"Last boarding call for United Airline flight 214 to connection in Washington, DC to Heathrow, London, England..."
`This is it…' Lily thought as she boarded the flight in San Diego. She was doing this all without her mother's permission. Lily was going to finally meet her father, Harry.
Lily knew she needed not to worry about a passport since last summer her and her mom had gone to Japan. They had gone for Lily's seventeenth birthday as well as getting Hermione away before she had a nervous break down at work.
Lily knew her mother would be worried sick when she found Lily missing. Which is why Lily was fixing to call and leave her a message. Lily knew her mother was still at the hospital. That's how it had been for a while. Hermione had put in so much overtime in the past three months that Lily felt so alone, even in her own home.
"Hey mom, it's me. Ummm… This might come to a shock to you when you get home. I know I won't be there. When you go into my room and see that I'm not there, I hope you don't freak. I need to find out who I am. I've spent the last eighteen years of my life only living half my life. I want to know the other half. I want to know my father. I realized this on my birthday. I love you so much mom and PLEASE don't worry. I'll be fine…" -click-
Lily had been cut off by her own answering machine. What were the odds of that? The stewardess had just come by and told her she needed to turn off her cell phone. Lily settled into her seat next to the window then slipped on her earbuds, which went to her cd player. Song of the moment, you may ask, London Calling from the Clash.
~London calling to the faraway towns,
Now war is declared, and battle come down.
London calling to the underworld,
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.
London calling, now don't look to us,
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust.
London calling, see we ain't got no swing,
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing.~
Lily woke up several hours later, arriving in Washington DC. She couldn't believe it. She was half way there. Half way to her dad…
She had a one-hour lay over in DC. In this time Lily ate dinner and sorted out her thoughts. Maybe she shouldn't be doing this… Maybe she could just turn around and go home… Lily shook her head. No, she was going to London and that was that. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, as her mother would say sometimes. Finally she made her way to her next and final flight…
Lily had arrived in London about 10 am the next morning. She slept the whole flight over, but was experiencing major jet lag. It had to be the time change. It was only about 12 am in San Diego and Lily was hoping her mother hadn't been up all night thinking about her.
After picking up her luggage, she hailed a taxi to a little dinner outside of the airport area. She grabbed herself a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin. Boy, did people in London have an odd accent though. Lily had to ask some of the people to repeat themselves.
She couldn't believe how clueless she was to the British English language. You would of thought with her mother being British and everything she would of learned the accent, but sadly by the time Lily had started talking and everything, she had, had too much American influence. Finally Lily said screw it and took out her London tour guidebook.
Lily looked at the name of her hotel, The Hanover Hotel. `What a charming name,' Lily thought to herself, `sounds kind of like hangover… but it is the only magical hotel around…' Lily sighed to herself as she got off the bus in front of her hotel on St. Georges Street.
Next thing she knows there's a thunderclap and a burst of lightening. Then the bottom fell out of the sky… `Well it can't rain all the time…' Lily thought as she ran inside the Georgian styled hotel.
Hearing the bell jingle above her head reminded her of some of the little bookshops she used to go into all the time in Cali. Walking over towards the front desk, she sat her duffle bag down and took a long look around the place.
"You and me, can't you see, how our hearts are one. Please believe and don't deceive. Now our journey's just begun…" The young man, whom sitting on the counter of the front desk, stopped singing and looked up from his guitar. His golden, hazel eyes met emerald green ones. "Oh hello, I didn't see you there." He said politely.
"It's alright, you're a marvelous musician. Is that an Ibanez AW120 Acoustic?" Lily said as she looked down from the young man's eyes. The guitar had a dreadnought body as well as an Englemann spruce top. It had a rosewood fretboard and bridge. At the end of the neck it had Gold Grover die-cast gold tuners. The overall finish of the guitar reminded Lily of a dark violin colour.
"Yes it is, are you a musician?" He asked. Lily looked back up at him, "Yes I am, I've been playing since I was little. My name is Lily Granger, it's nice to meet you." She stated as she held out her hand for him to shake.
Instead of shaking it, he lifted it to his lips and laid a gentle kiss on it, "Landon Conklin. It's more of a pleasure to meet you Lily. Has anyone told you, you have remarkable eyes?"
Lily have a small laugh, "No, not really." She replied as she put her hand back to her side. "Quite the flatter aren't you? Reminding you, I'm an American the whole pick up stuff doesn't work really well on me." Lily finished with a smile.
"Ah, well in that case, checking in?" Landon said as he put the sign that said reception on the counter and dinged a little bell. "Day job?" Lily asked in wonder. "Yes, one of many. The life of a struggling musician." He said.
Lily had a grin on her face and gave a small laugh. "Let me show you around the place." Lily nodded. "So the kitchens through there," Landon pointed down the hall next to the reception desk. "The common room is up the stairs and to the left, but I must warn you dogn phone can be no lifted." He smiled as she got a confused look on her face.
"The phone doesn't work," he said slowly, "and elevator none."
A young woman walked out of the bathroom, "Loo's free."
Lily gave another quizzical look, "whose loo?" Landon laughed, "We better take this slowly."
Lily laughed, "Yes, we should." Lily looked up and saw a news story going across the screen. She couldn't believe all the muggle things that where in this hotel.
"It was hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago, head auror Harry Potter gave up his seat to run for Minister of Magic." The reporter said.
"That's my dad." Lily said with a longing look in her eyes and in her voice. Landon gave her a look of disbelief. "Long story." She told him.
"Why should an accident at birth and the fame I've had gained from defeating Voldemort, be the reason why I've held the seat? I think as running for Minister of Magic it'll give the people the ability to give me the power as they give me by vote." Harry said into the microphone.
The screen went back to the reporter. "Auror Potter will marry his fiancée Cho Chang at the end of this summer in the presence of Albus Dumbledore himself. He will also inherent a stepdaughter, the lovely Laurell Chang. But it's the surprising announcement that sent shockwaves through the magical community…"
-Change of Scenes-
Dumbledore took his hand and patted Harry on the back. "I have to admit Harry, when you suggested leaving your post as Head Auror, I thought you were crazy. But this," he said with the glint of joy in his eyes, "is political dynamite."
"Call me old-fashioned Albus, but I had the eccentric idea we were doing something right." Harry said.
"You can do the right thing and still be a winner." Albus said.
"The ladies poll already puts the party 15 points ahead. That's cause of you Harry." Another man in the room with statistics said.
"See you're already changing the image of the party your father loved. He would have been so proud of you. Look at you, you're young, trusting, idealistic, handsome, and have a wonderful reputation…" Albus was then cut off by Cho walking in.
"And a fabulous fiancée who has all the right connections." Cho gave a brilliant white smile with a laugh. "I'm sorry to interrupt Albus, but if I don't steal Harry away he's going to miss his speech at the Grand Ball for the current Minister."
"Oh right, my speech." Harry went digging into his pockets for his speech. "Left hand pocket darling." Cho chimed in.
"Well that seems to be all." Harry said as he made his way out the parlor door.
"Well you two enjoy yourselves." Albus asked of them. Cho walked over to Albus and talked quietly with him. "How's our boy doing?" Cho asked. "If he doesn't voice too many of his opinions, I think we have the newest Minister of Magic on our hands." Cho walked out, grinning like a cheshire cat, looking for Harry.
AN: Well I hope you liked this chapter. Yeah, some of it is like the movie. The quote, "Well it can't rain all the time" comes from another one of my favourite movies, The Crow. I'm going to try and maybe write another chapter tonight. But if I have no muse, then it'll probably be after Labor Day.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters don't belong to me. Lyrics from London Calling belong to one of the greatest punk bands (I think so anyways), The Clash. Words and phrases from the movie What a Girl Wants don't belong to me either. They belong to Warner Bros and Co.
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