"What can I get for you Holly?
"Firewhiskey?" she said hopefully.
"Of course." he said reaching for a glass and pouring her a drink.
"Thanks Tom." She said putting down some money down on the counter.
"No charge." She gave him a surprised look. "I insist, you haven't been around here in a long time. And you were one of my best bar tenders."
"Honestly it's the best job I've ever had. Besides it's nice to be back here after all those years."
"I take it you didn't like living abroad?"
"I liked it, but it's nice to be home again."
"It's good to have you back Miss Evans." He said turning to help a man who just walked up to the bar. They made eye contact. He looked familiar, she knew him. But she decided it was just her imagination. There was no way it could be him. Her cousin told her that he had moved out of the country. Giving up Holly turned back to her drink.
It was almost weird being back here. It had only been three years sense she left. It felt like so much longer though. But she was happy she was back. In the time she had been gone, little had changed to this place. Still the same old wood tables, and the same old rusty lamp fixtures, and the same smell of stale ale in the air. The only difference she could see, is she was old enough to drink at the bar.
"Thanks for the drink Tom. I'm going to go home now." she said leaving a generous tip on the counter then walking out of the door into the cool night air.
She pulled her cloak closer to her as she walked down the lonely streets of Diagon Ally. It was nearly midnight, and there were only a few people out and about that night. It was so peaceful here.
She loved being here when she was a kid. Just getting up in the morning and coming for school supplies had been a treat. She could remember the last time she had been here. She had met up with her best friends from school and her cousin, to tell them she had to leave the country for a while. She hated telling them. The look on each of their faces after she told them still ripped through her even after all these years. Hopefully that would change. Tomorrow morning she was off to go see her cousin, and hopefully some of her old friends. With that last thought she appartaed to the door of her new apartment just outside of London, unlocked the door and walked into her new home.
It wasn't much, the living room and the kitchen were separated only by a small counter and there was a small hallway that led to three rooms. Her bedroom, her bathroom and her work space. After non-stop traveling for the past three years, coming home to a permanent residence was a nice treat. She threw her cloak onto the back of a chair and headed to her room. There was a huge canopy bed with crimson sheets and thick quilt messed up on it. She liked not making her bed, she liked keeping all of her clothes hung up in her closet, this was her home. And she could live the way she wanted. Nobody else could tell her what to do now. She thought pleasantly as she crawled into bed.
Holly was nervous. She was completely freaked out was more precise, as she knocked on the door of her cousin's house. She swung her arms around rocking back and forth on her heels. She had no reason to be scared, but it had been three years sense she had seen her. The door opened, to her surprise a tall man with messy black hair and mischievous brown eye behind a pair of glasses opened the door."James?" she said in surprise, but with a great amount of joy. He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure what was going on.
"It's me, Holly." His eyes lit up and picked her up in a hug swinging her around in over joy.
"Holly! What are you doing here! Common, Lily's inside. She'll be so excited to see you!"
"You haven't changed one bit." Holly laughed with him as he dragged her into the house by the hand. He took he to a living room where a beautiful young woman sat on a couch reading a book. She looked up and screamed with delight when she saw Holly, almost knocking her down as she hugged her.
"Holly! Oh my god! I thought you were in Russia or something! What are you doing here! Is everything ok? Come, come sit down, have some tea." Holly laughed, she had missed her cousin too much. Lily conjured up some tea and sat down next to her, James on her other side.
"Everything is fine. Though I think James broke one of my ribs when he picked me up ." James gave Lily a "I-have-no-idea-what-she's-talking-about" look when she scowled at him.
"What happened? I thought you were going to be away for five years, it's only been three." James said changing the subject.
"I left. There was nothing in it for me anymore. So I quit. Besides I've decided that I've been away for too long. I need to see my family and friends again."
"How long have you been back?" Lily asked.
"A couple of weeks. I just got an apartment not to far away from here, and I've got a desk job at the Ministry. No big deal."
"I'm so glad your back." Lily said hugging her again. "Where did you stay the last few weeks if you just got your apartment? You should have written me, we would have been glad to put you up until you found a place of your own."
"I know you would have, but I didn't want to impose…"
"Impose? You? Holly, that word doesn't even belong in the same sentence as you." James said.
"I've missed you both terribly. So does this mean you two are officially together for the rest of your lives?"
"Almost." Lily said blushing. Holly squealed in delight hugging her cousin. Lily had been a sister to her all her life. They were in the same house at Hogwarts, and they had the best time with all of her friends.
"Are you hungry?" James asked.
"Not really. But thanks anyway."
"Non-sense your skinny as a rail."
"I've always been like this."
"But you need to eat. I'll get something." He said getting up in a hurry, not really paying attention to either of them.
"What's up with him?"
"I have no idea. I don't think he likes to talk about the wedding details." she sighed and laughed at the same time.
"I'd thought he'd be talking nothing but details, he finally is getting married to you after all these years." Lily let out a laugh.
"When did he propose? When are you two officially tying the knot? I want details. You failed to mention all this in your letters."
"Just like you failed to mention you were coming back home to stay?"
"Well, it was more of a spur of the moment move. Common, tell me everything." Lily told her everything. How James purposed, and they were getting married in three months.
"When were you planning on telling me this?"
"I just finished a letter telling you all about it, I was going to send it tomorrow. I was hoping you'd be able to come to it."
"Like I'd miss my best friend's wedding."
"Well, now that I know your coming, will you be my made of honor?" This struck Holly as a complete surprise.
"Me? Lily. I've been gone for so long…"
"So? It's not like we lost complete contact. Your family, and there is no way Petunia is going to be there, so why not? Mum always said that friends come and go, but family is forever. So how about it?"
"Yes. Of course I will." They hugged and James came back into the room.
"Ok, they'll be here in a few minutes." He said plopping down in a chair.
"They?" Lily said slightly annoyed.
"Sirius and Remus." Holly's eyes got really big, and the nerves came right back to her.
"You ok Holly?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, just fine. I thought you were getting food." she said turning her attention to James.
"Well, I thought that we might have a little celebration in honor of you coming back safe and sound."
"Your horrid James." she said standing up and punched him playfully in the arm.
"Watch it."
"That didn't hurt."
"No, but you still hit hard…for a girl."
"For a girl. Ok Potter, bring it on." Immediately James and Holly began to wrestle on the floor, just like old times.
"What is it with you two?" Lily asked shaking her head, taking the tea stuff into the kitchen.
"Give up yet?" James said pinning her from behind.
"No. If anything I've gotten stronger." she said flipping him over her head, he was shocked, but he advanced again. They were laughing really hard.
"James. What was so important that you dragged me all the way over here. I had to cancel my date with Rachel Connor for this…" A tall man with black shaggy hair walked into the room. He sounded bothered, but his face was full of amusement and his blue-gray eyes dancing.
"Sirius, Rachel Connor has been married for two years, and she has kids." James said letting go of Holly.
"Sirius mate, you need to get over Rachel Connor." Another man entered the room. He was slightly shorter than Sirius, he had sandy blonde hair with a few streaks of gray in it. He had solemn brown eyes that didn't seem to match the smile on his face.
"Remus I was just trying to make an entrance. You know me." All three guys laughed at this.
"Holly? Holly Evans?" Remus said in complete surprise.
"Hello Remus. Sirius." She had been standing in the background waiting for someone to notice her.
Sirius had run up to her, much like how James greeted her, and picked her up and spun her around, and planted a kiss on her head and pulled her into a tight hug. Remus cleared his thought and Holly smiled big and gave her friend a big hug. Remus wasn't used to physical affection, but he gently hugged her back. She stepped back to look at all of her friends. She had missed them. She got consistent letters from Lily, James and Reums. But somehow she felt like Sirius and Peter had forgotten about her. She wondered what happened to Peter. James hadn't mentioned that he'd be coming.
"Holly, what are you doing back? I thought you were gone for five years." Remus asked concerned. "What happened, are you ok?" He was always concerned about her, but it was nice to know someone cared.
"I'm fine now. I decided that I need to get away from... all that. I changed careers and got a job at the ministry. And moved just outside of London. But everything is going to be just fine now." she said as simply as she could.
"Well then, I say we go out tonight. In celebration of our good friends return." Sirius said wrapping his arm around Holly's waist. Everyone agreed and with a few pops from apperating, they were gone.
A/N: I don't own any of J.K.'s characters. I only own the one's I made up, like Holly and some other minor characters... I Did get the title for the story from "Wicked the Musical" (I know, big theatre dork here. :D), and I don't own that musical either, it's just my favorite song.