The Winds of Change
Chapter I: Three Strikes
The Evans family were a family with a secret.
Mr and Mrs Evans, and their two daughters all lived in an unassuming little cul-de-sac called Merchants End, in an also unassuming town called Cokeworth, where nothing ever happened out of the ordinary.
Now Mr and Mrs Evans were very much normal, had typical jobs and did nothing that was out of sorts with those around them.
Mr Evans, who was called John, happened to be a well liked and respected surgeon at the local Cokeworth Royal Infirmary, whilst Mrs Evans, who was named Eleanor, had once been a nurse at the Cokeworth Royal Infirmary, but after the births of her daughters had ultimately suspended her career to be a housewife, not unlike many mothers of the time.
Both Mr and Mrs Evans were well liked by all that knew them, and were not the judgemental type, nor were they the kind to act above others, both were always quite happy to help anyone in need or struggling in life.
Now Mr and Mrs Evans happened to have two daughters, three years apart in age but completely different in appearance and personality that it was possible for sisters to be. Both parents adored their daughters.
Petunia Evans was the eldest of the Evans daughters. Tall and slim with soft blond hair and icy blue eyes, she was a spitting image of her mother. A popular student at her school, Petunia was well known and had a flock of friends. Although not exactly academically gifted, she was a hard worker and took pride in her work.
The only thing that would suggest that things were not at all normal and ordinary with the Evans family who lived at Number 13 Merchants End, was their youngest daughter Lily.
Lily Evans was not like other girls in Cokeworth, and the family harboured a great secret about her.
You see although she was visibly and personality wise just like any person was, she had abilities, she had capabilities that most would never believe possible or true. Lily Evans was a witch.
She did not have the green skin, giant nose, cackling laughter nor did she have a cruel bone within her body, Lily was just like every other girl her age, and did not look like a cartoon character or something from a dark story.
Lily Evans was tall and slim just like her sister, but had soft wavy auburn hair and bright green eyes that seemed to glimmer like glittering green emeralds, taking more after her father than after her mother.
Lily did not attend school with her elder sister, she attended a school far far away. This school was called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Situated in the remote wild Highlands of Scotland, Lily was about to start her third year as a student there and was dutifully counting down the days until she returned to the Wizarding World.
Lily was a witch and quite happily so, but also happened to be the only witch in her family. Her family whom she loved dearly, were known as Muggles in Lily's magical world, whilst she herself was known as a Muggleborn witch.
Even though her family happened to be practicing Christians, they did not disown or hate their youngest family member, nor did they think she was inhuman or from the pits of Hell, they actually embraced her full heartedly and were unquestionably supportive of Lily.
Whenever she returned each Christmas, Easter and Summer when Mr and Mrs Evans picked her up from Kings Cross Station all the way away in London, they were extremely curious and excited to find out all of the new things she had learned to do whilst away, and dearly loved getting to know all they could about their daughter's life in the magical world that they were cut off from, as being Muggles meant they had little understanding or experience of the world that Lily was part of.
Lily, like her sister, happened to be well liked and popular among her peers, getting along with nearly everyone she knew and met, and luckily had a great group of friends at Hogwarts but also back home in Cokeworth as well. Even though she was away for most of the year, Lily made sure to keep in touch with her friends back home that she had known since her earliest days of school.
Lily knew she could always trust her extended family and friends, but knew she could never reveal her status as a witch or her magical abilities to any of them whatsoever.
All of the locals and even her extended family believed that Lily was attending an all-girls boarding school in Scotland, somewhere like Gordonstoun but for gifted young females and had no idea at all about Hogwarts, and neither did Petunia's friends as her sister had been sworn to secrecy.
The only other magical person that Lily had ever known before 1971 was her friend Severus Snape.
Severus happened to be a wizard as well, but lived at the other side of town, not far from the old cotton mill and factories. He frequently wandered far away from home, with little worry coming from his parents, his father Tobias was a known drunkard that blew his meagre earnings at his local dingy pub, The Spinning Jenny.
Severus's mother Eileen was not that better, and would usually end up drinking until she passed out at home. Neither of his parents could stand each other, and his father Lily knew was physically and psychologically abusive towards his wife and son, but also detested their magical capabilities.
Severus was what was known in the Wizarding world as a Halfblood, as his mother had been a pureblood witch who attended Hogwarts herself until meeting Tobias by chance one day, and had ended up marrying him only to realise how awful the man truly was. But Eileen had nobody to turn to as her family, being Pureblood had disowned her after she married a Muggle, and so had her friends from school. Severus had been born into
such poverty and neglect, it made Lily's heart break. Her own parents would feed him during the summers when he was home and would even buy him a Christmas and birthday present as he was a good friend of their daughter. Severus however had little interest in her parents and especially not in Petunia her sister, and Lily felt that was down to what his father had done to Severus and his mother, leaving the young wizard to dislike Muggles vehemently.
The odd pair usually spent each summer together since they began Hogwarts, but in this summer of 1973, Severus had been nowhere to be seen or found, and Lily wouldn't dare wandering away to Spinners End, and especially did not want to be around his parents.
Knowing herself, Lily knew she would end up blowing up at them verbally or magically, although the latter being accidentally so. Severus had not even answered the letters she had sent by owl either as her sweet natured barn owl called Artemis had returned each time with unopened, untouched letters still in their sealed envelopes.
Lily had an inkling of suspicion that he was perhaps abroad with one of his other school friends he had made at Hogwarts, or somewhere with some seriously powerful wards that would not allow Artemis to approach or go through.
Lily personally did not want to think about the boys that Severus was most likely with, as she found them vile and horrible individuals, who hated her just due to her blood status, gender and the house she was part of at Hogwarts.
Lily happened to be a proud member of Gryffindor, one of the four school houses at Hogwarts, whilst Severus had been sorted into Slytherin which was the arch rival and nemesis of her own house. Severus had been angry that she had not been sorted into Slytherin with him, but truthfully Lily happened to be quite relieved and happy to not have been, and to be part of Gryffindor.
Unlike Slytherin, where Severus had found the worst sort of individuals that even someone as optimistic and compassionate as Lily was, could not find herself to like or want to be around at all, in Gryffindor was where Lily had found a part of herself that she had never known was missing until then, and she had quickly made friends with the most wonderful group of witches and wizards.
When Lily had been a newly sorted Gryffindor, in her pristine robes at the age of eleven, she had been worried and quite nervous about what to expect, as Severus had repeatedly said she would end up in Slytherin and only spoke about that house.
But Lily had been wrong to be nervous as she had found herself in a dorm room with one of the sweetest girls that she had ever met, and another girl who was Muggleborn like herself, which had been comforting to her.
Alice Fortescue-Smith was a petite witch that was from a Pureblood family unlike Lily, but did not hold any prejudice or distaste towards her and had been extremely welcoming and warm-hearted, and the pair had become quick friends from that first night, and so had the other Muggleborn witch sorted into Gryffindor, who was Mary MacDonald.
Mary, who was Scottish, had been a bit homesick that night but both Alice and Lily had stayed up with her that first night in September and the trio quickly found themselves to have a lot in common despite the cultural differences between them.
Alice had been a godsend to both Lily and Mary, and had given them a quick lowdown on life in the Wizarding world and what to expect but also held a strong curiosity into learning what life in the Muggle world was like from two witches from there.
The three of them had shared both Muggle and Wizarding sweets, oohing and ahhing as they tried the assortment they had, and talked about so many different things until ten o'clock at night, that it felt like they had been friends forever.
It had been through Alice that Lily and Mary had heard, met and quickly became friends with three other first year students. Alice had grown up knowing them, and although they were now in separate school houses now at Hogwarts, she was excited to introduce them to each other.
Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes were both in Ravenclaw, whilst Emmeline Vance was alone in Hufflepuff, but even with this the six young witches became fast friends.
Marlene, like Mary, was from Scotland, but was a Pureblood witch like Alice.
She was a huge Wizarding sports fan, and an avid Quidditch fan especially, and had been quick to teach both Lily and Mary about the flying sport that was huge in the wizarding world, and had let Lily borrow some books of hers about Quidditch which Lily had been quite grateful for. Even though she was only eleven years old, Marlene was long and lanky for her age with long winding blonde hair that Lily felt glistened as if it was the moonlight itself, and was sporty like Lily was.
Dorcas was a bit more quiet than Marlene, who was exuberant and excitable, but that did not mean that Dorcas was a wallflower or doormat. Dorcas was incredibly smart, and during the lunch of their first day at Hogwarts, had excitedly chatted away with Lily about what they were going to be learning, and had introduced them all to her older brother and sister, who were also in Ravenclaw but in third year and sixth year.
Emmeline was also an incredibly interesting witch. Although she was only eleven years old back then, Lily had been gobsmacked to learn that she had lived all over the world, due to the fact her parents worked within the Department of International Magical Cooperation which meant they traveled constantly. The constant upheaval and change had made Emmeline one of the most understanding and emphatic people that Lily knew, and was someone that the five other witches knew they could always trust.
The two years that Lily had so far had at Hogwarts had been without a doubt better than all of the stories that Severus had ever told her from the age of eight. She felt that she had gained so much understanding of herself.
Lily had flourished, quite literally bloomed and each day seemed to be better than the last. A keen student, she could quite vividly remember being told by Severus at their playground, swinging away on the old swings when they were ten years old, a year before they were due to begin at Hogwarts, all about the subjects they would have and learn.
It had been a puzzle to Lily, although one she was more than happy to tackle and solve, that she would no longer be studying at school such subjects as Mathematics or English, or even such things as Latin and Biology but when they were at Hogwarts they would actually study such impossible and unthinkable classes where they would learn charms, how to transfigure, how to make potions and even defend themselves against magical beasts.
Hungry for more and more knowledge, Lily had been ever so excited to question Severus about it all, as he was her only connection to the world she was to join back then.
Whilst they never dared venture to his own home down in Spinners End, it became a common occurrence that the odd suited pair would pour over the various spellbooks, potions manuals, magical history books and more in the safety and comfort of Lily's own home, where Mrs Evans was more than happy to welcome her youngest daughter's new friend in.
Her mother, Mrs Evans had seen that he was just like Lily, and had been relieved quite a bit to know her daughter had someone just like her, someone magical, even if he was a bit scruffy and odd.
Lily could not wait to return to Hogwarts for her third year, and return to magic as she could not use her magic when home in the Muggle world, which Lily felt was a bit unfair and somewhat discriminatory towards students who were from Muggle families.
So it had been since Lily had begun Hogwarts back in 1971, that she had received a few warnings from the Ministry of Magic for practicing magic whilst in her Muggle home. Although only the tender age she was, Lily was unafraid, and neither were her parents to write letters to the Ministry official sending her warnings but also her professors at Hogwarts too, criticising the system in place.
Luckily most of her professors fully supported Lily and all the other Muggleborn students like her. Although not a typical teacher's pet or swot, Lily got along well with those wizards and witches who taught her at school.
Her favourite was probably her Potions professor, Horace Slughorn, as both enjoyed each other's company and lively debate on everything from the subject of Potions, to such things as Quidditch, life in the Muggle world, current affairs in the Wizarding world. But in under a month, Lily would be starting some new subjects at Hogwarts, where she could possibly end up having a new favourite professor.
Lily had, like all of the other witches and wizards within Gryffindor and all of the other houses at Hogwarts in her school year, been asked back in June to choose up to three new subjects for the upcoming school year. With the size of Lily's school year, the competition for a place in a chosen subject had been fierce, and so alongside her friends it had meant that Lily had filled out the parchment with her choices swiftly.
Now whilst she would be in different classes from her friends at times, it didn't mean that Lily would be alone at all as she was widely popular within her year and the entire school, which meant Lily was unafraid to face new professors and potentially meet new friends in her new subjects of Divination, Ancient Runes and in her outdoors class, the Care of Magical Creatures.
Lily knew that most of her friends would be joining her in Ancient Runes, other than Emmeline and Dorcas had decided on taking up Muggle Studies, which classes ultimately clashed with one another.
Alice would be the only one of her friends joining her in Divination class as the rest of their friends chose Arithmancy over it, whilst in Care of Magical Creatures she would be joined by Marlene and Alice as well while Mary, Emmeline and Dorcas attended classes in Alchemy.
Whilst Severus was oddly declining to correspond with her, Lily had kept in regular contact over summer with her other friends.
Mary had met up with Lily at the beginning of July, and both of them along with their parents had spent a week holidaying in Great Yarmouth, enjoying their time together but also giving each family a valuable lifeline with one another as Muggles with witches for daughters. Lily knew her parents kept in touch with Mary's own parents, Andrew and Patricia, and even sent each other gifts at Christmas, birthdays and at Easter.
Marlene had been in constant contact with Lily over the summer, as she happened to be staying for a month with her great grandmother who although she loved dearly, was vile in her belief system.
Alice and Emmeline meanwhile had ended up together with their parents visiting relatives in the French Riviera, and had sent various postcards that, unlike her normal Muggle ones, moved around and had an assortment of charms placed upon them.
She had not heard much from Dorcas over the summer however, as she had ended up in the main wizarding hospital, Saint Mungo's Hospital in London with a bad case of Dragon Pox, and so had been strictly quarantined until she had recovered only a few days ago.
Luckily Lily had only a few more days until she would be reunited with her friends, as Marlene had invited them to her family home in the Scottish countryside to keep her company at her elder brother's wedding. It would be her first time there, and quite frankly Lily could not wait.