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If someone were to ask Petunia Evans what she thought of her younger sister, she’d say that she’s a heinous bitch.
If someone were to ask Lily Evans what she thought of herself, she’d call herself a feminist. And if others were to think of her as a heinous bitch, well, there are worse ways to be remembered by.
It’s not as though she purposefully tries to be mean to everyone.
Everyone else just scares easily.
In Lily's eyes, standing up for what she believed in was a necessary evil. And yes, sometimes this does ruffle some feathers, especially when this happens in McGonagall's English class. It was all too easy to paint her as the villain when she refused to conform to the expectations set for girls like her. Sort of a damned if you do, insulted if you don’t situation. If asserting herself made her a "bitch," then so be it. She’d rather be a fierce advocate than a timid wallflower, blending into the background like her friend Alice prefers to.
But Alice is more of a sweetheart than Lily could ever dream to be, so this works out for her. Lily's always been more of a spitfire, and quick to attack.
At Hogwarts, the whispers echoed through the corridors. "There goes Lily Evans, the forever virgin," they’d say, or "Did you see her punch, Lucius? Scary." But in truth, Lily enjoyed the fear. Less boys she had to punch this way.
She had a select group of friends—Alice, who shared her passion for equality, and Marlene, who embraced her wild side. They vowed to enjoy their senior year by only doing what they wanted to do, and not what society wants them to do thank you very much. To Marlene, this meant completing her kiss list of the ten hottest (and willing) blokes in their grade.
To Lily, this meant finally finding her copy of Feminine Mystique. The novel had been sold out at her local bookstore since its publication and she was determined to finally read it.
Much to Marlene and Petunia's dismay, Lily’s dad made a rule that neither girl were to date until graduation. Much to Lily’s joy, it was a well-known rule throughout the school, so she never had to contend with Petunia bringing home boys.
Which is what led her to her current situation.
She’d just been sitting on the couch, reading her book when her father walked in.
“Hello Lily made anyone cry today?” he cheerfully asked her.
“No,” she’d replied with a smirk, “but it’s only three forty.”
Her father had chuckled before Petunia entered the room in all her obnoxious perfumed glory.
In response to Petunia’s pointed glare at her new book, Lily decided to ask the question of the hour and hopefully mitigate Petunia's ire. They'd argued enough in the parking lot at school earlier.
“And where have you been?”
“Nowhere.”
Before she could keep digging, her father picked up the mail he’d brought in. “And what’s this? It says Queen Mary University on it?”
Lily snatched the envelope up immediately, turning away from her sister and father to scan the contents of the latter.
She shrieked and waved the letter above her head. “I got in” she gushed, grinning stupidly at the letter.
“Uh, that’s great honey. But how are you going to go? Queen Mary’s on the other side of the country,” her father tried to interject.
“Thus, the basis of its appeal” Lily laughed. Petunia scoffed at this, but Lily ignored her.
“Hah, I thought we agreed you’d stay here and go to school. Go to go to Trinity college like I did, right near the community college Petunia’s going to.” he tried again.
“No, you decided,” Lily pointed out, gearing herself up for a fight.
“Oh what, so you just pack up and leave, is that it?” he seemed genuinely hurt at the idea, as if he had any right to decide where she could or could not study.
“Let’s hope so” Petunia interrupted cheerfully. Lily jumped slightly; she’d almost forgotten Petunia was there. “Lily has always been a freak, now she can be as freaky as she wants far away from me. And I’ll be at college with a perfectly respectable boyfriend Lily can’t scare off if she’s far away.”
Their father raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.
The insult should sting, but it was just another to add to the long list Petunia had already shot at her in recent weeks.
Still, Lily couldn’t resist turning the heat up on Petunia as well.
“Ask Petunia who drove her home” she shot, turning to look at their dad.
“Lily,” their dad started, “don’t change the...”
She could see the moment her words registered in his brain.
“Drove? Who drove Petunia home?” he turned his judgmental gaze on Petunia.
“Come on in Petunia, the waters lovely and warm” Lily laughed condescendingly at her sisters shocked face.
“Well now, come on daddy you have to promise not to get upset but Amos Diggory gave me a ride home today after I decided my reputation can’t take the hit of being seen in Lily’s car. I don’t see why she should be the only one of us who gets a car, I mean I’m the older one” Petunia started, attempting to change the subject again.
Lily was the only one of the two with her drivers’ license, but they all ignored that rather relevant tidbit.
“A boy?” their father inquired, his eyebrow now at risk of disappearing into his hairline.
“His name’s Amos Diggory daddy. Now he’s...”
“An absolute flaming imbecile” Lily cut in.
“Please” her dad snapped, trying to stop the argument.
“Going to ask me to” Petunia continued, talking over both of them.
“I know what he’s going to ask you. He’s going to ask you if you’d like to go on a date, or perhaps to get ice-cream. Then you’ll be making eye contact, holding hands and the next thing you know you’re eighteen and a stay at home mum to two boys, wife to none.” Their father continued, unphased by Petunia’s imminent tears. “So, he may ask you on a date, but I already know the answer. No! It’s always no. What are the two house rules Petunia?”
“Number one, no dating until you graduate, and number two Lily?” he replied in response to Petunia’s stormy expression and resounding silence.
“Number two, no dating until you graduate” Lily cheerfully responded, not above getting under Petunia’s skin.
“Yes exactly, that’s it” he said.
“Yes, but daddy,” Petunia started.
“No buts,” father said. “I helped a seventeen year old girl deliver twins today, no boyfriend in sight, and do you know what she said to me?”
“I’m a crackwhore who should’ve made my sleazy boyfriend wear a condom” Petunia said, crossing her arms in defiance.
“Close, but no. She said ‘I should have listened to my father” he said.
“She did not” Petunia retorted, rolling her eyes at their fathers blatant lying.
"Well, that’s what she would’ve said if she wasn’t so doped up wouldn’t she.”
Petunia looked beseechingly at Lily, unable to reply. Noticing Lily shaking with silent laughter, she huffed and sat down.
“Can’t we focus on me for a second. I am the only girl in this whole school who is not dating” Petunia complained.
“Oh no you’re not, Lily’s not dating.”
“And I have no intention to start” Lily said. “Have you seen the arrogance that’s pretty much dripping off the guys these days. And don’t even get my started on their entitlement. They get offended if I open my own car door, even though I have no use for them doing it for me. But Godric forgive I let them pull out my chair for me. Suddenly I owe them a kiss and a heartfelt expression of my gratitude. No thank you, I could waste my time and sanity in more enjoyable ways.”
“Yeah, I get it, Jane Austen gets you off” Petunia scoffed. “But just because Lily doesn’t want to date doesn’t mean I don’t. I mean Lily, where did you come from, planet freak?”
“As opposed to planet ‘look at me, look at me’ or planet ‘I can’t do a thing for myself unless doing that thing gets a boys attention” Lily responded with a dry laugh.
Petunia scoffed but was quickly interrupted by their father.
“Okay, fine I’ll solve this. Old rule out, new rule in.”
Petunia’s face lit up at this but faded almost immediately when he continued.
“You,” he said, pointing at Petunia, “can date when Lily does.”
With a laugh, and ignoring the potential war he’d started behind him, he walked off to enjoy a quick nap before his shift started. It was truly the sleep of a man who knew his daughters weren’t going to be out getting knocked up for a very long time.
So really, it all started with a car ride. Not Petunia's car ride with Amos, but a car ride nonetheless. But more on that later.