dIsClAiMeR: I do not own Lily, or James, or Peter, or Mcgonagall or...sigh Remus or Sirius. I DO own the Yoshida family but nothing else (not even the Quidditch team mentioned in this chapter because I got that from Quidditch Through The Ages). Please enjoy my little fic!

Chapter Two: Diagon Alley

Lily waited impatiently for three days before she got a return owl from Hogwarts. It came early in the morning and Lily ripped open the parchment envelope excitedly, this was it.

Dear Miss Evans,

We have received your owl Miss Evans and an escort will be provided for you on July 31 at noon. Your escort, Mrs. Artemis Yoshida, will Floo to your house and take you and your family, if they choose, to Diagon Alley.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Lily reread the letter a few times pondering over who this Mrs. Artemis Yoshida was and what exactly it meant by "Floo." She decided not to ask and simply turned to the calendar that was located on the kitchen wall beside the sink. She smiled happily to herself when she saw that July 31 was tomorrow. She'd have to tell her parents; Lily wondered briefly if they wanted to come, she'd have to ask them.

"What do you think you're doing freak," Petunia asked. Lily spun around to find her sister leaning against the doorway of the kitchen, a look of disgust on her face.

Lily frowned at Petunia and held up the parchment she had just received, "I just got another letter from Hogwarts."

Petunia's disgust deepened and she stepped forward and ripped the parchment out of Lily's hands, "Hey!" Lily protested but Petunia kept it out of her reach.

"You think you're SO special because you get to go to some stupid school for freaks? I'll say it again, mum and dad don't know what they're doing…you should have declined and come to St. Beltane with me, you could be something great there Lily. There's probably still time Lily, dad's taking me school shopping tomorrow, you can come with us," Petunia offered.

Lily shook her head, "If you'd read that parchment Petunia you'd see that I'm going to get my school supplies tomorrow as well. I don't care what you say Petunia, Hogwarts is where I'm going and no matter what you say you can't stop me."

Lily snatched the parchment letter back and stormed past her sister to go speak with her mother about coming with her to buy school supplies. Petunia stared after her and then stomped her foot, "Mark my words Lily! You WILL regret this!"

The next day Lily waved goodbye to her father and her sister as they drove off to go buy Petunia her school supplies. After they had pulled out Lily turned to her mother who smiled at her, "I wonder when your escort will get here Lils?"

As if the question summoned up something there was a loud pop and both Lily and her mother rushed to the living room to see what it was. Both stared in awe at the woman before them. She was about the same age as Lily's mother and had silky blonde hair with flecks of silver in it tied into a loose bun at the base of her neck. Her skin was pale and looked nearly flawless except for a small beauty mark under her right eye. The woman wore dark purple robes that bordered on black with silver trimming and her eyes matched the robes being as they were silver too. "Good afternoon you must be Mrs. Evans," the woman said, pocketing a stick with one hand, which Lily realized must be her wand, and reaching out to shake Mrs. Evans's hand with the other.

"H-hello…but please c-call me Jessica," Mrs. Evans stuttered, in awe of the woman before her.

The woman laughed merrily, "You'll have to forgive me for my rude entry…I was actually aiming for outside of your house…but my sense of direction is simply terrible." The woman paused then laughed again, "So sorry…I should introduce myself. My name's Artemis Yoshida, your daughters escort…and yours as well if you'd care to join us."

Mrs. Yoshida looked around the room and nodded to her, "Truth be told I'm glad McGonagall chose today…I was planning on taking my girl shopping today as well." Mrs. Yoshida said and turned to the two Evans. "My you must be Lily Evans. Dear you are a jewel aren't you…simply lovely," Mrs. Yoshida said, making Lily blush furiously causing Mrs. Yoshida to laugh again, "Sorry…I'm being forward…but I guess that's my American upbringing coming through. Anyways my daughter, Miyako, will be attending Hogwarts this year as well. She'll be meeting us up at the Leaky Cauldron." Mrs. Yoshida looked at her watch, "My we best be going…Miyako's rather impatient."

Lily, trying to keep up with Mrs. Yoshida's fast pace of talking, interrupted, "But how are we getting there?"

Mrs. Yoshida laughed again, Lily was glad she seemed so happy and nice, "By Floo of course."

"Excuse me," Mrs. Evans asked.

Mrs. Yoshida smiled and pulled out a small silk drawstring pouch that was purple like her robes. She pulled open the drawstring pouch and reached in, pulling out a good size amount of silvery powder, "Floo powder. It's how most wizards travel…now where's your fire place?"

Mrs. Evans motioned to the left wall and there was a rather nice sized fireplace. Mrs. Yoshida nodded and walked over to it, "Now then, all you have to do is toss the powder into the fire…oh but it isn't lit…silly me it's summer of course it isn't lit…hold this please," Mrs. Yoshida said dumping the powder into Lily's hands. She then pulled out her wand again and waved it at the fireplace. Instantly a large roaring fire sprang into place and Lily and her mom stared transfixed at the flames. "Alright dear…just toss it into the flames, step in, and shout Diagon Alley…you have to speak clearly though."

Lily's eyes widened, "Did…did you just say to step INTO the fire?"

"After you throw the Floo powder…yes."

Mrs. Evans's looked near faint at the idea, "Are you sure about this Mrs. Yoshida?"

Mrs. Yoshida sighed good naturedly, "Yes, yes quite sure and call me Artemis, Jessica…we're both adults after all. Your fireplace has been hooked up to the Floo network for today…now Lily my daughter should be there waiting for us so just wait with her and we'll be right behind you."

Lily wasn't too sure about this 'Floo' business but she figured that this woman knew what she was talking about. Lily took a deep breath and tossed the Floo powder into the fire, the fire roared and turned into a deep emerald green color. She looked to her mother who was biting her lip, a sure sign she was worried, and then to Mrs. Yoshida who was smiling brightly at Lily, "Go on dear…it will be okay I promise. Oh, one more thing…make sure to tuck your arms in."

Lily took a hesitant step into the fire and found, to her surprise, that it didn't burn. It was however, kind of suffocating so she called out, as loud and clear as she could manage, "DIAGON ALLEY!"

FWOOSH! Lily was whipped up and went spinning past numerous fireplaces in a whirl of colors. Lily closed her eyes tight thinking she might soon be nauseous. This seemed to take forever but soon the roaring of wind past her ears stopped and Lily pitched forward.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and it was only then that Lily realized her eyes were still shut. She opened her eyes to find herself face to face with a girl her own age. The girl had dark silver-blue eyes and jet-black hair that was pulled back in two braided pigtails. Her skin was rather dark and very smooth. She had a broad smile on her face and Lily noticed that she was taller than this strange girl by a good few inches, "Hello you must be Lily…my name's Miyako."

"Uhm…hi Miyako."

"Oh, call me Miya…only my parents calls me Miyako."

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound behind them and Lily turned to find her mother stumble from the fireplace and then beside them appeared Mrs. Yoshida. Lily looked from Mrs. Yoshida to Miyako and couldn't help but say, "But you two look nothing alike."

Mrs. Yoshida laughed good-naturedly, "Miyako takes after her father. Miyako…this is Mrs. Evans, Lily's mom."

Miya smiled, "It's nice to meet you."

"Shall we get going? I think we should swing by Gringotts so we can exchange your muggle money for some Galleons."

"Gringotts? Galleons?" Lily asked.

Mrs. Yoshida nodded, "Follow me and I'll explain. Alright…to start with Gringotts is the bank used by wizards. It's run by goblins…yes Jessica…goblins and I'd prepare yourself now or you'll be in for a right shock when you see them. Anyways Galleons are…well I guess it's best to show you really." Here Mrs. Yoshida paused and pulled from her pockets three different coins, one was shiny and gold and the biggest of the three coins, the one beside this was smaller and silver, and the last one was the smallest of all and bronze. Mrs. Yoshida pointed to the gold one, "This is a galleon and from what I remember from Muggle Studies it's worth about five pounds…but I could be mistaken." She shook her head to clear her thoughts and continued, "The silver one is called a Sickle, Gold for Galleons and Silver for Sickles, easy to remember right? Now this last one is the smallest amount of wizarding coinage and it's called a Knut. Let's see…29 knuts make up a sickle and 17 sickles make up a galleon…but don't worry if you don't remember all this we're shopping together remember, now let's get us some money."

Mrs. Yoshida led them through Diagon Alley, but walked slow, realizing that Jessica and Lily would want to take in all the sights. Mrs. Yoshida tried to explain things to Jessica while Miya told Lily all that she knew. As they were walking Lily saw numerous people in robes like Mrs. Yoshida. There were people of all ages here and in various colored robes; it was almost too much for her to take in. She saw cauldrons, cats, pointy hats and a shop for wands. One thing that caught her eye was the display they passed of brooms. Lily had to stop for this, "Miya…why do you need brooms if you can travel by Floo and appear out of thin air like your mom?"

"Well there are many reasons really. One being that not everyone likes to apparate, or 'appear out of thin air', and second they make good use for long distance travel for those who can't apparate…but most importantly for Quidditch the best sport ever!"

"Did you just say Quidditch?"

Miya nodded, "Quidditch is a very popular wizarding sport played on brooms. It's played all over the world…in fact that's how my dad met my mom, he plays Chaser for the Toyohashi Tengu…but I guess that wouldn't mean much to you seeing how you don't even know what Quidditch is. Well let's see…like I said it's played on brooms…" and Miya went into a very detailed explanation of the games positions (3 Chasers, 2 Beaters, A Seeker, and a Keeper) and the different balls and even her favorite team (which of course was the Toyohashi Tengu from Japan, her father was from a pure-blood Japanese wizardarding family). This explanation took so much time that they soon found themselves outside of Gringotts. Miya and Lily decided they'd wait outside while Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Yoshida went in to get money.

"I think I understand…too bad we can't get a broom as first years," Lily said sadly.

Miya nodded, "But don't worry…we'll be able to play next year…but what am I talking about we still have to get through first year. I do hope we get to be in the same house."

"House?"

Miya opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by their parents coming out of Gringotts with a sack of money each, "Well let's get started shall we…where would you like to start?" Mrs. Yoshida asked.

They decided they'd start with robes and headed for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. As soon as they entered the shop Madam Malkin herself, a plump little witch who was dressed in silky mauve robes, greeted them, "Just wait right there for a moment dearies and I'll be with you…I'm currently with a gentlemen customer."

Madam Malkin then headed for the rear of the shop where Miya and Lily could see a boy their own age trying on some black robes. He was quite handsome; he had sleek brown hair that was very neat and a smirk plastered to his face. It would have been great to stare at him the whole time if it wasn't for some woman shrieking in the background, presumably at the boy, "YOU STUPID BOY HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU NOT TO WANDER OUT INTO THAT FILTHY PLACE! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU CAN'T BE MORE LIKE REGULUS HERE? DOES HE FRATINIZE WITH THAT FILTH…SIRIUS BLACK ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!"

The boy winked at the girls and Lily rolled her eyes, he then turned to the woman, "Listen mother…why don't you bugger off."

Miya's eyes widened, this boy was asking for it.

"SIRIUS HOW DARE YOU…not now Regulus dear mummy's busy."

"But mummy I need to use the bathroom."

"Oh fine," from the back a tall imposing woman came, dragging behind her a very small boy with dark hair and wide eyes. The woman passed Lily and her mother and scowled "Can't believe their letting those filthy people into this place…should just get rid of the whole lot of them we should," she muttered, slamming the door behind her.

Miya and Mrs. Yoshida looked at each other wearily as if the woman had said something bad. Lily looked down at her clothes, she had just washed them yesterday, and they couldn't be THAT filthy.

The boy came out behind them, walking as slow as possible, he caught sight of Lily and Miya and winked at them, "Hello ladies. Hope my mum didn't do anything TOO unforgivable. She can be quite a handful sometimes."

Lily rolled her eyes, this boy was full of it, "My name's Sirius Gawain Black and I do hope to meet you girls at school." He slung his package over his shoulder, wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, and then walked out.

"So that was the infamous House of Black," Mrs. Yoshida murmured. Lily was about to ask her what she meant but then Madam Malkin peered from behind some curtains and told them she was ready.

After purchasing a good number of robes they headed to Flourish and Blotts for their school books (ranging from potions to charms) and then to the Apothecary to buy said potions supplies. After all the basic supplies was out of the way Mrs. Yoshida looked at the list of supplies, "I do believe all we have left is wands…and possibly an owl if your mom wants to get one for you Lily."

Lily's smile widened, the wand was what she had been looking forward to the most. "There's only one place to get a wand and that's Ollivander's," Miya whispered to Lily.

They found the tiny shop soon enough and Lily had to squint her eyes to read the faded letters of the shop: "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382BC…wow," Lily muttered.

They walked into the shop and all instantly fell silent. It was very tiny and the walls were lined with small boxes of numerous colors. Towards the back of the shop they could hear low whispers. After a few minutes a small pale boy and a very worried looking mother came forward followed by a very old man. The old man gave the woman a slender box and the boy glanced wearily at Miya and Lily. Miya smiled at him and gave him a wave of hello. The boy blinked as if he wasn't used to this and then started to wave back but his mother grabbed his wrist, "Come Remus." The boy and his mother exited the shot and the old man turned to them.

"Ah, more customers…I don't believe I recognize you," he said in a low voice as if he should.

"You probably wouldn't Mr. Ollivander I'm Mrs. Yoshida…I bought my wand over in America and Mrs. Evans here is a muggle."

Mr. Ollivander nodded knowingly, "Well I can't say the American model of wands is as up to it as my shop but they did branch from us so at least they've got it more together than others…so you two must be here for your wand," he said now turning to Lily and Miya.

They both nodded.

Mr. Ollivanders looked them up and down and then pointed to Lily, "You first then. Name and wand arm?"

"Lily Evans. Left."

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Lily from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round her head. As he measure he continued to talk in his airy voice, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Evans. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Lily gasped as she realized the tape measure was measuring on it's own. Mr. Ollivander, meanwhile, was flitting around the shelves, taking down random boxes.

"That will do," he muttered, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Let's start with an eight and a half inch yew with a phoenix core, rather stiff. Well give it a wave dear," he said handing Lily a wand.

Lily blushed and flicked the wand a bit but Mr. Ollivander just sighed and took it away. "Try this then, ebony and unicorn hair, eleven inches, rather springy."

She went to wave this was but Mr. Ollivander snatched it up too. "No. No, that won't do. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. This will be good for charm work."

Lily took the wand. She felt sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and green sparks shot from the end like a firework. Mr. Ollivander smiled slyly, "The wand chooses the wizard as I say…you're done then Miss Evans, seven galleons please."

Lily paid for her wand and then it was Miya's turn. Lily watched as Miya was measured from her wand arm (her right arm) to her knees and so forth. Miya was then given wand after wand to find one. After seven tries Miya made purple and silver sparks come out of a thirteen-inch oak and dragon heartstring of a snappy nature. After Miya paid for her own wand they set out for the Owl Emporium to purchase some owls, Mrs. Yoshida explained to Mrs. Evans that owls were the best way to get mail from Hogwarts to her house so that she could keep in touch with so Mrs. Evans agreed to buy Lily an owl.

Eeylops Owl Emporium was a very noisy place full of hooting and screeching owls. Lily and Miya wandered around looking at all the different owls in some many different sizes. Lily scanned the rows of owls and came upon a medium sized brown and white Spotted Owl. The owl gazed at Lily with dark black eyes. Lily smiled at it and it hooted. Lily picked the cage that it was in up, "I'd like this one please."

Miya had picked a smaller, stormy colored owl with yellow eyes known as a Boreal Owl. They both took the money from their mothers and paid for their owls. As they left the shop Miya looked to Lily, "So what are you going to name yours?"

Lily studied her Spotted owl, the owner had informed her it was a male, "I think I'll name him Orion."

Miya smiled and looked at her own female Boreal owl, "Romulus I think…though I'm going to call her Rommie for short."

Lily giggled, "That's cute…does someone have a crush on a certain boy we saw in Ollivander's?"

Miya blushed and shook her head, "I was hoping you didn't know much about mythology," she muttered.

Lily smirked, "I'm a HUGE mythology buff, Miyako."

Miya and Lily joked all the way back to The Leaky Cauldron while Mrs. Yoshida and Mrs. Evans talked about their daughters' futures. When they did reach the pub it was well after four o'clock. "My time sure does fly," Mrs. Yoshida said with a smile.

"I do hate to cut our time short but we really need to get home, David and Petunia will have gotten back by now," Mrs. Evans said.

"Well as I'm sure you don't want to go back by Floo powder I can help you to the nearest subway," Mrs. Yoshida said.

Mrs. Evans thanked her and then an idea hit her, "How would you like to have dinner with us Mrs. Yoshida…you are your family?"

Mrs. Yoshida blinked, "Really, Jessica? It's a little late notice."

Mrs. Evans shook her head; "I was thinking more of a goodbye party for the girls…say August 31st…the night before they have to leave and as a thank you to you for guiding us around Diagon Alley."

Mrs. Yoshida looked to her daughter who nodded vigorously, "Well…I guess it wouldn't hurt. I'll have to make sure Haruto is back in England by then. Oh but are you sure, I mean I have two other children…are you sure five isn't too much company?"

"Artemis, I insist. I haven't hosted a party in awhile and it would be nice to hear more about this school I'm sending Lily to."

"Come on mom…Arisa and Kyo would love it," Miya insisted.

Mrs. Yoshida sighed in defeat, "Alright…Jessica we'll make plans to come to your house next month. However I insist on bringing dessert!"

Author's Note:

Thanks for all the reviews guys! I have 3 of the five positions filled so far...so next two reviewers get mentioned in the Sorting Hat Chapter! Speaking of which I still need to write that blasted song...I'll get right on that. Anyways, I try and make this as accurate as possible okay...so I have all the research and stuff...or try to. The owls, the quidditch teams, and everything else I mentioned are all things I've seen (I did not make up owl species...my dad has a handy Field Guide to North American Birds). Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and my made up characters (Mrs. Artemis Yoshida and Miyako). Yes they'll be making more appearances and I bet Petunia will be thrilled to have them at her house. Anyways Lily, I'm sure, wasn't all alone so I decided to make a friend for her, Miya.

More about Miya will be disclosed as the story goes on...but for those who didn't know Miya is a half-blood witch (her mother, though a witch, was originally a muggle and her father, as I mentioned, is a pure-blood) and Miya is a half-American half-Japanese girl. Don't ask why...I just love Japanese names and needed a reason to use them. So tell me what you think about Miya and her family so far...

So now if there aren't any questions...

ReViEw!