A/N: Ok, yes, I know I really should be working on Twises, and that I probably won't be able to handle doing two fics at once, but I've been reading all of these books about pirates and witches and all of those things, and I sorta added all of those together and came up with this. I really wanted to do it, and since I'm suffering from serious writer's block on Twises, I decided to go for it.
I owe this story to Pirates by Linda Leal Miller, the Bloody Jack books by L.A. Meyer, The Third Witch, by Rebecca Reisert, Drink Up Me Hearties by Shattered Serenity and Storm of Love by Insania ruin gowr. (Awesome fics. I absolutely suggest them.) Their stories have inspired me to write a new one of my own.
Just so you know, this is a prologue. The rest of the fic will be from Lily's POV.
Well, onto the fic, then!
Disclaimer: I have at the moment $17.93 to my name. If that makes me richer than the Queen of England, than sure, I'm JKR.
It was a cold November morning in London, England, when Mistress Violet Evans, the governor's wife, found a small girl, her skin and ragged dress streaked with mud and other, less pleasant things, wandering the streets.
Being the kind-hearted woman that she was, the governess took the girl to the place where she, her husband John Evans, the governor, and their daughter of seven, Petunia, were staying. After having the girl scrubbed raw and put in a clean, white cotton dress, Violet took her to her husband.
"Who may I ask is this?" The governor asked, glancing over his paper at the little girl, who was standing still and straight, almost defiantly.
"I found her, John, out wandering the streets. I believe she's an orphan." Violet replied, patting the young girl's head softly.
John laid down his paper and leaned forward towards the girl. "Where are your mother and father?" He asked in a kind voice.
"I ain't got none," the girl replied coarsely, her narrowed eyes staring directly into the man's.
"What's your name?" John questioned further.
"Lily Thompson," was the reply.
"How old are you?"
"Four."
"Do you have any family?"
"No, they all died 'cause a' the plague."
"Do you know where your parents were from?" John asked, glancing at the girl's fire-colored hair and her electric green eyes.
"Me mum's Irish, pa's English."
"Well, that'd explain the eyes and hair," the governor said, leaning back in his chair. He looked at his wife. "May I ask why you brought her here?"
Violet, laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "She was wandering around and alley, covered head-to-toe in dirt. Winters in England aren't merciful. She will die if she stays out there."
"So you're suggesting…?" John asked, knowing fairly well what the answer would be.
"That we keep her as our own daughter. Think of it John. Those from lower classes see you take in an orphan from their midst and raise her yourself. They'd be humbled by your kindness and generosity. And you know how I love children, and Petunia could always do with a playmate."
"So you're suggesting that we adopt her into our family, raise her to be one of the noble class, and at the same time show people our generosity and therefore earn myself the position of governor for many more years?" John asked, wiping his glasses off with a white cloth napkin
"Yes," Violet replied breathlessly. "Oh, please, John, look at her. Could you just cast her back to the streets to freeze to death? Even if she did survive the winter, how would she survive longer? Where would she find food, shelter? If we turn her out, we'd be banishing her to her death, or worse," her voice lowered to a whisper. "The whore houses."
John surveyed his wife over his glasses, then looked down at the little girl. "Miss Lily? How would you like to live in our home with my wife, our daughter and I? You'd have fancy dresses, many toys, someone to brush your hair every morning, good food, someone to play with, and everything else you may want. Would you like that?" He asked, watching as the little girl stared back at him, apparently weighing her options.
"…Then, you'd be me mum and pa?" She asked, scratching her left ear in an adorable sort of matter.
"Yes," Violet said bending down until she was level with the young girl. "Yes, I'd be your mother, and John would be your father, and Petunia would be your older sister. Would you like that?"
The girl turned her bright eyes to Violet. After a minute, she nodded her head.
"Oh!" Violet said, hugging the girl tightly. "Oh my, Lily, you will love it. I promise."
Lily smiled and put her arms around her new mother's thin neck. "Okay."
The next day, the Evans family departed back to their large London estate, taking little Lily with them.
Life became quite perfect for Lily once she was adopted into the Evans family. She had a new mother and father who cared for her very much, to have saved her from the streets. She had a sister who played with her very often, always taking Lily's creations of imagination and turning them into a fun adventure for the two. Her new home was full of servants who laughed at her antics and always gave her treats when she wanted.
As Lily got older, however, she found that there were some things about life in the upper classes that she did not enjoy. Embroidery was one of them. Her lessons in becoming a lady were another. Who cared if you could set a proper table or sew an entire dress? Certainly not Lily.
Petunia also became more hostile towards Lily than she had ever been, and the servants said it was jealousy. Apparently, Lily was much prettier than her older sister and always got her way, while Petunia was shunted to the side like some old rag doll.
Then, when Lily was thirteen, Petunia was married to a horrid man by the name of Vernon Dursely. On the day of the wedding, Petunia had been sobbing in her room, and when Lily tried to comfort her, Petunia had shrieked, "It's your fault that I have to marry him! I wanted to marry Patrick Connors, God knows his family is rich enough for everyone's taste, but no, he doesn't want to marry me, he wants to marry you! You, the brat from the streets, the girl who sold herself as a whore before you tricked my stupid parents into taking you in and ruining my life!"
Lily couldn't help it. She slapped Petunia hard across the face, her hand stinging. She looked at her sister, seeing the real Petunia for the first time. "I would have died before selling my body, Petunia," she said, her tone harsh and cold. Petunia flinched. "You'd do well to remember that. And I did not trick our parents into keeping me. If you have such a problem with me, then go off and marry your Patrick Connors or any of the men you keep fluttering your lashes at, but stay away from me."
With that, Lily turned her back on her sister and walked out of the room, but not before hearing her say, "No one will believe you're not a common wench. You look the part so well." Lily kept walking, not letting on how much her sister's abandonment hurt her.
It was three years later that Lily found herself sitting in her family's dining room, wearing her nicest dress and making forced conversations with a disgusting man called Severus Snape – the man she was betrothed to.
The entire time that the two sat there, Snape's eyes kept roaming Lily's body, making her squirm as her hatred of this man increased.
Apparently, he was the son of an Italian ruler, and, seeing as how no one else in England seemed to have a daughter that appealed to him quiet as Lily did, their marriage was arranged.
The governor and his wife stood in the hallway, watching and listening to their daughter's interchange with Snape. "We can't make her marry that - man," John said jerkily, watching the way the other man eyed his youngest daughter. "She obviously doesn't care for him in the slightest."
"Lily will marry Severus Snape, and she will be happy about it." Violet replied in such a cold manner that John looked over at her. "After all, his family is one of the richest in Italy, and her marriage to him will not only give her great wealth and position, it will also lead to peace within our nations. Lily will marry him." Violet eyed her daughter's reactions coldly. There was some truth in the rumor that Violet was also jealous of Lily, only the reasons why were less clear than Petunia's.
"I will not," Was Lily's reply to her mother telling her that she'd make a lovely wife to Mr. Snape several hours later. "I refuse to marry that man. I refuse."
Violet's eyes narrow and turned cold. "You will marry Severus Snape, you selfish little brat, you will!" She screeched, grabbing Lily's long red hair and yanking it down, taking satisfaction in her daughter's cries.
John wrenched his wife's arms from his daughter's hair and pulled her away. "What is the matter with you?" He snarled at her as shesnarled manically at him.
"Oh sure, take her side, you always do! It's always 'Lily this' and 'Lily that'. What about my happiness? What about what I want? Lily will marry that man and we will have a share of his wealth. I don't care whether she wants to or not! I'm her mother and she must obey me!" Violet said, trying to claw her way out of her husband's arms.
Lily stared at her mother with tears streaming down her face. Why was her whole family suddenly turning against her? First Petunia, now her mother... It was merely a matter of time now before she would be forced to marry a man she didn't like in the slightest. But Lily would not marry him. She wouldn't be used as a puppet the way Petunia had been. Not for money, not for all of the jewels in the world. Lily clenched her fists and glared at Mrs. Evans. "If all I am to you is a way to gain money so that you can maintain this," Lily gestured around the extravagant room, "Then you are no mother to me, just as Petunia isn't my sister. I will not be sold off to a man just so that he'll throw money into your dainty little hand. I refuse to marry that - that man, and there's nothing you can do to me that will make me change my mind."
"You bitch!" Violet screamed at Lily, who didn't flinch. "You will marry Severus Snape, or I will lock you in your room and starve you until you do! You will not disobey me! I am your mother! Do you forget who plucked you off of the streets and put you in this house? Do you? It was ME! I did it, and I regret that decision every minute of my life!"
"Well at least there's something we have in common!" Lily yelled back, trying to ignore the hurt look that crossed her father's face at her words. Lily turned on her heel and ran up to her room, locked the door, and proceed to pull out a trunk and stuff all of her absolute essentials into it -several dresses, a pen knife, a brush, a picture of her father, and over coat, flint and steel, a small lantern, a small gold pocket watch, her locket, a quill, parchment, and a small stash of food that had previously been hidden in a drawer.
Very quietly, snuck into her servant, Nelly's room, which was connected to hers. She took a dress from Nelly wardrobe, leaving a note explaining what had happened and that she was leaving. She ran back into her own room, quickly shed her beautiful dress and replaced it with Nelly's, which fit fairly well. Lily plaited her long hair and stuffed it up into a bonnet, making sure than none of it could be seen, knowing all too well that everyone within the vicinity knew of her wild red locks.
Lily tied a small leather pouch filled with small gold coins around her waist and she came up with a plan: She leave the house, disguised as a servant, get a room at an inn, sell her dresses and other worldly possessions. But Lily knew that she could never get along in the world as a girl. Violet had been quite right when she said that she'd saved Lily from the whore houses, however much Lily hated to admit it.
Then it dawned on her. Lily would disguise herself as a boy. Cut off her hair, buy boys' clothes - it would work. Glancing down at her chest Lily ran back to her maid's room and grabbed a large roll of dressings. She was small enough, she could wrap the dressings around her chest and no one would ever know what hid beneath. Then she'd get a job doing something - anything - that could get her away from England without anyone noticing her. She'd work on that later.
That night, as her parents slept, Lily left the governor's house with no intention of ever returning again. What a way to spend your seventeenth birthday...
A/N: So, what'cha think? Is it worth continuing? I really hope so…
Well, please review!
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