Chapter 4
The flower, the darkman, and the stag
It was dark and hard to see, Lily ran through the forest looking for the sky hoping to see some form of light.
As she was running she stopped at a circular opening of the forest where she saw a beautiful unicorn. Lily smiled in relief and approached the majestic looking creature, and relaxed when she noticed there was light. She looked up at the sky expecting to see the beautiful white moon.
She didn't.
What she saw when she looked up at the sky was mars, its shade of glowing red bleeding onto the earth. She gasped and looked back at the unicorn and screamed.
The unicorn she had seen only seconds before was laying on the ground dead with a dark figure looming over it.
"It's drinking its blood!" she thought.
The dark figure took notice of Lily and looked up at her. All that was visible was its displeased blood stained mouth.
Fear traveled throughout her entire body, making her legs feel numb and unable to run.
Realizing her immobility, the dark man smiled showing off snake like fangs and eyes as red as mars above them. Her next scream caught on her throat as it seemingly hovered towards her.
It spoke, it sounded much like Lily expected. Hissing.
"sssssoo you're the one…" as it raised a finger to touch her.
Lily's next scream woke her up. Her eyes darted open and at first not recognizing the room she shared with her sister, her breathing still filled with panic.
The door burst open and her parents rushed in. A worried looking Petunia turned on the lights and hurried to Lily's side.
"Lily, did you have another nightmare?" asked her father hugging her protectively. Lily nodded trying not to cry by burying her face in his shirt, trying to ease her breathing
"Was it the dark man again?" asked Petunia
Lily nodded again.
"Lily, the dark man isn't real…" said her mother pushing her hair back tenderly "you've been having these nightmares too frequently; we need to do something about it."
"I'm sorry…" she whimpered
After several minutes had passed and Lily was more relaxed her mother spoke.
"We'll leave the hallway light on okay sweety? Try and get some sleep, if it happens again we are right across the hall"
Both parents kissed her good night and walked out making sure the hallway light only hit Lily to not disturb Petunia.
"Should we take her to a therapist?" Lily overheard her father say. A click of their door silencing any further conversation.
"Lily I have something to give you" said Petunia getting up and rummaging through her toy chest. Lily sat up on her bed with curious eyes.
Petunia came back holding a dingy old stuffed animal. It was a Stag, and presented it to Lily.
"His name is Harry, he fought the dark man!" Petunia confidently stated
"Wow really!?" asked Lily clutching him close to her heart
Noticing Lily's wide eyes, Petunia grinned to herself
"This was such a good idea, kids will believe anything" Petunia thought, while not being much older herself.
"He's very special" continued Petunia "If you treat Harry well he will visit you in your dreams and fight the dark man. Then the dark man will be so frightened that he won't bother you again. The dark man used to visit my dreams too until I got Harry, and I haven't seen him since" Petunia smiled.
"And you're just giving him to me!? What if the dark man comes to visit your dreams again" asked Lily.
"That's ok" said Petunia flexing her arm "I'm older now and he won't stand a chance against me"
Lily stared at the stuffed animal, and back at her sister "Thank you Tuney you're the best big sister I could've asked for"
Petunia smiled "Now let's get some sleep, goodnight Lily"
"Good Night" said Lily dreamily as she clutched the stag close to her heart.
Lily had no more Nightmares.
"So, this is what Wizard homework is like" said Lily "This is certainly interesting"
Sitting across from her was Remus "What's muggle homework like?" he asked.
Lily looked pensive for a second "Well the same I suppose, but without all the magic"
"That's a horrible explanation" Remus laughed weakly
"Yeah I guess so-hey are you feeling okay Lupin? You don't look so good…" Lily noticed Remus looking pale, his skin appearing dewy, and a slight shake to his hands.
"I'm fine" he said a bit bitter "Come on we should get to detention"
"Right…" said Lily sadly "I hope my parents don't find out"
Packing up their schoolwork they headed towards the portrait door that hid their common room. As they were walking down the hall James and Sirius ran to catch up to them. James putting an arm around Lily and Sirius putting an arm around Remus.
"You're not looking so good mate, are you okay?" asked Sirius noticing Remus debilitated form.
"I'm fine" said Remus in an angrier tone this time. James decided to change the mood by saying "How nice that we all have detention together!"
"I swear Potter I get the feeling you got caught on purpose with that orange dust of yours" Murmured Lily, who had already given up on elbowing James each time he put his arm around her.
All four of them stopped at the same time when they saw a pretty young woman picking on a chubby looking Gryffindor boy. All of them feeling obligated to protect a fellow house member.
"What are you going to do about it? Rat Face!" mocked the woman, as she spilled the contents of chubby boys' bag on the floor. She pulled out her wand "I never did like rats" she continued
"their tails always reminded me of worms" Grinning maliciously she pointed her wand "Let's give you a wormtail!" Suddenly a large tail began to sprout from the chubby students' trousers, he yelped in pain as it ripped through his clothes.
"Wormtail! Wormtail!" taunted the woman.
James' reacted the quickest as he went to go help his fellow Gryffindor "Hey! Leave him alone" James stood in between the woman and his housemate, acting as a shield.
The woman cackled, she was much older and more experienced than the first year that dared challenge her.
"What an annoying laugh she has" thought Lily.
"Gryffindorks are so stupid; boy you don't even have your wand" the woman toyed around pointing her own at James. James' stood his ground and the student he was protecting stared at him with great admiration but them Sirius stepped forward.
"That's enough Bella" said Sirius in a firm voice.
Bella snorted finally noticing he was there.
"What are you even doing here? You're not even a student anymore! You could get into some serious trouble for harassing a first year this way" Sirius glared, trying to intimidate her.
"I came to see you my dear cousin, with Dumbledore's permission of course" Bella sounded irritated having mentioned Dumbledore "I see you're in good company. Anyways I was told to pass on a message."
Sirius scoffed "What? Am I in trouble for getting detention?"
"No you're in trouble for being sorted into Gryffindor. Your parents wrote several angry letters to Dumbledore and of course he replied claiming that the sorting is final, so they want to take you out of Hogwarts"
"And they sent you to convinced me?" asked Sirius slightly amused
"Well they're busy Wizards" she defended "but I told them that a blood traitor like you would never come with me, but they decide to give you the benefit of the doubt"
She stretched out her hand "Make your choice Sirius Black" she giggled "…what can these Gryffindors offer you in comparison to what I'm offering you?"
Lily was confused but subconsciously went to stand by Sirius who looked so alone. She realized she wasn't the only one, Remus and James had also stood by him except for Gryffindor James had defended. He just crawled his way behind the group.
Lily smacked James, when he tried to hold her hand "Honestly potter" she murmured.
Sirius smiled. "Friendship Bellatrix"
Bellatrix scoffed "I knew this was a waste of time." She looked at Lily specifically "You always did have a softer side for the dirty kind. Don't be so surprised when your little 'friendship' doesn't stand up against…." Bellatrix laughed again, like a little girl who knew a secret she wanted others to ask her.
"I should get going, good bye cousin" and she skipped towards the exist.
The group stared as her figure disappeared, staring at her with an expressions that couldn't comprehend her strange behavior.
"That was…" thought Lily "…an adult Witch"
"Thank you!" said Bellatrix's victim to James "You're my hero!"
Lily groaned "Just what James needs…now his arrogance will never go down…"
"Hey why was she doing that to you?" asked Remus.
"Oh I accidently crashed into her…see I couldn't help but stare because she was so pretty. Before I knew it, we collided"
Both Lily and Sirius groaned at the compliment he gave Bellatrix
"What's your name mate?" asked James
"Peter!" he answered happily to his savior. "Peter Pettigrew!"
"I think Wormtail is more appropriate" said Sirius as he tugged on Peters new rat tail. "Let's take you to the nurse, I'm sure we can skip detention for this"
"Should we report it?" asked Lily "It won't do anything." Sirius solemn tone made Lily ask no further questions. Thinking back to the train he remembered the expression Sirius made talking about his family, how he avoided using his last name. There was more to him than Lily had expected. She looked over at James who was helping Peter by holding his tail. Lily wondered, if there could be more to James Potter too.
Suddenly everyone heard a loud thud. The entire group quickly turned to see Remus on the ground.
Sirius got to him first "Mate?" He tried shaking him, Remus was drifting in and out of consciousness. His breathing frightfully inconsistent.
Sirius was the tallest amongst the group and easily got him to his feet, grabbing his waist and forcing his arm over his neck. Knowing that he couldn't carry him on his own, Lily hurried over and took over Remus other arm and shared the weight.
"Thanks" Sirius told her.
James and Peter simply stared. Peter completely enthralled by the personification of the Gryffindor morals happening before his eyes. James looking a little envious, having the spotlight taken away from him but then became overtaken by pride in his house. What other reaction from his housemates should he expect?
