I don't own Harry Potter.

"Only you would insist on getting ice cream at 5:30 in the morning," Lily said fondly as the two of them stepped into the vacant shop while she wiped away the last few of her tears.

"Come on Lily, how long have you been awake for?" asked the dark haired man.

"Two hours now," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I'm t-t-tired." Her confident tone was given away by the accidental yawn slipped in on 'tired.'

"Mmmmhmmm," he answered skeptically. "Which is why you just let out that enormous yawn. Now if I know you as well as I did five years ago, which I'm pretty sure I do, you really want a single scoop of rocky road in a waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles."

Lily pouted. "Am I really that predictable?" she whined. Sure, it might be a little immature, but then again who was mature in an ice cream shop at 5:30 in the morning?

"Sadly my dear, yes," he taunted her. "That and I happen to be excellent at reading people." At her skeptical look he insisted, "No really I am! I'm a people person, people are like open books to me!"

"Fine then you can go order our ice cream, Mr. Know It All," Lily huffed as she flounced over to one of the many empty tables.

"Fair enough my dear, fair enough," he chuckled after her. She hadn't changed a bit.

"Stop calling me your dear!" she shouted behind her. "I belong to no one and I hate that word!"

He winced. "Sorry Lily I forgot!"

As the fit man walked up to the colorful counter of the shop, Lily's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to his bum. It had always been rather…attractive, for lack of better words. Especially during their days at Hogwarts when it was perched on the smooth handle of his broomstick or when he was chasing after one of his hooligans that he called best friends.

But of course Lily would never see him as more than just a friend. He was a womanizer, a player. Not to mention he was an arrogant prick, even after they had gotten to know each other. But the thing was nobody couldn't love him in some sort of way. The Slytherins had loved to hate him, the girls had loved to love him, and the Marauders had loved him like a brother. Even the teachers did not go unaffected by his charm and good looks. It was just one of the many wonders of his - charming everyone he met.

"Here you go Evs," he said handing her the ice cream cone. Lily's heart ached at the sound of her old nickname given to her specially by the Marauders. She missed them all so much…

His long tongue darted quickly all over the scoops of chocolate chunk ice cream. He had taken off all the gunny bears and lined them up on the table. With a quick flick of his wand, they were marching around like the perfect little militia. "See these guys Lily?" he asked. "This is the second legion of our army."

Lily started to laugh hysterically at the five-year-old memory of their gummy bear army. As two of the five students that remained at Hogwarts during their Seventh Year Christmas break, they had resorted to highly original ideas of entertaining themselves, such as making the entire school into a coloring book or creating an army of gummy bears. With the help of his best mate and a couple of restricted books, their army had reached 500 strong until the teachers had foiled their fun.

The two young wizards continued to eat their ice cream cones, watching the gummy bears march around their table while giggling over forgotten memories. There was the time the boys had dyed Flitwick purple, when Lily sacrificed Alice to the Giant Squid, when the Marauders had cross dressed for a day, and so many more. So many good times so long ago…

Things were different now. They were no longer the carefree teens of their Hogwarts days but fully grown adults thrust into the midst of a violent war. He was no longer the whimsical prankster we once was, no matter how hard he tried. His days weren't spent planning jokes but planning raids and going undercover with Death Eaters. He was serving his public as both an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

She too had changed. The perfectionist in her had slipped away over the years she spent in Egypt. She had become more flexible, more acceptable to change. This was definitely a change for the better, although it had come five years too late. Lily was also part of the Order, but she had not yet been to a single meeting. Her career straining had started immediately after school and was impossible to escape from, something that Dumbledore understood and respected.

And yet they stayed the same. Both looked almost exactly the same as they did when they stepped off the Hogwarts Express for the last time with a few exceptions here and there such as his shorter hair or her newly pierced ears. When off their jobs they returned to similar hobbies that they had kept at Hogwarts. The swift motion of flying on his Silver Arrow still soothed him, as did his sketching. And no matter what he had seen in the world, that playful twinkle in his eye had never disappeared. Lily had somehow kept up with her running just as religiously as she had at school, going at least four times a week. Despite her shorter legs, Lily was quite the runner, a little Speedy Gonzalez.

Lily crunched into the last bit of her cone as she looked almost cautiously at his face. He was staring at her in that intent way that only he could master. He had finished his ice cream long ago, despite having two scoops compared to her one. He had also quickly eliminated the marching bears. It appeared as if his huge appetite was another thing that was set in stone.

"Listen," she started. "I think that it would be best if we didn't mention this little meeting to anyone."

He understood what she meant. Should anyone find out about this it could be disastrous, after not seeing her for five years. "Alright Evans," he said, planning on playing up this scenario. "I'll keep this rendezvous a secret on one condition."

Lily sighed but cracked a small smile. There was a catch. Of course there was a catch, nothing he was involved in could ever be kept simple. "Your terms?" she asked him, raising her left eyebrow. She thought that the arched eyebrow might soften him up seeing as he was the one that taught her how to do it during their Seventh Year over the Christmas holidays. So much had happened over those days…

He gave her that dazzling grin of his. "We have more. I've missed you Lily," he said, swooping her into a huge hug. "We all have," he said pointedly.

"I miss all you of too," she choked out.

"Not enough to write though?"

She couldn't meet his eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered sadly. "There are just some things that I can't tell you or teach you…location, Goblin, description, why there weren't any owls allowed at the camp…so many secrets…"

He shot her an even better smile as he laughed and literally picked her off the ground. "Lily," he said staring into her face just simply held her up. He ignored her annoyed look - he knew that she hated to be lifted. "Lily, Lily, Lily! All this time we though you were trying to block us out!"

Her annoyed face disappeared as she met his cheerful, hopeful gaze. "Never," she said strongly. "Never."

He looked as if he was going to say something but shut his mouth. Just as he opened it again, his watch beeped shrilly three times. "Shit," he muttered glancing at it. "I was supposed to be at a work with coffee a half hour ago. I gotta go Evs, owl me!"

He pecked her cheek and with a spring in his step, sprinted out of the shop and down the street. Lily chuckled to herself. Some things would just never change. But what could be expected of him? Like his best friend, Sirius Black had never been known for his punctuality.

Hahahaahaha IT'S SIRIUS! Not James. Sorry! Okay, I know that I suck at updating this story...but oddly enough I'm ok with that. Haha but seriously (haha Sirius...) I'll try to update more often, at least once a month. Wow that would take a while. Yeah I'll write more. Actually, this is the first time I've been on the site personally for over a month. My recent stories were not typed up by me, but by my best friend Gabby who took my notebook from me when I was sick. I've just gotten over mono and finally feel well enough to drag myself to the computer. So now that it's actually me, REVIEW.

Isabel