Disclaimer: JKR owns all characters, plots, etc. that you recognize.

Summary: It seems love just isn't what's in store for Lily Evans and James Potter. After two years in a relationship, they couldn't see why they were still together. Now they try to convince themselves and everyone around them that breaking up really was for the best, even though deep down they are heartbroken. They struggle to find some sort of happiness, sort through confusion, and end up realizing that they were meant for each other. Then all they have to do is put aside their pride and tell each other the truth. Eventually LJ! R&R Please!

Chapter 6

I tugged at my clothes and cleared my throat uncomfortably. Right now I was standing in front of the door to the meeting room where I would be assigned a partner. To be honest, I was a little nervous. Not because of starting a new job, but what if my partner and I didn't get along? Clearing my throat once more, I let out a sigh before reaching for the door handle.

The room before me was almost filled to its capacity. All the high level Aurors were here chatting loudly, along with nine others that had graduated from the Academy. As I looked around I noticed James and Sirius standing off in a corner talking. And near them were Frank and Alice Longbottom.

I smiled, remembering when Alice had been one of my dorm mates at Hogwarts. I slowly brought my gaze to the other side of the room where the recent Academy graduates were standing by themselves.

A guy sitting at the table looked up from his conversation and briefly smiled at me. Quickly looking him over, but trying not to be obvious about it, I noted that he was very handsome. It was then that I noticed the guy sitting beside him. It was the asshole that antagonized me during the Academy. He threw me a dirty look before turning back to his friend. Probably saying something horrible about me.

Shaking my head, I walked in and over to Alice. It had been a while since I last saw her. She looked so different. I smiled to myself when I saw her playfully arguing with her husband. They were so good for each other.

Sirius, of course, was the first to notice I had arrived. He grinned and moved around Frank, holding his arms out. I laughed slightly before returning his embrace.

"Good to see you, Lil," Sirius grinned, before letting me go.

I nodded in reply, but before I could say anything back, Alice threw herself at me, arms held tightly around my neck. When she finally let go, I was gasping for air.

"Lily! Oh my goodness! It's been forever since I saw you last," Alice rapidly exclaimed. I had forgotten how ditzy she was. Don't get me wrong, she acts very ditzy most of the time, but is rather smart. And that was why I loved her.

"I know. It feels like forever. I think the last time I actually talked to you was at your wedding. You look great, by the way," I said back with just as much energy.

"Thanks. You look good too," Alice said, before she sat down at the table.

"Hey Frank," I said, giving him a hug.

"Hey."

Right then, Moody walked in to the meeting room, which I was thankful for because I was looking for an excuse not to say anything to James.

"Sit," Moody ordered, waiting for everyone before continuing his speech. "To start off, you may have noticed most of the graduates are not here. The reason being, I feel you all did better in the Academy," Moody said, addressing us newbies. "Therefore, you all will be assigned to one of the top level teams. You will also be assigned a partner for your team. So let's begin."

First he introduced the current members of each team. Then he began assigning us to our new partners.

"Lily Evans. Eric Freeman. Team one."

I turned my head, looking to see who this Eric Freeman was. My eyes locked with his and I immediately stood up.

"HIM?! You're partnering me up with him," I questioned Moody, pointing my finger in the direction of my new partner.

This wasn't right. Moody would know better than to put me with the guy that constantly antagonized me while we were in the Academy. Moody looked over his clipboard at me, daring me to continue. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of continuing. Something I knew I would pay for later.

"Moody. Are you serious? Do I really have to be partnered with him?"

"Yes, Evans. Freeman is your partner. Sit down and stop harping on about it. And don't interrupt me again," Moody growled.

Moody finished calling out the new partners and gave everyone their schedules. Everyone but Eric and I. Then everyone was dismissed. Lagging behind, Eric and I made our way up to where Moody was.

"Nice going Evans. If I have to pay for your stupid mistake, you are seriously going to regret it," Eric muttered loud enough for me to hear, before stopping in front of Moody. "Excuse me, sir, but we," he gestured to himself then me, "didn't receive our schedules."

"Right. Let me see. Here you go," he said, handing us each our schedules.

According to my schedule, I would work full time four days on, two days off. And so on. On my days off, I could work at the hospital. I noticed at the bottom of the parchment, it said that my schedule was subject to change according to mission assignment.

"Is that all," Moody questioned, looking at the two of us. We both nodded before turning around to leave. The rest of our team greeted us once we left the meeting room and led us to our office room.

Apparently, each team had their own office room, which I found a little odd. The rooms weren't too big, but had enough room to fit six desks and a few filing cabinets. There were two desks in each corner.

We quickly learned that Frank and Kingsley Shacklebolt were partners and Sirius and James were partners as well. I felt a little odd about being the only girl in the group, but reminded myself that there weren't too many female Aurors. Especially in the top level class. Eric immediately picked the desk closest to the door, leaving me with no choice but to set my things down on the last one.

Eric and I spent the rest of the morning setting up our desks while talking to our other new team mates, while they worked on paperwork from the previous day. While we were talking, Frank mentioned how it was funny that Moody put Eric and me on the same team as James.

"Ha ha. Yeah, it's real funny," I muttered sarcastically.

"I don't get it," Eric butted in, looking confused.

"Well, Lily and James have a history together," Frank explained. "I just thought it was funny how they're on the same team, but my wife and I aren't allowed to work with each other. As Moody says, 'it's a conflict of interest.'"

"Yeah, I was going to say something about that, but I think I should probably lay low after my outburst earlier," I said thoughtfully. To this, the others laughed. Except Eric, who scowled in my direction.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James laugh under his breath. Probably because Eric and I didn't get along too well. Man, it was just my luck that I'd gotten partnered with Eric and we got put on the same team as James.

A while later, Sirius spun his chair around and rubbed his hands together saying it was lunch time. I turned my head to look at the clock in disbelief--I couldn't believe how time flew by. Everyone started heading out of the room, leaving me behind. I gathered up my things quickly, trying to catch up with them and almost knocking everything off my desk.

"Well, that hit the spot," Sirius said, rubbing his stomach as we all headed out the door.

It was time to go back to work. I sighed as I wondered what we'd be doing the rest of the afternoon. Walking through the crowded pathway in Diagon Alley, Sirius turned around and began telling us jokes.

"So there's these two muffins in an oven. They're both sitting, just chilling and getting baked. The first one yells, 'God damn, it's hot in here!' And the other muffin replies, 'Holy crap! A talking muffin.' Get it?! The second muffin is surprised the first one talks but then it talks," Sirius laughed, making the rest of us laugh.

He was just so amusing when he's had too much sugar. He had way too many personalities for his own good.

"Oh oh, Lily, I heard a new knock knock joke. You guys wanna hear it," Sirius asked excitedly.

"NO," everyone yelled, which resulted in Sirius making his pitiful puppy-dog face.

"Okay. Let's hear it," I said reluctantly.

"YES! Okay. Knock Knock."

"Who's there," I asked.

"Interrupting cow."

"Interrupting c--"

"MOO," Sirius yelled at me and began laughing. I just rolled my eyes at his antics.

THUMP!

Sirius was now lying on the ground, not entirely sure what had just happened. After making sure he was okay, everyone looked to see who he had run into. Oh no--this is definitely going to be trouble. It just had to be Sirius' little brother, Regulus, that we ran into.

James and Frank help Sirius up, all the while Sirius was throwing Regulus dirty looks. Not that Regulus and his friends were any better--they all had nasty looks upon their faces.

"Well well well, what do we have here? My disgrace of a brother and his friends," Regulus sneered.

"Shut your mouth, you little maggot."

"No, I don't think I will. Everyone knows that you're a disgrace to the Black family name. Did you know mum blasted your name off the tapestry," Regulus asked, knowing he was pushing Sirius' buttons.

Sirius had never been very tolerant towards his brother and their family. They believed that anyone who wasn't a pureblood, was filthy blooded.

"Shut up!" Sirius yelled, trying to control his temper.

"You always were such a screw up. You never were good enough to uphold the family name. Blood traitors and Halfbloods," Regulus smirked, while his friends sniggered behind him.

Sirius' face was getting redder and redder by the minute. We needed to get out of here before something really bad happened. So I grabbed Sirius' arm, telling him we should leave. That's when Regulus caught sight of me.

"Oh look. We've got ourselves a mudblood as well," he said, sizing me up and down.

The next thing I knew, there were punches being thrown, several voices yelling out, and blood splattering on the pavement below. I should have known this would have happened. But how was I supposed to stop this fist fight, before the wands were out?

I easily dodged a punch, but I wasn't so lucky when I tripped to the ground. It was then, that my attacker had started to kick me anywhere that was exposed. I had been kicked in the stomach a dozen times, as well as a few times in the face.

Suddenly I could hear more voices yelling. Except this time they were hexes and curses flying past me. This caused the two groups to split up. Lying on the ground, I could see my team, along with another team from the Auror Department, standing there with their wands pointed in my direction. Regulus and his group where standing there, blocking me from my team's view.

I had to make a decision fast on how to remove myself from this vulnerable state I was put in. I lay motionless knowing it would make my attacker think I was unconscious. Waiting for the right moment, I finally made my move swinging my leg around, connecting it with those of my attacker. At the same time I pulled my wand out and pointed it in his direction.

Hearing a thud, his friends turned around, surprised to see me standing with my wand pointed at their friend. Then just as fast as the fight broke out, Regulus smirked, motioning to his friends to disapparate.

Once they were gone, my team rushed over to me, making sure I was alright. What did they think I was, some pathetic little girl who couldn't take care of herself? I had a hard time trying to convince them that I was fine. Even James seemed somewhat concerned about my wellbeing.

Looking them over, I noticed they all had small cuts on their faces and arms. Both Frank and James had black eyes, Eric had a bloody lip, Kingsley had a bloody nose. Sirius looked the worst out of them, with a black eye and bloody nose (most likely broken). I quickly told them I'd heal them once we got back to the office.

Arriving at the office, Moody immediately began yelling at us, questioning us why we got into a fight. I have no idea how he found out about it, because the other Auror team didn't come back before us. We all had our heads lowered in shame, almost like a frightened dog with his tail between his legs.

"Well? Who started it," Moody asked, getting even more frustrated.

Seeing no one from my team was going to speak up, I spoke first. "Sir, we were just on our way back, when Sirius' brother ran into him and a verbal argument broke out. We were just about to leave, when they started fist fighting."

"Is that correct," he questioned the others. They all nodded in response.

"Well, if I hear anything that concerns you again Evans, you'll be on probation." Moody said gruffly.

"Yes, sir."

"I want you all to go home in an hour. You're done for the day," Moody dismissed us.

"Just sit still."

"Ouch! Lily!"

"Oh hush, Sirius. You need to get these cuts cleaned before I can heal them." I reprimanded.

I wanted to clean Sirius up first since he had looked the worst. After a few minutes of whining from Sirius, I finished healing him. I turned around to begin healing Frank's injuries and to my surprise, they were already healed. It was then that I saw Eric healing James' injuries as well.

Eric explained to everyone that his mother was the head healer over at St. Mungo's and that he had been an intern there every summer between school sessions. My mouth hung open in surprise.

HOLY COW! His mother was my other boss!

A/n: So, hey everyone. So Sorry for the wait, I know I take forever to write this stuff--I spent a lot of time playing solitaire…hehe. A major thanks goes out to my awesome beta, TASTETHEKISS. She ROCKS! And more thanks goes out to all my reviewers: cosmopolitan, thestralwhisperer, shetlandlace, An Aspiring Author(who has a gambling problem…lol, jkjk), wicked26, modern-marauder, and R.L.N.Tonks. I absolutely love getting reviews. So I hope you liked this chapter…I wanted to throw in some twists, anyway…

IHEARTJAMESPOTTER (aka: jenn)

PS…Please review to let me know what you think….thanks!