Chapter 3

Lily awoke the next morning and got ready for training. She heaved a sigh when she found Andi curled up on the downstairs bathroom floor.

Lily took pity on her and knelt beside her and shook her awake. "Andi were you sleep walking again?" Lily asked the groaning blonde.

Andi attempted to sit up but grabbed her head instead and laid back down. "My head is killing me." Andi moaned.

Lily gave another sigh. "Please don't tell me you were drinking last night. You have three interviews today you can't be hung over for them."

"I know I have three interviews today Lily. Why do you think I was drinking last night? I'm so nervous and I was so shaken up." Andi said starting to tear up. "I threw up so many times last night Lily, it was horrible."

"How much did you drink?" Lily asked sympathetically.

"I don't know maybe a bottle or two, I don't remember." Andi said curling up and letting some tears fall. "Just go to training I'll be fine."

Lily stood up and made her way to the kitchen and picked up the phone and called her training school. "May I please speak to Mr. Printzley."

"Hello?" Printzley said after some time of waiting.

"Printzley I… I can't come in today." Lily said lamely.

"Any reason why?" Printzley asked after a long pause.

"Family emergency."

"Alright Miss Evans, I'll see you tomorrow. I hope everything is alright." Printzley said sincerely.

"Thank you sir, goodbye." Lily said hanging up and heading back to the bathroom. "Did Remi leave?" Lily asked.

"Yeah she said she didn't have time to deal with me so she showered upstairs. What kind of person doesn't have time to help out their best friend?" Andi asked still on the floor.

"Remi had the right idea. This is ridiculous, there are much better ways to deal with stress. The only reason I'm helping you and not going to training today is because I need you to get a job because you need to pay for you own stuff." Lily said fetching some aspirin from the cabinet behind the mirror.

"Thanks Lil but I told you to go to training." Andi said sitting up just enough to wash down her pill.

"I know but I need to pick you out a decent outfit and get you prepared for their questions and get rid of your hangover." Lily said pulling Andi up and letting her lean almost fully on her.

"You're going to be a great mom, Lily." Andi said lazily as Lily started leading her up the stairs.

Lily sighed. "I feel like I already am one."

Lily cared for Andi until her hangover was minimized to just a tiny headache. Luckily Andi's first interview wasn't until noon. Lily had sent Andi to her bed and put a charm on her to make the hangover leave her faster. She asked Andi tough questions that the employers could throw at her and she taught her how to sit, present herself, and smile how to smile even when you were ticked.

At 11:30 Andi came out of the shower and Lily quickly picked out another businesslike outfit. When Lily was sure that Andi was in tip top shape she sent her off to her first interview. Lily went to her bed and laid down with a very long drawn out sigh, she seemed to be sighing a little too much for just one day.

Lily still had a good 5-6 hours of training she could go to and she knew the responsible thing to do would be to go back now but she was exhausted. She already called in and said she wasn't going to be there so if she showed up now she would have to make up a story, which was something she wasn't in the mood to do. So she let her heavy eyelids shut and she drifted off to sleep.

Two hours later Lily was shaken awake and she sat up when she saw the smiling Andi. "You're done all three already?" She asked groggily.

"No, I have to leave soon for my next one but my first one went great!" Andi said excitedly.

Lily tried to give a big smile because she was happy but she was still tired. "Well go get 'em tiger." Lily said through a yawn as she laid back down.

"Oh I will!" Andi said as she disapparated.

Around five thirty Lily was awaken again, this time by Remi. "Didn't feel good today?" Remi asked sitting on the edge of her bed.

"No, I felt fine I just called my trainer and told him I had a family emergency." Lily said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh so you caved to Andi?" Remi smirked.

"Hah, yeah I couldn't let her ruin this. Besides I haven't been able to buy myself anything the last couple months since it all went to rent for me and her."

"Yeah I'm sorry Lil, I would of helped you get her back into shape if I could but training is mandatory and my trainer is not the sweetest person." Remi said with a sigh. "She gave me another book to read, I'm so tired of these books."

"Don't worry about it I think I needed the sleep anyways. I just hope Printzley doesn't ask what the family emergency was." Lily said sitting up.

The two girls heard the sound of someone apparating downstairs. "Lily, Remi come quick!" Andi called.

The two girls hurried down the steps to their beaming friend. "I got hired!" Andi squealed.

Lily and Remi pulled her into an embrace. "Which one?" Remi asked.

"Well, two of them said they wanted me but I already accepted the one offer. I'm going to be the newest secretary at the hospital. So I'll get to see you at work!" Andi said motioning to Remi.

"Wicked! This calls for a celebration!" Remi announced. "You up for making an elegant meal Lils?"

"Anything for Andi." Lily said with a smile. "Want to invite Ben?"

"Oh of course. How long will it take to make the meal?" Andi asked.

"I can whip something up in a half an hour."

"Perfect." Andi said as she went to call Ben.

A little over a half an hour later, the three roommates and Ben were sitting around the table toasting to Andi's new job.

"To Andi and her new job." Remi announced with a raised glass of sprite.

"To Andi." They all said clanking their glasses together.

"I'm so proud of you hun." Ben whispered giving Andi a kiss. "Lily this chicken is delicious."

Lily smiled. "Thanks, Andi actually helped."

"I really did." Andi said with a huge smile.

Once dinner was over Ben stuck around for a small amount of time but then he had to go finish some work before tomorrow. So he said goodbye to Remi and Lily and gave Andi a kiss goodbye and apparated to his home.

"He seems nice and very good to you." Lily said politely.

"Kind of really boring though." Remi said rolling her eyes. "He's such a stiff, his boringness makes me want to scream. Gosh the whole dinner I just wanted to mess up his stupid flawless hair…"

"Okay Remi we get it!" Lily said loudly.

"Remi are you jealous?" Andi asked incredulously.

Remi made a noise of disgust. "Oh my word you two are ridiculous. Look before you two start going at each other's throats I'm leaving okay? I'll be back later, I'm going for a walk or something." Lily cut in before Remi could give her reply.

Lily disapparated then and mumbled some unfriendly words as she stood on the sidewalk a little ways from Potter's house without a coat. She didn't know exactly what to do now, she didn't want to just show up at his door looking stupid. It was then she heard some rustling in the bushes behind her. She turned around quickly, her eyes scanning the bushes. There was another sound from the bushes a little ways down.

Lily reached for her wand but found her pocket it empty. She looked around frantically and her heart dropped as she saw her wand roll into the sewer drain. It must of fell out of her pocket when she turned around. She heard rustling in the bushes more towards James's house. She had a gut feeling that it would be the death of her if she ran for his house.

She went across the road at a moderate pace trying not to draw attention to herself. She shut herself in the telephone booth on the edge of the road. She frantically looked through the phonebook for James number and when she found it she quickly dialed his number. When she looked up from what she was doing she was terrified with the sight in front of her. Many dark figures in black hooded cloaks were headed towards the booth.

When James picked up Lily screamed to him. "James save me! Come quick they're going to kill me! Hurry!"

"Where are you? Calm down, tell me where you are?" James yelled to drown out her whimpers as the dark figures came closer.

"Death Eaters, a dozen of them! James hurry! I'm right down the road in the telephone booth. I dropped my wand I'm helpless!" James had already gone from the phone.

He apparated to the phone booth and was sending curses and hexes in all directions at the dark figures who in turn shot some at him. Lily just watched from the phone booth. More aurors appeared on the scene and helped James out. They were still outnumbered by the Death Eaters but all of them disapparated before they could be captured.

James opened the booth door and pulled Lily into a comforting embrace and she just sort of collapsed in his arms and let out silent sobs. James caressed her hair to try to comfort her but it was obvious she was very shaken.

"Potter, here you go. I found this stuck in the sewer drain." One of the aurors said sticking Lily's wand in James's pocket so not to disturb them.

James nodded his thanks and Lily peeked out from James chest to see who it was but quickly hid her head again at the sight of her trainer, Printzley. He didn't realize it was her, at least she hoped he didn't. She breathed a sigh of relief at the close call. If he had called her Evans or Lily who knows how James would of reacted. He might have been angry or confused. She didn't want to think about that.

The other aurors left and when Lily's sobs came to a minimum James led her to his house. He sat her down on the couch and kept his arm around her shoulders protectively and she rested her head on his shoulder with some tears still running down her face.

"Were you on your way to my house?" James asked softly stroking her arm.

"Yeah, Andi and Remi were about to get in a fight so I decided to visit you but I didn't want to just apparate to you house and then, well, all this happened."

"I told you before you can apparate into my house, no one is ever here except Sirius, Remus, or Peter anyways. In fact you could apparate into my bedroom if you'd like." James said with a smirk.

Lily let a smile grace her face. "I'll remember that next time."

"Feeling any better?" James asked playing with one of her red curls.

"Not really." Lily said.

"You're not crying anymore though." James said confused.

Lily sat up some so she could look at his face. "This showed that I'm a failure, not suited to be an auror. A good auror would of remained calm and would of handled that so much better than I did." Lily said letting some fresh tears fall.

"No, no don't cry again." James said wiping them away. "You're being way too hard on yourself about this. You just started auror training a month or two ago and you didn't have your wand. It's understandable. In training you'll learn what to do in this type of situation, don't do something stupid and quit because I'm sure you'll be a great auror."

"Yeah but..."

"Shh, just stop." James interrupted. "Why don't you lie down and just spend the night here."

"Oh I can't do that."

"Sure you can." James said softly, gently pushing her down on the large couch.

Lily's eyes started to get heavy at the sound of James's soft voice. She relaxed into the couch and James tucked a pillow behind her head and slipped a cover over her. Sleep was taking Lily over at a very rapid pace.

"No, I can't.. I can't.. stay .. I .." Lily said as her eyes drooped.

"Shh, just sleep." James said petting the top of her head until her eyes closed and her breathing became more even and slow.

James watched her sleep for some time then headed upstairs to his bedroom. He brushed his teeth and slipped off his glasses and went to sleep.

The next morning James woke up early and went to wake Lily. "Time to get up." James said shaking her gently.

Lily's eyes opened and she looked up into James's smiling but tired face. "Where? What?" Lily asked tiredly.

"You slept on my couch because I was worried about you. I woke you up a little earlier then you probably usually get up because I figured you would want to go home and tell your friends what happened since I'm sure they are worried."

Lily groaned a bit. "Thanks."

She pulled the blanket off and regretted that she did. It was so cold. "Sorry about the cold, I didn't renew my warming spell." James said. "Here you can wear my cloak."

Lily slipped into his cloak and since it was the one he wore last night she already had her wand. "Thanks so much James. For everything." Lily said sincerely.

Lily gave him a hug and said good-bye, then apparated to her flat. Lily found her two friends sleeping uncomfortably on the couch that was obviously only meant for one person to lay on. Lily shook the two awake and they groaned in return but both sat up when they saw who it was.

"Lily you're alive!" Remi said pulling her into the hug.

Andi gave her a hug too. "We were worried sick about you but it looks like you were fine." Andi said tugging at the sleeve of the cloak Lily was wearing. "Whose is this?" Andi said smelling it. "It smells of cologne. Lily what's going on? Were you sleeping with someone while we're here worried sick!"

"No!" Lily said in protest. "I can't believe you would think I would do that!"

"Well then what did happen Lily? We were so worried we only fell asleep about two hours ago." Remi said looking Lily over.

"I almost got attacked by a dozen Death Eaters and then some aurors showed up and Potter comforted me and he was worried about me and wanted me to stay so he could make sure I was alright and I ended up falling asleep on his couch. I tried to tell him I needed to come home because I knew you would be worried but I was so tired and sleep came over me so fast." Lily explained.

The other two looked at one another. "So the cloak belongs to James." Remi said.

Lily nodded unsure of where this was going. "Lily where were you going last night?" Andi asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Just for a walk."

"Your lying." Remi said. "You were going to Potter's weren't you?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "I was just going for a walk I just happened to be in his neighborhood when the dark figures appeared."

Andi rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't give me that one Lily."

"You like James don't you." Remi said with a knowing grin.

"He's just a friend." Lily said getting annoyed.

"Why are you trying to hide him from us Lily?" Remi asked.

"Because I just am!" Lily exclaimed grabbing at her hair. "I have to go to training." She said exasperated.

As she left for training she mumbled "Good luck at work." to Andi then left without another word.

A/N: Sorry it took so long. I hope you liked this chapter. I enjoyed the reviews and would appreciated many more!

Thanks to My Reviewers

Arianna - I picture Sirius as being laid back and not really caring what people think of him so I figured that the boxers and t-shirt thing would show that about him. Thanks for the review!

J.E.A.R.K. Potter - Thanks Erin!

Flame of Desire - Thanks for the review! Yeah you would think Remus would pick up on it at least but well in future chapters it will all make sense, at least I hope so haha.

soft N' fluffy - Andi is just used to Lily's life being so routine but now that James is in the mix Andi and Remi are having a tough time dealing with Lily doing things out of the ordinary, or at least the ordinary for Lily.

BurningIce22 - Thanks. It'll all be explained in later chapters, just stay tuned. Just trying to keep people interesting.