a/n: Well, to anyone whos read the original, they'll notice that I combined the 4 chapters I had originally written into 2 longer, better flowing chapters. I did this so that I could get started on continuing the story a little bit faster. The Gringotts poem is the same one from The Sorcerer's Stone. The money conversion table is the same one Hagrid gave to Harry. Well, that's about it; on words with the chapter.
Chapter 2: Diagon Ally and the Hogwarts Express
"You're Dumbledore?" Lily exclaimed, rather rudely. Unlike herself, Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to acknowledge her rudeness — or even the question at all.
"Yes, Miss Evans, I am Professor Dumbledore. Now if you do not mind, I wish to come in, and speak to you and your mum," Dumbledore said firmly, but with a slight smile. Lily smiled back, and then noticed the awkward, curious stares Dumbledore was getting from the very nosy neighbors across the street. Giving the neighbors a very cold stare, she allowed Dumbledore into her house and closed the door.
Leading Dumbledore to the sitting room, she told him that she would be right back with her mum.
Coming back five minutes later, Lily's mum nearly fainted at the sight of the man called Albus Dumbledore. "But… I thought you'd be younger!" she bluntly exclaimed, then clapped her hand over her mouth, realizing the rudeness of the statement. "Erm," she tried again, regaining her cool, "Isn't this your first year as headmaster, Professor?"
Dumbledore didn't seem the least bit offended, and bowed his head with a smile. "Yes, but I have also been the transfiguration teacher at the school for nearly fifty years, and seeing as how my predecessor has died..." he trailed off for a moment, "I am the new headmaster, and even if I do seem old… I assure you that I will live long enough to teach your daughter's children." Dumbledore said, looking a bit somber, but joyous all the same. Lily vaguely wondered how such a thing could be possible.
"So…" she said, growing uncomfortable by the silence that followed, "Are you going to show me how to get to Diagon Ally, and how to board the school train?"
"Yes. Now if you don't mind I have lots of other matters to protean to, so let's show you around wizarding London"
"Well then!" Lily's mum smiled at the headmaster, whom she seemed to have taken a liking to. "I'll go get the car, shall I?"
"Actually, that is not necessary," Dumbledore said. "There is an easier way to make the trip, called apperation. I won't go through the finer details, but it is a very sufficient mode of transportation. While it is generally for a single person to transport themselves, there is also side-along apparation. If you two would take hold of my arm, I can get you both to Diagon Alley in a matter of seconds—literally."
Dumbledore politely held out an arm to Lily, and another to her mother. Daughter and mother shared a single glance, as though confirming that they would indeed go along with such a strange concept, then turned back to the headmaster and simultaneously grabbed the outstretched arms.
Dumbledore turned left, and everything went black. Lily screamed but found she couldn't— the sensation of being shoved head-on through a tube, horrendously tight, was overwhelming. Thoughts whirled through the redhead's head, though few were coherent. Dumbledore must be a madman… must be a mass murderer… insanity, it was all insanity…
And then it was over. Light flooded back before her eyes, and she breathed heavily, collapsing to the ground.
"Lily? Are you alright?" Lily's mother asked, and Lily lifted her head to see Dumbledore and her mum staring at her.
Lily nodded, and made to get up—but couldn't. "My legs!" she cried out, horrified. Because, well… she didn't have any.
"Oh my god…!" Lily's mum stared at her legless daughter, wide-eyed, then looked up at Dumbledore with accusing eyes. He, however, looked perfectly calm.
"That can happen in apparation," he explained kindly. "It is called splinching, and can get quite painful, unfortunately."
"I feel more numb than anything," Lily said, biting her lip.
"…Luckily, I know a spell to remedy this. Rinnervete," Dumbledore pointed his wand where her legs should have been. Lily gasped, watching as her legs seemed to grow right out of the stumps.
Now knowing just what magic could do, Lily rubbed her now- present legs experimentally; they felt fine. "Is this real…?" she murmured, more to herself than anything. She almost doubted the power of magic—it appeared too good to be true. A scheme of Petunia's, perhaps…? But no, not even her sister could set up anything so elaborate, so believable, so…. real.
Standing up, Lily met her mum's eyes, then turned to Dumbledore. He had a small package of what looked like lemon drops, and was picking one out.
"Well," Dumbledore said, finally choosing a lemon drop and popping it in his mouth, "Let's get started on getting your school supplies."
Lily followed the professor and her mum, staring openly at the colorful displays put out around the alley. Huge, bold, animated signs advertised potion ingredients, spell books, and broomsticks that flew. Lily stared at Quality Quidditch Supplies, wondering if Quidditch was the brand name for the broomsticks on display.
"Erm, Professor…?" Lily asked. "What's Quidditch?"
Dumbledore laughed, blue eyes twinkling. "I see the broomstick display caught your eye, Miss Evans." Lily nodded. "Well, it's a sport—the most popular wizarding sport, if I must say so myself. A little like Muggle football, though there isn't really a comparison I can make."
"And… flying broomsticks has to do with this how?"
"It's played on broomsticks," Dumbledore smiled at her expression. "It's much less complicated than it seems. Hogwarts is a great place if you wish to start a career in Quidditch. We are known for graduating some of the best in the league. Most of the Irish international team came from Hogwarts!"
"Oh…" Lily said, not wanting to let him know that it was way over her head, but also having no real response to what he had said.
Dumbledore didn't seem to notice her confusion, and went on pleasantly, "It's a rather dangerous sport at times, but widely loved. Anyway! We need to get you a Gringotts account. Do you see the snow white building just ahead of us?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lily said as the building came in view.
"That there is Gringotts, a bank run by goblins. The vaults are hundreds of miles below the ground, a man would have to be mad to try and rob it! They would surely die of starvation before they even got close to getting their hands on anything… oh, right." He chucked, stopping the tangent he had been going on. "So, the Gringotts wizarding bank."
They reached the beautiful white building, greeted by a hideously mutated creature Lily assumed was a goblin. A sign before the sullen-looking creature read in bold, embossed lettering:
Enter stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn
Must pay most dearly in their turn
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that is not yours
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there
Lily then understood why a person would be mad to try to rob Gringotts; the warning alone scared Lily.
Inside Gringotts was just as beautiful as the exterior. Several more goblins stood behind long desks of rich, dark mahogany. They looked just as unpleasant as the one guarding the front did. She followed her mum and Dumbledore up to one of the desks.
"Good morning," Dumbledore said pleasantly—the goblin grunted in reply. "Miss Lily Evans would like to open an account with Gringotts," he said, smiling. The goblin nodded at Dumbledore, then summoned another goblin.
"Griphook'll show you to your new vault, Miss Evans," the goblin said, nodding toward a second, smaller goblin. With that, the goblin by the name of Griphook took Lily, Dumbledore and Lily's mum to a cart. A mind-blowing trip later, they arrived at a vault labeled 300.
"This will be your new vault, Miss Evans," The goblin said, taking a key off of a large key ring and opening the empty vault.
"Well," Dumbledore said pulling out a considerably large bag and walked in to the new vault. He opened the bag, and poured what looked to be three different colors of coins into the vault, which automatically started to pile themselves by size and color. There were several small bronze looking ones in about ten three foot high stacks, several silver ones in 10 two and a half foot high stacks, and large gold ones on 10 two foot high stacks, "this is all the money you will need until you get a jab seven or eight years from now. You can also store valuables in this vault, such as important documents, jewelry, paintings, or anything else you can set your mind on."
"Wow." Lily said looking at the money.
"The bronze ones are Knuts, the silver are Sickles, and the gold are Galleons. There are twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle and seventeen Sickles to a Galleon. If you do the math there are four-hundred-ninety-three Knuts to a galleon." Dumbledore said, "I guess that's all you need to know about that. Now get some money and I'll help you get what you need for school."
Lily quickly grabbed several Knuts Sickles and Galleons. Leaving her new vault and getting back into the cart with Dumbledore, they went back to the marble white surfaced floor of Gringotts.
Walking out of Gringotts, Lily, her mother, and Dumbledore, Dumbledore in the lead, started making pace for Madam Malcon's robe shop. When Lily walked into the store, she was blinded by the lack of light in the place. At first Lily thought it was closed, but than a plump lady came from behind a rack of robes.
"Hogwarts?" the lady asked.
"Uh—Yes." Lily responded shyly.
"Come stand on the stool while I size you up." The lady that Lily only assumed was Madam Malcon said. Lily obeyed and walked to the stool. Standing on the stool, Lily was soon covered in a robe and Madam Malcon was sticking pins around her arms, waist, and legs.
Getting Lily's size, Madam Malcon removed the robe from Lily and walked to the back without a word. Lily stood there for another two minutes until Madam Malcon returned with a small stack of robes.
"Ten Sickles please." She said. Lily handed ten silver coins to Madam Malcon and left the shop. Looking at Dumbledore, wonder where the next place he would take her is. Dumbledore just smiled and started walking off towards the apothecary, closely followed by Lily and her mother.
Walking in, this time with Dumbledore, Lily looked around the shop. It was just a little lighter than the robe shop. She saw all kinds of different things on the shelves around the store. She saw a sign that read Eye of Newt 10 Knuts.
Dumbledore told the shopkeeper that they need a basic potion set. Nodding the shopkeeper went to the back. Coming back three minutes later with a package of what Lily guessed was potion ingredients, and a pewter cauldron.
"That will be two galleons and a knut." The shopkeeper said. Lily handed him a bronze coin and two gold coins. Lily and Dumbledore walked out of the shop and towards the bookstore Flourish and Blotts.
Walking into the well-lit bookstore, Lily instantly liked the place. Walking to a shelf and looked at the titles of the books. One said Jinxes for the Jinxed, and another read Curses for the Cursed, and one that read An Introduction into Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lily took the book off the shelf and opened it. Looking at the inside, Lily guessed this was a book she needed.
Dumbledore quickly noticed that she didn't have her school list. He tapped her on the shoulder and handed her the list. Looking at the books she needed to get for school, she noticed that she had the book she needed for her Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
As Lily looked at her list, she also noticed she needed a book entitled A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration. Lily started looking for such a book. She quickly found it and picked it up off the shelf. She opened the book and quickly read the first paragraph.
An introduction to your basic Transfiguration.
Transfiguration is the art of turning of one thing into another by the use of magic.
When performing such magic you need to wave your wand in a clockwise motion, unless instructed otherwise and say the incantation.
For Example to transfigure a needle into a teabag, you first need to wave your wand in a clockwise motion, than say the incantation as told later in the book…
After Lily finished reading the first paragraph, she closed the book, and looked at her school list. She saw she needed three more books. Potions for Beginners, A Standard book of Spells grade 1, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Quickly finding the rest of her books, she walked to the counter where a man was standing.
"That is seven galleons ten sickles and five knuts." He said lazily looking at the books Lily held in her hands. Lily put the books on the counter and handed him the money. Turning around, she bumped into a boy who looked no older than her. He dropped his books.
"Sorry." Lily said bending over and helping him pick up books identical to her own. The boy looked to be a bit taller than Lily with messy jet-black hair, horn-rimmed glasses, and deep lustful hazel eyes that made Lily stare.
"It's okay." He said, they both stood up, Lily quickly noticing that a short line had started behind them. He paid for his books and him and Lily walked off together.
"I'm Lily Evans." Lily introduced herself.
"James Potter." James said with a slight attractive smirk at Lily, making her skip a step.
"Well, see ya." James said, walking to a lady that had a face and eyes like his. Lily thought that the eyes suited James better.
Lily started walking towards her mother, who stared at James avidly before noticing that Lily was next to her.
"Who was that?" She asked Lily.
"Another kid going to Hogwarts, he had books like mine. He said his name was James Potter." Lily responded. Sara Evans stared at the backs of James and his mother. She had a strange feeling about the boy. Something about him seemed familiar. Sara shrugged it off, deciding that it wasn't anything she needed to worry about.
Looking at her list, Lily noticed she only needed one more item… a wand.
Dumbledore smiled knowingly, he knew that Lily was about to become extremely confused. Mr. Ollivanders was, even by Dumbledore standards, weird.
Leading Lily and her mother to Ollivanders' wand shop, he chuckled.
"Why are you laughing?" Lily asked, rather rudely
"You will see." Dumbledore said.
Lily saw the wand shop. She looked at Dumbledore who had a small box of candy out. Lily looked at him questioning, 'why would a wizard be eating lemon drops? Don't they have their own kind of sweets?' As if reading Lily's mind, Dumbledore chuckled again.
"Yes, wizards have sweets too. I just enjoy the flavor of lemon drops." Dumbledore smiled that all knowing genuine smile. Lily just nodded absently and walked into the wand shop.
"Lily Evans." A mystical mysterious voice came from nowhere.
Lily stood there, shocked. She said nothing.
"I was expecting to see you soon… let's see… Hold out your wand hand." Mr. Ollivanders said, coming out from behind a shelf with a long thin box. Lily stood there, she didn't understand by 'your wand hand'.
"What hand do you write with?" Ollivander asked, as if he knew she was confused. Lily looked at him, he was scaring her, but there was something about him that made her respect him. He was darkened by shadow, but it didn't matter to Lily who could see his rugged unshaven face, startling unfitting blue eyes and a toothy smile on his face.
Lily held out her left hand, instantly a tape measure came out of nowhere and started measuring her arm, wrist, hand, finger, and whatever else it wanted too. It made Lily feel sort of violated, but noticed Ollivander was putting the box he held in his hand and pulled out another one.
"Wands are a tricky sort. They choose the wizard or witch. You cannot get the same results with any other wand like you will of a wand that chose you. Another tricky thing about wands is that when someone sales it, that person never forgets what kind of wand it was, every detail is remembered. In other words, every wand I have ever sold I remember clearly, as though I had just sold it." Ollivander explained, "So let us get started on finding your wand." He said.
He handed her a wand" Ten and a quarter inches unicorn hair tail. Swishy, good for charm work. Willow," Lily looked confused as to what to do, Ollivander gave her a enigmatical smile, "Well, give it a wave." He said. Lily waved the wand; sparks came out red and gold followed by green and silver. Ollivander looked at Lily in amazement.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lily asked, a little more rudely then she had really meant.
"You are a special girl, I can see great things in your future." Ollivander said, in a mystical voice. The voice gave Lily the chills.
"Really?" Lily asked, "like what?"
"I can't tell you, I'm not sure what it means myself but great things are to come from you in the future." Ollivander said, unhelpfully to Lily's standards.
"Oh, okay then." Lily said.
"Oh yes, that will be ten galleons." Ollivander said, remembering that she still had not paid for her wand. Lily handed him ten gold coins and walked out. She was thoroughly confused about what had just happened. But now she had more important matters to attend to. How was she going to get home? She figured that Dumbledore would use side along apperation like he did several hours ago.
Dumbledore offered his arm to both Lily and her mother, and apparated back to Lily's home. There he took a seat in the sitting room, and smiled. Noticing that Lily had no trunk to carry her things to school, he conjured one up. Lily thanked him and put her stuff inside of it.
"Now there is one more thing you need to know. To get to school you need to get onto the platform at Kings Cross station in London, I trust you know where it is." Dumbledore said looking at Lily, Lily nodded. "Good, now to get onto the platform you need to go to the signs showing platform nine and platform ten and walk directly at the barrier. Don't worry about hitting the wall; you will go right through it. Now the school train leaves at 11:00 exactly. If you are not on the train, you will miss your first year of school." Dumbledore explained "Here is your ticket, I expect to see you at the opening feast on September 1st. Bye." Dumbledore said, and he disappeared with a loud crack.
Picking up her trunk, she took it upstairs with her. And put it inside of her room. She could barely believe that she was going to a school for wizardry and witchcraft. 'Hogwarts, Hogwarts… Now that's a name… well I guess I will see this new school soon enough.' Lily thought to herself before falling asleep from exhaustion
One month and 18 days later
Lily woke up at 10:00. It was September first, the first day of her new school. Lily got up and went to the shower. Ten minutes later, Lily was dressed and downstairs in the dinning room eating some cereal.
Lily's mom was already in the car waiting for Lily when Lily exited the house with her trunk. It was 10:20 by the time they were on the way to Kings Cross Station. It normally took thirty minutes to get to the station from their house in the suburbs of London.
Thirty-five minutes later Lily had just arrived at Kings Cross. Getting her trunk out of the back of her mother's red Honda civic car, and rushing a goodbye, Lily ran to the signs of platform nine and ten. Looking around, she saw a clock that told her she only have two minutes to get on the train. Rushing at the barrier, it let her through. Running to the train, someone threw the door open and helped Lily on. As the train door closed the train started moving to Hogwarts.
Looking at the person that helped Lily onto the train, she said thank you. Lily didn't recognize anyone so she decided to ask to sit in a compartment were there was only one girl sitting.
"Hey, can I join you?" Lily asked, opening the sliding door.
"Sure. My name is Alice, Alice Baker." The Girl said. She had shiny well-kept blond hair that was down and suited her peachy round face. Her voice was soft but when she spoke it had a strength Lily had never meet in anyone's voice.
"Thanks, I'm Lily Evans." Lily introduced herself. Lily soon learned about the four different houses at Hogwarts, Alice was a pure-blood.
"The houses at Hogwarts are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is probably the best house though. Slytherin has had more Dark Wizards and Witches than any other house. Gryffindor is the house where the courageous students go. Ravenclaw is the smart, Hufflepuff is average students, and Slytherin are the self-assertive dark-magic loving idiots. Normally the dumbest and darkest Wizards end up there." Alice was explaining the different houses to Lily, "Personally I want to be in Gryffindor."
"Wow." Lily was in awe. Alice had said all of that in three breaths and was panting. "I think I want to be in Gryffindor too, it sounds like the best house."
"Anything from the trolley?" A woman was heard pushing a trolley of sweets up the train isle. Alice got up, opened the door as the trolley approached and asked Lily if she wanted to have anything. Lily nodded; Alice smiled at the lady and got a bunch of different sweets. Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, droobles best blowing gum, several chocolate frogs, some cauldron cakes, pumpkin pastilles, liquorish wands, sugar quills, and a bunch of other sweets from the trolley. Lily looked at all of it in awe.
'So these are wizard sweets' Lily thought. Alice put an armful of it onto the seat next to Lily, paid the trolley lady, and got the rest of what she wanted. Lily picked up one of the pentagon shaped small boxes. Looking at the box she read Chocolate Frogs; Eat them Before they get away. Lily softly laughed. Opening the box she saw a frog perched to leap. Just as Lily went to pick it up, the frog jumped at the window, startling Lily. Alice laughed. Lily quickly grabbed the frog. Lily looked at Alice questionably.
"Don't worry, it's an enchantment, they aren't really frogs." Alice explained, still laughing. Lily looked at the frog fondly, but then quickly ate it. Lily loved it; it was better than muggle chocolate. Lily couldn't believe it.
Then the door slid open…
