Says the author:

Drum roll please. And now, complete with Dialogue and Character Development, I give you......Chapter Two!!!!!!

I yield to the great authority of JK Rowling. Hers is the great mind that thought Harry Potter up, and I'm just entertaining the rest of us while she writes book six

Chapter 2, Lily and All that Entails

The alarm clock went off with an awful jangling wail, and Lily Evans, 15, was jolted suddenly into wakefulness. Her left eye opened cautiously, and peered surreptitiously at the clock. 7:00. AM. Far too much of an ungodly hour to wake up. Especially on a Saturday. Especially in the summer. All in all, Lily felt no guilt whatsoever in throwing the offending clock against the wall and resuming sleep.

"Lily," came a voice through the fog of sleep. "LILY! ARE YOU AWAKE? CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT TIME IT IS?"

Why yes, Lily thought sleepily, I do seem to be awake now, don't I. She peeked open her left eye. But no, I don't seem to be able to tell the time. Her muzzy brain tried to make sense of this. Oh, I know, it must be because I threw the alarm clock against the wall. Yes, of course, there it is lying in a sorry pile on the floor by my school trunk.

Lily was suddenly awake. Very awake. Summer it might be and a Saturday as well, but there was a perfectly good reason for that alarm clock. Lily's right eye snapped open as well. And judging by the light entering the room, well, it seemed quite possible that she was going to be—

"—LATE! LILY, IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

"Coming Mum," Lily gasped, tearing herself out of bed. The blankets grabbed her knees and dragged about her ankles, but Lily paid them no mind. Damniti'mgonnabelatetoHogwartsandi'lllosepointsandi'llgetdetentionandeverybody'sgonnaKILLME! Lily's mind roared instructions at her at a speed faster than light itself.

She tore open the door to the bathroom, running right into her sister, Petunia, who was trying to get in there.

"Lily, for god's sake, I need to use the toilet!" Petunia shrieked, but Lily was already inside, the door locked snugly in her wake. A moment later, there was a sound of the shower running, and Lily's scream as she dove into the cold water. "Serve's you right," Petunia called, but she doubted her sister could hear. Lily had always had selective hearing, but it had only grown worse since her acceptance into the wizard freak show school. Petunia headed resignedly for the downstairs bathroom.

Meanwhile, Lily was frantically scrubbing every inch of her body. In record time, she was rinsing off the soap, and turning off the shower. But not before...

"PETUNIA, YOU BITCH," Lily screeched "WHY THE HECK DID YOU FLUSH THE TOILET! YOU KNOW I'M IN THE SHOWER!!!"

But that hardly merited a pause. Lily was out of the shower, her wet feet slapping on the tiles. She wrapped a towel around her (a nice, wonderful fuzzy pink one that she would NEVER admit to her friends that she used), and started pulling a brush through her thick red hair.

"Stupid hair," Lily muttered "I don't have time for you right now." But even with her complaints, it was hardly a minute later that Lily shoved the red mass into a clip, and paid it no more mind. She studied the bathroom minutely, looking for anything she had forgotten to pack. I've got my toothbrush, my hair brush, my makeup, my earrings, my—Damn! I forgot my...oh, no I didn't, I packed that yesterday.

Completing her survey, Lily leapt out of the bathroom and into her room. Jeans, a tee-shirt, didn't matter which, she'd be wearing robes soon anyway, and Lily was out again. She took the stairs 3 at a time, knowing from experience that if she tried more she'd land on her face, and arrived in the kitchen in record time.

"Lily, dear, would you like some toast?" Lily's father asked from the stove. He was the best cook in the family. "Or eggs, or bacon, or, well, anything? Nothing is too complicated today."

"Dad," Lily moaned, "Everything is too complicated for today, I'm going to be incredibly, unforgivably late, and it's the first day of school!"

"Lily, you know you should eat something, or how will you ever make it through the day?" Lily's mother's voice wafted out from behind the newspaper.

"Mum, it's okay, I'll buy something on the train."

Mrs. Evan's eyebrow was visible rising above the paper.

"MUM! Really, I'll eat, I swear but, OH SHIT!"

"Lily Marie Evans, what is—" Mr. Potter cut off as he saw the taxi cab outside the window. Not that it would have mattered if he had continued to speak; Lily was already out the door.

Lily was sprinting out to the cab when she realized she was forgetting something. Or, to be more specific, she was forgetting everything. She spun around in a skillful about-face and sprinted back into the house.

"MY TRUNK!" she screamed, right into Petunia's ear. "I forgot my trunk!"

And she called me a bitch? Petunia wondered.

But it was no use to voice that because Lily was already upstairs. In fact, Petunia had to dodge out of the way as said trunk came falling down the stairs and nearly crushed her beneath its bulk.

Lily was a step behind the trunk, and she pushed the large trunk in front of her and out the door with surprising speed for one so small. And that was without the use of magic. Again, she was halfway to the waiting cab when she realized she'd forgotten something else.

Lily spun again, leaving behind the poor, confused taxi driver, and making a beeline for her front door. This time, her father was waiting for her just inside the door, and he handed his daughter her train ticket.

"Have a nice year, sweetie" he suggested smilingly.

"And write us!" Lily's mother's voice joined in from behind her newspaper in the kitchen, "I want to hear from you before break."

"Good riddance, Twit," Petunia admonished, but she couldn't keep the grin from her face. Even if Lily was a freak, and a damned annoying one too, Petunia couldn't help loving her. They were sisters, for goodness' sake.

"I LOVE YOU GUYS!" Lily shouted as she fairly flew out the open door. "DON'T FORGET ME WHILE I'M GONE"

"As if," Petunia said with another grin as her sister jumped into the waiting taxi. "God, there's nobody in the world like Lily Evans."

Neither parent saw fit to disagree either.

The author imparts wisdom:

This chapter was going to be longer, but I thought this was as good a place as any to end it. Next chapter, we get to see James's morning, I think. What I'm planning, and this could change depending on what's going on in the story, is to write chapters from alternating points of view: one from Lily, then one from James, one from Lily, one from James, and so on. Maybe I'll throw in some others too.

Please, I'm begging you guys, read and review this. This chapter had actual dialogue, and future chapters ought to be a heck of a lot more like this one than the first chapter. And, let's see, you should meet everyone's friends in chapter 3 or 4.

About the characters, well, you ought to learn more about Lily in the future ones obviously, but... Hmm, well, when I was writing Petunia, I didn't put her down as the awful person she seems to be in the canon. I figure, yeah, she's jealous of Lily, and they've got a rivalry going on, but she's not altogether the beast readers tend to see when they look at Aunt Petunia. And a big part of the anger she has toward Harry in the canon could be from losing her sister. Death changes the way you see things. Or maybe I'm just tricking you and Lily and Petunia will have a falling out later on....muahahaha. Alright, enough with the evil laughter. With Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I thought it would be nice if I switched the traditional roles around a bit. So Mr. Evans cooks, and Mrs. Evans reads the newspaper and all that.

And thanks a bundle to Gaby-Black, who gave me my first ever review!!! Yay!

Well, I ought to stop before the author's note becomes longer than the story. I really hope you're enjoying this as much as I am, so read and review if you please.

Amicalement,

le Manchot du Destin

(Gaby and I know what my penname means, do you?)