Diclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.

Prologue

Lily slowly let out a sigh, her breath forming a fog cloud in the cold winter night. Somewhere above her an owl hooted, there must be other wizards nearby, Lily mused. She huddled her cloak closer to herself and kept trudging on into the dingy alley with her boots making clicking noise on the pavement. Absent-mindedly she rubbed her hands together to keep them from freezing. Her destination was not easy to miss. The pub had a flashy board which was visible from afar as it stood out in the muggle alleyway which was otherwise devoid of any light. A few drunk men were walking aimlessly in the long alley and started wolf whistling as they saw her approach. She cursed under her breath at the unwanted attention and continued walking in the direction of the pub. Her brain was preoccupied with other pressing matters to give a second thought to these drunken men.

Lily recalled receiving an owl yesterday at the stroke of midnight. She had been sleeping at that time and had been aroused from her sleep by the small barn owl pecking rhythmically at her window. She sat up on her bed to turn on the lamp by her bed side, moving her sleeping cat in the process and earning a hiss for waking up the slumbering feline. Lily stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes in a failed attempt to rub away the sleep. The ginger cat now watched Lily with interest, its tail now swinging in the air while it crouched on Lily's bed. "meow" it cried for Lily's attention.

Still in a dozed state Lily sluggishly walked over to the window and lifted up the window pane to let the owl in. With a swooshing motion the owl flew inside also bringing with it the cold night air causing Lily to shiver. The owl dropped the letter it held in its claws and was out of the window even before Lily could offer it something to eat. Lily watched as the owl became a small peck in the distance and soon disappeared in the night sky as the darkness engulfed it. Lily closed the window and turned to pick up the letter. With tender hands she slowly opened the letter. Lily had expected the letter to be from one of her old school friends, instead the letter was written in a neat cursive hand which as foreign to Lily. In her sleepy state Lily gave the letter a disinterested glance and decided to read it tomorrow but a certain word sprawled across the letter caught her attention.

"James," she breathed out as the remaining sleep washed out of her eyes. Lily stood there in her bedroom feeling more alone than ever. Now fully awake Lily pushed down the bile rising in her stomach and started reading the letter. The letter wasn't very informative, it only gave her brief instructions to come to Joseph's pub the next day at 11 pm and said that all her questions about James would be answered there. The writer of the letter warned her not to be late and not to bring any company along with her or she'll miss her chance. With shaking hands Lily finished reading the letter and scrunched up her nose when she noticed that the letter wasn't signed by anyone.

Lily sat on her bed for another half an hour pondering whether she should go to the pub tomorrow or not. Lily faintly remembered that pub, it stood in an alley 2 blocks from her house. Lily crossed it every day on her route to work but had never bothered visiting it as it appeared to have a dark aura about it. These were dark times and roaming around in shady places could be dangerous for muggleborns like herself. For all Lily knew the letter was a hoax from the death eaters to bring her out on her own. Thus making her an easy target. After all the letter was an anonymous summon to a pub at night, Lily justified herself.

Lily hadn't realised that she was unconsciously playing with the necklace James had given her. She let out a breath that she hadn't realised she was holding. It had been five month since she had last seen James or heard from him. It was almost like he had disappeared off the face of earth. Lily made up her mind, she had to go to the pub, she was in desperate need for answers and this was the only lead she had found on James in a very long time.

Lily snapped back from her memories of last night and hurried towards her destination, before she could rethink the situation and turn back; never to return. These last few hours had been very conflicting and agonising for Lily. She hadn't been able to concentrate on her work today at the Leaky Cauldron and had only done a half shift to come home early. Once home she half-heartedly made herself a dinner which she ended up not eating as she didn't feel hungry any more. For hours she tried to engage herself but failed miserably. Even her cat Mr. Fuzzmeister who was continuously rolling and pouncing around her was not able to distract Lily from the situation she was in. Lily mused that the cat could feel her sadness and was trying to cheer her up. Lily gave her cat a sad smile and rubbed its belly thanking it for its efforts to cheer her up. Finally as the clock struck quarter to eleven she picked up her cloak, locked her house and left for the pub.

Lily hadn't realised that she had reached the entrance to the pub. The pub had an old wooden door as its entrance. Lily wondered how old the pub was. Lily kept a shaking hand on the bronze knob of the pub, she had a war going on inside her head, and even now she was debating going in or not. Calling onto all the courage she had Lily twisted the door knob and pushed open the gate of the pub. As she entered the pub loud music greeted her ears. She looked around the new place which was unfamiliar to her. The insides of the pub was warm but there was a tinge of alcohol and sweat that hung in the air. Lily noticed a bar towards her left. Dim lights adorned the place leaving dark shadows everywhere inside the pub. Before Lily could adjust to the lighting the door opened again and a man whose face was covered in a hood entered the pub. Lily was pushed further into the pub.

Feeling clueless and not knowing what to do Lily started walking towards the bar. As she made her way between the scattered tables she noticed everyone in the bar had their faces partially or fully covered in their hoods. Lily felt a blush climb onto her cheeks as she realised that she had forgotten to pull up her hood and her red hair was strikingly visible in the dull and dusty ambience of the pub. Towards the end of the bar a table was occupied by a large group of people who were noisily clanging their glasses and were howling with laughter. The other occupants were subtly ignoring the group and were busy in their individual chatter. This wasn't a family pub. People only came here to gamble or to discuss stuff which could otherwise not be discussed in the open.

Timidly Lily pulled out a stool near the bar and sat on it. A gruff looking man was standing behind the bar and was busy scrubbing a stain. He stopped his scrubbing when he heard her sit down, looked at Lily and waited for her order. Not being a frequent visitor to muggle bars Lily ordered a random muggle drink. Lily checked her watch, it was eleven o'clock but she had no idea who she was looking for, so Lily decided to wait. Lily kept sitting patiently and sipping on her drink. New people entered and previous occupants left. Time ticked by and no one approached her. Men who were previously looking at the lonely girl from afar had started approaching her and asking her to have a drink with them. Lily politely declined all of them. Lily was of age and could handle herself. She wasn't scared of these men.

Lily was starting to regret her decision to come here. She was already five drinks down and was now on her sixth one. The muggle drinks were strong yet nothing could compare to a glass of firewhiskey. Her head had started buzzing from all the alcohol that she had consumed a long time back. Usually lily had a tendency to maintain her senses but today she wanted to dull all the pain she had been feeling for the past five months since James disappeared. She felt dejected and naïve coming here on her own but she couldn't help it. She would wait the entire night if it would take her a step closer to James.

While Lily was busy staring around the pub passively she felt the touch of a soft yet firm hand on her shoulder. She turned around only to be greeted by bright hazel eyes and freckles. Lily moved back into her seat to look at the owner of the hand completely. Lily observed that the girl appeared a few years older than herself and had an air of danger around her. A plain black dress was visible from under the girl's cloak. Her blonde hair was falling on her face but she pushed them aside and gestured for Lily to follow. As the girl turned to move Lily noticed a wand poking out from her boots and could feel her own wand poking into her ribs under her cloak. Not knowing what to do Lily walked behind her towards the back corner of the pub and followed her as she slid into an empty booth.

"I'm Marlene" she said extending out her hand to shake with Lily. Lily noticed that her otherwise smooth arm had a nasty scar running down the palm. From its pinking appearance she guessed that the scar wasn't very old and was recently acquired. Lily held her hand gingerly not knowing whether to trust this girl or not. Ignoring Lily's discomfort Marlene continued "I'm glad you could make it here on time." At this Lily scoffed as it was way past midnight. Lily's reaction was not missed by Marlene, but she merely shrugged and mumbled under her breath about being occupied with other things.

A waitress approached their table and Marlene ordered two drinks, one for herself and one for Lily. Lily could feel someone's eyes poking into her back and turned around just in time to see a hooded figure put his face down. The man who had entered the pub right after Lily was seated diagonally to them. His face was covered in a dark robe and a glass of whiskey sat on his table untouched. Lily scoffed at his failed attempt to hide the fact that he had been staring at her. Ignoring the man Lily focused on Marlene.

"How do you know James?" Lily asked impatiently in an urgent whisper.

Until now Marlene had a smirk on her face and a sense of superiority to her. But at Lily's question she seemed to hesitate and her smirk seemed to disappear for a second. She quickly recovered before replying proudly "I am his colleague."

"His colleague?" Lily repeated, unable to comprehend what she was saying, "You're an auror too then? James never talked much about his job." Seeing her confused expression Marlene smiled at Lily, though something about her smile didn't feel right. It never reached her eyes. Lily pushed the thought aside. This meeting was about finding James, not to socialize and make friends.

Marlene seemed to think for a second before replying "Well it's a complicated situation and it's not my position to disclose information about his job. I am just here to give you an important message"

"And that is?" Lily inquired impatiently now shifting in her seat.

"Well," she continued in a tone as if Lily was an annoying child that was taking her time" James is alive and good, but I do not want you to go looking after him. These are dangerous times for people like you. It's best if you hide yourself in the safety of your house. He's not coming back for you. Its best you leave him in your past and move on. He's not the person you think he is."

"Excuse me? How can I just leave him and move on? I haven't heard from him for five months, its driving me insane. I know James. He can't just leave me and disappear like that!" Lily exclaimed. Until now she had been whispering but her voice rose as she couldn't handle it anymore. Somewhere in the background a man was howling with laughter and Lily could still feel the hooded man looking curiously at her. This place was driving her insane.

"Oh Lily, aren't you naïve? He was never yours in the first place. You were just another fling for him. What do you even know about him? Do you know about his history or who he was before he met you?" Marlene lashed out.

Lily blinked back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes "Is that why you called me here then? Just to tell me that James didn't even care for me?" her voice faltered as she said the last three words. She clenched her fists and continued" I don't care what comes into my way but I'm going to find James even if that's the last thing I do" She turned away from Marlene before she could see the tears falling from Lily's eyes and started making her way towards the exit of the bar.

Once outside Lily brushed back her tears with her hand and started walking towards her house. She cursed herself for coming here tonight. She was feeling tipsy from all the drinks she'd had and the meeting with Marlene only left her feeling dejected. She missed James. She struggled to walk straight as her head as spinning and tears blinded her eyes. She stopped walking and kept a hand on the wall of the narrow alley for support. In the last two years Lily had suffered and lost a lot to the war and James had kept her grounded. She couldn't lose him too. No, she refused to go down without a fight.

"He's not coming back for you. Its best you leave him in your past and move on." Marlene's words still rang in Lily's head" He's not the person you think he is." Marlene was right, Lily realised with a gasp. She hardly knew who James was before they met. He would always avoid questions about his past and give her the vaguest answers. Lily held back a sniffle, she could not cry right now, not tonight. Lily needed to be strong for him, for them. He could be dead for all she knew. But she had to find him. The only question was how?

Lily was occupied in her personal misery that she didn't notice that the alley which was previously occupied by men was now deserted and silent except for her small sobs and the sound of another set of boots behind her. She didn't realise that someone had been following her. Before she could register the current situation, a strong hand come up from behind and pressed onto her mouth, preventing her from screaming. Only a low muffled noise escaped her mouth before she inhaled a strong sweet smell and her vision became to blur.

Lily tried to reach for her wand but it seemed to slip from her fingers. She started to panic and her green eyes locked with a pair of hazel eyes for the second time that day, but these did not belong to Marlene. She could have recognized those pair of eyes anywhere even after not seeing them for five months.

"James" she whispered as her vision went black. Her escapade was worth it after all.

AN: This is my first fanfiction, so naturally I'm new to writing and would have many noticeable flaws; but practice makes us perfect, right? I wouldn't ask for reviews, it is your wish, but if you do review I'll be more than glad and would appreciate your effort.

Lily and James might appear a bit out of their usual character but I want them to develop their personality as the story progresses rather than simply show them as what J.K. Rowling did. I want them to go out there and discover themselves on their journey together and fight the ghosts of their respective past.