Stags, mermaids and midnight lilies
summery: after her parents were killed, lily lives in her best friend's house for the last five years. her best friends think she's great, while the rst of the school consider her as an outcast. between her friends, her midnight swims, her conversations with a real mermaid and school, lily must desguise herself, for the murderer is on her tracks. what happens when james potter, the most popular and hot guy in hogwarts, who prank and insult lily without mercy, finds himself attracted to a certain red-headed "mermaid" who appears only at midnight?
Disclaimer: you expect me to own harry potter? people come on! i don't even live in UK!
chapter 1: 'the invisible evens'
The house was black from the fire and smoke was still coming from the roof, like a reminder of what have happened, even if it occurred a few days ago.
The twelve-year-old girl was standing in front of the smoking house with wide eyes full of tears. Mum… Dad…
She was left alone in the world, alone with her big sister.
'It's all your fault!' she remembered her sister's hurtful yelling 'yours and your stupid world which you belong to! Because of you they are dead! Our parents…' she broke into sobs 'my parents…'
Lily woke up with a start. She sat on her four-poster bed and rubbed her eyes with shaking hands.
It was just a dream, she told herself firmly.
She lay back on her bed, breathing deeply. The alarm clock that was standing on the bedside drawer was showing her that it was only four in the morning.
"Hey" whispered a sleepy voice from the bed next to her "bad dream?"
Lily looked to the side and saw her best friend, Jessica Benory, looking back at her with one half-open eye. Lily smiled to her, and moved the curtains so she could have a full view of her friend.
"kinda" she answered back in a whisper.
"wanna talk about it?" Jess half smiled.
Lily sighted and shrugged "it was just the memory of the summer before second year, when I was standing in front of my house…"
At those words the smile disappeared from her best friend's face and was replaced with a frown. Jessica remembered what was in the dream as well, only because Lily was having it regularly and because she was present when Lily got the news of her parents' death.
"You don't still believe to that caw, do you? You know that it wasn't your fault"
Lily got up from the bed and started searching in her closet for her clothes.
"I know Jess, I knew it five years ago and I know it now" she sighted again.
"Good" said Jess satisfied and watched Lily choosing some baggy clothes for her to wear.
"Let me guess" another sleepy voice was heard "it's bloody 4 am, right?"
Lily stiffed her laughter so she wouldn't awake the rest of their roommates.
Her second best friend, Viviane Koryner, was stretching in her bed like a cat.
"Everything all right, Lily?" she asked with a little worried tone.
"Yes, don't worry, Vi'. You know me, once I wake up I can't get back to sleep" Lily answered, and took her wand and her glasses from a shelf.
"All the muggle farmers should dump all their roosters and take you instead" said Vi' "than maybe we can get some desent sleep around here once an' awhile"The girls burst in silent giggles until Lily saw that one of the other girls was starting to stir in her bed.
"We better be quite if we don't want to wake the slut and her friends" she pointed with her finger to the rest five beds in the dorm. "Get back to sleep, we have another three hours before breakfast"
"Yes, ma'am" Jess saluted and fell back to her pillow.
"Going for a swim?" asked Viviane.
Lily looked from the window outside. The skies were still dark, but she could see that they were starting to get brighter by the minute.
"Maybe later, it's too late to go for a swim now" answered Lily and went into the bathroom.
Viviane snorted in reply. She and Lily apparently had a different view about when it was too late or too early on the day. She curled under her blankets and fell asleep.
Lily closed the door behind her, and walked to the mirror. The moment she stepped inside the bathroom, the candles lit up and washed her body with bright light. She blinked a few times before her eyes got used to the sudden light, and she was able to examine herself in the mirror.
Her dark red hair reached her waist and was lying in a complete mess on her back and shoulders. Lily shook her head and watched her hair flying in every direction. She loved it when her hair was wild and full of curls, even if naturally it was straight. She took a long shower, changed and brushed her wet hair.
While brushing, she thought about what happened to her in that same summer after she lost her family.
She and her sister petunia, were supposed to fly to America to live in their aunt's house. But Lily refused. She didn't want to leave Hogwarts, which was like her second home, but she didn't want to live in an orphanage either. So after a lot of discussions, Jess's parents convinced the authorities to let Lily stay in their house and practically adopted her to the family. Jessica and her were best friends from the first moment that they bumped their trolleys on the train station. It was originally her idea, that Lily will move to live with her and her family and Jess's parents agreed at once.
Lily was happy to get a new family, especially so large, and Jess was thrilled to get a second sister. She smiled when she remembered Charley, Jess's brother which was now in his fourth year in Gryffindor, and the little 10 year old twins, Jaime and Julie, which were going to hogwarts next year.
Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts, and begun with her make over routine
She took her wand, pointed it to her hair and muttered "orcarios". Strikes of dark color appeared in her hair until in a few seconds her hair was painted black. She continued to brush it until it was smoothly completely and tied it up in a tight ponytail. She took her big black-framed glasses and put it on her face, watching her green eyes turning into brown. Then she pointed her wand to her face and muttered another spell. Suddenly her soft skin and clean face was covered with pimples and moles.
Satisfied, she twirled in front of the mirror, checking that she didn't forgot anything.
She wore clothes that were three times bigger on her body and which gave her a look of a little chubby person, covering her long strong legs and flat stomach, which she got from years of swimming and running.
She smiled and bowed to her reflection while her eyes sparkled with laughter.
"I present to you, the "invisible evens"!" She straightened up and waved to invisible clapping.
It was all true. With this disguise that she wore, she has been the outcast in the social life of school for the last four years.
People probably wouldn't noticed her if she wasn't a prefect, the top student in each class, the marauders number one prank victim (after the Slytherins of course) and the fact that the two most popular girls were hanging with her regularly.
Nobody understood why Viviane and Jessica liked Lily in the first place. She was ugly, with no sense of fashion, bookworm, cold, friendless, geek, loser, teachers pet…. The list was very long.
Most of the people ignored her presence, which was exactly what she wanted
She checked her disguise one more time and went out of the bathroom.
Her two best friends were sleeping deeply, and she looked at them with a little jealousy. She wished she could sleep like that, with no worries in life.
For the past five years five years, she could remember only few times when she slept without any dreams or better yet- nightmares.
She usually went to sleep at midnight and woke up four hours later, or she didn't sleep at all, and spend her nights swimming in the Hogwarts lake with Mell, or in Jess's pool if it was summer.
She got down to the common room while humming some song, and sat on her favorite couch while opening a thick book. It was almost five in the morning, she got another hour and a half before Jess and Vi' will get down .for breakfast.
It was just another regular day at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.
I mean, as regular as Hogwarts can be.
A/N: well to anyone who already read this chapter, i just wanted to say that i had to repost it. i read it again and found a few mistakes that i had to fix. i didn't change something big in this chapter, only a sentence or a word. hope it's much better. anyone who can find another mistake, PLEASE tell me about it. i'll appreciate it very much! i've almost finished ch 2 and hope to post it this week! R/R please, and can someone please tell me how to make that lovely line that seperate from the story to A/N?