Lily's Place

Chapter 2: Unexpected

Harry Potter FanFiction

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Summary: A collection of short stories about Lily from fifth year on, all taking place in her "silent place" as she calls it. This story will include Lily's friends in later chapters. Inspired by a place near where I live.

Disclaimer: If you think that I own Harry Potter, please note that my name is not JK Rowling, and that there might be a spot near Prof. Lockhart in St. Mungo's for you!

Lily didn't particularly enjoy this time of year, but the Gryffindor common room was getting much too noisy for her tastes and so she was going out. It was early October, which meant that it rained a lot, snowed every once in a while, and got muddier than should be allowed anywhere. She went up to her dormitory, pulled on her favorite bright red boots and clumped (as softly as humanly possible) down the staircase and out the portrait hole. Potter tried to ask her out on the way, but Lily ignored him. She tromped down the staircases, barely avoiding Peeves by taking a detour through an empty classroom, and made her way through the entrance hall and out the tall front doors to the grounds.

She walked on a relatively dry path for a while until she no longer wanted to go toward Hagrid's Hut. Then, she gingerly stepped onto the muddy grass, slowly making her way on the tips of her toes across the grounds. After a painfully slow 15 minutes of making her way across the grounds, she got to the edge of Prewett Nature Park.

The wet wooden boardwalk was a welcome change from the muddy grounds. She stomped the caked mud off of her shoes and started to walk. She stepped quietly so that all around her the few birds still around would continue singing and the trees (now half-bare) would keep up their whispering. Just as she walked around the corner, she heard a voice. A voice she recognized. This was the voice of her best friend Marlene. She bravely kept walking, to investigate this intrusion of her private and special place. Marlene was standing on the viewing platform talking quietly to an owl. Lily recognized the owl to be Athene, who belonged to the McKinnon's, her best friend's family.

"Now, Athene, I don't want people to see you leaving Hogwarts. My brothers especially." Marlene turned around hearing Lily's soft footsteps. "Who is it?" She asked more loudly. "Oh, Lily. It's you!"

Lily nodded. "Since when have you been coming here?" she said in a tone slightly more hostile than she had intended it to be.

Marlene was taken aback. "Since last June. When Ellie died I needed somewhere to go, so I came here. Why? What's the matter?"

Lily looked miserable. "Yeah, I miss her so much. I guess I just come out here to calm down and recuperate after class. The common room was just too loud to concentrate, so I took a break from my homework and came here."

Marlene nodded. "I have to send Athene off without my brothers knowing. I'm really sorry not to be able to tell you either.

Lily shrugged. "It's okay. I'm sure it's important."

Once the owl was released, the pair stood next to each other and just looked at the scene.

"Sure is beautiful, isn't it?" asked Lily.

"Mhmm." Replied Marlene. "That's one of the reasons I enjoy being out here."

"Oh!" exclaimed Lily. "I was under the impression that you came here for the gooey goopy mud!" she laughed.

"Well, that too." She responded, giggling.

Worries forgotten momentarily, Lily and Marlene started on their way back to the castle and their mounds of homework.

A/N: This chapter didn't go as planned, but I think it turned out okay anyway. Marlene wasn't supposed to turn up for another couple of chapters, but she just walked on in and demanded a space! We may not hear more about what happened to Ellie for another couple of chapters, though you've probably already guessed it includes Voldemort.

Please read and review!!!!