Fragments of Yesterday

James Potter, very unlike Lily Evans, did not have the course of his life changed by his Hogwarts letter.  In fact, if anything, his life continued in its usual vein afterwards, and he would have been shocked had the letter not come.  The owl arrived in mid-afternoon as James and his best friend Sirius Black were swooping around on their broomsticks, a Nimbus 1500 and a Nimbus 1000 respectively.  Although James was clearly on the superior broomstick, in this strange game which seemed to involve attempting to unseat your opponent, Sirius clearly had the upper hand.

In fact, the owl swooped down on an extremely odd sight which involved two brooms and two boys tangled and struggling about fifty feet up in the air.  "Ow!  Sirius, that´s my nose!"  The owl decided to deliver to the inside of the house, as the addressee was otherwise occupied.

"Fair´s fair!" the other boy replied in a cheerful Scottish brogue.  Sirius had been born in Glasgow, and migrated south two years ago to settle in the same small and exclusive wizarding settlement just north of London as James.  Since they were the only boys of an age, it wasn´t a surprise to anyone that they became instant friends, though if anything, they seemed hostile at the moment.  "Now, surrender or die!"

James struggled some more, more for the sake of show.  He was very aware that he could not get out from under the taller boy.  "Never!" he called bravely.  "You´ll have to kill me first... you just threatened to do that, didn´t you?"

Sirius grinned.  "Bloody brilliant as always," he drawled.  "Give up!"

James was seriously considering swallowing his pride when Sabrina Potter´s shrill young voice carried from the ground.  "Jamie!  You have mail!  And Mum says get down before she comes out there and makes you!"

The boys quickly disentangled themselves and sank to the ground.  Tabitha Potter always meant business. 

"Sirius, your mum´s looking for you," Sabrina said nonchalantly.  "I think she´s pretty mad about something.  She floo´d over here and she looked like something had just exploded all over her."  Sabrina, always precocious, and rather mischievous, grinned.  Her personality was eerily akin to James´, despite her being five years younger than him.  "Did you leave some kind of explosive lying around again?"

Sirius paled.  "Oh shit.  Oh, blood and bloody-"

"Sirius," James warned,his voice very carefully level.  "There´s a six-year-old present."

"Oh please," Sabrina waved a hand in an uncannily adult gesture.  "I´ve heard worse from you hundreds of times."

"Only because you listen when you´re not supposed to," James cut off.  "Now, do you have something useful to say, or are you just hanging around?"

"Your Hogwarts letter is on the table," she said, then made a face.  "I know, I know.  `Sod off, Sabrina.´"

"See, we don´t even need to tell you anymore," James said, and pushed her back into the house.   He then turned to the very gloomy looking Sirius.  "What did you leave lying around this time, you idiot?"

Sirius winced.  "You remember those wet-start fireworks that we injected with paint to explode on Patricia Wells?"

James paled as well.  "No."

Sirius nodded.  "I think so..."

James patted Sirius´ shoulder.  "I´ll come to your funeral."

Sirius glared at him.  "Thanks for the encouragement, old chum."

"Always.  Now go find some flowers for your mum.  She likes them."

***

Against all reason, Sirius was alive and well three days later.  His mother had apparently exchanged fury for lenience when Sirius had received his own Hogwarts letter.  No one had doubted Sirius´ admission, yet at the same time, Natalie Black was unduly worried.  Sirius had had a Muggle father, and somehow, she had always been convinced that Sirius could possibly take after him, despite his levitating objects around the house by the age of three years old.

Accordingly, Tabitha Potter volunteered to take the boys shopping, mainly to save "poor Natalie´s ragged nerves".  Both boys were, according to their mothers, a menace to society, but Sirius was markedly worse.  The furied shouts of "Sirius Orion Black, get back here!" were a trademark of the village by now.

"Now, James Quirinus Potter-"

James winced.  He hated his middle name with as much of a passion as his mother hated dungbombs, which was certainly saying something.  There was no reasonable explanation for Tabitha´s fixation with mythology, except perhaps her unfortunate history of uncanny success in Divination.  Sabrina´s middle name was Diana, which really wasn´t fair in James´ opinion, as it was a lot less distinguishing, and certainly less embarrassing, than his.

"-I want no trouble today from you or Sirius.  Do I make myself clear?"

James smiled in an innocent sort of way.  "Why Mum, would I ever-"

"Yes," Sabrina piped up from the corner, where she was examining herself in the hall mirror, trying to decide on the color ribbon to tie in her hair.

James glared halfheartedly then laughed.  "Good point."

"Turn out your pockets, please."

"But Mum-"

"Do I have to repeat myself?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.  "Turn them out, or I´ll know you´re hiding something."

James sighed in a world-weary way and did as he was told, spilling several dungbombs, a badly made trick wand, and a packet of cockroach clusters onto the floor.  He was well-aware that his mother wouldn´t let him out of the house without confiscating something, and so was very pleased that he had thought to hide the last of the paint-imbued fireworks in his shoes.

Tabitha glared at him and at long last handed the cockroach clusters back to him.  "Spoil your dinner and I´ll start taking offense at your bad taste in sweets."

As James was never planning on eating them, rather on slipping them to unsuspecting females, he only smiled angelically.  "Of course, Mum."

Just then, Sirius entered the house, humming under his breath and looking every bit then cat who had swallowed the canary.  "Sirius Orion Black."

"Yes´m?"

"Turn out your pockets."

A package of fireworks, nose-biting teacup, mouth-burning gum, fizzing whizbees, and two jelly slugs later, they were on their way via the floo network.

***

 

Lily had awakened that morning with an acute sense of excitement.  She had been a bit disoriented at first, because she had had a strange dream about broomsticks, flying, and why one should always keep her hair up if she wished to fly.  As she had become steadily more alert, the dream had resolved itself into the realities of the previous evening.  In an attempt to cheer up, Molly had decided to show Lily her broomstick while Brenna and Alanna chatted over tea.  Accordingly, the broom-a Shooting Star-was brought out and displayed proudly.

Lily had asked to see Molly fly the broomstick, and the other girl had readily agreed for a chance to show off, gushing that Arthur had taught her everything he knew about flying and Quidditch (which Lily was too proud to ask the meaning of).  After saying this, it came as no surprise that Lily had spent half an hour extracting Molly from a treetop, where the elder girl had gotten caught by her long hair.  Lily had decided that either Arthur was a hopeless teacher, or Molly a hopeless student.  She had an inkling it might be both.

This still made her giggle as she walked down the strange street between Brenna and Molly, eyes wide as an owl´s as she took in the sights.  Diagon Alley was a strange and wonderful sort of place to her, and she kept having to restrain herself from pointing out a moving mannequin in a store window or children throwing explosive flowers at each other.  Brenna and Molly seemed to take this all in due course, ducking around a crowd of children at a sweetshop window and bemoaning the unusually high prices on bat liver.

They had just left Gringotts Bank, where odd, frightening little creatures had exchanged Lily´s pound notes for big gold and silver coins.  She had no idea how this erratic exchange rate worked-she thought there were eleven Sickles in a Galleon, although maybe there were twenty-nine-but knuts simply bewildered her, so she thought it best if she let the O´Malleys spend her money, once she had chosen.

"Here´s Ollivander´s,"  Brenna said, stopping by the doorway.  "Go on in, Lily.  It will take a bit before he´s satisfied, and Molly and I need to duck next door for a minute.  We´ll be back soon, don´t look so scared!"  She smiled and gave Lily a push towards the door.

Inside it was hushed, much in the same way a library would be.  An owlish man with shining spectacles stood behind the counter, meddling with something until he was at last pleased with the result.  Looking up, he smiled softly at the young girl.  "I had wondered when you would come in here instead of standing outside like this was a dragon´s cave.  I don´t bite, you know.  You can come a bit closer."

Lily did, moving silently across the dusty floor.

"What is your name?" the man enquired.

"Lily Evans," she said, finally finding her voice.  After her initial fear of being left alone, she began to relax.  "I´m here to buy..." She suddenly realized that the O´Malle´s hadn´t told her what she needed here.  Frantically she scanned the store, and found her answer.  "A wand, please."

Mr. Ollivander nodded.  "Of course, of course.  Let me see here..."  he disappeared behind the shelves.  Shortly, his head appeared above them, as though he was standing on a ladder.  "Well, this is an interesting choice..."

Climbing down, he handed her a short, smooth wand of wood.  "Rowan wood, dragon heartstring, eight inches, very sturdy.  Perhaps just right for the Irish temper I see sparkling in your eyes..."

Lily held the wand, wondering what was supposed to happen now.  "I don´t think..."

"Wave it around a bit first, then we´ll see."

Lily obligingly did so, and nothing happened.  She sighed and looked expectedly at Mr. Ollivander.

"All right then, let´s see."  He took the wand, went into the very back of the store, and returned with another, light colored.  "Birch and phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches, nice and springy."

Lily waved this one too, and again nothing happened.

"No, not quite, not quite..."  The old man disappeared for quite a long time this time, and finally returned with another box, this one very dusty.  "So... try this one, then.  Ten inches, willow and unicorn hair, nice and swishy.  One of the feistiest female unicorns I´ve ever met.  It´s a bit temperamental, but..." He handed Lily the wand and immediately she felt a unity with it, as though a piece of her that had been missing was found.  "Go on, give it a wave for me, then."

She did so, and for a second felt a blinding heat, as though her blood were boiling.  The heat congregated in the area of her hand, and suddenly, sparks began to fly, until the entire shop was shimmering.  Lily looked in amazement at the man.  "Well," he said, his eyebrows raised high.  "I suppose that´s it, then."

Lily nodded silently, clasping the wand to her chest with one hand, not letting go even as she paid.  She walked out of the store, never releasing the wand, looking back only once, to see the man with the owl eyes watching her consideringly.  "Yes, I suppose we can expect great things from you, my girl... I´ll be watching..."

Lily gulped, and her eyes looked nervous when she met her reflection´s gaze in the store window.

Once outside in the sunlight and cheerful cacophony of Diagon Alley, Lily slipped her wand into the pocket of her pretty white dress.  It had been a bit vain of her to wear her best dress today, but she had just felt so wonderful she hadn´t been able to stop herself.

She saw Brenna and Molly emerging from the shop next door with a cage which contained a small fluffy bird.  "Lily!  Done already?"

Lily nodded.  "Yes."  She examined the bird curiously.  "What exactly is that?"

Brenna looked smug.  "An owl.  We were lucky enough that Pandora had several hatchlings this year."  She smiled and handed the cage to Lily.  "Pandora is quite a special owl, after all, or the owner of Eeylop´s wouldn´t keep her exclusively for his mail.  This is the smallest of the lot, and she won´t be able to carry anything heavy for a few months, but you´ll be able to train her up proper."  She beamed.  "Consider it a congratulatory present from Molly and me.  We wanted so badly to do something nice."

Lily looked at the tiny owl, who looked back at her with huge, intelligent amber eyes.  The owl opened her diminutive beak and squeaked softly.  Lily was enchanted.  "Thank you," she said softly.  "Thank you so much."

"What are you going to call her, Lily?" Molly wanted to know.

Lily giggled.  "That´s easy enough.  I think she´ll be Athena.  Her feathers will be a pretty gold in no time."  She stuck her finger through the bars of the cage and stroked the little owl.

"That´s a nice name," Molly agreed.  "Arthur has a nice young owl too-his name is Errol and-"

Brenna placed a warning hand on Molly´s shoulder and the girl quickly changed the subject.  "Well, anyway.  Can we go to Madam Malkin´s next?  I need new dress robes anyway, and you need to pick up your school uniform."

Lily nodded and the three of them headed around the corner and down the street before they stopped in front of a shiny new storefront.  The display in the window showcased an eclectic selection of robes: from the stark black Hogwarts uniforms, to sleek business robes in muted colors, to beautiful wedding robes.  "Cynthia has only just opened her store in the past year, but everyone is coming here now," Brenna said matter-of-factly.  "It used to be only Gladrags, but Cynthia would have none of it and started her own fashion firm the moment she left Hogwarts.  Her designs are exquisite."  She smiled slightly at the wedding robes in the display.  "I don´t know how she finds time to hand-sew the more expensive orders.  She needs to hire a few more seamstresses."  Leading the two girls inside, she sent Molly with a wave towards the selection of dress robes on the left wall before turning her full attention to Lily.  "The prices are much better here," she grinned.  "So you won´t break your purse trying to get clothed for school."

"Mrs. O´Malley!"  Lily turned in the direction of the bright, cheerful voice, and nearly gaped at the beautiful girl with a brown braid snaking down to her knees that was sporting a robe so shockingly pink that Lily had to blink once or twice before she could look at her without astonishment.

"I tell you again and again, Cynthia, to call me Brenna.  I´ve got a new one for Hogwarts.  Muggle-born, you know.  Doing a favor for a friend."

Cynthia nodded.  "Of course, of course.  Come over here, dear.  Step up on the stool... there you go.  What did you say your name was?"

Lily, overwhelmed by Cynthia Malkin´s energy and quick manner of speech, was a few moments answering.  "Er... Lily.  Lily Evans."

"Splendid, splendid.  Let´s see here..."  Cynthia dug out a tape measure which began to zip all around Lily´s body with extraordinary speed, completely untouched by the shop-owner.  "My, Lily, don´t you have lovely hair!"

Lily snorted quietly.  She hated her long, thick, wavy, carrot-red hair.  It was bundled into two braids now, and along with her plethora of freckles, made her look very homely, at least in Lily´s opinion.

"I would dress you in forest green if I had the choice, but of course Hogwarts is ever so strict as far as robes go... let´s see."  She snatched the tape measure out of the air, where it was measuring the distance between Lily´s nostrils, vanished for a few moments and reappeared with a stack of black robes.  "Try this one on."

It fit perfectly, and Cynthia nodded her approval.  "Very nice.  They´re a bit long, but you´ll grow into them in no time.  Here´s five, and a uniform hat, of course.  There you go.  Go up to the counter and I´ll take your payment there."

Lily shakily carried the stack of fabric up to the counter, where Molly, looking very pleased, was clutching a frilly pink robe and arguing with her mother.  "But Mum, I like pink!"

"But darling, pink doesn´t suit with red hair!  How about a nice gray, or-"

"You said I could have any one I want!  I want the pink.  And it´s a nice pink, isn´t it, Athena?"  The little owl in her cage chose not to comment.

Cynthia flew in behind the counter, took Lily´s payment, looked critically at Molly´s choice, but said nothing as she named a price.  Brenna grumbled but paid it.

Then they left Madam Malkin´s and walked down the street, stopping to buy a cauldron, potions supplies, quills, parchment, and ink.

That´s when it happened.

Lily, walking down the street loaded down with parcels, understandably couldn´t see where she was going.  Therefore it was justifiably the fault of the spectacled boy with messy hair that ran into her that she fell.  Her new bottle of black ink somehow got unstoppered and spilled all over her white dress.  Lily was left lying on the street, surrounded by parcels, blinking dumbly at the ink stain on her dress.

It didn´t help that the boy began to laugh.  It helped even less that he turned to his friend and asked "I wonder if we can set it to do that on purpose?"

That´s when Lily found her voice.  "YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" she screamed, glad for once that her sister was fixated on bad soap operas where the women all yelled at the men before kissing them passionately.  They had some original insults, in any case.  "YOU SPOILED MY BEST DRESS!"

And the boy, looking only a little alarmed at the tone of her voice, asked his friend, "Gee, Sirius, you think she´s mad at me?"

Just then, a harried female voice called from around the corner.  "James!  Sirius!  Get back here!  James, if you´ve lost your sister-"

The boy (obviously James) ignored Lily now and turned to his friend.  "Shit, Sirius.  We have to find Sabrina."  Then, with a grin and a wave to Lily, "Bye, Carrots!"

And Lily was left alone in the middle of the street, until Molly and Brenna picked her pathetic figure up and attempted to clean her off with magic before buying new ink.  Whoever this James character was, Lily decided she did not like him.

***

James, wandering around the alleyways, trying to find the misplaced Sabrina, heard a roar over the rumble of the crowd.  "I´M GOING TO KILL HIM!!!"

"I think she likes you, old buddy," Sirius said with a laugh, dodging James´ consequent blow.  "Have we made a conquest?  Aww!"

"Please," James said with disgust.  "An ugly carrot-head with an Irish temper and no sense of humor?  I´d as soon kiss Patricia."

Sirius grinned slyly as he slung his arm around James´ shoulders.  "Right, old buddy, old pal.  Of course not."