The meeting was exceedingly boring, and James tried but failed to force himself to work. The room was huge and full of wizards and witches who turned their noses up to the young Hogwarts students taking a seat at the table with the 'Dumbledore' placecard, but while James glared at them, Lily ignored it and focused her attention on the Speaker at the podium in the front, scribbling notes. By the end of the day, her hand was throbbing painfully. James was mercifully quiet the entire meeting, but by the end of the day, complained that his ankles hurt after propping them up on the table for so long as he slept, leaning back in the chair.
"Your poor feet," Lily retorted as the made their way down the cold street to look for a place for dinner. She was hungry and exhausted, and resented his complaints. "I bet they've got pins and needles in them, don't they, baby?" she said sarcastically.
"Yes, honey, they do," James returned with a grin.
"If you ever call me that again I'll kick you and send you back to Hogwarts," Lily said steely. She was not joking. "Now, where can we eat on this side of town without spending every penny we have?"
"I'm not exactly sure. I've only been here two and three times with my parents, and we always ate there --" He pointed to a building with an entirely glass front. Inside tables could be seen, with candles and roses in a vase at each one, a giant chandellier hanging from the ceiling. There was also a grand piano and chairs for an orchestra in the middle of the dining hall, and a lovely elevated floor for dancing. The place was empty now; Lily suspected it opened in the evening.
"Oh, wow . . ." she breathed, going nearer to the glass, her eyes shining. James bit his lip and followed her.
"We certainly can't eat there every night."
"No --" Lily shook her head. "No, I know. . . . It's beautiful, though. I guess you are, but I'm not used to all this fancy business. . . . Oh, wow."
Lily had seen the shop next door, a three-story building of dress robes and formal wear.
"Oh, look at this . . ."
She put her face close to the glass, her eyes eating up a certain black dress robe on display. The style was simple enough; a low-cut boatneck, hanging off the manequin's shoulders, a velvet ribbon around the waist -- There was an elegance to it, and Lily could almost picture some beautiful rich woman dancing with some rich handsome man in the restaurant next door, the black skirt flaring slightly as they moved across the floor, the light catching the clear silver jewel that hung from the manequin's neck. She was absolutely entranced.
"Looks a little binding," James mumured, shrugging. When Lily didn't say anything, he looked sideways at her -- and kept looking. And the expression Lily held in her eyes as she gazed at the dress was equaled in James' eyes as he gazed at her.
"Lily --" James said quietly, then realized he addressed her by her first name. He'd never done that before. Luckily, Lily was so fixated on the dress she seemed not to notice. "I know of a good place, Evans. The food isn't bad and the bill won't clean out my Galleons." Momentarily he considered taking her hand, but Lily tore her attention away from the store window and followed him, so it wasn't necessary.