Lily
‘Good morning Tuney,’ Lily called out cheerfully as she entered the kitchen, immediately pouring herself a bowl of Lidl cornflakes and going to the fridge. ‘Morning,’her sister muttered drowsily from the kitchen table, drowning in bills and papers littered with her messily scrawled calculations, trying to figure out how to make the money stretch so the bills could get payed whilst they still had food to survive on. ‘We’re out of milk by the way’
‘Fucking hell already?’Lily said as she slammed the door, disregarding the bowl and turning to look for the bread. ‘Well maybe if you didn’t insist on drinking three cups of coffee every bloody day, we wouldn’t run out so fast,’ Petunia quipped, her lips smirking slightly as she watched her sister scrambling around trying to find the bread. ‘Bread’s out as well’. Lily sighed loudly, “So you’re telling me that you and dad managed to eat a whole loaf of bread since yesterday”
“I wish” she replied, wrinkling her nose, “I got back from my shift at two last night and found Andrew completely out of it with a stack of bread and cheese going on about how he wanted to build the world’s tallest sandwich- it was funny until he threw up all over the sandwich and finally blacked out. The fucking drunk.” Lily laughed at this.
Her sister didn’t.
She laughed because if she didn’t laugh she’d have to think about the fact that her dad had got pissed almost every single night since his wife’s death seven years ago, only coming back home stoned out of his mind to sleep it off, just to do it all over again the next day. And then she’d remember how shitty her life was and then she’d cry. She’d never stop fucking sobbing.
< ‘Do I look alright?’ she asked turning to Petunia, hating how desperate she sounded, hating how her need for her older sister’s validation was so apparent. ‘You look fine’ her sister replied, but she didn’t miss the faint bitterness in her voice. ‘Now hurry up, you don’t want to miss the bus.’
Lily was very aware of the sacrifices Petunia had made for her. It had slapped her in the face during her first set of mocks in Year Eleven, when she’d gone to the kitchen at around 2:30am for a red bull- starving for energy as she attempted to successfully pull an all nighter for her Chemistry exam the next day. She’d been met with Petunia, who’d just returned from her job (one of two) at the local pub. The dead look on her face and her tiresome fatigue- it was heartbreaking.
Petunia hadn’t completed her A-levels, choosing to work instead- for Lily.
She’d been working atleast one job from the age of twelve- paper round, babysitting, waitressing, she’d done them all- for Lily.
She’d given up her life- for Lily.
She was giving up her present to pay for Lily’s future. Allowing her to continue her studies and make it to University, get a well paid job worthy of her efforts and escape the shit hole she was born into. Lily owed everything to Petunia- who was wilting in order to allow Lily to blossom. It was the reason Lily had begun to work so hard, making sure her sister’s efforts were not in vain, so one day she could make enough money for the both of them, to the life they deserved.
As sisters.
‘Alright I’m off, I’ll just buy something on the way with Sev’ she said as she reached for her handbag and packed lunch.
‘See you,’ her sister replied, ‘by the way, I’m coming back late today so grab a Pot Noodle or something for dinner and if Andrew comes in don’t let him in. We don’t have enough food for that piece of shit.’ Lily just nodded as she shut the door behind her.
‘Hey Sev,’ she smiled as she approached him, waiting at the bottom of her estate. He looked up and grinned briefly. She loved that grin. It was his smile that had awaken her from the zombie like slumber she’d occupied during the first dark years after her mothers death- when she’d began secondary school and her original bubbly social personality had abandoned her, leaving her with a lack of friends and a constant fatigue for she was never able to rest peacefully.
He was her best friend. He had been the moment he’d found her in year seven, sobbing on the dirty estate stairs, encrusted with cigarette stubs and overwhelmed by the stench of weed. He hadn’t said anything at first; he’d only sat with her on the same grubby steps, his silence comforting as her tears had continued to pour.
Back when the feeling of depression and dejection had been new to her, and not her default state. When the feeling of loneliness that had replaced her mother felt like an invasion.
‘You ready for the Maths Exam today?’ he asked as they walked the familiar route to the Hogwarts Sixth Form Centre, passing tacky graffiti and squashed cans of beer. ‘Of course I am,’ she smiled.
And she was- she was always prepared. It was one of her traits that she valued most- her work ethic that allowed her to consistently be disciplined and excel in exams, whilst juggling her part time job at her local corner shop. She refused to mess up her only opportunity of living out her perfect life- a life without the constant interruptions from a father that knew how to ruin every good situation.
‘You work so hard Lils, you’re destined to go to some Redbrick University and leave us all behind,’ Severus grinned
‘Hopefully’ she replied, and how she hoped- day and night, praying for her future.
‘I'd never leave you though, you’d come with me obviously’
And it was. She couldn’t imagine her life without him.
He knew when the voices in her head got too loud and the images too dark, and she knew that he would always be there holding out his hand for her to latch onto, making sure the darkness that was constantly in her shadow didn’t outright consume her. He consistently stopped all her doubts from being at the forefront of her mind, allowing her to feign the confidence so expected of her at school.
‘Lily!’ Mary’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. She turned to say goodbye to Severus, but he had already gone. ‘Hey babe’ she replied, linking arms with one of her best friends. ‘Where’s Marlene?’
‘She’s gone to speak to Dorcas’ Mary said, her tone suggestive, ‘I’m pretty sure they hooked up during Peter’s party on Saturday, you know’
‘Finally’ Lily sighed dramatically, who’d known of Marlene’s crush since her and Dorcas had first got sat together in their first A-Level History class of Year 12.
‘Anyways, I wish you came on Saturday, we did some weed and Pandora gave me some Felix that her brother gave her- oh my days, I felt so light and I swear everything was perfect,’ Mary chattered as they walked to form. Lily only shot her a disapproving glance.
Her friends knew nothing of her reasons for being so against drugs, only that she always refused at parties.
‘Lils, please don’t look at me like that, it’s just a bit of fun. I promise’
‘Yeah, yeah I know. Just be careful, I’ve heard that new shit is addictive as fuck’
‘God Lily, don’t worry, I love myself too much to be constantly under the influence’ Mary joked. Lily smiled- honestly she wouldn’t blame her even if it wasn’t a joke.
Mary was brilliant. She was confident and charismatic- she could make anyone laugh and didn’t take shit from anyone. She was gorgeous and she knew it. Even now, as they walked, boys in their year were shooting her looks. Mary often argued that half of them were looking at Lily anyways, but she wasn’t so sure.
To an extent she understood that she was pretty. She’d been asked for her number in town numerous times and cat called when walking home from school. Yet, every time she looked in the mirror, she was met with her father leering back at her and, as result, was unable to assess her face properly without being constantly reminded of her poor excuse of a father.
Petunia was lucky- she was blessed with the profound beauty of their late Mother. But of course, that came with its own challenges.
‘Oi Evans, when am I taking you out’, James asked cockily as he came to stand in front of her. ‘Who said you can take me out Potter,’ Lily replied cheekily as her boyfriend put his arm around her. ‘Just give me one chance’ he pleaded, as he brought his lips to hers which she eagerly responded to.
God, he was perfect. He’d first asked her out in year nine, when she’d publicly refused to go out with him even if he was ‘the last guy on earth’. Yet eventually (midway through Year Eleven) after being sat with him in English, she’d realised her feelings, as she began to blush at his compliments rather than scoff, and find him charming rather than jarring. And at the end of Year Eleven, when he’d asked her out for prom with a bouquet of Lilies, she’d immediately kissed him and squealed yes.
The rest was history.
‘Oh my days, I get it you guys are inlove and shit, but I beg find a room’ Sirius groaned from besides his best friend (or often joked, his boyfriend, due to how gay they were for eachother). ‘Piss off Black, we all just know you’re jealous’ Mary jutted in, laughing. Black stuck his tongue out at her immaturely, showing off the dazzling tongue piercing he’d gotten as a dare when he was drunk at a party last year. ‘Bye baby’ Lily said, emphasising the ‘baby’ whilst sending a playful glare at Sirius, ‘I’ll meet you in your free’
‘Nah, I can’t, I’m doing extra football practice’James said
’Yeah, okay, that’s fine’ Lily replied, as her and Mary strode off, arms linked together.
In form, Mary continued to chat to her about Pete’s party during the entire 20 minutes, seemingly unaware of the dirty looks being directed at her from their form tutor.
Throughout, Lily had smiled gently and responded accordingly, basking in the belief that today was going to be a great day.
When the bell rang, Mary departed (not before blowing her a kiss- a gesture so typical of her) to her English Language class, whilst Lily departed to Maths.
She entered and was met with their papers from their last mock being handed out. She sat down, tapping her pencil nervously against her desk.
Eventually, she was handed her paper which had a 96% gleaming in the top right hand corner. Immediately, she glanced to her right, not allowing herself to feel any sort of joy, only to be met with Barty and his infuriating smirk. He shifted his paper to the edge of the desk, making it easy for her to see the red 98%.
He leaned back lazily in his chair, his single pen and calculator being his only sign of commitment to the class. Huffing slightly, Lily turned away to her desk where her pencil case and planner rested on top.
Her great day had promptly been ruined.