The Princess and the Pauper
One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!
Phasera- Chocolate cookies to ya! You were me first reviewer! Um, actually, they might not change like that. I know what will happen to Pia, so you'll see! I'll go write now ;-)
Scarlett*Eyes- Thanks! I will write more. She's supposed to be mean and stuck-uppish right now. It might change, might not. We'll see.
E.M.C.- My uncle used to have a job at EMC… Thank you! I so agree that L/J fics are awesome to read. Mostly because their characters aren't set, so you can make it up however you want.
FairySpirite- I actually got The Princess and the Pauper from that very old fable of the Prince and the Pauper. I don't think it's very fitting for my fic… I'll read yours when I get a chance! I'm rather busy…
Shichan godess- Thank you soo much! I wrote it because I was, too. I mean, I love the Cinderella stories with Lily and James, but I wanted to write something different. I always do… I will keep on writing and thanks again!
Lucky21- Welcome, I twill, and not many people do notice that… or they do, but choose to ignore it.
Betina- Thank you! ::wanders off muttering something about needing to find another phrase for thank you…::
Evil, yucky, nasty Pettigrew most likely won't be in this (I hope) so YAY! There was something else I wanted to say… I'll put it at the end if I remember…
Oh wait, I just did. I need title suggestions, everybody! I know it's kinda hard this early in the life of a fic, but if you could just keep it in mind that I need one as you read the next chapters, that'd be great.
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"Er, pardon me," Binah said timidly as she and Lily entered the Leaky Cauldron, "but could someone please help us to Diagon Alley? We need to buy our supplies…"
"We're just on our way there now!" a cheery voice said. "Just follow us, dears."
Lily and Binah turned to see who was speaking, and found a short woman with fiery red hair, along with a girl that could only be her daughter. The daughter's hair, however, was much darker, more brown than red.
"Are you going to Hogwarts?" the girl asked. "I am. I'll be in my third year this year. My name's Molly McCaully. Don't know what Mum and Da were on when they named me that… What're your names?"
"I am Lily Callista Evans, and this is my lady-in-waiting, Binah. She is an orphan, and no one knows what her last name is. No one really cares much, either. So, can you tell me about this Hogwarts? I just received my letter today, and have no clue what any of it is about!"
Molly didn't really like this girl much, but said nothing about that. More for Binah's benefit, she gave a brief narrative on the train ride, teachers, and most importantly, houses. She excluded the Sorting Hat from her talk, however, as it was a tradition to let the first years sweat a bit before they found out what would happen.
"I think I shall hope to be in Gryffindor, as it sounds the best. Ravenclaw or Slytherin wouldn't be too horrible, but imagine Hufflepuff!" Lily exclaimed as Molly finished talking.
"I think Hufflepuff sounds lovely," Binah said quietly.
"I'm in Gryffindor, myself," Molly said. And I sure hope this snob doesn't end up there, too!
Mrs. McCaully had just finished up her business in the Leaky Cauldron, and was gesturing for the girls to follow her. They went out back, and Mrs. McCaully tapped one of the bricks.
A huge, cobbled street appeared before them, swarming with all sorts of witches, wizards, warlocks, hags and more.
"Wow," Binah breathed. Lily simply sniffed.
"Here's the money mother gave for you to buy your supplies with, just like it was promised. Meet me back here in one and a half hours," Lily ordered, prancing off.
Molly giggled a bit, and then said, "She's going to have a nasty shock when she tries to pay for her school supplies with muggle money. Let's just wait here, and then take her to Gringotts to exchange it."
Binah nodded, and a few moments later angry voices were heard.
"What do you mean, I can't buy anything with this money?" That shriek definitely belonged to Lily.
There was a slight pause, in which the employee was certainly trying to calm her down, before she screamed once more, "Fine, then. I'll leave!"
As Lily stormed out of the shop, she spotted Binah and Molly, and marched over to them. "You ran off before I could tell you that you needed to exchange your money," Molly said quickly.
"Well, let's go do that, and then Binah, you are to stay with me. I've decided I'll need you to carry my shopping."
Binah sighed and trudged behind Lily. At least at school, she wouldn't have to cater to this brat's every whim. No one would. She smiled self-righteously. That would put the great Lily Callista Evans in her place, as a human. Not a greater-than-human, but a normal human.
A poke in the back brought her out of her musings. "Wake up, silly," Molly said, laughing. "Go over there to switch your money, and then you can go buy your supplies. Take this and get yourself an owl or a cat… you don't want a toad," she said with a wink.
"Wh-what for?" Binah asked, confused.
Molly lowered her voice to a confidential whisper, and said solemnly, "Because I like you, and I pity you for having to stay with that." A jerk of her thumb in Lily's direction indicated just what 'that' was.
"Thanks!" Binah said happily. "I think I'll get an owl. Not that I send or get any letters, but I think they're gorgeous."
"BI-NAH!" Lily trilled. "Come change your money so we can go shopping!"
"Coming, Lily! I'll see you on the train?" Binah added to Molly.
"Yep! If you can't find a seat, come hunt me down. My compartment is always a bit crammed, but another person or two won't bother us."
Binah waved as she rushed over to where Lily stood, tapping her foot impatiently. Her money had no sooner been pushed into her hands when Lily had whisked her away to the robe shops.
"I don't see why they have to be black," Lily said, more to herself than Binah as they were being fitted. "Black looks horrendous on me!"
"Now, now, dear, it doesn't look completely terrible, although I must say green would look best on you. But you both are done now!" the lady said.
They paid for their robes and left the shop, Binah balancing the two packages on top of each other.
"Let's go get our cauldrons," Lily said, glancing at the list. "It shouldn't take but a moment, and then we can get to the fun shopping!"
Binah groaned as she followed Lily through the crowds. The cauldrons sounded as if they'd be terribly heavy.
She was right. She stuffed the two packages of robes into the cauldrons, one each, then the potion supplies went on top of that… and the books! The books were in there, too, and there were more than the required few. Binah had bought Hogwarts: A History, and a few other books that Molly had recommended. Lily bought all the same ones as Binah, and a few other odd-looking ones that she thought might be useful. If she had to go through with this whole witch thing, she wanted to do it right.
As Binah staggered out of the bookstore, attempting to hold both of the heavy cauldrons without dropping them, she smacked right into someone.
"Drattitude!" she exclaimed as the cauldrons tumbled to the ground, spilling out their contents.
"Sorry," a grinning boy said, first helping Binah up and then picking up the contents of one of the cauldrons. "Wasn't quite watching where I was going. The name's Sirius Black." He held out his hand to Binah, meaning for her to shake it. Then he realized that once more, she was holding the cauldrons. "What're you doing with a double load?"
"Miss Lily told me to carry her things… so I am," Binah said apologetically.
"Well then, in that case, use this," Sirius took a long, rounded piece of wood from beside the door, and put the handles of the cauldrons over each end. "Just stick that on your shoulders, move the cauldrons in a bit, and put your hands on the outside of them. That way, they won't fall off and you won't drop them as easily."
"Thank you," Binah said as Lily shrieked for her. "I have to go now."
"Bye!" Sirius called after her retreating form.
"Sirius!" Sirius looked behind him. "Hi, Sirius! Did you get accepted, too? Of course you did, why else would you be here?"
"Hiya, Jamesie. I could be here buying more pranks from the joke shop, couldn't I?" Sirius said, grinning at his friend.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Haven't you bought anything yet?" James's arms, as well as his mother's, were loaded with packages.
"Mum and Dad have it. They're buying me a 'surprise' present. My guess is it will be an owl."
"Now, you know perfectly well that it isn't any fun to spoil your parents' surprises, Sirius," Mrs. Potter mock-scolded.
"You mean, not any fun for them. It's the greatest fun for us!" James corrected his mother. "Now, can we please go to the joke shop? Please? Dad expects me to stock up a bit, and I have a little money left over from pet-sitting. Odd that people pay you to sit on their pets, isn't it, Sirius?"
Sirius nodded seriously and said, "Bloody waste of money if you ask me."
"Watch your language, young man!" A man and woman had come up behind Sirius, and the woman was scolding Sirius.
"But it's very hard to watch words, Mum. Don't you agree, James?" James nodded.
Mrs. Black gave and exasperated sigh as the man, Mr. Black, began laughing.
"Say exactly what you mean, and they can't take it literally," he said to his wife.
"You would have thought I'd learned by now…"
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"What kept you?" Lily snapped at Binah as she struggled through the crowd. "And what is that on your back?"
"I collided with a boy, and he helped me pick up and set this up to make it easier to carry our supplies. What do we need now? Wands? And I have to go get an owl," Binah said, quickly changing the subject.
"Let's get the pets first. I believe I shall get an owl and a cat. However did you come upon the money to buy a pet?"
"It was a present from a friend," Binah said, hoping against all hope that Lily didn't know she hadn't any friends. Well, not until they met Molly, at any rate.
"Hmph," Lily said, entering the Magical Menagerie.
Binah hurriedly found the owl she wanted. It was the loveliest out of any of them, and she knew Lily would want it. That was only half the reason she chose it. The other half was because she wanted it.
Lily was looking over the cats when Binah paid for her owl. "No, not purple. Orange is ugly… I know! I'll get this lovely white one… it's just the teeniest bit pink."
"That's a very beautiful cat," Binah agreed. Unfortunately, Lily looked at her and saw her owl. She'd already glanced over the others, but none of them met her approval.
"Thank you for finding the perfect owl for me, Binah," Lily said, holding the cat close and reaching out to grab the cage from Binah.
Startled, Binah pulled back. "Well, don't be a ninny, give it to me!"
"NO!" This was the first time Binah had ever refused someone. "I bought her, and she's mine. I won't give her to you."
"Do I hear you denying me? Hand it over!"
"IT'S MINE!" Binah yelled. "Go find your own!"
"But I want that one!" Lily whined.
"But you can't have this one. I'm not letting you have her," Binah's voice was no longer loud, but instead dangerously soft.
"You forget we don't have our wands yet, and there is no way you could beat me physically," Lily hissed. "Not that you'll do well with a wand. You will be a complete incompetent. But fine, keep your stupid owl. This one is much nicer," she said as she picked up a reddish colored one. "It matches my hair." Lily paid quickly, shoved her pets on Binah, and swept off to the wand shop.
Binah, following at a slower pace, was near tears. Not of sadness, but of joy. At last, she had denied someone something they wanted. At last, she had stood up to someone. At last, she was going to live.
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"She's a prat," Sirius said simply to James, watching Lily and Binah walk off. "Throwing a near tantrum just for a stupid owl."
"Yep," James said, nodding. He didn't even glance at the two. "Let's go back to my house! Mum made some cookies the other day, and I think there should be a few left. Unless Dad got home first…"
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The wand shop was old, musty, but there was a strong feeling of magic. Binah felt a slight tingling in her hand, and waved it around a bit to get rid of the feeling. When her hand had reached a certain angle, the feeling intensified. She seemed drawn to one of the shelves full of boxes. She reached out her hand further, and touched one of the long containers. A shock seemed to jump between her and the box upon contact, and she drew back her hand, startled.
"Go on, then, try it," a voice said from behind her. She jumped around and saw a small man with watery eyes, but a very penetrating stare. She gulped, then nodded, taking down the box. She took the wand out and waved it around, sending sparks flying all over the place.
"Then that would be your wand," the man said, going behind the counter and ringing up her purchase. Then he stepped over to Lily.
"Which is your wand hand?"
"Right," she responded confidently. That was the hand she wrote with, after all. The man began handing her wands upon wands, but none of them seemed to work for Lily. At one point, she got a strange feeling that one of the wands was meant for her, but it hadn't worked either. Nothing was happening with any of the wands at all.
Becoming bored, Lily waved one of the wands with her right hand, then left. Nothing happened on the right, but when she waved it about with the left, one of the two chairs burst into pieces.
"Well, then, your wand hand would be the left, not right. We must go through and try all these wands out again." The man, who Lily guessed was Mr. Ollivander, was sounding very irritated, and righteously so.
The same wand that Lily had felt the connection to sent showers of sparks into the air, just as Binah's had done. Wordlessly, Mr. Ollivander rang up the wand and sent the two on their way.
"She is a princess, he is a pauper," he muttered, referring to two of the customers he had had that day. Was Dumbledore right? Were they supposed to be together? Only time would tell, that he knew.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Binah was waiting nervously in the car while Lily, Mrs. Evans and Petunia went shopping for muggle clothes. Would Lily mention how she hadn't followed orders? She hoped not. She wasn't in trouble when they returned to the car and it began to move. So far so good.
The car pulled up in front of the Evans's house. Binah jumped out with the school supplies and dashed up to Lily's room, dropping the supplies on the bed. Taking a moment, she sorted out her items and ran into her own, small room.
She was safe. For now. There was always a calm before the storm, and this calm was stretching too long for it to only be a small shower. She was expecting a hurricane.
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What says you all? R&R! Please? Thanks!
This was one lo-ong chapter…