she removed her hand from the handle, turning to face lily and finding her position interesting to say the least. “are you monitoring the situation or were you just in the right place at the right time?”
“both.” not true - this was fully a right place right time situation, but ‘monitoring the situation’ sounded much more important than ‘i’m sitting on the floor prewriting an essay between classes and peeves happened to float by.’ “i reckon it’s a classic something-over-the-door trick.”
“Lily!” she called out, tone mocking as she turned to face her best friend. She glanced down the corridor behind Lily just in time to watch the quaffle turn a corner and… there was a loud crashing sound. The smile was wiped from her lips, replaced with one filled with anxiety. “That’s a very good question, Lils. We should go to the pitch and solve this mystery,” she suggested, dragging Lily the opposite way of the trainwreck, that also happened to be the wrong way to the pitch.
her jaw dropped at the sound of crashing, but she barely had a second to move before marlene made the decision for them both to bail. “no, we’re not-” she protested, though it was easy enough for marlene to pull her away, partly because of marlene’s strength and partly because lily very much wanted to get as far away from the scene of the crime as possible. “quidditch pitch is the other way, marls, where are we going?”
“i don’t recommend going in there.” lily nodded at the closed door across from where she was sitting against the wall, writing up a paper for class and picking at a box of bertie botts (not necessarily in that order, priority-wise). “don’t ask me what he did, but peeves was just in there - still might be, for all i know - laughing up a storm and singing something about presents. concerning.”
“Conspiracy theory number one: they fed you different food than the rest of us from day one and primped and primed you to be the number one student of our year and that’s your big secret,” she tease, happy for the momentary distraction from what would come after graduation. Perhaps the entire year could be one big distraction. Honestly, she just wanted to put off reality for a little while longer - at least until she could perfect her magic again. “I like your head where it is right now - on your shoulders. One of us has to be level headed.”
“Plenty of villains have a redemption arch, right? We’re just waiting on hers,” she continued, inwardly hoping that was true, “Coffee sounds great. I didn’t realize how much getting back was also going to be tiring.” All Mary could think about was how nice it was going to feel to sleep in a real bed again - not a shed.
lily’s eyes widened. “mary macdonald, first of all, i’m not the number one student of our year. second of all, you cannot tell me that i’m the conspiracy, ‘cause you know i’ll take that to heart!” it was true - even though she knew mary was just teasing, now the idea was planted in her head and wasn’t going to leave anytime soon. “do i have to be level headed? but what if i decided to make this year my big ‘screw it’ year? stopped caring about classes, appearances, all those awful job connections we have to pretend to like?” a girl could dream.
she offered mary her elbow, in an attempt to be a proper walking companion. “we’re not sleeping anytime soon tonight, any of us - i won’t allow it - so coffee is going to be your saving grace. did you sleep on the train at all?”
Mary sighed dramatically, “Tell me. Who thought it was a good idea to create moving staircases in a school where students are punished for not getting to class on time? Honestly it is the perfect recipe for disaster and tearful students.” She mimicked Lily’s looking around for Marlene, curious to see who had caught their friend’s eye so strongly she wouldn’t be with them already. “She does realize a quaffle is heavier than a snitch, right? That if it hits you in the head, it can actually cause some very real damage?” Mary teased, putting on furrowed eyebrows, “Turned her? Oh, our love has always been evil when it comes to Quidditch. Why do you think she’s so skilled?”
If anyone turned evil over the summer, Mary feared it was herself. Something dark was brewing deep, but she just couldn’t pinpoint it yet.
“i bet you we could get some pretty good conspiracy theories going about this school, if we dug deep enough.” mostly still a joke - mostly. lily was certain that she could find at least one good conspiracy about the school before the year was up, if she ever bothered to get around to it. “apparently not! oh- but imagine how angry nearly headless nick would be if i joined the headless hunt before him! he’d never forgive me.” she shuddered dramatically at the idea of going out via quaffle, of all ways. “damn, you’re right. it’s just so hard to accept that your roommate’s a bloody villain when you always see the very best in people, y’know?” lily let an extremely non-convincing serious look sit on her face for just a moment before breaking out in laughter, “c’mon, get some coffee with me, we can go marlene hunting on the way.”
“My first year, I got lost so many times, you found me crying in a hallway on the exact opposite side of the castle than my class. I still don’t know how you found me,” Mary recalled, shaking her head with a sigh, “And somehow I still get lost. Am I directionally challenged? Speaking of direction, we need to go in the direction Marlene is. Any ideas?” A few glances around confirmed that the third Gryffindor girl was no where to be seen. It was also a good way to keep from talking about what actually happened just a few weeks ago.
“only found you ‘cause i was just as lost. i had almost forgotten about that, too - how did we survive first year at all?” as sad as she was to begin the end of their hogwarts career, lily was much happier to no longer be in that boat of confusion. at the mention of marlene, she stood on her toes to try and get a good look around the area for the girl - nowhere to be seen. “not a clue. i saw her earlier, nearly took my head off with a quaffle. you don’t think the summer turned her evil, do you? might cause some tension.” she joked. she couldn’t help but notice that mary had now twice avoided the simple ‘how are you’ question, and while she wasn’t going to bug her about it now, she was already formulating a plan to corner her in their dorm later and make sure everything was okay.
“Hey! My lips are sealed,” he said, holding up his free hand in defense before taking a sip of his drink, making a big show of savoring it. “Congrats, by the way. Not that I’m surprised. Only mildly hurt I didn’t get called up to serve beside you,” he teased. In reality, he’d never expected the post - Dumbledore would be mad to choose him. His show last year had been traumatizing enough - a student collapsing in the middle of the Great Hall before being sent away for the rest of term? Imagine the chaos if that happened again to a Head Boy… “How was your summer?”
“thanks.” she gave a playful curtsy, though her smile was genuine. lily really was proud to be head girl, and she probably wouldn’t shut up about it for the next few weeks before the excitement finally wore off. “it was alright, yeah! mostly helped my dad with campaigning, got the classic intern’s wage! what about you? everything been okay?”
Lily’s sudden explosion took Mary by surprise, but she was able to maintain her composure after a brief flash of alarm through her eyes. An added arms smack would’ve made it much more difficult. It wasn’t as if Lily arrived alone either. The gaggle of wiggling giggling gryffie babies flocked around her waist, as if they had truly adopted her as their new mother. Before, that would’ve been Mary too, but she couldn’t teach anyone in her current state. “How will they ever survive without your guidance?” Mary teased as the children slowly turned different ways and looked for their next piece of comfort, “I’m happy to be back. Summer doesn’t compare to the magic of Hogwarts.”
“they’ll manage, i believe in them.” she laughed, watching the kids wander away, “i remember our first year i would not leave one of the prefects alone, just because she made the mistake of being nice to me at the welcome feast. i think her name was caroline. about time the universe got me back for that.” lily shook her head, realizing she was beginning to ramble, “absolutely true. don’t know how i survived the summer without my favorite dormmates. you’ve been alright?”
“Your dad sounds like a stand up man. I’d like to shake his hand one day,” Ted joked. “And it’s not straight whiskey - I mix it with my hot chocolate…” He poured in a splash to demonstrate, knowing full well it didn’t much help his argument. “Here I was, all chuffed that you’d made Head Girl, only to find you’ve let the power go right to your head.”
“yeah, you two can bond over your taste in brown liquor.” she scrunched up her nose in mock disgust, “you- ted tonks, you’re joking! you did not defile some perfectly good hot chocolate with whiskey!” to be perfectly honest, that kind of sounded good, and she wanted to try a bit, but now that she’s made a point of bashing whiskey she refused to stand down. lily laughed, “oi, watch it. i’ll take more points off for saying that out loud! the people can’t know the truth of my power hungry ways.”
It had been a while since she’d walked the halls. Maybe life would have been better if she had been able to stay over the summer. The gap of time between Mulciber’s attack and coming back had left her feeling uneasy in the halls. It was as if he was going to jump out at any time and Mary simply wasn’t sure her magic would work the right way if she needed to defend herself. Magic boiled underneath the surface of every skin cell, but it was if there was a barrier she just couldn’t reach. If she tried too much, it eventually exploded out of her in a way she hadn’t planned, making everyone around her potentially collateral damage. The best way to get through something was to just go…through, right? So, she tried. Holding her head up and attempting to make the smile reach her eyes, she clicked through the halls with both grace and heavy shoulders.
“Time to start back,” she spoke at no one in particular.
“where have you been!” lily grinned at the sight of mary, half tempted to smack her arm as punishment for not saying hello yet, but she just barely restrained herself. it probably helped that she had several nervous first-years surrounding her, as if they were her personal baby ducklings, who would easily serve as witnesses. “alright, you lot, it’s officially time to spread your wings and mingle!” she waved them away encouragingly, turning back to mary, “i can’t believe i haven’t seen you yet! how was your summer? how are you?”
“Okay, okay, I know it’s not technically allowed, but we’re celebrating, right?” he smiled, slipping out the bottle of muggle whiskey. And Ted had more reason to celebrate than most. Last week had been his 18th birthday - an age he hadn’t thought he’d ever reach. He was back within the walls of Hogwarts, and the future had never looked so bright.
“you’re lucky it’s a special night.” lily laughed. admittedly, she had already begun drinking just a bit as well - only enough to get a bit tipsy! she wasn’t about to lose her head girl status on the first day of school. but it was the first day of school since the fall of voldemort, after all, and worth a bit of celebration. “might have to knock a few points from hufflepuff for the drink of choice, though... straight whiskey? that’s what my dad drinks.”
“Watch out!” she called, racing after the runaway quaffle that was flying right down the middle of the corridor and almost took a few students out in it’s path. Okay so maybe this prank wasn’t her best idea. She came to a stop next to someone, pushing her hair out of her face. “Shit- sorry, mate. Those quaffles really have a mind of their own sometimes, especially when they were taken off the pitch.” She flashed a quick smile, eyes darting in the direction the quaffle disappeared in before focusing back on the person beside her.
“what-” she barely had any time to process what was happening as she ducked out of the way, a rogue quaffle barely missing her. “marlene!” lily’s tone quickly became scolding -- normally she would be a bit more lenient, seeing as it was her roommate, but she had just almost gotten hit along with several other students who were now all looking a touch alarmed. “and why was it taken off the pitch?”
LILY EVANS is a GRYFFINDOR whose favorite subject is POTIONS, maybe because they are KINDHEARTED but also CONTROLLING. They might be so popular because they look like ZOEY DEUTCH, can you believe they are a SEVENTH YEAR? rumors say they support DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY. where do they go from here?
hi everyone! i originally had written here that i was gonna keep this short and sweet but it quickly got long so uh SORRY
my name is char, i’m bringing the lovely lily evans to this lovely rp!
a super fun fact is that i’ve actually never written lily before, so i’m super excited to bring this brand new character (to me, obviously, we’re all quite familiar with the lass on a basic level haha) to life!!!
intro:
lily joy evans was born to mark and denise evans on january 30th, almost exactly two years after her sister petunia. the word almost is something lily is quite thankful for -- if she had been born two days later, she would have shared her birthday with tuney, and her big sister would probably hate her even more than she presently does.
with a college professor for a mother and a politician for a father, lily was absolutely raised to be a firecracker. she’s just as big into muggle politics and various movements as she is interested in wizarding politics. her mother raised her to be a strong, outspoken woman, and damn if she doesn’t listen to her mother.
finding out she was a witch was the best thing that ever happened to her, and she has severus to thank for that discovery, several years before they first came to hogwarts. magic was incredible - magic is incredible - and even now she’s constantly amazed at what it can do.
magic also ruined her relationship with her sister. they were always so close, but things changed when lily did. they started to argue more, and petunia constantly had several choice nicknames for her. admittedly, lily did fire back. but tuney always started it!
holidays at home are still a little weird. luckily, petunia started dating that awful vernon guy a couple years back, and now she spends most of her time with him. still, lily misses her old friendship with her sister.
she is very good at all of her classes (with the exception of ancient runes but we DON’T talk about that), thanks to how very hard she works. lily spends an insane amount of time studying, because she’s fairly certain if she even misses one note she’ll start flunking everything.
besides her own constant need for perfection, a large part of this is because she’s a muggleborn. she knows half the school believes people like her shouldn’t even perform magic, and she’s determined to prove that she’s able to do just as much as pureblood magicfolk and more.
her fifth year she was made prefect, and held onto that title until she was named head girl this year. she’s very excited about this, glad to have one more thing to shove in the faces of those blood supremacist arseholes (and something that she can use to help better the school, suuuuure. ...but mostly that first thing) but at the same time, it’s just adding to the pile of stress that is seventh year at hogwarts.
regarding the fall of voldemort, she isn’t convinced it’s fully over. just because one man dies, doesn’t mean his legions of prejudiced followers are going to stop what they’ve been doing for years. hearing that voldemort was dead, though, was like the biggest wave of relief washed over her. if they could stop him, they could stop the rest of them.
but now... she has to think about what she’ll be doing after school. it was no question that after hogwarts she was going to do something for the cause, help where she could against the growing group of death eaters and their attacks, but if the troubles are truly over, what comes next?
quick fun things:
big quidditch fan, catch her in the front row bleachers of every game, fully decked out in gryffindor gear, even some fun enchanted face paint to boot
the type of girl to try and befriend literally everyone, but she WILL hold an annoying grudge if the friendship falls out for whatever reason
survives off of coffee, which she definitely enchants but will never admit to. it’s how she manages hardly ever sleeping
a very benevolent god when it comes to being head girl, she will fully look the other way as long as it isn’t hurting anyone and won’t also get her in trouble
...unless she thinks you’re an asshole
she found a way to get around the whole “no technology in the castle” thing (which, by the way, she is convinced was a rule put in place to stop the muggleborn students from being too powerful. just IMAGINE if they had access to technology at school), and has brought her full record collection to school. can be heard blasting muggle music on her record player regularly, and she’ll bring it down to the common room on weekends or for parties
it’s her way or the highway ladies and gents, she will get very annoyed if things don’t go her way lol. she finds what she can control and she grabs on tight, and if something is out of control it bothers her to no end
she loves to argue, it’s one of her favorite hobbies.
oh and her pet is a black cat named taffy! petunia pointed him out as a joke when they were shopping for pets before lily’s first year (”a freak black cat for a witch! wouldn’t that be perfect!”) but the idea quickly stuck.
