Hey Jude
Diagon Alley was more beautiful than Lily could’ve ever anticipated, each twist and turn the streets brought new wonders to light. While her mother tended to trail behind slowly, Lily found joy in rushing through the streets, marvelling at all the window displays. After Ollivander’s, Lily and her mother had popped to Madam Malkins’, what Lily’s mother promised to be the ‘best shop for that silly attire you must wear.’
Madam Malkin herself was a young, squat woman, and reminded Lily of old fairy Godmothers so common in the princess stories she read as a young girl. Her voice was high, but constantly smiling as she shooed Lily’s mother away; she then proceeded to place Lily on a pedestal beside another young boy. Madam Malkin suddenly became a flurry of needles and dark cloth, and Lily was left beside the boy. She waited in anticipation for him to say something, anything. She stole a glance his way, and noticed he was looking at her with a foreign type of intensity.
“Hello, Hogwarts too?” he probed, a warm smile cashing off his originally sombre appearance. He had dimples, Lily noticed, which complemented his straw blonde hair and freckled nose.
“Yeah, I’m Lily,” she grinned as she felt a needle prod into her back.
“Nice name, like the flower. I’m Evan, you heard of my ma? Yianni Rosier, the first woman seeker for the Chudley Cannons? Everyone seems to want to talk to me about her,” he grinned, wincing slightly as Madam Malkin probed his back now.
Lily screamed internally as she tried to work out what a seeker was, never mind the Chudley Cannons, why should she know who his mother was? She was beginning to find everyone’s sense of entitlement rather insufferable, but she plastered on a fake smile despite this.
“Nah, I’m afraid not,” she smiled politely back. “You know, I never tended to like lily flowers, everyone has them at their funerals.”
“Lily flowers are beautiful, I think,” Evan laughed, and Lily felt the most wonderful sensation of pride crawl up her spine.
“So, do you know what house you’ll be in then?” he continued, having to turn for Madam Malkin, leaving Lily to stare at the back of his blonde curls.
“No, not sure, maybe Slytherin? I guess?” she smiled, thinking back to Severus’ fondness of the house.
“Brilliant! I’ll see you there then. Everyone in my family has been a Slytherin, all the way back.” He seemed to genuinely be pleased at Lily’s choice, but inside that sense of uncomfort arose, like she wasn’t particularly being honest. Evan turned back to face her, and seemed to scrutinise the little details across her face, like he was taking her in.
“You know,” he continued, “that Slytherins are lucky, none of those nasty muggleborns or blood traitors in our house. Mum always shouts at me when I talk this way, but dad secretly agrees with me, I know he does.”
Lily suddenly felt sick, this sweet boy who seemed rather lovely at a first meeting, hated Lily for who she was. Her stomach plummeted downwards, and she felt a sense of immense discomfort unfurl within her. She’d walked into the wizarding world filled with ignorance, assuming she was equal, like all the other witches and wizards, not a care or consideration for what it truly meant to have neither a magical father nor a magical mother.
She forced a smile, and laughed slightly at his words, mumbling something along the lines of “I guess we’ll see.”
She felt much smaller than she had earlier, and desperately wished her mother hadn’t been sent away to purchase whatever books she required.
Evan continued to talk to her, and if Lily wasn’t so taken aback by his anti-muggle standpoint, she would’ve found herself rather fond of him, with a soft laugh and dimples, beachy curls so dissimilar from Severus’ midnight black curtains.
Eventually, as Madam Malkin passed her a set of robes cut perfectly to size, made of the softest black material, she waved goodbye to Evan with a lopsided grin. She tried desperately hard to be friendly, as Lily felt she shouldn’t judge someone’s perspective, but it just felt wrong, all felt so wrong.
“See you Lily, hopefully in the Slytherin common room, eh?” he grinned, as Madam Malkin passed him his own set of robes.
She left through the front door of the old shop, listening to the tinkle of the bell that announced her leave, and tried to put Evan’s ideals out of her mind. A boy so sweet was filled with so much dislike, and it truly unnerved Lily.
As if the street knew she was in desperate need of distraction, as Lily turned the corner, she was faced with the most wonderful scene. Three women, circled by an ever-growing crowd, were busking, one with a microphone, one with a retro 60s-style guitar, and one with what seemed to be a floating, micro-sized piano. Their music was loud and lovely, crashing through the surrounding streets. Lily immediately ran up to listen, desperate to hear magical music – did they have their own styles? Did it all sound different?
Much to her surprise, the group of three women, all clad in modern leather jackets and polished combat boots, began playing the Beatles. It took Lily a second, but she realised they were playing the classic ‘Hey Jude’, a song so engrained in her childhood, the lyrics felt like reciting a sweet love poem. Immediately, more folk began to gather around, clapping in a rhythmic fashion and all laughing together. Lily spotted Seraphine, the girl she had met previously, and they grinned as their eyes met across the glowing crowd. The songs guitar began to pick up, and much to her surprise, a short girl with spiky blonde hair that had previously gone unnoticed, began to dance in the very centre, twirling with such confidence it brought the audience to laughter.
Lily had no idea what overcame her, but in the slightest of seconds, she found herself dancing with the blonde girl, and was greeted by a crooked smile, long lashes and heavy jewellery. They danced so confidently, that soon more began joining the unlikely duo, Lily span as she recognised several faces from earlier in her day - the boy with the round glasses, his posh friend, Seraphine, and so many more. Evan was stood slightly to the side, surrounded by a cluster of rather forlorn, gothic adults and he wore a look of total confusion as Lily danced alongside her newfound friends. Warm laughter broke from her mouth as the blonde girl crashed into her and apologized in a thick Liverpudlian accent – this must be Marlene! So many new people had burst into Lily’s life in a flourish of colour that it was hard to remember them all, each so unique and special.
The song came to a natural close and was met with a friendly smattering of applause, Lily’s mother pulled her hand gently away from the cluster of witches and wizards, mattering something along the lines of “avoiding crowds.” Her mother pulled her into a warm, oak smelling shop and piled thickly bound books, peeling with gold and silver letters, into her arms.
“So, these are all from the bookstore across the street, if you have your robes… should just be some sort of frog left,” her mother explained primly, clearly checking off a mental list.
Lily immediately pouted in an angry exclamation against toads – her mother knew she didn’t want one.
“Only joking!” she smiled, gesturing towards the owlery across the street. “An owl I think, Paul wouldn’t want a friend.”
Lily secretly was desperate for a kitten – maybe a little ginger one, with white paws, called Pumpkin, or Cheese, or Rumplestiltskin, as long as it was one of those silly names you only ever gift to a cat. She loved Paul, but the bedraggled black family cat truly only cared for their father and would often show up uninvited at the docks to assist in his work. However, it was lenient enough of her mother to allow an owl, so Lily knew she would have to make do.
Before they were able to turn and leave the shop originally only used as an escape mode from the crowd, a cheerful man swept Lily into a huge room piled from floor to ceiling with what looked similar to football kits, and, was that, broomsticks? Huge drapes in shades of rich red, brilliant orange and passionate blue hung between shelves from the ceiling that seemed to climb endlessly high. Each piece of material was emblazoned, somehow, with moving people, flying across the seas of colour on broomsticks – is that what they were for? Flying? The pictures seemed to be clad in a somewhat unusual outfit, with big shin pads paired with a leather helmet and an assortment of brightly coloured robes.
The man had soft features, carved by wrinkles and old age, silver flecks streaking through what seemed to be his slightly thinning dark hair.
“So, who do you support then? Bright young witch like you, I’m sure a Quidditch player?” he grinned, flicking his wand to cast soft golden light across the ram shackled shop.
Lily felt rather drunk, hallucinating almost. What on earth was this? Why was this man talking about things that quite frankly, didn’t exist?
Lily’s mother seemed to be equally as surprised at this strange shop, but unlike Lily, her distaste painted across her face in a work of total confusion.
“Ah! I seem to have found myself in the midst of Muggles! Muggleborn daughter, I’m assuming?” he smiled, extending a hand for Lily to shake. She did, grateful to break the awkwardness that had settled in the shop.
“I’m Felix. Mr Kogawa to the naughty lads here to take a pinch at our broom polish!”
This joke was clearly meant to be funny, and yet fell flat as a pancake between the unlikely trio. She stifled a laugh, an almost immediate response to his embarrassed look, and instead pointed to a poster clinging to the front of the till, emblazoned in bright orange letters ‘The Chudley Cannons.’
“Mr – oh sorry – Felix, I know the Chudley Cannons! I was talking to Evan, erm, Rosier I think his name was!” she smiled, remembering Evan’s boyish grin from earlier.
“Ah, yes, Yianni Rosier. Wonderful player, showed many of the men how it’s done. Shame she left so soon, very unusual family the Rosiers. Very unusual… All sorts of ideas a man like myself can’t get behind. But cheerio, what can you do, eh?”
Lily considered what he had meant, but before she could inquire more surrounding his ‘unusual ideas’, her mother muttered something about shopping, and began to shoo Lily out the door. The crowds outside had dispersed slightly now, and Lily could see the sun bouncing between the cobbled slabs, cracked and bruised by years of wear.
“Just promise you’ll come back once you’ve learnt how to fly!”
His voice rang through the doorway behind them, and Lily heard her mother’s breath stumble and flip with shock at her daughter flying.
“Lily, you will not be flying. I want conformation that your feet will never leave the ground during your time at Hogwarts,” she said, firmly, as if Lily would listen. She wouldn’t – she practically never did.
“Its time for some sort of bird now – something small and manageable please now Lily, no huge phoenixes or whatever!” her mother smiled as they entered through another doorway, and Lily grinned as she realised not even phoenixes could exist in this strange world.
The shop was dank and dark, the floor thick with white splatters of bird refuse, the smell even more noticeable. Cages covered all the surfaces available, filled with the most unusual collection of birds – owls with eyes so furious they would melt snow, sweet birds with round fluffy bodies and big birds, thick with feathers, brown, white, black and blonde.
Much to Lily’s dismay, her mother immediately selected the smallest crate visible, filled with an owl so small it couldn’t rival a mouse; soft blue eyes peering from a nest of black feathers. It peered at Lily, and let out a soft chirp as the shop owner – who had been completely silent, looking like an owl herself – lifted it from the cage.
“I can send it directly to Hogwarts, save you the hassle…” the owl-like woman squawked softly.
“Oh god, much appreciated, can’t imagine taking it on a tube! Can you?” her mother smiled thankfully; she passed over one big golden coin, shining with an animal Lily couldn’t recognise. The woman did not respond, and simply pulled Lily’s wand from her grip, casting a shower of gold sparks over the minute owl.
“He knows he belongs to you now. He will see you at Hogwarts.” The brisk woman squawked once more, and Lily felt rather hurried as she was pushed back towards the door. So that was that? She owned an owl? What next?
Lily felt stunned. So much had happened in one short trip, so many new people had been met, it was impossible to take in. It was all so magical, so unique, so special, that she was desperate to share it with one person: Severus.