James was just like his father. Brilliant in Quidditch (he was a chaser). Nice to everyone, reserved to his own, small group of friends and had a long time girlfriend, who was outstanding. Nobody could nderstand, why she would choose him over the other more outgoing and more popular boys, except for his name.
Albus was the person everyone was proud of. Ginny greatly welcomed him beeing sorted into slytherin and gave Harry a lecture about inter house relations and his prejudices about slytherin when the owl with the news arrived. Harry hadn't liked it at first, but Albus made a great student. He excelled at everything and learned fast. He became the now-it-all of the school, living up to his names. He became the youngest Prefect in Hogwart's History when he got chosen in fourth year.
And Lily... Lily was normal. Completely normal. Not a tiny bit different to anyone. She was reserve player at Quidditch, average in most classes, had normal girl self consciousness with her sixteen years, was, of course, in Griffindor, had two brothers (one, she barely saw because he kept to himself in the library and the dungeons of Hogwarts, and the other was slightly over protective and never gave her any freedom).
Now she was returning to her fifth year. They were sitting in the Hogwarts Express and just had bought loads of sweets. While Mary, Nathanael and Solveig chatted away easily, she just watched the landscape outside moving.
Of course she hadn't been made Prefect! How could they have chosen such an ordinary girl like her anyway? Still, she had hoped for the badge, just to have archived at least something. Even though half of her family had archived it, it would have meant a great deal to her. It would have made her average in her family, at least.
She had been wrong before, she was average at Hogwarts, not at family gatherings where she was the pretty girl who waited in the shadows to become famous without doing anything. She knew, that at least half of her family judged her so since her uncle George joked about it once.
And it was true, she didn't try anymore. She had behaved last year and tried to prove that she possessed the qualities needed to become prefect, but of course, she didn't get the badge. No, her best friend Solveig, (they had done everything together, the good behavior thing, too) got it. Of course her! She was always second. Solveig felt sorry for her, she had told her so, but you cannot split a badge!
No, she needed to find something to get great in herself. Something different from DADA, Charms, or any school subject. That was well covered by Albus. So it had to be something different from the things taught at school.
She knew now what she wanted to learn about, what she wanted to study in her fifth year. She learned Defense Against The Dark Arts, but no Dark Arts herself. Yes, she wanted to learn about them now. There was no use in being capable to defend oneself if you could not understand the magic casted.
Why had Dumbledore been the only one who knew about Horcruxes and the only one who understood Voldemort and his magic? Because it was a branded subject, neglected by the ministry. It should be a subject one could learn, not a banned subject nobody was able to learn about.
Because if nobody learned about it and therefore nobody understood it if casted, the harm done by someone using it would be far greater. Because nobody could keep track with the newly invented spells.
No, at the moment people relaxed on the already known knowledge. But in Lily's mind, the impression formed, that you have to have someone who understands it and who researches it to be able to face a new Dark Lord.
She would go to Professor McGonagall right away at Hogwarts and ask her about it. She had good arguments. And it was something different. Completely different.