The Story of Lily Evans
Chapter 1: The Discovery of Magic
"Tuney!" Lily cried out in amazement. "Look!"
Nine-year-old Petunia Evans made a flying leap off of the tire swing attached to the oak tree in her front yard. "What Lily?"
Lily was standing next to their mother's prized rosebush. In her small hand sat a fully opened red rose. But even as Petunia approached her sister the petals began to close until it looked as though the flower hadn't yet bloomed.
Lily giggled. "Isn't it cool Tuney? I'm gonna go show Mummy!"
She darted around her shocked sister and into the house, still laughing at her sister's expression. She was quite pleased with her new talent. Being the younger sister and all meant that there weren't many things Lily could do that Petunia couldn't, even though there was only a year's age difference.
She ran through the house, leaping over the cat yelling "Mum! Muuuuum!" She could hear Petunia behind her. Lily turned back to stick her tongue out at her sister when she slammed into something. Something warm…
"Mum! Look what I can do, and Tuney can't." She turned again to smirk at her panting sister and then held out the now crushed rosebud to her mother.
"Oh!" Mrs. Evans cried. "Girls how many times have I told you not to touch my roses!" Lily cringed at the frown on her mother's face.
"You're going to hurt yourselves on those sharp thorns," she chided.
"Mum," Petunia cut in. "Lily's being mean. She's messing up the rose."
Lily glanced at her sister and saw the fear and longing in her eyes. She slid her gaze down to Petunia's hand and saw a second rose flattened in her hand. Her heart sped up as she realized her sister's tone meant she couldn't do the rose trick.
"Mum watch!" Lily focused on the rose she was still holding out to her mother and stared, smiling into her mother's face as it opened and closed.
Mrs. Evans gaped at her youngest daughter. "Oh!"
Lily's smile faded at her mother's expression. She glanced pleadingly at her sister, but met the cold smirk on her sister's face. Lily blinked back tears, feeling like she was doing something horribly wrong. She immediately dropped the rose and turned to run, shouldering Petunia aside. She could hear her mother, who had gotten her voice back, asking Petunia what was going on.
As Lily pounded up the stairs the tears started flowing. She stumbled blindly down the hall, flinching away from her father as he poked his head out of his office to see what the ruckus was. She felt his strong arms encircle her and sobbed on his shoulder.
"Shhh honey what's wrong?" he murmured into her hair. "Lil?"
"I-I did something bad," Lily choked out.
By then Petunia and their mother had made their way upstairs.
"Oh sweetie," Mrs. Evans wrapped her arms around her husband and daughter. "You didn't do anything wrong. But I do think we need to discuss this as a family." She gave her confused husband a look. He nodded and scooped up Lily. They made their way downstairs and he gently deposited her onto the couch.
Petunia settled into the armchair near the fireplace, looking warily at her sister. Mr. Evans followed his wife as she bustled into the kitchen to get some snacks. Lily slowly sat up, feeling snot in her nose and tears on her cheeks. Using the heel of her hand she roughly wiped her cheeks and sniffed loudly enough to make Petunia jump nervously.
"Alright girls," their mother said as she returned with a tray of cookies and milk. "Tell me what's going on."
Slowly, Lily stammered out how she'd been playing with near the rosebush when she'd noticed a butterfly on a bud. She'd reached out to coax the butterfly onto her hand, but it wouldn't come. So she'd gently snapped the bud off. Unfortunately, this had scared the butterfly away. She'd been sad, staring at the closed up bud, and had wished for it to open, when the petals slowly did. Lily had been amazed, and immediately called Petunia over.
At this moment, Lily chose to look up and caught her parents exchanging startled looks. They had never heard of anything like this before, except in books.
Books about magic.
Was their daughter a witch? They couldn't know for sure.
Petunia cut in and said, "I don't understand how she does it! I tried it Mummy, but it didn't work for me." Her bottom lip puffed out in disappointment.
"Well Lily, I think you had just better stop doing this okay?" Mrs. Evans looked at her daughter. "Mummy's not mad at you, you didn't do anything wrong sweetheart," she added hastily. "I think it would just be better to stop, okay?"
"Okay," Lily agreed, her lip trembling.
Six Months Later…
Six months after the flower incident, the shock and confusion of her abilities had worn off for Lily. Looking back, the now nine-year-old couldn't remember why she had been so upset. For a week she had stopped with her special skills, but then began again, in secret, when no one else was around.
One day, when she and Petunia were at the park swinging, Lily began going higher and higher.
"Lily, don't do it!" Petunia shrieked out in shock.
But Lily had already let go, at the highest point of her arc. She flew up into the air. The wind blew through her hair, and she looked out to the houses across the street, giggling as she slowly began her descent, landing lightly on her toes. She glanced back in time to see Petunia's angry glare.
"Mummy told you not to!" she yelled, dragging her sandals through the gravel in order to stop her swing. She jumped up, bossy hands on hips. "Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"
"But I'm fine," said Lily still giggling. She didn't understand why Petunia got so upset. Spotting a flower on the ground, the devil inside her grinned. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do."
She bent down, her back to Petunia as her sister approached, and then held out the flower, making its petals open and close.
"Stop it!" Tuney screeched.
"It's not hurting you," Lily murmured, frowning at her sister's reaction. But she dropped the blossom back to the ground.
"It's not right," Petunia muttered. "How do you do it?" she added, with definite longing in her voice.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" a voice came from behind the flower bushes. A pale skinny boy popped out, with long black hair and shabby, too-large clothes. Petunia screamed and retreated to the swings, but Lily stayed where she was, curiosity overpowering fear.
"What's obvious?" she asked.
The boy turned red, but Lily could feel the nervous excitement streaming off of him. He glanced at Petunia, and then lowered his voice. "I know what you are."
"What do you mean?"
"You're . . . you're a witch," he whispered.
Lily's excitement was replaced by anger. "That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!"
You don't just go up to random people in the park and call them names! she thought angrily as she turned, nose in air, and marched over to her sister.
"No!" the boy shouted, his face flooding with even more color. He ran after her, his overlarge coat flapping behind him.
Lily and her sister each held on to one of the swing poles, surveying the odd boy in united disapproval.
"You are," he pleaded to Lily. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for awhile. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard."
Lily felt a swooping sensation in her stomach. Now Tuney knew she had been continuing practicing her abilities. Now she would tell Mummy and Daddy. Now Lily would be in big trouble. But instead, Tuney laughed.
"Wizard!" she shrieked. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river," she added to Lily, and it was evident from her tone that she considered the address a poor recommendation. "Why have you been spying on us?"
The boy, Snape, fidgeted uncomfortably. "Haven't been spying. Wouldn't spy on you anyway. You're a Muggle," he said spitefully.
Lily held back a giggle. Although she had no clue what the word meant, she knew it was an insult.
"Lily, come on, we're leaving!" Petunia commanded shrilly. Lily immediately stalked out of the playground after her sister, sparing only a glare to Snape.
Lily often thought about the boy who had insulted her. Strangely, she didn't think that he had been trying to insult her. When he had called Tuney a . . . a . . . what was the word? Mongle? Mugger? No . . . Muggle! That was it. When he had called Tuney a Muggle, Lily could hear the spite in his words and knew it had been an insult. But when he had called her a witch . . . He had seemed genuine.
About a month after the event at the playground she was walking home from school alone. Tuney had stayed home sick, running a fever, and Lily was worried about her big sister. Therefore she didn't realize that someone had been following her since she passed the playground.
"Lily?" a soft voice asked from just behind her.
She whirled, fists raised. It was that Snape boy. She slowly lowered her fists. "What?" she asked suspiciously.
He cocked his head to one side. "Can we talk?"
She crossed her arms and didn't move. "Fine, talk."
He took a deep breath. "You can do all these strange things, right? Like that trick with the flower, and flying off the swing. And no one knows why. It scares your parents and sister because they don't understand. They're not like us. We're-" here he lowered his voice and leaned forward, a pleading look on his face, "we're magical."
Lily couldn't help it; she was intrigued. Her arms dropped to her sides. "Prove it." She said. "Prove you're magical."
Snape couldn't stop the crazy grin that crossed his face. "Okay," he whispered. He took a deep breath and pointed to a rock at Lily's feet. It slowly rose up until it was eye level with her. She reached out and poked it. It wobbled in the air then sank a few inches before hovering back above their heads. Lily met Snape's eyes and they just stared at each other for a moment. Then Lily's face broke out into a huge smile.
"I believe you," she said simply.
"I'm Severus. Severus Snape." He said tentatively.
"Lily Evans," she replied, as she stuck out her hand. Severus shook it.
A/N: Sorry for the short first chapter, there will be more soon, I promise. The next chapter will also be short. It will go up to Lily getting on the train to Hogwarts. Thanks very much for reading, and I would appreciate a review:) If you found any errors, please, let me know! Thanks! Also, I took some of the content directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Prince's Tale. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling.