Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own the characters or the basic plot.

Lily groggily opened her eyes and sat up, feeling very disoriented. She soon regretted doing so. Her heart dropped as she realized that her surroundings were unfamiliar and that Lord Voldemort and the two men that had brought her to him were all absent. The wooden floor was hard on her butt, so she slowly stood, ignoring the slight bout of dizziness that resulted. Looking around, she spotted many people bustling about, and she was surprised that no one had even been looking at her on the ground.

It was then that she noticed the many fireplaces placed strategically around the hall. She thought that it was odd since a fraction of the number of fireplaces could have kept the place warm. Upon seeing someone emerge from one of them, however, she realized that they were not meant for warmth. She knew that she must be in the magical world.

She started walking, directionless, just taking in her surroundings. She passed a fountain, its focus being a man and a woman with three strange creatures, and she noticed within its waters money unlike any that she had ever seen. She kept walking, and suddenly she heard a voice call out, "Can I help you?" She turned to see a man seated at a desk, knowing at once that he had been the one to address her.

"Umm…"

"Wand," he grunted.

"I…I don't have one," she replied hesitantly, wondering if it was a mistake to tell him that. She certainly didn't like the strange look he was giving her.

"Wandless?" he inquired.

Assuming that he was confirming that she was without a wand, she replied by nodding and missed the look of respect that passed fleetingly across his face.

He then pointed toward a dark square area on the desk and instructed her to place her hand on it. She did so, still rather confused, and was surprised when a strip of paper came out of a slit on his side of the desk, rather like a receipt. "Yes," he commented. "Very powerful." Lily didn't really know what he meant, but she didn't want to seem ignorant, so she nodded again.

"Excuse me," she said, interrupting his reading of the slip, which was beginning to make her nervous, "but I really must be going. Thank you for your help."

She made her way over to between two fireplaces, sat down with her back against the wall and stared at the fountain. She thought about her situation. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how to get home – nor did she want to go there – and, most importantly, she had no money. She stared at the fountain, seeing numerous families approach it together, the parents handing their children a few coins to drop in. A few tears fell from her eyes. She missed her sister and her father.

She remembered back to when she was a child, a time when her father had been so supportive of her fantasies regarding magic. "Make a wish Lily." "You never know, maybe someday you'll kiss a frog and – poof! – a prince." He had never once told her that magic wasn't real, and even as she grew older he would encourage her to keep believing. He had been the one to buy her that stuffed Merlin that had made him so angry just yesterday. It had been a present for her 10thbirthday, and although Petunia had laughed at her for being excited about receiving a toy, she loved it.

Not long after that, her father had been elected Prime Minister. He had come home after his first night in office to find her watching Sleeping Beauty, and he had sat next to her on the couch with a far-off expression on his face. He looked tired and stressed, and Lily tried to cheer him up. "I wish that fairies had blessed me with special gifts when I was a baby. She had been expecting her father to be his typical self and smile and assure her that she had been blessed by fairies. Instead, his face grew cold and hard, and his eyes locked onto hers as he spoke to her forcefully. "There is no such thing as magic, Lily, do you understand?" She had just stared at him in shock, unable to move, and taking it for denial, he had continued. "You are getting older now and we have to put an end to this silliness. Magic does not exist." He had left the room then, never to know how he had broken her heart that night.

She never was able to figure out what had happened, what had changed. All she knew was that in a matter of one day, her father had gone from one extreme to the other concerning magic, and it had changed the whole dynamic of her relationship with him for the worse.

She was startled out of her memories by someone asking if she was okay. She cursed herself inwardly for forgetting that she was not alone and wiped the tears off her cheeks with her hand before looking up to see a man gazing at her with concern in his warm brown eyes. Helooked very familiar with his messy brown hair, but she couldn't recall ever meeting him before.

She opened her mouth to reply, but she couldn't. She couldn't say that she was okay, and she wouldn't say that she was not. She sat there with her mouth open instead.

"The ministry is closing up for the night. Everyone is going home."

"I…" again she could not form a coherent sentence.

"Would you like me to help you get home?"

She stared at him for a long while before finally responding, "I have no home to go to."

"Do you want me to take you to the Leaky Cauldron so that you can get a room?"

"I haven't got any money."

"That settles it then. You'll come to my house. My wife will make you a nice warm meal, and we have plenty of extra room."

"Oh no, I couldn't."

"I insist."

"I don't want to impose. I'll be fine, really."

"Nonsense. As I said, we have plenty of extra room."

"I don't know who you are."

She saw a fleeting look of surprise pass through his eyes, but it was gone so fast that she wasn't sure that she hadn't just imagined it. "Richard Potter," he said, offering her his hand.

She shook it and replied, "Lily Evans."

"Wonderful," he exclaimed, pulling her up and leading her to one of the fireplaces. "Now, the address is Potter Manor."

"Great. How are we going to get there?"

"We're going to floo, of course."

"Floo?"

"You've never flooed before?"

"No," she whispered.

"Would you prefer to apparate?" She shook her head, not wanting him to know that she did not know how to apparate either. "Very well. Take a handful of that powder there and throw it into the fireplace. Then say, 'Potter Manor' and step in. Mind you speak clearly, now, and make sure you keep your eyes closed or you'll get ash in them."

Lily did as instructed, becoming nauseous as she began to spin. Finally, she started to slow down, and she lost her balance as she came to an abrupt stop and stumbled out of another fireplace. She already knew that this was not an experience that she wanted to repeat. She would have gotten hit in the back if she hadn't been pulled away just in time by a woman that she knew must be Richard's wife: Richard emerged from the fireplace just seconds later, coughing.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that," he commented, stepping forward to kiss his wife.

"Hello, dear," Caroline greeted. "How was your day?"

"Oh, the usual. Mostly problems with death eaters and muggle torture." Seeing that his wife kept shooting glances behind him, he turned around to spot Lily and remembered that he had yet to introduce her. "I'm sorry. Introductions are in order. Lily, this is my wife Caroline. Darling, this is Lily Evans." He gave her a look that said 'don't ask' and, understanding it to mean that he'd tell her when they were alone, she called for the house elf.

"Dotty, please bring Lily upstairs and have her pick one of the spare bedrooms."

Dotty gave a small bow and motioned for Lily to follow her.

"So?" Caroline prompted when she and Richard were left in the room.

"I found her at the ministry. She was sitting against the wall with a far off look on her face and tears in her eyes. She had no money to go to the Leaky Cauldron and she said that she had no home to go to. I couldn't just leave her there. I figured that at least she could stay here for a few days, get some rest and some good food."

"I just wish that you had called ahead. It was very frightening watching a complete stranger stumble out of our fireplace. You could have come first and warned me."

"She'd never used floo before."

"Alright, dear. Go get washed up. I'll go set an extra place at the table."

Lily sat on the bed in the corner of the room she had chosen. The room was one of the smaller ones, but it was still larger than her bedroom at home, and she had immediately fallen in love with it.

The walls were a very faint blue, and the ceiling looked like the night sky. The bed was in the furthest corner from the door and was covered by a white down comforter and two matching down pillows. Between the bed and the wall was a night table with a small lamp on it. On the other side of the bed was a large window covered by white curtains. Jutting out from the window was a large ledge bearing two pillows on each side. It was obviously large enough for two people to sit on. Beside that, in the far right corner of the room was a large wardrobe, next to which was a door. The door opened up to reveal a large walk in closet, and beside it was a ceiling-high bookshelf made of the same dark wood as the night table and the wardrobe. Finally, the floor was covered in the softest carpet Lily's feet had ever had the pleasure to touch.

Lily's attention was drawn to the door, where she saw the house elf that had brought her upstairs. "Dotty is to tell Miss Evans that dinner is ready. Please come downstairs and join the family in the dining room."

"Thank you. And please call me Lily."

Dotty bowed wordlessly and exited the room. Lily, who did not want to get lost and end up late for dinner quickly got up and followed the house elf.

"Did you find a suitable room?" Caroline asked, motioning for her to sit in the chair opposite Richard.

"Yes, thank you. You have a beautiful house."

"Thank you, dear. Oh, that must be James," she said, hearing the door open. "I'll be right back.

"Hey, Mom," James said, seeing her approaching. "I brought Sirius home today. His fridge is completely empty and he needs a good meal."

"What is it with people and bringing home guests today?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, just that your father brought home a girl he found at work today."

James' face darkened. "He's not trying to…"

"No, dear, don't worry. It's not that at all. Anyways, come in, the both of you. It's nice to see you again, Sirius."

"I knew you missed having me around. Never fear, Sirius is here!"

"Sirius, how couldI miss having you around? I still think you're here more than you are at your own flat. You even sleep here half the time! I don't know why you moved out."

"Well, I thought that I could stay away, but your charming personality, your hospitable nature, and your delicious food keep me coming back."

"Be careful with all those big words, Padfoot. You might trip over one of them."

"Be careful with the insults, Prongs. You just might trip over my foot."

"Boys, stop it. Remember that we have company."

"Yes, Mum," they chorused, following her into the dining room.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius, pointing at Lily. "She's sitting in my spot!"

"Sirius!" James' mother admonished with a stern look. He lowered his arm.

"Oops," he addressed James in a loud whisper, "did I say that out loud?"

James whacked his friend on the back of the head, walking over to sit in the new place that his mother had set beside Lily. "Yes, idiot. Come on, you can sit in my place. I'll be the bigger person." Sirius sat down across from James' mother in James' usual seat. "I did that on purpose, you know," He said to the older woman. "Just so I could look at your beautiful face all through dinner." Richard reached over and whacked him on the back of the head. "Ouch! What is with people and hitting me today?"

"It's your own fault.It's a result of the stupid things you say."

"What if I end up with brain damage? It'll be your fault and then you'll feel sorry, all of you!"

"It's a little late for that, Padfoot."

Caroline shook her head and rolled her eyes at her son and her'son'.

"I'm sorry, Lily. James is more normal when Sirius isn't around, and Sirius…well, there's really no excuse for him."

Lily laughed, already knowing well how true that was.

James turned in his seat to face her, sticking out his hand for her to shake. "Hi. I'm James Potter."

Shewas slightly confused. She couldn't figure out why he didn't recognize her. She tried to remind him that they had met, but she found herself inexplicably unable to mention that day in Diagon Alley, so instead, she stuck out her own hand. "Lily Evans."

I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you again to all my reviewers. Check my bio page for review responses. Please review and let me know what you think.