Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: Boy oh boy, this update took forever. I had major freaking writers block for like, the longest time. I kept losing my ideas when I had them, and the rest of the time, I just couldn't come up with anything. Plus, I've been pretty busy. I was in Europe for twelve days, then I've been doing homework, and make-up homework… and ugh, just tons of things. But I hope I'll be able to write more nowadays.

Chapter Seven: Secret Shopping

"If I've got to fill out another bloody report, I'm going to organize one of those muggle things where they… hold signs and refuse to work. What are they called Lily?" Sirius asked as he slumped forward onto his desk, head atop a messy stack of papers and files.

"Uh," Lily said, glancing up from her own work. "A strike?" she asked, eyebrows pulling together a bit, and her words were a bit muffled since her lips were shaped around the end of her quill as she gnawed on it in thought.

"Sure, one of those," Sirius said without lifting his head.

"You know, that'd probably be more work than the reports," Lily pointed out, lowering her head again and returning to her word, hand hastily moving across the page.

"Damn it," Sirius cursed, finally lifting his head. He rubbed his fists over his shut eyes in frustration and sighed, picking up his quill again and letting his gaze roam over the paper until he found where he'd left off.

With all the attacks and disappearances, the aurors were constantly filling out reports, detailing the exact events so that they would be able to keep track of them and possibly find a pattern to prevent them from happening. So far the only thing that they could find in common with the crimes were the victims: muggles, muggleborns or simply people who didn't believe that pureblood was the only way to go.

"I need a lunch break," Sirius said, finishing up the last bit of his report.

"You just had breakfast," Victoria reminded him from behind her desk, lifting her head to smile at him.

Sirius smiled back. "That was forty five minutes ago," he said, speaking as though it was absolutely crazy that he had gone so long without a meal.

Victoria shook her head.
"Would you care to join me?" he asked, pushing his chair back and pulling his coat off the back of it and shrugging into it.

Victoria pulled a face and shook her head again, slowly this time. "I can't," she said, frowning a bit. "I've still got three files to finish up before one o'clock."

"Good luck," he laughed, playfully mussing her hair as he passed her. "Maybe James and Peter are game. I'll see you later," he said as he left the area, most likely in search of the aforementioned friends.

"Later," Victoria smiled and resumed her work.

Sirius found Peter just outside the building, coat open and blowing back in the window and a cigarette hanging out from between his tight lips. Peter was absently staring down at the ground, kicking at loose stones on the sidewalk.

"Hey Wormy," Sirius grinned, clapping his friend on the back.

The cigarette fell out of Peter's mouth as he started and turned to see Sirius standing there. "Merlin, Padfoot," he breathed, sniffling a bit and he swiped at his nose with the back of his hand. "It's not right to sneak up on people like that."

"Who's sneaking?" Sirius chuckled, pulling a pack of smokes out of his breast pocket and offering him one. "Seen James anywhere?" he then asked, lighting his own cigarette, and then Peter's. "I was thinking we could all go out for lunch."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Peter said, inhaling. "But I haven't seen James around today. I didn't even see him show up for work."

Sirius frowned. "Really?" he asked, thinking about where James could have gone instead of showing up to work. Now that he really thought about it, he remembered seeing Lily come in on her own, but Sirius hadn't had time to ask where his friend was and he guessed that he eventually forgot about it. "Huh, that's weird," he muttered, but he wasn't distracted for long; Sirius shrugged and continued with, "Well, we can still hit the nearest restaurant right? 'Cause I'm starved."

"Sure thing," Peter agreed, nodding as the pair of them set off down the sidewalk. "I haven't eaten since breakfast," he glanced down at the gold watch on his chubby wrist and frowned. "Well, that was only about an hour ago, but still…"

Sirius chuckled and clapped him on the back again. "I couldn't agree with you more, mate."

Lily gave a long sigh as she leaned back in her chair, setting her quill firmly down on the edge of her desk. She took a moment to bask in the joy of having completed her reports for the day before she pulled all the papers together neatly and stuffed them back into the folder. Then she wheeled back her chair and got to her feet, pausing to stretch a bit (which was a great relief after spending all morning in a chair, hunched forward over her desk), before walking around her desk and heading towards Moody's office.

She stopped just outside the door and knocked lightly on it, but loud enough that he would here.

"Come in, Evans," he called from inside.

Lily turned the brass doorknob and let herself into the man's office.

"I uh, finished the reports for the week," she said, setting them gently down at the edge of his messy desk, away from the stack of papers he seemed to be working on.

Moody glanced up at Lily, then at the folders she'd presented him with. "Already?" he asked, sounding mildly impressed.

Dutifully, Lily nodded. "Yes sir."

Moody paused and then replied, "Good work, Evans."

"Thank you, sir," Lily smiled, and turned to leave. But she stopped halfway to the door and turned back, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, and sir?" she said, making sure she had his attention.

Moody looked up (apparently she did).

"About the Order of the Phoenix, sir," she began, tucking her hair behind her ears with both hands as she spoke. "I've come up with my answer, and I've decided that I'd like to join."
Moody cracked a rare smile and leaned back in his chair. "That's good news," he said, nodding to himself. "Glad to hear it. Dumbledore will be too. He seemed pretty happy when I let him know that the boys were joining up – Potter, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew, that is."

Lily just smiled as Moody stopped for a moment, looking thoughtful. She sensed that there was more, so she waited just by the door.

Sure enough, Moody continued with, "There's a meeting next week, probably next Thursday. Do you think you can make it?" he asked, arching his eyebrows at her.

Lily nodded. "Sure thing, sir," she replied. "No problem."

"When I find out, I'll let you know where it is," he told her, looking back down at his work and picking up his quill again.

Nodding again, Lily took this as a dismissal and she turned back towards the door and left his office as she replied with, "Sounds good." She made her way back to her desk and grabbed her coat.

"If anyone asks," she said to the collective group of friends around her. "I've just gone out for a walk. I've been sitting for much too long."

Victoria grunted in reply without looking up from her work, and Lily laughed as she swept past her desk, heading around the corner and out of sight.

Another glance down at his wristwatch told him that she was now half an hour late and his lips pulled southward in a worried frown.

Where is she? James thought, narrowing his eyes at his watch as thought it was its fault that she had not yet arrived. He couldn't just stand in the middle of the sidewalk all day. As it was, people were probably already wondering where he was.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice said over a quick clicking of heels against the sidewalk. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."

James grinned as he looked up and spotted her running towards him, yelling and earning herself a few strange looks from the passers-by which she replied to with a graceful gesture involving the middle finger of her left hand. James chuckled as Anna came to a stop just in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, James," she said. "I completely lost track of time."

James shook his head, still grinning. "It's fine. You're here now, so let's get to this, shall we?" he extended a bent arm for her to loop her own arm through, which she promptly did, and together they set off down the street.

"So, where is it that we're going exactly?" he asked, looking down at her.

Anna looked up. "There's a small shop just a block or two from here," she told him with a quick nod of her head. "And they sell beautiful rings there."

James smiled. "And you think that I'll be able to find one for Lily in there?" he asked.

"Oh, definitely," Anna said, glancing both ways as they crossed the street. "It's just up here."

They walked a bit further before turning into a small boutique, the bell over the door tipping the clerk off of their arrival, and the elderly man grinned at them as they approached the counter.

"Good afternoon," he said cheerily with a broad smile. "What can I do for you?"

"We're, uh, looking for engagement rings…" James said, looking a bit nervous now that they were actually in the store.

The man's face brightened even more and he looked between James and Anna. "Well, congratulations." He said, clapping his wrinkled hands together.

Anna laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "We're not engaged. I'm just here to help him pick out a ring… it's for a good friend of mine."

A knowing look appeared on the man's face and he waved them over as he moved around behind the counter. "I see, I see," he said. "Our engagement rings are over here. I'll let you look at them, and if you want to see any up close, just call me back over and I'll be pleased to take them out for you."

"Thanks," James said with a grateful smile, and he and Anna began to pour over the rings.

"Gold or silver?" he asked, looking over at Anna.

"Gold."

"Should it have a big stone, or a small one?"

"Small. Lily thinks that small rings are cute."

"Right."

The process of elimination continued in a similar fashion until together they narrowed it down to two. Anna wore both rings on both ring fingers and held them out in front of her so that she and James could weigh the pros and cons of each.

"I like this one better," James said, indicating the one on Anna's left hand.

Anna fluttered her fingers and nodded slowly. "Yes, I think you're right. I like it too, and I know that Lily will love it." It was a beautiful ring with a thin band and a sparkling diamond bordered by two small, beautifully cut emeralds on either side.

"I think so, too." James said, eyeing it closely. "I think I'll take this one."

The old man smiled and took the rings from Anna, replacing one and taking the chosen ring to set it inside a small, velvet box. With quaking hands, he placed a small gold bow atop the box and handed it off to James, who emptied much of his muggle money from his wallet in return. James then carefully tucked the box into his coat pocket and left the store.

As they walked back towards the ministry so that they could finish the day of work before heading home, rain lightly began to fall, so lightly that the pair of them barely noticed until they were standing outside the visitor's entrance with raindrops clinging to their eyelashes.

"So you think she'll like it?" James asked as he turned the dial to the right numbers on the magical phone booth.

Anna grinned brightly. "James, I know she will," she assured him, resting a hand on his arm.

"Do you think she'll say yes?" he asked, a new worry bubbling to the surface.

Anna sighed. "I've never seen two people as in love with each other as you are," she told him. "I don't think you have anything to worry about."

They stepped out of the phone booth and into the ministry and went their separate ways. As James worked his way through crowds heading up to his office, he mentally repeated Anna's words, trying to convince himself. Somehow, he still felt nervous.

Author's Note:

So, there's chapter seven. Hope you enjoyed it.

As always, read and review, and merci beaucoup.

Cait.