Lily's Letter
The day was
warm and sunny. Lily sat in a green
meadow, listening to the twitter of birds, the rustle of the wind through the
trees, the crunch of scurrying animals.
In front of her lay a small napkin holding tiny pieces of cake and
colorful beads. Slowly Lily's eyes
traveled around the area, searching.
Careful not
to make any sudden moves, she tilted her head upward towards the tops of the
trees. Lily began to feel frustrated,
but tried putting that thought away. They won't come if I'm not completely
content. To have such a perfect day
for this and then to be thwarted by her disbelief would be intolerable. She relaxed her posture and a small smile
curved about her mouth.
From within
the pit of her being, she felt a warmth climb up her body. Her lips parted and from her heart spilled
forth a soft melody. As low as her
voice sang, it still filled the little clearing.
Faeries love music, she thought. How
much better would they love live music!
A swiftly
moving object flew past out of the corner of her eye. Lily jerked her head toward it, her song only momentarily
paused. She searched the bushes with
her eyes but dared not rush over to them.
The faeries would come to her only if they wanted to. She could not go to them.
Whatever
had crossed her vision was already out of sight. Her song gradually grew louder, trying to call the sprites to
her. Lily slowly stood up, her arms
outstretched. The song ended and she
started right back up again.
Something
large swept through the trees out of Lily's sight. It startled her to stop singing.
Its hoot took the place of her silence in the meadow. Then it was gone.
"It must
have been an owl," she whispered breathlessly.
"Odd time for an owl to be hunting."
She circled around herself, peering into the trees and sighed. "I bet he scared away the faeries." She bent down to collect her offerings, then
stopped. "I leave these for you,
faeries," she called out to them. "Take
them and remember me when I return."
Lily stood
and brushed the grass off her knees and dress.
She was ready to leave when she heard a voice calling out her name. "Lily!"
It was her sister Petunia.
Lily rushed
out of the meadow, not with any desire to answer her sister's summons, but with
a desire to keep Petunia away from the clearing, the faeries, and her
offering. Her sister never took stock
in the odd behavior of Lily and she didn't feel like hearing Petunia's
ridicule.
Lily came
upon Petunia stomping through the leaves, glaring into the trees. 'Hello, dear sister," she panted. "You called?"
"Mother
wants you." Far from being a 'dear
sister,' Petunia looked less than thrilled to see Lily. Her lips were pursed in a thin line, upset
at being disturbed from her more important activities to summon her sister.
Lily
figured that it was her mother who wanted to talk to her rather than
Petunia. Petunia rarely ever talked to
Lily. The sisters had a wide gap
between them that caused them never to be close. Lily never understood why and had tried building bridges to be
with Petunia, but Petunia maliciously burned those bridges. Lily had stopped trying.
"Thank you,
Petunia. I was on my way in
anyway." Petunia's lips grew even
thinner and began muttering how it was pointless for her to have come to fetch
Lily if she was on her way in. Rather
than staying with Petunia and listen to her rave, Lily raced on ahead to the
house.
"Mum!" Lily called as she entered the house. "Mum, you called me?"
Lily's
mother came out of the kitchen to meet her daughter, a puzzled expression on
her face. "Lily, you've got a letter."
A
letter? That's what she had been called
for? As much as she was curious to who
wrote the letter, she couldn't understand why her mother was so confused. "Didn't the mail come already? Did someone drop by and leave it?"
"No . . .
no person dropped by." Her mother played
with the envelope in her hand nervously.
"Well,
who's it from?" Lily held out her hand
to take it from her.
She handed
it to her unconsciously. "It arrived in
a very strange manner."
"Did
it?" Lily looked over the
envelope. There was no return
address. Her eyebrows narrowed and she
began ripping it open to the letter inside.
"Yes," her
mother continued, watching Lily. "An
owl dropped it on my counter."
Lily
stopped and looked at her mother, her mouth open. "Came right through the window and dropped the letter. It waited, watching me a moment, as if
waiting for something. Then it hooted
angrily and flew back out the window.
There's no return address."
"I know. I already checked." Lily
opened the letter, thinking of the owl she heard in the woods. But owls don't deliver letters, do they?
Petunia
came in just then, her arms crossed, looking between Lily and their mother,
scowling. "Well, what's this all
about?"
"Your
sister's received a letter, Petunia," their mother answered, trying to remain
calm but her hands still fidgeting.
Petunia
looked aghast, then miffed. "This is
what all the commotion was about? A
letter?"
"Arrived by
owl," he mother finished.
At this
Petunia had no words, only stared at Lily with disbelief. "Well?"
Her mother coaxed. "Read it."
With
trembling hands, Lily held open the letter and began to read:
Dear Miss Evans,
We
are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find
a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term will begin on September the first. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Signed,
Professor M. McGonagall
M. McGonagall
Deputy Headmaster
Lily read
through it all though her heart was pounding with disbelief and
excitement. Witchcraft and
Wizardry? Magic? Real
magic? But how can she? It seemed impossible, yet here it was, in
her hand, an invitation to a school of magic.
Her mother
put her hand to her mouth in astonishment.
Petunia gaped, mouth open like a fish, unable to speak.
"What does
this mean?" Her mother whispered.
"I think—I
think it means I'm invited to learn magic at this school." The thought was so exciting it threatened to
overwhelm her.
"There's no
such thing as magic." Petunia had
recovered her voice and now glared menacingly at her sister.
"Of course
there is!" She retorted. She waved the letter in the air. "This proves it."
"What does
it prove?" Petunia looked almost smug
as she spoke. "Probably a prank. There's no return address, is there? How will you send a reply?"
Lily felt
her excitement wane. Her sister had a
point. How would she send a reply now
that the owl had flown? "I—I'm sure
there's a way."
A hoot, and
the owl swooped back in through the window, landing on Lily's shoulder. Petunia gave a shriek and Lily couldn't help
smirk at her.
The owl
hooted again so Lily carefully put the bird on the table. She had already started writing a reply when
she remembered herself. "Mum, can I
go?"
Her mother
had stopped wringing her hands and her eyes were back to their original
size. She was even stroking the owl's
feathers, which had its eyes partially closed in pleasure. "Is this what you want?"
Lily
thought about it. To learn magic, real
magic! Perhaps there she could find
faeries! "Yes. Yes this is."
Her mother
nodded, a small smile on her face.
"Then I won't stop you. I don't
know where to find your equipment, but . . ." She looked uncertainly at the equipment list given along with the
acceptance letter.
"I'll ask
in my response note." Quickly Lily
wrote a letter and gave it to the owl.
It hooted happily and flew off.
"This is going to be an exciting year."
"It's too
bad your sister couldn't be accepted there."
Petunia's
scowl deepened. "I wouldn't learn magic
if you paid me to." With that, she
stormed off.
