A/N: Okeley Dokeley neighboreenos, it's been a while since I wrote a fanfic so you'll have to stick with me. So I know many of you may notice that some of the OC characters have the same first name as the cast of HP, but I'd like to stress that these characters are in NO WAY based on the actors or actresses. I needed to think of English-sounding old names and noticed that the cast had some good ones so it's purely coincidence. Anyway I know this chapter is a tad short but as it's just really introducing the characters I didn't think it needed to be particularly long, I'll work to make the next chapters a little longer. This story was not originally a fanfiction. Originally I intended to write this as a novel and attempt to get it published but then I started working on another book and forgot about this and after a recent conversation with some friends realised it would work great as an A/U James and Lily story. Oh and the rest of the Marauders won't appear for a few chapters yet but never fear they will be important characters in this story. Finally please review I am really looking for feedback of any sort on this story.
Extended Synopsis:
In the Kingdom of Chroans...
Lady Lillian Evans is never what she should be. Raised by her mother, a celebrated court beauty, whilst her sensible father is away at war she is frustated with her mother's and sister's vanity and incessant affairs. Stifled by her mother's endless attempts to mould Lily in her image Lily escapes for regular jaunts on horseback.
James Potter is no one in particular. A village boy in a large family his peaceful life is laid out before him until he catches the eye of a green eyed noble girl. Suddenly his life is tossed into chaos, his family's livelihoods may rely on making one noble girl fall in love with him. If only he wasn't in such danger of falling himself...
Chapter 1 - Out of Sight, Out of Mind
"What a beautiful boy." Lady Lillian remarked as she stared through the carriage window. Petunia flicked her own curtain open and frowned in distaste at the general populace of peasants that flooded the village square.
She snickered when she spotted the boy who had caught Lily's attention.
"Is our Lily flower intending to sully her pretty white petals with some course fumbling commoner?"
Lily ignored her sister's jab and turned away from the window. Despite her comment Petunia continued to stare out the window at him, biting her lip and raking her gaze over him.
Their mother leaned past Petunia to get a look. She clucked her tongue.
"How can you tell Lily? I don't think I've ever seen a man so covered in mud, he must roll in it with the pigs." She tittered spitefully and Petunia smirked in vindication. Lily turned back to stare at the tall, striking boy, she rather thought the mud that stuck to his arms and face highlighted the pleasant gold colour of his skin and the powerful, elegant lines of his body. His dark hazel eyes were arresting and were currently fixed almost aggressively on her.
"Still," her mother continued, "if you think he's handsome Lily…" She turned and rapped on the roof.
"Reginald!" She called.
Their thin, blonde footman opened the door.
"Yes, your grace?"
"When we get back I want you to take a carriage, come back and fetch that peasant over there," she pointed over his shoulder at the handsome boy, "bring him back to the castle and have him cleaned up, when you've done that let me know."
"As you wish, your grace." The footman said with a look of obvious distaste as he stared at the boy.
Her mother settled back into her seat with a serene smile of satisfaction. Lily just felt vaguely disappointed, she wondered idly if the boy would still be attractive once her mother had frocked him up and transformed him into one of her and Petunia's vacant-eyed, grasping attendants. Somehow she highly doubted it. She let the curtain fall shut as the carriage lurched into movement again, breaking the boy's unnerving stare.
James stood in the town square with his family. Life had returned to normal in the aftermath of the brief visit from the nobility. His father Richard, who had smacked James over the back of the head for staring at the pretty, green-eyed girl in the carriage, was holding his first grandchild. The stout little infant was the son of James's eldest sister Emma and her husband Rupert. He stared over at James with solemn brown eyes, his expression already taking on a likeness to that of his stern grandfather.
"You look distracted," Emma commented from beside him, "thinking of your noble-blooded future wife?"
"What?"
Emma laughed, "I saw you yesterday, staring moon-eyed through that carriage window, planning to ask the Duke for his daughter's hand are you?" She teased, but her expression soon grew thoughtful, which was worse.
"When are you going to ask her James? Most of the boys your age are married by now, she's not going to wait forever."
"Natalia hasn't shown the remotest interest in being married yet, and we are betrothed. If she intends to throw me over for another she'll give me due notice." Natalia was a pretty girl, one of the prettiest in the village in fact, and her father was a good friend of James's father. They had been born on the same day and the village had considered it a sign for an auspicious betrothal.
Emma gave him a bemused look at his unromantic response and went back to cooing over baby Daniel with the others.
James was staring idly over at the western side of the village so he was the first to see the black carriage crawling down the far hill like a little black beetle. Caught by surprise he just stared at it as it edged closer along the road. Eventually others began to notice as well and gathered around to watch its' progress, conversation swelled around him in amazement that another carriage should be coming through in as many days. Their village, Hogsmeade, was not in any way notable, and the road only led to one noble estate two days journey on the western side of the village and another estate a full week's journey on the other side so it was rare for the wealthy or noble to ever bother passing through the tiny farming village. By the time the carriage finally trundled into the village square the entire village was there and had fallen silent. A thin man in a ridiculous blue and pink striped outfit stepped out of the carriage, he scanned the crowd before his eyes alighted on James.
"You, there! What is your name?"
James's heart stuttered, was he in trouble for looking at the noble girl? Surely there was no law against that; he had only looked for a few scant minutes.
"James Potter, ah… sir." He wasn't entirely sure that was the correct way to address the foppish little man but the man didn't comment just took a deep breath and recited out.
"James Potter your services have been enlisted by her Grace, the noble Duchess Elizabeth Evans, you will serve her until given further instructions, your family will receive compensation for the loss of their son. You may take a few minutes to gather your things and bid goodbye to your family members and then I, Ronald Hughes, will escort you back to the Evans estate, Hedwig's Place."
There was a gasp from the crowd surrounding him. James said nothing, felt as if a hole had been punched in his chest, his entire future thrown away in a few words from a ridiculous little man. Everyone was silent for a minute, everyone knew him, everyone was shocked. James felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, he looked up into his father's face. He could see rage growing there but also a terrible confliction. James understood, Richard had four other children to worry about. His mother gasped and threw her arms around him, James could feel her crying as he held still in her grasp.
"I've got to get my things." He mumbled as he broke away from her grasp.
He didn't have much he wanted to take; a couple pairs of clothes, his pocketknife and the little charm his mother had made for him were all shoved into a sack within a few minutes as his family stood quietly in the doorway. His little sister Evanna was crying, his little brother Oliver was trying hard not to and his older sister Katie was hugging Emma.
He hugged Evanna first and dried her tears.
"Hey princess, no tears you're going to be a big girl soon." The thought that he might miss out on her growing up sent a hollow shaft of pain through his chest but he squashed it, he'd find a way to get out of this and return to his family somehow. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little horse he'd carved for her and had planned to give to her on her next birthday.
He hugged Oliver next and pretended he didn't notice when he wiped away a tear.
"I'll be home soon Olly, until then you take care of the family alright? You can have my old toys too."
Oliver nodded against his chest and drew back. Katie threw herself into his arms.
"They can't do this James, they can't just take you away, it's not right!" Her voice was tight with anger.
"I know Kat, I know." He squeezed her tight and then set her away. "Give Tom an earful from me if he's not treating you right will you?"
Katie choked out a laugh and nodded.
Emma was last before his parents and she stared at him with steely determination.
"You come back to us James, I don't care how but my son will know you." James nodded in silent promise and leant down to kiss Daniel's head.
His mother pulled him in again, still silently weeping.
"This might be good for you," she said wiping away her tears with an effort, "they could teach you to be a squire or a lawman and you could have a nice place in the estate." She made an effort to smile but it set off another round of tears.
"I know mum, I'll try to make something of myself."
His father gently pulled him out of his mother's arms to give him a stiff armed embrace.
"You don't let these nobles push you around, you hear? You're a good, strong, honourable boy and you've got nothing to be ashamed of being low born."
He went across the room and pulled a kitchen cabinet open and yanked out a tin.
"Here," he said as he crossed back to James and pulled out his hand, he shook the tin until three silver coins rolled into James's palm. James had never imagined his parents had managed to save so much.
"No dad, I can't –" he was about to say he'd everything he needed living on the estate but then he looked up into his father's guilt-ridden eyes.
"Take it," his father pleaded. James nodded quietly.
"Ah-hem." The foppish Reginald cleared his throat from the doorway and was met with several hostile stares; he seemed to take offence at them because he puffed up like a peacock.
"It is time to leave," he announced tartly, "her Grace does not take kindly to having to wait on commoners."
James's father's jaw clenched hard but James nodded, he wouldn't make any trouble for his family's sake.
After one last embrace from everyone he walked out of the house. Outside the rest of the village waited quietly, watching him sadly. His eyes caught Natalia's, she looked lost, her eyes shining. He crossed to her and grasped both her hands.
"I'm sorry Natalia," he said quietly, "you'll find a good husband, I know it, you're the prettiest girl in the village."
She nodded and bit her lip.
"Look after yourself won't you James? I'll miss you."
He nodded silently, gave her hands a squeeze and a quick kiss on the lips before he turned and climbed into the carriage, he waved goodbye as it began to move but refused to look back. His throat was tight and he wouldn't give the snobbish little Reginald a chance to see him cry.
The journey to the estate was unremarkable, the time passed with glacial slowness for James who had never had to sit still for such a long period of time and longed to get out and stretch his legs or ride one of the horses.
When they finally came out of the woods and onto estate grounds it was all James could do to keep his jaw from dropping. It was enormous, larger than James had imagined the King's palace could be. The estate stretched over miles and everywhere perfectly groomed horses grazed and swans waddled, he even caught sight of a magnificent bird he thought might be a peacock though he'd never seen one in real life. The manor itself sprawled over the land in a great, square U shape, a hundred windows seemed to stare down at him as the carriage rolled into the centre of the U. Servants pulled open the carriage doors and more servants began unhitching the horses, this cavernous place seemed to have an endless supply of black-garbed servants. James felt lost before he'd even stepped out of the carriage. He followed Reginald up the stairs; a tall servant greeted them at the door.
"Henry, this is James Potter, the boy her Grace wanted. Have him cleaned up won't you? I have to refresh myself and inform her Grace I have returned." Henry nodded and stepped away to let Reginald past.
"James was it? I'm Henry, I'm head Butler here at Hedwig Place. If you have any issues you should ask me." He snapped his fingers at a maid standing against a wall.
"Mary, have a bath drawn in one of the servant's bathing chambers." Mary rushed off to obey him.
"Do you have anything suitable to wear?"
"Probably not." James answered, his other clothes were fairly similar to the ones he had on.
"Do you have any idea what work you'll be doing for her Grace?"
James shrugged. "Not a clue."
Henry's lips thinned in indecision for a moment.
"Some of the groomsmen's clothes should do then until she's decided what's to be done with you."
He looked James up and down and seemed to take his measure in that one look.
"You're quite tall but Jeffrey's might fit you."
"Shall I fetch a set of Jeffrey's then?" A servant James hadn't seen come up behind him asked.
Henry nodded.
"Bring them to the bathing chambers when you have." He looked at James, "follow me, you need a good scrub before you'll be presentable for her Grace."