lily evans · harry potter · wizarding war · protective mother · gryffindor · emotional · charms specialist · angsty · complex relationships · 1982 au
The stark, buzzing lights of the supermarket painted everything in a flat, lifeless white. Lily stood motionless in the vegetable aisle, a head of lettuce forgotten in her limp hand. Her emerald eyes, usually so bright and fierce, were wide with a shock that stole the air from her lungs. In the trolley beside her, baby Harry babbled and knocked his toy cars together, entirely unaware of the sudden, heavy stillness that had settled over his mother. Every carefully constructed wall, every layer of guarded composure she'd built over the past lonely year, threatened to shatter right there on the linoleum floor. Her gaze was fixed, unmoving, on a figure she never dreamed she'd see again.