The next day, Lily woke up earlier than her two friends. The sun was just barely climbing over the horizon, sending weak pinkish beams over Alex’s kelly green lawn. Lily checked Alex’s clock; it was only five-thirty.
The girls had stayed up late giggling about this and that, but hard as Lily tried to resume sleeping, slumber would just not come.
So she got up and quietly slipped through Alex’s door, careful not to wake anybody who might be asleep. She tiptoed down the marble staircase and, taking care to still be as silent as humanly possible, slid back the glass door that led to the backyard and stepped outside.
Lily drew in a deep breath of the chilly morning air. The grass was dewy and cold under her bare feet, and her toes curled up at the dewdrops hanging on the blades of grass.
It really was a beautiful morning. The sun was rising rapidly and more light fell across the ground with every passing minute. Lily reclined in a chair on the wooden deck in the yard, just enjoying the feeling of being alive.
The sound of soft, pattering footsteps made Lily jump. She twisted around in her chair to see Adam walking towards her.
“Oh, hi, Adam.” Lily sat back down.
Adam sat down in a chair next to her. “Hello. I hope I didn’t scare you.”
“Oh-oh, no. You didn’t. I just didn’t think anybody would be up for awhile.” Lily had to suppress a giggle at Adam’s appearance. His eyes were red and puffy-obviously he hadn’t gotten much sleep-and his brown hair was sticking out in odd places.
Adam stretched and leaned back in his chair. “I’m an early riser. Everybody in our family is, except for Alex.”
“I know.” Lily giggled. “You should see her at school when we have to get up early.”
Adam’s expression darkened. “I will never see her at school.”
Oh yeah! Lily thought. Adam’s a Squib. “Sorry,” she said.
There was an awkward pause.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Adam sourly, but Lily could tell by his tone of voice that it mattered a lot, at least to him.
“Well-”
“I’ll never go to Hogwarts,” Adam sighed. This time, there was more longing than bitterness in his slightly squeaky voice. “Never go to Hogsmeade, or learn magic, ride a broom…”
“It’s not all that great,” Lily lied. In truth she loved magic, but it was better not to let Adam know that right now. “I mean it has its ups and downs, just like everything.”
Adam snorted. “Yeah. Right. There’s no way I’m going to believe you, after seeing what all my sisters can do. It’s…so cool. I’d give anything, practically, to be able to do magic and play Quidditch and everything.”
“Well, you never know what will happen, right?” reasoned Lily. “For all you know you could wake up tomorrow with magic leaking out of your ears.” She didn’t actually know if this could happen or not, but it seemed like a good thing to say.
Adam smiled. “You’re nice, Lily. But I’m not magical, and that’s that. I’m okay with it most of the time. But when they all come home, and they’re talking non-stop about all the great things at Hogwarts…I get so jealous.”
Lily sighed. “Yeah, it sounds pretty rough.”
Adam shrugged. “I used to be so mad about it. I thought it was so unfair. I mean, my family’s pureblood. Completely. You can trace our ancestors back for ages. I’m the first Squib to pop up since, like, the seventeen hundreds. But I’m used to the idea now.”
Lily nodded and silence fell over the pair of them. Adam was not quite as talkative as his sister Alex, it seemed. But then, thought Lily with a wry smile, who is?
Just then somebody shouted, “LILY!” Startled, Lily jumped up from her chair. “Who said that?”
Adam pointed up to a window with Alex’s head poking out. Alex waved jovially.
“Lily, what are you doing out there?” she called.
Lily shrugged, and then yelled back, “I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“Well, get back up here! It’s important! It’s about the concert!”
“The concert? Okay, I’ll be right up.” Alex shut the window and then Lily turned to Adam. “See you later, I guess. I’d better go before Alex freaks out on me.”
Adam nodded with a knowing smile. “Yeah, I know what you mean. See you around.”
Lily crossed the dewy grass, stepped inside the house, and picked the wet blades of grass off her bare feet before heading up to Alex’s room. When she knocked on the door, it was flung open and Alex pulled her inside.
“Lily!” she shrieked.
“What’s going on?” asked Lily, bemused by her friend’s behavior.
“Dress robes!” Alex exclaimed.
“Huh?”
Cadrian took over, though she was still rubbing her eyes, stretching, and yawning. “Dress robes,” she explained. “You know how at school we wear black ones? Well, for special occasions like this people wear dress robes. They’re fancier. And prettier.”
“Oh,” said Lily with a sinking feeling in her stomach. “But I don’t have any.”
“Exactly,” said Alex.
“Cadrian, do you have some?” Lily asked.
Cadrian nodded. “Here, I’ll show you.” She rummaged around in her duffel bag and produced bright pink robes adorned with tiny diamonds. “See?”
“Wow, those are cool!” enthused Lily. “But what am I going to wear? Alex, what are yours like?”
“Oh, I’m wearing these.” Alex disappeared into her closet and returned holding silvery silk robes embroidered with swirls of shiny sequins. Lily sighed. “They’re great,” she said.
“Don’t worry, Lils! I already talked to Mom about the situation, and she’s going to take us to Diagon Alley to buy you some robes!”
“What? No, no, no. I can’t let you buy me the robes!”
Alex waved a hand through the air as if brushing Lily’s comment away. “No big deal, Lily. Just a friend helping a friend. They won’t be very expensive.”
“Let me pay you back, at least,” said Lily.
“No, Lily! When’s your birthday?”
“In April.”
“Just consider this an early birthday present, okay?”
Lily thought about this. “Well, okay.”
“Of course it’s okay. We’re leaving at eleven-thirty, by the way.”
“It’s only six,” Cadrian giggled. “When did you talk to your mom, anyway?”
“Last night. When I figured it out.”
Lily nodded. “Well, okay…”
“It’ll be fun, Lils! Now come on. Let’s get some breakfast, I’m starved.”
Lily and Cadrian followed Alex downstairs into the kitchen. “I’ll make some toast,” she announced. “Or muffins? Bacon? Porridge? I’ll make it all,” she decided happily, getting down pots and pans. “I do like to cook.”
Lily laughed. “That’s good, because I’m starved.”
“Cady, can you get me the eggs?” Alex requested. “Over there.” she pointed to the refrigerator. “Do you guys like blueberry or chocolate chip muffins?”
“Oh, definitely blueberry,” chorused Lily and Cadrian.
Alex grinned. “Chocolate chip it is. I don’t like blueberry.” She ripped open a package of chocolate chips and dumped them in her batter, picking out a few to pop in her mouth.
“Lily, make the toast,” said Alex bossily. “Cadrian, hurry up with those eggs!”
“Here,” grumbled Cadrian, handing Alex two eggs. “Chill out.”
Lily quickly made the toast and spread jam over the three slices of bread. Setting them on the table, she said, “Should I make the bacon, Alex?”
“Yeah, sure.” Alex was busy mixing the chocolate chips that she hadn’t yet eaten into the batter, and then plopping dollops of the mixture into a muffin pan.
About forty-five minutes later, the three girls had a feast laid out in front of them: Lily’s toast and bacon, Alex’s muffins, and Cadrian’s cinnamon-porridge and biscuits. Grinning at each other, they sat down and started to eat.
Lily peeled the paper carefully off of a muffin and took a bite. “This is…tasteless,” she observed, studying it. “Alex, did you leave any chocolate chips in the batter when you baked it?”
“Er…a few…” said Alex through a mouthful of Cadrian’s special porridge.
Cadrian snorted with laughter as she lifted a piece of toast to her mouth. Suddenly she set it down and pointed out the window. “Isn’t that James’s owl?”
“Where?” asked Alex, jumping up.
“Flying straight towards us! Hurry, open the window!”
Lily glanced outside. The brown, speckled owl certainly did look familiar. A small parcel was hanging from its talons.
Alex opened the window and the owl soared in gracefully, landing with a ruffle of its feathers on the table. A feather fell into the bowl of porridge but nobody noticed.
Cadrian untied the package from the owl’s scaly leg and it flew off right away. Bewildered, the three friends examined it. “It says, ‘to Lily’!” Alex shrieked.
Lily took the package. “It’s light,” she said, hefting it in her hands. “Wonder who it’s from?”
“James, of course. That was his owl, I’m positive,” said Cadrian.
“But how did he know I’m here?” asked Lily, perplexed. “And what is it?”
“Sirius is his best friend. He probably told James. Now open it!” said Alex impatiently.
Lily unwrapped the brown paper. It fluttered to the ground, along with a note. Alex picked it up and thrust it at Lily. “Read it!”
The note read:
Dear Lily,
Hey. Hope you’re having a good holiday. I realized that I had forgotten to give you your Christmas present at Hogwarts, so I’m sending it now. Hope you like it. Oh, and I really can’t wait to see you at the concert tomorrow.
James
Cadrian grinned, her eyes sparkling. “He can’t wait to see you, how sweet!” she exclaimed.
Lily ignored her friend’s comment and laid the note on the table. “I wonder what it is,” she murmured, picking up the small box that had been revealed when she’d pulled off the paper.
“Open it,” urged Cadrian.
Lily lifted off the lid and gasped. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed.
Cadrian’s jaw dropped and she was speechless, but of course Alex was never speechless. “Lily, it’s beautiful! Try it on right now! Oh, just think how much this must have cost. Wow, he must really like you!”
Sitting innocently in the box was a beautiful diamond ring. The jem was the biggest Lily had ever seen. “Surely it’s fake,” she murmured, but she didn’t truly believe that. How could it be fake? It was too completely dazzling-it reflected the light in breathtaking colors and patterns, and was perfectly shaped.
“There is no way that that’s fake, Lily. Oh, my gosh…please try it on, right now!” said Cadrian.
Never taking her eyes off the shimmering jewel, Lily slipped the ring onto her finger. Suddenly she was enveloped in a burst of green smoke; coughing, she waved it away and looked back at her finger.
The ring had vanished.
And her finger was green.
Horrified, Lily’s eyes traveled up her arms. Every inch of her skin had been turned bright green. “JAMES!” she screeched angrily, furiously trying to rub the green off her skin. It didn’t work. “I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!”
It was very obvious that Alex was trying hard not to giggle. “Look,” she said, flipping over the note. “He wrote more.”
Alex read aloud:
“Well, merry Christmas, Lily! I thought the color would bring out your eyes nicely. And with your red hair, you’re really in the Christmas spirit now. But don’t worry, it’s temporary. Meet me inside the concert and I’ll turn you back. Cheers, James.”
Lily was positively steaming. “That boy is the most insensitive, arrogant, slimy little cockroach I have ever met!”
Alex was still struggling to hold back her laughter. “He said he’ll change you back tonight, Lils. No harm done.”
“Yes harm done!” Lily cried, not caring that her statement didn’t make much sense. “I actually have to go out in public looking like this!”
Cadrian grinned. “It was a good enchantment, though!”
Lily threw her a dangerous look and Cadrian instantly backed off. “Rotten though.”
Lily threw the red box in the trashcan and ripped up James’s note. “Stupid git,” she muttered angrily. “Stupid, donkey-brained GIT!”
“Calm down, Lily,” intoned Alex. “It’ll be fine. He’ll change you back at the concert tonight and we’ll forget about this and move on.”
“Fine,” grumbled Lily. “But I am not speaking a word to him.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Later that day Lily, Alex, and Cadrian set off with Mrs. Parker to Diagon Alley. After arriving through Floo powder, Lily was quite sooty but it didn’t hide the fact that her entire body, including her lips, eyebrows, and fingernails, was green. She was attracting more than one odd stare and after a while she had a strong desire to hex every person staring at her (even though all she could really do was disarm.)
But when they reached Madam Malkin’s, Lily’s anger was momentarily forgotten. Inside Madam Malkin’s was amazing. The shelves were stuffed with fabrics of every imaginable color and design, and Lily couldn’t imagine how she’d ever choose just one.
Lily tried on fiery oranges that clashed painfully with her hair; deep crimsons that clashed with her skin; shimmery midnight blues that looked practically black; feminine lavenders, palest pinks, sky blues, sunny yellows, even dingy browns. But nothing seemed quite right…until Madam Malkin brought out a light, springy green. At first, it looked a bit odd with her green skin. But Lily reminded herself that soon her skin would be back to normal.
So Mrs. Parker purchased the green robes, as Lily thanked her profusely, and they left the store. It was one o’ clock and the girls were eager to begin preparing for the concert.