There was a house that was seldom ever quiet. The owner of the house, Marge, was a dog breeder and her work resulted in the barking of dogs filling the air almost every waking hour of the day, and sometimes into the night.
Lily hated the noise. She was forbidden from interacting with any of the dogs who were kept in the yard, except for Ripper- Marge's favorite who was kept inside the house. Ripper, quite unfortunately, was a rather ill behaved dog, and as a result, Lily decided she didn't like dogs.
If one were to stumble across the house that was seldom ever quiet, they might be confused, for Marge and Lily bore no resemblance to each other. This was because Lily was in fact, Marge's brother's niece. Hypothetically, if one were to find the house, however, their questions wouldn't stop there, but continue on to why Lily never left the house and why her "room" was in fact, the attic. The answer was a simple one that Marge liked to keep her hidden- Marge despises Lily. The only reason she allowed Lily to live under her roof was because she loved her brother dearly and wouldn't refuse when he asked her for a favor. Well, maybe she would, but this favor came with a free housekeeper.
On the day our story begins, eleven year old Lily was washing dishes, humming softly to herself to distract from the scalding hot water rushing over her hands. Marge walked into the kitchen, but Lily didn't notice over the sound of the water.
"Quit that nose." Marge commanded, scaring Lily, who jumped and immediately fell quiet.
Marge surveyed the spotless kitchen. Lily finished washing the last dish and shut off the water. She turned to face Marge, but didn't look her in the eyes, opting to stare at her feet instead.
"Well?!" Marge demanded, "What're you just standing there for?! House isn't going to clean itself!"
Lily nodded and moved to leave the room.
"Words, girl." Marge snapped.
"...y-yes Miss." Lily said quietly.
"Get out of my sight." Marge replied.
Lily left the room quickly.
She often dreamed about what it would be like to live with her brother, Harry. She knew of his existence, but to her knowledge, he did not know of hers. She had met her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia only once when she was little and the visit ended with Petunia crying and repeating "Looks just like her" over and over again. Lily didn't know it, but that was the reason she was separated from her brother in the first place. Petunia couldn't bear to raise the daughter that looked just like her deceased sister. It was easier to rise Harry- he looked like James, who Petunia still resented, but Lily was too much like her mother.
As Lily walked to the attic, she heard a small crash from the kitchen. She knew cane should go and clean up the mess sure to be found there, but hesitated due to her Marge's earlier dismissal.
"GIRL."
Lily hurried into the kitchen upon being summoned.
"What's this?" Marge asked, holding up a letter.
There was an owl perched on the kitchen counter, which confused Lily, but she didn't speak.
"What. Is. This." Marge repeated.
"I-I don't know, Miss." Lily said.
"Something freaky is going on here." Marge said, "And when freaky things happen, it's always your fault."
Lily looked down. She hated when the "freaky" things happened. It would always end up with her getting punished.
Marge ripper open the letter and read it's contents. She scoffed before looking up to glare at Lily.
"You know what this is?" Marge asked her.
Lily shook her head.
"They want to take you away." Marge said, "But I won't let them, no. I didn't raise you under my roof for eleven years just for them to snatch you up!"
Lily, still puzzled, remained quiet. Marge finally decided to quit her ramblings and threw the letter in the garbage bin. She ten shooed the owl out of the broken window.
"You'll be fixing that." Marge said, referring to the window.
"Yes, Miss."
"Get started."
Lily walked forward and began to clean up the glass with her bare fingers. She wished she could use gloves, but she knew Marge wouldn't allow it. It would be part of Lily's punishment to pick up the glass bare handed.
When she was finished, Lily, wiped her bloody fingers on her oversized shirt that she wore as a dress. The shirt was Marge's from several years ago, but due to Marge's rather large size and Lily's rather small one, it worked as a dress.
Marge sneered down at Lily.
"Disgusting." She scolded her for wiping her hands on the shirt.
"I'm sorry." Lily apologized immediately.
Marge didn't listen, instead marching over to Lily and grabbing her by the arm. She dragged Lily over to the sink where she turned the water on the warmest setting and thrust Lily's hands under. Marge then proceeded to harshly scrub at Lily's wounded fingertips, making sure to rub harder every time Lily winced.
When she was finished, Marge pushed Lily away from the sink.
"Now, girl, you are to go to your room and stay there until I finish coming up with your punishment for breaking the window, understood?!"
Lily nodded and stopped when Marge sent her a deathly look.
"Yes, Miss."
She scurried up to the attic where she paused a moment to see if Marge was following. Deeming herself safe, Lily then walked over to her bed and moved aside her pillow to reveal a small journal and a pen. She had stolen it from Marge a few weeks ago, but Marge hadn't noticed. The journal had been a gift to Marge, and one she didn't intend on using.
Lily flipped to a free page and began to write. Marge never bothered to send Lily to school, so everything she knew was self taught from the textbooks stored in Marge's office. Marge wasn't one for reading, so she never noticed the disappearances of a few textbooks at a time. Lily adored learning, so she didn't struggle too much with her studies. Heavens knows why Marge had books on Maths, History and Science, but Lily took advantage of her collection. She rarely touched the books about dogs, though, due to her distaste for animals like Ripper.
The letters continued to arrive at the house, all addressed to Lily. Too afraid to open them, Lily simply hid as many as she could, only getting punished for the ones that Marge found.
One day when Lily was cleaning up after Ripper who had made a mess in the living room, a knock was heard at the front door. That wad Lily's cue to dun and hide up in the attic. Marge opened the door, but Lily froze on the stairs to her room, curiosity outweighing her fear. She listened to Marge talking to the person at the door.
"What do you want?" Marge's voice demanded.
"I'm here to pick up the young Miss Potter." A voice replied, "You see, she hasn't responded to any of the letters an-"
"Nonsense." Marge interrupted, "You will find no "Miss Potter" here!"
"Lily doesn't live here?" The man's voice asked, sounding surprised.
"Not anymore."
"Well, where can I find her then?"
"God heavens, must I spell it out for you?! Lily is dead! Died ten years ago!" Marge fumed.
"Oh, er, I'm sorry for you loss." The man replied.
"Well then? Get." Marge snapped, slamming the door closed in his face.
Lily hurried the rest of the way up the stairs, to avoid getting caught. She snuck over to her small window and peered our to see a rather large man walking away from the house.
Little did she know that the man was her chance of escaping the house with Marge. When Hagrid left the house and delivered the news to Dumbledore that Lily was dead, it was believed. It wasn't until two years later when a "cat" spotted Lily through the window of the house that it was discovered that Lily wasn't in fact dead.
And that's when everything changed.