Lily was almost sent reeling back a step when she found herself so abruptly under the glare of Aunt Mary, but forced herself to appear unaffected—she'd be damned before she gave any sign of weakness in front of that woman.

She was an imposing figure, though, dressed in black and with an immense diamond chocker wound so tightly around her neck, Lily thought it was a wonder she could still breathe.

Her face bore an expression of such distaste that Lily suddenly found she had the insane urge to laugh. Fortunately, however, her better judgment prevailed that time and she quickly squashed the compulsion. She was pretty sure that provoking her might lead Mary to violence and the last thing Lily wanted to do was give people even more of a reason to gossip about her and how she wasn't good enough for James without adding fighting with important family members, in public, to the list.

But it seemed it was out of her hands, she should have known it was a vain hope, because Lily suddenly became incredibly aware that the unexpected meeting between herself and Mary had quickly caught the interest of the surrounding guests.

Noticing the expectant looks on some peoples faces, Lily deduced that Mary had been quite vocal about her dislike of such an "unworthy" match for her nephew.

Lily knew the evil old bat didn't like her.

She also knew that if she had only been a passing fancy then, perhaps, Mary would have been able to suffer the relationship between Lily and James cordially. But as Lily had earlier been informed, James's original gift to her and the necklace that currently hung around her neck were both strong evidence that Lily wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It proved that James was serious about her and it seemed that Mary could no longer suffer the shame of the match quietly.

Lily overcame her shock at the first display of open hostility with a polite nod. Aunt Mary in return, eyed the jewellery round her neck, brought her eyes back up to Lily's, then snorted in obvious disgust and turned her back.

Lily was not at all surprised at that show of aggression; she had been expecting such a display from the moment she had met the old battle axe and seen the distasteful way she in which she had looked at her. It was a relief to have it over and done with instead of having to wait in suspense for the first attack and quite frankly she was relieved it had not been worse.

Nothing else but a snubbing would have come from the passing incident had Aunt Mary not, in her rude haste, turned around and walked directly into James's path.

Lily could see James's face over Mary's shoulder and she was incredibly relieved to know that he was not directing such a look at her.

He was so very un-amused that it seemed to strike Aunt Mary both silent and motionless.

If it were not for the loud roaring in her own ears Lily would have noticed that, suddenly, everyone around them had stopped talking and that all attention was now focused on James and his aunt.

It was James who spoke first, breaking the stalemate. His voice was quite unremarkable.

"Aunt Mary, I see you didn't recognise my girlfriend, Lily Evans, just there behind you. You've only just met so I suppose that's a little understandable, but perhaps you should take a second look so such a mistake will not happen again in the future." As he spoke he gestured gracefully in Lily's direction.

Mary stood frozen staring at her nephew, James stared back unrelentingly, a silent battle of wills taking place. Mary had obviously seen something in his gaze and eventually came out of her stupor and turned around, and when she did Lily saw, with the slightest twinge of glee, that her face was not just grim, it had blanched.

"Lily, I know you have only just met but you have not forgotten my aunt already, have you?" James asked with an encouraging smile at Lily and a poignant look thrown at Mary.

Stubbornly ignoring the avid crowd surrounding her Lily replied, whilst looking directly at the women in question, "Of course not, how has your evening been so far Aunt Mary." She even gave a small curtsy.

By then the thunder in her ears had quieted but Lily realised, with a sickening feeling in her stomach, that the silence around them was a hundred times louder and more intimidating than any noise her own mind could make.

Everyone, it seemed, was waiting with bated breath for Mary's response. And after an uncomfortably long moment of strained study she glanced again at James's cool expression.

"Yes, of course Miss Evans," she finally said, looking at her nephew whilst addressing Lily. "I hope you are having a good evening also."

The moment the words left her lips James took Lily's elbow and moved them away from his aunt. As soon as they were a safe distance away conversation in the room resumed.

Lily could feel the heat of James's aunt's stare on her as they moved away and, instinctively, she drew back her shoulders and straightened her spine. Her stomach may have been roiling and her knees may have felt a little weak, but she'd be damned before letting Mary see she had affected her.

The only problem with appearing strong though was that Lily really did feel weak, but it was definitely not because of Mary, it was James. He had willed his aunt to be civil and she had complied which was quite frankly, a miracle. If what Lily had witness so far from the old woman was anything to go by, she was a force to be reckoned with both inside the family and out.

And seeing James handle his aunt like that, well, quite frankly, it made her feel jumpy and out of sorts. She'd always known he had power and influence outside his family, but his dominance within the family took her totally by surprise.

Initially, she had thought that James's defence of her was because of his devotion to her, but after only a moment of further thought on the confrontation she realised that however devoted she knew James was to her, the previous drama did not happen purely because of her, it was for the benefit of society at large. James Potter was the next male heir to the Potter family and he meant to prove that it was he and not his aunt who held the reins of power.

Once a safe distance away, James, who could see Lily was still a bit disconcerted and looking a little pale, left to get her a drink.

Abandoned, shaken and aggrieved in the crowd of partying guests, she stood on one foot and then the other trying not to look too pissed off.

But as soon she had lost sight of James in thick crowd of guests and the moment she was truly alone a lady she had been introduced to earlier came steaming towards her, waving wildly. "Hello, Lily, hello."

And before Lily had a chance to escape the lady and her group had engulfed her, the party unfortunately including her two daughters.

Lily looked at the group hesitantly and found, not withstanding the fact that one of the daughters was married, they were absolutely identical, right down to their dresses. The indistinguishable sisters had a tight grip on the arms of an elderly gentlemen who Lily had first assumed was their father, but when he was introduced it became clear that he was most definitely not.

He was however and earl and from a very prominent pureblooded family line. So despite the fact he was old and fat half blind and almost deaf, he'd still had caught the twin's attention. The ladies obviously thought two heads were better than one in obtaining a match for the unmarried sister.

After a polite introduction Lily look at proper look at one sister and then the other, both of whom promptly fell about giggling.

Lily had no clue what the two ladies found so funny about a mere introduction, and so tried to take a metal inventory of anything that may be wrong with her appearance. Everything seemed to be in order so she prepared to give an insincere apology and excuse herself from their foul company. All the while her annoyance at James for deserting her rising exponentially, especially when, after a moment, Lily realised she was not the reason for the giggling, the ground for their amusement was obviously James.

Seconds later she saw him heading in her direction. He carried two cups high above the jostling crowd. Raising her hand, she caught his eye and as his hands were full all he could do was raise his eyebrows to indicate he saw her.

Lily quickly noticed that the imminent arrival of James to the group had caused the sisters to abandon the poor sickly earl and instead had taken to nudging each other excitedly; one even commenced a high pitched squeal.

In the near distance James froze, his eyes narrowed and even halfway across the room Lily could see his mouth had tightened into a grimace and his nostrils had flared. Obviously he had seen something distasteful. So palpable was his expression that Lily made a quick check over he shoulder to ensure that Aunt Mary wasn't about to accost her again.

Not finding anything she turned back around to where James had been, only to discover he had disappeared completely.

The flirtatious young women were twisting and turning on their tiptoes obviously just as curious as she was about her boyfriend's sudden disappearance.

Lily however caught sight of the crown of his head, unmistakable as it was, as it moved into the middle of the crowd. And so excusing herself Lily went to overtake him, intending to remark on the unusual matching dresses and bad manners of the people she'd just met, but by the time she reached him he was deep in conversation with Remus and Sirius, still holding the drinks cups in his hands. His conversation outlasted Lily's interest and soon her previous company was forgotten.

On the way up to her room much later that night, James and Lily were both too tired to chatter, but Lily's brain still, somehow, found the energy worry about the weird interactions that had taken place and the knowledge that Aunt Mary definitely wasn't the sort to take such a public chastising quietly. And although James didn't seem worried in the slightest about the encounter with his aunt, Lily knew that she was a formidable adversary who was not to be taken lightly.

She just really hoped that there would be no heinous repercussions.

--

A/N

No your eyes do not deceive you there is an update!

I'm so sorry - I am finding this story so difficult to write. I have been trying but the chaps just don't seem to be coming together properly – it just doesn't seem to flow that easily for me, maybe because its not all my own work.

Anyway I know its been two week - I'm going to try to update quicker this time

Got to send a special thanks to cosmopolitan who helped me re-write the end of the chap when it just wasn't working.

Thank you so much for reading!