Well, a personal challenge to me to write and post the idea that's been rattling around in my head for years. Which is, along with the headcannons embedded in this fic, the only thing I own.
"Mum, remind me why we're doing this?" Lily asked, rather proud of the amount of sheer annoyance she didn't let leak into her voice.
"Because we have new neighbors and it's polite to bring a welcome gift when someone new comes into the neighborhood, Lily Jane," her mother responded somewhat exasperatedly. "Honestly, Petunia never complains about meeting new people. It's not like it's the end of the world to be a little friendly."
That's because Petunia is as much a nosy gossip as you are, Lily thought. She sighed and readjusted her grip on the basket full of homemade jelly. It wasn't that she didn't want to meet the new neighbors; almost no one moved to Cokeworth, so it was always an exciting prospect, but she didn't appreciate getting dragged along on her mum's scheme to learn their every last dirty secret. She didn't even know their last name, for heaven's sake, she had barely come off the Hogwarts Express yesterday.
"Now, remember, dear, they've got a son about your age, so it won't be all bad. You might even make a new friend!" her mum said brightly as the approached the new neighbor's rather squalid-looking home. It was in the river district, nearer to Sev's house than hers, and had been recently bought after years of being abandoned. According to her mother, the couple who had moved in must be repairing the inside of the home before the outside, an assumption Lily found she could absolutely agree with after seeing the state of the place.
Knocking on the door, Lily and her mum waited for the people within to answer; after a few minutes, the door creaked open (they both flinched at the obnoxious noise the door hinge made) and a slight woman with soft brown hair appeared. She frowned slightly, confused. "May I help you?"
Her mum beamed at the woman, eyes flashing to take in her fraying blue dress and rather worn-looking shoes. "Hello there! I'm Peggy Evans, this is my daughter Lily, we live just over the way and thought we'd pop in to say hello and bring you a gift to welcome you to the neighborhood!"
The woman's mouth fell open slightly as Lily presented her with the basket, giving a counterfeit grin and wishing she could be anywhere else. "Uh, well, thank you. I— thank you, Mrs. Evans. I'm Hope, it's good to meet you." She had a slight Welsh accent, but nothing more distinct. She wasn't all that remarkable looking; a pretty face past its prime, her mother would have called it. The beginnings of lines were present in between her eyebrows and as she moved the sunlight caught a few grey hairs intermixed in the brown.
"Oh, dear! Let me help you with that," Peggy said. She caught the drooping end of the basket, helping Hope to balance it, and proceeded to insist on helping to carry it in, despite her protests.
Lily followed behind her mother, looking apologetically at Hope, and helped her settle the heavy basket on the ratty coffee table in the middle of the front room. Peggy huffed, and continued to grin at Hope. "I know how heavy one of those things can get. Near impossible for just one woman to lift herself sometimes, aren't they?"
"I suppose." Hope's words were quiet, and she looked at them in worry and —was Lily just imagining it, or was it really there?— a little fear. Seeming to come to a conclusion, Hope bit her bottom lip and asked shakily if they wanted any tea.
"Oh, yes, dear, that'd be amazing wouldn't it, Lily?" her mum said, settling down on a sofa behind her and gesturing for Lily to join her.
"Would you like any help, ma'am?" she said instead. But Hope shook her head and motioned for her to sit by her mother. "It's fine, I've already got some water that's hot."
She bustled into the kitchen, leaving Lily to glare at her mother in peace. Peggy pretended not to notice, and surveyed the room with mounting interest instead. The state of the coffee table seemed to match everything else in the room; cleaned and well-cared for, but chipped, frayed, or patched in ways that spoke of being kept for far longer than it was meant to be used.
Hope reappeared, clutching three mugs of water with tea bags sticking out of them. "I hope Earl Gray is alright?" she said softly, handing the pair of them a mug apiece. They were chipped as well, but sparkling clean and the tea was incredible.
Lily sipped hers slowly. Her mother, however, barely drank any of her drink, instead chattering about the neighborhood to a quiet Hope. "Now, Hope, I must ask, what brought you here to Cokeworth? Not many decide to come here, not unless they mean to work at the factory."
"My husband and I needed a new living situation. Our son wasn't doing very well where we had been before."
"Oh, a son? How old?"
"Fifteen this past March."
"Really? My Lily turned fifteen in January."
Hope smiled at Lily. "How exciting. I suppose you're enjoying being fifteen?"
"It doesn't really seem that different from fourteen to be honest, ma'am."
A clatter arose from the doorway to the kitchen and a thin, lanky boy appeared. "Mum! Did you want the pans in the cupboard— Lily?"
Shock ran through her entire body as if someone had just pressed a defibrillator to her chest. "Remus? What the bloody—"
"LILY!" her mother yelped, aghast at her daughter's language.
Lily ignored her mother, asking again, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here. What are— do you live here as well?" Remus looked honestly confused, but Lily was suddenly wary of a pie being thrown at her face. Not that Remus was prone to doing stupid things without Potter or Black's influence, but if this was a prank that was targeting her in her home town…heads. Would. Roll. As such, her confirming words were spoken with a certain amount of suspicion that seemed to confuse Remus even further.
"Remus?" Hope's voice seemed to shake him out of his stupor.
"Oh…uh, Mum, this is Lily Evans, Lily, this is my mother."
Lily froze for the second time in so many minutes. It felt as though someone had upended a bucket on ice water on her head; this was his mother— the one who was constantly sick and who needed him to come home every couple months, even when he was up at Hogwarts. The dilapidated house and state of the furniture suddenly made sense; the Muggle government might give their citizens free healthcare, but the Ministry of Magic didn't and who knew how expensive St. Mungo's could get after repeated use?
The realization left her rather numb as Remus and his mother kept speaking.
"Lily Evans? The name sounds familiar…"
"She's the one who takes notes for me in Charms, Mum. I've written about her…"
"Oh, yes. Lily. Top in the class besides James and Sirius, yes?"
Lily mentally shook herself. "I think that might go to Remus, actually, Mrs. Lupin," she said with a smile only a little less fake than the one she had originally greeted the woman with.
Mrs. Lupin smiled back and Remus ducked his head, embarrassed. "Lily…"
"What? It's true."
"Not really, I mean—"
"Hope, don't tell me we suffer from the same horrible affliction to our family!" Her mother interjected, laughing. Both Hope and Remus flinched, a certain look of horror coming over their features before her mother continued. "An overly humble child!" Lily could have smacked her.
Peggy laughed, and Mrs. Lupin smiled shakily. "Honestly, I can never get anything out of her regarding how well she's doing in class, it's all about her friends and some group of troublemakers in her year," she continued, even as Remus stayed tense. "Oh, this is such fun to be able to talk about Lily's school with someone! There's only Lily and that Snape boy who're wizards in this town, and if you haven't found out already, dear" —her voice dropped in volume and she leaned in closer to Hope's white face— "that boy's mother— horrible woman. Can barely carry on a conversation with her."
"I haven't done much socializing," Hope admitted.
"No? Oh, you would love out Book Club, I can just feel it. Do you like books?"
"Yes, but—"
"Splendid! Right now we're reading this wonderful book called Tuck Everlasting, it's a children's book, actually, about a family—"
"Peggy, I'm afraid I have to say no." Hope's simple refusal knocked the wind out of her mother's tirade. "We don't know how long we'll be staying here, after all, and I wouldn't want to make a commitment I couldn't keep."
Remus shifted awkwardly behind his mother, his hand crossing his chest to rest on his opposite elbow. "You could, Mum," he muttered, then asked louder, "How often are the meetings, Mrs. Evans?"
"Remus—"
"Oh, just once a month. Nothing more than that."
"Mum—"
"Remus." For the first time, Hope's tone was sharp. She softened as her son glanced down at the floor not saying anything further. She turned back to Peggy, decorating her face with a beatific smile. "Thank you for the offer, Peggy, but, like I said, I don't think it would be a very good idea."
Her mother nodded; her eyes were narrowed suspiciously at Remus, who still hadn't looked up from the ground, and she smiled without it matching in her eyes. "Of course, dear, it's no bother."
"Now, I hope you don't mind, but we still have a lot to do before my husband gets home for the night…"
"Oh, of course, let us get out of your hair. Come on, Lily."
The two of them made their way out the front door, accompanied by many kind-hearted goodbyes and promises of a future visits exchanged between the three women. Remus's eyes still hadn't left the floor.
To be fair, this is the first serious thing I've posted in years, so I'd prefer constructive criticism to straight-up insults. If you'd be so kind...?