Boarding Schools, Owls, And Boys
~*~I~*~ sat on the shore
line of lake Tannanoba, watching the mist rise from the forest that lingered
just about a mile away, my hand gently stirring the cool water. The sun blazed down,
warming the ground, the smell of wet Earth was in the air, and birds twittered
and chirped in the trees above me. I looked at the mountains and noticed for
the first time how they looked light purple at sunset, with little bits of snow
still lingering from winter on their peaks. I stopped gazing, and looked into
the pool at my own reflection. I had long red hair, sparkling green eyes, milky
skin, and rosy cheeks and pale pink lips. A fish jumped in the lake, rippling
everything, destroying my reflection. I sighed, and looked again for a moment
at the forest, before getting up and heading back toward the place I was now
expected to call 'home'.
It was
about a quarter of a mile away, and as I drew nearer I recognized the red roof,
white stucco walls, cheery windows with white cotton tulle floating from them,
and the towering five-story height. The big red stucco double doors were
slightly ajar, and I let myself slip through them. To the right there was a
glass end table, with assorted pictures on it, most with crystal frames. I
stopped to look at them, realizing all of these people were actually alive
somewhere. One picture was of a French looking girl, around my age, height and
weight, receiving an award. I knew this was Celeste, a girl I had met on my
first day here at this house.
Another
picture was of a boy that looked American. I knew better, though: he was from
England, like me, named Danny, and spoke fluently in almost any language you
could imagine without even dropping our native accent. To the left of him was a
girl who was Japanese, who's name was Vivian. She was exceptionally good at
art, and had a knack for eating until she was stuffed. In front if her, there
was a boy with a lofty grin on his face. His name was Michael and he was
Canadian.
To the
right of him was a picture of a girl who looked rather British with carroty
hair, huge emerald eyes, creamy skin, and a frown upon her large pink lips. She
was holding baggage, and was standing where I was standing now. This was me,
two weeks ago, arriving at Rhodington. Backing away from the photos, I sat down
in a prim and dainty English chair from the 1700's. I thought back to
yesterday, and before that. My brain swirled with memories and thoughts and
visions and dreams and hopes and despairs and promises and disappointments and
surprises and conversations.
Everything
started a month after my eleventh birthday. My parents sent me away to boarding
school, at a place called 'Rhodington'. It was a school for all nationalities
in Turkey, where I was promised opportunities and advantages. I had screamed
and yelled and stamped my foot and complained, but I still had to leave. My
darling sister, Petunia, and I had a tearful good bye. We were best friends.
So, a month after that, I was on a plane, then another, then on a train, then
another, then another. My aunts, Lucy and Valika, brought me home, and I had
sat grumpily through the car ride. We had arrived here and I hadn't even
bothered to acknowledge the wonderful beauty of this place.
When we
neared the huge house that I was sitting in as I reflected on my past, my aunts
had explained that there was where four other students lived, along with them.
I would live there too, attend the school, etc. Valika and Lucy were teachers
there, so I pretty much thought I was going to be watched like a hawk all the
time. All of the aforesaid students were waiting for me, all with rather
different attitudes and unique differences. Even in less than a month I had
learned lots about them.
Celeste
had silvery blonde hair, soft and sweet blue eyes, a rather thick French
accent, and very pale skin. She was very haughty, much like me, and she always
seemed to be bursting at the seams with ideas and imaginings. She was
thoughtful and smart and pretty, and she dressed in chic French styles. She was
always rather insulting in a playful way, especially with Michael. She didn't
particularly care very much for sports, but loved make-up and singing and
dancing and talking and exploring.
Danny
had dark black hair, which he spiked, hazel eyes, nice white skin like mine and
Celeste's, and he was very exuberant, talkative, carefree, fun and was never
serious. He always enjoyed his own jokes and others' too. His grin never left
his face, and his eyes were always dancing with mischief. He was excellent at
sports, rather smart, tall and hilarious. Always a jokester, never the joke-ie
it seemed, probably because he was obviously very popular down at the school as
far as I could tell from what Celeste had told me.
Vivian
had long deep raven hair, large chocolate eyes, and was loud and even a bit
obnoxious at times. She thought everything was 'fun-nun-ny' as she explained in
her attempt at talking fluent English. She obviously loved to act and swim and
bounce, but she never once got tired. She was crazy about food, and was really
a pig, but was just one of those people who stayed naturally thin no matter how
much they ate.
Michael
was Danny's best friend, and was almost exactly like him, except he never shut
up. He had jet-black hair; a pair of velvety purple eyes, tan skin, and was as
tall as Danny. He was constantly saying 'Pish Posh,' something he had picked up
from once when Danny had used it. Michael got into everything and was always
inventing new and exciting objects, though some were rather vile. A loud 'boom'
could usually be heard from inside the closed door of his room.
"Lil-lee?
Is that you, Lil-lee?" called Celeste from the next room waking me from my
reverie.
"Yeah,
Celeste, it's me. I was just down at the lake watching the sunset," I said as I
walked into the comfortable lounge she was in. Celeste was sprawled out on a
couch looking very much so like Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, except French. I
leaned against the doorway and crossed my arms. "What are you up to?"
"Reading
a book, for the skewl, you know et starts 'n two weeks 'ime! I 'ave been going
'ere a year, and I learned last year it pays to study even 'alf as 'ard as
Albert Einstein would, no?" she laughed.
"Yeah,
I've been studying since I got here. I need a break. Where's Danny, Mikey, and
Vivy?"
"'Ell,
'ere they come. 'I Danny, Michael. 'Ave you been terrorizing cook again? You
big strong boys should know not to, no? Oh messime! 'Aht is dis world coming
to?" she sighed and shook her head sadly, teasing them.
"Hey
Danny, Mikey, what's up? Where's Vivy?" I asked.
"Oh,
she's bugging Auntie Valika for a new dance dress. So, what cha doin'
Lily-lily?" Danny replied. (My aunts let everybody call them 'Auntie'. I
created nicknames for everybody so their name ended in the sound of an 'e':
Celestie, Lily, Danny, Vivy, and Mikey.)
"Nothin,
but cute accent. Oh, and Danny, sweetheart?"
"Yes
honey muffin?" he teased.
"Don't
call me Lily-lily!"
"Okey-dokey
Lily-lily!" he replied in a singsong voice.
I
groaned and punched him in the arm playfully. "Celeste, will you please
enlighten these two with your 'why boys should be wiped from the face of this
earth' speech, you know the one you were practicing last night?" I added, my
eyes twinkling. She sighed, nodded her head slightly as she looked over Mikey
and then began to recite quite informatively:
"Dare
are many reasons why boys should be wiped from da face of dis Earth, including
these: one, boys can geet verrry obnoxisheesh verrry quicklee, two, nobody would
be sad to see dem go, three, weemen are so smart, dey would figure out a way to
create more weeman on their own, four, boys are useful for notheen, five, dey
'ave mental problems, six, dey are 'ow you say bor-ring, seven, nobody likes
dem, eight, de world would not be so filthy anymore with dem gone, nine, most
of dem 'ave notheen going for dem, ten, da ownlee boy a girl can trust is her
pa-pa, and eleven, must I really keep going for you two to get the point?" she
drawled in a haughty tone.
Danny and
Mikey gave her funny looks, glanced at each other, and then faces of horror
swept over their faces as they looked at me, open-mouthed. "Er, you guys really
wouldn't blow us up would you?" Mikey asked nervously.
"Yeah,
would you?" Danny gulped as Celeste and I remained silent, pondering it over.
"Girls? You wouldn't, right? Right?" Silence. Dead Silence.
"Oh, I
don't know, if we got bored of you we just might…" I snuck a wink at Celeste
and she gave me a slight smirk, but it quickly vanished as Mikey looked at her
again.
"Then we
can't let you get bored with us, now can we?" laughed Danny, and he grabbed me,
sweeping me up into his arms, and Mikey did the same to Celeste, who let out a
satisfied 'Ooooo!'
"Oh,
blessed be the day we'd blow you two up!" I cried rather sarcastically, trying
to kick my way out of his grasp. It was no use. He was just way to strong. I
settle for giving him a grouchy look and screeching, "PUT ME DOWN!" he did, and
Mikey put Celeste down as well. They ran out of the room and slammed the door,
just as the history book I had chucked slammed into the door's white wooden
paneling.
"Ah,
boys, I suppose dey are ok, Lil-lee, right?" Celeste smiled.
"I
guess. Hey, what's the date today?" I asked casually.
"June da
30th, why do you ask?"
"No
reason, just wondering. Well, I guess I'm going to go to my room, catch a
little sleep. Maybe write to Petty. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" I said. Celeste
nodded, but I had a feeling she wasn't really paying attention because her eyes
were glazed over, which meant she was imagining something for one of the books
she hoped to someday write. I shrugged and headed off, down, down, until I
reached my bedroom.
Instead
of sleeping, I decided to write a letter to Petunia. She was only a year older
than me, but Mum and Dad let her stay with them. They never even told me why.
This whole transition would have been much easier for me if she was here with
me. We could talk and talk about our memories from England and have a jolly
good time remembering the way Mum used to put on her make up. Petunia was
always caring and understanding and sweet, even if she was rather slow-minded
and perhaps a bit dull and a not exactly open to thinking outside the box like
Lily.
Dear Petunia,
I hope
this letter reaches you safe and well. I have now officially been at this
school for two weeks, and I have met some very interesting people, who I have
decided are my friends. There is a girl named Celeste with silvery blonde hair
and blue eyes, and she's from France, complete with French accent. I suppose
she's rather haughty, like me, and she's quite funny at times as well, like
today when she recited a speech she wrote herself entitled 'Why Boys Should Be
Wiped From The Face Of The Earth', in front of two boys called Danny and Mikey.
They are also my friends, though they are rather troublesome and goofy at
times. One of my other friends is Vivian, or Vivy, but I'm not sure I like her
as well as the others, for she's rather a bit of a pig and kind of whiny. Don't
worry Petty: nobody will ever replace you!
Be sure
to tell Mum and Dad I'm doing fine here, though make sure and rub it in that I
miss you and them bunches, and would still love to come back! And that's the
truth of it: I still want to come back, because dear old Britain is dearer to
me then Turkey will ever be. I belong there. Well, hugs and kisses, sister, and
pray I might come home, will you?
Love,
Lily
I sealed
the envelope, and got up to go put it in the wooden dish the Aunties kept for
anything we wished to mail, whether it be postcards, letters, or packages, or
whatever else one might want to send. Humming a song by this really neat group
the Beatles, I flounced back to my room, ready for some rest and relaxation. I
shut the door behind me, still humming, and looked up as I heard a very strange
tapping on my stained glass bedroom window. When I saw what was making the
noise, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
A small
tawny owl was pecking furiously at the window, which was quite surprising
because nobody ever saw an owl here in Turkey, let alone in the daytime
with a note attached on its leg! I flew to the window to let the poor creature
in, amazed at its flightiness and beauty. I'd never really seen a real owl till
that day that wasn't in a zoo or in a magazine, but those experiences don't
really count, now do they? The little thing made a shrill shriek, and landed on
my nightstand. It looked angry for not being admitted in right away, but all
the same it stuck out its leg, obviously expecting me to take the note, though
it still gave me a scrutinizing glare.
I looked
at it, not daring to touch it, and it became angry again, and hopped on me,
pecking at my ear. "Ow! Hey, cut it out!" I cried. It kept on pecking
unmercifully, so even though I love animals, I grabbed the impatient little
thing, stuffing it into one of my hands, hastily snatching away the note. It
looked happy, and it saw a bowl of popcorn half-eaten from earlier on my
dresser, so it flocked over to that, eating busily while I studied it for a
minute with interest. How very plucky the little thing was! But how very
strange…
Suddenly,
I remembered the letter and snatched it up closer to my face so I could read
it. Scrawled in tidy handwriting in emerald green ink –rare that was- was what
seemed to be an address. I quickly took in there was no visible stamp, and also
wondered how that little owl could have possibly known where to deliver this to
me.
Miss
Lily Evans
Rhodington
Prepatory School
2428 Bonjovree
Drive
Heisenwhime,
Turkey
26074
Who in the world could possibly be nutter enough to send
me something like this via owl mail? How in the world did this strange
person know my address since it was obvious that nobody I know could charm an
owl so greatly as to fly over to me? I gently turned over the letter and saw
that there was a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a
badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. This was very peculiar
indeed, something quite un-normal. But perhaps I rather liked this un-normal letter,
simply for the fact that it didn't fit in, in a world that demanded everything
be normal and perfect…
I ripped
open the letter- well perhaps not exactly ripped, I wanted to keep it neat- and
saw something that looked not like the normal paper we use today. It was kind
of yellow-ish looking, like parchment from the 14th century or
something. Then I saw it was parchment. This just kept getting weirder and
weirder, didn't it? I carefully unfolded the letter, leaving another sheet of
parchment still inside the envelope. I read over it carefully and slowly, as to
comprehend everything. Written in the same strange emerald ink as before, the
note said:
Hogwarts School Of
Witchcraft And Wizardry
~
Headmaster: Albus
Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin,
First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Miss Evans,
We are
pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and
equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July
31st.
Yours
sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
My mouth hung utterly open, gaping at that wondrous yet
unbelievable letter. Just what exactly had that strange lady, Minerva, meant by
that? Was I a witch? Me, a witch, ha! Lily Evans, Miss
Kick-Butt-Comeback-For-All-Occasions, magical, at a magical school with magical
friends and magical teachers in a magical world? This was a very cruel joke,
and I was starting not to like the person who sent this very much at all. But
then I remembered the owl, which was still scarfing down my popcorn. The owl
was peculiar… Suddenly Celeste banged in through the door, not even bothering
to knock, waving around over her head what I recognized as a piece of yellow
parchment with emerald green ink on it!
"Lil-lee!
Lil-lee! You got one of dees too! What do dey mean? Do you know?" she cried,
her chest heaving, her eyes wide with amazement.
"I
think… I think it means… I think it means we're… we're witches!!!" I jumped in
the air, still holding my letter. I grabbed Celeste's arms, and she grabbed
mine and we jumped and skipped around, screeching with joy, making a lot of
noise. Certainly if Celeste got a letter too then it couldn't be fake, could
it? No, these letters were most definitely not fake. That meant that I, Lily
Flower Evans, was a magical witch!
We must
have been far louder than we thought, because within minutes Aunt Valika and
Aunt Lucy came running in, nearly toppling each other over. Celeste and I
froze, and stopped dead squeal. After they were through panting, they broke out
in identical grins, and I began to breathe again. "Celeste! Lily! You got your
Hogwarts letters!" they cried, looking as if Celeste and I had just plunked a
delicious looking chocolate cake in front of them.
"Er,
yes, how do you know what they are, Aunties?" I asked rather cautiously as they
smothered us with hugs. They stopped
strangling us, looked at each other, and made their grins go even wider, if
that's really scientifically possible. Here I am talking about science when I'm
a witch!
"Oh,
well, you see, Lucy and I are witches as well, and we attended Hogwarts in our
day. We run this school here in the Muggle realm-" Aunt Valika began.
"What's
a Muggle?" asked Celeste curiously.
"A
non-magical person. We run this school here in the Muggle realm because we
enjoy getting two students each year to come here and get their letters of
acceptance. You see, this is all very real, but the Ministry Of Magic, that's
like our government, hides magic from Muggles, knowing that they would
constantly be wanting spells done for them. We chose you two to come here this
year, knowing your parents. Oh, and no, I'm afraid your parents and siblings
aren't magical, only you two. In fact, we didn't even know that you two
would be magical, coming from Muggle families and all that. I guess we just
presumed, and I guess we presumed right," continued Aunt Lucy.
"Are you
sure it's all real?" I asked skeptically.
"Quite.
As real as you or I, in fact. Hogwarts is a school in London, where you
originated from before you arrived here. It's one of the finest schools in the
world, a huge castle, it is. There are quite a bit more things to tell you
about, so come then, let's sit down," Aunt Valika went on.
So we
sat, and for hours and hours, probably till well around midnight, with the
Aunties explaining anything we wanted to know, and more. I was fascinated by
all they described, and from the look on Celeste's face, she was too. After
everything was through being explained, Lucy and Valika told us that they would
take us tomorrow, being a Saturday, to Diagon Alley to pick up our school
supplies, open our Gringott vaults and deposit and cash in our Muggle money,
etc.
I was
very lucky, for my parents, being very rich, had already had Valika and Lucy
cash in over 500,000 pounds worth of money and then deposit the mounds and
mounds of galleons, sickles, and knuts in my vault. Celeste's family had given
her an adequate amount of money, enough for frivolous things besides, but
certainly not like the medium sized fortune I had. I felt so happy; I think I
nearly burst with excitement and happiness. Celeste had already skipped off to
bed, and just as Aunt Lucy was turning to leave and follow Aunt Valika, I
remembered the ferocious little owl that had fallen asleep in the popcorn bowl.
"Auntie, wait, what should I do about the little monster here?" I asked her
prodding the thing with my pointer finger.
Aunt
Lucy yawned, "Oh, just shoo the little dear back out the window, he'll fly back
to Hogwarts. Don't worry about him. G' night, dear,"
"'Night,"
I called, and she shut the door behind her. And then I was left alone with the
beast.
I
scooped it up, and it awoke with a start. Suddenly the thing started to kind of
nuzzle me, and I decided I rather liked it. Maybe it was only grumpy before
from a long journey and no sleep. I kissed its soft little feathery head, and
let it out the window. It took off immediately, flying away toward the horizon,
and I leaned on the windowsill, watching it until I couldn't see it anymore, my
body surging with serene contentness.
I lay
down, staring at the ceiling, and thought over all the things Aunties had said,
waiting for sleep to come and rescue me. They had told Celeste and me not to
tell anybody else that we were witches. We eagerly agreed. But we would have to
leave Danny and Mikey and Vivy! I wouldn't go home for the summer to here, I'd
be going back to Mum and Dad and Petunia, but if I ever wanted to come home for
Christmas Break, I'd come here. Lucy said she really doubted I'd want to leave,
because Hogwarts had spectacular Christmases, or so she said. Finally, I fell
off into a sea of dreams of magic and spells and Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Time to get, honey, it's only 4 AM, but we do want to
get going early, so we can spend all the time we can there! Hurry! Get dressed!
We'll eat something when we get to Diagon Alley, so just get ready and be
downstairs in fifteen minutes!" said Auntie Valika, running around and opening
the windows, letting the early sunlight stream in.
She
fairly skipped out of the room, and I sat up, not even bothered at the time. I
was going to a witching city to get my witching stuff! I hurriedly pulled on
some hip hugger blue bell-bottom jeans, some strappy two-inch heel sandals, and
a baby blue top. I thought I looked all right, and I guess I did, because
Celeste ran into my room that very moment saying "You look great Lil-lee!" She
was wearing a black leather jacket, a red top just like mine, except in well,
red, and the exact same type of jeans I was wearing with her pair of strappy
sandals. It was uncanny we had dresses almost exactly alike, but who was I to
question these things, me being a witch? She straightened her hair and grabbed
my dark blue Angels jean jacket with the silver buttons on it, and I caught it,
slipping it on. I looked great in that too, half because it fit well, half
because it was very in-style.
"Thanks,
you look great too. Any idea how Aunties think we're getting to London today?
We're a long way away," I said as I finished untucking my hair from inside the
jacket.
"No
idea, let's go though, I'm anxious to see dis Diagon Alley dey 'ave been
chattering about, aren't you?"
"Yeah,
let's go," and with that we went down the steps. Nobody else was awake yet, so
we went as quietly as possible. Valika and Lucy were talking to each other
excitedly and they stopped when we walked in.
"Ok,
girls, remember last night how we explained about Floo Powder?" Valika asked
us. We nodded and she continued. "Good! Well, right outside Diagon Alley is an
inn called the 'Leaky Cauldron'. They have room and board there, so naturally
they have fireplaces. There's one in the pub, that's the bottom floor, and
we've arranged for us to come through that way. From there we can get to Diagon
Alley. You know how to work it, right girls?" she finished.
"Yeah,"
we replied in unison.
"Great! I'll go first, then Lily,
then Celeste, then Valika!" announced Lucy. She grabbed some of the Floo powder
from the little bag and shouted "Leaky Cauldron!" as she was stepping into the
fireplace, which had a merry green fire roaring in it. There was a loud POP and
then Lucy was gone.
I took a
deep breath, took a pinch from the bag, and stepped into the flames. I almost
choked on ash, but managed to spit out "Leaky Cauldron!" expecting horrible
pain to come searing through my body at any moment. But the pain never came. I
could feel a whole bunch of wind on me, and I felt the ash still swimming in
the air around me, so I didn't dare open my eyes until I thumped down onto some
hard concrete. Aunt Lucy leaned down, beaming, and helped me up. I was in the
Leaky Cauldron, my first magical place to have ever stepped foot in.
Surprisingly,
I didn't look all sooty or anything of the sort, as I looked down at my robes.
That was another very peculiar but neat thing. Suddenly another POP was heard,
and Celeste came crashing down, and I could see she was cringing, hoping she
wasn't dead. We helped her up, and a look of glee washed over her face.
"Oh
Lil-lee! Lil-lee! I am alive! Not dead at all, but alive! And 'ow wonderful it
feels!" we danced around a minute, celebrating our good graces as to have not
ended up in heaven. Another POP was heard, and Valika joined us, straightening
her blonde hair.
"Come
along girls and meet the owner, Tom. Hello Tom! Long time no see!" cried Lucy,
and she dragged Celeste and me over to the bar where a tall man, almost balding
a bit smiled at us, revealing several crooked teeth.
"Why
hello Lucy, Valika! Ah, the Austin sisters! Where have you two been?" he asked
in a deep, kind voice.
"Around,
Tom, around. We run a school now in the Muggle realm. Oh! I've forgotten
myself! This is my niece, Lily Evans, and this is her friend and another girl
from our school, Celeste Ermengarde. We're taking them to Diagon Alley, first
years at Hogwarts, you know," chatted Valika.
"Oh!
First years now? Eleven then?" he asked us, as we swung up onto the tall
stools.
"Yes,
sir, we're both eleven," I answered; sipping the drink Aunt Lucy had just slid
over to me. She gave one to Celeste as well, but Celeste kind of just peered at
it, unsure if it was poison or something deadly. It tasted like carbonated
milk, and surprisingly it was delicious. "Thanks, Aunt Luce," I added.
"Ah,
eleven, a nice age, it is indeed. Well, I suppose I must tend to my other
customers. Ring if you need me, and have fun at Hogwarts you two! Nice seeing
you again, Lucy, Valika," and then he trotted off.
Celeste
peered in her drink once more suspiciously, and then cautiously took a sip, not
convinced she wouldn't keel over dead, even though I was still perfectly fine
after drinking the same thing. She took one sip, pulled a face, and then her
face sort of softened a bit. She shrugged, and began sipping away as eagerly as
I was. We sat there awhile, just drinking as Aunties just sat and chatted to
each other and other customers. Finally Valika peered over at us.
"Done?"
she asked.
"Mm Hm,"
we said together, and off they went. We walked out to the backside of the Leaky
Cauldron, and I saw a brick wall, just a brick wall and nothing else. I gave a
raised eyebrow to Celeste and she looked at me biting her lip. How on Earth
would we get through a brick wall?
Then I
noticed Lucy was tapping a brick somewhere and muttering something. Before our
very eyes the wall surged open, and it created a very tall half-circle gap so
we could walk through. There was the most amazing sight I have ever seen.
There were
shops galore, one with a bunch of brooms in the window with tons of boys her
age crowding around it, one with owls and cats in the window, and so on. It was
so indescribable: I won't even try. We went to what was obviously Gringotts. A
very large goblin that turned out to be named Gunther showed us to a little
thing that looked like a mine cart.
"Wow!" I
gasped.
"Oh
messime!" cried Celeste.
Aunties
just snorted.
We were
flying, or so it seemed, down deep into the earth, wind ruffling our hair and catching
the sight of flames every once in awhile. When we were delighted by seeing
flames for the fourth time, I asked Gunther, "What exactly is causing those
flames, or are you not aloud to tell?" I asked courteously.
"Dragons,
miss," he grunted. Celeste looked horrified, and she went pale. Nobody really
seemed to notice or care except me, so I held her hand until we stopped. I
personally thought it was cool dragons were here. Probably guarding vaults.
We
stopped in front of a door. "You have the key?" Gunther asked the Aunties. Lucy
handed him a bright silver key, and then he placed in a rusted padlock on the
door. It swung open, and he tossed the key back to Lucy. The door opened
itself, and I saw mountains of gold, hills of silver, and lakes of bronze. I
had a fortune. Valika prodded me, since I was probably gaping at it all, and
she and I silently arose from the cart and walked over to it. She dug in her
big bag she called a purse and pulled out three emerald velvet sacks. I helped
her stuff the gold coins, which were galleons, into one, and I knew that that
could feed a family of ten for half a year just right there. We filled another
with sickles, and the last with knuts, and then she made me hold the
tremendously heavy bags.
She
pulled out a silver silk bag, and stuffed that up with all three kinds of
money. Seeing that we were done, Gunther shut the door again, and we heard the
click of the lock. I held in my hands tons of money! Aunties began
chattering to each other again as the cart started to pick up speed, so I
talked to Celeste.
"Wow,
you had lots of money Lil-lee! You are reech!" she exclaimed, grinning.
"Yeah,
but come on, you know we can share our money. How about we just kind of pool
our money while at Hogwarts? That would be fun!" I suggested.
"Sure!"
she laughed, and then the cart stopped. Lucy and Celeste got out, and again we
were silent. The door opened and I immediately saw that I had a huge fortune,
and Celeste had maybe just enough to suit her classy needs, and that was it. I
kind of felt bad that I had tons of money and she didn't. But we would pool our
money, so it was no matter.
Celeste
and I examined the coins a bit on our way back and chatted about our new lives,
while Valika and Lucy talked to Gunther about the high security Gringotts
apparently had. When we were out of the bank, Lucy and Valika pulled us aside.
"Ok kids, you just whip out your lists of what you need and go from store to
store. If you need help with anything, then just ask the shop owner. We'll be
in the Leaky Cauldron. Take your time shopping! Oh, and we've decided to rent
rooms for us there so I guess we'll just stay the weekend, ok? While you're
gone we're just going to go back to the school and get everything packed for
you guys, and we'll bring it all back here. Might as well stay here in London,
you have to leave to Hogwarts in two days anyhow. That ok with you kids?" asked
Lucy.
"Fine,"
we said rather delighted. We'd get to stay here three days, including today!
The Aunties strolled off, and Celeste and I grinned our devilish grins to each
other. "Shall we?" I grinned.
"But of
course!" Celeste grinned back. First we made our way through and got our
schoolbooks from a place called Flourish and Blotts, then to the Apothecary,
and then to the Menagerie where we bought a snowy white owl each, and then we
traveled around getting all their school supplies from various different
stores, having a ball. Finally the only things left to do were to go and get
our robes and to get our wands.
We
decided robes first. When we entered Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, a
bell rang overhead, and a cheery voice called, "I'm in the back, dearies, come
on in and I'll fit you," Following the sound of the voice, Celeste and I found
our way into a room where we saw a tall plump lady fitting three boys. I
climbed readily onto a stool in between two of the boys, both with black hair
and chocolate brown eyes, though I didn't really take much notice of them.
Celeste hopped up onto a stool next to a boy I saw had golden blonde hair and
hazel eyes.
Without
even saying a word, Madame Malkin, or who I assumed to be Madame Malkin,
bewitched a tape measure to flutter around and take measurements on us all,
much to Celeste's and my enjoyment, and walked out of the room. One of the boys
I was standing next to turned and smiled at me.
"Hey,
I'm James Potter and this is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. I haven't seen you
around here before. Do you go to Hogwarts?" he asked. The other boys muttered
'hi' and both of them tried swatting away the tape measure when it dared try
and come near.
"I'm
Lily Evans, and this is Celeste. Nice to meet you three. We'll be first years
at Hogwarts this year. Are you three first years?" I asked. I notice that the
boy spiked his hair, and so did his companions, and that his eyes seemed to
dance. He was tall and thin, and I could tell that for some reason his what I
presumed to be eleven-year-old body had muscles on it, however slightly. He was
rather handsome, and he nodded at me.
"Yeah,
we're first years too. So, are you a pure blood or a Muggle born?" the boy on
my other side asked me. I assumed this was Sirius, and he looked nearly
identical to James. So much, it was rather shocking, indeed.
"Oh,
Muggle born," I said casually. The other boy, James, smiled at me.
"We're
all pure bloods. You seem to know lots about what's what, how do you know about
what Muggles are and stuff?" he asked, rather laughing. I noticed that Celeste
was chatting to the blonde boy, Remus, so I turned back to James and Sirius. I
was almost annoyed at their questions, because they seemed amused at me for no
reason whatsoever.
"Oh,
well, let's just put it this way," I said as I lifted my arm for the tape
measure. "I have witches for aunts," I smiled at him mischievously, hoping he
would stop being so teasing like. Well, it didn't work, because he smirked to
Sirius, who shrugged in reply.
"What?"
I asked, narrowing my eyes. As I said earlier, I am a very haughty person, with
a temper to match my hair. These boys were getting on my nerves. Well, maybe
not Sirius exactly, but James, definitely.
"Nothing,
don't go getting all offended. I just think you're cute, that's all. Hey,
what's say we go out sometime?" he grinned at me. Now I was offended. He
had this look on his face like I'd be falling over myself to say 'yes'. Just to
rile him up a bit:
"Nah, I
don't really think so," I replied coolly. James dropped his grin and kind of
just stared at me, his eyes hard and scrutinizing. I heard Sirius and Remus
stifle giggles, and I heard Celeste snort. Not that I cared.
"Geez, I
should start calling you Fireball!" he smirked, but it was obvious I had
humiliated him. Well, good, served him right for being cheeky.
"Don't,"
I said shortly.
"Ok,
Fireball," he said grinning again. I opened my mouth to say something in reply
in order to live up to my aforesaid title: Miss
Kick-Butt-Comeback-For-All-Occasions, but Madame Malkin briskly walked in, and
I realized we were done. I shut my mouth and scowled at him. We paid Madame
Malkin together, and then Celeste and I walked out briskly. Before I could get
a chance to talk to her about James Potter, the jerk, and discuss what had just
happened, James, Sirius, and Remus came trotting over.
Remus
gave me a sympathetic look, as if to apologize for his friend's rude behavior,
and I instantly liked him. Remus was good looking too, and so was Sirius.
Forget James. Sirius was humming the funeral song under his breath and trying
to stop himself from laughing. He seemed pretty nice too.
I looked
hopefully at Celeste, but she just gave me a look equally as sympathetic as
Remus's. "Er, Sirius, Remus, will you accompany me to the Quidditch store?" she
asked them, and they eagerly directed her over to it. No! I was left alone with
him! He just walked right up to me, and looked at me, no, stared at me.
"What?"
I finally burst out.
"Why
wouldn't you go out with me?" he said, sounding kind of hurt.
"Well, I
don't really know you, and you came off as a total jerk, no offense, back
there, and I thought it was rather rude to ask me out when we only just met.
That's all," I said, but I kept my eyes cold, pretty much unlike my normal
happy self. We started walking to the Quidditch shop.
"Me a
jerk? Nah, babe, you got it all wrong. See, I'm actually totally gorgeous,
amazingly athletic, a wonderful kisser, the smartest person you'll ever have
the good graces to meet, and the most hilarious and popular person on earth,"
he bragged.
"Oh, I'm
sorry! Did I just say jerk? I meant arrogant snob, ugly prat, stuck up git,
stupid dolt, and little weakling," I said, and quickened my pace.
"Oo!
Baby doll, you hurt me! Hurt me bad I tell you! Oh, the heart-wrenching pain!"
he yelped. Then he stopped suddenly and said, "Aw, come on Fireball, just go
out with me! I promise my arms won't go anywhere near you!" he pleaded.
"It's
not yours arms I'm worried about," I said pointedly. "Just sod off jerk,
ok?" I said as we reached the front of the Quidditch shop.
"Fireball,
baby, we're only eleven, what am I gonna do? Come on now!" we stopped and he
smirked at me.
"Yeah,
you may be eleven, but you talk like you're nineteen. Now leave me alone, ok?
I'm rather sick of you,"
"Whatever
you say, Fireball," and I turned away toward the shop. I saw Celeste and Sirius
and Remus watching us through the window, and I saw James's reflection also on
the glass. I paused, and I saw him grin. He scratched the back of his neck, and
then he slowly lowered his hand… and it grabbed my butt!
SLAP! I
slapped him as hard as I could, and he obviously felt the pain because he was
holding his cheek and he had a grimace on his face. I smiled with satisfaction
and Sirius and Remus and Celeste ran out to us, laughing their heads off.
"Lil-lee!
That was terrific!" cried Celeste.
"Yeah,
well, let's go, I suddenly don't like the smell around here anymore," and I
glared at James. Celeste grinned, and we stalked off to go get our wands.
"Don't Sirius and James look
remarkably like Danny and Mikey?" Celeste whispered. I nodded stonily. Before
we walked away, I could hear Sirius and Remus laughing at James, and Sirius
saying:
"Man,
Fireball burns, huh?" More laughter, and then we couldn't hear them anymore.
Celeste tried to calm me down, and she succeeded by her funny jokes about
'stupid boys'. When we got to the robe shop I was barely remembering James, and
that was good. We entered, and I saw it was very dusty. Basically Mr.
Ollivander came out, he looked really creepy, and let me and Celeste try out
wands. The third wand I tried shot out a spark.
"Ah!
Good!" cried Mr. Ollivander. "Now let's see here: ten and a quarter inches
long, swishy, made of willow, nice for Charms work. Terrific! Oh! And I see
Celeste here has found a wand herself: 12 inches, nice and supple, nice for
Defense Against The Dark Arts work. Good, good!" we paid Mr. Ollivander
quickly, because he was creeping us out, and then we took our wonderful wands
back to the Leaky Cauldron to show the Aunties. Needless to say, they were
delighted.
We had a
light lunch of roast duck, salad, and the same milky drink we'd had before. I
learned the nice drink was called Embros. I decided I really liked it, and so
did Celeste. For the rest of the day we looked over our books in our rooms, and
Celeste and I studied them well into the night until we knew them by heart. It
was fun reading, and we actually practiced a few spells, which I found very
easy. Celeste had a bit of trouble with some, but most she was as good at as
me.
That
night in the room Aunties had rented for Celeste and me to share (they had the
room next door), I fell asleep knowing that I belonged here in this magical
world. One day and I already felt at home, as if I grew up in a witching
family.
For the
next two days, Celeste and I milled around Diagon Alley, but we didn't run into
Sirius, Remus and James again. Celeste told me that she had hit it off with
Remus and Sirius, and that they were really funny and nice. I agreed with her
from what I heard of them, and I had great fun telling her all about the
conversation James and I had. On the last morning we would stay in Diagon
Alley, I felt rather sad to leave it, but I was soon over joyed that I was
going to Hogwarts with Celeste and Sirius and Remus, though unfortunately also
with James. Maybe I'd get lucky and he'd be sorted in Slytherin…
We
reached the train station (Valika and Lucy rented a Muggle car) with plenty of
time to spare before the Hogwarts Express left. Aunties explained what we had
to do to get through the barrier, and I watched Celeste disappear.
It was my turn. I thanked my Aunties for
everything and kissed them good-bye. I looked determinedly at the barrier,
grabbed onto my trolley with my trunks and bags and made a running start
straight toward the wall. I heard my beautiful owl, which I named Pipsqueak,
since he was a boy, squawk, but I paid no attention. I shut my eyes, and I knew
I had gone through. This was the first moment of my new life.
(Authors Note: Thank you so much for reading, and please
check out my other Lily and James story, *Lily and James*, cause I write more
on that one. I'll probably add a chapter to this every week, so in the mean
time, read my other story, which I update either everyday or every other day.
Thank you so much! Just a little note about what this will turn out to be
about: slews of guys are head over heels in love with Lily, but nobody's been
able to catch her yet. (Hence the title: Loving Lily) It's from Lily's POV
(obviously), and it's about her hating James, the Marauders, Celeste, her
getting chased by the lovesick boys, and her ending up falling in love with
James. This will be total romance with L/J, with my spin on it. I hope you like
it, and I'm going to focus more on the hating in the love/hate thingy with
Lily/James in this one, unlike my other one. Basically this is Lily's story, of
life and love and hope and dreams. Thanks, and please put me on your faves! PLEASE
REVIEW!!) Love Always, ~*~Hermione~*~ P.S. To Lily and James, the
Schooldays!
