Author's Note: By the way, Lily lives in the muggle part of town, and Saer is a (gasp) muggle who doesn't know anything about Lily's history as a witch…

Chapter 2

Lily and Saer stood at the front door of the house where the party obviously was. The music was so loud that the house was sort of vibrating, and cars were double and triple parked all down the street.

"I can do this," Lily murmured, and Saer, overhearing this comment, even over the music coming from the other side of the door in front of them, smiled encouragingly.

"Ready?" Saer asked.

Lily bit her lip, and nodded, suddenly nervous. She didn't know anyone in there – it was Saer's friend's party. But then she realized that this was the perfect place for her to be, and she could be as crazy as she wanted, and no one would know. She'd probably never see any of these people again – it was fantastic! Lily flashed a grin at Saer, and said, "Yeah – Let's go."

Within two minutes, Lily had lost track of Saer. The room was packed full of people, and she had disappeared right into the middle of all of them. But Lily wasn't worried. She'd decided to take it slow at first and was sitting at the bar, sipping her drink, and watching the dancing. She finally began to relax, and enjoy herself even, as the alcohol entered her bloodstream, and she felt a pleasant buzz. So, when a man about her age came up to her, gave her a shy smile, and asked if she wanted to dance, she smiled back at him and said, "Sure."

He wasn't stunningly handsome, but he certainly wasn't bad looking, either. He had very pale skin, and sandy brown hair that curled almost in ringlets around his face. He had a sort of innocent, little boy look that Lily liked.

He led her onto the dance floor. The song being played was a rather slow one, so Lily draped her arms loosely around his neck, and he put his hands on her hips, and she began to sway to the music. She smiled, remembering how fun this was. When was the last time she'd danced with someone she didn't know? Well, there had been Jack for the past 2 years – urgh! But even before that…

The song changed, this time to a faster one, and the man Lily was dancing with pulled her closer to him, until their bodies were pressed together. Um… this is a bit awkward, she thought, especially when he began to grind himself against her, and one of his hands crept down to her arse, and he moved his face closer to hers. She tried to discreetly pull away, and move her head back, but he managed to kiss her anyway; a wet, sloppy kiss.

"Mmph!" she mumbled into the kiss, trying to push him away. She didn't want this!

Whoever it was who was dancing (bah! This was not dancing! He asked if she wanted to dance, not snog!) with Lily (she didn't even know his name!) seemed to interpret her protests as moans of pleasure, and moved one of his hands to the hem of her halter top. At this, Lily renewed her efforts to get away. What the hell was this? Didn't anyone notice?

Than she felt a cool hand on her bare shoulder, even while Mr. Creepy here had one of his moving up her stomach and the other on her arse, and a deep, rich, voice was saying, "May I have this dance?"

The man Lily was "dancing" with twitched slightly, and took his mouth off hers to say, "No!" indignantly, just as Lily said, "Yes!" desperate to get away. How could Saer have thought this was a good idea? She was never coming to one of these things again!

The man she was dancing with asked, "What the fuck are you doing?" to the man behind her (she couldn't even see his face).

Before he could reply, Lily blurted out, "He's my boyfriend."

Disbelieving, the man with his hand in her shirt said, "I don't believe you. You're just trying to make me jealous. What's his name?"

Lily, hoping whoever this man was would play along, said the first name that came into her mind. "James." Her savior must have nodded (God bless him!), because she felt the arms around her relax in surprise. Not needing any persuasion, Lily twisted away from him, and grabbed the hand of the man behind her. She dragged him to the middle of the dance floor, before finally turning around and looking at him.

Wanting to keep up the appearance of boyfriend and girlfriend, just in case that weird guy was watching (and something told her he was), she put her arms around this man's neck, careful to keep a few inches between them, as she was still a bit shaken form her recent experience. To her relief, the man in front of her only placed his hands gently on her hips, respecting her choice to keep a bit of a distance.

Lily looked up at him and smiled. He was much more handsome than the last man she'd danced with (and he seemed much nicer. Urgh.). He had messy black hair, gorgeous hazel eyes, and a dark complexion. He smiled back at her, his white teeth flashing against his skin. Merlin, Lily thought, He wasn't just ok-looking. He was fucking hot! He also looked pleasantly familiar, almost as if she had known him very well once…but a very long time ago. She couldn't be sure, though – it was so dark in there.

The song was slow, and not too loud, so Lily could hear him perfectly when he whispered in her ear, "How'd you know my name?"

She blinked up at him, surprised. What were the chances that she'd actually guess his name right? She whispered back, "I didn't…I just said the first name that came to mind…" then she giggled, and added, "I used to know a James, when I was in school. I pretended that I hated him, but I think I actually liked him so much that it scared me." She smiled widely. "He was my first crush."

"Really?" this James asked, amused.

"Mmhmm… James Potter."

Lily felt him stiffen against her in shock, and he reached out to gently grab her chin, to pull her face up, so he could see her more clearly.

Fingering a strand of her long red hair, he murmured, "Of course. I should have known it was you. But it's been so long…" Seeing her still confused expression, he added, softly, "It's me, Lily. James Potter."