Hello, everyone! If you love Lily and James (who doesn't!) I'm sure you're going to LOVE this book! It's about their relationship, starting in 5th year (the year James hangs Severus upside down) and goes through their 7th year (when they start dating!) and then when they got married, when they joined the Order of the Phoenix, and the night they died. It also explores the complicated relationship between Lily and Severus. Finally, it takes into account the rise of the Death Eaters and how Lily and James decided to fight against them at such a young age. I try to follow the book as much as I can, but if you have suggestions, please let me know! I want to maintain accuracy, but, as some of you writers may know, there are so many details in the books that it's difficult!
You will love the small details I have added about things Harry found out about his parents during his life, so make sure to be looking for those!
Also, the first chapter includes Lily's Muggle parents going to the train station with her. I thought hard about adding this part, and did so because of the scene in the 7th book from Severus' memory where Lily is at the train station and she is indeed with her parents. I figured they would continue to come at her request.
I do not own any of the characters, they are the creative property of JK Rowling. Enjoy :)
CHAPTER ONE
King Cross Station was abustle with families, not unlike it usually was during this time of year. Three people were standing in front of a large train amongst the people: a mother, slender build with dark red hair that came to her shoulders and soft facial features, a father, tall and somewhat bulky with a thick mustache and graying hair, and their daughter, young and beautiful with the same hair as her mother's along with prettiest green eyes that seemed to pierce like a basilisk. The parents, like the rest of the families at the train station, were saying goodbye to their child. However, different from the other parents was the fact that they kept looking around at everything that was going on around them, as if they had hardly ever viewed the scene that they were immersed in.
"Mum, Dad, will you stop gazing around?" the girl said with a laugh, her green eyes sparkling. "You might as well just go ahead and announce to the whole station that you're Muggles." A shiny badge with the letter "P" was displayed proudly on the front of her school clothes, symbolizing to everyone that she had been chosen to be a Prefect for the upcoming school year.
Her mother smiled warmly. "We only get to experience this sort of thing once a year," she reminded her.
"Exactly," the father agreed. "We have to take in as much as we can. We only have seven more years of this."
The girl rolled her eyes and began watching a young mother fix her son's black school robes before sending him off on the train. "Dad, we don't go to school for twelve years, only seven. So you only have two years left of this."
His eyes quickly filled with longing at the sound of her words. "But it is all so fascinating, this world. We could hardly stand being ripped away from it after five years of dropping you off at the train station. Couldn't you mess up a few classes here or there so you would have to stay an extra year or two?" he teased and she burst out in a beautiful laugh.
"I'm the top of my class right now, you wouldn't want me to ruin that would you?"
Her mother beamed at the sound of this news, but Lily knew it saddened her a little; she would never be able to boast to her friends over tea about her youngest daughter's success like other mothers could. Their daughter's life had to be kept a secret, for fear of being called crazy if they recounted stories of magic wands and flying broomsticks.
"Where is Petunia today?" Lily asked the question that had hung in the air since they drove in the car by themselves, without her older sister.
Lily's father straightened up and cleared his throat. "She had other plans with her friends," he explained.
"We tried to get her to come, Lily," Christine said with an exasperated sigh.
Lily smiled at them reassuringly, wishing they would understand that her strained relationship with her older sister was in no way their fault. In fact, Lily blamed herself everyday of her life; if she had never gotten magic in the first place, Petunia would have never be angry about not getting magic herself. Often when they were younger, she would beg Lily to give up Hogwarts and come back to regular school. But for Lily, there was nothing more disgraceful then denying who you truly are. Magic was just as much a part of her life as the air she breathed. And she was good at it.
The change of subject that would have come naturally came instead in the form of a boy with long hair that was as black as night and eyes to match, with a hooked nose on his hardened face. He smiled at Lily and she greeted him warmly. "Hello, Severus. Dad, Mum you remember Severus Snape."
"Of course, how are you, son?" Lily's father greeted in a gruff tone, extending out a firm hand.
Severus looked at him apprehensively before grasping his hand and answered him in a shaking voice; whether that had to do with him being Lily's father or a Muggle, Lily would never know. She appreciated her parents being kind to him. Severus, as nice as he was, was not the type of person her family usually associated with. Her father worked for a financial company and was always trying to impress the next big person—Severus, with his grungy look and unfriendly features, certainly appeared far from being someone important.
When Lily had first introduced her parents to Severus, three years ago, she had closed her eyes and prayed that he would say something to impress them. Of course, Severus was in no way smooth and had mumbled some sort of compliment to her mother before turning away awkwardly. But while no one saw good in Severus, Lily saw it shining as bright as a lighthouse caught in a nighttime storm.
"Are you excited for this school year?" Lily asked him kindly, cutting through the silence. He smiled at her with appreciation.
"Yes, although I am not quite looking forward to the O.W.L's."
She nodded her agreement and turned to her parents. "Those are the tests I told you about years ago, the ones we have to take our fifth year. They help us determine what we will be doing after we complete our schooling."
Her mother's eyes grew wild with confusion as they darted back in forth between Severus and her daughter. "What you will be doing? But I thought...I thought you would be coming home after you're done at this school. Getting a job with your father or going to school to become a teacher—you have always loved children, Lily."
"Mum," Lily said cooly, keeping herself as composed as she always had been. "I don't know what I want to do yet. I promise, I will discuss it with you over Christmas holiday."
"I better get on the train," Severus told her softly. Her green eyes met his, filled with a thousand apologies that she would never say aloud for fear of embarrassing him. He mumbled something along the lines of 'nice seeing you again' to Mr. and Mrs. Evans, picked up his luggage, and climbed the steps to the Hogwarts Express.
"Lily," her father said with a sigh. "I just don't see why you associate with him. He is not your type. He's so..."
"What?" Lily snapped, her sweet voice now filled with contempt. "What is he? Different? Because in case you haven't noticed, I'm different too."
Her mother shook her head vigorously. "No, honey, you're not. You have always been unique, and this new discovery about yourself only fits in with how you have been your entire life. But that boy is...well, just not someone we would like you associating with."
"Exactly," her father continued before she could reply. "Now where is that one boy we met last year? Oh what was his name? Patcher, Presley...?"
"Potter!" her mother exclaimed happily. "Yes, that nice boy James Potter. Now he is someone worthy of our little girl."
Lily scowled and quickly glanced around, making sure James was not in earshot of this conversation. A bigger head was the last thing James needed for the upcoming school year. She saw him at the far end of the platform standing with his parents, a pretty plump woman and a tall, handsome man. Both seemed a lot older than the other parents, and had graying hair to prove it. Lily knew that his dad, who was standing tall and proud, was someone special in the Ministry, and James was known to brag about him every time the subject was brought up. From the first time she had seen Mr. Potter at the train station her second year, she had immediately realized where James got his attitude.
"James Potter is an arrogant, self-centered, prat. And he just further proves my point—you cannot judge a person by the outside." Passion was filling her eyes with every whispered world. "If you ever got to know Severus, you would know he was brilliant at Potions. And he is the most sensitive person I have ever met. And he listens to me better than anyone I have ever spoken with. I know what you see in each of them—James is a confident, well-spoken boy, one that will sure to be successful one day, while Severus is unkempt, awkward, and seemingly going nowhere. But you're...you're...you're just w...wrong." She closed her eyes at her anticlimactic ending, taking a deep breath to recover.
Her father pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek. "We don't want you to be upset, darling. That's the last thing in the world we want to do."
"Yes," her mother agreed. "We just want you to be happy."
The train whistle blew, signaling it was time for the last of the students to board. "I know," Lily said quickly.
She was pulled into a tight hug by each of her parents. Her mother now had small tears streaming down her porcelain cheeks. "This never gets any easier, leaving you. Write to us?" she cried softly.
"Of course," Lily promised her. "And I'll be home before you know it, I promise." With a reassuring smile, she picked up her old brown trunk and headed for the train. She turned around and saw that her father had put his strong arm around her mother, comforting her as they watched their daughter go into the unknown for the fifth time in her life. "Tell Tuney I said goodbye," Lily called out to them. And then, filling her lungs with another deep breath, she stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, one again leaving the world that her family was immersed in, the world she had grown up in, completely behind.