The Year that Changed Everything

I, Lily Evans, have created this book. It is much like a muggle diary in the way that thoughts and events are recorded down in it, but not so because no quill or pen need ever touch its pages. There's a special charm put on it- and I'm not going to say what it is- where all that has to be done is to open your mind to the book. It's a rather complex spell and I am pleased with myself to have achieved it. This magical diary contains not only my experiences, but those also of my best friend, Evelyn Potter, who I regret to say befriended me before I knew how arrogant her cousin is. Evie (as Evelyn prefers to be called) and I (who is contented being called Lily) are going to enter our sixth year at Hogwarts in the Gryffindor House. I sure hope this summer will be exciting but seeing as the first month is already over and my sister Petunia and I still cannot get along, it seems this summer will be as dreadful as the past few. At least I can look forward to seeing Evie soon.

"Lily, come on downstairs, I think your friend is here," called a familiar voice from below. Lily placed her charmed book on the table and proceeded to go downstairs to meet Evie, as her mother has just announced has arrived. The sound of a slamming door- just a few seconds earlier- assured Lily that Evie was here indeed, since whenever she showed up and it happened that Petunia got to the door first, it would usually be slammed in her friend's face. Petunia was hoping that one day Evie would just leave and never come back again, but that would never happen since she was best friends with Lily, and nothing could ever change that.

When Lily walked down the stairs, she passed a furious Petunia climbing up them, angered that Evie was still in the house. Lily wished that her sister didn't hate that she was a witch and would be nice to her friends from Hogwarts, but knew somewhere in her mind that that would never happen. Downstairs, Lily's mother was apologizing for her elder daughter's actions.

"No need to say sorry, Mrs. Evans. By now I would feel unwelcome if I came here and didn't get a door in my face," assured Evie. "Ah, hello Lily! Had a pleasant break so far?"

Lily grunted as a reply. She didn't want to say anything rude about Petunia in front of her parents, so she held back her comments. Well, it has been horrible living with Petunia. She's been ignoring me, even when I stick my face right in front of hers and scream my head off. And when she does acknowledge me, it's usually when she forgets about ignoring me and she goes off on some rant about how weird I am and how that is messing up her life. We haven't had a pleasant time together since before my first letter from Hogwarts arrived! "Let's go out to the park, shall we?" Lily remained calm on the outside, even though she wasn't on the inside.

"So it hasn't been good at all," Evie noted as both girls were outside and headed for the nearby park they liked to frequent.

"No. Petunia is even worse then last year. She's already yelled at me thirty times, and in between her rants, she pretends that I don't even exist," Lily replied. They reached the park and situated themselves on the swings. Evie, being of pureblood, didn't know what a swing was until the first time she showed up at Lily's, and ever since it has been her favorite part of the park.

"I'm so sorry Lily."

The conversation soon turned to lighter topics including gossip.

"Did you hear about Alice? Apparently she's fallen in love," Evie informed Lily. Alice was another witch who was also a sixth year Gryffindor and shared a room with Lily and Evie at Hogwarts. Their dormitory also consisted of three other girls for a total of six, Celia, Delia and Amara.

"No, who is it? And when did this happen?"

"He was a Gryffindor that graduated a few years ago. He's now training to be an auror. Not that bad looking either," Evie began. "Maybe you remember him, Frank Longbottom? She met him at the beginning of summer and they hit it off right away apparently."

"Not really. Wish I could meet him. I got to make sure that he's perfect for her," Lily responded. Before any of these sixth year Gryffindor girls went out with a guy, the others would have to approve of him. It was a pact the girls made when they became interested in the other gender, as a means of protecting each other from jerks.

"Well, I do happen to know that the both of them will be at my little brother's Hogwarts Letter party. Half the wizarding world will be there," Evie said. In just about a week Evie's brother, Daniel, was going to receive his letter from Hogwarts, which was a cause for celebration in the wizarding world. "And..."

"And what?"

"And.... I finally got my mother to agree to invite you. Well, sort of...."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked. How can someone be 'sort of' invited to a party?

"It means that you can come at nine in the evening, after the letters have arrived and dinner has been finished." Evie saw Lily's face fall, even with Lily trying to hold back her melancholy feelings of being unwanted.

"Oh Lily, I'm so sorry, but my mother wouldn't allow you to come any sooner. She can be so horrible sometimes, but my dad really pushed for you to come. In fact, without his support, I don't think she would have agreed to anything at all." Lily knew that Evie's mother believed in all the pureblood madness that's been going around recently, and knew that she secretly thought what You-Know-Who was doing was right. Her mother disgusted Lily, who couldn't figure out why Evie still listened to what her mother told her to do. Well, almost. Evie still remained friends with me despite her mother's wishes.

"At least I'll get to go. Maybe next time I'll be fully invited to the celebration," Lily reckoned and a smile crept up on her face when she saw the bright smile her friend had.

"Oh, and I managed to get you to spend the night over at my place too. And the next day we can go to Diagon Alley to get all of our books and supplies for next year. Our letters will have come by then. Plus Alice said that she would meet us there to shop."

"Evie, I almost forgot to mention, I finally figured out that charm for the diary." Lily began about the diary she and Evie have been working on since last year. Well, Lily did most of the work because she was the one who was the better at Charms, in fact the best in her class. "Let's go back to my house and I'll show it to you."