Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter.
This is for the Prompts, Oh, Prompts thread over at the Next-Gen Fanatics forum, where my prompts were 'precocious,' 'make believe', 'castle', 'crush', and 'I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine. He shall be my squishy. Come here squishy!" I don't own that quote, either; that belongs to the people from Finding Nemo.
The pairing I selected was James&Albus&Lily Potter as a family.
The whole Potter family was going to Diagon Alley.
It was, perhaps, unavoidable. James needed supplies for his second year while Al needed even more things for his first. Lily had convinced her parents that it was in her best interests to go - the argument she used was that if she didn't go, she would be sad or mad, and strong emotions caused bursts of wandless magic, and did her parents really want to take the risk of coming to pick her up at the Burrow and finding a room half-destroyed? It was a strangely precocious argument for a nine-year-old, but Lily had always been a little ahead of her years when it came to arguments, thanks to growing up with two older brothers.
They stepped into the fireplace, one at a time, each throwing down Floo powder and calling out, "The Leaky Cauldron!" before the flames whisked them away. Even Lily was an expert at using the Floo (unlike her father, who at twelve had messed up, although it had been his first time) since it was the main method of going from place to place for the Potters. Once they were all in the Leaky Cauldron and Ginny had managed to clean the soot off everyone, they headed to the back, and Harry tapped the bricks in the precise order necessary to enter the alley.
Al and James both had their lists of things that they needed, and both boys were looking at said lists, while Lily was much more interested in the shops along the alley. They split up at that point, Harry taking James to the Quidditch store while Ginny brought Al and Lily to the pet store, as Al was getting an owl for his first year at Hogwarts. "Come on," he said impatiently, tugging on his mother's arm. "By the time we get there, all the good ones might be gone."
"That's not true," Ginny said levelly. "There will be plenty of owls left for you."
"Can I get a kitten?" Lily asked as soon as they entered. She darted over to a cage containing a fluffy white kitten that seemed to be made up of all fur and no body. "Ooh, I like this one! I will call him..." She paused, thinking of names. "Squishy, and he will be mine. He shall be my Squishy." She tapped her fingers on the front of the cage. "Come here, Squishy!"
"You can't call a cat Squishy," Al said, disgusted. "That's the stupidest name ever."
"No, Albus Severus is the stupidest name ever," Lily retorted, smirking.
"Lily, Al, don't insult each other," Ginny said, leading Lily away from the kitten. "Lily, you can't get a cat now. When you go to Hogwarts, you can get a pet."
"But I want Squishy, not just any pet."
Al rolled his eyes at his younger sister's behavior and hurried over to the owl section in order to pick out his pet. It was exciting, shopping for Hogwarts things. This would finally take him away from the childish land of make-believe and into the real world of school and Quidditch and friends who were not related. It was the coolest thing he had ever done, and it was this daydreaming that caused him to stand there, in the middle of the store, for a couple seconds before his mother grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
"All right, Al, so what owl do you want? You should probably get one that's a decent size...I remember Pigwidgeon, my old owl, couldn't carry anything more than a letter, and since your father and I will be sending you things occasionally, you'll want one that can support something that's a couple pounds."
Al pointed to a Snowy Owl. "Is that big enough?"
The owl vaguely reminded Ginny of Hedwig. "Yes, definitely. Your father had an owl just like that when he was in school." She called a clerk over to help them with supplies, and not even ten minutes later, they were walking out of the pet store with the Snowy Owl. Lily was sulking a little because she hadn't gotten Squishy, but she perked up when she saw James and Harry coming toward them, the former carrying a broom.
"What kind did you get?" Lily asked, excitement filling her voice. She pulled it away from her brother and read the carving on it. "A Nimbus 2025? Isn't the Firebolt version 4 much better?"
James pulled it back from her. "Yes, but Dad said it was too much money."
"We have lots of money," Al chimed in. "We could have afforded it."
"The Nimbus is a decent broom," Harry said. "Besides, James, you're not on the team yet. If you make the team, then perhaps in a couple years you can get a better broom."
"I'll make the team," James bragged.
"If I get sorted into a house other than Gryffindor when I go to Hogwarts, I'm joining the Quidditch team just so I can compete against you and win," Lily said, to the obvious amusement of Al and her parents. "We'll crush you."
"No you won't! There is no way my baby sister could beat me at Quidditch."
"I'd be a better Seeker than you. I'm like half your weight."
"You are not!"
"All right, that's enough," Harry said. "We still have several places to go to, so let's not dawdle too much. I have to be at the Auror Office by five, and it's one-thirty."
"We have plenty of time," James said.
"Not with you three, we don't," Ginny muttered. "Let's see. We need to stop by Madam Malkin's for Al's robes, Ollivander's for a wand, both of you need supplies at the Apothecary and books at Flourish and Blotts...hmm. Harry, could you take James to the Apothecary and Flourish and Blotts, and get both his and Al's things? I'll bring Al and Lily to Madam Malkin's and Ollivander's."
"I get to go to Ollivander's?" Lily asked excitedly.
"Yes, but please behave yourself," her mother replied, leading the two children along Diagon Alley. They stopped in Madam Malkin's first, where Al was measured for his robes. Lily browsed around, staying out of trouble except for one point where she climbed up next to Al and made note of the fact she was almost as tall as him, something that he was quite embarrassed about.
"Mum," Lily said as they left the store, Al holding his brand-new robes. "Do you think that Al will be the smallest first year in the entire castle?"
"I don't know," Ginny said at the same time Al made an exasperated noise of protest. "Stop teasing your brother."
"But it's fun!" Lily muttered, but as they entered Ollivander's she was quickly distracted. There were several shelves full of wands, all stacked up to nearly the ceiling, meaning that there was probably a thousand wands in the entire place.
A thin young man walked up to them. "Hello," he said. "I am Gerald Ollivander, and I have taken over the shop from my great-grandfather, as he was getting on in age." He glanced from Lily to Al. "Which one of you will be needing a wand today?"
"Me," Al said, looking disparagingly at Lily, obviously not happy that Lily had been almost mistaken for an eleven-year-old. "I need a wand."
"All right." Ollivander grabbed his measuring tape and began to measure Al around various parts of his body - the distance between his wrist and shoulder, around his head, his torso...some of what he was doing didn't even seem to make any sense to the process of getting a wand. Within fifteen or so minutes he was done, however, and he then bustled around the shop, looking for the perfect wand.
It took a few tries. The first wand that Al waved caused several boxes to fall over; the next made a strong gust of wind head right for Ginny, Lily, and the owl. The third started a small fire among the papers on Ollivander's desk (he definitely did not look pleased about that) and the second-to-last made a loud bang like a gunshot that made Ginny and Lily both jump. The last one, however, was obviously the correct one, as it created a small red firework in the shape of a flower that quickly dissipated. They paid for the wand and left the shop.
"So," Lily asked James when the family was together again. "Hogwarts is this huge castle. Is it easy to get lost in?" She glanced sideways at Al. "Do you think Al will get lost a lot?"
"I'm still here!" Al protested. "Besides, everybody gets lost at least once. You probably will too." He tapped Lily on the head with his wand, making a couple sparks fly into her hair. She yelped. "Hey, you've been incredibly annoying today. You deserve it."
Lily wrestled the wand from her brother. "I'll get you back for that!"
"AL! LILY!"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
James smirked at the pair of them. "You got in trouble, you got in trouble," he singsonged.
"James, don't tease your brother and sister." Ginny sighed. The look on her face equated to 'why on earth did I take the whole family to Diagon Alley at the same time?'
"James got in trouble," Al and Lily said in the same singsong tone James had used seconds before.
Harry and Ginny exchanged a look, and they both sighed again.
There was never a dull day in the Potter household.
This is a oneshot and will not be continued. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!