The Start of Something New
July 1971
Lacy curtains are fluttering from a light breeze through a half open window. A little girl of pale skin and long fiery hair is lying on her stomach, her head resting on her folded arms, gazing at the sight, mesmerized by the movement. It’s summer, and the sunlight falling on her face is slowly driving away the drowsiness still lingering after a good night of sleep. It is a regular Monday morning for everyone else, but for Lily Evans it is bliss. What else do you expect an eleven year old to feel when she’s in the middle of her summer break waking up to another bright day that she can, and will, spend with her best friend? Sounds like bliss indeed.
Someone knocks at her door.
“Lily, dear, are you up yet?”
“Yes mum coming!”
She listens to her mother’s footsteps fading. Petunia’s probably already up and sitting at the dining table, Lily thinks, scribbling away at a notebook. Pet’s been oddly determined to finish her holiday homework within the first few weeks of summer. Lily doesn’t understand why she’s in such a rush. Her older sister tells her that she doesn’t understand simply because she is in Year 6 (“Year 6 is done, I’m in Year 7 now Tuney!”) and not weeks away from starting a much more difficult and stressing grade – Year 9. With a sigh, Lily sits up and lets her feet dangle from the edge of her bed. Her dad says that her height is perfectly normal for her age but she wishes she was at least a few inches taller. At least two, so that her tip toes could reach the floor while she’s properly sitting on her bed. Petunia was taller when she was Lily’s age. Her parents feel like giants compared to her. Severus, her best friend, mercilessly teases her because he’s taller. Only two inches, mind you! And her mum says it’s completely normal for boys to be taller than girls. She believes her, because her dad is taller than her mum, but it is still disheartening when most of the girls in her class are taller than most of the boys. She wants to be like them – the tall pretty thin girls. They all have either blonde or brown hair, mostly blonde, unlike Lily’s stupid stupid red. Jenna Gibbons in particular looks like Aurora from ‘Sleeping Beauty’, with her long blonde hair almost always let down. Not the blonde that Cinderella has, that is strawberry blonde, according to Lily’s careful and confidential research. Jenna Gibbons has golden blonde hair. Jenna Gibbons is also really nice. She let Lily borrow a pencil twice when she forgot, being that she was occupying the seat next to Lily’s in math, not caring that each time her pencil was a nice one with cartoonish doodles on its sides and a scented eraser. The first one was pink with flamingos on it, the second was blue with little daisies on them. And both times, Jenna Gibbons smiled at her when the class ended and Lily was found shyly giving back the pencil with a soft “thank you.” (“Course”, a warm smile in return, “You’re welcome.”)
Those were the only two times she’s talked to Jenna Gibbons, but both left a lasting impression on Lily. Jenna Gibbons is the complete opposite of what everyone thinks the most popular girl in school is like – caring not shallow, kind not mean, smart not dumb, in fact she tops most of her classes, like Lily herself. Jenna Gibbons looks like every stereotypical mean girl presented to be all beauty and no brains – tall, skinny, blonde, beautiful and radiant (how do you even look radiant??) – yet one conversation with her will prove all the assumptions wrong, and it just so happens that Lily has had the honour twice. So, naturally the impression lasts, especially when it’s Jenna Gibbons who chooses to talk (and share a pencil twice) with her. Just plain old Lily Evans.
The day Jenna Gibbons shared her pencil a second time, which just so happened to be the last day of school for the year, Lily came home and begged her mother to buy the nice pretty pencils instead of the boring plain ones she was accustomed to the next time they would go shopping for school supplies. Her mum had brushed her off saying “we’ll see”. Such was the cruel way of mothers. She asked her dad and he said, “Go ask you mum.” And the torturous way of fathers.
But Lily Evans would get the pencils – she has to. Within the first week of Year 7 she would somehow work up the courage to say something to Jenna Gibbons and show off her new pencils (which she bought just for her attention). Perhaps they might even become friends (that was delusion speaking), so close that Lily could refer to her as just Jenna. And so Lily became only the slightest bit impatient but the greatest bit relieved of the time to prepare to go back to school.
After quickly making her bed and tying her curtains to the sides of her windows, Lily heads downstairs, barefoot, because she likes the feel of the carpet on the stairs and the lower floor. And also because the texture is partially successful in distracting her when she gets overly excited. And distraction is necessary because things happen when she is in high emotions.
Petunia calls her a ‘freak’ for it and Lily used to sort of believe her because of course it is abnormal for lights to flicker, or fresh flowers to wilt, or empty glasses to fill with water, only when Lily is in the room.
However, a few months before, Lily was feeling particularly overwhelmed and shameful after her sister’s constant taunts and she had told Sev everything. All about the uncontrollable outbursts and the mysterious tingling feeling in her body during such happenings. She doesn’t know what brought her to say it. Severus, though her closest friend, is often a bit… stuck in his opinions and unwilling to be open to civil disagreements. Lily knows, yet her utter incapability to keep a secret brought her to confess. She waited for the laughter – she expected nothing but – yet her admission was received in silence. Looking up from her shoes, which she had been focusing on as she rambled in shame and desperation for belief, she met Sev’s eyes. He was looking at her very curiously, as if seeing her in a new light.
Instead of laughing at her, he actually told Lily that she could do magic. At that word – Lily laughed. But it was a sad, humourless thing. Sev was mocking her. She expected disbelief but not something so mean, from her best friend no less! He pushed on, stepping forward and grasping Lily’s hands in his own, nodding vehemently and… and smiling. Severus kept promising that he was telling the truth. He said that he swore on his mum, his dad, Lily’s mum & dad, Petunia, even Lily herself, that magic was real. Lily, to put a stop to his incessant swearing, yelled, “Okay fine! I believe you! Now stop it.” He was truly pulling her leg. Lily roughly pulled her hands out of the tight hold they were in and stepped back.
“No no no, listen to me Lily! Don’t just say that when you don’t believe me. If what you’re saying is true then that means you’re a witch. Oh this is splendid! We won’t be separated in September.” Severus backs away, raising his arms to pull at his hair in excitement. He smiles merrily and seems to be lost in his thoughts of their future where they won’t be separated in September. Heavens, what is he even saying??
“Sev-“
“Oh, I’ve got to tell mum. She adores you, you know? Even though you’re a muggle, well we thought so.” He seems lost in a haze of shock and bliss but still manages to bite out somehow bitterly, “It’s ‘cause you’re kind of perfect.”
Severus shows his back and starts sprinting to his home.
“Severus! Where are you going?!”
“Tomorrow! I’ll be back tomorrow!” He yells over his shoulder, flailing his arms around as he clumsily runs away. “I’ll explain everything!!!” The wind carries back the last shout, a bit fainter as he’s already gotten to his street and turned.
❀❀❀
And explain he most certainly did. Severus told Lily about magic, and witches and wizards, and magic schools (the school is what did it for her).
And so she found herself having her own mission to complete in the first few weeks of summer just like her sister, well not exactly like her sister. She would pick a flower from the vase in the kitchen when her mother wasn’t looking, go to the hill and meet Severus, try her hardest to make the flower wilt prematurely or for the petals to fly away seemingly of their accord or anything while listening to him ramble on and on about how rich magi- wizards and witches had little creatures called house elves to do their chores (“they’re even shorter than you Lily ha ha”, “shut up Sev”), how they would get magic wands (“stop calling everything a magic something, magic is normal”), and more importantly, how they would be sent a letter to go to a magic school called ‘Hogwarts’ any day now ("They may not send you one because you’re muggle-born, but I think they will. You’re almost as potent as me.” “Competent.” “That’s what I said.” “Sure.”)
It was one such day Lily was preparing for as she races downstairs in her green night dress. Her dad is sitting with a cup of tea in one hand, and a newspaper in the other. She sits down next to Petunia, whose plate is already empty and set aside and her books are spread out. Lily peers over her sister’s shoulder and Petunia irritably waves her hand.
Lily simply looks away and grabs a piece of toast from the big plate piled high in the centre of the table. She grabs the jar of chocolate spread near her dad’s coffee-arm, opens it, and begins to spread a generous amount on her toast. Her mother glances at her with a fond shake of her head. As Lily is about to take a bite out of her diabetes-inducing monstrosity, her dad looks up from the paper in his arm, like a sudden wondrous realization has struck, and says, “Lily, would you get the mail?” Turning to her mum he says excitedly, “They said we’d get the word today.”
“Oh today, was it?” Her mum looks back at the calendar in the kitchen and sits down next to her husband. Sharing his enthusiasm she says, “Oh Mitch did say you were a shoo-in for the promotion, yeah? He said you’d be picked for sure.”
Lily sets her toast down, gives a great big dramatic sigh that everyone ignores, and dashes to the front door, leaving her parents to whatever grown-up thing they were discussing. Just as she reaches out to the door knob the bell rings. Lily turns back to look at her parents, her hand still out-stretched, and her mum comes to stand behind her.
“There’s someone at the door.” Lily states dumbly.
“Yes dear,” her mum says as she brushes her hands on her poofy blue skirt and moves to open the door. Lily picks up the mail and rushes to stand behind her mum.
The door is opened and there is an unfamiliar woman of light brown skin and darker brown curls standing outside. She is dressed strangely in long robes seemingly like dressing gowns but fancier and her accent is even stranger with emphasized vowels when she asks, “Is this the house of one Lily Evans?” A Scottish woman, Lily is sure, though she’s never met someone that up north she’s heard the accent on the telly.
“Who is it?” her dad calls out right as her mum asks, “Sorry, who are you?”
The strange woman extends her arm holding a little envelope and says, “I am here to explain the… nature of Lily Evans and her future schooling and such. I’m sorry it’ll be a bit confusing for you so I’d prefer to sit down and explain it properly all together.”
And then it clicked in Lily’s mind, this was something related to magic. With sudden vigour Lily screeched, “Mum listen to her!”
“Ah this must be the young witch.” The woman says with a gentle smile.
“I’m sorry, what did you call-“
Lily interrupts by grabbing her mum’s arm and pulling her in while excitedly exclaiming and nodding to the woman outside the door, “Come in ma’am, come in please.”
“Lily this is not-“
“No mum listen to her, just listen!”
Lily sees her mum getting more and more agitated, she’s nervous but she needs her to just listen. She continues trying her hardest to pull her mum further inside the house. “Lily! What is with this horrible behaviour of yours?!”
Crack. Everyone looks to the shattered remnants of a light bulb.
The strange woman turns to face Lily’s mum again, awkwardness permeating through the air.
“Like I said, I have much to discuss.”