During the next few days, James and Lily found out a lot about Harry and the life he and his family lead. They learnt that Harry and his wife had been at Hogwarts at the same time, that they had fallen in love and started dating in Harry’s sixth and Ginny’s fifth year, and that they had gotten married 4 years later. They had also learnt that the girls would start their fifth year and Sirius his second when term started. They also rejoiced with Millie when she was made prefect, and laughed when Sirius and Christopher teased her about it, knowing very well that they were really happy for her.
James highlight came when Harry decided to give Sirius another Quidditch lesson. He had been looking forward to seeing Harry and Sirius fly since he first saw them, windswept from their flight. Lily, who never had been very interested in Quidditch, couldn’t help but to laugh at his almost childish enthusiasm, but even she thought it would be fun to see the house from the outside and maybe even figure out where it was. The latter turned out to be a lot easier than she would have thought, and even if she did not immediately recognise where they were, James did.
“It’s the Shrieking Shack, Evans!” he exclaimed the moment they got out of the house. Lily looked at the big beautiful house in front of her and then turned her eyes to her husband in absolute bewilderment.
“Not the house Evans! I do have eyes to see with, you know! Trust me, I know what the Shrieking Shack use to look like,” he said with a sarcastic grin. “I meant the place, Evans. This is where the Shrieking Shack used to be.” Lily still wasn’t sure that he was right, but when he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, she recognised Hogsmeade spreading out in front of her.
They were interrupted when Harry and Sirius hurried past them. They followed them to the back of the garden and watched them shoot up on their brooms. James got so ecstatic to see them fly that he himself left the ground without even noticing. When he did notice, both he and Lily were amazed. Neither one of them had considered the possibility of flying nor going through walls or anything else that were generally associated with ghosts. After all, they didn’t look like ghosts and even though they were dead, they had pretty much assumed that the laws of physics still applied to them.
James quickly got a hold on the techniques of flying, hilariously happy to have found a way to once again be soaring through the air. Lily had a harder time learning how to do it, but with James’ help, she too learnt the techniques before the day was over and when they all headed in even she had to admit that she had found the experience rather fun.
The next day the house simmered with activity. It was less than one week to the start of term and the whole family was preparing to go to Diagon Alley to get the school supplies that Sirius and his sisters needed. Organising four half-grown kids and two adults were apparently a very difficult task and took a lot longer time than Lily and James would have expected it to. During the few hours before departure, Millie had already changed clothes three times while Christopher couldn’t find any clean robes to wear at all. When he finally did find robes that were clean, they were so wrinkled that Ginny had to make an ironing charm for them to be wearable. Once his robes were in order however, Christopher suddenly realised that he had misplaced his left shoe. This turned out to be so hard to find that Harry had to ask the house-elves for help in finding it.
In all this chaos, Sirius seemed extremely calm. He was finished before everyone else and seemed to take his sibling’s problems with ease. While they were getting ready, he simply went down into the living room to wait while reading a very well read copy of Quidditch through the ages.
Eventually the rest of the family started to fill the living room so that they could all take off. The order for going stayed the same as last time and once again, James got in behind Harry, therefore being the last one to get out in the Leaky Cauldron.
When he did, he saw his wife smile at him.
“Look at this, it is exactly like I remember it,” she said in a happy voice sweeping out her hand to demonstrate. James looked around. Yes, it did look exactly like it had last time they had been in here, just as small and shabby as it had always been. He smiled back at Lily, before turning and following Harry and his family out of the pub.
The Leaky Cauldron wasn’t the only thing that was the same. Diagon Alley was just as busy and crowded as always, and some of the shops were the same as they had been when James and Lily themselves went to Hogwarts. There were other shops as well, new ones that they didn’t recognise. They had expected as much. Still, the feeling that this part of the world hadn’t changed too much in the years they had been gone was a very comforting one.
Harry and Ginny started by discussing where everyone should go and with whom. There were a lot of wishes and even more errands to be handled, and only a limited period of time to do it. After some debating, they decided that Christopher would stay with his mother and go with her to get the books needed this year and that Sirius would go with Harry since he had promised him a new broom for the start of term. The girls would go by themselves; starting with Madam Malkin’s to fit for formal robes. They would then all meet back in three hours time at Florean Fortescue’s for ice cream.
James immediately wanted to go with Harry and Sirius to look at brooms but Lily absolutely wanted to go with the girls to see their formal robes. She was very curious as to what they would look like and had been ever since she heard the girls talking about there being a Yule Ball at Hogwarts this Christmas. After bickering for a while, Lily finally got her wish by promising to see every single Quidditch match played at Hogwarts the following year without complaining.
When they got to Madame Malkin’s they were faced with several other Hogwarts students being fitted for either school robes or formal robes. The two girls each found a chair and sat down to wait. Some of the students nodded and waved in their direction; others didn’t even notice they were there. The little bell of the shop kept going of every time someone entered of left the store, and after a while Lily and Millie was so into their conversation that they didn’t even look up when it was heard. Therefore, they didn’t notice when a tall mean looking girl came up them, followed by three shorter girls that seemed to giggle uncontrollably every time she spoke.
“Well, well, well…if it isn’t Hogwarts own little princess and little Miss Goody-two-shoes,” she said with a sneer. Lily and Millie looked up at her with equal parts surprise and dislike, which apparently was very funny for the three girls in the background had another fit of laughter the moment they did.
“Manning, what an unpleasant surprise,” Lily said disdainfully. The tall girl looked down on Lily with disgust before she spoke again in the same insulting mocking tone of voice as before.
“Here to fit for formal robes are you? I wouldn’t bother if I were you, it’s not like either one of you ever going to look halfway decent anyway.” The girls surrounding her once again started giggling uncontrollably; Lily however didn’t even flinch.
“Well in that case wouldn’t it be better if your friends here just didn’t get fitted for robes at all and started wearing bags over their heads? That is at least the only way I can think of to make them look anywhere close to half decent,” she then said smiling insolently. The girls immediately stopped giggling and stared at her as if they wanted to attack her right then and there. The Manning girl however held them back, knowing very well that what Lily had said was absolutely true. Instead, she gave them a malicious smile before speaking again.
“At least they are going to be able to get dates,” she said with another sneer. Lily didn’t even bother to reply but calmly smiled back at her with the same contemptuous look as before.
“Oh I don’t mean you Potter “ every one knows that Hogwarts own princess will have no problems getting a date. I’m talking about little Miss Goody-two-shoes here,” she said and pointed to Millie. “I mean with her last name, who would even want to ask her?” she finished with glee, knowing that her insult had hit its mark. The girls behind her giggled as hard as ever and she herself looked very pleased to see the hurt look in Millie’s face. James got furious and kept swearing at the girl and Lily couldn’t help but to agree with him when he exclaimed that someone ought to give her a lesson.
Lily reacted instantly. She shot up from her chair, her face white with fury. When she spoke, her voice was very low and controlled, reminding James and Lily of the low rumbling before an earthquake.
“You should be very glad that we’re not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, Zelda Manning. Otherwise you might just find yourself even uglier than your friends here,” she said almost as low as a whisper. Her eyes had turned as dark as Harry’s had done when Percy told him that Millie really wasn’t his daughter and even Manning seemed to know she had gone to far this time. In spite of her trying to keep up appearances before her friends, she looked rather unsure of herself when they were all interrupted by Madame Malkin.
“Hello dears, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. It has been such a busy day and I have no idea on which ones of you came first…”
“Take them, we can wait,” Lily said quickly, happy to get rid of the company. Madame Malkin however did not seem to notice the hostile tone in Lily’s voice, but instead commended her for being so nice to her friends.
As soon as they were gone, Lily sat back down in her chair and looked anxiously at Millie.
“You know she is a mean, stupid, cow that get her kicks out of hurting people, don’t you?” she then said in a low voice.
“She still might have a point,” Millie answered quietly, still with her eyes fixed on the floor. “I mean…”
“No! She does not have a point!” Lily interrupted her firmly. “There are plenty of guys at Hogwarts who would love to take you to the ball. You just wait; they’re going to trip all over each other trying to get to you.” At this Millie did look up at her, although she didn’t look entirely convinced Lily was right. “Besides I have a feeling that a certain cousin of mine might just ask you,” Lily then added with a furtive smile.
Millie started to blush the moment she said it, and a smile finally started to play in the corners of her mouth.
“You think?” she asked uncertainly, biting her lower lip. “I mean really believe it! It’s not something you say just to make me feel better?” James and Lily couldn’t help but to smile. They both remembered the way the handsome red-haired boy had looked at Millie, and were quite sure that Millie was the only one who didn’t seem to realise that this boy fancied her as much as she did him.
“Yes I’m trying to make you feel better now, so you can get much more disappointed later, seriously Mille!” Lily said giving her a stern look before going on. ”To tell you the truth I think he had planned to ask you at the Burrow, when we were talking about the ball. You know when Sirius came and interrupted him,” she added with a smile. Millie smiled too and blushed even harder than before.
The girls were again interrupted when Madame Malkin walked up to them and told them to get into the fitting room and put their robes on for the final fitting. Lily was so full of expectation that she almost immediately started to complain that the waiting was killing her. James rather thought it was driving her insane, since he couldn’t really see what was supposed to be exciting. He was however wise enough to keep his mouth shut and patiently wait next to his wife.
When the girls came out of the fitting rooms, Lily almost shrieked with joy when she saw their robes and even James had to admit that they were very impressive. The colours of the robes were chosen to match the girls’ eye colours, and had been chosen so carefully that the match was nearly perfect. The fabrics too were very well chosen for the both of them. Lily’s emerald green robes were made of thick velvet, deepening and intensifying the green colour even more. The heavy fabric also balanced of the deep dark colour of her hair and made her face look softer than it normally did.
Millie’s robes were of the thinnest possible silk, making the light blue shade seem even lighter, almost grey. The light colour and texture also worked perfectly with her light complexion, almost giving the impression that it glowed.
Both the girls stared at their pictures in the mirror with an expression that nearly questioned if it was really their reflection looking back at them.
“I’m going to give mum the biggest possible hug when I see her,” Lily exclaimed after studying her reflection for a while.
“Remind me to do the same,” Millie said almost in awe of her image. James couldn’t help but to think about what that Manning girl had said about their appearance earlier, chuckling when he though of what her reaction would be like when she stood face to face with them looking like this. In truth, she too had been a rather pretty girl, but her robes had had none of the style and elegance that the ones Lily and Millie were dressed in had. In fact, they had been rather tasteless, showing far too much skin for a 15-year-old girl, and thereby giving her a much less favourable appearance than she would have had if someone with Ginny’s, apparently impeccable, taste had chosen the robes for her.