AN: I am intrigued what you all will think of this chapter, so please let me know. It's set three years in the future, and some of Lily's time at Hogwarts is told through flashbacks. Scorpius' story will be in the next one. The title comes from the song It's Only a Paper Moon, you can look it up if you want a better idea.


At 2 in the afternoon on a weekday, St. Mungo's should have slowed down. There was no such luck. It was even worse as Lily was stuck at the intake desk, not only managing that, but managing the Potions distribution as well. Many organizations under the Ministry required them, including Healers from places such as Hogwarts. She sighed as she attempted to catch up on the paper work, files were floating in the air, a quill was scratching her signature as she attended to boxing up vials for the Auror in front of her.

"I know I was supposed to be here an hour ago, but one of the guys' partners was sick and he needed back-up—you know how strict the Ministry is with going in pairs…" The man huffed, he was dressed in dark grey robes, the silver badge gleaming in the fluorescent lighting.

"The potions are prepared for shipment, I just need you to sign." Lily floated the clipboard towards the man as she sent a paper plane flying from her desk.

"Merlin, Lils, you are the best you know that." He gave her a grin as he took the quill from her and scrawled his name on the dotted line. "Why do they have you working desk duty? Usually I'm not so lucky with what Healer I get."

Lily laughed as she got up from her seat and handed him the box, taking the clipboard back. "Someone was needed to cover this shift and I didn't get off from my other one too long ago. The rules can be bent as long as I'm not working directly with another patient."

"Like when they stick me on desk duty after a grave yard shift."

"Exactly." She nodded and sat back down in her seat. "Have a good day."

"What time does your shift get over?"

"Eight, but I was promised early release for good behavior."

"Listen, a bunch of us are going out for drinks, we just ended a big case to celebrate. I'm sure you'd be welcome there."

'Us' meant a group of Aurors. Usually when one of them invited her and told her she'd be welcomed it was due to her brother or father, but the subtext was different this time. "I can't, I'm going straight to bed and I have a shift later tomorrow, but it sounds like fun."

"How many times do I have to invite you before you accept?"

"Boyd, I am going to tell you the truth." She sighed. "If you change your job, look me up, but until then I don't date Aurors." Her tone was steady and face serious, all actions hovering around her momentarily suspended. "If you've met my father you should be able to guess pretty quickly why."

"He's never in the office anymore," Boyd answered, eyebrows knitting together in confusion as he held the box.

"Exactly, now leave before Ella wonders why I'm talking with you instead of doing my job." All of the tasks started again, working in a frenzy around Lily. They only paused once the Auror apparated away and she took a deep breath. She'd kept true to word with Scorpius and focused on her schooling, now on her career. It more to prove to herself that she could be independent, could thrive without asking anybody for help. It was easier than she thought, especially with having her family being not far away. When she first moved into her own apartment, there were some weeks that she spent more nights couch surfing at her relatives place than there, just because she didn't feel quite comfortable living alone after spending so long surrounded by so many people.

Time passed quickly as she had to categorize files, organize potions, update patient files, and organize intake. Tonight she was looking forward to taking a shower, ordering take out, and collapsing in her bed by nine, nine-thirty. Tomorrow she wouldn't get up until ten or so…It would be a luxury she hadn't had in a while, but one that could happen because she was due at work until five the next day. She sighed at that, closing her eyes and letting the noise wash over.

"Excuse me, Miss, am I disturbing you?" a voice asked…a rather familiar one.

Lily's eyes popped open quickly and saw none other than Jordi Zabini lounging against the counter, a lazy grin across his face. "Oh my Godric!" she exclaimed and practically sprinted around and embraced him tightly. "What are you doing in London? Merlin, Uncle Charlie told Grandma that he couldn't leave until late December at the earliest." She clung tightly to her friend who felt so different than he did three years ago at Hogwarts. His arms were now solid and muscular, hands calloused, and face heavily tanned from the time he spent in the sun. He'd gone to Uni after Hogwarts pursuing a degree in Care of Magical Creatures. So, when the reserve Charlie worked at offered him a paid internship and the chance to finish his degree in a remote location, he jumped at the chance.

"Do I look like your Uncle Charlie?" he teased, mouth forming that familiar grin.

"No…" She shook her head and bit her lip. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too." He hugged her tighter and Lily nearly felt her eyes prick with tears. After she broke up with Scorpius three years ago, of all the people that she came close with was Jordi. She doesn't know what started it, but one memory in particular stuck out.

The wind whipped around Lily as she sat in the bleachers on the pitch staring at the letter in her lip. Thick letterhead from St. Mungo's and her name in swirling handwriting. She couldn't bring herself to break the seal. If this didn't work out she'd have no other plans for the future.

"Potter, practice doesn't start for a good half hour, what are you doing out here? Doesn't William need you to write some schedules or tell first years they're out of uniform?" Jordi climbed the bleachers with ease for before sitting next to her, leaning comfortably on the bleacher behind him. "What's going?"

"My letter from St. Mungo's, my future's in this envelope."

"Dramatic much?" he asked. "Come on, open it. We can sneak into the kitchens after practice for some treacle pudding in celebration if it's good news. If it's bad, you can show me the secret passageway to Hogsmeade, we can get some cheap fire whiskey or Mead and sit wherever prefects are least likely to patrol." He gave her one of his smile's and leaned a little closer. "Listen, if it gives you the confidence boost to open that letter, I overheard Professor Wolfe that you were neck in neck with a Ravenclaw for best in class, isn't that William?"

"Yeah." Lily's smile was shaky. "Thanks." She broke the seal and withdrew the letter. He watched intently as she took a sharp intake of breath and clutched it tightly. "Jordi!" She leaned over and practically tackled him with a hug. "I got in! I did it!"
Jordi's face broke into a wide smile as he reciprocated the hug, holding Lily just as tight as she held him. When they pulled away she jumped to her feet. "No studying tonight. First, I'm going to help your Quidditch team kick Hufflepuff's arse, then we're going to celebrate."

"Fire whiskey?" Jordi asked, part hopeful, part teasing.

"No, you'll just have to find out." She gave him a wink before practically bounding down the steps.

"Why are you at St. Mungo's, I'm sure your parents want to see you."

"Well, they're the only people I told, but they aren't expecting me until tomorrow." He pulled away and leaned against the counter again. Lily noticed the satchel at his shoulder. If it was anybody else, she would think it was expanded, but she knew that Jordi never took much anymore. "Nott wants me to meet him for a late lunch, when do you get off?"

"Eight, but I might be able to convince my boss to let me leave a bit earlier."

"We can go to that muggle bar you like and then I could crash at your place?" He looked up at her with wide eyes and that ridiculous smirk of his.

"Of course, you can even help me get the couch transfigured." There was a joking tone to that and a mischievous glint in her eyes, but Jordi's smile faltered a bit. "It was a joke. Now let me get back to work."
Lily watched him leave, a smile still on her face as the work flew by—literally. She answered notes sent to her and was busy concentrating when she heard footsteps in front of her. "Hello, Madame Sanderson," she greeted, looking at the Head Healer.

"I told you to drop the titles, its Ella, Lily." She held out her hand for a file and Lily made a small gesture causing it to float over. "You've been working on the wandless magic, it'll come in handy."

"When you get stuck at this desk, you do anything to make the time fly by."

"Stuck at that desk? I didn't realize that it was such a burden, what with your visitors." She smirked. "But seriously, I know how young Aurors can be, so I'm not going to say anything about Boyd, but it's bad enough with your family dropping in, I don't want friends too." She looked down at the file in her hand and then up. "You've only been here for six months Lily and you're already flourishing, I don't want anything compromising that. Understood?" She gave the young witch a stern look. "Don't let anything jeopardize your future, things like Boyd and partying with your friends can be done on your own time."

"Of course," Lily said, reaching for another file. "But you should trust my judgement."

"I didn't just see them visit, I have ears everywhere. I'm proud of you." She gave Lily an approving look. "And you can get off a half-hour early, I know how hard it can be to be with friends with someone at such a long distance."

"Thank you." Before anything more could be said, Ella disappeared and Lily went back to work, just as hard as before she was interrupted.


When seven thirty came, Lily excused herself to the break room to get changed. Even though the robes they wore covered their clothing completely, they still had to dress professionally beneath it. She shed the pencil skirt and blouse for a pair of jeans paired with a shirt from James' team. When she exited the room, she saw Jordi talking with Ella, making her laugh. "You ready?" he asked when he saw her get closer.

"Thanks again, Ella."

"Enjoy yourself."

Jordi slipped an arm over her shoulder and began relying her a tale told by Nott, using his free hand to gesture. "Want to apparate there?"

"You have the honor." By that Lily meant that it was silly for them both to apparate, but she didn't want to be responsible for side-along for the two of them. "How long has it been since you had proper English food?"

"Luckily too short," he said. "But you're probably starved."

"I'm not drinking on an empty stomach." She pushed through the door to walk into the pub that held mostly muggles. The bartender, though, was aware of the popularity with the magical community due to his wizard brother. "Hey, Rob, two pints of my usual, a burger and basket of fries, please."

"Alright? How'll you be paying?"

In the world of debit cards this question was not too unusual anymore, but he would take magical money if Lily didn't have anything else. "I have the cash, don't worry." She gave him a wink before sitting down across from Jordi in the booth he managed to snag. She leaned against the back of it, one leg stretched on the bench as she waited for the food to come. "So, you never did tell me why you're visiting."

"The ministry department in charge of the reserves wants to reassign me once my degree is finished."

"Would you be coming back home?"

"No, they want to start up a new reserve, they're thinking Finland if the location in Turkey doesn't pan out."

"Those are both so far away," Lily said. "I always thought…"

"That I'd be coming back to the UK? Me too, but I have to go where the work is." He shrugged, then reached out to grab her hand. "Lily, we both agreed…"

"I know." The food came and Lily took a drink of her beer, trying to stay present in the now, but she couldn't help but thinking about them…

Lily was sure she had never heard so much noise coming from Slytherin. For the second year in a row they had won the cup. "Go…" Simone urged, shoving her towards the stairs with an exasperated tone. She had spent most of her game on her feet and yelling into her voice grew hoarse. Still, she spilled onto the pitch with the rest of the team. Before she knew what hit her, a pair of arms closed around her—hot and sweaty.

"Good job—"

The congratulations was cut short by a sloppy kiss on her cheek. It wasn't romantic or protective, just…there. A kiss between friends she told herself. "The team was brilliant."

"Couldn't have done it without you." He grinned. "We'll celebrate tonight."

"I'll tell you the details later."

"Besides, we'd never work together. I'll admit being with you is fun, but…Could you imagine either of us getting married any time soon?" He asked looking at her. "I didn't come here to talk about the future, I came here to see my closest friend because this is the first time I could make it."

"You can sleep at my place, but maybe we shouldn't…"

"Yeah, that would be better." He avoided looking at her before grabbing a few fries and eating them.

Lily wished that things could have gone a bit differently for them, but Jordi was right… they were just wrong with each other, even if at times they could seem so right. They'd been each other's first. It might have been awkward with limbs tangling together, unsure touches, and kisses in places they'd never felt before, but neither of them had regretted it. It was before the both of them started school and Lily ended up at his flat somehow, his flat mate gone for the night. Their…affair, if you want to call it that…lasted for a few months, but it wasn't serious or committed. They saw each other on the weekends, slept together, and snogged in semi-public places.

"So, why don't you tell me the latest rumors? I've seen enough about James in the magazines, what with him transferring to Puddlemore, but what's going on with Al?"

Lily sighed and leaned back against the booth again. "I really liked Vince," she complained. "Then he had to go and get transferred to Germany and had the balls to ask Al to come with him. The only liaison position open was in the accounting office." She rolled his eyes. "Could you imagine Al doing that?"

"When was that?"

"Couple months ago, now he spends all his time with Score and Roxie." She rolled her eyes at that.

"Still the dynamic duo?"

"Dad says they're the best pair in the department. Al's been bouncing around, trying to find someone that works for him. They all think he's too quiet, too serious and they don't let Dad have a say in placing him with someone." She rolled her eyes and took another drink of her beer before starting in on her burger. "How's your research going? I know you love talking about your job."

"It's good, great really. The dragons can be nasty beasts until you get to know them, but there's this Welsh Green that's taking a liking to me. The heads of the reserve think that since I'm so good with him, maybe I should try other animals. Winged horses for example, like hippogriffs."

"Hippogriffs would be better suited for Finland."

"I know, but if I was sent to Turkey it would be a completely different project. I'm not too excited about it. More dragons, different breeds, worse temperament." He sighed and ate more fries before pushing away the tray and draining his beer. "We keep on talking about depressing stuff, we need more alcohol."

"Alcohol is a depressant," Lily reminded him.

"Shh…I don't want any of that Healer talk tonight, I just want Lily, alright?" He leaned across the table and patted her shoulder before raising his arm in the air. Rob the bartender was reluctant to give them shots, but Lily assuaged his fears that they both were—fairly—sober, they'd just had a beer each after all.

They drank slowly, ordering more food to graze on and glasses of water in between their drinks. Lily wanted to linger as long as possible, but soon she knew that it would be best to go back to her place. She was getting tipsy, head sort of fuzzy, and glad that Jordi was with her. As a witch, she hardly felt threatened walking down muggle streets late at night, but when she was tipsy and heading into a place that wizards sometimes frequented made her apprehensive at times.

"You know where my flat is, right?" she questioned as they settled the bill and headed out into the night. It was just a few blocks to her place from the pub. She linked her arm with Jordi's and pressed against him. It was late summer, but the night was still chilled. "This feels an awful lot like that Halloween night we were together…It was the last time before we…" She stopped, they were outside her building. Lily twisted to face him. "Want to relive that night?"

"Not with both of us like this," he answered, a hand running through her curls. Despite the words they both leaned in, mouths crashing against each other. Before he knew what happened, Lily began to laugh against his mouth and caused Jordi to do the same.

"We're better as friends."

"Yeah, but I'm still sleeping in your bed."

The pair managed its way up the stairs to her apartment on the third floor. On their way up, Lily quite literally bumped into a man she had seen before. "Sorry," she said, with a bit of a laughter in her voice.

"No problem…" He looked to Lily to Jordi. "Are the two of you alright?'

"Perfectly fine." Jordi hooked an arm around Lily's waist and gave the man his best grin. "Night, officer." He gave a mock salute before Lily rolled her eyes and tugged him away.

"What was that about?"

"Didn't you see his shiny buttons and uniform, you got a muggle cop on your floor." He laughed again as Lily muttered a spell and the door popped open. "Nothing is sexier than a woman who knows her magic."

Lily rolled her eyes as they separated. He'd been here before, but she gave him a brief tour, opening doors that he needed to get into with a flick of the hand. They both changed quickly, or rather Lily did, and Jordi threw aside his pants and slipped on a ratty t-shirt. She fell asleep pressed up against him and let herself enjoy it.


The next morning Lily woke up with a pounding headache, her waist pinned down by the heavy arm of Jordi. "I need to get up, you big lug," she whispered, running a hand through his hair. He'd let it grow a bit longer since going to Romania. "I make the best hangover potion around." She slipped out of bed and grabbed her wand from the nightstand to get started on breakfast. As she concocted a potion on a small burner, she drank a glass of water in hopes it would dull the pounding ache in her skull. Once the potion was well into brewing she leaned against the counter and lazily began to cook up bacon, eggs, and toast. Greasy food usually made her feel better after a hangover and knew Jordi would appreciate.

"Potter, are you coming back-" Jordi stopped and surveyed the kitchen. "I should marry you, really…"

Lily rolled her eyes and murmured a few simple spells to start up a pot of coffee. "We should take this first, works the best."

"Is this your patented hangover potion? Better than a pepper up one?" He asked as she ladled it into a shot glass.

"Just drink it." She took her's in one gulp, scowling a bit at the taste before whipping her wand again and beginning to plate the food. That was when she heard a knock at the door. "Finish this for me, alright?"

"Yup." He popped the 'p' as she walked to the door.

Lily walked to the door running a hand through her hair. She hoped it was her brother showing up unannounced because she desperately needed a shower. "Hello?" she said opening the door. Her memory was a bit fuzzy from last night, but he appeared to be the man from the hallway, looking a bit tired, still in uniform, but a bit rumpled. "Can I help you?"

"This was in my mail box downstairs." He held out a plain package.

"My book!" she exclaimed. It was on muggle medicine techniques. "Sorry, it was supposed to be delivered a couple days ago. The company said it should be here."

"Lily?" a voice called. "What's the spell to stop your coffee maker?" Jordi appeared next to her and then took a step back when he saw who was standing in her doorway. "Merlin, I thought it'd be James or—"

"I didn't realize that there were two people living here," he replied warily, taking them both in. Jordi didn't even seem to notice that he wasn't wearing actual pants—or even care if he did realize it.

"There's not," Lily corrected. "It's just me, he's visiting from out of town."

"Oh." He frowned. "Well, I live just down the hall, moved in a few weeks ago. My name's Michael Collins."

"Lily Potter." It was the true test to see if he was truly a muggle and it seemed he was as there was no flicker of recognition in his eye. "This is Jordi Zabini, he's in town for a few days."

"Where did you come from?" the man asked.

"Romania," he answered. "I'm doing some undergrad work at a sanctuary out there." If anything Jordi was bit nervous about the fact that his arms were bare in the short sleeve shirt. He didn't cover them last night because he was with Lily and Nott mainly, but muggles would ask too many questions about the scars, bite marks, bruises and burns.

"It was nice to meet you and thank you for bringing my book." She nodded at that. "If you're just off work you're probably exhausted, so have a good day."
"Yeah…" He looked a bit perplexed and when he took a step back Lily shut the door.

"Muggles are weird," Jordi muttered as Lily sat down across from him at the breakfast bar, sighing at the overflowing coffee maker. She rolled her eyes as she poured to cups, then floated a towel over to clean it up.

"It was probably the fact that you were still in your underwear and the two of us aren't dressed at ten in the morning."

"I thought it was your brothers," he explained. "Or Teddy, but Teddy usually doesn't come without Stella or Vicky so I figured it was a safe bet." He looked down at his breakfast and started taking large bites, only punctuated by gulps of coffee. "You're going to have to be careful, you know that right?"

"What are you talking about?" Lily ate slice of bacon, it was cooked a little too long, which always seemed to happen when she used magic.

"You have muggles all around you Lily. I know your parents tried to help you understand the muggle world, but experiencing bits of it is a whole lot different than living inside of it."

Lily looked down at her nearly empty plate. She had lived in the midst of the muggle world for nearly three years—since she had moved into this flat. Still, that was before she knew Michael Collins, an officer that seemed a bit too observant.