In Every Darkness
Chapter Sixty Eight: A Lily's Tale
20.10.1996
Severus rubbed sleep from his eyes with an angry motion, glaring at the simmering cauldron in front of him.
Why don't you just take an anti-sleep draught? Lupin asked. You need to stay awake, after all.
Do my ears deceive me, or were you being almost helpful just then, Lupin? Severus sneered in response.
I doubt that your ears did, but your mind might have, came the calm response. Besides, if you got killed here, I probably wouldn't be able to get away from this place … Eternity here … Urgh, doesn't bear thinking about.
Oh, so it's entirely out of self interest then? Severus inquired coolly.
No, not entirely. I'm interested to see what you'll do to make sure Albus doesn't die from this, Lupin replied. But it matters little me, since I am not of the living realm. Eventually you will all join me here.
I should that it will not be for a long time, Severus said. I dread to think of spending an eternity in the realms of the dead in the company of you, Potter and Black. I would rather live and be imprisoned in this fortress.
That was uncalled for.
I don't think it was …
You need to add the essence of basilisk fang, Lupin told him.
Severus swore and attended to the potion. Sure you don't need that potion, Sevvie?
Lupin, I no longer mind you call me 'Sev' as long as you desist in calling me 'Sevvie', Severus growled.
Ooh! You mean I'm being annoying? Oh good! I'll keep at it then, Sevvie.
Severus was tempted to snarl, but thought better of it, gulping down an anti-sleep draught.
I knew you'd listen to me eventually, Lupin said happily.
Severus growled and put the deceased werewolf out of his mind, turning his mind to the potion, stirring it with a precise hand. Lupin didn't interrupt now – he knew that a single start could ruin the potion completely.
Severus left the potion for a moment, turning to consult his book. So how long until it is ready? Lupin asked now.
Another two months, maybe three, Severus replied. So you'd best get word to Dumbledore that he'll have to think on what's going to happen when I finish the potion.
I'll get onto, Lupin assured.
Good.
"Really important?" Harry replied. "What do you mean?"
Lily paced for a moment, looking agitated. Suddenly she grabbed Harry arm, dragging him with surprising strength away from the Quidditch pitch.
"Where are we going?" He asked, trying to free his arm, but having no success at all.
"The forest," Lily replied with quiet determination.
"Why?" Harry asked, jogging to keep up with her.
"Because no one will overhear there."
She walked into the Forbidden Forest completely without fear. Harry felt that the trees seemed to move respectfully aside as she passed … Or was it him? No, it had to be her.
She led him further into the forest, hardly even glancing around her. "There are dangerous animals in this forest," Harry warned her, wondering if she knew.
"I know. They won't disturb us," Lily replied firmly, walking into a sudden clearing. There was a pool in the centre of it, and a tall tree that overlooked it.
With an easy, cat-like grace, Lily climbed into the tree, sitting on one of the lower boughs. "Come on, come up here," she told him.
Harry clambered, with some difficulty, up to her, and sat with his back against the tree. Lily was seated partway out, over the pool, perfectly balanced.
"Why all the secrecy?" Harry asked.
"Because I don't want everyone hearing this," Lily replied. "But you are a friend, and you deserve to know."
"Know what?"
"The truth," Lily replied, bowing her head slightly.
Harry blinked, wondering what was about to happen.
"Look … I can see it in you – you're falling for me. Slowly, certainly, so slowly that you might not be aware of it, but you are falling," Lily said.
"That's a bit abrupt," Harry remarked, looking a little shocked. Sure, he had been paying a little more attention to her figure lately, and sometimes found himself comparing her –with favor- to Cho Chang, his former crush.
"I have to be," she replied, standing up and pacing along the branch, looking somewhat nervous. "And now I have to be again. It can't go on. It won't work."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you can't love me, and I can't love you! It's a deception. You don't really love me anyway," she cried, sounding anguished.
"Wha?"
"Look … I'm a Wild Child," she said, looking at him suddenly, as if to try and catch his reaction.
Harry was confused, "Wild Child?" he asked.
Lily sighed. "I was hoping you'd know what they were, it seems not. I guess its because we aren't in Bulgaria. I don't think you find them anywhere else."
"Care to explain?" Harry asked, more confused than ever.
"You know what werewolves are, right?"
"Of course – one of best friends and a great former teacher at this school was one. He died at the hands of Death Eaters on my birthday," Harry replied slowly.
"Ok. A werewolf is, as you know, a man that is sometimes a wolf – or the human ones are, anyway. A wild child is the opposite."
"A wolf that is sometimes a man?" Harry enquired, wondering if he was following her correctly.
"Sort of. A beast that is sometimes a man," Lily corrected.
Harry blinked in confusion.
"I was born a human, as werewolves are, but when I was seven years old, I was lost in a forest while my family was on a picnic. I was completely lost, when a young boy turned up beside me suddenly. He said that he'd show me back to my parents, but at a price.
"I asked him what sort of price, but he just laughed and took my hand, leading me into the forest. Eventually we came upon my family. I was happy, and turned to thank the boy.
"He had changed, suddenly he was almost monstrous. My parents screamed, and my father leapt forwards to try and drag me away from him.
"He flicked a hand at my father, and father just crumpled over – he was dead.
"To become a Wild Child, you must accept the help of one of them in it's native place, or fall in love with them there. I knew that I would be safe here, and would be able to help you, because this is not my native place," Lily explained.
"Ok … you've explained how to become a Wild Child, and how you became one, but I still don't understand completely what they are," Harry said, interested now.
"You see me as a human, do you not?" Lily enquired, and Harry nodded. "When a Wild Child takes a human form, they appear to be perfect – friendly, beautiful or handsome, great at everything …
"This is because we can mould our own forms, and we all want to be perfect. We want to be loved by those who were once our kind.
"But it cannot be. Every night, when you are all asleep, I creep from the tower and come down to the forest to take on what is now my natural form," Lily said, blinking away tears.
"What is that?"
"It varies," she replied shortly. "Sometimes a magical creature, sometimes one that is not. My natural form is that of a beast of some sort."
"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked.
"Because I cannot love you. If I love a human, and he loves me in this form … he will become a Wild Child, and if I was on my home ground, that is, the forest where I was cursed, I would become a human. As I am not on my home ground, we would both remain Wild Children. I would not wish my curse on you. When someone does love me, it will be someone who is not my friend. I will not allow a friend of mine to fall in love with me!" she replied.
"What is so bad about being a Wild Child?" Harry asked.
Lily bowed her head. "Wild Children are shunned by everyone in Bulgaria. They possess a different sort of magic, a destructive one. That is why I had to go to Durmstrang, they teach the Dark Arts there, if my magic got out of control, it would not be noticed that much … When Voldemort," Harry noted that she did not flinch at the name at all, and used it without fear, "first rose, the Wild Children, for the most part, joined him.
"He offered them peace, to be able to live without fear of persecution in the world that he would create. He offered them revenge for past injustices. He offered them everything that the Wizarding World had deprived them of for so long."
"Like he did the giants," Harry murmured.
"Exactly like," Lily nodded. "Most joined him, which is another reason that we are feared and despised."
"But … why aren't you telling Ron this? Couldn't he fall in love with you?" Harry asked, diverting her attention for a moment while he tried to sort through all this new information.
"No, he will not fall in love me. He and Hermione are meant to be together, I think, though they will not realise it for a long time, neither will truly love another. They may not find each other as lovers until they are forty, but they will not love anyone else," Lily replied.
Harry nodded.
"Do you hate me now?" Lily wanted to know. She seemed to think it inevitable that he say yes.
"Of course not! I told you one of my greatest friends was a werewolf, didn't I? I didn't care! He was a nice person, as you are," Harry replied. "I don't care that most of you once supported Voldemort, and maybe do again now, but I know that you don't."
Lily's eyes sheened over in unshed tears of relief. "Thank you," she whispered.
"For what?" Harry asked.
"Having faith," Lily replied, running lightly along the tree branch and jumping to the ground. "Come on, we'd best go in before the others miss you at the library."
Harry scrambled down.
"Don't tell anyone else," Lily warned him.
"Of course not!" Harry agreed. "It's your secret. Don't worry, I've kept other secrets, possibly even more important than that one, before."
"I won't ask what, but I will admit that I'm intrigued," Lily said, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
"Maybe one day," Harry replied, a smile forming in his own lips.
Grypis? He asked silently.
Yes? Grypis answered.
Did you know Lily was a Wild Child?
I knew she was different. I did not know what the different meant. I have not come across a Wild Child before, nor did my parents tell me of them. I can recognise a werewolf, or a vampire, straight off, and from now on, I'll be able to recognise Wild Children also, the griffin replied.
Oh. Ok, Harry said.
"You ok Harry? You look a little … something," Lily asked.
"I'm fine," Harry assured her, smiling again. "Come on, let's get up to the Library, do some homework before the meeting with the team."
Not much later Harry and his team were gathered in the Room of Requirement, and the team was looking expectantly at Harry.
"Um, hi," he said nervously, and his team smiled slightly. Lily mouthed don't be nervous at him.
"Well, as you all know, this is Quidditch team that has been entered into the school competition. We are called Unity, at the girls insistence, and I think it's a fairly good name. After all, we are uniting most of the different groups of Hogwarts, Slytherin being the one exception," Harry continued.
"Yeah yeah yeah," Ginny grinned at him. "Come on Harry, get the point and quit being nervous – you'll be a great captain!"
Harry and his friends and team mates laughed at that. "Thanks Ginny," Harry told her. "Now, the first match is in four weeks time. We have to get stuck into training. We won't know who we'll be playing until a week before the game starts, and even then is unlikely that we'll know who they are.
"Therefore, we just have to be able to play our best, no matter what. I've booked the pitch, our time starts in half an hour. We'll see how you do, how you work together, and see what we can improve," Harry finished.
The team grinned and nodded. "Let's go!"
Together they headed out of the Room of Requirement and made their way at a leisurely pace down to the pitch. There was already a team there.
"Huh, they just kept last years Slytherin team, and put in Durmstrang students when they needed a place to fill," Ron sneered.
"Most Durmstrang students are good at flying," Lily put in quietly. "But those two acting as Beaters are pretty thick. Bad choice, really."
"Their parents are probably Death Eaters," Harry muttered, and Lily nodded.
"They are," she said, but didn't say how she knew when the rest of the team turned enquiring looks in her direction.
"Hey Potter, scared?" Malfoy sneered.
"Of what?" Harry demanded with a sneer. "You apes on moderately fast brooms? I don't think so!"
Malfoy hissed angrily, going for his wand. "I wouldn't Malfoy – you might get your Prefect badge suspended," Harry told him with an innocent smile.
"What type of broom do you have anyway?" He asked Lily.
"Firebolt," she replied. "Viktor got me one for my birthday last year."
"Gabrielle?"
"Ze same," the other said, as both she and Lily performed summoning charms to call their brooms to them.
Ernie, Harry knew, had a Nimbus Two Thousand, Ginny, who had been made a Prefect, had gotten one a broom just like Ron's.
"And you Luna?" Harry asked.
"Nimbus Two Thousand," she replied with a dreamy smile, using her wand to unshrink it – she'd had it in her pocket.
"Good. Hey Malfoy! We've got the pitch now!" Harry yelled up at the Slytherin team. "With permission from Dumbledore!"
Malfoy and the Slytherin team looked angry – Harry assumed that they'd gotten their new head of House to sign a slip saying that they could use the pitch for as long as they liked.
"How'd you get the Headmaster to sign that, Potter?" Malfoy demanded.
"My team hasn't had as much time to practice as the others have," Harry replied. "Professor Dumbledore didn't want us being at a disadvantage – he wants the tournament to be fair … Though if that's the case, I'm not sure why he let your team in."
Malfoy snarled angrily, but knew that he couldn't do anything against Harry for the moment. "I'll get you for this Potter – one day I'll get you!"
"You just keep telling yourself that," Harry replied, not at all fazed.
Malfoy suddenly whipped out his wand and yelled something. Harry froze as he saw a blaze of white light shooting straight as his forehead.
***
Hmm … Think I'll leave it there! A nice long chapter, and a nice little cliffie! Funfun. Hey! Did anyone guess what Lily was going to tell Harry? Hehe, I TOLD you she had her faults!
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