Chapter Four: And So Begins Hell

*It had been three days into the school year at Hogwarts, and the silence was positively unbearable to the majority of the school. Since their first night there had only been one other prank, and it hadn’t even been preformed by the Marauders. The entire Gryffindor house was in an uproar, not understanding what was holding their favorite group back from letting lose the holy terror everyone knew they were capable of.

But Lily watched all of this from the shadows. Choosing to stay away from the limelight as much as possible, Lily had drawn back, far away from the prying eyes of the rest of her class and house. Usually she sat in the same armchair every night, reading and doing homework in the warmth of the Gryffindor fireplace, but of late she had found the company to be unbearable.

The Marauders had sickened her with their display of unadulterated disgust for poor Andrea White. She too, hadn’t been too pleased with the news of helping to tutor Andrea, but on the other hand, she hadn’t spoken behind the poor girl’s back. She kept her opinions to herself. Lily only knew quite too well how it felt to be called a freak, and she knew that when she was younger, before she had known she really was a freak, it had hurt her feelings something terrible.

So instead of sitting by the fire in the common room each night as was her habit, Lily sat in the shadows of the room, back in the darkest corner by the stairs to the dormitories, and simply observed the Marauders gang as they were swarmed with people who worshipped the ground they walked on.

She watched as Peter sniggered at things that weren’t funny but mean. She watched as Remus laughed, but kept quiet for the most part, choosing to work on his homework instead. She watched as Sirius’ girlfriend of the week, a Miss Geraldine Sartre, hung all over him as he laughed and rubbed his sore hands. He claimed all of the polishing he had done on the quidditch hoops had polished the feeling out of his hands and then laughed. And of course, Geraldine had had to ‘kiss him all better’. It really made Lily nearly sick to watch.

The only one who it seemed hadn’t let the attention go to his head was James. He was the most interesting for Lily to watch, she realized late one night. Of all of the other four, he was the only one that had never had a girlfriend at Hogwarts. Occasionally even Peter was caught red-handed with some girl, but James never dated. He never spoke poorly of anyone around him, but at the same time, he came up with the worst pranks imaginable to pull on the poor, unsuspecting Slytherins. He was a walking contradiction, Lily thought. But she also realized that she would have to begin working with the ‘walking contradiction’ soon over Andrea.

Lily wondered how James would treat Andrea. He would most likely be rude and arrogant to the poor girl, as well as to herself. He was, after all, James Potter; the most popular boy in school, both smart and good-looking. What reason would have to be nice to a couple of freaks such as herself and Andrea?

“Miss. Evans?” She looked up, broken out of her reverie by the annoying use of ‘Miss’ once again, only to stare into a pair of chocolate brown eyes that were so familiar from a distance.

“Yes?” She clipped. Well, she wasn’t going to take a chance and let him run her down the way she had let Petunia do for so many years. If James Potter was going to make fun of her behind her back, she would just act cold to his face. At least he would have some material for his jokes. Deep in Lily’s mind, thought, she heard a voice reminding her that never once had she heard him speak poorly of anyone else, no matter what they had done to him unless they were a Slytherin.

“Sorry, I’m not bothering you, am I?” He asked sheepishly. Only a few moments ago had he noticed the green-eyed, redheaded girl sitting in the dark corner on the floor. Her makeup seemed to swallow up her face, her eyes looked so cold and unforgiving, truly like the emerald stone they were colored as.

It had been odd to see her sitting on the floor, and then he realized why. He was sitting in her usual chair by the fire. But when he had arrived in the common room to meet Peter, Remus, and Sirius, she had already been seated on the floor, and the chair had been left vacant. He wondered if it was because people thought they would be cursed if they sat in Lady Lily’s chair.

After James had come to his realization, he felt rather guilty. It was, after all, her chair. No, maybe she didn’t own it. But it was hers nonetheless. So he had tried to think of a way to get her to sit in it, and when he realized he had no choice but to speak to her anyway, he figured he might as well try to strike up a conversation and then suggest she take the chair by the fire.

Unfortunately, Lily’s prickled response to his greeting had caught him off guard, and he remembered he was dealing with Lily Evans, the social recluse of the Gryffindor fifth years. He tried to start over, but she cut him off.

“What do you want James Potter?” She clipped. She didn’t like being so close to him… distance was much better. She was first and foremost an observer, not a social butterfly such as he. It was such a weird feeling, to have him standing so close, that she just wanted to get rid of him.

“Miss. Evans, I was wondering if you maybe…” James paused. Chair first, or bring up Andrea? “If maybe you wanted your seat? The chair by the fire? You look a little cold, sitting on the floor and all.”

“Well, I’m not. If that’s all?”

“No.” he rushed on. “I was wondering about Andrea.”

“Oh.” Lily looked down at the pile of schoolbooks she had piled beside her. Finding the one she wanted, she opened it and thumbed through it for a minute.

“Um, Miss Evans? Andrea?” James asked again. He thought she was ignoring him.

“I know. I’m looking at dates and times. Just hold onto you pants James Potter.” James blushed profusely at the muggle saying, but said nothing and patiently waited for Lilly to finish her search. Finally she closed the book and looked up again. “This Friday afternoon fine with you?”

“Friday?” How many dates and obligations did ‘Lady’ Lily Evans have that she was booked until Friday? He and Sirius had had plans for this Friday too… an all-new prank they had been ready to play on Snape! They hadn’t done one in so long… “Miss Evans? Would it be alright to maybe move it to Thursday?”

“Of course it would be alright! That’s why I asked if Friday was alright for you, because if it wasn’t you could make changes!” She snipped.

“Oh. Sorry.” He backed away. No wonder she had the reputation she did. But she didn’t seem quite so nasty on the train… James had the distinct feeling Lady Lily Evans wasn’t nearly as bad as she made herself seem. “Well, I’ll be seeing you, Miss Evans.”

Lily shuddered as James Potter once again called her Miss. It seemed as if everyone was in the habit of calling her that, from her professors to her fellow students. It drove her mad, but if she ever told anyone, she was sure that they would then use the name to mock her. Not that she would have cared all that much. Freaks like herself were always made fun of anyway, what difference did it make what she was being teased about?

Well, now she was tired. It was getting late, and she couldn’t stand to watch as James Potter went back to his mouthy friends and admirers. Gathering her books, Lily stood, gently brushed of her long black robes, and mechanically began to climb the stairs.

“Good night Miss Evans.” The room went silent. Lilly stopped and slowly turned around to see who had spoken. But she already knew. Her eyes fell upon James Potter. The whole room seemed to get quiet in waiting for her response. Would she get mad and transfigure James into a toad? Or set fire to his robes? Or place an itching spell over him? But Lilly simply gave a short nod to James, then turned and glared at everyone else and continued on her way up the stairs.

“Prongs you idiot!” Sirius smacked him upside the head. “What were you thinking? She could have hexed you for that!”

“I can’t even believe you voluntarily went over to speak to her.” Peter said smugly.

“Prongs, what’s gotten into you?” Remus asked.

“Nothing you dolts. I just needed to talk to her about Andrea. I mean, I’d rather not have to face McGonagall twice in one month if you catch my drift.”

“You said good night to her James.” Sirius pointed out.

“So? She’s not so bad. Course, she could go a little lighter on the eyes…” James contradicted.

“A little lighter? She looks like a ghost with sunken eyes and pale skin!” Sirius boomed.

“Oh Sirius!” His girlfriend giggled form across the room and walked over to sit on his lap. “Making fun of that wacko Evans? Isn’t she just the creepiest thing you’ve ever seen? You know, I heard she’s friends with Moaning Myrtle and Peeves. Not to mention it looks like she gets her makeup advice from them.” She began to laugh, and Peter joined her. Sirius and Remus half smirked, but James kept his face straight.

“Friends with the ghosts?” James asked.

“Yes. She has long conversations with Myrtle, and helps give Peeves his ideas. Isn’t she just wretched? Know what else? I heard her entire back is covered in tattoos! And that she has piercings all over, not just her ears and nose.”

“Where else can you have them?” Sirius scratched his head.

“Anywhere I suppose.” Remus answered.

“She has one in her eyebrow, and one in her bellybutton, and two others in her…” Sirius’ hand covered her mouth before she could finish her sentence.

“We get the picture, but we don’t want to see it!” He joked.

“Oh, of course Sirius dear!”

“Maybe she does.” James muttered.

“Of course she does James! I heard it from Linda, who heard it from Carry, who heard it from Josie, who rooms with her.” The four Marauders nodded, knowing it was most likely just a rumor. Still, they couldn’t help wonder. Evans was a strange girl… who knew what she really did in her free time?

“Well, I’m going to bed. Tomorrow’s Thursday, and I have a tutoring session tomorrow. I’ll need my rest to survive it.” James joked.

“Night James!” Echoed through the common room as James stood and went up the stairs to turn in for bed.

>>>)(<<<

She stared at the door to the library. This was where she was supposed to meet for the tutoring session. Lily breathed in and out deeply. All she had to do was last a half hour of helping Andrea with transfiguration. Then she could turn her over to James for charms. Or not. Lily was very hesitant to turn Andrea over to James Potter. She wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea to leave the girl alone with James Potter. The boy could seriously hurt the poor girl’s sensitive psyche. Well, she would see how it went from the half hour mark.

“Ready Miss Evans?” She spun around to face James Potter.

“Of course. And I hope you are prepared as well?”

“Yes.” James paused. She had such a harsh look in her eyes. “Shall we go in then?” He asked. She nodded, and they opened the doors and stepped in together. In the back corner of the room sat Andrea White. As Lily and James made their way over to her, both of them took deep breaths and calmed themselves. They could face anything.

“Andrea?” James started as they reached her.

“Oh, here you are!” The girl at the table beamed at them. “I was getting worried you might have forgotten me James!”

“No, I could never forget you Andrea.” James gave the girl a quirky smile.

“Yes, well, let’s start then?” Lily suggested, slightly colder than she had meant to.

“Ye…yes, of course Miss Evans.” Andrea stuttered. Lily frowned. Wait a minute. She was supposed to be the good guy. She was the one who wasn’t going to pre-judge Andrea; she was the one who was gong to be polite and helpful. And Andrea was afraid of her? So much for the thought that freaks like herself could have friends. *