Title: James Potter Likes Strong Coffee

Pairing: Hints of Penny x Sirius

Characters: Lily Evans, Petunia Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Penny Singh.

AN: I have my own flat + I forgot the thing that you use when you measure how much powder you need to make coffee + Penny and I have been talking about Lily Evans = a short story.

I imagine that this took place in 1982 during the summer. The difference between this and the original story is that Lily and James never started dating. Petunia never married Vernon. Petunia and Lily are friends. Harry wasn't born. Peter didn't betray them. Sirius didn't go to Azkaban.

Warning: AU!

Word Count: 1, 100

It wasn't just any other day when Lily saw him again. She had just moved into her flat. It wasn't much but it was her first flat and Lily had fallen in love with it the moment she first saw it. It contained of nothing more than a bedroom, a bathroom and then a joint kitchen/ living room. She could barely believe it and Lily had pinched herself numerous times to prove that it was real. She had moved out of her parents' house, she had moved into her own flat. But nothing else had. All her stuff was either in the truck on its way to her or back at her parents' house where they would stay hidden in some part of the attic until she had enough space for it all.

She was sitting in front of the window, two floors above the ground, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. A breeze made its way through the window and Lily took a deep breath as she looked at the people walking on the street underneath. That's when she saw him. James Potter.

Lily blinked several times. One moment he was just there. Because it couldn't be anyone else. She would know that messy hair anywhere. Especially since it looked exactly like it had five years ago. He wasn't alone. Lily couldn't remember ever seeing him without his entourage of brothers during the seven years they went to school together. He got out of the backseat of a car. Penny Singh, who Lily had shared a dorm with but hadn't spoken to that much, came out of the driver's seat wearing black glasses. Sirius followed shortly and as soon as Penny appeared by his side he leaned his arm around her shoulders. Remus was the last one to get out of the car. All of them were smiling and Lily found herself wondering what was so funny.

"Do you know them?"

Lily let out a squeal, her hand reached for her heart which were beating more rapidly than before and when she saw her sister she let out a deep sigh. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, about…" Petunia looked at her wristwatch while she smiled. "Maybe five minutes ago. But you were so interested in those people on the other side that you didn't notice until now. So…"

"So, what?"

"So, do you know them?" Petunia raised an eyebrow as she sat down next to her sister.

The Evans sisters shared nothing other than their green eyes. Petunia had odd traits which made some people view her as the ugly duckling. She often looked unhappy with things and without having to put any effort into it she looked as if she was spying on people when she wasn't. Lily was always called the beautiful one. She looked cute and people gave her the traits that suited her appearance. No one would guess that Lily Evans was fast to judge and often reacted without knowing every fact. That particular trait had gotten her in trouble more often than she cared to admit and she assumed, although she would never know, that she had lost the opportunity of being friends with quite a lot of people because of it. Her fanatic desire to be right often got her in trouble too. Lily couldn't count on one hands how many people she had insulted because she wanted, no she needed to be right about whatever issue, small or big, they were discussing.

"Yeah," Lily admitted as she frowned. "I actually went to school with all of them. I wonder what they're doing here."

"They're moving in," Petunia replied with a shrug. "Well technically, Remus is the one moving in. The other three are just helping him get his stuff inside."

Lily glanced at her sister with a look of confusion on her face. "How do you know their names?"

"I talked to them," Petunia replied while nodding. "I thought Remus was cute and he also has a kind of smile that makes him look really friendly."

"Back up, when did you talk to them?" Lily turned to completely face her sister once the group had disappeared inside the doors of the building on the other side of the street.

"A few minutes ago. I had parked my car and they saw me walking here. They didn't know where they were so I pointed them in the right direction. Well, right after I asked them who they were and what they were doing here."

"I love how curious you are," Lily said.

Petunia winked at her. "Thanks, sis. Do you want some coffee?"

"Yeah sure."

Lily heard Petunia grab two cups out of the cupboard. The only two things she had brought other than the coffee maker. Lily herself watched the apartment on the other side of the street.

The window had been opened and Penny stuck her head out. She took several deep breaths as she looked back and forth down the street. She had silvery streaks in her hair and though Lily couldn't see what it was she saw that Penny had a tattoo on her forearm. Sirius moved to stand behind her. He kissed her neck and then wrapped his arms around her before leaning his head onto her shoulder.

Lily didn't except them to see her. She definitely didn't expect them to call for James and point her out. His smile grew as he waved at her and Lily waved back. Raven-coloured hair, hazel eyes, a mischievous smile and a muscular body that couldn't be hidden under layers of clothes. James Potter hadn't changed one bit in the last few years. Not that she could see anyway.

Behind her Lily could hear her sister coughing. "This coffee is so strong."

"Sorry about that," Lily said without looking away from James. "I forgot to bring the thing that you use to… measure how much powder you need."

He was running his fingers through his hair, she didn't realise that she had missed seeing him do that, while talking to Penny and Sirius. Occasionally, he would laugh out loud. She had missed his smile too.

"The thing huh," Petunia said with an amused tone of voice as she sat down and put a cup in front of Lily. "Do you know who likes strong coffee?"

"Who?" Lily turned to face her sister and saw that Petunia looked like she was going to explode from sheer joy. Before the redhead had any time to wonder what could possibly make her look like that Petunia spoke.

"James Potter likes strong coffee."

The end