Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. Art work by the awesome Meg (tumblr: anxiouspineapples)

Acts of Service

Sunday Night, November, 6th Year

Lily Evans was pissed. She was mad as hell that at 16 years old, a boy would treat her as though she was a child. She refused to have her independence stripped away from her like that. Fuck that. She was her own woman and she didn't need James, or anyone, to defend her. She'd been looking out for herself just fine over the past year, hadn't she? She was a smart witch. If he was really worried about her, practice dueling with her! Show her more secret passageways to escape to. Hell, lend her the cloak to protect herself in… but don't take away her say in things. Don't take away her right to privacy.

At the same time, it was all so confusing. She knew what James had done was wrong and icky and gross — but she couldn't find a fault in his intentions. He'd said he wanted to make sure she was okay, and that by itself seemed sweet. If only he'd found a healthy way to do it.

Lily stomped up to her dormitory, wishing she had someone to sort all this out with. Her gaze landed on Marlene, snuggled up beneath her blankets reading her latest book obsession. She felt like she couldn't discuss the morality of sleeping with a bloke who clearly didn't understand social decorum boundaries (but at least did seem to understand the sexual ones) with his cousin.

She settled on trying to be a good friend instead. "Hey Marlene, what's happening now?" She pointed to the paperback.

Marlene's face lit up. "Oh, it's getting so juicy. Tabby's at a real crossroads right now."

"Oh yeah?" Lily plopped down on her bed.

"Yep. She has to choose between two guys."

Lily released her hair from her tight ponytail. "What. Where'd the second lad come from?"

Marlene scrunched her nose. "Huh. Not sure, he just sort of popped up."

Lily laughed. "Must be nice."

Marlene giggled. "Right?"

The next morning, Lily noticed Sirius looked way worse for wear at the breakfast table. She smirked as she sat down opposite him. "Did you start celebrating your birthday early or something?"

Sirius looked up at her surprised, reaching for the jam. "How'd you know it's my birthday?"

It's a bloody hard date to forget. "Here," she rummaged through her bag and pulled out a vial with silver liquid, "this will help with those lacerations." She nudged her head towards his arms.

Sirius looked at her and her proffered medicine skeptically. "I'm supposed to believe you just so happened to have the exact potion for what ails me on you? Just like that?"

"Relax Black, I've been brewing supplies for Pomfrey. If you don't want it now, it will still be the same stuff she gives you when you go see her later."

"Hm." He shrugged, accepting the vial as though he saw her bluff but was being too manly not to go through with drinking it anyway. "All right, bottoms up." He downed it and then looked around pensively, waiting to turn into a frog.

Lily grinned at his mistrust of her. "Happy birthday. Don't say I never got you anything."

Sirius looked down to his cuts, healing before his eyes, then back to her. "Thanks…" His eyes were still narrowed. Lily knew a small victory when she had one. "Hey, look," he continued uneasily, "the guys are going to be throwing me a little party tonight in the common room. You're welcome to come…"

Lily smiled down to her eggs at his olive branch but knew she couldn't accept it. She'd just told James she needed space; going to a party he was hosting seemed pretty contradictory to that. "I'll pretend like I don't know about it and make sure you guys don't get busted," she offered.

Sirius threw her one of his dashing lady-killer smiles. Maybe one day they could get along.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Adam asked her that night in the library. They'd just run through their presentation for the final time, but he couldn't help but notice that she seemed completely absent.

Lily let out a deep sigh, vibrating her lips. She could tell him. "Honestly, a fucking lot happened last night."

"Oh?" Adam settled in his chair, turning to her fully.

She tugged on a strand of her silky hair as she watched a spider adding its finishing touches to a web near the corner of a bookshelf. "Have you ever seen someone do something scary and it sorta shifts your whole opinion of them?"

Adam's brows twitched. "Yes?"

"Sorry, it's silly," Lily dismissed herself.

"No, go on," Adam encouraged. "What happened?"

"It's dumb. I shouldn't even have been surprised. My sister always told me I was a terrible judge of character."

Adam smiled at her knowingly. "I thought we established that your sister's opinions shouldn't bother you?"

Lily rolled her eyes. She watched as a gnat buzzed excitedly before getting trapped in the web, flailing uselessly. "Yeah, I know, but on this, I worry that she may be right."

Adam reached for her hand on the desk, giving it a squeeze. "Well, I'd rather hang with a girl who's apparently a bad judge of character and treats everyone kindly than a good judge of character who's a bitch to everyone anyway." Lily snorted at his assessment. "Who's got you this wound up?" he asked curiously.

The spider noticed the vibrations in its web. Lily had never seen a spider move so slowly before, crawling towards the fly as though relishing in its panicked struggle. It finally reached the gnat and put it out of its misery. She couldn't believe she was relating to a fucking gnat.

"Avery tried attacking me last night," Lily admitted to part of what was on her mind.

"Avery?!" Adam cried out in an angry whisper.

Lily eyed him. "Are you really surprised?"

Adam shook his head. "Guess I shouldn't be." He turned back to her. "And you're all right?"

"Yeah. He didn't get to," Lily swallowed uncomfortably, trying not to linger on who exactly had thwarted the attack, "but it was still fucked up."

"Ugh." Adam grimaced. "I'm sorry you have to deal with that type of shit."

Lily shrugged, trying to play it off like it was no big deal. "Sadly, I'm sort of used to it at this point."

A dark look crossed over Adam's face. "It's so messed up right now, you know? I can't wait until we live in a society that's just better. Where stuff like this doesn't even need to be discussed because it's just obvious."

Lily nodded. She couldn't have said it better herself.

July, Summer Before 6th Year

Working at the bar that summer was a godsend. Lily had learnt that she dwelt less in her thoughts when she had something to do with her hands. She'd learnt how to mix and twirl bottles to keep herself and her regulars entertained.

She didn't even really mind the provocative outfit her boss made her wear (even if she hated the reason he had her wear it). Ever since Lily had started getting curves, Petunia had made fun of her for them. Suddenly, her hips were 'too wide,' her legs 'too thick,' and her arse 'too big'. Lily distinctly remembered how Petunia had lost it when her mother had embarrassingly mentioned Lily's new bra size after a shopping trip and lunged at Lily's breasts, squeezing them and claiming they couldn't be bigger than hers. That's when Lily knew her sister was truly and jealously deranged.

But Lily was determined to not let Petunia's slights about her body get to her. She loved flaunting her figure by wearing short skirts and tight tops. It reminded her that she loved her body (or at least was working her damn hardest to), even if no one else did. And, Lily reminded herself, that was what was important.

Lily also never got bored at the bar. She would spend her time trying out new accents and personas on her non-regular customers. They'd normally get so drunk by the end of the night that it wouldn't matter anyway if she'd slip up a few hours in. After all, here she was Rose. Rose was confident. Rose flirted with the patrons and told the too aggressive ones just where they could shove it. Rose made one mean martini (after all, bartending was a bit like Potions, mixing just the right amount of ingredients) and didn't know a thing about magic other than the power of a woman's laughter at a dumb man's jokes. Rose made great tips.

She got to act like a whole different person — and that person didn't have her issues. That person wasn't a friendless orphan. She could be anyone. She could be happy.

Instead of having to face her problems, Lily listened to everyone else's. It was amazing how much people were willing to tell a pretty bartender.

But perhaps the biggest perk of her job was it kept her out of the house. She'd work all night into the wee hours, sleep until noon, and then make herself scarce until her shift the next day. Lily stayed out of her foster parents' way, and that's just how they seemed to like it. She appreciated that they didn't even pretend to give a a flying fuck about her.

Then one rainy evening, her safe haven was compromised. Lily watched their entrance like it happened in slow motion. It was a quiet night before two wet teenagers burst in the door laughing rambunctiously. The shorter of the two shook his head to wick off the rain gathered in his hair as the taller one couldn't stop guffawing, eliciting the dimple in his left cheek — the one she had loved so much.

Somehow, Sirius and James had just stumbled into her Muggle bar.

Lily wasn't proud of it, but in a moment of panic, she ducked behind the counter. When she realized what she was doing, she at least had the decency to pretend to move around some bottles down there; but realistically, just how long could this move take? She hoped they were only waiting by the door until the rain stopped and then would scurry quickly back to the magical world, leaving her in peace.

But when had Lily ever been lucky?

"Are some Muggle places serve yourself or something?" She heard Sirius' drawl. Of course they were sitting at the bar.

Lily popped up, she wasn't going to hide all night after all, making Sirius nearly fall backwards off of his stool in shock. "What can I get you guys?"

James stared at her open-mouthed, as though an elusive unicorn had just appeared before him.

"All right boys, close your mouths and act like you've at least seen a woman before," Cynthia laughed as she came from the backroom. Sirius redirected his attention to Lily's coworker as she walked by to get the orders of some patrons in the corner of the pub.

"So?"

"Do you work here?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"No, I just put on this outfit and stand here for the hell of it." These words seemed to jumpstart something in James' brain and his eyes traveled down to her booty shorts. She guessed he'd never seen her in something quite this scanty before.

"Why?"

Lily tightened her hair bun frustratedly. "Well, Black, normal people need to make money for a living."

"Yeah, but we're 16," he pointed out like it changed things.

Lily leaned in, jittering with nervous energy. "Shut up, don't announce how old—"

James was still mute.

"These lads giving you any trouble, Rose?" Cynthia came back behind the bar.

"Ro—?"

"No, I know them," Lily replied with a forced smile. "We go to the same university."

Sirius' face was comically confused, but luckily Cynthia didn't notice. "Oh, I didn't know you were in school. What do you study?"

"Medicine," Lily improvised.

"Wow, good on you," Cynthia said as she finished pouring a new batch of drinks and loaded them onto a tray.

Sirius watched her go serve them. "What is university and am I good at it?"

Lily ignored him and powered through with her angry whispers. "What are you guys doing here?!"

"Hey now, that's not how you should treat your customers…" Sirius said in a carrying tone, looking around for her boss. "Merlin, it be nice to get you in trouble for a change."

"Don't." James had finally found his voice.

Sirius' mouth twitched, but he kept it down. "So Rose, can we at least get a drink, then? You are actually a bartender, right?"

Ugh. It would be insufferable having to serve these two. She really hoped they wouldn't remind her of this little scenario every second they got (as well as tell all their classmates) for the next two years. "Yes, I am," she put on her best customer service cadence. "What would you like?"

Sirius looked bored. "Surprise me."

Lily looked over to James who was ruffling his hair. "Make mine a double."

She rolled her eyes, pulled out two shot glasses, and gave each a hefty pour of tequila. If it was good enough for Sirius' birthday, it was good enough for a random Thursday.

"Ta," Sirius said, downing the drink instantly.

Lily did a quick visual sweep of the bar, ensuring everyone else had been cared for. "So. Seriously. How did you two end up here?"

Sirius shrugged as James grimaced; she hadn't given them a lemon slice. Whoops. "Ask Prongs. He's made it his own personal mission to bar crawl to every pub in London."

The alcohol had hit his cheeks fast; they were flushed. "What? Summer's the only time we can reliably get Muggle alcohol. Turns out Muggles do actually do some things better."

What a completely pompous thing to say.

Sirius clinked his empty glass against James' before motioning for Lily to refill them. She rolled her eyes as she uncorked the tequila. "Like snogging apparently. That blonde you had last week—" Sirius turned to James.

"I was—"

"I really don't need to hear this," Lily cut them both off, topping off their shot glasses. Maybe if I over-pour, they'll get so drunk they'll pass the fuck out and shut up. She really couldn't believe that of all the pubs in London, they had to come barge into hers… and make her hear about James' most recent conquests. Maybe I'll invest in some great earplugs. Or just severe my ears clean off.

"Don't be salty, Evans." Sirius smirked. "Dressed like that, I'm sure you're getting loads of action yourself."

She gave him a false smile and sauntered off to a couple who had just seated themselves at the other end of the counter.

Sirius and James left shortly after Cynthia tried and failed to persuade Lily to perform for their open mic night since no one else was volunteering ("Come on, Rose! I've heard you sing when you think you're alone in the backroom!") After they did, Lily felt like she must have dreamt up their visit. Her Hogwarts life had become such a different entity in her mind that it was hard for her to reconcile it with her day-to-day life now.

Remus continued to write her a couple days later — Death Eater activity was apparently on the rise and it terrified him. Lily confessed in return how hard it was living with her foster parents and how she was trying to do her best to save up for school supplies, but it had grown more difficult since they'd started charging her for rent and she was already buying her own food (and soon Petunia's when they realized just how many hours she was working). 'Guess it's good practice for the real world,' she signed her letter off with to keep the boy from worrying about her too much. She wanted to be honest — but not pathetically so.

Meanwhile, James started coming in once a week to basically remind her how the other half lived. Sirius mostly wasn't with him, so he'd just sit in the back corner of the pub and read Quidditch books, seemingly writing down different plays and strategies. Must be nice to not have a care in the world. Lily had to reprimand him a couple times when one of her other customers said they must be completely wasted because pictures were starting to move.

James wouldn't even bother converting his Gallons into pounds, so she'd always have to pay for his drinks from her paycheck. The inconvenience, and irritation that resulted from Gus' frequent lectures when he caught her paying for him, made her eventually stop telling James his conversion rate was way off. He was giving her about ten times the amount of the simple (yet so strange) coconut beer he'd always get. He was the only patron who'd ever order it — and Lily sheepishly asked to keep it on tap when Gus considered replacing it. She figured James really was a peculiar bloke… and this was probably the only place he could find that beer.

She hated to admit it, but it was nice to see him, even if from afar for a few hours. It reminded her of home. She guessed he'd conditioned her that way by how annoying he'd gotten at the end of the school year by redoubling his efforts to ask her out. At least he's giving that a rest in the summer…

"So, is Black really that annoying that you keep needing breaks from him?" she asked as she wiped down his table, closing up for the night.

He looked down at his watch. "Oh wow, it's already that late?"

Lily sighed taking his empty pint glass. She guessed time flew when you were getting hit on by attractive women all evening. He didn't even have to do anything, she silently fumed. They just approached him and flirted their little hearts out. He has it so easy. She begrudgingly remembered when she'd been one of those girls. "Yep."

James shrugged on his expensive-looking grey peacoat. She'd never seen it before; he must have gotten it this summer. "Halfway decent service as always, Evans," he said, fixing his collar.

Lily scoffed, finishing cleaning up the bar. "I'll make sure to add that to my resume."

"Why don't you use your wand now? There's no one else here."

She stiffened, realizing he was right. Suddenly the air just felt different.

Since her shorts weren't even long enough to house her wand, she'd started wearing it in her hair to keep up her topknot. Most days she forgot it was even there. She gave him a look like he was an idiot. "It's for emergencies only, Potter. We're still underage, remember?"

James' eyes widened at her. "Seriously?! You follow that rule?"

Lily's scrub stopped midway. "It's not a rule, it's a law. Don't you want to be an Auror?"

"Aw, you remembered," he smirked at her.

Lily grumbled, looking back down so he couldn't see her blush, "Hard to forget when you announced to Slughorn it was the only reason you were taking his class next year."

"I can't be all their favorites. Figured I'd let you have the one." If Lily rolled her eyes any harder, she was afraid they'd get permanently stuck. "But quit distracting me, you actually haven't done magic this whole summer?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah, Potter. Ever since I got a letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office summer after 3rd year when I accidentally blew up my sister—"

"Hold on, blew up?!"

"Okay, just lightly inflated—"

"Wicked," James grinned.

"It was an accident, anyway, I got a very scary, very official letter. So I know: it's illegal," Lily finished confidently.

"Okay, but that was before you moved, yeah?"

"Yes…"

"So…" James was waiting for her to connect the dots. "You lived in the middle of nowhere. When you did magic, they knew it was you. You're in London now. There's no way they'll catch you. Live a little, Evans." How did he have the ability to make anything and everything sound so damn enticing?

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. She wouldn't put it past him to try to get her expelled from Hogwarts so she'd have to work at this bar and fetch him beers forever. "Prove it."

James rolled his eyes but pulled out his wand, performing a silent spell. Next thing she knew, her halter top string had come undone at her neck and she had to rush to grab the ends before they fell and exposed her. "Fucking hell, Potter!" she cried, turning around and retying her top.

"I'd say sorry, but…"

"Yeah, you're not," she carped. She was waiting for the inevitable crash of an owl coming through the window to tell James he was going to be reprimanded, but it never came. "I can't believe—" she turned around, but he was no longer there. "Potter?" She hadn't even heard him leave. "Typical," she huffed to herself.

She cast one last furtive look around as she pulled her wand out of her hair. She performed a few cleaning spells on the glassware with a rebellious little smile. To her pleasant surprise, no one smote her where she stood.

She locked up and nearly frolicked home (she was a witch again!) — at least until she turned onto her street. Please let them be passed out already, please let them be passed out…

Lily's luck started changing in August. Firstly, she'd received a letter from McGonagall saying that as a special thank you for their service to the school, Hogwarts was paying for the prefects' school supplies this year. They would be owled to her by the end of the month. Secondly, a super bubbly man in the most pressed khakis and brightest white shirt she'd ever seen came to their door one day and refused to 'bugger off,' even after repeatedly being told to do so by a very irate Mag and Rick. Apparently, her foster parents had drunkenly entered a sweepstakes and won the grand prize of an all-expenses paid month-long cruise to the Caribbean. As soon as the pair had heard alcohol was included, Lily didn't think she'd ever seen two humans pack so fast.

Petunia celebrated their absence by kicking Lily out of her room, but after Lily had washed (and disinfected) the master bedroom several times, it really wasn't the worst trade.

By week two, Petunia was staying in the apartment a little more and even offhandedly thanked Lily for buying groceries. Lily secretly cherished what would probably be her last month of living with her psycho sister. By the end of the month, she'd actually agreed to accompany Lily to go buy some cute new clothes together. (She ended up making fun of every outfit Lily chose, but that's how Lily knew they were good ones.)

Next Chapter: Padfoot's Pain

(Yaaaasss, finally!)