#rather than desperate people acting for complex socioeconomic reasons

[untitledgoosegay]

I agree with the vast majority of the commentary here, but I'm feeling complicated about the screenshotted tags' proposition of ecotourism as a solution. It's definitely an option, but tourist economies have their own consequences and problems -- just ask Hawai'i about that.

I saw this post and idk it made me feel some type of way. I may get flack for this but idc I feel it must be said. Poaching is a lot more nuanced than “bad people kill animals.”

Poaching, especially in Africa, is a byproduct of colonization and poverty. Although poaching existed prior to European colonizers, it was not done at a scale and frequency that would threaten wildlife populations. Poaching exploded under colonial rule where things like ivory, pelts, hunting trophies, and in some cases, land were prized and sought after by European settlers. This led to an initially boom that devastated local animal populations and cause some tribes to become very reliant on poaching as a means of subsistence.

Additionally, due to poverty, people are still being driven to poach animals, even endangered animals because it’s a more profitable way to support oneself and community, and predatory animals can be poached because they threaten and devastate local livestock. Anti-poaching measures rarely take into account the human and economic drive behind poaching. You’re shooting and killing poachers but what about their families and communities that they support? Are those animals in a better place when there more people waiting to hunt them? Anti poaching measures don’t actually care about eliminating poaching, if they did they’d come from the angle of human and economic development and community improvement. Because let’s be real, if those people living in their poor, rural, undeveloped, undereducated*, regions with not many opportunities turn to poaching, it’s not from a moral standpoint, they’re chasing survival.

African governments be corrupt af, keeping all the money for themselves and leaving masses in poverty then erect some anti-poaching laws to please smug westerners as if they aren’t driving people into desperation. And then poaching rings take advantage of this desperation, much like a gang would, and supply them with guns and a promise of a better life. And bam, you have a poaching problem. So long as you have people in desperation, poaching will still be a problem.

Like many social issues; drugs, violence, crime; a closer look and you’ll find that poverty and lack of opportunity are at the bottom of it...

[djgblogger-blog]

A bold, bipartisan plan to return the US to the vanguard of 21st-century technological innovation

http://bit.ly/2vHxdpm

How can we ensure technology brings prosperity to us all? ra2studio/Shutterstock.com

Digital technologies like the internet and smartphones are transforming our lives and society. They are proving to be powerful tools for liberating individuals’ creative and entrepreneurial potential, as well as providing new educational opportunities and higher wages for marginalized people, both in the U.S. and around the globe. Unfortunately, in the U.S., outdated government regulations and weak consumer protections are undermining these opportunities.

What’s more, the Trump administration has not yet made significant moves to address this growing crisis: As of this writing, five key White House positions are vacant, without even acting directors or interim leaders to help the executive branch formulate U.S. science and technology policy.

As the founder of both the Open Technology Institute and the X-Lab policy and innovation organization, I have spent years at the heart of many Washington, D.C. battles over technology policy, fighting for ideas that would best serve American workers and the general public. As technology spreads throughout nearly every facet of our society, including health care, transportation, education and electricity, the benefits tend to grab the headlines, while their costs are often downplayed or ignored outright. My work, and that of many other technology policy experts and public interest advocates, has focused on ensuring that the digital revolutions in our society and our economy bring the most freedoms and benefits to the most people, with as little oppression and harm as possible – a goal that is shared by a vast majority of the general public from across traditional political, socioeconomic, racial and cultural divides.

While many lament the current state of political bickering, my experience is that technology is a domain where panpartisan agreement is often possible. With this in mind, here are 10 big ideas that resonate across traditional political boundaries – common ground that yields solid support among lawmakers and constituents spanning the ideological spectrum from the libertarian right to the progressive left.

Transition to a real sharing economy

Today’s dominant business models hold great promise, but also great peril, for millions of working-class Americans. Many companies are using digital tools to shift work from traditional full-time employees to part-time independent contractors. At present, this lets them circumvent rules protecting full-timers’ health, safety and equal access to work. We need true portability of benefits – including better retirement savings plans and single-payer health insurance.

In addition, we need to address the effects of disruptive technologies, like those that will replace truckers with automated vehicles, full-time taxi drivers with part-time Uber and Lyft drivers and factory workers with robots. We need a modern-day Works Progress Administration for the tens of millions who will soon become displaced workers. It can be a way to retrain workers, and at the same time make badly needed improvements to roads, bridges and other key structures our economy depends on. With forethought, we can prevent mass unemployment and underemployment.

Protect consumers from technological barriers

In today’s post-industrial age, software controls traditional mechanical, financial and agrarian practices. But rather than spurring innovation to improve people’s lives, technology is blocking progress in key ways: for example, by preventing farmers from fixing their own tractors. The progressive left and libertarian right agree: Major reforms to copyright and patent law are desperately needed to foster innovation and empower consumers.

Our current laissez-faire regulatory environment may have worked well when these were fledgling markets filled with small-scale startups. But today’s technology sector is dominated by a handful of corporate behemoths who’ve routinely engaged in what critics contend is anti-competitive behavior and consumer-disempowering business practices only barely addressed by current governmental oversight.

Businesses use complex algorithms that engage in harmful discrimination, such as showing higher-paying online job advertisements to men than women, or advertising arrest records services to people searching for “distinctly black names.” Retailers even charge different people different amounts for the same good or service, meaning only the most tech-savvy consumers are able to get the lowest price.

These practices make it harder for marginalized people to climb out of poverty, and more difficult for working-class Americans to spend their hard-earned money efficiently. While consumer protection laws clearly outlaw unfair pricing and require equal employment opportunities, the regulations enforcing these laws are increasingly obsolete and impotent. It’s time to update these rules of the road to make sure they meaningfully protect everyone from digitally mediated discrimination.

Free educational materials

Today’s textbooks, worksheets and other educational materials are often both outdated and expensive. They lock teachers and students into one-size-fits-all lessons, rather than encouraging the localized, tailored educational experiences that better meet the needs of students and teachers alike.

There are plenty of free resources available for teachers to customize their lessons. Public copyright licenses like Creative Commons can promote free sharing of useful information, much as open-source software can accomplish all the same tasks without buying costly licenses. Textbook costs can be cut in half if schools were allowed to buy so-called “open textbooks,” rather than paying shockingly high premiums to a handful of commercial publishers. And students learn just as well. We should be requiring schools to incorporate open, customizable digital technologies to personalize educational materials and teaching methods to better meet individual student needs.

Promote broadband competition

Roughly 80 million Americans don’t have high-speed internet access at home. The main reason for that is high cost. Things aren’t much better for the two-thirds of Americans who do have broadband: Collectively, they’ll be charged more than a quarter-trillion dollars more for internet service by 2025 in comparison to what residents in other countries are paying.

These negative consumer impacts are a direct result of extensive lobbying by Comcast and other media and telecom companies, who’ve created noncompetitive markets that hurt consumers and stifle innovation.

Policies that drive universal access to low-cost, high-speed connectivity are a must. Politicians of all stripes support creating or increasing competition, preventing price-gouging in communities served by monopoly broadband providers and encouraging companies to provide internet service in remote areas. It’s also worth reexamining anti-trust laws (and how they are enforced) to make sure they are properly applied, especially since telecommunications services have become critical Americans’ personal and working lives.

Modernize the electricity grid

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 6 percent of all electricity produced is lost in transmission. Allowing people to generate power at their homes, through residential solar panels and wind turbines, helps keep power generation and ownership local while also making the entire electrical grid more robust.

However, scaling up this approach, called distributed microgeneration, requires an electrical system that enables two-way metering – a smart utility system that credits customers for power generated and charges them for power consumed. We also need open standards for interoperability between battery-powered vehicles and local grids, to help store locally generated power. And we need financial supports for consumers to deploy microgeneration solutions, in much the same ways we’ve done for other energy efficiency efforts.

Modernizing our electrical grid means integrating a host of new digital technologies – from enhancing two-way communications among different components of the grid to enabling micro-payments among local consumers and micro-generators – all of which will improve efficiency while simultaneously lowering the cost of energy.

Give users control of their data

Mass surveillance – including of gun owners, Muslims and African-American leaders – limits Americans’ freedom.

An increasing array of networked devices, such as fitness trackers, smart thermostats, smartphones and cars, collect information on their users’ activities. Consumer protections in the 21st century must ensure that we have access to and control over our own data.

We need to expand upon the work of pioneers in privacy-protecting devices like Freedom Box and BlackPhone, to give individuals control of the data their activities generate. This also opens the door for innovators to develop smart connected devices that serve as part of a more free, more privacy-protecting “Internet of Things.”

Because the Federal Trade Commission is unwilling or unable to step in, Congress will likely have to act – the way it did to protect children online and patients’ medical records. A comprehensive framework that places consumers in control of their data is essential in an era where companies increasingly fail to protect our private information.

Make software and data open to all

The United States spends billions of dollars every year on information technology, and tens of billions more on government-funded research and other grants. This represents an enormous investment by American taxpayers. Yet the public often gets only limited access to the tools, research and data that we have so generously funded.

Software, data and research results should be available to the citizen-investors who paid for its development. This will, in turn, stimulate innovation, improve efficiency and ensure that taxpayers get the value we deserve from the investments we make.

In addition, reviews of grant applications should ensure applicants’ prior work has accomplished the results that were promised. We cannot afford technological “bridges to nowhere” that eat up money while providing no real tangible benefits or improved scientific understanding.

We must make smart government investments that avoid duplication of existing private and nonprofit open technology initiatives. This means focusing on support for innovations that maximally benefit the general public (and not just corporations and their major stockholders). Federal research money should be a public investment in a public good.

Lay the groundwork for intelligent transportation

As autonomous vehicles become more common, we’ll need to update laws about traffic, insurance and liability. New rules will protect the general public and create real opportunities for smart vehicles to prove their value.

The first major effect from autonomous vehicles will be the large-scale displacement of drivers who currently work in the trucking and delivery sector. The country needs a transition plan for the country’s 3.5 million professional truckers who may lose their jobs to autonomous vehicles in the coming years. Without a plan for putting truckers back to work, millions of American families will suffer economic disaster. We cannot ignore the coming economic and social impacts of technological innovations.

Standardize medical record storage and transmission

Regardless of its other shortcomings, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has also built one of the most sophisticated electronic health platforms on the planet. The rest of us, however, live with separate health information fiefdoms – databases controlled by large insurance companies like Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Community Health Systems.

Having all those data locked up in proprietary systems creates tempting targets for hackers. That’s bad, but much worse is how hard it is to transfer patients’ health records among doctors, hospitals and insurers. We should use open and nonproprietary technologies to make electronic medical records more functional and eliminate redundant paperwork. It’s the 21st century: we shouldn’t have to keep filling out the same information on clipboards every time we go to a doctor.

Even more importantly, the life and cost savings of an interoperable health IT system are staggering. If doctors knew what others were prescribing to their mutual patients, they could all but eliminate negative drug interactions that cost hundreds of dollars every time they happen – not to mention causing over two million serious drug interactions leading to over 100,000 deaths every year. With 40 percent of Americans on four or more medications at once, the direct savings from this improvement alone would be in the tens of millions of dollars a year (far more than enough to pay for the systems initial development and ongoing improvement).

Focus government on technology

Given its role in countless facets of our lives, technology can no longer be an afterthought in our governmental deliberations. The head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology should be empowered to set executive branch technology and online security policies and implement the best practices they’ve already developed. NIST should receive the budget and decision-making authority necessary to implement reforms across governmental units.

In addition, NIST should mandate the use of encryption by default for all government IT systems. And Congress should promote strong encryption in society at large by banning federal entities from demanding back doors or other unbelievably bad ideas that undermine our collective security. Together, these actions will help ensure that Americans’ communications and data are as secure as they can be.

We must forge a bold new trajectory for a 21st-century civil society – one that prioritizes individual liberty and consumer empowerment. Otherwise, the detrimental impacts of new digital technologies will continue to undermine our livelihoods, our happiness and the underpinnings of our democratic society.

Sascha Meinrath has been an Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship since 2012. He serves as a board member for the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee; Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition; Brave New Software Foundation; Bill of Rights Defense Committee; Acorn Active Media Foundation; and Freedom to Connect Foundation. He is also a member of the advisory councils for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, the Calyx Institute, FreedomBox Foundation, Loomio, and the Open Internet Tools Project.

[hoursandwitheringflowersinspo]

APPLICATION FOR: LILY EVANS, 6TH YEAR GRYFFINDOR

full name: Lily Marie Evans, although her mother was incredibly keen on naming her Lily Kathleen, which her father wasn’t particularly happy about (as he’d had a neighbour called Kathleen growing up, who wasn’t a very nice woman). After a lot of arguing, they settled on Marie, as it was sweet and simple like their oldest daughter’s name: Petunia Jane.

nationality: British.

birthplace: Lily was born in St. Mary’s Hospital, in Manchester, after a 13 hour labor. Unlike most children, who are born before they reach full-term, Lily was born two weeks after her mother’s due date and was actually supposed to have been delivered at home, like her sister had been. Unfortunately, Violet Evans’ midwife was away when the woman went into labor and the safest alternative was to go to the hospital.

resides: Currently, the Evans family lives in Cokeworth, something that Lily absolutely despises because of what happened last year. Knowing that Severus is within walking distance of her is something that makes the ginger uncomfortable, mostly because she can’t bring herself to speak to him anymore, even if she misses the Slytherin more than she’ll ever admit. They resided in Manchester until Lily turned five, after which they moved because of Violet’s job as a primary school teacher.

wand: 10¼” Willow, Phoenix Tail Feather, Swishy, Good for Charms.

“Willow is an uncommon wand wood with healing power, and I have noted that the ideal owner for a willow wand often has some (usually unwarranted) insecurity, however well they may try and hide it. While many confident customers insist on trying a willow wand (attracted by their handsome appearance and well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic) my willow wands have consistently selected those of greatest potential, rather than those who feel they have little to learn”.

That, to me makes complete sense and I love that Lily’s canon wand wood fits with some of the headcanons I have for her. I absolutely adore the idea that she was this hurricane of a girl but, deep down, it would be illogical to assume that she has no insecurities because here she is, a teenager who has worked her butt off so she could be the best witch she could be, and people around her judge her abilities because of who her parents are. The boy who was supposed to be her best friend insulted her in the worst way possible. So, of course, Lily will have insecurities, and major ones at that, but heaven forbid she voices her concerns — in her mind, Lily needs to set the example and show everyone that she has earned her place in the Wizarding World.

"This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike."

I hope my choice for core doesn’t sound a bit cliché but, again, it fits what I believe to be my Lily beautifully. A girl with a strong personality, the ginger has a tendency to do whatever she very well pleases and generally dislikes it when people don’t do what she expects them to, so how ironic would it be that her wand was just like her? This wasn’t what I’d first envisioned for Lily’s wand core but now I can’t shake off the image of this little ginger trying to transfigure a goblet and her wand not quite seeing eye-to-eye with her, marking the beginning of a very amusing love/hate relationship between miss Evans and her wand.

socioeconomic status: Middle-Class. There were times, however, when life wasn’t all that easy for the Evans’ and that has greatly affected Lily’s views on money and how to properly spend it — Violet worked as a teacher, Harry as a struggling writer and when you have two little girls to feed, money was tight. Having witnessed her parents’ worries, Lily now believes that only the essential should be bought and while she does allow herself to go a little crazy on occasion (birthdays, both hers and her friends’ and Christmas), she most definitely is the type of girl to count her knuts.

        H O G W A R T S

owl results: Charms: O Defence Against the Dark Arts: O Herbology: E Potions: O Transfiguration: E Muggle Studies: O Care of Magical Creatures: E current classes: Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration.

student functions: Charms Club, Prefect, Slug Club.

familiars: When she first visited Diagon Alley, Lily fell in love with an ugly little toad that she very loudly exclaimed was adorable; a frail, ill-looking being, but one she adored regardless. For weeks, the ginger carried the toad, named Rosie, everywhere but a few days before boarding the Hogwarts Express for the first time, Lily got into an argument with Petunia and the poor pet jumped out of the second-floor window (where the bedrooms were located) out of fear of the loud childish squeals on the Evans girls.

Needless to say, it didn’t survive its improvised trip and Lily was absolutely devastated. Seeing their little girl so sad, Harry and Violet offered to buy her something else come next school year. And that’s the story of how Lily Evans owns a moody cat named Lovely, a mix between a Ragdoll and a Somali, whose fur is a strange shade (that some could compare to vomit), eyes are an adorable blue, and who has a terrible tendency to bite anyone whose hair isn’t ginger. Since the animal is half-blind and can’t smell properly, Lily’s bright red hair is the only thing it uses to tell its owner apart.

        P E R S O N A L I T Y

patronus:

Footsteps echoed on the stone floor as she paced back and forth, the silence of the bathroom disturbed only by her movements and her occasional huffs; green eyes glaring at the Willow wand in her hand as if it were an enemy rather than a mere piece of wood. It was the end of her fifth year and Lily Evans had yet to produce a corporeal Patronus. To most, that would have been perfectly fine; they’d get it eventually and, ultimately, there was no point in rushing to master what many deemed a complex charm — in time, they’d get there. To the Gryffindor prefect, however, failure wasn’t an option and she was going to do it. Tonight. There was no doubt about it, she wasn’t simply going to let herself be behind the other people in her year: she was a brilliant, talented witch and there was no reason for her to not be as successful as her classmates.

Of course, hiding out in the prefect bathroom after curfew wasn’t exactly the classiest of options, nor was it the one that made her more comfortable (what would people think if they saw her in the hallways after dark?), but she was desperate. Grumbling to herself, teeth grazing gently over her bottom lip, Lily took the deepest of breaths, so deep that she felt dizzy, and lifted her wand. The tricky bit, she pondered as she gathered the courage to go ahead and cast the charm, was finding a suitable memory.

Life was filled with meaningless seconds, little bits of time that meant nothing, and they often made one forget about the moments that truly counted, the ones that were blissfully perfect. And even though she knew (of thought she knew) herself, Lily had no idea when she’d been her happiest.

Then, thinking back on times before potions, owls and magic, it struck her like lightning; almost forcing the young woman to close her eyes and watch as a scene unravelled behind her eyelids, leaving a taste of sweetness on her tongue and a warmth she’d forgotten she enjoyed inside her chest. Petunia.

Little toddler legs wobbled as she climbed onto a taller bed, gripping bedsheets to pull herself up; red locks of long hair falling over her eyes. A giggle pushed past Lily’s lips while the ginger prepared herself, leaning in to grip her slumbering sister’s shoulders and, fully aware that the older girl wouldn’t be pleased, shake her awake. It was the first hours of morning of December 24th 1964 and, as always, that meant that the Evans girls had an adventure planned: finding the Christmas presents their parents usually wrapped the evening before. Three year old Lily, all chubby arms and gleeful smiles, jumped slowly on her sister’s bed; being pushed down by Petunia whom wanted nothing but a few more minutes of peace, skillfully pinning the electric girl down and pulling her closer to her, forcing the youngest girl to lie her head on the pillow.

Still giggling, Lily turned to bury her face on Petunia’s blonde curls; voice barely a whisper as tiny fingers poked her sister’s stomach, hoping that the tickles would allow her to squirm away and tiptoe her way downstairs. With a loud laugh, the blonde shifted, beginning to tickle Lily and before they knew it, both girls were laughing at the top of their lungs, ignoring the creaking door and the head of auburn hair that peaked in, Violet too grinning at her daughters.

The traditional adventure was forgotten, but it didn’t matter because sleep soon took over the small bedroom; moonlight shining in through the window and casting a silver glow over the pale faces of the two little flowers who slept soundly, curled up in each other’s arms.

"Expectro Patronum!" Her voice was firm, her hand didn’t shake; something inside the young witch was strong, stronger than before, it didn’t matter that the memory left a weight in her chest that she couldn’t ignore — it was what she needed to force the light from the tip of her wand, a doe forming amongst silver smoke, tall and proud. Who would have known that happiness, to Lily, was times she couldn’t get back and a sister that she would always love? But the philosophical discussion that she knew she’d have later, after she went back to her dormitory and everyone slept around her, was quickly cast aside.

The doe had stopped before her, looking at the witch as if she stared in a mirror; something in the silvery animal’s body urged Lily forward, hand stretched out so she could stroke what she had produced. Yet, as pale skin moved to touch what was nothing but light, the doe vanished, leaving nothing but a dark bathroom and an amazed girl who wasn’t sure what to think.

Does are animals of grace and innocence; sweet and poised with big brown eyes that make one wish to approach them and yet it takes time for such an animal to allow you to move towards them. Lily, while she has the heart of a lioness and the fierceness of a mother bear protecting its cubs, is someone whose Patronus would surely be a nearly perfect portrayal of the person holding the wand. With a vague distrust of most individuals — one that comes only from being hurt over and over again by those who she held closest - and a knack for finding herself superior to everyone else, even if subconsciously, the redhead is so much like the female deer that her steps often mimic that light gracefulness that only does possess.

boggart:

All she could do was mentally curse herself, hand wrapped tightly around her wand as she prepared herself for what was to come. Damn her need to be an example, her eagerness to learn, her desire to see new things first hand! Sure, it wasn’t a problem most of the time but here she stood, weak-kneed and trying not to shake, about to come face-to-face (could she even call it that?) with a bloody boggart, having volunteered to go first. Honestly, Lily wasn’t afraid of the shape it would take as she was sure it’d be a giant butterfly or crashing waves – she could deal with that – but what if it were something else? These things were magic and magic wasn’t always predictable; she didn’t know what the outcome would be, had no way of properly controlling it. That thought alone forced Lily to take a deep breath, lips grazing her bottom lip compulsively as her free hand moved up to brush an irritating lock of red hair away from her face. She had to be concentrated, had to be sure of herself. Lily Evans wasn’t about to just embarrass herself in front of her friends and classmates. Not at all.

When the professor asked her if she was ready, all the witch could do was nod, trying to keep panic away from her pale face, clutching her wand tighter, arm already stretched out to immediately cast the charm that would end this experience, one she was ready to end before it’d even begun. The boggart, trapped inside a trunk, was released and suddenly all breath was drawn from her lungs and Lily couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but stare at the shocking image that transformed before her. There stood herself, a perfect copy of herself, or at least something keen to it. This Lily’s eyes were sad yet cold, her body was thin – dangerously so – and around her was nothing unusual. Still, the witch understood what it meant – this Lily wasn’t surrounded by her friends, the look in emerald-green eyes was one of pure and utter loneliness. Boggart Lily had no one. She was alone. And being so had broken something inside her, for she no longer laughed. There was nothing inside her, she was hollow. That was the scariest thing the redhead had ever seen in her sixteen years of life.

But oh, she wasn’t about to just let this image defeat her! Because she wasn’t this strange version of herself, no. She had people who loved her, she loved people, they were always there for her and she was always there for them – this wasn’t real and it would never, ever happen. Lily wouldn’t let it become a reality.

It took all her strength but, after what felt like an eternity, the Gryffindor managed to yell the ‘‘Riddikulus’ charm – voice wavering but wrapped in a sort of ferocity she didn’t know she had in her – watching the boggart transform into a clown version of the Prefect; a silly, amusing sight that managed to draw the softest of chuckles from swelling lips. Someone else, she wasn’t sure whom, took her place and Lily found herself sweating, hands shaking, vision blurry. Suddenly, everything made sense but she couldn’t bring herself to think about it, wishing only to ignore all that had happened. Lily Evans wasn’t alone and she wasn’t weak. She would never become what the boggart had showed her.

And yet the question rose in the back of her mind, nagging and cruel, almost mocking the witch as she asked the professor if she could be excused to use the restroom. What if?

Lily has never feared death as she has always known that pain in all of its many forms is only forced upon the living and she has never feared the departure of others — not truly — because she knows, in her heart, that they would be better off, in a twisted way. What she has always been scared off deep down, one of her biggest shames, is being alone. And that is her Boggart — herself, all alone.

It wasn’t always that, not at all, but after losing some of the people who were supposed to love her and never leave her? After her sister turned her back on her just because she was different? She’s felt loneliness, and it’s not something she wants in her future. It’s unthinkable to the ginger, mostly unknown and uncharted territory. The thought of having to live a life where there is no comfort, no one to lean on, no one to rely on… it terrifies Lily, petrifies her. The fact that she believes it to be a childish fear doesn’t help either, makes her embarrassed for how can someone like her, a good witch and a good person, be so deeply timorous of something that shouldn’t matter.

amortentia:

Lime ▬ for all the times she smelt it in her nan’s home → Johanne Evans passed away years ago but never has her granddaughter been able to erase the light smell of lime that was characteristic to her tiny cottage; a sweet home for a sweet woman who, having been a pediatric nurse for over forty years, had a knack for making children laugh. Always there for her girls no matter what, never once did she judge Lily when she spoke horribly of what James had done by the lake, or when she moaned about cheating during her Transfiguration O.W.L — she never stopped the redhead from complaining about her parents or crying over Petunia. Having been gone for about three years now, Lily can’t seem to shake off the grief and the longing for that very same shoulder she shed tears over so many times. And yet, even after losing her “rock”, her Amortentia is proof that Lily has and will always love the woman who placed her in her mother’s arms.

Basil ▬ for childhood summers spent with hands in dirt → It was never a coincidence that Violet Evans chose to name her daughters Petunia and Lily, she too having been named by her mother, Rose, who in turned was named by her own mother, Poppy. It’s not really known exactly where the tradition started but it always instilled a love for all things botanic in the Morrison family women - a love that was passed onto a certain green-eyed ginger. When she was young and carefree, Lily loved going outside with her mummy and help her take care of the little herb garden on their backyard — the smell of basil, her mum’s favourite, always remaining one she always recalled with a feeling of fondness and melancholy.

Bergamot Orange ▬ for a love that cannot die → Lily always thought of herself as the lesser of the two Evans girls; her big sister was pretty and graceful, quiet and poised while she looked like a joke - all red and green - and, in all honesty, had the posture of an ape. Even as years went by and they grew apart, Petunia out of scorn and the ginger out of sheer acceptance of unfortunate events she could not change, never once did Lily forget how a hug from one of the people she loved most in the whole of existence felt like - warm and loving and with a light smell of bergamot orange, Petunia’s favourite shampoo. To this day, the smell brings tears to her eyes but she cannot make herself not love it as it is branded deeply into her mind.

Pumpkin Juice ▬ for a place she calls her home → Nothing screams Hogwarts to the sixth year like the sweet smell of pumpkin juice, a beverage she took some warming up to, no doubt about it, but that is now one of her favourites. It triggers memories in her mind: laughter and happiness, growing up and learning how to be a better person, becoming the best witch she could be; those moments were lived with a pumpkin juice cup in her hand. During the summer, when she’s stuck at home, trying (and often failing) to not perform even the tiniest of spells, all the girl has to do is find herself a jug of the familiar drink and suddenly she’s back at Hogwarts, where she feels the happiest.

what is your greatest ambition? ”My greatest ambition? You’re asking like that’s the easiest question in the world… Honestly, I don’t know. I mean, I do know, but it’s just a tad bit embarrassing, really, a fantasy more than anything. I think… my greatest ambition is to change the world. Hey, don’t laugh! I told you it wasn’t the brightest answer. With the War beginning to grow? I want to be a part of making a difference, of creating a better tomorrow for children like me. Why should we be judged just because of our blood?

Yeah, I want to be the girl who’s going to chance this, the one to end it. But that’s obviously not going to happen, so I think I’m going to settle for the easiest answer I can give you. My greatest ambition? Not failing Transfiguration. Granted, that was my New Year’s resolution… but I think it still stands. It’s a wonder Professor McGonagall even let me be in her class this year, said that I could be great at it if I applied myself. Wouldn’t want to prove her wrong, even if I don’t really see why transfiguring a rat into a goblet will help me in the future.”

where do you feel most comfortable? “I don’t know, really. I think I could say home but at home there’s Tuney and Severus and no magic… I guess I have to be a walking, talking, teenage witch cliché and say Hogwarts. Because while I love mum and dad, there’s always something missing during the holidays, and I don’t just mean my friends. I’m used to changing staircases and owls and spells and… home is ordinary. Boring, really.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of my heritage and I think being muggleborn gives you enough perspective to see the bigger picture in life, but living without magic? I don’t think I could anymore. God, even spending a whole summer without it is torture. So, Hogwarts is where I feel most comfortable these days. I just… don’t know how things will be this year, because of Sev. I mean, Snape. Because of Snape.”

personality description: Those who truly know Lily can tell you that there are many layers to the redhead; some good, some bad and some that one simply gets used to after a while. People who know the witch to a shallower extent are not aware of how complex the girl can be; they see simply a kind, fair young woman who is extremely invested in her education and cannot stand for injustice. In reality, Lily is as intelligent as she is stubborn, as fair as she is curious and as determined as she is hot-tempered,  a temper that matches her fiery hair and passionate views on life. To miss Evans, a bird chirping outside her bedroom window or a sunny day after weeks of rain is not something to be taken lightly; she sees immense beauty in things that most overlook, the tiniest thing can cause her to burst into sincere laughter.

Usually a cheery, electric girl, it does not take much to send her into a fit of rage either and, when she does get upset you might as well run, hide and wait for her to calm down. Her personality is one of extremes, something that she absolutely detests about herself; she loves completely, hates passionately, trusts blindly and, when she gets hurt, the girl suffers like no other — her world seems to crash and crumble, leaving behind but broken promises and shattered dreams. While Lily often overlooks the sad side of life, she sometimes just stops her hectic routine to think about anything and everything; her past, her present, her future and what she feels about those around her. Often do those thoughts bring tears to her emerald eyes, a few melancholic laughs cutting through the thick silence that she submerges herself in — nothing but her own mind to trouble her.

Ultimately, the witch isn’t the easiest person to get along with but, once you do, you’ll be surprised at how loyal she becomes; standing next to those she loves regardless of what she’s told or whom opposes the connection: for years, she dealt with the people closest to her questioning her connection to Severus and she never, not even once, wavered. Why would she? Unless you give her a reason to, Lily will believe in those she loves until the end because, in her opinion, people are made of choices and that’s the only thing you care truly judge: she never cared about Severus’ home life or the house he was sorted into, that didn’t affect how she saw him. She never found it fair to judge a book by its cover and that is exactly what the redhead is: fair. Perhaps one of the reasons that she adores being a Prefect so much is that, between rolling at her eyes at young couples snogging after curfew and catching the Marauders doing something wrong (as usual), she can make a change, even if a small one. For the past years, Lily has tried to ignore the war but now, and especially since she’s sure Severus is bound to join Voldemort’s side, there’s no denying that it’s real and that it’ll just keep getting worse until someone stops it. She might be a mere sixth year, she might not count for much but she’s a muggleborn who was made Prefect, one of the best witches in her year, and if anyone can set the example and try to change something, anything really, that’s her.

Truthfully, to say that the Prefect is a simple little thing would be one of the biggest mistakes of one’s life for the girl is not simple nor little — a strong, independent, defiant woman who is slowly learning not to allow others to walk over her and how to impose the respect that she, with her ego and a feeling selfishness often stirring inside her chest, believes she deserves.  Because no matter what Lily might have said about others (as she usually did, and occasionally still does, about Sirius Black and James Potter) she was always more like them than she thought; her ego might just be larger that James’ and her temper as bad as Sirius’. There’s no denying that another reason she enjoys being a Prefect so much is that she actually got it — there were plenty of students to choose from, some even with magical families and lineages that went back hundreds of years, but instead she was chosen: she, Lily Evans, whose parents are muggles. Not a drop of magical blood in her and, through her own merit only, she was granted such an honour. Ultimately, it was a matter of pride, something of which she has a great deal.

Lily’s quick temper often causes the redhead to make unjustified claims about someone or something, jumping to conclusions without listening to said person’s point of view or explanation and, most specially, believing that she is the one who’s right — for she believes herself to be quite the role model when it comes to most subjects. That does not, however, cause her to follow her own advice because she rarely does so; she might tell you what she thinks you should do, might lecture you for hours about what’s right (not really understanding that “what’s right” is often subjective), but when it’s time to make decisions? She’ll flail and fret as if it were the end of the world, often forgetting that she’s given people advice on to get out of an identical situation. So, slightly hypocritical and unaware of her pretentiousness, Lily does not truly know just how many flaws she has — flaws which, in all honesty — are not enough to erase all the other wonderful traits she possesses.

As far as canon is concerned, we know very little about Lily and, most specifically, who she was as a person. We’re told that she’s kind, talented and brave, that she yelled at James Potter after ‘Snape’s Worst Nightmare’, and that (at least to me) only shows that she had quite the temper. The thing is, characters are more than a couple of traits in a book and I’ve always tried to really develop Lily as a person — she’s this great person, sure, but she’s also a hormonal teenager who, let’s be honest, wasn’t a saint. She laughed and cried and lied and cheated and was, as we all are, a mixture of the good and the bad of the human race.

        H I S T O R Y

parents:

Violet Anne Evans (née Morrison) ▬ 39, born on August 4th 1937. Currently a primary school teacher. A petite redhead with a flair for the dramatic, it’s not hard to see where Lily gets her personality or her looks, for mother and daughter are extremely alike. While they quite enjoy each other’s company, things aren’t exactly the easiest in the Evans household, as similar personalities and stubborn heads often lead to arguments and words better left unsaid but that’s okay. When they need to, mother and daughter can be closer than anything, gossiping about their neighbours (even if Lily denies every doing such a thing) or simply watching the telly, cuddled up with a nice mug of tea. Still, Violet always held a soft spot in her heart for her first born, something that has always made Lily jealous.

Harry William Evans ▬ 38, born on December 19th 1937. Having always been a dreamer, it wasn’t hard for the blonde man to decide that what he wanted to do in life was write. Novels, poems, cake recipes, grocery lists written in rhyme, it never really mattered what he wrote, only that he was doing so. A man of words and other worlds, it wasn’t unusual that he was the exact opposite from his stressed wife: Harry is relaxed and laid back, always with a smile spread on his lips and a horrible joke ready to cheer up even the saddest of souls. Still, his gentle demeanor made him a brilliant father and a wonderful husband, a man ready to jump to his feet at any second to pull the women he loves so dearly apart (which has happened often in the last few years).  When things go south, Harry steps in; it’s always been like that. Unlike his wife, however, Mr. Evans connects better with his youngest child and it’s because of that that, when she needs to, Lily is the first to turn to her dad.

sibling(s):

Petunia Jane Evans ▬ 17, born on June 7th 1958. Currently still a student and working a part-time job as an assistant at Grunnings, a drill firm. As stubborn as her mother and sister, and also just as opinionated, Petunia was never an easy girl to deal with; she was always the sort of person to hold petty grudges and question anything and everything. Through the years, the older girl has tried to make herself as different from her sister as possible — Petunia didn’t need magic powers and pointy hats to be amazing, she had her brains and her skills, that was enough. Still, when combined  with her jealously and aggressiveness towards Lily (not that the ginger is innocent, because she’s just as bitter towards her older sister), it all adds up to the two not getting along in the slightest, ever. There’s love between them, there’s no doubt about it, and they care deeply about each other but being as proud as they are, it’s unlikely that the dynamic between the two will change anytime soon.

other:

Johanne Leena Evans (née Harper) ▬ 76, (January 13th, 1900 – July 4th 1976).  Having worked for most of her life as a pediatric nurse, Lily’s grandmother knew just how to raise children, always loved by every single one of them, her red-haired granddaughter especially. Lily had a passion for the elderly woman, so much like her in so many ways and yet so calm, so experienced, so beautiful – most girls see their mothers as role-models but, for the little witch, Johanne was her biggest one. They got along beautifully, shared secrets and stories, swore to never tell each other’s secrets to anyone else; Lily relied on her nan, trusted her more than she trusted anyone else in the whole wide world. The small house the older woman lived in was heaven, the tiny kitchen where she learn to cook a cloud of happiness and love – everything about Johanne screamed peace, passion, a safe haven like no other. Having died only a few months ago, often does the ginger forget that she’s gone; sometimes starting a letter with the words ‘Dear gran,’ or stopping to think, “I have to tell nan about this”. It pains Lily greatly to not have that shoulder to cry on anymore but she’s learnt to live with the pain, often ignoring the facts and pretending that come the summer of 1977 they’ll meet again.

Remus Lupin ▬ 16, born on Marth 10th 1960. Her fellow Prefect and close friend, Remus is one of Lily’s biggest confidants at Hogwarts: a calm, extremely nice guys, Lily finds him to be amongst the best people to walk aged stone floors. In reality, they’ve been friends ever since first year when Lily, chubby legged and short with a head of extremely curly hair, sat next to the thin, weak-looking boy and they had a very nice conversation about Potions. After that, and while one couldn’t consider them exactly inseparable, they only grew closer and closer – they got along beautifully, their friendship was easy and precious to Lily, who hadn’t been the most sociable of girls back home. On New Year’s eve of their fourth year, when Lily told her parents that she wasn’t a baby anymore and could very well stay at school during the holidays, they found themselves at midnight with no one to kiss and, red-cheeked and embarrassed, the witch pressed a chaste kiss of the boy’s lips (who soon grew red too). He was her first kiss and she was his and, to Lily, that means quite a lot. They moved past it, of course, and it didn’t change a single thing in their friendship but Lily holds that moment, as well as Remus, very close to her heart.

James Potter ▬ 16, born on March 27th 1960. She’ll never forget the first time she properly met James Potter, having been late to Potions and, rushing down the suddenly changing staircase, tripped over her own feet – falling down the last steps, books and quills flying everywhere. The black-haired boy had been late too and helped her up, all hands in his pockets and unruly hair, smiling at her in a way she wasn’t particularly fond of. Still, he was sweet enough and Lily found herself wanting to be her friend – that was, of course, until he hexed her during dinner, after which she poured her glass of pumpkin juice over his head (not knowing that he was allergic, at the time). After that, their relationship was a mixture of sarcastic remarks (hers) and self-centered replies (his), often resulting in Lily wanting to throw herself off of the Astronomy Tower. She never hated him, God no, but she was utterly annoyed at how he was so bloody good at everything – from class, to flying, to the way he looked, James Potter was an example and that made Lily’s skin itch, wanting to be the best at absolutely everything. When he asked her out, a couple of times to Hogsmeade over their fifth year, she figured he was messing with her which only made her even more of a passive-aggressive little thing; full of bitterness and rage. It wasn’t the boy’s fault, never having done anything wrong but she couldn’t quite help it. After what happened last year, however, her yelling at him during the “accident” by the lake, Lily feels ashamed. She should never have done that (even if the bloody prick deserved it) and if she wasn’t so proud, she would probably apologize. The best she could do was, having sat on an empty train compartment, allowing him to sit with her on the ride to Hogwarts. For the first time in six years, the pair actually shared a nice conversation – they talked about his family, her family, what they did during the summer; about anything and everything, like proper friends. While they aren’t that just yet, Lily was left with the impression that maybe, James Potter isn’t half as bad as she’d imagined him to be. Not bad at all.

Severus Snape ▬ 16, born on January 9th 1960. Lily’s oldest and closest friend for what felt like forever, Severus Snape was everything to the redhaired girl. Always gentle and enthusiastic towards her, it was him who told her about the Wizarding World, him to told her about magic and the future she could one day have – the ginger had always been a dreamer but after she met Severus, she learnt that maybe fantasies weren’t so bad, that maybe wishes upon stars actually came true and grown-ups had just lost hope. Together they played all day and together they walked into the Great Hall, both secretly hoping that they’d be sorted into the same House. That wasn’t the case and even though it wasn’t easy being friends with a Slytherin, preconceptions and hypocrisy (or so she thought) making those around her dislike her best friend. Lily often told them off, sticking by Sev’s side as she knew he stuck by hers – sure, it wasn’t easy, but they were friends and nothing would ever change that. That was, of course, until the Dark Arts spoke louder and the boy began to slip from Lily’s grasp. She didn’t realize it soon enough, didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on around her, refused to see the truth in her friend’s actions. When reality hit her like a slap on a sunny afternoon, the word ‘mudblood’ slipping from his lips, it was too late. Suddenly, the people who’d warned her were right and Lily did the only thing she could do: she severed ties with the aspiring Death Eater, turned her back on him like she’d promised to never do so. Now that she doesn’t have him by his side, Lily feels lost – the summer, while pleasant and fun, wasn’t what she’d expected for she truly missed Severus and their conversations; he was one of the people she held closest to her heart and, just as Petunia had done, he’d closed the door between them. Sure, she’d turned the key but this wasn’t her fault. It would never be her fault. All she can do now is turn to the people who are still by her side, Molly, Dorcas and Marlene – her sisters, her friends, her everything now that she’s alone. She’s still very much unsure of what her life will be like from now on but, and even if she feels as if she’ll never recover from the blow to her heart, Lily is sure she’ll find her way, with a little help from her friends.

I was going to write about Molly, Marlene and Dorcas as well, because after reading the bios I thought Lily would have most likely gotten along with them but since I haven’t spoken to the players (or potential players) I wasn’t too comfortable writing something in the app that might not be a reality if I get accepted. I hope that’s alright, but I didn’t find it very respectful for the people who applied for them and chose to leave it like this, touching only a few of the people I felt like I had to write about.

do you have any regrets? “Doesn’t everyone? I never understood the whole ‘I have no regrets’ thing people usually say when asked this. I do have regrets, maybe not a lot and none very serious but yes, I have them. Would I go back and change things if I could… I don’t know. Probably.

I regret not trying harder when it came to Tuney and her dislike for me and all things magical, because I think that maybe if I’d included her more in this fun, new chapter of my life, she wouldn’t have been so bitter. I don’t think we’d ever really get along but I’d like to at least have tried, instead of just ignoring the issues until they slapped me full-force on the face, like I did. It’s hard to see that other people aren’t happy when you’re over the moon, y’know? And it kills me that I just… didn’t bother as much as I should’ve. Petunia’s my sister and I just don’t think things should be like this, that’s not how life should go. And I regret the way things are.

Can’t not regret what happened with Severus, can I? Merlin, I just… when did he get like that? Maybe if I’d paid more attention to him, if I’d driven him away from the people he was getting involved with, maybe he would have understood what he was getting himself into. The ‘what if’ is the hardest part, I think. And that’s the bit I wish I could change, because even if it hurts me (and it does) I don’t regret cutting him from my life. Severus made his choice, one that I don’t agree with, and I know I’m doing the right thing.”

what is your fondest memory? “My fondest memory… Well, that’s difficult. I mean, I’m sixteen, which means I have sixteen years of nice memories I want to remember forever and tell my grandkids about when I’m old so choosing one isn’t the easiest thing in the world. You have a knack for asking tricky questions, has anyone ever told you that before? Merlin. I guess… there was this one time years ago, around Christmas. My sister and I used to have this tradition where we snuck downstairs after our parents were sleeping to see if they’d left any present unwrapped and, when we couldn’t find them, we’d search through the whole house. The first one to find something won and got to pick one of the other’s gifts for herself. It was stupid, really, but we were young and there wasn’t all that much to do. God, I was so small that Tuney had to grip my hand when we went down the stairs. It took us ages to get to the final step, let me tell you, and I think we might have woken mum and dad up about five times, though they never came to ruin our fun.

That night I crawled into bed with Tuney to wake her up and she just started tickling me like crazy, I couldn’t even breathe! She loved doing that, reckon she had a passion for seeing me squirming and begging for mercy, ‘cause she tickled me on a daily basis and I hated it. I don’t really remember much after she started bloody torturing me, but I do know we fell asleep eventually. I… I think about it when things get hard. I don’t know why, but it just makes me proper happy – those were good times, y’know? I was small, she was small… everything was easy and carefree and we had nothing to do but play all day. Guess I miss that. And her. But… life’s life and we can’t cling onto the past, yeah? That isn’t healthy. But yes, that’s my fondest memory. Maybe one day I’ll find one to replace it.”

character’s story: Born in the beginning of 1960, Lily was welcomed into an average muggle family. The girl grew up alongside her big sister, Petunia, her role-model and best friend, for the girls were truly inseparable — always walking hand-in-hand and laughing at jokes that Violet, a primary school teacher, and Harry, a writer, were not allowed to understand.There was never a flower without the other, they were merely an extension of the other, the year of difference they had from each other meant nothing. Petunia and Lily were two of a kind and they loved it.

Enrolled at the school where her mother worked, Lily’s life was a bed of roses — no worries or too much responsibility weighing the child down except for what she was going to play the following morning; a few worksheets worth of homework being the only thing that turned sunny days slightly grey. It was not until Lily was nine years old that she learnt that, perhaps, her life was not as average as it appeared. Ever since she could remember, she had done things that most children couldn’t but she hadn’t paid much attention to it — she couldn’t do a handstand like a girl in her grade, so why should she worry that other little girls did not know how to change the colour of flower petals? A dreamer, she never once questioned her abilities, often being too distracted to even bother to notice them: she’d always been different and being so didn’t scare her – Lily was who she was and as long as she wasn’t deprived of her free afternoons, what was the problem is she could float right off her swing? It didn’t matter. Until one day, as she was playing alone, changing a flower’s appearance, Lily met a black-haired boy named Severus who told her that she was a witch; that the things she could do were not simply skills — they were magic.

As any other little girl, she was ecstatic. Magic. She had always believed in fairies and spells, in the tales her gran had told her about before she merrily drifted off to sleep, but being a witch had not once been something the redhead had considered and yet it made sense. Severus fascinated her, taught her about a world she would someday be a part of, became a shoulder she could lean on and a friend she adored – Petunia was pushed into the background, somewhat forgotten amongst afternoons of listening to the Snape boy talk about spells, charms and potions, of castles and villages filled with wizards. It wasn’t her intention, Lily never wanted to push her sister away, and when Tuney began to grow cold and cruel, bitter even, the ginger didn’t understand nor accept her actions. A stubborn person by nature, Lily too began to treat her sister as she was treated and all Hell broke loose in the Evans household. Suddenly there was yelling and hair-pulling when once there had been laughter and hugging. The girls’ parents didn’t understand. But like many things before, they weren’t meant to.

The red-haired girl received her Hogwarts acceptance letter mere months before her twelfth birthday and she was as excited to learn more about magic as she was to leave home — wanting to get away from Tuney and her unjustified hatred. In her young mind, Lily couldn’t possibly understand why her sister had so quickly grown to despise her and, stubborn as usual, she couldn’t bring herself to even ask why. So, come September 1st, the young miss Evans was sorted into the house of one Godric Gryffindor and she soon forgot all about how great Severus said that Slytherin was.

In Gryffindor, the girl felt at home; like she belonged but even though she made plenty of good friends, never once did she ignore Sev in front of them — he knew her like no one else did. She was always loyal to the core, never wavering, never giving up, even when Severus began getting involved with people she knew were no good, even when his “friends” whispered ‘mudblood’ as she walked by, it didn’t matter because it wasn’t Sev – sure, she would have loved it if he hadn’t joined those aspiring Death Eaters, but she ignored the truth. It was unthinkable for her best friend to be one of them, to want to join Voldemort in his fight for blood purity. It was hard for Lily not to see the best in everyone. And that was her mistake.

Fifth year proved to be a big one for the ginger. She was made Prefect, something that made her as proud as anyone can be – she, a muggleborn, was granted such an honour, one she’d secretly wished for but never really voice out loud. A person fond of fairness and justice, nothing made Lily happier than to be able to do what she believes is right: those who deserved to be punished, the people who insulted her under their breaths when she walked by and tormented first years, mere babies compared to their abusers, were soon given what they deserved; the people who helped the poor, scared children and respected the rules were rewarded, even if only with a warm smile and a nice conversation. Order was always something the witch found most important and now she could make sure it was a constant in the halls of Hogwarts. Of course, she too enjoyed the power that came with it, the feeling that she was important, that she mattered. Insults have a way of sticking with you and while she ignored them, feeling as if she was a valuable asset to the Wizarding World. The world was bright and Lily was over the moon.

Everything changed, however, when called Lily a “mudblood”; showing the redhead just how much he’d changed since they were nine years old, how lost his soul had become. There was no point in forgiving him, no matter how much she wanted to do so, for she knew deep in her heart that he was hopeless – that afternoon, Severus Snape showed her his true colours and Lily? She didn’t like them, not by a long shot. Their friendship ended that day, and her annoyance at the Marauders (a feeling she’d had since stepping into the castle, some five years prior, though never really acted on) grew even more. In the back of her mind, and though she no longer speaks to him, Lily still subconsciously believes that it was because of James and Sirius that she couldn’t save Severus and pull him away from dark magic. It’s a ridiculous thought and one that she regrets for while they are many things, the boys share her views but, as most things in life, it’s hard to admit a mistake. Too proud to admit that she shouldn’t have exploded on James Potter’s face the way she did, Lily can’t help but feel a tad bit guilty. Just a tad bit, of course.

Having had all summer to mule over what happened, the ginger is now determined to stay away from her former friend, though she is still unsure as to how she’ll be able to do that — a person who despises change, it’s difficult for Lily to shake off her want to speak to Severus. But every time she thinks of doing so, she reminds herself that the Slytherin is dedicated to a cause whose purpose is denying people like her their right to having a life in the Wizarding World and forgiveness washes away from her mind. It pains her to leave a friend behind, feeling almost as if she betrayed him and the promises they’d made but, alas, there is no way she can ignore just how deeply Sev has gotten himself into the Dark Arts – he’s chosen his way, she’s chosen hers. There is no point in thinking about what could have been.

This year isn’t going to be easy, not at all, but as long as she stays true to herself (something she too is still trying to figure out), she knows she’ll make it. Now, if only Transfiguration was as easy as making life-changing decisions, she’d be good to go. Lily has yet to understand just how on earth she managed to get an E on her O.W.L, managed to really surprise herself, and she isn’t just going to let Professor McGonagall down – she’s a prefect, she’s smart and by God, she’s going to master all the spells she finds utterly pointless (why would anyone want to transfigure goblets and rats?) if it’s the last thing she does.

        O P T I O N A L  I N F O R M A T I O N

allergies:

CHOCOLATE ▬ At the age of five, Lily would have been more than happy to life off of peas and chocolate cookies. In fact, all things chocolate made the girl squeal in delight; never having been one to ask for dolls or games, if anyone were to give the girl some chocolate, she would have been ecstatic, thanking whomever gave it to her as they quickly became her favourite person. It wasn’t long, however, before she began to have problems breathing, air not filling her lungs properly and driving the child into full-blown panic attacks, the hospital becoming somewhat of a second home for a month. Soon, the answer was given and Lily wasn’t all that pleased. Her asthma attacks were actually an allergic reaction and, after a lot of testing, the doctors proudly told Mrs. and Mr. Evans that their youngest daughter couldn’t eat chocolate.

This pained the girl a great deal but there was nothing she could do, for the heavenly sweet disappeared from her household and, in time, she had to learn to live with the prohibition. When she went to school, things changed drastically and in her carefree mind, a few experiments couldn’t possibly do any harm, eating chocolate behind her parents’ back any chance she got. Like most allergies, it lessened as the years went by, and even though she has yet to cut it from her life, when she eats too much of it the ginger has to deal with another attack, something she can handle perfectly but is extremely uncomfortable.

This is one of the few truly irresponsible acts that Lily allows herself and even though she knows she should keep herself away from cake and hot cocoa, cookies and chocolate frogs, it seems to be most impossible. These days, Lily eats it only when she’s very happy or downright upset, saving the risk for special occasions and trying to not make eating it a routine.

SEAFOOD ▬ Something about food that tastes and smells like the sea has always made Lily feel doubtful, her fear of water not helping in the slightest which is why she was already eight years old when, after a lot of convincing, she finally tasted seafood for the first time. A favourite in the Evans household, it was only a matter of time before Violet placed a plate of shrimp in front of her youngest daughter and waited patiently for her to at least try it. That would soon prove to be a mistake, as everything happened surprisingly quickly after Lily forced herself to take the first bite.

Lightheadedness and a pain in her chest were the first symptoms and she can’t quite say she remembers the rest as, when the swelling began, the redhead was already passed out cold and being driven as quickly as possible to the nearest hospital; a panicking mother, shaking father and crying sister (even if Petunia would never admit it today) in tow. It was a matter of luck and impeccable timing that saved Lily’s life; the anaphylactic shock she suffered was severe and most children with asthma who experienced it often died before anything could be done. The recovery was quick and painless, not remembering what happened making it much easier for the child to embrace the idea that she could have lost her life over a small bite of shrimp, but that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t affected.

To this day, any mentions of seafood make the witch sick and, unlike chocolate, she hasn’t dared touch a bit since; not wanting to risk something that would most likely lead her to the grave.

GRASS ▬ Quite possibly what she deems as the stupidest allergy one could be faced with, Lily was (as she so ironically calls it) blessed with an allergy to grass. Normal, everyday, fluffy green grass. It went unnoticed for years, as kids run around all day and are always bound to be bitten by bugs or spiders; little rashes were never a concern for her parents or Lily. Sure, sometimes after playing all day her legs got incredibly itchy but why would a young girl question that? If she said something, her mum could keep her from rolling around outside and so, with a stubbornness most characteristic, the redhead kept her mouth shut, suffering in silence in fear of the consequences.

That was, of course, until Violet noticed the rash that had taken over Lily’s legs; quickly dragging the whole family to the hospital and very dramatically proclaiming that she didn’t want her baby to lose her legs. As expected, that wasn’t the case for some medicine would fix the problem but the diagnosis was out there: Lily Evans was allergic to grass. Grass! Still, it proved to be an easier problem than chocolate, as years of habit taught the girl how to play and fall and live without ever having bare skin touching the grass. It still is an inconvenient from time to time but Lily has come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t have much choice in the matter, having only to obey what her body demands.

illnesses: Apart from her more serious allergic reactions, Lily has never been one to get ill: she had the chickenpox when she was six and usually has the flu once a year, around December, but other than that she’s quite the healthy girl.

vices:

DRINKING ▬ Never having been one to drink, last summer Lily did some experimenting and has come to the conclusion that if she did drink on a regular basis, she’d probably die at a very, very young age. After what happened with Severus, the witch decided that she’d hang out with the kids back home, finally making more than a couple of friends on her street, accompanying them to parties and gatherings that, as is customary in teenage encounters, were well stocked up on every muggle drink in the book. Some bottles were nicked at the gas station, others stolen from old cabinets that their parents thought safe, or even bought by the eldest of the group – the point is, Lily finally learnt that she enjoyed alcohol and yet couldn’t handle it at all. If she gets distracted, which she normally did, the girl will sip glass after glass without even realizing it but the thing is, her body has no problems with Firewhiskey or muggle drinks like Vodka; she’ll keep drinking and drinking after all others have collapsed. When it comes to traditionally lighter drinks, however, like beer or wine, it only takes a few small glasses for the redhead to claim the floor as her bed, knowing full well she’ll wake up with a terrible headache.

So, to keep things safe, Lily would rather not drink, especially not while at Hogwarts (even if yes, she’ll allow herself a glass or two when the Marauders throw a party), for she is a Prefect and she shouldn’t be doing things that are unsuitable for anyone in her position. Mostly, she simply doesn’t want to make a complete idiot out of herself in front of her whole house like some girls do, preferring sobriety over being inebriated any day.

SMOKING ▬ Lily’s “wild” summer didn’t only make her start enjoying the occasional drink. Most of her newfound friends had been smoking for years, always surrounded by a cloud of smoke anywhere they went; cigarettes dangling off lips and being passed around as if it were nothing. Soon, she too had a fag stuck between her lips and before she could realize it, she had fallen into a routine, lighting cigarette after cigarette as conversations progressed well into the night, sometimes into the first hours of sunshine. It was a habit she took on quickly and has no intention of quitting: it helps her calm down when she’s nervous, she likes the tarry taste it leaves on her lips and something about the grey smoke against a darkened sky makes her smile, the patterns beautiful and haunting. She does know, however, that she can’t do it at Hogwarts which is why (and she does feel quite guilty about it) the witch has been saving packs since July, hiding them in the bottom of her trunk along with a silver lighter she nicked from her dad.

The plan is to find places to smoke her fags in peace and quiet without being caught and while she knows that’s not going to be easy in the slightest, Lily Evans is a woman with a vice and, stubborn as she is, she won’t just quit because society tells her that nice girls should do so – it she ever decides to leave cigarettes behind, it’ll be her own choice, not something imposed to her by a male-dominated society.

fears:

BUTTERFLIES ▬ While she considers it one of the stupidest fears a girl could ever have, Lily is afraid of butterflies. When she was young, her sister trapped one in a jar and the ginger was ecstatic – its wings were beautiful, their patterns colourful and cheery – before running to tell mummy that the insect was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen in her four year old life. That was, of course, until the poor thing died and Tuney found it hilarious to lay in on her sister’s forehead; upon waking up, Lily sat up to find a dead butterfly falling onto her lap, and her screams could be heard three houses down. Some might call it a trauma, others mere idiocy but that doesn’t change the fact that if one of those disgusting beasts (as she kindly refers to “them”) comes anywhere near her, Lily – sweet, caring Lily – won’t hesitate to hit it. Repeatedly. Until it dies.

Not to mention that their faces, with those huge eyes and that strange nose thing, make her skin crawl – she has long stopped noticing the amazing designs on their wings, for now that face is the first thing that comes to mind. That little prank is one of the few things Lily knows she won’t forgive Petunia about and when they get into one of their fights, hot-headed and spewing nonsense, the redhead will most likely mention it bitterly.

WATER ▬ Everyone has some fears that they can’t explain and Lily’s fear of water is just that – inexplicable, something her subconscious never accepted and still doesn’t. When her father told six year old Lily that it was time she learnt to swim, the little ginger wasn’t opposed to the idea: it seemed fun enough and, if daddy was there, completely safe. But the night before their big family trip to her grandmother’s pool, Lily had a nightmare she would never forget, one that’s grown to be recurring over the years. The first time, beach was full of people – families, children laughing – and the girl would take a few steps into the ocean, would feel the sand beneath her feet and the cold water hit her toes; hear the waves crashing. Then, a wave would knock her down and before she knew it, the girl was submerged, struggling to get back on her feet but never quite being able to do so. People would stare down at her, ignore her, pretend she wasn’t there drowning. It faded to black, slowly, and Lily woke up breathless and blue-lipped.

After that, the witch would panic at any mentions of the sea, learning to ignore the way her legs begin to shake when she thinks back on her dream over the years but never truly bringing herself to overcome her dread – the nightmare returns every once in a while and the scenery has always changed, though its ending remains the same. Sometimes it’s daytime, others night, on occasion the beach is empty and cold and others warm and bursting with people. No matter what, it’s terrifying, and Lily is sure it must mean something. What exactly? She has no idea.

habits/quirks:

LIP BITING ▬ It’s rare that one finds Lily Evans thinking without having her bottom lip safely tucked between her lips, tongue running over sensitive skin, often nibbling on her own flesh, deep in thought. It’s a habit she doesn’t quite know when she picked up, but it soon became yet another part of her – it’s a comfort mechanism, like the stuffed animal she stopped totting around years ago, something she uses to soothe herself. When she’s hurt or upset, one is bound to find her teeth grazing her lips, having drawn blood only a few times in her sixteen years of life. Somehow, she can’t keep herself from doing it, her subconscious ordering her to do so before she can stop her body.

It’s not a very scandalous habit, mind you, and often are the times that the redhead ponders on it, thinking that it might maybe make her look mysterious and overall sexy – not that it matters, of course, for she was always the chubby ginger with incredibly curly hair and being attractive was never really an option. And while she isn’t vain, not in the slightest, there’s always that little voice in the back of her head that whispers in her ear every time she finds herself biting her lip – you look good. More often than not, she merely ignores it.

SITTING ▬ For years, Lily hasn’t been able to sit like a lady, with her legs properly down and ankles crossed. Violet always tried to teach their girls to act as a woman should, but only Petunia picked up certain habits for Lily hates the feeling of sitting on a tough wooden chair as one normally would. Instead, she traps a leg beneath the other or pulls them both up, crossing them behind her desk. It was always far more comfortable to sit like that and while her mum nags her when Lily finally goes back home, there’s not fixing something that (according to the redhead) is perfectly fine – why would the way she sits be anyone’s concern apart from her own? There’s no reason for one to be uncomfortable just to fit in with all the other posh women; it makes no sense to her sixteen year old mind.

Even if she’s just relaxing on an armchair or a couch, the witch will pull her legs onto the fabric, shifting them slightly to the side and crossing her feet; a bundle of arms and legs curled up into a ball, a book often resting on her knees. The last thing on her mind is what people might think of her odd position and, if anyone were to comment on it (which they don’t because why would a Prefect’s sitting habits be motive of loud whispers?), she would have loudly proclaimed that it was none of their business.

NAILS ▬ When she doesn’t find herself with her lips between her teeth, it’s because her fingers have replaced it, as Lily has the terrible habit of biting her nails and the skin around them. She adores painting them and having feminine hands but stress and boredom often leads to the witch looking down to find cracked varnish and chipped nails, something that the ginger finds particularly irritating. Still, she can’t really help herself for she feels a need to keep her hands busy – when they aren’t in her mouth, Lily often taps her fingers against tables or gently scratches her thumb with her ring finger, all signs that she is beyond bored.

As most of Lily’s habits, this is a good indicator of what her mood is like that day: she bites her lip when she’s upset or day-dreaming, bites her nails when she’s stressed and scratches her thumb when she’s complete and utterly bored (a habit she surely picked up during History Of Magic, a subject she was never particularly fond of, even though she first found it fascinating). Still, and like everything else, she isn’t harming anyone and when her friends tell her to put her hands down, she’ll merely roll her eyes at them, sticking her tongue out playfully and continuing about her day.

EYE ROLLING ▬ Usually a friendly person, some might feel uncomfortable at Lily’s habit of constantly rolling her eyes at anything and everything. She doesn’t really mean to do so but sometimes her subconscious speaks louder, forcing the girl to show that she honestly doesn’t care about what someone is saying – listening out of politeness or (most of the times) because she knows she might hear some gossip. She doesn’t go around telling people someone else’s secrets, mind you, but she won’t deny that she likes listening to the occasional rumour, whispering to her friends as they try to figure out if it is as true as it’s claimed to be.

When something isn’t of particular interest, however, of when it simply annoys her, Lily will most definitely roll her green eyes at you; a raised eyebrow often following before she goes back to pretending she actually gives a damn. This happens mostly with strangers, people she’s only met once or twice, because when it comes to her friends, they could very well be speaking of the weather or apples and she’d be concentrated on their words, as she nurturer by nature who mothers everyone around her without even realizing it.

hobbies:

COOKING / BAKING ▬ Every child has their chores and, unfortunately, Lily was never fond of those she was assigned with. Be it dusting or doing the dishes, it all sounded horrible to the girl who always tried to trade with Petunia – why did she have to be stuck with such boring tasks? She’s much rather clean the floor or fold clothes, something other than the bloody dishes. That was, of course, until she went to spend a few weeks with her maternal grandmother and the elderly lady introduced her to cooking. After that, there was no going back. Something about being in the kitchen warms Lily’s heart; she spent years learning how to make anything and everything, soon pushing her mum away and trying to cook dinner alone (which ended in a few accidents, such as a couple of bad cuts or a flaming frying pan). It was just for fun at first but as time went by, there was no denying that Lily had a knack for metaphorically flying around the kitchen, wooden spoon in one hand and an ingredient in the other.

More than a hobby, cooking turned into something that she finds therapeutic; the one thing that keeps her busy enough when the rest of the world crumbles around her. Last year, after she parted ways with Severus, the redhead decided that simply making lunch and dinner was enough, taking her first steps into baking – for days, it was all she did, batches and batches of cookies on the counters until she managed to make the perfect ones; cakes of various kinds left on tables. She quickly learnt that there was nothing better to cure a broken heart than a full oven, nothing that smelt more of home and comfort than a freshly baked scone. Slowly but surely, Lily has found one of the greatest passions in her life and, if all goes well, she would love to own a restaurant one day. Or maybe a bakery. Or both! She isn’t sure yet.

GARDENING ▬ Gardening was never Lily’s greatest talent but from a young age, she could be found alongside her mother and sister, trying to help mummy in any way she could, often doing more harm than good. Still, Violet Evans taught their girls everything that had been passed down to her by her own mother, who’d learnt from her mother, and so on – working with flowers, helping them grow into their beauty, was always a Morrison women tradition and marriage didn’t change that. Lily grew up seeing her mother with her hands in the dirt and, to this day, plants remind her of home – something about gardening makes her feel warm inside and it is what she do finds herself doing when she’s at home, calm and relaxed, often before she’s spent any large amount of time with Petunia.

In all honesty, most of what the witch tries to grow on her own withers and dies but that doesn’t keep her from trying; a persistent being who doesn’t take no for an answer, Lily will persevere. Still, more than doing her own gardening, the redhead still always prefers to help her mum when she’s at home as it is a way of her feeling better – she has never felt guilty about being at Hogwarts but she can’t shake off the feeling that she hasn’t been there for Violet, hasn’t been a good daughter, like Petunia. So, this also works as her way of trying to make up for time lost; not much, she knows, but it’s one of the few things Lily can do with her mum without them ending up yelling at each other.

PHOTOGRAPHY ▬ An emotional person who cherishes even the smallest of memories, it wasn’t surprising that Lily found photography to be one of her favourite things to do, even if she isn’t particularly good at it. Be it the sun rise or the sunset, a friend or a bird, the clouds or a rainy field, the witch will use her new Polaroid camera to take a picture; often blurry images that are far too bright or far too dark but still make the redhead feel proud, for she will never forget that moment, even after she’s old and her memory fails her. She finds it that even the most common of pictures can be breathtaking if one sees the hidden beauty in it, knows that it might tell a story we aren’t aware of, or inspire artists and poets.

While baking and gardening hold emotional value to the Gryffindor, photography is just something she enjoys doing – simple, fun, carefree; it doesn’t remind her of years lost or heartbreak past, doesn’t make her feel melancholic in the slightest, which is why the witch tots that camera everywhere; constantly taking pictures of anything, everything and everyone. Over the years, she’s put together a rather heavy scrapbook that she will show her friends come Seventh Year, a goodbye present she hopes they’ll treasure as much as she does.

FLYING ▬ For years, when she was a little girl, Lily used to pretend she could fly like the birds above; she’d stretch out her arms and try her hardest, sometimes hovering a little over the ground, yes, but never floating away, free and beautiful. She soon came to terms with the fact that she’d never grow a pair of wings and fly away but, when Severus began to tell her about the fairytale-like Wizarding World, a spark of hope shun in the horizon as witches had broomsticks. And broomsticks could fly. It was a childish dream, of course, riding a broom across the open air but Lily never stopped thinking about it.

When the first years took their first flying lesson, however, the redhead froze, suddenly afraid that she’d fall or embarrass herself – most of the students knew all about this or at least a little, while the only mean of transportation she was familiar with was her bike or dad’s car. The notion of climbing onto that damned broomstick seemed preposterous and so she pretended she couldn’t even raise it off the ground, not even trying to do so. Somewhere along the years, however, Lily found ways to borrow a broomstick here and there, slowly teaching herself to fly without having anyone there to laugh at her. As expected, it became one of her favourite things to do and while she isn’t anywhere as good as anyone on the Quidditch teams, she does finds herself to be quite decent.

sleeping habits: Lily’s sleeping habits change quite regularly over the years, for different circumstances and different places affect the girl in many ways and sleep (especially sleeping patterns) is definitely the part of her that is most influenced by that. When she’s at home during the holidays, she can’t help but curl herself into a ball, clutching her pillow and sleeping with her head on the hard mattress, needing to hold something for comfort. When she was a child, she had a stuffed bunny she absolutely adored and couldn’t fall asleep without, always hugging him so he wouldn’t be afraid of the dark like she (even if she never spoke of it out loud, not wanting to sound like a baby) was. Old habits are hard to break, her childhood bedroom always reminding her of Pig, her pillow a substitute for the toy that was lost in the summer of 1968.

When she’s at Hogwarts, however, she prefers to sleep on her stomach, a leg pulled up over the bed covers and an arm safety under her head; resting on it rather than on the fluffy pillow she’s gotten used to over the years. Something about sharing a room with a handful of other girls comforts Lily which is why, even when everyone else is already sound asleep, she has no problem walking around and grumbling over whatever happened that day, not afraid of the shadows and what hides in them. Truthfully, Lily has overgrown her fear of the dark but it she still finds it eerie, preferring to stay in a place where there’s light and she can see her surroundings perfectly. That’s also why the witch can’t sleep without a window wide open, allowing moonlight to shine into the bedroom – she needs to be able to see where she is and what’s happening around her, or sleep takes hours to settle in. She’s practically soundless while sleeping, but there isn’t a night where Lily doesn’t wake up with drool on her arm and the covers on the floor, having tossed and turned around enough to sometimes even wake up with her feet on her pillow.

As far as sleeping patterns are concerned, that’s where things change. When she’s happy and at peace with herself and others, Lily has no problem merrily drifting off; succumbing to exhaustion the second she lays down, sometimes even feeling the need to take a nap during the day. When she’s stressed, however, and no matter how hard she tries, the redhead will take hours to fall asleep, sometimes staying up until dawn and spending the remainder of the week yawning into her pumpkin juice, thoughts and concerns swimming in her mind, haunting her and leaving her to try and find solutions to her problems, solutions that rarely make sense. It is, all in all, something she now sees as routine – during her O.W.Ls, the witch spent days on end without sleep, what happened with Severus pushing her off the edge as pulling all-nighter after all-nighter didn’t quite help her already fiery temper.  Long story short, when she isn’t at the top of her game, Lily stops sleeping. When Lily stops sleeping, she gets rather jumpy. When she gets jumpy, she yells. And after she yells at someone, she gets even more stressed, not being able to sleep for the following night and thus creating a vicious cycle she should know better than to get herself into.

Still, the summer months spent away from school and Severus helped the witch calm down and re-evaluate her life, so much so that she has started dreaming again, something she stopped doing towards the end of her fifth year at Hogwarts. Now, nights are peaceful and quiet, and she can only hope they stay the same for the rest of the school year, for she is actually quite ashamed at how she blew up in Potter’s face and would rather that experience didn’t have any repeats.

eating habits: If you ask her, Lily will surely tell you that she has the eating habits of any girl her age but, in reality, she eats as much as any sixteen year old boy. A lover of all sorts of food, from grilled fish to a nice, big steak, the redhead isn’t exactly picky, which is why she spent the last seven years of her life being considered a chubby little thing – short in height, any weight she put on was immediately noticeable and even if she didn’t really care about it, there was no denying that she ate enough for two, something she stopped doing over the summer. Running around with newfound friends and stopping only to grab a sandwich or an apple, as well as having grown some inches (only three, but that’s more than enough for Lily), caused the girl to lose quite a bit of weight, something she hasn’t really stopped to notice yet. One thing’s for sure, her appetite has gone down tremendously, but that doesn’t stop her from stuffing her face every now and then.

Peas remain Lily’s favourite thing in the whole wide world; those little green balls fascinated her when she was younger and the fixation stuck, for be them in rice, in pasta or just boiled in a bowl, the ginger will devour them, having developed the habit of force feeding them to her friends when they wrinkle her nose at her. Another food she’s very fond of is tuna pasta, something that she eats when she doesn’t feel too good, like some girls who eat ice-cream or chocolate. A nice, warm plate of pasta does it for her, the best comfort food anyone could ever have thought about. Food, for Lily, is more than just food – it’s art, it’s life, it’s something to be appreciated and cherished, not just eaten as an obligation.

Still, some traditions must be kept and while she loves a full dish, it’s rare that Lily mixes her food – she eats it all in order, one picked when she finishes serving. It might touch, that’s absolutely fine, but she can’t really eat meat, rice and salad in one bite: they must be eaten separately. A slow eater who stops to chat every five seconds, Lily’s plate might be half-empty after an hour, but her drink will be left untouched – that, as everything else, has an order – until she’s properly finished.

how do they behave under pressure? To say that Lily does well under pressure is an understatement, as the girl functions like a well oiled machine – sure, she might hold off on sleep for a few days (until she passes out on her bed fully clothed) but for the most part, the redhead will surely be running around, getting everything she needs done and on time; everything else but the task at hand forgotten, pushed to the back of her mind until she can go back to relaxing. This doesn’t mean that Lily enjoys pressure, Merlin no, but at least she knows that if she has to be faced with it, she won’t crash and burn like so many of her classmates – getting essays done? Easy. Studying for her O.W.Ls? Sure, no problem. But when it comes to pressure within her family circle? That’s when things get trickier, for while school isn’t all that hard for Lily, when it comes to the social dynamic in her family she is often unsure of what to say or how to act, looking like a fish out of water.

Perhaps it was the years she has spent at Hogwarts, maybe the new culture she now finds herself submerged in or the difference between the people she deals with on a daily basis and the people who share her blood, but one thing is certain: when it comes to holidays, family dinners or even small situations, like meeting Petunia’s brand new boyfriend, Lily is clueless. She’ll feel awkward, with her curly red hair and nails tapping on wooden tables, not knowing what to say or do – a word out of place and she could let it slip that she’s a witch. So, all in all, the girl is amazing under pressure, unless it comes from her family. Then, she might just spend hours eating, not speaking as she fears her comments might embarrass those around her.

how do they express their emotions? While the Evans were a warm family, affection was never shown through touching; words, kind gestures and her parents’ constant fussing over both her and Petunia were what showed Lily she wasn’t alone and that she was loved. That, however, wasn’t satisfying for the girl who was always snuggled up against her mum or constantly hugging her dad. From a very young age, Lily proved to be an extremely tactile individual and that only grew with age: when she loves and trusts someone, the ginger touches them. Any sort of physical contact comes naturally to her, be it a gentle nudge with her hip or a kiss on the cheek, holding hands with her friends or crawling into bed with them, Lily can’t help herself – to her, one must show people that they were loved and, in a time where people just aren’t kind enough, a soft touch seems comforting. Perhaps she was just born to mother everyone, wanting the people around her to be at their best, but she just can’t help but touch the people she cares about.

Still, Lily is a person of extremes and while she can be the gentlest of girls at times, when she’s angry she is definitely not someone you would want as an enemy. The witch’s temper is as fiery as her hair, and once she gets upset you might as well run, hide and wait for her to calm down. It takes quite a while for someone to get Lily completely furious, very few ever driving her to the breaking point, but when she does, things will fly, cities will burn, empires will crumble and you will hear cats hissing for hours like in comedy TV shows. Those closest to her aren’t safe from being hit on the back of the head or slapped across the arm, for her being tactile goes both ways and she is most definitely not afraid to hit people when they deserve it. After all, she’s not that strong… ish.

Ultimately, Lily tries to show her love to those she cares about in any way she can, be it by listening to them when they need someone, giving them advice even if it’s harsh and cold, hugging them when they need a shoulder and hitting them when they’re behaving like idiots – love, she has come to realize, comes in many ways and if one must be cruel in order to guide someone in the right direction then so be it. Lily isn’t afraid of calling things by their proper names; if people dislike her for that, so be it. At least she knows she’s doing the right thing and helping the people she holds closest to her heart, even if they don’t notice it straight away. Of course, most of this is the redhead believing that she knows better than most but that has never stopped her from doing what she believes she should do. And, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

        O U T  O F  C H A R A C T E R

name: Oswin age: 18 timezone: GMT contact information: You can find me on greeneyedwriting, my personal Tumblr blog where I’m on at least once a day, on Skype as deathatwinterquay and/or on KIK as somebodysaylily. pronouns: She / Her

Hello, there! I didn’t know where to add this so I’ll just mention it here. While Eleanor is absolutely beautiful, I can’t really say she’s my vision of Lily and that makes me a little uncomfortable, which is why I wish to request a change to Jenna Thiam, a French actress you can find here [ x , x , x ]. She, along with Karen Gillan, are two faceclaims I particularly enjoy for Lily and Jenna, with her curly dark red hair, is exactly what I envisioned while writing the app. Thank you so much!