Lily felt groggy when she came round like she'd been asleep for a long time but in reality she'd been unconscious for a few moments. She woke up to a panicked James calling her name and trying to wake her with a gentle shake, his voice laden with worry.

"Lily, Lily wake up!" He called and when he saw her slowly open her eyes he sighed in relief and sat back next to her.

"Thank Merlin." He said sighing and running his hand through his mess of black hair. She slowly tried to sit and he jumped to action and helped gently pull her upright. His hands on her lower back and arm made her suddenly aware that she was wearing her pyjamas shorts and vest and nothing else. She quickly covered her chest and felt self conscious and a little cold. He noticed her movement and quickly removed her jumper and handed it to her to put on. She pulled it on and felt warm comfort and once again got an upclose smell of James Potter.

She steadied herself and then looked at her surroundings. It looked like a strange little garden or patio, like that of an inner city terraced house. All concrete, surrounded by high walls and with very little greenery in it.

"Where are we James?" She asked. James looked around and got up then offered her a hand to put her up off the ground. Lily took his hand and noticed upon standing a dull ache on her knee and looked down to see a fairly bad graze with blood dripping down her leg.

"We're at my house. Let's get you inside and get that knee sorted out." He said directing her towards a small back door at the house which this small garden obviously belonged to.

She walked inside and saw a welcoming kitchen inside an old fashioned home, a little fire was crackling in the fireplace and the kitchen smelled homely like freshly baked bread. James closed the door behind them and then turned to her, he almost looked nervous even though this was his home and she was the intruder.

"Take a seat at the table," James said and she hobbled over to the table, her knee throbbing more and more the longer she stood. She sat at the four seater kitchen table in James Potter's modest kitchen and looked around confused.

"I thought you had a bit family estate in the country." She asked, suddenly realising how rude that sounded and blushing. James noticed her blush but smiled regardless as he wet a cloth in the sink.

"My family do yes, but I live here now. The house was a bit too big for just my mum and I so she moved into an apartment we had in the city and I moved into this place with some friends. It's pretty simple but I like it." He said. "Maybe one day when things aren't so crazy and I've got a family of my own I'll move back to the estate." Lily blushed a little more at his mention of family which seemed like the most irrational reaction ever but James Potter seemed to be able to get a blush out of her very easily without even trying.

"Sorry I didn't mean to be rude." Lily said in response. "Your home is lovely." Just as she said that as she said that a woman walked in in a large t-shirt and underwear and froze in the doorway.

"Woah," She said as she spotted Lily, in pyjamas and James' jumper, with a bloody leg sat at the table. Lily blinked realising this must be James' girlfriend so she sat up straight readying herself to explain the situation somehow.

"Hey Marlene, this is Lily, Lily Evans." James said in a weird tone. "Lily, Marlene McKinnon. I didn't think you'd be here Marlene." James added staring across the kitchen and speaking in the same weird tone.

"I shouldn't be here, but I finished the thing early and was in the area so I popped by for a visit…" She grinned a devilish grin and Lily felt uncomfortable like she should go.

"I'm sorry to intrude. I should go…" Lily said trying to get up.

"Evans don't be crazy, you're hurt. Here press this towel on your cut. Marl's could you do the honours?" James asked using an obvious pet name between lovers. Lily cringed at her jealousy. It had come out of nowhere and now she felt sick.

Lily took the damp towel wordlessly and pressed it to her throbbing knee and looked at Marlene and James. She winced at the sting but kept the pressure on anyway to stop the bleeding.

"Sure I'll just go grab my wand. Be right back." She said popping out of the kitchen. James came back over to Lily and took her hand holding the towel and moved it away to inspect the cut. Lily's heart raced at his hand touching hers.

"It doesn't look too bad." He said. "Marlene is an awesome healer, you won't even have a scar." Lily nodded, he was obviously a big fan of this girl.

Marlene came back into the kitchen, this time with pyjamas bottoms on and her wand in her hand. She knelt down next to Lily and waved her wand and muttered a couple of charms and Lily felt her leg immediately stop throbbing then the cut slowly closed up then finally she swished her wand and the blood, now dried, disappeared, leaving her knee as good as new.

"Wow, thank you. That was really impressive." Lily said, her old love of the art of healing coming back to her.

"No problem. Now do you kids want to explain what you've been up to this evening?" She said sitting at the kitchen table. James sighed and sat next to Lily who stayed quiet waiting for James to explain

"Well…" Just as he began a voice called out down the corridor.

"Is it true Lily Evans is sat in our kitchen Prongs?" A male voice called out and James winced.

"Sorry in advance Lily, Sirius still doesn't have a filter." James said quickly as Sirius Black, notorious playboy entered the kitchen with his signature swagger.

"So it's true, Hogwart's top Head Girl and estranged witch is sat in our humble kitchen. To what do we owe this honour?" Sirius asked as he stood in the doorway, shirtless and in a pair of checkered boxers. Lily blushed but not as his clothes but at his statement, although true to hear her characterised as estranged felt a little awkward.

"Put some clothes on Padfoot." James said looking at his friend in disdain and amusement.

"I would dear friend," He said strutting confidently across the kitchen and plonking himself down next to Marlene at the table. "But this little minx stole all my clothes." Then he leant across and kissed Marlene on the side of her head affectionately. She smiled at him cheekily and shrugged.

"They look better on me anyway," Marlene said and Lily realised she had got a little muddled with the relationships in this house. She also felt a little happy feeling of relief and her jealousy monster sunk back down.

"So are you going to explain Prongs or shall we come to our own conclusions?" Sirius probed further wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the pair. James rolled his eyes and looked at Lily.

"Lily is part of an investigation that Mum and I are looking into. Her house was attacked tonight by death eaters and I went and got her out before they could…" He stopped short of saying it but his eyes darkened and he looked serious at the thought of what those people could have been planning to do.

"How did you know they were breaking in to go and get her?" Marlene asked curiously and James looked sheepish at this. Lily had wondered herself how he'd know to come but hadn't had a second to worry about it until then.

"I did wonder that myself," She said and his cheeks reddened a little.

"I may have put a little charm on your house to alert me to your movements and also if anyone other than you entered the house. It was just a precaution to make sure you were okay!" He said quickly as if to justify.

"So you've basically been… stalking me?" Lily said slowly.

"No!" He countered quickly. "More like monitoring, just as a safety precaution you know, and well… good thing I did I guess." He said solemnly and she couldn't help but agree.

"Maybe next time let me know when you're planning to 'monitor' me Potter," She said a little huffily but resigned that he had made the right decision on this occasion. He nodded in agreement and then let out a little yawn. Lily looked at the clock and saw it was 3am and felt a little sleepy herself.

"Lily, although it's lovely to see you again I'm going to have to head back to bed as I have an early morning meeting." Sirius said as he stretched and stood. He put out a hand to Marlene who laughed and took it as he pulled her up.

"Early morning meeting? I don't think you've got up before midday since you were a child Black." She scoffed following him out of the kitchen. Marlene waved to Lily as she was pulled along by Sirius and called.

"See you in the morning Lily," she said and this made Lily realise that she was obviously expected to stay here tonight, in James' house. She suddenly felt uncomfortable left alone with James not knowing what to do or where to go. James got up and got two glasses out of the cupboard and used his wand to fill them up with cold water. He handed one to Lily but stayed standing.

"You can stay with us until we know more about last night. I don't think it's safe for you to go home any time soon." He said seriously and she felt comforted by his concern but uneasy about staying in his home.

"I can't intrude on you like this, I can go and stay in a hotel." She said getting up.

"No way. I'm not letting you out of my sight." James said abruptly and then went quiet having realised the intimacy of what he had said. "I mean I think it's safer for you here. You can sleep in my room and I'll sleep in Remus', he's away on business for a few days." Lily remembered Remus Lupin another member of the infamous Marauders. He had always been quieter and more thoughtful that the other boys at school so Lily remembered him fondly.

"It's fine honestly I can sleep on the sofa." Lily said not wanting to be trouble but James shook his head and ignored her request.

He lead the way out of the kitchen and further into the house, she saw a door closed and assumed that was Sirius room as she heard a light giggle from inside which made Lily blush. The house was dark so she trod carefully through the hallway which led to an old staircase upstairs. She followed him up and as they reached the top he gestured forward with his hand towards a room across the landing. She went forward and entered a room, small but tidy with a large double bed in the middle and a few pieces of furniture scattered about the room. He quickly scurried over to the corner chair which had a few piece of clothes hanging off it and grabbed them and threw them into his laundry bin.

She could tell he was nervous but wasn't really sure why as he was at home and she was in the alien place.

"There's clean towels in the bathroom across the hall if you want to shower in the morning and help yourself to anything you need in the kitchen. I'll be right across the hall in Remus' room if you need anything. Will you be okay?" He asked again using the gentle caring voice he seemed to reserve for checking on her.

"Yes, I'll be fine." She said looking around the room. It was tidy and simple with little decoration which isn't what she expected.

"It's not much but I spend more time working than anything these days so I'm hardly ever here." he said noting her staring at the room.

"It's perfect, thank you." She said looking at him. "Thank you… for everything." She really was grateful, he'd saved her from more than just the attackers in her house, he had saved her from a dreary life alone and now she felt a part of something. James wished her goodnight and turned and left closing the door behind him.

She placed her wand, still clutched in her hand on the night stand and climbed into bed, suddenly exhaustion took over her as her head hit the pillow, which smelled comforting and musty like James. She drifted off to sleep and dreamt of nothing.