A/N: Hey everyone, this is my first story, and I hope it's alright. I looked it over myself, so I didn't have too much outside opinion on it. Please let me know if there is anything that you think that I could do better! I welcome all input, positive and negative, flames make me laugh and will be used for my pyromaniac tendencies. So please review, and on with the story!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            In the summer, kids don't really have to do anything. Summer is the break from school, where you can spend time with your friends, and your family. It is a time to go on vacation and be happy, and to generally have fun.

            This, however, was not the case for 10-year old. Lily Evans.

            Yes, she did get to go and play with her friends, but they were all away on vacation now, and the only person that she could spend time with was her 15- year old sister Petunia. Normally, this wouldn't be so bad, but her sister mostly ignored her now, so she had taken up reading. It was mostly fantasy. She loved fantasy, mostly the stuff about witches and wizards. She was fascinated with it, as were most kids around her age. But as much as she loved to read, she would have liked someone to do something with.

***

            The summer passed pretty much the same, as her friends were all on vacation until August 15. But on her birthday, August 5, some quite out of the ordinary happened. They had finished opening presents, and she would be having a party next week. They sat down for a late breakfast, when an owl flew in through an open window, dropped a letter in front of Lily, and perched on top of the refrigerator. The whole family stared at shock after the owl.

            "Well," said Lily's dad, "Open the letter, I guess."

            Lily looked at the letter, slowly turning it over. It was addressed to Miss Lily Evans, 22 Pillsbury Lane, The Kitchen, London.  She took in the wax seal on the back; it had a lion, a snake, an eagle, and a badger on it. She slowly broke the seal, and removed the letter. It read:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

            Dear Miss Evans,

                        I am delighted to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

                        A list of supplies and books needed are enclosed. Term begins on September 1st; please send a reply no later

                        than July 31st. A representative will be at your house on the 15th of August, at precisely 12:05 pm to escort

                        you to get the necessary supplies.  I look forward to seeing you on the start of term.

                                    Sincerely,

                                                Minerva McGonagall

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

            After she read it out loud, the family just stared at her. Petunia was the first to recover.

            "Haha, great joke. I wonder who managed to train that owl. I can't believe it."

            "You mean, you think this is a joke?" said Lily.

            "Of course, what, you thought it was real?" said Petunia, biting sarcasm behind her words. Before Lily could respond, her parents stepped in.

            "Actually, the letter isn't a fake, Petunia. Lily." Said her father slowly. Petunia looked at her father in disbelief, that he would actually say something like this is real.

            "We were once friends with a family who were witches and wizards. We found out quite by accident you see, we doubt that even they know that we knew. We moved shortly after that because we had found this house, and it was much nicer than the one that we were in before." Added their mother.

            "Well, Lily, do you want to go to this school and learn magic?" asked her father jokingly. When Lily nodded enthusiastically, Petunia gave an exasperated sigh.

            "Great, now I have a freak for a sister." She said before storming up to her room. Lily looked at her parents.

            "I'm not a freak, am I?" she asked.

            "No of course not." Her mother replied, "But I do think that we should invite the Potters over for dinner. We could ask them a few questions."

            "The Potter's?" questioned Lily.

            "Yes, they were the family that we used to live next to. I think they have a son about your age. We keep in touch a bit. I'll phone them later this afternoon."

            "Ok. I think that I'll go upstairs and finish my book now. I'm almost done." Lily said, grabbing a bagel and cream cheese and leaving the kitchen. Husband and wife looked at each other, and then finished their breakfast.

***

            At about 2 in the afternoon, Mrs. Evans decided it would be a good time to call up their friends. She looked up the number, and dialed it slowly. It rang once, twice, just before the third ring someone picked up.

            "Hello?" said the person who answered.

            "Hello, Patricia? This is Marie Evans." Said Mrs. Evans.

            "Marie!! It is so nice to hear from you, we haven't talked in so long."

            "I know, that's why I called. I feel like we have gotten out of touch with each other recently. We were wondering if you and your family would come by on Friday night for dinner. You have a son about my youngest daughter's age, I believe."

            "Yes, our son just turned 11 at the beginning of the summer. I have to talk to my husband, but I'm sure it will be fine; we would be delighted to come by for dinner. What time should we come over?"

            "About seven would be fine. I look forward to seeing you. Goodbye!"

            "Bye." And the both hung up.

            'It will be nice to talk to Patricia and Michael again; it's been way to long.' Thought Mrs. Evans as she walked to start dinner.

***

            In the Potter household, there was a very different scene. As soon as Marie had hung up the phone, she yelled to her husband.

            "Michael!! Get down here!!" he obviously heard her, because a minute later he was waking down the stairs.

            "You rang, my dear?" he said giving her a kiss.

            "Yes I did. We just got a phone call... muggle invention, you can talk to people through it," she explained seeing his bewildered expression.

            "Anyway, we got a call from the Evans." She continued.

            "Ah, our old neighbors. Pity they had to move. What did they want?"

            "They wanted to know if we would come to dinner on Friday night. I accepted, and just wanted to make sure it was alright."

            "It's fine. I don't have anything. Do we need to do something with James for the night?"

            "No, they invited the family. But I do think that you should talk to him about talking about magic in front of the muggles. It wouldn't be very good if we had to end the evening by casting memory charms on them."

            "Alright, I'll do that, and then get back to work. Bye." And Michael walked out of the room. His wife nodded at him, and she went back to her work.

***

            The rest of the week passed all too slowly, for everyone. Lily had the worst of it though. Every time Petunia saw Lily she spat out another insult about how she was such a freak, and she was going to a freak school. She learned to ignore it though, and started staying in her room, and thinking about what the school would be like, and what sort of things she would be learning.

            Friday morning dawned bright and clear, a beautiful day. Around eleven o'clock, they got a phone call from the Potters.

            "Hey, Marie. I'm sorry to impose on you like this, but do you think that it would be alright if our son James spent the day at your house. Some thing has come up at work and we both need to go in to the office. We thought he might spend some time getting to know your daughter.'

            "That would be fine. Great actually. Lily has been so lonely with her friends all on vacation. I'm sure she would love to have someone to do something with. When will you be dropping him off?"

            "In about 30 minutes. We're in the area."

            "That sounds lovely. See you later." They both hung up and went to inform their families of the plan.

            "Richard, come here for a minute." Said Marie as she entered the kitchen. Mr. Evans walked in and sat down.

            "Patricia and Michael are going to drop their son off in about fifteen minutes; they have to go into work alright? And would you mind telling Lily, I think she would want to know." Said Mrs. Evans.

            "Alright then. I'll go do that. See ya in a few." And he left the room.

***

            An hour later, Lily and James were sitting on a bench in the front yard bored out of their mind.

            "Isn't their anything to do around here? I'm so bored!" complained James loudly.

            "So am I, but sadly this is about the most interesting it is here in the summer. Your just lucky Petunia isn't here right now. She just tries to annoy me." Replied Lily.

            "Oh, so that's why you think I do it?" said an angry voice behind them. They both jumped up and turned to see Petunia standing there.

            "Well, if that's not why, then why?" said James boldly.

            "You want to know why, I do it because she's a freak, and is ruining the family name by being what she is." With that she stormed into the house and slammed the door. James was stunned by this outburst, and turned to look at Lily. All he saw was the back of her back as she ran into the backyard.  He followed her through the backyard and into a tree house.

            "Lily? Are you okay?" he asked softly.

            "No. Ever since I got that letter, she's been like this."

            "What did the letter say?" he asked, confused at what could make her sister act like that.

            "It was from a school, Hogwarts I think was the name."

            "Really? But I thought that your family was all muggles."

            "What are muggles?" asked the now confused Lily.

            "Oh!! I get it. Sorry. Muggles are non-magic people. But anyway, I'm going to Hogwarts too.

I'll be in my first year as well." He said.

            "Well, at least I'll know one person there."

            "Technically, you know two. My best friend is starting this year to, and if you're my friend, you're his too." She smiled at him, and looked at her watch.

            "Your parents are going to be here soon, we should probably go and get cleaned up." And with that they walked into the house to get ready for dinner.

***

            Dinner had just ended, and everyone present was happy. Petunia was the exception, and she had, thankfully gone to her room as soon as she was done eating. They had all moved to the living room, and we sitting around talking about what had gone on since the last spoke. Lily and James found this quite boring so they were amusing themselves.

            After a while though, the Evans thought that it would be best if they brought up the object of Lily's school.

            "So anyway, Patricia, I was wondering, where is James going to school next year?" said Lily's mother. Glances were exchanged between the Potters, but James was the one who answered.

            "I get to go to Hogwarts next year."

            "I thought you talked to him." Patricia said to Michael angrily.

            "I can talk as much as I want to him, doesn't mean he listens." He was rewarded by a glare from his wife. Before anything worse could happen, Marie stepped in.

            "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that. We've known that you were magical since before we moved, and we were wondering if you could help us out a bit. Lily got accepted to Hogwarts as well, and we have no idea of where to get what she needs." The Potter's visibly relaxed after that.

            "Oh, is that all? Well that's fine. We put off getting James school things as well, so you can come with us. Are you busy tomorrow?" Patricia said after a moment.

            "I'm sure that's fine. Though, her school letter said something about someone coming to help us get her school things tomorrow... the 15th I believe."

            "Really... wait... is this 22 Pillsbury Lane, London?" at their nods, he sighed in relief. "I was the one assigned to come here anyway, so it all works out. We will come by car, at about 12 o'clock. Oh my gods, look at the time, we have to go, see you tomorrow!!" everyone said their goodbyes, and they were on their way home.

***

            The next day, Lily was making sure that they had what they needed. She had checked everything at least twice, including her book list, money, and what she was wearing.

            Petunia of course, was complaining about it as always.

            "But why do I have to go? I'm fifteen for god's sake, I can stay home by myself!" was what she was saying every five minutes since she woke up. But she was always met with the same response.

            "Pet, you could stay if one of your friends could have you over, but I think that you would enjoy this trip. You've never even seen this place before. It could be interesting." Eventually, she gave up and went to her room to wait to leave. Lily was bouncing off the walls, and when they finally arrived she was the first one outside.

            After they all had piled into the car, (which was amazing, as the car looked like it could only fit 4 people, and there were 7 in the car,) they were on their way. Lily was watching attentively to see where they were going, and was only a bit disappointed when they made their way into central London. They parked the car, and started walking down streets.

            Eventually they came to an old, run-down building. The sign over the door said 'The Leaky Cauldron', and didn't look like a very inviting place.

            They walked in and Mr. Potter immediately walked up to the bar. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but he came back a minute later, and led them out back to a courtyard. It wasn't much more than 4 blank brick walls, with a trash can one side. Mr. Potter walked over to the trashcan, and started counting bricks. After a moment, he took a long stick out of his pocket and tapped the brick.

            To the amazement of the Evans, the wall started to open. After a moment, a perfect archway was formed, and they were ushered through to Mr. Potter saying,

            "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

***

            'Wow,' thought Lily as they stepped through. Glancing at James, who didn't seem too impressed with it, she decided to act like it was pretty normal. On the inside though she was amazed. The first place they were led was a bank of some sort, only it was run by goblins. After exchanging some money to the wizard currency of galleons, sickles, and knuts Patricia took the Evans, except Lily, to go and get books, and other various things, while Michael took James and Lily to get wands, robes and pets.

***

            They were just approaching Ollivander's, the wand shop Mr. Potter was stopped by an old friend. He told the kids to go in, and he would be there in a moment. They shrugged and walked into the shop. It was an old musty shop, full of little rows of boxes, and a desk at the front. They stood there for a bit before James finally broke the silence.

            "Well, I think that we may as well get our wands now, as my dad doesn't look like he's coming in anytime soon." That said, he walked up and rang the bell. When nothing happened, they started to talk about some things.

            "So, James. You said that you have a friend going this year too?" Lily asked.

            "Yea, Sirius. We might see him today actually. He said he was going to be at Quality Quidditch Supplies at noon. That's in about an hour."

            "Cool. What do you think is taking so long?"

            "With my dad or Mr. Ollivander?"

            "Either."

            "No idea."

            They chatted about some random things for a while, when Mr. Ollivander finally walked out.

            "Ah, Mr. Potter, and ...?" he said gazing at Lily.

            "Lily Evans." She said, looking at him.

            "And Miss Evans. Shall we get started?"  He said, really more of a statement than a question. He brought out two boxes, and handed a wand to each. Lily had no idea of what she was supposed to do, but quickly picked up after watching James destroy random things before Mr. Ollivander could get the wand away from him. James got his fairly quickly, about the third try, but Lily couldn't seem to find one. Eventually she did. It took about ten tries though. As they were paying for their wands, Mr. Potter walked in, surprised that they were done, and waiting with their wands.

            "Well, then, I guess we should be going. Robes first, and then we can get you two an owl, for carrying mail and such." Mr. Potter elaborated, seeing the confused look on Lily's face. They set off down the street, pausing every once in a while for Mr. Potter to greet some friends.

***

            About an hour later, Lily, James and Mr. Potter met up with Mrs. Potter and the Evans, both groups holding a bunch of packages. They went to sit down and have some ice cream, and rested for a bit, discussing any topic that came to mind. The adults were talking about things in the magical world, leaving Lily, Petunia and James to talk to each other. At first they just sat there, but eventually Lily started to ask James about things that she might want to know about the wizarding world, and he tried to explain some of the things that he thought were important. He was just in the middle of explaining Quidditch to a very confused Lily, when all of a sudden a bucket of icy cold water was dumped on his head.

            "AHHH!!!!!" he screamed as he jumped up. "SIRIUS!!"  He was rewarded with laughter from everyone watching.

            "Hey.... mate...." said Sirius, trying to stop laughing, along with everyone else.

            "Dad..." James whined. His father still laughing drew out his wand and with a quick wave dried his son off.

            "Good one." He said, still chuckling, resuming his conversation with the adults.

            "I take it this is Sirius?" asked Lily, in a highly amused voice.

            "Yea this is him. Sirius, Lily Evans." He mumbled.

            "Hey Lily, you starting Hogwarts this year too?" asked Sirius.

            "Yea, kind of a shock though. No one else in my family is."

            "Oh, ok. You're a muggle-born. Yay! I have another friend to piss my parents off!" exclaimed Sirius, doing an odd sort of dance.

            "Right.... what?"                                                                

            "Oh, oops, sorry Lily, I forgot about that. Muggles are non magical people, and muggle-borns are magical kids who don't have magical families. You'll probably be getting a lot of that at school, but don't worry about it. As long as you aren't sorted into Slytherin, we'll stick up for you." Said James.

            "Thanks, I think….but ok." It was at about this time that their parents decided that they would go home, so they said good bye to Sirius, promising to find him on September first, which is when they would be getting on the train to go to school.

            They left for home, all very excited, well, aside from a very disgruntled Petunia, and Lily could hardly wait to start looking through her new books.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: So, what do you think? Huh huh huh? Yea... so remember, click that lovely blue button down there and make me happy, even if the story isn't that good!! Farewell, good people!!!! *dances away into the night*