Lily Potter

Lily J. Potter (née Evans) (30 January 1960 - 31 October 1981) is one of the overarching protagonists in the Harry Potter series. She is the younger sister of Petunia Dursley, the wife of James Potter, the mother of Harry Potter, the sister-in-law of Vernon Dursley, the maternal aunt of Dudley Dursley, the mother-in-law of Ginny Weasley, and the paternal grandmother of James II, Albus and Lily II. She is also the childhood best friend and love interest of Severus Snape.
She is portrayed by Geraldine Somerville as an adult, Susie Shinner as a teenager, and Ellie Darcey-Alden as a child.
==History ==
===Early Life===
Lily was born on January 30, 1960 in the English town of Cokeworth to Muggles Mr. and Mrs. Evans, she was the younger sister of Petunia.
As a child, she discovered that she had magic powers, which caused her sister to see her as a freak whilst her parents expressed joy.
Lily didn't have any friends and became lonely, until she met a child named Severus, who was the son of her neighbors.
He told her that the reason she had magical powers was because that she was a witch and that he was a wizard. The two quickly bonded and were able to come to understand each other and their special powers. Severus even fell in love with Lily.
===Hogwarts ===
In 1971, an eleven-year-old Lily received a telegram from the Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry saying that she had been accepted into the school, much to her parents' happiness and her sister's jealousy.
At Hogwarts, Lily was sorted into the Gryffindor House while Severus was put into the Slytherin House. During the school years, Lily defended Severus against fellow Gryffindor named James Potter and his bully friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew who picked on and hexed Severus and other students. James started to develop romantic feelings for Lily and wanted to be with her, but Lily refused. Severus then joined the Death Eaters much to Lily's horror and ended her friendship with him after he accidentally called her a Mudblood (a offensive term for Muggle-Born witches and wizards). As the years went by, James started to better himself and stopped hexing the students which caused Lily to accept him and the two began a relationship.
After graduation in 1978, Lily and James were married and on July 31, 1980, she gave birth to their first and only son, Harry James Potter.
===Death===
One year later on Halloween night, Lord Voldemort (who believed by a prophecy that Harry would destroy him) came to the Potter home which Peter, (who was serving as the family's secret keeper to keep their location secret to Voldemort) betrayed the Potters to Voldemort (whom Peter was secretly in league with). With her husband dead, Lily did what she could to protect her infant son and sacrificed herself by getting hit with the Killing Curse which killed her instantly. Before her death, she told her son that she and his father loved him very much. Because of Lily's sacrifice, Voldemort was unable to kill Harry as Lily's love protected him.
===Legacy ===
Lily was described as a very powerful witch. She was so brave that she gave up her entire life to protect her son and was not afraid to die for his sake. The love for her son was so powerful that after she died and Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, the Killing Curse backfired and destroyed Voldemort's body and caused Harry to receive a scar in a shape of a lightning bolt and survived. Because of the scar, Harry gained a strong bond with Voldemort and even gained some of his dark powers (giving him the ability to talk to snakes and see into Voldemort's mind) until Harry lost those powers when Voldemort unknowingly destroyed the piece of his soul that was inside of Harry. Lily was known to have the most beautiful green eyes, and since Harry had inherited his mother's eyes, Lily's past teachers, friends, and even Severus mentioned that Harry's eyes show that a part of Lily is still alive in Harry.
== Personality ==
Lily was a person capable of extraordinary compassion. Upon her first display of magic, her bigoted sister, Petunia, condemned her for being "unnatural," yet despite this, Lily was still kind to her sister; when Severus' attempt to console Lily made him label her sister as "ordinary," she lightly chided him for being unkind, therefore showing she would still defend someone even if they were cruel to her.
LIly valued her friendship with Severus, as he was her first friend who was also in the magical community; they would often spend time together, but upon entering Hogwarts, they were sorted into different Houses, thereby opportunities to socialise decreased. They would still spend time together when possible between classes, although Severus' bullying by James Potter would unfortunately create a ridge between them; Lily tried to defend Severus, but in a moment of weakness and already humiliated, he unthinkingly blurted out "mudblood," the racist term for Muggle-born wizards and witches. Despite Lily's forgiving nature, she was so hurt that she began to distance herself from her friend.
It isn't clear if Lily was aware that Severus was deeply in love with her, although she cherished him as a friend, which was soured by his racial slur and his depression making him align with the Death Eaters. Regardless of their broken friendship, Lily didn't hold a grudge against Severus, merely being disappointed.
When James Potter began to mature, Lily returned his interest, so they began dating; after graduation, they were married, and a couple years later, had Harry, Lily was a loving mother, and was extremely brave for her son, as in spite of Voldemort being one of the most powerful Dark Wizards in history, she fearlessly stood against him to protect Harry. Her love was so strong that she knowingly or unknowingly cast an ancient spell of protection on Harry, which caused Voldemort's killing curse to backfire, leaving him incorporeal for over a decade. Lily's spell lasted so that any body that held Voldemort's essence would crumble into dust if it touched Harry (albeit, her spell was eventually subverted when Voldemort's resurrection ritual used Harry's blood).
==Gallery==
Young_Lily_Potter.jpg
Young Snape and Lily.jpg
HPDH2 - Lily & Severus.jpg
HPDH2 - Lily and Severus.jpg
Lily_and_Severus.jpg|Lily and Severus at school.
Lily_and_James.jpg|Lily and James.
Lily_Potter.jpg|Lily's endearing smile.
Lily_and_Harry.jpg
Lily's_Death.jpg|Lily's death.
HPDH2 - Severus Guilt.jpg
==Trivia==
*In the books, Lily along with James, was 21 years old when she was killed by Lord Voldemort. However in the movies, she appears to be older.
*Just as Harry being the foil to Voldemort, Lily is the opposite to the mother of her son's nemesis, Merope Gaunt: Whereas Lily's love with James being a mutual one and more than willing to do anything for her son's sake, Merope's love for Tom Riddle Snr., the father of Lord Voldemort, proved one-sided and she chose to die rather than staying alive for young Voldemort's sake when she lost control of Riddle Snr. (as Dumbledore pointed out however, Merope had a terrible upbringing and also too consumed by despair from her husband's departure).
==External Links==
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