Diagon
As Sev already expected, they were spared the trouble of Violet accompanying them to the magical alley, and the extra help, because on the way, she told them that she had errands to run in London and that she had delayed them counting on taking them to Diagon. So she'd just drop them off at the Leaky Cauldron door and she'd pick them up on the way back.
It was fine with her that they meet at six, that way she would have time to talk to Peter about what had happened in the morning and prepare dinner. So we got rid of one problem, but now we have another.Buf… to devise a new strategy, worse than in the castle, Sev thought.
Violet said goodbye to them asking them not to separate, because Lily had a lot of money on her. All upside down.
They stood at the door of the Cauldron waving Violet off. As Lily turned to go inside, Sev held her back. "We have to plan something else for today at the return, and we won't be able to talk in the alley." He led her through neighborhood streets, circling the block. "To begin with, take me home. It would be forcing the situation to stay after the tension that there has been. In fact, I'm going to tell your Mum that in case after talking as a family it's not okay for me to come back, I'll wait for a message from Puck in the morning to come."
"Ugh, Sev… you're still paranoid. Mum has already told you that the problem is not you."
"Yeah, but your father still doesn't know anything, he's stricter and more suspicious than your mother, and they haven't listened to Petunia's version. When she finds out that you've already shown your face, she could make up lies... which they wouldn't be."
"Yeah. Very like her."
"Her objective is to kick me out of your house, do you understand?" Sev said. "And a timely retreat on my part may prove a victory."
"You are beginning to use your cunning to manage relationships."
"I've been learning for months, Lily. You have taught me a lot."
"And me, what do I do?"
"Let's see, let me think... That's already more complicated, having to take me home, you're going to arrive almost at the same time as your Dad, Petunia will surely be waiting for him. The three or four of you will meet, in that case greet her normally but challenge her with your gaze, as if you were repeating what you told her in the morning, that you are not afraid of her. You have done great."
"Ugh... that will make her even angrier, you've already seen how she started to yell," Lily said.
"Yeah… you're right. Maybe she'll start a row in front of you and that would be worse, a real conflict, it must be avoided. Let's see, then think, combine cunning and emotional intelligence. It's your family, you know them much better than I do."
"To begin with, I don't even greet her, or a very brief greeting, so that she knows that she has offended me."
"Okay, how do you keep her from talking to your Dad before your parents talk to each other?" Sev asked. "Do you stay in the room with the two of them?"
"Ugh, no, that would be very strange. Before dinner, if I'm not studying, I help Mum cook."
"Yeah… Then you're going to have to ask your Mum to talk to your Dad before Petunia can. Tell her that you'll make dinner. Do you know how to do it yourself?"
"Bah! What do you think?" she said. "I also cook since I was little. In summer I always make lunch when Mum works."
"Wow… it seems that we are not so different. So many years together and not knowing those things about each other." They kissed under the umbrella. "The bad thing is that this way you won't be able to hear your Dad's first reaction."
"Yeah…"
"But he may want to speak directly with you," he added.
"I don't believe it. My parents are too discreet for that. When we didn't see each other in the summer, even though they noticed that I was feeling terribly, they didn't ask me anything."
"Were you feeling terribly? You hadn't told me that... or about Christmas."
"Well yes… I was dying to see you, I was counting the days until the Express," Lily answered. "I already told you that we came to Diagon on the same day of the week that you sent me the messages."
"Jo, Lily…" He hugged her. "Forgive me…"
"The day I couldn't get into your house because your father was there, I was determined to talk to you and clarify everything, because you were very distant since the beech thing and I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was going to tell you."
"Oh…"
"And when I returned home I was remembering many things, like the previous Christmas, when I healed you and we hugged," she continued. "And then I finally realized that I had fallen in love with you."
"And that was at the beginning of August, we would have spent the whole month together, what a waste. I remember that day you were very pretty."
"Of course... I had primed myself up for you…"
"Damn Tobias…" Sev thought, With that whole month of cementing the new aspect of our relationship to go, I would have had the courage to face the malefics for not parting with her, and now we would not be in such a mess.
They hugged under the umbrella. They cried and so did the sky…
"Well, we can't go back and fix what we did wrong," he said. "We have to move on." They started walking. "Where were we going?"
"That Dad will not talk about the subject with me, he will settle for what Mum tells him."
"Maybe they'll also talk to your sister while you make dinner."
"Maybe, but I don't think so, they'll expect me to go to bed," Lily said.
"Okay, so you do what we already said, but don't risk getting caught. If you don't see it safe, go to your room and in peace. In any case, get up early tomorrow, with time to see your Mum before she goes to work so she can tell you if I can come home."
"Okay."
"Well, all these are hypotheses, anything else can happen," Sev said. "In that case, act on instinct, you always tend to do great."
They had circled the block. "Don't change all the money," he added. "I keep what the Guard gave me, so I'm sure I'll have plenty for old books. Count on you having to buy the ingredients and new books, which will be more expensive, and what we need to get us through the school until the summer. So if we have Muggle money left over we give it back to your parents."
"Sev, I'm going to change everything, and if it's left over, I'll go back to Gringotts when we're done. Today there will be no queue like in summer or Christmas, it is a weekday and the alley will be almost empty."
"Well, do what you want, it's yours, but don't get excited spending it. If you go too far, they can turn off the tap."
They entered separately. First Lily so she wouldn't be left alone on the street, and she went straight to Gringotts. Sev did so ten minutes later and immediately headed to the used bookstore.
Lily went to the potion ingredients store and bought one already brewed for Sev's cold, then for food for the owls, and on her way to Flourish & Bloots, she noticed a store she had never been in before, 'Second-hand Magical Artifacts'.
A Pensieve... she thought. So Sev can read me thoroughly in the Haven and make sure I occluded right. They had it, she didn't doubt it for a moment. It was quite expensive for second hand, but anyway, they had money to spare. I'll tell him that it has cost me half.
Meanwhile, he, in the second-hand bookstore, read every book title on every shelf and went through the indexes of all the ones he suspected might contain interesting information. For once, without thinking about the price.
Lily walked into Flourish & Bloots and headed first to the History of Magic section. There she must look at all of them, in case there was a chapter that talked about the Druids. And yes, there were, but she soon realized that they only talked about that, about history. Not a word about rituals, spells and such.
So she went to Herbology and consulted various books on magical trees, but they only listed their uses as protectors—the Whomping Willow was listed—as a source of ingredients for potions or wood for wand-making.
She still came up with something else, the Travel section, and she soon found it, 'Magic Forests of the United Kingdom and Ireland'. There were many more besides the Hogwarts one and it was a travel guide type book, not very bulky or expensive. At the moment it was not going to be of any use to them, but in a year's time, when they could Apparate, it would, and there were only three copies left. So she picked it up and kept looking in that section.
'Ancient Sacred Places', some known to Muggles such as Stonehenge appeared, and also 'Magic Rivers and Lakes', the Black Lake came out, she also took this one. And another 'Magic Coasts', where there were two beaches that she had visited with her family.
She would have taken them all, but there were more of these and she noticed the reissues, they were modern books, if they ran out they would bring new ones, it would be bad luck if there weren't any by summer. She had already spent a lot on the ingredients and the Pensieve, if anything she would wait to see if Sev had found anything and how much money he had left.
So she only took the forests and lakes ones and also provided herself with parchment, ink and quills, counting that they should make copies for the Guard and Sev's ally.
He, finally, had found, with great joy that he hid, in a hidden and dusty corner, a rather voluminous book, 'Ancestral Druid Magic', and quickly reviewing the index so as not to show excessive interest, he was able to discover that apart from other rituals to perform in springs, rivers, lakes, forests, caves, beaches... it also contained spells to dominate the natural world. Grow plants, heal animals and people, control the weather! Stop time! He looked at the price. Expensive, but I'm going to haggle, the book is falling apart.
He went to the counter, the owner of the store had known him all his life, because he bought his textbooks secondhand, to save a few Galleons from his scholarship and have something to spend the school year or buy more books. The owner told him, "It's magic without a wand, it won't work for you."
"Well, by trying I don't lose anything," Sev said feigning indifference. "If you leave it to me in half, I'll take it out of the way."
"Okay, it's been there since my grandfather's time, no one else is going to want it."
Rays! I could have gotten it for even less. He paid and left it on the counter for him to keep it. He kept looking, and after a while Lily arrived. The bookstore is empty apart from the owner and us, and in all the time I've been here, an hour and a half, no one else has entered.Indeed, this afternoon there are hardly any people in the alley, he thought. So we can allow ourselves a few minutes to comment on what we have found.
He went to her, who excitedly showed him the two travel guides. "Wow… I have found the rituals to perform in those places," Sev said.
"Yeah? There were more, of coasts and sacred places, and they are not very expensive. How much money you have left?"
"Still a lot, I have taken it out in half."
"You're the best, Sev," Lily said. "Will I go for them?"
"How much do you have left?"
"Quite…"
"You are very loaded, leave the bags here, we'll keep them on the counter," he said taking them out of her hands. "What is this so big that it weighs so much?"
"A Pensieve…"
Of course... I haven't bothered to read her thoroughly in the clearing, Remus and Cecile still don't know, we don't have any at the Haven and she doesn't know yet that we won't meet there again.
"Ugh, Lily... I told you not to spend too much. How much did it cost you?"
"Less than you think, it is second hand."
"Surely you have not haggled."
"It hasn't occurred to me…" she said.
We each know how to buy… in our own way, Sev thought. "Well, nothing happens. Total, the money is yours and it will be very useful to us. We already have another piece of stuff for the Haven…" understanding. "Go back for those books, see if there are also cave ones." And looking at the Flourish & Bloots bag. "And buy much more parchment and ink, at least triple what you're carrying, the book that I found is very voluminous. Will it be enough with what you have left or do I give you what I have?"
"Yes, it will. Do you see how I have done well to change everything? The caves come in the guide of sacred places."
"Perfect," he said. "What trips we are going to do. What time is it?"
"Twenty to five."
"Okay, then hurry up and help me search here."
Lily left and came back ten minutes later. She started at the opposite end of the store, just as he did, flipping through the titles that caught her eye. She soon found one that went off topic but interested her, a voluminous and very complete treatise on Defense. She went to show it to Sev, maybe he didn't know it. "Look what I found."
"Oh, that one!" he said with disdain. "It's at Hogwarts, it was my bedside book for years, I know it by heart. Get to what we are Lily, we haven't even looked at half of the store. Focus on the old books."
Sev hadn't noticed, but this one was. As she went back to return the book to its shelf, she noticed the edition date, 1936. And out of curiosity and habit for a while, she scanned the index. It was very complete, but if it was already at Hogwarts, it wasn't worth buying. Even so, she looked at it in its entirety, as applications that she had not touched caught her attention: Arithmancy, Medimagic, Potions…
Sev must already know all this, but I don't, and I'm interested, I don't want to keep taking it out of the Library all the time, I want it for myself. She ended up with the appendages. The first, 'Magic of the Moon. The Oldest Magic. Matriarchal Sorcery'. The second, 'Druid Magic. The Mastery of the Natural World'. Wow... The third, 'Red Magic. The Magic of Love. The Most Powerful Weapon Against the Dark Arts.'
"Sev! Look at this!"
"Ugh! Lily... what a scare you gave me…" approaching her. "Let's see... how bad you hide."
Lily was pointing her finger at the caption.
"Wow… let's take a look at it…" He was speaking in whispers.
"It doesn't appear in the Hogwart's one?"
"What a stupid question. Do you think I wouldn't have told you? It's an old edition, they must have removed it from later ones." He leafed through to the page in question. It was a summary, about twenty pages, divided into three sections, Clanship, Couple and Family. It briefly detailed the initiation rites necessary to acquire power. They focused on the Couple's.
"Ugh... luckily we went slowly," she said.
"Yeah, and even so we have skipped many steps," he said.
"The sense organs… The Bond."
"Projection and Tracking, another Mental Art."
"The erogenous points… what is that?" Lily asked.
"The parts of the body where you like the most."
"The Union of Souls, Sev, like the potion…"
"Yeah... but the recipe doesn't come either," Sev said. "This information is a summary of some other book, let's look at the bibliography."
They searched the last pages, each one reading on one side. In the third, they found it. In runic alphabet, which they both understood because they had the subject. 'The Red Magic' and the year of publication, 1238.
"Whoa, this is going to be impossible to find, at least here," Sev said. "There were still more than two hundred years to go before the printing press was invented, it's written by hand. The researcher who looked for it must have been very interested, but surely they couldn't reproduce it completely because they didn't let them. You know, we witches have ended up adopting Muggle morality in that regard. In the past they were much more liberal, in the days of the covens, but then came the repression, the burning of witches, and we had to hide. What year is the edition?" going back to the beginning of the book.
"1936," Lily replied, but Sev was looking for something else.
"Look," he pointed out. "The seal of the Hogwarts Library."
"Wow…"
"Mum was there," he kept thinking, "since the year '41. This book was at school when she was studying, and you know she was a bookworm like us. Maybe she knows something, I can ask her and I'll tell her about us by the way."
"Let's take it with us."
"Stop the car, Lily. Look," he pointed out the price. "Very expensive, and we have messed it by showing a lot of interest, we won't be able to haggle."
"But we still have enough…" she said.
"An idea occurs to me, tear off this fragment." He looked sideways at the store owner.
"No, Sev, don't do that, they know you here and they can realize it, we've been looking at it for a long time. In addition, there is also Druid Magic and that of the Moon."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, in the appendices," Lily replied. "And I want to have the rest of the book to myself, to learn Defense well."
"Let's find the source of Druid Magic." They did it in the bibliography.
"Will it be this?" Lily pointed.
"It's the one I just bought. And the other? It doesn't sound to me."
Lily returned to the index.
"Magic of the Moon. The Oldest Magic. Matriarchal Sorcery," Sev read. "Buah... this guy was a wonder, let's see the author." It was a witch. "Sure. That's why she included all of this. We are also going to look for the source of this one." They did it. "Another ancient book, what I tell you. Christianity stole the best from us."
"But this one is not so much."
"Yeah… but still…"
"Do you know what I think, Sev?" she asked. "Hogwarts is over a thousand years old, maybe they are right there, in the R.S."
"Ugh... I know it by heart, I would have noticed such old books."
"But this is from 40 years ago. Perhaps they have hidden them, for the same reason that Druid Magic should not be known."
"It's possible... but who knows where," he said. "Well, let's buy it, at least we will have a little information. Let's see how we explain to your parents all today's expenses, the Pensieve and this doesn't have much justification."
Sev headed for the counter, no longer trying to hide. "Look… this one also interests us. Can you lower the price?"
The owner looked at the book and the price. "The current edition costs almost double."
"Yeah… but for that very reason, this one is already outdated."
"I don't think so, rather the opposite," the bookseller said. "It has annexes that the new one does not include."
This one is a snake like me.He knows every book in the store and has noticed what we were looking at.Better, between snakes we will understand each other. "Well, I ask you as a personal favor, in reality the book interests us only because of the annexes you mention, I already know the rest by heart," Sev explained. "You know I don't shop anywhere else but here, spending almost all my savings. Today there has been the case of being able to spend more money thanks to my friend and I have already bought this one," pointing out the one on Druid Magic, "for much more than you expected. So, as you can see, so expensive, we haven't enough." And with his eyes, raising his eyebrows, he told him, 'If you don't lower it for me, hide the book, because the next time I come, I'll tear out the chapters that interest me without you noticing.'
The other smiled at him. In my pocket.
"You're right, I don't want to lose a good client," said the older man. "How much can you spend?"
He again offered him half of what it cost. The book is worth it and I anticipate that he will go up. But no, he accepted it. Take that! He paid. "Thank you Bowman. We will see each other again soon."
"I hope so, thanks to you."
Lily had stayed a few steps away from them, with an enigmatic smile, learning, learning…
They stayed a few more minutes in the store. Lily couldn't wait to study the books together. Sev was thinking, Yeah, two months from OWLs, with Malfoy's letter falling on me and not getting to meet until summer. They agreed that Sev would take the Defense one to consult with his Mum and the ingredients for the potions, and Lily everything else.
Sev examined the Pensieve. "If you had warned me, I would have gotten it for less. Haven't you seen that it is chipped?"
"I was so happy that I didn't notice…"
"Luckily it is outside, otherwise it would not serve us. Well, at least for the books we have paid half of what they mark, so we can sneak in that the Pensieve has been very cheap. Let me tell your Mum about the Defense book and the Pensieve, okay? We'll be back in the summer, with more time. How much of what you had is left?"
"More than a half," Lily answered.
"Booah… And despite you bought the ingredients for the potions, what splendid parents you have. I also have a lot left but I don't know if I will be able to justify the purchase of the Defense book to the Guard. I'll have to give them something back."
"Come on, Sev. If they didn't put that much either, and they can afford it."
"Yeah, that's true too…" he admitted. "Well, go back to Gringotts and change everything you think into Muggle money. I will keep what I have in magical. You know that I can have an emergency at school and I also have Muggle money that Mum gave me."
"Of course, honey."
"When you leave, wait at the door to see me pass. And another five minutes before going to the Cauldron, okay?"
"Why, Sev?" she asked.
"I still have to buy something else."
Lily didn't ask what. Perhaps a gift for his ally. "Take money."
"Don't worry, I have enough with mine."
Him and his mysteries, Lily thought.
It was nothing for Lauren, it was the detail that he wanted to do to Lily in exchange for everything she was spending. I feel very bad for having scolded her for the Pensieve, the truth is that she thinks that she needs it and that we are going to be able to use it.
He went to the gift shop. Let's see, something to tie up her hair.I like the green cord, it brings back very good memories.But it's still green, Sly, and we're going to have to cut all contact.A color that remains symbolic but not risky.The red of her hair against the black of herrobe is also beautiful and it's my color.Isn't it also very obvious?Buf... at this rate we won't even be able to dress in colors.What nonsense with the symbols!Let's see this one.
It was an oval with a black background with elegant golden arabesques. It's pretending to be Huffle, but they've changed the yellow to gold, because otherwise it'd be pretty ugly.Perfect, black like me camouflaged in gold Gryff. He asked the price. Here I can't haggle, but I can make a trade.
He was carrying four pendants that he had Summoned, one from each House, planning to sell them at the store, as Lauren had suggested. He showed them to the owner, who showed no great interest. I'm in a hurry, Lily must have already left Gringotts, she's going to see me out of here, I wanted to surprise her and I have no way to prove that they are precious metals and minerals. So he let him buy them for a little more than the pin price.
When he left the store, Lily was already waiting outside Gringotts. Rays!She's already seen me. They smiled at each other from afar. It would be nice to look for a job in the summer, although I'm underage… I'll consult with Slughorn, perhaps as a potionist's assistant, since he recommended that I dedicate myself to that.He has many contacts and can give me good references, I am the best in his House in the subject and by then I will have uncovered myself.
Sev waited outside the Leaky Cauldron and Lily came out minutes later. They turned away from it, in the direction that Violet would arrive with her car. She arrived at five to six. "Have you finished yet?" she asked them. "How did it go?"
"Great, Mum, now we'll tell you," Lily replied. She made Sev ride in front again, but this time she let him be more calm, limiting herself to stroking his silky raven hair.
"We have found a very old Druid Magic book," Lily began. "It's magic without a wand, you can dominate Nature. Making plants grow, changing the weather, and also healing spells."
"Oh really?" exclaimed Vilolet. "It's wonderful… it will be sunny whenever you want…"
"Yeah, but you don't have to go too far either, we could cause a drought."
"Of course, of course…"
"And also several travel guides to magical places in the United Kingdom and Ireland," her daughter continued. "Do you know we've been to some of them?"
"Really? In which ones?"
Lily said two names that Sev didn't know. "So when we can Apparate we will travel there to also practice the rituals of the old book."
"Of course…" her Mum said. "But we could also go somewhere this summer and that way we also get to know them, even if you still can't do magic."
"Okay, we'll studied it at home."
"What else have you found? You carry many bags."
Obviously. Sev spoke, "We have also bought a very good Defense book for both of us, Lily needs it for the subject and it will be great for me to prepare one of my NEWTs. In addition, it also brings an annex on Druid Magic that does not appear in modern editions. Lily found it by chance, because that's not what we were looking for."
"Wow… what luck," said Violet. "And what profession would you get with that NEWT? Something like the Army?"
I'm telling you... Commander in Chief. "More like the police, but I'm going to take it because I like it, not because I want to dedicate myself to it. That's why I'll also do the Potions one."
God, he's an exceptional liar, Lily thought.
"Well, it's always good to learn to defend yourself," said Lily's Mum. "No wonder you're attracted to it."
Because we're on the brink of a war, Sev thought.
Lily cut short the thorny topic, "We also bought a Pensieve, Mum."
"And what is that?" the older woman asked.
Ugh… saved. Sev replied, "It is a container where you can see the thoughts extracted from the brain with the wand. We can't yet, but when we turn seventeen and can use it we can show you what Hogwarts is like and any memories we have. We have already bought it because it was on sale."
I didn't know that the Pensieve was also used for that.Sev and his eternal mysteries,' Lily thought.
"Oh! That will be amazing!" Violet exclaimed. "What a success, we are going to love it. We always ask Lily to tell us what it's like, but we can't imagine all that stuff about the moving stairs, the talking portraits, and the real sky in the Great Hall with the floating candles. What a detail guys! Now I can't wait for you to turn seventeen."
God... Sev is a genius, he has passed it off as a gift to my parents.
"And had you have enough for everything?" her mother asked.
"Of course, Mum, if everything is second hand except the guides. We have more than half left over."
"What are you telling me?"
"Well yes," Lily replied. "We've changed some of it back into Muggle money."
"With how intelligent, hard-working and sensible you are, you are going to do very well in life, sons."
They both thought, If she only knew... if that would be enough...