Lily Evans had always been a sensible woman. She'd always seen reason and had been practical about everything in her life; at six years old she had her wardrobe organised by colour and how often she wore each item of clothing. By her ninth birthday, her (extensive) book collection was categorised by subject, date of publish and author's last name. She'd known since the age of thirteen that she wanted to be someone important, to do something important, to make a difference in the world. And at the age of fifteen she realised that she could do that at the Ministry of Magic. And here she was at twenty-one, working for the Minster himself, her clothing and books sitting in her flat organised and categorised as they always had been.

And her best friend was now tearing the former apart.

"You have nothing sexy in here!" Marlene McKinnon huffed as she through yet another set of robes over her shoulder and onto the floor. Lily watched in horror, as her organisation was singlehandedly undone by one very thin, very blonde witch.

"Why would I need anything sexy?" Lily asked with an exasperated sigh as she rushed to pick the clothes up from the floor, scooping them into her arms and dropping them onto her duvet cover.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe because you can't wear a grey, knee-length, pencil skirt out for drinks." Marlene cringed as she hauled the offensive skirt out of the wardrobe and held it up, pulling a face. Lily frowned and crossed her arms,

"I happen to like that skirt."

"It's heinous, Lily. It's something my mother would wear."

Lily stepped forward and snatched it out of Marlene's hand; "There's nothing wrong with it. Besides, it's only drinks at the Leaky Cauldron for Mary's birthday. I see absolutely no need for me to be wearing anything 'sexy'."

Marlene huffed and mumbled, "Well good because you haven't got anything remotely provocative… Hang on!" She said, grinning wide as she remembered her Christmas gift to Lily, pulling hangers apart in an attempt to find the dress. She found it in with the black blazers, black pencil skirts and black robes – tearing it off the hanger and throwing it at Lily,

"You've no choice. That was a gift and I know for a fact that you haven't worn it. So you have an obligation to wear it at least once. And that once may as well be tonight." She grinned triumphantly as Lily's shoulders rounded forward in defeat. The redhead looked apprehensively down at the soft black material in her hand, and internally cursed herself for not wearing the dress before now.

"Can I at least wear tights with it?" She asked with a glint of hope, holding the dress at arms length with a sigh. The black dress was modest enough, long sleeved and a high neckline. Though the length was much shorter than Lily was comfortable with, but at least with tights she might manage feeling the slightest bit at ease in it.

"As long as you wear heels as well."

Lily audibly groaned and fell face first into her mattress, her hair splayed around her head over her duvet cover, "You're trying to humiliate me?" she asked when she finally sat up, pulling her back into ponytail.

Marlene sighed, and sat down beside the redhead as she pulled her knees into her chest, "I'm not trying to humiliate you. I figured it might be nice, you know… if you met a bloke. I – I'm just worried, is all." She admitted with a shrug.

"Worried? What for?"

"You spend so much time at the Ministry, and when you're not there working, you're here working. Besides the fact that this will be the first time the five of us have gotten together in eight months-"

"It hasn't been eight months-" She interrupted with an indignant frown, her arms folded across her chest.

"It's been eight months, Lily. That's when you got that promotion, and the last time we all went out for drinks was the night we celebrated said promotion." Marlene said sadly as she ran a hand through her long hair, "Besides all that, I'm just worried that you're…"

"That I'm what, Marlene?"

"I don't know… lonely?"

"I'm not lonely, I'm – I'm independent. There's an incredibly clear difference between the two, Marlene." Lily retorted heatedly, feeling the colour rise in her cheeks at the accusation.

"I know, Lily. I know. But… I don't know - Don't you just sometimes wish there was someone there to cheer for you, when you can't cheer for yourself?" Marlene asked, frowning slightly at the fire behind Lily's response – it was almost too quick, too sharp.

With a huff, Lily stood up and snatched the dress from her bed covers, "What does that even mean?" She muttered under her breath as she walked towards the bathroom to get dressed.

oooo

She'd hardly even stopped to think how much she'd missed in the eight months since her promotion. And now that she had stopped to think about it, she'd begun to despise herself. She'd let her friends lives continue without her, with stories and jokes and names that she didn't know, that she didn't understand. They were her closest friends, yet she'd never felt so far away. Lily made the excuse that it was her round to buy drinks, forcing her way through the crowd towards the bar. Lily found herself almost relieved to be away from the table, which was until a man appeared beside her at the bar,

"Hey," He said to the young bartender, holding up four fingers as he continued, "It's my round so I need... four firewhiskey's. Two with ice, two without." He said, passing the bartender the money he owed and turning to lean casually back on the bar, looking out at the dancing crowd with a small smile.

She looked up and almost groaned audibly,

"You are kidding me…" She muttered, letting out an incredulous laugh as she looked up at the man beside her. James Potter.

He glanced to his left as he felt a pair of eyes on him, his face breaking into a grin as he spotted her, "Department Manager, Lily! Blimey, you scrub up all right," He beamed, "What're you doing here?"

"You don't need to call me 'Department Manager'. You can just call me Lily…" She muttered, "It's my mates birthday, so we're just having a few drinks to celebrate." She explained, motioning to the table of women not far from them, before she swiftly drank one of the drinks that were placed in front of her by the bartender, and then another, and then –

"Whoa, whoa. Hold up there, love. You don't look like you're celebrating." He frowned, placing his hand atop the third glass gently and pushing it back down to the bar, "Everything all right?" he asked kindly, bending his knees slightly so they were eye to eye.

She felt the drinks make her head spin, on top of the three others she'd already had earlier, but she didn't sway, or falter in her expression. She wanted to retort about him calling her 'love' again, but instead she just stared right back into his warm eyes and said, "I'm fine, James."

He cocked an eyebrow, "Really?" he asked, bringing one of the firewhiskey's without ice to his lips and taking a sip, "Because it seems like you're not."

She didn't know why she told him, she didn't even know why she was still standing there talking to him. Maybe she really was lonely. There was something about him that made her trust him, despite her initial judgements of him, but she told him.

"Do you know what it's like to be gone from people's lives without even realising that their worlds go on without you?" She asked softly. Her voice was quiet, meaning he had to lean in slightly to hear her properly, "They move flats, or move in with people, or they change jobs, or get into relationships or get out of relationships, or go on holidays, or they go about things as normal. And then all of a sudden you don't know what they're talking about, or who they're talking about… and you just feel… alone." She was surprised when she watched him look over his shoulder towards a table nearby with three men sitting around it, grinning and laughing together.

"Would it shock you if I said yes?" He asked when he finally looked back at her, a small, understanding smile on his face.

"A little, yeah." She admitted with a laugh, running her hand through her hair as she glanced back over at her own friends quickly.

He let out a small laugh before bringing his glass to his lips, falling silent as he thought about her words, surprised at how much they resonated with him. It was strange; having been away for so long, to come back and try and fit himself back into everyone's lives. He was hardly paying attention to his surroundings anymore when he heard her voice pull his focus back once more,

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

A/N: Hey Hi Hello. Let me know x