So welcome to the sequel of "The Ancient Book of Elves", my first Lily Evans story. If you haven't read that, I recommend that you do so before continuing with this story, or a lot of things won't make sense. You can find a link to that story on my author page.
For those of you that read along with me as I posted the Ancient Book of Elves, thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to continuing our relationship here! As usual, I will be reading and responding to comments with each new update. I will also try to update every few days, but no promises. I have about half of this story written, and when I catch you all up to where I've written, it may be a bit of time between updates.
The usual disclaimer applies. Anything you recognize is JKR's. Anything you don't is mine. Either way, please don't pretend this story is yours when it isn't. Not that you would. But somebody did with Ancient Book of Elves, so now I have to reserve my rights on everything.
Without further ado…
Chapter 1: Diagon Alley
"Lily! Are you ready dear? We'll be leaving for Diagon Alley in a few minutes!" Lily Evans looked up from the book she had been reading as her mother's voice floated up the stairs to her. She closed the book quickly and hurried over to her trunk to find her hat. She was going to buy school supplies today, and she had arranged it with Alice and Amelia, her two best friends, so that they would all meet in Diagon Alley that day.
"I'll be right down, Mum! I've just got to find my hat!" Lily replied, pulling parchment, textbooks, robes and any other manner of school supply from her trunk and tossing it haphazardly behind her in a bid to find her hat. Lily attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but she had been home for the summer and as her parents were muggles, there had been no reason to wear her wizarding clothing. She had sorely missed it, however, and since they were going to be in the wizarding world today, she had decided to dress like the witch that she was. She finally found her hat at the bottom of the trunk, wrinkled and crushed slightly from the weight of the items that had been stowed on top of it. Lily held it out in front of her and looked at it in disappointment. If she were at school, she would simply perform a straightening charm, but that was out of the question since there were very strict rules about doing magic outside of her school, so it looked like she'd have to settle for just wearing her robes for the day.
She quickly threw her supplies back into her trunk and turned to survey her reflection critically in the mirror. Striking emerald green eyes twinkled out at her from a smiling pale face that was covered with freckles as a result of all the time she'd spent outside that summer. Her red hair was thrown haphazardly back into a braid, and several strands were already slipping out and falling into her eyes. Lily noticed none of this, however. What she saw, instead, was that her robes, which had already been getting short by the end of last term, were now far too short, and looked a little tight in the arms and across the chest. She shrugged and turned to head downstairs. They'd have to do for today, anyway. She didn't have time to change, and her mum and sister were already waiting for her.
"It's about time, Lily! Heavens, I hope we don't miss the train. We were supposed to leave five minutes ago. We wouldn't have this problem if your father wouldn't have taken the car!" Lily caught Petunia rolling her eyes and stifled a laugh. Harry Evans, Lily's father, was working, and so wasn't joining them for the expedition to Diagon Alley-a fact that Lily had discovered made her mother very nervous. Although she'd been with them when they had gone the previous summer, apparently the goblins at the wizarding bank, Gringotts, scared Elizabeth, and she'd been hoping to wait outside while Harry exchanged their muggle money for wizarding money. Since Harry wasn't going to be along, that particular task now fell to her, and Elizabeth's nerves about it were expressed in the form of a short-temper.
"I'm ready, mum," Lily said. In the week since Harry had found out that he wouldn't be able to accompany them, Lily and Petunia had learned to speak quietly and agree with whatever their mother said in order to avoid a row. They hurried out the door and began the walk to the underground.
By a stroke of luck, the train was running a few minutes late, and so the three Evanses caught it with plenty of time to spare. Once they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Lily pulled out her wand in excitement. Even though she wasn't really doing magic, she couldn't wait to use it again. They walked into the alley, and Lily tapped the appropriate bricks. Petunia couldn't help but gasp in amazement as an entrance opened up before them, and Lily laughed. Petunia hit her playfully on the arm. "Hush!" she exclaimed. "I don't get to see it every day like you do. Not yet, anyway! One more year."
"Let's go girls," Elizabeth snapped, setting a hand on Lily's and Petunia's shoulders and urging them forward. "Lily, you do have your supply list?" Lily nodded and followed quietly behind her mother. When they arrived at the bank, Lily offered to go inside and exchange the money for her, but Elizabeth steadfastly refused. "I'm not about to send you in there alone, Lily! Who knows what you might run into?"
Lily secretly thought that the goblins in Gringotts would be nothing compared with the danger she had found herself in last year when she had stumbled across a dark wizard's plot to become immortal. As it had turned out, it had been her and a classmate of hers, James Potter, that had ultimately been the two to stop him. Dumbledore had only mentioned the scarcest details to her parents, however, and for that she was grateful. Lily was nearly certain that if her parents knew the extent of the danger that she had been in, they would not have allowed her to return to school that year. Consequently, she just smiled, and said "See you in a few minutes, then!" before settling herself onto a step out front.
Petunia sat down beside her and Lily noticed that she couldn't stop looking around. Lily laughed, knowing exactly how she felt. Despite having been around magic for an entire term, she still occasionally found herself amazed by it. At the moment, there was a large group of wizards in front of them arguing about quidditch, which, Lily had decided, happened whenever a group of more than three wizards assembled anywhere, and had time to talk. Lily had made that assessment after noticing that whenever the boys in her class had a free moment, the subject of quidditch inevitably came up.
Off to their right, in front of a café, was a harried looking witch with two small boys. The children had apparently been fighting, and it seemed that the oldest one had caused the youngest to go flying backwards and land hard on a table. The witch was currently trying to sort out the mess with the occupants of the table on which her child had landed and, at the same time, make sure that her son was unharmed. In the meantime, the oldest boy was insisting that he hadn't done anything, and that the younger child had made himself fly through the air in order to get the older one in trouble. "Bet mum's glad she's never had to deal with anything like that!" Lily whispered to Petunia, pointing.
Petunia, however, had been looking elsewhere. "Is that a giant?" Petunia asked pointing down the alley. Lily looked up to where Petunia was pointing and saw a man who was nearly twice the size of a normal person, with wild looking hair and kind black eyes, walking down the street toward them.
Lily grinned, recognizing the Hogwarts' gamekeeper immediately. Even in the wizarding world, he stood out. She shook her head. "Nope," she said. "More likely half and half-real giants are at least 16 feet tall." Lily recognized in Petunia the same awe that she had felt when she'd first overheard one of her classmates state that fact. "His name's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts."
Lily stood up to make room for Hagrid as he began to make his way up the steps of Gringotts. "Hello, Hagrid!" she said, waving. Hagrid glanced down with a start before seeing Lily and Petunia standing there. "I'm Lily, Lily Evans. I don't know if you remember me but-," she began.
"O' course I remember yeh," he said with a chuckle. "I's not ev'ry night that a young lady like yerself comes knockin' on me door at midnight, askin' me to help her friends. How yeh' doin'? Stayin' out of trouble, I hope?"
Petunia turned to stare at Lily in amazement as Lily blushed. "Yes, sir. I've been doing my best."
"I'm glad ter hear it. Now if yeh don' mind, I'd best be getting along."
"Absolutely. It was good to see you again, Hagrid." Lily said.
"An' it was good ter see yeh! Can' wait 'till yeh lot get back to Hogwarts in a few weeks. It's too quiet there in the summer!" Lily laughed as Hagrid turned and made his way up the stairs. A door at the top opened, and Lily saw her mother walk out. Elizabeth uttered a small scream as she saw Hagrid, and stepped nervously out of his way. "'Scuse me, ma'am," Hagrid said, before disappearing inside.
As Elizabeth descended the stairs toward the two sisters, it was clear that she had been shaken by her experience in the bank. "Goblin thought I intentionally shorted him. As though I know the going conversion rate from pounds to galleons. And then I run into a giant on the way out…"
"Well actually, Mum, he wasn't a giant. Real giants are at least 16 feet tall," Petunia said, and then both girls broke into laughter at the expression on Elizabeth's face.
"Well dear me," she said, her hand fluttering to her throat. "I won't even ask how you know that, Petty. All the same, I'd rather be as far away from here as possible, in case the goblins decide to come after me!" She motioned for Lily and Petunia to follow her as she started to walk down the stairs.
Their first stop was at Fluorish and Blotts (the wizarding book store) for Lily's books, and then next up was the apothecary to replenish Lily's potion ingredients. Finally, they made their way into Madam Malkin's for Lily's new robes. "Now Lily, I've promised Petunia that I'd take her into the Quidditch supply shop to look at the broomsticks. You'll be okay here?"
Lily glanced at Petunia, who was looking at her hopefully. She grinned. "You know what, mum? I'd much rather you stayed here with me. I mean, I don't know Diagon Alley very well, and I'd hate to be finished, and then get lost trying to find you…" Lily winked at her mum.
Elizabeth smiled, and winked back. "Oh, you're right, sweetie. I hadn't thought of that. Well, I'm sorry, Petty. I'm just not sure we'll get time to go in there today, then. Maybe next summer?"
Petunia's hopeful look turned into a glare. "Lily! You'll be fine! Mum, she can just wait here for us."
Lily shook her head. "I really think mum should stay here," she began, but couldn't help but laugh at Petunia's expression, and Elizabeth joined her. Petunia hit her, hard, in the arm.
"Petty, don't hit!" Elizabeth admonished, but her eyes were still dancing.
"That wasn't funny, Lils! Come on, mum." She grabbed Elizabeth's arm and started pulling her towards the shop door.
"All right, dear. All right. Lily, we'll meet you back here, and then we're meeting your friends for lunch, aren't we? Okay, we won't be long!" Elizabeth called out as she allowed herself to be pulled onto the street.
"Lily Evans?" a voice from the back of the shop called. She stood up and walked over to the young witch wearing cobalt blue robes who had emerged into the waiting area. "Are you ready to get your measurements, then?" the witch asked.
Lily nodded, and the witch led her in back and told her to hop up one of the two platforms in the middle of the room. "All right dear," she said, "this won't take very long." Several measuring tapes began taking different measurements as the witch scribbled down various numbers. A few moments later, a second witch entered the room followed very closely by someone that Lily had not expected to see until September.
"Hiya Evans!" James Potter called out, stepping up on the platform beside her. "Didn't expect to see you here!"
"Oh, Jamey! Is this a friend of yours?" the witch whom James had followed into the room asked.
"Jamey?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.
Potter glanced at Lily, and smirked. "Yes, Jamey. And I suppose you could say that, Aunt Kathy, though I'm not sure how much she likes me." He smiled at Lily. "She did kiss me, though."
Lily flushed deeply as Kathy laughed. "Now why doesn't that surprise me? I don't suppose she'll be the last to kiss you, either. You've got the legendary Potter charm, and more than your fair share, too, I'd reckon."
"It was only on the cheek!" Lily protested. "And it wasn't that at all, ma'am," she added, to Potter's aunt. "We had a bet."
Potter grinned. "Which you lost. And so, you kissed me."
As he spoke, Petunia bounced into the room. She stopped mid-skip at Potter's words, and turned to glance at Lily in amazement. "First I find out that you're sneaking out at midnight and need a giant-"
"Half-giant," Lily corrected her automatically. "And what are you doing back already? I thought you'd be gone awhile."
Petunia ignored the second half of this statement. "Half-giant, then-to rescue you. And now you're kissing boys? And you didn't tell me?"
At this, Potter broke down into a fit of giggles, and he was laughing so hard that for a moment, his aunt had to stop measuring him. Petunia was now staring at Potter. "She kissed you?" Petunia asked, wrinkling up her nose a little. Potter nodded, and Petunia grinned.
Lily glared back and forth between Potter and Petunia. "On the cheek!" she exclaimed, all friendly thoughts that she had felt toward Potter since the end of last year disappearing with this reminder of why she had disliked him in the first place. When she had made the bet with him, she'd thought that maybe he didn't hate her after all, but she was now fairly certain that Potter had only made that bet with her so that if she lost, he'd have yet another reason to tease her. "And only because we made a ridiculous bet that I could never have expected to lose!"
Potter wiped a tear out of his eye and winked at Kathy and Petunia, further infuriating Lily. "Oh just admit it, Evans! You wanted to kiss me."
The witch who had been measuring Lily patted her on the shoulder. "That's you done, my dear."
"Not a moment too soon," Lily muttered, turning to gather up her packages. "Thank you, ma'am," she said to the witch who had measured her before walking toward the door that led to the front of the store.
"You'll admit it one day, Evans!" Potter called after her.
"Over my dead body!" she retorted. "Come on, Pet!" Petunia, who had been laughing almost as hard as Potter, turned to scurry after her. Their mother was waiting out front, and she quickly explained that the quidditch supply shop had been so full that they'd been unable to get inside. Once they had paid for Lily's new robes, they began to make their way over to the Leaky Cauldron, where they were meeting the Parkers and the Boneses for lunch. Before Lily was halfway through the door, there was a squeal, and she didn't have to look up to know that Alice was now barreling towards her in standard Alice fashion. A second later, Alice was giving her a huge hug.
"Lily!!!!!!!!!" Alice squealed when she finally released her. "I've missed you sooooo much!!!!! I haven't had anything to do all summer outside of the week that you and Amelia came to visit!" She grabbed Lily and hugged her again.
Lily laughed. "What about the week that you came to visit me, and the week that we both went to Amelia's?"
"All right, outside of those three weeks, then! It's been a long summer. And I'm starving, come on." She grabbed Lily by the hand, and pulled her over to their table, where Mr. and Mrs. Parker, and Anna were sitting. Anna looked a bit petulant, and Lily suspected that it was because there were any number of things she'd rather be doing right now than eating dinner with her parents, little sister, and little sister's friends. Mr. and Mrs. Parker greeted Elizabeth warmly, and Mr. Parker quickly engaged her in a conversation about muggle-transportation habits.
Lily glanced at the two adults and grinned. "Is he really doing a report for work?" she asked Alice.
Alice giggled. "No, he just said that so she doesn't think he's odd for asking. He wouldn't have to ask her, of course, but mum refuses to discuss any of it with him. I think she finds it a bit annoying after all of this time!"
As if on cue, Mrs. Parker cut in. "Oh for heaven's sakes, Andrew! Can you give Elizabeth a moment to decide on her meal?"
Lily and Alice giggled again, drawing a reproachful look from Mr. Parker. They both quickly turned their attention back to their menus. A few minutes later, Amelia arrived with her older brother, Edgar. "Now you heard what mum and dad said," Edgar was saying to Amelia. "You're to stay with your friends' parents, and meet me at the public floo network station by 5."
"I got it the first time mum told me, Edgar," she snapped. "And if I didn't get it then, I most certainly understand after the five times you've repeated it since." She had her arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face.
"Fine," he said. "Then I'll meet you at five, with our supplies. You don't need robes, do you? It doesn't look you've grown any!" He laughed as Amelia's look of annoyance turned to a glare.
"Is there any reason you haven't left yet, Ed?" she snapped.
"Because it's so much fun irritating you, shortstuff. But I have a lot of shopping to get done. Mum's expecting me to take care of it, so I suppose I'd better leave you." He turned and walked out the door and Amelia scanned the room. Lily and Alice stood up and waved at her, and she came trotting over, grinning.
Lily stood back to allow Alice to greet Amelia first, figuring there was less chance of injury that way. As soon as Alice was through hugging Amelia, and squealing how much she had missed her, Lily gave Amelia a hug, and the three girls sat down. Anna glared at Alice. "For Merlin's sake, Alice. Can't you be a little more demure in the manner in which you greet your friends?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "Forgive me, highness, if I have offended your noble-,"
"Girls!" Mrs. Parker said sharply. "Can you two make it through even one day without a fight?"
Alice grinned. "Not likely," she said.
Mrs. Parker sighed heavily. "Well please, try. Amelia, were your parents unable to make it, then?"
Amelia nodded. "Yes, ma'am. My dad got called into work, and my mum is at home with my little brother. Jake's sick right now."
"Well I do hope he feels better soon," Elizabeth offered.
"Me too," Amelia said emphatically. "He's so whiny when he's sick!"
Just then, the waiter arrived to take their orders, and after everyone had given their requests, the three girls began talking about Hogwarts and answering Petunia's questions about the magical world. The remainder of lunch was a pleasant affair, with all save Anna appearing to enjoy themselves immensely over the good food and friendly company.
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When lunch had ended, Lily, Alice and Amelia were given three hours to shop by themselves in Diagon Alley. Petunia had wanted to go with them, but Elizabeth had insisted that she was far too young to be allowed to wander the alley without supervision. Petunia had been none too happy about this, but Lily and her two friends quickly headed on their way, determined not to waste a second of the afternoon. The last thing that they heard as they walked through the entrance and back into Diagon Alley was Elizabeth trying to convince Petunia that she would at least to get to visit the quidditch supply shop if she stayed with her.
Their first stop of the afternoon was a wizarding jewelry shop. When Lily had been accepted at Hogwarts, her father had given her a locket that was a family heirloom. The locket didn't have a chain, however, so Lily had been unable to wear it the previous year. She had settled for carrying it around in her pocket throughout the year, but had nearly lost it more times than she could count. Lily had saved up her birthday and allowance money, and was hoping that she could find a magical chain to hold her locket. As Alice and Amelia wandered around to look at the different jewelry in the store, Lily approached the counter. An older wizard in navy blue robes turned around. "Can I help you?" he asked in a nasal, bored-sounding voice.
Lily decided almost immediately that she didn't particularly like the wizard, but he appeared to be the only person tending the shop at the moment. "Um, yes sir. I'm looking for a chain for a locket that I received as a gift."
The wizard nodded. "Very good. And what are the magical properties of the locket?" he asked.
Lily looked at him blankly. "I-I'm sorry, the magical properties?"
"Yes, yes," he said impatiently. "All of our jewelry is imbued with different magical properties. Our rings, for example, all have a perfect fit charm, so that they will never become to small, or too large. Our pendants are often charmed to stay continuously shiny. Most of our lockets are created in such a way that the giver of the gift can leave some part of themselves in the locket. The chains that we sell, therefore, are designed specifically to enhance the magical property of the jewelry, so if yours has any special properties, I'll best be able to find a chain for it by matching up the magic in the item with the magic in our chains."
Lily stared at him in awe. It had never really occurred to her to think about whether wizarding jewelry would differ from muggle jewelry. She shook her head. "No, sir. My locket was given to me by my father-a muggle. It possesses no magical properties."
The look of polite interest on the wizard's face turned into a sneer for the briefest of moments when she mentioned that her father was a muggle, and Lily sighed. It looked as though she had run across a blood-purist. That was probably the reason that she had disliked him so intensely upon first sight. "Well, I'm not sure that we have any chains suitable for muggle jewelry. Let me have a look at it."
By this time, Amelia and Alice had joined her at the counter. She held out her locket and the wizard took it to a nearby counter in back of the jewelry case behind which he was standing, in order to inspect it more closely.
"Did you just get that, Lily?" Alice asked curiously.
"No, my dad gave it to me last year. I just didn't have a chain, so I carried it in my pocket all year."
"Oh-that's what you were always slipping into your robes every morning!" Amelia said, comprehension dawning. "I always assumed it was a pocket watch."
Lily laughed. "Nope, just a plain old ordinary locket. It's quite old though, I think. My dad said that he got it from his mother. Supposedly it's been in the Evans family for quite some time. I'm rather nervous that I'll lose it eventually if I keep carrying it around loose."
By this time, the wizard had returned to where the girls were standing, wearing an expression that Lily couldn't discern. "I believe that I've got the perfect chain for you, young miss. I'll be back in just a moment." The wizard disappeared through a door near the back of the store.
The girls chatted quietly while they waited, and a few moments later, the wizard returned, carrying Lily's locket, which was now attached to a beautiful gold chain. "There you are, Miss Evans," he said, holding the locket out to her.
Lily took the locket, and stared at it in awe. It appeared that the old wizard had used a polishing charm on it, for it was now sparkling in the light of the store, and Lily noticed that the polish had revealed a tripod engraved upon the front of the locket that she hadn't noticed with all the grime and dirt that had covered it. She glanced at the wizard. "Thank you, sir! It's beautiful. I can't wait to show-hang, on. How did you know my surname?"
"You mentioned it, when you were telling your friends about your locket," he said. "I pay attention. This is a beautiful piece of jewelry, miss, one of the finest muggle-creations that I've come across. You'll want to take care of it."
Something about his tone of voice gave Lily pause, but he was now smiling at her expectantly. "I will, thank you," she said quickly. As she moved to fasten the chain around her neck, the clasp automatically opened, and then closed, locking the chain on. Lily quickly paid the man, and then the three girls exited the shop, blinking in the bright sunlight.
The girls spent the remainder of the afternoon browsing the different shops. Amelia bought a variety of candy to take home with her, while Alice bought a quidditch chaser training manual to use when she was practicing for her try-out in a few short weeks. Before Lily was ready, it was evening, and she was seeing Amelia off at the public floo-network, saying goodbye to Alice, and walking with her mum and sister toward the underground to catch the train home. Apparently, Petunia had forgiven Elizabeth for not allowing her to tag along with Lily and her friends, for the two chatted animatedly on the way home about everything that they had seen that day. Lily, however, sat quietly, listening to them chat, and thinking about how excited she was to return to school.