Friendship Never Dies

A Lost Friend

Lily had been deprived of all friendship during her holiday break; as soon as she arrived at her house, she longed for Hogwarts again. Lily set her trunk down in the first empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express and ambushed the first friendly face she saw- literally.

"Ashleigh!" Lily took a running jump and leapt onto her friend's back, making her stagger.

"What the??" Ashleigh whirled around with Lily still hanging on to her, and then began to laugh. "Geez, Lily, give a girl some warning before you try to kill her! Where's your compartment? I need to put my trunk down."

"Oh, right," Lily slipped off Ashleigh's back and took her towards the end of the train car, where a compartment was empty, save for her trunk. "Sorry, I really didn't mean to frighten you like that, it's just that I was left completely friendless for all of break. I tried owling you all, but Petunia ... well, Mum and Dad asked me to lock mine up. And Petunia's changed. She refused to even eat at the same table as me."

Ashleigh clucked sympathetically as she set her trunk in the luggage rack. "Your sister's really foul, isn't she?" Ashleigh asked bluntly.

"No!" Lily said loyally, then seeing the skeptical look on Ashleigh's face, she admitted, "Well, I suppose she could be nicer. And she could also be friendlier...but I don't blame her. Not really, anyways." Wishing desperately that she had never brought Petunia up, Lily changed the subject. "Um, so where's Renny? I know Caroline's not coming back to school until tomorrow, but I thought Renny was going to take the Express back with us."

"Oh, Renny owled me yesterday, saying not to expect her on the train because her family driver is taking her to Hogwarts on some specially-Ministry-approved flying carpet. She offered to take us all back to Hogwarts with her, but my mum said the train ride's an experience; I suppose you missed the owl," Ashleigh finished with a shrug.

"That was nice of Renny to offer us a ride to Hogwarts." The two girls sat in silence, before Lily asked, "How was New York?"

Ashleigh sat up. "Oh it was amazing!" she gushed (which was quite uncharacteristic of her. Ashleigh wasn't the "gushy" type.). "Those Americans have the funniest accents! I saw plenty of Muggle tourist places, but wizarding New York...there are just no words for it! WNY is absolutely gargantuan. You know how Renny's father acts as a bridge between Muggle brand names and wizards? Well his work was evident all over- so many witches were walking around in Prada outfits at a witch's leadership conference I attended. I even got to go to the Red Bridge Academy which is a bit north of New York City, but their teaching is revolutionary!"

Ashleigh's exclamations were drowned out by panicked voices outside their window.

"Where were you, Peter?" a voice that Lily recognized as James Potter's demanded.

"That doesn't matter, James, the train's about to leave. Come on Peter, we were waiting for you so we didn't load up our luggage- hurry!" Remus Lupin urged his friends.

Lily and Ashleigh watched with interest as the Marauders all leapt onto the Hogwarts Express, which was starting to leave the station.

"I hope they don't sit with us," Lily remarked.

Ashleigh looked up to see Lily frowning gently.

"Why? They're funny."

"True, but...well, funny is all well and good, as long as it's not hurtful. I think they take their prankster's jokes a bit too far sometimes. Like right before we left for vacation, when they hexed Severus Snape? He grew another arm out of his head! I could understand if they hexed him because he provoked them, but it was completely out of the blue," Lily mused.

"Well Severus isn't exactly nice, you know."

"I know. And he doesn't have many friends, which makes him an easy target."

Ashleigh shook her head and laughed. "Lily Evans, Protector of the Helpless," she declared.

Lily grinned. "That's me."

"Sirius, did you really have to stop to curse your mother again? We nearly missed the train," Remus Lupin's exasperated voice admonished from the corridor.

Sirius replied darkly, "Yes." The Marauders all chuckled.

Lily couldn't help smiling along with Ashleigh, but she still felt relieved when she heard the Marauders enter a different compartment.

When Lily and Ashleigh entered the Gryffindor common room a few hours later, they were surprised to see Caroline and Renny already sitting by the fire.

"Hello!" Lily greeted them. "Renny, thanks for offering to take us to Hogwarts, but I never received your owl."

"That's too bad," Renny replied in what Lily thought was a sympathetic tone, but she couldn't be sure because Renny was speaking through a mouthful of Chocolate Frog.

"Caroline, we weren't expecting to see you until tomorrow!"

"Yeah, change of plans," Caroline chirped in a falsely bright and cheery voice. The girls could see evidence of recent tears on her face. "I came back with Renny, actually. How were your holidays?"

Lily flopped down in an armchair and grabbed a Chocolate Frog from the pile on the floor. "Miserable. Petunia wouldn't stop spitting at me and telling me that I was no relative of hers since I wasn't even human. Blast, she kept treating me like a demon-child. She tried to push me out of the car while we were on the express way! Then, when I was taking a shower, she crept into the boiler room and turned the water scalding hot. Luckily, I let the water run before I got in. Mum and Dad had a talk with her after that. Then, she kept saying that she was phobic of owls, which is utter rubbish, but Mum and Dad tried to be fair and made me lock Phoebe up. That's why I wasn't in touch."

Renny gasped when Lily told her friends of Petunia trying to scald her, and Caroline had popped out of the chair like a cork, her hands covering her face. As soon as Lily finished telling her holiday saga, Caroline fled from the others through the portrait hole.

Concerned for her friend, Lily got up and pursued her. Caroline ran all the way down three flights of stairs, where she disappeared behind a tapestry. Cautiously, Lily slipped behind the tapestry as well, and found herself in a cozy but unused student lounge.

Caroline was sobbing on a couch close to a fireplace.

"Oh, Caroline, I'm so sorry," Lily began, reaching her hand out to her friend.

Caroline didn't acknowledge Lily's presence. They carried on in that manner- Lily making awkward attempts at apologies while Caroline ignored her- for some time, until Lily finally lost her patience.

"Look, Caroline, I've already said I'm sorry about a dozen times for whatever travesty I've committed. But to be honest, those apologies mean nothing. That is to say, I'm sorry, but being sorry means relatively little when I don't know what I said wrong. So will you please enlighten me?" Lily tried to keep her tone neutral, but it still came out as frustrated and somewhat cutting.

Hiccupping, Caroline looked up at Lily through teary eyelashes. "I can't tell you," she moaned. "It just hurts so much."

Lily sat down next to Caroline, her gaze softened. She placed her hand comfortingly on her friend's back and said, "Surely it'll help if you talk about it? Releasing your feelings verbally is quite healthy and therapeutic. Come on, out with it. I'll help you as best I can. Take a deep breath now."

Following Lily's advice, Caroline took a deep, shuddering breath. "I suppose I should begin with the day that we met," she began with no more protests. "If you remember, I called you C-Claire, and I kept crying." Lily nodded. "Well, Claire is - was, my sister. My twin sister, as a matter of fact. Claire was always the outgoing, clever, rebellious, brave, protective sister. In some ways, you remind me so much of her- she rambled when she was nervous too, and she had the most unique hair- like yours, actually. Her hair was a brilliant flame red. That's why I mistook you for her on our first day." Unconsciously, Caroline reached out to Lily's hair. Then realizing what she had done, Caroline blushed and let Lily's locks drop through her fingers as she retracted her hand. "Anyways, we completed each other. I was as much a part of her as she was a part of me. I was always the more introverted side, the follower. She was brave, flirtatious and witty. It's hard for me, because now I have to become a whole person on my own. I have to be confident and witty for myself, instead of having Claire be that part of me," Caroline sighed with a sad smile. "Unfortunately, we stopped finishing each other's sentences and thoughts on one fateful day, June 8^th, this past summer..."

"Mum, we finished lunch. Now may we please go outside?" a girl with bright red hair asked impatiently.

Her mother looked up from the sink, where she was doing the dishes.

"I don't know...it looks like it's going to rain."

"Christa, let them go outside. It's perfectly safe," a clean-shaven man spoke up from the kitchen table.

"Are you sure, Christian?" Christa asked doubtfully.

"Would I ever lie to my precious younger sister and place my favorite nieces in danger?" Christian teased his sister playfully. "Let them go outside; they've never been in my backyard before. It's been raining for days, so they'll be bored inside, but they can explore for hours out there. It might be the last clear weather we have in a week."

Reassured by her brother, Christa turned to her children. "All right, you heard your uncle. But as soon as the first raindrop hits the ground, I want you inside."

Her two daughters skipped with glee, then hurried out the door.

"Come on, Caroline, hurry up!" the redhead ran towards the woods behind the house.

Caroline, laughing, ran to catch up with her sister. "Oh look, Claire! It's a deer," she squealed with delight. The graceful animal danced away, through the shrubbery.

The two girls delighted over raspberry bushes just beginning to bear fruit, blossoming pumpkin flowers, beds of soft ferns and scampering squirrels.

"Shh...I think I hear a brook!" Caroline whispered to her sister in transports of delight.

"I bet it has a little waterfall over stones covered in moss!" Claire whispered back, and the two set off to find the trickling water.

It was when they came into view of a huge pine tree that all hell broke loose. A raindrop fell on Caroline's outstretched hand as she reached towards a small sapling for support on the still slick and rocky trail.

"Claire, we have to go back!" she cried. "Mum said-"

"Oh, don't be such a goody-two shoes! I heard Mum. Anyways, we're really close to the stream now, I can hear it clearly. Just a bit more exploring, then we'll go back, I promise," Claire assured her sister confidently.

Caroline squirmed visibly. "I don't know..."

"Caroline! It's one drop of rain! It's not going to kill you," Claire snapped.

"All right, but as soon as we find the brook, we have to go back," Caroline sighed.

Claire grinned and nodded. It was clear that no matter her attitude, she wouldn't have gone on exploring without her sister or her sister's consent.

Just as Caroline smiled back at her sister, a cloud ripped open overhead. Sheets of rain began pouring down on them quite suddenly. Panicking, Caroline started screaming. Luckily, Claire kept her head and tugged Caroline to shelter under the huge pine tree to their side.

Caroline was shaking with chills and sobs as she sat down next to her sister.

For a while, Claire could get nothing out of her sister but tears. "Look, Caroline, it's raining, but it's not dangerous, okay? Stop crying, look, I'll show you even in the rain, you're not in danger."

Claire scrambled up and backed out from under the tree's branches. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking behind her, and she tripped on slippery rocks. She had been right when she told her sister that she could hear they were close to the stream; Caroline watched with horror as, with an almighty splash, Claire fell backwards into the deep, murky water of the swollen stream.

Screaming, Caroline slipped and slid towards her sister, but it was a futile attempt. At that very moment, a large, forked branch split off a poplar tree and struck Claire's bobbing head as she struggled to make her way to the bank of the stream, knocking her sideways and unconscious.

Claire was sucked under the surface of the water; Caroline couldn't keep track of her sister's wild path downstream.

Nose streaming, Caroline raced back to the house, falling over slippery rocks and leaves but unaware of the stinging of her knees and elbows. She burst in through the kitchen door, dripping mud everywhere. "Dad, Uncle Christian!" she bellowed, her voice hoarse and cracking.

They materialized in an instant, fully clad in raingear. It appeared that they had just been about to go searching for the twins when Caroline arrived.

"It's Claire- stream- fell in," Caroline croaked between racking sobs.

Eyes wide with terror, Christian ran towards the stream with Mr. Hess hot on his heels.

Christa didn't say anything. She just closed the door behind the men and enveloped her daughter with a warm towel. She held Caroline on her lap and rocked her back and forth, letting tears fall down her own face with abandon.

The rain stopped soon after Mr. Hess and Christian departed, and they came back to the house with a limp body in their arms about an hour after the rain ceased. They returned with a company of local volunteers, firemen, and policemen, who had been alerted of the situation long before; Christa had called the police as soon as she saw Caroline running towards the house sans Claire.

Caroline saw her father with a blank expression, holding his dead daughter in his arms. Surprisingly, Caroline didn't cry again when she saw her sister's body. Instead she said softly, "She looks just like she's sleeping, doesn't she? Except that she's wet." She then began to laugh maniacally. "She's- ha, ha- wet!!" Caroline gasped between howls of entirely mirthless laughter of a frightening quality.

A smooth, dry hand led Caroline away from the melee of people, and more importantly, her sister's body. "There, there. Hush now, Miss Hess," a voice echoed gently in her head. The hand pushed her back into a bed, smoothed her hair and pulled covers over her. "Drink this."

Though Caroline's nightmarish laughter had ceased, her new mood was no better. Her face had taken on a slack appearance, completely devoid of all expression. Light cyan eyes stared at nothing, unblinking. Caroline's mouth was forced open and a thick, over-sugary liquid was poured down her throat.

Someone massaged Caroline's eyes shut as though she was dead and rendered incapable of moving her own muscles due to the onset of rigor mortis. But, of course, they had to realize that she was already half dead- evidence didn't come in the form of an obituary, but in the shape of an eleven year old red head lying limply in the kitchen....

Caroline was gazing into the dying embers of the fireplace. "I start crying every time family is brought up because I think of Claire. I guess I cry more when I hear about Petunia, because Claire died before my Hogwarts letter came, so I don't know if she was magic or not. It makes me curious- if she was Muggle, would she be bitter and turn against me like your sister's done to you? I really hope not...."

Lily gazed speechlessly at the back of her head for a moment, completely taken aback by her friend's hard lot in life. She understood that Caroline didn't mean to be tactless when she spoke about Petunia's sourness, Caroline was just being truthful. Finally, Lily managed to say, "Gosh, that's...I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry that you had to go through that."

The sincerity in Lily's voice tugged Caroline back to reality. She tore her eyes away from the embers and faced Lily, giving her a little half-smile. "Well, Claire wouldn't want me to mope. Come on, let's get back to the common room."

Lily followed, knowing that Caroline was forcing herself to act casually and normally, but that it was tearing her up inside.

"Hey," Lily breathed softly. "Hey, it's okay to cry, you know." She touched Caroline on the shoulder and held her arms open.

Chin trembling, Caroline fell into Lily's arms and lost all her composure. She cried for a lost protector, a lost adventurer, a lost sister, a lost friend.