Well, I really don't have anything to say here, so... Here's the chapter!
The next morning, Lily woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. She looked over at her bedside table and wondered who was calling at seven thirty in the morning. James groaned but reluctantly put his glasses on and picked up the phone, which was on his bedside table.
"Hullo?" James yawned loudly and Lily stifled a laugh. "Oh, hello Petunia."
"Tuney?" Lily asked under her breath. She wondered why she was calling so early in the morning.
"Yeah," said James. "Wait a second." He gave the phone to Lily. "She says it's important."
"Hi Tuney," said Lily, trying to sound cheerful. "How are you?"
"Could you please stop calling me 'Tuney'?" Petunia asked, sounding annoyed. "We're adults now, Lily. My name is Petunia."
"Alright, Petunia," Lily sighed. "Why did you call?"
"I found out a couple things about our sister," said Petunia, and Lily sat up in bed.
"You did?" Lily was excited to hear about their sister. Poppy Evans was a mystery, and Lily Evans Potter has always loved mysteries. So has Petunia, though she would never admit it, which was why Lily wasn't that surprised that even though Poppy might be a witch, Petunia still wanted to find out more about her.
"Yes," said Petunia, clearing her throat. "Poppy Evans was never adopted into a family, and spent eighteen years in the foster system before running away. It is believed that she is in London now. It's not a lot, I'm afraid."
"It's enough," said Lily. "Enough to know that I want to find her."
"I'm not going to help you find her," said Petunia, and Lily was about to ask why when she added, "But tell me when you find her. I want to know if she's a freak like you or normal like me. Promise me you'll tell?"
"I promise," Lily said, and Petunia hung up. "James, today we'll be going to London."
"I'll bring Sirius, Remus and Peter too," said James. "It's been a while since all of us have done something together. But, why are we going?"
"I have another sister," said Lily, and James's jaw dropped. "Her name is Poppy."
"Wow," said James, his hazel eyes wide. "That's amazing. You would think that after having Petunia they'd stop having kids, but thankfully they were brave enough to have you."
Lily rolled her eyes. "And Poppy. I wonder what she's like. She's spent eighteen years with no family, and she ran away two years ago. I hope she's not already dead or living on the streets."
"Two years is plenty of time for her to get an apartment and a job and an education. I'll bet she's alive and well. You'll see, she'll be just fine, and you would be worrying about nothing, Lilyflower," said James, and he got out of bed. "Now, if you excuse me, I will feed Harry."
"You go do that," said Lily. "I'll get changed."
"So, what exactly are we doing?" asked Sirius, yawning loudly, making Lily and Remus roll their eyes. "And do we have to do it so early in the morning? You've all interrupted my beauty sleep!" They were currently standing on the sidewalk outside of a Muggle hotel in London.
"It's noon," said Lily. "Not morning. And you've had plenty of time to sleep, I'll bet."
"Nah, I was out with a lady late last night," Sirius said, and James laughed. "And Merlin she was beautiful. I think her name was Miranda."
"And that's why this Miranda will never go out with you again, 'cause you can barely remember her name," said James, and he handed Harry to Lily. "It's quite sad, really."
"It didn't used to be!" Sirius pretended to start sobbing. "What's happened to you, James? Your lovely Lily's ruined you!"
"Hush up, Black," said Lily, smirking. "Anyway, let's get started."
"Do you have any idea where she'll be?" asked Remus, and Lily felt her cheeks burning. He saw right through her.
"No." The Marauders groaned and Sirius glared at Lily. "But maybe by walking around the Muggle part of London, we'll spot her."
"You do realize that the chances of finding Poppy like that are very slim, right Lilyflower?" James asked, sighing. "You don't even know what she looks like. I imagine it'll be hard to find someone that you've never met before and have just found out about a day ago."
"Well, if she's mine and Petunia's sister, she has to look something like us!" Lily protested, and Harry let out a little cry as she shook him unintentionally. She had always talked with hand movement. "And you all know what my mum and dad looked like. So maybe we'll find her. Just hope."
"Fine," said James, and Remus, Peter, and eventually Sirius, reluctantly agreed.
"Thank you," said Lily, smiling gratefully. "You're great friends, all of you."
"We know," said Sirius, flipping his wavy black hair in a flirtatious way. "And very handsome." Remus rolled his eyes, and Peter let out a small giggle that resembled a rat's squeak.
"Let's just go, before it gets dark. I want to be able to rest before the full moon tomorrow," Remus said, and they started walking.
"We're looking for Lily's sister?" Sirius asked after just a few minutes, after James quickly filled him in. "Oh Merlin, another Evans!"
"Shut up," said Lily with a secret smile that only little Harry could see. He let out a giggle before closing his emerald green eyes.
Four hours later, they had walked through a good part of London, but they still hadn't saw anyone who looked like any of the Evanses. Finally, they decided to go to the market, so James or Lily wouldn't have to shop later, and were walking through the parking lot when they saw a short, skinny, dirty blonde haired girl walk towards a shiny Mercedes-Benz. She looked over her shoulder, as if she was making sure no one was watching, and took out a key from her pocket. She jammed the key into the keyhole and tried turning it when Lily finally caught a glimpse of the girl's face, and she gasped.
The girl resembled her late father, Robert Evans, and was a mixture of her mother and Petunia. She wasn't particularly pretty, and had sharp features and a seemingly permanent sour look on her face, like she had eaten a lime. Her eyes were a brilliant blue, and when her eyes met Lily's, she knew that this girl had been through a lot. She wasn't pretty at all, really, but something made you look at her. She was stunning, but not pretty, if that made sense.
Lily realized that she had been staring, and the girl noticed too, because she scowled.
"What are you looking at?" she snapped.
James nudged Lily, and Remus, Sirius and Peter shared a look. Lily collected herself and cleared her throat to speak.
"Are you Poppy Evans?" Lily asked, her voice shaky. The girl didn't look like she was going to talk. "Please tell me. Is your name Poppy Evans?"
"Yes. My name is Poppy Evans, unfortunately," the girl, Poppy, said. "What's it to ya?" Poppy had a sharp voice to match her sharp features, and Lily noticed that she had a long scar running down her cheek.
"My name is Lily Evans Potter." She watched as Poppy started to realize. "I'm your sister."
"The sister who had a perfect life with the perfect parents," said Poppy, the corner of her mouth curving up into a sinister smirk, which quickly turned ugly and vicious. "Here to rub it in? Well, guess what? I'm not interested." Poppy turned away from Lily and tried turning the key in the keyhole, but it didn't work.
"Is that even your car?" Lily asked, not believing that it could be hers after hearing Poppy talk. Lily knew that Poppy was twenty, but to have that much hate and anger in her made Lily feel guilty, even though she couldn't be. She did nothing to Poppy.
"Of course not!" Poppy laughed, but it was dark. "You think I have money for this? Not with my pay. I just need new wheels. My old car was complete rubbish."
"You have a job?" Sirius asked incredulously, and Poppy turned to him. For some reason, Lily noticed that Sirius kept his eyes on Poppy for much longer than necessary.
"Of course I do," Poppy snarled. "What do you think? I'm a homeless bum with no job?" James and Sirius shared looks and Poppy glared at them. "Whatever. Why do you even care?"
"Because I'm your sister," said Lily, and Poppy laughed again, this time in sadness, anger and disbelief.
"And why does that matter? I went eighteen years without anyone. No friends, no family. I was shunned because I was a freak. But, you know what? That's life. I just got the worst end of it." Poppy tried turning the key again, but this time, the car alarm went off, and her eyes widened. "Shoot!" She started running.
Lily (holding Harry), James, Sirius, Remus and Peter followed Poppy out of the parking lot and down a narrow alleyway. She stopped in the middle though, and before they could say anything, she started rummaging through her purse, and took out a knife, a gun, a can of pepper spray and another key. Lily's eyes widened, and she was filled with terror for her, Harry and the Marauders. She didn't think that she would have a killer for a sister.
Poppy seemed to notice them all freeze, and she let out a wheezing laugh. "Oh, you guys are hilarious! I'm not a killer! Please! Seriously, my God! I got you all so scared right there! Insane!" She continued laughing, while the others simply stood there awkwardly. Finally, after at least five minutes, she controlled herself, and she smirked at them. "Not much of laughers, are you? Well, whatever. You'll be going now anyway."
"Is this where you live?" Lily asked, looking around the dirty, narrow alleyway.
"Yeah," said Poppy, noticing Lily's worried expression. "Don't worry. Most of the guys are babies. Couldn't shoot a gun if their life depended on it. The other few though, heh."
"Do I just knock on the door?" asked Lily. "I'll be coming by to visit again, maybe next week."
Poppy looked like she was about to protest, but then she let out a soft sigh, and the sinister and sour expression from her face disappeared. Lily saw that she looked much prettier when she was like this. But as soon as the thought formed, Poppy smiled, but even though it seemed lighthearted, it could be interpreted as sinister.
"Knock on the door and ask for me, but only if it's the guy with only two teeth. If it's not, tell them that you'll be back later for business. They'll forget about you by the end of the day anyway," said Poppy, and she examined Lily. "Or maybe not. You're pretty, and they always remember the pretty ones. Just say that you're looking for Poppy to do business with. They know not to mess with me." She opened the door and almost disappeared inside when Lily stopped her.
"Who exactly do you live with?"
Poppy's blue eyes twinkled. "You need not worry, sister." And the door slammed, leaving Lily, Harry and the Marauders in the dark alley.
And you finally meet the infamous Poppy Evans! What did you think of her? I didn't want her to be the blonde-haired, pretty and popular girl that Sirius would probably go out with, and I didn't want her to be like Lily, because even though I love Lily Potter, I felt like I didn't want another 'lovely Lily'. I wanted a unique character, one that has had a bad life, but obviously, with all their help, she'll find herself in a new, better life. And change the fate of the wizarding world forever. Please review!