Lily's Hogwarts Journey: Year I

Chapter Two

Remnants of the Past

It had been nearly two weeks since Sister Kitty had finally revealed Lily's past to her, but instead of quenching the girl's thoughts, it only caused her to long for more of her story. Over the next few days she became withdrawn, content to keep to her room, questions about her parents swirling through her mind. Deep down she knew Sister Kitty didn't know very much about her past, so she finally decided to take matters into her own hands.

At 7:00 AM the next morning Lily chose not to wear Muggle clothes, so she slipped into her everyday orphan uniform instead. Sasha was still asleep in the bed next to her, so she hastily scribbled a note.

Dear Sasha,

I'm terribly sorry, but I won't be able to play Quidditch today, for reasons that I can't explain. Tell the healers if they ask where I am that I'm away on business and should be back by dinnertime, so there's no need to worry about me. Have fun with the others; Buddy Warestoff can replace me as Chaser for today.

Yours,

~Lily~

Feeling a bit better about what she was about to do, Lily put the quill back in the inkpot and quietly tiptoed past the rooms of the other girls, for the mansion household of orphans was still asleep. No healer was roaming the ground floor, so she was able to hurry out of the orphanage unnoticed.

Bright orange sunlight was just beginning to peek over the rooftops of Diagon Alley and suddenly engulfed Lily as she briskly hurried down the front steps of the mansion. It was going to be a beautiful day, the first sunlight Diagon Alley had seen since the continuous rainstorm two weeks ago.

Lily walked the deserted streets with as much determination as she had the day she confronted Sister Kitty about her history. If Sister Kitty didn't know the rest of her story, then she would find out on her own.

After awhile the shops seemed to awaken, and dusty "Open" signs hung in the windows; soon after, crowds of witches and wizards from all corners of the globe began filtering down Diagon Alley to shop. This was one of the things Lily adored about Diagon Alley: there were so many nationalities and languages to be heard. Two veela were meandering together and softly conversing in their native tongue, while an Arabian wizard sulked down a back street with what had to be an illegal magic carpet under his arm.

Lily soon left the shabby part of the street and came upon the more pristine area lined with grand buildings, like Whizz Hard Publishing House and Gringotts Bank. She turned a corner and came upon the building she sought: The Daily Prophet office.

The building was made entirely of black, swirled marble with revolving glass doors that witches and wizards were entering and exiting. Hopefully Lily would be able to dash through the doors and not get caught by anyone. Taking a deep breath, she ran across the street and hurried into the building.

Once she was inside, Lily found herself facing a long carpeted hallway lined with office cubicles and bookshelves. A large, curved mahogany desk stood to her left with a golden nameplate bearing the word Information. A small house elf stood behind it, his eyes an unnaturally bright blue. Lily walked over to the desk, the elf following her movements curiously.

"What do you wish of Barty, miss?" the elf squeaked as he bowed, his small nose brushing against the desk surface.

"Hi, my name is Lily Peters and I wish to look at The Daily Prophet archives, please," Lily replied primly as she folded her hands and waited for the elf's answer. Here was where her past would be revealed.

The elf bowed again and hopped off his stool, leading Lily through a maze of bookshelves and past the closed doors of various reporters. After a long walk, Lily finally saw a glass cabinet containing seemingly endless folders marked by year:

"What year are you looking for, miss?" the small elf asked, reaching into the folds of a dirty white towel bound tightly around his body and reaching for a rusty small golden key. It was plain to Lily that Barty had yet to be offered clothes.

"Nineteen eighty-nine," Lily said in a satisfied tone as Barty placed the key in the lock and turned it, swinging the glass door open with a creak that echoed along the corridor. With quick, gnarled fingers the elf dug into the cabinet and drew out a dusty folder labeled 1989 in curly script.

"Thank you," Lily said as Barty handed her the folder. "I think I'll be here for awhile."

"There are tables over here if the young miss wants to read over the newspapers," replied Barty as he led her over to a round table in the corner. "Sit down." Lily did so, and the elf went back to his duties at the information desk.

Once the elf had disappeared from her sight, Lily opened the folder and began scanning the papers for any news of her parents just after they had left her at The Merlin House. She found no leads until she found a headline in the July edition. A black and white, moving photo of a sneering, long blond-haired man graced the front page below the bold headline: Raid on the Malfoy estate. Lily was intrigued by the topic and read on.

Last Saturday evening, the Ministry of Magic conducted a nightly raid on the manor of Lucius Malfoy, 25, of Estworth, Northamptonshire. Among illegal Dark books and objects found in the basement was a packet of letters written by Robert Peters, an American Death Eater who resigned this past March and is currently residing in the United States with his new wife, Catherine Melrose. After being forced to drink a truth serum, Malfoy confessed that he and Peters had maintained a close friendship for the past three years since 1986. Malfoy also revealed that he had been ordered to kill Peters for treason near the end of this month by order of You-Know-Who, but had evidently failed. The letters were taken for inspection and the Dark textbooks burned.

Lily lay the old Daily Prophet newspaper back on the table, hardly daring to believe what she had just read. In 1986, three years previous to her birth, her father had been friends with the evil Death Eater now glaring haughtily back at her from the photograph, Lucius Malfoy. Lily buried her face in her hands, trying to sort her thoughts out. If Lucius and her father had been friends and exchanged letters often, why had Voldemort ordered Lucius to kill Robert in the first place? Lily sighed and laid her head on her arms just as Barty the house elf came by to see if she needed anything. He poked her lightly with a brown finger.

"Is you going now, Lily Peters?" he asked as Lily got up and pushed her chair back under the table. She began walking back toward the revolving doors, deep in thought about Lucius and Robert, her father.

"Yes, Barty, I have to go now," Lily said, shaking the elf's hand. "Thank you for your help, I think I've found the information I wanted." She hurried down the steps and blended into the crowd.

***

Lily arrived back at The Merlin House around noon, surprised to find Sasha on the front porch steps waiting for her return. Sasha got up and brushed off her skirt as she saw Lily approach.

"You're early," she said with crossed arms and her usual expression. "Your note said you'd be back by dinner, Lily," she said as Lily ascended the steps and walked over to the porch swing.

"That was just an estimate," Lily shrugged in reply. "Besides, I was busy researching any past news concerning my dad. The old July 1989 Daily Prophet edition wrote an article about a man that Daddy kept in close contact with for three years."

"What was the man's name?" Sasha asked curiously.

"Lucius Malfoy," Lily said as Sasha pushed open the front doors and the two girls stepped inside the parlor. Lily's head was spinning with all the newly acquired information about her father and she needed peace and quiet in order to make sense of it all. "You go out and play Quidditch," she said with a distracted wave of her hand. "I need to think."

"Okay...if you say so," Sasha replied uncertainly as she closed the door to Lily's bedroom. As soon as Sasha's footsteps receded down the hallway, Lily fell upon her bed, pondering the past, the present, and the future as her friends' happy voices drifted to her ears through the open window.

***

The rest of August passed quietly, Quidditch games in The Merlin House's back paddock occupying most of Lily and Sasha's time. Since the recent discovery of her father's friendship with Lucius Malfoy, Lily didn't have very much interest in Quidditch like she had in the beginning of the holidays. She preferred now to only watch the games from a window, not even really focusing on the colorful blurs that sped past.

"What has gotten into you?" Sasha hissed at Lily the evening of August the twenty-fifth as the orphans stood behind their chairs, waiting for the healers' permission to sit for dinner. "You used to love Quidditch and writing, now I hardly ever see you pick up a quill and parchment, or look at your Firebolt anymore."

Lily didn't reply until the healer inclined her head, the signal for the orphans to sit at either end of the table to begin the meal. "I must be growing up, Sash, because I'm beginning to think a lot more. All these years, my father's been nothing more than a blur in my head, and now that his true character is coming to light I'm rather ashamed to admit that he associated with Death Eaters at one time." She poked her fork into her mashed potatoes, biting her lip.

"Well, I'm sure he meant the best for you," Sasha said finally with a shrug.

"What kind of father would abandon his little girl eight days after her birth? It doesn't make any sense."

"I know it probably doesn't, but you'll find your destiny one of these days, Lily," Sasha replied, her ice blue eyes flickering over each and every orphan at the table. "Remember Harry Potter and what he did for the wizarding world?"

"Yeah, but I didn't end up with a scar on my forehead because You-Know-Who tried to kill me," Lily retorted. "Face it, Sasha, I'm just not important enough for this thing everyone calls destiny. I'm going upstairs."

Before Sasha could say anything, Lily had pushed her chair away from her uneaten food and hurried off into the darkness of the mansion.

***

The warm glow of a streetlamp peeking through the single window at the end of the girls' dormitory greeted Lily as she opened the door. She fell on her bed, mildly watching the Holyhead Harpies on the poster, and sighed. At this age, all the healers would be telling them all to find their place in the world; well, Lily knew hers already: to go to school and become a functioning citizen in the magical world. Perhaps her true destiny (if she had one at all) was intertwined with that of her-

The beat of an owl's wings brought Lily back from her thoughts and she hurried down the length of the room to pull open the window. The owl fluttered to the floor, a letter in his beak, and she bent down so she was almost at the owl's eye level.

"Now, now, we can't have that, can we?" she grinned, pulling the envelope from the gray owl's beak. The back of the envelope caught her eye, and she noticed the light from the streetlamp caught her address, which was written in shimmering green ink.

Miss Lily Peters

Second Room on the Left Corridor

The Merlin House Orphanage

Diagon Alley

London

Lily almost jumped for joy when she saw the seal: a badger, eagle, lion, and snake encircling a cursive H. This was from Hogwarts School in Scotland, the most well-known magic school in Europe! She opened the letter, trying to swallow the urge to rip it open in one swift motion, and two thick sheets of parchment fell upon her bed. Lily unfolded the first one and began to read.

Dear Miss Peters,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September first. Normally we would ask for a responding owl at the end of July, but these acceptance letters were issued late, so we now ask that you send a responding owl by August twenty-eighth.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Lily's grin was widening by the minute, but she decided to put the first piece of parchment down to quickly flick over the supply list. Sasha burst in at the other end of the room, almost bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet. "We're going to Hogwarts just like Harry, can you believe it?" she asked excitedly as she embraced her friend.

"No, I can't," Lily answered honestly; she had never smiled this much in one day. She and Sasha sat on their beds, Lily still thinking about the letter. This was the happiest day of her life. Just like Harry, eh? she thought with a faint grin. I hope I can do something to not let the wizarding world down.