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Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling (in case that wasn't obvious) and I don't own the characters.
~The Lonely Geek
Chapter 11
"Lily!" I call the next day, seeing the familiar cascade of red hair falling down her back from a long way down the corridor. I see her turn back and for a moment our eyes meet and I stare deep into her green eyes. "Please." I say, but she breaks eye contact and walks off. I quickly run after her, pushing through the other people in the corridor, but by the time I reach the turning at the end, her distinctive ginger hair is nowhere in sight.
She must still think that I deliberately sent the branch onto Petunia. I did do it, I know that. I wasn't in control though. My emotions took control of me. Normally I have control of my magic. I can't let something like that happen again. It could seriously hurt someone, I was lucky that Petunia was fine.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Lily asks me near the end of lunch after I have finally found her and managed to get her to talk to me. I decide the best thing to do is tell the truth. Maybe she'll understand that I didn't mean to. She might forgive me then.
"Lily, listen please. I didn't mean to. It was accidental magic." I tell her. "It happens to all untrained wizards and witches."
"You said you didn't though." She says accusingly, her eyes starting to glaze over like tears are about to fall from her eyes.
"I lied." I admit, her cheeks burn an angry red that matches her hair and she turns to storm off. "Please, hear me out. Lily, please." I beg. She spins back round to face me again.
"Fine." She says, folding her arms across her chest angrily.
"I didn't mean to. I only lied because I know that you have even less control of your magic than me and I didn't want to make you upset and angry so you did something similar and someone got seriously hurt. Petunia was lucky as she was." She starts to look less angry now.
"You still shouldn't have lied." She tells me. "I just..." She trails off. "I need some space, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" I nod quickly.
"Thank you, I'm really sorry Lily." I tell her. She turns around again just as the bell goes signalling the end of lunch. My stomach rumbles slightly and I realise I spent so long trying to find Lily that I never ate my lunch. I take an apple out of my bag and munch on it quickly as I walk to my next lesson.
At least Lily's talking to me again though. I've liked having her company these last few months. I never realised how lonely I was before I talked to Lily. I don't know what I really did with my time before. Lily makes everything better. She always makes me laugh and is so inquisitive about magic. By the time we go to Hogwarts, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew as much as any other first year going there.
"Promise that you'll never hurt Tuney again." She says to me the next day. I nod quickly. I've hated every second of Lily being mad with me.
"I never meant to. It was an accident." I add quickly. "I thought I had my magic under control, but..." I trail off. "I should have it under control now."
"Good." She smiles.
"Is her shoulder okay?" I ask, seeing that she still doesn't seem quite back to normal.
"It was still sore this morning and there's a huge bruise on it, but other than that, she's fine." Lily tells me. "Now what were talking about yesterday? Didn't you mention something called Azkaban?" She asks.
"Yeah. It's the wizard prison. You won't go there for something as small as accidental magic though." I tell her. "It's for really bad people. The worst criminals don't just get locked up for life though."
"What happens to them?" She asks me with fascination written all over her face.
"The ministry let the dementors kiss them." I reveal. Her face fills with confusion so I elaborate. "It's a lot worse than it sounds, trust me. A dementor's kiss is what we call it when a dementor pulls its hood down." I explain.
"What's underneath?" She breaths, entranced.
"No one knows." I tell her. "Once the hood is removed the dementor sucks out the soul of its victim out." Lily goes pale and gasps in shock.
"Do they die?" She asks. I shake my head.
"Some things are worse than death. After the kiss, the person is left as an empty shell. The soul is what makes someone them. They don't feel anything happy. They turn mad and can't think coherent thoughts."
"What happens then?" She asks me, her eyes still wide with horror of what I have told her.
"They're thrown in Azkaban until they die. They spend the rest of their days, sitting in misery and never knowing who they really are."
"That's awful. The law is so harsh." She says. I shrug.
"The law is hard but it is the law. [Cookies to anyone who got the reference]" I tell her.
"No one could ever deserve that."
"Some wizards and witches go bad, really bad. They want to completely eradicate muggles and torture them for fun. Do they really deserve their soul when it's so dark?" I ask her. She shrugs.
"Maybe. No one is all bad." Lily argues. "Surely, and what if someone innocent has their soul sucked out?"
"I dunno. Same as the death penalty in America I guess. You can't give someone's soul back like you can't bring someone back from the dead. I don't think it's ever happened though. You can't be convicted unless the jury's convinced to no doubt that you're innocent."
"No one would know that they're innocent though if they were set up though." Lily insists.
"That's just the way it is." I tell her. "I didn't make the law."