Hi everyone! And welcome to the premiere of my new fic! I'm so excited I have been waiting FOREVER to start writing this. It has been sitting in the confines of my crazed brain waiting to be written. So, without further ado, Confessions of a Red head…
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Lily Evans was sitting at the kitchen table at 11:02 on Saturday July 23rd, when it came. She was groggily digging into her bowl of captain crunch, musing over what 6th grade would be like. She had always loved the summer, and now it was drawing to a close, they began their new year in early August having been released for summer vacation at the end of May.
The end of the summer holidays promised another long boring school year that would only be survived with her two best friends, Emily Johnson and Ted Tonks. She couldn't imagine how she would be able to stay alive without them. She'd been friends with Emily since she was three, and Ted she had met last year. He was a good-looking boy, tall for his age, with soft brown hair that almost covered his warm eyes. True he was shockingly clumsy at times, but it was always a laugh.
She sighed. One more week. One more beautiful week before she would be trudging back and forth with ten pounds of textbooks and homework assignments slung over her shoulder.
Lily was woken from her thoughts when she heard a soft tapping on the kitchen window. She looked up to see the source of the noise. To her great surprise there was a large tawny owl tapping its beak on the window, in such a purposeful way, it looked as though it was politely knocking as if it were a houseguest.
Lily stared at it for a full three minutes before she seemed to snap back to reality and shakily got up to open the window. Now had her mother been in the room, she would have been subjected to a long lecture about never letting wild animals into the house and would have been forced to wash her hands so many times they'd be red. But luckily her mother was not in the room and Lily was so overcome with curiosity that she just had to let the mysterious bird in.
The owl ruffled its feathers self-importantly as if to say, "what took you so long?" it then proceeded to hold out its leg with dignity. Lily looked at it, to suddenly realize that there was a letter tied to its leg. She hastily removed it.
The second the letter was off, the owl fluttered over to her cereal and began to help itself to her captain crunch. She was about to object, and perhaps attempt to shoo it, but she was too curious about the letter.
She glanced down at it. The paper was slightly yellow and thicker then normal envelopes. After careful examination she decided that it reminded her mostly of ancient Egyptian parchment that she had seen in the museum.
It was addressed to her, why not open it? If it were dangerous, the person who sent it wouldn't have chosen a postman so conspicuous as an owl. She glanced over at the strange bird, now happily crunching the remains of her breakfast. Slowly, carefully, she opened the letter. The first piece of 'parchment' that she removed read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been
accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no
later than July 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Lily stared at it open mouthed. What did it mean? Witchcraft and Wizardry? Was this some sort of crazed joke?
The logical part of her brain was telling her that yes indeed it was a sick prank. But somewhere else deep inside she had this feeling of excitement, that something amazing was about to happen and here was the first step. Now, the only thing to do was convince her parents.
"MUM!" Lily screeched.
Sure enough, three seconds later, her mother came hurtling into the room.
"Lily darling what's wrong?" she asked breathlessly.
"Look!" Lily replied excitedly showing the letter to her mother. She waited apprehensively for her mother's reaction. Unfortunately she began to laugh.
"Ah, Lily darling, a very good joke indeed! Did one of your friends send it?" Lily was horrorstruck.
"NO! It came by OWL! Its not some stupid prank, I swear it isn't!" Her mother turned to look at the owl, which she had just noticed and let out an almighty shriek.
"LILY! WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT WILD ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE? GO WASH YOUR HANDS NOW!" Lily stared back at her defiantly, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It was knocking so politely I had to let it in.," she said softly. Her mother softened.
"Lily darling, I'm sorry that this got you so excited, I don't know who would send a letter like this, but it is obviously not true. I've never heard of such a place as..." she checked the letter. "Hogwarts. I know your love for fantasy but this is just a bit to far, I'm sorry."
And with that her mother threw the letter into the garbage. Lily sat down, crestfallen, as her mother attempted to shoo, the very ruffled and annoyed looking owl out of the house. She had hoped, just once that she was special. That something out of her fantasy books would come true, that she could perform magic, or fight dragons, or be rescued by a knight in shining armor.
But of course the cold reality of the truth had to come and slap her in the face, once again. She let out a small sob, she was too gullible. But still, she couldn't quite squelch the feeling that something was about to change.
Later that night at the dinner table, halfway through her meatloaf, Lily heard it again. The soft tapping on the window. Her mother turned to look at the window and gave a cry of annoyance.
"Bloody Hell! Will they never leave us alone?" she stood up to shoo away the owl before it could fly through the open window and deliver its letter.
Lily watched dejectedly as her mother shoved the bird out and shut the window, returning to the table rather ruffled. But five minutes later it happened again, a different owl had come and was knocking again. Her mother ignored it, hoping that it would just go away. It did not go away however and was joined by yet another bird, making the knocking louder and more persistent.
"What a horrible prank." Her mother said irritably closing the curtains and locking the window.
Later on, the tapping still continuing and annoying her father and her sister, Petunia so much, that they had fled the room as fast as they could following dinner, and her mother cleaning up still looking upset, Lily was washing the dishes.
Suddenly another owl flew straight into the kitchen from the living room and dropped Lily's letter on the table.
"ENOUGH!" her mother shouted shoving the owl out of the door and running off to shut the windows in the rest of the house.
Lily grinned, wiping her hands off and slipping the letter into her pocket. Her mother pelted into the room shrieking again as a whole flock of about ten or twelve owls flew into the room all dropping letters on the table and leaving again.
Her father and Petunia had run into the room at the shouts and stood staring at the scene. Lily laughing, and sorting through the letters and her mother looking a mixture of, livid, harassed and simply shocked.
Petunia scowled. She hated things out of the ordinary, unlike her sister and all of Lily's talk of fantasy and magic. Petunia didn't like this one bit, for it certainly fell under the category of out of the ordinary.
"Honey, what is going on?" her father asked softly.
"A very, very bad joke." Her mother said stiffly handing her husband one of the letters.
He scanned the contents quickly, and a grin spread across his face. Lily was worried that he too would think it was a joke, but to her surprise he said, "I don't think it's a joke, Honey. I think we've got a witch in the family." He gave Lily a wink, who beamed.
His wife stared at him flabbergasted. "But…but it doesn't exist!" she stuttered.
"Says who?" her father asked calmly. "I believe that if Lily wants to go learn magic she has all rights to do so." Her mother was still staring at him incredulously.
"Well, how do we, er, get to this, this school?" she asked, still quite shaken by her husband's sudden belief in nonsense.
"It must say in the letter." Her father said logically.
He rummaged in the envelope and pulled out a small slip of paper with instructions.
"Its says that we're 'muggles' and therefore we probably need these are directions to 'Diagon ally' where we'll find all of Lily's supplies." He said reading the parchment.
"We'll go tomorrow and see if it's real." He said putting a hand on Lily's shoulder. "I'll take her."
Her mother sighed. "Alright."
So it was that in a day full of wonder, amazement, and shopping, Lily discovered the wizarding world. And it was with great excitement that she got into the family car on September 1st. Her brand-new books, robes and supplies stored in a shining new trunk in the back of the car. Her new wand, eleven inches, birch, with a single unicorn hair, sitting safely in her pocket. She had not let it out of her sight, ever since she had bought it a month before in Diagon Ally. Her father seemed excited as well.
When they arrived at King's cross they proceeded to the space between platforms 9 and 10. They were completely at a loss.
"Where is it?" Her father asked, stunned.
"I don't know, perhaps it's hidden." Lily said softly, her excitement deflating slightly.
What if they couldn't find the train? She was standing there dumbfounded, becoming more and more desperate by the moment, double-checking the contents of the letter for some suggestion of how to find the train, when she thought that she distinctly heard the word "muggle".
She spun on the spot, setting eyes on four people hurrying along the platform, dressed in normal clothing that was conspicuously all black. There was a tall young woman with long dark hair who looked particularly irritated, next to her a man around her age looking mildly disinterested.
He was pushing a cart with a trunk similar to Lily's but much more decorative and fancy looking. On top was perched a large black owl, (was that possible?) in a cage, looking sinisterly around through its large yellow eyes.
The woman was holding the hand of a young boy who looked no older then eight and was complaining loudly, which is most likely why she looked so disgruntled.
Finally there was a boy who looked about her age. He would have been remarkably good looking, if it hadn't been for the scowl that he now wore as he glared at the woman yelling at the younger boy.
"We're almost there Regulus, I don't like being around the muggle filth either but there's no other way of getting to the platform, so for once will you SHUT THE RUDDY HELL UP!"
A couple people turned around and shot her dirty looks. She simply glared back. They reached the barrier between the two train tracks.
"Alright," said the woman. "Rodolphus, you go first with the luggage." The man nodded, then walked forward.
Lily gasped, he was about to walk head first into the barrier, but shockingly, he didn't. Instead he simply vanished.
"Good, Sirius, you next. " the woman said, shoving the scowling boy forward.
"I'm not taking orders from you Bella." He said scathingly. She glared.
"Sirius, do you want to go to school or not? I can always ask your mother to send to you Durmstrang instead!" she growled.
The boy seemed to find this threat quite frightening and hurried through the barrier, disappearing after the other man.
"Here we go Regulus, and no it doesn't hurt. Come ON!" she said dragging the boy through, both of them disappearing after the other two.
Lily exchanged a look with her father.
"Well?" he asked, looking skeptically at the spot where they had vanished, apparently disgusted with the woman's behavior.
"We might as well give it a try." Lily said. They walked forward.
"On three, one…two…. three."
Lily took a step forward and suddenly found her self on a platform with a large scarlet steam engine waiting, as many children, almost all in their teens climbing on, hugging their parents, chatting wildly, running through crowds, groups of girls giggling, and all of them, witches and wizards. Lily grinned broadly. This was it.
"Well, you'd better get on the train. " her father said from behind her, where he had materialized seconds after her.
She smiled, and hugged him tight, knowing that she wouldn't see him again till Christmas.
" I love you dad, " she said softly.
"See you at Christmas, love. Have fun, and knock them flat!" He replied grinning.
She smiled back and rolled her trunk forward, a tiny black kitten lay sleeping in its carrier on top of it. Her father had bought it for her in Diagon ally, since she was allowed to bring a pet. She had chosen a black cat because she knew that black cats were supposed to be witch's familiars, but now that she WAS a witch it seemed sort of appropriate.
She had named it Medea after the Greek witch. Medea was now happily curled up in a bag sleeping soundly through all the noise and ruckus on the platform. She pulled the trunk over to the closest door and was having a lot of difficulty trying to get it up the stairs without killing her cat when a boy walking down the corridor paused to help her.
"Here, let me give you a hand." Lily looked up and smiled.
The boy looked to be about her age, with messy dark hair and bright hazel eyes behind a pair of glasses.
"Thanks." She said. He hoisted the trunk up into the corridor with ease.
"This your first year too?" he asked.
"Yes. Is there somewhere we're supposed to sit?" she said nervously. He laughed.
"No, sit wherever you want. No older siblings then?" She looked at him perplexed.
"Actually, yeah, but she never went here." The boy looked surprised.
"They didn't? Hang on, are you a Muggle?" she nodded.
"I think so, what is a Muggle?" He grinned.
"Definitely a Muggle. Well then, welcome to the wizarding world."
"Right."
"Let's get you into a compartment before they're all taken." He said.
He grabbed her trunk and she was forced to follow him into the first open compartment they found. He picked up her trunk and shoved it into the luggage rack.
"There we go."
"Well thank you, um…Mr.…"
"Oh, James. James Potter."
"Nice to meet you James, Lily Evans.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance Lily." James said with a smile, shaking her outstretched hand. Suddenly a boy stuck his head into the compartment.
"Any room left?" It was the dark haired boy, who Lily had seen on the platform. James turned around.
"Who are you?" he asked, eyeing the other boy with skepticism.
"Sirius Black" James scowled.
"You wouldn't want to come in then, she's a Muggle, and god forbid she disease you." He said his voice dripping in sarcasm. The other boy looked slightly taken aback.
"I'm not like them." He said softly a stony look on his face.
"Sure you aren't. Go find your Slytherin friends Black." James said fiercely.
The boy called Sirius Black glared at him for a moment then wheeled around and continued down the corridor. Lily looked at James, shocked.
"What was that about?" he had been so polite to her, but she didn't understand what about the other boy had upset him so much.
"You'll have to watch your back while you're at school Lily, there are people who will hate you without even looking at you, just because you're a Muggle. Just, stay away from them. I'll see you around."
He gave her a nod, and then left the compartment, leaving Lily as clueless as ever. She sat down; wondering what life would be like here. Hate her for what? He was nice, but he had made no sense. She supposed she'd understand eventually.
She rummaged through her bag of books she had taken to read on the train. She was about to pull out one she was in the middle of, a great book about King Arthur, The Once and Future King, when her hand fell on something else.
There was a small package wrapped in red paper, with a golden ribbon, attached to which, there was a note. It read: To my darling Lily, to remember everything that happens to you in this new and wonderful stage of your life, from, Dad.
She smiled, tears welling up in her eyes, she ripped open the paper. Out fell a small green velvet notebook and a gold quill. It was the exact color of her eyes; she knew he had picked it because of that. It was from him that she had gotten them after all. She opened it up and wrote on the inside cover in the gold ink of the quill, Property of Lily Evans, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She looked at the little notebook and smiled. It really was the perfect gift. She flipped to the first page and began to write…
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Hey! Hope you all liked it so far! I swear from here on in, it'll be almost all 1st person, it IS supposed to be Lily's diary after all. But I needed to show you how she got her diary, and I thought this would be a fun place to start. I also couldn't resist sticking Sirius and James in, as well as Bellatrix, because she's cool. I'm still trying to decide exactly how much of Lily's first 6 years I'll write, because it was meant to be a mostly 7th year stuff, but we'll see. I'd like to add that the letter from Hogwarts is exactly how it appears in the book, you can go check the first one, that is what it looks like. I wanted to make this fic as accurate to the story as possible, so there will be no new characters, there might be a couple names I'll have to make up since we are not given them in the books, but otherwise, I'll do my best to stick to the books. If you spot any mistakes, don't hesitate to point them out! Alright enough of me blabbing, reviews are appreciated, and see you next time!