James staggered into his bar a few days later confused and in pain. Not only did he have a splitting headache but he could feel his heart breaking, where was Lily, his Lily. James slumped onto a barstool and looked at the bartender who was cleaning the bar, ready for that evening's expected clientele.

"Jeez, you don't look good at all." He said to James.

"Still no Lily." James said letting his head hit the table and immediately regretting it.

"Here." The bartender said, he held out a bottle of some liquid and handed it to James. James took it and looked at it suspiciously.

"HELLO MY FRIEND JAMES!" Sirius said loudly and happily. James dropped the bottle and put his hands to his ears.

"Please, I have a migraine and a hang over-" James said as he turned around. He stopped dead when he saw who was with Sirius. James stared wide eyed as he looked at the woman with dark red hair and emerald green eyes. She gave him a nervous smile. James got up and ran to Lily. She put her arms around him tightly as he squeezed her in a tight hug. His headache and hangover instantly disappearing.

"Sorry I didn't owl you." Lily muttered as she hugged James.

"As long as you're alright." James whispered. He breathed in and took in everything about Lily. Her scent, how she looked, felt because it might be the last time. As James had learnt over several years and the past few weeks, never take Lily for granted. They both pulled away slightly and James gave Lily a long and passionate kiss. Sirius smiled to himself and went to the bar as the couple got reacquainted.

"Can we be somewhere a bit more private?" Lily asked James quietly, she glanced at Sirius and the Barkeeper. James looked and nodded.

"Come with me." James said. As James passed Sirius, Sirius gave him a wink and went back to talking to the barkeeper about his latest quidditch match.

A few minutes later Lily was sitting on James' bed playing with a lock of hair and having a distant look on her face. James looked at her and quickly changed his shirt, as he did so Lily glanced at him and smiled sadly. She stared at her reflection in a mirror that hung on the wall and sighed. James turned to Lily and sat down on the bed opposite her.

"So, how are you?" James asked.

"I'm fine." Lily said distantly, like her mind wasn't really on talking.

"Where did you go?" James asked.

"Well, at first I stayed at my sister's house but she kicked me out when I accidentally did something to her husband." Lily said, she looked at her legs, that were partially under her.

"So you've been wondering the streets?" James asked concerned.

"Sort of." Lily said. "I've done it before so I knew the places to go." James reached for one of Lily's hands and held it tightly.

"Why didn't you just come here?" James asked. Lily shrugged.

"I didn't want to be anywhere near Cara, Its like I can feel her." Lily said. "She's been looking after me so much," Lily didn't really finish her sentence but James didn't press her to tell anymore. James moved up on the bed and sat next to Lily. He put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. She put her head on James' shoulder and closed her eyes with a hand playing with his shirt.

"What happened between you and your cousin?" James asked. Lily's eyes shot open.

"Um-" Lily started to say, should she tell him the truth, that she was supposed to scam James out of his money but fell in love with him or should she lie, again. "We had an argument." Lily said. "She didn't want me seeing you."

"Why?" James asked cuddling Lily even more. Lily bit her lip nervously.

"She never really gave me a reason." Lily said, avoiding James' gaze. "James, can I stay here for a while? I don't really want to go and live with Cara."

"But isn't it your house?" James asked confused.

"Yeah, I was lying about that, I'm staying with Cara, she's the one that owns the apartment." Lily said.

"Oh, right. Well stay here as long as you want. You're safe here." James said. "Lily, before you do anything can I ask you something?" James asked. Lily turned and looked at James straight in the eyes.

"It depends on what it is." Lily said.

"Will you marry me?" James said. Lily looked at him slightly startled. Should she accept the proposal? "You don't have to answer now." James added quickly, seeing the surprise on Lily's face. "You can have some time. I know that you've been through a lot recently and stuff, so that might have come as a bit of a shock, just tell me your answer when you're ready." James said. Lily smiled and kissed his chin.

"I love you." Lily said with a smile, "Can I get some sleep and then I'll tell you?"

"Of course." James said slightly on edge. Lily smiled and lay down partly on James and put her head on James' shoulder. James felt his headache slowly coming back and silently cursed himself for not taking the Barkeeper's hangover cure. There was a soft knock at the door and James looked up to see Sirius at the door.

"How is she?" Sirius asked quietly, not wanting to wake up Lily.

"She's fine." James said. "Where did you find her?"

"Down some road near the Ministry. I saw her and I didn't think it'd be Lily but I went and asked her who she was and it was her." Sirius said.

"I asked her to marry me." James said sadly.

"Oh, well done, what did she say?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"She didn't answer. I said she could tell me later." James said. Sirius winced like James had just hit him.

"That was a bad idea." He said.

"I know." James said. "I hope that she says yes."

"You would." Sirius said with a smirk. "You want me to go over and tell her cousin that she's here?" Sirius asked. James looked at Lily and brushed a lock of red hair away from her face.

"No, let Lily tell her when she's ready." James said. "Something about Lily's attitude tells me she didn't really want to come back." Sirius nodded.

"She was really reluctant to come back." Sirius said.

"Thanks Padfoot." James said looking at Sirius, "For bringing her back."

"No problem mate." Sirius said putting a hand on James' shoulder and squeezing it slightly. "Now, I have a practice to get to. Tell her I said hi." Sirius said getting up and leaving the room. James smiled to himself and closed his eyes as well.

* * * *

Cara

I'm back in Krushen Close but I'm not going to return home. I would appreciate it if you could send all my stuff to James' house. I'm not sure if I should tell you now but we're going to get married. I don't care what you have to say about it but I'm through with the business we were into before I met James again but he's brought out the old me. The honest me and I don't want anything else to do with our old business. You will get an invite to the wedding, only because you're my 'cousin' but I would really appreciate it if you didn't try anything with James and ruin my life even more.

Lily

Cara crumpled up the letter frustrated. She went to him instead of coming home. Cara must have hurt her more then she thought. Cara looked at Hamon, who was sitting in front of the Muggle TV watching it with a pot of ice cream on his lap. Cara went to him and hit him around the head.

"Ow!" Hamon said. He turned around and looked at Cara. "What?"

"I need you to do some manual labour." Cara said.

"What if I'm not up to it?" Hamon asked.

"Well, then I'm going to have to threaten you aren't I?" Cara said. "I want all of Lily's things packed and ready for when I come back."

"Where are you going?" Hamon asked.

"To go and see Lily."

"Oh, has she written to you?" Hamon asked eagerly.

"Yes she has, and she's marrying James."

"Oh, brilliant, I can get my money now and get home." Hamon said. Cara gave him a sceptical look before picking up her wand and heading to the door.

Cara walked into the Seven Wands bar and saw her young red haired friend standing behind a counter practicing how to fill up a glass of beer while having her black haired fiancé kissing her neck.

"James stop it." Lily said shrugging him away.

"I can't. There's something about your neck." James said as he moved to the other side of her neck. Lily laughed looked towards the door. Her smile and laugh faded away instantly.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked Cara coldly. James stopped kissing Lily and looked up. When he saw Cara he put his arms protectively around Lily's waist.

"I've come to say hi and see how you are." Cara said, "It's the least I can do after what happened." Lily looked at her coldly. "And congratulations on your engagement." James smiled slightly but when he looked at Lily, who wasn't smiling, he looked serious again.

"Thanks, now leave." Lily said.

"Lily, I want to make things better between us." Cara said. "What will it take? I can't get you to move back, obviously, but I want you to be talking to me again." Lily looked at Cara to see if she was lying or not. Lily knew Cara well and nodded as she seemed to think that Cara was telling the truth.

"Ok, but you say anything about-"

"Don't worry. My opinion on your choice in husband will stay my opinion." Cara said. Lily nodded and put the glass of beer down.

"James, can we speak alone for a moment." Lily said to her new fiancé.

"Ok," James said, "Don't hurt yourself" He whispered into Lily's ear before giving her a gentle kiss on her lips and disappearing off into the back room with the glass of beer that Lily had just poured.

"So when's the wedding?" Cara asked sitting down at the bar.

"In two weeks." Lily said washing her hands in a sink by the beer taps.

"You know it's unlucky to get married within three months of being engaged." Cara said casually.

"Oh shut up." Lily said cattily. "What are you really doing here?"

"To see how you are, I haven't heard from you in two and a half weeks. I was really worried. So was Hamon." Lily raised an eyebrow at this.

"Get out." Lily said.

"What?" Cara asked, "I just got here."

"To ask me to hurt James. I'm not doing it get out." Lily said.

"Lily, Hamon wants his money and I don't have the money, it's split between your account and mine and the money in my account is nearly gone. We need the money to get rid of Hamon. You have a chance of getting that money."

"And risk losing the man I love in the process? I don't think so Cara." Lily said. "I love James and I'm not going to hurt him."

"You won't be hurting him though. Someone else just has to get James to kiss them and poof, you have a divorce-"

"I'm not getting a divorce and I'm not going to hurt myself either just to help you get rid of your ex-husband." Lily snapped at Cara.

"You haven't changed him Lily, you said yourself he was a player. When a guy is a player, he's always a player. There's no changing players. He'll be kind and love you until someone hotter and younger then you comes along."

"James would never do that." Lily said.

"I know his type Lily. He'll hurt you and you'll come crawling back to me asking for help." Cara said. "You might as well get something out of it, it's going to happen eventually."

"No Cara, you're wrong and I'll prove it. He'll marry me and we'll be happy, forever." Lily said.

"That's exactly what I thought when I went into my first marriage." Cara said. "It didn't work out the way I planned." Lily looked at Cara with a set face.

"Get out of the bar." Lily said.

"Fine, but I'll be the first to say I told you so when you come crawling back to me all hurt and depressed because James has cheated on you." Cara said. She got up and left the bar. Lily was ready to curse the hell out of Cara. She used all her will power not to hurt her, as much as she deserved it.

"You ok?" James asked coming out of the back room with an empty beer glass. Lily shook her head as if to clear her head and smiled at James.

"I will be." Lily said, "As soon as you give me a kiss, right here." She said pointing to her mouth. James grinned.