“Lily!  Lily, are you alright?”

The frantic calls of Lily’s mother sieved through the bedroom door.  Not bothering to knock, Sara swept into the room.  

“Oh, Lily, what happened?”

Pale limbs tangled in red hair, Lily sat in front of her open window, desperately weeping.  Her little body shook and trembled like a butterfly caught on a breeze.  Leaning into her mother’s arms, Lily heaved a long sigh.  She shook her head, sniffling.

“Nothing happened, Mummy.  I’m just afraid.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t know.  That’s what makes it so scary.  I’m just … afraid.”

“Are you always afraid, Lily?  You never seem afraid.  You’re the bravest little girl I know.”

Lily blinked back new tears.

“No, not always - just tonight.  I think something bad is happening, but I can’t stop it because I AM little.”

“Where is something bad happening?”

Lily shook her head again.  

“I don’t know – all over, maybe.  All around.”

Lily shook with new sobs - small ones, and delicate as hiccups.  Sara, bewildered, stroked her daughter’s hair gently.  

“Nothing bad is happening, Lil.  I promise.  But sometimes it feels as if there is – maybe you get shivers when there’s no wind, or you feel someone’s behind you, but no one is there.  Maybe the sky is deeper, darker than usual.  And then you think bad thoughts, and you get frightened.  It consumes you.  It happens to everyone.  You have to fight the fears, that’s all.  Secret of life, honey.”

Lily nodded, her face wet, with stray hairs clinging to it.  She sat up, wiped her eyes, and forced a small smile.  

“Thank you, Mummy.  I feel better now.”

“Are you sure?”

Lily was not sure at all.  

“Yes.”

Sara was not convinced.

“Want some tea?  Come downstairs in a few minutes and have some.”

Lily nodded.

“Ok, Mum.”

Sara kissed Lily’s cheek.

“Fine.  See you downstairs.”

Lily watched her mother’s departing back and listened to her footsteps padding softly down the steps.  Wearily, she turned her face to the window, peering once again into the Snape’s parlour.  Eileen had obviously stoked the fire, as it was easier for Lily to see into the room.  What she now saw no longer frightened her: just Eileen and Druella, leaning over some papers and talking.  There was no black fog, no swirling eddies of thought – just a weary sort of firelight.  Lily’s eyes darted to the staircase, where a soft golden glow radiated up and down the walls.  She smiled, contented.  Her unintentional spell was lingering, protecting Severus from the dark gloom she had envisioned.  Reaching her hand through her window, she imagined herself stroking his hair, whispering,  

“Everything will be ok – I promise.”  

She spoke both to Severus and to herself.  


xxXxx

Lying in bed, reading his novel, Severus began to feel sleepy.  He could hear his mother and Druella downstairs, whispering.  He wondered why Druella had visited at such a late hour.  He wondered what would happen if his father came home and found a visitor there.  He sighed.  He was too tired to worry.  Putting the book down, he leaned his head against the headboard and closed his eyes.  A soft breeze slipped through the window and ruffled his hair.  It felt like fingers, gently soothing.  Like small fingers.  Lily’s fingers?  Severus sat up and looked around wildly.  No, it was only the breeze, after all.  With a bittersweet feeling of calm, Severus closed his eyes and went to sleep.  


xxXxx

The next morning, Lily awoke to a hissing sound coming from beneath her window.  She sat up in bed and tiptoed to the pane, peeking out curiously.  

“Lily!  Come down, I want to show you something!”

The voice belonged to Severus.  He stood oh-so-many feet below, squinting up at Lily, looking extra small and slightly disheveled.  Clutched to his chest was a leather-bound book, the title of which Lily could not decipher.  

“Severus Snape, are you completely mad?  It’s six-o-clock!  Did you even shower yet?”

Lily frowned at her friend’s unwashed hair, and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw striped pajamas peeking out from beneath his bat-like coat.  Severus shook his head happily.

“Nope!  I got out of bed the second I heard it.”

“Heard what, exactly?”

“Shhhh – listen.”

Lily narrowed her eyes and leaned further out of her window.    She cocked her head and quieted her thoughts until, at last, she heard it: an eerie moan, long and ghostly, far off in the distance.  

“Oooh, Sev,” she breathed, “what is it?”

“I don’t know,” Severus replied, looking around excitedly.

Lily jumped back.

“You don’t know?  What if it’s dangerous?”

“It isn’t dange - Lily, where’d you go?”

“Still here.  I don’t want to go sticking my head out of windows when some crazy creature might be flying about.”

“That’s silly.  I’m outside, and I’m fine.”

The sound came again, a bit louder, but still in the distance.  Lily, still behind her window, could hear Severus pattering around outside.

“I hear it every morning, before sunrise,” he continued, “and I’ve been wanting to tell you about it.  I’m not afraid.  Fight your fears, Lily.”

Lily tentatively stuck her head back outside, her hair flowing down like long red sunbeams.

“Severus, I don’t like it.  It sounds so spooky.”

She glanced down.  Severus had sat himself on the ground below, and was now paging through his book.  He appeared quite serious, and very intent upon whatever it was he was thinking.  The morning breeze wound around him, ruffling his hair.  

“What’re you reading, Sev?”  

“Huh?”

“What are you reading?”

Severus brightened.

“Oh!  This?  It’s called ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.’ Hogwarts issue, standard stuff.  You know.  Basic.”

“Does it say anything about … whatever that sound is?”

“No, it doesn’t.  Oh well,” Severus sighed, closing the book and frowning.

A chilly breeze carried the sound closer, swirling through Lily’s window, and sweeping near to Severus’s ears.  

“Did you hear it, Lily?”

Lily nodded.

“Yeah.  I don’t like it.  But it sounds far away.”

Her eyes lit up.

“Severus!”

Severus looked up.  As his eyes met Lily’s he knew exactly what she was thinking.  The children gasped in unison and cried,

“The enchanted orchard!”

xxXxx

Sara Evans stood at the stove, stirring oatmeal in a pot and softly humming.  Footsteps above her told of sleepy people called awake by the scent of breakfast.  She listened fondly to her husband’s heavy, slow steps, and her eldest daughter’s light, quick padding.  Lily made no sound, she knew – the girl practically floated downstairs every day.  This morning, however, Lily did not appear.  Sara began pouring oatmeal into bowls.  She would let Lily sleep late today, she decided, smiling as Petunia and Mr. Evans strode into the kitchen.  Perhaps it was lack of sleep that caused Lily’s strange fears the night before.  Cheerfully, she went about setting places and pouring tea.     
--
Eileen Snape glanced at the clock and coughed nervously.  She wanted to stay in bed forever.  Druella had stayed until dawn, and had promised a return visit that night, should Tobias still be gone.  Eileen fingered the small notebook that she had slept with, that she had memorized by heart with Druella.  It contained scratched out plans, rough outlines, timelines, and ideas.  There would be a war, Druella had promised.  A war – and soon.  Eileen closed her eyes.  Sleep, her body told her.  I must wake Severus! said her heart.  Let him sleep too, her heavy eyelids pleaded.  And so she did.
--
Meanwhile two children, very much awake, ran hand-in-hand towards the enchanted orchard.  Floating on the wind, coming nearer and nearer to them, came the quivering and primitive moans of – what? Some wild and ancient spirit, Severus assumed, running faster.  A hurt and abandoned animal, Lily imagined, attempting to keep up.  Would they discover it?  They had plenty of time: summer was long, and only just beginning.      

xxXxx