She is sitting in her favorite reading chair on her back porch watching the clouds go by. She notices some dark shapes to her left. They contrast the blue and white of the sky like a spec of dirt on a light surface. There's four of them, crows, she thinks. They talk to each other in melodic rhythm, swooping up, down and around the large Beech tree she planted with her father as a kid.
One notices her sitting there, cocking its head to one side listening to her steady breathing. It flies closer. The others follow and they sit on the porch rail. A row of reapers, her grandma would say. A single Crow begins to peck at the wood. Knock, knock, knock. The next crow in the line joined in. Knock, knock, knock. The third Crow joined. And then the final Crow. Knock, knock, knock. Increasingly louder until the noise was unbearable.
Lily awoke with a start and winced in pain. It took her a few seconds to get her bearings. Where was she? She was in too much pain to lift herself up from the bed so she chose to lay there and listen to her surroundings.
"Alice I told you already she's not here, she probably went down to the kitchens for an early breakfast" replied Remus
"Don't bullshit me Remus I know Lily wasn't in her bed last night. What's going on?" asked a voice she knew to be Alice Prewett's.
Alice Prewett was the most tolerable of Lily's roommates. She wasn't like Marlene and Mary, with her pale skin and short dark hair, she was attractive in an unconventional way, not that Alice cared about her looks. She rivaled Lily in academics, an unspoken competition between them both. Lily wouldn't admit it but she was similar to and had more in common with Alice than any of the girls.
"Nothing's going on for god's sake" Remus sounded exasperated.
"I don't believe you, in fact I think she's in there with you and I want to know why. Lily would never have a 'sleepover' with you guys unless something bad had happened."
"Oh yeah because you know Lily awfully well, I forgot that you two were the best of friends"
"Don't test me Remus" Alice paused as if considering whether to say what she was thinking, "I'm sure McGonagall would love to know that a female student is sleeping in the same room as her male classmates."
"All right, all right! She did sleep here last night. But she's gone now, she portkeyed home earlier this morning. Family emergency. And that's all I'm telling you."
"You expect me to believe there's a family emergency that Lily had to attend but you didn't?"
"I chose to hang back here and pack up. I'm heading home after breakfast in an hour so if you excuse me…" with that, Remus slammed the door- possibly in Alice's face.
"She's awake," one of the boys stated. Lily felt movement at the end of her bed. Suddenly, Peter popped up next to her. "Hi", "No don't try to move you'll make it worse" he said in response to her trying to prop herself upright. "I'm going to heal the gashes on your chest Lils, don't frown, I'm well practiced; I heal the lads after our monthly 'moonlit escapades'. She almost laughed at how proud he looked about this.
He went to work in closing all of Lily's physical wounds. Letter by letter he traced his wand around her upper chest. She could sense every time a letter disappeared. But like a phantom limb, she could still feel the word, as if the scar went deeper than merely the skin; it was engraved into her soul.
Whilst Peter tended to Lily, Sirius and James returned from what seemed to be a robbery; they had been down to the kitchens to get breakfast for everyone. "You should eat" Sirius handed Lily some toast which she swatted away.
"There. That's the best I can do, Lily. I'm sorry, I can't do anything about the bruises."
"Thanks Pete" she croaked "and thanks guys…" she was thanking them for last night. Not necessarily for anything they did and more so out of embarrassment. Embarrassment to have been seen in such a position of powerlessness and weakness. It was also a test to see whether the boys were wanting to question further about last night.
What Lily didn't know is that whilst she had been passed out for the past twelve hours, the boys had been deliberating on a course of action. They had come to the conclusion that it was best to wait for Lily to talk to them about what had happened. This was after debating an attack on slytherin as a whole, telling McGonagall or taking Lily's memories and sneaking into Dumbledore's office to use his pensieve. James, Sirius and Remus had decided to not give up figuring out who assaulted Lily, while Peter thought it best not risk losing Lily's trust and wait for her to give up the names of her attackers herself.
They also discussed the possibility that A. Lily would not want to return back to Remus' and face her adoptive mother's questions and B. She could not go back to Remus' and face her adoptive mother looking the way she did! So they considered their options. They couldn't stay at Sirius' for the summer because Lily was a muggle born, Remus and Peter were half bloods and James was a blood traitor. They couldn't go to Peter's because his mother was sick so they didn't like visitors. Which left James' house. He would write to his mother and check it was okay for them all to stay over the summer.
So it was decided, Pete would heal Lily's wounds; James and Sirius would use an excuse to gain permission from McGonagall to Flu home instead of taking the Hogwarts Express (they would also get breakfast on the way back); Remus would accio Lily's belongings and pack for her and the other boys; and they would all Flu back to James' house and stay there for the summer.
Remus sat himself at the end of Lily's bed and updated her on the plan to flu to James' house and the reasons why. "I don't think I can face meeting your parents" she spoke to James when Remus had finished.
"We thought of that too Lils" Sirius chimed in "We've told James' mum that you were in a quidditch accident so have been in the hospital wing for the past couple of days. We said that Remus' dad doesn't like quidditch so he'd go mad if he knew you'd had an accident related to it! It's foolproof really!"
"So they'll be okay with you keeping to yourself until you feel… strong enough" James added.
After they had discussed the plans with Lily, they finished packing up and double checked under their beds for any forgotten belongings. They all assembled in front of their fireplace and grabbed their share of Flu powder. One by one they each disappeared into the nothingness following the flames. Remus had to hold Lily upright and go through with her. "Potter Manor" they both shouted, releasing their flu powder. The flames engulfed them and they too, disappeared into nothingness.