The Silver Doe

Chapter 23

"Lillian, I—."

"You hit me… You… You’re no better than my muggle-beast of a father!" the little girl screamed with tears in her eyes.

~ The Black Lake ~

And shrugging away from Snape’s hold, she ran out of his office, out of the castle, past all the speculating students and hid herself beneath a shrub near the Black Lake.

It was then when she broke down, properly. She wailed for what felt like hours and hours, days even. She wailed until it finally became dark and she could no longer see anything.

Her eyes were like swollen pieces of glazed, red flint. Why... why was she crying like this? She knew why. Yes, it was because Snape had hit her, but it was also because of other things. Things which she had not mourned over. Her mother. Strange how things can just build up and up, then suddenly explode like that.

Once her crying had ceased, and there was nothing to be seen or heard apart from the moon and an owl tooting close by, Lillian turned around and faced the forest, sniffling.

And then she saw it. It was a sort of silvery colour. It looked like a floating white ball of fire eveloped by mist. Lillian scrutinised it. The closer it got, the more clearer it got, and in the end it formed a Silver Doe. It appeared to be a sort of ethereal and semi-transparent Doe. Lillian rubbed at her strained eyes and crawled closer to it. The beautiful creature looked sad at first but when Lillian stared into its soft and large, blue-tender eyes, she rose her hand up. It smiled - if ever the like - and leaped closer.

Lillian almost smiled too. She rubbed at her stinging eyes and crawled closer.

Where was it coming from? Lillian’s eyes investigated her dark surroundings suspiciously, but there was no evidence of it having come from anywhere.

For a moment, Lillian kept getting the impression of someone being near her. She thought, for a moment, that she could hear breathing, sobbing, but her mind lost its concentration when the Doe took its last leap towards her and rubbed itself against Lillian - like what a cat would do against your legs.

It’s big and beautiful eyes blinked up at her expectantly. Lillian nodded and pulled her hand up as if to stroke it but instead her hand fell through, looking as if she were trying to catch smoke. It was a paragon of virtue, revealing the wonders of Lillian's emotions. She thought that maybe someone was near, but her uncertainties were overwhelmed with a rush of excitment. This only enticed her more. She would keep trying her animagus research. She would keep practising.

She found it weird having encountered such a magical creature as the Silver Doe. When Lillian knew it was time to go - as she didn't want to be caught out of school grounds too late this time, she stood up, shakily, acknowledged her experience with the unforgotten doe, and made her way around The Black Lake. It was late, but it was only dusk; around an hour past bedtime. Lillian, to be honest, couldn't care less what the teachers had to say about her now.

So casually she headed back to the castle. While she made her way around Hagrid's little paddock, she heard something. It was a howl. She thought maybe it was the giants dog, Fangs or something, but then she heard the note escalate. This caused her pace to quicken. She could see a few others in their evening robes making their way towards the castle too.

"Lilly?" Someone called. Lillian's heart took an unusual leap for joy.

"Leo?" She turned around and could dimly make out the frame of Leo. He hadn't changed much. Well, of course not, she gets to glance at him every passing day when they're in the same classes. But Lillian means that close up he hasn't changed; feature and voice wise. It's been four months since she last got to speak with him - and that was the day Malfoy got attacked by Buckbeak - but even then she didn't get to see or speak with him properly. And she liked him, always had. "Did you hear that?" she rushed.

"Hear what?" he was now in front of her, dressed in his Slytherin robes, and hodling his sanded broom in his right hand.

"I thought I heard..." she stopped. "Um..."

"Spit it out!" Leo chuckled.

"A howl?"

Leo become tense, and choked, "A howl? Like, a dog howl or a... howl from in... there?" he nodded forward to behind Lillian's back, where the forest was located. Lillian nodded. "Ahh wells, nevermind. As long as it stays in there, and we out here, then we'll be fine. Come on, I'll walk you up to the school."

They began to walk a little up the grassy slope, whilst Leo asked, "I heard you've been stuck with Snape for detention until the end of term, OUCH!"

She nodded. "Yep."

"Why?"

"Because I broke a school rule," she muttered, looking up to the castle which was becoming closer and closer.

"You rebel! Come on then, details, details! What happened?"

"I... It's nothing, I was just past curfew."

"Curfew," Leo laughed. "What a word to use, but yeah, I suppose that's what you get you asbo! Have you seen Old Filtch recently?"

"No, why?"

"Oh my God, man! You know how those Weasley twins, the ones with ginger hair? The ones in Griffindor?" Lillian nodded, slowing her pace a little. "Well, every year there comes a time when they play a massive prank on him. This years prank was yesterday evening, and it was bloody hilarious. Don't get me wrong, I don't really like the Weasley's, but I've gotta hand it to them, they did a brilliant prank! Even Malfoy hates to admit it." Leo was in a small fit of laughter. Lillian smiled up at him flashing his straight smile.

"What did Fred and George do? I don't get to talk to many people these days. I'm always too busy with studying or doing detentions..." she sighed.

"I don't know exactly what they put in his food and stuff, only that one moment we were having our dinner in the hall, then the next Filtch gets up from his seat and starts running towards the door, holding his backside. We all thought that maybe he was gonna follow through, but then things started... to... lets say, glow?"

"Glow?"

"Yeah! He started farting fireworks! FARTING! FIREWORKS!" Leo stopped and stared seriously down into Lillian's eyes, then the two of them burst out laughing.

"I wish I could've seen it," she admited, then looked forward, where she noticed that both her and Leo were at an angle of the castle, next to the Shrieking Shack. They could see the entire castle looking over the lake. The castle was lit up again by enchanted lights and candles, reflection the corona's of the moon against the surface of the water. It was a beautiful view. And the natural beauty of the star-studded sky added to the moment. Lillian discreetly looked up at Leo, who she knew was all of a sudden slightly mesmerised by the school. From his left, she could see the lights reflection into the pupils of his eyes. It was an awkward angle, but she liked looking into his blue eyes.

"Well, I better be off. Quidditch practice finished an hour ago..." he turned to her. "Lilly... I... We need to hang out sometime, OK? I don't care if your in Griffindor, or I'm in Slytherin - I honestly couldn't care - I just don't want to be a stranger to you," his voice became low and quiet.

"You'd never be a stranger to me," she giggled. "You've just got that face nobody'll ever forget."

"Ha, ha! Same goes to you, shorty!" They walked on a little, before they departed and went their seperate ways.

In her bed, listening to the girls around her settle down and put away their revision notes, Lillian thought over her unusual day. It started off with being slapped by Severus, then persued on to having an encounter with a Silver Doe who she begged she would be meeting more, and everything rounded off with Leo. Leo... how she had missed him. And she hoped the whole 'hello, goodbye!' cherade between them both would be over now. She just wanted to be his friend, but Leo and her 'father' were always in the way.

Well no more! Lillian was sick of being treated like a child. She was going to master the Animagus ability. She was going to stand up for herself and fight for Leo, and she was certainly going to no longer be a let down to... Severus; the man who took her in when nobody else wanted her.