Prologue
Lily sat with her three best friends around the fire in their common room. Their laughter filled the room. They had just finished their last exam of their sixth year at Hogwarts. The next morning they would be boarding the train and go back to their parents homes. Plans had been made for when they would visit each other. Lily would first go to her own house for the first four weeks of summer holidays, then she would go to Alice's house for the next two weeks, Then she would travel to Memra's house for another two weeks. Then the last two weeks of holidays she would go to Jonas' (known as Joni to her closest friends) house.
The four of them had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts and had been doing this every summer since their second year. They each had very different background and different personality traits but somehow that had made them very close.
Lily is the brain of the group. She is often the one who comes up with ideas for things they should do. With a very witty and sarcastic sense of humor she often captured the eyes of everyone. She has mid-back length auburn hair and emerald eyes. She isn't the most beautiful of the group, but she was hardly unattractive.
Alice is the empathetic one of the group. She is the one the others came to when they needed advice or some one to talk to or even a shoulder to cry one. She has a calm collected-ness about her that was infectious. Her honey brown hair is shoulder length and her eyes are a matching shade of brown.
Memra was the humor in the group. She is able to find the humor in nearly everything and makes a joke about anything. She has been known to go a little overboard, laughing at inappropriate times. She has long strawberry-blond hair that had beautiful curls in it. Her eyes were dark blue. She was by far the most beautiful of the group.
Jonas (or Joni) was the leader of the group. She was the one who decided what they would do during their weekends. She would stand up for any of the girls. She was smart and quick on her feet. She could be a bit controlling, but it was all good-natured. She was the spitting image of her older brother; dark brown hair (nearly black) that she kept cut choppy and short (about chin length). Her eyes were a beautiful shade of a hazel.
The girls talked and laughed throughout the night. All were excited for the summer. Ready to meet new boys at the beach and just enjoy being sixteen. Slowly each girl began to fall asleep, dreaming of what the summer would bring her.
Chapter 1
It was three weeks into summer, and Lily was already ready to leave her parents home. It wasn't that she didn't love her parents. She just couldn't stand her sister, Petunia. At one point they had been very close, but over the years (what with Lily being accepted to a magical school) Petunia had grown the despise Lily. Every summer it was the same, Lily would come home and Petunia would begin to harass and torment Lily.
Lily had had enough of it by now. She was counting down the days until she could go to Alice's house. Unfortunately, first she had to go through a family dinner where she would meet her sister's fiancée. She knew she knew she must be one her best behavior, both her mother and sister had been reminding her for the past few hours. When it came time to get ready for dinner, Lily went upstairs to change into her ivory and black, empire waist tea dress. Storing her wand in a garter specially made for wands; she walked down stairs to meet the man her sister was going to marry.
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Lily had to get out of the house. She had just performed unintentional magic, causing a vase filled with fresh flowers to levitate, fall, and shatter during family dinner, right in front of Vernon Dursley, heir to the Drill King himself. This had, of course, caused her sister to freak out at her.
So now she was walking around the gardens a few blocks from her house. She feared she might have done it this time. She was nearly sure that not only were her ties with her sister gone, but also with her parents. Their relationship had been waning over the past six years. That was the trend with the parents of muggleborn witches and wizards. The parents, most of the time, did not know how to deal with their child with new magical abilities and would, therefore, ignore it. This would often confuse the child, not knowing whether they should act like who they are becoming or who their parents want them to be.
Lily knew her parents loved her, but it was hard for someone who wasn't magical to understand the magical. That was why she was out here, walking in the dark. She knew that both herself and her parents had to cool down from this. So Lily walked in the garden, singing her favorite Beatles song, Julia, while smelling the flowers in the garden. The night began to cool down and Lily began to shiver as a light breeze touched her bare arms.
Soon the cold became unbearable and Lily decided to walk back home. The sun had long since set and now the world was filled with darkness. She knew she should have gone back hours ago but she was never able to make herself turn around. Now the sounds of the night filled her ears. Sirens went off, dogs barked, she could even hear the sound of screams from a couple blocks away. For the most part it was a peaceful night. That is until an explosion filled the air with chaos. The sound scared Lily and made her fall to the ground. The night silenced. Slowly Lily raised herself up in time to see a Dark Mark form itself in the air. Suddenly she was on her feet running to the sight of the Mark as fast as she could, struggling to pull her wand out as she ran. As she turned the last corner she began to cry. The Mark was floating over her house.
"Oh no…" Lily cried as she ran to the ruins of her house. She walked into the rubble, trying to find anything that was still whole. Neighbors were out of their houses now. The world seemed to go in slow motion for Lily. She looked around, trying to find any sign of her parents. Pictures lay everywhere, memories of her past was strewn about. Soon Ministry officials were showing up along with Aurors.
"Lily?" came a voice from behind her. "Oh my God! Lily are you ok?'
Lily turned around looking for the voice that was calling her, Suddenly she was face to face with a man dressed in black wizarding robes. He looked familiar to her, but her mind was so numb that no name came to her.
"It's James. Lily are you ok? They didn't hurt you right? I cannot believe they attacked a muggle family… I'm gonna…" he trailed on but Lily didn't listen. She was stuck on his name. James… it was so familiar but she couldn't place it. James. She went through the mental list of people she knew… suddenly her mind flashed her a picture of Joni. How could she have not placed it earlier? They looked so similar.
"James?" she whispered. He looked at her and she knew she was right. She threw her arms around his waist and began to sob. Tentatively James wrapped his arms around hr and began to soothe her.
"Shhh… Its ok now… Your safe." He cooed, rubbing his hand in small circles on her back, nearly lulling her into a trans.
"It's all my fault… I should have been here…" Lily sobbed.
"Shhh… no its not… we need to get you—"
"James, is this the girl?" came a gruff voice from across the yard.
"Sir, this is Lily Evans. Her parents owned this house." James said, stepping forward and looking more professional. "She wasn't home when the attack happened."
"Any fatalities?" The man with a gruff voice asked.
"Well, we are not sure. Her parents are currently MIA." James explained.
" Miss Evans, My name is Alastor Moody. I am the Head of the Auror Department. Miss Evans, I will need you to go back to HQ to answer some questions. Potter, take her back to my office and wait with her." He said before turning around to talk with a few other Aurors.
"Come on Lily." James said, pulling her to his side and apparating them to the Ministry of Magic.
