Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

A New Beginning

Disclaimer : All the characters (excluding my OCs) and parts of the plot belong to JK Rowling.

I'll try to keep things as close to canon as possible.

Spoiler Alert : Spoilers from all seven HP books.

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Chapter 1

Apparently, things changed after Lily's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily's quite uneventful life (save for the times when Potter came up with another ridiculous way to ask her out) had suddenly changed by the end of the term.

Her best friend had insulted her in front of everyone in their year and she had blamed the entire incident on Potter (even though she knew it was not all his fault). Her friendship with Severus had been rocky since the past two years. And after 'The Incident', Lily had completely given up on trying to save him. He had chosen his way and she had chosen hers. It was strange how a slip of the tongue (as Severus called it) could make such a difference.

So, on the day Lily Evans's life changed course, she woke up grumpy (which is nothing unusual for Lily because she hates mornings as much as she hates James Potter). She brushed her teeth and walked to the kitchen for breakfast. Her dad had gone to his office and her mum had left a note saying she was going to pick Petunia and won't be back before lunch.

As much as Lily loved her parents, she loved being alone too. When alone she could look like a homeless person and not care about it. She loved the solitude which was obviously rare for a girl studying at a boarding school.

She skipped over to the kitchen, made herself a coffee and peered out of the window for the owl that gets her The Daily Prophet, but realized that it wouldn't arrive until nine. But Lily wasn't looking forward to reading it. The news had formed a pattern now - You-know-who, Death Eaters, missing Muggleborns, mass murders and so on.

She perfectly spread strawberry jam on every inch of her slice of bread and perched on the dining table, the muggle newspaper in her left hand. There wasn't anything worth reading in it too. She scanned the headlines and came across one that was about a woman who was found dead under mysterious circumstances and wondered for a brief moment if it has anything to do with her community.

After finding no other interesting news, she was about to toss the newspaper back on to the table.

But fate had other plans.

Before she threw the paper, something on it caught her attention. It was not a news, an advertisement actually. The title read : "Find new friends". Lily chuckled at the irony but continued reading. The article was about a pen friend community in London. Lily had never thought about having a pen friend. It somehow didn't feel real. Talking (writing, actually) to a complete stranger, someone she hasn't met, sounded ridiculous. But now it didn't seem like a stupid idea. It wasn't that she was desperate to have a new friend. She had only lost Severus, she still had Marlene, Mary, Alice and everyone else back at school.
Anyhow, she decided to give it a try.

What difference would it make?

Little did she know.

She detached the application form from the newspaper and filled it in. She had thought about writing her own name, but later, for no particular reason, decided against it and wrote Lizzy instead (since she had already written the first two letters). She filled in the other details after making sure that nothing but her first name will be provided to her pen friend and put the form in an envelope and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower.