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Chapter 1: Humdrums and Developments
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Disclaimer: JKRowling is the genius, and though one may try, it is nearly impossible for anyone to ever possibly come anywhere near as amazing an author as she is. All characters recognised as being from the HP books are from the HP books--only the plot and unidentifiable characters do not belong to the amazing JKR, and rather to the imagination of a weak and pitiable 17 year old girl (how tragic!... *chuckles*…) who idolizes the very ground JKR stands upon…
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The sky outside was one blank monotone grey, without even the slightest hint of sun. Not one single blue patch could be seen over the entire expanse of the sky, not entirely odd in itself, but strange in the fact that this was how the weather had been everywhere; nothing but clouds over the entire globe. Incredibly unusual as that was, adding into consideration the number of months the weather had remained in this state, it was just plain bizarre. To Lily Evans however it was perfectly expected and not in the least bit out of the ordinary--in terms of the standards followed by her world at least. You see Miss Evans was a witch, and though the magical society was hidden to the non-magical community, an occasional amount of magic would seep into the muggle world. This she was perfectly aware of, as were all magical citizens. She, and the rest of her kind living in amongst the muggles, had noted lately that the amount of that ever-illusive and enigmatic substance was entering this world slightly more often than usual, and though so subtle was this development that hardly any of the muggles really cared to take notice (never imagining once that these peculiar events were caused by the presence of magic), Lily Evans knew that this simple change was a sign of a greater influence extending its reach from the wizarding world and into the non-magical community. Dark times were coming, if not already at hand, and simple things like strange weather were a telltale sign of its ever approaching shadow.
A sharp rapping sounded suddenly from the front door, the thumps of footsteps quickly following. Lily rolled her eyes--Vernon Dursley, Petunia’s current significant other, had been coming to visit each afternoon for the past month. This was, of course, something Lily dreaded as she was expected to act as ‘normal’ as possible, no ‘freakish behaviour’. And every time he’d come to visit, Lily was expected to join her family for tea and biscuits, exchanging small talk about such things as the weather--a very dull time indeed considering how the weather never changed anymore. Closing her eyes in displeasure she could almost hear Vernon‘s mind reciting his usual highly-recycled conversation, beginning with the same “It’s absurd the weather we’re getting, don’t you find? You’d think they’d have some reasonable explanation for these clouds! Clearly we need some fresh blood in the meteorological department,” as he did each time.
Quietly as possible Lily stood up, walked across the carpet on tip-toes, opened the sliding glass doors leading to the patio, and into the cover of the nearby trees. This just wasn’t the day for tea and biscuits with Vernon. Her head was spinning with the knowledge of seven recent Wizard deaths, freshly provided by the ever informative Daily Prophet, delivered to her bedroom window earlier that morning by a rather flimsy looking barn-owl. With a slight twinge of guilt for leaving her parents with the task of passing the time alone with the couple, Lily looked back, then silently began to pick her pace up as she neared the well-trodden path leading to her favourite park. Ever so slowly her worries began to melt, a rosy tinge spreading across her face, and a feeling of relaxation spreading throughout her muscles as she breathed in the pine-scented air. She gazed around in enjoyment, eyeing the mesh of tangled shadows crossing over the path, cast by the maze of autumn strewn branches covered in leaves of the most vivid reds, matching perfectly the colour of Lily’s bright shade of hair. In these surroundings she could easily be overlooked, blending mysteriously into the background with only her incredibly green eyes to give her presence away.
Turning the corner leading to the opening of the park she stopped abruptly. She could hear voices approaching, and though completely familiar, she was taken by complete and absolute surprise when she met the excited faces of the two boys for whom the voices belonged. Mouth agape she stared, unable to fully register the fact that James Potter and Sirius Black were standing a mere three feet in front of her, lopsided grins etched across each face.
“Hey Lils!” James announced brightly, too busy running his hand through his thick mass of dark black hair--in his usual attempt to make it look wind-blown--that he didn’t notice the slight flush creeping over Lily‘s face, most definitely not caused by the chilly air. “How’re you doing?” a moment of awkward silence followed this question, before she recovered enough wits to respond.
“Wha-what are you doing here?” the shock that had traversed her face so instantaneously reflected equally in her voice, “what on earth are you doing here?” James gave her a slightly calculating look, and then in exasperation began to explain the reason for his and Sirius’s appearance in the park.
“Well, we came to see you, Miss Evans! I just had to find out whether you’d been made Head Girl or not, since the letters did come today,” he continued to look at her expectantly before continuing, “well--?”
“Oh, right--umm, yes, I did,” she began, then narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “why do you want to know anyways, Potter? What has it got to do with you?”
“Well, Miss Evans, it has got everything to do with me,” Lily flashed a look of hostile impatience, causing the ever patient James to continue, “you see, Lily, I’ve been made Head Boy.” Lily’s mouth dropped comically open at this statement, causing both James and Sirius to snigger, quickly covered by a fake fit of coughing by the two youths. Lily snapped her mouth shut, crossed her arms indignantly in front of her, while shooting a very aggravated look at them both. This, most unfortunately, only resulted in an increase in laughter from Sirius, and a strange high-pitched snort to escape from James, who clearly was having some difficulty keeping a straight face, it being strangely distorted by the effort. In frustration she stomped off into the park, sitting moodily onto one of the swings. James and Sirius rejoined her a few moments later, wiping their eyes, wide smiles set in a nearly permanent manner. In a surprisingly graceful manoeuvre, James sat down onto the swing next to Lily, handing her his Head Boy badge in the process.
“What’s this for?” Lily snapped. James simply looked at her, rolled his eyes, and slowly let out a mock exasperated breath.
“You see Lily, I knew it was unlikely for you to take this--erm--news in a ‘pleasant manner’. And in anticipation to your response we, Sirius and I, thought that proof would most likely be in need. However,” James gave her an amused look, “judging by the shocked expression you gave after my handing it to you, it clearly wasn’t a necessary precaution.”
“Ah, yes,” Sirius spoke up suddenly, “obviously Miss Evans isn’t entirely surprised that Jamesie over here was made Head Boy. She must think more highly of you than we had originally thought, hey James?” Lily jumped up, opening her mouth to retaliate, but before she was able to was interrupted by James.
“Clearly. She must have figured it out in advance--probably while she dreamt about me, would you not agree Sirius? Anyways,” he turned to Lily, “we had best be off. We aren’t supposed to be here, you see. As it happens, the other day Sirius and I had attempted to pull a little prank--in hopes of livening up the mood a bit--and though we were successful in our endeavour, my parents didn‘t seem to find it quite as amusing as we did. Therefore if my mum were to discover our absence, she would be somewhat perturbed, and most likely would be inclined to have us hung by our toes from a beam in our twenty-foot-high-ceilinged roof in the entranceway. I personally don‘t think that that would be a very pleasant experience at all. And thus, fair Lily, we depart. Fare-thee-well!” and with solemn faces they disapparated, leaving a rather stunned Lily gaping at the air where they had been mere moments before. She flopped herself back down onto the swing, mulling over these new developments. Having to work with Potter would be a definite drawback--she just didn’t work well with him, and she doubted that he would be willing to put in the extra hours needed to successfully hold the title, rather preferring to sort through Quidditch and pranking tactics with his fellow Marauders. Of course this wasn’t necessarily the thing she was most concerned about for the moment.
She gazed into space for a time, trying as forcefully as she could to think over the substantial matters of the coming year, trying desperately to ignore one small fact--one that had the ability to cause a great amount of chaos and turmoil in her life. Try as she might to suppress the thoughts coming to mind, telling herself that they were of little importance, they continued to find there way to the surface. James Potter had changed over the summer you see, and although she had indeed thought he was--well--hot before, she was finding herself drawn even more to him now--she just wasn’t sure if she would be able to resist him this year, being around him for such an increased amount of time. Though she had denied the possibility that just maybe she was wrong about him (to both herself and any other curious minds), the possibility was there nonetheless, and if proven true had the undeniable ability to destroy that wall Lily had built around herself, leaving her completely vulnerable to this multitude of temptations. Other than the fact that James was incredibly arrogant at times (one of her biggest peeves), he did often act in the manner she would consider the perfect guy should act--now add this little detail, and she might even start falling head-over-heals for him. The horn of a nearby car sounded, startling Lily into awareness. Quickly she stood, headed back into the direction of her home, and away from these newly found feelings. She would not fall for Potter--she would not. What was she thinking? She didn’t like James! Never! To doubt her idea of him was to doubt reason--and of course, looks would never have her going crazy for a guy--but then again, there was the fact that he was--no! She wouldn’t even go there. Those practical words she forced into her mind, trying with all her effort to ignore the fact that she, Lily Evans, wasn’t so unsusceptible to looks as she had boasted--particularly to those belonging to James Potter.
The dwindling of light greatly slowed her progress back to her house, though Lily wasn't fully aware of the fact, and it was doubtful that she would have cared anyways had she been. As she meandered along the path, streams of thoughts flooding in and out, she never thought to question how James had known where she lived or where she'd be at the time. She didn't notice the sounds of twigs snapping followed by the squeak of what sounded remarkably like a house-elf--nor did she notice the 'pop' one normally would associate with disapparation, so great was the mayhem in her mind.