"Swank," James remarked as they both climbed out of the coach in front of the facade of their hotel.
It hotel was located in a section of Hogsmeade that neither Lily or James had encountered during the previous school trips to Hogsmeade a couple years ago. Lily noticed that the witches and wizards shopping, lingering, or hurrying to important jobs or meetings all wore robes that were definitely not fitted in ten minutes at Madam Malkin's. She had a feeling that if a Hogwarts student had wandered in by mistake he would have been highly noticeable, and would have to rent a fancy cloak before going into any of the ritzy restaurants.
As Lily and James pushed their carts down the manicured cobblestone streets, Lily felt slightly intimidated; she had grown up in a money-conscious family and wasn't accustomed to such elaborate surroundings. James, however, seemed to feel at ease and knew where he was going. He led her down the wide street to the hotel they were booked at (which had a complicated Italian name Lily couldn't quite make out) and held the door open for her.
Once in the sparklingly clean and grand hotel, Lily was on her own to speak to the clerk at the desk, as James found a decorative fountain in a corner and approached it with the fascination of a small child. There was quite a line of people in front of the desk, and most of them had badges reading Academy-of-something-or-other from several different countries. They were most likely going to the same meetings she and James were scheduled for, Lily thought.
Finally she was at the front of the line and the man behind the desk grinned at her under his blond handle-bar mustache. His nametag read in delicate purple cursive Sir Roderick. She resisted cringing at his slightly slimy persona.
"Lily Evans and James Potter, please," she said politely. Sir Roderick's long skinny finger scanned his datebook for the names.
"Lily Evans . . . you're in room 1013." He pointed past her and Lily was surprised to see a row of colossal golden elevators lining the wall on the right. "Take the el from the end, and afterwards the first stairway to your left." His toothy smile surfaced again. "Call upon me at any hour of the day or night for anything you need."
She nodded, a little unsurely, suddenly wishing James was standing next to her.
"And James Potter?"
"Potter . . ." His finger moved down the list again. "Potter? We don't have a Potter booked, madam. We have you boarding with an Ellen Bones."
Lily stared at him. "Ellen Bones? No, Sir, um . . . Roderick. James Potter is accompanying me."
"I'm sorry, but we only have one room booked for the Hogwarts party. It was understood another female would be coming along."
Lily glanced behind her swiftly. James was dipping his finger in the fountain water, letting the goldfish see him, removing his fingers just before they reached him, and repeating the process, his eyes wide and smiling. She turned back to Sir Roderick.
"Is there nothing you could do? Could you get another room? I don't care if it's far from mine -- in fact, I'd prefer that it was --"
Sir Roderick's eyes flashed. "Apparently you've no idea how difficult it was to fit the first fifteen-hundred guests in. No, I can not give you another room, there's simply no space."
"This hotel is magic, make more space!" Lily exclaimed.
"That isn't possible. I could . . ." he murmured, his lips curling upward, "Arrange a special situation to board in the employees quarters --"
It was impossible to suppress a disgusted shiver then; she shook her head to hide it, smiled as warmly as she could, took the key, and left with a bright 'thank-you'.