Jordi was back in Romania when Lily left her apartment a week later. It three, she had a few hours before she had to be at work and she was starving. With working over time she hadn't had a proper meal in long time, she hadn't even bothered to order takeout, just had tea with biscuits or some makeshift pasta dish. This is why she was heading to the diner that was just down the street. As she made her way towards the stairs, the door swung open and she almost ran into the man—Michael Collins, she reminded herself—again.

"Good afternoon," he greeted stiffly, still dressed in his uniform and looking a bit worse for the wear.

Lily gave him a warm smile, but something about the way he was carrying himself triggered her empathetic side. "I was just heading to get some food, and I've been eating alone way too much lately, would you like to come with me?" She put on her best 'this is an honest offer, trust me' face that she could and hoped she didn't sound like Boyd when he asked her out for drinks.

"Thanks," he responded, stopping in his tracks with eyes that widened a bit. "But no thanks."

Lily recognized that tone and rolled her eyes. "I don't know whether to be offended or impressed."

"Excuse me?" He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"There are a few reasons you turned me down, if it's because your tired after a long shift, go ahead, but if it's because you saw me with Jordi you got another thing coming. First off, we're not dating. Second off, it's not really your business. Third off, if you're turning me down because you think I'm dating him and you're passing judgement on me then I guess we can return to being just neighbors." She moved to turn again, but his voice stopped her.

"Wait, it is a bit of the first reason you stated and the last, but…"

"I wait to get drunk until the third date, you don't' have to worry," she teased. "Besides, I meant it as a friendly gesture, quite frankly you look awful."

"Thanks, but maybe I could take a raincheck on the offer. I want to get changed."

Lily's shoulders slumped a bit. Of course muggles couldn't transfigure their clothes or do it with a wave of a wand. "I'll wait, I'm in no hurry, I don't go to work for a few hours."

"Oh." He looked a bit surprised at that and Lily felt a bit bad painting him in a corner like that. "Give me five minutes."

Lily leaned against the wall and glanced down at her watch. It was a proper watch, a wizard one. She was surprised, though, when he arrived four minutes later dressed much like something James would wear. "That was fast," she commented. Scorpius took forever getting ready, and Albus took his sweet time. James and Jordi both took ages just because they had to perfect that casual look, purposefully messing everything up…Well, that's what Jordi used to do. Now it took him forever to find something that covered his scars.

"Sorry?" He looked a bit perplexed as they walked toward the stairs, Lily leading the way.

"Oh, it's just… Never mind." It immediately comes to her that this will be a challenge, the two of them are perfect strangers, something she has not encountered in years. Even when she went to St. Mungo's she knew people through her parents or their siblings if she hadn't met them before. The wizarding world was impossibly small.

"So, what do you do that you work odd hours?" he questioned when they hit the lobby of the building.

"Nurse," she answered quickly.

"Oh." The sound he made was as though he was pleasantly surprised.

"I don't if I should be flattered or offended." She ran a hand through her hair. It was loose and needed to be pulled back before she went to work.

"You just look young."

She looked him over. Michael looked a lot like her father in the photos of his younger years. Darkened skin under the eyes, messy hair, slight stubble around his chin, and premature lines starting to form. Despite the tired look, he was handsome with his curled hair and warm eyes that reminded her of honey. "You're not exactly ancient." Lily knew she was better at hiding it, or had gotten better at. She tried to sleep at least eight hours, forced herself to eat something when she got off work, and did her best compartmentalize everything. "But I get what you're saying. I've only been working in the hospital for about six months."

"I went straight to the academy after I graduated. I've been doing this since I was 19, almost five years."

Lily wanted to know what her father looked like after five years. James hadn't even come along yet, it was just him and her mum who was still a Quidditch player at that time. "You'd always wanted to be in law enforcement?" They had arrived at the diner and Lily paused long enough to let herself in, a bell attached to the door alerting the workers of their presence. She waved at the man behind the counter and gave him a smile, he was the owner and she'd been coming her since she moved into her flat. He gestured at the menus after she held up two fingers.

"Yeah." He took the laminated sheet from her. "I mean when I was little I had a stint of wanting to be a superhero, then I thought it would be cool to be a vet and that lasted for about three seconds. By the time I was a teenager I had my mind decided."

Lily's smile was turning brittle as she slid into a booth across from him. She looked down at the menu, pretending to concentrate, but it wasn't working.

"What's that look? Have something against cops? I saw the way your friend looked at me that night in the hallway."

"I have nothing against the profession, just the people I love getting injured." She set the menu down and looked straight at him. "I was five the first time I remember my mum getting notified that my dad was in the hospital. Seven when he didn't come home when he was supposed to, he showed up at some awful hour…" She looked at the table. "I was ten when I was woken up in the middle of the middle of the night to go to the hospital to see my brother." Teddy's actual relation to her would be much too hard to explain to a stranger

"I don't quite follow."

"You could say law enforcement is my family business. Two out of the three of my brothers are in it, my dad does it, my uncle used to, one of my other uncles works in the office, my cousin does it…Do I need to continue?"

"I…"

"Forget I said anything, this was supposed to be a friendly dinner together, not me spilling out my life story." She sets the menu down and smiles broadly at the owner when he comes to take the order. "My usual, with a tea, as strong as you got, alright? I'm working late."

"Don't you mean early?" he teased.

"Semantics." She waved her hand. "Meet me neighbor, I convinced him to come with me, see I'm not eating alone."

"I was hoping you'd bring by one of your brothers you're always talking about. Like to meet the men that were brave enough to survive growing up with you."

"Flattery will get you nowhere without my dinner."

"Are you always this cheeky?" he questions, but then turns to Michael to take his order. The two of them are left alone after he delivers their drinks, tea for Lily and water for him.

"I know you moved into the flat not long ago, but you should start coming in here. Pete's a good guy, open fairly late, and he's always willing to talk." She drips a few drops of milk into her cup before blowing on it and taking a drink. "It's good to find places that make you feel good." She smiles lazily as she sets the mug down. "He was good to talk to when I first moved into the flat. Freaked me out living alone."

"Really?" he asks, there is genuine surprise in his eyes.

"Well, yeah, the closest I got to living alone was when I got a single room for being Head Girl."

"Single room…you went to boarding school?"

Another thing that surprises him. Lily swallows and wishes their food would get here. How much can she explain without telling him about the other parts? "Sort of a family tradition." She shrugs, trying to make it look like no big deal. Muggles don't usually ship off all their kids to the same school unless they have a lot of money.

Their food comes and Lily manages to clamp her mouth shut about her life. Instead, she manages to get him to talk about his life. He tells her what school he went, his friends on the force, funny stories from his job, and then meaningless stuff to fill the silence. Lily is amazed by how much she doesn't know. Bands that sound vaguely familiar, but she's never heard any of their music, or pop culture references to tv shows she's never seen.

The dinner is winding down when the door to the diner opens. Lily looks to see and her mouth drops open before she sets her fork on the table. "Daphne?" she asks, already twisting her body. The woman turns and smiles at her before rushing over.

"Lily!" She holds open her arms and the two hug.

"What are you doing here?" She settles back down into the booth as she looks over her old roommate. The robe she's wearing can barely pass as muggle attire and only does due to the fact that she's wearing one of the newer styles with tight sleeves that stop at the forearm, light fabric and a fitted bodice. The color is pale green without any hints of shimmer or swirling patterns that are in style.

"True wanted to see his parents, but right now we're staying with his older sister, I promised I'd cook." She let out a laugh at that and when her hand goes up to smooth her hair she sees the diamond ring glint against the light. She's been married to Nott for about two years now. "Who's this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Michael this is my friend from school Daphne Nott and Daphne this is Michael Collins, he's—"

"Why do you keep everything from me?" She pouted and then leaned over to shake Michael's hand. "It's wonderful to meet, I thought Lily swore off dating, after that disaster with Zabini."

"It wasn't a disaster."

"Sure," she replies with a patronizing smile. "She didn't tell us about him until September and they broke up in November."

"Daphne, you misunderstood—"

"If you're not already dating him you're lying to yourself, he's cute." She gave him a grin. "Where'd you go to school? I don't recall you being at Hogwarts, but we were both in Slytherin…"

"Daphne!"

"I didn't go to…Hogwarts…" He looks lost with his furrowed eyebrows and frown on his face, the school name sounds odd coming out of his mouth.

"Where'd you go to school? Beauxbatons? Durmstrang?" When he doesn't react to any of the names her eyes light up. "Oh! Did you get yourself a foreigner? I bet you went to the American school. Very up and coming, their curriculum—"

"Can you stop talking?" Lily asks, not knowing how to convey to her friend who the man across the table is. "He didn't go to any school you'd know of."

"Oh…" She looks a bit a sad. "I understand, my parents were a bit wary of sending me away." Daphne reaches out to touch his hand.

"I think I should pay and get going, dinner was nice…" He looks at Daphne with worry in his eyes and Lily with…she can't recognize the emotion. "And the two of us really aren't dating, we're just neighbors." His tone is firm and he gets up at that, not giving Lily a second glance.

"What was that about?" Daphne questioned. "Was he homeschooled or something?"

"No," Lily replies softly. "He's not…Michael is a muggle."

"Lily," Daphne says. "That's dangerous."

"No, it's not. I've lived down the hall from muggles for nearly three years."

"It's a lot different dating one or letting one get close to you. Haven't you heard what the ministry wants done with muggles that find out about magic? They obliviate their memories if they're not married or family or at the very least seriously involved."

"I…"

"If it's just a neighbor, then leave it at that, don't get involved in that poor man's life because the second you leave someone is going to swoop in and he'll never even recognize you." Daphne pulled a pocket watch out of the front of her robe and looked down. "I have take-out to pick up, let's meet before True and I head back."

"I'd like that." Lily gets to her feet and hugs her friend. When she pays she takes in the muggle diner owner. If she did magic in front of him would something happen? Was living this far into the muggle world really playing with fire? And even though Daphne and Jordi's warning tugged at something in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but want to ignore it. But then again…Michael might be worth the risk for her, but was it for him?