Author's note: I've always wondered how purebloods fall in love with muggles to get half-bloods. I love playing with inevitability in the Wizarding universe and so this plot bunny was born.
SUMMARY: What if magic in the Evans siblings were reversed. What if Lily was the muggle and Petunia was not.
James Potter was about to push his cart at a full run through the 9 and 3/4 barrier, and as he was doing so, caused a gasp in surprise from a girl near him, who had been staring intently at the barrier. He was about to grin widely at the girl, only to notice he didn't recognize her. A first year, maybe? He gave her a once over. She had been staring at the barrier, but there was no cart.
Her parents weren't around. So maybe they were following nearby.
She looked small, but then again all girls seemed to look small. She had a fiery red hair that he imagined with get more auburn as she got older. Her skin was rosy, and her eyes - he paused. Her eyes were stunning - magical, and they were currently widened in astonishment.
"Headed to Hogwarts?" he asked.
Those eyes got a bit sad, and he tried to recover, "Oh, next year then - right?"
He heard footsteps coming behind him, and he turned to see who it was coming back through the barrier. "Evans," he said stiffly. It was Petunia Evans, the Slytherin Muggleborn who was a couple years older. If it weren't for her surprising Chaser skills, she'd still be bullied in that house, but she was now under the Captain's protection. She still needed to ward her bed, he heard, but the Slytherins weren't tripping her in the halls.
"Potter." She shot him a glare and walked over to the red-headed girl. "Bye, Lily sweetie. Where's mum and da?"
"Bye Tuney! Have fun - I'll miss you! They went to go buy you a drink." Then those green eyes grew large and tears started welling up in them. At that moment James almost swore to never see those eyes get sad again. Twice is too much. "TUNEY. Please take me with you? I want to go!"
Evans frowned and hugged her tighter. "I'm sorry Lily. I wish I could but Professor Dumbledore said I can't. The Wizarding World is not a good place for people like us. And you're too good for them anyway..." Evans had a pained expression on her face, and Potter couldn't tell if it was from memories of being in Slytherin pre-Quidditch days, current remaining hostilities, or imagining this Lily in the Wizarding world. On that thought, he frowned. The girl was a Muggle by the sound of it.
"Petunia. Lily." James looked over to see.. um... Snape? Something Snape. Some Slytherin in his year that was really good in Potions. He was in the Slug Club with him but couldn't remember his first name. All he remembered was everytime he introduced himself, it was "Snape - of the Prince line."
"Oh! Sev, I'll miss you too," Lily said.
Ah. Severus. James didn't like that he was so close with the ginger cutie. Cutie. When did he start thinking that?
He stared in amazement as Snape's usual dark expression softened. "I'm sorry I can't take you with me, but it wouldn't have been a good place for you anyway..," he said immediately.
"Oh. Ugh, don't remind me," Lily said playfully, wiping her eyes. She smiled at her two people. "You and Tuney are so similar."
Said people looked at each other and sneered. "See! You two have the same reactions."
"Oh there they are," Petunia said, and she walked away to say farewell to her parents.
Snape gave Lily an awkward hug before going through the barrier. That left the Lily to look at him, James. "Don't believe them. If it's any consolation, I think you'd be able to kick everyone's arse if you were a witch." Those green eyes widened slightly before giving him the. Most. Dazzling. Smile.
It was at that moment he realized he must have hit puberty.
"Thank you!"
He smiled, gave her a small wave, and left through the barrier. For the rest of the day, even through the Sorting, he couldn't stop thinking about the little red-headed Muggle girl. He imagined if she were at Hogwarts, she'd be a Gryffindor. A muggleborn Gryffindor witch with two Slytherin protectors.
In the following years, he managed to befriend Petunia Evans and Severus Snape.
Sirius didn't understand the sudden additions to their circles and was always arguing with Petunia about this or that. They had very different views on life and usually ended up fighting about opinions on the latest Hogwarts gossip. Sirius was usually the center of the most scandalous gossip. And Petunia loved hearing it. Some time during Sirius's fifth year, he woke James up with a startled, "James, I slept with Petunia Evans."
And that had been awkward for a while. James was irritated because it was too close to the end of the school year and Petunia's graduation. He eventually shouted at Sirius: "I can't have you jeopardizing my visits to the Evanses! Go make up and snog or something."
James in previous summers always found some excuse to visit their home or bring the Evanses over. It started with Quidditch pick up games on the Potter Estate, but once Sirius and Petunia started actually dating, James was on a high for the rest of the year because it meant he had an excuse to visit Lily even long after Petunia graduated from Hogwarts.
As it turned out, Lily had a very snarky personality that she probably picked up from Snape. She wanted to be a doctor and was apparently good at the muggle equivalent of Potions. He was also very glad Lily was a muggle because their fashions allowed him better viewing of her chest. When they first met, they didn't have much to talk about. But after sharing some stories about the two people at Hogwarts she cared about, she warmed up to him and started falling for him too because they shared a sort of cynicism about the world.
Snape, for the most part, had a hard time standing the sight of him when he found out about James's intentions. Turns out, Snape had a crush on Lily. But by the time Snape realized what was happening, James had embedded himself too far in his life, and Snape was too indebted to the Potter family and their generosity to really say anything about it. So he just scowled. A lot. But got over it eventually.
Not like Snape saw Lily year round to actually fall in love or anything.
When James graduated from Hogwarts, the first thing he did was propose to Lily. And she almost said no. She started off by saying "But I'm still in secondary! I need to get into Oxford," but her parents adored him. And he had Petunia's respect. As soon as Lily saw the Evanses had tears in their eyes while watching James on one knee, he knew he won the greatest graduation gift in the world. She said yes.
Unfortunately, by the time she was accepted into Oxford, James was knee-deep in the middle of war.
The Evans' home was attacked, and Lily was only safe because she was studying at a friend's home. At the insistence of Severus, Petunia, and James, Lily left the Muggle World for further protection in the Wizarding World. Petunia and Sirius's on-again-off-again relationship culminated in a marriage proposal after Petunia got knocked-up by Sirius. A Slytherin girl for a Slytherin family. While she was a muggleborn. Sirius loved ironies, which is probably why he loved Petunia.
Around the same time, Lily became pregnant with Harry.
When the prophesy came about, Lily was furious. Dumbledore said there was no way the Dark Lord wouldn't attack them because Lily was a muggle and besides being a target of their agendas, and You-Know-Who apparently also had a muggle parent. That was when they had their worst fight and James spent many sleepless nights on the couch because Lily hated him for bringing him into his world. And he felt so much regret because he really did ruin her life. She could have had a peaceful, successful future.
A couple weeks later, Harry said. "Muma, Dada," while being rocked by Lily and the happiness that brought had washed away any stray anger in her eyes.
But James held onto that regret. When the Dark Lord was approaching their home ('Peter - that TRAITOR!'), a tear had rolled down James's cheek because he knew that now there was no way Lily could achieve her dream of becoming a Muggle healer. And it was his fault because he had stayed too long and gotten smitten with the sad little girl with emerald eyes who couldn't stop staring at the King's Cross barrier.
- end -
