CHAPTER 1: It always starts somewhere

Lily was sitting there in the garden, her hair reflecting the rays of sunlight. Her gaze was lost in the distance. In was a gorgeous summer afternoon and she was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her cheeks. She looked at her hands. They were splattered with paint, the remnants of her feeble attempts to catch the beauty of the woods on a canvas, the Muggle way. She sighed, she just couldn't seem to get the colours right. Her mind wouldn't focus. Next to her was a large manila envelope with her name and address inscribed in glistening emerald ink. She had received it this morning but was strangely impatient and eager to open it but at the same time reluctant to do so. She didn't want the moment to be over so soon.

Most Hogwarts students would have opened it without a second glance or thought but for Lily it was different. This was her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. The school was her home now, it was beautiful in so many ways. Never had she felt so at ease than when she was studying there. The books, the beauty of the campus, the other students. They were like her and she was like them. She was accepted there. Things had changed at home since the summer where she had received news of her admittance. Her mother had been so proud. Lily could remember the daze of confusion she had been in but once her mother had started to grasp the situation, she had made Lily feel so special. Now her father and Petunia had been another issue. Her Dad seemed to eye her with disgust and contempt. Petunia now avoided her and looked at her with fear. Lily had dealt with it so long as she had her mother on her side. But now, with her gone, she felt abandoned and unwanted in her own home.

She was impatient to leave home for good but where would she go. She dreaded opening the envelope. It was her final year. After that, she was on her own.

She squinted to look at her painting, the sunlight blinding her. Completely unsatisfied with her work, she decided there was not point in continuing torturing herself. She picked up the letter. It was than the other ones she had received but she thought she knew why. As she carefully opened it, she grinned. Just as she had thought, the red and gold of the badge gleamed, basking in the sunlight. She took it out and admired it.

- 'Ha, it turns out my hard work did pay off in the end then!'

She was Head Girl. Probably with Remus too, which was good she thought. After all, if she was going to have to share an isolated flat in the middle of the campus, at least she knew Remus would be good to have around. Of course, that meant she would probably have to bare with Potter and Black as well. Her grin slowly transformed itself into a sickened glare for a moment.

She let her thoughts drive her off that nauseating thought. Sadly it was towards another one. Who would be there to congratulate her? She certainly couldn't count on Dad or Petty Petunia to do that. For them, Head Girl would probably make her seem even more plagued. Imagine that, being put in a responsible position by the Wizarding Community was probably the synonym of being declared intoxicated with a deadly virus for them…just no going back.

Lily thought about all that had happened since that 11th of July where she had received that letter

Ms Evelyn Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

So many events had occurred, both amazing and dreadful. She had made amazing friends, among which Norilyn and Cassandra. She giggled as she thought of those two that she would be finally seeing soon! Norilyn was off in the South of France and had apparently fallen in love with a Muggle boy named Pierre on the beach. According to her, he was the 'reincarnation of Adonis' with sandy blond hand and accent that made her die and go to heaven. Knowing Nory, by the end of the summer she would probably either have cast a spell on him (not that she had to…but according to Nory, it was always fun practicing) or end up dating one of his friends. She was like that: a beautiful blonde witch, always falling in and out of love, with a fiery temper, one to match Lily's now that she thought of it, with a fast wit and quick banter. Cassandra was actually the opposite. Cassandra was short and kind of chubby but in an endearing way. Cassandra maintained that chocolate made the world go round and that it was the best remedy to any illness or pain. She was the brains of the group and also the most rational one. She always talked the girls out of their rage phases or when they were about to get into a fight. The truth was Cassandra was quite shy, but when you got to know her, her presence was addictive. She was always joyful and she was always useful to have around when the Marauders were there. Firstly, because Cassandra, who usually stayed silent most of the time around them, had the gift of shooting out one killer sentence that would break their 'I'm in love with myself and I' modes, and second, because she had Sirius and James' total respect ever since she had discovered the secret passageway to the Hogwarts kitchen. (According to her, something about making chocolate deals with the elves that helped her out).

Lily giggled thinking of the two. Those three had been inseparable since their first day at Hogwarts. Lily remembered that day distinctly. The train ride had been long. She had been in the carriage with Sev and she had to listen to him talk about all of the houses and how Slytherin was the best one to be in. She liked Sev talking about Hogwarts but after 3 hours, he tended to get repetitive. Cassandra had saved her in the middle of his monologue by simply stating: "Slytherins are sly, Griffyndors have guts, Ravenclaws have ruse and Hufflepuffs have hope. That's all you need to know and without being rude, I do believe that you have been repeating the same thing since we got on the train. I do hope you get into Slytherin if that is your wish, but for the moment could you please refrain from opening your mouth for a minute so that I can finish reading this chapter."

She had surpressed a giggle when she saw this short, plumpy unabashed girl with a kind smile and admirable poise tell a now shocked, uncomfortable and dismayed Severus off.

Later on, when they had gotten into the boat, a tall blonde had confidently jumped into the boat, shook their hands and pulled them into a hug as if they had known each other for years and had immediately started talking about how she thought there were Eyreels in the water and that if the boats stopped they would topple them over. Nory had then started frantically waving her hands at some distant point in the lake. Needless to say, it was not because of the 'Eyreels' that the boat had turned over. As Nory fell off due to her frantic gestures and frenetic pointing, Lily had jumped in the icy water to grab her. As a result Lily and Nory had entered the Great Hall soaking wet, earning themselves well deserved stares from the entire school. Such a memorable first impression.

Yes, Lily had some great memories. She had been prefect and a top student as well, and after her fifth year, when she had finally started growing into her ears, her hair turned from a carroty auburn to a fiery red with tints of gold and orange, and her body started developing, people started looking at her in a different light. She had earned a lot of respect in Hogwarts and Lily enjoyed the sense of power although she never abused of it.

Yet bad things had happened as well in the past couple of years. It had started with Petunia, they had lost all ability to civilly talk to each other. Petunia had started it after she had gotten rejected from Hogwarts and Lily became more friendly with Severus. It didn't help that her pudgy boyfriend Vernon was the most boring and earthy Muggle ever with no imagination and no patience for anything that didn't have a rational explanation. Then there had been her mom, in fourth year. She had had a heart attack, though Lily always suspected that there was something wrong with the conditions of her death. Lily was the one who had found her, on Christmas eve, lying on the floor, lifeless. Learning to live without her protective mom had been a harsh push into reality for Lily. She had realized she was well alone in the Muggle world now. She certainly couldn't count on any gentleness from the others.

After that, there had been Sev. Severus had always been a good friend, though Lily had also always had an inkling that he was attracted to dark powers and was fascinated by the thought of having power over others. She knew it came from his horrible childhood and his desire to preserve himself against those that wished to harm him. She had accepted that part of him though it had always disturbed her. But the day she caught him with Malfoy, Avery and Bella using the Cruciatus curse on Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, she had been afraid. Afraid of who he had become. She started distancing herself from him. Snape didn't understand of course. Apart from his fellow Slytherins, the only person he respected in the school was Lily though he hated with fire those that she called friends. She had decided to break their final ties that day where he had called her Mudblood. Though he apologised, she had decided to be honest and had told him that she cared for him but that they could no longer be friends. Why had he turned out like that? She had always had a fondness for him albeit the fact that he was in his own way, kind of creepy. He was a smart boy and he had taught her many things about the magical world. He had always been there to comfort her and to whisper those kind words when she thought she would break down. She had always stood up for him when stupid Potter and Black decided to make him the school's laughing stock. But what she didn't understand was that he would pledge alliegance to people who did the exact same thing in much worse degrees to people that had done nothing wrong. He spoke with fervour of the purebloods when he was not one.

Lily sighed. She didn't want to think about Severus. It was painful when she looked back on the issue. It always is when friends go two separate ways.

Right then, a beautiful snowy owl propped himself down on the back of her chair, daintily extending its foot in Lily's direction. She gently untied the letter that was attached there and then hurriedly ripped it open.

HEY LILS!!!!

You'll never guess where I am!

But first before telling you about what I'm doing, I think I'll take a wild shot and congratulate you for being head girl!?! I'm guessing I'm right, right?

Of course, I think it should have been me, seeing as you and Nory are always the ones getting into trouble but I didn't want to make you look bad so I turned the offer down. Joking Lil!

Anyway, after those little congrats, back to my story!

Ok so, as you know Mom and Dad went on their like 5Oth honeymoon…to Paris this time. (lucky gits!) Basically I got stuck with Gilfy. You know him, he decided he wanted nothing better than to go spend our two weeks of freedom at the Potters! Yeah, so here I am, fraternising with the enemy. Lol I know you're probably thinking, poor girl, but actually I've been having a brilliant time so far. Sure James and Sirius are still acting like pompous baboons but they are amusing, I must admit. Apparently Sirius ran out on his parents so he's devoted to getting James' mom to adopt him. Of course Peter's still tagging around as usual.

But my favourite of the Marauders remains Lupin…

Lily I think I might like him. This is a strange feeling. Can we talk about it sometime? Well I'm not gonna continue because we're plotting and trying to find a way to get Peter to go to Dumbledore's house and ask him why he wasn't chosen to be Head Boy! (pff surpressing my giggles and rolling my eyes imagine that, if Peter was Head Boy!)

Muchos besos carina!

Cassy

Lily laughed. Typical Cassy. Cassy was cousins with the Potters which wasn't unusual considering that most pureblood families were related. Her little brother now going on to his 5th year at Hogwarts worshiped the ground Potter walked on. UGH! Potter! That was another issue Lily had trouble with. She was certainly not looking forward to seeing him again. To top it off, if Cassy now had a crush on Remus and she was calling Potter and Black by their names, then it would be all the more difficult for her to avoid them.

'Triple bullocks' she thought. 'Potter won't let me be as it is, I'm going to have to hex him if he asks me out again…that or…' And as per usual her thoughts drifted away to all the possible jinxes or plans she could muster in her machiavellic brain to, once and for all, have Potter to exit her life!

It had been two years that prat had made her life hell. Potter was everything that she hated. For some strange reason, one day he had taken an apparent liking of harassing her into going on a date with him. And it hadn't stopped since. And he did it with so much arrogant confidence. You'd think the moron could take a hint she thought. Because of him, most of the girls in the school wouldn't talk to her and if they did, Lily was certain they'd be bitching behind her back two minutes later.

Now Lily was a confident girl, she knew she had brains and could understand that someone would like her. But what she didn't get was why someone who could get any other girl in the school would continually ask the same girl out knowing well what her answer would be. Granted, it was probably the fact she wouldn't say yes that got Potter going. In fact, Lily had a feeling that in fact, he probably didn't care about her at all. He just couldn't stand not having his way.

What she didn't understand was what had happened all of a sudden. Considering that per year, each house had 5 boys and 5 girls, obviously they had known each other since first year then. But they had never been close. Potter didn't have girl friends. Probably thought he didn't need them. They were just prey and he was the hunter. Ok not as back as Black who was reputated for his uncanny ability to have 5 girls going at once, but still. Granted, Potter wasn't ugly, he was even handsome some could say, with jet-black hair that lazily dangled there, as if it everything naturally fit into place around him. He had also grown into a Quidditch player's body. His sloppy style made it seem as though he didn't have a care in the world. In fact, Lily wondered if he did. He was reckless, juvenile, arrogant. Argh! Just thinking about him got her angry. She had gotten caught up in his pranks so many times.

When had it changed?…she racked her brains but couldn't think of it.

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"You don't get it Padfoot! It's not like that with her! Yeah, I'm not going to be the one to deny that she's hot, but that's not it!" James hit Sirius over the head with a shovel.

They were all lazing around on the fake beach next to the Potters' pool. Remus had fallen asleep on the sand and James had decided to build a mountain over his sleeping friend. While Sirius and James shovelled, Peter sat there giggling, obviously admiring the 'wit' of his two friends.

James was pondering what exactly there was about Evans that he liked so much. Even Sirius didn't get it, and they were usually connected like Siamese twins, always on the same level!

"Well mate, all I'm saying is you're wasting your time. There are 19 other girls in our year, we said by the end of school we'd have gone out with all of them, expect for those Slytherin cows of course! You're making me do all the bloody work. Actually, come to think of it, I'm kind of glad without the competition", he grinned and rumpled up his hair with a cheeky look.

James humpfed and replied "Get off your high horses Black, I was well ahead of you before that fiery goddess came along."

He smiled thinking how easy it had been before Lily. He didn't know why but it had just been so simple. With Sirius, Remus and Wormtail at his side, they had created the mischievious Marauders. He was having fun and by disobeying the rules, he had gotten a reputation. Soon enough, the girls were after him. He sighed, it HAD been so easy. But easy wasn't Evans. James racked his head. What was it that he did that she couldn't bare being in his presence for more than two minutes?

Well, he had known Lily since the first day of course. Granted, their first encounter hadn't been great, he vaguely remembered their first day at Hogwarts. He had instantly befriended Sirius and Remus in the train and during the sorting he sat at the Griffyndor table waiting for Sirius to come over, already having plotted a little trick. He giggled remembering. He had found one of those great muggle inventions, you know, that cushion that makes embarassing sounds when you sit on it. He was sure Sirius wouldn't guess what it was, considering that he, like himself, was pureblood and wasn't often in contact with muggle artefacts. So James was sitting there, grinning from ear to ear, when Evans was called over and started sitting down next to him. The whole hall fell silent at she took her seat. Her face flushed to the colour of her hair. At the time, James hadn't been too fussed. Of course he apologised and everything.

No Lily had always been there in his life, at least in the background. But it was in year 5 that she had become The One. He remembered it distinctly. He had been on the Quidditch pitch with the boys, fooling around on the first day back. Norilyn was there too, talking with Remus on the sidelines, supposedly about an assignment but James suspected that it had more to do with Sirius than anyone else. Someone was walking towards them, their face hidden by the books they were carrying. Not really paying attention, James continued playing with the Snitch when he had heard Sirius shout: 'HEY JAMES, CATCH THIS BITCH!' and had directed a stunningly hard quaffle in his direction. James, caught off guard, only witnessed the Quaffle flying past him at incredible speed, heading straight for the person walking towards them.

Lily had heard the noise of something pelting through the air, whistling because of its speed. For some reason unknown to her, she had dropped her books and put her hands in front of her face to protect herself. As a result, she caught the Quaffle with her hands, not on purpose. James and Sirius meanwhile had rapidly flown over, mortified by the idea of what could have happened, James hitting Sirius for throwing a ball so hard.

And then, it had happened. The spectacular save first, and then the girl who had caught the ball lowered her hands to reveal her face. Beautiful red hair blowing gently in the wind, reflecting the sunlight, piercing emerald eyes filled with surprise, intelligence and kindness, skin of pearl and satin, tall and beautifully sculpted feminine features. James' jaw had dropped. When he heard a delicate voice say 'Is this your ball?' in their direction, he fell off his broom. What had happened to Lily Evans??? How had she transformed into this raging beauty.

James had laid there, strewn on the floor when she shot him an ugly look, evidently thinking the Quaffle had been directed towards her on purpose. She nudged Potter with her foot and then said 'He dead then? Finally something good has happened today!' and then she walked off towards Norilyn.

And that was when James knew, he had to have her.