Mark Evans

Mark Evans only realized it when James Potter was standing in his foyer with anxious hands and a shy grin.

Like many fathers, Mark was not at all fond of the idea of his beloved daughters dating. When Petunia and Lily barely reached his knee, it was easy to push that thought aside. But as they got older, the threat of boys became that much more real and made him a tad bit paranoid. His wife, Rose, would always tell him that he was being stupid and that (they're gonna grow up someday Mark you might as well get used to the idea now!). However, whenever Rose attempted to talk sense to her husband, Mark would quickly make a diversion (most often by throwing a pillow at his wife) and flee from the room.

With that said, it is worth mentioning that Mark did get a little giddy at the prospect of using the muscles he had retained from his army days to intimidate any potential suitors. Unfortunately for him, none of the neighborhood boys found him especially threatening as Rose had corralled him into painting children's faces and making balloon animals at the local fair every year. Thus, the Cokesworth boys were very familiar with his goofy demeanor and hardly found him to be threatening.

Additionally, the magical nature of his youngest child meant that it was extremely unlikely Mark would be able to influence Lily's dating life as well (How the hell was he supposed to intimidate someone who could turn him into a toad?)

Luckily, Lily never really expressed that much romantic interest in boys during that first year at Hogwarts. She mostly described the castle ('There is a giant squid in the lake you guys he's absolutely massive!') classes, ('Charms is so much fun! I can levitate two chairs all by myself now.') and friends, ('Me, Marls, and Emmaline went to the first quidditch match yesterday and one of the older students, Alice, showed us how to charm baby lions that roar on our cheeks. They were so cute!').

Lily also always made sure to update her parents on her studying habits. ('I discovered this really comfy cozy spot in the library that is great for doing homework and people watching. Most of the time I study there with Severus but when he's with his housemates I sit with Remus and he helps me with Transfiguration and I help him in Potions. Remus and I set up a system so that whenever one of us gets five questions right we both get to eat a chocolate frog!')

Remus and Severus appeared to be the only boys that Lily enjoyed spending time with as she often expressed immense annoyance at the other Gryffindor boys in her year. ('Potter and Black won't leave me alone Mummy! Just last week they saw me talking to Sev so they jinxed my skin green and silver because I 'clearly was more interested in being Slytherin than Gryffindor anyway!' It took ages for Madame Pomfrey to get my skin back to normal')

Indeed, Mark and Rose were sure to hear at least two complaints about "Potter the Prat" in every letter. ('I've never seen Potter do any studying but he still gets higher marks than me in Transfiguration! It is SO unfair'.). The boy seemed to get a lot of pleasure out of teasing their daughter. ("He keeps charming inkwells to spill onto my notes Mum- my NOTES').

When she returned home from school that summer, Lily enthusiastically recounted the tales of her adventures in the ancient castle to her parents (she attempted to do so with Petunia as well but Mark's eldest daughter scoffed at the prospect.)

"Emmaline is so smart!" Lily said, in between scarfing down bites of chicken and mashed potatoes. "I was going to give up looking for the kitchens in that hallway, but she insisted that we poke at all of the portraits. When I scratched a pear in a painting of a fruit bowl it opened up and we found a bunch of house elves gathered around cooking the most delicious smelling food." Lily gushed at the dinner table.

The conversation continued pleasantly until Rose asked, "What about your friend Potter? Any more funny stories about him?"

Lily's fork fell to her plate with a clatter. "Funny!" she shrieked, "Potter is completely horrid and not at all my friend!"

"Huh, well you talk about him an awful lot to not be his friend"

Lily looked flustered. "I complain about him Mum that is completely different! Potter is a prat! He and Black are always teasing me and Severus and he keeps putting frogspawn in my bag even when I asked him not to!"

"And why do you think he does that?"

"Because he is a stupid toe-rag?" Lily exclaimed crossing her arms in a huff.

"No...it's because he likes you."

An equally horrified look crossed both Lily and Mark's faces.

"No, he doesn't" said Mark in a confident tone of voice that was immediately undermined by the anxious look in his eyes. "He's not interested in her at all, right Lilypad?"

Lily shook her head, "Uh uh No way! He just likes making me mad because my face gets all red. Plus everyone knows he fancies Olivia from Hufflepuff. They were holding hands on the train."

"Nope!" Rose teased giving the 'p' and extra pop. "He likes you and I think you like him too." she added in a sing song voice.

Lily's face turned bright red and she quickly excused herself from the table before retreating to her room.

"Fine!" Rose shouted after her "Be in denial but when you two get married I get to name your first born."

"Potter doesn't fancy Lily," Mark said almost as if trying to convince himself. "She's never gonna date anyone but she is especially never gonna date that Potter boy."

Rose laughed, "I promise you that there are wedding bells in their future."

"Never gonna happen," he replied.

"Oh Mark," Rose said while patronizingly rubbing his shoulder. "You are so naive."

Over the next three years Lily's letters to her parents continued on in a similar fashion. She would enthusiastically recount tales of her adventures in the Hogwarts halls and keep her parents up to date on her lessons as well.

When the students were able to go to Hogsmeade, Lily would occasionally mention going on a date or two (much to her father's chagrin) but none of the boys seemed to her hold her interest for any long.

Not like Potter did, to Rose's delight.

Every time the boy's name was mentioned, Rose would give her husband a cheeky grin and declare in a high and mighty voice that Potter was going to be her son-in-law someday and 'don't give me that look Mark, if you think I am being annoyingly smug about this now wait till you see me on Lily and Potter's wedding day' before doing a preemptive victory dance.

In fact, Rose was so sure of herself that on her sickbed she gave her husband a list of acceptable baby names for Lily to name her first child.

Mark would have laughed a lot harder, if his heart hadn't been breaking.

Fifth year started and Lily frequently owled her father about her life; however, Mark noticed that her writing was tinged with an anxiety that couldn't be attributed to the death of her mother. But when pressed, Lily would brush it aside and merely say 'it's just friend troubles -nothing to worry about.'

She came back for Christmas that year with the most beautiful music box that Mark had ever seen. It reminded him so much of his wife that he couldn't help but grin sadly whenever his eyes happened upon the magically spinning rose.

As his daughter looked at the gift fondly, she attempted to explain the magic behind it ('James made it so that the rose will never wilt as long as he is alive, Daddy! Isn't that amazing?') Mark froze.

'James!?', he thought to himself. 'James? Who the fuck is James?'

"Sorry? Who gave this to you?"

Lily, blushed furiously and mumbled out, "Er...James -James made it for me."

"Does this James," he said with a raised eyebrow "fancy you or something?" Lily's blush grew even deeper and she looked anywhere but at her father.

"Ooooh, would you look at the time! I promised Emmaline I would send her a letter today and you know how long it takes me to write one of those so, it's best if I just go do that now then, before it gets too dark out. Bye!" Lily then scurried away and sprinted up the stairs to her room.

It was only eleven o-clock in the morning.

When Lily returned to school she, to her father's annoyance, failed to give any more information about this James but she did talk loads about 'Potter and his bloody Marauders'.

One moment in mid February particularly stood out in his mind.

'-Me and Severus were walking back from Potions when we bumped into Potter's gang. The boy's were always notoriously mischievous on Valentine's Day so I tried my hardest to move around them as quickly as possible, but Peeves suddenly popped out of a nearby broom closet. He started serenading me in front of everyone in the hallway it was so awful!.'

Oh Petal Oh Flower with a face so sweet

I hear you look at Potter like a tasty bespectacled treat

Unfortunately my dear, Potter is quite a popular man

You need to grab him for a snog now while you can!

So get to it! My lovely succulent Lily

You can use this broom closet to play with Potter's willy.

'Potter denied having creative control over the lyrics of course but I don't care!" It was so embarrassing Daddy -people have been teasing me about it for days. Plus, I've never seen Severus that angry before. He put Potter in the hospitable wing for two days aftewards -it was rather frightening.'

Although Mark initially felt greatly irritated at the poltergeist and 'Potter the Toerag' for serenading his daughter with such an inappropriate song he couldn't help but chuckle at the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

'Future son in law indeed,' he snorted to himself.

His wife was so wrong.

O.W.L.s came to a close and Lily returned with shadows in her eyes and a hollowness in her chest that despite all of his prodding, she refused to explain any further than saying that she and Severus were no longer friends. Mark attempted to ask about Potter and his friends but Lily's eyes glistened with tears upon hearing his name and she simply ignored his question.

Potter wasn't mentioned again that Summer of '76.

A couple of months later her second to last year started and Lily again wrote to her father about her studies and friends and the pranks those "bloody Marauders" pulled but her attitude towards the group of boys had shifted slightly. Instead of overt annoyance, Lily described their antics with slight amusement and (dare he say it, fondness).

A new stress was also present in her letters, as for the first time, Lily was really struggling in one of her classes. As a result, her Transfiguration professor recommended her a tutor, a boy named James.

At first, Mark was nervous about his daughter spending so much time with someone who maybe potentially fancied her and was pleased to note that she was irritated at having him for a tutor. (Apparently, he was of the sort that got great marks while putting in the bare minimum, plus Lily in general hated having to rely on others for help).

However, as the year went on and Lily's grades began to climb, her attitude about the situation changed entirely and she began writing about this James in an affectionate tone.

' James is the sweetest boy in the whole school, He always always makes time to help me with my homework even after Quidditch practice and he's taken to helping out the younger students as well.'

'I was really frustrated about class today because I was the only person in the class who couldn't turn a cat into a teapot without whiskers but James took me to the kitchens to cheer me up before going over the spell with me for a whole hour until I got it!'

'I haven't got an O on a practical exam since second year Daddy! And when I told James my score he smiled even brighter than I did. I could tell he was really proud of me.'

Mark was originally distraught at his daughter's glaringly apparent infatuation with the boy, but was also happy that Lily had found someone who she cared about, and who clearly cared about her.

Plus, he would be lying if he said he wasn't happy about the fact that Lily's affection for James almost certainly meant that she would never become Lily Potter.

'Well if she had to go and fall in love,' he thought smugly 'At least Rose was wrong about who it would be with.'

It wasn't until that summer when a boy with anxious hands and a shy grin showed up on his doorstep that Mark realized his error.

After hearing a knock at the door, Mark opened it to find a lanky teen with annoyingly messy black hair staring back at him. The boy's smile faltered slightly as he took in Mark's muscular build (fucking finally someone's scared of me!) and he nervously asked, "Excuse me sir, but is this the Evans' residence?"

"Yes it is," said Mark opening the door and allowing the boy to enter his home.

"Er, I'm a friend of your daughter's -Lily that is. And I was hoping to show her how to use the Knight Bus so we could meet up with some of our mates in Diagon Alley."

Faster than he had ever seen his daughter move in her seventeen years of existence, Mark watched behind the boy as Lily bolted down the stairs almost as if she were summoned by the sound of the teenager's voice. Lily quickly attempted to collect herself before joining the men in the foyer, acting as if the flush on her skin wouldn't give away the fact that she had literally sprinted down the stairs for this boy.

'Or perhaps,' Mark pondered as he noticed the way the boy was staring at his daughter -like he had never seen something so lovely. 'The flush is for an entirely different reason.' Mark analyzed the situation further, noting that his daughter, who he hadn't seen in a dress since his wife's funeral was wearing a pale blue sundress and platform sandals that couldn't possibly be comfortable. And concluded that this was probably not simply a casual get together amongst friends.

Mark took in the doe-eyed exchange between the two teenagers and grinned to himself. 'Ah well, if it's too late to stop this from happening, I might as well get some enjoyment out of it.'

"Ah, you must be James then!" he said extending his hand towards the boy.

Lily shot her father an annoyed look, while James smirked at her. "Oh, mentioned me have you Evans! All good things I hope." He said, shaking Mark's hand.

"Oh the best," Mark smiled back. "She's been going on about the Quidditch star with a heart of gold for ages."

"No!" she blushed furiously attempting to deny the accusation "I never called him that!"

"Oh right, you just called him the sweetest boy in the whole school yeah?"

James laughed, "That's me alright! James Potter at your service Sir".

Holy Shit.

Mark burst into laughter. "Potter!" he exclaimed through his chortles. "Your last name is Potter?"

James looked at Lily in confusion. "Er...yes?"

Mark laughed even harder and needed to lean on the wall to support his aching sides.

With a face resembling a tomato, Lily gritted through her teeth "Daddy! Stop Laughing!"

"Sorry sir, but what's so funny about my last name?"

"The fact that it will soon become my daughter's." Mark replied

James' ears became tinged with pink, while Lily glared at her father. "Ignore him, James." she said grabbing his hand, "Let's just go."

Before they turned to leave, Mark collected himself (barely) and cried out, "Have fun on your DATE" before dissolving into chuckles once more.

Ignoring the two's adamant declarations to the contrary, Mark looked pointedly at their interlocked fingers before moving towards the kitchen. Calling out over his shoulder,

"Oh! And Lily, your mother always loved the name Harry for a boy."

A/N: Hoped you liked it! Please reach out for suggestions on which PoV to write from next :)