A/N: Chase 3: Write about a muggleborn trying to smuggle one (or more) bits of muggle technology into Hogwarts.
Prompt 2: Microwave
Prompt 14: Cartoons
Prompts 15: "What do you mean these pictures don't move?"
I don't know where this came from. I also may have taken some liberties with the time frame, my apologies. This is roughly 1,200 words.
"What do you mean these pictures don't move?" Mary's nearly scandalized tone made Lily grin.
"Now you know I felt when I opened my first chocolate frog card."
"I'm serious! The longer I stare at them, the scarier it is. It's like they're frozen. I mean, does your sister's face always look like that?" Lily's smile faltered; though she had to admit that Tuney was wearing a particularly pinched expression. Probably because Severus was the one who had taken the photograph. Lily quickly pushed this thought from her mind.
"Well, actually we do have pictures that move, but their called films. They usually tell a story. It's like a book, but on a big screen, and the people in them talk." Now, Mary was something of a drama queen, but Lily did think it was a good thing they happened to be sitting on the ground, if her friend's pallid face were any indicated. Lily, though, ploughed on. "One of my favorites as a kid was 'Mary Poppins'. I guess she's a witch, probably why I like her so mcuh. She comes to be a nanny for the children of a banker. She can talk to animals, carry people with her into alternate dimensions, and she can fly using her umbrella." Mary laughed.
"That's absurd. Nobody flies with an umbrella."
"Well she did," Lily replied primly. Mary simply rolled her eyes. Lily clapped her hands in delight as she remembered something. "We also have moving drawings." This was too much for Mary, who burst into a fit of giggles.
"Now you're just yanking my wand."
"No really. They're kind of like those sketches Stephen does in Binns' class, except in full color. They come on every Saturday morning."
"On the tel-e-v-i-sion?" Mary haltingly reproduced the sounds she'd heard Lily and others make. Lily smiled.
"Yes. Do remember Bernard getting caught last term trying to smuggle one in?"
Lily and Mary and chosen seats on the train next to one another, and so had been posed to ride in a carriage together as well, along with a skittish looking first year who they had since learned was called Bernard Smith. He'd seemed particularly agitated throughout the ride up to the castle, and it had worsened as the students lined up on the front lawn to be examined and interrogated by the caretaker. Lily could hardly blame the poor lamb. She knew these were important precautions, what with Voldemort's reign of terror steadily increasing, security measures were as well. Lily also knew that just because you had nothing to hide, didn't make suspicion any easier to bear.
As it turned out, Bernard had had something to hide. He was a half-blood, who had had the unusual experience of growing up in two worlds. His mother, a muggle herself, had been insistent on his going to primary school, and she, of course had kept many of the same appliances in their home that Lily's family had in theirs. Bernard's father had bought Bernard's mother a color telly for Christmas. Bernard had asked if he might have the other one for a neighbor he knew could use it. Bernard's father had agreed, and Bernard had presumably gone off to deliver the Christmas present. In actuality Bernard, on a dare, had shrunken the television and necessary components to fit into his satchel.
"What the bloody hell is this!" the caretaker had shrieked. She had quite a set of lungs. Of course the television was confiscated and Bernard was sent to Professor Flitwick's office. Lily only found out the details because she happened to overhear Potter and Black niggling the information out of him.
"Is that what that was?"
"Unfortunately, yes." The drawl was unmistakeable. Avery, flanked by Mulciber, towered over the two girls, and Lily instinctively standing to place her body between Mary's and theirs.
"What do you want?"
"Me," Avery feigned surprise, "oh nothing. We were just passing and heard your little conversation. Mulciber snorted grotesquely.
"Do you have a cold Mulciber?" With more agility than was evidenced by his stature, Mulciber turned and spat at Lily. Missing her face, he hit her shoulder. With forced calm, she wrinkled her nose slightly and brushed the mucus from her sleeve.
"I don't have to answer your questions, mudblood." Hardly bristling, Lily gently nudged Mary, who was now standing behind her. She kept talking, keeping Mulciber's focus, and hoping that Mary understood she meant her to get away.
"That's a shame because there's lots of remedies I could recommend-" If Avery or Mulciber had seen Mary go, they weren't concerned. Lily was clearly a more interesting target- "My mother's favorite is cough syrup, but Vaseline on your chest is supposed to work too. And then of course there's always a steam from the shower. Though you'd need a boiler system for that, which, wouldn't you know, requires muggle ingenuity. So does indoor plumbing, for that matter." Avery snarled, and reached for his wand. Lily side-stepped him, reaching for her own, as she raised the pitch of her voice, hoping someone would hear her, and look round. " Shall I tell you about how I almost snuck a microwave into Hogwarts? When I was younger, my sister and I would use it to make popcorn-"
"What's a microwave?" It was Peter Pettigrew. She hadn't heard James and he come up behind her. James had his wand out, which explained why she hadn't been hexed yet.
"It's a muggle machine that cooks a good deal faster than an oven or stove." To everyone's surprise, it was Professor Mcgonagall who answered Peter's question. Mary was jogging behind to keep with her stride. "You two," she pointed at Avery and Mulciber with her wand, "Professor Slughorn needs to see you about missing Potions homework." Glowering, but not daring to argue, the boys headed back towards the castle, shooting one last filthy glance at Lily. "Put your wand away Potter!" Professor Mcgonagall exasperated voice, was what made Lily turn to see that James was still very much aiming for Avery's wand arm.
"Yes professor," James said. Not having even the decency to look sheepish. Professor Mcgonagall sighed. "Potter, Pettigrew, please go rescue Mr. Lupin from the library. He's buried himself in an essay I assigned recently, although he knows perfectly well it is not due for another fortnight. Please see to it that he sees the sun today." Understanding that they had been dismissed, the boys went in search of their friend, Lily, cheeks burning, pointedly avoiding James' eyes.
"Ms. Evans," Professor Mcgonagall brusque voice returning to itself, "would you care to join Ms. Macdonald and I for a cup of tea? I am quite interested to hear how you planned to introduce a microwave to the premises" Lily chuckled, and nodded, took Mary's hand, and followed Professor Mcgonagall back to her office.