Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

Into the Cinders

Prologue:

In the grand scheme of things, it really wasn't that long ago. And it wasn't actually that far away, unless you dismiss the grand scheme of things. In that case, it was a long time ago and in land far, far away…

The town of Hogsmeade was pressed into the side of a mountain, surrounded by a dense forest and facing a giant green lake. At the top of a mountain peak was a great stone castle, Hogwarts, where the elite upper classes lived and ruled over the land while their children perfected their magic.

Unlike other aristocracies of the time, the elite class was not determined based off of wealth (although each member of the elite class had enough money to last him a lifetime), but rather based off of a different power. This power, which distinguished Hogsmeade from other towns in the land, was blood status.

The purebloods were the rulers of Hogsmeade. They were comprised of families of wizards who had inherited their power from generations of magical families. They had no association with non-magic folk at all. They believed their blood was literally pure.

The Half Bloods and the Mudbloods comprised the rest of the population. They were the shopkeepers, the artisans, and the "everyday wizards." To the purebloods, these were the families who had soiled their blood and diminished their magical abilities by associating with muggles.

But the citizens of Hogsmeade continued on, only reminded of their skewed class system whenever they spared a glance toward the great castle, while others spared no thoughts for the Purebloods. And it is in the latter group where our story begins; where we start with the birth of a baby girl amid generations of trouble.

Chapter 1: A Baby Girl

Lily Evans was born under strange circumstances. Her mother, Edith, had a relatively easy pregnancy; no morning sickness or problems affected her in the eight months prior to Lily's birth, and although she was born a month early, Lily was a healthy and beautiful baby, born with a head of red hair and the greenest eyes anyone had ever seen.

As a baby she rarely cried, but rather smiled at the attention with as much enthusiasm as a four month old could muster. When she needed to sleep, she slept, and when she needed to eat, she could eat. Even at such a young age, Lily's parents could tell their daughter was different.

It was when Lily turned three that their suspicions had been confirmed. Lily had been crawling around the house, chasing after the cat, when Edith heard a great boom and ran after her daughter, only to find her giggling about the cat, which had taken on the coloring of a parrot. Magic.

As Lily grew up, it became more and more evident that she was a Witch. Strange things would happen around her: objects would zoom her way when she needed them, the laws of physics simply stopped working when she didn't want them, and objects would constantly change their shapes and colors. Yes, Lily Evans was a very different child.

Lily's parents had no idea how they had passed magic onto their daughter. It was exceedingly rare for Muggles to give birth to Witches and Wizards, and more often then not, the purebloods attempted to trace the family history to see when the magic had been 'stolen'. Regardless of these problems, they cared for Lily like any other child, showering her with love and affection.

All was well until Lily's seventh year, when her mother had fallen ill after a particularly harsh winter. At first, the Evans thought nothing of this; colds were common in Hogsmeade, even treatable if you had magic. But the sickness persisted, robbing Edith of all strength she had. She lost weight with the absence of her appetite, and couldn't bring herself to leave her bed as the months wore on.

The end came much faster than anyone had expected, and Lily, believing that her magic would allow her to save her mother, was crushed. At eight years old, on a cold March morning, Lily watched as her mother was lowered into the ground in the muggle cemetery, full of cracked and decayed gravestones. Her father stood beside her, face gaunt as he placed a hand on her shoulder, offering her a small comfort.

Time wore on for Lily. Her powers grew each day, yet she knew a vital role was still missing in her life, a role that her father thought another could fulfill. Had Lily not retreated into a shell in the three years after her mother's death, she could have told him otherwise.

Lily's father brought Violet Tanner home on a Monday. She was a tall and thin woman with a sharp face and pointy features. She was beautiful, but there was harshness to her appearance that Lily hadn't found particularly comforting. Her smiles seemed forced and never reached her eyes. If anything could be said about her first impression, Lily did not like Violet Tanner.

But because Lily had retreated for those three years, her father did not know this. They were married within six months. Lily was a mess.

She had stepsisters. Two of them. And they were both terrible. Petunia was the oldest at thirteen. She was tall and thin, like her mother, but had the long face of a horse. She loved gossip and would prattle incessantly about the comings and goings of the neighbors. The other girl, Catherine was eleven like Lily, and was so unintelligent that Lily was surprised she could remember her name.

Lily would have reached her breaking point had she not received wonderful news from a prominent Wizard, Albus Dumbledore. Somehow, he had learned about Lily's magic and asked for her to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily's father was ecstatic, and Lily, finally feeling that her luck was changing, was sent of to the school with other Witches and Wizards with a different life and a lie in the back of her mind. Her condition was too rare to be made public, as the purebloods would have been outraged that their children went to school with a muggle born. Lily Evans had to lie about what she because she was different.

The change was easy enough. Lily was sorted into Gryffindor with ten other eleven year olds and quickly made friends with people who were like her- people who were different. Lily excelled at Hogwarts, and was at the top of her class before November. It was heaven.

But even her heaven had a dark side, and Lily's heaven's dark side was in the form of an arrogant, black haired boy with round glasses. James Potter. He teased her, tricked her, and flirted with her. At first Lily brushed it off, believing him to be a cocky pure blood. But before long, she realized that he was a complete prat who wasn't happy until other students kissed the ground he walked on. She grew to hate him and his gang of Marauders.

Not many others shared Lily's opinion of James Potter. Many accepted his attitude. Severus Snape didn't. Through this shared hatred of James Potter, Lily and Severus developed a strange sort of friendship. The Gryffindor and the Slytherin. Despite the comments from other students, particularly Potter, they remained close through the years. Close enough to where Snape learned Lily's secret.

They years continued on in this manner; Lily would return home to her muggle family on the weekends, and then ascend to her heaven to develop her powers every week. Everything was working perfectly. Then it went wrong.

Lily's father passed away shortly after her sixteenth birthday. She was broken again, knowing she had the power to save him and had failed. Again. Violet wasn't upset; she continued on like nothing happened. Only now she had more money. And Lily had no parents.

"I don't want you doing magic at this house anymore. If I see but one wave of that wand, I will turn you out before that owl of yours can escape its cage." She said to her one night.

"I'll live at Hogwarts."

"Not if they ever found out the truth about who you are. I know what they call you. Mudblood." Violet said coldly. "Dumbledore won't be able to save you. No magic."

"No." Violet smacked her. Lily continued to glare.

"If you want any food this week, I wouldn't argue. And you will earn your keep while living under my roof." She said, rising from her seat and staring down at Lily.

"The house needs cleaning. No food until it is up to my standards. And no magic."

Lily went without food for many nights that summer.

At sixteen, Lily was given the extraordinary opportunity to live in heaven, surrounded by magic and wonder. The only catch was that she had to deal with hell.