Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Hazel

Disclaimer : I wouldn't be writing this here if I owned Harry Potter.

Chapter 4

~~~~~

"Finally!" Lily said as she walked out of Madam Malkin's, "I thought she was going to strangle me with that measuring tape."

Marlene was right behind her, carrying her bag of new school robes.

"I need to get a new pet." she said suddenly.

Lily frowned. "New pet? All of a sudden?"

Going to the pet shop wasn't there on their schedule.
"Yeah." Marlene said without further explanation. "Come on."

She dragged Lily all the way till the farthest end of Diagon Alley and stopped in front of a small pet shop.
Lily looked at her suspiciously.
"Michelle said this shop is good." Marlene answered Lily's unasked question.

The shop, even though small, had a wide variety of animals - magical and muggle alike. Marlene had wandered off to the puffskeins and toads section and Lily sat down on one of the chairs at the counter. She was about to get up and look around the cats and kneazels section when she saw an elderly man, who she assumed was the owner of the shop, walking towards her.

"Are you Lily Evans?" he asked.

"Yes." Lily said.

"This is for you, Miss." he said, holding up a basket.

"I'm really sorry. I'm not here to buy anything. I came with my friend --"

The man shook his head, his grey hair falling in front of his eyes. "You don't have to buy. It's already bought."

"Already bought? For me?" Lily asked, bewildered.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lily took the basket from the man and opened it cautiously. Inside the basket was a small kitten with snow white fur, looking up at her with its blue eyes.

"It's adorable." Lily didn't know who had bought her this little gift, but whoever it was, the person knew her well enough to know that she adored cats.

"Do you know who bought it?" she asked the man.

"Really sorry, ma'am. The person didn't say his name."

So it is a boy.

Lily lifted the kitten slowly out of the basket and she saw a small piece of parchment tied along with the bell on its neck.

She untied the parchment and opened it. In the parchment, written in long, spiky and reasonably neat handwriting was a single word : Sorry.

Lily immediately knew who had done this.

It was definitely him. Who else would want to apologize to me?

"Was it a boy with dark eyes, long hair and hooked nose?" she asked again.
The man thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"It was a boy. But not the one you described. "

Lily looked back at the parchment. The handwriting was nothing like Severus's small and loopy letters.
But she also knew that a simple muture scipturum spell can change the handwriting.

But how did this man know that I am Lily Evans? Surely, he wasn't asking all his customers if they're me, right?

"How did you know I'm Lily Evans?" she asked.