In Which Remus Gets Out His Mum's Old Makeup
Elizabeth woke up the next day and instinctively got out of bed to make the breakfast before she remembered that she didn’t have to.
She pulled out a fresh jumper and a clean pair of jeans and pants before going to go and take a bath.
It was still early, so she had plenty of time. She took a bath and washed out her hair.
When Remus came to check on her at half past seven, he found her sat on top of her bed doing her hair. She was brushing her still half damp hair into a plait leaving her fringe down.
“Morning sweetheart,” he beamed.
“Morning,” she said as she tied off her plait.
“We’ve got a big day today, do you know what we’re doing?”
Elizabeth shook her head excitedly.
“We’re going to Diagon Alley!”
“Where’s that?” she asked.
“It’s a street in London where all the wizards and witches go, we need to go shopping for your school things.”
Elizabeth’s eyes were wild with excitement and she jumped off the bed.
“Come on sweetheart, let’s go find you some breakfast,” chuckled Remus.
Lyall had made omelets for breakfast.
Elizabeth tried to eat all of it, but she just couldn’t manage.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “it’s delicious and I’m very grateful I just can’t finish it.”
“That’s ok Cariad,” said Lyall kissing her on top of the head as he cleared away the dishes.
Remus had run upstairs to go and find something, and Elizabeth helped Lyall do the dishes before they went out.
“Found it,” said Remus holding up a tube.
“What’s that for?” asked Elizabeth, “is it a potion?”
“No Beth, it’s called concealer,” he explained as he opened it.
“What’s it for?”
“Well we need to cover up your scar, otherwise you’re going to be getting a lot of strange looks in Diagon.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re famous,” chuckled Lyall, “you defeated You Know Who.”
“Who’s that?”
“Voldemort,” Remus explained.
“Do you trust me?” asked Remus as he put some of the make up on his finger.
Elizabeth bit her lip and nodded slightly. She closed her eyes as Remus’s hand got closer to her face.
He gently brushed the fringe off her forehead and rubbed the concealer over her scar.
“That tickles!” she giggled.
“All done,” he said as he finished.
“Are you sure no one’s going to recognise her Remi?”
“Well she doesn’t look too much like Lily or James, so no one’s likely to guess,” said Remus.
Remus fetched the cloaks as Lyall lit the fireplace.
“Ok Cariad, today we are going to use Flo powder.”
“What’s Flo powder?”
Lyall showed her the flowerpot full of Flo powder.
“This is Flo powder; we use it travel via fireplaces.”
“Cool,” beamed Elizabeth.
“It is kind of cool,” chuckled Remus as he passed Lyall his cloak and did his own up.
“Ok sweetheart,” said Remus as he walked into the fire, “what you do, is throw the powder into the fire and say clearly where you want to go.”
Elizabeth nodded as she watched with fascination.
“Diagon Alley!” called Remus dropping the powder into the fireplace.
Elizabeth flinched slightly as there was a flash of emerald green flames. She blinked and Remus had gone leaving the fireplace empty apart from the flames.
Lyall held out the flowerpot to Elizabeth as she stepped nervously into the fireplace and she took a handful of powder from Lyall.
Lyall nodded encouragingly.
“Don’t forget to speak clearly.”
She expected the flames to burn but for some reason, they didn’t.
“Diagon Alley!” she called clearly dropping the powder into the fireplace.
She was spinning away again, and she saw flashes of wizarding households.
Next thing she knew she was stumbling out of a fireplace in an old pub.
Remus helped her up off the floor as she landed.
“You ok?”
“Yeah,” she muttered getting her breath back.
Wizard travelling was certainly uncomfortable, but it was so much faster than Muggle travel like cars.
She brushed the ash off of her clothes and the next thing she knew Lyall was coming out of the fire.
“Why are we in a pub?”
“Because outside the pub is the entranceway to Diagon Alley,” explained Lyall.
For now, at least Remus’ plan seemed to be working, none of the patrons in the pub had recognised her.
“Come on,” he said taking Elizabeth’s hand.
“Beth, Diagon Alley is a very crowded place, so I don’t want you to wander off on your own, I don’t want to lose you, do you understand?”
She nodded and they headed out in the alleyway.
Lyall got out his wand and tapped the correct brick on the wall.
The bricks spiralled out to reveal the alleyway.
Elizabeth’s mouth fell open as the brinks spiralled into an archway where there was a hundred colourful shops and witches and wizards in cloaks walking around doing their shopping.
“We should get to the bank,” said Lyall as he walked down the alleyway to the white marble building.
Elizabeth gripped firmly onto Remus’ hand, she wasn’t getting too many funny looks yet, but that was only because people didn’t know who she was.
The alley was packed, there must have been nearly a hundred families wondering around doing their shopping.
“You got the key Dad?”
“Yeah,” nodded Lyall, “Dumbledore sent it yesterday.”
Lyall fished a key out of his pocket and they walked into the bank.
Elizabeth looked around nervously as they walked in.
“What are they?” she mumbled.
“They’re goblins,” Remus explained, “they run the bank.”
“Oh,” she muttered clinging onto his hand even tighter.
They walked past the goblins who were all busy doing their different tasks to the front desk.
“Good morning,” said Lyall.
“Good morning,” said the goblin in a slightly high-pitched voice, “how may I help you?”
“Miss Elizabeth Potter wishes to visit her vault,” said Lyall as quietly as he could.
“Does she have her key?”
Lyall passed the key over to the goblin.
“I shall find a free goblin,” he said getting down.
He came back a minute later with a goblin called Griphook.
“Where are we going?” asked Elizabeth as they went behind the desk with the goblin.
“We need to go to your vault to get out money for your school supplies,” explained Remus.
Remus lifted her into the cart after Lyall and Griphook and then sat down next to her.
“Why do we have to go in a cart?”
“Because the vaults are underground,” said Lyall, “hold on tight Cariad.”
She clung onto Remus with one hand and the side of the cart with the other as the cart began to move.
They were moving so quickly and were flying past different vaults, she felt like she was going to be sick, she had never been on a rollercoaster, but she supposed it must feel like this, and she didn’t enjoy the feeling.
“You can open your eyes now little one,” said Remus smiling as the cart stopped.
Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked around her, they must have been miles underground, the biggest vaults for the richest wizarding families were kept this deep
Remus helped her back out of the cart and they walked to her vault.
Griphook inserted the key into the door and the vault opened.
“Are you sure we’ve got the right vault?” stammered Lyall.
“This is the Potter family vault,” nodded Griphook.
“Well go on,” chuckled Remus ushering her towards the vault.
Elizabeth stood in the doorway her mouth wide open. This vault was the size of small house and was full to bursting with millions upon millions of coins. There were gold, silver and bronze. Mixed in with the coins were trunks full of fabulous jewels and ancient scrolls.
“I knew James’ family were rich,” said Remus running fingers through his hair, “but this is just beyond real.”
“Are you sure there hasn’t been a mistake?” she stuttered.
“Quite sure,” said Griphook as he passed her a leather pouch to put money into.
Elizabeth was still dumbstruck and couldn’t believe that all of this was hers.
“Do you have an inventory of this vault?” asked Lyall as he filled the pouch for her.
“That can be arranged,” nodded Griphook.
“Do we need to set up for the school fees?” asked Remus.
“That has already been done.”
“Thank you,” said Remus as they left and Lyall passed her the pouch full of money.
The cart journey on the way back up was if possible, even worse that the way down and Elizabeth still thought she was going to be sick.
Finally, they reached the end of the cart ride and Remus lifted her back out of the cart again.
“We just need to change some of this into pounds and we can hit the shops.”
They walked over to the exchange desk and the goblin changed some galleons into pounds for them so they could do some shopping in muggle shops another day.
“Ok now we’ve got the boring stuff done,” said Lyall, “let’s go shopping!”
“Where do you want to go first sweetheart?” asked Remus as they walked back out into the street.
“What do I need?”
“Well we need the apothecary for potions supplies and equipment,” said Remus.
“And a telescope!” added Lyall.
“Yes, and that,” muttered Remus.
“Then we need Madam Malkins for robes and uniform,” said Lyall.
“Books!” exclaimed Remus his eyes lighting up with excitement.
“Olivanders for a wand,” said Lyall.
“And the pet shop,” finished Remus.
“Wow that’s a lot of things,” said Elizabeth thinking for a moment.
“What are you most excited about getting though?”
“Wand!” said Elizabeth her eyes wide with excitement.
“Come on then Cariad,” said Lyall putting an arm around her.
They walked over to Olivanders, it was still early so it seemed to be empty.
“I don’t think he’s in,” said Elizabeth shrugging, “should we come back later?”
Lyall tried to stop himself from laughing as Mr Ollivander came bursting into view on his step ladder.
Elizabeth flinched and cowered against the wall at the sudden appearance.
“Why do you always have to make such a dramatic entrance Garrick?”
“Because it’s so much fun,” said Mr Ollivander getting down from the stepladder.
“Scaring eleven year olds is fun?” asked Remus.
Mr Ollivander seemed to ignore this question however.
“Good morning Lyall, Remus, how are you both?”
“Much better Garrick now we’ve got our little girl back,” said Lyall.
“Ah yes, Miss Potter” said Mr Ollivander addressing her for the first time, “I’ve been expecting you.”
Elizabeth was still cowering against the wall terrified at this strange man, and now he seemed to know her before they were even introduced.
“It’s ok Beth,” said Remus gently, “I’m right here, nobody’s going to hurt you.”
She gulped and stopped cowering against the wall.
Mr Olivander got out a tape measurer which started measuring her of its own accord.
What made it work? She wondered as Mr Ollivander fetched piles of boxes with wands inside.
Remus and Lyall sat down in two of the chairs, choosing your first wand could be a very long experience.
“Willow,” said Olivander passing her a wand, “unicorn tail hair, 9 inches, slightly bendy.”
She took the wand and gave a slight wave, but nothing happened.
She looked over nervously at Remus, what if she wasn’t a witch.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find the right one,” he assured her.
As she tried her twentieth wand though she wasn’t so sure, but the more wands she tried the more excitable Olivander seemed to become.
“I wonder,” he muttered pulling out a very dusty box that hadn’t been used in years.
She cautiously lifted the wand out of the box, and before she even waved it, a gust of wind came flying through the shop and her hair blew in the wind. Gold and yellow sparks came flying out of the wand as well like a firework.
“I think we have a winner!” beamed Lyall.
Olivander nodded.
“Eleven inches, holly, phoenix feather,” said Olivander.
“It’s curious though,” he muttered.
“Whats curious sir?” she asked excitedly.
“Well, the phoenix who gave the feather for your wand gave one other, I made two wands, this was many years ago now, but I remember every wand I’ve ever sold.”
“Your wands brother, gave you that scar which even though it is hidden I know it is there.”
“Voldemort?” asked Remus.
Olivander flinched slightly at Voldemort’s name but then nodded.
“Take good care of that wand young lady, in the wrong hands it could be disastrous.”
“Yes sir,” she nodded placing it carefully back in its box as Lyall paid for the wand.
“Where do we want to go next Cariad?”
“Cauldron,” said Elizabeth, “we can carry things in it.”
“I might still make a Ravenclaw of you yet,” chuckled Lyall as they headed to the apothecary.
After the apothecary they headed to the robe shop.
Whilst Elizabeth got measured for her robes, Remus and Lyall went through the uniforms picking outskirts, shirts, and jumpers.
“She’s very small,” tutted Madam Malkin as she measured her.
“We know,” sighed Remus, as he tried to find a skirt small enough.
Elizabeth waited patiently on the stool whilst they found some clothes that might actually fit her.
“Behave yourself Tim,” said a flustered woman as she came into the shop, “leave your brothers wand alone.”
“He’s fine mum,” said a boy with blonde hair as he followed his mum and little brother into the shop, “he knows to be careful with wands.”
“Hmmm,” muttered the mother, “will you be alright in here Ernie, I’ll go get your potions things.”
“Yeah I’ll be fine,” he shrugged.
“Hogwarts?” asked Madam Malkin to the boy as she came out with some school robes for Elizabeth.
“Yeah,” the boy beamed.
“Well get up on the stool and we’ll see what we can find.”
“Hi,” said the boy reaching out his hand to Elizabeth’s, “I’m Ernie.”
Elizabeth gulped for a moment and reached out for his hand. This could be very important this moment, this could be her first-ever real friend.
“Beth,” said Elizabeth shaking his hand.
“You just starting?”
“Yeah,” she nodded.
“I’m so excited,” said Ernie, “I’m the first in my family to go, Tim’s only six.”
Elizabeth tried on the robes that Madam Malkin had brought over.
“They’re still far too big,” she sighed looking at the robes.
“We could take them in,” suggested Remus coming over, “at least that means we can let them out again when she grows.”
“Hmmm,” muttered Madam Malkin, “they’ll have to do.”
Madam Malkin folded away the robes and Lyall and Remus brought over the school jumpers, skirts, and shirts which they wrapped away carefully.
They were just about to leave when Ernie’s mum came back in with Tim.
“Remus?” she asked looking at him slightly surprised.
Remus turned his head away from where he had been counting out the right change.
“It is you!” she exclaimed.
Remus still looked slightly confused.
“It’s Patricia, Patricia Macmillan, you probably remember me as.”
“Tricia Fawcett!” chuckled Remus suddenly recognizing her and giving her a hug.
“I haven’t seen you in eighteen years!” she exclaimed hugging him back.
Elizabeth and Ernie both looked slightly confused.
“What are you doing here?” asked Remus.
“We’re getting Ernie his school things,” she explained, “he’s starting this this year. What about you?”
“Same thing as you,” he chuckled.
“I didn’t even know you were married let alone had a child,” she said with her eyebrows raised.
“Well I don’t,” he admitted, “this is my goddaughter Beth.”
“Um Remus there’s a lot of confused people here,” pointed out Lyall.
“Sorry,” chuckled Remus, “this is Tricia Fawcett, sorry Macmillan, she was a Gryffindor prefect in my first year at Hogwarts.”
“it was my job to keep you lot out of trouble,” she smirked.
“And you did great job,” nodded Remus, “with me, Sirius and James though.”
“Still give me nightmares,” she sighed, “it was great training for these two though.”
“Wait,” said Mrs Macmillan catching on, “that’s not Lily and James’ little girl is it? That’s not Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth blushed slightly; they were trying to keep her identity as secret as possible, so this didn’t happen.
“Um yeah,” he said nervously, “this is Elizabeth, but we call her Beth.”
Ernie’s mouth fell open slightly, he had just talked to Elizabeth Potter, and she had been really nice.
“If you’re Elizabeth Potter where’s your scar?” asked Tim Ernie’s little brother.
“I covered it up with my Mum’s make up before he came out today,” said Remus.
Lyall was trying not to laugh again.
“To be honest Remus I cant blame you,” said Mrs Macmillan honestly.
“Are we nearly done Mum?” asked Tim as she paid for Ernie’s robes.
“Yes dear just the bookshop, and an owl” she sighed.
“Hey Timmy,” said Ernie, “if you behave yourself, we can get ice cream, afterwards, and you can help me pick an owl.”
“We can go together,” said Lyall, “we need the pet shop and the books too.”
“Sounds perfect,” said Mrs Macmillan.
“I’m sorry if I acted a bit weird just now,” said Ernie blushing slightly,
“It’s just you know you’re Elizabeth Potter, the girl who lived, you defeated You Know Who, and you’re just so,” he stuttered for a moment, “normal!”
“It’s ok,” she shrugged, “I should probably get used to it.”
“So where have you been hiding for ten years?” asked Tim.
“With my Aunt and Uncle, they’re muggles, I didn’t even know about magic until two days ago.”
“You’re joking,” said Ernie shaking his head.
“So have you ever flown in a hairyplane?” asked Tim.
“An airplane,” she said slowly, “and no I haven’t.”
“Oh,” said Tim slightly disappointed, but not for long, they soon arrived at the pet shop.
The Macmillan’s went to look at the owls.
“What would you like dear?” asked Remus.
“I like cats,” beamed Elizabeth.
There was a pen at the back of the shop with about ten cats of various sizes and colours in them.
There was a pure white cat sat imperiously at the back of the pen cleaning herself and she seemed to be looking down her nose at the other cats.
“She’s beautiful,” said Elizabeth stroking the snow-white cat.
“I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of that thing,” said Lyall as Elizabeth picked her up.
But the kneazle seemed to like her and settled herself into her arms.
“Be careful with that one,” said a frantic assistant running over.
“Ohh,” he said somewhat confused, “well if she doesn’t try to scratch your face off when you pick her up, she’s yours.”
“What should we name her?” asked Remus kneeling down next to her.
“She’s very imperious and beautiful, I think she’s a Guinevere.”
“Gwen for short?”
Elizabeth nodded as she stroked Guinevere between the ears.
Elizabeth got back up and held Guinevere close as Remus and Lyall sorted out cat food and a basket for her.
Guinevere was looking at all the other cats very aloofly, she had been picked and they hadn’t, and she was lording it over them.
“Hi Beth,” said Ernie, “this is my new owl.”
Ernie’s owl was a tawny owl which was trying to sleep as it was the middle of the day.
“This is Guinevere,” said Elizabeth.
Ernie held out his hand to stroke her.
Guinevere sniffed his hand suspiciously and allowed him to stroke her.
“She certainly acts like a queen, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah,” chuckled Elizabeth.
She carefully placed her into her new basket, which Elizabeth carried out of the shop, Lyall followed with the cauldron which was becoming steadily more full.
“Ok gang,” said Lyall, “bookshop and then home.”
“What about my ice cream!” protested Tim.
“What ice cream, I don’t remember any ice creams,” said Lyall.
Tim seemed on the verge of tears.
“Just ignore him Timmy, he’s joking,” said Ernie.
They walked into the bookshop and picked up two sets of everything. Mrs Macmillan helped Remus choose some extra history books for Elizabeth, some that were a bit more detailed that a history of magic as they didn’t have to fit everything into one volume, and a couple on more recent history.
After that they all headed outside the shop to Florian and Fortescue’s. Elizabeth and Ernie sat outside with their new pets and cauldrons full of school supplies whilst the others got the ice creams.
“Do you know what’s really weird?” asked Ernie.
“What?” chuckled Elizabeth.
“I’ve spent my whole life hearing about you, and I never imagined that you’d be so, well quiet.”
“I’ve never had any friends,” she shrugged, “I’ve always been told to not speak unless I’m spoken to.”
“That’s seems a bit old fashioned,” said Ernie.
Elizabeth pulled at a loose strand on her jumper again.
“I’m worried that if people do want to be friends with me it’ll just because I’m the famous girl who defeated You Know Who when I was a baby.”
“Well at least part of that’s not true anymore,” he beamed.
“What are you talking about?” she asked looking back up at him.
“You said you’ve never had a friend; well you’ve got one now.”
Elizabeth still looked slightly confused.
“Me silly,” he laughed, “and I was your friend before I found out your last name.”
Elizabeth’s eyes lit up. But when Remus came out of the shop with huge sundaes if possible, they lit up even more.
“I didn’t know what flavour you wanted,” said Remus, “but I remember your mum used to like chocolate ice cream, and your dad used to like strawberry, so I got you Neapolitan.”
“What’s that?” she asked looking at the ice cream her eyes as big as saucers.
“Strawberry, chocolate and vanilla swirled together.”
“Whereas you are just having pure chocolate?” asked Ernie as he tucked into his honeycomb crunch sundae.
“You got a problem with that Macmillan?”
“No problems at all,” said Ernie chuckling.
“If you don’t eat that soon it’s going to melt,” pointed out Tim.
Elizabeth had just been staring at her huge ice cream.
“At least it’s not all over her face,” said Mrs Macmillan attacking her son’s face with a wet napkin.
Elizabeth picked up her spoon and took a spoonful of the ice cream with some of each flavour on the spoon.
She closed her eyes in bliss as she swallowed the sweet ice cream.
“Have you never had ice cream before?” asked Lyall.
“Nope,” said Elizabeth taking a second spoonful and diving in.
“That must have been horrible!” said Tim, “never having had ice cream!”
“Well I have had it now Tim,” she chuckled, “and it’s delicious.”
Remus smiled as for the first time since he had taken her home Elizabeth actually finished a meal, yes it was ice cream, but it was a start.
“We should get you lot home,” said Lyall as they finished their ice creams.
Remus and Mrs. Macmillan exchanged contact details and they all headed home.
“See you at school,” said Ernie waving her goodbye as she floed home carrying Guinevere’s basket.
Lyall and Remus between them somehow managed to heave Elizabeth’s cauldron up to her room but when they got in Elizabeth was already asleep still fully clothed on top of the bed.
Guinevere was prowling back and forth by her bedroom door not allowing anyone to enter whilst her mistress was sleeping.
“Excuse me, Queen Guinevere,” said Lyall bowing deeply, “would you allow us entry into your mistresses chambers to deliver her possessions.”
Guinevere looked at him for a moment as if sizing him up before moving aside so they could drag in the cauldron.
Remus carefully took off Elizabeth’s shoes and tucked her into bed.
“Goodnight little Beth,” he said kissing her on top of the head as they left the room.
“Take good care of your mistress cat,” said Lyall, “you are guarding someone very precious.”
Guinevere looked at Lyall imperiously before nodding and continuing to patrol the doorway.
“She can’t understand you Dad.”
“Prove it,” he challenged.