Lily Evans woke up early on July 28th, 1977. She sat up in bed and
stretched, then remembered why she'd gotten up so untimely; her letter from
Hogwarts would be coming today, and she was waiting desperately to find out
some news.
Lily ran down the stairs to find only her older sister, Petunia, backed up
against the wall with her eyes and mouth closed tight.
"What's wrong?" Lily giggled.
"GET - IT - OUT - OF - HERE!" Petunia screamed. Lily finally realized what
her sister was so afraid of. There was a brown barn owl perched on the
table looking innocently at her.
"Relax!" Lily said as she untied the letter from the owl's leg.
"Freak!" Petunia shrieked as she ran up the stairs.
Lily ripped open the envelope as fast as she could and read the letter it
concealed.
"Dear Miss Evans, For your seventh year of Hogwarts, a list has been enclosed of the necessary equipment and books, and a permission slip for the weekend trips to Hogsmeade. N.E.W.T's will be taken at the end of the year, and a requirement sheet has been provided for your topics. We are also very pleased to send you are congratulations on becoming Head Girl. We look forward to seeing you in your last year at Hogwarts! M. McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."
Lily's heart fluttered. Ever since she was appointed prefect in her fifth year, she dreamed of become Head Girl. Lily sighed and walked slowly up the stairs, reading her letter over again. Mrs. Evans heard Lily walking down the hall and came out of her room, yawning and tying up her dressing gown. "What are you doing up so early - and what was Petunia on about this time?"
Lily grinned and held up new badge to her mother. "An owl that scared Petunia just delivered this." Mrs. Evans smiled. "Congratulations, hun - I knew you'd make it." She gave her daughter a hug. Later that week, Lily received another letter - this time, one from a friend at school.
"Dear Lil, Hey, how are you? How's your summer going? Any news from Hogwarts - they made me Head Boy, if you'll believe that. I thought for sure that Remus was going to get it. I was hoping to see you in Diagon Alley. My dad is letting me stay there for the last week of summer as a kind of 'reward'. I hope we bump into you. Well, write me back. We can talk on the train if you don't make it to Diagon Alley at the same time as me.
James."
Lily took out a fresh sheet of parchment and her quill and wrote a letter back.
"Hi James! Congrats on making Head Boy! I got Head Girl - I guess this means we'll be spending quite a bit of time together. Seventh year is going to be great - I hope it won't be too tough. I'll try and make it to Diagon Alley in the last week, but if I can't, I'll find you on the train on September the first. How are Remus and Peter? It was too bad Remus was ill on the last week of school - is he doing better? Well, Dante is getting restless, so I'll send this to you with her now. I'll keep an eye open for you,
Lily."
Lily read the letter over twice, and then tied it to Dante's leg. She was really happy that James was keeping in touch; she was starting to like him a lot.
***
On August twenty-third, Lily's parents drove her into London. After much persuasion, she managed to convince her parents to let her stay in Diagon Alley, like James was doing.
"Have a wonderful time, hun! Write us at least once a month to let us know what's happening." Lily's mother kissed her good-bye. She was now alone until September the first, and she was hoping to meet James along the way.
Tom the innkeeper gave Lily a room in the Leaky Cauldron, and she was soon on her way to pick up her supplies for the seventh year at Hogwarts.
Lily saw a lot of the Gryffindor girls in Diagon Alley, although she did not stop to talk to most of them. Lily was quite a popular girl, very smart, and pretty, too. She kept to herself most of the time, though, with her closest friends. Lily's best friend was Hannah Trinatly, who she spent most of her time with.
Lily walked into Flourish and Blotts to get her new books.
"Can I help you, miss?" the storekeeper asked.
"Yes. I'll need Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven, Advance Ancient Runes, and Intermediate Divination. Oh, I'll need a new copy of The Dark Arts: Intermediate Defense," Lily said as she consulted her list. Lily finished getting all her supplies by the end of the day, and she walked around for the rest. Each day, Lily walked around looking for any sign of Hannah, James, or his friends.
Three days before the start of term, Lily could hear a familiar ruckus from down the street.
"YOU FOUR BOYS GET BACK HERE! YOU COME BACK AND YOU CLEAN UP THIS MESS!" Lily heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs, followed by four seventeen-year-old boys running up the street at full speed. It was James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter.
"Lily!" Remus shouted and pointed the others in the direction of where Lily was standing.
Lily grinned broadly at them. "What on earth did you do this time?"
James and Sirius both looked at each other and laughed.
"Well," James started, "we were just at the apothecary to get new ingredients for potions. Sirius had his pockets full of Dungbombs and Dr. Filibuster's fireworks. Well - let's just it wasn't a good mix when I lit on of the fireworks that were connected to a Dungbomb. Sirius caught on to my little joke, and he threw the bomb carelessly over his shoulder. Hit the storage of essence of liverworts."
"So- technically, it isn't my fault!" Sirius said, still grinning, as he tried to stuff a few more fireworks back into his pockets. "Besides, it's seventh year! We might as well try and get the jokes started! We're gonna make this one a year to remember- maybe we can teach Snape a few lessons for all the trouble he caused."
Lily hung out with the boys for the next few days, and she eventually met up with Hannah.
On September the first, Lily and Hannah took a bus from the Leaky Cauldron to King's Cross Station. They found their trolleys and made their way to platform nine-and-three-quarters. There was already a small group of Hogwarts students there.
Lily found an empty compartment on the train and helped Hannah heave their two trunks inside. For the first two hours of the ride, the only events were Lily's cat Trinity jumping out of her basket like a ghost and the old witch with the food trolley coming by. Lily and Hannah loaded up on all kinds of sweets, but their lunch was interrupted by a loud hassle in the hallway outside their compartment.
"COME HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
"You won't last ten seconds in a fight with me! You might as well just give up! Wouldn't want to hurt yourself - you might be mistaken for being bad at Quidditch. Oh yeah! You already are!"
"THAT'S IT!"
Then there was the sound of punching. Lily stood up and pulled the door open to find two boys fighting right in front of her. It was James and a seventh year Slytherin named Severus Snape.
Lily jumped in front of James and held him back.
"Is it really worth it? Wasting your time with Snape?"
James glared hard at Snape, who now had a black eye and a bloody nose. James's lip was cut, but he seemed to have gotten more blows than Snape. Snape glared back, but retreated and entered a compartment a few ways down.
"C'mon. Sit in here for a minute," Lily said as she guided him into their compartment and pulled Trinity's basket of the seat to make more room.
"Here," she said, and she dabbed the blood off his chin. "What happened? Why were you guys fighting?"
"He just -" James looked away and glared at the door. "Never mind. It's not important. I should go back -"
"No! Stay here and fume off. With a temper like that you'll attack him again - then you'll be expelled! He is really not worth it. Besides - whatever he said - it couldn't have been that horrible!"
"He -" James turned back to Lily and sighed, "- he called you a."
His voice trailed off so they couldn't here him.
"A what? He called me a what?"
"It's not important!" James said again and he stormed out.
"What was that all about?" Lily asked Hannah.
"I don't know."
***
They arrived at Hogwarts later in the evening and Lily and Hannah finished their meals as quickly as possible. They were first to leave the Great Hall, and the only ones in the common room.
"What'd ya think Severus said about me? I mean - it really got James mad! What would make him that mad?"
"Anything that comes out of a Slytherin's mouth is trash, Lil. Don't worry about it. C'mon, let's get some sleep so we can actually stay awake tomorrow. I think I'm getting too used to the holidays, I've forgotten almost everything!" Hannah said as she made her way up the staircase.
***
"New timetables," Lily said as James, Remus, and Sirius came and sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Where's Peter?"
"Huh? Oh. he's decided to sleep in. He said he'll come down when the first bell rings," Remus said as he poured juice for his friends.
"Without breakfast?" Hannah asked, shocked.
"Yeah. I don't blame him, though. We were all up pretty late," Sirius said and passed James a stack of toast.
"What are you up to now?" Lily asked, grinning.
"That -" James said as he shoveled down some porridge, "- is none of your business. But you'll find out soon enough."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "History of Magic first. Now I'm not too happy we went to bed early. I could've caught up on my sleep in Binns' class any time!"
"What's after that?" Lily asked.
"Divination for you - Arithmancy for me. I still don't understand why you took up Divination. It's so inaccurate!" Hannah said as she put her timetable in her bag.
"Oh yeah - and Arithmancy is sooo fun!" Lily giggled.
"Hey, hey, hey! Arithmancy is not boring! Hannah taking it is just an example of showing that it's for geeks!" Sirius said.
Hannah stared a menacing glare at him and strode off.
"Sirius! Watch it! She's really sensitive about that stuff!"
Sirius snorted. "So? There is nothing in this world that will make me care about Hannah's feelings!"
James and Remus both looked at Sirius with an odd expression on their faces. They looked like they were trying as hard as they could not to smile or laugh.
"Shut up, or I'll curse you!" Sirius threatened them with a nervous look on his face.
Lily giggled. "Sirius, if you like Hannah, I won't tell her. Just like I'm not telling you guys which one of you she likes."
All three of them stared at Lily with wide eyes.
The bell rang, and they marched off to the History of Magic class together.
"Hope Binns doesn't drone on all class again," James said to Lily when they took their books and quills out of their bags. "Last time I woke up at the end of the class and I had to use Sirius's note on everything 'cause I had no idea what we learnt. Of course - Sirius had to do the same thing. What a nightmare."
"Good morning class. Welcome back. I hope you had a nice Christmas vacation - now. let's review shall we. I'll read over my notes from first term, and I want you to copy down any detail you've missed," Professor Binns said as he took out a stack of transparent papers.
The class took out fresh parchment with many giggles. It was common knowledge that Professor Binns hadn't actually noticed when he died, and most people were concerned at how forgetful he was. It wasn't that unusual for him to think Christmas had passed in September.
The day went by fast for Lily, and the homework wasn't too bad. Hannah returned with a load of Arithmancy charts to be filled in by Monday; Lily tried hard to keep her face serious.
***
"Dear Miss Evans, For your seventh year of Hogwarts, a list has been enclosed of the necessary equipment and books, and a permission slip for the weekend trips to Hogsmeade. N.E.W.T's will be taken at the end of the year, and a requirement sheet has been provided for your topics. We are also very pleased to send you are congratulations on becoming Head Girl. We look forward to seeing you in your last year at Hogwarts! M. McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."
Lily's heart fluttered. Ever since she was appointed prefect in her fifth year, she dreamed of become Head Girl. Lily sighed and walked slowly up the stairs, reading her letter over again. Mrs. Evans heard Lily walking down the hall and came out of her room, yawning and tying up her dressing gown. "What are you doing up so early - and what was Petunia on about this time?"
Lily grinned and held up new badge to her mother. "An owl that scared Petunia just delivered this." Mrs. Evans smiled. "Congratulations, hun - I knew you'd make it." She gave her daughter a hug. Later that week, Lily received another letter - this time, one from a friend at school.
"Dear Lil, Hey, how are you? How's your summer going? Any news from Hogwarts - they made me Head Boy, if you'll believe that. I thought for sure that Remus was going to get it. I was hoping to see you in Diagon Alley. My dad is letting me stay there for the last week of summer as a kind of 'reward'. I hope we bump into you. Well, write me back. We can talk on the train if you don't make it to Diagon Alley at the same time as me.
James."
Lily took out a fresh sheet of parchment and her quill and wrote a letter back.
"Hi James! Congrats on making Head Boy! I got Head Girl - I guess this means we'll be spending quite a bit of time together. Seventh year is going to be great - I hope it won't be too tough. I'll try and make it to Diagon Alley in the last week, but if I can't, I'll find you on the train on September the first. How are Remus and Peter? It was too bad Remus was ill on the last week of school - is he doing better? Well, Dante is getting restless, so I'll send this to you with her now. I'll keep an eye open for you,
Lily."
Lily read the letter over twice, and then tied it to Dante's leg. She was really happy that James was keeping in touch; she was starting to like him a lot.
***
On August twenty-third, Lily's parents drove her into London. After much persuasion, she managed to convince her parents to let her stay in Diagon Alley, like James was doing.
"Have a wonderful time, hun! Write us at least once a month to let us know what's happening." Lily's mother kissed her good-bye. She was now alone until September the first, and she was hoping to meet James along the way.
Tom the innkeeper gave Lily a room in the Leaky Cauldron, and she was soon on her way to pick up her supplies for the seventh year at Hogwarts.
Lily saw a lot of the Gryffindor girls in Diagon Alley, although she did not stop to talk to most of them. Lily was quite a popular girl, very smart, and pretty, too. She kept to herself most of the time, though, with her closest friends. Lily's best friend was Hannah Trinatly, who she spent most of her time with.
Lily walked into Flourish and Blotts to get her new books.
"Can I help you, miss?" the storekeeper asked.
"Yes. I'll need Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven, Advance Ancient Runes, and Intermediate Divination. Oh, I'll need a new copy of The Dark Arts: Intermediate Defense," Lily said as she consulted her list. Lily finished getting all her supplies by the end of the day, and she walked around for the rest. Each day, Lily walked around looking for any sign of Hannah, James, or his friends.
Three days before the start of term, Lily could hear a familiar ruckus from down the street.
"YOU FOUR BOYS GET BACK HERE! YOU COME BACK AND YOU CLEAN UP THIS MESS!" Lily heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs, followed by four seventeen-year-old boys running up the street at full speed. It was James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter.
"Lily!" Remus shouted and pointed the others in the direction of where Lily was standing.
Lily grinned broadly at them. "What on earth did you do this time?"
James and Sirius both looked at each other and laughed.
"Well," James started, "we were just at the apothecary to get new ingredients for potions. Sirius had his pockets full of Dungbombs and Dr. Filibuster's fireworks. Well - let's just it wasn't a good mix when I lit on of the fireworks that were connected to a Dungbomb. Sirius caught on to my little joke, and he threw the bomb carelessly over his shoulder. Hit the storage of essence of liverworts."
"So- technically, it isn't my fault!" Sirius said, still grinning, as he tried to stuff a few more fireworks back into his pockets. "Besides, it's seventh year! We might as well try and get the jokes started! We're gonna make this one a year to remember- maybe we can teach Snape a few lessons for all the trouble he caused."
Lily hung out with the boys for the next few days, and she eventually met up with Hannah.
On September the first, Lily and Hannah took a bus from the Leaky Cauldron to King's Cross Station. They found their trolleys and made their way to platform nine-and-three-quarters. There was already a small group of Hogwarts students there.
Lily found an empty compartment on the train and helped Hannah heave their two trunks inside. For the first two hours of the ride, the only events were Lily's cat Trinity jumping out of her basket like a ghost and the old witch with the food trolley coming by. Lily and Hannah loaded up on all kinds of sweets, but their lunch was interrupted by a loud hassle in the hallway outside their compartment.
"COME HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
"You won't last ten seconds in a fight with me! You might as well just give up! Wouldn't want to hurt yourself - you might be mistaken for being bad at Quidditch. Oh yeah! You already are!"
"THAT'S IT!"
Then there was the sound of punching. Lily stood up and pulled the door open to find two boys fighting right in front of her. It was James and a seventh year Slytherin named Severus Snape.
Lily jumped in front of James and held him back.
"Is it really worth it? Wasting your time with Snape?"
James glared hard at Snape, who now had a black eye and a bloody nose. James's lip was cut, but he seemed to have gotten more blows than Snape. Snape glared back, but retreated and entered a compartment a few ways down.
"C'mon. Sit in here for a minute," Lily said as she guided him into their compartment and pulled Trinity's basket of the seat to make more room.
"Here," she said, and she dabbed the blood off his chin. "What happened? Why were you guys fighting?"
"He just -" James looked away and glared at the door. "Never mind. It's not important. I should go back -"
"No! Stay here and fume off. With a temper like that you'll attack him again - then you'll be expelled! He is really not worth it. Besides - whatever he said - it couldn't have been that horrible!"
"He -" James turned back to Lily and sighed, "- he called you a."
His voice trailed off so they couldn't here him.
"A what? He called me a what?"
"It's not important!" James said again and he stormed out.
"What was that all about?" Lily asked Hannah.
"I don't know."
***
They arrived at Hogwarts later in the evening and Lily and Hannah finished their meals as quickly as possible. They were first to leave the Great Hall, and the only ones in the common room.
"What'd ya think Severus said about me? I mean - it really got James mad! What would make him that mad?"
"Anything that comes out of a Slytherin's mouth is trash, Lil. Don't worry about it. C'mon, let's get some sleep so we can actually stay awake tomorrow. I think I'm getting too used to the holidays, I've forgotten almost everything!" Hannah said as she made her way up the staircase.
***
"New timetables," Lily said as James, Remus, and Sirius came and sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Where's Peter?"
"Huh? Oh. he's decided to sleep in. He said he'll come down when the first bell rings," Remus said as he poured juice for his friends.
"Without breakfast?" Hannah asked, shocked.
"Yeah. I don't blame him, though. We were all up pretty late," Sirius said and passed James a stack of toast.
"What are you up to now?" Lily asked, grinning.
"That -" James said as he shoveled down some porridge, "- is none of your business. But you'll find out soon enough."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "History of Magic first. Now I'm not too happy we went to bed early. I could've caught up on my sleep in Binns' class any time!"
"What's after that?" Lily asked.
"Divination for you - Arithmancy for me. I still don't understand why you took up Divination. It's so inaccurate!" Hannah said as she put her timetable in her bag.
"Oh yeah - and Arithmancy is sooo fun!" Lily giggled.
"Hey, hey, hey! Arithmancy is not boring! Hannah taking it is just an example of showing that it's for geeks!" Sirius said.
Hannah stared a menacing glare at him and strode off.
"Sirius! Watch it! She's really sensitive about that stuff!"
Sirius snorted. "So? There is nothing in this world that will make me care about Hannah's feelings!"
James and Remus both looked at Sirius with an odd expression on their faces. They looked like they were trying as hard as they could not to smile or laugh.
"Shut up, or I'll curse you!" Sirius threatened them with a nervous look on his face.
Lily giggled. "Sirius, if you like Hannah, I won't tell her. Just like I'm not telling you guys which one of you she likes."
All three of them stared at Lily with wide eyes.
The bell rang, and they marched off to the History of Magic class together.
"Hope Binns doesn't drone on all class again," James said to Lily when they took their books and quills out of their bags. "Last time I woke up at the end of the class and I had to use Sirius's note on everything 'cause I had no idea what we learnt. Of course - Sirius had to do the same thing. What a nightmare."
"Good morning class. Welcome back. I hope you had a nice Christmas vacation - now. let's review shall we. I'll read over my notes from first term, and I want you to copy down any detail you've missed," Professor Binns said as he took out a stack of transparent papers.
The class took out fresh parchment with many giggles. It was common knowledge that Professor Binns hadn't actually noticed when he died, and most people were concerned at how forgetful he was. It wasn't that unusual for him to think Christmas had passed in September.
The day went by fast for Lily, and the homework wasn't too bad. Hannah returned with a load of Arithmancy charts to be filled in by Monday; Lily tried hard to keep her face serious.
***