Disclaimer: I do not own Lily Evans, James Potter or the universe of Harry Potter. Everything you recognise is owned by the ever-beautiful and talented Joanne Rowling. All rights to JKR. No copyright is intended. No profit is being made from this.

Rating: T

Word Count: 2200

Summary: At the start of their 6th Year, James Potter happens to bump into a new kid, one that splutters out an apology and then groans. Out of all the people to witness the weirdest thing to happen to Lily Evans since Potter's love potion, it just happened to be Potter himself. Not wanting to get caught in such a predicament, at the spur of the moment the name 'Liam' flows right out of the redhead's mouth. Nobody had ever really thought it was possible – much less Lily – but maybe certain things have to actually happen before you'll realise they're possible. Potter, ever-the-gracious guy, takes the new kid under his wing and decides to show him around. Little did they both know, that even in the weirdest situations; love can be found.

"He loves me, Ali – no matter my gender; you'll see."

Warning/s: If you're not a fan of boy/boy, I really think you should quietly exit this story. It's purely for entertainment purposes. It's almost like a body-swap, of some sort.

Ships: Jily/JIAM: (James/Lily)-[Liam/James]. Flice: (Alice/Frank).

Beta: No, nope, nada; all the mistakes you may find (and you probably will) are all mine. If anybody seems to be interested in beta-ing for me, that'd be great. Just leave me a PM, yeah?

Author's Note: If you have previously read what used to be here, it basically said; I was writing a new story and here it is. This story has been in my mind for, what? God, a year, has it been? It might've been longer but I'll never know. I am not sure if I'll ever update 'LTMBEB' so for now, just hang tight, yeah? Maybe if you drop me a PM, I might consider writing it again but it'll need some more editing, that's for sure. Writing is who I am and every review helps me get better. So please don't be shy. It's not going to help any of us.

Thank you for reading all this if you actually do read these because that's really cool.

- (MaraudersAtHeart) -

Differences

Prologue

The darkness covered the room from head-to-toe. The light bulb had busted not even ten minutes ago. The only source of light was dull and dim, but it was still a small glow, little as it may be, it was good enough. On the far left side of the dark room, stood a candle on a desk. It was crackling just a bit, adding to the scarily eerie sound.

The silence stretched on a bit before it was ruined by a loud sigh. A sigh of defeat. Huddled under the candle sat a sixteen-year-old. Her long, wavy, red hair fell in front of her face, covering the frown that seemed permanently etched into her beautiful features. These days, she only frowned and it was rare if her lips pulled into what seemed an upside-down frown.

A smile is what the others would call it but the girl had seemed to forget what a 'smile' even was. Her days were full of fights with her sister and her nights were full of her cries in the silent air. The summer holidays were supposed to be fun, they used to be but these days, they weren't.

Jealousy was the worst kind of evil.

Petunia Evans had never felt it until the day her little sister made a flower out of nothing. Magic is what it was called but out of jealousy, she had called the sister she loved so dearly – until that moment – a 'freak'. They used to be ever-so close but as the days went by and even the weeks, Petunia began to despise her little sister.

What did Lily have that Petunia didn't?

Why did Lily harbour magic inside of her and she didn't?

Why did some man write to Lily and ask her to enrol in his school?

Why wouldn't he accept Petunia as well?

Why did Lily have everything that Petunia never had?

Sad as it may be, that was the way Petunia thought and so, she'd treated her little sister like dirt. It was hardly a reason to but that was the only way she could react. She couldn't find a way to be happy for her sister, so she took her jealousy out on her but being hateful. Lily still hoped her sister would come around, even if she didn't know why Petunia hated her.

They used to be close.

Lily even used to call her 'Tuney'. What happened to those days?

A lone tear found its way down her pale cheek. It seemed as if the days just got longer and the nights grew ever smaller. Things were supposed to ease up as they got older but it never happened. Nothing would change unless Petunia wanted it to but she didn't and so, it wouldn't. Lily had to just live with the way life was. These were the cards she was dealt.

Her sister hated her, even when Lily felt the complete opposite.

One of these days, Lily wasn't going to try anymore and that's what she was most afraid of. She didn't want to give up on their friendship just yet. She wasn't ready to give up on Petunia. It just wouldn't be fair and she was all about fair play.

She loved her older sister, dearly but it was always a difficult task to try and express it in words or even lin actions. She was positively hopeless. She remembers the days they were close and she just had to smile and Petunia knew she was loved.

Before she met Severus Snape, they were pretty damn close. She didn't understand why Petunia distanced herself after she met him but Severus said it was because she was jealous and maybe he had been right. But did jealousy actually turn into hate? And if so, how and when did it turn from simply being jealous of somebody to hating them?

Lily couldn't help the fact that she was a witch, even when she begged Professor Dumbledore to let Petunia go to Hogwarts. That's how much she loved her older sister. Petunia had never been the jealous type before, according to Lily but Severus had insisted and truth be told, it fit the bill. Jealousy could've been the only thing.

The darkness concealed her frown and the few stray tears. Her green eyes were glassy and glazed over just at the very thought of Severus. Last year had been the worst year of all. He had always been there for her and in return, she was always there for him. But it obviously hadn't been enough. Lily swallowed, looking up at the dark ceiling that she could barely see.

How could he utter the one word that was unforgiveable?

How could he say something like that?

Lily had always thought that he was too good of a person to stoop as low. She had never thought, never once crossed the thought, that he could call her such a name. Then again, people tend to surprise you, don't they? They say things and they promise things they don't mean. Sometimes they utter words you could've bet your life on that they would never say.

The 'mud-blood' word was off-limits so what compelled him to call her that?

Lily had a feeling it had to do with his new group of 'friends'. He had gotten himself in a bad crowd and therefore, he had gradually become just like them. You tend to talk like the people you hang around with. You tend to act like the people you surround yourself with. Severus hung around with a bad crowd and soon, he began to act badly. It was bound to happen anyway. Lily just turned a blind-eye to the obvious.

Fear struck inside of her.

If he could easily call her a 'mud-blood' that day who's to say he couldn't easily say it again? Nobody, that's who because Severus had gone off the edge. Lily knew it too. It scared her beyond belief that she could know somebody to well and then find out it's all a lie.

Everybody surprises you and everybody hurts you at some point in your life. Lily had a too-forgiving nature and she never let many things affect her to the point of no return but she couldn't bring herself to forgive Severus. She'd never forget the moment the word tumbled out of his mouth. He looked shocked at himself and he looked scared but he said it, so who's to say he wouldn't say it again?

Shaking her head out of the memory of the awful day, she looked down at the broken glass. She felt an overbearing sense to cry but she held it in again. She quietly picked up the shards of glass without a protest of any sort. It had to be done. There was no getting out of it.

The glass broke about ten or so minutes ago when the two sisters had gotten into a huge fight. Lily can't even remember what they were fighting about, now that she tries to think about it. It's like her mind conjures up a blank page or a locked door. Information that seemed unavailable. Truth be told, she didn't really care all that much.

Did it matter whether she knew what they were fighting about?

Truth is, it didn't. Lily just knew they were fighting and that's pretty sad. The whole idea of knowing that they were fighting, just made her sick to her stomach. She hated it but it was just the way life was. They were always fighting and that's what killed her inside.

She shook her head, again, trying to forget about it. She looked over at the last piece of glass. She looked over at the small pile of glass and she cocked her head to the side, slightly. What kind of object had this much glass inside of it? It had to have been small to fit nicely on her desk but it still had to be big enough to be able to leave all these pieces of glass behind when it was broken.

She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she went to pick up the last piece. It was palm-sized and jagged. It was sharper than the rest of the pieces. It even looked sharper than normal. She was worried that by just staring at it, she'd get cut or something. She knew for a fact this object must have been magic because magic was clearly in the air but she was unsure what the hell it was.

The moment her fingers skimmed the piece, a lot of things happened:

Petunia stormed up the stairs in an angry rush, her loud footsteps thumping across the dark house.

The piece slipped straight through Lily's fingers.

The candle fell to the ground, lighting the desk leg on fire.

The magic in the air shifted, as if it did a 360.

A scream emitted from Lily's throat as all of these things happened. The scream echoed across the silent house, being heard from even miles away. She felt as if nobody could hear her though and that frightened her. She felt as if she couldn't hear herself screaming which meant nobody else could. If they could, why would they even care about the girl screaming?

On the other side of her bedroom door, a figure stood rigid unable to move in her own fear of what she would find inside of her little sister's room. Something obviously caused the sixteen-year-old to scream and the seventeen-year-old was unquestionably scared out of her wits. Something was going on inside of that room, something magic, Petunia could tell.

Something deadly, perhaps?

Lily grabbed the glass of water on her nightstand that she'd almost forgotten and she hurried splashed it on the little fire. She didn't want to die tonight. She picked up the candle and put it on the desk once more, breathing heavily before she decided what to do next. She pulled out a match from her pocket and instantly lit it and then she lit the candle up once more.

Standing up from her position on the floor, she looked around as she tried to catch her breath. She tried to slow her heart down because it was going a mile a minute because of how close she could've been to death. If she didn't have that glass of water, she was sure to have burnt in the fire somehow. Petunia would've probably ran away at the first sight of fire, she wouldn't even help.

Lily was almost positive about that as well.

Her green eyes ghosted over the eerily lit room before she shrugged as she felt a constant sharp pain coming from her left hand. She held up her hand in the light before she hissed in pain once more. She groaned at the sight that awaited her eyes. She shook her head at her stupidity before she walked over to her trunk and pulled out her First Aid-Kit. She brought it over to her desk and she pulled out her chair and took a seat.

Quickly she patched up her left hand, making sure to bandage it tightly before she nodded in approval. She looked back down at the mess with a frown. What object did they break during their fight and why could she feel magic surround it so tightly?

She closed her eyes, trying to imagine an object that was clearly magical – she could tell, the air had shifted in a funny way – that she had before the fight and now she didn't have. She flashed open her eyes and took a look around her bedroom but after a while, she couldn't really figure it out and she grew ever-so tired. She just went back to finishing her packing. She threw the pile of glass into her bin and she didn't really look back.

Tomorrow, she was starting her Sixth Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She didn't want to forget anything and have to write back to her parents so she could get them delivered to her. This year, she promised herself she wouldn't forget a thing.

Next thing she knew the clock turned from 9 o'clock at night to 3 o'clock in the morning. She didn't even have a clue about it until there was a sharp knock on her door.

"Yeah?"

Lily was looking at her trunk and frowning, fixing a few things as her mind skimmed everything she needed. She did a mental check list to see if she had everything. It appeared that she did and so, she nodded in approval.

"It's 3AM, sweetheart, please go to bed!"

Lily's cheeks flushed, "Sorry, daddy! Goodnight, I love you," she smiled, sheepishly down at her trunk. She heard a laugh from the other side of the door which only made the colour in her cheeks darken. "I love you too, darling," he said and by the sound of his footsteps fading away, he'd gone back to bed.

Tomorrow was a new day and she was prepared for whatever the world might throw at her.

At least, she had thought so.