Lily and James

Written by Pretty Dreams

Lily stared at the dying fire in the common room glumly. It was her last week of her sixth year at Hogwarts, and next week she would be home with her parents and. . . . . . . . . her dreaded sister Petunia. Everything was fine at her muggle home except the fact that Petunia had turned away from her.

Lily thought of the many things she had discovered and experienced in the past 6 years.

Lily's 11th birthday

Lily sat happily on the couch with her sister Petunia, while her father took their picture. Just 2 seconds before he snapped the picture, an owl suddenly swooped in from the open window and landed on Lily's lap, and Petunia screamed just as the snapshot was taken. Lily, loving animals, didn't move and using slow and gentle movements untied the envelope from the owl's leg, which she had noticed. She guessed that the letter was meant for her, since the owl landed in her lap, but she couldn't be sure. When she turned the envelope her guess was confirmed, in a very neat and handsome writing it said:

Lily Evans

51 Golden St.

Red couch in living room

She read the last line of the address with great surprise for it told exactly where she was in the house. Then she turned the envelope around and inspected the red seal more closely, she saw that it had some sort of castle on it with the words "Hogwarts" written on it. Yup, it was that one letter that changed her whole life, and petunia's attitude towards her.

Petunia used to be her very best friend as well as sibling. It was only in her Lily confided into and talked about her troubles and fears. But when Petunia found out that her sister was a witch, she cringed with jealousy and that jealousy quickly turned into hatred. After that Petunia taunted, laughed at, and sneered at poor Lily. "But Petunia, I'm still the same person, even if I am a w-," Lily told Petunia for the millionth time.

"The gal is a witch

I dun care a synch!

An' I'm better off, yes

I don't care a drat

If she's a FREAK, like that!

That's what you are, A FREAK!! You're such a loser, witch!" Petunia screamed furiously. It was her 3rd last day at home and she was getting ready to go to the wizard place "Diagon Alley" to get her supplies for school.

Lily turned away sadly and went to her parents who were waiting outside, I'm glad Petunia isn't coming along, Lily thought. She leaned back on the comfortable back seat in her car while they went to London.

Her mother awoke Lily when they arrived at London, her father had already started going with the air of knowing exactly where to go, mother too, weird, Lily thought as she followed. When they reached the location where the shop "Leaky Cauldron" was supposed to be, her father peered around and pointed to the shop between a bookstore and another shop. This was also weird, because according to the letter (the Hogwarts one) only wizards and witches could spot the shop.

"Mom, how dad knew where the Leaky Cauldron was, I mean, the letter says. . . . .," Lily started to ask.

"Hush child, we plan on answering that later, just follow us right now," Mrs. Evans replied promisingly.

So Lily kept quiet, and wondered a bit, as they entered the Leaky Cauldron, her parents led her to another room with a brick wall, her a father beckoned a man, and he tapped 4 bricks on the wall and went away. . . . .

Diagon Alley

The brick wall moved in different directions and created an arch way. Lily was amazed to see a whole alley; what's more it was filled with people! "Welcome to Diagon Alley, dear," Mr. Evans said to Lily, waving a hand towards the alley. "Come on now, let's go."

Lily approached the alley in a cautious way, looking around in the utmost astonished manner. Everywhere she looked she saw people of all ages, chattering and having fun. She had imagined that wizards and witches were with green skin and long and pointy noses and with warts all over them. But what she saw were people as ordinary looking as herself with the exception that she was wearing muggle clothes and they were wearing wizard clothes.

As Lily gazed around, she saw the different shops and many of the shop names told you exactly what you would find in the shop. The shop her parent were leading her to, was a tall and graceful looking building. "Mom what building is that?" Lily asked in wonder.

"It's the Gringotts Wizard Bank, that's where we are going, to have the muggle money – muggle means non magic folk by the way—converted into wizard money—galleons, sickles, and knuts. After all we need wizard money to do shopping in a wizard place," Mrs. Evans replied in a happy tone. They entered the Bank. Inside there were goblins all in a uniform working busily either at counters or seeing to other business.

Mr. Evans found a free goblin at a counter. "Ahem," Mr. Evans cleared his throat.

The goblin looked up from his work, "May I help you?" he asked in an eerie tone of voice.

"I would like to exchange some muggle money for wizarding money," Mr. Evans said fidgeting uncomfortably, he never did like goblins, but then they were one of the most trustworthy magical creatures known yet.

"Yes sir, and may I know what amount you wish to exchange?" he replied in a slightly better tone.

Mr. Evans relaxed at this change of tone and said, "I'll make it 1pound."

"That's 30galleons, 15 sickles and 3 knuts. . . . . . . . . Here you are sir. . . . . . .The muggle money?" the goblin handed the wizard money and took the muggle money from Mr. Evans.

Taking the money he was given, Mr. Evans led his family out. He took his wife and daughter to a little place he spotted down the road to have some milkshakes. And over the milkshakes, Lily's parents told her their story.

"We both are what in the wizarding world called "squibs". A squib is magical, but does not have enough magic in him/her to conduct ANY kind of magic. We both grew up in the wizarding world and are used to all that we see. When we met, we both found out that we both were squibs. We married. A year later, you and Petunia were born as twins. We had heard that sometime squibs were able to produce magical children. But during our time, there was no way to discover this, until one of you or both received Hogwarts letters. When you both turned 11, we started hoping, and then you got a letter, but Petunia didn't, we were sad that she didn't get one, but we were also happy that we were able to produce at least one magical child. And—well, that's that story," Mrs. Evans ended with a sigh.

Lily was quiet for a moment. So I'm the child of squibs, my parents were aware of the wizarding world, and under such risky circumstances they lead us a muggle life, so that if one or both of their children turned out to be muggles, then they would not have to face the wizarding society, hmmmmmmmmmmm, Lily thought. "Well, that's all cleared up," she said cheerfully, then waving at their empty glasses, "so how 'bout going and buying my things for school now?" The parents were gaping at their daughter with their mouths open, they had been expecting a flood of tears because they were squibs, but she didn't seem to care at all, and just glad that she knew.

Lily had always been a quiet and shy child, she was a pretty girl with fiery red hair drop down her shoulders, and her bright green eyes were always alert and extremely observant. She had no big taste in clothes, all she cared was that they were decent looking clothes that fit her. When she wanted to look her best, of better than usual, she would sometimes wear clothes of such colours that her eyes and hair would stand out. Sometimes ruffled her hair and wore it in a in a different way, but usually she just let it tumble down, give it a few combs to untangle and straighten out the hair, and just leave it as it is. She is a very smart child and aced in all subjects. She was a confident and witty girl although she didn't show it. She is seldom ever angry, and when she is, it is a sight to see and yet fear. In her muggle school, she always hung out with her twin sister and really never made any friends; she never needed to. She had Petunia, who was a friend and a sister to her, so why should she make more friends? That was Lily over all. Although her parents were always in contact with Lily and did things with her, they ad never really known her, nobody had, except Petunia. Her parents had always thought and still did, that Lily was mostly all that Petunia was personality-vies, except that maybe lily was much smarter than Petunia. But it's not like that. Lily is all that Petunia isn't and never will be.

Lily and her parents then went shopping. They bought Hogwarts robes for her, the books she needed (as well as some other that Lily took interest in) and bought parchments, quills and ink (that's when she decided to get more parchment, to practice writing with quills and ink on). Then she took 5 minutes to convince her parents to let her by an owl, "Please mom and dad, look, I'll take care of it and keep it in my room and take its complete responsibility. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeell . . . . . . alright," Mrs. Evans sighed in defeat.

"Yeess!! Thanks mom! You're the greatest!" Lily hugged her mom, and ran into the owl shop to pick an owl. Her father followed her in. After a few minutes, Lily came out with a snowy white owl in a cage, which Lily named Snowhite, right on the spot. So Snowhite it was. She then went into another shop with her mother, to buy a potions kit filled with ingredients. She also bought a cauldron, for potions class.

Then last but not least, she went to Ollivanders, the one and only wand maker in Diagon Alley. Ollivanders told her that it was the wand that chose the wizard not the wizard who chose the wand. She tried several wands but none seemed to be the right one, although she didn't see the difference, all of then did something weird when she waved them. A sudden tingle went though her finger tips and right into her body as soon as she touched the wand. Also it did not do something weird, all that happened was that scarlet and yellow sparkles around her. "This is the one, Ms. Evans," Ollivanders said gleefully. Lily paid, and went out with the wand in her hand. Her parents were waiting anxiously outside, since only the buyer was allowed to enter the shop.

After all this was bought, Lily went down her list to see if she had bought everything, seeing that she had, Lily and her parents went back into the muggle part of London and headed home. On the way home, Lily had a long thought, she thought of all that was happening and all that she had discovered. Feeling that she was overwhelmed she let go of the thoughts and settled down for a car nap.

When they reached home, Lily winced at the thought of being taunted by Petunia again. Quickly gathering up her stuff, she told her parents, "I think, I'm going to have a good look at this stuff, and hit the books for a bit." Then she ran off, not stopping for her parents reply. "Oh, and I'll lock the room, just letting you know!" Lily called as she ran into the house.

"How was the shopping at the Freak Alley, Freak?" Petunia asked insultingly. Lily ignored her and ran up to her room. She set the bags on her bed and quietly locked the door. The only reason she was locking it was, so that Petunia couldn't spoil her excitement and also to keep her out of the way.

First, she took up Snowy's cage and sat it on the table beside the window; she opened the window just a bit, to let some breeze in for Snowy. She was asleep right now, and when she would wake up, she would let her go out for a bit. Next she sorted the books, putting the ones for school in for pile and the ones she took for her own interest in another pile. She put away the cauldron with the potions and other things in it, beside her desk. She kept only a parchment diary, a quill and an ink bottle, and her wand. She decided that she would combine practicing writing and studying together, and also trying out her wand. She would study the book for Charms first, taking notes and trying them out using her wand.

The first spell was a Limitation Spell, translation: the ability to make objects fly. Interesting spell, it might come in handy, Lily thought. She dipped her quill in the ink bottle, tapped the quill against the edge of the bottle and carefully wrote in the diary:

Charms

Limitation Spell-- the ability to make objects fly

It was easy enough, and Lily thought the trick was to leave no access ink on the quill before writing lest it drips. She read about the spell and how to conduct it, using her wand as a pointer, taking occasional notes and practicing the special movements. At last when she finished reading about that spell, she was pleased to see that she had made a lot of notes and that there were no drippings. Now, to try the spell itself, Lily thought. She took a deep breath and first did the movements, and said out loud, "Swish and flick!" As she said that she did the 'swish and flick', then she said the incantation alone, "Wingardium Leviosa. . . . . with not too much pressure on the 'sa' part, I should think. . . . Ok I think I'm ready to do it." She then placed a clean quill on the desk, she first pointed at it and then as she swished and flicked the wand she uttered the incantation, and—and the quill was floating! Lily had successfully uttered her first spell! Lily silently did a victory dance. "Lily, time for supper!" Mrs. Evans called out from downstairs. Lily Practically skipped down the stairs, humming "The Time of Joy".

"How's it going?" Mr. Evans asked, smiling.

"Oh, dad, I just conducted my first spell, and it worked! I actually did it! It's a spell to make things fly, "Lily answered happily.

"Good for you, dear, I'm proud of you" Mrs. Evans congratulated.

"Thanks mother, I'm proud of myself too," Lily grinned. Then suddenly she noticed Petunia in the room, and she grew quiet and a dull look replaced the excitement that a second ago was widening her eyes, and the grin was replaced with grim looking lips that talked no more for the rest of the supper. "I think I'll go back up and do a little more study before I hit the bed," as she said that, Lily took her dirty plates and placed them in the dishwasher. Then she ran back up before Petunia had a chance to come in after her. She studied a bit of transfiguration, potions, care of magical creatures, and herbology. Tired out, but happy, Lily hit the bed and fell asleep instantly after letting Snowy out.

The Ride to Hogwarts

It was her last day at home, and she was just packing last minute things into her trunk: the parchment diary and some extra quills and ink bottles. "Ready to go to Witch School, Freak?" Petunia asked from the door, watching her sister pack some things. A look of despair came into her eyes as she realized she wouldn't see her sister for a whole school year, but then she quickly shook it away and it was replaced by hatred once again. Lily finished packing and carried her trunk downstairs. Then she came back to get Snowy. She was glad Petunia was scared of animals, because that prevented her from coming into her room at any time.

"Ready dear?" Mrs. Evans asked as Lily came into the garage with Snowy. Lily nodded and placed Snowy in the backseat. "Almost, I just need to go and grab my handbag," Lily replied as she went back in to get it. The handbag contained Lily's Hogwarts robes, her wand, and her parchment diary, that contained her notes, a small empty box, and a feather.

They arrived at the London Train station, now according to her letter, the wall between platform 9 and 10, is the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ . So the only possible was to run right into the wall, if she made a fool of herself, she would have to come up with an excuse, Lily thought. "Well here goes, By mom, bye dad," Lily said as she hugged her parents.

She readied herself at a distance, and then, she ran, right towards the all, she closed her eyes, because she was too scared to keep her eyes open. She waited for the crash, but it never came, instead she had stopped. She opened her eyes, and found her self in another place. She turned around the corner, and saw a post with 9 ¾ written on it. She had made it! And right in front of her, a train was standing and said: Hogwarts Express. She surrendered her ticket, and hopped into the train.

Once in the train, Lily looked for an empty compartment. She found one right at the back. She lugged her trunk in and using the limitation spell, she lifted her trunk up to the shelf on top of the seats. As she walked, Lily's pocket jiggled with all the money she had in her pockets (her father told her that she might need it so he made her keep it). Then Lily changed into her Hogwarts robes.

After a while, another girl opened the compartment door, she was wearing her robes already; she had shoulder length black and shiny hair, blue-eyes, and fair skin. "May I share this compartment with you- the others are all filled," the girl asked in a graceful tone. "Sure," Lily replied cheerfully, waving her hand invitingly. The girl put her trunk on the top shelf and took a seat opposite to Lily, and said, "Thanks a bunch! My names Reenalda Seam, but everybody calls me Reena. What's your name?" "I'm Lily. Evans, and called just Lily. So are you happy to come to Hogwarts? I sure am!" Lily said in return. "Oh, I'm happy alright, I've always wanted to go, but couldn't until the age of 11," Reena replied. That sentence told Lily that Reena was from a wizarding family. Lily nodded, and put away her wand which she noticed that she still had in her hand.

For a while, none of them spoke, they didn't know what to say. But the silence between them was a comforting silence, and from that instant Lily and Reena became fast friends. Suddenly Lily sighed a sad little sigh. "What's the matter?" Reena asked in concern. "Oh, nothing. It's just that well. . . . . . . .(and Lily poured out all that had been troubling her, Petunia's tormenting, her being the victim now etc.)" Lily said, crying a little. She didn't why she did it, but she had this feeling that she could trust Reena, and that she would understand. Reena listened quietly, giving her an occasional pat or squeezing her hand in a comforting way. When Lily was finished, Reena patted her and said soothingly, "It's ok Lil, next year is your last year at Hogwarts, you don't need to see that blasted sister of yours, and hey, you know what, why don't you spend the last month of holidays at my place, we'll have lots of fun, and plus you'll get to get away from your sister!" Reena was excited about the idea, and was pleased to see that Lily liked the idea. "What a lovely idea, Reen! I'd love to come over," Lily said, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

After that, Lily was always happy to come over to Hogwarts, and lived the 1 month of summer at home, because the last month of every summer she spent at Reena's house. Reena was the only one that was able to get through the walls Lily had made around her; she was always a sympathetic listener and always calmed Lily down. Lily was quite happy while she was with Reena.

Lily had gone through so much in the past six years, and yet other than her 1 month at home, the time just seem to fly by, with no respect for people's desire that the time go just a wee bit slow, and let them enjoy their special moments. Slowly, a tear came rolling down Lily's cheek, then another and another.

Suddenly, Lily heard voices coming from towards the boys' dorm. Lily quickly wiped her tears and turned to see who was there. Then she recognized the voices, it was the Marauders; James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius, she rolled her eyes when she heard the first voice. "I can't sleep, and looks like you guys can't either," said James in his rich and deep voice. "Duh," Sirius said in his handsome sounding voice. "Cut it out you guys," a serious yet beautiful voice of Remus' said. Peter said nothing. Those guys are still awake, huh, Lily thought. James had had a crush on Lily since first year, and always kept pestering her to come out with him, he was SO annoying!

The marauders quietly came downstairs, and saw Lily looking at them with a glimmer of surprise in her eyes. The boys stopped in surprise, they hadn't expected anyone to be up yet, and to be ever so quiet. James and Remus quickly saw that something was the matter, because Lily's face was tearstained. James' eyes clouded with concern, everybody knew that of all the marauders, James was the one with the biggest heart, and also he couldn't bear the thought that Lily was sad, and had been crying. James walked over to Lily and sat beside her. "What's the matter. . . Lily?" James asked quietly. Lily looked up to see if he was just joking around, but she saw instead concern in his eyes, "N-nothing, I'm fine, I mean, nothing's the matter," Lily stammered suspiciously. I don't think nothings the matter, Lily, James thought, but out loud he only asked, "So what are you doing up so late?"

"Oh, I just couldn't sleep, I just can't believe it's the last week of my sixth year here at Hogwarts," Lily explained giving only half of the truth, still sceptical. She had never trusted the marauders. James saw that Lily was still sceptical about what he was doing, so he tried to ease her by saying, "Yeah, it's kinda sad, but then there's this excitement that you could use magic anytime, anywhere, and well, you know what I mean!"

As James had wanted, Lily eased up a bit, when she got this reply from him, and said thinking about Petunia, "Yeah, I know what you mean, and there are a couple of things I shall be able to do, and some people I will be able to avoid-I don't mean you so don't get me wrong-and just some things that can't be controlled while you're living with or near your family sometimes, yeah," Lily was unaware that in this answer a certain phrase told James that she didn't hate him, she had been off her guard for once. She doesn't hate me, James realized happily. He didn't know when he had felt happier!

The next day, with his hands crossed behind his head, James, lay in bed, waiting for the others to wake up. He thought, life had taken a sudden turn in the right way, it seemed. He thought of what Lily had said to him last night, "-Don't mean you so don't get me wrong", so she didn't exactly hate me all that time, I wonder why she said what she said about her family, I'm gonna find out or my name ain't James! And he decided that he would approach the matter only when he was able to get a bit 'closer' to Lily, though. "Whoa, why in the world didn't ya wake us up, IT"S GETTIN' LATE JAMESY!!!" James jumped at Sirius' voice. "ok, ok, I'm sorry, now that you are awake, can we get downstairs now??" James snapped angrily.