Of Muggles and Magic

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A/N: This will be a three part story, all about Lily and in the last part it will be L/J. Each part covers a different moment in Lily's life. This one takes place when she was twelve, just retuning from her first year at Hogwarts. Please review, even if you didn't like it or you didn't care. Most of all, enjoy! This story is a re-posting. It was previously posted under my ff.net name, Aimslee.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the Harry Potter books, this is just for fun. I'm making absolutely no money off this. I take no credit. Harry Potter does belong to J.K Rowling and Warner Brothers though.

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Hundreds of noisy students debarked the Hogwarts Express, eager to meet their families and have their summer vacation commence. Lily Evans stood in the midst of the ecstatic chaos, scanning the crowds, and searching for her parents and her sister.

Finally, she caught sight of her mother's dark auburn head, and her father close by. "Mom! Dad! Over here!" She waved frantically as her parents made their way over. She smiled brightly at the sight of them, but for some reason she felt there was a missing piece. Something was off, and it made her feel uneasy.

She dropped her trunk and bag then jumped up to embrace her mother. Lily let go of the embrace, and her mother put her arm around Lily's shoulder. A puzzled look came over her face. "Lily, you're wet."

Lily's expression changed, just as her mother's had, but to that of extreme dislike. "Some boys decided the only fit way to finale their first year at Hogwarts was to soak every student and teacher as they left the school."

Her mother smiled and her father simply nodded. The three headed to the exit, all of her school things in tow. Lily continued on, explaining the entire scheme that included training the giant squid, the slippery surface charm and of course, dungbombs. Her Dad seemed preoccupied, even as they approached the small family car.

"Boys?" Her dad asked. "Already?"

Lily gave her dad a reassuring smile. "Yes, they do exist, even at Hogwarts."

Her dad looked unconvinced.

"Don't worry, I would never be interested in James, Sirius, Remus or Peter." A further moment of a quick thinking led Lily to quickly add, "Eww."

Just then, Lily noticed something; her sister Petunia hadn't come to meet her. No wonder something was amiss, her sister was missing. Lily tried not to feel too disappointed, but she hadn't seen Petunia since the summer before. Petunia had been off at summer camp when Lily had gotten her acceptance letter, and Lily was forced to leave without even saying goodbye. The worst part was, for some reason unknown to Lily, her sister hadn't written once all year. Her parents had assured her Petunia was alright, but they couldn't explain her behaviour.

Lily asked her parents about Petunia as they climbed into the car. "At home." Her mother explained.

"I guess she was a little intimidated by your, um, magical ability." Her Dad finished lamely. A silence formed as her Dad started the car, and began the long drive home.

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Near the end of the extremely uneventful trip, Lily was excited, even to the point of bordering on hyper. First, before anything else, she had to see Petunia, and tell her the highlights of her year. She couldn't wait to see Petunia's face when she told her about flying on brooms, and casting spells and touching a real, live unicorn.

I can see it now, she imagined as she got out of the car, she'll have so many questions! And the look on her face when I tell her about all the different people, she loves other people's business. Even a few guilty thoughts flew through Lily's mind, I can't wait to see how jealous she'll be.

Nearly flying into the house, Lily forgot about the luggage and left it with her parents. "Petunia!" She hollered when she stepped inside. No answer. Again, "Petunia, I got back!" Silence.

Lily huffed and slid off her shoes. Maybe her sister was taking a nap. She raced up the stairs, rushing to her sister's bedroom. She threw open the door, and looked in.

Her sister was sitting on her perfectly neat bed, completely awake. In fact, she was reading a romance novel. Lily felt a twinge of annoyance, but it was soon dispelled, because she was home, and her sister was with her.

Before Lily could manage to say anything, her sister began, "Knock, would you?" It was in a cold and sneering voice Lily had rarely heard out of her sister before. Surprised, and slightly apprehensive, Lily took a step back.

"Sorry," Lily said softly. What was Petunia was playing? Did something bad just happen? Lily's mind raced to explain the strange behaviour. Petunia must have had a boyfriend break up with her or something. Well, she was home, she could help. After all, Petunia was her sister.

"Did you hear me?" Lily inquired.

"I think the entire street did." Petunia answered, then she returned to her book. Lily was taken aback. What do I do? She bit her lip and hovered in the doorway a bit. Finally, her decision made, Lily got up on the bed and sat next to her.

Petunia gave her a glare that nearly killed and let out a little yelp. Had Lily heard fear? Petunia struggled to quickly get off the bed, before Lily could touch her. She stood, a few feet away, looking at Lily as though she was a hungry vampire, or worse.

It seemed that at that moment, the room, the house and even the rest of the world started to collapse, trapping the two in the centre of the rubble. Lily felt hot tears spring forward, and her entire body began to shake. She looked up at her sister, who was now standing next to the bed, novel forgotten. Lily met her gaze and saw absolute revulsion.

"I-I'm sorry." Lily tried desperately. Why was her sister doing this?

"Don't you dare touch me, you freak." Her sister threatened, her voice low.

Lily looked at her sister, for any indication why she was receiving this hate. This is why she didn't write me letter, she hates me now. Lily felt more tears surface. What did I do?

"Lily!" Her father was calling from the main floor. "Come get your things!"

Petunia looked away, and stared instead at her wall. Lily got off the bed, and headed for the door, letting her gaze linger on her sister. She hates me, she hates, she hates me, ran over and over in Lily's head as she went downstairs to get her things. Everything had changed.

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Dinner that night was terrible. Lily and Petunia sat at different sides of the table, their parents sensing the tension, and trying to make conversation. Unfortunately, that was far more difficult than Lily could have ever imagined. The first try was by her mother, as they all sat down.

"Potatoes, please." She had asked. Lily gave them to her and then her mother continued on. "So, what did you eat for dinner at Hogwarts?"

Immediately, Petunia stopped chewing her pasta. The entire room seemed to freeze, as her Mom quickly discovered what all the hostility was about.

"Nothing special." Lily said quickly, looking intently at her carrots.

It was fifteen minutes of questions, ranging from exams, to friends, to favourite colours. Not one question was centred solely at Lily again. The two girls answered them all in one sentence, or less, bringing the silence back.

"Any particular teachers that gave you a hard time?" It was her father who asked this question.

"No." Petunia snarled.

Lily couldn't resist, she had waited a long time to tell everyone about Hogwarts. To heck with Petunia's resentment. "Yes, there was Professor Malkom, he taught Potions, and he was particularly nasty."

Her parents smiled, Petunia looked like she was going to hurl the potatoes at Lily's face. Lily kept going. "In May, Sirius Black, this troublemaker in my class, was going to put Jarvey toenails into James Potter's cauldron. It would have just turned it a gross shade of green, for an inside joke, but Professor Malkom got so angry. He made the entire class write an essay on the "dangers of interfering with another's brew" and it had to be 3 1/2 feet long!"

Lily stopped for breath and realised that Petunia was ready to kill. Her jaw was tight, and her eyes were darting angrily back and forth. An unbecoming sneer seemed to make her entire face contort into that of an awful looking goblin. Good, Lily found herself thinking, If Petunia wants to make me miserable I have every right to return the favour. She glanced at her parents, who seemed to want to hear what happened. So she continued on.

"Then he gave Sirius detention, but it was during the Quidditch game, and that was just cruel. So Arabella and I decided-" The table gave a lurch as Petunia abruptly shoved her chair backwards and got up. She had in her hands the half eaten remains of her dinner. Then she started towards the sink, to put it away no doubt. Just as she passed Lily though, she let the contents of the plate slide into Lily's hair, and all over her clothing.

Lily jumped up too, but not without knocking her knee on the edge of the table. She was aware of her tears returning, and along with them a feeling of rage she never had felt before. She looked desperately at her parents, to do something.

"Oops." Petunia said in a calm, infuriating voice. Lily looked at her sister, then to her parents again. From their expressions, they had believed the pathetic excuse. She let the tears flow.

"Go change dear." She heard her mother say. Lily nodded and left, towards her room.

After showering to get all the gravy and half eaten chicken morsels out of her hair, Lily headed to the laundry room. When she got to the small room, she opened the washing machine, to see if there was space for her dirty clothes.

Inside, she saw wet bed sheets. For a moment Lily was confused, they were Petunia's sheets, and she just saw them that afternoon. They had been perfectly clean. Then, Petunia's words ran through her head, "Don't you dare touch me, you freak." She had sat on her sister's bed, and Petunia considered that contamination.

Lily didn't cry this time though. She was more shocked than anything. Just a mere few hours ago, she had assumed everything was great between her and Petunia. Something had made Petunia different, and now Petunia hated her. How could Petunia hate her only sister? I haven't done anything wrong.

Lily fell asleep that night still wondering.

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A/N: Next we see Lily, fourteen years old and at Hogwarts. Also, not that you needed the reminder, please review.