A/N: Well I'm not dead! Hope you're happy about that *lecrickets* Okay, well this is Part One of 'Meet the Mother' - the next part should be up...erm...when I write it. Before I say anything else though, I need to say a huge shout out to witchash196 on Tumblr.

You are so amazing and kind and just...yeah, thank you so much :) The end of this was written by her so give her the credit for that!

Hope you enjoy the story and please leave your thoughts on it in a review. Also, feel free to follow me on Tumblr - my link is on my page.

Lots of love,
PenonPaperFingersonKeys

Three Broomsticks
(12:21)

Felicity Potter sighed wearily, leaning back into the stiff wooden seat that she had been occupying for the last twenty minutes at the Three Broomsticks. Unfortunately, she knew her son and his best mate well enough to know that she would have to wait until it was at least forty-five minutes after the agreed meeting time before they finally turned up.

Nonetheless, it didn't prevent her from being punctual. She was perfectly aware that she looked rather silly sitting at a table by herself doing nothing at all. Well, apart from checking her watch every so often. Hogwarts students milled in and out of the popular dining location and Felicity amused herself by watching them on their dates (either having a good time or an awful one) or laughing about with friends. For a moment she considered asking a petite looking Ravenclaw to her left if she knew James Potter before deciding against it. James had explicitly warned her in the letter that she received a few days ago (alerting her to the fact that they did have a Hogsmeade weekend and reluctantly telling her that they could meet up at the Three Broomsticks) not to talk to anybody. The theatrics that he would exhibit if he turned up to see her talking to a Hogwarts student would be amusing, but entirely not worth it.

Felicity Potter could really only be described as a 'cool mum.' She and James often engaged in prank wars against one another and (most of the time) she let him get away with blue murder. She never pressured him to do well in school, although he did brilliantly anyway, and she usually just laughed when McGonagall sent a letter home. Some would say she had too much trust in her son, but they were wrong. She trusted him, but it wasn't really about trust. She just knew what would happen if she was hard on James all the time; he'd end up resenting her as she did her own mother.

She, unfortunately, did not have a mother as lenient as James did. Growing up, she'd been forced to behave in Proper Pureblood Fashion - until she met Daniel Potter at Hogwarts – a rebellious, outspoken and mischievous prat for whom she discarded all her pureblood etiquette and happily agreed to marry.

Unfortunately (for her parents anyhow), as a result of this defiance against her traditional family, in addition to further corruption from Daniel and her own free nature, Felicity Potter became a rather different woman from Felicity Dearborn. Where Felicity Dearborn was polite, well-mannered and obedient, Felicity Potter was often bordering rude, impish, blunt and stubborn - and had consequently raised her son to be. On numerous occasions, Felicity had slapped Daniel upside the back of his head for 'no reason' when James did something wrong and accused him of passing down terrible genes. They both knew that, in reality, James had picked up most of his character flaws from her.

Although, the 'character flaws' were primarily described as 'endearing quirks' for Felicity and James both. Somehow, the two of them managed to pull off arrogant, insolent and generally infuriating better than anybody else.

Felicity smiled slightly, raising the butterbeer glass to her lips. Her and Daniel really were the worst parents. But despite the fact that James was an annoying little brat, he was a good kid at heart– and that was all that mattered.

Felicity sighed, looking down at her watch. She knew that she really should have just turned up late; it was better than sitting in a bar crowded with young children (who were by comparison making her look extremely old) and feeling like she was being stood up on a date! The woman rested her head against the table top for a moment, revelling in the peace of the moment.

Unfortunately, it was too quickly interrupted.

"I bloody hate James Potter!" Felicity – mother of said James Potter- sat up quickly, eyeing the two girls that took a seat at the table beside her. The redhead girl sighed, crossing her arms over her chest; she was evidently the one who had made such a violent proclamation about James. An infuriated scowl rested on her face.

Rosmerta - the pretty young waitress who had started working at the Three Broomsticks the year before - quickly noticed the two new customers and bounced over, beaming. She seemed rather familiar with the two school girls and, as the elderly woman who owned the bar glanced over, pulled out a notebook and quill, pretending to be taking their orders. Instead she was whispering cheerfully: "My, my, Lily Evans and Alice Abbott! Oh...What's wrong Lily?"

The petite blonde – Alice- rolled her eyes. "Lily's throwing a fit over Potter again."

Rosmerta giggled behind her hand and ducked her head as the owner glanced over once more. Felicity forced herself to appear uninterested. This day was turning out to be a lot bit more entertaining then she had expected. Perhaps she could find out a bit of gossip about James...After all, she found out more about James' life through his mates instead of her son – and even then, the information was scarce.

"That boy is as right a charmer as I've ever seen and I don't see why you're running away, Lily," Rosmerta scolded playfully. "I mean have you seen his eyes..." Felicity repressed a bout of laughter at the dreamy sigh Rosmerta emitted.

"Not to mention his hair!" Alice added, smiling goofily.

"Alice," Lily reprimanded, scrunching her nose in distaste. "You've got a boyfriend!"

"Doesn't mean I can't lust after the fittest bloke in Hogwarts," Alice said cheekily. Felicity raised her eyebrows infinitesimally at this description of her son and unconsciously leaned a little closer to eavesdrop some more. Her son was apparently a lot more popular with the girls than she had thought...perhaps she should have given him the respect-women-and-wear-protection talk after all. "Well, apart from Frank," Alice added as an afterthought.

Frank was assumedly the 'boyfriend' that Lily had spoken of. Lily rolled her eyes at the waitress and her friend. "Potter is not that good looking. He's arrogant, stupid, immature - and although he may be a little fit –"

"A little?" Rosmerta interjected dryly.

Felicity laughed slightly and smothered the sound by taking a large gulp of butterbeer just as the redhead seemed to explode slightly.

Lily huffed. "FINE! He's entirely fit and although he's arrogant and a bit immature, he's funny and sensitive and definitely not stupid and I want to throw him against the table and do dirty, dirty things to him - half of which, incidentally, I don't even know how to do – in fact the only person that probably does know is Sirius Black, the bloody git- and the other half of which I'm pretty sure are illegal!"

Felicity chocked on the gulp of butterbeer she had taken, making Alice, Lily and Rosmerta glance over.

Alice slapped Lily's arm lightly.

"Now look what you've done – scarring innocent bystanders..." Alice smiled at Felicity warmly, and waved her hand at the blushing redhead. "She's sorry. At the moment she's just drowning in humiliation to say so." Cheekily turning to her friend, she said conversationally, "Waiting to get that out for a while, Lil?"

"Clearly," Rosmerta said sardonically before looking back at the bar where the owner of the bar was looking over at them suspiciously. "It's been nice talking ladies, but I'll be going."

"Bye Rosmerta!" Alice and Lily chorused.

Felicity watched the waiter bustle away and glanced back at the two Hogwarts girls again a smirk playing on her face.

Here she was, in a position most mothers did not get. These girls clearly knew an awful lot about James Potter, they did not know she was his mother and her son was not here to censure what they were saying or what she was saying. Of course, the moral thing to do would be to tell the girls that she was, indeed, James Potter's mother...

But then again she was James Potter's mother.

Lily sighed and dropped her head into her hands, looking at her best mate for sympathy.

Alice offered little more than a scoff and a 'Shag him already'. Sighing, Lily turned to the middle-aged witch in the table beside them and politely asked, "Have you ever met someone that makes you want to kick him and snog him at the same time?"

"My husband, incidentally," replied Felicity, grinning into her drink. A sudden thought occurred to her. But no...This could surely not be the girl that Sirius had teased James about for years – the one that despised her son with every fibre of her body.

Felicity dismissed the thought; of course not. The girl – the one that James had been smitten with for years was most definitely not Lily. After all, hadn't Sirius stated more than once that James had not a snowballs chance in hell with the girl? Yes, he had. And although Felicity didn't trust Sirius with many things – such as knives, cookies and Muggle soda – she did trust him to know about his best mate's love life.

Felicity was interrupted on her musings by a still annoyed Lily Evans who, it seemed, had come to the end of her rope and was unloading everything on a complete stranger.

"I mean..." Lily sighed deeply, and placed her head in her hands. "Everything is just so stressful."

Felicity hummed. "Dear, come sit here and tell me all about it. I'm Felicity, by the way."

"My name's Lily," Lily said politely as she moved to sit in the seat opposite of the witch.

Within eight minutes, Felicity had heard all about Lily's first six years of Hogwarts. She had heard all about James being a prat, Sirius being a prat, James being an extra prat and asking Lily out and – briefly - about him maturing slightly in sixth year.

By the end of it, Felicity was furious. "So, this James Potter is a git of the worst kind. Why do you want to do 'dirty, dirty things' to him then?" The reminder of what Lily had said made the redhead go a vivid shade of red.

"Well..."

In the next seven minutes, Felicity Potter had heard about her son being the sweetest, kind - and possibly the best Head Boy that someone with so many detentions could be.

Lily's smile lit up her face as she recounted all sorts of very adorable and cute things that James had said or done – Felicity had no idea her little monster of a son could be adorable or cute – or when recounting the story of helping her with her Transfiguration assignment till one o'clock, even though he still had a Charms essay to do – Lily had returned the favour by staying up till three to help him with his Charms – or even when telling Felicity of the relatively harmless pranks, a change from the previous years, he and Sirius had pulled.

Lily's lips pursed at the thought of Sirius. "Although, Black is still a rotten sod..."

Alice, sipping her nearly empty butterbeer, rolled her eyes. "Come off it, Lils, you absolutely adore all of the Marauders. Even Podgy Pettigrew! And Black is possibly your best mate apart from me!"

Lily raised her nose in the air in a dignified way. "James is my best mate apart from you."

"Lovers don't count."

"Oh? Does that mean you have no friends now seeing as only Frank likes you?"

"At least I can get my bloke."

"And I can't?"

"Girls." Felicity sounded so much like Professor McGonagall in that moment that both Lily and Alice stopped instantly.

"Now," she continued. "Since James is your best friend, why do you hate him?"

"Because..." Lily murmured something unintelligible into her butterbeer glass, looking suddenly quite put out.

"Because," Alice laughed loudly. "Lily here flirted for weeks and acted like a desperate slag just so he would ask her to Hogsemead...and he didn't. Nothing. Nudda."

Felicity, who, despite what it may seem, knew her son quite well, shrugged. "He might be a little unsure and probably is just rubbish with girls. I know Daniel was-"

"Mum?" Two voices chimed from behind her. Felicity turned around quickly to see James and Sirius there, both with befuddled (and slightly horrified) expressions.

Turning back she saw Alice and Lily looking understandably confused.

With a wink at the girls, that the two boys did not notice, Felicity Potter sounded very much like her only son as she, muttered; "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul, Lily."

Lily felt something very similar to dread settle in her stomach.

"Mum!" James snapped, apparently on the verge of hysteria. Running his fingers through his hair he looked down at his smug mother with wide eyes. "Y-You...What did I tell you about talking to Hogwarts students! And, oh God, you had to talk to Lily!"

"Sit down, James," Felicity said, rolling her eyes. "Sirius, go to the bar and order some fish and chips. I'm starving."

James did not sit down.

Alice and Lily still had not moved from their chairs.

Sirius was snickering rather loudly, but moved to follow Felicity's request.

"And, actually, Sirius...Alice and Lily will be joining us for lunch. Fish and chips alright, dears? Good. Six meals please, Sirius dear, and we'll move to a booth." Felicity passed Sirius some galleons which he took, still laughing madly to himself.

Perhaps it was because of the fact that it was most certainly not a question, or the prospect of dining with James was too tempting to resist (even though they ate lunch together all the time; but eating at the village had an almost date-like air.), Lily did not decline the request of lunch, making Alice giggle slightly.

James still looked utterly mortified.

It was delegated on James to bully a group of annoying Hufflepuff third years into moving from their booth and he did so quite efficiently.

"Get." The third years looked like disobeying for a minute but, under the Head Boy's glower, they quickly vacated the table.

A few minutes later all five of the group were seated, waiting for their fish and chips. Lily, to her utter delight, was sitting between James and Sirius. Opposite her were Alice and Felicity. As Lily cut up her fish and vaguely payed attention to Felicity and Sirius talking, her arm brushed James'.

They both blushed and shuffled away from each other quickly, muttering apologies and not meeting the others eye.

Alice and Sirius watched with amusement. Lily and James were usually extremely comfortable in each other's company; James would quip, Lily would retort and it would end in a playful fight or heated debate. Nonetheless, Sirius and Alice were sure that Lily and James were acting odd.

And they both knew why.

The two exchanged looks over the table and grinned.

"Lily, dear," Felicity said, and Lily glanced up, blushing already. "What were you saying about James before?"

Although it probably would have been more likely for Lily to hate Mrs Potter – she didn't. In fact she enjoyed the elder woman's wit and cunning.

But at that moment on Lily's mental Push-Off-Astronomy-Tower list, Felicity Potter was at the top.

James looked appropriately startled, his eyebrows shooting up and his eyes flickering over to where a frozen Lily was sitting beside him.

"Er...Evans? You were talking about me to my barmy Mum?" James glanced at Felicity who raised an eyebrow, before quickly adding; "Barmy though she is I love her very dearly and will be very sad when she dies even though I inherit quite a bit of money."

"Better." Felicity approved, beaming. "Now, Lily, what did you say again?"

"Er..." There was an expectant pause. Lily cleared her throat once more. "Ju..Just...Nothing."

"Oh," Sirius smirked, looking infuriatingly mischievous. "I think that it was more than something. Care to share?"

"No, I'd rather not," replied Lily, her cheeks heating up.

Sirius nudged her playfully in the shoulder. "Come on, Lils," he encouraged innocently. "I mean, you were talking to me a few days ago about James! Why don't you tell him about that conversation?"

"Or the one with me," Alice added, grinning.

Lily shot a deathly glare at Alice and crossed her arms stubbornly, refusing to look anywhere near the direction of James.

Felicity clucked her tongue irritably; this would not do. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the girl that James had fancied for so long and – despite appearances – Felicity did care for her sons wellbeing. And it was already confirmed that Lily fancied James...For a brief moment Felicity was reminded of herself at Lily and James' age and Daniel's ridiculously subtle attempts at asking her out. Later she had scolded him for such a ridiculous tactic. It was no secret that Felicity was one of the bluntest women to ever grace the planet.

And, there was no denying it, Felicity very much liked Lily. The girl was witty, intelligent and genuinely cared about James – and James seemed to really like her too.

However that didn't stop from taunting the poor thing.

"Oh yes, do tell," Mrs Potter encouraged, a mischievous glint appearing in both eyes. "I'm sure James would love to know."

Still slightly red in the face, but gazing at Lily with a curious stare, James frowned. "She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to," he argued.

Snorting, Alice gave Lily a look. "Of course wants to," she smiled sweetly. Alice glanced over at Lily, blinking her eyes innocently, "Or I could always tell you about that dream she had the other night where you-"

"I need to go to the bathroom!" Lily blurted out, causing several patrons of the Three Broomsticks to glance over.

Sirius barked out a loud chuckle, abruptly turning it into a cough when James glanced at him quizzically. James turned to his mother, obviously looking for answers but Felicity only smiled serenely back.

"I'll come!" chirped Alice.

Glaring at her best mate, Lily insisted through gritted teeth; "No it's fine, I'll just be a minute."

Felicity watched the two of them with a knowing smirk. "Oh, my dear, a girl can't go to the bathroom on their own," she waved her hand at the idea. "You must let Alice accompany you."

Throwing her hands up, Lily stalked off in the direction of the lavatory, the crowd parting hastily with one look at her murderous expression. She took a quick look at her appearance in the mirror next to the bathroom door, making a face at her messy hair. Unclipping the clasp on her handbag, she began to rummage for a brush.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she scowled without turning around, still rummaging through her bag for a brush. "I thought I told you not to follow me, Alice," she snapped. She glared into her handbag; where was her brush? She'd definitely put it in there that morning. "It's bad enough that I actually sat there for over a half hour talking to his mother – his mother Alice! Not even some distant relative! – about how much I was in love with James Potter, without you trying to make me tell him my sex dream about him- Oh there it is!" she smiled up into the mirror, her hairbrush held triumphantly in one hand.

It clattered to the floor as she spotted the shocked, hazel eyes that gazed back at her.