3 reviews!!! WOOHOO!!! Special thanks to PsYcHo-Me, Lavinia, and Tears of Angels and Fairies(Luv that name!) for being such awesome peeps and amazing reviewers.
Disclaimer: Like I said, only my twisted mind could come up with such a plot.
Anywayz, on with the fic; finally, Chapter 1!!!
Chapter 1- A Whole New World
Lily awoke groggily as the morning sunshine streamed gaily through the window. 'What a weird dream,' she thought idly, eyes still closed, 'though it would have been nice to blow up the whole damn saloon!' Her eyes opened slowly as she realized something quite odd. She was confortable for the first time in her life. 'What the...' She took in full account of where she was: lying on a neat white cot, amid other neat white cots, in a room she had never seen before. Lily sat up, staring carefully around her.
"Oookay..." she said quizzically, carefully examining some of the paintings in the room. She especially liked one of a wizened old man with a magician's cap. "What a cute little man!" she exclaimed, looking closer at the painting. To her great surprise and shock, the man in the painting winked and said "You're cute, too!" Lily jumped about a foot.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" she screamed, and a couple of people flew out of various doors, holding some odd little sticks. She whirled around and pointed a shaking finger at the painting. "I-i-it talked!" she exclaimed. The man in the painting looked quite irritated.
"Of course I do, honey, so do you!" he exclaimed. Lily, looking only slightly less startled, took a better look at the two people. One was a matronly woman, apron, cap and all. The other...a kindly old man, wearing an odd sort of dress.
"Um, hi? I really have no clue why I'm here, so I'll leave now, bye!" she said extraordinarily quickly, then attempted to hurry out of the room.She was stopped by the voice of the old man.
"Miss Evans, if you would not attempt to race out of the room, I will explain to you why you are here." Lily turned around.
"Um, sir, this sounds slightly odd but I heard your voice in a dream I had...I kinda, erm, blew up a saloon." The ghost of a smile drifted across the man's face.
"Miss Evans, as crazy as this may sound, it was real. You did, in fact, blow up the saloon." Lily looked carefully at the man.
"You're not joking." she stated. He shook his head, and Lily found that she had to sit down.
"Okay, so now I get an explanation, right?" Lily tried to sound sure of herself, but could not hide the tremor in her voice. The man sat down beside her on the bed.
"Miss Evans, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He shot Lily a meaningful look as she quickly put two and two together.
"HOLY CRA-" she shot a guilty look at the headmaster "-cker. I'm a WITCH?!?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, miss Evans. As your powers seem to have kicked in rather late, we have quite an issue: whether or not to place you in the year appropriate to age or your level. Now, seeing as it is the beginning of the summer, do you wish to study during the summer to reach the appropriate level, or..." Lily cut it quickly.
"Oh, yes sir, I'm sure that I can. I'm a fast learner." Dumbledore looked amused.
"Very well, miss Evans. We will take you to Diagon Alley later today. Now," his expression grew somber, "is there anything you wish to speak to me about?" Lily looked into his eyes and gulped. The saloon, that man...she shuddered and shook her head.
"No sir. Nothing at all." she said softly. Dumbledore looked at her carefully.
"Very well. I will ask Professor McGonagall to accompany you."she nodded as he got up and left. Madam Pomfrey quickly bustled in.
"Hello dear. I'm Madam Pomfrey, school nurse. Now, anything you want me to check over?" Lily looked at her cautiously.
"You're offering me help...for free?" Madam Pomfrey looked shocked.
"Of course, miss Evans! That's what we do! Now, anything that needs looking at?" she asked kindly.
"Er, well, my wrists have been bothering me for some time now..." Madam Pomfrey took this as her cue and began to poke and prod Lily's wrists, muttering something incomprehensible. Suddenly, the matron's face lit up and she waved the little stick. A jet of white light came from the end and wrapped her wrists in a cool, soothing touch. Lily sighed in relief as the pain receded.
"Thanks...erm..." she stuttered, not knowing the matron's name.
"Madam Pomfrey, dear." the nurse supplied.
"Right. Thanks, Madam Pomfrey. By the way, what's the stick?" Lily asked curiously. Madam Pomfrey gave a huge smile.
"This dear, is a wand." Lily burst out laughing.
"So you can do magic tricks?" she asked between giggles.
"Of course. Fleurasortia!" With that, a shower of cherry blossoms shot from the end of the wand. Lily laughed, dancing around beneath the flowers. Madam Pomfrey smiled at the exuberant teenager.
"Now, it's late, so bed! No exeptions! I'll be in the other room if you need me." with that, she bustled off. Lily sank happily into the nearest cot and dreamed of a gorgeous ice palace with high, sharp, dangerous walls.
* * *
The next morning, Lily was up early for one of the first times in her life. As she stood in front of the mirror, brushing her flaming locks. Her emerald green eyes stared at her reflection in the mirror, then suddenly at the stern-eyed woman who appeared behind her.
"Erm, hello....Professor McGonagall, was it?" she asked shyly. The professor smiled.
"Yes, miss Evans. Good morning to you as well. I had come to wake you up, but seeing as you awakened under your own power, would you care to join me for breakfast?" she said. Lily avoided her gaze.
"Thanks for offering, but I'm not much of a breakfast eater. Could we just go straight to...uh, Diagon Alley or whatever it was?" Lily asked hopefully. McGonagall sighed.
"Very well, but you must eat lunch. Understood?" Lily nodded profusely and followed the professor to a large fireplace.
"Now, to get there we will be traveling by floo powder, which is a rather interesting substance, but the lecture on that comes later in the year. Now, all you do is take a handful of the powder, stand in the fireplace, throw the powder down and enunciate 'Diagon Alley' very clearly. Understand?" Lily nodded her head once more and reached into the container. Feeling slightly nervous, she followed the professor's instructions and soon found herself whirling through a haze of green flame.
* * *
"Right, miss Evans, we've got everything except for your wand." Lily giggled slightly at the memory of the matron making flowers shoot out of her own wand. "Now, we must go to Ollivanders. Come along." The professor strode off into the crowd and Lily was hard pressed to follow. Once they had reached the musty store, met the slightly creepy man (Lily shrank back slightly because of past experiences) and tried about a dozen different wands, McGonagall had sat down and Lily was feeling extraordinarily stupid. Finally, after almost an hour and nearly half the wands in the store had been tried, Mr. Ollivander brought out a slightly odd-looking wand.
"Try this one, miss Evans. Pear wood and unicorn tail hair,13 inches with quite a knack for charm work."
Lily grasped the wand and immediately felt warmth spread through her fingers. She looked at Mr. Ollivander questioningly.
"Well, go on miss Evans, we don't have all day!" snapped McGonagall, beginning to get slightly grumpy. Lily quickly complied and was pleasantly surprised to see the same shower of cherry blossoms erupt from the end of her wand; only, hers were multicolored. Even Mr. Ollivander seemed surprised.
"That'll be 7 galleons, 12 sickles, miss Evans." he requested, and Lily handed over the special form that professor McGonagall had given her. Basically, it said that this sheet entitled Lily to anything she desired to buy, and to charge it to Hogwarts. From speaking with the professor, Lily understood that she would pay it back eventually, probably when she graduated.
The pair were walking back when they glimpsed Eyelops Owl Emporium. "Oooh!" Lily exclaimed as she pointed to a black owl with green eyes like her own. The professor sighed and the two of them moved slowly throught the crowd. Once they had reached the store, Lily went straight to the owl she had seen.
"Careful, miss, that owl's slightly grumpy..." the saleswoman said, then trailed off as she saw the owl pressed against the bars of the cage, hooting softly and being scratched by Lily. "I think you'd better take her, she's never shown a liking for anyone else." Lily nodded, entranced with the beautiful animal and wordlessly handed over her sheet.
Later, while they were walking towards the floo fireplace, Lily balancing a trolley full of all her purchases, the professor stopped her.
"Here, I'll shrink them so you can fit them in your pocket. All except the owl; you'll just have to carry her, I'm afraid." Lily nodded mutely.The professor muttered a spell and all the luggage shrank accordingly. Without another word, the two of them headed back to Hogwarts.
* * *
"Now Lily, don't forget about..." began the professor but Lily cut in.
"Lunch, I know, I know." She grabbed a roll and showed it to the professor. "Happy?" McGonagall sighed and made a shooing motion with her hands, to which Lily gratefully complied. She sprinted out of the Great Hall, anxious to delve into her new schoolbooks.
* * *
It was the end of the summer, and Lily had studied so hard that she had passed the test. The rest of the students would arrive in a few days; Lily was a little nervous. Every day, she let her owl, Émeraude, or Émi for short, out for a flight while she studied. Every night, she dreamed of that same castle of ice. And with every passing day it got closer and closer to September 1st.
WHEW!!! Done!! I'm sorry, the end of this chappie is kinda crap, but a) I'm tired and b) I have much more exciting stuff to get on to next chapter, like the Marauders....next chappie will be up soon, I promise! Please R & R, it gives me sooo much more incentive to finish the next chapter.