- Rating:
- PG
- House:
- Schnoogle
- Characters:
- James Potter Lily Evans
- Genres:
- Action Romance
- Era:
- Multiple Eras
- Stats:
-
Published: 06/07/2003Updated: 01/08/2013Words: 389,988Chapters: 59Hits: 80,010
Lily Evans: A History
Bethany
- Story Summary:
- A story of Lily's life from pre-Hogwarts to marrying James Potter. How she coped with growing up with Petunia to her friendship with the four boys that would change her life - and eventually the course of history - forever.
Chapter 16
- Posted:
- 09/04/2003
- Hits:
- 1,231
- Author's Note:
- Some interesting quotes from this chapter:
Chapter 16 - Of past choices that come a haunting
Life definitely took an upwards turn with Kassie around, despite all the problems she brought with her. With her best friend in tow, Lily was finally able to see the amusing side of her arguments with Petunia. In fact, it was very much like they were back at school, and Petunia was no more than an aggravating Slytherin. They laughed when Petunia would go ranting through the house, muttering about freaks; which only made her angrier. And Lily nearly couldn't breathe one night after Petunia came running down the stairs, her hair an array of colors after the two girls had changed the bottles of hair spray with a bottle of Millie's Magic Hair Colors (thoughtfully provided by Sirius and James). And with summer taking such a grand look upwards, Lily honestly never saw the trouble brewing in the room next to hers. Couldn't have predicted that their lives would take such a drastic turn for the worst, and in such a small amount of time. Lily could recall someone telling her once that tragedies came in threes. It seemed she would be no exception. And the first would come to a head that very evening, only one week after Kassie arrived. "There's an owl," Kassie said, looking at the window. The girls were sitting in Lily's room, working on the last of their summer homework. Kassie got up, pushing the latch on the window and allowing the bird to come in. "It's our Hogwarts letters," she added, taking the letters from the bird and throwing Lily hers. Lily ripped the familiar looking letter open and pulled the parchment out. The first letter read as normal; the Hogwarts Express would leave Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st at 11am. Lily moved that paper aside and began to look at this year's book list. "Hey, look at this," Kassie suddenly said, pointing to her letter. "It's signed Minerva McGonagall as the Deputy Headmistress." "Well, it can't be Walsh anymore, can it? She's dead," Lily said, picking up her first letter again and seeing the Transfiguration and Head of Gryffindor House's signature. "I wonder who the Potions professor will be?" "Don't know," Kassie replied. "Perhaps they won't have one," Lily added hopefully. "Doubtful," Kassie deadpanned. "Can't blame me for trying," the redhead retorted, stuffing the parchment back in the envelope and putting it on her bedside table. She shook her head as if to clear it of a thought. "That was so strange, don't you think?" "What?" Kassie asked, still engrossed in her letter. "Professor Walsh, I mean," Lily clarified, looking at her own parchment thoughtfully. "Do you think the Daily Prophet is right? That she was spying on Death Eaters and they found out?" "We won't know until someone at Hogwarts confirms it, will we?" Kassie replied. "And no one seemed eager to tell us anything. Probably thinks we are too young or something." "Or wanted us to not worry about it and focus on our learning," Lily added, putting her letter up. She laid on her stomach, picking the remote up and turning the television on. Kassie instantly sat down, her attention diverted from her letter. Television had enraptured Kassie from day one, since she hadn't had one at home because her mother was a witch. * * "Girls! Dinner!" Christine called up sometime later. Groaning, Kassie pulled herself away from the comedy show she had been watching and looked at the bed. Lily was sound asleep, her head resting against her folded arms. Kassie poked her arm gently. "Lil, wake up. Your mum is calling us for dinner." Half stumbling, Lily yawned and groaned as they descended the stairs and came into the dining room. A large roasted chicken sat in the middle of the table, as well as side dishes. Christine was putting the glasses down when the girls tumbled in, followed shortly by Petunia. Dinner commenced rather silently. Petunia was so ill with not only Lily and Kassie, but the entire family, that she didn't even look up from her plate. Not that they talked much anyway, but the silence seemed thicker this evening. Petunia looked so much on edge with having Kassie and Lily in the house that the two girls had decided it best to leave her alone today, lest she blow up. And perhaps it would have remained an uneventful evening, aside from that, if it hadn't been for the owl. Kassie had just put her last bite of chicken in her mouth when a large barn own came sweeping in through the kitchen doorway and landed in front of her. Kassie threw a confused look at the bird that was clutching the letter addressed to herself. Before she could do more than reach for the letter, though, Petunia began shrieking. "That is filthy!" she spat, pushing her chair back and standing. Petunia's anger seemed to have been building itself up for a week, and came rushing out of her in bellowing tones. "Mum, how can you let them have those things on the table while we are eating?!" "I'm sorry Mrs. Evans, I didn't expect..." Kassie began, picking the bird up and moving away from the table. But Petunia wasn't done. "I'm sick and tired of not being able to eat a decent meal in this house! Freaks! All of you! I--" Kassie's eyes were huge and as quickly as she could she took the letter from the bird and allowed it to leave. Lily's mouth hung open slightly as her sister's face turned an odd shade of red. "Petunia," Daniel Evans said, his voice ringing with warning. "--As if it's not bad enough for you to be what you are--" "PETUNIA!" Christine screamed, her face contorted with rage. Lily shrank down in her seat then, trying to will herself not to draw any more attention. As it was, she was exceptionally glad her mother's rage wasn't centered on herself. "That is quite enough," Christine gritted out, banging her hand down on the wooden table and causing the nearest plate to jump slightly. "Go to your room where I will speak to you when I calm down." "But Mum, I'm not done eatin--" "I don't care," Christine continued. "You don't want to eat at this table like a civilized young lady, you won't eat at it at all." Petunia's face was caught between a look of horror and disbelief. For several seconds she moved her mouth, but no words came out, making her appear like a fish with an extremely long nose. Suddenly she stomped her foot in a childish tantrum and placed both her hands on her hips. "Civilized?" she whispered. "You call sitting at this table with those two freaks," she spat, jerking her head towards Lily and Kassie, whose eyes widened, "civilized? Mother, as far as I'm concerned, you are no better than them!" "Now see here!" Daniel thundered, rising out of his chair just as Christine gasped in outrage. "You will not talk to your mother like that! You'd better do some quick apologizing, young lady!" "NO!" Petunia yelled back, her face still gaining color by the second. She looked like she might explode, literally, any moment. "I will not!" And before either parent could say another word, Petunia ran out of the room and up the stairs. Daniel and Christine followed and Lily and Kassie exchanged glances before rising at the same time. "Oh my," Lily muttered, going to the door just in time to see her parents disappearing up the hall. She turned to Kassie. "Should we follow?" "I think that might be pushing our luck, do you think? Somehow I think we may have caused this with our jokes...." "Perhaps," Lily replied, looking up the stairs again. "I can't believe she just did that." The two continued to watch the hall and stairwell in silence, but only a faint shuffling from upstairs and the occasional muffled voice was the only indication anything was happening. Minutes seemed to tick by slowly and Lily was almost about to give up when Petunia's bedroom door crashed open and she came stomping out, carrying a suitcase. Lily's mouth dropped. "Where are you going?" she asked in a small voice when her older sister came to the bottom of the stairs. Petunia didn't even look her way and only answered when she had the front door pulled opened. There was a beat up looking black car pulling into the drive as she spoke; "I'm going somewhere where there are normal people." And without looking back, she went out and slammed the door behind her. Lily slowly sank down, sitting on the bottom most step. Silence enraptured the house, broken only by the soft sound of Lily's mother crying upstairs. She felt sick. "This is my fault," she whispered softly, her face buried in her hands. "This has been coming since I got my first letter." "Hey now," Kassie muttered, sitting beside Lily and putting a comforting arm around her. "This isn't your fault. Petunia is just... well, she's a Muggle. As Muggle as they come, for that matter. It's not your fault." "Yes, it is," Lily replied, tears filling her green eyes that she tried unsuccessfully to blink away. "Petunia gave me a choice the day I left for Hogwarts. She asked me to not go, but I went. And she swore..." Lily buried her face further so that Kassie almost couldn't hear what she said. "She swore she'd never be my sister again." "Lily Evans, if you step out of the house today and go to that... that place! You will not be my sister anymore! I mean it!" The words resounded dully in Lily's head. That was two years ago, but they still hurt. Sure they had argued before Lily's letter arrived, but there had been moments when they talked. Laughed. And sometimes Lily had hopes they could be real sisters one day. But she had ruined that. And now it was driving a wedge between her entire family. Petunia had gone, and it was her fault. Silently, she stood. "Lily?" Kassie asked uncertainly. The red head didn't reply. Instead she walked up the stairs, wiping the tears from her face as she went. Somehow... somehow she had to make this right. She found her mother sitting on the edge of Petunia's bed, staring around the room with wet eyes. She seemed different than Lily ever remembered her mother being. For once she didn't look in control, or calm. She looked crushed. "Mum?" Christine's eyes flickered at the sound, resting a moment later on her youngest daughter. "Lily," she replied, trying to force a smile but not being able to. "Come in." Lily walked slowly in the room that Petunia had sent her out of more than once. She stopped before her mother, looking down at the woman who had given up so much for her family. She gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment, glancing at the evening sky through the closed window. "Mum, I'm sorry." "Sorry?" Christine repeated. "Lily, you didn't do anything." "Yes I did," Lily insisted. "It's my fault, for being a witch. But... but I wanted to tell you that Petunia will come back. Olivia, James's Mum, told me that I could come stay with them anytime I wanted. She'll take us to King's Cross Station for school. And then Petunia will come back and everything will be okay again." "No." Lily sighed. "Mum, Petunia isn't going to come back with me here. And school starts in a couple of days. If I leave now, you can go get Petunia and talk to her. She won't come back with me here, you know that." Christine looked up again, tears shining once more in her eyes. "Lily, if I let you go..." She sighed heavily, suddenly looking much more than her thirty-seven years. "I'm so scared." "Scared?" Lily repeated. She blinked, looking up at Lily with eyes so much like Lily's own. "Yes. You--you're having these visions. And there is some dark wizard in your world who is killing... In your world." She stopped short, shaking her head as if just realizing something. "It's like you don't belong to me anymore. You don't belong here." "I do belong here," Lily insisted. "But Hogwarts is... like my extended home," Lily decided. "I belong there, too." Sighing heavily, Lily sat beside her mother on the bed, looking at her clasped hands. "If you don't want me to go to James's, I won't. School starts in a few days and you can get Petunia then." "Daniel is going to get Petunia in the morning," Christine mumbled, not looking at Lily. There was another silence between mother and daughter, and Lily felt guilt ripping at her heart. The choices she had made had put them here. Making her mother and father this upset, disrupting their family. Christine sighed heavily. "Do you think... well, would Olivia mind Kassie being with you?" Lily felt her heart flop in her chest, her hands shaking slightly. "I don't think so. I can fire call her and ask." Suddenly Christine wrapped both her arms around her youngest, a few tears escaping her already red-brimmed eyes. She squeezed Lily's shoulders almost painfully tight. "Lily, I love you. I'm so proud of you. No matter what your do, please don't ever forget that." "I won't," Lily promised, hugging her mother back. "I won't." * * The next morning dawned bright and cool. A wonderful breeze blew through the open window as Lily sat up and glanced over at Kassie, who was still snoring softly. Stretching, the red head got up and went to shower and dress. By the time she returned, Kassie had woken and repacked most of her belongings. "Have you seen my Potions book?" Kassie asked as Lily came in, a towel wrapped around her hair. "I can't find it.... ah! Never mind. How did it get under the dresser, I wonder?" Lily rolled her eyes, glancing around. She was completely packed, but had been looking everywhere she went for anything she might have forgotten. Kassie rushed out to shower and Lily brushed out her hair and dried it. Twenty minutes later the two girls were finally completely dressed and packed. Morgana's empty cage sat atop Lily's trunk since she had told Morgana to fly on to James' ahead of them. Together Lily and Kassie descended the stairs and entered the kitchen. Breakfast was a silent affair. Christine looked ready to burst into tears at the drop of a fork and Daniel had hidden himself behind his paper for most of the meal. Lily and Kassie ate silently and very quickly, the former's ears perked and waiting for the tell tale whoosh of the fireplace that would indicate James had arrived. Lily had no more placed her plate in the sink when she heard said whoosh, followed by voices in the living room. Seconds later, James came walking towards the kitchen. "Lily?" "In here," Lily responded as he entered the room. Olivia Potter came in behind her son, wearing light silver robes. She smiled warmly at Lily and Lily couldn't help but smile in return. "Hi." "Hello," Olivia replied. There was a moment of deep silence that Lily felt was so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife. Trying desperately to avoid such tension, she cleared her throat. "I'll just go get my trunk." "Do you want me...?" Olivia asked and Lily knew she meant use magic. She nodded. Lily dashed out of the kitchen as fast as she could without looking like she was fleeing. Kassie was right on her heels, followed by Olivia. James, for reasons Lily didn't really want to know, had stayed in the kitchen. They arrived in Lily's room and Olivia pulled her wand from her robes. "Locomotor trunks," she commanded, giving a wave of her wand. Kassie and Lily's trunks rose into the air. Lily grabbed Morgana's cage. "Do you have everything?" Olivia asked. "I think so," Lily responded. Kassie nodded. "Olivia?" "Yes, dear?" "Thank you for letting us come over," Lily said, trying not to be too loud so that her voice wouldn't carry downstairs. "On such short notice, I mean. My sister... well, I'll explain later." "Anytime," Olivia replied, giving Lily a one armed hug since her other hand was still holding the trunks in the air. "Absolutely anytime you need to stay at our house, you are welcome to it." They descended the stairs, Olivia leading with the trunks. Christine came in the living room just as Olivia deposited them near the fireplace, Daniel right behind her. There was another moment of silence that was broken this time by Daniel. He retrieved his wallet from his pants pocket, pulling some notes out. "They haven't been to, erm, get their school things yet..." "Not a problem," Olivia said, smiling. "We can go this afternoon, if they would like." Daniel handed the money to Lily and she put it in her jeans pocket. "Thank you, Daddy," she muttered and hugged him. "I'm going to get Petunia," he said when Lily pulled away. "Are you coming home for Christmas?" "I don't know. I'll write," Lily promised. Daniel left the room, leaving Lily facing her mother. James stood just behind her, giving her a smile of encouragement. He had no idea what had drove Lily to fire call him so late last night, or why she and Kassie were coming over. But whatever it was, he was sure it was what was making her entire family look on emotional edge. Lily smiled back as she hugged her mother. "Bye, Mum." "Be good, Lily," Christine said, pulling back. Suddenly she wrapped Kassie in a hug, too. The black hair girl looked slightly surprised for a moment. "You be good, too, Kassie. And come back anytime you want." "Thank you, Mrs. Evans," Kassie replied, giving her a smile. "Olivia, thank you for letting the girls come over," Christine said to the other woman. Lily glanced between the two and noticed for the first time how different they were. Different, not because Lily's mother had deep brown, almost red hair and Olivia had black. And not because Olivia was at least three inches taller than her mother. It was more like they were from different worlds. And it reminded Lily strongly of her conversation with her mother the night before. They were in different worlds, now. And with Lily standing next to Olivia, wearing a set of black robes over her jeans and shirt, she never felt more distant from the Muggle world. "You're more than welcome," Olivia replied. She took a pouch from her robes and held it open for James. He took a small pinch, threw it into the fire, and stepped inside. "Potter Manor!" With a whoosh of emerald green flames, he was gone. Kassie took her trunk and a pinch of the Floo Powder from within the bag. Throwing it into the fire, she followed James and, in seconds, was gone. Lily stepped forward, the Floo Powder in one hand and the handle of Morgana's cage in the other. As she let the powder go, and the flames turned green once more, Lily stepped into them. The flames tickled her face, licking around her ears and warming her hands. She waved once to her mother, called "Potter Manor!" and everything began to spin. The first thing Lily saw when she stopped in James' fireplace were three heads of black hair. Blinking, she stepped out and away so that Olivia could follow. "Hi, Lily!" Sirius said as soon as she put the cage down and brushed some of the soot from her robes. "Hi, Sirius," she replied, sighing. A part of her really didn't want to leave her mother, no matter how much the act may help with her sister. There was a deep sense of foreboding resting in her stomach and she couldn't shake it. "James," Olivia Potter was suddenly standing behind Lily and she hadn't even heard the flames rise. "Sirius, help the girls take their belongings up to their room and then come straight back down. They haven't been to Diagon Alley to get their school books yet and I thought we'd go ahead and get it out of the way." Nodding, Sirius took Lily's trunk from Olivia and James grabbed Kassie's. Lily, having been to James' rather huge house the summer before, was completely unscathed by her surroundings. Kassie, on the other hand, looked at everything in awe as they walked each hall. Finally they arrived at the room Lily had used the summer before, only now there were two smaller beds in the room, rather than one large. Kassie immediately claimed the bed closest to the window and Sirius placed Lily's trunk at the foot of the other. "Wow! Look at this view!" Kassie squealed, leaning out the window. Sirius went over to show her the finer points and Lily sat on her bed. For the first time since seeing him in her house, Lily took a good look at James. He had grown, again. His frame was lanky, but he wasn't terribly skinny, just slim. His black hair was, of course, sticking up at many angles and his brown eyes were forever stuck behind round rimmed glasses. "What?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Lily felt herself blush slightly. "Nothing. You just--grew." James laughed. "You're not so short yourself, you know." "Yeah, I know," Lily replied. Her last check-up at the doctor had proved she had added four inches to her height since starting Hogwarts. But James was still two or three inches taller than herself. From the looks of Sirius, James wasn't the only one who had hit an early growth spurt. Only Sirius seemed broader than James, if only slightly, and definitely weighed more. His black hair still fell over his head with an elegance that James would probably never achieve and his eyes had a sparkle of mischief in them. "Young Master!" a voice suddenly squeaked. Lily's head whipped around to see Tator the house elf standing in the doorway, shaking her head. "Young Master, your Mother says you'd better be getting downstairs!" she demanded and with a pop, disappeared. "We've been summoned, it would seem," James mumbled, walking towards the door. To Lily it seemed that it was on the tip of James's tongue to ask something, but he had changed his mind with the arrival of the house elf. "Oy! Sirius, let's go." Trying to shrug off the feeling of tension the unasked question had presented, Lily forced herself to laugh when Sirius swung Kassie over his shoulder and took off out the door. "PUT ME DOWN SIRIUS BLACK!" Kassie's voice boomed through the halls ahead of James and Lily. "Not doing it!" Sirius quipped back, followed quickly by a crash and then; "Ow! What did you do that for?" James shook his head dejectedly and hurried to see what Kassie had done. Lily followed, a slight frown on her face that was quickly gone as soon as she seen the state Kassie had left Sirius in. He was bent over, rubbing his lower back and moaning. "I won't be able to walk for a week!" he complained loudly. "Too bad she didn't impair your ability to talk, as well," Olivia said from the end of the hall where she must have came to see what the noise was about. Lily, James and Kassie laughed appreciatively as Sirius scowled. James patted him on the head as he passed. "Come on, surely you can see the humor in this? Someone finally got you, and it was a girl to boot!" Sirius straightened, looking like a thought had just struck him square in the face. Coughing fakely into his hand, Sirius dropped onto one knee before a very surprised Kassie. "Marry me!" he declared. Kassie dropped her head into her hands and shook with either laughter or embarrassment, Lily wasn't sure which. "No way!" she replied, turning and taking off down the hall. "Please?" Sirius called after her. He sprang up, following the shorter girl as she ran as fast as she could down the halls of Potter Manor. "Come on, Kassie! I swore the girl that could get the best of me would be my soul mate!" Olivia sighed dramatically. "No one said it wasn't interesting around here." "Too true," Lily replied. * * The trip to Diagon Alley was, in and of itself, rather redundant. Or as redundant as things got so far as Sirius was concerned. No rats turned colors this year, but Lily was sure that was because they didn't go into the Apothecary. Or it could have had something to do with Olivia escorting them to each shop. They didn't waste much time, just gathered their new books and relished other supplies such as quills, parchment and potion ingredients. Perhaps it was because it was the last weekend before school started, but they didn't spot the usual crowd of students from Hogwarts wandering the shops. In fact, the only person from Hogwarts that Lily did see was Hagrid, the grounds keeper. He didn't stop to talk long, however, just said he was buying fertilizer for his garden and would see them in a couple of days. The four of them traveled back to James's by Floo Powder and Kassie and Lily went to put their supplies away. Lily was still having a hard time shaking the feeling of dread in her stomach, but was doing an admiral job of it when there was a knock on the bedroom door. Kassie pulled it open and found James standing in the doorway with Sirius. "Yes?" she said, eyeing Sirius like the larger boy was suddenly going to throw her over his shoulder again. "Can we come in?" James asked. "Sure," Lily replied before Kassie could. The two boys came in, Sirius shutting the door behind them after checking the hall. Both of them looked rather serious about whatever they were there for and Lily couldn't help her hands from twitching. "What is it?" James leaned against the dresser and Sirius fell into the chair by the window. "We just wondered what happened," James suddenly said into the silence of the room. Sirius nodded his agreement. Lily glanced across to the bed opposite of hers at Kassie, wondering how much of the truth they wanted to tell. Kassie surprised her by launching into the story from the moment that she arrived at Lily's house. A few minutes after finishing, Kassie tried to shrug off her part of the story. "So I ran away and came to Lily's. We played a few jokes -- harmless, really -- on Petunia and she sort of, well, exploded at dinner last night." Lily tried to keep her voice light as she picked up the story. "And since I knew there would be no way Petunia would come back to the house while I was there, I fire called your Mum last night and here we are." James nodded thoughtfully, but the reaction that surprised Lily the most was Sirius's. He grinned madly. "You ran away from home, Kassie?" he asked, looking impressed for some reason. "To an extent, yes," Kassie replied carefully. "I mean to say, I'm sure that Aunt Grace knows where I am. In fact..." Kassie jumped off the bed, throwing her trunk open. "I know she does. The owl that started the mess at Lily's last night was from her." "What did it say?" Lily asked. Kassie rummaged through her belongings, looking for the paper. "I don't know," she said as she searched. "I didn't get much of a chance to read it, did I?" "Suppose not," Lily replied, shrugging. Her best friend suddenly sat back on her knees, a triumphant look on her face and a starch white envelope in her hand. "Found it!" she confirmed, ripping the envelope open. The four of them sat in silence as Kassie unfolded the paper and began reading. As she read, Lily noticed the color draining slowly from her face. Lily stood up, coming near Kassie, who suddenly looked like she might faint any moment. Tentatively she put a hand out. "Kassie...?"The black haired girl allowed the paper to fall from her hand as her other hand came up and covered her mouth. James took a step forward and Sirius rose from his chair worriedly. Lily, her hand shaking, picked up the paper and turned it over as Kassie let out a small scream into her hand and began crying. Looking confused, Sirius awkwardly put an arm around Kassie as Lily began reading: Kassandra, I hope you are happy now. I received word from your mother's sister last evening that she was attacked by Dark wizards from your filthy world. She is dead. Do not bother to come collect your siblings, I have sent them off to proper orphanages where they belong. Do not come back, lest I do the same to you. Grace Lily looked from the letter to her best friend, who was still sobbing on Sirius's shoulder, and felt her chest contract. If tragedies came in threes; what could possibly be worse than this?
And there you have why it took me so long to write this chapter. Please note that I do not like this chapter at all. I'm not very happy with it, but there is also nothing I can do about it. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, and I had do to this. But that doesn't mean I'm happy with it. It's a bad chapter, and therefore shorter than the others. I like writing humor more than drama. And this is exactly why chapter 17 is so hard for me to write. But I'll get it done :) Please, please review if you read. And if you're interested, join the mailing group :) We have tons of fun.
Click to subscribe to Lilyupdate Read! Review! Then eat cheese cubes! <3 Bethany 09.03.03