Thanks for the review, Light Black. You have certainly encouraged me to write further! Cheers!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All the characters are from J K Rowling's brilliant best-selling series.

Chapter One

Is Magic Real?

"Lily, wake up!"

Six-year-old Lily Evans opened her eyes sleepily. Still groggy, she closed them again, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.

"Lily, come on, it's Christmas!"

At that, Lily's eyes snapped wide open. She looked around blearily until she saw her elder sister, Petunia, who slowly came into focus.

"Presents, come on, Lily!" she screamed, her eyes shining with excitement. Lily knew that it would be pointless to go back to sleep; she was excited about her own presents as well.

She first opened Petunia's present to her. "Oh, wow!" she shrieked excitedly, "That patterned hairband I was looking at two weeks ago!" She turned to her sister, who wore a somewhat satisfied smile on her face. "You're an angel, Tuney, thanks!" Lily said, hugging her sister. Petunia returned the hug happily before saying softly, "I love the new mechanical pencil, Lily. I've wanted it for months since I broke my last one!" Lily glowed. She'd begged her parents to let her give the fifty-pence pencil to her elder sister, and they had finally given in. The smile on Petunia's face told her that it had been worth it.

"What did mum and dad get you?" asked Petunia. "They got me this, look!" She held up a large book with blank white pages that Lily recognized as a drawing book. Lily smiled; she knew how good Petunia was at drawing and sketching even at the tender age of eight, and she was proud of her elder sister for it. She felt happy with her parents' thoughtfulness; it also meant that they'd got her something she was bound to like. Sure enough, she saw a present shaped like a small book.

"I dunno, looks like a book!" she said excitedly, and tore the wrapping paper without further ado. Sure enough, her parents had given her a book. "Matilda," Lily read the name, before opening it. It was illustrated with pictures and written with simple English. Lily smiled; she loved reading. Even at six years of age, her reading capabilities were remarkably advanced, and she loved to read all of Enid Blyton's short story collections.

"I've heard about that book," said Petunia. "It's about magic…" her voice trailed off as she realized that Lily wasn't listening to her; she was too engrossed with the book, having started to read it then and there. Petunia sighed before gently tugging the book out of Lily's grasp. "Come on, let's brush our teeth and hurry down for breakfast. We have to go to Aunt Christina's for lunch as well!" Lily groaned. She didn't really like going to Aunt Christina's; her seven-year-old son, Matthew, was rather a bully. He liked pulling Lily's hair and chasing her around the house; she always dreaded her visits to Aunt Christina's.

"Come on, it won't be for too long, it's just one afternoon," Petunia said bracingly. She too didn't like Matthew; he was just as mean to her as he was to Lily. She put an arm around her younger sister and said, "If he is mean to you again, just come to me, Lily, and I'll take care of him for you. Now come on, time for breakfast!" Lily brightened and allowed her sister to drag her downstairs. She felt protected with Petunia, and she knew that Petunia would certainly come to her aid if Matthew was too much of a bother. She sighed, thinking she had the best elder sister in the world…

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Later that night, Lily sat up reading Matilda. The day hadn't been bad; Matthew had a slight cold, and he had been put to bed immediately after lunch, so he hadn't been able to bother them at all. The more intently she read the book, the more she got into it. Matilda was not a normal girl; she knew she had magical telekinetic powers and she slowly learned to control them. She made the overbearing headmistress pay for her unkindness. It was well past midnight when Lily finished reading the book. She settled back into bed, marvelling at the story; she'd loved it.

Obsessed as she was with reading, Lily knew that magic was fictional. Magic shows were an exhibition of the magician's skill; most of his tricks were merely a clever sleight of hand. She liked them all the same, though. She liked all stories that involved magic, and spent hours reading all the children's books her parents bought her. Enid Blyton was her favourite author.

Lily sighed. It would be wonderful if magic were real, she thought. Wonderful…

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"Pass the salt, Matthew," said Petunia. Matthew scowled at her before giving her the little salt-shaker. Petunia accepted it happily and poured salt over her bacon.

It was dinnertime on Easter Sunday at the Evans' place. Aunt Christine, Uncle Colin, and Matthew had come over for dinner, and Lily had had a miserable time so far, playing with Matthew. The children had played hide-and-seek, and as Lily had looked for the other two, Matthew had thrown a giant cockroach on her from his hiding place. Lily had run away screaming to her parents, only to realize that the cockroach was a fake; it was simply a toy. Red-faced, she'd run to her room with tears in her eyes, and had refused to come out till her mum had made her join them for dinner. Her eyes were still red as she ate in silence, and she wondered vaguely why Matthew was scowling at Petunia. She didn't know that her elder sister had smacked Matthew on the bottom for scaring her.

Dinner went by without incident. The children were silent, and the adults chatted animatedly, completely oblivious to the tension between their children. At long last, Mrs Evans asked, "How about some warm milk, children?" She smiled and pointed toward three steaming mugs. Lily hurried forward happily; she loved milk with chocolate powder added to it. However, Matthew beat her to it. He quickly chose a mug, turned back to the sisters and said, "Beat you!" There was a grin on his face; he looked rather pleased with himself. "You're worse than a four-year old!" Petunia said scathingly, and Lily silently agreed. They took their own mugs and started to drink the milk.

As was her practice, Lily took a large gulp from the mug, only to realise that something was wrong. She gasped and choked as the milk burned her throat; it was extremely spicy. It was as if red chillies had been added to it. Next to her, Petunia choked too, her eyes closed and her body heaving. She heard Matthew laughing, and the hateful sound filled Lily's eyes with tears; however, this time they were tears of rage rather than sadness.

"You put chilli powder –," she spoke fiercely, her voice shaking with suppressed rage, "— in the milk?" He didn't even respond; he was laughing too hard. Next to her, Petunia was quickly gulping down water, tears in her eyes; the chilli powder had burnt her tongue. Lily was filled with a blinding rage, and at that moment she wished for Matthew to suffer like she had.

She didn't know how it happened. As Petunia would comment later, it had served him right for being so mean to them, but that still didn't explain how it happened.

The mug Matthew was holding suddenly turned to a crab before their very eyes. Matthew let out a yell of surprise and pain as the crab quickly grabbed his thumb with its pincers. All the adults watched, shocked, as Matthew struggled to throw the crab off, but the crab's grip was too tight. Matthew screamed in pain again, and the adults were galvanized into action; Aunt Christina held Matthew while Uncle Colin and Mr Evans gently prised the crab's claws off of Matthew's fingers. They quickly released the crab outside, and it scuttled away happily.

Aunt Christina clasped the crying Matthew to her, comforting him. Uncle Colin shook Mr Evans' hand rather stiffly, thanked him and Mrs Evans for a lovely evening, before leaving quickly with his wife and child. All this while, Petunia and Lily were doubled over with laughter. There was no doubt in the parents' mind that their daughters were sure that Matthew had deserved what he'd got.

Mrs Evans dragged the mugs from the girls. She didn't want them to drink more of the spicy chocolate milk. She herself was angry with Matthew; he had ruined her perfectly tasty chocolate milk, but the kid hadn't deserved to have his fingers mangled by a – a crab, of all things. She was still utterly bewildered that the mug had turned into a crab right before her very eyes. She was still unable to believe that it had happened, and was inclined to believe that it had been only a dream, but Matthew's bleeding fingers contested that soothing theory.

"All right, girls, that's enough," she said sternly, as the two sisters continued to laugh, clutching each other, "You're being very unkind. Matthew may be a spoilt brat, but it doesn't justify your laughter towards this – this incident. You shouldn't sink to his level." The two girls quieted down at once. They didn't want to get on their mother's bad side; after all, her mother could be very strict.

Her father, however, looked amused. "Strange goings-on," he said, "Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself!" He laughed again, and his wife gave him a stern look. It was obvious that she disapproved of his reaction; she certainly felt that he could set a better example for his daughters rather than roaring with laughter.

"Well, I guess he won't bother you two for some time now," said Mr Evans, with only a trace of a smile on his face. He clearly didn't like the way how his nephew treated his daughters, but he liked the way the two sisters stood up for each other. His wife frowned at him but didn't say anything. He continued, "How did it happen, though?" At that, everyone looked at each other quietly; they didn't know how to explain the strange incident.

Lily ventured, "It was like, um, magic, Daddy." Mr Evans roared with laughter. "You've been reading too much of those Enid Blyton books, Lily! Pixies and brownies and gnomes and all of that poppycock! Remember, sweetheart, magic is just a sleight of hand. It's not real, is it?" When no one answered, Mr Evans said, "Well, let's forget it. I don't know how it happened but it was hilarious!" That brought smiles to Lily and Petunia's faces. He said further, "All right girls, time for bed. I'll help your mother clean up. Chop chop!" The two girls recognized the dismissal and said, "Good night!" before turning and running up the staircase.

They stopped in front of Lily's room, and Lily turned to her sister and said, "Don't you think he deserved it, Tuney?" Petunia smiled and replied, "Oh yes, definitely. He was so horrible to us. He deserved to be punished," she said, conviction ringing in her words. Lily wasn't sure how to react to that. Besides, she was feeling a certain disquiet. She asked, "Do you think it was magic, Tuney?" Petunia glanced at her and said, "That doesn't make sense, Lily. Come on, was it the Easter Bunny who saw how unkind he was and decided to give him some rough treatment?" she laughed at her own joke. Lily laughed with her, though her laughter was rather fake. Inwardly, she was excited. Was magic real after all? However, she said nothing more. Giving her sister a small wave, she entered her room, closed the door, and settled herself on the bed.

She couldn't help but feel that she had something to do with the incident that night. She knew that she was feeling incredible rage, an urge to hurt the laughing boy in front of her, and at that moment, his mug had turned into a crab. Had she made that happen? Had she been the reason that Matthew had a bleeding hand? She had felt a kind of force radiate through her as she'd wished for payback, and her wish had been granted in form of the crab.

She reached out to her bedside table and took the copy of Matilda in her hand. Matilda was probably a witch, and she had telekinetic abilities which she was finally able to channelize through her mind. But that would mean…

Lily shook her head. No, that can't be it. I am not a witch. I don't possess the magic or telekinetic abilities. Or do I? She decided to check it out herself. Placing the book back on her nightstand, she stared at it and willed it to come to her, her face screwed up in concentration.

Fifteen futile minutes later, Lily gave up. The book hadn't moved an inch, staying on her table rather stubbornly. Lily settled back into bed. Magic isn't real, she thought as she drifted off to sleep. Or is it?

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