Fic: If only... [Harry Potter, gen, G]
Title: If only...
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: G
Pairing: Lily/OC, hinted Lily/James
Characters: Lily Evans, Petunia Evans, James Potter, OCs.
Prompt: Lily’s parents didn’t let her go to Hogwarts (from comment_fic
Summary: Lily Evans gets a letter saying she's been accepted to Hogwarts... but her parents don't allow her to go, and her life takes a different course.
“This is so unfair!” Lily screamed at her parents, before running upstairs to her room and slamming the door behind her.
In the living room downstairs, her mother flinched at the sound of the door slamming and said to her father. “Are you sure we made the right decision, dear? She seems so upset.”
“She’ll get over it, Rosemary, and eventually she’ll forget about this Hogwarts nonsense. The child doesn’t know what’s best for her.”
With the faintest twinge of regret, Rosemary Evans looked at her husband and smiled pleasantly. “Of course, dear.”
~
Lily didn’t forget. For six months after the letter had arrived, she had glowered darkly at her parents over the dinner table, and had refused to speak to them. Eventually, though, she realised that her attempt to guilt them into changing their minds wasn’t working.
When she started talking to them again, they thought she was over it. But Lily still dreamt of Hogwarts, and still wished that she could go there.
A few months later, strange things started to happen around Lily. Teacups would hover just above their saucers, flowers would bloom when she touched them… nothing big, nothing noticeable. When Lily tried to tell her parents, they decided that she just wanted attention and ignored her.
It wasn’t until after Rosemary’s favourite vase (an antique inherited from her grandmother) was found smashed into pieces on the floor that they started paying attention to Lily. She tried to say that it had been an accident, that she hadn’t meant to break the vase, but her goody-two-shoes little sister Petunia had told them that she’d seen Lily smash the vase.
When Lily couldn’t, and wouldn’t, tell them why, they sent her to a child psychologist. The psychologist thought Lily was crazy, and tried to make her ‘better’, except that none of his ideas worked. After a while, Lily started pretending that the weird things weren’t happening any more, and that she was normal again. That made everyone leave her alone, which was good.
When Lily was sixteen, the family went to Brighton for their summer holiday, and on the first evening of the trip she met a boy in the hotel games room. His name was James, and he was cute, and he was there on holiday too, with his family and his best friend Sirius.
James, Sirius and Lily hung around together for most of her first week. It was the Saturday after they first met when she found James and Sirius bullying a local kid outside the hotel. Disappointed with herself for thinking that he was a nice guy, Lily had refused to spend time with them for the rest of her holiday, even though that meant she had to hang around with Petunia instead.
~
Lily left school with four A-levels and glowing references from her teachers. She was accepted to several universities, and eventually she chose Edinburgh, ostensibly because of its academic reputation but really because it was far, far away from her family.
She took a degree in History, and rarely went home for the holidays. Three years later she left with a First. She grudgingly went home for a few weeks to see her parents, and to announce that she was moving to London, where she’d been offered a job in a museum.
She shared a flat with a Russian postgraduate student and two Czech girls who were in London to work, and she loved it. Her walk to work each day took her past a tiny, ancient pub with a sign that said, in barely legible letters, The Leaky Cauldron. She always meant to go inside, but somehow she never seemed to get around to it.
~
Five years later, and Lily had worked her way up to Assistant Curator, and she had moved to a larger flat (though she was still sharing with one of the Czech girls, Marija, who’d become a friend).
~
She met Robert Potter at a function the museum was holding to raise funds. They clicked immediately, and he asked her out to dinner, and a year later he asked her to marry him.
Lily gaped at him for a moment. For a fraction of a second, the image of James, the boy she’d met on holiday all those years ago, moved to the front of her mind. She wondered why, as she hadn’t thought about him for years.
She said yes to Robert. They had a Spring wedding.
~
Lily had her first child a year and a half after the wedding. As she held the tiny baby boy in her arms, she wondered what to name him.
A little voice in the back of her mind suggested Harry. She smiled thoughtfully, and suggested it to Robert. He liked it, and so her little boy was named Harry Potter. He looked very much like his father, though everyone pointed out that his eyes were the exact same shade of green as Lily’s.
~
When Harry was eleven years old, a letter came for him. Lily recognised the crest immediately, and opening the letter only confirmed it: Harry could go to Hogwarts.
She talked to Robert about it (without mentioning her own letter, of course), and said that she wanted Harry to go to the school. Because he loved her, and recognised her tone of determination, Robert agreed, and Harry Potter went to Hogwarts.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: G
Pairing: Lily/OC, hinted Lily/James
Characters: Lily Evans, Petunia Evans, James Potter, OCs.
Prompt: Lily’s parents didn’t let her go to Hogwarts (from comment_fic
Summary: Lily Evans gets a letter saying she's been accepted to Hogwarts... but her parents don't allow her to go, and her life takes a different course.
“This is so unfair!” Lily screamed at her parents, before running upstairs to her room and slamming the door behind her.
In the living room downstairs, her mother flinched at the sound of the door slamming and said to her father. “Are you sure we made the right decision, dear? She seems so upset.”
“She’ll get over it, Rosemary, and eventually she’ll forget about this Hogwarts nonsense. The child doesn’t know what’s best for her.”
With the faintest twinge of regret, Rosemary Evans looked at her husband and smiled pleasantly. “Of course, dear.”
~
Lily didn’t forget. For six months after the letter had arrived, she had glowered darkly at her parents over the dinner table, and had refused to speak to them. Eventually, though, she realised that her attempt to guilt them into changing their minds wasn’t working.
When she started talking to them again, they thought she was over it. But Lily still dreamt of Hogwarts, and still wished that she could go there.
A few months later, strange things started to happen around Lily. Teacups would hover just above their saucers, flowers would bloom when she touched them… nothing big, nothing noticeable. When Lily tried to tell her parents, they decided that she just wanted attention and ignored her.
It wasn’t until after Rosemary’s favourite vase (an antique inherited from her grandmother) was found smashed into pieces on the floor that they started paying attention to Lily. She tried to say that it had been an accident, that she hadn’t meant to break the vase, but her goody-two-shoes little sister Petunia had told them that she’d seen Lily smash the vase.
When Lily couldn’t, and wouldn’t, tell them why, they sent her to a child psychologist. The psychologist thought Lily was crazy, and tried to make her ‘better’, except that none of his ideas worked. After a while, Lily started pretending that the weird things weren’t happening any more, and that she was normal again. That made everyone leave her alone, which was good.
When Lily was sixteen, the family went to Brighton for their summer holiday, and on the first evening of the trip she met a boy in the hotel games room. His name was James, and he was cute, and he was there on holiday too, with his family and his best friend Sirius.
James, Sirius and Lily hung around together for most of her first week. It was the Saturday after they first met when she found James and Sirius bullying a local kid outside the hotel. Disappointed with herself for thinking that he was a nice guy, Lily had refused to spend time with them for the rest of her holiday, even though that meant she had to hang around with Petunia instead.
~
Lily left school with four A-levels and glowing references from her teachers. She was accepted to several universities, and eventually she chose Edinburgh, ostensibly because of its academic reputation but really because it was far, far away from her family.
She took a degree in History, and rarely went home for the holidays. Three years later she left with a First. She grudgingly went home for a few weeks to see her parents, and to announce that she was moving to London, where she’d been offered a job in a museum.
She shared a flat with a Russian postgraduate student and two Czech girls who were in London to work, and she loved it. Her walk to work each day took her past a tiny, ancient pub with a sign that said, in barely legible letters, The Leaky Cauldron. She always meant to go inside, but somehow she never seemed to get around to it.
~
Five years later, and Lily had worked her way up to Assistant Curator, and she had moved to a larger flat (though she was still sharing with one of the Czech girls, Marija, who’d become a friend).
~
She met Robert Potter at a function the museum was holding to raise funds. They clicked immediately, and he asked her out to dinner, and a year later he asked her to marry him.
Lily gaped at him for a moment. For a fraction of a second, the image of James, the boy she’d met on holiday all those years ago, moved to the front of her mind. She wondered why, as she hadn’t thought about him for years.
She said yes to Robert. They had a Spring wedding.
~
Lily had her first child a year and a half after the wedding. As she held the tiny baby boy in her arms, she wondered what to name him.
A little voice in the back of her mind suggested Harry. She smiled thoughtfully, and suggested it to Robert. He liked it, and so her little boy was named Harry Potter. He looked very much like his father, though everyone pointed out that his eyes were the exact same shade of green as Lily’s.
~
When Harry was eleven years old, a letter came for him. Lily recognised the crest immediately, and opening the letter only confirmed it: Harry could go to Hogwarts.
She talked to Robert about it (without mentioning her own letter, of course), and said that she wanted Harry to go to the school. Because he loved her, and recognised her tone of determination, Robert agreed, and Harry Potter went to Hogwarts.