Chapter Five
Lily woke and groaned she hated magical exhaustion and this was horrible. She felt terrible, she curled against Harry a moment, her eyes drifting closed a moment, before they snapped open. She pulled on what little magical energy was left between their covens and sent off a patron's message to Pomphrey.
She then closed her eyes and fell back into sleep or unconsciousness. The next period of time was a blur of someone forcing potions to her lips and gently setting her body back down into blankets. She felt a cool cloth against her forehead and the power slowly return, she sent everything to the children first, magical exhaustion was most dangerous with those that were still developing their core.
After that she sent the power to the adults, equally pushing it from each of them and maintaining the balance. Broth was pressed against her lips and she sipped it slowly, continually maintaining the power flow between her and the others. She was used to having so much power to work with, but now there was so very little. She took what she needed to work the power but no more than that, she could easily enough pull on the power of the others if she needed more. She drifted before rebalancing the power flow and drifting back into sleep. She didn't know how long it was before a cup of broth was pressed to her lips and she decided that the coven was well enough for her to eat more than broth She opened her eyes, putting a hand over the cup. "Can I have a bacon sandwich and some tea?" She asked and Madam Pomphrey nearly dropped the cup in astonishment.
"Lily, you've been asleep for days and now you seem right as rain, this isn't natural." Madam Pomphrey said.
"Well actually it is in fact, I shared what power I had with my coven and now the balance is restored enough for me to take enough energy from them to have more than broth." Lily said and Madam Pomphrey eyes widened comically, Lily sighed. "Though I would really like that sandwich, its putting somewhat of a drain on the power reserves, how are the others?"
"Taking it easy, but they woke up a day ago, you mean to say you were conscious?"
"No, not most of the time, but I can draw on the power without being conscious, its harder when your asleep though. Instead of discussing how magic works, could I please have that sandwich now?"
"Of course dear." Madam Pomphrey said and a moment later she was given a large plate of sandwiches of all varieties, she devoured it hungrily, it tasted wonderful and she ate every last one, cleaning the plate and asking the House Elf for seconds and then thirds. She finished the third plate and relaxed back against the pillows, sending the energy and strength from the food across the bond, only keeping what she herself needed.
"Do you want any more, some tea perhaps, before you go back to sleep? Severus insisted on staying here with you and he'll be delighted to know that you woke up. He's asleep at the moment, he exhausted himself listing off potions for me to brew and instructing me on the proper ingredients." Madam Pomphrey said and Lily laughed.
"That does sound like Severus, his magical core seems fine, but we are all exhausted. Could you give me a journal?"
"Of course dear, its on the beside table, as well as the one you were writing, before you decided to do a power sharing."
"It was more than that, but sharing such is deeply personal and does not leave the coven." Lily said and smiled, as she continued writing, she was able to finish the other textbooks by the end of the day and instructed McGonagall to hand them to the students and allow them to study the ones for the classes they were enrolled in. She also assigned her first homework assignment, which was to give a cordial greeting to someone that the student intensely disliked and to reply in kind when you were greeted cordially, the instructions on cordial greetings were in the first book, if they didn't know the correct social graces to correctly do so. She also assigned a forty-eight inch scroll on the four greatest wizard values, of Loyalty, Honor, Intelligence and Ambition and what those values meant to the student. If they could source things she wanted them to, but if not they could simply write about how it had affected them personally. She then ate again and shoved the energy across the bond, to the others, falling back into unconsciousness.
She woke the next morning ravenous again and devoured the large stack of egg and bacon sandwiches that Madam Pomphrey had left on the bedside table. They were piping hot and delicious, she grinned when she saw that it was a special plate and tapped it twice, the plate refilled and she ate another three more plates, before she got up and put on her robe.
She yawned, frowning at the way her hair was starting to become matted; no one ever properly cared for her hair, when she couldn't do it herself. She found her trunk at the foot of her bed, got out a under dress and pantaloons, as well as what she needed to wash herself and care for her hair and went to woman's showers inside the hospital wing and the standard shampoo bottles, she would really need to get her own shampoo soon, or make some. She scrubbed her body clean, sitting on the cobblestone floor as she did so. She felt like soaking but decided to wait on that until her magical core strength was back to half its normal power. The rest of her coven was at two thirds of their normal strength, except for the children, who had recovered fully.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Madam Pomphrey demanded. "Bed now!"
"I needed a shower and my hair was going to get badly matted." Lily said and sighed. "At any rate, I'm nearly at half strength so I should manage to wash myself if nothing else." She added.
"Magical exhaustion is not something to be trifled with, you could do permeate damage to your magical core..."
"I wasn't using magic, I simply turned on the tap and sat down I'm doing nothing other than washing myself."
"I didn't know where you were, Severus awoke in a panic."
"I'm fine, could you please go, I mean to say, I know your a healer and you've seen this before multiple times, but I'd prefer not to give you a show, if it can be avoided." Lily said and Madam Pomphrey blushed bright red, turning on her heel and walking to the door.
"I'll give you some privacy then." Madam Pomphrey said and Lily nodded.
"Thank you." She said and finished in the shower, drying off and putting on a clean blue under dress and pantaloons. She then walked from the bathroom, bundling her dirty things into the towel.
"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE YOUR BE AGAIN!" Severus shouted and Lily sighed.
"I'LL DO WHAT I DAM WELL PLEASE SEV, I WAS IN NO DANGER, ITS NOT LIKE BLOODY DEATH EATERS ARE GOING TO AMBUSH ME IN THE SHOWERS. HONESTLY IF I HAD FALLEN ON MY WAY, THE WORST THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WOULD BE THAT I SPRAINED MY ANKLE. I WAS WITHIN SHOUTING DISTANCE THE ENTIRE TIME AND YOU KNOW HOW LOUD I CAN BE!" Lily shouted back and glared at Severus. "I WAS GONE FOR MAYBE TWENTY MINUTES, NO NEED TO CAUSE A PANIC SEV."
"BUT YOU WERE GONE, I HAD NO IDEA WHERE YOU WERE."
"OH THE NEXT TIME I GET OUT OF BED, I'LL LEAVE A NOTE SHALL I, GONE TO THE LOO, KINDLY DON'T SEND MADAM POMPHREY AFTER ME! THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT I LIKE TO KEEP PRIVATE YOU KNOWN AND BEING NAKED IN THE SHOWER IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS." Lily stalked towards the bed, taking a good third of Severus' power and he gasped in astonishment. "I'VE BEEN GIVING ALL MY POWER TO EVERYONE FOR DAYS SEV, DON'T START SHIT WITH ME NOW, YOU WON'T BLOODY LIKE THE RESULTS." She then drew on the others power so she was back to full power and pulled on her dress. "I'M LEAVING NOW, BUT DON'T WORRY I WON'T CAST SPELLS UNLESS IT PROVES TO BE NESSASARY."
She then strode off sparks flying off of her; she didn't feel like lessening the power flow, not when she was this angry. She glared at the students that stared at her in the hall; she had no desire to deal with their petty little squabbles at the moment. Then Pansy Parkinson smiled at her and did a three quarter length curtsy, which was in fact the proper greeting for an elder and an instructor. "Good day Professor Potter."
"Good day Miss Parkinson." Lily said and did the proper curtsy in return.
"You seem rather out of sorts this morning, I was wondering why."
"Wizards Miss Parkinson, interfering wizards who believe I can't see to my bodily needs without having a healer sent in to gape at me while I'm bathing." Lily said and Pansy's eyes widened in astonishment. "It most probably wouldn't effected me so much, had I not been at a third my usual strength, now I'm back to full, but the others are down to about half." Lily said and shrugged. "It will be good to have someone else manage and maintain the balance, because it too is exhausting, if you're the only one doing it."
"I see." Pansy Parkinson said and Lily sighed.
"No you don't child, not until you learn how to power share yourself, but it's going to take a while before I'm willing to give everyone those lessons." Lily stated and Pansy Parkinson paled. "After all I'm an old warrior and I will defend those I consider to be my family to the last breathe in my body. I refuse to give someone more power when they aren't deserving of it."
"What do you consider to be deserving?"
"Well someone who doesn't curse those they dislike might be considered to be more deserving, than someone who fires off nasty spells without a second's thought." Lily replied and Parkinson blanched. "I wouldn't for example give any power to someone like Bellatrix Lestrange, but I suppose that's a poor example."
"You're frightening her." Marcus Flint said and Lily glared at him.
"She should be frightened, I doubt highly that Harry has ever been able to have a childhood and not live in fear." Lily replied. "The feeling of safety is a blessing that can not be given at this moment in time, considering that I just killed Voldemort's and I'm uncertain if you lot are going to leave well enough alone, or start all this bloody shit up again." Several of the children started crying. "I'm glad that you sent Miss Parkinson to approach me, I assure you that I won't use my magic unless attacked, but my magic is unpredictable at the moment, considering that I only have a quarter of my actual magic right now, when I'm used to having half of my power."
"Your only using a quarter of your magic, but your using the others magic instead? How does that work?"
"Power sharing Miss Parkinson, I can take from the ground or from other sources, but some people have the decency not to take things without permission." Lily said and turned on her heel, putting up the strongest shield she knew, her body rippled with blue energy, she drew the power for the spell from the castle. "I suggest you don't test me, you won't like the results and this is not cordial, you do not surround a woman who has had to fight since she was in seventh year all at once and expect it to go well. Good day Miss Parkinson, perhaps in future you might attempt something a bit more subtitle, I know you Slytherins are good at being subtitle if nothing else."
She stalked to the library and settled herself down into the chair, removing the shield and stacking a pile of books she hadn't read yet, using a spell that allowed her to absorb the knowledge they contained. She went through a hundred books by the time she felt tired, she had returned to half power and had learned some interesting spells.
She used another spell to place the books back where they belonged, smoothed out her skirts and stood. Reading always helped her to calm down and settled her magic, when it was being unpredictable. She had needed to burn off some of the extra power in any event and she needed to regain her own reserves, otherwise the coven wouldn't be balanced. She now had about half her own power left and a bit more than that gathered from the rest of the coven. She drew so she went up to seventy five percent of her normal reserves.
"That was astonishing, how did you read that much that quickly?" Miss Bradlegrace asked.
"Perhaps I will teach you that spell before graduation, knowledge is power Miss Bradlegrace and while there are some things I'm willing to share, certain spells I know I won't be sharing with anyone." Lily said and smiled. "There's a reason why black magic was outlawed, once you know a spell it's tempting to use it."
"I understand that."
"I know you do, however you have a strong sense of ethics, that is why you are the only one to receive personal instruction. You alone among your peers are worthy of it." Lily said and Miss Bradlegrace blushed.
"I wouldn't know about that."
"I would, some of those questions had no wrong answer, simply the best answer or what you deemed most accurate, and your responses were most satisfactory." Lily replied and smiled. "Do you plan to go into politics, or research, once you graduate?"
"I am not entirely sure, I was considering becoming a defender, and one of my Uncles was falsely imprisoned."
"Was he released?" Lily asked and Miss Bradlegrace's eyes filled with tears, before she started crying. "Oh dear, would you care for some comfort?" She asked and Miss Bradlegrace nodded, Lily wrapped her arms around Miss Bradlegrace, hugging her as she cried. "Perhaps we might sit down?" Lily asked and sat on one of the couches, running her hands through Miss Bradlegrace's hair.
"He didn't do it, I know he didn't."
"Yes well that's the thing, everything could have been determined easily enough with some veritserum, but alas the legal system within the wizard world is sadly lacking. I think that studying the law is an excellent place to start, we could spend our classes on that if you like." Lily said and Miss Bradlegrace nodded, before she continued crying. Lily's eyes drooped and she fell asleep while holding Miss Bradlegrace, putting up a personal shield as well as one that surrounded the couch in the last moments before sleep claimed her.