Notes: like all my other storys, this is a translated story. Reviews are always welcome.

I own nothing.

Chapter 1

On Wednesday morning at six o'clock Lily Evans was sitting in the back of a cab, squinting against the morning light that streamed yellow and hot between the trees that stretched on either side of the country road. The worn book in her lap was damp from her grip, which hadn't loosened form it's paperback cover almost all night. Even as she slept her short, disturbed sleep in the moving train she had kept it under her arm. The dark, crumpled cover comforted and soothed her, the rustle of it's yellow pages warded off somber thoughts. The handwritten dedication on the inside of the cover was barely visible now, but that did not change the deep meaning it had for her.
The flickers of light and shadow between the trees were hypnotizing and reassuring, and she found herself sinking into a slumber. Just as she was about to succumb to the warm feeling the cab slowed down for a turn, interrupting the sleepy spell. After a few brief moments it stopped with a soft screech of brakes. The peaceful woods were replaced by a handsome pale- stoned country estate.
The fear and excitement that had withdrawn from Lily's thoughts during the soothing journey came back at once. She paid the driver and opened the cad door clumsily. She felt incredibly small in front of the grand house, threatened almost, even though she had spent the last six years of her life in a magical and glorious castle.
The driver took her bags out of the trunk and drove off without a word. Lily was left all alone. She hesitated for a brief moment, wondering whether she should wait for someone to meet her. Suddenly she realized with a flush that she was the one who would be expected do these simple jobs around the house. With this thought in her mind she griped her trunk with one hand, her book in the other, and began walking up the path to the main entrance.
Lily's sister responded with the expected contempt when she learned that she was going to spend the summer as a chambermaid in a rich family's home. Their father only gave a confused smile and kissed Lily's red hair. Ever since she returned from school he was less lucid than ever before. She told herself that she was doing it for him, that Petunia couldn't afford to keep the house and all of their father's hospital bills with her modest salary as a post office clerk, that she was giving up her summer vacation to atone for all the months she was away at school. It helped reassure her that she was doing the right thing. Only when she was alone with her thoughts did she allow herself to admit to herself that being a simple chambermaid was a great pleasure compered to spending two whole months with her judgmental sister and ill father.
She took a deep breath and tried to enjoy the pleasant summer weather along the dewy path to the house. From the day she saw the ad in the needed section in the Daily Prophet she was excited, even happy, in light of the opportunity that fell in her lap. The work was at a high salary, because wizards and witches didn't traditionally taked jobs that were usually done by house- elves, and this was going to be the first time she would visit a wizard's home. However, the main thing that gave her hope was the chance to spend the whole summer in the countryside. As a child, her parents took her and her sister on long walks, when her mother was still alive and her father was healthy and functioning; Lily couldn't remember the last time they had all been together in the open air of the hills and forests. It was long before Hogwarts, that she knew for sure.
She was just trying to drag her trunk up the cracked stone steps that led to the door (legally she was allowed to do magic outside the school, but she did't know Mrs. Chambers' policy regarding using magic outside the house) when the front door opened. Against the background of the dim space inside stood an impressive woman. She wore a green robe that was simple but suited her broad, proud figure.
"Miss Evans, just in time," she greeted Lily formally. With a simple wave of her wand the trunk sprung free from the slot in the stone where it had stuck and drifted to the threshold. "In your letters you indicated that you were seventeen and that you were allowed to perform magic outside the school."
Lily blushed fiercely. "That's right, I... I mean... I didn't know that I..."
"I'm Mrs. Chambers," the woman introduced herself, not interested in Lily's excuses. "Please come in, I'll give you a tour."
Lily straightened her skirt nervously, brought her book to her breast and entered obediently. She didn't expect to meet the mistress of the house as soon as she arrived, she hoped to make a better impression. She could express herself well in her letters, but she feared that in reality she would be less impressive than in writing.
The interior of the house was dim and a little stifling. All the curtains were drawn on the windows, and only a few wall lamps illuminated the space with dim light. Like the outside of the house, the interior had a special charm that made it's neglected facade heartbreaking in a way. This neglect aroused in a feeling of pity in Lily, as if the house were in mourning.
"After me, please," Mrs. Chambers said formally and started the tour in a business- like manner, Lily hovering behind her meekly. She followed in utter silence, gulping down every detail of the simple, enchanting architecture of the building. The walls, that were covered with tastefully chosen fine wallpaper, were decorated with paintings of autumnal and springy landscapes, dogs, horses, hawks and stags. Knights were keeping watch, and ladies were strolling and dozing in the meadows pleasantly.
Mrs. Chambers showed her the kitchen, where a lonely, quiet cook was working on breakfast, the big empty dining room with a large mahogany table that shone in the morning light, and then the drawing room, where a warm fire burned in the fireplace though no one occupied the crimson velvet sofas. One would think nobody lived in this house, where everything was neatly arranged and enclosed, as if not moved for ages, except for a book about wizard history that was lying on one of the couches, its spine cracked with effort. With a book-lover's instinct, Lily closed it and placed it on the pillow in its natural position.
"This is the study," Mrs. Chambers said, gesturing to a set of closed painted- glass doors in the corner of the room. "You will not enter this room, not even to clean. I alone may clean it. Let's move on. "
Lily nodded immediately. It wasn't until she climbing up the wooden steps (lined with a purple and green carpet with an twisting ivy pattern) after Mrs. Chambers that she internalized the words to which she nodded greedily. What sort of secret was held in the study that was so important that the lady of the house cleaned it herself?
She forgot all about that mystery when Mrs. Chambers showed her the library. It was not as impressive as the Hogwarts library, with it's shelves towering up to the ceiling, but it held a considerable amount of intriguing and special books, all of them magical, scattered on the shelves and tables.
"When you told me in your letters about your love for reading I decided immediately that you would be in charge of the library," Mrs. Chambers told her. She didn't alter her solemn tone of voice for a moment, but Lily felt she was making an attempt at a gesture of kindness for a complete stranger.
"Thank you!" She said excitedly, feeling foolish that she couldn't find any more words to express her gratitude. "You won't regret it, ma'am."
Mrs. Chambers just nodded and went on with the tour. Lily had already begun to think of how to organize the books when they stopped in a junction between the hallway and a narrow stairway that led downwards.
"Down the corridor are the guest rooms and the master bedrooms," Mrs. Chambers explained briefly before she started down the stairs on her right in a remarkably easy step. "None of them are in use, except for the young master's room, but since I suspect he hasn't yet woken up, we will skip to the next stage of the tour. Here is where the house workers' rooms are located, most of which are not in use except for Madeline's room. Our gardener and land keeper, Maxwell, lives in a hut on the edge of the west side of the estate." They came to a halt in front of one of the first doors in the narrow corridor. "This will be your room."
Lily opened her mouth to say thank you, but Mrs. Chambers was still talking, "Madeleine's room is the one in front of you, and my room is at the end of the hall. I'll thank you if you would refrain from bothering me in the evening, unless it's an emergency, of course."
Mrs. Chambers's displeased look made Lily's realize her mouth was slightly open.
"Excuse me," she said at last, feeling her face burning as she realized it was the second time she was embarrassing herself that morning. "But I thought ... I mean, I was sure you were the landlady?"
"Absolutely not," Mrs. Chambers answered without hesitation. "I'm just the housekeeper."
"I'm so sorry." Lily longed to bury herself under the carpet to avoid the housekeeper's uncompromising gaze.
"The landlady and her husband are no longer with us, I'm afraid," Mrs. Chambers said, saving Lily the need to prolong her shameful apology. "I'm running all the affairs of the house at this time. The young master is not interested in these matters, as you will realize soon."
Lily nodded in an attempt to save her image.
Mrs. Chambers glanced at her watch. "In a quarter of an hour breakfast will be served, and at the master's request we all dine together in the main dining room. I believe you will find your way?"
"Of course," Lily said at once, wanting to believe it was true. She was not going to make a fool of herself for the third time.
Mrs. Chambers left and Lily dragged her trunk into the room. It was a modest room, with a wooden bed set in white covers, an old closet and a desk with a fine glass lamp under the window. Lily put her book down on the bed, sat down on the mattress heavily, and buried her face in her knees. This was not how she imagined her first acquaintance with her employer.
Lily cared what people thought of her. Her classmates were the opposite of her in that aspect. The the other girls in her dorm didn't care what the teachers thought of them as students, what their parents thought is they failed the test or got detention, what everyone thought of the last boy they kissed. But to Lily it mattered – maybe that was the reason she could never really call them her friends. She didn't want it to be that way, but it was, and she couldn't stand the look of derision, scorn or pity in the eyes of someone else. She knew exactly how it felt.
Deciding that it wasn't the time to be consumed by self-pity and fears she rose resolutely, took a brush out of her bag, and went to the mirror to brush her travel- wild hair. Then she straightened her dark flowered skirt and the reddish-brown blouse that she hoped would give her a sense of credibility. She pinched her freckled cheeks lightly, like her mother had taught her to do to give them a little color and remove the pallor of fatigue. Finally, trying to recover her lost honor in Mrs. Chambers's eyes, she pulled her long hair away from her face with a silver lily-shaped brooch that she had received as a gift from Professor Slughorn that Christmas.
Glancing at the clock, she realized that she had a few minutes left. She went to the window and pushed the pale linen curtains to reveal that her room looked out onto a garden of young apple trees. One of them grew right next to her window, so close she could see morning dewdrops still clinging to a tiny green apple. She opened the window and was greeted by a cool breeze that smelled of flowers. She breathed the air deep into her lungs, allowing it to calm her and cool her face, give her the strength and hope to straighten her back, and turned the way she came towards the dining room.
She was relived to had found her way and to arrive just in time. At the table sat Mrs. Chambers, sipping tea silently, with a man about her age with frizzy gray hair that was reading the newspaper. His thin, stained hands from years of manual labor were clenching the thin paper in a clawing grip.
"Hello," Lily greeted him, "my name is Lily Evans, Mrs. Chambers hired me as a chambermaid."
The man snarled something behind the newspaper, not lowering it or even offering her a glance with his heavy-lidded eyes, that were absorbed in the article as if it were a matter of life and death.
"This is Maxwell," Mrs. Chambers answered for him. "I apologize for his behavior."
Lily murmured that it was all right and sat down a little uncertainty. The silence around the table was choking. Lily felt relieved when Madeleine the cook came in from the kitchen, ans as she served breakfast gave Lily a gentle smile. The grandfather clock behind the table began to chime the seven o'clock with a crocked ring. Mrs. Chambers put down the tea cup and turned to look at the door intently. Lily followed her gaze, trying to figure out what she was looking at.
The clock rang once, twice, three, four – when it suddenly stopped and went completely still. Lily looked at it and realized that the pendulum had frozen at an unnatural angle. Before she could figure out what was the cause there was the sound of quick steps on the carpet, and another man sat down at the table with a graceful sway. The clock sprung back to life and rang for the remaining three hours, but Lily didn't notice it at that point.
"Late again, Master James," Mrs. Chambers greeted the master of the house solemnly. He was, Lily understood with a sense of burning shame and hanger, none other than James Potter.
"I'm not late," Potter replied with the careless defiance that Lily knew too well from school. He was the last person she expected to encounter that day, which was supposed to be a new beginning for her. "It's exactly seven o'clock. Look at your watch."
Mrs. Chambers glanced at her watch and clutched her chest, halting a surprised cry with pursed lips. She unfastened the strap and tossed the clock to the center of the table as if it were a disgusting creature. Lily leaned toward it and let out a squeak of surprise and panic when she saw a tiny, ugly face that was pressed to the inside of the glass with a grotesque expression. As a joke it wasn't funny at all.
"Evens, I wasn't aware you were coming today," Potter said, not at all surprised to see her, as he loaded food onto his plate. Unlike Lily he didn't make an effort to comb his hair, and his striped shirt was wrinkled. He behaved as if it were nothing more than a meal in the Great Hall, and his kind smile made her feel discomfort, a feeling that there was something cunning behind it.
"You know Miss Evans?" Mrs. Chambers asked in the tone of one who is preparing to be a victim of a prank. For the first time Lily watched her lose her composure a little, and the stiff but kind woman was suddenly pleasant to behold, after all. Lily noticed immediately that like many school teachers she was frustrated with Potter but loved him at the time.
"Yes," Potter replied mid- bite. "We go to school together. Didn't I tell you? I probably forgot."
Mrs. Chambers looked at Lily expecting her to say something. Potter was absorbed in eating, the reflection of morning light on his glasses concealing his eyes and his intentions. There was nothing new about it. Lily realized she'd better shut up than say something stupid that would endanger her job.
She got up a little too quickly and offered to serve the tea. Mrs. Chambers let her, so Lily moved around the table and poured the tea with trembling hands. As she filled Potter's cup she fought the urge to pour the steaming drink on his hand. The pleasant, peaceful way he thanked her, as if the situation wasn't strange at all, infuriated her even more.
She returned to her seat and spread the napkin over her knees with exaggerated emphasis. Every second her anger grew worse as she internalized the depth of the prank that had been pulled on her. Mrs. Chambers hired her two weeks before the end of the term, which meant that for the last two weeks Potter had been sitting with her in the same classrooms knowing she was going to work for him. He knew –he probably planned it from the start! – that as soon as she would enter that house, she will be nothing more than his maid.
The thought boiled her blood so hotly that she could barely hold the fork. Just when she began to think that Potter might have changed. How naive she was. After all, it wasn't the first time she got a glance of his true colors.
She looked at him, wanting her gaze to make him feel the words she wanted to shout in his face, and found him looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"What?" She demanded. Everyone at the table turned to look at her. Even Maxwell glanced over the edge of the newspaper. "I mean," she corrected her tone quickly, hiding her mouth behind a napkin for a moment. "What is my work schedule going to be, Mrs. Chambers?"
Mrs. Chambers immediately began a detailed explanation of Lily's role in the house, and she on her part willed everything in the room except for the housekeeper's face and voice to disappear. She thought she heard Potter mumble something that sounded like "Nice catch," but she preferred to pretend he didn't exist at all.