Lily Evans looked at her hair in the mirror. Her eyes had become big like the girls at Beauxbatons. They all had huge blue eyes of some kind. Her eyes may have been green, and her hair may not have been blonde like the other girls, but it was long and bouncy and her eyes were big, sparkling, and looking behind very black lashes.
She smiled in spite of all of her Beauxbatons training. It was not a cool, confident smile, like the ones she normally sported, but a genuine smile. She had come a long way.
It wasn't only the eyes and the hair that had changed about her physical appearance. She was the red-haired Barbie. Without the perky smile. This meaning, like all girls at Beauxbatons, she had—She was voluptuous. Curvy. Well. At least in one area.
Lily was now seventeen, and going back to Hogwarts. She wanted to finish out her years in England, where she knew she could get a job without being looked down upon as a dirty Brit. And, now with her new past and her rearranged future, she was prepared to face whatever it was she was going to face.
Lillian Isabelle Evans. She could accept her name now. She would be resorted, on account of she was now Isabelle Angelique Bernhardt. So she wouldn't have to see them ever again. Ever.
They were her friends, yes, but now, surely by now, they were James's friends.
"What are you doing, Evans? You can handle him." Lily frowned, using her English for the first time in six months. She rubbed her right eye. "What have you been here for?"
"Lily!" A French voice called her. More French followed, insisting that they needed to go.
"Oui oui." She replied, picking up her bags. She was going home. Her home. England.
"Francois, it looks fabulous!" Lily exclaimed, dropping her bags.
"I am glad to see the mademoiselle has not forgotten English- Even if it is, how do you say, touched with French?" Francois joked. "How was France?"
"Absolutely gorgeous. And do I have an accent? Wonderful!" Lily exclaimed. Her accent was a bit French with her native London swirling around somewhere. Francois, the butler that Claire had dismissed, was back and he had taught her French long before she had run away.
Lily looked around the room. It was creamy beige all over. From the marble to the chandelier, to the magnificent spiraling staircase. This was her foyer with her rug- The one that smelled like peppermint and the portrait of her as a little girl with her mother and her father.
"Will the mademoiselle want to go upstairs? All of the things you left at your other school and Mr. Black's are neatly put away." Francois told her kindly. He had always called her 'the mademoiselle'. Not 'mademoiselle' or 'madam'. But 'the mademoiselle'. That was what influenced her to go to France.
Joyfully skipping up the stairs, she stopped. She remembered sitting on that street with her wallet inside her coat and that being all she had, and she went to Gringotts. Naturally, her wand was in her pocket, and she entered herself into Beauxbatons. Her roommates told her she had cried herself to sleep for weeks. But after she stopped crying, she stopped remembering. Remembering her time spent at Hogwarts so she would just, well, forget. She hired back the staff that had become her family and fired the ones that had been her guards. She became everyone's favorite little heiress.
And now she was home.
What might have happened if she had just gone inside? If she had just gone to the silly Quidditch game?
Charity visited her often. She and Arabella were the only ones from Hogwarts she chose to remember. She couldn't even recall who had given her a little music box she treasured- She had still been crying when she had received it from a nice girl in her dormitory.
Charity had visited her before she left Paris for a tour, and before Lily had said her last goodbyes. Her friend Nadia had told her excitedly that her superstar friend had come to visit her, in fast French, of course, and Charity said in not so fluent French that she looked like a knock-out.
It was true. Lily's look hadn't really changed. It was still elegant. But now, not only was it touched with way more style, it was less. Not less as in less elegant or less perky. There was just less of the clothing.
"The Mademoiselle has a bit of shopping to do. Your Headmaster has requested your acceptance as Head Girl, as your former record in France is extremely good and your application is full of compliments, and he asked for you to be shopping tomorrow for a lot of dress robes." Francois called. "I am sending up Cherie to help you unpack and to chitter chatter."
Cherie had been the very young French maid when Lily was eleven, and now she was about twenty-three years old and very refined looking. Her haircut was close to her head and sleek.
"Mademoiselle- How was Paris?" Cherie began to chatter, true to character. Lily described, not only in detail, but in French, about her escapades and her new friends, Nadia and Georgette.
"They call me Belle, now. They shortened my middle name." Lily finished in French.
"Well, mademoiselle- You are no longer a mademoiselle. You are the mistress of the house." Cherie replied in English. "Tomorrow I will wake you up and you are to go shopping and you are to meet the Head Boy at this ice cream shop at noon. He will have his badge on and I have put a badge on a lovely top of yours."
Lily smiled. It was hard for Cherie to say so much in English. "Go on. Chatter in French."
Cherie gave her a grateful smile and followed the order.
"Head Boy." Lily murmured to herself under Cherie's chatter. "Wonder who he is?"
James smiled wide. "Mum! Jenny! Tara! Padfoot! Moony! Everybody!"
He scattered down the stairs and met his family and friends in the living room. "You're looking at this year's Head Boy!" He was still waving his letter in the air.
James's mum went up and hugged him, as well as giving him a big kiss on the cheek. "That's my boy!"
Tara and Jenny exclaimed their congratulations, and his friends each gave him a pat on the back. Mrs. Potter took the letter from James.
Coco, however, was not pleased. "I do hope they appoint a Ravenclaw girl for Head Girl."
"And who would they put in charge, Sarah Barnes?" Diana put in argument. "Either that or one of her friends, or else we would have gotten a letter."
She was right. Almost all of the Ravenclaw girls were here and enjoying the country pleasures of the Potters' Manchester estate.
"Let's pack for London! I will owl all of your parents! James has to meet the Head Girl tomorrow at noon and we can't be late!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. Everyone in the room scrambled out of their seats and hurried upstairs.
Julian Potter sighed with happiness, dropping into a large chair.
"So what if the Head Girl is hot?" Peter asked interestedly. Everyone looked to Munguldus.
"She is. And she used to attend Beauxbatons." Munguldus muttered, rubbing his temples. "You know, my powers are not like a television. You can't turn them on and off."
"Oh, be quiet. French girl, eh? You've dated one of those." Remus chirped. The boys were putting in their nice clothes. "So, are we going to pull an OHJIBIY?"
"If you want. But you guys remember- there are other girls to entertain." James muttered wearily. "What if they freak out and interrupt?"
"James, you obviously don't know these girls well. They'll probably join in the spying." Sirius said wisely.
"It's true!" Ronan exclaimed. "What color hair does she have?"
"Not a TV.!!!" Munguldus exclaimed. "It's dark red."
James scowled a bit, then plastered on a smile. "That should be a challenge. The eyes?"
"Damn. It's gone out." Munguldus lied. They were green.
"It's okay, Mung- You're right. We shouldn't be using your powers." Remus commented.
"Nervous, Jamie?" Peter asked.
"Kind of. French girls are pretty aloof." James admitted, sitting down on his bed.
"But very fun." Sirius raised his eyebrows, implying a lot.
Lily wrung her hands in her lap. The black iron tables surrounded by that matching gate sort of closed her in. She had been speaking English all day, and she still had a very heavy accent.
The top was pretty. It was a shiny blue silk shell that had a matching cardigan that was too heavy to wear. With a pair of her tightest and best jeans, she had slipped on a pair of expensive sunglasses and high heels and still, despite everything, she was wringing her hands in her lap.
She sincerely hoped it was not a Gryffindor. If it was, he would recognize her. He would know everything about her. Even with the accent, she was still Lily. The sunshine was good. Glaring so much it would not get in her partner's eyes, but enough to force her to keep her sunglasses on.
Lily crossed her legs. Then she uncrossed her legs. Then she recrossed her legs. "Oh, come already!" She exclaimed in French, swearing a bit as well.
"Excuse me, sorry I'm late. My friends and I were having a blast at the Quidditch store." The deep, familiar voice echoed behind her. Lily's head snapped toward him. The eyes were dark blue and framed with thin silver frames on his thin glasses. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped it wasn't who she thought it was. Her eyes were still shut when he continued. "You do have Quidditch in France, don't you?"
Lily opened one eye. His hair was dark. And messy. She stomped her foot in frustration.
"Of course you have Quidditch. What am I thinking? The players with the flamboyant pink robes?"
Lily nodded.
"So you do understand English. Good." He sighed a breath of relief.
"Bonjour." Lily said intelligently.
"So you don't understand English?" His voice suddenly filled with apologies and frustration.
"No. I am—I learned English a long time ago." Lily said, hoping her accent was heavy enough for him not to recognize her.
"My name is James Potter. What's yours?" He asked. "I'll have the hot fudge sundae with the Chocolate Frog pieces in it."
"My friends call me Belle." Lily whispered. It wasn't exactly a lie.
"Well, Belle, I'm glad we will be working together. Do you know if you'll be in the Gryffindor house? There are no girls in the Gryffindor house, the last one left us earlier this year. Her room is still there. Not quite as stylish as it used to be, but it's still decorated the way she left it, with all the ruffles and wallpaper and--- You must think I'm a dolt. I tend to babble when I'm nervous.."
"I hope to be in either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor." Lily told him, her accent still deep. She'd have to speak French to herself everyday in order to keep the accent.
"The best choices!" He exclaimed. "You look like you're going to a Ravenclaw Quidditch scrimmage."
Lily smiled as her sundae arrived. She noticed James's eyes widened as her order, the one she had made before his arrival, was identical to his own.
"I like Chocolate Frogs." Lily whispered with a shrug.
But of course, the truth was that Lily, two or three years ago in a desperate attempt to please James, had discovered the joys of Chocolate Frogs.
James looked at her intensely for a moment. "Belle, I know this will sound creepy or something, but you remind me of someone- As if we've met before."
We have. "Go on."
"It's like you were this girl- This fabulous, smart, intelligent, funny, athletic, gorgeous girl that I really miss. This girl that broke my heart and her own three thousand times..." James sort of chuckled at himself. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you this."
He looked up again, and Lily was speechless. "Well, people tell me I'm easy to talk to.." You told me I'm easy to talk to.
"Like when I pulled Sever- This horribly ugly dolt- Away from danger, I couldn't talk for weeks. We still don't talk about it.. But it's like.." James stopped musing. "What color are your eyes?"
"Excuse me?" Lily began to panic.
"Sorry. This girl.. She had the most intense green eyes.." James admitted.
"You must have loved her." Please say you do.
"I did."
"It's been lovely talking to you." Lily muttered, attempting to get up. "I don't exactly know what the point was of this meeting, but I'm glad we had it."
"Dumbledore believes the Head Boy and Girl should know each other well before they start." James said with a shrug. He leaned forward in his seat. "You know, one of the last Head Boys and Head Girls were supposed to get married."
Lily got up, gathered her things, and put in her share of the bill. "Yes." She told him, staring at him intensely. "I know."
"Total hottie." Sirius muttered. "French, you say?"
James nodded. This girl- This mysterious Belle- She—Dumbledore's plan to get the Head Boy and Girl closer by meeting one another usually worked- Rafe and Helen almost got married! But James had a feeling that he let his guard down and Belle was the one who benefited from this meeting. All he knew was she was French, wanted to be in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, liked Chocolate Frogs and blue, was stylish, perfect- Practically Lily- And her name was Belle.
"Yeah. She's French." James sort of snorted in thought.
James and Sirius made it a point to travel to King's Cross every year together, and now they sat in the back of a cab with Jennifer, both of them nervously playing with the creases on their slacks.
"What school you three from?" The driver stabbed at a conversation.
"Eton." James said immediately. "We're taking a train to visit family up in Scotland- we've just come from break."
"Eton has year-round schooling?" The cab driver's narrowed eyes were full of suspicion.
"We're orphans- Rich orphans." Sirius lied quickly.
"Pad--.." Jennifer began.
"Patrick—Jenny means to tell you that you shouldn't inflict our family life on this poor driver." James covered quickly.
"Oh. Sorry." Sirius muttered.
"Riiiight."
"The Mademoiselle has everything?" Francois and Cherie fussed. They looked like the perfect French uncle and aunt.
"Everything, Uncle." Lily replied. "Remember- My name is Belle- Isabelle Angelique Bernhardt to be exact- And you are Francois Bernhardt, my father's brother, and you are Cherie Delacour, my mother's sister. We live in a small, two-story red brick house in Godric's Hollow."
The entire conversation was entirely in French, and James only caught the French-sounding Godric's Hollow when he passed her at the station.
"Belle!" He exclaimed, noting to himself to learn French.
"Ah, James!" He noticed that the J sounded very vibrating. "This is my pappa's brother, Uncle Francois, and this is my Maman's sister, Aunt Cherie. They have taken me in."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr.. Belle.." James noted that he didn't even know the girl's last name.
"I am Monsieur Francois Bernhardt, and that is Madam Delacour." Francois told him. "My niece Isabelle tends to skip details."
Lily laughed. "Are you here alone?"
"My friend Sirius and my little sister Jennifer are here. Somewhere." James sort of put up his hands in the air casually.
"You look like one of those Muggle boys at the prep school in Paris." Lily said, still very heavy on the French and laughing. "Except you look more comfortable."
"Are you calling me a prep?" James challenged, remembering a similar conversation with a different person. He glanced at her eyes.
"Of course—Is there something on my face?" She asked in wonder.
"No.. Not at all." James recovered. "That person you reminded me of- Less hair, smaller eyes.. Very, er.."
"Maybe you should owl her." Lily told him. "If she's so incredibly important, why haven't you gone in pursuit of her?"
"Now, Isabelle, the boy might have a—Oh goodness, we have to go. Our train back home is boarding. Have a lovely year, Isabelle." Cherie bent over, giving her a peck on the cheek. She whispered an encouraging statement in French and the two went on their way.
"Well, Miss Bernhardt, have you decided which house you want to be in?" Sirius put forward, not getting a good look of her. "My friend here told me you want to be in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. The two finest houses, I noticed."
Lily tried not to flinch at the familiar voice. "I do not believe we have been properly introduced. My name is Isabelle Angelique Bernhardt. Who are you?"
Sirius's eyes widened when the girl, if not for the incredibly huge eyes, French accent and big red hair, would have been Lily. "Excuse me. My name is Sirius Aries Black. I am James's closest friend."
Lily sort of thought he had always been her closest friend.
"Lovely to meet you." Lily responded. Jennifer gasped and stared at her in horror. Lily winked very quickly, sure that Jennifer knew what was going on.
"Huh- Will you be joining us, Li- Isabelle?" Jennifer caught on quickly for an eleven year old.
"Certainly. You must be James's little sister. Oh, and you can call me Belle." Lily smiled the way she had learned at Beauxbatons- The smile that made people feel privileged to gain that smile.
It worked.
"Well, Belle, you certainly can't walk through that barrier on your own- The Slytherins might pounce on you." Sirius told her, offering his arm.
"So, what are you doing on Valentine's Day?"
"Shut up."
"That's what I thought."
"Why, thank you. Exactly who are the Slytherins?" Lily asked as she pushed her cart gracefully through the barrier- Sirius had piled his trunk underneath her matching set of luggage.
"The slimiest gits on the planet. I thought James here would have mentioned them. Or maybe he was too caught up in your resemblance to a certain lady friend of his. Or rather, certain ex lady friend of his." Sirius explained. James and Jennifer were deep in conversation. "Go on, James, I'm going to introduce Belle here to our crew. Get your sister settled."
He laughed in a very fake manner and turned to Lily and hissed in her ear. "Both Jennifer and I know who you are! Jennifer just figured it out but I knew it from the instant I saw you in Diagon Alley! Who are you pretending to be? We like you just the way you are!"
Lily removed her arm from the hook of Sirius's. "I am going to pretend like I don't know what you're talking about. And if you ever speak to me as Lillian Isabelle Evans ever again, you will find yourself looking like figures in Most Potent Potions."
Lily turned on her heel and left with the cart.