Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. If I did, you would be reading this in a book and the plot wouldn't be a film.
AN: This is slightly AU because Lily's dad was a muggle in canon, but in my story he works at Hogwarts in the library. This makes Lily aware of the magical world, but still muggle born as he father is a squib. And Petunia is a witch.
A Cinderella Story
By Araidel
Dear Diary
Harry's seventh year was full of surprises. After defeating Voldemort at Halloween, he was able to live life to the full. Hogwarts was able to enjoy itself again and the wizarding world lived on without fear or doubt. Hogwarts had decided to host a Christmas Ball in honour of the first Christmas since the defeat and many Ministry members were invited.
It was in the middle of this ball when Harry heard a conversation that surprised him. He was walking past two women who, as soon as he got within ear shot of them, began talking loudly. Harry watched Remus come up to him through the crowds and they began walking together towards the food table when one of the woman's words made him stop.
"You know, Rosanna, I still don't understand why you didn't tell James that you were Cinderella, instead of informing him that it was 'Library Girl' Lily." The dark skinned, dark haired woman said this to her companion, a very thin woman with light brown hair and an arrogant air about her.
"I have been wondering the same thing for exactly for 17 years, Noël." She looked up and spotted Remus looking at her. She smirked and said "Lupin. Do you remember the Cinderella scandal with James and 'Library Girl'?" she gave a sickly sweet laugh and stared at Remus with a superior look.
Remus sent a glare at the woman and said in a voice that was full of impatience and anger. "How can I forget, Rosanna?" He said Rosanna's name with so much contempt that Harry glanced up at his friend with surprise; he had never heard Remus say something to someone with so much contempt before. "Every time I look at Harry I remember it. It was, after all, how Voldemort was defeated. Well, in a very obscure way." At Rosanna's deflated look, Remus walked off and Harry ran to catch up with him.
"Remus? What did those two women mean by the 'Cinderella Scandal'?"
Remus stopped and turned to face Harry. "Has no one ever told you how your parents got together? About the Cinderella Scandal?" When Harry shook his head, Remus smiled. "Well give me two minutes and you are going to find out. Wait here." Without another word to Harry, Remus walked into the crowds, looking for someone.
Two minutes later, Harry spotted Remus coming back to him. He was accompanied by a medium sized man who had tanned skin, brown hair and hazel eyes that were framed by thick glasses. The two older men joined Harry and led him out of the Great Hall.
Remus and his companion separated when they reached the fourth floor. The other carried on walking up the stairs while Remus led Harry towards the library. Harry then asked the question that was on his mind.
"Who was that?"
Remus took a deep breath before answering the question. "That was Joseph Miller. He was your mother's best friend. And before you wonder why you have never met him before," correctly interpreting the look of outrage on Harry's face, "he has been in America until last year, when he came back to help the Order."
"Where are we going? And why did he leave us?"
"Jo has gone to the tower to get something that should help with the story, while we are going to library. And don't worry," again interpreting, correctly, the look on Harry's face, "all will be explained."
The couple reached the doors to the library and waited for Joseph to join them. They didn't have to wait long because Joseph came around the corner, holding a box, only a few moments after they arrived. Remus then pushed open the door to the library and the three men walked into the large room. It looked strangely empty and dark, unlike when it was usually. Remus flicked a light switch and the room burst into light. Taking a look around at the empty room, Harry noticed something that he hadn't seen before on the walls; there were messages written on the walls and they were inspiring messages. On the wall facing the door was the inscription "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination." He recognised it from a speech Nelson Mandela made once. Behind two of the shelves was Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". "Nitwit, Blubber, Ointment and Tweak" were written along the back wall. And behind the librarian's desk was the words "Never let the rain keep you from reaching out and winning". Moving closer, Harry saw that the man who said these words was Mark Evans.
"That was Lily's father." Harry turned to find Joseph looking at the same message. "Your grandfather. He was a squib you know, and he ran the Hogwarts library. Well, before he died that was."
"How did he die?" Harry asked. He saw Remus listening in the conversation.
Joseph answered "In an earthquake in America." He said nothing more but moved away from Harry to a table where he had placed the box. Remus beckoned Harry towards them and they sat down around the table. Joseph opened the box and gave it to Harry. Harry looked into it was saw two books, one large and one small, a small bag and a large bunch of parchment letters.
"This was your mother's life, so to speak." Joseph said. He pointed to the smaller book. "That is your mother's diary. She started it in seventh year. That was when she started getting the anonymous letters." Harry heard Remus chuckle slightly and he looked to see both of the men smiling at him. He knew that he would not get any answers from them, but from his mother's diary which he now held in his hand.
Harry put the diary on the table and picked up the bigger book. It was a beautiful book, with a white gold cover and the legend 'Fairy Tales' written in gold across the top. He then leafed through the letters. A few phrases stood out as he looked through them.
"I can't think of a way to tell my father ..."
"I need to meet you. Meet me at 11 o'clock at the Halloween ball, in the very centre of the dance floor."
"Will you tell me who you are? Or are you intimidated by the fact that I am James Potter?"
"Please tell me who you are ..."
But all of the letters were signed not by 'James Potter' who, Harry had realised, had written these letters, but by 'Prongs42'.
"That was his code name." Joseph said seeing Harry confused look at the signature.
Harry nodded and put down the letters from his father. He then noticed that the addressee's name was also in code; 'DMLEgirl'. "My mother's code name?" he asked Joseph. He nodded and Harry picked up the diary again and began to read...
'Dear Diary,
I used to be the sort of girl who lived in a fairy tale world. I was six and my dad used to sit with me every night and read the fairy tales to me. He would tell me the stories and whenever I used to ask about the princesses now, he used to tell me the exact same thing.
"Well, Lily, nowadays the princesses like to work for their money. And they all work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to help stop the evil people kidnapping and torturing other princesses."
My line in response always used to be the same too. "Then one day, I will work in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement and save princesses too."
My life was perfect. Even though my mother had died when I was a baby, I had everything I wanted in my father. We would go and watch every Quidditch match that was played at Hogwarts. Being a squib and in charge of the Hogwarts library, my father and I lived in the castle. My father knew that I would be a witch so he told me everything he could about the wizarding world. And in the summer, we would travel the world, going to South Africa to Australia. We would do everything together.
Until our holiday to America, that was. But then my dad took me to a restaurant in New York as it was my birthday. The whole place had just finished singing me a happy birthday when a woman pushed passed a few waiters, tripped and fell into my dad's arms. She had dirty blonde hair and small beady brown eyes. When my dad picked her up for a date the first time, I thought that she must have been the 'ugly servant'; you know the ones you find in the evil people's castles in fairy tales? But it turns out that my 'ugly butler' was the one and only Linda Carmichael.
As the time went on, Linda moved to England. She also brought her daughters; Petunia and Rose. They were fraternal twins but still alike as they were blonde, horse-faced and evil. It turned out that they were also witches and that they would be going to Hogwarts the same time as me. More time passed and we only went to America for our holidays. Then my worst fear was achieved; my dad proposed. I didn't mind the fact that my dad was getting remarried as I had always wanted him to be happy. But I wasn't happy that it was Linda Carmichael that he was marrying. At the wedding, she purposely threw her bouquet down so I picked it up and missed the photo. She put the picture on my father's desk in the Hogwarts library.
She changed my father. The library wasn't a place that people came to have fun with studying; it became somewhere that you came when you needed too. My father wasn't regarded as someone who understood magical problems, even if he was a squib; but he became a typical librarian, cut off from the students.
Then on a holiday in America, my father was telling me the Cinderella story from my fairy tale book and we felt a tremor go through the house. A smash was heard and we looked over to see my snow globe fall off my side table and smash on the floor. It was the signal to leave the house; an earthquake signal. My father grabbed my and I grabbed my fairy tale book.
"I have to get Petunia and Rose out of here, Lily." He said as we ran outside and into a shelter down the road. I nodded and gave him a hug; the last time I ever saw my father. A few hours later, I was found in a corner of the shelter hugging my book to my chest and clutching the picture of me and my father in my hand. Tear tracks ran down my face as everyone in the shelter prepared to go back to their houses. Linda, Petunia and Rose had come to the shelter but my father hadn't returned. It was as I had feared; he had died saving his family in the earthquake.
Dad hadn't left a will so Linda got everything; the tower at Hogwarts, the library and me. The first thing she did was move me up to the attic in Hogwarts. The second was ruining the library. She repainted and changed it completely. It went from being a tan colour with inspiring messages around the walls to pink and pictures of the 'hottest authors' found in the library. Student came to the library even less.
I really had only one friend. She had worked with my father as an Assistant Librarian and had been my substitute mother. Irma Pince was a kind hearted woman with curly brown hair and glasses. She had a way of cheering me up after my father died. Whenever I was sad, she would take me to a deserted place in the library and tell me that my father always said to 'Never let the rain keep you from reaching out and winning'. This was my father's most inspiring phrase. It used to be written on the wall behind the librarian's desk and people used to read that and it would help them in a way only my father could.
Now, the message was replaced with a large picture of Newt Salamander who, according to Linda, was the hottest author. I was eight and I was living in an attic, my mother having died when I was young, my father remarrying and the dieing in an earthquake. I had an evil step mother and two evil step sisters. I was made to work round the clock, clearing up the library and I had a fairy god mother (Irma). And I was still waiting for my own Cinderella story to include a Prince Charming. And he came in a way that I had dreamed but never expected since Dad had died; in true Cinderella style.