Awakening

The term had come to an end, meaning that there was now only one more full term left before Lily would become a student. Though with that realization, another cruel one had dawned on the child, that after this next term was completed her friend, Tonks, would be graduating. She had tried to put off noticing that, but it became more and more of a problem she was being forced to face all due to how Lily knew that once she was allowed to become a student that things would barely change. All due to her being a werewolf, even if her transformation was held back thanks to the wolfsbane potion that her father gave her before and during each full moon.

And now it was less than a month until the start of the next term, with Lily's tenth birthday fast approaching. So Severus had contacted Narcissa to invite her along with her son Draco, and of course Tonks to the party. It was planned to be another simple party for Lily. All due to how at the moment, Severus knew that she would be dealing with the full moon right before her birthday and again right after the start of the term. So Severus had been busy preparing the potion once he got the confirmations that the guests would be there, while Lily had been confined to bed all due to how the fever had set in much worse this time. So each night from the first leading up to the full moon that was slated to be at its peak by the sixth, Severus sat by his daughter's side as she was burning up with a dangerous fever and her body convulsing from fits. Something he found to be common due to how the wolf in her was fighting to be allowed to come out but he refused to allow that to happen since if it did, it would only prove that she was a possible danger to others.

"D-dad…." Lily panted as the latest convulsion had finished as she looked toward her father as he shifted to sit on the edge of her bed and lift her up and cradle her. "Something is different…" she asked as the pain intensified yet again as she started to cry out ever so slightly only for her father to hold her closer.

"I do not know why it would…" Severus whispered as he hated that he could not give her an answer to what she was asking because he did not have the faintest clue. And the only one that might know, he would never allow the man near Lily so long as he had a say in it. 'He forfeited every claim he has to be her father when he turned his back to her when she needed a loving parent after losing her mother.'

The days seemed to blur together for Severus up to the night of the sixth. All due to how each night he got less and less sleep because of how Lily was up crying and screaming in pain from the upcoming full moon and how she kept insisting something felt different inside of her. Each night Severus feared it meant her body was developing immunity to the potion and that meant she would be forced to go through the transformation with the upcoming full moon.

It was proven that if that were the case, it was not to happen that month since the night of the sixth came and Lily was riddled with a worse fever than she had been for the past few nights and the pain she was in seemed to increase. It was not until around dawn when Severus slumped against the side of his daughter's bed, since as the full moon set she was finally calming in her screaming and crying in pain. Weakly, Severus turned to look toward Lily's sleeping face that was paler than usual besides a slight tint to her cheeks from the fever she was fighting. He remained like that for several moments before he forced himself up to look toward Lily, even reaching out to brush away a stray lock of her black hair that now was grown to near her waist.

'I wish I could do more to help you…' Severus thought as worry lined his features as he looked at his daughter while she was resting. 'I was so worried that this time you would break and that even with the potion that the wolf in you would take control.' He forced himself up as he leaned over his daughter to place a gentle kiss on her forehead before he slowly made his way across the hall to his room where he collapsed on his bed. He was asleep long before his head hit the pillow.

/

By the tenth, Lily was able to be up and around without needing Severus or Twinkle helping her to get around as the amber in her eyes had vanished leaving only the clear blue. However, Lily was still limited and since she had not regained her strength. So the few times she went outside to sit on the porch or lay in the grass, Severus or Twinkle were always close by to insure if she wished to get up and walk back inside that she did not risk falling.

For the next two days leading up to Lily's birthday, Severus remained by her side as much as possible all due to how she had said something that had been bugging him. That she had felt like something felt different, and he was fearful that it meant that the wolf was fighting more and more against being restrained by the properties of the potion.

It was so far proving not to be the case, since she seemed to be slowly getting back to normal. Though Severus knew that during her birthday the following day that she would still be recovering so he hoped that everyone would be understand that she would not be herself and not able to run and play to much since he knew it generally took near two weeks at times for her strength to return to her. 'What is going to happen when she starts school?' Severus found himself thinking after he had put Lily to bed and was sitting in the living room on the couch facing the fire. 'She will fall behind in her studies, and how that insufferable old fool is insisting that Lily be kept away from the rest of the students due to her being what he calls a danger.' Severus clenched his right hand into a fist as it rested on the arm of the couch. 'If any werewolf to step foot in the school was dangerous it was Lupin!' Severus thought in frustration at the fact that the one who had actually fathered Lily had been allowed to live the life of a normal student when he could not resist changing like Lily could with the potion.

'Even if she is to be kept locked up in our dungeon quarters, I will do everything I can to allow her to live a normal life once she is a student at Hogwarts.' Severus thought to himself as he watched the flames slowly start to die until he rose and waved his wand putting out the flames completely before he headed to his room to retire for the night since he knew that the guests would be there early the following morning to get things ready. Though he had already sent a letter to Narcissa to explain that Lily was still recovering so her stamina was still not back up to what it would normally be. Insisting that Lily had a weak immune system and was prone to fall ill frequently.

/

That night Lily was sound asleep until the stroke of midnight when her dream shifted from one of her and her father enjoying time outside in the sunlight, to the bit she had seen in the crystal ball just over a year earlier. Where Lily was standing in a vast hall before a stone throne that was raised up with two others, one on each side. However, Lily could only tell that she was the one in the center even though she was not really standing there because she was suspended, floating, above what was going on.

The two on either side of the version of her standing on the ground were each carrying different objects. The one on her left holding what looked like a wand, and the other some kind of cloak while in the middle it looked like she was holding some kind of stone. As she continued to watch a hooded figure appeared before them as each stepped forward in turn presenting the object they held only for a triangular eye to appear behind them as with each object a part of the eye began to glow…

Lily woke with a start gasping for breath as her blue eyes were wide in horror at what she had seen only to feel something stir within her. She brought her hand up to before her heart as she gripped at the front of her nightgown thinking that something was not right but she could not place why. 'I feel…something…' Lily thought as she closed her eyes trying to calm herself down as she debating going to her father about the nightmare she had, but she knew that tonight was one of the first nights he was able to get sleep since before the full moon. So she remained there drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them as she heard a voice call her name.

"Lily…" a female voice that Lily did not know spoke as she leaned up slightly and looked toward the sound only to see a figure wearing a deep hooded cloak. At the sight of the figure, Lily screamed in terror.

Severus had been sound asleep dreaming of peaceful times with his daughter, more so of times before when she had always been smiling and happy. However, after only a few hours of sleep, Severus woke due to hearing Lily screaming in her room. 'Lily!' Severus thought in a panic as he rushed to grab his wand from his nightstand rushing from the room not caring that he was only in night pants and no shirt, as he raced from his room and across the hall to Lily's room as he turned on the light glancing around. When he saw nothing and no one he lowered his wand from where it had been, with him ready to send curses at whoever or whatever had scared his child. "Lily…" Severus said in a weary yet worried tone as he walked over to her bed and sat his wand down on her nightstand only to reach for her as he noticed she was staring, wide eyed, toward the corner on the far side of the room. Almost as though she did not even register that he was there right in front of her. "Lillian!" he called to her as she seemed to finally snap out of it as her eyes came back into focus as she stared, wide eyed, at her father.

"Dad!" Lily cried as she shifted and threw herself against him wrapping her arms around him holding him as though he were a life line.

Severus had been shocked for a brief second when Lily had thrown herself against him, but once he recovered he brought his arms up around her holding her close. "Did you have a nightmare?" Severus asked in a whisper as he held Lily close with one hand while his right reached up resting on the back of her soft black hair.

"I…I don't know. I was asleep and then I woke and there was someone in my room, right over there." Lily said shifting her right hand to point to the corner. Drawing her father's attention to the corner only to see that there was no one there now.

"There is no one there." Severus said as he wished to believe his daughter but he did not see anyone there.

Lily leaned back from her father and looked at him with tears in her eyes all because of how he did not believe her that someone had been there. Though something inside her told her that she would not be able to convince him that there had been someone there. "I-I guess it was just part of my dream I was having." Lily said before she forced a smile toward her father. "You should go get more rest, dad." Lily said as she kept smiling to try and assure her father that she would be alright.

Severus was skeptical due to how he could tell there was something behind the smile but he dismissed it all because of how there was not much he could do when he did not see anyone in the corner or anywhere in the room for that matter. Though deep down he got the feeling that something was just beginning, a feeling that he forced away as he spoke. "Should we push back celebrating your birthday?" he asked since Lily was looking a little pale again.

"No. I want to see Tonks and Draco." She said since she knew in truth when Narcissa came with the two that she would spend the day visiting with her dad while the kids spent time together.

"Alright, though do you want some Dreamless Sleep Potion?" he asked since he was worried if she went back to sleep now while she was worked up that it might cause her to have yet another nightmare and that she would not sleep at all. Once he saw Lily nod, Severus left the room to go down to a makeshift lab he had down in the basement to get one of the fresh ones he had made in preparation for any time he or Lily might need them. He carried it up to her room and proceeded to help her drink it only to see it take effect almost instantly as her eyes began to close as she was asleep before she could drink even half of the vial.

/

In the circular office of the headmaster, the old wizard sat with the orb out on his desk watching it intently as the hour of midnight came closer and even passed as he was waiting for something he had been anticipating for years. When he saw a faint flash and a triangular eye appeared only for the circle to illuminate, his lips curled up slightly in a mix between a smirk and a smile. "Finally…"

/

Later that morning, around ten, the guests arrived for the small party that was to take place that afternoon. Severus had gone into Lily's room just an hour before to find that Twinkle had already woke the birthday girl and was getting her dressed in a light summer dress that looked overly girly. Something Severus could not help but smile at since he was sure that Lily would insist on not wearing it for long because of how she was one to love running around and climbing trees.

When the guests arrived, Tonks came crashing through first. Somehow the girl had managed to come tumbling out of the fire, trip over the table before the couch and topple over the couch, knocking it backwards. Severus seriously wondered about that girl at times due to how she was unnaturally clumsy, yet it did not phase Lily in the slightest since it seemed when Tonks would get back up after a trip and still be grinning ear to ear that it would lead to Lily once again being happy. Though as Narcissa came through after Draco, Tonks was hugging Lily only for a frantic Twinkle to insist that Tonks not do so until she had rid herself of the soot due to how Lily's light blue and white dress was now a dull gray and murky blue from the soot on her dress.

"Calm down, Twinkle." Severus said with a sigh as Draco ran over to hug Lily while Severus looked toward Narcissa. "You want to help me with moving the last few things to the yard for the picnic?" he asked as Narcissa nodded leaving the three children with the frantic house elf.

It did not take long to finish setting things up, it was only difficult when Twinkle had insisted that Lily wear a sun hat to help protect her from the sun all because the child was unnaturally pale. Not just because of the full moon that had passed, but with only being allowed outside when home, her skin had become even more fair, something that stood out against her long black hair that was all down at the moment. Though after a bit Severus had insisted that if she got a little more sun it would not hurt resulting in a fuming house elf popping out of sight.

After lunch Narcissa sat on the blanket visiting with Severus while Tonks, Draco and Lily were running around playing a muggle game of tag. Though every time Lily was the one doing the chasing, Tonks would run much slower since Severus had told the older girl that Lily had been ill just days before. Soon it was time for Lily to open presents as they had moved back inside due to how Lily had started to show signs of being worn down. Draco had gotten Lily lots of stationary insisting that way they could keep in touch more. Narcissa had gotten Lily a book about potions since she had figured it would be best that Lily learn to brew potions early more so since her father was a master at the art. Tonks got Lily lots of candy (much to the displeasure of her aunt and professor) as well as a book about Charms and Transfiguration.

"And here I had hoped to get you away from books…" Severus grumbled slightly since it seemed that was all his daughter was allowed to do when they were at Hogwarts, at least for the time being since this would be the last year that she would be kept locked away in the dungeons. For in one year she would be sorted into a house and start making more friends her own age.

Shortly after Narcissa had left with Draco and Tonks in tow as Draco made Lily promise to write to him as often as she could. Lily had gone to bed not long after that due to how she insisted to her dad that she was just exhausted from all the excitement of the day. Mainly due to how she was not used to that level of excitement after how she was kept locked away from the world. Though Severus decided to keep her awake a few moments longer as he slipped down into his lab to get his gift for Lily which he hoped would make a good companion. A few moments later he came back up into the living room only to sit down a covered cage on the table.

"What is it?" Lily asked her blue eyes wide with curiosity.

"It is your birthday gift." Severus said with a smile as he sat down on the couch beside Lily only to nudge her a little. "Go ahead." He urged in a kind tone as Lily inched forward only to soon be knelt between the table and the couch. She stared at it for a moment longer before she brought up her pale hands to lift the blanket away only for a soft mew to be heard.

"A kitten?" Lily asked in surprise since she had once asked her father for one but he had refused.

"Yes, so that you won't be alone anymore. Even when I am teaching classes." He said as Lily turned and threw herself at her father as he brought his arms up after a brief second to hug her. "Why don't you let the kitten out and start to get to know him?"

Lily leaned back and nodded before she shifted away from her father to let the kitten out of the carrier cage it was in as it hesitantly came out onto the floor as it looked around with wide clear blue eyes. "He is a cute black cat." Lily said as she held out her hand to the kitten to sniff as it only did so for a second before moving closer and rubbing against her hand purring.

"What are you going to name him?" Severus asked as he was slightly worried on the name that his daughter would pick since she probably had picked up names from all of the books that she had read.

"Xander." She said with a smile as Severus forced a smile thinking his thought had been right. If he had his guess it was a play at the name Alexander since it sounded like that name but with out Alex before it.

A/N: Okay, I know this was one of the shortest chapters of the story but this was a chapter I planned to not be very long from the beginning. Things are starting to happen. Anyone have any guesses on what is happening? Who was the figure that Lily saw? What is Dumbledore up to? So many questions that will only be answered in time as the story progresses. I want to thank Harrypottercatlover and NatNicole for reviewing the last chapter. I hope that you both enjoyed this chapter. I want to dedicate this chapter to the two of you along with everyone who is following this story and everyone who has favorited, even if you only recently started. I will try to update again soon!