The Turning of the Tide
Prologue
Bravery. Loyalty. Strength. Cunning. Wit. Determination. Intelligence.
How does one distinguish between these characteristics?
The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had always been historically divided among internal house lines, first instituted by the legendary founders of the school, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. Each group had natural tendencies, characteristic of their classification, from which they derived their relative members; over time, every witch or wizard in Europe of the age of literacy came to know about these "requisites".
Nearly two millennia after a fateful decision first split students of magic, Hogwarts still remained firmly asunder.
"United we are strong, divided we will fall."
For the most part, no harm had come from the split—in fact, house loyalty became an object of pride, and only pride, for the longest time. Each house functioned like a family, conductive and responsive to each of its members' needs. And although there were always pranks and arguments between Slytherins and Gryffindors, house division never prevailed over necessity of mutual cooperation.
Until 1970 that is.
In 1970, a series of events were set into motion that would change the course of history and the future for the wizarding world, but unfortunately, few people knew about it.
It was the year Lily Evans arrived at Hogwarts.
It was also when Lord Voldemort rose out of his stupor and started to gather a following.
And no one knew. No one could anticipate the horror and turmoil that the combination of these two events would impose on the future.
First, Lily Evans was certainly not the first muggleborn to attend Hogwarts, but she was the first non-pureblood to be sorted into Slytherin. In the history of Hogwarts, not one student who did not come from a familial background of magic was assigned a position in Salazar Slytherin's house. Being pureblood was a requirement.
Or apparently not. Had the sorting hat made a mistake? As the old, raggedy hat was placed on Lily's vibrant red hair, it had taken more than five minutes for it to make its decision. But nevertheless, Lily stayed in Slytherin, and after the other pureblooded students finally accepted her (something that took a good full year for many of her housemates), she became a Slytherin, through and through.
The house of serpents had accepted one, and only one muggleborn.
At the same time, Voldemort was a name that was being whispered among only the most exclusive magical circles of Europe. Who was this sinister being that had threatened the Ministry of Magic with calls for genocide and extermination of all "mudbloods", or non-pureblooded witches and wizards? Who were these figures that claimed allegiance to him, always cloaked in their heavy black, hooded attire? For the most part, no one knew about Voldemort and his grand scheme yet; to many who had heard about him only in passing, he was a harmless fanatic.
However, unbeknownst to all, the divisions between the houses at Hogwarts would soon become sinister. Gone would be the times of friendliness between two people of different houses, and quidditch rivalries would evolve to take root in deeper differences. Lily Evans would grow up in a time of difficulty, a muggleborn Slytherin, surrounded by the majority of her pureblooded peers who, slowly but surely, would find themselves inexplicably attracted to the values Voldemort preached. The other houses turned away from this point of view, and thus, the ever-deepening split Voldemort had incited became one of the defining mental and sometimes physical battles at Hogwarts.
But between all this, Lily was just a normal teenage girl.
In the summer of 1976, Lily received her Head Girl badge from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. She was the first Slytherin to become a head student in a decade, and was to lead the school alongside the Head Boy, James Potter, a Gryffindor, who following with the dangerous rise of separate house mentality, was notorious for his dislike of Slytherins. The two unconsciously and metaphorically represented Hogwarts, which, in itself, would become a perfect representation of the prejudices and intolerance that would come to plague the real world.