Lily pulled her curly red hair into a tight bun on her hair. Her unruly hair was frizzy and unkempt and she yearned for a hot bath to relax and forget her week. She knew she had to finish her article though, her job at the local newspaper paid the bills and she needed this . This week's thrilling topic was the conspiracy that the local council was putting the parking fine money towards their social calendar of events instead of local causes. Her writing had tried to give the small town scandal an edge but she was struggling to come up with an ending that wasn't dripping in sarcasm. She scribbled something about awaiting a statement from the local council ahead of their annual review and then threw her pen on the desk and sighed.
Her desk overlooked the street and she could see a couple of local kids playing on their bikes outside, a girl and a boy laughing and chasing each other back and forth. She sighed as the sight brought back a memory of her childhood and she shook it away not looking to get sentimental today. She stood and headed downstairs with the article, she knew she had to type up and drop the article off before 2pm otherwise she was going to miss the print deadline so she grabbed her handbag and headed to the door. Before she grabbed the door handle she realised she didn't have her car keys and turned to the table in the hallway. The keys weren't in the bowl on top so she opened the drawer and rummaged around inside.
She pushed old letters and junk to the side and saw the keys were underneath and went to grab them, as she did she felt a warm jolt to her hand and realised she had brushed up against her wand. It was in the back of the drawer, unused and covered in dust. She jerked her hand back in shock and stared down at her wand. She hadn't looked at it in some time and had no urge to take it out today. She grabbed her keys and slammed the drawer shut and headed back to the door.
As she drove she couldn't help but thinking about her wand in that little drawer in her house, it had been unused for at least 5 years now. She had left Hogwarts with all the energy that the top student should have, a number of job offers in the ministry and a place to train as a healer is she had wanted. She had initially chosen to start her healer training and had begun her first year but 7 months in her mother had taken ill and due to her sister's responsibility with her fiancee at the time and the stress of trying to plan the wedding it had fallen to Lily to move back home and take care of her. Her mother's illness had taken its toll and became a full time role for Lily. She had taken a job at the local newspaper to keep money coming in and also it allowed her to work from home a lot.
Her mother had always been supportive of Lily's abilities during the school years. Lily's abilities made Lily special and in turn made her special as she was her mother. But her illness changed her mother and soon Lily could see the resentment begin to grow as her illness got worse. Eventually Lily began hiding her magic, trying to only do little bits in the other room where her mother couldn't see. Eventually her wand would just get left in a drawer and her magic became like a past dream. Lily didn't always miss it, sometimes she felt a resentment to her power also as she could do so much but she couldn't heal her mother.
At first she kept in touch with her school friends, sending weekly owls and hearing about their adventures of travelling and training in their various jobs. But it didn't take long for the owls to become less and less and Lily didn't mind because she hated hearing about the sucess and fun they were having while she was stuck at home. This then turned to guilt and soon she cut herself from everyone completely apart from the occasional phone call from her sister. One particular call was to say that the wedding was going ahead but Petunia thought it better for Lily to stay home and care for their Mother. Lily knew that was just an excuse to keep her away but she agreed, she had no fight left in her to argue and she hated her brother-in-law and his pompous family anyway.
Her mother passed away two years later but Lily didn't feel like it was that long ago. She still took a big inhale of breath and bit back tears every time she thought of the dark time. She had promised herself that as soon as she had some time to mourn she would do something with her life, get back on track and become the success she had worked so hard at school for. But for now she was still working for her local muggle job and wasn't in touch with the magical world at all.
Her car, actually her mother's old mini, pulled into the car park to the newspaper offices and she parked up. Her boss was a little old man called Mr Herbertson and he was very uptight and grumpy but had a good heart deep down. He had been kind to her during her mother's illness and kept her in work.
"Evans, you're cutting it close this week." Herbertson said across the office as she walked in. She could see he was standing in the doorway of his office with a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
"I know I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure it was right." Lily said apologetically shrugging her shoulders. She sat at the temp desk and quickly slid a piece of paper into the typewriter and started typing up the article. Herbertson rolled his eyes but Lily knew he had a soft spot for her and she wasn't in trouble. She typed quickly and then put the sheets with Ms Fields who was Mr Herbertson's secretary.
"Thanks Gina," Lily said straining a smile as she dropped the paper on her desk. Gina was very glamorous for a small town receptionist, her bleached blonde hair was coiffed like a movie star and she always had a slick of red lipstick on. She glanced over her rhinestone covered cat's eye glasses and looked at Lily.
"You know Lily," she smiled over her glasses. "You've got great potential you know. I read your stuff. You've got talent. Maybe you should try and get on the crime beat, get something a bit meatier than what the idiots at the local council are up to." She said inspecting her ruby red nail polish. Lily nodded, she'd heard it all before about her potential but she just didn't have the energy to go for it. Ms Fields inspected Lily and then turned to look over her shoulder to see if Herbertson was watching.
"I didn't give you this got it." She said and Lily looked at her confused. Gina grabbed a piece of note-paper and scribbled something on it quickly. She handed the piece of paper to Lily quickly then lowered her voice.
"Go to this address and ask for Mr Dawes about the incident he called about. He called here earlier and I said I'd send someone over but there's nobody around because of those robberies down at the high school so you can have it. All sounded very strange but you've got it." She said shooing Lily away. Lily stared at the paper then back at Gina and felt very confused.
"Go!" She said wiggling her fingers more vigorously before picking up the ringing telephone next to her. Lily folded the paper and placed it in her jeans pocket before heading out the door. She got into her car and pulled the paper out of her pocket again to look at it. All it said was,
"15 Capersworth Drive, Mr Dawes, weird lights"
Not much to go on, Lily thought. She knew where the address was as it was only a few blocks from her home so she decided to drive by on her way home.
As she turned into the street she felt a shiver run up her back and she slowed the car as a cold crept over her. She continued down the street and as she neared the end she saw number fifteen was the second to last of the street. She pulled the car to a stop by the curb and looked across as the house. It looked pretty normal, the grass on the lawn was very overgrown and a number of weeds seemed to be overpowering the flower beds but other than that she didn't see anything strange.
Normally she would have turned around and headed home, but her curiosity was peaked and the hairs standing up on the back of her neck had given her a little adrenaline rush to see what this was. She rummaged in her glove compartment for an old note pad and pen and then got out of the car. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, straightened her top and pulled her shoulders back. She could do this, she needed this, she needed something… different.
The walk up the driveway was very quiet, she looked towards the house for movement but the house looked quiet. No lights were on and she couldn't sense any movement. As she neared the front door though she saw the slightest twitch of the front window curtain.
As she arrived at the door she rang the bell and waited and after a long enough wait looked back towards that window and as she turned she saw the curtain twitch again and Lily raised a friendly hand to whoever it was. She then chose to knock on the door again and call out to perhaps reassure the person inside.
"Hello! This is Lily Evans, from the paper. I've come to talk to Mr Dawes about the…" Before she could finish the door flew open and Lily felt a hand fly out and grab her and pull her inside. She suddenly felt terror and she gasped as she was flung into the reception area of the small home. As she steadied herself she saw the person who had grabbed her was a small elderly man, he was at least a head shorter than her and he was dressed impeccably in a suit and tie. He didn't look very happy though and glared up at Lily.
"Are you stupid in the head girl?" He grumbled. "This isn't the time to be shouting in the streets." He carried a small walking stick and waved it in her direction to further display his annoyance.
"Sorry, I didn't… are you Mr Dawes?" She asked, she felt very confused and alarmed at her being pulled into a stranger's home.
"Yes, yes thats me. I'm Mr Dawes, Mr Frederick Dawes to be specific. You may call me Mr Dawes." He said very primly. His home was very modest but the way he dressed and behaved Lily felt like he was a very grand old gentleman.
"And you are?" He asked, his tone never changing from disgruntled. Lily immediately threw her hand to shake his.
"Lily, Lily Evans. From the newspaper. I believe you called about an incident. I don't have any more details so if you'd like to explain to me what you saw." Lily said still holding her hand out which he ignored so she pulled it back.
"Well nice to see someone listens to me. The local police laughed me out of the station." He said. He then turned and headed further into the house and Lily after a beat followed him. He led her into the back room which was a living room, it didn't contain much, just an old lounge chair and sofa and then wall to wall bookcases filled with books. Lily looked in awe at the collection and felt a memory of the first time she entered the Hogwarts library.
"You have an incredible collection of books Mr Dawes." Lily said as she tried to read some of the titles. She didn't recognise a lot and saw the majority related to astronomy or physics.
"Yes well in a past life I was a physics professor you see." He said. Lily expected him to sit down but instead he headed towards another door at the back of the room and he waved his hand as if for her to follow him. He opened the door which led to a staircase and he began to climb the stairs and obviously expected Lily to follow him.
"Mr Dawes, if perhaps you could explain what you saw so I can understand you story…" Lily called after him but he was quicker than he looked and was ascending the stairs quickly so she followed up after him. As she reached the top he said something,
"Better I show you so you actually believe me I think." He said. As Lily arrived upstairs and she first saw that the room was very open and light (a relief as she had expected a dark scary attic) and secondly she noticed a very impressive gold telescope in a prominent position by the window. He stood waiting for her by it and look impatient.
"What do you wish to show me?" Lily asked, she felt less uneasy now as he just seemed like a harmless old gentleman but she was still very confused about what he wanted to tell her.
"Well, as you can see from by collection I am an avid astronomer among many other things and as I'm sure you know last week was the Blood Supermoon." He said very matter of factly. Lily nodded and scribbled down the detail about the moon as she listened.
"I was watching for the eclipse to begin and as it began I noticed a bright light on the ground in the corner or my eye." He gestured out of the window and Lily looked out. Him home backed onto fields and she couldn't see much out there other than fields and the occasional tree.
"What was it you saw?" She asked. He looked cross that she wasn't more excited about his story but he carried on.
"My telescope was positionist perfectly at the sky to see the eclipse but his bright light kept catching my eye so I looked across the fields and saw a tiny glimpse of light. I may be old but my eyesight is sharp as a knife." He said proudly. "I repositioned the telescope to look at the light and what I saw was… concerning. I am still not sure how to rationalise it but I will describe it the best I can." He said looking slightly uneasy now for the first time. Lily looked at him and saw the slightest glimpse of fear in his eyes as he recounted the events.
"I looked across the fields and I've been aware of this derelict farmhouse there for years. It's been empty since 1957 when the farmer, Murray, died you see. I've lived in this house for 54 years you know. I could see this green glimmer though around the house, like a green sparkling dome surrounding the house and as I looked further it grew brighter and then a sharp flash and the dome started to disappeared. Then the house changed, well, it appeared to be less derelict than I had previously thought. It's like it flashed from old and dilapidated, unlivable, to back to its old state. But quicker than I saw say bang the house blew apart and half the front wall blew off and then even quicker I saw three people in black cloaks run in, drag out a fourth person and then they all disappeared in a blink." He finished the story and waited expectantly for Lily's response. She had been scribbling away the details as he told them and as she finished the last note she took a breath and felt that same tingle of hairs standing up on the back of her neck.
"Did you say they were wearing cloaks?" She asked quietly. She didn't want to overreact and show anything was wrong but alarm bells but ringing in her head so loud she felt faint.
"Yes, long cloaks and their faces were obscured by masks." He said again, very matter of factly but a quiver in his voice showed he was disturbed by the event.
"You saw they were wearing masks, from here?" Lily asked looked out of the window, she didn't wear glasses and she couldn't even see a farm house. He huffed at her question and gestured to his telescope.
"If you will Miss Evans." He said wiping the eye piece with a handkerchief he had pulled from his pocket. She walked forwards and leant forward to peer into the telescope. As soon as she did she blinked to find focus but as she did house became clear in the distance. She could barely even call it that anymore though, she could clearly see the front of the house was gone and every window was smashed and the front door was about 20 feet away from the structure.
"The house burned?" She asked, her voice breathless.
"Yes, once the cloaked, well I assumed men as they were large, disappeared the house burst into flames. When I told the local police they said they're already been out then and that local kids had burned the place down for fun. I was laughed out of the station." He said with disdain.
"I noticed after I visited the station though I felt like I was being followed so I left my enquiry. But I just couldn't…" He paused, he seemed to lean harder onto his walking stick as he felt a little unsteady. Lily gestured for him to sit and he waved her of.
"I'm fine." He said, although the scared look he had as he glanced back towards the house was reason for Lily to believe this had really shaken this man. A man she could tell just from this short time, was not easily shaken.
"So that's my story. I don't want my name in the paper and I don't want any money. I just want someone to… well someone to believe me." He said earnestly. He straightened his perfect tie uncomfortably and waited for Lily to speak.
"Mr Dawes that is quite a story." She said at first scratching her head, feeling perplexed. He frowned and looked annoyed.
"If you don't believe me then don't waste my time." He said gesturing for the door. Lily turned to look at the door and was ready to get out of there but then she turned back to look at him.
"I believe you." She said and she could visibly see his relief.
"You do?" He asked.
"Yes I do, now I have a few questions…" She said turning over a fresh page of her notepad.
"I almost thought I was crazy at first." He said. "I've got two PHDs and a doctorate so I am hardly a foolish man. I am a man of science not of imagination. I couldn't have made this up myself if I tried." He said finally taking a seat next to the telescope. Lily took another nearby seat and she asked her questions.
They sat and she got more details about the event from him for the next half an hour. He was certain about the details of the dome of light and he also gave extra detail to say the cloaked men's masks were silver. The most disturbing details came with the description of the man he saw taken from the home. Mr Dawes described the man as in his late 40s, he wore long blue robes similar to his kidnappers but without the hood up. He said he had a distinctive mark on his face, a large purple blotch on his cheek that could have been a birth mark. He had what Mr Dawes described as a look of extreme terror on his face just before he disappeared.
"He looked like he was screaming, I obviously couldn't hear but I could just tell he was screaming at the top of his lungs in fear. His face was red and his eyes crazy. It haunts me." He said solemnly.
"Mr Dawes, Can I ask you one last question before I go?" Lily said looking at him.
"Why did you call the paper? I'm not sure how we can help if the police don't take this seriously." Lily said.
"I had to do something. A man is in danger." He said with an air of surprise at the question. "A man's character is built around his actions and if I do nothing I will be a coward." Lily nodded.
The whole conversation had made her feel the chill of old memories. The event he described undeniably interlinked with her old magical world, a world she had left behind. A hunger in her stomach to find out more now ravaged her body but she also felt the pull of safety, of her easy, boring life.
"Thank you for your time Mr Dawes, your story is very disturbing and I need to get my head around it. I suggest you keep the details of this event to yourself and I'll have a dig around to see if anything comes of it." Lily said standing and again offering her hand out to him.
"You must find the culprit!" He said passionately jumping out of his chair and again ignoring her hand.
"I'm not a police woman Mr Dawes. I report on the news. I'll check and see if there's been any missing reports though and see if there's anything…" She didn't get to finish as he waved his hand and dismissed her words.
"You clearly don't have what it takes to be an investigative reporter Miss Evans. This needs an in depth investigation. Something very dark is afoot!" He exclaimed waving his walking stick again. She didn't know what to say so she just nodded and then he led her back to the front door and gave her a very curt goodbye. She left him with her home phone number as a parting gift and told him to call her if anything else came to mind. She secretly hoped he wouldn't call though as she wanted to forget this whole event.
Lily walked back to her car and got in, before she started the engine she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She couldn't believe the story he had told, it sounded crazy, but Lily knew that the description he gave matched up with the wizarding world. The breaking of the concealment charm, the cloaks the assailants wore and their instant disappearance was obviously them apparating. The parallels were obvious but yet she still felt like going home and hiding until she forget all about it.
The old Lily would never have been this cowardly but she was not the same person as she was. The ten years since Hogwarts had taken its toll on her character and she simply wanted a quiet, unspectacular life. This event sounded like something that would take her in the wrong direction completely. She reached into pocket and pulled out the piece of paper Gina had given her. She looked one more time and then crumpled the paper up and threw it to the footwell of the passenger seat.