The Rise of Terror

Chapter 3: The Dream

**********

Mr. cEvans awakened Lily at the god-awful hour of seven AM.

"Hurry up, Lily! We better hurry if we don't want to be late," he shouted at her before walking to the kitchen to fix his breakfast.

"Late for what?" she protested sleepily.

"We're going to the Potters' to see about that little prank," he called back. His tone was cheerful, but he had an evil gleam in his eye.

With not a little grumbling, Lily rolled herself out of bed and into her bathroom. After practicing some basic personal hygiene, she tied her hair into a long, sleek ponytail and returned to her room to change. She quickly threw her pyjamas onto her bed and put on a light blue shirt, blue jean shorts and her trainers. She put a book and a travel pillow in a bag before running down into the kitchen to join her father.

"Here. Eat this," her father commanded, setting a couple extremely burnt eggs on a plate in front of her.

"No thanks, Dad. Let me do it." Lily took the spatula and bowl of beat eggs away from her father. Thankfully, he had only attempted to make two so far, so there was enough left to make breakfast for the both of them.

They ate quickly and in silence. Her father wrote a quick note and stuck it to the fridge with a magnet. Lily picked up her bag and was ushered into the car by her father. She turned on the radio and promptly fell asleep.

**********

James woke at noon, like always. He changed, nicked some leftover cake from the fridge for his breakfast and lunch, and proceeded to groggily wander aimlessly around the house for about an hour, just watching the portraits on the walls. They could be quite entertaining. He spent quite a while watching the Chinese couple in the small portrait by the window in the third floor hallway as they fought over who knows what. They were fighting. Again. I wonder what this fight's about. James thought. But it's kind of funny because no one knows what they are saying.

After another few times around the house, his mother finally caught sight of him passing the kitchen door for the fifth time and scolded him. "James, if you don't go do something constructive, I'll make you help clean the house with the house elves."

James paled considerably and rushed off mumbling, "I think I'll go practice my Quidditch in the backyard."

**********

Lily and her father arrived at the Potters' large, apparently two-story, white house at approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon. She had been rudely awakened at nine o'clock to the horribly off-key sound of her father singing along to the Beatles on the radio after only one hour of sleep. She then spent the rest of the trip suffering as her father took it upon himself to keep her entertained by butchering every song that played.

Lily admired the brightly coloured lawn as her father banged non-stop on the door until a woman opened it.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, I am looking for a Mr. and Mrs. Potter," he replied.

"I am Mrs. Potter. What can I do for you?"

"I would like to speak with you and your husband concerning your son and a rude prank."

"Please, come in and let me get my husband."

Mr. Evans turned around and gestured for Lily to follow them into the house. Lily stared in awe at the sheer size of the interior. The outside seemed large, but the inside seemed three times larger.

Lily's father and James's parents had walked into a room on the side of the hall. Lily was spinning slowly in a circle, staring at the painted domed ceiling, when she heard a distinct pop! come from behind her. She pivoted on her heel. A short creature with large bat-like ears and enormous, blue, orb-like eyes stood there. It was wearing a potato sack with a pile of laundry in its arms. Lily took one look at it before she screamed and collapsed on the tile floor.

**********

Lily awoke on a sofa in what appeared to be a parlour. She slowly sat up when she noticed a pair of giant blue eyes staring at her. She screamed again and fell off the sofa. The little creature started advancing towards her with a glass of water and attempting to bow and offer apologies at the same time.

"Linka is very sorry. So sorry to scare Miss like that. Please forgive Linka," she repeated over and over again in a squeaky, high-pitched voice.

Lily struggled to crawl backwards when someone said, "Linka, that's enough. Leave her alone."

"Yes, Master Potter," she responded meekly, bowing before disappearing with another pop!

Lily looked up into the worried face of James.

"Are you okay?" he asked, offering his hand to help her up.

"I'm fine," she answered, although her trembling voice told otherwise. She stood, pointedly refusing James's outstretched hand.

"Where's my dad?" she asked.

"He's still talking with my parents. They all came out when you screamed, and when they found out you had just fainted but would be all right, they told me to stay with you until you woke up. Now I'm to take you to them because they need to talk to you, too."

"All right, show me where to go." She made sure she wasn't looking at James; instead, she was pretending to admire an extremely ugly vase.

James didn't move until Lily looked at him, wondering why he wasn't moving yet.

"Why are you mad at me?" James asked.

"I'm not mad," she lied, and looked away.

"Fine," James sighed. "Follow me."

*********

Lily followed James out of the parlour and across the hall into a study. This room had wall length bookcases that reached the ceiling on two walls. One of the remaining walls was covered with portraits that were...moving. Not just emotionally moving, but physically moving. When Lily walked in, the majority of the figures crowded into a large frame near the door to get a closer look at her and whisper among themselves. Lily looked at them warily while quickly walking to her father.

Her father looked at her seriously and said, "Lily, we have something we need to talk about."

Lily looked at him blankly with her mouth hanging open.

He quickly spoke again before she could say anything in protest. "The letter you received that you thought was a joke, it really isn't. According to Harold, there is a real school named Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it's the best in Britain. He said that you have a rare talent and really are a witch and there's a whole government and--"

He was abruptly cut off when Lily fell heavily on the carpet floor.

Lily looked up and found herself looking up into the worried faces of the three Potters and her father. She coughed meaningfully, and they all scrambled to back away and give her room to sit up.

"I'm fine, really," she insisted. "I just needed to sit down and missed the chair."

Mrs. Potter handed her a glass of water, which Lily took gratefully. She emptied the glass in a few huge gulps. After seeing that Lily was going to be fine, she turned to the men - actually, the two men and the boy - and shooed them out of the study.

Mrs. Potter opened her mouth to say something to Lily, but saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw all the figures of the numerous portraits struggling to fit into a frame that normally held only one figure. Mrs. Potter gave them a stern glare. They all froze and sulkily trooped out into a portrait somewhere in the hall.

Lily watched these proceedings with guarded fascination. Never in her life had she ever seen something like this: moving, talking portraits. Mrs. Potter observed Lily's fascination in amusement and said, "They enthral me, too."

Lily jumped a little in surprise, but quickly composed herself. She turned to Mrs. Potter and asked, "How does it work?"

"Magic," she replied simply.

Lily looked sceptical.

"I'm not barmy, although you seem to think so," she replied with a laugh. "I thought the same thing when my parents first told me when I was eleven. I was from a pureblood family, which means we have not had any Muggle ancestors for as far as our ancestry was recorded. My parents decided that we should live in a Muggle area and hide magic from me so that I wouldn't grow up to be as prejudiced as most pureblood families. I understand what you're going through because you're a Muggle-born, and I was raised as one."

"What's a Muggle-born?"

"A Muggle-born is a witch or wizard born from a non-wizarding family."

Lily nodded dumbly, the information not totally sinking in yet.

"So," Lily said slowly and carefully, with an attempt at humour, "I'm a witch. LikeYou mean flying broomsticks, black cats, boiling cauldrons and the like?"

"Something like that," Mrs. Potter replied. "Right now, there is just too much to explain at once. Most of it you'll just have to learn along the way. All I can tell you right now is that you're going to have to accept that you're a witch. It's a great gift, but I warn you, it must be kept secret from all except those you trust."

"Can you show me something that you can do?" Lily asked.

"Of course. What would you like me to do?"

"How about...turn the chair into a cat."

Mrs. Potter whipped out her wand, muttered a few choice words, and the dark green leather desk chair became beautiful orange and white striped cat.

"Wow. That was amazing," Lily breathed.

"And you have the potential to do the same, and much more," Mrs. Potter said gently.

**********

"I want to do it. I want to go to Hogwarts," Lily announced as she followed Mrs. Potter into the kitchen where her father and Mr. Potter were talking. James was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure?" her father asked.

"Positive."

"We are going to Diagon Alley, one of the only places in Britain that has a completely magical community, tomorrow. You may come with us if you like," Mr. Potter offered.

"Thank you, that would be great. My wife and I would have no idea what to do," Mr. Evans laughed.

"Wonderful! Meet us on Charing Cross Road in London tomorrow, at say, noon? Make sure you bring your letter with you."

"Yes, sir," Lily promised.

"Well, thank you for explaining all this to us. I'm sure my wife and I will have many more questions for you tomorrow," Mr. Evans said, standing up.

"Oh, it was no problem. Come back anytime," Mrs. Potter replied.

They walked out into the hall and made their way toward the door. Lily and her father were just out the door when Lily realised she had left her bag in the Potters' study. After convincing them that she remembered where it was, she ran back into the house to get it. She picked it up off the dark green leather desk chair, ran back out the room and crashed headlong into James.

"You seem to have a habit of falling on me," James smirked as Lily crawled up off of James's stomach.

"Sorry," Lily mumbled.

Lily bent down to pick up her bag, watching James out of the corner of her eye as James grabbed his broom, also watching Lily out of the corner of his eye. Apparently he had been ready to practice some more Quidditch. They stood in hall in awkward silence, trying not to look at each other before Lily finally said, "I have to leave now, but I'm going with you and your parents to get school supplies tomorrow."

"Cool. You can meet my sister," James replied.

After another short awkward silence, Lily said, "Well, goodbye," and walked away.

Just before Lily rounded the corner of the hall, James called out, "Bye." Lily paused before continuing around the corner.

**********

Lily sat in silence as she and her father made the long drive home. She was thinking about what being a witch would mean. She was excited, and a little scared. She really had no idea what would happen. She knew nothing about being a witch, about magic, about the school. The more she thought about it, the more worried she became about whether or not she had made the right decision.

Well, there's not much I can do about the decision part, she thought. Mr. Potter already owled the school to tell them about my acceptance, whatever that means. I guess I'll find out more tomorrow. There's so much I need to learn. Mrs. Potter said something about prejudice against Muggle-borns. What if I can't make any friends? What if they all hate me? What if they made a mistake and I'm really not magical? What if I fail and they kick me out?

These thoughts kept running through her head as she watched the scenery pass by her window until they finally reached home.

*********

Apparently, Mr. Evans had called Mrs. Evans from a phone in the Potter household and explained the situation to her, because Mrs. Evans had decorated the house in streamers and banners proclaiming Congratulations! On the table in the kitchen was an incredibly large cake with the word Lily scrawled on it in large looping letters surrounded by lilies made of frosting.

Mrs. Evans came rushing out in her best dress when Lily and her father pulled up the driveway in the van. "Lily! I am so proud of you! I always knew there was something special about you!" she exclaimed, hugging Lily before she even got halfway out of the car.

Mrs. Evans half-carried, half-dragged, Lily into the kitchen to display the cake. She had spent four hours working on it, she informed Lily.

"Just imagine, our baby girl is a witch and is going to a special school to learn magic." She looked at Lily adoringly.

"Yes, it's quite amazing. And just wait until you hear about the whole wizarding world," her father replied. He then told all about the trip to the Potters.

"So, you're going shopping tomorrow?" her mother asked.

"Yes, would you like to come?"

"Of course, Petunia'll come too, won't you?"

Petunia didn't answer. She fiercely shoved her fork into her slice of cake.

*********

After a few hours, Lily's parents walked off to their room to discuss the next day's events, but not after repeating their pride in Lily.

Lily walked up to her room to get ready for bed. It had been a long day. Lily changed and was about to brush her teeth when Petunia came into the bathroom and gave Lily a death glare.

"You think you're so special. Mum and Dad are so proud of you. God, you're such a freak!" she spat.

"What's wrong, Petunia?" Lily asked.

"Oh, nothing's wrong. Nothing's ever wrong in Perfect Lily Land because you're the 'favourite' daughter, the one who's best at everything."

Lily was shocked and speechless.

"At least you'll be gone to some stupid freak boarding school next year. God, can't you ever be normal?" Petunia stalked out of the bathroom, slammed her door, and turned her stereo on high volume.

Lily walked back to her room feeling very confused. She got into bed and settled into a restless sleep.

*********

Lily was walking down a long, dark hallway that had guttering torches in sliver brackets spaced every ten feet. It was dry, yet felt humid, with an overpowering scent of death and decaying flesh. Her normal clothes had been exchanged for a black robe over a white shirt and black skirt. In her hand she was holding a long wooden stick. Her every step on the stone floor echoed eerily in the near silence. Every once in a while, a strange scuttling sound could be heard caused by what, Lily didn't want to know. Where am I? Lily wondered. She walked and walked. The more she walked, the longer the hall seemed to grow. After what seemed like hours, she saw a tiny speck of light.

She ran. She ran as fast as she could toward that speck of light, hoping to somehow get out of the hall. Eventually, it began to grow larger until she could see that it was the outline of a door.

Finally, she reached the door. It was made of wood and twice her height. Bright, white light poured out of the crack between the door and the wall. She stretched out the hand that was still holding the stick and touched it to the door. The lock clicked and the door slowly swung open until it was against the wall. Lily was blinded by the sudden increase of light and threw her arms over her face to shield her eyes.

Gradually, her eyes became accustomed to the light and she put down her hands to look around the room. It was circular and made of smooth stone. Along the walls were tables, each covered with a large assortment of indistinguishable ingredients, and large, boiling pots filled with concoctions of strange colours and smells.

In the centre of the room was a table. On the table was a piece of old, worn parchment that had been spread out and held in place with four large ruby paperweights. Lily walked up to the table to look at the parchment. On one side it had a horridly detailed drawing of a kneeling man screaming in pain with rays of light coming out of his body. The rest of the parchment was written in a strange alphabet consisting of flowing, picturesque characters that was unknown to her, yet she could understand what it said.

The first line said Immortality.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut. A voice from behind her said coldly, "I have been waiting for you."

**********

Lily awoke to the sound of screaming. Her own screaming. Her parents had come running into her room calm her down and see what was wrong. When she realised she was screaming, she stopped. She looked around her room, wondering where she was before realising that she was in her room.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?" her mother asked.

"I'm fine," Lily said, then added as an afterthought, "I think."

"Are you sure?" her mother questioned.

"You were screaming loud enough to wake the whole town," her father added, trying to sound light-hearted, but you could detect the worry in his face and voice.

"I just had a bad dream," Lily replied. "Just a bad dream."

"Will you be okay?" he inquired.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Go back to bed."

"Well, if you say so," her parents said, with not a little suspicion. They got up and walked back towards their room, both silently thinking what kind of dream could possibly have made Lily scream like that.

Petunia had had her music on so loud, she hadn't even heard Lily.

Once her parents were gone, Lily lay back in her bed, looking out her window, and unable to fall asleep. The details were still too vivid. Questions were flying though her head almost too fast to comprehend. Where was that room? What was on those tables and in the large pots? What bothered her the most was that piece of parchment with the drawing on it and the voice that came up behind her. Who was that man?

Every time she thought of his voice, it sent shivers down her spine. I've been waiting for you, he had said. What was that supposed to mean?

Full of these questions, she finally fell back into a dreamless sleep.

**********

Lily awoke with the sun the next morning. Rubbing her eyes and realising that she couldn't go back to sleep even if she wanted to, she rolled out of bed and headed to her bathroom to take a shower. Standing under the hot spray, washing the weariness out of her body, the memory of the dream came rushing back at her. She turned the water off and took a few deep breaths, telling herself that it was only a dream.

She dried herself with a towel, practised some basic personal hygiene, and plaited her hair. Walking back into her room, she changed into a white shirt and a blue skirt, put on some sandals, and packed a small leather shoulder bag with a book, money, and her Hogwarts letter.

Skipping down the stairs to the kitchen, she was surprised to find her mother and father already there. They immediately stopped talking when Lily entered.

"Good morning!" her mother exclaimed brightly. A little too brightly. She set a plate of eggs and sausages in front of Lily.

"Better hurry," her father said jovially. "It's a three hour drive and we don't want to be late."

"Is Petunia coming?" Lily asked and she started eating.

"Yes," her mother replied simply.

Lily continued to eat the rest of her meal in silence until Petunia came into the kitchen, wearing a neon pink shirt and an orange skirt.

Petunia got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with orange juice. "I'm on a diet," she said by way of an explanation.

Lily cocked her head to look at Petunia sideways and said, "You don't look like you need one."

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Petunia shrieked.

"No," Lily said slowly, slightly scared. "I was saying you look skinny."

"Oh," Petunia remarked. She finished her glass of juice and asked, "When are we leaving?"

**********

Three hours later, Lily and her family were walking down Charing Cross Road in London, after leaving their car a few streets behind in front of a large mall.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"I don't know," Mr. Evans answered.

Suddenly, James was standing in front of them. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Lily," he greeted. "And Petunia," he said as an afterthought. "My parents told me to wait for you and show you where to go."

They followed James down the street and into a little pub called The Leaky Cauldron that only James and Lily could see between a bookstore and a record store. It was dark and smoky, and almost empty. The Potters were sitting at a table waiting for them to arrive.

"Hello. Did you bring your letter?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied, taking it out of her bag.

"I think the first thing you should do is open a vault at the bank and exchange some money. We need to withdraw some money too, so we'll take you," Mrs. Potter said, walking to the back of the pub.

They were all standing in front of a brick wall.

"This is stupid. Do you expect me to walk through a brick wall? It's not going to happen. I just did my nails this morning," Petunia complained.

Everyone ignored her as Mr. Potter took out his wand and tapped a brick. The wall melted away and formed an archway that led into the long, bustling cobbled street, filled with shops and noises.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Mr. Potter said, bowing with a flourish.

They made their way down the street, passing a large assortment of strange shops. They passed the Apothecary, and Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's Robes. Lily stared in wonder at all the shops and the patrons. She suddenly realised that the black haired girl walking next to her was staring. "Hi, my name is Lily," she said.

"I'm Julianne, James's sister," she replied amiably.

"This place is amazing. Do you come here often?" Lily asked.

"We come maybe once every month to get basic supplies like parchment and quills," she replied. "By the way, call me Jules, all my friends do." She smiled at Lily. Lily smiled back, glad to have made a friend.

They finally arrived at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Mr. Potter stopped them and cautioned, "This place is run by goblins. Please do not be alarmed."

He turned around and walked into the large white marble building and the others followed. Petunia, who hadn't really been paying much attention because she was staring at James, suddenly caught sight of one of the short, swarthy looking goblins and screamed. She spun around and ran out of the building, flailing her arms. Mrs. Potter apologised and ran after her. Lily and Julianne sniggered.

Mr. Potter helped Mr. Evans open an account and exchange some money and they left the bank.

"Dad, why don't you go get our books and we'll get our robes, then we can meet at Ollivander's later and get our wands?" James suggested.

"That would be a wonderful idea," Mr. Potter exclaimed. "Follow me, Bill," he said to Lily's father.

**********

Lily, James, and Julianne had barely walked past a few shops when someone yelled, "James!"

All three of them turned around to see Sirius and Anthony running towards them. Lily stared at Anthony. "I didn't know you were a wizard too!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. Wizard Anthony at your service," he replied with a bow and flourish.

Lily and Julianne both rolled their eyes, and then laughed at each other. They decided to walk off by themselves and leave the boys to their mischief making.

Lily and Jules wandered over to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, with James, Anthony and Sirius behind. Lily and Jules were slightly worried at the boys' serious whispered and occasional bursts of hysterical laughter.

"Welcome. What can I do for you?" a short, young witch asked as they walked in. "I'm Madam Malkin."

"We each need three sets of school robes," Jules answered.

"Well, then, you've come to the right place. Ladies! Let's get these children measured."

A group of young witches came over to take their measurements and fit them out with robes.

"How did you meet James?" Jules asked.

"Anthony had brought James and Sirius to our football match and I ended falling on top of him afterward," Lily replied, laughing. Jules laughed too. "But I don't really like him much because he was really rude to my sister. OH! I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that!"

"Don't worry, I'm his sister and I don't like him very much," Jules replied. "Did he tell you how he set my fish on fire?"

"Yes. I didn't think that was possible, but he was pretty sore about it so I didn't question it."

"He should be sore. But James and Sirius have always been mean to me, ever since I turned all their underwear into frogs when I was three." They both laughed at this. Eerily, James, Sirius, and Anthony also laughed from the other side of the store, but at a totally different thing.

"We should be very, very afraid of them when they are like this," Jules warned. "They can be very dangerous."

"How so?" Lily asked.

"They're coming up with a great prank, and they're going to try it out on us. Trust me, I've known James for eleven years," Jules replied.

"All right, I'll keep that in mind."

They were done being measured and their robes were wrapped in some brown paper. They took their packages to the front desk and paid for them. Lily and Jules were waiting for James, Sirius, and Anthony, to get finished and pay when a cold voice, the same one from her dream, said from behind her, "What have we here?"