Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter, but I love her wizarding world. Re-edited 09-16-2011.
Love Never Ends
By Aepple
Chapter 1: A Kindred Hollow
Lily Evans stared out the window of the train. She could see her green eyes as they reflected in the window, where she also saw the blue eyes of her sister, Petunia. Petunia's eyes bored into Lily's lap, where the book Mysteries of Gringotts lay unopened. Lily brought it in preparation for her summer internship at Gringotts Bank in London, where she would work with the Ministry of Magic's Department of International Cooperation. At the recommendation of Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore both the ministry and the goblins had agreed to give Lily this position. Lily excelled at charms, a strength that when carefully focused could be used for the greater good of both the ministry and the goblins.
She would be allowed into Gringotts, an honor that excited her. With all of its charms, enchantments, and spells, Gringotts fascinated Lily more than even Hogwarts. She repeatedly had questioned Professors Dumbledore, Flitwick, and Slughorn about the enchantments guarding Hogwarts and gained a far greater perspective than she could have from any book. To question, discuss, and interact with the creators of such old and rich magic fascinated Lily deeply. If Lily could understand the goblins and their works better, maybe she could protect the goblins and herself from Lord Voldemort and his death eaters' deadly rampage against all but pure-born wizards.
Her sister, oblivious to the war, sat angrily transfixed by Lily's book… by Lily's abilities, by Lily's life. Her anger manifested itself as hate and disdain. She did not want Lily to come with her to Godric's Hollow. She did not want Lily to meet Vernon & his family. She did not want Lily to scare away her one chance for happiness, for a life away from the torture of being inferior. Petunia felt hurt by her parents' love for her sister. They incessantly bragged about Lily's high marks, about the honor Lily brought to the family name, and about Lily's summer internship. They didn't brag about Petunia. How could they possibly love her too?
Petunia didn't understand her parents' love. She didn't understand a love that began between enemies, grew into friendship, and blossomed into love. When her mother met her father, he called her carrots, which instilled a fiery anger in her, similar to Petunia's anger, that would not be repelled until her father's love had quenched it. His love transformed whatever it touched, but appeared slow, steady, and stabile, which is why even Lily wanted the opposite.
Both Petunia and Lily wanted whirlwind fairytale romances. They wanted a knight on horseback to rescue them from a fire breathing dragon, a Romeo to sing them sonnets beneath their balcony, a warm hand to hold through life's storms, to run into their lovers arms after spending just two weeks apart, men who would happily watch them sleep, and for both of them to just know that it was meant to be. It is true, that is also what their mother wanted, but as their mother always told them, 'Love isn't as simple as it is in fairy tales. It's far more complicated. You can never tell the beginning from the end.'
Petunia had gotten their wish, her fairy tale with Vernon Dursley. He pursued her from the beginning with a single rose on her locker. He was her knight on a white horse, ready and willing to take her away. She would meet his family again on this trip. He would present her with a ring, his grandmother's ring, at the old Dursley family home in Godric's Hollow. They would plan for a summer wedding, and after graduation ride off into the sunset, away from her parents, away from Lily, away from all traces of magic.
Lily had begged Petunia to take her with her just this once to meet the Vernon's family. She asked for no more, just one day with Petunia, Vernon, and his parents, and then she'd leave in the morning. In part she wanted to put enchantments on the house and to protect Petunia and Vernon from anyone that might try to harm them. In part she wanted to say her farewells to her sister. In part she wanted to get away from Spinner's End and her proximity to Severus Snape. She remembered too many good times there before he abandoned her. She would spend one night in Godric's Hollow, and leave Sunday afternoon for London.
Lily must have drifted further into thought, because as the train's whistle blew, she jumped, back to her seat on the train, back to the blue eyes staring at her book. As the train screeched to a halt, Lily and Petunia quickly picked up their stuff and set off for the platform. Petunia, looking from left to right, dropped all of her stuff as she ran and jumped onto a short chubby gentleman with sandy hair. That was Vernon Dursley, the lucky owner of one of the Evans' hearts. The two exchanged kisses and a few tears, as Lily grabbed, and wobbly pushed, Petunia's things with her own through the station.
Arriving at the Dursley's home, the air smelled of rain and freshly mowed grass. Lily saw, a street lined with large trees, and ancient homes. The Dursley's house stood in the midst of giant vibrant green trees and what appeared to be a trail that interlaced between the homes and the forest. Beneath the awes and coos of Vernon and Petunia, a large home near the street's end drew Lily's attention.
"Who lives there?" Lily asked. The home stood three stories high, nearly all brick and stone with the prettiest red plum trees she had ever seen that wrapped around the house and etched into the forest.
"An older family," Vernon replied. "They've lived there for centuries. They're rather quiet though. Their son, around our age, goes to some boarding school up the coast. It's only noisy when he's home. He brings his friends, your sort of lot, pretty odd people, I'd say," he continued.
Lily wondered if once again she had found friends, schoolmates, so close to the Muggle world.
"Let's not talk about them when we're with your family," Petunia said.
Exchanging a weakening kiss with his sweetheart, Vernon muttered, "Okay, okay."
As Vernon and Petunia quickly left to settle their things in their rooms on the second floor, Lily happily introduced herself to Vernon's parents, who were older, much like the home, both with varying degrees of graying hair. Both had retired as professors of architecture and Lily immediately felt a strong kinship. She would have her own studio in the attic that they had designed for special guests. Vernon had arranged this fearing from Petunia's stories that Lily was capable of anything, and should be kept out of the way, but kindly treated. The attic suited Lily just fine as she had great views of both the mansion up the street & the forest, access to the roof to set her protective enchantments, and an ample supply of old architecture books about building structures, designs, and elements of style from a muggle perspective.
Lily spent the afternoon in the attic setting protective charms, and observing the mansion up the street. At dinner her curiosity got the better of her. "The house at the end of the street looks quite different from the other houses in the neighborhood," she started.
"It's one of the oldest in the neighborhood. It's been around for centuries, but modified over time," Mr. Dursley said.
"When we have our house, we're going to move into a neighborhood where the houses all look the same," Vernon said as an aside to Petunia.
"I didn't mean to imply that there is anything wrong with being different," Lily said.
"In actuality it's quite the same structure as the other house, but at times the trees give it the appearance that it's different," Mr. Dursley continued, "the trees at the end of the street are quite different from the ones here. If you have time, you should go look at them. The trail around back wraps around the neighborhood and ends behind that house at a park."
"I think I will. Thank you for the suggestion," Lily said. Her senses told her that wizards owned the house surrounded by the purple trees, that they had enchanted the trees, and that to ward off muggles they had charmed the environment around the house, but she needed to know for sure. Never prone to trouble, but always ready for investigations, after dinner Lily determined she would walk up the road, break through their concealment charm, and introduce herself.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter, but I love her wizarding world.