Fandom(s): Harry Potter
Pairing(s): James Potter/Lily Evans
Warning(s): alternate universe; female!Harry (Haley); time travel; het; pure-blood customs; pure-blood society; pure-blood traditions; good!Peter Pettigrew; evil!Severus Snape; temporary character death' mentions of random pairings; and mentions of original characters

Summary: At the start of her fifth year, Lily met the new transfer student, Haley.

A Tale of Two Lilies
Fifth Year

She couldn't believe it. She was late. Lily Evans was never late. She couldn't recall one time she was late. But here she was, running late to catch the Hogwarts Express before her fifth year. After bidding her parents farewell, Lily boarded the train.

Looking for a compartment, she found one in the middle of the train. There was a girl with a black cat inside. Lily didn't recognize the girl, but there were several hundred students at Hogwarts – almost a hundred in each year. This girl had brown hair and slightly tanned skin. If Lily had to guess, this girl was around fifteen or sixteen.

When Lily entered the compartment, the black cat turned to look at her. This cat had silver eyes, and those eyes were staring at Lily unblinkingly.

"Can I join you?" Lily asked.

When the girl turned to look at her, Lily found herself staring into a familiar set of green eyes. the girl smiled. "Of course," she replied.

Lily pulled her trunk into the compartment. The girl stood up and helped Lily load it into the overhead storage.

"I don't recognize you," Lily said. "I'm Lily Evans."

"I'm a fifth year transfer," the girl said, offering her hand. "My name's Haley Narcissus."

"I didn't know Hogwarts accepted transfer students."

"Not usually, but Headmaster Dumbledore and the Board accept me based on my academic achievements."

Lily titled her head. How could Haley have academic achievements when she hadn't even taken her OWLs or NEWTs yet.

"I've completed my Mastery in Ancient Runes, and I'm half through my Mastery in Transfigurations."

Lily's eyes widened. It took three years of studying under a master to complete a Mastery. In order to qualify to study under a master, someone had to earn an Outstanding on their NEWTs, glowing letters of recommendations, and a project of some kind.

"I'm a prodigy in Ancient Runes," Haley added with a shrug.

...

At the Welcoming Feast, Haley was Sorted after the first years. It was amusing to watch Professor McGonagall incorrectly pronounce Haley's last name. Apparently Narcissus was spet Pnarcissus with a silence "p," like pneumonia. Haley was Sorted into Gryffindor and she took a seat between Alice Mornoe and Aubrey Bones.

Haley moved into fifth year girl dorm with Lily and four other girls. Lily watched Haley as she unpacked her trunk and place things around her bed and in her wardrobe. From what Lily could see, Haley didn't have anything unusual. There were several textbooks, her schoolbag, parchment, ink pots, quills, robes, clothes, and several items for her cat. Her cat was curled up on the foot of Haley's bed, and the cat was looking around the dorm.

...

Over the following months, Lily and Haley became close friends. Haley challenged Lily intellectually and academically. Haley attended most of the fifth year courses, and she had private lessons with Professor McGonagall. The only lessons Haley struggled with were History of Magic and Potions.

In September, Haley tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and she beat James Potter for the position of Seeker. Potter handled the defeat with some grace and sportsmanship, though he was bitter about the loss. Haley was clearly the better Seeker, but Potter had trained hard for the position. Potter returned to playing Chaser.

Lily attended the Gryffindor versus Slytherin game in November to watch her friend. Haley beat Regulus Black to the Snitch by a few minutes. Gryffindor won the game. Between Potter and his friends (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew) and Haley there was a good party to celebrate in the win in the common room. Potter and his friend had the book while Haley had the butterbeer and an assortment of muggle sodas.

Over the winter holidays, Lily returned home to her family, like most of the Hogwarts students. Haley was one of the few to remain at Hogwarts. For Christmas, she gave Lily several books on pure-blood customs. Since Lily wanted to avoid her sister and her sister's new boyfriend, she stayed in her room, reading through those books. There were several things that caught Lily's attention – all things that Potter had done. Reading the books and the significance behind the actions, Lily had a new perspective on Potter. This didn't mean Lily no longer saw Potter as an ignorant bully – which he was. She now saw him as a love-sick, ignorant bully who was trying to court Lily in old fashion customs.

...

When Lily returned to Hogwarts in January, she sought Haley out and found her in the library. Based on the books, Haley was working on Transfigurations. Lily knew Professor McGonagall remained in the castle over the holidays. She assumed Haley worked with Professor McGonagall over the break, and Haley was a little closer to completing her Mastery.

"Why did you give me those books?" Lily asked as she sat down.

Haley glanced up from her book. "I thought you should know," she replied with a shrug. "I noticed what James was doing, and I figured you would want to know. It's your decision what to do with the information."

...

The rest of fifth year sped by. Lily was busy with studying for OWLs. Every other fifth year was either busy with their own studying or driving others crazy. Lily didn't bother paying attention to her year mates, trying to focus on herself and her own studies.

OWLs came and went without any major incident. If Haley wasn't hanging around Lily, then she was hanging around Potter. While Haley wasn't a giant Quidditch nut, she did enjoy talking Quidditch from time to time. She liked to talk Quidditch during times of high stress, and OWLs were stressful.

After the written portion of the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL exam, Lily noticed Haley engaged Potter and Black in a conservation. Lupin was busy reading a book and Pettigrew was watching the conservation. All four of them failed to notice Severus Snape, Lily's childhood friend, as he walked by. While Lily couldn't prove it, she was willing to bet Haley tried to distract Potter and his friends so they wouldn't bully or prank the other students, like Severus.

...

As quickly as OWLs came, they were over. Each fifth year had their own way of celebrating. Lily and Haley were in the library while some of their housemates were having a small party.

"How's your Transfigurations Mastery?" Lily asked, thumbing through a NEWTs textbook. She wanted an idea on what she was getting into.

"Good," Haley replied with a mischievous look in her eyes. "I've mastered my animagus form."

Lily's eyes widened. She knew animagus transformation was a high level of Transfigurations, but she didn't know someone could master their transformation at the age of fifteen or sixteen. "What's your form?" she asked.

"A black panther," Haley answered with a smile. "I'll show you sometime."

With a nod, Lily returned to the textbook.

...

Over the summer holidays, Lily received numerous letters, mostly from Potter and Haley. For once, Lily was replying to Potter's letters. In the past, she had ignored them, but she decided to see if Potter was growing up. If he did grow up, Lily was considering the idea of giving him a chance. That chance would start off as friends, of a sort.

Thanks to Haley, Lily understood how serious Potter was about her. It was touching, and getting courting gifts form Potter made Lily's heart skip a beat. After years of disliking Potter, Lily felt it was important that their relationship started off as friends, so if they did date they would have a strong foundation for their relationship.

This fanfiction is a part of The Halloween Collection, which is a collection of unrelated ficlets, oneshots, and full-length fanfiction stories that are related to a Halloween themed word prompt, which is listed at the end of each story.

Type: Full-length - four chapters
Prompts: Black cat, death, and shadows

The Halloween Collection
One: Accord de le Destin (general)
Two: Her Niece and His Goddaughter (general)
Three: Love on Her Arm (Bill Weasley/Hyacinthe Potter)
Four: Of Flames and Snow (Jon Snow/Hedera Waters) [Crossover with Game of Thrones and A Song of Fire and Ice]
Five: A Tale of Two Lilies (general)
Six: Bonds of Family (general)
Seven: Just a Glance (Jacob Black/Heather Potter) [Crossover with Twilight]
Eight: Shine Bright (Danny Williams/Helene Potter) [Crossover with Hawaii Five-0]
Nine: Whispered Conversations (Ron Weasley/Helenium Potter)
Ten: Emmett Cullen: Triwizard Champion (Emmett Cullen/Roselia Hale, Harry is Emmett) [Crossover with Twilight]
Eleven: Enchanting (Abraxas Malfoy/Halesia Potter)
Twelve: Eclipsed (Tom Riddle/Heliconia Peverell)
Thirteen: Silent Symphony (general)