Chapter 1
A/N: ok be nice this is my second shot at fanfic (the last one sucked they were Mary sues!) so if there's something that makes them seem Mary sueish or something please tell me! In other word's R&R!
Disclaimer: Am I a British woman with kids? Wait how would you know? FYI. NO! I am a Canadian teen girl. Hence Harry Potter's not mine. Plus my story probably sucks compared to hers, which rocks.
A/n: this one start's in third person but will be first person eventually!
"Lily, come on!" a 13 year-old horse faced girl with ugly brown hair called to a younger girl.
" I don't want to go shopping Petunia!" An 11 year-old girl with flaming red hair and emerald green eyes hollered back. Lily was sitting in her closet hiding from her older sister who needed a new outfit for her first date. " I hate shopping! Go by yourself!"
Lily heard someone stomping up the stairs then her closet door was wrenched open. "Lily, how can I go shopping for my first date without my best friend?" Petunia made puppy-dog eyes at her sister, which just made her face look more than slightly deformed.
" You know I can't stand the mall!" Lily cried in exasperation. Last time Petunia had dragged her successfully into the mall was for her first dance, at age seven. The rest of the time their mother had to take them. " Please, Petunia. Don't make me go."
Lily begged because Petunia had already started to pick up Lily's scrawny little body.
" Since you're my best friend in the whole wide world and I could never lose you. I guess I could go with Chelsea." Petunia gave in and dropped L ily onto her bed with a thud.
Lily immediately got up and hugged Petunia. " Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lily screamed happily. Lily then let go only when Petunia gasped for air. Petunia left the room to go call Chelsea so Lily ran out of the house at full speed to her friend Michaels house next door.
Lily
I looked at Petunia one last time before she left on her date. " Petunia, you look beautiful. Stop worrying Peter will think you're gorgeous." I told her. She had been nervous about this date since the day she got back from shopping with Chelsea.
Petunia gave me a smile and hugged me tightly in thanks then left her room to go downstairs where Peter was waiting. I heard a faint murmuring from downstairs as I walked into my room then the hum of a car as Peter his mum and my sister drove away.
I walked over to my mirror to brush my tangled too red hair. I took a look at my reflection and blushed furiously at the image before me. My hair was sticking up at odd angles thanks to the fight Petunia and I had had over the hair gel and I had bags under my eyes from staying up all night telling Petunia that her date would go fine. Just to make it more hideous were my now apple red cheeks. Curse this red hair! The only thing I liked at the moment was my emerald green eyes, which shone brightly as ever. I thought of going to bed right then but it was only three pm and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep yet. So I brushed my hair and headed over to Mike's.
Halfway through the backyard I saw a barn owl headed for me. I stopped walking so I could watch it fly, as I had never seen one properly in the dark. It headed straight for me so I ducked thinking that it could have rabies.
Just as I got ready for impact it dropped a letter I hadn't noticed it was carrying. It then swooped up and landed on our roof.
Out of curiosity I peered at the name on the letter. Ms. Lila Gertrude Evans. Oh my God! It's for me! I cautiously picked up the letter addressed to me. I noticed that it was made of thicker than normal paper that had a yellow tinge to it.
I turned over the envelope and saw a red crest sealing it closed. I tore it open and looked at the letter.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.
Headmaster: Professor Dippet.
(Order of Merlin, Second class, International Confederation of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on the 1st of September. We await your owl no later then August30th
Yours Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore.
Deputy Headmaster.
I stared at the letter in shock. What was happening? Witchcraft? I thought that was only in fairytales. This had to be one of Matthew or Mike's jokes! I stormed over to Mike's house where I was sure Matt would be.
Sure enough, Matt and Mike were swimming in Mike's pool. " What on earth were you two thinking?" I screeched my face tomato red from anger " You two are idiots! That's just stupid! Like I'd fall for that!"
The two cousins looked equally confused. " Lily. What are you talking about?" Matt was being cautious because he knew about my awful temper.( After all I'd known them both since I was five.)
At Matt's obvious obliviousness I looked at Mike who was also extremely confused. I realized neither of them knew about it. My anger tomato red cheeks turned immediately to my apple red ones of embarrassment. " Never mind I just realized it was… a …dream." I finished lamely.
They looked at me curiously. All I wished for at that moment was for them to forget what I had just said. I turned to leave my head down when I heard Mike call out. " Oi! Lily where you going didn't you want to say something? You just got here." I turned around and stared at them.
" What? Didn't I say anything?' I asked extremely confused.
" No we saw you come in then you turned to leave." Matt answered flatly and looked at me like I was insane.
" Oh yeah, I just came to say…. Hi!" I cried then turned and called over my shoulder." Just thought I'd say hi while Matt was here but I have to now. Bye" I then ran back to my backyard to pick up my letter.
I walked into my house and brought the letter to my mum who was sitting in the living room reading a book by the fire "Mum?" I asked.
"Yeah. Lils?" She answered signaling to me that she wasn't too absorbed in her book to talk.
" I got a letter today. I'm not sure if it's real but I think you should see it." I told her. She held out her hand so I placed the letter in her open palm. She took a look at it and smiled.
"Lily do you want me to contact them?" My mum smirked amused.
" If you wouldn't mind." I murmured though at her laughable face I added, "So that if it's a joke I also know who did it."
My mum looked more reasonable at that so she asked, " How do we owl?"
I ran out of then house and called to the owl on top of it. The owl flew down and rested on my outstretched forearm. I brought it back into the house and showed to my mum. She scribbled an acceptance note on the back and gave it to the owl that then retreated out an open window.
" Lily, this is a lot of stuff we have to get in London." She looked at me with a frown. " I hope you can show me where the Leaky Cauldron is. Apparently it's near Diagon Alley. And you better get a good night's sleep. We don't want you complaining all tomorrow do we?" I smiled at her gratefully and hugged her.
" Thank you mum." I said sincerely. She gave me the list of items I would need. I glanced at it at the bottom it said I could bring a toad, owl or cat. " I better get Midnight ready then"
I rushed up to my room and got my cat carrier out of my closet. My cat Midnight scowled and hissed at it. Midnight was my black cat with a Cheshire moon shaped white spot on his chest. (A/N: You know the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland with the sliver moon teeth thing?)" Don't worry Midnight we wont need this for a day or two." Oh my gosh term starts in a month! I squealed with excitement.
Wait. Does this mean I'm a witch? I asked my self in confusion. No. Witches were in storybooks. But then again…how did Mike and Matt forget? Now that I think about it there has been a lot of unexplainable things that happen around me. Like that time Gwen was bullying me then was suspended in thin air. Maybe I am a witch.
Around five, Petunia came into the house after saying goodbye to Peter and came into my room. " Hey Lily. Guess what happened. On my date?" Petunia looked so happy. I didn't want to steal her thunder. So I will wait 'til she's done.
" What Petunia?" I asked her. " Please tell me." Might as well make her think I actually care.
Petunia smiled happily. " We kissed." She sighed at the memory. I gasped in shock.
" Really Petunia? On the first date?" I was faking being appalled and she realized this so we started to giggle. " I have news too." I said once our giggling had subsided. She looked at me questioningly. " I'm a witch."
Petunia looked horrified. " F-fuh-fuh-freak!" She screeched at me. I had expected her to be happy for me.
" What's wrong Petunia?" I was worried she hadn't heard me right.
Petunia was now being stubborn so she turned to leave and slammed the door with a muttered, "Freak."
I stared after her tears welling up in my eyes. How could this happen?
The next day mum woke me up at seven. " Come on Sweetie. Don't want to be late."
I jumped up and ran over to the mirror. The bags under my eyes were gone but I looked like a firecracker. My hair was messy and was shining in the dawn light. I grabbed my brush and pulled it through my fiery locks. My bright emerald eyes were shining in happiness as I pulled on a baggy Led Zeppelin shirt. I grabbed a pair of my favourite jeans as my mum hollered for me to hurry up. I snatched the list off of my night table and ran down the stairs.
My mum was waiting for me by the door and Petunia was in the kitchen having breakfast with my workaholic dad. "You freak get out of the house!" Petunia hollered at me on sight. My mum looked at her in anger and my dad yelled at her.
" Come on Lily let's go into London." Mum took my hand as she could tell I was about to cry and led me to the car. I hopped in and waited for the fifteen-minute trip to begin.
As my mum looked for the Leaky Cauldron on the road it specified in the letter I saw her eyes pass right over it. " Mum! There." I pointed at it.
Mum squinted and nodded. " Oops, didn't see it." She parked the car and we hopped out. She headed off down the road so I had to grab her sleeve. " Lily we have to find Diagon Alley."
" Let's just ask the bartender. Where it is." I reasoned. My mum had a horrible sense of direction and I didn't want to get lost in London.
" Good idea. In we go." I followed her into the pub. Immediately I noticed a maybe nineteen-year-old man scrubbing glasses.
" Excuse me er-," I asked as he cut me off.
" The names Tom." He told me.
" Excuse me Tom but do you happen to know where we can find Diagon alley? " I asked politely.
He smiled at my mum and me. " Yup, just follow me." He started toward the back door of the pub. " New at Hogwarts" He asked me. I just nodded. He led us into an area filled with boxes and a brick wall. My mum looked quizzically at me. Tom walked to the brick wall and tapped a few bricks. The wall magically started to part to let us enter. " There you go just knock on the wall when you want to leave." He smiled and left us to wonder Diagon Alley unaccompanied.
I didn't hesitate to run off onto the magical street. I headed into a store called Flourish and Blotts. Inside were thousands of books. Some about something called Quidditch and some about magic and even some about Hogwarts. I picked up a book titled Hogwarts: A History and looked inside.
My mum came in and I asked her if we could buy my books now. She took out my list and handed it to me so I could run around and find them.
I found all the books on the list plus one or two that just looked interesting and went back to my mum. ' Mum look what I have! Let's buy them please." We went up to the counter and my mum handed over a handful of pounds.
The cashier looked at them in confusion then a light bulb seemed to go off in his mind. " Oh your muggles!" He smiled at us as we just gave him an odd stare. " You need to use wizard money. You can exchange that in Gringotts. Just over there." Mum and me just put the books down and headed for the door.
Once we got outside we headed in the direction the shopkeeper had pointed and soon came upon a tall snowy-white building with brass doors. We walked inside and came to another pair of doors these one's were silver. Engraved on them was the inscription: Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors,
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
" Are you sure we should go in?" Mum asked me uncertainly.
" Yup. We aren't going to steal so why should we be afraid?' I asked. Just then I shrieked in terror. In front of mum and me was a goblin.
The goblin scowled at me for my foolishness. " How can I help you?"
" We need to exchange our money for yours." Said my mum with much more bravery than I had.
" Follow me." The goblin growled. " And please try not to scream." My cheeks flushed their apple red as we followed him through the doors and up to a desk that he climbed behind.
My mum handed him around three hundred pound which he swiftly counted. He shoved the money into a drawer and took out a huge hand full of golden coins, one of silver coins, and one of bronze coins. The goblin then motioned for us to leave. My mum pushed the money into a sack and we left.
We walked back into Flourish and Blotts and purchased the books we had left there. The storekeeper took seven of the gold coins three of the silver and sixteen of the bronze ones. He thanked us and we left.
We walked aimlessly for a couple of minutes then headed into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. A pleasantly plump young witch waddled over to them. "Are you in Hogwarts dear?" She asked me.
" Yes. First year." I answered politely. She just nodded and helped me onto a stool. She took out a robe with the same crest as on the back of the letter. She handed them to me and I pulled them over my head. They felt baggy and far too big.
" Hmmm." She mumbled looking at me skeptically. She took out a wand and waved it at me. I suddenly felt the robes tighten to my body and instead of feeling baggy and to big they felt perfectly comfortable. I smiled. " Good?" She asked with a satisfactory smile on her face.
" Yes. Thank you." I thanked her and my mum handed her some coins.
As we went to leave the shop I saw a guy with sandy blonde hair clinging to his fathers arm walk in. I gave him a friendly smile that he quickly returned.
Once back on the cobbled street we headed to a shop with a wand in the window. It was called Ollivanders. A man who I assumed was Mr. Ollivander came out from behind some shelves.
" Hello. Are you looking for a wand?" Mr. Ollivander asked me.
"Yes please." I answered happily. I'm finally going to get a wand!
Mr. Ollivander disappeared behind one of many tall shelves of small, long boxes.
" Honey, do they really use wands?" My mother asked me uncertainly. I could tell she hadn't read many magic based books like I had. Then again she was a chemistry professor, (A/N: Go Vicky's dad: ) )Why would she have to?
" Yes mum. Without them you can't do magic." I answered matter of factly.
" Right you are my dear." Out came Mr. Ollivander from behind a shelf. This time he was carrying a small long box. " I have a wand for you to try miss."
He opened the box and handed me the wand inside. I held it awkwardly. What if I broke it? " Don't be afraid give it a whirl." He motioned with his hand.
I twirled it a few times but only succeeded in giving Mr. Ollivander a nasty hair cut. I apologized profusely as he fixed it with his own wand.
He grabbed a box from the nearest shelf and tossed it at me as he kept looking. I opened it and saw a beautiful wand. It was a willow wood wand of about 10¼ inches. It even had a small emerald on the bottom. I gasped. It was the most beautiful wand I had ever seen. Though that wasn't very many. Three maybe.
Mr. Ollivander seemed to know how fond I was of this wand. " Made that one for the headmistress of Beaxbaton's. Didn't like her much though. Set her hair on fire." He chuckled at the memory. " That was last week. It's got a kelpies bulrush in it. Took me a month to get it. Almost got pulled to the bottom of a river trying. Finally got a bridle on it though."
I looked at him silently questioning whether or not I was allowed to touch it. Mr. Ollivander turned and answered my unasked question. " Are you going to try it out or are you going to drool some more?" He joked.
I smiled a huge smile and carefully removed the wand from the box. It wasn't awkward. It felt…right. I twirled it in a pattern I made up and in its wake it left sparkles.
Mr. Ollivander smiled. "It likes you." I giggled.
" How much is it?" My mum asked politely.
" That one was the hardest to make and there's a gem in it. I say about 22 galleons." Mr. Ollivander answered.
My mum smiled understandably and opened the pouch of money. She took out one of each coin and Mr. Ollivander pointed at the gold one. My mum counted out 22 and handed it to him.
I thanked him profusely and skipped out of the store with mum walking close behind.
We finished our shopping in Diagon Alley and headed into the Leaky Cauldron. We left and headed to our car. We headed home.
Once I walked in the door of my house Petunia's face appeared. "Done with your freak shopping yet?" She sneered. Tear's stung my eyes. I couldn't take the rest of the summer like this
A/N! Hello hoped you like it! Please R&R! Oh and thanks to Suk-Fong! (AKA Vicky.) For being my beta! NINE pages NINE! More than I've ever written ever! 3451 Words!