Chapter Two
Shopping in Diagon Alley


Lily woke to a buzz of voices. 'Huh?' Lily thought. 'Who's in my room?' Then it came to her. She was in the Leaky Cauldron. The voices were James's two older sisters, who had shared a room with her. They were up awfully early, Lily thought to herself.
James's tall, 14-year-old sister, Kelly shook Lily out of bed "I'm up, I'm up!" Lily proclaimed groggily. She dressed quickly in jeans and a green sweater, and the three girls went downstairs to join the other Potters.
The stairs were narrow and rickety wood ones. They had three whole flights to go down, and they made Lily very nervous. She was tripping over her own feet, she was so nervous Kelly and Jill laughed and each caught her several times. Lily was laughing herself when they got to the main floor.
The dining room was just beyond the main pub. It was full, it being a summer morning in August. Lots of families were here getting supplies for their children. Lily saw adults in robes and in normal, or muggle, clothing. The children and teenagers were mostly in muggle clothes. Lily looked around and saw many parents with their children. She suddenly missed her parents horribly.
Lil knew her dad couldn't of gotten away in the middle of the newest case,and her mum had Tyler to look after. So it was unfair to demand they be here. She missed them terribly, though. But there was one person Lily couldn't miss, even if tried. It was her sister Petunia.
Petunia had thought having a witch in the family was weird, uncommon. Petunia had always liked being normal and very nosy. She loved to show off her new things, too. Petunia was a bratty, selfish girl, and there was no denying it. Mum spoiled her something awful, even though there was Tyler and Rosa to share the attention with, not to mention Lily herself. But Lily's dad was always generous with his love, so there was really no complainig, execpt about Petunia's brattiness.
Lily and the Potter girls sat down with Mr. and Mrs. Potter and James at a large table. Mr Potter smiled, and patted Jill's head. "Good morning, girls," was Mrs. Potter's cheerful greeting.
James was not so cheerful."Ruddy lie-a-beds you are. Mum wouldn't let us have any brekkie 'til you came down!"
"Good morning,yourself, King of Cheerfulness," Kelly responded sarcastically, hitting him upside the head.
"Children, have we forgotten our guest?"Mr. Potter reprimanded. Kelly and James blushed. The girls sat down, and ordered breakfast. Soon everyone had food in front of them. Jill, the second oldest Potter at 13, was telling Lily about what went on in the wizarding world. Lily was quite facinated by flying and Quidditch. The whole idea of writing with quills sounded quite fascinating to Lily too.
"James is a natural on a broom. I suspect he'll be Gryffindor Seeker in his second year," Mr. Potter proudly said during the discussion on Quidditch.
After breakfast Mrs. Pottter asked the children to get out their lists and see what they needed. Some of the books on James and Jill's lists were old ones of Kelley's. Most they could get second hand. The only thing Mr. Potter would not get second-hand was wands. James oughta have a wand that suits 'im, deary," he protested. Mrs. Potter agreed pretty quickly.
The pary of six headed out to a small walled in courtyard. There was nothing in the courtyard but a couple of weeds and a trash can. What were they doing here? Lily looked at James, did he know? He seemed to understand she was wondering about it and shuffled closer to her. "We tap one of the bricks, and a doorway to Diagon Alley opens. Diagon Alley is where we'll shop. We coulda used floo powder, and gone from home, but Mum thought you'd like a trip. Though you'd think our house was shabby, was really it though, I'm pretty sure," James explained. He also admitted his family wasn't as well to do as Lily's. She blushed and nodded. Then she went to stand by Kelley.
While James had been busy embarassing Lily and his family, Mr. Potter had opened the gateway to Diagon Alley. It was a HUGE archway that led to a cobbled walkway that turned and twisted out of sight. Mr. Potter led them through the archway. When Lily looked back, the archway was gone and in its place was a brick wall. 'Wow, this magic stuff is going to take some getting used to. It looks like alot of fun though,' Lily thought.
The Potters headed to Gringotts bank. It was a large marble building that towered over the other small shops. There was an inscription on the silver inside doors saying:
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 was never yours,
Thief,you have been warned,beware
Of finding more than treausure there.
James siddled over to Lily and whispered, "Dad said you'd have to be stupid or nuts to rob Gringotts. Rumors say there's dragons in the tunnels." He grinned, hoping he'd scared her. But Lily looked more impressed than scared.
"Then dragons are real? Omigosh, I've always wished they were. Magic and dragons all in one week? This too exciting to be real" Lily whispered happily. She nearly skipped as the Potters went into the bank. The bank goblins sat behind the counters. "Goblins,"Lily exclaimed. "Wow, this is so neat!"
Mrs Potter and Kelley went down to their vault to get some money while Mr. Potter took Lily and his younger two children over to the exchange counter to change Lily's muggle money for wizard money. It was such a considerable amount that it needed a bag. (Lily's dad had been generous with pocket money, especially after he saw the list of supplies.)
After Mr. Potter and the children got Lily's money, they waited by the tunnels for Mrs. Potter and Kelley to come up. When they came up, the group headed outside. Mr. Potter decided that he would take James and Lily to get wands, and Mrs. Potter would take the Potter girls to get whatever new supplies they needed and they would all meet at Flourish and Blotts in two hours(time to get Lily and james's supplies too).
Disclaimer: I own Jill and Kelley Potter, Rosa and Tyler Evans, and maybe the parents, and the plot. James and Lily are JK Rowling's.