Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the HP series belongs to the great and wonderful J K Rowling and the WB. Everything else is mine.
Chapter One-The Beginning
Long, long ago, in a time when dragons were feared, knights were heroes, and magic was still young, there were two friendly kingdoms, Italy and Europa. They were extremely eager to join the two territories, but didn't know how to go about it. For you see, the most popular way of doing it then was war. And friends just don't do that sort of thing. However, it came to be that an extremely wise man by the name of Albus Dumbledore gave them some extremely wise advice, stating that marriage was the only way to join them peacefully. He also thought it a great way to defeat a dark and feared wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort. But he never shared this opinion. However, Italy's king and queen Joferus and Kylani Evansio had only one daughter, Petunia. Coincidentally, the queen was currently pregnant, and they were praying it was a female.
The king and queen of Europa, Kane and Christine Potter, had a two-year-old son named James. He was too young to marry the eleven-year-old princess of Italy, which was why everyone in both countries were hoping against hope that the baby in Queen Kylani's womb was a girl. If the newborn child was a girl, she could marry James and the two kingdoms would be bonded peacefully forevermore as one. Finally, the day came when the baby was born on a warm July afternoon. Oh what bliss descended upon them, for it was a girl to be named Liliattica Jasminitto Rosetta Evansio. She was named after her mother's three absolute favorite flowers, a lily, a jasmine, and a rose. A great ball was held celebrating the joyous event, and every noble throughout the two lands was invited. Then a marriage was arranged, to be held sometime after she turned sixteen. But just so that they got used to each other, they would visit every summer and winter of every year until they learned of their wedding plans.
As Lily grew to be excruciatingly beautiful, James grew up to be dashingly handsome. Lily had golden-red curls tumbling down her back, two rosy cheeks against her olive skin, and the most beautiful sparkling green eyes that, if even possible, seemed to hold a wink of laughter. James had the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes and an award-winning smile. He also had this messy head of hair that strangely seemed to add to his good looks. Lily turned out to be much of tomboy. She preferred her breeches to dresses, riding and pranks to balls and tea parties, and she absolutely despised pink. She could ride anything from the wildest horse from Mongolia, to the craziest bull from Spain. She never played with many girls, because she thought they were boy-crazy and ditzy (at least her sister's friends were). James was an average boy wizard who loved pranking and blowing things up. I emphasize the part on BLOWING THINGS UP, thank you very much. At the time, he thought all girls had cooties, but that was soon to change. He had three best friends by the names of Sirius, Peter, and Remus, who were also of magic bloodline.
Lily also happened to be a witch. Which was a plus to the marriage plans because the Potters came from a long line of wizards, and would have preferred to continue their family line with magical blood. Now that they knew that Lily was a witch, their wishes were secure. Not only was she a witch, but an important one at that. She was prophesized to have special powers that other powerful magical beings could only dream of. This could result in either good, or bad. Of course, they didn't know this as of yet.
On a warm June morning, in her seventh year of life, Lily's father took her on a trip, but refused to tell her where they were going. Being impatient, this irritated her to no end. "Father please tell me?" she, for the millionth time, pleaded. He gave her another firm no and told her to be tolerant. She imagined him shaking his head, being as she couldn't see him at the moment. She decided that she'd had quite enough at this point.
"First, you've blindfolded me telling me you're taking me on a ride for a… a surprise, now you've shoved me onto a ship, telling me to 'be tolerant' like some spoiled little cat!" she said angrily. He finally took the blindfold off and gave her a shocked look.
"How on earth did you know about the ship?" he cried in wonder.
"Father, do you honestly think I'm that stupid? You've put me in a dress that's pink. And besides, I've heard you and mother talking about it for weeks now about how exciting it is for me to go to England and meet the oh-so-wonderful Prince James of Europa!" she yelled in exasperation. "And, last time I checked, carriages don't float." Her father gave her a stern look.
"Now Lily," he said. "You are a princess, which means that you must appear respectful, presentable,-''
"Poised, confident, and mature." she finished. "You always say that. And if a dress makes me look like all those things, why, in God's name, did it have to be… pink!!!" she cried.
"Are you kidding!" he said. "Why, pink brings out the red in your cheeks!!!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not times a thousand!"
"Does too times a million! Ha!" he cried. What a toddler of a king…
"Fine," she pouted. "But may I please change it green?" He thought about it for a moment.
"No," he finally said.
"Bu-"
"Ah ah ah! No buts young lady. Your mother picked it out and we both agree that it looks belicimo on you." He said. She sighed. This is going to be a long day. She thought.
*************
"Now remember James," Queen Christine said. "You must be polite to her. Compliment her, invite her inside, oh and don't forget your obligations as a gentleman of the court and kiss her hand." He gasped in horror.
"What? Mother you can't be serious!" the ten-year-old James cried. "Girls are gross! They have… cooties."
"James! Girls most certainly do not have cooties. I'm a girl and you let me kiss you." she said sternly. "Besides, you need to show her some respect while she's here for the summer. Maybe you can introduce her to your friends. They're staying too if I remember correctly. You know Sirius, Remus and… and… oh dear what is that fellow's name again?"
James sighed. "Peter, mum, it's Peter!" he sighed again. This is going to be a long summer. he thought. Jus then he heard the footsteps of a galloping horse.
"Oh my, they're early! Now remember what I said." She said, giving him a slight glare. He merely nodded. Then the gates opened to reveal a girl of about seven or eight riding a white pony with an auburn mane and tail to match her rider's hair. But what he was really interested in was that the girl was riding like a man would ride. Not really riding, but speeding, she was almost like a blur! And she looked like she was having a ball. She finally halted to a stop when she saw a boy of about ten years standing below her. She jumped off to greet him. She's kind of pretty, I guess, he thought. Sirius would like her. She doesn't look like a real princess, except for that hideous pink dress; she actually looks like a nasty little prankster. Good, little does she know they'll be played on her! He then continued his thoughts of some good (well, more like naughty) pranks.
Hmm, she thought. So he's Prince James. He doesn't seem so wonderful to me. Maybe he knows how to play football… and her thoughts continued from there.
They stared each other down in that manner for quite some time until they were interrupted.
"Ahem," the queen… well, interrupted.
"Oh, err… it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I am Prince James Mathew Potter of the kingdom of Europa." She looked at him strangely. Fine, she thought, you want to be fancy I'll be fancy.
"My name is Liliattica Jasminitto Rosetta Evansio, and the pleasure must be mine for I have never met such great a royalty as you." She grinned. Try to figure that one out, idiot. He noticed the slight Italian accent in her voice. It made her sound sort of exotic. Though he would never admit it. Finally her exhausted father rode up. (A/N: How do you get exhausted riding a horse?)
"Really Lily, you need to slow down!" he panted. "You must have knocked over at least half of the village at the rate you were going!"
As she rolled her eyes, James put his hand out as a gesture to shake her hand, or so she thought. So eventually she took his hand. He swallowed hard, Okay, here it goes. And he quickly pecked her hand. She pulled it away almost as soon as the gesture was done and began wiping her hand on her dress. Ewww, she thought, That's disgusting!!! If he does that again I'm gonna barf, then give him a black eye! James thoughts were along the same line, excluding the black eye. When she looked back at him, he was wiping his mouth vigorously. Then she saw her father's servants turn up in the carriages with bags in their hands. Bags of clothes. Girl clothes. Enough clothes, it looked, for the whole summer. Then it dawned upon her.
"Father, you're not leaving me here the whole summer, are you?" she said turning to her father, who was in the middle of quite an important conversation with the queen. He sighed, and turned around.
"I am afraid that I must. But I promise, that you will have fun." He said. "Oh, and by the way, please don't injure any of the boys." And he turned to leave. She stared after him in disbelief, with her mouth hanging open.
"Well… then, I suppose we should… well, go." said the queen, with the last words of King Joferus lingering on her mind. "James, be a dear and take her bags inside." and with that she turned and left them in the courtyard. He sighed and made a grab for her bags, when Lily whipped around and said through gritted teeth,
"Lay a hand on my things and I swear I'll break your arm." She then picked up her things and briskly walked off in the direction of the castle. James sighed, Like I said, this is gonna be one hell of a long summer. And he followed to the castle up ahead.
*************
Later that day, Lily was on her way down for dinner when she got lost throughout the castle halls. She sighed. Stupid halls. she thought. Frustrated she punched the wall, not very hard, but still leaving a visible crack in the stone. As she turned the corner, she bumped into somebody. "Oww." they both cried. She looked to see, who would guess, James sitting on the floor, opposite her.
"Where were you?" he asked. She looked at him exasperatingly.
"I got lost you idiot. Why else would I be wandering these halls?"
"Oh." Was all he could say, realizing how stupid he must've sounded. They went trough dozens of dozens of hallways turning left, then right, then left again. After at least an hour of walking, on their twenty-seventh left, she finally asked
"Do you have the least bit idea of where you're going?" sounding more than a little annoyed.
"Err… yeah, sort of… um, no. But someone will have to look for us eventually." He said with slight hope. She blinked a few times.
"Eventually? EVENTUALLY!!! Look, I'm starving here, and before EVENTUALLY even comes, we'll probably die!!!" and, with a huff, she began muttering obscenities to herself in Italian about a particularly stupid English prince. As they turned the corner, they bumped into somebody, again. A rather large somebody.
"Why, 'hullo there master Potter. Wha' brings yerself here? And with a lady!" said a man that looked to be more of a giant than anything else, turning to Lily, he introduced himself. "Me name's Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid's me name." he said.
"It's nice to meet you Hagrid," she wasted no time. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you get out of here?" he looked at her confusedly. Then it hit him.
"Oh, so yer the princess girl from Italy. What's 'er name… err… Lily?"
She nodded and said, "Please sir, if I don't get to some food now, I will become hysterical!!!" He chuckled at her dramatic demeanor and led them to the kitchens. There she saw a most peculiar sight. Little, grubby, elf-like people bustling around them, in their busy-like ways. She found them very interesting. An especially delightful and tiny one with a pair of big blue sparkling eyes came up to her with dishes, utensils, and things in her hands and said, in a soft pixie-like voice,
"Would miss like Nicola to get something to eat for her?" Lily grinned.
"Hi, my name is Lily, and yes, I would like something to eat." Nicola smiled, took her hand, and led her to a table of, "FOOD!!!" Lily cried. She got so excited she ran to the table and began eating hurriedly. Little Lily hardly noticed all the eyes on her because anyone who knew her knew that she was a rather LARGE eater. She was probably consuming at least three pounds a minute, while James, Hagrid, and the house-elves were watching all the while.
"I must say, she is quite the eater." Hagrid commented. After everyone had eaten to their fullest, in Lily's case more than just a LOT, they were led by Hagrid to their sleeping quarters. After Lily, being the last to go, was tucked in, Hagrid hoarsely whispered, "If ya ever need a favor or a friend, just come an' see me up at the north tower." and with that he gave her a hearty wink and blew out the candles. She grinned at him through the darkness.
"Good night Hagrid, and thanks."
He smiled back and said, "G'night princess." and he ducked out and shut the door. With that she fell into a deep sleep, wondering how she would ever survive the summer. Well, she thought, at least I've got a friend…
A/N: Okay hope you liked it. Chapter 2 coming up soon! See ya!!! Oh and please review!!!