Author's Note: Please review. I am so sorry that I have been posting sporadically, but it's NaNo and school has been getting crazy. I promise that I try to write a bit everyday and do check in here. So if you have any questions/comments/suggestions for this feel free to message me.

In the hours before the Prewett funeral, James and Lily meet Charles at the ministry on his lunch hour. "Dad," James said, taking a step forward with his hand extended. Charles took it before embracing him tightly.

"My lovely Lily." Charles enveloped her. "We have to apparate, will you be alright?"

She rolled her eyes and placed one hand on her stomach, the other on her hip. It was then she gave James a pointed look, he just shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go to the apparation point." In a matter of moments Charles stood in between the two of them and placed one hand on each of their shoulders. A few seconds later they found themselves in front of a modest sized house bordered by flowers that were getting ready for spring. "What is this place?"

"It has been in the Potter family for a few years. Right now it is empty, awaiting inhabitants."

"Dad…" James said.

"Your flat is no place to raise a family. I insist that you take this house."
"I-" James began, but Lily put a hand on his shoulder to silence him.

"Thank you, I love it." Lily threw her arms around him and hugged the older man. He smiled the smile that reminded her of James. He took them inside and gave them a quick tour. It had three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms. The kitchen was decently sized as was the living room. Overall, it was warm and inviting, the perfect place to raise a family. Reluctantly, they left. Charles would not be in attendance of the funeral, but James and Lily had to go to the church.

Once there, Lily quickly found Molly Weasley. "Do you want us to take the younger children for you?" she questioned. Molly currently had one twin on her hip as she held Percy's hand. The other twin Arthur held and the two older boys stood beside her.

"If you took Fred and George it would be much appreciated." She passed her the child in her arms, now her stomach was in plain view. She was about eight months pregnant with her sixth child.

"No problem." The redhead latched it's arms around her neck, one hand playing with her curls. James took the other child from Arthur, his small head resting against her husband's broad chest.

The couple quickly took their seats with the rest of the order that sat in the line. Lily sat beside Athena, Alice on the other side of her. The dark haired girl sat quietly, clenching her friend's hand during the service until Molly ended the eulogy for both her brothers.

"The one comfort we can find in all this is that my brothers, hardly separated during their life, remain together even in their death." Molly then looked up from her paper and laid her eyes on the twins that sat upon the laps of James and Lily.

Lily held the toddler tighter as her tears began to fall. She thought of the child that Molly carried, how he would never get the opportunity to meet his uncles. How unfair it was that Gideon was finally returning to his old self only got killed in time to leave behind someone who cared deeply for him. When James looked at her tears welled in his eyes, he gently set the child on the bench beside Lily and quietly exited the room. She put her arm around the boy's shoulder, but the other boy squirmed. Soon enough they both sat beside her wrapped in each other's arms. She turned around to look for James, seeing him exit the room, not able to look the twin boys in eyes as they reminded him of the men he thought he didn't do enough to save.

While her home life had been becoming increasingly challenging, life at work was wonderfully ordinary. James had left a two weeks ago when Lily sat at her desk, transferring her color-coded sticky note system to a large calendar. She did this towards the back hidden from the lobby by the tall desk that Edith was currently managing. Her shift was over in an hour and it couldn't be a moment sooner.

"Lily, there's a man that wants to speak with you," Edith said, rolling her hair towards the younger woman. "Do you want me to lie?"

"Who is it?"

"I didn't get his name, tall blonde fellow and he looks a bit cagey."

With a long sigh she got to her feet. It was then that Luke came into view. He was leaning against the hall wall, running his hand through his too long hair. "What now?" she questioned as she exited the area.

"Merlin, Lil!" He grabbed her arm. "You have to come now."

"Now, I'm at work for another hour."

"I don't have any muggle money, but even if I did I can't go into the police station."

"Police station?" she questioned.

Luke bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "Sirius told me to handle it without getting you involved, but I don't know what to do."

"Tell me what happened," she said slowly and shrugged her arm free before guiding him to the nearly empty waiting room. "Slowly please, I can't understand you if talk as fast as you were."

"We were heading to headquarters when we were ambushed, the police came at the tail end of it. We both bolted, but for some reason Sirius was slower than me."

"Haven't you lot learned not to run from the police?" Lily admonished. "We might be wizards, but that doesn't mean that we don't have to follow the laws."

"Lily, please, I don't need a lecture from you. Can you please go bail him out?" Luke looked at her with pleading eyes, reminding Lily once again how young he really was. For a man who supposedly fought Death Eaters in foreign countries when Voldemort wasn't bold enough to take his homeland, his eyes appeared like they had never seen death.

"Only because you said please numerous times," she murmured.

He threw his arms around her, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you, I could only imagine what Frank or Emmeline's reaction would be."

"Go, I have to finish up here. Besides, I think a bit of time in jail will do Sirius some good." Lily smiled as they pulled away from each other. She watched as he went away before she sat behind her desk. Edith tapped a pen against her lips as Lily gently lowered herself in the chair. "What?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"This string of attractive men you have. It seems like every week a new one pops up into the clinic."

"He's one of the men that works with James and he asked me a favor, that's all," she explained. "Not that it's any of your business." With that she tried to busy herself, but she soon found that it was hopeless. Her mind was off with James in some distant place, when she found someone tapping her on the shoulder.

"Our shifts are over Ms. Evans," Adrian said with a slight smile, using her maiden name out of respect as she still wished to be called that.

"I wasn't paying attention." She got to her feet and wished Edith a good day before walking over to where their coats hung.

"I noticed, are you alright?"

"Well, it depends on your meaning of the word 'alright'." She shook her head as she reached for her coat before shrugging it on. Adrian's frown caused her to sigh as she buttoned the jacket and twisted a scarf around her neck. "We'll talk once we got outside," she whispered and waited for him to put on his own outerwear before they exited the clinic.

"Now, are you going to tell me?"

"I have to bail Sirius out of jail," she said.

"What?"

"You heard me, something happened a while ago and he had a warrant out for his arrest. Today him and Luke, the man that came in the clinic today, were stopped by the police for disturbing the peace."

"Why does the responsibility fall to you? What about his family?"

"James and I are his family. He was kicked out of his house when he was sixteen. Plus, I'm the only one available that won't be arrested if I enter a police station." She crossed her arms over her chest as she took a deep breath.

"Where's James?"

"Away, he has been for the past two weeks. He was supposed to be home three nights ago…" She inhaled a shaky breath. "He sent a letter, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm nearly five months pregnant and I have to bail his best friend out jail."

"Let me drive you to the station, flying a broom can't a be easy in your condition."

"Flying a broom?" she questioned, eyebrows shooting up to her hair-line. "Is that how you assume I travel?"

He shrugged and then laughed before tilting his toward his car parked on the street. Lily followed him and slid in the passenger seat of his car. "What precinct is he at?"

"I actually don't know. Luke didn't tell me where Sirius was."

Adrian shook his head with a chuckle. "I should be angry, but I still remember meeting my sister's friends from school who were absolutely clueless about anything that was non-magical." He started the car and pulled away from the curb, speeding down the street. He flipped his turn signal on, not saying much.

"What was she like? Your sister."

Adrian shrugged, but then let out a laugh as a smile crossed his face. "She actually reminds me of you."
"Me?"

"Not because your parents are non-magical, you both are extremely intelligent and passionate people."

"Extremely intelligent? What about what you told me when you first met me?" Lily let herself recall the overworked doctor that sparked outrage in her.

"She's cheeky like you too…" He laughed again. "I made a mistake, I'll admit that. In my defense, though, you are a young person with absolutely no formal training."

Lily looked out the window and thought of the woman from St. Mungo's. With a sigh she placed a hand on her stomach and turned to him. "This wasn't supposed to be my life." Her wedding ring caught the light and she curled her hand into a loose fist. "Everything just sort of fell into place at the end of my fifth year."

Adrian didn't say anything, but slowed down a bit as it started to rain. Lily guessed they were still a ways away from the police station. "I know you judged me when you first met me, when you found out I was married, but the life I planned didn't make sense anymore. My parents died and James helped me pick up the pieces."

"I'm sorry," Adrian said.

The rest of the car ride was silent as they parked along the street outside the building. Lily looked at him finally. "Thank you." She didn't say what for, but he knew it for more than a ride.

"Do you want me to wait here?"

"Could you come in with me? I've never had to bail anyone out before."

"Neither have I."

"It will be a new experience for the both of us." She gave him a cheeky grin before getting out of to her relief, he followed her inside.

She had been inside the Ministry countless time and this station reminded her of it, but it was a more orderly, but less chaotic. The men all wore uniforms, as did a few woman, and Lily wondered how long it had been since she was in one. The last time was for a field trip when she was at a muggle school.

"Can I help you?" an older man with a gruff voice questioned.

"Yes, you arrested my friend." After the words left her mouth, she realized how stupid that sounded. "He's actually my husband's friend and I'm here to bail him out."

"Bail him out?" He looked from Lily to Adrian.

"Is that not what they call it?" she whispered to Adrian.
"You do realize that he evaded arrest, had a major traffic violation, and was disturbing

the peace?" he questioned. "Even if you had the money-"

"Can she just see him?" Adrian interrupted.

"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "In case you haven't realized, I'm pregnant. My husband has been out of town for two weeks and that man has been helping me." She rubbed her stomach and tilted her head. "If you don't let me see him and then bail him out, you will regret it."

"Ma'am…." he started.

"Listen, I'm a doctor and this amount of stress isn't good for anyone, especially someone who's pregnant. How much harm is to going to be if she sees him?"

"That bloke is certifiably insane." He rolled his eyes. "Fine, but only her. You wait here." He gestured to Lily, motioning for her to walk forward. She glanced at Adrian before she trailed behind the police officer to see Sirius.

He paused outside a row of cells, saying that he refused to unlock it. Lily gripped the bars and Sirius eyes lit up when he saw her as he scrambled to his feet. "My lovely Lily! Are you here to break me out."

"What happened?" she asked. "James told me that-"

"They attacked us first. Honestly muggles are so stupid." Sirius regretted the statement as soon as he saw Lily's face. "I'm sorry, those people were so stupid. By intervening they only made it worse and now I'm here…" He gestured around before looking her straight in the eyes. "Instead of out there and...I need out now."

"What's going on?"

"I can't tell you."
"Does it have something to do with James? He promised no more big assignments, he wants to be here for me, but then he volunteers for this big mission. James won't tell me anything in the letters and I…" She shook her head and tried to fit her arm through the cell to touch Sirius. How badly she wanted James, to have him hold her so tightly that everything else around them seemed less important.

"Lily you're the one thing…" Sirius looked at her, his heart breaking as he saw her face, Lily acted more like a sibling than his own brother had been. "James is scared shitless, I shouldn't be telling you this but I don't care anymore. He thinks that you're the one thing he can keep safe."

"I told him that we're in this together. We're a team, we protect each other." She looked at him with her wide green eyes. "We're family, all of us."

"Yeah."

"I'll go see if I can get you out on bail.

It was about an hour later when Lily was walking out of the building. The still had to process everything and she thought she could wait, but she honestly couldn't handle it very much longer. It was supposed to be spring, but the wind was bitterly cold.

"Where are you going?"Adrian called out, he was propped against his car, hair windblown.

"I thought you left," she said and walked over to him.

"I went to get a cup of tea and I thought I'd wait a bit longer to see if you needed a ride."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "Thank you so much." As she shook her head tears began to well up in her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm crying right now. This day has just been so crazy."

"Well, when you're pregnant your hormones tend to get unbalanced leading to unexplained changes in your mood."

"Thank you Dr. Graham." She wiped at her eyes and attempted to give him a cheeky smile, but the edges of her lips were pulled downwards. "Merlin, it's just ironic that you're here for me. A year ago I was complaining to James about what an arsehole you were and now…" she gestured.

"Sorry." He shrugged and tried to hold back a laugh as he opened his door to get in. Lily followed his lead.

"Don't be, I'm the one that's twenty years old, five months pregnant and bailing my husband's best friend out of jail." By now she was in the car and leaned her head against the back of the seat. "Do you want to come over? My friends are bringing food over and are going to be at my apartment tonight."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "The last time I came over-"

"I was overreacting. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep and…" She clenched her eyes shut. "I need more normal, being around you is like being at home again, but in the good way." She looked over at Adrian and for a few seconds she did not see the jerk she had met on her first day at work or the muggle doctor or even a new friend...No, for a few moments she could picture him as the man she always thought Severus would grow up to be.