Thunderstruck [Harry Potter]

I

The lights in Lily and her sister's room dimmed for a moment, before returning to full brightness and highlighting the droplets of rain on their window. Lily found herself staring at the tiny rivulets of water as they slid down the glass. 

    She remembered the way rain would slither down the windows at school; how it would weave back and forth between the cracks in the mosaic windows. How the rain would clean the dirt-smudged glass faces of witches and wizards passed.

    Lily's breath made a hazy film on her side of the window and she wiped it away, shaking her head. She needed to focus on this report. Her return to Hogwarts was in less than a month, and her coming potions grade would rely on getting this report finished. 

    Professor Slughorn had taken a particular liking to Lily, but this report was still mandatory and she knew that if it weren't finished, she would be terribly behind for the rest of the year.

    Lily peered back down at her open textbook in annoyance as the lights in her room flashed again and thunder rumbled outside. If this storm continued, their power would soon be knocked out and Lily wouldn't be able to work at all. 

    She sighed in frustration and tried to remember what adding crocodile heart would do to a potion, but she just couldn't. She tried to remember the ingredients of a Bulgeye Draught, but her brain just wouldn't tell her.

    Lily knew who would tell her, though. Severus. He had lived within walking distance of her house all her life, but she had never seen him until about seven years ago. 

    It was when Lily had discovered her ability to grow plants with a power she could not explain that Severus appeared to tell her she had the same power he did. He had been the first person to ever tell her what she truly was; a witch. Two years later, they were best friends and were attending school together at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

    Severus was incredible at potions and seemed to be able to recall every purpose of every ingredient in the history of potion making. He could help Lily.

    She reached under her bed for the round clay coin Sev had given her. If she pressed it once, his identical coin would vibrate. If he responded with two presses, he would be able to meet her at the park where they had first met.

    Lily pressed hers and waiting excitedly, getting that tingly feeling in her fingertips that she always did when she was communicating with Severus. Then came a single buzz moments later. Sev must've been keeping his coin handy. And then another. Lily's heart swelled like a balloon and she couldn't help smiling.

    Another crack of thunder sounded as Lily hurriedly stuffed her books in her bag and bolted down the stairs. Petunia was in the living room on a chair, reading a book. With one look at Lily's bag, her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to say something nasty. Lily ignored her; she had long since gotten over her sister's hatred of all things magical.

    "I'm going outside, Mum!" Lily called, not waiting for a response.

    She slung her satchel over her shoulder and opened the door to the fierce downpour of rain. Lily ran out the door and down her porch steps, not caring that the rain instantly soaked through her dress; she was going to see Severus. She clutched her bag of textbooks and other various items to her chest, trying to keep the rain from soaking through its fabric.

    By the time Lily reached the big willow tree that was their meeting spot, Sev was already waiting, droplets of rain hanging from his tendrils of black hair. His clothes were dark and mismatched as always, but Lily barely noticed. He gave her that slight smirk he always did when he saw her.

    Lily reached the trunk of the tree was Severus was waiting at and leaned against it, breathing heavily from her dash through the rain. Before she could say anything, there was a bright flash of lightning from across the park and a deep, angry rumble of thunder.

    "We can't stay here," Sev said, running his fingers through his wet hair and looking deep into Lily's eyes.

    "It's too dangerous out here. We could get struck by lightning or," he nodded at her satchel, "We could get your books wet."

    Lily had to agree, but she desperately didn't want to go back to her house, where Petunia would have no problem making fun of her and her friend the whole time they worked. But she had never been invited to Sev's house. She had never seen either of his parents, not even at King's Cross Station.

    There was an awkward pause in which neither of them were ready to make the decision. Water that must've been gathering in a cluster of leaves that suddenly gave up plummeted to the ground between them to and splashed the pair with water. Lily giggled and shook her head, trying to free her hair of the rain droplets. When she looked back at Sev, he was simply staring at her, a dreamy look in his eyes.

    "Sev?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

    "I think we should go to my house," he said suddenly, his face brightening. "There's something I really want to show you."

    He grabbed her hand, the slight smile he always wore when he was with her gracing his face. Lily giggled again as he pulled her along. They ducked beneath canopies of summer trees green with bloom, until they stopped beneath an oak with a thick canopy. Severus let go of Lily's hand and pulled his wand from his back pocket.

    "Sev! You know we can't do magic outside, especially in a muggle neighborhood!" Lily gasped.

    He smiled a mischievous yet excited smile and put a finger to his lips, "No one'll see us through the rain anyway. But watch this."

    Severus whispered an incantation and there was a tiny explosion of dark blue sparks from the tip of his wand. Nothing happened. Lily frowned, trying to figure out what her friend had done. Sev's smile faded slightly when he noticed his friend's puzzled expression.

    "Lily, look," he said, pointing to a droplet of rain in the air.

    Lily's expression turned from puzzlement to pure wonder. The raindrop was frozen mid-air. She turned in an arch, looking all around. Every raindrop for two and a half meters around them had stopped moving and was hanging in the air, waiting for gravity to pull it downward.

    "It's a charm," Severus said quietly, like if he said it out loud the whole world would know his secret. "I invented it."

    Lily turned her gaze to him in wonderment and opened her mouth to say something, but he shushed her and grabbed her hand, keeping his wand in his other hand, "There's more."