They browsed through many different shops, including places to buy cauldrons ('Cauldrons- All Sizes- Collapsible!'), wands ("Very nice wand, Miss Evans!" Mr. Ollivander said. "Willow, ten and one-fourth inches long… very swishy; nice for charm work."), and, finally, to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor ("It's on me, Lily!").
He bought her a gigantic vanilla ice cream with chocolate and strawberry syrup. Nuts were sprinkled on top for added flavor.
"OY, JAMES!" a voice shouted, and he jumped, then turned around.
A group of three other boys were sitting at a table, out of the sun underneath a white and red striped umbrella with the Parlor's slogan printed across it.
"Mind if we sit with them?" James asked Lily.
She beamed. "Not at all."
They walked over and set their ice creams on the table surface.
"James, where've you been?" one of the boys asked. He looked almost just like James, apart from the glasses. "And who is your friend?"
He had a mischievous smile, and as he asked the last question, he winked at Lily. She rolled her eyes, then began to giggle.
A boy with dark blonde hair smirked. "What he meant to say is nice to meet you. Sometimes his manners wander off."
"You're just jealous, Remus, because I have more charm than you."
The guy named Remus scoffed. "Right Sirius… I'm sorry, we haven't properly introduced ourselves. I'm Remus Lupin, the idiot over there is Sirius Black, and the quiet one is Peter Pettigrew."
Lily flashed a smile after taking a bite. "Mmm, delicious. I'm Lily Evans. Are you all in your first year?"
"Yeah, we're all going into Hogwarts together," James nodded.
"Oh, look at the time!" Lily cried, noticing the clock on the highest point of Gringotts, which shadowed over part of Diagon Alley. "My mum is going to be here any minute. I'll see you guys around!"
She got up and began to walk away, when, once again, James rushed to her side. "Why don't you see if you can stay in the pub tomorrow, since day after tomorrow is the day we leave? The rest of the gang will be there."
"All right, I'll ask, but don't count on it," Lily shrugged. "Oh- and by the way- thanks for the ice cream, James. It was great."
He smiled as she walked away.
••••
"Did you get everything that you needed?" Lily's mum asked, after they'd been in the car for a few minutes. She'd been on her cell phone and almost oblivious to the fact that Lily had gotten into the car.
"Yeah, and I met a few kids that'll be going to my school! I'm so excited! I can't wait to show you-" she was cut off as her mum's phone began to ring again. Lily sighed.
"Evans," she introduced herself. "Uh-huh. Yes. Okay. Yes. Bye." She hung up the phone again. "Change of plans, dear. I can't drop you off day after tomorrow because I've got to go to a promotional meeting for the company… and since your dad is out-of-town… I don't know how you're going to get to the station. You could take a taxi."
"I've got an idea. I could stay at the Leaky Cauldron- they have rooms there; it's like a hotel- and go to Hogwarts from there." Lily suggested. "Lots of kids do that."
She looked at Lily out of the corner of her eye. "I'll think about it."
Her phone rang again.
••••
When Lily got home, she put some noodles on to boil. She peeled the skins off of about twenty tomatoes- the easy way. She'd discovered, earlier in the year, that if you put the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about one minute, no longer, and then plunge them into a bowl of ice cold water, the skins would fall right off.
She removed the seeds then mixed in the onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper.
In about an hour, after boiling the sauce in a jar, dinner was ready.
"Come eat!" Lily called through the house.
Petunia and her mum entered the kitchen.
"She probably put snakes eyes in it," Petunia scoffed. "Or some other witch stuff."
"Ew, snake eyes are gross," Lily said, twitching her nose. "I used the newt's tails; they have a much stronger flavor."
Petunia choked on her spaghetti while Lily laughed.
"All right, that's enough, you two." Mrs. Evans said. "Lily, I've thought about you staying in that Leaky place… I suppose it's all right, as long as you promise you'll be in bed on time and you get up early enough to not miss the train."
"I promise!" Lily yelled happily, then jumped up to hug her mum. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!"
She laughed. "You'd better. When you're done with supper you need to got and pack your… trunk, isn't it? …Because we'll be leaving early in the morning."
Lily set down her fork and ran up the stairs. She had barely touched her food.
••••
The weather was better the next day when Lily returned to the now-familiar outskirts of the Leaky Cauldron. She said by to her mum and dragged her trunk inside. It was about eight in the morning and only three or four people lingered around the bar.
"Lily! I didn't expect to see you so soon," the bartender called.
Lily smiled. "Hey Tom. I was wondering- do you have an open room? I'm hoping to stay for the night."
He brought her to a nice room with the sun pouring through windows onto the over-sized bed.
"This is perfect," Lily grinned. "Thanks so much. I'll be down for breakfast in a minute."
After unloading her belongings some, she skipped down the stairs quietly, trying not to wake up other guests.
Half way through her massive meal of fruits, pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage, James surprised me. "Gosh, can you ever eat!" he laughed as she jumped. "Did you convince your mum?"
"Yeah!" she laughed, smacking his hand as he tried to take a piece of toast off her plate. "My food. Buy your own."
"Fine, I will," he pretended to shove her. "Come on, let's go wake the others."
Lily grinned. "Yeah… and I've got the perfect way to make this very interesting."