Dreams and Quarrels

Lily was eager to use her wand once she returned home. She ran upstairs into her room and scattered all of her new items onto her bed. She quickly sorted out the textbooks until she found The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. She turned to the first page, which was an introduction from the author explaining the adventure that the reader will have as they explore the world of magic by learning spells. Lily thought that the introduction was a bit cliché, so she turned to the second page, which began teaching her about wand movements—

Her door opened and in came a rowdy James.

"How do you like your new wand?" he inquired, snatching Lily's wand from her bed.

"Give it back, James!" Lily cried. "I don't want your grimy hands smudging it! Give—it—back!" She jumped, trying to catch hold of her wand that James had high in the air.

He smirked and said, "I just want to test it out…"

Lily, after coming to the realization that she would never get her wand, scoffed, "Fine, but just one spell. But please, don't ruin it."

James smirked and replied, "I'll try not to." He examined the wand by twirling it through his fingers and swishing it in the air. His eyebrows narrowed as he indicated, "Your wand is very…drab. It doesn't look like anything special like my wand."

Lily knew well about her brother's wand. It was a highly polished, jet black wand that matched his hair. The wood was carved at the bottom to make a graspable handle so it didn't slip easily from his hand. She was especially jealous of his wand when he performed tricks for her, such as the spell that conjured up a snake (though, she would get scared if it came near her). The appearance made the wand look alive and powerful.

"I find it beautiful," Lily retorted.

"You would," James mumbled, examining the wand further. "But your wand…there's something different about it, I just don't know what makes it special." He stopped observing the wand and pointed it at one of her textbooks.

"James!"

"Windgardium Leviosa!" he muttered, swishing Lily's wand. The book shook a little and gave a little jerk. James said the spell again, but the book did the same thing. He turned to Lily and suggested, "Your wand must be faulty. Looks like you're going to have to go to Hogwarts without a wand! Ha!"

Lily groaned, "James, I'm not that gullible. My wand works, you're just making it seem like it's broken."

She snatched the wand from her brother and pointed it at the book. He took the wand away from her again and snapped, "And what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to do that spell you just did—"

"Oh no you're not!" James argued, holding the wand high up in the air so Lily couldn't reach. "It's very dangerous to attempt a spell without proper training, even if it's a simple spell like Windgardium Leviosa."

"James, it's my wand, I'll do whatever I want with it!" Lily snapped, clawing her brother.

"James, put that wand down! Lily, stop clawing your brother!" their mother yelled from the threshold. James turned to face his mother, frowned, and tossed the wand onto Lily's bed. Lily backed away from her brother, her temper slowly drifting away. "James, why on Earth were you holding your sister's wand?" their mother demanded, walking in and grooming Lily's hair.

James rolled his eyes and explained, "She was going to attempt a spell without practice! You know that's dangerous, mum."

Lily's heart dropped as her mom looked down at her and asked, "Is it true? Were you going to attempt a spell?"

"Well…yes, but James was playing with my wand, and he said it was broken, so I wanted to see if it was really broken!" Lily stated, glancing at her brother and to her mother. Her mother looked back at James with a disapproving frown.

"And why would you do that, James?" their mother questioned, glaring at her son.

"Oh come on, mum!" James cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "You always take Lily's side, always! You have to stop treating her like she's some innocent golden child! She's going to be starting Hogwarts this year; she needs to learn responsibility for her actions!" This sounded thick, especially coming from a joker like James.

Their mother sighed and shook her head. She replied, "Well…James, please don't touch Lily's wand anymore. Lily, don't claw your brother anymore."

James smirked at his sister while their mother looked down at Lily. Lily scowled and muttered, "Fine."

"Good, it's settled," their mom said cheerily, clasping her hands together. "Get washed soon, dinner will be done in a few minutes." She walked out of the room, leaving the two siblings giving each other dirty looks.

"Get out," Lily ordered.

James shrugged and said, "Whatever. And I'd seriously get that wand checked if I were you." He walked out casually and left Lily to fume the remaining anger out of her system. She slammed the door shut and smothered her face in her pillow and let out a stifled scream. She hated whenever James made her feel little and useless, especially when it was on her birthday—her eleventh birthday, she thought sourly to herself.

She picked up her wand and spoke to it, "You're not broken. You're just…special. Just like Ollivander said." She spoke to the wand as though it was her child. In fact, it was basically Lily's child. This was one of the tests of responsibility: to keep care of your wand. She put the wand in her front pocket and went downstairs for dinner, leaving the recent quarrel with her brother behind her.

—

The next few days were boring to Lily. She had already packed all of her things for Hogwarts, except for her spell book, which lay on the end table near her bed. She knew that she was forbidden to use it until school started. Not only would it be dangerous, but she didn't want to practice magic and have her parents find out about it—or worse, the Ministry. But Lily knew that if she did magic with her parents around, the Ministry wouldn't be able to detect whether it came from her or from her parents. Though these excuses would keep her unharmed from the Ministry, she still kept herself from doing any spells…though she was tempted whenever James made fun of her.

Her father's 39th birthday passed and Lily soon realized that she was going to leave for Hogwarts in less than a month. She heard many stories about the magnificent castle and the warming atmosphere, but it seemed to be too good to be true. She couldn't imagine leaving her parents for a school year—though, she would have plenty of family. There were her two brothers, and then there were Hugo and Rose, her favorite cousins. Then there would be Louis, who would be in his 6th year, and Dominique, who would be in her 7th year. Lily never really knew them that well, though. Then there was Molly, the only child of her Uncle Percy, who would be a 4th year.

"So many cousins," Lily groaned at the thought.

It was the day before they left for Hogwarts when Lily decided to take a walk around the neighborhood with her brother, Albus. She lived in a fairly small neighborhood surrounded by Muggles, though there were some witches and wizards who lived nearby. The houses were architectural masterpieces, some even reached up to five stories. The Potter house was a modest three story house with a large courtyard out back that faced a line of trees. Behind those trees was a magnificent wide river, and on the other side was a thick forest. Their yard was always neatly trimmed and green, due to her mom's excellent household and lawn enchantments. Their house also had a Muggle repellant charm at the perimeter, which helped greatly when pesky neighbors tried to catch a glimpse of them. Lily and her family were considered 'odd' since they lived in a house with no 'electricity'. Little did Muggles know that they were wizards and witches, and that magic interfered heavily with 'electricity.'

Lily and Albus turned off of Hayworth Dr., the street where they lived, and onto River Rd. When they weren't passing houses, they were passing bare fields or lonely playgrounds. But Albus loved to walk around the neighborhood because there was something new every day. He told stories how he finally met some of the neighbors and how warm they were, and how he found a scruffy black dog roaming around and how he fed it leftovers (though his mother wasn't so keen about him playing with a stray dog).

Lily said, "I can't believe I've never seen this part of the neighborhood before," as they passed houses that looked like they had been abandoned for years. Albus told her that they were in the part of the neighborhood where no one dwelled in because it was abandoned and filthy, despite the lively part of the neighborhood that they lived in. Lily could've even sworn she saw someone looking at them from behind one of the windows of a rotting old house.

Albus smirked and said, "I heard you and James got in a fight some time ago."

"When haven't we fought?" Lily snorted, forgetting about the woman. Albus laughed. For only a 13 year old, Albus had a hearty laugh of a man. It was almost identical to their father's laugh. In fact, almost everything about them was identical.

"Do you have your wand with you?" Albus questioned.

"Yeah…do you want to see it?" Lily offered, pulling it out of her pocket. "I trust you won't fool around with it like James did."

"Of course," Albus replied. Lily handed him her wand and he held it in his hands, letting his fingers feel every inch of the wand. His eyebrows narrowed like James' had. He muttered, "This wand looks like just a stick…why doesn't it have any engravings on it? Most wands do…"

Lily shrugged and replied, "I thought that myself. But I think it's a good wand."

"You haven't even used it properly yet—Lily Potter, have you been using magic?" Albus snapped quietly, his eyes widening.

"Albus!" Lily cried, snatching the wand away from him. "Don't act like mum. And for your information, I haven't been practicing magic lately…or at all, for that matter."

Albus put his finger to his lips and whispered, "Don't speak of magic out loud, especially in a neighborhood where the peskiest and sneakiest of neighbors live." He stopped in his tracks and looked around to see if anyone was lurking around. When he found it was safe, he continued, his voice still low, "I didn't mean to snap like that…but I don't want you doing dangerous things. Father said that when he was first practicing the Levitation Charm with a feather, a boy in his class blew up the feather and burned himself in the process, too."

Lily pursed her lips and replied, "Albus, I know you're just watching out for me—but I am not a child anymore. I know not to practice magic. I know not to go willy nilly with my wand. I know that—"

"—but you are a child, Lily!" Albus argued. "You just don't understand the pressure an older brother has to keep his sister safe. I try not to treat you like you're some dimwit girl who knows nothing. I know you're smart. But I worry sometimes. I have the right to worry."

They continued walking in silence until they reached the end of River Rd. The only way to go was either right onto Crescent Dr. or to go straight and walk through a forested path that, when taken fully, went over the river and into the forest opposite from their house. Albus turned to Lily and asked, "Would you like to take a walk on the path? I find it relaxing if you need somewhere to escape all your problems."

Just what I need, Lily thought to herself. "That sounds nice," Lily replied.

They entered the forested path, and suddenly the atmosphere changed. Lily gasped and felt rejuvenated all of a sudden, as though the temper that still lingered in her was finally spilling out through every pore of her skin. The fresh aroma of leaves and plants made her feel light as a feather, and soon she felt connected to nature. A genuine smile was present on her face…it had been a long time since she had smiled like that.

"I told you, it's lovely here," Albus said, beaming.

"And it's also refreshing," Lily commented. "I don't know why I've never came here before."

Albus said, "Well, technically we're not allowed out here. But I always take a brisk walk out here whenever I need some time by myself. Sometimes it gets stressful living in this family, you know?"

Lily chuckled, "I know exactly what you mean."

They walked in silence. Lily appreciated it; she wanted to soak as much peace as she could in her system without distraction. The way the birds chirped, the way the leaves rustled in the wind made her feel extraordinary. She was always kept up in the house or in the courtyard, and if they weren't in the house, they were either at Diagon Alley or visiting the rest of their family. She never really got to experience nature in her life, and there she was in the middle of a forest that's always been there.

They were walking on the side of the river, approaching the bridge to cross it, when there was a rustling behind them. Albus spun around and stepped in front of Lily, pointing his wand in the direction of the sound. Lily groaned, "Albus, it's probably some animal. Probably a chipmunk—"

Something was breathing heavily. It breathed sharp, rattling breaths that chilled Lily's spine.

"Or not," Albus mumbled, his voice surprisingly steady.

They stood there planted on their feet. Lily didn't dare move, though she peeked over Albus' shoulder to see what was there. The forest wasn't exactly thick at that point, so it would be easy to spot anything nearby, yet there was nothing. Suddenly—

"James!" shrieked Albus, as he was tackled onto the ground by an invisible monster. Lily thought that her brother was crying out for help, but it wasn't until she saw floating feet that she realized that Albus was yelling at James. Lily rolled her eyes and pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of her brother, and there was James, his eyes watering from laughter. Albus pushed James off of him and got up, brushing leaves and twigs off of his clothes.

Lily groaned, "You are ridiculous, James."

James took the cloak away from his sister and cackled, "At least I'm not insane and twirling around, getting in touch with my inner self with nature. That's almost as sane as the Scamander twins."

Albus couldn't help but to chuckle. But Lily didn't understand, nor did she care.

"You almost scared me to death!" Lily scolded, poking her finger at James' chest. "What would've you done if Albus would've blown your head off accidentally?"

James scoffed, "Albus wouldn't do that. He can't even hurt a fly. And I won't be talked to that way by my little sister. That's like me telling mom what to do, and that's not going to go down so well."

Lily argued, "James Potter! Stop treating me like I'm this arrogant little girl!"

"Well, you sort of are—"

Lily retorted, "That's it. Goodbye." And she stomped off back home without looking back. She could hear James mumbling about her attitude, but he didn't understand what it felt like to be the only witch in the family who couldn't even do a simple spell yet. She felt outcast from her family, since her father was one of the greatest wizards of all time, since her mother fought in many famous battles, and since her brothers did so well in school that James was made prefect this year.

Lily walked out of the forest and suddenly felt a dramatic transition. Even in the forest she wasn't as ballistic to James as she normally would be. The setting in there was so much different, as though there was a strong enchantment. Lily looked behind her and looked back into the forest, yet she couldn't see Albus or James. She bit her lip hesitantly, wondering if she should return for her brothers. But then she saw a twig near the edge of the forest crack in half by itself, and she knew perfectly clear that going back wasn't necessary—with that, she broke off in a run back home.

—

Lily was trapped. She was chained to an uncomfortable chair in front of a crowd of unfamiliar faces, all of them sniggering at her. She was in a large, stone walled room with giant torches on the wall, spitting out ominous red flames.

"Slytherin! Slytherin!" the crowd chanted.

"No!" Lily cried. "I don't want to be in Slytherin—!"

There was a sound of a door crashing open and the crowd turned around. Lily was unable to see who had entered, but by the sound of the crowd's wicked cackling, she knew that it wasn't someone good. A hooded figure made its way through the crowd and walked up to Lily. Their face was shadowed but Lily could make out the person's long, pointed, wart covered nose.

"This girl…she looks devious, cunning, and dark…" the hooded figure screeched in a bone chilling voice. "She belongs in Slytherin."

"No!" Lily whimpered. "I-I'm a Potter, I deserve to be a Gryffindor!"

The hooded figure cackled, "O-ho! A Potter? I think you're lying, girl. In fact…you seem like a useless, dirty Squib!"

"I am not a Squib!" Lily screamed, her heart racing.

The hooded figure snatched Lily's wand from Lily's pocket and inspected it, laughing with every stroke they took. They bellowed, "This here, students, is nothing but a twig from a tree. This girl is obviously not a witch!"

"No! I got it from Olliv—!"

"Squib! Squib! Squib!" the crowd chanted. Lily struggled to get out of the chair but the chains were tightly bound to her that she could barely budge.

The hooded figure put their gloved hand in the air and roared, "To the dungeon she goes, where she'll stay there and starve for many nights! Then she'll be fed to the school dragon." The chains suddenly disintegrated and Lily bolted from the chair, fighting her way through the crowd to the open doors. They shoved her towards the door as though they wished for her to flee, but it was when Lily reached the threshold that she realized that she wasn't escaping so easily.

Unable to stop, she tripped down a flight of stairs. The light coming from the room full of cackling people faded quickly as she rolled down in complete blackness. Her screams echoed hauntingly, and the temperature got warmer and warmer as she descended into the unknown. Then there was a growl and a burst of brilliant yellow flames—

"Lily, Lily!"

Lily awoke suddenly to the sound of her father's voice.

He smiled and said, "Today's the day."