Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

Once Lily came out of her shock at seeing such forthright speech. Her friends back home would have been beaten if they had been that loud. But Lily reasoned with herself, Japan is VERY different from here.

One of the boys looked Lily over visibly sizing her up. He had messy acutely he had VERY messy hair. It looked like he had been shocked by a lightning bolt or something. He asked Lily something that she couldn't quite decipher (once again). [A.N. is it just me or does Lily seem not to understand anything?] She did, however understand one thing, James. 'It must be his name.'

Petunia seeing her sister in a pickle came over in an attempt to help. "What did you ask her?" Petunia's language was very good and Lily was eternally grateful,

"He just asked her how old she was and what her name was." A boy with sandy- blond hair that was brushed to the side said starting to get defensive.

Petunia by far relaxed. Speaking to Lily she said, "O-ikutsu desu ka?" (How old are you?)

"Ju ni" (twelve) Lily looked confused that her own sister didn't even know her age when her birthday was just last week.

"Twelve." Petunia translated for them. Seeing the look that Lily gave her, she pointed to her boys that were now waving and looking like idiots. Petunia chuckled. Trust Lily to get confused. "Can you do magic out of school?"

"What are you stupid? Course we can! It's not like it's outlawed." The messy-haired boy, James, spoke again. His form was awkward. Not short yet not tall. His buddies and him were all the same height, well that is except Peter. In her friend's terms he hadn't grown into himself quite yet. Although Lily couldn't understand his words but his tone was haughty. That annoyed Lily.

Glaring at him Lily began to pull out her wand. The wand was snatched away from her hand, by Petunia. It was not the first time that that had happened. Lily had quite a temper and it ALWAYS got the better of her. Before anymore damage could be done Petunia asked all of the boys, "Is there any spell that you could put on her to help her understand the language better?"

The boys huddled together to discuss everything. Three of them seemed to not like the idea of helping someone that had almost cursed them into the next state of their lives. Surprising everyone in the group Peter said, "I think that we should help her. She doesn't know anybody and she'll owe us one." The last thing that he said was just his last resort.

A sandy haired boy seemed to be the leader of the group or at least second- in-command, weather because it was from maturity it was still a question the pondered every rainy day. "We'll go shopping with her and then decide weather she is worthy enough to receive our help." Petunia rolled her eyes at this. She knew that they would do it. They just had to.

The boys led everybody out of the inn to a brick wall and tapped a brick. Lily tried to give Petunia her list and pointed to it and then to her eyes. Understanding that Lily couldn't read it she took it from her. She read the first thing off of the list and the boys led the way to 'Flourish and Blotts'. Looking among the isles Petunia found the book, 'Second Years Guide to Defense Against the Dark Arts'. Another book caught her eye, 'Charms: the Latest and the Most Helpful Charms Yet'. Lily loved charms almost as much as her life back home. The shopping was finished rather quickly in there.

The boys went to look at Quidditch supplies while Petunia helped Lily with the rest of her shopping. They finished the shopping day with a stop at the Magical Menagerie. Lily really wanted either an owl or a kitten/cat. The owls didn't really seem to look that well to Lily. She thought, 'Maybe Dad will let me get an owl next year'. However a bird of some kind did follow her. It was a hawk, though slightly bigger that most. He flew above her and circled her. Landing on her shoulder, Lily stared at it awed. It put its beak close to her nose and it stared into her eyes. It's body was sleek and shiruki (silky). Feathers were exceptionally kuro (black) than the darkest hours of night. His eyes had the understanding of an individual.

Lily went to the sales person and pointed to the bird. The young saleslady must have been a transfer herself at one time in her life because she didn't say anything instead she held up two the gold coins. Nodding Lily went to find Petunia. Petunia meanwhile had found the perfect kitten for her sister. She was small and white with four black paws.

'Sokkusu' she thought for the name. Turning around she saw her sister with a big black bird on her shoulder. Her sister's eyes were hopeful after she saw the kitten. Looking between the fire-haired girl, the bird, and the kitten she knew that her sister would need them for her friends. Nodding her sister jumped up slightly in joy, and the bird upon her shoulder did nothing but enjoy the ride.

That worried Petunia. Going up to the saleslady she asked, "Is it natural for birds to stay on peoples shoulders when they jump?"

Laughing the girl replied, "Only when they trust the person. Are you purchasing them both?" She pointed to the cat and the bird. Lily nodded but then consumed herself again in her two new pets. "That will be five galleons, but with the cages it's seven." The lady handed over the cages as Petunia handed over the money. "What language does she speak, that one there?"

"That's my sister Lily. We just moved here from Japan. We haven't even been to our apartment yet. I'm Petunia by the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Rachel. I went to Hogwarts, where did you go?"

"I'm a muggle. We should be going now. We're supposed to meet up with some boys that live in out apartment building." With that Petunia bade farewell to Rachel.

They found the boys in front of the ice cream menu. With Lily's shopping done they headed for them. "Have you decided yet?"

Peter jumped and looked at James. Sighing James nodded and took out his wand, "Kotoba English."

For Lily it felt like her head was being opened, yet it wasn't painful. Knowledge seemed to be pouring itself into her. Finally it ended. The babble around her began to make sense. The signs she could read and the boy's speech she could understand. Smiling broadly she ran and threw her arms around James. She gave him a kiss on the cheek then turned beet red.

"What pets did you get?" Another boy asked. He looked like James but he didn't have the lightning-shocked hair. "I'm Sirius Black."

Testing out her new found language skills she said, "Kuro is the bird. And Sokkusu is the cat." Her accent was strongly Japanese, but that couldn't be helped.

"How'd you come up with that? I'm Remus Lupin" He seemed friendly enough. Lily recognized him as the defensive boy.

"Kuro, means 'black. And Sokkusu means 'socks'. Though I might end up just calling her Socks for the sake that other people might not be ably too pronounce it." Lily was now grinning from ear to ear. Lily had tried to learn English but it never seemed to stick.

The two girls finished eating their ice cream in silence, while the boys chattered. The boys finished and together they all headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. Lily's and Petunia's father stared at the animals. His look stated that he thought that they should take the bird back. He liked cats. Ready to release the order he looked into his youngest daughter's eyes and understood her need for the bird and cat alike.

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A.N.: if you have the time would you please review? It doesn't even take that much time. I would also like to thank my first reviewers. This chapter has been ready for months. But I haven't had the time or brains to do anything with it.

Disclaimer: I own hitotsu/ ichi/ one thing only and that is the plot. Every thing else belongs to J.K. (well except Peters parents, and Lily's parents, and most of Lily's friends 'cause I created them)