TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY
Part I
Thrill of the Chase
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the famous characters or the world of Harry Potter. I'm borrowing them from JKR's fabulous writing. I just own the characters you've never heard of and the ideas. ;P
A/N: OK, third time's a charm right? I was extremely unhappy with this chapter and I cringe everytime I read it. I don't know what possessed me to write such a horrible chapter, but I have long since changed, I was sixteen when I wrote it and now I am legal :P So... I removed quite a bit of things, added in some other things and well, here's the end product. We'll see how long I'm satisfied with this chapter.
I still want to state this is my first fanfic ever. Although I love reviews, I will try not to depend too much on them, but if there are suggestions and constructive criticism, I will bear them in mind. Still that special thanks to fate's fallen angel because she was my first reviewer ever :D
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Chapter 1 SurprisesLily Evans sat in the compartment of the Hogwarts Express, engrossed in a game of Wizard's Chess with her best friend Ashlynn Keovanh, ready for her sixth year at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A shiny prefects badge was pinned neatly to the front of her clothes. Needless to say, the game of Wizard's Chess was incredibly intense, and included both girls staring at the board for minutes at a time before making a move.
"This is BORING!" Latisha Williams yawned, looking up from the Quidditch book she was reading and surveying the two concentrated girls with disgust.
"It's only been twenty minutes since we left the station," Lily laughed, eyes still glued onto the board. Julie Clarke, Lily's other best friend was absorbed by the current trends in robes from the popular teen magazine, Bewitched.
The silence in the compartment hung like a cloud of fog. The only sounds at the moment was the loud chatter coming from outside the compartment and the movements of students walking along the train as they tried to settle in. Lily's almond shaped green eyes were narrowed as she tried to read her opponent's next move. Ashlynn's oriental features were twisted as she contemplated what to do next.
Lily's concentration was broken as the compartment door slid open hastily, revealing four boys, all jostling to stand in the doorway. All four girls looked up and Lily's face promptly changed from peaceful happiness to utter loathing.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to go in the compartment‚" a muffled voice from the back squeaked. "You know, instead of standing in the doorway."
"Right you are Peter," a good looking boy with dark hair agreed, pushing the two in front of him into the compartment, one with wild black hair and glasses, and the other with sandy blonde hair.
"Evans," the boy with wild black hair spat as a greeting of some sort.
Lily nodded curtly. "Potter."
The other two boys from behind had slipped into the compartment now, the smaller one of them giving a quick wave while the other grinned and nodded maniacally at them to acknowledge their presence. He kind of faltered when he noticed a new face he had never seen before though. The others seemed to take no notice to this fact.
Lily looked up from the game of Wizard's Chess, clearly annoyed as the boys clambered around the compartment and made themselves comfortable. And clearly, eight people in one compartment would not be as comfortable as four.
"To what do we owe the honour, Potter?" Lily said, each word laced with venom. "I don't recall us departing fifth year on friendly terms."
They indeed had not. It included the Leaving Feast in which Lily had dumped a large bowl of spaghetti over James Potter's head at his last attempt of the year to ask Lily out.
"Ah, Lily," the boy with sandy blonde hair interrupted politely. "I was just sent to get you, prefects are suppose to meet in the reserved compartment up front for the beginning of the ride. I expect duties are going to be explained to us."
Lily stared at the boy in disbelief. Remus Lupin, a close friend who hung out with this trouble making bunch, a prefect! After she got over her moment of initial shock she finally spluttered, "L-Lupin‚ you're a prefect!" The thought certainly outraged Lily...
"Yes," the boy said cheerfully, seeming to enjoy the reaction he was getting.
"What's so hard to believe about Remmy here being a prefect now, Lily?" the boy who pushed the two into the compartment said, still glancing at Ashlynn, the face he had not recognized and was still trying to put a name to. "I don't believe we've met?" he asked charmingly, to glares from Lily.
"No, we haven't," Ashlynn said with a small smile. "I'm Ashlynn."
"Sirius Black," the handsome boy replied, giving her a smile that was known to melt half the girls of the Hogwarts population. He also noticed her strange accent, slow and emphasizing. So she wasn't from around here...
All the attention in the compartment was now directed onto Ashlynn and now it seemed that yes, it was pretty obvious someone new to Hogwarts was present. Ashlynn seemed to shrink upon the attention suddenly thrown upon her and she blinked.
She was saved from the curious looks from the others as a loud resounding BANG echoed through the train, followed by shrieks and then bouts of laughter. Lily looked wildly about, trying to figure out what the source of the noise was without having to move through the maze of seven people. The boys had hastily jumped into their compartment, as if trying to make a getaway. They had all remained unmoved and uncurious of the loud bang. The smirks on the faces of James Potter and Sirius Black immediately told Lily what had happened.
They couldn't have possibly... Not so early into the school year...
"You didn't..." Lily trailed off. Her eyes narrowed at Remus, who was busying himself by trying to talk to Peter.
Lily flew to the compartment door, careful not to tread on anyone's fingers or feet, which proved to be quite difficult considering the compartment was crammed. She poked her head outside and saw the object of commotion. Severus Snape was storming in the other direction, smoke billowing from his robes and his hair slightly singed.
"Potter!" Lily immediately shouted. "What did you do?"
James' merely shurgged, not seeming to care at all.
"Was he a part of it?" Lily asked, pointing at Remus, although she already knew the answer. The Marauders were usually always together.
James' shrugged again which flared Lily's already rising temper even more so that she wanted to scream.
"Get out, all of you!" She proceeded over to Sirius Black, who was closest to her and flirting with Ashlynn shamelessly. She grabbed him by the shirt and attempted to throw him out of the compartment. Remus was already striding for the compartment door while James sat defiantly beside Latisha.
"Do you not understand English Potter? I'm sorry, I don't speak troll! Get out!"
Remus, at this point, was attempting to get Lily's attention, who was carelessly waving around her wand out of her anger. He cleared his throat loudly and Lily whirled around to face him, her green eyes flashing.
""I really hate to interrupt Lily, but we are wanted up at the front," he replied, a more harsh tone apparent in his voice.
Lily seemed to compose herself at the remembrance that she was indeed a prefect and Remus was also indeed a prefect, and they undoubtedly would be working together for the school year. She was torn between going up to the front for her prefect duties and wiping the smirk off of Potter's face. She settled for the option of prefect duties, in which it would build up her reputation more, and in a swish of robes, both Lily and Remus were gone.
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"I still can't believe that after all summer Lily Evans is still so hard headed," James Potter sighed as he plopped down onto his dorm bed. "She could have been a bit more civil to me. We are starting sixth year, after all."
By now, rain was violently lashing upon the windows of their dorm room, even worse than when it was during the Feast. It seemed to match James' gloomy mood and he rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses, exasperated.
Sirius was trying to contain his laughter. "I'm sorry, I don't speak troll," he mocked in a high pitched voice. "That girl is certainly something." He shook his head. "Anyways mate, all you said when you saw her was 'Evans' in a more than friendly voice. What's she s'ppose to say, 'Jamesie how was your summer? I missed you so much. Maybe now after the forty hundredth time you've asked me out, I'll finally say Yes James Potter, I'll go out with you.' Honestly, even after last year's events. Plus, you played a prank on Snape, and we all know what dear Evans thinks of that."
"I played a prank on Snape? You played a prank on Snape!" James said accusingly.
"You helped me, did you not?" Sirius replied indignantly. "But I don't mind taking the credit, if that's what you mean. However, in Evans' eyes, you are just to blame, if not more, than I am, because you're the one also known to hex her too."
Remus shook his head, smiling, as he unpacked his things. "He does have a point Prongs."
"I wasn't asking for points," James said huffily.
"Maybe if you were a bit nicer," Peter suggested.
"I AM NICE!" James shouted. "She's just so stubborn. And those were only fun, joking hexes. They didn't do any harm to her."
"Only her pride," Sirius mumbled.
"I mean, I've offered to walk her here and there-"
"-After insulting and hexing her," Peter added.
"-and I have asked her out a few times-"
"Few hundred times," Sirius snorted. "And besides, it's all about the essence of the timing. The mood has to be just right before you pop the question."
"You guys really aren't helping!" James yelled, frustrated and glaring at Sirius.
"What are friends for," Sirius smirked. "To tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear."
"Shut it Padfoot." With that James threw a pillow at Sirius, knocking him off his bed in the process.
---
Lily and Julie returned to the common room after the last class of the day. She was glad and relieved that Ashlynn had been sorted into Gryffindor. Almost immediately, Lily piled her homework into her bag, already feeling overwhelmed by the amount they had received just on their first day. She was already struggling with Transfiguration, her worst subject, yet she had no problems with Charms, her best and favourite subject. Lily knew that NEWTS were next year and that this homework would probably benefit her in some way, but that did not mean that the teachers all had to assign tedious homework assignments. She gave Julie an apologetic smile and picked up her bag, hauling it onto her shoulders.
"You're already diving into homework?" Julie asked incredulously.
Lily nodded. It was a long shot, but she decided to ask anyways. "Did you want to come?"
"No, I'm suppose to be hanging out with Chloe, Echo and Myriah later."
Julie watched as Lily furrowed her eyebrows at the idea of her hanging out with a few girls that did not exactly get along with Lily. And weren't exactly friendly either.
"They're not as bad as you think they are." Julie shrugged, smiling. "And it's not like I have anything to do anyways. You know I hate the prospect of homework. The longer I can avoid it, the better. I'll talk to you later."
Lily watched, a bit dejected, as Julie disappeared out of the portrait hole. She then grabbed her ink and parchment, throwing them quickly into her bag. By the time she was out of the portrait hole, Julie was already gone. A bit baffled as to how she could have disappeared so quickly, Lily continued down to the library. Along the way she glanced out of a window and spotted a familiar figure out on the school grounds. Frowning, Lily changed her course and headed outside instead.
Lily pushed open the door to the school grounds and was met by the crisp outdoors. It was becoming just a tad chilly, but it was still warm. Lily had lost sight of the figure but then noticed her disappearing along the corner to the Quidditch pitch. Lily jogged over to the figure and stopped, catching her breath.
"Ashlynn? What are you... doing... here?" Lily panted.
Ashlynn laughed. "I bumped into Latisha and she said she would show me where the library was after she showed me the Quidditch pitch. She found out I use to play chaser," Ashlynn admitted reluctantly.
Ashlynn looked up and Lily turned around, just noticing that Latisha was up in the air, flying her MeteorShower. She then noticed that there were quite a bit of people out by the Quidditch pitch. And more suspiciously, the Marauders grouped together and pointing their wands at someone also flying in the air. Lily recognized the person in the air to be no other than Snape, and if there were Marauders where there was Snape, there was bound to be problems not too far behind.
"Aww, look at greasy old Snivelly‚ he wants to be a Quidditch player!" The drawling voice of Sirius Black floated across the Quidditch pitch and Lily watched them closely.
"A wannabe Quidditch player," James laughed. Sirius laughed with him.
"I guess with talents like his it would be a prize to the Slytherin Quidditch team."
Severus Snape ignored these comments and continued flying, as if he never noticed the Marauders were down there making fun of him. He also never noticed that Sirius had now raised his wand, or else Snape would never have turned his back to him.
"Let's make this a bit more interesting, shall we?" Sirius whispered maliciously.
Sirius flicked his wand and soon Snape's broom was out of control. They watched as Snape's broom reeled backwards, than shot forwards, then spun around, as if he was on a wild bull. It continued doing a series of dangerous stunts, responding to the waves of Sirius' wand. Sirius lowered his wand but then James lifted up his. The broom then turned upside down and Snape hung on for dear life, the rush of blood turning his usual pale face beat red. His robes hung down, revealing his long and skinny legs. He was so out of breath he didn't even have enough to string together a pile of insults to throw at the Marauders, who were laughing hysterically. Well, James and Sirius were laughing hysterically. Peter just looked amused. And Remus-
Lily couldn't believe it. Remus was there all right, his whole prefect self, yet he did not turn or even bat an eyelash to the horrible pranks of his fellow Marauders. He did not even make an effort to stop it, he just sat among the bleachers, reading a book. His whole face was devoid of any emotion, he wasn't laughing or surveying the scene with amusement. But he wasn't frowning or angry either. After a few more moments of watching the scene (although Lily had to admit that the panicked look on Snape's face was a bit amusing), she stormed towards the Marauders, anger burning in her eyes.
"Uh oh," Latisha mumbled in dread, now landed safely on the ground and watching the scene unfold before her. "This is not going to go over too well." She hurried after Lily, Ashlynn at her heels.
Lily reached the Marauders, but she was so angry that she was at a loss for words. She opened her mouth, shut it, opened it, then shut it again. It gave her the effect of a gaping goldfish.
"Problem, Evans? Cat got your tongue?" James taunted, glancing up at Snape with a smirk.
"Put him down this instance Potter!" Lily yelled. "You have no right to do this! When are you going to grow up!"
James said nothing to this, he just stared up at Snape indifferently. After Lily realized that she was getting no reaction, she turned her attention upon Remus, who had stopped reading but was still holding his book.
"And you!" Lily pointed a finger at Remus. "Have you no responsibilities? Have you no conscience? They're your friends, you should stop them! You're a prefect Remus, maybe you should start acting like one!"
"I tried, I did not succeed, now you try," Remus replied, calmly and indifferently.
"You should have tried harder! I knew it was a mistake for Professor Dumbledore to choose you as a prefect! You'll let your friends get away with everything! It's as clear as day you're not meant for the job," Lily hissed angrily.
Remus looked at her intently, his eyes boring into hers. If it was any other situation, Lily would have felt extremely nervous. But her temper was riled up and she would not back down. They both stared at each other until Remus looked away from the stare down. Lily had not noticed but James was slightly shaking with anger and his wand, still pointing at Snape, was quivering. She turned to James.
"James Potter!" Lily yelled, louder this time, if it was possible. "Did you hear me? Put him down now. As prefect, I am ordering you to stop. James! Put him down now! You're always bothering Snape, he did nothing to you! Nothing! Don't give me that rubbish 'It's more the fact that he exists' talk. You think it makes you bigshot but it doesn't. Sirius shut up!"
Sirius was doubled over in laughing hysterics. He stopped and straightened up when he heard the angry tone in Lily's voice and his face went serious, although the mischievous gleam and laughter were still present in his eyes.
"And Remus. I thought better of you. It makes me sick."
Lily made a move towards James' wand, which he evaded. She then pulled out her own wand and pointed it at Snape, lowering him to the ground herself. Snape landed and tottered to his feet, obviously dizzy from being held upside down for so long. They watched as the red in his face lessened, but not by much. He was boiling over in anger. Snape turned to the group, a venomous look on his face.
"I don't need your help, ever, Mudblood," he choked out before hurrying out of view. Lily looked a bit disappointed at the thanks she got. Not putting much thought to it, she rounded on James, anger still apparent in her green eyes.
James had remained silent and even let her release Snape without so much as a struggle. And he still wasn't saying anything. He glared at her, his fists clenched.
"Lily Evans, what gives you the right to decide who is meant to be prefect and who isn't?" James asked in a dangerously low voice. "I know I let you get away with insulting me, but don't you ever insult my friends."
Lily was, once again, at a loss for words. She had expected James to start yelling, cursing, hexing her even, but nothing had prepared her for this remark about his friends.
"Remus has just as much right and displays just as much qualities like you which favour him to be a prefect. Don't try to lower his position." Remus opened his mouth as if to interrupt James, but James silenced him, staring hard at Lily, who still said nothing. His eyes flickered over to Latisha, and then Ashlynn, before he spoke again.
"You just interrupted us in one of our Snape pranks. No one ever interrupts any of our pranks. I have you know that if you want to get involved in our pranks as much as you just did, then you will. I don't care that you're a prefect, you're gonna wish you never messed with us. Your job is going to be a living hell."
With that, he turned on his heel and stalked away, without so much as a backward glance, Peter at his heels. Sirius looked confused a bit and Remus gave them a very slight smile before he also turned away to catch up with James. After all Lily had said, he did not seem the least bit offended or perturbed. He didn't even act rudely towards Lily. Remus was just... Remus. Lily just stared after them. James Potter had surprised her. She did not expect him to be so calm or to say what he said. She stole a glance at her friends. Latisha looked like Christmas had been cancelled and Ashlynn had her brow furrowed, trying to make sense of what happened.
"Well," Ashlynn began mildly. "What just happened there?"
Lily turned around abruptly. "Forget it."
"This is not good," Latisha went on. "Lily, did you have to stop them like that?"
"Did you know of any other way to stop them? If you did, suggestions would've been nice. Who's side are you on anyways?"
"No one's," Latisha answered quickly. "It's just that James threatened you. And he looked so angry."
"You sound like part of his fan club."
"WHAT!" Latisha exclaimed, offended at the mere suggestion. "I would never. How could you say something so crazy?"
Lily shrugged while Ashlynn looked wildly about, trying to put together the pieces and decipher the situation they were in. Why did they talk so highly of him?
"I'm not afraid of James Potter," Lily replied bitterly. "He can do whatever he wants. I won't back down. Not this time. In fact, I'll give him a run for his money."