweetie, I don't know Joshua. I just guessed."
"How about some of that pie?" Harry said enthusiastically after a glance at Hermione. "We don't want it to get too warm, do we?"
Lily shook her head vehemently. "We don't want that, Daddy! Can we have pie now, Mummy?"
Hermione smiled. "Let me see your sandwich wrapper."
Lily handed over the white paper that once held her sandwich. All that was left were a few bits of the crust that didn't have any peanut butter on them.
"Ok, I guess you can have some pie then." Hermione said with a smile.
A few moments later when pie crumbs were the only morsels left, Harry decided it would be a good time to take a nap in the warm sun. Lily seemed to think this was a wonderful plan as well and she leaned against his side using him as a pillow. Hermione snuggled next to the two of them with her book open on the ground before her and they enjoyed the lazy time together.
"Daddy?" Lily asked after a few minutes.
Harry put his arm around his daughter. "What is it, sweetie?"
"Did you always love Mummy?"
Harry wasn't too surprised by the sudden question. Since their daughter could talk she showed the same curiosity that he did but the same knack for asking questions that Hermione did. Hermione glanced over at the two to better hear what his response would be.
"Well ..." He said after a moment. "I haven't always loved her, at least like I do now."
"You haven't always loved Mummy?" Lily turned to look at her father with large eyes. "Why not?"
"Mummy and I haven't known each other all our lives, Lily." He said with a gentle smile. "We didn't even meet until we were eleven years old."
"When did you love Mummy?" She asked as she snuggled into Harry's arm.
"Hmm ... Let me see. It feels like I've always loved Mummy for as long as I've known her." He said as he thought. "I guess I really knew that I loved her when she helped me get better after my fight with the bad man. You remember that story, don't you?"
Lily nodded sagely. "I do, Daddy. You beat the bad man but he hurt you and Mummy helped you get better."
Harry smiled and nodded. "That's right. I think that's when I really realized that I loved Mummy."
"Did you ever love anybody else, Daddy?" Lily asked out of the blue.
"Not in the way that I love Mummy." Harry said truthfully. "I really liked a girl when I was in school, but she wasn't as special as Mummy is. But I do remember this one time when I was about your age."
Hermione perked up. "You never told me about this, Harry."
Harry smiled. "It was so long ago that I'd forgotten." He admitted. "Actually, I never knew her name, but I know that I really liked her."
Hermione laughed. "You must have been really shy at that age."
"It wasn't a matter of being shy. It was more a matter of a certain bully that I grew up with." Harry said.
"You had a bully too?" Lily asked with a gasp. "But you are big and strong, Daddy, how could someone beat you up?"
Harry and Hermione laughed. "I wasn't always big and strong, sweetie. I used to be very small and thin and I got beat up a lot."
Lily's eyes went wide again. "You got beat up?"
Harry looked at Hermione and he knew it was time to tell her. Hermione seemed to agree when she gave a short nod.
Harry cleared his throat. "Well, Lily. When I was a little boy, I didn't have a Mummy and Daddy like you do. You know where your name comes from?" Harry asked quietly.
Lily nodded. "It comes from Gramma Lily."
"That's right." Harry said with a sad smile. "Your grandmum died when I was a little baby. So did Grandpa James. I was too little to remember much about them."
Lily put her small hand on Harry's cheek. "I'm sorry, Daddy." She said as a tear traced a path down her own, pink cheek.
Harry smiled as he wiped away her tear. "Thank you, sweetie." He kissed her forehead gently before continuing. "When I was just a baby, I went to live with my aunt, uncle, and cousin."
"Like Uncle Ron and Aunt Luna and Percy?" She asked with a bright smile.
Harry laughed. "No, not like them, Lily. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were mean." Harry thought for a moment. "It was like I was Cinderella and they were my wicked step-mother and step-sisters, but my cousin was a boy."
"Daddy, that's awful!" Lily gasped.
Harry nodded. "I was lonely for a long time. Before I went to school, I only had one friend and I didn't know her name. We met in a park that was a lot like this one."
Harry sat up and moved Lily to his lap.
"Let me see if I can remember what that day was like." Harry said as he started to think.