Summary: Soon-to-be seventh year Hogwarts student Lily Evans finds herself an orphan living with her best friend, Alice Fortescue. When fellow Gryffindor Frank Longbottom's parents buy Netherfield, a well-to-do house just up the street from the Fortescue's home of Longbourn, Lily finds herself caught between an overenthusiastic match-maker of a guardian, the unwanted attentions of her best friend's cousin, and Frank's snooty friend James Potter. Can Lily manage to navigate the treacherous waters of the upper-class wizarding world without making too much extra trouble for herself?

Chapter 8

My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners- my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?

Frank was ever so apologetic about his mother's behavior, to both Lily and Alice. Also to James, because apparently Mrs. Longbottom had spied him on her way out and given him a piece of her mind as well for swooping in on Lily when Frank had his eye on her. Sirius, Remus, and Peter did a hilarious reenactment of the scene, as they had been with James on the way out to the Whomping Willow for Remus' transformation when it had occurred. Sirius played a brilliant Augusta Longbottom, grabbing whatever random object was nearest to use as a hat for his costume.

Lily spent the next two weeks leading up to the Christmas break hoping to get James to herself and failing miserably. She hadn't managed more than a minute alone with him and the suspense surrounding if his feelings toward her had changed was threatening to overwhelm her at any moment. Other people were always interrupting; Sirius had to have James' opinion on a prank, Katie Decker spotted them alone and came trotting over to discuss Quidditch plays, the Prefects needed to change their patrol schedules as they couldn't possibly have foreseen a conflicting event that had been scheduled for two months, Professor McGonagall needed help taking down students' names who were staying over the holidays. The list of interruptions went on and on. Lily was looking forward to their last scheduled patrol before break as certain uninterrupted time where perhaps she could get to the bottom of the situation once and for all.

"Lily, can I switch patrols with you?" A fifth year Gryffindor Prefect asked on the second to last day of the term. The fifth years were scheduled to patrol that night, and Lily and James were scheduled for patrols the final night of the term. "I wouldn't ask, but it's my Transfiguration test first thing tomorrow and I didn't do very well on the last quiz."

"No." Lily said quickly and decisively, earning a surprised look from Alice, who thought Lily ought to be more understanding, and an amused look from James, who thought he understood where Lily was coming from. He shot her a grin and turned back to his own final essay for Potions. "That is- don't worry about it. I'll do your patrols tonight and mine tomorrow. No worries; consider it a Christmas present."

"You're the best Head Girl ever, Lily!" The fifth year exclaimed, scurrying off to join her friends where they were studying on the opposite side of the Common Room.

"That was nice of you, Lily." Alice said, smiling at her friend.

"If you see that kid stop studying for even a millisecond, you swoop in and correct the situation." Lily said, only half-joking. "She better get an O on that test after skiving out on patrols to study."

"Thanks to you." Sirius said with a laugh. He was playing wizard's chess with Peter, who had taken his last test the previous day. This got a snicker from everyone in the group and Lily put away her things and headed off to patrol.

Lily made it through the next day without anything spoiling her plans, though she grew increasingly nervous as the day progressed. Remus made a joke to her between classes that he should join them on patrols that night to speed it up and Lily point blank told him that he was not welcome to join them. Sirius overheard and the pair of boys laughed about it the entire way to Transfiguration.

Lily sat on the stairs in the Entrance Hall that evening waiting for James to return after dropping his Quidditch gear off in Gryffindor Tower. She could hear his footsteps approaching and screwed up her courage. She would never know if she did not ask, and she needed, utterly needed, to know. She did not think she could bear a single moment more of not being sure that his affection for her remained and that he had asked his mother to pull strings at the hospital out of his feelings for her.

"James, I might be a horribly selfish creature, but I cannot bear to not say something, even if the words might hurt your feelings. I must thank you for what you did for me and the Fortescues, writing to your mother and asking for her help in getting me into the ward despite it being against the rules. If the Fortescues knew the full extent of what you had done, I would not be conveying only my own thanks. If I can ever do something to repay you, please let me know. I would do anything that was in my power."

"Your thanks is more than enough, Lily." James said with a smile. He had sat down beside her and stretched his legs out. "I may respect your family's unique situation, and certainly I am happy to do what I can to help Alice and any of my friends, but I must admit that I thought solely of your happiness. You see, it is foremost in my thoughts most days."

Lily felt a feeling of warmth spread through her body at that thought, and a shy smile spread across her face as she glanced sideways at James to get a look at his expression. He was watching her reaction carefully, and when he saw her smile a matching one broke out across his own face. Lily opened her mouth to say something, but the words simply refused to come to her at the moment.

James realized she needed a little bit more encouragement, and he, too, found he had reached the end of his patience. He needed to know her feelings and he needed to know them immediately. "You are too considerate to muck about with my feelings, Lily. If they have changed since the train in September, tell me. I assure you that my feelings towards you have undergone no such transition. If you tell me to shove off, I promise to never bring up the subject again."

Lily began slowly and haltingly to inform James that her feelings towards him had undergone a complete transition since the unfortunate incident on the train. "How could I have misjudged you so completely and been so prejudiced towards you? I have grown to very much respect and admire you, James. Although if you attempt to ask me out again by first telling me every single fault I have, I might still have a difficult time saying yes. No girl wants to hear that until well after marriage, if ever."

"I certainly have no intention of ever repeating that mistake." James winced at the memory, then laughed as he stood up and offered a hand up to Lily. "Come on, we'd best start on those patrols or McGonagall is certain to come give us a major telling off."

Lily gave her hand to James and let him pull her up and into his embrace. She was surprised when he leaned down to kiss her, and found herself stretching up on tiptoe to meet him halfway. It was a short kiss, but brought the promise of more, leaving both Lily and James grinning like a child with their hand in the cookie jar. James kept firm hold of her hand and pulled her down the stairs after him, headed out on patrols. Suddenly the castle, which had begun to feel drafty and cold, seemed utterly perfect.

"Strangely enough, we have Mrs. Longbottom to thank. I never would have let myself believe that your feelings towards me had changed so drastically if she had not told me off so spectacularly for stealing you out from under Frank's nose. I knew you would have told her point blank that you had no interest in me if that were still true."

"I've left nobody any illusions in that area, I believe." Lily smirked. "The whole school and likely much of the wizarding world knows that I'm not afraid to declare my feelings towards you very loudly and publicly."

"What have you ever said about me that I did not deserve?" James asked. "You have never once said something of me that was not true, and that taught me to greatly moderate my faults over the years. I most certainly deserved the telling off I received on the train. I have spent so many days thinking back on that moment and cringing."

"I won't argue with you about who deserves the better part of the blame, for I feel that we likely both deserve a great bit. I do like to think, however, that we have greatly improved upon our communication. Let's not dwell on what each of us said, because I know I still feel guilty over one or two of my more blunt moments."

"How long after I wrote that letter did you begin to believe the story I was telling you?"

"Er, it was a rather slow process." Lily said. "I'd all but accepted it by the first Quidditch match, but that's when I finally confirmed the whole thing with Sirius. To be honest, Severus' account of the events never lay well with me. Don't get me wrong, I was all too eager to believe that you were fully complicit in the situation, but I never could have believed such things about Remus. Now that I know you a little, I can see that it was completely the exaggeration of a jealous and prejudiced schoolboy. I simply cannot reconcile the version of you painted in that history with who I know you to be today."

"I was, er, quite a good deal more of a 'toerag' at that point in my life." James admitted. "I hope you have burned that letter, because I don't believe that the opening was much less cringe-worthy than my attempt to ask you out on the train."

"'Do not worry that this letter will in any manner profess the same feelings to you as I made known yesterday. I do not wish to dwell on a moment that is best forgotten by the both of us, as it can only cause more harm and a greater rift between us if we reflect upon it for too long.'" Lily quoted.

"You've memorized it, then?" James asked, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"I only read it ten thousand times." Lily smirked. "My favorite bit was 'I have no apology to give, or anything further to say on the subject, as I was acting in the best interest of my teammate and my friend on the knowledge that I possessed at the time' because that is just so quintessentially you. Refusing to apologize for what you know to be right, even though you were so utterly wrong."

"Is it too late to burn it now? That way I can hope it fades from your memory." James groaned.

"I can certainly burn it, but I don't really see the point. I'll still pull it out whenever we have lovers spats in the future." Lily laughed. "My mind is sharp as a tack. I am Head Girl, after all."

James laughed and the pair continued down the hallway in relative silence for another few minutes.

"How you must have hated me after that train ride." Lily shook her head. "I was awful."

"Hate you! I admit that I was very put out and angry for quite a while, but over the next few weeks I resolved to act civilly towards you so that you would be confident that I had put the past behind me. I wanted to show you that I had taken your words to heart and corrected the things in my manner that needed correcting. I hoped to prove to you that I was worth a modicum of your time, even if I could never gain your affections."

The pair lapsed again into a comfortable silence, if somewhat embarrassed by the openness and sharing of feelings that was so utterly new to both of them. They continued on their patrols and it wasn't until they were nearly finished that Lily realized he had never actually asked her out in so many words.

"So, where exactly does this leave us?" Lily asked slowly.

"Well, I was rather hoping you would come to the Longbottom's New Year's party with me." James said. "Only, maybe this time we don't talk while we're dancing?"

"Hey!" Lily protested. "You're the one who brought up Severus possibly joining the Death Eaters in the middle of the dance."

On the train the next day, Lily was laughing at something Sirius had said when she realized they had nearly made it home. Things were bound to be awkward, and she couldn't help worrying how the Fortescues would react to the news of Lily's relationship with James Potter and how Mrs. Longbottom would take the revelation that Frank was dating Alice and had been for several weeks. Lily could not quite seem to decide which was going to be worse, after all Mrs. Fortescue had said some very unkind things about James the last time they'd seen him on the train platform.

"Best just to get it over with, I think." Alice said, catching Lily's eye. "Oh go on, do just tell them straight off. Then, I'll drop that I'm seeing Frank and Mum will be so over the moon that she won't even have time to react negatively."

Frank swallowed nervously. "Oh, your Mum is nothing next to mine, really. I expect it's going to be rather like having a howler blow up in my face, only it's going to be a real live person."

"Thanks for the reminder why I don't do committed relationships." Sirius said with a laugh as he looked around at the nervous expressions plastered on all his friends' faces. He high-fived Remus and Peter, who were quite enjoying watching their friends get increasingly nervous as the train slowed and prepared to stop in London.

Lily took her time grabbing her things, enchanting her trunk to float out after her as she exited the compartment, and she was still the first of her friends out into the corridor. James was right behind her, and he gave her an encouraging smile and squeezed her hand. "You must have said some pretty vile things about me over the years if you're this nervous about telling the Fortescues that we're dating."

Lily gave him a pained smile. "I may have mentioned you once or twice, and you did the worst of the damage yourself last summer."

"Oh." James groaned. "I knew you'd heard, but I didn't realize that had gotten back to the Fortescues."

"Charlotte is a gossip columnist, James." Lily laughed. "It was all over the area before the end of the party. Besides, the Fortescues had plenty of their own opportunities to judge your lack of charm."

"Brilliant." James clambered out of the train and turned to give Lily a hand down. "Now I see why you're so anxious. You should know that my parents will be absolutely thrilled to meet you properly. Mum said in a letter a few weeks ago that it was about time I grew up and acted my age; she seemed to think she had you to thank for that change."

"You write home about me?" Lily's eyes went wide. She spotted the Fortescues across the platform. Mrs. Fortescue stood on her tiptoes, staring at the back of James' head with a look of the basest curiosity as she tried to figure out who it was with Lily. Even Mr. Fortescue looked intrigued, and Lily watched as their curiosity turned to surprise as James turned and took Lily's hand in his.

"It was not entirely intentional, but it seems that I've mentioned you once or twice." James started towards the Fortescues on a path that would not take them within hailing range of Augusta Longbottom. "I think Alice was right, best to get it all over with and enjoy the holiday. Besides, I don't see Mum and Dad just yet."

And then, Lily found herself introducing James to the Fortescues as her boyfriend and realizing that the surname 'Potter' coupled with the large family fortune would have been enough to have Mrs. Fortescue forgiving James murder, let alone a little rudeness. Mr. Fortescue gave Lily a look that said he would be saving his judgment for later, but was polite enough. It wasn't until after the Potters had arrived and everyone was chatting amicably that Lily realized Alice had still not turned up and looked about the platform. She spotted Alice standing awkwardly beside Frank, gazing longingly towards where Lily's introduction was clearly going well. Augusta Longbottom was not audible over the din of families greeting students, but she was clearly in her stride having a go at Frank.

"Oh, but where's Alice gotten to?" Mrs. Fortescue asked, standing on tiptoe and peering about the platform.

"I expect she's meeting her boyfriend's family." Lily replied, gesturing to where a miserable looking Alice had turned back towards Frank. Lily was quite shocked to see Frank was no longer cowering against his mother's tirade but had puffed up to his full height and seemed to be towering over his mother and saying something forcefully. Lily had never seen easygoing Frank Longbottom be forceful towards anyone in his life.

"The Longbottoms?" Mrs. Fortescue said, her voice barely able to contain her glee. "Why didn't she say anything? Frank is such a lovely boy! I suppose he broke it off with that horrid Redgrave girl, then?"

"I suppose it's best to get all the excitement over at once," Mr. Fortescue remarked quietly to Lily, "rather than drag it out over the next several months, though we'll be hearing of nothing but Potters and Longbottoms and fall weddings for the duration of the holidays."

Lily shared a knowing look with Mr. Fortescue before turning her attentions back to Alice, who was walking with Frank in their direction. Alice appeared to be thrilled about something, while Frank was clearly in a state of absolute shock. Alice had introduced Frank to her parents and James had introduced both Alice and Frank to his parents before Alice had a second to pull Lily slightly to the side.

"He told her off. Oh Lily, Frank told his mum off for meddling in our relationship. He said he'd never wanted to date you and that he loved me and hoped she'd come around to accept it as it would be awkward if his wife and mother didn't get on. Then he just walked away."

"Wife?" Lily asked, giving Alice a look. "You've escalated quickly."

Alice just gave her a huge grin and stepped over to join Frank. Frank Longbottom Senior joined the group a moment later, clapping his son on the back and giving Lily an encouraging sort of smile. Though Augusta Longbottom never joined them, she seemed to have accepted the idea of her son dating Alice Fortescue by the time Lily and Alice next saw her at the Thomas' party for Charlotte and Florean. Certainly she was acting warmly towards Alice by the Longbottom's New Year's party, though she would never again achieve anything stronger than civil towards Lily or James, something that brought both of them great mirth and endless entertainment through the coming years.

The Potters were as thrilled to meet Lily as James had indicated, and the pair happily accepted her right into the family as enthusiastically as they had once accepted Sirius Black. Mr. Potter once admitted to Lily that they had never once thought kindly towards any of the girlfriends James had previously mentioned, as they did not appear to encourage him to behave properly, in fact rather the opposite. Mrs. Potter was clearly quite pleased to finally have a female ally in the house, as she had previously been outnumbered three to one.

Mr. Fortescue pulled Lily aside that first evening home to ascertain that she truly was happy dating James Potter and wasn't doing it out of some sense of obligation towards Mrs. Fortescue or because she felt she needed to clear out of the way for Alice to be with Frank. Once Lily had assured him that neither was the case, he accepted her decision and told her that James Potter was eons better as a possible future son-in-law than Florean Fortescue, and James eventually became the favorite, though Mr. Fortescue was also quite fond of Frank.

Mrs. Fortescue was beside herself with happiness that both girls had made such a good match, and credited herself with being responsible for the entire process. She felt her influence on Lily's manners had ensured that Lily could be a possible match for a Potter in the first place. Naturally Alice was a Fortescue and anybody would want to marry a Fortescue, especially one as pretty and smart as Alice. When the time for Alice and Lily's respective weddings rolled around, Mrs. Fortescue lorded over all the preparations like she were the Queen of England.

Though Lily and Alice both loved their families and their in-laws, the two couples decided to settle outside the region where Longbourn and Netherfield resided. Instead, Lily and James bought a small house in Godric's Hollow, a small wizarding community, and Frank and Alice bought a place a few miles down the road in the next town over. They frequently were back and forth visiting each other and it seemed like their children were destined to grow up close friends when Lily and Alice discovered they were pregnant within days of each other.

Though the Potters and the Longbottoms were in the thick of the coming war in the wizarding world, their own personal lives were filled with love, family, and friends rather than darkness. Though they might not live happily ever after, the fact remains that they did have the opportunity to truly live, and their friendships set in motion a sequence of events that ensured their sons, born hours apart, would also have the opportunity to live and love fully, their lives and fates irreversibly entwined.

Author's Note: That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed the final installment of Potter and Prejudice as much as I enjoyed writing a tribute to two of my favorite literary heroines, J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen. I'm looking for the inspiration to finish my next fanfiction, so I'd love some reviews to encourage me if you're looking to read more from me!

Love from,

MotherCrumpet