Love me For a Reason

Lily Evans stared into a pair of startlingly green eyes as she looked into the mirror...

“Mmmmnn” she said wistfully as she held up a black dress... “Now will black go with my hair??”

She has red hair. Not Bright red but a lighter shade, somewhat auburn, she thought. It wasn't like she had a problem being a red head but it was a constant trouble not being able to wear certain colors because they clashed terribly with one's hair color!

“Aaargh!! You don't happen to know where my five inch heels would be, would u??” She smiled as she heard Flemaé's groan behind her. Her friend was flinging out what seemed like a hundred pair of shoes accompanied by a series of high-octave groans.

“Calm down, Flemaé!!” They're just a pair of shoes!! Even if u can't find them you can wear another pair!!” She heard the obviously amused tones of Eva.

This WAS life!! In the same room with her two best friends, Lily felt absolutely.. well Content.. Flemaé and Eva were probably the two most opposite people in the world but somehow, the three of them were the best of friends and so they had been since her first day in Beauxbatons!

Eva and Flemaé had been the best of friends since they were like five, both of them coming from pureblood families and hence obviously related in some sort of complicated way. Flemaé was Eva's mother's brother's wife's third cousin's niece. She thought.

She had met them on the train to Beauxbatons. Being muggleborn, She had been awed by the sights of the magical world and when she met Flemaé and Eva, something had somehow, clicked! In the next few hours, they had even decided to get a room together!

In Beauxbatons, students were allotted their own rooms which they were free to share with two or more friends as well as design on their own! Lily's room was probably the best designed seeing that her two best friends were probably the most creative, color-coordinated, elegant witches in existence. Even the freaking towels in the bathroom were color coordinated! Not that she minded. Quite the opposite actually.

“Flemaé, you idiot, have you even bothered to check under your bed?!” Lily interjected smoothly as Flemaé immediately dived under the divan to return holding a pair of Prada designer shoes. She had gotten a “thing” for muggle designer wear ever since Lily's sister, Petunia had sent Lily a copy of Vogue <an obviously year-old outdated version, Petunia really hated her !> as a Christmas gift. “Lily!! You're a GENIUS!! Amazing!! I was SO worried! Imagine if I'd have to wear something else to the bash! That would be SOOOO scary!!” She'd never really understood Flemaé's need to look like a diva, well pretty much all the time! Not that it hadn't rubbed off. She was growing more fashion conscious!

“Soo… What so you think we're gonna be doing today?”

It was a Saturday and they pretty much had the day off. The teachers hadn't given them much workload seeing that one: it was their first week at school, two: they were just third years and had two more years for OWLS and three: it would probably never get done as everyone was too busy getting excited about the annual beauxbatons ice-breaker bash. As only third years and above were allowed, this was going to be Lily's first time! She was obviously thrilled, not as thrilled as Flemaé though! She thought dryly.

“How about going down to the common room to meet the guys? Who knows, Richard might actually work up the nerve to ask you out, Lil!” Flemaé giggled

“Aaaw, come of it!! You know he wouldn't!” Lily threw a pillow at her best friend trying in vain to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. He WAS cute but she wasn't ready for all that crap!

“Sure, we'll just pretend that we don't know he likes you, no make that ADORES you and you don't think he's the cutest, sweetest, most adorable guy who walked on the planet and absolutely love it when he flirts with you ?! ” Eva was teasing

“We're just friends!! And you know I don't like him like THAT!!” Lily blushed

“Like WHAT??!!” asked Flemaé in a mock-innocent voice

Lily was saved from having to answer her question by a large barn owl knocking on their window. She quickly opened the window and relieved it of its letter before letting it fly away.

“Lily, please don't tell me Richard Walden started writing love letters to you! Children these days!” said Eva in a mock disapproving tone

“That is soooo boyfriend-girlfriend like!!” Flemaé giggled

“Shut up, you two! Its mom and dad. Hmmm... That's really too soon, its just four days since I met them. They must be missing me a LOT! But then with Petunia for an elder daughter, who wouldn't?!” Lily said before slitting open the letter

Lily dear,

How are you? I hope your train journey was safe. You must be wondering why we are writing so soon, so I'll cut out the rambling.

Well, I don't know how you're going to take this, so I really hope you understand.

Your Dad just got a new job. It's a wonderful company and he's going to be vice-president, its really going to be a great opportunity for him. <Lily smiled, WHY would she have a problem understanding that? She knew when she read the next line> The only problem is that the job is in London and so the family has to move to England. Lil dear, you know how much I love it there don't you? Well, sweetheart, I'd really like it if you were closer to where we are staying and Beauxbatons is really far off, right? I'm sorry Lily, but I think I'm going to have to ask you to move with us. Oh no, don't worry. I don't mean for you to quit magical education, Just move to another school, in England. Remember, you got an invitation to a school called Hogwarts? Well, your father and I were thinking of moving you there. We've already written to Madame Maxime. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts says that they'd be happy to accept you. I'm really sorry, sweetie, I know this is really sudden, but we really can't stand you being so far away. Your dad and I are coming to get you day after tomorrow as you're already late for your term at Hogwarts. The Hogwarts Gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid will pick you up from King's Cross immediately. Don't worry, Lil... You are a smart girl; you'll be able to adjust. Love you sweetheart.

Mother

Lily bit her lip. They couldn't really expect her to leave, could they? She looked up to see her two best friends playing exploding snap. This WAS her life. These were the only people she knew. She had FINALLY settled down at school and now they wanted her to move? What freaking difference did it make if she went to boarding school in France or England? After all, it was BOARDING school! But she knew she couldn't do anything about it. If her family was going, she HAD to go. There was no choice. CRAP.

She took a deep breath. “Eva, Flemaé, I'm leaving.” They looked up, clearly not comprehending. “What is someone sick or something?” Eva asked.

“No, I mean I'm leaving school”

Her statement was followed by a shocked silence and a “What do you mean?” from a clearly non-plussed Flemaé.

Tears blinded her as she showed her best friends the letter. They read it and looked at each other and then looked at her. They went over to hug her.

“Aaaaw, Lil, come on. It's ok. Don't cry” Eva said in a quivering voice, as though she was going to cry herself.

“So...Errm… you're leaving then?” Flemaé ventured.

“It's not like I have much choice do I?” she replied “They ARE my family... CRAP!”

Eva nodded and Lily knew that her best friends understood. “But if you ARE gonna leave then these are gonna bloody well be the BEST two days in your life!” Flemaé hugged her tightly before pushing her into the bathroom. “Now, go wash your face. And NO crying!”

When Lily reappeared at the doorway, she saw her two friends whispering something to each other, immediately hushing up when they saw her. She frowned. Sure, she was leaving, but that didn't mean that they needed to start keeping secrets from her in like two minutes.

“Hey, Lil, U and Flemaé keep talking, ok? I'll be right back.” Eva said

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, just to the common room. I forgot my transfiguration essay there. I'll be right back, ok?” Lily frowned. She had seen THAT essay on Eva's desk that morning.

She let herself be distracted by Flemaé who had pulled her onto the bed for a pillow fight. No use trying to ponder over stuff, the more she stopped thinking, the better. True to her word, Eva was back in a few moments and they spent and enjoyable afternoon talking about well, nothing… Lily sighed... She was going to miss this…

At around five o'clock, Flemé said “So what say, we get ready for the bash?!”

“Flemaé, we have THREE hours! You've got to be kidding me” said Lily incredulously

“Exactly! And tonight, you are going to be the most stunning witch in the bash because I don't know when I'm gonna be able to dress you again!” She replied with a mischievous grin. Lily knew that grin. Uh-oh.

Lily looked at Eva helplessly; hoping her other best friend would intervene. She was wrong. “Oh yeah, Evans! We're gonna have some fun!” Eva grinned

An hour and a half later, Lily had to admit that they had done a good job. She was wearing a sleeveless hip-hugging black dress. It was not indecently short, but still shorter than anything she would normally wear, reaching up to her mid-thighs. Her usually straight hair was hanging down in curls adorning her shoulders as though they were jewels. Her friends had obviously had fun with the makeup, which accentuated her eyes and her dark eyelashes now had silver threads running across them. To complete the outfit, she had a slender silver belt running across her waist, looking as though it had been made with utmost care by elf-nymphs. In short, she looked, well… did she dare say it… stunning…

The evening had been amazing, Lily decided when they trooped back into their room after the bash. She had maintained her composure, when she told the rest of her friends that she was leaving, which was a first. The night had truly been Lily's as she danced and twirled, elegantly and gracefully, changing partners with complete ease, forgetting that she wouldn't be here the next week. Well ALMOST.

And to end it all, Richard had dedicated a song to her, “to the most amazing, beautiful, stunning witch I know” he had said before leading her to the middle of the dance floor as though she was a princess and elegantly asking her for a formal dance as the entire school erupted in cheers around them. She had never been so happy…

The next day passed in a blur of hugs and “Miss yous” and Lily barely had time to say goodbye to everyone. That night as Flemaé and Eva helped her pack, the there were strangely silent… thinking about how suddenly their lives were going to change... To think just two days ago they had sat in that very room discussing their non-existent love lives!

“Lily, we're gonna miss you... you know that, don't you?”

“I'll miss you more than you can imagine” Lily choked.

“And lil, we don't ever want you to feel alone, ok? We're gonna be there for you, whenever, wherever. And you can always talk to us whenever you want to” Flemé said

“Yeah, right. And how exactly am I supposed to talk to you? Telephones don't exactly work in Hogwarts…Too much magic in the air” she couldn't keep the bitter note out of her voice

“Which is why we've got something better!” Eva slipped a package into her hand “Go on, open it”

An elaborately carved mirror fell out of the package, with a thin silver metal lining along its edges and a central partition of the same nature with each part having Flemaé and Eva carved on it, respectively. She gave them a non-comprehending look.

“That's a three way mirror,” Flemaé hastened to explain as she and Eva pulled out similar mirrors, only theirs had “lily” engraved instead of their own names. “You just need to say our name aloud into the mirror and we'll appear on your screen and you on ours. We can even conference!!” Eva almost squealed

Lily caught her breath. THAT must have been expensive. She didn't even dare ask. She reached up to hug them, tears in her eyes, at a loss for words. They didn't know how much that had meant to her. And she was more than thankful for it.

As she lay in her bed that night, she thought about just how lucky she was…She had these amazing friends…What had she done to deserve so much love? They had seen something worth loving in her that she herself was blinded to… Her thoughts drifted to Hogwarts… Wonder how it's going to be? She wasn't scared… it wasn't in her nature…but she was a tad bit nervous… would she fit in? Would life ever be as good as it was now? Only time would tell…

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Author's Note : I'm sorry about a mistake in the 1^st chapter, Flamaé (pronounced as Flem-ay) is the name of Lily's best friend, not Flema. Just so you noe… Flema sounds weird Lolz!

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James Potter awoke to the sound of a loud resounding bell. Someone said “Wake up, James! Class is over!” He heard loud, chattering, gossiping girls and clambering of feet as he groggily opened his eyes to find himself in the divination tower with three boys, who judging by their amused countenance had something to do with the loud, clanging gong that seemed to have vanished into thin air.

“James! What is your record, man?!” said Sirius Black thumping James on the back

“You know James; you should try to stay awake in class once in a while!” Another thump, This time from Remus Lupin.

James yawned stretching himself.

“You know, Professor Trevor might actually catch you, James. You might get detention!” squealed Peter Pettigrew.

James snorted lazily, as Sirius began to laugh. “Seriously Peter, we're the marauders. Do you think we care about detention? Learn from sleeping beauty James here!” Another thump.

“See, he doesn't even care if his snoring scares all the girls away!” Another thump from Remus.

As though he suddenly woke up, James stood up in a jiffy amid cheers from his friends. Grinning, he reached out for his backpack, slinging it casually over his shoulder, simultaneously pulling out his wand and muttering “Tenrash Pffeorolus”, laughing as the three began they began to wheeze. <Pepper Breath Hex, works every time!>

“Guys, One : if you don't sleep in divination, you cant sleep anywhere else! Two: I do not like being thumped on my back and rudely awakened by loud, clanging bells! Three: Moony, I DO NOT snore! And hence four, this is my payback!”

Grinning wickedly, he jumped over the desks to get out of the room, knowing that the effects of the pepper breath hex would wear out moments later, after which his friends would follow him for revenge! Narrowly ducking from the light that was shooting out from Sirius' wand, James bolted into an unused corridor. As he turned the bend, he found his shoulder come in contact with something hard, following which he lost his balance and found himself rolling on the ground ending in an undignified heap.

**********

WHAM!

Lily looked up to find herself staring into a pair of deep hazel eyes. She had arrived at Hogwarts a few minutes ago, subsequently managing to lose her way in the large castle. As she was making her way through a lonely corridor, she saw a black robed blur rushing towards her. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground lying on the person who had knocked her down. She was still there when she opened her eyes.

“He has amazing eyes” was the first thought that came to her mind.

Unbeknownst to her, he was thinking almost the same thing. “She has beautiful eyes, the color of emeralds!”

Breaking off the eye contact they had shared for a few seconds, Lily pulled away from the dark haired boy, trying to disentangle herself from him. He was quicker than her, rising to his feet and holding out a hand to help her up. “Hey! I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to knock you over like that! I'm James Potter, by the way.”

She abandoned his hand as she rose to her feet by herself muttering something James figured as “Male Chauvinists.” She sniffed, and handed James a condescending look before walking away in the opposite direction.

James looked at the pretty red head flicking her hair over her shoulders as she walked away. She was dressed in black robes but they were different from those normally worn by the Hogwarts girls. They seemed to be made of a pearly silk and draped her elegantly. Had he seen her before? He didn't think so. Would he remember a red head with emerald eyes? He thought so.

Instantly making up his mind he hurried after her. “Hey! Aren't you in Ravenclaw?!”

“Am I in WHAT?!” the girl turned around to look at him incredulously.

“I thought as much. So you're new aren't you?!” James grinned

She smiled inspite of herself. This guy seemed nice, plus she needed someone to show her the way to the headmaster's office. Changing tactics, she said “Hi! I'm Lily Evans! I just transferred here from Beauxbatons.”

“Oh!!!!! Coooooooooool! So which year are you in, Lily?” James asked

“I'm in the third year” Lily said, wondering whether this hazel-eyed, messy haired acquaintance of hers would be in the same year.

The stars are shining upon me today, James thought letting out a hoot! “Meeee tooooooo!”

She smiled. “Say, James, You wouldn't happen to know where the headmaster's office is, would you?”

“Headmaster's office?! Gee, you're new, aren't you?! How did you manage to get into trouble already?!”

“I did not!” She replied indignantly “I was called to his office for the sorting!”

“Oh!” He promptly turned around, walking away in the opposite direction leaving Lily to stare after him.

“Hey! Hey! James! Where are you going?!”

He turned. “You said you wanted to go to the headmaster's office, didn't you?”

“Yeah”

“So, what are you waiting for?! Follow me, dimwit!” He said, Eyes twinkling mischievously.

She grinned running to catch up with him. “Hey! Who do you think you're calling dimwit?!”

“I was under the impression that I was calling my friend under the invisibility cloak behind you a dimwit!” James replied.

“Invisible friend?!” Lily jumped visibly looking around for the invisible friend.

“DIMWIT!!”

*************

That night, Lily lay in her dormitory, wide awake. She had been sorted into Gryffindor and introduced to her dorm mates by the head of the house, Professor Carter. She was to share the dormitory with a petite brunette, named Shannon, a black haired girl named Sarah, and the brunette twins, Anne and Amanda. The girls had all been nice to her, though they hadn't said much, preferring to keep to themselves. Her classes were to begin the next day. “Wonder how they'll be…” she thought. Her thoughts wandered to a certain hazel eyed boy and she smiled vaguely before drifting off to sleep.

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A/N : Please leave me a review it'll make my day! This is my first fanfiction!

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Authors Note: I'm back! Ok, I'm a bit jobless right now, what with holidays and all, which is why I'm writing so often! First of all, thank you, thank you, for all your reviews! They make my day! Lemme not bore you, go on with the story !

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Lily Evans opened her eyes to…. SCARLET CURTAINS???!!! “Where the hell am I?” was the first thought that came to her mind before answers came rushing to her. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She rolled her eyes for forgetting that she wasn't at Beauxbatons anymore, noticing for what seemed like the umpteenth time the lack of the color coordination as was in her room. She gritted her teeth “Ex-room” “No, don't think of that Lily. It could be worse… You could have a Yellow room!!” She muttered to herself before jumping off her bed to go get dressed.

*****

Lily emerged from the dressing room dressed in a pair of muggle jeans and black T-shirt over which she had worn the customary Hogwarts black robes. <It was still an old habit of Lily's, She still HATED the wizarding world's fashion!> She looked around to make sure that no one was watching before pulling out the three way mirror.

“Flamaé” “Eva”

“Lily! We were just going to call you!” Flamaé squealed.

Lily smiled. “Listen guys, I'm just going to leave for breakfast. So wish me luck for my first day at school!” She whispered

“Go get them girl!” Eva smiled before vanishing from Lily's mirror.

“All the best, Lil! Take Care! And you look Amazing!” Flamaé said before fading away.

It was true. Though Lily had not done anything special to herself, she had to admit that she looked nice. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and she was wearing her favorite emerald earrings, which undoubtedly brought out the color of her eyes. All in all, she looked exactly like she felt. “Here goes nothing” she thought before accompanying the twins to the Great hall for breakfast.

*****

Halfway through breakfast, Lily was beginning to wish she could apparate back to Beauxbatons. Though she wasn't unused to stares <du-uh… she was best friends with Flamaé and Eva!>, nothing had prepared her for this kind of attention at Hogwarts.

The moment she had entered the great hall, heads had begun to swivel towards her. Trying hard not to notice the stares she slid into a seat next to the twins. “In the middle of the table. Just my luck” she thought. For what seemed like the zillionth time, Lily smiled at “Harry Felton” or “Todd Walter” or “Lank Prewett” saying “Hi, I'm Lily Evans” When would these idiots understand that she would never be able to remember their names?!! She shrugged. “It's not everyday that one gets this much attention. Might as well enjoy it!” she thought before turning back to her new acquaintances telling them an animated story of how Richard had vanished their transfiguration professor's heels causing her to topple over.

*****

For the tenth time that morning, James looked over to the middle of the table where a pretty redhead was chatting animatedly with her friends.

“If you think she's so pretty, go introduce yourself to her, Jamesie!” Sirius grinned interrupting his musings.

“I already know her, Padfoot!”

“WHAT?!”

“Why is that so surprising?” James grinned.

“You know a pretty girl before me?! NO way! What's her name?”

“Lily Evans”

“She is… pretty” Sirius mused

“If you think she's so pretty, go introduce yourself to her, sirrri!” James jested.

“I will!” Sirius grinned before getting up, leaving behind him a James who was feeling very foolish. Why did I just do that?!

*****

That afternoon, Lily had been introduced/ introduced herself/ got introduced to around half of the Gryffindors and about a half a dozen Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Strangely she didn't know anyone for Slytherin - “no one seemed friendly enough to introduce themselves” She mused.

She was making her way to Arithmancy, lost in thought when her bag split open and all her books fell out. “Damn it!” she swore before bending to retrieve her belongings. Somehow the inkpot had smashed and all her books were covered with ink. “Wow, the world hates me doesn't it?”

“I wouldn't say that! Here let me help you ” Lily heard a voice say before looking up to find herself looking into the dark sparkling eyes of a boy her age. His elegant black hair fell over his eyes casually, giving him the rugged looks that could make the knees of any girl weak. Pushing her thoughts aside, she smiled.

“Thanks! I'm Lily Evans. I just shifted to Hogwarts from Beauxbatons!”

“Hey Lily! I'm Sirius. Sirius Black. So you're in Gryffindor right?! I'm in Gryffindor too! So what class do you have now?”

“Me? Arithmancy” She replied

“Oh!! Me too!! Come on! Lemme walk you there!”

By the time they reached class, Lily discovered that Sirius was a boy of many talents, which is if you counted the ability to swear in countless languages as a talent. He was in third year and had a girlfriend by the name of Sheila (whom he didn't like much and was just going out with to antagonize his arch-enemy Severus Snape, who had a crush on Sheila). Luckily for him, Sheila didn't know this. He and his best friends called themselves the Marauders and he held the third year record for maximum number of detentions in a year (150 in second year). Oh, and his favourite Bertie Bott's Flavour was Mint.

They entered class and Sirius immediately sauntered over to his seat at the back of the class. As Lily looked around searching for a seat, he mouthed “Don't be silly! Sit with me!” and she smilingly took her seat next to him.

She was watching Sirius' antics <he was trying to charm Severus' robes pink!> when a perfectly manicured hand tapped on her desk. She looked up to see a blonde girl who stood towering over Lily <that might have had something to do with her 5-inch heels> wearing a vulgarly tight top. Lily's bright smile faded when she saw the cold sneer on the girl's makeup ordained face.

“You're sitting in my seat, girl” she stated coldly

“Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'll sit somewhere else” Lily was just getting up to leave when Sirius pulled her back down. “Shh, Lily… Sit down”

“Oye Sheila!” he said addressing the blonde girl. “This is Lily, Lily meet Sheila!” Lily gave her a weak smile which the blonde girl didn't return. However, she said “Hi, Lily” in an overly sweet voice.

“Do you mind sitting somewhere else for this class, Shei? Cos' Lily's new and doesn't have anywhere else to sit” Sirius said

“Of course. Why not?” Sheila pasted a smile on her face before turning around and walking away to sit next to Snape.

“Sirius! You didn't need to do that! I could have sat somewhere else!” Lily turned to Sirius

“Don't be an idiot! Besides it's going to be fun to see Snape make a fool out of himself!!” He grinned wickedly and Lily had no choice but to laugh seeing his face.

That evening Lily settled down in a corner of the Gryffindor Common room to do her homework. Seeing that she was late for the term, she definitely had a lot to catch up on. She was scribbling fervently onto a parchment when someone in sweaty, muddy robes slipped into the seat in front of her.

“Hey!”

“Oh!! Hi James! Wassup?!” Lily looked up to see a very tired looking James Potter grinning at her.

“Oh well, Quidditch” he said gesturing at his robes

“Oh! So you're in the Quidditch team?”

“Du-uh! Am and have been for the past two years! I started off as seeker but I got promoted to Chaser this year” he replied

“Uh-uh” She looked down at her parchment and began to scribble away again

James frowned looking at her quizzically. It was the first time a girl hadn't been bowled over by the fact that he was a quidditch player.

Their silence was interrupted by an enthusiastic “Hi Lily” followed by a boy taking his seat on the arm of lily's chair.

“Oye! Homework already? What are you, Whiz kid or something?” Sirius said

“Shut up, Sirius!” Lily replied smacking his head playfully.

“You guys know each other?” James intervened

“Oh James! Didn't see you there, mate! No, we don't actually.” Sirius replied “I just routinely pick up girls in the common room to go and converse with! Today's Lily's lucky day!”

“I'll take that for a yes” James grinned settling down comfortably in his chair

“Oh there are Remus and Peter! Hang on, Lily, there's someone I want you to meet” Sirius said before scrambling (yes, literally scrambling) away.

An hour and a half later, Lily knew Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She also knew that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were the best of friends and they constituted the Marauders that Sirius had previously told her about. She also found that the four boys were enormous fun and had the funniest tales to tell about their pranks and such…

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A/N: There that's the third chapter I really hope you liked it!! So if you're reading this story, plz plz plz plz leave me a review!! I'd really like to know how you like it!! Even a few words would do ! Cya soon!

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Lily's first week at Hogwarts passed in quite a blur. She found it relatively easy to catch up with the syllabus, seeing that the syllabus at Beauxbatons had been relatively harder than that at Hogwarts. Lily had been quite overwhelmed by the welcome she had received at Hogwarts. Back at Beauxbatons, new students were treated as non-entities. In her new school, however, Lily knew almost everyone within the first week of her arrival. The only hitch was that she could remember the names of very few people, <it wasn't like she had a bad memory, it was just that it was impossible to memorize the names of an entire school in a week!> as a result of which, she had resorted to saying “Excuse me” to address people. It was also quite sad that she had endless conversations with multiple people, but unfortunately didn't know any of their names, and found couldn't ask because that might come across as `rude.'

It was on one of these days that Professor Flitwick, the rather short charms professor had sprung a surprise quiz on them. He was a very sweet teacher, Lily thought though she secretly suspected that he had some elf blood in him.

“Alright, students, here are the results for the charms quiz that was held yesterday.” Professor Flitwick announced to be followed by a collective groan from the entire class, as the short professor began to distribute the papers among the class. “Mr. Potter, good performance, I must say. Same goes for you, Mr. Black”

“Ms. Prewett” Flitwick said addressing Sheila before handing out her paper coupled with an approving nod. Sheila, smiled as she took her paper and said, “See! I told you I'd top the test!”

“Aaaah. Ms. Evans! I must say I was very impressed with your paper! You have indeed done splendidly. It is quite a feat for a new student to top the class within a week of her arrival. Well done!” Professor Flitwick announced beaming at Lily.

Lily blushed as she quietly accepted the paper and sat down embarrassedly, as Sirius let out a hoot behind her. “Lily! You topped! And you're new! Looks like you have competition, Sheila!” he said to the blonde sitting next to him.

“Oh shut up, Sirius!” Lily said good-naturedly before smacking him playfully, turning back to talk to a friend. What she missed was a blonde girl surveying her with narrowed eyes, pulling her hands into a fist, her perfectly manicured nails cutting into her palm till it bled.

As they filed out of class, James jogged up to her, casually putting his arm around her shoulder, “Way to go, Lils! Congrats! Didn't know dimwits like you have it in them!” he said smiling down the petite redhead.

She poked him hard in his stomach as he let out a satisfying wheeze, “I bet you didn't know we were Karate champions either!”

“Karate?” he asked her looking puzzled.

“And you call me dimwit” she said rolling her eyes.

“Hey! Temme!” he asked her catching her hand and pining her to the wall.

She aimed a punch at his stomach, freeing herself from his grip as she smiled at his crestfallen face. “That Mr. Potter is an example of Karate!” she stated before laughing gaily, and beginning to run, as James Potter began to chase her in the corridor, clearly looking for revenge.

*****

Lily had been spending an unusually large amount of time with the marauders. The four boys by policy never hung out with girls as a group as they firmly believed that singling out girls would be unfair to the rest of the human population, as Sirius informed her one night over dinner.

She was staying up late in the common room to finish a potions essay that Professor Slughorn has set for them. “He likes me” she thought smiling to herself. And so he did. In her first class itself, Lily had excelled in preparing the strengthening solution, which was the aim of the class. It had been a bit of a lucky coincidence that Lily had discovered that adding a sprig of holly along with the normal ingredients would make the solution stronger.

“Oh! Miss Prewett! Why of course, your Potion is marvelous. What a wonderful Potion-maker! Clearly, taken after you grandfather. Great man…Great man” The professor trailed off impressively, as Sheila smirked arrogantly flicking her hair backwards for effect.

The crinkly wizard with an overly large moustache walked around class looking at students' work and making comments here and there. He clearly seemed to have a few favorites, Lily thought. He came to a standstill in front of Lily's cauldron, “Oho! What do we have here!” he paused for a second before resuming “Impressive…Very impressive… You are a natural, my dear! Oho! Look here, Ms. Prewett, this young lady's potion is even better than yours!” Professor Slughorn gestured at Sheila, who smiled forcefully at Lily.

“What is your name, young lady?” He asked Lily.

“Lily, sir. Lily Evans.” Lily replied, flashing him a bright smile, the one she kept reserved for teachers.

“Evans…Not related to the Great Patricia Evans, founder of the Wizarding Society in England, are you?”

“Umm... No sir”

“Oh! Then you must be related to Sir Edward Evans, the writer of `Deadly Potions and Remedies'!”

“Oh… No, sir. I don't think so. I'm muggleborn, you see.” Lily replied, biting her teeth. She knew how discriminating wizards could get against muggleborns, which was why she hadn't mentioned it before to anyone at Hogwarts. Having come from Beauxbatons, and spent two years in the wizarding community, she certainly knew enough about the wizarding world to seem as a Pureblood. Also, Eva and Fleme, both of whom came from pureblooded honorable families, had gossiped quite a lot about their relatives, who were all connected in a weird way, which explained the reason behind Lily's wide knowledge about Wizarding families.

At once, the entire class swiveled around to look at Lily. She saw sneers on the faces of many Slytherins, while many others looked shocked and surprised. She noticed that James was the only one on whom her statement had had no effect, and he was working away as though he hadn't noticed anything.

“Oh! Well as it may be, well done, Miss Evans!” Professor Slughorn said seeming clearly disappointed that Lily didn't have any connections in the wizarding world. “Well, get back to your work class!”

*****

Lily looked around the common room upon finishing the potions essay, to find that it was empty. She had clearly spent a long time on the essay. She leant back, and closed her eyes, thinking about how her life had changed in the last few weeks. `To think that two weeks ago, I was in Beauxbatons laughing with Eva and Fleme' she mused `Hogwarts isn't that bad… To be honest, it's surprising how open they are to a new student! I've never given a second thought about new kids in Beauxbatons!” Her thoughts strayed to the four boys with whom she had been spending much time lately. What had motivated them to talk to her? To befriend her? They were surely popular! They didn't need to hang around a new girl! `But I'm so thankful that they do!'

As though struck by a sudden thought, she pulled out a mirror from her bag after checking to make sure that the common room was indeed empty. It wasn't like she was hiding anything, but she wasn't sure if three way mirrors were allowed in Hogwarts.

“Eva, Fleme”

An instant later the smiling faces of her best friends appeared on the screen.

“Lily! We wanted to contact you so many times but we weren't sure what time your classes were, and about the time difference and all. We didn't want you to get into trouble you see!” Eva said.

Lily smiled. “Its okay, Eve! So how have you guys been? How is school?”

“Oh we're fine, Lil. School's been boring! You know how it is… They are springing tests on us every second day! And without you, I've been like FLUNKING in charms! God, I miss you so much!” Fleme said.

Lily laughed. “Oh, I've missed you guys so much too! You have ABSOLUTELY no idea! How is everyone in school? Richard…” She trailed off

“Oh… Err” Eva looked clearly uncomfortable “Well, you know normal…”

“Err? Eve, you never say err! Normal? What's up, guys?” Lily asked.

“Erm” Eva said

Lily raised her eyebrows.

“Alright. Richardsgoinoutwidmelanie”

“Huh? Richard what?” Lily asked Fleme blankly, clearly non-plussed.

“Uhh… Fleme, I'll tell her. Sit down, Lil!” Eva said.

Lily frowned but did as her friend asked her to.

“Richard is going out with Melanie. You remember her? That dark-haired second year.”

“By going out… You mean… Dating?”

“Errr… Yeah”

Lily kept her face as impassive as she could and smiled grimly. “Cool” Fleme and Eva glanced at each other furtively, waiting for an outburst on Lily's part. They got none.

“Hey guys. I better get going. Need to get some sleep. Have classes, you see. Good night” Without waiting for an affirmation from her friends, Lily vanished from the mirror.

Suddenly, Lily felt breathless. Breathing heavily, she pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on the knee joint while she stared into the common room fire. She glared at it, her expressions changing as she looked at it. Finally, her breathing slowed down, returning to a more normal pace.

`Melanie?' she thought. `But… Why? How? Maybe the whole thing is an elaborate prank… But… No… Eva and Fleme wont be part of a prank one me…So maybe, he just forgot about me…Its not like he owes me anything…We were just friends…' As though her heart refused to accept these words, tears began to flow down her cheeks. `Its not that he's going out with her…Its more like losing a friend…He didn't even tell me, did he? What if I lose Fleme and Eva too?' This thought seemingly horrifying her, she started sobbing quietly, the dread of losing her best friends looming about her.

“Lily” said a male voice.

Upon hearing some one speak, Lily dried her eyes, trying to look calm and composed. She whirled around to find a dark haired boy in blue pajamas. “Sirius. Hi. What are you doing up so late?” She smiled weakly.

“Oh, I couldn't sleep, so I fancied a walk.” He started but faltered midway on seeing her bloodshot-eyes. “What's wrong, Lily?”

“Oh, nothing. What would be wrong?” Lily said, in an unusually high-pitched voice.

Sirius said nothing, walking up to the couch where Lily was. He made quite a show of making himself comfortable, before saying, “Want to tell me about it?”

Lily looked at him but shook her head, numbly.

“It's okay to cry sometimes, Lil” he said quietly.

The redhead looked up at him at a loss for words, her eyes filled with gratitude. He put his arm around her and she sobbed into his chest softly, her breathing uneven and ragged.

The two just stayed there, Lily sometimes muttering words like “He was my friend” and “I don't want to lose all of them.”

In the boys' dormitory, a hazel eyed boy woke up to find his best friend's bed empty. He instinctively made his way towards the common room, walking down slowly so as to not wake up any of the sleeping students. He stopped on the staircase as he heard faint sobbing noises coming from the common room. Worried, he stepped down to survey the common room, while remaining unseen himself. He found it empty of inhabitants, except for a girl hugging a boy in the middle of the room. He was about to leave when he noticed that the girl had red hair… very familiar red hair… A careful inspection proved that the girl was indeed someone he knew, and she looked like she was sobbing onto the boy's shirt. The boy was dark-haired, his hair falling elegantly onto his face. He looked suspiciously like James' best friend. Irritated for a reason he couldn't comprehend, he stalked back to the dormitory and got into bed, yanking his curtains back into place. He swore under his breath, as the scene that he had just witnessed played and replayed in his mind, time and again. This was indeed, a sleepless night….

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The next day, Lily opened her eyes to find herself lying on a couch in the common room. She slowly got up, stretching as the events of the previous night rushed back to her. Yawning, she looked around the common room to see Sirius sprawled on a couch nearby. She smiled and stood up to walk over to her friend. She stopped in front of him, in a dilemma as to whether she should wake him up or not. Deciding in the negative, she stooped lower to whisper, “Thank you” in his ears before turning around to return to her dormitory.

*****

The next afternoon, as Lily was making her way down the charms corridor, Sirius caught up with her. “Hey, redhead!” Lily smiled mischievously before turning around to face Sirius with a non comprehending stare. “Do I know you?” she said, putting on an overly `mean girl' -accent and continued walking. Sirius at a loss of what to do, and stood rooted to the ground staring after her. A second or two later, She whipped around and burst out laughing. “You idiot! I was kidding!” He visibly relaxed, before smiling and walking up to her. “Don't ever do that again, or else!” he said in an overtly chauvinistic voice. “Or else What?!” she teased smilingly.

“Or else” He made a swift movement, and before she could react, he was tickling her. Lily squealed, twisting and turning, trying to get away from the pair of hands that seemed intent on torturing her.

*****

That afternoon Lily entered the common room to find it relatively empty. Spotting a familiar raven haired boy, she walked over to the corner occupied by him, settling down comfortably in an armchair.

“Lo stranger!” she greeted him.

James merely looked up at her and stared blankly before looking away. Puzzled, Lily raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything, preferring to pull out the original hardbound version of `The Hunchback of Notre Dame' from her backpack and immerse herself in it.

She snapped back into reality around half an hour later when Sirius rambled over to her seat, “Hey Lil! Hey there, James! ” James looked at him before wordlessly picking up his things and walking away. Sirius looked at Lily puzzled, “What did I do?” Lily merely shrugged before turning back to her book. I wish I knew.

*****

Two weeks later, Lily's status has catapulted from `new girl' to `class topper'. They're lessons in Beauxbatons had been fairly advanced and Lily was finding it quite easy to cope up. She and Sirius had been growing quite close to each other after the incident in the common room and they could hardly be found without each other. James had quite returned to normal and she was getting along well with him too. Lily was still finding it quite hard to get used to the whispers in the corridors and the occasional pointing that followed her. She also found it quite unnerving that some girls had seemed to take some kind of a dislike towards her.

One afternoon, she was walking with Sirius to the divination tower, and was laughing as he playfully tugged at her ponytail when they were stopped by a rather tall, pretty blonde, who was not looking that pretty at the moment. Her forehead was twisted into a frown and her eyes were narrowed. “Oh, Sheila. Hey” Sirius said. The icy blonde glared at him, “We need to Talk, Alone.” She spat, the last bit of which was directed at Lily.

Lily shrugged before walking away. She had no intentions of leaving seeing that this seemed like a rather interesting conversation to eavesdrop upon. Instead, she hid behind the statue of a rather imposing witch and surveyed the couple in front of her.

“Shoot” Sirius said in a relaxed tone. He was totally cool, his hands in his pockets, unbothered by the fact that the girl in front of him, who incidentally happened to be his girlfriend was spitting with rage.

“I want to know what you're up to” Sheila said.

“Why, Sheila dear, I was under the impression that I'm listening to what you've got to say.”

“Not THAT. What's going on between you and that Evans girl?” Sheila was livid by now.

Sirius pushed his head back and laughed. “So that's what this is about! Nothing. We're just friends!”

“Oh yeah? You expect me to believe that? Sirius Black, I tell you this, I am your girlfriend and I have more right to you than anyone else in this bloody school. Don't you dare mess with me, do you understand me?”

“No” Sirius was fed up now.

“No what?”

“No to the fact that you're my girlfriend. Not anymore. You're dumped.” Sirius said coolly before turning around and walking away.

Sheila stood there gaping at him, her mouth open. She wasn't looking a bit like the pretty sophisticated blonde she normally was. Someone should tell her to shut her mouth, Lily thought dryly before stepping out from behind the statue of the witch and joining her friend.

“I'm sorry.” She said to the dark haired boy.

“Don't be, I've been looking for a reason to dump her for ages! You're a blessing in disguise!” Sirius grinned at her.

Lily had to smile. She whacked him on his arm. “Idiot!”

“Likewise”

******

The word had spread like fire that Sheila had been dumped by Sirius, and by the next morning the entire school knew that the reason had been a pretty red haired Gryffindor. There were many stories floating around, as not many people had witnessed the actual scene and those who had had been convinced by the others that one; Sheila had walked in on Sirius and Lily kissing in a deserted corridor or two; Lily had convinced Sirius to break up with the blonde or three; Sheila had walked in on Sirius and Lily kissing AND Lily had convinced him to break up with her. All in all, most people believed that Sirius and Lily were going out.

Lily was getting quite tired of the number of people who kept glancing in her direction at breakfast. At a loss of what to do, she decided on ignoring the stares and in the girls' cases, glares, before launching a heated discussion with Anne, one of the twins in her dormitory about the truth in Greek mythology.

Lily was soon turning into Slughorn's blue-eyed girl, seeing that there wasn't a single class in which he didn't praise her. Lily didn't mind. She truly enjoyed Potions which to be honest wasn't all that different from Muggle cooking. And Lily had learnt the latter when she had been ten. One day, Slughorn had a rather important announcement to make.

“This term, I'd like to try out a rather new experiment. I believe that along with Potion making abilities, which some of you have in abundance,” he stopped at this point to smile at Lily “Teamwork is an other important quality that takes a Potion maker far. One cannot always count on oneself as there is never a perfect Potion, and everything can only be bettered. So I have decided that we are going to have a new system for your grading this year in Potions. I shall partner you with another person and no matter whether you are friends or not, you shall have to work with them all year. The Potion work for the rest of the year shall be rather practical as most of the theory has already been completed.”

He then began to divide the class into partners; Sheila looked rather disgruntled when she was partnered with Severus Snape. She had been eyeing Sirius rather hopefully. Lily on the other hand smiled when James was shooed into the seat next to her, and Sirius occupied the seats behind her along with Shannon, the brunette from her dormitory.

“Your first project would be to prepare an original Potion, it maybe anything, but it must be new. I'd like to see your originality, in say, two weeks? You shall be free to use the Potions rooms and stocks whenever you want as long as you have my permission.”

As the bell rang, Lily rushed out of her seat, fairly happy. Something original? Now that was a challenge that she was ready to accept.

*****

“So what are you going to do about the Evans girl?”

Lily stopped in her tracks, which had been making their way into the girls' bathroom. Inching forward, she saw a group of girls standing in the bathroom, applying gloss, straightening their hair, and the follows.

Sheila tossed her head effectively, “What am I going to do about her? Well, I don't know. She's too much of a slut for me to do anything about her.”

A dark haired Indian girl said, “Isn't that a bit too harsh now, Shei? I don't think she's a slut!”

“Oh yeah, Anita? Well, let's just say she's not as innocent as she looks. Don't you see the way those four guys treat her? Like she's some queen or something? What could she have possibly done for them to act like that around her?”

Another blonde girl whom Lily didn't know turned on Anita. “Didn't you have a crush on Remus, Anita? Well, you're chances seem pretty slim now. Who knows, Evans might be in a broom closet, locked up with dear Remus as we speak.”

Anita whom Lily now recognized as a Gryffindor junior, looked a bit pained but refrained from arguing, as though she was thinking of what she had jus been told.

“Eh-my god, she's such a bitch. Can you believe she was actually talking to me the other day as though I was a friend of hers?” Lily felt a jolt as she recognized the speaker as Anne, her own dormitory mate.

“Oh, she's not as sweet as she looks. Do you know she was expelled from Beauxbatons for unlawful behavior?” Sheila said

“Unlawful behavior? What did she do?” Another girl asked.

“Apparently she was caught in a compromising position with one of the guys there. That's what I heard, at least. Who knows how bad she could be?” The blonde who had convinced Anita about Lily's “slut status” said. Lily now recognized her as one of the girls who hung around Sheila very often. Lily remembered Sirius telling her about the extent the girl could go to get what she wanted. Her name was Melanie or something.

“Eaaaw. She's so sick. Who would have ever thought? And she's so clever too.”

“Who knows what she's doing to get marks? My friends at Beauxbatons told me she was never good at studies.”

“Ah, we're late, let's go.”

Lily hid behind a niche in the corridor as the group of girls walked out. When they had disappeared she sunk down, her knees giving way, absorbing what they had just said. Slut? Expelled from Beauxbatons? Remus -- he was like a brother to her…Lily wasn't able to comprehend anything from what they had said. Why her? What had she done wrong? She buried her face in her knees, as a silent tear ran down her face.

A/N:

I'm sorry about not updating for so long, but I've just started Junior college, and there's a lot of pressure… Hope you understand.

Secondly, this chapter is kind of like a tribute…. Well, not tribute, but its something I've been feeling strongly against lately… All of us at one point of time or the other have bitched about some girl or the other. It's really sad, I should know, but I just hope that if u felt u'r heart go out for Lily, u'd refrain from bitching about anybody in the near future. It's not nice to be called a slut… It's just a thought

Don't mind me, I'm rambling. If you liked the chapter please review, I really need some inspiration right now! If you didn't, please let me know why! Thanks.

And lastly, it's my birthday!!!!!!! On the 19^th!! Yaaay!

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