The Tale of the Marauders and Lily Evans

Chapter 1

Letters & Discoveries

Lily Evans was lying on her bed, trying to get comfortable, not even realizing that she was half-asleep. She didn't know what woke her in the middle of the night, only knew that whatever it was would pay.

Suddenly, she heard a soft tap on her window. She ignored it, but was pretty sure that it was that that had woken her up. The soft tapping continued when she didn't answer. Tap, tap, tap, tap.

"Humph," she grunted, "Can't someone get some beauty sleep?" Nevertheless, she got up to answer it. She shuffled towards her window, and so sleepy she was that she didn't even notice that she had carelessly knocked her bed lamp to the floor.

She pushed aside her curtains, and whatever she was a expecting to be at her window, maybe a scrawny cat or just a tree branch, it certainly wasn't what she was seeing now. A handsome barn owl was gazing at her from outside the window. She immediately woke from her sleepy trance and stared at the owl. The owl stared back.

Lily uncertainly opened her window slowly, and immediately wished she hadn't. Her room was nice and warm, but when she opened the window, a gust of wind blew sharply at her cheeks, and her hair whipped her face. However, she decided that she didn't care as she studied the owl closely. It didn't seem to be hurt in any way, and it wasn't skinny, or even a little bit skinny. It was plumb.

She then noticed that it was already pretty light, and an owl wouldn't be out in daylight. Although Lily wouldn't exactly be eager to admit this, she had never seen an owl before.

Lily was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice that the owl had a letter tied to its feet. It stuck out the leg. Lily was about to take off the letter before she caught herself.

Wait a moment, she thought, what if this is a trap? I mean, think about it . . . an owl delivering a letter? That's ridiculous! She didn't know what to do, so she just stared at the owl. An owl's patience, it seems, has a limit. For, right now, it made an impatient noise and fluttered its wings before settling them comfortably behind its back.

Lily's curiosity finally took the better of her. She took the letter of and the moment the string was untied, the owl took off and disappeared into the clouds. Lily was so surprised that she nearly dropped the letter. Cautiously closing her window, she turned back and settled on her bed, under her warm blankets. Sleep was no longer on her mind.

She eyed on the envelope, but it was still too dark too make out anything, so her hand felt to her bed side table and groped around for the bed lamp. It had, of course fallen to the floor, and at last, Lily managed to locate it. She flicked on the switch and there, written in bright green ink, was her name, followed by an exact description of the size of her room (the second biggest bedroom), and then her address.

The envelope was thick and heavy, and made out of yellowish parchment. Lily quizzically turned the envelope around and saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. Still a bit hesitant, she pealed of the seal and took out a piece of thick yellow parchment:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. 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 on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

***

James Potter and Sirius Black were currently playing quidditch. In the middle of the night. Get used to it, because that's just the way there were. Mrs. Potter had woken up and was going downstairs to get a cup of tea when she happened to look out the window and see her son and his best friend play quidditch. She said nothing, merely shook her head, got her tea, and went back up to bed. You see, she had given up on screaming at them four years ago, since the first time the boys had met.

"Jamesie-boy!" Sirius called, brushing his long black hair out of his eyes impatiently. He shot directly upwards on his broom to where James was hovering, fifty feet above the ground. "You have an owl!"

"I do?" James looked down, and, sure enough, saw an owl glide out from one of the first-floor windows in James's gigantic house. "It's probably not mine. I mean, if it was, why wouldn't it deliver it to me?"

"Dunno," Sirius said shrugging. "Maybe 'cause it's stupid. Catch!"

James caught the red quaffle Sirius threw.

"Good!" Sirius said admiringly. "It seems you're never caught of guard!"

"Wouldn't your mum be wondering where you are?" James asked, deciding to change the subject, and bracing himself for a Sirius-rant about Sirius's family.

The Blacks were a pureblood family, as are the Potters. However, unlike the Potters, the Blacks are very prejudiced against half-blood or muggle-borns, something that Sirius found very disturbing. Sirius could rant forever about his 'stupid, prejudiced, dark' family, put in his very own words. It seems Sirius was never at his own house, he was always at James's, to 'escape from the bloody glares from his family members,'

"My dear old ma, worrying about me?" Sirius snorted. "As if! She's probably dying of happiness, thinking that I was eaten by Raspia or something."

James nodded in understanding. The Blacks had a particularly large Runespoor in their backyard (see Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them), and they had named her Raspia.

They played in silence for another hour before retiring to bed. Sirius had a permanent bed at James's house, as he was almost always staying over.

***

Lily yawned sleepily and stretched. She opened one bleary eye. "Morning already?" she moaned to herself. Groaning, she climbed out of bed and changed her clothes. She, unlike her sister Petunia, could have never cared less about the way she looked. Today, she was dressed casually in a sleeveless white top and jean shorts.

As she passed the big mirror that hung behind the door, she was tempted to look at it. She turned. Lily was slim, but not so slim that you would use the term 'skinny as a pencil.' No, that definitely was not Lily. She wasn't skinny, just slim. She had silky, wavy, thick, dark red hair that sometimes shone gold when the sun hit it from above. Her almond-shaped jade eyes were like emeralds sparkling under the sun when happy, and her whole face lit up when she was happy, and when she was angry, her eyes flashed, and changed color to a dark, foresty green on fire, with big, dancing, flickering flames. When she was sad, her eyes clouded over, and lost all it's usual color, and the green turned into a dull green that was like a lonely forest with a thick mist. She was as smart as a whip, too. She had white, flawless, creamy skin with long lashes and framed by silky, wavy dark red hair looked back at her.

Turning to the window next to her bed, she unlatched the hook and pushed the window open. "Good morning, Ms. Sun. You look bright and cheerful today!" Lily greeted the sunny Saturday in mid-May. "And it's Arabella's birthday today!" she added to herself.

She hopped down the stairs into the dining room. "Good morning, mum, dad."

Her mother glanced up at her and smiled. "Morning, honey. Had a nice sleep?" Mrs. Evans returned to making toast.

"Good morning!" Mr. Evans boomed cheerfully from behind his newspaper.

Petunia, Lily's older sister, pretended that Lily didn't exist, and ignored her. That was fine with Lily. Petunia had a sore spot for her younger sister, they had never gotten along so well.

Lily poured herself milk and spread butter on the crisp toast. Lily chewed on her toast. She had completely forgotten about the letter.

***

The next morning, James and Sirius were awakened by Mrs. Potter's delighted call.

"James!" she called. "Sirius! Come down! Your Hogwarts letters just arrived!"

That was enough to make both boys jump out of beds and spring down the stairs, calling out apologies to the house elves they knocked down in their hurry. The house elves had been working for the Potters for so long that they could be calling the Potters by their first names if they wanted to. The Potters had also given the house elves permission to perform their own branch of magic whenever necessary.

Mr. Potter looked up from the Dailey Prophet he was reading when they arrived. "Here already, boys? That's a record! It was exactly five seconds! Your record for the fastest time to get down used to be -"

"Two hours, six minutes, and forty-two seconds," Sirius supplied helpfully.

"And I remember the day you did it," Mrs. Potter said, coming up behind her husband and rolling her eyes, looking as if she hoped she hadn't.

"Mum, where are the Hogwarts letters?" James asked quickly.

Mrs. Potter smiled and held up her hand. "Right here," she said, and handed the boys their letters.

The room fell silent as James and Sirius read their letters, James's parents reading James's letter over his shoulder.

"What?! The smallest bathroom?!" Sirius yelled in disgust as he read the address written on the envelope.

James and his parents burst out laughing.

"Were you - were you in the smallest bathroom in Potter Manor at some point during the night, dear?" Mrs. Potter asked, smiling widely.

"No. I was playing quidditch with James the whole night -"

"Quidditch? In the middle of the night?" Mr. Potter said, frowning.

"- and I never went to the bathroom!" Sirius finished, not paying Mr. Potter the least bit of attention.

"You did, remember?" James suddenly said. "At about two in the morning, you said you had to go to the bathroom..."

"Oh yeah!" Sirius exclaimed. "I forgot about that."

"I wonder why the owl didn't deliver the letters to James and Sirius?" Mrs. Potter wondered aloud.

"No idea," James said impatiently, "and, anyway, who cares? Mum, can we go to Diagon Alley tomorrow?

"Tomorrow?" Mr. Potter said. "Your mother and I have to work, but if you go with Remus and Peter, I suppose it'll be okay."

Mr. Potter, it seems, was almost always home. He was an important Auror in the Ministry, but currently, there were no Dark wizards to catch. Mrs. Potter was an Unspeakable, she worked at the Department of Mysteries.

"Are you kidding?" Mrs. Potter said incredulously. "Let them four roam alone in Diagon Alley? It'll make the headlines! I can just imagine it. Four boys wreck havoc in Diagon Alley. Half of it was destroyed by some 35 dungbombs..."

Mr. Potter laughed. "Yeah, well," he said. "They'll soon be off to Hogwarts; we won't have to worry about them blowing up half of London by then."

"But we will have to worry about them blasting Hogwarts apart," Mrs. Potter finished.

"Please mum?" James whined pitifully. "We'll behave, we promise -"

"Your idea of behaving isn't what my idea is," Mrs. Potter interrupted.

"Remus will report to you if we do anything bad," Sirius pouted. "So why can't we go?"

"Alright, alright!" Mrs. Potter said, rolling her eyes. "You go tomorrow. But mind you behave yourselves."

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were also good friends of James and Sirius, but Remus was quiet, reserved, and almost shy, and Peter was just this little boy who trailed along after the threesome. The three only let him in the group out of pity, for Peter was a scared and anxious boy with no real friends.

***

Later that day, around early afternoon, Arabella Figg, Lily's best friend, called.

"Hi Lily!" Lily's best friend exclaimed.

"Hi! Happy birthday! I can't wait for my birthday, it's all the way in September," Lily said, almost shyly.

It was Arabella's fifteenth birthday today. Lily was only ten. You might wonder how a ten-year-old and a girl already in her third year of her teens could get along, but that's how things are.

Lily, at the age of ten, at always been unusually smart at all subjects. Well, that is, anything that you can learn by reading. The one thing that Arabella was always better at than Lily was Physical Education. Lily, with her slim legs, had always struggled in that area. Arabella's favorite subject, however, was still Technology, where they work with computers. The machines always strangely fascinated her. Lily didn't have a favorite subject, she liked going to school, studying, doing homework, and reading just the same.

"Hey - can I come over?" Lily asked.

Over all the years of her being friends with Arabella, she had never been to Arabella's house even once. Whenever Lily suggested it, Arabella was always strangely reluctant and hesitant and much more content at coming over to Lily's house.

"Oh . . . I, well, I suppose so . . ." Arabella mumbled. "I'll, uh, I'll pick you up. Wait at your house."

Lily quickly went up to her room to get the wrapped present for Arabella. It was several new computer games (Lily knew how much Arabella loved playing computer), and a magic kit that can do more than 100 tricks. The kit also comes with a rather thick instruction book.

The doorbell rang, and Lily heard her mother answering it.

"Here," Lily said, handing the presents over to Arabella. "For you, from your best friend, wishing you a very happy birthday."

"Hey, thanks!" Arabella said, grinning. "I'll open it at my house."

"Bye, mom, dad, I'm going to Arabella's house!" Lily shouted.

"Have a nice time, and happy birthday, Arabella!" came Mrs. Evans voice from the kitchen.

Lily and Arabella stood on the porch of Arabella's house. Mrs. Figg opened the door, gave a start of surprise, but then her face crinkled into a smile.

"Lily, dear, how wonderful to see you! This can't be the first time you've been here. Arabella, you naughty girl! Come, into the library. I've heard you liked reading." Mrs. Figg said warmly.

As Lily passed several rooms, she couldn't help but notice a few odd things. For example, the house looked so ordinary from the outside, but from the inside, it was enormous! Also, Lily noticed that quite a lot of things seemed to be moving by themselves. She caught sight of a teakettle pouring itself, two stitches knitting by themselves, and there was a very weird grandfather clock in the living room. It was very big, but didn't tell the time. There were two needles, however, and little planets spinning around slowly on the outside. Lily was too far away to read what it said on them.

When they came to the library, Lily mouth dropped open. Bookshelves full with books of every kind towered to the ceiling. Moving closer to a shelf, she pulled out a book, dusted it, and gasped. He Flew Like a Madman stared at her from the book.

Flew? Lily thought incredulously. Flying?

Fitting the book back into the shelf, she took out another book, an emerald green one. Quidditch Through the Ages, it read on the front.

What is 'quidditch?' Lily asked herself, straining her brain for where she could have heard the name. "Um, Bell?" Lily asked uncertainly, turning to Arabella, who was unwrapping the magic kit, the computer games were already unwrapped.

"Yeah?" Arabella answered. "Hey! Thank you so much!" Arabella's eyes lit up as she saw the magic kit, and immediately opened the box and started flipping through the instruction book with interest. "MOM!" Arabella hollered. "Lily gave me a MAGIC KIT!"

"Isn't that nice! Did you thank her yet?" came Mrs. Figg's voice.

"YES!"

"What is 'quidditch?'" Lily asked.

Arabella gave a start of surprise, looked up, and stared at Lily as if she had never seen Lily before. Then she ran to get Mrs. Figg.

"Mom? Did you put that spell that makes muggles not see the 'magic stuff' in our house today?" Arabella asked anxiously in the next room.

"Why, yes," Mrs. Figg said, surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Lily could see them. It was on her face. She saw the things moving by themselves and the clock, and the real titles of the books too!" Arabella replied.

She and her mother stared at each other.

"Well, did you ask her?" Mrs. Figg finally said.

"Ask her?" Arabella repeated blankly.

"Ask her if she got the letter. A Hogwarts letter. There is a chance, you know. Muggleborns aren't that uncommon."

"Oh, right. I'll ask her."

Arabella shuffled back into the library.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat.

Lily, surprised, dropped a heavy leather bound book she was examining on her toe. "Ow!"

"Simple Magic for Simple People," Arabella read aloud, picking up the fallen book. "Have you, um, by any chance, uh, received a letter? A Hogwarts letter?" she added.

"Why, yes," Lily said, surprised, but still rubbing her sore toe. Then she narrowed her eyes and looked suspicious. "How did you know? Did you send the letter?"

"No, no . . ." Arabella said, suddenly looking very happy for Lily. "No, I didn't send it. Someone did, though. And that someone wrote it to tell you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Mrs. Figg arrived then, carrying tea.

"Mom," Arabella said shakily, "she got it, she got it!"

Arabella and Mrs. Figg then took turns telling her about the magic world.

"I'm a squib," Arabella told her sadly after they explained.

"A squib?" Lily repeated interestedly.

"Someone who is born in a magical family, but doesn't have any magical powers," Mrs. Figg said.

"That's why I was so happy when you gave me the magic kit. Although I can't do real magic, at least I can still do fake Muggle magic," Arabella said.

"How old are you, dear? Eleven?" Mrs. Figg asked suddenly.

"Er - no, I'm ten," Lily said, surprised. "My birthday's Sept. 1^st."

"You ought to know that only if you're eleven or older can you enter Hogwarts."

"That's lucky. My birthday is on the day term starts, so I still can go!" Lily said happily.

"Lily, honey, I'll call your parents and tell them the good news. Then I'll take you and Arabella to Diagon Alley where you can buy your school supplies and an owl, and you can owl them back telling them that you're going." Mrs. Figg said, and left to call.

"Diagon Alley, the nearest magical place. It has magical shops where you can buy all kinds of stuff, more then all that stuff on your list." Arabella answered Lily's unspoken question when she saw her questioning glance.

***

Over at James's house, it was another mad day. He and Sirius had so far managed to collapse the West Tower in Potter Manor, burn the huge garden behind Potter Manor, down to the last blade of grass, trick all of the house-elves to repeatedly bring them whatever food they liked, and sneak into the library and ripping every last page of every last book apart. (don't worry, Mr. Potter managed to undo everything the boys did, and the house was back to normal by evening)

Later that afternoon found the two boys extremely bored. Usually a bored James and Sirius meant trouble, but they had run out of things to do, and Jasper, James's owl, had injured his wing, so he couldn't send Remus or Peter a letter.

James smiled, lost in his own thoughts, thinking about the time he and Sirius had first met four years ago...

James was clutching his mother's hand, extremely excited. Mrs. Potter had agreed to buy him a toy broomstick at Diagon Alley when they got there, and James couldn't wait to try it out. However, there was just one problem: they were traveling by floo powder. James hated floo traveling. It made him dizzy, and whenever he was dizzy, he was sick. Really sick.

"Okay, darling," Mrs. Potter said, throwing a pinch of powder into the fire. "Step into the fire and say 'Diagon Alley,' okay?"

"Yes, Mummy," James said, trying to sound brave, but actually really afraid and nervous. He let go of his mother's hand and stepped boldly into the fire. He turned, so that he was facing his mother. He was feeling uncomfortably hot. He took a deep breath, but only inhaled a mouthful of ashes.

Coughing, he chocked out, "*Cough* - tun Alley!"

The fireplace began to swirl... faster and faster... James clutched his own clothes, coughing, spluttering. As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. James toppled forward. He looked up, and instead of seeing the familiar shabby inside of the Leaky Cauldron, he saw a cold, dark room.

James's eye widened in shock. "Where - where am I?" he wailed, panicking. "Mummy! Daddy! Where are you?!"

He ran out of the shop, and found himself in a narrow, twisted alley, definitely not Diagon Alley. He trotted down the road, growing more frightened.

"Lost, are we?"

James spun around, and saw a boy of about his age, with long black hair and gray eyes.

"Yes..."

The boy looked delighted. He grinned evilly. "How?"

"Uh..." James was sure he liked this boy. "Who are you?"

"Sirius Black," the boy said, and stuck out his hand. "And you?"

Jame's eyes widened. "You-you're a Black?" He took a step backwards. "I've heard about your family." James said nervously, watching Sirius carefully.

To his surprise, Sirius scowled. "Bet you didn't hear anything good. I hate my name - wish I could change it." Sirius stared at the ground, kicking at the dust.

"You mean... you're not ... well...prejudiced against halves and muggleborns?" James said, surprised and suspicious.

"No," Sirius said, scowling again. "Why should I be? I'm not like the rest of my stinking family. They're all stupid, stinking, bloody jerks."

"Oh." James can't think of anything else to say, although his mind was buzzing with questions. He was also unsure about Sirius's language. James's parents had told him so many times to 'mind your language.' "Where are we?" James asked.

"Who are you?" Sirius retorted.

"James Potter," James said carefully, watching Sirius intently.

"Potter?" Sirius said, obviously trying to remember something. "Oh yeah! I know your family! I've heard of the Potters. And we're in Knockturn Alley." Sirius added.

"Knockturn Alley?" James asked, looking around. "My-my mother said to keep away from this alley. She-she didn't say why."

Sirius laughed. "Knockturn Alley, mate, is the best place in London. You can get stuff here that you probably can't get anywhere else, and certainly no where in Diagon Alley."

"C-can you show me the way back?" James, at the age of seven, had yet to overcome the 'shy and timid' stage in life. Sirius, it seemed, had overcome it years ago.

"Where'd you wanna go?" Sirius asked, sounding bored.

"Uh...Diagon Alley," James said.

"Sure," Sirius said. "Come on, follow me!" And off he marched.

They went down the twisted road, Sirius walking with his head held high, James trailing behind him.

"Where's your family?" James asked Sirius.

Sirius snorted. "Didn't I tell you they were a gruesome lot? Anyway, where's yours?"

"Uh... I got lost using floo powder," James said, blushing, almost running to catch up with Sirius's fast and confident stride. "So I'm going to Diagon Alley to find them-"

"James! Oh, James!"

Before James had time to breath, he was in her mother's arms, and she was giving him a bone-crushing hug. When she finally let James go, he saw that he was in Diagon Alley, and directly behind him was Knockturn Alley.

"What are you doing in Knockturn Alley?" Mrs. Potter immediately got over her happiness, and resulted into sternness.

James looked around for Sirius. He was standing, almost completely hidden from view, in Knockturn Alley. He was watching Mrs. Potter and James with a sad, envying, and wistfulness look on his face. When he noticed James looking at him, Sirius flashed James a grin, then turned and disappeared down Knockturn Alley.

"JAMES!!!" Sirius, eleven year-old Sirius screamed at the top of his voice.

"What, for heaven's sake?!" James cried, jumping up in shock.

"Nothing," Sirius said, grinning at him. "I just wanted to see how many times I had to scream before you heard." Sirius shrugged. "Just wanted to check how deaf my best friend is."

Sirius turned and walked out the room. James shook his head, slightly annoyed, more amused. He turned to the living room where his father was, reading, to see if he could borrow the family owl, Herna, to send Peter and Remus a letter asking if they could come to Diagon Alley tomorrow.