A Love Purer Than Blood

11. Holiday celebrations

Lily woke up on the morning of Christmas eve sprawled out next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, her wings outstretched matching her arms as she yawned deeply. She knew by the feel of the air that it was early morning, and could still hear the boys snoring in their dorms.

"That's a sight I never expected to see." She heard Harry mutter from next to one of the arm chairs. Lily inched herself up slowly to look at him before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She noticed instantly the boy was fully dressed, his jumper a rich red like the room around them.

"Why are you awake so early?" She asked as the boy shrugged.

"I'm usually always up early to help around the house."

"Around the house? You don't have house elves?"

"In my uncle's house? Are you joking? Petunia would insist they were cleaning wrong and would clean up after them anyway. Besides, there's no such thing as magic, and what would the neighbours think?" Harry mocked.

"I don't understand." Lily admitted. "You live with muggles?" Harry nodded. "You've always lived with muggles?" Harry nodded again. "Then how are you so good on a broom?"

Harry paused. It was one of the questions he had been asked so frequently that he usually answered it in the same way, with a shrug and a smile. But the girl had asked so innocently, so softly, he couldn't help but show her. He gestured his head towards the portrait door and waited for Lily to click her fingers to dress herself.

She changed into a long-sleeved white turtleneck under a yellow dungaree dress, skin colour tights and her regular black heels with the little yellow bows on the back. She kept her hair down but used a butterfly clip to keep her over grown fringe out of her face. Harry paused at how long and curly her auburn hair was as she almost reminded him of someone, but he shook his head and continued on.

Together the two walked in silence until Harry reached the cupboard where his father's name sat on a plaque behind the glass. "Seeker." Lily breathed as she peeked through the glass. "Harry, I'm sorry about your parents. I shouldn't have been so scared, I should have killed him that night."

Harry frowned, as he turned to face the girl beside him. "What night?"

Lily gulped. "The night I met him." Her voice had lowered to almost a whisper. "I can still see his eyes and hear his voice."

"Who?" Lily's eyes snapped to meet his.

"You know exactly who."

Harry's heart sank as he looked at the sadness on Lily's face. "But if you met him and could have stopped him then-" Harry frantically tapped his fingers, trying to figure out the math.

"I was three months from my second birthday when I met him. Draco, spiteful brat he is, had just learned to walk. I nearly killed his aunt that night."

"Killed her?"

"Nearly. I tried to tear her throat out with my fangs after she... I would have succeeded if not for Malfoy senior."

"Her but... but not..." Harry trailed off.

"He terrified me Harry. Terrified me to the point I felt too afraid to even move, or breathe in his presence." Lily sighed. "I should have torn his throat out instead, maybe then your parents would be alive." Lily chastised herself and turned to leave, but Harry gently touched her shoulder.

The two of them only stared knowingly into each-other's eyes as they contemplated the lives they could have had before Hagrid bound over to them from across the corridor. Lily stepped back to allow the two to talk before she slipped away back to the Gryffindor common room, her mind full of what ifs.

Harry and Lily didn't speak much for the rest of the day, and by the time Harry woke up Christmas morning, Lily was gone, only a pile of blankets by the fire where she had slept.

Lily had escaped to see Professor McGonagall early to help prepare the rest of the day's celebrations. The two did some last minute decorations and even checked on the house elves who all looked dapper in their various new items of clothing. The items created by the elves themselves rather than gifts.

Eventually Christmas dinner came with food piled high on the single table in the middle of the hall, just big enough for the small handful of remaining students. Lily sat between Fred and George as the celebrations continued well into the day. Fred noticed she was wearing the watch that his mum had given her for her birthday before realising that he hadn't given her their gifts that morning. The twins slunk off to collect Lily's presents as the snow of the enchanted ceiling began to fall.

Lily had also received a Weasley jumper which much to her delight was a rich purple with the letter "L" in gold cursive on the front. The twins had gifted her some chocolate frogs and other sweets, whereas professor McGonagall had snuck into the pile a deep purple chiffon scarf with embellished gold trim. Pomona shuffled over with a niffler teddy complete with a pile of never ending chocolate gold coins in its pouch for the girl who shared them out with everyone on the table and then the staff.

Once the food had gone down, everyone ended up outside in the snow with their hats and scarves and gloves on tightly. Lily however, dressed in nothing but a green Christmas dress, tights and her new jumper, wiped the floor with them all, mainly because most of the balls melted before they could touch her. She slept well that night, curled up by the fire in her pyjamas and her jumper with a belly full of warm food and a smile on her face.

Until what sounded like a mouse crept past her, so softly it hardly woke her at all. The portrait door opening and closing however definitely had her attention as she looked up in time to see Harry sneak out of the door with a slight shimmer covering his body like a silvery wave. Lily dropped back to sleep instantly, thinking it to be a dream. It wasn't until the door opened and closed again that she woke up fully, coming face to face with a rather surprised boy.

"You snuck out?"

"I was in the library."

Lily furrowed her brow. "I thought your name was Harry, not Hermione. What the bloody hell is so important that you have to sneak-" Harry urged her to lower her voice, his cloak draped on his arm. "Sneak off to the library on Christmas?" She finished with a loud whisper.

"I saw something amazing." He grinned before walking back up the stairs without another word. Ending the conversation instantly.

Lily returned to the Hufflepuff dorms as students began arriving back after the new year's celebrations. Seeing in the new year at Hogwarts was very different to Malfoy manor, which she realised she hadn't thought about once since being at school. The Weasley twins were forbidden to touch the fireworks that soared throughout the valley from the turrets of the castle. Everyone remaining at the castle huddled together in the astronomy tower with blankets and coats to watch the spectacle and see in the new year together.

Lily found herself kissed on each cheek from a Weasley twin each side as the clock struck midnight. Hugs were shared between students and teachers as the firewhiskey flowed. Butterbeer was handed out to the students that were present but Lily had already vanished after the twins had placed their kisses. Not because she was offended or insulted, she actually found it sweet. But because the moment the fireworks began Lily found herself taken back to a memory she would rather have forgotten.

Alone she cowered in the Slytherin dungeon under the covers of Draco's bed, her wings wrapped tightly around her and her fingers in her ears. Even under the castle and the water of the black lake and through her blocked ears, Lily could still hear the thrumming of the explosives as they filled the valley with light.

There she stayed until mid-morning, tears still staining her cheeks and her wings still wrapped around her as she awoke from her fitful slumber. She finally left the dungeon and apparated straight into the middle of the great hall where everyone had begun their lunch.

Minerva McGonagall took one look at the sleep deprived girl with her drooped wings and her tear stained cheeks and without hesitation bounded straight to her. The woman pulling the exhausted girl into her arms. The twins make a silent promise to each other with a single nod that they would never again use loud fireworks without Lily's consent.