Lily and James the Prequel

Ten year old Lily Evans was shooting free throws at the basketball goal in her back yard. Her dad had given it to her for her fifth birthday in hopes she would be the sporty type of girl. So far he had succeeded. Lily had three passions in life. Sports, books, and terrorizing the boy next door, in that order. Lily knew at least the basic rules of every official sport, and she played all of them. If, by some chance, she didn't play, she would try it. Her second love was books. She loved to learn new things. Lily had learned several languages including, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. Her third love was aggravating James Potter.  She hated him, and couldn't wait for him to go away to school. She was counting down the days until her eleventh birthday. Lily had been accepted into an exclusive all girls boarding school that offered an excellent education as well as an excellent sports program. She was not looking forward to going to this school, however. The girls at Durington Girls' Academy were almost always pretty socialites. On the rare occasion, a girl would be accepted just for her athletic or academic talent, not her family's wealth and class. Lily considered herself to be the exception. Others saw the beauty Lily truly was, but Lily neglected to see it. She saw her pale skin and dark red hair where others saw a perfect complexion and promising hair that needed some attention. She saw short where others saw petite. Lily didn't dwell on this however. She slapped her hair in a ponytail or braids each morning, and hoped for a blessing of height to improve her jump shot. Most people were kind enough to overlook her sports obsession. The exception was her bratty next-door neighbor, James Potter.
Lily hated James with a passion. Her dream was to impale him on their picket fence. He constantly teased her about playing “boyish” sports, made fun of her hair, and called her “small fry”. That irritated Lily the most. She hated it when people brought her height deficit to attention. She didn't think 4'11” was too short for an almost eleven year old. After all, she would grow more eventually. The Potters were an unusual family by the Evans' standards. Their twin children had been home schooled until the age of eleven, now they were being sent to an elusive boarding school. Their children were turning eleven today, and Lily was going to be forced to spend 4 hours of torture at their birthday celebration. Lily would have given anything not to go, but her parents had resorted to bribing her. If she stayed at the party for all four hours, and remained reasonably polite, they would take her to a hockey game, and get her the pass to meet her all time favorite hockey player, Nicoli Sanatini. Lily's parents were very rich, so if their favorite daughter wanted to meet him, then they were going to let her, only after she had fulfilled her part of the bargain. Lily gritted her teeth just thinking about having to spend four God forsaken hours at the Potter residence, listening to their devil-sent child belittle and tease her for the entire party. Lily made a grim resolve to remain polite though, she wanted to meet Nicoli, and she would give her eyeteeth to do it. She swooshed another three-pointer right as the dreaded neighbor came strutting through the gate that separated their yards. She would have loved to permanently scar him with her softball bat sitting by the back
stairs. James said with complete arrogance, “Well, I got my letter of acceptance to the school my family has attended since we became the Potters.”
“Well how nice. I know I would be absolutely thrilled to be accepted St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal Boys!” Lily laughed.
“Ha, ha, funny. I'm sure you'll be laughing when you're sent there.” James told her meanly.
“That's it Potter. This means war.” Lily told him devilishly.
“Ooh, I'm scared.” James said in a falsetto voice.
“You should be. I will show NO mercy, and take NO prisoners.” Lily told him, but she neglected to say, starting after your party. Lily then threw her basketball at the retreating James, catching him squarely in the back.
“Just remember, you'll be on my soil tonight Evans!” James called out.
Lily continued shooting, then decided to get ready for the party that was in a couple of hours. First, she cooked something to eat; she wouldn't put it past James to
poison her. Afterwards she showered and changed into a clean peasant-style blouse and flared jeans, conveniently overlooking a package on her bed. These were her best clothes; she refused to buy girlie stuff like her sister, Petunia bought. She came downstairs about twenty-five minutes after she had gone upstairs, to her mother's absolute mortification.
“Lily! You can't wear that, this is a dressy party! Wear the outfit that I bought you today, its laying on your bed.” Lily's mom told her.
“MOM! A DRESSY PARTY FOR TWO ELEVEN YEAR OLDS?!!!” Lily shouted in disbelief.
“Exactly. Go get changed now, and I'll fix your hair.”
Lily went reluctantly upstairs and changed into the emerald green sleeveless top and khaki skirt her mom had bought her. Then her mother insisted on taking Lily's hair out of the perpetual ponytail, and actually curling the ends of it, sending shudders down Lily's spine. She thought she did look remarkably nice. She could only imagine what kind of teasing James would do to her. Lily and her family, excluding Petunia who had been staying the week at a friend's house, walked through the Potter's door at exactly 6 o'clock, punctual as usual.
“Oh, you look lovely!” Meredith Potter told Lily sincerely.
“Thank you ma'am” Lily thanked politely, “I'm very happy to be invited to your party.” Immediately earning besotted smiles from every adult in a 10-foot radius. She saw James and immediately wanted to choke him with his bow tie. Actually, she could think of no greater pleasure. The only thing between James and being strangled was the three boys surrounding him. Lily had no one to talk to, but she was used to this, so she went to the Potter's library, which was opened to the guests, and sat down with a copy of “The Chosen” written in French. She pretended not to notice four boys staring at her from around the door. They all stared at this lovely girl and finally one of them asked,
“James, do you know her?”
“Yes and no. I know the girl who lives next door and wears jeans, not the one who dresses up and looks nice.” James whispered back.
“Well, beat me with a wet noodle and call me goofy, James Potter isn't being incredibly rude for once.” Lily said sarcastically. “After all, it's your fault I had to come to this stupid party, and get dressed up like a ham for Christmas.”
The three boys with James couldn't believe their ears. Although James was just eleven years old, girls fell all over him. This one wasn't. Lily continued, “I also thought you would be wise enough to stay out of my way tonight after what you said to me.
Watch out, I might lose my control and choke you with that ugly bow-tie of yours.”
Two of the three boys started laughing, and the other cowered with apparent fear. The boy that was James's height with neat black hair and gray eyes said, “Hi. I'm Sirius Black. I've never seen a girl stand up to James like that.”
“Nice to meet you, Sirius, I'm Lily Evans, and I live next door.”
“And I'm Remus Lupin, nice to meet you Lily Evans.” the boy with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes said.
“Hi, Remus, nice to meet you.” Lily told him, he seemed very nice. “And this is Peter Pettigrew” Sirius said, motioning to a short boy with blonde hair. Lily nodded her head; the boy was still cowering with fear.
“Uh, Lily, you look nice tonight. Thanks for coming.” James said politely.
“You're not welcome you moron. I only came because my parents bribed me with the chance to meet Nicoli Sanatini.” Lily said, still smarting from James's stinging words from earlier.
“Really, oh wow! I've seen him a few times on television. You are lucky Lily.” James said with awe. He had seen Nicoli on a muggle TV show while he was at a friend of his parents' house.                                                                                                              “Well, then James, you most certainly may come with us when we go to visit him next week.” Mr. Evans said, coming in on the tail of the conversation. Lily groaned; she knew her dad thought James was a good kid, but this was going too far. “Papa! James does NOT want to go.” Lily said in a voice that usually got her anything she wanted from her parents.
“My dear, that is up to James.”
“I would love to go Mr. Evans..” James said triumphantly.
“Excellent, you may also bring your friends here if you wish.” and he walked out of the room.
“Hey Sirius, Remus, Peter, do ya wanna go?” James asked.
“Sure”, both Remus and Sirius said. “I have to go home.” Peter said, and actually left immediately.
Lily growled at them causing James to smile angelically. “I believe its time for cake and ice cream. Let's go to the dining room.” James told them.
Lily wanted to dump the cake on James. She sat down at the table, to her complete disgust, between James and Remus. She was very tempted to switch the place cards. James had a chocolate cake, and Gina had a white cake. They both blew out their eleven candles without a problem whatsoever. Lily chose chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream, but as soon as she got the food, she had to clench her hands together to keep from decorating James with it. She ate only a small amount of the cake, and she just stared at the rest. To her surprise, the cake flew out of the bowl and onto James; all while her hands were tightly clenched in her lap. Lily's family was the only muggles in the room, so every witch and wizard gasped at this display. There were whispers around the room, `this little girl must be very powerful, she just levitated that cake. Can you believe her parents are muggles, some pure bloods aren't that good. And she hasn't even gone to her first year at Hogwarts.' Lily turned horrified, yet gleeful eyes to James. She couldn't help it, she just burst out laughing. Shortly after her, Remus and Sirius cracked up with laughter. James slowly started wiping the cake from his face, then said, “Oh, my God, you're a witch!”
“That's it! I am tired of you calling me names and picking on me!” Lily said, then grabbed her ice cream and rubbed it on James's white shirt, then picked up Remus's third slice of cake and smashed it on James's face and walked calmly out of the room to her house.

Lily slammed into her room and changed her clothes. It was still early, so she left a note for her parents. It was a safe neighborhood, so she went running. Running, not jogging. Her purpose was to expend all of her energy just so she could resist the urge to go into James's house and finish the job she started. She would set him afire, or maybe she would wrap him in the tablecloth and toss him in the river. She started grinning at this idea, and she was laughing so caught up in her dreams that she didn't see the group of people heading into her direction until she ran right into them.  Lily all decked out in running pants and shoes with a matching top ran right into James Potter and his crew, sending all of them flying to the sidewalk. Lily was pleased to see that James had ended up cushioning her fall, rewarding him with a scraped harm. She scooted so that she was sitting on her own on the sidewalk and looked at Sirius and Remus. "Sorry you guys, I was plotting James's death, I didn't see you." Lily said as they were getting up.
"No problem, here, let me help you up." Remus told her, extending his hand.
She accepted it and went to stand up, but collapsed again. She looked down at her ankle, and it was already swelling up.                                                                                        "Oh, no! My ankle!" Lily wailed.
"What?" all three boys questioned cluelessly.
"My ankle, it is injured rather easily, especially compared to my active lifestyle. I will never be able to compete at the tennis tournament this weekend now!"
"Uh, that's disappointing, but maybe you ought to concentrate on getting home first Lily." Sirius said.
"Would you guys go and get my dad. He'll be able to carry me back to the house?"
"I'll go I guess." Remus said, leaving James and Sirius looking helplessly at Lily.         "Umm, Lily, when I called you a witch earlier, I didn't say it to be mean. It was a compliment. You see, we're all wizards and witches in my family. Sirius and Remus and Peter are all wizards too. We're all going to Hogwarts this year. You'll probably get to go too, if you do get accepted, you will get a letter on your birthday." James explained to Lily.
"Okay, I'm sorry I got so mad then. You're usually so mean to me, I just expected you to say it with a mean spirit. But really, a witch?  That's so cool!" Lily also apologized.
"You're right, I have been rather mean to you. All of our lives in fact. I apologize, truce?" James questioned
"Sure, you'll probably be the only wizard or witch I know at this school anyhow if I get to go. I probably ought to be civil to you." and they both smiled, signifying the start of a new friendship.  Lily looked up and saw her dad running down the sidewalk, with a panting Remus trailing after him.
"Did papa's princess get hurt?" he asked Lily, who was obviously his favorite child.
"Yeah, its my ankle again."
Logan Evans kneeled and examined his daughter's ankle, "Sweetie, it looks like you've really done a number on it this time. You're lucky it's not a break, but its pretty close to it. Don't put any weight on it for two days at least."
"PAPA! I HAVE to compete in the tournament Saturday." Lily pleaded, as if her father could magically make it well.
"Sorry, Princess, but I can't make it better overnight. I'm no magician."
Lily turned her eyes to James and Sirius.
"My mom might be able to do something for it.” James told his new friend.  Mr. Evans carried his daughter to the Potter residence and explained the problem to Meredith Potter. She asked Mr. Evans to leave the room and pulled out her wand. Lily's eyes widened.
"Lily, I wouldn't normally be able to do this until you've received your letter from Hogwarts, but it is obvious you're a witch. It was amazing how you made that cake land on James. And without a wand! Truly amazing! Well, anyhow I'll just use a simple spell that will repair the muscles, and if you don't mind, strengthen them, and you won't have this problem anymore."
"Sure, that would be great!" Lily said enthusiastically.
"Very well. Musculoso Repartim!" and Lily felt a tingling sensation in her ankle. Just about the time it subsided Mrs. Potter said, "Preventium Injuriusin" and Lily's ankle felt good as new.  That Saturday, the three boys were sitting under the boiling sun, next to Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Petunia, watching Lily on the tennis court. Lily was currently beating the pants off of the reigning champion. She finally finished off the match with an ace, receiving a standing ovation from her parents and friends. She shook hands with her opponent, then the judges, and jogged to the locker room for a quick shower before the awards ceremonies. Thirty minutes later she came back up, wearing a black pair of shorts and matching white top. Her braids were decorated in honor of the occasion with metallic emerald ribbons. She stood on the podium and accepted her trophy, grinning for her parents' pictures. As soon as she was allowed to leave she ran to her parents for the first time since before the match stated. She hugged them, still clutching her trophy. In fact she was so happy she was hugging everybody. She even hugged Petunia and some strangers. The boys didn't get out of her way fast enough and she hugged them, then moved on to some of her father's business associates.  The next weekend they did indeed meet Nicoli Sanatini, then went out to eat pizza. The boys marveled at Lily's ability to eat an entire medium pepperoni pizza on her own. On Lily's eleventh birthday an owl flew in the window. It was bearing the Hogwarts letter, accepting Lily into their school, along with the list of supplies. Lily thought that was great until it mentioned Diagon Alley. Nobody in her family knew where Diagon Alley was, or the Leaky Cauldron. She went ahead and sent the confirmation letter to Hogwarts anyhow, she would ask James about the Diagon Alley.  The Potters gave the Evans a detailed map of how to get to Diagon Alley, and what to do once they got there. But to Lily's disappointment, James didn't ask Lily to come with them. She got over it though; she couldn't expect to immediately become one of his group.   On August 20th Lily and her parents went to Diagon Alley, leaving Petunia at a friend's house. They got in easily and went straight to Gringott's. There, Lily was given vault 315 with a balance of 1000 galleons, which would be added to every birthday and Christmas. Lily went to get her robes at Madame Malkins, then to the pet shop. There she bought a jet-black cat with emerald green eyes that matched her own. Towards the end of the afternoon all Lily had to was buy a wand. She was saving it for last. Her parents were resting at the cafe across the street. As it turned out, James walked through the Ollivander's door the same time as Lily. The spooky man came out and said, "Ah, the ones who will release us all. Come my children. You, Mr. Potter, may go first." after several tries James got a mahogany wand. He said, "I'll wait for you Lily, if you wanna go with Sirius and Remus and me to get some ice cream."
"Sure" she said.
"And you Miss Evans. You shall give us our freedom. Here, try this wand." in a very short while, Lily left the store with a 9-inch yew.
"Gosh, was it just me, or was he a few cards short of a full house?"
"Definitely missing something."  Very soon, it was September first, and they were going to platform 9 3/4. Lily saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter hoisting their trunks onto the scarlet train. She started to run over to them, but her mother was telling her to be good and the like. She kept watching the boys, and she saw them get on the fifth compartment. Then she saw them hanging out the windows watching her. Her dad was saying, "Now princess, remember, if anything goes wrong or you need us for anything, we're only an owl away. We bought our own, so we will send her to you often. I love you princess, we hope to see you at Christmas."
"Yeah, Papa, I love you too."
"Now my dear, be good, work hard, and we love you." Her mother said.
"Yes mom, I love you too."
"Princess, be good, we love you, we can't live without you, you're everything to us, you're our only child, who cares about Petunia" Petunia said in an annoying voice.
When Lily walked on the train she saw James, Sirius, and Remus pretending to cry and say, "Oh, Lily, we will miss you so much."
"Would you shut up! Your parents couldn't wait to get rid of you!"                              "Hey, our parents love us too!" Sirius said indignantly.
"They love it when you're not there is more like it." Lily told them sarcastically.
Remus said, "Actually, I think my parents do like the vacation away from me." earning a triumphant look from Lily and disgusted looks from James and Sirius.
Peter stuttered, "My p-parents al-always t-try to get me t-to visit a friends house."
"They're trying to get you out of your shell Peter." Sirius said sarcastically.
Peter crept over to a chair, and everybody followed, except Lily. She didn't really want to butt in, so she continued to another compartment. Nobody noticed she wasn't following until she was gone.