Disclaimer: We all know that I don't own any recognizable characters or the basic storyline. I'm not pretending to, so don't sue.
Lily lay on her back on top of her bed's soft white comforter, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what she had heard at the train station. Her father was at work and her sister was at her new boyfriend's house. His name was Vernon, and Lily thought that he looked rather like a balloon with a mustache, but she would never tell Petunia that. She loved her sister and wanted her to be happy, and it didn't really matter if there was no accounting for taste. She was glad to have a little time to herself, anyway.
Lily just knew that the strange people at the train station were magical people. She could feel it right down to her very core. For one thing, they were heading to a school called Hogwarts. Lily was sure she had never heard of such a place, and she couldn't imagine any normal place having such a flamboyant name. She was roused from her thoughts at the sound of the doorbell downstairs, and she went down to see who it was.
She opened the door and, seeing Sylvia standing there with a sympathetic look on her face, opened it wider to let her in.
"Hey, how'd it go with your dad?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. 'Lily there's no such thing as magic.' I wouldn't expect him to get it." The two girls headed up to Lily's room. "The funny thing is that before, Ijust couldn'tnot believe in magic. Now though, I'm as sure of its existence as I am that I have red hair. I'd be willing to stake my life on it."
"Don't you think that's going a bit far, though? I mean, you never know. They could have been magicians going to a magician school or something.
"Do you want to see something?"
"No!" Sylvia shouted right away. "I'm staying right here. No more adventures, got that?"
Lily just remained silent as she turned away from her friend, lying on her stomach on her bed and bending over to get something from under her bed. She pulled a large box out and sat up properly on the bed with the box in her lap.
"What is it?" Sylvia questioned.
"It's my collection," Lily replied before pulling off the lid. Sylvia leaned forward to peer inside the box. She was rather surprised to see at least a hundred books, movies, toys, stuffed animals – anything having to do with magic. She slowly put her hand in the box and pulled out a book, reading the title out loud, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." She carefully placed the book back in the box and pulled out a particularly cute stuffed Wizard.
"Does your father know about this?"
"He knows that I have a few books and movies, but he doesn't know the real extent of it. Listen, Sylvia, I want to go to Diagon Alley."
"You want to go where?"
"Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about. I know you heard that boy telling his brother how to get there. You need a wand. I'm certain that it's the boundary between the magic and non-magic worlds."
"Well, that's all well and good, Lily, but let me remind you that you don't have a wand."
"Details, details. Once I get into the Leaky Cauldron, I'll just go up to someone and tell them I forgot my wand. Or better yet that it got broken."
"Lily, I don't think –"
"I'm going, and that's final. The real question is: are you coming with me?"
"I really don't think –"
"Fine. I'm going. You can let yourself out. Don't tell my dad or Petunia where I've gone if they get home before me or before you leave." She finished putting on her shoes, grabbed her coat, and made to leave the room. She was just at the landing of the stairs when Sylvia cried out, "Wait! I'm going to regret this," she muttered to herself as she put on her own shoes and coat and went downstairs to meet Lily.
Sylvia and Lily walked slowly down JohnLennon Road for the fourth time, Lily looking closely at all the shops. They had been searching for the Leaky Cauldron for an hour with no luck.
"Lily," wined Sylvia, "can't you just give up, be depressed, go home, and eat ice cream until you're all happy again like a normal person?" Lily paid her no heed as she continued to closely examine every shop on the street. "My feet are killing me."
"It has to be around here somewhere," Lily mumbled, though not really in reply. As she approached a familiar looking book shop that was next to a record shop, she realized that she had indeed passed these stores three times already. The fact that they could be what she was trying to find had barely registered in her mind before she dismissed the thought on account of her knowledge that there was supposed to be a building between them. However, she was running out of ideas, so she looked back to the area between them just as she was about to pass the record shop, and sure enough, snugly fitting between the two shops was a tiny pub with an almost decrepit appearance and, more importantly, no name. She let out an excited squeal, drawing Sylvia's attention. "I think I've found it," she whispered, causing Sylvia's eyes to widen.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, as sure as I can be considering I know very little about the place."
"Great, so you've found it. Now what?"
"I'm going in. I told you that I'm going to get into Diagon Alley, and I will…one way or another."
"Well, I'm not going to wait here all by myself on the streets of London waiting who knows how long for you to get back. I'm coming with you."
Lily pushed open the door and she and Sylvia entered to be greeted by a dark room where strangely clad people sat at tables drinking out of dirty looking glasses and carrying on light conversation. They were surprised when they were greeted by an old, bald man asking if he could help them.
"Umm," was all Sylvia could say, and Lily quickly took over to prevent her from digging them into a hole.
"Actually, yes. We're on our way to Diagon Alley because I need to buy a new wand. My older brother got really angry with me yesterday and threw it in the fire. You know how siblings are," she added, hoping that he did. "The real problem is that my friend here seems to have forgotten her wand. She's been a little harebrained lately." Here Sylvia appropriately gave a nervous laugh and grin, hoping to further convince him of her flightiness. The man glared at them for a few moments, seemingly sizing them up and trying to figure out if they were telling the truth. Finally he nodded, leading them over to the bar, where a middle-aged bald man sat alone, wearing a top hat and periodically bringing his glass to his lips.
"Dedalus, could you please help these two young ladies get into Diagon Alley. They seem to be both without wands today."
"Sure, Tom," he replied. No problem. He got up and started to walk through the bar, motioning Lily and Sylvia to follow him. They did so, and he led them out of the bar and into a courtyard facing a large brick wall. He took out his wand and tapped a sequence of bricks on the wall, and the three of them watched as the bricks rearranged to make an archway leading out onto a winding road. "There you go ladies. Mind that you don't get lost now."
"We won't," replied Lily. "I'm sorry, but we really must be going. We are pressed for time. It was nice to meet you, and thank you very much for your help.
"Don't mention it," the man Dedalus said before heading back towards the bar. The two girls watched as the archway turned back into a solid wall before turning back to face the street ahead of them.
"What now?" Sylvia asked.
"I guess now we explore." The girls walked down the road, gazing around, amazed by all of the interesting shops: a shop with a stack of cauldrons outside, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and many more. While Sylvia occupied herself looking in the window of a book shop where sat books she had never heard of before, Lily felt her eyes drawn toward four boys standing beside a statue not fifteen feet from Lily and Sylvia.
Lily watched as the tallest one, a good looking boy with long, dark hair threw back his head and let out a bark-like laugh. She turned her gaze toward the boy closest to the statue hit the other boy on the arm. This one was also tall with dark hair, but his was much messier and his eyes were hidden by glasses. Far from making him look nerdy, they merely added to his attractiveness. The third boy was not much shorter than him, with sandy hair and a tired look on his face. The final boy seemed oblivious to the antics of his friends, preferring to look around mindlessly.
Suddenly, Lily saw a flash ofred light speeding toward the statue before striking it and sending a shower of broken pieces toward the ground. Lily was already there, pushing the bespectacled boy out of the way before getting hit in the head with a piece of the broken statue herself and blacking out.
James was caught completely off guard when Lily hit him, having not seen her, so naturally he went flying into Sirius and knocking both of them to the ground. "I love you too, Prongs, but I really don't think that this is appropriate."
James wasn't listening, though, as he had just spotted Lily lying on the ground a few feet away. He got up and went over to her, bending down next to her and gently brushing her red hair out of her face. He was struck by how beautiful she was, but even more so by the fact that she had risked her life for him without even knowing him. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at her, and whispered, "Ennervate."
Lily moaned and slowly opened her eyes to see James staring down at her, concern written all over his face. She tried to sit up, only to gasp and grasp her head at the pain. "Do you want us to take you to St. Mungo's?" James asked her.
"Huh?"
"St. Mungo's. You know, the wizard hospital."
"No!" Lily cried out, surprising James. "No," she repeated more quietly. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You idiot! How could you do that to me?" Sylvia cried, running over and pushing James out of the way. She continued to yell at Lily, causing her to wince; it was doing nothing for her headache. "Are you insane? Never mind, don't answer that. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I'm only 18! I'm not ready to die! And neither are you. Don't do that again! How would I have explained to your father why –?"
"Sylvia, would you shut up for a second?" Lily interrupted. "My head is killing me."
"You deserve it," Sylvia said, but she stopped yelling, deciding instead to pull Lily into a tight hug. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry. I didn't really think about what I was doing. I kind of just acted instinctively."
"You saved my life," James said, pulling Sylvia out of her reverie. She hadn't really noticed the four boys before.
"It was nothing," Lily replied.
"I wish I could do something. Let us buy you ice cream or something. Maybe it'll even help your headache."
"Excuse me Prongs, but I never said anything about buying anyone ice cream. How about you treat ALL of us?"
James rolled his eyes. "Pardon me. What I meant to say was please let me buy you ice cream. What do you say?"
"Lily looked at Sylvia who was still fussing over her and not really paying attention. "Sure, why not?" James crouched down next to Lily again, wrapping his arm around her waist, allowing her to wrap her arm around his neck, and helped her up.
James led Lily and the rest of the group toward Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, with Sylvia following behind them, Sirius and Remus behind her laughing at something or another, and Peter bringing up the rear. When they got inside, James offered to go order while everyone else sat down.
"Dynamite for me, Prongs," declared the ever-daring Sirius. "Yum, my favourite."
"Remus smacked him in the back of the head and said, "Wipe that drool off your face," before turning to James. "I'll stick to chocolate toffee." Peter, who could never make up his mind about anything, hemmed and hawed for a full two minutes before Remus got slightly impatient and told James to get him chocolate toffee too. James then turned to the two girls. "And what can I get for you lovely ladies? Sylvia, who was slightly frightened after hearing Sirius order, opted for plain old vanilla. Lily was a bit more daring, but she didn't know what flavours there were, and she didn't want them to know that – after all, she was pretending to be a wizard – so she asked James to surprise her.
After a few moments of silence, Sirius turned to Lily and appeared to be appraising her. She found it slightly unnerving, and finally she told him so. "Sorry, I'm just trying to figure out what to call you. Ah, I've got it! I hereby dub you 'hothead'."
"Hothead?"
"Yes. Your hair looks like it's on fire, plus, it's practically a rule that all redhead's have quite the tempers. So our new friend's shall be hothead and Sylvia. Everyone at the booth just shook their heads, deciding that they shouldn't have asked.
When James returned with the ice cream, he passed Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Sylvia theirs before setting down a bowl of mystery ice cream in front of Lily. It appeared that he had gotten the same thing for himself, so she watched him take a bite and, when nothing happened, shrugged and took a bite – albeit a small one – out of her own. She was surprised at how good it was. "You have good taste," she announced.
"I know," James replied, causing Sirius to laugh.
"If anyone ever calls you modest, tell me so I can go throw myself off a bridge, because I don't want to be around for the end of the world."
"Shut up, Padfoot. At least I don't have disgusting dog breath."
"Are you insinuating that my breath smells?"
"Why Padfoot, that was downright insightful of you. I was sure Moony was going to have to spell it out for you. After all, you're not the brightest crayon in the box."
"Now that's not fair. My breath does not smell bad."
"But you admit that you're an idiot?" Lily asked, intrigued with his logic.
"Eh, I figure why fight the truth. But I don't smell bad. If I did, hothead over there wouldn't want to kiss me right now."
"I don't want to kiss you right now," Lily replied dryly.
"I'm wounded. Everyone is against me." After a moment of silence, he continued, "Hey! You guys are supposed to assure me that no one is against me and that everyone loves me and that hothead really does want to kiss me."
"Eh," said James, his lips turning up into a roguish grin, "I figure why fight the truth."
"Moony, did Prongs just throw my own words back at me?"
"Yes, I believe he did, Padfoot. Good work, Prongs."
"And by the way," said Lily, "I really don't want to kiss you…ever."
"Yeah," added Sylvia, "because if you kissed her, then when she tried to kiss James he would be repulsed by your scent on her breath…ouch! That hurt!" She glared at Lily, who's foot she was sure had caused the pain in her shin, but Lily wasn't looking at her.
"Aw, hothead, do you want to kiss Prongsie here? Because I'm sure that he'd be more than obliging."
"Shut up, Padfoot, unless you want me to throw you off that bridge myself. Sorry about him," he continued, turning to Lily. "His IQ is about that of an 8 year old instead of an 18 year old, as is his emotional maturity. He tends to say stupid things sometimes…a lot of times, actually."
"I know what you mean. Sylvia's like that too, but she's just so darn cute!" Here Lily pinched Sylvia's cheek for good measure, earning a scowl from her friend. "Besides, if I didn't take care of her, no one would. I'm the only one who loves her enough to put up with her. Sometimes I wonder if I'll miss her when she finally grows up and doesn't need me anymore, but then she goes and says something stupid, and I stop worrying. It'll just never happen."
"Wow. We have so much in common," James declared, earning a smile and a small laugh from Lily. He loved the sound of her laugh and the sight of her smile; it was infectious, and he found himself smiling back at her.
"Hey that's not fair," said Sirius. "You guys can't bond over the stupidity of your best friends. It's unmoral." He couldn't figure out why James and Lily burst out laughing.
"You mean immoral, Sirius?" corrected Remus.
"Tit for tat…If you're going to get picky about it…"
Conversation continued on for another hour and a half – with Lily and James having their own private conversation – before Lily looked at her watch and let out a shriek, attracting everyone's attention. "Sylvia! We have to get out of here! My dad is going to be home in an hour, and I'm really not in the mood for an inquisition."
"But Lily, how are we going to get back. You never did buy a wand."
"Oh no, you're right! I was having so much fun that I completely forgot. I'll have to get one later, but for now, James, do you think that you could open the wall for us so that we can get to the Leaky Cauldron?"
He agreed and the group set out towards the brick wall that the girls had entered through. After turning the wall into an archway, and watching the girls walk through and the wall turn back, James turned to his friends. "You know that she left and I didn't even learn her name. All I know is that Sirius kept calling her hothead. By the way, what was with that?"
"Don't ask, Prongs," Remus advised. "You really don't want to know."
Padfoot still had to have his say, though. "How is it that you managed to meet the girl of your dreams, be saved by her from flying statue debris, and spend two hours with her without finding out her name? Only you, Prongs."
Thanks to my reviewers. You guys rock. For my responses to reviews from the first two chapters, see my bio page. I really wish that I had asked people for ideas on ice cream flavours, but it was too late when I realized that I wanted help. Anyway, I really hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter.