My Girl

Lily ran out of the Muggle day care after dropping Gwen off. She was late. Shit, shit, shit. On her first day too. This wasn't good, not good at all. She ran down the street through the thick crowds, ignoring every protest as she knocked people over, or her heel dug into someone's foot.

Panting, she ran into a street containing shabby looking buildings, and opened up a red telephone box. She picked up the receiver and dialed six, two, four, four, two.

A cool female voice sounded through the box. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Lily...Lily Evans, Auror." She gasped in.

"Thank you," the voice replied. The floor of the telephone box shuddered and started sinking.

Lily took this time to fix up her hair and robes, while she caught the rest of her breath. She checked her watch. It stated 9:02. Crap!

She looked up and realized the telephone box had come to a stop. Lily rushed out into a hall with a peacock blue ceiling and weird gold symbols. Not having enough time to look around properly, she ran past a fountain in the centre and through a set of golden gates to a set of lifts. The doors opened and Lily hurried in with a few people.

Lily lent back against the wall panting. She had to find an easier way of getting to work. She couldn't floo since she first had drop Gwen off at day care, and there wasn't any place suitable to apparate since the only way to get to the ministry was to walk down the main street in London.

"Evans?"

Lily started. Then looked around the people clustered in the elevator and groaned at who she saw looking back at her. "Black."

Sirius Black grinned. Lily hated to admit it, but he had gotten even better looking in the past five years. He had grown a bit more and was now 6'2. His shoulder length black hair was tied up in a pony tail and his grey eyes twinkled at her.

"Well, I haven't seen you for awhile, Evans. And I must say, you are looking very hot right now."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Save it Black."

She felt like banging her head against the wall. He was one of the last people she wanted to see. She couldn't risk him finding out about Gwen. At least it wasn't James in here with her.

Sirius grinned. "Hey, what is that in your nose?"

Confused, Lily touched her nose and felt the pink stud. "Oh that. It's called a piercing."

Fascinated, Sirius reached out to touch it, but Lily slapped his hand away. "Piss off."

"But it's so cool! Let me touch it, please, please, please."

Lily was glaring at him. "Must you touch everything like a little kid? No!"

Lily was saved when a voice called out, "Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration"

"Oh thank god." Lily hurried out and rushed down a corridor lined with doors. She turned the corner and through a pair of heavy oak doors into a cluttered area divided by cubicles.

"What are you doing here Evans?"

Lily turned and realized Sirius was by her side. "I work here Black. What are you doing here?"

"I also happen to work here." He glanced at his watch. "Shit, it's 9:08. Mad-Eye is going to kill me."

Giving her one last glance, he squatted down so he couldn't be seen above the cubicles and snuck away, presumably to his own.

Lily took a breath and walked towards an office on the wall opposite and knocked on the door. She stopped herself from taking a step back when a man with long grizzled grey hair, mismatched eyes and a heavily scarred face looked at her.

"What?" he barked.

"Um, I'm Lily Evans," Lily replied, wondering in horror if all Aurors in England turned out like that. Sure, a few people had some chunks missing from their bodies in Australia, but it wasn't even close to what Mad-Eye Moody looked like.

"You're late," he growled.

"Yeah, well, about that. I had to..."

"I don't want to hear any excuses. You need to have CONSTANT VIGALLENCE!" Lily jumped. He stuck his head out of the office door. "BLACK GET HERE NOW! DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE YOU CREEP IN!"

Sirius walked up to Moody and grinned. "Mad-Eye, great to see you. I say, you're looking good this morning. Are your eyes evening out?"

Moody growled. "Don't mess with me boy. This is Lily Evans." He jabbed his thumb towards Lily. "I believe you went to Hogwarts with her. She was transferred here from Australia. Show her around. Her cubicle is next to Alice Longbottom's."

Moody then turned around and walked back into his office. Sirius grinned at Lily and reached out his hand. She slapped it away from her nose.

"Black! Bloody hell!"

"Oh come on, stop being such a snob."

"Just take me to my cubicle."

He sighed. "Fine." Then beckoned her to follow and started walking off in the opposite direction.

Lily looked around interested as they walked. People had added this and that to their cubicles to make it feel homier. One even had a few snitches charmed to stay in the booth.

"Well this is it."

Lily looked around her new cubicle. It was very plain to say the least. All it contained was a desk with some documents on it and a chair. Grimacing, Lily realized it would have to stay like that for awhile until she could afford to add something.

Turning around, she realized Sirius had left. Sighing, she sat down and started riffling through the documents. They were about Voldemort's victims.

"Well, Evans, Sirius told me you were here, but I had to see it to believe it."

Lily tensed up and closed her eyes. Please no, she thought. Anyone but him. She opened her eyes and swung around on her seat. "Potter."

James Potter looked down, grinning at Lily Evans. He had not seen her since Hogwarts, and he had to admit, she looked really good. Her slightly curly, layered red hair went just past her shoulders, and her emerald almond shaped eyes looked at him warily. He saw the stud in her nose and his grin got wider. Sirius had sulkily told him about it, saying she was being stuck up and wouldn't let him touch it.

"So, Sirius told me that you've been in Australia."

Lily sighed. "What do you want Potter?" she asked coldly.

James admitted to himself that he deserved that. After all, he had cheated on her on the last week of 7th year.

"To try and patch things up between us. After all, we did get on quite well with each other."

Lily glared at him. "Get out."

James' grin faltered. "Come on Lily. Don't be like that. It was five years ago. Surely you can't hold a grudge for that long."

Angrily, Lily stood up. "You have no idea what I've been through these past years because of you. What are you doing here anyway?" She asked gesturing to the Auror department. "I thought you played Quidditch professionally."

"I did for one season, but decided that I'd prefer to be an Auror. I was sick of girls screaming every time they saw me."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Ok then. Now get out before I hurt you."

"Aw come on Lily, I said I was sorry."

Lily looked at him disbelievingly. "So? You think that it fixes up everything? Well it doesn't! Now get the hell out!"

James, no longer grinning, left her cubicle. Lily sat down and buried her head in her hands. It was only her first day, yet everything was already starting to go wrong. He was not supposed to be here. She was not supposed to ever see him again, she wasn't even meant to be in England, but she had no choice in the matter.

"Um, Lily? Lily Evans?" came a voice from the entrance of the cubicle.

Lily looked up and saw a woman with long brown hair and a round friendly face. Lily looked at her in surprise. "Alice Fenwick?"

She grinned and walked over to hug Lily. "It's Longbottom now. Wow, I haven't seen you since Hogwarts."

Lily grinned and hugged her back. She used to hang around with Alice, but whilst in Australia, she had slowly lost contact with all her friends, even her best friend Marlene McKinnon.

"So when did you get married to Frank?" Lily asked as they pulled away.

"About 6 months ago," Alice replied. "So how are you? Why did you decide to come back?"

Alice had never been told the true reason why Lily left. She thought Lily simply left to move on from James. The only people that knew the truth were her parents and Marlene.

"I'm pretty good. The only reason I'm back was because I was transferred."

*~*~*~*~*~*

James flung himself on a chair in his cubicle. What was Lily's problem? It had been over five years ago. He had no romantic feelings for her anymore, but he would like to be friends. He just didn't see what the problem was. It wasn't like they were engaged or she had gotten pregnant!