Decided to rewrite. No reason. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ideas and character belong to the lovely Ms. JK Rowling. Shakespeare gets Romeo and Juliet. And all is well in the merry land of Oz.

Hide, Show, Tell

Part 1: Hide

Chapter 1: First Impressions

A slight chill went down Lily Evans' spine as she stood on a hill overlooking a small seaside town. Though the Friday afternoon in mid-June was quite warm, the breeze made Lily shiver. She brushed a dark red lock of hair out of her eyes and began making her way down the incline. She soon found herself sitting in a booth of a local diner with a plate of French fries and a chocolate milkshake. A travel-sized bottle of homemade red pepper barbeque sauce brought specially from Lily's home just outside of England sat three inches above her milkshake and fries and halfway in between.

Carefully Lily ate each fry while pondering her next move. She wasn't due here for another two hours. Her cousin believed Lily was arriving by plane after a nine hour flight over the Atlantic, but Lily would have none of that. She stayed at home as late as she could before apparating to her assigned apparition spot. (Apparition overseas was such a hassle.) Lily pulled her guide book out of her shoulder-bag and flipped through the pages searching for anything of interest.

"There's nothing interesting around here for miles," a voice said from in front of Lily. She started at the voice and looked up. Hanging over the seat back was broad shouldered, black haired boy not much older than Lily's seventeen years. "Well," the boy continued, "except for me and James that is." He grinned and winked at her.

"Oh, I'm sure." Lily rolled her eyes and continued looking through her book. As she got to a page about a small museum a few towns over the book was snatched from her grasp. The teen who had spoken earlier was presently standing beside her table. "Hey, that's mine," Lily said, recognizing the redundancy of her statement as the boy stared at her with a look of exasperation on his face. "Give it back," she demanded.

"No, I don't think I will." He shrugged and slid into the seat opposite her. "Hmm . . . I heard Philly was great this time of year," he mumbled almost to himself as he held the book close to his face. Lily reached out and grabbed the book. The boy's smirk transformed into a look of loathing

"You don't have to be so rude," he spat and Lily's face heated up. "Oh come on, Fireball," he said after a moment's pause, "I was only joking." Lily gave a haughty 'humph' and once again buried her nose in her book. "Really, I noticed you're not from around here an—"

"Genius, really," Lily muttered.

The boy pointedly ignored this and continued, "And I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is—"

"Hey lookie!" another voice called, interrupting him. "Sirius found a new friend!" Another black haired boy with glasses sauntered over and sat down next to his apparent associate.

"James Potter, my dear girl," the glasses boy said grabbing Lily's arm and shaking it vigorously.

"A pleasure, I'm sure," Lily drawled sarcastically and pulled her arm away.

"Mm-mm! I love a fiery girl with accent," James said looking thoughtful at her. Lily rolled her eyes and made to stand but James and Sirius grabbed her arms, keeping her seated.

"Look," she said angrily, "I don't know what your problems are but get away from me! I have somewhere to be."

"Problems? What problems?" Sirius said scratching his head. "Were you aware of any problems, Prongs?"

"No, I can't say I was, Padfoot. No problems here," James replied in the same innocent voice. "We are but two simple gentlemen trying to offer a lost lady out companionship and help.

"I am not lost and I don't need your help. Thanks, but no thanks." Lily tapped her fingers impatiently on the table top. She glanced down at her sauce bottle being played with by James and instantly reached out to save it from a most certain horrible demise.

"Oh no, no, no, Miss I-don't-need-your-help," he said pulling the bottle out of Lily's reach. "I was having fun. You can't interrupt a man and his playthings." Sirius snorted. "Auntie J's Red Pepper Barbeque Sauce," he read the red label. "A Brit carrying around her own red pepper barbeque sauce? Something is wrong with this picture."

"How do you know, it's mine?" Lily demanded. James and Sirius laughed at some inside joke.

"How do we--? Ah, Sirius, how do we know?" James smirked and gave his friend a knowing look.

"Ah . . . I'd have to say it was because of the Ice Queen herself." Both boys looked thoughtful for a moment before busting out laughing.

"Yes, yes, that would be the one." James tossed the bottle back at Lily who pawed the air for it and missed it by a hair. It fell to the table with a clash. Lily winced and scooped it up as if a fallen child. "We assume you're a relative," James continued, ignoring her glare. "Or you wouldn't be in this hellhole with that."

"I don't know of whom you speak," Lily said stiffly.

"I don't know of whom you speak," Sirius mocked and he chuckled. "Look, girly, you're in twentieth century America." He paused and glanced behind Lily. "Not Shakespeare."

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Lily's eyes widened and Sirius and James grinned. Lily felt something smack the back of her head as she turned to see her cousin standing there an angered look on her face.

"Uh . . . Hey, Di . . ." Lily said sheepishly, her face heating up.

"Lily Evans!" The blonde haired, blue eyed teen yelled. "How. Dare. You. Come. Early." With each word Diana Taylor hit her cousin's shoulder with a paperback copy of Romeo and Juliet. "And not say hello to me first!"

"I'm sorry, Di . . . I-I . . ." Lily stood up and stuttered.

"Oh, shut up and give me a hug!" Diana engulfed her in a huge hug, grinning. "Lily! It has been toooo long!" She released a heavy breathing Lily and grabbed her cheek between two fingers. "Aw, don't you look so pretty and grown up!" she cooed. "You look lovelier and lovelier every time I see you."

"Oh, Di, it's good to see you too!" Lily hugged her again. "You look great too! Look! You have hips!" Both girls laughed and began going on about who knows what. James and Sirius were lost. They looked up at the cousins from their seats at the booth with confusion plastered on their faces.

"Girls are so strange," James said in wonder.

"Oh, yeah," seconded Sirius. "But hot," he added as an afterthought. James nodded before being pushed out of the seat. "Move your un-prominent hips, Prongs. Padfoot is on the prowl." He stood up and slid over to Diana and Lily. "Hey Tay," he said smoothly, "who's your friend?" He reached around her, putting his arm on her shoulders.

"Ugh, go away, Black." Diana put her hands on his chest and pushed him off of her. "Ooh," she said before removing her hands, "Sirius, have you been working out?"

"As a matter of fa—"

"Anyway," Diana continued talking to Lily. "I see you've met Thing One and Two."

Lily nodded and flashed them a smile. "Indeed I have. I never knew how interesting American mug—boys could be." She fought a grimace at her mistake and noticed James and Sirius exchange glances.

"Bye guys," Diana said in a low, almost seductive tone and fluttered her fingers in their direction. She sniggered and pulled Lily out of the diner. They began walking down the street, Lily flashing her cousin a few questioning glances along the way. "Okay, okay," Diana cried putting her arms up. "What do you want to know?" Lily raised an eyebrow in an unasked inquiry. "I've gone out with Sirius a few times. That's it; nothing big, nothing, well, serious."

"If you say so, hon." Lily snorted and pulled her thick hair back into a loose ponytail.

"Oh come on, it's a small town and I'm not going to pass up something like that. One of God's gift's to hopeless romantics such as myself." The girls laughed. "I've never gone out with James, though. I think he's big on the long-term relationships. And I prefer the short."

"So he has a girlfriend? I can't imagine anyone putting up with either of them, however." They stopped at the end of the street at a railing overlooking a short cliff over the ocean.

"Oh, I don't know. They actually don't go to school here. Both go off to some private school. They're only here during the holidays and summer break." Diana shrugged and looked out over the vast blue-gray water. She gave a small laugh, thinking about something different. "Don't worry bout 'em though," she said softly. "First impressions are generally bad around here."

Might write more. Might not. Don't get too hopeful. Wouldn't mind hearing feedback if you want to lower yourselves to my measly level.

~QPS