Chapter 350: The Lively Gryffindors [bonus]
Gryffindor Tower, third-year girls' dormitory.
Lily had already changed into her pyjamas. She sat cross-legged on her bed, hair loose around her shoulders, looking a shade worse than she had before term. Faint shadows under her eyes. A worn-out quality to her face.
Things in Cokeworth had gone sideways starting late December.
Coal miners on strike. The national three-day work week. Factories near her house taking turns losing power. Mr. Evans's plant had been hit too, running three days a week, paying three days' wages.
The heating stuttered on and off. Petunia huddled under blankets and complained. Their mother cooked dinner over a wood fire in the kitchen. The living room lights wouldn't come on.
The entire holiday, Lily had helped with chores, helped her mother with the accounts, gone out with Petunia to gather firewood. Hard days.
Back at Hogwarts, with the warmth pouring in, the lamps blazing, food in abundance, she finally felt herself unclench.
On the dormitory floor, a small dark shape was making its rounds.
Knox.