It had been three days since Lily Evans received her letter. It came at precisely 2:00 in the afternoon, hefted by a small barn owl. Like every year, her sister Petunia got to it first, hiding it in some obscure place in the house. But unlike every other year, Lily was 17, she could use magic, so no begging was needed. A simple summoning charm procured the letter and Lily opened it with eagerness. Along with the usual school lists in maroon ink, there was an important notice. What she read surprised even her. It was a brief note stating that the dark wizard Voldemort was rising to power. It went on to explain that students should be extremely careful when not with a witch or wizard of age. Gripping the rough paper, Lily's eyes darted across the words. The paper listed some procedures to ensure safety, especially regarding muggle-borns. Shaken, Lily scrubbed her hands over her pale, freckled face. How on earth was she going to tell her parents? Should she even go back to Hogwarts?
Lily sighed. It was a tired sigh, one of someone who knew a war was coming. She wondered how she was going tell her parents that she wasn't safe anymore; no child ever wanted to tell their parents that they were in danger. Her green eyes dimmed as she clutched the letter tight to her chest. She hadn't realized that there was something else in the letter until she felt something give her a slight poke. Cautiously, she pried open the crumpled envelope to see a gleaming badge winking up at her. Fingers shaking, she gingerly picked up the badge and saw the shining H.G. etched across it. Head Girl. All thoughts of war were forgotten as a grin stretched across her face in pleasant surprise. It wasn't that the badge was expected; Lily was too quiet a person to show superior leadership skills. However, she was the brightest witch of her generation and kind to everyone, so she figured her name wouldn't be completely disregarded when choosing candidates. That being said, she was especially eager to show her peers her accomplishment, and show them that she wasn't just a goody two-shoes who always had her hand in the air to answer a question. A lot of people liked Lily, and she had a lot of acquaintances (simply from shyly waving/smiling at them). However, she only had two actual friends; Marlene and Alice. It wasn't really a problem; they had the most fun together and spent most of their free time joined at their hips.
As soon as Lily had gotten her badge, she had burst out of her room in an uncharacteristic display of whooping and hollering.
"I got head girl, I got head girl!"
She skidded by Petunia's room, slipping in her white Carbrini socks on the wooden floor.
"Tuney! I got head girl!"
"No one cares about your pathetic badge, you FREAK!" She bellowed through the closed door. Lily's happy bubble deflated a little bit, as it always did when Petunia opened her mouth. Luckily for her, she heard her parents calling from downstairs.
"Coming!" She shouted, jubilant once more. Clutching the heavy parchment letter in one hand, and the shiny badge in the other, she did her best not to fall down the stairs with the overwhelming excitement.
As expected, her parents were thrilled with their daughter. They doted appropriately on her, making up for the doubt that the loathing Petunia had seeded in her brain. Lily's mum couldn't stop hugging her, her wavy auburn hair gently tickling her daughter's chin. Lily's father wouldn't stop loudly declaring his pride in her achievement. For a beautiful moment, they were a normal, carefree family; and that meant the world to Lily, who was fearing the impending war.
Now the war seemed closer than ever as Lily stood in a nearly deserted Diagon Alley. Any shoppers that were present had their heads bowed as they peered at the newspaper boy bellowing out headlines full of fear and despair. Lily, however, had yet to experience firsthand the devastation. Sure, she got chills from thinking about it, but she was slightly removed from all the hype. To her immense relief, the farther she moved in diagon alley, the more people she saw, though very few she knew. She lingered in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies, surprised to not find the usual crowd around the latest broomstick model. Only a few morose looking teens lurked in front of a display case that only held a single, slightly dusty broom. Lily narrowed her eyes at the sign plastered to the case, SHIPMENTS DELAYED, it blared. Lily couldn't help but give a small smile, Potter must be in distress not to have his shiny new quidditch accessories at the ready. She meandered along the cobbled road until she came to Flourish and Blotts, by far her favorite store. She pulled out her supplies list and stepped into the shop. The crisp scent of books was all around her and she smiled at its familiar scent. The shopkeeper gave her a small smile as she walked in. Grinning back, she wove her way through the narrow aisles. Vision narrowed to the shelves, she missed most of the other customers. Lily brushed her fingers along the spines of the books until she came across the one she was looking for, the brand new advance Defense Against the Dark Arts book. It wasn't required for Seventh Years, but since the threat of war was growing, she figured it couldn't hurt.
