Chapter 7

"Fairies and Gypsies"

Winter holidays were fast approaching, and most students and professors realized this. The attitude around the castle had morphed from studious and serious into something a little more lively and lighthearted. Professors cut back on the amount of work they were assigning, and students began to put forth minimal effort. Most of the talk around the common rooms was holiday-related.

On this particular day, not far from the last day of classes for the year, Gabi literally skipped into the Gryffindor common room and over to where the rest of the first year class was sitting.

"What are your plans for the New Year?" she said, announcing her presence.

"Well hi, Gabi," Sirius answered for the group. "Not much. Why?"

"Because," Gabi started, barely able to contain the excitement in her voice, "my family wants to invite you to spend New Year’s with us in Madrid."

"Really?!" Ophelia asked, springing off the couch. "I’ve never been to Madrid!"

"So, can everyone come?" Gabi wanted to know. "I have to let my father know how many people to expect."

"I’ll definitely have to check with my parents, but I don’t think it will be a problem," Ophelia said.

James and Sirius said the same, but both Peter and Remus told Gabi they couldn’t go. Peter said he had to spend the holiday with his grandparents in Wales, while Remus muttered something about a family tradition.

"Lily?" Gabi asked.

Lily was very confused. First of all, Madrid wasn’t that close to London. She’d probably have to fly there, which could be awfully expensive. And second of all, why didn’t anyone else seem to realize this?

"Um, Madrid is kinda far," Lily began slowly. "I don’t think my parents will let me go, especially not alone."

"Lily," Gabi began, "we can get there from the embassy. It takes all of two seconds to go from London to Madrid."

"Really?" Lily asked, ignoring the looks on her friends faces, which all showed that they thought this information was the most obvious thing in the world. Lily was getting a little tired of constantly needing to have things explained to her.

"Absolutely," Gabi said. "Please tell me you’ll be able to come. It just wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there."

This made Lily smile. It’s nice to be wanted, and Lily felt genuinely glad to have such good friends. "Well, I guess I’ll have to ask, but it should be okay," she said, really not quite sure if her parents would go for the idea.

"Well, get back to me as soon as you know anything definite," Gabi told the group. "This is going to be so much fun!" With that, she turned around and skipped out the same way she had come in.

With the exception of Remus and Peter, the Gryffindor first years were all very excited. Lily and Ophelia headed to the Owlery to ask their parents for permission. Once they reached their destination, Ophelia found her owl and scoffed.

"And just how long have you been holding this?" she asked Medea, who had a mid-sized package addressed to her owner set down next to her.

Medea just cooed at Ophelia and inched closer to her, opening her beak to take Ophelia’s letter.

"I don’t think so," Ophelia told the owl as she picked up the package addressed to her. "Lily, do you think Rainbow is up for delivering two letters?" she said, looking at Medea for emphasis.

Lily laughed. "I don’t think Medea understands a word you’re saying, Ophelia," she told her friend. "But sure, Rainbow can take your letter."

Ophelia gave her letter to Rainbow and turned back around to face Medea. "Let that be a lesson to you," she said. Then, noticing the look Lily was giving her, added, "She does understand me."

"Sure she does," Lily said as they climbed back down the steps. "So, what’s in the package?"

"Not sure," Ophelia said. "It’s from my parents, though, so hopefully it’s something good. I really do wonder how long that stupid owl has been holding it hostage. Watch – I bet it turns out to be a birthday present." Ophelia’s birthday was in October.

Actually, the package turned out to be delivered with perfect timing. Ophelia gasped with delight as she unwrapped the package and pulled out a small blue crystal Menorah.

"They got me my own!" she exclaimed. "I figured Sebastian and I would just use his."

Ophelia then turned to face Lily. "Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah," she explained. "And I would love it if you and Gabi joined us. You’ve become like family to me, and this is a holiday for family."

"I would love to," Lily answered, feeling honored that Ophelia had asked.

Later that night, Sebastian showed up in the girls’ dorm room.

"Sebastian!" Ophelia exclaimed. "You’re not supposed to be in here."

"Well where else should I be?" he answered. "I mean, there was no way I was going to let you come to a third-year boys’ room. Don’t worry about it, Opie. This is for a religious holiday, so we can’t get in trouble."

"Opie?" Lily asked as Gabi snickered.

"Yes," Ophelia sighed. "He gave me that nickname when I was baby and he couldn’t pronounce my name. Unfortunately, he still thinks it’s charming to call me that. And if I hear it ever come out of either of your mouths, you will feel the wrath." Ophelia smiled at them to show she was joking.

She took out the Menorah and set it on the windowsill, then began briefly telling Lily and Gabi the story of Hanukkah. "Judas Maccabee recaptured Jerusalem and had the temple purged and a new altar put up. The temple was then rededicated to God. There was only enough oil to light to temple for one day, but, miraculously, the oil lasted eight days."

She placed the candles in the Menorah from right to left. "The eight candles are used to signify the eight nights the oil burned," she explained. "The ninth candle is called the Shamash, and it’s used to light the other candles."

Ophelia lit the Shamash and used it to light the candle on the left. She then began to recite a prayer.

" Ba-ruch ata, A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu, me-lech ha-o-lam, a-sher ki-de-sha-nu be-mits-vo tov, ve-tsi-va-nu le-had-lik neir shel Chan-nu-kah…"

After Ophelia had finished, she and Sebastian taught Lily and Gabi how to play a dreidel game, and the four of them sat in the room for hours, playing for chocolate coins. Once Sebastian had left for the night, both Lily and Gabi thanked Ophelia for inviting them to share in the holiday.

"No, thank you," Ophelia told them. "I’m really glad you guys were here. It was a little strange being apart from my parents, but you both helped to make up for that."

"This was fun," Gabi said.

"Are you just saying that because you won the most chocolate coins?" Ophelia asked.

Gabi shrugged playfully. "Maybe. I guess you’ll never know."

________________________________________________________________________

The last day of classes before the break finally arrived, and the last class Lily had was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sometime in the end of September, Professor Keita had started railing against what he called "the formality of academia" and had since insisted that all his students call him by his first name, Sundi. Lily had thought this to be a little strange, and she still wasn’t sure she liked addressing a professor so casually, but she obliged.

Sundi had quickly become everyone’s favorite professor. He was never condescending, as some of their professors had a tendency to be, and he made the class fun. In addition, he was very lenient and not overly-demanding of his students. That being said, you can imagine the shock of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years when they arrived for their final class before holiday and were summarily told there was going to be a surprise quiz.

"Is he serious?" Remus turned to Lily and hissed.

Lily herself was feeling a little anxious. She, like the rest of the class, hadn’t studied for two weeks.

"Alright," Sundi called over the clamor of shocked prepubescent voices. "Will everyone kindly take out a quill and some parchment? I am going to read you the questions, and you will write down your answers. There will be ten questions and a potential ten points toward your final grade at stake."

The class quieted down, but everyone had a look of subdued contempt on their faces. Lily was thinking to herself that she had definitely just lost ten points.

"Question 1," Sundi began. "What is your name?"

He paused as the class let out a noticeable sigh of relief and quickly wrote down their answers.

"Question 2. What class is this?"

The questions continued on as such, Sundi asking them everything from the name of the school to their favorite colors. "Question 8. What is my name?"

Lily paused for a moment. She wasn’t entirely sure how to spell "Sundi." She tried working it out in her head, but Sundi was one step ahead of them. He walked over to the chalkboard and wrote out "S-U-N-D-I K-E-I-T-A" for them in nice, big letters.

"Question 9. Where is the Fire Crab most commonly found?"

This question made the entire class stop writing and look up. ‘The what?’ Lily thought to herself. They hadn’t studied this. Sundi, however, either didn’t realize this or didn’t care. He was glancing out the classroom window, looking thoroughly disinterested. Lily chose to leave the question blank, figuring a nine out of ten wasn’t so bad.

"Question 10," Sundi continued. "I want you all to copy down exactly what I say – The answer to Question 9 is Fiji."

The class let out a small laugh, and Lily wrote down what Sundi had said.

"Alright, everyone pass up your papers, please," Sundi said as he came around to collect them. "I know none of you want to learn anything right now, and, frankly, I don’t really want to teach anything right now. So, I’d like to leave you all with a story."

Sundi finished collecting the papers and set them down on his desk, hopping up on the desk and sitting next to where he had put them. "This is an old story from what Muggles refer to as ‘Greek mythology.’ We, of course, refer to it as ‘Greek history.’"

Sundi began to tell them about two sisters named Procne and Philomela, daughters of Pandion, the King of Athens. The story was very brutal and violent, and Lily was a little surprised Sundi was telling it to them. It involved the two sisters being forced to seek revenge on Procne’s husband, Tereus. Tereus learned of the sisters’ plan and tried to kill them. They asked the gods for help, and the gods transformed the women into birds, thus allowing them to escape.

"Procne and Philomela were the first known Animagi," he told them, "humans who could transform themselves into animals. You’ll learn about this in further detail from Professor McGonagall in your third year, but I wanted to leave you with a story to start the holiday off right."

He dismissed them, and the class immediately began chattering about how useful it would be to become an Animagus.

"I would definitely want to be a bird, like Procne and Philomela," Lily said. "Could you imagine how wonderful it would be to have the ability to fly?" She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like – soaring through the air without a care in the world.

"I think I’d like to be a fish," Ophelia said. "I love the water, and you’d get to swim around all day and …"

"And be eaten by bigger fish," Gabi interrupted. "No thank you. I think I’d like to be a unicorn. They’re so rare and so beautiful, and everyone would be jealous of me."

"That’s nice, Gabi," Ophelia told her, sarcasm noted.

The three girls caught up to the boys, who were also busy discussing what animals they would turn themselves into. Well, Sirius, Remus and Peter were discussing it. James, on the other hand, was oddly quiet and looked as if he was in deep thought.

Lily, who had walked up next to James, playfully bumped into his side. "Hey," she asked, "where were you just now?"

James snapped back to life, appearing to be a little flustered. "What?" he asked. Lily’s question registered in his brain, and he added, "Oh. I was just thinking about the holidays and how glad I am to be done."

Lily was fairly sure that wasn’t what James but thinking about, but she let it go and told him she was thinking the same thing. This, of course, was true. Lily loved Hogwarts, but she was definitely ready for a much-needed break.

The next day, Lily boarded the Hogwarts Express with her friends and a small travel bag. She was also holding a bag containing Christmas presents for her family. Lily was most excited about giving Petunia her gift. Lily had found it in a magical catalog of Ophelia’s and immediately knew what to get her sister. Ever since they were kids, Petunia had had an inexplicable love of kaleidoscopes. Flipping through the catalog, Lily found one called the Fairy Kaleidoscope. Hundreds of tiny fairies lived inside of it, each a different color, and whenever you looked in it and turned it, the fairies put on a festive show for you, dancing around together and singing. It was the most amazing thing Lily had ever seen, and even though it was quite expensive, she knew she had to buy it for her sister. Lily hoped she would like it.

In actuality, all Lily really hoped was that her sister would talk to her over the holiday. In the nearly four months Lily had been at school, Petunia hadn’t written to Lily or even added a P.S. to the end of one of her parent’s letters. Even though she wouldn’t admit it to her friends, Petunia’s disregard really hurt her.

As excited as Lily was to see her family, what she was most looking forward to was spending New Year’s in Madrid with Gabi. Her parents had written her back telling her that her Aunts Iris and Violet, her mother’s sisters, were coming in for New Year’s but that if she really wanted to go, she could.

"What’s with all the flower names?" Gabi had asked, reading over Lily’s shoulder.

Lily had just shrugged. "Something my grandparents started and their children continued. My Aunt Iris has a daughter named Daisy."

"Your sister sure got the short end of that stick," Gabi had observed.

When Lily had received the letter, she knew that her parents wanted to her to stay at home, and she knew the only reason they were giving her the option of going was to make her feel guilty enough to stay. Her parents did that sort of thing all the time, but this time, Lily hadn’t let the guilt trip get to her. She had immediately turned around to Gabi and told her that she was coming.

Lily was anxious to see her family, though, seeing as how it had been nearly four months. She missed the smell of her house and the feel of her bedroom, the sight of her father’s cluttered work desk and the smell of her mother’s cooking. When Lily stepped off the train and saw her mother and father standing there, Lily broke into a huge smile and her mother began to cry. Lily rushed over to her parents, and her mother grabbed her and embraced her, telling her she was never going to let go.

During the car ride home, her parents wanted to know everything. They were a little disappointed when Lily told them she wasn’t allowed to show them any magic. Professor McGonagall had made all the first year students leave their wands in their dorms, for fear that having them at home would prove to be too tempting.

When the car pulled onto Devin Lane and up to number 15, Lily involuntarily broke out into a huge grin. She got out of the car and looked at her house. It had only been a few months, but for some reason, the house looked different. Smaller, maybe. Lily walked up the path and opened the front door. She closed her eyes for a moment when she got inside and let the smells of Christmas take over. There was pine coming from the Christmas tree, mixed with the smell of freshly-basked gingerbread, blended with the scent of a cinnamon broom hanging above the fireplace.

Lily opened her eyes. "Petunia?" she called, anticipation in her voice.

Surprisingly, Petunia appeared at the top of the stairs. "Hello, Lily," she called down. "Glad to see you made it home."

Lily smiled. Things weren’t going to be so bad between them after all. Lily climbed the stairs and stood face-to-face with her sister. "I’ve missed you," Lily said.

"It’s been different around here," was Petunia’s response. She stepped past Lily, walked down the stairs and disappeared out the front door.

Lily stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, trying to analyze what Petunia meant. Did she mean different as in it was a refreshing change or different as in she was sorely missed? Petunia’s tone didn’t tell and neither did her body language. Lily sighed and realized the hidden meaning would be revealed soon enough.

It was actually revealed on Christmas morning. Lily woke up at about 8 a.m. and hopped out of bed, bounding down the stairs. At age 11, she was young enough to still be excited about Christmas morning, but old enough not to wake her parents at 5 in the morning.

Her parents were already awake, sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. They smiled when she entered the room, and Lily asked where Petunia was.

"Still asleep, I’m sure," her mother grinned.

This answer wasn’t good enough for Lily, who turned around and skipped up the steps, straight into her sister’s room. She threw herself on Petunia’s bed, which would wake up any normal person. Petunia, as we already know, represents the epitome of normality. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

"What’s going on?" she asked.

"It’s Christmas morning, of course," Lily told her.

Petunia got out of bed and followed her sister downstairs and into the living room. Lily called for her parents to come out of the kitchen and grabbed Petunia’s present from under the tree. If anything would put Petunia in a good mood, Lily thought, this would.

She handed her sister the wrapped package and said, "Merry Christmas, Petunia."

Her parents appeared in the doorway as Petunia slowly unwrapped the present and asked, "A kaleidoscope? I’m a bit old for that, don’t you think, Lily?"

Lily’s face fell a little, but she wasn’t about to give up that easily. "No," she said. "It’s a Fairy Kaleidoscope."

"I can read, Lily," Petunia said, holding up the box, showing the words Fairy Kaleidoscope printed on the side.

"No, you don’t understand," Lily said, her voice beginning to get a little flustered, "there are fairies inside the kaleidoscope. It’s magical."

Petunia dropped the box. "There are things alive inside there?!?" she exclaimed, standing up. "What were you thinking, Lily?"

"They won’t hurt you," Lily said, walking over and picking up the box. She began to open it to take out the kaleidoscope when Petunia reached out and slapped her arm down, yelling "Don’t!" This caused the half-opened box to fall to the floor. The kaleidoscope fell out of the box in midair and crashed to the ground, breaking into thousands of pieces when it hit the wooden floor.

The hundreds of fairies, suddenly finding themselves very displaced and very much without a home, took off with a vengeance throughout the living room. Petunia screamed, turned around and ran toward the stairs. Lily heard her bedroom door slam shut a few seconds later.

The rest of the Evans family, however, were fixated on the fairies fluttering about the room. Kaleidoscope fairies are mild and tame by nature, and the frenzy that they had initially erupted into soon died into a quiet lull as the fairies, all about half a centimeter in height, reconvened on the fireplace mantle and began discussing what they should do about a new home.

Lily tiptoed quietly over to the mantle and listened in on the conversation.

"Alright, alright," called a blue fairy who had taken charge of the group. He had perched himself (or herself?) atop the manger scene sitting on the mantle. Lily had to strain to hear, as the voice was very soft and very high-pitched. "Who has any suggestions about what we should do?"

At once, the fairies all began to talk at the same time. High frequencies from a range of pitches suddenly began, and soon the fairies had worked themselves into another frenzy.

"Quiet!" the blue leader squeaked, doing his best to emulate a deep roar. "One at a time! Calypsa! What about you?"

An orange fairy stepped out from behind a shepherd and turned to face the leader. "I don’t suppose anyone sees a spare kaleidoscope lying around anywhere?" she volunteered.

Another murmur broke out among the fairies, and Lily was suddenly becoming very amused. She looked around the mantle and bit her lip hard to keep from giggling. The fairies had taken over the manger scene and transformed it from Jesus Christ Superstar into Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. To the left of the manger, fairies had begun to climb up the Nutcracker in order to get a better view, and to the right of the manger, several fairies had decided to nap in the holly lining the Advent wreath.

"Okay!" the leader called again. "Now everyone, this is not a time to panic. What we need is a nice new home, preferably made of glass …"

"Preferably in a kaleidoscope!" called a green fairy on the Nutcracker. Another murmur followed.

"Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen!" the leader called back. "I guess we’ll just have to live with change."

Lily suddenly had an idea. "Pardon me," she whispered to the fairies, who at once whipped around to stare at her.

"Yes?" the leader asked. "Who are you?"

"Lily," she whispered back. "You were in my kaleidoscope."

"Oh, so you’re the reason we’re now homeless?" the leader demanded, trying his best to make his squeaky voice sound intimidating.

Lily held back a smile. "I really am very sorry about that," she said. "But I do have a suggestion."

"Well, what is it?" the leader wanted to know.

"We have lots of mason jars in the kitchen," Lily said, pointing. "I’m sure you could move into one of those temporarily. Then I was thinking maybe we could get an empty aquarium, and that could be your new home. It’s probably fifty times bigger than a kaleidoscope, so you’d have lots more room to move about."

"We, madam, are kaleidoscope fairies," the leader said. "Let me repeat that – kaleidoscope fairies. We love to live in tight, confined spaces. We don’t want a bigger home."

"Actually," called a yellow fairy sitting to the right of the Baby Jesus, "it was starting to get a bit cramped in there."

"Yeah, I vote for the aquarium too," called a purple fairy nestled in the fold of Petunia’s stocking.

The murmur started up yet again, this time with nearly every fairy extolling the virtues of life in a fish tank.

"Alright, alright," the blue leader called over the crowd. "The majority has spoken. Aquarium it is. But you’ll have to deal with the mason jar until that time."

Lily went into the kitchen and got a mason jar, then brought it back into the living room and set it on the mantle. One-by-one, that fairies filed into the jar, the leader being the last to join them.

"So, when do you think you could have that aquarium by?" he asked. "It’s all they’re going to talk about."

"Well, stores are all going to be closed today," Lily told him. "How does tomorrow morning sound?"

"We can live with that," the leader said as he dove into the jar. Lily closed the lid and left it on the mantle.

She turned around to face her parents, who were speechless. Both were still trying to assess the situation.

"I guess fairy negotiation skills is something they teach you at that school?" her father asked.

"Not quite," Lily smiled. "I should probably go talk to Petunia."

She slowly climbed the stairs and softly knocked on Petunia’s door.

"Who is it?" Petunia called.

"Lily," she answered.

"Go away. I don’t want to talk to you."

Lily opened her sister’s door. "Petunia," she started. "Please. I’m sorry."

Petunia had been sitting on her bed, facing the fall. She whipped around when she heard Lily’s voice from inside her room. "I just bet you are so sorry. Putting on that ridiculous show at my expense."

"Petunia, that’s not …"

"I just want you to go. Out of my room. Out of my house. Out of my life. I’m so sick of you, Lily. Perfect Lily. Everything she does is magical, special. I want you to go back to that dumb school of yours and never return here."

Lily wasn’t sure what to say. "I’m not perfect," she said quietly.

"Is that supposed to be a retort?" Petunia snarled.

"Well I ‘m not," she said softly. "The only class I’m good at is Charms. I’m struggling with the rest, and Potions is …"

"Lily, I could care less," Petunia interrupted. "I don’t want to hear about your problems. Frankly, I’m glad you have them. May they only intensify." With that, she stood up, brushed past her sister and walked out of the room.

Lily stood where she was for a moment. ‘My sister hates me,’ she thought. She repeated it over and over in her head, emphasizing the words. My sister hates me. My sister hates me. Every time she said it, she felt worse, until finally, she felt nauseous. She slowly sat down on the floor next to Petunia’s bed.

Lily wondered what it was. At first, her mother’s jealousy explanation had made a lot of sense, but now Lily wasn’t so sure. There had to be something more than that. What it was, Lily was unsure of, but she was certain there was something.

The rest of the week, Petunia’s attitude stayed the same. It was like the month before Lily left for school all over again. Petunia would go out of her way to avoid Lily, but this time, Lily let herself be ignored. After all, she had her parents to talk to.

And Phillip. Phillip came by the day before New Year’s Eve, the day before Lily was leaving for Madrid.

"So, how’s life at a boarding school?" he asked.

"It’s actually a lot of fun," Lily told him.

"Are you doing Algebra?" he asked. "Because if you are, maybe you could explain a few things to me."

Lily bit her bottom lip. "Um, no," she said. "I don’t think we start that until next year."

"So what do you do this year? Basic stuff?"

Lily suppressed a laugh. "Pretty much," she said.

"What about Literature?" he asked. "Have you read …"

"Oh!" Lily interrupted. "I completely forgot that I had promised my mother I’d help her prepare dinner. I’m so sorry Phillip, but it was so good to see you again. Take care." With that, Lily turned and walked as fast she could up the walkway and into her house.

She went into the living room to check on the fairies, who were now living comfortably in a ten-gallon fish tank that they had turned into a condominium development with twigs, dental floss and cotton balls Lily had supplied for them. An old teacup saucer had made a nice swimming pool, and an emptied matchbox was the perfect tennis court, should the fairies ever get an urge to play.

Lily was going to take the fairies back with her to Hogwarts, although she had offered to let her parents keep them.

"Too much work," her father had said. Lily secretly knew that he loved them and the only reason he said this was that he wanted Lily to keep them, because after all, kaleidoscope fairies require no work at all. But, Lily was glad to get to keep the fairies. She had become very attached to them, especially the blue leader, whose name, she discovered, was Earl.

Lily said hello to the fairies, then went up to her room to pack for the two days she was going to be at Gabi’s house.

Lily had to wake up very early the next morning, as she, Ophelia, James and Sirius had all planned to meet up with Gabi in The Leaky Cauldron at 8 in the morning. Lily felt very tired and groggy as she rolled out of bed, but the excitement and anticipation of the day-to-come was soon enough to wake her from her slumber.

Lily said goodbye to her parents and walked into The Leaky Cauldron a few minutes before 8. She quickly spotted Gabi, who was one of only three patrons in the pub. Lily was the first to arrive, so she walked over to Gabi’s booth and sat down. The two girls made small talk while they waited for the rest of their party to arrive, and when everyone was present and accounted for, Gabi led them to the brick wall behind the pub.

She pulled out a wand and Ophelia immediately asked her if she had smuggled her wand out of school without McGonagall’s permission.

Gabi let out a small laugh. "No," she said. "This belongs to my father."

Lily looked at the wall. It seemed just yesterday she was here for the first time, about to enter Diagon Alley with Ophelia’s family. She glanced around the wall and found the brick Mr. Tannenbaum tapped to open the archway.

Gabi, however, placed her wand three bricks over and two bricks down, tapping three times. Again, a doorway slowly began to grow until it was big enough to walk through.

Gabi put the wand back in her pocket and turned to the group. "Welcome," she said, "to Embassy Alley."

Lily stepped through first and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Whereas Diagon Alley was charming and eclectic, Embassy Alley was elegant and beautiful. Embassy Alley was made up of one long street lined with golden bricks. On either side of the street, vast marble consulate houses stood side-by-side, each flying the flag of their home country.

"C’mon," Gabi said, stepping onto a sidewalk. "Spain’s all the way at the end."

Lily stepped onto the sidewalk as well and imagined how beautiful Embassy Alley must be in the spring, when all the trees lining the sidewalks were in bloom. At this particular moment, the trees were all barren, as it was winter, but the Alley was still breathtaking.

They walked past the embassies of France, Cambodia, the United States and Japan. Finally, Gabi stopped at the embassy flying the red and yellow Spanish flag. The guard manning the gate smiled at them and said hello, opening the gate for them to pass through.

"Gracias, Raul," Gabi said to him.

"De nada, Senorita Gabriela," Raul answered her.

They walked up the pathway leading to the embassy, and the front door was opened for them. Lily stepped inside, and her mouth dropped to the floor. She was standing in an arched entryway, looking straight ahead at a wide set of stairs. Everything was made of marble, and the walls were covered with giant murals depicting various events in Spanish magical history.

Gabi led them through the hallway and up to the stairs. After walking up a flight, the stairs then forked left or right, and two enormous marble lions stood perched at either end. Gabi led them to the left, and everyone remained silent as they followed her. Lily felt it would be inappropriate to speak in such an environment, and from the silence of the rest of the group, she thought they felt the same.

When they reached the top of these stairs, Gabi led them to another set of stairs, telling them, "The living quarters are all up here."

At the top of the stairs, Gabi led them past a guard and into what looked like a very formal living room. There was a strikingly beautiful woman sitting on an ivory sofa, a book in her hand.

The woman looked up when she heard their footsteps. "You’re back," she observed, standing up and walking toward them. "Welcome! I’m Xaviera Menendez, Gabi’s mother. We are so glad you could join us."

Like her daughter, Xaviera Menendez’ English was touched with a Spanish accent, not too thick, but definitely noticeable. Gabi introduced her friends to her mother, who smiled and kissed each of them on the cheek.

"Unfortunately, Gabi’s father was called away on business early this morning, but hopefully he will be able to join us at tonight’s celebration," she said. "But now, I’m sure you are all very anxious to get to Madrid."

Sra. Menendez led them down a hallway and paused outside a door.

"This is the family portal," Gabi explained. "All you have to do is open the door and walk through, and you wind up in our living room hallway in our house in Madrid. It’s that simple."

"So, everyone transporting via the embassy winds up in your living room?" James asked.

"Oh, no," Sra. Menendez laughed. "There is another portal downstairs that takes you into a government building. This one is just for family."

With that she opened the door and ushered James and Sirius through. Lily followed and was surprised how easy the trip was. It really was just like walking from one room into another. Never mind the fact the two rooms were over a thousand kilometers away from each other.

"Pedro!" Sra. Menendez called as soon as she stepped into the hallway. "Come in here and help our guests with their luggage."

A few moments later, a tall, skinny boy of about 14 came out of a back room. "Yes?" he asked.

"Pedro, I’d like for you to show James and Sirius where they will be staying for the night," Sra. Menendez told her son.

James and Sirius followed Pedro, and Lily and Ophelia followed Gabi. She led them up two flights of stairs, until they were on the third floor.

"How many floors does this house have, Gabi?" Ophelia asked.

"Four," Gabi told her. "My parents and I live on the third floor, and they put all my brothers on the fourth."

Lily wanted to ask how many bedrooms the house had, but she didn’t want to appear rude. One thing she did know for a fact was that Gabi’s family must have tons of money, judging by the size of their house and the décor it contained.

Gabi stopped outside a door and opened it, leading her friends into a guest bedroom. The entire room was painted white, and it contained two twin beds, each dressed with white linens and duvets. In between the beds was a white nightstand, matching the rest of the white furniture. The only color in the room came from a vase of bright red roses sitting atop the nightstand. For some reason, this room eerily brought back memories of the black room they had encountered at Hogwarts, which, up until this point, Lily has completely forgotten about.

The group reconvened in the living room, where Lily got a chance to meet all of Gabi’s brothers, all of whom attended La Luz. Alejandro, the oldest, was a seventh-year, followed by Andres the sixth-year, Pedro the fourth-year and Pablo the third-year.

As soon as the girls entered the room, Andres announced he was taking James and Sirius to a bullfight. Both James and Sirius had huge grins on their faces.

"A bullfight?" Gabi asked.

"Miguel Santo Tomas is in town from Barcelona for today only," Pablo told her. He turned to Lily and Ophelia and added, "He is definitely the best bullfighter in all of Spain, and we’re lucky we got tickets."

"Do you girls want to come?" Sirius asked.

Lily and Ophelia just looked at each other, wondering if they should go. After all, neither of them had ever seen a bullfight before.

"You can go if you want," Gabi said, "but be warned it’s a pointless, violent and barbaric Muggle sport involving the slaughter of defenseless animals for primitive amusement."

"Doesn’t it sound great?" Sirius asked.

Gabi rolled her eyes, and both Lily and Ophelia decided to pass. They were pleased when Gabi told them she was going to take them around this city and show them the sights.

"And you can meet my cousin, Pilar," she said. "Pilar works for Encantos del Dia, a magazine for witches based in Barcelona. She’s the fashion editor."

When Pilar showed up at the house, Lily immediately knew why she was the fashion editor. Pilar was very tall, very thin and very striking. On this particular day, she was dressed in a rather tight-fitting cherry-red dress that accentuated her curves in all the right places. Her long, wavy brown hair fell neatly around her face, with was quite beautiful, even without a stitch of make-up.

Pilar explained to them that she normally would be wearing robes of some sort, but because they were going to walking around the Muggle parts of the city, she thought it best not to stand out. Lily soon realized Pilar would stand out in a crowd no matter what she was wearing. As they were walking around the city, men of all ages and shapes turned to gaze at her as she passed.

"Wouldn’t that be nice?" Ophelia asked Lily, who agreed.

Gabi and Pilar showed them the Palacio Real, the Sabatini Gardens, the Puerta del Sol and the Prado Museum. While they were at the Plaza Mayor, Pilar told the three girls she needed to rest and said she’d meet up with them in a bit.

Lily, Ophelia and Gabi were standing in the Plaza’s courtyard deciding what they should do next when they heard a commotion start up a few meters from them. Lily turned and saw a woman, dressed in a long, fluid purple dress come rushing over to them.

"A gypsy," Gabi quickly hissed. "Hold on to all your stuff. They’re infamous pickpockets."

Lily immediately put her hands in her pockets, clinging to the little money she had in them. She turned to Ophelia and Gabi to see what they were doing and wasn’t really paying attention, which made it all the more of a shock when the gypsy came crashing into Lily, bumping her out of the way.

"Hey!" Lily yelled as she brought her hands out of her pockets and immediately began checking to make sure she had all her belongings.

At once, the gypsy stopped and turned around to face her.

"You’re not going to steal from me!" Lily yelled. "You can go and pick other people’s pockets!"

"Lily," Gabi hissed. "Shh."

The gypsy put a smile on her hard, aged face. "I’m sorry, dear," she said in perfect, but heavily accented, English. "I was just in such a hurry. I didn’t mean to bump you."

Lily let her guard down. "That’s okay," she said, a little sorry for the mean words she had shouted.

"No," the gypsy said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small yellow crystal stone. She forced the stone into Lily’s hand and said, "This is for you, a token of my apology to you, my dear."

Lily gazed at the stone, which was quite magnificent to look at. She stared deep into the stone, whose layers seemed to go forever. Lily held the stone up to the sky and watched it sparkle in the light. She looked back up and saw the gypsy rushing away again. She obviously was in quite a hurry.

Ophelia took the stone from her and held it up to the light as well, "This is so beautiful," she said. "I wish I had one."

She handed it to Gabi, who also remarked about the stone’s beauty before handing it back to Lily.

Pilar, however, did not share their excitement.

"Lily, where did you get that?" she asked, pointing to the stone Lily was still holding. Lily and the others had just met up with Pilar after walking around the Plaza for a good half-hour.

"Oh, this really nice gypsy gave it to me," Lily told her.

"What?!" Pilar exclaimed as she brought her hands up and clasped them over her mouth. "Oh my God! I can’t believe this!"

Pilar brought her hands down and started taking some very deep breaths. "Lily, what were you thinking?" she asked. "You never accept anything from a gypsy. Oh, Gabi, you of all people should know better."

"Why me?" Gabi exclaimed.

"I don’t know," Pilar said, still visibly flustered. "Haven’t you ever read a book on gypsy stones before?"

"Um, no," Gabi said. "But I’m starting to think maybe I should. What’s going on?"

"That’s an Atreus stone!" Pilar said, smacking her forehead and throwing her arm down.

"A what?" Lily asked.

"Atreus stone," Pilar repeated. "It’s a curse stone. Gypsies give it to people who anger them and they want to curse. It’s a form of retaliation."

"Oh, come on, Pilar," Gabi scoffed. "Lily is not superstitious. We all know there is no such thing as a curse stone."

"I’m not superstitious either, Gabi," Pilar responded. "That’s why I know the Atreus stone exists. Lily," she said, turning to face her, "you have to get rid of that stone by the New Year."

"Okay," Lily said, setting it down on the table next to her.

"No, you have to give it back to the gypsy by midnight."

"Why midnight?" Ophelia asked, her voice shaking a bit.

"That’s the way Atreus stones work. Didn’t you wonder why there were so many gypsies out today?" Pilar asked them.

Obviously, Lily hadn’t realized this.

"It’s because the Atreus stone is an annual thing. A gypsy gives it to you, and you have until the New Year to give it back, or you’re cursed. That’s why they’re running rampant today, because it’s New Year’s Eve."

"Pilar, this is just ridiculous!" Gabi exclaimed.

"Fine," Pilar said. "Come on, we’re going home."

Pilar led them straight to Gabi’s house, and when they arrived, she took the stone from Lily, opened the front door and started yelling. "Tia Xaviera!," she called. "Tia Xaviera!"

"What?" Gabi’s mother asked, stepping out of the living room. "Pilar, what is going on?"

Pilar said nothing, but held up the stone.

"Whose is that?" Sra. Menendez gasped.

"Lily took it from a gypsy," Pilar told her.

"Oh, Lily!" Sra. Menendez gasped. "That’s an Atreus stone! We have to find the gypsy that gave this to you!"

Lily’s heart plummeted into her stomach. It was true?, she thought.

"Gabi!" her mother turned to her, "you know better than to take things from a gypsy. You also know to watch out for the Atreus stone on New Year’s Eve!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Gabi asked. "No, obviously I don’t."

"We’ve told you," her mother started, but cut herself off. "Anyway, that’s not the point. What we need to do right now is find that gypsy. Lily, where did she give it you?"

"Plaza Mayor," Lily softly told her, fighting back tears.

At that moment, the front door opened, and the group of six boys came tumbling in, laughing and charged with adrenaline. James and Sirius were talking excitedly about dropping out of school and training to become toreadors.

"Oh!" Sra. Menendez exclaimed. "I am so glad you’re home. We’re going to need everyone’s help."

Gabi’s mother told them about the gypsy and the Atreus stone, which caused Alejandro to gasp. None of the others had heard of the stone. "See," Gabi murmured. Sra. Menendez had chosen to ignore her daughter and hurriedly took all of them back to Plaza Mayor.

"Okay," she said. "Now, only Gabi, Lily and Ophelia know what the gypsy looks like. So, I think we should split up into three groups. Sirius, Pablo and Pilar, go with Ophelia. James, Pedro and Alejandro, go with Lily. Andres and I will go with Gabi."

She reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out three clear disks, roughly the size of crumpets. "If anyone besides Lily’s group finds the gypsy, grab her, activate the disk and we’ll find you. Lily, if you find her, shove it back in her hand and start running in the opposite direction," she said, handing disks to Alejandro and Pilar. Lily assumed they knew what they were and how to work them.

Sra. Menendez glanced down at her watch. "It is now close to 3 o’clock. We have nine hours to get rid of the Atreus stone."

Sra. Menendez’ anxious demeanor and treatment of the situation made Lily feel even worse. She had ruined everyone’s holiday and was on the verge of living a cursed life. Why did these things seem to always happen to her?, she thought.

"I can’t believe I’m going to live a cursed life," she summarily told James, Pedro and Alejandro once the group had split up. The natural flow of things had left James and Lily walking side-by-side in front of Alejandro and Pedro.

"You are not going to live a cursed life, Lily," James told her. "Personally, I find this whole thing to be ridiculous. There is no such thing as a curse stone."

"Actually, there is," Alejandro interrupted. "We learned about the Atreus stone this year in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It dates back to 500 B.C. and was first discovered among the Sumerians. It …"

"Okay," James interrupted. "I was trying to make Lily feel better, but never mind. At least we have lots of time."

"Lots of time?" Lily repeated. "We have nine hours to save me from a fated life of misery."

"Well, that’s more than say, nine minutes to save you from a fated life of misery," James responded.

"Not funny, Potter," she told him, even though she really did find the remark to be quite amusing.

They began their search in areas around Plaza Mayor, and they started on Calle Mayor, one of Madrid’s main streets. From there, they walked among the various plazas, thinking these locations would be good spots for gypsies to blend in.

They searched the Plaza de Cibeles and the Puerta de Alcala. They had no luck, so they walked up Calle de Alcala, stopping only to search around Plaza de Toros, where James announced he had been earlier. This turned up nothing, so they headed back down Calle de Alcala.

"This is absolutely hopeless!" Lily exclaimed. "Madrid is a huge city, and there is no way we’re going to find the gypsy. We’ve been looking for four hours, and we haven’t even seen one gypsy, let alone the one we’re looking for."

"We still have a lot of the city left," James told her. "And we still have five hours."

Alejandro came up next to her and took her hand, trying to comfort her. "We still have Paseo del Prado left to check. It’s probably the most famous street in Madrid, which means lots of tourists and lots of gypsies."

Alejandro led them to Paseo del Prado, and they searched the entire street, from the very beginning to where it turns into Paseo de Recoletos to where it then turns into Paseo de Castellana. Alejandro was right in that they had begun to notice more gypsies, but none of them were wearing purple dresses.

It started to become very difficult to keep focused on the search. First of all, night had fallen, and it was hard to see anyone’s face clearly. Second of all, they had entered downtown Madrid, and as much as Lily tried to look only at the passers-by, her eyes inadvertently kept glancing up at the skyscrapers. She tried to make herself pay attention, and that’s when she saw her.

"That’s her!" Lily shouted, pointing to the other side of the very crowded street. She took off running and James had to grab onto her to prevent her from running straight into the street.

"Lily!" he chastised her. "You can’t go running into a busy street. You’ll get yourself killed."

"James, let go," Lily cried, trying her best to shake James off. "She’s over there."

Lily pointed out the gypsy standing underneath a lighted hotel sign, and both Alejandro and Pedro took off running, James and Lily following close behind. Unfortunately, the gypsy saw this as well and took off too. The four chasers had to stop at the street’s edge to let the cars pass, whose endless flow made it appear they’d never get a chance to cross.

"She’s getting away!" Lily yelled. "We’ve got to stop her!" She began cursing the cars as they passed.

James took off running down the sidewalk, the same direction the gypsy was heading on the other side of the street. Lily and the others soon followed him.

"Don’t worry, Lily," he called. "We’re not going to let her get away."

James stopped running when he reached a crosswalk and tore across to the other side. The gypsy, who’d had a pretty good head start, was still far in front of them, but James, who was the youngest but fastest of the boys, was gaining on her.

Up ahead, a French tour bus stopped and opened its doors, and people on a guided tour began piling out, standing in the middle of the sidewalk. James and the others stopped once they reached the people, who were not too keen on the idea of getting out of the way.

"Move!" James yelled, his normally polite demeanor gone.

James pushed his way through the crowd, and Lily followed close behind him, running into him when he suddenly stopped.

"Where did she go?" James asked, bending over and putting his hands on his knees, panting for breath.

Lily’s eyes darted from person to person, but she couldn’t find her.

"No!" she yelled. "She has to be here."

"Let’s split up," Alejandro suggested. "We all know what she looks like now. We won’t be too far from each other, so we can just find each other later. I activated the disk, which means the others should be here soon to help us look."

"She can’t be far," James said, getting his second wind. He grabbed Lily’s hand and led her in the same direction they had been going before. "We’ll find her, I promise you."

"James, there’s only one hour left," she told him.

"And we know where she is," James cut her off. "It won’t take long to find her again."

For most of that hour, James and Lily searched the surrounding area, but the gypsy in the purple dress was no where to be seen. At fifteen minutes to midnight, they met up with the others in Retiro Park, where the city was staging a huge New Year’s celebration.

"Oh, Lily!" Ophelia cried, running up to her and throwing her arms around her.

Sra. Menendez also walked over and took Lily’s hand. "Everything will be alright, dear," she said.

"I’m sorry I ruined everyone’s New Year’s," Lily said softly.

Around her, the group began muttering, telling her not to worry about it, telling her she hadn’t ruined anything, telling her how sorry they were they couldn’t find the gypsy. Lily didn’t believe any of their comforting words, and she soon got another adrenaline kick.

"No!" she said. "There are ten minutes left, and I’m still going to look."

She began walking around the park, the others following behind her, all watching out as they walked. The crowd was immense and inebriated, which was only intensified by the full moon, and Lily was having a hard time concentrating on anything. People kept bumping into her or pushing her out of the way.

Lily, however, remained determined. She kept glancing down at her watch every few seconds, trying her best to stop time. Seven minutes to go. No sign of the gypsy. Five minutes to go. Lily’s heart skipped a beat when she saw a woman in a purple dress, but it turned out to be a young mother holding her twin sons. Four minutes to go. Three minutes to go. ‘Please,’ Lily thought to herself, addressing her prayer to no one in particular. Two minutes to go. Lily started to feel dizzy. One minute to go. Lily started to feel nauseous. Thirty seconds, twenty seconds. Lily’s heart began to pound out of her chest. This was not happening.

And then the crowd cried out, "DIEZ, NUEVE, OCHO …"

"Stop!" Lily screamed, her voice muted over the synchronized roar of the crowd.

"SIETE, SEIS, CINCO …"

"Please!" Lily cried again, "Stop counting!"

"CUATRO, TRES, DOS …"

Lily’s voice gave out. She knew it was hopeless.

"UNO!!!" the crowd cried, breaking into thunderous applause and merriment, hugging and kissing each other. All around her, people were laughing and dancing, not noticing the small red-headed girl standing amidst them, tears streaming down her young face.

Lily broke free of the crowd and started walking, passing Ophelia, passing Gabi, passing James, passing Sirius. Her eyes were looking straight ahead, not focusing on anything particular. She stopped at a fountain and sat down on its edge.

James walked over and sat down next to Lily. He put his arms around her, and she leaned into him, glad he was there.

"It’s okay, Lily," he said. "C’mon, I know you really don’t believe any of this cursed nonsense. Just think, in ten years, we’re all going to look back on this and laugh."

While Lily was appreciative of James’ efforts, nothing he could say at this point could really cheer her up. "I could be dead in ten years," she said gravely.

"You most certainly will not be dead in ten years, Lily Evans," he told her as Sirius, Gabi and Ophelia walked over.

"I’ll personally see to it that you are very much alive ten years from now," Sirius smiled. "Even if I have to follow you around 24 hours a day, I’ll make sure you’re fine. If you’re cursed, then I’ll see to it I’m also cursed."

"Well, if Sirius is going to be cursed, then count me in as well," James said.

"You know, there are several different levels of cursed," Gabi chimed in. "I mean, of course, there’s ‘getting struck by lightning’ cursed, but the chances of that happening are like, what – one in six million? I think we can safely say you’re not that cursed. Going by the odds, I’d say you’re probably ‘have a bad day once a month’ cursed. And you can handle that."

This made Lily smile. While she initially didn’t really believe everything her friends were saying, she clung tightly to their words, desperate to believe them. Her friends were relentless, and after talking with them for two straight hours and joking about it, Lily had convinced herself she was going to be just fine. After all, there’s no such thing as a cursed life.

Is there?

A Lily Story-Chapter Eight-"Seventy times Seven and the First of the Seventy First"