Chapter One

11-year-old Lily Evans was playing in her backyard with her sister Petunia. The two had been spending every waking moment of their summer together and you couldn't find one without the other. Lily had red curly hair that fell to the middle of her back, and she had freckles plastered across her nose. Petunia had shoulder length blond hair that was a tad frizzy. Attached at the hip were these two ordinary girls. Or so, one of them was ordinary…

"Girls, come inside, it's time for dinner," called Mrs. Evans from inside the house. "Get washed up so we get to eating, the both of you."

"Come on Mum," pleaded Lily. "We're not hungry!" added Petunia from Lily's side.

Their mother came out the back door wearing her apron and ushered them inside the house. The girls reluctantly washed up in the bathroom and walked into the dining room where they ran to their father and kissed him on the cheek as they hadn't seen him all day.

"How are my two favorite little girls, huh?" said Mr. Evans to his daughters. "How was your day?"

"It was great, Dad! Me and Lily were playing school in the backyard," said Petunia. "Until Mum made us come inside and get cleaned up." added Lily while her mom shot Mr. Evans a disapproving look for not agreeing that they should have gotten cleaned up. Noticing her look, he chuckled lightly and walked over to his wife to kiss her on the cheek.

"Get a room, me and Lily don't want to see that!" Petunia teased as their mothers cheeks took a shade of pink at her husband's gesture. Each of the family members took a seat and began to eat their dinner. Mr. Evans was telling his family about his day at work when he was interrupted by the arrival of a letter. But this wasn't an ordinary letter. It was delivered by an owl.

Petunia let out a high pitched scream, Mrs. Evans dropped her fork staring wide eyed at the owl, and Mr. Evans clutched his chest. While her family was reacting to the sudden appearance of an owl flying into the kitchen, for a reason that wasn't apparent to her, Lily stood up and reached for the owl that was flying around the room. It fluttered down to her arm and she stroked its feathers gently as it gave her a little hoot. As soon as Lily took the letter from the owl, he disappeared. In her hands was a letter addressed to her with a majestic seal of an 'H' keeping the envelope closed. Little did she know at the time that this letter would change her life forever.

James Potter was lying on his bed in his room where he was staring at the patch of light that was seeping though his curtains while looking back at his day in Diagon Alley. Almost without thinking, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little gold ball with wings and let it go to watch its progress across the room. That day in Diagon Alley his parents had to drag him away from the brooms displayed because James' AirBullet 360 was outdated and he longed for a new one. They had the most amazing models out now.

James Potter is an 11-year-old pure blood wizard. He lives in a big house, better described as a mansion, even though he's an only child. It often was lonely, but James knew that would change soon enough because he was expecting a letter of his acceptance to a Wizarding School that summer. Both of James's parents went to this school in their years and they told many stories of how they would get in trouble with the caretaker on a somewhat weekly basis, and these stories were what exited James most about going. He was a troublemaker like no other!

"James, it's time for dinner!" called Mrs. Potter from the kitchen. He could only hear her voice because of the enchanted hallways since the rooms were fairly far apart. James stood on his bed and leaped off to grab the tiny golden blur.

"AND POTTER GETS THE SNITCH! THEY'VE WON THE QUIDDITCH CUP! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" commented a voice that belonged to somebody hidden in shadow.

"I'm not much of a seeker, I'm more of a chaser." he corrected with a cocky grin.

"Get washed up so you can go down to dinner without feeling the wrath of a stinging jinx from your mother." said Mr. Potter.

"Right away," And with that James washed up and walked down the stairs to see his mother and father, standing side by side facing the stairs that James was coming down from, with Mr. Potter's arm around his wife's waist as she held a letter in her hands that she was getting ready to hand to her son.

As soon as James saw what she was holding, he tore across the room and took it with so much enthusiasm that he almost tore it in two. He was holding what he'd been waiting for all summer: his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Lily looked at the letter with apprehension. Was she going crazy? She never got mail, and this came from an owl that appeared from nowhere during dinner time. That was most definitely not normal. Although this was an odd way to get mail Lily was curious and, all apprehension gone, she opened the letter. Out fell three separate pieces of paper. Every family member had a stunned look on their face as Lily began to read the first letter. As she read the page her eyes grew wide and her jaw took a slow drop.

Lily's mouth moved wordlessly as she took her eyes off the letter to send them to her family sitting at the table. She finally managed to say, "Mum…. Dad…." and she handed the first letter to her mother who had somewhat of the same reaction as her daughter. She handed the letter to her husband.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked.

"It explains so much," said Mrs. Evans as Mr. Evans continued to read.

"What explains what?" screeched Petunia as she stared at Lily, Mr. Evans finally finished with the letter.

"I'm a… I'm a… a…. witch." stuttered Lily.

"MUM! WHAT IS SHE RAVING ABOUT?" said Petunia at the top of her lungs. "What was in that letter? What is she saying? Has she gone MAD?"

"Petunia, dear, calm down. If it wasn't a joke… that letter was from a school. A school for witches and wizards to be taught magic, and Lily has been accepted into their school." said Mrs. Evans with tears in her eyes.

"This IS a joke, right? Surely I'm not a… a… witch. I can't have magical powers, neither of you do, do you?" Lily asked her parents hopefully. "Is this some kind of prank, Mum? Dad?"

Lily was confused out of her wits. Her parents must be playing with her, there's no such thing as magic. But she began to think back to some of the odd things that happened. Lily thought back to when she was about 3 years old. She wanted to play with her favorite doll, but Petunia was carrying it in her tight grasp. Lily got mad and all of a sudden Petunia dropped the doll that had turned red for a moment and ran off, as if it were made of fire. But as suddenly that it turned red, it had turned back to normal, and the doll walked to her. She held out her arms and played with the doll as if nothing out of the ordinary happened because she couldn't understand.

As Mrs. Evans thought back, Lily was always an odd little girl. Her hair used to grow an inch every night. One night when Lily was 5, Mr. and Mrs. Evans found her with hair 5 feet long. They took her to a doctor the next day but they didn't say anything but, "We've never seen anything like this." Lily cried when they cut it to her shoulders but the next day her hair was down to her mid back and they decided to see what would happen next, but ever since then her hair never grew.

"Lily, we always knew there was something special about you. We just didn't have any inkling as to what it was. This doesn't surprise me as much as it should." said Mrs. Evans to her daughter whose head shot up from the floor as she was snapped out of her trance where she thought about odd things that used to happen to her as a little girl.

"Mum, Dad, did you really not do this? This really isn't a joke?" asked Lily, her gaze taking turns to meet her parents'.

"This isn't our doing, sweetie. What's that on the floor?" said Mr. Evans staring at some pieces of parchment on the ground near Lily's feet.

"THAT MUST BE MY LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE!" shrieked Petunia, quickly snatching the letters off the floor, eyes darting across each line. "What's this? This one's just a list of things Lily needs and where to find them, and this one just says something about getting to Kings Cross at platform 9 ¾ … that can't be right… where's my letter?"

"I can't believe this! Our daughter is a witch! What day do you start?" asked Mrs. Evans cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to Petunia who was searching the dining room for another owl or letter.

"How do you feel about this, Lily? Do you want to go?" asked Mr. Evans. "We're not putting any pressure on you, but this is an amazing opportunity. I'm guessing that you won't get another like this ever again."

"Of course, Dad, no pressure what-so-ever. Thanks for making this an easier decision." said Lily sarcastically to her father.

"Why would you want to go to a school for freaks?" screamed Petunia just before she stormed out of the room.

"What's wrong with her? Should I go check on her?"

"No, dear, you know how she gets. Let her cool down and we'll talk to her tonight. Okay, now, Lily. Do you want to go to this school? I have no idea where we can take you to get these things on your list. I wish I could talk to somebody from this school." As Mrs. Evans finished her sentence the same owl that interrupted their dinner swooped down again with a scroll attached to its leg, landing in front of her. Petunia came crashing into the room to rip the scroll off of the owl's leg, but as she approached it, it flew to Mrs. Evans shoulder.

"MUM! IT MUST BE FOR ME! IT MUST SAY THAT THERE WAS A MISTAKE AND THAT I'M THE ONE THAT'S SPECIAL! OPEN IT, OPEN IT!" screamed Petunia while bouncing excitedly.

After reading the letter, Mrs. Evans looked sadly at Petunia. "I'm sorry, dear, it's just a notice saying that if I have any questions to… well… owl… them. If everything wasn't strange enough."

"Mum, Dad, ask a question! Ask them how long I'll be away from home! Ask if this is serious! Ask how in the world I get onto a platform that doesn't exist! Ask them! Look, the owl's waiting for you to reply!" said Lily, holding out an arm which the owl fluttered over to. She was stroking its feathers when her mother brought over a piece of paper with their questions and tied to the owl's leg, hoping that this wasn't any joke because she felt rather odd. As soon as she finished tying the letter to the leg of the owl he took off.

"I'm so excited!" said Lily happily. "Nothing exciting ever happens to me!"

"I've been accepted at Hogwarts!" yelled James excitedly.

"You knew you would be, sweetie. Honestly, I'm not sure why you're so surprised. You would always change the colors of your room and knock trashcans over as a baby when you were angry. There was no doubt that you were magical." Mrs. Potter said with a smile at her only son.

"I know, Mum, but I can't wait! Can we go to Diagon Alley now? Please?" James asked hopefully.

"We've already been to Diagon Alley once today and it's much too late to go again. We'll go tomorrow morning to pick up your things, James. Don't you worry about that. And maybe, just maybe, we might get you a broom to replace your AirBullet." whispered Mr. Potter to his son with a wink.

"Do you really mean it Dad? Can I get the Cleansweep 200?"

"I'll talk to your mother about it. How about we get some dinner now?"

The three family members sat at the table and James listened to the stories his parents had to share from their times at Hogwarts. They told him about some of the house history, legends and myths, secret passageways that they just happened to find.

"Wow. It sounds so amazing, I really can't wait to go!" said James happily after a particularly large swallow of food.

"It's so much more amazing than your mother and I could ever explain to you. You'll love it, and you never know, maybe you'll find love." Mr. Potter said to his son, lying back in his chair patting his stomach contently. "Wonderful dinner, dear."

"I'm going upstairs to start packing my trunk!" James said as he was jumping up from the table.

"Don't pack too much; you won't leave any clothes to last you to September 1st!"

"Trinky!" called out Mrs. Potter, a little house elf popped into the room. "Clean the dinner table please, Trinky."

"Trinky will do as she's told, Trinky will clean the whole house right now!" and she started bouncing frantically as if cleaning was her favorite thing in the world.

"No, Trinky, now right now. Just the table and dishes will do." Mr. Potter said with a faint smile.

"Masters are too kind to Trinky!" said the house elf tearfully, and she began to clear the table.

Upstairs, James was dragging a trunk to the front of his bed and started packing clothes, some quills, his favorite Quidditch books and posters, and some dungbombs that he bought from a Wizarding joke shop. He was so excited and happier than he'd ever felt. James thought about everything his parents ever told him about Hogwarts and now he was allowed to go see for himself, and start his own memories with the school. And then he thought back to what his father said about finding love, and a sly smirk fixed onto his face. Always the ladies man.

In response to the Evans' many questioned letter to the sender of the letter, an owl came alerting the arrival of the headmaster of Hogwarts School at five past seven. It was Seven O'clock at the time so they prepared the area where they would talk to this person. They weren't disappointed when the long hand on the clock pointed to the fifth small tick there was a ring at the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" said Lily, running to answer the door. She opened it and it took her a second to realize that she was staring. A tall man with long white hair and a long white beard, wearing long purple robes was standing on the porch.

"Are y-you Professor Dumbledore?" Lily asked, still stunned by this man's odd appearance.

"Yes," he said with a sudden smile that made his beard twitch. "And I think it's safe to assume that you're Lily Evans?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Come in, Professor! Thank you for coming to answer our questions. We really appreciate this." Mrs. Evans said while running to the door.

"It's my pleasure," said Dumbledore, walking over to a chair in the prepared area and sitting down. "Now, you have some questions for me."

"Yes," answered Mr. Evans, even though it clearly wasn't a question, sitting down on a couch across from Professor Dumbledore.

They asked their questions until they were left with no more. Lily was surprised at the patience of the old wizard sitting on the couch. When they were asking their final questions, Petunia, Lily's lovely sister, came stomping down the stairs and looked at the professor with disgust. "If you're the Headmaster of this so called magical school, then let's see you do some magic!" she spat, ending with a malicious grin on her face obviously showing her disbelief that magic could exist. When he pulled his wand out from his pocket and pointed it directly at Lily her face fell. He wove his wand around and a white lily suddenly appeared in Lily's hand.

"A lily for Miss Lily Evans," he bowed his head slightly with a small smile plastered onto his lined face. Petunia fumed and stormed right back out of the room for the third time that evening. "I have slight doubt that your sister will come around to accepting this situation. Now, on with other matters," he continued after seeing Lily's sad face as she twirled the lily in her hand. "You asked about where to get the things on the required list. I can assist you in that area by having somebody to accompany you," he nodded his head slightly at Lily, "and your parents," nodding his head at them, too, "and if your sister wishes to come, to a place called Diagon Alley where you can find everything on the list and more," he said with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"What about money? We only have, as you called it, 'muggle' money. We don't have any wizarding money," Mrs. Evans pointed out worriedly.

"There is a bank in Diagon Alley called Gringotts that is run by Goblin's. You can exchange your money at the rates that they apply to," he replied with a kind smile. "The person that to accompany you is highly trusted by me, and I assure you that he can help you with any of your problems. What day would you like me to set up this trip, assuming that you would still like your daughter to attend Hogwarts?" he asked, astounding Lily that he could be so collected while she was nearly bouncing with nerves.

"I still want to go! Please, Mum and Dad, please could I go?" she asked her parents hopefully.

"Of course, Lily, you can go," Mr. Evans told his daughter after silently agreeing with his wife through a look. Lily ran over to her parents and hugged them while thanking them profusely.

"Would it be too much trouble to arrange the trip for tomorrow? I'd like to be there and tomorrow's my only day off of the week. It'd be much better to get this done sooner than later," Mr. Evans explained to Professor Dumbledore in which he hoped wasn't a rude manner.

"That would be perfect," he told Mr. Evans and then he went on to explain how somebody named Hagrid and went into describing him before he was headed for the door. A question was forming in Lily's mind but she was afraid to voice it and decided to just let the man leave, but as he was reaching for the handle to the door he suddenly stopped and turned around quickly to look Lily straight in the eye before asking, "You have a question, Miss Evans?" This startled her and she went into a flurry of thoughts before finally coming to the only way he knew that she had a question: magic.

"Er… Yes, Professor… um… what's going to happen when people don't find me going to school with Petunia? You said that we couldn't tell anybody about Hogwarts…"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, that was a mistake on my part. Have you heard of a school called Carver's?"

"Yes, sir, It's supposed to be really hard to get into with a handful of people accepted a year from what I've heard."

"That's correct, Miss Evans, and the reason for that is because it's a school that doesn't exist. It's a cover-up school for Witches and Wizards alike that are coming to Hogwarts. All muggles, non-wizarding folk, that apply are turned down for not meeting some requirement. Little do they know that the requirement is to have magic running through their blood," he finished with a smile and a wink.

"That's brilliant! Not only will I be at Hogwarts to learn magic but I get to tell my friends that I got into a school for exceptionally smart people! Don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up," she replied in awe. After bidding his goodnights Professor Dumbledore left the Evans with a lot to process.

James woke up at 6:30 the next morning out of excitement and wished that time would go faster. He was eagerly awaiting his chance to go to the school he's been dreaming of going to. James had a lot of friends from wizarding families that his parents were acquainted with but they often brought down his plans to play a prank on somebody. They really didn't grasp the concept of troublemaking, and it just made him more excited to go to Hogwarts so that when he had a wand he could go through more elaborate pranks to set on people on his own. And with his parents' knowledge of some secret passageways he could get away with more than he ever imagined! James' parents weren't the kind of parents that would be exceptionally angry with rule breaking when the time calls for it, but that didn't mean that they were careless. They were always up for a good prank but they knew where to draw the line.

James knew the way that underage magic was tracked and so he wasn't worried about being caught using his wand at home. Magic could only be traced to a location but not a specific person, so the parents were left with the responsibility of discipline.

His dad taught him some basic spells that can be used for troublemaking with his own wand and James couldn't wait to test them out on his soon to be classmates. His mother warned him that if she found out that he was doing magic at home that she would take his wand away from him until school started, and so he just planned to not let her find out.

Realizing that he wasn't going to back to sleep anytime soon, James got up and walked to his desk where he had a big piece of parchment held flat with stones on each corner, a couple bottles of different colored ink and a quill. On the big piece of parchment was a diagram of James' well thought out scheme for his first day of Hogwarts prank. It required some thinking and it would take a while for him to finally get down how to do the charms correctly and convincing one of the house elves to help out before he got to school, but James was confident that he'd get it done, and he couldn't wait to go through with it. He sat at his desk and continued drawing and writing out his plan for a couple hours before being called to breakfast. "Are we going to Diagon Alley today again?" he asked excitedly when he saw his mother and father before sitting down in his seat and putting some delicious food onto his plate.

"You just got downstairs and you're already asking about leaving?" Mrs. Potter asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Oh, come on, mum, you know I want to get my things for Hogwarts as soon as I can!"

"For what? Everything on your list will be in Diagon Alley next week as well," she reasoned.

"I don't know. I want to start reading through some of the books. The more I get done over summer, the less I have to do in school, the more time I have for putting my mayhem skills to use," he finished with a smug look.

Mr. Potter chuckled and shot a knowing look as his wife which she replied with a scowl as she handed a little bottle full of gold liquid in it. "Yes, James, we're going to Diagon Alley today. Right after you're done with your breakfast," Mr. Potter told his son as he rifled through the Daily Prophet. Less than ten seconds later James pushed his empty plate away and smiled widely at his father.

"I'm done eating, let's go!" James exclaimed while jumping up from his seat. Mrs. Potter threw the same look at her husband and held out her hand as he scowled at her in turn while giving her the bottle of gold liquid back. As she took the bottle she stuck her tongue out at Mr. Potter which made him chuckle. He stood up and walked over to his wife to give her a kiss and James pointedly looked away then walked over to the fireplace.

"What was that all about?" James asked his dad as he grabbed a bowl with powder in it.

"Oh, nothing…" he replied mysteriously as he rocked back and forth on his feet staring at the ceiling with interest.

"Uh-huh. I'll believe that when Trinky has a baby and names it Dobby. You can go first!"

Mr. Potter took a pinch of powder from the bowl in his son's hands and threw it into the fire and it turned green. Just as he was about to walk into the fire his wife called him back and he stopped in his tracks.

"Hand it over, Mr. Potter," she said to her husband with her hand out as she walked towards him. He turned around and reached into his pocket to grab the bottle of gold liquid before handing it to her and turning around into the still green fire and confidently saying "The Leaky Cauldron" before disappearing. James did the same and shortly after fell out of the fireplace of a little pub. Mr. Potter helped dust some of the soot off of James's shoulders after greeting the barman Tom. They walked out of the back when they came to a brick wall. Mr. Potter tapped some bricks and an archway suddenly appeared leading to a crowded street lined with stores. James pulled out the list he got with his letter of acceptance and handed it to his father.

"Okay, so, our first stop is going to be Gringotts. Time to get you a bottomless bag," he told his son with a smile. James' face lit up and his eyes went wide as they walked towards the bank.

"You're going to let me get a bottomless bag? Really?" James asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"Yes, but you just can't tell your mother. She'd have my head. The vault can't be viewed by anybody except for the Goblins and you. This is your very own vault, son."

James's eyes went as wide as galleons when he was told that he had his own vault connected to a bottomless bag. This meant that the bag was connected to the vault at all times and would keep refilling itself with money from that vault when needed. Nobody else could use the bag so that eliminated the possibility of it being stolen. He could just get a new one and not worry about the other. Having your own vault was a big thing and usually didn't happen until you were 15 or when you legally became an adult in the Wizarding Community at 17.

"This is a big responsibility, James. I'm trusting you."

"Don't worry, Dad, I won't be irresponsible with it," he told his father, trying hard to keep the mischievous smirk off his face. This was going to play a big role in his days at Hogwarts. Life would be good.

If Lily was shocked when she found out that she was a Witch, it was nothing to how she felt when a man nearly four times her height and six times as wide as she came knocking at the door. He had thick black messy hair and a thick black beard that covered most of his face. She noticed that he was carrying a pink umbrella. This must have been Hagrid.

Even though she knew that magic existed now and that she could do magic, it didn't take away the surprise when Hagrid threw something into the fire so that it would turn green. He told her to walk into the fire and to say "The Leaky Cauldron" loud and clear and to keep her arms to her side. He went first so that he could be there when they got to the pub. He pointed his umbrella at the fireplace and it grew so that he could fit in it. Just before he stepped in he put a pinch of the powder he used in Lily's, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans' hands and told them to throw it into the fire to make it green before they stepped in. He was about to walk into the green fire when he paused.

"Isn' there s'posed to be another one comin'? Don' you have a sister, Lily?" Hagrid asked in confusion.

"Er – no. She doesn't want to come. She said that she wanted to – er – stay away from me because I'm a… freak. She's staying next door until we come back," answered Lily embarrassedly.

"No matter wha' anyone says to you, yer no' a freak of any sort. Jus' cause yer a lil' diffrent don' mean nothin'," he told her with a reassuring smile. Lily smiled back at Hagrid and was glad that the Headmaster sent him. If anybody else had told her that she wasn't a freak for being different she wouldn't have believed him. She knew that Petunia would have called Hagrid a freak because of his size. Hearing it from somebody who might know what she was going through helped a lot and did reassure her.

"Thank you, Hagrid," Lily told him, her fears of being different wiped away.

"Okay, now, jus' follow the directions tha' I gave you an' I'll see you when you come outta the fire. Jus' watch me an' you'll be fine," Hagrid told them before taking a step towards the now orange and red fire. He threw another pinch of the powder into the flames turning them green again. He stepped in and Lily and her parents let out hissing breaths they didn't realize they'd been holing, amazed that he wasn't catching on fire.

"Magic…" Lily whispered quietly to herself. Hagrid said "The Leaky Cauldron" loud and clear, and then he disappeared.

"Wow…" Mr. Evans spoke for the first time that day.

"Okay, I'm gonna go next, and then you guys come,"

"But sweetie, how can we be sure that this works for, what was it, 'muggles'? Non-magical people? We could be burned!"

"Mum, would Hagrid have told you to come this way if it wasn't safe for you? Promise me you'll come? And he's probably worried that we did something wrong so I'd better go,"

"Fine, dear, we promise, we'll do this," And with that Lily threw the powder from her hand into the fire and it turned green. She stepped into it and was surprised that it wasn't burning her either. She stood there for a second and then inhaled some soot from the fire. Lily coughed for a second but it subsided enough for her to clearly say "The Leaky Cauldron" and she was off. Everything around her was spinning and she could see flashes of peoples homes from the view of the fireplace in the room. One included a couple toddlers playing with wands, one included a dinner table, and one was a view of a boy and girl that looked to be the ages of around 15 or 16 doing something particularly dirty and that was when she took the initiative and closed her eyes. As soon as things started spinning, it stopped and she fell face forward onto a wooden floor. Lily looked up slightly from the floor and saw the enormous feet that must have belonged to Hagrid. He pulled her up to her feet easily and she noticed that he looked worried.

"Tha' took you a while. I was startin' ter ge' a lil' nervous…" he said, his expression not changing.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to worry you. I was just trying to convince my parents to come and to not be scared, ironically enough…" she mused and stopped when she saw her mom in the fire, and she raced forward to catch her before she fell on her face like she did.

"Thank you, Lily," said her mom as she clutched her hand that held her purse to her heart. "That scared the living daylights out of me!" she said before laughing. Lily was too busy dusting her mother off that she didn't notice her father topple out of the fireplace.