Since this response wasn’t up in time to be posted with the other responses, I’m putting it up now. This is in regard to Johnna’s remix which was the backstory for Lily.
Johnna’s remix holds a special place in my heart because Lily Potter is the one character in the Harry Potter universe who I’d like to know more about. I would say that she is inarguably the most powerful witch in the entire series, because she is capable of creating a spell with love that lasts long after her death, and protects Harry from dying for seventeen years. The remix also made me realize even more that I hate Severus Snape for ruining every chance Lily had of remaining friends with Petunia. I hold firm to the belief that Petunia would have been able to remain close with Lily if Severus hadn’t been an awful, greedy child and lured her away with the promise of teaching her of the magical world more rapidly than she would have learned on her own. I also will never forgive the books themselves for transforming Lily Potter from a character who could have been painted as a bold, independent woman and instead painting her as an accessory to Snape’s own character.
Essentially, J.K. Rowling took a badass woman who knew when to drop someone who was no longer worthy of being her friend (much like Harry turned down Draco’s own friendship request, once he realized how prejudiced the Malfoy boy was), and painted her in a light that showed some “sympathetic” trait in Snape. In my opinion, however, Snape never learned from his childhood, and continued to be awful and selfish as he grew up; he couldn’t even leave Lily to be happy with James because he was jealous and apparently couldn’t accept that Lily Potter would never love him after he joined the Death Eaters and called her a Mudblood.
I think, given the time, this story could inspire a fanfiction of my own: one in which Lily Evans never listens to Severus Snape, and she and Petunia remain close friends, each learning of the magical world and poring over Lily’s schoolbooks in the summers, with Lily sending home treats from Hogsmeade during the schoolyear. Additionally, I think the friendship would keep both of the duo from making stupid mistakes – perhaps Lily would be more skeptical of James because he likely didn’t see Petunia in the best light, and on the other side of things Lily wouldn’t let Petunia get swallowed up by Vernon Dursley’s world. I think the two of them would remain Evanses for much longer, and that would be just fine.