Mr. Evans placed the key into the hole and turned the

knob. All the members of the Evans family collapsed

inside with the suitcases. They had just returned from

a long trip to the Americas to visit some relatives, and

everyone was jetlagged. Mrs. Evans collected the

stack of mail that the housekeeper, Ronai ( who told

Lily stories every night) , had gathered and placed in a

stack in the foyer. Everyone

went into the living room, Mrs. Evans flicking through

the mail and sorting out the junk.

Even though it was just past midnight, the

whole family was wide awake, except for Lily, who

couldn't really help drifting off to sleep. Despite her

drowsiness, she was alert enough to notice her

mother give an odd look and a snort of laughter to a

thick envelope and throw it into the steadily rising pile

of junk-mail. On the front, in emerald-green ink and

very loopy handwriting, was her name- Lily did a

double-take. What? She never got mail. Petunia

made sure of that. She was quite the bully at their

school, teasing Lily, and nobody ever wanted to

disagree with her. She scrambled over beside her

mother, her bright red braid bouncing.

"Mum- would you mind if I took a look at

this?" Her mother didn't even giver her a glance.

"Mm-hmm, dear." Lily took it and went over

to her usual perch on the piano bench. Lily gazed

down at the envelope in her hand.

Lilian Evans Number 12 Privet Drive, Surrey

She bit her lip and glanced around. She could see her

little brother, Harry, fast asleep on their father's lap.

Petunia was reading some magazine on the couch.

She carefully tore open the envelope and pulled quite

a few wads of parchment.

She raised her eyebrows. At the top of the

piece of parchment was this thing about some guy

called Albus Dumbledore. She looked further down

the page and saw that he was apparently the

headmaster of the school that had sent the letter-

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is

really weird Lily thought. Probably somebody playing a

prank. She flipped the pages and saw the craziest

supply lists ever! Cloaks, and cauldrons... Who would

buy this junk? She sighed, getting up and giving her

mother a goodnight hug. She went upstairs to her

bedroom, and realized that she still had the envelope

in her hand. She tossed it onto her desk and changed

for bed. What a joke...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lily woke the next morning to the sudden

shrieks of her sister, Petunia. She immediately sat

up in her bed, and the door to her bedroom flew open.

"what is this?" she asked, enraged,

holding up large piece of paper. "They were all inside

my bureau this morning!"

"I dunno..." Lily mumbled, groggily

climbing out of bed. She yawned and took the

envelope from her sister's hand. Her jaw dropped. It

was yet another one of those mysterious envelopes.

"Go get mum and dad."

Petunia gave Lily a funny look and did her bidding. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lily and her parents had thrown the heap

of letters into the bin days ago with an annoyed

feeling. That whole magic school thing was

completely outrageous, and they would probably stop

soon. It was a waste of parchment, and the mailing

would become expensive, she had thought. That is,

until she opened the door that day after visiting her

babysitter, Mrs. Figg, and found a heap of the same

letters waiting for her.

"Mum..." she said, turning to look at her

bewildered mother.

"What are all these?" she asked, amazed

by the gargantuan pile. This continued for the next few

days, until Mr. Evans snapped.

"THAT'S IT! We should phone the post-

office- or the police!"

"Um- you know, dear- it would sound

awfully crazy if we turn up with these letters... Maybe

we should go find this place- you know- see who

keeps on sending these letters," Mrs. Evans

suggested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, they were in a car full of wearied Evans

(four, to be exact, as Harry had stayed back with

Ronai). They were off to find this "Diagon Alley" place,

and with a somewhat manic-looking Mr. Evans who

was known to never give up, the chance that they

would be back by 6:00 (in time for Petunia's favorite

soap opera) was very slim.

Lily was seated in the back next to Petunia,

who was flipping through yet another pointless

magazine, only occasionally glancing out the windows

of the car and giving superior sniff to the run-down

looking shops. Lily coulnd't stand the silence.

Everyone at her school considered her to be a "little-

miss-prim-and-proper," and obviously knew nothing

about Lily. She set her face against the cool window,

letting her head bounce slightly as the car lurched

through the odd neighbourhood. Suddenly, an

impossibly lopsided building averted Lily's absent

gaze. She crinkled her nose at it; she knew that she

would reach her downfall through her uncontrollable

curiosity. The car rumbled to a stop and Lily's father

gave an exasperated sigh as he slowly proceeded to

turn the car around. Lily lifted her head and saw an

old carved sign swinging outside the door

reading, "the Leaky Cauldron." In the dark windows

was another sign reading, "This way to Diagon Alley

- see Tom." Lily's eyes lit up.

"Daddy! Dad! Look- there it is! Stop, stop!"

"Where, Lily?" her mother asked wearily.

"Right there, of course."

"What? I don't see anything," Mr. Evans

said. He yawned. "Today's Friday, yes, so first thing

Monday morning I'm calling the police."

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