A/N: Hey Guys,

Listen, I know that this isn't your typical Lily and James story, but I wanted to change the time to see what would happen. I'm sorry to those of you that detest OC's, but they happen to help me characterize my characters, you'll see. I hope you like it, review if you want.

Disclaimer: I own only the plot, no HP characters

She silently walked into the large room with her head down, her hands folded in front of her. She stopped in front of a mistress feeling a pair of eyes burring into her.

"Here she is Madame," the man behind her said. He shoved her forward. "Stand up straight wench!" he growled. She took in a deep breath and lifted her head. The mistress gasped in horror.

"How dare you bring this girl to me?! She's...she's... she's a walking dung heap!" she sputtered in disgust.

"You said you wanted a servant, well now you have one." Lily averted her gaze.

"Very well," the mistress said tightly. She waved toward her. "I guess she'll do. Does she listen to orders?"

"Of course." The mistress took in a sharp breath.

"Fine. How much?"

"Ten galleons," he answered. Lily winced slightly at the price. He roughly grabbed her arm and whirled her to face him. "You best stop that. You should be kissing my feet that I didn't sell you to that bloke down town. He would have raped your ass over and over again wench," he spat. She stared up in horror at him.

"I thought you said that she obeyed orders," the mistress behind her said. He looked over her head at her.

"She does, but sometimes its good to reinforce your power over her." He threw her away from him. She turned to face her new mistress. She was nodding her head thoughtfully at her.

"Very well then," she walked forward and handed him the coins. He sneered at Lily.

"I'll be on my way then. Thank you ma'am," he said nodded at the mistress and turned to walk from the house. Lily stiffly stood in the middle of the room. The mistress began to look her over. She picked at her shabby brown dress and her dirty hair.

"My, my, my, what a big mess," she said. Suddenly a woman appeared at the door.

"Madame?" she asked. Lily felt her breath catch at the sight of her. She wore a light purple gown, a white apron falling from her waist to her ankle line. Her brown hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. Her chocolate eyes were attentively darting around the room, taking in every detail. Her eyes fell upon Lily and took her in. Lily looked away, feeling disgusting compared to her tidy attire.

"I want you to take this girl and clean her up. Get her dressed and start dinner." The woman nodded and headed for her. She lightly touched her arm.

"Follow me," she said gently. Lily gracefully curtsied low to the mistress and the woman softly gasped in surprise before doing the same. Lily followed her silently out of the room. She led her to a tub filled with water and turned to her. Lily folded her hands in front of her and looked at the water. "Um, this is your bath. I'll get you a towel and some clothes to change into." Lily nodded her head. The woman left the room. Lily slipped from her grubby dress and stepped into the cool water. She wet her hair and scrubbed the dirt from her skin. The woman came back with a towel and a new dress. She laid the towel next to the tub and the dress on a nearby chair. She knelt by the tub and held out a bottle. "It's soap, you know, for your hair," she said gently. Lily took it and poured some on her hands. She rubbed it into her hair and savored the feeling of the dirt and grime coming off. She dipped under and rinsed her hair running her hands through the strands. She closed her eyes and smiled. She looked back at the the woman. She was smiling at her. "My name is Meredith," she said.

"Lily," she replied. Meredith smiled at her.

"How did you know to curtsy? And how did you do it so well?" Lily shrunk down in the water.

"Let's just say, it got me out of a lot of trouble," she said softly. "When you see other maids do it and not get hit, it kind of just comes to you." She looked back at Meredith. She wasn't smiling anymore and averted her gaze.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said quietly. Lily looked back at the water.

"Thanks for this. It feels good to finally clean up," she said quietly. Meredith stood.

"No problem." She picked up the towel and held it out to her. "But we'd better hurry up or else she'll get impatient. Dinner should be starting soon. Lily stood and dried herself off. She got dressed in the dress Meredith brought for her. It was light blue with cream colored sleeves and apron. Her hair was quickly dried and the sides pulled back from her face. Meredith handed her a pair of brown shoes. When she was dressed, Meredith gaped at her.

"What?" she asked shrinking away.

"I… don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you were that pretty," she said. Lily looked away.

"Oh." Meredith motioned for her to follow.

"Come on, let's go serve dinner," she said never taking her eyes off her. Lily followed her up through the house receiving stares from everyone they passed. Finally they went into the kitchen. "What's for dinner Cook?" she asked. The round lady turned from the stove. She gasped once she saw Lily. She looked down.

"Is this the new girl?" she asked motherly.

"Yes. Pretty isn't she?" Meredith asked with a smile. Lily blushed and looked up. The cook smiled at her and gave her a motherly hug, her gray eyes comforting.

"Absolutely," she said. "Look at your hair... absolutely envious," she said touching her fingertips to Lily's fiery locks. She turned back to the food on the counter and placed a piece of ham on each plate. "Ham," she told Meredith. Meredith nodded her head. She grabbed two cups and a wine bottle. She motioned for Lily to get the plates.

"Come on," she said. She picked up the plates and followed her through the door into the household. They walked toward the table. The lady was there with another girl. She had a long bony face with long, blonde curly hair and startling blue eyes. She wore a fusia gown with white lace frills along the low neckline. Lily put the plates in front of them. They were both staring at her.

"Mother? Is this that new servant girl?" she asked.

"Yes," she replied. She grabbed her arm and peered at her. "You're not wearing any makeup are you?" she asked. Lily shook her head.

"No Madame," she replied softly. The lady shoved her backwards. She stood and folded her hands on her apron.

"Mother! She can't stay here! Every suitor I bring home will stare after her! How could you do this to me?!" the girl squealed in outrage.

"Relax darling. No one will see her. She'll stay in the household." She turned back to her dinner. Lily curtsied low and began to walk back to where Meredith stood. She gave her a sad look, but quickly hid it as she stood straight ready to be of service.

After dinner, Meredith and Lily cleared the table and began to clean up the house hold. Just before they made to leave, Lily was called back. She walked up to her mistress and stood silently in front of her. The lady held out a cloth to her.

"You are to wear your hair up and put this cloth over to cover it. You will always keep your head down and you are to stay out of sight when we have company do you understand? You are to never show your face ever to anyone," she said gruffly.

"Yes Madame," she replied quietly. Suddenly there was a sharp 'crack'. Lily reeled back in shock, her hand going to her stinging cheek. The mistress glared at her.

"Now go," she snapped. Lily swept a graceful curtsy and left the room. A stunned Meredith followed her into the kitchen. Cook looked over and quickly went over to her, dropping the pan she was washing into the water. She cupped her cheek and looked at her precariously.

"What happened? You're cheek is all red."

"She hit her," Meredith said still in shock.

"What?"

"The mistress hit her and she didn't even do anything wrong!"

"Oh my gosh."

"She's not allowed to show her face either," Meredith added.

"What? Why would she do this?" cook asked Meredith.

"It's because Fanny freaked out when she saw her. Lily's so pretty she didn't want any of her suitors to go chasing after the maid. Lily wouldn't be able to stop their advances and she knows that." Cook nodded.

"That still doesn't explain why she hit you dear. It's not like the Mistress to hit her maids."

"The man who sold me said that sometimes she needed to reestablish who's boss with me, but... i don't know what I ever did wrong." Cook again nodded.

"I understand dear. Some people just can't get over the power trip part of their lives." Lily stepped back from Cook and looking away, began to pull up her hair. Meredith went from the room and came back with spare pins. She pinned it in place and draped the cloth over her head, pinning it as well. She looked at Cook and Meredith.

"Well?"

"You still look every bit as pretty." Lily sighed. "Don't worry honey," Cook reassured. "Everything will turn out alright soon. You'll see."

"I hope so," Meredith answered. "Come on," she said softly. "We best start on our nightly chores. The mistress is really anal about them."

A/N: I know it's not much, but it's the first chapter, I have to set the stage a bit.