A/N: Now we get to the whole James/Lily part. Well, mostly Lily, little bit of James and the marauders. And if anyone reviewed, thanx a bunch! If not, I guess it's understandable, but what you don't realize is that it doesn't take that much effort!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter! JK Rowling does. So, don't sue the pants off me-if you do you will get my paint covered pair or my blood covered pair (don't ask or I'll kill you, too).

Seven Years of Our Lives



Chapter One: Lily's Surprise





Lily slammed her door shut. She had just gotten into a row with Petunia. Their mum had promised both of them that she would take them both two different places at the same time. Lily had a party with some of her friends, and Petunia was supposed to meet with Alexander-her boyfriend, whom Lily thought was very ugly. He was fat, and quite mean.

Lily's mum had promised that Petunia would be only a few minutes early and Lily only a few minutes late in the end.

"It's not fair," Lily said to herself. She heard a soft hoot, and realized that she was not alone. On her bed lay a brown owl. She suppressed the urge to scream. It had a letter tied to it's feet. Shakily she took it from the owl.

The envelope was made of old-looking parchment. She turned it over to open it. It was sealed with some sort of crest. It had an 'H' on it along with a lion, a snake, a badger, and a raven. She opened the note and a two pieces of parchment fell out.

It read:

Dear Miss Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl no later that July 31. Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress

Lily couldn't believe it, she was a witch! She ran downstairs. "Mum, I'm a witch!"

"You are?" her mum answered, "and you got accepted into Hogwarts?"

"Er, yeah, how did you know?"

"My father was a wizard. So was my mum. Let me see your letter!" her mum exclaimed.

Lily handed over the letter. Her mum withdrew the piece of parchment. "Wow, daddy's probably the headmaster now," her mum said to herself.

"You mean the headmaster is.is my grandfather?" Lily asked, eyes wide with amazement. "I thought that your daddy went somewhere."

"Yeah, I.I was what they called a.squib," her mum explained, "which means I was born into a wizarding family but I didn't have any powers."

"Why don't you and grandfather ever talk?" Lily asked.

"We used to owl-" Diana looked at her daughter's confused face, "we have owls carry our messages to each other. Daddy and I used to owl each other often, but I married your father, a muggle-someone without powers and not from a magical family."

"What about Petunia?" Lily asked, "is she a witch, too?"

"Er, no, she isn't," her mum answered. "Oh," Lily said.

"Tomorrow, I'll take you to Diagon Alley, and we get your books and supplies, and even your wand!" her mum said.

"Brill!" Lily exclaimed. "Wait-my party!"

"We'll go day after tomorrow then! Leave your supply list with me."

Lily left to her room in good spirits. She was a witch, and her grandfather was the headmaster. This year was going to fun. She was going to go to a better place than her older sister Petunia!

Lily heard the front door shut. Her father was home. She wanted badly to run out and exclaimed, "Daddy, I'm a witch!" But something held her back. She knew she shouldn't go back downstairs.

"Craig, I need to tell you something," Lily heard her mum say. She thought it might be that she was a witch, but her mum's tone was so gloomy. She heard them shut the door to their bedroom.

"What?!" she heard her father yell. "She's not going to be a freak, she's not going to be like your freakish family!" She heard a crash, her father was going to drink again. She shakily crawled under her bed, tears streaming down her face.

A few minutes after the heated row between her parents, her father stormed up the stairs. Lily heard his feet coming closer to her door. She heard Petunia turn her music up. Petunia always turned up her music when her father was angry, and pretended not to know anything of what went on when he was in a drunken rage.

"Come out, you little freak," her father called to the seemingly empty room. "I know your in here!" Lily remained cowering under her bed. Her father spotted her bright green eyes. He grabbed her by the shirt and shook her. "What do you think your doing becoming a freak!" he demanded.

"Daddy?" was all she could choke through her tears. Using his free arm he slapped her face. Lily just cried.

"Your pathetic," he told her. He threw her against the wall. A bookend fell off a nearby shelf and hit her in the face. The only thing Lily could do was cry. Her father slammed her door shut and left to his own room.

"What happened to you?" Lily looked up, Petunia was standing at the doorway, looking concerned.

Lily sobbed, "Daddy got mad."

Petunia understood what her little sister meant by "Daddy got mad." She went over and put an arm around her little sister's shoulder. The two fought a lot, but they were nice when the other was hurt. "Let me get a wash cloth for your face, there's a cut, and it looks like your going to have a bruise for a while."

Lily wiped her eyes. She was glad her older sister was nice once in a while. She looked down at her hands. There was some blood from her cheek. Her sister returned with a wet wash cloth. Petunia gently washed Lily's face off. She gave her little sister a hug. "What was he mad about this time?" Petunia wondered aloud.

"I-I'm a witch, and I'm going to go to a school to learn magic!" Lily announced proudly.

"You mean you're a freak?" her sister asked flatly.

"I'm not a freak!" Lily exclaimed, struggling not to cry again. Petunia couldn't help feeling bad for her sister.

"I know, you can't choose these things, I'm sorry," Petunia said softly. "I'm not sorry! It's going to be fun!" Lily said.

Petunia left the room shaking her head. Lily changed into her nightdress. "I'm not a freak!" she said to the mirror before falling asleep.

In the morning Lily did her best to hide the big bruise with her hair. She ate little for breakfast. Her mum left extra early to drop off Petunia so that Lily would be on time for her party.

"Don't tell your friends," her mum told her as they were driving to the house. "Yes, mum," answered Lily.

At the party, she told each of her friends that she had to leave for boarding school. She told them it wasn't her first choice, but inside she was rejoicing. She was never really liked too much. She thought that Hogwarts might be the place she could fit in. A place she could finally fit in.

As promised her mum took her to Diagon Alley the next day. She seemed to know many of the people there. To get there they went into a little pub called The Leaky Cauldron and her mum tapped the wall three times, and tickled the third brick to the left. "It's a trick for non- magic people-mostly muggle parents. When you get your wand, you'll just tap those three bricks."

Lily nodded, but was amazed as the brick wall opened up to show an alley full of witches and wizards moving about.

"Let's get you your wizard money first. I think I have a few galleons still in there, but if not we can convert some pounds." Lily nodded as they entered a large white building bearing the name Gringotts.

They came out-her mum holding her money. "Let's get your books first. Then you can go get robes. While your getting fit, I'm going to go get something, I'll show you later. Then we'll go to the apothecary and get your potions supplies. And saving the best for last, we'll get your wand!"

Lily could hardly wait. She wanted to do everything at once. Her mum got her schoolbooks for her and Lily looked around. She looked around at the other books. She stopped at one that looked particularly interesting. Make-up and Hair: The Best Spells by Celestia Cerubin.

She moved to where a group of boys seemed to be making a lot of noise. She saw them pick up a book, Revenge: The Best Pranks. "Let's get this one!" a tall boy, about her own age, with dark hair exclaimed.

"Yeah, it looks good," said another boy, a lot like the first-except his hair was not as tidy and he wore round glasses. The two other boys just nodded. The first was an extremely skinny boy. He had sandy brown hair and was very pale. The other plump and had brown hair and freckles.

Lily turned as if she was going somewhere else. They saw her first. "Who are you?" the first boy asked suspiciously.

"Sirius, be nicer, anyroad, my name is James, James Potter," the first boy introduced himself and stuck out his hand.

"Lily, Lily Evans," she answered.

"These are my friends, Sirius Black (the rude one), Remus Lupin (the skinny one), and Peter Pettigrew (the plump one)."

"Hi" they all chorused.

"Hi, what year are you?" Lily asked. "First," they replied simultaneously.

"Ace! Me, also!" Lily smiled.

"What happened to your cheek?" James pointed at the large bruise.

"Lily, time to go!" her mother called.

"Just in time" Lily thought. "I have to go, but I'll see you at Hogwarts!" Lily waved to them.

"Look for us on the train, you can sit in our compartment if you want," James offered.

"I'll try," Lily said as she left.

"Did you make some new friends?" asked her mum.

"Yeah," Lily replied, looking at the owls.

"Want one?" her mum asked.

"Really? I can have one?!" Lily exclaimed.

"Sure, why not?" her mum answered. Lily practically ran into the store- Eeylops Owl Emporium. In the back there was a small snowy owl. She's beautiful, can I have her?" Lily asked.

"Yes, you may have her," her mother smiled. She had always wanted a snowy owl-well, ever since she learned she could have them as pets.

Next was Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"Hogwarts, I presume?" asked the lady at the desk.

"Er, yes," Lily answered.

"Stand there," the lady commanded, she got a tape measure and brought it to Lily, "hold your arms out, I'm going to take some measurements. Lily did as she was told. The tape measure seemed-wait no, it did-move on it's own, a quill was writing notes on a piece of parchment-also on it's own.

The lady left with the piece of parchment after the tape measure was done.

"Hi, I'm Emily Everest."

"Lily Evans, is this your first year to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, you?"

"Same."

"Ace," Emily said smiling. "So, do you know anyone?"

"Erm, not really, you?" "Me either," A woman looking similar to Emily-same dark hair and pale blue eyes-came in and gestured for Emily to come. "I have to go, I'll see you on the Express!

"Ta ta for now!" Lily answered.

The woman-probably her mum, picked up Emily's robes and walked out. Not soon after, her own mum came back with her snowy owl-the owl was the most beautiful owl she had ever seen!

"Get your robes, now," her mum said to her as she was gaping at the beauty of the bird.

"Okay!" Lily exclaimed. She grabbed her robes and gave the witch some of the funny-looking wizard's money and they walked out of the shop. "What are you going to name her?" Lily's mum asked. "Hm, I dunno." Lily said pondering. "Maybe something from early mythology."

"Like Hera?" her mum suggested.

"No, maybe something more like Aphrodite. I don't know yet. I'll look through some stuff later." Lily answered.

"Ooh, ice-cream!" Lily exclaimed as they passed Florean Fortesque's Ice- cream Parlour.

"I haven't had any of this in a long time. I wonder if they still have blue raspberry-cherry."

"Hm, I think I'll have some of that, too!" Lily exclaimed.

"They went in and each got a scoop of ice-cream before they went to the apothecary and got the needed potions supplies. They went to the Quidditch shop and looked at some stuff, while Diane explained everything about Quidditch to her daughter.

"And we save the best for last-let's go get your wand!"

"My wand?" Lily answered.

"Yes, I can't wait to see you get your wand! I used to watch other people get theirs, and I always dreamed of getting my own." Lily's mother looked so sad there.

"So, do we just pick our favourite, or is someone trained to pick one for us?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Oh, no, the wand chooses the witch," her mum said laughing.

She saw a large sign over the shop, Ollivanders: Makers of fine Wands since 382 B.C. "Ah, Miss-es-Evans! How are you, haven't seen you around in a long time, pity you never got to get a wand. And this must be Miss Evans," he looked over her, she saw him pause at the bruise on her face in her reflection in his misty eyes.

"The wand chooses the witch, Miss Evans," Lily now noticed that her mum was imitating Mr. Ollivander when she was told that, and she struggled not to laugh. "Let's see, which arm is you wand-hand. Er, I can use both, but usually I use my right-hand-for writing and stuff.

"Hm, interesting, try this," he said handing her a wand, "Rosewood and unicorn hair, nine inches. Lily took it and stared at it. What exactly was she supposed to do with it. "Well, give it a wave!" Oh, so you're supposed to wave it, that was obvious. She gave herself a mental kick and waved it. The only thing that happened was that it fell strait to the ground.

"Not quite right, try this-ten and a quarter inches long, swishy made of willow and heart string of dragon."

She waved it towards some books and laughed at the thought of them actually floating-wait, they were! She smiled proudly.

"Yes, perfect for you, that wand is really good for charms," Mr. Ollivander told her.

Her mum paid him and they walked slowly back to The Leaky Cauldron, stopping only once.

"We forgot to get you a trunk!" her mum said as they were about to enter the Leaky Cauldron. "Well, you could have one issued to you from Hogwarts, it will just arrive by owl, but there was this one trunk that I always wanted, it was so nice! I think you'd love it."

"Okay, where is it?" Lily asked.

"Follow me," her mum announced. They entered a shop quickly and made way to the back of the store. "Here it is!" Lily's mum exclaimed looking at a beautiful purple trunk with stars and a castle. "It's charmed to be feather light, and it's also charmed to have more space once you open it up.

Lily thought the trunk looked a bit small, but opened it up to see a rather large space lined with what looked like silk. "You sure I can have it?"

"Positive."

They paid for the trunk and went home. Tomorrow was September 1st, and Lily would be leaving for Hogwarts then. She stayed up looking through some books in the "Evans Library" until she found the perfect name for her owl-Mira, it was the name of a star and meant "wonderful".

Lily finally fell asleep a few minutes after climbing in bed, dreaming of wizards and a great big boarding school, full of people, and friends.