Lily Evans woke up to the smells of bacon and eggs being fried on the stove. It was her birthday. She couldn't wait to go with her 2 best friends, Serena Avalon and Tina Audrey, to lunch and then the Movie Theater. Lily's family consisted of 3 other people: her mum, dad, and sister, Petunia.

After she got dressed, Lily walked downstairs and heard the whines of her sister. "But Mum! I want to go to Vernon's house!"

Lily heard her mother's reply. "No, Petunia. It's Lily's 11th birthday and we spend birthdays with family and friends."

"But I will be with friends!"

"But not with family!" The tone in her mother's voice told Lily the conversation was over.

Lily walked into the kitchen smiling. "Hi Mum!"

"Hello Lily, dear. And how is my 11 yr. old baby today?"

"Well, from what I overheard, better than my soon to be 14 yr. old sister." Mrs. Evans gave Lily a reproachful look. Petunia just grumbled something into her breakfast.

Mr. Evans walked in and kissed Lily on the forehead. "Good morning, Angel."

"Morning Daddy."

Then Mrs. Evens called out "Okay everyone. Let's eat!" After they had all eaten, Lily opened her presents.

At 11 o'clock the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Lily called while running to the door. Opening the door she saw Serena and Tina. "Rini! Tina!" Serena had beautiful long brunette hair and deep, ocean-blue eyes. Tina had medium length dirty-blonde hair and bright brown eyes.

"Happy Birthday!" they said in unison. They ran to the kitchen.

"Hello girls," Mrs. Evans said with a smile.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Hi Petunia," Tina said as she produced a small gift-wrapped box from her pocket. Lily quickly opened it. Inside the box was a pair of dangly earrings with a moon charm on the end. Lily gasped. "They're beautiful!" She quickly put them on.

Rini looked sheepishly at Lily. "I haven't gotten your gift yet. I'm waiting for something to arrive," she said.

"That's okay," Lily said quickly.

They then left for lunch. After lunch, it was off to the movies. As it was Lily's birthday, she chose a movie on her and her friends favorite topics: Magic. While buying the tickets, Petunia could be heard mumbling how the movie was "completely childish".

When the movie was over, they went home. Rini and Tina were spending the night. After they had supper, the 3 girls went to bed.

"Petunia was nice today," said Tina sarcastically.

"I'm just glad she didn't say much today," Lily replied. You see Lily, Rini, and Tina had a theory. Petunia couldn't stand anything "girly", and since the 3 girls acted like most girls their age, Petunia couldn't stand them. They spent the night doing each other's hair and nails and doing other "girly" things. Finally, the girls went to bed around 1 o'clock in the morning.

At 8 o'clock, Lily awoke to find 2 strange letters on her bedside table. One was addressed "Miss Lily Evans," the other "Miss Serena Avalon". Lily quickly but quietly woke Rini up.

"Rini. Rini! Rini, wake up!"

"Hmm" Rini said as she reluctantly woke up.

"There's a letter here for you, as well as me."

"Really! Where?!"

"The bedside table."

Rini tore open her letter with a gleam in her eyes. Lily heard a "YES!" and then "Open yours, Lily!" She did.

Inside were 2 pieces of parchment with green ink. She read the first to herself.

Dear Miss Lily Evans,

We are glad to inform you that you have been excepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On the adjoining sheet of parchment is a list of school supplies. As you are muggle born, here is a list of other students attending Hogwarts in your area in their first year:

Serena Avalon

James Potter

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Tasha Lonewolf

The Hogwarts Express leaves Platform 9 ¾ in Kings Cross train station at 11 o'clock. We await your owl no later than August 1st.

Lily looked at the second piece of parchment. Lily looked at Rini. "This is a joke, right?"

Rini just laughed. "No. No joke."

Lily looked at her puzzled. "Where would I-" she began.

"You'll have to come with Mum and me to Diagon Alley."

Lily looked bewildered. "WHERE!"

"Diagon Alley," Rini repeated. "It's like a shopping mall, just with magic wands, spell books, cauldrons, etc. Mum's taken me there a few times. Plus, it's an outside alley with little shops all along it."

Lily couldn't believe her ears. Rini took control. "Let's go tell you mum. She'll be so excited!"

"What does it mean 'muggle-born'?" Lily asked.

"Muggles are non-magic folk. Your sister is one of the biggest I've ever met!" With this, Lily found herself being dragged to the kitchen where Mrs. Evans was starting breakfast.

"Up early today, aren't we girls," Mrs. Evans said with a smile.

"We have something to show you," Rini said, grabbing Lily's letter and thrusting it towards Mrs. Evans.

"What's this?" Mrs. Evans asked as she read Lily's letter. Her face went from shock to joy in a matter of seconds. "My baby girl a witch? My little angel? And you too Rini?" Both Lily and Rini could hear the pride in Mrs. Evans voice.

"So, this is okay, Mum?" Lily asked cautiously.

"Okay?! This is wonderful! Simply splendid! Imagine! A real witch in the family!" and Mrs. Evans was off imagining.

A few minutes later, they were upstairs waking Tina. Rini warned Lily not to tell Tina. Lily was reluctant but agreed. At 10 o'clock, Tina went home and Rini and Lily went to Rini's house to tell her mum.

Mrs. Avalon was also happy and full of pride. "Rini that's wonderful! And you too, Lily!" Mrs. Avalon said.

Lily had been given money for school supplies so Mrs. Avalon took the girls that day.

"First, We'll exchange your money and get money from our vault at Gringotts," Rini was saying. "Then, we'll get our robes, and then our wands, and then..." Rini was talking the whole way to London. Finally, they reached a very old tavern called the Leaky Cauldron and went to the back. There, Mrs. Avalon tapped a brick in the wall with her wand. The wall split apart to reveal the most glorious site Lily had ever seen.

As planned, they went to Gringotts first. Lily loved the trolley ride to the Avalon vault. They left Gringotts and Mrs. Avalon told the girls to meet her at the bookshop in 2 hours. Lily and Rini headed for Madam Malkin's robe shop. They had almost reached it when someone called Rini's name.

"Serena! Serena wait up!" The voice belonged to a boy with very untidy black hair and deep, dark blue eyes. Following him were 3 other boys. One also had black hair, but it was neater, and he had dark eyes. Another had blonde hair with what looked like some grays, gray eyes, and a very exhausted look. All of these 3 were also of good height. The fourth, however, was short and plump with small, dark, watery eyes. His blonde hair was also very thin.

"James!" Rini yelled. She ran up and gave 3 of the 4 boys a hug. "It's so good to see you 3 again! And who's this?" Serena asked, pointing to the fourth boy.

"This, Miss Avalon, is Peter Pettigrew. Peter, meet Serena Avalon. Just call her Rini."

"Hi," they both said.

"It really is good to see you all. You've got to tell me all about your summers. So Sirius, who'd you ask out this summer?" Rini had turned to the boy with neat black hair and dark eyes, but Sirius wasn't listening. Sirius was looking at a girl with dark, gingery red hair and brilliant emerald green eyes. Rini saw this and said, "Oh my gosh! I feel like an idiot! Come over here, Lily!"

Lily slowly walked over and Sirius's eyes immediately fell to the ground. 'So she's a friend of Rini's' Sirius thought to himself.

As Rini introduced each boy, Lily made some mental notes. "This is James Potter," Lily looked at the boy with untidy black hair and blue eyes. "Remus Lupin," Lily looked at the boy with blonde hair and the exhausted look. "Sirius Black," Lily now looked at the boy with dark hair and eyes and noticed they wouldn't look into her own eyes. "And Peter Pettigrew. I myself have just met him." Lily looked at the last boy and was a bit disgusted. He had thin blonde hair and small, watery eyes. 'He has the look of a rat,' Lily thought. "Boys, this is Lily Evans," Rini said.

After she said this, James, who had a way with words, took Lily's right hand, bowed, said "It is a glorious day when heaven sends one of its angels back to us," and kissed her hand.

Lily blushed and said, "Heaven has sent more than one."

Rini was getting anxious. "Are we going into the shop or not?" she asked a bit more fierce than she meant to. Everyone followed her in and got sized up with robes. Then it was off to Ollivander's for wands. Lily's wand was willow, 10 ¼ inches long with a unicorn hair. Rini's was oak, 11 inches with a dragon heartstring. James's was mahogany, 11 inches with a phoenix feather. Sirius's was cedar, 13 inches with a dragon heartstring. Remus's was pine, 9 ½ inches with a unicorn hair. Peter's was birch, 7 inches with a unicorn hair.

They spent the rest of the 2 hours shopping and then headed the bookshop. James asked where Lily's parents were and she explained that she was muggle born. After she said this, James, Sirius, and Remus exchanged worried looks. Lily stared at them and asked, "What?"

James looked at her and said seriously, "Be careful whom you tell that to. If the wrong people hear that, you're in for a very unwanted insult."

Rini nodded. "Especially that third year Lucius Malfoy and, in our year, Severus Sn..." her voice trailed off and a look of horror crossed her face. The 4 boys turned and saw why.

Standing behind them was none other than Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. Lucius had very bleach-blonde hair gelled back and silvery-blue eyes. Severus had greasy black hair, dark eyes, and a very hook shaped nose.

"Did I hear this right, Potter? You're hanging around a mud blood?!" Lucius asked.

Rini was furious. "HOW DARE YOU CALL HER THAT!" she screamed.

James was being held back by Remus and Sirius. Peter had hidden behind a bookshelf. "Don't you ever call her that again, Malfoy!" Lucius was not, however, paying attention.

Instead, he said to Severus, "You know, for a mud blood, she's awfully cute. What do you think Severus?"

Severus was looking Lily up and down as he said, "I quite agree, Lucius. A tasty little dish, no doubt."

Right as he said this, James struggled free and was giving Severus a beating he'd never forget before anyone could stop him. Lucius was about to team up on James when Sirius jumped on him and was giving him a beating very similar to the one James was giving Severus. Both Lucius and Severus were pinned to the ground. It was only when James and Sirius felt a hand on their shoulders' that they stopped swinging fists.

James heard Rini say clear and stern, "James! Stop it!"

Then he heard Lily over by Sirius, "Stop it, right now! Hitting him won't help the situation, no matter how much better it makes you feel."

"All right. But I warn you," Sirius growled at Lucius and Severus, "If you ever call her that again, you'll have more than a broken nose!"

As James and Sirius stood up, Lucius said loud and clear, "You'll pay for this Potter! You and Black will pay!" With this, Lucius and Severus left.

"Why did you just do that?!" Lily screamed.

"He called you 'mud blood'," James said as if that explained everything.

Lily looked dumbfounded. "Which means?"

This time Sirius answered. "It's slang. It means 'dirty blood', a magical muggle."

Suddenly, they heard Rini gasp. "Oh my gosh! I just remembered I need to get you your birthday gift!" She ran to her mum, said she'd be right back, and ran out of the shop.

"When was it?" Sirius asked.

"Huh? What?" Lily asked, still staring at the door Rini had just ran out of.

"Your Birthday!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh!" Lily said feeling like an idiot. "Yesterday."

"Happy birthday!" the boys chorused as, one by one, James, Sirius, and Remus kissed her hand.

When Rini returned, she had a cage in her hand. In the cage was a beautiful snowy owl. Lily's eyes lit up when she saw it. "He can deliver letters for you and he's a faithful friend and pet," Rini said happily.

"He's beautiful!" Lily exclaimed. "I'll name him after you since you gave him to me, Rini. I'm using your middle name though." At the last sentence, James, Sirius, and Remus started paying even more attention than they were. "What?" Lily asked with a sly smile on her face. "She never told you? Well, maybe Emrys and I can tell you."

When Lily said 'Emrys', Rini turned red and the boys started snickering. Lily started telling her story. "Emrys, if I've read three of my books correctly (which I have), was the last name Merlin the Enchanter went by as a child. He was called Myrddin (dd makes an 'th' sound) Emrys before he found out he was Aurulius Ambrosius's son. Just like Ambrosius, Emrys means 'Protector of Light,' just in different languages. I wonder why I didn't connect that with you being a witch before?" The last part was more to herself. "I've also read other stories with Merlin and the name 'Emrys.'

They had finished shopping so Mrs. Avalon took the girls home after they said good-bye to the boys. Though Lily's parents were thrilled with the news of Lily being a witch, Petunia wasn't. She snubbed her sister even worse than before the letter. Lily couldn't wait till September 1st. Finally, it arrived.