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Nobody remembers Lily Evans and that’s a damn shame.
Harry grows up not even knowing her name. Sure, he knows Lily Potter. Lily Potter, whose love saved his life, saved the world. Lily Potter will be remembered forever. Her name will be uttered in History of Magic classes at Hogwarts for years to come. It will be printed in hundreds of books. Her sacrifice will live on forever. Her love immortalized.
But she was only a Potter for a little while. For most of her 21 years of life, Lily Potter didn’t exist. I mean, she did, she just had another name, Evans. And so, it must be asked, who will remember Lily Evans? Who will make sure Harry knows her name and her story?
So many of those who knew Lily Evans are gone. James. Remus. Sirius. Marlene. Dorcas. Dumbledore. Even Peter. Those who loved her best are not here to remember her. And for those that remain the pain is too much. Even Petunia can’t do it, by the time Lily died Petunia had already locked away those memories. And now those memories are forever intertwined with regret, so no, allowing herself to remember is simply out of the question.
And so it is, that those that remain, those who survived two wizarding wars and once knew the young Lily Evans, well they’re too enchanted by Lily Potter to think too much about the girl she once was.
And James Potter would tell them that is such a shame, because Lily Evans she was a girl worth remembering,
It was with Lily Evans, after all, that James Potter fell in love with. Lily Evans was just a girl. But to James Potter she was extraordinary.
They’ll talk about her courage, her strength, and her brilliance. How she was in the Order of the Phoenix, how bravely she fought until the end. She was a hero.
And yes, it’s true, Lily Evans was courageous. It took courage to leave home at 11 years old and enter a new world. A world that tried to tell her there was no place for someone like her. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself, but more importantly, to stand up for others. She stood up to bullies, including her former best friend and her future husband.
Lily Evans was strong. She had to be after losing her parents at such a young age. She had to be after her only sister made it clear there was no space in her life for her. She drew strength from her friends and in return she did the same for them. Or at least she hoped she did, she definitely tried to.
Sirius should have told Harry about how Lily punched Mulciber after he tripped a first-year Muggle-born. He should have told him how Lily made him hot chocolate and sat with him for hours every time he tried to reach out to Regulus and got turned away. He should have, but he didn’t. Those memories are just theirs forever, there’s a beauty in that, but it’s tainted by their deaths, by everything Harry will never know.
Lily Evans was brilliant. Severus Snape would always remember how easily magic came to her. He would never tell her, but he was always impressed by the ease in which she seemed to understand this new world. James was in awe of her. Many will say it was her looks that caught his attention, but they would be wrong. No, James Potter fell for her mind first. Even at 11 years old, he knew she was the smartest girl in their year. It’s why he tried to bribe her to write his essay first year. She turned him down, obviously, but that only impressed him further.
Lily Evans was a fighter. As soon as they graduated Hogwarts she followed James’s plan to join the Order. She knew the risks, but she also knew what was at stake, it’s why she didn’t hesitate. Remus had been so afraid for her to know the truth about who he was, he already had 3 friends who accepted him despite being a monster, the odds that Lily would also accept him seemed impossible. When she figured it out, he ran, but she ran after him, she fought for their friendship. James, Sirius and Peter, they all accepted Remus for who he was, no questions asked. But Lily, she wanted more for him. She wanted him to fight for a world where he didn’t have to hide, where they could both be accepted. She took that fight with her when she died, and he used to wonder…well it doesn’t matter because now he is gone too.
But you know what else she was? She was a slob. Ask any of her dorm mates. Lily Evans was incapable of keeping her side of the room clean. And messy, although she’d deny it, but any of her roommates could attest to the fact that in seven years, her bed was never once made. And her socks would always end up in the oddest of places.
She wasn’t always brave and courageous, after all, she was only human. When she found out she was pregnant, she cried. She cried because she didn’t have time for a baby. There was a war going on. And well, she was so young. And she was so scared.
Lily had a temper. She mostly kept it hidden, but when she was mad, everyone in Gryffindor knew to steer clear, lest they be the target of her anger, as James often was. James would do something stupid and Lily would lose it. Lily was in a bad mood and James would set her off. Sometimes he did it on purpose, he was so hungry for her attention it made him irrational. Lily’s anger was always fleeting and she always apologized.
And she most definitely wasn’t always strong. The first time she got called a Mudblood she hid in her room and cried for hours. And later when James and his stupid friends played a stupid prank, she smiled and just a moment she knew that she could love James. Hours before it had felt impossible to ever smile again, and yet James and his stupid friends had managed it in just a few hours, she loved James just a little for proving her wrong. Years later, she would love him deeply for constantly proving her wrong, for challenging her in ways she never expected, for making her feel loved in ways she never dreamed she could be loved.
Here's the thing about Lily Evans, she was moody, stubborn and loud. She loved music, reading and dancing. She was honest, and rash and she loved life.
Lily Evans was not perfect. Neither was Lily Potter, but it’s Evans we’re talking about now. She had a horrible temper. Just ask James. Or her dorm mates. Or Sirius. She was stubborn and moody and loud. Lily loved to dance, but had no rhythm. She was a good daughter, who often forgot to write to her parents. She was a good friend, a silly drunk, a bad flirt…sometimes it’s hard to remember that a person is more than one thing, especially when the world stubbornly refuses to see them as anything else.
Yes, Lily Potter died and death saved the Wizarding World.
But, Lily Evans is more than just her death.
Lily Evans lived and that’s worth remembering too.