Prologue
"Lily
dearest. Where are you?" A male voice sing songed down the hall
and echoed off the walls. It was a voice she had come to know well. A
voice she had come to loathe.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are." He was taunting her, making her run for cover when she should be perfectly safe. This man had forced his way into her home, and if she wasn't safe here, then she wasn't safe anywhere.
And then, as she went to take a turn, a hand shot from the darkness, and she was turned away, her scream dying in her throat as fear gripped her. Her home had been breached, and now, no one was safe.
Chapter One
A place to call home
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An annoying sound woke seventeen-year-old Lily Evans from her nice deep sleep. She snaked a hand from beneath the warm cover and slapped it down on the wretched device. A muggle alarm clock.
She sighed in happiness as the noise stopped and settled back under her covers, perfectly happy to sleep the morning away. That was, until her bed shifted under a new weight and, as if the house was on fire, she shot up in her bed, only to be tackled back down by a mop of black hair.
"I'm up Tillie, I promise." She nearly fell out of bed as she continued to wrestle and laugh.
"Tillie, get off!" And she pushed the weight off her chest. Tillie looked up at her and, after making sure Lily really was up, leapt off the bed. She let out a small bark before trotting through the open door.
As Lily's eyes followed her beloved dog out the door, the smile was wiped right off her face. With a look of pure disgust, Petunia Evans sauntered off, yelling coolly as she went, "Get up Freak. We won't be late just because you decided to sleep in."
'Lovely to see you too, Petunia" Lily thought. Deciding to wipe the cool smirk off her sister's face later. Lily hopped out of bed and proceeded to get ready for the day. She showered and dressed in her favorite dark jeans and green tank top, the shoelaces of her high tops undone as she grabbed her wand, dried her hair with a quick spell and made her way downstairs.
The smell of bacon filled the air as she plopped down across the table from her father and smiled at her mother – who was pushing bacon onto her own plate.
"Morning Mum, Papa." She said, grabbing a piece of toast from the plates in front of her.
Roger Evans lowered his newspaper and looked over at his daughter. It seemed like just yesterday that his Lily had been running around the house in her bathing suit, begging to go swimming. Back then she hadn't quite understood the concept that you couldn't go swimming in the winter; you'd freeze. But little Lily hadn't cared.
The memory brought a smile to his face. "Good morning, flower. Sleep well?" He asked, putting aside the gruesome newspaper. Another gas leak had taken place and nearly a hundred people had died. A small family was even found dead in their home on the outskirts of the city.
"Definitely." She replied around a mouthful of toast.
"Good, good. Are you about ready to get going?" Today was the day of the neighborhood barbeque. Every year the community got together at the big park down the road and laughed, played, and bonded with their fellow neighbors. This year it was the Evans' turn to host it.
"Almost. I just have to put the finishing touches on the cake. Did you get the hamburgers, mum?" Lily turned to her mother now, waiting for a reply.
"I bought them just the other day, so they're nice and fresh." Katherine Evans said, smiling at the way her daughter had brought her into the conversation. "Of course there's no way I would try to cook them again."
Roger's booming laugh rang through the kitchen and everyone grinned at the memory of the last barbeque they had hosted. Poor Katherine had nearly set a table on fire when she accidentally flung a flaming hamburger from the grill.
Lily stood from the table. "I'm gonna go finish the cake." And with nods from her parents she made her ways towards the large kitchen off of the dinning room where they ate their meals. There, on the counter of the immaculately clean kitchen, stood a 3 tier, sky blue cake. Turning on the small radio and letting the Beatles flow through the room, she danced her way through the kitchen, adding touches of icing and sugar flowers as she went.
Within half an hour the cake was beautifully decorated and she was pulling a batch of cookies from the oven.
"Lily," Her mother's voice called through the house, "Ten minutes until we need to leave." Surprised, Lily looked at the clock, shouted a quick "Okay" to her mum and flew up the stairs. She only had ten minutes to get ready!
Stepping in front of the mirror the image of a pale girl with long, wavy red hair and startling green eyes stared back at her. She had flour in her hair and a smudge of chocolate on her cheek from baking. Bending to the sink, she washed her face and shook out as much of the flour as she could without having to shower. Lily quickly changed into a white, summery skirt and another green top before tripping back down the stairs, trying to pull on a pair of ballet flats as she went.
Her parents stood in the doorway, watching her run about the house. Small smiles graces their features and their minds remembered different times, when Lily and Petunia had been inseparable. Now, they barely talked. All because one daughter had been made a witch, and the other hadn't. Petunia had been devastated at first, then angry, and now, well, she was downright horrible during the summer. She was a wonderful girl during the year, smiling and having fun, like a normal teenager, but the moment Lily walked through the front door, BAM. She became rude and was constantly in a foul mood. Lily had tried not to let it get to her, but the put downs and stares she received every summer made it increasingly hard to deal with.
"Ready!" She shouted from the kitchen and carefully picked up the heavy cake, only to put it down a moment later, whip out her wand, and whisper a few choice words. Instantly the cake was floating a few inches above the countertop. Placing her arms under the floating cake, she smiled. People would think she was carrying the cake, but she wouldn't have to deal with the weight of it.
"Do you need any help, flower?" Her father's voice filled her ears, and she turned to give him a comical glare at the nickname he had used since she was three.
"Papa," She said, "You should know not to use that name by now." She grinned as he rolled his eyes. "Could you grab the cookies? They're in the tin on the counter."
"Of course, flower." And he laughed as she tried to trip him. "Pet," He yelled, invoking the nickname of his eldest daughter, "Time to go."
"Coming," Came Petunia's soft voice from the front hall. "Would you like any help mum?" They heard her ask, and began to make their way towards the rest of their small family, Lily and her father joking as they went.
"Yes please. Thank you, dear. Those hamburgers were starting to get heavy." Lily heard her mother's bubbly voice float around the corner as both her mother and Petunia came into view.
She saw Petunia walk out the front door as her mother turned to the two at the end of the hall with a smile. "Roger," She said, "We're going to be late for our own party if you two don't get a move on." Lily and her father grinned at each other before following the other out the door. Petunia was already standing on the sidewalk, shifting the bags from one hand to another, waiting for the rest of her family. As Roger and Katherine turned from the steps to the sidewalk, Petunia shot Lily the meanest glare she could muster, turned on her heel, and marched off towards the park.
"Gotta love home." She thought and she made her way carefully down the steps and turned to follow her family.
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I would just like to say, that I don't own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, plots, ideas, etc. Should I forget to write this in every chapter, I am sorry, but I will do my best to remind myself that, no matter how much I wish they were, most of the characters are not my own.
Please, feel free to leave criticism and comments, or just say hey. I'm always up for ideas and thoughts and would love to hear what you have to say
XOXO,
Gypsie girl