AN: Umm.. Hi! this story was co created by my friend (her wattpad name is xMockingbirdx if you want to check out her stories) so it's a bit choppy. also, i have terrible grammar... Apologies. this is my first fanfiction. it is an AU, so i hope you like it. oh, and all rights go to the lovely J.K. Rowling.
The Slytherin common room was dimly lit. Most of the other students had gone to bed. Only one figure remained, leaning over a laptop in the corner of the room by the fire. Her hair was a fiery orange and she was wearing glasses with thick black frames, hiding eyes that perfectly matched the green background of the common room.
She was frowning slightly at the screen, on which the image of a group of friends was being displayed. The three boys were wearing bright red and gold scarfs, and the girl a yellow and black one. The girl in the armchair was gazing fixatedly at the girl, who had her arms looped with one of the boys. He had messy black hair and glasses slightly lopsided. A twinge of something close to jealously ignited in the Slytherin girls heart as she looked at the two.
Kelsi, the girl in the picture, was also her partner for a project about different houses. The project meant she had to talk to Kelsi's friends, including the group of boys in the picture. Looking at the face of the dark haired boy, her worst enemy at school, Iliana wondered if this project would be so bad after all...
In the cozy darkness of the yellow Hufflepuff common room, one girl is sitting with a book she enchanted to act like a computer and a box of chocoballs. The soft glow of the yellowed pages bring out the silver in her eyes and she leans closer. She studies the photo of a lone girl in emerald quiditch robes and her eyes narrow.
So this was the slytherin deatheater wannabe who she was supposed to befriend. It intrigued her that a girl he'll bent on becoming a death eater ( who disliked anyone who differed from them) would have a gay brother and seem so indifferent to it. She is a big believer in equal rights, so does not understand death eaters anyway. Kelsi knows that she will be in for an intriguing time...
na sat in her favourite chair by the fire, shoulders shaking with silent giggles. For a bunch of Gryffindor's, they aren't half bad, she thought to herself. It was amusing to her how they thought she was a closed minded person because she wanted to be a Deatheater. The reason she supported them was because they were the only ones standing up for wizard kind. Too many times had she been picked on by muggles as a child, when her powers got out of hand. She didn't agree with taking over the World, but a equal share of it would be nice. Her emerald eyes flitted over the names on her screen, landing on one in particular. James Potter had always interested her. His ego and desire to be the best should have put him in Slytherin, yet he wasn't. An enigma she was attempting to solve through this project to pass the boredom. If only she could see the Gryffindor common room, because at that very moment, the group of friends that so confused her were having a heated debate about HER...
" NO JAMES! I refuse to record my conversations with her, just so you can check if she's genuine!" Kelsi was sitting in the corner of the Gryffindor common room with her best friends the marauders. They all had mixed feelings of Iliana, none negative except for james. Remus was intrigued about her opinions on werewolves and homosexuals. Sirius was impressed with her cheek and sarcasm. Peter appreciated her taste in food. But james hated her on the principal that she is slytherin.
" BUT CLAW! She could be trying to use you for her own gain! She might try to gain intel on you for her deatheater mates! She might-"
"NO james. stop being so predjudiced! just because she's slytherin, doesn't mean she's evil! Thats the whole point of this program!" Kelsi was starting to get angry at james. " NO KELS! YOU ARE JUST TOO TRUSTING! Thats why you will always going to be a Hufflepuff! You're too trusting! You're too STUPID!" Silence enveloped the Gryffindor common room. Then-
" FINE! YOU OBVIOUSLY PREFER YOUR STUPID PREDJUDICE OVER ME! let me just say this: if you EVER want to see me again, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR STUCK UP ARSE!" With that kelsi stormed out of the room, leaving Lilly Evans to chase after her.
It was night. The wind was howling around the colourful stands of the Quidditch pitch. Rain hammered down, making it almost impossible to see. A flash of green ripped through the sky. A lone figure on a broom zoomed around the stadium, seemingly oblivious to the danger of flying during a storm.
Inside the comforting warmth of the Gryffindor common room, James Potter sat by the window, watching the rain batter the glass. His friends had gone to bed, all annoyed at him for his mistrust of the Slytherin girl Kels' had to do a project with. It was unfair, he thought to himself, he was only trying to protect them. Just then, he caught sight of a lone figure circling the Quidditch pitch.
No, no one would be stupid enough to fly in a storm. But still... before he could stop himself he had grabbed a clock and headed outside into the rain, through a secret passage behind the Gryffindor fireplace. Running over to the pitch, he saw that there was in fact a person flying in the rain. Squinting in the darkness, he saw the person was attempting some remarkable tricks, balancing on one hand whilst doing loops in the air. Just then, a flash of lightning ripped through the sky causing the figure to lose their balance and fall. Instinctively, James ran forward and caught the lone flyer before they hit the ground. Looking down in his arms, he saw the rider was actually a girl. A girl with fiery red hair. A girl wearing Slytherin Quidditch robes...
Kelsi was sitting in the corridor between the dungeons and the basement entrance to her common room. She couldn't go inside. Xeno would try to comfort her, and Merlin knew she didn't want that... She just couldn't imagine why james would say something like that to her. After all that they had gone through... Unaware of the sound of footsteps drawing closer, Kelsi did what she always did when upset: sing.
Severus Snape was hurrying towards the kitchens for a snack after his revision for potions had taken him over dinner. He hadn't even been able to see his best friend, Lilly Evans, that day because of it. Lost in his thoughts of bezoars and wolfsbane, severus was very near the passage to the kitchens when he heard a haunting voice coming from it. Taking a moment, severus realised that it was singing, haunting and beautiful :" ... if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost... I'd sooner buy defiying gravity..." Severed was about to turn into the passage way to see who it was when the singing stoped. He heard a quick whispered conversation and two pairs of feet hurrying away. Severed did not know what possessed him to do it, but he ran into the passage to see a pair of feet clad in yellow and black striped socks disappear into a corridor which he had never seen before...
In shock, James almost dropped the limp figure. What was a Slytherin doing flying about this late in a storm? It was then he noticed the thin trail of blood snaking from her hairline and down her cheek. On instinct, he pulled her closer to his chest and ran back towards the outline of the castle. He got to the secret door hidden in the brickwork and slipped inside, carefully avoiding bashing the girl in his arms against the door frame. It was only as he carried her up the flight of stairs leading to the Gryffindor common room he realised who the girl was. Illiana Ross, the girl Kelsi was doing a inter-house co-operation project with. He frowned. The way she looked now, so peaceful, he couldn't imagine her hurting anyone.
Before he could continue this train of thought however, he had reached the top of the stairs. Pushing the door open, his first sight was of his friends, including Kelsi, sitting by the fireplace. Everyone else was gone. Seeing Kel', he felt again the regret of saying such cruel things to her, especially since he knew how sensitive she was about her house. He had more important things to worry about now though, he remembered. Just the Kelsi looked up and saw Illiana unconscious in his arms, blood dripping down her face...
" LILLY! Oh Merlin! James! James, what did you do? JAMES POTTER TELL ME WHAT YOU DID RIGHT NOW!" Kelsi' s speach was quick and frantic, gaze flitting from Lilly to james. Before waiting for his answer she took Lilly from his arms with surprising strength and layed her down on the nearest sofa to check her over.
"She was out flying in the storm. she fell and I caught her, brought her in the nearest entrance. Just happened to be this one." James called this over his shoulder as he started to go to his dormitory.
" I'll grab her a sweater, she's shivering." Kelsi nodded but didn't answer. After telling the boys to turn around, she carefully took Lilly's robes off of her and lay her own standard one over her. She then whispered a few choice words and tapped her wand on Lilly's bloody forehead. The blood siphoned off and the cut on her head sealed. The thump of feet made Kelsi jump and she turned to see James jumping the last 4 steps, cross the room and handing her his Scarlett quiditch sweater for Lilly.
That's when Kelsi saw Peter's shoulders slump a fraction of an inch, his eyes go from bright blue to cloudy grey. Kelsi felt that she knew Peter better than the others did. She knew that, although he liked chocolate frogs, he preferred the delicate taste of a grape sugar quill. That his dad left him and his mother when he was his animagus form was a rat because his dad brought him one the last time he ever saw him. And in that moment, Kelsi knew he was in love with James potter.
Kelsi was startled out of her revelation by a soft groan coming from Lilly's mouth...
Iliana was riding higher than she ever had before. The rain whipped her hair around her face and made it difficult to see, but she didn't care. One more loop... CRASH! The lightning behind her made her temporarily lose focus long enough to lose her balance. She lost her grip on the broom she was riding and started to fall...
She sat up with a start. Then blinked and looked around in confusion. She was in what looked like a common room, but it was nothing like the Slytherin one. Instead of murky green light from the lake above and black stone walls, this room was lit with the comforting glow of warm embers. The hangings were red and gold, making the room cosy and comforting. Then the concerned face of Kelsi, the strange Hufflepuff she was working with, and it struck her where she was. She tried to jump up, but had to sit back down again after a wave of dizziness hit her. "Careful" said two voices at once- one Kelsi, the other...
James Potter didn't know why he was so concerned about this girl. He had been wary of her the moment Kelsi had said she was paired with a Slytherin. He couldn't help himself from crying out in concern, when she had tried to stand and almost fallen. He rushed over and put his arms on her shoulders, pushing her gently back onto the sofa. It was then he noticed she was shivering, despite the warmth of the room. Carefully as to not alarm her, James wrapped his Quidditch jumper around her shaking shoulders. What possessed him to put her in his favourite jumper he had no clue, but he had to admit to himself he liked to see her in his clothes. James didn't notice that Kelsi, Remus, Sirius and Peter had left to go to the boys dorm until he heard the door shut behind them. Knowing Kel', she was probably gossiping with Remus and Sirius about why Lil- Iliana was out flying and what it meant for him to give her his favourite jumper. Sighing slightly, he looked down at the girl who had caused such a ruckus in his life and saw she was asleep. Smiling to himself James tucked the jumper over her more securely. Then he realised something. Not once since he had seen Iliana flying had Lily even crossed his mind..
Kelsi had shuffled the boys from the room as soon as james gave Lilly his quiditch jumper. Judging by the looks on remus and sirius' faces, they wanted gossip, but first she needed to speak to Peter...
Peter was crushed. Completely and utterly destroyed. Sure, he knew james was straight. And sure, james had been after Lilly Evans since the day he met her, but he had never realised how empty he would feel when he saw james show affection to another. Peter didn't think that he could face anyone right then, so carefully avoiding kelsi' s gaze, Peter clambered into bed and placed locking and silencing charms on the curtains. What? He wasn't stupid, he just acted like that so james would help him with things...
It was midnight by the time Kelsi and her boys had finished gossiping. By the time james came upstairs to tell them that Lilly wanted to go back to her common room. Kelsi offered to lead the way, as she knew more shortcuts to that area of the castle, so she carried Lilly's robe and James carried Lilly. When they reached the entrance to the slytherin common room, Kelsi knocked smartly on the painting and awaited to be allowed entrance.
Severus had been doing some more revision for potions whilst he waited for Iliana to return. She had been a while and he had started to doze off when there was a knock on the common room entrance. "Its about bloody time! I've been waiting for ages for-" Severus had hauled open the door to see James potter. James. Bloody. Potter. Holding Iliana' s dead weight. Before he could say a word, however the person he had not seen walked up and pushed him out of the way with surprising strength for a girl with such a slight frame. After explaining what had happened, severus let potter help him carry Iliana inside. The girl spread the now dry quiditch robe over her, thanked severus for letting them in. After Severus gave them a curt nod, the girl ushered potter out of the room. The last thing that severus registered before the door swung shut was that the girl was wearing black and yellow stripy socks...
Severus blinked a couple of times, trying to register what had happened. He shook his head and instead focused on Iliana. He had been worried when she had not been at dinner, and from the looks of it he was right to have been. It had been a while since Ily had an "episode" as they called it. The last time had been after she found out her brother was moving to America for a few years.
ly had no way of dealing with stress or sadness, since her parents never allowed her to show emotion at home. "Emotions cause accidents" she had been taught. "Accidents put you at risk of being discovered by muggles". Severus had been shocked to hear about her neglect as a child, but could relate. After all, he hadn't had the best upbringing either. No Slytherin ever had.
Leaving Iliana to sleep, he walked back over to his armchair to finish the food he had taken from the Kitchens. Speaking of the kitchens... Severus' heart sped up at the thought of that girl with the funny socks. She had taken control of the situation, bossing even Potter about. Precious Potter he sneered to himself. It was strange that he had helped Ily out. Potter only ever thought about himself. So why had he helped her?
Mind buzzing with questions, he drifted off to sleep, mind full of stripy socks...
As Kelsi walked at a fast pace to her dorm, she let her mind drift. Why was james suddenly so caring to Lilly? How long had Peter been in love with James? And just why had severus snape, enemy of her best friend, looked at her like that? Like she was a puzzle he wanted to solve...
James had forgotten that he had left his jumper with Iliana. He had been looking for it when Peter had quite sullenly reminded him that he had given it to her. Shrugging off Peter's mood as him being hungry, james pulled on his second favourite jumper and joined the others downstairs go breakfast. When he, remus, sirius and Peter had reached the entrance hall Kelsi had caught up with them, wearing a plain white t-shirt, her hufflepuff checkerboard skirt, several yellow and black silk scarfs and yellow and black spotty socks. No shoes. James shook his head at his friends eccentric style but couldn't help but laugh at her new Ida for a prank. It would definitely get her recognised as a member of the marauders. They separated to their own tables and James was just taking a sip of pumpkin juice when he saw something which made him choke on it...
Kelsi had woken up in a great mood that morning. She didn't know why but she knew it was going to be an eventful Saturday. She dressed to suit her mood, not bothering with shoes like useual. She was looking in her mirror when she had an idea for a prank. She was ready to be recognised as a marauders. The idea was to turn Hogwarts into a hall of mirrors, which although seemed difficult would actually be just a few simple charms. She had told the boys that and they had sat at their own tables for breakfast. Kelsi was just digging into a banana muffin when she caught site of Lilly. In James's jumper. She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up her throat and out her mouth.
Iliana felt terrible. After her "episode" last night, she had an awful cold and really didn't want to go to breakfast. Sev' was fussing, trying to get her to stay in the dormitory. She had ignored him. They eventually agreed to she would go to breakfast, but then back to bed. Ily quickly pulled on jeans and a T-shirt and, after moment hesitation, James jumper. It was worn and had holes in the sleeves, but really soft on her skin. Then she ran to catch Sev' up.
Eating at the Slytherin table was hilarious, Ily thought. No moment was ever dull. Especially their reaction to HER, the Snake Queen, wearing a Quidditch jumper belonging to her biggest rival. Shocked faces filled the hall on the sight of her. Scanning the Gryffindor table, she caught James gaze. She waited for him to get angry at her wearing his jumper and yell at her. But to her surprise, he merely nodded went back to his toast...
Kelsi was still giggling even as she walked across to the lake. It was her Saturday morning ritual to eat breakfast then sit by the lake alone for a while. She sometimes wrote to her brother or looked at pictures of her parents, but usually she just sat and let the breeze wash over her as she sang. That was what she was planning to do that morning, but was stopped by a hunched figure in black sitting in her spot...
Severus had been looking after ily all day, but after asking for the tenth time in an hour if she was okay, she told him to get some fresh air. He had decided to go for a walk around the lake but ended up just sitting down to think. His best friend after Lilly was wearing his most hated enemy's jumper. His mother had sent a letter telling him that his father had left home. He and Lilly were drifting apart and he couldn't get those godforsaken socks out of his head.
That was when someone sat down next to him. She didn't speak and neither did he. They both just left the other to their thoughts. Then she started to sing as if she was on her own...
Iliana stared at the screen in front of her in horror. It had started off as a light hearted game. She had been bored all on her own in the common room, so had decided to play 20 questions with Kelsi, Remus, James, Sirius and their other friend. Severus, in one of his "friendly" moods decided to play too. After answering some basic questions, Sev' decided to ask them who they thought was the best looking in the year. What possessed him to do so was unknown to Iliana.
One by one the comments flashed on the screen. Remus and Sirius chose each other, which Iliana thought adorable. Most powerful wizarding families hated gays, but Sirius didn't seem to care. Then, Iliy' read James comment, and her heart sank. "Lily" Of course, precious Lily Evans. Iliana didn't know where that train of thought came from. All she knew was that she suddenly wanted to curse Lily Evans into oblivion. Severus of course then had to rub salt in the wounds by asking which Lily, as if it wasn't already clear enough. Sick dread filled her as she waited with baited breath for his reply.
Then it came.
Illiana.
Kelsi looked on in amusement as the five of them , her new slytherin friend Lily and her friend severus played a game of 20 questions. Kelsi thought of severus. He always seemed so lonely, despite always being around both lily' s and other slytherin boys. She had never understood why James always insisted on picking on him and she never joined in, never went near him afterwards. She supposed that was why severus hadn't said anything when she sat next to him that morning...
After several questions, severus asked something which made kelsi' s heart skip a beat. "Who is the most attractive in the year?" Kelsi couldn't answer that and Peter had lied. What had interested her however. What had interested all of them, was James's answer.
" I KNEW IT! I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. I. KNEW. IT!" Sirius had jumped up and started dancing as he chanted his knowledge of James's attraction to kelsi' s New friend. After he had finally calmed down, sirius pointed out what all of them had noticed:
" Hey! She hasn't said anything!"
And she hadn't. The next day, when she finally saw James, she grabbed his colar and pulled him down to her level. James winced, expecting a slap. What he got , however, was a kiss.
In the days that followed, Illiana and James grew closer and closer. They ignored the tradition of hatred between their two houses and stayed together through the rest of their Hogwarts life, becoming head boy and Girl in their 7th year. Kelsi and Severus also grew closer. On their last day at school he finally got the courage to ask her out on a date. In reaction she hit him for taking that long to ask. Sirius and Remus were as close as ever, offering relationship advice when their friends were struggling. Peter grew to accept James would never love him back, and met a nice boy called Xeno instead. The two of them fell in love and were never seen apart. On their last day of school, James pulled Iliana aside and took her to the Quidditch pitch. When they got there, he knelt on the ground and pulled out a ring; a heart made of ruby and emerald.
Two years later Iliana and James had their first child, a little boy named Henry.
All was well X