Tears of Flame
Disclaimer – you know the drill. If you know it, it's JK's, if you don't then I wrote it.
A/N – Sorry if you think Lily got over her abuse too quickly, I was getting bored with 'poor little abused Lily'. I also really hate the whole going through the letter, Diagon Alley, Platform 9 and ¾, Hogwarts Express thing, so I tried to get that all out of the way as quickly as possible. The wood Lily's wand is made of is a real wood. I know it doesn't strictly follow the HP story, but this is my fanfic, and it fits better with my story. I also seemed to have overused the word 'gawping'. I'm sorry, but it's a really cool word. Enjoy!
Oh if you know any good L/J fics, I love 'em.
Chapter 3 – Different
Lily sat in shock. "I'm a what? Did you just say what I thought you did?"
Dumbledore smiled again, and his eyes twinkled. "Indeed, my dear. You are a witch. And a very powerful one too. A great deal of potential."
"Witches really exist? I thought they were just stories." Lily was flabbergasted.
"They really exist, dear." This was Arabella. "I am one myself. Dumbledore here is the greatest wizard of the era." Dumbledore gave a little bow, and smiled at Lily.
"Really? You can do magic? Can I see? Please?"
Arabella smiled. "Oh, all right. Just one quick spell." Lily stared as Arabella brought out a thin stick of wood. "Is that…?" she said, gawping.
Arabella smiled at Lily, amused. "Yes, it's a magic wand. Now watch." She drew back her sleeves, flicked her wrist and said "Felicitatia!" With that, several fireworks burst from the end of her wand and a shower of sparkles rained down around Lily. "There you go" said Arabella, giggling slightly at Lily's amazement. "A simple celebration charm."
"Wow," Lily said, still gawping at Arabella. "Can I do that?"
"You will be able to," Arabella replied, "but you'll need to be trained first. That's where Dumbledore here comes in."
"You see, Lily, I am the current headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the most talented young witches and wizards in the country are trained. You will be one of them."
"But Dumbledore, she's too young," said Arabella anxiously. "She's only ten. What'll she do for a year until she's old enough?"
"Well, normally that would be a problem, but as Lily has so much potential," Lily beamed at the praise "and has really got nowhere else to go," Lily's smile faltered a little "I feel it quite acceptable that she starts Hogwarts a year early." Lily's grin returned full force.
"Really? Wow. I'm really gonna learn magic?! That's so cool! When can I start?"
Dumbledore chuckled at the joyful child, and Arabella marvelled at the contrast between the happy, hyper girl and the gaunt skeleton she had been a mere month ago.
"Well, the school year starts on September the first, but we'd be happy for you to arrive earlier, unless…" he trailed off, glancing at Arabella.
"Of course she's staying with me over the summer, Dumbledore! Why would you think otherwise? And she'll go to Hogwarts on the train with all the others. Best way of meeting friends, I've found."
"And enemies, too, Arabella, but that's exactly what I'd hoped you'd say. When Lily's quite recovered you'll be able to take her to Diagon Alley, I trust?"
"Of course, Dumbledore, but she needs to rest now. Hush Lily, I know you're excited," Lily was jumping on the bed and squealing protests at Arabella "but you need your rest. Now Albus, you were telling me about the fight against Lithara…" Arabella grabbed Dumbledore by the arm and pulled him into her office, insisting that Lily needed to sleep.
***
Within a week of Dumbledore's visit, Lily was well enough to leave St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, although her head was still swathed in bandages. As promised, Lily spent the four remaining weeks of the summer holidays at Arabella's. They had a great time, Arabella teaching Lily about the wizarding world, and Lily teaching Arabella how to play tennis. Lily, although amazed by many of the things she found out, got very frustrated with Arabella's 'lessons' more often than not, as Arabella refused to tell her very much – she said it would be more exciting if it was a surprise, and was deaf to Lily's protests. Tennis, in it's turn, infuriated Arabella, buit that was simply because she was abysmally bad at it. (Lily found this hilarious, although she wasn't exactly a great player herself.) The two went swimming often, too, and they even went to a theme park one day, after a week of Lily's pleas. The day out left Lily ecstatic and very hyper, and Arabella decidedly green. The trip to Diagon Alley came and went, and Lily was enthralled with her purchases. She now spent most of every day with her nose buried in one or other of her text books, or learning chess from Arabella with her new Wizard Chess set.
Lily was also now the proud owner of a coal black kitten with glowing orange eyes, which she had affectionately named Ember. It went everywhere with Lily, usually perched on her shoulder, which seemed to be it's favourite place. Many people stared at Lily wherever she went, and this was no surprise. She did look very peculiar, with her head wrapped in bandages like a mummy and a small black cat riding on her shoulder.
The most memorable part of her trip to Diagon Alley though was, in Lily's opinion, buying her wand. The guy in the shop, Mr Ollivander, had pale silver eyes and knew so much about her it was creepy.
They'd spent about three quarters of an hour going through nearly every wand in the shop, much to the annoyance of the awaiting customers and the delight of Mr Ollivander. Suddenly, Mr Ollivander gave a start and stared closely at Lily. "Ah, of course. I wonder why I didn't see it earlier," he muttered to himself, before retreating into the back room of the shop.
"See what?" Lily called after him, before turning to Arabella with the same question. Arabella had become increasingly worried as the size of the tried wand pile increased, but looked just as baffled as Lily at Mr Ollivander's strange remark. But Mr Ollivander swept back into the room, bearing a small box that he held delicately with his fingertips, as though afraid to disturb what was within it. He reverently opened it and handed the wand within to Lily. "This, my dear, is made of African tulip tree wood, or more commonly, Flame-of-the-Forest, and contains a phoenix feather. I believe that this is the wand that has been waiting for you."
Lily took the wand from him with some trepidation, and felt her skin prickle along her arms and the back of her neck. She took a deep breath and waved it, and to her shock, a stream of fire leapt from the wand, igniting the huge heap of tried wands and boxes on the floor. Horror-struck, Lily stared at the wand in her hand, and the fire disappeared as quickly as it had come. Lily ran to the charred heap, apologising profusely to Mr Ollivander, but soon discovered that apologies were unnecessary. The wands, most of Mr Ollivander's stock, were unharmed, lying among the ashes of their boxes. Lily gawped. What kind of fire was that?
Mr Ollivander chuckled lightly at her puzzlement, and she whipped her head around to look at him. "It takes more than fire to harm an Ollivander wand, my dear. Do not worry. But be careful. That wand you have there is very powerful, and very destructive. You must learn to control your own powers, and your wand's. You will have struggles enough in your life, Miss Evans. I wish you luck. But you must learn control, of your powers and of your temper. It is imperative. Once again, Lily Evans, good luck. You will need it."
Arabella, eyes wide and worried, paid and thanked Mr Ollivander, and hurried Lily, who was still shocked and puzzled, from the shop.
***
The remainder of the summer passed in a flash, and before they knew it, it was September the first and Lily and Arabella were on Platform 9 and ¾ of King's Cross Station saying goodbye.
"I'll miss you dear, but I'll see you in the holidays. That is, if you don't want to stay at Hogwarts with your friends. Much more fun that way!" Arabella smiled at Lily. "Work hard, I'm sure you will, and have loads of fun!"
Lily, who had been growing more and more excited throughout the morning suddenly turned rather subdued. "But what if I don't have any friends? You see the way they're all staring at me. They think I'm weird." She stuttered, tears coming to her eyes. This was true, the other children around Lily were staring openly at her bandaged head, whereas the older teenagers and adults kept their eyes carefully averted from her and avoided looking at her altogether.
"Oh, Lily," said Arabella, sweeping Lily into a hug. "The people who can't see past the bandages aren't worth getting to know anyway." In truth, Arabella, who knew the fickleness of children, had been worried about this too. "Anyway, the bandages will be off by December" she reassured her. Lily smiled gratefully. "Goodbye Arabella. I'll write to you, if I have time." She smiled cheekily, before turning serious and a little sad. "I love you."
Arabella, who knew what it had cost Lily to say those simple words, grinned. After all, everyone else she'd ever loved had left her. She pulled Lily into another hug and smiled. "I love you too," she whispered into Lily's ear. "Remember don't let the rules get in the way of having fun!"
***
After waving at Arabella until she was out of sight, Lily slumped back into the velvet covered seat. She listened to the rhythmic rattle of the train and dissolved into it. She sat in a trance-like state, her body joined with the train's motion, until the sound of the compartment's door opening jolted her awake. Her eyes snapped open, and she turned to glare at the two red-heads standing in the doorway.
"Blimey, what happened to you?" one of them asked in surprise. Lily's hand went involuntarily to her face, feeling the coarse bandages that covered her whole head except her eyes and mouth.
"Why should I tell you? I don't even know who you are," she said, a barely concealed sneer in her voice.
"She's right, you know, Alf," said the other red-head. He looked about fifteen. I'm Andrew Weasley, fifth year Gryffindor. This is my brother Alfred. He's a second year, Gryffindor too."
"Lily Evans. I'm new," she replied bluntly.
"So, what did happen to your face?" Andrew tried to shush his little brother, but to no avail. "And you look too young to be a first year, how old're you?" Lily glared ferociously at the boy, and he retreated a little under her gaze.
"I'm ten, I'm starting a year early," Lily snapped. "And I don't feel like telling you what happened to me."
"Come on, Alf, leave her alone." Andrew tried to drag his brother from the compartment, where he was still gawping at Lily. "Nice to meet you, Lily. Hope you're in Gryffindor." He left Lily's compartment, Alfred following on behind.
Lily returned to her thoughts. Would everyone be like that, gawping at her because of the bandages? Would she ever fit in? She looked different, felt different, even. She didn't understand half of what Andrew had said. What on earth was Gryffindor? Lily shook her head to get rid of the thoughts, delved into her trunk and proceeded to bury her nose in 'Magical Theory' by Bathilda Bagshott.
***
Lily was so deeply emersed in her book that when the compartment door slid open once again and a pale, sandy haired boy entered the room she barely registered his presence.
He cleared his throst nervously, and said "Hi, I'm Remus Lupin. What's your name?"
Lily snapped back an answer, but her voice sounded sad despite her harsh words. "It doesn't matter, you won't stick around long enough to get to know me." Lily's head was hidden behind her book – she didn't want more questions about the bandages.
"What makes you say that? The boy, Remus, asked, his voice quiet and kind. Lily lowered her book a little so her bright green eyes and several inches of bandages were visible over the top of it.
"I'm different," she said, her voice conveying her pain and sadness. She expected Remus to make his excuses and leave, or else to start questioning her about it, but he surprised her.
"Guess what?" he said, and Lily could hear the same pain and suffering in his voice. She looked into his eyes, and saw someone who had been through as much as she had. This boy can understand! she thought happily. "I'm different too."
Lily smiled, her first true smile since she'd left Arabella at the platform. "You mean," she said, hardly daring to hope, "you won't talk about this" she waved a hand towards her bandaged face "like it's the only part of me that counts?" The strange boy smiled back. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't talk about that" he too waved his hand vaguely, "at all."
Lily grinned. "I'm sorry for being so rude, it's just I've had it all day…" "I understand," Remus replied. "So what IS your name, anyway?"
"Oh, sorry. Lily. Lily Evans."
"How old are you, you are a first year, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm only ten, Dumbledore let me start a year early." It was only too clear from the tone of her voice that she didn't want to be asked why. Remus understood and respected that, but couldn't help wondering…
"Oh, so you've met the headmaster?" Lily nodded. "He's really nice, isn't he?" Lily grinned cheekily and replied "Yep. Completely off his rocker, but definitely nice."
Remus chuckled. He liked this girl already.