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Lily Evans was who majority of the peers at her school thought of when someone mentioned “perfection” (or something relatively close to it).
She was a teacher’s wet dream.
She studied and worked hard in class, participated and led class disucssions and encouraged her fellow students to engage in the classroom more. She brought their school ranking up with her perfect scores and volunteered constantly. She was the first to raise her hand up when teachers asked for fundraiser helpers. It didn’t matter if there was a reward or not, Lily Evans was always doing her best in school.
And it everything beyond that.
She was beautiful, ethereal, breath taking.
She had hair the color of a fire crackling, that cascaded past her shoulders, forming curls. Her was soft to the touch and had a bit of shine to it. She had ivory skin, her face littered with freckles. Her eyes were stolen bits of the Earth, brought together to form the most elegant blue-green color ever. She had plush full lips that had an natural tint to them, her cupid bow defined.
You’d think because she excelled in school and looks, she lacked in personality.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Lily Evans had an soul no words could describe. She was everything and everywhere all at once. Space and time defied her almost. She was why the planets were orbited, why there was gravity, why the world hadn’t gone corrupt. She everything and so much more.
Nothing you could bring up was something she lacked.
A family?
A Father who talked about her to his friends, who thought of Lily Evans as his pride. A Mother who looked out for her precious daughter. And best of all, a sister who understood her like no other.
Any sort of scandals?
Lily Evans was an pure soul, the closest thing she had to an “scandal” would be being involved in all sorts of dramas and fights to diffuse the situation. She never started anything, nor did she get between people.
Surely, not a boyfriend?
He was perfect, much like all the other things in her life. James Potter was your average American charming jock, complete with an obsession with rugby, growing out of his ego and being friends with the most mischievous students.
Lily Evans was perfection.
Atleast, that’s what everyone thought.
Lily was someone who no one knew.
She hated school.
It'd never been easy for her. She climbed her way from the bottom; despite constantly being told she’d amount to nothing. Anything less than 100% wasn’t enough for her. And yet, even though she’d always rank number one, it was never enough. She never validated academically, always pushing herself to do more. She’d been told to calm down, to enjoy life. But what life was there to enjoy if she couldn’t live up to her academic potential?
Lily never valued her beauty.
She never had the time to look into a mirror, nor did she understand what people saw in her. Everyone was better-looking than her. She had a tooth gap if you looked closely, and her skin turned red so easily. She looked like an enormous tomato; with the way her skin would match her hair.
And if she hated her looks, she despised her personality.
She often thought she fell flat and boring. Friends of her called her uptight and rigid. She couldn’t bring herself to party all night, or drink and do drugs she couldn’t name. She hated how she envied all the girls, their freedom, their carefreeness, their laughter, their joy. She hated herself for hating them. She wanted to engage in idle gossip and start fights, just let go of it all. But she didn’t.
And how could she learn to love herself if her own family didn’t?
Her Father who barely spoke to her, who was more gone than present. Her Mother who showed blatant favoritism between her two daughters in all the ways a mother could. And worst of all, a sister who was more of a stranger. They’d been close, until Lily got into a prestigious school. Petunia didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. Lily felt like an intruder into a perfect family of three.
So, she had learnt to keep quiet.
Whatever happened to her, no one had to know. No one knew about Mr. Mathew and how he’d sometimes ask Lily to stay back and play with her curls. No one knew about how he’d watch her play sport, and no number of layers could stop make him stop. No one knew about how once some girls held her down, cutting her hair all jagged and messed up. No one knew about how many times she was forced to eat alone in the bathroom stall, forcing back tears.
James Potter came along soon after.
He wanted Lily Evans. And he had got her.
But no one ever got Lily.
Atleast, no one until Pandora Rosier.
They’d connected, almost immediately.
Pandora was a very down-to-Earth type of person. She had beads and tinsel in her white dreads. She wore long skirts and high sandals, sometimes wedges and tops that complemented her dark complexion. She loved everything and anything about space and loved reading people. Palm reading, rituals, astrology, she loved it all. She talked about different types of crystals, and their properties, and what each of them meant. She told Lily about space phenomena, she really loved Pluto. She talked about Mercury and Venus as if they were divine beings rather than celestial bodies.
Pandora understood Lily, almost immediately.
They were like two souls who had been forced apart, who had met again and had to make up for time lost.
It wasn’t long before Lily realized she was falling for Pandora.
And she didn’t hesitate one day while stargazing to kiss her.
And Pandora had kissed back.
And when Pandora cupped Lily’s cheeks and told her she’d never let her go, she broke down in tears.
Pandora held her, all the way through.
Lily told her anything that came to her mind.
Pandora didn’t say anything, instead, she nodded and comforted her through gestures.
Lily had never felt more loved.
She forgot about the Potter boy and lost herself in Pandora’s warmth.
They became official not long after. Of course, they remained a secret. Pandora had understood Lily was already under so much pressure and stress. She didn’t want to be the cherry on top of a cake that was crumbling.
Lily vowed to take control back of her life.
She wouldn’t let anything around her consume her anymore.
She would be recognized, beyond her name.
And when Pandora had presented Lily an actual Lily on an random day and slid it into her hair, Lily told Pandora she loved her,
Pandora smiled back, and told Lily she loved her too.
They stayed under the star constellations they took turns pointing out, hands intertwined.
Everyone knew Lily Evans.
But only Pandora had the privilege of knowing Lily.