A/N: It's taken me over a year to write this, which I can't believe, so if there's any gaps in the story or things that don't make sense let me know so I can fix them!
When Sirius finds a spell that can create a completely alternate universe, James feels he has no choice but to try it out! But how different will his luck be with a muggle Lily?
"James, if you use that spell, you'll regret it. You don't even know if you'd be able to find Lily in some alternate universe!"
James twiddled his wand between his fingers. "Moony, I'm sure I'd be able to find Evans anywhere"
"Yeah! C'mon James, lets use the spell, I've been dying to see how it turns out"
"Sirius," Remus reprimanded. "Don't encourage him. I can't believe you showed him this spell in the first place!"
Sirius smirked. He'd, of course, shown James the spell as soon as he found it. A spell that temporarily sends you to an alternate universe of your choice? What could be better? "I didn't know he was going to use it for Evans! I just wanted to see how it works"
"It's not like it's going to change anything anyways!" James added. "I mean, everything will be the same once the spell's over. I just...I want to see if Lily would've given me a chance if we didn't have so much history. If I hadn't been such an ass in the past."
"James, it's not the best idea, I mean you don't know what could happe-"
"Purilia!" Sirius interrupted. They were suddenly whished away from the room, almost like apparating, into unknown territory.
They stumbled onto the street, knocking into passers-by who shot them scathing looks.
"Sirius," Remus hissed. "What did you do?"
"You guys were taking too long," the boy replied simply. "I waited too long to try this spell out. Almost a whole day, Remus!"
"Sirius you had no right-"
"So what kind of universe are we in?" James interrupted.
"Oh, it's one you were going on about earlier. I couldn't think of my own on such short notice, Merlin knows it'd be more interesting than this," Sirius replied lazily. "The only change in this universe is that Lily doesn't have magic. Nada. Completely muggle. So she doesn't know us."
"This is not happening, this is not happening," Remus paced, slapping his hand to his forehead.
"Oh hush Remus," Sirius swatted his hand aimlessly. "So, where will we go first?"
"I can't believe you made us spend the whole day looking for Lily Evans!" Sirius wailed, plopping into an overstuffed booth at a pub called The Yellow Lyon. "And, to add a cherry to that cake, we didn't even find her!"
"Well what else did you expect?" James countered. "I told you my intentions before you even cast that spell!"
"I expected to have at least a little fun!"
"Even I have to admit James its was...a bit over the top," Remus added, his tone gentle and soothing.
"Alright, alright," James held his hands up like a sign of surrender. "I suppose I got slightly carried away. Sorry, guys, I thought we'd find her sooner"
Remus shot him a sympathetic look and Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright man. Just buy us a round there, and we'll call it even." Sirius grinned, always the opportunist, and James chuckled, heading up to the bar.
The pub was crowded and James struggled to get the bartenders attention. He was about to shout his order at the bartender, but realized he had no idea what kind of drinks muggle pubs served. He squinted behind the bar, trying to see a menu as a soft, familiar voice spoke up behind him.
"Two Magners and a Guinness, please"
"Coming right up," the bartender smiled to the left of James. Shaking slightly, he turned slowly and almost fell down when he saw her there. He couldn't believe it - it had to be fate. How else could Lily Evans have ended up in the same pub as him?
She glanced at him suspiciously from the corner of her eye as he stared at her. She shifted uncomfortably and shot him a steely look. "Can I help you with something?" she demanded, in a way that wasn't really a question at all.
"Oh, er, sorry. I'm James," he stuck out his hand for her to shake but she just raised an eyebrow. He wracked his brain for something to talk about. "Er...what's good here?"
She laughed. James didn't know why. "It's just a pub. They serve the same beers as everywhere else"
"Beer? Yeah, perfect!" he couldn't believe his luck - a muggle pub that served butterbeer, and had led him to Lily Evans!
He ordered 3 pints and leaned against a bar stool as Lily waited for her drinks.
"I haven't seen you around here before" she commented.
James smirked. "Are you asking me if I come here often?"
She rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment. Clearly, one to many guys had started up unwanted conversations with her at a bar.
Their drinks arrived and he went to balance all three pints in his hands - something that he was very used to, thanks to their many visits to the Three Broomsticks. He turned, and saw that without even getting a chance to say goodbye, she had started weaving through the crowd and making her way back to her booth.
"Lily, wait!" he called out, before she got too far away. She turned back to him, furrowing her eyebrows.
"How do you know my name?" she asked.
Shit. Fuck fuck shit. He'd forgotten that she'd never officially given him her name in this world. "Er, you told me. Back at the bar. Definitely remember you telling me. How else would I know your name?"
She seemed to accept that explanation as she waited expectantly for him to continue.
"Well, I was wondering if maybe...you and your friends would want to come sit with us?" he pointed back to his booth, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to sound casual.
She looked behind him to where Remus and Sirius sat, watching the exchange intently. "Yeah, I'll ask the girls if they want to come over. Two secs"
She turned once again and made her way through the crowd, to her booth. After walking back to his friends, he watched her talking to two girls sitting in the booth and pointing in his direction.
"I cant believe this" came Sirius' voice from behind him.
"What are the chances, honestly," Remus agreed.
James broke out in a grin as Lilys friends nodded and the trio started making their way over. "Make room" he ordered his friends, sliding further into the booth.
James couldn't believe how well this was going. They'd been in the pub for Merlin knows how long now, and they couldn't be having a better time. Lilys muggle friends were lovely and they suited her well. Honestly, they weren't much different from her friends at Hogwarts.
"So," the blonde, Jen, slurred. They'd all had a pretty significant amount to drink. "What do you all do for a living?"
"...we go to school?" Remus hesitantly replied, his statement sounding more like a question.
"What, you don't work as well? How do yous make any money to go out?!" exclaimed Sarah.
"We go to a boarding school," explained James. "We don't exactly have time for jobs"
The girls nodded at the explanation, seeming to accept it, apart from Lily who had a confused look on her face. "How are you here then?" she inquired. "I mean, shouldn't you be in school right now?"
The boys looked at each other in panic, they hadn't anticipated this question. Sirius leaned forward slowly. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked. Lily nodded. "We've snuck out"
The girls giggled. "How long for?"
"For as long as we like," he replied, leaning back into the booth. The girls laughed and the conversation continued, becoming more intimate as the hours went by.
"Well," Sarah announced, standing up and straightening her skirt. "We best be on our way. Girls?"
Lily and Jen reluctantly stood up to leave. "Wait!" James shouted over the music. "When will we see you again?"
"You'll have to find us first," Lily replied with a smirk on her face, the girls laughing behind her. "Seriously though, Sarah's the only one with a phone so..." she trailed off and all their gazes switched immediately to the tall brunette standing to her right.
"Oh alright," she leaned forward, grabbing a napkin. "Lils, do you have a pen?" Lily promptly handed one over. Sarah held it up. "You can always count on Lily dearest for a pen," she told the Marauders, who laughed nervously. What on earth was a pen? Sarah scribbled something down on the napkin and handed it to Remus. "I guess we'll be seeing you!" With that, the three girls walked out of the pub.
James grabbed the napkin off Sirius. The pen thing seemed to have been like a more convenient quill, and with it she had written a series of numbers. "This is brilliant!" he exclaimed, grinning at the two boys in front of him. "I just have one question though - what's a phone?"
.
The spell seemed to have thought of everything - it had provided them with enough muggle money to pay for decent accommodation for all three of them. In fact, whenever they emptied their pockets, they found that they were immediately provided with more. Through their adventures, they managed to find out what a phone was, yet were unable to locate one. However, in the end, they didn't seem to need one.
James was wandering through muggle London, exploring the city. He'd never gotten much chance to look at the muggle side of it before, and was finding it pretty exciting. He loved the little cars muggles used to get around and how the streets were always busy. He walked down a small side street, considerably less busy than the rest of the town, and came to a stop outside an old bookshop.
He felt bad about dragging Remus on this adventure. Sirius, he didn't mind, but he knew Remus would much rather be back at Hogwarts with Peter. A book might cheer him up, or something of that nature. Books always cheered Remus up. He stepped inside.
The shop was quaint, with only two or three customers browsing the shelves. The shelves were stacked high with books, without any apparent order. James began his search for the perfect gift when he heard a familiar girls voice come from the back of the shop.
"What do you mean we can't get a bookshop dog?!" the voice exclaimed. "I don't care if you're allergic, it'll bring people to the shop!"
James chuckled and started drifting towards the voice, curious to hear more.
"I don't see how a dog would bring in more customers, but nonetheless, the answer is no, Lily," a mans voice replied. James' eyes widened as he approached and saw flaming red hair, accompanied by green eyes that latched on to his.
"James," she breathed. He could barely manage a smile before she lunged forward, grabbing his hand and pulling her to her side, facing the other participants in the conversation - a plump, middle aged man with thin, graying hair and a bald spot, and a tall boy around their age with blonde, ashy hair who was trying to cover up his laughter unsuccessfully.
"James," came the voice beside him once again. "Can you please tell these two idiots how vital a dog would be to the success of our little business?!"
"Er..." he fumbled for words - something unusual for him, but given the situation at hand it wasn't too surprising. "Can you please tell me why a dog is vital?"
Lily looked up at him, betrayal in her eyes. "Are you serious?" she glared at him. "And to think, I was thinking about asking you to have dinner with me tonight. I'm glad you showed your true colours before I got the chance," she sniffed.
"I-What..?!" James looked around anxiously in confusion as the younger of the pair opposite them burst out laughing. What on earth was going on?!
"Lils, cut the lad a break," the boy exclaimed amidst his laughter. "Just look at his face - it's not his fault that he's walked in on the worst staff meeting in history." James smiled and nodded at the boy, unsure of how he felt towards someone so clearly comfortable around Lily.
"Nope!" the girl exclaimed, popping the 'p'. "I've made up my mind, and I don't particularly like any of you anymore. Consider this my official termination of our friendships. I hope you're all happy." She narrowed her eyes and glared at each member individually.
"Oh for heavens sake," exclaimed the middle aged man. "We are not friends, Lily. I am your boss, we are colle-"
"What do you mean we aren't friends?!" Lily cried, her face beginning to turn red. "Of course we're friends, Ernie, we've spent almost every day together since I was sixteen!"
"That's because I hired you when you were sixteen! I must have been insane while doing so, too. We used to be professionals here, until you came along!" his words seemed kind of harsh to James but they were said in a light-hearted tone that made it clear that the opposite was true.
"I am shocked and offended, Ern. Shocked. Offended. And leaving," she took hold of James' hand once more and started dragging him towards the door, calling over her shoulder as they exited. "If I decide to come into work tomorrow I hope that you'll have thoroughly thought through your actions and prepared an apology for me. You too Liam!" The door slammed behind them, the sound of laughter floating through it.
They walked in silence to the end of the street. "Do you like coffee?" she asked suddenly.
Coffee? What in Merins name was coffee?! "Er...yes?!"
Lily gave a single nod. "I'm more of a tea person myself, but I'm craving a cup right now. Let's go get some."
"Alright," he agreed. "So your job seems...interesting. You have staff meetings about dogs?"
"What? No, that's ridiculous," she stopped at a traffic light, shrugging. "It was originally meant to be about the new price list. We got sidetracked. It happens a lot."
A/N: So this was originally meant to be a one-chapter fic but I feel like I kind of need to end a chapter here, if I do continue the rest though it'll be a short story. Leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Until next time x