The muscles in his legs were contracting and relaxing at such a rapid rate, he had no idea how his arms would keep up. Thud. He felt the racquet as if it were an extension of his arm. He knew there was an irritating piece of yellow fluff stuck smack dab in the center of the strings, but now wasn't the moment for such details. Thud.Interesting choice. His opponent had opted for a shot down the line when the cross court was completely undefended. Thud. A deep ache was now beginning to form in his left calf. As a full-time athlete, he was no stranger to pain, but now was not the time for a cramp. Thud. This time the opponent had thought it through. The shot went whizzing past his left ear, and he hung his head in defeat, listening for the bounce of the ball. Wait. Tap. The sound had come half a second too late. Either the shot was barely on the back line or out. Grinning, he looked up just in time to see the ref call it out.

"Love – 40."

He walked back to the baseline, trying and failing to hide the slight limp he had picked up. He turned around to see his opponent looking back at him, calculatingly.

"Match point."

No one cares about a limp at match point. This match is yours Potter. Take it. Getting into position, leaning back and forth, testing his balance, he looked back up. Slap! Slap! Holy mother of Merlin! What was that? He had barely even caught a glimpse of the serve as it left his opponent's racquet and hit the fence behind him.

"Fault!"

Was that really out? He squinted at the line before him. Where was the mark?

"That was in! What were you looking at?" He stayed behind. Bouncing from foot to foot, trying to keep his head in the match, away from his opponent's futile argument. On the next serve he would go for the cross court if he went for - What was that? He turned around. There was without a doubt a flash of red behind him. The red he'd known so well back in his school days. He turned around quickly, searching the bleachers for the source. Nothing.

"Mr. Potter, the match is back in session if you'd care to join us again." The ref was grinning despite the call to attention.

"Gladly, Jones, gladly." He bowed his head and returned to the baseline, bouncing on his toes, trying to keep his eye on the ball bouncing between the ground and the opponent's hand. One…Two…Three...he tossed it up, higher than normal. He was going for a serve down the middle. He'd have to go for the opponent's backhand if he wanted to get anything out of this. Slap! Slap! He looked back at the fence stunned. He was serving easily over 200 kph. Where had he kept this power for the past two sets!

"Fault! Game, set and match Potter."

He looked around incredulously. There was no way anyone could tell if that had been in or out. It was way too fast. He stared at the spot on the ground where the ball should have bounced as his opponent waited for him at the net. "There's no way he could've known if that was out," James stated simply as he shook the other man's hand.

"If he was paying attention, it's not hard. It's more of an illusion of speed than actual speed. I can't serve faster than 200."

"No way! That was easily 200!"

"Are you willing to pay up for that?"

"If I had the dough," James shook his head as he quickly shook the ref's hand, and gathered his belongings. Briskly he began walking off the court towards the players' locker rooms, waving at the small scattering of tennis fans in the bleachers behind the fences. Noticing a particularly young girl he'd seen at all of his matches for this event, he searched around for her family. Not looking where he was going, he toppled into what felt like a soft brick wall.

"Oof!"

"Lily!"

"Yes, that would be me." There she stood in all her glory. He hadn't seen her gorgeous eyes in over two years. He had heard she'd gone on to become a healer, but hadn't heard from her since the avoidable break-up that had followed their co-valedictory speech on their last day at Hogwarts.

"Wha-What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, but since you're an open book, we'll leave out that formality." Her tongue was as razor sharp as ever.

"Still not answering the question, Evans."

"We'll talk about that somewhere more private." Turning her back to him she headed towards the men's locker rooms, leaving James to enjoy the view. Of course, the fact that she was dressed in baggy shorts and tank didn't leave much to enjoy but nevertheless…

"I wouldn't advise going in there. Maicon will be changing."

"I saw him leave directly for the car. And seeing as this was the final match of the tourney, you should be the only other person using it."

"My coach -"

"Did not attend the match. I do my homework, Potter."

Rolling his eyes, he stepped into the locker room, throwing his bag on the floor before stripping off his shirt.

Almost immediately, Lily averted her eyes. "This is a locker room, and I'll be using it for that purpose. Am I allowed to ask again to what I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?"

"Dumbledore."

"Yes, that explains a lot. Thank you for coming. I'll be seeing you…or not." He took a towel out of his bag to head for the tub full of iced water already waiting for him.

"Dumbledore sent me to recruit you, Potter. Seeing as you're not interested, I'll let him know." Crossing her arms, she stared after his retreating back.

"Always so cryptic. Would you please care to explain what this is about?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the Order of the Phoenix. He thinks you'd make a good addition to the team. He wants all of you, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. Black's only agreed to join on the basis that you join also."

"Dumbledore knows my answer. He asked me last year under…under worse circumstances, and I refused. Nothing's changed," James grew quiet, staring at the ground before continuing. "If anything it's worse. I haven't held a wand in over four months. I have no idea where the bloody hell it is."

"Dumbledore doesn't doubt your abilities. And, maybe it's time for you to return to the real world."

"I didn't realize that all the muggles had been living in an alternate reality. This is the real world, Evans."

"I thought you were much stronger than this. You can't run from what you can't handle."

"I guess you were wrong." Turning around, he walked away from her completely before submerging himself in ice and water. He heard the door shut as he Lily left the room.

"He's a bloody idiot. He never knew what he wanted when he graduated, and he still doesn't know what he wants now. I mean look at him! He's fucking playing tennis!"

"I don't really think there's anything wrong with tennis. If that's what he's always wanted to do, I don't see how it's your problem." Alice had grown accustomed to Lily's rants back in Hogwarts, but recently she'd become increasingly irritated by her ridiculous arguments.

"He's a bloody wizard. And, there's a war going on! He should be helping, not hiding!"

"I hardly think he's hiding from anything. If Voldemort was seeking him out, he could find him pretty easily, especially considering he's playing Wimbledon qualifiers next week."

"He should be helping!"
"Bloody hell, Lily! Not everyone has your guts! And, if it matters at all what I say, I doubt it's guts that he's lacking. Maybe you should be looking at things from his perspective! It's something you've always needed to learn. Sometimes I think you have just a big a head as he does." Alice slumped down in the nearest chair, covering her face with her hands. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with Lily. "Look, Lils, I'm so –" She was cut off by a sharp knock on the door.

"Were you expecting someone?" Lily asked, looking apprehensive.

"No, let's see." She peeked through the viewing hole. "It's Black! What's he doing here?"

"Oh! I was supposed to meet him at four!" She jerked the door open without thinking twice. "I'm sorry, Sirius – "

"You'd think for someone so smart, you'd actually check if it was me and not someone posing as me." He walked in without being invited and situated himself on the nearest couch.

"I don't think anyone would dare pose as the Sirius Black. No one wants to be a doofus."

"Love you, too, babe."

"Same, darling." Despite this being only their second meeting since Hogwarts, they seemed to have picked up their sibling-ish rivalry right where it had left off. Unfortunately, the same had not occurred with James.

"Look, Evans, I'm not here for this," he gestured with his hands between him and her. "I want to know what you did to James."

"Nothing."

"Yeah, last time you did nothing, he withdrew his name from auror training."

"That was all his fault! Don't blame it on me. And, about this time, I just came in to ask him about his possibly joining the Order."

"He said no like I said he would, but obviously you had to give him a piece of your mind. You couldn't stay out of what doesn't matter to you."

"It did – does – matter to me. James and I may not be together anymore, but I still care about him, even if he's decided to throw his life away."

"He's not throwing his life away, Evans! If you'd actually known him, you would know that tennis has actually been somewhat of a passion for him. His parents' deaths may have finally gotten the ball rolling, but this was always coming. Maybe if you hadn't left him for nothing, he would be juggling between the two worlds better than he is now. But, of course, nothing's ever your fault, is it?"

"I don't know what James has told you about what happened when we broke up, but I'm sure it's highly biased." She was speaking in a deathly quiet tone now. "He told me he was considering putting auror training on hold until next year. He wanted to try his hand at pro tennis. All I did was tell him the truth. He was being an idiot. He was throwing away an amazing chance at life! He had the full scholarship, Moody had specially requested him as his understudy and he wanted to give it all up for a stupid dream. I wanted him to understand…the weight of it…I thought someone should help him see the other side. He doesn't understand what's it like to start from worse than a clean slate. It's just hard – "

"Look, Lils, I understand where you're coming from, but you need to understand it's not always one mold ("Mold?" Lily interjected) fits all. That day, whatever happened, turned James off from his dream of becoming an auror. His parents' deaths turned him off of magic. It's – it's hard on him," Sirius' voice had softened considerably.

Alice, who had retreated to the back of the kitchen during the argument, came forward now to console a severely depressed looking Lily. Everyone seemed to be against her today, but hopefully this would help her understand what she'd been too prideful to two years ago.

"I hope you can try to see it from another way, Lils, because I – we – don't hate you. We'd love for you to be with us again. If you're up for it, I have extra tickets to Wimbledon," he took two passes out from his black coat, placing them on the coffee table. "I'll see you next week at the qualifiers?"

Lily seemed to have shut off for the moment, and Alice had to answer for her, "We'll try."

At the door, Sirius turned around to glance towards Lily, "Lilies don't look as beautiful when they're wilting. Get some sun and James, Evans." Cackling like the maniac he was, he ducked out the door before Lily could throw something at his head.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. "White Blank Page" by Mumford and Sons may help you understand the mood of the second part of the chapter…or it may just be completely random and unrelated, but it's a fun song.