Chapter One: Rendezvous at Diagon Alley
"Mum, it's right there, can't you see it?" said a frustrated red-headed eleven-year-old girl pointing at what looked to muggle eyes like a run-down, vacant building on a lesser-travelled London street. "It clearly reads Leaky Cauldron!" she cried with exasperation.
"We just don't see it, honey," replied her dad, trying to maintain his patience.
"I think she's making it up," scoffed her older sister Petunia, who was disgusted over attention her parents poured upon her younger sister since receiving a letter claiming that Lily Evans was a witch. "How about she goes in, and if it's true we'll come pick her up later this evening."
By that time, Lily had already opened the door, tired of arguing with her seemingly blind parents. "See? Look, these are all probably other witches and wizards. Come on, let's go in, I need my school supplies!" she almost shouted, eagerly reading the directions contained in the magical letter she had received two weeks ago.
Her mother looked a little apprehensive. "It must be a witch thing," she decided. "Why don't your father and I come pick you up in a little while, and we'll take Petunia to go get her new school clothes."
"Mummy, I need a new purse too! I've had this one for months. And I want my hair cut—" whined Petunia.
"We'll see what we can do," her dad cut off quickly, walking over to kiss his youngest daughter on the forehead. "Can you take care of yourself? I hate to leave you alone."
"I'll be fine daddy," answered Lily with an angelic grin.
"See you at four sharp, then, right here," dictated her father, steering Lily's dark-haired, bony sister back towards the main street.
Lily thought she heard Petunia mumble about 'the spoiled witch' and 'gets more freedom' as they walked away. Lily thought little of it, assuring herself that the two of them would soon be staying up half the night talking about meaningless things, laughing almost like best friends again soon. She turned to the tavern with a satisfied smile. She looked around at the oddly-dressed people all around her, chatting about 'newt scales' and other things she didn't yet understand.
Not knowing where to go, she hesitantly walked up to the young barkeeper, who greeted her with a smile, "Hullo, I'm Tom, can I get you anything?"
"Erm," thought Lily, "no, but can you tell me how to get to Diagon Alley, it says to look for the back brick wall, but the walls are made of wood," she rambled nervously, glancing around.
"Go through that door," Tom pointed to a dark green door at the back of the pub.
"Thanks," she answered, following his instruction to find herself in front of a brick wall. "Now what do I do?" she whispered herself, staring stupidly at the bricks in front of her. She looked down at the parchment, which told her a pattern to tap the bricks with. She tried, at the risk of looking stupid, which did nothing. She was not used to failing and too embarrassed to go ask for help, rereading the letter.
"Maybe it's all a joke," she whispered defeatedly to herself, hitting the wall harder than she intended, bringing water her eyes. "I guess Petunia was right, it's a joke." What about the owl, who has trained owls? Asked the more gullible part of her conscience. She remembered the fear in seeing an owl fly into her bedroom window, her apprehension in opening the letter that was carried in its talons, and then her uncontrollable excitement in running down the stairs, making the announcement to her parents who shared her enthusiasm. Knowing they would have to say "goodbye" on September 1st, they spent extra attention and praise on the red-headed girl.
"Lost?" asked a messy-dark-haired boy with green eyes and round-framed glasses, accompanied by a bigger version of the boy, whom she assumed to be his father and a tall, raven-haired boy.
"Erm, well, yeah, a little, sort of, yes," she stammered, knowing her face was turning the colour of her hair.
"I'm James Potter," he said with a boy, "this is Sirius Black, and my dad" James continued, pointing to each in turn as they nodded their heads to their own name.
"Matthew Potter," his dad corrected, "or just Mr. Potter if you prefer. Are you trying to get to Diagon Alley?" Lily nodded. "You're going to be a first year at Hogwarts, aren't you? Muggle-born, I presume?"
Lily stared back at him with a look of confusion.
"Oh, of course," laughed Mr. Potter, "you wouldn't know what a muggle is. That's a wizarding term for non-magical people."
"Oh, then, yes, I guess I am one," answered Lily as she watched the man tap the exact pattern she had first tried with a short wooden stick. "I'm Lily Evans," she added quickly..
"We're first years, too," grinned Sirius.
"You should come shopping with us, we'll show you around," offered James.
"Sounds good, I guess," answered Lily. "My mum and dad couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron, so they just took my sister out."
"You can have more fun without them anyway," muttered James.
"Now, now, I'm not all that bad," interjected Matthew Potter. "Who knows what kind of trouble you boys would get into without someone to watch over you, and you know your mother would kill me and you both if you were to break anything," he continued in mock reprimand. "Lily, dear, you're welcome to come along with us, although I warn you these boys are mischievous and I wouldn't get too involved with them," he laughed.
"Dad!" grumbled James, simultaneous and similar to Sirius's "Mr. Potter!"
Lily laughed, happy to have met her first friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After Mr. Potter had revealed the entrance to Diagon Alley, they had decided to get the bookstore over with first. The boys anxiously grabbed their books, although Lily was disappointed that she didn't get to linger around and browse the book section. James and Sirius checked out quickly, and Lily walked up to the counter. "One galleon, nine sickles, and three knuts," said the cashier.
"What?" Lily asked with a dumbfounded look on her face as she was pulling notes out of her coin-purse.
"Oh, we have a different currency in the wizarding world," Mr. Potter explained, dropping a few coins on the counter. "Come on, we'll go to Gringott's next and exchange your currency."
Mr. Potter explained the worth of wizarding money to Lily while the boys hung back, occasionally sniggering. They traded out her notes for gold, silver, and bronze coins, and Lily tried to pay James's dad back, although he refused to take her money.
After robe fitting, a stop into a store with all sorts of brooms and balls (at the insistence of James and Sirius), the apothecary, and Flourish and Blott's, Mr. Potter led them outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"Okay kids, I'll be back in thirty minutes and then we'll go get your wands." Mr. Potter said as he waved good-bye and walked off.
"Finally," Sirius said, "I thought your dad wasn't going to leave us alone at all."
"Well, I thought your father was quite nice, I'm really grateful for all the help. I can't wait to get a wand!" Lily gushed.
"Yeah, we don't have a lot of time, Sirius and I will get the ice cream. What would you like, oh and can you find us a table?" James asked Lily.
"Sure," Lily said brightly, "and I'd like a chocolate ice cream."
"Just chocolate? That's all?" inquired Sirius.
Lily nodded, overhearing Sirius whispering something that sounded like 'such a strange girl' to James. Lily looked around for an empty table but couldn't find one. The closest she came was to a table with a lonely looking boy with his head hung over an orange coloured ice cream with red speckles, which seemed to be taking up a great deal of his concentration. He had sandy coloured hair and rather pale skin. Lily decided he could probably use some friends, so she headed towards his table.
"Hullo," Lily said cheerfully.
"Hi," the boy replied, glancing at Lily then concentrating once again on his ice cream.
"Well, I noticed that you were sitting by yourself and, um, there are no other tables available and, um, well…" Lily stuttered, unsure of what to say.
"Oh, I understand, you want me to leave so you can have a table?" The boy asked, looking even more depressed than before. He began to gather his packages.
"No! No, that's not it at all! I was wondering if my friends and I might join you. Well, they're not really my friends, I just met them but they are quite nice and rather funny." Lily babbled, terrified of how rude she must have sounded.
"Really?" he asked with a hopeful sparkle in his grey-blue eyes, "You want to sit with me?"
"Of course, what's your name?" Lily asked, then after realising she hadn't introduced herself added, "I'm Lily by the way,"
"My name's Remus," he said, offering Lily a seat across from him. "Are a Hogwarts student, I'm going to be a first year?"
"Me too!" Lily said excitedly, glad to meet yet another student.
"I thought you were finding us a private table," James joked into Lily's ear, handing her a scoop of chocolate ice cream. She instantly felt bad for the boy sitting across from her.
"Just kidding," laughed Sirius, turning the chair next to Remus around and straddling it with a cone of light green and black zebra-striped ice cream. "Sirius Black's the name, this is my partner in crime James Potter, and I'm sure Lily's been polite enough to introduce herself, and you are?"
"I'm Remus Lupin and sorry. If you want me to go, I will, sorry for being in the way," he answered with a hint of disappointment in his voice as his face dropped.
"Nah, we didn't mean it," James responded with his voice softened. "We need to teach you how to laugh this year! Geez."
Remus looked excited at the prospect of having friends at school over the next year.
"So, my dad said that Hogwarts was like a dream!" James exclaimed, eating his strawberry coconut sundae with vigour. "But you have to wrestle a troll to be sorted! If you beat it up, you get to be in Gryffindor, if you cheat, you're in Slytherin, if you outsmart it, you're in Ravenclaw, and if you're just really nice to it, you end up in Hufflepuff."
"I heard it's something worse than a troll, something bigger and uglier!" Sirius added.
"How bad is a troll?" Lily asked, thinking about the little, ugly plastic dolls with brightly coloured hair that were so popular in the muggle world.
"They can kill you!" James burst out excitedly, eyes wide, jumping to his feet to make a visual presentation. "They'll twist back your arms—"
"—and rip off your legs!" added Sirius, joining his friend.
"—and break your neck!"
"—and rip out your throat!"
"—and tear you in half!"
"—and break every bone in your body!"
"—and crush your skull!"
"—and tear out your hair!" Sirius whispered dramatically
"—and gouge out your eyes!" James whispered even more dramatically.
"—and," began Remus, studying the horrified look on Lily's face, "they're not all that bad, I think. I mean, they wouldn't really put us in mortal danger on our first day would they?"
"I hope not," Lily answered, almost regretting receiving her letter of acceptance to Hogwarts.
"We're teasing again," Sirius said, "You two need a sense of humour, lighten up."
Lily and Remus nodded, as they noticed James's dad return with two more packages than when he had left. "Boys, Lily, are you ready to get your wands?" he asked, noticing that they were all done eating.
"Have you gotten your wand yet?" Lily asked Remus.
"Yeah, earlier this morning," answered the quiet boy.
"Come with us anyway, we've still got some more shopping to do, and then you won't be alone. Where are your mum and dad anyway?"
"They went home, and told me to come home when I was done."
"Well," began Mr. Potter, "You're welcome to come with us, first year at Hogwarts, too?"
"Yes, sir," answered Remus.
Mr. Potter led the way to Ollivander's while Lily and Remus guessed at how they were going to be sorted and James and Sirius continued to make a scarier and scarier speculation of a troll. At last they entered the shop, Lily and Remus having taken the lead.
"Why, you must be Remus Lupin's son, my word, you look exactly like your father, why it seems like only an hour ago that your father was here getting his first wand, who's your friend?"
"Actually, I am Remus Lupin, it was only three hours ago, and this is Lily Evans." By that time, Mr. Potter, James, and Sirius had come in.
"So, three wands?" asked Mr. Ollivander, quickly changing the subject.
"You, I know, are the younger Potter," he said to James, "let's start with you." Mr. Ollivander waved his wand and a tape measure began to measure various things. "Hmm, let's see, you look like a…mahogany, 11 inches, let's see what we have." He pulled out a box. "Unicorn hair, try it." James took it happily and waved it at nothing in particular, but it was snatched out of his hand. "No, definitely dragon heartstring. It's pliable, good for transfiguration, here you are." Ollivander watched as a pleased smile appeared on James's face as he happily waved at nothing in particular, although with a new aura. Mr. Potter and Mr. Ollivander talked and exchanged coins.
"You next m'lady, how rude of me to put boys before the lady. Ah well, let's see. How about Holly, 12 inches." She took it, not knowing what she was looking for. "Nope, too big." They went through about twelve wands, and Lily was starting to doubt her abilities. "No need to fret, the wand must choose the wizard—or witch," he added grinning, "here is a willow, phoenix feather, 8 inches, nice and swishy." Lily took the wand, it seemed better than many of the others, but Mr. Ollivander still snatched it out of her hand, "too small, but I think we're almost there," he said, handing her the same willow with phoenix feather, although it was 10 ¼ inches, "Yes, this is it. Swishy, good for charms."
"And you, Mr.—don't tell me—Black, is it? Sirius Black?" Ollivander said, as he and the tape measure examined Sirius.
"You win," Sirius grinned, relieved that it was finally his turn.
"You look about 11 ½ inches, mahogany, let's see. Phoenix feather? No. Here it is, 11 ¼ inches, mahogany, and dragon heartstring." Sure enough, Sirius experienced the magical satisfaction of being chosen by the right wand. Lily, Sirius, and Remus paid for their wands and followed the Potters out of the shop.
"My wand is bigger than your wand!" Sirius bragged to James.
"It's not the size of the wand, it's how well you can use it," retorted James. "Mine's good for transfiguration, yours is…"
They passed by Eeylops Owl Emporium. "Real owls?" Lily asked as the passed, in awe.
"Yes," answered Mr. Potter, "They're our mail carriers."
"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Lily said, solving the mystery of the owl-delivered letter from Hogwarts.
"Dad, can I get my own owl now?" James asked eagerly.
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to look," Mr. Potter answered, following the kids into the shop. James looked first a large brown owl, but his father pointed out that smaller ones were faster.
Lily looked into her coin purse at what she had left. Three galleons, 12 sickles, and seven knuts. She wasn't exactly yet sure how much she had in wizarding terms, but looked at some of the smaller, weaker looking owls, occasionally asking for prices. She still fell short, and was slightly disappointed, hoping that the school at least would have owls for them.
Mr. Potter was paying for the medium-sized brown James had picked out with Sirius's help, and Lily's eye caught a tiny grey one that was sleeping in the corner of the store. "How about that one?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Four galleons, 15 sickels, and seven knuts," the shop-owner answered. Lily recounted her money hopefully, and her face fell. Mr. Potter came up behind her and added two galleons.
"Oh, I couldn't," Lily refused, slightly embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, you'll be thankful to have him—or her. Just promise me you'll use it to stay in touch with your parents, as I'm sure my son will not do, and you can forget about paying me back."
"Are you sure?" she asked sceptically, having never met anyone so nice upon the first day of knowing them. She hoped that behind the jokes, James was just as sweet.
"Positive, they're yours."
"I'll take it," Lily said to the shop owner, who tried selling her a few more expensive ones, but she had already fallen in love the tiny grey one and was overly grateful to the man she had met that day but who had already bought her school books and helped for her wand. She imagined that the Potters must be rich and live in a castle or something miraculous like that to spoil not only their own children but herself as well. She paid the owner and went over to get her owl, feeling overjoyed. They all headed out of the Eeylops and towards the Leaky Cauldron.
Mr. Potter offered to get the kids drinks, Sirius and James got icy butterbeers, Mr. Potter a fire whisky, Lily asked for something called a Sprite, but Tom didn't seem to have any, so Mr. Potter ordered her some strawberry drink and Remus got simple water.
"Are you flooing home, Remus?" Mr. Potter asked after paying the tab, rejecting Lily and Remus's offers to pay for their own.
"Yes, sir," Remus answered, standing up. "So, I'll see you lot at the platform, bye." Lily, James, and Sirius waved goodbye and Mr. Potter walked him to the fireplace. Lily watched in awe as he took a pinch of powder from above the fireplace and threw it into the fire, which turned green. Her face turned white when she saw him step in and disappear.
Mr. Potter stopped and talked to some older wizards and shook his head grimly, then gestured to the children sitting at a table, and the other wizards nodded as Mr. Potter made his way back to them.
"What was that about?" James asked, referring to the wizards.
"Oh, nothing, just news. Terrible, some of the things you hear today." He seemed to be eager to change the subjects. "Where are you meeting your parents, Lily?"
"Right outside, bye, and thank you," she said, slipping out of the booth where hey had been sitting.
"Well, we're walking you out," Mr. Potter declared. It was another twenty minutes of James and Sirius acting like idiots for the fun of it, with the occasional laugh or reprimand of Mr. Potter. Then, finally, Lily's parents and sister came down the road. Mr. Potter introduced himself to her parents and they chatted for a little while before the Evans's turned to the subway and the Potters and Sirius back into the Leaky Cauldron, both anxiously awaiting September 1st, the day that they would all meet again on the platform to take a train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where their adventure would truly begin.