Disclaimer: Diz shizzot right hurr ain't legally myne, yo.
The Wind Through My Hair
Lily got through exams and the rest of the 6th year alright. She had felt significantly better since that night she had gone out with James. Suddenly, after that night, Lily had remembered just why she had wanted to change in the first place. At first, it had merely been because Lily could not stand being called "prudish." That was any 16-year-old's nightmare, wasn't it? When she had really gotten a taste of the other side though, Lily really did like the change, to be truthful. She had momentarily forgotten how being happy felt, altogether, when her mum and dad had died. On that night with James, Lily remembered just why she had enjoyed the cool night wind stinging her skin, the blur of scenery rushing past, and that lurch in her stomach.
And now, here she was, Lily Evans, standing there, bags in hand, waiting at King's Cross. Where exactly was Lily going? To be honest, she did not want to go there. In fact, the very idea of staying at this person's house was absolutely bone chilling. Before, she had been worried that she would not have a place to stay since her parents were dead and she was now of age in the wizarding world. Lily had gotten so caught up, she hadn't realized that she was not of age in the muggle world, and very much did have a place to stay for the summer (or, at least, was obligated/forced to stay until she was eighteen). So, Lily stood there, feeling somewhat like an idiot, waiting for someone she doubted would even come to pick her up. She sighed. It was an hour past, and there was no possible way her ride was coming now. She would just have to hail a taxi.
Lily got hold of one of those yellow taxis, and told him where to go. She almost told him elsewhere; that's how much she didn't want to stay for the summer. It took about a half an hour to get there, but eventually, they did, and Lily stepped out, nearly shaking, gave the driver the required amount, and stepped out dragging along her trunk to the front door of this ordinary little home with a neatly trimmed lawn and perfect flower beds in bloom.
Tentatively, Lily knocked on the door, and it opened curtly after several minutes.
"Hello, Petunia," Lily said. Her sister only glared and let her in.
That night at dinner had not been the most pleasant experience in the world. It had been a tense, silent sort of gathering, and Vernon Dursley, her sister's fiance, was sending her death looks all throughout the meal. Lily could not stand having this sort of relationship with her sister, but every time she tried to speak to her, Vernon obnoxiously cut her off with a low growl, which he seemed to think was rather menacing. Lily did not want to be rude and make this visit any more worse than it already was, so silenced at his heed. At this first dinner though, Lily had not been quite as cautious, as she had not been aware of what was considered satanic in this household. So, innocently enough, after the completely silent dinner (with the exception of Vernon's growls), Petunia got up, beginning to collect the plates.
"Oh--" Lily began, but was slightly delayed by another one of Dursley's growls. She ignored it this time, thinking maybe he was doing it on accident. "Don't bother with the dishes, Petunia. I mean, I'll clean them. It's the least I could do," she said. Petunia paused, and turned her head at Lily, with a very suspicious look on her features. Does she think I'm going to throw the plates at her? Lily thought.
Lily began to move forward to collect the dishes already in Petunia's hand, but her sister shrieked and leaped back. Vernon roared and jumped up from his chair, causing the ground to almost shake (he was not a very fit man). He was breathing very heavily already, his face beet red, but he seemed to try to be hiding the fact that he had just jumped up rather abruptly by trying to slow down his rapid breaths, and stand completely still. Out of the corner of his mouth, he whispered relatively loudly, as if Lily could not hear him perfectly fine, "Don't move Petunia. If you keep stark still, this freak may not notice anything strange...if she tries anything...just run!" Lily raised her eyebrows, confused. What were they doing? Was this some sort of joke?
"Er..." Lily said, making both of them flinch. She decided to completely ignore all of this, and resumed to moving toward Petunia to take the dishes. Both Petunia and Vernon's eyes widened, and they looked too frightened to move at all. Lily took the dishes gently from Petunia's hands and smiled nervously. She moved to the sink, and her sister and her sister's fiance followed her cautiously with their eyes. Lily set the dishes down on the counter and moved her hand hesitantly toward to turn on the water. She stopped however, and turned around.
"You know, how about I just clean this up with magic? It would be much easier!" Lily said, forcing a jovial tune into her voice and reaching into her pockets without waiting for an answer. Perhaps if she cleaned the dishes with a simple scourgify, then she could maybe change their minds about magic, and most certainly liven up the dull chore of cleaning dishes. This, on Lily's part, was a very, very unwise decision, for she had not noticed the way Vernon's face had become a rather puce looking color, and how both of their eyes had become wider than saucers. The moment Lily had drawn out her wand, and pointed it at the dishes, Dursley had come to his senses, and bellowed swear words, beginning to throw objects at Lily.
"GET. AWAY!" He yelled, losing all patience. Petunia was sobbing on the ground, crying hysterically.
"Oh, make her stop, Vernon!" she cried. "Just make her put that foulness away, back in her pocket!"
"This foulness?" Lily asked, looking at her wand, while narrowly missed being hit by a small glass flower vase. "Is this what you're on about? I'll put it away!" she had to scream over Dursley's voice, he was yelling so loudly. She did indeed stow it back into her pocket, and still had her hands over her head, waiting for her sister's to-be husband to stop throwing inanimate objects at her. Vernon realized the wand was gone, and at the end of all this madness, he was breathing loudly through his flared nostrils, still looking as if all blood flow was cut off from his head completely. Petunia's small whimpers could now be heard in the uncomfortable silence that has befell the now battered and wrecked room. Lily's eyebrows were raised.
"I...uh...suppose I'll go unpack now," she said.
Fortunately, the rest of the dinners were not quite as eventful. However, Lily sometimes did not even attend dinner, just to avoid facing her sister and her rather intimidating fiance. During her whole stay, a minimum of words were spoken. Though Lily often considered trying to converse with Petunia, she never really went through with it. What if another first-dinner-scenario happened? She was still nursing a nasty cut from the knife Vernon threw. Or, what Lily was really worried about, what if she made things worse between her and her sister? So, things remained silent, and it had been a little more than a month she had stayed there already. Everything was silent...until that night.
Lily was sitting peacefully in her room. It was, of course, pretty quiet, and as she glanced at her beside clock, it read 6:00. The precise time Petunia and Vernon sat down to eat. Well, let's see...I haven't been down to eat for three days in a row. I reckon it's okay for me to go down tonight, Lily thought, checking off the days. So, she slipped on her socks and slippers, and ran a brush through her hair. Lily didn't think she would have to be groomed to eat with her own sister, but better to be safe than sorry, eh?
She descended down the stairs as the savory smells wafted towards her. It was clearly some sort of salty food. Lily went down cautiously and peered in. It was always better to make your appearances slowly and gradually, so they didn't think you were out to attack them. Lily learned that one on her third day staying. Vernon noticed her first, and grunted, then nudged Petunia. They did not say anything, but it was obvious they knew she was here. Lily took her place at the table and picked up her spoon, ready to start on her clam chowder.
Vernon cleared his throat quickly, and Lily pulled her head up, surprised. He did not say anything, however. Lily shrugged and began into her soup again. Another throat-clearing was heard.
"Er...yes?" Lily asked. Apparently, they were trying to get her to realize something without directly speaking to her. This method was definitely not working very well, since Lily still had no possible idea of what they wanted of her.
Lily raised her eyebrows, and shrugged again. If they were not going to tell her, she was going to eat. "Ahem," she heard, again.
"What? Just say it," Lily said, irritated. Vernon turned a sort of red color, and his mustaches bristled. He did not like people telling him what to do. Petunia simply looked terrified.
"Say it!" Lily urged. She did not want to be interrupted again.
"We..." Petunia began. Lily, for some reason, was very annoyed. They should just say it and get on with it. Lily was not evil, or contaminated, or contagious. They should just talk to her! They had been ignoring her and avoiding her for weeks, but this was really the cherry on top.
"Look, just say it, you bloody moron! This shouldn't take more than two seconds!" Lily said, not meaning to raise her voice.
Vernon slammed his fist against the table and a few veins throbbed in his temple. Lily recoiled slightly...his forehead looked absolutely disgusting.
"I won't have you talking to my wife like that!" He said.
"I can talk to her how I bloody well please! Either you tell me what you want to tell me, or you just stop clearing your bloody throat!" Lily retorted.
"I will NOT HAVE YOU SWEARING AT ME!" He said. Really, wasn't he over reacting?
"I WILL NOT HAVE YOU NEGLECTING ME!" Lily shouted as well. Petunia squealed in fright.
"I WON'T BE ASSOCIATING MYSELF WITH A BLOODY FREAK SUCH AS YOURSELF!" he said.
"WELL, if you would just TELL me WHAT you want to bloody well say to me, you WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE ASSOCIATING WITH ME AS MUCH AS YOU ARE NOW!" she said.
"I...I CAN TELL YOU WHAT I WANT TO!" he said, struggling for good comebacks.
"THEN, WHY DIDN'T YOU!?" she said.
"I...I...SHUT UP!" he said. Ooh, another good one.
"JUST. TELL. ME!" Lily said. She realized she was making a bigger deal out of this than she meant to, or more than it really deserved, but she couldn't help it. She was feeling particularly feisty that night, and slightly annoyed. That soup had looked delicious at first, but not while you were hearing disgusting guttural noises from the back of someone else's throat.
There was a dragging silence while Vernon breathed heavily, and thought hard about whether he should say or not. If he did say it, it would end all the nonsense. But it would also prove, in some way, that she had won. And really, Vernon Dursley, he was a proud man. Before he could decide, Petunia took matters into her own hands.
"We...f-f-forgot to say grace," Petunia muttered.
Was that all? "Oh." was all Lily could say. All that arguing for...grace. Lily sighed, and put out her hands for them to hold so they could all say grace. Vernon and Petunia had joined hands, but they were both looking speculatively at Lily's outstretched hands.
"Go on," Lily said. "I Want to eat sometime, you know."
"I'm not touching you," blurted out Petunia.
"Damned right! We've made a pact to not associate ourselves with freaks like you, and I intend to follow that," said Vernon smugly.
"Oh, just take it, you eejits. My deathly disease of Cornish pixies gonorrhea isn't contagious, you know." Lily said, rolling her eyes. They were being ridiculous.
"No." simply said.
"Just take it." Lily persisted.
"No."
"UGH! You two are impossible! It's not like I'm making you become wizards!"
Gasps. "Are you implying we are becoming wizards of our own free will?!" Vernon said.
"No...it was just an examp--"
"GET OUT! GET OUT...NOW!" Dursley yelled. Lily looked away. It was that revolting forehead, again.
"What?! No way!" Lily said.
"GET OUT!" He yelled again. He wasn't hearing much else except his own voice.
"This is absolutely unbelievable!" Lily said. "YOU ARE A JERK! A BLOODY NARROW-MINDED, ABNORMAL, UGLY, JERK! AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU, PETUNIA! WITH HIM!" Lily said, whipping out her wand as a habit, and out of anger. They both gasped and Petunia stumbled backwards, nearly fainting. Lily did not notice though, as she hadn't realized she had done something strange, or 'dangerous.' She had only taken out her wand to conjure her belongings. She had had enough of this hell hole.
"I am out of here." Lily said, her voice dropping a few intervals, and giving Petunia a very dirty look, before walking out of the house with her paraphernalia floating along behind her, without any support, though bumping into each other quite roughly, for Lily was not taking much care. She left Petunia and Vernon in a stunned silence. Petunia hadn't actually thought her sister was going to leave. Vernon was probably still shocked by the fact she had come to stay at all.
"Okay. Don't panic. Just, think straight!" Lily said, to herself. After dashing out the house and walking a few blocks down the very crooked sidewalk, in the dark night, she stopped from exhaustion. It was then, when she had gotten up to go again, Lily realized she had no where to go. Where exactly had she decided to run off to when she so irrationally grabbed her trunk and left?
"Okay...er...I could...walk to King's Cross Station and grab the train to...somewhere. Or...or...rent a car! Or steal one! Or...catch the knight bus...or perhaps just sleep out here..." she stopped after saying the Knight Bus. It was the most easy thing to do! She hadn't even ridden the bus herself, but plenty of people did when coming back from parties at friends houses and needed to get back to Hogwarts in time. Obviously, it was not that bad. She stuck out her wand hand, and waited.
BANG! Yep. That was definitely the Knight Bus. The door of the purple, triple Decker, opened, and in the doorframe stood...no one? Er, what now? Did she just walk on?
"Miss...Miss!" someone tiny shouted. Lily finally looked down after the owner of the voice tugged at her shirt. It was a house-elf...A very old one at that.
"Hello miss! I is Smelly the House-elf! Is there a way Smelly can help miss?" asked the house elf, who was adorned in a ragged pillow case, with a bit of pink ribbon tied around the middle...probably to make it look nicer.
Lily nodded. "Er...is this the Knight Bus?"
"Yes, Miss!" said the house-elf. There was a lapse of silence, and then, the house elf, Smelly, tried to make a mad dash for it. She almost made it down the steps, but a large, rough hand grabbed her pilowcase and pulled her back.
"Oh, no you don't!" The voice was slow, deep, and calming. It was a very large black man, dressed in a drivers uniform. He, obviously, was the bus driver. "Bloody house-elf. Couldn't do her job for a million galleons. Always taking a run for it..." He motioned for Lily to come inside, and Lily entered. There were rows of tables and chairs on the first floor, and several people were sitting, and drinking their coffee slowly, and looking up lazily as the driver came in.
"Dear god, can't you move any faster?" asked a portly looking man
"Hold your horses, bloke. There's no need to rush," The driver said. His name tag read Achebe. He then took out a dog choke chain and held it up. "Been considerin' putting this thing onto Smelly. She's been acting up, and I found this piece of junk in some muggle store. S'pose to slow em' down or something." he said.
"Get movin'!" a witch with frizzy grey hair and a nasal voice said. "I've got places to be!"
"Alright, alright...You, red-haired witch. You'll be owing me four galleons. Just raised the price yesterday from 3 galleons. You know, prices are going up..." he said. Lily nodded and dug some coins out of her bag and handed them to him. "And...where will you be going, again?"
"Er..." she thought rushed for a place to be. Well, the only magical place she knew of, besides Hogwarts and Hogsmeade was..."Diagon Alley."
"Alright, then..." Achebe said, slowly. He turned to leave, but stopped and turned back around. "Would you mind putting this around Smelly? Then, kindly tie her to that pole right there... I haven't got an idea of how this thing works," he said. Lily nodded uncertainly, and took the choke chain from the man's large fist. "Thank ya'."
Lily sat down and pondered where to begin. How did one put a dog's choke chain around a house-elf? A pretty disturbed one, at that, Lily thought as she spotted Smelly the house-elf prancing around and bobbing her head. She even once tried to dash away as she had when standing at the door. Except, this time, she had hit the wall, as there was no where to run. Finally, Lily decided she would just call the elf over. They were always supposed to obey, weren't they?
"Er...Smelly? Come'ere, would you?" she asked, as politely and falsely nice as possible. Smelly skipped over jovially and grinned, reveal straight, gleaming white teeth, except for one tooth missing in the very front.
"What can Smelly do for miss?" she asked.
"Would you...er, mind if I put this...toy around your neck?" Lily asked pausing here and there, weighing her words.
"Miss...has a toy for Smelly?" For a moment, Smelly looked like she might cry...which she did. Smelly burst into loud wails and fell to the floor, hitting it with her fists. "NEVER! In Smelly's whole life! A gift!"
"Sh! Be quiet...er...yes, a gift! Just, be quiet before we get into trouble!" Lily said rushed, as several people sitting at adjacent tables glared angrily. They were also probably mad because the bus was going extremely slow...a screaming house elf was not improving things at all. Gradually, Smelly quieted down and looked at Lily.
"So, what is Miss's gift to Smelly?"
"Well, I've got this shiny...er...thing--no, necklace! Yes, necklace, that goes around your neck! So...just turn around there, and I'll put it on for you, okay?" Lily said, cheerily. Perhaps that would help to fool the house elf. It didn't take much though, because Smelly was easily persuaded, and did not suspect a thing, as Lily put the chain around the house elf's neck, and then tied it to the pole.
"Well, all done! Now you can...er, go and run off wherever you please...Go on..." said Lily. Really, she did feel guilty, but that house elf had been knocking over tables and running into walls. Cutting off her air supply with a choke chain would do the elf wonders.
Smelly grinned and thanked her, then began to run forward. But after the chain ran out, and Smelly continued to try and run further, the chain tightened around her neck and Smelly shrieked in terror. "EEK!!!!" Was the only word Smelly could compose, as air was being cut off form her, and she didn't seem to realize that running further away would only continue to make matters worse for her. So, Lily leaned back in her chair, relaxing, as Smelly would be screaming, it seemed, for the whole ride there. And at the speed they were going...Lily closed her eyes. It would be a long night.
"Diagon Alley?" said a low rumble for a voice. Definitely Achebe. Lily snapped her head up, awaking from her reverie. They were in front of the Leaky Cauldron, and she could just spot the pink glow of early morning in the sky.
"Right, that would be me," Lily said, getting up and stretching, and not forgetting to yawn loudly. Several people around her gave her envious looks-- they would be waiting on that bus for a few more hours. Lily went off the bus, and stood there, watching the Knight Bus move away slowly. Even the BANG that it disappeared with was slightly boring. Lily remained standing there for quite some time, trunk handles clutched in her fists, and a series of questions running through her head. She had nearly three weeks left (really, it was closer to 4) until school started again. Where was she to stay? Well, they had places in the Leaky Cauldron, of course...and then, some people lived above their shops...but she didn't know anyone that did that, so she couldn't stay with them. She could, as it was always an option, be homeless for a few weeks, sleeping outside of Gringotts (where it was safest... no one dared try to rob Gringotts with Goblins around).
Well, no other choice really- Stay at the Leaky Cauldron. But, where would she get the money from? Rooms in the Leaky Cauldron did not come expensive, but they were not cheap either. Lily shrugged. It was, she supposed, time to get a job in Diagon Alley. So, Lily grabbed her trunk, and walked into the leaky cauldron, and rang the bell because no one was behind the counter. A young boy around his late teens walked up with a rag in his hand. "I've got this one, Gramps!" he yelled as he walked out.
"So, what can I do for you, Miss?" he asked.
"Er, I'd like a room...and well, I would like to know how much it is to stay for three weeks and three days?" she asked. It felt awkward asking this and not having more than a galleon in her pocket.
"Well, it costs around twenty galleons for a weeks, and three galleons for one night. So, I reckon that would be about sixty-nine galleons for your whole stay," he said.
"Oh, okay...thanks. Well, I haven't got the money right now. But I'm going off to Diagon Alley to see if I can snag myself a job. Could I maybe leave my stuff here and come back later to get it? And If I've got a job, then I'll get a room here. Sound alright?" Lily asked, hoping with all her might that he would say yes.
"Okay, no problem," he said. Lily let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. It was really that simple, that he had said yes, and she hadn't known why she was so uptight about it.
"Thanks!" Lily said.
"Just leave your trunk there. I'll put it behind the counter myself, so no one will take it. I'll see you," he said, and Lily began off for Diagon Alley.
Lily did the traditional Diagon Alley brick tapping, and walked through. She had been to Diagon Alley countless times, but it always fascinated her every time, and seemed like she had never been there before. Everything looked new to her, even though she knew in her mind that she had been to many of the shops before. She skipped right pass all the normal stores and went straight to the expensive part of Diagon Alley, a subdivision of it called Sorcerer's Alley. She had never been to this part, though she almost went to it several times with Diana. Her parents were filthy rich and Diana was always visiting that part of the Alley. But, somehow, Lily had never managed to visit it, as every time there was some kind of distraction. But now, Lily was going to go to it. The shops there were bound to pay more.
She stepped onto the street, which was still crooked, and dirty old bricks, but somehow, Lily felt like she had a lot more space to breathe. She looked up and saw she actually did have a lot more room. The street was a much bigger, enough for cars to go through (though, of course there were none), and the stores and buildings looked clean and were much taller. She got so caught up in it all, Lily almost forgot that she was looking for a job. She realized this while browsing in a wizard's robes store, "Burberry." Who would've thought that a famous muggle clothing company was owned by wizards? The robes in that store were just as expensive as the clothes that were sold in the muggle stores. "1,945 galleons for this robe?" Lily said to her self, incredulous. "I could never afford that!" And that statement was what reminded her of why she was there in the first place.
She walked along the fairly crowded wide street. She saw a lot of business looking wizards, wearing expensive robes, and witches with the latest cloak fashions on. Lily went into several stores, but soon decided that none of them were very good. The pet store she had visited was full of regal looking eagles and snowy white cats. They all looked expensive to care for, and Lily didn't even like animals. She also went into the Official Nimbus Broom Store. Everything there was twenty times more expensive than in "Quality Quidditch Supplies," and Lily did not like Quiddich that much at all. Why she even went in was beyond her. She thought the same of all the other stores she had looked through- Wireless Wizard Network Music Co., Mussolini's Pastries, Sorceress Spa, Zonko's Wholesale, and a few more Lily just didn't recall. They all paid a decent amount, but Lily predicted she wouldn't be very happy working at any of those places.
Just as she was about to give up and settle for sleeping outside of Gringotts, she came to a store that caught her breath. It was possibly the biggest bookstore she had ever seen in her life, probably even bigger than the Hogwarts library itself. And Lily loved books.
She glanced at the name of the store, J&H Books, before straightening up and trying to look professional as she walked into one of the biggest stores on that street. It was dark wood inside, with several floors, and an extremely high ceiling. There were book shelves lining every large, expansive wall, and every single shelf had books crammed on it. Even the ceiling had book shelves on it, and Lily wondered how the books stayed up there, then realized that there actually was magic in this world. There were lots and lots of customers scattered around the store, but it didn't look like that much since the store was so immense. Lily was so enraptured by all the wonderful books around her, that she didn't noticed a beautiful woman walk up to her, until she spoke in a polite voice, "Can I help you?"
The lady had extremely long, straight, raven black hair that was darker than night. It was braided in a loose ponytail. Her face held a kind of familiarity to it, with her kind, soft brown eyes (but Lily could catch a kind of sneaky shine in there too), and soft smile. She had pale skin, but this lady was no where close to scary. Lily felt at ease speaking with her.
"Oh, yes, please. I was just wondering if--" but Lily was cut off as a large yell was heard. Someone on the second floor was wrestling with someone else, and they were causing quite a racket. They seemed to be having a very good time though, laughing as they rough-housed each other.
"Ugh. Please excuse me. I'll be right back. I just need to attend to my son," she said, and walked off, while yelling, "James Harold Potter! It'd be in your best interest to stop that right now!"
They stopped, but seemed very disappointed. "Aw, come on, Mrs. P! We're just having a bit of fun!"
"Sirius, You won't be having very much fun anymore if you keep that up!" she snapped.
"Mum! You've got to be kidding me!"
"Actually, I'm not. Do you want to go to your room?"
"No, but--"
"James? Is that you?" Lily asked, after coming out of her state of momentary shock.
"What? Lily? What are you doing here?!" he asked, blushing furiously, probably at the fact that she was witnessing first hand him and his mother at it. It was rather embarrassing, considering that fact that he was just whining like a five year old. Sirius looked like he might start laughing hysterically at any given moment, as he said "Hello, Evans," in a very restrained voice.
"I'm, er...here to find a job," Lily said, a little embarrassed herself.
"Oh. What for?"
"Well...um...it's a very long story. But I haven't got a place to stay now, so I'm staying in the Leaky Cauldron. But rooms there aren't exactly cheap so I've got to get a job now to pay for that." Lily said. For some reason, she felt like a poor bumbling idiot saying this.
"Er...don't you have a savings account at Gringotts?" Sirius asked uncertainly. Lily paused and realized that she did. In fact, she drew money from it every year to get her school supplies. She had completely forgotten about that, even though she had thought about Gringotts several times during her trip.
"Why don't you just draw money from that?" asked James, completely stating that obvious.
"Well, I forgot!" said Lily, feeling even more like a bumbling idiot than before.
Mrs. Potter sighed, tired of waiting, and said, "James, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" There was a touch of impatience in her voice.
"Oh, this is Lily Evans, Mum. She's one of my friends from school. Lily, this is my mum...she's evil," he added as an afterthought.
"Shut your trap, James, before I prove to you that I'm actually evil."
"Too late," he muttered, but she ignored his comment and continued on to talking to Lily.
"So, Lily, why haven't you got a place to stay?" She asked. There was concern etched on her face, but Lily still felt awkward telling her this story. No one really knew what her sister and her brother-in-law were like, and here this lady was, someone she hardly knew, asking Lily to tell her.
"Er...well, you see...I got into a bit of a row with my sister and her fiance, because I'm supposed to be staying with them this summer since...my...well, because I've got to. And we don't really have the same views, and so I got kicked out, or rather, I was told to leave and I complied without thinking, so now I can't go back and I've got to stay somewhere. So I chose the Leaky Cauldron," Lily said, leaving out a few things like her parents had died, and toning down a few things like the row she had with Vernon and Petunia.
"Oh. I see," she said. "Well, why don't you just stay with your parents?" she asked, only acting like any normal adult would and stating the most reasonable choice.
"Well, er...it's...um, because..." Lily was feeling very reluctant to tell. Even Sirius and James looked uncomfortable.
Mrs. Potter looked at her expectantly, wondering why she was stuttering so much. Lily decided she would simply say it. It was just the truth, and she might as well say.
"My...my parents have died from an attack by deatheaters," Lily mumbled. Mrs. Potter seemed to have caught every word though, as she said "Oh," softly under her breath, and blushed slightly. She hadn't realized it was like that, and felt ashamed for asking.
"Well, why don't you just stay here with us? I mean, you are friends with James, and I wouldn't want you wasting money on a room at that horrid Leaky Cauldron. There's only three weeks left, after all...and, we've got plenty of extra rooms..." Mrs. Potter offered.
"Oh," Lily said, taken off guard. That was certainly not expected, though a welcome suggestion all the same. "Well, I mean, I wouldn't want to impose--" Lily said.
"Don't be silly! James, take her to a room and show her where everything is," she said, sounding business-like again, while ordering her son around. He didn't seem to mind though, and was smiling broadly.
"Sure, Mum. Come on Lily."
"Where's your things, dear?" Asked James' mum.
"I left it at the Leaky Cauldron because I thought I was staying there," Lily explained.
"Sirius, go fetch her things, and bring them here." she ordered.
"Aw, Mrs. P!'
"Go, Sirius," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Fine..." he grumbled, shooting Lily an accusing glare, though she could spot that he wasn't really angry.
"Come on, Evans, I'm showing you our house," James said, smirking.
Lily sighed. It had been a long day.
A/N: Hey, how was it? I tried to make it long. Sorry I skipped over the rest of the year, but that's just how the story works. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!
