Lily in the Shadows

Chapter 3: Back Home

 After Harry and Hagrid left the island, the Dursleys sat Lily and Dudley down and explained to them that magic is not all fun and games; it is also very dangerous. It may sound like a wonderful, mystical thing. But it is not, it is evil, and horrifying, and inhuman.

"Now enough of the heavy. Time for bed, we have a very long trip tomorrow." Petunia said, picking up a half-asleep Kathryn off the couch and carrying her upstairs. As she tucked her into bed, Lily's eyes drifted open.

"Auntie," She croaked, voice full of sleep. "Is Harry going to be alright?"

"Of course, he is a sweetheart. If anything, he's going to be better than us." Petunia said, petting Lily's hair out of her face. Lily's eyes filled with tears.

"What if he doesn't want to hang out with me anymore?" She asked, gasping as tears dripped down her face. "What if he makes two awesome best friends and they have tons of adventures together with magic and danger, and he stops writing me letters, and, and." She cries harder. Petunia pulls her into her arms and runs her fingers through her flaming red hair.

"Darling, the boy has no friends now; I'm sure he won't make any close enough to outweigh you." Petunia tried to reassure her to little success; she ended up wrapping Lily in a blanket and holding her close until she cried herself to sleep.

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The next morning, they all made the long, exhausting drive back to Privet Drive. Once they arrived, Lily ran inside to look for Harry, only to realise he wasn't there; her mood immediately deflated. She sulked up to her room and lay down to sleep. The next morning, Harry still wasn't back. Lily walked down the stairs with Teddy, a bear Harry had given her for her 5th birthday, clutched in her arms. She was shocked when she reached the dining room to see Harry sitting at the breakfast table eating some bacon as if nothing had ever happened, as if it were all a dream. Lily quickly ran over and threw herself at Harry.

"You're back!" She cried, struggling to keep her tears at bay. "I'm so happy you're back."

Harry chuckled and wrapped her up in his hug. He would miss her hugs at Hogwarts. "Want to see what I got?" He asked, smiling at her look of excitement.

"Yes, please!" Harry smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her upstairs.

Lily looked around in excitement at Harry's trunk near the foot of his bed and an owl in a cage on his desk. She immediately B-lined for the owl.

"Your bird is so cute! Can I pet her?" She asked.

Harry smiled, "Of course you can, her name is Hedwig. We'll be using her to send letters to each other while I'm at school. So you need to get much better acquainted." He stated, opening the cage and letting Hedwig fly out and land on her shoulder. Lily sat on Harry's bed and absentmindedly petted the pretty bird. Harry opened his trunk and started pulling out books, parchment, and all of his school supplies. He tried on his robes, showing them off and swishing them around. Kathryn humoured him with a smile until her eyes fell upon the books at his feet.

"Harry," Kathryn asked, drifting close and kneeling near his school books. "Can I read some of your books?"

"Of course you can, you can read them all if you want to." He said, smiling as his sister's face filled with joy. Lily carefully looked through each of the books and picked Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger.

"Are you interested in potions?" asked Harry.

"It looks the most interesting." She replied with a shrug.

Picking up her book, she walked outside and sat on her little throne in the daisy bush, reading all about toadstool, bezoar, the different methods of crushing Killinger beetles, etc. She stayed out there for hours, filling her brain with everything potions. It wasn't until her aunt called her inside that Lily realised how late it was. Dropping the potions book in her room, she went down for dinner, excited for the days to come.