AN: Please review. Right now I feel like Shakespeare writing the last scene of Hamlet, if you catch me drift. This is still much more fun to write than my English Midterm paper, so do not fear the updates will stop. I'm going to try to update as much as possible this week, because next week I will be a counselor at Outdoor School (camp during the school year) where we're completely cut off from everything. As in, I won't even have an alarm clock with a radio. So enjoy while you can!

Three weeks later Lily had been accepted. She was at least five years younger than everyone else there, including the doctor from the first day. His name was Adrian Graham and had been volunteering at the Emergency Clinic since he was a resident at a partnering hospital.

She was organizing color coded rows of sticky notes that were the result of a phone ringing off the hook for an hour before she could transfer everything to a calendar. She smiled at the ball point pen in her hand, such a simple thing, but something that muggles took for granted. There was no feathers in her face, sharpening of quills or pots of ink, just a simple click.

"Tea?" a voice asked, holding a paper cup in front of her. Adrian.

"Thanks." She took a sip and closed her eyes. "This is wonderful, I haven't had a cup all day."

"Running behind this morning?" Adrian asked as he grabbed a folder designated for him with a blue sticker.

"I guess you could say that." Lily took another sip, thinking of how she woke up. James was draped across her after coming home at two, every time she moved he clung to her tighter. The next thing she knew there was a pounding at the door, Frank. James was supposed to be at his flat at seven-thirty, which meant she was late getting up.

"Or a late night?" Adrian teased. Everyone at the clinic was always giving her a bad time because she was nineteen, teasing her about late night parties and bar crawls.

"My husband didn't get home until late and I overslept," she admitted, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. She hadn't really told anyone about James, but she hoped they picked on the subtle hints she dropped like playing around with her wedding ring and pointedly saying that she was Ms. Evans, not Miss.

"You're married?" Adrian dropped his pen to study her with furrowed brows.

"Yeah, I thought you know." She shrugged and plucked off the yellow post-it notes on her desk, as they were now on the books. "I go by my maiden name, but I wear a wedding ring."

"I know, but a couple of the nurses do that so patients are less likely to flirt with them," Adrian explained, shaking his head. "Is this a new thing?"

"Relatively, a year in December." She forced her voice to sound nonchalant. "Listen, I really need to get the schedule down and as much as I love talking about my marital status…"

"I get it." Adrian held up his hands in surrender. "You'll have to bring him in sometime, as soon as Angie gets wind of this she'll be in your hair until she sees him."

"Duly noted." Lily's eyes watched as he retreated, a slight slump in his shoulders.

Lily was at the front desk in the clinic. It was a slow day, but the clinical director, Adrian and another doctor was there. It was March and spring was welcome, despite the rain. She would be clocking out in about an hour's time.

"Any plans for the weekend?" Adrian asked.

"Not really, I'm hoping I can just relax." Lily looked up at him, but then turned away when she saw someone walking through the door. "Shit."

"Excuse me?" He hadn't exactly seen the side of Lily that James saw on a regular basis. He saw pretty Prefect/Head Girl Lily. "Hey, do you want me to do the intake? He looks a bit sketchy…" Adrian asked as he assessed the man.

"That's my good friend." Lily took a deep breath as she saw Remus walk in, looking like he hadn't slept for a week. Her heart beat faster as she tried to recall Order missions for today. James hadn't gotten in until four, he was supposed to be off the clock today. Frank and Alice were both doing Auror duties, Fabian and Gideon were babysitting for Molly..."Remus, what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you, Lil." He smiled and held out his arms. Under Adrian's curious gaze she walked out front and embraced him. "Sorry for coming in like this."

"You're not here on one of Sirius' ridiculous errands, because I swear-"

"Relax, my lovely Lily-flower," he teased, holding her at arms length. "Are you sure you can spare a moment? This is a real job…" He emphasized 'real', because he knew how important employment was. Remus was on the verge of being blacklisted and could only hold work for a few weeks at time. Lily knew that James must have been helping him out, because when she saw letters from Gringotts at the end of the month, they didn't quite add up to their expenses.

"It's fine, right Adrian?" She turned toward the doctor who was looking at her strangely.

"Yeah, we don't have anybody in now." He then looked down at a chart, then sat down in one of the desk chairs, busying himself with the information in the file.

"What is it? Is everyone alright?"

"Charles asked me to come here, um...I don't want you to get angry."

"Did Sirius get arrested for disorderly conduct again?" Lily questioned. Granted, that only happened once, but it was hilarious because the arresting officer's basis for the claim was that he was drunk. For once, though, he was stone cold sober. It was then they realized that Sirius had to learn how to appropriately converse with Muggles.

"No, it's actually James and Sirius."

Lily pursed her lips, closing her eyes for a brief second. "Please tell me they didn't get hurt doing something stupid."

"They're fine, but…" He looked around, then lowered his voice, "they're at the ministry for using magic in front of muggles."

"What!" she exclaimed. "Those immature…"

"Lily, there were extenuating circumstances."

"There always are. You know I almost expect this from Sirius, from Sirius and Peter, but James. He's not that arrogant toerag anymore. Merlin!" She spun around to the face of Adrian, that was schooled into neutrality. "I am so sorry to have to ask this, but is there anyway I can get off early

"Is everything alright?"

"I think so, my husband needs me…"

"Go, it's slow, and I understand that things come up." He waved a hand.

"You're amazing, I owe you one." She passed him a smile before turning to Remus. As she left Angie came in the room looking at that back of the young assistant, then at the doctor. She didn't say anything, just 'tsked' quietly. Adrian shot her a pointed look and she just shrugged, glancing down at the schedule at the front desk before leaving.

"A motorbike?" Lily asked as they walked through the door. By the time she got to the ministry everything was settled, Charles had gotten it all squared away. They stayed quiet when they apparated to the building and rode the lift to their apartment. Now, though, it was no holds barred.

"We were being stupid, but-"

"There is no but's James, we can't go around acting like we teenagers!"

"We are Lily, okay?" he said. "Sirius and I wanted to have fun so went out on an empty stretch of road, the next thing I knew there were Death Eaters and the police were chasing us. We teased them and then next thing I knew we had to summon brooms and fly out of there to distract the Death Eaters." He raked a hand through his hair. "You know I don't even owe you an explanation."

"You do when Remus comes and gets me at work…" Lily took a step forward, latched a hand around his wrist. "Tell me what's wrong…"

"Nothing, I just...We almost lost Frank the other night."

"I didn't know that." Lily recalled the other night, the night when her old roommates begged her to come to a pub with them, but then Alice ended up not being able to make it. When she got back to the flat, James was asleep. "Marlene said that Alice couldn't come because he was hurt…"

"I just feel like everything is moving so fast. I mean, we're not even twenty and we've been married for a year and are talking about kids and you have a real job and I leave the house every day wondering who I'm going to lose." James took a deep breath.

Lily sighed and looked down at her feet before realizing his wrists were still in her hands. Releasing them she forces a smile onto her face. James wraps her up in his arms. "Life has a different plan for us." She ran a hand through his hair. "I am just as scared as you."

"I'm not scared, I just want to know what life would be like if all this wasn't happening." He pulled away, holding her head as green met hazel.

"If we haven't gone through the things we had, I don't know where I would be. And this might not be some ideal fairy tale existence, but I'm pretty damn happy." Lily hugged him tightly again. "I understand, James, but next time you evade arrest can you let me in on the plan? Don't let Padfoot have all the fun."

At work the next day, no one said anything to her, though she knew they were all curious. She heard Edith, one of the blond nurses that usually worked at night, asking questions about Remus. Lily did her best not to get angry, but it was like Hogwarts all over again. It took her back to working in the library while Slytherins whispered. It made her think of Snape calling Remus a monster.

"Lily, are you alright?" A hand brushed her shoulder gently and she gripped the pen she was holding tighter. It was Adrian, he pulled her out of her mind, forcing her to not think about the arguments she had with her ex-best friend.

"Fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I said I was fine," she snapped, grabbing the stack of files off the desk and walked towards the cabinets. Kneeling down she slid them in place, but behind her she sensed that Adrian hadn't left. "Do you need something else, doctor?" It was a strategy that came in handy when dealing difficult people, it the same strategy she employed with Sirius and James, using there surnames whenever she was angry.

"Is it about what happened yesterday? Is-"

"Everything is fine, okay? It was a traffic violation." That was a lie. Quite frankly she wouldn't be surprised if James and Sirius had a warrant out for their arrest right now. "And everyone can stop talking about Remus, alright?"

"Lily, I-"

"No. Listen, I am here to do this job. I don't have time for any drama, I dealt with enough of that at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?"

"I meant Holmstrom, it's the boarding school I went to. Hogwarts is a nickname we gave it." She took a deep breath. "There's a reason I didn't explicitly tell anyone I had a husband and I don't offer any details. I just want to compartmentalize my life, alright? Now, if you excuse me I need organize the sticky notes on my desk, fill out the schedule and finish filing." Getting to her feet, she pushed passed the doctor and sat down at her desk. After enough time she realized that was gone and let out a sigh of relief.

Time seemed to pass quickly as she let herself get lost in the office work. When patients came in she smiled at them and chatted politely. With the other nurses she was nice, but businesslike. With Steven, she was good-natured, making sure to put on a little charm, because he reminded her of Slughorn and that was the way to get on his good side.

"What are you doing tonight?" It was Angie. Her hands were on her hips as she looked Lily over.

"Nothing really." Everyone would be gone tonight. She should go shopping, but all she had was Wizarding money and the closest place would probably be Diagon Alley and that was still a ways to apparate.

"Well, all of the staff that isn't working tomorrow is heading to this pub downtown. Now, that you're one of us…" Angie's lips tilted up ever so slightly at that. "We want you to come. It's been almost a month."

"Thanks." For a young adult, her night life was extremely dull. Dinners at Order member's houses, alternating take out dinners in different flats in their buildings and seeing Charles whenever possible. It was a good night for her if she didn't have to set broken bones or brew a potion, it was a good night if she could fall asleep next to James.

"It's called the Witches Cauldron."

Lily tensed a bit at hearing that. Sometimes she wondered if Muggles were painting targets on their backs, traditionalist purebloods would definitely be offended by that. "Kitchy, I know, but they have good food, drinks are cheap and it's completely casual."

"Yeah, sounds like fun."

"And you can bring your husband." Angie passes her a teasing look, lightly pushing her shoulder.

"He's working late."

"Well, come anyone. Edith is going to want someone to help her get free drinks from the bar and you can meet my boyfriend."

"Sounds fantastic." Lily opened a file folder and began scrawling information on the inside. The nurse beside her sighed before grabbing a patient's folder and leaving.

By the end of the day, she was tired and ready to go home. She was slipping on her coat in the back room when Edith came up behind her. "Angie said she invited you, are you coming?"

"I-"

"Please say you will." She grabbed her elbow and looked at her with wide eyes. In that moment she was transported back to school with Marlene and Athena and Alice begging her to come to Hogsmeade or a Quidditch Game or the Slug Club dinner. "Everyone else is bringing dates and I'm practically the only single one here."

"I-"

"I know you're married, but you're man's not coming tonight and it'll be fun." A smile brightened her face. At that Lily relented, telling herself it would be good to lose herself for the night. When she got back to the flat she penned a quick note in case James came back to an empty home.

After that she jumped into the shower. Using a quick spell she dried her hair into it's natural state of soft waves before applying makeup. For the first time in a while she felt like her age as she slipped on her tightest jeans, Quidditch t-shirt (she hoped they wouldn't notice it or think it was some sort of underground band) and a cardigan. With a slight chill in the air she slipped on one of James' jackets and balanced it with an airy scarf.

Looking around she pulled out her wand, turning out all the lights before casting a heating spell that would take the chill off. Walking out the door, she locked it with her wand and scanned the hallway, she did a quick charm for her ears to have better hearing. Everyone was gone. She discontinued it before walking to the lift, satisfied that she wouldn't have to leave a note on the front door in case there would be a panicked Luke knocking on the door.

After going downstairs to the apparating point, she transported to the place nearest the pub. The street was filled with cars so she blended in easily as she walked to the bar. A wave of hot air hit her as she entered. The pub was pretty busy, but she quickly spotted Angie and Edith, along with another doctor and Adrian.

"Hi," she said as she shimmied of her coat and sat down at the table. "Surprised to see me?"

"No." Edith gave her a side hug. "Do you want something to drink? If you flirt with the bartender he'll give you a free shot with your beer."

"I'm not a big drinker, Angie said they had good food." Lily shrugged and looked around. "Does anybody want anything?" She felt awkward around these people, considering the majority of her friends now were the people she went to school with for seven years. She would know that Remus would split an order of fries or James would want a beer or Sirius would want a shot (which meant she should get an extra large order of fries because he had consumed too much liquor) or Marlene would want some trendy fruity drink that was guaranteed to give you a hangover. With no response she made her way to the bar.

"What do you want?"

"Do you make burgers here?"

The bartender turned around and looked her over. "I think we could manage that." He grabbed the tablet to scrawl down an order. "With fries?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want something to drink? On the house."

"No thanks." Lily wrinkled her nose and lifts her hand to twist her ring.

"It's a special tonight, the managers are trying to get people to eat food so we don't have to deal with them being as drunk." The bartender passed her a smirk.

"Just a beer then, whatever's good." She crossed her arms over her chest as she wished this was a wizard bar, because then she could order a butter beer.

He handed her a bottle. "Are you with the doctors?"

"Yeah."

"Figured." His smirk widened, "have fun and do I have a name to call when you're order's up?"

"Lily. "

"Just like the flower."

"Yeah, how much do I owe?"

"Why don't you wait until the end of the night? It can get pretty wild with the crowd your with. They're just like the cops and the lawyers, all business during the day, then you get them in here and it's like magic."

"What?"

"It's an expression, cause it's the Witch's Cauldron, you know?"

The smile slipped from her face as she nods and heads back to the table. It's far from wild, the oldest doctor her, a man with glasses and a name that's difficult to pronounce has procured a pop culture trivia game that's so old Lily can answer the questions. So enough she let's herself got lost in the nonsense and even takes a free drink from the bartender that won't stop flirting.

"You're so lucky." Edith said, leaning across the table next to Lily. "Does your husband have any friends that are single?"

At that Lily spat out the beer she was drinking. "Um, yeah, but they're not exactly the dating type." Do you want a werewolf or a nervous boy that has a tendency to look at his feet when he talks or the playboy that may or may not be an alcoholic that may or may not be in relationship with one of my best friends? Or perhaps you want go a different route and try the man who's never been in a committed relationship or his twin brother that just lost his fiance? Take your pick!

"Oh." Edith let out a little pout and she looked around the table at Angie whose boyfriend has a hand on her knee. Then, at the doctor with glasses and long name who has his arm around his wife. Then at Adrian, who hasn't had a single drink all evening, unless you count club soda and lime. "What does he even do?"

Lily looked down at her bottle, picked at the label surrounding it. Nobody has ever asked that question before. She could say law enforcement, but what muggle becomes a cop at nineteen? "Family business, but he does a lot of...volunteer work." Lily bit her lip and took another drink. "I need another beer." When she got up she stumbled a bit and wished that James were here. He'd walk with her to the bar and pretend to go for some reason and keep an arm around her waist. Then he'd end up drinking about half of it, afraid to let her drink to much as he was still holding on to the memory of when Sirius got her drunk with mead the night he got disowned.

Instead she went up alone, got another bottle from the bartender and payed her tab before heading back to the table. They sat, talked more and played another round of the trivia game, but it is clear that they are winding down for the night. The doctor with glasses and his wife offered Edith a ride home, not completely trusting her to walk. "I have to leave," Angie said and looked at Lily. "Did you drive?"

"No, why?"

"I don't you think you should be driving, or walking for that matter." She looked at the bottle of beer she's still nursing.

"It's fine, really." She would be fine to apparate though. After she practiced apparating with injured people, doing it while a little tipsy would be a breeze.

"I drove," Adrian said. "If you're okay with me."

"Really, I'm fine, don't worry." Lily grabbed her coat and then lifted the bottle of beer. She took the last drink and smiled, running a hand through her hair.

"What area do you live in?" Adrian asked. "Whichever one is closer could take you." He gestured to the people that were left.

"It's at the corner of Tate and Ashberry," Lily replied. "Really-"

"Adrian lives five blocks away," Angie supplied. "Do you mind? We're going to Justin's and his flat is half an hour's drive from here."

"It's no problem, come on Lily." Adrian gestured to the door. Bit her lip she held back an eye roll and followed him out. He's not parked far and it didn't get as cold as expected. She holds on tightly to her coat as he unlocks the car.

"This isn't really necessary, but thank you." She put on her seat belt and set the coat at her feet.

"I'm used to being the designated driver, it's fine."

"Well, I should have stopped after my first beer, I'm such a lightweight." She let out a laugh. "Usually Frank or Gideon cuts me off."

"Who are they?" Adrian asked, turning to look at her as he slows to a stop at a sign.

"One of them is from school, he married my roommate, and the other is James' coworker."

"Oh," he said.

"You're thinking about something, I may be tipsy, but I can still pick up on vocal cues."

"No, it's just that you're more open tonight." Adrian shrugged, and hit his blinker. They're only a few blocks away from her building.

"Yeah, that's probably the beer." She laughed. "I wonder what'll happen tonight, this one time when I got drunk at school James and I went back to his dorm…" She laughed again and tilted her head back and then took in the face of her co-worker, it is once again schooled into neutrality. "Alice walks in and she's just a mess because…" Lily stopped herself, and bit her lip. She needed to watch what she'll say to him, she needed to remember he's a muggle. "Sorry, I'm…"

"No, no, it's fine." Adrian then made his face into a mask of amusement. "I would probably be like you, but I'm on call tomorrow."

"Angie said it was for people who weren't working."

Adrian gripped the steering wheel tightly, and the building came into view. "Edith wanted me to come." He lifted a hand to gesture towards the apartments. "Is this it?"

"Yeah, I'll see you Monday."

"Do you want me to walk you in?"

"No, my flat is on the second floor, it'd just be a hastle."

She got out of the car and dashed across the street. In the car Adrian leaned his head against the steering wheel. "She's nineteen and married…" He looked over and he saw the black coat just lying there. Picking it up, he examined it and noticed the oddly familiar crest on the the breast pocket, in script the word 'Gryffindor' is embroidered. On the inside of the jacket there's a name sewn in red thread, James Potter. Underneath is the word Chaser. He decided that Lily couldn't have made it very far and gets out.

Lily didn't notice Adrian and inside she got into the elevator. There, she leaned her head against the wall, glad that she didn't let anything slip. When the doors opened she walked out. Down the hall she saw someone propped against her apartment door.

"Padfoot...are you in there? Lily...my lovely flower, I just…" She saw Sirius'fist fade to a flat hand as he leaned his forehead against the door.

"Sirius? What's wrong?" she called out and ran towards the deflated man.

"Lily, no one was home. There at work or on missions...Marlene's in France." He embraced her tightly.

"Sirius, tell me what's wrong."

"James, where is he?"

"Love," she said, holding him tight. It's so hard to see Sirius like this. Playful, cheeky, humorous Sirius in so much pain. This man who has basically become her brother, just like he had to her husband. "He won't be back until late, now take a deep breath…"

"Merlin, Lil, don't patronize me." It's a failed attempt at making the scene light-hearted, but his voices caught and he clung tighter. "I can see why Prongs married you, you're so wonderful my lovely flower and I'm so horrid."

"Sirius, you have to tell me."

"It's my brother…"

"Regulus?" Lily's skin crawled at the mention of the name. That man brought back the worst memories, she can almost hear him calling her a prostitute or Frank having to intervene on the train or the worst one of all, his hand when it slapped her across the face.

"Yeah, he's...Andromeda wanted me to come over today...She heard from…." Sirius pushed away from Lily and balled his hands up, pacing a bit as he pressed a fist to his mouth. Then he leaned against the wall, pressed both hands flat. "He's dead!" The action he made is sudden, he stood in front of Lily, and pulled at his long hair.

"Shh...it's okay."

"No, it's not!" he shouted. "It's not fair!" Sirius shook his head, hands rubbed his temples, Lily wondered what he thought wasn't fair. "He was the perfect one, the one that was loved and he never let me forget it." His face crumpled again and clenched his eyes shut in an effort to get the tears from falling. "I'm living up to his idea of me, and...I miss him, but I'm happy that he's gone…"

Lily went to hug him, but he pushed her away, fighting her. However, she's soon torn from her conversation with Sirius by the ding of an elevator and the sound of someone calling her name.

"Who is that?" Sirius finally broke contact with Lily as he looks in the direction of the elevator.

"No…" Spinning around she saw Adrian, who held a coat out at arms length. "Sirius, go inside." There is no key, or at least one that they use now, instead a specific incantation. "Adrian, you need to go, now."

"Is everything alright?" He looked over at Sirius who didn't follow Lily's instructions and has sunk to the ground, his head propped against the door.

"Yeah, thanks for the ride and thank you for my coat, but you. Need. To. Leave." She tore the article of clothing from his hands.

"What's going on?"

"I really can't explain, please."

"Lily."

"Go!" She shouted and he hesitated and as she stepped forward to push him, he held his hands up in surrender. She waited until he got in the elevator, going back to Sirius. "Come on. Let's go inside, I'll make tea and we can wait for James."