Chapter 2
1967 (3 years later)
Lily
"Try again," Lily picked up the stone and brought it back to Petunia. "The trick is you have to really really want it. Go on, try and turn it pink."
Lily offered an encouraging smile.
"No, it's useless," Petunia snapped, kicking the dirt beneath her feet. "I've tried and I can't. I just look stupid."
"It takes practice, Petunia. You're so good at everything you try, you're just not used to it.” Lily encouraged truthfully. “You'll get it though. I know you can.”
Petunia casted her a wary look.
"If I can do it, you can do it." Lily assured her with cheery confidence. She meant it too. Petunia picked up everything so easily. She was the best in her class. She was the best sprinter in her school. She volunteered at the local library. She was effortlessly pretty.
Everyone stopped Lily and asked her if she was Petunia's sister. Everyone loved Petunia. It was a point of pride for Lily. Sometimes it seemed like the only interesting thing about her was that she was related to Petunia.
Well except for the magic, but no one outside of her family was allowed to know about that.
A small part of her is glad that Petunia is taking so long to get the hang of magic. Lily tried to squash it, but she couldn't help the small twinge of satisfaction.
Lily was never bad at anything, but there was no denying she could never be as good as Petunia. Petunia, with her beautiful raven hair and her willowy limbs, was simply far more compelling than Lily. For the most part Lily was okay with it. She was okay with being average, with being second.
But now she's not just average anymore, she's good at something. Not only that but it’s almost effortless. She's effortlessly good at something. It’s so unbelievable Lily has to keep reminding herself that it’s true.
After being constantly compared to Petunia, it felt good to have something she doesn't. It will be short lived, of course. Lily knew this. They have the same genes, after all. If magic flowed through her veins, it must also flow through Petunia's. It’s simply not coming naturally to her.
If anything, it helped Lily feel better about the whole situation. She was always going to her sister for help. It felt good to finally be in a position to pay back the favor. To feel needed
After five minutes of intensely staring at the rock, Petunia flung it to the ground in rage. "Ugh it's useless!" Petunia exclaimed. Lily opened her mouth to object but Petunia interrupted her before she began. "And don't say 'you just have to want it more.' I do want it. I don't want to go to my boring school anymore. I don't want to sit in that hot classroom and hear the same lecture I've heard a million times. I want to go off to that special school you were promised. I want to have an adventure, like in our books. It's not enough to want it, though." Petunia's face deflated as her rant lost steam. She collapsed to the ground, pulling her knees to her chin. "It's just not working."
Not knowing what else to do, Lily moved to sit next to her sister. "Maybe… maybe you just need someone to show you how to do it." When Petunia didn't immediately shoot this idea down, Lily grabbed another rock from beside her feet.
She knew from her short conversation with professor Dumbledore a few years ago that magic wasn't allowed outside of Hogwarts until you're grown up.
However, Lily discovered she was a witch at a very young age, so there's been a few mishaps here and there. She tried to keep it under control, but sometimes she just couldn't. By now she knew that ministry workers were sent to clean up any damage she caused. They always seemed annoyed at her. Dumbledore was nice though. He always showed up too. He said he needed to check up on his future star of the class, but Lily thought he just wanted to run interference with the disgruntled ministry workers.
He told the workers that since Lily grew up with muggles, she never learned the control techniques that young wizards and witches learned. He told Lily that she had a hard time with control because she was powerful. Lily wasn't an idiot, she knew when she was being lied to. However, that didn't stop her from delighting in it.
It's only happened a few times over the years. Every time, Professor Dumbledore lightly scolds her. He did it very gently though. His eyes sparkled as he did it too. Even though he told her that it's very dangerous for young wizards and witches to lose control, he seemed more excited with each feat she accidentally accomplished.
Lily looked around to make sure the clearing was empty, and no one was watching. As long as no one was watching, she could say she just lost control. Professor Dumbledore never seemed upset by accidents.
She took a deep breath. She focused all of her will into the stone. Pink. She needed to turn it pink. The color of spring flowers and sunset.
She felt a little zing in her hand. Her eyes flew open.
Petunia was starting at Lily's open palm.
There, in her hand lay the rock. Except this rock was bright, petal pink. Before Lily could get excited, Petunia snatched the stone out of her hand.
"Lils! How did you do that? That's crazy!"
Petunia shushed Lily before she could respond. Petunia traded the newly made pink rock for a plain one by her feet. She scrunched up her nose and closed her eyes.
She looked a bit ridiculous.
Lily would have laughed if she wasn't so worried about hurting Petunia's feelings.
Lily soon grew bored of her sister's silly expressions and lay back to find shapes in the clouds. There was one that looked like a heart. She found another one that looked like a dog, but if she squinted it could be a dragon. She liked the dragon interpretation better.
"Ugh, it's useless!" Lily sat up to find a red faced Petunia throwing her stone across the clearing. Unsatisfied with simply throwing the stone, Petunia kicked the small tree stump near their spot.
Petunia yelped in pain.
Immediately, Lily ran to try and help her. "Ugh, not right now Lils." Petunia shrugged her off. "You're dumb little color changing trick isn't going to fix a bruise now is it?"
Lily flinched at the snipe in her tone.
Petunia's face softened, but the frustration was still there. "Just… give me a minute alone, yeah?" She just barely waited for Lily's nod, before she turned and trudged her way back into the forest, seemingly on her way home.
Lily sighed. She wanted to go after Petunia, or at least go home, but her sister had specifically asked for space. It seemed like a fair request.
Not having anywhere else to go Lily laid back and resumed her previous cloud watching position and tried to ignore the tears forming in her eyes.
"She's just jealous, you know."
Lily was so startled by the voice that she forgot to wipe her eyes before she looked at him. The tears seemed to make him very uncomfortable, and they impaired her vision a bit. She wiped her eyes.
The boy had a rather large nose and hair that was a bit oily, but he had an earnest expression. He shuffled from foot to foot as if he was scared of her.
"What?" Lily asked even though she heard him perfectly. She was confused on where he came from and why he was talking to her.
"That girl… your sister right?" The boy seemed to make up his mind about something and sat on the grass next to her, but was careful to keep a large gap between them. When Lily nodded in confirmation he continued. "She's jealous that you're special and she's not."
Lily would have laughed at the absurdity of such a statement but the boy said it so simply, as if he was saying something that should be obvious. Like the sky is blue, the grass is green, Lily is special, Petunia is not.
Lily thought she'd be happy to finally come out on top compared to her sister, but something about it left a bad taste in her mouth. She couldn't figure out why.
"I'm sorry, I should really go after her." She stood up to go but the boy gently grabbed her hand. When she met his eyes, they were wide. As if he was more surprised about his forwardness than she was.
"I didn't mean any offense… you just looked sad… I mean…"
The boy plucked a rock from the ground and immediately turned it pink. "I'm a wizard too." He shrugged and started picking at the grass. "Sometimes muggles are jealous of it and do mean things. Mother says they used to burn us. I … I just didn't want you to think you're to blame…."
The boy seemed so sincere at the last part that Lily couldn't help but soften a bit. Besides, Lily has never met a wizard her age before. She couldn't help but want to know more. She couldn’t help herself.
“Are you parents wizards too, then?” Lily asked cautiously. The Boy beamed at her interest.
“Yes, they taught me loads of tricks. Yesterday, my mum taught me how to make the dog talk. Like, real words… not just bark…. He didn’t really have much to say though…” The boy trailed off. He seemed a bit uncomfortable with her apt attention.
“I’m Severus, by the way,” He continued.
“I’m Lily,” she held out her hand to shake but Severus just looked at her with a blank expression. She dropped her hand. Maybe wizard greetings are different?
After a moment of hesitation, Lily gave into her curiosity and sat back down. “Do you… do you think you can show me the talking dog trick?”
Pandora
Pandora never did learn to be more cautious.
Despite Adelle's initial protestations about naming her daughter 'tornado', she did take to calling Pandora the tornado of the house. 'Everywhere she goes, disaster follows in her wake," she'd joke at parties.
Pandora couldn't help it. She just got fascinated by things. And when she got fascinated by things she got obsessed. And when she got obsessed she had to know everything about it. And sometimes learning everything about something requires you to take it apart. And sometimes she couldn't always find out how to put it back together.
She did, however, figure out how to hide it better. If she wasn’t around, she seemed to slip everyone's mind. She liked this a lot better. If she wasn’t around, no one would get mad at her for breaking things.
Soon the only indicator of her presence in the house was the trail of broken toys she left in her wake, like a mischievous faerie.
She learned the floor boards that squeaked, the abandoned rooms, the abandoned corners. These are the places she lurked throughout the day.
Eventually, she learned everyone’s routine, so she could schedule the time she allowed herself to exist in the common areas of the Rosier Manor. Father was at work until five on weekdays. Mother had tea with her friends most days around three. After her and Evan’s regular lessons, he had extra lessons for a few hours. She didn’t really know what it was about. (No one bothered to tell her what they were about, but he always seemed slightly peeved afterwards and refused to comment on it. She never pushed. Evan seemed to be the only person in the house that she didn’t annoy. She was scared that might change.) All this resulted in her being able to exist from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm on weekdays.
She reveled in this time. She strutted around the house without having to worry about getting in someone’s way. She stomped down the stairs without fear of being overheard. She didn’t have to listen at the door for footsteps in the hall before going to the bathroom.
If she wanted, she could just loiter in the common areas and read. She could jump on the couch. She could pace around the house. These hours were her time.
Any other time, she was content with being a ghost. Most people seemed to prefer the ghost Pandora anyway. But Pandora’s favorite version of herself was this one. The one that was allowed to exist from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm every weekday.
Lily
The next day, right after breakfast, Dumbledore showed up at their house. He strolled into their kitchen even though Lily couldn't remember hearing a knock or seeing anyone leave to let him in.
She couldn’t help the shock of panic that shot through her. She was sure Dumbledore was there to rescind her invitation to Hogwarts. He’s been fine dealing with her accidents, but she’s never broken the rules on purpose before.
He didn’t look mad though. He didn’t even look upset or disappointed. He almost looked… delighted?
‘Ah, Miss Evans, just who I wanted to see.” He said as if he ran into her at their local coffee shop and not her own kitchen. He took a seat at the table and helped himself to a scone. “I was hoping I could speak with you. Do you mind coming with me to the living room?” It struck Lily as odd how comfortable he was in her house, but she supposed it would be more weird if he wasn’t. Dumbledore didn’t seem like the kind of person to be ill at ease.
She followed him into the living room where he took a seat on their trendy green couch. The bright color was a funny contrast with his long white beard and robes. Lily suppressed the smile forming on her lips.
She waited for him to speak, but he just sat there calmly examining the surroundings
“Are all these pictures of you and your sister?” He asked, pointing to the pictures hanging along the wall.
Lily nodded, even though she thought the answer was rather obvious. Her parents wouldn’t frame and hang pictures of random children on their wall.
She watched him watch the photos as if he expected something to happen. Just when she was about to break the silence he turned to her with a soft chuckle. “I always forget how archaic muggles are.” She didn’t really know what that meant but from the way he said it, she guessed it wasn’t good. Before she could ask for clarification he had already changed the subject. “Now, I understand you purposely broke a very serious rule yesterday?”
“Please don’t kick me out,” Lily immediately blurted, not bothering to deny the accusation. He wouldn't be here if he didn't already know. "I didn't do anything dangerous. I just-"
"Now who said anything about kicking you out?" Dumbledore interrupted her with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I- I didn’t think-” she trailed off hoping he would interrupt her again. He didn't. He waited patiently for her to finish. Lily awkwardly picked at her nails. She noticed she had a hangnail, and she couldn’t seem to think of anything else.
“Anyway,” Dumbledore continued after a few moments of silence. “Those rules are to prevent young wizards and witches from hurting themselves. However, you seem to be… something special…”
Lily looked up at that. There was that word again. The one that Severus used. But he just thought she was special because she could do magic. This man seemed to be comparing her with other kids who could do magic.
“What do you mean?” she asked, not wanting to get her hopes up.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “You don’t have a wand do you, Miss Evans?”
He waited for a response, so Lily shook her head.
A smile framed on his lips. “Did you use any incantations?”
Lily shook her head again, even though it seemed like he already knew the answer.
“Miss Evans, do you know how many wizards can cast a spell with such accuracy without using any incantations or a wand?” His eyebrows rose in disbelief. He was beaming now. “I wasn’t even able to accomplish it until after a few years at Hogwarts. For you to be able to do it with no training or background in magic… it’s incredible…”
Lily was still fiddling with her nails. She picked the hangnail too close to her nail bed. She was bleeding now. Finally looking up from her nails she cast an uncomfortable smile at Dumbledore. She didn’t know how else to respond.
“Talent like yours only comes around once in a century. To kick you out would be a disservice to society.” Lily couldn’t but beam, now she understood why Petunia always slaved away for the best marks in school.
She couldn’t help but think about how Severus did the trick too. Maybe that’s what he meant when he said they were both special. She could imagine it now. She and Sev would be best friends at Hogwarts. They’d be top of their class in everything. No one would be able to beat them.
“I do have some conditions.” Dumbledore continued, breaking Lily out of her fantasy. “First, you can’t break any more rules on purpose.”
Lily readily agreed. She was still thankful she wasn’t getting kicked out.
“Secondly, you will take magic tutoring lessons with me and some of the other professors every week. I can bring you to Hogwarts so that it’s legal.”
“Yes of course,” she couldn’t agree faster if she tried. This didn’t feel like a punishment at all. Dumbledore smiled at her eagerness.
“You need to understand that some things will be rather boring.” he furrowed his eyebrows. “You’ll need to learn a lot in history, government, and a bunch of other subjects just to get to the same level as wizard born students.” He looked in her eyes carefully. “Muggleborns are at a huge disadvantage. Many of them don’t end up graduating. Hogwarts is a completely different world to them. They tend not to have the resources and support and allow them to succeed at Hogwarts. Our goal is for that not to happen with you. Understood?”
Lily paused. Did muggle born students really have that hard of a time? Dumbledore said it as if it’s a well known fact. But if it’s so well known shouldn’t they offer tutoring to all muggle born students? Why was it only offered to her when she did something ‘special’? She was dying to ask the professor about it, but feared it might make her sound ungrateful.
Instead, she simply nodded her head. “Understood,” she confirmed.