Hello, hello, hello everybody and welcome to one of my rare multi-chapter fics :D

I will try to update regularly, but I can't promise anything. I'm in the middle of working on my dissertation for my doctorate, so things can get a little hectic sometimes. So even if I go weeks without posting, I was just too excited about this story to not start posting it. I started working on it in the spring of 2022, so it's been sitting there for a while until I managed to convince my muse to allow some ideas to come to the surface and start writing again.

So far, I have finished five chapters and am currently working on the sixth. I have big plans for this story and I'm hoping that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

Disclaimers and trigger warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter, whenever they are needed.

Disclaimer: This goes without saying, but I do not own Harry Potter. Everything in the Wizarding franchise is copyrighted by J. K. Rowling, and I'm just borrowing her characters because I love them to bits.

Thank you to S L Blake for betaing the first four chapters!

Without further ado - let's follow Lily through her final year at Hogwarts and see what will happen! You already know what happens, generally speaking, but stay with me xD Enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Summer Morning

A small sigh escaped her as her eyes followed the owl heading back across the country to its owner. She couldn't believe how she'd gotten here. Well, she could believe how she had gotten here because she, contrary to certain pure-blooded fellows, fully trusted the contraption Muggles had dubbed an automobile and did not freak out when it started to move whilst making oddly animalistic sounds and not even planning on lifting off the ground.

You see, Lily Evans was a Muggle-born witch, and she was proud of it. She combined the best out of both worlds and knew that no matter the situation, she would find the best solution, might it be magical or non-magical – she wouldn't be overwhelmed by losing her wand. Unlike people like Sirius Black or James Potter.

That was another thing that still baffled her – those two boys. She'd known them since her first year at Hogwarts and had immediately seen them as arrogant and full of hot air. They had presented themselves to be better than others, had bullied those that didn't fit in their worldview, and had made sure that everyone would know not to mess with them – the Marauders. What a stupid name, she had thought back then. But she had to give it to them; no matter how annoying and irritable they had been back in the day, they had never made it about the blood status of one of their victims. They had never bullied someone for being a half-blood or Muggle-born. They had never even thought of doing it, or so she felt, because, frankly speaking, even back then they had been better than that. For them, it had always been personal and not because other pure-bloods expected it of them.

Yes. She, Lily Evans, had just said the Marauders had been better than most pure-bloods, and that was true. If you had told her that even two years ago, she would have laughed you straight in the face, declaring you insane. But nothing stayed the same forever. She had changed, had grown more open-minded and less scared, and James Potter had grown. As a wizard – as a man – he had worked on himself until he had turned into who he was today.

Someone she truly liked.

Just thinking that caused her to blush, although nobody could see her neck and cheeks redden. She was alone in her room and she was thankful for that because, yes, whenever she was shy or embarrassed or angry, she would turn into a tomato with eyes. Her fair skin had always been something she despised. She knew that was a strong word, especially when directed at herself, but it was true. She had admired all of the kids that had returned to school after the summer holidays sporting a healthy-looking tan, glowing from the inside out. Whenever she had relaxed in the sun – just to be safe lying underneath the tree in their backyard – she had turned red within fifteen minutes, and that was with sunscreen.

Her friends, whenever they had gotten a sunburn, they had turned tan afterwards, after the skin had healed, but she never did. She returned to her pale skin with freckles, the latter even multiplied the more she would sunbathe. She had even tried not using sunscreen, hoping that her not getting tan would be a result of its protection, but that one summer back in 1973, she had had her worst sunburn yet. She had spent the majority of her summer break in a shirt, protecting whatever skin had been burnt to crisps. After that, she had never left the house without applying a generous amount of the white cream all over her exposed skin.

Her red hair and green eyes did not help in the matter of getting a tan, either. Her eyes were probably the only thing about her body that she truly liked. Her hair was too red, not the normal gingery orange most people had but an auburn red that functioned like a beacon wherever she went. Everyone kept looking at her and she was never sure whether it was because they liked the way her hair looked or because they thought it looked simply ridiculous.

Her legs were too thin, her bum too small, and her whole frame, frankly, too boney. In her opinion. She had a feeling that not everyone saw her like that, but her brain was too rational to let that influence her insecurities. Even her lips were off – her bottom lip was slightly too voluminous compared to the thinner upper lip. Her freckles looked like spots that covered her entire body and combined with the unnatural red of her hair and the striking green of her eyes, she was not what you thought a ginger girl to look like.

She had never been an overly confident person, but the looks she had received back in first year when she had first entered the castle, had more or less done the rest. At Hogwarts, she had always felt left out and as if she did not belong. She was a Muggle-born, someone who had not grown up using and knowing magic. She had been the odd one out, and that feeling had never truly left, although her way to act and see herself had changed drastically over the years. She had grown more confident and sure of who she was and what she wanted, coming to the conclusion that being at the top of the class, a Prefect, and a Muggle-born was something she could be proud of. So she was proud.

She might not overly like the way she looked, but she doubted that anyone truly ever did. It wasn't a reason to make her feel insecure, at least not anymore. One more thing to be proud of, she thought and grinned into the sunrise outside her window.

It was 5 am on a Monday morning. The sun was rising beyond the row of houses across the street and, although still slightly chilly, Lily could tell that it would be a warm day today. Any normal person seeing her right now would think she was insane – standing in front of her open window in her pyjamas, a big grin on her face as she watched the sun rise. She honestly wasn't a morning person, don't even start thinking that. She hated getting up early, even when something fun was planned for the day. There was only really one thing that got her out of bed in time – and that was food. Normally, the promise of breakfast at Hogwarts was enough to make her not ignore her alarm clock and get out of her warm and comfy bed. At home, that wasn't the case. Not even breakfast could pull her out of the heavenly place that was her oversized bed.

But one thing could.

A gentle tapping sound at around 3 am had woken her up. After a lot of confusion and groaning, she had rolled around, her left cheek still pressed into her fluffy pillow, and had dared a glance towards the big window. A jolt of electricity had shot through her and within a fraction of a second, she had been wide awake.

The owl sitting on the window sill, looking at her imploringly, had been Merlin, James Potter's trusty barn owl. His dark eyes had blinked at her and his white face had practically glowed in the moonlight.

It hadn't even taken her three seconds before her hand had pulled open the window and Merlin had fluttered inside, hooting softly, indulgent to not wake anyone up. He was nice like that, just like his owner.

She couldn't see the light, feathery body of Merlin anymore, hadn't for a couple of minutes now, but the warm feeling at seeing him, at finding the roll of parchment attached to his leg, and at reading the words written in the weird mixture of elegant and all over the place, still remained. After another two or three minutes of just enjoying the moment and revelling in what her life had become, she turned back to her desk and picked up his letter again. It was several feet long, something that she knew he would struggle with if it had been a school assignment, yet, when writing to her, he barely sent a letter shorter than two feet.

The butterflies in her stomach soared and she climbed back into her bed, letter clutched securely in her hand, and pulled the blanket up her legs. With a little bit of wiggling back and forth, she settled into her mountain of pillows and read the letter for a third time.

And a fourth.

And a fifth.

No, she wasn't obsessed.

*~*Take Me Home*~*

She must have fallen back asleep because the next thing she knew was the shrill scream coming from downstairs before feet pounded up the stairs and her door was flung open.

"Mum says you have to get up, Lily."

Petunia. Her sister had never been one to deliver information in a calm, collected, and not insulted kind of way. Yes, you have read correctly – insulted. Not insulting. Although she was good at being insulting as well, thrived at it, even. No, Petunia Evans always managed to convey the image that whatever you had done prior, no matter whether it be sleeping, eating, or simply breathing, had insulted her on such a deep-rooted level that she would hold a grudge until her final days, probably even beyond that. And she was good at holding grudges. Lily would know.

The redhead groaned softly and rolled onto her side, away from her glaring sister. Her hand brushed against the slightly rough texture of parchment and a soft smile made its way onto her face.

"What time is it?" she mumbled into her pillow.

The sun was shining into her bedroom, illuminating her bed because she had forgotten to pull the curtains close again after releasing Merlin on his way back home. But for some reason, she didn't regret it. Feeling the warm rays on her skin and hearing the birds chirp happily outside, combined with the distant sound of a lawn mower and children playing, she felt oddly at peace. Part of it might have been caused by the letter that was still lying next to her, filled with fun stories of how Sirius had, once again, made a fool out of himself on their last trip to Muggle London.

Yet another thing that caused butterflies to do somersaults in her belly. Not that she would tell anyone, of course. Well, no, she would probably tell Marlene and Dorcas, but not the boys. Not yet, at least. Maybe Remus, but not the two slobs in their group.

Being pure-bloods, James and Sirius were expected to act accordingly, at least when you asked other pure-blooded families that held high positions at the Ministry. Lily, however, had found out rather soon that the Potters weren't your typical pure-blooded family, even though they, too, held high positions in politics, had lots of influence and money, but they were different. They didn't show it to the public. They didn't tell anyone how wealthy they were, or how powerful of an ancient family they were. No, they were normal and, although being raised as pure-bloods of the olden days, they whole-heartedly supported James and Sirius' ventures into the Muggle world.

The two boys were fascinated by anything non-magical. Last year, when Lily and her girlfriends had started to warm up to the Marauders and had started to see how they truly were – kind, loyal, and surprisingly fun to be around – those two had taken a liking to ask Lily everything about the world that she had grown up in.

What was it like to use an oven? What was it like to travel for hours just to reach the other end of the country? What was it like to be surrounded by mechanical noises all the time? Was it scary sometimes? Could she build a vacuum cleaner? What was a vacuum cleaner? Cleaning vacuums sounded dangerous. Was it dangerous to be around one and why did every household own one? Was it normal to have vacuums in their living rooms?

Their questioning had caused more than one laugh attack that had left her out of breath and with tear stains all over her cheeks.

Apparently, according to James' last letter, they had ventured into a bar in Muggle London. They had found it on one of their sightseeing tours and had decided to return later that day. Sirius had been dead-set on hooking up with a Muggle girl and checking whether he could get through the night by acting as a Muggle. A perfect disguise, he had claimed, much to James' amusement.

Which, obviously, had failed miserably, and James had seen the disaster unfold right in front of his eyes when Sirius had asked the girl why he should call her 'Taxi' if her name was Valery. James, being James, had done absolutely nothing to keep his friend from blowing his cover, clearly too amused to do anything about it. Thanks to Lily, he knew what a taxi was and that you had to call one before getting about, but Sirius hadn't known that. And his best friend, read brother, had not felt it necessary to tell him, apparently, and just thrived watching him metaphorically drown in the situation.

The girl had ended up accusing Sirius of being on drugs, which had confused him even more, had slapped him with quite a bit of force and had stormed out of the pub, leaving a sputtering Sirius and a cry-laughing James behind to pay for her drinks.

Just imagining that caused Lily to giggle, which, considering the situation she was in right about now, caused her sister to cry out indignantly.

"I don't see any reason for you to laugh, you freak!" Petunia yelled and, with the fuming energy of Mrs Norris on a mission, stalked up to her sister's bed to rip the large blanket off her body.

"Hey!" Lily shot up into a sitting position and whirled around to glare at the offending person in her room. "Leave me alone, Tuni!"

"Don't call me that! How many times do I have to tell you that to get it through your thick skull?" Petunia hissed menacingly and gave the blanket another tug, catapulting it into the opposite corner of the room. Considering her frail figure and very thin arms – Petunia didn't do anything that would change her 'perfect physique'; ugh, don't get Lily started on that – it was quite an impressive feat. "Now get out of bed. It's nearly noon and Mum said she wants you to do the grocery shopping today and I don't want to miss out on lunch just because your lazy ass didn't get out of bed like a normal person!"

With a final glare to her younger sister, Petunia turned around and marched out of the room. Just like always, Lily recognised glumly, she held her nose high up in the air, clearly thinking she was better than the peasant of a sister.

"Close the freaking door when you leave a room!" Lily yelled after the blonde, but only got a, "Shut up, freak!" as an answer.

Her parents had given up reprimanding Petunia for using the word 'freak' long ago – in Lily's opinion, a mistake. It only contributed to her feeling more out of place and not belonging in her own home than she ever had before.

Ever since Professor McGonagall had knocked on their front door all those years ago, carrying the letter that would change her entire life and everything she had believed in, things at home had changed. She wasn't even sure whether it still was her home. Yes, she still returned for summer break, but not even Christmas was spent with her family any more, not after that disastrous one in her fifth year.

During the Christmas break, Hogwarts students were allowed to use magic at home, even Muggle-borns, to show off what they had learnt during the last couple of months. Unlike the summer breaks, even underage wizards and witches were allowed to use their wands whenever and how often they liked, as long as it was used far away from anyone who could not know about the existence of magic. And so had Lily. Her parents had, albeit clearly freaked out and uncomfortable, been overjoyed by how much their daughter cheered up just thinking about magic. And the weekly cleaning of the house had been complete with just one wave of her wand and one muttered word, but Petunia's reaction had been nothing like anything ever before.

The hateful slurs had reached such an extreme that their parents had been forced to forbid Lily to use magic in their house.

"Just not here, darling," her mother had said, desperation clear in her blue eyes. "I don't want any more fighting going on and Petunia clearly isn't comfortable being around magic. You can do spells in your room, of course, but only when Petunia isn't there, alright?"

It hadn't been alright. It had only shown her that her parents didn't want to see that part of her, the part that was getting stronger with every passing moment, with every spell uttered, with every good and bad experience that she made.

Magic had made her into who she was today. Without magic, she would still feel out of place, more so than she did now. But she knew that feeling would go away eventually. Feeling out of place in her parents' house, however, would only get worse as time flew past, and she knew that.

So, no. No, this wasn't her home anymore, but neither was Hogwarts. She didn't know where she belonged and that was both scaring as well as frustrating her beyond belief.

But by this house, where she had grown up in, not being her home anymore, her parents not keeping Petunia from insulting her at every second didn't hurt as much as it probably should. It didn't mean she didn't feel accepted, it just meant that this was the norm. It was normal to be insulted for being something she had no control over. She had never chosen to become a witch, but if she had the choice to get rid of her magic, she would never do it. She would always choose magic over family, and that knowledge alone had caused her more pain than the constant insults being thrown her way.

She hadn't talked to anyone about this yet. She didn't think that it mattered much. She couldn't change the way she felt and she knew that she would eventually come to peace with it. Eventually, she wouldn't return during the summer break and it would be okay. It would feel right.

She couldn't wait for that moment to come. Maybe this was even the last lengthy time that she would spend in her childhood home? It was an odd feeling, but a welcome one.

Her parents had been disappointed when she had sent them an owl explaining why she wouldn't leave Hogwarts for Christmas back in her fifth year, but they had understood. They had even sounded relieved. Or as relieved as one could sound when all you had were written words on lined paper. Petunia had most certainly thrown a huge Christmas party, making sure that their parents would never regret allowing her freak of a sister to stay with the other freaks at that freak school doing freak things.

And her parents hadn't missed her much. They hadn't sent her more letters than before, talking about everything random that happened in their home and asking whether her studies went well and whether she passed her exams. But Lily had had the feeling that the letters had become more superficial than before. The occasional question concerning how she felt and whether she was happy was far between, and every time she saw the words, "Dad and I miss you, darling," she couldn't help but swallow down the tears that threatened to spill.

But she had made her decision and, although it hurt from time to time, it had been the right thing to do.

A low rumble coming from her belly was the sign that she needed to finally get out of bed, trudge to her wardrobe, and pull out the first tank top and pair of shorts that she could reach, not really caring whether they fit colour- and pattern-wise. Petunia was sure to let her know in a rude way once she'd entered the kitchen.

After a quick detour to the bathroom, including a rather hurried shower, aggressive brushing of her teeth, and, very importantly during the summer, shaving her legs using her wand, she was ready to go. One more thing she was thankful for – all of the annoying chores that not only included doing the dishes or cleaning a room but also shaving one's legs or drying one's hair was a mere twirl of her wand away. Heavenly.

"You should honestly throw that hideous top away, Lily. It looks disgusting with your hair and skin. Yellow doesn't suit you at all."

"Good morning to you too, Petunia." Lily shuffled past her scowling sister, naked feet slowly getting cold on the tiled kitchen floor, and reached up to the nearest cupboard in search of something to eat. Like Digestive biscuits. She loved them, no matter the time.

"You should eat healthier things for breakfast, Lily. That way you'll just get fat and I'm sure you can't just magic away fat."

The redhead took a deep breath before slowly picking up a mug and filling it with some left-over, lukewarm coffee to busy her hands. She was sure that she would regret strangling her sister to death once her brain had been sufficiently catered to with carbs and caffeine.

Lily wasn't someone who obsessed over her looks. Yes, she didn't particularly like her hair, her skin, or her legs, but try and name one person, who could honestly say that they loved everything about their body. It wasn't easy to find them. And since she didn't necessarily do anything to improve her looks like, for example, go on regular runs or try to cut down on sugar, she figured her subconscious had to be pretty pleased with how everything was going, so she wouldn't be the one complaining constantly. Now, Petunia on the other hand…

Her sister was a different matter altogether. She was the queen of counting calories, of going on early morning runs, of detoxifying smoothies, of sauna visits and face masks, of manicures and pedicures, of basically everything that she thought would improve the way she looked. Lily didn't know why she was so obsessed by the impossible-to-achieve beauty standards magazines established, but then again both Evans girls couldn't be more different, even if they tried. Lily was just thankful that her older sister hadn't started with the whole medical procedures yet and was silently hoping for her to wait until way in her fifties, at the very least. She didn't want to see Petunia with bloated lips or a bruised forehead, all in the name of beauty.

Petunia was the girly girl of the family, whereas Lily was… well… Lily. And she liked it that way. She liked her daily Digestive, she liked her morning coffee, she liked her chocolate and ice cream and cake, and everything with sugar in it. She'd never tried Crème Brûlée yet, but she'd promised herself that, one day, she would.

Because it sounded heavenly. She started salivating just thinking about it.

"Yellow. Honestly, the nerve." Lily could hear Petunia mumbling behind her as she sauntered out of the kitchen.

If her mum wanted her to get groceries today, she'd have to hurry up because she and Dorcas had agreed to meet Marlene at Diagon Alley today at 2 pm to get some shopping done. Lily wasn't necessarily a huge fan of going shopping, but she didn't mind it, either. And if her best friend wanted to get a new outfit for a date she'd go on next week, she was more than happy to accompany her and keep her from buying anything too scandalous because one could only be so careful around Marlene McKinnon. She was a dear, but she was a feisty one, and she liked to show it through her clothing when not in uniform.

Honestly, Sirius and Marlene would be perfect for each other, something that she and James had actually talked about during the last free week of the semester last year, but getting both of them to see that was tricky. But they'd get there eventually. They had promised themselves that they would play Cupid and shoot a metaphorical arrow in both their bums to make them see!

But first – food!

The feel of the lukewarm liquid running down her throat made her shudder as the knowledge that coffee should be either hot or ice-cold had been ingrained in her brain early on basically screaming at her to STOP STOP STOP. She gently placed the mug into the sink, ignored her sister's indignant yell of, "Clean that, Lily! I won't do it for you!", grabbed her purse and a few bags, and out of the door she ran.

She didn't want to be late for her girls' day out. And she needed an excuse to leave before Petunia could grass on her and the dirty mug she left behind.

She had a beautiful day up ahead of her that didn't include doing the dishes. Not today and not whilst wearing a yellow tank top! The colour of her clothes had nothing to do with doing the dishes, in fact, they were two totally different things, but leaving behind dirty dishes while wearing a yellow shirt that clashed with her fair skin were things that aggravated her sister to the moon and back.

Which she secretly loved.

I hope you liked the first chapter :)

Until next time - see ya!