Disclaimer: Lily and other characters you recognize are owned by J.K. Rowling. The plots, along with characters you don't recognize, are owned by us.
Authors Note: This is part two, FYI… Enjoy…
~*~ Tomorrow ~*~
"Good morning, ladies! Wake up!"
Sage sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning. "What time is it?"
"It's lunch time!" Mrs. Anderson replied, almost chuckling. "I've got lunch on the table, ready to be served."
"Whoa," Leighann muttered, stifling a yawn. "I didn't know it was that late!"
Mrs. Anderson smiled. "Let's go, ladies. You can get dressed after you try on outfits for your ball in a few weeks!"
Lily immediately hopped out of her bed and ran down to the kitchen table followed closely by Leighann and Sage.
Alicia chuckled and served the girls each a spoonful of pasta.
After lunch was finished, the girls headed to the basement where Lily had never been before.
It was almost as if Lily had just walked into her very own private, personal costume store. Several clothing costumes were hung along the wall and on several racks in the middle. Every now and then Lily would walk past an outfit floating magically in the air with a pin and pincushion floating next to a half-finished hem sewn on the bottom. Not one of the rooms in the basement was left "un-clothed."
"Go ahead and find something that you girls like and try them on."
Immediately, Sage walked into the next room and found a long, Spanish-looking dress off of a hanger. It had a long train on the back of the dress that flowed along the floor with small ruffles. It was dark blue along the top half, but as it reached the bottom the color faded into a light, sky blue. Grabbing a dark colored mask to cover the eyes and a thin, silver, silk shawl, Sage returned to the other room and handed the outfit over to her mother.
"Finished," she said, satisfied. Sage had worn this dress many times before; it was her favorite and she was always looking for any reason at all to wear this dress.
"Don't forget shoes, dear," her mother said, knowing that this would have been her daughter's number one pick.
"Oh, yeah." Soon, Sage was running back into the room with a pair of blue, high-heeled shoes.
"Let me guess," Lily said sarcastically, "your favorite color's blue, right?"
"How'd you guess?" Sage asked, batting her long eyelashes, covering a pair of icy blue eyes.
"Just took a wild guess out of the blue," Lily said, smiling.
"C'mon, girls, pick out your costumes," Alicia cut in. "We haven't got all month to fix up your costumes!"
"Oh, right," Leighann said, searching the other room for dresses.
"Hey, Lily, come and look at this one! Isn't it beautiful?" Leighann called from inside the bathroom over ten minutes later. Walking out, Leighann spun in a circle so that the other ladies could see her choice of outfit.
The dress was a long, forest green. You would probably describe it as a medieval princess outfit. It hung off of her shoulders a little ways down and the sleeves went to her elbows while the rest of the silk-like fabric, hanging down towards her wrist, had a slit down the middle of it. It clung close to her legs, but stretched enough to move around on a dance floor.
The dress fit snugly around the top of Leighann's figure but began to loosen once it fell past her hips. There was also a small line of jewels that spiraled around the bottom of the dress to the floor as well.
Lily's jaw dropped in admiration.
"Wow! Leighann, that looks so beautiful on you!" Sage exclaimed.
"Leighann," Lily whispered, stepping forward to feel the silk-like fabric. "I'm – I'm – I'm jealous!"
All of the girls laughed while Leighann stood in the spotlight and blushed.
"C'mon, you guys, I'm not that pretty," Leighann muttered quietly.
Oh, please," Alicia said. "Cinch this up, hem this part here, add a small bit of makeup – granted, not too much – put up your hair, and you'll be the queen of the ball!"
Leighann blushed and changed back into her normal clothing.
"So, Lily," Sage piped up, "found anything you liked?"
"Well, mixes of several things, actually. I sort-of have an idea – may I?" Lily asked, pointing towards Mrs. Anderson's parchment and writing utensil.
"Absolutely," she said, handing them over to Lily and the girl began sketching her thoughts on the paper. It wasn't much longer until Lily handed it back and Mrs. Anderson nodded her head, thinking.
"I know exactly what you're thinking," she said. "You girls can go and relax the rest of the day. Just try not to bother me much until I'm finished, alright?" Alicia said.
"Ok, Mum," Sage replied.
"I'll call you ladies back down once I'm finished."
"Ok, Mum. Oh, hey, are you going to want me to bring down food for you or are you going to work right through lunch again?" Sage asked.
"No lunch. I'll have a snack tonight. Now skedaddle! This is precious time you're wasting if you want me to get your dress done tonight!" Alicia said, shooing the girls up the stairs and out of the basement.
~*~ Later That Night ~*~
It was until nine o'clock that night that Alicia even took a step out of the basement.
"Is it done?" the three girls asked, excited.
Plopping into a kitchen chair while grabbing a cookie from the counter, Alicia looked up. "Finished."
"Yeah, you were down there for quite awhile," Sage pointed out.
"Yes, well, there was always something that wasn't quite right for me. But I kept trying and fixing and finally I found all of the right combinations. I think it's one of my best costumes yet."
"Wow, Mum, that's great!" Sage said, excited. "So… Can we see it now?"
"Alright. My, you girls are impatient," Alicia muttered, standing up from her chair and heading for the basement again.
Walking in a filed line, Alicia walked to a hanger with a white, plastic bag over the top.
"Ooh!" Sage said, "An unveiling!"
Leighann and Lily giggled.
"Yes, yes. Go and try it on, Lily," Alicia said, handing it over.
A few minutes later, Lily came out of the bathroom, grinning like a maniac. It was a long white dress that trailed behind Lily on the floor. The outfit had no straps and was a simple, plain, white dress. There was a white feather boa that draped around Lily's shoulders and fell down alongside Lily's dress, following her curves.
"How do you guys like it?" Lily asked tentatively as Alicia walked up to Lily and magicked a pair of angel wings on her back. Lily thanked her and turned back to the other girls staring in awe.
"Aunt Alicia," Leighann muttered, "I think we have a new queen of the ball."
"Damn," Sage muttered a little too loud.
"Sage Marie Anderson!" Alicia shouted. Then much more calmly, "Do you like it, Lily, honey?"
"Like it?" Lily asked, sounding amazed. "I love it! I just need shoes and a mask and the outfit is complete!"
"Oh, no problem there. Here you go." Mrs. Anderson found Sage's mask and duplicated it twice so that there were three in all. She turned one of them a dark green, handing it to Leighann, and the other white, handing it to Lily. "And, girls, don't forget – when you're getting ready for the ball, hold your mask up to where you want them, and then say 'adglutino' and it should stick to where you want on your face, but once the clock strikes midnight, it falls off. Remember that. Now, any preference for your shoes, girls?" she asked.
"I just want them high-heeled and open-toed," Leighann said. "Nothing specific."
"Same here," Lily added.
"Mum," Sage piped up, "I already have mine, but do you think you could possibly make them a bit taller? I could do with some height. Lord knows I'm practically the smallest girl my age!"
"That'd actually be a pretty good idea," Leighann said. "If you're even planning on dancing with someone in our year, you're going to want to be able to almost look them directly in the eyes."
"Yeah," Lily agreed. "The smallest boy in our grade is about an inch taller than you, I think. Not to mention that Sirius Black is about six foot five."
"Shoot. Mum, how tall was I when I last went to the doctor's?" Sage asked.
"I believe it was five foot three – but I think you've grown quite a lot since then!" her mother said quickly before Sage could react.
"Oh well," she sighed. "Try and do what you can, alright, Mum?"
"Sure thing, sweetie. Why don't you girls get in bed? And try not to stay up so late again, ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Sage muttered, stifling a yawn.
The three girls trudged up to Sage's room and settled down.
"So," Sage piped up once they had all changed into their pajamas and were lying under their bed covers, "tell me about these guys at your school. Any you think I'll get along with?" she asked, grinning.
Lily and Leighann groaned. "Some other time, ok?" Leighann said into her pillow. "It'll be a long story, trust me…"
"Alright. Tomorrow, then."
"Sure," Lily said, smiling. "Good night everyone."
"Night," they replied and fell into a deep sleep as soon as they shut their eyes.
~*~ Tomorrow ~*~
The next morning, Lily, Leighann, and Sage woke up before Mrs. Anderson for a change."So," Sage started no more than two minutes after they woke up, "will you tell me about the people at school now?"
"Sage, patience is a virtue," Leighann muttered as she grabbed an outfit and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.Lily and Sage waited until she left and burst into laughter.
The rest of the morning passed by slowly as the rest of the women in the household showered and walked downstairs to have a late breakfast.
"So, what are you girls planning on doing today?" Mrs. Anderson asked as she finished her last bite and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.
"Uh…" The teenagers glanced at each other. "I dunno," Sage finally said. "How long are you staying, Leighann?"
"A week. I think we're leaving next Sunday."
"Oh, ok. Well, since we already have everything for our costumes picked out already, what do you want to do? We've got a week to waste!"
Lily and Leighann shrugged their shoulders.
"Well, actually," Mrs. Anderson started, "I have something that could keep you busy for the rest of the week – that is, if you want to do a little bit of work."
"What?"
"You could help move everything into the new house Sage and I will be moving into."
Sage raised an eyebrow. "We already own the apartment and everything already? Well why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Well, I wasn't expecting to be done so soon, picking out the outfits and everything. I thought that we would have to move everything next week. And then I wanted you to get comfortable with the new house before you went off to Hogwarts. But, you know," she said offhandedly, trying to persuade the girls' interest, "if we moved everything this week, then you might be able to go to Hogwarts when Lily and Leighann go back on Sunday…"
"Really?" Sage stood and cleared all of the dishes off of the table and took the other's plates without them finishing. "Are you guys ready to go yet?"
Alicia smiled and looked over at Lily and Leighann, holding in their laughter at Sage's serious face. "Um, sure!"
Alicia took out her wand and headed to the basement. "Ok, we'll start with the basement. I need all of the outfits from one room in a pile – try to keep the accessories all together with them. And then after we get everything, I'll come around and shrink each stack and put them in a box. Got it? Not too difficult."
The girls nodded their heads and headed off to one of the rooms and began taking everything off of racks and out of closets.
"Ok, you've got time now – I've been patient – tell me more about Hogwarts!" Sage begged.
Leighann smiled. "Alright – but I get to tell about the guys. Ok, Lily?"
"Sure – as long as she stops that annoying whining!"
"Yes!" Sage did a small victory dance, smiling.
"Ok. Well, there are the first years – you don't ever want to associate with them unless you have a good reason to hang around the younger kids. Third years and fourth years aren't as bad, you know, but I wouldn't want to date them if I were you – unless, of course, his name starts with a 'Da' and ends in 'rius…'" Leighann and Lily giggled as they thought of the tall and extremely good-looking boy in the fourth year.
The day continued on in the same fashion. It seemed almost as if as soon as they had begun, Mrs. Anderson was already shrinking each pile of outfits and placing them all together inside a box. It wasn't too long after three in the afternoon that the Anderson's whole basement was set up in their new house.
The next step for the day, working their way from bottom to top, was the main floor including everything except for plastic plates, glasses, utensils, and the refrigerator. By this point in the day, Lily and Leighann were now off explaining the third and fourth year students at Hogwarts.
It was close to six o'clock before the girls called it quits and left the living room half finished and ate a large dinner to satisfy their hunger.
Sage had learned much about Hogwarts, she almost found it hard to separate each thing from another; there was so much information. Leighann had just finished talking about the last boy in Hufflepuff in the fourth year when the girls and Alicia had decided to stop them for the night.
Sage, Lily, and Leighann trudged up to the stairs at about nine and flopped into their beds, too tired to stay awake much longer. Even Sage went to bed once she reached the warmth of her bed sheets without trying to bother Lily and Leighann about Hogwarts.
~*~ Tomorrow – or the rest of the week – however you want to look at it… ~*~
Lily, Leighann, Sage, and Alicia all went through the same ritual as the day before except managed to clear out the rest of the main floor and also started to clear out one of the guest rooms on the top floor. Again, that night, the girls collapsed on their beds, sore muscles from lifting heavy objects, and not being able to use magic yet since they were still underage witches.
On Thursday, the day following, the girls managed to talk about the rest of the students at their school, fifth year on up, and pack away the rest of the house besides a pair of pajamas and clothes for each person and the refrigerator, as well.
Friday, when everyone woke up and changed into their fresh pair of clothes, they ate their breakfast for the last time in that house.
"I can't believe we're gonna be done today," Sage said, half excited and half upset.
Lily, personally, was very anxious to be moving to another house. She hadn't actually seen the other house yet since Mrs. Anderson had always been the one who apparated everything to the new house. Lily didn't even know if they were moving to a bigger or smaller house either!
The last of each girl's belongings were shrunk into an old duffle bag and were slung over Mrs. Anderson's shoulder. The refrigerator was in Leighann's hands, however, for Alicia was worried that her daughter might drop it with her slight clumsiness.
"Ok," Mrs. Anderson muttered, taking a breath before pulling out a bag with some floo powder inside. "Now, when you step in the fireplace, say 'Prensiz.' I haven't had a chance to change the password for the fireplace yet. Sage, why don't you go first? You haven't seen the house yet so I might as well have you go first or you may start throwing a fit."
Sage nodded her head, smiling, and reached her hand into the plastic bag to pull out a large amount of the powder. She tossed the fistful into the fireplace and stepped in once the flames grew large and green, surrounding her body. "Prensiz!" she shouted and the green swirled around her and engulfed her body to leave nothing left behind.
Lily swallowed. She had only flown this way once before in her life and it was when she didn't have a muggle car or broom to use instead. Floo powder wasn't her favorite way of traveling around the country.
"Alright, who wants to go next?"
Lily, quickly, gestured for Leighann to go before she had to. Leighann shrugged, as she was already used to the method of traveling, and reached into the bag to pull out some powder.
"Prensiz!"
Lily watched again and shuddered. It was her turn.
She took a scoop of powder into her hand and, like the others, tossed it into the fire.
"Prensiz!" Lily managed to yell, just before a roar of green flames slapped against her face and nearly blinded her vision.
Her arms were tucked in at her sides as tight as she could keep them as ashes rushed around her hair, which had now turned a strange brown color.
Her eyes started to tear from the dust around her and she managed to breathe a sigh of relief once she felt herself hurtle out of the fireplace, head first.
"Lily! Are you ok? C'mon, Lils, open your eyes."
Leighann brushed the hair out of her face and started to shake her shoulder a bit. "Lily, wake up. Oh, I knew we shouldn't have sent her this way, but it was just too far for her to fly. I thought this might happen…"
"Leighann, shut up. I'm fine!"
"Lily!" Leighann smiled. "I'm glad you're ok! I was so worried!"
"I'm fine, Leighann. Now, if you don't mind, could you help me up?" Lily asked.
"Of course," she muttered, pulling Lily up by the hands.
Lily smiled, gratefully, and gazed around the room. She was standing in, apparently, Sage's new living room, which had their same old furniture with an ugly yellow covering the walls of the room.
Other than the paint color, Lily loved the layout of the room overall. There were some left behind oak tables that matched the wood panel along the floor of the house.
The girls were curious about the other rooms and began to wander around freely. The kitchen, next to the living room, had the square table from their original house with a counter around the outside of the room. Cupboards, filled with their dishes and glasses already, were lined above the counters in the kitchen.
Lily saw a staircase and walked up, the others following her lead. A long hallway met her at the top with a total of five doors. Opening each door, the girls found Sage's room, on the left, and a guest room directly across the way, making those rooms nearest to the kitchen. Next to Sage's room was a bathroom and across from there was the laundry room. At the very end of the hallway was the master bedroom where Mrs. Anderson's belongings were already placed. But just before you would reach the master bedroom, another set of stairs waited, leading down into the living room.
Lily turned to her other side and walked through the swinging door to reveal a small parlor. She immediately liked this room and plopped into one of the couches. Lily grinned as she felt herself sink into the comfort and security of the room.
"Lily? C'mon, my mum's here," Sage said, holding open the door for Lily.
"Alright," Lily sighed, waking from her reverie. She walked back into the living room to see the others in armchairs or couches, sitting in a circle, facing towards the door and the fireplace.
"So," Alicia said, "what do you guys think of the house? I managed to put everything away mostly, already. The clothes and the shoes might need to be checked to see if they're paired up correctly, but I think everything's pretty much put where I wanted. Given, I do need to change the color on the inside of the house – but I can work on that later."
Lily smiled. "Yeah, yellow in every room – how… Interesting…" Mrs. Anderson smiled.
"Well," she said, glancing at her wristwatch, "it's almost eleven and you girls have the rest of the day to goof off. Well, if you want to be particular, I guess you have the rest of the week off. What do you want to do? Oh! Sage, I forgot to show you something!"
Alicia jumped up from her spot on the couch and ran into the kitchen. Sage, Leighann, and Lily followed in curiosity to find Mrs. Anderson running out of the back door with a curtains hanging around the windows that Lily hadn't noticed earlier. The girls were about to exit through the door when they ran into Mrs. Anderson, running back inside with an object behind her back.
"Ok, Sage, close your eyes."
Sage glanced to her left and raised an eyebrow at Lily and Leighann. "Um… Ok…" she muttered and closed her eyes.
"Now hold out your hands."
Sage obeyed.
Lily and Leighann watched, wide eyed, as Alicia gently placed the newest edition broomstick in Sage's hands. Her eyes opened and she promptly began cradling her new broomstick in her arms, smiling all the while.
"Thanks, Mum!" she cried and wrapped her mother in a large hug, mind you it was after she set down her broom so as not to damage it.
"That's not it!" Mrs. Anderson said, grinning herself.
Alicia opened the door to the backyard and pushed Sage out along with Lily and Leighann.
"Wow… " Lily started, but Sage got the better of her words.
"Shit!"
"Sage Marie Anderson! As long as I'm around you will not speak those words in my presence again! Do I make myself clear?" Mrs. Anderson rounded, with a small smirk on her face from Sage's astonishment.
"Yes, Mum," Sage murmured as she hopped on her broom and flew around the large Quidditch Stadium in her very own backyard.
"I can't believe it!" Leighann exclaimed. "You must be the coolest aunt in the whole world!" Even Leighann, who would normally scoff at the thought of Quidditch, was astounded at the size.
"You know," Lily said, "even if I do have a slight fear of playing Quidditch in front of hundreds of others, I think I could still practice the sport, anyways!" Lily ran to the small shed a little ways away and pulled out a broom to join Sage.
Mrs. Anderson laughed as she watched the others weave in between the golden hoops.
Leighann looked up at her. "I guess this means you're going to go join them now, doesn't it?"
Her aunt smiled. "I believe so!" She, too, ran to the shed and pulled out a broom to fly.
Leighann sighed as she gave up. "Which also means that I'm going too!" She smiled and followed her aunt into the sky.
~*~ Sunday ~*~
The rest of their week passed by quickly what with the anticipation of waking up to Quidditch every morning. Nearly their whole day was spent outside playing the most liked wizard sport, despite the chilly weather.
But, for the girls, Sunday came almost too soon and it was time for their goodbyes.
"I'll miss you so much, Aunt Alicia!" Leighann said, hugging her aunt.
"Same here," Lily said. "You've become family to me this week!" Lily took a daring step forward and hugged this woman she had only known a week, yet had gotten extremely close to.
"Yes, Lily. I believe I'll be looking out for all of you as I would for Sage."
"Oh boy…" Sage muttered, rolling her eyes. "Here comes the Tear Fest…"
Alicia began to sniff and small teardrops fell from the corner of her eyes. "You two have to remember to come back and visit me sometime soon, alright?"
"Of course!" Lily said, beginning to tear up herself.
"C'mon! Break it up, break it up! No more tears here," Sage said, almost grumpily.
"Oh, Sage," Mrs. Anderson said, her voice muffled by the handkerchief dabbing at her eyes and nose. "You all are going to leave for the rest of the year! This is my only time to cry!"
Sage smiled and hugged her mother herself. "I'll miss you too, Mum."
"Ok, I'm done!" Alicia said, sniffing for the last time. "You do this every year! I should be used to this by now! Let's get going before I start to cry again."
The girls dragged their trunks outside to the parked car in the driveway and shoved them in the trunk.
"Ready?" Mrs. Anderson asked, seeing that the others were already all buckled in.
"Yep," a chorus of voices said.
"Alright, then."
It wasn't too long until they ended up at Kings Cross Station, especially with the car being magical and able to hop at the front of lines.
"We're here," Alicia said from the drivers spot. "Are you sure you're ready to go to school, Sage? You could wait an extra week, you know."
Sage smiled at the protectiveness of her mother and took the trunks out of the back of the car. "I know, Mum, but I'm ready to go now!"
"Ok."
Sage hugged her again. "It'll be alright! I'll be home in no time, you'll see."
Mrs. Anderson smiled at the girls and showed them through the barrier. She gave each a kiss on the top of their heads, to which Sage began to complain about being embarrassed, even though no one was there to witness it.
"Ok, now, run along. The train won't wait here all day, you know! And I don't want to breakdown here at the station again!"
"Alright. Bye, Mum!"
"Bye, Mrs. Anderson!"
"Bye, Aunt Alicia!"
The girls ran onto the train and stowed their luggage away in a compartment. The train started to move and the three young ladies waved goodbye.
"See you soon!" Mrs. Anderson called out just before the caboose left the station.
Sage, Lily, and Leighann all stuck their heads back inside the compartment and found a relaxing spot on the cushy seats. Lily nestled inside her sweatshirt in a corner, legs and all, while Leighann took up the seats across from Lily entirely as she was lying out over the whole thing. Sage, however, sat normally in the other corner down the bench from Lily's corner. She looked as if she were thinking, or, more accurately, day dreaming.
"Something bothering you, Sage?" Lily asked, tilting her head to face Sage.
"Actually, I was just wondering if you could tell me more about Hogwarts. There must be more, isn't there? I mean, for you two to love it so much, there's gotta be something – or someone that makes it more interesting than usual!"
"Well…"
"C'mon, Lily! Please?"
Leighann groaned into the cushions and rolled off of her bench onto the floor, now lying on her back and looking up at Sage. She gave off a soft moan before proceeding to speak. "Sage, I feel like I've talked so much that I won't be able to for the next twenty-some years! We've got 'til dinner until we arrive at Hogwarts! Why can't you just wait a couple of hours?"
"Please?" Sage begged, clasping her hands out in front of her.
Lily smiled at the sight she saw. "It can't hurt, Leighann."
"Yes it will! My voice is getting sore already, can't you hear it?"
Lily and Sage laughed. There was nothing wrong with Leighann's voice and she knew it. She probably just wanted to sleep or something.
"Alright, Sage. You wanna know more 'in depth' about Hogwarts. Well, I think I'll just start on one topic that may take the whole ride to Hogwarts…"
Leighann smiled, as she already knew what this topic would be about. There was only one thing that would take about seven hours to describe the complications of the topic.
Of course, it was the Marauders.
"So, I've told you there's James Potter, Sirius Black - "
"The one that's really tall and is obsessed with Quidditch, right?" Sage interrupted.
"Yes. They all are, but he and James are on the team. Anyway, then there's Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I've also told you that they're troublemakers to the fullest."
"And they're your worst enemies."
"Yes."
"And they have a new girl on their arms each week! It's pathetic, really, that they don't stay with the same girl for more than a week!" Leighann cut in. Apparently she didn't care if she really lost her voice or not.
Lily smirked.
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