AN: All recognizable characters are the creation of JK Rowling. All others are mine. No copyright infringement is intended

Chapter One – A Not so Unexpected Appointment

02 August 1977

My mum gave me this journal because she says that I will eventually want to remember all the details of my final year at school, but it's more that she's concerned with how I'm dealing with Da's passing. We'd been expecting it, but the death of a beloved father is not something one can prepare for. It's not like a Transfiguration exam. Things don't make sense if you think about it long enough and they can't be rationalized into order. I've never been the most regular correspondent so these entries will most likely be few and far between. I'll begin by telling you about my summer.

When I arrived home from school, I was quite tired from exams and ready for the year to be over. There had been plenty of pain and heartache over the year, with few days of lightness. Petunia and Vernon were waiting at the entrance of King's Cross, as my Da had written they would be. Dad had not mentioned his rapid decline in health; his diagnosis had been discovered in October. My parents had told me towards the end of winter holidays, and I had been distraught. I had heard from my friend Alice about her poor sister on Christmas, and had then spent many days of the holiday with her. Da had remained cheerful in his letters so I had been utterly unprepared for his appearance when I arrived home. My Da had always been a tall, broad shouldered, imposing sort of fellow. He was the life of every party and was always good for words of encouragement. He loved footie and going to the pub with his mates on a Friday evening to get out of mum's hair for her book club. He was robust, so unflaggingly healthy that I had half expected him to write me in April saying that he had been cured, and not to worry.

The man who occupied my Da's favorite chair by the hearth was thin and drawn. His skin was tight, allowing me to easily see how slim his bones were. His eyes were sunken, his face ashen, and a cannula and oxygen tank had been his most constant companions. He used a wheelchair to move around the house and he took lots of naps to try to hold onto the little strength he still possessed. The cancer wasn't killing him slowly; it was devouring his body, ravaging his lungs first, his dignity, and his family. Advanced lung cancer had likely been the result of smoking almost every day of his life, making frequent trips to the coal mining towns his job require him to liaise with and the most horrid fortune in the world.

Da passed away 12 July. We buried him quickly and I spent the whole of July crying. I love my mum, and Tuney – most days – but my Da was one of my favorite people in the entire world. He wasn't just my Da and good for some extra allowance for a shopping outing, like he was for Petunia; he was a friend who got all my stupid jokes, probably because I'd heard them first from him. He wanted to know all about Hogwarts and the people and the classes. Da wrote me weekly, keeping me up on all the goings on of the Evans' house. In turn, I wrote him tales of my magical friends and the crazy things that happened in lessons. He read the introductory texts on all my subjects and did his absolute best to understand the strange world I lived in most of the year. He read the Daily Prophet and wrote to me about what was happening in the Muggle world. Mum tried too, but the idea of frogspawn and hexes and curses frightened her and try as she might, she couldn't merge her mental picture of me – sweet, simple bookish Lily – with her own mental image of a witch – pointy hat, warts, and a cackling laugh. And the less said on Tuney's feelings about magic or "freakishness", the better.

My mates had apparated over as soon as they'd received notice. Marley, Alice, and Cass – Marlene Wainwright, Alice Neville, and Cassandra Newsom, that is – had spent the week of the funeral keeping the house clean with little flicks of their wands and Marley had brought over loads of food her mum had made. Marley was a muggleborn like me, and did her best to keep Alice – a pureblood – and Cass – a half blood – from making any noticeable gaffs. They'd kept me sane and my temper on a leash, something that was always needed when my sister and I were forced into close quarters. Alice had been a godsend; she knew what it was to lose close family and be hurting so much that you thought you might die from it. Alice was three years younger than her sister, Cara, and she was the sort of big sister you dreamt of having; always there when you needed her, a shoulder to cry on when the boy you fancied didn't fancy you in return, and to lend you a really cute outfit just because she thought you'd look nice in it. I had had a better relationship with my friend's older sister than I had with my actual sister. Cara had been a champion for muggleborns, even when she was a young student. She had been a prefect and Head Girl. She was pushing for somewhat unpopular legislation that would make denying employment, lodgings, or other services to muggleborns a criminal act. She'd gone missing shortly into September 1976, never making it to dinner with her fiancé, Gideon Prewett, who had raised the alarm and she had been deposited in front of the Neville family's ancestral home with the Dark Mark above a day before Christmas. She had been tortured repeatedly with the Cruciatous and other means and murdered. Alice had been beside herself. I didn't know how to help her as my Da had just told me the diagnosis. I'd gone to the funeral and Alice's mother had been pale and glassy eyed, much like my own mother had been after Da died. She'd seemed not of this world, and had yet to accept that Cara was dead. Gideon had concerned Alice's family and his own tremendously when he had nearly leapt into the grave with the casket to place a glowing globe of bright white light on top of the polished wood. His twin had dragged him out and later told Alice that all he'd gotten out of his brother was that he'd done it because Cara was "afraid of the dark". Grief affected people in many ways, and Alice had remained concern for the boy who was like a brother to her.

Cass, Marley, and Alice kept us busy and our little family made all the arrangements, which was really just fulfilling all the plans Da had set when he was diagnosed.

-Mum is calling, must run. Ta! – Lily

As she entered the kitchen, she saw her mum watching a strange owl as it settled on the window sill. Lily's owl, a lovely, if moody, tawny creature named Rhys, eyed it nastily. Rhys didn't much care for other owls, which is why he slept in her dormitory at school instead of the owlery. She took the letter the strange owl offered and opened it, removing a letter and a gold pin with the Hogwarts crest on it. She recognized it immediately, but wondered why it was enclosed.

She flipped the letter open and read,

Dear Miss Evans,

I was very sorry to hear from Professor McGonagall of your father's passing. I lost my mother was I was about your age and my father many years before. Each loss is different and I could not say that I know how you feel with honesty, as I imagine you hardly do either. Your father was surely an excellent man, who must have always been extraordinarily proud of you.

Miss Evans, I'd like to offer you the position of Head Girl for the upcoming school year. If you would be so kind as to send your response by return post to either Professor McGonagall or myself, I would be much obliged. We have complete confidence in your ability to lead the prefects and we believe that with the Head Boy, our school will be in excellent hands.

My condolences once again,

A.P.W.B. Dumbledore

"Well, what is it?" Laurel Evans asked, peering anxiously at her younger daughter.

"It's a letter from the Headmaster…he was offering me the position of Head Girl," Lily said, finally, rubbing her thumb over the shiny gold front of the badge.

"How wonderful! Lily, I'm so proud of you," Laurel smiled, giving her a hug, and kissing her temple. "You'll have to show Petunia and your –" she broke off, smile immediately dimming as she remembered that there was nobody else to show. Her lips trembled before she pressed them into a tight line that became a determinedly cheerful contortion of her mouth. "We'll have to celebrate. We'll go to dinner at whichever restaurant you wish and we'll have to get you something to mark the honor. Is there anything you've been wanting, dear?"

"No, Mum, but dinner sounds lovely. Perhaps the little Indian place?" Lily suggested eagerly.

"Petunia won't-" Laurel started, before changing her mind and continuing, "How about we go to London? We'll make a weekend of it, and get your school supplies, and stay at a hotel." Laurel continued on, "We could get our nails done, and you do need a haircut, so what do you say Lily-love?"

Petunia won't go to a place operated by Indians because Vernon disliked and mistrusted anyone of foreign ancestry, Lily thought. She supposed that asking to go without Petunia, just her and her mum, wouldn't work, so she agreed to her mum's plan to go to London and have a weekend. Petunia would be unpleasant, but their mother liked to have them together and this was why Lily had been subjected to Vernon six nights a week over supper, which was never cooked properly according to him, unless Petunia had done something to contribute, which was practically never. He looked at Lily like she was rubbish that should have been put out years ago, and made nastily irritating remarks about her taste in muggle music – "Rock and Roll, how dreadfully inappropriate for a girl!", her appearance – "Red hair makes you look very odd; you should have it done in the salon to look like Petunia's," – and the wizarding world. This was after Da had forced Petunia to tell him that Lily was not a boarding student at a school for the incurably criminal. Lily kept her mouth shut to keep the peace, but inside she was seething.

Lily wrote to Alice, Marley, and Cassie to tell them her good news and make plans to go to Diagon Alley together. Cass responded that she couldn't make it, as she had to escort her sister, Julia, around.

*** Thanks ever so for reading, and I hope you'll review to let me know what you thought. This chapter had quite a bit of exposition but the action should pick up a bit more in the next few chapter.