Prologue

She loved to dance. When she was younger it was for the attention and the beautiful clothing, the look and feel of her satin shoes and pink hair ribbons. She made her parents so proud. Her father would throw her flowers and her mother would shout 'Lily, lily! Mon beau ballerine! Mon fille, mon danseur fille!' As a nine year old she would pretend to be embarrassed by her mother's shouting, even though it secretly delighted her.

Everything changed when her father stopped coming to her recitals, when he would leave home for weeks at a time. Her beautiful house turned dark and dusty, her beautiful mother fell into despair. After a while Lily's father stopped coming home entirely. Ten was such a dark time for Lily. She began to live her life like a performance; she told herself she is a princess and wished fiercely for a new life. Now Lily can only dance in her room, her expensive ballet private school life disappeared as suddenly as her father.

All that changed when Lily turned eleven. One day an owl arrived at her sister's window, addressed to Lily Evans, bedroom with a bay window. After Petunia had read the letter and deemed it a hoax she gave it to Lily, hoping to cheer her . During the first decade or so of Lily's life Petunia loved her very much, Petunia was all Lily had left.

The letter was a door. A magical door that opened Lily's world up to a whole new world, one without fathers who left without saying goodbye and dance studios that didn't have to be payed for. Lily left for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with high expectations.

The next four years of Lily's life were not at all what she had anticipated. In primary school Lily had been a top student, school subjects came easily too her and she never had to study. At Hogwarts she had to work everyday to stay on top, everyday her insecurities healed a little bit more, and everyday the divide between Lily and her family became a little bit stronger. It was at Hogwarts where Lily was nurtured and where she made friends.

Friends. A more beautiful thing had never existed, according to Lily. In dance school everything was a competition, at Hogwarts everything was...indescribable. Lily had made two great friends in her four years, Alice and Belinda. The three girls were very close, Alica and Belina were the family Lily missed nine months out of the year. The jokes they played were kept in their small circle, the secrets they told were never shared with outsiders.

And still Lily danced. Without the financial burden of Lily all year round, Lily's mother, Marianne could pay for cheap ballet lessons at the local studio. Every summer the akward silences that had built up during the school year would vanish and what was left of the Evans family would be whole again. And every start of the school year would be a bitter endinng until December, when Lily came home for holidays.

This is where the tale of Lily starts. In August, 1976, a girl with long red hair and a ridiculous looking tutu walks slowly down the sidewalk on a street of faded glory...

Author's Note: I've got the first chapter about halfway written, look for it on Wed. at the latest.

French Translation: Lily, Lily! My beautiful ballerina! My girl, my dancing girl!