"Lily, table four," Mary said, an unamused smile playing on her lips. Lily wanted to slap it right off.

"I'm on my break," Lily snarked, gesturing to the cigarette between her fingers. Mary walked two steps out into the alley and flicked the cigarette out of Lily's pale fingers.

"Well looky there, you're done with your cig! Serve table four," Mary instructed, strutting back into the kitchen as Lily seethed. Mary could be a real cow when she wanted to be, and she seemed to think being the manager of The Busy Bean café meant that she was some sort of royalty.

"Table four, yes master. Whatever you say master," Lily muttered under her breath, pushing her fringe out her face and tying her apron just a little bit tighter.

As Lily walked into the desolate cafe. It was summer, and a bleak one at that. Hogwarts was gone for six, long weeks. With her wand and robes, packed away in her trunk, along with the rest of the wizarding world.

She was so longer Lily Evans, popular prefect and Hogwarts sweetheart. She was Lily Evans, the lass from Cokeworth who has to work full time at the world's crappiest cafe all summer just so she could afford next year's school books.

"Hello, welcome to The Busy Bean, what can I get you?" Lily asked monotonously as she walked over to the table, not even bothering to look up from her notepad.

"Evans? No effin' way," The ever so familiar voice of James Potter exclaimed, making Lily immediately look up from her notepad. She felt suddenly vulnerable as she stared into the four familiar faces of the self proclaimed Marauders, all donned inMuggle clothes, with eerily empty and equally wandless hands.

She felt her cheeks heat as she scrambled to obtain a single thought. It was like the worst crossover episode in T.V. history.
"Potter? What the—what are you doing here!" Lily shrieked, her angry thoughts ultimately winning over her sensible, coherent thoughts.

"Well, we were trying to get a cup of coffee," James answered unhelpfully, looking completely beside himself with glee. Remus flashed Lily a sympathetic smile, which she was grateful for.

"I—what, what are you four doing in Cokeworth?" Lily asked, completely ignoring the smug face of Sirius smiling up at her.

"We're here for the excellent coffee, duh," Sirius snarked and Lily shot him an utterly venomous look, surprisingly effective in shutting him up.
"Remus got a car, we're doing a 'Last Summer Before Seventh Year' road trip. What are you doing working in this awful cafe?" James asked untactfully, looking around at the two other customers, who were all well over the age of forty.

Lily felt embarrassment creep over her; like hell gonna let Potter (who had a mansion) know how poor she was, "Something to fill the summer, innit." She straightened slightly, regaining her composure.

"Now, what can I get you?" Lily asked over-politely, switching on her customer service voice and smile. James shifted uncomfortably, muttering his answer of, "Four coffees and two slices of apple pie, please." With a gaze at Lily's shabby work clothes that made her want to crawl into a corner and cry.

"Comin' right up," She said in a sickly sweet way, turning round and practically bolting to the kitchen to tell Seb, (their uninterested chef) to stick one of their shop bought apple pies in the oven.

"How many coffees Lilith?" Mary asked, and Lily knew there was no point in telling her that her name wasn't Lilith.
"Four, all white americanos, one with a vanilla shot," She answered instantly, glancing at her notepad as she wistfully felt at the box of cigarettes in her jean pocket.

Mary nodded, stepping behind the counter and turning on the old rusty coffee machine. Lily wasn't sure whether not it passed health and safety. However she found that she didn't care; she certainly wasn't paid enough to care.

Lily was about to break out into a fresh set of abusive thoughts directed at Potter whilst she bitterly filled up the ketchup bottles, when Mary looked up at her sceptically.
"You can go, it's five past three," Mary said, pointing at the clock that was five minutes late.

Lily almost cried with glee as she nodded quickly, darting into the kitchen to grab her cheap (but surprisingly warm) jacket. Since Cokeworth hadn't apparently got the memo that it was now summer.

She shouted a hasty goodbye to Seb, and avoided the judgeful gaze of Mary, as she almost successfully left the cafe.

"Evans, wait!" James said, suddenly standing up as she decided to not stop, leaving the cafe and entering the bizarrely cold chill that decided to grace her little corner of England.

"Merlin, Lily! Wait up," James puffed as he grabbed Lily's sleeve, turning her round to face him. Reluctantly, she complied, sparing him a scornful look.

"What do you want, Potter?" She asked, sticking her freezing hands in her pockets, wishing she'd worn some sort of makeup to work today. James opened and closed his mouth—trying to form some sort of sentence, to no avail. Apparently.

"I'm... I'm Head Boy," James said with a grin, as Lily's mouth involuntarily opened,
"You— You're Head Boy?"
James nodded happily, and Lily shook her head in disbelief.

"Never would've guessed... Well, I'm Head Girl," Lily said bitterly, remembering the letter she'd received and the big, shiny badge that had come with it.

"Naturally," James laughed good-naturedly.
"Naturally," Lily repeated, her tone unamused. Turning to walk away before she ended up slapping him. However, she stopped to glance back at him one last time.

"Potter, if you tell anybody about me working in this shitty cafe, I will hex your balls off."
"Of course not, Lily," James said softly.

Lily nodded, a brisk authoritative nod, hugging her jacket closer.
"Bye Potter," She said coldly, walking away without a second glance, unknowing that the boy behind her silently vowed to win over her heart.