Title: A Year of Secrets, Lies, and Betrayal
Summary: When Lily and James hear the news that they will both have an arranged marriage to each other, they don't take it easily. Lily and James' Seventh Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is full of many secrets, lies, and betrayal to the people they love.
Dedication: Thank you to Danni, the best beta in the world, Jenny who thought of the story and got it moving, and Brooke for just being cool.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, sadly, but anything you do not recognize as being Ms. J.K. Rowling's, is mine. I will not post this every chapter so this applies to the whole story.
Chapter One: The Bride-To-Be
"An arranged marriage?"
Lily Evans sat at the small round table in her family's kitchen. Across the table, her mother was shredding a napkin into tiny pieces of paper fluff with nervous hands. Beside her was her father, eyeing Lily nervously, wincing slightly in the aftermath of her rage-filled outburst. Next to her father sat her sister Petunia, whose horse-like face was contorted into an open-mouthed look of gleeful shock.
"What on earth do you mean, arranged marriage?!" Lily fumed.
Her mother opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. Nigel Evans felt it was his duty, as head of the household, to try to reign in his youngest daughter's fury.
"Lily-flower, please try to understand. We're trying our best to embrace your culture. It has been very difficult on your mother and I, and your sister to come to terms with the fact that you're…well…different." Beside him, Petunia made a noise that sounded something like she was clearing her throat, but also suspiciously like the word `freak'. Lily glared at Petunia before turning her angry frown back towards her parents.
"Lily, please. We really are trying. We went and met with that headmaster of yours, Bumblesomething…We asked him what we could do to help you after you were done with your schooling. This was his suggestion!" Her mother pleaded, her voice rising in desperation.
"Professor Dumbledore" - she enunciated pointedly - "suggested that you arrange for me to be married? That's how he thinks you can be of the most assistance to me after I graduate from Hogwarts?" Mr. and Mrs. Evans cringed at the mention of the school's name and the oddly calm manner their daughter's voice had adopted.
"Yes, Lily. He said it was `an age-old tradition', didn't he Nigel? Said that most…er…families arrange marriages for their children, in your culture." Her father nodded in accord.
Lily looked back and forth between her parents in utter amazement. In front of her mother on the table lay a soft pile of shredded paper, her hands now wringing anxiously. Her father's face was pale and she let her gaze follow a bead of sweat that started at his temple and tracked down his neck into the crisp white collar of his shirt. She couldn't believe that Dumbledore would tell her parents - her muggle parents - something like that! They didn't know any better. She just hoped they hadn't entered into any sort of agreement yet. Anxiety began to overtake her.
"Mum, dad, please tell me you didn't agree to anything. Please, tell me I can get out of this!" Her parents refused to make eye contact with her. "No! You didn't! Please, mum, please tell me you didn't choose someone already!" Beside her, Petunia sniggered quietly.
"Sweetheart, we thought it would be best to just choose while we were there. Professor Deedledum had a lovely young man picked out already. He called him a `bright lad', and apparently he is quite well-off." Lily bit her lip to prevent a scream.
"Did you sign anything? Did he make you sign anything?!" She asked frantically.
Her father met her fiery gaze, and averted his eyes ashamedly. "Yes, dear…We signed a contract releasing you to the boy as soon as you come of age."
"WHAT?!"
Her mother let out a small frightened peep as Lily's angry yell reverberated through the small kitchen. Her father cleared his throat nervously.
"Now, Lily. I'll have none of that unnecessary noise in my house. Your mother and I have done what we feel is best for you and for your future. We have arranged to meet with the boy's family tomorrow morning. They will be arriving here shortly after eleven."
Lily spluttered furiously, "UNNECESSARY…BEST…TOMORROW?!" Petunia let out a peal of malicious laughter. "NO!"
"I'm sorry, dear. Everything has already been decided," her father declared.
"But - but - what on earth would any pure-blooded family, and I assume the family is pure-blooded, want with a muggle-born like me?" Lily demanded. Her parents looked momentarily confused by the terms `pure-blood' and `muggle'. Lily sighed.
"Ah, right. Yes. The family is pure…blooded. And Professor Humblebumble assured us that the family feels that mixing…er…bloodlines…is the best option for their future." Lily felt her face grow hot.
"FOR MERLIN'S SAKE THE MAN'S NAME IS DUMBLEDORE!"
"Yes, Lily, of course it is. Now stop your silly yelling and go clean your bedroom. No doubt your fiancé will want to see it." Lily let out a horrified squeak. She got up from the table in something of a daze, and turned to leave the room. She stopped in her tracks, however, as something resembling realization dawned on her.
"Wait. Mum, who is he?" she asked slowly. Her mother raised her head.
"Who is who, dear?" Lily hit her forehead with the palm of her hand.
"The boy, mum! The boy you've just legally bound me to? The boy I'm supposed to marry? Your bloody future SON-IN-LAW!" she cried in exasperation, her voice rising.
"Lily, please. There's no need to curse," replied her father. Lily ground her teeth together. Petunia watched the exchange as if it were a ping-pong match. Her mother grinned in a way she though was mischievous, but was really just plain creepy.
"You'll find out tomorrow, Lily-love! I know how much you love surprises!"
Lily gave a strangled cry of rage and stalked irately out of the room.
Lily worked long into the night, furiously scrubbing and polishing every surface of her bedroom, preparing it for inspection by her new family. All the while, her mind wandered. She thought of all the boys at school that she thought that Dumbledore might choose for her.
There were the boys in Gryffindor house, but they were all mainly prats. Surely Dumbledore would have more sense than to promise her to some pure-blooded idiot like Sirius Black, or even worse the short pudgy boy Peter Pettigrew. And her friend Remus, she knew, wasn't completely pure-blooded. And there was that one boy whom she wouldn't even name who would be the worst boy to marry. She didn't let her mind wonder there.
There was that lovely bloke in Ravenclaw whose name she thought was Theodore Whaling, though that might also have been the name of their Quidditch captain; Lily was never very good at remembering names, but he might be ok.
There were always the Slytherins, but Dumbledore wasn't about to pair her with someone like Severus Snape or Walden MacNair, was he? Surely not, she hoped.
That left the Hufflepuffs. Was she doomed to spend the rest of her life as a Hufflepuff breeding machine? It was then that Lily Evans started to cry. She curled herself into a ball under the neat bedclothes and sobbed herself to sleep, where she dreamt she was surrounded by dozens of children clad in yellow and black.
Sixteen-year-old Lily Evans was quite sure life could not get any worse. She was standing in the drawing room, in a pink dress that clashed horribly with her red hair, waiting for her fiancé to arrive.
Now most sixteen-year-old girls, her father pleaded with her, would be thrilled to find that her parents had arranged a marriage for her. It meant no having to date, or flirt, or wear silly clothes to attract attention to them.
Lily argued that she would be thrilled to find that a large hole had appeared in the kitchen floor for her to throw herself into.
Her mother clucked her tongue at her daughter and set to the task of smoothing out the frilly pink skirt of the Worst Dress Ever.
"Lily dear, you look so pretty," her mother exclaimed. In Lily's mind, the hole in the kitchen morphed into a manticore, which proceeded to devour her entire family as well as the contract on which they had signed her life away.
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AN: OK well first off, welcome to my first ever fanfiction on Portkey.org!! Whoop whoop! So I hope you all enjoy this work on art.. ok so umm...err.. if it's reallllly bad.. please tell me.. I don't mind really getting bad comments as long at they aren't to mean, if you know what i mean.. ok i am being stupid... So please, Review.. and I have about 22 Chapters done on this Fanfiction.. the chapters are fairly short... so not to long of story.. But yes i am just writing nonsense now.. so PLEASE Review and have a good day/night/morning...
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Kaci