This was originally written for Jily Trope Fest – Royalty/thief – but I didn't finish it in time, so now it's just a super long oneshot-with-potential-for-more-but-let's-be-realistic-probably-not. Any reviews would be much appreciated!
Lily had not expected to be a princess when she woke up that morning. Her limp pillows and hard bed were not exactly up to royal standards, and what she could see of her face through the cracked mirror, it didn't exactly have the inspiring look of a leader about it. She was mostly plain, with even her red hair falling limp and uninteresting. She wouldn't stand out in a crowd, and that was the way she liked it.
After all, what thief wants to be noticeable?
She had left her attic bedroom before the rest of the house could make so much as a peep, and was on her way through the market before the sun had truly risen.
She didn't need to be out that early, but the house she lived in - a four story structure with about a dozen girls, most of whom carried out their business in their bedrooms on the second and third floors of the house – well, it could get very busy very quickly. There were too many girls in too many places and it was hard to find a moment's peace, let alone leave swiftly. So Lily rose before dawn in her attic bedroom and left them behind.
The streets were mostly empty at that time, with just the sellers fixing their stalls, and street cleaners busying themselves before the coming day. Lily smiled and nodded to as many as she could. As far as they knew, she was simply another ordinary person on their way to work.
And she was, in some ways. Her place of employment was on the river, down behind tall buildings and past dirty warehouses.
Most of the time when people say they work on the river, they mean on the banks of it in a tall glass building filled with smartly dressed office-workers who sometimes deign to cast a glance out at the water. When Lily said it she meant that most of her days were spent on a canal boat filled with books.
It was small and the green paint was chipping, but there was space on the pavement beside it for the portable library to overflow onto land. The small blackboard was already set up when Lily strolled down the embankment, with something illegible scrawled on it in fading chalk. The smell of tea and whisky was already in the air, and Lily smiled to herself. He was already here. Good, that would save them some time.
"Knock knock." She called as she jumped down onto the small deck.
"Garumph."
Lily pressed her lips together as she tried not to smile. He was never good in the mornings, especially on heist days.
"Well you look simply splendid today." She beamed into the dark little cabin. "Simply spiffing. And is that a new cologne I smell?" she clambered inside and ignored the mismatched eyes glaring at her from the back bedroom. Nobody actually lived on the boat, but the bed was there just in case they ever needed a safe place to hide out.
"What do you want?" He didn't quite spit at her, but Lily was sure that if he was up to it he would have.
She smiled at him. "It's Tuesday."
He looked at her for a second and then coughed up a large lump of phlegm. She wrinkled her nose when he tried to spit it out the window. That window hadn't opened in years, and there were countless other similar stains. He never learnt.
"I see you're as excited as I am." She kept her smile plastered on her face even when she turned and pulled three mugs out of the cupboard, and set the kettle on the stove.
"I just want this ruddy thing to be over with." He grumbled as he hobbled to the open door. He heaved himself up into the new day and Lily heard the sound of chairs scraping. She followed a few minutes later with three mugs of tea balanced in her hands. She set them down on the pavement which was just at the right height to act as a table for anyone standing on the deck of the boat, before hauling herself up to sit beside them. Her companion was already there, one leg resting on the back of a blue wooden chair, the other dangling against the side.
"This'll be a tough one." He mumbled into his mug.
Lily didn't answer. She knew what this would be, and she was ready for it. She had spent the past three weeks preparing, gathering supplies and readying their base for the night, as well as herself. As much as Mad-Eye grumbled, Lily knew he was just as excited as her. They had been sitting still for too long, and tonight would be a real break in that tension.
"Where is he then?" Mad-Eye Moody, owner of the canal boat and all around misery-guts demanded after what was really only about a minute of silence.
"How should I know? I'm not his keeper. He'll be here when he gets here." Lily shrugged off his dour mood, more than used to it by now. She had spent the better part of four years working alongside Mad-Eye, after he had rescued her from a life of monotony and minimum wage. She had been working in a book shop at the time, not far from where they currently sat, and he saw her slipping money from customers' pockets. He dragged her outside and Lily was certain he was about to call the police, but was pleasantly surprised when he offered a job.
"Nobody with fingers that quick should be wasted on civil obedience." He had said bluntly before handing her a contract.
For someone who had apparently made up his mind on the spot about wanting a pick-pocket for an assistant, the contract was suspiciously thorough, and yet didn't give away too many job details. Still, Lily signed it and happily followed the slightly barking-mad man away from the petty world of legality.
They had done the odd big job here and there - they had even managed to fence a few stolen Ferraris a couple of months ago – but this one was bigger than ever. Lily wasn't entirely sure why their contact wanted them for this job but they were putting down a bucket-load of money for it, so Lily had been more than happy to go along with it.
"Isn't it six yet?"
Lily smiled and sipped her coffee. He knew the answer, she wasn't going to say anything. If their client wanted to make them wait, then he could very well do that. He was paying enough.
The rumble of a motorbike was the first thing to alert them to his presence. It stopped directly behind them and Lily turned to look.
The young man flicked his hair expertly as he pulled his helmet off, and made decisive eye-contact with her as he unzipped his leather jacket.
She tried not to laugh, but she had seen his type sniffing around her house so often – the good-looking, slightly too rich, only too aware of their own charm type – that she barely took notice of anything besides their bulging purse anymore. She held out a mug to him as he sauntered across to them.
"Tea?"
The meeting was unexpected.
Not the event itself, it had been planned for weeks, but the journey it took them on.
Lily could have sworn that Mad-Eye nearly burst a blood-vessel in his good eye from the stress of it. They already knew the bare bones of the plan, and had made more than sufficient arrangements for a safe-house and the selling on of the goods, but the details the client was filling them in on were brand new.
Almost every five minutes he said something which made the Mad-Eye look ready to punch his lights out, but it was only when he came to the decoy of it all that Lily felt anything other than mounting excitement and amusement.
"You want me to what?" in the dark of the cabin the client's face looked darker than before, so his white grinning teeth were more pronounced. Those lips, the little grins and smirks, were really beginning to annoy Lily. She sunk her nails into a pillow to stop herself from digging them into his arm. They were close enough that she easily could have, but the look on Mad-Eyes' face stopped her.
"How," he began, his growl more pronounced than ever, "are you going to make that happen?"
The client held his smile and winked at him. Lily didn't think she had ever seen a more dangerous action in her life.
"I've got some friends on the inside."
Neither of them were happy with that answer and the silence in the room was palpable.
"Okay," Lily broke first and took a deep breath, ready to humour this apparent lunatic, "even if this is possible, all the-" she waved her hand for a word, scrunching her face into something unsightly, "antics you're proposing, and risks and the variables all play out smoothly," she made sure to let all of her uncertainty and comic-disbelief seep into her words, "what on earth makes you think that anyone would believe me as a princess?"
The client gave what seemed to be a genuine laugh, "Don't worry about that, I've got it sorted. By the time my people are done they'll be too in love with you to care who you are."
Lily raised her eyebrow at him. It really must be dark in here.
Crowns, it seemed, were an incredibly comfortable fashion accessory.
Lily was surprised when they rested it on her head that it wasn't overly heavy, but then it was such a delicately woven golden headband that shouldn't really have been surprising. It fit perfectly on her hair, plaited and pinned into an elegant up-do. There weren't too many jewels in it, and if she didn't know any better she would have easily have guessed it to be nothing more than painted metal.
However the Prince of Denmark had assured her otherwise.
Or rather, the rather charming boy who would be pretending to be the Prince of Denmark had done so. But then he had said a lot of things in the last few minutes and Lily hadn't really been listening to all of them.
This was mostly because he had stripped to nearly naked whilst speaking. It had sent Lily into a hot flush and she had made herself turn away.
He was a bold one.
He was saying more words now, but Lily's interest in him had waned now that he had a shirt on and she was now far more interested in looking in the mirror.
Her limp hair had been made thicker and styled in such a way that her face didn't look shapeless, but somehow accentuated her cheekbones. The make-up had helped too, and all that mixed with a red dress which somehow squeezed her figure into an hourglass shape, she had to admit that their client had been right.
She wasn't sure that she wasn't half in love with the woman in the mirror herself.
It wasn't until a pair of hands slipped onto her hips that she came back to herself.
"Do we match?"
The boy was now fully dressed in a burgundy suit, a deeper shade of her own dress but not clashing. She met his eyes in the mirror and winked at her.
Lily wasn't sure if it was wholly necessary for him to be touching her like that, but she had to admit the effect was impressive. They looked like something out of a painting and if she didn't know any better, she could easily have mistaken them for royalty.
"Is there a crown around here somewhere for me too?" he asked, stepping away from her.
He rifled around on the dressing table, picking things up and putting them down to avail. Lily tried not to laugh. He couldn't have been stupid, the client had assured he wasn't when they had met earlier. He had called him the best in the business and assured her that the boy would make sure it went off without a hitch.
Lily had nodded but reserved judgement until the job was finished.
"Here." She pulled a box from underneath his discarded t-shirt.
He settled the crown, a woven gold band like Lily's, on top of his mess of hair. If he had been a less attractive man it would have looked awful, but he seemed to carry it off.
He turned to her and smiled, his whole face lighting up.
"Ready."
The security at this party was a joke.
Lily had counted and there appeared to be only four security personnel for every ten people, and no more than three cameras in the ballroom. She was a little worried. This was a party hosted by the Duke of York - an older gentleman renowned for his connections and fine taste, needless to say, the Prince and Princess of Denmark were hardly the most notable guests in attendance. And surely with all of these important people milling around he would have more than a dozen guards and three cameras. The place must be crawling with security, mics and cameras and beams and all sorts of advanced technology that Lily had long since grown to both despise and best.
The room itself spoke to the Duke's wealth, the floor a perfectly polished mahogany, the walls dripping with golden accents, waiters skimming through the crowd with what looked like solid gold trays. Just a couple of those would pay Lily's rent for a year.
And yet, Lily was certain there was something amiss with the security system.
The boy standing next to her with a matching crown, the one who had introduced himself as James just before they stepped out of the car at the entrance, kept muttering to himself. Lily tried to make it look like he was talking to her, but really she had no idea what she was meant to do. She was just a thief, and this was not her area of expertise.
It was almost a relief when he asked her to dance.
The floor was full of people swaying happily to the music. Lily couldn't see where the speakers were, but she was sure that was by design. This room was so elegant and classic that any modern technology would look incredibly jarring. Perhaps that was why she could see no cameras, she mused. They were so embedded that you only knew they were there when you were on the other side of them. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so easy after all.
But there was a plan, so she wasn't to worry.
She glanced up at the man who had his hands around her waist. He was looking around the room in what appeared to be a casual, disinterested manner, but Lily could see the alertness in his eyes, and could feel the tension in his hands and she was certain he was scoping the place out.
"So what's happening?" she kept her voice low and cast a glance over his shoulder, smiling at an elderly couple spinning by them.
"Huh?" he seemed surprised that she had spoken and turned his head back to her, meeting her eyes with raised eyebrows.
"The security." Lily breathed, leaning forward. To anyone watching them it surely looked like princess of Denmark was bewildering her husband with sweet nothings.
James took a few seconds to respond, but when he did he spoke lightly.
"Oh, that. Well, I think it's all decoy." He nodded to himself and Lily tried not to roll her eyes.
"What is?" she asked impatiently.
"Well, surely you've noticed, miss Best-Thief-In-London." His lips twitched into a grin as he whispered to her. Her impatience faded a little when she realised she was being teased.
"Is that how I was pitched?" she raised her eyebrows and he gave a short laugh. "Well go on then, Mr. Big Shot Conman, tell me why it's so crap."
James smirked at her, "It only looks crap. People like this don't need to show off. Underneath it's like fort nox. Can you see-" he spun them around subtly so she was facing the main door, "-the dust around of the door-frame?"
Lily nodded, her hair brushing against his cheek.
"Yeah, there's black dust all over it. You think they would have cleaned it for a party." She frowned reproachfully.
James laughed, "Well, they would if they could."
Lily cocked her head towards him, frowning in confusion.
"It's the dust that comes from the wiring of a certain brand of surveillance equipment. Something to do with the covering turns normal dust black and it stains. Normally they are incredibly careful when installing, but I hear the man who did it deviated slightly from the original plan." He winked at her, but she had no idea why.
"What does that mean?"
"Didn't Sirius tell you?" James half-laughed as he looked down at her.
"Who?"
"Sirius Black." He paused as though giving a longer name would spark Lily's memory. She shook her head. "Longish hair, smirks a lot, laughs like he's barking, rides an obnoxious motorcycle, is any of this ringing a bell? You are the right girl, aren't you?" James laughed.
Lily rolled her eyes, "Yes, I do know him, he just never gave his name. He was quite vague about most things. He only explained the rough outline of the plan, and what I'm supposed to do. He definitely didn't mention that we're meant to get around advanced surveillance." She said indignantly, frowning at the doorway.
"So he didn't tell you then." James grimaced but the way his lips turned up made it look more like a smile.
Lily stared at him for a minute, and when he didn't reply she asked,
"Well? What didn't he tell us?"
James pursed his lips together and looked over her head to the wall. "I probably shouldn't tell you if no-one else has."
Lily sighed, "Look, I'm here, there's no way for me to back out, and if I get caught then you likely will too. It's my neck on the line so tell me the whole damn plan."
"We have an inside man." He blurted out in a hushed voice. "He's the one who installed the surveillance and he's rigged it so that we have access to all of the cameras and recording equipment. One of our other guys is back at HQ watching everything, and he'll let us know if anything goes wrong."
"How'll he do that?"
James tapped the pin on his lapel. It was a small triangle around a circle with a line running through it. "This is a transmitter. You know we couldn't have ear-pieces because of the Duke's entrance checks."
Lily nodded.
"I thought that would have just been an excuse for a burly man to feel me up." She muttered, wrinkling her nose.
James laughed, "You like a burly man then?"
Lily glared at him. "Are you sure this guy's legit?"
"Well, mostly, yeah." James nodded. He said it so confidently, but Lily's heart-rate increased.
"Mostly gets you arrested."
More than once Mad-Eye had told her that he had too many friends locked away because their team wasn't trustworthy enough. 'Always trust your team' was his number one rule. You had to be constantly vigilant of those around you. Lily felt a little bit of unease in her stomach. Did Mad-Eye know all of the particulars they had kept from her?
James had carried on speaking while Lily's thoughts played out, "No, mostly usually works. And besides, if it doesn't we won't get arrested."
She tuned back in for that. "We won't?" Did they have an inside man in the justice system too?
"No, they'll just shoot us on sight." James was deadly serious now and Lily didn't like it.
James smiled at a couple nearby before whispering in her ear, "This isn't a game. You have to know the risks."
"I didn't think it was, but nobody said my life was literally on the line!" she said through gritted teeth.
"Calm down lily, I won't let anything happen to you." His breath was in her ear, and he moved one hand to the middle of her back.
"Oh that's very comforting." She bit out sarcastically pulling her head away from his.
"It should be, I'm an expert!" James looked like he was trying not to laugh, but Lily could see the worry in his eyes.
"An expert at conning people." She said dryly.
"Yes actually." He flicked his eyebrows up at her and grinned.
"Oh yeah." For a second Lily had forgotten that this man who kept making stupid comments was also exceptional at what he did.
"The expert conman. The James Bond of the thief world." He beamed at her, somehow managing to sum up previous thought – a man who acted like an idiot but was actually a genius.
"So a bond villain then." Lily smirked. She was still on edge, but his attitude was incredibly contagious.
"Yes, but one with all his hair and without any weirdly coloured appendages." He nodded seriously.
She snorted and shook her head, turned away from him. He moved closer and dropped a quick kiss onto her temple.
Lily was taken aback for a second and looked up at him, expecting to find that cheeky grin again but he gave a pointed look behind her and when they slowly spun around she saw a security guard glaring at them from the edge of the dance floor.
"We should get going soon. We've been out in the open for quite a while now. There's only so much dancing I can stand. That door behind you is where we need to head." They turned and Lily saw the dark wooden door almost hidden in the shadows of the ballroom.
"Okay, how do you want to go?" Lily nodded, steeling herself for the true beginning of this operation.
"Well, you're covering me while I grab the items, so we need a reason to leave a party minutes after getting here."
"Sex?" Lily suggested, looking at the other couples on the floor. None of them were standing as close together as Lily and James, so it wasn't a wholly unreasonable suggestion. They surely looked like two people wholly wrapped up in each other.
"My goodness that's very forward of you, miss." James grinned at her.
Lily tried not to roll her eyes. "Shut up, you know what I mean. If we're completely enamoured and just can't keep our hands off each other, you know the act, tripping over because we can't tear our lips apart, intoxicated by alcohol and each other, all that romance novel shit, then we can stumble pretty much anywhere and most people won't say anything."
James nodded, but didn't look too convinced. "That's something which only happens in the movies. I've tried that about six times now and it's never worked."
"Really?" Lily said coolly, "You must not have been doing it right." She herself had only done it once before, although they hadn't really needed to. She had just felt like throwing her co-worker off with a kiss.
"It wasn't me who did it wrong, it was Sirius. His heart just wasn't in it."
He sighed, and Lily snorted.
"And yours was? Are you sure you can pretend to want me?"
"In that dress? Certainly." He murmured.
Lily blushed, but looked down quickly to cover it. "I do like this dress. Those people are ridiculously good at their jobs."
"I don't know, I reckon you'd look good in anything." James was also looking down at her dress. At least she hoped it was just her dress he was looking at.
"Ha!" she laughed and took half a step back from him.
"No really, you're stunning." He grinned when she blushed deeply and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her.
She blushed and he leant forward to whisper in her ear.
"Do you think people think we're in love yet."
She looked down and then looked up at him.
"Maybe a little time longer."
He smiled and pulled her closer again. She curled an arm up around his shoulder and leant against it. She felt him press another kiss on her head and for a second she could almost pretend that she was just dancing with him because they wanted to. And then he slipped a hand further down her waist than she would have liked and she leaned back to whack him on the chest.
"Sorry." He said, but the way his lips pulled into a smirk wasn't at all apologetic.
"Prat." She murmured.
"It has to look real!" he protested, but he was laughing and she was sure he knew he was in the wrong.
She laughed and put her hands on his cheeks,
"Wouldn't this look more real?"
Lily smiled and leaned in and kissed him suddenly. He didn't push her away for a long time, but Lily didn't really mind. There were worse men to kiss.
In reality it was over quickly, no more than thirty seconds, but there was a look in his eyes that she thought might have been strong enough to convince the guards they really were sneaking off to find a private spot, so she took his hand and led him off the dancefloor and towards the door.
She hadn't meant to kiss him, it had sort of just happened.
She told herself it was part of the cover, to really sell the story that they just couldn't keep their hands off each other, but mostly she just wanted to know what it would be like.
And she supposed it was nice - she had definitely had worse – but it was so full of the show, the performance that was so necessary to pull this off that she hadn't really enjoyed it.
But then, she was stood in a hallway supposedly on look-out thinking about it, so surely she enjoyed it at least a little bit?
Or maybe it was him that she enjoyed? The tense banter and the certainty with which he carried himself.
Or maybe that was just because she was so nervous about this whole thing. She really didn't have a clue what she had got herself into.
When the client – Sirius – had explained the plan to them on that little canal boat he had said that she was to act as a cover, a decoy, while somewhere else their main team would be stealing the big prize. He hadn't said what that was, but these days it could be anything from secret documents to the actual crown jewels.
But while that was happening Lily and her partner were to steal something else, something smaller and less important, but something they had to get caught stealing. They had to leave a very direct trail.
The way he had said that was unnerving. If she thought James was intense sometimes, Sirius was a whole other kettle of fish.
They had to get caught but they also had to get out. Getting trapped did not feature anywhere in the plan.
Her partner would have access to several escape routes, so she just had to trust him, but she would get out safely. She had to get out safely. She would meet Sirius again in the safe-house and then in the morning he would take her back to Mad-Eye with their payment.
That bit had surprised her. She thought she was just the added extra, the loose end to make use of while Mad-Eye did the main work, but it looked like they had no need of Mad-Eye, but just really needed a woman to help pull this off.
She hadn't made a comment at the time, but it had been clear that she was right when they came to the house. It was clearly a family affair, there were even children here, and a single man turning up alone would definitely have aroused suspicion.
So they needed her in particular, but they hadn't told her most of the plan.
She frowned to herself as she cast her eyes down the corridor. At least James was more forthcoming. If not for him, then she would be even more in the dark. As it was she was still mostly in the dark, but she at least knew for certain she could trust James.
There was a noise at the end of the hall, the end that they had come from, that led to the ballroom. The corridor was long and there were many doors here, but all of them were locked. They had already checked.
There was nowhere to hide, James was still in the room behind her and there was someone about to enter this corridor. Lily took a breath, steeled herself and took a step forwards.
It was lucky really, that the guard had been attracted to her.
If he hadn't then he wouldn't have been fooled by her performance. As it was this middle-aged pot-bellied security officer had all the swaggering confidence of a man used to getting what he wanted, and so when Lily pulled him into a dark alcove along the wall he responded eagerly.
It was also lucky that Lily had thought to duck into the alcove with a suit of armour in it. He hadn't seen the helmet coming before it was being smacked against his head, knocking him out.
Lily stepped quickly out of the alcove as the guard fell neatly behind the suit of armour. He wasn't totally hidden, but he wouldn't attract attention either.
"Everything okay?" James looked at her expectantly as he stepped neatly out of the room Lily had been guarding. She nodded and he spun back to the door, pulling it almost closed. He left it enough ajar that you might notice it was open if you were looking.
"Everything's fine." She replied smartly.
Then there was another noise down the hall and her eyes widened. James pulled her in a whispered to her quickly,
"We're desperately in love and came here to get some time alone."
She nodded and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him sloppily. His hands roamed over her body, as footsteps came to a stop near them.
"This is a closed part of the house." A stern voice called out.
They pulled their lips apart and Lily set her face in a suitably dazed expression, only half turning to glance at the guard over her shoulder before turning back to James. He had a confused expression on his face and glanced between Lily and the guard, as though he had no idea what was happening.
Lily giggled loudly, hiding her face in James's chest, before turning to the guard, leaning back against the wall as she spoke.
"I am so sorry!" she drawled in a halfway decent Danish accent. "My husband doesn't read English too well, he must have misread the signs!" she giggled again and James nodded eagerly at the guard before turning back to Lily and running his lips down the side of neck.
Lily could the see the guard trying not to sigh.
"Could you direct us to a part of the house we maybe could be alone in? Without upsetting our kind host, of course." James didn't stop his nuzzling, moving his lips down to her bare shoulder, but she could feel him tense up slightly. This was the moment when their cover would prove itself, and if it didn't then they were goners.
The guard frowned at them and pressed his lips together. Lily could see him watching as James turned them subtly, putting himself between Lily and the guard under the guise of pulling her body closer to his. Lily giggled at the movement and swatted at his shoulder.
"Take a left down the hall and then up the stairs. There are guest bedrooms that way."
"Oh!" Lily cried, partly in genuine surprise and partly because James had just squeezed her bum. "Thank you!" she called to the guard who nodded uncomfortably.
"Thank you so much, sir." Lily called again over James' shoulder as he continued to grab at her bum and run his tongue up the side of her neck. He walked them backwards in the direction the guard had pointed.
While the guard looked away with red cheeks, Lily couldn't help but be impressed that James had managed to grope her in such a way that they twisted ever so slightly towards the guard, letting him see everything that was happening back there. She was also a little irritated that he was getting to do all the groping.
"Okay, he's gone."
She sighed in relief as the guard left the way he had come, but James held firmly onto her waist, his nose nuzzling into the crook of her neck.
She frowned, and was getting ready for a well-aimed knee jab, when he whispered into her ear,
"Cameras."
Lily froze and her stomach dropped. If there were cameras they might have seen her drop the guard earlier.
She cast her gaze around peeking through tufts of his hair to examine the walls and ceilings, but there didn't seem to be any pointed this way. But then if they were the high-tech ones of the ballroom, she didn't stand a chance anyway. She glanced towards the alcove where the unconscious guard lay and was relieved to see that she could barely see the space at all. If she couldn't see it, then it was unlikely any cameras could. She hoped.
The fact that nobody had come rushing to find their colleague suggested they hadn't been seen, so perhaps there weren't any high-tech invisible cameras?
But then, did she really want to risk it? Not when it was so easy to be cautious.
So, when he pulled her right leg up to his waist with his hand on the back of her thigh, she let him, and in return she started kissing his neck. One could say that she suggested it more than let it happen, but really Lily was certain she hadn't been the one to pull her dress aside at the split and run his rough hands up her thigh.
"We're never going to get back on time at this rate, can we at least try to walk normally?" she suggested as he took a break from kissing her. His eyes met hers and he seemed a bit dazed. She tried not to laugh.
Expert conman, her arse.
He let go of her leg, and went to move away, but she kept it there, and gripped tightly to his lapels.
"Cameras, James." She warned.
He nodded and then put his other hand on her waist and pulled her in close. It was so eager Lily nearly laughed out loud.
"No, put that hand on my waist, and - well you can definitely remove that hand, your highness – and then, yes put that there, and - oh god, yes!" she moaned loudly, and dragged them up against the wall as the guard came back into sight at the end of the hallway. He quickly scurried off in the other direction when he saw they hadn't yet gone and Lily stopped making noises of ecstasy.
James laughed into her hairline and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before twirling out of his grasp and pulling him round the corner.
They completely bypassed the stairs and instead James pulled her towards an alcove. To the casual observer, they simply couldn't make it up the stairs. In reality, James had stopped feeling Lily up and was now feeling the walls for something. As he bent down Lily fought the urge to smack him on the bum. Why was she suddenly so giddy?
"Aha!" he let out a breath as the back wall slid away and revealed a stone spiral staircase.
He stepped back to let Lily go ahead of him and then once he was in he used his shoulder to push the wall back. It closed with a chilling slamming noise and Lily's blood rang in her ears.
She had seen slasher films before and aside from the major crime that was in progress, this was exactly like the moment when the killer in a mask appeared.
The passage was dark with no sign of light, and not for the first time that night Lily thought that she had had not been told the whole truth. This didn't look like a way out to her.
When she turned to look at James, it looked like he was reaching into his jacket, although she couldn't be sure in this darkness.
"Damn, I forgot my torch." He hissed.
Lily smirked, "It's okay, I've got one."
She reached down for the small silver torch concealed in the belt around her upper thigh. She clicked it on and shone it up under her face, like she was about to tell a ghost story at a campfire. James laughed.
"Come on, we need to get moving."
The stairs didn't seem to stop, and Lily was incredibly grateful for the torch. She wasn't sure how James was managing in her shadow, but she was panting and hating the walls and the steep steps and her wobbly shoes. She wasn't sure how old the staircase was but the dust alone must have been there for decades, it was so thick.
Behind her James never wavered and when they finally reached flat ground at the top he caught her as she stumbled.
"Just through here." He whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
He pushed on a heavy wooden door just in front of her and they stumbled into a hallway with the exact same décor as the one they had been in minutes earlier. Luckily for them it was deserted, but the sound of people was close by, and Lily was certain it didn't sound like guests of the ball.
There were guards right around that corner, heading this way.
The corridor was long and Lily could feel her heart racing. She reached for James' hand and he pulled her quickly down the hall. The door fell back behind them, looking like nothing more than another section of wall once again when fully shut.
The hallway led to a long set of stairs on their left and a door with a large sign which read 'security' on it.
They turned left.
Lily wasn't sure why anyone would want stairs with shag carpet on them, but she knew that she did not like this person and would not be performing another job in their house again. She was really starting to regret these heels.
"Come on!" James whispered roughly, not even looking back as he headed up the stairs. Lily would have sighed if there had been time, but instead she slipped her shoes off and ran up behind James. They came out on a balcony running all the way around the edge of the ballroom.
It really couldn't have been worse for them.
There was a guard in each corner of the balcony, just in the shadows where they couldn't be seen from the ground floor, but where Lily and James, bursting out from the stairs onto the polished wooden floor, could see them perfectly. And if they could see, then they could definitely be seen.
Before all four of the guards heads could snap towards them James had pulled her behind a pillar. Lily put her hands to his shoulders and her lips to his neck, hiding between them both the phone he was pulling from his jacket.
"Quickly!" Lily whispered. The nearest security guard was making his way swiftly towards them. James pressed the phone to his lips, hiding it beneath his hand and under his chin.
"We need a way out from the roof. Now."
He shoved the phone towards his jacket but fumbled it just as the guard strode around the corner and caught Lily's eye. She grabbed the phone and pushed it down the front of her dress while pulling James away. They ran until they were almost on top of the next guard, and then suddenly they were trapped.
There was nowhere to go, no way they could talk their way out of this. They had two men with large guns and menacing features glaring down at them.
Lily squeezed James' hand and they slowly backed up against the railing.
One of the guards smiled.
And then the roof smashed and a grappling hook fell at their feet.
There was a faint sound of a helicopter, but not loud enough to be directly above them, which meant that someone on the roof had thrown this through. But Lily didn't waste time thinking about who that could be, she just grabbed hold of the rope and wrapped herself around James.
They were in the air over the dance floor before Lily could remember her fear of heights, and out in the night air smacking down onto a hard roof before she could think about the rain.
"This way!" a voice called.
A silhouette in the rain beckoned them forwards and they ran over broken glass towards them. Lily could feel shards digging into her feet, but there was no time to think about it and the only way to deal with it was to get off this roof, so she kept running.
James' hand was still in hers and she was beyond grateful when they reached the edge of the roof and she almost toppled off.
"Wait here!" the figure called but they weren't waiting for long before the helicopter was in front of them and Lily was being tossed aboard.
Drenched with rain, feet bleeding, and heart pounding Lily had never been so wrecked from a job before.
The inside of the helicopter was stripped bare, with no seating, so Lily was sprawled out on the floor. James had somehow managed to remain on his feet as the helicopter swiftly moved away.
She didn't even try and sit up, she just let her head fall back against the metal floor and sighed.
James hovering over her was grinning massively and she couldn't help but return his enthusiasm.
Mission complete.
It was a couple of hours before James noticed her feet.
The safe house was comfy in part because it was so small. It was a small flat somewhere near the centre of London and it belonged to a friend of a friend.
There was food in the kitchen and a first aid cupboard that rivalled the local pharmacy. Lily hobbled to it immediately, pulling out antiseptic wipes and plasters and, grudgingly, the tweezers.
James headed straight to the bathroom and only emerged half an hour later when all of the rain and debris had been washed away by hot water and lemon scented body wash. His hair dripped on to his t-shirt and Lily made herself look away.
She was still in her dress, unable to walk far on account of her feet, but she had unzipped it a little and had taken all of the pins out of her hair. She had planned to go in the bath, but she just couldn't face walking yet, not when she could let the sofa swallow her up and the rain on the window soothe her whirling mind.
James flopped down next to her with a giant bowl of cereal just as she was about to drift off to sleep. He crunched loudly in her ear. She moved to give him more room, but she just ended up rolling back on top of him. He chuckled, but left her to doze on his shoulder.
"Where did you find the bandages?"
His voice was loud in the silence of the night, but it still made Lily smile.
"In the cupboard by the boiler." Lily mumbled. She went to curl her feet up underneath her, but then hissed as she felt the sharp reminders of why they were stretched out on the coffee table.
"Are you alright?" he was a little concerned, but not so much that Lily rushed to give him an answer.
"Yeah, it's just my feet."
"Why do your feet hurt? We didn't run that far." He chuckled.
"No," she shook her head, yawning, "it was the shoes. I had to take them off and then there was glass on the roof."
"Wait, why did you take your shoes off? That's so stupid!" he practically recoiled.
Lily frowned at him. "Did you not see my shoes? The heels were ridiculous. And then I had to climb all those stairs and my feet were killing me, so I just slid them off. I had no idea we'd be running across broken glass."
James considered her for a second, then said, "They can't have been that bad."
Lily snorted and reached to pick them up off the floor. She dropped them in his lap and he cried out.
"Cor! What a death-trap! It's luck you made it out alive." He stared at them as though they were made of nails.
"Yeah, but they're gorgeous, so it's okay." Lily leaned her head back against the sofa and sighed. "It was lucky though."
"Yeah, with these to contend with." James was examining them. He lifted one up and sniffed it.
"Don't do that!" Lily cried.
He looked up in surprise, "Why not?"
"Because they'll just smell of feet, you weirdo." She nudged him hard with her knee.
"I can't believe you wore these the entire time." he threw them down on the floor, satisfied that they were in fact an instrument of torture.
Lily smirked, "But they're gorgeous, and they made me look incredible. You can't turn up to a ball in flats."
"I don't know what that means. What's wrong with flat shoes? I wore flat shoes."
"Yeah, but you're a man. So long as you have a tie on you look presentable." He raised his eyebrows suggestively but she ignored him. "Those shoes are one of the only reasons I looked half decent tonight. They're why you couldn't keep your hands off me." She winked.
James shook his head seriously, "No, I promise you they're not."
Lily blushed. She wasn't quite ready to turn serious yet. "No," she sighed dramatically, "you're right, of course they're not." She turned to face him fully, leaning her head on her hand. "That was just my general allure."
James gave a soft laugh, and looked like he was about to say something, but he was still much too serious for Lily's liking so she interrupted him.
"Of course those shoes enhanced it, and that's why you're regretting all of the ogling now that I've taken them off."
"I wasn't ogling!" he guffawed, "It was part of the job!"
"Well, yes, but it was made all that much easier, as we know," she leant forward conspiratorially, "by my allure."
He laughed and knocked her shoulder gently.
"I don't think you have any allure." He said boldly, turning away from her.
"If that's the case then you're probably not attracted to women." Lily said smoothly. Before he could reply she said "Anyway, weren't you going to the medicine cabinet?"
He looked surprised, as though he had completely forgotten.
"Only if you show me the way."
He leant back against the sofa again, leaning towards her.
"But my feet hurt. We just had a whole ten minute thing about those shoes and how I had to run across broken glass."
His face was a lot closer to hers than was really decent.
He didn't say anything, but stared at her. Part of Lily thought he might be about to kiss her and the rest of her thought this was a staring contest.
"Eugh, fine." She muttered when his eyes glinted after she blinked. "But you're going to have to carry me."
"But of course, your Highness." He stood up and swept into a bow.
Lily laughed and then squealed as he picked her up in his arms.
"Now, which way was is it?" he asked airily, spinning around.
"Stop! You nightmare, stop it!" Lily squealed as he span her around the flat.
After much more squealing and tomfoolery they made it to the medicine cabinet and Lily pulled out what he wanted.
"Okay, where do you want me to put you down?" James span around in the hallway, his grin almost as cheeky as it had been a few minutes ago.
"Well, you need this lot," she lifted up the items she held in her arms, "but I really need a bath." She finished with a groan.
James laughed. "Yeah, you are filthy." He growled, smirking.
Lily laughed in his face. "Yeah, you should smell my armpits, they're minging."
James shook his head and Lily was showered with drops of water. She squeaked in protest but that just made him do it more. It was all Lily could do to hold on as he started spinning around again.
When Sirius came in the morning they were both asleep on the sofa.
There were perfectly usable bedrooms, but they hadn't felt like separating. After Lily had finally gotten James to drop her off in the bathroom she had found every noise unpleasant in that little room. Sound bounced against the walls and unnerved her. She washed as quickly as possible and was relieved when she found James still in the little living room. They sat and talked and then sat not talking and then they slept, but not once was Lily uncertain of her safety as she had been when she was alone.
"Oi!"
Sirius Black, Lily was finding out, was not a subtle man.
"You two should get up."
His voice was loud and demanding and Lily refused to be ordered around. But the shoulder she had slept on was shifting and she had no choice but to move with it.
"Wassgoinon?" James was apparently as resistant to consciousness as Lily.
"It worked, they took the bait, we took the prize and everything's fine. All that's left is for you two to kiss goodbye like a good married couple and we can be on our way."
When Lily finally opened her eyes she was not in any way pleased to find that Sirius Black looked immaculate.
His hair, seemingly expertly styled, swished about his shoulders and his black leather jacket cut a fine figure on him. The smirk on his face was the only thing that Lily didn't despise. That just made her blush.
"Why are you so loud?" Lily asked sadly. The night was over and apparently so was her chance of ever hearing properly again. His laughter rang in her ears and he stomped away into the kitchen.
Lily stood up and then promptly sat down again.
"How are the feet?" James asked with a tired smile.
"I don't think they've turned back into feet yet."
He snorted and cracked his neck. Lily winced at the sound and turned her attention to her not-quite-feet. They weren't actually that bad. They could probably do with new plasters, but that could wait.
The rain had stopped and the day looked bright, but Lily mostly just wanted to crawl into her bed. She gathered her things together quietly, but when she came to the red dress, still in a pile where she had dropped it last night after her bath, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. It was beautiful and she would have loved to keep it, but it very definitely wasn't hers.
She picked it up and she folded it and then she left it on the coffee table. Sirius had said that someone would be through to clean this place of any trace of them, so they could deal with it. She blinked away tears and turned to the door. She stopped when she saw James and Sirius talking. They were close together, muttering to each other in hushed tones, obviously not wanting to be overheard, but Lily could pick out a few words.
"-not in the Order, so we can't-"
"She kept the plan-"
"That's no guarantee, Moody hasn't said-"
"- basically his apprentice-"
It took her a minute to remember that Moody was Mad-Eye's last name. Not that she had ever called him by it, but every now and then a letter came to the boat addressed to an Alastor Moody.
She stood awkwardly waiting for them to finish, trying not to look like she was eavesdropping.
Finally they turned to her.
"Ready?" James asked lightly.
She nodded and followed them out the door.
The days passed with nothing to fill them. Lily worked on the boat, selling no more than ten books a week, almost wishing for the police to turn up and drag her in for questioning. Mad-Eye had yet to mention anything about the job at the Duke of York's place, not that he ever talked about old jobs, but Lily couldn't get it out of her head. There were so many loose ends, so much that she didn't, and probably wouldn't ever, know.
And then there was James.
She didn't even know his last name – presumably by design – but she couldn't stop thinking about him. From the over the top groping to spinning around in his arms, that night had been so full of him everything seemed to hang on him.
It almost didn't matter that the mission had been a success, never seeing him again felt like such a failure.
But there were bits of him all around her. A few days after, a box had been delivered containing Lily's red dress. She had forced herself not to pick it up and put it on. It was so beautiful.
Every man with dark hair that she saw in the street was James. Even when they were too short or too fat, she still felt her heart leap at the barest glimmer of hope.
And then there was Mad-Eye's pin. It was identical to the one James had been wearing. It sat in amongst his other buttons and badges on his old military hat, the only hat on the hat-stand, but Lily couldn't for the life of her remember whether it had always been there or not.
But it had been three weeks and she hadn't seen him again. It was time to let go.
On a misty Tuesday morning in the middle of March Mad-Eye sent Lily out to get coffee.
She was immediately suspicious.
Mad-Eye had never in the almost five years she had known him asked for coffee. He was a staunch Yorkshire man who refused anything other than a properly brewed cuppa. He wouldn't know a latte if it ran up and bit him on the nose. And yet he had thrust a ten pound note into her hand and pushed her towards the nearest Costa Coffee.
She stood in line and ordered a coffee and a tea, and then she ordered a cake for herself for the effort of the thing. She was daydreaming as she waited for her order, but not so much that she imagined the two men walking past the window. One with immaculate shoulder length hair and a leather jacket and the other-
Well, the other was James. For certain this time.
Lily almost abandoned her drinks, but the luckily the barista called her name right at that moment and so she hadn't lost sight of the two men by the time she left the shop. They walked calmly along the pavement, as though this was nothing and they came here every day.
It wasn't until she saw them step up to Mad-Eye's canal boat that she realised where they had been walking.
They disappeared inside before Lily caught up with them, but Mad-Eye was still outside. He glowered at her.
"I thought I sent you to get coffee."
Lily smiled pleasantly at the angry man, as she always did, "You did. I got you a latte, and I also got you a tea for when you remember that you hate coffee, and the cake is mine for you making me trek to Costa when we have a perfectly good kettle in there." She nodded towards the house. There was a clanging noise from inside, like somebody had dropped something. The door was open, but nobody was visible in the gloomy interior. Mad-Eye glanced back at it and then up at her.
"Well couldn't you have taken longer about it?"
She frowned at him.
She wasn't supposed to know they were here.
"If you want me to leave for a bit, you can just use those words. They're really not hard. 'Miss Evans, please return when my business is complete.' There, I can say it, it can't be that hard." She stared at him determinedly.
Mad-Eye spat into the river and then nodded.
"Yes, fine, come back in an hour."
And with that he turned and disappeared into the dark boat.
She didn't go far. She couldn't, not when he was right there.
She went to the end of the quay, where she could still see the boat if she leant forward in what really wasn't that uncomfortable a position, but where she was mostly out of sight. There was more than one entrance to the path down there, so if they decided to go the other way she would have to be swift-footed about it.
She got some strange looks, but it was worth it when she saw two figures heading her way.
She hopped up from where she had been sitting, shaking the cramp from her leg, and started walking towards them in what she hoped was a calm, nonchalant manner. She made herself take deep breaths but then he was within speaking distance and she couldn't keep her eyes off him.
He looked good. Not quite as good as he had before, but then who looks as good in daily life as they do when they're attending a ball? He was wearing glasses too, which was a bit jarring, but she decided that she liked them. And seeing him in jeans and a t-shirt after picturing him in a tuxedo was definitely something special. And his eyes. They met hers and widened. She smiled but carried on walking. He paused, but Sirius grabbed him and tugged him forwards sharply. He threw a sharp look at her, but she had already moved on.
He was okay. He was alive and well and not in prison. He just hadn't bothered to find her.
And that was okay, she told herself. That was totally okay. He was allowed to not want her. She wiped her eyes before she jumped down to the boat.
"This is for you." Mad-Eye said gruffly when she plopped down next to him at the tiny table in the gloom of the cabin.
He was holding a small metal pin-badge. A triangle around a circle with a line running through it. It looked familiar, but she wasn't sure why. She definitely didn't care enough to find out.
"I don't want a badge, I want you to tell me the truth." Her voice was harsh, and there was a flicker in his eyes that on a less stoic man would have been hurt, but Lily didn't care. She had been spun around in this nonsense for long enough and now those two men had come back and gone again and she was still spun in a web.
Mad-Eye considered her for a moment and then held out the badge again.
"If you would just take the badge, I'll tell you the bloody truth."
She sat and stared at him, ignoring the pin in his hand. He set it on the table.
"If you miss out a single detail I'm going to walk out and just never come back." Her voice was steady and her eyes hard, but her heart beat in her chest like a military band. She had been with Mad-Eye for almost five years, and she didn't have anywhere else to go. He knew all of that but still looked at her plainly and took her seriously.
He nodded.
"It's the sign of the Order." He began. Lily leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "That is, a group I'm a part of and which I have been training you for."
Lily frowned. Training? "What?" came out of her mouth before she could stop it.
"Just listen. There's a meeting tonight, and I want to you attend."
Lily considered this carefully but said nothing.
"The point of the Order, well, it's a big thing, with aspects which are difficult to explain but to over-simplify-" here he paused and his frown lessened slightly. He hated simplifying anything, Lily knew, that and his lessened expression told her he was hinting at gentle humour, "- well, simply put there are two sides in a war you have never heard of and this is the good side."
Lily didn't roll her eyes, although she desperately wanted to. "Who're the bad guys? The police?"
"Ha!" Mad-Eye's laugh filled the space, "No, the police don't have a clue. Nobody does, not in that world." he looked like was going to laugh again, but carried on speaking instead, "No, but we do. And it is up to those of us who know to protect this world from those who would hurt it."
"That's not simple, that's just vague." Lily accused.
"Yes, but without going into extensive detail it's hard to be specific, and you'll hear more about it tonight." Mad-Eye snapped
"You said every detail." Her voice wobbled slightly, but her stare was firm.
"No," Mad-Eye replied more calmly, "you said that."
Lily breathed deeply. "Can you be any more specific? This is sounding like- just- just complete and utter nonsense."
"You'll hear more tonight, I promise." He implored her, leaning towards her across the table.
She pursed her lips.
"Lily." He spoke calmly and clearly, "I promise you that is all I can say right now. I am not lying to you, but I cannot tell you everything you want to know right now."
She nodded quickly and stared down at the table.
"You'll hear more tonight, but you can't ask questions nor anyone's name. Not yet. Someone will come here to escort you."
She looked up at him quickly. "Where will you be?"
"I'll meet you there. I'm leading it." He grumbled looking almost embarrassed.
"Leading? Wait, are you in charge of this- this-" Lily couldn't find the word and instead found herself laughing, "-this super-secret-underground-villain-fighting organisation?"
"That's not what it's called." Mad-Eye glared at her, and Lily laughed. He gave her a small smile before continuing. "It's called the Order of the Phoenix and nobody will thank you for calling it anything other than that, Miss Evans."
Lily laughed again, "Okay, but are you the leader?"
"I'm one of them." He allowed.
"Then why the hell am I only hearing about this now?" she tried not to sound angry – they had just managed to get back to a place of civility after all – but it was difficult. Especially when he looked at her as though she were simple.
"Because it's a secret."
"Not super-secret?" Lily asked lightly trying not to sound bitter.
"Lily!" he groaned and leaned back in his chair.
"Sorry." She grinned. She enjoyed the fact that even with a hurricane of lies and nonsense and uncertainty she could still wind him up. "So, why am I now allowed to join?" she asked more seriously, noting the redness growing on Mad-Eye's face.
"Well, I had to check you could do it, and had to make sure you had the skills." He shrugged.
She raised her eyebrows and clenched her jaw. "And that took four years, did it?"
"Thereabouts." He was avoiding her eye.
"Mad-Eye."
He looked up to meet her gaze and sighed. "It took a couple of months to be sure about you, and certain you could do it, but I just didn't want to getting caught up in all this."
Lily frowned. "You were protecting me from being a good guy?"
"I was protecting you from dying!" he cried out, slamming his fist on the table.
Lily flinched and took this new information in. "People die?"
"Yes." His reply was impatient.
"Oh. Sorry."
His next statement was even more unexpected.
"It's how your parents died."
Lily looked up at him, the twist in her heart drawing a sharp gasp from her. His expression hadn't changed, but she could suddenly see his age. The bags under his eyes, the wrinkles carved onto his face. That wasn't just from time. She knew it too well. Grief had its own way of ravaging a person.
"They were good people, and they were on the right side, but they lost the moment they had to go into hiding. They never stood a chance."
"Oh." She said again. She couldn't quite manage anything else yet. Mad-Eye carried on speaking but Lily was mostly thinking of her parents.
"Look, I'm sorry to spring it on you, but you need to know that's why you were initially picked out."
Her dad had worked in a factory and her mum in the shop around the corner. She made him eggs for breakfast every morning. They danced to jazz whenever there was a storm. Their bodies had been identified by dental records alone.
"I went to see your sister too, but she was some suburban housewife by then."
Lily nodded, numbly. "Yeah, she has a child and everything. I- I think he's called Dudley. Her husband works in a drill company."
Her father's factory had made drills. He had liked Vernon when they met and spent nearly an hour talking about the companies they worked for while mum and Petunia had sat in the kitchen giggling.
"Yeah. I know. But you, well you were perfect."
She looked up at him at that, finally drawing herself out of memories.
"You were already pretty good at petty crime-"
"Pretty good? I was excellent." Lily frowned. It wasn't a brag, it was just a fact. Mad-Eye pretended she hadn't spoken.
"- and willing to do as you were told so long as you had a salary and didn't have to talk to too many people. And then you turned into something more than just good and the other Order leaders started asking questions and now it's gotten to the point where I have no choice."
"Oh."
"Stop saying that." He ordered gruffly.
"Sorry."
"And that."
"For fuck's sake Mad-Eye."
"That's better." He gave her his crooked smile, but she had nothing to say in response.
After a few minutes Mad-Eye heaved himself up and stomped over to the kitchen and put the kettle on.
"So I'm going to become a member?" Lily asked quietly, staring out through the phlegm encrusted window.
Mad-Eye turned and leant against the fridge, looking at her with a scowl. "Yeah. If you want to."
"And if I don't?" She had already decided but she wanted to be certain about what sort of group this was.
He shrugged and turned back to the counter.
"Then they'll relocate you."
"Relocate me? To where?"
"Australia probably." He muttered into the mugs.
She glowered out the window again. "So I'm going to become a member."
"Looks like it." He stomped back over and handed her a cup of tea so dark it looked strong enough to stand a tea-spoon in it.
"Right." she said slowly, still staring out the window, but letting a smile creep onto her face.
"Any questions?" he asked, settling himself back down on the carpet covered bench across from her, propping his bad leg up on a stool.
"What do I wear to the meeting?"
Mad-Eye rolled his eyes.