July 20, 1993
"That's it. 5 o'clock. Quitting time." Said Janice. She put her phone down and gathered up her things. "You coming to happy hour, Lilly?"
"I can't." Lilly replied. "Christina's home alone again."
"Ah. She's not doing that day camp this summer?"
"No, now that she's older I didn't feel the need to enroll her in programs all summer. She'll be twelve in October, she can handle herself for a little while."
"I guess that makes sense. Man, she's growing up fast. Well, I'm heading out. See you on Monday!"
Lilly watched Janice go, then picked up her purse and left. She'd been working as a secretary for a consulting firm for about ten years now, and the company had been a great place for her. They'd taken her on when she was desperate, and even put up with her on her bad days and her need for a calculator for even the simplest math. Her boss had commented before that it was almost like she'd stopped learning math around year seven, and Lilly had to admit that that assessment felt about right.
Despite what the nurse at the hospital had said about brains healing over time, Lilly remembered frustratingly little about her past life. She'd grown up in some place called Cokeworth, then went to school somewhere with that one friend who was always calling her by her last name. After that . . . something. Then she'd had to escape from somewhere with her baby daughter, and then they'd built a life here in London. She had never been able to shake the feeling that she'd left something or someone very important back at her old home. But she never knew what or where it was. Oh well. Bygones were bygones.
Inside their small flat, Christina was on the couch watching tv.c "How'd it go today?" Lilly asked. "Everything's fine?"
Christina nodded. "Michelle came over for a while and we hung out and did manicures. Don't bother looking at the bathroom floor because we cleaned up all the nail polish we spilled. I stayed inside like you told me to."
"Good, good. If you keep up the good behavior we can probably leave you at home the whole summer instead of putting you in those day programs." Lilly set her purse down. "Anyone come to the door? Any phone calls while I was gone?"
Christina shrugged. "Just some telemarketers. They want you to buy their fancy new vacuum cleaners."
"Tell them to bugger off."
"I already did. Hey, what's for dinner?"
"Spaghetti. I'll start on the salad and if you can get a pot of water boiling that would be great."
Christina hopped off the couch and took out their big stock pot from the cupboard. She filled it with water and was about to set it on the stove when there was a knock at the door.
"Now who could that be?" Lilly grumbled. She set down her knife and opened the door to find a very oddly dressed woman on the other side.
"Good evening." Said the woman. "I have a letter here for a Miss Christina Evans, about a boarding school she's been accepted to. If I could come inside, We can talk about the coursework offered and her future."
"Errr . . . all right." Lilly motioned for her to come inside.
"And you must be Christina!" The odd woman exclaimed as Christina shuffled into the living room. "I have a letter with some exciting news for you, but first I have to explain . . . I'm sorry. This is my first time giving out acceptance letters. Usually our deputy headmistress does this, but she's been ill this week. I'm Professor Vector, and I'm here to inform you that you have been accepted to a school called Hogwarts."
Hogwarts. The very name sent shivers down Lilly's spine. It was so familiar and foreign all at once. It stirred up precious few memories form the very depths of her subconscious: pumpkins, a wide, cold lake, a red and yellow striped scarf. Something warm and welcoming.
"What's Hogwarts?" Christina asked. "I didn't apply to any fancy private schools."
"Oh no, you didn't have to apply." Said Professor Vector. "Your name's been on our list since you were very young. Since you're from a muggle family, it would have been since your first signs of accidental magic."
"Accidental what? Mum, did you hear that? Magic?" She gave Professor Vector an uneasy look.
"Accidental magic." Said Lilly slowly. The words felt stiff and strange on her tongue.
"That's right, accidental magic." Said Vector. "Have you ever had weird things happen to you? Something you couldn't explain?"
"Well, there was the time I was running from the cat, and he was angry and I was scared of him." Said Christina. "I ducked behind the couch, but all of a sudden the laundry hamper was overturned on top of him, but I never touched it. He was glaring at me through the holes in the plastic. And there was that time when Jennifer and Caitlin said mean things about me at school, and the next day they both had horrible, horrible acne all over their faces. I thought I just got lucky.
"There you are." Said Vector. "At Hogwarts you learn to control the magic inside you and do spells intentionally. Like this." Vector lifted her wand and conjured a couple monarch butterflies out of thin air. She waved her wand again and they vanished.
"Whoa. Can I really learn to do that?"
"If you come to Hogwarts, then yes. Now, conjuring is advanced magic. You'll start with simpler spells, but you'll get to conjuring eventually. Which brings me to my next point. This letter here is your acceptance letter. We need a response by July 31st. If you've already decided, I can take your response back to the headmaster and let him know right away."
"Ooh Mum I want to go, please can I?"
"Of course." Said Lilly. Something deep in her mind told her yes, this was the right decision, this was safe for Christina.
"Excellent!" Said Vector. "Now, you will need some supplies, books and a wand and that sort of thing." She reached into the envelope with the letter and pulled out the supply list and a simple map of London. "Now, there is a place where you can get all of this, not far from here, off Charing Cross Road. It's called Diagon Alley.
They went to Diagon Alley that very weekend to fix Christina up with everything she might need. The Leaky Cauldron turned out to be just a few stops on the underground, and when they found it they both wondered how they'd walked down this road and missed it all these years.
The interior was dark and smoky, like may other pubs they'd been to but distinctly different. Perhaps it was several cauldrons hung over the grimy fireplace, or maybe it was the oddly dressed patrons with self-stirring cups, or maybe it was the strong feeling of deja vu that slammed Lilly in the face as soon as she stepped inside. It was all so, so familiar, but she couldn't place why or how. Had she been here before?
"Hogwarts firstie?" Asked the bartender.
Christina nodded.
"Excellent. Follow me out back and I'll show you into Diagon Alley." He set down the filthy rag he'd been mopping the bar with and led them out into the little backyard, counted over the bricks on the wall, then tapped one with his wand. The bricks began to shift and re-form until they created the shape of an arch, revealing the crooked little street lined with bright storefronts.
"You'll want to start at Gringotts." Said the bartender. "Big white building down at the end. Exchange your muggle money."
"Thank you." Said Lilly. They set off down the street, stopping to peer in at the little stores as they went. There was a huge crowd gathered outside a place called Quality Quidditch Supplies, mostly teenage boys oggling some kind of broom called the firebolt.
"It's the fastest broom ever!" A boy gushed as they walked past. "Oh, what I'd give to have one of those!"
"Don't even think about it." Said Lilly. "First-years aren't allowed to have their own." She took Christina's arm and pulled her away.
Just a few doors down from Quality Quidditch Supplies was a big store called Flourish and Blotts. "That must be where we get books." Lilly peered into the front window. They both paused to look at something called The Monster Book of Monsters, horrible-looking books with teeth and claws that were literally trying to kill each other.
"I don't want to have to get one of those." Christina muttered.
"I hope I don't have to buy one for you." Said Lilly. "You'd think they'd give that kind of thing to older students who know some spells to subdue it."
They both shuddered and kept walking toward Gringotts. When they entered they came into a huge entrance hall with vaulted ceilings. It was deathly quiet inside, and the only sounds that could be heard were their footsteps and the scratching of quills held by the goblins. The wizarding families went directly to the teller at the back of the room, where he pointed them toward vaults. Lilly watched them intently while Christina looked around. She tugged on her mother's sleeve and pointed toward a counter to the left labeled Currency Exchange. Even better, there was a family who looked quite non-magical was already there.
"First time?" The father asked as they drew close. "That was us last year. Our Colin's starting his second year, and we're all much more used to this stuff this time around. I'm Bob Creevey, this is my wife Linda, and our boys Colin and Dennis." He gestured to two small boys, the older of whom was fiddling with a camera. "Hello." Said Christina.
The taller boy turned around. "Hi! I'm Colin. Always great to meet other muggleborns at Hogwarts!"
"Does it make a difference, being from a muggle family?" Christina asked.
"No! Well, last year I got petrified because I was a muggleborn, not like terrified, like literally turned solid and I couldn't move. But that's not a normal thing!" He quickly added. "There was this really bad thing with a giant snake that got out of hand. But it's cool! They revived me with mandrake juice. It was awesome!"
"Is Hogwarts . . . safe?" Christina asked.
"Safest place in the world!" Said Colin. "The giant snake was a one-time thing. This year should be much calmer!"
Lilly turned away from the desk with a bag of wizarding money in her hand. "You ready to go, Christina? We've got things to buy. It was very nice meeting you, Creevey family."
"Bye!" Said Colin. "Hey, maybe we'll see each other on the train!"
"What was that he was saying about a giant snake?" Asked Lilly.
"Apparently some giant snake came along and paralyzed him, but he was ok eventually." Christina shrugged. "I guess it's gone now."
"I guess that's what you get at a magic school. Here, let's see what you need." She took the list from Christina and they both read it up and down. "Lots of books, black robes, a cauldron, a wand . . . This is a lot of stuff. I guess we'd better get started."
Several hours later they were finally finished with their shopping and toted their purchases back onto the underground. Christina left her mother to carry the boring items like robes and books while she clutched the most important ones: her new wand and her new owl. After some deliberation and some advice from the witch at the animal shop, she'd selected a beautiful owl. She'd thought about a cat, but they didn't carry mail and shed fur on everything. Her owl was a delicate snowy owl whom she'd named Sprinkles for the small dark flecks in her feathers. The other important possession was her new wand, oak wood and unicorn hair, ten inches long. Christina gripped the top of the cage and the wand box tightly as the train rumbled along. She was going to a real magic school!