Chapter Three-Meet Remus
Ronai muttered an incantation and the logs I the fireplace burst into flame. She then cast an odd powder into the fire, and the flames turned bright blue.
Step inside, lily, and clearly say, 'Diagon Alley.'"
Lily hesitated and looked up at Ronai, with a look on her face that asked for another way. Ronai shook her head and gestured towards the flames. Although this was a potentially fatal situation, and Ronai could be some crazy dude out to kill Lily who was only dressed up as Ronai to blackmail her parents yahdeeyahdeeyah, Lily decided that she trusted Ronani enough to take this chance. She obeyed rather unwillingly. She hugged her knees to her chest once she started to spin, and squeezed her eyes shut. She soon toppled out, hacking with the soot. In fact, she didn't even notice that there was someone standing right in front of her, and she knocked right into it.
"Oh, sorry!" she said, nervously. The person turned around. It was a kind-looking boy with sandy hair and blue eyes- maybe a bit older than she. He waved his hand with a smile, as though brushing the whole incident away. That minute, Ronai gracefully stepped out of the fireplace.
"Lily, come- we must go to the bank." For some reason, Ronai seemed more in place in this world, and what one would have considered to be her oddities back home seemed to make her elegant and experienced here. Lily turned from her and waved to the booy as she was led out of the building that she recognized as the Leaky Cauldron, and through a brick wall, and to the bank. It was a large marble building, and She looked up in awe at the huge sign saying, "Grignotts." She was pulled past a sign with some sort of rhyme on it and through large doors. "Come, Lily." Ronai said. "Now, don't be afraid of the goblins-they're harmless," she said as Lily hid herself in the folds of Ronai's huge skirts (bit of an old-fashioned thing- so no, I'm not crazy- and Lily's not so tall, but Ronai is). They proceeded to one of the counters and Ronai spoke boldly with the goblin.
"Could I please go to vault 793?"
"Hmmm..." the goblin said. "Ronai Aadrika... Haven't seen you around these parts in a long while," it said with just a trace of smugness on his face. Lily saw something twitch in Ronai's face.
"Important business, Griphook-none of which is yours."
"Not meaning any offense, madame..." he said in the goblin drawl, holding his clawed hands up in innocence. "This way." And they followed the goblin, who was but an inch or so taller than Lily, into a cart.
"Hold on tight, Lily!" Ronai said, as she was obviously afraid. Lily enjoyed the breakneck journey through the underground vaults. Finally, they reached vault seven hundred ninety-three. Ronai looked a tad tipsy, but made it out of the carriage.
The goblin dragged one of its spindly fingers down the door, and it dissolved into thin air. The site that met Lily's eyes made her gasp in awe. There before her were heaps and heaps of gold, silver, and bronze.
"Is this- is this all yours?" Lily asked. Ronai nodded. Ronai reached for a pouch from within the depths of her cloak. She collected some gold and replaced in her pocket. They sat back in the cart and traveled back. The goblin jumped out and held the door open for them. Ronai stepped out quite gracefully, and Lily leapt out behind her. They left the bank and headed to a shop with a sign reading, "Flourish and Blotts," and bought the books that were listed on a piece of parchment in Ronai's hand. Lily gazed in awe at the many titles, such as "Simple Transfiguration: from toads to teapots," "Garden Pests: gnomes, jobberknolls, etc," "Quidditch through the Ages," and "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle," a thin Frenchman who was always shown with a beret.
Soon after, they headed to the Apothecary for potions ingredients, and after that, they went to "Madame Maulkin's Robes for All Occasions." A bell on the door jingled as they stepped into the cheery store.
A middle-aged lady, who Lily supposed was Madame Maulkin, came over and said, "Hogwarts, dear?" Lily nodded and the lady led her onto a small raised platform. The woman bustled off for a moment and Ronai handed Lily the pouch of coins.
"Here, Lily, take these. I have some business to attend to nearby at the Ministry, and I should be back in around an hour or so. Meanwhile, you should finish getting your robes, and you can go across the street to the Ice Cream Parlor."
"Why do you have to go?" Lily asked as the seamstress returned. Ronai put a finger to her lips warningly and headed out the door. Lily sighed and gazed down at the measuring tapes. She glanced away, but then returned to watching the tapes, as they were acting quite oddly: they were measuring Lily themselves without anyone holding on to the ends! She raised her eyebrows and glanced out the window, just as a boy walked in with his father. It was the same boy who she had bumped into earlier that day. The man said something to the boy, who nodded, and left. The boy seemed to know what he was doing and climbed atop a platform himself. He turned and smiled at Lily.
"Hello there," he said. Lily couldn't help but notice that he looked somewhat sickly.
"Hello," Lily replied. There was a pause. "Sorry about running into earlier today. I've never traveled by fireplace before."
"Don't worry about it! I didn't get hurt or anything." Another pause. "I suppose you're muggle-born?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you are," the boy said with a smile. "It means that your parents aren't wizards and witches." "Yes," Lily said, "but how did you figure that out?" "Because you haven't traveled by floo-powder, you know, the fireplaces." Lily nodded her head in understanding. "Are you starting at Hogwarts then?" Lily nodded. "Well, so am I, so I'll just introduce myself now." He extended his hand and Lily shook it. "My name's Remus Lupin- what about you?"
"Lily Evans."
"Nice to meet you- I take it you haven't met any of our other fellows yet?"
"No- you're the first."
"I'm honored to be, Lily. Are you here alone?"
"Yes- and you?" The boy nodded.
"I was going to meet some of my friends after this, so if your parents aren't coming for you any time soon, you can come meet them."
"Um, alright." Lily agreed. Two seamstresses came out to fit them, and the two children were silent for a few moments until Lily broke the silence. "Tell me about the magic world." Remus turned suddenly to her, probably at the shock of being asked something like that.
"Do you know- I've never thought about that..."
"What?"
"Life without magic. I don't think I've ever wondered what I'd do without magic... Oh! Back to your question... Sorry about that- I tend to do that quite a lot, sad to say. What you've got to learn to do is to tell me to snap out of it." Lily nodded in a way that clearly said, 'uh-huh, whatever you say...' Remus seemed to notice and laughed.
"Don't worry, Lily. I used to be even more out of it a few years ago. Whenever this happens in front of my grandmother, she says it's alright because every boy in the family is like that for a while, and we eventually grow out of it." Lily laughed. "But back to your question once again. Magic is wonderful. There's a spell for just about anything. You'll love the wizarding world, Lily. Even though I have a magic family, I still can't use magic at my age, so I understand what it's like to do things manually. Even after his first year, my older brother knew loads of magic." Two boxes suddenly floated out from the back of the store to each of them.
"Six pairs of work robes, and the house patch will show something as soon as you're sorted," a lady said as she led them to the counters. After they both paid for their robes, they headed across the street to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor and sat down at a table. An odd man came out and asked them what flavors they would like, and soon after they were each eating a pralines 'n' cream and butterbeer double scoop ice cream.
"What's your family like, Remus?" Lily asked. The boy set his cone down and leaned back, pondering the question.
"Well, when we're younger, we're all pretty much the same, but as we get older, we each go our own way. I've seen all my cousins, and not one of them does the same thing. I've even got a third cousin, thrice removed- would you believe it- and he went to live as a muggle in Austria a few years back. Haven't heard from him since." Lily raised her eyebrows; who would want to give up magic for a normal life?
"Remus!" shouted a boy, running over, "Sirius can't make it today- Pete and I think his mum jinxed him, because he can't say a word! Anyway, I took him to mum- hopefully she can fix him up." Suddenly he looked around. "Would you believe it- I thought Peter was with me this whole time. Damn- if he's lost, I don't know how we'll find him."
"As long as he doesn't panic-"Remus started.
"Hah!" the messy haired boy laughed. "As long as he doesn't panic! When has that ever happened? Peter can't stand being alone, and then it'll all be my fault! I hope he knows you were at Florean's." He sighed and turned. "I'd best be off- I'll go backtrack, but if he comes around here, Remus, just keep him with you, alright?" Remus nodded, and the other boy smiled at Lily and ran off.
"What was that all about?" Lily laughed.
"Well, that was James. He was looking for Peter, and they both came to tell me that Sirius wasn't feeling well. They're the friends I was supposed to be meeting."
"Oh. Guess that didn't turn out very well."
"Nope- but you'll get to know them better at school. Yes, it's still a couple of weeks, but you know, we all could owl."
"I- wait- owl? As a verb?" Remus laughed.
"Yes- I see you've had muggle-schooling. But yes- in the magic world, we use owls to deliver our post and stuff." At that minute, a girl their age plopped herself down between them with a triple scoop peanut butter ice cream and pulled her knees to her. A thin little boy followed her and sat across from her.
"Hello, there, Remus!"
"Hello, Caroline."
"What's your name?" she asked Lily perkily.
"Lily Evans."
"Well, I'm Caroline Delphine Ausset. This is Nicholas Potter," she said briskly, pointing to the boy across the table. "And Remus, Petesie's heading over- just wanted to stop off at some shop over there," she said, vaguely gesturing towards the other side of the road.
"Lily- this is my neighbor, Caroline, she'll be in our year. Nick is James' little brother. He'll start next year." The strawberry-blonde boy waved to Lily, who smiled. At that moment a somewhat plump boy shouted from across the street, "Remus! I've found James! He's right here!" Remus rose from his chair.
"I'll be back in a few minutes."
Caroline guffawed at this. "Oh, yes," she muttered. "Peter found James. Right- of course..." she turned to Lily. "So- excited about school?"
"Yep," Lily answered.
"So am I! I really want to meet the Bloody Baron. He sounds nice."
"The who?"
"The Bloody Baron," Caroline said. "He's the Slytherin ghost."
"You mean that ghosts are real?"
"Of course they are! We have one who joins us for dinner once in a while, George Rosier II. He doesn't eat, but he enjoys the conversation. I think his great grandson is going to start this year- I've met him, too, but he's not so nice. I hope I don't get sorted into his house." She opened a package and a brown frog immediately jumped out of it and Caroline's reach. Luckily, Lily's reflexes were too much for it. Caroline thanked her and got an oddly thoughtful look upon her face. "What?" Lily asked suspiciously. "I was just thinking- you would make an excellent seeker... You should definitely consider it. Want a chocolate frog?" Lily shrugged and accepted. She pocketed it, and then, suddenly Remus was coming back.
"I think Sirius- "suddenly he was cut off by Ronai, who just arrived.
"Lily! I'm so sorry for taking so long. We must finish off your shopping soon, so we must hurry."
Lily picked up her boxes of robes and hurriedly said goodbye to Remus, Caroline, and Nicholas.
"I'll owl you, Lily," said Remus, getting ready to leave also. Nicholas also rose and nodded.
"See you on the train!" Caroline called. Lily waved over her shoulder with a grin.
Hi, guys! Hope you all liked it- if you did, please review!
Ronai muttered an incantation and the logs I the fireplace burst into flame. She then cast an odd powder into the fire, and the flames turned bright blue.
Step inside, lily, and clearly say, 'Diagon Alley.'"
Lily hesitated and looked up at Ronai, with a look on her face that asked for another way. Ronai shook her head and gestured towards the flames. Although this was a potentially fatal situation, and Ronai could be some crazy dude out to kill Lily who was only dressed up as Ronai to blackmail her parents yahdeeyahdeeyah, Lily decided that she trusted Ronani enough to take this chance. She obeyed rather unwillingly. She hugged her knees to her chest once she started to spin, and squeezed her eyes shut. She soon toppled out, hacking with the soot. In fact, she didn't even notice that there was someone standing right in front of her, and she knocked right into it.
"Oh, sorry!" she said, nervously. The person turned around. It was a kind-looking boy with sandy hair and blue eyes- maybe a bit older than she. He waved his hand with a smile, as though brushing the whole incident away. That minute, Ronai gracefully stepped out of the fireplace.
"Lily, come- we must go to the bank." For some reason, Ronai seemed more in place in this world, and what one would have considered to be her oddities back home seemed to make her elegant and experienced here. Lily turned from her and waved to the booy as she was led out of the building that she recognized as the Leaky Cauldron, and through a brick wall, and to the bank. It was a large marble building, and She looked up in awe at the huge sign saying, "Grignotts." She was pulled past a sign with some sort of rhyme on it and through large doors. "Come, Lily." Ronai said. "Now, don't be afraid of the goblins-they're harmless," she said as Lily hid herself in the folds of Ronai's huge skirts (bit of an old-fashioned thing- so no, I'm not crazy- and Lily's not so tall, but Ronai is). They proceeded to one of the counters and Ronai spoke boldly with the goblin.
"Could I please go to vault 793?"
"Hmmm..." the goblin said. "Ronai Aadrika... Haven't seen you around these parts in a long while," it said with just a trace of smugness on his face. Lily saw something twitch in Ronai's face.
"Important business, Griphook-none of which is yours."
"Not meaning any offense, madame..." he said in the goblin drawl, holding his clawed hands up in innocence. "This way." And they followed the goblin, who was but an inch or so taller than Lily, into a cart.
"Hold on tight, Lily!" Ronai said, as she was obviously afraid. Lily enjoyed the breakneck journey through the underground vaults. Finally, they reached vault seven hundred ninety-three. Ronai looked a tad tipsy, but made it out of the carriage.
The goblin dragged one of its spindly fingers down the door, and it dissolved into thin air. The site that met Lily's eyes made her gasp in awe. There before her were heaps and heaps of gold, silver, and bronze.
"Is this- is this all yours?" Lily asked. Ronai nodded. Ronai reached for a pouch from within the depths of her cloak. She collected some gold and replaced in her pocket. They sat back in the cart and traveled back. The goblin jumped out and held the door open for them. Ronai stepped out quite gracefully, and Lily leapt out behind her. They left the bank and headed to a shop with a sign reading, "Flourish and Blotts," and bought the books that were listed on a piece of parchment in Ronai's hand. Lily gazed in awe at the many titles, such as "Simple Transfiguration: from toads to teapots," "Garden Pests: gnomes, jobberknolls, etc," "Quidditch through the Ages," and "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle," a thin Frenchman who was always shown with a beret.
Soon after, they headed to the Apothecary for potions ingredients, and after that, they went to "Madame Maulkin's Robes for All Occasions." A bell on the door jingled as they stepped into the cheery store.
A middle-aged lady, who Lily supposed was Madame Maulkin, came over and said, "Hogwarts, dear?" Lily nodded and the lady led her onto a small raised platform. The woman bustled off for a moment and Ronai handed Lily the pouch of coins.
"Here, Lily, take these. I have some business to attend to nearby at the Ministry, and I should be back in around an hour or so. Meanwhile, you should finish getting your robes, and you can go across the street to the Ice Cream Parlor."
"Why do you have to go?" Lily asked as the seamstress returned. Ronai put a finger to her lips warningly and headed out the door. Lily sighed and gazed down at the measuring tapes. She glanced away, but then returned to watching the tapes, as they were acting quite oddly: they were measuring Lily themselves without anyone holding on to the ends! She raised her eyebrows and glanced out the window, just as a boy walked in with his father. It was the same boy who she had bumped into earlier that day. The man said something to the boy, who nodded, and left. The boy seemed to know what he was doing and climbed atop a platform himself. He turned and smiled at Lily.
"Hello there," he said. Lily couldn't help but notice that he looked somewhat sickly.
"Hello," Lily replied. There was a pause. "Sorry about running into earlier today. I've never traveled by fireplace before."
"Don't worry about it! I didn't get hurt or anything." Another pause. "I suppose you're muggle-born?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you are," the boy said with a smile. "It means that your parents aren't wizards and witches." "Yes," Lily said, "but how did you figure that out?" "Because you haven't traveled by floo-powder, you know, the fireplaces." Lily nodded her head in understanding. "Are you starting at Hogwarts then?" Lily nodded. "Well, so am I, so I'll just introduce myself now." He extended his hand and Lily shook it. "My name's Remus Lupin- what about you?"
"Lily Evans."
"Nice to meet you- I take it you haven't met any of our other fellows yet?"
"No- you're the first."
"I'm honored to be, Lily. Are you here alone?"
"Yes- and you?" The boy nodded.
"I was going to meet some of my friends after this, so if your parents aren't coming for you any time soon, you can come meet them."
"Um, alright." Lily agreed. Two seamstresses came out to fit them, and the two children were silent for a few moments until Lily broke the silence. "Tell me about the magic world." Remus turned suddenly to her, probably at the shock of being asked something like that.
"Do you know- I've never thought about that..."
"What?"
"Life without magic. I don't think I've ever wondered what I'd do without magic... Oh! Back to your question... Sorry about that- I tend to do that quite a lot, sad to say. What you've got to learn to do is to tell me to snap out of it." Lily nodded in a way that clearly said, 'uh-huh, whatever you say...' Remus seemed to notice and laughed.
"Don't worry, Lily. I used to be even more out of it a few years ago. Whenever this happens in front of my grandmother, she says it's alright because every boy in the family is like that for a while, and we eventually grow out of it." Lily laughed. "But back to your question once again. Magic is wonderful. There's a spell for just about anything. You'll love the wizarding world, Lily. Even though I have a magic family, I still can't use magic at my age, so I understand what it's like to do things manually. Even after his first year, my older brother knew loads of magic." Two boxes suddenly floated out from the back of the store to each of them.
"Six pairs of work robes, and the house patch will show something as soon as you're sorted," a lady said as she led them to the counters. After they both paid for their robes, they headed across the street to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor and sat down at a table. An odd man came out and asked them what flavors they would like, and soon after they were each eating a pralines 'n' cream and butterbeer double scoop ice cream.
"What's your family like, Remus?" Lily asked. The boy set his cone down and leaned back, pondering the question.
"Well, when we're younger, we're all pretty much the same, but as we get older, we each go our own way. I've seen all my cousins, and not one of them does the same thing. I've even got a third cousin, thrice removed- would you believe it- and he went to live as a muggle in Austria a few years back. Haven't heard from him since." Lily raised her eyebrows; who would want to give up magic for a normal life?
"Remus!" shouted a boy, running over, "Sirius can't make it today- Pete and I think his mum jinxed him, because he can't say a word! Anyway, I took him to mum- hopefully she can fix him up." Suddenly he looked around. "Would you believe it- I thought Peter was with me this whole time. Damn- if he's lost, I don't know how we'll find him."
"As long as he doesn't panic-"Remus started.
"Hah!" the messy haired boy laughed. "As long as he doesn't panic! When has that ever happened? Peter can't stand being alone, and then it'll all be my fault! I hope he knows you were at Florean's." He sighed and turned. "I'd best be off- I'll go backtrack, but if he comes around here, Remus, just keep him with you, alright?" Remus nodded, and the other boy smiled at Lily and ran off.
"What was that all about?" Lily laughed.
"Well, that was James. He was looking for Peter, and they both came to tell me that Sirius wasn't feeling well. They're the friends I was supposed to be meeting."
"Oh. Guess that didn't turn out very well."
"Nope- but you'll get to know them better at school. Yes, it's still a couple of weeks, but you know, we all could owl."
"I- wait- owl? As a verb?" Remus laughed.
"Yes- I see you've had muggle-schooling. But yes- in the magic world, we use owls to deliver our post and stuff." At that minute, a girl their age plopped herself down between them with a triple scoop peanut butter ice cream and pulled her knees to her. A thin little boy followed her and sat across from her.
"Hello, there, Remus!"
"Hello, Caroline."
"What's your name?" she asked Lily perkily.
"Lily Evans."
"Well, I'm Caroline Delphine Ausset. This is Nicholas Potter," she said briskly, pointing to the boy across the table. "And Remus, Petesie's heading over- just wanted to stop off at some shop over there," she said, vaguely gesturing towards the other side of the road.
"Lily- this is my neighbor, Caroline, she'll be in our year. Nick is James' little brother. He'll start next year." The strawberry-blonde boy waved to Lily, who smiled. At that moment a somewhat plump boy shouted from across the street, "Remus! I've found James! He's right here!" Remus rose from his chair.
"I'll be back in a few minutes."
Caroline guffawed at this. "Oh, yes," she muttered. "Peter found James. Right- of course..." she turned to Lily. "So- excited about school?"
"Yep," Lily answered.
"So am I! I really want to meet the Bloody Baron. He sounds nice."
"The who?"
"The Bloody Baron," Caroline said. "He's the Slytherin ghost."
"You mean that ghosts are real?"
"Of course they are! We have one who joins us for dinner once in a while, George Rosier II. He doesn't eat, but he enjoys the conversation. I think his great grandson is going to start this year- I've met him, too, but he's not so nice. I hope I don't get sorted into his house." She opened a package and a brown frog immediately jumped out of it and Caroline's reach. Luckily, Lily's reflexes were too much for it. Caroline thanked her and got an oddly thoughtful look upon her face. "What?" Lily asked suspiciously. "I was just thinking- you would make an excellent seeker... You should definitely consider it. Want a chocolate frog?" Lily shrugged and accepted. She pocketed it, and then, suddenly Remus was coming back.
"I think Sirius- "suddenly he was cut off by Ronai, who just arrived.
"Lily! I'm so sorry for taking so long. We must finish off your shopping soon, so we must hurry."
Lily picked up her boxes of robes and hurriedly said goodbye to Remus, Caroline, and Nicholas.
"I'll owl you, Lily," said Remus, getting ready to leave also. Nicholas also rose and nodded.
"See you on the train!" Caroline called. Lily waved over her shoulder with a grin.
Hi, guys! Hope you all liked it- if you did, please review!