Lily looked up, relaxing slightly as the shock wore off. Her heart was still racing as she found her voice. "Would have come sooner if I had known you were here," she said with a smile.
Sirius pulled out a chair and sat down, only then releasing his grip on her shoulder. He studied her face for a few seconds before smiling as well.
"How are you?" she asked, pushing the Prophet away, as if trying to distance herself from the dreadful news on the front page. Auror killed in raid of suspected Death Eater's house.
"Never better," Sirius lied easily. He didn't glance at the paper, not out of apathy, but because the news was hitting too close to home lately. "Yourself?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Worst day I've had in a while, honestly."
Sirius grinned, pushing his hair back. "Really, because, no offense, but you look like hell." He laughed aloud as her hands flew up to her hair, hastily redoing it for the second time in so many minutes. He offered her his drink, which she eyed dubiously.
"Somehow I think that's not exactly Euphoria Elixir."
"You'd be right. And yet, it's a thousand times better than a Cheering Charm."
"No thank you," she said, returning his smile. "So what have you been up to lately?"
Sirius shifted in his chair. What had he been doing? Nothing productive, honestly... made a copy of his mother's Gringotts vault key... received an inheritance, much to his family's displeasure... rented out a flat in London... tried half heartedly to decide what he was going to do with his life...
"This and that," he finally answered. "Saw James last week, did he tell you?"
Lily's eyebrows raised and she looked away, responding only with a quiet "No, he didn't."
Sirius hesitated, wondering if this was a touchy subject. Regardless, he was horribly curious, so he pressed on. "He told me your good news..." Her expression softened slightly. "Very exciting... who would have thought, Potter and Evans..."
Now she was smiling, albeit weakly. Almost subconsciously she took her hands out of her lap and rested them on the table, the silver of her ring catching the light. The band was simple, and if he was seeing correctly in the dim light, there was a tiny emerald flanked by two diamonds of the same size. He could have sworn he had seen it before. Probably a heirloom. He imagined trying to give some woman a Black family ring - it would be as gaudy as Lily's was understated. An enormous "B" would adorn the top, surely.
He had barely finished that thought when Lily stood up suddenly and walked away. His first instinct was to follow her, and he had almost got up when he realized she was just going in search of Tom.
She came back in another few minutes, a slip of parchment wrapped around the neck of a bottle of butterbeer. Smiling apologetically, she said, "Had to make new arrangements."
"Arrangements?"
A sigh. "I invited my parents here to... you know, break the news to them. And they brought along my sister... things went downhill from there," she said dryly.
Sirius gave her an apologetic pat on the shoulder. How well he knew dysfunctional families. As an afterthought, he leaned over and twisted the cap off of the butterbeer, smiling.
Lily took a small sip, pondering her words. "They - my parents, I mean - were, oh, I dunno, pleasantly surprised... Petunia got married last year, maybe - I wasn't there, not invited. S'pose it's a good thing James wasn't there tonight..." She drew in a slightly shaky breath, as if it hurt to say his name.
Sirius wasn't sure what to say. It was one thing to just play the sympathy card, but when he really did feel bad... "What happened?" he asked gently.
Brushing a lock of hair from her eyes, she shrugged. "Normal Petunia behavior. 'When are you going to stop playing these stupid little games? Marrying a wizard, you'll be bankrupt in a month.'" She sighed, but it turned into a yawn. "And then, of course, we get into this huge stage-whispered argument and the whole restaurant is staring." She took another sip. Sirius was reminded of what a lightweight she was - James had figured that out shortly before the end of their seventh year.
"So what did you do? Levicorpus?" He grinned.
Lily laughed quietly. "I wish... I'm trying to get a job in the Ministry, not a jail cell in Azkaban."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Doing what? James didn't tell me this."
Lily's face darkened again at the sound of her fiance's name. "Department of International Magical Cooperation. Why there, I don't know." She smiled weakly once more.
"No, that's good." He opened his mouth as if to continue on, but suddenly he wasn't so sure.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You were going to say something..."
"Fine, you caught me." He sighed. "Is James trying to recruit you for the Order?"
Lily began to trace the grain in the wooden table with a finger. "Yeah. I don't want to stand aside and do nothing, but it's just... he's almost always away now, promising me he'll come back soon but more often than not it's just a note from an owl or someone else dropping by to say he's delayed."
She paused, and Sirius didn't interrupt, hoping she'd continue.
"I... I talked to Dumbledore. He said I'd be a wonderful asset, a strong member, everything he told us while we were in school." Sirius nodded, remembering that night in the headmaster's office. Lily kept going. "He even said more likely than not, James and I would work on things together... I was almost convinced..."
Her eyes were becoming glassy again with tears. They were getting there, Sirius thought to himself. He reached out impulsively and held her hand. He could feel the eyes of more than one patron on them.
Trying to smile, Lily continued in a quieter voice. "He promised to come with me tonight... but I woke up this morning and he was gone." She looked down, drawing another shaky breath in.
Sirius's grip tightened. "He left a note, though, didn't he?" He couldn't imagine James being that rude.
"Yeah." She slowly freed her hand and went to rifle through her purse. Extracting a soft, worn-looking piece of parchment, she handed it to him.
Lily, it read. I just couldn't wake you up, I'm sorry. I'll be back soon, don't worry. I can't tell you where I'm going though, and I'm sure you understand. Don't wait up - good luck tonight - I love you - James.
Sirius frowned. It seemed out of character for James - especially where Lily was concerned. He tried to come up with some comforting words, but all he could manage was that same frown and a slight nod of his head.
"I'm so scared," Lily said, more quietly than before.
"You shouldn't be," he said slowly. "James and Dumbledore and all the rest know what they're doing," he added, even if it didn't truly believe it. How could you know what you were doing, facing a Dark Wizard, the likes of which hadn't been seen for a good generation before them? He didn't say any of this to Lily, of course, not while she was like this.
All the same, he cast a glance around the room. A few people were staring, mostly men. In retrospect, it would probably seem odd, what with him walking up to a woman, sitting down, talking to her quietly, seriously, and now looking about warily. Sirius sighed. Meeting the gaze of one of their observers, he narrowed his eyes, not liking the other man's expression one bit.
"I don't think you should stay here tonight," he said matter-of-factly, looking back to Lily.
She shrugged. "It's not like I can go back to the hotel," she replied.
"Why not?"
"James booked two rooms - one for my parents, one for us. He didn't show up, and Petunia did... and after tonight, I'd really rather not see her again... ever," Lily explained, perhaps a bit dramatically. Sirius figured she was entitled. He downed the last of his drink, thinking.
"I guess I can just go back home," said Lily finally.
Sirius quickly shook his head and swallowed, wincing. "No."
It was her turn to ask, "Why not?"
Sirius bit his tongue, not wanting to explain himself. But this was Lily Evans, after all, who needed an answer and explanation for everything.
"I just think," he began slowly, "that it's too risky, with James gone. He didn't want you to know where he was..." He paused, fervently hoping she could put two and two together. At her confused expression, he reluctantly continued. "Maybe he was afraid someone might come asking after him... maybe it would be safer if you didn't know."
Lily's eyes were looking wet once more. He felt horrible, and it certainly wasn't as if he could just take back what he said.
"Come stay with me tonight. We'll get in touch with Dumbledore first thing in the morning, and I'm sure by then James will be done doing whatever he has to do."
Lily was silent, staring at her hands as she twisted her engagement ring around her finger.
-------------------------
A/N: Would it be completely narcissistic of me to say that I completely loved this chapter? This is what happens when I actually plan! Originally I was going to stop here, but another plot bunny struck me at the same time as this one and as I've been writing, I realized I can put them together... chapter four probably won't come for quite a bit, but PLEASE add me to your story alerts when it does. I'm excited!