Same Disclaimers Apply. My Plot, Not my World.

Chapter 3: Scurry Away

Lily awoke way too early for a Saturday, but decided to get out of bed anyways. She walked over to the mirror, put her hair into a pony, threw on some sweat pants and an oversized Gryffindor t-shirt that she stole from James last summer.

She set off for the great hall by herself; she preferred to be alone lately anyways. Everything had been so different since they got back from their long Easter weekend. She felt stupid for thinking James might be interested in her after they shared that kiss. They hardly talked since the night, and yet Lily still caught him looking at her. This fact kept her on her toes, and hope in her heart.

To further confuse Lily, the Marauders had begun laughing at her in her face. She had always got along fine with them, but she had become the butt of all of their jokes since they had gotten back. She considered herself a smart girl, and she recognized foul play when she saw it.

Earlier that week they had been particularly cruel, and she didn't know how to even properly react to the change.

Lily walked out of History of Magic with Judith on her heals, both relieved to be done with the most boring class at Hogwarts.

The red head tilted her head back at Judith as they entered the corridor, "Finally, I swear that class gets longer - OUCH!"

Lily fell back onto her butt after walking right into someone. It was her fault; walking forward, head backward. Not a coordinated combination.

"Oh drat... Sorry," she murmured, looking up to the person she had walked into, but whomever it was clearly did not take notice and was down the corridor already. She started picking up my books as Judith began giggling at the predicament.

"Smooth… real smooth Lily," she somehow got out between laughs.

"Oh shut it! Its your fault you know, I was turning around to talk to you."

Lily was picking herself up off the ground when she felt a hand push down on her shoulder forcing her back to the ground.

"Bloody hell," she said, harshly. She then pushed herself up off the ground very quickly trying to maintain her pride. She looked around to see who had pushed her and saw the backs of the four Marauders walking away and a distinctive high five exchange.

"Are you okay?" Judith asked her. Lily just shook her head and pushed her silky hair out of her face.

"I have no idea…"

Lily pushed the heavy doors of the Great Hall open and her eyes verified her suspicions. There couldn't have been more than ten people at each house table; it was much too early for breakfast. She made her way to the Gryffindor house table, and without realizing it her feet brought her to a familiar head of messy black hair. She observed that he, Peter and Sirius looked like absolute hell. If she didn't know better, she'd wager they hadn't even been to bed. She let her curiosity get the better of her and she addressed them.

"Where's Remus?

They hardly ever left each other's sides. They moved as a pack, pulling pranks on innocent victims and having complete disregard for the rules. And now apparently, they pulled all nighters doing Merlin knows what. She had even made the mistake of addressing them offhandedly as "a bunch of little marauders," earlier this year, and it stuck.

"Since when do you care so much about Remus?" James asked, without lifting his head from his folded arms.

Lily had no response and stopped next to Sirius, across from Peter and stepped over the bench to sit down. When her butt was about to make contact with the seat however, she hit the ground instead.

She instantly heard laughter. It was dull laughter, as they seemed too tired to even give their prank proper recognition, but it stung all the same. She stood up trying to act as though the bench vanishing under her didn't faze her. Her blushing face certainly would have given her away if any of them were looking at her. James still had not even lifted his head.

She went to the other side of Sirius and again stepped over the bench, and again humiliatingly hit the ground. She stood up so quick you would have thought the floor was on fire. She stared at them trying to fight the tears of her humiliation and frustration that had been building all week. She stared at James bent head willing him to look up and scold his friends.

"Sorry Lily, but your not welcome on that side of me either. Why don't you just scurry away," Sirius hissed at her tauntingly with a nasty smirk on his face.

Lily was glued to the floor out of shock. She openly stared at Sirius now, and he stared back. She wished she knew occlumency so she could figure out what was going on. While her and Sirius were having their stare down, James took his opportunity to look up. The look on Lily's face was one he never wanted to see again, and he quickly put his head back down before she could notice. If those penetrating green eyes had had the chance to meet his, he would have been undone.

Lily was eventually the one to break their eye contact, she took one last chance catching James' eye, but he still had his head down. Maybe he was sleeping? She thought to herself, she could give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Sirius was being such a jerk because they had such a rough night, or she assumed they did by the looks of them.

She walked back to Gryffindor tower shaking, and running through every possibility in her head. She was humiliated, that was for sure, she couldn't think of anything that would make James hate her so, or let his friends walk all over her. What was going on? She let her mind linger on the idea it was because she was a muggleborn, Sirius, she knew was pureblood, maybe he was finally owning up to it. But James was pureblood, and he would never harvest those sorts of feelings.

Lily went straight up to the 3rd year girl's dormitory and stopped in front of the mirror. Her face was still very flushed and she could feel her pulse in her temples.

"Well?" Lily whispered harshly to the mirror.

"No comment," the mirror quipped back.

She looked around the room and saw that all the bed's curtains were still drawn. She sighed loudly and decided to crawl back into her own bed to collect her thoughts.

Lily looked over at her best friend's bed for a second before pulling her curtains around herself. They had been best friends since before they were even sorted. They were both muggle borns, and always felt that that gave them a special bond.

Jaci Potter relinquished her tight hold she had on me, but kept her hands firmly on my shoulders. "Lily, I'm so proud of you, you will make an amazing witch." She then paused as though she were holding something back, "Take care of James."

Lily nodded, but James interjected, "More like I should take care of Lily! Like usual I might add," he said nudging Lily out of the way to get a hug from his own Mum.

"We better get going if we want to find a compartment," James said.

Lily linked her hand around James' arm so they wouldn't lose eachother as he pushed through the crowd the best he could. Small first years like them could easily be lost amongst the sea of wizards and witches of every shape and size on their way to Hogwarts. Glancing in the windows of every compartment, they finally stopped at one that had three boys in it about their own age.

The moment James slid open the door to see if they could join, regret was visible in his eyes.

"Oh erm, excuse us," James stammered a bit, moving to slide the door shut.

"Oi, What is it Potter?" A blonde boy interrupted.

"Thought there might be room in here for a mud blood and a blood traitor like yourself?" He quickly added.

Lily shifted about uncomfortably at the boy's tone. She had never heard those terms, but James certainly had. She tugged James elbow that she was still holding, "C'mon we have to find somewhere to sit."

But to her surprise James stepped forward, and Lily not wanting to follow let go of his arm. She was left standing a step outside the door, and he a step inside, but the distance easily felt like a mile.

"Lets get something straight Malfoy, you are the embarrassment to pure bloods, not I," James said very sternly, but through his teeth.

Lily was so absorbed in the interaction James was having with the stuck up boy that she even didn't notice a girl standing right next to her. She was about the same height and size as herself and was probably a first year as well. She turned her head and their eyes met, she managed a small smile, and then they both tore their eyes from each other and looked back into the compartment.

The blonde boy had his wand out, "Are you man enough to back your words up there Potter?" James made to grab his wand when the girl next to Lily piped up.

"Oh please don't!" She pleaded and looked very worried.

Malfoy looked over James' shoulder at the girl standing next to Lily and she suddenly linked her arm into Lily's. Without thinking, Lily folded her arm up and they squeezed their arms together, something they would come to do at Hogwarts all the time.

"What's this? You have a mud blood fan club Potter?" He started to walk around James towards the two girls, and they both took a step back, involuntarily.

James stuck his foot out and tripped Malfoy so he fell flat on his face, then stepped over him and slammed the door shut. He walked straight to the new girl and put his hands on her shoulders, looked her straight in the eyes and asked her if she was a muggle born. They had no idea how this would effect them, that they would be treated like dirt by their 'superior' peers.

She nodded, clearly intimidated, then he looked at Lily with his big sad eyes.

C'mon, you can sit with us, I have some things to tell you both."

(end flashback)

Lily smiled as she thought about it, even though it was the first time either of them were called mudbloods, it was what brought her and Judith together. She firmly believed that the encounter on the train, and the talk James' gave them in preparation made the world of a difference. It forced them to put their guards up, and be strong and brave, if none of it had happened, they might not be Gryffindors.

They had finally found a compartment with one boy in it, and James explained to them about pure bloods and what "mudblood" meant. He said they had to ignore anyone that called them that, and not let anyone get to them. He said that all purebloods had a choice whether to live with old prejudice, or rise above it, much like his own family. Lily and Judith had held onto each other the whole time and after they introduce themselves, had declared themselves best friends. The other boy in the compartment introduced himself to James, and they quickly became best friends as well. James would later explain to Lily that it was his speech in the compartment, that Sirius credited towards him being the first Black to be sorted into Gryffindor.

Lily sighed at the reminiscent, and she wished things could be simple like that once more, when her curtains were abruptly thrown open to reveal a beaming Judith.

"Good, you're up!" she said, brightly.

"I was up!" Lily said, squinting at the bright light.

"Oh okay, Lily," she said, rolling her eyes walking back to her own bed.

"And why are you so cheery this beautiful Saturday morning?"

"… You've GOT to be joking right? We've only been looking forward to today for the past two months."

When Lily didn't respond right away, Judith sighed and collapsed on top of Lily in exasperation.

"Lily! Hogsmeade… Does that ring a bell?"

"OH!" she said, giggling under her friend's added weight.

"I'm sorry! I must have forgot."

"Okay since I'm almost ready, I am going to go down to the common room, I'll wait for you though, so hurry up will ya?"

"Yes Mum," Lily said, retreating to take a shower.

After a long shower, and changing her hair a dozen times, she ended up just putting it in a tight high ponytail with a huff.

Upon making her way down to the common room she spotted Judith sitting with Janet, their other dorm mate, and Jude shot Lily an apologetic glance.

"Great."

"Oi! We missed breakfast! What took you so long Lils?" Judith asked.

"Sorry we'll just get something in town, my treat. Let's just go down."

They got up and headed towards the portrait hole, but Lily couldn't help over hearing the Marauders who were seated close by.

"She was getting ready that whole time?"

"I didn't think it was possible, but I think she maybe looks worse than she did this morning when she just woke up."

"Missed breakfast? I guess she just couldn't find anywhere to sit."

Lily did her best to pretend like she couldn't hear them, but she could feel her ears getting hot, and she knew her face was probably the color of her hair by now.

Once they were on their own, Lily let her guard down and turned to the other two girls, "Do I really look that bad?"

"Oh Lily you know they just won't let that stupid mouse thing go. They seem to bring it up every opportunity they get, don't they?" Janet responded, with no hint of sincerity in her voice.

Lily felt her stomach drop. The joke really was on her, they were going behind her back, and this was no ordinary teasing.

"Um I actually have no idea what you are talking about. What about did you say about mice?" She asked very unsteadily.

"Oh you know, they think you resemble a rodent and they just like to make mouse comments whenever they get the chance to."

Lily turned to Judith, "How come you never told me Jude?"

"I thought you knew. They aren't very discrete anymore. Peter started it on the train back from long break. Don't you remember?" she asked, concerned.

Lily looked her in the eye while told herself she wouldn't cry. Then she looked over to Janet, and she suddenly felt like she was going to be sick. This had been going on for nearly two months, and neither girl warned her.

"I… I'm sorry I beg your pardon?" She asked, hoping there was some sort of misunderstanding.

Jude scooted closer to her in their carriage and kept an uncomfortable amount of eye contact with Lily. To an outsider it looked more like Lily was being stared at rather than comforted.

She slipped an arm around Lily's shoulder and opened her mouth to say something. Lily would have liked to think she was going to explain everything a bit nicer, but Janet spoke first.

"Oh come off it, drama queen. They just think you're a bit annoying and a bit of a 'know it all'. They probably just decided to point out your flaws to knock you off your high horse."

Just as she finished the carriage stopped and she climbed out as if it were just any other Hogsmeade trip. For her it probably was, but Lily couldn't figure out what was bothering her more; that the boys teased her behind my back, (and to her face starting this week), or that her friends kept it from her and blew it off when she found out.

Her guard was officially up and with reinforcements. Judith was her best friend, how could she keep this from her? She was a never great friend with Janet; she was like the Peter to Lily and Judith. She was their dorm mate, and she was always just there mostly because Judith took her in, but Lily never expected her to be this cold.

Judith pulled Lily out of her thoughts by tugging her on her elbow on their way out of the carriage.

"C'mon, let's go, you owe me breakfast."

Lily managed a small smile, this approach could work, and distraction was the right road to take today. They walked to Miss. Puddyfoots, and had probably the most pathetic breakfasts ever. All that was offered for breakfast food was a few teacakes.

None of them mentioned what happened that morning, but Lily couldn't shake it off. She couldn't stop going over the fact that she was being compared to a bloody rodent. She had always thought she was pretty; she had long shiny red hair that fell beyond her shoulders. She had bright emerald eyes, which stood out against her clear porcelain skin. This year she had even started wearing a little bit of make up. She supposed her teeth were a little on the large size, but she didn't think it was enough for her to be more rodent than human. She made a mental note to spend sometime in front of the mirror tonight.

After their very pitiful breakfast they headed out to their normal stops in Hogsmeade. Lily wasn't really in the mood for shopping anymore, and didn't buy anything at all. She just tagged along with Jude and Janet.

She finally made her one and only purchase of the day when she bought some owl treats for her beautiful own, Wilma. She was an Eastern Screech Owl, but she never grew out of her red phase. So she named her after her favorite cartoon character from when she lived her muggle life. Just thinking of her owl made her cheer up a bit. She had been a gift from the Potters for Christmas during her first year. James had picked her out because Wilma's red feathers had reminded him of her.

She picked up a few packages and made her way to pay when Sirius literally appeared out of nowhere, and snatched the owl treats out of Lily's hands. She was in no mood to play keep away however, and she quickly summoned them back and continued to the register. Sirius, however, was choosing to be a pest like usual.

"Lily my pet, aren't you forgetting anything?"

Lily chose to humor him, "No I think I've got everything, thank you Sirius," and started walking around him since he had planted himself between her and her destination.

"No, I really don't think you do."

"Excuse me, please let me pass."

"I speak on behalf of the Marauders, and we think you are in dire need of some DeCon rather than some owl treats."

The color in her face vividly changed. Only this time instead of blushing, she pigment fell white.

Decon? Decon was muggle rat poison, she recalled telling James about it when he had come to the market with her and her Mum a few years ago when they had a mice problem in the basement. None of the Marauders knew a lick about muggles, so James must have told them to use it against me.

"Excuse me?"

"We think you should go eat DeCon," Sirius said, inches from her face.

Then the sound of a slap stopped the entire store. Lily had never slapped someone before, and she wished she had hit him with a little more force.

A smile played with the corners of his mouth, they had gotten what they wanted, and they had finally gotten a rise out of her. She glanced around and saw James glaring at her, with his arms folded across his chest. She suddenly felt something that was close to hyperventilation. The color began returning to her cheeks and she didn't know whether she was humiliated, insulted, hurt, betrayed or ashamed.

She quickly dropped her owl treats and turned and sped walked through the door. As she rounded the corner she smacked chest to chest into Becky. She was ahead of Lily in the same house, and they had always been friendly. But maybe not friendly enough for Lily to throw her arms around Becky in a hug, which is what she did.

Perhaps Becky could just sense Lily needed a friend, because she immediately hugged her back. They were quite the pair to see, Lily was at least four inches taller than Beck, but it didn't seem to matter to either of the girls.

"I'm so sorry, I'm just having a rough morning," Lily managed to get out.

"Lily, don't apologize, I was just heading back to the castle, want to join me? You can tell me about it on the way?"

So she did just that, she confided everything that has happened in the past two months to her and she listened.

As they ascended the girls dormitory stairs Lily just walked straight past her own 3rd year door and joined her in the 4th year dorms instead.

"Wow" she said, as she fell back onto her bed, 4th years and up had slightly bigger beds than 1st through 3rd years, a seniority thing.

"I don't know what to tell you, it's so bizarre, but I can see where it would upset you. I can't believe Judith and Janet never said anything to you, or followed you out when you ran out," Becky said, joining Lily on her own bed.

"I know! I never have breakdowns. If I were them I would have gone into panic mode when I saw my usually calm and collective friend have a public break down."

"Want to hear something that has been bothering me since I kissed James?"

With a nod from Becky, Lily pressed on, "James told me he had never snogged a girl before me, but Judith claimed that they had earlier this year, so one of my friends is lying, and for some reason, even though James is being a total prat, I still think he is the one telling the truth."

"Lils, they most definitely did NOT snog. He's not stupid, she puts on her fake I'm nice to everyone attitude whenever he's around, but I know they have never snogged."

This reassurance perked Lily up a bit, for some reason the idea of James dating Judith made her stomach turn.

The two eventually fell asleep on Becky's bed after talking about everything from quidditch to herbology. When Lily woke it was late enough that she slipped down into her own dorm and into her bed. She conjured a hand mirror to have a good look at her face like she had promised herself earlier. 'Lumos', she shined her wand on her face and looked for every, if any, mouse features she could contain.

She supposed she had been pulling her hair back pretty tight when she wears it in a pony. She made a mental note to wear it looser when it was up. Her nose was almost always pink, and was a bit pointier than she liked. Maybe that's where they got their inspiration?

"Bugger," she said to herself. She wished she had bought some new powder while in Hogsmeade, now she would have to mail order some.

Her teeth were an issue on their own, but what was she supposed to do about it? Her Mum always said that she would grow into them, but she was still waiting for that triumphant turn in her physical life.

Maybe she was sitting on a high horse, she had always thought she was pretty, but how did she not notice all these flaws before? Her Mum was always showering her with compliments when she was home, so it was easy to place the blame on her praise. But then again, she could use this to her advantage. If Debra Evans was good at anything, it was her keen eye for knowing what worked for people. She would gladly give Lily a makeover.

She whispered, 'knox', and rolled over. Only a few weeks left until summer. A summer with James and the Marauders down the street, no Jude or Janet, and a whole lot of Petunia.

A/N: This was the hardest chapter to rewrite so far. (And it was only chapter 3!) Hopefully I will be able to move through the next chapters a little quicker. Let me know what you think! : )