"Mum, Dad, this is Lily."

James had steered Lily into the lobby of The Three Broomsticks and proudly introduced her to his parents.

A beautiful woman with long, dark brown hair and deep blue eyes stood and offered her hand. "Hello, Lily," she said. There was a musical lilt to her vice, but Lily couldn't place the origin of her accent. She was wearing black pants and a red shirt, her hair was pulled pack gracefully, and Lily's first impression was 'She's so cool!' Her face greatly resembled James's.

"Hi there," said a friendly looking man. He had the same eyes and thick black hair as James, no facial hair, and he was wearing jeans and a navy sweater. His face was a bit more narrow, and there were a few defined scars along his jaw line.

"Lily," James said happily. "This is Kathleen and Matthew Potter, known to me as Mum and Dad."

"Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Potter," Lily said nervously, trying to be polite. Fromwhat she had heard fromJames, the Potters were very powerful and very important."I'm pleased to meet the both of you."

"Oh, sweetie, Kathy," Kathleen said, laughing. "Mrs. Potter is my mother-in-law."

"Matt," Said Matthew with a wink. He turned to James. "We're expecting one more person before our party is complete."

"Who?" James asked, hugging his mother.

"Ahh," Kathy said. "Here he comes now."

Dumbledore came in the doors with a breeze and walked over to them. "Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, Matt, Kathy." Dumbledore grinned and bowed his head. "Ahh, this way."

Dumbledore and the Potters led Lily and James to a private parlor, where they were surprised to find a small group of people sitting and waiting for them.

"I'm sorry, Lily and James, that wekept this a secret and said you were having lunch with the Potters, but you see, it's important that nobody in the school finds out." Dumbledore talked quickly as he walked into the room and took a seat at the head of the table.

There were 5 men and 2 women in the room, all staring at Lily and James as if sizing them up. Lily recognized Professors McGonagall and Rosen, but the other three were strangers. One was glaring sourly at Lily as if she was intruding.

A tall man with dark red hair stood up, smiling in a friendly way. "Hello, Lily, James. My name is Gideon Prewett. May I introduce you to my brother, Fabian," -the other red haired man, though his hair was lighter, "Alastor Moody," - the man with the extremely scarred face and ratty hair, "Gus Cistibal," - the glaring man with bleached hair and cold eyes, "and Ariella Figg," -the smiling young woman with the long honey-coloured hair.

Gideon began to speak again. "Now, as you both know, our world is in trouble. There have been attacks everywhere and so many people are dying. Our Aurors have been working like crazy. And so has the Order."

"The what?" James asked.

"Ahh," Dumbledore said, standing again. "An excellent place to start. The Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix is a secret organization, run by myself and other members, to stop the rising Dark Lord and his followers.We have many members, though maybe not as many as we need. Which is why we brought the two of you here. Cistibal?"

The scowling man blinked and stood up. "Matt Potter tells us that his auror department is lacking. They need fresh blood, so to speak, and have decided to take on two persons to train, as aurors, as soon as they leave Hogwarts And I've been told by your teachers that the two of you are the best choices. Well?!" he barked.

James and Lily looked at each other, confused. Alastor Moody stood up, glaring at Cistibal with distaste.

"What that sad excuse for an auror means to say is, Would the two of you like to study to become aurors after graduation? You both have the appropriate O.W.L.s, but this wouldn't be the ordinary auror training. Instead of it taking three years for you to qualify, we plan to train you in a year. That is, if you decide to take us up on our offer. We are also offering you a place in the Order, though we warn you that it will be extremely dangerous and life-threatening every step of the way. You have a week to decide, and we will meet here again next Saturday." Moody sat back down.

Matthew looked from Lily to James. "Do either of you have any questions?" When they just stared at him, he continued. "Of course, your mother and I will be home if you need to owl us any questions, as you're both a bit shocked at the moment."

"You understand, of course, why this has to be kept secret?" Dumbledore asked. They nodded. "Good, now you're both free to spend your Saturday with the Potters."

"Wait," Cistibal said, standing again and frowning at Dumbledore. "Are you sure about this? The Potter boy is an obvious choice, his father being the Head Auror and all, but the girl? She's... different."

There was fire in Lily's eyes. "A muggle-born, is that what you mean by different?" she asked dangerously, her tone full of controlled fury. It made her a bit frightening. James grinned.

Ariella cleated her throat loudly and stood up, glaring at Cistibal. "As you know, Cistibal, my own sister, Arabella, is a squib. Had I been judged by the members of my blood as opposed to my ability, as you are seemingly doing with Miss Evans, I would not have been accepted as the esteemed Healer that I am. The countless lives that I've saved by my discovery of the use of Mandrake would have been wasted. Now I really, really think you should sit down and shut up."

Cistibal sat down abruptly, muttering, "That's not what I meant."

"You're damn right it's not," Lily said, and Professor McGonagall sent her a warning look. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling suspiciously, and James was laughing. Even Matt was chuckling, giving Cistibal a look as if to say 'Ha-ha'.

Kathy gave Cistibal one withering look, then stood up and said "James, Matt, Lily, shall we?" and exited. Lily watched her go before getting up and following her. She gave Professors McGonagall a nod, smiled at Dumbledore, shot a "pleased to meet you" to the Prewetts, winked at Ariella, and cocked an eyebrow challengingly at Cistibal on her way out. She would prove herself to him.

"Ahh, my girl, I love it when you get mad. That red-headed heat radiating from that tight little body.." James laughed as Lily slapped him upside the head.

Matthew was holding his wife's hand as they walked happily up the street behind their son, lagging back a bit. "They remind me of us," he said, leaning over to whisper in her ear while using his other hand to rub the back of his head, where he'd been hit by his wife many times in his days of courting.

"Aye," Kathleen whispered back. "Matt, I think we've found her."

Matthew stopped and looked at his wife. "James," he called, not taking his eyes off Kathy's. "We'll meet you back here in an hour, ok? Be safe."

Kathy led him to a bench and sat down. "Think about it- She's muggle-born, powerful, she even looks like Lyla, Matt, for Christ's sake."

"She's a pretty one," Matt noted, nodding slowly.

"As a member of the Order, I'm happy that we've found the prophets and will soon enough know who our heir is. As a mother, I'm simply ecstatic that my son has fallen in love."

"Fallen in love?"

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "In love. And too deep to get out now."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I remember a similar expression on another man's face on his wedding day. Under the stars..."

Matt pulled her against him, his arms around her, as they watched their son walk off happily with his girlfriend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

James and Sirius were, unsurprisingly, in detention.

"I can't believe McGonagall didn't like our cat-nip in her hat joke," Sirius complained as they scrubbed their transfiguration professor's classroom floor.

"Yeah, but at least we realized she was in a bad mood in time to magically remove the kitty litter we filled her desk with," James said with a grin.

"Hey, Prongs, can I ask you something?" Sirius said, suddenly putting his rag back in the bucket of soapy hot water. (McGonagall had, of course, insisted that no magic be used.)

"Sure," James said, noting the seriousness in his tone and turning to face him.

"You really like Evans, don't you? I mean, it sounds like a stupid question, since you've been chasing her for years. I always thought it was just a crush, or more like a challenge since she was the only girl who wouldn't have you. But..." Sirius frowned, as if he were not sure if he was prying too far into James's personal life. "Do you.. You know, love her?"

James waited a moment, then smiled slightly. "Yes. I really do, it almost scares me how much I love her. I think... I think I'm going to ask her to marry me." Then he stopped and blinked, as if the thought had just come to him. When had he decided that?

Sirius leaned over and hugged James like a brother. "This doesn't mean we're breaking up the Marauders, does it?"

James grinned. "No bloody way, Marauders are for life."

X.X

A/N: I'm too tired for an author's note.