Lily Evans was an average girl. She lived with her parents in Stratford and she loved her life. She enjoyed her time at school, but she never had too many friends. Lily had a sister, Petunia, but you would have never been able to spot it. Lily was a slender young girl with long, straight auburn hair. Her skin was spotted with tiny little freckles that surrounded her almond shaped, glistening, emerald eyes. They looked as green as the grasses of Ireland, and shone like the gold the leprechauns caught in this very land. Her sister Petunia was a lanky little girl with short curled black hair, and robin egg blue eyes. Petunia and Lily always seemed to have a competition between them. They both had high grades as their parents had expectations of them.
It was when Lily was eleven years old that her life changed. Lily had just graduated from primary school and she and her sister were ready to start the next big adventure. She never disliked Petunia, but at this point in her life she lost the love of her sister with the flight of one single bird.
As Lily stepped into the yard to dance in the silky water of the sprinklers, she heard a small, petrified shriek that she knew to be her sister's. She turned to the drive way and saw her sister blankly staring at a round, mousey brown, barn owl perched upon their mailbox. Who had ever heard of owls coming out into suburban areas in the middle of the day? As a matter of fact, who had ever seen an owl in Stratford?
The young auburn haired girl slowly tiptoed through the wet grass of a summers day towards her sister, trying not to startle the owl. As she inched closer to the large bird of prey, it turned to her and all became silent. The breeze ended and the neighbor's dog stopped barking, as the bird's perfectly circular eyes met with Lily's.
"Lils! What are you thinking?" Petunia had finally spoken up. One would think that the timid Lily would have stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of such an ominous animal, but her feet just seemed to carry her towards it. Once she had walked far as to have passed her sister, she reached her hand towards the owl as if she were going to stroke it. Instead, the large bird dropped a letter at Lily's feet and then softly pecked her hand, similar to a dog licking you. After that, the bird casually flew off as if nothing had happened.
Petunia, still in shock, stood there and slowly turned around towards her sister, who bent down and picked up the letter. It was a cream envelope with swirvy hand writing saying
Ms. Lily V. Potter, Number Eight Privet Drive
Little Whinging, Surrey
She gradually flipped the small envelope over to look for a return address, only to find a crimson wax seal with a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle all surrounding the letter H. She didn't have any idea who this was and her puzzled look was seen by her sister who finally moved from her place. "Lily, what---is----happening?" Petunia said with a soft, disturbed voice. Her sister's speckled blue eyes were full of fear and welling up. Lily ran over and hugged her, but was quick to turn around and sprinted into her house.
Lily ran upstairs to her room and shut the door, hopping onto her bed with the letter. How suspicious could this mystery sender be, sending an owl with no postage and no return address in an unusual envelope. She slowly slipped her thin pale fingers under the lid of the letter, gently breaking the seal. As she did so, she noticed that there was still an unbearable silence, meaning Petunia hadn't come in yet. Did this mean that Lily was safe to own her letter of mystery, or should she wait and have the support of the sister who had always been there for her?
She couldn't handle this. Lily pulled out a thick letter and steadily unfolded the trifolded letter. It was astonishing news for Lily. Never in her life had she thought she would hear the words "You have now been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"! Hogwarts, what a funny made-up name, and what was this nonsense of witches and wizards. This was probably some prank from one of the mean neighbor boys, but even lily had to admit it would have been a very dedicated prank using an owl and the extensive letter. She couldn't possibly be meant to believe this, I meant there was no such thing as witchcraft that was proven by many English back in medieval times or so she had been taught in school.
The next page in the thick stack of papers had a list of books that were required with peculiar names. Lily just didn't understand who would take the time to draw up a prank they didn't get to see. It didn't seem logical, and then came a new thought to Lily's head.
"What if it is all real? What if I really am a witch? It's impossible, I know it can't be true. But wait….I mean I always have been a bit different." Lily said nearly silently. And at that moment Petunia walked in through door, or more like peering through the crack she had made. Her tiny blue eyes still had that twinkle of fear in them, a shine of misunderstanding.
"Lily, I heard that. I wasn't really trying to listen, I was just walking by. Well, okay I was eavesdropping but only because I care about you and wanted to see what had happened. Is it a letter from that Sam Harris, you know he always was a class clown." Petunia said, all in somewhat of a murmur. She kept looking at her freckled sister waiting for an answer and noticed the seriously innocent look in Lily's gaunt face. At that moment, they both realized it was all too real.
They spent the night thinking about the situation. Mr. And Mrs. Evans were delighted to hear that she was a witch and seemed to have no problem accepting it. They both admitted that neither of them had ever had any affiliation with the magical world, but that doctors had never been able to explain certain things about Lily and this all made sense. But to someone this was all too good to be true.
Petunia ran upstairs as soon as dinner was over but her parents nor her sister had noticed that she was missing. They were deeply indulged in conversation about the places to get her school things, but after taking a closer look at her letter they knew the place was Diagon Alley, but how to get there? The talk lasted long into the night and finally Lily said she was going to turn in for the night,. When she walked upstairs she heard some very dulled sobs coming from two doors down. Petunia had been upstairs crying the entire night.
"It's just that you have always been a bit smarter than me and mom and pop have always told me to try to be a little more like you. And now you have become even better than me, it's just not fair! How come you get to be the witch? And worst of all, if you hadn't noticed, you are leaving in ten days. That's ten days left with my sister until we become totally different people! I am gonna miss you so much, but by the way things have gone tonight, I don't think you really care. Who's gonna help me in middle school? You can't just leave, I love you Lils!" Petunia sobbed into the blanket that Lily had wrapped around her.
Sadly enough, these were the last words Petunia said to her sister before she left for Hogwarts. Not even a simple "goodbye", she just left without a word. Of course Lily was excited but, even her new pet Kneazle (something like a cat in the wizarding world who would have thought?) Molly wasn't keeping her company in her lonesome compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Lily was so perplexed by the many wonders of this new world, but having a pet was something that related her back to home. It was a ginger colored kitten with medium silky fur and was constantly curling up in Lily's lap.
