The black was thick and pressing upon Lily's eyelids. It felt almost as if a big and heavy pillow was being forced against her face. But when she thought she would no longer be able to breathe, the muscles controlling her face seemed to kick in, and she blinked carefully. Once the black was gone, everything seemed light and bright, and instinctively her hand flew up to cover her eyes.
"Oh, she's back!" someone cried, and there was an awful screeching of chairs as people hurried over to her. Groaning, Lily felt pain shooting through her body. Her head felt absolutely enormous, and the rest of her body ached. She noticed her leg felt as if someone had used it as a piñata, chucked it into a shredder and then fed it to a Hungarian Horntail.
"I think you should give her some more pain killers." A young male voice stated matter-of-factly. James, she realised. Suddenly, a cool glass was on her lips and someone poked a small, smooth pill into her mouth. Damn, that's disgusting; she had time to think before the water in the glass dragged it down her throat. It didn't take more than a few seconds for the pain to ease, and she then managed to completely open her eyes.
She was lying on the big, soft couch in the living room, and gathered around her were currently Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Molly, James, Albus, Rose and Teddy. How on Earth do they all manage to look so concerned? she thought, irritated by their anxious faces.
"I'm okay." She croaked, using her left arm (which felt more whole than her right) to sit up. A big and warm hand was quickly on her back, steadying her. "Dad, honestly, I'm okay." He still didn't remove his hand, though.
"Okay?" Hermione said. "You're ok-… Darling, you're really not okay."
"But I think I am, Aunt Hermione." She replied sarcastically.
"Lily, honey, you broke your left leg." Molly said, sounding rather exasperated. Lily's eyebrows shot up. Broken a leg? Really?
"Are… Are you sure?"
"Quite sure, dear." Lily thought about this for a moment. How the hell had she managed to do that?
"Well, that would explain the pain." She peered down her body, taking in what she was seeing. On the left, her leg was tightly bandaged, lying like royalty on soft and spongy cushions. Her right leg looked a bit strange, bare and blue, but otherwise okay. Also, her back felt battered, but she supposed it was just from falling off her broom.
"Right. Any other injuries I should know about?" Ginny smiled nervously.
"No I think that's all." She said gently, stroking her daughter's hair.
"Hang on. What time is it?"
"Ten to eleven." Okay, so gone for approximately… six hours. Impressive, she thought, forcing a smile away.
"Hey… Hey!" They all looked confused at this exclamation. "I caught the Snitch. That means we won, 190 to 60." She turned to Teddy, a victorious grin on her cracking lips. "That'll teach you." He smiled a forced smile. Lily noticed his hair was dark brown, almost black.
"Oh, come on! I fell off my broom, it's happened to a lot of people." They didn't shift. "I'm not dead and I don't have cancer, so can we loose the morbid expressions?" This made Ron chuckle, earning a disapproving glance from his wife. "No." Lily said. "That's good, Uncle Run, keep it coming." They all sighed and started moving.
"Just one favour. Can someone move me to my own room? A little privacy, you know?"
HP The Potters HP
The following morning, Lily's leg was a lot better (100% thanks to Hermione's rather advanced magic) and she limped around the house, looking for her things.
"At least I have an excuse as to why I didn't pack last night." She kept saying to the muttering adults. It didn't matter how many times the cousins were all told, they would always leave packing until the final hour or so. Well, apart from Albus and Rose, who packed before they unpacked, as James put it.
"Where the hell are my shoes?" Lily said suddenly, stopping dead in her tracks, her black robes in her right hand (also fully recovered with just a little help).
"Which ones, Lils?" Arthur asked, distantly, as he kept reading the newspaper.
"My school ones, duh." She replied, looking around the kitchen.
"I haven't seen them." Sighing and rolling her eyes, she left the room and looked in the hallway, in the living rooms, in the bathrooms and ended up in her own room.
"Rosie, you haven't seen my shoes have you? The black ones, y'know, those I use for school?" Her cousin looked up from her book, meeting Lily's eyes and shaking her head.
"No sorry. Should I have?"
"Well… I just can't seem to find them, and I've looked everywhere." Rose only looked mildly interested, giving the younger girl a small smile before turning back to the pages.
Lily used Converse in school too, only completely black ones (even the brand logo, the laces and the sole were black). No one ever noticed, for which she was glad. She couldn't stand those slender leather things most girls wore.
Taking a step over her cousin's luggage, she started folding her robes and placing them neatly in her own trunk.
"Well, this is crap." She stated, making Rose smile but not turn from the apparently very interesting piece of literature.
"Rose, what are you reading?"
"Oh just flicking through 'Advanced Charms: year 6'." She said faintly, her attention still directed at the book only. She's lost her mind.
"Right." Was all Lily said before leaving the room to interrogate her brother's about the missing shoes.
HP The Potters HP
"No! Please no!" Lily shrieked, looking at the sad pieces that were left from her beloved shoes.
"Snap put of it, sis, it's only a pair of shoes." Lily's eyes were like daggers as they pierced James'.
"What the hell am I going to where to school now then?" she shot at her family, Ginny looking disapprovingly at her, apparently not at all seeing the logic in swearing about a pair of shoes. It was five past ten, and Lily'd remembered she'd been wearing the shoes when playing Quidditch (for some absurd reason). When she collided with the tree, her shoed were caught on a branch and shredded as her weights pulled her down to the ground. They weren't new or anything, just extremely comfortable and her favourite shoes ever.
"Can't you just wear the ones Fleur got you last year?" The previous Christmas, she'd been given a pair of teeny, black leather ballerina shoes to wear in school. She'd smiled sweetly and thanked Fleur in a most genuine (fake) way, and then put them away in the far back of her wardrobe.
"You know, you aren't really allowed to wear these in school." Ginny pointed out, nodding to the black canvas pieces.
"They're black." Lily growled. "That's what the teachers want. No one has ever noticed!"
"Well, you'll have to make do with the other ones for now. We don't have time to buy new ones, and I'm not paying for them anyway." Ginny said firmly. Harry gave his daughter a quick wink, and in that gesture was the promise of a new identical pair before the first week of school was at an end. This pleased Lily, but the problem was still that she didn't have any shoes to wear. It wasn't like she'd brought them with her, and happened to have them available. Well, they don't have to know that, Lily thought, and then spent the car ride to the station deciding which shoes she could wear instead.
HP The Potters HP
They got to the platform with ten minutes to spare, which was just about a record. For once, they didn't have to rush on to the train and have their parents run next to it saying goodbye.
"It was lovely seeing you again." Hermione said when hugging Lily.
"Yeah, it's great seeing you too." Lily agreed, letting go and smiling at her aunt.
"Bye, Lily." Ginny said with a sweet smile, hugging her daughter fleetingly, but tightly.
"Bye, Mum, I'll see you in… However long it'll be before this depressing term is over." Ginny stuck her tongue out at Lily, and winked. Turning to her Dad, Lily noticed his little smirk.
"And what's that face all about?" She asked him suspiciously.
"Nothing, nothing." He said hurriedly, pulling her into a warm hug. She hugged back for a moment but then pushed him away.
"Oh, come on! You look so… smug. Tell me!"
"No, I was just thinking about you. In school. With Scorpius." Lily turned a bright red and punched her Dad on the shoulder.
"Whoa, take it easy, girl." He said mockingly. "No, but seriously, if he ever does the slightest thing that upsets you, then write to me." Grimacing, she then hopped on the train, pulling the door shut after her. Leaning out of the window, she waved to her parents and various relatives who had all come to see her, her siblings and her cousins off as they went back to school.
"Have a good time! Please stay out of trouble, and happy birthday, a month early!" Harry yelled after her, waving until the train disappeared into the grey morning.
There we go! Back to Hogwarts and back to the more lively side of Lily's life ;)
I hope you all like it, please review!
Maya S.