Sanguis Novus

Chapter Three: Many Meetings

Bit she wasn't falling anymore, because she knew whom that someone was, the person feeding her sustenance. Through the mist of early morning, she could see the jovial face of her darling Regina...

As she lay in her bed reading lazily, Lily thought she had never seen a brighter sunrise nor the dew more luminous as it dripped off of the trees. The excitement of knowing she would be gone from this boring life in a little over the month had kept her up most of the night, and while she had only received a few meager and restless hours of sleep, life coursed through her veins, filling her with a sense of adventure and inquisitiveness. Regina had yet to return, but even without her new best friend, Lily was satisfied with just herself.

When reading first-hand accounts of Napoleon began to drag, she reached for the Hogwarts letter lying by her bedside and looked at it with fondness. She thought she could never tire of seeing the words "you have been accepted" being associated with her name. And did wizards really write on parchment? Lily had never seen the archaic paper until yesterday. She ran her fingers across the letter, its texture especially soothing to the touch. Giggling, she snatched the sheet out of the envelope and smothered it with kisses, falling back on her pillow, overcome with happiness.

Swallowing the laughter, Lily noticed another sheet folded in the envelope. It might be an extension of the letter, she thought. However, it turned out to be a list of supplies.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry nametags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshhawk

A History of Purebloods by Karena Fidellalessa

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Lily! Time for breakfast!" Not bothering to change, she flew down the stairs with the list still clutched in her hand. "Lily," Mr. Evans said with a touch of impatience, "it would be so much better if you could get dressed before eating."

"But Dad," she whined, "it's breakfast and early in the morning. And, anyway, I'm already downstairs. Are you really going to send me back upstairs just to put on a pair of jeans?"

She made an adorable puppy-face, making her parents smile.

"Okay, okay," Mrs. Evans said, giving in, "just this once."

"And where's Petunia anyway?" she asked absentmindedly.

Lily saw her parents exchange glances before answering that question.

"She's a little...embarrassed," Mr. Evans finally stuttered. "It seems that...whatever happened to her won't go away, and she doesn't want to make herself the laughingstock of the family by eating breakfast looking like - Lily, what did you turn her into?"

"Dad, I didn't purposely turn her into anything. It just happened, but I think she looks like a big fat bird."

The kitchen filled with merry chuckling. Having worked as a waitress once, Prudence Evans served the eggs with unmatchable grace. Their delicate scents wafted up to Lily's nose, and she immediately engaged in attacking the nearest one with her fork. The Evans family soon followed suit. So amidst the clanking of silverware, she brought up Hogwarts once again.

"Mum? Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I was looking at my letter again, and there's a supply list." Lily handed the folded paper to her mum. "I, uh, don't exactly know where we're supposed to get all this stuff. D'you know at all?"

"I think some place called Diagon Alley," Mrs. Evans replied, but her face soon turned a sheet white as she dropped the fork and her hand went flying over her mouth.

Lily wasn't expecting an answer. She just asked, "D'you know?" because that's what she did. Rhetorical questions never really hurt, did they? But now she stared at her mum, completely astounded. How does she know? Is mum in contact with magical people? As far as her she knew, though, Mrs. Evans was Muggle through and through, although she did carry a certain spark. The spark wasn't what you called real Wizarding magic, but more like a charm that entranced all who came near. Still, the fact that her mother had knowledge of the Wizarding world without having to hear Lily talk about it -

"D'you know where it is?" inquired Lily, hiding her shock.

"That I don't," Mrs. Evans said firmly, pale but sounding as if nothing had happened.

"I can find out." A few minutes later and after she had changed, Lily sat cross-legged on her bed, flipping through The Basic Muggle's Guide to Everything Wizarding. Diagon Alley...Diagon Alley...where are you? she thought. There's "What is Diagon Alley?" and "Why Diagon Alley?"...here!

Lily read: Despite there being other Wizarding shopping areas throughout Britain, none are as well located as Diagon Alley. For Muggle-borns, the easiest way to enter it is through The Leaky Cauldron, a pub located at 95 Charing Cross Road in downtown London.

The guide also had a few things to say about shopping: The Wizarding world uses a dramatically different currency from that of Muggles, and your pounds won't buy you a beetle eye, let alone a state-of-the-art broomstick. It is advised to bring a decent amount of Muggle money to exchange at Gringotts, the Wizarding bank. The Wizarding world uses Galleons (gold coins, worth the most), Sickles (silver coins, seventeen of them equal one Galleon), and Knuts (bronze coins, worth the least, and twenty-nine of them equal one Sickle). Diagon Alley is a long and winding street, and while you almost certainly won't get lost, the amount of people on the road can sometimes make finding specific shops a weighty challenge. Last year, the Ministry of Magic - I remember what that is, Lily thought - passed a bill allowing maps to be constructed along the path. These should aid you in finding your way around. A list of stores that you should spend some time in follows -

She shut the book, throwing it to the ground. So, that's all I need to do, she thought. Get out the money I've saved and tell mum I need to go to London.

Sounds simple enough.

Half an hour later, though, Lily was crammed in the backseat of a car, shooting dirty looks at her parents and...Petunia. She had been imagining the perfect shopping experience, bags upon bags slung over her shoulders, a sweater tied around her neck, heels clicking across the cobbled alley, and everyone staring in wonder -

Lily stared at her dirty sneakers and was suddenly aware the jeans she donned hadn't been washed for a week. So much for being a sexy and rich European beauty.

"Lily, stop twitching!" Petunia hissed.

She rolled her eyes. Always count on her sister to ruin everything. Just as Mr. Evans had mentioned they were going to London, Petunia immediately bounded out of her room (where she had locked herself for the entire morning), covered in a sheet ("She doesn't anyone want to see her condition," Mrs. Evans whispered), announcing that she felt "perfectly well" and wanted to go shopping too.

"Mum, she'll ruin everything!" Lily complained as she was walking out to the car.

"Now, everything will be okay. You're going to Diagon Alley and we'll take her to Harrods or wherever Petunia would like to go. She won't interfere with your shopping, okay?"

Despite this, she was still grumbling. Smug with her victory over Lily, Petunia had taken off the sheet. Most of the feathers, at least the ones that were visible, and the beak had miraculously disappeared, although she still had a lingering owlish smell.

"Do you have your money?" Having reached The Leaky Cauldron - or at least where Lily said it was ("There is no pub!" Petunia taunted) - Mr. Evans was running through the checklist once more. "And you have bandages in case you fall? And - "

"Dad, I know what I'm doing," she assured him.

"Be careful, Lily! And remember, we'll be waiting right here to pick you up at four, okay?"

"Yes, Mum, I will...I promise." She was getting awfully tired of her overly protective parents. I'm eleven, aren't I? I can do this myself, she thought. "Love you!" she called back.

Yet as the car zoomed away, she suddenly felt alone and unsure. London in its entirety swept over her, its dizzying buildings and skyscrapers taller than what she had ever imagined, and she no longer did she feel her heart beating with temerity. The reigns were in someone else's hands now, and she was being led and swept along by the currents of city life, one of endless exhilaration and high spirits.

But contrasting the modern surroundings was The Leaky Cauldron. Lily thought she had never seen such a dilapidated building, and in the middle of London at that! If this is what the entrance to Diagon Alley looked like, she shuddered to think what sort of conditions the shops were in. Nevertheless, she pushed the door open, acting entirely nonplussed.

Lily had to clench her eyes shut to prevent herself from screaming. Those...what were they wearing? And why were they looking at her? Oh, did she really look that eccentric in her "normal" clothing? It is normal, isn't it? Just calm down, calm down, she thought. I'll just tell them I accidentally walked in here...I was looking for the, um, bookstore.

"Young lady!" the bartender called from the other side of the shop. "What are you doing here?"

Say something!

"I'm looking for Diagon Alley," she sputtered, conscious of how foolish she sounded. "Is - is this the right place?"

"Ah, going to Hogwarts?"

Her tense self relaxed, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, she could breathe again. All of these people, she thought, why, they're just like me! They're...wizards too. And they're probably just as weird as I am, if not more.

"Yes. I read in a book that the entrance to the alley is through this pub."

Laughter filled the bar.

"You're a clever one, aren't you?" a women nearby said, drinking something Lily tried to ignore.

For such a place in disrepair, the pub seemed extremely popular. Dingy it was, but it was densely packed and no one seemed to acknowledge or even realize how filthy the place was. The cheery voices lifted her mood, even though she felt extremely out of place.

"Could you show me where to go?" she asked, feeling a little braver.

"Just follow me," the bartender said, placing the glass he was polishing down on the bar. "By the way, my name's Tom, and if you need me again, you know where to find me."

Lily willed to move her legs forward, and they took her out the back door of the pub and into what appeared to be a deserted garden. Two overflowing trashcans lounged in the corner, their pungent scents making her cringe. Enclosing it were brick walls on either side. She didn't see how this could possibly lead to Diagon Alley, but Tom took out his wand - that's what she assumed it was - and tapped the bricks on one of the walls in a peculiar fashion.

"Now," he whispered. "Watch this. Bet they don't have anything like this in the Muggle world." Squinting her eyes to see if anything subtle had occurred, Lily was stunned to see the bricks...moving? They wriggled a bit at first, but then parted to the side, revealing -

"Diagon Alley," Tom proclaimed, a contented look drifting onto his face. "Always makes me happy looking at it. Anyway, if you've got problems with anything, just come back this way and I'll help you out."

He reentered the pub as Lily stared on, flabbergasted, eyes gleaming with surprise and euphoria. So I'm not the only freak in the world, she thought ironically, knowing how Petunia would react if she saw so many cloaked wizards in one place. Diagon Alley itself winded and curved, undulating as it went. Shops lined either side, and the noise emanating from the crowd was extraordinary. She caught odd snippets of conversation ("Mum, I've run out of unicorn hairs!" "Can't you just get me the Comet? I don't really need the Silver Arrow!"), and although she was at the top of her English class, half of what she heard was incomprehensible. And to enter this staggering and alive world...all she had to do was just walk through the archway...put one foot through then the other...

Not looking back, she Lily took a step forward.

But she was immediately pushed along the street by the massive throng of grumpy adults and dancing children. Struggling to even find air, she fought her way to the side of the street, bending over and panting, wiping the thin layer of sweat that had begun to develop on her forehead. Suddenly, her knees gave way, and she found herself rolling on the sidewalk, retching. A foul smell had reached her and it overpowered her tender nostrils. As she sensed a blackness encasing her in unconsciousness, someone's footsteps approached her.

"Are you okay?"

It was a woman's voice, and it sounded like she wasn't any older than Mrs. Evans.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily croaked, grimacing and pulling herself onto her feet with the aid of the stranger.

"Here, let me clean you up." She pulled out a wand from her purse and pointed it straight at Lily. "Scourgify!" Her soiled T-shirt was magically clean again, and she watched on in curiosity as the pile of vomit disappeared with a single wave of the wand. She knew it at once.

Magic.

"Thanks," Lily said, blushing. "My name is Lily."

"Going to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, my first year."

"Our son Remus is going as well," she answered happily, motioning for a dejected-looking boy to come. "We're very lucky to have been able to send him there...due to certain circumstances. The headmaster is really very nice, doing what he did for us."

"Mm, yes," Lily replied, not paying much attention to the woman but looking at her son, who was now standing by his mother.

Remus, it seemed, was a bit on the slim side, and only a little taller than herself. His thin light brown hair reflected the late morning light, and she thought he would look more his age had those dark creases not been under his eyes, which were cast down politely. With them, he looked positively wraith-like.

"Remus, say hi to Lily," her mother said sternly.

"Hey," he replied shyly, looking down at his feet. "I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."

"I'm Lily, Lily Evans."

She held out her hand as a customary introductory gesture, but Remus seemed to have doubled back before, and he seemed caught unaware. What, she thought, confused, is there anything wrong with my name? Evans...I've been told it's pretty common sounding.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you," he eventually said, shaking her hand and then pulling his hand behind his back, looking at the nearby shops with a feigned interest.

Trying to brush away his odd actions, she asked him, "Have you done your shopping yet?"

"No, we just got here - "

"That's great then," Mrs. Lupin interrupted briskly, pulling out a heavy bag (Lily suspected it was full of money) and handing it to Remus. "You and Lily can go shopping together. I'll be waiting at Fortescue's for you two, okay?"

It took an exchanged glance between the two students before either of them could say yes. Mrs. Lupin hurried off, and an awkward peace remained between Lily and Remus.

"So, where do you want to go first?" she asked quietly. He mumbled something in return, but Lily didn't exactly catch his answer. "Pardon?"

"I said that you can go anywhere you want to first. I'll just follow you," he croaked hoarsely.

Ugh, why did I have to be stuck with someone like him? He doesn't look like he could say anything for himself.

"Look," Lily snarled, her shortcomings getting the better of her tongue, "no one made you come with me. I'm sure your mum wouldn't mind if you joined her at Forte...whatever it is!" Head held high, she stomped off, joining the swarm of shoppers. It wasn't long, though, before her conscience caught up with her. How could I have been so mean to him? He...maybe he needs someone to help him. He doesn't look too happy. Overcome with shame, Lily ran back to him. "Oh, I didn't mean it!" she moaned. "I was just...I don't know...I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, it's easy to say things like that to me, isn't it?" he snapped, showing the first bit of true emotion, albeit negative, since their meeting.

"God, I seriously didn't mean that! Honestly, I didn't! I just sometimes get critical of other people - "

"No harm done," Remus breathed, hands in his pockets. "None at all, okay? Forget this ever happened."

She stood back, perplexed. Could someone really just disregard something like that? Lily knew she'd never be able to hold such composure and poise. Although people said the greatest gift you can give is mercy to those who deserve punishment, she could envision herself brewing herself a storm if someone had ever said such words to her. No, Remus must be joking. No one could treat such a thing so lightly.

"Stop playing with me," she pouted. "I'm really really sorry."

"I know that!" he laughed, the happiness making him look less fraught and troubled. "You've told me already, and many times too! So, where was it you were headed to?"

Lily pulled out her supply list and showed it to Remus.

"Well, I've got to get all of this, but I don't have any Wizarding money."

"Wow, you've got Muggle money!" he exclaimed, but lost his cheeriness at once. "Oops, I shouldn't have said that."

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"I don't..." he said, stumbling over his words, "I don't want you to...oh, never mind. So, you're going to Gringotts?"

"That is the bank, right? D'you know the way there without having to look at those maps? They do seem awfully confusing."

"Yeah. My parents have taken me there a few times. Let's go."

Experienced with handling crowds, he led Lily in and out of everyone, deftly avoiding wand points and swinging shopping bags. She was awed at the dexterity this boy possessed, and by the time they reached the bank's marble exterior, she had managed to get smacked on the side of the head only once.

"Muggle banks definitely aren't as pretty as this one," Lily sighed, surveying the remarkable structure.

"There are a lot of them, though, right? Muggle banks?"

"Three of them in my town alone, and where I live is pretty small."

"Well," Remus explained, "this is the only bank we've got, so I guess we need to make up for it."

Lily suppressed a nasty little grin.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Shall we go inside?"

Gringotts' interior was just as noteworthy and marble-covered as the external. High desks were propped up in two straight rows on either side, and sitting at them were -

"Goblins," Remus whispered. "Never get on their bad side, I can tell you that. And keep your voice down. They don't like loud noises." She kept that in mind as she thought about what an angry goblin might look like. Ever the kind one, he guided her to a nearby desk. A plague hung on it that read, "New Account Applicants." "Lily," he urged, "ask him for one!"

"A what?" she spat back, keeping her tone quiet.

"An account!"

"Right!" Feeling a bit queasy, she turned to the rather strict-looking goblin that was busy scribbling something on a sheet of parchment and cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me, sir?" It showed no sign of having heard or seen her. Clearing her throat once more and raising her voice slightly, she repeated, "Excuse me, sir?"

This time, he placed his quill down and peered down at Lily, sporting a bored look.

"New account?" he grumbled.

"Yes," she said firmly.

"Fill these application forms out, please."

Stuffing a leaflet of papers into Lily's arms, he engaged himself with whatever he had originally been working on again.

"Yeah?" she muttered to herself. "I'll fill 'em out...if you told me how to."

But though she never had to fill any such forms before, they were pretty much straightforward, excluding one specific question.

"Remus? Could you come over here for a second? This question, it says: 'Check off your blood type.' What sort of question is that?" She looked back down at the possible answers: pureblood, half-blood, or mudblood. And she was the one who thought blood types could only be letters. "This is so confusing. I don't get it at all! Remus? Could you help?"

"It's...you check off mudblood," Remus said slowly, but his face blanched and contorted in pain and - was that sympathy?

"What does that mean? What's a mudblood?" Lily asked, her face buoyantly joyous, her expression contrasting that of her friend's. "Hmm?"

"Someone with..." His face fell. "I don't know how to explain it, Lily. I'm sorry."

"Then how did you know what to answer?" she demanded.

"Okay, fine. A mudblood is...I don't know how to say it." He buried his face his hands, trying to come up with the most clement way of saying it. "It's someone who has Muggle origins...like you," he said finally.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, comprehension dawning on her face.

With a flourish, she checked off that box, signed her name, and marched up to the desk, brandishing her forms. Lily handed the unhappy goblin the pounds she had saved up exchanged them for the strangest coins she had ever laid eyes on. After leaving in her vault (number 827) her initial deposit, she and Remus headed out the door, each holding a jangling bag filled with money that pleaded to be spent.

"Where do you want to go first?" said Lily, feeling like she owed her friend a favor.

"Let's do our shopping in the order the list has them."

"So that would mean we'd have to get our robes first, right?"

"Yup, and Madam Malkin's is right over there," he said, waving his hand to a shop two doors down.

"Malkin," Lily guffawed. "That's such a funny name!"

As they were being fitted with their robes, she prattled on about amusing incidents that had happened to her when she had gone shopping.

"Oh, and there was this once where my sister kept trying to poke me. I'm really ticklish, so she poked me in the stomach and I sort of tumbled into the nearest rack of clothing. I remember mum was kind of pleased, but the store manager wasn't. I'll never forget how angry he looked."

Remus smiled a bit at Lily's anecdotes, his weary face lighting up. To him, it seemed that she was the person who would abandon all caution and delve into whatever it was she wanted. Such an attitude would be helpful when entering a world as complex as that of the Wizarding world, but he feared for her. Recklessness, especially coming from someone of her background, would have to be reigned in and kept under constant watch. He didn't think she - she that dazzled with energy and vigor - would be able to have such self-control. His jaw hardened. His first year might be a little harder than what he had expected.

Nevertheless, he felt ashamed at thinking this. Immediately labeling her as a carefree and ignorant child without any care in the world wasn't giving her enough credit. He had seen the terror she could feel as well, having observed her fall spontaneously ill after entering Diagon Alley alone, probably simply due to being overwhelmed; he couldn't blame her for it. And the fortitude with which she faced it. He thought all girls were weepy little creatures, crying if anything was out of place, yet she had been able to bear it all without shedding a tear. Still, she was his burden now. Remus would never understand how he felt obliged to remain watchful for her sake (after all, she was...no, don't think of it like that). There was something horribly incorrect about the image of this headstrong girl pushing her way into a world that might not accept her, and he had been the first of his kind to become acquainted with her.

"Remus? Is anything wrong? You look tired."

"Nothing's wrong," he quickly answered, breaking away from his reverie.

"She's done, anyway," Lily said. "She's only packing them for us, and I've already paid."

Thinking how stupid he was to have forgotten about paying for his clothes and musing over Lily instead, Remus hopped off the stool he had been standing on and approached Madame Malkin, apologizing profusely.

"Not a problem," she said cheerily as he handed her a few coins. In exchanged, she gave him two packages wrapped in brown paper. "Now, this one here's for you, and the other you can give to your friend, alright? Have a nice day!"

The traffic in Diagon Alley had lessened significantly since most of those that had been milling around were taking a lunch break. Remus had meekly mentioned the notion of resting to eat a little something, but Lily was much too excited to bother with something as petty as lunch. This is what she had been looking forward to: the course books.

Flourish and Blott's being located right next to Madam Malkin's, she easily sprinted the short distance to its entrance and threw the door open, dashing inside, completely oblivious of anything else but the books in sight. If I ever had a private library, Lily thought, it would have to be modeled after this. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered the entire perimeter of the shop with polished sliding ladders attached to them. Shop representatives were plentiful, and some were leading lost and confused customers to the right section. Gilded titles shone from the spines of books of various sizes and degrees of thickness, and there was one section marked off. Upon closer examination, all the books she was required to buy could be found on this shelf alone.

Wizards, she thought, definitely place more value on their books. At her elementary school, the books were carelessly handled and in need of replacement. Due to her need to appease her insatiable appetite for reading and books while fitting under the tight budget she had, Lily had opted to buy used books as opposed to their shiny trade paperback editions she so desired. Here, the books were leather-bound and stamped with gold, ribbons hanging from their spines - the absolute stereotypical novel she dreamed of. And they were in reach of her fingertips. Shivering with delight, she carefully pulled a copy of The Art of Potion Brewing from the shelf, absorbing the perfection and precision with which the book had been bound and published.

"Look at this, Remus!" she squealed, pointing to the page she had opened to. "The picture...it's moving!"

"Shh, Lily!" he insisted, glancing around to see if anyone had heard. "Be quiet!"

"But look at it! It's fantastic!"

Mesmerized by the self-stirring cauldron, she stared on, and Remus was once again reminded of how little she knew of the Wizarding world...and how potentially harmful it could be. He was aware he would have to tell her sometime for it was an unavoidable and inevitable fact of life, but his heart melted, seeing how purely ecstatic Lily was, and he couldn't bring himself to say what was required of him. Better someone like myself tell her, he thought glumly.

They chose out their books together, chortling as they went. Fond of the moving pictures, Lily made a point to see the photographs of the books' authors and ended up shrewdly mentioning Newt Scamander looked quite reptilian. Observant of the cover's colors, she noticed they were all monotones and not printed with an ornate design like Muggle books. Biographies being the exception, they hadn't any pictures on the front and only a bold title.

A History of Purebloods was strangely attractive, although its cover was an inky black color without even a picture to brighten its somberness. While Lily didn't mind the color, seeing nothing but it was entirely too morbid for her. Its author, Karena Fidellalessa, Lily thought, would not have looked out of place in the court of Versailles during the ancien régime. With dark hair flowing past her shoulders and a pursed mouth, she carried a very aristocratic air. The title, too, was baffling. "Purebloods"? Although she recalled seeing that word on her Gringotts account application form, she hadn't any idea as to what it meant. She almost asked Remus again, but having pestered him so often already, Lily decided she would be able to understand it all better after reading it and attending a few classes.

Remus had already purchased his set of books and was waiting patiently for Lily finish examining her own.

ldquo;I'm sorry, I didn't know you were done!" she said, looking disappointed. "These books are just so interesting...well, I guess I should pay for them so we can leave."

"Just take your time," he assured her. "And, if you care, which I think you do, you can take a look at some of the other sections of the store. I'm sure you'd be able to find something you'd want to read."

Heeding his idea, Lily and Remus wandered upstairs, where it was slightly less crowded. He surmised she would immediately attack the "Spell Books" section with full enthusiasm, but he frowned quizzically as she meandered over to the "History" section. Not being acquainted with anyone who found the past a bit interesting, he was taken aback by the zeal she displayed to what he considered the most boring topic of all.

"You like history, I take it?" he asked wryly.

"I absolutely love it!" Lily shouted, not catching his sarcastic tone. "It's the only thing I really loved to in school, but they don't seem to have any books on the French Revolution."

"The what?"

"You've never heard of the French Revolution?" she asked wide-eyed. "I thought...oh, never mind. I guess I'm just a history nut then, but there's nothing wrong with that," she added. "Or do they not teach you Muggle history in whatever school you went to?"

Remus shook his head.

"Never saw the point."

"What school did you go to? Is there a Hogwarts for Toddlers or something?"

"They don't call it that, but you could say it that way, I guess. Dumbledore set up an elementary school for children of magical descent, and I think it's pretty far from Hogwarts. Didn't want too many magic schools crowded in one, I guess."

"What did they teach you there?"

"Nothing." He grinned. "I never paid attention...and I was sick a lot...when I was younger," he attempted to say in a semi-nonchalant fashion, but Lily noticed his face twitch unpleasantly when he mentioned being ill constantly. "Um, so, anyway, if you want a good history book to start out with, I guess I'd have to recommend Hogwarts, A History. It'll give you a good background about the school and a few other things."

Catching a copy directly in front of her, she grabbed it and threw it on top of her already staggeringly high book pile ("Why do you have a copy of Charms on the Side?" "So I can learn more, of course, and take advantage of the resources available to me"), basking contently in the shocked expression of the cashier as she handed him the money. Bet he's never seen a person who actually likes to read, she thought.

From selecting a wand (willow, ten inches and a quarter, swishy, and according to the storekeeper, very good for charm work) and scooping out dragon liver, Lily found a level of satisfaction in shopping she never could have found in a Muggle mall. Everything was so novel to her, and she had to try it all, including suspicious-looking samples being handed out by a witch parading around Diagon Alley.

"They were really good," she maintained stubbornly as they strolled down the alley to Fortescue's.

"Fine," Remus huffed, who was now acting a good deal more open than when Lily had first met him, "but when you're sick, don't come running to me."

As they reached the parlor, Lily commented that Mrs. Lupin had yet to arrive, or if she had ever been there in the first place, to come back. Shrugging apprehensively, she suggested they take a seat and wait. However, in the blazing afternoon heat, all the tables were occupied, and despite the ice creams everyone was consuming, the boisterous chatter only added to the temperature.

"Look, over there," Remus said, pointing to a small boy sitting alone, kicking at the dirt with his shoes. "Think he'd mind if we sat next to him? It's the only place that's sort of open."

In a foil of the bold way she had been acting all day, Lily approached the boy. He wasn't "small," as Remus had pointed out, merely a bit on the skinny side, and she knew he would be at least a few inches taller than her had he been standing up. A pair of round and thin glasses adorned his clear hazel eyes, and his shock of black hair could've done with a bit of grooming. Then again, if anyone tried to pull a comb through it, its teeth would probably snap off in the tangled mess of hair.

"Excuse me?" she said softly, and the boy's blank face turned to her. "There isn't another empty table, so my friend Remus and I were wondering if we could sit here."

"No problem," he sighed, stretching and closing his eyes lazily. "It's been pretty boring 'round here all day."

"Have you really been here since morning?" she asked, sitting down and motioning for Remus to join her. Suddenly, the boy threw back his head, engulfed in wild laughter, his eyes misting up in mirth. "What?" she demanded furiously, wondering how this boy had the gall to laugh at her when they were barely knew each other. "What's so funny?"

"You're the most literal person I've ever met," he managed to spit out through his amusement (now tapering off). "But, since you want me to answer your question, I haven't been here since morning. I've only been here for - oh, I don't know - maybe half an hour or so, but I have absolutely nothing to do."

For a moment, the relaxed demeanor of this boy mirrored that of Karena Fidellalessa's. He had that same aura to him, that supercilious manner of comfort, that everything was right with this world.

"My mum and dad are at Madam Malkin's," he continued. "They've been granted an audience with the Minister of Magic and need new dress robes. Always have to look good, don't we, us purebloods?" He rolled his eyes, propping his feet up on the table. "I don't see why blood matters anyway...and what's your name?"

"I'm Lily..." she spoke slowly, prudently leaving her last name out.

"James Potter," he said, shaking her hand. "And you?" he asked, turning to Remus.

"Remus Lupin."

"So you two already know each other?"

"We sort of...bumped into each other this morning," Lily finished uncomfortably, the memory of her vomiting in front of his mum carrying a burning shame. "Then we did our school shopping together."

"My mum said she'd be here to meet us," Remus said, peering into the street as if his mother was coming, "but she hasn't showed up yet."

"You're going to wait for her then?"

"I guess."

The three of them stared around, stupefied by the intense late summer heat. Lily, in the middle of pondering why London was usually hot today, was caught off guard when James, sounding very refreshed, began talking.

"Did you go to Gambol & Japes today?" he inquired, a maniac look flashing in his eyes. Not waiting for a response or even a reaction, he rambled on. "They had this thing on sale - bloody cool - and it comes in a pair. You give one of them to another person and you keep on for yourself. They're totally silent and they know what your thinking - magic, it's amazing, isn't it? - and it transports your own thoughts to the thing the other person has and - "

"Breathe, James!" Lily muttered, feeling that if she had to withstand another second of this spoiled boy's ranting, she would die.

"But they're bloody amazing! They can actually - "

"I don't care, anyway," she spat, liking him less and less. "They're just like walkie-talkies anyway."

"What are those?" James asked.

"Something like what you're talking about," she groaned, turning to Remus. "This guy is really annoying me," she murmured. "Can't we sit somewhere else?"

"No one's left since we came," he said, sounding just as vexed as Lily.

She checked her watch: three o'clock. There was still an hour to go before she had to be in front of The Leaky Cauldron, waiting to be picked up. How she was going to survive the next sixty minutes she could not fathom. Shifting around in her seat, she retrieved Hogwarts, A History to begin reading, but the sweat pouring in her eyes made the words very hard to see. In a matter of minutes, she found herself reading, "Though no one knows on which date exactly Hogwarts was founded, most historians place it - " over and over again. Defeated, she slammed it on the ground, attracting the stares of James and Remus.

"Lily, just calm down," James urged, though he was in no position to say anything of the like.

"I can't! I'm so bored and it's too hot to even read!" she screamed, standing up and stomping into the alley again. "I'm going to find your mum, Remus, because I'm not going to sit and waste my time and do nothing for another hour!"

"Quiet down!" Remus said, running out to drag her back to the table and ignoring the reproachful stares from nearby customers. "And get off the road!"

"Why should I do that?" Lily shrieked, throwing off his arm. "There aren't any cars - "

"Yes, but only something worse," he gulped, cocking his head toward a large group of people that had just emerged from Gringotts. The lot of them had their heads thrown back in uproarious laughter, save for one little boy, who looked quite downtrodden with his limp hair bobbing up and down with each step. This little boy, though, was entirely passed over by Remus. His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper as he said, "The Blacks. I'll explain it to you later if you just get off the road."

Vexed her "perfect" day had turned her ill-tempered, she obediently followed him back to Fortescue's with her sight still fixed on "the Blacks," as Remus had called them.

"Okay," she stated as soon as she was seated, "now you owe me an explanation. What's so wrong about 'the Blacks'?"

To her surprise, James was the one to answer.

"They're a very powerful family, and they're, er, kind of judgmental of people who aren't like them."

"Translation, Remus?"

"Sorry, Lily, but I can't put it in any other way. What he said was true..."

"So they're like Britain's royal family?"

"Somewhat."

"But if the Queen was walking down the street, I'm sure her guards wouldn't be pulling me back just because the Queen was there. I know you have respect her, but her being there doesn't mean I can't walk where I want to. We don't live in the past anymore, you know that."

Choosing to ignore Lily, James asked her a question that, according to Wizarding etiquette, should have been asked when they first met.

"What's your surname?"

"My what? Why do you need to know that?" she yelped, hiding the fact her heart was hammering against her chest, afraid of the skeptical look she was sure to get.

"If you want to know more about the Blacks, you're going to have to tell me."

What's this, blackmail? she thought sardonically.

"Evans," she uttered loftily, trying to appear as if his question had left her entirely indifferent. Stunning her inwardly, James' expression only grew more intense and concentrated, giving his face a look of maturity it normally would not have attained. Not daring to breathe, Lily realized this boy, no matter how much of a child he seemed, held a store of knowledge greater than hers. Books can only teach you so much, she thought dispiritedly, and experience provides the rest. "What?" she exclaimed, exasperated, not knowing how her last name could carry such significance.

"That's exactly what. You're not a Black."

"I know I'm not a Black, but why should that matter at all?" she shrugged, leaning back on the table, as if without a care in the world.

"We'll have to tell you later," Remus said, his voice dropping to a threateningly low register. "My mum's here. Hey, Mum! Let me introduce you to James Potter."

"Oh, a Potter? And how is your father doing?"

"Fine, fine," he mumbled, his face burning.

Very put out she had missed the story, Lily tried her best to present a smiling figure, but the fatigue from walking around all day had at last set in, and maintaining a semblance of enjoyment was a trial. After Mrs. Lupin had bought them each an ice cream, James had thankfully taken over the conversation, informing them all of his purchases, including an avant-garde broomstick that, sadly, couldn't be used this year.

"I don't see why first years aren't allowed to have brooms of their own," he prattled on. "Dad told me there's a Quidditch Club or something along those lines, and it's made up mostly of first years since they didn't make their House teams. Actually, there are bound to be some of them that are better than the older players; they're just too afraid to try out. Well, I'm going to change that. I'm going to tryout and I'm going to make the Gryffindor team, and when I do, I'll tell all the first years they were morons not to tryout. Well, sure, a first year hasn't made the House teams in God knows how bloody long; still, I mean, really, some things you're just born with. I'm sure some of those seventh years just don't have them."

At this point, Lily was too embattled with aching limbs to take note of the term "Quidditch" and to reprimand him for his unconcealed arrogance. She felt her head drooping, her mind entering a state of utter peace and -

"Goodness, Lily!"

"Wha..."

Groggily raising her head off the table, she still didn't bother to open her eyes. It would make her work beyond her capacity, and the air was still thick with shouts.

"Don't you have to go home yet?" Mrs. Lupin fretted, trying to gently coax Lily awake but eventually fell back to shaking her shoulder violently.

"At four," she said almost inaudibly, throwing off the hand that gripped her.

"It's four-fifteen!"

No more goading was needed as Lily sprang awake, her eyes vigilant and searching for her shopping bags.

"Oh, God, it is?" she cried. "I'm fifteen minutes late! Sorry, but I really have to leave! Goodbye!" Arms full with her purchases, she sprinted back to the brick wall by The Leaky Cauldron, unaware she was crashing into countless window-shoppers. As she neared the entrance, Lily racked her brains, forcing herself to remember how the bartender had opened the wall. Something that involved a wand, she recalled, thrusting her hand into a random bag and hoping she would find her wand.

She hardly had time to marvel at her luck. Lily began to tap bricks here-and-there, but the brick wall remained immobile.

"COME ON!" she yelled, kicking it and soon regretting it as well. "OPEN, YOU - "

"What's all the racket over there?" a muffled voice answered from the other side. "You could be a little quieter. I swear the Muggles'll hear you at that volume. So what's this you want? You need me to let you in?"

"Yes, please!" The bricks parted to the side, and a mildly amused Tom appeared in front of her. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" she panted, an unspeakable relief settling over her.

"No problem, just don't forget how you do this again. Look."

He showed her the proper way of tapping the breaks, and after promising this information would never leave her, Lily was allowed to leave, her face flushed.

"There you are!" Mrs. Evans said, running over to hug her daughter. "We thought you had...you had disappeared or something."

"Sorry, Mum. I just lost track of time."

"So, was it fun?" she asked as they walked back to the car, eyeing the many bags.

"Oh, really. Wizards do know how to shop."

It wasn't until they had entered the highway did Lily remember she had forgotten to pay back Mrs. Lupin for buying her an ice cream.