第三章  书

    莉莉到家已经很晚了。她妈妈说了她，可莉莉说她既没有作业也没有别的杂事可做，干嘛非要呆在家里？

    “可你这段时间都去哪里了？”

    “去河边，和一个朋友在一起，”她看见在桌子上喝茶的佩妮内疚地瞟了一眼妈妈。

    莉莉瞪了她姐姐一眼。“妈妈，佩妮可以整天出去玩——她放学比我早，她总是去逛商场或者去公园里听音乐。我只是——只是想干点别的，别的而已！”

    “别的？”

    “那个，我和我的朋友明天要一起看书，一些旧书。我喜欢看书，但佩妮不喜欢。”她辩解道。

    这倒是事实，她妈妈想——莉莉是个书虫，但佩妮一点也不喜欢看书。她叹了口气，不说什么了。她希望两姐妹能玩到一起，但也没必要强求。不管怎么样，如果他们是在看书的话，莉莉就不会有什么事——比起佩妮说的她在游乐场搞的那些奇怪的杂技动作要好多了。

     至于说那个男孩，佩妮早告诉她莉莉的“朋友”到底是谁了。他简直就是被虐待和忽视到极点的小孩典型。他更小的时候她就见过他几次，他那像被追赶的小野兽一样惊恐的眼神比他那破烂的衣服和青一块紫一块的皮肤更让人印象深刻。上个冬天她一直没让莉莉出门，如果她还非要和他做朋友的话，那他应该不像佩妮说的那样坏。比起大女儿她更相信自己小女儿的判断力。莉莉总是能从每个人身上看到长处，而佩妮只看外表，只看一个人穿得怎么样就下结论。

    也许她应该让莉莉请他过来玩；说不定他们可以帮助他……

    一起看旧书……不知为什么这听起来不像是贫民窟小混混通常做的事情……可是他确实很奇怪。她想起佩妮说过，关于他，莉莉，还有魔法。她摇了摇头——瞧他们瞎编的什么啊！可是她内心深处却存有一丝疑问……莉莉有时候也那么奇怪。

    两姐妹从上个暑假开始分道扬镳——佩妮开始上中学，有了新朋友和新的爱好。有些朋友住的近，她总是跟他们煲电话粥，或者到公园和他们一起玩。和自己的朋友们在一起的时候，佩妮叫莉莉“我的小屁孩妹妹”，这让她觉得自己像个大人。她早就发现莉莉对她的新朋友和逛商场之类的不感兴趣，干脆就不带她玩了，直接跟她说，“你太小了，跟我们来也什么都不懂。”

    莉莉倒不像佩妮希望的那样介意——实际上，她只想找机会到溜到河边和那个蜘蛛尾巷的男孩一起玩。佩妮没有忘记上个暑假发生的事。莉莉最后居然原谅了他，简直太令人气愤了！她们大吵了一架。然而，她小心翼翼地怕再碰上他，所以尽管能猜到莉莉去哪儿了，她也不敢再偷偷跟着她。况且，她提醒自己现在有新朋友了——正常的朋友，不像那个怪物斯内普——她宁死也不要被人看到跟穿那样破烂衣服的人在一起。

    只是她一直忍不住好奇。他们真的在施魔法吗？她拼命让自己别朝那个方向想——他们都是些怪物，两个人都是！

Chapter 3: The Book

It was late when Lily arrived home. Her mother remonstrated with her, but Lily pointed out she had no homework or chores to do, so what was the point in staying home?

"But where have you been all this time?'

'Down by the river, with a friend' She saw Petunia, who was having tea at the table, give a guilty glance at her mother.

Lily glared at her sister. 'Mum you let Petunia stay out all day – she finished school before I did, and she's always out with her friends looking at shop windows or listening to music in the park. I'd – I'd rather do something different, that's all!'

'Different?'

'Well, my friend and I are going to read some old books tomorrow. I like reading, and Petunia doesn't' she said defensively.

This was true, her mother reflected – Lily was somewhat of a bookworm, whereas Petunia couldn't care less about books. She sighed and gave up .She would have liked them to stay together, but there was no forcing it. Anyway, if they were reading, Lily should be Ok – better than the stuntman antics Petunia said she got up to in the playground.

As for the boy, for Petunia had told her who Lily's 'friend' was; he was the epitome of an abused and neglected child. The few times she had seen him, when he was much younger, the wild, hunted look in his eyes spoke more eloquently than the shabby clothes and dark bruises on his pale skin. If Lily befriended him, and had still sought his company after her forced confinement throughout the winter months, then he could not be as bad as Petunia tried to make out. She trusted her younger daughter's judgement more than that of her eldest. Lily had always been able to see the good in everyone, whereas Petunia gave a perfunctory glance and pronounced judgement based mainly on what the person was wearing.

Perhaps she would ask Lily to invite him over; maybe they could help him...

Reading old books... somehow that did not fit the image of a slum kid ... but then he was strange. She remembered what Petunia had said about him, and Lily, and magic. She shook her head – the things they came up with! But a niggling doubt remained at the back of her mind ... Lily was so strange sometimes too.

The two sisters had gone their separate ways since last summer- Petunia attended secondary school now, and had made new friends, had new interests. Some of her friends lived in the neighbourhood, and she was constantly phoning them, or meeting them in the park. She started to refer to Lily as 'my kid sister' when alone with her friends, because it made her feel more grown-up. She realised early on that she couldn't get Lily interested in her new friends, or in window shopping, and so turned the tables on her by telling her 'You're too young to come along'.

Lily did not seem to mind as much as Petunia had hoped – in fact; she seemed only interested in sneaking off to the river with that boy from Spinner's End. Petunia remembered what had happened last summer. She had been very offended when Lily forgave him. They had quarrelled. However, she was wary of confronting him again, so, although she guessed where Lily was going, she did not dare follow her again. Besides, she reminded herself, she had new friends now, - normal ones, not like that Snape freak,- she wouldn't be seen dead with someone who was so badly dressed.

She felt a twinge of curiosity however. Were they doing magic? She pushed the thought from her mind – they were just freaks, both of them!