Mélange
Full Summary: Lily has always been the pretty face. No one ever sees past the
flawless face, thick and majestic red hair, and those expressive green eyes. When
the Hogwarts letter arrived, it was what Lily had been waiting for. No one
would know of her past of being magazine covers and a face on commercials. She
can start out as a normal student and focus on academics. That plan had worked,
until the teen magazine for the wizarding world found her. She didn't even know
such magazine existed in her new surroundings.
Disclaimer: I only own the general idea. The auction, as I have said, belong to someone that had gone to my school a long time ago. And common knowledge: J.K. Rowling invented Harry Potter but after various book publishers, toy companies, and movie producers, the copyrights had such as scattered about. Unfortunately, I am not an owner of the copyrights.
Omni's Note:
Alrighty! Here is the un-beta-ed version of Chapter Four. Since you have been waiting for the chapter for so long, I have decided to not wait for my beta's reply. Hopefully you can forgive my grammar and perhaps typos that I missed.
Enjoy the story and tell me what you think. I do have a writing problem right now. Nothing seems good enough . . .
~*~*~
Chapter Four: AuctioningThe big day came for too soon for those being sold, and far too late for those eager buyers. Rumors had been around that al of the prefects were having nightmares about the Prefect Sale. The oddball of those being sold was Sirius Black. Rather than been frightened by the possibility of being bought by a serial killer, he had been advertising himself every day since the banner was put up. Being one of the Marauders, most of the female population was ecstatic at the chance of getting one of the Hogwart's most eligible bachelors. Seeing as James Potter was off the market due to his newly acquired girlfriend, it was highly unlike that any other girl would be able to buy the Gryffindor chaser. His girlfriends would most likely buy him and vice versa.
On the day of the auction, the Great Hall was crowded with students faster than any mealtime. Considering idea was completely new to all of the students, the school wide auction would garner enough funds to finance at least one and a half ball, which was much more than needed.
"Welcome students, governors, and the press!" Professor Dumbledore announced to the populous containing students and visitors. It seemed the inventive idea had garnered the attention of the press as well as many members of the school governing board. "I would like to commend our prefects on this wonderful idea and volunteering themselves to be sold." At this point, all the prefects had groaned. They really didn't have a choice. It was a prefect's responsibility to make the school a better place, even if pride might be lost. "Shall we begin?" a loud roar from the students made the point clear.
"First, we have Jon Charvell, our head boy!" applause range throughout all houses in deference to seventh year Ravenclaw. "The bid will start at 3 galleons."
Bid quickly raised to 10 galleons, as all the girls liked him as well. Why not get the head boy if they couldn't get Sirius or James. When the price rose to absurdity – 15 galleons – it was Lily who made it even higher.
"25 galleons please," Lily declared. Professor Dumbledore nodded as he noticed the joyful twinkle in his Ravenclaw prefect's eyes. If Lily bought Jon, boy will he be groveling.
"27 galleons," a group of giggling girls shouted raising the price even more. Jon was pleading to any person to buy him instead of that group. They had harassed him before, if they had owned him, oh my. He didn't even want to think of the possibilities.
"If the first person to be auction off is at such a high price, this must be an effective way of fundraising!" the headmaster said happily. "Oh yes, Miss Potter?"
"30 galleons," Aleia declared topping off the price. The girls that had really wanted to buy Jon, luckily for the head boy, could not beat Aleia's price. They knew they couldn't beat any amount a Potter would give.
"Any other?" seeing no hand in the air, Jon was sold to Aleia for the price of 30 galleons. "Our next merchandise would be our head girl, Eloise Garnier!"
The head girl's bids rose much faster than Jon's did as her popularity around students was far greater than Jon's. Occasionally, Lily would bid to raise the bid even more while making a few temporary enemies, but the boys couldn't do anything besides complying with the higher terms. In the end, Eloise was sold for 39 galleons to a group of sixth year boys.
"Next we have Miss Aleia Potter!" The welcoming roar was intimidating, as everyone in the school had cheered. Not only was Aleia pretty, she was smart, and the daughter of Minister Potter. Cameras had flashed non-stop as well.
"30 galleons!" a boy cried as the beginning bid. This had caused the murmurs to spread through the populous. Lily had noticed Jon's pained look. So she wasn't wrong in her guess of Jon's affections for the female Potter.
"35 galleons," Lily exclaimed. A camera had flashed near Lily's face. Oh bother, that wasn't supposed to happen, Lily complained with worry. The emotion was quickly discarded when the boy who yelled 30 galleons had raised the price to 40.
"45," Lily heard a different male's voice. It was James who gave the high price. The look of determination had surprised the redhead. Was she supposed to feel sorry for Aleia as her brother was trying to buy her, or was the look was actually a look of disdain for the other male bidder?
"50," the same boy had called out again. The bidding now seemed like a game of male pride.
"Oooh! 51!" Sirius shouted gleefully. This had caused everyone to laugh. "We are going to buy you, Aleia! Then we'll make you vewy perdy!"
"We?" Aleia asked.
"We, as in the Marauders and Jon," James replied with a grin.
"That's not fair! 55 galleons," other boy complained. Professor Dumbledore only shrugged. There weren't any rules that said sharing of the person bought was not allowed. Lily had quickly made her way toward Jon, and she had noticed the Marauders were already by him. So what they said was true. Then the look was have been one of disdain for the other boy.
"Lily!" Jon had exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were doing fine attempting to raise the prices."
"Oh you saw through my plan, darn!" Lily joked back.
"Hey Lily," Sirius whispered excitedly. "Do you want to join us in defeating that cow?"
"Sue, I'll help," Lily replied. James turned around.
"The bid now at 60 galleons."
"70 galleons!" Lily declared. She then turned to the rest of the groups. "I wanted to buy people too. So I am not paying for all of that!"
"How can you be so sure – or not," Sirius ended when the headmaster had announced they had bought Aleia. "Hey, how did you know?"
"Bidding is a mind game Sirius," Lily replied simply.
The rest of the bidding was not as exciting as the first as the newly formed group of friends didn't have an interest in the prefects being auctioned off. Sirius was then called to the stage. It was his turn to be auctioned.
"Now we have Sirius Black," Professor Dumbledore announced. "The bid will start at the usual 3 galleons."
"Wait professor. I have a show prepared for everyone."
"Merlin please help us all!" Remus had announced loud enough for everyone to hear as the hall got silent.
"I'm going to need a volunteer, Peter?" The shorter Gryffindor walked up to join Sirius.
"Oh no," James moaned, "I can't believe he is actually going to do that!" Lily looked at the non-performing half of the Marauders in confusion. "Just watch, you'll see what we mean."
The hall was silent as everyone was anticipating what Sirius's show would be. Considering he was a Marauder, the presentation would most likely be humorous, unless Sirius chooses to be unpredictable and do his silent routine.
The black haired Gryffindor waved his wand flamboyantly and coughed to get everyone's attention, which he already had. It wasn't until one of the more impatient students called out from Sirius to hurry with the show. With one more exaggerated wave, a tiny pop accompanied a cloud around where Peter stood. The younger students had gasped while Professor McGonagall nearly had a heart attack.
"Mr. Black! What are you doing?" the stern deputy headmistress chastised. Sirius merely shook his finger at the elderly woman and continued on clearing the smoke. When visibility was normal again, a cow stood where Peter had been.
"Hi ya, like the cow?" Sirius asked everyone. "Let's name the cow." The animal had moo-ed in agreement, and Sirius continued, "How about Moo Moo." The animals must have smiled. Its mouth was curved on the side, shook it's head slightly and swung its stringy tail. "I think that's a cool name, too."
Meanwhile, James and Remus had covered their red faces while Lily, Jon, and Aleia looked mused.
"You are weird," Sirius spoke to the cow. There was some sort of a reaction, perhaps a cow snort?
"Thank you, and I'm proud of it." The crowd began looking at the Gryffindor as though he needed a trip to the mental hospital.
"By the way, how do you turn back?" Sirius asked the cow after noticing the empty looks on everyone's faces. "Are you there? You are not answering my question!" By now, the first year students had been scared enough to inch their way to the exit. A large mass of young students could be seen moving toward the two big doors all at the same time.
"Yes, yes, I'm weird. Want to hear a joke?" Sirius retorted at the scene.
"I didn't think so." Sirius looked around searching for the bodiless voice. "What? I don't think so. Why, do I need to spell it out for you? Yes actually. I as in the letter i; don't as in do not . . . d-o space n-o-t; so as in s-o," another voice replied. All the younger students had jumped, and if they were cats, they would have been upside down on the ceiling with their hair sticking straight up. The other students and the professor had looked around the hall searching for the owner of the disembodied voice.
Lily glanced at every direction. It wasn't until she was about to ask James and Remus if they had guess did she noticed something wasn't quite right.
"James? Remus? Did you two have something to do with it?" Lily asked narrowing her eyes. The two Marauders shook their head while trying to hold their laughter.
"Shh, Lily. Did you see his face?" James whispered happily. "I bet he didn't expect that from whoever." Lily was still confused and suspicious.
"That had been a part of the script James and I should have done. Considering James wanted to retain his pride and assure that someone nice would buy him, our prefect refused the part. That decision made James on my side of the argument, so we no longer had to be Sirius's sidekicks. But the strange thing is that only the Marauders know Sirius's full script for this mini performance; however it seems as though someone else knew about it too!" Remus proclaimed looking in the direction of Aleia. She had a knowing and conspiring smile on her face. Sirius's maniacal cackle had gotten everyone else's attention again.
"That was someone else. I'm serious. And no, I'm not a psycho."
"We know you are Black!" One of the Slytherins shouted. Sirius glared at the general direction.
"Okay, that joke is just getting really old. Back to the show, there are no voices inside my head. Maybe one or two, but that's beside the point. It was... ahhhhhh... I forgot, duuuuuuhhhhhh. James and Remus magiked 'the person' who said this." Sirius had fingered the quotations for "the person." He looked at the scared first years and questioned, "You know them right?"
Half the population cheered while the other half had groaned. The part that groaned was usually at the butt of the Marauder's jokes. "They're the eccentric nutcase – They told me so too! – I mean nice person from the Gryffindor house," Sirius amended quickly upon noting the dubious and innocent looks on his friends' faces. "You've got to believe me," he pleaded. It seemed all the sane, normal people were now too scared to buy the prankster. "No no, I'm not psycho. Oh fine." He conceded with a huff. "Hi Aleia! Will you buy me?"
"I assume your presentation is over?" the headmaster asked with a smile. Sirius nodded with a sigh, waved his wand, and turned the cow back into Peter. "So how many galleons for Mr. Black?"
Bids began rising at the same rate as Aleia's prices. Lily had looked shocked with the rest of the Marauders.
"I didn't think prices would get that high!" Lily exclaimed. Everyone had nodded as well.
"50 galleons!"
"Who would want Sirius that much?" Aleia asked skeptical of the buyer's sanity. James pulled on his sister's sleeves.
"Take a careful look. Those are the same girls Sirius has been trying to dodge since the beginning of last school year. I believe he has just gotten himself in to Purgatory."
The bids for Sirius closed at 65 galleons. Once the owners were finalized, the Sirius Fan Club had rushed to their object of affections for a massive group hug. Somehow Sirius had managed to get out of the large group of people.
"James, Aleia, Remus, Peter, Lily!! Help me!" Sirius whined as the girls had found him again. Everyone shook their heads with a smile. "Jon? How about you? Don't you like me? I had helped you get Alei – AH!"
"Sorry Sirius," Jon said to the spot where Sirius had been pleading for help. "It seems you had asked me too late."
"Will James Potter please come to the front?" Professor Dumbledore called out. James mumbled a quick apology to his best friend/surrogate brother who was being harassed by his female owners.
"Hello everyone," James greeted. "I don't have a presentation – " some people down stage had muttered a "thankfully". "— So I guess we can begin now?" James looked at the headmaster. No directions were needed since people had raised their placards to place their bid as soon as James got to the front.
The price for James went far beyond anyone's values. Considering James had a girlfriend who desperately wanted him, it was no wonder the competition in the air had quickly boosted the bid to 75 galleons. James's girlfriend had gotten her own friends to chip in a bit of money to help her beat the enormous group of her boyfriend's fangirls in the auction. In the end, the girlfriend won the auction at 82 galleons.
The next prefect for sale was Lily. The reaction was a major change from the two previous people-merchandises. Being the quiet and slightly reclusive, it was the first time many students had taken a good look at the redheaded prefect from Ravenclaw. The housemates of Lily had cheered for welcome while the Marauders nearly needed a restraining spell from the professors. Thank goodness Aleia had enough influence over Sirius to keep him for skipping on top of tables.
I don't even know that Marauder's that well. Besides working on developing this fundraiser with James, I had no contact with them previously.
"The bid will start at 3 galleons." People were apprehensive about buying Lily. She wasn't popular, no one knew much about the quiet prefect. Unfortunately for Lily, Sirius decided to be her publicist to get people to bid.
"Oh come on everyone! Look at her!" Sirius exclaimed making Lily's face flame up. "Isn't she just gorgeous? The pink cheeks are the perfect compliment to the long red hair. She is Venus in disguise, the earthly Aphrodite!"
"Oh shut it Sirius," Peter retorted. "You are embarrassing Lily. Besides, the correct way of publicizing is to show all the good points." Peter's voice got louder to get the crowd's attention. "The only thing that can rival Miss Evans's beauty is her intellect. She is the best Charms student in our year as well the a contention for valedictorian when she graduates, that is if we ever have a valedictorian." The Marauders clapped in congrats. "According to Jon, Lily is a wonderful Quidditch player and strategist." A roar from the Ravenclaw Quidditch team confirmed the compliment. "So if you buy Lily, you can get help not only for your studies, but beauty tips from the lovely goddess of love herself, and of course, for those aspiring Quidditch players: assistance in training!"
The brief commercial for Lily did have its purpose. Lily could not have been more embarrassed in her life, but that did get people's attention. The girls had noticed how the redhead's complexion was flawless and how her hair just shines as though it was blessed. The boys were interested in the Quidditch aspect and having a pretty girl by their side wasn't such a bad idea. The excuse for the younger or poorer students was getting a personal tutor. It wasn't long before placards were flying up for a chance to buy Lily.
Lily on the other hand, was not too pleased with her predicament. She didn't like talking to her peers too much. The students tended to be quite judgmental. Anything done wrong was remembered for decades whiles all the good points were forgotten. Lily did not want to be bought by a stranger. The Quidditch team had promised they would buy her, but it doesn't seem like the team had much of a chance. There was a group of fourth year students getting together to buy Lily. Gee, that group looks like one of those fan club potpourris. All the members are either admirers of the Marauder or of the girls the Marauders dated.
"55 galleons!" The shout had ended Lily's worries. It seemed like she was one of those china vases that were made to seem authentic. I am not that smart or that great at Quidditch. Whoever buys me will want a refund as soon as they talk to me . . .
"65 galleons!" James had called out. Erg, now he is raising my price. What happened to the "I am going to stay inconspicuous" plan, Lily? See what you got yourself into? The Marauders are a bad influence. They want too much attention. It wasn't nice of them to drag me into this either. Sure they had their fifteen minutes of fame doing the little promotion, but it wasn't fair for me. Did I ever ask them for a popularity boost? No! I am so going to hurt Sirius. Perhaps I should have bought him and give him hell for ruining my invisibility-ness.
"Sold to Mr. Potter for 65 galleons!" Professor Dumbledore announced. "This concludes our Prefect Sale." Lily gave a strained smiled at everyone and tried her best to walked off inconspicuously.
"Uh-uh Lily!" the loud noise that could only belong to Sirius exclaimed. "You have to be by James. He bought you." Lily looked distressed. After the auctioning ordeal, she wanted to go to the Ravenclaw common room and read a good book. With a glare at Sirius, Lily gracefully stomped towards James, who happened to have his girlfriend hanging on him.
"Hello," Lily mumbled in greeting. "Sorry about the interruption, I'll leave now. If you feel that apology was not enough, go bother Sirius." Lily was about to walk off but upon turning, the annoying mass by the name of a certain constellation ran into her.
"Leaving already?" Sirius asked in an overly perky tone. He turned his scared but happy face to James. "You already found something for Lily to do? You are such a heartless master!" James merely rolled his eyes.
"No I haven't, but it seems as though your masters are looking for you." The glasses-less Gryffindor looked behind him. A rather large group of giggly girls were coming towards Sirius. Each had a grin that posed as a warning for the times ahead. Without saying goodbye, the Dog Star man dashed out of the Great Hall hoping to dodge his entourage.
"Is it just me or did the group get bigger?" James asked to no one in particular. His girlfriend had been ignored, but a tug on James's arm brought the prefect's attention back to the person holding his arm. A chaste kiss was placed on the girl's lips. Lily observed the display of affection in discomfort. Maybe she should just move while Sirius is still pre-occupied with his flight for freedom.
"Do you know where Sirius had gone?" the leader of the group chasing the offending Gryffindor had asked. James pointed towards the exit. A head of black was obstructing from the large door way. The girls had recognized the head as the top of Sirius Black.
"Thanks!" In less than the blink of an eye, the large group of girls was halfway towards the large doors.
"Some friend you are James!" Sirius had shouted sarcastically while busy running for his life. "And you too Lily! Why didn't you shut him up?"
"There was nothing for me to do! He didn't open his mouth!" Lily exclaimed back. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lily could tell her owner's girlfriend was a bit miffed about being left out of the Let's-Chase-Sirius game. James had probably noticed Lily's eyes resting for a while on his girlfriend since he began an introduction.
"Lily, this is my girlfriend, Moira Ceasa," James began. "Moira, this is Lily Evans, the poor girl Sirius has decided to harass." Lily had noticed the disdainful look on the other girl's face. Of course she believes me incapable of befriending the Marauders.
"Hello," Moira had greeted in an icy tone. Lily merely smiled back. It was a good thing James hadn't noticed to daunt greetings. His attention was focused on his surrogate brother, who was surrounded by his owners.
"You think I can pay them to let me have a try at embarrassing Sirius?" Lily inquired. The group had passed Lily and James once again. One girl had heard Lily's comment.
"Excuse me, did you say you also wanted to own part of the Sirius share?" the girl had asked Lily. "All you need to do is give Celina – that's the girl speaking to Sirius right now – 5 galleons. Then you can help us plan what to make Sirius do for the following school year."
"Thank you. I'll go there after James give me permission." Lily smiled at the opportunity to switch places with Sirius. Rather than being harassed by the Gryffindor, let's see how Sirius is going to handle the extra attention he would get from Lily.
"There isn't anything you need to do Lily," James announced. "Looking at the sulking faces of the first year students, why don't you give tutoring sessions?" The proposition wasn't unreasonable. Lily nodded. "I'll make an announcement later so expect visitors and owls from random people."
Being the personal slave of James Potter was much easier than expected. He expected nothing from Lily and it seems Moira would be demanding so much from James that he wouldn't have much time to humiliate Lily, in a friendly way, at all. All that was left to do was to give 5 galleons to Celina and Sirius's life will be difficult.
As Lily approached the large group of Sirius owners, Lily noticed there was actually a line of people waiting to buy apart of the Sirius share. While waiting, the redhead decided to resume her daily observances of studying the people of Hogwarts.
The auction was quite successful. Some prefects had nice owners like James; other prefects were unfortunate such as the case of Severus Snape who was bought by the Marauders for a small sum of money. Lily had felt bad for the Slytherin when it was quite obvious his popularity at Hogwarts was dismal. The members of his own house had recognized him as a recluse with superb potion brewing and dark arts skills.
It seemed as though all of Hogwarts, and Hogwarts affiliates were engrossed in the results of the auction. Reporters were running from people to people questioning their thoughts on the fundraising style. Lily, being an adversary to large, popular gatherings, had snuck out of the Great Hall unnoticed by any being, though not after paying to own a share of Sirius.
~*~ finis for now ~*~
Omni's Mini Note:
You know, I wouldn't mind recommendations for the actions the prefects much perform. I do have some ideas, but they are from what the seniors at my school were put through. Needless to say, there was no magic involved. ^^
Notes of Appreciation:
Destiny: Thank you. Although I don't think I deserve the ultra prefix.
Rhiain: Hey! I remember you! ^^ Thanks for the comment, but unfortunately, no one from my school would agree with you. The tradition of selling seniors as a fundraiser for the prom is eleven years old . . . I think.
JerseyGirl03: I am sorry to disappoint you. The story was updated too late. Hopefully you still remember this "wonderfully magnificent five star story." ^^ Thank you for the rating!
Night-'n'-Day: Well, you have your answer. Lily wasn't sold to anyone mean, just an already taken James. Maybe things will change for the sake of Harry Potter. ^^
flamin-phyinix: You won't give up on me now, will you? Please say no . . . I was busy with my writing class and The Wedding of the Boy Hero, and of course, the other stories left behind. Summer hasn't been completely friendly with me. In response to your e-mail, I am doing just what you said. Though I believe this might be too late for your definition of "soon".
Michelle Liu: Thank you for your e-mail. I must contribute my originality to whoever thought of this idea for my school. And you name seems Chinese . . . considering where you are from, are you? There is a large population there. I have friends who are near the Canadian-U.S. border, mainly near Niagara Falls and New York region.
Li-chan: All your questions will be answered. Sorry to say Lily didn't buy anyone, well, she sort of does own Sirius. Care to share any ways to haunt Padfoot?
DRUIDGIRL: Okay deary, you should be proud you finally got me to update this without a beta. Congratulations to you for giving me the kick in the rear end. ^^ I know no one likes an author who doesn't update, but I get preoccupied easily. If it helps you, I can e-mail you whenever I do update.
Actually, on the note of e-mails. If anyone wants to get an alert whenever I do update this story, just give me your e-mail address. It would be much easier for you to keep track. Although I already began the next chapter, I have a 3-week trip to China beginning in the middle of next week. I will have access to my computer (thank goodness), but Internet connection might be impossible. Besides, I probably should catch up with the relatives I haven't seen in 7 years and 5 months and write in my travel journal. So far, it seems as though the next chapter might be out during Thanksgiving. I know I am such a slow poke. But my Harry/Ginny story must be finished first. It is already annoying me that I can't finish it sooner. I hope I may be done in the next 5 chapters, but I tend to be verbose too. See the length of the note?
Another way you can keep posted will happen as soon as I finish my web page. My very first page will probably be a dream until I get Dreamweaver figured out. I might load a simple version at first. Then you get to here me ramble on and on about my life.
Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed!
Omni