Staircase Challenge |Staircase 8: hard|- Write a Muggle!AU. Bonus Prompts: (character) Lily Evans

Jilytober Event- Week One AU: CoffeeShop!AU

Around the World in 31 Days- 84. Jamaica: (character) James Potter

Writing Club- Infected: (word) fixed

Word Count: 2,129

"Skipper, no! Stay put!" Lily ordered of her dog, who was tugging eagerly against his leash, trying to break free. They were at a green traffic light and were waiting for it to turn red so the oncoming cars would stop and they could safely cross the street.

Lily was going for a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop just a mile away, so she had decided to walk and meanwhile let her dog get some exercise.

"Skipper!" Lily snapped again as the leash in her hand was yanked again and she barely held on. "Stop it!

The middle-aged woman standing next to her was watching her curiously. Lily's face burned.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I hope I'm not irritating you. My dog is unusually hyper today," she apologized.

"It's all right, dear," the woman replied, smiling kindly. "My son, James, has a dog as well—a bloody nuisance, if I do say myself—but we adore him."

Lily laughed. "I can understand what you mean; Skipper can be a right pain in the neck, but he's too adorable. You mentioned you have a son? How old is he?"

"I have two, actually," the woman said genially. "James, he's my actual son, but Sirius is my foster son, but I like to think of him as James's brother. They're both twenty."

"How ironic; I'm the same age," said Lily. "That's awfully sweet of you—wait, I don't know your name; how rude of me."

"That's fine, darling. I'm Euphemia, but you can call me Mia," she said, smiling broadly, accepting her handshake.

The redheaded girl appraised the older woman, observing her twinkling hazel eyes and slightly wrinkled face, and deduced that this woman must be fifty or older.

"I'm Lily," she responded, shaking her hand firmly, just as the traffic light turned red.

Lily and Euphemia crossed the road together, still chatting amiably.

"Where are you headed?" asked Lily as Skipper trotted along ahead of them, suddenly calm.

"Freesia's," said Mia. "James works there and I wanted to surprise him since we don't get to see each other that often."

"Why is that so?"

"I'm a senior police officer, so my job requires me to be away from both my sons," she explained, sadness overcoming her face. "I miss them a lot and I know they miss me too, so that's why I insisted to my superior to have today off so I can spend time with them."

Lily looked sympathetically at her, paused, and gave her a one-armed shoulder hug. Euphemia seemed surprised at first, but she smiled fondly and returned the hug.

"Well, I don't I meet them?" Lily suggested. "I'm sure they must be lovely people if they have a wonderful mother like you. Besides, I was headed there too."

Euphemia brightened. "You're too kind. That would be simply splendid. Thank you, my dear."

"Anytime," beamed Lily, yelping suddenly as Skipper caught the aroma of coffee and barked excitedly.

The coffee shop was simple yet chic. It was decorated with black-and-white decor and 90s themed. According to the sign, it had been in business since 1993.

A special, fenced off area was reserved for pets. Lily wrote her name on the designated sheet and placed Skipper in the playpen, where he began to romp around with the other dogs.

She followed Euphemia as they entered the shop, observing the interior design of the place.

It had a cozy and comfortable atmosphere. People were either chatting idly at tables or in booths. A few were alone, reading silently.

The counter was not far from the door. A tall man with messy black, hazel eyes, and thick square glasses was passing over a brown bag to a woman, smiling amicably.

Lily abruptly halted in her tracks as Euphemia continued on. Those hazel eyes looked familiar...

With a jolt, she realized that this must be Euphemia's son. His eyes were the same rich color and were sparkling just like his mother's. Lily's breath hitched. She had not expected him to be so... handsome.

She snapped out of her trance as a man with long blonde hair pushed rudely past her, unbalancing her.

"Out of my way, peasant," he hissed.

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but someone did it for her. "And you get out of ours, scumbag."

The man turned and sneered at someone behind Lily. Lily spun around to meet stormy grey eyes.

"Stop harassing this woman or I'll tell Narcissa you've been unfaithfully fooling around with another woman," the man spat.

Fear flitted across the man's face but returned to a hard expression. "Don't threaten me like that."

"Oh, okay, if that's what you want to do." The man next to Lily pulled out his phone, appearing to scroll through a list of phone numbers. "I suppose you wouldn't mind if I called her right now—"

"Stop!" The man took a deep breath, schooling his face into an even expression. "Fine. I'm sorry, young lady."

Lily stared after him as he marched out of the shop, his face red.

"Sorry about that." The grey-eyed man turned to her with a friendly expression. "He's my cousin's husband, but he's a complete douchebag. I'm Sirius."

Lily chuckled, immediately recognizing the name. This must be Euphemia's foster son; Lily liked him already. "I'm Lily. And I gathered as much. He's a total wanker."

"I wholeheartedly agree." Sirius lead her over to an empty table and Lily craned her neck to see Euphemia chatting away with her son, both of them with pleasant expressions on their faces.

"Now, what would you like to eat?" he asked in a gentlemanly fashion.

Lily glanced at the menu hanging above the counter, and then her eyes drifted down inadvertently to the cute barista with a radiant grin on his face.

Sirius caught her eyes' traitorous movements. He grinned slyly. "See something you like?"

She blushed. "N-No."

"Rubbish. I know my best mate is an eye-catcher." He winked. Lily's blush deepened.

"All right, so he's good-looking, but that's all," she argued, her cheeks saying otherwise.

Sirius gave her a gentle push. "Go and talk to him."

"Wh-What?" she squeaked, her eyes becoming as large as saucers.

"Go talk to him," he encouraged. "You won't regret it."

Lily, with Sirius watching her expectantly, had no choice but to walk up to the queue of customers that were lining up behind Euphemia.

The man said something to his mother, nodding to the customers behind her. Euphemia nodded and moved to the nearest table.

Lily took several deep breaths as the line gradually shortened as the handsome boy began filling orders with practiced ease. He looked so confident and effortless and the butterflies in Lily's stomach multiplied.

Oddly enough, there was no one behind her. That would give her as much time as she needed.

Finally, it was her turn. She boldly walked up to the register as the man sorted the change in the register from the previous customer.

"May I take your order?" he asked, his eyes raking over her unabashedly. Lily felt her heartbeat increase its pace.

"Hi." She fumbled for a few moments under the warmth of his gaze. "I would like a cinnamon raisin bagel and an espresso please."

"You're in luck, that's our last bagel of that kind," said the man, turning to grab the bagel from the rack with a pair of tongs and dropping it into the bag. "Remus, we need an espresso!" he called over his shoulder.

"On it!"

"Hurry up, we have a pretty customer!" He returned his eyes to Lily, handing her the bag without taking his eyes from her. Lily deliberately brushed his hand with her own and saw his sharp intake of breath. She smiled flirtatiously.

"Remus, where's that coffee?" he called again.

"I think the machine is broken again!"

The man sighed, tearing his eyes away from the pretty girl. Lily stood there, clutching her bag and staring at the counter, her face matching her crimson hair.

"Would you mind waiting a minute?" he asked. She nodded and he disappeared into the back.

...oOo...

Remus was standing by the coffee machine, looking completely untroubled. James's eyes darted between the machine and his mate.

"Well?" he demanded.

"There's nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to talk to you."

James sighed. "Is now really the right time? I was just talking to a customer—"

"More like ogling her," Remus rebutted with amusement.

"What? She's really gorgeous!" shot back James defensively.

"Yes, but you never take an interest in pretty women like her," Remus pointed out. "What makes her so special?"

James ran a hand through his hair. "I dunno. It's just that as soon as I saw her, I felt certain that she wasn't like any other girl. She didn't seem like the ditzy, airheaded type."

"How do you know that? You've barely even spoken to her."

"Well, we're going to have to find out."

Remus sighed. "Here. You can thank me later for my thinking ahead."

He gave James a coffee cup with the bespectacled boy's number scrawled on the side.

James beamed. "Thanks—"

"I told you, thank me later. Now, the apple of your eye is waiting."

James flashed him a grateful smile and hurried out.

The redheaded girl was still patiently lingering near the counter, conversing with his mother. James hurried them, an enormous smile on his face.

"Here's your espresso," he said, almost shyly.

The girl's dazzling green fixed on his own as she took the bag from him. He took the opportunity to examine her face.

Her almond-shaped eyes were a brilliant emerald green. Her red hair tumbled around her shoulder and moved along with her heart-shaped face. She had a lot of freckles.

Euphemia, sensing the intimate moment passing between them, tactfully excused herself and joined Sirius, who was attempting to stifle his sniggering.

"So, er," James stammered, "I hope you have a good day, Miss..."

"Lily," she supplied, holding her hand out. "And same to you, James."

He blinked, surprised, but took her hand. "How did you—?"

Sparks of electricity went through James as soon as his hand came into contact with hers. He knew she felt it too, because a flash of surprise traveled through her eyes.

"How—" he gulped. "How do you know my name?"

"Your mother," she explained, smiling. "My dog was being extremely hyperactive and she remarked on how your dog was the same way. We had a little chat and discovered we were both headed to the same place. That's how we got acquainted."

James side-eyed his mother, who was quietly watching the pair of them. He rubbed the back of neck, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Er, that's nice." He threw another heart-tugging grin at her. "I'm terribly sorry though, there's a customer at the counter that I have to attend to, but we'll see each other again soon, I hope?"

He phrased it as question because he wasn't sure how she was taking all of this.

Her eyes lit up. "Actually, I was hoping—"

"Excuse me, sir, but I've been waiting for a few minutes, and I still haven't gotten to place my order," an older man cut in. "If you could please wrap this up—"

"Of course, sir, just a moment." He turned to Lily and winked. "See you soon. If you want to stop by again, please feel free."

"I will," she assured him. "I frequent this area a lot, since it's relatively close to where I live. We will see each other."

"Okay." He smiled one last time at her, before hurrying to the counter and plastering a welcoming expression.

Lily absently touched her hand where electric sparks had shot through her arm at his touch. A small smile crossed her lips and it startled her when Euphemia approached her and spoke softly.

"You fancy him, don't you?"

Lily's hear turned so quickly she almost snapped her neck. "I think so, but I don't know if he fancies me back."

"Look at your cup."

Lily redirected her eyes to the coffee cup. Nothing at all strange about it. She raised into the air.

A phone number was scribbled on the side along with the initials JP and a smiley face.

"Smooth," commented Sirius, entering Lily's periphal vision on Euphemia's other side.

Lily's heart did an exhilarated somersault. If he had given her his number, that meant he was interested. He liked her.

Sirius checked his watch. "Well, I'm supposed to be meeting my girlfriend at the park soon. Red, it was great meeting you and seeing you and my best mate behave like lovesick fools."

Sirius strode out of the shop, smirking infuriatingly as Lily spluttered.

"Don't call me that!" were the indignant words that followed him out.

Here's the deal. I may or may not continue this. It's a matter of whether I feel motivated.