The Sparkling Diamond of Hogwarts

Chapter One: The Preview

"Come what ma-a-ay..." hummed 17 year-old James Potter.

"What was that?" asked his friend Sirius from the seat opposite to James, finally turning his attention away from the window of the Hogwarts Express.

"Was that a song lyric we just heard?" implied Remus with a smile, yet another friend of James, in the seat next to James. James smiled back.

"Yes, my grandmother learned it from her mother and she use to sing it to me."

"And where did your great-grandmother get it from?"

"A play that was performed about a century ago in France. At least that's what I think she said."

"It sounded lovely." At that moment, the compartment door slid open.

"Food, boys?" asked a plump woman whom was pushing a food trolley. James immediately stood up as he felt his stomach rumble with hunger, and was shortly followed by his friends.

"One chocolate frog, please." James asked the woman as he handed her a golden galleon. But when he reached into the trolley for his frog, his hand accidentally bumped into another. His face instantly darted up to see the owner, Lily Evans, staring back at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." he shyly said as he picked up the frog and handed it to the girl. "Here, you take it." Which she did with a kind smile.

"Thanks... you're sweet." They stood there a few more seconds until Lily turned on her heel back toward her compartment. Sirius was disgusted to see his confident friend behave in such a manner. It was actually embarrassing. Could a simple girl really do that to a boy? He hoped never to find out.

James grabbed another frog and slowly walked back into his compartment except this time a grin was spread across his face.

"I will love you, yes I will love you, until my dy-ing day..." he hummed again, causing a confused look on Sirius' face. What in the world?, he thought to himself, The silly boy's gone mad...

~ * ~ ~*~ ~ * ~

In the pitch-black darkness, the Hogwarts Express slowly came to a stop at Hogsmeade station. One by one, its passengers emptied off onto the cool atmosphere of the platform. In the far corner, Ogg, the groundskeeper, could be seen holding a lantern and beckoning to all of the 1^st years for the traditional boat ride across the lake. Of course, no one took much notice of him since none of the students at Hogwarts really knew anything about the man. Instead, all those in 2^nd year and above motioned to the horseless carriages.

Sirius, Remus, and James found one to themselves, and excitedly began their last journey up to Hogwarts in this form of transportation, for this year was their 7^th and final year at Hogwarts, after which they would all finally be real wizards.

The carriages came to a stop with a sudden jerk at the great wooden doors of Hogwarts, and then waited at their passengers emptied out like ants into the school. James stayed out for a few minutes and stared up at the greatness of Hogwarts, and thought about how much he would miss it until Sirius gave a tug at his sleeve and brought him back to his senses before leading him into the Great Hall. Nearly everyone had already seated themselves, but luckily, Remus had saved them seats at the Gryffindor table.

"Where's Lily?" James suddenly asked Remus as he noticed she wasn't sitting at the table.

"I don't know, Dumbledore pulled her out of the crowd before she could get in. I'm sure she's fine though, but what I want to know is who's the man sitting next to Dumbledore." James looked up at the teachers table and saw what Remus was talking about. A round man with his hair neatly combed to the side and a mustache, wearing robes of brown was sitting next to Dumbledore, looking around and taking in his surroundings.

"Students and teachers! It is my pleasure to welcome you all back to another year at Hogwarts!" began Dumbledore, "Also, to inform you that it is time for the Tri-Wizard Tournament once again!" A flurry of mutters quickly spread across the hall, echoing against the walls and causing a great noise that was soon quieted by Dumbledore. "Now I know you're all excited, but settle down now. There's more. Everyone, please give a round of applause for Mr. Michael Dorien, the man who made this possible!" The round man and stood up, but didn't say anything and simply smiled while everyone applauded and stopped rather quickly. "So, as a celebration of the tournament, our very own Lily Evans shall be performing a show before each task, and has agreed to give us a sneak peak tonight as we eat!" At those words the food appeared and soon the cling! and clang! of knives and forks filled the hall.

Soon, the light began to dim, and an object could be seen lowering from the enchanted ceiling. A stage was conjured in the center, and performers and costumes appeared upon it. The cling! and clang! stopped as everyone's attention turned to the object. It was Lily.

She was sitting on a kind of swing, with a board of wood to sit on, and two ropes attached on each side. Her soft brown hair had been softly curled, so that it zigzagged, and a crown was upon it, a golden one. Her robes had been replaced by a sleeveless silver dress, with an odd belt around her waist that was really just a string with diamonds hanging from it, spread by about an inch. Gold bands were strapped to her on her arms, and bracelets hung from both of her wrists.

Lily's head was looking down, her eyes closed, until the swing touched the floor. Her head suddenly looked up, her glittering green eyes wide open. James couldn't help but stare, as well as every other boy. He noticed something odd suddenly. She was wearing make-up, lipstick, a crimson color of it.

"Kiss... Hand... Diamonds... Best Friend." Lily began to sing with her beautiful voice in a lovely melody. She stood up, with her arms raised and her hands cupped. "Kiss... Grand... Diamonds... Best Friend." This time she began to slowly walk to the edge of the stage, lowering her arms, her hands still cupped. "Kiss... Grand... Diamonds... Best Friend." She turned sharply once more and walked to the center of the stage where she lay down. The other performers did the same, only all around her, forming a circle. "Men... Cold..." she continued singing, before sitting up and staring directly at James. "Girls... Old." She sang as she raised her left leg and right hand, using her left to make her spin around slowly, and then stand up. "And we all loose our charms, in the end."

Now all of the performers gathered around her and she vanished, but soon reappeared as she was raised up, her arms held up again, hands still cupped. She was lowered, and rose back three times, each time she was up singing, "Diamonds are a, Diamonds are a, Diamonds are a." The last time, the people gave her space and let her move to the edge of the stage once more, at a slow pace, and her head looking up. "Girls...Best...Friend." The room darkened completely, and when the lights were restored it was all gone. Applause filled the hall once more.

"Beautiful, Beautiful!" shouted Dumbledore, "Thank you, Lily!" Eventually the applause died out and everyone kept on eating. But Lily didn't return. Dumbledore gave his last few words and everyone left the hall. And yet still no sign of Lily. That night, James discovered something as he lay into his bed and thought of the performance, and his grandmothers song, and most of all, Lily. He had fallen in love with Lily.