“Lily! You’ve received a letter!”
“Coming, Mum!” Putting down the book she had been completely absorbed in “ Jane Eyre, one of her Muggle favorites “ Lily Evans leapt gracefully from her room and excitedly ran downstairs. Her vivid red hair, which was often a cause for jealousy at Hogwarts, flew behind her as she hopped from one foot to the other.
As Lily reached the bottom of the staircase, she barreled straight into Petunia, her older sister.
“Watch where you’re going… freak!” Petunia snarled, but Lily said nothing as the older girl continued up the stairs. Her sister had been angry and jealous “ though she would never actually admit it to the rest of her family “ ever since Lily had been accepted at Hogwarts six years previously.
Shaking her head sadly, Lily continued into the kitchen, where she knew the mail would be waiting for her. Sure enough, her beautiful tawny owl Amber was awaiting her arrival. To Lily’s surprise, there was a pitch-black owl next to Amber, which she did not recognize in the slightest. Both owls had letters tightly clutched in their beaks.
Lily first took the letter that Amber was holding, and the owl immediately hastened for her perch in Lily’s small bedroom. Smiling slightly at Amber’s spirited impatience, Lily opened the letter, which turned out to be from Hogwarts. It was thicker than usual, causing Lily to wonder what could possibly be inside.
As soon as she carefully slit open the envelope, a shiny gold badge slipped out and gently landed on the table. Lily timidly picked it up and shrieked when she saw the large “H” inscribed on the surface. Just to be absolutely sure, she dug deeper into the envelope and pulled out a letter written in bold green ink. Her own green eyes twinkled in merriment as she skimmed the letter “ she had been made Head Girl! Simply unable to contain her excitement, Lily shrieked again as she put the badge and the letter down on the table. Even though she had been a Prefect for the past two years at Hogwarts, she had been rather unsure about whether or not she would become the next Head Girl.
Just as she was about to remove the envelope from the black owl’s clutches, her mother ran into the room. She was astonished to see that the house was not falling down after her daughter’s scream; rather, the red-haired girl was grinning up at her.
“Lily, what in the world happened here? I thought the house was burning up!”
“Mum, oh Mum, you’ll never believe what came in the mail! I got Head Girl!” Lily’s mum, who knew all about Hogwarts at this point, smiled proudly at her daughter.
“Congratulations honey, I knew you would get it. Well, I have to go back outside to tend the garden. Enjoy your happiness, sweetheart.” Her mother smiled again and walked out of the room, leaving Lily to contemplate the remaining owl once more.
Still grinning to herself with a sense of accomplishment, Lily took the letter from the black owl. As she did so, she found herself hoping that it would be from her dear friend Remus Lupin To her bemusement, the black owl stayed put, as though it was waiting for her to write a reply. Lily curiously turned the envelope over and was slightly disappointed to find an unfamiliar slant, rather than Remus’s untidy scrawl. She nervously opened the letter and gasped in surprise as she noted whom it was from:
Dear Lily,
I know you will be shocked and possibly furious upon opening this, but I beg you to hear me out instead of tossing this parchment aside.
I am writing to tell you that I have been made Head Boy, and I am positive that you are Head Girl. After all, there is no one smarter, more beautiful, or a better leader than you are.
As much as you probably despise me, please don’t think that this letter is simply a prank or ploy for your attention. I sincerely assure you that it is neither of those things. As the Heads for our seventh and final year at Hogwarts, I wish to call a truce. This request may anger you, and you may wish to never lay eyes upon me again, but I hope you decide to give me a chance. Write back and tell me what you think; it would be so much easier to carry out our duties this year if we maintain something akin to friendship.
I will listen to whatever you have to say. I hope you are having a wonderful summer, Lily Evans. Remember: I’ll be waiting impatiently for your owl.
~
~
~Sincerely,
James Potter
Lily stared, dumbfounded, at the letter. She read it twice more just in case she was imagining things, but she quickly realized she was not. She eventually found herself utterly and completely horrified.
Even though James “ no, Potter, she reminded herself “ had told her to not think his letter was a prank, that was exactly what she thought it was. After all, who in their right mind would make James Potter Head Boy? It should have been Remus who received the position. He was the smartest and most dignified of the Marauders, if not the most kind. In contrast, Potter was arrogant, pigheaded, rude, and played far too many pranks for his own good. In this he was not alone; Sirius Black often accompanied him.
Potter did get good marks, Lily admitted fairly, but he simply did not deserve the position… so what could she do about his letter? He wanted a truce “ that in itself was a mature and shockingly un-arrogant thing to ask for, especially after all these years.
Lily pondered what to do, and in the end, she made up her mind. Grabbing a quill and a bottle of black ink from the kitchen counter that she always left there for special situations such as this, she wrote a brief response to the letter:
Potter,
A truce? Very well. But does this mean I must start calling you “James”? Anyway, congratulations on becoming Head Boy. I was sure it would be Remus, but I suppose I’ll have to deal with you instead. However, keep this in mind: If you display any arrogant behavior or anything that would get your position taken away from you, I will never speak to you again. You have been warned.
~Sincerely,
Lily Evans
Putting down her quill, she tied the letter around the black owl’s claw and watched as it soared away through the open kitchen window. Lily knew her response had been indescribably rude, but she couldn’t help it “ James Potter didn’t deserve her kindness. He was a prat, and she managed to convince herself that he would always be one. She pushed away the little voice in the back of her mind that pointed out how mature James had been by sending her the letter in the first place, and headed upstairs to continue reading her book. The plot, unlike her life, was imperfect and simply wonderful because of it.
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James Potter gazed out his bedroom window, nervously running his fingers through his already untidy black hair. Next to him, his best friend and almost-brother Sirius Black lounged on his bed reading Wuthering Heights. Though he would admit it to nobody but James, Sirius was rather fond of Muggle romance novels. He felt as though they were the complete opposite of his own life, and he was certainly not complaining about that. As a permanent bonus, they would probably also annoy most of his family.
Meanwhile, James was anxiously waiting for the return of his owl, Verity. He knew the name was rather obscure, but he couldn’t help himself. He was trying to get Verity’s name as close as possible to the French word for green (vert), because that was the color of Lily Evans’s eyes. And he loved those eyes with a passion.
Suddenly, he saw a black speck in the distance. It was Verity! He poked Sirius in the shoulder and gestured maniacally out the window when the latter irritably glanced up.
“Lily wrote back already, Padfoot! This is a crazy day.”
“Indeed. Evans actually responded to you. I am surprised,” Sirius said mechanically, and returned to his novel.
Verity flew into James’s room and landed on her owner’s shoulder, lightly and affectionately pecking him on the cheek. He ruffled the gorgeous owl’s feathers and lifted her to her stoop. She cooed thankfully and promptly proceeded to sip all the water from her bowl.
James then stared at the letter as though it were a bomb. Or even worse, a Howler. Sirius noticed this and grabbed the envelope right out of James’s hand, sliding it open and taking out the letter in the process. Before James could so much as open his mouth, Sirius grinned.
“You’re in luck, Prongs. She actually wrote you a response and it’s not going to explode!”
Frowning at Sirius, James took his letter back and read. He read it again and just to make sure he wasn’t imagining the beautiful calligraphic writing, he read it a third time. After he was done, he looked up with a confused expression.
“So… she writes me a letter that’s shorter than any note I’ve ever seen… and she still manages to insult me, threaten me, and refuse to call me by my given name. Oh Padfoot, why did I have to go writing all those nice things about her? Why couldn’t I have just told her I was Head Boy and that I wanted to make a deal with her? WHY?” Sirius merely rolled his eyes.
“Mate, I’m pretty sure that anything you know how to say to Lily Evans includes a compliment. You’re just unable to speak otherwise. So don’t be so hard on yourself. At least she replied!” repeated Sirius, hoping more than anything that James would shut up so that he could continue reading.
James groaned, hoping his best friend was right. He didn’t think he could take another whole year of Lily Evans hating him. He thought back to the moment when he realized he loved her…
***
It was the first day of their third year at Hogwarts, and James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter Pettigrew had gathered in the compartment that was always reserved for the Marauders. No one had ever questioned this ownership, nor would they ever do so, because the Marauders were too popular to be argued with.
They had been playing a rather exciting game of Exploding Snap when Lily Evans had opened the door, annoyed. James ignored her at first, too immersed in the game to care about the entry of another person into their private compartment. When their tower of cards suddenly exploded, however, James turned around to look at Lily. Before she could say anything about how loud they were being, James’s jaw practically dropped to the floor.
Lily was “ there was no other way for it “ the most beautiful girl James had ever seen. He had mentally scolded himself for thinking such a lame thing about a girl, but he knew it was true. Meanwhile, Sirius had followed James’s stare and gasped slightly. He was certainly not smitten with Lily, but even he “ the most popular wizard at Hogwarts “ had to admit that she was quite pretty. Her red hair had grown past her waist over the summer, and her acne had completely cleared away.
Only Remus and Peter were unaffected by Lily’s appearance, and so Remus spoke first.
“Hello Lily! Did you have a nice summer?”
Lily, who had been blushing under the intense stares of the other two Marauders, smiled in thanks.
“Actually yes, it was wonderful! Petunia wasn’t nearly as annoying or rude as she usually is, and we went on a trip to America! It’s so different from here, but we enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. How was your holiday?”
Before Remus could reply, James cut in.
“It was great! The other three came over to stay at my place and we ““
“I believe I had intended the question for Remus, Potter. Please go on, Remus.” Remus looked uncertainly in James’s direction before speaking “ the latter had been staring daggers at him ever since Lily had interrupted him.
“Well Lily, as James was saying, we went over to his house and played a lot of Quidditch for the most part. He and his parents were pretty awesome hosts “ they took us to the Quidditch World Cup Final!”
“Oh, I’m sure that was terrific!” Lily smiled, but it did not quite reach her cold green eyes. “Well anyway, I came in here to tell you that you were being too loud!” At this, she glared pointedly at James and Sirius, who had the decency to look at the ground and apologize. After grudgingly accepting their apologies, Lily had strutted back the way she came, leaving James completely entranced in her wake.
Sirius, who had snapped out of his reverie as soon as Lily had yelled at James, tried to get James’s attention. The attempt was lost on him, however.
“Padfoot,” James remembered saying, “I think… I think I love her!”
***
“Prongs? Prongs!” Sirius waved his hand desperately in front of James’s face.
“Huh?” James said dreamily.
“What in the name of Merlin just happened to you?”
“I was thinking about Lily. Padfoot, I can’t wait to see her. I’ll prove that I’ve grown up this year. I will make her fall in love with me.”
Thankfully, Sirius’s mutter of “Big surprise” went unnoticed.
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Far away from the homes of both the Potters and the Evanses, a dark shadow slowly turned around to face a kneeling young man.
“What information do you have for me?”
“Potter and the Mudblood have been made Head Boy and Girl, my Lord. They will be more vulnerable this following year, as they will patrol the barren halls of the school at later hours than we could have ever hoped to find them.”
“Very well. We must soon put my plan into action if we ever hope to fulfill the prophecy…”
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