Disclaimer & Author’s note “ The characters, basic plot and end result belong to the wonderful and oh-so-talented mind of JK Rowling, of whom we all believe to be the real god… or some such babble.
BTW, my evil sister has made me give her credit for her momentary brilliance in coming up with my title. So, thanks, Trina!
Prologue:
We begin our story with prophecy from The Order of the Phoenix that is spoken to Dumbledore by Sibyll Trelawney 16 years before:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
Chapter One- Home, Sweet Home?
To put it simply, James Potter was hot. James was the most popular member of his gang, captain of his house Quidditch team, and happened to be the epitome of cool. Every girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (the school James attended) simply fawned over him. Much to their dislike, James only wanted one girl. The only girl he had ever met who hadn’t swooned at the sight of him. Lily Evans.
Lily Evans was going into her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, taking several N.E.W.T.-level classes, and even been given the honor of being a prefect at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, she had no one to share any of this with. Mostly, because her family did not understand the magical world. Of course Lily had friends- Jessica Grant had been Lily’s best friend since the first day Lily had set foot at Hogwarts. They both were in Gryffindor house, and they both loved Charms classes above the others. But Lily’s family were all Muggles, and hadn’t the foggiest idea what a grindylow was or what ‘Alohomora’ meant, not to mention who Lily’s friends were.
Before Hogwarts, Lily had been very close to her father, Harry; they played games and went to football matches, they talked and told each other stories and watched movies. Ever since Lily had been accepted to Hogwarts, however, she and her father had drifted apart, until they hardly spoke at all. Harry had always encouraged Lily to try her hardest at everything she did, and he never questioned Lily’s other life, of which he knew almost nothing. In fact, he tried to be involved at one point, but had since given up and turned to passively supporting Lily’s work.
Very much unlike Lily’s father was Petunia. Petunia, Lily’s older sister by four years, frequently muttered curses and foul names at Lily under her breath, or sometimes just ignored her existence completely. The latter suited Lily just fine around Petunia, but around her parents was a different story.
Claudia, Lily’s mother, was always overflowing with praise around her younger daughter, trying to understand Lily’s life, mostly because she envied the relationship her husband had. This annoyed Lily greatly, and though she appreciated the attention, she tired of the babying and coddling.
During all of the bustle, Lily tried to maintain a normal attitude. This summer, the last summer before she would have to face the entire world (magical and otherwise), Lily was to be found in her room, away from her mother’s annoying cooing and her sister’s nasty comments. Early one morning, about a week and a half before term was to start, Lily woke up to two owls perched contentedly at her open windowsill. Sitting up, Lily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took the two notes from the birds.
“Well, you are definitely a Hogwarts owl,” said a quiet Lily, taking the first scroll from a very pompous-looking screech owl, “so I can guess what you have for me.” As soon as the papers were safely unattached from its leg, the bird stretched its wings silently and took of into the morning light.
“You,” she said, untying the note from the second owl, a cute spotted owl with deep eyes, “are from Jess.” The bird stuck out its leg and hooted softly, almost as though trying not to be too pleased with itself. Once the remaining bird had been relieved of his burden, he softly flew towards the large cage at the end of Lily’s room, open and occupied by her own snowy owl, Archimedes.
Now, Lily turned to her letters. The first one to be opened was Jessica’s short script:
Lils-
How are you? How is your…er…lovely sister and family? Well, here’s a surprise- my mum says you can come and stay with me for the rest of the week! I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer, so I’ll be by to get you by floo at, say, seven on Friday night? See you then,
Hugs, Jessa
“Wow!” Lily whispered to herself, finishing the letter. A week at Jessie’s house… no Petunia for almost another year? It was almost unthinkable. Quickly, Lily grabbed some parchment and a quill from her desk drawer and scribbled a reply.
Jess-
Thanks so much- I would NEVER pass that up! Of course, I’ll have to ask my folks, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. See you Friday, then. Can you believe it’s our LAST YEAR?!?!?
Thanks and Hugs, Lils
PS. I haven’t yet been to Diagon Alley for my school stuff, so I guess we’ll do that, too.
Lily took out her wand, a swishy willow wand of about ten inches, and magically sealed the note. After addressing the letter back to her best friend, Lily walked to the cage and coaxed the spotted owl named Guinevere onto her arm. She extended her leg, and she tied the note on. Perched securely on her arm, Lily strode over to the open window and Guinevere brushed out over her head into the sky of a rising sun.
Next, Lily took the second letter, the one containing her Hogwarts book list and usual reminders, back to her bed and sat down. Heavy this year… Lily thought to herself. As she opened it, several papers fell out, accompanied by a gold badge with the Hogwarts crest, bearing the words “Head Girl”.
It was all she could do from shrieking with pleasure. Skimming through her first piece of school parchment and onto the second, she came to the words written by none other than the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. A quick look-over told her that she had been made Head Girl because of her “excellent O.W.L. and examination scores, as well as your outstanding work as a prefect for the past two years.”
Lily practically bounced all the way downstairs, from her room down the hallway and stairs, through the foyer and into the kitchen, smile a mile-wide.
Read/review… please! If I go to hell for asking as much as you will undoubtedly be asked in the course of reading this, at least I’ll be with friends… haha...