Lily in the Shadows

Chapter 5 (Edited)

The house is filled with the sound of family cleaning. Petunia is in the kitchen, frantically wiping all of the counters down, making sure there isn't a speck present. Vernon is sitting in the sitting room, flipping through the paper as the news plays on the telly. Dudley sits on a nearby couch, playing on his GameBoy as Lily folds laundry on the living room floor. Harry vacuums upstairs, ensuring all the little crumbs and dirt specks are cleaned up. He is in desperate need of getting some school papers signed but doesn't dare ask until all of his work is done.

Lily finishes folding and sorts the laundry into its respective piles. Piling all of the clothes into her basket and braces it against her hip as she makes her way up the stairs. She puts her aunt and uncle's clothes away first, ensuring all their dresses and suits are lined up neatly. Then she goes to Dudley's room, placing his shorts and pants into their respective drawers. Aunt Petunia had recently needed to buy him a new wardrobe, the diet he had been on for school had been working. He was nowhere near as thin as Harry, but he could sit in one seat alone now. Harry's clothes were the easiest to put away as the only thing that got hung up was his new suit, and she had washed that weeks ago. Aunt Petunia had tried to ruin the suit by turning the washer to hot water and the roughest setting, which would have ripped it to shreds. Luckily, Lily noticed before anything damaging could happen and hand-washed it in the sink before hanging it to dry in her bathroom. It is hanging sharply in Harry's small closet, away from anything, or anyone who could do it any harm.

When all that is left are her clothes, Lily hangs them up and away in her wardrobe. And places them inside her dresser. Finishing she takes the wicker basket back to the laundry room, placing it on its shelf. Walking back to the sitting room she pauses in the doorway, listening to the announcer on the telly.

"...The public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hotline has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately." The reporter straightens his stack of papers as a picture of a scraggly-looking man with long, dark, matted hair appears on the screen, screaming madly.

Uncle Vernon lets out a breathy laugh, "No need to tell us he's no good." He closes his newspaper, gesturing to the telly. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at that hair!" He shoots Harry, who had stopped next to Lily in the doorway, a nasty look. Harry's messy hair had always been a source of great annoyance, but now that he has been drying it so that his natural curls fall through, he seems even more annoyed.

The reporter reappeared, "The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will announce today -"

Vernon sits up, throwing his newspaper down in anguish. "Hang on!" He barks, thrusting his arms forward, "You didn't tell us where that maniac's escaped from! What use is that? That lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"

Aunt Petunia looks out of the window in fright, though no manky murderer appears. Lily walks out of the doorway into the hall, ignoring Vernon's vexed muttering. She grabs his coat and his hat, walking back into the room in time to hear Vernon discussing the rules for when Marge is there.

"Secondly," Uncle Vernon continues on his rant, Lily listening, having missed the beginning. "As Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any- any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, get me?" Lily steps back, his venomous words, while not directed at her, still hurt. If Harry has an abnormality, so do I.

Harry nods stiffly, "I will if she does."

Vernon narrows his eyes. "And thirdly," His face gradually turning purple with rage, "we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."

"What?!" Harry yells. Lily doesn't blame him for being upset, this school paints him in such a bad light. Where did they say I go to school? She wonders.