"So…" Arthur Weasley appeared in Lily's office after Harry dropped her off. "How was your morning with your son?"

"It was good, actually," said Lily, smiling brightly. "We've never walked together before, which was a shame."

"Well, that's good to hear," said Arthur, beaming back. He had never seen Lily look so happy in all her life after her husband's death. He never thought he'd ever see the day come when Lily could smile again as wide as today. "I bet you're excited for tonight's assembly at Hogwarts, aren't you? Got any gifts for Harry?"

Lily scrunched her face.

"You forgot the assembly, didn't you?" Arthur asked incredulously. "I reminded you a bunch of times."

"Yes… no… I don't know…" Lily sighed and looking exasperated. "I don't know if I did or didn't forget. I forgot yesterday, but I don't think I forgot today."

Arthur raised his eyebrows, not knowing what to say. He's as confused as she was.

"Did you wear that yesterday?" Lily asked suddenly.

Arthur examined himself, "Quite possibly."

Lily was quiet for a moment and said, "Arthur, can I ask you a question?"

"If you must."

"Did you ever have a dream and the next day everything feels familiar? You know… like it's from the dream."

"Yes I have," said Arthur in his mocking voice. "For example last night, I dreamt that you would bore me to death first thing this morning and lo and behold –"

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, seriously."

"Seriously?"

Lily nodded.

"Lily, I believe dreams are very important," said Arthur softly. "They should be listened to."

"You really think so?"

"Yes," Arthur nodded, and added on a more serious note, "And I also believe that you should get over to that meeting or you'll be late."

Lily was extremely nervous the moment she stepped into the meeting room a couple of minutes later. She kept shooting worried glances outside the door, checking whether or not Harry would show up. She knew she was being silly thinking that it might happen again, but she was determined to stop him from entering the room if she could help it.

The Chief Auror and staff were eyeing Lily suspiciously when she couldn't stop from annoyingly turning her back every so often. Lily smiled back at them and continued on her report.

She went and opened her file case and grabbed the blue folder. At that precise moment, Harry arrived squinting at the door and saw what Lily was holding. He decided to walk away, relieved that Lily didn't forget.

But Lily had a nervous breakdown the moment the grim-looking man who was guarding the door entered the room. Lily lost it completely.

"I knew it!" said Lily, slamming her hands on the table. "I knew you'd be here!" She then looked up and to her horror, it wasn't Harry. Everyone was eyeing her as though she had gone mad. Lily shamefully put her head down and said, "Sorry."

I am becoming too paranoid! I need to calm down…

Lily returned to her office two hours later, laughing at herself for being stupid and for embarrassing herself in front of all the officials. She couldn't believe she had lost her temper.

There was a knock on the door.

"Did you get the approval, then?" Arthur asked excitedly.

"Yes," said Lily, giggling too much.

"What are you on about?"

Lily shook her head.

"Oh, c'mon. What is it?"

Lily told Arthur what happened at the meeting.

Arthur looked confused. "You mean to say, you went back in time?"

"To be honest, I don't really have a clue on what's going on," said Lily. "Though I'm pretty sure I didn't use a Time-turner. I think it was just a bizarre dream that I had last night…"

"No wonder you were asking me about the importance of dreams," Arthur said.

"I was going crazy thinking about it. Harry said it was more of a deja-vu," said Lily, her face turning grim all of a sudden when an image of Harry dying in her arms flashed across her mind.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked when he saw Lily's abrupt change of facial expression.

"Nothing," said Lily quietly, then asked, "What are you doing here anyway, Arthur?"

"Well, it's about the silver dagger –"

"– with rune markings on it and with one stab it can kill you?" said Lily rather fast.

"Looks like someone did their assignment," said Arthur, smirking at Lily.

"I just…" Lily hesitated with a sad look on her face. I really wish I could tell you the horror it brought to me and Harry…

"Lily?" asked Arthur worriedly.

"Yes! I did my assignment," said Lily cheerfully, trying to shake the awful feeling. Arthur was taken aback at the sudden mood swings. "And I think I should consult Albus Dumbledore about it before the assembly tonight."

"Do you think he knows something?" asked Arthur.

"I'm not sure," said Lily. "It's worth a try."

"Well, I think I know a place where you might find clues, that is if you're still up for it," Arthur informed her. "Here, let me write it down for you."

Arthur seized a paper and tried to dip a quill on the ink bottle but Lily quickly snatched it far away from him.

"It's empty!" said Lily quickly, hiding the ink bottle inside the drawer and pulling a new one instead. "This is why I prefer self-inking quills."

Lily, who already sensed that something wrong was about to happen, tried to hold the open bottle for Arthur, only to be disappointed again when he clumsily hit it with the edge of the quill and spilt all over the table.

"Blimey!" he gasped. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically, looking over at Lily who sighed heavily.

Lily was getting desperate and paranoid. She thought she could get away if she would just do the opposite, and try and save the ink from spilling, but nothing had changed. It's really happening again… The only hope left for her were her eyeglasses. She crossed her fingers.

Deciding to start the investigation on the dagger right away, Lily walked to the lift with a dispirited look. Still preoccupied, she stood with her back against the wall. She looked up and noticed an old man wearing a fedora and a worn-out black suit.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Lily, eyes wide as she stared at him.

"Excuse me?" said the old man calmly.

"You were in this lift yesterday. We spoke and you gave me advice."

The old man chuckled. "That's possible. At my age, I do know things."

"You… you said that yesterday too." Lily said, distressing her thought. Her voice was unbelievably calm even though her heart was thumping fast.

"If you're the same…" she continued, eyeing the old man anxiously. "If this lift is the same… then everything else today will be the same," Lily paused, fear creeping in slowly at her, making her voice tremble slightly.

"At the end of the day, my son walks out in Hogsmeade, he turns a corner, he gets s-stabbed and he – he –" Tears started forming in Lily's eyes. Images from that night flashed across her mind once again.

Hardly controlling her emotions, Lily asked with a shuddering breath. "Is that going to happen?"

The old man looked at Lily sadly but remained silent.

"What if we didn't go to Hogsmeade?" Lily pressed on. "What if I take him out of London? Maybe if we stay in the apartment…" Lily was getting awfully desperate for answers but the old man still wouldn't budge.

The feeling of hopelessness was slowly killing Lily. There must be a way to fix this!

"Tell me, what can I do?" Lily asked one last time, her voice pleading. "There must be something I can do!"

The lift slowed and went to a halt.

"I'm sorry but this is my stop," said the old man as he walked out of the lift. Lily looked downcast.

"Just one thing," The old man faced Lily before he turned a corner and said softly, "Appreciate him. And what you have." He then gave her a hard look and finally said, "Just love him."

She furrowed her brow; she had heard that line before. Trying desperately to understand, she looked up again but the old man had already disappeared.

Lily sprinted out of the lift the moment the door opened. She didn't really care now if she bumped a few people on the way out of the Atrium and on the streets near her apartment.

"Harry!" Lily called out in the apartment a few minutes later when she came home.

"Harry!"

She was frantically searching the entire apartment, but Harry was nowhere in sight.

She bolted upstairs and went inside Harry's bedroom. She looked around. The only movement she could see was Harry's favourite Quidditch team zooming in and out of the poster. Lily pursed her lips, looking for clues while trying to think where Harry would have gone to.

Hedwig wasn't present either, but an opened letter lay on top of the desk. Lily read it quickly and realized, "the joke shop!"

She ran downstairs, and out the front door and Apparated.

Lily appeared a second later outside the Leaky Cauldron. She walked inside the shabby-looking pub and went hurriedly to the brick wall leading to Diagon Alley. She stepped through the archway before it shrank back into a solid wall.

Everywhere she turned, people bustled in and out of the shops, carrying shopping bags, eating ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, some carrying cages of owls or cats. There were many interesting and new magical items on display as well. Lily found herself in awe whenever she came here, but this time she hardly noticed, as she had to find Harry and leave London if they could.

Lily pushed herself away from the crowds gathering outside the Quality Quidditch Supplies. Apparently, there was a new broom on display drawing a crowd. Children nearby were eyeing it with delight and pointing at it excitedly, while the adults shook their heads saying "it's too expensive" under their breaths.

Finally, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes came into view, dazzling Lily for a bit because of the striking colours on the windows and posters that hung on the walls. There were also several boxes piled just outside the door, each of which with interesting items displayed on top. This shop had the most crowds in all other shops in Diagon Alley. Mostly it was popular with kids and young adults who couldn't control themselves from picking every last item they could reach, much to their parents' dismay.

Lily inhaled deeply and went inside.

It was much worse when Lily joined the crowd cramped inside. It was hard to manoeuvre her way through. Lily sighed, wondering how and where to find Harry in all these people. Luckily, she spotted Ron Weasley in a corner, busy stacking up boxes of Skiving Snackboxes on the shelves.

"Ron," said Lily, trying to get through the two girls giggling in front of a large sign that said "Love Potions".

Ron turned and saw Lily. "Oh, hello, Mrs. Potter!" said Ron brightly even though he was obviously already looking frazzled.

"Have you seen my son?"

"Uh," Ron eyed the crowd, trying to locate Harry in his position. "Yes, there he is." He pointed towards the back of the shop.

"Thanks," said Lily, and she moved along to where Harry was working.

Harry was reaching up and making more spaces for new items to fill. He bent down and grabbed a box when Lily tapped his shoulder.

"Mum?" said Harry, surprised to see Lily standing behind him in a joke shop.

"Harry! Thank goodness I found you…" Lily hugged him.

"What are you doing here?"

Ron came out of the backroom a moment later carefully carrying several boxes all at once.

"Ron," said Lily when she spotted him and quickly said, "I'm sorry but I have to get Harry out of here right now."

"Um… Sure, Mrs. Potter."

"What is wrong, mum?" said Harry, looking at her worriedly.

A little frightened, Lily said, "Things are happening from yesterday. They're jumbled up… but they're happening again in some way." Her head was buzzing. "Maybe it's stress. But all I know is… we have to leave London immediately."

"Leave London?" asked Harry a little bewildered.

"Yes," said Lily. "Now."

Harry gestured towards the shelves he was stacking up. "But I promised Ron –"

"You've helped loads," said Ron immediately. He grabbed the box Harry was holding and started stacking them up on the shelves.

Harry frowned. "Mum, I have an assembly tonight. Remember?"

"We'll be back in time," said Lily. She grabbed Harry's arm. "Come on, let's go. I have to get you out of London now." She looked at him as he looked back uncertainly. She squeezed his arm and said, "Just trust me on this."

Harry nodded and let her mother steer him out of the shop and out of Diagon Alley, wondering where they could possibly go.