Disclaimer: It's miiiiine! Ha. Not.

Hapax Legomenon: Neither do I. I needed to speed things up though. I wanted to include the N.E.W.T.s, but I didn't want to dwell on the end of school that much. Thank you! I hate writing Quidditch, but I love reading it. I've never read Quidditch Through the Ages, but I remembered some of the moves from the books. I actually really wanted James to propose, but it was wayyy too early haha.

Loslote: Thank you! I'm excited to write without the limits of Hogwarts as the setting.

Luna Lovegood nargles: Well they do! I like reviews! And I don't know if I want him to read it, but not for the reason that I think you're thinking of haha.

Apolla Broadpath: I know it seemed rushed, but I wanted them to get a move on with their lives outside of Hogwarts. I know they don't have graduation, but I wanted some kind of finality to their Hogwarts career. Plus I wanted to write the speeches haha.

Rawr Ashley Rae: Sorry it took so long, I've been really out of it lately.

And guys, I really appreciate those of you who take the time to review. You all inspire me to write and update more quickly and to work harder at making the plotline interesting. But I know that there are more than five people reading this story. It got 650 hits the day I posted Chapter 24. Is it really so much to ask for a few more reviews? Sorry if it sounds needy or spoiled or whatever, but I really do appreciate them and I take all of your advice, praise, and criticism to heart.

Chapter 25: Testing the Waters of the Real World

"LILY!"

I groan. Another box or piece of furniture that she needs help moving? Really? Is Marlene a witch or not?

"LILY!" she calls again, dragging my name out.

I drag my tired body off of the couch I'm lying on and trudge to the front door of our flat. She and Mary are having issues with bringing in a second couch. They insisted on buying two, but I still think one would suffice.

"What?" I complain childishly.

Mary pushes her hair out of her face. "Help us bring in this couch!"

I sigh. "I know it's our first flat and I was one of the ones who insisted on moving everything in the Muggle way, but I'm too tired to move anything else," I whine. "Can't we just use magic now? We're almost done!"

Marlene rolls her eyes and glares across the threshold at me. "We started it this way, so we're finishing it this way. Plus, we live in a Muggle neighborhood! We can't use magic so openly here!"

I groan and stamp my feet like a misbehaving child as I grip the couch tightly with both hands and help Mary and Marlene hoist it into the sitting room perpendicular to the one that was already there. We drop it as delicately as one can drop a couch that fits three or so people and fall onto it in exhaustion.

Mary wipes her brow dramatically. "Bloody hell, it sure is hot in here, isn't it?" She fans herself with one hand.

Marlene grins. "Sorry, do you want me to leave?"

I roll my eyes as Mary pushes Marlene playfully. "When will you get tired of that joke?" I complain, barely concealing a grin of my own.

Marlene waggles her eyebrows suggestively. "When it stops being funny!"

We all collapse in a fit of laughter resulting from bad jokes, lack of sleep, excitement at furnishing our first flat, and heat exposure. We laugh until we can't speak or breathe, our faces all flushed.

A trio of loud pops splits through the air, and Mary, Marlene, and I scream briefly, only to crack up again when we see who it is. James and Remus are watching us like we've gone mental. Sirius, on the other hand, looks like Christmas has come early as he takes in the three girls in front of him all piled on each other. James hits Sirius jokingly over the head and he grins sheepishly as James steps forward to pick me up off of the couch. Marlene and Mary clutch each other for support as they giggle even more.

"Are you alright, Lily?" he asks, eyeing me warily. I only laugh harder at his 'has-she-gone-crazy' expression.

Marlene, Mary, and I finally stop laughing, much to the boys' relief. Grinning at the bewildered look on James's face, I peck him quickly on the lips and say, "Hey, James."

He smiles down at me, glad to see I'm back to normal. "Hey, love," he answers, kissing me again, longer this time.

After kissing his own girlfriend hello, Sirius wedges his hands between James and me and pushes us apart, much to James's protests. "Oh, get a room, you two!" He grins at me and questions with one arched eyebrow, "What, no love for me?"

I roll my eyes, trying to hide my smile. He wraps his arms around me, picking me up off the ground and spinning me in a circle before planting a kiss on my cheek. "Hey there, Lily-Flower."

"Aw, you haven't called me that in months!" I stretch up to ruffle his long dark hair playfully. Unlike James's, Sirius's hair falls back into its elegant style the second I let go of it.

Remus looks around the flat. "This is a pretty nice place you three've got here," he remarks, impressed. "Did you move everything in by magic?"

Mary, Marlene, and I let out short laughs, and Mary says, "No, definitely not."

James also glances quickly around the room. "D'you have anything left to bring in?" he asks, reaching his hand up to his hair and rumpling it out of habit.

I grin mischievously at Marlene and Mary, who are wearing smirks identical to my own. I turn to James. "Well, actually, we still haven't brought the beds in," I reply, smiling sweetly with wide, innocent eyes.

Sirius raises his eyebrows suggestively. "Waiting for us to come before bringing in the beds, eh? Clever girls," he teases, grinning. "Although," he continues, "you lot seemed to be getting along fine with just a couch when we got here."

We each take a turn hitting him in the chest. He brings his hand to it, faking pain and laughing at our embarrassment and annoyance. "All right, all right, we'll help you bring in the beds. You want us to just shrink them?"

Marlene wraps an arm around Sirius's waist, pretending to feel his bicep with her other hand. "And let these Quidditch muscles go to waste? Never!"

James, Remus, and Sirius gape at us disbelievingly. "We have to bring them in without magic?" Remus asks, shocked.

Mary smiles devilishly at her boyfriend. "Yep, and they're all full-sized. No twin beds here," she lilts, making the boys groan.

James complains, "Really? We have to carry in three full-sized beds? D'you know how heavy they probably are?"

Marlene sighs dejectedly. "I suppose we could go get them . . ." she trails off, pouting at Sirius. Mary and I catch on, putting on our best puppy dog eyes for James and Remus.

The three Marauders groan again, none of them able to resist our sad expressions. "Fine, we'll go bring in the beds," James mutters in defeat.

The boys trudge outside as we exchange triumphant grins and collapse back onto the couch. After a moment or two, we start to hear James, Sirius, and Remus ambling back up the walk, making noises of discomfort and exertion. I smirk, pull myself up off of the couch, and lope into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water.

CRASH.

"AAARGH!"

I go running back into the sitting room, barely hearing the glass breaking on the tile in the kitchen after I drop it. I screech to a halt and look around frantically.

"What happened?" I demand worriedly. Before anyone has time to answer, however, I discover what made the crashing noise and who yelled. Sirius is lying flat on his back with one of our bed frames on top of him.

Marlene rushes forward. "Sirius! Are you okay?" she inquires, concern written on her face.

He shifts uncomfortably, trying his best to move the obviously heavy frame. "Yes, dear, I'm fine," he mocks sarcastically, attempting to grin up at her.

Marly rolls her eyes and begins to chuckle at her boyfriend's current position. Sirius becomes disgruntled and starts to shout for his friends. "James! Remus! A little help, please?"

James and Remus edge into the room with the second bed frame. They look down at Sirius and burst out laughing. Sirius glares up at them.

"Stop your laughing, you gits, and help me up!"

James and Remus only laugh harder. Remus finally chokes out, "Y-you're the one who said you c-could handle a bed frame a-all by yourself!"

James sniggers down at his best mate. "Yeah, Padfoot, what was all of that about being 'man enough to handle a bed?'" He waves his eyebrows suggestively, pointedly looking between Sirius and Marlene before breaking down in a fit of laughter with Remus again.

Sirius flushes slightly, glancing up warily at Marlene. She glares mockingly at the frightened Marauder. "'Man enough to handle a bed?' Well that's a surprise. I wasn't sure if you were man enough to handle anything." She smirks mischievously at Sirius's ever-reddening face.

A loud "Ooh!" from James and Remus follows Marlene's comment as Mary and I giggle at Sirius's embarrassment. Marlene goes on to torture him a bit more with James and Remus's help before they stoop down to pull the heavy, wooden frame up off of him.

"Good afternoon, Miss Meadows!" I greet my boss enthusiastically on Tuesday after I return from my lunch break.

Dorcas Meadows smiles good-naturedly at me. "Hey, Lily. How are things going?"

Dorcas is in the Order, so she always calls me by my first name. It's odd calling her Miss Meadows because I'm so used to calling her Dorcas, but I would feel out of place calling her by anything else while at work. I met Dorcas at our first meeting with the Order as official members last week.

We Apparated with Gideon, Fabian, and their friends Marcus and Alexander to the Order Headquarters, the location of which is still a mystery to me, last Wednesday. They told us that we had to Side-Along Apparate with them due to the secrecy of the Order and our very recent induction into the underground resistance against Voldemort. When we arrived, the door was opened for us by Kingsley Shacklebolt. He smiled down at us and stepped aside to let us in.

Down the long corridor and through the door at the very end, people were gathering for the meeting. There were faces that I recognized. Benjy Fenwick, Kingsley, Moody, Dumbledore, the Potters. Others were unfamiliar. A tall man with curly blonde hair and deep blue eyes grinned over at another man that I assumed was his friend before waving at the three of us. Mary, Marlene, and I blushed at the unfairly handsome face smiling over at us before he stood up and loped over to introduce himself.

"Hi, ladies. Caradoc Dearborn," he declared, offering his hand to each of us. I took his hand first, and he brought mine to his lips quickly with another smile and a wink. He was quite the charmer. "You're Lily Evans," he stated.

I stared at him oddly. "Er, yeah, actually, I am."

Caradoc smiles, understanding my confusion and general aura of being slightly creeped out. He explains, "The entire Order was told about your encounter with You-Know-Who. You and James Potter were taken hostage from within Hogwarts' walls. We're still trying to figure out how that happened." He shook his head disbelievingly. Well that explained how he knew my name. It was still slightly creepy, but also a bit flattering that James and I became little celebrities with the Order before most of them had even met us. "Anyway," Caradoc continues, grinning again, "You two are so brave. I can't believe you actually fought You-Know-Who!"

I blushed slightly, smiling as modestly as I could manage. "Yeah, that's me," was all I could think of to say.

He smiled, impressed, and introduced himself to Mary and Marlene, who were both as effectively charmed by him as I was. He was really quite interesting. He told us of his triumphs on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, although the three of us knew that Gryffindor had flattened Ravenclaw every year Caradoc had been on the team. He spoke of an exciting encounter with Death Eaters not even a month ago. He introduced his friend, Alexander Zenowitz, who, for some reason, preferred to be called "Zeno." Caradoc was just beginning to tell a story about a bad run-in with a few Slytherins he'd graduated with when Marlene interrupted.

"So, Caradoc," Marlene began, "what do you do for a living?"

Caradoc straightened his posture slightly, and I got the impression that he was proud of his profession. "I work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Mary sniffed quietly. Marlene and I turned to her with concern in our eyes. I reached down, took her hand briefly, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She was, of course, thinking of her father, the previous Head of that Department. Caradoc noticed her barely hidden sadness and tilted his head to the left, considering her.

"Your last name is MacDonald, isn't it, Mary?" he asked, comprehension dawning on his face.

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm Mary MacDonald."

Caradoc reached forward kindly to take her hand again and squeezed it gently with a small smile on his face. "Your father was a wonderful man. Of course, you already know that."

Mary nodded, her eyes shining with contained tears. The Marauders chose this moment to make their entrance. Remus was alert as soon as he saw Mary's tears, and he immediately appeared at her side. He snaked one arm around her waist as she leaned into him.

"R-Remus, this is Caradoc Dearborn. He works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Caradoc, this is Remus Lupin, my boyfriend," Mary introduced. Caradoc smiled at Remus, who was frowning slightly, obviously noting Caradoc's Department in the Ministry as the reason Mary was upset.

Caradoc stuck out his hand, and Remus took it, staring him down. Caradoc's smile faltered slightly, so he turned to James, Sirius, and Peter.

"Caradoc Dearborn," he greeted them, holding his hand out to each of them in turn. They all shook his hand with guarded expressions, aware of Remus's instant dislike of Caradoc. Caradoc noted this as well, for he turned back to Marlene and me. "I was just telling these lovely ladies of an encounter I had with a few Death Eaters." He winked at us.

James and Sirius both raised their left eyebrow simultaneously, and the effect they had on Caradoc was almost comical. James wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and Sirius did the same to Marlene. It was really clear to me at that moment just how alike the two men are. James cleared his throat and I jumped, deciding to introduce him.

"Oh, Caradoc, this is James, James Potter," I hastily said, glancing up at James.

Caradoc raised his eyebrows slightly as James tightened his hold on me and added, "Her boyfriend."

Sirius didn't even bother introducing himself. He just leaned down to kiss Marlene thoroughly. She looked as though she wanted to slap him and tell him to sod off at first, but then she sighed and kissed him back, no longer caring how rude she was being. I thought it was rather funny. Caradoc looked as though he'd been slapped in the face. I felt a bit guilty and embarrassed by our boyfriends' behavior, so I shrugged at him with an apologetic expression. Caradoc and his friend Zeno, who was a relatively quiet man compared to his boastful companion, retreated back to where they'd been sitting.

James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter exchanged a grin. James glanced around the room and found his parents just as Sirius did. Sirius bounded over to James's mother, shouted, "Amelia!" and embraced her in a bear hug. She laughed her tinkling laugh and hugged him back, kissing him on the cheek as though he were her own son. In all of the ways that count, Sirius is her son. James followed his best mate to hug his mother.

"Hey, Mum," he greeted her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before embracing his father in a manly hug.

"Oh, Lily! How are you, dear?" Amelia rushed over to hug me as well.

I smiled and replied, "I'm doing just fine, Amelia. How are you?"

"Things have been busy with the Order and the Auror offices, but that's been the usual for the last three or so years," she said, waving her hand as though this was completely ordinary.

Charles came over to greet me as well. Holding me at arms' length after hugging me, he declared, "Lily Evans, you grow more beautiful with each passing day." He smiled at me good-naturedly and winked at my faint blush.

"Thank you, Charles," I responded before Sirius caught his attention by talking about something from work.

I turned my attention to some of the unfamiliar faces in the room. A tan woman with curly brown hair and dark, chocolatey eyes smiled at me. She stood up and walked over to introduce herself.

"Hello, I'm Dorcas Meadows," she said, holding out her hand. Something about her name was familiar to me.

I took it and replied, "Hi, Dorcas, I'm Lily Evans."

Dorcas nodded in understanding. "I was wondering why the Potter boy was all over you. His parents are always telling us about him going on about this girl he's been in love with for years."

I blushed slightly, glancing in James's direction. "Yep, he's hopeless," I joked, grinning at Dorcas.

She returned my grin and asked, "You're working at the Daily Prophet offices, aren't you?"

I raised my eyebrows slightly. "Yeah, I'm due to start in two days."

Dorcas smiled kindly. "I'm the editor of the Prophet," she explained.

Comprehension dawned on my face. Of course! That's where I'd heard her name before. She's my boss! "Oh, of course!" I exclaimed. "I was wondering where I'd heard your name."

"Yeah, that'll be it," she said. "I'm glad to meet you outside of work though. I don't like meeting the new employees on the job. They always seem so intimidated." She chuckled briefly.

I grinned and told her in a mock-serious tone, "I've lived with James Potter and Sirius Black for years now. Nothing intimidates me anymore."

Dorcas laughed even more. We instantly clicked. She's very kind. We've met up once since then besides at work to grab coffee and lunch.

Sitting in my office Tuesday evening, I try to come up with a good conclusion to my most recent article. I write for the sports section for now, so my top priority is Quidditch at work. James was thrilled when he found out that I'll be receiving free tickets all the time to cover the matches.

I'm currently writing an article about an interview I had with the Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, Meghan Worrell. She's quite the talented player, and her team works together seamlessly. I remember meeting her and being slightly intimidated, but she was pretty cool, so I relaxed after a few moments and carried on with my questions.

I just need to figure out how to end this. Worrell's team is showing promising signs of . . . No, that's not right. With a previous record of 11 – 2, the Harpies enter this season with . . . No, that won't work either! Oh, this is where I always get stuck. I'm horrible at conclusions. I always feel like I'm being either too blunt or too rambling. I sigh and set down my quill, leaning back in my chair.

I'm relieved when I hear a soft knock on my door. I run my hand through my hair once, smooth my blouse, and call, "Come in!"

The door opens, and James, Sirius, and Marlene stick their heads in. I smile at them. "Hey, guys! Did Auror training let out early?"

Marlene grins, walking in. "Yep, we just left. We figured we would walk across the street and see what was up with the Prophet today."

As the door swings open, Sirius is revealed holding a small girl in his arms. She looks to be about five, and she has a shock of violet hair on her head. Sirius notices my gaze and sets the girl down, keeping her hand. "Hey, Dora, d'you want to meet someone?" he asks her, grinning. The little girl smiles excitedly and marches over to my chair.

"Hi, I'm Dora!" she introduces herself, sticking out her little hand for me to shake.

I giggle and take her hand. "Hi there, Dora. I'm Lily Evans."

Sirius comes to stand next to her. "She's my cousin's daughter," he explains. "Andromeda's out with her husband for the evening, so I said I'd keep Nymphadora entertain–"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Sirius!" Dora exclaims, smacking his arm lightly. He grins.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot. She hates being called Nymphadora, so it's just Dora," he corrects his mistake, flashing a smile down at her.

She beams at me, showing off a gap in her bottom teeth. Yes, I was right to assume she's about five. "Do you want to see a trick?" Dora asks excitedly.

Marlene laughs. "Ooh, Lily, you're going to love this." Dora grins up at her, happy to have Marlene's approval.

I tilt my head to one side curiously and watch Dora screw up her face. She holds the expression, concentrating, before her hair changes from bright purple to electric blue. Oh, she's a Metamorphagus! I gasp dramatically and applaud for her. She smiles again, proud of herself, and turns to James.

"James!" she shouts, reaching both of her arms up to him. He understands what she means and picks her up, swinging her around in the air as she lets out little peals of laughter. James sets her down, but she grips his hands tightly. "Again! Again!" she insists, giggling.

James swings her up once more, seeming to be delighted by her laughter. When he sets her back on her feet once more, she again asks him to swing her around more. He falls down to his knees, pretending to be tired, and lies down on his back. Dora crawls over to him and sits up on his stomach.

James's eyes are closed, so Dora taps his face. "James," she whispers. "Wake up, James." He doesn't respond. She frowns slightly, a little crease appearing between her eyes. "James!" she shouts. "Wake up!" she drags out the two words, bouncing on his stomach to wake him. I can tell he's trying really hard not to smile.

Suddenly, he opens his eyes and tickles her. The little girl squeals and squirms, trying to escape 'the Tickle Monster,' as she calls him.

"Oh, no, you don't!" he growls playfully as Dora tries to run towards Sirius. James grabs her around the waist and picks her up, tossing her into the air easily before catching her.

I have to admit, I really like seeing James interact with a child. It's almost like a little glimpse of what could be, and probably will be, my future. I find myself smiling slightly at the thought of James swinging around a little boy with his father's messy black hair as they both laugh happily.

"Lily?" Marlene interrupts my thoughts quietly. "You okay? What's that grin about?" she asks knowingly. She lowers her voice. "I know. It's exactly how I felt watching Sirius with her on the way over here. They transform into these completely mental, adorable idiots, and we can't help but wonder if that's our future."

I smile at my best friend. "It's like you read my mind," I murmur.

She shrugs with a small smile of her own as we watch Sirius and James chase Dora around my office. "Yeah, well," she says, "That's what sisters are for, as cheesy as that sounds."

We both laugh lightly. She takes my hand, gives it a quick squeeze, and we stand up to help James and Sirius catch Dora.

"Hi, we've got reservations under Potter, table for nine?"

The young hostess checks her list, eyeing James discreetly as she does so. I decide to ignore her and look around the small restaurant near the flat that I share with Mary and Marlene. It's been a stressful week at work for all of us, so we decided to treat ourselves to a night out with the gang.

I never get tired of people-watching in the wizarding community. A woman sitting at the bar keeps ordering steaming drinks that make her hiccup light purple bubbles. A teenage boy in a corner booth is charming the girl he's sitting with by procuring various flowers and gathering them into a bouquet before handing them to her. Over by the door, a young woman stands by herself, shuffling what look like fortune-telling cards and muttering to herself almost worriedly.

"Hey, guys!"

I turn towards the voice. "Hey, Alice!" I hug my friend quickly. I feel like I haven't seen her in ages. What with the wedding in two weeks and her Auror training, Alice has been so busy lately that it's a wonder she's found time to sleep.

The hostess finally finds our name after losing her place in the list from glancing up at James so many times, and she leads us back through the restaurant to a long table set for nine people.

Alice and Frank sit down across from James and me near the end of the table as we wait for our friends. I rest my chin on my hands with my elbows up on the table and lean across to ask Alice excitedly, "So, how are things going for the wedding?"

She beams. "It's all going very well, actually. I was a bit worried about cutting the dress fittings too close to the wedding date, but Madam Malkin insures that they'll be ready if they need to be taken in or let out at all."

Frank looks a little more stressed than Alice as he exchanges a brief look with James, but he too seems to be very excited about his upcoming wedding.

"Sirius, love, come on!"

Marlene's voice cuts through our conversation, and I glance up to see she's over exaggerating her relationship with Sirius to irritate the tightly-clothed, blonde hostess that had apparently been eyeing Sirius the same way she'd been looking at James.

The hostess sets down their menus and says stiffly, "Your waiter will be right along."

Marlene leans over to Sirius, resting her hand on his thigh. "Thank you," she replies to the hostess with a falsely sweet smile on her face.

The hostess walks off, fuming, and I turn to Marlene. "Must you be so horrible?" I ask with a barely concealed grin at the hostess's discomfort.

Marlene shrugs innocently with a mischievous smile as Sirius catches the gist of our conversation. "No!" he exclaims. "I like it when she gets all jealous and feisty," he practically purrs in a very suggestive tone in Marlene's ear.

"Oh, gross!" I push Marlene's shoulder as she giggles and flushes at Sirius's comment.

The waiter arrives. "Hello, my name is Evan, and I'll be taking care of you tonight."

I start at the familiar name and voice and look up at him. "Oh, hey, Evan!"

He smiles down at me. "Hey, Lily!"

I turn to talk to him more easily. "I didn't know you worked here, too." I swivel around in my seat to address my friends. "Evan works with me at the Daily Prophet. He writes for the section devoted to the war. He was at Hogwarts two years ahead of us with Kingsley."

Everyone smiles up at Evan, and I introduce them all. "So, why the second job, Evan?" I inquire curiously.

He grins kind of nervously. "Okay, you can't tell anyone, especially not Sarah."

I raise my eyebrows. "Okay," I reply slowly, wondering why I can't tell his girlfriend.

Evan takes a deep breath. "I'm saving up for a ring."

My eyes widen excitedly as I let out a little shriek of happiness. "You're going to propose to Sarah? Oh, Evan, that's so exciting!"

He smiles modestly, "You promise you won't tell her?"

I nod vigorously. "Of course! I'll keep my lips sealed," I promise.

"Thanks, Lily," Evan says. "All right, now I think I should take your drink orders before my boss gets mad," he jokes, pulling out a little notebook to take our orders. After writing down two gillywaters, a butterbeer, two firewhiskeys, and a pumpkin juice, Evan wanders off to his next table, promising to return soon with our drinks.

"Oh, I'm so happy for them," I gush, sounding very much like the gossipy teenage girl that I am. "They've been together since his sixth year, her fifth year, at Hogwarts."

Mary and Remus file in after several moments, and Remus announces, "Pete can't make it. His father's condition is getting worse, and Peter has to stay home with him tonight."

A collective sigh of sympathy passes around our table as we fall silent for a second thinking of our absent friend.

Evan comes back, sets our drinks on the table, and takes Mary and Remus's drink orders. He asks us if we need a few more minutes to consider the menu before ordering, but we go ahead and tell him what we'd like.

"So, how's Auror training going?" Mary asks James, Alice, Marlene, Frank, and Sirius. Merlin, I have a lot of friends aspiring to be Aurors.

James and Sirius lean forward enthusiastically. "It's brilliant," James starts. "Moody's mad! He shoots random jinxes and hexes at us to make sure we're paying attention before shouting, 'Constant vigilance!' We've all learned to be on our toes by now, but he got all of us at least three times in the first couple of days."

"How's Healing, Remus?" I ask, leaning my head to one side.

He shrugs, wrinkling his nose a bit. "It's fine, really. I'd rather be teaching, I think. I'd like that," he says thoughtfully.

Frank raises his eyebrows. "A teacher? You'd be brilliant, mate! Remember how easily you taught me the Knockback Jinx after Sirius spent a frustrated hour trying to help me? You're a natural!"

Remus smiles humbly. "Thanks, Frank, but I'm going to stick with Healing for now. My dad wants me to."

I wrinkle my eyebrows slightly. I wonder why Remus doesn't just tell his father he'd rather teach. Although, I suppose Healing would give Remus a good opportunity to research cures or at least something to weaken the symptoms of his condition.

James decides to brag on me. "Lily gets free tickets to Quidditch matches! And she gets to interview all of these famous players! I can't believe I didn't think of that," he adds enviously.

Marlene grins. "She's promised to get me an autograph from Ludo Bagman when she interviews him in a couple of weeks."

Sirius's eyes nearly fall out of his head. "You're interviewing Ludo Bagman?" he asks incredulously.

I smirk at his reaction and nod. "Yep, a week from next Wednesday. We'll be meeting at the Three Broomsticks at noon, and no, Sirius," I cut him off before he can interrupt, "you cannot come along."

He pouts down the table at James. James just shrugs. "I've already asked her, mate. She's not allowed to bring us." He turns to me with a hopeful smile. "But she can get us autographs, right?"

I sigh, rolling my eyes and grinning. "I suppose so," I mumble.

Sirius jumps up and rushes down to give me a bone-crushing hug and an ecstatic kiss on the top of my head. "Thank you, Flower!"

I chortle at him and pat his arm. "Anytime, Sirius."

Evan returns with our food and sets it down in front of each of us. I inhale the warm smell of my chicken hungrily as his eyes scan the table and he picks up a few empty glasses. With a quick grin in my direction, he sets off for the kitchen once more. His boss must have told him not to stop and chat again. He's normally such a sociable guy.

For a few moments, the only noises from our table are the sound of chewing and the clinking of silverware on plates. I notice that even after our friends finish their meals and begin talking again James is quieter, more thoughtful. He's watching me with a pondering smile on his face and a slight crease between his eyebrows. I wonder what he's thinking about.

James reaches under the table to take my hand. He leans over to press his lips against my temple. "I love you," he murmurs in my ear over the din of the restaurant.

I smile faintly. "I love you, too," I reply softly.

We were all so afraid of going out into the real world outside of Hogwarts. We thought our jobs would be impossible. We thought we would be attacked every other day by Death Eaters. We thought we'd never see each other. Now, as I look around the table at my friends, I realize all of those fears were silly.

We'll always be together.

AN: Yeah, this is very late. I had mad writer's block, and like I said, I wasn't very motivated by just five reviews. Yes, I'm being stingy. I like reviews! Please write more! I made this chapter extra long to make up for it being late, and I am posting 26 now because I wrote it as well in my absence. This is my longest chapter yet! What did you think of it? Let me know! Any suggestions? Critiques? Anything? I have some excuses for my tardiness (other than the server not responding), but I'm so frequently past my deadlines that you all have probably quit reading my excuses. But I promise I'll update sooner next time! So, please excuse my lateness! I liked introducing younger Tonks. I wanted to have her meet Remus, but I thought that would be a little much. Next chapter: Alice and Frank's wedding!

Please REVIEW! I really appreciate them!

Yours,

Paris