POV - Lily
Turns out that mornings come way too fast.
Lily got woken up by her alarm mercilessly at 7 a.m. and – although she had to urge to just hit snooze and turn around – dragged herself out of bed to quickly shower. Even though that would probably be useless, since it was so hot that she would probably just smell bad again in a few hours.
Half an hour later she stood in the middle of her cabin, where some sleepy eyes were already watching her every movement. She got out her phone, put up some music, sighed deeply and pressed start. Suddenly the song started blaring through the building, waking the kids that were still asleep. ‘Good morning green cabin! Time to get up and eat breakfast, everyone out of bed please!’ she said, with all the energy she could muster.
They started to get up against their will, more of them grumpy than enthusiastic for the upcoming activities. ‘Come on guys, I know it’s hard. But we’ll do a lot of fun activities today! Like arts and crafts!’ she exclaimed, trying to cheer everyone up.
‘I hate arts and crafts,’ a blond boy responded, giving her a dirty look. Now, if there was one thing Lily couldn’t stand, then it was rude and impolite children. So, even though she probably shouldn’t, she threw her answer right back at him. ‘And I hate supervising ugly blond ferrets, but we can’t all be lucky in life, now can we?’
The boy turned red immediately when the kids around him began to snicker, and he stomped with his feet on the ground. ‘My father will hear about this!’ he said, and stormed out of the cabin.
Lily sighed, guessing that wouldn’t be the last she heard of it, but still happy that the kid seemed done for now. She gathered the other kids to go outside and sit under the pavilion, showing them where to get breakfast and – after eating – brush their teeth.
Finally done with showing them around, she went to sit at the counselor-table, joining James and Mary who were already sitting and chatting cheerfully. She sat down and replied to James’ chipper ‘Morning Lily!’ with a groan, making him and Mary giggle in pity.
‘Don’t worry princess,’ Mary grinned, ‘the first mornings are always the hardest. How’ve your campers been?’
‘Fine,’ Lily bit back, feeling attacked because they were laughing at her. ‘And don’t call me that.’
Mary seemed like she wanted to retort, but James stepped in quickly not giving her a chance to do so: ‘Not any annoying kids?’
Lily softened a little, turning to James again. ‘Not really, except this one annoying brat of a child. He kept complaining about the dumbest stuff. I called him out for it though. Reminded me a bit of a ferret, that one,’ she thought out loud, not noticing the shocked faces of her friends until she finished speaking.
‘What?’ she asked when they kept staring at her with open mouths. ‘What did I do?’
‘Did this ferret kid have blond hair? And did he perchance say something along the lines of “my father will hear about this”?’ James said, mouth still slightly agape.
‘Yeah, he had. And yeah, he did. Why? What’s going on?’ Lily said, feeling like some sort of great secret was about to be revealed to her.
‘Oh my god. I can’t believe you just told of Draco Malfoy!’ Mary exclaimed, starting to laugh hysterically.
If Lily wasn’t starting to panic right about now, she would’ve noted how beautiful Mary’s laugh was. She always kind of hated it when people disturbed the silence with loud laughs, but Mary’s laugh didn’t disturb anything. It was more of a sound that could catch everyone’s attention and keep it there, and everyone would be entirely content in being captivated by it. And maybe Lily wasn’t panicking that much at all, she thought, realizing that she’d spend more time describing Mary’s laugh then necessary.
James was still gaping at her, looking like he just made the biggest mistake of his life. ‘Shit, I totally forgot to warn you. Holy - , no wait, back up, what exactly did you say to him?’ he finally said, coming over his initial shock.
‘Well… he said: I hate arts and crafts. And I might’ve replied with…’ she hesitated and looked at Mary, who’s laughter had died out but who also still had a twinkle in her eyes. She nodded encouragingly, so Lily turned back to James. ‘I told him I hate supervising ugly blond ferrets, but we can’t all be lucky in life, now can we?’
Mary started laughing again, while James stared at her in panic. ‘Oh, this is not good,’ he said, eyes showing a hint of despair.
‘Can someone tell me what’s going on? I mean, who is this kid? He can’t be that powerful, can he? You’re talking about him like he owns the place,’ Lily asked, James’ panic starting to reflect on her.
‘He’s the son of Lucius Malfoy,’ Mary explained, trying to calm both of them down. ‘The Malfoys are a pretty rich family, with a lot of power, and Lucius is pretty much the worst. Also in some way or another related to Sirius and Regulus, if I’m correct,’ she trailed off.
‘Shit. And what are they gonna do? Can they get me fired? What-’
‘Don’t worry, I don’t think he can get you fired. We actually never went against Draco before, since we didn’t wanna test fate. But honestly, he shouldn’t be able to. I’ll make sure he won’t,’ James reassured her.
‘Okay, that’s great. Thank you,’ Lily said, earnestly. She gave him a smile, which he returned right away. ‘I can’t afford to lose this job.’ Not noticing the question in Mary’s eyes, she turned back to her breakfast, finishing her coffee with one big sip.
James stood up, getting everyone’s attention. ‘So, everyone ready to start the day?’ The kids started shouting in confirmation and nodding, which led to Lily starting to grin. If she was honest, she had to admit she was kind of excited to see how this would pan out, and couldn’t she better enjoy it in the meantime?
But catching Mary’s eyes, her grin disappeared, because the smirk she was able to find on the other girl’s face was one equally as big, but with a lot more evil intentions in it. Where Lily’s grin left her face, a frown formed. ‘What are you laughing at?’
‘Last one at the archery range is a loser!’ Mary replied, already running away with her campers following in a trail behind her. Lily started running too, encouraging hers to come with her. Even though she arrived a few seconds later than Mary, the other girl stilled laughed at her like she’d arrived hours late.
When every single one of their campers was finally gathered at the range, Lily turned to the targets and saw a girl standing there, wo James had called Pandora. She only came to camp on certain days, he had explained, and supervised activities like archery, arts and crafts, and baking.
The blonde wore her hair in long braids and had a lot of jewelry, like layered necklaces and rings. She looked like a sort of fairy, Lily decided, and she was beautiful in some weird but ethereal way.
When she spoke, her voice sounded soft and enchanting. ‘Hello, everyone, and welcome back! I’ve missed you all so much! Are you ready to go on with your archery lessons?’
The children seemed to match her vibe, also speaking a lot more quiet than Lily was used to. Pandora divided them in little groups of six, and assigned each group a target to practice on. Lily turned to Mary, giving her a sideway glance. ‘So, what do we do now?’
‘What do you think?’ Mary said with a challenging grin. ‘We participate of course.’
‘Aren’t we supposed to supervise the kids? Make sure they don’t hurt themselves?’ Lily hesitated, not entirely convinced just yet.
‘Honestly, we’ll still see it if they’re hurt. And also, where’s the fun in that?’ Mary followed her words up with actions, immediately getting a bow and arrows while choosing the last target that was still free.
Lily was still hesitant, but when she saw that Pandora had everything under control she shrugged and got a bow herself. A confident smirk appeared on her face while she turned to Mary, daring her to start a contest between them.
And if she lost, no one except Mary – and maybe Pandora and the thirty-two children present – knew.