b Chapter 4 - Remembering /b

Lily fell through a nameless darkness. Her arms grasped for something to hold on to, anything, but there was nothing there to grab; down she fell, into a bottomless pit of hopelessness and fear. She tried to concentrate on what had happened. Everything was happening in a blur; how was she supposed to tell reality from dream? Now the part of her mind that normally hid now came out and whispered that she i had /i to remember what had happened. Otherwise she would never get out of this place, wherever that was. Concentrating, she sifted her memories, searching for the right answers.

i Her parents had told her she had powers. Magic, they had said. Lily had argued at first, but slowly she began to agree. Everything had been going fine. What had gone wrong?

/i Biting her lip to focus, Lily kept going through her memory, knowing this would hurt. i

Her mom and dad had been relieved that she had taken in this information. Then they had started to tell her something about a brother. /i You have a twin brother, i they had said. /i His name is Harry Potter. You'll have to go to school with him. We're sure you'll love him Lilly, dear, don't wory i They had been about to tell her about some sort of magical boarding school when the front door had blown up. A dozen people dressed in black fabric and wearing masks came into the room, smashing her mothers prized vases as they did. Her mom and dad had stepped in front of her to protect her. And then, something that would haunt Lilly for the rest of her life: a high, maniacal laughter followed by a terrifying voice that said, /i 'Kill him' i …

/i It was all coming back to her now. Tears spilt down her cheeks. She promised herself that she would hunt down the speaker, and her fathers murderer, and she would kill them. Her father had been innocent, protecting his family. Why would someone want to hurt them?

The rest of the night rushed to get to her, and her mothers murder, the boy Harry, and the snake slithering out of the door rushed past her in a blur as she started to ascend towards consciousness.

--

Harry felt somebody shaking him and calling his name. He blinked and tried to sit up. He was in bed, in what he recognized as Ron's room at the Burrow. Directly above him stood a worried looking Mrs. Weasly and an equally worried Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. The events of the night dawned on him, and he sat up in a hurry.

'Where's Lilly? What happened? We were attacked – i he /i knew!' Harry looked into his friends' eyes, pleading for them to tell him. 'Please, Mrs. Weasly, what happened? Did Voldemort really -'

It was Hermione who answered his question at long last. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke, and then Harry knew it had all been real. Voldemort had destroyed yet another person's life.

'She's at St. Mungo's, Harry. We don't know what happened, but she's in some sort of trance,' she said before continuing in a shaky voice. 'She wasn't even breathing at first. When Professor Lupin found you, he thought you were both dead. B-b-but th-then w-we checked her p-pulse a-and w-we realized she was st-still alive.' Hermione was now openly crying, talking and sobbing at the same time. Ron seemed to think it was time for a change of subject.

'She'll be ok, mate. We'll go visit her, but let's eat something first, ok?' he said casually. At that moment Harry was more grateful to his friends than ever before. They would help, no matter how bad things got. He gave them a sad smile.

'Ok.'

--

Harry sat next to the hospital bed, gazing at his sister in a sad sort of way. She had been this way for three days now, and still she didn't look as though she was breathing. With a sigh, Harry began the all-too-familiar game of describe-the-room-with-your-eyes-closed. There was a hospital bed in the middle of the room, upon which his sister lay in a motionless self-induced slumber. Beside it was the chair he sat in. A shelf ran around three of the walls; every square inch of it was covered with flowers, teddy bears, get well cards and sweets. On her bedside table was a photo of her and her parents: they were all happy, hugging each other with huge smiles. Beside it lay a copy to the i Daily Prophet /i . The headline screamed: b Harry Potters Twin Sister: Exclusive Interviews With Neighbours and Friends /b

Outside the door were two thugs, as Ron had described them, sent by the Ministry for their protection. Yet Harry knew that life had been destroyed for his sister. He felt under his skin, in his veins, and in his heart; a terrible sadness that was the reason Lilly wouldn't wake up. Lilly had given up on life. She had lost everything, and now she lay here, an inch from death but still alive.

Harry opened his eyes and sighed again. He was sighing a lot lately, he noticed. Exhausted from hours of worry, he lowered his head gingerly into his hand, the one that held his sisters. About to fall asleep, Harry woke with a start was one of Lily's fingers twitched. He sat up with a hurry and looked at her face. Her eyes began to twitch. With a gasp for air, Lilly Potter opened her eyes and came back to the realm of life.

--

i Author's Note: I find it a really terrifying experience to be writing this fic. I am working in JKs universe, and if I don't do it justice, I will feel guilty for the rest of my life… I found this chapter particularly difficult to write, as there were so many ways Lilly could handle her parents' deaths… I hope you enjoyed it, and from now on I promise that it will get happier, funnier and generally much less depressing.

I have decided that I am going to be stubborn and not update until I get at least five reviews on this chapter! I hope you take some time to comment, as I really appreciate it!

'Till next time,

Lilly Potter /i