Lily had a plan.
The wand, not being hers, wasn't as powerful as it would have been with its original owner, so Lily had to Apparate in small jumps to London, in order to avoid being Splinched. In a dark and dingy alley near to the Leaky Cauldron, where the rats weren't the only creatures that lurked in the shadows, she transfigured herself as best as she could in the low light so that the woman who strode confidently into the popular inn and flirted her way to getting a room for no upfront charge was tall and willowy, with long blonde hair and big brown eyes reminiscent of Bambi's.
After casting a few meticulously performed untraceable spells to protect herself and the room, only pausing occasionally to swear and whack the practically useless wand against her palm like it would miraculously make it work better, she had a shower, wanting to scrub away her sweat from the night and remove her now too tight, too short garments. Swaddling herself in a towel, Lily Transfigured the fabric into a dressing gown and tied it around her, slipping into bed and falling asleep instantly.

The next morning dawned bright and early again, and despite the urgency of the situation it took Lily a long time to get out of bed, exhausted from both her late night shenanigans and the prospect of facing the world again. Washing her clothes from the day before as best she could, Lily fumbled with the stolen wand, hands shaking, as she cut off the jeans above the knees and slashed the green jumper into a loose, revealing crop top. Hating the embarrassment she felt at exposure of her skin but at the same time feeling rather sexy, Lily plaited her Transfigured blonde hair into a messy French braid, slipped on her black ballet pumps and smiled at her unrecognisable but attractive self in the mirror before strutting out of the door.

The 21 year old fiddled anxiously with the necklace around her neck as she tentatively approached the front doors of Gringotts Bank. Flashing through her mind, a surprisingly clear memory, was a picture of Remus warning her about what happens to liars and thieves at the goblin run bank.
"I hear they chop your head off," The young werewolf chirped excitedly, rubbing his hands together as if decapitation was his favourite Saturday night entertainment. "And feed it to a dragon!"
Shuddering as she imagined being beheaded, Lily joined the queue to speak the wizened old goblin at a desk near the door, holding her hands behind her back and then sticking them in her pockets when she realised they were sweating. The accumulation of impatient, greedy people and the heat of the early morning meant that the room was sweltering, almost pulsing with life and the delicate chinking of money being exchanged. Ever the impatient one, Lily glared irritably at the man in front of her in the queue, who was short, plump and flustered, and kept mopping his glistening red face with a handkerchief as he conversed with the gnarly goblin in short, nervous bursts.
"I would like…to…to exchange some money…please…"
When the man had finally got his gold and left, Lily stepped up to the desk and, thanking Merlin for the theatre group she'd attended as a child (she'd always play the witch and her mother found it hilarious), lied smoothly.
"My name is Eliza McKinnon and I'd like to take some gold out of my sister, Marlene McKinnon's vault, please."
"Miss McKinnon is dead." His words were loud, and scorning, and it took all of Lily's self-control not to throw him through a wall.
"I'm quite aware of that, sir, but I was promised some of her gold, and I have come to collect it. I have a key."
"There will be no need for that if you have your wand."
"Sir?"
He sighed, as if she was insult to his knowledge. "You can present your wand as identification."
"Wand identification? When did you start doing that?" Lily was honestly bewildered, but the elderly woman behind her gave a quiet but exasperated cough, so she dropped it. "Anyway, I'd rather use the key."
"Wand identification started nine years ago." The goblin's voice was silky and sardonic as he sifted through the pile of papers on his desk. "It says here Eliza McKinnon is currently living in Scotland, and has been doing so for the past five years."
Damn. The back of Lily's neck started to sweat.
"How old are those records? I've been living here with a friend for six months."
"Have you now? And is this friend…a certain Freddie Walker?"
"That scumbag? No, I'm staying with…uh…Remus Lupin."
"So tell me, why did you leave Scotland, Miss McKinnon?"
"Too much rain, you know. And it's too cold. Me, I like the sun."
"It's funny, you don't seem to have an accent."
"Four and a half years living in Scotland won't give you an accent, sir, just a slight craving for haggis."
Lily glared at him, like a challenge, and he held out a single hand with an air of defeat.
"Key."
Taking her necklace out from under her jumper, Lily quickly detached Marlene's old key from the chain, holding it up to the light to make sure it was the right one; she had fifteen keys on the chain, all enchanted with the Featherweight charm, or she'd lose them all in a heartbeat. She never thought she'd have to use Marlene's, just keeping there as a reminder of the friend she had lost.

The queue behind Lily sighed gratefully in unison as she followed another goblin off to one of the carts, and boarded it as gracefully as she could, not used to the mile long legs she'd magically acquired, which made her all off kilter, wobbly, like a baby giraffe learning to walk. At least she wasn't in heels, or she would've sprained her ankle in seconds.
It was cooler in the underground tunnels, damp and brisk, and it was a splutter of relief after the cramped heat of the hall above. As the cart set off along the tracks, trundling slowly along, Lily ran over her plan in her head again while running her fingernails along the fluffy wool of her green jumper sleeve. Its material was soft and soothing, like a hug from a friend, and it comforted her in the almost alien environment of thousands of Galleons in a pocket, marble pillars and stone caverns where stale water dripped from the ceiling and scary goblins beheaded blonde haired girls and fed them to giant scaly reptiles.

Marlene McKinnon's vault was smaller than the Potters', tucked away in a corner, but the metal on the outside of the door still gleamed ominously in the light of the lantern the goblin shoved into her arms while he fiddled around with the key. There was a loud series of clicking noises as the old mechanisms jolted reluctantly into place, and then the door opened with a creak that made Lily jump. It was larger than Lily had expected inside, with a low ceiling and a wet floor piled with literal stacks of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts, and her mind whirred as she ran over her options.
"Could you get me a money bag, please?" The question was directed at the goblin, who scoffed.
"A bag?"
"I'll pay for it."
With the incentive of gold shining in his beetle black eyes he scurried off to fetch a bag, and Lily crouched beside one the bigger stacks, and then began counting out exactly one hundred Galleons, fifty Sickles and ten Knuts. When the goblin returned with a fistful of coarse fabric she scooped the coins up in her palm and dropped them into it until it was full and heavy, and then used the drawstring to tie it around her waist, tucking the cord into her belt loops.

Lily cast a sad glance around the cramped room and stepped back out into the cooler air of the underground caves, whispering to the gold key as if it were a person as she boarded the cart again and they sped off, through the enclosed tunnels and past the ferocious roaring and rushing of the waterfall that crashed through the centre, and her words were lost amidst the noise as soon as they were spoken.
"Thank you Mar."

Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! I'm glad you like it!
If there is anything you'd like to see especially in the next couple of chapters, let me know!
Fly xx