Somebody was knocking at Lily's door. She rolled over, pulling her blanket tightly around her chest, hoping Aunt Petunia would give up on trying to wake her. She'd be punished for it, but it was almost worth it. She'd just get punished for something else, anyway. Might as well do something she wanted. Lily pressed her forehead against the cupboard wall, enjoying the cool feeling on her warm body.
They knocked on her door again. Lily sighed, then opened her eyes to the dark room, a ray of light coming through the curtains closed around her window. She could still feel the cold pressure on her forehead. The face of Gwenog Jones was staring down at her from her ceiling. She wondered how hard it would be to move the poster to where it'd be a bit less creepy. Would it even be worth the effort?
"Lily, time to get up," Mrs. Weasley said as she knocked on the door again.
Was I dreaming? Lily thought. The more she tried to remember it, the further back into her mind it went, until she couldn't remember what she was even trying to do. All that was left to her was the familiar fear that so often filled her soul.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Gwenog Jones winked at her as she opened them back up, and Lily winked back. She swung her legs out of her warm bed, toes briefly tapping on the frigid flooring as they failed to find her slippers.
There was no breakfast waiting on her desk this morning. She rubbed at her eyes again, wondering how long she could continue sleeping before Mrs. Weasley came back up to oust her from her room.
Lily decided she didn't need to shower first thing this morning; her heart just wasn't in it quite yet. Instead, she shambled down into the kitchen, still half-asleep, her heavy feet colliding with each rickety stair, covered by her pink slippers. Ron made fun of her when she bought them, but she thought the little pig snouts were cute.
She spotted her ornaments from the previous night hanging on the tree's limbs as she passed it. Her rendition of the Chudley Cannon Seeker was sitting next to Ron's much earlier attempt of the full team, her Gryffindor team sitting near the top, towards the star adorning the whole thing.
"Morning," Lily said as she finally shuffled her way into the kitchen. Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table with the paper, a plate of food sitting untouched in front of him and a cup of tea resting near his right hand. Mrs. Weasley was fussing over a pan on the stove. It smelled nice. Lily sat in the first available chair, right across from Mr. Weasley.
"Morning," Mr. Weasley said with a smile. "Sleep well?"
"No," Lily answered with a yawn.
Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley was sliding a plate of sausage, beans, and toast in front of Lily before sweeping back over to the counter where the tea kettle was waiting.
"Two sugars, dear?" she said without waiting for confirmation. Lily nodded, even though the woman couldn't see it.
"Saw your light on a few hours ago," Mr. Weasley admitted as his wife slid Lily her cup of tea. "Had to send a quick message to the office."
Lily didn't really like tea with her breakfast, but she took a sip anyway, and made sure to give Mrs. Weasley a kind smile in thanks.
"I went to bed late," Lily admitted. "The ghoul wouldn't stop howling, so- I was reading about Nifflers and Acromantulas, and then I couldn't fall asleep because I was thinking about Acromantulas."
"Don't show Ron that part, Lily," Mrs. Weasley said as she sat down between Lily and her husband. "He hates spiders. Freaks out whenever he sees even a tiny one."
"Do ghouls eat spiders?" Lily asked out loud. She could feel a blush rising quickly; she didn't like to ask stupid questions. But Ron lived next to the attic, which was where the ghoul was kept, so she couldn't help but wonder.
"Yes," Mr. Weasley answered. "He keeps the house pest free. We had to scold him the one time he got ahold of Scabbers; he eats rats, too. Didn't seem too interested in Scabbers, though, so we got him back."
"We're a bit worried that's where Neville's toad has gone,' Mrs. Weasley said in a whisper. "Haven't seen him around lately."
"I'd be more worried about Trevor attacking the ghoul," Lily said.
"Have you ever prepared a goose, Lily?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"No," Lily answered sheepishly. She did most of the cooking when she lived with the Dursleys, but the big holidays meals she was locked away for, since they almost always had company over.
"You're welcome to help me next week, if you'd like," Mrs. Weasley offered. "We'll season it the night before, and then it goes in the oven Christmas morning."
"It's not too late to come with us if you want, Lily," Mr. Weasley said. "We can leave the house empty for a few hours, really, there's no need to stay here alone."
"No, I'll stay," Lily said. She was looking forward to it, actually. She could do a bit of snooping (which she probably wouldn't actually do) or just read a book in front of the fireplace while sitting in Mr. Weasley's spot (which she would definitely actually do).
"If you're sure," Mrs. Weasley said. "We'll be going after breakfast, if you change your mind. We have some shopping of our own that we need to get done."
"I really don't mind!"
"It'll be a late dinner, I'm afraid," Mrs. Weasley said.
"I'll cook!"
Mrs. Weasley looked shocked at the mere suggestion.
"Sorry," Lily quickly said. "I just thought-"
"Are you sure?" Mrs. Weasley said instead. "None of the others have ever volunteered before. I've always had to drag Ginny kicking and screaming, and the boys would just leave as soon as my back was turned."
"I've helped plenty of times," Mr. Weasley said.
Mrs. Weasley pat her husband fondly on the hand. "You're too busy with work, dear, I'd never ask you to."
"I told you over the summer," Lily said. "I don't mind cooking, really, I like it."
"Well, if you're sure," Mrs. Weasley said. "I won't stop you. Merlin knows it'll be nice to have a break for once. Just try not to burn the house down, that's all I ask."
"I won't," Lily agreed. She popped a sausage in her mouth while she thought of the possibilities.
And with that, the two Weasleys began gathering their things. Mr. Weasley put on a hat to cover his balding head, Mrs. Weasley threw on a robe over her thick sweater and grabbed her absurdly large purse, and then they were out the door. They climbed into the blue Ford Anglia, the engine roared to life, and then it was crawling down the driveway. They turned the corner at the road, and Lily lost sight of it.
Now that she finally found herself completely alone, Lily had no idea what to do with her time. She started with a shower, then realized she had no clean clothes to wear. She had to settle for a school robe, grumbling as she had to pull on a skirt (she wore trousers under her robes while home), then carried her massive load of dirty laundry downstairs. As she stood in the living room, she realized the Weasleys didn't own a washer, and she never saw how Mrs. Weasley always did everything. She glanced down towards the orange cat that was following behind her.
"How do we wash clothes?" she asked him. The cat titled its head in response, staring at her with his piercing green eyes. Lily sighed, then took her clothes back up. It was a bit embarrassing, but she'd just have to wear the school robes until they all got home.
Lily grabbed her book on magical creatures before heading back downstairs. Weasley was sitting at the bottom step, staring up at her, and ran in a quick circle once she came back around the corner. She sat down on Mr. Weasley's favourite worn armchair, right by the fireplace, and the cat hopped up into her lap right. Lily spent the rest of the morning there, reading all about ghouls. She had to skip a few sections to get there, passing over Hippogriffs, Cockatrices, and Basilisks, but she wanted to know more about the thing that lived above them all. Turns out they did mostly eat vermin, but she couldn't find anything about frogs or toads.
Making up her mind after reading the last passage, she closed her book shut and tossed it onto the open couch. That startled the cat on her lap, and he went running for the kitchen where it was much safer.
"Sorry, Weasley," Lily called after him. She hopped up from her seat, deciding she'd pay the ghoul a visit, if only to see what they actually looked like. She had to know if the book was accurate.
She climbed all the way to the top of the stairs, her cat following tentatively after her. He maintained a safe distance from her. Lily couldn't help but feel that he was remembering the times she fell down the stairs while at the Longbottom's.
"Dobby isn't here, Weasley," she said to the cat. "I hope, anyway."
The top floor of the Burrow was taken up mostly by Ron's room, but there was a small landing where one could pull a cord to lower the stairs to the attic. It was a tight fit. Lily had to hop to grab onto the cord, and her weight pulled the stairs down with her. She squeaked as it all crashed rather loudly onto the floor, and she almost stumbled backwards down the staircase from whence she came.
"Maybe this was a bad idea," she said to Weasley's frightened face standing on the other side of the hallway, near where Ron's door was. She briefly considered exploring Ron's room, instead, when she heard a low moan coming from the attic above her. She let out a low moan, herself, then took a tentative first step onto the ladder. Steeling her courage further, she took another step, and then another.
"I'm a Gryffindor," she told herself. "I'm a Gryffindor."
Lily poked the top of her head above the dark archway. Just as she thought, there was nothing to see. She tried to let out a deep breath to calm herself, but she could hear something shuffling around near the back wall, even if the light didn't reach that far. She wondered if she really wanted to see it, but she dug her wand out of her robes.
"I'm a Gryffindor," she told herself one last time as she held her wand above her head. "Lumos."
Her wand lit up, and a small blob darted at her from the shadows. Lily let out a shriek and instinctively tried to jump back. Her legs hit open air as she fell backwards.
Save the wand! she thought.
She tossed it upwards, the light vanishing beyond her vision as she collided with the floor below.
Unfortunately, her fall didn't stop there. She hit the top stair, and soon found herself tumbling down to the next landing, where she collapsed into a heap of pain and shame. She laid on the ground, face first, wondering if it was even worth moving. Something jumped onto her back, and she let out a groan as the fat toad croaked on top of her.
"Sod off, Trevor," she whined. She heard Weasley hiss from above, and she looked up towards the noise. She expected to see the orange feline staring at the toad he feared so much.
Instead, she saw a miniature, wrinkly, gray ogre descending the stairs towards her, carrying her wand in one hand and a large pipe in its other. Lily let another high-pitched squeal as the ghoul slumped towards her. She couldn't find the strength to move, even though she was certain she was about to die.
The ghoul let out another groan as he stood above Lily. Then, it bent down, and Lily could smell the musk coming off of it. That only solidified her omen of death further into her mind.
The ghoul placed Lily's wand gently next to her, putting it close to her left hand. Then, it scooped Trevor up in its now free arm, turned, and began climbing up the way it came, letting out another moan as it smacked the wall with its pipe. The toad, it seemed, now belonged to the Weasley ghoul.
"Thank you," Lily said quietly as the ghoul closed its staircase, trapping itself in darkness once more.
At least it looked like the picture, Lily thought as she continued laying on the floor. Weasley came down to join her soon after and took Trevor's spot as he laid down comfortably on her back. Lily laid her head back down on the chilly floor, apparently settling in for a nap on the cramped stairway.
Eventually, the cat had mercy on her, and she managed to crawl her way back to the comfy armchair in front of a dying fire. She didn't notice the flames were dwindling until she sat back down, unfortunately, so she had to get back up, march in the cold to where the Weasley's kept their firewood, grab as much as her arms could carry, and march back through the even colder before she could finally bring the flames back to life. She sat down once again, realized she left her book laying on the couch across the room and gave up, since her cat was already snuggled into her lap. This time, she really did take a nap, as she didn't think she'd ever felt quite this cozy.
She woke up a few hours later, long after missing a proper lunchtime, and realized with great impunity that she really should get supper going, as the sun was already starting to set. She didn't know when the train would arrive at the station, and she couldn't, for the life of her, remember how long the drive back would take.
She pulled the croissants out of the oven just as she saw a pair of headlights pull into the drive. She wiped the sweat from her brow, then her hands on her borrowed apron. She realized the kitchen was a mess, and she absolutely did not have the time to clean it by hand, so she whisked her wand out of her pocket, and had it all done in a jiffy, stowing it back in just as she began to hear voices outside.
"Smells good, Lilypad," Fred said as he pushed inside the house, his trunk pulled behind him. Lily shoved him on his left shoulder, but he barely budged.
"Are you still on about that?" Lily grumbled.
"Yeah, almost smells edible," George agreed with a wink, ignoring her completely and pulling his own trunk along. Lily gave him a shove, too. They were still wearing their school robes, albeit disheveled ones. In fact, the whole lot of children were wearing them. Lily was thankful to have her sleeves rolled up and an apron covering her skirt. With any luck, they wouldn't notice that she was also wearing her uniform.
"You go ahead and wash up, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, pointing to said arms. "I'll get everything plated here, and then we'll all eat."
Lily shrugged. She handed her apron over to the waiting woman, gave Ginny a quick hug, and then pushed past Ron as she went for the stairs towards the bathroom. Lily had to wait a bit for the water to get warm, during which Ron stopped by the bathroom, briefly leaning in to say something.
"We'll talk later," he said, gesturing with his head to his trunk. "Come up to my room after everyone's in bed."
"All right," Lily said quietly. Ron nodded solemnly, then got back to pulling his trunk up the stairs. Ginny was complaining below him, urging him to get a move on. She also stopped into the bathroom briefly, accepting another awkward hug from Lily, who now had wet arms.
"Why are you wearing your school clothes?" Ginny asked as they broke off.
"Ran out of other things to wear," Lily answered. "Why are you all still wearing yours?"
"The Governors decided we needed to maintain the uniform when on school property, of which the train counts, apparently," Ginny answered with a roll of her eyes. "How's it been back here? Hope mum hasn't been bothering you too much."
"S'been fine," Lily said with yet another shrug as she dried off her hands and forearms. "Read a lot, mostly."
"Well, we can talk tomorrow," Ginny said. "I'm exhausted. Courtney's been keeping us up all night with her crying."
"What's she crying for?" Lily asked, wondering why she felt so much sympathy for a girl she didn't even know.
"She's Muggleborn," Ginny explained with a big yawn and stretch. "She's worried Slytherin's monster is going to come for her since you- never mind."
"Since I what?" Lily asked nervously, regretting her previous sympathy.
"I said never mind," Ginny said quickly. She disappeared around the corner just as quickly, leaving Lily wondering to herself in the bathroom.
Lily threw her robe back on as she came downstairs to cover her already cold legs. She could see Mrs. Weasley already standing at the kitchen sink, getting a head start on washing the pots and pans while the children got their things settled. Mr. Weasley was sitting in his customary chair, staring into the flames. Lily wondered why he wasn't at the table.
"Your things are next to the door," he said in a tired voice with an equally tired smile. "Why don't you run them upstairs before we eat?"
Lily shrugged again. She wished somebody had mentioned that to her before she went upstairs the first time. Would have saved her a lot of effort.
She grabbed the bag, left standing next to the entryway wall, and shoved her way past Fred and George. They were talking about some sort of pixie they trapped in a school cupboard, and didn't seem to take notice of her. She wondered if they stole one of Lockhart's; he released them on a different class on that first day in September, and most of them escaped after the students failed to capture them. They still cropped up, occasionally, even after the hard work the staff did to get rid of them. Lily was pretty sure Peeves was moving them around during the night.
She closed her door behind her to get a bit of peace and quiet, now that the house was suddenly very loud with chatter and laughter. The Weasleys picked up a sketchbook for her, albeit one that seemed noticeably secondhand. It must have been stored in someone's attic as it went unused; it smelled a bit stuffy.
She loved it.
The sketching instruments she wasn't as sure about; there was a compass, which she wasn't sure she'd use, as well as some sort of large metallic rod that ended in a point. She never saw that in any Muggle classes and she had absolutely no idea what it was for. There were some new paints and brushes to go with it all, at least. She left it all sitting on her desk so she could go eat. She hesitated briefly when she went to open the door, wondering if she'd be able to sneak a plate upstairs if she waited long enough. She pushed that urge out of her head, then went to join the rest of the family.
Lily was the first one sitting at the table and she waited patiently for the other Weasleys to make their way to it, dutifully ignoring her plate until they were all seated. Ron was the last one down, and she wasted no time digging in with him.
"Very good food, dear," Mrs. Weasley offered. That put a smile on her face, even if she was the only one to say anything.
"So," Mr. Weasley said between bites. "How was school?"
"Terrible," Fred said.
"Won't let us wander about anymore," George clarified. "We have to go everywhere as a group."
"Well, dear, there is a monster about," Mrs. Weasley said as if it was perfectly normal.
"That's not all," Ginny continued. "They keep introducing new rules every day! They tried to give me detention when I broke one that hadn't even been announced yet!"
"And what did you do?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Nothing!" Ginny argued.
"She tried to sneak off into the bathroom when nobody was looking," Percy said stuffily. "Caught her myself."
"What, is it illegal to use the bathroom now?" Ginny whined. "I still don't see the problem."
"The problem, dear sister," Percy said, "Is that you did so without consulting a professor or Prefect. If you had just asked-"
"I am not asking somebody before I use the loo, Percy," Ginny said. "Not in our own common room."
"Well, we'll just have to write the school about this, won't we, dear?" Mrs. Weasley said. "Honestly, not letting kids use their own bathrooms, what are the staff thinking?"
"It's not Dumbledore's choice, Mum," Ron said. "It's the Governors, they're making all the changes themselves. Said they're even bringing in a private investigator next semester to search the school."
"Make sure you lot don't get in their way," Mr. Weasley said with a sharp look towards the twins. "One suspension is enough, we won't have the rest of you getting blamed."
Lily pushed her last carrot around her plate awkwardly. She just couldn't bring herself to eat it. She wasn't sure she liked carrots very much. Wasn't sure why she even made them.
"Well, aside from all of that," Mrs. Weasley said after the pause. "How's Quidditch going, boys?"
"Terrible," Fred said again.
"Ron won't stop dropping the Quaffle during practice," George clarified. "Can hardly keep his hands on it. Don't know how you made it through the last game."
"I can't help it," Ron grumbled. "It's been raining the last few weeks, George. I'd like to see you catch it when your fingers are nearly frozen."
"Let's not forget all the new tryouts, either," Fred said. "Half the House is coming for your position, Lily. There's an ongoing bet as to whether you'll even be coming-"
"Fred!" Mrs. Weasley said.
"Right, sorry, Mum," Fred said awkwardly. "Forgot, is all."
"I think you owe Lily an apology, Fred," Mr. Weasley said. Lily felt the eyes turn towards her.
"It's all right," Lily said awkwardly. "Really, I don't mind. If you'll excuse me, I- err- need to wash up."
Lily stood from the table, brushing off a hand from Ginny, and made her leave. She made her way upstairs, passed the bathroom up, and closed the door behind her once she made it to her room. She let out a deep breath once she was alone. She wasn't sure why she felt so sad.
She sat on her bed, reading the next passage on Clabberts, a monkey-frog creature native to the southern United States. Britain apparently had them now, too, due to a shipping error that went horribly, horrifically wrong. At least their pustules were useful in potion making for making a solution thicker. That made her get up, even though she didn't want to, and she dug out her Potions book. She had a list near the very back of the book for generic uses for ingredients, and she made a notation there before continuing her reading session.
Lily heard chatter as the other Weasleys made their way past her room. She heard somebody stop briefly outside her door, but whoever it was, they thought better of knocking, and they made their way up.
Lily spent another hour reading before she finally thought it was late enough to sneak upstairs to Ron's. Not that she had to sneak; she was pretty sure she was allowed up there. She just never tried before.
The stairway was dark as Lily closed her door behind her, and every step she took almost gave her a heart attack; these stairs were much louder when everybody was trying to sleep. She saw light creeping under the door from the room containing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and she even thought she heard them talking about something inside. She was curious, but she didn't want to create another incident like she had with Percy; she noticed the snobby Prefect was still avoiding her gaze. He took the furthest seat from hers at the table, and didn't so much as spare her a glance the entire time.
Ron also still had a light peeking under his door when she arrived. She noticed the floor was a bit scuffed from where she had her fall earlier, but she did her best to ignore that. She knocked as lightly as she could, and she heard Ron scuffle inside as he made his way to open it.
"Come on," Ron said in a harsh whisper. "Before anyone sees."
"Why all the secrecy?" Lily asked as she pushed inside. Ron's room was very bright and very cramped. It was covered in orange posters of the Chudley Cannons, the largest one taking up the ceiling above Ron's bed, depicting the entire team practicing with the Quaffle (Lily was sure she saw one of the Chasers drop it). She had no earthly idea why the Weasleys were so fond of placing posters above where they slept. Scabbers was laying on Ron's pillow, already settling in for an extremely long nap. Lily thought he was looking even fatter than usual.
"You don't want mum finding out about the map, do you?" Ron asked as he sat down on his mattress. "You did bring it with you, right?"
"She'd probably just toss it out," Lily said with a shrug. "And if you wanted me to bring it, you should have said so."
She leaned against Ron's desk, her hand resting near the sleeping rat's cage. Ron would move Scabbers into it eventually, she hoped. Neville said he liked to sleep with it on his pillow, but she couldn't imagine that was true. At the very least, he surely wouldn't do it here. His mum would throw a fit if she found out.
"Probably wouldn't matter anyway," Ron said. "Castle's empty."
He was now holding Scabbers in one hand, and petting him with the other. Lily didn't like rats very much, but she did find Ron's fondness for the thing adorable.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked once the boy lapsed into silence again.
"They made everybody go home for the Holidays," Ron finally said. "Lavender said her parents were really upset about it, they had to cancel plans at the last minute. They wanted the castle empty so they could do a full sweep."
"How is my name supposed to get cleared if there's nobody in the castle?" Lily said with a sigh.
"You really want someone to get attacked?"
"Well, no, but it'd be convenient. If somebody was attacked while I wasn't there, then it couldn't be me, could it?"
"Speaking of which," Ron said far more quietly, "don't be mad, but there's word going around the school that you're behind the attacks."
"Me?" Lily said in a tone of fake outrage. "Wherever could they get that idea from, Ron?"
"Fine, I get the point," Ron said. "But, still, people are starting to believe it. Gryffindor is still on your side, of course, but word is the Hufflepuffs have made an agreement to avoid you."
"Well, that's going to be hard to do," Lily said angrily. "We have classes together, what do they think will happen then?"
"Probably that you're going to attack them all at once," Ron said.
"How's Neville?" Lily asked more seriously. She'd been trying to find a good segue, but she decided the dead silence was as good as it was going to get.
"Petrified, like the rest of them," Ron said sadly. "They wouldn't let me see him for two days. Lucky they didn't search his robes, or they would have found the map in his pocket. He didn't even wipe it before storing it."
"Do you know why he went out?" Lily asked.
Ron shook his head. "Didn't wake me. Dean and Seamus would have heard, they're light sleepers. He must have seen something, though. Why else would Neville of all people sneak out after curfew?"
"Oh!" Lily squeaked as she thought of something. "Maybe he saw me!"
"Pardon?' Ron said. "Did you actually sneak out in the middle of the night, even after everything you-"
"No, no, no," Lily said quickly, "I was sitting in the common room, relaxing a bit after Hermione went up to bed, when Dobby showed back up."
"Dobby? You think he went after Dobby?"
"No, shut up and listen," Lily said. "I don't think he saw Dobby, or he would have come down sooner, we were talking for a while. But before Dobby left, my scar started hurting, and I tried to get up the boys' stair to come get you. But Dobby must have done something, because I heard him snap his fingers, and then I woke up in my bed."
"So you think he was coming down to see what you wanted?" Ron said after she was finished.
"Exactly!" Lily said, pointing a finger at him in her excitement.
"But, then, why did he go outside?"
"Oh," Lily said as her finger drooped. "Maybe he saw Dobby leave and followed after him?"
"House elves can apparate, why would he take the portrait?"
"You can't apparate in Hogwarts, it says so in-"
"Hogwarts: A History, yes, fine, but House Elf magic works differently from wizard magic. How else did he even get in?"
"That is another good point," Lily admitted. "Maybe he checked the map again to see where I'd gone to, and he saw somebody else sneaking around?"
"But then why wouldn't he just come and get me?" Ron asked wisely. "We both agreed not to go chasing after the culprit without the other."
Lily scratched at her chin. "Where did they find him?"
"Between the second and third floors, on the staircase."
"Why would he go all the way down there?" Lily asked.
"We can ask him once he's back," Ron said. "Dumbledore told us all that Sprout's mandrakes should be ready before the summer, but he's asked the Ministry to acquire a shipment of them so we can make the potion faster."
"Why don't they just ask St. Mungos?" Lily asked.
Ron shook his head. "Ginny asked the same on the car ride back. Dad said petrification on this level is really rare, and St. Mungos didn't have the proper solutions on hand. He also said the Ministry will take forever to get any mandrakes, assuming the request goes through at all. They don't grow here in Britain, not anymore. Best case scenario, the whole thing will be solved by February."
"And worst-case scenario?" Lily asked fearfully.
"Hogwarts will close down before the summer," Ron said. She'd never heard him this nervous before, and she felt her own stomach drop at the mere thought of it. She wondered what they'd do if Hogwarts closed down, where she'd even go. She couldn't go back to the Dursleys, but would the Weasleys still be okay with her being here? Gran certainly wouldn't take her back at this point, she thought Lily almost killed her grandson. She was about to ask a follow-up question, when a sound from the attic above caused her to jump from fright.
"You should get back downstairs," Ron said. "The ghoul gets upset when there's too much noise at night, and we don't want mum coming up."
"I thought he didn't like things being too quiet?"
"No, he likes that. These are different noises."
"Fine," Lily said. She could take a hint.
Ron wanted to be left alone. She couldn't blame him; his best friend was petrified, and he was sitting there talking to the one accused of doing it.
She waved over her shoulder as she pushed her way out of the room, and she heard Ron close the door behind her. She took the stairs as gingerly as she could, stopping in fright at each creak it made. She was sure that the adults were going to storm out and see what all the racket was about when she accidentally stumbled over Weasley right next to their room. She heard them shuffle, but the door never opened. She hurried past afterwards, the furry culprit swatting at her heels playfully.
Weasley slid inside her room first, and she closed the door gently behind the both of them. Mrs. Weasley would let the cat out when she got up, Lily knew that from experience. Otherwise, he spent the night in her bed. Lily stretched with a big yawn, then let out a little squeak when she heard a tapping at her window. There was an owl, and her heart skipped a beat when she thought of Katie already sending another letter. Then she recognized it as a much smaller, whiter owl, named Hedwig. The same owl, as a matter of fact, that she gave as a Christmas present to Hermione during their first year. This was good timing; she could send Hermione's gift.
She let the owl in, noting that it was carrying a small book with it. That, surely, wasn't what Lily asked for. She set the thing aside while she took the letter off the top, scratching the owl's head affectionately as she read.
Dear Lily,
I'll get the supplies for you as soon as I can. Mum says she'll take me out tomorrow. I didn't know you liked art! You'll have to show me sometime!
For now, I thought I'd send you something special. I'll need him back when we return to school, but I managed to convince him to talk to you over the break. I'll miss him dearly, so please be nice to him. Tom's gotten me through a lot this year.
Merry Christmas
Hermione Granger
"Tom?" Lily asked as she eyed the book sitting next to her fingertips. Hedwig nipped at them, so she offered the snowy beast an owl treat while she tied Hermione's gift to her leg. The owl ate, drank a bit of water from Weasley's dish, and then flew out the window. With that matter solved, Lily sat back at her desk, taking the journal in hand.
It was a small, worn, black leather journal. Lily guessed that it was a few decades old, at the least. Hermione must have found the thing in a pawn shop. She couldn't imagine why Hermione would send her a diary, even if she found the thought of the bushy-haired girl keeping one cute.
She flipped it open, squinting at the faded inscription on the cover.
T. M. Riddle
"That must be Tom," Lily said out loud.
Lily flipped towards the middle, trying to figure out what Hermione wanted her to read that was so important. Turned out, however, that the diary was completely and utterly blank. That only made Lily even more confused, since, now that she thought about it, she'd definitely seen Hermione write in the thing before. She could remember, at the very least, the other girl scribbling away in it before their first Potions class of the term, and she remembered hearing Hermione's quill scratching at parchment late at night at several instances.
Lily sighed and picked up the nearest quill before dipping it in some Never-Drying-Ink. That name was a lie; it was really more of a Never-Drying-Bottle . The ink would dry on parchment, but you could otherwise leave the container open indefinitely. Of course, doing that meant you'd almost certainly spill it all over everything, and it made carrying it impossible, so most of the time the cap stayed on.
Lily let out another sigh as she put the quill down on the paper, trying to think of what to write, and trying to figure out why she was even bothering. The quill released a blot on the paper, which made Lily feel slightly bad for ruining Hermione's journal.
That was short-lived. The ink quickly faded away into nothingness. Lily thought that was interesting, although a bit strange. How would you read what you'd already written?
Hello.
Lily stared at the paper in shock as the word vanished, just as the ink before it had moments before. It wasn't any handwriting Lily recognized, and most certainly not Hermione's.
"Hello?" she said as she wrote. She bit her lip as that word, too, disappeared. She counted the seconds, wondering if something else would appear in response.
Hello, you must be Lily. Hermione told me all about you. My name is Tom Riddle.
