Disclaimer: Neither Gumi nor I own anything that you recognize.

Author's Notes: I'm terribly sorry about the long hiatus. Kagumi doesn't have much access to a computer and I've been having a few personal problems, so it's been difficult for both of us to update. But, the update is here now, so enjoy your reading.

Chapter Eight: A Trip to Diagon Alley

"Hey, Dumbles," Bridget greeted as soon as the shock wore off. She smiled innocently up at the Headmaster, waving, and was promptly hit by Kagumi.

"Jet, it's Professor or Headmaster Dumbledore," she hissed at her friend. "Not Dumbles."

"Oh, fine," Bridget muttered with a roll of her eyes. She smiled at Dumbledore again. "Hey, Professor Dumbledore." Kagumi gave her another pointed look; Jet sighed. "Alright, alright. I apologize, Professor, for being so disrespectful and shall attempt to do be more polite in the future."

"It is not a problem, my dear," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "You are just like your cousin." Kagumi turned her glare from Bridget to the Headmaster, effectively communicating that he should not be encouraging her. "And you, Miss. Pheonix, are just like your brother." He sat down in a comfortable chair across from the teenagers. "Now, for what I came to speak with you about…"

"That would be nice," Sirius muttered.

"Sirius, be nice," Bridget replied, patting him gently on the knee.

"Albus Dumbledore, does not make house calls," he whispered to her as he leaned forward slightly, "not without a reason, at least."

"Sirius, love," she whispered back, "he's sitting right across from us; I think he can hear every word we're saying."

"Oh."

Kagumi sighed loudly from the other side of the couch (James had sat down between the two girls). "I'm surrounded by idiots," she muttered.

"Kagumi!" James gasped in a mock-affronted voice. "I'll have you know that Headmaster Dumbledore is one of the most brilliant wizards of our time, behind Sirius, Remus, and myself, of course."

She dropped her head in her hands, muttering to herself. Bridget leaned forward and peeked around James. She looked up at him, frowning. "Jamie, I think you might've killed her."

"I did no such thing, Jet," he replied loftily. "It's no concern of mine if she can't handle the truth."

"So," Gumi interrupted loudly, attracting everyone's attention and a gleeful shout from Jet ("She's alive!"), "Professor Dumbledore, what did you want to discuss with us?"

"I am delivering your Start of School Owls." He handed out the letters; all four students gave him skeptical looks. "And I wanted to speak with my newest students. It is not often we receive transfers, especially for the last year, and there are some details we have to clear up.

"First of all, though, I would like to congratulate our new Head Boy on his appointment." Dumbledore's eyes were on full twinkle mode as James and Sirius gave each other shocked looks and quickly tore each other's letter open.

Sirius' jaw dropped. "Jimmy, you're Head BOY!"

There were a few moments of shocked silence that even the girls, though they knew fully well that James was to be Head Boy, participated in.

"If you will, boys, I would like to speak with Miss. Griffins and Miss. Pheonix alone," Dumbledore said, effectively ending the moment of silence. "I would, however, like to speak with you two after I am done."

Kagumi smiled smugly at Bridget. "See, even Professor Dumbledore says that changing things is a bad idea."

Bridget gave her an icy look in return, her eyes empty of their normal amusement. She had already agreed to 'not intentionally change anything' twice; the gloating was completely unnecessary. "I never said it wasn't a bad idea," she replied evenly. "It might be. I just said that it was the right thing to do." And, with that, she stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Kagumi behind, confused and hurt.

Jet walked straight out of the house and collapsed beneath a tree overlooking the rest of the estate, her eyes filling with tears that she stubbornly refused to shed. It wasn't very long before she was up again, pacing back and forth in front of the tree and talking to herself.

"This isn't fair. I can't do this, I really can't. I can't believe Gumi thinks—Oh, Merlin, I can't do this."

"Bridget?" She ignored the voice, instead kicking the tree to help relieve her frustration. "Jet?" She continued to ignore the voice and James appeared from behind the tree. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she muttered, avoiding his eyes.

"Jet, you just kicked a tree."

She grinned at him in a way that was almost bitter. "Observant, aren't you?"

"I try to be," he replied. "Why'd you kick it?"

"It made me angry." Bridget gave him a petulant look, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

James snorted amusedly and sat down. He gave her a pointed look and she sat next to him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked after a few moments.

"Keeping you company and making sure you don't damage any more Potter property."

She gave James a sheepish smile, blushing slightly. "Sorry 'bout that; I can have a bit of a temper."

"It's okay; this tree's gone up against worse than you kicking it."

"Oh?"

He leaned over, giving Jet a conspiratorial look. "When I was eight I flew my broomstick into it."

There were a few moments of shocked silence before Bridget began to laugh. It took another few moments for James to realize that her laughter had dissolved into tears. He gently pulled her closer, and held her until the soft sobs died out.

"There is no way I'll believe you're okay after that." Bridget laughed softly, her face still buried in his robes. "Will you tell me what's wrong now?"

She pulled back and gave James a weak smile. "It's just stress. I had to agree to something that I really don't believe is right. It's nothing horrible or anything, but I still disagree. I'm not used to being away from my friends and family for so long. This is the longest Gumi and I have spent together at a length without buffers. And, I don't have my usual stress-relievers. This is the first time I've been outside in three days; I'm not used to going one full day indoors if I'm not sick. Things are changing really fast for me."

"You and Gumi aren't best friends?" James asked, surprised.

"No. We're from different states, and, for me, that's a really far way to go. We usually spend summers together and half the time I'm visiting family as well. My best friends are still back home."

"You know," James said, picking absently at the grass with one arm still around her shoulders as she leaned against him, "we've been in the same house for almost a month and I know almost nothing about you."

She gave him a relieved smile, although it still held a bit of sadness. "If you want I'll answer any of your questions, but, right now, I think it might be best for you to tell me why you're really here, unless you were out for a stroll."

"Oh, right, my mum said that we can go to Diagon Alley now," he said, grinning at her. "She's really excited about being able to shop for girls."

Bridget groaned. "Oh, Merlin, I hate shopping."

"You are full of surprises, Miss Griffins."

"And you, Mr. Potter, are not."

"Now, that, I take as a challenge." He stood up and held out his hand to help Bridget up.

As soon as she was up, Bridget threw her arms around him. "Thank you, James," she whispered. She pulled back and, after kissing him on the cheek, smiled at the shocked boy. "And, congrats on the Head Boyship."

"I knew I would get it," he said confidently as he extended his arm for Bridget to take.

She did so, lightly resting her hand on his forearm, and rolled her eyes. "Sure you did."

"Dumbledore told Sirius and me that we'd have to help you and Gumi," James said, deciding that it was best to ignore the skepticism in her voice, "and he explained the tutoring set-up. You'll probably have at least one of us at some point; we're pretty much tops in all the classes. We're the best students in the school."

Bridget snorted softly. "That didn't sound conceited at all, Jamie."

"It's not conceited if it's true," he replied in the same lofty voice he had used earlier. There was a short pause before both began laughing again.

Mrs. Potter sighed exasperatedly. "James, Sirius, if it's boring you so badly, why don't you go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and we'll meet you afterwards."

The two boys perked up. "Sure, Mum," James said. He bowed over Bridget's hand dramatically, while she refrained from hitting him upside his head. "We shall see you later, ladies."

"We bid you a good day." And with a similarly theatrical bow, Sirius followed James out of the store.

Bridget sighed unhappily as both Mrs. Potter and Kagumi ran the poor saleswitch ragged with their orders. Both girls had already gotten their school uniforms and Bridget was perfectly comfortable in her Muggle clothes, so she saw no need to keep shopping. She truly did despise the act.

Kagumi strode forward suddenly, holding up two sets of robes against Bridget. "Stop pouting, Jet, you can go to the Quidditch store after we finish looking for our robes."

"But, Gumi, I don't want robes." She gestured at her current wardrobe. "I'm perfectly fine with my t-shirts and jeans."

"You need robes, Bridget Ashlyne," Kagumi said firmly, pushing both sets of robes into her friend's arms.

Bridget sighed, apparently Gumi was fond of using full names when attempting to be firm as much as her own mother was. "Fine, but can we hurry up a bit? I'm ready to attempt suicide by coat hanger."

"We're almost done, Bridget," Mrs. Potter said as she quickly sorted through the large pile of robes and school uniforms the girls had acquired. "Professor Dumbledore arranged for Lily Evans, the Head Girl, to meet us at the bookstore soon."

Bridget emerged from the dressing room in deep red dress robes, and exchanged a look with Kagumi. "The Headmaster didn't tell us that," she said.

"It wasn't—oh, Bridget, you look stunning."

"Huh?" Jet said, looking between Mrs. Potter and Kagumi, a confused look gracing her features.

"Merlin's beard, Jet, she's right," Kagumi whispered, her eyes widening as they took in her friend's new look.

"About what?" She looked down, finally realizing that she wasn't wearing her normal clothes. "Oh. That."

"Yes, that, Jet. Jesus, I didn't know you could look like this."

Bridget arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "Jeez, Gumi, thanks a bunch."

"Oh, hush, you know what I meant," Gumi said. "You have to buy that, Bridget."

"What in heaven's name will I need dress robes for? I'm going to school."

"You'll be staying with us during the holidays, and all the Families have parties. You'll probably need more than just this one set; but I will say that you must wear that to the Potter Ball."

Bridget sighed as the two women began fussing again; there was no way she was going to be leaving any time soon.

"Freedom!" Bridget sighed, relieved to, once again, be outside and free of any pin-wielding witches. "I'm finally free! Never again shall I have to submit myself to the torture of shopping for clothes."

"Jet, we have to get more dress robes for the holiday break," Gumi said, sounding exasperated.

The other girl continued to smile, her still face turned up to the sun. "Don't ruin the moment."

"Come along, girls, I'm sure Miss Evans is waiting for you," Mrs. Potter said briskly, having finished the arrangements to have the robes delivered to Godric's Hollow.

"Gumi," Bridget called, looking almost deliriously excited. "Books!"

And, with that, she practically skipped to Flourish and Blotts, ignoring everything around her in favor of a non-descript blue book entitled 337 Everyday Spells to Get You In and Out of Trouble. Kagumi, who had followed her friend at a much slower (and dignified) pace, however, did take in her surroundings and spotted who she assumed was Lily Evans. She was a very pretty girl, who was around the same height as Bridget, although of a slimmer build when compared to her friend's curvy figure. Her long, dark red hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and as she turned Kagumi spotted her large, bright green eyes. There was no way this could be anyone other than the girl who would someday become the mother of the world's savior.

Now, though, Lily Potter was still Lily Evans, seventeen years old and Head Girl. Kagumi walked forward and tentatively tapped the red-head on her shoulder. Lily turned and smiled at her, "Are you one of the transfer students?" At Gumi's answering nod, she extended her hand, "I'm Lily Evans, Professor Dumbledore asked me to help you and…" Lily trailed off, frowning.

"Bridget," Gumi said, realizing what Lily hadn't known their names. "She's the other girl, and I'm Kagumi Pheonix; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Not to be rude," Lily said, "but where is Bridget?"

"Right here," Bridget said cheerfully as she walked out from a nearby aisle. "Gumi, dude, I found a totally ace book."

All three girls' eyes trailed down to the book Bridget was currently holding. It was thick and had a somber brown cover with no title. She was also holding the book she had found earlier, although the title couldn't be seen.

"Do you like reading?" Lily asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Oh, yeah," Bridget responded. She grinned widely at the redhead. "Both Gumi and I love reading. I already bought about half of the bookstore as it is, as well as our schoolbooks. Although, I must say that I'm, as usual, disappointed in the lack of Wizarding fiction." She frowned thoughtfully. "I had the nice beginnings of a library back home, and I'm not sure how many books I brought with me; I imagine it would be a bit difficult to restock my Muggle fiction collection."

"You read Muggle books?" Lily asked, this time she sounded surprised. "Are you Muggleborn?"

"No," Kagumi said with a kind smile. "We're both Purebloods, but we've spent a lot of time in the Muggle world."

"And their entertainment is so much better," Jet added. "Anyways, I've got all our stuff and enough reading material to last us a couple of weeks; why don't we head on out of here before I buy the rest of the place?" She shared a conspiratorial smile with Lily, eyes sparkling mischievously. "I'm normally quite good with money, but put me in a bookstore and I'll go broke."

Kagumi sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing fully well that Bridget would buy the whole store if left there too long, especially with the large allowance Cordan had given her. "Let's go, Jet."

"That sounds good. Doesn't it, Jet?" Gumi asked her friend. There wasn't an answer. "Bridget?"

Both she and Lily turned around. Although, previously, she had been following them with a majority of the bags from Flourish and Blotts ("I bought them, and they're mainly my books. I can manage."), she was now nowhere in sight.

"Where in the world could she have – oh." Kagumi sighed heavily, heaved the bags she had managed to coerce out of Bridget, and marched straight into the nearby shop that had caught her eye (and, presumably Bridget's). Lily followed a little more cautiously. They walked into the store and immediately spotted the other girl at a nearby display of Shooting Stars.

"Bridget Ashlyne!" Kagumi called sternly, hands firmly planted on her hips and a displeased look on her face. "What are you doing?"

"Looking at these brooms. Aren't they brill?" Bridget smiled brightly at Kagumi, seemingly unaware of the girl's irritation.

"You can't go wandering off. You'll get lost."

"I knew exactly where I was at all times, Gumi."

"Yes, but—," Kagumi sighed again and her frame seemed to collapse in on itself. "Nevermind, just—nevermind. Lily has to go, but she invited us to hang out with her sometime next week, how's that sound?"

"Sounds great," Bridget said. She frowned, though, a pensive look gracing her pretty features. "But we can't leave our hosts behind; they gave up their summer for us, and that'd be rude." She looked at the two girls, the very picture of innocence with her wide brown eyes and earnest face. Kagumi, however, knew better, and had already spotted the mischievous glint in Jet's eyes.

"Oh, that's okay," Lily said. The poor thing had no idea that Bridget was plotting something. "They can come, too, if they want. It won't be a problem."

Bridget gave Lily a grateful smile, hope lighting up her features and suddenly Kagumi understood. Bridget had wanted Lily to invite the boys along, probably to help James a bit. After all, there was really no way they could possibly know that Lily despised most of the Marauders; none of the boys had even mentioned her name.

"Are you sure?" asked Jet, just as cautiously optimistic as she looked. Kagumi wasn't even sure how much of it was an act. "I mean, they're guys and they have these two friends that are constantly around. It won't bother you at all if they tag along?"

"Nope. I probably know them from school, anyways, and there aren't many people I don't get along with there. Most of them are Slytherins." Lily suddenly looked worried, she had obviously just remembered that the two girls were purebloods. "They're not Slytherins, are they?"

"Nah, 'course not."

"Evans, my dearest blossom, have you finally come to realize that you can't survive without my brilliant presence?" James grinned widely at Lily, who glared back, and Sirius appeared from the same aisle his friend had. Kagumi glanced at Jet, wondering how she was going to handle this new predicament, but from the triumphant look that briefly crossed her face, they were playing right into her devious plot.

"No, Potter, what are you talking about?" Lily managed to bite out. "Your idiocy is making a bad impression on our new students."

"You just invited me to 'hang out.'" James, sadly, looked quite triumphant, although very few could have any hope of following his logic. Almost all of his current companions, however, knew exactly what he was talking about. Lily was the only one who didn't.

"I did no such thing, Potter, and I doubt I ever will. What I did do was invite them and their—oh, dear." Lily's hand went to her mouth and her green eyes widened. "You're their host students, aren't you? Guys. Four of you. Not Slytherins. I should have known."

"Yes, Evans, we are," Sirius added, grinning in a way that was strangely similar to Bridget's. "Does that invitation still apply, now that you know who we are?"

Lily looked between the two boys and Bridget (who's face had quickly changed into something that looked very confused). She had walked right into that; there was no way she could back out of the invitation without seeming rude or mean to Bridget and Kagumi, neither of whom should have any knowledge of James' attempts to attain the 'everlasting beauty' that was, apparently, Lily Evans. She gulped, steeling herself up for the words that she was about to say. "Yes, I suppose it does."

Bridget grinned widely, innocently, and hugged Lily, who seemed to be in a state of shock. "Splendid, we'll owl you about the details later. Bye." She looped arms with James and pulled him away, "Come along, Jamie, you said you would explain the different brooms to me."

Kagumi said good-bye to Lily and caught up with Sirius as they followed James and Jet out of the store. "So," she muttered to him, eyeing the odd couple in front of them (James had begun to skip in his joy and Bridget had no qualms with joining in), "where to next?"

"We're going to pay a short visit to our dear Mr. Lupin; then we're going back to the Potters'."

"That," Bridget said to Gumi as they waited outside the Lupin house, "went surprisingly poorly."

Kagumi snorted. "Surprisingly? He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you; he mistrusts you," Jet replied. "And he's ill; no one's in a good mood when they're sick."

"Seems like he trusts you well enough."

"You attacked his friends, my dear." Bridget shrugged. "And I can be charming. So can you, but you've been snappish since we got here. What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Nothing, I just want to get back."

In truth, it was much more than nothing. Kagumi had seen, first-hand, the effects of a full moon on Remus. Even with the assistance of his Marauder friends, he had been tired, weak, sore, and had more than a few cuts and bruises. If that's how he looked when his friends were there, she could only imagine how horrible the transformation would be without them.

"Come along, ladies," Sirius interrupted, grinning, as the two boys emerged from the Lupins'. He put his arms around both girls' shoulders, dropping one of them at Kagumi's glare. "We have to get back before Mrs. P starts to fret."

"And don't you have your letters to read?" James added as he came behind the others, wrapping an arm around Bridget's waist and speeding up, distracting both Bridget (who was trying to swat his hand away with very little effect) and Sirius, who had been left behind.

Kagumi, however, was not distracted. "What letters?"

"The letters mum said you got this morning. They're in the hall, remember? See you at the house." And, with that, James wrapped both arms around Bridget and Disapparated with a small pop.

Bridget stood there for a second, gasping for air. Once she regained normal sensation (Apparation was evil) she hit James on the chest and glared up at him. "James Nathaniel Potter, that was not nice!"

James chuckled, leading his newfound friend into the house. She grabbed the letters left on the hall table as they made their way into the kitchen. They heard the front door shut with a loud bang, signaling that the others had found their way home, too. Jet sat at the table, and opened one of the envelopes with her name on the front while scolding James.

"Did you not think it was a good idea to warn me that we were about to Apparate? That's not exactly a pleasant experience."

"Sorry, Jet," he started, not sounding sorry at all. She didn't catch the rest of his rather unapologetic apology.

"Jet, are you okay?" James asked, noticing the upset look her face had taken as she read her letter.

"Is something wrong with Bridget?" Kagumi asked. She and Sirius had just walked into the kitchen.

"I can't do this," she muttered, sounding on the verge of tears. She shook her head and continued speaking, her voice getting increasingly panicked. "I can't sit here and do this. It's a physical impossibility!"

Kagumi's eyes widened as she realized exactly what her friend had said in her panic. But, before she could say anything, James spoke up again. "How's that exactly?" he asked. "The whole physical impossibility thing, that is."

There was a flicker of comprehension in Bridget's eyes, before she thought fast and spoke again, "I'm just not used to this whole thing. I've never been away from my family or my best friends for longer than a day or two, and I'm not used to weather below, I dunno, 70 degrees or so—um, I think that's 21 degrees Celsius—and I've only experienced weather as low as around 30 degrees, or, uh, 1 degree, I think." She looked back down at the package on her lap and gestured weakly. "This all kinda brought that to the forefront of my mind. I'll be fine."

She glanced at Bridget and frowned but didn't say anything else about the subject. "I'll go read my letters, now. Okay?"

"Okay," Bridget said. She folded the letter up and put it in her back pocket, standing. "You know what? I'm gonna go for a little run. Haven't had one in ages and I'm starting to get a little antsy. I have no idea what I'm going to do without my soccer, and football teams to keep me moving. I'll see you guys later."

Author's Notes:

So, there it was. Lily was finally introduced and you saw some of Bridget's reaction to the whole situation. Hopefully the next chapter will be out much sooner, but as I'm currently the only one able consistently online, I can't make any promises. It's not abandoned, though. I never abandon my stories if I can help it.

Thanks to FoxLuvr, and Valinor's Twilight for reviewing; itra and beachgal for putting D.I.N. on story alert; and itra and LJG Potter for faving us.

Please review, any flames will be, I dunno, thrown away or something.