My Girl

Chapter 1: Secrets

Lily Evans unlocked the door of her new London flat and stepped inside. She looked around with a raised eyebrow; the place was defiantly a fixer-upper. Peeling orange paint just isn't a turn on, she thought to herself.

Lily walked through all of the rooms, heart sinking. When she reached the kitchen, (she screwed up her nose at the smell. The smell seemed to be coming from one of the drawers. Lily opened it, and the smell multiplied by ten. Gagging, she peered in, squealed, and slammed the drawer shut.

Desperate to get away from that thing, she walked back into the front room, and sighed grimly. There was no way she wanted Gwen to live here. Unfortunately, this was the best she could afford, and that was saying something. At least it was better then the apartment she lived in when she first moved to Australia. She shuddered at the thought of her first apartment.

Lily knew that she had to come back to London sooner or later, but she preferred it to be later. She hadn't been in England in over five years. As soon as she had graduated from Hogwarts, she moved to Australia to train as an Auror. She didn't want to face him, so she left; only keeping in contact with her best friend, Marlene. Her parents had disowned her, so there was no reason to keep in contact with them.

Lily had been perfectly happy with her life as an Auror, until about two weeks ago when she learned that she was to be transferred to London. So she could help with the war, as it was the worst there.

Lily shook her head. Gwen would be arriving in a few days by portkey, she was currently staying with a few of Lily's Australian mates, and the flat had to be fixed up in the meantime.

With a shudder, Lily cautiously walked back into the kitchen. She held her wand out and approached the drawer.

*~*~*~*~*

Two days later, Lily was only partially satisfied. She had cleaned up the place a lot but still, it could be better. It was cleaned and painted, but, it lacked furniture as she only had enough time and money to buy the basics.

She grabbed her coat, and walked outside, locking the door behind her. A car drove past, and a few catcalls were yelled at her. Lily frowned. Then raised her finger at them. Pervs. She hated living in the middle of London, but it was the best she could do.

After half an hour of walking she arrived at some markets, and started browsing for furniture. It pained her to be reduced to doing her shopping at markets, and second hand stores, but she had learnt to grin and bear it.

*~*~*~*~*

The next day Lily hurried around the apartment. It was looking considerably better, and at least Gwen wouldn't be in any danger of catching any life threatening illnesses. Speaking of Gwen, where was she? She should have arrived 10 minutes ago, and Lily was starting to worry. Ideas started running through her head about what could've happened to her and Lily started to panic.

A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a rug at Lily's feet, clutching a teapot that Lily assumed was used as a portkey. The four and a half year old got up, ran over to Lily, and hugged her tightly.

"Look Mummy," she said and opened up the teapot. Inside were quite a few galleons, sickles and knuts. Lily frowned and pulled out a note stuffed inside.

Lily, don't you dare consider sending back the money! Consider it a going away present from us all. Miss you already, Shnelle, Rory and Joey.

Shnelle, Rory and Joey were Lily's three closest friends in Australia. They all worked at the Australian Ministry and when Lily was evicted from her apartment they had taken her in, not taking 'no' for an answer.

The three of them had tried to give her money before she left but Lily had refused. She shook her head, knowing it would be too hard to give them back their money. Lily shrugged and looked down at her daughter who she hadn't seen for a few days.

Gwendolyn Evans looked almost exactly like her mother did when she was four. The same strong (for a four year old) body, pale skin splashed with a few cute freckles and the same startling emerald green eyes. The only thing that was different, was that instead of Lily's long red hair, she had long messy jet black hair that she had inherited from her father; James Potter.