Title: Someday
Author: Octavius Pepper
Rating: T
Summary: Little Lily Potter may not be quite what she seems. Rose helps her discover her dark side.
Note: In all hopefulness, this fic is a prequel to another Rose/Scorpius fic I'm working on, which will be longer, and hopefully more epic and dark. Just a precautionary warning, this is a tad disturbing- not really, I just don't want people complaining later- so if you have a weak stomach, don't read.
Disclaimer: I wish I could come up with a cute way of saying "not mine," but my creative juices are all dried up, so this will have to do for now.
It was Rose who found Lily covered in the blood of the gnome she blew up in her first truly devastating display of accidental magic.
Rose cleaned her up- a little Scourgify wasn't past twelve-year-old Rose who had come back from her first year of Hogwarts so high and mighty; the Ministry wouldn't detect the underage magic in any case- and held her while she sobbed. And then, when the tears stopped flowing, and Lily wiped the snot streaming out of her nose, it was Rose who waved her wand- a little more magic couldn't hurt- and turned the chunks of desiccated gnome flesh into blood-red roses that popped from the ground in an almost-cheerful way.
"See?" she whispered to Lily. "Good things can always come from destruction."
Lily smiled. Rose always knew what would make her feel better.
It was a week later, and there was a gathering at the Burrow: old friends, family members, the occasional passing hag, all gathered in the tiny kitchen and large garden. Lily sat near the border hedge, away from the crowd, trying to coax a gnome from his hole.
"Come here, you," she said, holding a bit of bread crust to the inquisitive gnome. He inched forward, grabbed the crust, and-
BANG!
Lily jumped, which was silly, because she had meant to make the loud noise; this gnome death wasn't quite so accidental. She scooped a small amount of the blood into the vial she carried, and skipped toward the house. After a few stops, she stopped and looked back. She couldn't just leave the body here, people might wonder… after all, it was a gnome…
She shook herself. She had succeeded. She would not feel bad for what she had done.
She hurried the rest of the way to the house and into the kitchen. Grandmum Weasley always liked help making the cake; she said Lily was the most natural-born cook she had ever seen.
"Just in time, lovely Lily," she exclaimed. Lily smiled her best smile, the one that lit up her chocolate-brown eyes and made the highlights of her hair glisten an especially bright red. "You know," continued Grandmum Weasley, "I might just leave you to make this cake by yourself. You're so talented, dear."
She looked at Lily in a kind of adoring calculation, then sighed and stripped off her apron.
"I've been replaced in my own kitchen!" She smiled again at Lily, gave her a quick squeeze, and left the room.
Lily quickly mixed the cake. It was true what Grandmum Weasley said; she really was good at cooking. Her Aunt Hermione said she would be a great potion-maker when she got to Hogwarts. Lily only hoped potion-making was more fun than cake-making; she was already bored with flour and eggs.
Just before she dumped the batter into the pan, she quickly whipped out the little bottle of gnome blood and poured it into the mixture.
"What did you just put in that cake?" A voice rang out from behind Lily, and she jumped from the elation of being caught.
"No-nothing," Lily stammered, until she saw it was Rose. "I mean, nothing much. Just an extra ingredient. For taste."
"Mm-hmm," Rose looked suspicious, but quickly hid it beneath a genuine smile. Rose never betrayed any emotion that she didn't want to.
Suddenly Lily realized that Rose wouldn't be upset by the ingredient she added. If anything, she would be pleased. After all, she had made the roses grow from the flesh; what was so different about blood?
"Gnome blood," she blurted. "That was the extra ingredient. Gnome blood. For taste."
"Hmmm." This time Rose looked shrewd and calculating, and she didn't try to hide it from Lily. "I can't wait to try a piece, then."
And she left, leaving Lily with the distinct feeling that something very important had just happened.
The cake was a huge success with the rest of the family, all of whom proclaimed that it was far better than any other cake they had ever tasted, no offense to Mrs. Weasley. Rose chewed her piece slowly, as if savoring the flavor, and watched Lily with a similar satisfaction.
Lily herself was bright with smiles, and everybody was so blinded by the button-nose and sprinkling of freckles to notice the glint in her eye that betrayed something… more.
Rose's glint was more obvious- even she wasn't perfect at controlling her facial expressions- but as she wasn't the center of attention, it hardly mattered. She had always known Lily was something special- a bright light in a sea of mediocrity- but even she hadn't expected this. In the back of her head, where she kept plans that were both insane and incredibly possible, she added Lily's cake to a repertoire of resources. Someday, she would find a use for Lily. She didn't yet know what or how, but she did know that someday, Lily would come in handy.
Thanks for reading, and please review! Mostly I just want to know if there's enough interest to actually do a follow-up/main story, so if you could just write a few sentences, that would be much appreciated.
Ugh, and now I have to go study for a Calc BC test tomorrow. Ah, but my math teacher's so funny, it almost makes up for it. Almost.