Lily Black and the Twin Souls (Book Two)

Chapter Nine: Grief

For the first week or so, Lily didn't really do anything at all. She wouldn't even eat, she would just wake up and visit the dragons, especially the one who was like a mother to her. That's where she was right now, sitting on the ground, while the dragon was curled around her protectively. Lily was thinking. Just thinking. She loved her parents very much and knew that they wouldn't want her to do what she was doing. So Lily decided to do what they would want her to do. She focused on the good memories of her parents, remembering all the fun times she had with them, remembering that they had lived a good life. A full life. They would want Lily to do the same. So Lily took a deep breath, and rid herself of all the bad memories, of the pain, of the loss and heartbreak. Then she let herself be filled up with all the good memories, and for the first time in days, she smiled. 

Lily jumped up, her eyes no longer full of pain, but rather her usual mischievous glint. She smiled, knowing this was what her parents would want, and went to find Charlie. She found him in another dragon enclosure,

"Charlie!" he turned, and lit up when he saw that she was smiling,

"Dragon-Tamer! Are you back?" Lily giggled,

"I'm back! Can I stay for the rest of the week though? I would love to help with the dragons!" 

"Of course, I don't suppose you could calm him down? He's mad, I think he knows you were sad." Lily smiled and turned to the second dragon she had met. She walked over to him, still smiling and folded her arms behind her back, like she did the first time she met him. After a few minutes, he noticed that she was there and smiling. He leaned down so that she could pet him, and blew smoke on her like the first time they met, making Lily laugh. She turned to Charlie with an idea,

"Have you ever tried introducing my dragon parents to each other?" Charlie laughed and shook his head,

"Nope, you can if you want, as long as you can stop them if the fight." Lily smiled enthusiastically,

"Of course! I'm not called Dragon-Tamer for nothing, am I?" Charlie chuckled. Lily led the male dragon over to the female one shemet first, and stood back. She watched in amusement as he showed off for her. She smirked, they were adorable together. Charlie laughed from beside her,

"I think you just made my day Dragon-Tamer!" Lily smirked, Charlie was truly the best.

The next day, Charlie introduced her to his boss, who was quite impressed by her skills with dragons and offered her a job for half of the summer which Lily happily accepted, she was now actually looking forward to her summer. 

She spent the rest of the week, helping out with the dragons, who all loved her. She really enjoyed herself, and by the end of the week she was entirely back to her normal self. Happy, sarcastic and loved by all. On the last day, she gathered her stuff. She had gained new dragon taming clothes and such. She loved it in Romania and was thinking of returning after she graduated from Hogwarts.

She gave everyone hugs goodbye, especially Charlie, who was even more like a brother to her now. Then she grabbed her bag, waved goodbye, and turned on her heel with a crack.

Lily reappeared in the Room of Requirement grinning. She had gained a new sense of confidence which she loved. She wasn't sure how everyone else would react, seeing as she had already been very confident. She shrugged to herself, she didn't really care what they though. Lily shouldered her bag, and stepped out of the room with her head held high. A bunch of people stared when she passed them, Lily assumed it was because of her clothes. It was her dragon taming leathers. She had even gotten to ride a couple of the dragons and they were good for that. It was around lunch, so she went straight to the great hall, and pushed open the doors, smirking,

"I'm back!" Everyone turned to stare at the girl. She seemed different. There was a new air of confidence around her, and she was wearing dragon leathers. She hurried over to Teddy, who also seemed much happier, and tackled him in a hug.

"Hey Shadow! I got a job for half the summer!" Teddy grinned,

"Congratulations Flame!" his smile faded,

"Are you alright Flamie?" Lily smiled sadly,

"I'm better than I have been in a long time. I've decided that they would want me to be happy and live my life, rather than dwelling on the past." Teddy smiled, which quickly turned into a smirk,

"So, are you a dragon tamer now?" Lily smirked,

"Yep! Officially now too! I was offered a job by his boss for half the summer. I'll stay in Charlie's guest room again." Teddy pulled her into a hug,

"Conratulations Flamie! You can stay with me for the other half of the summer if you want." Lily smiled,

"Thanks Teddy, I think I'll take you up on that offer, I mean, I do already have a room. Also, can we not tell people where I was? Let's just say I was in the room of requirement or something like that, not that they'll actually believe it." Teddy nodded,

"Sure Flame, now let's eat, you need to get used to Hogwarts food again. What did you eat in Romania by the way?" Lily smiled bashfully,

"Charlie's cooking. I seemed to have inherited my dad's skills for cooking. I did try it once, let's just say the cabinets were black for a while." Teddy burst out laughing,

"You set his kitchen on fire!" Lily shoved him, embarrassed,

"Hey! It's not like I did it on purpose!" Teddy's laughter didn't cease so Lily huffed and turned back to her food. Hermione interrrupted her eating a few minutes later,

"I'm sorry about your parents Lily." Lily's eyes darkened but she said,

"Don't be. You didn't kill them, and they lived good lives." Hermione nodded in understanding before changing the subject,

"So, where have you been? You missed loads." Lily raised an eyebrow,

"Really? What did I miss?"she completely ignored the question of where she had been,

"Well on Hallowe'en Harry started hearing voices that led us to an empty corridor, and written on the wall in blood it said, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware,' and Filch's cat was hanging under it petrified. Apparently she can be brought back later in the year, when the Mandrakes mature or something. And then I asked about it in HIstory of Magic and we learned about the chamber and the supposed monster. Oh, and we are going to brew Polyjuice potion to see if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin." Lily stared at her. Hermione was going to make an illegal potion to get information out of Dracula, and the Chamber of Secrets was open? And Harry was hearing voices? Huh, she missed all the fun,

"Hmph, I miss all the fun! Except the message thing, I can't say I'm sad about the cat though." Hermione shook her head in disbelief,

"All you got out of that was that you missed all the fun?" Lily nodded and went back to her food while the other girl stared at her like she was mad, which she quite honestly might have been.