Author's Note

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Chapter One

Unsuspected Surprises

"Lily? Oh, Lily, wake up!"

Lily's eyes flickered open as she found the face of a thin woman with wild, messy brown hair and worried brown eyes standing over her.

"Good Lord, thou hast awoken!" she said, standing up. "I was worried for thee."

Lily groaned as she helped herself up, looking down at herself. What she wore was not the T-shirt and jeans that she'd put on this morning. She could remember picking them out of her dresser. Even if she didn't, she was certain that she'd never wear these brown rags her whole life. She wasn't one for fashion, but she wasn't in for this style, either. Worry began to fill her; what had happened? She recalled entering the Leaky Cauldron... and then it stopped. Her heart began to beat wildly before pieces began to piece it together.

The Leaky Cauldron was cursed. It had sent her away to another world...

Hoping to be distracted by the drastic scale of the situation, she dusted the dirt away, she looked around. The floors were dirt; the windows were none. The hut was bare, except for a few stools, a trestle table that appeared to be rough and unsanded, and large heaps of straw.

The woman sighed as she walked over to Lily, handing her black bread and cheese. "Eat," she commanded. "If we are lucky, we might be able to bring in the lettuce from our garden next week."

Lily took the food into her hands, but did not eat. She sat numbly on the stool, staring at it. "How did I fall?" she mumbled, examining the black bread thoroughly.

"I'm not quite sure," the woman replied, busy in the back with the livestock. "Thou seemed to have fallen quite hard."

Lily frowned, turning her gaze onto the woman. "Perhaps harder than one might have thought," she said. "I can't seem to recall anything that happened before."

Lily, of course, was well aware that she did not even exist before, wherever she was. She remembered all about her life in her world--with the Leaky Cauldron and all. However, this woman didn't need to know about that, and she instinctively began to play along.

"Thou canst remember anything?" she repeated, thoroughly shocked. "Yes, that fall must have been harder than I suspected. Perhaps thou hit thy head on the way down." She sighed, sitting down beside Lily, looking at her seriously. "I shall start with our family. I am thy sister, Madeline. Father's been deceased for quite some time now, though not quite as long as Mother; Mother's passed away a year after thy birth." Her voice got clogged as she said this. "Our brother Jack is a serf in the manor."

As the new information began to dawn, Lily's head had only started to spin. Thee's? Thou's? Thy's? Serfs? Manors? It was clear and obvious that this was not her time period. Rather, it all seemed a bit... medieval?

Madeline put her hand over Lily's. "Come, I will show thee our village."

Lily stood up and let Madeline guide her through the huts. There were about twenty of them or so. "Sweet Anna lives in that one, with her good family. Domonic lives over there with his family. Dear me, Lily, are thou quite sure thoust cannot remember a thing?" Madeline said.

Sighing, Lily admitted wearily, "I'm afraid that it may be that I have a mild case of amnesia."

"It must not be mild at all if thoust cannot recall thy childhood friends," Madeline said, shaking her head. "I hope that thy memory shall return to thee; it shall be a blessing when it does."

To that, Lily could not find an answer as she merely nodded her head in agreement, knowing full well that she could not recall anything that had ever happened, in exact terms. This new world--it was all rather confusing. "I'm getting a bit tired," Lily said. "I fear I may be ill. If y--if thoust needs me, I shall be inside."

As she headed in, she briefly wondered what the date was. Had the plague struck yet? She frowned, though knowing that she would not get it either way; she'd been vaccinated when she was young. She sighed, looking around the small hut. What choice did she have but to lie down on the slightly damp hay?

Rolling over in search of comfort, Lily thought. Would she ever get used to this lifestyle as a peasant? The speech would be awfully difficult to cope with. She just knew that, at one point or another, she might let a "Wicked!" or a "Bloody hell!" slip out.

She let her eyes drift closed as sleep began to take over her. She remembered her own time, of her mother, her father, and her sister, Petunia. When she woke up, night had already fallen, and she felt Madeline's body close to hers. Sitting in an upright position--carefully, as to not wake Madeline--she wondered what her real sister--what her real family--was thinking about her disappearance.

Her father would probably blame it on the "magic" again, the one that she was always scolded for but never understood. Her mother might be worried. Petunia, she was not quite sure how she would feel. Petunia was on an on-and-off relationship with Lily. She could be so sweet and pleasant to be around, but terrible and wretched at others. Though Lily could never understand the emotional change of Petunia's, she loved her sister anyways.

She left the hut, looking up into the starry sky. She'd never seen so many stars before in her life. It was frightening, really--how everyone always seems to know that there are billions of stars in the sky, but once they look up, they cannot even count up to five. But many people never realized it, because they never bothered to look up. Because they never bothered to spare the time to give the sky a second glance.

And now here she was, with all the glory of the world, able to see what so many other people back at her home couldn't. Billions of star. Even more, probably. And it was beautiful, like a small light shining through the vast of darkness, a small light sparking out all that energy. Just to stay alive.

And she was enchanted by it. So enchanted, that she did not realize that she had fallen asleep out there on the grass, with the sun peeking out from the horizon. Only when Madeline exited the hut and found Lily laying there did she awake, smiling sheepishly, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to brush it. After a good solid ten minutes, she had manged to do so without a comb or brush.

"I've noticed that thou hasn't eaten anything yesterday," Madeline said, picking up an empty bucket. "Thoust can eat thy bread and cheese to-day. I put it on the table, in that cloth. When thoust are done, help me fetch the water and the hay."

"Oh," Lily said, surprised. "Oh, err, thank you." She headed back in and only then did she notice quite how hungry she was. The black bread and cheese were gone in a matter of minutes and it almost tasted good in her mouth. She dusted off the table and left the hut, finding Madeline returned with a bucket of water in hand.

As soon as it was emptied, it was handed to Lily. Lily took it and stared at it for a moment before asking apprehensively, "Where is the water?"

Madeline laughed at this and said, "I have forgotten that thou can't remember. The well is over in that direction, over that hill."

Lily smiled in thanks and ran off, the wooden bucket at her side. It took some time, but she managed to properly secure the bucket onto the rope before lowering it. She brought it back to Madeline carefully, as to not spill any water on the way. When she at last got there, Madeline was already dirty and working in the garden.

Madeline "reminded" Lily of life as a peasant, of how to work and what to do. Soon, weeks had passed and, though she worried constantly, Lily was rather accustomed to this new lifestyle. She awoke when then sun rose, and went to bed when the sun set.

One day, Lily opened her eyes and was welcomed to the dusk, as she always was. Tying her hair back with a stip of cloth, she ate her porridge and prepared some for Madeline, setting it onto the table. She left the hut and looked over the small vegetable patch they called their garden. It wasn't much, really, but Lily grew to love it.

It was quiet still, with people still awaking. It was often at these times when Lily reflected upon her life in the twentieth century. How everything was different. She didn't need buckets to fetch water with; it was available with a turn of the knob. Light was always provided, and they didn't need to accustom their life according to the sun.

It wasn't that Lily didn't like this new life. It made her understand and appreciate more things, and she was always one for learning. One main thing that she regretted were her books. No one here knew that she could read and write, and fluently at that. It was all a secret.

Her secret.

But her greatest secret was still unknown to her, and if anyone were to discover it, the prices were deadly.

"Lily?"

A voice distracted her from her thoughts. Spinning around, she found Madeline exiting the hut. Smiling, she said, "Yes, Madeline?"

Madeline, she'd now learned, was five years older than her. Jack was older than her by two. She'd never even met him yet. At least he was safe. "Do you know where the spoon is?"

Lily frowned, looking around. At last she spotted it; it was on the floor. Laughing, she picked it up. "I'll go and wash this, then."

And so she ran off, with Madeline telling her that she'd better hurry up before the porridge grew too cold to eat. However, nothing was ever too dirty or too cold or too disgusting to eat. They ate what they could, and they always ate all of it.

She returned with the spoon, wiping it carefully on a piece of cloth before handing it to Madeline. It was still awkward to refer to Madeline as her sister. With a notion of thanks, Madeline said, "I think the tomatoes can be picked today. Go see if any are red enough. Then, if we hurry, perhaps we can make it to the market and the church before the sun sets and get what we need."

Lily looked at Madeline blankly. "The market?" she repeated. She hadn't yet had an experience there. She'd seen it and walked through it before, of course, but never did she ever really participate in the commotion.

Madeline nodded, scooping up another spoonful of porridge. "Haven't I told thee? The market is where one can buy and sell things. We've been in need of a few things. It's a Sunday; hurry and go pick the ripe tomatoes!"

Lily obiedently left and took what was red. She placed them onto the cloth. Madeline nodded before instructing that Lily go and change into her best clothes for church, like they always did. Though their best wasn't good, it was better than their usual daily wear. Lily did so, and Madeline followed suit.

"A tith," Madeline muttered as they headed to the church. "Probably no more than a coin."

Lily nodded absently as Madeline started to analyze the structure of the church, her mind wandering to things she'd often wondered about before. Is this a different world, or is this her world, in a different time period? With the daily thoughts swarming around in her head, she didn't realize that they had already been brought to the church.

The church was a rather large brick building with two towers--one was a bell tower--toward the sides. She'd never explored much of the church, never seen the classrooms that they used to teach. She really did want to visit them, though. She missed her old high school terribly.

The Sundays were often long. The sun was already high midway in the sky by the time it was done. They went to the market, where Madeline went in search for the most inexpensive fabric that was there, leaving Lily no choice but to follow her, for her experience in this kind of market was null. Lily untied her hair, letting it fall to her shoulders. Running a hand through it, she helped Madeline in her search.

Before they managed to find cloth they could afford, a knight with unruly raven hair came by on horse. He passed them by without a second glance, but Madeline stared after him. Lily, completely confused, asked Madeline, "Who was that?"

"That," Madeline said, her voice airy, "was a knight by the name of James Potter. He's seventeen right now; he was one of the youngest ever to become a knight. I believe he was around thy age when they admitted him." She sighed, turning back to her search. "He's unmarried, too, which is surprising. Thou must be aware of the fact that most women are wed at twelve, and men wed at fourteen?"

Lily nodded. Of course, she had forgotten about that bit from her studies, and now that she was reminded of it, she realized her own age. She was fifteen; Madeline, nineteen. Why were they not engaged in matrimony yet?--not that she minded, of course. It would have been rather terrifying to have woken up married in the medieval times, rather than single.

As if reading Lily's thoughts, Madeline said, "Thou would have been married, but thy suitor had died."

Lily stiffened at this. After some time in which she used to recovered, she asked reluctantly, "What--what about thee?"

"Oh," Madeline said, her words indifferent and bitter. "He left me for another woman. I suppose our family is cursed in this way." She let out a hollow laugh.

Lily had no response for that. When the silence grew more uncomfortable by the minute, she asked, "Well, then, what of--what of the knight?"

"He had special permission granted," Madeline informed her. "He wanted to complete his studies before he engaged in matrimony. He was away studying from a special school for the past seven years, I believe. He just graduated. I hear he's betrothed to a lady of some sort."

Lily nodded, not caring much for the information at the moment. "Oh," Lily said suddenly, pointing to a different stall. "That one looks much cheaper, don't you agree?"

Madeline turned around and spotted the stall Lily referred to. "Excellent," she said, beaming, walking over. That stall, indeed, sold cheaper and simpler cloths, ones they could actually afford. They brought their new material home with them, pleased with the find. On the way home, Madeline informed Lily of what she wanted to use it for.

"A new dress for the each of us," she stated proudly. "That's what I've been saving up for."

And indeed, the fabric, though not the best by far, was not the worst, either. It was not scratchy, like the ones they normally had to wear. It was not patterned nor colored, but it was good enough all the same.

Lily smiled at this. She'd always been artistic and skilled at sewing. Since her age of eleven, her mother taught her how to do a lot of other things, telling her that if she ever wanted something done right, she'd better take the long and harder road to it. And she could decorated it, too. Of course, nothing so fine without the help of a paint brush and quality paints, but perhaps they could find some natural dye.

The next day, Lily got to work on the dresses immediately. She'd taken the measurements and used a fine pair of scissors--one of their greatest treasures--to cut it out. She'd studied enough medieval costumes to know what to make and how to do it.

After several weeks had passed, Lily had finished. Madeline positively beamed when she saw them, and they put them away safely in a box, hiding it beneath their bed of straw. The next day Lily resumed her chores, fetching the water from the well and helping Madeline with the patch.

Life was simple and enjoyable. There were no materialists in Lily's new world. It was a big change, but she didn't mind it at all.

Only at night did she shed tears for her old life in the twentieth century and wondered aloud, "How will I ever get home?"

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Author's Note

Thanks for reading!

This is my first ever time doing something medieval. Does it sound realistic? Please tell me so I can improve! It's awesome to have encouragement.

Please review!