NineteenYearsLater

“Anything off the trolley, dears?” The trolley lady had arrived.

“How about this?” I asked her, pulling out a small list. She quickly grabbed everything off the list and I paid.

“What in the world?” James asked me, as I poured the pile of treats into my seat and began passing them out.

“I remembered everything you guys liked, so I created a list and just gave her that.” I told him, “Now eat up.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Albus bit into his pumpkin pasty and gave a sigh of delight.
Rosie munched happily on a chocolate frog, and James attacked the licorice wands like I knew he would. I looked out of the window and saw the face again. It didn’t scare me as much, just worried me. I had been surprised when I saw him at first, which was a year ago, but I was getting used to seeing his reflection every once in a while in my mirrors instead of my own. The strange, yet terrifying, experience of being possessed was something I had witnessed since I was a small child, since my abilities were such that they attracted such anomalies. James had noticed my silence and had decided to torture me for some odd reason.

“So, Why are you wearing pants, Lil?” He asked me, “Why? Why? Why?”

“Because I want to,” I told him, “and if you don’t shut up, I’m going to turn you into a mouse, so that Mal can eat you.”

He actually had the gall to look mock-scared. So I turned him into a rat for the rest of the ride, just to make him mad. When he turned back, as the train ride was ending, he looked rather annoyed.

“The least you could do is actually use a wand once in a while, Lil,” He told me.

“I could teach you how to not use one, if it would make you happy?” I told him.

“Only if you get into Gryffindor.” He replied, smirking.

I whacked him upside the head, “Don’t get such a big target of a head, otherwise I may hit it more often.”

“Har har.” He joked, running away from me towards the carriages, as I made my way towards a giant of a person who was yelling out, “Firs’ years this way!”

I walked up to him and studied him. He was clearly half-giant, and happy to be the groundskeeper at Hogwarts, since that was the only thing he could be, dressed like that.

“Hello Hagrid!” Albus exclaimed, walking up to the man and giving him a hug.

“Al! Good ter see ya!” Hagrid boomed.

“Meet Lillian Belle, my friend,” Albus told him, as Hagrid led the way to some boats.

“How do you do?” I asked him, before being swept up into a hug.

“Good ter meet ya!” Hagrid boomed, plopping me down in a boat and Albus climbed in next to me.

“Hagrid was Dad’s friend when he was here.” He explained, as the boats glided across the lake.

I smiled and nodded. We were led up some stairs and made to wait outside in the hall. I knew what to expect, but I was still nervous. We were called in and made to wait in a line. There was only one kid in front of my name on the list, so I had a feeling this was going to get weird.

“Lillian Belle.” A voice called, so I walked up to the platform and sat down on the stool, placing a tattered old hat on my head.

“Interesting,” A voice spoke to my ear only, “you have a second life in here. Beware of it, for it wears a false mask. It wears a mask of kindness and it is not kind. Be careful.”

“Thank you,” I told the hat, “But what house should I be in?”

“That is difficult,” He told me, “You have abilities that are great, for one such as you, and yet, you do not treat them any differently, I believe you will do well in GRYFFINDOR!”

A roar of applause came from a table on the left, so I walked over there and sat down. The first kid had been placed in Hufflepuff. I leaned over the table put my head in my hands. The relief was enormous and a little overbearing. Plus, being possessed always took a lot out of me. This one in particular was a bit ridiculous in the power category. I found myself being tapped on the shoulder.

“Are you ok, Lil?” James asked me.

“Fine,” I smiled at him wanly.

“Get possessed again, huh?” He asked me, seeing right through that pathetic excuse for a lie. I nodded. “It must be a pretty strong one, you usually don’t get this tired unless they are.”

“Yeah well,” I told him, forgetting half of my sentence due to sleep deprivation, “Whatever.”

“Wow,” He felt my forehead, “Hey, you need this guy out of you pronto. He’s tiring you out way more than he should be. Come on, I’m taking you to the hospital wing.”

I waved at his hand weakly, “Bugger off, I’m fine. Enjoy the feast first, and then we can do the can-can for all I care.”

He looked ready to complain about that, but then he took one look at the food and plowed into it like there was no tomorrow. When he was finished, our headmistress, Professor Lovegood, stood up to say a few words.

“Remember to watch out for Knargles as you go to bed and please, students, stop blowing up the suits of armor, they don’t like it. Good night!”

I smiled at that, and then I was led, with a hand around my waist and elbow, to the hospital wing.

“Oh dear,” Madam Promfrey, who looked rather old, said, “She’s possessed!”

“Yup, we need you to take it out of her,” James told her, as I sat on a bed and sighed in relief at its softness.

Madam Promfrey sighed and agreed. She waved her wand at me and said a couple of words that I didn’t quite catch. The weight of the spirit was gone, as suddenly as it had come. I smiled and thanked her, as James led me to the Gryffindor common room, where we were stuck outside, due to our lack of knowledge regarding the password.

We were saved by Rosie, who had exited right then, to find us. The password, apparently, was “Blast-Ended Skrewts”. I was basically dragged into the common room and dragged up to my room, Rosie helping with the process, since guys can’t really go up the girl’s stair without coming right back down. I sank into the nice soft recesses of my bed and fell into a deep sleep, which lasted until morning. After that, things got blurry until right before Christmas vacation. About a week before the vacation started, I received a letter from my loving mother saying that I was to stay at Hogwarts unless someone else would take me in, since she was going to have the Malfoys over and she didn’t want the fights to start up again. I was sitting in an armchair in the dorm, looking glumly into the fire as James and Albus waltzed over to me.

“Hey, how you would like to have the honor of joining us for Christmas?” James asked me, eyes a twinkle with mischief.

I gave him the biggest grin I think he’s ever seen and jumped him and Albus at the same time, squeezing the breath out of them.

“I’d be glad to join you,” I told them, bowing imperiously before breaking out into a smile again. They shared grins, and Albus backed off, leaving James standing there, looking as if he wanted to say something. He looked down.

“Who was the evil wizard that killed our grandparents?” He asked quietly, hands behind his back.

“Voldemort, why?” I asked, curious about why he wanted to know.

He pulled out his hands to show me a slip of paper, which he then gave to me.

“What’s this?” I asked him, taking it from him.

“Read it,” was all he would say.

“Voldemort will live again,” I read aloud, scooting farther into a corner where no one but the three of us could hear, “The Dark Lord will live again, in someone you know, and kill you all. Everyone that ever crossed him will pay for their actions. The only thing you can hope for is a quick death. –The Ones Who Know The Truth”

I looked at both of them.

“Do you know who sent this?” I asked them; they shook their heads, “Well I know a way to find out.”

I waved my hand over the paper and felt the essence of the person. I grabbed a hold of it, and shook the paper free, causing a visage to appear. It was that of-

“John?” I whispered, staring at the vision in shock. My brother stared back at me, blank expression, as did most visions I created. Suddenly he did something that had never happened to me before. He looked at me, and winked. Then he looked like he was trying to say something, but I was unable to hear anything.

James and Albus both looked at me, a bit confused to say the least. They had no knowledge of my brother, John, because he hadn’t lived with my family since I was two. I just knew who he was, because our dreams would be shared once a week and we would tell each other what was happening to ourselves. I stopped the dreams when I learned how to, since in the dreams John continued to get darker and darker in the manner that he would talk to me. He was going over to the Death Eater side, and planning something, making me draw away from him, for fear of what he would do if he learned any more about me.

I grinned wanly at them and brushed off the uneasy feeling I was getting.