Charms, Broomsticks and Animagi-A Marauder Story

A/N A quick thank you to my beta-reader Jules for the super-fast as always beta, and to my reviewers for the first chapter! Hope you all enjoy this one. Next update will be soon, hopefully.

Disclaimer: Much fun as it would be being JKR- I'm not. So there.

Chapter 2- Resolutions

Lily walked up yet another street, her patience decreasing by the minute. Wherever Diagon Alley was, it seemed to be impossible to find.

"Come on, it must be here somewhere!"

Lily sighed, running to catch up with her dad. It was just after one in the afternoon, very hot, and Lily was currently fighting through the busy crowd of Saturday shoppers in central London, trying to find the Leaky Cauldron. She was pushed painfully by a woman who was talking loudly to her companion and ended up falling awkwardly into a slightly smaller girl, who was around her own age.

"Oh no, are you okay? I'm so sorry for doing that! I'm so clumsy," Lily babbled, unaware of how awkward she sounded.

"Ah, don't worry," laughed the stranger. 'We get them like that all the time, that type of Mugg-"

She was cut off by a stern look from a nearby older man with light brown hair and a sandy moustache, and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Ohmigosh, you weren't supposed to know that, okay? Muggles doesn't mean anything... really..." However, her voice trailed off as she noticed the look of growing joy appearing in Lily's eyes.

"You...you can do it too?" she whispered incredulously, having the common sense to keep her voice down.

"Yeah." grinned the stranger. "You must be Muggle-born - your parents are Muggles." she replied, in answer to Lily's questioning look. "My name's Freya, by the way. Freya Prewett. That's my dad over there-" she inclined her head towards the man with the sandy moustache- "and my brother John is somewhere, probably looking for another broom. He plays professional Quidditch, you see..." Freya chattered, forgetting she was talking to a Muggle-born student.

Lily blinked, slightly thrown by the use of all the strange terms. "I'm Lily. Lily Evans. Erm...sorry, but what's Quidditch?" Freya grinned ruefully. "Oh, I'm sorry. I tend to forget that not everyone's a wizard. Quidditch is the best sport in the word- my brother plays for the Wimborne Wanderers. It's like this-"

"Lily! There you are, come on! The record shop is just up here!" shouted her father. Lily sighed, wishing that her father would learn how to get out of his sense of bad timing.

"I've got to go. We're going to get all my stuff. I'll see you later!" Lily waved as she was pulled away by her father, and then managed to catch a glimpse of an old, rickety pub in between the two shops, where she thought there was only an empty space before.

When they entered the pub, Lily could not stop glancing around incredulously at all the people inside. Somehow, she had always imagined witches to be warty with long pointed noses and evil cackling voices, yet as she came in, there were no warts, boiled cats, or cackling to be found. Their presence was hardly noticed, and Lily found herself thanking the fact that her parents dressed slightly unconventionally, as they only got a few curious looks from the occupants of the pub.

"Can I help you?" inquired a middle-aged man behind the bar, looking inquisitively at the newcomers.

"Well... We're looking for Diagon Alley, sir, can you help us?" Lily inquired, as her parents seemed too intimidated to say anything.

As the old man took them out to the back alley of the pub, Lily could hear whisperings as she passed the tables, most notably from a table that was half-hidden in the shadows in the back corner, the light from the high windows neglecting to dance over it as it did the other tables, reflecting the billions of dust motes.

'Muggles in the Leaky Cauldron...'

Ignoring this worrying comment, Lily followed her parents out into the alley, where she wondered for some dizzying moment whether this was all a sham, a trick, and that Tom, or whoever he was, was just one of those men who liked luring people into alleys. She almost laughed aloud when her fears were allayed by Tom pulling out a long, thin strip of wood, and tapping the bricks above an old metal dustbin in a seemingly complicated pattern. The bricks seemed to almost melt away as they took n a sentient purpose, shifting and reforming until a simple arch was formed, through which Lily could finally see the bustling street that was Diagon Alley.

On her right, she saw a dark, almost dank building, overhung at the front with a sloping roof and a cracked sign that spelt out the word "A-po-the-ca-ry." The glimpse that she could gain through the shadowed window was of a shop with many things in jars, lining the edges of the room, some looking very dubious in origin. Lily decided that shop was intriguing, but she didn't like it very much.

They walked on by, seeing the bright, refreshing charm of Quality Quidditch Supplies, all the different types of owl in Eyelops Owl Emporium, until they arrived at Gringotts, which was the tallest building in the alley and was a bright, beautiful white. Dodging around the children playing on the steps and smiling at two black-haired boys around her age who were play-wrestling, Lily entered the building, followed by her parents.

The creatures sitting at the desks regarded Lily and her parents with an inquisitive eye as they walked into the hall, their footsteps feeling ominously loud even though the bank was quite busy, for that time of day. Nervously, they approached one of the empty desks, which held a creature who apparently was called 'Bogsmack.'

After silently filling out many sheets of paperwork and handing a roll of Muggle money over, with Lily bouncing around on her toes impatiently, Mrs Evans finally signed the scroll with a flourish, and gasped when the signature flashed gold for a moment, seemed to lift an imprint of itself off the page, and mould itself into a key.

Bogsmack smiled almost grimly at the surprise of Lily and her family. He summoned another, smaller goblin with a click of his fingers, and they were ushered into a cart, which trundled away as soon as they had all embarked.

Lily was soon reminded how she had never liked fairground rides.

Dipping, twirling, doubling back on itself and rendering Lily thoroughly scared, the cart trundled quickly through the sprawling tunnels of Gringotts. Finally, they arrived with a hiss at the vault, in which a modest pile of gold and silver- the allowance that Lily's parents had paid in- had already materialised.

After Lily had gathered some gold and silver, being stopped from gathering too much by her parents, and another wild cart-ride later, Lily stepped into the outside world, blinking.

'Where shall we go next, dear?" asked Mrs Evans, as Lily studied the list that she had taken from her pocket.

'Hmmm..... Can I go and get my wand, Mum? Wow, it sounds so grand... having a wand...' Lily grinned, receiving an affirming nod from her mother and hurrying down the wide, twisting alley to the shop which proclaimed itself to be 'Ollivanders; Makers of fine wands since 382 BC.'

She pushed open the door, looking curiously around at the ramshackle, dust-covered shelves which held many boxes of different shapes and sizes. The shop was empty except for a small pale boy standing on a stool at one end of the shop, sketchbook under one arm, and what Lily assumed was a wand in the other. Flanking the small boy were a pleasant-looking young woman, whom Lily assumed to be the boy's mother, and a stooped, wrinkled old man, who Lily thought must be the proprietor, Mr Ollivander. There was an air of tense silence around the three, as the boy tried wand after wand that was handed to him by the old man, his face growing ever-more desolate as nothing seemed to happen. Finally, as the boy waved a particular wand, a stream of red and gold light emerged from it, illuminating his ecstatic face and casting streams of light on the dust-covered shelves.

Spellbound, Lily was nevertheless suddenly overcome with the urge to sneeze. She tried to muffle it, but the small noise still made the small boy turn around, his muscles tensed warily. On seeing he had noticed her, Lily decided to introduce herself, to avoid being labelled a spy.

"Erm... hello! My name's Lily. What's yours?" Lily inquired, mentally cringing at how stupid she sounded.

'Remus Lupin. Do you go to Hogwarts?' he asked, still sizing her up warily.

"I'll be starting in September. I'm so excited; I've never seen most of this stuff before!" she gushed, forgetting about the wizards in the Leaky Cauldron who had been wary of her Muggle-born status.

"Oh.... you're Muggle-born?" Remus inquired, looking at her inquisitively. "I've never met one before. What is it like? I mean... living without... this?" he gestured to the alley outside, inclining his head in interest.

"Well..." Lily began, but was cut off by Remus' mother's voice.

"Since you seem to have made a friend, dear, I will go and get your parchment, cauldron and potions ingredients. Be sure to be at Flourish and Blotts in half an hour."

Remus nodded as Lily approached the stool, gingerly climbing up onto it. As Lily was listening to Ollivander's spiel about his wands, she giggled at the tickling sensation provided by the tape measure, which was for some reason measuring in between her nostrils, the length of her finger, and the length of her foot.

Having seen Remus' long search for a wand, Lily had prepared herself for an equally long and frustrating quest for the right wand. However, she was astonished when, at the very first wand she was given, she felt a slight warmth in her fingers, and that almost intangible change in pliability of the wood as it moulded itself to her being. Instinctively, Lily knew this was her wand. Nevertheless, she still brought it swishing through the air, the resulting sparks illuminating the shocked faces of Remus and Ollivander.

"Well, isn't that fortunate?" the latter remarked, as he slid Lily's new wand into a box. "Ten and a quarter inches, willow and unicorn hair. Swishy. Excellent for charms. My, I never thought that in my lifetime we would have such a quick selection of a wand! That wand must be exceptionally drawn to you, Miss Evans. Take good care of it. Seven Galleons, please."

With some assistance from Remus at selecting the coins, Lily paid the shopkeeper and the duo walked out of the shop, blinking in the bright August sunlight as their pupils adjusted from the dark room they had just left. Lily was glad to escape the atmosphere of that shop, as it had struck her as somewhat oppressive.

"Where do you want to go next, Lily?" Remus inquired, stepping quickly aside to avoid two small children who were running in the direction of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Lily took out her supplies list and bit her lip thoughtfully as she scanned the page, impatiently pushing a lock of red hair away from her eyes. "Book shop? You have to meet your parents there later anyway, and it looks like my parents will have managed to get everything else for me by now."

Remus nodded in agreement as they proceeded down the bustling alley, past a shop outside where a small child was screaming in protest, "Mum, I must have a broomstick! Please? Its not faaaair..." Tugging on his mothers arm, the child forced more tears to proceed down his cheeks until the mother finally sighed and walked into the shop, the child following victoriously behind her.

"Spoilt kid, that one," Remus remarked as they drew nearer to Flourish and Blotts. However, before they could enter the shop, they were witness to a strange spectacle. A seemingly well-dressed woman in her early twenties, wearing robes that appeared to be made of satin, was promenading down the middle of the alley, together with a man who seemed to be dressed in a uniform of some sort. The crowds parted for them, though whether it was in adulation or fear, she could not tell.

"That's the Averys," whispered Remus, pulling Lily away from the crowds slightly, "Very old money, and rumoured to be involved in slightly... unsavoury things. Their ancestors were great supporters of Grindelwald, and they are great friends with the Malfoys. Those are both very bad things. Best to stay away."

Lily was about to nod in agreement and slip away, unnoticed, until a shriek sounded from the middle of the alley. Curious, Lily turned around quickly to find that the female Avery had rather ungainly tripped and fallen spread-eagled on the dusty floor, much to the amusement of the crowd. The most confusing thing was, there seemed to be nothing that would have caused Mrs Avery to trip, ensuring speculation that she must be clumsy enough to trip over her own feet. Fighting to hold back giggles, Remus pulled Lily into the bookshop, when they allowed themselves to let go with gales of laughter.

The bookshop was strangely empty, due to the spectacle outside, so Lily was free to walk up and down, selecting the books that she was supposed to have for her first year at Hogwarts. She still hadn't got used to how weird that name sounded. It was when she was proceeding to the front desk with a large pile of books that she felt only a slightly discernable change in the air. Almost as if something had brushed past her, but she couldn't see it, causing goosebumps to rise all over her body. Shaking her head to try and rid herself of the strange sensation, she made as if to march resolutely to the front desk and tripped over, causing her pile of books to scatter everywhere and her face to redden in embarrassment. Wincing as she moved her twisted ankle, she moved to find out what she had tripped over. Whilst Remus picked up her books and took them to the desk, her hand came to rest against a small barrier in the air; it was almost as if a small square-shaped object was on the floor, but completely invisible. Of course, this was scientifically impossible, but Lily began to realise that anything could happen in this strange and quite unsettling world.

Frowning, she looked around the room for a possible source of this object, and her eyes came to rest on a small cabinet, which seemed to be shimmering slightly. Under further investigation, this cabinet held precisely two copies of a book with a gossamer-like cover on which was embroidered the words 'The Invisible Book of Invisibility'. Hearing some slight sniggers from behind her, Lily whirled around to find no one there, but this time followed the sound until she caught a slight glimpse of a tuft of messy black hair in a small alcove between two sets of shelves. That tuft of hair soon disappeared, accompanied by a muttered oath.

"Whoever you are, that had to be the least funny joke I've ever seen." Lily remarked to the general air, knowing that the perpetrator of this joke was somewhere around. She turned around huffily and collected her books from the shopkeeper, who was now bewailing the lost of two hundred copies of that book.

As Lily exited the shop, waving good-bye to Remus, she shook her head in bemusement. Waving to her parents and running to catch up with them, she thought over everything that had happened.

If this is what one day in the magical world is like, Hogwarts is going to be chaos! Still, I must show that I am not going to be behind just because I'm not used to all of this. I'll show people who think Muggle-borns are no good- and have fun making friends along the way! This is going to be so much fun...

When they exited the Leaky Cauldron and merged back into the busy London crowds, Lily smiled. She was going to enjoy this. She'd make sure of it.