When Lily awoke she was not quite sure where she was. Struggling to even think, she tried to sit up. Panic struck when she found she couldn’t even move her toes. It was almost as if she was glued to the bed. A lifetime seemed to pass before the door to her room flew open.
–She’s awake!†a disembodied voice that sounded like it could be James exclaimed.
Lily screwed her eyes shut as what seemed like a stampede burst into her room. Unable to move her neck, she could only stare at the white ceiling above her as a conversation ensued around her.
–Roxanne, piss off, the Healer said immediate family only.â€
–James, watch your language!â€
–Yeah, Potter, watch your language.â€
–Piss off.â€
–James!â€
–Err, Roxanne, it is a little crowded in here.â€
Lily tried to muster a cough to let her family know that she was indeed awake; she desperately wanted to know what had happened and why she was here.
–Is she awake?â€
–Nah, don’t think soâ€
–Her eyes are open…â€
–She’s always slept like that, it gives me the creeps!â€
Lily rolled her eyes. –I’m awake!†she murmured through cracked lips and a dry throat. Almost immediately her mother appeared standing over her, her brow furrowed with concern.
–Where am I?†Lily managed to force out before Ginny started to force water into her mouth. As she was unable to control her face fully, water dribbled down her chin rather embarrassingly.
Ginny sighed. –St. Mungos, darling. You fell off your broom and really hurt yourself.â€
The ominous tone in her mother’s voice sent a shiver down her spine.
–How bad?†she croaked.
–Let’s just wait until the Healers come in,†Ginny almost whispered.
–How bad, mum?†Lily demanded. She needed to know how bad it really was.
–The Healers don’t know if you’re going to walk again.â€
Lily screamed and screamed and screamed but no noise came out. Suddenly she was falling, falling into the darkness and her mum was repeating the same words over and over again.
–The Healers don’t know if you’re going to walk again.â€
***Despite her desperate attempt to sleep in, Lily woke up bright and early on the morning of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match. Quidditch was the one thing she could not stand to think about. Almost a year and a half after the fateful incident it was still a sore subject. As a result, she tended to avoid all matches claiming that she had too much homework or wanted a day by herself. Her family didn’t tend to push her; they knew she was going through something they couldn’t understand.
Lily lay in her bed as the rest of her dorm mates got ready for the big match. Only when Jane, the last person to get ready, left did she heave herself out of bed and into the shower. It was a bad day today and she would almost definitely need her stick this time. The pain always seemed to get worse when there was a Quidditch match on or when she was under a lot more stress than normal. The Healers had reassured her that this was normal and that magical injuries had a certain way of reminding you that they were there.
Lily dressed herself in casual attire- black leggings and her brother’s old Chudley Cannons jumper- and made her way down to the common room. Ten minutes into reading a book that Rose had loaned to her Lily realised that she was bored. The common room was eerily quiet and, to be frankly honest, Lily had no inclination to learn about the life of Elizabeth Bennett and her many sisters. –Try having two brothers!†Lily muttered to herself before realising that she was in fact in the room on her own and talking to yourself was surely one of the first signs of madness. Shaking her head to clear all thoughts, she decided to take a trip to the Owlery. She had to reply to the letter she had received from her Dad the other day.
She removed the letter from her pocket and flattened it out on the table in order to re-read it.
Lily,
I’m glad to hear everything is fine at Hogwarts. Your mum seems to think that everything is too fine and that therefore you must be up to something but I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Although, I have heard that the Marauder Map has fallen into your hands so maybe I should be worrying a little more.
Your mum and I had Lorcan and Lysander yesterday. Never in my life have I met such hyper- active children. Even James wasn’t this bad and there wasn’t two of him. It makes me wonder how your Grandmother Weasley coped with Fred and George. Anyway, would you believe that they are four and still haven’t been potty trained yet! Your mum has given Luna until the end of the year to get it done.
Listen, darling, I know you don’t quite get along with the girls in your dorm (at this Lily snorted) but I suggest that you learn to understand Mariella Vane. I’m sure she is a nice girl and I know that a lot has gone on in her life—and is going on right now. Maybe you should be a bit nicer to her sometimes.
I’ve enclosed some treats for you.
Love you,
Dad
Sighing, Lily started to reply to the letter. The last part had been very ominous indeed. What did he mean that a lot had gone on in her life? As far as Lily knew, Mariella was the daughter of the very famous Romilda Vane who had invented a line of hair products for exceptionally frizzy hair. In her younger days she had modelled for various underwear brands. The Vane family had no less money than the Potters and Lily assumed that Mariella lived a comfortable and rich life. She knew for a fact she was a spoiled and therefore decided not to probe into the issue any further. She quickly finished her return letter and set off for the Owlery.
Dad,
Just because I say everything is fine certainly does not mean that I am up to anything at all. Well, nothing that there is a substantial amount of evidence for anyway. Let’s just say that nobody messes with a Weasley and lives to tell the tale.
Teddy and Victoria had Lorcan and Lysander last week and Victoria wrote to Louis calling them ‘the spawn of the devil himself.’ Apparently Lorcan successfully distracted them (by peeing on the curtains) whilst Lysander ripped up all of Victoria’s Witch Weekly’s. I only laughed a little when Louis told me.
I hope you have gone mental. No way will Mariella and I ever be friends. If you care to tell me why she has had a rubbish life then I might think about being nice to her.
Lots of Love,
Lily
P.S, Tell James to expect a drop kick when I get home for winter. And, yes, I have been watching his pathetic wrestling videos.
The journey took ten minutes longer than usual even with the stick to help her. Today was really looking like a bad day. Lily knew that at some point she would have to go down to the Hospital Wing for pain relief. However, she really wanted to postpone that for as long as possible, as the potion had the nasty side effect of making the consumer drowsy but unable to sleep.
Finally, Lily reached the Owlery. It didn’t take long for her to spot the family owl, Socrates, and send her letter off. Lily sighed as she watched the owl fly off into the distance. Now it was time for the long walk back to the common room.
***Gryffindor had won by a landslide of 170 points and the whole of the Gryffindor house were in full party mode. That was, everyone apart from Lily. Unable to quite escape the raging party, Lily curled up in a quieter corner of the common room almost hidden in the space in between two sofas. Although the noise from the party was deafening no one seemed to notice Lily and she was able to dull the noise considerably by hiding underneath a pillow. However, it didn’t take long for her peace and quiet to be interrupted. Lily groaned as she saw Roxanne bounding towards her like an infuriating puppy.
–Dude!†Roxanne exclaimed as she jumped onto one of the sofa’s that Lily was sandwiched in between and peered down at her with a huge grin on her face.
–What does that even mean?†Lily snapped, burying herself even further under her pillow.
Roxanne shrugged. –Dunno. Heard it on one of Aunt Hermione’s films,†she replied. –Anyway, why aren’t you joining in?â€
Lily sighed. –I’m tired. I just want to go to bed.â€
At this, Roxanne rolled her eyes. –Right, okay. I’ll leave you to it then,†she said before leaving Lily in peace once more. However, she wasn’t the only concerned family member to find her. An ecstatic Albus succeeded in annoying Lily even more with his fanatic playback of the match. Next came Molly and Louis with concern etched all over their faces. Even Hugo came to try and coax Lily into joining the party.
–And how the hell did you get in here?†Lily snapped halfway through their conversation when she realised that Hugo was in actual fact a Hufflepuff.
–I come in here sometimes; you know, to see my family? Just because you never come to the Hufflepuff common room!†he retorted back, slightly hurt.
–That’s because you lot are boring,†Lily replied. –Now go away!†Rather annoyed she flounced up to her dormitory and hid herself under the covers of her bed, cursing her family, her life and everything else.
The final straw was when Rose arrived. Rather pompously, she smoothed the bed covers before sitting down. –You know, Lily,†she said while gazing around the mess that was the Fifth Year girls’ dormitory. –I’ve never really been into Quidditch myself. Sometimes you just have to humour everyone else.â€
At this, Lily threw herself out of her bed. She simply could not bear anymore. Without a word, she stormed from the dormitory, through the common room where she was shouted at from no less than ten people before throwing herself out of the portrait hole slamming the door behind her.
–You really should have more house spirit, you know!†the Fat Lady chastised while fixing her hair. –And don’t you dare do that again!â€
Lily raised her middle finger in response as she dashed down the corridor. When out of sight she leant against the wall, breathing deeply. There she remained for a good while as she let the cool air coming in from a window calm her down. It wasn’t until her stomach rumbled that she decided to make a move.
As she made her way down to the kitchens, she silently cursed the fact that she had forgotten both the cloak and the map. However, with a bit of luck, she ran into no trouble on the way down. That was until she collided with the spot in the wall where the entrance to the kitchens should have been. Cursing to herself she slid to the floor, curled into the foetal position and groaned.
–They took the portrait away last night. I think it needed repaired or something.â€
Lily jumped a mile before swinging around—pointing her wand at the voice that had appeared from nowhere. She only tensed even more when she saw Scorpius Malfoy leaning against the wall, a slight smirk on his face.
–I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to kill me,†he said, making no effort to draw his own wand.
Lily let herself relax a little bit. –I was thinking more of a disarming spell. Murder seems a little harsh,†she muttered as she stuffed her wand back into her pocket.
At this remark, Scorpius’s eyes creased and he appeared to almost grimace. It took Lily a few seconds to realise that he was smiling. –Like father, like daughter,†he murmured and Lily barely caught the words as she slowly sunk to the ground, massaging her hips.
Scorpius frowned. –Does it still hurt you?â€
–Does it bloody well look like it?†Lily growled.
There was silence for a few seconds as both parties glowered. He is just about as moody as I am, Lily thought, not quite sure if she liked this fact. Deep in her thoughts, she jumped slightly when Scorpius lowered himself to sit down next to her.
–I think everyone still thinks about that day sometimes, it was horrible. I remember watching it happen from the stands and reaching out for you when—I think everyone did to be honest. Your Dad was so quick, though. He saved your life.â€
It took a while for this speech to settle into Lily’s mind. That day was something that her family tended not to talk about. Everyone knew that Lily was fragile- a cripple- and everyone knew why; they just happened to not know how to put why she was like that into words. Lily leaned back against the wall and thought. Hours seemed to pass before she finally heard the words spill out of her mouth.
–He doesn’t seem to think so. He thinks he ruined my life. Maybe he did,†she whispered so quietly that so was not so sure that Scorpius had heard as suddenly light flooded over the couple.
–I dismissed you over two hours ago, Malfoy. Detention for you and your little friend, I think,†Professor Igehart snarled, looking down at both Lily and Scorpius.
–And make that twenty house points deducted each for good measure.â€
Only one word crossed Lily’s mind. Shit.