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"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Wednesday, October 1, 1975
Professor McGonagall announced today in Transfiguration that there will be a big Halloween party at the end of the month! Hogwarts never has social events, so everyone is thrilled about this bit of news. It's to be a masquerade ball, and bringing a date is encouraged. All the girls have been gossiping the entire day about what to wear and whom to ask (or whom they hope will ask them). Boys have been fawning over Isabel, but she's already decided on Phillipe Tremaine, the Ravenclaw Keeper. Cady seems somewhat put out, but I daresay we will find someone for her. Perhaps Remus Lupin? (I'm sure Sirius Black would have been her first choice, but he's already going with that Ravenclaw prefect, a Miranda something.) I admit I'm rather glad to be skimming over all that bothersome worry about dates; I'm obviously going with Ben, just as Alice is obviously going with Frank Longbottom.
I saw James Potter at lunch today, surrounded by a dozen simpering girls - as though he needs his ego any more inflated. I'm sure half the school will be clamoring to go with him, though I must admit I don't know why any girl would want to waste a perfectly good evening listening to him boast about Quidditch.
Well, I must go! Dinner is in three minutes and I'm famished.
~*~*~*~Current Mood:  excited |
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Saturday, October 4, 1975
Ventured into Hogsmeade today with the girls!
We went to Honeydukes, and I got Chocolate Frogs for Mum's birthday next week and a small bag of Every Flavor Beans for Daddy. (Didn't bother to get Petunia anything, since she always turns up her nose at anything "freakish," her word for "magical".) Next it was off to the post office for Isabel to pick up a package, which her mum hadn't trusted their owl to bring safely to Hogwarts. It turned out to be her dress clothes for the Halloween party, ordered straight from Paris in honor of her French date. Then Alice dragged us to Scrivenshaft's to get new quills, because Frank Longbottom had accidentally sat on a box of her old ones - again - and broken them all - again.
Finally we went to get drinks at the Hog's Head, which was packed. Sirius turned up with James Potter, who was being annoying as usual, flirting outrageously with Isabel (I could tell she was enjoying it) and playing with that stupid Snitch he always carries around in his pocket. Then Ben and his friends came in, and when he tried to kiss me hello, somehow managed to trip over James's foot (which was stretched out for some reason) and fell onto his face instead. Now apparently James was trying to help him up, but somehow mysteriously managed to spill the entire contents of his butterbeer onto him. Poor Ben was in pain and dripping with beer, and he got up and they nearly brawled in the tavern right then and there.
Luckily I had my prefect privileges: I ordered James to stop being such a bastard, and then I dragged my furious boyfriend out of the pub so that he wouldn't murder our Gryffindor Chaser (all right, I admit it, we need James Potter to win the Quidditch Cup this year but that was the only reason I saved his arse). I honestly don't know why Ben happens to be his target. I don't think they've even had a real conversation, but every time they meet, all hell breaks loose. Yes, James can be an arrogant asshole, but he's civil to mostly everybody (with the obvious exception of Severus Snape). I can't get to the bottom of it.
Well, it's time to walk down to dinner with Alice - I'll write more later.
~*~*~*~Current Mood:  frustrated |
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Wednesday, October 22, 1975
On Wednesday after Herbology, the three girls headed over to the Great Hall for lunch.
"I'm ravenous," groaned Isabel, plunking her books down on the table. She looked eagerly at the appetizing roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding, and piled a bit of everything onto her plate.
"You'll never be able to fit into your dress robes by Halloween," observed Cady with a grin, watching her shovel food into her mouth. "What will dear Phillipe say?"
"He's a Frenchman," retorted Isabel through a mouthful of food, "Frenchmen like their women to have healthy appetites." She shot a dirty look over at the Hufflepuff table, where Hallie Hewitt was sitting with four admiring boys. "Besides, who likes girls who survive primarily on iced water?"
"I guess James Potter, since he asked Hallie to the party," answered Lily, frowning as she glanced down the table. James and Sirius were balancing spoons on their noses, apparently having a contest to see who could keep them on the longest. Remus Lupin was sitting across from them, shaking his head and laughing, his eyes on his wristwatch as though timing them.
Isabel rolled her eyes. "Boys," she said condescendingly.
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Thursday, October 23, 1975
I got back my paper on Hobgoblins today in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Merrythought had given me 98% on it! That was the second highest grade in all three of her classes (Sarah Bryant got 100% of course). I got my test back in Ancient Runes, and I didn't do too badly on that either, just not as well as I would have liked. I talked to Professor Owling after class to see if there was anything I could do to improve, and he suggested that I take out Mystic Inscriptions of Ancient Wizarding Greece from the library.
I headed over there after lunch and looked for it in the back, when I saw the strangest sight: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter, all sitting at a table with their heads bent low over thick textbooks. I suspected something immediately, so I headed on over there to see what they were doing. Apparently they were reading up on different types of animals, because Sirius was poring over a copy of Breeds of British Canines and Peter was gnawing his fingernails over One Thousand and One Magical Rodents. I couldn't see what James was looking at, but his book had some kind of moose or elk on the front. "Just doing a bit of extra research for Care of Magical Creatures, Ms. Prefect, nothing wrong with that, is there?" he said to me, with that annoying grin plastered on his face as usual. The problem was, there wasn't anything wrong with that, so all I could do was just leave them alone. Still strange though, isn't it? I mean, they're not exactly the most diligent students. I can't figure it out.
~*~*~*~Current Mood:  curious |
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Friday, October 24, 1975
Arithmancy was dreadfully boring today, and I could barely keep my eyes open in History of Magic. Professor Binns noticed nothing, of course, and just droned on and on about Helena the Great who killed Eadric somebody-or-other for some stupid reason, probably because he was poaching on her land or something like that, I wasn't listening. I was too busy dreading my sister's engagement party tomorrow, where I will inevitably stand the entire evening with my family at the country club, greeting guests I don't care a Knut about. And then Professor Binns forged onto the topic of genealogy, and how family trees affect history, and I got to thinking about my own family.
Not very many people know that I am, in fact, not a Muggle-born - at least, not a true Muggle-born. There have been witches and wizards on both sides of the family, but they numbered so few and married so many Squibs and Muggles that magic is very rare in either the Evanses or the Lloyds. I have been the first actual witch since the time of my great-great-great-uncle Galahad Evans, on Daddy's side, and my great-grandmother Azalea Audley and her twin sister, Peony, on Mum's side. I guess that makes Mum and Dad partially Squibs. Fractional Squibs, whatever, but they haven't an entire milligram of magic in them and Petunia has even less, if any. I suppose that's why everyone was so ecstatic when I got my Hogwarts letter four years ago.
Petunia took it pretty hard. She was fifteen when I got my letter and everyone else had given up all hope of her ever being magical. Mum and Dad are lovely people, but can be rather tactless, and I suppose they continually reminded her of her shortcomings. I don't think it was any easier for her to see me boarding the Hogwarts Express every September, off for a new year of fresh adventures and exciting classes. She has always been jealous by nature, but now it's gotten so bad that she can barely stand to be in the same room as me. I'm surprised she's even allowing me to attend her engagement party (probably Mum and Dad forced her to).
I just wish she wouldn't hate me for something so stupid. It's not my fault I was born magical, just as it's not her fault she wasn't. We can't control whom we were born, but we can control what to do with ourselves. Petunia's method of coping with the magical world (which, in her eyes, has "shunned" her) is to disown it completely. She can't stand the word "magic," goes all purple whenever Mum or Dad or I even so much as mentions Hogwarts, and absolutely refuses to be anything but "normal," meaning Muggle-like. Dad says she's just embracing her inner Muggle - after all, three-quarters of our ancestors have been Muggles. Maybe that's why she's agreed to marry Vernon Dursley. He is, after all, the biggest Muggle I ever did see.
Well, that was a long entry today - sorry if I bored the pants off of you all. I must go and pack now, Daddy is coming to bring me home in an hour, and I'm to go last-minute shopping with Mum and Petunia for the party tomorrow. Let the festivities begin.
~*~*~*~Current Mood:  restless |
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Saturday, October 25, 1975
On Saturday night, the ballroom of the Lyndonshire Country Club was packed with people in their very best evening attire. Everyone who had been invited had turned up at the engagement party of the Evanses' eldest daughter, Petunia. She stood by the doorway with her fiance, her parents, and her sister, greeting an endless parade of guests. Lily marveled at how her parents seemed to remember each and every guest.
"Theodore and Estella!" Mr. Evans exclaimed, as a couple entered the room. He turned to his wife. "Rosemary, you remember the Hauton-Stanleys, do you not? Mr. Hauton-Stanley attended Oxford with me. He used to work at my law firm, and then moved to Bath with his wife to start his own." Lily thought that he greatly resembled her father, in that they were both tall and gray-haired, with stern faces and kind eyes. Perhaps that was what all lawyers looked like.
Mrs. Evans extended her hand and smiled warmly. In her mid-forties, she was still a very pretty woman, with Petunia's ash-blond hair and Lily's dark green eyes. "Of course I remember," she said, beaming. "We had you over for dinner once. How do you do?"
Her husband continued the introductions. "This is our daughter, Petunia - the happy bride-to-be, of course - and her fiance, young Mr. Dursley. And this is our youngest child, Lily, home from school."
Petunia smiled almost shyly. She had been exceptionally and uncharacteristically quiet this evening - possibly nervous, Lily surmised. "Thank you so much for coming."
Since their arrival, Vernon Dursley had been looking the Hauton-Stanleys up and down, ready with a cold nod of greeting. When he learned that the gentleman owned his own law firm, however, his manner became much warmer and he offered his hand genially, apparently having decided that the Hauton-Stanleys were people of consequence and therefore worth knowing.
"What are you studying at school, dear?" asked Mrs. Hauton-Stanley in her girlish voice, smiling at Lily.
Lily saw Petunia's eyes dart quickly towards her.
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Monday, October 27, 1975
Care of Magical Creatures was conducted in one of the greenhouses today. I suspect Professor Greywing's sudden interest in having us study Rose-Devouring Finkleworms (which only thrive in warm, humid conditions) has to do with taking us off the grounds and safely indoors. Though Professor Dumbledore has assured us that Hogwarts is currently one of the safest places to be in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds, heavy precautions are still being taken. As a result, Cady, Isabel, and I had to forgo our usual walk about the grounds after lunch and sit in the Common Room with the other Gryffindors instead.
Of course, no one could talk about anything but the news of the Muggle couple murdered in their own home. From the broadcast on television that Mr. Hauton-Stanley had witnessed Saturday night, the news had spread to all of the Muggle newspapers and to the Daily Prophet as well. The only facts ascertained were these: John and Miriam Harper, aged 56 and 49 respectively, had been happily married for 25 years. He had been a simple carpenter, and she had been a housewife and mother to their three sons, now grown. They had no enemies, and, as the Ministry of Magic insisted, no ties whatsoever to the wizarding world. The Minister of Magic herself, Millicent Bagnold, did affirm that the supposed smoke above the house was indeed the Dark Mark. Why a peaceful Muggle couple could ever have incited the wrath of a pack of Death Eaters was beyond anyone. Perhaps it was simply because they were Muggles, and that they were some form of sick entertainment.
"It's those damned Slytherins!" James Potter burst out in the Common Room today. "They're always involved in this type of thing! I'll bet that hook-nosed, vulture-faced Snape was behind it..."
I told him to wrap it up, of course. How could a fifth-year Hogwarts student perform an Unforgivable Curse? (Honestly, those two are always at each other's throats.) He didn't have anything to say to that, but his friends didn't look very convinced. Sirius kept muttering something about his family and someone named 'Creature,' and Peter looked ready to wet his pants at the slightest provocation, as though a Death Eater would burst through the Fat Lady's portrait at any second.
I'll tell you one thing, though - if ever there was something I do not understand and that I do not tolerate, it is prejudice against those of Muggle origin. How is it possible for someone to hate another so much, simply because of what they were born? I wonder what kind of madness overtakes a person when they presume to hold their birth over another, something so wholly out of their control, and use that to justify violence and bigotry? Have they ever thought that situations might be reversed, that they might have been born the Muggle and therefore been the victim? Blood ties people together, but it is probably the least reliable factor in determining a person.
Sirius Black, for example, couldn't care less whether you were a wizard, a Muggle, or even a bloody leprechaun, yet he hails from one of the oldest, richest, most illustrious "pureblood" families in wizarding history. His lineage is ancient, but hardly respectable. They may have old blood, but Sirius himself has said (in a very disgusted tone of voice) that every single one of his family have been in Slytherin (with the exception of himself and his cousin, Andromeda, who is in Ravenclaw). They liken themselves to royalty, according to what Sirius says, and look down upon anyone of even half-blood with disdain and contempt.
People like that disgust me beyond all measure, not just because I am practically a Muggle-born, but because of all the people I know or care about who are. If ever given a chance to confront a Death Eater, I would sooner die than flee. I am not afraid. What they need to know about me, Lily Elizabeth Evans, is that when I am scared or provoked, I get angry. If they ever presume to threaten my friends or my family, I swear that if I must die, I will take down every single one of them that is in my power to take down.
If ever I were absolutely, one hundred percent positive about something in this life, this is it.
The war has begun and I will take my place in it when need be.
~*~*~*~Current Mood: enraged |
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The Diary of Lily Elizabeth Evans (Year 5)
Wednesday, October 29, 1975
Today the Ministry of Magic captured two Death Eaters and a third person, all involved with the death of Mr. and Mrs. Harper. The Death Eaters were Silas Hornling and Horace Bloodbane, and today they were sent to Azkaban to await their trials in late November. (The trials are probably unnecessary, as Bartemius Crouch, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, has pretty much assured everyone through the Daily Prophet that he'll personally introduce them to the Dementors sooner or later.) The third person involved in the murder was the one that baffled everybody most of all. It was Gregory Berkenstock, a Ministry of Magic worker who was acually in Mr. Crouch's own department. A Priori Incantatem spell had shown that it was his wand that had murdered the Muggles and the Dark Mark.
The official decision was that the two Death Eaters had happened upon Berkenstock alone and had decided to use him for a little fun. They had put the Imperius Curse on him and forced him to kill innocent Muggles and set the Dark Mark in the sky above their house, all for entertainment.
Whether this report is particularly true or not doesn't matter. But it looks as though no one is trustworthy anymore.
~*~*~*~Current Mood: restless |
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Friday, October 31, 1975
The night of the Halloween masquerade ball came, and along with it the promise of romance and excitement. Fear and anxiety over the Death Eater attacks gave way temporarily to anticipation. Students and teachers alike made careful preparations in their rooms before the party, eager to impress everyone with lovely costumes and clever disguises.
At half past seven, Lily had finished dressing before the other girls and prepared to walk down to the entrance hall, where the masqueraders were congregating. Before she left, she glanced one last time in the full-length mirror, turning this way and that to see her reflection. She wore a gown of deep green velvet that matched her eyes and clung to her slender figure, its wide sleeves nearly sweeping the floor. She wore no ornaments but a pretty golden circlet around her brow, and the simplicity of her costume suited her. Lifting the hem of the gown slightly, Lily smiled down at the pretty green slippers on her feet - a present from her father. Satisfied, she climbed out the portrait hole and started down the hallway, following a crowd of people also heading in that direction.
From her descent down the grand stairway, she could see that the entrance hall was packed with students in costumes of every type and color: merry clowns in orange, princesses in royal purple, elves and fairies in spring green, creepy vampires in plum and black. Her eyes swept the crowd for people she knew, and she immediately spotted Ben standing at the foot of the steps, waiting for her. He was looking very handsome in a brown tunic and black boots, a dark green hat with a red feather perched on his sandy hair. Around his shoulders was wrapped a dark green cape, and he carried a pouch with a bow and arrows on his back. He grinned up at her as she came down and swept his hat off in a gallant bow.
"Good evening to you, Maid Marian," he said solemnly. "May I tell you how ravishingly lovely you look tonight."
"Good evening to you, Robin Hood," she answered with equal solemnity, "and may I remark that you look extremely dashing yourself." They laughed. She took his arm and they wandered around the crowd. Lily noticed that the enormous oak doors of the Great Hall were securely closed; there had been rumors flitting around that the teachers had lavishly decorated it with skulls, bones, and bats, and that it was all a big surprise.
"Lily!" Cady called, and hurried over with Remus Lupin in tow. "You look splendid! You too, Ben - good thing Mum's a dab hand at sewing, isn't it?"
Ben grinned wryly. "I was told by a reliable source that I look dashing tonight, so yes, a very good thing." He looked his sister and her date up and down. "You two look ready to walk the plank!" Cady and Remus were dressed as pirates; both wore bandannas tied around their heads and knee-high black boots. Cady wore gold hoop earrings to complement her red-and-white-striped mini-dress, and Remus wore a striped shirt and trousers to match her and carried a plastic cutlass. Both wore eyepatches.
"All I'm missing is a parrot," joked Remus, patting his empty shoulder. "Tried to convince one of the school owls to squawk and be painted green, but they wouldn't hear of it."
"You make a fabulous pirate wench, Cady," Lily said approvingly, admiring her friend's bright costume. "Glad you didn't take the easy route and just wear your Quidditch uniform?"
"It would've been a great deal easier, but not half so fun," agreed Cady with a smile. She glanced around the crowd. "There are some really great costumes, though. Have you seen Bartholomew Bates and Halima Daoudi from Hufflepuff? They're dressed as an electrical socket and a plug! Ha!"
Lily chuckled. "Very creative. And look, there's someone dressed up as a fish with his date as the fisherman. And there are Alice and Frank!" She waved to them, and the round-faced, pink-cheeked couple came over, their faces wreathed in wide smiles. They looked adorable as the King and Queen of Hearts. Both wore giant gold foil crowns and carried sceptres, with lovely red and black capes that floated behind them. Alice was in a poufy red gown decorated in glittering hearts, and Frank wore a doublet and pantaloons worthy of Shakespeare himself.
"Halloa there!" Frank Longbottom exclaimed heartily, knocking a few people over as he approached them. "Oops - beg your pardon there. Splendid party, is it not? Personally, I'm dying to know what they've done to the Great Hall. Heard a few Slytherins expecting there'll be trolls in there, but I daresay Dumbledore would never allow them in. Isn't that so, Alice?" He turned to his date and nearly knocked the crown from her head with his sceptre.
"Quite right, Frank," she said, smiling. "I heard the Hogwarts ghosts set up a band and will provide the entertainment."
"I'm not so keen on hearing Nick wail away," joked Ben, and they all laughed affectionately at Nearly Headless Nick's expense.
There was a sudden uproar over by the stairs. James Potter and Sirius Black had just made their grand entrance, as befitting the two most popular boys in school. Everyone craned their necks curiously to see what their costumes were.
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