When the first baby laughed, it's laugh broke into a million pieces, and these pieces became the first faeries.
Calliope Evans struggled to stand up from her seat as she realized what was happening. The contractions had begun with a sharp pang of reality, and she called out for her husband frantically.
"Mark! Mark, it's time!" she burst out, and her husband's red head shot up in anticipation.
"I'll get the bags and you get into the car!" he exclaimed, setting down his cup of tea so quickly it spilt onto the white tablecloth.
The young couple set off at a quick pace, excited about the arrival of their first child. At the hospital, Calliope was given into the competent care of a nurse, while Mark paced the waiting room, true to the values of sitcom fathers. He hadn't known he could enter the delivery room if he'd wanted to.
In the delivery room, Calliope breathed deeply, and suddenly, the pain seemed to increase at a rapid speed. The nurse, thinking that she was going into labour, rushed out of the room to fetch the doctor. The world before Calliope seemed to grow hazy, and in the haze, she saw a kindly old man, wearing what looked like a long black nightgown, standing beside her bed. It didn't frighten her, because she knew that hallucinations were common when one was taking birth inducing drugs. It wouldn't be till years later, when she looked back on that moment, that she would realize she had refused any and all drugs.
The man didn't say anything, but touched Calliope lightly on the stomach, and smiled at her, almost sadly. Then he vanished, leaving Calliope in the doctors experienced hands.
Finally, the nurse let Mark Evans in to see his wife, and when he saw her, he nearly fainted. There lay two babies, one somewhat smaller than the other, curled up in the crooks of Calliope's arms.
"Isn't it wonderful, Mark? Two baby girls!" Calliope exclaimed groggily.
"But the doctor never mentioned twins." Mark whispered to her "He said a healthy baby. One healthy baby."
"Yes. But they think that this one." Calliope gently moved her arm holding the smallest of the infants " was being smothered by her sister. The technology is fairly new, Mark. They probably missed her by default. The nurse said it's almost like a miracle." She smiled hazily at him. Mark couldn't help but be a little confused, he was sure that there had only ever been one baby, but for his wife's sake, he smiled, and held out his arms, picking up both of the babies.
"I like the names Petunia and Lily, don't you Mark?" Calliope said "Flower babies" she yawned, drifting into a pleasant sleep. Mark nodded, and buzzed the nurse, who wrote out birth certicficates for the twin girls, and took them to the nursery. Mark followed with all of the proud fathers to look in on his new children with a proud face. They really were lovely, especially Lily, who seemed to never stop smiling and gurgling with laughter.
Eleven years had passed since the birth of the Evans twins, and hundreds had passed since the death of Godric Gryffindor, yet something of him lingered still, divided but soon to be reunited by something greater than fate.
Lily Evans woke up at 4 am on her 11th birthday. Immediately, she tumbled out of bed, and reached up to shake her twin sister, Petunia.
"Petty! Wake up, it's our birthday!" she exclaimed, but received only a grumble in response-Petunia hated waking up early.
"Fine suit your self, Old Boot!" she exclaimed, using her father's nickname for either of them when they became grumpy. She hopped like a rabbit all the way down the hall, until she reached her parents room. There, she, opened the door quietly, and, taking a running leap, landed right on her mother's back. Calliope was awoken from a dream in which she was talking to her father- at least it had seemed like her father. But this man's face was different, and he had been dressed in a deep red night gown. She was sure her father had never in all his life worn anything deep red, let alone a nightgown. But even if he was dressed rather oddly, Calliope couldn't help liking him, even if she could not recall a single word of their conversation.
"Lily" she mumbled, reaching up to stroke her daughter's hair "It's quarter after 4. Can't you wait a bit?"
"No mummy, I cannot." Lily answered, smiling hugely because she knew she had already won.
"Fine then, go turn on the telly if you must, but keep it low, right Duck?" her father said, and Lily skipped off, skidding on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. She flicked on the telly, but before she could become engrossed in the program, two strange things happened. One of the things was that Lily's TV screen went blank, and the other was that she heard a scratching at the window, and, upon closer inspection, found an owl perched on the ledge. Lily frowned. She wasn't sure why an owl was perched there, she thought she remembered her dad saying they were "nocturnal" or whatever the word was, which meant they always went out at night, and never in the day time. Still, she concluded that the owl might be ill, and Lily had a soft spot for sick animals. She'd once taken pity on a spider with only 4 legs, and kept it in a glass jar on her dresser until her mother found it and squished it. So, Lily carefully opened the front door, and walked outside in her robe and slippers. The owl cocked it's head, looked at her, and made a muffled hooting sound. The reason the hoot was so muffled was because the owl had a letter in it's beak. Lily briefly wondered if this was some cruel joke on the poor thing, until the owl dropped the letter at her feet and flew off. Lily blinked. Maybe it was a letter bomb? She was a smart child, and her parents had always told her :Don't touch strange things. Only Lily really didn't see how a letter delivered by an owl could hurt her. Finally, she bent down and picked it up.
On the front, in green ink it said
Miss Lily Evans
The Twin's Room
4431 Croschenda Street
Manchester, England
Lily gaped at the letter. She never got mail. Only her mum and dad got mail. But obviously, this was addressed to her. She went inside, clutching the letter in her hand.
Across the street, a boy of about 11 happened to glance out the window as he was standing up to get some more cereal. When he looked, he saw a small red-haired girl looking at an owl, which dropped a letter and flew off. The girl regarded the letter for awhile, then picked it up and read the front. She then went inside, and closed the door. Sirius Black grinned. If he wasn't mistaken, his new neighbor had just received a letter by owl, which mean that her family were magical. He almost jumped for joy! Here he had been, thinking that his summer would be absolute mash without anyone to spend time with, and suddenly, as if someone had granted his wish, he had been issued a new playmate, who was also a witch. He decided to go see her- as soon as Scooby Doo was over.
Meanwhile, Lily had read the letter, and was almost jumping for joy. She quickly made another trip to her parents room, and landed again on Calliope's back.
"Mum! Mum! I am a witch!" she exclaimed happily, bouncing up and down.
"Lily, honey, whatever Petunia called you this time , I am sure she didn't mean it." Her mother muttered, trying to shake the nagging feeling that was telling her to sit up and take notice.
"No, mum, look, this letter came for me!" Lily said, waving the peace of paper as if it were a flag.
"A what?" Calliope sat up, and scrutinized her daughters face. She didn't seem to be making it up.
"Let me see the letter Lily." She said, and her daughter handed it over, anticipation growing on her freckled face. Calliope read the letter several times. The logical part of her mind kept trying to tell her that this was impossible, Lily was certainly not a witch, what a horrible thing, someone calling her daughter a witch! But the side of her mind that was always floating off into the clouds, dreaming about a faint memory of soaring above the earth on a broomstick that she was sure she had never lived, told her to believe the letter, and follow the directions given. Calliope got up, and quickly got dressed. Then she took Lily downstairs, and made them each a cup of tea.
"Alright, Lily. We'll got to this pub place. God knows why I am doing this, but I've got a feeling, and if your grandmum ever taught me anything, it was not to go against your instinct. Only, don't tell your father, Lily. He wouldn't approve. We'll say we're going to go dress shopping- you, me and Petunia. Then we'll go find this place, and see if it's true." Calliope wondered if she was wrong in getting her daughters hopes up, but she decided that they could just look, what was the harm in that?
Shortly after Mr. Evans had left for work (promising the twins their birthday presents that evening) the doorbell rang. Lily answered it to find a tall dark haired woman and a boy who looked almost identical to her. The boy was grinning from ear to ear, and was clutching a broom in his right hand. Lily was puzzled.
"Why do you have a broom?" she asked him straight out, before they could even say hello.
"I thought you might like to ride it with me." Sirius replied, holding it out to her.
"Ride a broom? Are you absolutely nuts?" Lily demanded, as her mother appeared beside her.
"Lily, who is this?" Calliope asked her daughter.
"I am Dahlia Black, and this is my son, Sirius. We were just delighted to find out that there was another Wizarding family around here." The tall woman said, and her words nearly made Lily jump out of her bunny slippers in joy.
"Mum! See! Look!" she exclaimed, unable to form complete sentences in her excitement
"Yes, I see Lily." Calliope said, sounding rather dazed. "Please, Mrs. Black, won't you come in and sit down?" she said, stepping aside to let the woman and her son in.
"So your not really a magic family?" Mrs. Black sounded rather upset as she digested what Calliope had told her.
"Not as a family, but Lily received a letter- it says she's been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and-" Calliope looked around to see if Lily was listening, but her, Petunia and Sirius were outside playing "I thought it was complete traff. That is, until you showed up at our door. Lily is so excited, but…is it safe for her?"
Mrs. Black studied the woman across from her for a few moments. Calliope had wavy blonde hair and a thin, pointy face. Her blue eyes were narrow and she looked rather suspicious. She was tall and lean, but she moved as if she was gliding on air. Yet there was something about her that revealed an inner peace that Mrs. Black had never seen before. Somehow, without having talked to her for more than 20 minutes, Mrs. Black felt as if she knew Calliope as well as if they'd met as babies.
"It is perfectly safe, I assure you Calliope." She said, her tone sounding much more condescending than she had wanted. Calliope moved away a little, as if she had been stung, and Mrs. Black instantly regretted her tone.
"I am sorry, I am a little tired. We just moved. My husband is doing some…muggle observation. Because we wizards do not know as much about the muggle society as we'd like, and he has moved all of us into this muggle neighborhood. Thankfully, we have a rather large forest behind our house, so Sirius can run wild- he has a habit of doing so most hours of the day. Perhaps when we move back to our house next September, Lily would like to come stay with us? To get a taste of a wizarding family?" Mrs. Black smiled warmly, although she wasn't sure where her offer had come from. Certainly, she wanted to befriend the family, perhaps invite Lily over that summer- but why had next September suddenly popped into her mind? It was a phenomena she could not explain, and so she did not attempt to do so.
"Well, that sounds wonderful." Calliope was a little startled by this sudden offer of friendship from the woman she had just met, but she also welcomed it with open arms for she had few friends. Calliope rarely left the house because of Petunia and Lily, and when she did it was to grocery shop. And the fact that most of the street was inhabited by conformist old spinsters or uppity married women did not much help her quest for friendship either. Calliope was a bit of a hippie; she burned incense, she meditated, and she still believed in magic- although she had never shared this belief with her husband, Mark, who was a Physics teacher and didn't believe in such stuff. The real problem with Lily being a witch was that it would be hard convincing Mark to let her attend this Hogwarts school.
Mrs. Black smiled again, and took a sip of her tea. Somehow, she could sense that this would be a very interesting experience, involving these muggles and their magical daughter.
"I am Lily Evans" Lily said importantly to Sirius, who had taken quite a shine to the little red head with the turned up nose, smatter of freckles and sparkling green eyes.
"I know. And this is your twin sister Petunia" he said, proud to know what Lily was going to say next, although he couldn't see how they were twins. Petunia was blonde, with wavy hair like her mothers, although she did have the turned up nose, her face was thin, and almost horse-like. Her green eyes were as dangerous as Lily's were friendly. She was shrewd and not as talkative as her sister, who made friends easily.
"That's not what I was going to say" Lily said, rather put off by Sirius, not only because he had anticipated her next sentence, but also because he was hovering several feet off of the ground while they talked. Finally, she gave into temptation, and touched the broom.
"I say, can I have a go on your broom?" she asked shyly, feeling rather stupid suddenly, although she didn't know why.
"Of course you can!" Sirius said, delighted to share his new broomstick with the pretty little redhead.
"Good. Now, you get off so I can sit on it." Lily said, putting her hands on her hips. Sirius' smile faded somewhat. He'd been hoping to ride it with her. He gave into compromising.
"How about if I teach you how to first, then you ride on your own?" he said coyly. Lily managed to look shocked and angry at the same time.
"You know, Sirius, I am only 11" she said, taking him completely by surprise.
"Me too." He told her
"You really don't act like your eleven." She informed him as she pushed him off of the broom and attempted to clamber onto it herself.
"Oh really? And why not?" Sirius demanded, getting angry.
"Because you don't. What sane eleven year old boy doesn't think eleven year old girls are gross?"
Lily had Sirius stumped there. He'd never thought girls were gross. Ever. Thus, he turned to throwing her own comments back at her "What sane eleven year old girl doesn't think boys are gross?" he demanded of her.
"Everyone knows that girls are much more mature than boys are." Lily retorted smugly as she finally managed to sit herself on the broomstick.
"Girls are supposed to sit side-saddle" Sirius informed her.
"Stuff side-saddle, how are they supposed to do dives and all that rubbish?" Lily asked, following his switch of topic smoothly.
"I dunno." Sirius once again found himself in a corner, and was amazed. Usually, he was the one talking other people into proverbial corners.
"Of course you don't." Lily informed him.
"Want to be my friend, Lily?" Sirius asked suddenly. Now Lily was taken by surprise, but she soon overcame it.
"Yes." She decided firmly, and grinned at the little boy, who was not really so little, and who was still sitting on the ground, looking up at her.
Lily was nervous. No. she decided. She was beyond nervous. She was wet-your-knickers scared of going to Hogwarts. She looked over at Sirius to find him throwing a dungbomb up into the air and catching it in his hand. He was the picture of serenity, and Lily glared enviously at him, until he felt her gaze, and turned to grin at her.
"Nervous Lily?"
"Yes." Lily answered truthfully. After all, why lie to her best friend?
Mrs. Black and Mrs. Evans sat up front, and smiled. Over the summer, the two families had become very friendly, and the Blacks had been a major asset in convincing Mark Evans to allow Lily to attend Hogwarts. They had shopped at Diagon Alley together, gone out for ice cream, and the three children (Sirius, Lily and Petunia) had gone to see a movie together, called "Jaws" which Sirius was still talking about.
"Don't be nervous honey" Mrs. Black said soothingly "It's not as if you're the only muggle born witch there. Usually, there is as many of you as witches and wizards from magical families."
Lily nodded weakly, but she still didn't feel better. Sirius punched her lightly on the shoulder
"And I'll be there for you, Lily! We're going to be in Gryffindor together!" he crowed, doing a dance while he sat buckled into his seat. Lily laughed. But Petunia, who was sitting on the other side of Sirius, elbowed him sharply in the ribs. Before, she had been the only one who could make Lily laugh. Now, her twin sister spent more time with Sirius than with Petunia, and she felt very left out.
As they pulled into the station, Petunia jumped out, and raced around to her sister's door, which she opened quickly. Before Lily could get out, her sister had her arms around Lily's stomach and she was crying. Taken aback, all Lily could do was hug Petunia back.
"Don't go Lily! You'll forget all about me!" Petunia sobbed. Lily gave her sister one final squeeze, but stepped out of her arms.
"I am leaving, Petty, but I'll write you, I promise. " she said solemnly. Petunia, who was used to having her way, had not gotten what she wanted. So she resorted to other means of attack.
"I'll never speak to you again if you go Lily Evans!" Petunia cried passionately, anger in ever featured and malice in every word. Lily stepped back from her sister.
"Petty, don't be so mean to me." She told her calmly "I'll be back for Christmas." And with that, her and Sirius departed through the barrier, leaving Petunia to yell insults at the brick wall, through which she could not follow her twin sister.
"Sirius, this place is huge!" Lily said, clutching the handle of her cart tightly. But she was pleased to see that Sirius looked amazed too. And it was only the train station.
"Come on Lily, let's get our trunks loaded." Sirius said. The two friends hauled first Sirius' then Lily's trunk into an empty compartment, and sat down on the plushy seats, breathing heavily. A shout was heard far off down the hall, and then pounding footsteps. Lily and Sirius looked expectantly out the door of their compartment, only to be met by two boys, who bowled them over into the compartment, and slammed the door behind them. The one with glasses said some words, and the door locked. Lily, who had landed heavily on her trunk, sat up, ready to pound whoever had knocked into her. But Sirius, sensing his friends anger, threw an arm out to stop her.
"Sorry about knocking you over Red." The one with the glasses said to Lily, who immediately bristled. She loathed nicknames.
"I am Sirius Black, and this is Lily Evans." Sirius said. Lily had thought that he would tell Them off for barging in and knocking them down. She frowned.
"I am James Potter and this is Remus Lupin." The boy with the glasses looked at Sirius, then at the frowning Lily.
"Is she your girlfriend?" he asked Sirius in an undertone.
"Of course not!" Lily answered shrilly, as she sat down on one of the seats.
"Well sorry Old Boot!" Potter exclaimed. Lily allowed herself to gape. She had thought only her father used that term.
"Where did you learn that name from?" she demanded of him. Potter raised his eyebrows
"I dunno, it just seemed appropriate. Why?"
"That's what my dad calls me when I am being grumpy." Lily informed him, feeling shy all of a sudden. Potter grinned.
"Oh, I see. Well, don't worry Lily, we're just like a family now." He laughed at the surprise on Lily's face, and pulled out a stack of cards. "Exploding Snap anyone?"
After a tantilizing journey across the lake, and a shaky walk up into the school, the first years found themselves standing in front of everyone, waiting to be sorted.
"Oh dear god." Lily whispered to herself. Potter, who was ahead of her, turned around and grinned. Sirius squeezed Lily's shoulder, and Lupin smiled hesitantly at her .She returned Lupin's smile, but not Potter's. Somehow, she didn't like him, although he had been nothing but pleasant since they had met.
"Black, Sirius!" The Professor that had shown them in, Professor McGonagall, called out the names of students from a long list. After Sirius became a Gryffindor, Boron, Elly became a Ravenclaw, Claimont, Brian because a Slytherin, Cranble Georgia became a Ravenclaw, Erre Michelle became a Hufflepuff, and finally, professor McGonagall called out
"Evans, Lily!"
Lily nervously made her way to the stool, and sat down, putting the hat on her head.
Well, well, well, I have been waiting a long time for you Miss. Evans. I am glad you finally arrived, and just in time too. Let me see…bravery, Oh, but I expected that, Loyalty, and a temper! Good thing, you can't let yourself get too soft. Yet I see a strong love for your friends, and of course your destiny is very clear, I really don't have a choice about which house, he'll want to watch over your so it's………GRYFFINDOR!
Lily quickly too off the hat, and ran to sit beside Sirius, who hugged her.
"I told you we'd be in the same house!" he exclaimed, and Lily felt happier. "Let's hope James and Remus are in here too!" Sirius continued, forcing Lily to sigh. Oh well she thought One minute your up, the next your right back down again
Sure enough, Potter and Lupin were sorted into Gryffindor, and Sirius spent the evening meal talking to them. Lily, who hated being left out, ignored them, and tried to concentrate on the wonders around her. She felt hurt because Sirius seemed to have abandoned her for the two boys they had met earlier, and she couldn't understand why. Wasn't she just as interesting as them? Lily followed her house up to the portrait, and entered. Immediately, she went to her room, and, picking a bed, fell upon it in deep slumber.
Lily woke up to the angry shouts of her dorm mates, and, strangely, the happy voice of Sirius.
"Lily?" he asked, managing to get past one of the girls, who was trying in vain to keep him from entering.
Lily sat up groggily, and pushed back the curtains. Sirius grinned
"Hi Lily! Thought we should get an early start! We'll be waiting for you in the common room." He hollered, then, bowing to the girls, he turned heel and left.
Lily got out of bed, smiled sheepishly at the glares from the other girls, and got dressed. Then she grabbed her backpack, books, and wand, and hurried downstairs. Potter, Sirius, Lupin and another boy were sitting on the couch. When she accidentally sent her Charms book flying down the stairs, they turned around and saw her. Sirius grinned.
"We don't have to leave for classes for another three hours" he told her. Lily blinked.
"Exactly what time is it?" she demanded. It was Potter's turn to grin
"Four in the morning." He announced. Lily groaned.
"No wonder they were angry! Can't you be quiet like any normal person Sirius?" Lily asked in good humor.
"Nope. Just leave your things here, Lily. We have some exploring to do." Sirius told her.
"How do you expect to do that without getting caught?" she demanded
"With James' invisibility cloak!"
"You have an invisibility cloak?" Lily forgot her dislike for Potter at the news of his posession, and asked to see it. Potter took out his cloak, and placed it carefully on her hands. Lily inspected it, then flung it over top of herself.
"This is great Potter" came her disembodied voice "Wish I had one! I've never ever been invisible. Wow. One minute, alright?" Lily said, and before Potter could answer, they heard footsteps running up the girls staircase.
"What is she doing?" Potter demanded of Sirius, who shrugged. Soon, the footsteps came pounding back downstairs, and Lily tore of the cloak, her face alight with happiness.
"Wow! I looked in the mirror! You really can't see me!" she exclaimed.
"No duh, Red, it's an invisibility cloak. Potter told her. Lily frowned.
"My name is Lily, Potter."
"No it's not, it's Lily Evans." Sirius said, grinning.
"No, I meant- urgh. Never mind. Are we going or not?" Lily snapped, pulling on the end of her braid.
In answer to her question, Potter grabbed the cloak, and beckoned for everyone to join him under it. Then they made their way to the portrait, and down the corridor. They hadn't gotten far, however, when Potter accidentally tripped Lily, and sent her flying out of the cloak and into a suit of armor. The crash that it made as it fell to the floor was enough to wake up the entire castle, Lily thought. Quickly, she jumped up, and tried to figure out where her friends were. Before she could move very far, she was yanked backwards, into the cloak again.
"Idiot!" she hissed at Potter, rubbing her elbow where she had fallen on it.
"Cow!" he hissed back, just a sharp meow echoed down the corridor.
"Look!" the boy Lily didn't know cried "A cat!" he was just about to run forward when Lily, who was closest to him, grabbed his arm and yanked him back. The boy let out a little cry, and the cat narrowed her luminous eyes, and sat down, as if waiting for something. Soon the five could hear footsteps, although they were very light, echoing off of the walls. Lily felt deliciously scared, she'd always imagined getting into this kind of mischief, but she had never done it. A man, incased in shadow, turned the corner. He was grumbling. As he got closer, Lily saw that the man was obviously peeved.
"Is it that damn poltergeist again Miss. Norris? Been chasin' him all over the bloody school. Or is it some wee students out of bed again?" the man squinted and looked around him, trying, Lily supposed, to make out the dim shapes of students in the moonlight. Lily prayed to whatever being was looking over her to make him leave. Suddenly, as if her prayers had been answered, a loud crash echoed from the direction the man had appeared. He quickly turned around, and took off, his cat trotting at his heels, her tail the size of a chimney brush. Finally, when she was sure he was gone, Lily breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to look the other boys. Potter groaned. He was sure that Lily would begin scolding them, and ask to return to the common room.
"That was jolly fun! Shall we see if we can find the kitchens?" Lily said. She'd loved the Hogwarts food at the feast the night before, and she wanted more. Potter grinned. Maybe this girl was alright after all.
"Sure Red, let's go!" he exclaimed, and the gang set off to find the banquet they were sure awaited them.
A/N Thank you! I couldn't remember what the founders names were, so I made a couple up! I am glad that there are two women! I'll get that changed ASAP! Anyways, I hope you like my fic, because I am having fun. Haven't got the plot completely worked out yet, but t'will come in time. Has anyone seen a Knights tale? They use the word git in it!!!!!!
Broken Starlight: Thank you for reviewing! Your reviews are so nice! And I absolutely cannot wait to read the next part of your story! Everyone should read Broken Starlight's Lily and James fic, because it is incredibly well written, and it's one of my utmost favorite stories on ff.net! You always mention me in you're A/N's, so I am mentioning you! Plus, you've reviewed so many of my fics, and your always so supportive, you definitely deserve it!
George and Fred: I can guarantee that it will not be one of those fics that starts at first year and does every single year! I don't have the time nor the patience! I think I'll start with first year- it's important, believe me. It sets up characters and relationships- but after, I'll prolly skip to 3rd or 5th year.
Also, thanks to:
GoldenPhoenix ,
iluvharry2001,
Pheonixx,
~wicked*witch~,
Torch,
x Goddess Eden x,
Unforgiven Child (thanks especially, because you review a lot of my fics too, and your reviews are always soooo nice!)
StarChildHermione86
and
Kitty
For reviewing my fic!!!!!! I really appreciate it a whole lot, thanks again!!!!!
