Sometimes, nothing goes right and there is nothing to be done about it. Sometimes, people say the simplest of things, completely harmless phrases that set the largest of issues in motion. And sometimes, good things fall apart so that better things can fall together.

Of course, that is all easier said than done and easier done than recognized. And in the end, does any of it matter at all? People float in and out of other people’s lives daily, making little impact and never given a second thought. Some people stay in lives for years but never truly leave an imprint. And some people are there for a split second that changes a person life forever more.

He was never meant to be in her life for more than a moment or two and neither was ever supposed to impact the other. Somewhere, all outside plans got lost and shattered, setting the entire world on a new course on the whim of a girl in a yellow raincoat.

It was not even raining that day, it had not rained for weeks and the sky had no plans of allowing that fact to change. That did not stop her from dawning her sunshine yellow raincoat and prancing out to meet the world.

He was sitting at the bus stop, grumbling about the sun, the lack of rain, stupid Muggles who would not let him get his drivers license, even more stupid ministers who refused to let him Apperate to work, and every other topic under the sun. The bus was late, again, and he wanted to get on his way. Scanning the barren road, he did not notice the girl in the yellow raincoat approach the bus stop until she was sharing his bench.

Smiling, she swung her feet in a childlike fashion, enjoying the way her beat up black converse peaked out from under her loose jean pants. The bus could not arrive fast enough as he looked pointedly away from his new neighbor. This was not someone he wished to be associated with, but then again, no one who rode the bus was someone he wished to be seen with. Only strange Muggles rode the bus, clearly demonstrated by this girl.

The bus finally rolled into view, and that is where the boy and the girl in the yellow raincoat should have parted ways. However, the girl in the yellow raincoat changed everything the moment she turned to the boy and said,

“The world is not all doom and gloom, Derek.”

“How the hell do you know my name?” demanded the boy, glaring at the girl in shock.

“Lucky guess,” shrugged the girl. “You look like a Derek.”

With that, she jumped off the bench and hopped up the bus steps, waving to the driver before taking a seat several rows back. Derek stormed after her, enforcing the change life was taking by grabbing the seat next to her while he continued to question.

“What do you mean I look like a Derek?” he persisted. “You can’t just walk up to people and call them whatever you feel like. People have names for a reason, you know! And what if my name hadn’t been Derek? You would have looked pretty stupid then, wouldn’t you?”

“You know,” said the girl in the yellow raincoat mildly. “Life isn’t all about what you look like.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

“No, I have plenty to say, but you seem rather intent on continuing your lecture, so I thought I would let you.”

“Yes, well, good!” stuttered Derek, flustered by her response. “Because I’m not done! You are the strangest person I have ever met! Why are you wearing a raincoat when it hasn’t rained in weeks and it’s not even cloudy out?”

“I like this jacket,” shrugged the girl. “It’s a fun color.”

“It’s a raincoat and it’s not raining!”

“Well spotted! This has been fun, but unfortunately, this is my stop, so I shall leave you to your own little doom and gloomy musings. Have a nice day, and remember what I told you.”

She scooted past him and made her way to the door as the bus screeched to a stop.

“Wait!’ shouted Derek. “What’s your name?”

She turned back and smiled at him. “It doesn’t matter, I’m just some girl in a yellow raincoat.”

With that, she slipped off the bus and crossed the sidewalk to a coffee shop where she disappeared. The bus pulled away as Derek stared out the window to the place where the girl had disappeared. He was so lost in his own world that it took a moment before he heard the driver yelling at him.

“Buddy!” yelled the driver for a third time.

“What?” mumbled Derek, blinking.

“The girl with the yellow raincoat,” said the driver in his rough voice. “She rides the bus every Tuesday. Nice girl, she is, but strange. I would watch out for her if I was you. Ain’t this your stop?”

“What? Oh, yes, it is.”

Derek got off without another word and walked to his office building. Two stops ago, the girl with the yellow raincoat had gotten off the bus and disappeared into one of the many coffee shops littering the city. Assuming that his car was repaired by the end of the week, he would never see her again, nor did he want to. She was different and it was uncanny, the way she had guessed his name and commented on his near silent ramblings. The way her eyes pierced his, it had been as if she was seeing into his soul while he drowned in her sky blue eyes. The bus driver was right, he would watch out for her.

Girls in yellow raincoats were not of interest to men who argued for a living, especially not undercover wizards.

Who are you, anyway?


The day sped by in a blur of phone calls and countless interruptions. Derek was incredibly busy, being a lawyer meant paperwork all of the time, and by the time he was walking to catch the bus home, he had forgotten all about the girl in the yellow raincoat. It was getting dark quickly and the streets were beginning to transform into a dangerous place. Derek was not worried. He did not stand out, he was not different, and for blending in, he was granted instant immunity.

“No!” echoed a cry from a side alley. “Leave me alone!”

“Shut up!” hissed another, rougher voice.

Derek paused, squinting into the gathering gloom, attempting to see what was going on. It was the first voice that had made him stop; it was eerily familiar yet he could not place it. Then he spotted the yellow raincoat.

The girl in the yellow raincoat had her back to a wall and was surrounded by three large men. The men dwarfed her, making her appear more childlike and helpless.

“Go away!” yelled the girl, her eyes darting from one face to another, scanning for the weakest link and an escape.

“Don’t be like that, sweetheart,” said the middle man, advancing on her.

“No!”

The man closest to Derek snatched at the yellow sleeve as the girl landed a punch solidly on the middle attacker’s nose.

With no other thought, Derek found himself propelled into the alley, ramming into the man closest to the girl. The rest happened too fast and it became apparent that the only way to end it without magic was to get back onto the street and into the public. Derek found the girl in the yellow raincoat’s hand and dragged her to the alley entrance. They stumbled into the street and took off running, stopping only when they were several blocks away and safely on a bus.

“You’re bleeding,” said the girl after a moment. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.

With shockingly gentle hands, she wiped away most of the blood on Derek’s face before dabbing it on the gash above his eyebrow. Derek flinched and snatched the dirtied cloth out of her hand, applying pressure on his own.

“What the hell were you doing in an alley with those guys?” demanded Derek. "And why on earth do you have a handkerchief in your pocket?"

The girl jumped at the harshness of his voice. Her blue eyes were wide and scared but her face was calm and composed. She said nothing, just stared back at the man who had helped her.

“I’m sorry,” said Derek after a moment. “Are you alright?”

The girl in the yellow raincoat nodded and then looked away.

“Thank you,” she muttered.

“Um, yeah, sure, look, are you sure you are alright?”

She nodded, still not looking at him.

“Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Pembrooke Quinevere Natalie Wright,” said the girl in the yellow raincoat. “But most people just call me Lily.”

“Lily?” repeated Derek. “How did anyone get Lily out of all of that?”

“My mother did not want me to have a common name so that when I was growing up, I wouldn’t be one of several. Pembrooke Quinevere Natalie Wright is quite a mouthful and my grandmother used to call me Little Lily because she liked flowers. Lily stuck.”

“Lily,” said Derek slowly, as if trying it out to see how it fit. “Alright. Lily, what happened tonight?”

“I was walking to the bus stop,” said Lily quietly. “I had been at the post office. And then these guys game up to me, talking and walking around me. They herded me into the alley before anyone could notice. I don’t know what they were planning on doing, and I’m glad I didn’t find out. Thank you, Derek, for everything you’ve done tonight. You didn’t have to stop. Why did you?”

“What? How could I not? What type of person would I be if I just walked by, looked the other way?”

“You would have been just like everyone else.”

“Well…”

The bus drove on, stopping to lighten its load every so often. Derek kept throwing concerned looks at Lily, who was shivering slightly next to him. Aside from that, she showed no signs of the stress of the evening and at the last stop, the stop where they had met that morning, she hopped off in much the same fashion that she had boarded the bus so many hours before. Turning, she smiled up at Derek.

“This is where we part ways, fine sir,” she said. “Thank you, again, for all your help.”

“Where do you live?” asked Derek, longing to keep the conversation going for as long as he could.

“As much help as you have been,” said Lily, “I do not know you very well. But I live down this way.”

“Oh, right.”

“Well, good night.”

With that, the girl with the yellow raincoat sauntered down the street, the brightness of her coat glowing in the street lamps. Derek could not help but wonder who she was, this girl who stood out for more reasons than her odd clothing choices. But alas, there would be no way to find out, nor should he want to. They were never supposed to have known the others name, let alone know the other as a person with emotions and thoughts. Now was the time where their paths ought to have split again, the fork that appeared when the first one was missed.

As Derek turned and strolled towards his home, work troubles began crowding his mind again, but in one corner remained Lily and in another, was the name of the coffee shop she had disappeared into that morning.

This time, Derek chose to deviate from the set path and make a new trail, one that included the girl in the yellow raincoat for a little while longer.