A/N: I know I haven't updated in ages, and I'm so sorry! Thank you all for your support! 3 Enjoy the chapter. ;)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, not my characters. :/

"Hey."

"Hey." James placed his coffee mug on the counter and looked up at Lily. She had her dark locks pulled over her shoulder in a ponytail and her expression was wary, hesitant almost, despite her small smile. "How're you feeling?"

"Not great." She let out a humourless laugh, "Expectedly so! My parents…" she trailed off and took a deep breath, collecting her emotions. She averted her eyes for a moment, but when she looked back at James, he was fixed with a hard, steely look. "I'm going to destroy Riddle. He took everything from me, and I'm going to return the favour, be it the last thing I do."

James moved to stand in front of her, matching her look of determination. "I'll help you"

Lily tentatively squeezed his hand. "Thank you, James." She muttered, her voice unexpectedly soft.

They were so close to each other, if Lily only tilted her head up, she could relive the moment that she replayed in her head countless times. She met James' eyes, they were dark and…was he leaning down, his hand coming up to tangle in her hair. His fingers angled her face towards his and she could feel his lips brushing hers and….

"James, Lily?"

They each stepped back, heavily blushing as Remus' voice broke them out of their reverie. Lily cleared her throat. "Yes Remus?"

"Marlene will be dropping by later, to drop off some of Riddle's computer data with James, who's to bring it to us for analysis"

"Okay mate. See you later." James said, rubbing a tired hand over his face. Palming the back of his neck, he glanced back at Lily. "Ready for breakfast?"

Lily tried her best to focus on Frank and Alice, instead of the tingling sensation radiating from her hand entwined with James'.

Frank smiled at them, sipping his drink. "So, tell us, how did the two of you meet?"

James threw a grin down at Lily and then looked back at Alice and Frank. " It's my favourite story to tell. It's an unlikely story, but.."

Lily cut in, completing his sentence. "Everything about us is unlikely."

Alice tried to hide her smile behind her fingers, to no avail.

Lily used her free hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "We actually met on a plane. I was on my back from visiting my sister, and James was headed home from…fr.. what?" Lily stopped, catching James glaring at her.

"I… was telling the story, Lily." He said, feigning shock.

Lily sighed exaggeratedly, throwing her hands up in exasperation, unable to keep the smile off her face.

James laughed and released her hand, settling his arm around her and pulling her flush against him. She somehow didn't mind. "So, Lily was on her way back from visiting her sister, and I was returning home from a meeting I had. And we had seats right next to each other. Lily here, couldn't keep her eyes off me. Honest to god, she was devouring my face with her eyes."

"EXCUSE ME!" came Lily's squeal of outrage. "Frank, Alice, that is a blatant LIE."

"It is not."

"It IS. He was ogling me first. He kept staring at my ass." Lily added vehemently, pointing at accusatory finger at James.

He grinned bemusedly at her. It felt so real, so, so real. It pained him to remember that it wasn't.

He groaned in mock surrender. "Fine, fine. I was insanely attracted to her." Lily blushed a magnificent shade of red. " And in my defense, it wasn't her ass, it was her back."

"Anyway," he continued "We got to talking, and we found that we rather liked talking to each other. Quite a bit in fact."

He grinned down at Lily again and she felt her heart race. They had discussed this cover story briefly, but as they told it, it seemed so real. More real than Lily would've liked. "We talked the whole flight. And at the airport, just as we were parting ways, we kissed."

Alice's grin was so wide, it seemed close to splitting her face in two.

"It didn't last long though, we both went our separate ways, leaving each other with only the kiss basically."

Frank scratched at his forehead, "Wait a minute, that doesn't quite add up. How did you get to this then?" he said, using two fingers to indicate James and Lily together.

James took over. "This is my favourite part. It had been around two weeks since I met her, and I couldn't get her out of my head. My mates were just about done with hearing about Lily and her red hair too. I tried my best to find her, but like the moron I am, I didn't ask for her surname. So, there I am, wallowing in self pity, when there's insistent knocking at the door. I get up and swing it open, and there she is." James smiles tenderly at Lily, which she returns, both getting slightly lost in each other.

"So, I did the only thing imaginably possible. I kissed her."

"Okay…I'll see you later."

Lily nodded, and smiled. "Got Marlene's thumb drive?"

James patted his jeans pocket. "Yeah." He hesitated for a second, his eyes darting to Gwinnie, watching them intently, then leaned forward to peck Lily on the lips before striding down the pathway.

Slightly stunned, Lily pressed her fingers against her lips, trying to hold the feel of James' lips there for a while more. Giving Gwinnie a wave of acknowledgement, Lily closed the door behind her, leaning against it, allowing her smile to win over her features.

"Lily?" Marlene was in front of her, holding two cups of tea, smirking at Lily. Handing Lily a cup, she reached over and pulled Lily's ear bug out, followed by her own. "Okay. I know we have lots of work to do, but we're going to talk about you and James first."

Lily turned red and she flopped onto one of the sofas.

"What's going on with the two of you? Are you guy shagging or what?"

"MARLENE! No, we are definitely not SHAGGING!" Lily exclaimed, horrified.

Marlene gave her a half grin, half smirk. "You better start soon, you obviously fancy each other."

Lily furrowed her eyebrows. "You think? We used to hate each other's guts."

"USED to."

"I don't know Marls. I'm not going to lie, I've thought about it, him, us. But, there was a reason I disliked him. We're being forced to play lovers, maybe it's all just a façade. Maybe it's just the close proximity that's making me feel like this. What if once we're done here, I go back to hating him? And… I don't think I can put myself out there again. Especially with James. If I…" Lily hesitated "fall in love with him anymore than I already have, and …he doesn't feel the same way… I can't allow myself to be hurt like that."

Marlene nodded empathetically. She stood up, and kissed Lily comfortingly on the forehead, before stalking off into the kitchen. Moments later, she returned, holding many large blueprints.

"Distraction time!" she exclaimed, holding them up.

"Saint James!" Peter exclaimed, as James joined them at the high kitchen table.

Remus had stacks of papers spread across it, not leaving an inch free. Multiple computers were holding the papers in place, most had indecipherable codes rolling steadily down the screens. "HA! He exclaimed, not even looking up from the two laptops in front of him. "Some saint he is. More like a devil. Don't touch that Sirius!"

Sirius dropped the paper he had picked up and winked at James. "A devil trying to get into Agent Evans' pants none the less."

"I'm not trying to get into her pants."

Remus, Peter and Sirius collectively looked up at James, each on the verge of a sarcastic comment.

James looked apprehensive. "I'm serious. I'm not just trying to get into her pants, guys."

Sirius smirked at Peter, then addressed James again. "Not just trying to get into her pants. But you're still TRYING to get into her pants."

James looked disgusted. "I don't want to talk about it, can we get to work please?" he said, causing the boys to cackle ruthlessly.

Remus grabbed a stack of folders and led them into the living room. "We've been sorting through the data on the masterlist," he paused on hit a button on his computer, causing a digital screen to materialize in a circle, surrounding the four of them.

"This side, we have the personal particulars of the people that signed up for insurance, along with the date that they each registered and over here, we have the dates when an 'unexplainable' accident has happened, causing the insurance policies to bounce, and the clients to either be injured, or lose their lives. Notice a pattern here?"

James' eyes darted back and forth, his mind working on overdrive, analyzing as much information as he could. "The accidents all happen within…three months of registration."

Remus looked smug. "That's right."

Peter nodded. "So technically, if we map out all the clients from the masterlist, we should be able to figure out who gets attacked next?"

Remus was already handing Sirius a stack of folders. "Exactly. And that needs manual labour." He thrust some folders in James and Peter's direction. "Have fun mates, I'll come help as soon as I'm done analyzing Riddle's computer data."

Peter looked incredulous. "How'd you get that?"

Sirius grinned. "Marls is a star, that's how. She bugged Riddle's laptop and desktop, so whatever he does there, gets transmitted right here to us."

James looked over at Sirius. "Why do you sound so proud?"

He fixed James with a lecherous look and started in on his folders.

"He's getting some." Remus supplied helpfully.

"He IS?" James exclaimed looking back and forth from Remus to Sirius.

Sirius stared at Remus in shock. "How do you know?" he asked, flabbergasted.

Remus gagged. "Next time you and Marlene decide to shag, I suggest you remove your earbugs." Remus turned and left to the sound of James and Peter's laughter.

Lily raked her fingers through her hair, poring over the blueprints spread over their coffee table. "So we've narrowed it down right? The stone is either in Malfoy Manor, as Lucius seemingly is Riddle's right hand man, or stashed somewhere in Riddle Inc, right?"

Marlene rolled up a blueprint. "Yes, OR, in a inaccessible warehouse in the middle of nowhere, but we should probably focus on the other two."

Lily groaned and picked up her cup. "I need a refill" she said, pausing to hit play on the phone messages.

An elderly woman's voice filled the room. "James Potter, this is your mother, and I believe you owe me a phone call and an explanation son. A friend of mine has just told me that she saw you in Islington, no less with a lovely young woman by your side! What in heavens name are you doing in Islington? And I demand to know more about your lady friend, James! Call me back, as soon as possible. I love you James."

Marlene laughed at the message, still busying with the blueprints, but stopped abruptly, as the second message brought a cold tension into the room with the flirtatious voice of its sender.

"James!" the high voice lilted with his name. "Its Jo! I can't stop thinking about you, and our undeniable chemistry. I know you felt it too, James, don't deny it. So, I called to hold you to that coffee you promised me. I know you live in Islington, but I could...fit you in somewhere, if you know what I mean." She giggled cloyingly. "Give me a ring, love. Ta!"

Marlene couldn't see Lily's face, but noticed the way every muscle in her back tensed, and how her knuckles went white around the handle of the teapot as Lily set it down.

Marlene dropped the blueprints and started to Lily. "Lils…"

Lily spun around, holding the cup in a vice grip, a smile forced onto her features. "What?" she said, tight-lipped.

Marlene searched for the words. "Lily, I'm sorry."

Lily set her cup down on the table. "Don't be. It's fine. It's my fault. I shouldn't have let myself care." She bit her lip and looked away. "Sorry Marlene, give me a minute." Without losing her cool, Lily managed to get to her room, and shut the door, leaning back against it. Then she let loose.

Her body wracked with dry sobs and she gasped for air and reason. She slid down onto the floor, hands fisting in the cloth of her t-shirt. She should have known better. She should have known that falling for James Potter would bring her pain. She should have known. But… for a couple of moments, she was sure that whatever she was feeling, James was too. She'd been so stupid. Of course he didn't feel the same way. This was routine for him, lead the girls on, then leave them in the dust. She was just another notch for him to add to his bedpost. Lily let her head drop back on the door and collected herself. This was the last time she would be hurt. The last time she would let herself.

Lily took a final few deep breaths and headed back down to Marlene.

"So Marls. We need a way in. If the stone is indeed in Malfoy Manor, or Riddle Inc for that matter, we're going to need a way in."

The phone rang shrilly, and Lily picked up the receiver. "Hello? Yes, this is her. Oh, thank you, James and I will definitely be there."

She out the phone down and looked at Marlene. "Well, that was appropriately convenient timing."

Marlene sent her a quizzical look. "Why? Who was that?"

"That was Narcissa Malfoy. Warm woman isn't she?" Lily said sarcastically. "She called to invite us to their wedding anniversary party." Lily paused then smiled "We've found our way in!"

"Marlene just shot daggers at me." James remarked entering the kitchen.

Lily raised her eyebrows in response, disconcerted. "Is everything okay?"

Lily flicked her eyes up to his to meet his eyes with an intensity he didn't expect. "Everything is fine." She paused, and James noticed the way her nails dug into her palm. "Any progress made?" she asked, her eyes returning to the newspaper open in front of her.

James' eyes lingered on the red half-moon marks embedded in her flesh. "Uhh.. yeah. Riddle seems to be attacking in a pattern, so we narrowed it down to the next possible victims. Flamel is among them."

She looked up. "Nicolas Flamel?"

"Yeah. Remus got hold of Dumbledore, he's assigning agents to Flamel's place, and sending more out to the other possible hits." Lily nodded. "What about you and Marlene?"

"We're going to Malfoy's anniversary dinner. Two teams probably, search for the stone there, and if it's not there, it's probably in Riddle Inc." she looked down at the newspaper again, still on the same page.

James took in her tense stance, fists clenched, neck stiff, lips pressed together. "You're obviously not fine. What's wrong?"

Lily snapped. "Why do you even care, James?"

James stood up, ignited by Lily's anger. "Beats me, Lily! Maybe I shouldn't!"

Lily flexed her fingers and leaned across the counter. "Evans! Call me Evans. And maybe you shouldn't. You couldn't stand the sight of me before, and now you care? You probably never did, Potter."

She spat his last name with such contempt that James took a step back. "You're a fucking asshole, you know."

Lily looked smug. "And proud." She flicked a page of the paper, not looking back up at James. "You have messages."

James stalked away, angrily punching the phone as he paced the living room, livid. His mother's voice seemed to take close to none of the fight out of him, but as Joanna's coy voice filled the room, his shoulders slumped and he turned back to find Lily staring directly at him, distaste colouring her face. "Lily, no, it's not.."

She cut him off. "I don't care James. I just don't."

"But we're not…"

Lily didn't need or want to hear his excuses and explanations. "You can fuck whoever you want to. It doesn't concern me."

James stared back at her. "You're being unreasonable." His voice contained so much anger, and yet, so much despair.

It was more than Lily could handle. She could feel the tears prickling at the back of her eyes. "Maybe I am." Her chin quivered, and her voice broke. "Maybe I need to be. Goodnight James." she dashed up to her room , and let the tears consume her once again.

A/N: I actually drabbled the story of James and Lily meeting. Obviously it doesn't fit into the context of this story, but you can find it here on my tumblr [ the-sassy-mango] post/100492226074/appreciating-your-spectacles [or tagged as #drabble]

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