Hi everybody (who's that, like, 4 people not that I don't appreciate it!)! Sorry this is so slow, I can write on the weekends, but uninterrupted internet time is hard to come by then, and I've been sick and not had a computer and lost my floppy…the verdict is, I'm crazy. ^.^

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Consider Yourself My Friend

By Tanwen

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James woke up at six in the morning on the 13th of August. He groggily put on his glasses, took a shower, and asked his plate for some corn toasties. It complied, and by eight o'clock he was out the door. He stowed the extra broom in a messenger bag at his side, and kicked up off the ground.

James loved to fly, more than he loved anything else in the world. He knew his parents always spoiled him, but he didn't think this was too bad because he got great stuff out of it. For his birthday the previous year (in November), they had given him a new broomstick, a Nimbus 700. He had wanted it ever since it came out, and as it was the newest, best thing that came up off the ground, the others on his Junior Quidditch League team, the Skybound, were all extremely jealous. He now let the wind rush through his hair as he flew over the countryside.

After an hour or so (at exactly nine o'clock), he reached 228 Heron Drive and rang the doorbell, expecting a house elf to come running up and open the door for him, practically take his shoes off of him, and ask him whether or not he had already had breakfast, and make an exquisite one for him regardless of his answer.

What he had not expected was for Ravenna Evans herself to come up to him, regarding him slightly suspiciously, clear her expression, and do just about the same.

He hesitated before letting himself in, and Ravenna noticed. She put a kindly smile on her face and welcomed him. "I'm glad to see you show up, as we've been expecting you. I was hoping that it would not interfere with your shopping spree too much if you stayed for breakfast and answered a few of our questions. To start off, how are you planning to get wherever you're going, and what are you doing with that broom?"

James laughed as they entered the kitchen. "The broomsticks are for flying, of course! That's how we'll get to Diagon Alley." Clement Evans, who was sitting at the head of the table, didn't notice his jaw drop in amazement. Petunia gave James a look of utter disgust and stalked out of the room. But James was watching Lily, to see how she'd take the news that she was about to fly for an hour on something that she'd never considered to be more than a cleaning device. She looked shocked, afraid, eager, and anticipatory all at once. He wagered with himself that she would be a natural, from her graceful build and confidant bearing. "We'll have to fly above the clouds, of course," James continued, satisfied by her reaction. "Wouldn't want anyone to see us flying. But if you're done with your breakfast, I'd better go out and show you how. Sorry, Mrs. Evans," he said, turning to Ravenna, "But my letter said that I was supposed to explain things to Lily, not her family, and I don't want to be expelled before term even starts! I'm sure that Lily will tell you everything you need to know when she gets home from today. Do you have a bag to carry your stuff, Lily?" he asked.

"Yep. Right here." Lily held up a messenger bag, slightly used and very personalized with patches, signatures, bumperstickers (one proudly proclaiming that the wearer was a vegetarian by means of a teary pig holding flowers and saying, "Don't eat me, I love you!"), and other personal touches.

Looking at the bag with a casual eye, James replied, "I honestly don't think that that's gonna fit your cauldron as well as your books, wand, owl, and so forth, so you probably want to consider buying one enchanted for more space when we get there." Seeing her look hurt, as if not wanting to give up an old friend, he added kindly, "When you get to school, you can have it enchanted, but in the meantime, I recommend buying one that will really serve your purposes."

Although the rest of the family had officially dropped out of the conversation, Lily bravely went on. "Okay, sounds good. Now, I think you mentioned flying…"

"Ah yes. Do you have a backyard where I can show you the basics?"

Lily showed him out the backyard, and noticed her parents following them. James took out the broomstick intended for Lily and placed it on the ground a few feet away from his own. "Now, the first thing you want to do is say 'Up.' The broom should come straight into your hand, but if it doesn't, don't be discouraged." James neglected to mention that it was illegal for him to be teaching her how to fly, and as he watched his student progress he hoped with his whole heart that the Ministry of Magic wouldn't catch up with him on this one.

*****

By the end of a quarter of an hour, Lily had made remarkable progress and James had deemed her ready to fly.

"When I say 'go,' launch off like I showed you," he said. Lily had a set look on her face, and seemed determined to make the best of her limited training.

They flew higher and higher, until James thought that they were at the height recommended by his coach for flying over muggle settlements. He then began to explain.

"Okay, so you're going to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm going to tell you what I know about it, which I know from my sister.

"First of all, there are four Houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. There's some sort of test that determines which one you're in. All my family has been in Gryffindor, which means I'll prob'ly be in it too, but not necessarily. I don't know what the criteria are for determining Houses, but its kinda like your family. If you're strongly opposed to your House, you can switch houses, too.

"We have lots of classes, which we'll find out about when we get there. And that brings me to the where. Your parents probably want to know where they can write to you." Seeing Lily nod in the affirmative, he went on, "I've been given money to buy you an owl. That's how we communicate in the wizarding world—by Owl Post. Your parents just write you a message, and give it to your owl. Nobody but the Professors at Hogwarts and the Owls know exactly where the school is. You get there by train.

"One thing that's very important to some wizarding families is bloodline. Purebloods are people from families who have been wizards for a really long time, with only the occasional Squib, or person who's from a wizarding family but isn't a wizard. Non-magic people are muggles. Some purebloods think that magic should only be taught to them, and that muggles who pioneer wizarding in their families are freaks and should be annihilated. They call these muggles—people like you, mind—mudbloods." He spat the word. "If anyone calls you that, it's a HUGE insult, so tell someone or insult them back, but don't just stand there because then they'll think that you're an ignorant pushover, too.

"Ah! Here we are," he said as they landed. "Any questions, or can we go and get money?" Although Lily had many questions she wanted answers to, she decided to keep quiet and wait to see what was what.

First, they stopped by Gringotts, the wizarding bank, where a shriveled old goblin gave James a heaping pile of gold and handed Lily a smaller one in exchange for her twenty pound notes. Lily knew that she should have been surprised about the goblin, but got the idea that a) she'd used up her quotient of surprise for practically her entire lifetime and b) if she hadn't, there would be plenty other things to be surprised about today.

She was right. She was surprised when the tape measure in Madam Malkior's robe shop measured her without any human assistance. She was surprised when she set down a book in Flourish and Blotts, the book and office supply store, and it flew back to its place on the shelf. She was surprised when she saw someone collapse an oversize cauldron and stuff it in his pocket. She was surprised when she waved her wand in Olivander's Fine Wands and red and gold sparks flew out of it, and was surprised when Mr. Olivander looked at her and James in a funny angle and muttered, "One invite." And she was completely surprised when, on the way to the apothecary, she reached a crossroads and turned to ask James which way to go and found that he wasn't there.

Her shock and rage at this discovery were immense. She couldn't believe that he had left her there for no apparent reason. Retracing her steps to the mob outside Quality Quidditch Supplies, she found her reason. A tall boy with black hair had James by the collar and was holding him and pointing excitedly at the window display. James was angrily gesticulating in the direction of the crossroads and saying "But I have to go, Sirius!"

Lily butted in on their conversation, if it could be called such. "James, I thought that you wouldn't just leave me in the middle of the road. Honestly…"

"Sorry, Lily, but this rogue pulled me over to look at the new brooms." He grinned wolfishly in Sirius' direction, then went on wistfully, "Some of them are even nicer than my Nimbus 700. By the way, this is Sirius Black, troublemaker and reason for redecoration for 11 years."

"I hope James hasn't told you all my defects. He may as well …On second thought, don't. I forgot you actually know all my defects. May I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the fair lady?" he said half sarcastically to James. It was clear, however, that he admired Lily. Funny, isn't it, thought Lily, that everyone at St. Agatha's thought I was too tall and unattractive, besides being super weird for being vegetarian, while these wizarding guys seem to think I'm not bad.

"Oh, right," said James, remembering his manners. "This is Lily Evans, of 228 Heron Drive, and I've been asked to chaperone her for today."

"Lucky rogue," said Sirius. His expression suddenly underwent total change from good humored to over-dramatically pouty (and, in Lily's eyes, extremely bratty). "You'll notice that while James has the honor of escorting pretty ladies I get stuck here all alone, with no one but my sisters to comfort me in my times of distress or help me find friends."

"You'll survive," James assured. "Now where's everyone?"

Feeling slightly put out by their talk of her in front of her face and the fact that they seemed not at all inclined to add her to their lively chat, Lily decided to put in a word or to of her own, even if it was a question. "Everyone?"

"I'm so sorry, Lily, I forgot!" James was completely apologetic. "Let's see, there's Peter Petttigrew, who we haven't seen or thrown a pity party for as of yet this week, which I'm sure he's off moping about as we speak, and Serifina Ting, who we're sure will be a Ravenclaw because she's so smart, besides being the second fastest thing on a broom, me being the first, and Rachel Glowdive, who's going to be Peter's girlfriend since we haven't thrown a pity party for her either and they'll have to go console each other, and Remus Lupin, who's probably sick or something and will make an interesting threesome with those other two because he'll want a pity party next once his kind, stoic personality rubs off—he's a nice chap but I think that he's almost too good to be true, and that adorable but aggressive blonde Tessa Williams, who's also a bit of a wanker, but we'll excuse her…" Lily was beginning to get more than a little of the impression that James and Sirius were extremely spoiled and had it in their blood to be prats, but as this thought formed, James was back on again and she didn't want to miss anything since she'd probably want to work out who these people were and it would be an advantage to know James's impressions of them She listened. "…And then there's Luciana Vinebreeze, who's an airy ditz who uses her hair to get her way, Arielle Anglica, who's nice and an awesome Quidditch Seeker, and…well, that's about it for our friends." Sirius nodded vigourously in agreement, then averted his eyes to Lily. "Not that we aren't sure we'll make plenty more once we meet everyone at school. Nice subtlety with the eye thing, Sirius," he said, before cackling, which assured the other two that he had every intention of taking any and all subtlety out of the gesture.

"Which," said Sirius calmly, with a pointed look at James, "brings us to our enemies."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know one!" said James, his hand waving wildly in the air. "Stinky Sniveling Stupid Severus Snape!"

"And he's your enemy because…" said Lily, her tone implying that she wanted James to finish her sentence for her.

"Oh, I thought you'd like James's list of adjectives," said Sirius, back to his pouty face (he'd forgotten about it during James's witty description).

"Well, I can't actually remember our original feud," said James uncomfortably, "But he's done plenty of evil things since to make us hate him, and we're sure the feeling is mutual. Stupid wanker, we're sure he'll be a Slytherin, and that's reason enough to hate him."

"Are you insulting my Mum? She was a Slytherin," exclaimed Sirius huffily to James.

"I love your mum dearly, but she's the exception," said James, obviously tired of this discussion. "Hey look, there's Remus, Peter, and Arielle! Now you can judge for yourself what they're like. As for our enemies…" he paused as if unwilling to give up such a great opportunity to rant against those he hated most "…Well, you can judge for yourself when we get to school."

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Hpe you like it, and thanks for reviews, appreciated as always. *such kind people there are on fanfiction.net/* I like to talk to myself.

As always, have a nice however long it takes me to write another chapter (I've already started hope it doesn't take me like another year), and be nice to the bunnies. And don't club any baby seals.  ^.^

Thanks to NoT a FlAmE for making me get off my lazy ass a little so I could post a chapter for once.