Webs of Glass

At the moment you are intimately familiar with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter's time. It is a world where the Stupefy charm is common knowledge, where Defence class is no longer optional, and everyone is constantly on their guard against strangers - the act of reaching out to one another long forgotten.

*~*~*~*

A wild-eyed redheaded girl ran through the jungle as she hid from the pirates. It was extremely important she rescue her mate Theo from the claws of the dreaded pirate Smoky. The seven-year-old's hands and clothes were sticky with mud, and her hair was matted with bits of twigs and leaves. She was just about to pounce when a call of "Lily, time to go!" rang out.

The jungle in her mind disappeared and the backyard returned as if that was the way it always was. She tripped at the sound and the cat bounded away with her teddy bear in tow.

Her mother rushed down the steps and hurriedly took note of her scuffed knee, and wet cheeks. For some reason, that didn't sit well with her because, although Lily had scraped her knees and elbows many times, she had never cried. However, the reason for her tears became apparent very quickly as her mother got closer.

"Mummy! Petty gave Mr. Theo to Smoky, and Theo is going to be ripped into shreds or eaten!" Green eyes wide, the five-year-old's nearly dry eyes burst into a fresh fountain of tears.

*~*~*~*

At the moment the magical world is a place of conflict. It is a place where jaded youths are burdened with the fate of the world. It is a time of slowly-dying laughter. It is a time of suspicion, a time where prejudice reigns free. It is a world where the common goal is no longer pure.

Ultimately, it is a place where innocence is stolen. It is a time where children are old beyond their years. Rather than enjoying their childhood, they are eager to become soldiers in the war thrust upon them.

*~*~*~*

She couldn't believe it. She was actually here at the train station about to go to magic school. Would she be like Tinkerbell and learn to fly? Or would she befriend a dragon, perhaps? Read minds? Did this mean horses talked?

A bark pulled the vivacious redhead away from her babbling thoughts, and she threw her arms around the golden lab who had captured her heart when she was eight, "I'll miss you, Sandy. I promise I'll write. Take care, and I'll see you at Christmas."

Trying bravely not to cry as Sandy gave her a final lick, Lily couldn't help the tear that slid down her cheek as she hugged her mum, her best friend, goodbye for the next few months. The two were the closest of friends, a relatively odd relationship for a young mother and her only child, but a strong one nevertheless. After the whispered words of love and trepidation, Lily stepped through the wall as the letter had instructed.

As the world materialised before her Lily forgot about her mother for a moment. She forgot about Sandy, and the town she was leaving behind. She saw only a world full of possibilities and wonder open up before her. The preteen now knew that fairytales came true. Unaware of the dangers of dragons and the dark forest, she stepped forward and began her destiny.

Lily Evans was going to magic school.

*~*~*~*

There are no beginnings and no endings to the great wheel of life. What is often perceived as an ending is only another beginning, and so it goes. Nevertheless, while these events are significant, they are not the tale. They are the memories, yes, but they are not the life to it. They are not the purpose. Goals are fine things to reach, but in the end it matters not how you started towards them or even if you achieved them. What matters most is what you do along the way.

*~*~*~*

The fourteen year old gazed out at the lake, his arms wrapped around his knees as he cried. So caught up was he in his misery, he didn't even notice the younger student sneaking up on him. In fact, it was only when she spoke that he noticed anything at all.

"Why are you so upset?" The girl didn't start off with a pointless 'are you okay' or 'what are you doing?' Instead, she just cut straight to the heart of the matter with all the subtlety of an elephant wandering around Piccadilly Circus No, no one would ever accuse the little bundle of having any tact.

Caught off guard by the unexpected question, he answered truthfully. "I'm lonely."

"Don't you have friends?" the second year asked in innocent confusion.

The adolescent smiled sadly at her. "You got me there."

The redhead contemplated those words for all of two seconds before she clambered up onto the rock beside him. "I'll be your friend," she told him sincerely.

As if it sealed the deal she dug into her pocket and offered him the item she pulled out. "Gum?"

The student looked at the innocent kid and attempted to explain to her, "You can't just decide to be someone's friend. You have to get to know them, you have to like them, and you have to really want to be there for them, otherwise it's meaningless."

"I know," she said as if it didn't change anything. And maybe it didn't. After all, what did he know?

The student looked at her wide, trusting eyes, and at the hand she still held outstretched towards him as if she had all the time in the world. He looked directly at her and then dug into his own pocket with a smile. "How about some chocolate?"

Her green eyes sparkled. "That's waaaay better," she wholeheartedly agreed as she took a piece and popped it into her mouth. "Mmmmmmm. This is REALLY good chocolate. Where'd you get it?"

"Honeydukes. In Hogsmeade," he clarified for her. At her confused expression he explained further, "Hogsmeade is the village the older years get to go to. It's not far from here."

"Oh! Neat. Can you take me there this week?"

"It's for older years only," he explained apologetically.

"So?" she asked pointedly.

The fourth year chuckled. "Good point."

"So what's your name anyway?" she asked him.

"Well, what's yours, carrot-top?"

He laughed as she promptly stuck her tongue out at him.

"Lily Evans." She now turned to him expectantly.

"Kevin Murray."

The second year gave him a brilliant smile. "I think we're going to be great friends, Kevin Murray."

"You know," he said wonderingly, "I expect we will."

*~*~*~*

Life is more than its ending. It's a collection of moments. Some you remember, many you don't. You remember the feelings, however. The laughter, the tears, the hysterics, the explosions... Ultimately it is not the ending, the destiny, of any individual that matters - it is the journey.

It is the friends you make along the way. The family you meet. The times you share. The memories you make. Without all of those, whatever you do is meaningless, because you don't do it for anyone.

Who are you? You are one who is meant to shine. Whether you choose to reach out and grant others that gift is your choice, but if you ask Harry's parents, you'll find that it's a choice well worth making.

*~*~*~*

Gwen nudged her friend in the side. Lily looked up from the book she was hurriedly studying behind the cauldron in preparation for her upcoming test in Transfiguration. Damn it! Why did she always leave things to the last minute?!

"What?" the redhead snapped distractedly.

"Ummm...I don't think it came out right," Gwen pointed to the potion she had mostly been doing herself. It would have helped considerably if Gwen didn't have an aversion to the slimy dead things she was forced to touch. Lily looked into the cauldron to discover that what should have been a translucent seaweed green potion with golden swirls in it and gold bubbles rising out of the cauldron, was actually a lumpy, burbling, purple-grey sludge with violent red streaks.

As she continued to watch in horrified fascination, a particularly large red bubble in the center popped, and in doing so, revealed a little fountain in the center of the sludge.

Lily hurriedly backed away from the cauldron as she clutched her notes to her chest. "Ummmm...Gwen, I think it's about to-"

BOOM!!!!

Someone screamed, and Lily had automatically curled down in a poor effort to protect the notes she so desperately needed for next period's test (under threat of impending doom from McGonagall). A foul smell wafted up from the purple-grey sludge that was splattered all over the furniture, the floor, the students, the wall, even the ceiling and of course...the professor.

"-explode."

*~*~*~*

Who did they fight for? Who did they live for? Who did they die for?

These questions seem to be so easily and carelessly answered: their son, their world. Nevertheless, it is much easier to answer for them, in order to receive the answer you want to hear, than it is to hear them answer what was in their hearts.

You want to believe they saved you, but you don't want to think about them, because they died to do it. You'd rather believe they, who had so much to live for, couldn't have died. So you gloss over their memory, over their truth. Fervently, you try to make up for it by doting on their son, whom you believe can save you, even though he wants none of your gratitude, none of your conditions, none of your attentions.

It is much easier to put words in the mouths of the dead and forget them than it is to pay attention to the truth coming from the hearts of the living. But taking the easy route doesn't mean it's right.

*~*~*~*

Kevin and Lily were soaked with snow. Their sweaters had not provided ample protection from the falling snow, especially when taking into account the subsequent snowball fight Lily had begun.

They laughed as they returned through the falling snow to Lily's house. Kevin had agreed to spend winter vacation with her and her mother, and so they had made up a room for him and bombarded him with the organized chaos that was their life.

"It's your own fault you're cold," Kevin pointed out to the younger teenager.

"Was not!" Lily stuck her tongue out at him in a manner strongly reminiscent to that of a child.

"Oh, really? How is lobbing a snowball at someone's head not considered to be instigating a fight?" the seventh year didn't curb his sarcasm with that comment.... Not that he ever did anyway.

"I was provoked!" Lily proclaimed triumphantly.

"By what?! My oh so incredible powers of telekinesis?"

"Noooooo!" Lily drew out the word in an exaggerated manner as if it was her companion who was being deliberately dense. "You armed yourself."

"I did not!" he exclaimed, offended.

She nodded her head emphatically. "Yes, you did. You bent down to pick up some snow."

"I bent down to pick up my hat which had fallen off my head," Kevin defended.

"Not from where I'm standing," Lily sang.

"Then move downwind!"

"Tut-tut. Now is that something you should be saying to the birthday girl?" Lily asked him sweetly.

"Yes?" Kevin guessed.

Lily tutted again. "Poor, poor boy," she explained with exaggerated sincerity. "You should proclaim me your queen, understand that all I say goes, and so when I tell you something you say 'yes, my liege.' For example, when I tell you that it was you who started the snowball fight, you say...."

She turned towards him with a grand arm gesture to prompt him only to receive a fistful of snow in her face.

"Yes, my liege," Kevin mocked before taking off down the street.

"Kevin!" she shrieked right before she gave chase.

Down the streets they ran, as each dodged the occasional snowball the other sent their way. Finally, they arrived at her house, rosy-cheeked and out of breath, their hair soaked in sweat. Kevin collapsed against the door and held his hand out to Lily, who had gracelessly plopped herself down on the steps leading up to her house. "Truce?" he offered his hand.

Lily grabbed his hand, tugged the unbalanced young man towards her, and stuck a fistful of snow down his shirt. "Truce," she sweetly acquiesced.

Too tired to argue with the frustrating redhead, he muttered a couple of choice words about evil witches under his breath that Lily magnanimously pretended not to hear.

They sat like that for a few more moments as they watched the sun begin to set. "We need to go inside," Lily pointed out.

"I know," Kevin agreed without any helpful input whatsoever.

"So move," she told him.

"You first."

"Birthday," she reminded him.

Kevin groaned. "Fine then, on three. One. Two. THREE!" Together they pushed themselves off the steps and fumbled their way to the door.

Lily opened the unlocked door, and nearly tumbled backwards as a huge shout of "Surprise!" deafened her.

"Wha-?" the dazed teenager got out. It looked like the whole town was in her house!

Leigh Evans through an arm around her daughter and gave her a kiss on her head, "Happy sweet sixteenth, Sweetheart."

Ah! Her mother had planned this party, and that would definitely explain the whole town being in her house. Leigh was well known for her out of control parties.

As Lily was lead over to the couch and given a tiara to wear (because as she had told Kevin, she was a queen for the day), she celebrated her birthday with all of her friends around her. She got excited over presents and cajoled Jack O'Reilley to bring her to the city, so she could take her driving test before she went back to school.

They laughed, talked, and shared tales all through the night. At four in the morning, when the town police finally broke the loud party up, Lily had long since concluded that this was the best birthday ever...even if this time around no one had been arrested.

*~*~*~*

Travel back in time with me, and learn their story. Learn who they were, and understand what they sacrificed. Don't pay lip service to the dead to hide the relief you feel. Don't smother the living with your needs.

Instead, see the friendships forged. Mourn for the souls taken, because you truly regret their lives being cut short. Grieve for the family left behind and let yourself really see the homes destroyed. However, don't let these tragedies blind you to the life they lived.

Join me and see the lives of those who we have lost. Really understand who they were. They were extraordinary people who believed, like their son, they were nothing special. They studied hard, they cut class, and they flipped out over exams. They fought with their families, grieved for their friends, and were as young and stupid as anyone else.

They had bad break ups, and they survived ruined friendships. They looked for jobs and they paid rent. They had dreams, and they loved life. Learn about these incredible people who dared to hold tight to their dreams as the world they knew shattered around them. You didn't open this story to find out how history ended, you came to watch it unfold. Spiral back in time with me to understand the generation of the vivacious people whom history has forgotten.