AN/ Hey guys. We're back! Sorry it took so long to put a new chapter up. Anyway we hope you all enjoyed the story and that you enjoy reading it just as much as we did writing it. Enjoy. :)
Luck Doesn't Last Forever
New Times
It had only been a few weeks since the Gryffindors had left Hogwarts but already they all had jobs and had moved out of their parents homes except Frank. The girls in one flat and The Marauder's in another, Frank had decided to stay with his mother as he hated the idea of leaving her alone now that he wasn't away at school. James, Sirius, Frank, Alice, Lily and Marigold had all got a place in the Auror office and had started their training not long after school had finished. Mary was currently training to become a Healer at St Mungo's. Remus had got a job with the witch he met at the Potter's New Year's party a few months before and Peter's mother had decided that at the last minute that she wanted a holiday and had dragged her son off with her. They're weren't due back for a several weeks.
"LILY!" Marigold ran though the apartment she shared with her three friends. She burst into Lily's room and found the red head still asleep. "Oh Merlin Lily. Wake up."
Marigold shook Lily until the girl opened her eyes, "Whasup?"
"What's up?" Marigold asked staring. "What's up Lily is that your about to be late to work."
Lily's eyes, which had drifted shut again, shot open, "I'm late?"
"No yet, but you will be if you don't get up. Come on, Alice made breakfast."
Lily sighed and pulled herself out of bed. She made her way down the corridor and into the small kitchen, where Alice and Mary were already eating.
"Morning Lily." Alice grinned at her, "Pancakes today. There are some in the pan."
Lily nodded, "Thanks. Hey wait isn't it my turn to cook?"
Alice shrugged, "Yeah, but I was up early and you slept late."
"What time are we meeting the others?" Marigold came in, running a comb through her hair.
"Nine. They're coming past here to pick us up. Sirius said he wanted to show us something."
"Great," Lily muttered, "what's the betting you stupid dog has found a big stick on their run last night."
Marigold laughed, "Yeah he probably has, but at least he can fetch things unlike your stag."
The Marauders had told the girls about what they did every full moon a few days after they had left Hogwarts.. Marigold had loved the idea of Sirius being a dog and didn't have the same problem as Lily had had when she had first found out. It had taken longer for them to get used to Remus and when they did know, they all wondered why, like Lily, they hadn't guessed before.
"Lily its ten to nine. You'd better have your shower if you want to be ready by the time the others come."
Lily jumped to her feet grabbing a pancake as she went, "Mari, can you find something for me to wear please?"
"Sure." Marigold muttered, and followed her friend out the room.
As soon as they had gone Mary stood up, "Right I have to go."
Alice nodded, "When will you be back tonight?"
"Um we're following a Healer round all day, so probably late."
"I'll put your dinner in the oven."
"But won't you all be out tonight with The Order?"
Alice shook her head, "No, we swapped. Marigold and I are here, Lily's the only one going out."
"What's she doing?" Mary asked grabbing her coat.
"Um I think she's on some kind of protection detail."
Mary nodded, "Oh good, at least James won't be round here worrying about her."
"She's doing it with James."
"Even better. Well see you later."
Mary pulled a scarf around her neck and slipped out the door. Alice went back to the kitchen and started to clear the breakfast things away, her mind wondering back to the first meeting of The Order of the Phoenix. They had got there early at Dumbledore's request, two weeks after the holidays had started. The meeting was at a safe house, of which Dumbledore was Secret Keeper. He had given the new members a note on edible paper. Once they had stepped inside, they had met Hagrid. He had greeted the new members happily and taken them into the living room where there were already other new member waiting. James and Sirius had almost had a fit when they saw Severus Snape sitting uncomfortably on one of the seats. Their eyes had widened in surprise when Lily nodded at him and then sat down.
"Did you know he was coming?" James hissed.
Lily nodded, "Yes, he told me the day of our Defence practical."
At those words James had almost exploded and it was only the arrival of Dumbledore and other members that stopped him from attacking Snape. After a quick speech from Dumbledore, the new members were introduced, and Lily was surprised to see two Hufflepuffs who had left at the same time as them, Marline McKinnon and Caradoc Dearborn. They had smiled at the Gryffindors but completely ignored Snape. They were all excited even though it was something serious and James and Sirius also liked to think of it as an adventure. However a day after they had joined, one of the older members, Martin was killed and his body found unrecognisable in a field. That was when the Gryffindors realised what they had got themselves into. If Voldermort or any of the Death Eaters found out who they were, both them and their families would die. But even with that risk none of them left. After the first meeting James had refused to acknowledge Snape as had the rest of his friends, even Lily hardly spoke to him. Snape was fine with that, as long as he got to be near Lily he didn't care what the others did.
"Okay how long have I got?" Lily's appearance at the door in her towel, bought Alice out of the past.
"Um five minutes."
"Right." Lily ran off down the corridor, "Anyone seen my wand?"
Alice shook her head, Lily might have been the best student but sometime her organisation was awful. "Never mind." another shout came, "I found it."
Marigold appeared wearing jeans and a bright pink top, "Sometimes I don't know why I live with that girl."
"Because she's your best friend. And anyway what are you wearing? Going somewhere special?"
"No I just felt like wearing this. Might make people's heads turn."
"You have got a boyfriend Mari."
"I know. Oh I need to drop passed Elliot's before we go."
"What do you need to get?"
Marigold shrugged, "Stuff. See you at work. Tell Black I love him."
Marigold left and a minute later Lily appeared looking perfect in her black jeans and green shirt. Her red hair falling in waves over her shoulders.
"So? How do I look?"
"Practically on fire. James won't be able to take his eyes off you."
"Yesss." Lily grinned. The doorbell rang and Lily yelled, "Its open!"
"You should check who is at the door before you let us in." Came James' reply as he strolled into the kitchen.
"Well what if we know who is coming?" Lily asked turning on her heel and into James' arms.
James grinned, "Well maybe that could be an exception."
"Good." Lily whispered and kissed him.
"Morning Al." Frank slipped over to Alice and gave her a hug. "How did you sleep?"
"Great, now lets go otherwise we are going to be late."
"James Potter!" the shout echoed thought the Auror's office and James winced at the shrillness.
"What have you done now?" Sirius asked smirking as Jane Potter shouted again.
"How should I know." James muttered, sitting up in his chair. "Why does she have to have a problem during our break? Why can't she pull me out of one of the lessons?"
Sirius wasn't able to answer as Jane stormed into view. "James!"
James swung to face his mother, a smile plastered on his face, "Hey Mum. How are you?"
"Where have you been for the past three weeks?"
"Training Mum and moving into the flat."
"You train in the same place where I work."
"Yes and I try to speak to you everyday, but your always busy."
Jane stared at her son for a second then nodded, "I suppose your right. How about you and your friends come round for dinner tonight?"
"Um can't make tonight Mum, Lily and I have plans."
"Then what about tomorrow?"
Sirius shook his head, "We're busy Mama Jane."
Jane sighed, "Is there any night this week that you can do?"
James looked at Sirius, who shook his head, then turned to Marigold, "Goldie?"
"We've got something everyday."
Jane looked at them carefully, then stepped closer, "James is there something your not telling me? Something your doing with your friends?"
James looked up into his mothers eyes, "No, we just have a lot to do this week."
"Fine, then what about next week?"
"Should be fine. I haven't got anything down."
"Good. Marigold, are you and the girls okay for next week?"
"Um any day except Saturday and Sunday."
"Well how about dinner on Monday then? And James, you and Sirius join us for lunch tomorrow. Great, well have a good day and say hi to Lily when you see her for me."
"Will do Mum." James watched his mother walk away, then turned back to face his friends.
"We should tell her mate." Sirius said playing with a quill.
"I know, but we're not allowed. If only they were part-" James stopped and sat up and Sirius dropped the quill, as the head Auror came up. Marigold slipped under a table, hiding from view.
"Potter! Black!"
"Yes?"
"Why are you sitting here? Shouldn't you be with the others?"
"We've got a break."
"Really? Good then I have something that I want you to do. Go and take this letter to the head of the Goblin Liason and wait there for an answer."
"Can't you use memos?" Sirius asked.
The wizard glared at them and watched the two young men jump up grab the letter and run from the room. As they left they almost knocked over Adam Potter.
"Hey James, watch were your going!"
"You need to get that boy under control Adam!" the head Auror yelled.
Adam turned and grinned at the man, "Tried to Simon, we've tried. If he's that bad ask Lily. She'll make him better."
Simon laughed, "Yes, Miss Evans probably could." he turned back to the apparently empty cubical, "Miss Lucas would you mind coming out from under the table? Where is Miss Evans by the way."
"Toilet." Marigold muttered as she stood up, brushing herself down.
Simon nodded then after glaring at Marigold one final time, he left. Just after he'd gone Lily appeared.
"Hey Mari, where's James?"
"Simon sent them off on an errand. By the way, have they called you?" Marigold asked curiously, and Lily immediately understood what she meant. She was talking about The Order.
"No, why would they?"
"Because we haven't heard anything for ages."
"There's another meeting tomorrow night.
"Oh good. We might find something out."
"Yeah we might, or we might not."
Marigold sighed, "True. Hey do you ever think Dumbledore's hiding stuff from us?"
"Of course he's hiding things from us. He'd never tell us everything."
Lily's phone rang, and Marigold shook her head, "How you got that to work here I'll never know."
Lily grinned, "Magic. Hello?" she put the phone to her ear. "Mum? What's wrong?"
Marigold watched her friends face and Lily looked up to meet her gaze.
"I'll be back soon," she mouthed and rushed off to deal with her mothers newest problem. Marigold sighed, leant back and flicked a ball of parchment at one of the other Auror's. The witch looked up then shook her head, and went back to work. She was used to 'the newbies', which was what Marigold and her friends were called. Even though Marigold and the others were still in training they were expected to do paperwork. Because Voldermort was getting more and more powerful, the Ministry had need of more and more Aurors and almost everyday someone was killed. It was mostly because of that that the training for new Aurors had been cut from three years. Now Mad-Eye had to train the Aurors as fast as possible and the exams had been forgotten. The training had also started earlier than usual and none of The Newbies had got a Summer holiday. However the paperwork that they were meant to do lay untouched on the tables in their cubical. Every single Auror in the office thought that the lack of paperwork being done was down to The Newbies age. The truth however was that in most of their spare time, 'The Newbies' were out working for The Order. Things had been getting more hectic since they had joined. Night after night they were out and they got back so late there was never any time to do reports and all the other work they had neglected at the office. Marigold sighed and looked at the folders on her desk, then glanced over to Lily's which was almost as full as hers. With another sigh, Marigold pulled a folder off the biggest pile and got to work.