Living in Cokeworth was different from New Orleans. For one Lily wasn't allowed to run wherever she wanted without parental supervision, two she most definitely wasn't allowed to start another voodoo shop, and three, it had a different school system.

Each new rule irked Lily Jones (she still went by her mother's name in honor of her) and she venimentally complained about it to Facilier. He, in turn, offered to sneak Lily back to New Orleans, or hex her father, she turned down both offers however since she found she had missed her family more than she realized. It had only been two, almost three weeks, but the once estranged sisters had reassembled their past bond (something that caused Facilier to be a little jealous over). Their father had also made attempts to reconnect but Lily was being stubborn against the man; she has not forgotten the reason why Ms. Jones left England.

Regardless she was getting back into the swing of things, yes she was the new transfer student with the funny not-quiet-English accent, and yes her two family members treated her prowess in voodoo with ill-disguised fear/wonderment. There was also that neighbor boy who looked at Lily oddly when she collected plants for potions, or animal skulls to ward off dark things, she scared him away by sticking a tripping curse onto his forehead. But she was finally settling down and the sudden storm that had swept her off her feet had finally passed.

She wasn't expecting a new storm to come in.

Her birthday. A moment of great celebration. Yet it was a flip-floppy emotion that she woke up with; excitement, for seeing her sister smile and give her a present, swirling to sharp loneliness with the realization that Facilier and Mum won't be with her. His letters assured her that he was doing fine and their friends were making sure he wasn't having a pity party but the feeling remained. Zoning back to the present, Lily opens Petunia's gift.

"Wow Tuney, this is really nice of you," She says while looking at the empty charm bracelet her sister had given to her. Despite her reluctance to Lily's voodoo Petunia still tried to support her sister no matter what… hobbies she has.

"Well, I noticed that your other bracelets were getting full so I assumed you'd be needing another." Petunia sniffed at her little sister, she still hasn't learned how to simply say things. Lily laughed and looked at her dresser, which was covered in various trinkets and held three charm-filled bracelets.

"Guess you're right Tuney, thank you."

The rest of the day went as any birthday did, a nice breakfast, congratulations from her father, spending the day in school dreaming, and then returning for a family supper/party.

The family was sitting around the table enjoying the cake Lily's voodoo dolls had made, this had caused some worried glances when a sharp knocking sound echoed through the house. Lily made a shooing motion and her three dolls hopped off the table and scurried to her room, it wouldn't be good to startle whoever was knocking. Her father sends her a grateful look before going to the door making her sorely tempted to bring them back.

"Good evening Mr. Evans, I am Professor McGonagall, may I come in?" An accented voice said from the open door. The way the professor introduced herself sent warning bells off in Lily's head, why did she know her father's name and why would a professor come to their house at supper time? Lily walked over to her father and Professor McGonagall, who was still waiting to be invited in.

"Don't do it father, she might be a vampire," ignoring her father's indigent bumblings and the professor's raised eyebrow she continues, "I'll grab some garlic, then we can bring her in."

"Despite common belief, most vampires are tolerant of garlic," Professor McGonagall said as she walked into the house.

"And how would you know? Unless you are a vampire!"

"Lily please!" her father admonished, "I'm terribly sorry ma'am, Lily has been going through her occult phase and as you can see it has come with various results." he directs McGonagall to the sitting room and offers her a slice of cake.

"It's not a phase father," Lily mumbled. McGonagall chuckled.

"What an interesting coincidence, I am here to discuss something that might interest the young occultist."

"Are you a witch doctor like Lily?" The three people spun around, having forgotten about the fourth person in the house, "well, are you?" Their father sighed at his daughters' abrupt questions.

"I don't know what a witch doctor is, but," the family leaned at Mcgonagall's words, "I am a witch." Lily lets out a squeal of pure delight while her father grabs both her and Petunia.

"No, I'm sorry, but no. Absolutely not, having a witch doctor as a daughter is bad enough but I do not need literal devil worshippers in my house."

"Mr. Evans I assure you that I have not worshipped the devil. Here," she places an envelope onto the table, "this will explain some things." Lily snatches up the envelope and rips it open only for the letter to be taken from her hands.

"Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."* Petunia read in a clear voice, "you're a wizard too Lily?" Another chuckle came from McGonagall.

"No, a wizard is a male with magic, Lily is a witch." She said the words like it was the most life-changing thing ever. Lily scrunched her nose,

"That's stupid, everybody knows that a witch and a wizard are two vastly different things. Even my father knows that."

"Hey." came said father.

"And besides," Lily continued after seeing McGonagall getting ready to argue, "I am a witch doctor. Which is another branch of magic unique from both witchcraft and wizardry."

"Pardon, but you've lost me," McGonagall said, "what is a witch doctor and how do you know about magic." This was becoming the weirdest introductions she's ever witnessed, not only is the entire family in the know about magic but they seem to be arguing that Mcgonagall is inaccurate.

"Everyone knows about magic, it's whether you believe in it or not that matters," Lily said nonchalantly, "and a witch doctor is a magician with powers of healing, divination, and protection against others." She quoted Facilier's words from years back.

McGonagall leaned in her seat. This witch doctor business seemed to be a specified branch of magic. Nothing the girl had said was new or surprising, what was interesting though was how Lily Jones gained this knowledge.

"It seems you are well versed in this art of magic, but would you like to know more?" A quick smirk flashed Lily's features so quickly McGonagall almost didn't pick up on it.

"Tell me about this magic school."

The rest of the evening was spent discussing Hogwarts, her different subjects, teachers, and answering the many, many questions that the family had. In turn Lily relayed some of her stories, telling McGonagall how she and her friend had taught themselves voodoo (and wasn't that interesting, all things hinted to the boy being a muggle yet he could perform this sort of magic), and some of their minor adventures. At Lily's remark that her magic was stronger than Facilier's, Mcgonagall shot her theory.

"Voodoo seems to rely on a medium to manipulate the natural worldly magic, this was how Facilier could do voodoo. But since you were born with magic the already powered instruments or rituals gain an increase of power, thus making them more potent."

Lily hmms before adding her own addition:

"Since voodoo relies on worldly magic reacting to a medium, and not inner magic, it allows muggles to do things they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, and why nobody gets caught by the magical government."

"Precisely."

As the discussion started winding down, Mcgonagall realized that she had spent all of her time with the small family, she gave a hasty goodbye with a promise to explain more of the wizarding world and to take Lily school shopping when the school term nears.

She also unknowingly dropped a bomb, the boy next door was also magical. That explained his odd behavior, he must have been trying to find out if Lily was magical or just plain weird.

With McGonagall gone Lily rushed to her bedroom to write to Facilier about all that was happening. With a hug and a kiss from her father, she falls asleep after a very eventful day promising to herself to talk to the other magical in the neighborhood.

The sun was already up when Lily rolled out of her bed, thanking fate that her birthday resided on a weekend she went to her drawer pulling clothes out as she goes. Today was the day that she interrogated- er talks with the boy so she needed something that said "Hello yes, I am magic too." She held up her old costume from New Orleans.

"Perfect."

Grabbing Fettuccine, the kindest of her dolls, she makes her way out of the house. Bypassing a newly awakened Petunia she skips into the kitchen to grab two muffins.

"Thanks, Lasagna, I'll bring you some pointy rocks when I'm back." the violent toothed doll grins back, it liked three things in life; Lily, cooking, and new "teeth." She hummed as she read her father's note, he always left them notes when he had to work early in the morning. It said the same thing as before, stay safe, don't blow up the house, and refrain from summoning eldritch monsters until he got home.

Fettuccine climbed onto her shoulder holding the second muffin, Lily smiled at it before finally getting out of the house. The walk to the boy's house passed quickly and Lily found herself standing in front of a decrypted door. Knocking softly the previous elation suddenly deflated, some serious vibes were coming off this house and none of them were good. A crash sounded from inside and the door swung open to reveal a red-eyed man holding a bottle, Lily instinctively shrank back.

"Hello sir, I was um…" Her voice trailed off as she peeked inside the house, it didn't look any better than the outside, "I was wondering if the boy who lives here could come out and play?" The man sneered at her before yelling inside the house.

"Severus, get out here!" A pale face boy with limp black hair walked next to the man, he eyed Lily and Fettuccine curiously. "She wants to play with ya, get out and don't come back till later." Lily's eyes narrowed at the man, she did not like him at all.

Severus nodded and slinked past the man, grabbing Lily's hand roughly as he left the house. He matched determinedly, ignoring Lily's protests, till he sat down under a tree. Lily huffed but sat down next to him, Fettuccine climbed off her and offered the muffin. Severus stiffened but ended up eating the pastry.

"So," He said between mouthfuls of muffin, "you're magic too?"

"Yep, just got my letter yesterday."

"Are you a half-blood?"

"Huh? Oh right, blood purity. No, I'm a muggle-born," She glared sharply at him, "you don't have a problem with that do you?"

"No, no," He waved his hands nervously, "I just thought since you seemed familiar with magic and all that you were a half-blood… or something." Lily relaxed at his words, good if he was some snobbish pure-blood elitist she would've hexed him into oblivion.

"I've known about magic for a while now, almost four years actually," she says tilting her head back in thought, "I lived in New Orleans and met my brother, we taught ourselves magic."

"Wait, wait, wait. You taught yourself magic with a brother that you met in New Orleans?" Severus stared at Lily in bewilderment, "How does that even work, you don't have a wand!" Lily laughed, a hard loud laugh.

"You don't need a wand for everything, and Facilier kind of got adopted into my family. I mean he was living in our house for years." Severus's mouth hung open as he stared at the young girl who completely shook his idea of magic.

The two compatriots in magic started talking more freely once introductions passed, they both felt an odd sort of kinship with one another. Lily regaled Severus with the many adventures that she and Facilier went through. She showed him her shadow, who surprisingly liked him, and he in turn told her all he knew about the wizarding world. Most of what he had said correlated with Mcgonagall's report, although he gave a slightly more biased opinion of the houses, he also offered a new perspective on magical racism. Apparently, it was a bigger deal than what McGonagall had made it out to be. The two made fast friends and once they ran out of topics Lily brought him to her house for lunch and to show him more voodoo.

Petunia wasn't happy having Severus in the house, she claimed he would steal something. He didn't, Petunia was just being rude.

Eating quietly Lily smiled as her new friend watched Lasagna in delight as it haphazardly tossed ingredients into a pot. It was obvious to her that Severus did not have a happy childhood, his father looked like an abusive drunkard and she heard nothing about his mum. Lily debated whether it would be a good idea to talk to him about it or not, but decided that taking no action is just as harmful as letting him be abused. Standing up she walks to her room beckoning Severus to follow after. Grabbing a braided bracelet she forces it into Severus's hands.

"Here. This is made from the hair of a black cat, unwillingly taken, then soaked in pickle juice. It'll cause a bout of bad luck to the wearer whenever they intend to harm others."

"That's cool… but why are you giving this to me?" Severus asked while eyeing the bracelet between two fingers, Lily sighed.

"Look. I don't want to push myself into your life and I know we just met but you don't seem to have the best childhood," she held up a hand to stop Severus sputters, "this is for your father. I know what alcohol can do to men, Facilier and I have had to deal with them more than once. You can slip it on him when he falls asleep and with this," she holds up a small silver bell without the clapper, "it'll keep him from noticing the bracelet." She weaves the bell onto the bracelet before handing it back to Severus. He held it dumbstruck, not saying a thing, "are you mad?" He flicked his head up.

"Mad?" he choked out, "I've been living for eleven years hoping that someone, anyone would help my mum and me. But no one in this entire town looks past their nose. So how come when the new girl who has only known me for a day decides to rescue me?" He was laughing dryly, almost hysterically. "He'll stop once I put this thing on him?" Lily nods, "thank you."

He flumps down on the floor cradling the bracelet like a lifeline, in a way it was. He stroked it once then looked up at Lily with hopeful eyes.

"Teach me how to do voodoo. If I can't rely on wands or people, then I can use voodoo." Lily smiled deviously, it seemed she had gained a student. Sticking out her hand she pulls Severus up.

"Gladly."

AN:

UnnaVox: Alright! Things are happening and I am pumped! Not only is this our longest chapter but we are getting into some major characters. I hoped that I portrayed Mcgonagall and Severus well enough. McGonagall was fun, not as sassy as she could have been but I'll work on it. But Severus, he surprised me. I was not intending to have him introduced yet but he demanded to be written. And who am I to deny a fictional character's wish?

Also while going back and looking through the books I've noticed that I changed the behaviors of Petunia and Snape a lot. Petunia seemed envious of Lily in canon, and Snape was a creepy little shit (he watched the girls, read Petunia's letters, etc.). But this is fanfiction so why not make them more agreeable? ;)))