Summary: Lily is a big girl and she is slowly but steadily leaving the Evans for good, as she falls in love, gets engaged, moves out and gets married!

Pairing: James/Lily

I admit looking back, this story is rather silly. I think it has A LOT of glaring defects, and mostly has some downright strange way of phrasing things. But I haven't changed much because it'd mean writting it from scratch adn I'd rather save the time for other more salvageable pieces. Nonetheless I corrected the formatting, and didn't delete it out of respect of the people who liked it. Thank you for being so forgiving.

Warning OC! Newly reformetted

Meet the Evans

by shyangell

CHAPTER 1: THOU SHALL NOT PRY

Maggie Hall was watching through the window of her bedroom at home. She was watching the end of the street, where Huntington Road met Victoria Street. The semi-detached houses were perfectly aligned and looked exactly the same. They looked as dull and lifeless from her window as they did close up. The sky was the darkest grey, and heavy clouds piled up over their heads; it looked like it was going to snow.

It was a very placid and normal neighbourhood. Nothing ever happened here. It was full of men who drove their cars early in the morning to work and arrived back home at six. There were plenty of housewives going by their daily business, having their daily dose of gossip talking loudly over hedge walls between back yards or through the fences in their way in. Kids swarmed at the communal playground on St Thomas Square. Plenty of adolescents lazed around in little gangs, hanging around despite the cold already bored with nothing to do just a few days into the Christmas vacations. Some other teens stayed in their bedrooms, decorated with rock-stars posters of their favourite group so they had a look their parents trembled just imagining what decent people would have to say about them; and quite untouched by all the Christmas spirit.

Maggie's room was full of posters, Queen, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and the Police… all these famous faces were hanging from her walls. The desk was stuffed with papers and books from school she had yet to put away. The bed was made in a haphazard fashion: black crumpled sheets and a purple quilt. But despite the absolute lack of decency about her room, was deceiving. Maggie Hall was completely and utterly normal.

It was mid-afternoon. She was supposed to be cleaning up her room, but she had decided she'd do it another day, get Lily to help her put her school stuff in order. Lily was Maggie's old primary school friend, and up to this day, her best friend. Lily was also the reason why Maggie was now staring out of her window while lounging on her bed.

A grey business-like car turned around the corner and pulled over in front of the Evan's doorstep. She watched as a tall man and a young girl, both red-heads, jumped out of the car and lifted a heavy trunk from the boot and dragged it towards the house.

»»»»»»««««««

Lily Evans was, quite contrary to Maggie Hall, not a normal person. It was a fact Maggie had come to accept really early on. Extraordinary things passed around Lily, she was also extraordinary in every sense of the word. They had both attended primary school together and she had become so used to it all that she didn't even notice it anymore. They were supposed to attend the same high-school on the other side of town too. She had been terribly disappointed when she had been told that Lily had suddenly received a scholarship and would be going to a boarding school. Now she knew it had never had anything to do with a scholarship.

Lily was in fact, a witch. She attended a school somewhere in Scotland called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; which was currently the most prestigious (and only) British school of magic. She went away every first September and returned on the thirtieth June with new incredible thinks to talk about and a bunch of stories to tell.

Maggie had stumbled upon Lily's little secret rather by accident. After that first year at Hogwarts Lily had been confident she would be able to keep as normal as always around her friends. So she had locked her magical things on the cupboard of her room and went on as usual. Maggie, as her best friend, spent a lot of time in Lily's room. The afternoon when Maggie puzzled things together she ran up the stairs after cheerily waving Mrs. Evans hello hoping to extract Lily from whatever dull business she had her nose stuck into; she bumped into Lily in a cleaning-up session. The trunk was open in the middle of her bedroom, books of parchment and bound in leather were strewn all over her bed and her desk, something that looked suspiciously like a cauldron, with some odd plants in it was placed on the chair and as they fell from Lily's hands a set of chess started screaming in fright.

Lily, sprawled on the floor looked terrified for a moment and looked alarmed as Maggie lifted one of the books from the mattress: History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. She eyed it curiously. She doesn't know how she could find it so normal, so unsurprising, but the only thing that she could think to say was "so this is what all the evasiveness been about!" She thinks it is because with her still infantile logic she had found it perfectly logical. Lily was a witch. No big deal.

Now, almost six years later, she was probably the only one from Lily's old life, except maybe her parents, who could say that truly knew the real Lily. Except maybe that weird kid, Snape maybe, that used to hang around and Maggie had been so glad to loose sight of more than a year ago because he was incredibly disagreeable.

Today, they were both girls on Lily's room. The two girls were as different from each other as their current occupations. Lily was a petite read-head with a sweet face and green eyes, and was currently rummaging trough her belongings and straightening thing out in her trunk yet again. Maggie was an average peaky looking girl with mousy long straight hair, who right now had nothing better to do than scoop through her friends books while comfortably seated on the desk; curiously eyeing the magical pictures, postcards and other souvenirs Lily used as markers.

That's when she saw it.

It was what looked like a letter. The parchment had been once rolled and sealed; but Lily had folded it into four squares. It read:

My dearest Lily:

I know we have just been parted for a few hours. Allow me to incur in the topic, but I do already miss you.

Before you decide to reprimand me for unnecessary disposal of perfectly good parchment or do fault me of being corny though, I must say to my defence that I do have an ulterior motive for this letter.

I met Frank Longbottom yesterday, and he said that they will be holding an New Year's Party at his home. He has invited at least half of the last year Gryffindors. Of course, as Alice's friend you have been invited too. I told him I would tell you personally.

You would make me the happiest man on earth if you just said yes and agreed for me to escort you.

Loves you dearly

James

PD: Have I already told you how much I love you and how I do miss you?

Maggie had to read the letter once or twice. It was a love letter to Lily Evans. A love letter from a boy, which she had kept between the pages of the book she had been reading for her Christmas homework. If the handwriting and contents of the letter had left any room for doubts; the name was a tell-tale by itself. A letter, to Lily, from a boy.

She stared at the back of Lily's head. Hard. And when she couldn't hold the question any longer she blurted it out:

"Who's James?"