Okay, honestly it was not as bad as it could have been.

Thinking about it now, it really could have been a whole lot worse.

Marlene and Alice decided to ambush me two steps into the apartment and scare the living daylights out of me. I had literally pulled out my wand and prepare a stunning spell when the wand was jerked out of my hand.

"Calm down, little one! It's just us…"Alice laughed and put the wand on the table in front of the couch.

"And we brought firewhiskey!" Marlene was already giggling madly, probably already on her second shot.

"Merlin Marlene, save some for the rest of us!"

Alice pulled out two other glasses and stole the jug of firewhiskey from Marlene. She then pulled out a few bottles of butterbeer and mixed them equally before handing me a glass.

I took a small sip and immediately spit it out.

"Blimey Alice, that's disgusting!" My mouth gagged, not a good mix. The sweetness of the butterbeer counteracted the burning of the firewhiskey.

"It'll taste better when you're drunk." Marlene shouted from the other room.

I grumbled. Who said I was going to get drunk?

Alice came up from behind me holding one of the flowers from the vase sitting on my kitchen countertop.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Lily."

She put the abnormally large flower in my hair and brushed my hair behind my shoulder to keep it from falling out.

From the other room I heard a shout.

"What the hell-?"

Wondering what muggle contraption of mine Marlene broke this time, my ear drums bursted as a loud song on the radio blasted from the other room. If I hadn't been panicking so much over the volume, I would have been amused as Marlene came running from the other room like the sky was on fire.

I ran headfirst into the room and plugged my ears, regardless of how useless it was. The earplugging, I mean.

Trying my hardest to be heard over the music I shouted to Alice, "Don't be such a spoilsport, Alice! Come on in!"

I saw her chug her mixture before running in and screaming at the top of her lungs.

My poor neighbors.

Marlene brought the firewhiskey with her and we took turns chugging it.

I was getting extremely dizzy.

How did I not notice how extremely loud Marlene was at Hogwarts?

When a song Alice didn't like came on the late night radio she took off her shoe and threw it at the stereo.

For some reason it was hilariously funny when her appalling aim victimized the lamp sitting innocently on top of the stereo. The beautiful stained glass lamp shade shatter into small pieces all over the hardwood floor.

Marlene (who was a keeper in her glory days at Hogwarts) guffawed and Alice, angry and humiliated, started a tussle.

Oh brother.

"You're awful! Even the Chudley Cannons wouldn't want you on their team!" Marlene started her Quiddich tirade.

"Yeah, who are you to call me out on? Huh?" Alice paused for a second, grasping for a proper comeback, "Well remember that one game against the Ravenclaws?"

"I'm sorry, that's kinda vague and it appears my memory is a little fuzzy. Care to elaborate?"

Marlene and I watched Alice amusedly.

"It was a while ago… I think." I snorted. "Oh yes now I remember! The score was 20 to 160, Ravenclaw in the lead. The seeker was counting on you and the chasers to pull Gryffindor ahead enough for you to win if and when he caught the golden snitch. Alas, the reserve chaser was pulled in due to injury and you had NO IDEA WHAT YOU WERE DOING!" Alice continued on pompously, "Ravenclaw scored several more times due to your lack of skill. When finally, after two and a half hours into the game, Ravenclaw seeker caught the snitch! A sore loss for Gryffindor and the Quiddich cup. Might I add, because you are a rubbish keeper!"

I groaned, having no idea where Alice's remarkable memory was coming from. Merlin, I don't remember this and Alice is worse Quiddich wise than I am!

Marlene scoffed. "That was in third year, Alice! I was the youngest player on the team! May I remind you I had sprained my wrist the previous day and we hadn't a reserve keeper!"

I knew how long their arguments could last. Things could get ugly pretty soon.

"Were you or were you not a witch in third year? Even bloody first years know how to fix sprains! And if you went to Madam Pomphrey she could have healed it in a millisecond!" Alice did have a point there.

"Well if somebody hadn't pushed me into talking to my longtime crush Dave Miller then I wouldn't have fallen down the stairs in surprise when he started talking to me after Divination!"

Haha, I remember that incident.

"I WAS DOING YOU A FAVOR!" Alice shouted outraged.

I waited for Marlene's retort, watching the altercation like a tennis match.

Maybe I should stop drinking the Firewhiskey like pumpkin juice because I swear I just heard a knock on the door.

HOLY SHIT. No. Nononononononononono! No.

I know who it is. I think.

I turned down the music and offered the Firewhiskey to Alice and Marlene.

Alice gladly took a gulp.

Marlene started whispering panicked words in my ear.

"Who is that? You don't reckon it's your landlord do you? Is he gonna kick you out? Do you think?"

I pushed her away and prowled (okay, staggering) to the door.

Sneakily looking through the eyehole, I caught sight of the predator.

"The snake has slithered! The snake has slithered!" I slur shouted in the direction of Marlene and Alice.

The bloke standing in the corridor looked towards the eyehole, knowing I was there.

Oops. Maybe I said that louder than I thought I had.

Alice came up from behind me with another large sunflower in her hand.

She carefully tucked it behind my other ear. "-the hell, Lily? Was that code?"

I noticed she was slurring too.

Marlene came up behind me laughing rather loudly.

Before I could stop her she jerked open the door. "Who's knocking this late at-?"

Ugh. My friends are such drunks.

"Pardon me sir? Is there any reason you are intruding this- errmm- early in the morning?" I think I was rather convincing, if I do say so myself. Marlene, the happy drunk she was, didn't seem to think so.

She giggled madly before declaring for the entire world to hear, "Lily-billy? Are you drunk? Haha! You are dru-unk! Heh. You never get drunk." She burst into another fit of giggles.

Alice, suddenly seeing the hilarity in the situation, joined in.

My face turned as red as a tomato. Suddenly feeling sober, I turned back to the imposer of our girl's night.

It was the guy from directly above me. I remembered he was the one with an obsession of motorcycles.

"Could you please keep it down? Some of us have to work tomorrow!"

Alice groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Tomorrow's a Saturday…" Marlene said in an abrupt morbid voice that for some reason it sent shivers down my spine.

The giggling stopped from Alice, who turned and sent a somewhat puzzled look at Evan, the motorcycle hobbyist.

Evan rolled his eyes in an obnoxious fashion as Alice had moments earlier. "Yes, some people work on Saturdays."

I could see Marl's mood changing. As we learned from many Quiddich after parties, Marlene may seem like the happy drunk type, but she really is the bipolar drunk type.

Alice grumbled, "Not again…"

I shot a dark look at my neighbor. I had moved in two weeks ago, so the poor guy had no idea what he was dealing with.

"TOMORROW'S A SATURDAY, DIMWIT!"

I had noticed around the beginning of first year, but Marlene considered Saturday a rest day. Like an oasis in the desert. If she didn't get her Saturday Sleep Day, there would be hell to pay. Marls and I were alike in many ways. Like this one. But at least I don't get drunk and start attacking people over it.

Just as she lunged I grabbed her by the waist and reeled her in.

She was screaming obscenities as Alice pulled her into my bedroom to calm her down.

I didn't even spare an apologetic glance to the furious fellow.

"I—AM- GOING—TO-PRESS -CHARGES!" Evan was taking deep huffs of air, attempting to (and failing miserably) to calm himself down.

"Hey this is my flat, buster! I should be pressing charges on you!" I kept eye contact as I swung the door shut, amusing myself by thinking of what he would do in the outside hall fuming.

Walking into my bedroom I saw the small television turned on across from my bed and noticed Alice and Marlene in their night clothes, taking turns sipping from the firewhiskey.

I started laughing. Hard.

Needless to say, laughter is contagious. And I was surprised another neighbor didn't come knowing on my door in attempt to control to wild fire.

*-!-*

I woke up with an annoying light burning my forehead.

Which was pounding. Agonizingly.

Why am I lying on the floor when my bed is two feet away?

I distantly recalled making carpet angels with Alice and Marlene. No wonder there is a rug burn on my elbow. And my collar bone. How the hell do you get a rugburn on your collarbone?

I got up slowly and staggered to the kitchen. Was that a hand I stepped on? Oh yes it was. Sorry Marlene!

On the way to my kitchen I noticed glass on my hardwood floor. Ouch, I got a cut on my foot. WHY WAS THERE GLASS ON THE FLOOR?

In the kitchen Alice was already awake resting her head on her pillow on my countertop.

"Morning, Lily." I mumbled something in response.

"Look what arrived at your door at 11 this morning? Bloody woke me up, it did!"

She pushed over a small caldron. Careful not to put my face into the steam I took a wiff of the fragrance. It was a common pepper up potion! Thoughtful, albeit creepy.

"So Lily, do you have any secret wizard neighbors that were home last night to hear our drunken screaming?"

I faltered. What happened last night?

Alice took three glasses out of the cabinets and filled each with equal amount of pepperup potion until there was none left.

Marls, the sly witch she was, walked in cheerful and chipper as you can in a hangover.

"Why Lily-Billy, who are the flowers from?"

I pulled the sunflowers out from behind my ears. "Errr, Alice I think."

"Shut up!" Alice held up a glass in a toast.

"Don't drink that you dingo!" I snatched the glass from her hand. "It could be poisoned!"

"If you aren't going to let me drink that, don't talk so loud."

Marlene groaned. "I can't tell if the hangover is making everything unbearably loud or if the music last night funked my hearing."

What music…?

"And I wasn't talking about those flowers silly billy…Lily… the ones behind you." Marlene pointed to the vase behind me.

"Oh yes, these were delivered with the potion." Alice said.

The bouquet was made up of pink and white lilies, they were beautiful. And very ironic. They smelled surprisingly good. Especially considering the hangover made every sense extremely… strong.

I think there's a fragrance charm on it. I told this to Alice.

"C'mon Lily, don't be thick! You have a secret admirer!" Alice fumed. She snatched the potion back and gulped it down.

"Instant relief…" she murmured.

"Alice! We're adults now! You're officially a part of the order, doing real missions already! You can't be behaving like this!" I fumed.

Marlene took her glass and downed it in a second. She sighed before continuing the conversation. The only reason she joined the situation is because she sensed a fight coming. Merlin, the woman couldn't resist.

"Lily, is this the jealousy thing again? You last week when Dumbledore talked-"

"Yes, Marlene! I remember what Dumbledore said! And I'm not jealous!"

Dumbledore had told me in private that he had a special job for me but I had to secure a job in the ministry first, that way I could support myself.

And I could understand that, no problem. It's just, that's what I wanted to do… fight evil deatheaters!

Sorry, excuse that. I had a moment of weakness. Every hero has a flaw.

Ermm… back to the point. "Lily, just a few days ago I remember you calling us and saying that you wanted a new beginning, to start new. To be different! How's that working out for you?"

I grabbed a paper towel to wipe the blood off my foot from the piece of glass I stepped on.

The audacity of them! They were implying that I couldn't live outside the box! Or something like that.

"Lily you haven't changed at all! You are the same stiff, rule abiding Headgirl you were at Hogwarts!"

I sputtered. "I am not! I mean—I never was, a rule abiding headgirl… stiff! Would a stiff headgirl get tipsy at a Quiddich afterparty? Or practically fail transfiguration?"

I heard Marls mutter 'did Lily just say tipsy?' before bursting into fits of giggles.

"Lily that was one drink before you called it quits, then you blackmailed the whole common room into retiring early or you said you'd get McGonagall!" Alice's shouts resounded in my ears, "and you just barely passed, you didn't fail! Okay, maybe you have a point there, nevermind."

I snorted. Just to prove my point I picked up the glass and chugged it. Huh. It did give instant relief.

"I have started new! I applied to a job yesterday and met a cute bloke!"

Marlene laughed. "Yeah, right! Lily, you haven't dated since fourth with Gideon Prewett!"

Alice snickered (Gideon was her brother). In the end we decided to remain friends because he was two years older than me… and, well, even though Gideon was older that Potter, he still had issues with him. That was in the beginning of his, err, crush. But Gideon and I are still friends to this day, honestly. And after that I am sad to say no one else wanted to risk dating me.

I saw a message on my answering machine and hoped for the best. If it was a message from the library because of an overdue book I think I would die of embarrassment.

"Hello Ms. Lily Evans, this is a message from Owen Thomas calling to congratulate you on getting the job you applied for yesterday. Mr. Dearborn would like to congratulate you also, and says that he will meet you in the waiting room you were in yesterday to show you around. I'll probably see you Monday, so we can talk about lunch… see you, bye."

I blushed as Alice and Marlene stared at me in silence.

"We'll have to meet him then sometime…" Alice's eyebrows rose as if she didn't believe it.

Honestly, is there any justice in this world?

Changing the subject I started, "Can you believe that at this time last year we would be on the Hogwarts Express?"

Marlene and Alice nodded mutely. We all took a stroll down memory lane for a moment.

"Listen Lily, we should do this again sometime, okay? I've got to go clean up and meet Frank. I have Auror training again on Monday, so if I don't do all this now when will I do it?" Alice said this while chuckling.

Marlene and I waved as she picked up her jacket off the couch and left quickly.

I sighed. "Actually Lily, I should probably get going too. Tomorrow we are interviewing a bunch of interns for the Dailey Prophet, so who knows what will go on without me?" She waited for a response and all she received was a shake of my head.

She left in equal quickness.

Alone in the flat, I cleaned up the glass on the floor and the puke in the carpet.

I really needed to get out of the house.

Nothings better than the present! I slid on my shoes and walked in the direction of the drugstore to get ointment for my rug burn.

A/N:

The-Untempered-Schism666: Of course! Sorry for the delay… oops…

Something to look forward to: James meets his babysitter!

He jobhunts! And… errrr, other surprises!

Reviews would be appreciated!

-Lilyflower11