❝ he and i are closer than friends, we are enemies linked together, the same sin binds us ❞ | in which lilium snape is bound to harry potter by fate, destined to stand on either side of a war that will soon be waged. she is cursed by prophecy, or so...
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ACT TWO, chapter twenty: the dog days are done the horses are coming so you better run
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2 august 1993 — third year.
Summer had been hell.
Lili's quill tapped uselessly at crisp paper, a massive drop of ink staining the parchment black. She had no idea why this was so difficult. She had corresponded with Hermione, Draco, and Ron a few times throughout the summer (when she could muster up the energy), and she'd even reached out to Ginny Weasley to check in and make sure she, too, hadn't gone insane. But there was one person she was struggling to write to.
An open letter from Harry sat beside her on the desk.
And it was the same old, same old.
'Everything is fine. Stop worrying. My relatives are treating me all right, mostly ignoring me which is what I prefer. Speaking of ignoring, do ignore whatever Ron and Hermione told you, Lili, they have the wrong end of it. The Dursley's did not put locks on my bedroom door; how ridiculous. And the Dursley's most certainly are not starving me; really, where do Ron and Hermione come up with these ideas?
By the way, I haven't started on our summer assignments yet; I know Hermione will lecture me senseless. I fully expect to copy off you on the train, please and thank you. Hedwig doesn't get to hunt as much as she'd like, but we're making do. I can't wait 'til school starts and we can all be together again. Please write back soon.'
Lili didn't know how much of it to believe.
Of course she'd sent him a birthday present so he'd have it at midnight on his thirteenth birthday, but the letters nowadays, they were always just so:
Dear Harry,
No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't get any further than that. 'Dear Harry' and then... nothing. It was pitiful. Lili heaved a sigh, folded her arms on her desk, and dropped her face onto them. How could she write to him like everything was fine when it wasn't? How could she demand he be honest when she wasn't being honest herself? It was terrible, but it was easier to lie to Hermione and the others than it was to Harry. Harry's existence in Lili's life demanded truth, and right now, the truth was too hard to face.
Life had been... bad, lately.
Since the mess with the Chamber of Secrets at the end of Second Year, Lili hadn't felt herself.
Her nightmares were worse than ever. She dreamt of the Pensieve memories of her mother who was the most devoted follower of the Dark Lord and was apparently wretched and vile and evil. She dreamt of her memories of her father's escape from fellow Death Eaters that resulted in the loss of two fingers and the scar on her lip. She dreamt of being trapped in her own mind with the Dark Lord and only her father capable of freeing her. She wondered if he would be able to do that again now.
