Chapter 1- The Letter and Diagon Alley

Lily Evans was no ordinary girl. She was a witch, and she was about to receive her letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It was July 31st, and Lily was sulking under the willow tree near the house because her sister, Petunia, had recently accused Lily of stealing her pink shirt. Lily's and Petunia's relationship had never been good, Lily always being the one receiving attention and Petunia jealous of her, therefore doing everything to humiliate Lily. This time Lily was crying, for Petunia had gone too far on her jealousy scandals. Lily had never touched her pink shirt, she didn't even like pink, or the shirt. Petunia had offended Lily, and Lily was prepared to do everything to get her back.

Anyhow, while thinking of new ways to make Petunia sorry, a brown owl flew over her and dropped a letter. Curiously, Lily opened the letter. She was dumbfounded when she finished reading the letter.

"I'm a witch?" she said aloud. "Well," she thought, "that would explain a lot, I mean, I did turn Petunia's hair green last year..." After deciding that there was a chance that the letter was true, she calmly went inside the house where Petunia and her mother, Marisa Evans, were discussing.

"Mum, where's Dad?" Lily asked.

"Upstairst, honey, why?" Marisa replied.

"Well, er, I received this letter, and, er-"

"Who'd want to send you a letter, freak?" Petunia interrupted with a sneer.

"It has no return address...."

"Let me see it." Marisa interrupted the girls. "You're a...witch? Nathan, come here!!!"

"WHAT! Isn't being a freak enough?" Petunia shrieked.

"Petunia Elizabeth Evans, quiet!" Nathan ordered from the stairs.

"Daddy, surely you're not going to defend her! I mean, look at that! She's saying now that she received this letter that says she's a witch!"

"Marisa, may I see it?" Nathan said, ignoring Petunia's shriek of protest. "Hmm... Now, Petunia, calm down, Lily, explain."

"Er-, I don't know how to explain. I was just sitting under the tree and an owl flew over me and dropped this letter. And it has to be mine, after all, it does say Lily Marie Evans, under willow tree, 1800, Woodlane Drive, Canterbury, Kent."

"Yes... Well, congratulations Lily, you're a witch, I suppose. It says here to meet this Prof. Minerva McGonagall at this bar, the Leaky Cauldron, to buy your supplies in half an hour. Yes, Petunia?" Nathan asked in an irritated tone.

"Are you saying you will actually let Lily go to this... this freak school?"

"Of course. If you had been the witch, we would have done the same. Lily, Marisa, why don't you go get ready, I'll stay here with Petunia."

"Yes, Nathan, come on, Lily..."

Lily and Marisa left fifteen minutes later. On their way out they heard Nathan shouting at Petunia. They arrived five minutes late at the Leaky Cauldron. They asked the bar tender's assitant, a young man named Tom, if Prof. McGonagall had already left, and he said no, she was that matron-like lady with three girls. Marisa thanked him and lead a very nervous Lily to her.

"Excuse me, but the assistant said that you are the-"

"Yes, yes, I'm Prof.McGonagall, the child must be Miss Evans, I judge?"

"Yes..."

"Well, Mrs. Evans if you wish to assist us on the buying of the supplies, you may, but if you don't, you can sit with the other parents."

"I think I'll sit with the other parents, is that okay, Lily?"

"Yes, Mum." Lily replied quietly, looking at the other children.

Two of the girls looked very alike. Probably twins, Lily thought. They both had very bushy dirty blonde, big green eyes, and they weren't very tall, shorter even than Lily. The other girl was very tall, she had long black hair and matching black eyes.

"Very well, let's make the introductions. This is Ellen and Esther Schlotzsky, Carrie Williams, and Lily Evans. Everyone acquainted? Good, let's go."

Prof. McGonagall led them to the end of the bar where there was a brick wall. Removing her wand, she tapped it on several bricks. When she finished the wall started opening and she told them that first they were to go to the wizard bank, Gringotts, so that they could changed their money. After they had exchanged all of their money, she explained the money, and while they bought all of their books she explained everything about Hogwarts and the wizarding world. They stopped at a pet shop and Lily bought a male tabby cat, which she named Achilles. Finally the time came for them to buy their wands. This was the time everyone had been anticipating.

Ollivanders was a small, dusty shop. It had many aisles and Lily was sure she heard McGonagall mutter "oh no." Just as they were getting in, they saw a girl about their age, with tawny hair and piercing blue eyes, run out the store and scream, "JAMES TERENCE POTTER, SIRIUS OCTAVIUS BLACK, REMUS JOHN LUPIN, PETER CASSIUS PETTIGREW, GIVE ME MY WAND!!!" Four boys were running from her, one was holding a two wands. The one holding the wand had untidy jet black hair, hazel eyes, and he wore round glasses(James). Beside him was a taller boy with long black hair and grey eyes full of mirth(Sirius). The two other boys were also laughing. One was small and had very blonde hair and watery blue eyes(Peter). The other was a weak looking boy with brown hair and grey eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in ages.(Remus)

"Alexandra Iris Beauregard Owens, you have no right to call me by my middle name!" The boy with the untidy hair shouted back, putting a lot of emphasis on her middle name.

"And you, James, have no right to get my brand new wand, and I also want my locket. Yes, I know you got it. Give it to me, now."

"We will not." They all shouted.

"Fine. Attention everyone, JAMES POTTER'S MIDDLE NAME IS TERE—ARGHH!!" Before Alexandra was able to complete her sentence all of the boys had clamped their hands over her mouth and were giving her her wand and locket.

A tall lady with strawberry blonde hair and exact replicas of Alexandra's eyes came out of Ollivanders with a frown on her face. She scowled at the children and when she looked over at the watching group, she spotted McGonagall, exclaimed and walked to her.

"Ms. McGonagall, I had not seen you! Escorting the muggle- borns, I see?" The tall lady said with a slight French accent.

"Yes, Viviane, Escorting the pests, that is, the children?"

Viviane laughed, and said, "Yes, yes. The Potters couldn't make it, so they asked me to take the children. The children can't wait until Sept. 1st arrives."

Meanwhile, Alexandra and Sirius were wrestling over her golden lock. Alexandra was clearly winning but that didn't mean Sirius didn't have some control over the fight. Viviane took out her wand and muttered, "Impedimenta."

The two children stopped fighting instantly and after a few seconds they stood up, glaring at each other, Sirius with a black eye and Alexandra with many scratches. Viviane glared at them and said only, "Explain."

"Well, you see, Mum, Sirius tried to fool me by giving me another lock, but when I noticed I just saw him there, looking at me, and it was almost like he had 'Hit Me, Alex' on his forehead, very big, mind you, so I couldn't resist..."

"You couldn't resist? Are you telling me, Alex, that you just wanted to hit Sirius?"

"Er, kind of. But Sirius is not completely innocent!"

"I know. Sirius Black, you will not do that again. Alex, you will not hit people just because you feel like it."

After that was solved, Viviane and McGonagall bid each other good-bye, the 'muggle-borns' went into the wand shop. Finally, after what seemed ages, each one had a wand. Lily was very pleased with the combination of her wand. According to Mr. Ollivanders, it contained oak and a single unicorn hair, very good for charms.

Prof.McGonagall took them back to the Leaky Cauldron where they were supposed to meet their parents. Marisa Evans thanked Prof.McGonagall, got into the car and throughout the whole way Lily told her everything that happened during the trip. When they got back, Lily showed her all of her materials to both of her parents and recounted everything that had happened to her father. Petunia had locked herself up in her room and had refused to even look at Lily.

A week later, Lily woke up with a start. It's today! Today I go to Hogwarts!, she thought. After taking a bath, she ate breakfast with her family. Both her parents had these silly grins on their faces, and they kept looking at the time. You'd think it was them who were going to Hogwarts, Lily thought. Petunia however had the most horrible look she could do and kept staring at Lily as if hoping to send her gift away by 'glaring at it'.

Finally, at ten o'clock, the Evans left to King Cross Station, including Petunia. When they got there, Lily saw so many wizards taking children to platform 9 ¾ that she was awed.

"So, Lily, how did that Prof. McGonagall say you got there?" Nathan Evans asked uneasily.

"Well, I don't know if you can go in there, Dad....But all I have to do is run right into the wall between platform nine and ten," Lily replied.

"Oh. Well, I guess we'll just stay here then, while you go, er, in there."

"Right."

Lily walked forward to the barrier, glanced at her parents who smiled and motioned her to go forward. My parents are really the greatest. Not many parents must let their child go into a totally unknown place..., Lily thought with a smile. Ok, here I go.

Before running into the barrier she took out her cat and holding it, she braced herself, prepared for a crash, and surprisingly she went right through. A porter appeared immediatly to take her things and Achilles's basket. Looking around she saw people of all ages, talking happily to each other. Hugging Achilles, she entered the train and started looking for an empty compartment. Nearing the end of the train she heard someone shouting:

"Hey you, you are Lily Evans, right?" Lily turned around and saw one of the twins she'd met at Diagon Alley shouting at her.

"Yes, you are one of the Schlotzsky twins, right?"

"Yeah, Esther. Come sit with us."

"Sure."

Lily entered the compartment to find the other twin, Ellen and Carrie Williams, the other girl McGonagall had assisted to Diagon Alley.