A/N: Once again I ask for reviews from anyone reading this. Any criticism will be helpful. Thanks.
The pub was just as dusty inside, Lily realized, as it was outside. The floor was covered in dried mud, and scattered dust, and the people at the surrounding tables were just as dirty. Surprisingly though, there wasn't really a bad smell to the place. It smelled like sandlewood incense.
Lily looked around, before focusing upon a man that was at a table to her right. He was wearing a large black cloak and his eyes were barely visible under the many layers of cloth. Lily shivered slightly and began walking forward, almost involuntarily.
All eyes seemed to be on them as they walked toward the bar. Lily went to stand beside Charlie who seemed unperturbed by everything. Mrs. Renault looked like she was bursting with joy. Lily tugged lightly on her friend's arm and they stopped, while Mrs. Renault continued forward. "Tell me this isn't Diagon Alley!" she said in a harsh whisper. Charlie laughed loudly. The sound seemed to hover in the air before slowly breaking up. Like it was trying to make its way through years of uncomfortable silence.
"Of course this isn't Diagon Alley! This is just the entrance way." When Lily gave her an unbelieving look Charlie replied, "You'll understand in a minute." She then walked forward and stood beside her mother.
Meanwhile, Lily hadn't moved an inch. She was looking at everyone around her, and they were looking back. A man who had no teeth, smiled at her widely. She guessed he was trying to intimidate her, but Lily wasn't scared, she was merely disappointed. She thought the Wizarding World would be exotic, and exciting. Yet, here she was, standing in the middle of a gross pub with odd looking people staring at her.
Lily sighed and turned her attention to the man Mrs. Renault was talking to at the bar. She leaned forward to try and catch their conversation. They seemed to be talking about arranging for rooms. She listened closer.
"That would be wonderful, Tom. Just 2 days though. These two will be leaving for school in just a few days." She looked down at her daughter and smiled. Lily looked on enviously. She could never remember receiving a look like that; one of pure love.
"Is it busy today?" Lily hear Charlie's mother ask. "Busy as always, Claire." The man smiled at her warmly and moved his arm in the direction of the exit in the back. "Oh, do you mind if we use your restroom first? We have to change." Tom nodded and smiled, pointing in the other direction. Claire made her way to the left of the bar and the two girls followed.
Once they got to the restroom door, Mrs. Renault stopped. "Alright you two, just go in and change into different clothes. Charlie, lend Lily one of your cloaks would you?" Charlie nodded and opened the door. Lily went in after her. She set her backpack on the edge of the sink and pulled out the closest article of clothing she could find. It just happened to be a white sundress that came down to her knees. She slipped it on quickly and admired it. She hadn't worn the dress in a couple of years and was surprised that it still fit. Charlie, meanwhile, had changed into a pair of jeans, and a black t-shirt. She then slipped on a black cloak, the kind Lily had seen in the pub, but with fewer layers. She turned to Lily and looked her up and down before reaching into her duffle bag and pulling out a delicate white cloak. Lily gasped in shock when she felt the material. It was the softest thing she had ever felt before. "I know" Charlie said in response to her shock. "Come on, let's go."
They exited the bathroom and met Charlie's mother outside the door. Lily registered the fact that Mrs. Renault had changed her clothes as well, and looked around questioningly for another bathroom. When she couldn't find one, she decided not to ask for the moment. They stepped back around the bar and headed for the door that Tom had pointed to earlier.
Lily moved forward slowly and took a deep breath. She didn't know whether or not she wanted to see what was behind the door. But she kept walking and was soon face-to-face with a very large brick wall. She frowned at it slightly before Mrs. Renault moved her aside gently and took out, what looked like, a long wooden stick. She tapped bricks in various places on the wall and suddenly, almost without warning, the bricks began moving themselves aside and a giant hole opened in the wall. It was almost twice the size of her and Lily looked up at in astonishment as she passed through the opening.
When she focused her attention in front of her she was taken back by the amount of people that she saw. 'More people fill the street here than in London' Lily thought to herself. Her jaw had dropped open as soon as she began to see the shops that took up almost every inch of space not already occupied by the cobblestones.
Charlie was smiling ecstatically and practically bouncing off the walls. "Isn't this great!" she said loudly. Charlie's mother merely smiled at her.
As Lily took in her surroundings she noticed that everyone seemed to be wearing long cloaks. It suddenly dawned on her why Charlie's mother hadn't wanted them to wear them. This way they wouldn't stick out. However, judging by the way people were looking at her she thought it would have been better to have kept her other clothes on. She pulled the cloak tighter around her shoulders and took in more of the street.
As her mind began to fill with the new information she was taking in, the thought of her dream came forward. Though the details of the dream had drifted away, the feeling of familiarity Lily felt was undeniable. She almost felt as if she belonged here. The strange people were almost endearing, not frightening as some may have perceived it. It was, welcoming, Lily thought.
Lily was soon pulled out of her thoughts as someone punched her arm, as she looked up she saw a laughing Charlie. Lily couldn't help but smile at her. "Charlie, are you on something?" she asked as politely as she could manage. "I'm sorry" Charlie replied smiling. "It's just that, this place always makes me happy. I mean, how can I not be! Look around, loosen up!" She gave her another hit on the arm and started jogging up the street. She stopped abruptly and turned back yelling, "are you coming or not?!" Lily sighed and looked at Mrs. Renault for permission. She smiled and said, "Don't look at me, she's your friend." Lily laughed. "Yeah, but she's your daughter!" She shot back. "That's not my daughter, she would never act that crazy." Mrs. Renault tilted her chin in mock smugness before breaking out into a loud laugh. Lily took this as her okay and ran up the street after her friend. A shout of, "meet me at Ollivander's in a half an hour" followed her up the street.
Lily caught up to her friend at a shop called "Flourish and Blotts." They were both out of breath, and receiving strange looks, when they went inside. Lily immediately felt like she got the wind knocked out of her. There were more books than her eyes could take in and she spun around silently in the middle of the shop. Charlie laughed when she saw what her friend was doing.
"Don't act like you've never seen books before" Charlie chuckled loudly. "Not so many of them" Lily stated in awe. Charlie rolled her eyes and, turning to her left, started walking up the stairs. Lily came out of her reverie and followed after her friend.
When they reached the top of the steps Charlie reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a piece of parchment. She looked over her shoulder and Lily and raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Well..." she asked. Lily frowned. "Well, what?" Charlie sighed. "Do you have your letter? You know, the thing that tells you what you need for school?" Lily hit herself in the forehead and reached into the front pouch of her backpack. She pulled the parchment out of the envelope and zipped it back up. "Oh, you mean this?" she replied smiling, holding the parchment in front of her friend's face. "Very funny. Now come on, we have to get our books."
Charlie headed toward the section of books on practical spell uses, while Lily simply stood on the balcony looking out on the shop. A slight breeze had slipped in past the, still open, front door. It lifted her hair almost gently off her shoulders and blew it behind her neck. She closed her eyes and stood as still as possible. The sounds of the people outside seemed to die away as Lily took in the smell of the books, and the feel of the wind on her skin.
She visibly relaxed as the shaft of sunlight coming from a sunroof spilled around her. Everything felt at ease. Her life was finally making sense, and she was here with her best friend simply enjoying each others company. Most importantly though, her godfather was more than 2500 miles away. Lily smiled softly. 'Nothing can go wrong' she thought to herself.
Almost as suddenly as the thought had passed through her mind, a slight change in the temperature occurred. Lily's smile faded as the cold air seemed to bite at her skin. She opened her eyes slowly to find out what might have affected the adjustment in the wind. First she looked to her right, then her left. Then, she looked up. Nothing seemed to have caused it. Finally, she looked down. At the entrance to the shop stood, what looked like, a silver-haired boy in a black cloak. Lily's breath hitched in her throat. The boys hair reminded her of someone, but she couldn't quite put her finger on who. She continued looking down at the boy with increasing curiosity. His cloak seemed to billow out behind him while the door framed him. 'He looks like an angel' Lily thought. But as soon as the thought sunk in she almost laughed. 'How absurd was that?' Lily questioned herself.
All thoughts in her mind stopped though when the boy looked up, catching her eyes with his. Her breathing almost stopped and her hands gripped the banister tightly. She seemed to be lost in his eyes. A look of curiosity, and something else, had also lit his eyes as well. They stood there for what seemed like hours, but was mere minutes, simply looking into each others eyes.
Lily was soon brought out from the gray pools she was sinking in by Charlie. Her friend had gripped her shoulder and was shaking her slightly. "Lily? Are you alright?" Lily shook her head lightly as if to banish the intense eyes from her memory and looked, unseeing, at her friend. "What?" Charlie looked at her closely. "I said, are you alright. I was calling your name from the stacks. You didn't answer." Lily blinked and looked back down, but the boy was gone. "I'm fine" she mumbled softly. Charlie didn't look satisfied with the answer, and Lily looked back at her. "Really, I'm alright." Charlie nodded slightly and said, "If you say so." She turned wearily and went back into the books behind her. Lily took one last look down the stairs before following her friend into the seemingly endless stacks of books.
A/N 2: The next chapter will involve Lily's encounter with Mr. Ollivander, and an interesting test with wand choices. And also, a very curious chance encounter with a dark-haired, green-eyed boy. Stick around to find out what happens!