The Princess and the Pauper

One is a spoiled, rich brat from a muggle family. The other, a poor yet satisfied pauper that comes from a wizarding family. Could they ever meet and… fall in love? Not your average Cinderella story, I promise you!

I was sick of Lily always being the victim, so you might not find her likable at first. She should get better as the story progresses.

I haven't finished my other L/J fic yet, but I wanted to do more with their Hogwarts years.

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Once upon a time…

All stories have a beginning, and this one starts with the phrase used in all the classics. So, once upon a time, there lived a spoiled brat who had no idea of what she was, and a poor boy who had no idea who his father was… and didn't care. Now, we go to the Evans' manor, where our story truly begins…

"Petunia! Have you messed with my scale?" a snobby voice called from the bathroom.

"No, Lily!" This voice was slightly kinder, with a much higher level of maturity to it. "Why?"

"Because it says I weigh so little, but I can't. I have to weigh more than this… this fake number. I need know how much weight to lose!" The voice of Lily Callista Evans was becoming definitely whiny.

"Lily! How many times do I have to tell you, you are unhealthily skinny! You should be gaining weight, not losing it," Petunia said, appearing in the doorway of the luxuriously large bathroom. She appraised her sister, who was standing before her in an overlarge bathrobe. The auburn hair spilled down to her knees in huge waves, and her pretty face was pulled into a not-so-pretty pout. Her green eyes were staring at the offending scale, which seemed to be telling her that she weighed a lot less than she thought she did. She was a tiny four foot four, which was very short for her age of ten. Her birthday was the next day.

Most of the petite girl's weight was muscle. She had to train every day in several different activities, her favorite one being archery. Petunia preferred swimming, but hated all else.

"You're one to talk," Lily retorted, turning to her older sister. "You have the perfect figure. I, on the other hand, am way too fat."

Petunia simply sighed and rolled her eyes. It was no use arguing with her sister when she was like this.

Contrary to what people might believe, Petunia wasn't spoiled or snobby. She didn't flaunt her wealth or try to starve herself for her looks. She wasn't very pretty, with her rather long neck and plain blond hair, but she had rather striking hazel eyes. The only other difference between Lily's eyes and Petunia's (aside from color) was that her eyes were warm and friendly, and her sister's were cold, hard, uninviting.

"We're going shopping in half an hour, so you can get your new clothes for the party tomorrow," Petunia informed her sister.

"Half an hour? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Fetch me Binah! BINAH!" Lily shrieked frantically. It was a tradition for the Evans girls to have a huge party on their birthdays, inviting many of the other rich families. Binah was their servant, or lady-in-waiting, as Lily preferred to call it.

"Yes, Miss Lily?" Binah appeared to be rather shy, but was really quite outgoing when placed in the proper environment. She had strawberry-blond hair and, at the moment, dull blue eyes. These eyes sparked to life when she was excited, and twinkled when she was amused.

"Fetch me my Tuesday shopping clothes," Lily said in a dismissive tone, turning to face the mirror once she was certain that the servant had come.

"Yes, Miss Lily," Binah said, biting back her irritation. Why did Lily always have to think herself superior, just because she had more money? Well, at least she'd be gone come September the first. She had been accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Binah had been forbidden to inform any "muggles" of the school, so she had just had to say that she was going off to a boarding school to improve her manners. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she thought about the school. She had always been childish, believing in fairy tales, and her face seemed to reflect that child-like image: it was round and pleasant, just like a seven- or eight-year-old's. She wasn't exactly thin, but certainly wasn't fat. She was just a bit on the pudgy side, and average height.

"What's this?" There was a letter addressed to Miss L. Evans, The White Bedroom, Evans Mansion. Shrugging, Binah picked it up, not noticing its similarity to the one she had received. She quickly pulled open a drawer labeled "Tuesday" and yanked out an outfit from the section labeled "Shopping." Lily always had had an immaculately tidy organizing system, unlike most ten-year-olds. Binah's own drawers were all jumbled up, with the only organization being something along the lines of clothes she liked to wear (near the top) and clothes she hated wearing (stuffed deep down into the bottoms, where they rarely came out from again).

"You have a letter, Miss Lily," Binah said, holding out the stack of clothes with the letter propped on top. Petunia disappeared, but that was only normal. Binah liked Petunia. She was nice, and more like an older sister than an employer.

"Put it over there," Lily said, waving in the direction of a large vanity. She snatched the clothes out of Binah's hands and added, "I will call for you to do my hair."

As Binah left, Lily thought, If there's one thing she can do, it's hair. It will be a shame to loose her when she goes to whatever school it is. Several minutes later, after Lily had washed and dressed, she called Binah back.

"I want my hair braided around my head," she said, sitting in her chair. She reached over and plucked the letter from its resting-place, and read aloud, "Miss L. Evans, The White Bedroom. What a peculiar way to address a letter!" Binah, who was combing out the tangles in Lily's hair, nodded her agreement. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards. What rubbish is this? OUCH! Watch it, Binah!" Binah had accidentally pulled too hard on a particular knot as she recognized the contents of Lily's letter to precisely match what had been in her own. "Any ways, there's more. Dear Ms. Evans, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September first. We await your owl by no later than July thirty first. Yours Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. Do be careful, Binah!" Binah had once more pulled Lily's hair. "Now, have you any idea who would send me this type of rubbish?"

"It isn't rubbish, Miss Lily. I got a letter just like that, and have already replied. Tomorrow while you're all shopping in the muggle shops in London, I was going to go to this place called Diagon Alley and buy all my supplies," Binah said uncertainly. Maybe she should make it sound like a joke, and make Lily not want to go. She didn't want to be bossed around all the time by her old 'mistress.' She wanted to go and have fun at school.

"Well, honestly! You tell me just how you know it isn't all some sort of trick," Lily said indignantly.

"I'll show you later. There's a pub your Ma and Miss Petunia wouldn't be able to see, which is the entrance to Diagon Alley. I'll show you later," she repeated.

"Fine, then, you'll 'show me later'. We'll just see what kind of letter this is." Lily was clearly irritated. Even if this was real, she didn't want her servant to be able to join in on the fun.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

At another, much shabbier home, another person was receiving their letter. This scene was much, much different, however.

"James, dear, it's time to get up!"

"'Morning, Mum," a boy said groggily. He had very messy black hair that would not become neater, no matter what he tried. He was fairly tall for his age of eleven, but didn't seem uncomfortable with his height. His warm, chocolate brown eyes simply glowed with kindness and happiness, but there was one thing that didn't quite fit his appearance: his clothes. They were very, very shabby, and it wasn't by choice. His family was very poor, even though it was just him, his mother, his father, and the grumpy old lady that rented about half of their downstairs rooms. She would be gone by now, if they could afford to have her leave, but they couldn't. He just had to wait until she died.

"Have a bit of toast, James," his mother said, pointing what looked like a stick of wood at a plate and floating it over to his place.

"Toast? We never have toast. We don't have the money to have toast," James said, blankly staring at the already mentioned toast. One would have thought that he would have been surprised to see his mother floating things about the room, but it was quite a common occurrence in his home.

"Ah, but today is special. Today, you have received your letter!"

The simple words had the desired effect. James seemed to completely wake up, and began to jump around his chair. "Where is it? Where is it? Can I see it? When can we get my supplies?"

"Calm down! If you would look, you would find it right next to that toast, so of course you can see it, silly! We can go out today, if you like," Mrs. Potter laughed, "but first, you must finish your break-"

"Done! Can we go now?" James had eaten at turbo-speed while reading his letter (which was exactly the same as Lily's had been, only his name and home had been substituted for hers.)

"Let me get my-"

"Here they are!" James said, holding up a pair of shoes.

"You should take Divination. You seem to be able to predict what I'm going to say!" Mrs. Potter teased.

"No, Mum, it's just that you say the same thing every day. Can we go now?" James said the first part very logically and then the next part in a very hopeful tone.

"Yes, yes, we can go now," she said, grinning. "Floo powder. Leave note for father. Meet at Ollivander's. Money from Gringotts…" and then Mrs. Potter wasn't there. James, making sense of his mother's short, mixed up instructions, left a note telling his father that they were at Diagon Alley, and flooed {A/N: Almost flewed, which is almost flew… or, floo is almost flew… I'll shut up now} to Ollivander's wand shop.

"Ah, Mister Potter. I've known you would come," an eerie voice said behind James.

Nearly jumping out of his skin, he turned around and calmly replied, "Hello, Mister Ollivander. Mum will be along in a moment. She needed to get more money from Gringotts."

"No worries, boy. We'll just start you out trying wands, and you can pay when she gets back. Here, try this."

James was handed about three wands before he found the one suited for him. "A fine wand, a very fine wand indeed. Mrs. Potter, how kind of you to join us."

Once more, James nearly jumped out of his skin. "Mum! This is my wand! I have a wand!"

Mrs. Potter applauded her son with good humor while paying for the wand. "Now, since this is such a special day, we can get you some new robes!"

"New robes, Mum? Can we…" James trailed off and glanced around quickly, then lowered his voice, "can we afford it?"

"Well, we won't have to be feeding you for a while, and we've been saving up some extra money for when you got accepted. We were certain you would be!" Mrs. Potter was sounding very excited.

"Calm down, Mum," James said in a paternal tone. They seemed to have switched places.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Mother, we must find this dirty little pub called the Leaky Cauldron," Lily said. "Binah says she needs to go there, and if the place really exists, so do I."

"What's this?" Mrs. Evans said, frowning.

"I received this letter earlier, and Binah says she got one just like it," Lily said, holding out the Hogwarts letter.

Snatching the letter from her daughter's hand, Mrs. Evans read it quickly and said, "Well, then, we will see if this 'Leaky Cauldron' and 'Hogwarts' truly exist. Is that what you're wearing?"

The last bit was added as she finally took in her daughter's outfit. Lily's red hair was braided in a circle around her head {A/N: Medieval style… you know.} and was undecorated. She wore jeans that were a medium shade of blue and were low on her waist, with bell-bottoms. Her shirt was made of a green, silky material that was somewhat clingy, and the sleeves were slit up to the elbows. She wore a simple gold chain, gold hoop earrings, and white platform shoes.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Lily demanded, crossing her arms defensively over her stomach.

"Nothing! I just thought you might be a little… under dressed for a shopping excursion," her mother replied hurriedly.

"Well, Pia's wearing almost the same thing." {A/N: Pia=Petunia. A nick-name.}

It was true. Petunia also wore bell-bottoms, although hers were a very dark shade. Her shirt was a simple pink tee shirt, and she wore silver earrings. She had no necklace on and her shoes were a dark blue. Her hair was down loose, with two little braids at the front.

"That's true, dear. Very well, Lily, Petunia, Binah, into the car!" Mrs. Evans knew perfectly well that any argument with her daughter would be useless.

About half an hour later, the fancy car that a chauffeur was driving turned onto a certain street. "Now, keep an eye out for this 'Leaky Cauldron', dears," Mrs. Evans reminded her daughters and Binah.

Half way down the street, Lily shrieked, "There it is, right there!"

Binah said, "I see it! I see it!"

Mrs. Evans frankly couldn't see what the two girls were pointing at. There was a bookshop and a record shop, but nothing in between where they seemed to be pointing.

The car pulled up, and Mrs. Evans said, "Well, Lily dear, here's some money so you can buy your supplies. Binah, stay with Lily. Come down to that clothes shop when you're done."

And then Lily and Binah were left on their own to enter the wizarding world.

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I'll stop there. What do y'all think? R&R, please!

Rini