Diagonally

wiz·ard

adjective /ˈwizərd/

Wonderful; excellent

noun /ˈwizərd/
wizards, plural

A man who has magical powers, esp. in legends and fairy tales

[The wand chooses the wizard.]

.

Lily Evans would always remember this moment. This exact moment on 26th August, 1978, because this was it. The moment that confirmed to her that the magical world existed. A desk on fire, apparition, the Leaky Cauldron...though all very impressive and definitely non-muggle, still left a faint thread of doubt. Doubt that had now completely and utterly vanished, because the only word that could describe this place was magical.

The street was bustling, with hordes of robed shoppers milling around. Cauldrons; cats; owls; broomsticks...she saw them all in that brief moment.
She knew then she was willing to give herself over to this world. How could she not?

"Alright there, Lily?" James' voice grounded her back to reality. She cleared her throat and nodded, wondering how Diagon Alley looked to him. Could he feel the static in the air that was making her feel jittery, yet calm all at the same time? He obviously knew this place. He evidently was already a part of the magical world. Was Diagon Alley just like any other road to him?
"Ollivanders is just up here." he pointed. She followed the direction of his finger and began to walk, he fell in step with her.
"You seem rather out of sorts, Miss Evans." he stated.
She shook her head. "Magic is REAL." she said incredulously.
He grinned widely. "It's hit you, has it?" and he held the door open for her.

"Master Potter!" came a voice after they had barely crossed the threshold. Mr Ollivander was a white-haired wizard with large eyes, which were currently boring into James.
"Mahogany, 11 inches wasn't it?" Ollivander said.
"Yes, sir." James confirmed.
"Pliable, excellent for transfiguration."
"Indeed." and James smirked, as if hiding some well-known secret.
Ollivander's eyes flicked to Lily who automatically felt uneasy. His stare was much too intense for her liking.
"Muggle-born?" he asked "About to start Hogwarts University?"
"Yes, Mr. Ollivander." James said "This is Lily Evans."
"Hmm." he said and bent under the desk. "Try this one." he said, handing her a long stick, which was what she assumed to be a wand.
"9 and 1/2 inches, pliable, oak. Dragon's heartstring. Give it a wave." he told her.
She took it and swished. A quill that had been lying on the counter feebly rolled over.
"Not quite right, that one." Ollivander said, as he went into the back of the shop to fetch another stack of wands. Meanwhile James was snickering at the disappointed look on Lily's face. She shot him a withering glare.
"I'm sorry!" he chuckled. "What were you expecting? Fireworks?"
She crossed her arms, slightly embarrassed.
Ollivander handed her another.
"7 inches." he began "unicorn hair..."
But Lily cut him off, swishing through the air. The mirror opposite them smashed.
She hastily put the wand back on the counter-top, deciding not to be so vigorous next time.

They went through thirty-two more wands; each as disappointing as the first or as destructive as the second.
Lily stretched her fingers as Ollivander went to find wand number thirty-five.
"Don't worry, Lily." James assured her "Everyone takes this long."
"Really?" she asked "How long did you take?"
"Well I found mine second go." he said, but added hastily "However, Peter insists he went through seventy-six before he found his."
"Seventy-six?"
"Patience is a virtue."
"Miss Evans, I think this will be more to your liking." Ollivander said as he reappeared. He handed her a new wand and Lily automatically liked it. She didn't know why, particularly, but she had a good feeling.
Taking it from him, she felt warmth run through her fingers and she tuned out Ollivander's recital of the specifics ("Willow, 10 and a ¼ inches, swishy") and swirled the wand in a figure of 8. A stream of golden sparks emitted from the wand and stayed in the air for a brief second, before fading again. She held the wand comfortably in her right hand and faced the others, who both looked pleased.
"The wand chooses the witch." Ollivander said enigmatically. "Let me wrap it up for you." He took the wand back and placed it in its box. James paid and they both left the shop, Lily bouncing slightly.

"Someone's happy." James observed.
"Happy?" Lily repeated "I'm bloody ecstatic! I just bought a wand! Me, Lily Evans!" she twirled around back to face him "A wand!"
He laughed humorously. "Once we've got your other supplies we can start practice."
"Practice? You mean like spells?" she said, not able to keep the excitement from her voice.
He nodded. "We need to get you up to speed, after all."
Lily faltered slightly. "James..." she began "you've been part of the magical world for how long?"
"Eighteen years, why?"
"Well...how on earth am I going to learn everything you've covered in eighteen years in five weeks? Not to mention everyone here seems to know you, you've got a completely different currency and the muggle world is just so different and...my gosh...just how?"
"You'll be surprised how much we can cover in five weeks when it's one on one and we cut out all the useless stuff. Like divination." he shuddered. "Not only that, you'll go back for another five weeks to read over your books and you can practise at home. Then first term, muggle-borns get put on an intensive course, whilst the rest of us have to sit through a load of lectures- so think yourself lucky- on how 'integration is key'. You must have heard that? New ministry policy to try and prevent people going dark-side. Fat chance of that working. Anyway," he turned to look at her "magically-born kids only officially go to school when they're 16 going on 17, when their magic has matured and that was just to get us to the level you will be at by the end of first term."
"You mean to tell me you did nothing for sixteen years?" Lily asked.
"Well, for the first two or three years of my life, I think doing nothing was fair enough."
Lily smirked slightly. "After that...I can't speak for other kids, but for me I was raised pure-blood. In fact, my family are one of the oldest pureblood families out there." He saw that Lily was looking confused. "Pureblood," he continued "basically means they've never let any muggles or muggle-borns into the breeding line. The fact we go back so far makes us practically royalty in the wizarding world."
"Why don't you mate with muggles or...muggle-borns?" Lily asked.
"It's not a written rule." James said quickly. "Though some would like to think that it is." he added bitterly. "There are some people who think that the more pureblood you are, the better you are and that "we" should keep magic to ourselves. My family happen to be this type of people...apart from my parents. They both wanted to marry muggles, actually- to break tradition. They accidentally fell in love with each other. It rather annoyed them both." James gave small smile. "A few of my aunts, uncles and cousins are a lot more accepting nowadays as well, so we're not too bad as pureblood families go." he grinned "Sorry." he said "You seem a bit lost. I guess that was a lot to take in. It's hard to describe the politics of our world if you haven't grown up with them."
Lily merely nodded "And er...where do you stand on the...er...muggle-born...stance?"
He gave Lily a look. "Yes, I hate all muggle-borns(!)" he said sarcastically "That's why I volunteered to be here today and help out thine fine self."
Lily blushed and looked to her feet.
"Honestly I think it's a load of shite." James continued. "Who cares if you're muggle-born? It's pathetic, really. But I guess you'll understand mor,e once you've read up a bit. On that note, time to get your books." he gestured to the shop they were now standing in front of: Borgin and Burkes.

.

[And through books we can grasp endless knowledge.]

.

Lily breathed in deeply as they entered the shop, the smell of books familiar to her. She'd always loved reading. She enjoyed escaping to these fantastical places, just like here, she thought. James had pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket and was perusing the shelves, using the parchment for reference. He flicked his wand after muttering some words and soon a stack of books was following him around the shop.

Lily took this as an opportunity to wander. She ended up in a section that was, for want of a better description, very pink. 'How to charm a wizard in 10 days by Victoria Marks.' Lily read. Amused, she flicked open the first page.
"Getting ideas?" Lily dropped the book, startled. James smirked at her with a glint in his eyes.
"No…I…" Lily tried to explain, blushing. She bent down to pick up the book, which was now open on a page 'About the author' "It looked…hey this picture is moving!" she said, as Victoria Marks smiled and waved up at her from the page. Lily widened her eyes.
"Yeah…all wizard pictures do." James said.
"Seriously?" she asked, turning the book over to see the picture of a man and woman embracing was moving too. "Wicked!"
"You can get it if you think you need it." James said, his tone slightly mocking.
"No, I don't think I'll have any use for it." She replied loftily, putting it back on the shelf with as much dignity as possible. James still wouldn't stop smirking.
"I've got all your books." he said "Now we just have to go and pay."
"Ok." She said, then a thought hit her. "James...how are you paying? I mean…this stuff is all for me and I haven't got any wizard money."
He shrugged. "I dunno. Dumbledore sorts it all out. Something about a student loan? Anyway, this is your cash, technically. But I'm looking after it 'til you get a bit more comfortable with the currency."
"So…you could buy anything?"
"I couldn't." he corrected. "The only things I can buy with your money are uni supplies. There's a charm on the coins and everything."
"Well good." Lily stated. "You could be stealing my money." She grinned.
He rolled his eyes and returned the smile "Trust me- I don't need to." He reached into his pocket to pull out a small sack, which was heavy with coins. "Do you want to pay?"
She took the sack. "Um…what do I need?" she turned to James, looking slightly sheepish. He gave her the correct coins and retrieved the bag from her as they approached the counter.
"Hi." the witch behind the counter said as she approached. "Just these books?" she took the hefty pile and ran her wand across them. "Ah- Hogwarts student are you?" she asked, friendlily.
"Yes." Lily replied, smiling.
"Well that will be six galleons, 7 sickles and a knut then, please."
Lily proudly held out her hand, not having a clue what a knut or a sickle or a galleon was.
"Thank you, dear." The witch replied, taking the coins. She handed over the bag of books "Maybe you ought to get your friend to levitate them." She said "They're quite heavy."
"On it." James said, flicking his wand yet again.
"Thank you." Lily said to the counter witch, before following James out of the shop.
"Are you going to have to do that all day?" she asked him.
"Nah, I'll get a trolley." He said, strolling into another store and returning, pushing a trolley into the street. "One of the best muggle inventions." He said to her as they continued to walk down the road.

.
[Siriusly]
.

Sirius Black was not one to complain about spending time with women. Ok, so normally when in the presence of a female, his time was spent decidedly not talking, but he enjoyed a good flirt and casual conversation with them as much as the next man. When the offer came up to teach a muggle-born the ropes, he agreed in the hope he would be paired with a girl of interest and he was granted his wish. Well, for half of it at least.
Now he was regretting his decision to give any help at all.

Laura Smith was potentially the most boring person he'd ever had to endure conversation with. She was of average height, with shoulder-length blonde hair and had large, brown eyes. To be honest, she was, by most standards, quite pretty and if he wasn't completely stone-cold sober and she was up for it, her company wouldn't have been as much of a jar to him. As it was, that morning he was completely stone-cold sober and she was definitely not up for it. Either that or she was completely oblivious to his less-than-subtle attempts at flirtation. She had no substance, no sense of humour and was so completely dull, it was almost funny. Almost.

They were walking around Diagon Alley and had fallen into an awkward silence, since she offered no stimulating conversation and Sirius made no point of hiding the fact he was fed up. He missed his friends.
If he was at the Potter's right now, which he would have been had he not been with Laura, he could have been planning a prank, or eating, or playing 2-a-side Quidditch, or drinking…
The last thought gave him an idea and suddenly he couldn't wait to get their shopping finished.

"Are we done now?" Laura asked as they started to return to the Leaky Cauldron.
"If you mean are we finished shopping, then yes." Sirius replied, looking a lot less bored "But by no means are we 'done'. We've got 5 more weeks together, Laura, dear and I think…well…I think we should talk about that."
"Why do we need to?" Laura asked.
"Let's get a drink." Sirius said, leading her into the pub. "What can I get you?"
"Just some Coca-Cola will be fine."
"Yeah…not sure we do that." Sirius said, smiling forcedly. "I'll get you a Firewhiskey."
"Is that alcohol?" Laura said quickly. "Because I don't want-"
"One Firewhiskey it is, get us a booth, please." He turned his back on her and walked to the bar. Whilst he was waiting, he pulled a mirror out of his pocket. "James Potter." He said clearly into it. The mirror rippled slightly, then the face of his best friend appeared, looking slightly amused.
"Remus owes me a galleon." He said, happily.
"What? Why?" Sirius questioned.
"Because I bet him you wouldn't be able to go 24 hours without talking to me."
"I hate you both." Sirius said, coolly. "Listen, mate, I'm at the Leaky Cauldron. Can you get here?"
"Why?" James' brow furrowed.
"Because I have the most boring girl ever! I'm going out of my mind! I need rescuing and if you were any kind of a best friend you would come and save my arse!"
James laughed. "Sorry, Pads. We've got at least another hour to go. I can meet you then?"
Sirius looked crestfallen. "Well you sound a lot more cheerful than I am. What's your muggle-born like? Are they around?"
"Lily is trying on her robes and she's really nice, actually. She's really interested in our world, but isn't over-the-top. She's got a good sense of humour and is going to be really good at magic, I can tell."
"What's she look like?" Sirius asked, smirking slightly.
"Is that all you think about?" James replied, exasperatedly before smiling back. "Nah, she's gorgeous. She's got flaming red hair and her eyes are this really vivid green and- what?" he asked, as Sirius had started chuckling.
"You fancy her." He stated.
James grinned. "And what if I do?"
"Well, now, James." He replied, mock-seriously. "You know what Minnie said: 'no relations with the muggle-borns, aside from friendship. That means you, Black and Potter.'"
"Oh yeah." James said. "Well, they don't call us Marauders for nothing!"
"Yeah, come on! They had to know we'd break the rules. It'd be some sort of travesty if we didn't."
"On that note:" James began "Why aren't you flirting with..um..?"
"Laura." Sirius helped, dully.
"Laura? Not your type?"
"Hey! I don't flirt with every girl I meet!" James looked at him sceptically. "And in answer to your other question," he continued, ignoring James. "She is completely my type, but she's not interested."
"WHAT?" James asked, mock-horrified. "She is not interested in my best friend? The most handsome man on this planet? The one, the only Sirius Black?"
"I know!" Sirius said, disbelievingly. "But I was thinking maybe I'm really not her type." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"Well why don't you snog her and find out? You never know…she might loosen up a bit."
"Can't hurt, I suppose." Sirius stroked his chin. "You know, I'm almost considering taking her home to mum just for some entertainment."
"Don't do it." James said sharply. "No matter how dull she is, she doesn't deserve that."
"True." Sirius said, and then he groaned. "Right, you better be here in an hour, Prongs. Otherwise I may have been bored to death."
James merely grinned. "See ya later."

Sirius put his mirror away and ordered the two firewhiskies. He took them over to the booth where Laura was sitting and staring out of the window.
"Right, Laura. Here's the thing…" Sirius began as he sat down. Laura turned to look at him uninterestedly. "I don't know if you've realised, but you're really dull." Laura blinked at him. Sirius always had been rather blunt with the truth. Laura didn't say a word. "But if that's who you are, I'm not going to tell you to change. Hell, there must be some people out there who dig that kind of thing. But I'm not going to get through these five weeks with you with my sanity intact unless something changes."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "What kind of changes?"
He gestured to the drinks and then shrugged. "If I'm being honest, you're pretty fit. Just when your mouth is closed." He smiled briefly and took a large swig of firewhiskey. A few moments passed in silence.
"I get nervous." Laura said, quietly, and then looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry if I've been…rude today it's just…I don't know how to act around guys, particularly guys I'm attracted to." She looked to her lap. "If you want to change partners, I'll understand."
"Wait-" Sirius said "Are you saying all of that." He gestured in the air "Was because you find me irresistible?"
Laura rolled her eyes. "Irresistible, no. Attractive, yes." She groaned "I don't know how to do this."
"Then let me help." Sirius said, a coy smile playing on his lips before he moved in to kiss her. "Just tell me to stop if you're not comfortable." She didn't budge. Their lips met. Sirius pulled away after a few moments.
"Well that's one way to make things interesting." He said. She smiled, slightly.
"You're too tense." He told her. "You need to relax a bit." He pushed the bottle of firewhiskey over to her. She picked it up and gingerly took a sip, coughing slightly as the burning liquid hit the back of her throat.
"Now where were we?"

-
[If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends]

-

"Well, what do you think?" Lily said, twirling around in her new black robes. James was leaning on the wall opposite her.
"They suit you." He said sincerely.
She smiled. "Should I wear them for the rest of the day? What's the proper decorum?" She took in James' muggle clothes.
"It's down to you, really." He said. "You'll be wearing robes all the time at Hogwarts though, if that plays a role in your decision?"
She nodded and went to change back into her muggle dress. After they had paid, they exited the shop. James ran a hand through his air.
"'K." he said "Well we only have a few more things to do, then I said we'd meet some friends in the Leaky Cauldron, if that's ok with you? Actually I need to contact Remus and Peter…shall we pop to the Post Office?"
"Ah yes, the famous post-owls…" Lily said, mystically.
"You'll see how much more efficient they are." James said, smiling down at Lily.
The Post Office had rows upon rows of packages and letters and owls came flying out ten to the minute.
"Hi." James said to the man on the desk. "I need two owls, express speed."
"Where are the messages?" the man asked.
"What? Oh yeah." James reached into his pocket for a spare bit of parchment that he tore in half and a quill.

Moony

Leaky Cauldron – 4pm

Prongs

Wormtail

Leaky Cauldron – 4pm

Prongs

"Why do they call you Prongs?" Lily asked, from reading over his shoulder. He resisted from making some sort of innuendo as he handed the two messages and some coins over to the man.
"It's kind of a…personal joke we have." He said. Yeah, that was feasible.
"So where to now?" Lily asked.
"Gringotts." James said. "I think it's high time you see your bank account."
"See?" Lily repeated. "How can you see a bank account."
James winked at her and started down the road towards a large, white building.
"There's no safer place in the world to hide your cash." James said "Or anything of value, really. Not much gets past those goblins."
"Goblins?" Lily said, as if she'd misheard.
"Yeah. They're alright, so long as you don't piss them off. There's a bit of bad history between them and wizards, but they're good at their job." They walked slowly up the steps to the bank.
"So if goblins are real…" Lily began, slowly. "Does that mean other mystical creatures are too?"
"Depends which ones you're referring to." James shrugged.
"Unicorns?" Lily said. "Real." James replied.
"Phoenixes?"
"Real?"
"Mermaids?"
"I think they prefer Mermen as a generalisation."
"Dragons?"
"Yep."
Lily racked her brains. "Werewolves." James tripped on the step and bashed his knee.
"Are you alright?" Lily asked, concernedly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just…caught my foot. So, enjoying your day so far?" It was a lame try at changing the topic, he knew.
"Yes, I am. But you didn't answer my last question." James mentally groaned. "Are werewolves real?"
"Yes." He replied, quietly. "But they're rather misunderstood. I mean…some poor kid gets bitten by some other rabid werewolf and suddenly he's hunted and persecuted, even if he's the nicest bloke you could ever meet, outside of full-moon."
"Well, yes, I agree completely." Lily said, nodding. James looked to her, shocked "I mean, if the films are anything to go by, it's really not their fault and they're completely unaware when in their werewolf state. It'd be unfair to condemn someone for that."
James didn't say anything, a strange look in his eyes.
"James? Are you ok?" she said. "You're not a werewolf, are you?" she asked, grabbing his arm, looking shocked but not horrified.
James had to laugh at that, as he remembered his desire to be a werewolf when younger. He told her of this and then went on to say "That's before I realised how painful it is for the man. But no, I'm not a werewolf." Lily nodded.
"Well, here we are." She said, as they pushed open the door to Gringott's bank.

[The Lily Effect- Stage One]

-

James knew he was lucky. Absurdly so. He'd been born to extremely rich parents when they were quite old. They dubbed him 'the little miracle' and treated him as such, giving in to his every whim. On top of this, they were extremely grounded people, with strong moral principles and didn't give in to the idea that just because they were wealthy (and pureblood) that everything should be done for them. They owned four house-elves, each of which had the option of being paid and freed whenever they wanted. James had been taught that traits such as loyalty; bravery and kindness to people from all walks of life were things to be admired and as such, James had grown to be a good man. He knew he was arrogant, spoiled and sometimes a little harsh, but his heart was in the right place and he'd made a real effort to start growing up when he got his Hogwarts letter. It was just taking a while, that was all. So he was lucky there as well, that he had parents who raised him right and didn't push the pureblood mania on him, like the parents of his best friend: Sirius Black.
He was also extremely fortunate in terms of the fact magic came as easily to him as breathing did. He was brilliant without even really trying. The same was true for flying and playing Quidditch. All of these things could lead a man to hate James, if only through jealousy, but he was lucky, too, that most people overlooked his flaws and in fact saw the funny, quite dramatic and charming side of him that he presented on most occasions and as such, wasn't lacking in fans either.

But his luck could still shock him. Like that time he set his father's portrait on fire, yet by pure coincidence, his aunt had popped around just that moment and happened to be extremely good at repairing spells. She fixed up the portrait and was sworn to secrecy before either of his parents came into the room. Or that time that James had guessed the answers to his Divination paper last year and had gotten top marks. He really was strangely blessed.

Even after all these years of being singularly lucky, he still thanked his stars when Lily Evans opened the door that morning. She really was quite beautiful. Then as they went through the day, she saw everything with such wonder, it was almost contagious. As he had gotten to know her these past few hours, he'd realised she really was a great person and he was rather much looking forward to the next five weeks. He seemed to be having a better time than Sirius, anyway.

James looked casually around Madame Malkin's. He didn't come in here too often if he could help it. His mother was usually the one who dragged him in to dress him up for some pureblood function or another. But Lily needed robes for Hogwarts and so here they were. He had just finished talking to Sirius, who really wasn't having a good time. James, on the other hand, hadn't enjoyed shopping so much in years, if ever.

"Well, what do you think?" James looked up to see Lily doing a twirl in some standard black robes. The dark tone brought out the green in her eyes and made her hair stand out even more. In a good way, of course.
"They suit you." He answered honestly. She smiled.
"Should I wear them all day?" she asked. "What's the proper decorum?"
James shrugged. "It's down to you, really." He said. "You'll be wearing robes all the time at Hogwarts though, if that plays a role in your decision?"
She nodded and went to change back into her muggle dress. It was a simple affair, blue and summery.
James shook himself mentally. Was he really assessing her clothes? Sirius would have had a feast with that information if he ever found out. He let Lily pay again, smiling at her delight.
They didn't have much else to do now. He told her as such, then mentioned that he was going to meet his friends in the Leaky Cauldron. What was the betting Sirius would hit on her? Well, now James had expressed interest, he wouldn't make any proper attempt at wooing Lily. Did he really just use the term woo? What was wrong with him?
"Actually I need to contact Remus and Peter…shall we pop to the Post Office?" he said.
"Ah yes, the famous post-owls…" Lily said, mystically.
"You'll see how much more efficient they are." James said. What if Lily liked Sirius? A lot of girls did…Well, it wouldn't be so bad. He decided. It wasn't as if he was in love with her or anything, was it?
"Hi." James said, barely paying any attention to the man on the desk. "I need two owls, express speed."
"Where are the messages?" the man asked.
"What? Oh yeah." James reached into his pocket for a spare bit of parchment that he tore in half and a quill and scribbled:

Moony

Leaky Cauldron – 4pm

Prongs

Wormtail

Leaky Cauldron – 4pm

Prongs

"Why do they call you Prongs?" Lily asked, from reading over his shoulder. He jumped slightly and resisted from making some sort of innuendo as he handed the two messages and some coins over to the man.
"It's kind of a…personal joke we have." He said. Yeah, that was feasible.
"So where to now?" Lily asked.
"Gringotts." James said. "I think it's high time you see your bank account."
"See?" Lily repeated. "How can you see a bank account."
James winked at her and started down the road towards a large, white building.
"There's no safer place in the world to hide your cash." James said "Or anything of value, really. Not much gets past those goblins."
"Goblins?" Lily said, as if she'd misheard. James smirked slightly, enjoying her surprise at every new titbit of information about the magical world.
"Yeah. They're alright, so long as you don't piss them off. There's a bit of bad history between them and wizards, but they're good at their job." They walked slowly up the steps to the bank.
"So if goblins are real…" Lily began, slowly. "Does that mean other mystical creatures are too?"
"Depends which ones." James shrugged.
"Unicorns?" Lily said. "Real." James replied.
"Phoenixes?"
"Real?"
"Mermaids?" Very real. James thought, as he remembered a run-in he and Sirius had had with a mermaid just two months earlier.
"I think they prefer Mermen as a generalisation."
"Dragons?"
"Yep."
Lily racked her brains. "Werewolves." What did she just say? James limbs seemed to stop working for a split second and he tripped on the step, leading to him bashing his knee.
"Are you alright?" Lily asked, concernedly. Oh great. That was embarrassing.
"Yeah, yeah. Just…caught my foot. So, enjoying your day so far?" It was a lame try at changing the topic, he knew.
"Yes, I am. But you didn't answer my last question." James mentally groaned. Why? Why this? "Are werewolves real?"
"Yes." He replied, quietly. "But they're rather misunderstood. I mean, I'm not sure I'd even put them under the creature list. Some poor kid gets bitten by some other rabid werewolf and suddenly he's hunted and persecuted, even if he's the nicest bloke you could ever meet, outside of full-moon." He may have gone a bit too far. He bit his lip.
"Well, yes, I agree completely." Lily said, nodding. James looked to her, shocked. If he was going to hear anything, he hadn't thought it would be that. "I mean, if the films are anything to go by, it's really not their fault and they're completely unaware when in their werewolf state. It'd be unfair to condemn someone for that."
James didn't say anything. Who was this girl? How could she be so accepting, so good without any question? He'd spent years getting into arguments about werewolves with his peers and yet here was a girl who had only learnt stuff from films (whatever the hell they were) and agreed with him that werewolves were wrongly persecuted. It was rather extraordinary. She was rather extraordinary.
"James? Are you ok?" she said. "You're not a werewolf, are you?" she asked, grabbing his arm, looking shocked but not horrified.
James had to laugh at that, as he remembered his desire to be a werewolf when younger and his pure surprise at her misunderstanding of the situation.
"Incidentally I wanted to be one when I was a lot younger. I thought it would be cool." He said "That's before I realised how painful it is for the man. But no, I'm not a werewolf." Lily nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. He honestly believed at that moment, had he answered yes, she would not have reacted any differently.
"Well, here we are." She said, as they pushed open the door to Gringott's bank.

Even if she did prefer him, Sirius can forget it. He thought and followed her into the slightly darkened welcome hall.

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[Vault 601]

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James strode up to the desk, deciding it would be better for him to handle the goblins than Lily. He cleared his throat and the goblin look up from his desk.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Miss Lily Evans would like to retrieve some money from her account."
"Does Miss Lily Evans have her key?" James rummaged in his pocket for a while, then placed a small key on the desk.
"Very well. Ygdom will take you down." Another goblin approached and led them away. Lily stole one last glance at the short, hairy creature at the desk, before turning her attention to Ygdom, who had led them to a cart. James offered to help her in.
"And they say chivalry's dead." Lily laughed. "I'm ok, thanks James." And she clambered in, sitting next to him as Ygdom took the front, lighting a lamp. The cart started rolling along the track. This wasn't so bad, Lily thought. Then they sped up and hit a sharp turn. Lily fell into James.
"Sorry." She said, though he didn't seem bothered in the slightest. The dips and turns of the journey proved to be a source of great fun for Lily, who considered whooping, but decided against it.
"Vault 601." Ygdom announced as the cart slowed to a stop. They climbed out, Lily offering James a hand this time. She was slightly surprised when he took it, seeing as his height would have allowed him to exit the cart without much of a problem. Ygdom, meanwhile, was opening the door to her vault with a the golden key.
"In you go." James encouraged, following her into the vault. Lily gasped. She'd never been in a room with so much gold! She guessed it wasn't too much, as only a third of her vault was covered, but it was still more than she'd ever had to her name.
"How much do you reckon I need?" she asked James, who scooped up a couple of handfuls and put them into the sack. It was now a lot heavier.
"That should do us for a while. If need be, we'll come back." He said and Lily nodded. She'd learnt to just trust James with these things. It wasn't as if she was in any position to contradict him.

The bright sunlight hurt her eyes as they stepped outside. She closed them briefly.
"You ok?" James asked, the light glinting off of his own glasses.
"Yeah, I think I've just lost my corneas." She replied.
He chuckled. "Well…that's it then." He said. "Unless you want an animal?"
"An animal?" Lily asked.
"Yes. At Hogwarts you can have a cat, owl, toad or rat."
"There are going to be rats at Hogwarts?" Lily asked, paling slightly. Rats were most definitely NOT her favourite animal.
James looked like he was trying not to smile "Not too many," he answered "Most people favour the owl. Good for post you know."
"Ah yes, so you keep saying." Lily said. "Well, on your good authority, maybe I will purchase an owl. Do they take much looking after?"
"Not at all." James assured. "Just a bit of water in their cage. They do all the hunting for themselves. Very smart animals."
"Well let's get me an owl then."

The Owl Emporium was aloud with hoots. Lily scanned the shelves as soon as she entered, trying to find an owl she liked. One looked at her and hooted. She smiled at it.
"This one." She said, taking in the tawny owl.
"This one?" the shopkeeper asked from behind them. Lily turned around and nodded. He beckoned the owl over and it flew onto his outstretched arm. "Good girl." He said, feeding her a treat and then placing her in an open cage. "I take it you need a cage?" he asked. Lily looked to James then nodded. As James and the shopkeeper carried on to finalise the purchase, Lily started talking to her owl.
"Hello." She murmured. "Aren't you a beautiful creature?" she hooted in response and Lily grinned.
"Lily, we can go." James said. "So what are you going to call her?" he asked as they stepped back into Diagon Alley.
Lily met his gaze briefly before saying "Hazel."

-
[Hazel]
-

James was nice. Lily reasoned. A nice boy. Man. Boy-man. Not to mention he's pretty attractive. A small voice said. Well, that was a mere bonus, she reasoned. It was much more important that he was funny and polite and kind and a nice boy. Man. Boy-man.
To be honest, he'd kind of convinced her to get an owl, without even really trying. He seemed so impressed with them.
Her owl was gorgeous.
"So what are you going to name her?" came James' voice.
She looked into his eyes. Oh, they were hazel. A nice, warm hazel. Hazel was a good colour.
"Hazel." She blurted out. Shit.
"Hazel?" James replied. "I like it." And he smiled. It was a gorgeous smile, really, that lit up his whole face and made his eyes twinkle. Yes, hazel really was a nice colour.

…

A/N: Thank you first off to TheGoldenTrio for your review. It made me happy. Hopefully this chapter makes the characters a little stronger?

As promised, this is a hell of a lot longer than previous chapters. (Lmao, all two of them). I hoped you enjoyed it and I hope it's not too soon to start putting in Lily/James stuff. I honestly think if Lily met him later in life, they would have been attracted to each other from the off.

What did you think of Sirius? Do you think that's the sort of thing he would do? And at first I was just going to make Laura a bit of a bitch, but I felt bad for her for some reason when Sirius was having a go at her, so I changed her character a bit. Now I feel sympathetic towards her. Don't we all get a bit silly when someone we like is around?

Anyway thank you so so much for reading. This is a long 'un so I'd appreciate a review or thirty-five (for every wand Lily had to try!)

Thanks again,

Gemma