I dreamt this last night. I thought I'd type it up, so I don't forget it. I thought it made an interesting (short) fanfiction. This isn't all there is to it, I might finish it later on today or tonight. It all depends on if I can think up a suitable ending.
Thanks for reading! :D
Steve walked down the hallway to his apartment door, deep in thought. It took him a minute of fumbling with his keys to realise that the door was already open. Dismissing it as his roommate and boyfriend, Harry, awaiting him or running a quick errand, he let himself in.
"Harry?" No reply. Steve shrugged it off and headed to their shared bedroom to change out of his suit. As much as he loved wearing it, not to mention how official it made him look, there was nothing better after a long day than changing into sweatpants and an old t-shirt.
A quick trip to the small kitchen later, Steve was making his way to the sofa to watch the news. It had taken a while for him to become used to the modern technology, but eventually he'd adapted.
Just as he settled down into the soft cushions, Harry's mobile began to ring.
Odd, Steve thought, Why hasn't Harry taken his phone with him?
Without a second thought, Steve answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, is Harry there?" A woman's voice reverberated through the speaker into his ear.
"May I ask who's calling?" Steve knew better than to suspect Harry of an affair, especially with a woman, but he still wanted to know who was calling his lover.
"Lily Evans," she responded. Something was odd about her voice, but Steve just couldn't place what exactly it was.
"Alright Ms. Evans, I'll let Harry know you've called when he gets back."
"Thank you, Steve."
The line went dead.
Steve? How did she know his name? Could it be that Harry had spoken with her before and mentioned him? Was she an old friend of his from school?
"Steve?" The familiar voice made him smile.
"In the living room, Harry," he called back. A few seconds later a head of unruly black hair appeared and grinned at him.
"Where were you? I saw the door was open when I got back."
"Oh, I was sticking some laundry in the dryer."
"Oh," Steve's reply was muffled by Harry's lips meeting his in an impossibly chaste kiss. The wizard grinned down at Steve, who was still sitting on the sofa. He straddled him and brought their foreheads together.
"So, how was your day?"
"Exhausti-"
Harry interrupted him again with a kiss, this time much less chastely.
"Mm-" Steve pulled his head back. "Someone called while you were gone."
"Oh?" Harry seemed less interested in the call than thoroughly kissing Steve.
"It was a Ms. Lily Evans." Immediately the mood changed. Harry's eyes widened and he nearly fell over backwards.
"Lily Evans? Are you absolutely sure?"
Steve nodded.
"Oh no. Oh no." Harry looked absolutely terrified. Who was this woman to frighten him so?
"Who is she?" Steve asked slowly, as if talking to a frightened animal. He took his partner's hand just as slowly and squeezed.
"My dead mother."
The shock hit Steve like a tidal wave.
"But-"
"We need to leave."
Steve couldn't say a single word before Harry continued.
"We need to leave now."
"Harry, what's going on?" Steve was starting to feel apprehensive.
"Come on, Steve," Harry was halfway to the door, already pulling a jacket on, when Steve reacted. Deciding to trust him now, and ask for answers later, he followed Harry's lead and get dressed.
"Let's go," He opened the door and choked on a scream. Steve caught a glimpse of the figure in front of their apartment door before Harry slammed it shut.
"She's here," Harry said in barely more than a whisper. "She's here, Steve."
It had only been a brief glimpse, but Steve couldn't forget the figure's face. The decaying skin and sunken eye, the other of which had been missing, leaving only a black socket. The burnt cheek and chin, the white gleam of a bone on her forehead. The stench that lingered in the air or dead and dying things.
Steve gagged.
Harry's knees nearly gave out.
"Harry?" Steve whispered. "What's going on?"
Before either could say anything else, a thump on the window behind them startled them.
"Oh Merlin," Harry managed, breath coming in frightened gasps.
Steve turned to face the window and felt a scream freeze in his throat. The figure, Lily Evans, Harry's deceased mother, was grinning at them from the window.
"Harry, grab your wand." Steve spoke semi-calmly.
"What?"
"Grab your wand," He repeated as he summoned his shield. Harry reached for the cloak hanging inconspicuously with the Muggle coats behind the door, pulling out his wand from the pocket.
"I meant your other wand," Steve's voice shook.
"You mean- ?" Steve merely nodded.
Harry gulped as he pulled a second wand from the inside pocket of the cloak.
Harry hated this wand. It was the wand that was taken from Dumbledore. The wand that had killed Snape. The wand that Voldemort had been after.
But Voldemort is dead, he heard his mind telling him.
My mother is supposed to be dead, he thought.
"Now what?" Harry whispered.
"We wait, or we go out and face her – it."
The Gryffindor in Harry spoke up, "Face it." The shot of extra adrenaline those words gave him made his mind think in an uncharacteristically Ravenclaw way.
"I think it's an Inferius."
"A what?" Steve had learned much about the world of magic Harry came from, but the term Inferius was still foreign to him.
"A possessed corpse. A powerful curse."
Steve blinked at his lover, "Like a zombie?"
"Precisely."