Copyright 2001. This is for Meaghan, who wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote this and made sure I got inspiration (or else I'd regret it). This is also for all the other people who liked the Twick and asked/begged me to a make a sequel. Thanks!
Chapter One
James walked into the kitchen, where Lily was scrubbing the dishes, her eyes watery, and her breath coming quickly and irregular. He waved back into the family room even though she couldn't see. "One of these days," he said, "they're going to get theirs."
Lily grinned a bit. "Well, don't you give it to them. You know the Ministry of Magic will get on your case big time if you use magic here."
Neither one of them could understand why they weren't allowed to stay with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hogwarts. Doug couldn't stay with his dad, Professor Nadim, and Becky couldn't stay with her dad, either. All the kids had been sent to live with relatives. Worse, James and Lily had gotten only two letters in reply to their hundred-some-odd letters to Harry.
James grinned. "Who said anything about using magic to do it?"
Lily stopped scrubbing as she heard a faint hiss from the snake dangling around James's neck. The Dursleys let them keep their pets out of fear. James had said a few things to make the fear a bit worse, and the animals had taken full advantage of their newfound freedom in the Dursley household, roaming around all night, eating food at the breakfast table just like the humans. Lily's pet spider Brownie had once put webs around Pernella's hair. Lily would never forget how her cousin had screamed that morning.
Lily turned around, suspicious. Her pet spider, Brownie, was sitting on her nose. iDon't do it, girl,/i Brownie said, knowing neither James nor his snake could understand or speak her language, Areanatu. iThat boy's planning something, and I don't like it./i
Lily frowned. iI think maybe we should hear him out. Pernella had no right to say that about Mother./i
Ignoring the rest of Brownie's protests, she grinned at James. "I hope you have a plan?"
"I most certainly do." He walked towards her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, leading her to their upstairs room. "You just stick with me, kid, and-" He waved his other hand in the air in front of them as if pointing out something only he could see.
"And what?" Lily asked after a while of his repeatedly waving his hand the same way.
James shrugged. "You know, I don't really know. I saw it in a movie once."
"Oh. So what's this idea of yours?"
James led her into the room and grinned as he pulled the door shut. "Patience, O One of the Spiders. Don't you know that you aren't supposed to do really bad stuff until after dark falls?"
" 'After dark falls?' " Lily repeated. "How many Chocolate-Covered, Gummi Bear-Stuffed, Marshmallow Hippos did you ihave?/i"
"They were a birthday present from Doug," James said, defensive.
"How many?" Lily repeated, separating her feet, straightening her legs, and putting her hands on her hips. She frowned at him.
"Well, there were only four, and Becky sent us that cake, so..."
"So what?"
"I figured I'd eat the hippos today, the cake tomorrow."
"James!"
"But what were we talking about that for, anyway?" James said with a slightly nervous laugh. "We've got a plan to discuss."
* * *
James woke Lily up at a quarter past one. As Lily sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, he said, "They're sound asleep."
Lily listened to the unmistakable sound of deafening snores coming through the walls. "Gee, you think?" she asked. She covered her ears, unsuccessfully trying to block the sound. "James, it's shaking the house."
"This house has had to put up with this noise for over thirty years. It can put up with it one more night." He got up and started leading the way to the door. Lily quickly stuck her hand under her bed and jumped after him as soon as Brownie was on sitting on her palm.
iOh, for Athena's sake!/i Brownie shouted. iThis is why I worked so hard to becomei diiurnal! You have no idea how much this is going to throw off my sleeping schedule./i
Poison raised his head so he was eye-to-eye with James. James walked on, hardly thinking anything of it. Poison was merely a garter snake, after all. He wasn't poisonous; the worst thing he could do to someone was make it hard for them to breathe by wrapping himself tightly around their waist. He didn't have the muscles to suffocate someone.
He whispered in James's ear, iThey sssound like an eighteen-wheeler ssstuck in the sssnow that keepsss revving up the engine to get out./i
James paused and looked at him. iWas that a joke?/i he asked.
Poison bobbed his head up and down, reminding James of Doug trying to break-dance.
iKeep working on it,/i James suggested.
Poison muttered something that James quickly blocked out. Even though he was twelve, he was still too young for that.
They stopped outside Pernella's door. James motioned to Lily, who glared at him. "I know!" she whispered.
He shushed her.
"I KNOW, James!"
He didn't do anything but glare.
Lily took a deep breath. iJellyweb, Butterhold, Ovalshaper, Droopweb, and Grandmother Longlegs. James, Brownie and I are trying to get revenge on Pernella. Bring your families with you if you want to help./i
Within moments, hundreds of thousands of spiders were crowding the hallway, crawling over one another. Grandmother Longlegs and Jellyweb walked to the front. Areanatu, like Parseltongue, carried well and fast.
iSorry about the crowd, Lily,/i Jellyweb said. iWe didn't think you'd mind. But, you know. Areanatu spreads, and so does that girl's reputation./i
iNot to mention her snoring,/i Grandmother Longlegs said. /iThe neighbors wanted to help./i
"That's-" Lily remembered herself and switched to Areanatu. iThat's great,/i she said. She bent down lower to the ground. iThis is what we're going to do.../i
While Lily was busy speaking to the spiders, James went down a bit farther to Shelton's room. He called the three main snakes in the area, wondering whether they had families as big as the spiders. In reality, only half as many snakes showed up.
As soon as he explained about wanting to get revenge on Pernella and her brother Shelton, Speechbox spoke up. iI'm glad you finally desssided to do sssomething. We brought sssome friendsss along. Hope you don't mind. Now, then. What do you want usss to do?
I wanna sssay sssomething too!/i James looked around and saw a much smaller snake, only ten inches long. James put his hand down in front of it, and the snake slithered on.
iWhat's your name?/i James asked.
iSsslitherserpent the 23rd,/i the snake said proudly.
iWhat did you want to say?/i James asked.
iI don't know. I jussst wanted to sssay sssomething. And I've sssaid a lot of sssomethingsss. Ssso if you don't mind...
Of course,/i James said. He set Slitherserpent down and explained the plan.
* * *
Lily walked into her dad's office, grinning, carrying a book under one of her arms. Her grin began to fade as she realized her father looked angry.
Harry looked up, "Look, Ron, I told you- Oh, Lily. It's you." The anger lines, which Lily was glad she hardly ever saw, faded quickly. In no time at all, Lily couldn't tell if they'd ever been there, or if it had been merely her imagination.
She put the matter aside and nodded. Myrtle was probably making trouble again. Since the end of last year, she'd been more upbeat, and she seemed to think that after "beating" Voldemort, she could also beat Peeves. The two had been going against each other all summer.
"I didn't knock. I figured you'd know I was here when Fred started shouting. I just wanted to let you know we were back."
Harry nodded. "Good. How were the Dursleys this time?"
Lily grinned mischievously. "Better. You'll have to talk to James later, by the way. Just keep in mind that I didn't tell you anything." She told him about their last two weeks at the Dursleys. His cheeks flushed and his angry expression from earlier came back when she told him what Pernella had said about her mother, but it faded when she told him what they'd done. "So the spiders all went into Pernella's room and started making webs. They put some in her hair, around her feet. She looked like a mummy by the time they were through. And then they did everything in her room in webs, like in that movie 'The Parent Trap.' You should have heard her scream the next morning." Harry grinned. "And poor Uncle Dudley and Aunt Evian. They went and tried to get her out, but they couldn't get past all the webs. Pernella was scared nearly half to death. And with the spiders? James got the to go into Shelton's room and hang all over everything and make noises. Shelton didn't wake up, so in the morning the snakes got impatie
nt and crawled into his bed and slithered all over him-" Lily shivered "-and then one of them licked his cheek. iThen/i he woke up, and he screamed almost as loudly as Pernella, but Pernella strained her voice too much and couldn't speak for days. He started trying to attack all the snakes, but they kept getting away from him, and when he almost actually hit one once, one of the older ones- not a poisonous one- bit him in the foot. He had to go to the doctor's office and everything. James and I were grounded right up until we left."
Although he'd been smiling before, Harry suddenly frowned. "They grounded you?" he asked.
Lily sighed. She sometimes wondered whether her dad could be a bit overprotective. "It wasn't that bad," she said. "The snakes and spiders brought us everything we asked for as long as it was small enough, and Orion and Cepheus helped us out a lot." Cepheus was James's owl. Even though the two had grown apart through Voldemort's doing the year before, they had both named their owls after constellations. Lily had named hers after a warrior, and James had named his after mythological king.
The news didn't do much to cheer Harry, and Lily finally ended up changing the subject. "Why couldn't we have just stayed here with you guys?" she asked.
Harry seemed to brighten a bit, and he said, "It's a surprise, actually. We made sure this time that Voldemort can't get into Hogwarts."
"How?" Lily asked. She knew that Hogwarts had some of the finest security there ever was already, but it hadn't managed to keep Voldemort out so far.
"We- Dad!" Lily stared, astonished, as Harry leaped up, looking at the bookshelf. He stood at his desk, grinning. "How is she?"
"Your mum or your wife?"
Lily turned around. She hadn't heard the door open, and Fred hadn't squawked, and she suddenly realized why. It wasn't a person standing halfway in and out of the bookshelf, it was a ghost. A man with pearly skin and slightly old-fashioned clothes and dark pearly hair that didn't seem to have been brushed.
"Both," Harry said.
"Both are fine," the ghost said. Lily looked at him oddly. It seemed like- But no, it couldn't be.
"Lily," Harry said happily, "say hullo to your grandfather. James is named after him."
"Um, hi," Lily said, not sure of what to do. No one had even told her that her grandfather was a ghost. She couldn't hug him; she just succeed in getting a bad chill.
"Hello to you to. I've heard quite a lot about you, Lily. Welcome back to Hogwarts."
"Thank you," she said, not sure of what to say.
Harry cleared his throat. "Lily, why don't you find James and go visit all the spiders and snakes. Maybe we can arrange for Soup to come early."
Lily nodded and got up. She waved at her grandfather and Harry before she left. It didn't occur to her until she stood outside that Harry had been trying to get rid of her. Maybe he wanted time alone with his father, but sending Lily away still seemed awfully uncharacteristic of him. She heard Harry asking questions in the office, but they were muted and unintelligible. Her curiosity got the better of her. She turned and faced Fred, the brass griffin door knocker.
He looked at her curiously.
"Fred," Lily asked sweetly. "I know it's a lot to ask, but could you please try and find out what they're talking about?"
"No way," he said promptly. "I get in trouble whenever I try to listen in on anything. I haven't been greased in three years; that makes it even harder. Get your spider spies to do it."
"All right," Lily said with a sigh. Summer had made her too lax; she hadn't even thought of the spiders. Harry had done a spell the year before so the spiders in Hogwarts could understand everything that was spoken in the office.
Turning to the staircase, where her voice would echo and carry the best, Lily whispered in Areanatu, iIf there are any spiders who can hear me, this is Lily. I'd appreciate it if you could listen in on what my dad is doing in his office. I think he's up to something./i Lily stopped speaking and listened carefully.
For a few moments, she didn't hear anything. Then, there was a faint, iThe girl's back! The girl's back! The one that can speak Areanatu!/i And then the word spread like wildfire.
A few seconds later, a wizened spider, its voice clear over the constant hum of spiders' whispering, said, iIn the office, you said? All right. Welcome back, girl./i
iThank you,/i Lily said. After waiting a few seconds, knowing she would feel bad if she asked them to do a favor for her and then she just simply left, she saw spiders start to crawl under the door and through the keyhole.
Fred eyed them with distaste. "Another year at Hogwarts," he said. "Here we go again."
Lily eyed him. Somehow she got the feeling that he knew more than he was telling, but he wasn't going to tell, and she knew that full well. This was only Harry's second year as headmaster at Hogwarts (Dumbledore had gone traveling in Switzerland, trying to learn things with which to fight Voldemort), and Harry had already disciplined Fred enough to get some proper use out of him. Lily sighed and figured she'd try to worm the information out from him later, when he trusted her.
Sighing again, she turned and stood on George's top step. George started to spin downward, ever so slowly. Her stomach still wasn't used to the feeling, and she ended up sitting halfway down and going the rest of the way with her eyes closed.
When she reached the bottom, she sighed with relief, staggered through the door, and managed to wobble to Becky's house.
* * *
Meaghan was eleven years old. She had blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was about five feet five, but that didn't stop her from playing hockey and rugby. She liked reading and writing, could ruin all the computers at her school and not get caught, and she'd even hacked into a few sites on the web. It wasn't hard, and she enjoyed knowing other people's secrets. It made her feel smart, as if she knew the entire world and sat monitoring it at her computer, or lay in bed watching it in her mind's eye. One reason was that she didn't know her own secret.
By the time she was eight, she knew one hundred twenty-two curses, four hundred thirty spells, and nearly five hundred charms. She lived with her sister, just a few days older than her, and her mother. She'd never met her father, but she could remember when she was young she'd come home from school and heard a man's voice speaking to her mother in a way that made her nearly bolt into her mother's room to protect her. When she had gone in, her mother had been alone in her room, crying on the bed. Shortly after that, she and her older sister had started learning magic.
Melissa was fine not knowing the secret. She didn't seem to care whom their father was; she simply accepted it. She had long, curly, glossy blond hair which made Meaghan's seem ragged (although hers was to her shoulders and straight, it was still pretty). Melissa had rosy cheeks and had started wearing makeup at a young age. Now that Meaghan had started wearing makeup, Melissa scorned it and said it was childish. She went around with a natural blush, clean face, and clear gaze. Meaghan deeply suspected that Melissa still wore makeup and hid it somewhere, but she'd never been able to find it.
Meaghan came home that day right after school. She didn't have hockey practice, and she didn't have the gaggle of friends that Melissa had.
Mother was crying again.
Meaghan went directly into her room. Sound traveled in the house; the walls were thin. She didn't bother knocking and simply shoved open the door. Just as she had suspected, her mother lay on the bed, the sheets twisting around her as if she'd been troubled and had turned repeatedly this way and that. She was crying into the pillow.
"He was here again?" Meaghan asked. It wasn't so much as a question as a statement. She always knew when the man had been there. It was as if he had this peculiar, disgusting stench that he left behind. No one else seemed to notice it, but Meaghan did, and she didn't like the gross stench in the slightest.
Her mother whimpered at her tone and nodded.
"Why don't you stand up to him?" Meaghan demanded. "Why don't you-" She stomped on the ground. She'd already broken two floorboards in the house by stomping; they were all slightly rotted. This time she didn't manage it. She'd put in another hole later. Melissa could use it to hide her makeup.
Her mother turned over again, twisting herself further up in the sheets.
Meaghan gave up and slammed the door. She stared at it, breathing deeply and much too quickly. Its paint was cracked. Its wood had dried too much, and small, creeping canyons were opening up. Soon she'd be able to see straight into her mother's room. She turned away, angry, and stomped into the kitchen- not hard enough to add holes.
She got out the peanut butter, jelly, bread, and cookies and set about making herself a snack, which would also serve as an early dinner. She watched, disgusted, as a roach scurried away from the light when she opened the cabinet door to put the peanut butter back.
This place was the living image of the Nightmare on Elm Street. They didn't even need a whole bunch of murderers or anything. They could simply step outside and find plenty. Meaghan hated the house; she hated the neighborhood. She hated the way all her neighbors regarded each other with suspicion. She hated the way she had to be so careful walking home from school so she wouldn't get shot or anything. She hated the long, thick crack that ran up the wall in the front of the house. She'd stuck a straw in it once and in doing so had accidentally pierced a small hole in the living room wall. She hated the way the ants always managed to find their way through the crack nearly all year long to find a comfortable place to stay and food. She hated the handkerchief she'd had to stick in the hole so they couldn't come through anymore. She hated the weeds in the yards. She hated the packed dirt in the backyard, where nothing ever grew. Not one blade of grass grew on the property; she hated that, too.
All in all, she hated everything about her miserable existence at 17 Elm Street. Nothing ever good happened; she'd seen no police cars in years. Now, only unmarked cars came through, if there ever were any police, and she never stayed in one place enough to see how the bodies were removed. She knew it wasn't by marked police cars, though. A badge in this place was a death sentence. More power to the glory of England, she thought dryly as she saw large, hard chunks in the jelly. She tossed it in the trash, not willing to find out if they were some sort of insect eggs or not.
She ate her peanut butter sandwich and cookies alone, in her room, reading one of her spell books to try and figure out how to keep the roaches out of the cabinet.
Her mother came in later, while Meaghan lay on the top of all her sheets. Although she hated to admit it, Meaghan didn't like to think about how filthy the sheets were and how many insects and arachnids were sharing her bed with her. She slept on the top of her sheets when it was warm in hopes it would keep low the chances of her meeting them and find out their exact population.
"Meghan," her mother said.
Meaghan pretended to be asleep.
"I've already told Melissa. You two are going to a different school this year."
Meaghan sat up. "It isn't Crump, is it? We already go to one of the worst schools in the city. There's no reason yet to-"
Her mother held up hand, silently waiting for her to stop talking. That was her mother, Meaghan thought. She never said anything. Never complained. "It's a better school," her mother said. "It's called Hogwarts. You'll be able to learn more magic there than I can teach you."
"But I know enough magic."
"Maybe this place can teach you more."
"Did the man tell you to send me there?"
Her mother stopped. Her expression looked pain for a few seconds, and then she cleared up, and she spoke again. "Yes, he did. He's given me money to send both you and Melissa there. You're both old enough now. You'll buy your books and your robes soon. The letter should be coming within a few days. You're both magic enough to get in."
Her mother started to leave before Meaghan could ask any more questions. As her hand was on the door, Meaghan asked, "What about you?"
"What about me, dear?"
"This place is falling apart. We've got holes in the floors, ceilings, and walls. The roaches are living in our cabinet today rent-free. Just today I threw out of a jar of jelly that had these little eggs or something in it."
"Yes. Melissa was quite upset by that, actually. She was so hungry that she dug it out of the trash and used it anyway. Good thing you put the top back on."
"She used it ianyway?/i" Meaghan demanded, disgusted.
"Your sister really wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She says she avoided the solid-looking things."
"Aren't you worried about her health?"
"Not really. People in this family have a way of living through things."
"Great. Really caring. Thanks, Mum."
"Goodnight, Meaghan."
"Goodnight."
Her mom turned off her light and closed the door.
Meaghan was left alone in the darkness. She was going to a school which a man she'd never met was paying for, a man who'd hurt her mother every time he came. Her sister might die tomorrow. And it had just occurred to her that she practically provided a living for roaches who didn't even thank her, much less paid rent somehow. Maybe there was a spell for that.
She waited until everything was silent and then slowly fell asleep.
Chapter One
James walked into the kitchen, where Lily was scrubbing the dishes, her eyes watery, and her breath coming quickly and irregular. He waved back into the family room even though she couldn't see. "One of these days," he said, "they're going to get theirs."
Lily grinned a bit. "Well, don't you give it to them. You know the Ministry of Magic will get on your case big time if you use magic here."
Neither one of them could understand why they weren't allowed to stay with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hogwarts. Doug couldn't stay with his dad, Professor Nadim, and Becky couldn't stay with her dad, either. All the kids had been sent to live with relatives. Worse, James and Lily had gotten only two letters in reply to their hundred-some-odd letters to Harry.
James grinned. "Who said anything about using magic to do it?"
Lily stopped scrubbing as she heard a faint hiss from the snake dangling around James's neck. The Dursleys let them keep their pets out of fear. James had said a few things to make the fear a bit worse, and the animals had taken full advantage of their newfound freedom in the Dursley household, roaming around all night, eating food at the breakfast table just like the humans. Lily's pet spider Brownie had once put webs around Pernella's hair. Lily would never forget how her cousin had screamed that morning.
Lily turned around, suspicious. Her pet spider, Brownie, was sitting on her nose. iDon't do it, girl,/i Brownie said, knowing neither James nor his snake could understand or speak her language, Areanatu. iThat boy's planning something, and I don't like it./i
Lily frowned. iI think maybe we should hear him out. Pernella had no right to say that about Mother./i
Ignoring the rest of Brownie's protests, she grinned at James. "I hope you have a plan?"
"I most certainly do." He walked towards her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, leading her to their upstairs room. "You just stick with me, kid, and-" He waved his other hand in the air in front of them as if pointing out something only he could see.
"And what?" Lily asked after a while of his repeatedly waving his hand the same way.
James shrugged. "You know, I don't really know. I saw it in a movie once."
"Oh. So what's this idea of yours?"
James led her into the room and grinned as he pulled the door shut. "Patience, O One of the Spiders. Don't you know that you aren't supposed to do really bad stuff until after dark falls?"
" 'After dark falls?' " Lily repeated. "How many Chocolate-Covered, Gummi Bear-Stuffed, Marshmallow Hippos did you ihave?/i"
"They were a birthday present from Doug," James said, defensive.
"How many?" Lily repeated, separating her feet, straightening her legs, and putting her hands on her hips. She frowned at him.
"Well, there were only four, and Becky sent us that cake, so..."
"So what?"
"I figured I'd eat the hippos today, the cake tomorrow."
"James!"
"But what were we talking about that for, anyway?" James said with a slightly nervous laugh. "We've got a plan to discuss."
* * *
James woke Lily up at a quarter past one. As Lily sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, he said, "They're sound asleep."
Lily listened to the unmistakable sound of deafening snores coming through the walls. "Gee, you think?" she asked. She covered her ears, unsuccessfully trying to block the sound. "James, it's shaking the house."
"This house has had to put up with this noise for over thirty years. It can put up with it one more night." He got up and started leading the way to the door. Lily quickly stuck her hand under her bed and jumped after him as soon as Brownie was on sitting on her palm.
iOh, for Athena's sake!/i Brownie shouted. iThis is why I worked so hard to becomei diiurnal! You have no idea how much this is going to throw off my sleeping schedule./i
Poison raised his head so he was eye-to-eye with James. James walked on, hardly thinking anything of it. Poison was merely a garter snake, after all. He wasn't poisonous; the worst thing he could do to someone was make it hard for them to breathe by wrapping himself tightly around their waist. He didn't have the muscles to suffocate someone.
He whispered in James's ear, iThey sssound like an eighteen-wheeler ssstuck in the sssnow that keepsss revving up the engine to get out./i
James paused and looked at him. iWas that a joke?/i he asked.
Poison bobbed his head up and down, reminding James of Doug trying to break-dance.
iKeep working on it,/i James suggested.
Poison muttered something that James quickly blocked out. Even though he was twelve, he was still too young for that.
They stopped outside Pernella's door. James motioned to Lily, who glared at him. "I know!" she whispered.
He shushed her.
"I KNOW, James!"
He didn't do anything but glare.
Lily took a deep breath. iJellyweb, Butterhold, Ovalshaper, Droopweb, and Grandmother Longlegs. James, Brownie and I are trying to get revenge on Pernella. Bring your families with you if you want to help./i
Within moments, hundreds of thousands of spiders were crowding the hallway, crawling over one another. Grandmother Longlegs and Jellyweb walked to the front. Areanatu, like Parseltongue, carried well and fast.
iSorry about the crowd, Lily,/i Jellyweb said. iWe didn't think you'd mind. But, you know. Areanatu spreads, and so does that girl's reputation./i
iNot to mention her snoring,/i Grandmother Longlegs said. /iThe neighbors wanted to help./i
"That's-" Lily remembered herself and switched to Areanatu. iThat's great,/i she said. She bent down lower to the ground. iThis is what we're going to do.../i
While Lily was busy speaking to the spiders, James went down a bit farther to Shelton's room. He called the three main snakes in the area, wondering whether they had families as big as the spiders. In reality, only half as many snakes showed up.
As soon as he explained about wanting to get revenge on Pernella and her brother Shelton, Speechbox spoke up. iI'm glad you finally desssided to do sssomething. We brought sssome friendsss along. Hope you don't mind. Now, then. What do you want usss to do?
I wanna sssay sssomething too!/i James looked around and saw a much smaller snake, only ten inches long. James put his hand down in front of it, and the snake slithered on.
iWhat's your name?/i James asked.
iSsslitherserpent the 23rd,/i the snake said proudly.
iWhat did you want to say?/i James asked.
iI don't know. I jussst wanted to sssay sssomething. And I've sssaid a lot of sssomethingsss. Ssso if you don't mind...
Of course,/i James said. He set Slitherserpent down and explained the plan.
* * *
Lily walked into her dad's office, grinning, carrying a book under one of her arms. Her grin began to fade as she realized her father looked angry.
Harry looked up, "Look, Ron, I told you- Oh, Lily. It's you." The anger lines, which Lily was glad she hardly ever saw, faded quickly. In no time at all, Lily couldn't tell if they'd ever been there, or if it had been merely her imagination.
She put the matter aside and nodded. Myrtle was probably making trouble again. Since the end of last year, she'd been more upbeat, and she seemed to think that after "beating" Voldemort, she could also beat Peeves. The two had been going against each other all summer.
"I didn't knock. I figured you'd know I was here when Fred started shouting. I just wanted to let you know we were back."
Harry nodded. "Good. How were the Dursleys this time?"
Lily grinned mischievously. "Better. You'll have to talk to James later, by the way. Just keep in mind that I didn't tell you anything." She told him about their last two weeks at the Dursleys. His cheeks flushed and his angry expression from earlier came back when she told him what Pernella had said about her mother, but it faded when she told him what they'd done. "So the spiders all went into Pernella's room and started making webs. They put some in her hair, around her feet. She looked like a mummy by the time they were through. And then they did everything in her room in webs, like in that movie 'The Parent Trap.' You should have heard her scream the next morning." Harry grinned. "And poor Uncle Dudley and Aunt Evian. They went and tried to get her out, but they couldn't get past all the webs. Pernella was scared nearly half to death. And with the spiders? James got the to go into Shelton's room and hang all over everything and make noises. Shelton didn't wake up, so in the morning the snakes got impatie
nt and crawled into his bed and slithered all over him-" Lily shivered "-and then one of them licked his cheek. iThen/i he woke up, and he screamed almost as loudly as Pernella, but Pernella strained her voice too much and couldn't speak for days. He started trying to attack all the snakes, but they kept getting away from him, and when he almost actually hit one once, one of the older ones- not a poisonous one- bit him in the foot. He had to go to the doctor's office and everything. James and I were grounded right up until we left."
Although he'd been smiling before, Harry suddenly frowned. "They grounded you?" he asked.
Lily sighed. She sometimes wondered whether her dad could be a bit overprotective. "It wasn't that bad," she said. "The snakes and spiders brought us everything we asked for as long as it was small enough, and Orion and Cepheus helped us out a lot." Cepheus was James's owl. Even though the two had grown apart through Voldemort's doing the year before, they had both named their owls after constellations. Lily had named hers after a warrior, and James had named his after mythological king.
The news didn't do much to cheer Harry, and Lily finally ended up changing the subject. "Why couldn't we have just stayed here with you guys?" she asked.
Harry seemed to brighten a bit, and he said, "It's a surprise, actually. We made sure this time that Voldemort can't get into Hogwarts."
"How?" Lily asked. She knew that Hogwarts had some of the finest security there ever was already, but it hadn't managed to keep Voldemort out so far.
"We- Dad!" Lily stared, astonished, as Harry leaped up, looking at the bookshelf. He stood at his desk, grinning. "How is she?"
"Your mum or your wife?"
Lily turned around. She hadn't heard the door open, and Fred hadn't squawked, and she suddenly realized why. It wasn't a person standing halfway in and out of the bookshelf, it was a ghost. A man with pearly skin and slightly old-fashioned clothes and dark pearly hair that didn't seem to have been brushed.
"Both," Harry said.
"Both are fine," the ghost said. Lily looked at him oddly. It seemed like- But no, it couldn't be.
"Lily," Harry said happily, "say hullo to your grandfather. James is named after him."
"Um, hi," Lily said, not sure of what to do. No one had even told her that her grandfather was a ghost. She couldn't hug him; she just succeed in getting a bad chill.
"Hello to you to. I've heard quite a lot about you, Lily. Welcome back to Hogwarts."
"Thank you," she said, not sure of what to say.
Harry cleared his throat. "Lily, why don't you find James and go visit all the spiders and snakes. Maybe we can arrange for Soup to come early."
Lily nodded and got up. She waved at her grandfather and Harry before she left. It didn't occur to her until she stood outside that Harry had been trying to get rid of her. Maybe he wanted time alone with his father, but sending Lily away still seemed awfully uncharacteristic of him. She heard Harry asking questions in the office, but they were muted and unintelligible. Her curiosity got the better of her. She turned and faced Fred, the brass griffin door knocker.
He looked at her curiously.
"Fred," Lily asked sweetly. "I know it's a lot to ask, but could you please try and find out what they're talking about?"
"No way," he said promptly. "I get in trouble whenever I try to listen in on anything. I haven't been greased in three years; that makes it even harder. Get your spider spies to do it."
"All right," Lily said with a sigh. Summer had made her too lax; she hadn't even thought of the spiders. Harry had done a spell the year before so the spiders in Hogwarts could understand everything that was spoken in the office.
Turning to the staircase, where her voice would echo and carry the best, Lily whispered in Areanatu, iIf there are any spiders who can hear me, this is Lily. I'd appreciate it if you could listen in on what my dad is doing in his office. I think he's up to something./i Lily stopped speaking and listened carefully.
For a few moments, she didn't hear anything. Then, there was a faint, iThe girl's back! The girl's back! The one that can speak Areanatu!/i And then the word spread like wildfire.
A few seconds later, a wizened spider, its voice clear over the constant hum of spiders' whispering, said, iIn the office, you said? All right. Welcome back, girl./i
iThank you,/i Lily said. After waiting a few seconds, knowing she would feel bad if she asked them to do a favor for her and then she just simply left, she saw spiders start to crawl under the door and through the keyhole.
Fred eyed them with distaste. "Another year at Hogwarts," he said. "Here we go again."
Lily eyed him. Somehow she got the feeling that he knew more than he was telling, but he wasn't going to tell, and she knew that full well. This was only Harry's second year as headmaster at Hogwarts (Dumbledore had gone traveling in Switzerland, trying to learn things with which to fight Voldemort), and Harry had already disciplined Fred enough to get some proper use out of him. Lily sighed and figured she'd try to worm the information out from him later, when he trusted her.
Sighing again, she turned and stood on George's top step. George started to spin downward, ever so slowly. Her stomach still wasn't used to the feeling, and she ended up sitting halfway down and going the rest of the way with her eyes closed.
When she reached the bottom, she sighed with relief, staggered through the door, and managed to wobble to Becky's house.
* * *
Meaghan was eleven years old. She had blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was about five feet five, but that didn't stop her from playing hockey and rugby. She liked reading and writing, could ruin all the computers at her school and not get caught, and she'd even hacked into a few sites on the web. It wasn't hard, and she enjoyed knowing other people's secrets. It made her feel smart, as if she knew the entire world and sat monitoring it at her computer, or lay in bed watching it in her mind's eye. One reason was that she didn't know her own secret.
By the time she was eight, she knew one hundred twenty-two curses, four hundred thirty spells, and nearly five hundred charms. She lived with her sister, just a few days older than her, and her mother. She'd never met her father, but she could remember when she was young she'd come home from school and heard a man's voice speaking to her mother in a way that made her nearly bolt into her mother's room to protect her. When she had gone in, her mother had been alone in her room, crying on the bed. Shortly after that, she and her older sister had started learning magic.
Melissa was fine not knowing the secret. She didn't seem to care whom their father was; she simply accepted it. She had long, curly, glossy blond hair which made Meaghan's seem ragged (although hers was to her shoulders and straight, it was still pretty). Melissa had rosy cheeks and had started wearing makeup at a young age. Now that Meaghan had started wearing makeup, Melissa scorned it and said it was childish. She went around with a natural blush, clean face, and clear gaze. Meaghan deeply suspected that Melissa still wore makeup and hid it somewhere, but she'd never been able to find it.
Meaghan came home that day right after school. She didn't have hockey practice, and she didn't have the gaggle of friends that Melissa had.
Mother was crying again.
Meaghan went directly into her room. Sound traveled in the house; the walls were thin. She didn't bother knocking and simply shoved open the door. Just as she had suspected, her mother lay on the bed, the sheets twisting around her as if she'd been troubled and had turned repeatedly this way and that. She was crying into the pillow.
"He was here again?" Meaghan asked. It wasn't so much as a question as a statement. She always knew when the man had been there. It was as if he had this peculiar, disgusting stench that he left behind. No one else seemed to notice it, but Meaghan did, and she didn't like the gross stench in the slightest.
Her mother whimpered at her tone and nodded.
"Why don't you stand up to him?" Meaghan demanded. "Why don't you-" She stomped on the ground. She'd already broken two floorboards in the house by stomping; they were all slightly rotted. This time she didn't manage it. She'd put in another hole later. Melissa could use it to hide her makeup.
Her mother turned over again, twisting herself further up in the sheets.
Meaghan gave up and slammed the door. She stared at it, breathing deeply and much too quickly. Its paint was cracked. Its wood had dried too much, and small, creeping canyons were opening up. Soon she'd be able to see straight into her mother's room. She turned away, angry, and stomped into the kitchen- not hard enough to add holes.
She got out the peanut butter, jelly, bread, and cookies and set about making herself a snack, which would also serve as an early dinner. She watched, disgusted, as a roach scurried away from the light when she opened the cabinet door to put the peanut butter back.
This place was the living image of the Nightmare on Elm Street. They didn't even need a whole bunch of murderers or anything. They could simply step outside and find plenty. Meaghan hated the house; she hated the neighborhood. She hated the way all her neighbors regarded each other with suspicion. She hated the way she had to be so careful walking home from school so she wouldn't get shot or anything. She hated the long, thick crack that ran up the wall in the front of the house. She'd stuck a straw in it once and in doing so had accidentally pierced a small hole in the living room wall. She hated the way the ants always managed to find their way through the crack nearly all year long to find a comfortable place to stay and food. She hated the handkerchief she'd had to stick in the hole so they couldn't come through anymore. She hated the weeds in the yards. She hated the packed dirt in the backyard, where nothing ever grew. Not one blade of grass grew on the property; she hated that, too.
All in all, she hated everything about her miserable existence at 17 Elm Street. Nothing ever good happened; she'd seen no police cars in years. Now, only unmarked cars came through, if there ever were any police, and she never stayed in one place enough to see how the bodies were removed. She knew it wasn't by marked police cars, though. A badge in this place was a death sentence. More power to the glory of England, she thought dryly as she saw large, hard chunks in the jelly. She tossed it in the trash, not willing to find out if they were some sort of insect eggs or not.
She ate her peanut butter sandwich and cookies alone, in her room, reading one of her spell books to try and figure out how to keep the roaches out of the cabinet.
Her mother came in later, while Meaghan lay on the top of all her sheets. Although she hated to admit it, Meaghan didn't like to think about how filthy the sheets were and how many insects and arachnids were sharing her bed with her. She slept on the top of her sheets when it was warm in hopes it would keep low the chances of her meeting them and find out their exact population.
"Meghan," her mother said.
Meaghan pretended to be asleep.
"I've already told Melissa. You two are going to a different school this year."
Meaghan sat up. "It isn't Crump, is it? We already go to one of the worst schools in the city. There's no reason yet to-"
Her mother held up hand, silently waiting for her to stop talking. That was her mother, Meaghan thought. She never said anything. Never complained. "It's a better school," her mother said. "It's called Hogwarts. You'll be able to learn more magic there than I can teach you."
"But I know enough magic."
"Maybe this place can teach you more."
"Did the man tell you to send me there?"
Her mother stopped. Her expression looked pain for a few seconds, and then she cleared up, and she spoke again. "Yes, he did. He's given me money to send both you and Melissa there. You're both old enough now. You'll buy your books and your robes soon. The letter should be coming within a few days. You're both magic enough to get in."
Her mother started to leave before Meaghan could ask any more questions. As her hand was on the door, Meaghan asked, "What about you?"
"What about me, dear?"
"This place is falling apart. We've got holes in the floors, ceilings, and walls. The roaches are living in our cabinet today rent-free. Just today I threw out of a jar of jelly that had these little eggs or something in it."
"Yes. Melissa was quite upset by that, actually. She was so hungry that she dug it out of the trash and used it anyway. Good thing you put the top back on."
"She used it ianyway?/i" Meaghan demanded, disgusted.
"Your sister really wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She says she avoided the solid-looking things."
"Aren't you worried about her health?"
"Not really. People in this family have a way of living through things."
"Great. Really caring. Thanks, Mum."
"Goodnight, Meaghan."
"Goodnight."
Her mom turned off her light and closed the door.
Meaghan was left alone in the darkness. She was going to a school which a man she'd never met was paying for, a man who'd hurt her mother every time he came. Her sister might die tomorrow. And it had just occurred to her that she practically provided a living for roaches who didn't even thank her, much less paid rent somehow. Maybe there was a spell for that.
She waited until everything was silent and then slowly fell asleep.