Written for:Simply Supernatural Boot Camp by Smeagolia, Flower Language Challenge by Holly Chase
Prompt(s): #10 Fire Elemental, Rosebud:Write about one of the next-gen girls.
Pairing/Character(s): Myrtle, Lily L. Potter
Genre: Friendship
Word Count (sans this): 856
A.N.: I've always wanted to write about these two. Lily's always been that relatable character because she's usually outshined by her brothers and Myrtle used to have a life too people! Love them both!
Myrtle smiles at the light glowing from the girl's hands. Oh how she misses colors. After her demise and resurrection, the one thing she mourns the most was colors. She used to be a very colorful girl. She remembered the bright yellow ribbons she put in her hair though several students would yank them out. When she went home for Christmas, her mother's once green garden would be frosted over with light blues and snowy whites. But sadly, those images are just words for her now. Sometimes, if she thinks hard enough, Myrtle can still see colors hues.
But this! This one tiny light is the only color she could see. The only colors she's seen in a long time. She doesn't know what the colors are called anymore nor how to describe them to her friend. Sometimes she feels like she knows them, but when they're on the tip of her tongue it is like the thought is chased away by rabid wolves.
Myrtle sighs and floats around her friend, eyes glued to the light.
"What's it feel like, Lily?" she asks, her tone light and mesmerized.
Lily smiles at her and thinks. She's never really felt anything except the first few times. When she first tried to summon the power, it felt like being lit up in a steel block of lava; her body exploding in heat not even her wet tears could soothe. Her mother had found her screaming on the floor in a circle of fire. A terrifying sight, sure, but inside Lily felt both at peace and war. Her body being torn apart and put back together in an endless cycle.
"It feels," she struggles to find the words, "light and...bouncy." They look at each other and burst into laughter. After they finished, Myrtle sighs and sits next to her. She leans her head on the redhead's shoulder carefully. "I don't really know what it feels like actually." Lily weaves the fire through her fingers then winds it up in a ball to throw in the air.
"It's beautiful. You're so lucky." Lily scoffs and holds the flame out for Myrtle's eyes instead of her own. "I'm serious! To create such beauty in a flick of the wrist," she demonstrates, immediately disappointed though knowing it wouldn't happen. "I wish I could do it." she sighs. Lily looks at her and wishes that she could soothe her friend's pain.
"It's not as fun as it looks." she tries. Closing her fist, Lily imagines a rose since it is Myrtle's favorite flower. When she opens her hand, the flame is still waving silently, mocking her. "My brothers are so much better at it. My parents keep drilling me in making shapes with it, but I just can't get it. I think I'm cursed." Suddenly, she feels a deep coldness pass through her arm. It freezes her stiff.
"Oh Merlin! Sorry! I forgot! I'm so sorry!" Myrtle bites her lip. She wants to reach for Lily and hug her, but knows it would cause her more pain. Lily grits her teeth and lets the fire within her bring her arm back to normal.
"It's," she shudders, "okay. Just give me a sec." The redhead breathes in fast to get her blood pumping and the cold slowly recedes. She looks at Myrtle in shock once it's gone.
"I'm sorry! I just, why would you say that!"
"What? That I'm cursed?" Myrtle looks at her sadly and nods. She hugs her arms to herself.
"You were given such a gift. Beauty, power, life. All in your hand."
"But I'm not good at it!" Lily argues. Her friend rolls her eyes.
"You're not supposed to. If you were so good at it, you wouldn't be able to learn anymore, Lily."
The Potter girl sighs and nods, leaning against the stall. She needs to remember that. It just got so hard when her brothers excelled at almost everything and she always disappointed her parents. Even when she woke the fire it was different than her brothers. Her fire exploded while James' grew subtly and Albus' came and went for years. She felt like such an outsider. Myrtle giggles, causing Lily to glance at her.
"What?"
"I was just thinking. I mean, if you were perfect with your powers, you wouldn't be able to have so much fun blaming burns on 'spontaneous flares'." The girls laugh together remembering those times she 'accidentally' burned people who gossiped about Myrtle and her. Lily wipes a nonexistent tear from her eye. Another downside to having the fire. The two girls quiet down and sit in silence.
Lily opens her hand and looks at the tiny flame. She feels Myrtle lean her head on her arm again carefully. Sometimes she wishes the Ravenclaw didn't need to be so cautious.
"If I could, I'd shape this into a rose for you, Myrtle." The girl holds her hand over the flame as if she can feel the heat emitting from it.
"Natural is always prettier than something different, Lily."
Like every time she visits Myrtle, the Potter girl feels like she learned something new.
