Chapter 3

"Mum?" Lily called walking down the stairs.

"Yes dear?" Lily's mother called back from the kitchen.

"Um mum…. I…. I … I was wondering if we could you know go shopping tomorrow for some new clothes?" Lily asked turning bright red.

Lauren Evans was dumbstruck. Her daughter had never wanted to go shopping before and especially she had never wanted to do anything with her.

"Of course dear I would love to go!" Mrs. Evans said taking the chance right away at spending time with her daughter and getting Lily to care a bit about her looks.

"Great!" Lily said happy that the plan was working," Um… I'm going to fire call Elaine and tell her something before dinner is that okay?"

"Well sure dear, but didn't you just barely see her?" Lauren asked her daughter suspiciously.

"Well ya I just did, but we are working on a summer project and I just wanted to go tell her that the first part of what I was supposed to do is going to work out." Lily said crossing her fingers behind her back. She didn't lie much to her mother and now she was telling her a big lie.

"Okay just make sure you're done in the next 10 minutes so you have time to unpack before dinner." Mrs. Evans said looking down at the chicken she was frying in the frying pan, "Oh and by the way your hair looks really pretty down."

Lily smiled muttered a small thanks to her mother and then walked into the front room to call Elaine and Brooklyn. Brooklyn originally went to a small orphanage in London, but with the "plan" Elaine invited Brooklyn over for the summer. Lily could just imagine Brooklyn's reaction to seeing Elaine's house for the first time. Lily picked up a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fire place. She next stuck her head in and yelled the address for Elaine's country house.

Lily closed her eyes and then opened them to see Brooklyn pointing to everything with awe and then running around like a little kid in a candy store.

"Elaine." Lily whispered, "Elaine!"

"What?" Elaine asked looking around for who was calling her name. She next spotted Lily and replied, "Hi Lily what's up?"

"Lily!" Brooklyn shouted, "Have you ever seen this house it's HUGE!"

"Yes Brook I have I went there for a week last summer." Lily paused and then directed her attention to Elaine and said, "Hey I asked my mom when I got home if she wanted to do some shopping with me and she said no problem."

"Oh that's great Lily, but I was….. I…. oh never mind." Elaine said looking a bit discouraged.

"Elaine you what? I want to listen to what you have to say." Lily said smiling.

"Well when I got off the train I found out that my mom is going to be in Egypt the whole summer, so I asked if Brook could come you know and my dad said it would be fine since he would be gone most of the time for work and it would just be me and my brothers. So then my dad said that I could invite over another friend and I was hoping it could be you." Elaine paused to catch her breath and then continued, " So my point is my dad has pretty much given the house to me and my brothers this summer and you know how we are working on the plan well I think it would just be easier if you could just-

Right as Elaine was about to finish Lily was yanked from the fire place.

Lily coughed and sputtered as her eyes adjusted to the different light and the soot that was in them.

"What?" Lily managed to sputter out.

"Lily I'm so sorry to do that to you I just didn't know how to get your attention." Her mother apologized.

"It's okay I'll just fire call back in a sec and say I'll talk to her later." Lily said and then she saw her mother's face,

"Mom what's wrong?" Lily asked terror rising in her throat.

"Oh Lily I don't know what do! I just got a call from the hospital saying that your Grandma Evans had a mild stroke." Her mother managed to get out with out crying.

"Oh mom what is dad doing?" Lily asked almost on the verge of tears herself.

"He rushed straight over to the hospital as soon as I called and he wants me, you, and your sister to come over as soon as we can." Lauren Evans said hugging her daughter.

"Okay mom I just need to go get changed and then I'll be ready. By the way where is Petunia?" Lily asked starting to head toward the stairs.

"Oh Petunia is at a friends house you know her and we will pick her up on our way there." Mrs. Evans said dabbing her cheeks.

"Oh okay I'll be down it 3 minutes." And with saying that Lily rushed up the stairs and began to change her clothes.

She then grabbed some money and a pair of shoes. Right before she headed down the stairs she grabbed a crinkled piece of parchment and scribbled down a small not to Elaine that said:

Laine-

I'm so sorry for leaving so suddenly while you were talking but mom just told me that my grandma has had a stroke. I'm so worried about her and I'm on my way to the hospital now. I'll fire call you tonight and tell you how things are going. Lylas

Lily

Lily then quickly tied the letter to Twitch's foot and sent her off. She then rushed down stairs and got into the car where her mother was waiting