Chapter One
Lily Shouk's mother peered anxiously around her. She could have sworn that her daughter was right behind her! However, evidence pointed otherwise, because there was no five-year-old-child in tow. Lily kept pointing at the building, but always pointing slightly to the left of the door, almost like she was pointing to an entirely different building. Her mother had relented to visiting the record store her child was so anxious to see, only to find that there was no child behind her. Mary Shouk sighed heavily and leaned against the store's door. Strange things always seemed to be happening to her daughter, little things that just didn't make proper sense. And Lily seemed to have an uncanny attraction to colors, always describing people as "very yellow, or really a lovely pink person" somehow, the description always did fit.
Lily stared around herself in amazement, little hazel eyes growing wide. She was in a dingy sort of pub that had a haphazard sign that said "The Leaky Cauldron" on it. She wondered vaguely where her mother was, but was too preoccupied at the moment to think much of it. An old, kind looking fellow was serving several men drinks. Everyone around her was wearing very interesting clothing, long dress like things, even the men! And they all wore hats like the witches on Halloween! The old fellow seemed to be an orange sort of person, warm and happy, and sort of glowing. The place itself was sort of orange, except for one corner, which fairly reeked of blue. Sitting in that corner was the bluest man she had ever seen. He looked tired and his blueness was tinted with gray. She felt sorry for him, and hoped his drink would have effect and make him feel a little more orange. She went up and said hello to the bartender, Tom, and told him what a lovely orange place he had. He merely raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. Suddenly she felt a blackness creep upon her as she heard a cold voice yell, "Tom! Two butterbeers!" She swiveled in her chair and felt chills run up her spine. The cold voice said, "Draco! Go see who the little wretch in the corner is!" A snivel of a boy, not much older than herself, attempted to put a sneer on his face and come torment her. She sensed a lot of grayness and confusion in this boy, Draco, and ran away to hide behind the blue man. The cold man laughed a hard, cruel laugh, and said, "Why Snape! Long time, no see! Do you know this wretch well?"
Snape, the blue man, snarled. "Malfoy, what a pleasure!" his voice dripped with sarcasm. Lily cowered. She could fairly smell the anger in the two men. She was so preoccupied with them that she entirely forgot about Draco until something hard poked her back. She jumped, and heard a snigger behind her. Draco ran away, looking over his shoulder at her. She desperately wanted him to trip. Suddenly a chair fell over, in Draco's path, and the boy fell flat on his face. He stopped sniggering, and went crying to his daddy. The room was uncomfortably silent. Then Malfoy started to walk towards her. She screamed the first thing that came to her mind.
"Keep the cold, dark man away from me!" Then realizing that this would not be enough to keep him away, she concentrated with all her young mind, and suddenly tables and chairs were zooming around Snape and her, building up a sort of wall. Tom stared in amazement. Lucius Malfoy pulled out a strange stick like thing. Suddenly her five year old mind realized that this stick was a wand! He muttered something under his breath, and all the chairs and tables went zooming back into place. Lily shivered.
Snape stepped in front of her. He snarled, "Malfoy, leave the poor girl alone."
Malfoy sneered, saying, "Well, well...Snape defending a muggle. A sight I thought I would never see!" He laughed, a cold, hard, manic laugh, grabbed Draco by the wrist and was gone.
Snape took Lily outside and waited for her mother to come. Lily said in a childish way that she was thankful to him for saving her from such a dark man. She also told him she hoped his blueness would go away soon. Then Mary found her daughter, and vaguely wondered who the strange man was that Lily had been talking to. Instead of asking, she just swept Lily up into a big bear hug and carried her down the street, glad that her daughter was all right.
Snape stood watching the girl until he could see her no longer. This was a girl that could be as significant as the beloved Harry Potter, defeater of Voldemort. This girl was a muggle, clearly, who had powers he had seen displayed in very few adults, and never in a child before. This child had psychic powers only beginning to develop, and telekinesis stronger than many wizards. That chair had not fallen on its own free will. The wall of tables and chairs had come quickly when she summoned them, without the effort it would take many others. This child could be the very thing that the League Against Voldemort would need. This child was also exactly what Voldemort was looking for to wipe light from this planet forever.
(ten years later)
Mary was more worried about her daughter than ever before. As a single mother, she was feeling very stressed. Her daughter had very strong psychic powers, and no one had ever been able hide their mind from her. The problem was that Lily seemed to be absorbing everyone's negative energy, and had been reduced to a shaking mass of nerves crying quietly in the corner of her bedroom. Mary had called every psychiatrist, every psychic, every doctor, but no one seemed to be able to help. They said that the amount of power Lily said she had was not even possible. They all told her that her daughter was a liar. This she refused to believe. Lily did NOT lie. However, Lily was prone to keeping some rather large secrets from people, which is just what she was doing now.
Lily had gotten up off of the floor and was now sobbing into her pillow, that awful mind repeating and repeating itself in hers. The man had been a rat. That was the only was to describe him. She had ventured out to go see a movie, a fabulous romance that she had just been dying to see. Otherwise she would not have left the house, knowing how likely she would be to absorb people. She just hadn't expected to be sitting next to a cold blooded murderer at a romance film. The man's name was Peter Pettigrew, and he was, as unlikely as this sounded, a wizard. She couldn't tell any of the doctors or psychiatrists about him, because she knew that they would have locked her up for good. It was that crazy. He had been sitting there, not even paying attention to the film, just thinking about his wonderful new hand, which almost made her scream when she saw it. It was no ordinary hand. It was a hand made out of a flowing silver liquid, that had sort of hardened, and she knew from the man's thoughts that his hand was completely indestructible. This man had aided someone named Voldemort (strange, she knew) in coldly and quickly killing some people named James and Lily Potter. They had been Pettigrew's own friends. Then he had turned and killed a lot of other people, including muggles (where had she heard that word before?), and framing his other friend for it. Pettigrew went free. The Potter's son had somehow managed to destroy Voldemort, even though he was just a tiny baby. Pettigrew had lodged inside himself an unimaginable hate for this boy, Harry. And he was going to do what ever he had to, to make sure that Harry was dead. At that point Lily started to sob uncontrollably again, partly from Pettigrew's mind, and partly because she felt like there was some vital thing that she was forgetting.
Snape practically ran to Dumbledore's office. Panting, he stood in front of the old wizard, who looked up bewildered.
"What is it, Snape?"
"Dumbledore, sir, I've, I've found her! The last piece of the puzzle! The one who can go either way..."
"And?"
"And unfortunately she has already had an encounter with Pettigrew. I met her again on the subway, she was coming back from seeing a muggle movie, and she was crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said 'nothing, just a rat of a man, that's all'." Snape paused for breath. "And she is the girl I saw 10 years ago in The Leaky Cauldron! And we need to hurry. She is the only way we can be certain that Good will prevail over Evil..."
"Hmmmph....yes, well, so the scroll says. And this seems to be a chance that we must take....The question is, do we tell the Ministry about her? You do realize that they would never allow a muggle into Hogwarts. She is not capable of wand work. She is no witch."
"Why don't we discuss it as we fly over to her house? I have a feeling that time is running out...."
The Dark Mark on Snape's forearm was burning. Darker than ever before...
The doorbell rang, making Mary jump. She peeked outside to see a very old, peculiar man, and a younger, slightly bitter man, peering back at her. She wondered who they were. She called to Lily.
"Lily! Are you expecting any guests??"
Lily came in shaking and puzzled, but as she drew closer to the door, she felt happier and happier. "Ummm....yeah....well, sort of, I guess..."
Sighing Mary opened the door. That was the most eloquent response Lily had given in ages! The two men introduced themselves, wondering how to explain to Lily's mum.
Lily's eyes brightened, and she said, "Well, hullo again!!! You're the man I met on the subway, like, a couple of days ago!"
Snape smiled, which wasn't something he did very often. Dumbledore got down to business.
"Ahem. Mrs. Shouk, may I introduce myself as Albus Dumbledore, and this is my colleague, Severus Snape. We have come to speak to you and your daughter here because your daughter has been demonstrating for some time some rather remarkable powers. She has psychic powers beyond the imagination, that only need to be trained and put into proper use. I am the Headmaster for a Wizarding school, Hogwarts, and we would like Lily to come to Hogwarts this next year. Now, I understand that all of this must sound rather crazy to you..."
Mary's eyes had become as wide as saucers. Lily however, looked only excited.
"If you don't mind, I need to have a word with my daughter alone....we will only be a moment."
Mary tugged Lily out of the room.
"Lily, is what they say true?"
"Yes, mum, yes!!! What they haven't said is really very interesting though...but they can help me get over my absorbing problem....and they know the rat...."
"Who is the rat???"
"My biggest problem at the moment....but, yes mum, they are to be trusted. And I'm needed. They seem to need me as much as I need them...."
Lily led her mother back in to the kitchen, where Dumbledore and Snape sat, eating the cookies Mary had shakily put down on the table before dragging her daughter out of the room.
"So. When do I begin?" Lily said, with a grin.
At such a sudden agreement, Dumbledore nearly choked on his cookie, then regained his composure and said, "As soon as you like. Actually, you are in a bit of danger, from a man, or thing, rather, named Voldemort. So what would be best is if you came with us back to Hogwarts immediately, which is the one place Voldemort can't get to...."
Lily shuddered....Voldemort....the thing that had been haunting her.....was he after her? Why???
"Umm...if you don't mind my asking, what exactly am I in danger of? Who is this Voldemort?"
"He is a very dark wizard, who is intent upon taking over the world. He, too, has realized your powers, and is intent on using them for his own nasty ends. We are here to protect you from him."
Mary shuddered. She was wondering just how much these two men knew about Lily's past, and about her father....Lily's father had never been an ordinary man...and then he had left. Left her with a baby, and went off into a place that she had thought didn't exist...the Wizarding world. So he hadn't been crazy after all....
End of Chapter One
Lily Shouk's mother peered anxiously around her. She could have sworn that her daughter was right behind her! However, evidence pointed otherwise, because there was no five-year-old-child in tow. Lily kept pointing at the building, but always pointing slightly to the left of the door, almost like she was pointing to an entirely different building. Her mother had relented to visiting the record store her child was so anxious to see, only to find that there was no child behind her. Mary Shouk sighed heavily and leaned against the store's door. Strange things always seemed to be happening to her daughter, little things that just didn't make proper sense. And Lily seemed to have an uncanny attraction to colors, always describing people as "very yellow, or really a lovely pink person" somehow, the description always did fit.
Lily stared around herself in amazement, little hazel eyes growing wide. She was in a dingy sort of pub that had a haphazard sign that said "The Leaky Cauldron" on it. She wondered vaguely where her mother was, but was too preoccupied at the moment to think much of it. An old, kind looking fellow was serving several men drinks. Everyone around her was wearing very interesting clothing, long dress like things, even the men! And they all wore hats like the witches on Halloween! The old fellow seemed to be an orange sort of person, warm and happy, and sort of glowing. The place itself was sort of orange, except for one corner, which fairly reeked of blue. Sitting in that corner was the bluest man she had ever seen. He looked tired and his blueness was tinted with gray. She felt sorry for him, and hoped his drink would have effect and make him feel a little more orange. She went up and said hello to the bartender, Tom, and told him what a lovely orange place he had. He merely raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. Suddenly she felt a blackness creep upon her as she heard a cold voice yell, "Tom! Two butterbeers!" She swiveled in her chair and felt chills run up her spine. The cold voice said, "Draco! Go see who the little wretch in the corner is!" A snivel of a boy, not much older than herself, attempted to put a sneer on his face and come torment her. She sensed a lot of grayness and confusion in this boy, Draco, and ran away to hide behind the blue man. The cold man laughed a hard, cruel laugh, and said, "Why Snape! Long time, no see! Do you know this wretch well?"
Snape, the blue man, snarled. "Malfoy, what a pleasure!" his voice dripped with sarcasm. Lily cowered. She could fairly smell the anger in the two men. She was so preoccupied with them that she entirely forgot about Draco until something hard poked her back. She jumped, and heard a snigger behind her. Draco ran away, looking over his shoulder at her. She desperately wanted him to trip. Suddenly a chair fell over, in Draco's path, and the boy fell flat on his face. He stopped sniggering, and went crying to his daddy. The room was uncomfortably silent. Then Malfoy started to walk towards her. She screamed the first thing that came to her mind.
"Keep the cold, dark man away from me!" Then realizing that this would not be enough to keep him away, she concentrated with all her young mind, and suddenly tables and chairs were zooming around Snape and her, building up a sort of wall. Tom stared in amazement. Lucius Malfoy pulled out a strange stick like thing. Suddenly her five year old mind realized that this stick was a wand! He muttered something under his breath, and all the chairs and tables went zooming back into place. Lily shivered.
Snape stepped in front of her. He snarled, "Malfoy, leave the poor girl alone."
Malfoy sneered, saying, "Well, well...Snape defending a muggle. A sight I thought I would never see!" He laughed, a cold, hard, manic laugh, grabbed Draco by the wrist and was gone.
Snape took Lily outside and waited for her mother to come. Lily said in a childish way that she was thankful to him for saving her from such a dark man. She also told him she hoped his blueness would go away soon. Then Mary found her daughter, and vaguely wondered who the strange man was that Lily had been talking to. Instead of asking, she just swept Lily up into a big bear hug and carried her down the street, glad that her daughter was all right.
Snape stood watching the girl until he could see her no longer. This was a girl that could be as significant as the beloved Harry Potter, defeater of Voldemort. This girl was a muggle, clearly, who had powers he had seen displayed in very few adults, and never in a child before. This child had psychic powers only beginning to develop, and telekinesis stronger than many wizards. That chair had not fallen on its own free will. The wall of tables and chairs had come quickly when she summoned them, without the effort it would take many others. This child could be the very thing that the League Against Voldemort would need. This child was also exactly what Voldemort was looking for to wipe light from this planet forever.
(ten years later)
Mary was more worried about her daughter than ever before. As a single mother, she was feeling very stressed. Her daughter had very strong psychic powers, and no one had ever been able hide their mind from her. The problem was that Lily seemed to be absorbing everyone's negative energy, and had been reduced to a shaking mass of nerves crying quietly in the corner of her bedroom. Mary had called every psychiatrist, every psychic, every doctor, but no one seemed to be able to help. They said that the amount of power Lily said she had was not even possible. They all told her that her daughter was a liar. This she refused to believe. Lily did NOT lie. However, Lily was prone to keeping some rather large secrets from people, which is just what she was doing now.
Lily had gotten up off of the floor and was now sobbing into her pillow, that awful mind repeating and repeating itself in hers. The man had been a rat. That was the only was to describe him. She had ventured out to go see a movie, a fabulous romance that she had just been dying to see. Otherwise she would not have left the house, knowing how likely she would be to absorb people. She just hadn't expected to be sitting next to a cold blooded murderer at a romance film. The man's name was Peter Pettigrew, and he was, as unlikely as this sounded, a wizard. She couldn't tell any of the doctors or psychiatrists about him, because she knew that they would have locked her up for good. It was that crazy. He had been sitting there, not even paying attention to the film, just thinking about his wonderful new hand, which almost made her scream when she saw it. It was no ordinary hand. It was a hand made out of a flowing silver liquid, that had sort of hardened, and she knew from the man's thoughts that his hand was completely indestructible. This man had aided someone named Voldemort (strange, she knew) in coldly and quickly killing some people named James and Lily Potter. They had been Pettigrew's own friends. Then he had turned and killed a lot of other people, including muggles (where had she heard that word before?), and framing his other friend for it. Pettigrew went free. The Potter's son had somehow managed to destroy Voldemort, even though he was just a tiny baby. Pettigrew had lodged inside himself an unimaginable hate for this boy, Harry. And he was going to do what ever he had to, to make sure that Harry was dead. At that point Lily started to sob uncontrollably again, partly from Pettigrew's mind, and partly because she felt like there was some vital thing that she was forgetting.
Snape practically ran to Dumbledore's office. Panting, he stood in front of the old wizard, who looked up bewildered.
"What is it, Snape?"
"Dumbledore, sir, I've, I've found her! The last piece of the puzzle! The one who can go either way..."
"And?"
"And unfortunately she has already had an encounter with Pettigrew. I met her again on the subway, she was coming back from seeing a muggle movie, and she was crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said 'nothing, just a rat of a man, that's all'." Snape paused for breath. "And she is the girl I saw 10 years ago in The Leaky Cauldron! And we need to hurry. She is the only way we can be certain that Good will prevail over Evil..."
"Hmmmph....yes, well, so the scroll says. And this seems to be a chance that we must take....The question is, do we tell the Ministry about her? You do realize that they would never allow a muggle into Hogwarts. She is not capable of wand work. She is no witch."
"Why don't we discuss it as we fly over to her house? I have a feeling that time is running out...."
The Dark Mark on Snape's forearm was burning. Darker than ever before...
The doorbell rang, making Mary jump. She peeked outside to see a very old, peculiar man, and a younger, slightly bitter man, peering back at her. She wondered who they were. She called to Lily.
"Lily! Are you expecting any guests??"
Lily came in shaking and puzzled, but as she drew closer to the door, she felt happier and happier. "Ummm....yeah....well, sort of, I guess..."
Sighing Mary opened the door. That was the most eloquent response Lily had given in ages! The two men introduced themselves, wondering how to explain to Lily's mum.
Lily's eyes brightened, and she said, "Well, hullo again!!! You're the man I met on the subway, like, a couple of days ago!"
Snape smiled, which wasn't something he did very often. Dumbledore got down to business.
"Ahem. Mrs. Shouk, may I introduce myself as Albus Dumbledore, and this is my colleague, Severus Snape. We have come to speak to you and your daughter here because your daughter has been demonstrating for some time some rather remarkable powers. She has psychic powers beyond the imagination, that only need to be trained and put into proper use. I am the Headmaster for a Wizarding school, Hogwarts, and we would like Lily to come to Hogwarts this next year. Now, I understand that all of this must sound rather crazy to you..."
Mary's eyes had become as wide as saucers. Lily however, looked only excited.
"If you don't mind, I need to have a word with my daughter alone....we will only be a moment."
Mary tugged Lily out of the room.
"Lily, is what they say true?"
"Yes, mum, yes!!! What they haven't said is really very interesting though...but they can help me get over my absorbing problem....and they know the rat...."
"Who is the rat???"
"My biggest problem at the moment....but, yes mum, they are to be trusted. And I'm needed. They seem to need me as much as I need them...."
Lily led her mother back in to the kitchen, where Dumbledore and Snape sat, eating the cookies Mary had shakily put down on the table before dragging her daughter out of the room.
"So. When do I begin?" Lily said, with a grin.
At such a sudden agreement, Dumbledore nearly choked on his cookie, then regained his composure and said, "As soon as you like. Actually, you are in a bit of danger, from a man, or thing, rather, named Voldemort. So what would be best is if you came with us back to Hogwarts immediately, which is the one place Voldemort can't get to...."
Lily shuddered....Voldemort....the thing that had been haunting her.....was he after her? Why???
"Umm...if you don't mind my asking, what exactly am I in danger of? Who is this Voldemort?"
"He is a very dark wizard, who is intent upon taking over the world. He, too, has realized your powers, and is intent on using them for his own nasty ends. We are here to protect you from him."
Mary shuddered. She was wondering just how much these two men knew about Lily's past, and about her father....Lily's father had never been an ordinary man...and then he had left. Left her with a baby, and went off into a place that she had thought didn't exist...the Wizarding world. So he hadn't been crazy after all....
End of Chapter One