What you see is not always what you get... - by someone (aka Ramz)


A/N: Ok, this is not my first fanfic. But I am going to try and finish this one because I've failed to finish all my other ones. This is going to be one with long chapters, so bear with me even if this isn't very long. I hope this one is really good but I need you all to REVIEW! I will have no incentive to keep writing if I don't get any REVIEWS! I won't know whether it is good or not unless you REVIEW! Be kind to a poor soul and REVIEW! Please REVIEW!

Chapter One - Bonds

"Hey Lil," said a certain someone. Mundungus Fletcher, average height, average weight, average brown hair, average brown eyes, average grades...basically average in everything Potions, stood at the doorway of a compartment in his black school robes and gave a charming smile to his friend and complete opposite, Lily Evans.

Lilian Constance Evans was tall and slim, with shoulder length flowing red hair, a slender face and bright green eyes that shinned with happiness. She was dazzlingly pretty and had practically every guy in the school drooling after her. She had top grades in almost everything but her best subject by far was Charms. Today she was wearing a violet, turtle neck top with her flared jeans and holding her black robes in her left hand, which she had just gotten out of her trunk.

It was September 1st and the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were due to leave from Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station, London at noon. The time was now 5 minutes to 12 and students were gushing in. Lily had found an empty compartment and had taken refuge from the hustle and bustle outside. Mundungus had searched high and low for any sign of her or Arabella Figg (A/N: don't yell at me and say that Arabella is too old because when she is living next to Harry she is old, but that's not the real her. She's got ageing potion or something.) , their other 6th year friend, and finally found Lily in a compartment near the end of train.

"GUS!" she cried, dropping her robes, running over and hugging him - in fact she almost toppled him over.

"Woah, slow down there Lily, " he said regaining his balance after Lily had gotten off him.

"Sorry...It's just that it's so good to see a friendly face...god Petunia is SO annoying," she said through clenched teeth, as they sat down.

"So anyway, how were you're holidays? I would've sent you an owl but you know...Australia is so far away. I didn't know if Jerry would survive the experience." The small brown and white owl in the cage next to Lily hooted angrily. Jerry was Lily's very active but very small owl, who although thought he could do anything, wasn't up to such long journeys.

"Sorry Jerry but you know it's true," she said. The owl turned away angrily.

"Oh, Australia was FANTASTIC! (A/N: Hehehe...I live in Australia so it has to be fantastic and plus I would know.) You wouldn't believe the beaches there! But I reckon it would have been better if we went I summer." said Gus.

"What? It was summer! What are you talking about?" asked a very confused Lily.

"Not up to your usual standard at all Miss Evans," said Gus imitating a teacher. "Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, darling. They have winter while we have summer. It was really strange you know. Imagine having Christmas while it's summer. Freaky."
(A/N: Actually, I've never had Christmas in the winter so it would be weird for me not to have Christmas in summer. It's really funny coz we have Aussie versions of the Chrissie carols e.g Dashing through the bush, in a 3 cylinder Ute... Hehehe cute huh? Anyway, I'm blabbing so back to the story.)

"Oh," said Lily, disappointed that she had forgotten about the different Hemispheres. Just then the whistle blew and the train took off.

"Oh look, we've left!" said Gus. The two of them sat in silence for a little while, respecting each other's private thoughts. Lily started thinking about the work that lay ahead of them. She wondered whether the work would be as intense as last year.

"Miss Lily!" said someone from the doorway.

In the doorway stood a fairly shortish girl who was very pretty. She had curly, mousy brown hair, which was all tied up in a ponytail except for one little ringlet that dropped down on her face. She was a little pudgy, but that made her look all the more beautiful. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and she had freakishly long eyelashes. Her hands were on her hips and she was already dressed in her school robes.

"Bella!" cried Lily, jumping up once more and scurrying over to her friend giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Gus just sat and watched amusedly.

"Well it's nice to see you too Gus," said Arabella Figg. She was annoyed at his expression.

"Hi Bells," he said standing up and giving her the same charming smile he gave to Lily. He walked over and hugged her and she gave him a little peck on the cheek. He blushed.

"Come on Lils, they're waiting for us in the Prefect compartment," said Arabella to Lily. They had both become Prefects the previous year but Gus unfortunately didn't.

"Ugh!" said Lily. She was ecstatic about the fact that she was a prefect but she didn't happen to like the fact that other disgusting people had to be Prefects also. Namely James Potter, and Severus Snape. (A/N: I wanted to make sexy Remus a prefect too but then there would be too many prefects. Booohoooo - I luv Remmie!)

Gus sighed. "I suppose I'll go find Remus then."

"Bye Gussy!" said Lily.

"See you at the feast!" said Bella.

* * * * *

When they arrived at the Prefect compartment it was packed. Lily and Bella were the last to arrive. They squished into the compartment.

"Finally decided to join us did you Evans?" said a certain greasy haired Prefect by the name of Severus Snape. He was tall (and greasy-haired) and his skin was very pale. His cold eyes were very, very dark brown - almost black if not already.

If he had encountered Lily in her first or second year, Snape would not hesitate to call Lily a Mudblood because she was a Muggle-born. But since then, Snape had become aquainted with Lily's fist only too well and wouldn't dare say it front of all these Prefects who could give him detention like that (*snaps fingers*).

"Hello, Snapey darling," said Lily fluttering her eyelashes at him fakely. He gave her a cold and greasy look, almost as greasy as his hair.

"Children, children, " said someone, mainly looking at Lily and Snape. He very good-looking guy with a badge pinned on his robes that said 'HB'. Everyone hushed down.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I am your new Head Boy. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Amos Diggory. I'm a 7th year Hufflepuff. This is your new Head Girl - Nicoletta Garfunkle," said Amos. He pointed to a girl beside him who was quite chubby but quite tall. She had long blonde hair and hazel eyes and wore a pleasant look.

"Hi everyone, " said Nicoletta. She smiled and waved. Most people (coughsnapecough) smiled back. "You can call me Nikki. I'm from Ravenclaw. Ok, down to business. For the new Prefects, there are a lot of things that you need to do in order to keep the school running efficiently as it has been for the past...oh I don't know...3000 years? Anyway these things will be discussed at the first meeting, which is to be held tomorrow (which is a Tuesday) after lessons. Don't be late. The Prefect meetings are held once a month.

"On a lighter note, you know have Prefect privileges. You are permitted to use the Prefect bathroom and the new password is 'coral sea'," said Head Girl.

At this point Amos took over. "You are also allowed to visit Hogsmeade more often - the first two Saturday's of every month. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah," said an oh-so familiar voice behind Lily. It was Sirius Black, fellow Gryffindor and rival. Sirius Black was a very handsome guy, with short black hair and a melting smile. He turned to face Arabella and sank down on one knee.

"Bella, will you marry me?" he said trying very hard to look innocent and doing surprisingly well. Bella shot daggers at him.

"Sirius how could you!" said another voice behind her. Lily groaned. James Potter had joined in the act. James Potter was probably the only guy that was more eligible than Sirius. He was very tall with messy black hair which added a kind of I'm-cute-without-trying look, chocolate brown eyes that were always up to mischief and lopsided smile that made any girl weak at the knees. (A/N: no glasses on this guy!)

"You knew that Arabella was my one true love!" James continued. He then turned to Arabella in mock pleading. "Bella, who will you chose? Me or Sirius? Just remember that I will always love you forever and ever, no matter what you choose," said James innocently.

At this James and Sirius couldn't hold it in anymore. The both fell out laughing and a few others joined in.

"Oh that's SO hysterical Pot-head! I can't stop laughing," said Lily sarcastically while Bella was glaring at them both, fighting and inward battle to slap them both then and there.

James raised his eyebrows smugly and said, "There's no need to tell me, Evans. I already know that I'm witty, funny, smart, sexy..."

Just then the train jerked and quite a number of people fell down, including Lily. Fortunately, it was a soft landing because she fell on someone else. Unfortunately that person happened to be, to Lily's disgust, James Potter. Lily stood up quickly and brushed herself off, with a look of revulsion on her face. Potter also stood up and grinned cheekily.

"I know I'm irresistible Evans, but there's really no need to throw yourself on me like that," he said, smirking.

"It's a pity you're so thickheaded Potter, because now my punch won't affect your brains whatsoever," retorted Lily.

"What brains?" asked Bella innocently, recovering from her previous humiliation. Bella grinned at Lily. Everyone laughed. Seizing her opportunity, Lily turned quickly and punched James smack bang between his beautiful chocolate eyes. This was so unexpected that he actually fell down. Really, this wasn't so surprising, because Lily's punches tended to do that to guys. Or girls for that matter. Lily grabbed Bella by the wrist and dragged her out the door. She was fuming.

"Aaarrgghh! I. Hate. James. Potter," said Lily through clenched teeth. "He is the most annoying prick on the face of the Earth..."

"...followed closely by Sirius Black," said Bella.

"Oh, come on...Sirius isn't that bad..." said Lily.

"Oh please! If anything, he's worse than James!" said Bella fuming.

Lily shot her an oh-come-on look. "James Potter is the most pompous, arrogant cocky bastard I've ever met who doesn't care about anyone except himself!" Now Lily was turning red with rage. "Did you see what he was doing to you back there?"

"Yeah...he joined in Black's little act to humiliate me..."

"Oh but they didn't do it for the same reasons..." said Lily trailing off, and smiling. Bella shot her a death glare so Lily dropped it. "Potter only does it to make himself look good...and no-one else sees that! Argh! It's so frustrating...he get under my skin!"

To Lily's surprise, Bella laughed. "Hahaha...I think you knocked James out with your punch back there, Lil."

Lily grinned back. "Well I've had a lot of practice, what with Snape and Potter. All that punching can only do good things to ones arm can't it? Come on, let's go find Gus." They continued walking down towards the end of the train.

"Lily..." Bella faltered. "Is - is it just me or does Gus sort of - sort of like me?" asked Bella.

"Oh no! Whatever gave you that idea? He's got a crush on -" Lily lowered her voice to a whisper, "on Julia Symonds. He told me so himself."

"Oh thank god!" sighed Bella, "I mean, I love Gus! He's a great friend, but...I can't think of him as anything more. Y' know?"

"Oh, wait. I think they're in the next one." Lily opened the door of the next compartment to reveal Remus Lupin playing chess with Gus. Next to them sat Peter Pettigrew.

"Evans! What a pleasure!" cried Remus. Lily always liked Remus. He made the same kind of comments that James and Sirius did but somehow, more good-naturedly.

"Hey Lupin," Lily gave him a brief smile. "I think your friends are going to be coming back soon. Come on Gussy, let's get out of here before they come."

Gus jumped up. "Gladly!" he said. Then he turned and whispered to Bella "I was losing." Bella smiled and shook her head.

The three said bye to Lupin and Pettigrew and found another empty compartment. They sat down and started talking about school.

"I'm glad our O.W.Ls are over anyway. But there's a rumour that we have some big farewell thingy for the seventh years," said Gus. "Something about tradition..."

"Well I've got no idea what that's about," said Bella. "But I do know that someone's been keeping their crush a secret from me! I'm hurt that you didn't tell me Gus!" Bella half teased half said truthfully.

Gus shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned a pink tinge. "Well...I didn't want to make a big deal out of it or anything. Anyway, I wasn't sure whether you sort of - well, I was being stupid, of course you don't...I mean, I sort of thought that you...um...sort of - liked me. But I was wrong. You know, I have nothing against you Bella, but um...I don't see you as anything more than a really great friend," muttered Gus, all the time looking down at his shoes.

To his great surprise, Bella laughed! (A/N: she seems to be doing that a lot lately, doesn't she?) Gus now looked up from his shoes and stared at her, shell-shocked.

"Oh Gussy! That is really quite funny! Hahahaha...because, you know...hahaha...I thought that you...liked ME!" cried Bella. Both her and Gus burst out laughing. Lily just looked on, very amused by the whole thing.

Gus and Bella laughed for an entire 5 minutes! Non-stop! They even dragged Lily into it after the first two minutes. The only reason they stopped was because a seventh year Slytherin, whose name was Lucius Malfoy, barged into their compartment and yelled: "WILL YOU STOP THAT BLOODY LAUGHING?! SHUT THE HELL UP!! JESUS CHRIST, CAN'T A MAN GET ANY PEACE AROUND HERE??" and slammed the door shut.

This caused even more laughter, but it was more like sniggering and wasn't heard by anyone, thank goodness. Slowly the laughter died away and the chatter became heavier.

Lily sighed. "What were we laughing about again?" she asked. The others shrugged.

"Dunno," said Bella. "But I do know that we are almost and Hogsmeade station. Which means that we are a closer to the time of the feast!"

"Which also means that we are closer to the time of our lessons. Which means, *groan*, work!" said Gus with a look of despair on his face.

* * * * *

When the train stopped, Lily looked at her two friends and smiled a very genuine smile.

"Friends forever?" she asked, placing her hand out in front of her. Gus and Bella smiled back at her.

"Friends forever," both of them said, each placing a hand on top of Lily's.

A/N: So how do you like it?? This is the longest chapter I've ever written, but next time it'll probably be longer. What do you think I should add to it? Any improvements needed? Sorry I yapped on in the middle of it and it'll be better next time I hope. Ok...thank you all for reading...now you're obligation is to review! I said REVIEW!!! Get the idea? REVIEW!!!
Oh - btw - the reason I didn't put glasses on James is because I didn't want to, no-one ever said he had glasses and he would look like more of a spunk without them which helps me achieve my objective. I'm trying not to make James too much of a womaniser but he still has about a zillion girls chasing after him.

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanx!
Love someone (aka Ramz)