Well, here – finally – is the next chapter. Perhaps it's not quite what some of you were expecting, judging from the reviews I've got, but I hope you enjoy it none the less. My next update might take a while, as I'm on adventurous training in the Lake District and Snowdonia for the next two weeks, and then the week after Easter, we're doing a play – the Lion King – and I'm Simba, so my schedules stacked full of rehearsals. Rest assured, though, that I'll get you the next chapter as soon as I can!
Chapter 13 – Soul-Mask
Lily was so nervous as she entered the hospital that she shook uncontrollably. Her hand was clasped tight in Arabella's, and she was resolutely ignoring the stares of the people she passed – something she had grown used to, after wearing the bandages for so long.
Arabella, although nearly as nervous as Lily, was hiding it better, greeting the other nurses as she passed them.
Time seemed to be behaving very oddly – it was passing in dollops, racing ahead then seemingly stopping. The journey through the hospital, accordingly, passed in a blur, and before she knew it, Lily was lying in a hospital bed, looking up at a crinkly-eyed healer, and trying desperately not to hyperventilate. The healer looked down at her, asked her to relax, and took up a pair pf scissors.
"We're doing this the Muggle way," he explained to Arabella, when she looked at him in askance. "We don't like to use Severing charms in the facial area – one of our trainees had a rather nasty accident a few years back."
Hearing this did nothing to make Lily feel better, and she shut her eyes tightly as the scissors approached. The next thing she felt was cold metal against the undamaged side of her face, and the comforting whispers of Arabella, trying to get her to relax and not move. She couldn't help it, tensing up involuntarily. The next two sensations came so close together, she wasn't quite sure which was first. She felt the air on her face, a simple pleasure she had not had in months, but almost simultaneously she felt great pain, as the bandages were torn off the damaged side of her face, where the wound still wept and had adhered to the cloth.
Still shaking, Lily set up. Both the healer and Arabella were looking anxiously at her, but she ignored them as she raised a hand to her face. She lightly skated her fingers down it, feeling first the undamaged side. Then she touched the other side. And burst into tears.
***
Arabella wasn't sure of quite what to do. It was Christmas Eve, and Lily had spent the entire afternoon sat in front of a mirror, a tear occasionally running down her cheek. She knew Lily was disappointed at the extent she was still scared – it seemed she had fallen into the usual Muggle-born trap of believing anything could be solved by magic.
Lily stared at herself blankly. The mirror had long since given up trying to cheer her up, and was now off somewhere sulking about some comment or other Lily had snapped back at her. She was grateful for the quiet. She knew her hopes had been high, but somehow she had expected that when the bandages came off, everything would be okay, and she'd be normal again. But the hardened, darkened skin, still looking slightly red and raw, that began above her left eye and spread down her cheek, would still mark her as different from her peers. The scabbing, at least, would clear up – the most hideous part of the scarring. But still, she sat and stared and thought about her loss, and the tears still fell.
***
Christmas day, and Arabella was still worried. Lily was still morose, although she was making an obvious effort to appear cheerful, if only for Arabella's sake. Arabella berated herself internally – why hadn't she expected something like this to happen? She supposed she, like Lily, had been too busy hoping everything would be fine, without thinking about what would happen if it wasn't.
She fixed on a smile, and suggested to Lily that they go through to the living room and open their presents – she didn't think she could stand much longer of the silent, gloomy atmosphere in the kitchen.
Lily perked up slightly at this, and a weak, but genuine smile appeared. Arabella was immensely relieved – Lily would be okay, in time.
The sparkling Christmas tree seemed to cheer Lily further, as well as the carols the portraits were singing. Arabella fetched some mince pies in and was pleased to see Lily at almost her usual happy self, excited about her presents, the scarring seemingly forgotten.
Lily, whose past Christmases had been low-key, to say the least, was overjoyed with her presents, especially the broom, a top of the range Shooting Star, from Arabella – complete with a permission letter from Kitty McGonagall to be able to use it at Hogwarts. Arabella told her it was for use in her upcoming flying lessons.
"We can't have you on one of those awful school brooms – downright dangerous, they are. It'll put you off for life!"
Her other favourite presents were the white gold charm bracelet from Remus – it had a tiny moving dragon, with cold eyes and breathing what looked like real fire, although it didn't harm her, and came with a promise of more charms for her next birthday – and also her gift from Professor Dumbledore. When Lily asked Arabella about this, she explained that for those who hadn't grown up around magic, it was customary for the 'discoverer', so to speak, to become a mentor figure of a kind, a sort of surrogate parent to go to with problems to do with magic, that a Muggle guardian just wouldn't understand. Dumbledore's gift was magical art supplies; animated clay, and paints and pastels to produce moving pictures. Lily couldn't wait to try them out, but she restrained herself, waiting for Boxing Day, and a brilliant idea, in order to do them justice.
For Christmas dinner, Arabella's sister and her husband and two children came over, along with a couple of the nurses from the hospital where Arabella worked. Lily greeted them all politely, and made conversation around the dinner table, but it was obvious that she was happiest playing with six-year-old Becky and four-year-old Rachel, and the new toys they'd got for Christmas. In the manner of small children, though, they were extremely tiring and eventually, when Lily had all but fallen asleep on the living room floor, Arabella ushered her upstairs to bed.
Lily went to sleep that night with a smile on her face, and woke up the next morning with a brilliant idea.
***
When, at lunchtime, Lily still hadn't emerged from her bedroom, Arabella started to get worried. She had assumed Lily was sleeping off the energetic evening with Rachel and Becky, but was slightly scared Lily would fall into depression over her scarring – now likely to be permanent.
She knocked on the door several times, and after getting no reply, she went in, apprehensively. Lily was sat at her desk, deep in what looked like a trance, and didn't even notice Arabella's entrance or approach.
Arabella saw that Lily was engrossed in her work, in moulding and shaping, in sculpture, in clay – and tiptoed from the room.
***
It was gone dinnertime when Lily left the sanctuary of her room. She was starving, having not eaten all day – where had all that time gone? She went down into the kitchen, the stone tiles cold on her bare feet, and searched for leftovers. She heard Arabella's footsteps on the stone behind her, and then her voice asking if she was okay, if there was anything she could get her, if she was feeling any better. Lily raised a hand to her face, touched the smooth, cool surface, smiled, and turned around.
***
Arabella gasped. Lily was beautiful, a blaze of colour. She was wearing a mask, and it took Arabella several awestruck moments to realise that this was what had kept Lily in her room all day – that she had made it. It was painted a deep, dark purple, which made the scarlet lips stand out vividly. On the forehead, a phoenix swooped and swerved, and a rainbow arched above the left eye. A trail of silver stars led up the nose and over the right eye, whilst on the left cheek a white lily bloomed. Arabella saw Lily's smile grow wider – smiling, as she had not done in days – and she saw that the clay had moulded to her face, moving as if it were her skin.
"Lily… wow!" Arabella finally managed. "It's gorgeous!"
"It's me."
Arabella pondered the odd phrase as she looked closer at the mask. She noticed a tear falling from beneath the left eye, and suddenly it clicked – the mask was Lily. It was a reflection of her personality, her spirit, showing her fiery temper, her pain and sadness, her sudden and unexpected happiness and humour, her growth, the darkness that marred her and the light that shone through. And though at first it had been the mask's beauty that struck her, it was, perhaps, it's soul that was the most awe-inspiring thing of all.
So Lily's bandages came off – and you were all expecting her to suddenly become beautiful and popular? Sorry to disappoint, but that's not really my style – it involves making things far too easy!