Chapter 3

Hair Redder Than Mine

*~AN: Hiya we decided to post the next chappie today because were back at school now, and won't have much time to post chapters so we won't be posting 1 chappie each day k? Great glad you understand

Disclaimer: okay now we don't own: Lily Evans, James Potter, Remus Lupin or Sirius Black they are all j/k's piece of work. We only own the personalities we have given them. Despite Whinging at JK Rowling endlessly we have achieved nothing except for a restraining order. Any characters that are in the books that Jk wrote we do not own if you don't recognize the characters then they are ours! So pls don't sue us! All we own is a cd player some cds a TV…etc J~*

As she walked back, she heard a voice shouting her name. She turned around to see…

Standing right behind her was a boy that was around her age maybe a year older with flaming red hair & a bunch of freckles. Lily was surprised to see that the boy's hair was redder then hers.

"Hullo," the boy said with a wide grin on his face. "My name is Mark Weasley, I'm in the 1st year at Hogwarts and I saw you telling off Lucius Malfoy over there."

"Yeh so, what are you gonna do about it?" Lily asked in a manner that she hoped was threatening.

"Wow chill," he paused. "I was just coming over to congratulate you for telling off one of the worlds biggest gits!"

"Oh, ok. Sorry that I snapped at you." Lily replied whilst going bright red with embarrassment. "Umm by the way before you go, could you please tell me what galleons, sickles and knuts are?" Mark nodded,

"Sure. Galleons are the gold ones, they're our largest form of currency, I think I've got one here…" He searched through his pockets frantically. "Nope, sorry. My brother Arthur is sure to have some though, there he is. Oy! Arthur!"

Another redhead turned around and waved at Mark. Mark motioned for him to come over and he ran over.

"Hey Mark, who's your friend?"

"Arthur this is Lily Evans, Lily this is one of my brothers Arthur."

"Hullo Arthur." Lily said rather politely.

"Hi. What seems to be the problem?"

"Well I'm muggle-born and my mother and I were wondering what galleons, sickles and knuts were. Mark said that you would be able to show me and explain it so that I could tell my mum and then we could finish filling out the forms. Could you do that for me?" Lily asked with an angelic smile.

"Sure!" Arthur said and he started to explain.

"Well! Thank you so much for your help, Arthur. We really needed it." Carlotta Evans smiled at him.

"That's alright, Mrs. Evans." Arthur said, a bit overcome. Lily hid a grin, she could understand that, most people were slightly dazed after meeting her mother; she was a bit full on.

"Please, call me Carlotta. I understand that you attend Hogwarts too?" Carlotta lifted one delicate eyebrow.

"Y, yes, I'm in my 7th year. I'm head boy." Arthur stammered.

"Wonderful, I'm so glad my daughter will have someone as helpful as you to look up to." Carlotta said warmly. Oh honestly! Lily thought. Why does she always have to do this?

"Um, thanks Arthur, you'll have to excuse my Mum, she's rather anxious about my starting school."

"N, no problem." Arthur said. "You're a muggle, aren't you Carlotta?" He asked suddenly. Lily hid a smile. I guess Mark was right, Arthur is very fond of muggles.

"Yes, I am." Carlotta affirmed.

"Ooh, can, can I ask you a few questions?" Arthur inquired tentatively.

"Of course."

"What…" A red-haired girl, whose hair was similar in colour to that of Lily's, interrupted Arthur.

"Arthur Weasley! I have been looking for you everywhere! You told me that you would meet me outside of Flourish and Blotts half an hour ago!" The girl screeched. Arthur flinched, and Lily could see why. The girl, for all her short stature, and sweet face, had an aura of power that was not to be reckoned with.

"M, Molly, so nice to see you." He stuttered.

"Well?" The girl named Molly looked ready to explode. "Where were you?"

"I was here, Lily," He motioned towards her, "Is a muggle-born. She was having a bit of trouble setting up an account."

"Oh. Well, that's alright then." A blush suffused her delicate cheekbones. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself." She said kindly. "My name's Molly Rachises. Soon to be Weasley." She giggled, and Lily became aware of the small diamond ring on her left hand.

"Congratulations, Molly. My name's Carlotta Evans, and this is my daughter Lily." Carlotta smiled at Molly.

"I like your ring Molly," Lily said shyly. Molly grinned.

"Thanks Lily" "Well," Lily's mum started we had better get going, thank you for helping us Arthur, and I was wondering if you two as well as your brother, could watch over Lily at Hogwarts and make sure that she doesn't get expelled at this school?" Lily's mother looked at the three children with a pleading look on her face.

"Sure we will Carlotta!" Molly piped up happily. Carlotta smiled thankfully. 

"Oh and I better warn you that Lily over here is quite a prankster, and she seems to be prone to getting herself in trouble" 

" Don't worry about a thing Carlotta us and all of my siblings that are attending Hogwarts will look after Lily." Arthur said reassuringly.

"Well we better get going." Carlotta said and with that they said goodbye. Carlotta handed in the paper and gave Lily 50 galleons 30 sickles and 20 knuts. Then they walked out of the bank and started to go shopping.

"Lily, you go get your robes and your wand, while I get your books and a few other things, then we'll meet up at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. Ok?" Carlotta Evans instructed.

"Yupsies, well we better get going, bye Mum, I'll meet you at the ice-cream parlour in about 2 hours."

" Ok honey, see you then!" And with that they walked off their separate ways. Lily walked past quite a few shops but didn't pay any attention to them. Eventually she appeared in front off a shop called 'Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions'. Lily stared at the shop for a few minutes before finally walking in. She looked around the shop and saw those funny dresses hanging on hangers everywhere. She walked up to one and was about to touch it when all of a sudden a voice from behind her said "Why hello dear and what's your name? You're here for robes am I correct? Let me guess your attending Hogwarts this year." Lily jumped at the voice and turned around. " H, h, hello" Lily stammered.

"Oh sorry dear I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Madam Malkin." The warm-voiced lady said. She was a tall lady that had warm brown eyes and a comforting smile her brown hair reached to her shoulders and she looked like she was in her 20's. Lily blinked and then said "Hi, my names Lily Evans and yes this year I am attending Hogwarts for the first time." Lily said quietly.

"Let me guess you are muggle born am I right?"

"Yeah I am." Lily said warily. Is this person going to be mean to me too? To her surprise the woman smiled, and clapped her hands.

"Oh great. That means I can tell you what you need. My name's Mara Malkin, I inherited the shop off my Grandmamma. She said I have to have a good relationship with the wizarding world, but so many of the old wizarding families are arseholes, don't you agree? I'm a muggle-born witch myself, and purebloods just don't seem to have any respect for the working witch. I mean, lots of pureblooded families are poor as well, but they receive respect at least. But do I? Noooo. I'm just some stupid air-headed muggle-born, who, according to certain 'people' shouldn't have been let into Hogwarts at all. It just annoys me so much. Of course, I graduated 2 years ago now, but there's so much discrimination against the average muggle-born, don't you agree? Oh what am I saying? You haven't started at Hogwarts yet, so you probably haven't met any discriminating wizards. Take the Malfoys, they're rotten to the core, they are."

"The Malfoys?" Lily said incredulously. "The boy who insulted me in Gringotts, Marc said he was a Malfoy."

"Oh dear, you've already met one then. Too bad. Marc who?"

"Weasley. Why, do you know him?"

"A Weasley! Oh that's wonderful! He stood up for you, I'm sure, that is, if he had the chance. You don't look like a girl who suffers fools gladly, or lets people insult her and get away with it. I'm sure you set him straight before anyone had a chance to help." She got a dreamy expression on her face. "I went out with a Weasley at Hogwarts." Then her face grew sad. "But things didn't work out."

"What happened?"

"Well… Oh mi gawd! Look at the time! I've kept you in here for over half an hour! I'm so sorry, I get like that sometimes. Grandmamma says I'd talk the hind leg off a donkey. She was awful proud of me though. I was the first witch in the family since her time; she was actually my great grandmamma. So she always favoured me. My sisters were all jealous of me something dreadful. You should hurry along and find your mother." Madam Malkin, or 'Mara' handed her a bunch of neatly folded robes, and a cloak. "There you are. That'll be 4 galleons." Lily handed over the money and gave Mara a hug before skipping out.

3 hours later Lily had managed to get everything but her wand. She'd seen Ollivander's Wands, but it had looked too creepy for her to go in there alone. She wanted her mum to be there. She and her mum walked into the shop, and a pale man with big glowing eyes greeted her.

"Ahh, Lily Evans, I was wondering when I'd see you in here. Which is your wand arm?"

"Umm, I'm left-handed, if that's what you mean."

"Yes, well." He left her standing there, and let a tape measure start measuring her arm. He quickly pulled various boxes off the wall, and said, "That's enough." The tape measure, which had been measuring her mouth dropped to the floor. "Try this one, 11 inches long, made of ash, with a core of liverwort, quite good for growing charms." Lily was about to take it, when another wand caught her eye. It was sitting on the counter, and looked as if it was about to be put away.

"Can I try that one first, please?" She asked.

"Of course, of course." Mr Ollivander hurried over to it. "Nice wand this one. I just finished making it. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow with a core of Egyptian Jade. Nice wand for charm work. Give it a wave." Lily took it off him, and felt a sense of completion come over her. She didn't care if this wasn't the wand for her, she wanted it anyway. She brought it up in the air, and a bunch of fragrant white lilies burst out of the tip. "Marvelous! Simply marvelous!" Mr Ollivander cried. "You'll be a talented witch, that's for sure." Lily blushed; she'd never received praise quite like that before. She couldn't help stammering her thanks, and, to her mortification, blushed even deeper in embarrassment. To think that she'd see a day when she wasn't totally sure of herself. Carlotta had always commented that she was sure of herself in a way that bordered on arrogance, so she was as amazed as her daughter. Mr Ollivander beamed at her in an odd manner. "You'll be a great one, greater than even you know." He muttered, as he wrapped up the wand. "That will be 8 galleons. A rather expensive wand, yes, but well worth the price, I assure you." Lily handed him the money happily, she couldn't believe she had a wand at last! This was what she had been waiting for, ever since she got her letter. The bell over the door rang, just as she was paying for her wand, and she heard some very familiar voices…