Lily sat on her bed, laboring over her Transfig. Essay... She didn't need to know the fundamentals of turning a train into an aeroplane. She didn't think she'd ever do it.
'Explain how to move the molecules and also give two paragraphs about why this is a bad idea.'
Lily knew the answer to that because it is totally useless.
She tried to reach out to her brother as a distraction.
'Alec? How are ya doing? How's Benny doing?' She asked cheerily.
'Lillian Anne Evans, are you done with your Transfig. Essay?' He asked her abruptly.
She scowled and replied:
'Maybe, maybe not…'
She avoided answering him very professionally. Okay so maybe not.
'Get to work. I'm shutting you out.'
He sounded exactly like a lecturing mother. She stuck her tongue out at him but it didn't work. He could always shut her out when he wanted to. She never seemed to be able to shut him out. She tended to send thoughts to him she had no intention of sending. Okay back to work. She was halfway through the first word when someone barged into her room. She looked up and saw Penny, her gray eyes radiating with rage... She stalked over to Lily's bed, kicking aside piles of clothes. Lily put down her quill tensely. She looked at her sister intensely, trying to figure out the meaning of this. Penny never entered her room. She saw her as a lower life form, someone who truly didn't belong in the family, who was really nothing more than a maid.
"YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT." The older girl snarled through her nostrils.
Lily kept her pale face blank.
"YOU AND THE LITTLE BRAT!!! YOU MADE HIM DRIVE HER AWAY! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, I'D HAVE A NEW MOTHER. IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE BRAT I'D HAVE A MOTHER IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
She stared at Lily with ultimate rage on her pinched face. Lily gazed at her disbelievingly.
"Did you just say that? Our little brother had no choice over what happened to your mother. Don't you ever say that."
"HE IS MY BROTHER, YOU WITCH, NOT YOURS. YOU ARE NOT IN THIS FAMILY."
Lily's short-fused temper had reached its end. She flung herself off the bed so hard the mattress slid two inches. She landed on top of the adolescent who had entered her room uninvited. She pulled at her hair and gave her a good punch in the eye.
"You little idiot. How dare you say he is not my brother? I have practically raised the child. Did YOU sit up with him when he was sick fifty times in three years? Tell me, when did you last not get twelve hours of beauty sleep?"
She was flabbergasted at how her sister thought this way. She gave her a right hook in the jaw. Then not to be beaten by a girl who was almost four years younger, the two rolled around the floor scuffling... Lily could not reach out for Alec because he still had her shut out.
They fought on until something pulled them apart. As she was lifted into the air, Lily kicked and screamed intensely. She finally ran out of breath, and was held a foot above the ground by an invisible force. She stopped fighting it, exhausted. She looked around for her captor, and saw her father and Ms. Lupin standing ten feet away in the doorway.
Ms. Lupin had her wand out toward them. She gently lowered it, and both girls floated to the ground. Lily tried to lunge at Penny again, but an electric bolt from the wand stopped her. She fell back onto the bed, the sharp quill she had thrown down carelessly not long before sticking her in the back. She moaned involuntarily realizing how she was hurt. Her eye was blackened and she had a cut in her arm. She raised it slowly, and saw from the shape of it that…
"She bit me! She must have fangs!" She exclaimed.
Penny snarled at her.
"Shut up Pen the Magic Dragon." She scowled.
"Okay enough you two!" Her father bellowed. They both turned their heads to look at him, and Lily slowly sat up. Her father's face was red.
"Dad, remember your blood pressure." She said cautiously.
His last reports had been high. Her father took a deep rattling breath.
"You're right Lily. Penny come with me. Rita could you please knock some sense into my daughter?"
Before Ms. Lupin could answer, Lily spoke up.
"Um, Penny took care of the knocking part!"
She smiled lightly trying to joke her way out of it. They all ignored her and her father dragged Penny away by the arm.
Ms. Lupin came and stood next to the bed. She moved some parchment to the oak nightstand and sat down. Lily turned away from her staring out the window. She had the curtains drawn so that the other kids in the backyard didn't distract her, but they were light yellow and let the light in.
She hung her head waiting for an explosion like what normally came from her father. It didn't arrive. When nothing had been said for about half a minute, she apprehensively looked up. Ms. Lupin was looking at her with kindhearted eyes.
"Lily, why did you try to kill your sister?"
She went straight to the point.
"She said… She said…"
Lily took a long shuddering breath.
"She said I wasn't Benny's sister, and she said that he was responsible for her mother's death."
She said all this slowly biting her lip as she finished. Ms. Lupin put an arm around her, and drew Lily to her. Lily buried her face in her white sweatshirt. It smelled of baking cookies, grass, and some kind of wonderful perfume. She drowned herself in it, but would not let herself cry again. Ms. Lupin stroked her hair gently and kissed the top of her head.
"Lily, do you know why she thinks that?" She asked.
Lily was bewildered. Slowly she shook her head and lifted it to look at Ms. Lupin.
"Maybe she blames herself. Maybe she thinks it is her fault her mom died. She blames it on Benny because it is logical to her to blame it on someone else to hide her guilt. Don't you say anything though. Just try and put yourself in someone else's shoes before you start a full-fledged war. Promise me?"
She smiled at the girl.
"I promise." She smiled back grateful.
"So, why am I grounded?"
"Well… You were provoked but also took bait. I say they even out if you don't do it again. Penny however…"
She was interrupted by a shriek from the other room.
"DADDY! VERNON WAS TAKING ME TO THE MOVIES TONIGHT!"
Lily grinned. Ms. Lupin ruffled her hair and stood.
"Shall I take care of those injuries for you Lady Knight?"
"I can do it." Lily said. Ms. Lupin shook her head. Lily was far to used to fending for herself.
"No, I'll do it."
Rita walked out of the room and Lily lay back against a pillow. She soon returned with a basket of bandages. She applied antiseptic while Lily sucked in her breath. Rita smoothed her hair back.
"Shush. It's okay." She soon bandaged Lily's arm, and Lily held an ice bag to her eye. Rita again put an arm around the lass.
"Ms. Lupin?" She whispered.
"Yes darling?" She cooed.
"Can I call you mom?" She voiced what she had felt for a while now.
"Yes darling. Of course." And as Lily lay against her mother's arm, she let the floodgates that had been so tightly shut for the past hour open.