A/N Sorry to my faithful readers and reviewers for my lengthy absence! I
have been away from the country (in Germany :-o) for a while and then I
became rather ill.but I'm better now, although still not at school yet, so
I'm keeping up with my writing again! I'm going to post 2 chapters
tomorrow (I haven't written the next one but I have written the one after
so I'll post the 2 together ()
Also I just want to say many thanks to - James-Padfoot, Hpgirl55 and Wood's secret lover for the faithful reviewing! It means a lot to me guys!
Diagon Alley
"The Leaky Cauldron, mum! Look!" Mrs Evans turned her eyes away from the record store on her right to see where her daughter was pointing, and sure enough, a run down grubby pub with peeling gold letters above the good stood tucked neatly away from passers by. She had a feeling that she would not have noticed it at all had Lily not pointed it out. Lily was clutching on to her dads hand excitedly, whilst skipping along beside him. She looked like Christmas had come early, as she opened the grotty little door, and a bell sounded somewhere within the Pub.
It was an astonishing sight, and any doubts that Lily could have possibly had about the wizarding world being a joke were instantaneously vanquished. In the smoke filled room there must have been at least two dozen Witches and Wizards, dressed In Green Cloaks, Purple Cloaks, Black Cloaks, Orange Cloaks, New and Old looking Cloaks, Shimmering Cloaks, some were in just robes. A pair of wizards who looked like they were in their twenties were dressed in rather fashionable ripped denim robes with lots of patches and tie dyed corners. A girl in the corner was prodding a pointed hat with a wand (nothing like the ones that Lily saw on Muggle TV) as it changed colour, but she couldn't seem to get the shade quite right.
The barman, who was wearing a somewhat worn black cloak and an orange top hat, looked up at Lily and her family and giggled delightedly.
"At last! A Muggle born, I was hoping there would be at least one this term!" He gave Lily a wink, whilst casually tapping someone's glass to refill it. As if with an invisible hand, a bit of chalk scribbled another line in the tally mark beside the name Vorax Eribus.
"That's your fifth one today, Vorrie, just be careful, yeah mate?" A young witch beside him said a bit loudly, making sure the barkeeper heard.
The barman came out from behind the bar to shake Lily's hand and introduced himself as Tom. A few people had turned to look at Lily's family, but most of the Wizards there were regulars and used to Muggle born Witches and Wizards coming in to buy there supplies for Hogwarts.
"Hogwarts is it dear?" he asked with a grin. "I'll just show you the way through, it's a bit hard if you don't have our own wand, but I suppose you will be buying one of those today! It's very simple, everything you will possibly need is on this street, if you get lost or anything just ask, people here are usually more than friendly, just a bit stressed usually!"
It took Lily a few seconds to work out what he had said as he was talking somewhat fast out of enthusiasm. Finally she beamed, thanked him and followed him through to the yard. Lily and her parents watched in awe as the bricks rearranged themselves to form an archway, through which the walked into the most amazing place Lily had ever seen in her life.
"Go right to the end of the road, that's where Gringotts, the bank is. You can change money there." Said Tom as the bricks began to rearrange themselves back into a solid wall.
They sauntered down Diagon alley, not wanting to miss a thing, and there were so many things to look at. Every single one of the shops had something fascinating in them. Cauldrons, Owls, Cats, Telescopes were some of the few things that Lily recognised, but there were so many strange objects, creatures and substances that Lily had never laid eyes on. As well as new sights there were new sounds coming from the Magic Menagerie, strange, yet wonderful smells reached her nose from the Café which was a few doors down form the magical creatures shop.
Eventually they ended up at the bank. The building was brilliant white, and absolutely beautiful, but they didn't look at it long, as Lily squealed.
"Oh my god! It's a goblin!" And sure enough, outside the bank, standing as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, was a real live goblin. Cautiously Lily walked up to him, smiled weakly and walked into the bank.
There were more goblins inside.
"I guess I have to get used to it," Lily whispered in her Dad's ear.
20 minutes later there were once again standing in the August sunlight, trying to decide where to go first. Finally they agreed that Lily would go to the Clothes shop to buy robes (it was right in front of them) and her parents would go and look at schoolbooks, since it was the most Muggle like thing on the booklist. Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions still smelled of paint and varnish so Lily guessed that it was new shop. Indeed she must have been right, A which who couldn't have been much older than Petunia was rushing around the shop tangled in a tape measure trying to find the right material for a pair of boys Lily's age.
One of them was sandy haired, and looked rather tired and ill, yet extremely happy, even though a tape measure was intertwining itself around him, then suddenly measuring the distance between his nostrils, then his toes. He smiled at Lily, and rolled his eyes at the young witch who was still looking for the material.
Beside him, the boy was already holding a wand, and facing away from the sandy haired boy and Lily in attempt to hide the fact that he was levitating the black fabric above the saleswhitches head. He turned round to flash a grin and Lily and dropped his wand. The fabric fell on Madame Malkin's head and Lily's jaw dropped.
"Sirius!"
"Lily! What are you doing here!? You shouldn't be here.you're uuh. hallucinating, let me take you out!" Sirius sounded in panic. If anyone found out a Muggle had gotten into Diagon Alley, well it was a disaster. He was about to jump down, but just then Madame Malkin called that the sandy haired boy was finished, and he jumped down.
"See you at Hogwarts, Black" he winked and practically skipped out.
Madame Malkin turned to Lily "Hogwarts, Dear?"
"Yeah," she said weakly.
"You-you're going to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.
"And you?"
They both nodded.
"Well, err- See you there I suppose." Whispered Sirius, still in shock, as he was leaving, since his robes were finished. As he walked out, yet another Hogwarts pupil walked in, and Madame Malkin looked rather nauseated. She was already exhausted, and she didn't have that much clue what she was doing anyway, it was her very first day.
The boy smiled at Lily. He was short and chubby with nearly white hair and watery blue eyes. He tripped over a tape measure that was idly floating around the shop, and Lily couldn't help but giggle.
She met her parents again, and they had, with only a little difficulty purchased all her schoolbooks for her. They made their way round the shops, buying potions ingredients, equipment for her different classes, things that generally looked like they might be useful. Finally Lily came to the place that she had been looking forward to ever since she found out that she was a witch.
She stepped in and yet again a bell was heard in the distance. A man with eerie, moon-like eyes came through from the back of the shop with a swish of his cloak and greeted Lily.
"Ah, Miss Evans. I have been waiting for you. I was wondering if it would be toady you would choose to come and choose your very first wand. Of course, it's the wand that chooses the witch. Yes, lets try"
And so the tried. Lily was Beginning to feel more and more stupid as she randomly waved her hand, each time holding a different wand, the contents of which Mr. Ollivander carefully explained to her each time.
"Not to worry! Not to worry! I think, maybe- Yes, yes. I wonder-"
"Sorry-" Lily began, rather scared of what this man was doing, as he was rushing around looking for something, and looked very excited.
"Try this one, willow, ten and a quarter inches, rather swishy. Should be good for Charm work. Very powerful wand."
Lily took the wand and raised her arm to do the swish, which she felt so stupid doing, as this must have been her 50th attempt. However this time a warmth spread from her fingertips all the way over her body and she felt, not stupid, but powerful. She brought the wand down through the thick air, and a rainbow of sparks came out of the tip.
"Wonderful!" beamed Mr. Ollivander as he put Lily's wand in the thin box and took the money from her.
As she walked out of the shop, a boy with messy black hair and a mischievous glint in his eye made his way in followed by his parents. Lily looked back and was stunned to see that the pile of wands she had left on the floor was gone.
"Ah, Mr. Potter" Mr. Ollivander said. James beamed at the man. His parents both rolled their eyes; they both knew the Ollivander routine. After a short quizzing and a tape measure taking useless measurements Mr. Ollivander went to fetch a few boxes
James looked in awe as the man pulled out a box and took out a wand. No one in the shop except for James was expecting the very first one to be the one. It never was.
"Try this one. Mahogany, eleven inches, pliable. Rather Excellent for Transfiguration."
James took the wand in his right hand, and feeling warmth all over his body flicked the wand in the air. Instantly there were red and gold sparks produced.
"Amazing" whispered Mr. Ollivander.
***
With everybody's shopping done, all the children went back home almost as tired as their parents, now looking forward to Hogwarts more than they ever thought imaginable. Their Parcels and bags of shopping stood in their halls, to be packed into trunks over the course of the next few days, along with the all important clothing and toothbrushes and socks and pants that their mothers would fret and worry about. But now, none of them were thinking of any of those things, and all who had visited Diagon Alley that day had only one thing on their mind. As they sank into their snug beds, their eyes locked shut before their heads even touched their pillows and they were asleep in an instant.
Also I just want to say many thanks to - James-Padfoot, Hpgirl55 and Wood's secret lover for the faithful reviewing! It means a lot to me guys!
Diagon Alley
"The Leaky Cauldron, mum! Look!" Mrs Evans turned her eyes away from the record store on her right to see where her daughter was pointing, and sure enough, a run down grubby pub with peeling gold letters above the good stood tucked neatly away from passers by. She had a feeling that she would not have noticed it at all had Lily not pointed it out. Lily was clutching on to her dads hand excitedly, whilst skipping along beside him. She looked like Christmas had come early, as she opened the grotty little door, and a bell sounded somewhere within the Pub.
It was an astonishing sight, and any doubts that Lily could have possibly had about the wizarding world being a joke were instantaneously vanquished. In the smoke filled room there must have been at least two dozen Witches and Wizards, dressed In Green Cloaks, Purple Cloaks, Black Cloaks, Orange Cloaks, New and Old looking Cloaks, Shimmering Cloaks, some were in just robes. A pair of wizards who looked like they were in their twenties were dressed in rather fashionable ripped denim robes with lots of patches and tie dyed corners. A girl in the corner was prodding a pointed hat with a wand (nothing like the ones that Lily saw on Muggle TV) as it changed colour, but she couldn't seem to get the shade quite right.
The barman, who was wearing a somewhat worn black cloak and an orange top hat, looked up at Lily and her family and giggled delightedly.
"At last! A Muggle born, I was hoping there would be at least one this term!" He gave Lily a wink, whilst casually tapping someone's glass to refill it. As if with an invisible hand, a bit of chalk scribbled another line in the tally mark beside the name Vorax Eribus.
"That's your fifth one today, Vorrie, just be careful, yeah mate?" A young witch beside him said a bit loudly, making sure the barkeeper heard.
The barman came out from behind the bar to shake Lily's hand and introduced himself as Tom. A few people had turned to look at Lily's family, but most of the Wizards there were regulars and used to Muggle born Witches and Wizards coming in to buy there supplies for Hogwarts.
"Hogwarts is it dear?" he asked with a grin. "I'll just show you the way through, it's a bit hard if you don't have our own wand, but I suppose you will be buying one of those today! It's very simple, everything you will possibly need is on this street, if you get lost or anything just ask, people here are usually more than friendly, just a bit stressed usually!"
It took Lily a few seconds to work out what he had said as he was talking somewhat fast out of enthusiasm. Finally she beamed, thanked him and followed him through to the yard. Lily and her parents watched in awe as the bricks rearranged themselves to form an archway, through which the walked into the most amazing place Lily had ever seen in her life.
"Go right to the end of the road, that's where Gringotts, the bank is. You can change money there." Said Tom as the bricks began to rearrange themselves back into a solid wall.
They sauntered down Diagon alley, not wanting to miss a thing, and there were so many things to look at. Every single one of the shops had something fascinating in them. Cauldrons, Owls, Cats, Telescopes were some of the few things that Lily recognised, but there were so many strange objects, creatures and substances that Lily had never laid eyes on. As well as new sights there were new sounds coming from the Magic Menagerie, strange, yet wonderful smells reached her nose from the Café which was a few doors down form the magical creatures shop.
Eventually they ended up at the bank. The building was brilliant white, and absolutely beautiful, but they didn't look at it long, as Lily squealed.
"Oh my god! It's a goblin!" And sure enough, outside the bank, standing as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, was a real live goblin. Cautiously Lily walked up to him, smiled weakly and walked into the bank.
There were more goblins inside.
"I guess I have to get used to it," Lily whispered in her Dad's ear.
20 minutes later there were once again standing in the August sunlight, trying to decide where to go first. Finally they agreed that Lily would go to the Clothes shop to buy robes (it was right in front of them) and her parents would go and look at schoolbooks, since it was the most Muggle like thing on the booklist. Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions still smelled of paint and varnish so Lily guessed that it was new shop. Indeed she must have been right, A which who couldn't have been much older than Petunia was rushing around the shop tangled in a tape measure trying to find the right material for a pair of boys Lily's age.
One of them was sandy haired, and looked rather tired and ill, yet extremely happy, even though a tape measure was intertwining itself around him, then suddenly measuring the distance between his nostrils, then his toes. He smiled at Lily, and rolled his eyes at the young witch who was still looking for the material.
Beside him, the boy was already holding a wand, and facing away from the sandy haired boy and Lily in attempt to hide the fact that he was levitating the black fabric above the saleswhitches head. He turned round to flash a grin and Lily and dropped his wand. The fabric fell on Madame Malkin's head and Lily's jaw dropped.
"Sirius!"
"Lily! What are you doing here!? You shouldn't be here.you're uuh. hallucinating, let me take you out!" Sirius sounded in panic. If anyone found out a Muggle had gotten into Diagon Alley, well it was a disaster. He was about to jump down, but just then Madame Malkin called that the sandy haired boy was finished, and he jumped down.
"See you at Hogwarts, Black" he winked and practically skipped out.
Madame Malkin turned to Lily "Hogwarts, Dear?"
"Yeah," she said weakly.
"You-you're going to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.
"And you?"
They both nodded.
"Well, err- See you there I suppose." Whispered Sirius, still in shock, as he was leaving, since his robes were finished. As he walked out, yet another Hogwarts pupil walked in, and Madame Malkin looked rather nauseated. She was already exhausted, and she didn't have that much clue what she was doing anyway, it was her very first day.
The boy smiled at Lily. He was short and chubby with nearly white hair and watery blue eyes. He tripped over a tape measure that was idly floating around the shop, and Lily couldn't help but giggle.
She met her parents again, and they had, with only a little difficulty purchased all her schoolbooks for her. They made their way round the shops, buying potions ingredients, equipment for her different classes, things that generally looked like they might be useful. Finally Lily came to the place that she had been looking forward to ever since she found out that she was a witch.
She stepped in and yet again a bell was heard in the distance. A man with eerie, moon-like eyes came through from the back of the shop with a swish of his cloak and greeted Lily.
"Ah, Miss Evans. I have been waiting for you. I was wondering if it would be toady you would choose to come and choose your very first wand. Of course, it's the wand that chooses the witch. Yes, lets try"
And so the tried. Lily was Beginning to feel more and more stupid as she randomly waved her hand, each time holding a different wand, the contents of which Mr. Ollivander carefully explained to her each time.
"Not to worry! Not to worry! I think, maybe- Yes, yes. I wonder-"
"Sorry-" Lily began, rather scared of what this man was doing, as he was rushing around looking for something, and looked very excited.
"Try this one, willow, ten and a quarter inches, rather swishy. Should be good for Charm work. Very powerful wand."
Lily took the wand and raised her arm to do the swish, which she felt so stupid doing, as this must have been her 50th attempt. However this time a warmth spread from her fingertips all the way over her body and she felt, not stupid, but powerful. She brought the wand down through the thick air, and a rainbow of sparks came out of the tip.
"Wonderful!" beamed Mr. Ollivander as he put Lily's wand in the thin box and took the money from her.
As she walked out of the shop, a boy with messy black hair and a mischievous glint in his eye made his way in followed by his parents. Lily looked back and was stunned to see that the pile of wands she had left on the floor was gone.
"Ah, Mr. Potter" Mr. Ollivander said. James beamed at the man. His parents both rolled their eyes; they both knew the Ollivander routine. After a short quizzing and a tape measure taking useless measurements Mr. Ollivander went to fetch a few boxes
James looked in awe as the man pulled out a box and took out a wand. No one in the shop except for James was expecting the very first one to be the one. It never was.
"Try this one. Mahogany, eleven inches, pliable. Rather Excellent for Transfiguration."
James took the wand in his right hand, and feeling warmth all over his body flicked the wand in the air. Instantly there were red and gold sparks produced.
"Amazing" whispered Mr. Ollivander.
***
With everybody's shopping done, all the children went back home almost as tired as their parents, now looking forward to Hogwarts more than they ever thought imaginable. Their Parcels and bags of shopping stood in their halls, to be packed into trunks over the course of the next few days, along with the all important clothing and toothbrushes and socks and pants that their mothers would fret and worry about. But now, none of them were thinking of any of those things, and all who had visited Diagon Alley that day had only one thing on their mind. As they sank into their snug beds, their eyes locked shut before their heads even touched their pillows and they were asleep in an instant.