*1*
*Letters, Wands and Best Friend Bonds*

The door slammed shut and Petunia came out. She looked like she had just climbed out of a pool of chocolate.
"Lily, will you watch Cammy for a while?" Lily nodded. Petunia began walking inside but Lily stopped her. Cameron, or Cammy, as Petunia put it, was their cousin. She was six and Petunia was babysitting.
" 'Tunia! What happened anyway?" Lily asked curiously. She sighed.
"Joey Trill, he dumped a pot of molasses on my head." Lily smiled, she had been right. "Don't go laughing at me! Or else you'll be next!" she said smiling sweetly. Lily giggled and walked with Cameron over to the pond. Just then as Petunia was walking in a gigantic owl collided with the side of her head.
" 'Tunia!" Lily yelled running over to her.
"I'm having a bad day." She said. She wiped away the blood from a cut and walked inside. The owl, on the other hand, was coming nearer; it began poking at Lily's pocket.
"Stop it! I don't have any-" She stopped and looked at the birds foot. A rolled piece of parchment was attached with green ribbon. Lily stopped and began unrolling it. But then the bird began pecking her again. She pulled out her pocket and a silver pound fell out. The owl grabbed it eagerly and flew away. Lily stared then went back to the note.

Dear Ms. Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Term starts on September 1. You will buy all the supplies in Diagon Alley. If you do not know where this is please follow the map below. We will be awaiting your owl. Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Lily knew as anyone else, that magic was anything but real. The building it said was the entrance to Diagon Alley was an ancient pub, which had been closed forever. Lily began laughing. But as she lay in bed she thought, how wonderful would it be to go to a school and learn magic? Maybe I should really see.
So the next day she showed her mother, Rose, the letter.
"Good God!" she shrieked. Lily smiled hopefully. "This is probably the biggest prank anyone's ever tried to pull off!"
"But mama! What if it's all true? And I miss out!" Rose snorted into her breakfast.
"Ha! As if!" said Petunia sarcastically over Rose's shoulder.
"Mother! Please, can't we just see." Rose smiled sympathetically,
"Lily, I have a day at the spa on Friday, in London, I'll drop you off to see." Lily smiled.
"Thank you so much mama!"
So on Friday they left early, Lily had 30 pounds in her pocket, hoping it would be enough for all her supplies. Rose stopped the car at the edge of Harrinton Avenue and Lily ran down the street. There was an abandoned pub half way down the road. The large sign, which Lily had never noticed in the past, said The Leaky Cauldron. Inside many people were talking loudly amongst themselves. Lily curiously walked past a woman in a tall witch's hat, and up to the front counter.
"How can I help ya ma'am?" Said the man at the front. Lily began to blush and tap her teeth nervously, "Well, I need to know how to, er, get into Diagon Alley." The man smiled with a toothless grin.
"Follow me!" he said loudly. He led her through the door. A small lot was full of trash and old pieces of wood. He began tapping bricks and a large passageway appeared in the middle of the brick wall. Lily gaped at it.
"Er-thanks." Said Lily oddly.
"Ah, anytime. The name's Tom by the way, I'll help ye any time." Lily nodded, took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway. It was a large street full of witches and wizards.
"Wow!" Lily whispered then walked down the street. She was so amazed with the shops she didn't notice until she had already run into a very blonde girl.
"Oh my gosh!" Lily shrieked, "I am so sorry!" She helped up the girl and picked up her bag.
"No, my fault." She smiled. She was about to argue, but thought better of it. Instead, she said,
"I'm Lily, Lily Evans." She smiled and shook Lily's outstretched hand.
"Tanya Garters. You a first year?" Lily nodded. "Do you want to get our stuff together?" They agreed and went down the street towards a huge ivory white bank.
"Are you a full blood?"
"Huh?" Lily said, slightly surprised.
"Non-magic people are called muggles. I'm half born, but I was grown up as a witch, so I'm used to it, but I still have loads to learn. That's Gringotts, the bank. We need to change our money into wizard coins." Lily nodded then followed Tanya's lead of running up the sparkling white steps. The inside of the bank was very dusty and full of the most odd creatures Lily had ever seen.
"What are those things?" Lily whispered. Tanya shrugged,
"Must be goblins." Lily and Tanya walked up and looked up at the goblins.
"We need to change our money." Lily said strangely. She handed over her money and soon received a large sack of money and Tanya did the same.
After walking out of the bank they headed to the robe shop. Three boys were sitting in chairs, one with almost shoulder length hair, one thin boy who looked very pail and slightly ill, and one rat looking boy. There was also a boy standing up on a stool. He had black, messy hair, and glasses. Lily stepped up onto the stool, next to the boy. He looked at her and then said, "I'm James Potter, you?" I stayed silent for a moment, slightly surprised,
"I'm Lily Evans." He stared. "Is it just me, or do you always stare at strangers?" The boys sitting all laughed.
"This is Sirius, Remus, and Peter." He said pointing to his friends.
"Hello, this is Tanya. Why are we introducing everyone?" James stared again.
"We're going to school together."
"Are you going to be first years at Hogwarts?" he nodded, jumped off the stool and made his way to the door.
"See ya!" Lily smiled as he stared at her again.
"He's weird." Said Tanya loudly.
"I think he's nice," Lily paused, "But weird." They laughed. After the woman gave them their robes they walked towards the Apothecary. The smell was terrible, so they rushed for their potion supplies and ran out gagging. Next was cauldrons, then books. The bookstore was amazing; it was full of books of every sort. They spent nearly a half-hour looking at books like, How To Charm Your Friends, and How To Un-Charm Your Friends Before They Get Really Mad At You. Lily and Tanya laughed at this. They got all the books needed and walked down the road reading, The standard book of spells grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk. They spent all day looking around shops, but by four o' clock they only needed one more thing, a wand.

Ollivanders Wands was full of boxes piled unorganized on the shelves.

"May I help you two?" Said an old man behind the counter.
"Er, we need wands." Tanya stuttered. He held out two boxes. Tanya grabbed one wand and Lily, the other. Tanya waved his wand and shot a rainbow out of it. Lily did the same, but all that happened was the wand began shaking so violently she dropped it.
"Very nice Ms. Garters. Ms. Evans, here's another one for you." Tanya began playing with her wand again. Ollivander held out another wand and Lily grabbed it. An ivory dove flew out the end and Ollivander and Tanya clapped loudly.

"Let's go to the pet shop." Lily agreed and they walked down the road to a tall dark building. Inside the smell was awful but it's contents made up for it. The walls were covered in cages. Tanya pulled Lily over to one wall and they looked at owls. A tiny white and gray owl was sitting near the floor hooting softly.
"I want this one." Lily said grabbing its cage.
"Darn, I was going to take that one. I want a cat." After choosing an orange tiger looking cat they paid and Tanya headed for a room in the leaky cauldron and Lily headed out side.
"I'll see you on September 1." Lily yelled and Tanya waved.
"By Lil'."

September 1 came and Rose drove Lily to the train station, strongly regretting letting her leave for 10 months.
"I love you Lil'."
"You too mom. Love ya." Tanya was standing against platform 10.