Lily

Chapter One:

There was a house that was seldom ever quiet. The owner of the house, Marge, was a dog breeder and her work resulted in the barking of dogs filling the air almost every waking hour of the day, and sometimes into the night.

Lily hated the noise. She was forbidden from interacting with any of the dogs who were kept in the yard, except for Ripper- Marge's favorite who was kept inside the house. Ripper, quite unfortunately, was a rather ill behaved dog, and as a result, Lily decided she didn't like dogs.

If one were to stumble across the house that was seldom ever quiet, they might be confused, for Marge and Lily bore no resemblance to each other. This was because Lily was in fact, Marge's brother's niece. Hypothetically, if one were to find the house, however, their questions wouldn't stop there, but continue on to why Lily never left the house and why her "room" was in fact, the attic. The answer was a simple one that Marge liked to keep her hidden- Marge despises Lily. The only reason she allowed Lily to live under her roof was because she loved her brother dearly and wouldn't refuse when he asked her for a favor. Well, maybe she would, but this favor came with a free housekeeper.

On the day our story begins, eleven year old Lily was washing dishes, humming softly to herself to distract from the scalding hot water rushing over her hands. Marge walked into the kitchen, but Lily didn't notice over the sound of the water.

"Quit that nose." Marge commanded, scaring Lily, who jumped and immediately fell quiet.

Marge surveyed the spotless kitchen. Lily finished washing the last dish and shut off the water. She turned to face Marge, but didn't look her in the eyes, opting to stare at her feet instead.

"Well?!" Marge demanded, "What're you just standing there for?! House isn't going to clean itself!"

Lily nodded and moved to leave the room.

"Words, girl." Marge snapped.

"...y-yes Miss." Lily said quietly.

"Get out of my sight." Marge replied.

Lily left the room quickly.

She often dreamed about what it would be like to live with her brother, Harry. She knew of his existence, but to her knowledge, he did not know of hers. She had met her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia only once when she was little and the visit ended with Petunia crying and repeating "Looks just like her" over and over again. Lily didn't know it, but that was the reason she was separated from her brother in the first place. Petunia couldn't bear to raise the daughter that looked just like her deceased sister. It was easier to rise Harry- he looked like James, who Petunia still resented, but Lily was too much like her mother.

As Lily walked to the attic, she heard a small crash from the kitchen. She knew cane should go and clean up the mess sure to be found there, but hesitated due to her Marge's  earlier dismissal.

"GIRL."

Lily hurried into the kitchen upon being summoned.

"What's this?" Marge asked, holding up a letter.

There was an owl perched on the kitchen counter, which confused Lily, but she didn't speak.

"What. Is. This." Marge repeated.

"I-I don't know, Miss." Lily said.

"Something freaky is going on here." Marge said, "And when freaky things happen, it's always your fault."

Lily looked down. She hated when the "freaky" things happened. It would always end up with her getting punished.

Marge ripper open the letter and read it's contents. She scoffed before looking up to glare at Lily.