Thank you for the reviews!
Keep them coming.
I'll put a note at the end of the story for the question(s) I got.
And here….. we go…………..!
Dancing on a Flame of Fate
Muggle….Not
As fourteen year old Lily Evans slept, she dreamed, or rather, remembered.
The first memory was a good one. It happened when Lily was five, a happy and carefree young child. The Evans' family was having a picnic. It was a bright sunny day, and it was just Petunia, Lily, and their father; they were all that was left of the Evans' and Burleck family.
Lily hopped about the field, jumping and frolicking as little children often do, skipping unconcernedly from one activity to the next. She chased a butterfly, face glowing, golden red hair flowing messily behind her. The next moment, she had pounced upon a yellow flower that was bobbing prettily in the wind. Her energy radiated happiness and bliss and curiousity. She tumbled and leaped; even then possessing the grace of a dancer.
Frank Evans, done playing with Petunia, swooped Lily into his arms. Lily giggled delightedly. Turning in his big arms, she placed her hands on either side of his whiskery face and squished his cheeks in towards his nose, as was habit of Lily every time she was taken into her father's arms. Mr. Evans scrunched his face and Lily burst out laughing, a strong, clear, bubbling laugh that made Mr. Evans' face dance.
The next memory was also a happy one. It was of Lily's first dance lesson. Lily had pleaded and pleaded her father to allow her to take lessons for dance. And, finally, seeing that she would get her way one way or the other, Mr. Evans gave in.
What was hard for many people came easily for Lily. She possessed an inner strength and grace that only aided her dancing. She progressed at a rapid rate and her teacher had to move her out of four classes because she mastered the material so easily. By the time Mr. Evans left, she had been in seven major productions, four of which she had starred in.
And after he left the girls on their own, dancing was what she lived for. School held no interest for her, though she was exceptionally bright. She got up every morning to dance.
The last memory was a painful one.
Nine year old Lily came home from an afternoon of dance. She burst through the doors, absolutely beaming. "Daddy! Guess what! Lisa said in three more months, if I work very hard, I can begin Pointe! Isn't that wonderf-" S0he broke off, staring around the living room. "What's wrong?"
Lily stood in the doorway of the living room. It was in disarray. Furniture was smashed and broken, the bookcase had been toppled over and pages from random books floated in the air. One section of rug was burned. Petunia sat on the couch, head down, tears streaming from her eyes. Her father stood stiffly, face red and eyes livid. And, what surprised Lily most, a woman scantily clad stood next to him, one hip jutting out, a bored look on her face. Between her fingers she twirled a stick.
Mr. Evans gave a disgusted look at Lily. He grabbed the woman's waist and pushed past Lily. Lily stumbled, but quickly caught herself. "Dad?" The couple continued to walk. Lily trotted up beside her father and tugged on his sleeve.
"Dad, is everything alright?" They had arrived outside the house. A hot new red sports car that Lily had failed to notice on the way in was parked beside the sidewalk. Mr. Evan's stopped in his tracks. The woman kept walking.
"Dad! What's wrong!"
Her father's face loomed close to hers. His face was a mask of calm, except a rapidly pulsing vein in his forehead. As he breathed down on her, Lily shrunk away… his breath smelled like alcohol! He NEVER drank alcohol! He had always said that his family were alcoholics, so he never drank. But now she smelled it on his breath, thick and rancid. "Nothing's wrong," he said sweetly. "I am just taking a vacation."
And with that, he left.
To Lily, it seemed as if he had been whisked away by the Devil himself, never to return again.
I am just taking a vacation…
I am just taking a vacation…
I am just taking a vacation…
The echoing words slowly faded into silence in Lily's sleeping mind. Darkness enveloped her once again.
Lily woke up to the sound of quiet, quick footsteps bustling about her. She drearily opened one eye, but snapped it shut.
Slowly, she forced her eyes open.
A woman in a friendly white uniform walked around the room, placing things here, fixing wrinkles out of Lily's bed, and trying to keep herself busy. Lily ignored the woman and concentrated on herself. Oh! I'm so sore! she thought, the muscles in her back throbbing.
She groaned and tried to sit up.
The woman turned at Lily's noise. "My," she said in a motherly tone, "you sounded like a cat, just there!"
Lily chuckled nervously, and tried to force a smile on her face, but her attempt was lost as her head became too heavy for her neck, and she collapsed back onto the bed. "I don't mean to be rude, but, who are you? And where am I?" Lily's voice was hoarse. "Ugh," Lily smacked her lips together; her mouth was paper dry, "I feel like I flew through the air and landed on my back."
The lady smiled weirdly at Lily, "Well, I'm afraid that just about sums it up,"
"What?"
The lady chuckled at Lily, handing her a glass of water, "See if you can swallow that," she told Lily tenderly. Turning to Lily's many questions she said, "You flew through the air after the explosion. Lucky for you, you landed on a kid's old trampoline. It gave you some support, but you broke through that and landed on the grass. I'd say you should be hurting, girl. That's why you're here. At the hospital."
Lily stared at her, eyebrows at the level of her hairline, mouth open.
The lady tapped Lily's chin. "Close your mouth, you look like a fish."
Lily blushed and closed her mouth. Clearing her throat, she asked, "So, err, where am I? And what's your name? I'm Lily Evans."
The lady smiled. "My name is Nancy Kaplut. I'm going to be your nurse at St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
Lily frowned, "St. Mungo's Whatty-whatty-what?" pausing, "Did you say Magical?"
Nancy's smile wavered, but she quickly covered it up, "That explosion knocked some sense out of you!"
Lily suddenly became silent. The explosion, she thought, I killed those two people, I know I did. How horrible of me! Lily's stubborn side rolled her eyes, They weren't exactly innocents; THEY killed fifteen people! And how do you know it was you who killed them? It was just an explosion. It's not as if you created it! Lily shrugged to herself, then memories of her recent dreams came back to her. Flashes of her father and Petunia. Her father. What would Dad think of this? whispered her mind. Two tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. He wouldn't, because he left me for a whore.
Lily sat up again and swung her gorgeous red hair in front of her face. It was a fiery barrier between her tears and the outside world. She cried for the people she had killed. She cried for her mother and her father. She cried for herself.
She felt the weight of the bed shift as Nancy sat down next to her and took her in her arms. "Shh…shhh…It'll be alright. I'm here,' Lily let herself be rocked back and forth by this stranger. Lily's tears suddenly stopped as she realized something.
Laughing almost wetly, she said, "This is the first time since my mother died that I have been hugged by another woman," she confessed.
Nancy clucked under her breath, but didn't say anything. Lily continued, "My entire family died at a family reunion in a fire except my father and Petunia. I was three. Dad managed well enough, but then, one day……" Lily sobbed in deeply, "I came home from school and our house was in ruin. It was as if a fight had happened in our living room. Daddy had been drinking, but he never drank! There was a lady there, and he left with her. He told me he would be back, but he never came! He never came!"
Nancy squeezed Lily harder. "Oh, I know, sweetie, I know."
"No! You don't know. Me and Petty have been lucky because the government kept us together, but we've been sent from person to person. I haven't slept in the same bed for more than five weeks! You don't know what it's like!"
Nancy sat Lily back up and looked her hard in the face. "I was in an orphanage for the first ten years of my life. Until I got my Hogwarts letter, that is. And after that, the Ministry found me a nice wizarding family."
Lily temporarily forgot her misery. "I knew it! You did say magic!"
Nancy smiled guiltily at Lily. "I guess I'm as good a person as any to tell you. Lily, to put it simply, you are a witch," Lily gaped at her, she hadn't been expecting that! "Magic exists…see?" she pulled a stick from her pocket and waved it in the air. The words, 'I love strawberry ice cream' appeared above her head.
Lily stared from Nancy, to Nancy's wand, to the sparkling, but slowly fading, words. So what if magic exists? But am I really a witch? She asked herself. She suddenly remembered her dance lesson. She had felt a tingle of something in her body. And then, just before she blew up the neighborhood, she felt a surge of power. She grinned to herself. Yes, I am most definitely a witch!
Looking to Nancy, she said, "I believe you."
Nancy chuckled. "Well that's always good."
Lily and Nancy laughed at their own foolery.
To nerdysunny's question- why did I repost this story?-
Mostly because I love the plot I had set up for it! I tried to write a couple different stories after I took this one off, but they weren't working for me, so I came back to it, did a little fixing up, and now I have to write like crazy! ;-P
To eleira312's question-Am I going to make Petunia dislike Lily, and is Lily going to be sad?-
What fun would it be if I told now? But I promise...something will (or already has and the reader hasn't heard about it yet) happen between them soon that will change their relationship. (hint hint... next chapter... hint hint)
Thnx! Please review! It helps.. you have no idea!
