A relationship with James Potter isn't easy, but when 30 of the greatest witches and wizards are involved it's nearly impossible. Lily and James must work through every little spat and move on, that is if everyone else will leave them alone.
------------
Where the Spat Solvers Meet
Not for the first time, she found herself wondering whether Dumbledore was brilliant or just a few twigs short of a broomstick as she took in the neon pink sign before her. Its hideous light seeped into the night sky, offending the natural pigments of the surrounding buildings.
Svenka's Ethnic Discotheque
He had chosen the new headquarters well. Surely no one would stumble upon tonight's meeting accidentally, and no Death Eater would be caught dead in the vicinity of the smallest placard resembling the words before her.
Realizing that it might seem peculiar for a cloaked woman to be simply staring at a dance club, she crossed the deserted street and approached the door.
"Password?" familiar, though slightly muffled, voice asked.
She promptly replied with the usual "Cardoza," and waited for the door to open.
"Good to see you, Lily," a smiling face greeted.
"Good to see you, too, Sturgis. How've you been?" Sturgis Podmore had been Head Boy the year Lily made prefect and in the three years since then had been working as an Obliviator.
"Not bad, and yourself?"
"About the same."
"'S good to hear. The others are in the back room. Go through the first two doors then take a left. James isn't here yet."
"Alright," Lily said, annoyed that he thought James would be the first thing on her mind. "You wouldn't happen to know when the meeting's supposed to start, would you?" Dumbledore never told any of the Order when a meeting would start, just when they were supposed to be there. He staggered their arrivials to avoid having thirty odd witches and wizards flood a seemingly obsure place.
"Dumbledore said sometime around 8:42." Lily looked at her watch. 8:18. She estimated that a little less than half the Order would be in the backroom, which meant she'd have ample time to visit with whoever was present and find the seat that would place her as far as possible from James.
"Thanks Sturgis. I'll see you then."
"I'll tell James you're waiting for him," he offered.
"Don't trouble yourself," she said a little too quickly. "I'm sure he'll be late enough as it is and I wouldn't want to have to hold him up any longer than necessary." He seemed to accept this and nodded his head. Lily navigated her way through the discotheque, finding the back room with little trouble, thanks to Sturgis' directions.
A covert alliance of wizards aimed at fighting the Dark Arts could not have met in a more ludricous place. Though it was only a backroom, it still came complete with disco ball and floor-to-ceiling speakers. Rows of obviously-conjured chairs faced the farthest of the four black walls. The gray floor was littered with gum, gum wrappers, bits of paper and, lurking in the far corner, what looked suspiciously like a condom.
It felt odd being there without James. Usually they came together, but tonight James would be arriving alongside Sirius, as Lily had not-so-subtlely suggested. She scanned the room for someone to talk to, her eyes settling on Benjy Fenwick. He repeatedly glanced over at Marlene McKinnon while pretending to listen to the Prewetts. He had been trying to win Mrs. McKinnon's approval for as long as Lily had known him. He had been seeing her daughter, Paula, for just as long, and was intent on presenting himself as the ideal son-in-law. He might as well have ingratitated himself to a wall, however since Mrs. McKinnon hadn't the slightest idea her daughter even interacted with the opposite sex.
Lily made her way towards the threesome, but was waylayed by a tall, regal-looking witch in deep blue robes.
"Oh, hello, Lily dear," she greeted with a smile.
"It's good to see you Emmaline," she returned, the faintest hint of nervousness in her voice. Lily had always been intimidated by Emmaline Vance. She never felt more plebeian than when she stood next to her. Her lofty stature and swan-like mannerisms seemed to place them in the role of aristocrat and peasant, Emmaline always the former.
"Where's James?" she asked, mildly surprised he wasn't within the usual arms' length of her.
"I expect he's on his way here. He's coming with Sirius." Lily said, trying to pass herself off as disinterested..
Emmaline looked a bit surprised at this information. "I'm surprised Dumbledore didn't schedule you two together. If you want I can ask him to--"
"No there's no need for that, Emmaline," Lily hastilly cut in. "But, thank you so much for your offer...now, if you'll forgive me I have to have a few words with Benjy. An old friend of mine from Hogwarts is very interested in meeting him," she lied.
"Oh alright, well I won't keep you." Emmaline made a move to leave.
"Wait, Emmaline, will you save me a seat. I really do want to catch up with you." She didn't want Emmaline to think she harbored any ill feelings towards her. Sure, she wasn't her favorite person, but Lily didn't want Emmaline to suspect that. There were few enough in the Order as it was---the last thing they needed was for them to start fighting.
"Of course, Lily. Not that we can talk during the meeting, though." Lily couldn't determine if she was joking or not so she just smiled and told her she would see her in a few minutes.
------
"Good evening, boys," she greeted the group she had first noticed upon walking into the room.
"Evening, Lily" they greeted.
Fabian Prewett, or maybe it was Gideon, had to add, "Where's James?"
"I'm sure you can ask him when he gets here," she answered somewhat cooly. She turned her attention from the nearly identical blond brothers and focused it instead on the orange-haired man. "Benjy, might I have a word?"
"Surely, Lily." He excused himself and walked off to another section of the room with Lily.
"What'd you have to tell me?" he asked. He cast a glance at the doorway. If James Potter walked in and saw his girlfriend and himself alone in the most secluded area of the room, there'd be hell to pay.
"Nothing, actually," she said frankly. "You just looked less than enthralled with the Prewetts, so I thought I'd save you."
He rivited his steel-toned eyes on hers. "What if I were to say that we were having quite the interesting conversation?"
Lily shifted nervously. She really didn't know Benjy all that well and, for all she knew, he might simply always wear a bored expression. "I'd have just made a prat of myself."
He smiled. "Yes, and you'd also know I was a liar." She laughed. "No, really though, thanks for that. I was seriously considering stunning myself just to escape them. I sometimes think the only reason they interact with other people is so that they can see who's the bigger braggart. One of them talks about the London Orchestra wanting him to play the cello for them and the other goes on about how the Prophet is simply begging him to let them do a five-page spread on him...anyway, enough about them. Do you have any idea when this thing is set to start?"
"Sturgis said 8:42, so I'm guessing another fifteen minutes to until everyone's here and we can start."
"So I take it your boyfriend will be here in twenty, then?" He smirked. Lily visibly tensed.
"If you're refering to James--"
"--You two had a row, eh?" She scowled in reply. "Alright, I get it. Touchy subject. Just try not to stay mad at him for too long." Had Lily been a man, she was sure that Benjy would be thumping her on the back. "He's probably kicking himself right now." Lily hoped that if James was doing that he was kicking hard. "I'm going to go get something to drink? Do you want anything?"
"No," she grumbled, "I'm fine." She didn't need the Order assuring her that things between herself and James would sort themselves out. She needed someone to whom she could vent and who would respond with calling James a sodding bastard and assuring her that she's better off without him. Lily thouroughly regretted not asking any of her friends to join the Order with her. At the time, she had been worried of possibly inviting the one who would betray the group, but, looking back, she knew none of her friends would join the Dark Side. After all, they not only harbored a deep respect for Dumbledore, but also befriended a Muggle-born in a time where doing so could be an invitation to persecution.
James got his friends to join, she thought darkly. He'd pulled for a Death Eater's brother, a werewolf and a talentless liability to join an organization that could barely support its devotees, much less them. Perhaps she herself had only been invited because of her ties to James...
No, she thought. She had proven herself long before she and James had gotten together. She'd made prefect and Head Girl, which surely meant something to Dumbledore. And she'd accomplished those by standing up to James, not by being his girlfriend.
"If you're looking for Lily, last I saw her she was standing near one of the speakers."
Lily heard her name, wheezily-spoken, from across the room. She turned to find Sirius and James talking to Elphais Doge. She noticed that James looked very sullen. She was relieved he didn't show up drunk, or worse, happy. She looked at her watch, and, since there was less than two minutes until the meeting was set to start, took her place next to Emmaline. She noticed that the seat next to her was empty, but moments later Alice Jacey-soon-to-be-Longbottom sat beside her. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be sitting next to the sickeningly nice, blissful bride-to-be, but she was loads better than James.
Alice's face broke into a smile so huge it had to be painful upon seeing Lily. "Lily dear, where have you been hiding?"
"Oh, you know...around" she answered vaguely. She was attempting to tune her ears to whatever Gideon/Fabian Prewett was saying four rows over.
"What'd you do to your girl, Potter, that would make her want to get cosy with Fenwick?" Lily balled her hands into tight fists that longed to collide with a Potter or a Prewett. Alice squeezed her arm, distracting her from her rage.
"It's so good to see you. You and James haven't had a spat, have you? When Dorcas said that you were I just couldn't believe it and I told her that she had to be mistaken. But she told me that she heard it straight from Dumbledore himself which I think is rubbish because Dumbledore was talking to Mad-Eye this whole time. But she said that--"
Lily was spared answering when Dumbledore stood before the Order of the Pheonix and beconed for silence. For a moment Lily feared that the first thing out of his mouth would be something along the lines of, "First order of business: Lily and James have had a row this morning."
"Good evening, everyone. First of all, I invite you to take notice of those of us who are absent today and please ask them to meet with me so that I can brief them, personally." He paused, during which which nearly every head turned about to see which members were and were not present. Amoung others, Lily noticed that Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew weren't in the room. Then she scolded herself for forgeting that they were James' friends and she wanted nothing to do with them. She scolded herself for her adolescent tactics a moment later. After all, she was the mature one in the relationship, as was proven a few hours before. Thinking ill of anyone just because they were close to James wasn't included in her list of duties as the better person.
"Secondly, if you haven't done so already, commit Svenka's Ethnic Discotheque to memory, since we'll be having our meetings here until further notice. A reliable source informed me that Lord Voldemort has become suspicious of the abandoned shoe store. I must say, this is a nice change, since that space wasn't so accomidating to our dancing needs." There were a few scattered laughs. "And now the real reason I called you all here is...."
------
An hour or so filled with grim tidings later, Dumbledore waved his wand and platters of Hogwarts-grade food appeared on the tables that had previously featured drinks. The throng of recently-depressed people immediately vacated their seats and crowded around the food. Lily was just about to grab a Pumpkin Pasty when she felt someone jab her in the back. She ignored it and closed her hand over the pastry, ignoring the silver tongs beside the pasties.
Again, she felt the acute pressure and turned around in order to tell the offending party to be patient. However, once she recognized the person as Sirius Black, she realized that he probably wasn't pushing to get a cauldron cake, and even if he was, telling him to be patient would be about as pointless as telling a pen to rob a bank.
"What?" she asked, not in the mood for even the simplest pleasantries. Hello, being one of them.
He took a deep breath before speaking. He knew that Lily's reaction to what he was about to say was of the utmost importance to his best friend and, by six degrees of seperation, him as well. "Look, Lily I'm really sorry about yesterday. We had no idea that it was going to take so long, I mean every time those two teams have played each other it's been over in three hours tops. And James tried to plan for the worst, he really did. He walked into the stands with two full days to spend, but--"
"--But not two and a half," Lily finished. "But Sirius that doesn't justify why he didn't just leave early." Sirius stared at Lily until she began to wonder whether she had just spoken Finnish.
"You can't leave a Quidditch game early, Lily," explained Sirius. He was trying to conceal an unidentified emotion from reflecting on his face. "You're forbidden to leave the grounds. It's something about no one would stay until the ends if we could leave."
"Oh..." she stared at him blankly for a few moments. She hadn't felt this stupid since that one time in fourth year when she asked her dormmates what they meant when they said a boy was "polishing his wand." "Well if James has anything to say to me he should come over here and say it himself."
"So you want me to get him?"
"Whatever you do is up to you." Sirius smiled, knowing that his best friend was about to sport a much less stroppy attitude.
---------
Moments later, James walked slowly towards Lily. He kept his hands in his pockets to avoid running them through his hair. He was already in hot enough water; the last thing he needed was to infuriate her further.
"Hi," he said almost shyly.
"Look, James....about this morning...I didn't know you weren't allowed to leave early.." James stared at her as she stared a the floor. "...and...just...well...sorry." she squeaked the last word, reminding him strangely of Peter. Her high tone drew the attention of a nearby pair. Refusing to feed their curiosity, James made a move towards the door and motioned for Lily to follow him.
"No, I'm sorry," he said as they both walked into the crisp, late-fall air. "I shouldn't have gone. I put you in a horrid situation. It was really rotten of me."
"James you're parents aren't that bad. I really like them, in fact. Normally I have a lovely time when we go there for brunch. And it's not fair to you to not go to a Quidditch game. The reason I got so mad was just--"
"--because it was awkward being my girlfriend around them without me. I know. And Love, I swear it will never happen again."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're not swearing off going to Quidditch games, are you? Because if you are--"
"I never said anything about giving Quidditch up. I don't think I'd ever say anything about giving Quidditch up. In fact, if I ever do say something like that then you can take it as a dead give away that I am not really James Potter." James was rambling. The cool, calculated James Potter rarely rambled, unless he was nervous. What could make him nervous at ten o'clock at night in the middle of a vacant, Muggle backroad was a mystery to Lily.
"I'd like to think, James, that if someone ever did impersonate you, we wouldn't have to start talking Quidditch until I realized it wasn't you." She smiled at him.
"Yes, well," he cleared his throught, "you shouldn't have to visit with my parents anymore--without me--as my girlfriend--if you don't want."
"James, really, it was no problem--"
"No, I'm serious. I won't let it happen again. Ever," he empahised.
"So what are you going to do James? You're not going to make yourself choose between your parents and myself are you? Because you don't have to and I don't want you to think that you have to because I know it was out of your control and it's really no big deal because everything's forgiven, on my part at least.
"Lily, I don't want you to go to brunch there as my girlfriend anymore." Lily's eyes grew wide in disbelief. James couldn't be dumping her after they had just made up, could he?
"But I like having brunch there, James," She blurted out.
"I want you to go as my wife."
She stared at him for what felt like years to James before exclaiming, "What?"
"I want to marry you, Lily. Will you let me?"
She mouthed wordlessly until she finally sputtered out, "W-W-Well, yes, of course." James moved in to punctuate her sentance with a kiss, but was stopped by Lily's voice. "But James, we're so young."
"Age has nothing to do with anything, Lily, you know that. Some people don't find anyone in a hundred years. I have my someone right now." Seeing she was not convinced, he added, "and it's just an engagement, love. We won't be walking down the isle or anything tomorrow."
"When do you think we will get married then?"
"Oh I don't know...six months? A year?"
"A year, James? We'll be nineteen in a year. We'd still be considered teenagers, technically."
"That's assuming we live another year."
Lily frowned. "James, I want to marry you, you know I do, but I'm not going to do it because of the off chance that either one of us gets ourselves killed."
"I'm serious. Voldemort isn't making things any easier for us. And even if all we've been doing lately is going to meetings and listening to people talk about battling Death Eaters. Soon we're going to be the ones facing the Death Eaters. We can't hide behind our ages for much longer. I'd just like to know that if my life is short, then I've spent as much as I could with you." Lily wanted nothing better than to draw James to her and hold him while she whispered reassurances in his ear and kissed his anxieties away. They were too young to have conversations like this. His words belonged to some soldier departing for the ensanguined front in one of the great wars. Coming from his mouth they seemed strange and frightening but eerily at home.
She held his head in her palms, trying to hide the tears that glazed her eyes. "James don't talk like this." She rose on her toes to kiss him on the forehead. "You're going to live until you're too old to remember how old you are." She kissed his cheek. "We'll watch our children grow up with no remnants of Voldemort but in our memories." His other cheek. "We'll nag them to give us grandchildren." His nose. "Then we'll nag our grandchildren for great-grandchildren." Finally, his mouth.
James was the first to speak after their kiss. "All the same, I realized today that I don't ever want to be without you. I don't want to have to go about my life knowing I'm not welcome to see you whenever I can. What would be the harm in getting a head start on our marriage?"
"I suppose I'm just being silly. I think that I just have this hope that if we wait just a little longer our side will have won and we can start our marriage off on a happy note, not having to worry about Death Eaters interrupting our first dance. I do love you, and don't think for a moment that I wouldn't ever not want to marry you."
"Then, really i shouldn't ask if you'll marry me, but when you'll marry me."
"Exactly." She punctuated her sentence with a kiss.
"Warm up to any date yet?" he asked.
She bit her lip, as though deep in thought. "You know, Love, I think I'm pretty much booked."
James made a face. "What could possibly keep you so busy?"
"Well, you see there's this Dark Lord and he's quite needy in the attention department..."
"I'll have a chat with him. I'm sure he'll see things our way."
"You're right. I'm sure under that sadistic, evil exterior he's a regular softie. Still he's not even the worst thing."
"This other thing must be pretty bad then. What is it?" James was fighting hard not to let a grin loose on his face.
Lily snaked her arms around his neck. "You see I have this boyfriend..." She leaned in to kiss him yet again.
James put up his hand to stop her. "Ah say no more. Does he drag you away from your normal Sunday activities to have brunch with his parents?"
"You know the type too, eh? The arrogant kind that just assumes that I have time to marry him?"
"The nerve of some people!" James feigned shock.
"That's not the least of it," Lily elaborated solemnly. "He never puts the cap back on the toothpaste and he's always running his hands through his hair when he's nervous and he mmmmph!" This kiss was more passionate than the others and ended only when the couple was in danger of suffocating.
"This boyfriend sounds like quite the piece of work. Would you like me to have a chat with him?"
"You know, don't bother. I have a feeling a few spaces in my calender might have just opened up." She slipped her hand into his and no other words were spoken, nor were they needed. The pair risked walking back to James' flat a few blocks away, both smiling as though they hadn't a care in the world or a brain in their heads.
--------
A/N: Alright another one-shot courtesy of me. I have an alternate ending to this(not on paper, in my head, alongside all my other stories) and then I have a piece of a follow up piece that I'll probably never follow up with. Forgive any typos. I checked it over, but I'm human and one without spellcheck.
Don't forget to REVIEW.
------------
Where the Spat Solvers Meet
Not for the first time, she found herself wondering whether Dumbledore was brilliant or just a few twigs short of a broomstick as she took in the neon pink sign before her. Its hideous light seeped into the night sky, offending the natural pigments of the surrounding buildings.
Svenka's Ethnic Discotheque
He had chosen the new headquarters well. Surely no one would stumble upon tonight's meeting accidentally, and no Death Eater would be caught dead in the vicinity of the smallest placard resembling the words before her.
Realizing that it might seem peculiar for a cloaked woman to be simply staring at a dance club, she crossed the deserted street and approached the door.
"Password?" familiar, though slightly muffled, voice asked.
She promptly replied with the usual "Cardoza," and waited for the door to open.
"Good to see you, Lily," a smiling face greeted.
"Good to see you, too, Sturgis. How've you been?" Sturgis Podmore had been Head Boy the year Lily made prefect and in the three years since then had been working as an Obliviator.
"Not bad, and yourself?"
"About the same."
"'S good to hear. The others are in the back room. Go through the first two doors then take a left. James isn't here yet."
"Alright," Lily said, annoyed that he thought James would be the first thing on her mind. "You wouldn't happen to know when the meeting's supposed to start, would you?" Dumbledore never told any of the Order when a meeting would start, just when they were supposed to be there. He staggered their arrivials to avoid having thirty odd witches and wizards flood a seemingly obsure place.
"Dumbledore said sometime around 8:42." Lily looked at her watch. 8:18. She estimated that a little less than half the Order would be in the backroom, which meant she'd have ample time to visit with whoever was present and find the seat that would place her as far as possible from James.
"Thanks Sturgis. I'll see you then."
"I'll tell James you're waiting for him," he offered.
"Don't trouble yourself," she said a little too quickly. "I'm sure he'll be late enough as it is and I wouldn't want to have to hold him up any longer than necessary." He seemed to accept this and nodded his head. Lily navigated her way through the discotheque, finding the back room with little trouble, thanks to Sturgis' directions.
A covert alliance of wizards aimed at fighting the Dark Arts could not have met in a more ludricous place. Though it was only a backroom, it still came complete with disco ball and floor-to-ceiling speakers. Rows of obviously-conjured chairs faced the farthest of the four black walls. The gray floor was littered with gum, gum wrappers, bits of paper and, lurking in the far corner, what looked suspiciously like a condom.
It felt odd being there without James. Usually they came together, but tonight James would be arriving alongside Sirius, as Lily had not-so-subtlely suggested. She scanned the room for someone to talk to, her eyes settling on Benjy Fenwick. He repeatedly glanced over at Marlene McKinnon while pretending to listen to the Prewetts. He had been trying to win Mrs. McKinnon's approval for as long as Lily had known him. He had been seeing her daughter, Paula, for just as long, and was intent on presenting himself as the ideal son-in-law. He might as well have ingratitated himself to a wall, however since Mrs. McKinnon hadn't the slightest idea her daughter even interacted with the opposite sex.
Lily made her way towards the threesome, but was waylayed by a tall, regal-looking witch in deep blue robes.
"Oh, hello, Lily dear," she greeted with a smile.
"It's good to see you Emmaline," she returned, the faintest hint of nervousness in her voice. Lily had always been intimidated by Emmaline Vance. She never felt more plebeian than when she stood next to her. Her lofty stature and swan-like mannerisms seemed to place them in the role of aristocrat and peasant, Emmaline always the former.
"Where's James?" she asked, mildly surprised he wasn't within the usual arms' length of her.
"I expect he's on his way here. He's coming with Sirius." Lily said, trying to pass herself off as disinterested..
Emmaline looked a bit surprised at this information. "I'm surprised Dumbledore didn't schedule you two together. If you want I can ask him to--"
"No there's no need for that, Emmaline," Lily hastilly cut in. "But, thank you so much for your offer...now, if you'll forgive me I have to have a few words with Benjy. An old friend of mine from Hogwarts is very interested in meeting him," she lied.
"Oh alright, well I won't keep you." Emmaline made a move to leave.
"Wait, Emmaline, will you save me a seat. I really do want to catch up with you." She didn't want Emmaline to think she harbored any ill feelings towards her. Sure, she wasn't her favorite person, but Lily didn't want Emmaline to suspect that. There were few enough in the Order as it was---the last thing they needed was for them to start fighting.
"Of course, Lily. Not that we can talk during the meeting, though." Lily couldn't determine if she was joking or not so she just smiled and told her she would see her in a few minutes.
------
"Good evening, boys," she greeted the group she had first noticed upon walking into the room.
"Evening, Lily" they greeted.
Fabian Prewett, or maybe it was Gideon, had to add, "Where's James?"
"I'm sure you can ask him when he gets here," she answered somewhat cooly. She turned her attention from the nearly identical blond brothers and focused it instead on the orange-haired man. "Benjy, might I have a word?"
"Surely, Lily." He excused himself and walked off to another section of the room with Lily.
"What'd you have to tell me?" he asked. He cast a glance at the doorway. If James Potter walked in and saw his girlfriend and himself alone in the most secluded area of the room, there'd be hell to pay.
"Nothing, actually," she said frankly. "You just looked less than enthralled with the Prewetts, so I thought I'd save you."
He rivited his steel-toned eyes on hers. "What if I were to say that we were having quite the interesting conversation?"
Lily shifted nervously. She really didn't know Benjy all that well and, for all she knew, he might simply always wear a bored expression. "I'd have just made a prat of myself."
He smiled. "Yes, and you'd also know I was a liar." She laughed. "No, really though, thanks for that. I was seriously considering stunning myself just to escape them. I sometimes think the only reason they interact with other people is so that they can see who's the bigger braggart. One of them talks about the London Orchestra wanting him to play the cello for them and the other goes on about how the Prophet is simply begging him to let them do a five-page spread on him...anyway, enough about them. Do you have any idea when this thing is set to start?"
"Sturgis said 8:42, so I'm guessing another fifteen minutes to until everyone's here and we can start."
"So I take it your boyfriend will be here in twenty, then?" He smirked. Lily visibly tensed.
"If you're refering to James--"
"--You two had a row, eh?" She scowled in reply. "Alright, I get it. Touchy subject. Just try not to stay mad at him for too long." Had Lily been a man, she was sure that Benjy would be thumping her on the back. "He's probably kicking himself right now." Lily hoped that if James was doing that he was kicking hard. "I'm going to go get something to drink? Do you want anything?"
"No," she grumbled, "I'm fine." She didn't need the Order assuring her that things between herself and James would sort themselves out. She needed someone to whom she could vent and who would respond with calling James a sodding bastard and assuring her that she's better off without him. Lily thouroughly regretted not asking any of her friends to join the Order with her. At the time, she had been worried of possibly inviting the one who would betray the group, but, looking back, she knew none of her friends would join the Dark Side. After all, they not only harbored a deep respect for Dumbledore, but also befriended a Muggle-born in a time where doing so could be an invitation to persecution.
James got his friends to join, she thought darkly. He'd pulled for a Death Eater's brother, a werewolf and a talentless liability to join an organization that could barely support its devotees, much less them. Perhaps she herself had only been invited because of her ties to James...
No, she thought. She had proven herself long before she and James had gotten together. She'd made prefect and Head Girl, which surely meant something to Dumbledore. And she'd accomplished those by standing up to James, not by being his girlfriend.
"If you're looking for Lily, last I saw her she was standing near one of the speakers."
Lily heard her name, wheezily-spoken, from across the room. She turned to find Sirius and James talking to Elphais Doge. She noticed that James looked very sullen. She was relieved he didn't show up drunk, or worse, happy. She looked at her watch, and, since there was less than two minutes until the meeting was set to start, took her place next to Emmaline. She noticed that the seat next to her was empty, but moments later Alice Jacey-soon-to-be-Longbottom sat beside her. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be sitting next to the sickeningly nice, blissful bride-to-be, but she was loads better than James.
Alice's face broke into a smile so huge it had to be painful upon seeing Lily. "Lily dear, where have you been hiding?"
"Oh, you know...around" she answered vaguely. She was attempting to tune her ears to whatever Gideon/Fabian Prewett was saying four rows over.
"What'd you do to your girl, Potter, that would make her want to get cosy with Fenwick?" Lily balled her hands into tight fists that longed to collide with a Potter or a Prewett. Alice squeezed her arm, distracting her from her rage.
"It's so good to see you. You and James haven't had a spat, have you? When Dorcas said that you were I just couldn't believe it and I told her that she had to be mistaken. But she told me that she heard it straight from Dumbledore himself which I think is rubbish because Dumbledore was talking to Mad-Eye this whole time. But she said that--"
Lily was spared answering when Dumbledore stood before the Order of the Pheonix and beconed for silence. For a moment Lily feared that the first thing out of his mouth would be something along the lines of, "First order of business: Lily and James have had a row this morning."
"Good evening, everyone. First of all, I invite you to take notice of those of us who are absent today and please ask them to meet with me so that I can brief them, personally." He paused, during which which nearly every head turned about to see which members were and were not present. Amoung others, Lily noticed that Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew weren't in the room. Then she scolded herself for forgeting that they were James' friends and she wanted nothing to do with them. She scolded herself for her adolescent tactics a moment later. After all, she was the mature one in the relationship, as was proven a few hours before. Thinking ill of anyone just because they were close to James wasn't included in her list of duties as the better person.
"Secondly, if you haven't done so already, commit Svenka's Ethnic Discotheque to memory, since we'll be having our meetings here until further notice. A reliable source informed me that Lord Voldemort has become suspicious of the abandoned shoe store. I must say, this is a nice change, since that space wasn't so accomidating to our dancing needs." There were a few scattered laughs. "And now the real reason I called you all here is...."
------
An hour or so filled with grim tidings later, Dumbledore waved his wand and platters of Hogwarts-grade food appeared on the tables that had previously featured drinks. The throng of recently-depressed people immediately vacated their seats and crowded around the food. Lily was just about to grab a Pumpkin Pasty when she felt someone jab her in the back. She ignored it and closed her hand over the pastry, ignoring the silver tongs beside the pasties.
Again, she felt the acute pressure and turned around in order to tell the offending party to be patient. However, once she recognized the person as Sirius Black, she realized that he probably wasn't pushing to get a cauldron cake, and even if he was, telling him to be patient would be about as pointless as telling a pen to rob a bank.
"What?" she asked, not in the mood for even the simplest pleasantries. Hello, being one of them.
He took a deep breath before speaking. He knew that Lily's reaction to what he was about to say was of the utmost importance to his best friend and, by six degrees of seperation, him as well. "Look, Lily I'm really sorry about yesterday. We had no idea that it was going to take so long, I mean every time those two teams have played each other it's been over in three hours tops. And James tried to plan for the worst, he really did. He walked into the stands with two full days to spend, but--"
"--But not two and a half," Lily finished. "But Sirius that doesn't justify why he didn't just leave early." Sirius stared at Lily until she began to wonder whether she had just spoken Finnish.
"You can't leave a Quidditch game early, Lily," explained Sirius. He was trying to conceal an unidentified emotion from reflecting on his face. "You're forbidden to leave the grounds. It's something about no one would stay until the ends if we could leave."
"Oh..." she stared at him blankly for a few moments. She hadn't felt this stupid since that one time in fourth year when she asked her dormmates what they meant when they said a boy was "polishing his wand." "Well if James has anything to say to me he should come over here and say it himself."
"So you want me to get him?"
"Whatever you do is up to you." Sirius smiled, knowing that his best friend was about to sport a much less stroppy attitude.
---------
Moments later, James walked slowly towards Lily. He kept his hands in his pockets to avoid running them through his hair. He was already in hot enough water; the last thing he needed was to infuriate her further.
"Hi," he said almost shyly.
"Look, James....about this morning...I didn't know you weren't allowed to leave early.." James stared at her as she stared a the floor. "...and...just...well...sorry." she squeaked the last word, reminding him strangely of Peter. Her high tone drew the attention of a nearby pair. Refusing to feed their curiosity, James made a move towards the door and motioned for Lily to follow him.
"No, I'm sorry," he said as they both walked into the crisp, late-fall air. "I shouldn't have gone. I put you in a horrid situation. It was really rotten of me."
"James you're parents aren't that bad. I really like them, in fact. Normally I have a lovely time when we go there for brunch. And it's not fair to you to not go to a Quidditch game. The reason I got so mad was just--"
"--because it was awkward being my girlfriend around them without me. I know. And Love, I swear it will never happen again."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're not swearing off going to Quidditch games, are you? Because if you are--"
"I never said anything about giving Quidditch up. I don't think I'd ever say anything about giving Quidditch up. In fact, if I ever do say something like that then you can take it as a dead give away that I am not really James Potter." James was rambling. The cool, calculated James Potter rarely rambled, unless he was nervous. What could make him nervous at ten o'clock at night in the middle of a vacant, Muggle backroad was a mystery to Lily.
"I'd like to think, James, that if someone ever did impersonate you, we wouldn't have to start talking Quidditch until I realized it wasn't you." She smiled at him.
"Yes, well," he cleared his throught, "you shouldn't have to visit with my parents anymore--without me--as my girlfriend--if you don't want."
"James, really, it was no problem--"
"No, I'm serious. I won't let it happen again. Ever," he empahised.
"So what are you going to do James? You're not going to make yourself choose between your parents and myself are you? Because you don't have to and I don't want you to think that you have to because I know it was out of your control and it's really no big deal because everything's forgiven, on my part at least.
"Lily, I don't want you to go to brunch there as my girlfriend anymore." Lily's eyes grew wide in disbelief. James couldn't be dumping her after they had just made up, could he?
"But I like having brunch there, James," She blurted out.
"I want you to go as my wife."
She stared at him for what felt like years to James before exclaiming, "What?"
"I want to marry you, Lily. Will you let me?"
She mouthed wordlessly until she finally sputtered out, "W-W-Well, yes, of course." James moved in to punctuate her sentance with a kiss, but was stopped by Lily's voice. "But James, we're so young."
"Age has nothing to do with anything, Lily, you know that. Some people don't find anyone in a hundred years. I have my someone right now." Seeing she was not convinced, he added, "and it's just an engagement, love. We won't be walking down the isle or anything tomorrow."
"When do you think we will get married then?"
"Oh I don't know...six months? A year?"
"A year, James? We'll be nineteen in a year. We'd still be considered teenagers, technically."
"That's assuming we live another year."
Lily frowned. "James, I want to marry you, you know I do, but I'm not going to do it because of the off chance that either one of us gets ourselves killed."
"I'm serious. Voldemort isn't making things any easier for us. And even if all we've been doing lately is going to meetings and listening to people talk about battling Death Eaters. Soon we're going to be the ones facing the Death Eaters. We can't hide behind our ages for much longer. I'd just like to know that if my life is short, then I've spent as much as I could with you." Lily wanted nothing better than to draw James to her and hold him while she whispered reassurances in his ear and kissed his anxieties away. They were too young to have conversations like this. His words belonged to some soldier departing for the ensanguined front in one of the great wars. Coming from his mouth they seemed strange and frightening but eerily at home.
She held his head in her palms, trying to hide the tears that glazed her eyes. "James don't talk like this." She rose on her toes to kiss him on the forehead. "You're going to live until you're too old to remember how old you are." She kissed his cheek. "We'll watch our children grow up with no remnants of Voldemort but in our memories." His other cheek. "We'll nag them to give us grandchildren." His nose. "Then we'll nag our grandchildren for great-grandchildren." Finally, his mouth.
James was the first to speak after their kiss. "All the same, I realized today that I don't ever want to be without you. I don't want to have to go about my life knowing I'm not welcome to see you whenever I can. What would be the harm in getting a head start on our marriage?"
"I suppose I'm just being silly. I think that I just have this hope that if we wait just a little longer our side will have won and we can start our marriage off on a happy note, not having to worry about Death Eaters interrupting our first dance. I do love you, and don't think for a moment that I wouldn't ever not want to marry you."
"Then, really i shouldn't ask if you'll marry me, but when you'll marry me."
"Exactly." She punctuated her sentence with a kiss.
"Warm up to any date yet?" he asked.
She bit her lip, as though deep in thought. "You know, Love, I think I'm pretty much booked."
James made a face. "What could possibly keep you so busy?"
"Well, you see there's this Dark Lord and he's quite needy in the attention department..."
"I'll have a chat with him. I'm sure he'll see things our way."
"You're right. I'm sure under that sadistic, evil exterior he's a regular softie. Still he's not even the worst thing."
"This other thing must be pretty bad then. What is it?" James was fighting hard not to let a grin loose on his face.
Lily snaked her arms around his neck. "You see I have this boyfriend..." She leaned in to kiss him yet again.
James put up his hand to stop her. "Ah say no more. Does he drag you away from your normal Sunday activities to have brunch with his parents?"
"You know the type too, eh? The arrogant kind that just assumes that I have time to marry him?"
"The nerve of some people!" James feigned shock.
"That's not the least of it," Lily elaborated solemnly. "He never puts the cap back on the toothpaste and he's always running his hands through his hair when he's nervous and he mmmmph!" This kiss was more passionate than the others and ended only when the couple was in danger of suffocating.
"This boyfriend sounds like quite the piece of work. Would you like me to have a chat with him?"
"You know, don't bother. I have a feeling a few spaces in my calender might have just opened up." She slipped her hand into his and no other words were spoken, nor were they needed. The pair risked walking back to James' flat a few blocks away, both smiling as though they hadn't a care in the world or a brain in their heads.
--------
A/N: Alright another one-shot courtesy of me. I have an alternate ending to this(not on paper, in my head, alongside all my other stories) and then I have a piece of a follow up piece that I'll probably never follow up with. Forgive any typos. I checked it over, but I'm human and one without spellcheck.
Don't forget to REVIEW.