I know… it's another new story, and YES, I should work on my other (the one with McGonagall). But this plot bunny simply refused to leave me alone, and since I've suffered from writer's block for two months or so, I was really happy when I wanted to write something again. So, here we go.

It's AU, of course,

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I won't for the rest of this story either.


Prologue

The two young women hurried down the lane. It was a dark and cold night in late October and both women wore peculiar, dark, thick cloaks instead of coats. They walked in silence, though one of them, the slightly shorter one, seemed to try to ask the taller one something every now and then.

"Where are we going?", She shorter woman asked but was ignored by the other one. "I've left everything I know, the least you could do is to tell me where you're taking me!", She said upset.

"Keep your voice down, we don't want to attract any unnecessary attention", the other woman finally spoke, though she snapped, obviously annoyed.

"This is a muggle neighboorhood, if you haven't noticed, and a rather disreputable one at that, the only attention we could get is from alcoholics and homeless", she shorter woman answered, for the first time, the other woman actually looked at her.

"You've been here before?" She asked curiously and the shorter woman nodded.

"Yes, I grew up nearby, but in an entirely different part of town, if you understand", she said and the taller woman nodded. "Anyways, my sister and I used to go on these "field-trips" to places we haven't been to before, and one day, I think I was about seven years old, we came here. Though we got really frightened by a drunk man who shouted at us and ran home again". They had now reached the end of a dark, gloomy alley, and the shorter woman cast worried glances around her all the time.

"Stop worrying, if someone here would attack us, they would be muggles, you're for Merlin's sake a witch, with a wand, I trust you know how to use it", the taller woman snapped and started walking faster.

"It's not that, it feels like something is following us", she said as an unwilling shiver ran down her spine.

"Don't be silly, who would be following us? We're in Cokeworth for Merlin's sake!", the tall woman said, still annoyed at the other woman.

"You do know that I told you just a couple of minutes ago that I grew up here, so now you have officially offended my home", the shorter woman said, the taller couldn't say if the shorter was offended or merely amused.

"As if I haven't offended you before", the taller woman said almost jokingly and the other woman forced a weak smile. "You don't have to smile, you know, I realise that this must have been an over-whelming night", the taller woman said quietly.

"It's quite alright, I think it will be worse in the morning, when I actually understand what has happened", she said and the taller one nodded. Suddenly, the taller woman stopped outdside a five-story building.

"We're here", she said and picked up a key from a pocket on her trousers.

"Here?" The other woman echoed as the taller woman unlocked the door.

"Yes, here. I had an apartment here a couple of years after Hogwarts. When I married, I didn't sell it, because I liked to have a place to go where I knew no one would find me", the taller woman said. For a moment there was a dreamy look on her face, but in vanished almost immediately and was replaced by her normal, stressed facial expression. "Let's go inside", she said and held the door open for the other woman. They took the stairs up to the fourth floor where the taller woman picked up another key and unlocked the door to apartment number eight. The apartment was small and sparsely decorated with furniture in neutral, slightly dull colours. It had one bedroom, a small bathroom, a living room and a rather large kitchen. The taller woman took of her cloak and boots and the shorter followed her example. They didn't speak a word until ten minutes later when they sat at the kitchen table, each with a cup of tea.

"Why have you taken me here?" The shorter finally whispered, now when she didn't wore her cloak anymore her flaming, red hair was visible. The taller, whose hair was long, blonde and braided sighed and looked down in her cup.

"Because no one can see you", the blonde answered sternly.

"But why?", the readhead said quietly and the blonde sighed.

"Because you're suppoused to be away shopping groceries, not walking down a street in Cokeworth with me", she said and looked out of the window.

"I get it, but can you explain exactly why I'm here in the first place?" The redhead asked.

"I can't tell you, I'm afraid, it would only endanger you even more", the blonde said quietly and the redhead groaned.

"I don't understand you people! What kind of secret is so dangerous that you can't tell me? I thought I already was in danger!" the redhead shouted. The blonde remained at her seat, seemingly unaffected by the other woman's outburst.

"You don't understand, you can't possibly understand. The… task I and two friends took upon us was something we understood could kill us, probably would kill us in one way or another. But it was never, ever a part of the plan that you, or anyone else for that matter, would be the ones suffering", the blonde said and swallowed. Suddenly the redhead noticed how worn and old the other woman looked, liked she had been through enough for a lifetime even if she had yet to turn 23.

"What do you mean suffering?"

"I mean that what happened tonight was never supppoused to happen, at least not in your home. It was suppoused to happen in some old, mouldy cave or an old tomb where no one else were present", the blonde said and sighed again before she rose from her chair and went to one of the cupboards where she started looking for something. After a couple of minutes she found what she had been looking for, a flask with a green, murky liquid inside it. She put the flask on the table in front of the other woman.

"What is it?" The redheaded woman asked and the blonde smirked.

"I thought Slughorn's favourite student would do better than that. It's Polyjuice Potion", the blonde said casually.

"Polyjuice? B-but, why?" the redhead asked and looked at the flask with a worried expression.

"You didn't expect to waltz around like Lily Evans, right?" the blonde asked with a frown.

"Potter", the woman called Lily corrected quietly but the blonde didn't seem to care.

"Whatever", she said with a shrug. "You're in dire need of a new identity", the blonde said and looked at Lily seriously. Lily took a deep breath and swallowed hard, not allowing herself to cry.

"Harry...", Lily said and felt how tears started streaming down her face.

"He will be taken care of", the blonde said curtly. "I' have something figured out", she added with a softer voice and Lily nodded with a sob.

"Of course you have", Lily muttered and the blonde nodded absent-mindedly before opening one of the kitchen drawers and took out a scissor. "What are you going to do?" Lily asked and the blonde looked at her coldly before cutting her long, thick braid off. "STOP!" Lily shouted but it was too late. The blonde braid lay on the kitchen floor and the woman it had belonged to mere seconds ago picked it up and gave it to Lily.

"W-what?" Lily whispered confused and the blonde looked at the flask with Polyjuice Potion. Suddenly it dawned on Lily what the blonde wanted her to do. "No", she said, shaking her head. "NO!" she screamed and dropped the braid, the blonde picked it up.

"Be careful, it has to last for a long time", the blonde said unaffected and Lily wailed.

"I won't do it!" Lily said angrily and felt how tears started streaming down her face again.

"You have to", the blonde said simply. "I don't have a pile of secret identities lying around, you know", she said.

"Anyone else, please Narcissa, anyone", Lily begged but the other woman shook her head with determination on her face.

"As I said, you can't just be anyone. Being me isn't very difficult, anyone could pull it off", the woman called Narcissa said.

"I could be a muggle, I know how to be a muggle" Lily said faintly.

"You won't be of any use as a muggle", Narcissa said. "You have to be me"

"Why?" Lily asked and Narcissa looked at her with sad eyes.

"Because I won't be there to be me", she answered wistfully.

"Who will you be then?" Lily asked confused. Suddenly Lily saw how Narcissa's hair turned to her own shade of red, how the other woman's brilliant blue eyes became her own emerald and Narcissa's lips filled out a little. Lily's eyes widened as she stood face to face with an almost exact replica of herself.

"Merlin", Lily breathed. "You're a metamorphmagus"

"Not a full-fledged one, I can only change simple things such as eye and haircolour. Real metamorphmaguses can change their entire appearance", Narcissa explained impatiently.

"I don't understand", Lily said and shook her head. "Why are you doing this? Why are you me and why am I going to be you?" Lily asked.

"I can't tell you everything", Narcissa began warily. "The only thing I can say is that both of us has a death sentence each written on our foreheads, the only difference is that mine is permanent while yours is... well, let's just say it's possible to wipe it off", Narcissa said uncomfortably and Lily stared at her.

"Death sentence?" she echoed and Narcissa groaned.

"Yes, death sentence, now, we must take care of the details...", Narcissa began but Lily cut her off.

"I'm going to die?" she asked and Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"No, you're not going to die if you do exactly as I say. If you, however, go home, you're most certainly going to die", Narcissa said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"What about James?" Lily asked and Narcissa sighed.

"There's so much about James you don't know. So much I cannot tell you...", Narcissa said softly before clearing her throat. "Anyways, none of that matters. Now, you have to listen to me", Narcissa said with her usual impatient tone.

"But..."

"No buts. I've just saved your life, you should be grateful", Narcissa added and Lily snorted quietly. "You will go to the Manor tonight", Narcissa explained. "We'll exchange wands and you will lead the life of Narcissa Malfoy. It's quite easy actually, just act snotty towards everyone, buy expensive robes and jewellry and invite other pureblood wives for tea every now and then", Narcissa said and shrugged.

"What about... your husband", Lily asked awkwardly.

"Well, you probably know that Lucius and I didn't marry for love", Narcissa began. "He already has his heir, he's not going to want more children. We've had separate bedrooms since I fell pregnant with Draco, he's not going to... come to you at night", Narcissa said uncomfortably and Lily blushed.

"I didn't mean that, I meant everything else. How am I suppoused to convince Lucius that I'm you?" Lily asked and Narcissa laughed.

"One of our house-elves could take my place and I doubt he would've noticed, Lucius is very easy to please. Just agree with everything he says and he's happy", Narcissa said and for the first time that night, she smiled genuinly. "He's terribly egocentric, and extremely vain, did you know he brushes his for almost an hour every morning? Anyways, he's only thinking of himself and, occasionally, You-Know-Who, if I act a little odd for a while he assumes it's 'that time of the month' and the next moment he's forgotten it", Narcissa said simply with a shrug. "The one you really has to worry about is Bella, she's perceptive as hell and would notice right away if something was amiss", Narcissa said and Lily paled at the mentioning of Narcissa's sister. "There's no need to worry for now, because she's currently obsessed with You-Know-Who, and when... let's just say she won't be a problem for a few years", Lily eyed Narcissa skeptically.

"How do you know that?" she asked doubtfully.

"I just know... gah, I can't tell you why, Evans!" Narcissa said annoyed, followed by a couple of curses, muttered under her breath. Narcissa casted a glance at her watch and looked Lily deep in the eyes. "Listen, we're almost out of time, take my wand, apparate to Malfoy Manor, here is a picture", Narcissa pressed a magical photograph of a dark, haughty-looking manor. "This Polyjuice Potion isn't like normal Polyjuice, a mouthful will last for a week. There's a hidden passage behind the portrait of Aulus Malfoy in the East Wing, second floor nearby the library, that leads to a secret potions lab. In there you'll find a cabinet full of this potion. You must, however, learn how to brew it yourself, there are detailed instructions in the purple book on the table", Narcissa explained with stressed voice and Lily opened her mouth to say something but Narcissa interrupted her. "You're a good potioneer, you should manage it after a few attempts. If, however, something goes wrong, or you're not able to make it and the stock of potion is running out, you can contact Severus Snape", Lily flinched at the mention of Snape's name but let Narcissa continue. "But you cannot reveal your true identity, not under any circumstances, Evans. If you run out of potion, say to him that you need some but have forgotten how to make it, and make sure he teaches you how to do it. It might take some persuasion, but he'll eventually give in", Narcissa said and glanced at the watch again. "I must get going", she said and pressed her wand in Lily's hand, grabbed the other woman's wand. Narcissa muttered a spell and a bunch of flower, narcissus, Lily noted, shut out from the tip of Lily's wand. "Works well enough", Narcissa muttered and put it in her pocket.

"Wait a second, are you just going to leave me here?" Lily asked flabbergasted.

"Do you know how to apparate?" Narcissa asked calmy.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Do. You. Know. How. To. Apparate?" Narcissa asked, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"Of course I kno..."

"Good", Narcissa interrupted. "Then we're done here, have a good life, Evans, pardon, mrs Malfoy", Narcissa said and Lily swallowed. "Would you do me a favor?" Narcissa asked and Lily felt how the blood boiled inside of her, the nerve of the woman!

"Why would I..."

"Take care of Draco for me", Narcissa said softly. "Fight for him as you would for your son, and I will do everything in my power to keep your son alive", Lily nodded slowly and before she'd really taken in the meaning of Narcissa's last words, the other woman had disapparated with a small "pop".


AN: What do you think