Main Disclamer: I own nothing that doesn't belong to me.
Charms
Chapter One
Ready...
Lily Evans was a normal girl of a normal family in a normal suburban village near London. It was about 5 in the morning, and the sun was peaking into her otherwise darkened room. A gust of wind flitted around her face, she smiled in her sleep. She turned over and ducked her head under a pillow to hide from the sun for a few more hours.
At 8:30, Lily Evans' dad burst into the room with a smile on his face. He was in his early thirties, and had thick brown hair. In the daylight, crow's feet would have been obvious around emerald green eyes. He had a few pock-marks on his otherwise handsome face, and his hands showed the wear of being a blue-collar worker. He was already dressed for work in black jeans and a maroon short sleeve shirt, both with tell-tale signs of strenuous use.
It was too dark to see much in Lily's room. Her dadwent over to throw open the curtains to reveal daylight into Lily's eyes. The curtains didn't move an inch, yet there was a steady breeze still ruffling Lily's dark red hair.She rolled over in her sleep, unaware that her father was trying to yank the curtains apart, then trying to seperate them from the wall, then the windowsill, to no avail. Finally, her father gave up, flicked on the ceiling light, and shook Lily awake.
Lily squinted her eyes and glared at him, hoping that he would go away. Instead of excusing himself quietly after an embarrassing losing battle with curtains, her dad leaned in close to Lily's face, opened his startling green eyes wide, and said loudly in a sing-song voice, "WAKEY WAKEY, EGGS AND BAKEY!" It was, if anything, an attempt to keep his nerve.
"Shurrup, Dad..." Lily moaned groggily, but tumbled clumsily from the bed, taking half of her bright green bedsheets with her. Her father took one last look at the curtains, which almost mockingly opened toshow bright sunlight, Lily's small garden-box,and the street below. He pivoted on his heel, and tried to make a dignified excape.
About a week later, Lily was lazing around in her room. It was sunny outside, her garden-box flowers were in full bloom, and happiness was reflected all around her, from her sky-blue walls to her green bed and shag carpet, from her cloudlike ceiling light to the daylily colored base board. Suddenly, she heard a rat-tat-tat on her window. She flung herself off of her bed and over to her partly-open window and opened it fully. A tawny owl quickly dropped something on her bed and soared right back out of Lily's bedroom window.
Lily ran back to her bed and grabbed what the owl had dropped. It was heavy parchment with a purple seal, a crest of sorts that included a badger, a snake, a raven, and a lion, all intertwined around a large H. She broke the seal and her eyes roved around the letter enclosed.
"Dear Miss L. Evans,
We are pleased to inform you-"
-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-"
"-A representative will come Saturday to receive your decision-"
Lily couldn't have been more thrilled. As she kept unfolding the letter, another piece of parchment fell out, this describing what she would need if she could go to Hogwarts. Her pulse was racing with excitment, and she whooped with happiness. She couldn't wait to go show her mum!
On Saturday, as the letter had stated, an unfamiliar and quite eccentric man walked up to the Evans' front door and rang the doorbell. He was wearing a tealvelvet suit with a blazing yellow shirt and a vivid purple tie. His hair was greying, but had a little bit of brown peppered into the mix, and his beard was quite long. Even though his face was wrinkled, it still held the joys of youth, and yet looked like the wisest person Lily could ever hope to meet. Lilyhad been watching him through an upstairs window overlooking the street and ran down the stairs, knocking on the door to her dad's den and making sure her parents were ready. She bolted towards the door and, after getting there, paused to brush herself off and slow her heart rate before opening the door as calmly as she could manage.
"Hello, you must be Lily. My name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts. I hope you've accepted?"
"Um, yeah, I have." Lily turned to face the stairs. "MUUM! DAAD!"
Dumbledore tried to hide a smile. He watched as Lily's parents came down the stairs. Lily's mum had to quickly get her purse out of the kitchen, and Lily quickly grabbed her acceptance letter and school list before they headed off.
"How are we getting there? To Diagon Alley?" Lily had no trouble remembering the name as she had read the letters more times than some people pick up books. She glanced from her dad to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was about a head shorter than Lily's dad, and Lily's mum was even shorter still. Lily, as she had not yet reached her growth spurt, was the shortest of them all.
Her dad looked at Dumbledore questioningly. Dumbledore wasn't fazed at all. "We can get there any way you like. Although, within reason. For example, a submarine would not get you to Diagon Alley, although it might be fun to ride in one."
"Will a car work? I think we can all fit in mine." Her father, after Dumbledore nodded, opened up the garage door and they all piled in the Evans' forest green compact car. Lily's dad drove, with Dumbledore sitting in front to lead the way, and Lily and her mum sat in back. All the way there, her dad was asking questions about the school, including (but definately not limited to) where Lily was to sleep, how many students were at Hogwarts, what there was to eat, when Lily could come home, and how much this was going to cost them. Dumbledore had an answer much like his answer to transportation to each and every question Lily's dad threw at him. Soon, Dumbledore said to park. They all got out and Lily's parents looked around, confused.
"You'll be able to see where we're going if you hold on to Lily," Dumbledore commented, as if he were talking about the weather (Which was, in fact, sunny with a slight southern breeze. Lily felt her dad squeeze her shoulder, and her mum took Lily's hand. As they did so, they gasped. It was if another building had suddenly appeared in a small crack between the two stores next door. As Dumbledore led the group in, he smiled and waved amiably at the bartender, who introduced himself as Tom. As Tom started cleaning out a mug, Dumbledore lead them to a trash can and tapped on the brick that was three up and two across. All three of the Evans's gasped as a small archway appeared, and as they watched, grew bigger and bigger, until it was big enough to accommodate everone.
Dumbledore had already explained to Lily's dad about muggle money and wizard money, so Lily and her mum sat and waited on a bench for the two to return from Gringotts. Lily's mum had auburn hair, much like Lily's, but instead of bright emerald green, she had very dark brown eyes. She looked quite frail, but still looked radiant in the sunlight even with her age. Lily's mum was dressed in a fern green tee shirt and khaki capris, while Lily was decked out in hip-hugger jeans with wide bellbottoms and a tye-dyed tank top.
It took longer than Lily thought a trip to the bank would take, but instead of just Galleons and Sickles and Knuts, her dad was also carrying all of her schoolbooks. "It was right across the way, I thought it would save us some time." Lily nodded.
"We're on to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, now, for your school uniform." He pointed to a shop a little down the way, and they all followed him through the crowds of people and stalls until they got into the store. The moment they got in there, they were immediately attended to by a plump, middle-aged woman in golden orange robes.
"Hogwarts, dear?" The woman smiled, and nodded for her assistant (which looked much like a younger version of Madam Malkin) to bring the robes. The girl scurried off and quickly reappeared holding a huge box of robes. Madam Malkin measured Lily quickly and slipped a robe onto Lily. She made a few minor alterations, but before long Lily was holding a bag carrying three pairs of the required black robes and a coat for winter.
"Now, Miss Evans, why don't you go into Ollivanders and get your wand as your father and I go to get the rest of the things on your list?" Lily nodded at Dumbledore, and proceeded into the wand shop alone. She was jittery with excitement and nervousness as she stood near the door, wondering what to do. Her question was answered when a man stepped out of the shadows. It was quite dim in there, and so all Lily could see that he was a man of average height with dark hair.
"Hello, Miss Evans. I've been expecting you. Hold out your wand hand. Your dominant hand, if you will. Yes."He had an oily voice that was smooth and comforting, and yet still strangely repulsive.A tape measure started measuring Lily as boxes were flying and stacking themselves neatly by Mr. Ollivander. Lily wondered fleetingly how he knew her name, but decided to think that Dumbledore told him earlier. It was easier that way, anyway.
"Try this, Miss Evans. Mahogany, 12 inches, dragon heartstring.. Give it a wave." Lily did so. She was expecting something to happen, but she felt like she was waving a polished stick.She had the urge to make a face, but contained herself as to not look like a complete imbicile.
"Hmm. Beechwood, 10 and three quarters, unicorn hair." Lily waved the next wand, with the same results. Mr. Ollivander snatched the wand away and put another wand in her hand.
"Holly, 8 inches, phoenix feather." Again, nothing. Ollivander kept piling up wands, with different lengths and wood, to no avail. Lily felt like she had tried out hundreds of wands, none of which were having the desired effect. She felt more and more foolish, and couldn't help thinking to herself,' What if I'm not a witch! What if there's been a big mistake, there's another Lily Evans who was supposed to receive the letter, and it went to the wrong person!' She could hear her sister's nagging voice in her hed. 'I told you so, you're just a freak. And now you've blown some of Daddy's money. And he was going to buy me a new radio! You're so stupid, Lily!'
Mr. Ollivander was mumbling. In Lily's trancelike state, she could not pick out a single word that he was saying, buthe summoned a dusty wandbox to him and opened it. He offered it to Lily, and she took it straight from the box. The moment she touched it, her hand tingled, and the wand shined. She barely had to move it, it was already emitting emerald swirls of almost-corporeal smoke. The smoke twisted around Lily happily as Lily sat there, staring at what was happening.
"Yes, yes, there we go. Ten and a quarter, willow, unicorn hair. Good for charm work. Well, I wish you luck at Hogwarts, Miss Evans." Lily paid from her much-lighter moneybag, and left.
Her mother was standing right outside the door, staring at her watch. When she saw Lily, she looked relieved. "Dad and Mr. Dumbledore went to sit at the ice cream parlour until you were done. You've taken a long time, Lily. Whatever were you doing?" Lily just smiled, and walked towards the direction her mum had just pointed. She held her wandbox in one hand and took her mum's hand in the other and dragged her along, not answering her question. She found where the two were sitting, and before Lily could silt down, Dumbledore stood up and smiled amiably.
"Ahh, Lily. You've gotten your wand. Here is all of your other school supplies, remember to bring all of them to Hogwarts. I've already given your father instructions on how you are to get there, and I've got a lot to do before school starts, so I'm off! Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Evans! I'll see you at Hogwarts, Lily!"
CRACK!
Albus Dumbledore was gone.