help me

I'm lost

where am I?

is anyone there?

it's so dark

please someone anyone HELP ME

Lily bolts upright, clutching her head. The searing pain fades after a moment, and she's left sitting in the tangle of sheets and moonlight, sweaty and shaking.

(it's just another nightmare)

Really though, she's kidding herself. Since when do nightmares leave burning headaches in their wake and seep into her waking hours, whispering in her ears and begging her to help them?

She pushes a few red curls out of her eyes and peers at the clock. Five am.

There's no chance of getting any more sleep now, and to be honest she's afraid that if she closes her eyes the pleading will start again, strange voices high and cracked with blind fear. Instead she retrieves her wand from the dresser and apparates to the one place she'll be able to find some peace.

"Lils?"

Teddy looks surprised to find a pale and shaken teenager in his flat, and Lily can't really blame him. (Perhaps she should have thought to change out of her pajamas) "What are you doing here?" She shrugs. "Couldn't sleep." The state of the flat finally registers and she quirks an eyebrow at the explosion of clothes and half-empty suitcases. "Going somewhere?"

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Er-yeah, actually. We're going round Europe for the summer. 'Toire thinks it'll be good for our chi or something."

"Oh." Lily can't get her mouth to work right; else she'd be screaming at him not to abandon her, not to leave her alone with the voices and the worried stares of her family. "It's just three months, Lils, and I promise we'll have some time before I have to go back to the reserve." She nods dumbly, horrified to feel a hot prickling behind her eyes. "I-i better go." She manages, swallowing thickly. "Nice talking."

Teddy starts to say something else, but she's already gripping her wand and disappearing. The first tears fall as she tumbles ungracefully onto the kitchen floor.

help

She ignores the whisper and jabs her wand fiercely at the tea kettle

help me

It's just her imagination, she thinks over and over, chanting it inside her head as she adds the bag. Nothing a cuppa won't fix.

please help me I can't see

It's getting stronger, the scent of decay seeping in from nowhere.

please please help-

"I CAN'T HELP YOU!" Lily screams and hot tea flies everywhere, leaving angry red marks on her hands. There's the sound of running feet and she's vaguely aware of her father's frightened green eyes before the world goes black.

Her burns have been healed and the dark stain on the kitchen floor erased magically, but Lily can still feel their eyes on her, can hear the whispered conversations that stop as soon as she enters a room.

("Maybe St Mungos?")

She's not crazy.

It doesn't matter that she's taken to jamming muggle headphones into her ears and listening to music nonstop, trying to drown out the voices that only she can hear, or that she won't sleep at night for fear of the creeping smell of rot.

It all comes to a head the first night they leave her alone. Al has a date, James (who lives with them when it's not Quidditch season) has practice, and Harry and Ginny have a Ministry function they can't get out of. After reminding her where everything is for the thousandth time (It's her own fucking house, she wants to yell at them, she knows where the paper towels are) Ginny finally kisses Lily's forehead and practically drags Harry out the door.

Lily drifts listlessly around the house, music blaring through her headphones and wand at the ready.

It's no use. The whisper is inside her head in a heartbeat.

Lily.

She's rooted to the spot as the now-familiar stench of dirt, of death, sweeps into the room.

Help me, Lily, I'm so scared.

Her breath comes in short gasps and her heart is thudding painfully in her chest.

It's so dark

There's a noise in the distance, a growling sound, but Lily can barely hear it over the rushing in her ears.

help me out of the dark

Are those footsteps?

Lily

There's a bang from the front of the house, and yes, two pairs of footsteps are running towards her.

they want to hurt me

A boy who looks to be Teddy's age-but much taller-reaches the room first, closely followed by another, older one. Any other details about them are blurred by tears of pain.

The voice is screaming at Lily now, clawing at her head.

don't let them hurt me

HELP ME

A shot, and then beautiful, merciful silence.

Lily falls to the ground, shaking, and someone grabs her shoulders, helps her into a chair.

"You okay?" The accent is most definitely American. She blinks a few times and a face swims into view. The tall one. "My head..."

He smiles. "Yeah, that's gotta hurt like a bitch. Do you know your name?"

"Lily."

"I'm Sam. This is my brother, Dean." The short one-Dean-gives a mock wave. "We're gonna take care of that thing."

"What is it?" Lily manages, staring at the two of them.

Dean chuckles grimly. "It's a ghost. Dunno why she was so attached to you, but we'll get rid of her. No worries." They both stand up to leave. "How?"

"Scuse me?" Lily swallows. "How're you going to get rid of...her?"

The brothers share a look. "We can show you, if you want." Sam offers. "But, uh, it's not strictly legal." Lily stands up carefully, her head still pounding. "Don't care. I want to be sure she's not coming back."

That's how she finds herself standing at the edge of a grave, watching bones burn.

"How do you go back to normal after this?" she asks Sam as they walk back to the car-the source of the growling she'd heard earlier. "You don't, really." He half smiles. "That's why Dean and I do this, travel around. It's not exactly a perfect life."

"Sounds better than mine." Lily tips her head back to look at the stars and tries not to think about how Teddy used to draw the constellations in her freckles.

"At least no one's trying to put you in the nuthouse because you hear dead people."

She slides into the backseat. "You shouldn't have a problem this one anymore, but give us a call if you run into any more." He hands her a slip of paper with a phone number on it.

She notices the lights as soon as they reach her street. "Shit," she mutters under her breath. Of course they'd be going insane, searching the neighborhood for their local escaped psycho.

Lily has no choice. She pulls her wand from the inside of her jacket and holds it against Dean's neck. "Keep driving."

"What the hell-are you threatening me with a stick?"

Muggles. Bullocks. She presses it deeper into his throat.

"This isn't just a stick. Keep driving."

"Sonofabitch." Dean mutters, but does as she asks.

Lily ducks as they drive by her house, and doesn't remove her wand until they're fifteen minutes out. "You're a witch." Sam says finally, a funny look on his face.

"Fucking witches, man." Dean shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "If I start barfing teeth, Red here is gonna pay."

Lily raises an eyebrow. "How do you know about magic?"

"We've dealt with witches before."

"What, like you dealt with that ghost?" She can hear her voice rising. "What kind of people are you?"

"They call themselves hunters. Hello, Dean."

Lily jumps as a man in a dirty suit and trenchcoat apparates into the car without warning.

"Jesus, Cas, you can't just do that. You want me to run off the road?"

Cas wrinkles his forehead. "Of course not."

Lily holds up a finger.

"Okay, hang on a minute. You kill witches, but you're totally cool with Mister Apparition over here?"

Dean snorts. "Cas isn't a witch."

"What is he, then?" Sam opens his mouth, but Cas beats him to it. "I'm an angel of the Lord."

Lily waits for the punchline, but he just keeps sitting there, looking for all the world like a particularly scruffy accountant.

This is too much. Evil ghosts, she can take. American Muggle ghost hunters who somehow know about magic, maybe. But angels? Really?

"Dean, she looks like she's gonna be sick. You could be a little nicer."

"Nicer? She hijacked my car! No one does that to my baby, Sam. Nobody."

Lily takes a deep breath. "Okay. One thing at a time. What exactly do you hunt?"

"Monsters." Sam replies. "Ghosts, demons, vampires."

"Werewolves." Dean adds. Lily feels sick, thinking of the pictures Teddy has of his parents. "My best friend's father was a werewolf," she said softly. "And he never hurt anyone. He took a potion at the full moon."

Sam looks sympathetic. "He was probably a special case. But there are some really bad things out there, and it's our job to kill them."

Lily will remember those words later, when she watches an innocent person's eyes fill with black smoke, when they encounter a werewolf quite unlike Remus Lupin, one who delights in infecting others. They'll ring in her ears louder than a shot when she's barely saved from another vengeful spirit, but right now, in this car full of near strangers, they're just another piece of new information to file away.

Right now, she has a choice. She can leave, go back to the house full of watchful eyes and the world where Lily Luna is nothing more than Harry Potter's crazy daughter, or she can stay in this strange new world where angels-and nightmares-are real, and Lily is whoever she wants to be.

It's not a hard decision.