A/N: Hey y'all thanks for all the reviews! We got so many, and someone even put us on their faves list! Thanks a lot to all of you out there!
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"I'm truly happy to have you back for another year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore beamed at the anxious students seated in the Great Hall. He stood by the staff table, looking dignified in front of the long rows of seated students. "I know you're ready to begin the feast, as always, but first I wanted to remind the prefects that their first meeting is tomorrow morning in the Transfiguration room. And, I would like to read off the prefects' names, so that they may be recognized for their accomplishments."
A group of four boys seated at the Gryffindor table snorted in amusement. But before they could make any comments amongst themselves, Dumbledore carefully cleared his throat and began to read off of a small piece of parchment clutched in his hand.
"Sirius Black, Kelly Fortine, Brent Jackson, Elizabeth Locker, James Potter, Jack Tonroe, Jennifer Troy, and Christy Williamson are our new prefects." During the pauses between each name, applause from the respective House rang into the Hall.
Elizabeth Locker, the fourth person who had been called, was grinning and smiling as the other Ravenclaws congratulated her. Unconsciously, she ran a hand through her red hair, which loosely tumbled down past her shoulders.
For some reason, her attention had been drawn by one of those names- James Potter. She had that feeling of slight déjà vu; it seemed as if she had heard that name before, but yet couldn't place when, why, or how.
After thanking her friends, she focused her sparkling emerald eyes on the Gryffindor table, searching for the source of her interest. It was apparent who James Potter and Sirius Black were, since they were the only two boys at the table who were beaming with pride but yet embarrassment at being so called 'smart people'. But which one was this James?
The boy on the left was rather cute; with coffee colored hair that was cut short and eyes that reminded Elizabeth of a cloudless sky, shining with pleaded innocence. Though with another glance at the way he held himself, you would know that he was far from innocent.
She shifted her gaze to the boy on the right. The moment her eyes fell upon him she knew that he was James. But she couldn't place a finger on why or how she knew; that strange feeling was coming back to her. She shoved it away and continued to stare. His raven black hair was the messiest she had ever seen, sticking out in all directions. But it seemed to fit him. A grin split across his face while Sirius whispered something in his ear.
In another moment, his pale azure eyes, hidden behind small silver frames, were scanning the room, and before Elizabeth knew what was happening, he caught her gaze. They stared at each other, both of them with odd expressions of wondering on their faces. This is uncanny, she thought to herself, I don't think I've ever met him – but he seems so familiar.
James must have been thinking along the same lines; he seemed to be racking his mind for something. Elizabeth reluctantly broke their gaze, turning back to her friends.
"I'm so happy for you, Liz, you've wanted this since first year," she heard her best friend, Laura Caricen, say excitedly from her side. The other girls in fifth year were talking amongst themselves, not concentrating on Elizabeth anymore. They were her friends as well – but more like casual friends, and not close.
There were, however, a pair of twins – Danielle and Michaela Foyers – who were also very close. However, they were the most tomboyish girls the school had ever seen. To prove it, they insisted on being called Dani and Mickey by everyone. Even all of the teachers, except for Professor Dumbledore and the strict Professor McGonagall, called them by their nicknames, though the reason was more due to the twins' reputation for giving bloody noses to those four years older than them rather than popularity.
New professors were never welcome to that particular Ravenclaw class. One would think that they had been put in Ravenclaw by mistake, instead of Gryffindor, but as daring as they seemed they had their weaknesses, one of which was bad grades, and the other was – how strange it may seem – boys. At the moment, they were giggling at one corner of the table and pointing at the two prefects from Gryffindor.
Once they caught sight of them, Lauren and Lizzie shook their heads. Finally tearing her eyes away from the twins, Elizabeth replied, "Yeah, I suppose I have. But I can't relax now...I still want to be Head Girl."
Laura rolled her eyes and gave Elizabeth a knowing half smile. "We all know that you'll be Head Girl, Liz, so stop worrying about it."
She smiled slightly in response, not totally sure of herself. The food had appeared before them while they had been talking, and they busied themselves with the endless piles of it.
"What's wrong?" Laura asked, looking at Elizabeth with a concerned expression. "You've been staring at your food for a few minutes now."
Liz jumped slightly and shook herself back into reality. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to - I mean, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking." What is it with James Potter? I'll have to talk with him at the prefect meeting. Maybe he remembers meeting in the past or something. It's possible, I mean we do go to the same school...but it seems deeper and more complex than that.
It wasn't long at all before Elizabeth looked around to see that everyone was finishing up, and she herself was slowly pushing her plate away. It was her duty to lead the other Ravenclaws to their common room, and so she rose from her seat and straightened her robes importantly.
In a clear, instructive voice, she said, "Ravenclaws- please follow me, all of you." Everyone looked up at her and complied, some of them smiling at her, some glancing around the Hall, and others looking totally unconscious of everything except their friends.
She turned abruptly towards the great double doors that led out of the Hall. Slowly, so that the others could keep up, she began to make her way out, glancing over her shoulder occasionally.
While Elizabeth led them on, her thoughts meandered about in her head, closing out all of the laughter and conversation surrounding her. It's good to be back here, away from Petunia. Aunt Stacy and Uncle Lawrence are pretty nice...but Hogwarts is more like home to me. I was so happy when I received that letter before first year...I'm even used to my new name, and it seems like reality, after using it for five years.
Elizabeth, in fact, was not Elizabeth at all. Elizabeth Locker was only her alias- to help hide her from Voldemort. She was really Lily Evans, though that name seemed a little distant now.
When she had received her letter of acceptance after turning eleven, there had been another letter in the envelope- from Dumbledore. It had explained to her that Voldemort (the wizard who had killed her parents) was still looking for her, and knew her identity. So, in caution, Dumbledore had come up with a new name that she could be known as at Hogwarts- Elizabeth Locker. He had noted that it was her initials reversed. She complied with his requests, slowly adapting to being called Elizabeth, or more commonly Liz. It was odd at first, but now seemed like ordinary routine.
And so her aunt and uncle had been proud of her, though they had somewhat disliked other magical people. They had sent her off to Hogwarts, with small smiles and waves, and Petunia standing nearby scowling with annoyance and envy. Yes, she loved her aunt and uncle – but not like parents. It was different, their relationship was. They cared for her as best they could, but there was always something missing; Lily just couldn't decide what. And it wasn't as if Petunia helped one bit, even though their aunt and uncle loved her too.
Lily's thoughts were cut off sharply when she realized that they were standing in front of the large suit of armor – Sir Frederick – that held behind him the Ravenclaw common room.
"Lucky Charms," she stated simply, while Sir Frederick moved aside and let the trail of students through. Lily smiled to herself upon entering the only too familiar common room that she had spent much of the past five years of her life in.
The walls were a brilliant sky blue color, simple, yet nice-looking. There was a large and soft navy couch sitting near the fireplace on the left, with matching chairs surrounding it. She loved that furniture- it was the most comfortable she had ever known. Your body would sink down into it when you sat down, fitting you perfectly. There were two hallways extending from either side of the common room – to the left were boys' dorms and to the right were the girls' dorms. The hallways were filled with portraits, all waving and smiling, welcoming the students back for another year.
Lily immediately turned towards her dorm hallway, after pointing out which way the boys were to go. Footsteps echoed through the hallway as the Ravenclaw girls followed her down the tiled floor.
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James Potter grinned to himself, seated in a chair in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius and Remus were standing nearby, doing hilarious imitations of Snape and Malfoy. Peter was sitting next to him, with a wide smile that split across his face.
James' smile faded slowly as he remembered the girl from the Great Hall. Her face was familiar, the bright auburn hair and emerald eyes; they struck a place in his memory, but that place was like a locked door, and he failed to open it and see the contents of the room. But the name – Elizabeth Locker –he didn't remember that. He didn't believe he had ever heard that before. It seemed, to him, that her name didn't fit her face, though he didn't know why.
While he tried and tried, he couldn't bring himself to remember where he had seen her before, as it must have been that, or she wouldn't look so familiar.
But he just shook his head and smiled at his friends, and joined in their discussions as though he didn't care about anything else in the world.
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Lily rose from her chair in the Transfiguration classroom, stretching her arms out. The first prefect meeting had been merely instructional – Dumbledore had told them their responsibilities and authorities and how to use them wisely. It had been rather boring, in her opinion, and she hoped the next one might be more exciting.
While stretching, she accidentally hit someone in the head with her elbow. She spun around quickly, her red hair flying out behind her, and became face to face with none other than James Potter. She sighed, shaking her head. Well, I wanted to speak with him anyway. She bent down and picked up his silver frames, which had been knocked off. He put them on slowly, staring at her through the lenses. His eyes held the same expression that hers did – wonder and confusion.
"Uh, I'm James Potter." He extended a hand to her. "It's nice to meet you."
"And I'm Elizabeth Locker." She continued to stare at him after dropping his hand.
"Have I met you before?" she asked quickly, wanting to solve this mystery.
"I don't think so. I mean, I can't remember it. But you – I don't know, you're so familiar." He furrowed his brow and shook his head.
Lily laughed quietly. "I think we have met – we must have, or we wouldn't remember each other."
His lips curved into a smile. "Well, if we have met, I must have liked you before, because I do now. I think we could get along well, you know."
She nodded carefully, still looking up at him and trying to remember anything.
"James, um, this is going to drive me nuts." She said after a long pause. "We have to figure out last time we met. I need to know, or I'm going to be thinking about it all the time."
"I am too." He glanced around the room, just then noticing that it was empty and all the other prefects had left. Only one person was left in the room – Dumbledore. He stood in the corner, a glint in his eye, but not of amusement. He looked solemn.
Lily looked over, following James' eyes, and saw the old man as well. She decided that maybe Dumbledore would know something; after all, he seemed to know everything.
She grabbed James' hand nonchalantly and tugged him over to the corner of the room where Dumbledore was standing, humming a soft, sad tune to himself.
"Yes, Miss Locker?" he asked with a hint of sadness in his voice. He was rarely sad, and Lily wondered what was wrong, but thought it best not to ask.
"Professor, we were wondering if you might know if we'd ever met before…it seems that we are familiar to each other." She asked politely, looking up at him in question.
Dumbledore stared at her with pale, somber eyes. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something, stroking his beard. He looked back at them after a long moment of silence.
"Miss Locker, Mister Potter, you two are cousins." He gave them a small smile. "So naturally, you might recognize one another. I think I'm right in supposing that you probably met each other as little kids…" he trailed off, still in thought.
Lily and James turned towards one another, staring at each other incredulously. They supposed it could be possible, but they didn't even look a thing alike…and wouldn't they have been told? But they weren't students to doubt Dumbledore (nobody was), and so they nodded, thanked him, and turned to leave.
But Dumbledore called after them. "Miss Locker?" he glanced at James, but decided that he might as well be allowed to hear this too, even though it might be private. "I believe it would be alright if you started using your real name again. There haven't been reports of Voldemort for years now…I think maybe its time to go back to normal." Lily nodded and smiled slightly, and James looked at her with very wide eyes.
They walked out of the room together, with James still staring at her like a hawk. "Real name?" he sputtered out. "You mean your name isn't Elizabeth Locker?" he looked pretty confused, and rightfully so.
"Uh, no, it's Lily Evans." She stumbled somewhat over her words; it had been awhile before she had spoken her correct name. James continued to stare at her, probing her for an explanation. She sighed and began to explain. "Well, you see, Voldemort killed my parents when I was two. I was sent to live with my aunt, uncle, and older sister. They're Muggles…anyway, when I came here, I was given a new name because Voldemort may still want me dead. But now that he hasn't been around for awhile…I guess I don't need it anymore."
He just stared intently at her, absorbing it all. As we know, this should have sparked either or both of their memories, but it did not. He just nodded and smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Well, cousin," he said to her, "You'll have to come around the Gryffindor table more often."
*
Professor Dumbledore stared after the two fifteen-year-olds. They got along just as well as they had as toddlers. It made him sad to see them together again, but happy too. It was just…he couldn't tell them when they had really met. Mr. Potter was an Auror…and if Voldemort found out that and that he was hiding Lily Evans for a while, the Potters may find themselves on the top of the dark wizard's wanted list.
But for once, his cool, collected mask had failed him…Cousins? Oh, why did I have to say that? They aren't cousins, they aren't related at all…and they might find that out sooner or later.... Well, it was for their own good. Now, at least, Voldemort will never know that Mr. Potter had a large role in Lily Evans' life, as well as young James.
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A/N: Well, that's Chapter Two. Hope everyone likes it, as you did the first one!