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Flourish and Blotts


The Second Year book list was delivered in mid-July. Lily and her parents went to Diagon Alley to collect the books from Flourish and Blotts. Petunia had pitched a fit, saying she didn’t want to go shopping in the freak stores, and so she had been left at home, which Lily was quite fine with. Tuney had been exceptionally nasty toward Lily, and increasingly more so as each day passed. She called Lily a freak and refused to be around her much, always pedaling her bicycle away as fast as she could when Lily tried to ride along with her, and telling the other kids in the neighborhood not to go near to Lily. Severus still wasn’t around, so being outcast by the muggle children had really isolated Lily further, and bothered her more than it should’ve. Everyday she went ‘round the clearing by the pond, but he was never there, nor were there any signs he had been, and Lily was disheartened, feeling quite forgotten by her best friend.

Diagon Alley made all those horrible feelings much better, though. They got an ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s shoppe and went by the Owl Emporium to see about getting treats to give to Bubo when he delivered Sirius’s letters. Lily restocked her potions kit and purchased a new box of parchment and some quills. She was delighted to find they had a colour-changing ink that smoothly transitioned from one colour to the next as one wrote, and a quill made from a beautiful ostrich feather from South Africa.

They were in Flourish and Blotts, browsing the store, when Lily heard her name called. She turned ‘round to find James Potter and a man who looked remarkably like him - his father, she guessed - coming toward them from across the shop. Of all the people she knew from school, why did it have to be James, she wondered?

“Hey Evans,” he said, “Getting all your books, are you?”

Lily nodded, “I am. You’ve got yours, I see.”

James nodded, “And this, too.” He held up a book titled Quidditch Through the Ages with a grin, “It has a special section about different really cool plays I’m going to use when I get on the team.”

“If you get on the team,” Lily said pointedly.

“I will,” James replied.

Charlus put his hands on James’s shoulders, “Been going on about the Gryffindor Quidditch team as long as I can remember, he has…” he looked up at the Evanses. “You must be Lily’s parents,” he said, extending a hand, “I’m Charlus Potter.”

Mr. Evans shook Charlus’s hand, “John Evans,” he said, “And this is my wife, Rosemary.” He smiled, quite eager to meet any witch or wizard.

“You’re Muggles, aren’t you?” Asked Charlus. Lily blinked in surprise; it was suddenly quite obvious where James had gotten his bluntness. Like father, like son.

“I suppose so,” replied Mr. Evans.

“Brilliant,” Charlus said with a smile, “Big supporter of you lot.”

“Dad, shut up,” James hissed. He rolled his eyes to Lily. “Anyway, are you trying out for the team?” He asked as Charlus and the Evanses started talking over their heads. Lily shrugged. “Sirius said you told him he could use your broom, that’s nice of you,” he added.

Lily nodded, “Sirius was going on about the awful brooms they have at school, and I figured he could use mine.”

“Somebody might as well use it, right?” James said with a grin, “So it’s not just collecting dust.”

Lily could hear a bit of a judgemental note to his tone. “I can’t very well fly it at home, we live in a very crowded neighborhood,” she said, “Muggles would see me.”

James nodded, “Right. Right. I just meant since you aren’t trying out.”

“I could,” she said.

“You’ve never played,” James reminded her.

“I could learn,” she replied, thinking of the girls futbol team she’d once been on before Tuney had made her quit.

James shrugged, “Yeah, but you’re a girl, I’m sure you hate sports and getting dirty in the mud and everything.” He chuckled, “You might tear your robes, Evans, then what?”

“I’m rather good at sports, actually,” she replied, aloof.

A smile spread across James’s face, “I don’t know if I believe you.”

“Well, you should,” she replied.

“Then maybe you should try out, then, if you’re so good at it,” he challenged.

“Maybe I will,” she snapped.

“We’ll see,” James answered.

Lily felt her cheeks redden and thought for the second time what a pity it was that, of all the boys, it was James who she’d run into. Not Sirius or Peter or Remus. At the thought of Remus her cheeks went even redder and she realized how very much she’d wished it had been Remus that she’d run into. She looked down at her feet and picked at a loose thread on the skirt she was wearing, keeping her eyes adverted from James. “So how are the other boys? I’ve heard from Sirius, but not Peter… or Remus,” she added, trying to sound nonchalant and off-hand.

James replied, “Well Peter’s alright, if he hasn’t eaten his way into a coma by now but… well, Remus isn’t doing too swell.” James’s happy expression melted to one of concern.

Lily looked up, “What? Why? What’s the matter? Is he alright? Is he ill?”

James shook his head, “No. His mum died.”

Lily stared at James, startled. She felt her stomach twist sickly tight. “She was ill, though, wasn’t she? Isn’t that why he was out all those times during term?”

James said, “She was killed. By… by You-Know-Who.”

Lily gasped. Then, panicked, “It wasn’t because of us - because of that night - in the forest?”

James shook his head, “His dad works at the Ministry of Magic,” he explained, “Worked on a pro-Muggle committee and that made the pureblood supporters quite angry and You-Know-Who’s the biggest purist there is. Remus’s mum was a muggle.” He lowered his voice, “He’s been attacking a lot of the Muggle activists.”

Lily’s eyes darted to her parents and then back to James, nervous.

“Did you get the Ministry pamphlet about the security measures?” He asked.

Lily shook her head. “I didn’t get anything at all.”

James turned to Charlus, tugging his father’s shirt sleeve for attention, breaking up a conversation he was having with the Evanses about the impervius charm he’d put on his glasses, offering to apply one to Mr. Evans spectacles as well. “Dad, do you have that pamphlet the Ministry sent out about the security measures?”

Charlus looked surprised, “Did you lot not get a pamphlet by owl?” He asked, reaching into his coat pocket and rooting about for it. “I have it here somewhere…” he pulled out several books and a fishing rod. “Where on earth did it go…” he muttered, reaching right in, his whole arm disappearing into his pocket.

The Evanses eyes were wide.

“Extendable charm,” said James by way of explanation. “They’re bigger on the inside, you see.” He waved his arms out to demonstrate.

“Here it is,” Charlus said, withdrawing his arm from his robes and holding out a slightly crumpled copy of a little pamphlet, titled Keeping Safe During The Anti-Muggle Attacks and featured a picture of a wizarding family in a bubble that floated all about the cover, bumping off the edges. He looked down at Lily, then at the two Evanses, “Why, you probably don’t even have a shield charm up ‘round your house, do you?” He exclaimed nervously, “I mean, you haven’t got a proper, of-age wizard in the house, have you? Blimey. I’d be happy to come along to get one in place for you.”

Mr. Evans took the pamphlet and started looking through it. “Has there been some sort of emergency?” He asked.

Charlus began to explain Voldemort’s terrorism to them and exactly what the benefits of a shield charm ‘round the Evans property would do for them, and Lily turned back to James. “Is Remus alright?”

James looked really guilty. “I… dunno.”

“Dunno?” Lily demanded, “Haven’t you heard from him?”

James looked at his feet. “I… I didn’t know what to say to him. I tried writing him. I’ve had the parchment out on my desk for weeks. But… What do you say to somebody who’s mum’s been killed? I mean….” He frowned, “I dunno what to say.”

“You say you’re there for him if he wants to talk - that you’re thinking of him and hoping he’s doing alright! You say you care!” Lily exclaimed. “Bloody hell, James, you don’t just ignore it!”

“Well I don’t know!” James said, “I don’t know how to say that stuff without sounding like a loser.”

“You won’t sound like a loser, you’ll sound like a caring person!” Replied Lily, annoyed. She sighed, “I’ll write him as soon as I get home. What’s his address?”

Later that night, Lily sighed as she rolled up the parchment and sealed the envelope labelled with the Lupin’s address. It was a lot harder than Lily had thought, putting the words onto the parchment (not that she’d never let James know that), but she’d finally done it. She sat in the window of her room, having given Bubo some of the owl treats she’d bought, and watch the little brown speck disappear into the sky over the distance, carrying her letter to Remus… along with the friendship bracelet she’d weaved for him at the start of summer. She hoped the kind gesture would cheer him up.

She turned around and saw that her closet door was open - she’d left it such after hanging up her new robes from Madam Malkins shop and in the back was her broom, the brass plate gleaming. She walked over and pulled it out and looked it over, her fingers sliding over the wood handle and inspecting the twigs at the base. Her mind went back to this terrific goal she’d made once in futbol - at how giddy her friends had been, crowding around her and lifting her up on their shoulders, cheering that she’d made it…

She suddenly remembered that was the day Petunia had wanted to quit the team. She hadn’t made a goal and suddenly futbol was stupid.

Lily grit her teeth, determination suddenly filling her up.