WHERE:Â Room of Requirement
WHEN: February 23rd, 2024 (evening, shortly before curfew)
Lily had always grappled with the quiet.
Nearly two months since the battle, Lily found herself watching as the castle slipped into a sense of complacency â of STILLNESS. It was nights like these where she found herself missing her father the most. The worst part of silence was that it forced her to think â think about emotions that she didnât want to dwell on for too long. She couldnât allow herself to succumb to this grief. She just had to smother it, and alcohol was the only way she knew how, so she drank. Then drank some more. It wasnât the smartest idea, given the current state of the castle, but she just wanted to quiet her mind for once. She needed to forget about all the fuck ups and mistakes and mourning and longing and missing and regret. To forget and ESCAPE.
So that night, when she reached the seventh floor, she didnât make the usual right towards the Fat Ladyâs portrait but went left, towards the Room of Requirement. She wanted to take refuge there for the night, where her housemates wouldnât find her. Tomorrow she would face the world again, but tonight, sheâd allow her this pitiful excuse of a break from everything and everyone.
But when she finally stumbled through the door, thinking about her father again, the Room of Requirement lookedâŠdifferent from what she last remembered it to be. Sheâd asked it for a place to rest several times before, but this time, there wasnât only a bed but also a mirror. An ornate mirror with some kind of strange inscription on it that she couldnât make sense of. But what mattered to Lily more was what she saw in that mirror: her dad standing beside her.
It was impossible. She was wasted â she was wasted, and she had to be seeing things. Her dad wasnât there beside her; he was dead. But yet, he looked so real, so close to how she remembered him. Heartbeat racing, she couldnât help but take a glance around the room, almost expecting him to be standing next to her. Almost. But of course, he wasnât.
Tears threatening to spill, she quickly clenched her eyes, trying to fight them off and just barely succeeding. She didnât understand. Was thisâŠwas this some kind of strange window to the afterlife? If she walked closer to the mirror, to her dad, would sheâŠrisk crossing the veil?
Deciding after merely split seconds of hesitation that it was worth the risk, she stepped closer the mirror, gingerly touching the glass and meeting his hands. It was solid. âDad â I â Dad, are youâŠare you actually here? Give me a sign or something if you are. Please. I â I need to talk with youâŠthereâs â thereâs just so much I have to sayâŠthings I didnât say when I shouldâveâŠâ she managed to splutter out, slightly slurring over her words. âPlease.â
It wasnât often that Ever drifted off to sleep before everyone else in her dorm. Whether from paranoia or just needing to see them safe in their beds, she couldnât close her eyes. This night was no different. Everyone slowly wound down for bed as curfew neared and Ever lay with her eyes on Lilyâs empty bed. Dread. It sunk down into her stomach as the minutes ticked by and there was no sign of her best friend. It wasnât exactly strange for Lily to not show up on time-- especially after the death of Harry-- but that usually meant sheâd been drinking or something was going on with the M.A.. Either could spell trouble.Quietly, she slipped out of bed. Armed with a cloak, slippers and her wand, she made her way out into the common room, and when she didnât find Lily there, then the hallway. It was dark-- too still for her liking but Ever continued on trying to hide the glow of lumos halfway under her cloak as not to draw too much attention to herself. Hogwarts was dangerous. If not for the confusing corridors and stairways it was filled with people who wanted to hurt others.
It was subtle at first. The feeling of being watched itched at the back of her neck. Fear ran a chill down her spine as that feeling grew stronger and stronger until eventually a pair of footsteps accompanied it. Ever wasnât sure if it was a prefect or professor or someone else entirely but she sprinted. She ran as fast as she could knowing that if she stopped she was caught. However, at the end of the hall a door appeared-- a safe haven from who ever could be after her. She swung open the door, slipped in side and watched it fall closed as the glow of a wand rounded the corner.
Maybe her entrance wasnât as graceful as it could have been. Lily would probably think it was rude of her to come bursting through the door of her Room of Requirement. Ever didnât care. At the sound of sniffles she whipped around grateful, thankful and every single word that could mean the same when she saw the bright red hair that was Lilyâs trademark. âLily.â She breathed out sweeping a hand through her hair trying to catch her breath. It took her only a moment to really taken in the room-- in the mirror that Lily was sat in front of. Ever approached slowly, studying it before finally reaching out a hand to place on Lilyâs shoulder-- staying out of the mirrorâs reflection for now but taking a seat next to her. âWhatâs this thing?â That was better than everything else sheâd wanted to say right then. âAre you okay?â âWhy didnât you come back?â âYou worried meâ âI was scaredâ Sheâd keep those questions all buried away and let herself deal with it instead of Lily. â--Why donât we get some water, hm?â
2087
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