August 1971
Lily stared up at the ceiling. It didn’t feel right. It never felt right.
She missed Petunia.
Petunia, now beginning grade 9, had her own band of friends. She had been spending what seemed like every waking moment of the summer holiday with them—Jane, Helen, Teresa, and the other one who looked like Jane—and since then, she seemed to hate Lily more than ever. There had been an unspoken tension between the sisters since Petunia had moved out of their shared childhood room and into what was once the guest bedroom.
When Pet’s friends came around, there was always something to whisper about. And Lily found herself thinking more and more often that they were probably whispering about her.
So, she stopped spending time at home. Since Severus had told her she was a witch and he a wizard, they had spent time just about every day working on their magic. There was only so much magic they would be able to do windlessly, Sev had explained, but it wasn’t a bad idea to explore what they could do before school started.
Lily learned to move objects, freeze things and had even managed to change people’s moods with just the touch of her hand and the will of her mind. Unfortunately, she was no longer able to get close enough to Petunia to try this on her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to, anyways; Petunia already didn’t trust her magic, and she definitely didn’t need another reason to.
But this afternoon, she was waiting for something. So, she remained at home, making her overhead light turn on and off, pushing her window up from the other side of the room, and staring into the sky, waiting for her first owl sighting.
She still didn’t fully believe Severus when he had said they got their Hogwarts acceptance letters by wizard post. Well, she believed the wizard post part. What she didn’t quite believe was how wizard post worked.
“Owls?” she asked.
Severus nodded. “They just fly up to your window and they’ll have your letter for you. At least,” he said hurriedly, “that’s what my mum says.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Does your mum need glasses? There’re no owls in England.”
He laughed. “We get our newspaper—The Prophet, remember? —by owl post. You must have seen them.”
“Nope.”
He grinned. “Well, you’ll see one when your letter comes. August 1st, remember?”
“August 1st.” She whispered it, held it like a secret. She was getting better at that—keeping secrets—from people. Maybe a bit too good.
A flock of birds flew through the sky, heading toward the woods. But Lily watched as one, slightly larger than the rest, seemed to take a detour and flew in the direction of their house. In fact, straight towards her window. It got closer, and closer, and larger, and larger…
It was an owl.
And in its talons was a letter.
She walked over to the window as the owl approached, watching with eerie steadiness. She couldn’t help but imagine the other wizards, all over England, who were getting their letters with her. Right now. Her classmates.
The great bird settled with one talon on her window, ducking its head to enter her room. It stuck its other talon out towards her, holding the letter.
She took it and opened it carefully.
Dear Lily 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. Term begins on September 1st…
The start date was what shocked her the most. Not the words “Platform 9¾,” not “await your owl.”
“Term begins on September 1st.”
It suddenly felt very real. In less than a month, she would be in school, learning magic. Surrounded by other witches, other wizards. Her classmates. Her future friends.
She quickly scrawled a note to the Deputy Headmistress, a “Minerva McGonagall,” saying that yes, she would very much like to attend Hogwarts. And then she bounded down the stairs, out the side door, and rushed as fast as she could to Spinner’s End.
∙ ∙ ∙
Severus had gotten his letter, too, and the Snapes gratefully offered to take Lily with them the next week to Diagon Alley, the wizarding alley where they could supposedly find all these books. Lily was glad, because honestly, she had no idea where in Muggle London she could find a pewter cauldron or A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot.
How they’d get there, she had no clue. She’d spent the last week pouring over maps, Severus glancing over her shoulder lazily, trying to find Hogwarts, or Diagon Alley, or Camelot (“That one is a real myth, Lily,” he’d tried to explain). Even when Severus mentioned that magical locations—especially well-frequented ones—tended to be unplottable on Muggle maps, she still tried to find them.
“Lily,” Severus started for the tenth time that week.
“I know! I know,” she huffed, exasperated. “I can’t find it.”
He sighed, putting some elderflower and beetle’s legs in his water. “You’ll see this afternoon, you can’t get there regularly.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “Does that really make it taste better?” she said, staring at his glass. It had turned a pale lavender and he took a sip.
“It tastes like lemon. And laughter, I think.”
“How does something taste like laughter?”
“You try it and see for yourself.”
She must have made a face, because he added, “Mum says it’s also a headache remedy, whatever that means. She’s made it for so long that I don’t think I’ve ever been able to have a headache.”
After a week of staring at maps with no information on where she was going, with no sign that the world of magic even existed, her head was spinning. A headache cure? Say no more. She reached out for the glass and took a sip.
“Huh,” she said.
Severus raised an eyebrow and his lip twitched. “Laughter taste?”
She frowned, smiling. “It gets you in the back of your mouth—like the lemon—and somehow in my cheeks too, like a smile.” She blinked hard, realizing the pounding behind her eyes was dulling. “And my headache is going away!”
“Maybe you’d like Potions, Lil—”
“Are you both ready to leave?” Mrs. Snape interrupted them. She was standing by the doorway, holding a little jar, wearing a set of casual robes. Sev and Lily stood up, leaving the maps sprawled out on the floor.
“I think so,” Severus responded.
Mrs. Snape looked at Lily. “Did your mum give you some money for your supplies? I don’t know that we can cover the cost of both of you…” she trailed off, her eyes casting a faraway look.
Lily swallowed. “She gave me some Muggle money, but I know it’s not the same in…”
Mrs. Snape nodded. “That should be okay.” There was a flash of concern across her face, and she muttered, “Oh dear, I’ve never done the exchange before…”
“Mum, it’s fine,” Severus said. “We can figure it out there. Let’s just go, okay?”
Mrs. Snape acquiesced. “Alright. Grab some powder.” She opened the top of the jar, revealing something that looked like ashes. Lily’s eyes went wide.
“You want us… to…”
“Oh, no, Lily dear—it’s Floo powder, don’t worry,” Mrs. Snape said with a smile. “Sev’s father said the same thing his first time,” she chuckled, remembering. “It does look funnily like an urn, huh?”
She snapped, and the fireplace lit up. Lily thought she might be sick. She knew about magic but still hadn’t seen much of it used, outside of her and Severus’ light adventures in magic. Even so, they both knew they were only scraping the surface.
Severus reached in and grabbed a fistful of powder. “Lily, you step in, throw the powder, and say ‘Diagon Alley’ clearly. It’s not hard,” he told her. “Watch me.” And he promptly stepped into the flames and threw his powder down. The flames glowed green for a moment, as he shouted, “Diagon Alley!” and was whisked away.
Lily stared.
“Go on, take some powder,” his mother said.
She reached a shaking hand into the jar and pulled out some ashes—Floo powder. She took a deep breath, stepped into the flames, and tossed the ashes into the fire. The flames glowed green, as they had for Severus, and she closed her eyes before saying “Diagon Alley!”. And she felt the world spin.
She kept her eyes closed, and only when she heard a familiar voice saying, “You made it!” did she open them to see Severus in front of her.
All around them, Lily could feel magic radiating. From every building, from every person…it was disorienting, and yet, she felt a sense of familiarity like never before. There were funny names on all the buildings—Flourish and Blotts, Ollivanders, and the one at the end of the alley didn’t have a name, even, just a giant stone dragon on the top—but even so, everything seemed surprisingly normal.
Mrs. Snape appeared next to them. She smiled. “Let’s go to Gringotts.”
∙ ∙ ∙
They walked into the wizarding bank, and Lily suddenly felt smaller than she had ever felt in her life. Mrs. Snape held Severus’ hand and the two of them walked up towards the desk. Lily trailed behind, unsure of what to do.
“Dear, go to the desk at the end,” Mrs. Snape said. “They’ll help you out.” And she turned around, leaving Lily to fend for herself.
She gulped and walked towards the goblin, one-hundred-pound note trembling in her fist. The goblin looked her up and down. “Muggle money?” they said. She nodded.
“Wizarding money is weighted. 2 Galleons a pound, 58 Sickles to a pound, 986 Knuts to a pound. How do you want your money? Where do you want your money? Do you have a vault with us?”
Lily shook her head quietly, unsure of how to respond.
“Come over here.” The goblin lead her to a table across from the desk, and said, “You can fill out these forms for getting your vault all set up. Write out your pound worth, and how much of it you want in Galleons, Knuts, and Sickles. The conversions are on the paper,” they said, a little kinder, with something like a smile on their face.
Another girl was sitting at the table, hard at work on her forms. Lily sat down a seat away from her and stared down at the numbers.
“You a Muggle-born too?” the girl asked her. Lily nodded, trying to concentrate on calculating her values.
“First year—I’m Mary,” the girl offered. She stuck her hand out. “Mary MacDonald.”
“Lily Evans,” she replied shyly, shaking Mary’s hand. She had a firm handshake, kind eyes, and beautiful hair. Lusciously dark. Lily had always envied Petunia’s brown hair, but Mary’s was a different kind of dark. Less plain, somehow. She almost envied Mary more for it.
“Why do they make us do this, just to be able to go to school? I wish my parents were here to help,” Mary sighed.
Lily nodded. “I didn’t think I’d really need math outside grade school, but here we are.”
Mary laughed loudly, and goblins and wizards alike turned in their direction. Lily blushed, pleased that she made someone laugh so loudly.
“I hope we’ll see each other at school, Lily,” Mary said, standing up. Shaking her forms, she said, “I’ve just finished mine—you’re going to Hogwarts, right?”
She nodded. “I can’t wait! I’ll see you, Mary,” she grinned. Lily watched her new friend walk towards the goblins and went back to calculating her new money supply. 100 Galleons. The other half split evenly between Sickles and Knuts. She didn’t know much about wizarding prices, but that was certainly some money she could use to purchase school materials, right?
She brought her form over to the goblin. “I’m all set.”
They looked her form over. “Pounds?” She handed him the note.
“You’ll have Vault 562. I’ll take you there now. I assume you’d like to make a withdrawal?” the goblin asked. She nodded.
They zoomed in a cart towards vault 562, and when they arrived, the goblin placed a key in the hole to open a vault with a healthy pile of coins. Lily walked into her—her vault—she had never had anything to herself before—and scooped up a pile of coins to take for shopping. They were hers.
She tried to push the smile off her face when she met the Snapes in the lobby of Gringotts. “You’re all set, Lily?” Mrs. Snape confirmed. She nodded, and off they went to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Lily needed all her robes—work robes, a hat, gloves, and a cloak. Sev just needed some dragon hide gloves.
“Step on up here,” Madam Malkin said to Lily. She climbed on a little stool, standing in front of a mirror. A pale-skinned girl with auburn hair smiled at her from the station next to her. “I’m just finishing up with your robes, Alice,” Madam told her. She smiled and nodded.
Mrs. Snape promptly paid for Sev’s gloves and told Lily they were off to get a cat for Severus. “We’ll get your Apothecary ingredients and meet you in Flourish & Blotts?” she said. Lily nodded, trying to pretend she knew what all that meant.
The bell rang, and they were gone.
“First year?” the girl next to her—Alice—said.
Lily nodded. “What gave it away?” she asked warily.
Alice laughed. “You’ve made all the classic stops—Apothecary, bookstore, robe store…”
“You’re in here—are you a first-year?” Lily pointed out.
She shook her head. “I’ll be a third year. I just need a new winter cloak. Alice Prewett,” she said, extending her hand.
“Lily Evans.”
And before they could say any more, measuring tapes were flying around Lily, quickly taking her measurements. Madam Malkin rushed out from the storeroom and handed a thick, maroon cloak to Alice. “This one’s on me,” Madam said. “Your mother’s sewing spell makes cloak repairs so much more efficient; I couldn’t think of a better way to thank her.”
“Wow, thank you, Madam! I’ll let her know. Bye, Lily,” Alice said, waving as she left the store. Lily waved, slightly distracted by the measuring tapes. Madam snapped her fingers, and they dropped.
“I’ll have those for you in just a moment, Miss Evans.” And with that, she disappeared again.
Lily had just barely sat down when Madam appeared again with all her robes and a fresh hat and gloves from the storeroom. “First year stock supply,” she explained. “Ten Galleons and eleven Sickles.” Lily swapped the coins from her bag with the clothing on the table.
“Thank you!” she called, wandering out of the store. Okay, she thought. Flourish & Blotts. Flourish & Blotts. What even is that?
“Lily!” Severus called from just up the road. She bounded over to them. Flourish & Blotts turned out to be sufficiently uninteresting, though she found most of her supplies here. Her cauldron, her telescope, and Mrs. Snape gave her the potions ingredients from the Apothecary. And of course, all her schoolbooks. But she had yet to get a wand.
“Mum, we still need to go to Ollivanders,” Severus reminded his mother.
“That we do,” she said. And off they went.
Ollivander was a peculiar sort of man, muttering to himself, bringing out wand after wand. The three of them went into the shop together and he tried to pick wands for them together. They both tried each wand he handed them. Applewood wand with a unicorn hair core, pine wand with dragon heartstring, some short, some long; no combination seemed to quite work for either of them.
Ollivander handed one to Lily first. “Try it; Willow wood, ten and a quarter inches, fairly swishy.” Lily picked up what felt like the hundredth wand and felt different. Lighter, maybe. Natural. It fit in her hand and her breathing came easier—she was calmer. This was it.
And Ollivander saw it too. “Yes! That’s the one. Good for charm work, that wand,” he added. “Now you,” he said, turning his attention to Sev. “I want to try a very unique wand for you.” He rummaged under the desk and pulled out an intricate case. “This is a Connemara ebony wand with an extremely rare core. A triple-core—dragon heartstring, kelpie heartstring, and phoenix feather—could be incredibly dangerous. But it could be incredibly strong,” he says curiously.
Sev took the wand and his face changed instantly. He seemed to stand up taller, excited by the power of the wand. Ollivander nodded in assent.
“Good wands, good wands,” he muttered to himself. “Three Galleons a wand.”
The two families paid for their wands and left the store. Then Mrs. Snape stuck her arms out and Sev grabbed on. “Lily, hold on; we’re going back home,” he explained. She placed her hand on Mrs. Snape’s arm and was jolted into another dimension, losing all frame of mind and logical thought before her feet slammed down on the ground inside Snape’s home. She rocked back and forth for a moment, regaining her balance. “That was awesome, mum! I love when we get to Apparate,” Sev cheered.
Lily’s head spun. “I’m going home now, thank you for taking me,” she said quickly, walking with as much confidence as she could muster and hoping she wasn’t walking sideways towards the door home.