Disclaimer: Most of the Characters and Places in this story are
a creation of the wonderful and brilliant JKR.
Authors note: Hey! This story was published here at about a year ago and I decided to erase it to make some major modifications to it. ENJOY!
Chapter 3: The Enchanted World.
It took a moment for them both to realize, that a man had materialized from thin air behind them. They screamed, slowly backing away, ready to run.
- Mister, if you don't go, I'm calling my parents! - Ana warned.
- I'm afraid with that you would only draw attention, and that's the last thing you will both want – the man said, with an extremely calmed voice.
Lily and Anna stopped screaming, looking fearfully at the man, who had a very strong presence.
Anna gulped – And who are you, Sir?
-Albus Dumbledore- He said simply, surveying them as though he wanted to laugh.
-You sent us the letters! – Lily exclaimed.
-Indeed Miss Evans - The old man said, nodding his head and clearing his throat- but I'm afraid I had to come, seeing as neither of you believe it was true, very common I may say between muggleborns.
Anna's face screwed up in confusion- Muggleborns?
-People who come from non-magical parents- he said, now walking slowly in front of them.
-So, It's true? We are witches? - Anna asked, trying to sound unperturbed, but failing miserably.
-Yes. - Dumbledore nodded calmly.
-Of course, and pigs can fly...- Anna whispered to Lily, who tried her best not to laugh, she took a deep breath.
-I'm sorry to say this Mister Dumbledore, but we don't believe that, it just, I can't be, WE cant be witches, that is unimaginable! - Lily said honestly, not looking at him, but at her toes, who looked very white under the moonlight.
-Exactly, how do I know your not some lunatic out there? – Anna said.
He stayed quiet, pondering the question – Answer me first, Have something strange happed to either of you? Something you thought it was totally impossible?
Lily backed away, remembering Petunia's hair- like what?
-Like turning someone's hair purple- Dumbledore said slowly.
- How do you know about that?
Dumbledore looked at Lily for a moment, like he knew something she didn't, he nodded, then he looked at Anna- I believe what you both need are proofs, magic do exist, take my hand.
-What? - Anna squealed.
-Take my hands- Dumbledore repeated, taking his hands out of his pockets.
-Our mothers first rule is, not touch strangers hands. - Lily said quietly, now more calmed, she wanted to run away from there.
Anna hesitated, but took Dumbledore's hand. Lily looked at Anna with a "what are you doing look" Anna shrugged. Lily shook her head and shrugged, she also took Dumbledore's hand. They screamed as the ground dissolved behind their feet, as they spin. Lily didn't open her eyes until she felt hard floor beneath her and she held her breath when she opened them.
They were in the middle of a beautiful office, judging by the big oak desk with three wooden chairs and weird silver instruments all around it.
There were many portraits that were moving, all seemed to have been awaken and were looking at them. Also, in the corner was a perched a magnificent red bird, who was looking at Dumbledore with tired eyes. The room was magnificent. As lily looked around, amazed, she noticed there were other instruments around the room.
Lily traced the corner of the desk with her index finger, convincing herself it was real, because she couldn't believe this, she heard Anna gasp, as she also looked around the room and came close a big window on the far end. Lily quickly went near the window and let her breath out in surprise.
If the office was amazing, it was nothing compared to the beautiful grounds they were overlooking from the window. The grass was bright green for what hey could see with the darkness, big trees near a crystal blue lake, and a deep forest at the right far end. There were also flowers planted, and a little path leading to a little hut, with a smoking chimney, all lighted up with lanterns. They seemed to be in a castle with many towers, the moon shone faintly, as it covered the whole thing with a glacial glow.
It was magical and truly was the most beautiful landscape Lily had ever seen
Dumbledore seemed to think their silence, and their astonishment was a sign for him to explain. He broke the stunned silence.
-This is Hogwarts- He said, advancing towards the window – those are the school grounds, and this – he was obviously refereeing to the room they were on – is my office.
-Wow- Anna breathed, as she looked around, still very much amazed- its true.
-Yes.
-But, how come we didn't know all about this Place? Are we going to stay here? What are we supposed to say to our parents? How come we're witches? - Lily asked, rapidly recovering her curious, worrying personality, moving her hands incoherently with each question.
-Everything will be explained– Dumbledore replied, and took both their hands. They were suddenly back in Anna's backyard - You will both pack tonight, and a car tomorrow will pick you up at 9:00am, in this house.
-For what? – Anna asked.
-For you both to go and buy all your school material, and then go to the school, Oh, and I would appreciate if you both keep a secret I showed you the school - Dumbledore stated.
Our parents...- lily said with a worried expression- they won't let us go just like that...- she was still very confused, and this man, didn't want to answer all of her questions.
-I will talk to them, do not worry – He bowed solemnly- I shall send somebody to explain everything, good night Miss. Evans, good night Miss. Callaghan, pleasure to meet you both, truly smart people you are - And with a soft Pop, he was gone.
-I can't believe this – Anna kept muttering as they made their way to the house.
Lily nodded- me neither.
She didn't remembered feeling lighter in her life, her heart skip beats as she remembered the magnificent grounds of Hogwarts, she went back inside the house, almost running, and were immediately spotted by her parents, who were very worried.
-Lily! Where have you both been? - Her mother hugged her, saying this with a very false worried tone, at least to Lily it was false. – It seemed you were out to another place!
Her mother didn't know how bloody right she was.
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The next day, for the first time in her life, Lily woke up early on her own, thanks to the always-handy alarm clock aka Anna Summers who was jumping all over the bed.
Lily propped one eye open, glaring at her friend. - Anna, please leave me alone before things get violent, I HATE when people wake me up, I don't insult Adam just because he's nice to me.
Anna folded her hand in a stubborn manner- so I'm not nice to you?
-Not by waking me up.
-Oh, come on Lily! I know you don't want to be late for the magic flying car- Anna said in a singsong voice, smiling.
Lily's eyes got wide as she remember what had happened last night.
She had spent the whole night packing, looking all the time at the door, expecting her mother to burst inside her room and demand what was that garbage about her been a witch. But her mother never came. Lily jumped out of the bed and rushed into the bathroom.
Anna shook her head.
-Do you think Dumbledore told our parents? - Lily asked, walking out of the closet, fully dressed, fifteen minutes later.
-He talked to mine – Anna said, rubbing her cat like eyes, she yawned.
Lily frowned- and they are letting you go? My mom hasn't said anything yet.
-She will don't worry, now hurry up, and get your luggage. - Anna said, pushing Lily's towards several suitcases she had in a corner with her clothes.
They descended the stairs taking all of Lily's bags.
Lily's mother was seated in the
dinning table, talking to her father, with a frown on her face,
Petunia (who had her hair fixed) was pale white, her mouth hanging
open as she listen as what her mother
was saying.
-Lily- Her father motioned her to come seat next to him.
Lily gulped, and nodded to Anna, who patted her on the back.
-We have to tell you, we know everything- Her father said.
Lily's heart fell, they wouldn't let her go, so she did the other thing she did when she was nervous, she started rambling.
-Look dad, I know it may seem crazy, absolutely preposterous, but I KNOW its real, and I fully believe in Mr. Dumbledore, he even...- Lily stopped as her father shook his head, he looked up at her with a ...smile? Lily gasped, as her father's smile grew bigger.
-Don't worry, this is excellent, we know its real, its possible, Aunt Emily is a witch too- He gave a big sigh- though its a bad thing at the same time, my sister was only home at the Christmas holydays, and on the summers.
- Its wonderful, we have a Witch in the family - Her mother exclaimed, hugging Lily- Now, don't worry about the neighbors, we know young Miss Callaghan is a witch also, we are telling you both are off into a boarding school in France.
-Thank you dad, thank you mom -Lily smiled, in a shocked state, patting her mom's back awkwardly. - I promise to come for the holydays.
-You better -her mother said breaking the hug wiping away a tear – our little lily off into a magic school.
-Well, we hope you the best darling – her father said, caressing lily's cheek.
-Thank you dad- Lily smiled, hugging his dad. The familiar lavender scent.
-Well, off you go he said – his voice oddly raspy- they will be getting you in Miss Callaghan's house in half an hour.
Petunia, who had said nothing in the whole time Lily had been in the room, gave Lily an annoyed glared, Lily only could look down at her shoes as Petunia whirled around dashing upstairs again.
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Lily and Anna were now seated in the back of a gray car, which pulled in front of the Callaghan's residence at 9:15. The driver was a man dressed in green, who didn't said a word as he opened the car door for them and took their luggage.
They didn't knew where they were going, but the plain excitement they felt was enough to make them forget, they just knew sometime today, they would be back into the magnificent castle they had been a couple of hours ago.
-You know, I'm glad I'm doing this with you Lily- Anna said, looking out of the window, where the buildings passed rapidly.
-Me too Anna, me too – Lily replied in a low voice, she was too nervous, they had just pulled in front of a tiny, old looking bar.
OoOoOOOOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOOOOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOOOoOO
They entered, to reveal a shabby bar, full with odd-looking people.
To their right was very weird looking man, who was looking at his drink like it was the solution o all his problems, also, next to him was a woman with a very pale pink skin.
Lily frowned and bit her lip nervously, as she scanned the place, she spotted in the bar, a very large, large man, he was at least 3 times taller than anyone else and two times wider, he had a short but messy bear and tiny black eyes, he seemed to be a dangerous man, as he drank roughly his drink. He looked at Lily for a moment, before his eyes got wide. He immediately left his drink in the counter and went straight to Lily and Anna.
- Yeh must be Lily n' Anna- he said, shaking their hands, making Lily almost fall down.
They nodded.
-Hagrid – he said pointing at himself and looking around the bar with a nervous look, everyone seemed to be looking at him- now, fallow me, yeh don't want to stay here too much, weird blokes here.
Lily smiled, this guy wasn't dangerous, and he seemed to be a nice bloke.
He walked across the bar, making several tables fell down, as long with the drinks, Lily and Anna followed him out of the bar, into a little roofless room, with had a brick wall, and a trash can.
Hagrid counted some bricks and tapped the wall three times with a pink umbrella.
For a second, Lily thought he had gone totally maniac, but the brick wall slowly started to separate, a long street appeared on the other side, there seemed to be loads of shops, wizards all over the place, buying stuff, going from one place to another. Lily's jaw dropped, along with Anna's.
Hagrid smiled at their astonish faces, before "lightly" pushing them inside.
-So, what ye need, eh? - Hagrid asked, waving to a red haired boy who smiled and waved at him, he turned to the girls' again- first, the important stuff, yeh agree? Let's get ya both wands...
A thought crossed Lily's mind, like a stone in her stomach.
-Hagrid, we haven't any money...
-Not ter worry, Dumbledore's had it covered. - He gave each of them a little bag full with golden coins- your parents helped of course.
The girls beamed as they entered "Oleander's WANDS, OPENED SINCE 350 BC".
The store was filled with shelves filled with little rectangular boxes; in the counter was a black haired man.
-Welcome- the man said, smiling up at them– I'm Mr. Ollivander, what can I do to help you today? Oh hey Hagrid...
-elo! Mrs. Evans here, and Mrs. Callaghan would like some wands.
-But of course, follow me- He guided them through various shelves, trying different wands.
After half an hour trying different wands, Anna was getting impatient- can't we just choose any of these?
-No- Mrs. Ollivander said, giving Anna, and 13-inch pine, dragon heartstring wand.
A small light emitted from the wand and engulfed Anna for a split second and then disappeared.
-You see, the wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around... here, take this wand Miss Evans, its 8 galleons each wand. - He took a single phoenix feather, 11 inches, mahogany.
The rest of the morning they spent buying everything they had to get for the school year, they went from the book store to Madam Malkins Robes for all occasions, to Quills and much more, and finally they ended in the pet store, where Lily got a young owl, who had a faded gray color in his feathers, with bright green eyes like hers, she called him Ourich. Anna got a brown barn owl, and called him Hort. Then the three of them got in the car Lily and Anna had previously been on, Hagrid almost didn't fit inside.
-Here we r, the train station. - He went out of the car, as fast as his big body let him and walked inside a train station, followed by the girls with their new things and luggage in hand.
-Train station? - Anna asked brow frowned.
-Yer- Hagrid nodded- in a couple of hours ya both shall be at Hogwarts.
-Couple of hours? But we...- Lily felt a hand covering her mouth, she looked at Anna and suddenly remembered, Dumbledore didn't want them to know they had seen the school.
-I mean, ok, thank you Hagrid, what's our platform?
-9 3/4 – he said, pointing to the column dividing platform 9 and 10 and lowering his voice- you go straight into the column and it would take you there.
Lily looked over the column, it seemed pretty solid to her- are you sure?
-Of course, ye both trust me; I've been there loads of times- Hagrid smiled, and pushed them to go into the wall. .
Lily nodded to herself and run to where the wall was, pushing the trolley she had in front of her. She closed her eyes at the last moment, humanly waiting to crash, but the crash never came, she opened her eyes.
A bright red train was before her; smoke slowly coming out of a pipe at the front, in the very front, where a big sign said THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS in bold, golden letters.
The platform was deadly deserted. Anna came inside right after lily did and was too staring at the train. Neither of the girls said or did anything, before a cheerful lady came out, and yelled at them they had to go in.
The train was fairly big on the inside; it had several compartments, each of which was big enough for eight people. Lily walked slowly, looking from one compartment to the other; they decided to take the last compartment.
-I have a question, why couldn't we do what we did yesterday to go to Hogwarts, its much more faster – Anna said, while putting her things in a corner.
-I don't know – Lily shrugged, taking out on the books they just bought.
-Maybe its forbidden- Anna said excited plopping down in a seat in front of Lily- That's why that dude didn't want us to say anything.
Lily wondered if it really was forbidden, it made sense, but she shook her head at her excited friend.
The window on the compartment showed it was getting darker and darker, the ride seemed to be very long. It took about 5 hours, and 3 chapters of the book lily was reading for the train to finally stop, in the base of a small hill.
OoOoOOOOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOOOOOoOoOo
Lily went out of the Horseless carriage that took them to Hogwarts with jumping heart. She looked up to the magnificent Castle and she gave a sigh. She hoped this was a good idea.
The big wooden doors of the entrance burst open.
A middle age witch, with a sharp expression dressed in deep green robes, and a pointed hat, she immediately motioned lily and Anna to come near.
-Welcome, My name is Minerva McGonagall- she said, her voice serious and unemotional- Professor Dumbledore told me you were to arrive by this hour, now follow me.
Lily's heart was beating faster and faster as she walked from a corridor to another.
What if people here were exactly the same as the people in surrey? But with wands?
She didn't want to think about it, it would surely be a nasty turn of things, she was determined to show them, and she wasn't some weak girl who didn't know anything.
They suddenly stopped in front of big doors, where lily could clearly hear people chatting on the other side.
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Authors Note: Chapter 3, what do you think?
They are finally in Hogwarts and ready for it but… Will everyone accept the two new girls?
Read and Review, I'll update when I get 10 reviews for this chapter. The next one is one of he most interesting, and even though it suffered some changes long the way it's the best I've written I think.