Drowning Lilies

Lily was a horrible swimmer. She remembered she used to go down to the lake near her house with Petunia, Petunia was an excellent swimmer. Lily loved to watch Petunia swim, it was as if the water would rise and fall with her body and the way Petunia's legs sliced through the water was like watching the ballet.

Before Lily got her letter from Hogwarts, Petunia was trying to teach Lily how to swim, but Lily was always too afraid to get into the water. She hated how she couldn't see her feet through the murky, black water but she could feel tendrils of plants tickle the bottom of them. She always needed to see where she her feet were leading her to.

Then, after Lily's first year, Petunia turned cold. She took Lily down to the lake and coaxed Lily into the water. Then before Lily could attempt to swim, she felt her entire body pushed under. Lily opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she was and what happened, but all she saw was black. There was darkness all around her and it was silent. Even her flailing arms and legs didn't make a sound by trying to push up. The only thing Lily could see was her white skin, looking unnatural in this darkness. She wasn't supposed to be underwater. It's not supposed to feel this way, dark against light, Lily thought.

The only thing she could feel was the pressure of one hand over her head, pushing down further and further, fingers cutting into her head, tearing at her hair. Lily reached her hands up and grabbed Petunia's arm, pushing her hand off of her head.

She broke the surface, coughing and sputtering, tears mixing into the foggy water. Her sister scanned her brown eyes over Lily's face smiling and then she dove underwater, into the dark.

Lily never went swimming again.

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Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!
Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now...
Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-
Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy....

It felt like she was drowning all over again. She felt as if she was back in her green, frilly bathing suit and her shoes lying on the dock, safe. And she was trying to climb back up to the sun, which she could see, floating above the darkness. But there was another hand there, gripping and hard, pushing her down. And it was her pale skin against the dark canvas, and there was that white hand, grasping over her face, making her body numb.

Lily Potter took one last look at the sun, and then let the darkness pull her under.

A/N: There will be more ficlets to come in this series. Beta reader needed. Thank you.