LIKELY ACCUSATIONS
Disclaimer: (for the sake of stating the painstakingly obvious!) I am not J.K. Rowling, I own absolutely nothing from this story, and I am not trying to take credit for any of it.
Author's notes: Well, I'll try to keep this short. I have been wanting to write a story about Lily for a long time, and finally about six months ago I started this one. It's finished and fairly long, though nothing in comparison to My Name Is Remus Lupin (which I plan to never so much as look at ever again!!!) I don't really like the title I picked... maybe I'll change it if I get ambitious or something...(not likely!) Well, here's the story... maybe it will hold you over until Saturday =) (ha, probably not..) Well, this story is different, I can promise you that much... other than that... well, you'll have to read and see. Oh, and don't forget to review if you like it... or it you don't. =)
Chapter 1
"Lily Emeraude Evans! Get down here RIGHT NOW!" Lily winced at her sister's shrill shriek and reluctantly put down her paintbrush on the easel where the canvas she'd been painting was resting.
"Coming," she called, heading for the staircase. "What do you want, Petunia?" she asked calmly, entering the tiny kitchen.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to put the good china in the same cupboard as the regular plates?" Petunia demanded, motioning to the open cupboard, filled with mismatched dishes.
"Like it matters," muttered Lily coldly.
"You don't talk to me like that, you little freak!" Petunia shouted.
"Gosh, Petunia, they're dishes. Since when do you care? I'd have thought that by this time of day you'd be off with your beloved Vernon and his normal family!" Lily glared icily.
"I would have left by now if it hadn't been for your weird way of putting the dishes away. You can't even do simple things normal!"
"You don't even know what NORMAL is!" bellowed Lily.
"And I suppose you do," breathed Petunia. "I suppose you, with your ugly red hair and huge green bug eyes, and your ridiculous freak clothes, I suppose you know what normal is!"
"For your information, dear intelligent sister." Lily's voice dripped with sarcasm. "This is a nice, normal, artist smock." She motioned to the large white shirt she was wearing.
"Well, I suppose if I were as fat as you, I'd have to wear my clothes that big as well to hide it," Petunia said haughtily. Lily had held her calm for as long as possible, but now she could feel the anger building up inside her. She stared at her sister, silently, her green eyes wide, penetrating. Petunia remained silent, and slowly a look of fear overtook her bony face. Lily eyed the china plate in her hand, and willed it to fall.
A second later, it shattered to the floor. Petunia shrieked in horror.
"You! You did that! You little freak! I'll get you for this!" Petunia lunged forward, and Lily prepared to run, but they both froze mid-step as they heard the front door open.
"Girls?" A calm male voice spoke.
"Yes daddy?" asked Petunia sweetly.
"What's going on in here? I could hear you two from the street." Patrick Evans entered the kitchen and sat his briefcase on a chair, looking weary.
"Nothing of any great worry, Dad. Petunia's just been dropping china again," said Lily quickly, before retreating to the stairs, leaving her sister silent, mouth open in shock, too frightened to protest.
In the safety of her own bedroom, Lily let out a small laugh. She'd won the battle again. That was likely to keep Petunia off her back for at least an hour or so. But she couldn't help herself from stealing her usual glance in the mirror. Frowning in disgust with what she saw, she quickly glanced away and eyed a bag of chocolates sitting on her desk. She marched over and tossed them lightly out her window.
"Ouch!" a male voice called from down in the street. "Oh, wow, free chocolate!" Lily knew who it had to be. She stuck her head out the window.
"Chris!" she scolded. "You're not supposed to eat that!"
"Why?" The skinny blonde-haired freckly boy called, through a mouthful of sticky chocolate.
"I was trying to get rid of it!" called Lily.
"I'll never understand you, Lee. Getting rid of perfectly good chocolate. Honestly!" He licked his fingers.
"I'll never understand why you decided to just stand there in my front yard!" Lily yelled back, grinning.
"I wasn't just standing there. I was coming to visit you! Until you tried to kill me by bombarding me with chocolate!"
"Oh, quit exaggerating and get up here!" Lily shouted cheerfully.
A moment later, Chris burst through her bedroom door.
"Hi, Lee! How great to see you on this wonderful day!" His over-exaggerated shout was accompanied by a cheesy grin. Lily's muggle friends insisted on calling her Lee for as long as she could remember, ever since they figured out that's what her initials spelled.
"Hi Chris," said Lily, raising her eyebrows skeptically.
"So, judging by the death glare Petunia gave me on the way up, I'm guessing you two had a fight."
"You guessed right," sighed Lily.
"Plus I kind of heard you from across the street, in my bedroom, with the door closed, while playing my guitar." Lily laughed.
"Yes, well, you'd yell at her too if she was your sister."
"Are you kidding? I'd yell at her anyway. Now, what happened this time? Let me guess, she called you fat, and that's why you threw chocolate out your window."
"Yep," said Lily.
"I am just too good at this!" said Chris, flopping down on Lily's bed. "So, you actually listen to that ugly horse-faced, bony, fake blonde freak when she calls you fat? Lee, I'm ashamed of you!"
"Oh, come off it Chris. You know it's true." Lily haphazardly flung globs of blue paint onto the sky of her painting, in an effort to look busy so she wouldn't have to turn around and face him. "Petunia's prettier than I'll ever be." Chris snorted.
"Don't make me laugh, Lee. If you're telling me you'd rather look like a half-dead, starving horse than yourself, I just might have to agree with Petunia in calling you a freak." Lily let out a small laugh without meaning to. Then she grabbed a pillow and shoved it in Chris' face.
"Easy, easy, don't mess up the hair!"
"Don't worry, with the amount of gel you put in it, it'd take a lot more than a pillow to mess it up."
"But Lauren likes it like this," Chris whined, pretending to be hurt. Lily rolled her eyes. She, Chris and Lauren had been best friends since childhood, but it was only recently that he and Lauren started dating.
"She would. Have you heard from her lately?"
"Yeah, she'll be back next Tuesday."
"I wonder if she's having a good time in France," said Lily.
"Yeah, she is," said Chris. "She told me about it enough."
"So she wrote to you everyday and couldn't write to me once?" Lily pretended to be offended. "And she calls me her best friend!"
"Ha, ha, she loves me more!" laughed Chris.
"Well, I should hope so," said Lily. "Although I don't see how." Lily raised her eyebrows at Chris, who was now making faces in her crystal ball. She sighed loudly. "Stop that!"
"Just because I'm not a witch doesn't mean I can't look in a crystal ball!" Chris pretended to be offended.
"Uh, technically, you'd be a wizard, not a witch." Lily giggled.
"Am I not allowed to have a feminine side?" Chris sounded hurt.
"Never," said Lily. "And I'm sure Lauren agrees with me."
"So, Lauren was telling me just the other day in a letter that you have a thing for this Jimmy boy," Chris inquired.
"Jimmy boy?" Lily was puzzled. "I don't know who… you mean James?"
"Yeah, yeah that's it. Jimmy boy." Lily shook her head.
"Since when do you care about this sort of thing?" she asked.
"Since my two best friends are girls and never shut up about it. You can't expect me not to participate! Like this. Lee loves Jimmy-boy!" Chris sang loudly in a fairly convincing American southern accent.
"Stop calling him Jimmy-boy!" cried Lily. "You make him sound like a Yank from West Virginia! And I certainly do not love him!"
"That's not what I heard," taunted Chris. Lily shook her head.
"You are seriously a disgrace to society, Christian Aubrey!"
"Why thank you for the compliment, Lee," said Chris. "You've just increased my self esteem!"
"Oh like you need it. You've got a bigger ego than anyone I know," Lily teased.
"Well, it's just that I'm so charming and funny, not to mention incredibly good-looking!" Chris grinned at his reflection in her mirror.
"Oh no, Lauren's brainwashed you!" Lily laughed.
"So, got any pictures of Jimmy-boy? I want to see if he's worthy of my Lee."
"As a matter of fact, I don't. I don't really like him that much anyway…"
"Lily, dinner!" Mrs. Evans called up the stairs.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go eat," said Lily smugly, glad to change the subject.
"And get fat," Chris added jokingly. Lily hit him on the arm.
"Ouch!" he whined.
"Lily, is someone else up there?" asked Mrs. Evans.
"Yeah mum, Chris is here," said Lily.
"Hi Chris," said Mrs. Evans as he and Lily descended the stairs.
"Hello, Mrs. Evans," said Chris, polite for the first time since he'd entered their house.
"How've you been, dear?" asked Mrs. Evans.
"Good, good, and you?"
"Fine. Staying out of trouble, I hope?"
"Of course!" said Chris with a very unconvincing grin.
"Would you like to join us for dinner?"
"Oh, no thanks. Mum said if I'm not back by six tonight she'll lock me in the basement until next Christmas."
"Then I suggest you run," said Mrs. Evans. "And tell your mum I said hi, and I'll be over to see her sometime soon."
"Alright. Bye Mrs. Evans. Bye Lee!" Lily pushed the door closed. Mrs. Evans shook her head.
"I still can't believe sweet little Lauren dates that boy."
"He's not all that bad, mum," said Lily. "Just a bit… well, off." Mrs. Evans chuckled as they sat down to have dinner. Lily noticed, to her content, that Petunia wasn't seated at the table.
"Petunia's not here?" she asked, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.
"No, she's out with Vernon." Lily couldn't help noticing that Mr. Evans winced a bit as he said his name.
"I suppose she finds him nice and normal," said Lily, hinting at sarcasm.
"Lily, I know Petunia can upset you sometimes. But I really wish you'd try to get along with her. You two are so horrible to each other lately. Certainly you're both very different, but you're sisters. That should count for something, shouldn't it? I really think Petunia will grow out of her normal stage eventually," Mrs. Evans said. Lily snorted into her glass. Petunia outgrowing normal; that was like saying the sky would outgrow being blue. It'd just never happen. Mr. Evans cleared his throat loudly.
"Lily, Petunia tells me you used magic earlier to make her break a china plate. Now you know your school has strict rules about magic use in the summer."
"I didn't use any magic, Dad. My wand's been up in my trunk since the start of break. Petunia probably just wanted an excuse for slipping up and dropping the plate." She wasn't exactly lying, Lily reasoned. She hadn't actually used any spells, and her wand had been locked up all summer. Mr. Evans nodded, not looking completely certain that he believed her.
"You've only got a week and a half until term starts," said Mrs. Evans. "We'd better be making our way up to Diagon Street soon to get your supplies."
"Diagon Alley, mum," Lily corrected. "And Chris has been pestering me about coming along. He still doesn't believe it exists."
"I don't think bringing Chris is a very good idea, dear," said Mrs. Evans with a slight frown.
"I know," said Lily. "I already told him that, about twenty times at least."
"Somehow, I think it's for the better that that boy didn't end up being a wizard," said Mr. Evans. Lily and her mother both nodded in agreement.
Disclaimer: (for the sake of stating the painstakingly obvious!) I am not J.K. Rowling, I own absolutely nothing from this story, and I am not trying to take credit for any of it.
Author's notes: Well, I'll try to keep this short. I have been wanting to write a story about Lily for a long time, and finally about six months ago I started this one. It's finished and fairly long, though nothing in comparison to My Name Is Remus Lupin (which I plan to never so much as look at ever again!!!) I don't really like the title I picked... maybe I'll change it if I get ambitious or something...(not likely!) Well, here's the story... maybe it will hold you over until Saturday =) (ha, probably not..) Well, this story is different, I can promise you that much... other than that... well, you'll have to read and see. Oh, and don't forget to review if you like it... or it you don't. =)
Chapter 1
"Lily Emeraude Evans! Get down here RIGHT NOW!" Lily winced at her sister's shrill shriek and reluctantly put down her paintbrush on the easel where the canvas she'd been painting was resting.
"Coming," she called, heading for the staircase. "What do you want, Petunia?" she asked calmly, entering the tiny kitchen.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to put the good china in the same cupboard as the regular plates?" Petunia demanded, motioning to the open cupboard, filled with mismatched dishes.
"Like it matters," muttered Lily coldly.
"You don't talk to me like that, you little freak!" Petunia shouted.
"Gosh, Petunia, they're dishes. Since when do you care? I'd have thought that by this time of day you'd be off with your beloved Vernon and his normal family!" Lily glared icily.
"I would have left by now if it hadn't been for your weird way of putting the dishes away. You can't even do simple things normal!"
"You don't even know what NORMAL is!" bellowed Lily.
"And I suppose you do," breathed Petunia. "I suppose you, with your ugly red hair and huge green bug eyes, and your ridiculous freak clothes, I suppose you know what normal is!"
"For your information, dear intelligent sister." Lily's voice dripped with sarcasm. "This is a nice, normal, artist smock." She motioned to the large white shirt she was wearing.
"Well, I suppose if I were as fat as you, I'd have to wear my clothes that big as well to hide it," Petunia said haughtily. Lily had held her calm for as long as possible, but now she could feel the anger building up inside her. She stared at her sister, silently, her green eyes wide, penetrating. Petunia remained silent, and slowly a look of fear overtook her bony face. Lily eyed the china plate in her hand, and willed it to fall.
A second later, it shattered to the floor. Petunia shrieked in horror.
"You! You did that! You little freak! I'll get you for this!" Petunia lunged forward, and Lily prepared to run, but they both froze mid-step as they heard the front door open.
"Girls?" A calm male voice spoke.
"Yes daddy?" asked Petunia sweetly.
"What's going on in here? I could hear you two from the street." Patrick Evans entered the kitchen and sat his briefcase on a chair, looking weary.
"Nothing of any great worry, Dad. Petunia's just been dropping china again," said Lily quickly, before retreating to the stairs, leaving her sister silent, mouth open in shock, too frightened to protest.
In the safety of her own bedroom, Lily let out a small laugh. She'd won the battle again. That was likely to keep Petunia off her back for at least an hour or so. But she couldn't help herself from stealing her usual glance in the mirror. Frowning in disgust with what she saw, she quickly glanced away and eyed a bag of chocolates sitting on her desk. She marched over and tossed them lightly out her window.
"Ouch!" a male voice called from down in the street. "Oh, wow, free chocolate!" Lily knew who it had to be. She stuck her head out the window.
"Chris!" she scolded. "You're not supposed to eat that!"
"Why?" The skinny blonde-haired freckly boy called, through a mouthful of sticky chocolate.
"I was trying to get rid of it!" called Lily.
"I'll never understand you, Lee. Getting rid of perfectly good chocolate. Honestly!" He licked his fingers.
"I'll never understand why you decided to just stand there in my front yard!" Lily yelled back, grinning.
"I wasn't just standing there. I was coming to visit you! Until you tried to kill me by bombarding me with chocolate!"
"Oh, quit exaggerating and get up here!" Lily shouted cheerfully.
A moment later, Chris burst through her bedroom door.
"Hi, Lee! How great to see you on this wonderful day!" His over-exaggerated shout was accompanied by a cheesy grin. Lily's muggle friends insisted on calling her Lee for as long as she could remember, ever since they figured out that's what her initials spelled.
"Hi Chris," said Lily, raising her eyebrows skeptically.
"So, judging by the death glare Petunia gave me on the way up, I'm guessing you two had a fight."
"You guessed right," sighed Lily.
"Plus I kind of heard you from across the street, in my bedroom, with the door closed, while playing my guitar." Lily laughed.
"Yes, well, you'd yell at her too if she was your sister."
"Are you kidding? I'd yell at her anyway. Now, what happened this time? Let me guess, she called you fat, and that's why you threw chocolate out your window."
"Yep," said Lily.
"I am just too good at this!" said Chris, flopping down on Lily's bed. "So, you actually listen to that ugly horse-faced, bony, fake blonde freak when she calls you fat? Lee, I'm ashamed of you!"
"Oh, come off it Chris. You know it's true." Lily haphazardly flung globs of blue paint onto the sky of her painting, in an effort to look busy so she wouldn't have to turn around and face him. "Petunia's prettier than I'll ever be." Chris snorted.
"Don't make me laugh, Lee. If you're telling me you'd rather look like a half-dead, starving horse than yourself, I just might have to agree with Petunia in calling you a freak." Lily let out a small laugh without meaning to. Then she grabbed a pillow and shoved it in Chris' face.
"Easy, easy, don't mess up the hair!"
"Don't worry, with the amount of gel you put in it, it'd take a lot more than a pillow to mess it up."
"But Lauren likes it like this," Chris whined, pretending to be hurt. Lily rolled her eyes. She, Chris and Lauren had been best friends since childhood, but it was only recently that he and Lauren started dating.
"She would. Have you heard from her lately?"
"Yeah, she'll be back next Tuesday."
"I wonder if she's having a good time in France," said Lily.
"Yeah, she is," said Chris. "She told me about it enough."
"So she wrote to you everyday and couldn't write to me once?" Lily pretended to be offended. "And she calls me her best friend!"
"Ha, ha, she loves me more!" laughed Chris.
"Well, I should hope so," said Lily. "Although I don't see how." Lily raised her eyebrows at Chris, who was now making faces in her crystal ball. She sighed loudly. "Stop that!"
"Just because I'm not a witch doesn't mean I can't look in a crystal ball!" Chris pretended to be offended.
"Uh, technically, you'd be a wizard, not a witch." Lily giggled.
"Am I not allowed to have a feminine side?" Chris sounded hurt.
"Never," said Lily. "And I'm sure Lauren agrees with me."
"So, Lauren was telling me just the other day in a letter that you have a thing for this Jimmy boy," Chris inquired.
"Jimmy boy?" Lily was puzzled. "I don't know who… you mean James?"
"Yeah, yeah that's it. Jimmy boy." Lily shook her head.
"Since when do you care about this sort of thing?" she asked.
"Since my two best friends are girls and never shut up about it. You can't expect me not to participate! Like this. Lee loves Jimmy-boy!" Chris sang loudly in a fairly convincing American southern accent.
"Stop calling him Jimmy-boy!" cried Lily. "You make him sound like a Yank from West Virginia! And I certainly do not love him!"
"That's not what I heard," taunted Chris. Lily shook her head.
"You are seriously a disgrace to society, Christian Aubrey!"
"Why thank you for the compliment, Lee," said Chris. "You've just increased my self esteem!"
"Oh like you need it. You've got a bigger ego than anyone I know," Lily teased.
"Well, it's just that I'm so charming and funny, not to mention incredibly good-looking!" Chris grinned at his reflection in her mirror.
"Oh no, Lauren's brainwashed you!" Lily laughed.
"So, got any pictures of Jimmy-boy? I want to see if he's worthy of my Lee."
"As a matter of fact, I don't. I don't really like him that much anyway…"
"Lily, dinner!" Mrs. Evans called up the stairs.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go eat," said Lily smugly, glad to change the subject.
"And get fat," Chris added jokingly. Lily hit him on the arm.
"Ouch!" he whined.
"Lily, is someone else up there?" asked Mrs. Evans.
"Yeah mum, Chris is here," said Lily.
"Hi Chris," said Mrs. Evans as he and Lily descended the stairs.
"Hello, Mrs. Evans," said Chris, polite for the first time since he'd entered their house.
"How've you been, dear?" asked Mrs. Evans.
"Good, good, and you?"
"Fine. Staying out of trouble, I hope?"
"Of course!" said Chris with a very unconvincing grin.
"Would you like to join us for dinner?"
"Oh, no thanks. Mum said if I'm not back by six tonight she'll lock me in the basement until next Christmas."
"Then I suggest you run," said Mrs. Evans. "And tell your mum I said hi, and I'll be over to see her sometime soon."
"Alright. Bye Mrs. Evans. Bye Lee!" Lily pushed the door closed. Mrs. Evans shook her head.
"I still can't believe sweet little Lauren dates that boy."
"He's not all that bad, mum," said Lily. "Just a bit… well, off." Mrs. Evans chuckled as they sat down to have dinner. Lily noticed, to her content, that Petunia wasn't seated at the table.
"Petunia's not here?" she asked, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.
"No, she's out with Vernon." Lily couldn't help noticing that Mr. Evans winced a bit as he said his name.
"I suppose she finds him nice and normal," said Lily, hinting at sarcasm.
"Lily, I know Petunia can upset you sometimes. But I really wish you'd try to get along with her. You two are so horrible to each other lately. Certainly you're both very different, but you're sisters. That should count for something, shouldn't it? I really think Petunia will grow out of her normal stage eventually," Mrs. Evans said. Lily snorted into her glass. Petunia outgrowing normal; that was like saying the sky would outgrow being blue. It'd just never happen. Mr. Evans cleared his throat loudly.
"Lily, Petunia tells me you used magic earlier to make her break a china plate. Now you know your school has strict rules about magic use in the summer."
"I didn't use any magic, Dad. My wand's been up in my trunk since the start of break. Petunia probably just wanted an excuse for slipping up and dropping the plate." She wasn't exactly lying, Lily reasoned. She hadn't actually used any spells, and her wand had been locked up all summer. Mr. Evans nodded, not looking completely certain that he believed her.
"You've only got a week and a half until term starts," said Mrs. Evans. "We'd better be making our way up to Diagon Street soon to get your supplies."
"Diagon Alley, mum," Lily corrected. "And Chris has been pestering me about coming along. He still doesn't believe it exists."
"I don't think bringing Chris is a very good idea, dear," said Mrs. Evans with a slight frown.
"I know," said Lily. "I already told him that, about twenty times at least."
"Somehow, I think it's for the better that that boy didn't end up being a wizard," said Mr. Evans. Lily and her mother both nodded in agreement.