The Untold Story of Lily Evans
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JK Rowling, and then to her partnerships with Bloomsbury, Scholastics, Warner Bros., etc.
Summary: This is the untold story of Lily Evans - beware James Potter fans: There will be no James Potter bias in this story.
Posted: 07/12/14
Author's Note: Hi everyone! I see in my stats that 180 or so people have me on author alert because at some point (over the last ten years!) I wrote something from which they got enjoyment, or perhaps tears. I'm not sure how many of these faithful readers ever venture into the world of fanfiction anymore (admittedly I only reread through some of my stuff over the last two days, but then felt a huge rush of inspiration so I'm giving this one a shot) but I thought of a little unorthodox story that hopefully some readers (new and perhaps old) will enjoy. Please let me know what you think!
There is a common untrue – emphasis on untrue – story circulating around about Lily Evans and her dislike of one James Potter. In these stories – and believe me, there are a lot of them – James Potter is painted as this severely misunderstood, great looking, hugely intelligent Quidditch star, to whom Lily will not give the light of day. Now there is no denying that the last part is true: Lily Evans grew to loathe James Potter over their stint at Hogwarts. But what is commonly left out of these slanderous stories about Lily, is exactly what happened to cause such a strong hatred to grow.
Now I'm going to tell this untold story; but if you, reader, are a James can-do-no-wrong Potter fan girl (or guy) beware. There will be no James Potter bias in this story. For once.
The Untold Story of Lily Evans
July 31st, 1975 – The Day
While many students across England viewed the end of July as a solemn event, for their summer holidays were beginning to dwindle, Lily Evans grew happier by the day. She was fifteen and going into her fifth year at Hogwarts, and the end of July meant she had reached the day her parents set aside every summer to take her to Diagon Alley. Though she had only been in the wizarding world for four years, she began to miss it terribly by this time in the summer, and a trip to Diagon Alley always seemed to satisfy her craving for magic.
So as the sun crept into the sky, so did Lily.
One wouldn't consider Lily Evans a loser. She was a quiet girl with two close friends and no enemies. She spent her days at Hogwarts working hard at her school work or being heavily involved with the Charms club, as the president. Those who knew her well knew she loved Hogsmeade weekends, and though her grades were immensely important to her, she still made time to lounge around with her friends and enjoy every Quidditch match played at Hogwarts while even trying to follow some of what the Chudley Cannons were up to. And, also, as a matter of fact, she was heavily smitten with one of the star Chasers on the Gryffindor team named James Potter.
They never spoke much. He had his close group of friends, and a few girls following behind them occasionally. But ever since Lily was partnered with him on a Transfiguration assignment in second year, she had a great fondness for him that had only grown. There was something about the way his eyes looked behind his wire-rimmed glasses, always full of mischief and cunning. Though not one for pranks herself, she always enjoyed hearing what he and his best friend Sirius Black had gotten up to. It was somehow endearing that he could pull off such interesting and original pranks while still maintaining his top spot in their class – well next to her, anyway.
As the years passed on, she admired him greatly from afar, her eyes finding their way to where he was seated in classes or dinner. Watching him play Quidditch was probably the thing that made her heart flutter the most. His passion and talent was irrevocably attractive. Though she often heard many of the girls, in her year or otherwise, go on about how handsome Sirius Black was, she only had eyes for James. She believed him to be the best looking bloke she had ever seen. Gratefully, however, her anonymity allowed her crush on James to go undetected. She had, of course, told her friends Marlene and Mary about her feelings, but they rarely spoke about it much, knowing it to be almost a fantasy more than anything else.
So when she ran into him at Diagon Alley later that day she was surprised to find him approaching her with his lopsided grin.
She was caring a load of parcels clumsily in her arms as she retreated out of Madame Malkin's. Though she was thrilled her parents finally let her venture into Diagon Alley without their supervision, she hadn't realized how much easier it was to shop with two extra sets of arms for carrying and holding things. As she stumbled along the cobbled roads, shifting the packages in her arms to grant her a better line of sight, her toe caught on an uneven stone outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies and the parcels fell to the ground. As she was not often the center of attention, or used to doing things to create such attention, her face went as red as her hair. And impossibly darker when she looked up from the ground to find James Potter standing over her.
Mortified and unable to speak coherently she muttered out a breath-like "uh" and turned her face to the ground.
"Hey there Evans," he said cheerfully, leaning down to help gather the boxes. Her heart fluttered at her name on his lips. "Looks like you could use an extra pair of arms. Or six."
"Oh. Uhm, yeah…er yes. Yes, thank you, James. I—I do, uh-huh." She let out a pitiful laugh as they rose from the ground in unison.
In silence he began to shift the boxes back onto her arms, and she avoided eye contact as if his eyes would burn her.
"Have much shopping left to do?" he finally said, conversationally, requiring her eyes to now meet his. "Because, if you'd like later on, I was going to stop and get some ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and I would love for you to join me."
He smiled broadly at her and it took everything for her knees to not buckle.
"Me?" she said aloud before she could help it. He laughed in response, nodding his head. "Uh, yes. Okay, yes I would enjoy that as well. What… time?"
He threw a casual look at his watch. "How about four thirty? Are you still going to be around by then?"
It was only one o'clock and her parents were going to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron around two o'clock. She would have to find a reason to assure them that she would be fine staying an extra two and a half hours for a date – with James Potter.
"Sure," she agreed, alarmingly aware of big she was smiling. Composing herself, she reiterated, "Sure I will meet you there at four thirty." He smiled in return and turned to walk away when she gathered the courage needed to call to him: "Oh James!"
"Yes?" he replied casually looking over his right shoulder.
"Thank you."
"Oh anytime, Evans. I was glad to have run into you. What a lucky day."
She watched him retreat and it was only the weight of the parcels that kept her feet on the ground. She felt weightless and more smitten than ever before. A date with James Potter! What a glorious end to the month of July. Mary and Marlene would never believe her and she couldn't wait to tell them.
For the next hour she floated around the alley, finishing up her shopping in hopes that her parents would be so impressed with her pragmatism that they couldn't possibly say no to granting her a few more hours of excitement before she had to return to her boring muggle summer. The shock had still not worn off as she pushed her way back into the Leaky Cauldron and propped herself up at a table anxiously awaiting her parents.
They arrived punctually as always, having spent time in the muggle world shopping. They could tell their daughter was in a much better mood than when they had left her there, which was not unusual, but there was clearly more to it. When they sat down, she exploded into detail about her wonderful happenstance meeting with the boy of her dreams. Her father eyed her mother reproachfully as the explanation went on, but her mother looked much more agreeable.
"Please Mum, Dad!" Lily begged. "I won't want to stay too late… Just until five thirty would be alright wouldn't it?"
"But Lily, that's another two hours before he even wants to meet you," her father pointed out.
"I'll find something to do and stay out of trouble, I assure you," Lily bargained.
Finally after twenty minutes Lily had won her parents approval, and ten minutes after that she had helped them load her purchases into the car and was heading back into the Alley. Now she had just over an hour and a half to wait for her date and she began to panic. She hadn't looked in a mirror in hours, and was wearing what she now felt was a highly unattractive top and what if she didn't have anything to say?
But she needn't worry about any of those things, it turned out. Because when four thirty rolled around, as she sat outside Florean Fortescue's at a two-person table, James was nowhere to be found. Nor had he shown up at quarter to five, or five, or five after five or so on. James hadn't shown up at all. Finally at five twenty, embarrassed and defeated, she headed toward the Leaky Cauldron.
The hour date she did not spend talking with the most handsome boy she had ever seen, instead became the hour she vowed to never again be the timid, love-struck girl that James Potter stood up. She would be unashamedly hate-filled to James Potter for the rest of her life.