Rain Inside and Out by clyana

Summary : start off new, take a girl, bring in a guy. Add a pinch of fire, a smidgen of enmity, a dash of disgust, a glimpse of chemistry, a splash of exasperation, a soupcon of obstinacy and a touch of denial. Get ready for the overly-dramatic story of Lily Evans and James Potter.

Chapter 1 : Leaving home

“I can’t believe this. This. Is. Un-be-lie-va-ble.” I gasped as I read my Hogwarts letter for the third time. There could have been many reasons for my shocked expression, such as the fact that I had just found out I was to be Head Girl during the next school year, or that I finally realized that it would my last and final year at Hogwarts. But no. I had always worked real hard in order to one day obtain that shiny red and gold Head badge and at the end of my sixth year, it didn’t seem as though I wouldn’t get it. The reality that my school years would soon be over wasn’t the cause of my surprise either– the teachers had practically forgotten to teach us anything in their intentions to blab on unlimitedly about our seventh year during our sixth about how exceptionally important NEWTS were, so I wasn’t about to forget those in some time. No, the reason for my astonishment was none other than the identity of the Head Boy, someone I’d be working with constantly. Someone I had well grown to hate over the past six years. I just couldn’t help but keep asking my overly astounded little self who in their right mind would have ever thought of even mentioning James Potter as a future Head Boy.              

Dear Miss Evans,I would firstly like to apologize for the delay of this letter. I do hope you’ll get it in time. I wanted to make sure it arrived safely to destination and wasn’t intercepted along the way, what with all the chaos that is the wizarding world at the moment. Secondly, I would like to congratulate you on making Head Girl for your seventh year here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find your badge enclosed in this letter. You’ll have important responsibilities this year as I’m sure you already know. You’ll also be working with the Head Boy - James Potter of Gryffindor House. As the list of needed books has already been given to you on the last day of your sixth year due to the insecurity provided by owl post, you’ll see the pointlessness of sending it to you again. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King’s Cross September 1st at 11am on platform 9 3/4 as usual.Yours truly,Professor Albus DumbledoreHogwarts Headmaster

Did the greatest wizard alive really want to make my life hell ? Because that was obviously bound to happen.

“Lily, Petunia, breakfast!” Mom’s cheery voice was heard from one end of the house to the other. It was common knowledge that breakfast in the Evans’ household was to be a “family thing”, it had always been and I wasn’t one to break tradition so I dropped my letter on the desk and headed downstairs. Unfortunately, I just had to encounter my lovely sister in the hall. Petunia, unlike me, was tall, had a long neck and a piercing gaze that made her look like a buffalo ready to attack. Stepping out of the bathroom, she had wrapped her long, dark hair in a towel on top of her head and was wearing a pair of plain black pants and a pale and faded orange shirt. I was vaguely reminded of Halloween and this sudden reminder of last year’s celebration brought me into having to make tremendous efforts to keep myself from bursting out laughing.

She looked at me as if I had been the most abominable sort of repulsive insect and snarled, “Get out of the way, freak.”

“Good morning to you too,” I answered.

“Don’t talk to me, you weirdo,” she retorted sourly, making her way back to her room.

“Don’t worry, I won’t bother in the future,” I said with a laugh. Her reactions were just so pitiful and ridiculous sometimes. A voice in my head told me Petunia really did mean what she said, but I ignored it. I had been in the same situation for the past six years so why even bother? I ran down the stairs to the kitchen to find my parents sitting at the table.“Morning hon,” my mother said as she poured herself some coffee.

“Morning Lily,” my father added.

“Morning, guess who was made Head Girl?” I asked excitedly.

“Roxy?” Dad guessed.

“Ryan!” Mom said in exasperation, now scanning over the headlines of the Daily Prophet.

“I’m just kidding, congratulations!” he exclaimed as he came over to give mea hug.

“I knew you’d get it, I’m so proud of you!” my mother squealed.

“Yay, let’s all be happy for freaky Lily who just got named a super freak at her freak school!” Petunia cried sneeringly as she entered the room. She had gotten rid of the towel on her head, not that she looked much better without it.

“For the last time, your sister is not a freak, she’s a witch!” Dad said sharply as he offered me some toast. I took it, to Petunia’s disgust and jealousy at not being offered any.

“Same thing,” she said taking a seat next to our mom.

“Dear, would you please be nice to your sister? It’s her last day at home and you won’t be seeing her for four months!” my mother asked patiently.

“Good riddance!” she exclaimed.

“Petunia!” Dad shouted, “Chloe, we have to do something!”

“Whatever, can you drive me to Carrie’s, Mom?” the nineteen-year-old asked, with an innocence that didn't suit her.

“Honey… didn’t you see her just yesterday?” Chloe argued.

“But Mom!”

“Anyway, I’m taking Lily to the station. Why don’t you take the bus?” Mom suggested.

“Funny, you don’t tell Lily to take the bus,” she noted bitterly.

“You stop those arrogant remarks right now young lady!” Dad said seriously.

“Why am I the only one who sees that eccentric freak for what she really is?! She’s all you care about, Lily this and Lily that. Well I’m your daughter too you, you know! You seem to have forgotten that I’m actually normal! That abnormality I have the misfortune to call my relative is a disgrace to this whole family and you’re both absolutely blind to it! ”

She’d been speaking in pure hatred and envy and I knew it. But not once did she say a single word to my face and that I couldn’t overlook. I hadtried to be civil to my bloody sister for two months, but now she had gone too far. She was not going to ruin my last day at home.

“I’ve had just about enough of this,” I said disgusted. I took out my wand and pointed it straight at Petunia.

“You can’t use that – that thing outside of school.” she said acting confident, although she didn’t sound so sure of herself. The triumphant look she had tried to paste on her bony face was giving her away miserably. Of course, I noticed.

“It’s called a wand, my dear, and students seventeen and older can use it anytime,” I gave her a horribly sweet smile.Petunia turned livid. She had lost all glorious expression on her face, which amused me.

“Don’t point it at me!” she shrieked.

“You know, after having to bear with the Marauders for six long years, I dare say I know some pretty good hexes,” I informed my sister smartly, “I can turn your hair blue, enlarge your teeth or even make you talk backwards for the next two days.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Petunia said in a hushed, frightened voice.

I laughed.“Accio orange juice!” I shouted. Petunia screamed and ran out of the room covering her head with her hands. In the meantime, the glass of orange juice that had been in front of her and that I had been pointing at, zoomed into the air and landed in my hand.

“I told you not to tell her you could do magic outside of school,” Dad sighed.

“I know but it’s my last day here and she wasn’t about to ruin it - she was seriously getting on my nerves,” I replied casually between two gulps of juice.

“Alright, we’re leaving in ten minutes, get your trunk downstairs now that… you can,” Mom said with a half amused, half exasperated tone in her voice.              

So I walked back upstairs, finished packing my trunk and checked if I hadn’t neglected anything. Surely enough, my eyes landed on my desk, where my Hogwarts letter lay forgotten. I picked it up, reread it once more and the joy from Petunia’s delusional attitude disappeared instantly. Another year with Potter -because that’s what I called him- and he called me Evans. I had never heard him use my first name and doubted if he even knew it since his only preoccupations in life seemed to be snogging girls and planning pranks (against the Slytherins most of the time). I don’t think he knew half the names of the bimbos he ever went out with anyway. So he was just Potter to me. Arrogant–conceited–egoistical-Potter : the infamous Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, best student in the school (except for me that is) who got all Os in his OWLs without studying much and grand member of the Marauders which consisted of himself, Sirius Black, another detention-magnet, Remus Lupin, a master of mischief who half-hid behind the disguise of a rather sweet and smart person, and Peter Pettigrew, a short, blond, shy boy who you could actually get a pretty good laugh from if you got to know him. But nevertheless, he was different from the other three and it was still a mystery to the whole school how he had joined the other Marauders in the first place but no one dared ask them about it for risk of being cursed into oblivion, something Potter and Black especially exceeded at. Anyway, Potter was sure not to follow his Head responsibilities; he always had this thing against school rules and there was no telling what kind of messed up ideas he’d come up with during Head meetings. If there was one person I couldn’t stand, it was him. Potter all in all, sun and rain, fire and ice, night and day …. was a living hell.               

Worse thing was, he probably just “fell in love” with the idea that he’d be working, if you can call it work, with me all year. Ever since fifth year, he hadn’t stopped asking me out, hell only knows why.               

Actually, I knew why. You didn’t have to be Einstein to be able to identify Potter as the biggest player ever alive. He wasn’t one to give up easily on anything and I had always refused to go on a single date with him. I suspected I was just about the only one, excepting exceptions of course. Every other girl couldn’t resist his charming smile that made them melt and his messy hair that made him look so goddamn hot… did I just call him hot?… God, I’m becoming like Petunia. Ok… so he is good-looking. No denying it. Whatever. I was not attracted to the toerag anyway; I’d have married a Hippogriff before I went out with Potter. So every week ever since fifth year he had asked me out, and every week, I turned him down. He was so annoying. He could have any girl he wanted, why did he bother with me? Didn’t he see that it wasn’t getting him anywhere?        

So I wasn’t the only one in the school he hadn’t gone out with. Thank God, my best friends Adriane and Roxy hadn’t either. Even if they didn’t go out with any of them, they still liked the Marauders. It was obvious Roxy had something for Black although what she found in him was still a mystery to me. Was I the only one to see him for the show off he really was? But she had never asked him out, for fear of rejection. I didn’t think he would have rejected her when she asked him out, rather when he decided he’d rather snog someone else, which probably would have been a week later and I could not have let that happen to my best friend. I would have committed murder if that day ever came. Roxy would not turn out like another “Marauder addict”. Adriane was more of the psychology type of girl and got on quite well with Remus, but she was currently going out with a seventh year Ravenclaw and didn’t consider him more than a friend. Thank Merlin.

“Lily, you ready?” I heard my father call from downstairs.

“Coming!” I replied. I took one last look at the piece of parchment before stuffing it inside my trunk, which I bewitched with a simple locomotor spell. It rose about a meter into the air and, being directed by my wand, flew down the stairs. My parents were in the entrance hall, smiling at my charm work: they had rarely seen me do magic, just when my sister wasn’t around.

“Petunia, would you come down -” my mother started to call but I knew it was no use.

“Forget it mom, I’m used to it,” I interjected before she had finished her sentence. My parents sighed forlornly: they had always regretted Petunia’s attitude towards me ever since we all learned I was a witch six years ago. My sister and I had been the best of friends before that; we never did one thing without the other. But then almost overnight she rejected me, considering me an enemy, a freak of nature and she never showed affection towards me ever since. I wrote her dozens of letters during my first and second years at Hogwarts, but never got a reply. I gave up after that, not bothering to try and convince her I was still the same. I had a feeling that however hard I tried, she would never understand, and that left a bruise in my heart I knew would never heal, like the emptiness you endure when you love someone who doesn’t love you back.

I walked outside to the front yard, felt the sweet smell of my mother’s roses invade my senses and drove away, leaving my house, my home, ignorant of the fact that I would never look at it the same way ever again.