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Of Endings and New Beginnings

Lily sat on the side of her bed, holding a picture between both hands. She stared at herself from almost 2 weeks ago, the picture of her and her ex-boyfriend Lance. She still found it hard to get over. Although they dated closely for over 9 months, she couldn't figure out if she was supposed to hang on or move on. Carefully, she placed it face down on the dresser and sighed. She tilted her head back, almost as if asking God why she deserved to be alone.

Her mind was blurry. She tried to move forward, but she couldn't. Her heart and her feet wouldn't move. She knew this was the time to reflect..

(Lily's mind)

Growing up, Lance had always been close to Lily's heart. They grew up on the same street since the age of 10, when Lance moved from New York. Even though Lily went to Hogwarts, she wrote to him most of her 3rd year, while he went to the local High school. Finally, after finishing up at Hogwarts, they both worked at the local coffee shop. It was then that they realized that they wanted to be together.

Lance was the spitting image of Benjamin Mackenzie on The OC, and as cliche as it sounds, Lily was head over heels in the love with the so called Chino boy. Lily couldn't put words to it, but the only thing that came to mind when she thought of them together was that opposites attract. But as their journey in life started, it all came crashing down within months.

Soon after 4 months, things weren't running too smoothly. Lily knew that all relationships hit a hard road, but she could have sworn that she was hitting brick walls head on. Lance was getting too caught up in work and his new band. And although that Lily loved rock and roll, he kept her away from the band. She always felt as though he was ashamed of her. He never knew of her magic ability, thank fully. Through the tough times, Lily sucked up the fact that he needed his space, and started to keep herself quiet. Soon fights rang out almost everyday, ranging from missed phone calls to not showing up for her birthday. Lily knew the ending was coming, but tried to blind herself away from that idea. She couldn't bear being completely honest with herself. She swore that she loved him, and that was all that mattered. Yet, on a Thursday, her world would collapse and it was like there was no light in sight.

He called her up that evening, and said he was too ashamed to see her cry, but as he explained himself Lily wasn't listening. She couldn't take in all this new information that would leave her broken. It ended with a good bye and a click. She hung up her phone in awe. Tears welled up in her eyes and once she realized that he was serious, she collapsed into a fit of tears. This was the end. This is what the end of all happiness feels like.

(End)

Lily finally snapped back to reality and blinked her dry eyes. She pulled her body up and off the bed, mindlessly letting her body take her away from the room that held so many memories. She put on a pair of sneakers and decided almost instantly that there was no place to go but get out of the city. And so, on a quest for a new scenery, she left her house with a hopeful and open mind.

5 Months Later

Lily had spent the few months working as a service agent for the Ministry. She was called in to deal with small cases, usually involving children who abuse magic in their home. Some would call it counseling, but Lily called it personal child adult bonding. She held the highest position of 6 others, and was the Second in command for Youth and Minor Service cases. It was the beginning of June, and Lily was taking on a new case. Before she had a chance to look over the file, the door swung open and hit the wall with a large bang.

"Don't you dare drag me in here! Let me g-" The boy screamed, throwing his fists every which way, trying to strike his mother who held tightly onto the back of his blue jumper. Lily stood up too quickly and accidentally knocked over her chair. The lady stopped, still holding her intolerant son. She gave Lily a caring smile.

"Are you Lily Evans?" She tried to say, still at a loss of breathe from literary dragging her son into the office. Lily nodded.

"And you must be Helen Kapos. Is this Dimitri? Lily asked, still watching the boy struggle to get free. With one final tug, the boy broke free. A quick scramble to his feet, he tried to make a quick escape for the door, but Lily was too fast and with a wave of her wand she shut the door before he could even blink. His mother pulled him back and placed him on the seat in front of Lily's desk. She muttered a binding charm, and as much as the boy tried to squirm in his seat, the chair nor him moved an inch.

"Well, now that we're all ready, would you like any coffee?" Lily asked, turning around and picking up her chair. She turned around with her face all flustered and red, looking patiently at Helen.

"Oh, no thank you, I'm fine." She replied. Lily nodded and sat down to start the meeting.

"Well, I'm sure you know why you are here Dimitri." Lily picked up the manilla folder, flipping through the first 10 pages. "It says that you have used high level magic in the household without adult supervision, as well as used to it to cause bodily harm on an animal." Lily looked up and saw Dimitri's face clench. He will be a tough case Lily thought to herself, but she knew that this is why she came into this job in the first place. To the other service clerks, Dimitri would be just another out of control child, but to Lily, he was a dream come true.

- - -

Friday evening finally rolled around, and Lily was packing up her files. It was one week over, and a new one starting Monday. No two weeks were ever the same. Lily's mind was so filled with questions and ideas about Dimitri, trying to figure out which way she could identify his problem, that she blindly walked into a gentleman standing in the middle of the hall way. Lily fell flat on her back, and just watched as her papers slowly fall around her. Pulling herself onto her left arm, she tried to bring her eyes into focus. The gentleman was still standing, now over looking Lily. He lowered a hand to her and she gladly accepted. He pulled her to her feet before she was able to say a thank you, and once she was up she was shocked as who she had run into.

"Lily?" He asked, a smile appearing on his face. Lily blushed.

"James?" She replied. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and let out a soft chuckle.

"Well, you sure still haven't given up on the paper work, have you?" James laughed, making Lily burn beat red. They locked eyes for just a second before bursting into laughter. Lily couldn't remember the last time she laughed this hard.

"You know me, all work and no play." She spoke, trying to catch her breathe. Wiping a tear from her eye, she asked "So what have you been up to?"

James pulled his cloak away from his breast badge. It said "Head Auror". Lily's jaw dropped.

"Amazing! Are you really the head of Aurors?" Lily asked in astonishment.

"No. I actually put a spell on the poor sucker and now I'm wearing his cloak just for kicks!" James laughed, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"You haven't changed one bit." Lily remarked. James grinned and with his quick wit he replied,

"So you wouldn't mind going out for dinner with me then, would you?"

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