Hey! Me again! Well, let's get the obligatory stuff out of the way, I do not own Harry Potter in any way imaginable. I'm really glad so many people have noticed my story! Thanks for the reviews! Also, every now and again we'll be playing "Catch that Quote. "In which one of the characters will say something, and you have to catch what book or movie it's from! Happy Hunting!
Harry and Lillie stood next to each other in the crowded High Street Kensington Station, trying to read a map, while be jostled by last minute commuters and shoppers trying to get home on time for Christmas Eve. Lillie pointed to the sticker on the map that marked their spot on the Underground.
"Ok, we're here, so if you're trying to get to-where was it again?" "Little Whinging" Harry replied, scooting closer the sign to let a hassled looking woman with three small, crying children pass. "Right. Well, I think that you'd probably have to take the District line…" she traced the green line with her finger, "And ride it all the way down to Wimbleton, and it looks like you can take the Railway from there."
Harry was impressed. "You're really good at this, I always get lost." "Yeah well, Dad and I used to come down to London all the ti-". She stopped suddenly, and sad look crossed her face. "What?" Harry asked, concerned. "Oh…It's nothing." She was silent for a moment, then "It's just-"A man's voice over the intercom cut her off. "Due to Weather Conditions, expect delays on the Bakerloo Line and District Line. The Good Service is operating on all other lines. Thank you for riding the London Underground.
Harry groaned, and Lillie shot him a sorry smile. "Hey, don't worry, we'll just hang out here. There's lots of great little stores in the station, and if the snow dies down enough, we could go check out Kensington Gardens, just until they get the train running again." She looked so happy at this prospect, that Harry felt it would be a crime to refuse.
They spent about two hours perusing the various stores and kiosks at the station. They didn't buy much, just a couple of Mars Bars to tide them over. (Neither of them had that much money, at least, in Harry's case, not Muggle Money.) Harry, who had grown used to Wizarding sweets, was surprised at how great a regular Mars Bar could be when you're wasting time with a friend, in a train station, listening to someone with dreadlocks play a saxophone.
Eventually, they got hungry enough to buy some real food, a couple of small sandwiches, and some hot chocolate. "You know" Lillie said as she unwrapped her sandwich. "This is the most fun I've had in a long time." Harry, whose mouth was already full, thought of Umbridge, and nodded in agreement. They chatted happily awhile about the weather, the sandwiches, and what they thought the various commuters around them where doing for Christmas. Finally, Lillie excused her to visit the girl's room.
As she walked away, a though seized Harry, tomorrow would be Christmas Eve, and if the trains began running again he would have to be on his way to the Dursleys tomorrow morning, in order to get there before the Underground closed for the holiday. As Lillie most likely had her own destination she was trying to reach, this would probably be the last time he would ever see her. He had only known the girl about half a day, but the thought made him sad. She was the kind of friend he had wished for back when he had no idea he was The Boy Who Lived.
Just then, he had an idea. He swept his sandwich wrapper into the trash, and began counting his remaining Muggle money. It was enough to get him a ticket to Little Whinging, and a few more snacks besides. He decided he could stand to be hungry for a day; after all, he'd had enough practice at it back when he was sleeping in the Dursley's cupboard. Quickly, he racked his brain, trying to figure out what he could buy with this small amount of money, which Lillie might like for Christmas.
His eyes scoured the nearby shops, trying to find something he could buy before she came back. Finally, he noticed a small flower shop. He rushed over, and looked around at the various kinds. On the counter was a box of small flower shaped pins. He looked them over, finally finding one shaped like a white lily. He had just enough time to purchase it, stash it in his pocket, and rush back to the table, before Lillie came back.
"Hey." She greeted him as she sat back down. "Hey." He replied back, a little breathlessly. "So, the trains haven't started up again?" He shook his head. She nodded as if to say she expected this, and then grinned. "Well, the snows died down a bit, it'll probably still be awhile before they're up and running, you wanna checkout Kensington Gardens?" "Sure!" They grabbed their hot chocolates, and headed out of the station. Harry had never been to the park before, so he followed behind Lillie, who guided him down Kensington High Street.
Harry was enthralled. Covered with newly fallen snow, the park looked like a literal winter wonderland. Lillie was an excellent tour guide, leading him around the Long Walk, she showed him the various sights. Kensington Palace, the Round Pond, the Italian Gardens, the Peter Pan statue next to the Serpentine, and finally, the awe-inspiring Albert Memorial. Harry couldn't believe in all the times he'd been to London, he had never once visited the park. Lillie couldn't believe someone could have lived in England their whole life and never once visited the park. He explained his aunt and uncle had never been big on family outings, at least ones that included him, or really, anything that had included him.
"Sheesh, no wonder you ran away." Harry stopped walking, and said, rather uncomfortably, "Well… I didn't exactly run away from them… actually, I'm headed back to their house." Lillie looked confused. "But they sound terrible! Why would you go back to a place you hate?" "I wonder the same thing every summer." Harry muttered under his breath. Lillie walked in front of him, and fixed him with a stern look. "Harry, there's something you're not telling me, I know I said you running away was your business but… what are you running away from that's worse than your Dursleys?" Harry looked down at the ground, and sighed. "I-it's complicated. Really complicated, y-you wouldn't understand."
"Oh." Lillie said, and Harry flinched at her cold tone. "Fine then, if you want to be miserable the rest of your life, living with people you despise, it's no skin off my nose, I'll just g-" "No!" Harry exclaimed, surprising himself with his urgency. Lillie folded her arms with a pout; clearly, she wasn't going to give up trying to figure out what sort of trouble he was in. He sighed again; this was not going to be easy.
"Look, I really wish I could tell you, I want to tell you but-" "Harry, I swear if you say ,then I'd have to kill you- "at this, Harry burst out laughing, and despite her best efforts to remain stern, Lillie couldn't help but join in. It took them almost two minutes to stop. They laughed so hard they had to sit down.
"L-L-Look-" Harry finally got out, gasping for breath, placing a hand on Lillie shoulder, which was still shaking with silent laughter. "Let's not fight about this. Tomorrow, I have to head off for the Dursleys, and you'll be going to-well, where ever you're going. And…" He blushed suddenly, and pulled the pin out of his pocket. "Well… here, thanks for a great time. Happy Christmas." Lillie finally stopped laughing, and looked down at the pin. Harry had a sudden, horrible thought that Lillie might be one of those girls who hated to get stuff that was a pun on their name, but then- "Oh Harry…" she said in a quiet voice. She picked it up gingerly, and pinned it to her coat, where it sparkled in the dimming light. "Thank you…" She grinned suddenly, "Hold on…"
She began to rummage around in her pockets, and pulled out a key chain with a picture of the Gardens, and the name "Harry" printed on it. "I bought it back at the station. Mine's not as nice as yours, but-" "It's great." Harry interrupted, picking it up like it was worth a hundred pounds.. "It'll remind me of one of the best days I ever had." Lillie's smiled glowed. "Happy Christmas Harry."
They stood there, feeling awkward and happy at the same time, when a mischievous grin crossed Lillie's face. She bent down, and before Harry knew what was happing, he had a face full of snow, and he was chasing Lillie, (who was shrieking with delight), up and down the Long Walk, ready to retaliate. The snowball fight carried on until dusk fell on the park. By then the two teens where completely exhausted, and laughing fit to burst. "Th-the park will be c-closing soon-we should g-go back and check if the trains are running." Lillie managed to get out between giggles. "Yeah-yeah…" Harry agreed. "Just let me catch my breath." He lay down on the snow covered lawn, panting. Lillie lay down next to him, and began to make a snow angel. Harry joined her.
"When I was little," Lillie began, moving her arms up and down, "my dad would always pick me up out of the snow, so my snow angel didn't have hand prints in it." Harry smiled at the mental picture of this. Lillie turned her head to look at him."What happened to your parents Harry?" Harry was silent for a moment, trying to decide what to say, he decided on the truth. "They died. When I was one. My aunt Petunia is my only living blood relative, I guess that's why the Dursleys got stuck with me." "I'm sorry." Lillie whispered. "S'ok. " Harry said, trying to sound unaffected, "I don't really remember them." "Still…" "Yeah." The only sounds for the next minute were those of the traffic out on the street, and the swish of their coats in the snow. Finally, Harry screwed up enough courage to ask something he'd been wondering. "What happened to your dad?"
Lillie stopped moving, and stared up at the trees. "What do you mean?" "Well… you keep mentioning him in past tense…so…" He tapered off, seeing a tear was now rolling down her cheek. She sat up, and brushed it away, after a moment of silence she whispered, "I don't know… see-"
"There you are!" Both teens looked over towards where the voice had come from. When Harry saw who it was, his blood ran cold. Rushing towards them out the dark, was a band of Death Eaters. Harry and Lillie shot up to their feet, exclaiming "They're after me!" They whirled to face each other. "They're after you?" Harry looked around desperately, trying to see if there was any way to escape. He didn't think he could reach his wand on time; he'd stuck it in his trunk. Lillie meanwhile had whipped something out of the long pocket on the front of her coat. "Get down!" she cried, and grabbing Harry's shoulder, pushed him down to his knees. A blinding light exploded above his head with a crack! Harry covered his ears and shut his eyes to block it out. When he opened them a second later, the Death Eaters lay sprawling on the ground, unconscious. Amazed, he looked up at Lillie; the tip of the wand in her hand still glowing. His eyes boggled.
"You're a witch?" She looked down at him sheepishly, "Well-um…" Suddenly, Harry noticed one of the Death Eaters behind her beginning to move. With all the quickness four and a half years as Seeker had brought him, he reached up, grabbed the wand from Lillie's hand and cried "Stupefy!" Once again light shot out of the wand, and the Death Eater fell back to the ground. Now it was Lillie's turn to look amazed.
"You're a wizard?" She stared at him a second, before something seemed to dawn on her, and she jumped back with a squeak, pointing a finger at him. "You're Harry Potter!" "I told you I was!" Harry exclaimed, getting up from the snow. "Well, yes… but you didn't tell me you were the Harry Potter! I just thought it was a funny coincidence! I mean, if I was the Harry Potter, and I was on the run, I'd at least use some sort of pseudonym!"
"Can we have this conversation somewhere else?" Harry said in a loud whisper. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather prefer not to be around when they wake up." He gestured towards the fallen Death Eaters. Lillie looked like she was about to say something more, then stopped, and nodded. Silently, they edged their way out of the circle of dark wizards, and then ran quickly down the Long Walk out to the street.
"I wonder how they found me so fast." Harry pondered aloud. They were hiding in an alley behind a fire escape. After they had run far enough away; they felt it was safe to catch their breath. "I'm not so sure it was you they were looking for." Lillie replied quietly. "What do you mean?" "Well, about a week ago, around midnight, they-they broke into my house." Lillie's eyes closed, concentrating on the memory.
"I was in my room asleep; Dad had brought me home from school early, because he was going to have to work over the actualholiday, so this was going to be our together time. Anyway, I woke up when I-" "I've never seen you at school." Harry interrupted. "That's because I don't go to Hogwarts, I go to Beauxbatons." She explained quickly, trying to move on with the story. "Why don't you have an acce-" "I live in England!" she cried, "I just go to school there! Now! I was asleep in bed, but I woke up because I heard loud noises downstairs, like somebody was arguing. I snuck out on the landing, and there were these two guys in dark cloaks and masks in our front hall. I didn't know then they were Death Eaters. Anyway, they had my dad pinned to the wall with their wands, and they were talking with him…well, it was really more like interrogation. "
"What'd they say?" Harry asked. "They were asking him about something; it was kind of hard to hear. But I did catch my dad saying, "… I don't know how to do it! It was an accident! I couldn't replicate the results even if –" And then they argued some more, and then one of them said," Well, perhaps The Dark Lord can get your daughter to help persuade you." Then Dad pulled out his wand, and they started to fight!" Lillie's breath became faster at this part, as if she were seeing the duel right then. "My dad's really good with a wand, that's how I learned to do that spell that knocked those Death Eaters at the park out. But …the ones at my house were better, they Stunned my dad, and…and that's when I ran back to my room, climbed out my window, and hid."
The shame at abandoning her father showed in Lillie's face and voice. It took her a moment before she was able to continue. "I went back later, after I was sure they'd gone. My house was a mess. They'd obviously ransacked the place searching for me. And Dad…Dad was … I didn't know what to do, I-I kinda just lay on my dad's bed and…cried for a while. I knew I couldn't count on the Aurors or the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to find him, not with the way the Ministry's been acting towards anything related to You-Know-Who. Finally, I decided I'd have to go after them myself. I packed my rucksack, found our emergency stash of Muggle Money, and, well…set out to try and find my dad. Since then I've been wandering around London, trying to avoid getting picked up by Muggle Policemen or captured by Death Eaters, until yesterday, when I got bowled over by this tall skinny kid with glasses. "She gave a Harry a small smile. "And that's about it."
Harry sat there, silent. Of all the reasons he'd imagined Lillie had run away, this had never been one of them. "Why do you think they wanted your dad?" he asked. "I dunno, Dad's pretty smart, he's a Professor, he's written all sorts of things about who knows what. It sounded to me like they wanted him to, I don't know, make something." Harry pondered this for a moment, wondering what it was Voldemort could possibly want made that he couldn't create himself; after all, he was pretty much the most powerful wizard in the world, apart from Dumbledore.
"So, what about you?" "Excuse me?" Harry asked, coming out of his thoughts. "Well, I've told you my story, so, what about yours?" Lillie scooted closer, like a small child eager to hear a new bedtime story. "Mine's...mine's too complicated." Lillie frowned, "Harry" she said in a warning tone, "You've already said that. Now either come up with a better excuse, or tell me. And need I remind you, you owe me for saving your life just now, so let's hear it." Harry sighed, and, after quietly warring with himself, decided that she did deserve the truth. If she ran after finding out Voldemort could be controlling him, then at least she would be safer than if she stayed.
His story took longer to tell then hers, as she kept wanting things explained, and he kept having to go further and further back to do so. It was nearing midnight when he finally reached the end. By then he had covered Voldemort's return, the attack of the dementors earlier that year, his strange dreams of dark corridors, and Mr. Weasley's attack by the snake. (He was careful however to leave out any mention of Sirius and the Order, which, though difficult, he thought he managed quite well). "…And so then, I heard one of the adults visiting Mr. Weasley saying Voldemort-" Lillie winced, but didn't cry out like most people his age did when he said the name. "Sorry, You-Know-Who, might be controlling me, and so I decided-" "You decided your friends would be safer if you left." Lillie finished for him. "Yeah…"
Harry looked up at her, as if expecting her to say "Well, have a nice life then, please don't turn into a snake and attack me while I run away screaming in horror." Instead, Lillie just looked at him, much like she had back at the Underground station where they had first met. Finally, in a voice both quiet and confident, she declared. "I don't care." Harry couldn't believe his ears. "What?" he asked in amazement, sure he had misheard. "I don't care." She said again, a little louder. "You're my friend, and I don't abandon my friends when they need me. If You-Know-Who can control you when you're asleep, I can help you stay awake. If you think getting to those awful Dursleys can help prevent him using you, then I'll help you get there. Besides…" she said with a smile, "Someone has to come along and keep those Death Eaters off you."
Harry could only shake his head in wonder. "But-what about your dad?" Lillie bit her lip, thinking about that. "… He'd …understand. He's always supported you. When the Ministry started to write all those nasty things about you being off your rocker, he said they were fools, and that he'd always suspected He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named would come back. If keeping you safe will help in the fight against the dark side, Dad would want me to help you, and not worry about him." Her tone was so sure, so final, that Harry knew she would do it. She would abandon trying to find her father for him, a boy she'd only met a day ago.
At that moment, Harry knew he could not go to the Dursley's. He could not hide out in Private Drive while this amazing young woman set out alone. "No." he declared. "Harry, I want to help y-" "I mean no, I'm not going to the Dursleys." He looked her straight in her identical green eyes. "I'm going with you. I'm going to help you find your father. "
Lillie's mouth dropped open. Before she could reply, Harry continued, "Vol-…You-Know –Who wants him for a reason. Whatever it is, it can't be good. Finding him will help with the fight." Harry reached over, and squeezed her hand tight. "And you are my friend. I'm not leaving you now." Suddenly, he grinned, "And like you said, I owe you." Lillie stared at him for a long moment, too shocked to speak. Then, with a cry of "Oh-you-!" she threw her arms around him, hugging him so tight, Harry almost told her to loosen up, because he couldn't breathe. Instead, he just smiled, and hugged her back.
Wow! That is the longest Chapter I think I've ever written! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it! I don't know how soon I'll be able to update, I've got a lot to chapters to write, and I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed this week. (Yay me ). But good stuff coming up, good stuff! Well, thanks again for reading! Reviews are always welcome! (Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the Order can't track Harry through his Stupefy spell, because he didn't use his wand. Just to clear that up.)