Lord Voldemort and the Reign of Terror

Lord Voldemort and the Reign of Terror

June 20

Lily Evans opened her eyes, saw the sun streaming through the window, and smiled. Today is my birthday! She thought. Then she stood up, neatly made her bed, and opened her closet, wondering what to wear. Finally, she chose on a pair of jeans and her favorite red t-shirt. Then she brushed her short, auburn-colored hair, not bothering to anything else with it. Finally, she did a quick once-over, making sure everything looked ok, and walked out of her room.

As she walked down the stairs, she smelled a wonderful breakfast cooking, as it was tradition in the Evans's household to get your favorite breakfast on your birthday. In Lily's case, it was French toast, bacon, and eggs. She walked into the kitchen, and greeted her mother.

"Morning, mum," she said brightly.

"Good morning, birthday girl," her mother, Mary-Anne replied with a smile. Only then did she realize it was 11:00. Mails here! she thought, and sat down to a plate of breakfast.

"Oh honey, the mail isn't here yet, but I'll be sure to let you see it first."

"Ok, mum." Just then her dad, Matthew, and sister, Petunia walked in and sat down at the table.

"Happy birthday, Lily," her dad exclaimed. Then Petunia muttered something that might have been a birthday greeting. Lily didn't care, and let it pass.

"Morning, dad," she replied. Then they ate breakfast with light conversation, the whole time with Petunia grumbling about how she hated French toast, but Lily let that pass too. Eventually her dad asked her for her plans that day.

"Oh, I don't know, I wanted to go to the mall with Erika, but she had to cancel. Something about going to her grandmothers, I think. So I was going to call Kelly and see if she wanted to go instead."

"Ok, as long as your mother says its fine." By that time, they were finished eating.

"Well, I'm going to go read that book Uncle Archie bought me."

"Ok."

She purposely walked by the front door to see if the mail was there, and it was. She picked it up, and noticed one addressed to her on top. She wasn't surprised as it was her birthday, but the envelop itself was weird. It was made of yellowish parchment, and written with emerald-green ink. Who writes on parchment nowadays? She wondered. She gave the bills to her parents, and the rest of the envelopes (except the parchment one) were birthday cards. She quickly read those, and took the last one up to her room.

There she looked at it more carefully. She noticed it was addressed:

Miss L. Evans

The 2nd largest bedroom

9 Sunset Court

London, England

I wonder why they needed my bedroom to mail a letter? And how do they know that in the first place? She thought, curious. She flipped it over, and noticed a large blob of purple wax. Then she realized it was to seal the letter. It looked like it had some kind of coat-of-arms- a lion, a badger, a snake, and an eagle, surrounding the letter H. Now she was really curious, so she opened the letter. It read:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

~

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, first class, Grand Sorc., Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Then she noticed another piece of parchment, it looked like some kind of list with school supplies on it. Lily wondered if this was just a prank or not and walked back downstairs with it, questions buzzing in her head like a swarm of angry bees. She was so lost in thought that she ran into Petunia when she was going down the stairs.

"Watch where you're going," her sister sneered at her. Lily just ignored her and kept going. When she got to the kitchen, she took a deep breath, and walked up to her parents.

"Mum, dad, I want to show you something," she said, timidly, not knowing how her parents would react.

"What's the matter, honey?" her mother questioned.

"Look at this letter..." she trailed off, still wondering how they would react. They read the letter several times, and finally looked up at her.

"Well?" she questioned.

"Well, if you want to go, there's no one stopping you. Oh honey, we're so proud of you! You should start next term," her dad said, excitedly.

"Are you sure this is even a real school?" Lily questioned.

"Oh yes! My grandmother went there!" Her mother exclaimed. They discussed it a little more, and then Lily realized that she needed to call Kelly about the mall. So she walked up to her room and used her green walk phone she got for her birthday to call her. She sat down on her window seat as she waited for Kelly to pick up. She didn't have to wait long, though. Kelly picked up in 2 rings. They chit-chatted for a little while, and then Lily remembered.

"Hey Kelly, have you heard of a school called Hogwarts?"

"Oh! So you got accepted too? Yeah, I've heard of it...my dad went there. Well, of course I've heard of it if I said you got accepted too..." she babbled on for awhile, and then asked, "So, when are you going to Diagon Alley?"

"What's Diagon Alley?" Lily asked.

"That's where you go to get everything for school. So I guess you don't know when...do you want to come with me?" Then they talked for a long while, and finally Kelly had to go eat lunch. Lily went downstairs and told her parents all the information she got from Kelly. The rest of the day went by in a blur...

July 14

James Potter opened his eyes, groped on his bedside table, and put on is glasses. He then noticed that it was still dark outside, so he tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Just as he started drifting back to dreamland, he all of a sudden remembered, hey, it's my birthday! I can't go to sleep! His eyes snapped open, and he jumped out of bed, leaving his sheets all mussed up. He grabbed a pair of jeans that were draped over a chair, and grabbed a rumpled up t-shirt. He didn't bother to do anything with his messy hair, because no matter what he did it looked like he walked through a tornado. He took the stairs 2 at a time, and when he got to the kitchen, he shouted "Morning mum, morning dad!" without noticing the room was empty. He glumly looked down at the table, and noticed a note sitting there:

Hi honey, happy birthday! Sorry we couldn't say that in person, but there was an urgent call at the ministry. We had to rush off, but didn't want to wake you...we'd hope you'd sleep in on your birthday! Make yourself whatever you want for breakfast and lunch, and the money is on the table for you to buy some fast food for dinner. We don't know when we'll be home, but we hope we you have a happy birthday!

Love always,

Mum and Dad

P.S. don't open your presents until we get home!

James put down the note, and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He sat there, munching his cereal and thinking. Why do they always have to go to the ministry?? You know that already, he scolded himself. They're the best of those "mystery" workers the ministry has had in years, so naturally they'll always be everyone's first pick for whatever they do...what do they do? He wondered, for even though he's still their own son, they were still forbidden to tell him anything. He finished his cereal and heading over to trudge back up to his room, he noticed a large barn owl tapping on the window. He opened it, and the bird immediately dropped the letter and landed on the back of a chair. James picked up the letter, and examined it. He noticed it was written on yellow parchment (which didn't surprise him, as everyone in the wizarding world used parchment), and addressed in emerald-green ink:

Mr. J Potter

The Smaller Bedroom

5 Hidden Trail

Norfolk, England

He then turned the letter open, and he was mildly surprised. He saw the Hogwarts crest! His parents had both gone there, so he knew all about it-he was surprised because he wasn't sure if he was going to be accepted. He resolved to tell his parents the minute they apparated into the house. He opened the seal, and read the letter:

Dear Mister Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Then she noticed another piece of parchment, it looked like a list of some kind:

Until then, he decided to go visit Sirius Black, his best friend. He stuffed the letter in his pocket, and walked down the street to Sirius's house. He knocked on the door, and a woman answered the door.

"Hello Mrs. Black - is Sirius there?" he asked. She smiled, "Yes, I'll go get him, why don't you come in and sit down?" She turned away from the door, and shouted for Sirius to come see James. James walked over to his favorite chair, and sat down, knowing his friend could be awhile. Eventually, though, he came, and they went outside, sitting in Sirius's backyard talking. After awhile, James's foot fell asleep, and he heard a crumpling noise. Then he remembered the original reason for coming.

"Hey Sirius, guess what?" not waiting for an answer, he continued, "I got my Hogwarts letter today!"

"This calls for a celebration! Let's go get some ice cream, ok? Well, really, its not 'cause of your letter, I just feel like some ice cream." They both laughed, and walked inside to tell Sirius's mom where they were going. They walked into the parlor, and walked to their favorite corner booth. They both ordered hot fudge sundaes, and spent the rest of the afternoon talking about Hogwarts. The rest of the day went by for James in a blur...