AN: I do not own harry potter... never have... never will.
This is my first attempt at a story so please be patient.
any kind of reviews are welcome. nothing you can say will upset me.
I've experienced worse.
I do however want constructive criticism. I can't get better if you don't tell me.
This is not a Harry/Hermione story. I put it under this label because they are two of the three main characters for my story, the third being an OC, which I pray is not a mary sue. Neither Harry nor Hermione will make an appearance in the first few chapters. Those chapters are to set the stage for the rest of the story... Happy reading.
Chapter 1
The Power of a Promise
It was a brilliantly blue July morning with the promise of an exceedingly hot day creeping into the air, but for two seven year old girls the heat would not be a bother at all. In fact, it would go unnoticed, as they were too busy playing in the woods behind Gran Gran's house. The sixty-four year old woman dubbed "Gran Gran" could only shake her head and smile as she watched her redheaded grandchild run hand in hand with her strawberry-blonde best friend to the woods she often played in as a child. She wondered if they were as magical as she remembered.
The two girls, unaware of Gran Gran's reminiscence, continued their games of pretend. In the woods they could be anyone they wanted, instead of little girls who were picked on for their fondness for reading; they were the characters they so cherished. They were pirate hunters, princesses that befriended dragons and with the help of said dragons overthrew evil kings, elves, mermaids, and the pirates that were being hunted. They were always seeking adventure and overcoming evil. They had met two years previously in primary school, and their meeting was an interesting one.
It was their first day of school and their teacher Mrs. Hensworth, a cheerful blue-grey haired old lady, had assigned them seats in alphabetical order.
"So I can learn your names quicker." She said warmly to her nervous students.
Once everyone had found their seats, Mrs. Hensworth went down the rows asking each student to tell the class their name and something they like to do. The answers were pretty common; watch the telly, go to the park, color pictures. That is to say, until she got to the E's.
"Your turn dear." Prodded the teacher gently, realizing that the young girl was shy.
"My name is Lily Evans," said Lily in a soft, shaky voice, "and I like to read."
Giggles and whispers sprang forth, many of the children had trouble reading and couldn't understand why anyone would enjoy such an activity.
"Good for you." said Mrs. Hensworth joyfully, quite happy to have a student that enjoyed learning.
More whispers and the occasional cat call of "Teacher's Pet" followed this statement, and were duly silenced with a sharp look from the teacher.
"How about you dear." She continued with the girl seated behind Lily, who was drawing quite enthusiastically on her desk, "Tell the class something about yourself."
Yet the girl doodled on, deaf to the teacher's questions as she was lost in her own little world of defacing school property. So Lily, being the sensible girl that she was, did the only thing that came to mind. She poked the doodler in the head, hard. It was enough to pull her from her world of graphite rainbows and flowers, and look up, her face the epitome of confusion only to be replaced by a mask of shock. The other girl could easily be her sister. They had the same heart shaped faces, high cheek bones, small slightly upturned button noses, what would eventually become full lips, fair skin decorated with a few scattered freckles, and beautiful green eyes. Lily's a beautiful emerald, and the strawberry-blonde's a dark jade with gold flecks around the pupil.
Lily, having recovered from her own shock, whispered to the girl, "Tell the class your name, and something you like to do."
"Oh, umm..." The doodler replied intelligently, "My name is Lola, Lola Evanson," she began awkwardly, "and I like to read." She finished lamely, as if she'd rather be anywhere other than there.
The taunts and whispers emerged from their hiding places, and Mrs. Hensworth's smile looked like it would never come off, Lily turned back to Lola and whispered happily, "I like to read too."
The boy sitting next to Lola, who Lily knew to be Stanley Atkinson but Lola didn't because she wasn't paying attention and didn't honestly care, over heard Lily's whisper, and said loud enough for most of the class to hear, "Wow! Two bookworms in the class, how lucky are we?" Which he said in the most sarcastic voice a five year old can muster.
Lily still hadn't turned around, so Lola got to see the red head's smile slip off her face and her eye's begin to water at the ugly brown haired boy's words. Being slightly irritated at the mocking whispers anyway, she was irritated even further by the little boy who upset the red haired girl, who Lola wanted to befriend. So Lola turned to the boy with a glare, and for an instant Lily was afraid for the boy, then she said in her sweetest voice, the one she uses on daddy when she wants something, "You're just jealous 'cause you can't read."
The laughter that had echoed Stan's words earlier stopped as Lola's sank in. Mrs. Hensworth gave Stan a time out for being mean. Lola was also awarded a time out for making Stan cry. Lola believed it was worth it. Lily Evans and Lola Evanson had been thicker than the thieves they pretended to be ever since.
On that hot July day two years later, they became sisters. They had been carefully walking across an ancient, rickety bridge tied to the two edges of a one hundred feet deep canyon, in reality this is really an old log with a thirteen foot drop below it, when Lola found a dead spot in the tree and fell pulling Lily, who had been holding her hand, with her.
They landed in the creek beneath them; Lily broke her wrist and two of her ribs on a rock, while Lola broke her leg and got a concussion. Along with their broken bones they both collected a number of cuts. From the top of their heads to the top of their sneakers they had nicks and scratches of varying seriousness from the sharp rocks that caught them. They crawled out of the creek wincing in their discomfort, crying a steady stream of tears in their silent pain. Once they were fully out of the water, they crawled towards one another and held on to each other, as if reaffirming the others existence. They lay together on the bank, trying to gather themselves, to assure that they were indeed safe. As their adrenaline wore down the pain settled, Lola was finally able to speak. When she opened her mouth a steady stream of apologies spewed forth, and her tears doubled in intensity. All the while Lily was trying to get her attention to tell her it was alright.
"Lola, it's okay, it was just an accident." she wheezed. She was freezing, she was sticky with her own blood as well as Lola's, and it was getting steadily harder to breathe.
"You mean it? You don't hate me?" Lola eked out through clenched teeth, clearly believing it was all her fault that they fell.
"I can't hate y-you...aahhh... I swear...sss..on my LIFE...owww... that you will ALWAYS...swoo... be my best friend and sister." Lily gasped, her side was on fire and her chest felt heavy.
"I promise too." Lola said closing her eyes, she hurt soo bad, but she was sooo sleepy.
As soon as she uttered those words, a light blue glow emitted from their skin growing steadily brighter encasing the two. Then it was gone, leaving them asleep, their wounds healed, and totally unaware of the events that would unfold from their actions.
In a building, hidden in a world the two young girl believed to be naught but fairy tale, there was a room that held two very large, and very old books along with two ancient ink splattered quills. When the young girls glow faded, one of the battered quills rose above the book labeled: Family Bonds, and neatly wrote their names. Next to their names, in the space left for the description of their relation it wrote: Sisters.
Little did anyone know the power of a promise the two young girls made would hold.