The Tale of the Marauders and Lily Evans

Chapter 2

Diagon Alley

Lily woke up bright and early the next morning. Quickly, she pulled on a shirt and jeans, grabbed her money bag, sprinted down the stairs, gulped down a glass of milk, and crammed a piece of toast inside her mouth.

"Bye!" Lily called to her mom, who had just come into the kitchen, looking sleepy. "I'll come back for dinner. If I'm a bit late, don't worry."

Her parents had given her money yesterday. She ran into the hall, took her one strap bag down from the hook, tucked her moneybag in it, and pulled the strap over her head. She flew down the street until she came to a stop at the front of Arabella's house, breathless.

"Hello!" Lily said cheerfully when she saw Arabella at the door. "Here I am!"

"Hi," Arabella greeted her. "You're, uh, a bit early."

It was true. It looked as if Arabella had just woken up. Her blond hair was uncombed, her gray eyes were half open half shut, and she was in pajamas.

"Sorry," Lily blushed. "I . . . guess I was a bit early . . . Should I go back?"

"No," Arabella said. "Now that you're here, you stay here. I'll just be a minute."

Lily followed Arabella inside. She watched a broom sweep its way across the living room, a notebook studying and taking notes by itself from a English textbook, knifes and forks and dishes washing themselves in the sink, and a kettle pouring itself tea. She sat down on a chair to wait patiently as Arabella showered, combed her hair, and changed.

"Hello, dear. When did you come? I was just getting ready to call your house to see what's holding you," a warm voice said.

"Good morning, Mrs. Figg," Lily said politely.

Half an hour later they were on the train. On the train, Lily asked why the Figgs lived a muggle neighborhood, and not in someplace with a lot of witches and wizards.

"Because," Mrs. Figg explained, "Arabella is a Squib, as you know, and a Squib is not capable of doing any magic. Before my husband died, and that was when Arabella was three, he and I have decided to educate Arabella in the muggle way. If we didn't, then Arabella would be really dumb, not able to do magic, so we decided to educate her the muggle way."

They arrived in London, and rode a subway to a particular place.

"I guess Arabella being a Squib changed my life just as much as hers," Mrs. Figg laughed. "A typical witch or wizard wouldn't know what the difference is between a pound and two pence!"

"Here we are," Mrs. Figg said, squinting at a shabby little pub, with a forlorn sign saying 'The Leaky Cauldron.' "Goodness, I haven't been here in ages . . ." she added, muttering more to herself then to the children.

Lily had a peculiar feeling as she looked up at the building. If Mrs. Figg hadn't pointed it out, she would never have noticed. In fact she didn't think anybody aside from she and the Figgs were aware of its existence.

"Come on," Arabella said, tugging at her arm.

Lily entered The Leaky Cauldron with the Figgs. If it was shabby outside, it was even shabbier inside. That didn't seem to trouble the many people inside the little pub, however, for the pub was crowded with people.

Lily trailed after Arabella and stepped into a small closed courtyard at the back of the pub.

"Let me see now . . ." Mrs. Figg murmured, obviously trying to remember something.

"Mom," Arabella sighed, "you always forget. It's three up, two across, remember?"

"Oh, yes," Mrs. Figg said. "You're quite right. I remember now. And you need not roll your eyes at me. It's been years."

Mrs. Figg took out a black stick and tapped a brick in the wall three times. The brick wriggled, then moved, and suddenly, a small hole appeared, it got bigger and bigger, and suddenly the whole back wall of courtyard had disappeared. Looking sideways, Lily saw that it had stacked itself neatly at each end of the wall.

Then, she looked straight ahead and gasped at the sight. She was facing a small street that twisted and turned so violently that you couldn't see the end. At both sides of the street were shops.

* * * * *

"We're gonna go to Diagon Alley today!" Sirius sang at 5:30 the next morning, as he had been doing for three and a half hours, much to everyone's annoyance.

Sirius flung open James's bedroom door, and skipped over to James's bed.

"Wakey wakey, we're goin' to Diagon Alley todaaaaaaaaaaay!" he sang, grinning wickedly.

"Ugh! Calm down!" James grumbled, turning over to face the opposite way of Sirius. "Go 'way!"

Sirius's response was to seize James's blanket and pull it onto the floor. James jumped up. It was quite a cold day today, and without his blanket, he was suddenly freezing.

"Stop it..." James muttered, groping around on the floor for his blanket. He hadn't his glasses on, and he can't be bothered to put it on.

Sirius sang louder.

"SHUT UP!!" James finally yelled.

James, unlike Sirius, wasn't a morning person.

Thanks to Sirius, the whole house was up and having breakfast fifteen minutes later. Despite James's efforts to get back to sleep, he couldn't, especially with Sirius prodding him, singing as loudly as he possibly could and throwing ice-cold water on him.

Finally, towards noon, James and Sirius traveled by floo powder to the Leaky Cauldron, but not before a very stern and boring lecture about behavior given by Mrs. Potter.

"Phew!" Sirius muttered when he had stepped out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. "Finally escaped from rules! We're free!"

"And, somehow, that does not come to me as good news," a voice chuckled.

"Remmy, ole' boy!" Sirius said, turning, and seized Remus's whole arm and pumped it up and down.

"Come on, you two," James said. "Let's go find Pe -"

"James! Sirius!" a squeaky voice interrupted shrilly.

"Hi, Peter," Remus said warmly.

James thought of how he had met Remus and Peter as he walked to the courtyard at the back of the shop. He had met Remus at Flourish and Blotts...that was the bookstore...Sirius had been with him (mind you, that is probably the first - and last - time anyone would ever spot Sirius in a place which sells books), and they had become fast friends. As for Peter, James and Sirius had met him quite a bit later than Remus. Peter had knocked James down as he ran out of a magical pet shop, because, as he had later explained, he had dropped a rat in fright when it squeaked. The witch behind the counter had screamed at him to get it back. The rat had run away and Peter never saw it again. Peter had then always tagged along after James and Sirius, always owling them, annoying them. After some time, James and Sirius had finally accepted Peter as a friend and introduced him to Remus.

Quite suddenly, something hard collided with the top of James's head. James stepped back, clutching his throbbing head in pain. James turned away from the wall.

"Great," Sirius said in disbelief, shaking his head. "Now I know my best friend is deaf, blind, and stupid."

"Ugh...where're my glasses?" James mumbled, squinting at the blurry masses of color in front of him.

"You broke them when you hit the wall," Peter said. He bent down, and picked them up. "Here."

James took them. "Oh, no!" he moaned. "They've broken! My mom'll kill me!"

"We need a wand to make the bricks move," Remus said. "And James, in case you haven't noticed, your head is not a wand."

"Yeah, but you can't blame a bloke for trying, can't you?" Sirius said, clapping James on the back. "Really, though, you try too hard."

"I'll go get Tom!" Peter squeaked, and he turned.

In less than a minute was back with Tom the bartender. Tom tapped a brick in the wall, and it wriggled and moved away. The bricks around it started moving away too, until there were no bricks and the four boys could walk through the hole and into Diagon Alley.

"Wait!" James turned, and so did Tom. "Could you - could you fix my glasses for me?" he asked hopefully.

Tom fixed it, and the four boys walked into Diagon Alley.

* * * * *

"We've got a lot to buy," Mrs. Figg said briskly, and Lily, looking over her shoulder saw that she was standing in front of a solid wall.

Mrs. Figg set off. Lily turned her head in all directions. Cauldrons- all sizes . . . Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions... signs such as those stared at her as she passed.

"Uh, where are we going?" Lily asked timidly.

"Gringotts, that's the wizard bank, is our first stop," Mrs. Figg said. "That's where you'll change your pounds into wizard money - Molly Prewett!" Mrs. Figg stopped talking abruptly. A curly-haired red head was standing in front of Mrs. Figg.

"Mrs. Figg," the girl (Molly?) said politely, "good day. How are you?"

"Molly!" Mrs. Figg exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in years! Children, this is Molly Prewett. Molly, this is my daughter Arabella, you should remember her, and this is Bell's friend Lily. We're buying Hogwarts supplies for her."

"Hogwarts?" Molly said interestedly. "I graduated from that school a few years ago."

"I hear you're engaged to Arthur Weasley?" Mrs. Figg said.

"Oh, yes," Molly said, coloring slightly.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, but we've got to get going," Mrs. Figg said. "We still have to buy all of Lily's school stuff."

They said goodbye and approached a very big snowy white building that towered over the other shops.

"What in the world is that?" Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust. Standing beside a bronze door, in a scarlet and gold uniform was a short little creature, very ugly, with a narrow face, small beard and very long fingers.

"That's a goblin," Mrs. Figg said quietly. "They run Gringotts. Very clever, but they can be really nasty when they want to."

They walked pass the goblin, who bowed at them as they passed. Two goblins were standing by the silver door. Lily noticed a sign on the door, and doubled back with interest to read it.

Enter, stranger, but take heed,

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

"What more will you find?" Lily wondered aloud as she ran to join the others behind a counter.

Lily looked around. She was in a brightly lit chamber, very big, with lots of counters. Behind each counter sat a goblin. Many goblins had customers, still others were writing, weighing gems, or examining precious stones.

"Yes, misses, may I help you?"

"We're here to exchange muggle money for wizard money. Lily, dear, give the money put the money on this counter." Mrs. Figg said.

Lily handed over the money. A minute later, the goblin pushed a huge pile of golden coins, a smaller stack of silver coins, and only a few bronze ones.

"All yours. Forty-seven Galleons, fourteen Sickles, and nine Knuts. Seventeen silver Sickles to a gold Galleon and twenty nine bronze Knuts to a silver Sickle," the goblin told Lily helpfully.

"Thanks," Lily said, shoving all the money into her bag. She looked at Mrs. Figg. "Now where do we go?"

"The closest shop where you'll find something on your list is Ollivanders. That's where you'll get your wand."

They walked towards narrow, lonely looking shop with dusty windows. The sign on the shop said in peeling gold letters: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. Lily went into the shop; Mrs. Figg said she and Arabella would wait outside.

"Hello," said a soft voice.

Lily jumped, it sounded as if it was right by her ear.

"Here for your first wand?" Mr. Ollivanders said, turning to Lily, narrowing his silver eyes.

Lily nodded nervously.

"Which is you wand arm?" he said, suddenly turning business-like. He gestured towards Lily's arms.

"Right, I think..." Lily offered.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Hold it out." Mr. Ollivanders said, and snapped his fingers.

The tape measurer on the table suddenly sprang into life, and started measuring by itself, while Mr. Ollivanders himself moved to the back of the shop and started pulling out long, thin, narrow black boxes from the shelf.

"Enough," Mr. Ollivanders said, carrying the boxes to Lily. The tape measure crumpled to the ground. "Try this one," he said to Lily, opening one of the boxes and taking out a long thin black stick similar to the one Lily had seen Mrs. Figg take out earlier. "Maple and dragon heartstring. Eleven inches. Excellent for Transfiguration. The dragon was a fine Antipodean Opaleye. She was pregnant, too. Poor thing, she had a weak body, she died when they tried to catch her. Give it a wave."

Lily took the stick and was about to wave it, but Mr. Ollivanders snatched it out of her hand behind she could have a chance.

"No, no," she could hear him muttering while opening another narrow box after putting away the first one.

"Beachwood and unicorn hair from a young foal. Don't I remember the punishment I got from its mother when she found out. Nine inches. Quite soft and bendy. Go on, try it."

Suddenly he snatched it out of her hand again and said, "No, no, that's not the right one. How about this one? Ebony and the feather of an unusually large phoenix. Sixteen and a half inches, quite long, but very strong. . ."

For about ten minutes, Lily tried what seemed like every wand in the shop, with every time the same result, before she could wave it, Mr. Ollivanders would snatch it out of her hand.

"Hmmm . . . I wonder of this would do . . . of course, only people very gifted in Charms would be able to manage it, but why not? Try this one, Ms. Evans, ten and a quarter inches long, unicorn hair, swishy, willow, excellent for Charms."

Lily took it and immediately felt a surge of warmth spread through her.

"Oh, congratulations!" Mr. Ollivanders cried.

Lily smiled and paid seven Galleons for the wand, and, holding her new wand carefully in her right hand, she walked out, just as four boys were coming in. She walked past them, acting as if they didn't exist, although the one with messy black hair was looking at her with a rather strange expression on his face.

Lily found Arabella and her mother a little away from the wand shop, looking at the newest broom through the glass in Quality Quidditch Supplies. They walked away from Quality Quidditch Supplies and went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, where Lily and Arabella ordered ice creams.

"After you girls finish your ice creams, we'll buy everything else. Robes, cauldrons, and oh, that reminds me - you have to get an owl. Very useful, especially for delivering your mail . . ." Mrs. Figg said.

"No, I think I'll just bring my cat. You know, my cat, Kit." Lily said thoughtfully.

"We'll go to Flourish and Blotts after the ice creams." Mrs. Figg said.

Lily suddenly realized that Arabella had not once spoken since they had arrived here. Lily glanced sideways at her. Arabella was sitting quite stiffly, staring at bag where Lily's wand is with a mixture of sadness and longing.

After the ice creams were finished, they went to Flourish and Blotts to buy books. Lily couldn't be more delighted. There were hundreds of thousands of books in here! They were all stacked neatly one on top of each other in the shelves that reached the ceiling. Leather bound books, Huge books the size of a desk, delicate books covered in silk, books as small as a postage stamp, books with weird symbols, and books with no writing in them at all, but strange patterns on the front page.

After that, they went to into Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible to buy a cauldron, Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy where Lily looked over all the owls and them decided to have a baby reddish-brown owl, in which she named Hedna and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to buy the black robes required. She bought rolls and rolls of parchment and some fine quills ("Oh my god, wizards and witches still use quills and parchment?"). She also bought a set of scales to weigh potion ingredients; a telescope with a very powerful lens, and at the apothecary's bought a supply of basic potion ingredients. In Quality Quidditch Supplies, she looked at all the different kinds of brooms. She went into almost every shop in the alley, and her final stop was Magical Menagerie, a pet store to see if she could get some medicine for Kit, who had been ill for the past week.

The sun had already set when Lily and the Figgs finally turned to the direction of The Leaky Cauldron.

* * * * *

The four boys set off, their moneybags rattling. James and Sirius practically begged Remus and Peter to go the Quality Quidditch Supplies; they wanted to see the newest broom in the world, which only got out a few weeks ago. They stayed there longer than Remus and Peter had intended to, and then set off in the direction of Ollivanders, James in front, as the other boys hadn't been to Diagon Alley as often as James had, and didn't know the exact location of the shop.

"I've read that sign so many times that I know it off by heart," James said when they were in front of the wand-shop. James kept his eyes away from the sign carefully.

"What does it say, then?" Peter asked skeptically.

"Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC," James recited.

"Come on," Remus said, rolling his eyes and pushing everyone in, just as a redhead came out, holding a wand rather carefully and smiling to herself. Although Sirius, Remus, and Peter ignored her, as she was ignoring them, James looked at her interestedly. Thankfully for James, Sirius didn't notice.

"Hello, boys," Mr. Ollivanders said when James finally tore his eyes from the girl and followed his friends into the shop. He had his back turned to them, and was putting a pile of wand boxes back onto the shelf. "Oh, if I had known there will be other customers today I wouldn't have put back those wands," Mr. Ollivanders sighed. "Alright, which of you first?"

Remus, Sirius, and Peter (who was looking terrified), stepped back. James knew Mr. Ollivanders well, and automatically held out his right arm.

"You have been to my shop many times, Mr. Potter, but this is the first time when you come here to get your own wand," the wand-maker observed, smiling thinly. "Right..." He snapped his fingers.

The tape measurer on the table sprang up and began measuring.

"Hmm, let's see, your father has an ebony wand. Let's try this..." Mr. Ollivanders took a few boxes off the shelf, set them on the table, took off the lid of the first one, and offered the wand inside the box to James. "Ebony-"

James interrupted him, pointing frantically at a wand box at the bottom of the pile on the desk. He didn't know why, but he somehow knew that that wand was going to be his someday. "That one! That one will choose me, I know it!"

Mr. Ollivanders gave James a questioning look, but then shrugged to himself. "If you really think that wand would choose you, than so be it," he said, digging the wand box out of the pile and take the lid off. "Mahogany, eleven inches, pliable, quite a lot of power in that wand, and excellent for transfiguration."

James picked it up, but immediately jumped back and yelped. He dropped the wand, but not before gold and red sparks shot out of the wand and danced around at the tip of his wand.

"What's the matter?" Mr. Ollivanders asked, alarmed. "Is it the right one?"

"It is so bloody hot," James complained.

"Yes," Sirius said dryly, snorting. "I think it's the right one."

Mr. Ollivanders was staring at James in a very odd way. "Well, I never!" he declared, still looking at James. "How in the world did you know that wand was going to choose you?"

James shrugged, grinning. "Would you call it talent?"

"Next," Mr. Ollivanders said rather faintly after James slapped seven Galleons onto the table and walked back to stand next to Peter.

Sirius walked forward. He held out his right arm. Soon, Sirius was trying our wands. The 28^th wand he tried was the one he ended up with. Then it was Remus's turn. He held out his right arm. Remus took a little less time than Sirius to find a wand that chose him. The 17^th wand, in fact. Then it was Peter's turn. He gave a terrified squeak, and stumbled forward. Sirius was laughing silently, trying not to laugh out loud. Peter held out his left arm, shaking.

Mr. Ollivanders raised his eyebrow. "Oh, we have a left hander here, I see."

Peter looked confused. "What are you talking about? That's my right arm."

Sirius was unable to hold any longer. He burst out laughing, but his laughing became muffled when Remus threw Sirius's wand box at him. Sirius glared at Remus.

"Party-pooper," Sirius whispered.

Remus rolled his eyes and said, "This isn't a party."

Meanwhile, Peter was trying his 39^th wand. After throwing it back into his box, moaning about it being too cold, he glared at the pile of wands and said, "I'm never going to find my wand."

"I'm sure we'll find the right wand sometime," Mr. Ollivanders assured Peter.

James, Sirius, and Remus were bored. Really bored. They had been in the wand shop for two hours now, and Peter still hadn't found a suitable wand. After another two hours, Peter had tried every single wand in the shop, but still he hadn't found the right one.

"W-what am I going to do now?" Peter asked, desperation in his voice.

Mr. Ollivanders didn't answer. He went to the back of the shop, and brought out a stack of what looked like brand-new wand boxes.

"These just arrived today, I didn't know I would be needing it."

Peter tried them, getting more and more desperate as each wand was thrown aside. Finally, the last wand emitted tiny silver and green sparks, although it stubbornly stayed stony cold. James thought that the wand looked like it didn't really want to choose Peter, but it had realized that if he doesn't, then Peter won't have a wand.

"Well. I guess that is your wand, Mr. Pettigrew," Mr. Ollivanders said.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter paid for their wands, but James had already paid, and he was wondering why the wand had emitted silver and green sparks. Without meaning to, his thoughts turned to the redhead he had seen go out of Ollivanders. The four boys set off, buying everything on the Hogwarts list. Remus was the only one who had to sense enough to bring them. Sirius insisted on looking in every single shop, and James was secretly pleased. He hoped he would see the girl in one of the shops, but she was nowhere to be seen.

James and his friends were walking to the Leaky Cauldron when Peter exclaimed worriedly.

"Oh! I've left my wand in the cauldrons shop...I think..."

So the boys turned back. Just as they were walking along, James saw the redhead girl talking with Mrs. Figg (his mother was a friend of Mrs. Figg, so James knew who she was), and Arabella (Arabella had once came with her mother to Potter Manor for tea), Mrs. Figg's daughter walking beside the girl, looking rather glum.

A brilliant idea came into his head.

"Hey, Sirius," James said quietly to Sirius, prodding him to get his attention.

"Ow! What?" Sirius grumbled, rubbing his arm.

James looked wordlessly at the girl. Sirius followed his gaze.

"Hey, she's that cute redhead at the wand shop!" Sirius was finally interested.

"Do you still have that jar of rubber mice that we used to frighten Bellatrix and Narcissa with?"

Sirius grinned, and reached inside his pocket. "I never leave home without it."

James quietly whispered his plan to his friends. Sirius took out a big jar full of mice.

"Okay, mice, I need you to go over to that redhead for me," Sirius told them, and opened the lid. They all scampered out in the direction of the redhead.

These rubber mice are not ordinary; Sirius had got them in a joke shop in Diagon Alley. These mice are magically made to look real, and they would run at anyone it's owner tells it to run to, and then, they would run back into the jar.

Arabella noticed the mice, and yelped, "MICE!"

The redhead turned, and with raised eyebrows watched it come nearer. "I'm guessing these aren't ordinary mice. Real mice won't run at people, magic or not, like that, unless these mice are fake," the girl told Arabella, who nodded and tried to calm herself down.

Arabella has an all-time fear of mice and rats. Mrs. Figg, shaking her head, had spotted the boys and hurried over.

"Uh oh," James muttered under his breath.

However, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were laughing so hard that they didn't notice until Mrs. Figg had reached them, and dragged them towards the girl and Arabella.

"HEY!" Sirius said. "This is your fault!"

He pointed an accusing finger at James.

James shrugged, and correctly pointed out, "Well, since when have you minded getting in trouble?"

* * * * *

Lily was talking to Mrs. Figg about magical creatures as they walked to the Leaky Cauldron. Arabella was next to her, listening half-heartedly, but not joining in on the conversation.

Suddenly, Arabella yelped, "MICE!"

Lily turned around to see what Arabella was pointing at. A dozen white mice were scampering towards them.

Lily raised an eyebrow and said suspiciously, "I'm guessing these aren't ordinary mice. Real mice won't run at people, magic or not, like that, unless these mice are fake."

Lily turned to look at Mrs. Figg, who was dragging four laughing boys towards them and scolding them.

"Who are you?!" Lily demanded angrily. "And how dare you try and scare me and my friend?!"

"Calm down, Lily. It's in these boys' nature to see people being humiliated," Mrs. Figg said. "I'll introduce, shall I?" Mrs. Figg pointed at the four boys "This one is James Potter-" the boy that had looked at her at the wand shop grinned at her. He had messy black hair and hazel eyes. Lily glared at him, and James couldn't help but think that maybe he shouldn't have let Sirius let the mice out. "-This one is Sirius Black-" another boy, who had long black hair and gray eyes, bowed (in a very Sirius-like way). "-Remus Lupin-" a tired looking boy with light brown hair waved. "-And Peter Pettigrew." The last boy nodded. He was small and round, with mousy colored hair and a pointed nose.

"Who are you?" Sirius asked, sounding rather bored.

Lily scowled, and muttered, "Lily Evans." Lily glowered at the boys and said, "I hope you're not going to Hogwarts."

James and Sirius both broke into identical evil grins.

"We are," Peter said, looking pleased that at least he knows something.

"Well then, whatever house I'm in, I hope you're not in it!" (Arabella had told Lily that she was going to be sorted into houses)

"Look, here comes Little Mrs. Perfect," Sirius muttered.

"Black, I am not little. I am just as old as you are," Lily snapped.

"They are a bunch of trouble-makers," Mrs. Figg sighed, shaking her head.

With her arms full of packages, Lily followed the Figgs out of The Leaky Cauldron, into the subway, onto a train, and back home.

The boys went back into every shop in Diagon Alley, and finally located Peter's wand in a newspaper shop. Then they turned to the Leaky Cauldron. James borrowed a pinch of floo powder from Tom, and he and his friends flooed back to Potter Manor. Remus, Peter, and Sirius were having dinner at James' house.