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 Three

But now I know she -

Never was and never will be

You don't know how you betrayed me

And somehow you've got everybody fooled.

~*~

James couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. How could Lily, sweet, naïve, innocent Lily Evans be deceiving Dumbledore? More importantly, deceiving him?

This couldn't be true. Hand shaking slightly, James picked up the photograph again, and there was Dumbledore, smiling at Lily, shaking her hand all the while she was lying.

James slammed the photo down in a rage. How could this be? Everything, all his plans to corrupt her innocent mind were out the window now, because she had been deceiving him.

James was red in the face, and panting slightly, short of breath. He didn't see the irony, of how she was deceiving him, just like he was deceiving her. He tried to convince himself that this was some kind of mistake, but deep down, where hate was feeding upon his soul, he knew it.

He wasn't the only one out to hurt people.

He wasn't as alone in his tangled web of lies as he thought he was. He wasn't alone like he had been right from birth. Lily was like him – evil. Oddly, the thought of them having something other than a Head position in common gave him no satisfaction. Rather, she disgusted him. If there was one thing, one single thing he couldn't stand, it was the Dark Arts.

James had been born into a world where only blood mattered. A world where the war of purebloods versus the rest was long overdue, and was slowly rising to the surface. The Potter family were seen as wealthy, kind and respectable, but that was compared to all the other wizarding families. Everyone was out for themselves. Nobody cared about James, only a young child.

He had dreamed, just like every other young wizard his age did, of being a brave, fearless Auror, or a popular, sporty Quidditch player, in a world where everyone was liked and respected. A perfect world.

But nobody, least of all his parents, bothered to shield young James against this. Although his mother and father did absolutely nothing to encourage it, James was born with strong morals, a good sense of right and wrong. So, his mother and father did everything in their power to get rid of this by feeding him lies, and teaching him to be like them.

Of course, thanks to Dumbledore, Hogwarts was more or less free of prejudice and the likes, but by the time James got there at eleven, it was too late for him to be saved. Sorted into Gryffindor, yes, because he had the ability to be saved, even if nobody else thought so. But the right person never came along.

James' childhood had been destroyed, and he had been introduced into the not-so-perfect world too quickly, where he learnt to take delight in the pain of others, but quietly, as so to keep his popularity. He was there each time Remus transformed into a Werewolf, pretending to support him, but secretly enjoying the agony on his friends' face as he transformed painfully into a beast of the night. 

James was bitter, so bitter thinking of what could have been, the person he could have become. He saw good and recognized it in people like Lily, so he tried to break them, to see them feeling his pain. And it felt good. He had power over other's lives, and he liked it.

What he would give now, at seventeen, to be in a magical snow globe, where good was the white snow that conquered evil below – a perfect world.

Slowly, in the early hours of the morning, James got over his shock. Of course, no-one was completely innocent, everyone was an actor in the world that was chaos. Lily deceived him, just like she did everyone else. Now he had found out, now he had proof.

And just like he had planned before, he would ruin her, hurt her, completely and utterly destroy her, expose her secret to the world ….

Just like he, right from the beginning, had been destroyed.

James went to sleep that night with a twisted grin on his face. He had dreams in which Lily could do nothing but scream and cry as he fed her soul to the devil, destroying the innocence she had once possessed.

When he woke up, he remembered this dream, and kept plotting Lily's fate.


The Grapevine was an instant success, and when a copy appeared on each students' plate at breakfast, the general consensus was that it was a big hit with both staff and students.

James had omitted the picture of Lily crossing her fingers behind her back and kept it, waiting for more proof, wanting to know just how it had happened. How had she been corrupted? How could be pull this off best?

James spent most of the day eyeing Lily in class, winking at her when she looked his way, waiting for her to reveal something. His three best "friends" he was sitting with soon became curious about his preoccupation with Lily.

"You know, Prongs," grinned Sirius, leaning back in his chair in Transfiguration. "Evans is a looker. Gonna ask her out?"

James blinked. He had somehow overlooked that. Of course, it would make his plans all the more sweet.

Feigning embarrassment, he said "Yeah … yeah, I think I will."

"Onya mate," smiled Remus, clapping him on the back. "Can't wait to see you two as an item."

"Yeah," said Peter dreamily, thinking of how much he would like to date someone like Lily, but coming off as a girl in the process. The other three looked at him weirdly for a moment before going back to transfiguring their lead into fool's gold.


That afternoon following classes, Lily stomped into the Head's Common Room, exhausted, but exited at the prospect of seeing James, who she had barely seen all day. She had only been up to her normal dormitories once or twice, but her friends no longer interested her, so she relied on James. He stood up to greet her as she entered.

"Hey James," smiled Lily tiredly.

"Hey yourself," joked James. "How was your day?"

So kind of him, thought Lily. Always thinking of her before himself.

As if.

"Exhausting. The newsletter went off well, though. How 'bout you?"

"It's great now that you're here," replied James romantically, leaning in to kiss her.

Lily experienced the same feelings that she did yesterday, and smiled as he ran his tongue over her lips.

"Be my girlfriend?" he asked softly, looking deep into her eyes.

After a greeting like that, how could she resist?

"Of course," she said, trying to restrain from grinning like an idiot. She didn't have to try when she remembered something.

"Damn!" she exclaimed, rummaging around in her book bag. "I have to go and meet the Ravenclaw prefects about their part of The Grapevine in – " here she checked her watch "five minutes."

"oh, yeah," said James, unhelpfully. He'd forgotten about that. "Ah well, I'll still be here when you get back,"

"Fantastic," replied Lily, still slightly disappointed. "I'll look forward to it while I argue with Rhodesia Parsnip over whether we should include step by step study notes for each year,"

"See you then!" said James, smiling. "Good luck, though. I'll have my er … fingers crossed for you, then."

Lily, who was headed towards the door, froze. He didn't – he couldn't know, could he?

She barely managed to sound out a "Yeah, bye then," before rushing out of the room and shutting the door tightly, breathing heavily. She forgot all about her meeting with the Ravenclaw prefects and ran into some unknown corridor, where she slid slowly down the cold, stone wall, a tear trickling down her cheek.

He knew, she could feel it. He, the one person who mattered more than anything to her anything knew her deepest, darkest, most fearful secret. There was nowhere for her to run, nowhere to hide. She was like a frightened rabbit, and she would be ruined.

The one thing, through all the turmoil of her mixed-up thoughts that stuck in her mind was the friendly smile on James' face as he had said it. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Nobody could do something so cruel, so horrible in cold blood, or … Lily paused for a short moment.

Or …. Could they?


James Potter certainly could. He smiled with that same twisted grin to himself. He had seen her body stiffen, he knew she was guilty, and he knew she was probably with the Ravenclaws, antagonizing over whether or not he knew, waiting for his next move. They were actors on a stage, and James was the director.

James no longer planned to marry her and corrupt her and their prospective children. He held only disgust and contempt for people like her, who openly fought for Dark Arts. He didn't want to actually marry, and sleep with Death Eaters like her. James, on the other hand, only watched, and destroyed people from the inside without the use of magic. He kept telling himself there was a difference, and that what he was doing was better, different.

It wasn't of course, but it was a bit too late now, and James had no intention of going back.

He would destroy her in the way that she would destroy others.

But first, she had to wait anxiously for what came next.

And it wasn't going to be pretty.

A/N: Thanks reviewers! I appreciate your thoughts.

Teenage Drama Queen – Thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter.


MarauderFan4ever – Ooo … I'm curious as to what you think is going to happen … hmm … enjoy this chapter!

ElvishGal – Thanks. I love Evanescence … they're so original and cool …

vamperfly -  panic! Chaos! Disorder! Don't you just love L/J's? lol. Enjoy this chapter.

LiL'AnGeL1011 – Nah, I've actually got a plot for this story, and since I thought about it for so long and hard (my brain is still recovering) I really don't want to just abandon all the wonderful plans I have ….

Siriusly*Dizzy – the beauty about fanfiction is that there is already a world created for you, but the ugly bit is that almost all have the same ending. Eventually, Lily and James will get over themselves, but for now, I'm having fun! You know what? Sometimes I try to be so concise I leave out really important facts!! Lol. Thanks for your review!

LiTtLe-bLaCk-sTaR – Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

shayomac – Thanks! I've been trying really hard with this fic.

hgfhfgd – I'm sorry if I offended you, I was just trying to make a point. I think everyone knows there are other places in the world besides India, so it was kind of a waste of a review, wasn't it?

Eiko – We found out a bit more on what made James so whacked up in this chapter, but it's something that gradually becomes clearer as the story progresses. Thanks for reviewing!

me – Thanks! I try to update consistently, but unfortunately, I have to go to school. *curses school* Why? Why me?

elvencherry07 – Red frogs are great! They're chewy and squishy and taste nice … mmm … yeah, they both feel kind of ripped off by the other now, don't they? So hypocritical. Heh.

Ruth3 – Of course Lily's cussing is unusual! The idea was for me to emphasize how much influence James has on Lily. Thanks for reviewing!

x-peanutbutterjellytime-x – Hey Mel! Thanks so much for your sweet review, I know how hard it is to keep on top of every update for every story! You really flattered me there J

This time, can you please rate it out of purple striped clownfish: 7 stripes being great and 1 stripe being not much? Thanks!

Last chapter I averaged 6.5 red frogs.

Next chapter will be up sooner than this one.

Thanks for reading!