Diagon Alley was straight out of a dream. The streets were lined with bright colored shops, signs reading "Cauldrons, 2 for 10 galleons" and "Fresh Ink and Parchment" hanging in front of the doors. People mulled the streets, chatting and laughing as kids practically ran each other over to see the latest designs of brooms and candies. It took Lily a solid minute to drink it all in, that this was a different world than what she was used to.
"Where do we start?" she asked Professor McGonagall after the wonder had sunk in.
"Well if you want to buy anything, you'll need to get money first," the professor said, starting down the twisting road. Lily ran to catch up with her, a sense of dread in her stomach.
"You said my parents left me money?" she asked, falling into step with the Professor's long strides (Lily was tall, but she couldn't imagine being as tall as Professor McGonagall).
"Indeed," McGonagall said without a glance to the half jogging Lily.
"But how can you be sure? I mean, what if they didn't, and I don't have money to pay for any of it and-"
"Your parents set up a fund for you the minute you were born," McGonagall said. "Trust me, money shouldn't be a problem."
McGonagall stopped short, surprising Lily who had to fight from pitching forward into a set of marble steps.
They were in front of the farthest building down the street, a large, marble structure with two columns standing tall out front.
"Welcome to Gringotts," McGonagall said, all business. She started up the steps, Lily, per usual, scrambling to keep up.
The inside was just as magnificent as the outside, with high ceilings that seemed to never end, and tall desks lining the walkway. The only thing maring the otherwise pure picture was-
"Goblins," McGonagall explained, as if she could read her mind. "They run the bank."
"They look… interesting," Lily said, trying to not offend the professor.
"Goblins are naturally devious creatures, so stay close," was all McGonagall said in return. She led Lily up to a desk where a creature sat high up, glaring down at them.
"Can I help you?" the goblin snarled, a long hand tapping the desk impatiently.
"I request access to the Potter accounts," Professor McGonagall replied, her face neutral.
The goblin scoffed, leaning back in his tall chair. "I'm afraid that the Potter vaults require permission to access."
"Then get me that permission," McGonagall said tartly. With one last withering glance, the goblin got out of his seat, coming back five minutes later with another goblin on its heals.
"If you'd follow me," the new goblin said, not bothering to introduce himself. McGonagall started forward with Lily, but the goblin gave her a look. "Just the girl, if you please." Without waiting for a reply, he turned away and began down a corridor. Lily glanced at McGonagall who gave a slight nod to the younger girl, indicating she should follow the goblin.
The corridors twisted and turned on themselves in a way that made Lily positive that she would never be able to get out again. Finally the goblin stopped in front of a large oak door. With a single knock, the door swung open, revealing an office with an oak desk and chairs. It reminded Lily of a muggle headmaster office with its daunting looks.
The goblin situated himself behind the desk and gestured for Lily to do the same.
"I'm Griphook, the goblin in charge of the Potter vaults. Am I correct in assuming you're Lily Potter?" The goblin's gazed at Lily who nodded in affirmation. "Hold out your hand."
"Excuse me?" Lily said, taken aback.
"Your hand. A simple blood test is required to prove your identity," Griphook said, obviously starting to get impatient.
"While excuse me for asking," Lily muttered, shoving her hand forward. Griphook held out a small knife, causing Lily to start back, but before she could withdraw her hand, he pulled the blade across her hand and smeared it on a cold device.
Lily yanked her hand back, glaring at the goblin. "A little warning next time would be greatly appreciated."
"I told you it would require a blood test."
"You said a small one."
"All of your body parts are intact, no?" Lily could swear there was a playful smile on his face.
"Bloody mental. Did you at least prove I'm not lying?"
"You are, in fact, Lily Mary Potter, daughter of James and Lily Potter." The goblin fished around for something in a draw before pulling out a folder, stamped with gold letters. "These are the financial records of the money and properties your parents left for you when they died. Most you will not come into until you turn of age, but there is a small chunk that was placed aside for school funds." He pulled out a single page, passing it to Lily, who sputtered at the number listed before her.
"This is a small chunk?" she asked, eyeing the number warily.
"You're parents did have a hefty amount of gold left aside for you." Griphook pulled the folder back and placed it inside a draw. "The rest will be acquired, as mentioned, when you come of age. For now, that is what you have to work with. Now, I can take you to the vault with that value placed inside if needed, as well as a vault with items that belonged to your parents."
"That works," Lily said, still slightly speechless. She could only imagine the looks on the Dursley's face if they found out just how much money lay under the streets of London.
"There is just one more matter that needs discussing," Griphook said, pulling out yet another folder. "That of your title."
"My… title?" Lily asked, taking the folder that was passed to her.
"All the information is in there. Of course, you don't have to accept the ladyship when you come of age, but if you decide to, the obligations are outlined."
"Ladyship?" Lily asked, bewildered.
"Of course," Griphook said, as if that was a word normally passed around. "You are the heir to the Noble and most Ancient Houses of Black and Potter. With your father deceased, you become Lady Potter as soon as you come of age, as long as you agree. And your godfather did name you heir to his house and in his current… situation, you would become Lady Black as well."
Lily opened her mouth to ask a question, but Professor McGonagall walked in before she could say anything else.
"All orders are in affair, I presume," McGonagall said. A small bulge in the fold of her robes caught Lily's eye. As if reading the girls mind, McGonagall said, "I needed to attend to some business as well."
"I was just about to escort Miss Potter to her vaults. I assume you have the key?"
"Of course," McGonagall said stiffly, passing a key to Griphook.
"Right this way then."
The goblin first took them to a vault piled with gold, silver, and bronze, which McGonagall helped Lily place in a bag whilst explaining the value of the money.
After, Griphook took them to a vault lined with shelves containing books, scrolls, pictures, jewls, and even furniture.
"All of this… was my parents?" Lily asked, reaching out a hand to touch a leather bound book.
"Correct. And now it's yours."
"Wicked," Lily said softly. She spent what felt like days strolling through the shelves and pulling out books and looking at pictures. In the end, she took about ten books on various magical subjects and a stack of old pictures of two people who had to be ehr parents, some even including a small child that looked to be Lily.
Emerging back onto the bright streets of Diagon Alley, the books and pictures shrunken and shoved into Lily's pockets, felt like waking up from a dream. McGonagall carted Lily from shop to shop, checking things off of a list. Lily had to constantly remind herself that yes, she could afford that and no, she wasn't poor while still telling herself to save money for the next seven years of her life so she couldn't buy too many things.
However, most of that went out of her head as soon as she entered the book shop. Lily always had a love for books, enjoying being taken to a different world with every book and imagining herself in that world instead of the one she resided love for reading only seemed to fuel the kids that bullied her, but it never stopped her from opening a book.
Needless to say, McGonagall had to practically pull her out of that shop, arms laden down with heavy books. McGonagall also brought Lily to a shop full of potions ingredients that squirmed and wiggled, a shop bursting with cauldrons of all shapes, colors, and sizes, a shop full or robes where Lily got fitted for her school robes. They also visited a pet shop where Lily got a beautiful snowy owl. After getting the last few things on her list, Professor McGonagall pulled her into a shop with a sign reading, "Ollivanders, makers of fine wands since 382 b.c".
"Lily Potter," a soft voice said. A man with silvery hair stood behind the counter, a curious glint in his eyes. "Welcome."
"Erm, hello," Lily said, only slightly weirded out by the fact that the old man knew her name (not much surprised her when her day had been filled with wizards, goblins, and a village filled with various magical things).
"Minerva McGonagall. Your wand was 9 ½ inches, fir, and dragon heartstring. Pleasure to see you again."
"Do you always greet someone with information about their wand?" Lily mused. Either Ollivander didn't hear her or, more likely, chose to ignore her.
"Which is your wand arm?" he said instead.
"Well, I'm left handed," Lily offered.
"Hold it out." As she did, a measuring tape began to take measurements all around Lily's body.
"I remeber every wand I've ever sold, Miss Potter. Each uniquely different, suited for their owner and their owner only. You can never get quite the same results with a different users wand, even if you did manage to win it from them. That will do," Ollivander suddenly said, and the measuring tape fell to the ground in a pile.
"Come over here, Miss Potter," Ollivander said, walking behind the counter. He began to pull slim boxes off of the shelves and laid them down. "Fir, unicorn hair, eight and a half inches. Nice and flexible- well give it a wave."
Feeling more than slightly stoopid, Lily took the wand and waved it, managing to break a vase whilst doing it.
"Well that's not the one," Ollivander chortled, taking the wand back from Lily and passing her another. "Dragon heartstring, 8 inches, perfect for charm work."
This time, instead of breaking a vase, lily managed to bring down the entire staircase (which Ollivander then fixed with a mere flick of his own wand.)
"Quite strong natural talent I see. Much like you're parents in that sense. You're going to do great things, Miss Potter, if only with the right wand…" he trailed off, his eyes landing on a third box. "Maybe… no… but if… perhaps if…"
"Care to clue us in on your thoughts?" Lily asked, earning a scolding look from the professor.
"Alright, Miss Potter, I think I might have found the wand for you. Holly, 11 inches, and core of a phoenix feather. Particularly good at defensive magic." He passed Lily the wand, and as soon as her hand touched it, it warmed, casting a silver glow.
"This is the one," Lily found herself saying, holding tight to the wand. "Definitely this one."
"Curious," Ollivander said.
"Why curious?" Lily asked, still admiring the wand in her hand.
"It just so happens, Miss Potter, that the particular phoenix who's tail feather is in your wand gave just one other. The wand in your hand has a brother. And it's brother… well it's brother gave you that scar." His voice got more hushed the longer he spoke, causing the last words to become a mere whisper.
"No need to be so dramatic," Lily said, keeping her voice even.
"Well as I said, Miss Potter, you're onto great things. Given, He-who-must-not-be-named did great things. Terrible, yes… but great. Now, that will be nine galleons."
Lily fished into her pocket to pull out her money pouch, but Professor McGonagall passed the gold to Mr. Ollivander.
"You don't have to-" Lily started, but McGonagall held up a hand.
"From what I remember, your birthday is tomorrow, is it not?" Lily nodded her head in confirmation. "Well then consider this an early birthday present."
"Thank you," Lily said earnestly. It was the first present she had ever gotten (well if you didn't count the ratty old sweaters Petunia gave her when the others finally fell apart).
"You're welcome," McGonagall said with a small smile.
Professor McGonagall left Lily at the Leaky Cauldron with instructions of how to get on to the platform at Kings Cross (run straight at the wall, no matter how absurd it sounded) and a whole new set of outfits from the muggle mall across the way ("Because you're not wearing your aunts old clothing anymore").
Lily woke up early on the morning of September first, the sun rise shining in from the window across from her bed. She got up and showered, plaiting her black hair down her back and throwing on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before unpacking and repacking her trunk about five times and then reading yet another one of her textbooks. She had almost read them all now, positive that she was already miles behind all the other kids that were going to be at Hogwarts.
Taking the bus to Kings Cross wasn't Lily's idea of an ideal form of transportation, but she wasn't about to call the Dursleys for a ride.
By the time she made it to the station, the sun was high in the sky and Lily's watch read 10:30. Professor McGonagall had been pretty assertive in saying that if Lily wasn't on the train by 11 am sharp, she would miss it.
Lily loaded her trunk and owl onto a trolley and made her way into the station, double checking that she had her ticket with her. The station was packed,morning commuters bustling around to find their train and get to work. Lily maneuvered her trunk through the station, dodging people who didn't seem to mind if they hit into her.
Finally she made it to the platform, staring down a brick wall that looked pretty solid. Her mind began to flash through the possibilities of what would happen if she ran into it, ranging from going through to crashing her cart and breaking every bone in her body.
"Well," Lily muttered, taking a deep breath. "Only one way to find out." Shaking out her long limbs, Lily closed her eyes and took off at a run, bracing herself for the impact.
But it never came. She stopped running. Cracking open her eyes, Lily took in the colorful surroundings around her.
Kids mulled about, talking and laughing amatidly. A large, red steam engine was stopped on the tracks, students climbing into it and leaning out the windows.
A laugh of relief escaped Lily. She was here. She was really going to a school for magic. She grabbed her cart again, preparing to push it to the train, when something hard smacked into her back, sending her reeling forward and her cart crashing to the ground.
"Oh, merlin! I'm so sorry, are you alright?" A boy with ginger hair was standing over her, offering his hand down. Lily took it and yanked herself up, brushing off her shorts.
"Well," she drawled, "that's one way to knock a girl off her feet."
The boy turned bright red and helped her put her trunk back on the cart. "Again, I'm so sorry. I'm Ron Weasley, by the way."
"Lily Potter," Lily grunted as she heaved her extra bag onto the cart. When she turned back, Ron was standing, staring at her, his freckles stark against his pale face.
"Are you… are you really Lily Potter?" He asked, his eyes wide.
Lily made a show of examining her arms before turning back to Ron. "Last I checked, yes."
"It's just… well… really?" Ron said. Lily glared at him. "Right, right. Sorry. I'm just gonna-" he tripped over himself, turning around to where a group of redheads were standing. "I've gotta-"
"Do you always get this flustered?" Lily chuckled.
"Only when talking to pretty girls," another red head said, coming up behind Ron. "Ronnie, mum's looking for you."
Ron's ears turned bright red as he turned away with one last glance to Lily.
"If that was meant to flatter me," Lily drawled to the new red head, "you failed miserably."
"I only speak the truth," the boy said. "Fred Weasley, at your service." He bowed comically, causing Lily to roll her eyes.
"Lily Potter, and before you pull the same thing your brother did, yes, I do mean Lily Potter."
"Bloody hell," Fred said, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a "FRED!" sounded, causing him to turn.
"Coming mum!" Fred called back. He turned towards Lily, his eyes back to the normal size. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Potter."
"The pleasure was all mine." Lily rolled her eyes once again as the ginger bounded away.