Chapter Seven - A Lily Point Of View.
Sirius tightly shut the door to the empty charms classroom and turned to face
Remus and Peter.
"James has been acting really strange lately," he said, stating the
obvious. "He hasn't played a prank since school started, he's shutting us
out and devoting his life to Lily Evans AND he hasn't dated ANYBODY all YEAR!
He hasn't even looked at a girl! We have to get the real James back!"
Yeah, Sirius. Real deep. But
that's what all four (or three - we all know who's exempt) of the Marauders
were truly like. They were shallow, they dated more girls than what was good
for them, and went around thinking they were the top dogs in the school (which
they were; but that's not the point). You can imagine the shock the Marauders
got when James changed. He had become so deep. Remus and Peter nodded in
agreement at Sirius' statement.
"We have to get the Lily girl away from him. She's BRAINWASHING him into
LIKING her without even SPEAKING!"
"But how?" asked Peter. "How are we going to get her away from
him?"
"Gather 'round, boys. The great Sirius Black has a plan."
**
James looked sadly at the girl down the end of his dorm. He wished he could
make the pain go away for her, but it was hard when she wouldn't let him. To
put it plainly, James felt sad and lonely. He had committed himself to spending
everyday with an equally lonely girl who wasn't really much in the way of
company. He could feel himself growing away from his friends, losing his
popularity, He could imagine what they were saying about him, and he didn't
like it. He wished life would just go back to the way it was. And you know
what? If "operation Lily" succeeded, it would.
"Lily?" he tapped her on the shoulder gently. "It's time to go
to class,"
**
"Today, as you know, we will be making truth potions. You will go in
pairs, and at the end of the lesson one of you will test your potion." He
waved his wand at the blackboard, and instantly the complicated instructions
appeared.
James observed Lily carefully, watching her pour out exactly 50 mLs of snake
venom. You know, I'd really like to get to know her, he thought. But how?
"Class, it is now time to test your potions. Please pour your solutions
into your beakers and when I tell you, you may test it. Group number one:
Severus and Lucius. Lucius, please take just one small drop of your
potion." Lucius did so, and a glazed look came over his face (A/N:
Mmmm.glazed doughnuts..).
"What is your full name?"
"Lucius Tulliens Dormeins Malfoy the seventeenth," he answered
immediately, in a voice that suggested that he was on a drug of some sort.
"Correct. You may sit down. Take this," Snape took a small vial from
Hardcastle and passed it to Lucius. Lucius drank and his normal sneer returned.
"Well done, boys, ten points to Slytherin. Group two: Lily Evans and James
Potter. Lily, please take a sip," Hardcastle grinned cruelly. Lily
recoiled in fear, looking like a frightened rabbit.
"She can't!" James said angrily. He knew what Hardcastle was trying
to do. He was trying to con Lily into speaking when she wasn't ready. Worse
still, he was trying to get her to reveal her innermost secrets. James' blood
began to boil.
"And why not, Mr. Potter?" the Slytherins snickered, enjoying the
show.
"You know she can't!"
"Are you questioning my authority?" Hardcastle's voice began to rise.
"Damn right I am!" You know you can't do that!"
"Evans is a student at this school and she will be treated just like any
other. Now drink the potion." He commanded. Lily didn't move. She just
looked at him.
"I said, DRINK THE POTION!!"
He was yelling now, and James just snapped. He grabbed the beaker and drank the
whole thing. One drop is just enough for you to reveal facts about yourself
when asked, but after drinking an entire beaker he started gabbling like there
was no tomorrow.
"I'mfeelingreallydowncozmymumdiedandshewasrealllyclosetomeandilovedherverymuchandnowshesgoneandlilyseemssomuchlikeherandidon'twanthertogetherandenduplik emymumbecauseifeelsorrysorryforherbutshewon'ttalktomeandifeelstupidnowbecaus eithoughticouldmakeadifferencetoherlifeand-"
(Translation:
I'm feeling really down coz my mum died and she was really close to me and I
loved her so much and now she's gone and Lily seems so much like her and I
don't want her to get hurt and die like my mum and I feel so sorry for her but
she won't talk to me and I feel stupid now because I thought I could make a
difference to her life but-"
"SILENCE!" roared Hardcastle, stalking up and literally forcing the
contents of the vile down James' throat. The entire class was stunned. James
had always been the perfect one, the guy everybody (except the Slytherins)
loved, the one without a worry in the world, who had
always kept his cool no matter what. For the entire potions class to find out
that his mum had died and his feelings for Lily was a huge shock, especially to
Lily, who just ran out of the classroom, clutching only her little green notebook.
"She's bewitched him," whispered Remus to Sirius. "He can't
really feel for her. He can't feel her pain,"
"Do we go through with Operation Lily?" whispered Peter.
"Definitely," the whispered back.
**
James ran down the corridors to the Gryffindor common room, eyes darting from
side to side, looking for Lily. He wasn't supposed to let her out of his sight.
Only a day and he had failed. He'd lost any chance of getting to know what he
had been sure was a beautiful person forever. He had poured his secrets out and
now she was gone.
Panting, he reached the boy's (and girl) dorm, but I was empty. Exhausted, he
went to his bed to sit down, but on his pillow was..the
little green notebook.
He picked it up, and a piece of parchment slipped out the front. It said in
neat cursive
Dear James,
After spending a little amount of time near you, I knew you were different. I
knew you felt the pain that I carry with me everyday. In the potions lesson, I
realized that I had to tell somebody what I feel. Writing in my notebook isn't
enough. It will never take away the pain I feel. This is my life, James.
Lily.
Amazed, James slowly opened the little green notebook, and something else
slipped out. It was a muggle newspaper article, titled "Acid Thrower
Sentenced to Life in Prison".
David Evans of Carlisle, England was today given a life sentence from the Honorable Judge
William Gregory for throwing concentrated acid in his daughter's face.
Lily Rose Evans, a happy eleven-year old, was baking cookies in the kitchen
with her mother when Evans came in suddenly with a small bucket and aimed the
contents at 35 year old Rose Evans, not realizing his daughter was in the room.
The entire contents of the bucket landed on Lily's face, neck and shoulders,
and only through quick action by the emergency ward doctors at St. Peter's were
they able to stop the acid from soaking through the skull into the brain.
"Lily is a smart child, and lucky to have avoided brain
damage. However, the emotional damage is far worse, and at the moment
there are no possible means for us to properly graft skin back on to Lily's
face. Unless plastic surgery research speeds up by light years, which, by the
extreme lack of funding it looks like it won't, we will never be able to
restore her face, neck and shoulders back to it's
original state.
Mr. Evans claimed in court last week that he and his wife had had an
"argument" over which boarding school Lily was to attend that year,
and as a result, Evans blew up and left the house. Lily and her sister,
Petunia, were consoled by her mother, who suggested they bake cookies while
"daddy went out" were having much fun, apparently, until Petunia went
to go to the toilet and Mr. Evans came in. He pleaded guilty to a judge and
full jury and was sentenced today.
Lily is still at St.
Peters but has been moved the
he physiological ward where hopefully she will fully recover. She has not said a word since the action and testified in court
with "yes" and "no" palm cards. The Opposition are shocked at this and have launched a new campaign in
which there will be a law stating that children cannot testify for or against
their parents.
Any well wishes to Lily or donations to the Lily Evans Foundation can be made
by calling the St.
Peters Hospital.
Cover story by Ivy Kearney.
James
did nothing but gape at the article, and the still picture beside it of a
bright, happy girl on a muggle swing, grinning at the camera as a young, lean
man pushed her. How could he do that to her? He thought. How could somebody
wish Lily's fate upon somebody else? She lives through a horrible and
terrifying experience, comes to the school that her father got a life sentence
for nor wanting to, and on her first full day she gets
beaten up, almost to death once more. How does she stay alive every day, having
that weight upon her shoulders? He glanced at the note.
Writing in my notebook isn't enough. It will never take away the pain I feel.
James turned his eyes to the first page of the little green book and began to
read.
Dear Diary,
September 1
I know why they've sent me here. They've sent me here to learn how to talk
again. I wasn't making any progress at the hospital so they sent me here, to a
magical school, like Mother wanted me to. She wanted me to be just like
Great-Aunty Kaye, who went to a French wizarding school. She was a wonderful
person; the best in the world. But I'll never be like her. Not after that day.
Father didn't want me to go. He wanted me to go to a boarding school that he
knew and trusted, one that all his workmates'
daughters went to. He got angry at Mother. Just over one little fight, my life
got changed forever. The world I knew, the world I loved; fell apart. My mother
is depressed. My father is in prison. For life. And my
sister hates me, because she thinks it's all my fault.
And for once, she's right. It is my fault.
I wish I had never been magic. I wish that I didn't want to be like Great-
Aunty Kaye so much that I begged my parents to go. I just want to be normal.
Just for once, I'd like to be happy. For one moment, that's all I ask. One
moment, when my life feels like it used to be, not in a hospital, where there's
no space even to breathe, not here, where everybody stares at me, looking into
my soul, where I used to be. Only three years, but such a lot has happened. I
wish so much to have my face fixed, to be treated like everybody else. But you
can't take back time. That's what Doctor Shale says.
I got sorted into a house today. I got in Gryffindor, the bravest house. I
don't know why, though. I've never been brave. I'm too cowardly to even speak,
to say what I feel. "Get over it. Get a life!" one of the girls in my
dorm just said. How, when I have nobody. You can never
start completely from scratch. You have to have something. I have nothing. Nobody. Not even a pet, like a dog, that I can confide in.
Nobody loves me. And I'm not sure that I can love anybody, either.
All the lights in my dormitory have been turned out, so it looks like I'll be
going to sleep.
I wish I was a bird. I wish I could just fly away from everything.
Lily.
A/N: Yay! It was longer! Thanks for
reading!
