Disclaimer: See introduction for complete disclaimer and summary.
The parchment she was holding ruffled slightly in her hand and her attention was drawn back to them. These too were written in emerald ink and the sun bounced off of it and playfully spread over her ceiling. She almost laughed but instead started reading the paper instead.
The first piece of paper had informed her that she had been accepted to 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' As she scanned further down the page it informed her of when she was to reply and what she would need for school supplies. Lily had a sudden feeling of elation as she thought of finally being away from her godfather. Suddenly enough though the elation faded as she also ran into the thoughts of having to tell him, and about not having any money to buy these things. She put the thought to the back of her mind while she read the other slip of paper. This informed her specifically of what she would need and her hope faded even more as she mentally tallied the price of all of the things listed.
Lily pushed back tears as she folded up the paper. The sun reflecting off from the coins brought her attention back to them. 'What are they?' Lily asked herself as she picked up a large gold one and turned it over with her fingers. Lily scooped the other coins into her palm and piced up the envelope that had, once again, refilled itself. Lily wondered quietly how many of the shiny coins would come out before it finally stopped refilling itself. Then, what should have been the more obvious question, popped into her mind. Where had the money come from, and how was the envelope refilling itself in the first place. Lily thought of calling Charlotte, but instead decided that she would tell her later. She couldn't get to the phone at the moment anyway, since she was positive Eric was still downstairs.
Lily opened her dresser drawer quietly and placed all of the coins back in the envelope they had come from, before placing the envelope into the dresser itself. She almost slammed the drawer when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A heavy knock on her door sounded before a voice rang out from behind it. "Get down into the kitchen and help Diane with dinner." Lily breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps receded down the stairs.
She carefully picked up the parchment she had left lying on her bed and gripped it tightly before making her way to the door and down the stairs.
She treaded softly across the carpet and into the kitchen. She could see Diane bent over a cookbook and trying to set the oven at the same time. "Can I help?" Lily asked quietly. Diane turned, somewhat abruptly, and quickly went back to the cookbook once she realized who it was. "Sure you can, get the potatoes out from under the sink" she replied. Lily made her way to the sink and pulled open the cupboard door. Several other items had been stashed under the sink as well, a can of old cheeze whiz sat rusting in the corner, and a can of newly bought peas was closer to the door. Lily pulled the potatoes out and set them on the table. She paused as she looked at the paper in her hands. She looked at her godmother's back and decided to tell her before she told Eric.
"Um, Diane. Can I talk to you for a second?" Lily asked quietly. Diane turned and gave her an odd expression of surprise, and suspicion. "Sure, about what?" Lily took a deep breath, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "I got a letter today." Lily noticed her godmother's face seemed to pale slightly. "And what did this letter say?" she asked turning fully and leaning her back against the counter. "Well, it was from a school" Lily answered placing the pieces of parchment onto the table top. Diane looked at them quickly and walked to the table. "What school is that?" she asked, though her voice broke slightly. "Read, and see for yourself." Lily looked at her godmother critically as if daring her to pick up the parchment. She thought she saw Diane's hand shaking slightly as she began to reach for the paper. Her godmother picked it up carefully and shut her eyes tightly before she opened them and began reading.
By the time she had finished reading the letter, her face had become a light shade of green. Lily looked at her expectantly. Diane pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. "I thought this would come some day. Have you told Eric yet?" Lily shook her head no and Diane sighed. "Of course you haven't, I would have known if you had." She sighed again. "Is he going to be angry or something?" Lily asked fearfully. "I thought he might be glad to be rid of me." A harsh laugh came from her godmother and she stood up. "You don't understand. He's never going to let you go." Diane looked up at her goddaughter with what seemed to Lily as a look of satisfaction. "You don't know that" Lily said softly. "Yes I do. He'll never let you go to that school, for more reasons than you'll ever know." she said harshly. Lily flinched slightly and looked down at her godmother with a look of pity, a look which had appeared in her eyes as well. "You know Lily, I never did dislike you. In fact I think you are exceptionally brave. You'll accomplish more than you know, you have such potential. But one more thing I know is, that you'll never be able to get over the fear you feel around Eric. You will face some horrible things, I guarantee you, but they'll never be as frightening as him. Be grateful for that. It means you'll be fearless to everything but him." Lily smiled slightly and Diane returned it.
However, the moment of understanding that passed between them was quickly smashed when Eric entered the kitchen. He seemed to take in the look of things before speaking. "Where's dinner?" He looked from his wife to Lily before his eyes fell on the letter on the table. "What's this?" he asked, moving forward and scooping the letter into his hand. "A love note from an admirer?" His cold smile chilled Lily as he began reading. The smile vanished as soon as he had read the entire letter. A tense silence entered the kitchen as everyone waited to see what would happen next.
Eric set the note back on the table and turned to Lily. She backed up slightly but he didn't move. His cold eyes stayed locked with hers as he simply said, "Your not going." As quickly as he had entered he left again. Lily's mouth opened in shock as she took in what had just happened, or more accurately, hadn't happened. She had expected yelling and plate throwing, the fact that he hadn't done these things scared her greatly.
She turned to look at Diane who was looking equally flustered. They shared a look before Lily went to the entranceway of the kitchen and looked out. Eric was nowhere to be seen. She turned back towards Diane who had returned quietly to her cookbook and was about to say something, but instead closed her mouth and turned back towards the empty living room. Before she knew what she was doing she had headed back up the stairs and into her bedroom, locking the door behind her.
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The house had been silent for hours when Lily decided to head downstairs. She had been stewing in her room since the episode in the kitchen and had decided that, no matter what her godfather said, she was going to find a way to go to Hogwarts. The only person she could think of that could help her achieve this, was Charlie.
She opened the door a crack and looked down the hall. There was no light coming from underneath their door, so she opened the door fully and stepped out onto the landing. When no sounds came, she tiptoed down the hall and down the stairs. Her heart was racing wildly but she knew what she had to do.
As she reached the phone she picked up the receiver as quietly as she could and listened for the dial tone. She dialed Charlotte's number and waited, while the phone on the other end, rang. It wasn't long before a woman's tired voice came from the phone. "Hello?" Lily heard a distinct yawn. She almost hit herself in the head as she saw how late it was. "Hello Mrs. Renault. Is Charlotte there?" Lily whispered. "Of course she's here, where else would she be at this hour? Who is this?" "It's Lillian, Mrs. Renault and I really need to speak with Charlotte." There was a small pause before the woman answered. "Lillian? Is everything alright? Do you know how late it is?" Lily smiled slightly. "Yes, I know how late it is, and I'm fine but it's really important that I speak with Charlie." She heard a sigh and another pause ensued, this time lasting several minutes. Lily began to become nervous and looked up the stairs apprehensively. Everything was still and she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
A "Hello?" jolted Lily back to the phone she was holding haphazardly, and smiled. "Hi Charlie. I have to talk to you." She heard what sound like a snort come from the other end of the line. "Of course you do or else you wouldn't have called. Now, what is this about?" "Its about my letter. I told Eric and he flat out refused to let me go. What should I do?" Lily heard an excited ruffling and knew the phone had been switched to Charlotte's other ear. "You opened the letter?! What did it say, what was inside?" Charlie asked excitedly. Lily laughed quietly. "Yes I opened it. I don't really know what was inside though, they look like coins, but they're gold and bronze and stuff." Charlie responded almost immediately. "That's just wizard money." She responded with the same tone she had used to brush off Lily's question about muggles. "Oh ok." Lily said sarcastically.
"Anyways, so what should I do, its not like I can sneak out of here on my own." Lily whispered into the receiver. "Hold on" Charlie replied. The sound of muffled voices sounded from the other end as Lily tried to listen for any noises upstairs and the return of her friend.
A few moments went by before Lily heard the sound of the receiver being picked up again. "Lily, this is so awesome!" Charlie's breathe seemed to be coming in gasps as she spoke. "What's awesome?" Lily asked, a puzzled expression filling her face. "My mother...just said...you can come with us!" Lily was silent for a moment. "Come with you where?" Charlie laughed slightly. "To Diagon Alley of course!" "What's Diagon Alley?" A silence followed.
"You really don't know anything do you?" Charlie asked quietly. "No, I really don't." Lily felt her anger rise slightly, she never liked the feeling of being clueless about something. She usually prided herself on knowing something about everything. And suddenly there was a whole new world open to her that she knew absolutely nothing about.
"Can you just tell me what it is, and how I'm supposed to get there?" "Yeah, of course. Well, basically, it's a place to shop for wizards. It has everything you could possibly need, potion ingredients, robes, basic school supplies...stuff like that. As for the way you're going to get there, I told you already, we're going to take you. My Mom has it all worked out, you just tell you're godparents that you're going to stay the night at my house and we pick you up in the morning. Then you can either stay with us or, we could just stay in the Leaky Cauldron." Before waiting for the question that Lily was inevitably going to ask Charlie replied, "Oh, that's an inn near the entranceway to Diagon Alley. It's going to be so much fun!"
Lily couldn't help laugh at her friends exuberance. Her own spirits lifted a little higher at the thought of escaping from her godfather's grasp. But the thought of going to Hogwarts alone scared her as well. She took a deep breath and made up her mind. "You know what Charlie, I like your thinking. When will you pick me up? That is, if I can convince Eric to let me "spend the night"' Lily spoke emphasizing the last three words.
She could almost feel Charlie's smile through the phone. "Probably around 9, pack as much as you can into your backpack. We'll get anything else you need in Diagon Alley." "Alright, wish me luck" Lily replied. "Good luck Lily."
Lily breathed a sigh as she hung up the phone. She blinked her eyes a few times and looked at the clock. 3:19am. Lily turned quickly and made her way up the stairs as quietly as she could.
As soon as she had closed her bedroom door she made her way into her bathroom. The sound of the light turning on made Lily think about what a long day it was going to be, and the consequences of her actions if Eric ever found out where she was really going later in the day. She placed her hand on the edge of the mirror and pulled it out. The glass caught the light slightly and threw a beam of light onto the wall behind her. She grabbed a bottle of eye drops and tipped her head back. As the liquid hit her eye it teared slightly. She tipped her chin forward again and put the bottle back on its shelf. She closed the glass door again and looked at herself in the mirror.
The redness in her eyes slowly disappeared and she stared at herself a little longer. She took in the disheveled look of her hair, and the paleness of her skin. Her mouth frowned slightly as her own thoughts started to make their way forward.
The years of mental abuse had begun to take a large toll on the way she looked at herself, thoughts of how dull her hair looked and how sallow her skin was seeped into her mind as sure as the sun at sunrise.
In the back of her mind though, was always a little piece of herself that stayed intact. That part of herself told her that she was beautiful and everyone knew it. Whenever she thought someone was looking at her on the street, her first immediate thought as that they were thinking how ugly she was. But after thinking about it, she realized that they actually held a look of jealousy and sometimes even lust.
This last emotion though scared Lily out of her mind. She was only 11 and people were looking at her with hunger. She shivered slightly as she realized that she had left her window open and the cool night breeze had invaded her room. She took one last look in the mirror, smiling shyly, before clicking off the light and making her way to her window. She closed it with a small snap and made her way to her bed. She settled in quickly and was soon asleep.
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Soon however, her sleep was interrupted by yet more dreams.
This time it was a boy sitting on the grass by a lake and the comforting turrets of stone were behind him, now though, Lily could see the entire castle. As she made her way towards the boy she took in his deep black hair and its own disheveled appearance. She smiled slightly as she thought how it reminded her of her own hair.
She soon took a seat beside the mysterious boy and looked out on the peaceful lake. She could hear birds chirping and the sound of something gliding through the water. She thought she smelt a faint hint of buttercups nearby but focused instead of the boy beside her.
He was looking the other way and barely seemed to realize she was even there. She reached out slowly and touched him lightly on the arm. He turned around to face her and she was met with a striking emerald green gaze. He smiled kindly at her and she smiled back. She couldn't help but feel like all was right with the world.
Suddenly, the once bright sky began to darken. Heavy gray clouds quickly made their way across the sky and hid the sun. The soft falling of rain began to fall on the lake. Lily's hair flattened onto her head slightly. As quickly as the slight rain began, the soft drizzle became a steady downpour. Lily frowned and looked over at the boy beside her again.
What she saw made her pull back in surprise. No longer was the kind, dark-haired boy, sitting beside her smiling; she was met instead with steely ice gray eyes. She could almost feel herself falling into them. The rain seemed to hit a bubble around him and trickle down. For no rain disrupted his clothing or his hair. He smirked at her carefully and Lily felt herself shiver. He stood up gracefully and looked out at the lake before looking down at her and holding out his hand. She hesitated for a moment but then reached toward his welcoming hand and gripped it gently. He pulled her to her feet and they stood staring at each other in the rain.
As she continued to gaze into her eyes the rain seemed to pick up even more. The wind howled around them and still it seemed that nothing could touch him. Her clothing on the other hand was blowing heavily in the wind.
She looked at her clothing and noticed a long billowing black cloak, on the left over her heart though was an insignia of a lion and a snake. Half of it seemed to be orange and the other was a green and silver. She touched it slightly and pulled her hand away as it seemed to burn her. She looked back up at the boy with the pale silver like hair. He was smiling down at her and lifted her hand slightly. He turned her wrist and brought her injured finger to his lips. Lily smiled as he kissed it lightly.
Suddenly he gripped her hand firmly and brought her finger to his mouth again. This time however, he took it into his mouth and ran his teeth along it. She shivered again as a rush of emotions flooded through her. He smirked at her and then bit down hard on her finger.
She tried to cry out in pain but her cries were lost to the wind. She pulled her finger away and held it gingerly. The blood had begun dripping down the length of her hand and she tried to rip off a piece of her robe to stop the bleeding. She moved her hand to her shoulder to begin tearing when she noticed the emblem glowing brightly.
With her injured hand she slowly brought it to her chest. The emblem seemed to be calling to her. She touched it lightly and felt jolted. A drop of her blood had fallen on to it and it seemed to absorb it. Lily stared at it but soon felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up only to be greeted by red slits.
A malicious laughter began filling the air. Lily tried to run away but her cloaks were too long. She tripped and fell onto the rain-slicked grass. The sound grew louder and the shadow and the eyes grew closer. Lily tried to back away but her body was frozen, her screams brought her no help. As the shadow was almost upon her a searing pain started in her upper left shoulder. When it was close enough to feel the cloak at her legs Lily looked up.
The emblem on her chest grew brighter, and the pain grew sharper. She grabbed at her shoulder to try and stop the pain. The shadow had stopped its approach; it had even begun to back up. The light from the emblem shone a path through the darkness. It seemed to be driving the creature back. The farther away the creature got the less the pain was.
Soon, Lily could stand. She braced her legs on the ground and reached into the inner folds of her robe. She slowly removed a long piece of wood. She looked at it carefully and pointed it at the creature with determination. She leveled it where she thought its head was, the red eyes narrowing slightly from the hole in the hood of its cloak.
As she took a breath she screamed a word into the wind. A blinding flash of light ripped through her arm and out through the wand. It hit the creature head on and it fell onto its back. Lily's breathing came in ragged gasps and she fell to her knees. She felt as though she had drained her own life force to destroy the creature.
She crawled slowly towards the mass of robes on the ground before her. As she reached out her hand a chill ran up her spine. She laid her hand on the material and pulled it back...
A/N: Finally coming around to the big meeting don't worry. Sorry if it's not a lot of action yet.