James had left the kiddos with Matilda Bagshot that afternoon so he could surprise his wife with lunch. For all that Batty was ancient, she loved Harry and Noah and they loved her. Harry said she told the "bestest stories ever", and always came home and tried to reenact whatever tale, with Noah mimicking his brother's every move. He really had the bestest kids.
However, his plan of surprise was derailed almost at once as he was told Lily was in the middle of an experiment and wouldn't be done for another hour or so. Since he didn't particularly want to stick around the Ministry for an hour, he decided to pop over to St. Mungo's to visit an employee who'd landed in the Magical Accidents ward after the broom he'd been experimenting on went ka-boom. The visit was friendly and cheerful, and James was relieved to find that Mitch would be home by the end of the week, and back to work not long after. He wanted to get back to the broom, as he'd figured out what had gone wrong and wanted to correct it. James absolutely approved of such work ethic.
As he was headed back down to the entrance, he spotted someone of whom he was very fond, and decided he could spare a few minutes before going back to the Ministry to surprise Lily. He grinned as she called out, and headed her way. "Emmeline Vance, fancy seeing you here," James said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "How's things? Made any noteworthy discoveries lately?