A Cat in Transfiguration

                                    

                                          
A Cat in Transfiguration 
                          


                          

"Lily!" 
                          
She awoke from a dream - the same dream, the clearing and the large, unknown creature watching her from the darkness, protecting her... She lay in the tangle of blankets and pillow, trying to wrap her mind around what it was that had awakened her. She was about to roll over and assume there'd been nothing when a tiny, mousy little voice called out her name once again. "Lily!" 
                          
Lily sat up in her bed and reached for her wand on the nightstand. "Lumos," she muttered, rubbing her other hand over her eyes to get the sleep out of them, "Come -- come in," she yawned. 
                          
The dorm room door pushed open and Ali Prewitt, the first year, peeked 'round the frame. "I'm sorry I woke you up but... I - I can't sleep." 
                          
Lily yawned even harder. 
                          
"It's just... I'm scared," Ali continued, "And... you're my only friend here. And... I was hoping I could maybe sleep in here." 
                          
Lily nodded, "C'mon," she said and she scooted over to make room as Ali came in, closed the door behind her, and ran across the room to join Lily in her big cushy bed. "Why are you scared?" Lily asked as Ali snuggled into the pillows and blankets beside her. She was rather excited, truth be told, because this sort of reminded her of times when Tuney used to wake her up from the next bed and climb in next to her like this, too. They'd stayed up many a night, hidden beneath the covers and talking all night long like this. Ali's presence made her feel a little less homesick. 
                          
"Because of what happened with Alice Bell and her brother," said Ali quietly. "To their parents." 
                          
Lily nodded, "I understand. I'm scared because of that, too. There are very bad wizards out there - I've seen him myself, the Dark Lord, you know. He's very scary. But he's just an ordinary wizard at the end of the day, you know... You'll see. One day, he'll be defeated." 
                          
Ali turned pink. "Well it's not just that. It's... well, I think I might have been sorted wrong. By the hat, I mean," she confessed. 
                          
"Sorted wrong?" Lily asked. She remembered thinking that very thing almost exactly one year ago, recalled her great plans to go to Dumbledore and be switched to Slytherin, her persistence that she was in the wrong house... Well, now she was convinced of the Hat's accuracy. "The Sorting Hat doesn't really make any mistakes," she said 
                          
"Everyone says Gryffindors are supposed to be brave," Ali whispered, "But I don't feel brave at all." 
                          
"Sure you are," Lily answered. 
                          
Ali frowned and shook her head. "I'm terrified." 
                          
"You should be," Lily answered, "But that doesn't mean you aren't brave." Ali gave Lily a look of disbelieving doubt. "No, seriously!" Lily defended herself, "You've got to look at everything you're doing. You're really far from home, probably for the first time in your life, right? You're meeting all these new people and you're not sure which ones to trust and which ones not to trust, and there's nobody really all too familiar. Then on top of it, this happens to Derek and Alice... Of course you're scared! But you haven't given up, have you? You haven't gone fleeing off the grounds screaming or anything. No! You were brave enough to come up here and knock on my door and ask to come in, weren't you? That had to be scary, too. But here you are." 
                          
"Yeah..." Ali agreed reluctantly. 
                          
Lily shrugged, "You can't be brave if you aren't afraid of whatever it is you're facing. Being afraid is literally part of being brave. It's just a matter of whether you let that fear dictate how you respond to that fear. You can cower to the fear, or you can push through it and take it head on. That is bravery." Lily brushed a bit of hair off of Ali's forehead. "I think the Sorting Hat did knocker."