Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Twelve

"I think I am," he said with a smile. "I'm glad to be a Gryffindor and can't wait to kick everyone else's butts in Quidditch. I also love a good bonfire; that's one fond memory from my childhood."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked as they came into the grand entrance hall of Hogwarts.

"My brothers and I liked to have fires during the summer. Believe it or not, I used to get along with my brothers when we all thought I'd be a Slytherin like them, but as soon as I was sorted into Gryffindor those relationships were over."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lily replied before backtracking a bit, thinking she sounded a bit insensitive. "I mean, I knew that. I've always been sorry about that, but I was just-"

"It's fine," he said with a tight-lipped smile. "My family isn't filled with good people. I'm glad I'm out of that house finally."

"Well, I'm happy that you're happy," Lily said with a smile as she pulled open on of Hogwarts' large front doors.

The late summer air was crisp as Lily had expected. She was happy she had worn a sweater over her t-shirt; she didn't plan on freezing to death before going to a bonfire. How ironic would that be?

"I hate the fall," Eli said, crossing his arms over his chest as they closed the door behind them.

"Technically speaking, it's still summer," Lily said with a smirk just to bother her friend. She loved to jar her friends with know-it-all facts and a mocking smirk.

He rolled his eyes, "It's chilly, and it's September; it's fall to me. Fall is just a bunch of dead leaves falling off trees. Fall's the season of death."

Lily stopped, her eyebrows raised and mouth open, "That's both morbid and cynical, Eli."

"It's true when you think about it," he said as they headed down the hill to the Forbidden Forest. "Leaves fall. Fallen leaves are dead."

Something about his strange remark about death rubbed Lily the wrong way, but she decided not to pry or dwell on it. She realized that prying could lead to an argument or resentment, and that was furthest from what Lily wanted especially with the bonfire ahead.

"Anyway," Lily said with a sigh, ready to depart from the death conversation, "this bonfire should be fun."

"Really?" Eli asked with a furrowed brow. "You seemed against it yesterday. I thought you were going to kill James when he told you about it. And about ten minutes ago, you told me you were only coming to get the last laugh with James."

"Alright, I made that up," Lily said with a shrug, wanting to steer away from the awkwardness. "That it should be fun. It'll probably be weird. We'll be the youngest two people there."

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" Eli asked, his eyebrows still questioning her. "We can turn around and head back to the castle. It's okay."

"No," Lily said feeling determination brewing in her stomach. "We're going. We are going into the Forbidden Forest and going to go to the bonfire."

"Like I said before, you don't have to do this," he said as they stepped up to the edge of the forest.

Lily couldn't help but think of her experiences of last year as she stared into the dark abyss of the forest. She couldn't see through the branches of the memorable evergreens, and the darkness only made her think of the unknown of the forest. She had gone in with the same apprehension of the unknown and knew what happened: a cousin hit by an arrow, siblings hurt, a cousin possessed, and a forest caught on fire with columns of flames dancing through the seemingly endless sky.