There is a little of everything, apparently, in nature, and freaks are common.
Molloy, Samuel Beckett
Looking back, Lily hardly remembers those first few days and she certainly doesn't recall them fondly. At the time though, she's simply too young and full of excitement to understand.
After she's Sorted, Lily bounds over to the Slytherin table. The subdued applause and quiet smiles that greet her there seem a little like coming home.
She misses the silent conversations that occur around her as she sits, heads tilting in askance and eyebrows lifting in answer as if to say Evans? Do we know that name? No, we do not.
The next girl Sorted, Enid Fletcher, is also placed in Slytherin. Lily smiles as she approaches, but the girl's impossibly high noise somehow points even higher and she sits further down. Fortunately, Lily finds herself far too preoccupied with the ongoing Sorting to notice the growing space around her, despite the increasingly crowded table.
A girl called Greengrass soon joins Enid Fletcher. The kind girl, Mac, and the mousy one from the train are Gryffindors. So is the boy with the glasses. The numbers of unsorted first years dwindle until Lily can clearly see Severus, next in the queue. She allows herself a moment of doubt, but she needn't have. The Hat barely even brushes his head before it declares "Slytherin!"
Severus scurries to her side, Lily grabbing him in a tight, breathless embrace. This is it, the moment they'd spent the summer dreaming of. Her stomach growls and she steps back with a flush. With the anxiety and adrenaline dissolving, her hunger has set in.
Luckily, the school doesn't make her wait long. The last few students are sorted and a man with startling white hair and dazzling robes stands to speak, Albus Dumbledore she assumes.
"Witches and wizards, welcome! Welcome to Hogwarts! I am your headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. I'll keep this brief."
With that, he sits and promptly starts to eat the meal that has miraculously appeared on his plate. All the students in the hall, Lily included, wait, staring. Surely that can't be it. When the headmaster fails to look up from his plate, the hungry students give up and turn to their own food.
As Lily begins to pile her plate high with anything in reach, she turns to Severus.
"That was odd. I would say he's mad but I'm starting to think that's just Hogwarts."
"No, he is actually mad. My mum says he must be so old now that his brain has completely liquified inside his skull," says a girl with brown skin and a long plait sitting across from them. She's another first year, although Lily had missed her name.
"How old is he, then?" Lily asks around her pumpkin juice, nose wrinkling at the thought of liquid brains.
"He can't be a day under 80, that's for sure. He's been teaching here forever," says the girl.
Enid Fletcher, down the way, turns to them.
"You're called Dorcas Meadows right? Do you know Aldwin Meadows?"
Dorcas' eyes narrow.
"Yes. He's my father."
"Oh, well that's marvelous! Belinda here has a cousin who works for him in the Department of Mysteries. Have you met Gus?"
"No," Dorcas answers haltingly.
"That's alright, I'm sure we'll have more in common. Why don't you come sit with us?" says Enid, pushing Belinda slightly to clear a spot on the bench. "You can sit here!"
"Alright, then." Dorcas relocates with a small nod of acknowledgement in Lily's direction before she goes.
"Good riddance. All that talk of old people almost put me off my food," says Severus, not much of an eater regardless.
"I liked her."
"Lucky you've got seven years to change your mind."
"Hm," Lily defers.
"What do you think so far? Does it match what you imagined?"
"Not even close. It's so much better! You didn't tell me there are ghosts!" says Lily, successfully distracted as they both zero in on a transparent, bloody figure hovering over some poor student across the hall.
"Yet another appetite killer."
"Are you joking? It's so cool. Do you think we can speak to one? Let's track one down later."
"Maybe not tonight…" he says, still looking uneasily at the bloody ghost. "Although, I would be curious to hear how that one died."
"And just think of all the things they can tell us about the school. I'm definitely asking about secret passageways. We'll need a good reading nook, too."
"Let's focus on getting to our dormitories first."
Lily smiles and chatters on, Severus listening carefully.
Later, after a long and fascinating trek through the lower levels of the castle, Lily and her housemates walk through the hidden stone entrance into the Slytherin common room.
The musty scent of the dungeons wafts away and Lily breathes in the cool air, the smell earthy and electric like grass after a thunderstorm. The common room itself is large and bright, an odd luminescence coming through the tall windows and a fire blazing under the mantle. Students mingle amidst velvet emerald upholstery and marble decor.
Lily is unsure what to do next. No one appears to have gone off into the dormitories yet and she's not prepared to ask a stranger where she's meant to sleep. Strange, how much less confident she is without Sev or Tuney at her side.
Severus had been swept away and she sees him conversing with two boys from their year under a grand tapestry across the room. She can't bring herself to interrupt, they'll have to make other friends after all, and makes her way over to the girls from earlier, who had commandeered a plush green sofa.
"Hello," she greets brightly.
"She's the other first year girl," says Enid to the others, as if they hadn't already seen her, or spoken to her in Dorcas' case. She turns back to address Lily. "What was your name again?"
"Lily!"
"And your surname?"
"Evans."
"Evans, Evans… I don't think I know an Evans, do you Belinda?"
"Isn't there a Rochester Evans? His sister married a Black a couple seasons back, I think. Are you related to him?"
Belinda almost looks hopeful and Lily is sorry to let her down.
"No, I don't know anyone called Rochester, although I wish I did. I've read a book about a Mr. Rochester, but never met one."
The girls stare at her blankly.
"Oh! Have you never read Jane Eyre? It's one of my favorites, I've actually brought a copy with me if anyone would like to borrow… it…" Lily's words trail off at the sight of Enid's lips curling is disgust.
"Is that a Muggle book? You brought a Muggle book here? What is it exactly that your parents do, Evans?"
"Mum's a florist and dad's a literature teacher."
"Muggle literature," Enid spits. "You're Muggleborn."
"I suppose so?"
"Honestly, what was the Sorting Hat thinking! A Muggleborn in Slytherin," laughs Belinda.
"Maybe Dumbledore's madness is finally infecting the school," suggests Enid, nudging Dorcas.
At the far end of the couch, the previously silent Dorcas titters cruelly: "Maybe so."
Confused and hurt, Lily backs away.
"Right, then."
She retreats to a chair in a corner as the girls continue to laugh, barely seeming to notice her absence. Lily thinks back to what Severus had said at dinner. It hadn't taken seven years, after all. It hadn't even taken seven hours.
From her perch, Lily observes the proceedings for the rest of the evening, the strange ebb and flow of the Slytherin Common Room. Her home for the next seven years.
As she watches, she makes excuses for her odd night. Perhaps she had misunderstood, perhaps they had. She'll try again tomorrow. Severus never seeks her out. She'll find him tomorrow too.
Eventually, the three girls stand and walk up one of the staircases off the main room. Lily waits for a while longer, wanting to avoid another unpleasant encounter, before following. She lets herself into the dark dorm and stumbles across the room to her bed, her roommates already audibly asleep.
Tucked into cool sheets, Lily stares at the dim green light rippling across the ceiling, a reflection of the currents from a nearby window, and finds it hard to believe that she's under the same black lake that she had sailed across just hours before.
Her first week, month, months, pass by in a blur.
She learns a lot and she learns constantly. She learns the correct wand technique to levitate, to charm, and to defend. She learns to skip the third step up on the way to History of Magic, for it tends to vanish when you believe in its existence a little too much. She learns to ask Professor Flitwick lots of questions and to take copious notes in Transfiguration. She learns that she was right about some things. Lily is a natural talent in Herbology and Potions. She and Severus quickly become favorites of Professor Slughorn.
She also learns that she was very wrong about others. She had not misunderstood Enid, Belinda, and Dorcas that first day. In a way, they teach her the very first, and most vital, lesson that she will learn at Hogwarts: what it means to be a Muggleborn. More specifically: what it means to be a Muggleborn in Slytherin.
When she awakens for the first time in her new dormitory, she finds it already empty. She panics as she dresses. She's used to sharing a room with Petunia, maybe it's made her into a heavier sleeper than she thought. Maybe she overslept so much that she missed breakfast, or worse, entire classes.
She's able to breathe again when she sees Severus waiting for her in the common room below, amidst the morning bustle of students heading out to start their day.
"Morning. Missed you last night," he says, with a questioning tone in his voice. Lily chooses not to mention his own vanishing act.
They join the crowd, following them out of the dungeons and into the morning light filling the Great Hall.
"Guess we were both busy making new friends yesterday," she says, picking up their earlier thread of conversation.
"Friends? I wouldn't go that far. Mulciber barely managed a coherent sentence the whole evening. Who did you-"
"Oh good! Breakfast! I'm starved."
"You're always hungry," he grumbles as he follows her over to a pair of empty seats and an admittedly appealing table of food. If he notices their distance from their fellow classmates, he doesn't comment on it. Maybe he even prefers it.
"Sev?" Lily asks tentatively, after a beat. "Is it… well is it bad to be a Muggleborn?"
At his expression, she hastens to clarify.
"It's only, I was talking to the other girls last night. Maybe I misunderstood them, I don't know. But it didn't seem good."
"Who all did you talk to?"
"Enid Fletcher, Belinda Greengrass, and Dorcas Meadows."
"Shite."
"Sev! Why does it matter? Is there something wrong with me being a Muggleborn?"
"There's nothing wrong with you. Don't say that."
"Then why did they make it seem there is!"
"Lily, I swear," he consoles. "You are fine. They're just jealous 'cause you're smarter and prettier than they are."
She blushes. "That's not true, but thanks."
"Now, can we eat? Weren't you just starving?"
And that was that. Except it wasn't. Severus never tells her directly, but she's smart enough to understand eventually. Jealousy doesn't cause hatred like that, not that quickly. And it doesn't just come from her roommates.
The first time Rosier and Wilkes send a tripping jinx her way, Lily sits on the ground in shock for several minutes before fleeing to cry in the nearest bathroom. No one had ever hurt her on purpose before. When she imagines what Petunia would do to them if she knew, she dries her tears and heads to class.
The next time it happens, Lily picks herself up and hides in the library for an afternoon. She takes the time to study minor wound remedies. Her research proves itself useful the next time she encounters Rosier and Wilkes. Through trial and error, she perfects a bruise salve. Lily Evans is a potions prodigy, after all.
Other aggressions add up over those first few months. The Head Boy, Lucius Malfoy, starts to take an interest in Severus after Slughorn sings their praises a few too many times. Whenever he makes his way over to them at meals or in the library, he ignores Lily. Once, he actually acknowledges her existence, only to ask her to retrieve a copy of Mysterious Maladies and Miraculous Medicines to settle one of their pointless brewing debates. She does it, but only for an excuse to scribble the answer Sev was looking for onto a scrap piece of parchment. Malfoy actually pats him on the back in approval when he shares Lily's words as his own. Sev preens.
When she finally musters the courage to bring it up to Sev, he tells her that she's reading too much into things. Professor Slughorn likes her better anyway, can't she just let him have this one thing.
She knows she's not; knows from Narcissa Black's haughty glare, from the taunts, and the continued distance from her roommates; but she let's it go anyway.
While the loneliness is difficult at first, Lily does grow to love Hogwarts, especially her classes. She starts to seek out school work outside of school hours, spending the time that she doesn't spend brewing or studying with Sev in the greenhouses. Early on, Professor Sprout comments on it.
"You've got quite a way with plants, Miss Evans. Have you ever tended to dittany before?"
"No, Professor," she says, hesitant to mention her parents.
"Well, you must have some experience, I've never seen it grow so quickly! I just planted this last spring, it usually takes years for dittany to produce a single leaf, much less four," Professor Sprout exclaims.
"I stop by sometimes, after classes."
"My dear, feel free to keep doing so, as often as you like. In fact, grab me from my office over there when you do. I'll show you around a few of the more advanced plots. And maybe you can show me a thing or two yourself, eh?"
Lily drops by that evening and Professor Sprout walks her through the first two greenhouses, promising to show her the rest the next time she visits, which happens to be the following night.
The company of plants and her stout, kind Professor become easy substitutes for friends. Loneliness abates, but the taunting does not.
After a particularly brutal run-in with Rosier and Wilkes about mid-way through the year, Lily finally breaks and writes to Petunia. She'd written to her family before, and often, but she tries to keep her letters light. She's told them of the castle, the grounds, and the mermaids that sometimes swim past her in the Common Room, although only when she's alone and exceptionally still, but something stops her from detailing the strange way her classmates treat her. Maybe the simple fact that she hardly understands it herself.
There are things, though, that are best left to an older sister. Lily hasn't gotten her period and she certainly doesn't care for boys yet, Severus excluded, but she does remember the time Petunia taught her to ride a bike. And after, taught her to dab rubbing alcohol on a scraped knee before applying a bandage. And after that, how to fall properly, to avoid a scraped knee altogether.
So, when the bruise salve isn't quite enough, she writes to her older sister.
The response arrives swiftly, but Lily waits for a moment alone to open it. She's tired of crouching in bathroom stalls or losing sleep waiting for an empty Common Room.
In her hunt for privacy, she comes across the ghost of a beautiful young woman.
She and Severus never went ghost hunting after all, distracted by the start of classes and maybe a hint of reluctance on Sev's part, and Lily's curiosity about the castle had faded to the back of her mind.
But when a silver hint of a woman glides past Lily down the hall, she can't miss the opportunity.
"Wait! Miss- uh ma'am!"
The ghost turns. Through the haze of death and time, Lily can just make out a quizzical expression peering at her.
"Hello!" she squeaks nervously. "Do you know where I can find somewhere to be alone? I'm just, and maybe you can sympathize, I'm looking for a bit of privacy."
The ghost continues to stare and Lily starts to wonder if she's made a grave mistake. Just last week, she'd heard about a Hufflepuff who had gone for a nighttime stroll and never returned. Sev saw his parents leaving Dumbledore's office holding his things.
"S-sorry to bother you. Never mind! I'll just be on my way," she says, scrambling for an exit before she can meet a similar fate, whatever that may be.
"Wait," says the ghost, long pale fingers stretching towards Lily. Lily freezes in her escape.
"I can… sympathize," continues the woman in a lofty, distant voice. "Privacy is something I could never afford in these halls. In life or death." Her voice trails off, seemingly lost in somber recollection.
Lily is suddenly struck by the length of a ghost's existence. How many centuries of memories must she be sifting through?
"Yes, I can help you, little witch. But information cannot be freely given, especially not that which is so closely held. Everything has a cost, for without it we would not have anything at all, least of all magic."
"I don't have any money on me," Lily says, very much doubting that a ghost would have use for mortal currency, anyway.
With that comment, Lily buys herself a withering look. Shocking, how much an ancient Scottish ghost could resemble Petunia.
"Your gold is immaterial. I demand a higher price. Girl, what is your name?"
"Lily Evans," she answers, brows pulling together.
"No, that's not quite right. There is more to it than that. Perhaps with time…" she trails off again. "In that case, I ask you to seek me out once again, before you leave Hogwarts for the final time. You can answer me then."
"Erm- yes, I suppose I can do that?"
"Very well. If it is privacy that you seek, visit the Gryffindor Tower. Seek out a bookshelf and remove Wakefield's compendium of numerology. I will see you again, Lily Evans."
Without another word or explanation on how a book on numerology might give Lily a moment alone, the ghost turns and exits through the nearest wall.
"Mad. This castle and everything in it. And me too apparently, seeing as I'm talking to myself now."
Mad or not, she goes to do as the ghost lady said.
Despite never having actually been up to the Gryffindor Tower herself, she knows exactly where it is. The Gryffindors are a loud lot and it's impossible to miss their trajectory after classes and meals. Once there, Lily decides to tail a boy in a red scarf up the staircase.
As she ascends, she catalogues the many differences from the Slytherin quarters. Light and airy, the stairs and subsequent halls echo with laughter. Again, Lily questions the ghost's logic in sending her to the loudest and busiest corner of the school.
She leaves the boy behind when he stops at a portrait of a plump woman, ducking her head as several other Gryffindors aim suspicious glares in her direction. If she had to guess, she'd say they didn't get many Slytherin guests. Further down, and mercifully out of sight of the Gryffindors, she finally locates a bookcase.
The nondescript numerology book doesn't immediately stand out, but she eventually picks out the title amidst the many texts on Gryffindor exploits and Quidditch strategy. When Lily tries to pull it off of the shelf, it doesn't budge. Instead, the whole structure begins to creak and shift. Lily stumbles back as the shelf swings inward with a final groan, revealing a hidden room.
Breathing through the dust, Lily steps inside with wide eyes.
The small space is lit by a large window on one side and a skylight with painted glass, reflecting a whirl of colors across another bookshelf lining one of the interior walls. The other window offers a cushioned bench that looks out onto a large willow tree and the Forbidden Forest beyond.
Giddy with discovery and shared secrets, Lily swings the entrance shut and rushes to the window seat. She's able to pry the glass open and air out some of the lingering dust and stale air.
Breathing in the fresh breeze off of the grounds and the distinct smell of old books, Lily sits and carefully opens Petunia's letter, immediately recognizing her sister's tidy scrawl.
Lily,
I was surprised to hear from you directly. Mum usually completes several read-throughs before she'll allow us a glimpse whenever you write. Needless to say, I had to complete quite the routine in order to read your letter alone, per your instructions.
Frankly, I was shocked to hear about the treatment you're receiving at that school, especially after hearing for months about what a marvelous time you've been having. Does the Snape boy at least try to help, or has he been treated similarly? I'll assume not, on both counts. In that case, I'm guessing your problems might not be so different from the rest of us in the real world: you're a girl. Not only that, but a girl from Cokeworth with normal parents.
Admittedly, I'm glad to hear that your magic school has some flaws after all. Have you considered coming home for good? I'm having a wonderful year so far at St. Agnes and I think you'd do well here, although you'll have to wait until you're fourteen to attend. Don't you think it'd be better to get a more practical education anyway?
I'm learning a lot about typing and grammar at the moment. The nuns say that I'm one of the fastest typists they've ever seen! With that kind of praise, I'm sure to land a great secretarial position. I'm so proud to have a useful talent. When you come home, I'll teach you some tricks to help you prepare for St. Agnes.
Honestly Lily, it's time to give up on that fantasy world and start planning a future for yourself. It's clear that you don't belong there. All those freaks know it too, although they have a poor way of expressing it. Come home.
Love,
Your sister
Lily lets the letter flutter to the floor. She had not been expecting that response. Where is the sister from her childhood? The one who told her, just a few months ago, to own her differences?
She wants to cry. She wants to yell. She wants to throw a tantrum and she wants Petunia there to awkwardly pat her on the back as she does so and tell her that everything will be alright. That she can do anything because she is Lily and she is an Evans.
Lily doesn't do any of that. Instead, she curls into herself, knees pressed tight to her chest. Her forehead drops against the frosted pane and she looks out onto the grounds blankly.
A group of boys prance around the willow below, dodging swinging branches and tossing stray sticks as missiles back at the tree. She watches as one of the boys manages to land a successful hit, turns back to his friends with a shout of victory, and is promptly knocked flat on his back.
Lily laughs, upsetting more of the dust around her, which turns her laughter into a sneeze, a cough, a sob.
Right now, just down there, actual wizards wage an amateur war against a magic tree. And all around, in classrooms throughout Hogwarts, there are countless other wizards and witches doing impossible things, things Lily would have only read about in books if she weren't here. Lily herself is in a secret room inside a secret magical castle. How could she ever give this up?
Petunia is wrong. Lily does belong. She's just the only one who knows it. Yet.
After some time, Lily will write her sister a polite response, explaining that she plans to stay at Hogwarts for the time being. She'll promise to see everyone for the holidays and to write again soon.
She'll also throw Petunia's letter into the rubbish.
The hidden room becomes a part of her routine: classes, study with Sev, greenhouses, and read in the nook. She reads all of the books in the secret shelves by the end of term, the ones she can understand anyway, and gathers more from the library. Lily intends to teach herself about this mad world, all of the things most of her classmates grew up already knowing.
When Lily does return to Cokeworth that winter, she feels lost. Her parents shower her with affection at first, but too often over the following weeks do they slide into the rhythm they'd built in her absence. For the first time, she's on the outside of her family's inside jokes. When she's actually around, Petunia laughs a little too loudly and frequently brings up people Lily has never met. In spite of it all, they manage to share a pleasant Christmas morning, especially when Lily and Petunia unwrap matching pearl necklaces and their mother pulls them all into a warm hug.
By January though, Lily misses Hogwarts with a steady ache. She even longs for the solitude that she knows she will find there.
"How was your Christmas?" she asks Sev on the train. He hadn't stopped by once while they were home.
"Alright," he answers shortly.
"How was yours?" Severus asks after a moment.
"Alright."
They settle in for a silent, uneventful ride back to Hogwarts.
The rest of the year follows in a similar fashion, except for one exciting addition: a new friend.
Lily had actually been quite popular as a child. She rarely met another person that she couldn't befriend, including Severus. It wasn't until she arrived at Hogwarts that she began to doubt that particular ability.
After a few months spent on the receiving end of several cold shoulders, some more pointed than others, Lily largely gave up on making new friends. She has Sev and he's more than enough, as he often reminds her.
So, when a boy stumbles into the nook and into her life one spring afternoon, Lily's social skills are admittedly rusty.
"Hey!" she demands, quickly standing from her seat at the window. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, uh, I was just looking for somewhere to," he lifts the small stack of books in his hands.
"And how did you know to look here," Lily asks sharply.
At that, he looks down at his feet, face flushed.
"I may have noticed you coming up here before."
"You followed me? Why?"
"I thought it was odd! A Slytherin going up to the Gryffindor Tower, especially one without any friends," his face flushes further. "Uh, sorry. But I was curious at first, so I followed you a few days ago. When I saw you open a bookshelf and go in, I had to see for myself. I didn't know you'd be in here right now!"
"You're weird."
"Yeah, well," he shrugs. "Sorry again. I'll just go and come back another time."
Lily is content to let him do just that until catches sight of one of the books in his arms.
"Wait! Is that Jane Eyre?"
"Yes," he stops, confused. "I'm surprised you know it."
"It's one of my favorites, actually. I'm surprised you know it."
"Why?" he asks, looking annoyed now. "'Cause I'm a boy?"
"No, because you're a wizard."
"So're you. Or a witch, I mean."
"Yeah, but I'm a Muggleborn."
She waits for the disdain to arrive, for the awkward way he'll excuse himself and for the hidden door to close behind him, leaving her alone once again. Instead, a small miracle happens. He smiles.
"I am too."
"Oh."
"So, can I stay? Do you mind?"
"No, not at all! Come sit."
She watches expectantly as he does as she asks and sits beside her.
"Have you finished it, then? Did you like it? I haven't convinced my other friends to read it yet, so I've got to know what you think."
"I haven't started yet. I was looking for a private place to read it, actually. Some of the other Ravenclaws can be a bit pretentious about their reading material."
Lily looks at the other books he brought with him and recognizes some of the titles: Jude the Obscure, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a collection of poems by Auden.
"These are all Muggle books!"
"My mum got them for me for Christmas. I think she's worried I'll only read magical books now. As if they have anything nearly as good as we do."
"My dad's worried about that too. He's a literature teacher. What about your mum?"
"She works in publishing. What's your name, by the way?"
"Lily Evans! I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself, my mum would kill me if she were here. And you?"
"Benjy Fenwick."
In his own way, Benjy Fenwick saves her life, that afternoon and all the afternoons that follow. It won't be the last time he does so.
They usually meet in the nook, at first to discuss their favorite books and then to read new ones together. He's the one to explain the idea of blood supremacy to her, having found that Ravenclaws are a little more forthcoming on the subject, and all other subjects, than Lily's housemates. She shares her bruise salve with him.
They rarely have a chance to see each other otherwise, Sev capitalizing the rest of her free time with longer brewing sessions. The few times he and Benjy actually converse are painfully uncomfortable for all parties involved, so Lily is happy to keep them separate. After all, Severus has no trouble doing the same with her and his other friends, Malfoy and Mulciber included.
Lily finishes her first year at Hogwarts as quietly as she began it. She packs silently, eavesdropping as Belinda regales Enid and Dorcas with the story of how the missing Hufflepuff, the one who disappeared earlier in the year, had shown up yesterday in his pajamas with no memory of ever even leaving his bed in the first place.
"Not even Dumbledore can explain it. And now he's missed so much, he'll have to repeat the year!"
"Poor Bertram," says Enid. "I suppose we'll have classes together next year then."
Later, as she distantly listens to Sev ramble on about a project for the summer and watches the castle disappear through a train window, Lily thinks of poor Bertram Aubrey. She thinks maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be lost like he was, wandering those halls forever, invisible and unreachable.
Benjy calls her name as he walks by the compartment and she looks up.
"Bye Lily, have a great break! Write as soon as you finish Auden."
"I will! See you, Ben."
She smiles, despite the grumpy look on Sev's face at the interruption.
"Sorry, what were you saying, Sev?"
The train rolls onward to Kings Cross, and Cokeworth.
Notes:
-i've untagged snape as a main character. to be clear: this will be a jily fic eventually. please do not leave me anymore rude reviews bc i have a fragile ego and will delete them for my peace of mind
-ffnet is stupid and won't let me publish the playlist links. if you'd like to listen, check out this story on ao3. my username there is sadieblodgett
-Lily's obsession with secret passages, reason #1248 that she's james' dream girl. more james incoming btw (although he was there if u squint)
-let me know what u think please! but only in a nice way ha