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!
Welp, I'm not giving any excuses here for taking so long to get out this chapter aside from the fact that I have been incredibly busy with school lately and have also tried to cut back on my computer time for a couple weeks. My parents have been threatening to ban me :-( Therefore, I haven't been writing.
Oh, and Peter will be making an appearance at a later time as we haven't really got much of a choice in the matter. And the first year shouldn't be too much longer.
Hyper Princess- Thanks for the quote, and sure I'll e-mail ya!
Nasha Potter- Thank you! I'm glad it is entertaining… the humor should play into it this chapter, or the next one. Or soon. That sounds good: soon. Hehehe…
Satans Little Princess- I hope this is kinda soonish! Although I know it isn't.
NicolaPadfoot- thanks! I wasn't really planning on making her nasty, just defiant to Lily.
…..- I didn't say a food fight was original, and I also didn't say that I'm the only one who has portrayed Lily as the rich brat. I said it wasn't an average fic, meaning that a huge number of this type hasn't been done. If you're going to leave a review that is saying you don't like it, maybe you should at least write your pen name in. I know I do if I'm going to just diss the fic. That wasn't even helpful criticism.
Thistlemeg- funnily enough, someone else said they liked that… food good ::eyes glaze over:: Sounds good to me ;-D
Rocket- thanks and I will!
Quitesirius- thank you! I will (to reading and writing hehe). You had better be back or else… or else… wait, I shouldn't threaten the reviewers…
Princess Gin-Gin- thanks! I'm glad I can make someone hate/like a character… that's good news. Thanks for the quote, and I will write more.
Ashlynn Black- I will keep writing! Thanks for the quote!
Pohlil- I will!
Anneliese- thanks! I know this was kinda a wait, but I've been busy with school and my other fic (Usagi's Destinies).
Cassie- thanks!
I need a new title! Please please please help! Well, I guess I'll have to wait until I'm really far into the story… oh twell!
Tarot cards are fun… I always predict death or really bad stuff, though.
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She should have remembered. It was as simple as that. Had Lily gotten it through her thick skull that Binah was no longer her servant, the other girls wouldn't think she was a completely heartless snob. In reality, their impression of her wasn't that far off the mark, but of course Lily didn't think that.
The girls had awoken on their first full day in the castle, adrenaline pumping through their veins.
After they all had showered and dressed, they began to pull their hair up into ponytails, braid it, or just quickly brush it and leave it down.
"Binah! Aren't you going to do my hair?" Lily called to the other girl as she made for the door.
"No!" she replied before shooting down the stairs.
"BINAH! You come back here right now!" Lily shrieked, not noticing the other girls' incredulous stares.
"Where do you come off ordering her around?" Kora demanded.
"Oh. That's right. She quit," Lily said in a fake, small voice. "I don't know how to do my hair."
"Brush it out quick and I can show you how to braid it," Arabella said coldly. In truth, she'd taken a small spot of pity for the snobby girl who didn't even know how to deal with her own hair.
Lily obeyed, struggling with the brush and her mass of hair. "Try from the bottom up," Arabella said, sighing. This was going to be one difficult day. When all the tangles were finally brushed out, Lily was told to part her hair into two sections. "Hold this for now," Arabella said, shoving one of the sections over her shoulder. "This part is simple. You split your hair into three sections- go on, try it with that part- and then you take the right section over the middle, then the left, right, left, right, left," Arabella fell into a steady working rhythm while Lily struggled.
At last, her long hair was braided, one half neat and precise, the other the obvious product of a beginner. "I expect you to do that on your own from now on," Arabella said severely, "and ask if you want help doing something different."
Lily was actually going to say thank you, but Arabella swept out of the room with Kora hot on her heels hissing, "Why'd you go and do that?"
She was just able to hear the reply. "Because I don't want that rich twit to think she can order us around. At least now she can do something with that hair of hers." Had Lily listened more, she would have heard Arabella say, "Besides, I don't think she'll be all that bad once she gets off her high horse," but she didn't. Instead, she sat back in her chair to think.
So do they really think that I'm a cold-hearted, bossy, rich brat? Well, they'll get what's coming to them. They have my word... er... thought on that!
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Hey, Dung! It's time to wake up!" James shouted in Mundungus Fletcher's ear.
"Wha? Who? Where? Huh?" the boy said, sitting up and blinking bleary eyes.
James snickered and said, "I thought you might be a light sleeper. These two sleep like rocks." A thumb indicating just WHO was hard to wake up accompanied his sentence. "Now, I need you to get dressed so we can make a quick escape, all right?"
Mundungus, or Dung as he'd been dubbed, nodded and scrambled to get dressed. James broke open Sirius's trunk and grabbed out a large number of wet-start firecrackers, and began dancing around while placing them in seemingly illogical positions.
"Go get two buckets of water, Dung!" James hissed.
About three seconds later, they both stood beside a bed, a bucket of water in hand.
"On the count of three... one... two... THREE!"
They dumped the water and ran as the firecrackers set off, successfully waking up Remus and Sirius.
"James! I'm going to get you for this!" Remus called as Sirius shouted, "Did you use my firecrackers? James, you are dead!"
Dung laughed and said, "Good thing you warned me to run."
"Yep," James simply said, smiling.
"So why did you use Sirius's firecrackers?" Dung asked innocently {A/N: Dung? Innocent? Yeah right!}
James glowered darkly then said, "My family is pretty poor, so my supplies are really limited until I can get into Filch's office."
"Sorry."
James's eyes seemed to catch on fire and he said between clenched teeth, "I don't need pity."
"All right, then. Sausage?" Dung said quickly. "What do you think of that Binah Dumbledore? She seemed pretty surprised at the sorting."
"She said that she didn't have a last name on the train," James said reflectively. "Binah! Come sit over here," he added as Binah approached the table.
Binah was rather shocked to hear her name called so nicely, which James took note of. He was about to ask her about her name when Arabella and Kora seated themselves across the table, bickering loudly about Lily. James and Dung listened in while Binah began to eat.
"I don't understand why you helped that spoiled-" Kora called Lily something that was definitely not appropriate, and something you wouldn't think an eleven-year-old would know about. "I mean, Bella, she was screaming at Binah to do her hair!"
"She's used to having Binah work for her and forgot that she wasn't any more, and like I said upstairs, at least now she won't have an excuse to bother any of us," Bella said patiently while buttering a roll. {A/N: Yum… ::drools:: I love rolls}
"I think Bella's got the right idea," James put in. "Shut her up then have fun!"
"I would've ignored her," Dung said perkily.
"Stuff it, you," James said, poking a few pieces into the unfortunate boy's mouth. Dung choked, gagged, chewed frantically and then swallowed.
"That wasn't nice," he muttered resentfully.
"Never said I was!" James replied happily.
"JAMES!" Remus and Sirius had just entered the Great Hall.
"It was Dung!" James shouted, snatching his timetable from McGonagall and sprinting off.
"Thanks a lot, James," Dung said, mostly to himself, as Sirius and Remus advanced on him. "Thanks a whole lot."
His impending doom was delayed by the arrival of Lily, who simply took an apple and her timetable before leaving.
The menacing duo shrugged before continuing their advance.
"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, do I have to use your middle names?" Bella threatened. The pair immediately sat down and began eating like the innocent little boys they were. Not, that is. Were not.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
While most of the others were eating, James was just finally figuring out what floor he was supposed to be on. Wish Mum hadn't gone to that Irish school, he thought. He didn't even consider how his father could have told him all the ins and outs of the school, nor did he know that to many adults this was a saddening fact.
"I've got you now," James informed the classroom he'd stopped in front of.
"Why are you talking to a door?" a snide voice asked.
He glanced around and spotted Lily, munching on her apple.
"How did you get here so fast?" he queried, ignoring the former question.
"I believe I asked you a question first," Lily said in a superior tone.
"I wasn't talking to the door," James said neutrally.
"Then what were you talking to?" She wasn't sounding curious, only like she wanted to make fun of someone.
"No, I asked you a question," James responded, trying to play her game.
"But you didn't completely answer mine. What were you talking to?"
James chose not to answer. He decided he really didn't need to know how she found her way to class so early. Maybe she had just found a teacher.
After a moment it became clear that he had no intention of speaking. "Why aren't you answering me, boy?"
"James," he said coldly.
"You were talking to James? Just who is that?"
Is she trying to drive me crazy? James though. "I meant, don't call me boy. My name is James."
"I think boy will suit you just fine," Lily said dismissively, chucking her apple core into a nearby waste bin. She then stood up and opened the door to the classroom.
Was the door unlocked the whole time? James wondered.
This is so odd, Lily was thinking to herself. I just know all these things, like how to get to the classroom and when the doors will be unlocked.
Shortly, the remainder of the class arrived for double Charms. Sirius and James sat next to each other with Remus and Dung across the table from them. Binah, Bella and Kora took the next table over, and were joined by one of the Hufflepuff girls. Two more tables filled up with Hufflepuffs, leaving Lily to sit by herself.
"Hello, class," a pleasant voice said from the doorway. "I am Professor Kitay, but you can call me Ki, short for Kinani." {A/N: Pronounced Kit-a, like the 'a' sound in 'stay', Kie, like tie, and Kie-nah-knee.} Some of the class seemed a bit shocked at addressing their youthful professor so informally. "Now, I'll read through the register, and when I get to your name say 'here' and one thing about yourself."
When she said "Black, Sirius," Sirius jumped up on the table and stated quite loudly, "HERE! I am Porthos, one of the Three Musketeers!" He began brandishing his wand around like a sword.
Ki laughed and suggested he sit and maybe tell a more normal fact? "I am one of the greatest pranksters of all time, so beware, citizens! You've been given fair warning."
For some reason, she seemed to be skipping around the register. "Lupin, Remus," was the next name called. More calmly and gathered, he stood up on his chair and stated, "Here. I am called Athos, one of the great Three Musketeers! My duty is to save the king!" He also began to brandish his wand around like a sword. Then, without being told, he sat and said, "I like fudge."
Of course, to round out the craziness, she called "Potter, James."
He stood up on the table jumping around, and said, "HERE! I AM ARAMIS, ONE OF THE INFAMOUS THREE MUSKETEERS! I am THE greatest prankster of all time, so you are never safe!" He began cackling evilly, and rounded out the performance by running and jumping off the table, doing a somersault in mid-air.
"Bravo!" Ki called. "Fletcher, Mundungus."
Dung had caught on to the pattern of his three new friends. "Here!" he shouted while jumping up onto the table. "I am D'Artagnan, wishing to join the King's Musketeers!" He began waving his wand around like a sword, and to the surprise of many it actually changed into one. He began leaping from table to table, fencing with the air.
"Come down, Mundungus!" Ki shouted over the cheering of the rest of the class. He demurely stepped onto his chair and sat.
"I am Dung, hear me roar." he said flatly. "And I like cheese."
The class was laughing so hard, it took a moment to continue.
Arabella remained seated while she said, "Here," but then she jumped up and began doing a very ridiculous version of Irish step-dancing. "I am the Lady of the Dance!" she shouted, then sat down. "I love to dance, but I'm really bad at it."
Kora said that she hated her last name, and didn't do anything that was super funny. Lily decided that she was going to be normal, and simply said that she liked to shop.
Binah had decided what she was going to do. She had learned a few spells over the summer, so she stood up on her table and said, "I am the Princess of Thieves, daughter of Robin and Maid Marian." Then, she made an illusion charm to make it look like she was holding a bow and arrow, and aimed it at Sirius's head. He actually screamed and tried to duck under the table, but she'd already pulled the "string" and the "arrow" shot at his head. He was surprised that he didn't feel anything though.
"I hate following orders," Binah said as she sat down, although no one heard her. Sirius was still poking his head in a confused manner, and everyone else was laughing at him.
By the time the Hufflepuffs had finished (and they did it without any fooling around) it was nearly time to leave, so Ki let them do whatever they wanted for the last five minutes.
"If all my classes are like that, I never want to leave," Binah said to Kora and Bella as they headed off to Transfiguration.
"It probably won't be," Kora replied. "Some of the teachers are real nasty or boring or strict… y'know."
"But it's got to be better than before Hogwarts," Bella put in gently.
Binah thought briefly of Pia, shook the thought off and nodded.
"Let's follow the yellow brick road!" Bella suddenly shouted, hooking arms with Kora and Binah. "Who wants to be who? I say none of us are Dorothy… that wouldn't be fair. I can be the Scarecrow."
"I want to be the Tin Man!" Kora put in excitedly.
"What are you talking about?" Binah asked.
"Oh dear," Kora said sadly.
"You have a lot to learn," Bella informed Binah. "Just follow our lead, and we'll make you read The Wizard of Oz later."
They then skipped to Transfiguration, with Kora and Bella singing at the top of their lungs. The three Musketeers and their young comrade followed behind, singing a song that mentioned, "One for all, and all for love," and seemed to be a theme song. Occasionally they would touch their wands together and shout, "One for all, and all for one!"
Lily trailed behind them, thinking about what a waste of a class Charms had been. At least Transfiguration will be a bit better, with McGonagall teaching.
She was right. McGonagall read right through the register and gave them a big lecture about fooling around in her class (you're not allowed to) and then gave them a match to transfigure into a needle. It took Lily a few minutes to do it, and she put her hand in the air at the exact moment James did. She glared at him as she realized that her only competition to be the best at everything this year would be the poor wizard born. The thought disturbed her. She was always the best at everything at her house, and not even another rich child could do anything better than she. But now, here was a poor boy, and he was going to be her greatest challenge.
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I was going to write more than that, but then I realized I had how many pages? Four and a half according to print preview. So I decided to get this out and then write more… but maybe later. Hehee
R&R!