A little dishevelled, Lily emerged into the fireplace on the left side of the Atrium. Flushing oneself down the Ministry toilet wasn't an ideal way of coming to work. And for Lily, she absolutely abhorred it.

Arthur Weasley, a close friend of Lily, stood smiling in front of her and said, "You really should get used to it by now, Lily. It looks as though you've fought a dozen of Death Eaters."

Lily rolled her eyes, also smiling. "If only the telephone booth would be near my house, then I wouldn't have to use that disgusting toilet to get in. It's gross!" she said, blowing a few hair strands away from her face.

"You wouldn't mind carrying these papers for me, would you?" she asked. "I'm afraid they're going to slip from my hands at any moment."

"Woah." Arthur immediately grabbed the papers. "How important is the meeting; since you have to carry all these with you?"

"Very," said Lily, stretching her arms from side to side.

"So, how's Harry?" asked Arthur, changing the subject while they waited for the lifts to come.

Lily's smile faded. "I made his morning miserable."

"Not again, Lily." Arthur stared at her. "Why? What happened?"

The lift descended in front of Arthur and Lily and they moved inside it. The grilles slid shut with a crash and the lift ascended slowly.

"I can't seem to control my temper," said Lily, regret unmistakable in her voice. "Just this morning, I yelled at him and told him that I'd be home at eight because we just received a big case and –"

"But there will be an assembly tonight at Hogwarts!" Arthur said quickly.

"I know," Lily told him miserably. "Harry reminded me about it."

"It's alright, Lily," said Arthur softly. "My wife, Molly, also reminded me. She thinks I don't spend time with the kids anymore. Just don't forget the assembly again later, okay?"

Lily nodded and gave a small smile.

"You do know that Harry performed really well this year in school, right?" Arthur asked, hoping it would lighten Lily's mood a bit more.

"I am aware," said Lily. There was a short pause. "I was actually planning on buying him a present. What about that best-selling book, Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland?"

"Harry already has one."

"Huh?"

"The Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland book?" Arthur repeated. "He was reading it the last time he was here. He went on and on about how much he loved it."

"Really? Where was I?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Right next to him."

Arthur gazed at Lily and an awkward silence followed.

They reached level two of the Auror Headquarters. The lift doors opened and they stepped out, looking around.

"I want to open up a topic about altering destiny," Lily started, trying to ease the awkwardness.

"Altering destiny?" Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Do you believe that?"

"Yeah, of course I do. It's only a matter of changing the events, you know."

"Like time-turners?"

"Exactly!" said Lily. "But there's more into it that I want to find out, like in the next fifty years –"

"Fifty years? But people are still going to die," said Arthur, smirking. "You know, that is out of your control, the only things you can control are your own choices."

"Okay," said Lily. "But that would be the other point of view. I really don't have time to debate destiny. I just want to find out if there's more into it."

"I see," said Arthur. "So you've done a lot of research –"

"A lot," said Lily earnestly. "And –"

"And that's the reason why you're always coming home late, with no dinner, and looking tired the next day when you go to work. Is that right?"

"Yes, but what –" Lily stared at him for a moment, trying to sink in what Arthur told her. "How did you know?" asked Lily, a little taken aback.

"Well, let's just say I have children who know your son very well, with Ron as Harry's best friend and all that, well, I hope you know what I mean," Arthur proclaimed, his eyes darting towards her.

"You mean, Harry's telling Ron all about me?" asked Lily quite sternly.

"Don't take it as something bad, though," Arthur said immediately. "Ron's been receiving letters from your son and I bet you anything, Hermione's receiving as well."

"Hermione?"

"Harry's other best friend," Arthur reminded her. "Anyway, Ron told me everything when I noticed Harry's letters and he seemed worried. Molly doesn't know because my son made me swear not to tell." Arthur stared at her straight in her eyes and added, "Harry loves you so much. He may not have the guts to say it, but his letters prove it. Give him all the love he needs."

Lily frowned as though Arthur's words offended her. "I do love him. And I don't think anybody, aside from me and my son, should know what's going on between our private lives. And thank you for telling me this. I think I'll have a word with Harry later."

"I know that, Lily," said Arthur, starting to worry. "We're just concerned, but please don't start shouting at Harry again; he's just afraid to tell you all this."

"Who said I'm going to shout at him? He should know better than that! Being afraid will not do him any good. He should be brave, like his father, after risking his life for him!" replied Lily, annoyed.

"Harry's brave and you're actually blaming him for what happened to James?" asked Arthur incredulously.

Lily just shrugged. She glanced down at her watch. She still had five minutes to prepare.

"I need to go now, Arthur." Lily took the papers. "Catch up with you later." And she strode off to her office while rummaging the bag for her eyeglasses.

"Good luck, and don't forget tonight at Hogwarts!" Arthur called, reminding her for the last time.

Lily just waved a hand while holding her eyeglasses and from the moment she let her hand down, it accidentally hit a solid wall, causing her eyeglasses to crack.

'Argh! Unbelievable!' she said to herself. 'Can't I have a moment of peace? Damn it!' she added while cursing her way to the Auror's office.

Meanwhile, Harry ate his breakfast slowly while staring blankly on the empty chair opposite him, his toast hanging between his hand and his mouth, while his other hand twirled the fork with his fingers.

It was always like this, eating alone. Despite his mother's absences during mealtimes even after her Auror raids, Harry would still make dinner, and most of the time he would find, the next day, the food he prepared for her was barely eaten and still on the table. He was not complaining, though. He knew his mother was constantly tired. Being an Auror could be very demanding and it took great courage, wit and guile. Not many had the stomach for it.

Morning always found Harry thinking about the day ahead. He generally began the day doing the chores, cleaning the house, and not to mention, he still had the whole afternoon to spare before setting off to Hogwarts for their usual Recognition Assembly. And as though someone pinched him hard on his side, he ate his food fast, did his chores, and bolted upstairs to his bedroom.

He walked across his room, let Hedwig out of her cage, where she soared around the ceiling, while Harry prepared his letters, folded them, tied them on Hedwig's leg, and opened the window. He stroked Hedwig's feathers for the last time and let her fly out to the open.

"Safe flight, Hedwig," he whispered as he scanned the morning sky, where a tiny dot of Hedwig could be seen.

He sat silently in his bed and pulled open his bedside drawer, where his school books, quills, and parchments lay undisturbed. But apart from those things, Harry grabbed a leather notebook and a quill and started flicking through the pages until he reached the part where a long poem was written in very messy handwriting.

Looking at it, it was as though the writer was having difficulty using the right words to fit what he or she was trying to convey. There were many scratches. Here and there, words were crossed out and another word scrawled next to it. Lines and arrows crisscrossed in every direction. Clearly, the reader wouldn't be able to understand the meaning of it all.

Harry stared at it for a moment and began writing a few lines.

'With stream in my eyes, I kneeled and looked above.'

He paused, thinking hard, and then dipped his quill on the ink bottle and slowly he wrote, with a small smile on his face, the last and final words of his poem.

Seeing Harry's satisfied look, he scribbled, 'A Mother's Love' on the title page. Deciding to rewrite the poem later, he set the notebook in his desk and started tidying his bedroom.

By the time he finished cleaning, his clock chimed again, telling him that it was already half-past eight.

He made his way out of his room and proceeded to the next room, his mother's room. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

As far as Harry was concerned, the room had many pictures. Each of which had Harry's dad in it, James Potter, smiling and waving. There was one picture where Lily was carrying baby Harry in her arms, cuddling him, while James attempted to do funny faces and jumping up and down to surprise Harry behind his back. The almost sixteen-year-old Harry stared at it, smiling, and a look of longing to have his dad again at home was very visible on his face.

Harry always felt comfortable when he was inside this room, he felt that his dad was alive and always having fun. But Harry didn't ponder on to these thoughts any more than he wanted; he let out a sigh of despair and continued on his routines.

There wasn't much to clean up anyway, knowing that the room was always neat and clean, but Harry, having used to doing all the tasks in any way he could, scanned the room skeptically for any signs of unnecessary objects that needed cleaning until he saw the bed, where a dark blue folder lay at the foot of it.

Frowning, Harry picked up the folder. Scrawled across it in slanting writing was 'Ministry Report,' and then below it in small letters, it said 'Drafts.'

Harry scowled at it at first but a huge realization hit him. His eyes went wide, panic coursing through him. 'Oh no...,' he said to himself. 'This can't have been forgotten!'

Without bothering to change his clothes and without bothering to think twice, Harry went hurriedly out of the room and sprinted downstairs until he reached the fireplace.

Even though Flooing wasn't his favourite way of travelling, he scooped a handful of Floo powder from the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, threw the powder into the flames, vanishing.

The usual feeling when travelling by Floo made Harry nauseated and spinning very fast made his head ache. Then finally, he fell onto the cold stone, stood up and looked around quickly.

Trying to stay calm, he wondered what to do because people began noticing his sudden appearance and some started pointing and whispering.

"That's rude, you know." Nymphadora Tonks, an Auror and Harry's friend, tapped lightly the arm of a young boy who was obviously been whispering and pointing his finger at Harry. The boy jumped in surprise and ran out in the opposite direction.

Tonks, who had a pale heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and a short blonde hair, walked in front of Harry and said,

"Wotcher, Harry!"

"Tonks," said Harry, stepping out onto the fireplace, relieved to see someone familiar.

Minding their own business, witches and wizards began to take off and the usual memos zoomed past them as they entered the lift.

"You're not in trouble, are you?" asked Tonks as she eyed Harry warily.

"No," said Harry, and then asked quickly. "Have you seen my mum?"

"Oh, I haven't seen her yet, why?"

"She has a meeting today and she forgot to bring this with her," said Harry, showing Tonks the folder.

"Meeting?" Tonks asked, thinking hard. "Oh, yes, there's a meeting going on."

"Can you tell me where?"

"Follow me," said Tonks, walking to the lift. "I'll lead you to it."

"Thanks," said Harry, tailing behind Tonks as they entered the now seemingly full lift.

Tonks was looking at him interestedly, and then asked, "Have you been doing something messy, Harry?"

Harry looked at her then examined his reflection in front of him. "Oh," he brushed off the dirt. "I was cleaning the house and I never thought to clean up myself when I found the folder."

Tonks smiled at him.

They heard a woman's voice saying, "Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."

"Here we are, Harry," said Tonks, and they went out of the lift into a corridor lined with doors.

They turned a corner, walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in a cluttered, open area divided into cubicles; the Auror Headquarters.

Harry had been here before, but Tonks beckoned him to follow her through a second set of oak doors, which led to another passage.

They stopped beside a glass door, where a grim-looking man sat, reading a newspaper.

"I'll leave you here, Harry," Tonks told him. "I believe that's Lily." She pointed at the glass door where Lily was indeed standing in the middle of all the Ministry officials, her back facing the door. "See you later, Harry."

Harry nodded and said thank you before Tonks left.

Harry's heart was hammering fast. He walked closed to the grim-looking man and said, "Good morning, sir."

The man set down the newspaper and said in a hoarse voice, "'Morning, Mr. Potter." and began to examine Harry's appearance.

Harry was expecting the man to say something after he was greeted but nothing came; the man just looked at him as though bored. So Harry pressed on.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you, um… take this folder in the conference room for me?" Harry held out the folder in front of him. "My mu – Lily Potter is expecting it."

Not taking the folder, the man raised his eyebrows and made a small grin. He said, "I'm sorry but that's against headquarters' policy."

"But –" Harry didn't know what to say. "But she could lose her job," he said quickly.

"Oh, that's tragic," said the man sarcastically, who smiled widely and added, "But not my problem." Then the man continued reading the newspaper as though nothing had happened.

Harry was taken aback.

'You're nasty, just like Snape…,' he said to himself while eyeing the man coolly. Then, he looked back on the glass door, oh no… she was looking for something over her file case –

And hurriedly, Harry opened the door, took a deep breath and went inside.

The atmosphere inside the conference room changed abruptly when they saw a boy entered the room all of a sudden, but Lily was too busy looking inside her file case that she didn't notice the changes.

Harry stood on the spot, eyeing the crowd nervously and said, "Excuse me for interrupting,"

Hearing the familiar voice, Lily stood frozen; eyes went wide as though she's seeing a ghost.

"Um… this is for you," said Harry, handing the folder to her mother.

Very slowly, Lily turned around.

Then, Harry continued, "I just thought that you might need this folder that you –" Harry saw, to his horror, that Lily was holding the same folder in her hand after looking inside her file case. "– already have…" Harry's voice was now tailing away feebly.

'Oh, great…,' Harry told himself. 'This is pretty unexpected – what a nightmare!'

Lily looked startled. She gave Harry a "what-the-hell-are-you-doing?" look over her shoulder.

Harry took a step back, eyed the Ministry officials tensely and said, sounding slightly nervous, "Er, false alarm… terribly sorry. I… I just thought you – I mean, she –" Harry referred to her Lily, who now looked as though she was going to faint at any moment "– have anything she needed, because…" Harry was thinking fast on what to say next. "… she worked so hard in it, I mean, really dedicated –" Lily cast him a cold stare but Harry continued. "This is my fault. I'm really sorry for the interruption." And Harry immediately left the room.

There was a moment silence, and then Lily took a deep breath, faced the crowd once again and said, "So, um… move on, shall we?"

Harry looked very troubled when he left the conference room that he didn't exactly pay any attention to where he was going.

He turned a corner and collided into someone with bushy brown hair.

"Hermione?" Harry panted, getting to his feet.

The girl turned around, only she wasn't Hermione but –

"Tonks!"

"Harry!" Tonks straightened up. "What's up?"

"I thought you were Hermione."

"Well, I only got her hair but not her brains," said Tonks with a chuckle.

"But that looks nice, though," Harry told her. "You're doing great."

"Thanks," said Tonks. She then noticed Harry's sudden gloomy look.

"What's with the face?"

Harry raised the folder.

"Oh," said Tonks, getting the point.

"My mum already has this folder," said Harry. "I-never-want-to-see-it-again." He gritted his teeth.

Harry and Tonks were silent for a moment, and then Harry spoke in a mocking voice, "I think that went well, the meeting."

"Did it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, sounding ridiculous. "The glaring, the awkwardness, the cold stare from my mum. Just what I've been hoping for."

"That's quite alright. Don't worry about it," Tonks assured him.

"I think I talked too much," Harry told her.

"You did?" said Tonks incredulously.

Harry nodded.

"Well," Tonks patted him on his shoulder, "Don't let your mind become cluttered with worry, Harry. It leaves less room for the good stuff." Tonks smiled brightly and winked at him.