Lily Luna and The Darkness

Chapter 7: The Strange Thunderstorm

"The deed has been done, sir. The Potters should not leave the house for any reason." Theodore Nott stood inside the Malfoy Manor, A elderly Lucius Malfoy sitting in a large armchair by the fire.

"Thank you, Theodore, your services are well appreciated." Lucius said, standing up and leaning on his cane for support. "You are dismissed."

Theodore left the room, and Draco Malfoy entered, his son following behind. "Father, I thought we talked about this."

"It's my house Draco, I'm allowed to have anyone over, no matter the business, whenever I want." Lucius retorted, turning to his son and grandson.

"Not when Scorpius is around."

"Dad..."

"Scorp, please head up to your room." Scorpius sighed, and reluctantly headed up to his bedroom. He leaned out the doorway, listening in on the conversation.

When the yelling started, he shut his door quickly and moved to his corner he liked to sit in, farthest away from the door. He took out some parchment and grabbed a quill, writing a letter to Albus.

~*~

All of the girls sat in their room, drinking their tea and chatting. Rain pounded on the window so hard, Lily thought it would shatter.

A clap of thunder made Lily jump, her tea splashing dangerously in the cup. "Wow, that storm is really bad."

"Yeah, and it came out of nowhere too!" Rose said, standing up and looking out the window. "Woah..."

"What is it?" Victoire stood up and went next to her.

"The storm stops halfway through the hills! Look, you can see where it stops." Most of the girls stood up to go look, while Lucy rolled her eyes and went back to her book. "That's not possible, Rose, a storm cannot stop-"

"First of all, shut up, it totally can." Rose moved away from the window and glared at Lucy. "Second of all, if you'd get up you'd see that the storm does stop halfway through a hill."

Lucy rolled her eyes again and stood up to examine the storm. "Huh, that is really weird." She pushed Molly out of the way in order to get a closer look. "What the hell is that black swirly thing?"

"What are you talking about-"

"Girls! Come on down, we're gonna put up the Christmas Tree!" Lily's Grandmother's voice came from the stairs. "And where your Weasley jumpers from last year!"

"Coming Grandma!" Exclaimed a couple of the girls. They quickly found their Weasley sweaters and changed, heading down the stairs. Lily's was in a light pink color, with a white L stitched on the front. It just happened to be her favorite colors.

The boys and adults were already their jumpers, along with Neville and Hannah who had been getting sweaters since they started coming for Christmas.

"Alright girls, come 'ere I'll fix up your 'air." The girls all lined up in front of Aunt Fleur, and she waved her wand in front of each of them separately. Their hair magically changed into a complicated braid, all neat and perfect.

Lily's changed into a crown braid, which she happily thanked Aunt Fleur for. Joining her mother, father, and brothers by the fireplace, they waited for everyone else.

"Ginny, at least let me curl it." Aunt Fleur said as she moved to fix Lily's mother's hair.

Grabbing her wrist and stopping her, her mother says. "Touch my hair, yours will be gone."

"Everyone, get into the frame!" Her grandma interrupted, and Fleur hurried over to her family. Lily's dad picked her up and rested her on his hip, leaving more room for everyone to squeeze in.

"3...2...1, smile everyone!" The wizard camera flashed, and Lily smiled wide. Everyone else was doing anything but looking at the camera and smiling, which always made the photo even better.

Lily looked down at James and Alice, who had her arms wrapped around her boyfriend's neck. She kissed James's cheek, and Lily whispered "Gross!" Just to annoy them. Alice stuck her tongue out at Lily, smiling.

"You two are-?" Her mother had looked over, and James and Alice's face went beet red. Lily had to hide a laugh. "You know, I saw this coming from a while away. Congrats you two." She smiled. Both the lovebirds let out a sigh of relief, and went back to whatever they were discussing.

The photo ended, and Grandma clapped her hands together. "Alrighty, now for the tree!" George dear, it's outside, right?"

"Yeah, are we leaving it out there, or-?"

"We're bringing it inside, Georgie, what else would we do?!"

"Alright alright, I'll go get it!" He started to head out the door, some others following out to help. Some went all the way upstairs to the attic, bringing down ornaments. Lily grabbed one of the first ornaments, a muggle picture of Lily and Hugo when they were little, and hung it as high as she could on the tree.

~*~

Lily yawned as she entered the girls bedroom in her maroon pajamas, wrapping a blanket around her once more. She laid on her stomach, listening to the conversation that was happening with the other girls.

"Come on Vic, please read it!" Rose exclaimed, sitting up in her flannel pjs.

"What is she gonna read?" Lily asked.

"Tales of Beedle the Bard." Victoire held the book in her lap, and opened up to one of the stories. "Alright, get comfortable. Which one should I read?"

"The Tale of the Three Brothers!" Lily exclaimed, sitting up and leaning her head on Victoire's shoulder to read along. "That's my favourite."

Victoire flipped to that page, and began reading. "There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at night..."

Lily listened to her cousin read, slowly nodding off on Victoire's shoulder. When the story had finished, she was sound asleep, as well as all her other cousins.

Victoire closed the book, slowly moving Lily so she was laying down under her own blanket. She made sure everyone else was comfortable, before going to sleep herself.

~*~

~*~

~*~

The window smashed.

The floorboard creaked.

Her blanket moved.

Lily awoke, scanning the room. It was almost pitch black, but Lily could see some other people were awake. Thank Merlin no one was under the window, otherwise they would have been covered in shards of glass.

And a man stepping on their face.

Lily's heart skipped a beat. A silhouette of a man was standing right next to the window, a wand in his hand. Why he had to break the window instead of just apparating, she had no clue but that didn't seem like the most pressing matter at the moment.

Lily turned back to Victoire, who slowly moved a finger to her mouth, signaling everyone to be quiet.

"I know you're awake."