Chapter 1: Some things change
It was getting dark. Out of nowhere, dark and heavy clouds clubbed the clear sky. Lily Evans was sitting on a bench in the children's park at Spinner's end, reading 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. It was the first time since she had joined the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that she was reading a 'muggle-book'.
Suddenly it started raining heavily. She instantly placed her tattered bookmark on the page, closed the book and started running towards her home with the book tightly pressed to her chest. It seemed ridiculous at times that students were not allowed to use magic out of school. And Lily wasn't the kind to break any rule, even if it was about not wearing pink nighties in the dorm. She reached home after maneuvering out of an open manhole, which was spilling out water at the speed of a jet aircraft. She splashed her way towards the door of her house and pressed the doorbell. Her father, Julius Evans, a bulky man with little hair on his head and a very amiable face, opened the door. She was drenched throughout and her clothes were literally manufacturing water. Her boots had gathered a lot of water, so she opened them near the door and poured the water out of the door over the rose hedges.
" Good lord! Lily, only if you could see how pathetically drenched you are. Even your magic wouldn't be able to dry it up," snorted Petunia, who was sitting across the room at the kitchen counter.
She had what is called the perfect example of an anorexic physique. She had deep green eyes, which were presently mocking over Lily. Her face was pretty, but plastic. And her curly blonde hair made it look even more so.
" Geroff her, Petunia. Lily darling, rush up and get changed. We have the Dursleys over for dinner." Said Mr. Evans in a calm voice.
" Sure, Daddy," she tossed the book to him and climbed upstairs to the terrace where her room was.
Lily's room was the aeriest room of the house. Its walls sported a lovely shade of baby pink with a huge family photograph on the wall just above the headboard of her bed. It was taken long back, when she and Petunia were little kids, unaware of the difference between them.
The room was Lily's paradise. It had always kept her safe from her sister's snide remarks. She remembered how excited she and Petunia were when Lily had received the letter from Professor Dumbledore. But it had all changed when they had come to know that it was for Lily only.
"Lily, be quick. They'll be here any moment and I need some help with the Waldorf salad," shouted Hillary Evans from downstairs. She was a petite woman in her forties with auburn hair, just like Lily. One could easily predict what Lily would look like when she would be forty.
" Hurry up dahling," she screamed again.
Her voice stirred Lily up from her reverie. She quickly grabbed a pair of blue jeans, which fit her perfectly, and pulled down a yellow T-shirt with a butterfly embroidered near the left corner. Her hair was still wet. So she blow dried them and put on a clip to prevent them from flying all over the place. Then she marched down to the kitchen and put the bowl containing the salad on the wooden counter.
" Mum, please check if the topping is all right," she requested.
Hillary tasted a spoonful and seemed delighted at her daughter's effort.
It is very tasty, sweetie. Lucky chap, your husband, to have such a good cook for a wife," She winked at Lily and softly patted her back.
"By the way, what were you doing in the park, all alone?" Hillary inquired.
" Oh, I was just reading one of dad's books," she replied
" Which one?" Hillary asked again
"Pride and Prejudice" Lily answered with patience.
" Did you like it?"
" Haven't finished yet,"
" You'll like it. I'm quite sure. It is your kind of romance."
" My kind has changed mum. I have stopped believing in fairytale romance. I don't see anybody around me who would fit the picture." Lily mumbled to her mother
"Why so, doll?" Hillary's voice betrayed her concern over her daughter's emotional health. Lily had just come to know about her best friend being a death eater and it was eating her up.
" Because everything changes. Petunia did, Sev did and now I don't want to take any chance." Lily debated.
" Lily, true love never changes. It did not in my and your father's case. I know you are under stress now, but time will teach" She reassured Lily and gave her a hug.
" Time will teach," Lily repeated her mother's words feeling the comfort of her mother's embrace.
The doorbell rang for the second time in the evening and there were three people of absolutely the same size and features standing next to each other in the porch, sporting a smile no less and certainly no more than that of Mona Lisa.
Julius Evans shook hands with Fitzgerald Dursley and his son Vernon Dursley. Then he invited them inside the house. Fitzgerald took his seat next to Mrs. Scout Dursley on the beige couch, which was placed next to the fireplace and was amply stocked with firewood.
" Nice collection, Mr. Julius," exclaimed Mrs. Dursley peering over the antique copperware, with her critical eyes, displayed on the wooden coffee table beside the couch. She was a stout lady in her late forties with a Petunia-like expression on her sullen face. Her hair was jet black and extremely curly. Lily was quite sure that she was wearing a wig, although she did not express it to anyone except an all-agreeing Julius.
The atmosphere of the living room was rather dull and no word was exchanged barring a few pleasantries here and there. Hillary was busy setting up the dining table with an occasional help by Petunia. Julius and Lily, sitting next to each other, engaged themselves by whispering to each other, comments about the guests.
" Don't you think Vernon is a true football lover?" Lily piped into her father's ears.
" Why?" asked an interested Julius.
" Y' know, like football – like lover." explained Lily, cackling silently.
Julius burst out laughing and Lily too joined him.
" Please share the joke, Mr. Evans," said Scout almost demandingly.
" Oh, it was nothing. Something about football," divulged Julius, stealthily winking to Lily.
" Speaking of football, is anybody interested in watching the English Premier League match?" asked a bored Vernon in a trademark baritone.
Lily started laughing more furiously and Petunia surely looked offended.
" Nothing to laugh about Lily. At least soccer matches are better than your qui…" retorted Petunia but stopped midway when she noticed Julius eyeing her angrily.
" No dad, she has insulted my fiancé and I'll not tolerate this," she fumed again.
" But Petunia, I was just…." Lily tried to explain but Petunia snapped her in between and roared, " You keep your filthy tongue to yourself and do not dare to speak to me again."
Lily burst into tears and ran upstairs. She locked herself up in her Eden of pain and did not open the door, even after several attempts by Julius and Hillary to calm her down.
She tore a parchment from her notebook and scribbled on it with her petite handwriting-
" I do not want to see anybody. I am not accepted there because I am a mudblood and I am not accepted here because I am a witch. But it is not my fault! I'll not force anybody to talk to me. Please leave me alone.
-Lily."
She stuck it on her door and slammed it shut again. 'Just one week' she reminded herself. Slowly, her tears lulled her to sleep.