Her Name Was Lily

Summer - Chapter 5

I ran up to my parents and hugged as tightly as I could. "I missed you guys so much!" I say, still trying to hug them tightly. 

They pulled from the hug, "Oh my goodness!," my mother began. "You've grown at least 2 whole inches since we last saw you!"

"No, hunny," my father assured. "She just looks a lot more mature." It was true. I was much more mature than I was. I wanted to tell them everything about my friends' dangerous adventures but decided to refrain in case they stopped wanting me to attend Hogwarts. 

"Wait, where's Caitlyn?" I ask my parents, looking around. 

"Oh, she's at home with Aunt Maya. They've both missed you so much but you can't tell them where you've been all year, alright sweetie?" 

"I understand." I was disappointed that I couldn't tell Caitlyn about magic but I understood that it was better if she just continued life thinking that I was normal. 

"Okay," My father sang, clapping his hands. "Let's go home." 

On the way home, I told my parents about magic and about my new friends. I made sure not to include anything about trolls, the Sorcerer's Stone, or Draco Malfoy. 

We arrived home and I ran to the door. Aunt Maya opened it and gave the warmest and kindest hug in the world. Then I ran to Caitlyn's room to see her. 

I knocked on her door, "Come in.". I opened it and when she saw me, she stood up and ran to me. 

"Lily! I've missed you so much. Did you have fun at your new school? It's been so quiet here since you've been gone." She hugged me tightly with her little arms. 

I loved everyone in this house, my mother, my father, and my aunt. But my baby sister and I had a bond that couldn't be broken no matter what. 

Even though I was eleven and she was eight, we were very close and spent our whole lives together. We were inseparable and spending so long away from her made me feel like I was missing a piece of myself. 

We were so identical, that my mother would sometimes call her my mini twin. We both had a thin figure, long light brown hair, and similar faces. She looked like a younger version of me. 

"It was so fun. It would've been funner with you, though." I say, squeezing her tightly. 

"More fun." She corrected me, pulling away from the hug. "'Funner' isn't a word. It's 'more fun.'"

"Right, sorry. You little genius." 

We spent all day talking and playing in her room. She told me all about her friends at school and how my old friends were doing. She said they asked about me a lot but eventually stopped after a while. 

I told her about Hermione, Ron, and Harry, leaving out all of the magic. I also told her about a scary teacher whose voice was deep and emotionless. 

She also forced me to do some puzzles with her since she was "smarter than most kids her age." My mother's words. 

Summer was so fun with my family. We celebrated my birthday, we swam in our pool in the backyard, we did lots of puzzles, and I bonded so much with Caitlyn. So much that leaving her again pained me more than it did last time. 

I had received a letter and a bag of powder from the Weasleys telling me to grab a handful and throw it in a fireplace while saying "Diagon Alley." When the time came for me to do so, my parents told Caitlin that it was time for me to go back to school and then once her and Aunt Maya went to their rooms, I would follow Weasley's instructions. 

"Why do you have to leave again?" She asked me on the day I was supposed to leave. 

"Because I have to go back to school, Caity. I'm going to miss you so much but I promise I'll come back for your birthday and Christmas." 

"Okay fine. Bye Lily!" 

"Bye!" I hugged her and my aunt one last time and they went into their rooms.

I stepped over to the fireplace with a handful of "floo powder" in my hand. "Bye mom, bye dad." 

"Bye sweetie!"

"Diagon Alley!" I don't know what I was expecting but next thing I know, I was surrounded by green flames and in the middle of none other than, Diagon Alley. 

I noticed two identical red heads in the crowd and made my way toward them. "Are you guys Fred and George?" 

"Ahh, well if it isn't," one of them said. 

"Ronald's new friend," the other said. 

"What's her name again," the first one said looking over to his twin. 

"I believe it's-" 

"Lily!" I hear a familiar voice shout from behind me. I turn to see another red head walking towards me. 

"Ron!" He walks to me and I hug him. "I missed you so much! Where's Harry and Hermione?" 

"Oh, Hermione's inside with her parents and I honestly have no idea where Harry is. I think he's around here somewhere. Oh! There he is." 

"Lily!" Harry yells and he comes to me and gives a gentle hug. "How was your summer?" 

"Oh, it was great! I spent time with my sister, I celebrated my birthday, I-" 

"Wait," Ron interrupted. "You have a sister?" 

"Yeah, her name's Caitlyn. She's eight and she's a little bit of a nerd." 

"Is she like you? Does she have magic?" 

"I've never actually thought about that. I don't know. We'll see." 

We walked into a bookstore where there was a loud man boasting about how great he was. His entire speech was quite boring so I decided to go up the stairs to explore the bookstore. 

There were so many books. Books about magical creatures, different wand types, patronouses, and even muggles. I was flipping through the pages of the book about muggles when I heard a familiar but unwanted voice. 

"If it isn't Madison." 

I turned to see Draco Malfoy. His hair was slightly longer and was quite a bit taller. "My name's Lily. Oh- you were using my last name. That makes sense, sorry." 

He scoffed and gave me a disapproving glare. "Could you be any more stupid? Silly little Gryffindor." 

"Nice to see you too Malfoy." I say, attempting to sound confident. "See I can use last names too." He didn't even laugh at my attempt at a joke and walked away. 

I went back to the bookshelf to see what kind of books were there. One stood out in particular. The title on the spine read, "Parseltongue: The Language of Snake." I picked it up and flipped through pages. It said something about being about to communicate with snakes and that it was a very rare ability. 

I was about to put the book back when I heard a loud commotion coming from below me. I looked over the balcony to see Mr. Weasley and a scary man with white hair fighting. I rushed down to find that the fight had been broken up and we were heading toward King's Cross. 

"Lily, dear," Mrs. Weasley's kind voice called to me. "Here are your books for the school year. Put them in your bag and get ready to board the Hogwarts Express."

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