Fanfic

The Marauders – Book One

Disclaimer: All main characters and settings belong to J K Rowling

N/A: Thank you to my only reviewer on the last chapter, Starsword. Please review if you are reading this, it is depressing if no one reviews.

Chapter 3 - Shopping

James was outside with a brown-haired boy about three years younger then him. Edward was the only other young wizard living in the village, and as James had no siblings his only company was Edward. James had his old broom with him, but the younger boy didn't have one. Edward watched admiringly as James took off gracefully and soared on his broomstick, swooping effortlessly through the sky. With a final dive James waited until the very last moment to pull into a smooth landing. Edward watched him with awe.

'Oh let me have a go. Please James! I want to be able to fly like you, but Mum won't let me…' Edward pleaded.

James was going to refuse, as he felt possessive about his second-hand broom. But when he heard that Edward wasn't allowed he couldn't resist the temptation to break the rules. 'Sure.' He said, handing the broom over.

Edward took it reverently, even though it was only an old, beaten up Cleansweep. He held it as he had seen James do, then hesitantly stepped a leg over. James watched him, not considering the dangers if Edward fell off.

'What are you waiting for Ed?' He asked. 'Just kick off against the ground.'

The eight year old took a deep breath as if he was about to go diving, closed his eyes and kicked off. The broom rose reluctantly, and Edward's knuckles turned white as he gripped on. Slowly he opened one eye and peeped down. Seeing that he was already a few meters off the ground he suddenly realised that he was afraid of heights. The boy panicked, slipped sideways and ended up hanging upside-down underneath the broom. Luckily he had slipped to the front, pulling the nose down so that the broom descended. As soon as he felt the ground beneath him Edwards let go of the broom and lay panting on the grass, the broom on the floor beside him. James was a little way off, barely able to stand for laughing. 'You fa-fa-face.' He giggled. 'Y-you looked so fu-funny.' Here James lost control completely and fell over, over-come by hysterics

Edward, now that he was back on the ground, felt stupid. He was sulking. He kicked the broom, thoroughly in a bad mood. 'You have a stupid broom anyway.' He snapped, then he turned and ran off.

James finally got control of himself. He wasn't worried about getting into trouble; if Edward went and complained to his mother then he'd get told off for trying to fly. The black-haired boy went to pick up his broom. Jumping on it he kicked off smoothly and flew, close to the ground, back to his house.

At home his mother was waiting. 'Come on James, we need to go to Diagon Alley. Your father is running low on some potion ingredients, and we may as well get your school things while we are there.'

James nodded and ran inside, shutting his broom in the cupboard under the stairs. He grabbed a jumper and ran his hand through his already messy hair. His parents, Andrew and Wendy, were already waiting at the fireplace. Andrew went through first. Then James grabbed a handful of Floo powder, stepped into the empty fireplace and shouted 'Diagon Alley.' He dropped the powder and disappeared in a flash of green flames.

He tucked in his elbows in a well-practiced way and closed his eyes as he started spinning faster and faster. As he felt himself slowing down he opened his eyes and managed to judge his landing so that he jumped out of the fireplace and managed to land on his feet. A short man was waiting to dust his clothes off slightly. James nodded his thanks to the man as Wendy arrived. Then the family headed out into Diagon Alley.

Lily sat on the train next to Professor Lerta, embarrassed by the teacher's strange clothes. She wanted to ask about them, and where they were going, and was she really going to get a wand and a thousand more questions. But the compartment was too busy and they were getting enough strange looks as it was.

Getting off the train proved as difficult as getting on, where Lerta had struggled with money, and then the underground system. Lily now had to show her how to insert her ticket so that the barrier would let her through. The teacher seemed to find mundane things such as this incredible.

Finally they made it into the pedestrianised area at London's centre. As they walked along Lily felt it was safe to talk; the people around them were far to busy rushing along with their own lives to listen in.

'Why are you wearing a kilt and a woolly jumper? Is that what all witches wear?' Lily asked nervously, hoping that she wasn't going to end up wearing a kilt.

'Isn't this the sort of things muggles wear?' Lerta asked, surprised. 'I'm wearing it so that I blend in.'

Lily could see the hurt look on the teacher's face, and immediately tried to make amends. 'Yes, they are muggle clothes. I just meant aren't you hot in that jumper?'

Lerta nodded, looking mollified. 'I am getting hot really.'

Lily paused before asking her next question. 'Where are we going? I didn't know that you could buy wands and cauldrons and potions in London.'

'You just have to go to the right place.' Lerta said, winking mysteriously.

'Where's that?'

Her question went un-answered for a few steps. The Lerta stopped and gestured grandly. 'Here.'

It took Lily a moment to realise that she was, infact, pointing to a run-down looking pub with a large record store on one side and a big bookstore on the other. 'The Leaky Cauldron.' Lerta proclaimed. 'Every English wizard knows of it.'

Lily was dubious about entering such a grubby place, especially since no one else seemed aware that it was there, but duly followed the professor. It was busy inside; not very different to any other pub she had been in, except for a few vital differences. Firstly all the adults were wearing robes, many with pointed hats and all with wands. Also the drinks didn't look anything like the drinks you could buy in any normal pub; muli-coloured, steaming and hissing.

It didn't look like they were going to be staying in here though, as the professor lead Lily through the pub and through a back door into a small yard. She watched in interest as Lerta counted out bricks and then tapped one with her wand. She turned back to Lily.

'Welcome to Diagon Alley.'

Lily frowned; all she could see was a brick wall and a few dustbins. Suddenly the bricks started moving. Lily gasped as a huge archway appeared where there had been a wall only seconds before. Through the archway she could see a long street. Shops lined both sides of the street and witches and wizards were bustling in and out of them. Children ran up and down, plagued their parents for sweets and ice cream. Owls hung outside one shop, cauldrons were lined up in front of another. As they walked down the street Lily's head twisted from side to side, trying to take everything in.

'Professor,' She started, but couldn't find anything to say.

Lerta laughed. 'You can call me Amy for now, plenty time for that Professor lark when term starts.' Lily nodded. Amy suited this agile lady more then professor, which made Lily this of an old man. 'We have to go up to Gringotts first. That's the wizard bank. It's mostly underground – it stretches under London. We'll be able to change your muggle money there.'

They approached a massive white building and entered througha gigantic set of doors. There were twoshort, ugly little menflanking a second set ofdoors. They enteredinto a large hall that was almost as noisy as the street outside. Lily was shocked when she looked at who were working behind the desks. Short, ugly little men were weighing gold and jewels, or leading people in and out of doors.

'Goblins.' Whispered Amy. 'Treat them respectfully; they can get nasty.'

This wasn't really the most encouraging comment as they walked up to a free goblin. He looked over the top of his glasses at them, making Lily feel like backing away. Still, they managed to change all of Lily's muggle notes into wizard money. As they walked out of the bank, Amy explained the heavy coins to her. There were tiny bronze coins, called Knuts, which were worth the least. Next were silver Sickles, and finally huge gold coins called Galleons, which were worth the most. There were seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle.

'Right, what do you want to get first?' Amy asked cheerfully, eyes continuously inspecting the crowd around them.

'I don't know.' Said Lily, who was feeling over-awed by Diagon Alley.

'Well seeing as we're here already, we may as well get your school robes.' Amy gestured to a shop on the left. Over the window were the words Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Lily entered the shop alone, leaving Amy waiting outside. She clutched her moneybag tightly as she waited for someone to notice her. A plump, kindly looking woman bustled over to her.

'Hogwarts dear?' She asked.

Lily nodded mutely and was led to the back of the shop. She stood up on a stool and the woman slipped a robe over her head and started pinning it to the right size. As Lily arrived a boy with messy black hair was just stepping off another stool. He caught her eye and just had time to smile and roll his eyes at his mother before he was whisked away.

When she had all her robes, her hat and cloak Lily paid carefully with the wizard money and left the shop clutching the parcels. Next they went to the apothecary's. It smelt awful, but Lily looked around at the ingredients with interest, gazing in awe at the unicorn horns and realising that so-called 'mythical creatures' must exist too. After buying a set of basic potions ingredients they went and bought dragon hide gloves, a collapsible telescope and a set of scales. They visited a shop to buy parchment and quills next, as Lily soon discovered that she could not just take ordinary paper and a pen or pencil. She had a try at using the quill, dipping it carefully in the ink and trying to form neat letters.

Amy laughed at the disappointment on Lily's face at her messy handwriting. 'Don't worry, you'll son get used to it. What shall we get next?'

Lily glanced at the now rather crumpled school list. 'We only need a pewter cauldron, my books and a wand.'

'We'll get your books next, then your cauldron. Save the best until last, yeah?'

Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop, fascinated Lily. Usually an avid reader, she could have spent all day in there. There were books of all shapes, sizes and descriptions. What's more they were all about magic; real magic. There were books on curses, omens, divination, cleaning with magic, guides to magical creatures and household pests. Lily wanted to buy them all. In the end it was only Amy's common sense, saying that they could always come back later, that got Lily out of the shop with just her schoolbooks.

As they walked down the street to the shop displaying cauldrons, Lily inspected the books she had just bought. 'What's transfiguration?' She enquired.

'It's turning objects into other things. Like when I changed the armchair into a pig at your house.'

Lily laughed at the memory. 'Is it hard?' She asked.

'It is one of the harder subjects.' Amy admitted. 'But there is plenty of time to worry about that later. It will all be explained at school.'

Once they had the cauldron they dumped all of the parcels inside it and carried it between them up the street. As they approached the wand shop, Lily started to get nervous flutters in her stomach. She wondered how you bought a wand; did you just buy the one that you thought looked the nicest?

Lily looked up at the peeling gold words above the shop. Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC Amy placed the cauldron on the floor with a heavy thump to the side of the door.

'In you go.' She said. 'You don't want me in there with you.'

Lily thought that she actually would rather like Amy in there, telling her what to do, but didn't feel that she could argue. With great trepidation she pushed the door open. A bell tinkled somewhere in the shop. Lily let the door swing shut. The shop was eerily still and quiet after the noisy chaos of the street outside. Thousands of narrow boxes were piled on shelves all around the room. The shop gave Lily the impression of a dusty library, just with boxes instead of books.

Wondering what she was meant to do, Lily ignored the only chair and walked up to the piles of boxes. She ran her finger down a row, looking at all the different colours and realising that they must contain the wands. Looking down at her now dusty finger Lily felt a prickling on the back of her neck. She could practically feel the magic emanating from these boxes.

'Good afternoon.' Said a soft voice behind her, making Lily jump a mile and spin around. A man had somehow entered the room completely silently. He had the most curious, pale eyes that didn't seem to blink. Lily couldn't look away. 'And you would be...?' He enquired.

'L-Lily Evans.' Lily stammered nervously, wishing that he would blink or look away.

'Miss Evans. I presume you are here to pick a wand. Although, of course, it's the wand that picks the wizards really.'

Lily nodded uncertainly, not sure what she was meant to say.

'Each Ollivanderwand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Evans. We use phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings and unicorn hairs. No two Ollivander wands are quite the same, such as no two dragons, unicorns or phoenixes are quite the same. And you will never get such a good result when using someone else's wand.'

Ollivander got Lily to hold out her right arm and a tape measure started measuring it, with out any help from Ollivander. He man started pulling down boxes to clouds of dust. He opened one box and held out a wand to her.

'Here, take this one. Oak and dragon heartstring. Twelve inches. Fairly supple. Just give it a wave.'

Lily took the wand dubiously and waved it in the air, not sure what to expect. Nothing happened and Ollivander snatched the wand off her, handing her another one almost immediately.

'Ash and unicorn hair. Nine inches. Pliable. Give it a try.'

But that wand too was snatched out of her hand after only a second. Lily, feeling more and more stupid, waved wand after wand to no effect. Oak, redwood, mahogany, yew, beech, maple, holly. The list went on and on. Lily started to feel embarrassed, but Ollivander seemed happy enough.

'Here. Unicorn hair and willow. Ten and a quarter inches long, rather swishy.' He handed her the wand.

Instantly warmth spread up her arm. Lily lifted the wand and bought it swishing down, leaving a trail of yellow sparks. Ollivander watched and smiled. 'Bravo, an excellent match. Good wand for charm work, that one.'

He reached out for the wand and Lily let go of it regretfully, watching him pack it back in its box. Lily paid six Galleons and three Sickles for her wand and left the shop, aware of Mr Ollivanders pale eyes following her.

After a quick stop at Flourish and Blotts for Lily to buy a background reading book they made their way back onto the street. Lily noticed Eeylops Owl Emporium and remembered that her mother had said she could get a cat if she wanted, because it sounded like most children would have a pet. She told Amy who agreed.

'It's alright, Eeylops does cat's too.'

They entered the shop, which felt very crowded because of the owls hanging in cages all around the room. There was a tank full of toads, a cage full of magical looking rats and many creatures that Lily wasn't sure she could name. She went up to the desk andcalled over the noise of the many animalsthat she wanted a cat. The shopkeeper nodded and led her through a door into a room with cats everywhere. They were lying on shelves up the wall, curled up in boxes, stalking along next to the walls. Each and every one making some form of noise.

Standing hesitantly in the doorway, Lily looked around. There were cats of all shapes, sizes and colours and Lily didn't know how she was going to pick one. Her eyes locked on a cat with a glossy black coat lying by itself in the corner. Lily fell in love with her as soon as she saw her, and left the shop ten minutes later clutching her wicker basket protectively.

On the train home Lily immersed herself in The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One) By Miranda Goshawk. It was probably a good thing that she was reading; because that way she didn't notice all the strange looks they were receiving. Amy left Lily in front of her gate, saying that she'd better not come in. She told her to catch the Hogwarts Express at King's cross on 1st September.

'Be there before eleven, because it doesn't wait for anyone. It's platform nine and three quarters. To get onto the platform just walk into the barrier between platforms nine and ten. I'll see you at school.'

With that, Amy turned around and walked quickly into the darkness.

'Wait!' Called Lily desperately. 'I don't understand!'

But the teacher had already disappeared.

End Chapter 3

A/N: I know that lots of Diagon Alley is similar to the Philosopher's Stone, but I am trying to be true to the book. Please review!

Thank you to Pyrate Rose and Starsword who both reviewed on previous chapters. If you read this PLEASE review, I would really like to know what people think, the review doesn't have to be long!