Hate Everything About You

Summary: Lily Evans is convinced that James Potter is bad down to the core. What happens when she realises that this isn't true?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of J. K. Rowling's characters, locations, or other such ideas. Basically, I own Mandy, Amber, and other random characters in the story.

A/N: Okay, this is really cheap. [I already apologized for this, but...] My last chap had some really stupid errors in it... the QuickEdit thingy took out all the asterixes that were supposed to separate section-thingies... so it's like Lily and Alice are talking and then all of a sudden it's from Remus's point of view... and on the same line... o0;; okay, well, i put dashes instead for this chap... Bleh, not as good as asterixes, but it'll have to do. Neways, on to the story... i TOLD you I'd update before the end of school! Hehe. (by the way, my last day of school is June 23, so HA! =P)


Chapter 8 – Soon to Change

Darkness was gathering outside as the Hogwarts Express sped on towards Hogsmeade station.

"So did you hear the thing about Martha Stanley?" Amber asked, eyes wide.

"What thing?" Lily asked, expecting some kind of gossip.

Alice and Amber exchanged glances.

"Her – her dad was murdered. By V-Voldemort and his Death Eaters," Alice explained quietly.

Lily's eyes widened. This was not the gossip she'd been expecting.

But...

"Who's Voldemort?" Mandy asked, taking the words right out of Lily's mouth.

"You haven't heard of Voldemort?" Amber was amazed.

"No," the Muggleborn girls said in unison.

"Well, he's a murderer. He's very anti-Muggle and he's gathering supporters, who he calls Death Eaters, to do the dirty work for him in his fight against Muggles, Muggleborns, and Muggle-supporters," Amber explained.

Alice added bitterly, "So basically, he wants to 'purify' the world so all there is left is Pureblood wizards under his rule, worshipping the ground he walks on."

This time, Lily and Mandy exchanged glances.

"Wow, this guy is twisted," Mandy commented. "But how come Lily and I have never heard of him?"

"He only made himself known over the summer," Alice explained. "Amber and I were going to write to you girls about him, but we thought maybe you knew already."

Lily was feeling a bit frustrated. Sometimes, being a Muggleborn had its downsides. "Of course we didn't know, seeing as during the summer we're completely cut off from the wizarding world. It gets annoying, being out of the loop so much, you know?"

Mandy nodded slightly, a bit taken aback by Lily's quite sudden ouburst after staying quiet for so long.

Lily noticed and felt a bit stupid. "Sorry, it's just –"

She was cut off by a loud bang on the door. The girls all turned their heads to see what was happening. A tall boy with black hair was leaning back against the glass door, rocking back and forth on his heels. There was a resonating bang every time he made impact with the glass, making it shake in its very frame.

Since his back was turned, the girls couldn't glare at him to make him stop, so Lily stood up to go tell him off. She yanked the door open once he'd started moving forward again.

"Excuse me, could you please –"

No sooner had those five words come out of her mouth, she was toppled over by the boy's impact with what was supposed to be the glass door. Poor Lily had forgotten that by moving forward, the boy was bound to start going backwards again.

She gave a shriek as he collided with her, and the two went down towards the floor as though they were falling in slow motion. Luckily, the compartment's floor was carpeted. Lily could only imagine what it had felt like for James earlier that day when she'd practically slammed him into the pavement.

'Speaking of James...' Lily thought.

"Geroff me, Potter," she groaned from underneath him.

"You thought I was James? You were hoping it was him who knocked you over, weren't you?" Sirius laughed, raising himself off Lily, almost kicking her in the process.

'Well that explains why his hair was longer,' Lily thought, slightly embarassed in spite of herself. Before she could answer, Sirius caught sight of Amber.

He grinned. "Why, hello!"

Amber smiled and stood up to give Sirius a hug. The two seemed ready to kiss when Lily decided it would be a good time to interrupt and ask her question.

"What were you doing, banging on our compartment door, Black?"

Sirius kept moving his face closer and closer to his girlfriend's and didn't seem to notice Lily's question until Amber jabbed him lightly and cocked her head toward her red-haired friend.

Sirius turned his head and cleared his throat. "Right. Umm, what did you say?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I asked why you were banging on our compartment door."

"Aha. Just trying to get your attention." He grinned. "Jamesie wanted to talk to you, so I came over to make you promise that you won't walk out on him, slap him, kick him, or do anything physically or emotionally hurtful toward him before he has a chance to speak to you."

As funny as Sirius was, Lily was unmoved. "I won't be 'physically or emotionally hurtful' toward him before he has a chance to speak, because I won't even give him the chance to do so in the first place!"

"Bad luck, mate!" Sirius called over his shoulder and into the hallway (the compartment door was still open).

"Come on, Lily! I know you want me! Go out with me, please?" James called back, but to Lily.

"No!" Lily shouted through the doorway, slamming the glass door shut and charming it to be unopenable (that is, of course, until she performed the counter-curse).

Potter finally decided to make an appearance and pressed his forhead against the glass, grinning at Lily. The latter, in turn, rolled her eyes and looked away.

A realilsation seemed to dawn on Sirius that his friend was standing alone outside of the compartment that he, himself was locked in. "Hey, you girls are great and all," he was looking solely at Amber as he said this, "but the Marauders are the Marauders, my friends are my friends. See you at school, though! Can't wait to scare some more firsties!" He grinned mischeiviously and went to open the door (Potter had stopped pressing his face against it).

"Oi, Evans, how do you unlock this thing?" he asked, prying on the door handle.

Lily muttered the counter-curse and the door flew open from the force that Sirius had been applying.

"Okay, thanks," he said, yet not very sincerely. He may have been nicer than James, and he may have been dating Amber, but Lily still wasn't very fond of Sirius Black – at all.

------------------------

Finally, the feast was over and Lily was lying peacefully in her bed, thinking. It felt wonderful, being back at Hogwarts again. And for the second-last time...

Lily didn't know what she would do after Hogwarts. This worried her, as she was normally a very organised, goal-oriented person.

However, she'd taken NEWT classes for all of the main subjects that would get her a good job – as long as she did well in her NEWTs, she could become a Healer, an Auror, or she could work at the Ministry of Magic. This was just to keep her options open, as she'd discussed with Professor McGonagall during her Careers Advice meeting near the end of last year.

As she pondered upon what lay outside of Hogwarts, Lily was reminded of Voldemort. She felt rather queasy knowing that it was people like her, like Mandy, that Voldemort was after. Death didn't seem like an option at the age of sixteen. Lily had been happy to be a naïve, but studious, teenager, and to leave it at that.

But she knew that that was soon to change.


A/N: A rather short, yet painstaking chapter, written bit by bit... Actually i wrote this almost page-long thing at the beginning and decided I didnt like it and deleted the whole thing. Yeah, anyway...

Time to thank my luvvly reviewers!

Limbo-gal – I KNOW!! I always feel so bad for James. 'Cause we all know that he's actually a really really really really really really really great guy under the superinflatedego exterior!!! lolness... glad u liked it!

Iris – Wonderful? Fabulous?!? Such words as praise for my writing are... wow!!! Lol, too much praise! But... i like it! 'cos it's not really that deadly if you drown in it... unless you're James Potter, heheh.

The all mighty and powerfulM – what's Lily gonna do about what? The fact that she likes Remus? I donno, sit around randomly and do her homework. lol, that's what I would do if i liked a guy who i knew wouldnt like me back (or in Lily's case, it's dangerous if she admits her feelings...) actually, she does do something, sorta... but i won't give that away... -grins- (btw, sorry if the asterix in ur name isnt there! arg. 'tis not fun to be asterix-deprived.)

Mandyzcool – aww, no long review? Ah well, glad u like it! :] HEY! Your name is like the name of Mandy-the-character-in-my-fic-who's-Lily's-best-friend! Awesome :)

Fallen-snow – Funeral? I already celebrated – i mean... held – my funeral. Know why?!?! Cause u STRANGLED me in your review! -gasp- So i hadda write this WHOLE chap with your virtual hands throttling me! actually, I didn't really notice them since they were virtual, but that's okay... and um, don't kill me again, okay? Funerals for myself... are odd! =P

Realmer06 – Yay, last chapter put a grin on ur face! :) wait... why?? Lol, don't bother answering that... heheh. Yeah, Lil knows she liked it whether it was James or not, but she doesn't wanna admit that. And she's kinda going like: "it was a stupid hug. Wat difference does it make... cos it was still POTTER!!! I hate him. Doesnt matter if his hugs are nice or not." Or something like that. Lol, that didn't really make any sense did it?? Oh well.

Alyssa – you're not Ally341? But your reviews are very... alike. Maybe she's your lost twin and you just don't know it? heheh. Hmm, curse me? how? You should curse me so that i get 100% on my piano exam, teehee. That'd b a nice – i mean, um, horrible... – curse.

Okay now for continued author's ramblings that have nothing to do with fanfics... MY PIANO EXAM IS TOMORROW. As i write this, anyway. And i have some crazy geography essay due tomorrow as well and then a math exam in the afternoon (preparation for high school i guess) and... i'm sitting here doing my fic. SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?!?! Lol. But on a happier note... our three-day band trip is this week! :D:D:D:D:D:D we're gonna hav sooooo much fun! Yahyahyah! I'll tell you more about that in my next chap update :)

Okay, well i'd better work on my geography essay. I'm going to post this tomorrow, but if you're reading this, then that'd b today, or yesterday, or just... June 14th, probably. Yay, that's my sister's bday. Happy! Okay, so hope you enjoyed the chap, don't forget to review!!