Lily's Place in Life
Part 3
James looked at Lily. She looked confused and lost. Then he heard Madam Malkin repeat what she had said before.
"Five Galleons for each of you."
'Oh!' Thought James, 'That is why she looks so confused. She doesn't even know what a Galleon is.' He shoved the Galleons that Lily needed into her hand and gave five to Madam Malkin, who was starting to get impatient.
Lily looked at the coins in her hand. Then looked at James, and copied what he did by handing the coins to Madam Malkin.
She handed them their robes and said, "Thank you, Dears, have a nice day."
Lily followed James out of the shop and asked, "Was that money? How am I going to pay you back? I don't have any... Um... Galleons, that is what those coins were right?"
"You can pay me back. You just have to exchange your muggle money for wizard money."
"Where?"
"See that big, white building at the end of the street? That's Gringotts, the bank. You can exchange your money there."
"Okay. Will show me where to go after I get my money and stuff? I really have no clue where I'm going."
James laughed, "I can't show you around because I have to meet my friend, but I'll tell you where to go."
So they walked down to Gringotts and paused at the front doors as some ugly sort of monster opened the door. Lily shuddered as she passed that... That thing, whatever it was. Then they entered a large room with a long counter with. Behind it were more of those horrible monsters.
"What are those creepy, shriveled monster things?" Lily whispered to James.
He grinned and said, "Goblins."
Lily's eyes widened. "But there is no such thing! My mum always told me that-"
But James cut her off, "Your mum doesn't know about goblins and banshees and dragons-"
"Dragons!" Lily gave a little shriek. Dragons were her worst fear, they had been even before she had known they were real.
"Don't worry. You don't come across dragons very often because it's against the law to keep them as pets."
"Who would want to?"
"Someone, I guess."
By this time they had reached a counter. Lily was scared to talk to the goblin, but she needed money to buy her stuff and pay James back, so she gathered all the courage she had and talked to the goblin.
"I-I n-need to exchange this f-for wizard money." She handed him all the money her father had given her to the goblin.
"Just a minute, miss. I'll be right back." And with that the goblin turned and strode though a door that was behind the counters. 'That wasn't so bad, I guess. At least it was polite.' Lily thought.
A minute later the goblin came back with a little pouch that was bulging with coins. "Here you go, miss. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No."
"Okay, then. Have a nice day."
After they were out of the building Lily turned to James and said, "Okay, what do I owe you?" She held her pouch open and looked inside.
"Five Galleons... The gold ones," he added when he saw the blank look on Lily's face. She dug five of the odd-looking gold coins out of the pouch and held them out for James.
"What are the other ones?" She asked as James took the money.
"The silver ones are Sickles and the bronze ones are Knuts."
"Oh."
"I told you I'd tell you where to go, so I'll do that now 'cause I have to go. See that shop over there? Flourish and Blotts, that's where you get your books. And that little shop way over there, at the end of the street is where you get your supplies. And that one there, Ollivanders, is where you get your wand. Oh, and that one that has a haze around it is where you get your stuff for Potions. Got all that?"
"Yeah. Thanks a lot."
"Sure anytime. If I don't run into you later I'll see you at Hogwarts." And with a wave he was off in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron.
Lily looked up the street and decided to get her wand first. Ollivanders was a dark, dingy shop with rows and rows of skinny boxes. It was really quiet so when a voice spoke from the shadows she jumped.
"Hello Lily Evans. Good to see that you have chosen to do magic."
Lily stared into the intense eyes of a little, old man. How did he know her name? 'This guy is really weird. I want to get out of here, quick.'
"Let us get you a wand." The man started pulling down boxes from the shelves. He opened one and pulled out a thin wooden stick and looked at it.
"Ah, yes," he said softly, "I remember this one... Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Very good for charm work, I must say. Try." He held out the wand to her.
Lily took it. She felt like a five year old who was acting like a fairy with a twig to fill in as a magic wand. But as she took this one in her hand she felt it get warm suddenly. Then it started to smoke a pink color. And as soon as the smoke was a few inches away from the wand it separated into blobs that turned into little pink hearts.
"Yes... Yes... Very good." The man took the wand from Lily, and immediately the smoke hearts dissolved. He put the wand back in its box and handed it to her.
"Seven Galleons that will be."
Lily gave the man his Galleons and eager to get out of this shop, hurried into the light of Diagon Alley.
~~~~~~~~~
Soon Lily was finished with her shopping for school and was ready to look through all the other different shops. They were all very unique, but the ice-cream shop caught Lily's attention after about a half-hour of roaming. She entered and sat down at a little table in the corner. A man came and took her order. She got her favorite: Rainbow Sherbet.
She was about halfway through her ice-cream when she heard someone call her name. 'Not another person like that guy at the wand place. Oh, please no!' But she looked up to see who it was and gasped.
"Katie! What are you doing here?" Lily was excited.
Katie Figg came in and sat at Lily's table. "I was going to ask you the same question. I told you I was going to a boarding school, but I didn't tell you its name. Now that I know you are a witch too I can tell you. I'm going to Hogwarts."
Lily bounced up and down. "Me, too! Me, too! Oh, I can't believe it! This will be so much fun!"
"Wait a minute. Do your parents or Petunia have any magic?"
"No. Does your mom?"
"Yes. If I would have known you were a witch, too, I would have told you a long time ago."
"I just learned I was a witch yesterday. I got a letter."
"This is so cool! Lets talk about what we'll do when we get there."
Katie and Lily talked until four o'clock about Hogwarts. Then Lily had to go. They had decided to go with each other to the train station to catch the Hogwarts Express together.
~~~~~~~~~
The next few weeks passed quickly, and before she knew it was time for Lily to get up at 7:00 AM to get ready to go to Hogwarts.
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How did you like it? PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!! Sometimes on my profile I will leave a little note like an excuse why I haven't updated my stories or something like that. Just in case your interested. I'll put up the next part ASAP.
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