Lily apparated in front of the potter house that night. She hadn't really been sure what to wear, so she'd opted for a casual gray dress, it went about down to her knees and was a little tighter around the middle than she liked, but she'd forced herself to wear it anyway. It seemed to hug her fat, but then again, who cared?

Lily walked up the steps and raised her hand to knock, but before her fist even reached the door it swung open. A woman with brown hair heavily streaked with gray and a thin face opened the door. There was no way it wasn't james's mother. They had the same face shape and unmistakable cheekbones.

"You must be lily!" she exclaimed

"Yes," said lily, putting out her hand "nice to-" she was cut off by Mrs. potter grabbing her into a hug. Oh. okay. Hugging people. Got it.

"Oh i'm sorry!" she pulled away "it's just so nice to meet you, we've heard so much about you from james. Please, come in!"

Lily stepped through the doorway into a dark foyer. People were scattered around with drinks in what looked to be varying types of conversations. Some people had their heads thrown back in laughter, while others were bent forward in seriousness.

"The boys are this way." she smiled back at lily and led her to an ornate living room with a large fireplace tucked into the wall. Lily spotted James and Sirius immediately. They were some of the only people under forty there.

"James!" Mrs. Potter said as they walked up "look who's here!"

"Lily!- i see you've met my mother."

"That i have." lily nodded politely at Mrs. Potter.

"Well, i'll leave you three alone so you can pretend you're oh so exasperated with all these old people." she smiled and then bustled off, disappearing into another room.

"Well, your mum seems nice."

"Yeah she is." james nodded "and you," he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist "look fantastic."

Lily felt self conscious in this dress, so she wasn't exactly inclined to believe him, but he made her blush all the same. She turned her head around and planted a kiss to his cheek.

"Gross, old people alert." Sirius groaned, talking about them, but his timing was… not the best. He happened to say it as an actual old couple walked by. The two looked quite affronted and lily had to stifle her laugh.

"So," she pulled away from james's touch "who are all these people?" She looked around the room once more

"Honestly? I know almost none of these people. They just work with my parents. I know a few, though. Some of the aurors used to talk to me at these parties when i was younger and they saw i was bored out of my mind."

"These were the days before me, of course." sirius piped in

As if on cue a young hispanic woman in her mid twenties or so walked up and performed a long intricate handshake with james that lily couldn't begin to even want to replicate, without so much a word of real greeting or notice. For a moment a chord was struck in lily when she observed the tight, dark red dress the woman was wearing that hugged her every curve. Lily didn't have any curves, except for fat. She definitely had curves from fat.

"What's up, JJ?" The woman asked laughing and pulling him into a hug.

JJ? She had given him a nickname? And it was JJ?

"So you finally graduated? Personally, i never thought you would."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, lana." james chuckled, pulling away from the hug.

"And the black sheep!" she turned to sirius and gave him a hug too.

"Lookin' real young these days, lana. Listen, i need that skin care routine."

"And i need that hair routine, sheep boy."

"Yeah well," sirius ran a hand over his thick hair that he had slicked back into a bun "not gonna happen."

"Well, then have fun with those pores."

"Oh!" it was as if james had just realized lily was standing there "Lana, this is my girlfriend, Lily."

"Woah, woah, woah, hold the floo powder. Is this the lily? Lily evans?"
"Oh. you've heard of me?"

Lana snorted "heard of you? Ever since JJ here was eleven all i've heard is Lily this and Lily that. Nice to meet you though." she stuck out a hand. Lily shook it loosely.

"Oh. oh no. did you not know he used to be kind of obsessed with you? Oh. look at me. I've made it worse."

"No, no," lily forced a special kind of laugh reserved specifically for social situations she didn't want to be in "believe me, i knew."

"Well," lana clapped her hands together "i'm off to find the booze. Catch you kids later."

"So she seems… cool." lily decided was the word after Lana walked away

"Yeah, Lana's pretty okay." sirius nodded

"Aw, lil," james nudged her "you're turning green."

"What?"

"Talking about jealousy, evans." sirius said

"Jealousy? You- you think i'm jealous- of her? I mean, i'm not. Just because she has an arse that won't quit doesn't mean i'm jealous." lily decided

James and sirius stared at her blankly for a long moment before breaking into a huge peel of laughter.