Chapter 1.
You know that saying... that one wedding eventually might bring on another? Well, I wouldn't quite drag it that far just yet, although weddings are a great place to meet new, possibly exciting, people.
So when Lily's cousin Lucy was getting married to her long term boyfriend Lorcan – the kind hearted, slightly less loony one out of the Scamander twins – this sort of thing happened, very unexpectedly.
Lily had quickly noticed him, among all the other wedding guests. He stood out from the crowd of ginger and white blond heads with his brown reddish curls. And the fact that he wore a muggle suit with that gained him more than one curious look.
Lysander, today wearing a bright orange set of dress robes, suddenly nudged her in the side. "He's a bit odd, isn't he?" he said to Lily, gesturing towards the drink table where the, in Lily's opinion, handsome stranger stood looking a bit out of place. She didn't even bother with a sarcastic comment. Who was Lysander calling odd?
"Do you know him?" she asked carefully. "Who is he?" Lysander shrugged indifferently. "He's our second cousin once removed, or something like that. I haven't seen him in years. Lives in America you see. But me brother has kept in touch with him regularly since we were young." He explained. "What's his name?" Lily inquired further. Lysander shrugged again, it was a strange habit he had. "Kowalski. Tristan Kowalski. (A/N: Pleeease, see what I did there!) I reckon he's a nice bloke. Curious job he has. Apart from being an auror, he works part time for muggle police or something.. FPI or something…" he trailed off. Before he had finished, Lily was already half way across the room. Two words had been enough to get her attention: 'Auror' and 'America'.
She wanted to talk to the mysterious stranger. She wanted to find out anything she could about how it was being an auror in America. For a while now her thoughts had been travelling in that direction. She had been thinking about looking for her first real job abroad. If she stayed in England after having finished her training and her internship year as a junior she would never get to prove herself, because everyone would always see her as Harry Potter's daughter and think she'd have lots of benefits because of that. On the other hand, it might be true in a way. Would her father really, when it came down to it, let her join in on the most dangerous missions? Doubtful. He'd always see her as his little girl, no matter how much he tried to deny it.
When Lily reached the drink table she grabbed a glass of Mrs Longbottom's own brand of champagne and approached the man casually. "Curious bunch, huh?" she asked him. "Are you here for the bride or groom?" she asked, like she didn't already know. The man turned sideways to look at her. "Lorcan's my relative… and friend", he said, not sounding very keen on keeping up a conversation. "What about you?" he asked her in unsuccessful attempt to sound polite. Lily's confidence and eagerness had decreased a little; this was not what she had hoped for while trying to strike up a conversation with the American. "Lucy is my cousin…" she muttered, taking a sip from her glass. Then there was nothing but awkward silence. "You're from America?" she then said, more as a statement than a question, referring to his accent. "Yes, obviously…" he muttered.
Lily was starting to question her purpose, but decided very quickly that she would not give up that easily. She was Ginevra Potter's daughter after all.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked boldly. The man raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a glare. "…No, thanks." Lily only shrugged at his answer. "Well, suit yourself then, if you want to stand here moping rather than doing something that might actually be enjoyable. I was only trying to cheer you up, but I'm clever enough to know when I've outstayed my welcome", Lily said, turning up her nose slightly to make a statement before walking away from the man. (One part of her was hurt over the fact that he didn't seem to know who she was and that might be why he had no interest in her. Even though she hated it, she had always taken advantage of the fact that people always wanted to talk to the daughter of Harry Potter. Wasn't she the queen of contradiction? )
Lily returned to her previous occupation, walking around the reception venue (which was actually just a party tent in the garden of The Burrow), watching everyone. She could see her brother slow dancing with his long time best friend turned lover, Scorpius Malfoy. She could see her mother and aunts caught up conversation, giggling like school children. Although Lily loved her family with all her heart, in occasions such as these they could sometimes be a little too much. She once again felt a deep desire to go abroad for a period of time. She was of age now. Yet, growing up as the youngest in her humongous bunch of cousins she had always felt overly protected and controlled in a way. She knew it was because they all loved her of course, but that didn't do anything to help her cause. She needed to break free, to give herself the freedom that she craved. She would never get that in England.
"Lily!" someone called from behind her and Lily spun around. Her cousin Molly who just seemed to have arrived was waving at her from a different part of the tent, carrying her little firstborn in her arms. Lily scurried over and hugged them both.