Hey guys. I know I usually do One Shots, but I've been thinking lately. I'm going to start a Lily/James Era series. This fic will be first year. This is Lily and James through the years, installment one. I hope you enjoy.

(Disclaimer: I am not the queen, I am not god, I am not a billionaire, and I am not perfect, so obviously I am not J.K. Rowling and I am not the owner of the Harry Potter franchise. Sorry.)

-AbracaDarby

An owl was perching on the branch outside of Lily Evans' window when she woke up on the third of June. Immediately, she knew. This was the owl that Severus had told her about. A wild grin spread across her face. "Mum!" She yelled. "Dad!" She could hear her parents urgent footsteps. Maybe she should not have sounded so desperate. Her mum probably thought she had broken her leg or something. In fact, her dad had most likely already called the hospital.

"Lily, sweetie, what's wrong?" Her mum said frantically as she swung open the door to her daughter's room. "Are you hurt? Are you sick?" Lily rolled her eyes back into her head.

"No," She said. Her mum sighed and slumped against the door.

"What is it then?" Lily giggled. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much.

"Look!" She said, making a grand gesture towards the window. Her dad stared. He looked confused for a moment.

"Is that..." He stepped warily nearer to the owl. "Is that a snowy owl?" Lily nodded so hard she thought her head would fall off. "We don't get snowy owls around here. We only ever get barn owls." Lily nodded again. Her dad scratched his head, then his entire face brightened up.

Lily grinned at her parents. "Look what it's holding, Mum! Look!" She skipped towards the window, opened it, and the owl flew onto her nightstand. Her mum's eyes grew light. "Mum! It's the owl Sev told me about!" She yelped, stroking the owl's feathers.

Suddenly, Petunia walked into the room. "What is all the bloody racket about?" She groaned. She looked up and saw the owl. "Is that..." She trailed off. "Is that an owl?" She questioned.

"Tuney!" Shrieked Lily. "Look! I got the letter that Severus told me about!" She said, her grin plastered on her face. Petunia glared at her.

"Lily, nobody cares about your crack-pot magician school. It's stupid. Magic isn't real, you dummy." She stormed off to her room. Lily looked momentarily hurt. She sat on her bed, still stroking the owl. Her mum looked nervously at her dad.

"Look, sweetie." She said to Lily. "Why don't you go over to the park with Severus and talk to him? Don't mind Petunia, I'll talk to her."

"Okay," said Lily. She grabbed her letter. On the way out, she looked around to make sure that nobody was watching her, and then she pressed a small kiss onto the parchment and giggled. She was beyond excited.

She knocked on Severus' door. Luckily for her, he opened the door rather than one of his parents. She didn't like either of them much. "Severus!" She said happily. "I got my letter!" The dark haired boy's gloomy expression completely lit up.

"That's brilliant, Lily!" He said, hugging her. They walked to the park, chatting of everything. They spoke of what Hogwarts was like. "You'd better be in Slytherin," Said Severus. Lily looked at him curiously.

"Are you sure Slytherins are the best, Sev?" The boy nodded furiously. "And you're sure that it doesn't matter that my mum and my dad are muggles?" Severus hesitated before nodding again, with a little less intensity. She grinned. "Do you promise that we'll stay best friends at Hogwarts?" She asked nervously.

"Of course!" Replied Severus quickly. Lily smiled, not noticing the guilty look on her best friend's face. She looked at him sadly.

"Petunia hates me," She said simply. Severus looked at her curiously.

"Why on earth would anyone hate you?" He asked, a look of genuine curiosity on his face. Then, realizing what he had said and internally slapping himself, he blushed furiously. In an attempt to save himself, he stuttered out, "I mean, you're so nice, and, uh, friendly." Lily hardly noticed his blunder.

"I don't know, Sev." She said, a look of sadness on her face. "She calls me a freak. She says that she doesn't want to be near a freak." Her bottom lip started trembling, and for a moment she was afraid she was going to cry. "Am I a freak, Severus?" She asked. He stared at her, shocked. They had gotten to the park and were sitting side my side on the swings. She pushed off of the ground as tears started to fall down her face. She didn't want her friend to see her cry.

"You're not a freak, Lily." Said Severus quietly but intensely. He pushed off of the ground as well and started swing back and forth, in a pattern opposite his friend's. "The majority of the world has some magical blood in them. Your sister's the freak." Lily glared at him.

"Don't say bad things about my sister!" She yelled. It was not the first time her best friend had insulted her big sister. She knew that he didn't like her, and she even knew why, but still, she did not like it when people talked badly about her sister and tried to call them out on it every time. She knew that Petunia would do the same for her. She hoped that Petunia would do the same for her. For the next two hours until Lily's mother came to get her, they sat swinging in silence.

On the first of August, it was time. Her mum was finally taking her to go shopping for school supplies. She had woken up at five-thirty that morning, which was quite impressive for someone who had to usually be dragged out of bed before noon. She tried to be patient, she honestly did, but by six o'clock, she was in her mum's room, jumping on the bed. "It's time to go! It's time to go!" She mum rolled over.

"Wait until at least eight." Her mum sighed. "You can go make breakfast and get yourself dressed. Lily groaned as she walked down the stairs to the kitchen. She cracked two eggs into a pan and waited for them to fry. She then made two pieces of bacon and poured a glass of orange juice. She wolfed down her meal, and bolted up the stairs, ignoring her sister's desperate cries for her to "Shut the bloody hell up!"

She had to look absolutely perfect. She had to impress the other magic people. She selected a pair of beige slacks and a blue jumper. She brushed her hair out which immediately went all frizzy. She didn't mind, though. She was just excited to go checked the clock on her wall, expecting it to be almost eight. 6:14. She huffed loudly, sat on her bed, and read the letter over and over and over until it was time.

The Leaky Cauldron... The Leaky Cauldron... Her eyes rested on a old and worn-down looking restaurant. "Mum!" She cried out. "I've found it!" She took her mother's hand and ran right over to the place. She ran inside. A group of older men sat at the bar. She walked right up to one of them, despite her mother's protests.

"'Scuse me," She said politely. "Could you please tell me how to get to.. to..." She pulled out her sheet. "Diagon Alley?"

The man chuckled a bit. "Firs' year, huh? Hogwarts?" Lily nodded enthusiastically. "Follow me," He said. He took her out the back door and showed her a brick wall. Lily's mother's eyes crinkled a bit.

"Is this a joke?" She asked. "Is this some sort of sick prank?" The man only grinned in response. He started tapping bricks with what must have been his wand- from the trash can, three up and two across. The wall opened up, a small hole at first, then a large archway into a grand looking village.

"Welcome," He said, "to Diagon Alley." Lily stepped through the archway in awe, still grasping tightly on her mother's hand.

"Oh," She whispered. She turned to thank the man, but he was already gone.

"Alright!" Lily's mum said after they had been to Gringotts (which was an experience that Lily did not enjoy - the goblins scared her). "What's first on your list?" Lily grabbed her sheet of paper that came with the letter.

"Three sets of plain black work robes, and a pointed hat from Madame Malkins." She excitedly ran off to the little shop, her mum following closely behind. After buying the clothes, some books, and some other supplies, she raced to the store called Ollivander's to buy a magic wand. She was almost out of wizard money. She bolted into the little shop. Moments later, her mother followed suit. The little girl looked around the room with wide eyes. Stacks of boxes and papers were lined up against the walls. A low, hoarse voice snapped her out of her daze.

"First year at Hogwarts, then?" She turned to see the source of the voice, a rough, dirty-looking man with silvery eyes. Before she could answer, he said, "As I expected. What's your name, then?"

"L-Lily." She said. "Lily Evans."

"Your wand arm?" At her puzzled look, he added, "The hand you write with."

"Oh." She said. "Um, my left." The man waved his own wand at a tape measure, and started measuring her. He recorded the measurements as the tape measure did the work all on it's own.

"Try this one," he said, handing her a wand. She held it in her hand. "Well, give it a little wave." She waved it around a bit, feeling ridiculously foolish. Suddenly, the flowers in the pot on his desk withered up and died. "I guess not," He muttered. "Try this one. Dragon heartstring and oak. Eight and a half inches long." She waved it, and six of the stacks of boxes fell over. "No, no." He said. He seemed quite troubled. "I've got it!" He exclaimed, making Lily jump a little. "Ten and a quarter inches, willow, and unicorn hair. Quite swishy, and rather good for charms work. Try it out, Miss Evans."

The moment she held the wand in her hand, she felt it. A warm, tingling sensation throughout her entire body, a feeling of wind around her. She waved the wand slightly, and the entire room lit up. Her mother gasped. "Oh, Lily..." Lily was at a loss for words. Mr. Ollivander grinned creepily.

"Nine galleons and four sickles, please." Lily handed him the money and walked out, still in awe. She and her mum chatted until they got to the ice cream parlor.

"May I please have an ice cream, Mum?" She asked politely, flashing her big doe eyes.

"Of course, Sweet Pea." Her mother handed her half of what was left of her money, and Lily walked inside. She bought herself a small vanilla ice cream with chopped nuts, and was about to head outside when a boy stepped in with his father. He had messy black hair and rectangular glasses, and was quite tall.

"Dad, can I have a really big one?" He asked. Lily groaned inwardly. It was correct grammar to say may I, and he didn't even say please. She walked out to her mum, and they walked through the town, Lily licking at her ice cream. At last, the came to the animal shop. Lily glanced at her mum.

"Fine," Her mother said. "But you are going to be completely out of money." Lily cheered and raced in. Her mum stayed behind, because cats made her sneeze. She looked around for an affordable pet, and when her eyes came to rest on a beautiful bird, she knew.

She only had six knuts left in her pocket when she walked out of the store with a beautiful, brown barred owl in a cage and a bag of owl pellets. Her mother sighed.

"Your father is going to flip when he sees this," She said. Lily only laughed in response, and she stroked her new friend all the way home.