Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my fourth serious fic, and I hope it turns out to be one of YOUR favorites, so please read and review! I hope you enjoy it! Also, this is rated PG-13 for some stuff later on…there's nothing right here that's really inappropriate.

Escape From Hogwarts-Chapter 1: Death Eater at Hogwarts

Lily Evans, a skinny, green-eyed, auburn-haired 7th year, was a good girl. She was the highest in all her classes, never slept with a guy, and had a promising future. Lily was going to be an auror one day, and with that she'd have to study hard. She was quite popular at her school, along with her three best friends, Cecilia Ferris, Misty Spritz, and Kandice Miercha. No one would've ever suspected Lily as a possible murderer or Death Eater.

James Potter was also a good student, but very mischievous. This handsome teen liked to play all sorts of pranks along with Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, the other three Marauders, especially on the Slytherins. As impish as he was, James had good grades too. His best class was Transfiguration. James wanted to be either a famous quidditch player or an auror when he grew up. He was also quite popular, with his warm chocolate eyes, messy dark hair, and muscles of a quidditch player. Nobody would've suspected him as a possible murderer or Death Eater either.

It was the middle of January, when a layer of fresh snow blanketed Hogwarts Grounds. The sun shone brightly, but not so much as to melt the snow. Students enjoyed their Friday afternoon either inside the warm castle or outside enjoying the cold. Either way, everyone was too busy having fun to notice what was happening in the way back of the Transfiguration classroom.

In the blink of an eye, the students who were outside were suddenly herded inside the building. All the teachers assembled them inside the Great Hall, where confusion buzzed around the room. The teachers then hurried to check the castle and spread word of a gathering in the Great Hall.

Meanwhile, Lily Evans was taking a break from a Transfiguration project with James. They both left the classroom and headed in different directions to the restroom, promising to be back in ten minutes. Both returned, only to find several members of the staff, including the Headmaster himself, standing in a circle around something…something that resembled a human.

"Dead…killing curse…poor fellow…" mutters came from the teachers, not yet noticing Lily or James.

"Headmaster? Professors? Is there something wrong?" Lily asked cautiously, stepping forward. She gasped as she recognized the familiar face of Professor Jooble, their Charms teacher. His eyes were glazed and open, with a look of shock and hate.

"Miss Evans and Mr. Potter please report to the Great Hall. I will be with the school shortly," Professor Dumbledore replied gravely.

Lily turned quickly, Professor Jooble's expression fresh on her mind. She grabbed James by the arm and dragged him out of the classroom.

"Hey! I wanted to see what it was!" James exclaimed once they were a good distance away from the charms room.

Lily glared at him. Then her face took on a look of fear, remembering her Charms professor's face. "No Potter, you don't want to," Lily whispered. It silenced James and they walked the rest of the way down without a word. The chatter of the Great Hall greeted James and Lily as they entered.

"Do you know why we're here?" Lily heard someone whisper to her friend.

"I heard there was a death," said another.

"Someone said the toilets got blown up."

"I bet Snape has something to do with this."

"I'm right here, you git."

Lily joined her friends, who were also wondering why every student, dripping with melted snow or trying not to get wet, was waiting in the Great Hall. She hesitated to tell them what she had seen, but then relented a bit.

"I heard there was some kind of death," she said meekly, shuddering at the memory of Professor Jooble's expression.

"Death?" Kandi, Lily's friend exclaimed. "Who besides the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who would want to kill someone at Hogwarts?"

Of course Kandi, short for Kandice, would have a sensible reply to Lily's statement. She was the calm, collected one, the gentle and quiet one. She wasn't as smart as Lily, but ranked pretty high in her classes. Kandi was the complete opposite of Lily's other best friend, Misty. Misty, a gorgeous blonde many of the male students were after, was a sweet, athletic, and smart teen. In other words, she was popular, like Lily and Kandi.

There was a fourth member of their posse, and her name was Cecilia. Cecilia fell behind in all her classes, and earned just a good enough grade to pass every year. Her looks, however, made up for her poor grades. She had a tall, skinny frame with curves in all the right places and dark chestnut hair that curled around her perfect face. Rather than studying to get good grades, she would disappear into the boys' dormitories doing who knows what. Basically, she was known as the school slut. Although she had a bad reputation, Cecilia was as kind and loyal to Lily as any best friend would be, even though she hated Kandi and Misty.

"I hope it's professor Jooble, if it is really a death," Misty commented. "He's such a perv."

"I know!" Kandi replied. "I was getting my favorite eagle feather quill from the charms classroom when I walked in on him and Cecilia. Jooble claimed hat he had just been helping her catch up with the class, but I saw enough to know that he lied. Cecilia had her robe off (AN: they wore clothes under their robes…thank goodness) and his hand was up her skirt when I walked in!"

"That's so disgusting! And I thought it was bad when he was staring at my chest," Misty said in disdain.

"Well what else would you expect from Cecilia?" Kandi retorted. "Sorry Lily."

"It's ok," Lily sighed. "I know you two don't really like her." At that moment, Cecilia came up to Lily.

"Lily, dear, have you seen my wand?" she asked frantically. "I think I might have dropped it somewhere."

Lily looked surprised. "I cleaned it for you just this morning! We'll go look for it later."

"Thanks Lily. I swear I had it in my pocket," Cecilia shook her head, but looked grateful. She shook Lily's hands and hugged her.

Meanwhile, James was looking for his friends. When he finally found them, the first thing he said was, "You guys haven't been playing any pranks today, have you?"

They looked surprised and shook their heads. "Prongs, we've been outside having snowball fights the whole afternoon and morning," Sirius claimed. This wasn't exactly hard to believe either. James Potter's friends were so loyal they would rather be death eaters than pull a prank without James, especially Sirius Black. Sirius, nicknamed Padfoot, was James' best friend for as long as they could remember. He was charming and witty, especially to the girls. His looks weren't so bad either. With black hair that covered his seductive gray eyes and an ever so charming smile, who could resist him?

Remus Lupin, another loyal friend of James, was quite the opposite of Sirius, but with good looks too. His shaggy brown hair and warm brown eyes attracted girls of all kinds.

Peter Pettigrew, the fourth member of the Marauders, looked like he didn't belong in their group. He was small and mousy, with a nose that quivered and eyes that watered. His intelligence set him farther away from the group as well. Every year, he needed the help of all his friends just to get a passing grade. However, he was James' friend nonetheless.

"Oh my gosh James! You're all right!" Cecilia's false high-pitched voice exclaimed. "When I couldn't find you or Lily, I got so worried!"

Cecilia, Lily's friend, was James' current girlfriend, even though everyone knew James was madly in love with Lily. James had decided to settle for Cecilia since he knew he wouldn't get Lily anytime soon, due to the fact that she called him a bullying toerag at least three times a day. Well, at least that's what James claimed.

"It's ok Cecilia. I'm right here, and I'm sure Lily's around here somewhere," James said, giving his girlfriend a kiss. He broke away quickly, not wanting to make a scene, but Cecilia grabbed his wrists and pulled him close to shove her tongue into his mouth.

"Mmm…no Cecilia…not in front of everyone, maybe later…tonight," James mumbled between kisses. As much of a slut Cecilia was, she was a good kisser, not too hesitant and not too pushy. She wasn't at all disturbed by people throwing them disgusted looks, obviously because she wanted the whole world to know that she was going out with the greatest looking guy in the school.

Purple sparks shot out from Albus Dumbledore's wand and created a noise loud enough to rattle the glass. All the students eagerly turned their heads toward him, waiting for the reason that interrupted their activities. By the look on the headmaster's face, it was not something good.

Albus cleared his throat once, then twice, and proceeded to tell the horrible news. "There has been a death here at Hogwarts. I'm sure all of you know Professor Jooble, our charms teacher?" the students nodded without hesitation and he continued, "Well, I am very sorry to say that he has been murdered, by a death eater no doubt, but not with the killing curse. There is a death eater, possibly more, among us, so I will ask the prefects to lead the houses back into their common rooms for the rest of the day. Teachers will escort every student to dinner, the bathroom, hospital wing, or library. We will inform you when we have caught the death eater. That is all, so you may all leave with your prefects."

As soon as he spoke the last word, students rushed to find their prefects. They were all either in panic or too scared to speak. Some of them, anyway.

Later that night, Lily sat in front of the fire, scribbling away at her 12-inch essay that only had to be eight inches. Professor McGonagall was stationed at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. A first year hobbled down the boys' dormitories, limping. "Professor McGonagall? I hurt my ankle. I think I need to go to the Hospital Wing," he cried, showing her a big green bruise.

"All right Smithers, let's go," the professor said sternly. "Lily? Will you make sure no one leaves the Gryffindor Tower?"

Lily looked up from her essay and nodded. "Get better, Smithers," she smiled warmly at the young boy. He smiled shyly back.

Not too minutes later did Lily hear muffled sounds coming from the boys dormitories. Lily looked up, slightly alarmed, until she saw two figures coming down the stairs.

James Potter stumbled down the stairs, unaware that there was someone in the room. He was too busy kissing Cecilia to notice. Lily was disgusted, as usual, and decided to interrupt them before Professor McGonagall came back.

"Cecilia! Don't you have an assay due tomorrow?" Lily's accusation startled the couple and they immediately sprang apart. Cecilia smiled sheepishly as she walked over to Lily, but not before giving James a good night kiss. "Potter, you'd better go."

"Alright. Bye Cecilia. I'll see you tomorrow morning," James winked at her and ran up the dormitory stairs just as the portrait door opened.

"Was everything ok, Lily?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes Professor," Lily replied. "Ok Cecilia. Start working on your essay."

A hard pecking at Lily's head awoke her to find that it was morning and her beautiful snowy owl, Snowdrop, was the cause of the pecking. She held out a package, and nipped Lily's finger affectionately before taking of again. Lily gently opened the package, careful not to wake Cecilia, who was slumped in the chair across from her. Inside, she found a ring the size of a grape and as red as blood, and a pair of headphones. That's strange, Lily thought. Why would I get headphones without a CD player that wouldn't even work in Hogwarts? In answer to her question, she found a note inside the box.

Dear Lily, it read, Josh found this set in a regular old store, and we both thought it was a strange pair. Since you're a witch, I was hoping you knew what it was. Send my love to the family. Love, Uncle Max.

Lily smiled as she remembered her boisterous cousin Josh, who would be about the same age as her, and her loving uncle who loved to spoil her. She examined the ring, and found a tiny hole for the headphones to plug into. She turned the volume onto high on the headphones and instantly turned it down. She slowly turned it on high again, hearing what seemed like snores. Then the snores died away and she heard a female voice.

"No James! Don't leave me! It's Lily, isn't it?" the voice cried. Lily could sense jealousy in the girl's tone. Now she heard a familiar male voice come into the scene.

"Yes. It's Lily. I love her, Cecilia. Not you, her," the male replied, unemotional to the female's pleas.

Lily turned it off again, unable to bear the high-pitched voice and it's whines. It was good timing too, because Cecilia had just woken up, and Lily didn't want her to know that she was accidentally eavesdropping. Lily hastily stuffed the headphones and ring into the pocket of her robes, not wanting Cecilia to see them.

"Lily?" Cecilia whispered. "I had a really bad dream. James broke up with me. We were going to get married. I could see the ring on my finger. Then he left me. For…someone else."

This sounded familiar to Lily. "That person wouldn't happen to be me, would it?" Lily asked, although she was sure she knew the answer.

Cecilia nodded. "How did you know?"

Lily smiled. She was suddenly aware of what the ring and headphones did. It allowed her to hear what was going on in people's dreams, possibly their minds. "Lucky guess," she replied.

"You don't like him, do you?" Cecilia asked.

"Lily's eyes bugged out. "NO! I mean, of course I don't!" she exclaimed, horrified that Cecilia could actually make an accusation like that.

"Good," her friend said, relieved. "Now, where is everyone?"

Lily glanced at the clock above the fireplace. It was a quarter to five.

"Wow it's still really early. Why don't we go back to bed?" Lily suggested.

Cecilia agreed so they gathered all their materials and dragged themselves up the girl's dormitory stairs and into their own comfortable beds.

About two hours later, the Marauders were just waking up, ready to play a prank on the Slytherins. The four left the common room, with James holding a small box. They ventured down to the Great Hall, ready for their prank.

"James! Tell me what's in the box! Come on!" Sirius pleaded. "We're your best friends!"

James heaved a big sigh and said in an exasperated tone, "Fine! It's just a 24-karat diamond ring for Cecilia. It's worth two thousand galleons. It'd be really bad if I lost it or had it stolen.

"Oh! Well, I'd be more careful if I were you," Sirius said, then shoved James, making him drop the box near the Slytherin table. Becki Bagley, a rather blonde seventh year, heard their conversation, and scrambled to pick up the box that had rolled by her feet. She quickly stuffed it in her robes as the Marauders approached her.

"Hey Bagley, have you seen a small box around here? It has cockroaches in it," James said very casually.

Becki glared at him. How dare he lie to her? She knew what was really in the box. Well, at least she thought she did. "No I haven't, Potter. Now go away before I hex you," she replied just as coolly as he did.

James shrugged and walked away with his cronies. Before Becki could open the box, however, Severus Snape appeared at her side.

"What were you talking to Potter about?" he asked suspiciously, "And what's in your pocket?"

Becki, who admired Snape very much because of his extreme resentment towards the Gryffindors, was very eager to tell him what she had accomplished.

"Severus! I got a 24-karat diamond ring from Potter! I stole it from him! It's worth two thousand galleons!" Becki said excitedly. "Do you want to see it?"

"Wait a minute," Snape replied, now extremely suspicious. "What if this was a setup? Potter couldn't love that little slut so much as to spend two thousand galleons on a ring for her."

"You might be right," Becki said, "but look at Potter."

Severus turned to look at the Gryffindor table, looking for James otter. He spotted him with his hands on his face and his friends trying to comfort him. Snape thought for a few seconds, then was finally convinced that it really was a ring. "All right then. Let's open it."

They cautiously opened up the little black box, and found a ring case inside. While Severus held the box, Becki opened the case and found a big glittering diamond ring, resting in its case. They didn't notice James coming up to them, or the many cockroaches that were streaming out of the box Severus was holding. Finally, Snape felt a tingling sensation on his arm and shrieked. Becki dropped the case in surprise and looked at him to see what was the matter.

"Get them off me!" Snape roared, attracting the whole school's attention. James quickly snatched up the dropped ring and its case. Becki was scrambling to make the cockroaches disappear, but she was not succeeding. The students laughed and pointed at Snape.

"Non-perishable cockroaches!" James explained to the well-amused crowd, until a loud "SILENCE!" came from the headmaster, who had just entered the Great Hall. "Would Lily Evans and James Potter please follow me to my office? The rest of you have breakfast and classes to go to," he said as soon as the students quieted down. Lily and James walked up to the Headmaster, not expecting him to accuse them of murder.

A/N: Well, that's the end of the chapter. Please review and tell me what you think!