InsaneJournal

About the Character
Basics

• Name: Lillian Alice Potter (née Evans); no one called her Lillian except for her grandmother. She goes by "Lily".
• Birthdate: January 30, 1960.
• Citizenship: British.
• Current residence: Godric's Hollow with James' parents Cottage in Dorset with James and occasionally Sirius.
• Blood status: Muggle-born.

Physical

• Height/weight: 5'8 3/4 - 130 lbs.
• Hair/eyes: Dark red/green.
• Manner of speech: Lively, energetic, witty, sweet, calm.
• Manner of dress: Feminine, simple, clean, practical.
• Physical description: Lily is described as being "striking" with her bright green almond-shaped eyes and her long red hair. There is no denying that she is, indeed, very pretty. She stands at 5'8", and is rather lean. All her life Lily was awkwardly skinny so much that her parents always told her to eat more. She was just one of those lucky girls who could eat a whole pizza and tub of ice cream and still not gain a pound. There was really nothing she ever did to make herself as skinny as she was.

However, now that she's 6 months pregnant, she obviously has been gaining weight like crazy. This is a newfound territory for her, and she doesn't like it one bit. She's just waiting for Sirius to charm her to sound like the beeping of a truck backing up anytime soon, or the foghorn of a ship.

Lily carries herself with confidence. Sometimes she feels awkward in her own skin, but most of the time she seems as though she can take the world on without a second thought. She often wears her hair in a long plait or down and loose. She wears very light make-up, if any, and prefers plain, practical clothes. Lily never grew up in a rich household, so spending lots of money on clothes has never appealed to her. She'd rather be comfortable and practical than look like a fashionista. Lily's smile is also one of her finest traits. When she smiles and laughs she can light up a room, and conversely, when she's angry -- there is no denying that she's angry. Lily has a very fresh face as well as a very expressive one. Her large almond eyes make it so that even strangers can see how she's feeling at any given moment. She's an open book more often than not.

• First impression: A witch with confidence, intelligence, and vivacity. She's someone you can talk to and confide in at any given moment, and looks as though she always wants to help.

• PB: Shannon Lucio 1, 2, 3. Gorgeous banners by tweexcore.

Personal

• General personality: Lily is a determined individual. She is strong, but her strength comes from the people around her. She cares so deeply for her friends and family that she would do absolutely anything for them, even above herself. She is really quite intelligent, making only the best grades at school. It's not as though Lily didn't work at that, however. Lily spent most of her time studying at Hogwarts, and not so much time socializing. She rather envied those who could simply do well in school without trying (like Sirius and James, for instance).

Lily has a very low tolerance for cruelty in any shape or form. She hates when people think they are better than her or others, simply because of blood or otherwise, and she goes out of her way to prove them wrong. She befriended those who were made fun of in school (mostly by James and Sirius), and hated the fact that they were so immature so as to try to make people feel awful so they could feel better about themselves. It was an awful concept to her.

So as a result, Lily has the tendency to judge people rather quickly. Some would say she didn't even give James and Sirius a chance at school since immediately she didn't like them. Lily would say she gave them plenty of chances and they continued to prove her right. She's stubborn in her own way, and rather hates being wrong. She's not outwardly competitive with people, but inwardly she has the burning desire to win at all costs.

Because Lily has this burning desire to help everyone (and sometimes be everyone's mum), Lily has a tendency to meddle in others business when she simply should leave it alone. She stretches herself too thin sometimes, and sometimes the realization that she can't help someone eats her alive with guilt. She rather hates failure in every shape and form. That's why her bad relationship with her sister pains her so much. If there's anything Lily has tried to fix more it was that. Her relationship with Severus gives her the same feeling.
• Strengths and weaknesses: Lily's greatest strength is that she is a very loving person, through and through. She's genuine. What you see is what you get, there are no fronts and no putting on shows. Her greatest weakness is that she is stubborn. How she feels is how she feels, and however you feel sometimes doesn't matter. She's been working on her judgmental habit, trying to make sure she gives people a chance before writing them off as something they may not possibly be.
• Mental health: Stable.

Relationships

• Relatives: Husband: James Potter, Sister: Petunia Dursley nee Evans, Bother-in-law: Vernon Dursley, Father-in-law: Ira Potter, Mother-in-law: Cecile Potter.
• Relationship with family: On the 11th of May, Lily's mother and father were murdered due to her involvement with the Order of the Phoenix. Before then, Lily had a very close relationship with both of her parents. She was fortunate to have such a loving, caring household, with both parents being supportive of who she was as a witch. When they were murdered, Lily completely broke down and shut off for a long while, feeling a great deal of pain and guilt for the loss of her family. Had she told them more about her involvement with the Order of the Phoenix, maybe they would have survived. Had she been more involved in their lives during this war instead of concerning herself with her own life and her friends' lives, perhaps they would still be living. She blames herself wholly and completely for their deaths, as does Petunia when she came to her one day, desperately trying to seek out some sort of assurance from her sister that it wasn't her fault.

Petunia and Lily stopped being on friendly grounds the moment Lily was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Petunia called her a "freak" for being a witch, mainly because she was jealous didn't know why Lily was and she wasn't. Before that, Lily and Petunia were so close it was almost uncomfortable. They spent every day with each other and Petunia was Lily's best friend, regardless of the fact that she was her elder sister too. Lily looked up to Petunia while growing up, wanting to be exactly like her in every way. They sometimes slept in the same bed, stayed up all night talking about anything under the sun, and had all of the same hobbies. The moment Lily discovered she was a witch (after strange things started occurring everywhere she went) Lily felt like Petunia started to close off to her when she needed her most. Lily was scared; she didn't know why these things were happening to her. Not until the strange boy named Severus from the neighborhood told her that she was a witch. As soon as Lily went to Hogwarts (after Petunia tried desperately to force her to stay), Petunia became bitter toward Lily and stopped being as close to her. Lily desperately tried to keep contact, sending her letters about all of her experiences in the Magical World, and Petunia would write back but ignore most everything she wrote. Their relationship wasn't absolutely destroyed until Lily came home with the news that she and James Potter were engaged. Petunia hated James just as much as she hated that shady Snape boy. They were the culprits who had taken away her sister to this awful place that she couldn't be involved in! Petunia, who had been dating Vernon Dursley at the time (who also disliked Lily for a great many reasons), decided to shun her sister completely. Lily had invited Petunia to her wedding, but Petunia didn't show. She also didn't get an invite to Petunia and Vernon's wedding. This hurt Lily beyond belief. One thing they'd always promised each other as children was that they would each be each other's Maid of Honour.

Not until the death of their parents did Lily finally contact Petunia again. In a fit of fury, Petunia blamed their parents' death on Lily, which only added to the enormous amount of guilt she was already harboring. Harsh words were exchanged on both ends, and Lily and Petunia never spoke again.

Since family is very important to her, Lily has been trying to make her own family in the Order. She looks at Marlene like a sister -- the sister she used to have in Petunia. She also views Sirius, Remus, and Peter like the brothers she never had. James' parents have been so supportive of her even while she and James were dating. They are some of the kindest people she's ever known, and she goes to them with many of her problems. She would do absolutely anything for them as well and can't thank them enough for how much they helped her through coping with the death of her own parents.

• Sexuality: Straight
• Significant other: James Potter
• Children: Soon to have Harry James Potter.

Educational

• School: Hogwarts School of Witcraft and Wizardry.
• Years: 1971-1978.
• House: Gryffindor.
• Achievements: Prefect from her 5th Year to her 6th Year. Head Girl. Member of the Slug Club.
• NEWTS: Potions (O), Transfiguration (E), Charms (O), Herbology (E), Defense Against the Dark Arts (O)

Occupational

• Occupation: Member of the Order of the Phoenix. She makes Potions for the Order for missions, and before being pregnant with Harry, would go out on missions herself. Since being pregnant with Harry, she mainly does organizational things, is a central part of the support of the Order, and continues to make potions. A large part of her is itching to fight again, but she knows how much she'd be putting the baby in danger if she did so.

• Previous jobs, if any: She's worked in a Muggle food market before during summers away from Hogwarts. She's also waitressed. However, she and James got engaged shortly after Hogwarts, so she hasn't had another job since then.

The War

• How is your character involved in the war? Lily is an integral member of the Order of the Phoenix, fighting against Voldemort and the Death Eaters in any way she possibly can.
• Will your character die during the next year? No.
• If yes, please give some details on how/when you'd like this to occur: N/A

Overall History

• Family/childhood: Lily was the second and last child of Violet and Harold Evans. She grew up in Barnsley (North Yorkshire), England, in a small quaint neighbourhood near Spinners End. The Evans lived comfortably. Harold was a history professor at Darton High School, and her mother was a senior secretary for a local doctor's office. As soon as Violet had Petunia, however, she started working at home selling real estate. The Evans family was an average family. They had their financial troubles, especially when Lily was born, since she was quite the surprise -- but nothing less than a good surprise. Violet and Harold have had marital troubles, but nothing so big as to affect the entire family as a whole. Lily grew up in a very loving household and was very fortunate in that respect.

Petunia was quite used to being the only child before Lily was born. She didn't much like her squirming lump of a younger sister, and acted out occasionally to get selfishly turn all the attention on herself -- the way she was used to. There was one point she even drew with permanent marker on the couch and was not let out of her room for an entire week. Needless to say, she and Lily had a rough start, but as soon as Lily began to get older, they realized that they could get along rather well. They served as each other's company while their mother worked at home and their father was teaching. Lily was very much her father's daughter, wanting to go everywhere he went. She loved when he used to take her to secondary school and she would sit quietly at his desk coloring airplanes while he taught the class about epic events like World War II. Lily had a keen appreciation for history right from the start because of her father.

She was a very curious child, always asking questions. And by "always asking questions" she truly was always asking them. Sometimes she didn't even spare a breath for her parents to answer her questions. She was always curious about the world and the people in it.

Lily and Petunia shared a room together their entire childhood, and even the start of their adolescence. Harold had always promised Lily her own room, but expenses always weighed the family down and he never could get around to it. Fortunately, Lily loved sharing a room with Tuney. They gossiped, played spies, were superheroes and princesses together, and generally shared anything and everything with each other. Tuney was Lily's best friend growing up, even if she had other friends in the neighborhood.

One friend in particular stood out later on in her life. When Lily was two months from turning 11, she came across a strange boy on the playground named Severus Snape. She lovingly dubbed him "Sev" since she couldn't quite get his whole name out and didn't really want to offend him by not being able to. He was strange-looking, but that didn't bother Lily much. She was actually extremely intrigued by him and his funny-looking clothes. She was even more intrigued by the fact that he said she was a witch because she was able to do strange things.

There was one time she had accidentally set Petunia's hair on fire when she thought she'd stolen her Na-Na doll. Petunia was livid and Lily did get grounded for weeks, but she didn't know how or why that happened! She knew she was angry, but she certainly didn't have any matches with her. Another time she was quite wet after running home from school in the pouring rain and she wished that she was dry and all of the sudden she was. She remembered Petunia's fierce but frightened looks when she'd tell her these things about her. Lily tried to make them stop, especially after Petunia threatened to tell their parents that Lily was now "seeing things" and had to go see a psychiatrist. She begged her not to and of course Petunia obliged, but it all scared her very much. However, she did enjoy freaking Tuney out more often than not. Despite her sister's wishes, a part of her thought that maybe she should embrace this unique side of her...maybe it wasn't all that bad...and not to mention it was so cool!

When she finally got to talking with Sev, Lily realized that she was a witch. She didn't exactly know what to think about that, other than the fact that she didn't look very green, or did she want to drop houses on anyone. She was skeptical at first, but had no reason not to trust this boy. A large part of her wanted to believe it was the truth and that there were others like her out there. Lily continued to see Severus and asked him all about the magical world and Hogwarts, and they spent hours upon hours secretly meeting up in the playground as he told her everything he knew. Lily and Severus quickly became best of friends, and he was the first she went to in overwhelming excitement when she received her Hogwarts letter meaning everything he told her was true! He helped her get to King's Cross and took her with his own family to get school supplies. Lily became quite close to Sev, considering he was her only connection to the magical world before Hogwarts. When Lily would come home to her parents and Petunia with story upon story of what she'd just previously experienced, Petunia teemed with anger and jealousy, unlike her parents who were shocked and worried, but also quite excited for their younger daughter.

• School/work: Lily tried very hard to distinguish herself at Hogwarts. At first, she struggled. This whole magic thing was very new to her and she was learning about a whole new world on top of all of her studies. She was very quiet and alone at first, continually writing letters home telling Petunia she wished she was there with her. Later on she began to become friends with the girls in her year after she felt more comfortable in her surroundings. Although her wand was good at Charms work, Lily found she had a natural talent for Potions, very much like Sev. She and Sev bonded over how easy the subject came to them, and they always tried to be lab partners with each other. Sev remained her closest friend at Hogwarts for a long while. People thought they were dating, and Lily ignored them. It was just a very close friendship. And she had thought James and his gang were annoying before, but she started to thoroughly dislike them when they used Sev as their main target.

Lily branched out and became more popular as the years went on. She and Sev maintained their friendship up until the point he started to become friends with Avery and Mulciber, the two who had used Dark Magic on her friend and dormmate, Mary McDonald. She also noticed he'd been walking around and calling those of "inferior blood" Mudbloods. The word sickened her. People couldn't help how they were born, and since when was discrimination right? Sev was better than this. She just couldn't understand why he would buy into their way of thinking. He was a stronger person than that.

It was really quite obvious to Lily that during their 4th Year on, James Potter fancied her. She refused his advances, something not many girls would have done at the time. She hated his actions and she wasn't going to commend what he did by dating him, simply because he was popular. He was arrogant, and although Lily found him talented, intelligent, and handsome, he was not going to win her affections by making such a fool out of Sev. Even though she wasn't speaking to him as much, Sev was still one of her good friends. She would not tolerate James and his gang making fun of him or anyone else they considered "less" than them. It was immature and cruel.

It was all over in their 5th Year when Sev called Lily a "Mudblood" in front of James and his gang. That was the day Lily stopped being friends with Severus. She still kept an eye on him, no doubt, making sure James and his gang weren't continuing to give him hell, but that was the final straw for Lily. He wasn't going to change no matter how she tried to ween him back to the way he was when they first met. She'd hoped that severing this friendship would clue him into the wrong path he was taking. It only seemed to root him deeper into the wrong side...

James and Lily were in many NEWT classes together their 6th Year. At first, Lily was very frustrated at the fact that she and James were to be paired up as partners, but through these exercises, Lily got to know James more. Whether she wanted to or not, Lily started to see sides of James that not many others saw. He could be rather nice, charming, and sometimes rather cutely awkward. As she was slowly starting to warm up to the idea of him, she heard rumors of him dating another Ravenclaw girl in their year. Lily reacted with an overwhelming amount of jealousy, something that even surprised her when it happened. It was then she realized that she, too, had feelings for James.

In her 7th Year she was appointed Head Girl along with James. Lily was surprised and overwhelmed with accomplishment. It made her feel so good to have been chosen despite what the Pureblood elite had to say about her. She met the challenge, attempting to be the best Head Girl she could be -- and on their late-night rounds together, that's when romance started to bloom between she and James. Before anyone knew it, they were dating. Lily was rather angry that she'd broken her resolve to never date James, but a part of her felt that she had met her match. He was hilarious, always making her laugh, he was as intelligent and talented as she was, and they shared so many common similarities. It was at that point that she had begun to be better friends with Sirius as well.

• Recent history:
When Lily graduated Hogwarts she was going to become a Potioneer, already having an apprenticeship lined up with the help of Horace Slughorn. It had been her lifelong dream to own her own Apothecary, and she was determined to make that happen--until Albus Dumbledore asked her to join the Order of the Phoenix. Lily couldn't say no. It was a high honor to be asked by Dumbledore to do anything, and Lily also agreed whole-heartedly with the cause. She would put her lifelong dreams on hold for the betterment of wizardkind.

Not a year after they'd graduated Hogwarts, James proposed to Lily. Lily was shocked, but couldn't imagine saying anything else but yes. She and James loved each other very much, and with the impending war, it was important now more than ever to keep the people you loved close. They had a small and secret wedding, only inviting those closest to them during the fall of 1978. Lily marks this time as the happiest time in her life. She had invited her family to show. Her mother and father and rest of the Evans family did, but Petunia did not. This marked the beginning of the end of her relationship with her sister.

A year later, her parents were killed on May 11, 1979, right in front of her eyes. Lily suffers daily from the overwhelming guilt that had she been more careful with them--had she moved them out of the country or something of that sort, they wouldn't have perished the way they did. To this day, Lily cannot come to grips with the fact that her parents were killed. She tried, desperately, to resolve some sort of relationship with her sister after this happened, but Petunia blamed their death on her, not only making her feel worse, but severing their relationship completely. Lily can't help but feel that Petunia was right.

A couple of months thereafter, Lily got pregnant with Harry. She is elated to have a child of her own, but so very fearful she will not be a good mother, and also quite fearful of bringing him into a world of death and destruction. The baby is scheduled to be conceived late July.

Since finding out that Severus had been acting as a spy for the Order, Lily has been speaking to him again. Their friendship is rocky, but Lily did apologize for doubting him and was grateful for the path he had decided to take. Frequently she finds herself in the middle of fights between Sev and James and does her best to try to mediate, most of the time ending up with a gigantic migraine.

In the Order, Lily works with Damocles Belby on Potions. She works from home, since because of being pregnant, she isn't as likely to jump into battles as she was beforehand. She's been helping out the Order as much as she can with being one of their main Potioneers.