Lily groaned. She felt as through all the warmth and happiness in her body had been sucked out of her and left her with all the terrible memories.
~
“What do you mean ‘Lily’s a witch?” Petunia asked. Petunia, Lily, and Mrs. Evans were all in the kitchen. Mrs. Evans had just finished watering her tulips and set them on the windowsill.
“Magic does exist, Petunia,” Lily’s mother said calmly. Petunia glared down at eleven-year-old Lily standing next to her mother.
“Sorry, mum, but its August 13th, not April Fools’ Day.” At that, Petunia turned on her heel and began to march heavily up the wooden spiral stairs.
Lily wanted to prove that she did contain magic, so she focused all her energy on the vase a couple of steps further up from, Petunia. Of course, if Lily had known what would happen, she most likely wouldn’t have done it.
The vase wobbled and fell over. It didn’t crack, but gave out a large noise. Petunia jumped and screamed. She grabbed the railing of the spiral stairs and barked at Lily, “You abnormal FREAK! Never ever darken my doorstep again!” After that, she stomped up the stairs and slammed her door shut. Mrs. Evans and Lily flinched at the noise.
Lily knew that her older sister had abandoned her for good.
~
Another memory washed over the “Petunia Memory” and overpowered Lily. This scene was on her first trip on the Hogwarts Express.
~
Lily could not find an empty compartment. She slid open another door. Inside were four boys. Two were large with stupid, tiny eyes. Each sat to the side of a white-blonde, pointed-faced boy. On the opposite side was a boy with sallow skin and black hair. None of them were smiling…
Lily reminded herself that looks don’t usually show what’s inside and asked, “Excuse me. May I sit here? Everywhere else is occupied.”
The black-haired, pale-skinned boy with empty eyes just stared at her. The blonde-haired boy across from him leaned over and whispered something in his ear. The dark-haired boy’s expression changed from blank, to disgust.
“Get out, mud-blood,” the blonde boy snarled.
Lily just stood there, confused. These boys obviously did not want her here. But what did “mud-blood” mean? It didn’t sound too friendly. What had she done to offend them?
“I told you to get out, you filthy mud-blood.” The blonde boy was standing now, with the two dumb-looking ones standing behind him, as if they were his bodyguards.
Lily did not like the way she was being told off. Other people had said, “Nope, sorry, this space is taken,” or “We’re full.” Lily stood up to full height, which wasn’t very high at all, and responded, “You’d better change that tone with me right now.”
A split second later, the larger of the “bodyguards” had punched her in the jawbone. Lily tasted blood in her mouth. Before she could recover, she was struck again. But this time, the other one had hit her in the stomach. Lily groaned and fell to her knees, stomach aching terribly.
She looked up and saw the blonde boy smirking down at her.
“You’re the one that should be respecting me.” At that, he slid the door closed. Lily could here laughing from the other side.
~
A wet, warm cloth had been draped over her forehead.
She slowly opened her eyes, blinking. Her sight was slightly unfocused, but she could tell she was not on the train anymore. She tried to prop herself up, but didn’t have enough energy to lift her arm.
More horrible memories flashed through her mind but they were going too quick for Lily to recall what they were about.
“Ah, you’re finally awake. Goodness knows, if you didn’t wake up soon, we would have moved you to Saint Mungo’s Hospital.” Someone handed Lily a bar of chocolate, but Lily didn’t feel hungry.
“Eat the chocolate, dear!” came the voice again. Unwillingly, Lily managed to bring the chocolate to her mouth and consume it.
Suddenly, she felt warm again, as if someone had poured a bucket of warm water over her head. The room came into sharper focus and Lily could see Madame Curtis, the head of the Hospital Wing, gazing over her. Flashes of the past still whirled around in her head.
“My, my, you are a strong one,” she beamed as she pulled the white cloth off of Lily’s head, “Dumbledore told me so.” Madame Curtis began sauntering around the wing, folding any bed covers. “I insisted that you be sent immediately to St. Mungo’s, but no, Dumbledore said you were too delicate. He convinced me that you could come through at Hogwarts. Anyway, if we moved you, headlines would be swarming everywhere! But, oh my! You were almost kissed by a dementor!”
All the recollections came rushing back to Lily like a shotgun. She remembered the ice, the dementor, and her feeble attempts at a patronus.
Before Lily could ask what happened to the dementor, Madame Curtis continuing rambling on.
“You were so fortunate to not be the only one in the hallway of the train.” She handed Lily a mug of warm butterbeer. Lily took it and began drinking from it.
Mmmmmmm… butterbeer…
“Heavens, you almost died! No, if James Potter hadn’t come in time, you would have been worse than dead-”
Lily spit all of the butterbeer out of her mouth and soiled the blanket. She began choking on it.
“WHAT?” she shouted after she could breathe again.
“Pardon me…”
“WHAT did you just say? I mean, Potter made the dementor leave?!?” Lily could not believe it.
Madame Curtis seemed taken aback. “Of course, my dear! I heard it all first-hand from a first-year. He witnessed Potter conjuring up, as what he described, as a ‘silver deer.’” She laughed. “No doubt, that would have been Potter’s patronus. I patched up Potter in two seconds. Nothing works like chocolate, my dear. But, oh my, I couldn’t even imagine a dementor on the Hogwarts Express! Think of all those frightened children. You were very brave, my dear, extremely brave. Just wait until I tell my granddaughter. She’s five, you know…”
Madame Curtis continued talking, but Lily wasn’t listening. She still was in a state of disbelief. How could immature, arrogant, quidditch-star Potter fight off the dementor, when she could not?
Lily had a flashback of Maya and her prediction. She became concerned. If Maya could predict something as absurd and unexpected as Potter’s patronus, then her friend was surveying Lily’s entire future…
Lily slowly shut her eyes, convinced herself that she was delusional, and prepared to go to sleep, when she heard something, or someone, fall to the floor and an argument brewing just outside the door.
“Watch where you’re going, Potter!”
“I wouldn’t mind you do that yourself, Diggory! I’d bet a lot more littler kids would be a great deal more thankful!”
Diggory chuckled and said, “And I suppose you put yourself in that category?”
“I’m head boy, so it’s my job to speak for others!”
“Really? I’d wager those are all Lily’s words.”
“No, Amos. As hard as it may seem to believe, their mine.”
Diggory scoffed. “Who’s the flower for? You’re boyfriend, no doubt.” Lily turned over on her bed, stomach-down.
Silence…
“Er… actually its for Evans…” Lily’s gut grumbled.
“One flower? Is that all you can do, Potter?”
“I can do a lot more, Diggory, if that’s what you want!”
“You-you point your wand AWAY from me!”
BANG!
Diggory yelled, but then laughed, “Missed!”
“No, I didn’t!”
A louder BANG was heard and Lily flinched as she heard Potter holler in pain.
What did Amos do? How could he? Amos now and Amos on the train seemed like two different people.
“Now really! What are those two boys doing out there? I have a sleeping patient!” Madame Curtis stormed out of the wing.
“DIGGORY! DETENTION!” she shrieked. In a calmer voice she said, “Come, Potter. Lets clean up. Heavens, this is your second time here today. Ooh, that’s a nasty cut Diggory gave you. So just lie down for a second… lie DOWN. That’s better. Now just stay still and that gash will be off your face in no time. Here, drink this. Really… you’re head boy! I think you should know better than to give Diggory a fluffy, white rabbit’s tail!”
Lily peeked through her eyelids and saw Potter sitting two beds away from her, smirking at the thought if Diggory being one step closer to turning into a bunny....
Madame Curtis was handing him a smoking cup. James sniffed it and screwed up his face in disgust when Madame Curtis had her back turned.
“Drink it, boy, or you’ll have two scars instead of one! See, if I had been there when you received that head injury, I could have wiped it up in a second! I can only speed up the healing, but it will take a few days.”
Potter slowly lifted the goblet to his mouth and swallowed it with disgust. The scar on his face dissolved into nothing.
He glanced at Lily, who quickly shut her eyes. “Madame Curtis?”
“Yes, yes, Potter?”
“Is… is Li-, I mean, is Evans doing alright?”
“Of course! She was awake just a moment ago. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to speak to her. My, my! A dementor! I’m thankful Dumbledore is headmaster, or I would have fled. I believe Hogwarts would be no more if Dumbledore didn’t accept the position. You-Know-Who would have blown it to smithereens!”
Lily cracked open her eyes again and saw Madame Curtis set up screens all around her bed.
“Right then, Potter. You may take your leave now. I should be closing down the wing any minute now…”
“Just one minute.” Lily noticed footsteps heading in her direction. She saw a hand reach from between the screens and drop a flower onto her bedside table.
“Mr. Potter! Return to your dormitory immediately!”
“Alright, alright…” The hand disappeared.
Once Lily was sure that no one was in the wing, he lifted her head and saw what flower Potter had dropped.
Lily stuffed her head in her pillow and screamed a muffled scream that no one could hear.
It was a lily.