What I Like About You

Chapter Three

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

(Golden Slumbers: the Beatles)

Saturday September 3, 1977

Lily was married now.

She wasn't exactly sure how she knew. She certainly didn't remember any of it. No glimmer of memory flashed through her mind of a ceremony or a cake or even her gown. Of all things to forget ...

Perhaps a look at her wedding ring would help her to recall. Did she even have one? As she glanced down at her hand to look, Lily was surprised to see she held a baby in her arms. It must have been her son. Did she have a son? How old was she? To whom was she married?

Lily was restless, but wary of disturbing her son's slumber. She gently set him inside a cradle that lay next to the loveseat and wandered into the dining room. She noticed for the first time how drab her surroundings were. Not drab in design, obviously; the house in which she apparently lived was undoubtedly grand. But the décor, although luxurious, was colored grey. Perhaps she was grey as well. Lily glanced at her reflection in the window and saw that she was definitely in color.

Overwhelmed with all these concepts to process, Lily collapsed into a dining chair and leaned on the table, head in hands. She drew back, however, when she saw the table slowly turning to ash beneath the place where her elbows rested.

Lily was slightly alarmed, but largely unfazed. She decided she was hungry and did not require a table to rest on.

She quickly made her way to the adjoining kitchen. Lily stood still a moment, almost as though wondering where food was kept in a kitchen. Her hesitation lasted only a moment though, and she approached the white refrigerator in front of her and opened it.

She screamed--or at least she meant to. She wasn't sure if any sound came out.

There, in the cold fridge, lay James Potter's dead body, halfway into a fetal position.

Horrified, Lily bolted from the kitchen and up the sweeping stairs in the entrance hall. On the next floor there was a narrow hallway with a spiral staircase at the opposite end. Determined to put as much space between herself and Potter's dead body, Lily made for the spiral stairs.

Once upstairs, Lily had to blink to adjust to her surroundings. Unlike the other dreary rooms, this one--the master bedroom, which took up the entire third floor along with the master bathroom--was decorated in the lush colors of a deep crimson and a splendid gold. Immediately she felt more relaxed, and she wandered across the room to the large window. She gazed downward at the green lawn, but very suddenly and very rapidly, it began getting farther away until it was no longer visible. It was as though the room was being shot into the sky.

Once again alarmed, Lily made her way to the ground floor and looked out the sitting room window. The yard stretched out in front of her, perfectly visible.

Lily's mind was racing. How was this all happening? Why was this all happening? Was the house cursed? And if so, why was she here?

She forced her mind to stop, and she massaged her temples. There was probably a perfectly rational reason for this. Perhaps her husband was a very important Ministry official. Yes, that was it! An Auror! He must have put protective spells around the house. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

After another moment, a distant noise reached Lily's ears. It took her a few seconds to realize that the noise was not distant at all, but her son crying a few feet away from her.

He must be hungry.

Lily removed the baby from his cradle and took him into the kitchen. Balancing the child in one arm, she opened the refrigerator nonchalantly. Now over the shock of the moment, Lily regarded James's lifeless form not with disgust or fear, but with regret, and even sadness. As she picked up the bottle for her son, she noticed that James also had a wedding band. She closed her eyes, mourning momentarily for his poor wife, whomever she might be. Brushing James from her mind, she closed the fridge door.

Although the milk had been in the cool refrigerator, she knew it was the right temperature now. Lily adjusted the baby so she could face him comfortably and pulled back the blanket that had been covering his face. She was almost startled at his appearance. It certainly didn't look like her son, or any other baby, for that matter. His face was paper-white and very narrow, and his eyes were naught but slits.

Nonetheless, Lily felt the love that any mother would have for her son as she got a firm grip on the bottle to feed him.

Suddenly the baby's eyes widened and flashed a brilliant green that lit the room and blinded Lily for a moment or two--then he burst into flames.

Lily gasped and dropped him. She watched her baby burn on the linoleum at her feet.

When the fire subsided, there was nothing left of her son, save a small pile of ashes. She stared at it, face devoid of any emotion but surprise. Without warning, a long and sinister snake emerged from her son's ashes and slithered about her feet.

Lily screamed. This time she heard herself.

XXXX

Lily sat straight up in bed, screaming. It occurred to her that this sort of thing only happened in bad movies, yet here she was.

Galatea popped her head in from the adjoining dormitory into Lily's Head Dormitory. "Are you alright, Lily?" she asked.

"I don't know!" Lily said semi-hysterically. "I think so ...Galatea, what the hell just happened to me?"

"I'm not sure, Lily. Now, quiet or you'll wake the whole castle," Galatea hushed Lily, but regarded her friend with care.

Lily took several deep breaths and brought herself back to reality. It was just a dream. But Merlin, it had been so vivid. Lily saw Galatea watching her with a concerned look on her face.

"Lily, what happened?"

Lily told Galatea about her dream. "... and I just stood there, watching my baby die, and when he was all burnt up, a snake came out of his ashes--and only then I screamed. I seemed more traumatized by the stupid snake than my own son's death!"

Galatea seemed to be considering this. After a moment, she bade Lily to wait for her--she'd be back in two seconds--and returned to the normal seventh year girls' dormitory. As promised, she returned, this time accompanied by Athea and--under her arm--a huge dream interpretation book.

"Right then, Lily. Galatea told me what happened, so I'm going to try and help you figure out what it means, even though dream interpretation was never my ... erm ... my strong point."

Lily nodded, not really caring if it had been Voldemort himself interpreting the dream for her.

"So, when the dream began, where were you?"

"A sitting room."

"Sitting room!" Athea hissed at the book, which rapidly flipped to a page entitled Sitting Rooms. " 'Sitting rooms portray the image you portray to others. A representative to your basic beliefs.' What did the room look like?"

Lily considered for a moment. "Grey. It was almost unnaturally grey."

"Grey! Okay, 'Grey indicates fear, ill health, depression, et cetera. You may feel emotionally distant and/or detached.' What happened next?"

"I was standing in the sitting room, and I realized that I was married."

"Did you see a wedding ring?"

"Yes, but that isn't how I realized it. I just knew."

Athea scribbled something on a piece of parchment.

Lily proceeded to tell her entire dream, with frequent interruptions from Athea:

" 'A baby signifies innocence or new beginnings.' "

"A kitchen? This 'fortells depressing news.' "

"The table may 'suggest dissention in a group.' "

" 'A staircase represents your efforts in achieving your goals. This may be a warning to take things one at a time.' "

"A transition from greys to color? Er, 'looking at things from an emotional viewpoint.' "

"Merlin. This height thing makes no sense at all. Look at this: you were at a great height, which 'indicated that you've reached your highest goals.' Yet, you were afraid of the height, which means you are 'striving for goals beyond your reach.' "

"Your hunger 'signifies a feeling of unfulfillment in an area of your life. For example: fame, recognition, wealth, power, or sex.' Sex, Lily? Hiding something?"

"James Potter? His corpse was in the fridge? Well, 'The corpse represents an aspect of you that now has died', and 'the refrigerator signifies either a cold personality, or that you have achieved a subconscious goal.'"

"The wedding band ... was it on you or him? On him means that you're unfaithful."

"The crying baby 'indicates you've got a sense of lacking in your life, and you aren't achieving your goals.' Wait ... that makes no sense."

"You fed the baby something from inside the refrigerator? You sick, sick woman! Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Lily. 'The milk denotes human kindness.' "

"Excuse me? The baby caught fire? Well, alright then. That is a 'metaphor for your internal fire.' The actual dying means 'the dying of your feelings toward that person.' "

" 'Ashes mean you dwell on the past.' Can't argue with that one. And the snake 'may be phallic and represent a forbidden sexuality.' "

Athea closed her book with a snap.

Galatea looked appalled. "None of that made any sense! It was full of contradictions!"

Athea threw her hands in the air. "Maybe it was a premonition."

"Don't be ridiculous! There is no way that dream could be a premonition! Honestly!"

"Never mind," Lily murmured.

"Beg pardon?" asked Athea.

"It isn't important. Sure, it was vivid and realistic and all that, but I've had a thousand dreams like that. There's no reason to pay special attention to this one. I'm just going to go to the common room and sit by the fire until I fall asleep."

"Are you sure, Lily?" asked Galatea. "I'm sure between the three of us we could figure this out."

"No, I'm fine." Lily insisted and left the room with a small wave of thanks and a good-night.

Lily was just finishing tying up her dressing robe when she heard James Potter's voice come from seemingly no where.

"Still up, Evans?"

Lily gave an involuntary shudder, but she forced herself to remove the image of James dead inside a refrigerator from her mind. "Couldn't sleep."

"I heard you scream."

"You did?"

"Yes I did. What happened, Evans? Were you dreaming about Sirius?"

Lily smiled at the irony. "No. It was actually about you."

"You're lying!"

"I swear on my red hair that my comment is factual."

"Well? What was I doing in your dream?"

"You were in a refrigerator."

"Why on earth--"

"You were dead."

James blanched. "You didn't ... eat me?"

"No! In all honesty, my screaming had little to do with you. It was more about a snake emerging from where my dead son lay."

"So, it didn't have much to do with me?"

"Correct."

"So you lost."

"What?"

"You swore on your hair that the dream was about me. It wasn't!"

"You were part of the main focus."

"That wasn't the deal."

Lily thought a moment. "We didn't shake on it," she said childishly.

Taking James by surprise, she laughed and leaned against his shoulder, closing her eyes. By the time he had thought of a clever retort, she was asleep. He was the pillow.

Ever-so-gently, James replaced his shoulder with an actual pillow and draped a blanket over Lily. For a moment he considered giving her a small kiss on the cheek or forehead, but he decided that she must have some kind of reflex to prevent that.

He could never tell with women.

Coming Next:

XXXX

"Welcome to N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts." said the woman in the front of the room.

XXXX

"If you insist on failing my class, I see no reason for you to be in it any longer." Judicieux walked to her desk and pulled out a document. "What is your surname?"

"Belidolph."

Professor Judicieux stopped.

"Galatea Belidolph?"

XXXX

"James Vanderwood is one of the most powerful Death Eaters and one of the most well known. And Voldemort is one of the most powerful wizards! You couldn't have taken them on if your life had depended on it!"

"It was more important than my life, Professor."