The Truth About Always

By Molly The Monster

Setting: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry, June 2024

Prompt: "I will always be your brother."

It was a chilly, June day and Lily Luna Potter found herself wandering up to the seventh floor corridor. She spotted her once favorite window leading to her favorite place. In her first year, James had showed her his special spot where he always came when he wanted to be alone and think. Lily had found herself in that spot many times, but surprisingly, she had never run into James out there. In fact, the first time she and James had been out there together, he had to remind her that he was the one who had showed her the place all those years ago.

The last time Lily had been up there had been the last day of term last year. Lily and James finally decided to let Albus in on their little secret hiding place. The three of them laid on the roof, staring up at the sky. It was James' last night ever at Hogwarts and they just wanted to be together.

Now it was Albus' last week at Hogwarts and Lily found herself opening the familiar window and jumping out to where she knew there would be a ledge to catch her. She scaled the building for a few feet and then climbed onto the large, flat platform and laid down.

Time seemed to creep by slowly, and before she knew it, the sun was falling down behind the trees in the distance. The sky was a dim shade of pink. The air was completely still and it was so quiet, Lily was certain she could hear a feather fall through the air. It was so quiet, she could hear the window being opened. She opened her eyes and watched as Albus stuck the upper half of his body out the window. When he saw Lily, he smiled. "Well, what do you know? James was actually right about something."

Lily raised her eyebrows at her brother. "What is that supposed to mean?" she called, very confused.

Albus didn't answer, but instead, he looked around. "How do I get out here again?" asked Albus, trying to lift the window up a little higher, but it didn't budge.

"Legs first, Al," Lily reminded her older brother patiently. "Just slide out. You won't fall." She had to laugh at the concerned look on Albus' face.

"Are you kidding?" he asked.

"Just do it."

Ten minutes later, Albus finally managed to slide his body out of the window. He clung to the wall as much as he could before he was able to get to the platform that his little sister was sitting on. He let out a deep breath as he settled

"You're an idiot," Lily laughed lightly. She was having a hard time smiling.

"This is why I read and study instead of play Quidditch. You know I'm terrified of heights," said Albus, taking a seat next to the redhead. Albus was terrified of heights. While James would spend all of his time on a broom if he could, Albus did whatever he could do avoid flying. For some reason, the poor boy had a deathly fear of being more than five feet off the ground. "I forgot how nice it was out here." He looked around, taking in the view.

"Me too," said Lily with a deep breath. She to had forgotten how much she had loved it up there.

"James told me if ever I thought you were sad, this would be the one place to look would be here," said Albus finally, after they were sitting in silence for a few minutes.

Lily rolled her eyes. "James thinks he's knows everything," Lily said quietly, thinking fondly of her older brother. Although he was a cocky brat sometimes, Lily knew that he loved her.

It must have been at least five minutes before either said anything. They were sitting in silence, just staring, like they had last year, only James had been with them.

"What's wrong?" Albus finally asked. He didn't look at Lily, but instead at his shoes. Whenever Lily had a problem, Albus was always the first person she went to. Even though he didn't always have advice, somehow, he always knew the right thing to say to make Lily feel better.

But Lily didn't feel like talking about this problem. "Nothing," said Lily almost immediately, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you sad about the end of the year? Are you scared next year is your last year...?" Albus questioned. Of course he couldn't just let it go. He'd just keep pushing until Lily eventually told him. James would have shrugged and let it go, but Lily wasn't talking to James; she was talking to Albus. Good old Albus who always wanted to help everyone with everything, whether they wanted the help or not.

"Forget it," Lily warned, sharpness in her voice. "It's nothing." Of course it wasn't nothing, but Lily just didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to admit it. It was embarrassing.

Albus took a deep breath and turned his head to look at his sister. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw him looking so she turned to look at her brother. Albus pushed a bit of hair out of his sister's face. "You know Lil, you can tell me anything," he said softly, and Lily knew he was trying to be the comforting older brother she knew he was.

"It's just..." Lily looked away and took a deep breath. She sighed, embarrassed to admit it. She bit her lip and then it just came out. "Everyone's growing up and I'm just staying the same!" she cried, burying her face in her hands.

"What are you talking about?" asked Albus with an incredulous laugh.

But Lily wasn't amused. She couldn't stand hearing him laugh about this. "You're graduating next week!"

"I am?" Albus asked with so much fake shock, it was ridiculous.

Lily wound up and punched Albus in the arm as hard as she could. "It's not funny, Al," she said through gritted teeth.

Albus' hand immediately went to the spot where Lily had punched him. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his arm. "When did you get so strong?" Although he claimed it hurt, he was still laughing. He was such a jerk. Lily didn't respond, but instead she pulled her knees to her chest and leaned her chin on her knees.

Albus rubbed Lily's head playfully and then put his arm around her shoulders. "Why does that bother you?" he asked gently, removing the smile from his face.

"Everyone's growing up, moving on with their life and leaving me behind," Lily mumbled, trying hard not to let tears fall from her eyes.

Albus didn't laugh this time, though Lily was sure that he wanted to. "No, they're not," he tried to reassure her, though it didn't make her feel any better.

"Yes they are!" Lily cried, sitting up straight. Albus' arm fell from around her and he ran a hand through the messy black hair that he had inherited from their father. "James is training to be an Auror! Victoire and Teddy are already married and having their second baby. Dominique is working for the Ministry. Louis is off in Romania with Uncle Charlie! Molly is studying to be a Healer. Fred's gone into business with Uncle George. You and Rose and Roxanne are going to be leaving and moving onto bigger an better things. And me? I'm stuck here!" It all started coming out and Lily couldn't stop it. All the things she had been worried about for weeks was finally out in the open.

"Don't be ridiculous!" said Albus, raising his voice a little. It sounded like he couldn't believe what Lily had said. "You still have Lucy. She is your best friend after all. And there's always Hugo."

"Oh yeah. That makes me feel better," Lily said miserably. She was glad she would have Lucy with her next year, that was true. And considering everyone else would be gone, she was happy to have her cousin Hugo too. But it just wasn't the same.

"Just think, in a year, you'll be graduating and moving on with your life," said Albus in what Lily knew was an attempt to comfort her.

Unfortunately, it only made things worse. "But I don't want that!" Lily whined. "I miss the days when we were all here at Hogwarts. We've had so much fun! Once we graduate, who knows when we'll all be together again?" Lily quickly brushed away the tear that were coming from her eyes, hoping that Albus hadn't noticed.

Albus smiled knowingly. "Sounds like you're a little afraid of growing up. And a little afraid of the future," he said.

Lily scoffed. "A little?" she muttered, rolling her eyes at her brother's idiocy.

"I know it's scary. And I know things won't be the same," Albus began, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. She turned her head to look up at him and looked into the face of her brother. "If you need me next year, you can't just run around verbally assaulting first years in an attempt to find me," he said with a laugh and Lily smiled to. She had done that on more than one occasion. But then Albus' face became more serious. "But you can always write me. Things might not be exactly the same, but they don't have to be so different."

"Of course they're gonna be different," said Lily sadly, thinking about what was going to happen next year. Last year, she had James. She had Albus. She had Lucy, Hugo, Rose, Fred, Louis, and Roxanne. Then she lost James, Fred and Louis. Now she was losing Rose, Albus and Roxanne. She could barely even think about it.

Albus leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his younger sister and she hugged him back. She remembered when James helped her after her fight with Rose. Her older brothers always made her feel better with a hug.

Eventually, Albus pulled away and took his sister's hands in both of his. "I know you're afraid," he said sincerely. "But just remember this, okay? No matter where I am, what I'm doing, who it's with, what job I have, who I marry or how many kids I have, I will always be your brother and when you need me, I will always be there."

This time, Lily couldn't stop them. The tears slipped from her eyes and she tried quickly the brush them away with her sleeve. "You promise?" she managed to said through deep breaths.

"I promise," said Albus looking his sister in the eyes before, pulling her into another hug. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but it felt nice to have Albus there with her. Even though she wasn't sure about the future, somehow Albus made her feel better. He always did. Whenever she had a problem, she always ran to Albus. He always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better.

Lily finally pulled away from her brother and somehow, she knew everything would be alright.

A sly smile appeared on Albus' face. Lily didn't like the look he was giving her. "You know, I could always just fail all of my N.E.W.T.s this week and then I could stay here next year with you. Would that make you feel better?" Albus asked, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Ha ha. Very funny," said Lily, pushing her brother a little bit. "Come on. It's getting dark. We should probably get back to the tower."

Albus leaned back on his hands looking. "Nah, I think I'll just stay here," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What? Why?" asked Lily.

"Because I'm way too afraid to attempt to crawl back through that window," said Albus with a laugh. He leaned forward a little, trying to judge just how high from the ground they were. He shuddered before looking away. It was way too high for her brother and Lily knew it.

But she didn't care. She rolled her eyes and stood up, stepping over her brother's legs to get to the ledge that lead back to the window. "See you later, Al," she said, walking very carefully along the ledge.

"Send someone up here to get me, will you?" he asked. Lily wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

And she didn't care. "Nah," she said, shrugging her shoulders. She stood on her tiptoes and just barely reached the windowsill. If she got her foot at just the right place, she'd be able to pull herself back in.

"Wait, you can't leave me out here!" cried Albus and once again Lily couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"Later!" she called before she managed to hoist herself up, sliding through the window face first.

"Lily Luna Potter, you get your butt back here this instant! Lily!"

If you've ever read anything else by me, you'd know that I like to end stories this way. Haha. It makes somewhat serious stories a bit funny. My last story, Advice On A Hogwarts Rooftop was originally intended to be an Albus/Lily story, but as I was writing it just seemed more appropriate for it to be James. So when I came across sick-atxxheart's challenge (which I actually believe is dead as the topic was made over a year and a half ago!), I had an idea for Albus/Lily, so this is where it comes from!

This story is dedicated to Aisha-Yan, Alice cullen300, blanimal, DanceInSlowMotion, HerTaintedQuill, IrishSkittle101, KittyScarlet, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, Lifesjustducky, minnie, PrincessPearl, Queen Violet of the Underworld, Rani Jashalithie, Sarah Kassiopeia, slytherinprincess02, The North Wyn, VaneBEAR, WIZARDOLOGY, .x for reviewing my last one-shot, Advice On A Hogwarts Rooftop.