The reception witch at St. Mungo's was bored. Not much was going on, the waiting room was completely empty save for a man sitting in a corner, half asleep and hugging a funny plant with spindles that had attached itself to his neck, having just arrived a few moments before, he was awaiting his name to be called by a mediwitch. The reception witch was doing a puzzle on the back cover of the Quibbler, humming to herself quietly. 

Suddenly there was a crack outside and she looked up with a yawn, expecting to see a witch or wizard with some funny magical malady on the sidewalk beyond the wide glass window, about to come inside, and instead what she saw was a teenage boy - blood gushing from his chest - wobble, fall forward, the blood smearing on the glass. He slipped to be kneeling on the ground, before tipping sideways, disappearing from sight.

She stared, unable to process what she'd just seen for a moment, then she screamed and jumped up, waving her wand to sound an alarm for immediate help, and ran for the window.

Lily was waiting on the couch in the living room of the Evans's house, nervously pressing her skirt down on her knees. She'd gotten dressed nicely for the breakfast, a mustard-yellow corduroy skirt with brown leather buttons up the front, a brown blouse tucked in, and a maroon-mustard-and-brown striped sweater. She had on both of the necklaces James Potter had given her, and the bracelet that she'd only recently learned had been from him as well. She'd done her hair, and painted her nails, and she was nervously tugging on her knee socks, letting her loafers slip on and off as she shuffled her feet against the carpet, looking at the clock on the mantle.

Mrs. Evans came into the room, pausing to kiss the top of Lily's head as she entered and smoothed her daughter's hair. "Have I told you how lovely you look?" she asked.

"You think so?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Mrs. Evans smiled. "He's going to be very impressed. Of course, I think this boy would be no matter what from what I've seen in his eyes in the past." She squeezed Lily's shoulders.

"Mum, you made omelettes, right?" Lily asked.

"I did," Mrs. Evans said.

"Thank you," Lily's voice shook with nervous excitement. "Omelettes are very important."

"You mentioned," Mrs. Evans smiled, "I didn't forget, dear."

"I'm sorry, I'm just -- I don't know why I'm nervous."

Mrs. Evans's eyes glowed -- she knew. "I couldn't tell you sweetheart," she lied, and she went off into the kitchen.

Lily turned back to the fireplace, looking at the clock. Any second now. He could be floating through the Floo Network right now, even, she thought.

And the fireplace gleamed in response, the flames turning green and hissing and --

"He's here mum!" Lily shouted, jumping up and giving her clothes one last smooth before --

James Potter tumbled out of the fireplace, looking very nice and done-up, aside from his always messy hair, but Lily wouldn't have had it any other way. He dusted the soot from his clothes and drew a deep breath as he stood up, smiling at Lily, "Morning Evans."

"Morning!!!" she said, very excited, the nervousness making the word come out a lot more hurried and loud than she'd expected it to and she flushed as James chuckled.

"Hitting the coffee early, love?" he asked.

Lily shook her head, "Sorry. I'm glad you're here, that's all."

James laughed and shook his head, then exaggerated pinching his arm, "Bloody hell, I'm just not used to that yet."

"What?" Lily looked confused.

"You... wanting me around," James said, "Being excited to see me."

Lily's face crumpled, abashed, "I'm sorry I didn't make you feel wanted before."

James shook his head, "I didn't do much to make you want me, besides be a pain in your arse, really." He looked around, "No teacups being chucked at me this time -- Petunia really not coming to breakfast?"

"Mum says she is, whether she likes it or not," Lily answered, "But she hasn't come downstairs yet."

James laughed, "Well, that'll make for her being on her best behaviour, won't it?"

Lily shrugged, "I had to sit through her and Vernon's luncheon and many, many dinners he's attended and --"

"Dinner!" James interrupted. "Sorry," he said, realizing he'd cut her off. "Finish what you were saying."

"Oh not important. What were you going to say?"

"Mum wants me to invite you to dinner!" James said, "Tonight."

"Alright. I mean, I'll have to ask my mum as well."

"Bring her," James offered.

"Your mum won't mind?"

"She'd bloody love it."

Lily smiled, "I'll ask her."

"Alright."

"Or you can."

"Alright."

Suddenly there was thumping footsteps on the stairs and there was Petunia, wearing a pale green dress with a yellow sweater and a strand of pearls. "Good morning," she said stiffly.

"Morning," James greeted her, smirking.

Petunia pet the pearls, obviously trying to bring attention to them.

"Nice necklace," James complimented.

Petunia stroked the pearls even more, "Vernon gave them to me," she simpered. "He purchased them himself. They're very expensive."

James nodded, "Lovely."

Lily glared at her, "Stop bragging about Vernon's money. It isn't your money."

Petunia shrugged and walked off into the dining room, sitting down in her usual seat heavily.

James looked at Lily and snickered, "You'd think she wouldn't want me focusing on her neck."

Lily giggled.

Mrs. Evans came from the kitchen carrying a couple plates, when she spotted James and she said, "Good morning, James!"

"Good morning Mrs. Evans," James announced, and he drew his wand, "Here let me help you." He waved it and the plates levitated from Mrs. Evans's hands, landing neatly on the table. Petunia looked uneasily at the wand in James's hand, leaning away from the line of aim as he brought the plates down. James winked at her, then turned back to Mrs. Evans as he stowed his wand, holding out his hand to shake hers. But Mrs. Evans had other plans. She took his hand and used it to pull him into her, wrapping her arms about him and giving him a solid hug, patting his back.

"I hope you're hungry," she told him.

"He's always hungry, mum," Lily said.

James grinned as Mrs. Evans pulled away from the hug, "It's true," he said, "My stomach is an unending void."

Mrs. Evans laughed, "Well, luckily, I was a bit heavy handed with the eggs and I've got plenty of omelette to fill you up with."

"And bacon," Lily added. "There's bacon!"

"Bacon's my favorite," James answered her, and he migrated into the dining room, following Mrs. Evans' lead, and Lily coming up behind him.

James very politely pulled out Mrs. Evans's and Lily's chairs before sitting down - on the side of the table, beside Lily, leaving Mr. Evans's old chair vacant. Lily couldn't help but mark this difference between James Potter and Vernon Dursley in her mind - and it was definitely a plus for James's character.

The breakfast went very well. Mrs. Potter asked about James's grades at school, and what he was interested in doing as a career, even though she didn't really know much about wizarding careers. James described what Aurors do for the Ministry for Magic, and Mrs. Potter was quick to compare them to policemen and was very impressed that James wished to serve in such a noble post, which made James flush. Petunia was quick to comment that selling drills was a very important business, too, and made a stupid comment about there not being a terrible lot that magical police would have to do.

"After all, I'd imagine you could make an arrest with a flick of your... thing," she said, refusing to say wand.

James raised his eyebrow. Sirius would've choked on his food, he thought. But he managed to keep a straight face, and he said, "My wand? It takes a bit more than that. After all, aurors are using magic, but then again so are the bad guys. It's a bit like a policy man being armed with a muggle gun trying to arrest a bad guy who also has a muggle gun. They're a bit even."

"It's policeman," Petunia corrected rudely.

Lily glowered at her.

But James simply shrugged and said, "Sorry. It's like a whole other language sometimes!" He laughed, and Mrs. Evans quickly agreed.

"I never know what Lily's talking about with all the fancy words you lot use!" she admitted, "But I find it absolutely fascinating."

Lily kept accidentally knocking her knee against James's under the table and each time she did, she saw his lip twitch with amusement.

When the breakfast was over, Petunia hurried up to her bedroom, not bothering to say goodbye to James. Mrs. Evans told the pair to have fun, and gave Lily a handful of pounds to exchange at Gringott's in order to purchase her textbooks for the term. She gave James a hug, and James invited her to dinner at the Lupin house that night, and Mrs. Evans happily accepted, citing that Petunia would be out with Vernon that evening anyway, and it would be lovely to meet James's parents. James promised to be back to bring her by later that afternoon, and they went out into the yard.

Lily walked beside James, holding hands, their arms swinging between them. "Sorry about Tuney," she said.

James said, "I find her amusing, honestly. She's just so sour," he laughed, "It's more amusing than offensive."

"Well, I'm glad you think so anyway," Lily said. "She absolutely hacks me off when she acts like that toward you. There's no reason for it!"

James said, "Well, I have teased her on multiple occasions. And there's the whole neck thing."

"You're so much more mature than that now, though. She doesn't give you a chance."

"To be fair," James said, "You've only recently given me one yourself, love."

Lily flushed, "Yes, well."

James nudged her, "C'mon, Sirius and Rey are probably waiting for us." He looked at his watch, Mickey Mouse's hands ticking around the clock, keeping track of the minutes and seconds as they passed.

But there was no one waiting at the Leaky Cauldron when they arrived.

James looked around the sitting area, a concerned look on his face. "They should've been here by now."

"They must be running late," Lily said.

James shook his head, "No... no they can't be. I specifically gave Sirius the wrong time by over an hour to be sure they got here in time. And they were going to eat breakfast here. They were flooing over from the Lion's Den..." He went over to the bar. "Oi Tom -- seen Sirius Black or Remus Lupin this mornin'?"

"Ain't seen them in some time. Ain't seen you, for that matter," Tom grunted, wiping the counter.

James looked at Lily.

"They'll be along," Lily said, but she sounded a bit more nervous now, terrible ideas beginning to form in her mind for what might've happened on a full moon that would hold them up...

James shook his head, "No. Something's the matter. C'mon... let's go see what's going on." And he walked quickly toward the floo.