Chapter 2

"Nichloe!" cried Annabelle. She ran to Nichloe and hugged her.

"Hey Annabelle! Uh, this is my dormitory and best mate, Lily Evans." Nichloe gestured to Lily.

"Hi Annabelle. I've heard so much about you," greeted Lily.

"Me too. By the way, call me Annie," Annabelle said and also hugged Lily.

Lily looked around Zonko's. "Wow. You actually work here?"

"Yep, I sure do. It's like a dream come true. It's so much fun!" Annie blushed and looked away for a moment. "Except when I drop things…" she trailed off.

"What did you drop today, Annie?" asked Nichloe, in a tone that suggested this happened every day and Nichloe was expecting it.

"Just a really, really big box of Stinkpellets. I used up all my deodorant trying to get rid of the smell."

Lily and Nichloe laughed.

"If you go into the storeroom, you can still smell it." Annie smiled weakly. "It was so embarrassing."

The door to the shop opened and some people walked in.

Annie jumped. "Customers!" she cried and rushed to the counter. Annie gathered herself then said politely, "Hello boys. Looking for anything in particular today?"

Lily and Nichloe turned around and, to Lily's horror, saw James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew looking around at the shelves.

"Just browsing thanks," said James, looking carefully at some Dungbombs.

Sirius spotted Lily and Nichloe. "And what are you two girls doing in this particular store today?"

"I like oranges," blurted out Nichloe.

Lily jabbed her in the ribs to get some sense into her.

Nichloe swallowed and said more normally, "My sister works here. I've come to say hello."

Sirius looked at Annie who was setting up a stand for some Deluxe Stinkpellets (Stinkier than ever!). "Is that her?"

"Yes," Nichloe replied and looked at her feet.

Sirius looked between Annie and Nichloe. "You two could be twins. How many years are between you?"

"Three," said Nichloe.

"Cool. Well, I'll see you Nichloe." Sirius turned to James. "C'mon Prongs. Let's get to the Quidditch shop down the street."

James turned around and caught sight of Lily. "Evans…?"

"C'mon," repeated Sirius and he pulled James out of the shop. Remus and Peter followed suit.

Annie came over to Lily and Nichloe again. "So who were they?" she asked, grinning.

Nichloe kept staring at her feet. "Just some boys from school."

"They looked like they knew you."

"They do."

"Two of them have crushes on us," said Lily.

"Hey, I dunno if Sirius does or not…" Nichloe trailed off.

Annie raised her eyebrows. "Which ones?"

"James Potter likes me and Nichloe likes Sirius Black."

"Do not," said Nichloe and she gave Lily a feeble punch on the arm.

"Oooh," said Annie. "So that was Sirius Black, hey? Well, then, I must say Nichloe, you have good taste."

Nichloe turned pink.

"Pink goes well with strawberry blonde, Nichloe. You should have a pink face more often," said Lily.

"Shut it, Lily."

Lily grinned at her. "We'd better get going, Annie. It was lovely to meet you."

"You too, Lily. At least I know what you look like now. And what Sirius Black looks like," Annie added and she winked at Nichloe.

"You have to let me meet Spencer now," said Nichloe and she and Lily left Zonko's.

"Who's Spencer?" Lily asked when they were outside.

"This guy she works with. Annie has a major crush on him."

"Is he cute?"

"Dunno. Haven't met him yet." They walked up the street. "Wanna go to The Three Broomsticks?" Nichloe asked Lily.

"Yeah, ok."

They opened the door and entered the, as always, crowded pub.

"I can't see a table anywhere," Nichloe said loudly, over the noise.

"I can," said Lily grimly. "But we're not sitting there."

"Where?" said Nichloe, apparently not hearing what Lily had said. "Oh, there. C'mon." Nichloe began pulling Lily through the pub to the table. She dropped her at the seat next to James and Nichloe sat next to Sirius.

Luckily, though, Nichloe was next to Lily with Sirius on Nichloe's other side.

"Friendly force, Evans?" James asked her with a grin on his face.

"Friendly force, Potter."

Sirius and Nichloe were chatting. By the sounds of it, Nichloe was managing to hold a normal conversation.

"It must be pretty cool to have your sister working at Zonko's. Do you get presents from there?" Sirius asked her.

"Well, I haven't actually had a birthday or anything yet, but she does get a discount so she gets me little things, like boxes of Stinkpellets and things." Nichloe looked like she'd said too much and stared at the table.

"This was accidental, then, you having to sit next to me, right Evans?" said James.

"Completely accidental. There were no other tables so we had to sit here. I would have rather gone to the Hog's Head then be stuck here next to you."

"Do you hate me that much Evans?" James looked at Lily.

Lily turned away from him so that he wouldn't be able to see the truth in her eyes. "Yes, Potter, I do."

"What a pity," said James, disappointed.

"C'est dommage," murmured Lily.

"What the? Are you speaking in another language?" James asked her.

"Yes, I am Potter. They call it French. I took it as a language when I attended a Muggle school."

"Well, what does it mean?"

"It means, 'what a pity'."

James looked confused.

"Be proud of yourself, Potter. You can write home and say you can speak in French," said Lily sarcastically.

"But I can't."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I talk to you. You never understand anything." Lily tugged at Nichloe's robes. "C'mon Nichloe. Let's get back to the castle."

Nichloe looked at her, smiled and nodded. "I have to go Sirius. See you around." She stood up and followed Lily out of the pub.