Lily Potter

Lily Evans was born on January 30, 1960 to a perfectly normal family in Manchester, England. For the first nine years of her life, Lily was as perfectly normal as the rest of her family, and like all normal little girls, she enjoyed playing outside and trailing after her older sister, Petunia (who, due to little Lily's inability to master the letter 'P', gained the nickname "Tuney"). The two girls were best friends, and Lily thought she'd never find a better friend than her. When she was about nine, though, things got a bit ... strange.

One day, while playing outside, she was approached by a strange boy from the wrong side of town named Severus Snape. Severus could do magic, and he sensed a kindred spirit in Lily. Through him, she discovered she, too, had magical powers and had been enrolled since birth in a school called Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although Lily was insulted at first, Severus proved that he was telling the truth, and Lily soon believed him, and became interested into this interesting new world she'd been born into. Her non-magical parents were delighted. Petunia was not. She was jealous and angry, so she disguised her jealousy of Lily's powers as contempt and disgust, declaring her and Severus to be "freaks" and causing an irrevocable rift in their relationship.

When Lily was eleven, she finally went to Hogwarts, where she was Sorted into Gryffindor House, and it was everything she had ever wanted. Her beauty, brains, and kind personality made her very popular with her peers, and she was considered a "catch" for many of the boys at Hogwarts. With Severus and her new friends and fellow Gryffindors, Alice and Remus, by her side, Lily felt like she could take on the world. She excelled in Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration, and Professor Horace Slughorn took an especial liking to her, even though she was a Muggleborn, and invited her to join his exclusive Slug Club. She was excited to be included, and extra delighted when Severus was invited as well, for his prowess in Potions.

Even though they were on opposite sides of the social spectrum, Lily remained loyal to Severus, though he had been Sorted into Slytherin and was growing more and more enamored with the Dark Arts. It earned her some derision from the older students, but, she'd tell Severus later, the friendship of the boy who'd introduced her to the wonderful world she now lived in was more important than some stupid prats who cared more about social standing than what really mattered. It was around this time that Severus fell in love with her, and though Lily suspected his feelings for her ran deeper than friendship, neither of them spoke of it. In her fifth year, the same year she was made Prefect, Lily caught the eye of James Potter, another good-looking, talented Gryffindor. Although they would have been perfect for each other - at least as far as the bearers of the social standards were concerned - she found him arrogant and a disgusting bully, especially with the way he picked on Severus. That Remus went along with James' idiotic schemes when he really should have known better always disappointed her, and she didn't understand why he was so loyal to him. However, she and Severus had a falling-out near the end of fifth year - Lily didn't approve of Severus' friends, their growing interest in the Dark Arts, or their association with known Death Eaters, and their friendship ended permanently.

In Lily's sixth and seventh years, she grew fonder and fonder of James as he grew more mature, and they began dating during their seventh year. Despite their relationship, Lily didn't have a problem disciplining James for his pranks in her role as Head Girl (even though, she'd tell him, he was Head Boy and really ought to know better) - however, she was somewhat less likely to make out with the other delinquents she punished once she was off-duty. It was that same year she discovered why Remus was so unfailingly loyal to James and the other members of their merry band, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, as they had unlawfully become Animagi in order to keep Remus under control when he transformed into a werewolf. Although she disapproved of the illegality of their actions, she admired the level of skill, dedication, and loyalty that it displayed.

On graduation day, James proposed. It took Lily about two seconds to say yes.

Lily and James were married two months later, with Sirius and Alice as their best man and maid of honor, respectively. It was the last moment of true normality Lily and James would ever experience.

Soon after graduation, Lily joined the rebel group the Order of the Phoenix along with several of her schoolmates, determined to bring down Lord Voldemort and his followers. Even though she was a Muggleborn and James was fiercely opposed to Voldemort's cause, Voldemort had heard of their prodigious skill and approached them to join his cause. Of course, they turned him down flat, and gained a very, very dangerous enemy. That was the first time they defied the Dark Lord, and it wouldn't be the last. They defied Lord Voldemort two more times (first when they defeated the Lestranges quite decisively in a duel, and finally when they got word of a Death Eater attack preemptively and managed to clear the area, making the attack pointless and a waste of time), and then, in November of 1979, Lily discovered she was pregnant.

Lily gave birth in July of 1980, around the same time as her best friend, Alice. In their letters to each other, they spoke excitedly of how Neville and Harry are going to grow up to be best friends, and how they're going to live next door to each other. Lily also kept Sirius, Remus, and Peter abreast of Harry's progress and growth in letters, along with enclosed pictures. It was around this time that Sibyl Trelawney made a prediction that a boy born in the end of July, to parents who had defied the Dark Lord three times, would grow to ultimately defeat Lord Voldemort. Two people overheard the prophecy: Albus Dumbledore, and Lily's former best friend, Severus Snape. Now a full-fledged Death Eater, Snape had to tell Voldemort about what he'd heard, but he also went to Dumbledore to warn him of the Dark Lord's plans once Voldemort decided that it was Lily and James' son that had to be eliminated.

Dumbledore passed on the word to Lily and James, and they went into hiding with Harry. Sirius, James' best friend, asked that he be made Secret-Keeper, but James felt Sirius was too obvious a choice. Without telling anyone, he made his friend Peter Pettigrew their Secret-Keeper, and the only person who knew exactly where the Potters were hiding. This would prove to be their last mistake.

On October 31, 1981, Lily was getting Harry ready for bed when there was a commotion downstairs. She heard the words Avada Kedavra and her heart hurtled into her stomach as she realized what was happening - the Dark Lord had found them, and James was dead. She did what she could to block the door against the Dark Lord, but chairs under doorknobs can only do so much for so long, and within seconds, she was facing down the Dark Lord by herself.

Honoring what Snape had asked of him, Voldemort offered to spare Lily as long as he could kill Harry. Lily refused steadfastly, and, in a flash of green light, went down just as her husband had, ending the life of a promising young witch.

Her life might have ended, but her legacy - and final gift to her beloved son - lived on.