Doing things in the uniquely Lily way, she refused to think about what exactly was going on. It would be better just to plunge in so she had to complete it, rather than over-analyze the situation and end up backing out. As a result, that stomach-knotting case of paralyzing nerves waited to catch up to her until she was standing in line at The Ministry of Magic, stalled behind a bunch of Russians that couldn't speak a drop of English other than 'yes', 'no', and 'where's the washroom'. At least she assumed they were from Russia.

"Fun, isn't it?"

Lily whipped around quickly at the voice behind her, and it happened to belong to an impatient Sirius Black.

"Lines are bad most everyday. Hingham has got this brilliant plan to minimize the budget, so he minimized the weighing guards. I don't have to be in training 'til nine, but I get here forty-five minutes early. Just think of all the beauty sleep I could be getting."

"And I'm sure the influx of nearly seven hundred of us from magical schools around the world isn't helping a whole lot. If you're going to be late, you can get in front of me."

"I'll just complain about the damn snot-nosed brats stalling the lines. I won't complain about missing the morning battery. I'm not often late or absent, so the instructor won't give me much of a hassle."

"A woman, is it?" Lily asked with raised brows, and Sirius gave a loud bark of laughter that had the Russians turning around.

"You surprise me, Lily dear. What have you been doing lately?"

"I won't say another word if you're still mad and plan on being snappish toward me."

"James is quite over his little bout of the sulks, so that means you are back in my good book. Now tell me, how many hearts have you broken over the course of the term?"

Lily was more than a little wary at Sirius's odd mood, even more wary about her own reaction to the fact James was no longer upset over her. "To my knowledge, there has been no cast-off hearts. I know your answer won't be the same, so tell me who your newest victim has been."

"I fancy myself in love with my instructor." Lily groaned out loud; she couldn't help it. "I'm surrounded by cynics no matter where I go. But the love of my life insists on kicking my arse into next month every time I bring up my undying adoration."

"Sirius! If I was your instructor, I would be sore-pressed not to do the same. What is it that you're training for? If it is the traveling circus, one of your good friends owes me a Galleon."

"Are you blind as well as unaware?" Sirius proudly pointed to his burgundy robes signifying he was no longer the Plebe Auror.

"You're level two already? That's marvelous! What have you been doing to that instructor?"

"She's a tough nut to crack."

Lily's mind suddenly latched onto a key fact. "Hey! How can you be taught by a girl? Women aren't allowed to be Aurors."

"No, but they are allowed to be a Hit-Witch, and she is one of the best."

"MISS!" The security attendant was calling to her with a great sense of annoyance.

"Sorry, my turn. Sure you don't want to go in front of me?"

"If I'm late, maybe I'll get a little one on one with la mademoiselle."

"Sure…she'll murder you," Lily said with a quick laugh. As her wand was weighed and measured and a nametag created for her, she glanced back one last time at Sirius. "I'll see you around."

He grinned back, the loveable Sirius smile flashing to his face. It was just luck that she heard him mutter quietly, "You have no idea what's going to happen, Lily."

Lily was taken aback. She had no idea how to interpret that. How did someone interpret that? She wondered briefly if it had to do with his job department, then just as quickly dismissed the idea. James was the logical answer, but what exactly she had no idea. The situation became even more piquing when she saw Sirius spring past her and take a lift going up instead of down toward the defense department floor.

Things could never be simple, could they?

"Hey! James! Wait up!" Sirius yelled, shimmying through the crowd to catch up with his friend who was chatting with that crazy French guy again.

"You're going to be late again, Sirius," James said with a laugh when he turned around, but there was no overlooking the tension on his face.

"You're right, she's here. I didn't ask what for or where at. That would be too obvious, but anyway, she is here. She seems like she's in a fairly good mood."

"How did you find her? Please tell me you didn't use the intercom."

"Of course I didn't. What do you take me for, an idiot? She was in the security line in front of me. I have a schedule of the enforcement meetings. I lied to-."

"Your instructor, Brenna Sullivan, I know it as well as I know my name. You have developed an unhealthy obsession with her, but we'll move on for the moment." James snatched the paper from Sirius and compared her schedule with his. If luck was with him, he should get in the cafeteria about the time she was sitting down. If necessary, he would use black mail to be sure there was one spare seat next to her. "This looks excellent. Thank you."

"Anything for my buddy. Anything else?"

"Stop ogling your mauvereen and do something productive. I don't know why you didn't sign up for one of those workshops so you could start working on her."

"I am not in charge of getting Lily for you. Toss on the Potter charm."

Lily sighed as she sat down on one of the blue plastic cafeteria chairs, sighing deeply. "That had to be the longest speech ever. I felt my blood clotting."

"You didn't love that?" a girl asked from across the table.

"I find the use of flobberworms fascinating in general."

"I never knew you were a wildlife lover," James said as he slid next to her, and had the pleasure of seeing her face lose all expression for a split-second. To unsettle her eveyn more, he plastered a wide grin to his face.

"Have you been drinking?"

"That's a fine way to greet me. I'm assuming you're here for the Auror workshops, or more accurately, the Hit Witch workshops. Is it going well?"

"Wonderfully. Why are you here?"

"Oh, my class got saddled with being door-monitors and coffee go-getters. I prefer telling people off for coming in late to going to the cafeteria and smelling some of that crap they call food."

"There's the James I know."

"So…how are you doing with your parents and Petunia?"

"Christmas was hard, but that was to be expected. Amos was right, though, it seems to be getting further away." Lily hoped to see some sort of recognition fall across his face, but she was denied of that particular satisfaction. "Petunia seems rather distant, though. I guess that is to be expected, we're two very different people. I have a hard time understanding her, but she understands my life even less. I did have ten years without knowing of magic, but she has never experienced a life like ours."

James was mesmerized by the look on her face that suddenly seemed to come alive and sparkle with something he had known only through her.

"Isn't it amazing, though? I'm sure it's different for me because I easily remember not knowing of magic, but doesn't it seem nearly impossible? There is an insane amount of people who have no idea about us or how we live. They are caught up in a little world that is protected from our ideas and ways. It's almost unfathomable that there could be two worlds that come so close to touching but still remain parallel."

"Unfathomable?" James asked with a smirk.

"I doubted you would understand."

"I regularly marvel at how Muggles can get anything done without magic. In a way, I do understand, but there's still a part of me that can't believe there is a world without magic. It's all I have ever known. I was raised by a House Elf and a nanny. Sometimes I think things would be simpler, though, in a way. Don't you sometime wish you didn't have magic?"

"Never. Well, I have briefly, but never forever. In the middle of a situation, sometimes I think I would be better off without magic, but when I think back, I realize it wasn't magic that caused that mess, it was something else of my own making. You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20."

"I'll ask you the same question in a decade, and I'll be the answer will have changed."

"But it won't, James."

"No one knows better than you. Have you made any plans after leaving Hogwarts yet?"

"There's an enforcement league in Italy. The standards are a bit higher, but I could just work harder. It would nice to be with family again. There are bases in Venice where my great-grandmum lives. I haven't seen her since I was a little girl, and I can't imagine she has many years left."

"Have you been to Italy to see her, then?"

"I've never been to Italy, but I want desperately to go. When I was about four, we had some problems with Petunia's real mum, and she came all the way here to be with us. I just barely remember her, but there are things that just wove their way into my mind. I still remember how she smelled, like she had cinnamon biscotti tucked into her pockets."

"You love her even though you barely remember her. That seems remarkable to me."

"She's my great-grandmother, of course I love her. I just happen to remember smells is all. Sirius smells like candy, any sort of it. Remus smells like the forest…trees and grass and fresh air. You smell like vanilla, always."

"That's interesting."

"I remember the kids that smelled bad from primary school, but not the nice-smelling ones. I remember one girl who smelled like a barnyard very clearly. Eww."

James laughed at her cringe. "So you'll be leaving England. I wouldn't have thought that."

"If my parents hadn't died, I probably wouldn't have. There's really no reason for me to stay now, though."

"What about Amos?" James asked, a deliberate smile on his face.

Lily also smiled, although she was not amused. "Somehow, I don't see Amos and me in a lasting relationship. One of the two of us will see someone who catches our eye, and that'll be the end of us. That may seem cruel, but I am being realistic."

"You know what you have taught me?"

"Walk backwards?"

"No. No matter how crappy life seems, it really is rather nice."

"Why is that?"

"You get second chances at very nearly everything. For the good stuff, you get multiple shots. I'll see you around, Lily." James stood up, and his plate almost immediately disappeared. Magic was abound.