Hypocrites Always Fall in Love

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this (except most of the plot, and the characters you don't recognize). It all belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

Hey…It's me.

This is kind of just an introduction to a new character and bridge between chapters that actually contain action. Enjoy!

-Kait

Chapter 12- June Weddings

"Maybe we could set him on fire!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly to his companions.

Lily, Catalina, Sirius and James were all huddled in a circle in a dark corner of the Common Room. It was oblivious to the rest of the Gryffindors but they were speaking in hushed voices about how to put a pestering little ghost into his place. Every so often, when they felt that they had heard someone creeping behind them, they would cease their chatter to turn around and find the culprit.

"Shhh...Sirius, not so loud, eh?" James spoke quietly, putting his fingers to his lips.

The two girls present took it upon themselves to shift around to see if anyone had heard them.

"Nope, nothing," Catalina whispered, turning back.

When Lily and James had come out of Potions (with nothing to show for their efforts, except a potion), they realized that they might need a bit of help. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your opinion), Sirius and Catalina were still present to finish up there potion; after James and Lily finished arguing over who should help. Sirius had agreed quickly enough (since he loved to pull jokes, this would be no long shot), but it took a bit of convincing for Catalina. Luckily, between James and Sirius, they managed to charm her into doing it…So hence the situation now.

Lily turned back also to say quickly, "Set him on fire? Is that even possible to do to a ghost?"

Sirius shrugged, "How should I know?"

"Okay...now that's helpful, then," muttered Catalina," Maybe we should just give up. Maybe Peeves in un-prankable."

"Un-prankable?" Sirius questioned, looking amused.

"It's a new word. Deal with it."

Sirius just nodded slowly, and looked to Lily, who was trying to cover a grin with her hand.

James, however, appeared shocked by this.

"Give up?" He looked at Catalina, his eyes boring into hers, "What for? We'll think of something eventually."

"And by then I'll be old and gray..." she trailed off.

"That's the spirit, now!" Lily said sarcastically, and picked up the book in front of her about ghosts, "I'm not giving up just yet...There's got to be something..."

"Lily, come on! He's not solid, so we can't throw anything at him. Plus he can be invisible, so for all we know, he could be listening right now. What can we do?" was the response coming from…guess who?

Lily flipped through the pages of the book fervently, appearing to not have heard a word Catalina uttered.

As she continued to look through her book and ignore the world, James checked her watch.

"Oy!" He yelled, holding up Lily's arm, "It's time for dinner."

Lily had to be dragged away from her place in the Common Room.

Dinner in the Great Hall was mildly tolerable, once they had managed to get Lily away from the twisted world of planning to prank Peeves. It was quite odd to see her so caught up in something. Especially since she was so busy proposing jokes to Catalina (who eventually just settled on rolling her eyes dramatically), that she didn't realize she had gotten mail.

"Hey, Lily!" Sirius called, snapping her out of her trance, "Post arrived!"

"Oh," she said as she reached over to grab her letter, "Thanks Sirius."

"Post!" Catalina exclaimed, throwing up her hands, 'If I'd had known that would stop your rambling; I would have sent you a letter hours ago!"

Lily didn't appear to hear, as everyone else laughed together at the joke. The person seated next to Remus, Lexy, chimed in.

"Not an evening person, huh? And yet in the morning you have all the energy in the world."

Lily still didn't respond. She just kept reading her mail.

Dear Lily,

We hope you're enjoying your time at school. Everything here seems to be less noisy since you left. There are no more fights to be heard with Petunia in the late hours of the night!

Your father and I are just hoping that you like your classes and assume that you've made plenty of new friends (since you haven't written us recently). Your father would also like to add: What are the classes like? Do you use magic all the time? Have you seen Pr. Dumbledore lately? And etc, etc… You know your father.

Well, anyway, we can't wait to see you at home soon.

Love you Lulabell,

Mom & Dad

"Oy, Lily. Are you okay?"

Lily glanced up quickly to see Sirius looking her over with eyes full of concern.

"Uh...yeah," she said with a weak smile and a wave of her hand, "Letter from the parents."

"Oh," he muttered darkly, thinking of the letters he had gotten from his family.

Wait. He hadn't gotten any. Scratch that.

"Anyone have a quill and some parchment?" Lily called to her fellow Gryffindors seated at the table. She began searching through the contents of her new bag for something that looked remotely like a writing utensil. Unknowingly, she had interrupted Sirius's thoughts briefly.

"I have a quill," he heard someone call in the distance.

"And I found a piece of parchment," the person next to him replied.

Only Sirius couldn't remember who was next to him. All he could think about was his mixed-up family that didn't even send him letters at school.

Eyeing Lily's letter fondly did nothing of the sort to help the situation. It only made him miss a loving family even more.

A few minutes of aimless chatter passed as Sirius brought himself back into the conversation that currently dominated the table. It was the topic of Quidditch to no one's surprise.

"Sirius!" a voice called from behind him, "It's so great to see you again!"

Lily's thoughts were broken as she heard Sirius let out a quiet groan. Then another voice was heard; only this one was next to her.

"Brace your self, Black. Your cousin is coming for you," James muttered as a warning to his dazed friend. What he received for this was a glare.

Suddenly the letter Lily had been writing was forgotten. She was very interested to see who this cousin of his was. Sirius hadn't mentioned that he'd had any relation at Hogwarts. Why not? That was the question was the one plaguing Lily's mind.

She twisted around in her seat to see a girl with black hair as straight as an arrow making the trip from Sytherin table to the Gryffindor table. She was, Lily had to admit, very pretty, with what looked to be icy blue eyes. Lily noticed that she seemed to be critiquing everyone who surrounded Sirius with those eyes. Her only flaw was the unnatural expression on her otherwise immaculate face. She seemed to have a frown permanently plastered onto it. The look of disgust only intensified with each bound toward the table.

"Hello, Lidia," Sirius said when she reached the table. He occupied himself by fiddling with his silverware and not at all meeting her glance as she stared him down in a less than loving way. Lily was feeling the impression that he was scared of her…or at least had no intention of conversing with her.

"So how have you been since summer at Narcissa's?"

She flicked her long black locks out of her face as she made a face at those surrounding her cousin.

She thinks she's better than us, Lily thought, glaring from past experience with Sirius's relatives. I'd like to tell her what I think...

"He's alive," James said, smiling cynically at her. It was obvious to the rest of the table that he didn't like her, but she didn't appear to notice as she smiled back sweetly at him. "And just for you too...Now aren't you proud of you're ickle cousin?"

Her regal pose faltered slightly as he said that, mostly in surprise.

"Grown a spine, have we?"

"Since when have I not had a spine?" James looked up at her, with a smirk. "It'd be fairly hard to function without one."

"I didn't mean that literally," she glared, as the candlelight from above hit her face just right to make her look perfectly sinister. She seemed to tower over the table with an impeccably royal air.

Then, finally she seemed to notice Lily's presence and extended her hand toward her. "I'm Lidia Rottingham, who are you?"

Lily just stared at her for quite some time deciding what to say first. She tried to talk--but the words wouldn't come out.

"Well...?" Lidia prompted her.

Her mind was made up quickly.

"I'm not a prima donna, that's for sure," Lily responded almost at a mutter. High fives were exchanged around the table behind Lily's back to support her as she carried on. She left Lidia to hold out her hand like a fool and said, "I'm Lily Evans."

"Oh, really..." Lidia said slowly. She took her hand away from Lily instantly. Lily also noted that her face appeared to be turning a rosy shade of pink. "So you're the mudblood everyone's been talking about...the one who egged Peeves..."

At this point she abandoned Lily altogether and turned swiftly back to Sirius as everyone else at the Gryffindor table cringed at the unkind words. James had to clench his fists in his lap in order to keep quiet. Lexy and Catalina looked very offended for Lily. Lily, herself, happened to feel a bit confused by the girl's harsh tone on the word "mudblood" but before she could say anything in her defense Lidia had already begun to address her cousin.

"So...what do you think your mum would say if she found out you were friends with a mudblood?" A smirk was playing on her features. "I don't believe she'd be too happy."

Sirius's face turned very pale, and he was almost unable to speak...But then a thought dawned on him, and he spit it out as his cousin reeled on.

"Perhaps I should send her a post?" Lidia waved her hand in the air, looking for a quill.

"No need, Lidia," Sirius grinned, coming back to life and saying cheerfully, "She's not a muggleborn..."

"I'm not?" Lily blurted out, incredulously, "Er...I mean...of course I'm not."

Lidia didn't look at all convinced when she glanced into Lily's dilated eyes for confirmation, and so she stared blankly at the two of them.

"...Yeah," Sirius continued, finishing his thought, "And anyways, she's marring into James' family."

He winked rapidly at everyone else at the table and indicated that they should nod along vigorously when looked upon by Lidia. Everyone except James, of course...

"What?" he sputtered, spitting out some of the pumpkin juice he had been casually sipping.

"Oh...yes," Lexy agreed, catching on to Sirius, and deciding to add on her own bit of humor. "It's going to be a June wedding."

Lidia just huffed at their "immaturity" and turned on her heel to walk off.