Title: The Princess and the Wizard
Author: Nesma
A/N: This has been sitting on my computer for a while and I thought I would upload it. Huzzah.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A year ago, I was sitting on a velvet couch with Petunia talking to the rising journalist of the time, about fashion trends and current events. Gossiping about the latest monarchy scandals and batting my eyes at the camera, hoping that the bright lights weren't causing me to sweat my make-up off. The journalist made a remark on how ordinary I was. I blushed and let out a nervous giggle, trying not show the anger and hot shame bubbling in my stomach.
I shouldn't have been surprised. The monarchy has always designed my image as the 'smart' one rather than the 'pretty' one. Petunia, with her classical looks, was easy to morph into the pretty one. It always astonished us how bizarre it was that people could only handle the simple version of ourselves. And if anyone realized that we were complex than the one-dimensional images that were created based on a flip of a coin or our interest at the age of five. We were both smart and pretty; but no journalist would ever sell an article if they portrayed that.
At that particular moment, with the journalist giving me a knowing smirk, I would have given anything to blurt out a scandalous story of my past. A romantic flame with a stable boy. Perhaps a daring adventure. Anything to prove that I was anything but ordinary.
I always found that life had a crude sense of humour.
The first thing that anyone should know about me is that I'm a decent liar with a horrendously boring life. Despite being born as a princess, I have done nothing that would make my mark in History. In fact, I am convinced and have shared this thought with my sister Tuney multiple times, that I will be the princess that historians dread to write about in their large history books. They'd make arguments about why I shouldn't be written into History books (did she do anything? No) and perhaps add a conspiracy theory that I am in fact not blood related to the royal family.
Alright, so the blood relation theory may have been inspired by some tabloid magazine article that I caught a glimpse of, but still.
Now, why would I think I lead such a terribly boring life style? Most likely because I often compare myself to my dear older sister Tuney (otherwise known as Princess Petunia).
While I lay in her bed at 6AM, pretending to be her, she is off gallivanting with her lover doing God knows what. In fact, she has spent a majority of the night with this lad. And they probably did, or doing, something romantic like staring at the stars and sharing their inner most thoughts. Or perhaps they had a moonlit walk. Or maybe he got a horse for them to ride on.
So while my sister is having the love story of the century, I spent my night wrestling with her sheets. I believe that my sister is thoroughly confused about the difference between a bed and a believes that a bed must have at least 20 sheets and covers. Then, there are all these decorative pillows that may or may not hold sentimental value to Tuney. Also, the odd stuffed animals that she collected throughout the years. So getting into this bed is like battling a squid. Then, to sleep in the bed is another battle, one that I have not discovered how. Which is why I'm positively exhausted because I was unable to get any sleep since this bed is not a bed.
Of course, there is the fact that I am currently worrying about how to get to my own bed in the next few minutes. You see, being part of the royal family means having my own security team. A group of men and women who actually work to ensure my safety. Even though I think that it is a gross mismanagement of funds. I mean, really, who would want to kill me? Or even hurt me? Of course people have issues with the monarchy, I mean, that's only normal. And, granted, strange things are happening around the country at the current moment.
For one, there seems to be a lot more murders and deaths. The numbers have steadily been growing but this year it literally has doubled. And some are completely bizarre, like some where the people are found in completely locked homes (I believe one was found in a shut and locked bomb shelter). Then, there is the fact that most of the people that are dying really should be alive. People dying in perfect health conditions. Some doctors have actually tried to get away with listing the deaths as 'frighten to death' on the certificates because there is literally no reason why these people should be dead.
Except, for that they are dead. It's all really bizarre.
To make matters worse, the public health sector has released a statement days ago that the number of people being diagnosed with moderate to severe depression has doubled in the past year or so. Which came shortly after people complaining about damaged forests. Which, occurred around the time a major gas pipe burst and caused the death of nearly 100 people at some convention.
This country is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. In case that is unclear.
And people are, obviously unhappy with the state of the country (who can blame them!?) and are willing to blame anyone, like the royal family (as if we have the power to control the issues in this country anymore). Either way, no one truly believes (except maybe some extremists) that by attacking me, Princess Lily, that the country would just turn around.
But alas, no, Kingsley Shakelbot tends to disagree with my whole, 'it is absolutely bonkers that a terribly boring 17 year old requires her own security team' belief. He usually states the fact that I'm a princess and the royal family is very important to the country and thus I require a security team. He usually fails to comfort me on the fact that I describe myself as boring. Though, I do suppose that it makes it easier for him (and the rest of his team) to monitor my movements.
And I do like Kingsley. He is rather young to be head of a security team, but he came with these credentials (Oxford, Imperial, some odd stint at Harvard) and he was highly recommended and all that. Even though I am displeased with his lack of enthusiasm for my humor. He just tends to eye me after a joke and tells me to 'watch out for myself' as if there is an ax murderer looking for me around every corner.
I also suspect that he's aware that I've been helping Tuney sneak out. Always quizzing me and Petunia about our 'shared' schedule (but really, time Tuney puts aside to see Vernon-her lover). Of course, because Vernon is also, technically, in line for the throne and comes from a well-established family… I don't think anyone is really nervous about the relationship. In fact, the two could actually start dating in the public sphere and people would simply be happy for them. It's not as if she's dating a driver or the stable boy. Regardless, Kingsley takes security very seriously.
Right around now, Kingsley and the others are having this huge meeting regarding security issues. They go over the daily schedule and assign people different time slots. Then, they usually discuss the latest security hack and what's being done to remedy that. By 6:15 or 6:30, they're usually done and standing guard outside the doors making it that much harder to sneak back into our rooms.
Stranded in my own train of thoughts, I nearly missed the entrance of Petunia.
"Oh, you're still here?" The door slammed and I nearly toppled out of bed as my dear older sister made her way across the room, dropping her bag and sweater on the floor. A look of content was on her face and she lets out a sigh as she plopped herself down into one of her armchairs.
Uh, yes, of course, I was still here. What else would I do with my time? Have a life?
"Of course I'm still here!? Where else would I be? And you're late!" I exclaimed as I wrestled with the sheets on my bed. My sister merely gave me a bored glance before examining her nails.
"I'm sorry, it's just." And at this, a small smile spreads across her face and she batted her eyelashes one too many times, "We just lost track of time. We spent the entire night talking, about everything!" She uttered in a dreamy tone.
Ew. I would have much rather she told me that they spent the evening making out or shagging. At least that would be interesting.
"Well, that's just great." I mumbled, kicking the pillows in front of me out of the way so that I could start my 'walk of shame' (haha) back to my room.
Petunia gave out another content sigh as she swung her legs over her armchair, letting her head drop over the arm rest as she stared up the ceiling. "It was great. He's so charming. So lovely. He's just… he's just my everything." She said quietly, and there was a dreamy look on her face with a hint of a smile playing on the edge of her lips; and it was obvious even to me that the nights before were flashing before her very eyes.
Which is all nice and lovely, except I was going to be terribly late to my day. Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I balled my hands into fists as I made my way out the door.
"You owe me!" I shouted over my shoulder, as Petunia waved a hand in my direction. As if I was a fly rather than a sister who spent the entire evening spinning lies for her.
And of course, she's my sister. I love her very much and would only want her happiness. But she's been asking me to lie for her a lot lately. Which, normally I would be fine with (I am a decent liar after all) but lying for Petunia is positively exhausting. We have to memorize our shared schedule, we have to make sure that our appearances line up, we have to make sure that we have at least three back-up plans in case the security team finds out the real deal.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Came the voice of a very peeved Kingsley. Stuck in my own thoughts, I nearly walked right into him.
Well, I never did say I was aware of my surroundings. Just a decent liar.
"Had to talk to Petunia about today," I told him, yawning loudly as I scrunched up my eyes to avoid his gaze.
"And that was?" Kingsley drawled.
"Lessons. Homework. You know how I can be terribly tardy on completing those." I said lazily, waving a hand in the air as if I was shooing an annoying fly. Starting to walk towards my room in hopes of shaking Kingsley off.
"Mhmm. Well, get back and finish your work then." Kingsley said stiffly, stepping aside as to let me through as he followed me back to my room.
I rolled my eyes as Kingsley's footsteps mimicked my own. Was it truly necessary to have the head of security follow me around as if I was this hopeless puppy?
"This is completely unnecessary. I'm sure you have better things to do." in an annoyed tone, because, really.
"This is my job you know. It would seem that you want me fired."
I snorted. "Yes, but me walking a few feet on my own is hardly invitation for someone to murder me-"
"You never know." Kingsley cut me off in a tone that suggested that I back off. Which he only did whenever something terrible happened. Or lately, when another bizarre thing happened with no logical explanation in clear sight.
"What happened today?" I asked, turning my head to fact as Kingsley's gaze averted to the floor.
"Another murder. An entire family this time. No obvious cause of death yet. Though poison is a strong suspect." Kingsley scowled, his gaze focused straight ahead.
"Do you think we'll ever capture the person behind this?" I asked, mulling over my own thoughts as Kingsley stopped dead in his tracks.
"What makes you think it is one person?"
I frowned at this. Trying to choose my words carefully as I wanted to make sure that i said something intelligent rather than the ramble of words that were jumbled in my mind. "Well, I mean, I know it can't be just one person. But it has to be a group of people, right? What are the odds that all these deaths that are occurring are all random? Well, alright, I do suppose that there is a higher deaths that they are done completely random with no relation at all with each other but it is a bit odd that they are all dying the same weird way. Not to mention that they seem to target people who tend to be unknown to neighbors and such… so there must be some pattern and probably done by a similar group of people or something?" I said, blushing a bit as I rambled on my own security theory to Kingsley who stared down at me thoughtfully.
"If you weren't a princess, I would hire you for my own security team." He said softly, leaning over to open my bedroom door, the guards outside standing rigidly as if we weren't there.
I gapped at him. For Kingsley, this was an equivalent of him telling me that I was smart. No, a prodigy in the making. Perhaps even a Nobel Prize Winner.
Well, being a Princess could potentially put me on the short list due to status in life but still.
"You think I'm right?" I asked, slightly surprised and annoyed that I blurted out my first thought.
"I think you're on the right track." He said, crossing his arms behind his back as I gingerly walked to my own room.
I had seen him more often yelling at the little security minions for their stupidity and lack of awareness and what not. He could be very harsh and scary, so a compliment from him is like finding a hundred pounds on the ground.
"By the way, I've hired two extra security members for your team." He said, nonchalantly as I stopped in my doorway. I turned around to scowl at him, crossing my own arms.
"I can't be such an awful or scandalous member of the royal family to get two extra body guards." I snapped at him as Kingsley laughed. "I mean, the only reason why tabloids write stories about me is to compare me to Petunia and complain about my lack of social skills or 'classic beauty.' Surely that' doesn't mean I get two extra body guards!" I wailed, as Kingsley continued to chuckle to himself.
My misery was clearly a source of joy to him.
"Of course not. Just expanding your team as Smith and Williams are wanting to go back to school. We need to train these two a bit more than usual-"
"Why is that?" I quickly interjected, knowing that if I struck fast, then I could potential catch Kingsley off guard.
Kingsley paused for the briefest of seconds. "These two… well, they have a similar background as me-"
"As in they have made it their personal mission to collect degrees from the best universities that this world has to offer? How many are they at?" I asked sarcascially. I raised my eyebrows as Kingsley merely shook his head, a smile dotting around his face.
"No, nothing like that. I'm still the smartest person on your security team." He said with a wink as I rolled my eyes. Considering the brilliance of Kingsley, he was quite modest. Though, he did choose his times to let it slip that he studied at Oxford or Harvard or Imperial or wherever else it was he studied.
"No, these two… they went to the same high school as I did." He said carefully as I raised my eyebrows at him, my arms dropping to the side. "Do not worry, they are perfectly qualified - I wouldn't hire them if they weren't. It's just… it might be an adjustment for them so they'll need more training than the usual men we hire. They don't necessarily have the military background but they will be useful." Kingsley droned on as I bit my lip.
"Alright, well, I trust you," I said tiredly, turning my back to enter the room before looking over my shoulder at Kingsley, realizing that I had forgotten a critical question.
"What are their names?"
"James Potter and Sirius Black. Now, get back to work, I don't want to hear that you're falling behind on your lessons simply because of me." He said with a small grin on his face as I rolled my eyes. Though, after shutting the door I quickly jumped upon my messy bed and tuckered on inside the covers. I did have a half an hour after all before I had to make it to my first lessons of the day.
Granted, my lessons are hardly normal. I did take them with Tuney and it was mostly going over current events, proper cultural practices based on countries we will visit, history lessons regarding the country, and other terribly boring topics that one would only need to know if they were part of the royal family or something.
These topics were very dry at times. And though I usually had enough grace to make it through the lesson without wanting to collapse in fatigue, today was entirely different. As our 'teacher' discussed the finer points of interviewing with different journalists, I just battled against my fatigue. I resisted the urge to yawn loudly. And frequently.
Tuney, on the other hand, was bright-eyed. She came to lessons early in a very simple yet elegant outfit. Her hair was neatly brushed and blow-dried. She was eagerly listening to every word our teacher said which seemed so strange to me.
Tuney was an expert on matters like these. She was extremely skilled in charming journalists with a flash of her smile and a well-placed comment here or there. It certainly helped that she did have a classic beauty; blonde hair that could easily be manipulated into any fashionable style at the moment. Her wardrobe was always impeccable (she made it a point to deliberate for hours over the outfits she would wear in the week, as it was her biggest fear to be placed on a worst-dressed list).
While I on the other hand… couldn't care less. Well, I did a bit. It's hard not to when there are weekly (sometimes daily) articles about how your sister is the better princess. I paid as much attention to the Fashion News as I could possible put up with. While my team were obsessed with the classic looks that were reminiscent of various romanticized history; I tended to like the edgier looks that came down the runway for the Avant Garde looks. Needless to say, I was hardly allowed to wear the tulle gown that had what looked like it was cut up five minutes before.
With my wavy dark hair that rebelled against any anti-frizz spray or mousse, it always seemed like I just jumped out of bed. While I spent my time reading books or the newspapers, Petunia kept up with the latest trends. Of course, Tuney still kept up with the daily events but she tended to just read headlines.
Tuney always knew enough to make pleasant talk to the various diplomats and such at social events. She could talk about them more intelligently than most thanks to our lessons which meant that during her free time she was able to read fashion magazines and experiment with her hair. I, on the other hand, could also make pleasant talk to the various diplomats; but I also liked talking to the lonely professor in the back of the event who merely got invited on some sort of connection with someone. I often talked to them about the intricacies of some random history event or something. I was a bit of an odd ball within the Royal Family.
This was a lesson I should be paying attention to. After all, I did have a few interviews coming up a few weeks from now but I was honestly so tired from staying up late. And I stayed up late fretting over my sister and her silly love life rather than worrying about own life.
As I thought angrily over these thoughts, I felt my head droop and my eyes shut. Only for a moment….
SMACK.
I jolted awake as I stared wide eyed at my teacher, a Miss Evanstan who glared angrily at me through her small lenses.
"I'm sorry, was I disturbing your nap with my lesson?" She asked in a mocking voice as I gulped. Miss Evanstan could be truly terrifying. When angry, her brown eyes would practically pop out of their sockets, the veins in her neck seem to turn a particular shade of blue, and I'm sure if it was still legal to hit pupils, she would have carried a ruler with the word "LILY" on it just for me.
"I am sorry, I stayed up late working on the assignments." I muttered, feeling my voice go dry as I stared hard at the desk.
"You really should take a leaf from Petunia's book." Miss Evanstan said wearily, walking around from my table and towards her own desk that had the notebooks that had our assignments in. She picked up Petunia's which was in pristine condition and Miss Evanstan flicked through it, a smile on her face. Then, she picked up my own notebook and I winced a bit. Though mine was technically still clean, you could tell it had been thrown around in book bags and taken outside as there were grass stains. And even flickering through my book, my messy handwriting was obvious from back here.
"My, my, my." Miss Evanstan said in an annoyed tone as she roused on the page in front of her, flickering through until she reached the empty pages. A frown on her face as she placed my own notebook down, not as gently as she did with Petunia's I may add.
"You realize that your sister wrote four more pages for this last assignment? While you barely met the bare minimum?" She said testily, her arms crossing as she glared at me. "I mean, I thought you two did your work together!" She snapped as she turned to Petunia who gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Miss, we do, it's just that Lily tends to read a lot and gets distracted. She also tends to procrastinate while I like to get things done early." Petunia said sweetly, her head tilted in such a way that you could only think of her as a sweet little angel. She even turned around and gave me this mocking smile that you would give to some insolent child or something.
I bit my lip as the blood in my veins just seemed to burn. My cheeks flamed up as Miss Evanstan stared at me. And there was hardly anything I could say in my defense. Other than I thought the assignment was completely stupid: proper outfits to wear for certain events and why. I had to write pages dedicated to this topic. Pages. I was hardly an expert on fashion. Which is why I had an entire team dedicated to my fashion sense.
Plus, who cares if I was interested in reading other books? Was it honestly necessary for Petunia to add all those extra details? Like how I waited later rather than sooner to start the assignments? I mean, I could easily count the number of times that Petunia had to borrow my notes the night before to write the history focused assignments. Or the number of times that she begged me to read over my essay. And we do have an agreement to help each other out with different assignments… but that doesn't mean we tell Miss Evanstan about it!
"Well, that explains a lot." Miss Evanstan said coolly, as if Petunia had given the greatest insight in regards to Britain's foreign policy or something. I rolled by eyes as she turned away, because between my utter grouchiness towards my lack of sleep and the stabbing of the back from my sister… I needed a break from the room.
"Miss Evanstan? Do you mind if I fetch a drink of water?" I said quickly, standing up as Miss Evanstan looked down at her watch. "You may. Be back shortly though." She said lazily, as she wondered over to Tuney to discuss God knows what with her.
I turned on my heel and quickly walked out. After I was a few feet away from the room, I broke out in a quick jog and ran into one of the usually abandoned rooms. It was a small room with a bookcase filled with old musty books and small trinkets that various family members have collected from their travels. The curtains were usually drawn and the furniture in there was rather sparse and generally worn down.
Scowling, I marched straight into the room and slammed the door with all my might. A small plastic trinket, one that Petunia had purchased when she was seven or something wobbled before falling down.
"Stupid, bloody cow" I snarled angrily and wondered over to the stupid little toy. I bent down to examine it a bit more closely. It was a small cow that had multiple colored spots, it had the country's name written across its back but over the years the cheap paint had worn off. Without really thinking much about my next actions, I stood back up, lifted my right heel high and brought my foot down on the little toy.
I was expecting the toy to burst into thousands of little pieces. Perhaps the head would remain or something for me to glorify my triumph over Petunia. Instead, because I was wearing dainty ballet flats rather than combat boots, I merely stabbed myself with a stupid plastic cow on my foot. An irritating pain spread across my feet as I stumbled back onto the bookcase and fell flat on my butt.
"Ow!" I howled, throwing off my shoe in a random direction (couldn't be bothered to see where it bounced to) and examined my foot. Clutching it tightly as it started to throb with pain. "Stupid, stupid cow. Stupid Petunia. What a bloody little prick." I stammered, as I started to massage the bottom of my foot, trying to twist it in such a way to see if it was badly bruised or bloody or something.
Of course, it was merely red. "Eugh!" I snarled as I slammed my food down on the ground. Completely frustrated by the day, by Petunia, by the stupid cow that refused to break under pressure of my foot. I huddled my knees closely and reached out above me, grasping for another toy figurine.
This time, it looked like a bear of some sort. Or maybe it was suppose to be a dog or something. Scowling at it, and deciding to hell with it, I started waving the toy around as if it were something alive.
"Hi, my name is Petunia and I'm the most annoying bloody thing on Earth to talk to. Look at me, look at me, I was best dressed according the Okay! magazine!" I said in a very high pitched nasally voice. "I'm so perfect and I have a lover boy that'll do anything even though I look like a cow." I continued on, feeling slightly better and grinning at the small little toy.
I heard a small laugh and my stomach felt as if it were drenched in ice cold water as I dropped the toy. Looking up frantically, my eyes landed on a scrawny man with jet black hair and wired rimmed glasses. His eyes were wide like a deer as he stood frozen on the spot a grin frozen on his face. I quickly scanned his outfit and realized that he was wearing a security outfit similar to the ones on my team.
And a new flood of humiliation and shame just washed over me. What must he think? Was he counting the ways he could sell this story to the tabloids? I could almost see the headlines, "Insane Princess Evans plotting to attack Princess Petunia with toy figurines!" or perhaps, "Princess Evans Injured by Foreign Plastic Toys!"
Alright, so these are possibly the worst headlines in the world but my main occupation was not tabloid life ruiner writer.
"Oh my god." I whispered hoarsely, as I stood up and brushed off the dust that had settled over my outfit as I gapped at him. "I am so sorry. It's just - my sister, she can be a bit much and I just. Well, I'm rather crossed at her, and I know that my behavior wasn't proper at all…I just thought I was alone you see." I rambled on, cursing myself in my head as the man simply stared at him from across the room; not even taking a step back from the insanity that I was as I moved closer toward him.
Blushing furiously as I stared at the man in front of me. The stupid prat had still not said a word despite rambling like a lunatic. Closer up, I could tell that he had long eyelashes that framed his hazel eyes and the same strain of rebellious hair that I had (clearly, there was some heavy amount of product in it to make it remained flat, but alas, the hair looked like he had just ridden a motorcycle or something).
"Well, I should probably leave." I muttered, twisting around trying to find my damn shoe.
"Uh?" The man stuttered as I quickly turned to face him. He was gingerly holding my shoe in his hand, a look of confusion on his face and a slight blush on his own face.
Right. To make this even more mortifying, the fates have decided to bestow this awful situation in my hand. I mean, poor bloke, first day on the job and he has this princess just rambling to herself without a care in the world. Especially since the monarchy has built my image, as well as my sister, as graceful young ladies with our wits and charms to one day take over the throne.
And I just took some paint and messed that image right up.
"Fabulous. Another embarrassing day for me." I muttered as I leaned forward to grab the shoe out of his hand.
"It's-It's fine." He stuttered, as I flopped onto the couch as I tugged on the shoe.
"Right. You're new right?" I asked, standing up and straightening up as he gave me yet another wide eyed look.
"Uh yes, your royal highness." He stammered awkwardly, bowing over the top and almost knocking something off of the side table of the sofa. He caught it swiftly and gave me another deer in the head lights look as his trembling hand placed the object down on the table.
Oh dear lord. This poor lad. Though he was right address me as so, the royal family does do the whole hand shaking. Bowing and curtseying is of course, normal, just unnecessary at times. In this case a handshake would have been fine. I would have not even minded if he called me 'Lily' instead of the title. I am really not picky about these things. I always find it much more awkward to correct people ('Oh, excuse me, it's actually 'your royal highness' and not just 'Lily').
Petunia on the other hand… she's extremely gifted in correcting people. She always makes it so normal that people end up thanking her. The one time I tried correcting someone, I just stammered and rambled.
"It's okay – you can call me Lily." I said, bowing my head to hide my flamboyant blush.
"Alright. Lily." He said stiffly. He sounded each word as if they were difficult to pass through his lips.
"Prongs – what are you doing here?" I turned to face my head in the direction of a voice. It was another man, yet with long hair and dark eyes. Same outfit as Prongs (what kind of name is that?). Though he was in such a haste to make it to us, he stopped dead in his tracks once he spotted me.
"Your royal highness." He said simply, bowing a bit before moving forward again, "I'm Sirius Black, one of the newest member of your security team."
Oh. Right.
"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Sirius." I said, extending my hand out which Sirius took as the proper invitation to shake firmly.
"And you must be James Potter." I said simply, turning to look at James who blinked rapidly. My hand awkwardly suspended in midair as he just kept blinking.
"I'm assuming that you met Kingsley before he went off collecting degrees around the world?" I asked timidly, withdrawing my hand and turning to face Sirius.
Sirius let out a laugh that sounded more like a bark. "Yes. Yes we did, though I assure you, we are both qualified for this job. Even if James is acting a bit off, I think he may have a concussion." Sirius said in a worried tone as he squinted towards his friend who seemed to be barely part of the conversation.
I let out a nervous laugh, a natural instinct that I truly wish would die out on its own. "Are-are you serious?" I asked, as I peered at James.
Sirius nodded his head, "I'll take him to Kingsley, and make sure nothing isn't seriously wrong. I mean, my mate does have issues, serious ones-" James snorted at this. "so maybe a trip to Kinsley wouldn't be so bad." Sirius continued, ignoring the ignition on James' face.
"Alright, well, I do have to go back to my lessons." I said gloomily, walking the pair out to the door. "I'm assuming we'll see each other again soon?" I said, turning to face the boys in the doorway.
"You will. As we are going to be trailing you during your walk or picnic with your sister." James piped up, a voice a tad deeper than I remembered.
I rolled my eyes since I truly believe that these two could be doing something a bit more meaningful than watch me read my Jane Austen book.
"I'll see you then." And marched out towards the dreaded lesson.
"I didn't mean to be so odd earlier." I snapped my head and looked up at the figure who was standing at the edge of my picnic blanket. James was there, frowning slightly with his hands in his pocket as he stared down at me.
"It's-it's quite alright." I said calmly, folding the page in my book and shutting to close in my lap. I craned my neck to look up at him, tilting my head at the side to do so.
You see, it is rather unusual for my security team to interact with me. It has to do with the fact that Kingsley has instilled in all of them that by talking to the subject would distract them from their actual duties of protecting me. Despite my best efforts in trying to engage with them… they've all been extremely professional and cold.
Until now.
"I thought I should apologize. Sirius figured I scared you or offended you." He continued, shuffling his feet a bit, his hands were drawn behind his back.
"You can sit, you know." I said, quickly clearing the books to the side and grabbing the bag to place on my side. He stared down, looking over his shoulder, before he crouched down and settled into some sort of sitting position.
"I suppose this is against the rules?" I ventured, picking up on his slightly worried look on his face.
"I think so. I'm still learning the rules for this job. Besides, Kingsley knew he was hiring some troublemakers when he took Sirius and me on." He said, a small grin came across his face. Dimples appeared there too and my heart skipped a beat (I have a weakness with dimples).
"That's shocking. Considering what a goody-two shoes Kingsley is." I murmured, hugging my knees to my chest.
"Oh, he is. He was Head Boy at our school…. He used to write me and Sirius up all the time." James said, though he quickly frowned, "Though, I suppose that's nothing to brag about it; especially you of all people."
"Especially me? What makes you say that?" I asked, snorting a bit.
James fidgeted in his seat. "Well, I mean, you're the princess. We have to protect you. Doesn't really instill confidence if two of your security guards broke school rules all the time-"
"Did you ever break laws though?" I asked quickly, my heart skipping a beat. Who cares about the school rules?
James chuckled and gave a wink. "Only the minor ones, like… underage drinking or joy riding motorcycles in the streets of London."
Hardly exciting. I let out a small breath, I guess there was the small chance that he was an axe murdered of some sorts. That would have been exciting if Kingsley had actually hired a criminal rather than his normal, rule abiding hire.
Alas, not even my security team could be exciting.
"That all sounds… fascinating." I said, staring down at the grass along the blankets. My fingers reaching out to rest against the ground.
"Where is Petuina?" James asked, checking over his shoulder.
"Went off to grab some snacks and more books." I said, lying automatically as James narrowed his gaze on me.
"You have a bag full of snacks and enough books with you for a small library. And you just happened to forget the few items that she actually wants?"
"Yes. I have a terrible memory you see, can hardly remember what is the magazine or book my sister is currently interested in." I said, in a slightly aggressive way.
"You don't seem to have a terrible memory-" James started before I could cut him off.
"Well I guess you don't know me that well." I snapped, angrily glaring at him while he put up his hands in mock resignation. Breathing slightly heavily, I focused again on the green patch in front of me.
"I think that should change, don't you?" James asked after a few seconds of silence.
I rolled my eyes as stretched my legs in front of me. "Well, everything you would want to know about me is in the tabloids or magazine spreads or something. They're small pieces, I'm not exactly the most popular princess." I ended bitterly, wondering why on Earth I cared about being the exciting princess or not. Especially in front of James.
"Don't get into enough trouble?" He asked, in a teasing way. Slightly bumping into me when he said it, and I felt my lips curl into a smile.
"Something like that." I muttered.
"Still, I'd like to know something about you that doesn't involve your fashion sense or your bursts of anger with toys." He said, chuckling a bit as I groaned.
"Oh God, I'm still mortified that you heard that." My face was heating up which was never good. I already have red hair, no need to add a blotchy face to that mix.
"Don't be, we all have our moments like that." He said in an irritatingly knowing way. As if he held the world's secrets. Psh.
"Oh yeah? What about you? Ever done something like that only to be walked in on?" I asked, twirling a strand of my hair.
James stretched out his legs. "Well, Sirius did once walk in on me when I was punching a locker after a particular rough match. And instead of being the caring friend that would walk out or try to calm me down, he just laughed at my face. Which only pissed me off more so then I really started to hit the lockers and I managed to break my hand. So then, Sirius is laughing, I'm in pain, he has to help me to get to the hospital wing and the bloke cannot stop laughing. He's in hysterics and nearly crying, and it only got worse when I had to tell the story to the nurse…"
"That would be embarrassing," I said, laughing a bit as James had a slight pink crawl across his cheeks. It was rather nice to see him blush. Not as nice as his dimples… but then again, what person could resist dimples?
"Anyways, now we know each other's embarrassing moments. I say that counts for knowing each other a little bit?" James said, grinning at me as I bit my lip.
"The thing is, is that I actually know two of your most embarrassing moments." I said with a sort of arrogance that I only reserved for special moments. Well, only for when I was proving Petunia wrong which was nearly a weekly occurrence.
"Oh yeah? And what would that be?" James bantered.
"Well, you were not exactly the smoothest person I've ever met mister 'deer in the headlights look.'" I bantered back, James looked shocked for a moment before laughing.
"My, my, seems like you do have a collection worthy of blackmail which is why I will be making you this deal." He said, standing up and brushing the leaves off his pants, "You promise not to leak to the tabloids about my stories-"
"Who would pay to read those?"
"Sirius is my number one fan, he would absolutely buy every magazine with my gorgeous face on them." James said, throwing her a wink and grinning to himself. I tried hard not to pull him back down so that I could see his dimples properly. "Anyways, you don't share my secrets and I won't leak to them about your little anger burst."
I snorted. As far as tabloid stories go, the Princess going mad is hardly a good selling point. Unless I shaved my head or went streaking. Unfortunately for those soul sucking magazines, I look horrible bald and even the idea of streaking makes me shiver with the cold air. "Honestly, that story won't sell, it would need to be more scandalous."
"Oh, Princess Lily caught having some stolen romantic moments with a special someone?" He said quickly and my jaw dropped as I let out this splutter of laughter.
It is very unusual for people to talk crudely to me. As if I am this image of purity and have no sexual desires whatsoever (that is extremely false). So, most people treat me as this sweet innocent thing that needs to be protected. To be honest, it was refreshing for someone to completely disregard that image.
"Don't look too surprised Lily, I did say I was a trouble maker after all," James said over his shoulder as he started to saunter away. And I could only grin to myself.
James Potter, whoever he is, clearly didn't grow up with the whole royal frenzy. I mean, people lined up outside for my birth. My mother collected mugs with my crying face on them. There are postcards and flags and even dolls that look like me (those are the creepiest). There is a certain tone of respect and convention that nearly every person abides by when it comes to royalty.
Except for James Potter. It seems like he was immune to all of it. Probably lived under a rock or something. Regardless, people are always shocked when I'm treated as a fellow civilian. Kingsley always has the best reactions whenever he discovers that I found out about what the security team did last Saturday night and what not. And while James Potter may be arrogant enough to think he was above all of this… well, he somehow forgot about how walkie-talkie's, especially the ones that the security team uses, tends to go both ways.
I guess I was hardly the goody two shoes if I neglected to tell him that.