Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: I finished the last chapter, and started on this one right away after. Needless to say, my wrist is KILLING me. But that's okay, because I realized how much I actually miss writing. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Chapter 3: A visit.

A week had passed slowly. Every morning, James would wake up early and apparate to work. And every evening, he would leave late and apparate home. All the aurors were staying late, nowadays, with all the attacks that were still happening. There were many fights, and there was even more paperwork that had to be filled out.

But luckily, it was the weekend, and he had the two days off.

When he woke up that Saturday and rolled over in his bed to face the clock, the hands pointed to a very blurry ten o'clock. James threw off his blankets and sat up in his bed, feet hanging barely an inch off the ground. Blindly, he reached around his bedside table for his glasses and when his fingers closed around them, he slid them on to his face. Instantly, everything became clearer. The dark blue on his walls, and now he could make out all the pictures and bric-a-brac that hung there: Gryffindor banners and flags, posters of his favourite quidditch teams along with other random clippings and trimmings. On the table, where he had found his glasses, sat three pictures. One was of himself, with an older woman whose light hair hung wispily around her face and an older looking man with an untidy hair and glasses. He and his parents were perched on the couch in their sitting room, grinning and laughing up at the camera. Another picture was of Sirius, Remus, Peter and himself, laughing and kidding around in front of the main doors at school. The last was of him and Lily. The two of them were sitting under a large tree, she leaning against his side with a book in her hands, and he just smiling down at her.

The photographs made him smile as he got to his feet and stretched his arms far over his head, arching his back. He made for the bathroom down the hall, and spent twenty minutes in it, showering and brushing his teeth, before he trotted back into his room and got dressed.

By the time he got downstairs and walked into the kitchen, his parents had already finished breakfast and his mother was by the sink, waving her wand so that the dishes cleaned themselves. His father was staring intently at the newspaper spread across the table in front of him, his brow furrowed. He hadn't even looked up upon his entrance.
His mother started slightly as he kissed her withered cheek.

"Heavens, James," she said, exhaling deeply. "You're going to give me a heart attack one day."

"Sorry." He grinned apologetically as he opened the fridge.

"I thought you'd be asleep for a while," she told him, leaning back against the counter and watching her son. "Otherwise I'd have kept some breakfast on the table for you. I can still make something now. Are you hungry?"

James shook his head as he re-emerged from the bottom of the refrigerator with an apple in his hand. "No, no." he told her. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"An apple?" Mrs. Potter raised her eyebrows. "You're going to wither away one day, young man. You're much too thin."

"Mum, really." He smiled. "I'm fine."

"Where are you off to today?" she asked.

"I was thinking of going to Lily's for a while, and then see what happens." He shrugged.

"She hasn't been around for dinner lately." Mr. Potter said, finally speaking from his seat at the table.

James looked round and saw that he had abandoned the Prophet. He laughed. "It's only been a week, dad." He said. "And she's been busy."

His father nodded and ran a hand through his messy, greying hair. "Well, you're mother and I are going over to your Aunt Persia's for lunch. You can reach us there if you need anything."

"Right." James clapped his father on the shoulder and smiled at his mother before he walked out of the kitchen. "I'll see you later." He called from the hallway as he slipped his feet into his trainers. He grabbed his coat and with a loud pop, he disapparated from the front hall.

--

"Lily, doorbell."

Her mother's voice carried up the stairs easily, and through Lily's open door, into her room. It took her a moment to actually get to her feet and hurry down the stairs, but she was at the door fairly quickly, pulling it open.

She grinned at the sight of James standing there, smiling down at her. Without a word, he leaned down and kissed her lightly, quickly.

"Hi." She said breathlessly, inviting him in.

"Hi." He replied, laughter in his voice.

Virginia Evans came out from the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. "Hello, James," she smiled sweetly, eyes crinkling. "Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Evans." He grinned back.

She was still smiling when she turned back into the kitchen.

"Did you know there's an owl floating around outside your window?" James asked of Lily when her mother was gone.

"Outside my window?" Lily made a face. "No, I didn't notice."

She turned back up the stairs and returned to her room, James trailing behind her. She crossed her room straight to her window, where, sure enough, an owl was hovering just outside of it. Lily flung the window open and the owl flew in, dropping the roll of parchment on her bed and flying back out.

James picked it up and handed it to her. "Wonder what it is…" he said, sitting on her bed.

She sat down next to him. Her fingers fumbled with the tie around it, but within a moment, it was open and her eyes were already halfway through the page. Then, with a squeal, she leapt up from the bed and hopped in a circle, still squealing and laughing with delight.

"What is it?" James was laughing too. It was impossible to watch her jumping and waving her arms happily, and not feel happy along with her.

"From the ministry. I passed all my tests!" She said, beaming.

His smiled widened. "I told you you would."

"What's with all the noise?" Her father was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded.

"I passed all my aptitude tests. I'm an auror." Lily said.

Her father grinned, making him look twenty years younger. "That's great, Lily!" he laughed. "Did you tell your mother, yet?"

She shook her head as she dashed out of the room and leapt down the stairs. They could hear both women shrieking with glee from downstairs. A moment later, Lily was back, entering her room again as her father was leaving it. He kissed the top of his daughter's head as she squeezed past him.

"We're proud of you, Lily." He said, and disappeared downstairs.
She took a deep breath once he was gone, still clinging to the letter. James grinned at her.

"Congratulations." He said. He took two steps toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lightly, he kissed the end of her nose.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you." She said, hands trailing up his chest and around his neck.

"What do you say we celebrate?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Her eyebrows rose in curiosity. "How?"

"We'll throw a party." He chuckled. "Just our close friends. And we'll do it at Sirius' place, so we don't have to clean up after it." He winked.

Lily laughed. "Sounds like a plan." She stretched up on the tips of her toes and pressed her mouth to hers briefly, pulling back after just a second.

"I'll go tell everyone else." He said, bending to her level, now, to kiss her back. "Apparate over to Sirius' at around…five o'clock. Everything should be ready by then." And without giving Lily another chance to speak, he caught her lips again before taking three steps back and disapparating with a loud sound.

She rolled her eyes and collapsed backwards on her bed, still grinning like a maniac.

--

Three hours passed quicker than she could have imagined. Before she knew it, five o'clock rolled around, and she was getting ready to leave her house. From her bedroom, where she had just been brushing her hair, she galloped down the stairs and into her sitting room. Her mother was sitting there in a rocking chair, a heavy looking book open in her lap. Her wiry glasses were sliding down her nose. She looked up as Lily stopped in the hallway.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" she asked with a smile, removing her spectacles and gazing up at her daughter.

"James decided to through a congratulations party at Sirius' place. It's just going to be us and a few friends. That okay?" Lily put on her shoes as she spoke.

"That's fine." Her mother said. She put her glasses on again and looked back down at her book. "Have fun, dear."

"Thanks mum. I'll be home later." And from the front hall of their home, Lily disapparated.

In a second or two, Lily appeared out of thing air, and was standing on the front lawn of Sirius' home: a small cottage with purple shutters on either side of each of his windows. A rickety beige fence went all the way around the house, and Lily, who could hear voices coming from the back, walked over to the gate and pushed it open.

"Congratulations Lily!" rang out as soon as she entered the backyard and she smiled.

"How come no one else had their own party when they became an auror?" she laughed, as Anna hurried forward and flung her arms around her.

"Because we don't all have boyfriends like you've got," Anna giggled.
Lily smiled.

"Hungry?" Victoria asked.

"Very."

"Good. Because James got enough food for a hundred people."

"You're forgetting that Sirius is here. He eats enough food for about ninety people, so we should be good." Lily laughed, as Sirius himself bounded over to her with, predictably, a sandwich in one hand.

"Congratulations Lily Billy." He said, kissing her once on the cheek.

"Thank you, Sirius." She smiled back. "Are you already halfway through the entire meal?"

He smirked. "I wouldn't say halfway. Maybe a quarter, though. Don't worry, I've left enough for you, Lil'."

"Gee, thanks."

Together, they made their way towards a long picnic table, the top of which was littered with different kinds of food. She noticed that there was a banner wrapped around one of the apple trees, the words 'Congrats Lily Billy' written in green across it.

Lily sat down between Remus and James as Sirius made his way around the table and perched himself next to Victoria across from her. She felt James' arm wind around her waist as soon as she sat down, and his lips against her temple.

"Thank you." She said quietly, smiling at him.

"Anytime."

The eight friends sat around the picnic table, piling food onto their paper plates, filling their goblets with punch that, thanks to Sirius, was leaving them tingling, and chatting and laughing. Lily, finished eating, sat back and watched her friends in action. Peter and Louise were falling over onto the table laughing with all their might at some story Remus was telling. Victoria and Sirius seemed to be having their own conversation, and Lily watched as Sirius lit up another cigarette and smirked in her direction, knowing he was too far away for her to snatch it from him this time. James and Anna were talking about quidditch, a conversation that Lily had too much difficulty following. It didn't really matter, anyway. She was content just leaning forward with her elbow on the wooden table with James' arm still around her, his thumb rubbing circles on the small of her back, smiling as she glanced around at her happy friends.

But the happiness was soon interrupted. She watched as Sirius looked up from his conversation with Victoria at the sound of the gate opening, and she watched the cigarette fall out of his hand. She watched as everyone's head turned in the same direction, and then she herself turned. Three men had walked into the backyard, two that looked completely unfamiliar.

"We thought we heard that the mudblood was finally made an auror." The one in the front said with a sly smile. "We're looking forward to fighting against you one day. And watching you lose." He added, tipping an invisible glass in a toast towards her.

She felt James' hand leave her waist, felt him rise to his feet and pull his wand out of his pocket. She clung to his hand to keep him at her side, but there was nothing she could do to keep Sirius in his seat. He had gotten up and walked around the table, towards the three men. His wand was drawn.

"Get out of here." He hissed through closed teeth. He was holding his wand so tightly that his knuckles shone white.

The man in front laughed. "What's the matter, Sirius?" he asked, shaking his head. "You don't look very happy to see me."

"That's because I'm not." He replied icily. Lily watched his eyes narrow dangerously as he stared into the pale, thin face of his younger brother.

Author's Note: So, the last chapter was pretty uneventful, but you can't say that this one is, too. There's a bit of action in this one, anyway, and I kind of like chapter three. It took me long enough to get it right. (

I hope you like it to.
As always, please read and review. And as always, thanks.

-Cait.