Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, his world, or any of the characters in this story so far other than Mercury Sonia Colby, Angela Elise Smith, and the plot. Enjoy!

Masquerade

Prologue

Lily

Ever since birth Lily Marie Evans was breathtakingly beautiful. She had flawless porcelain skin, ruby red, luscious lips, magnificent auburn locks that framed her face perfectly and fell elegantly down her back, and perfect facial features. She had A perfect vision, and everybody said if she didn't, then God was being cruel, because he'd be covering Lily's most beauteous feature- her eyes. Lily had the most brilliant, lustrous, almond shaped eyes, outlined with long, divine lashes. They always smiled and twinkled when she laughed.

When Lily had been in elementary school, many children declared her to be a princess or fairy. One day, a famous photographer saw her and immediately offered her a job as a model. Soon pictures of Lily were everywhere- magazines, newspapers, ads, and even on television! Everyone adored Lily for her beauty and grace. She became one of the most popular and admired figures in Britain.

For Lily though, her life was nothing but misery and distress. She had no true friends, and she was often stereotyped. Nobody knew the real Lily other than her family.
When Severus Snape told her she was a witch, Lily was overjoyed. She had long sought a chance for a new beginning, where no one would ever recognize her and she could make true friends. A place where people wouldn't judge her and she could be herself.

She wasn't a ditz. Lily was very bright, intelligent girl, and she got very good grades in school.

She wasn't a freakish drama queen with a short temper. Lily was calm and collected.

Poor Lily was tired of nobody ever wanting to get to know the real her. Severus Snape became her first true friend.

When Lily went to Diagon Alley, she quickly headed to a book shop, and started to browse through the various collections of publications. She found a charm book that showed a spell about changing one's appearance. Lily scrawled it down a piece of parchment and headed out.

When Lily got on the Hogwarts express a few days later, she fetched the slip of parchment from her oversized robe's pocket and recited the incantation.

In a moment the beautiful girl disappeared. Lily's wavy, fiery red hair was replaced with dull, straight, frizzy, light brown hair with split ends, and bangs that hung over her eyes. Her soft, porcelain skin became dry. Lily's lashes shrunk and her lips became pale and cracked. Lily's nose looked a bit crooked as well,

Lily pulled her oversized robe up again and slipped on a pair of large, round glasses over her now dull, grey eyes. After putting her hair into a messy bun, Lily checked herself in the mirror. The girl staring back at her was unrecognizable. Lily Evans was a completely plain, homely looking girl, completely opposite to her past, radiant, self.

"May we sit here?" Two girls stood in the doorway. "Everywhere else is full," they said.

One girl had jet black hair that was straight and layered with a red streak in it, pale skin, and deep, chocolaty eyes. The other had a light blond curly bob of hair just above her shoulders. She had pale skin, and shimmering, robin egg blue eyes. They were both rather different, but both fairly nice looking.

"Mercury Colby," said the one with the red streak in her hair, and stuck out her hand. Lily shook it shyly. "But call me Merc unless you want your arm ripped off. Honestly, what kind of parents name a kid after a planet!"

The giggly blond announced herself, "I'm Angela Smith, and my friends call me Angie or Angel or Ange or An or Angelica or Gel or Gelly or Gela or …"

"We get it!" Mercury roared.

"Anyways, great to meat you!" Angela grinned a huge smile. Then she toppled Lily over in a hug.

"She's over friendly," Mercury explained grimly.

"So, who're you?" Angela sat up and asked a little too enthusiastically.

Lily fidgeted a bit a bit before muttering under her breath, "I'm Lily. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

But since she said this so quietly it sounded more like, "M 'ily, peased t'make yer 'quaitence."

"Didn't quite catch that," Mercury raised her eyebrows.

"M'name's 'ily," Lily spoke a bit louder this time, but it still came out as a load of gibberish.

"One more time" Angela asked weakly.

"My name is Lily!" Lily yelled loudly and clearly.

"Well you don't have to yell it to the world," Mercury joked.

"Considering it probably already knows it," Lily muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Lily noticed Angela cocked her head a bit when she asked a question. Angela was proving to be quite a dumb blond.

For the next hour, Lily listened to Angela and Mercury rant on and on about Hogwarts, what house they'd be in, the elves, the dormitories, feasts, and other things they'd heard about the school. About half an hour later, Lily took out a book and started reading, realizing that the girls were blabbering far too much for her to enjoy it.

Lily read for a good portion of the trip to Hogwarts. One book, Hogwarts, A History, Lily practically consumed. She read every bit of it, from the cover, to reviews at the end.

When a trolley came by, with a plump old woman pushing it, Lily was rather curious about the various different sweets. These were not the simple chocolate bars and lollipops sold in Muggle shops.

"What're those?" Lily pointed at the box that was labeled Chocolate Frogs.

"Chocolate frogs," Mercury replied.

"They're not real frogs, are they?" Lily grimaced.

"Course not," Mercury guffawed. "They're just enchanted. Besides, the frogs aren't the main part. It's the cards you want." Mercury showed Lily a picture of Ignatia Wildsmith, a witch that had invented something called Floo powder.

"Eh, I already got her. Stupid lady. Could've invented something useful at least," Mercury grumbled.

"Merc hates Flooing. It makes her nauseous," Angela explained. "I'd know. We've known each other for awhile. My mum and I moved into the house next door to hers two years ago, after dad decided he wanted to live a normal muggle life without a witch like mum."

"I'm pureblood, for the info, but I really do hope you don't care," Mercury put in.

"What's a pureblood?" Lily wondered.

"Someone who is born in a family of only witches and wizards. It's usually impossible though. We'd die out if we didn't marry muggles. I'm Half blood," Angela explained.

"It's all a load of tosh! Some people actually care about blood status. They say anyone that's not pureblood, is filth. If you're muggleborn, you can count on the Slytherins making your life hell. They'll call you a mud blood and practically torture you just for your blood status," Mercury ranted.

"What's a mud blood?" Lily wondered.

"It's the worst thing you could ever call someone muggle born. It means 'dirty blood'. Get ready Lily, because the Slytherins will be calling you that for the next seven years. You are muggle born right?" Mercury brought up.

Lily silently nodded. She was holding back tears. What if she didn't fit in at Hogwarts because her parents were both muggles?

Angela, seeing Lily's expression and tightened features, patted her on the back. "Don't worry Lils, you'll be fine. Loads of magic folk are from muggle families, and some are very powerful figures. Few years ago, a Minister of Magic was muggle born!" Angela soothed.

"Lily cracked a smile. "Thank you, Angela," she stuttered.

"Why so formal? Merlin Lils, just call me Ange, or Angie!" the blond girl giggled.

"Thanks Angie," Lily murmured. It really was amazing. Lily had never been comforted this way, and that was when she was beautiful! Now, these two girls were being kind to her, and she was an ugly mess!

"So what d'ya say Lils? Wanna be friends?" Angela opened her arms. Lily looked at Angela's inviting arms, asking for another friendly hug.

"Sure," she grinned. "Let's be friends."

After that, Lily chatted for the whole rest of the train ride with Mercy (She herself had thought up this nickname. Mercury, being the slightly gothic person she was, seemed to like it quite a bit.) and Angie.

"Hey guys, let's go explore the train!" Angie burst out at one point.

"Er, alright. Sure," Lily agreed.

"Yeah girl! There's that sense of adventure I know and love!" Mercy pumped her fist in the air and stood up excitedly.

The girls walked past many compartments, checking each one. At one of them, Angie, who was in the lead, came to a halt.

"Kay," she said quickly, and nervously. "We're going back now."

"Why?" Mercy scrunched her nose. "We just left."

"We. Are. Going. Back. Now," Angela demanded, her voice so stern, Lily immediately turned. Mercury though, was not just giving up her little adventure just yet.

"But why?" she prodded.

"Because I said so," Angela snapped.

At that moment two boys stepped out of the compartment. One had long, elegant hair that fell in waves to his shoulders. He had perfect skin, and joyful, grey eyes. The other boy had sandy colored hair that lay neat and flat on his head, and simple brown eyes. He was very pale, and had a few scars on his face, but he was almost as handsome as his friend.

"Remus John Lupin," he introduced himself. "And this is my friend, Sirius Orion Black."

"Black, huh?" Mercury smirked. "As in, the Noble House of Black?"

"That's right. You got a problem with that?" the boy with the long hair, that was apparently named Sirius questioned in a challenging tone,

"Yeah, actually," Mercury answered. "I have a problem with people like your good for nothing family, and your muggle hating ways. I really, really do."

"Uh, hi Sirius. These are my friends- Lily Evans and Mercury Colby," Angela pointed at her two friends.

"Colby, huh? You mean the blood traitors, right? Well I can assure you, Miss Planetarium, that I am not like the rest of my dark family. As a matter of fact, I'm heading to Gryffindor," Sirius declared.

"Wonderful," Mercury mumbled sarcastically.

"Well, you know, we should be leaving now," Lily gathered her friends in a hurry.

"What's the rush ladies?" another voice appeared. A skinny boy with messy, jet black hair, and hazel eyes covered by glasses was standing in the doorway. "Name's James. James Harold Potter."

"Lily Marie Evans," Lily introduced herself. "And my friends, Mercury Sonia Colby and Angela Elise Smith."

James flashed a winning smile towards Angela. She blushed. Unlike Angela, Lily was pretty sure though that he was revolted by her appearance.

"So Angie, sweetie, what was break like? How's your mum? Still ill, I bet," Sirius spoke.

"Woah," Mercury cut in before the blonde could answer. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah, I live near the Blacks," Angela stuttered, her face going red again. "Sirius and I met when we were nine." Lily noticed how tongue tied Angela got around Sirius.

"You know, we really should be going," Mercury clapped her hands together happily at the thought.

"Well, nice meeting you, Lorry, Mercury, Angela. Have fun!" James waved. Lily noticed how he said all their names right but hers.

"It's Lily," she told him.

"Sure, whatever Leslie, bye!" James waved and stepped back into his compartment.

So this is what being ugly means, Lily thought. People don't even care enough to remember your first name. Lily sighed. She never thought that people could so mean and insensitive.

"C'mon guys," Lily muttered. Let's go back. Train's gonna get there soon."

On the outside, Lily was happy. On the inside, Lily had never felt so depressed.

And so her masquerade began.

James

Ever since birth, James Harold Potter was amazingly handsome. He had a tall, strong build, and was hit by puberty rather early, giving him rather broad shoulders. He had jet black, untamable hair that absolutely refused to lay flat. It stuck up in all directions, and no matter how many times she combed James' hair, Mrs. Potter had never won her battles with it. James had deep, hazel eyes, and he always wore glasses which slid down on his nose just a bit.

Born in a rich, pureblood family, James got everything he wanted and was never teased. He was clever, amazing at Quidditch, brilliant at pranking, and extremely good looking. Even as a child, James only ever acknowledged the beautiful and good looking, not giving the ugly the time of day. They didn't deserve the honor of talking to him, he had decided. Pretty much, James was the perfect example of a pampered brat. James was always looked at as one, and he honestly didn't care.

When he got his letter from Hogwarts, it was nothing exciting for James. Just time for him to go to school and leave his fun, carefree life. In Diagon Alley, James walked in an aristocratic manor, as if people were supposed to bow before him, or something of that manner. Getting his wand, books, materials, and school wear was just another boring, stupid part of life for James.

On the train, James didn't think he'd ever change his mind about this, but he did. When he got on the train, James went to the very back and plopped down in a random compartment. A few minutes later, another boy, with elegant, long hair, and a mischievous glint in his stormy grey eyes, opened the door and sat right across from him.

"Go away," James ordered carelessly. "This is my compartment."

"Since when? I wanna sit here, and there's nothing you little pansy can do about it," the boy smirked.

"Just leave, before I make you," James snapped.

"No," the boy replied back, just as harshly.

"Jerk!" James yelled.

"Spoiled brat!" the boy shouted right back.

"Idiot!"

"Pea brain!"

"String hair!"

"Porcupine!"

"Dog!"

"Four-eyes!"

"Excuse me, but may I ask what in Merlin's name is going on?" someone stepped in. It was a boy with sandy, neat hair, and scars across his face. Next to him was a small, pudgy boy with mousy hair and watery blue eyes. "My name is Remus John Lupin, and this is Peter Archibald Pettigrew. May we sit here?" said the first boy.
"No!" both James and Sirius, (I'm sure you guessed it was him.) both being spoiled brats, exclaimed.

"Well, that's too bad then," Remus sighed and sat down. Remus was much more mature and collected, and knew that it was his job right now to make sure the two other boys didn't kill each other.

"What are your names?" he asked politely.

"James Harold Potter," James grumbled.

"Sirius Orion Black," muttered Sirius in the same cold way.

Remus burst into laughter. "Why would you two hate each other?" he laughed. "You're practically brothers!" Then Remus fell into a fit of laughter.

James and Sirius sat there, not understanding what was so funny.

"Do you reckon he's mad?" Sirius suggested.

"Definitely," James nodded.

"What's so hilarious? I just don't get it," Sirius sighed. "And I get everything!" He waved his arms in the air.

"Don't ask me, mate. Ask mister Gigglepants over there," James pointed at Remus, who was now rolling on the floor.

"Wow. One second we're having a yelling match, the next we're mates. How weird is that?" Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah. Guess Gigglepants knows what he's doing," James agreed.

"Bingo!" cried Remus as he sat up. "So it actually worked?"

"You planned that?" James asked in awe.

"Of course. I'm not dumb enough to just randomly roll around on the floor," Remus shrugged.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" said a pudgy woman that opened their compartment door.

"We'll take it all!" James and Sirius exclaimed at the same time, both taking a clump of coins out of their pockets. Remus and Peter stared at the money in awe.

"You just threw away all that money… on sweets!" Remus finally said in amazement.

"Course. I'm filthy rich after all," James shrugged like it was no big deal.

"And it's the least my freak family can do for me. After kicking out Andromeda for marrying that muggle born wizard, Ted Tonks his names was, I really feel like the sheep in the Black family," Sirius admitted.

After they each ate their fair share of sweets, James and Sirius started chatting like teenage girls. Peter watched them in awe, while Remus grabbed a book from his things and started reading.

A while later, someones face flashed in front of the window, and the boys heard some girls speaking outside their compartment.

"Kay, we're going back now," said one girl.

"Why? We just left," said another voice.

The first and second voice drabbled a bit, and then Sirius and Remus stepped out. James sat in the compartment for a while, waiting for his new mates to return.

Finally, he too decided to leave his comfy seat.

"Well, you know, we should be leaving now," said a brand new voice James hadn't heard yet. He saw it was another girl. She had plain, straight brown hair with split ends, and the bangs covered her eyes, which were also covered by glasses. She was short, and her robes were huge on her. She had terrible skin, and her lips were cracked. Uugh! James thought. She probably doesn't even know what makeup is. So ugly!

James made some small talk. He was good at it. His parents always took him to parties.

Ugly girl had two friends. Mercury Sonia Colby and Angela Elise Smith. He was pretty sure Ugly Girl had a name to, but he hadn't been listening. Mercury was okay looking. She could always try to look less like the wicked witch of the west, but she was still pretty. Angela, on the other hand, he liked a lot. She had nice hair, and her eyes were nice and happy looking. She had a fair complexion and a good figure. Angela was beautiful. He would most definitely ask her out when the time came.

James waved goodbye to the girls. He was pretty sure he got Ugly Girl's name wrong, but oh well. It's not like she'd care. Ugly people weird like that.

"James! Earth to James!" Remus yelled in James' ear.

"I'm up!" he screamed.

"That was cool! We had or first chat with Hogwarts girls!" Sirius yelled triumphantly. "And I know for a fact that Angie's gonna say yes when I ask her out next year."

"Yeah right! It's sooo gonna be me that dates Angie some day!" James puffed his chest.

"What about Mercury?" Remus suggested.

"Nah!" both James and Sirius rejected the idea at the same time.

"Or Lily?" Remus added.

"Who?" both boys, once again, said in unison.

"Honestly, it's like you two were meant to be together!" Remus shook his head at his two friends. "Lily!" he said. "The girl with the bangs and glasses."

"You mean Ugly Girl? She has a name?" James cocked his head.

"Of course she has a name, James!" Remus roared, exasperated. "You couldn't possibly have thought that her real name was Ugly Girl!" Seeing James expression, realization hit Remus. "Oh. My. Merlin. You actually thought that, didn't you?" James nodded. Remus looked up. "Merlin help me. I've befriended an idiotic brat."

"Hey!" James shouted, not sounding the least bit hurt.

At that moment the train came to a stop.

This is going to be a looooong seven years, Remus thought.

He was wrong. It was much more complicated than that.

After all, the masquerade was just beginning,
and everyone would only truly be revealed
at the very end.

So how is it? This is my first chapter of my first fanfiction which I have decided to call "Masquerade". I like how I did the end. Do you? Hopefully. I really hope some of you will actually be good little readers and R. E. V. I. E. W. It would be nice to have some support on my first story. This is pretty much Lily and James' first impression of each other. James is a stuck up snob, and Lily is a miserable ugly girl. Oh, and Remus, Sirius, Mercu- sorry, Mercy, and Angie are all just caught in the middle of it. Poor kids. They don't know what's coming to them. By the way, I worked really hard on this, so please don't be too mean. It will crush my ever so delicate soul. And you don't to crush my soul now, do you? Of course you don't, I'm Mel the Awesome! Anyways, you can use some fire, but please not too much. And if you do try to crush me, I will fight back.

Well, that's the buzz for today.

Luvs,

Mel