The next morning, I jumped out of bed and headed to Knockturn Alley, completely forgetting what had occurred the day before. Lily was waiting for me, arms folded.
"You promised," she said accusingly. I suddenly realized.
"I completely forgot! Sorry, Lils." Even to my ears, the excuse sounded pathetic. Lily frowned, but pulled out our booklists for school.
"Let's go shopping!" She led me to Flourish and Blotts and we started buying books. When we bought books… we really bought. Lily was more bookish than I, but I did enjoy picking out strange-looking books with titles like "Why I Gave Up My Pet Basilisk," or "Secret Spots in Hogwarts".
I picked up the latter, and tossed it to Lily so she could check it out. Lily reached out to catch it, but it slipped out of her hands and to the floor.
Someone knelt down to hand it to her, and we both turned and stared at him. "Here's your-" he froze. "Where did you get this!"
I glared at him and snatched the book from his hands. Not him… not him! "I thought you weren't coming until the day after tomorrow, Sirius."
Sirius smiled a wide grin. "I decided to come early. Are you buying that book? I could really use it."
"We're taking it," Lily said without even glancing at the title. "Don't even think about it." She was just trying to irritate him! I nodded, not caring.
"Give it up, Sirius. You'll have to find out about these places the hard way." Sirius grunted and went to find a salesperson that could find him another copy of the book.
"Great… the first person I see from school besides you and Severus just has to be him." I groaned. "Why? Why?"
Lily smirked. "You'd have seen a lot more people if you had been in Diagon Alley for the past weeks. I saw most kids from our year in here at some point. Aaron Diggory and Evie Tucker say hi, and I completely forgot! Annie Luvre told me to tell you to meet her next Sunday at the ice cream store. I saw her a few days ago."
I frowned at Lily. Why hadn't I seen my friends at all? It wasn't like I spent my life in Knockturn Alley- just five or six hours a day. Where was everyone?
As if on cue, Selena and Shannon Helta walked in with a woman that must have been their mother. Selena gave me a small wave, and Shannon's empty eyes stared straight through me until she focused. Her hand lingered over her wand, and she seemed to be contemplating killing me right then and there. Lily gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, and I knew that she would be ready if Shannon attacked.
"Do you know these girls, dears?" the woman asked Selena and Shannon. Shannon nodded, still fixed on me.
"They're in my year, Mom," Selena said, uncomfortably aware of Shannon's glare. "This is Magda Mardec, and this is Lily…er…"
"Evans," Shannon put in. Lily shivered. She was on Shannon's list, too, she now knew.
"Pleased to meet you!" the woman chirped. "I'm Selena's mom!" We smiled uneasily. Mrs. Helta was totally oblivious to the tension. "I don't recognize your last names. Are you Muggle-borns?"
Lily sighed. "Yes, I am, but Magda's mother was a Dippet." We went through this so often, I could practically recite Mrs. Helta's reaction.
"A Dippet!" Mrs. Helta's eyes widened. "A pleasure to meet you, Magda!" She swooped forward to take my hand and shake it. I rolled my eyes at Lily, not forgetting to watch Shannon. She was idly playing with her wand, and appeared to be planning an "accident".
"Magda!" Remus Lupin popped up behind Shannon, and she jumped, startled. "Lily! I need to speak to both of you- it's urgent!" He winked at us as we waved goodbye to Mrs. Helta. Shannon looked murderous, and I knew that she had just put someone else on her list.
"Thanks, Remus," Lily said gratefully as we left Flourish and Blotts. "How'd you know to get us out of there?"
"I heard about what happened to you two with Black and Helta," Remus told us. "Oh, yes, and I saw Shannon playing with her wand. That's never a good sign." He grinned. "Good thing we got here early. I was staying at Sirius's house, but it isn't too pleasant there. His parents aren't very happy with the Gryffindor in their midst. We came here early, but had to bring his younger brother, Regulus, to shop for school stuff. He's starting at Hogwarts this year."
As he spoke, the three of us walked down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron. Sirius was waiting for us with a miniature version of himself.
"Regulus?" I asked Remus. He nodded resignedly. "He's been driving us crazy."
"Oh, so which girl is the one that Sirius has been pining for all summer?" Regulus smirked. I stared in shock at the slowly reddening Sirius. Not…?
Lily laughed at us both. We were red and staring at each other in shock and horror. Remus frowned and shook his head at Lily, who quieted. Sirius was first to recover.
"Regulus, shut up!" he snapped. Then his smile returned to his face. "Hello again, Magda, Lily. Have a butterbeer- my treat."
I sat down as far as I could from Sirius, and refused to meet his eyes. Why did Regulus have to say that? And the bigger question was- how would I get back at him?
"So, Regulus, I hear you're entering Hogwarts this year," I said conversationally. He nodded, the smirk still plastered firmly on his face. "Being that your name is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, you'll probably end up in Gryffindor with your brother, right?" The smile dropped from his face.
"I will NEVER be a Gryffindor!" he said loudly, getting up and storming away.
"Nice one, Magda," Sirius said appreciatively.
"Whatever," I muttered. Sirius was finally in control of himself, and I wasn't going to do otherwise. "Now, about this Quidditch match…"
"What Quidditch match?"
He didn't know! "The Quidditch match from last year was such a success, they're making it a tradition. James and I are captains."
His face darkened. "James never told me about it." I thought back to the last year, when Sirius had been excluded because he didn't play well enough. Time to cause dissension among the ranks.
"If you want, you can join our team," I offered. James would kill him… or me.
His face screwed up. "Who's on it?"
"Lily and I are Chasers, but Annie Luvre gets dibs on the other slot. Cissa Black is the Keeper, and Evan Rosier is one Beater. We might have a Seeker," I said cautiously. Even with a horde of Slytherins on my team, Sirius would still join if he didn't know that Severus would be Seeker. I needed him on the team, too, to out-psyche James.
"I'll join," Sirius said finally. "We Gryffindors have to outnumber the Slytherins somehow." I could see in his face that he was annoyed that I still chose so many Slytherins to be on my team.
"Sounds good!" I said brightly, getting up to leave.
"Wait.. Magda?" I turned. "Maybe we could go flying together tomorrow?"
I bit my lip and exchanged a glance with Lily. She nodded almost imperceptibly. "Okay… I guess so."
"I'll see you at the field behind QQS tomorrow at noon, then!" Sirius grinned.
"Yeah," I said softly. "See you."
