I thought that Lily Evans was the most beautiful, stunning person in the world; with the fine features of a princess and the grace of a swan.
She wasn't.
She was too skinny to be beautiful, too mismatched to be stunning and too clumsy to be graceful. And I loved her anyway.
I thought Lily would smell like strawberries, lilies and something else that I wouldn't be able to place because she'd smell like a goddess from another world.
She didn't.
She smelt like lemons and fabric softener, nothing special, because she was just human. And I found that lemons and fabric softener was the best perfume in the world.
I thought Lily was so brilliant, she'd be coming up with potions that could bring people back to life, charms that could cure poverty and hunger, all while bringing peace to the wizarding world by conquering Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
She never did.
She got top grades in our class, she helped people in need, she joined the Order of the Phoniex, but she never did anything of the things I thought she would. It was okay though, she was still the most brilliant person I knew.
Lily never managed to do many of the things I expected she would. But she still managed to amaze me and those around her on a daily basis. I learned not to set expectations for her, because she always did what was least expected.
I loved her because she couldn't do these things. I loved that she knew she couldn't, so she didn't bother to try just to please people. She did what she could, and what she could do was amazing.
I wish she would have done one thing I expected of her though. I thought she would make it past twenty-two.
She didn't.