The chapters keep getting longer and longer. I hope you don't mind. Enjoy.
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Age Nineteen, Fire
Lily Potter's flat was on fire. Smoke was pouring from the bedroom. Flames were spreading across the carpeted floor, lighting everything in their path. Lily was crawling frantically along the floor, purse in hand, trying to get to the front door through the thick, black smoke. Rules on fire safety were scrolling through her head. She was trying not to breathe. Blood pounded loudly in her head. She had to get out.
It felt like an age had passed by the time she reached the door and pushed her way out of the flat. The doorknob was hot, but she didn't have the time to notice. She raced down the steps to the bakery. Part of the bakery ceiling had fallen, and the flames lingering on the plaster were attempting to spread their way across the linoleum floor. Lily ran, stumbling and coughing, out the glass front door and into the street, were a crowd was gathered. A fire truck had just parked outside and the men in it began to ready their water hose. The elderly Mendlessons were huddled together by the side of the road. A firefighter rushed to Lily's aid before she collapsed. He caught her limp body just as the world went dim. She was still clutching her purse.
When she awoke, she found she was lying in the back of an ambulance stationed on her street. The Mendlessons were standing on either side of her stretcher. Her hand was wrapped in a bandage and her throat hurt.
It took a few moments for her to remember why she was currently laying in the back of an ambulance. When she recalled what had happened, she sat up quickly, crying, "How's my flat?" The pain caught up with her after a few seconds and she winced. She voice was hoarse from smoke inhalation.
"They've put out the fire, dear," Mrs. Mendlesson said timidly. "We can't go back inside for a few days."
Lily flopped back onto her stretcher, the news weighing upon her. The quaint flat above the bakery had been her home for the last year. In this time, Lily had purchased furniture, wall hangings, and paint to redo the bedroom. Paint was not flame retardant. Her parents were supposed to come and stay the weekend next week to help paint the bedroom ocean blue. Now the bedroom and paint were gone. The bedroom was where she thought the smoke started, but she couldn't be sure. Everything had happened so fast. At least she had managed to grab her purse before escaping; it contained all of her cash, her identification cards, her bank cards, the beginnings of her manuscript, and other important personal items. She had to call her parents to tell them about this. She needed someone to be there to support her besides the Mendlessons, as nice as they may be.
"I need to call my parents," she said. She swallowed a few times, trying to bring her voice back. She wondered if her lungs would be black forever from the horrible smoke that she breathed for who knows how long.
"The nice firefighter will be over in a minute to talk to you, dear," Mrs. Mendlesson said. "Mr. Mendlesson has called your parents. They're on their way here."
When Lily was seven, she had accidentally lit the curtains in the ballroom on fire with her father's wand. The flames had only progressed up the curtain before her mother managed to quell them. Lily never associated fire with danger because of the way her parents treated the situation; they did not yell or chide her for the fault. They merely made sure she was sage, mended the curtain, and took her out for ice cream. Instead of developing a fear of fire from that day, she actually came to love watching fires spring to life. She was always the person to start the fires in the fireplace. She liked to light matches and watch them burn. After this experience, however, Lily decided that she would stay away from fire for a long while.
The "nice firefighter" Mrs. Mendlesson mentioned approached the stationary ambulance and came to stand beside Lily. She felt somewhat awkward lying down while he stood above her, but that couldn't be helped at the moment because it was painful to move. He informed her that she would not be able to move back in until after they determined what started the fire. Even after they determined the cause, she was advise to wait to move back in until all necessary repairs were made because most of the flat was burnt to a crisp. She might have to may for the damages, she learned, unless they could prove that there was something faulty in the flat. All of these damages could take many months to fix. She would not be living in her flat for many months.
"Is anything left?" Lily asked the firefighter hesitantly. She was afraid of the answer.
"I'm sorry miss, but only a lamp and your sofa are intact, though they were damaged by the smoke."
Gone. Everything was gone. Lily felt sick. Her head was spinning. Her bandaged hand was throbbing. She needed to sleep some more and deal with all of this later. Where was she going to live? How was she to survive now? Would she have to move back with her parents? What was going to happen to her now? She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and keep from hyperventilating. Sporadic, colored spots appeared in the blackness of the insides of her eyelids. Luckily, darkness overcame her again.
The second time she awoke, the Mendlessons were not standing by her side. Instead, Scott—her knight in shining armor, her hero—was perched in a chair by her bedside. His presence immediately made everything seem better. "Hey," he said quietly, smiling at her.
His smile was so comforting.
"Your mum called me and asked if I could come be with you until they could get here. Tim's on his way, as well."
Babel's Books, where Lily held a rather nice job, was apart of a line of cute shops. Tim Little worked in the one next to Babel's; a hardware store where he had procured a job two years ago. He and Lily had met one night when their shifts had ended at the same time, and they exited their respective jobs at the same moment, almost literally running into one another. The five minute conversation they held on that sidewalk led to a cup of coffee down the street, then to dinner. They had officially been dating for seven months.
I'm so sorry about your place, Lil," Scott continued. "You must be devastated. I know how much you loved your flat."
Lily pulled herself up onto her elbows so that she rested in a half-sitting position. This was less painful than fully sitting up. "I grabbed my purse, so at least I have the really important stuff," she said. Her voice sounded a little better now. "I just lost my favorite pillow, and my calligraphy set, and my favorite sweatshirt and…" Tears were welling up in her eyes as the list of burned items flashed in her mind. All of her belongings were gone. At least she had her manuscript.
"Aw, Lil," Scott said sympathetically, standing and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "It'll all be okay. You can come and live with me, if you want to. I'll sleep on the couch for a few months, that's no big deal."
Lily sniffed, touched by his constant kindness. "Thanks for the offer, Scott, but I don't think that would work too well."
"I don't think so either. If she should move in with anyone, it should be me." Tim stepped into the ambulance, sounding rather defensive. Scott took his arm from Lily's shoulders immediately.
Tim had had a problem with Scott from the moment Lily first mentioned his name. He knew that Scott and Lily had dated during school, and he was suspicious of Scott's motives. Scott and Lily were around one another whenever they could be, and Tim did not keep his loathing of this arrangement a secret. He had never told Lily to stay away from Scott, because he knew how much Scott meant to her, but he insinuated it many times. Lily cared about Tim a great deal, but not enough to cut down on her time with Scott. Also, Tim was not a wizard, as far as Lily knew. Therefore, she was not comfortable with telling him everything about her life.
"Hey, baby, how're you doing? I can't believe this happened." Tim's tone was considerably softer now, as he crossed the ambulance and gave Lily the best hug he could without hurting her. He kissed the top of her head. "You're not hurt, are you Lily?"
Lily waved her bandaged hand in answer to his question. "I think I burnt it on my doorknob," she said.
"I'm going to check with the ambulance blokes and see what I need to do for you," Tim said affectionately. He kissed Lily on the head again and left her sight.
"You know, if you were in a Wizard hospital right now, you would've been all fixed up an hour ago," Scott said.
Something Scott had a problem with was Lily's new Muggle co-habitation. He had never been interested in Muggles, and didn't understand how Lily could live with them. His biggest quandary was with the fact that she was dating a Muggle, and considering getting serious with him. Scott believed in honesty, and claimed that Lily's whole relationship with Tim was a lie. Lily's mother had somewhat of the same philosophy. She had been very protective of Lily since she moved away from home, and did not trust any boy that Lily had mentioned over the telephone. Lily's parents had yet to meet Tim, but that meeting would happen today, since they were on their way to her ambulance from London right now. Lily cared a great deal for Tim, and hoped that their relationship would last for a while. Eventually, she would reveal her witch secret to him, and she hoped that when the time came, he would receive the information well.
For now, all he could do to show he cared for her was to take her to his flat, which is what he did. Scott insisted on joining them, at least for a little while, to help get Lily situated. He did not trust Tim with "his favorite girl".
Lily hated it when Scott used these terms of endearment towards her. Getting over Scott had been no small feat, and when he called her things such as "his favorite girl" it reminded her of those feelings that were not entirely suppressed. Not to mention it made Tim extremely irritated. Thus, Tim reluctantly allowed Scott to accompany them back to his flat. The boys were adamant about carrying Lily to Tim's car, and then into his flat and into a bed. They continued to fuss over her while Lily ran through the long list of lost items in her head once again.
Over the past year, many things in her life had changed. It was surprisingly easy to settle into her new flat in a new town. The Mendlesson's were more helpful than she expected them to be, and they gave her free pastries every morning. She and Scott saw one another nearly every weekend. Her job started off well, and just continued to get better as the year progressed. Lily had been comfortable with her life away from home, until today, when she lost her new home.
Tim came into his bedroom to talk to her after he expelled Scott from his flat, giving him the job of going back to Lily's burnt place and seeing what damage had been assessed. "I brought you some tea," he told her soothingly, handing her a cup and sitting down upon the edge of the bed.
"Thanks," Lily muttered, taking the hot drink in her undamaged hand.
"How are you doing, baby?" he asked.
"I'm all right, I suppose," she said, sipping her tea. The enormous file of loss was still scrolling through her head. She kept replaying the mad dash out of her flaming flat over and over in her mind's eye.
"If you want to, you can stay here with me until they fix your flat," he offered. "I'm here for you in any way you need me to be."
Lily was not exactly fond of the idea of living with her boyfriend, even though it was the situation that made the most sense. Tim lived the closest to Lily's job and now-crispy flat, whereas Scott and her parents did not. Still, she had never lived with a boy before that wasn't her brother. Tim would also probably suggest Lily's sleeping in his bed with him, which she was completely uncomfortable with. All of these happenings were much too much for her emotions to handle at the moment. Her unhurt hand fiddled with the silver locket at her throat while she answered Tim timidly, "Um…can I think about it for a little while?"
"Of course, darling, whatever you need."
"Thanks," Lily said. "Are you nervous?" she asked suddenly. "About meeting my parents, I mean."
"To be honest, I hadn't even thought of it," Tim replied. "But, now that you mention it, I am rather scared."
Smiling, Lily set her tea down on the nightstand and slid further under the blankets. She wished she had pajamas on, but she was too exhausted to really care at the moment. She lay down and closed her eyes, wanting all of this mess to be a horrible dream.
Sadly, it wasn't. She was reminded of this when she awoke for the third time that day. Tim was getting out of bed from his position next to her to answer the front door, where someone was knocking. Lily soon found out who was knocking when her parents swept into the bedroom, bombarding her with love and inquiries. Lily's hand was throbbing terribly, but she tried to ignore it.
The last time Lily had been showered with this much affection was two months ago, when she went to visit Lucile and Garrett for a few days. It had been nearly a year since she had last seen Lucile, and nearly three since she had seen Garrett. Lucile especially had been ecstatic to see her. She and Garrett, though they were living together, were still refraining from dating, though Lily gathered from subtle hints that they both wanted something more. She knew it would eventually develop; it was now just a question of when this would happen. Her parents' fawning over her reminded her of the fluttering way Lucile had acted a couple of months ago. She had to call Lucile about the fire.
"So, we've talked to the firemen, Lilykins, and they're still assessing the damage, but it looks like you won't have to pay for anything because there was something faulty in the heating or wiring or something. James is on his way from San Francisco, as well," her mother rattled. Then she leaned close to her daughter and whispered, so that Tim would not hear, "We Flooed to Scott's house and drove from there."
Tim stood nervously in the bedroom doorway. Scott, who had come in with her parents, was standing by Mr. Potter. The two of them were deciding how they could best manage Lily's current situation. Lily determined that this would probably be a good time to introduce Tim to her parents, seeing as they were currently occupying his house. She interrupted her mother's fawning. "Mum, Dad, I want you to meet Tim." With her good hand, she beckoned Tim over to her. "I know these really aren't ideal conditions to meet under, however, I suppose that can't very well be helped. Tim, these are my parents, Harry and Ginny Potter. Mum, Dad, this is Tim Little."
Tim offered up a nervous smile under Mr. Potter's scrutinizing gaze. Out of the coner of her eye, Lily saw Scott smirking at Tim's misfortune.
"It's…er…very nice to finally meet you," Tim offered. "Lily talks about you all the time."
"I wish we were meeting under happier circumstances, son," her father said, attempting to sound intimidating.
"Oh, Harry, stop being mean to the poor boy, especially when our daughter has just gone through something so terrible. She does not need any more stress."
At forty-seven, Lily's mother was as vivacious as the Ginny in the stories Lily heard from her father. Her fiery hair had no signs of gray in it, nor did her fiery personality. She was a force to reckon with, that was for sure. Under her stubborn, commanding exterior, however, was a mother who Lily loved dearly. She was agreeable and lovely. This is the side she was currently exposing to her daughter's new boyfriend, and for that, Lily was grateful.
"Don't listen to him, Tim," Mrs. Potter continued. "He's harmless. Now, what can we do for you, Lily darling?"
As Lily was about to open her mouth to speak, there came a pounding at the front door of the flat once more. Tim quickly went to answer it, obviously happy to get away from the awkwardness he experienced around Lily's parents. Tim was not the first person back, however. To Lily's great surprise, Garrett and Lucile rushed into the room. Lucile flung herself upon Lily's sore body, crushing her with embraces and kisses. "LILY! ARE YOU OKAY? I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED! WE CAME AS SOON AS SCOTT CALLED US!" she cried loudly, not concerned with the fact that there were many other people in the room.
"Hey, Lily," Garrett greeted from the corner. "How are you?"
Tim reentered the bedroom, clearly confused at what was happening.
There Lily was, surrounded by everyone she loved, sans James, who was on his way. Maybe the fire was not so horrible after all. Love always made everything better.
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