Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. don't belong to me. This part was inspired by the song "Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence, which doesn't belong to me either.

You will notice that all the songs used are by Evanescence - they fit the mood. Look up the lyrics to this song to find out what's going to happen in advance!

Chapters wont go up consistently, but on average about once every week or two.

Part One - Everybody's Fool - An Alternate Universe fic.

Chapter Two

Look here she comes now

Bow down and stare in wonder

Oh how we love you

No flaws when you're pretending .

~*~

That evening passed like a dream for Lily. With the whole Dark Arts disaster out of her mind, she was free to enjoy her dinner with James and his friends. The pork she ate slowly had never tasted so good, and she had never laughed so much in one sitting. Lily realized, with slight dismay, that she had misjudged the Marauders. They may have played stupid, immature jokes on her and members of faculty in the past, but they shared a bond so strong that it seemed to Lily that nothing could break it.

Another person she had hopelessly misjudged was James. He was being such a gentleman, asking all the right questions and cracking all the right jokes, making her feel at home in her new environment with his friends. She felt incredibly flattered when she realized that James really did want to get to know him better, and that made him all the more sweeter in her eyes. Lily Evans was falling hard and fast for James Potter, and he was standing there ready to catch her.

So there she sat for an hour, laughing as Sirius flicked peas at Remus and teased Peter about his eating habits. For an hour, James was perfect. He had good table manners, didn't say anything stupid, and all around, was everything she was looking for in a boyfriend.

Yes, that's right. Lily Evans was already looking seriously at dating James Potter. You would too if he looked at you the way he looked at her. She was so dizzy with happiness you would have thought she was drunk, or James had just asked her out, but she was simply drunk on the champagne of love.

Following dinner, Lily took a trip to the library to borrow a novel before heading up to bed. When she reached the common room she saw James, bent over a piece of parchment.

"Hey," she said shyly, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, hi," smiled James, looking up from his work and straightening his glasses.

"What are you doing?" asked Lily as she put her novel down on the table, and took a seat next to him.

"Oh, just working on some of the newsletter material we talked about earlier," he said, looking up at her.

"Oh, that's so sweet!" exclaimed Lily before she could stop herself. She blushed. "I mean, I can't believe you'd do that out of our meeting time." The Head Boy and Girl met three times a week, one of those times monitored by Professor Dumbledore.

"Well, you know," said James, putting on an embarrassed face. "It's kinda like a project for me."

Instantly Lily was on cloud nine. He was such a . perfect guy. After chatting to him for a while, she went upstairs to read, taking her novel with her. But she didn't get past the first page, because all the while she couldn't get James out of her mind.

Yes, that's right. Earlier in the day Lily had been furious with him due to his lack of punctuality, but all it took was one smile and a few sweet comments and she was swept off her feet. But that was just the kind of girl Lily was. Shower her with artful compliments and sentimentality and she was smitten. In fact, Lily was so caught up in her bliss that night that she never stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, it was too good to be true.

~*~

Downstairs in the common room James was practically cackling with glee. She was so easy to read, so . deceivable. It was just so easy to toy with her heart, and James envisioned lifting it up in the air and bringing it to the floor with a crash. He knew, deep down, that she was a nice girl and that he was doing a horrible thing by toying with her, but James just couldn't resist. It was an addiction. Sometimes he almost wanted to stop hurting others, but then the wicked side of him took over, and his conscience rarely surfaced.

Much later, he too went to bed, and he dreamt good dreams, in which he and Lily led a good life together, just the two of them. Outside of influences, temptation and greed, they were in love, and the mere dream made James want to really be good, achieve something. In this dream her say Lily's true beauty, not what he could do to destroy it. Like Dumbledore had wanted, he was taking responsibility and being someone he was proud of, with Lily Evans by his side.

But when James woke up, he remembered nothing.

~*~

Lily woke up so excited the next morning, which was a little unbelievable, considering she had classes. Back to school was fun, yes, but when you had no really close friends to compare classes and teachers with, it wasn't really that great. But then, there was James .

Lily was a girl with a hard work ethic and was surprised when she thought she saw James show the same characteristics as her. Maybe they had more in common than what they first thought. In any case, they had gotten along extremely well so far and the day ahead was an improvement, if possible.

If the day was an improvement, the night was bliss. Lily and James completed the outline of the newsletter, and just sat and talked for a while, until the subject turned to love and romance.

"So, James," said Lily, trying to act casual. "What's happening in your love life?"

"My love life?" James asked, laughing. "Oh, I don't know if I should tell you." he pretended to blush.

"Aw, go on," laughed Lily. "You know you want to.." James knew Lily wanted to know.

"Well," he started, putting on a bashful act. "There might be this one girl that I like ."

"Oh yeah?" responded Lily, the anticipation showing on her face. "Who?" all her plans for subtle hints here and there as to their prospective relationship were out the window, and she couldn't remember a time when she had wanted to know something more.

James' voice instantly changed from stuttering and nervous to smooth and sexy.

"Let me show you ." he said huskily, and leaning over her, he captured her mouth in a kiss.

Lily felt a thousand different emotions running through her at once. She brought her hand out to James' neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. She leant back and enjoyed the sheer feeling of life coursing through her veins.

James knew not to push it, though, and come on to her too quickly, so her pulled back, smiling at her.

"That answer your question?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," she replied, a devilish grin on her face.

"Well, best be going to sleep now," said James, and with a wink, disappeared to his room, barely able to contain his laughter. He had her wrapped around his little finger, and he knew it.

Lily, on the other hand, felt a kind of happiness that could only be described as the first stage of love. She dreamt good dreams that night. Full of candy, laughter and all the other things she dreamt about as a little girl. It looked as though she had finally found something that would complete her. But James, too, was only a dream to her, she just had to wake up and see it.

~*~

The week quickly passed, filled with work and stress, but Lily couldn't remember a time when she'd ever been happier. She and James hadn't kissed again, so she spent the majority of her time with James working on the newsletter. Lily, for the most part, enjoyed spending time with him. They worked well together, and, among other things, the newsletter was almost ready. The only thing left to cover was the front page.

This may sound like a major flaw, but the truth was that James and Lily were planning to put the opening of a new Defense Against Dark Arts club on the front page. The club was designed to provide the room for students to learn whatever extra skills they thought they needed to know to protect themselves. The Head students and all the prefects, including Malfoy, were required to be there. The sheer thought of Malfoy wanting to go made Lily want to last, and she knew he would only be there because he had to.

With the rise of Voldemort and various other Dark Wizards, James had thought it best to give an example to the student body by going, and Lily readily agreed. The whole "I'll join Voldemort after I get out of Hogwarts" promise was pushed to the back of her mind for the time being, and she was thankful James had no inkling of what she had done last week. Just imagine. The Head Girl joining the Dark side. Lily shuddered at the thought. One lot of Dark Arts was more than enough for her.

If there was one thing Lily Evans regretted, it was getting mixed up in the Dark Arts in the first place.

It had all begun at the end of fifth year, at the age where she was looking for a way to rebel. Not against anyone or anything in particular, just for the sheer sake of it. She was sick of being Lily Evans, the perfect prefect who did everything right. She wanted something new and different, outside of her mundane, ordinary life.

So she started hanging around with Malfoy and Silverfish. They were, as you could imagine, shocked at first when Lily Evans turned up at a "gathering" she had overheard about in a potions lesson, but quickly recovered and sought to "educate" her about the Dark side.

Then Lily realised, some time in sixth year, that this wasn't just some hobby she could vent her rebellious feelings in. This wasn't some obscure body piercing that she could take out anytime she wanted. This was permanent, and the further she got in, the harder it was to get out.

But, halfway through the next week, Lily mustered up the courage to tell Silverfish that she was going to join, but only at the end of the year, and that she wouldn't have anything to do with Dark Arts until then. He wasn't overjoyed, but passed the message onto Malfoy, who would pass it on to Voldemort.

~*~

It was a long night, the opening of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Club. About half the school turned up, all sitting in the great hall, whispering and chatting to one another. There were students from all the year groups, and Dumbledore gave them a lengthy speech about the importance of banding together and working as one to overcome the Dark Side, but it all went over Lily's head. She had other, better things to think about, like James.

When the time came to officially open the club. Dumbledore called Lily to the stage (which by day served as the table at which the teachers ate). James and Lily had worked out beforehand that Lily would write the article and James would take the pictures with his magical Polaroid, and develop them that night.

Lily stood proudly beside Dumbledore, but she could feel Malfoy's eyes upon her back. So, as she shook Dumbledore's wrinkled hand, declaring the club open and declaring to fight for justice and truth, she crossed her fingers behind her back so that Malfoy, sitting to the side with the other prefects, could see.

But he wasn't the only one who saw.  

~*~

It was late at night, and James was buggered. But he had to get the bloody pictures for the newsletter ready or Lily would be pissed, and that would ruin all of his plans for her. For the last twenty minutes he had been brewing the Polaroid Potion, a potion that not only put the colour into magical Polaroid's, but animated them as well, making them come to life and do whatever they had been doing when the picture was taken. Now all he had left to do was finish soaking the pictures and watch them come to life, then he was done for the night. Lily would help him stick the pictures on the newsletter and duplicate copies for the student body the next day.

James took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. It was an annoying job, being Lily's slave, but when he imagined robbing her of everything she had, her innocence, her values, her sanity, it suddenly became more than worth it.

He soaked the last picture in the potion, and grinned as he saw the darkness slowly come to life with colour and movement. It was one of Lily, with Dumbledore, grinning as they officially opened the club. Lily was bursting with happiness at the success and turnout of it all, but there was something in her eyes .

James squinted, and, adjusting his glasses, looked closer. The photograph was taken side on, and when he saw Lily begin to move more clearly. His eyes widened in shock and he almost fell out of his chair.

For in the final  photograph, where Lily was shaking Dumbledore's hand, pledging alliance to his side, her fingers were crossing and uncrossing behind her back.

James swore loudly. If there was one thing Lily wasn't, it was innocent.

A/N: Thanks so much to my reviewers! I appreciate you taking time to tell me what you thought!

Notaboy - Thanks! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Serendepetee - I updated early this week, so I'm in a good mood. :D

SpAkAy4JeSsE - Yeah, I love listening to my Evanescence CD. It's become a part of me!

Lil_Hottie_Angel - lol. Lily can't hate James coz even though he annoyed her in the beginning all he has to do is smile and she melts. *Sighs*. So naïve, but that's important to the plot.

x-peanutbutterjellytime-x - Yeah, when it comes to Dark Arts Lily's pushing it a bit thinking running away will make it all better. James and Lily get closer, then they find out things about each other that they don't want to know! Lol.

Summerkins - Thank you! Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.

Addicted2Padfoot - Thanks so much for giving me heaps of constructive criticism! Okay, we find out more about what got Lily into Dark Arts later on, and also, what was going on in their lives was unimportant at that time because they were only thinking about each other. As the story progresses, we see a few of Lily's friends and more of the Marauders. I hope this chapter was a little less vague; the first chapter was originally double what I posted with heaps of useless things that didn't matter anyway! I'm quite into the Lily/Dark Arts scenario, and I agree with you. In a few chapters we see that not only James becomes "Everybody's Fool", but Lily as well.

Lien - Thanks!

Amandinka - Lol. On Harry Potter boards when I posted it one for my bumpers said "I hate it!" and then I scrolled down to find she was just joking. Yes, I am that gullible! I sometimes believe people when they say things. And yes, Lily is definitely wrong when she thinks she can just run away and make it all better.

elvencherry07 - Thankyou!

Demeter, Goddess of Protection - No, you didn't offend me! I tried to include a bit more detail in this chapter. Hmm . there's a fine line between mysterious and too mysterious, isn't there?

lilynjamesAAF - That's what a lot of my teachers at school say - I have potential. I hope I lived up to it this time, lol.

pyeforsale101 - I like pie. What kind of pie? Sweet or savory? I hope you got my update email - I've been having problems with hotmail lately.

MapleCharisma - Thankyou!

This chapter, could you please rate my story out of seven on the red frog scale. (seven being the frog is a ripper and 1 being there's not much red frog to chew on).

Last chapter I averaged 6/7

If you would like to be emailed every time I update, please leave your email address in a review.

BTW, some people on ASLTW complained about there being all review thankyous and no story. I'd just like to say that the actual story content will always be at least 6 pages on word, no matter how long the thankyous are.

Thankyou for reading!