It was a warm summer morning, and Lily Evans was sitting in her room reading a book, which she was always doing. She looked up from her book and glanced outside. The wind was slightly blowing, and birds were chirping. She always loved this time of year, before it would get really hot outside. She went back to her book, which was some summer reading for the school she was going to attend in the autumn.
She had read everything she could get her hands on about Smithson Academy. It was one of the oldest all girl schools in Britain. She could have just asked her older sister, Petunia, but she really didn’t want to take her word for it.
Continuing to read, she heard the front door open.
“We’re home!” her dad called from the bottom of the steps.
Lily continued reading as she heard Petunia walking up the stairs. After a few minutes, Petunia opened Lily’s door.
“What do you want?” Lily coldly asked.
“I wanted to see what was so important,” Petunia replied.
“What do you mean?”
“The perfect Lily doesn’t come down and greet her sister?”
“Shove off, Petunia,” Lily said, continuing to read, and acting like Petunia was an annoying gnat.
“What are you doing?” Petunia walked over to Lily’s desk.
“I’m reading before school starts. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You’ve only been out of school for a week! I always wait until the last week to do all my reading,” Petunia said.
“Well, I’m not like you.”
“You’re right, I’m not a miss know-it-all. I’m more normal than you. You are an outcast with her nose stuck in a book. You are so…”
Suddenly, Petunia stopped talking. Lily turned around in her chair, and found Petunia holding her throat. At first, Lily thought she was choking.
“Petunia, are you okay?”
Petunia tried to talk but no words came out.
She was throwing her hands up and acted like she was yelling at Lily, but Lily couldn’t read lips, and eventually Petunia went stomping out of the room, and slammed her door. Shortly after that her mother called up the stairs.
“Lily, could you come down here for a minute? Your father and I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, mum!” she called back.
She walked down the steps, and her parents were sitting at the kitchen table, both looking eager.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked.
“You have some post, dear,” her mom replied.
“Post? This early?”
“Yes, it’s over there.”
Lily turned around, and there was an owl on the kitchen counter. Lily gasped, and then noticed there was an envelope in its mouth. With a shaky hand, took the letter from the owl, then the owl flew to the table, and started drinking juice out of the glass sitting there.
Thinking she was going mental, Lily asked her parents, “Did you two just see an owl on the counter?”
“Yes, we did,” her mother smiled, tears starting to glisten in her eyes.
Lily had an odd look on her face, and turned the envelope over. In dark red wax, was a seal that had a crest with a lion, badger, eagle, and a serpent. She broke the seal, and read the letter:
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Our records show that you are Muggle-born (witches or wizards that come from families with no magical power). We suggest that you and your parents come on August 1 at eleven o’clock in the morning to get your school supplies. There is a pub called “The Leaky Cauldron.” Walk in and the bartender will direct you to where you need to go.
Term begins on September 1, and we need your owl no later than July 31. Since you probably don’t have an owl, you can reply with the owl that sent this letter.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
“W-What is this?” Lily stammered.
“Well, when I was younger, your great-grandmother used to talk about how she was a Squib, and I never knew what that was. I had always thought she was mental, but she kept talking about a school called Hogwarts, witches, and wizards. Her last words to me before she passed was ‘Margaret, take the old trunk in the basement that has a seal on it with an eagle, lion, badger, and serpent on it,’ I had always thought she was a little batty, so I never looked in the trunk. Then one rainy day, when I was stuck inside, I decided to look in it. I opened it and found many books, quills, and parchment. Underneath it all, were these wooden sticks, I guess they were wands. I started reading the books, and found out my great-grandmother wasn’t crazy. In the books were stories of famous witches and wizards. There were even some journals in there also. I was sad that I wasn’t a witch, and I had thought that the magical blood had died out. Evidently it never dies out,” her mother finished smiling.
Lily felt an overwhelming feeling of family pride. She wanted to go to Hogwarts now more than anything else.
“Do you want to go?” her father asked.
“Of course I want to go!” Lily exclaimed, smiling and hugging her parents.
“Here’s some old parchment I found in the trunk, you can reply back now if you want,” her mother said.
Lily quickly wrote a reply back saying she will be attending Hogwarts. As soon as the owl left, Petunia walked in and glared at Lily.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice apparently came back.
“We have some news,” her father replied.
“Your sister is a witch,” her mother said eagerly.
Petunia glowered at Lily, and made a screamed grunt sound. She stomped out of the room saying things like, “Perfect Lily gets everything!” and “Nothing ever happens to me!”
“Don’t worry, dear. She’ll be okay,” her mother reassured.
***
The rest of the summer, Lily began reading all the books and journals in her great-great grandmother’s trunk. She found a book called Hogwarts: A History, and read all she could about her new school. She finished the rather thick book in an afternoon, and the excitement in her began to mount. Finding a book called Beginner Spells for the Beginning Witch or Wizard, she began looking at spells. She took one of the wands out of the bottom of the trunk, and tried a few spells. The first spell she had gotten down was the Unlocking Charm, Alohomora.
The days passed, and August first finally came. She was the first person at the door, and her parents came down soon after. Petunia had been up in her room sulking, and she had said she didn’t want anything to do with Lily.
Lily and her parents drove to London. Lily remembered reading that The Leaky Cauldron was a few blocks west of Kings Cross Station. They parked at Kings Cross, and walked the few blocks.
Finally she saw a sign that said The Leaky Cauldron on it. Her parents kept walking, evidently not seeing it.
“Mum, Dad! It’s right here!” she called after them.
They came back and looked at it.
“We almost missed it,” her mother said.
They walked in and were temporarily blinded by the darkness. There were many other people in there, mostly people her own age. She walked in and noticed a slightly taller boy with black messy hair and glasses talking to his parents and another boy who was slightly plump. He noticed her looking at her and smiled. She blushed furiously, and continued walking. In the corner, she saw a small group of witches and wizards talking quietly, while their sons and daughters were talking together. They looked up at Lily and her parents and they had a look on their face like they smelled something bad. Lily looked over at the group of children with them, and they looked the same way at her, except for one boy with black hair that hung to his shoulders. He winked at her and gave her a charming smile. Lily blushed and rolled her eyes.
“Sirius, she’s a Mudblood!” said one of the
older girls with pale skin and almost white blond hair.
“Oh, shove it, Cissa. Not all Muggle-borns are bad,” replied Sirius.
The group gasped, and Sirius walked off.
Lily went to the bar, but the bartender was nowhere to be found. Sirius then came up behind her.
“Hi, I’m Sirius,” he smiled.
“I’m Lily. Do you know where the bartender is?” she asked.
“I think he’s in the back getting more butterbeer,” he replied.
Lily had a confused look on her face, and Sirius explained, “It’s a sweet, frothy drink.”
“Oh, like root beer?”
“What?”
“Never mind,” she said quickly. “Do you know where the Muggle-borns are meeting at?”
“It’s out the back door. I could show you if you like,” he smiled.
“That would be nice, thank you. Let me just get my parents.”
She walked over to her parents, who were talking to a witch with emerald robes on, with a large red handbag.
“Lily, this lady knew my great-grandmother’s relatives! Lily, this is Augusta Longbottom, and this must be her son, Frank,” she said, as the plump boy walked up to them.
“Nice to meet you,” Lily said to the boy, and then turned to her parents, “There is a boy who is up near the bar waiting for us. He said he would take us to the meeting.”
“Oh, good, good,” her mother said cheerfully.
“Honey, I’m going to wait outside. It’s getting a little crowded in here, and you know me and claustrophobia,” her father whispered to the mother, and kissed her on the cheek.
“Okay, darling. We’ll try to be quick.”
Before Lily could take a step, the boy with glasses and messed up hair came up to her.
“Hi, I’m James,” he smiled.
“I’m Lily,” she replied, now starting to get a little tired of boys trying to hit on her.
“Do you need help finding the meeting?” he asked.
“No, there is a boy named Sirius up front. He’s waiting for us.”
Just then, Sirius walked up. He looked at Lily, then James.
“James Potter. I should have known,” Sirius laughed.
“Sirius Black. I haven’t seen you since…”
“Since I came to your house and you mysteriously went bald,” he finished.
The two laughed about it for a bit, and Lily looked at her watch. It was almost time for the meeting.
“I’m sorry, but I really need to get to the meeting,” she interrupted.
“Well, we’ll take you,” James said, extending his arm for Lily to take. She took his arm, then Sirius piped up.
“I’ve always liked older women myself,” Sirius laughed, and took her mother’s arm. Her mother started giggling like a school girl. The group that Sirius was with, glared at him as he walked past. They walked out the back door to find a group of people with bewildered looks on their faces.
“Good luck,” James smiled.
“Thanks,” Lily replied.
A witch who looked fairly young, probably in her mid-forties, came up to Lily.
“Name?”
“Lily Evans,” Lily replied.
“You’re the last one then. I’m Professor McGonagall. I will be teaching you Transfiguration, and I’m the Head of Gryffindor house. You probably have no idea what that is-”
“It’s a Hogwarts house. The emblem is a lion, and the colors are red and gold. They say people who are brave of heart are sorted into the house,” Lily smiled, remembering Hogwarts: A History.
The witch smiled, “Well, I stand corrected. Here is your train ticket for September 1. You leave from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at exactly eleven. To get onto the platform, you walk through a barrier between platforms nine and ten. However, your parents will have to say good-bye to you outside of the platform, because only magical people can walk through it. After I open the gateway to Diagon Alley, I ask that you make your way to Gringott’s Bank. It is at the very end. You can’t miss it. We use a different currency than non-magical people, and they can exchange out the money. Any questions?”
“No, not at all,” replied Lily.
“Very well,” the witch said.
A girl, who had sandy blond hair and rather large eyes, walked up to Lily and introduced herself.
“Hi, I’m Heather. I also came from a non-wizarding family.”
“Nice to meet you,” Lily replied.
“Would you mind if me and my mother shopped with you and your mother? We can sometimes get lost easily,” she blushed.
“No problem.”
“Attention!” said McGonagall, “Don’t forget, go straight to Gringotts and meet the goblins and change out currency.”
People started whispering among each other when she said goblins. Lily had no idea what she was in for.
The witch counted three bricks up, two over, and tapped the brick three times. Then an archway formed, and everyone gasped. A whole street unfolded before their very eyes, with many stores on each side of the street. They all walked in, staring at all the various shops. Lily spotted Eeylops Owl Emporium, and spotted an owl that she wanted. The owl was a barn owl, and it had a gorgeous white body, with brown only around its face. The owl stared intently into her eyes.
“When I get my money, I’m going to buy you,” she smiled. Then the owl hooted softly.
“What a gorgeous owl!” her mother exclaimed.
“Can I get her after get our money?”
“Of course you can. What will you name her?”
“I’m leaning toward Athena, as she is so beautiful.”
“Wonderful choice,” her mother replied.
Finally, Lily felt at home with people she hardly knew. She always felt comfortable with her parents, but never with kids at school. She was truly home.
Lily's Letter by Drea
Chapter Notes: This story is to my mom as always, and to Ginger who is a lovely shade of orange. :)