Lily stood in her small room and looked out the window. It was raining outside; she could see the raindrops hit the street with such speed that they jumped two inches up in the air before hitting the ground again. Lily sighed and looked around in her room. The bed was standing next to the door and against the wall. Opposite her bed was her desk. It had books all over it; she hadn’t bothered to put her schoolbooks in the bookshelf that was in her room as well. Then she had her owl and his cage that stood on her only chair. Her wand lay in the windowsill. The floor was something that looked like a war zone. There were clothes and various other items strewn all over it, with a little path from the door to the bed and the desk. Lily liked to call all of this organized mess. She didn’t have the chance to mess particularly much at Hogwarts, so this room was where she could have all the organized chaos she wanted to.
She sighed again and turned to look out at the rain. How she missed her friends at Hogwarts. She missed the castle, the ghosts and the magic. Heck, at times she thought she even missed Potter. But she always convinced herself that is was because she hadn’t heard from her friends yet. Neither Diana nor Arietta had written any letters to her, and they both usually wrote at least a letter a week. But four weeks had passed and she hadn’t heard from either of them.
“Lily, what is the matter with you?” a voice behind her said. She turned around and saw her mother.
This almost made her sigh again. She hated her mother’s what’s wrong? questions. They really got on her nerves.
“Nothing is the matter mum. I’m perfectly fine,” she replied, giving her mother a look as if daring her to suggest otherwise. This, it seemed, was a mistake, as her mother took as a sign that something was indeed wrong.
“Lily will you please just tell me what the problem is?” she persisted, glaring at her youngest daughter.
“There isn’t a problem mum!” Lily said, feeling that her mother wouldn’t believe her anyway.
There was a fierce staring contest between mother and daughter for a moment, neither willing to let the other win.
Finally the oldest one gave up and asked her daughter to help cook the dinner. Then she turned around and left the room.
Thank god Lily thought. She didn’t really feel like dealing with her mother right now. She then turned around again to continue stare at the rain. It hadn’t stopped raining at all; if anything, the rain had intensified.
It is almost as if the weather is in a foul mood today too she thought. Then she collapsed on her bed and just lied there, feeling guilty. Why wasn’t she able to just relax and enjoy the holidays? Sure she missed her friends and all, but it was, after all, the summer holidays. She should be able to just enjoy spending time with her family. She should be able to accept the fact that her parents couldn’t understand her world even though they tried to. She should be helping her mother with the dinner right now.
Shit, why do I always forget these things? She hurried out of her room and went straight to the kitchen. Her mum was preparing the salad, trying to make it look as appealing as possible. She had changed to a skirt and a top, which was quite unusual for her.
The only time she wears that is when we’re… when we’re having guests! Lily thought. She was at a loss as to who was coming over though.
“Mum, who is coming over for dinner?” she asked anxiously, hoping that it wasn’t who she thought it was. She really didn’t want to have to put up with --
“Uncle Phil and Aunt Julia. Jack is coming over too,” she replied with a frown. “Don’t tell me you forgot Lily,” she continued, observing her daughter worriedly.
Shit, Jack is coming! Jack is coming! Why does Petunia get to be with Vernon tonight? It is not fair that she doesn’t have to attend the dinner! Although I’d rather have to listen to Jack than spending the evening with Vernon… Lily shuddered at the thought of having to spend an entire evening with that man voluntarily.
“Yeah I did, sorry ‘bout that mum,” she replied, hoping to get off the hook if she confessed easily.
“Lily are you in love?” her mother asked with her arms crossed and a look that clearly said she thought she had figured out why Lily had been so restless all summer.
Lily’s eyes widened at she heard her mother say that. She hated discussing these kinds of things with her mum. Mysteriously enough, her mother always seemed to think Lily would spill the beans to her first if she liked a boy.
“No mum, I’m not,” she said, abandoning all thoughts of helping her mother out with the dinner. That ship had just sailed. She just wanted to retreat into her room again. She turned around and left the spotless kitchen, hearing her mother mumble as she went.
“Well, you could have been interested in someone…”
Lily took refuge in her room. She really needed to talk to some of her friends soon, otherwise she would be crazy by the time she went back to Hogwarts for her fifth year. After having attended the magic school for four years, she felt as if she had been excluded from a part of herself when she didn’t get any news from her world. Her letter to Diana hadn’t been answered, and Arietta hadn’t answered any of her two letters either. She grabbed a quill and some parchment and wrote a quick letter to Diana, pleading her to write back as soon as possible. She then tied the letter to Phoenix’s leg and watched the barn owl fly off. And then she looked at her watch.
Damn it, they’ll be here in half an hour… Better get changed… she thought, grabbing the first skirt she found and a matching top. She hurried to get in the bathroom and took a quick shower, got changed and put on a little makeup.
Done! Only took me fifteen minutes as well, she thought triumphantly and hurried to help her parents set the table.
An hour later she was bored to death. Jack, her cousin, and one year older than her, was the most annoying person she had had the pleasure of talking to all summer. He had short blonde hair and was quite tall. Lily thought he was very average looking. One thing he was great at though was bragging. He could even give Potter a run for his money. And to think she had attempted to try and have a conversation with Jack! All she had done was ask him if he had had a nice summer so far, and look what came out of it! The boy was infuriating!
“And then my teacher said I was the most intelligent student she had ever taught… But of course, that’s only to be expected… I mean, I get an A in every subject…”
Lily groaned quietly. She had listened to this in thirty minutes!
After another thirty minutes they had finished both the first course and the main course. All they needed to eat was the dessert, then have some tea and coffee, and when that was finished Lily planned on mysteriously disappearing into her room until they had all left. She didn’t think she could take anymore of Jack’s boasting.
“And then my team mates asked me if I could show them how to make that move again, because they hadn’t ever seen that being played in football…”
Merlin, he’s worse than when Potter’s boasting about Quidditch! How is that even possible? Oh right, it’s because I never have to listen to Potter talk about Quidditch… Thank Merlin for that… Perhaps I should just disappear into my room after dessert? I think I might have to… For the sake of my sanity, I have to! I, Lily Evans, will have to save myself from being brain-dead for the rest of my life! This is a mission I must not fail!
After she had swallowed the last bit of ice cream (her father and her were very fond of ice cream), she said she needed to go to the bathroom and hurried to her room where she could finally lie down on her bed.
Five minutes passed where Lily just looked up at the ceiling and enjoyed the peace. Then another five minutes passed. Perhaps the others would notice? Another five minutes.
“Hey, Lily? Can I come in? The adults are talking about some completely boring stuff… Whoa! What’s this?”
Lily was at first very annoyed. How dared he just march into her room like that? What gave him the right? When he let out a sound of surprise, it was all she could do to look where he was pointing. Probably my desk or something… Shit!
She quickly jumped out of her bed and hurried to her desk, where he was indeed pointing.
“Oh, sorry ‘bout the mess in here…” she frantically said and hurried to grab her schoolbooks and shove them in her closet. Why didn’t I remember to put these away?
She cursed herself for her stupidity. Of course he would notice her books. And he would notice that they weren’t muggle schoolbooks. And he didn’t know anything about her being a witch. This was bad, really bad. She looked around her room to see what else there was of magical items. She could get away with the parchment and quill by saying she was fascinated by them or something… Then there was… Phoenix’s cage! His cage, his cage, his cage… was all she could think. Thank Merlin Phoenix was out to deliver a letter; it was bad enough as it was without him being in her room as well.
She hurried over to get his cage but stopped just before she grabbed it. Wait a minute; I can get away with the cage; after all its just a birdcage, and Phoenix isn’t here, she thought relieved. Then she noticed the worst thing that she could possibly have imagined happen. Jack was standing with her wand. He was twirling it between his fingers, as if he couldn’t quite believe that he was standing with a piece wood that resembled a wand.
“What is this?” he asked with an interested expression on his face. Lily panicked. She wasn’t good at coming up with stories, for crying out loud! She had never needed it! She never got into trouble at Hogwarts… But before she had a chance to answer, a voice came from the door.
“There you are… Oh Jack, is that Lily’s wand? We had that made for her tenth birthday; she was really fascinated by wizards and such… So we thought she would like a toy-wand… Her grandfather actually made it with his own hands, and she was so excited about it. I can’t believe she still has it here. Could I have a look at it please?”
Lily couldn’t believe it. Her mother had saved her! She watched incredulously as Jack handed over her wand to her mother. Then her mum spoke again.
“Oh, and your parents asked me to tell you that you are leaving in about five minutes, so if you would get ready they would be very grateful,” she said smiling to Jack. He nodded and left the room. Lily looked up at her mum. She was about to thank her when her mother spoke first.
“You should be more careful next time Lily. It’s best not to let your mind wander when you are having guests over. I know it must be annoying for you to have to put away everything uncommon in your room, but you should nevertheless do just that… Just in case people barge in here and you have to explain yourself,” she said very seriously.
Lily was at a loss for words. For once her mother had said something that wasn’t irritating or inappropriate. She had said something that made perfectly sense to Lily.
“Umm… Thanks mum. I didn’t know that you could make up stories that fast,” she said, wondering how her mum had learned to lie that good.
“Well, I know you don’t get into trouble at all Lily, and I’m very proud of that. But you see, when I was as old as you are now, I got into a lot of trouble at school. I had to be quick to make up excuses. But I’m very happy that you haven’t inherited this side of me!” she assured.
She smiled and handed the wand to Lily. Then she left the room to say goodbye to their guests.
Lily put the wand on her desk and went to bed, not bothering to say goodbye to her family even though she knew it was rude.
So there are really some sides of mum that are okay after all… and with this thought, she drifted off to sleep.
Forbidden Forest? Who Said Forbidden? by Rikku
Chapter Notes: This is my first fic so please R&R! I really appreciate reviews!