The loud, irritating buzzing of her alarm clock cut through the still-whirling colors of Lily's dream, bringing the redhead back into her mussed bed and out of her fantasy.
"Wha. . .?" Lily mumbled groggily, blinking owlishly.
Spook lifted his head and meowed at her sleepily.
Lily's brain slowly woke up, and slowly she remembered the huge shopping trip she had been waiting for and saving for the past two years. With the prospect of a massive shopping trip in her near future, Lily shot out of bed and into the shower.
Lily sighed happily and flopped onto the couch in the living room of their small apartment, surrounded by nearly two thousand dollars worth of clothes and shoes. It was raining outside, and the rain hitting the roof took Lily right back to her childhood and her great old room in the attic. She and her mother had lived in that tiny little apartment for ten years before Lily went off to college; but she hadn't been able to keep the place after her mother's death.
Spook meowed pitifully for his dinner, bringing Lily back to the present. She sluggishly made her way into the kitchen and fed the cat. Shedding pieces of her outfit on the way, Lily trudged into the bedroom and dropped onto her bed."Let's get to bed, Lils," she said tiredly. "You can put it all away tomorrow."
She was asleep before she could pull the blanket over herself.
Lily barely had time to register the smoky dreamscape before she was whizzing off to that grimy old house once again. The shapes around her solidified into a gloomy hallway with some old Victorian furniture, and Lily landed roughly on her knees - which she noticed still floated an inch off the ground.
"Lily! You're back!"
Lily spun around and grabbed Harry into a massive hug, any prior fatigue a fast-fading memory.
"How ya doin', Hare-bear?" Lily said loudly, seeing his friends come around the corner. Lily's efforts were rewarded with a dark blush from Harry.
"Lily! You stopped calling me that when I was five!" Harry protested under his breath, face still flushed adorably.
"Hare-bear, you're older now, and I'm like your older sister. That means I am obligated to call you annoying and potentially embarrassing nicknames," Lily replied cheekily, giving him a noogie and putting his hair into even greater disarray. Ron grinned unabashedly, and Hermione giggled a bit. Ginny just walked over to Harry and with a commiserating pat on his arm told him, "It only gets worse if you complain." Harry sighed, and glared at Lily.
A loud crack echoed down the hallway, and Lily 'eep!'-ed and jumped. Fred and George grinned, glad that there was once again someone who wasn't used to their Apparating - and therefore easy to frighten the living daylights out of.
"Hullo, there. You'll be that broad who dreams herself across the pond, yeah?" said one of the twins.
"I'm Gred," said the other.
"And I'm Forge," said the first. "Mum says to come down for lunch," said... Forge. Lily couldn't for the life of her tell the difference.
"Are you hungry?" Harry asked Lily. "You could have lunch with us, if you want." Harry looked so hopeful, Lily couldn't refuse. She agreed, and Harry promptly dragged her down to the kitchen, babbling about Mrs. Weasley's wonderful cooking the entire way.
Lunch was rather tense. At the table sat the Weasley children, Harry, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus, Lily, and a woman called Tonks (who was sporting white hair. . . with black spots reminiscent of a Dalmatian). Lily could tell that Mrs. Weasley didn't know what to make of her, Lily. The kind woman was running hot and cold; she was friendly one moment, and then looked at her suspiciously the next. Added to that, the silverware didn't seem to like her very much. Her spoon kept diving out of her hands into her tomato soup, and her fork actually scuttled away on its prongs. Lily was hesitant to pick up her knife for fear of the consequences.
Lily sighed as her spoon took another leap, and settled for picking up the bowl and slurping the last of the soup straight out of the bowl in as dignified a manner as she could manage. As she set her bowl back down, Tonk's nose wiggled strangely - and then morphed to become an exact copy of Lily's rather prominent schnoz. Lily laughed, causing Harry to look up from trying to smother his laugh in his napkin. Lily smiled as she saw Harry trying to look at her covertly to see her reaction.
"Harry, I got over my huge honker years ago; would you stop peering at me from underneath your eyelashes?" she asked, looking at him with a mock annoyed look.
"So why did you leave me alone for so long when I poked fun at it that one time?" Harry asked dryly.
"Oh, hush. I was only eleven, and an insecure pre-teen," she said, dismissing his complaint with a wave of her hand.
"But I was only seven! I still thought you had cooties, even if you were alright for a girl," he protested.
"Yeah, well-" Lily was cut off as Sirius spoke up for the first time.
"You've known her since you were seven years old and never told anyone?" he asked incredulously, a hint of anger in his voice.
Harry stuck out his chin defiantly. "She practically raised me. I've known her forever." Lily smiled and slung an arm around his shoulders. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Hermione smiled when he didn't blush - he had told Ron and her all about Lily the night before, and Hermione for one was glad that Harry had someone like Lily who was affectionate with him.
"Yup. I just couldn't stay away, could I Hare-bear?" she chirped. Tonks laughed loudly at Harry's blush, covering the choking sound Sirius made while trying not to laugh while slurping his soup as Lily had. Harry gave Lily a sulky mock-glare as she joined Tonks in laughing.
Harry's glare turned into a confused look as he pulled away from Lily.
"When did you stop glowing?"
Lily looked down at her hands. She was no longer see through - she had become completely solid.
"But... no, I still," Lily stuttered, staring down at her hands. She stared down at her hands in shock. In her dreams, she was always that peculiar glittery transparent golden color – always. It came with that feeling of disconnectedness that had comforted her when she had nightmares; it was a peaceful, reassuring, this-is-all-fake-and-you'll-be-okay feeling. Now that feeling was completely gone, and Lily knew, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this – this grimy old house, and even Harry, especially Harry – was real.
"Harry?" Lily said slowly and clearly, not quite panicking. She turned to look at him, staring into those deep and mature eyes she had seen so many times before. "What's happening to me?" she asked him quietly, not really expecting an answer. He mutely shrugged his shoulders in shock.
The redhead stood up suddenly, knocking her chair over. She looked to the others at the table, taking in their expressions with a glance. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny kept looking back and forth between Harry and her. Fred and George were looking at each other quizzically, and their mother just looked confused. Remus's brow was creased with confusion. Tonks was busily finishing a mouthful of sandwich. Sirius was beginning to look angry again– which was most likely from their lack of information, thought Lily.
"I'm just going to-" said Lily dazedly, before falling back into a dead faint, catching the floor in a soft thump.
Lily woke slowly. She was first aware that she was lying on a sofa that smelled of dust, and then that Harry was talking. Slowly, Harry's meaningless syllables coalesced into recognizable words.
"She is NOT dangerous!" Harry whispered venomously.
"You can't know that!" Sirius whispered back just as fiercely. Lily could hear his footsteps move across the hardwood floor as he paced.
"I have known her forever, Sirius! She practically raised me! She was there when nobody else cared, and..." Harry stated, trailing off at the end to glance at Lily. The redhead just smiled and sat up. He opened up her arms without saying a word and Harry practically dived into them for a hug. Lily was seated, with Harry standing but bent at the waist to hug her. Lily shifted so that Harry didn't have to stand, and the bespectacled boy sat down next to her on the dusty couch and hugged her tightly. The feeling of the young man in her arms threw her back into memories.
When Lily had visited Harry in her dreams for the first time, many years ago, Harry had been only two years old. Six-year-old Lily had seen that he was unhappy with the Dursleys even then, and had played with him quietly in the cupboard under the stairs. To Harry's delight, she had kept coming back – for the next thirteen years.
Lily looked over Harry's shoulder at Sirius, the only other person in the room.
"Look, Mr. Black," said Lily gently. "I may be a bit different from what you're used to, but nothing could make me hurt Harry or any dear to him."
Sirius still looked suspicious, but he didn't say anything. She tightened her grip on Harry's thin waist, and gently kissed his hair.
"Love you, baby," she whispered to him, smiling gently at the familiar phrase.
"I love you too, Lily," he whispered unhesitatingly back. Lily looked up at Sirius. For a split second, there was an intense look of guilt and sadness on his gaunt face before a blank mask settled over his features. With a calm exterior, Sirius walked out of the room.
For the next week, Lily was forced to stay in a hastily cleaned extra bedroom in the grimy old house, which she later learned was generally called "Grimmauld Place". The official excuse was that they didn't know if Lily was a threat to the 'Order', though she didn't even know what it was. Harry, and the other children, whom he'd managed to convince of Lily's relative harmlessness early on, were the only people that would come to see her in her prison. Sometimes Hermione would bring her interesting books about the history of the Wizarding World or about the culture of centaurs and the like. Ron came to play Wizarding chess with her, and Lily was now an official guinea pig for Fred and George's transfiguring candies. Ginny came in wanting advice or sometimes girl-talk and Lily believed that, next to Harry, she was closest to the youngest Weasley.
Harry came to her a lot, whether it was with the others, or to do his homework, to talk, or just to sit with her in silence. He told her a lot of what happened around the house, like how they had found doxies in the curtains of such-and-such room and Gred or Forge had nicked some, or Ron and Hermione had been in a row about this or that.
All in all, Lily was heartily glad when there as a knock on the door by someone other than the teens. It was Albus Dumbledore himself.
"Oh, hello, Professor Dumbledore!" she exclaimed.
He was so much more than the description Rowling offered in her books. The aging headmaster was quite tall, and had an aura of pure power wrapped around him. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, which shone with hidden knowledge and wisdom of countless ages. Albus Dumbledore was a thoroughly intimidating person.
"Miss Anderson, would you please come with me?" he asked, with a voice curiously free of inflection. Lily stood and followed as meekly as she could behind the wizard as he led her into the kitchen, the dark, cavernous room lit by the roaring fire in the fireplace at the far end of the room.
There were a number of people gathered around the large kitchen table nearly spanning the considerable length of the room.
"Is this the Order?" Lily asked.
"It is," said Dumbledore quietly, leading her over to an empty chair at the head of the table. Lily sat cautiously, but then began to struggle violently as metal bands snapped across her arms, legs, and ribcage. She glared at Dumbledore.
"What right do you have to imprison me like this?" she asked coldly. She ceased her struggles, and let her livid black eyes speak for her themselves. Dumbledore was the only one in the room that would fully meet her furious gaze.
"We must ensure the safety of the Order. Your rights must take second place to the safety of the Order," claimed the old man in a revoltingly blasé voice.
"What do you want from me?" Lily asked in an eerily calm, yet cutting, voice.
"We want you to drink this," said Dumbledore, producing a small vial of clear liquid. Recognizing it as Veritaserum from the description in Prisoner of Azkaban when it was used on Crouch Jr, Lily clenched her jaw shut. This was no obstacle however, for Dumbledore just pulled out his wand and whispered a few words.
Lily glared even more angrily as she felt her jaw muscles go slack. Dumbledore gently tilted her head back and poured a few drops from the vial down her throat.
Even as Lily's rage grew, the potion took hold of her will.
"What is your name?" asked Dumbledore. His words seemed to Lily to echo, and she felt as if she was floating in dream-form again.
"Lilith Morgaine Anderson," Lily replied dully, even though she fought to keep her silence.
"How old are you?" came a new, vaguely familiar voice from behind her chair.
"I am nineteen years old. I will be twenty on August 28th."
"Do you wish to harm anyone in or associated with the Order of the Phoenix?" asked the voice, smooth as silk but steely and commanding.
"Yes. Albus Dumbledore is a manipulative jackass." Surprisingly, the Voice laughed.
"What do you want of Harry Potter?" asked Dumbledore.
"I want him to be happy," she answered simply. She could distantly hear the others at the table muttering.
Now, she could hear someone banging on something and yelling. Through glazed eyes, she watched as Harry burst in the door, shouting that she was gone. He went absolutely silent and motionless when he saw Lily.
"What is she doing here?" Harry asked the silent room, as Ron ran in after Harry.
Mechanically but not without a certain amount of glee, Lily answered the question. "She is being questioned under Veritaserum against her will and wanting to smack Dumbledore for being a paranoid old fart." Ron snickered. Harry glared. The Voice behind Lily spoke up.
"Headmaster, the Veritaserum is wearing off," he muttered incredulously. True to his word, the floating feeling left within a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the steel restraints remained.
"You brainless, spineless worm," Lily spat into the silent and chilly room. "I would have been willing to tell you anything you wanted if you had just asked me!"
Lily stared into the Headmaster's face, searching for some small sign of remorse. Save for the lack of that usual twinkle in his eyes, Dumbledore's visage was completely calm. Lily graced him with one of her best – and rather scary, if Harry was to be believed – glares.
The infuriating old man didn't react at all.
The Voice behind her chair did. He whispered the charm to release her bindings, causing them to crash loudly to the floor, and then walked into her line of sight. When she looked up into his face, she froze in absolute shock.
"Uncle Sev!"
A/N: So that's that. PLEASE review! If you don't review, I won't know you've read this, and then I will assume NOBODY is reading this, and then I'll get depressed, and then I'll mope... and everything bad happens if you don't review, see?
Er, hope you liked it. I think Harry is sort of OOC in this chapter, but people act differently around people they've known all their life, right? At least, that's what I'm telling myself.
Please review, even if it's just to tell me I am a horrible writer who deserves to be shot.
Liza Lupin
