Authors note: Please read and review!
Authors note 2: Don't worry the encounter with Harry will be coming soon. I'm just trying to establish Lily's situation and background before I get into her relationships later on.
Lily moved backwards away from the door as it swung open revealing her godfather. He held his briefcase in one hand and his other hand was on the doorknob. He turned to close the door behind him and finally saw Lily standing with her back to the wall. He smiled at her, in what most people might conceive as friendly.
Her breathing had picked up again as she saw the smile. She knew her face was probably still flushed from her run back from the park. She rubbed her cheeks roughly so as to make the color go away. Her godfather made his way into the kitchen and came back out carrying a Pepsi can. He made his way to the couch and sat facing away from her. Meanwhile, Lily remained against the wall waiting to see if he would say anything. She knew she would have to bring the letter up eventually but she didn't feel that now was the right time.
When he didn't say anything she made her way towards the stairs. The sound of him clearing his throat stopped her dead in her tracks. Normally, she wasn't afraid of anything, Eric was the only person who truly frightened her down to the deep recesses of her soul. She shivered slightly before turning around, one foot still on the bottom step of the stairs.
"How was your day?" he asked casually. Lily swallowed and answered in a small voice, "it was fine. Everything was fine." She held her breath waiting for his next words. "That's good. Aren't you going to ask how my day was?" Lily closed her eyes tightly wishing she were anywhere but at the bottom of the stairs. "I-I'm sorry, how was your day?" Eric laughed slightly and turned to look at her from his position on the couch. "Don't stutter, it makes you sound afraid." he replied coldly. "I'm sorry" she repeated more clearly. "Good, I managed to get a very important client today." Lily stood quietly and waited to see if he would say anything else. When he didn't she replied, "That's great, I'm sure your firm is very pleased." He snorted slightly and got up from the couch. Lily retreated slightly but stood her ground on the stairs.
The form of her godfather making his way towards her reminded Lily of a large lion about to strike down a baby gazelle. She put her other foot on the stair and began to move slowly up the stairs. "Where are you going?" he asked abruptly. "I was just going to my room. I have some books to r-read before school starts." She took another step up the stairs. "We haven't finished our discussion yet." he said grabbing her arm forcefully. "I thought you would rather talk to Diane about it. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to find out." Lily tried hard to sound encouraging as she tried not to make a noise about the pain he was inflicting on her arm. "What makes you think I want to talk to Diane. You know she can't hold a conversation." He squeezed harder and Lily bit her lip.
If there was one thing Lily knew, it was that he was right. Her godmother couldn't talk about anything specific for more than a few minutes. Sometimes Lily wondered if Eric kept her around just for looks, and other things. If he ever did want to discuss something, he would call Lily down and she would be forced to have the discussion with him. She had to admit though, that she wouldn't be half as knowledgeable about some things if she hadn't taken part in these talks. Lily had the sneaking suspicion though that Diane was extremely frightened of her husband as well. That by making it seem as though she was stupid, kept him away from her for long periods of time. Lily had to hand it to her godmother she was a very smart woman. However, she couldn't forgive her for allowing the things Eric had done to her, without her godmother even interfering.
Eric narrowed his eyes at Lily when she didn't say anything for several minutes. "Answer me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled loudly. Lily jumped slightly and seemed to come back to reality. "I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to talk it's just... I have to finish this or I might fail my classes." Eric's grip on her arm slackened slightly and Lily knew she had him. He was always telling her she had to get good grades, that if he deterred her from this he would be being hypocritical.
He finally let go of her arm completely and Lily had to resist the urge to rub it. He turned his back on her and headed back for the couch, before he reached it though he said from over his shoulder, "what are you waiting for, get going!" Lily turned around and ran up the stairs as fast as she could before he changed his mind.
When she got to her room she closed the door quickly and locked it. She leaned against it breathing heavily from the run up the stairs, and then walked over to her bed and fell down upon it.
For a few minutes she merely sat there staring at the ceiling. The sun was still shining brightly through her window and the sight of it made her happy. She sat up and felt something pressing against her hip. She pulled the letter out that she had stuffed into her pocket on her run home. It was bent in half, but otherwise seemed to be in pretty good shape. No tears or further smudging had occurred. She touched it gingerly before turning it over and placing her fingers on the wax seal. 'Now or never' she thought to herself as she pulled open the letter flap, sending tiny flecks of wax onto her bedspread.
She slowly and carefully pulled the pages of parchment out of the envelope and unfolded them gently. She was just about to place the envelope back on her bed when she noticed the heavy objects inside. She tipped the envelope upside down unceremoniously and varying shapes of coins fell out onto the sheets. She picked up what looked like a coin, but it certainly didn't look like anything she had seen before. It was bronze and shining in the sun. It had a weird shape on it and numbers on the side. She put it down carefully and lifted the envelope, which had, miraculously enough, refilled itself. She tipped it upside down again and more coins fell out. This time with almost all gold ones. She gasped in surprise as she felt the envelope become heavy again.