Lily Luna and The Darkness

Chapter 18: Nightmares

Lily laid down in her sleeping bag, asleep. The girls had crammed into the boys room, not wanting to sleep in the other one. Lily was in between Roxanne and James, on the opposite end from the door.

A blinding green light engulfed her vision. She flinched, blinking a couple of times until it went away. When it did, standing in front of her was none other than Nicholas Jones, the school bully. Lily's eyes widened when she realized he had a wand in his hand, and it was pointed off towards the side.

She turned around, and on the floor was the body of James, laying motionless. "What are you gonna do now Loony?" Nicholas sneered. "No one will protect you now."

She rolled over in her sleeping bag. Flashes of light were appearing in front of her, and the scene changed. Multiple faces of the men from before appeared, staring with their disgusting smile.

Lily woke up, in a cold sweat. She was gasping for air, and her head was pounding once more. She blinked a couple of times, but the faces were still there. She screamed and backed up against the wall behind her, closing her eyes. "Go away!" She yelled, speaking for the first time since the incident.

"Lily, listen to me." A familiar voice said sternly. She opened her eyes, hiding half of her face with her arms. The faces were back to normal. Sitting in front of her, looking worried, were her cousins and brothers. Her father sat in front of them all. "You're safe, alright?"

'Your safe.' A phrase she's heard a lot recently, even before all this happened. But that phrase meant something different when you were the daughter of Ginny and Harry Potter. Safe didn't mean you're out of harm's way. You were never out of harm's way when there were people out to get you, to take you, to get revenge.

Safe meant someone was there. There to protect you if something happens, from a scary man who made you feel uncomfortable to a kidnapping. Anytime you were alone, you were in harm's way.

Anyone could be anywhere.

Lurking.

Waiting.

Hell, even her Grandparent's house didn't keep her out of harm's way anymore. She couldn't be safe at all, unless her family was near. That was the life of being a Potter kid.

Lily loved her family to the moon and back, she really did. But sometimes she wished they weren't who they were. Her mother, the famous Quidditch player. Her father, the Boy who Lived. Her aunt, the Minister of Magic. Her uncle, the best prankster there is.

Her family, the Weasley and Potters.

Snapping back to reality, Lily saw James sitting next to her, alive and well. She threw her arms around her brother, happy to see him alive.

James was taken aback, but hugged her back. "What was all that screaming about?"

Lily gave him a confused look.

"You were screaming in your sleep." James explained. "You didn't realize?"

She shook her head, wiping away tear streaks that she just realized were there.

"Lily, come with me for a sec. Everyone else, go back to sleep, I'll see you in the morning." Her father said. Everyone murmured goodnight as they moved laid back down in their beds, and Lily followed her father into the hall.

"Let me guess, nightmare about earlier?" Lily nodded. "Yeah, I guessed so. Nightmares... they're really hard to deal with. But trust me when I say this, it gets better. It always does."

"How do you know?" Lily murmured. Speaking felt weird. She didn't want to use her voice at all. If she did, she felt as if the conversation would become about the incident. Which was definitely not a topic Lily was too keen about.

"You see this?" Her father pushed up the hair on his forehead, showing the faded lightning bolt scar. She nodded. Lily had heard the story about a hundred times, at a minimum.

"You know how it's connected to Voldemort? Well, sometimes when I went to sleep, I could see into his head, giving me nightmares."

Now Lily had definitely not heard this part of the story. "Really?" She whispered.

"Mhm. Our situations are a little different of course, and even if they don't go away with time, I know you'll learn to handle them. Because you're strong, Lily, so strong." Her Dad smiled, before standing up. "Now, head back to bed, I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled, heading back into the room and laying down. She didn't want to go back to sleep, in fear of experiencing the nightmares again. But her father's words ran through her head; "It gets better. It always does."

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

~*~

The next day was Christmas Eve. Everything was nice, cheery, and most people seemed to have put the incident behind them. Whether it was a way of coping, or it hadn't affected them as much as some, almost everyone had seen it as a thing of the past.

That is, everyone except Lily, Rose and Lucy.

Lucy refused to leave her parents bedroom after breakfast, only coming down when it was time for movie night. Turns out, Cassandra had intercepted a killing curse from her father- she was killed in an instant. Lucy didn't talk to anyone at all, and anytime someone wanted to comfort her about it she'd retreat back to her parents room.

Rose almost never left her Mum's side the entire day. She didn't mind of course, but she had to keep reassuring Rose that she was alright. The only people who understood why she was so attached were the girls and the adults, they didn't want to worry the boys even more.

Lily, on the other hand, was in between the both. She was with her family the entire day, sharing stories, watching movies, and eating treats. But she barely smiled most of the day, only doing so when Teddy surprised tickled her to try and get her in a better mood. It didn't work.

The only people she talked too, even if it was only 'yes's and 'no's, were her Mother and Auntie Luna. The Lovegood-Scamanders had showed up in the morning. They were going to show up yesterday, but when Lily's mother had informed them what happened they decided to wait another day.

Auntie Luna and Lily had always been super close. Her most fond memories were going out with her, Mum, and her daughter Ophelia as a sort of girls day. The four of them had a special type of bond, two best friends and their daughters.

Lily had answered most of Luna's questions; with short, one word responses. Luna didn't push, and when it was obvious Lily didn't want to talk anymore she just got up and hugged her, like she usually does.

The day went by, and when it was dark enough they all went outside with blankets. Normally they would do the movie night inside, but tonight it was warm enough. Lily's grandpa had bought a muggle projector, and they watched Christmas movies on a blank wall outside.

Cheery, happy, and cozy. Those were words that could describe any other of Lily's Christmas breaks, besides this one. Words couldn't even begin to describe the Christmas of 2018 for her. But she was content, and with family. And that's all that matters.