"There." Alice Fawley clasped the heavy silver necklace around Lily's neck and gave her reflection an approving nod, "You look like a real witch."
She had already been a real witch, Lily wanted to say, but the protest died on her tongue. Alice was not a cruel girl. In fact, she was one of the sweetest and kindest girls that Lily had ever met. She willingly stayed up half the night with a crying third year to reassure him that his grades were fine or sent chocolate frogs to first years on their birthdays. She was adamantly opposed to any magic that might conceivably harm another person going so far as to refuse to learn the cutting charm for class while stating that simply knowing the spell was too dangerous a temptation.
Alice was kind; she was just thoughtless. In her mind, calling Lily a real witch was a high compliment. She meant no insult or disrespect, but still Lily felt the coil of unease in her belly. Alice was never rude. She never called Muggles beasts or barbarians, as some pureblood kids did. She very rarely talked down to Lily. But there were times, like in the common room the other day, when she turned to Lily and told her with a smile "Lily, I want you to know that I never saw you as a Muggleborn." Or earlier when walking on a prefect round after the took points off Hufflepuff for two boys being out after curfew "It's not their fault really. They're Muggleborns- they don't know any better."
Once, after Alice had remarked how beautiful Lily's hair was "for a muggleborn," Lily sat down and explained, in as gentle and delicate a way as she knew, how comments like that were offensive and made Lily feel like Alice saw her only by her heritage rather than as a person or friend. Alice had stared at her for a full twenty seconds, completely stunned, then burst into tears and ran out of the room.
Frank had found her in the library, shaken and trying to distract herself with a new pamphlet on how charms interacted with class seven potions. He was kind enough to inquire after her emotional state and then politely asked her please keep Alice's health and wellbeing in mind when the spoke as Alice was a fragile girl who needed to be shielded from the world. There was a deep and worrying strain of hysteria that ran through the Fawely women and Frank was worried for her continued happiness.
He also asked, in a perfectly polite and compassionate manner, that while he respected her pride of her heritage, was she feeling conflicted by the duel strains of defending Muggleborns while also applying for Tutella Hebes and learning about pureblood culture. It seemed, in his mind, that she might strain herself by trying to balance both her ideal for perfect justice and her desire to learn about the culture into which she was on the cusp of acceptance.
Perhaps, he suggested, it would be beneficial for everyone, if Lily made it clear in her mind which path she wished to follow once and for all.
It was only that even when she was journaling about her day did Lily realize the implied threat. When she had mentioned that to Narcissa at one of their secret teas, the girl's lips had curled into a sneer, but she quickly collected herself and mentioned only how there was a certain hypocrisy in the wizards who followed Dumbledore, hadn't Lily noticed?
The problem was that beyond becoming good, if slightly oppressive friends, Frank and Alice were incredibly effective Potter deterrent. Alice in particular after hearing of the depth of Lily's annoyance, frustration, and worry over Potter was her strident protector.
Whenever the Mauraders approached, Alice would immediately draw Lily near and into an animated conversation which, should the Marauders interrupt, would immediately switch to a politeness so cold and distant it was painful. Lily took cues from her friend and found, to her delight, that under inquiries of impropriety and appeals to blood lines, Potter gradual withdrew his attempts to talk to her, though his eyes were still fixed on her whenever she entered the room.
Once, Lily asked why Alice was so cold to Potter considering that they were both Purebloods while Lily was a Muggleborn of no relation. After a few moments of hesitation and a hastily erected privacy ward, Alice had confessed that it was the practice of some, male members of the older families to 'entertain' a muggleborn before bonding. It was usually laughed off as boyish energy or nobility that a wizard would want to approach his wife with certain knowledge to prevent certain pains.
Though the Potters were not usually found in this practice, Sirius Black had already broken two hearts and Alice couldn't be sure that Potter might not be trying to lure Lily with promises of love and marriage to give up that which was most precious to her maidenhood, only to abandon her soon after.
Alice was blushing so hard and mumbling so softly that it took Lily several minutes of gentle questioning before she understood what the girl meant under all the delicate euphemisms. After that realization, Lily was shocked and her behavior towards the Marauders grew even colder, especially to Black.
For that realization alone, Lily was glad of her friendship with Alice and so, only smiled back at the girl in the mirror over the necklace and agreed. And, with her hair in an elaborate swirl of braids at the nape of her neck (oh, don't worry Lily, mothers usually teach their daughters these charms), her robes from a bespoke tailor in Hogsmeade (We insist, Lily. Really, it's our pleasure to have you look so lovely), with the heirloom necklace around her neck (Emeralds are a Fawely stone and they match your eyes so well), maybe a small part of her agreed that she finally did look like a real witch.
A/N: a dense and reflective chapter. While each of these incidences could and probably do deserve their own separate scene, I want to move the story along, so this all occurs in Lily's remembrance.