If any of you hadn't guessed, the chapter title is out of respect for the film I'll hopefully be going to watch tomorrow! Lemony Snicket and Jim Carrey, what a brilliant combination.

Lily was in the library when it arrived. A letter, a simple letter, from a person she had yet to meet, that could change her life if she wanted it to.

Bonjour Lily,

Je m'appelle Tae, et je suis votre correspondant français. Aussi, je ne suis pas Français si je vais écrire dans l'anglais maintenant!
I applied for the exchange program and your name was the one I was matched with. Though it is not necessary, I thought you might like to hear some things about me before you let me loose in your school. So here it is;
I was born in Italy but my parents were both English so I was brought up there until the age of nine, when we moved to France. Now, at the age of 12 and 8/9ths I attend Beauxbatons. I wanted to go back to England and be reminded of all I miss out on; this is why I applied for the exchange. Well, that and I want to see if it's true what they say about Hogwarts and its secrets. I have a sister too, she's called Briallen, and we call her Brie for short.
I love to ride horses, can't get enough of them. I spend my holidays at the nearby stables helping around the place. I clean the stables and wash the horses then I get to ride them as payment. C'est très bon. That's not all I do, I like to just hang around with my friends too, helps me relax.
I've got a little picture thrown in the envelope somewhere too.
So now you know a little information about me, what about you?
I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Tae

Lily looked at the letter in surprise. She hadn't even been told she had been accepted for the exchange yet and already she was getting letters. But mixed with the surprise was a smile, a smile for her dream happening. Now she could get away and make a fresh start without any of the worries she had at Hogwarts. To have that for a year was all she wanted.

She immediately wrote a reply.

Hello Tae,

I've lived in England all my life and I have to say, my town? It's really boring. I mean, there's stuff to do, but it's not the world, and that's what I want to see. That's why I applied for the exchange, I want to see the world, see the things I miss living here. When I'm not at Hogwarts I live with my sister, Petunia, and my parents.
I love reading all books really, though I'm particularly fond of ones adventure in. I love to swim in the schools lake too. It's too cold to swim at the minute, but there's nothing that beats a nice swim on a summer morning while everyone's still in bed. It's heaven. I don't really get much free time, I'm either studying or in a club, but if I do get some I go for walks around the castle, exploring, looking for all those secrets you want to find.
I feel, as you'll be taking my place, I should warn you of something before you come here. You'll get landed in the same house as two bigheaded, prank-pulling, over-the-top little toads. There are two more that hang around with them, they're not as bad, but they don't try to stop them wither. The girls are nice though, well, Alice and Marie are. Let's just say that Narcissa and Alexandra aren't the nicest people in the world.
I think that's about it. Speak to you soon.

Lily

Satisfied, Lily sealed the letter, ready for it to be sent later. She looked in the envelope she'd received for Tae's picture. It was a magical photo. The blonde with her ice blue highlights smiled and waved at Lily, her hazel eyes squinting in the sun. Lily nodded in acknowledgment, set the photo aside and continued with her work.

--------

"Stop...Stop!" Anita panted in glee. Hands continued to tickle her. "Pete, please...I can't breathe!"

Peter stopped tickling his squirming friend. "Sorry," he said bashfully.

Anita's gentle giggling filled his ears. "Not a problem," she said, apparently recovered. "I can get you back now." She began tickling Peter in a similar way to the one he had just tickled her in.

"Ann..." He tried to protest, but she continued. With a sly grin he put his own hands out, grabbing her round the waist and tickling her back.

Her squirming made her let go of Peter, but it also made her fall backwards. She grabbed at his robes, bringing him down on top of her. It took both a moment to realise what had just happened, and when they did neither wanted to move apart too quickly. She looked into his eyes with a certain desire; he looked back with a reflected look. Taking his chance, Peter leaned in to kiss her; she looked like she was going to kiss him back until she regained control of herself. She managed to wriggle herself out from beneath him, making him fall that little distance to the floor.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Peter sat up. "No, I am. I know you don't -"

Anita waved him quiet. "It's just, with Severus and everything. I would really have liked to but I'm with Severus."

"I know," Peter said quietly. "I know."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the two of them, then;

"Maybe we should..."

"You know..."

Followed by the nervous laughter from speaking at the same time.

"You go first," Peter told her.

"I was just saying, maybe we should go back in. You still have a Potions essay to finish and I'm supposed to be meeting Sev..." Anita trailed off at the end, regretting mentioning his name.

To her surprise Peter agreed. "I'll see you later though?" He asked.

"Maybe," she said quietly, walking back to the castle.

Peter waited on the grounds for a moment and then followed.

--------

"...And she said that she would rather die than go out with him, and I was like "No way! He's really gorgeous. But apparently she used to go out with him and he really hurt her, and she didn't want that again. But I was still amazed, I mean, have you seen him? What person in their right mind wouldn't want to go out with him?"

Sirius rolled his eyes as Tacea continued to ramble on. This had to be one of his worst dates, she didn't even live up to her name! She was supposed to be silent, that's what was implied, but no, she hadn't shut up for the last three hours. How someone like that didn't get a sort throat was beyond him. He was getting very close to putting a silencing charm on her when he saw Remus across the hall.

"Tacea?" She continued to talk. "Tacea!" She stopped as he shouted at her. "I'm really sorry but I have to go, ok? I'll see you later."

She nodded, hurt on her face, but he didn't care, he'd needed to get away from there.

"Remus, Wait up."

Remus stopped and waited for his friend.

"Never let me do that again." He hissed, making Remus chuckle.

"We did try to warn you."

"Yeah...but I thought...I didn't realise she was that bad."

Again Remus under his breath laughed. "Well, then you should trust us more."

Sirius muttered something unrepeatable then looked at Remus. "So where were you going?"

"Just dropping some books off at the library, I was hoping to see Lily."

Sirius raised his eyebrows suggestively; Remus just rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between the two of you? Because, as much as I hate to admit it, James was right, you two do spend a lot of time together."

"You know, Sirius, mate, it is possible for a boy and a girl to be friends without having feelings for each other."

Sirius looked at Remus as though he were crazy then snorted. "Don't be silly; boys and girls are not designed to be friends, that is why they're so different. They are designed to be together, but as more than friends. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool."

Remus raised a quizzical brow. "So you're saying you could never be friends with a girl?"

Sirius nodded. "Exactly, that's not how we're intended to be. Well, not with me anyway, with someone like you maybe, but not me." He grinned confidently.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus asked, ignoring the grin.

"See, there it is. There are two types of men in the world; those who break hearts, and those who understand hearts. I'm the first one. I get interested in a girl, but I get bored of them easily, it's inevitable they'll fall in love with me so when we split I break their hearts. You, you understand what they're feeling, you're sensitive. You're the kind of guy who can befriend a girl, and get her to fall in love with you but no matter what happens you won't break her heart. You can't, you're the nice guy, I'm the bad guy, the guy mothers warn their daughters from."

Remus snorted, "Do you really believe this garbage? You think you're a bad guy? You're a nice guy with a penchant for breaking girls' hearts, that's all. And you think I don't? How little you know." He smiled secretly when Sirius gave him a questioning look then headed into the library with his books. A quick scan of the area told him Lily wasn't there so he headed back out only to find Sirius still there.

Smiling Remus walked away from him. Sirius chased behind him. "What do you mean 'How little you know'? What don't I know?"

Remus gave no answer, just continued to walk.

"Remus, REMUS! You tell me, right now."

Remus laughed as he stopped for his friend, winding Sirius up further with having no intention of continuing the conversation.

--------

James slammed his quill down with all the force he could muster, earning a few glares off older students sat around him. His head hurt and his hand felt like it was going to drop off, he'd done that much writing. Now his three weeks of homework was done he needed something to do. Ordinarily he would get the guys together and have a two-against-two game of Quidditch, but the boys had all left him hours ago to go do their own thing and James didn't really want to spend his time looking for them. Sirius had said something about seeing a "suspicious-looking statue" that he wanted to look at. Peter, who at the time had been playing chess with Remus, had very quietly said he was going to the Hospital Wing before limping out of the Common Room, none of the boys dared ask how he'd hurt himself sitting down. Remus had, well to be honest James wasn't sure where Remus had gone, one minute he'd been there and the next he had gone. So James had been left alone to do his homework but, as the quill-slamming so obviously represented, James was done with that and now he wanted something to do to wind down his over-worked brain.

While he tried to think of a suitable activity, James began unconsciously tapping the table edge in the tune of a new song he'd heard playing on the WWN the previous week. The more he thought, the harder his tapping became and very soon he was getting shouted at.

"Will you stop it?"

"Merlin, Potter. Can you be more annoying?"

"James, if you don't stop that incessant tapping I'm going to..."

Well you get the picture, and so did he. He stopped his tapping, but he still had nothing to do. He began thinking again, this time humming the tune.

"POTTER!" Somebody shouted and then, before James even knew what was happening, he was literally being thrown from the common room.

"Well, I -" Came the shocked voice of the fat lady in the portrait. "You people today, you have no respect for each other."

James stood up, wiped himself down and re-entered the common room. Several heads turned to glare at him, several of the older boys stood up, ready to throw him out again.

"Don't bother," James said. "I'm just getting my broom."

He ran up, grabbed the broom and was outside before anyone had a chance to stop him. Stood on the grass below the Quidditch stadium, James readied himself on the broom. When he felt prepared, that is, when he had done several faux-starts, James jumped on the broom and took to the skies. He felt the wind rushing through his hair, messing it beyond sorting, and felt the icy air chop at his face. But, as much as he loved the feel of it, he felt bored. There was no one to enjoy this with. It took him a while to realise that he wanted the other three Marauders with him, but still he did not want to waste time looking for them and so came the decision.

So what if the guys weren't there? He could have fun without them. He took out a ball from his picket, similar to the size of a tennis ball in the muggle world, and threw it across the pitch. He flew after it and, after catching it, threw it back. He spent an hour doing this, throwing the ball back and forth the pitch, each time speeding after it, trying different methods of flying, as though he were several people in a real game chasing after the Quaffle. An hour was all he could manage before he got too tired. Giving in to his weariness he trudged back to Gryffindor tower, back into the common room where his reception was a lot warmer than previously and then he collapsed onto his bed. He hardly remembered that his homework was still downstairs, or noticed that his head was back to its semi-empty state or realised that three other boys had followed him into the room and were waiting for the moment he fell asleep so that they could practice a new prank they'd been working on.

--------

"Do you have it ready?" A voice hissed in Narcissa's ear.

"Not yet," she said quietly. "But it won't be long," she added hurriedly.

"Good," the voice spoke again in more of a drawl this time. "You have until midnight, my dear."

Narcissa nodded then turned to face the man, or more accurately the boy, for he was, after all, her age. His tight lips were curled into a malicious smile, his platinum blonde hair reflecting the dim light of the dungeons.

"What if it's not ready?" she asked, immediately regretting it.

His smile faded instantly and in one quick movement he had moved from his seat on a table and was immediately in front of her. He grabbed her wrists and brought them to him.

"If it's not," he warned in a low growl. "You're going to wish it had been, understand?"

Narcissa nodded weakly. "I...I und...understand, Lucius." She gasped out. "I was just making sure." She assured him in a semi-confident voice.

The smile crept back onto his face. "Good," he drawled smarmily. His grip on her wrists tightened as he pushed his lips onto hers, then he released her. "Now, go back to your friend, she'll be wondering where you are."

Narcissa nodded once more. "Yes, Lucius," she said hoarsely before leaving the room.

As she left she heard him say. "Midnight, my dear." She saved her tears until she was away from the dungeons and away from Lucius Malfoy.

After watching her go, Lucius turned to face the other boy in the room; Severus Snape.

"You are sure she will have it ready?" His friend asked him.

"Oh yes," Lucius said, his smile becoming even more dangerous. "She knows what will happen if she doesn't."

Severus smiled at hearing this and the two boys continued the conversation as they walked to the Great Hall to eat with the other Slytherin's.

There's a fair bit going on here, no? I feel like I'm really starting to develop the story properly now. Secret meetings between Slytherin's and Gryffindor's, and think, a woman who will later marry a man who scares her now. And what about Lily? Will she really go to Beauxbatons? Or will something change her mind? And poor Peter, it must be hard for him, liking a girl who goes out with his enemy. Will Tacea be back to get revenge on Sirius for dumping her like that? And just what are the boys planning to do to sleeping James? All shall be revealed in the New Year.

He he he, get me, acting like the little voice-over man at the end of a really bad soap opera! But really, I had to write it all in, give you something to think about over the holidays. My Christmas present to you all! :D I'm sorry it took so long to get it out; I'll be faster next time. And I'm going to write a proper chapter, not just little random bits of happenings like the last couple…Hmm, I think we'll have a little Quidditch, and maybe a bit of interaction with a bald man, I'm not sure yet. We'll see.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! Thanks for R&R'ing, feel free to continue ;-)

Rae

PS: Sorry if there's any major grammar/spelling mistakes, I did my best but this was wrote in an e-mail, and Word does its best, but it always misses some errors when you put text into it. And when I've just copied an entire chapter into it and it brings up a lot of mistakes, it's easier for me to just click "ignore all". So yeah, sorry!