A/N: Hi! This is just a one-shot I thought of the other day and decided to write. It doesn't stick to cannon at all but it's just a short story of sorts about James and Lily - Lily works in Magical Law Enforcement and James is an Auror (I know they're actually the same department but for the purposes of this one-shot they're not).

Disclaimer: I own the storyline and nothing else.

Enjoy :)

A Mission For Two

He was a death eater, of course he was. But he couldn't be – not now; not when she needed him; not when he was her only way in. However, as Lily mournfully looked over the confirmation she had received that morning, she knew there was no way he wasn't exactly what she didn't need him to be.

Lily had been fighting the illegal unicorn blood trade since her first case in the Magical Law Enforcement department. Cases linked to the accursed substance had popped up regularly during the years she had worked for the department from the actual users to the dealers themselves as well as the numerous instances of domestic abuse due to severe addiction.

The trade of unicorn blood was entirely underground but everywhere due to its great popularity as wizards sought an instantaneous high never mind the fact it was incredibly addictive and of course laid the burden of a cursed life for the drinker. Renowned singer Celestina Warbeck had been admitted to St Mungo's because she was so cursed from drinking the stuff that the Grim appeared before her daily and she now had dangerously high blood pressure as well as extreme hysteria. In fact, over half the cases Lily investigated had something to do with unicorn blood and the department knew that the only way to change this would be to find those at the heart of the blood trafficking circle and arrest them.

And he had been her lead: Joseph Fawley.

He had almost instantly aroused suspicion when Marlene had broken into his relatively small warehouse to gain an idea of how much unicorn blood he sold and whether they could indeed arrest him for owning more blood than was deemed within the amount for personal use. It was lucky for the department that Marlene had recently completed her advanced course in opening wizard safes undetected for she had been itching to try out her new skill; she had exercised this desire on Fawley's safe and discovered far more gold in there than there should have been for someone classed as a small dealer.

Fawley was clearly gaining a substantial amount of gold elsewhere. But certain questions remained as this realisation came to be. Who was giving him the extra gold and how exactly was he earning it?

Lily and Marlene had found their answer during their stake-out of his warehouse the very next night. Fawley had had a visitor and this visitor certainly wasn't a customer, though they handed him a rather large sum of gold. It was then that Marlene had glanced at her companion and spied the gleeful smirk that was forming on her face.

'Thank you, Merlin.' Lily murmured, and Marlene chuckled, taking a picture of the two subjects of their delight with a Muggle camera she had been gifted last Christmas by the witch beside her. 'Fawley's my ticket in.'

'Yes he is.'

But Marlene's latest report on her 'ticket' had some very unwelcome news; if Fawley was a death eater then that was going to be quite a hiccup in the plans Lily had drawn up for infiltrating the inner blood trafficking circle.

Under Ministry policy, in an attempt to combat the rising forces of one Lord Voldemort, any case found to involve those associated with the most feared wizard of all time were to be immediately taken over by the Auror department – no questions asked – and those working on the case prior to this were obliged to hand over all relevant information to the case without any hope of seeing that information again or continuing to solve areas of the case unrelated to the death eater. And that meant…

'No, no, no!' Lily said as she spotted the unwelcomely familiar jet-black hair of James Potter, the rising star in the Auror department (as expected from his brilliant school days) and incidentally also the one who always relieved Lily of her cases containing death eaters. He was already swaggering in her direction, his mouth curving into a delighted smirk, while she sought her desk frantically for something – anything – that might stop him taking the case from her.

She was so close to entering the circle; so close she could almost touch it. But he was going to take it from her. A death eater such as Fawley, who, judging by the gory details of Marlene's report, was guilty of numerous brutal murders, would be administered the Kiss and then he would be of no use to Lily, or anyone else for that matter. And she would have to spend many more months trying to track down someone else who could get her inside.

Marlene coughed discreetly from her desk beside Lily's and slid her an open, rather ancient volume, smugly pointing one of her beautifully manicured nails at a small line near the bottom of the right-hand page. Lily read it quickly.

'On the rare occasion I do read,' Marlene declared, taking a sip from her mug of coffee, 'I always find something marvellous.'

'Marlie, I think I'm in love with you.' Lily replied, nearly jumping out of her swivel chair in excitement. 'I owe you one.'

'I'll hold you to that.' she answered, raising a perfectly pencilled eyebrow at Potter as he reached their two desks and turned back to her own work. Potter made to pick up Lily's file.

'You can't have it.' Lily informed him, catching his wrist with one hand and moving her file out of reach with the other.

'Oh, Evans,' Potter crooned, sighing dramatically. 'Forgotten how this works already?' He tutted. 'Dear me…'

'Not at all.' Lily responded pleasantly, though she tightened her grip around his wrist uncomfortably. 'But you still can't have it.'

'I think you'll find I can.' he said in sing-song tones, attempting to extricate his arm from in between Lily's fingers.

Marlene smirked into her mug.

Potter broke free of Lily's hold, loomed over her desk for a moment and plucked the file out from underneath her other hand. A flush began to rise in Lily's cheeks as she stood up and made a grab for it, but Potter held it smugly above his head, so she couldn't hope to reach it.

'I don't think so.' Potter sang, starting to strut away from her.

'And neither do I.' she snarled, storming out from behind her desk, much to Marlene's delight for she cheered loudly, spilling a little of her coffee. Grabbing Potter's arm, Lily began to drag him forwards.

'Evans, I know you want to shag me, but we have to stay professional.'

'Oh, be quiet, Potter.' Lily snapped in response, the colour in her cheeks darkening considerably as she became acutely aware of her employer, Mister Crouch, peering around his office door at the scene in front of him with a mixture of irritation and interest.

She made a grab for the file and they promptly engaged in a furious tugging match. Potter was much stronger, and Lily could feel the file slipping through her fingers even as she dug her nails in. There was a horribly loud ripping noise as the paper file tore in two so that all of the sheets inside it spilled onto the floor.

'That's it. We're taking this to someone who'll listen.' Lily announced through gritted teeth, stacking the loose parchment in her hands with a flick of her wand, and yanked Potter from the room.

Lily avoided the Auror department if she could help it. Quite apart from Potter's existence in it, there was a traditional sort of rivalry between his department and her own for the Aurors were deemed by most in Law Enforcement as the egotistical versions of themselves, who received all the credit for the work of both departments. In contrast, the Aurors thought of themselves as the more glamourous department, the department that didn't deal with day to day situations but with the exciting, death-defying ones. Whichever opinion was more accurate was irrelevant, for Lily found most of the Aurors annoyingly unhelpful whenever she needed information and thus Lily did not frequent the warren of desks in the Auror department.

Pushing open the oak doors, Lily entered the threshold and began to manoeuvre her way through the numerous cubicles, still pulling a rather bemused Potter behind her, with her destination in sight. Her eyes fixed on the door on the other end of the room with the words Head of Auror Dept. tacked onto it in gold embossed letters and she ignored the protests escaping the mouth of the man in her clutches.

'Oy, Lily!' a voice called out from a nearby desk and she stopped her purposeful striding to turn and look at the speaker. Sirius waved at her from his chair, his feet propped up on his desk and a very written upon scroll of parchment in his hand, which he had previously been reading.

'Sirius.' she greeted with a smile.

'Are you still on for drinks later?'

'Of course I am.' Lily replied, nodding fervently. 'I wouldn't miss Remus' birthday, even if it means being near Potter.' She glanced unenthusiastically at the man she had been dragging behind her, who huffed with indignance.

'Good.' Sirius grinned. 'Remus'll kill you if you don't show up.'

'Rightly so.'

'And don't be late.' he reminded her, wagging his finger accusingly.

'I'll try not to be.' Lily shot a filthy look at Potter, who winked back while Sirius snickered. 'We'll we'd better go. I'll see you later.'

'Have fun!'

She didn't reply and simply resumed hauling Potter after her, Sirius' barking laughter clearly audible in the background. They reached the door and Lily knocked.

With her own boss, Mister Crouch, Lily would have felt apprehension whilst waiting for him to answer but Alastor Moody was not Crouch, nor was he her employer and thus was in no position to fire her should it come to that. There was not a shred of doubt in her mind when she said – and she and Marlene both told one another this regularly – that she would much rather have Moody as her boss than Crouch.

Crouch was a stickler for rules and his morals were absolute; unbendable to various scenarios and unsympathetic to those in desperate situations. He wasn't quite what Lily had envisaged as a member of Law Enforcement when she had first given her oath upon joining the department that she would work for the benefit of citizens regardless of blood, family or gender. She had pledged to protect those who needed it and always act with compassion for those suffering. Bartemius Crouch didn't seem to be an advocate for many of those values; he could be ruthless and cruel if it meant acting for the greater good.

But Moody was different in that respect. Lily knew him through working for the Order and from everything she had ever heard him say he was quite the opposite. Not only did Moody have a more relaxed approach to leading his department, he was not particularly utilitarian in his beliefs. Moody believed resolutely in relative morality and for that Lily respected him deeply. He was tough, but he was also fair.

Lily did not fear him as she feared Mister Crouch.

It was for this reason that she now waited with Potter outside Moody's office. If she presented her argument to Moody, he was far more likely to listen than Crouch and as the Head Auror he had greater authority in the case of deciding who continued to work on an investigation to do with death eaters. And Lily could get away with threatening Moody if it came to it. Crouch would skin her alive if she so much as suggested the department might stock a different brand of parchment.

'Come in.' instructed Moody's gruff voice from within the office.

Lily pried open the door and pushed Potter roughly into it. Shutting the door behind her, her eyes did a quick sweep of the room, taking in the array of Dark Detectors and the posters of criminals covering three of the four walls (the fourth wall had a huge chalkboard upon it which had several different coloured chalks zigzagging across it, drawing a series of complicated lines and diagrams).

'Didn't expect to see you here, Evans.' he informed her bluntly, his dark eyes observing her shrewdly. 'Especially in the present company.' Moody inclined his head in Potter's direction.

'He's the reason I'm here.' Lily replied, glaring at Potter. 'He's taken my case.'

'And I'm well within my rights!' Potter retorted indignantly. 'It's about a death eater so I have to take over – that's the rule.' He yanked the papers out of Lily's arms and slammed them down on Moody's desk. Moody picked up the top piece and began to read its contents.

'You can't!' Lily cried. 'I don't care if Fawley's a death eater. I need him!'

'Well, he'll be getting the Kiss as soon as I've caught him for the crimes he's committed.' Potter folded his arms defiantly. 'I'm just doing my job.'

'And I'm trying to do mine but you're stopping me!' Lily threw up her hands in frustration.

'What's there to do?' Potter asked her, frowning at her lack of cooperation. 'Soon as he's got the Kiss it's job done.'

'Maybe for you.' Lily sneered, battling the urge to hex him. 'That's all you Aurors care about, isn't it? As long as there's one less death eater around for you to cry yourself to sleep at night about then everything's fine. No one needs to do anything else.'

Moody guffawed quietly to himself at the look of outraged fury entering Potter's face.

'You've got us all figured out, haven't you, Evans?' he mocked. 'You're so clever.'

'Of course I am.' Lily said, smiling sweetly at him. 'I would be working in this department if I wasn't.'

'You – you –' Potter spluttered for a moment before he composed himself. A glint of triumph entered his eyes and he brandished one of the pieces of parchment in her face. 'Say what you want, Evans, I'm still taking over your case.'

'Oh no you're not!' Lily's eyes sparkled in a way that could rival Potter's own victorious expression. She turned to Moody. 'Mr Moody – sir – on page 204 in the most recent publication of Ministry rules and regulations for departments to follow in paragraph twelve, subsection C, it states that the Auror department cannot take over a case vital to the intentions of the department of Magical Law Enforcement. Seeing as I deem this vital to our investigation into the illegal trading of unicorn blood, you have no right to take this case from me.'

'But –' Potter began but was silenced with a glower from Moody.

'Not unless you want to be accused of deliberately hindering our investigation and finding yourselves being investigated for this very reason.' Lily finished, her warning clearly registered by both the office's male occupants. 'While I'd rather not do that, I will if it means I get to keep this case.'

'Fawley's still a death eater though.' said Potter stubbornly. 'We're the ones who deal with death eaters.'

'Please.' Lily implored Moody, ignoring Potter completely. 'I just need a name from Fawley – one name – and then you can take him, but you can't take my files. I'll write out everything you need on Fawley for evidence myself if it means you let me keep everything I need and get that name.'

Moody put down the piece of paper he had been holding and leant back in his chair, his robes lifting a little, so his companions could just see the toes of his clawed wooden leg. He placed his fingers together and let his gaze flick between the pair of them for a moment.

'How about a compromise, Evans?' he grunted after a substantial period of silence in the office.

'We'll see.' Lily replied tartly but she listened willingly enough.

'All right then.' Moody chuckled a very deep chuckle. 'You can keep the file, the case and whatever but the moment you've finished questioning you hand Fawley straight over to us.'

Potter made a noise reminiscent of a hissing cat being squashed.

'B-but you can't!' he argued, staring at Moody as if he'd never seen him before. He gestured wildly at Lily. 'She'll get herself killed! She isn't trained to deal with death eaters! She doesn't have the experience!'

'I suppose those Order missions were in my imagination.' Lily mused loudly, smirking at Potter.

'This is completely dif–'

'While Evans makes a good point,' Moody cut in, watching the pair of them with great amusement, 'so do you, Potter. In the eyes of the Ministry, Evans, you have no experience with death eaters – they don't keep a record of what you get up to outside of work.'

Moody used a Summoning Charm to get the parchment Potter held to zoom back onto the pile of sheets.

'If something were to happen to you,' he continued, 'it would cause a lot of legal problems in both your department and ours. So to add to that compromise, you'll have Potter escort you for the whole of your search for Fawley. That way, once you've finished, Potter can bring Fawley back to us directly.'

'I…' Lily deliberated Moody's offer. On the one hand, accepting it would mean spending at least a day in Potter's company but, on the other, having an Auror to accompany her couldn't hurt. It would certainly give her some added protection if she had an extra set of eyes and ears with her. 'All right.'

Lily held out her hand for Potter to shake and he did so, looking at her in slight surprise before smirking.

'I knew you liked me really, Evans.' he said as they let go. Lily raised her eyebrow, picking up her papers, and Moody coughed. Thanking Moody quickly, Lily lead the way out of the office and into the main area of the Auror Headquarters.

'Do you need anything from your desk before we go?' she asked Potter and he nodded.

'Accio.' He caused his cloak to fly towards him and once it was propped around his shoulders they left the room. They returned to Lily's desk in Law Enforcement and she deposited the papers onto it before collecting her black trench coat from the back of her chair. Marlene winked at Lily, who grimaced in response and then prodded Potter in the back to make him move.

Neither of them spoke as they left the room, took the lift down to the atrium and then walked over to the nearest queue for one of the gilded fireplaces. Despite their silence, Potter kept glancing at Lily as if he expected her to say something, but she didn't. She had pulled out a notebook and a Muggle pen from her coat pocket. She flicked open the notebook and began to peruse what she'd already written in it.

'Er – Evans,' Potter said uncertainly, clearing his throat, 'where are we going?'

He indicated the fireplace with his head as she looked up at him, slightly startled.

'What? Oh, um, St Mungo's.'

'Right.' The wizard in front of them stepped into the grate and shouted his destination just as the flames around him turned green. He vanished, and Potter gestured for Lily to go next. With an impatient sigh, she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into the grate with her. Sprinkling some floo powder, she mimicked the wizard before them and at once they began spinning through the warren of potential fireplaces to spring out of. They were pushed close against one another by the air whistling around them and Potter put his arm around Lily to stop her being jostled this way and that.

They fell out of the fireplace into the St Mungo's atrium and hastily brushed themselves down. Lily used her wand to rid them of the soot completely and then led the way to the front desk. The receptionist behind it looked quite bored and was filing her nails in a defeated sort of way as they approached.

'Excuse me,' Lily said, interrupting the receptionist's stupor. 'My name's Lily Evans and I'm from Magical Law Enforcement. I'd like to visit Celestina Warbeck. I know they moved her – could you tell me where she is?'

'Warbeck?' the receptionist checked, dully scanning their list of names. 'Third floor, first door on the left.'

'Thank you.' Lily said but the receptionist had already returned to filing her nails. With a small laugh, Potter steered her towards the double doors at the side of the atrium and up the staircase to the third floor.

'So, why're we visiting Celestina Warbeck? I thought we're looking for Fawley.' Potter inquired while they climbed the stairs.

'She and Fawley were an item until very recently so I'm hoping she can at least give us an idea of Fawley's usual haunts.' she explained, checking her notebook. 'They were together for five years so she should have some idea.'

'And Fawley's been selling unicorn blood?' asked Potter interestedly. 'I didn't realise unicorn blood was such a big problem.'

'Well, you wouldn't.' Lily responded evenly. 'Unicorn blood isn't drunk by your everyday wizard or witch. It's drunk by those who have reached the darkest of places. They don't have any other source of hope and with Voldemort's forces growing stronger you can hardly blame them. When everything around you seems to be dark and dangerous, why wouldn't you turn to something that can give you a glimmer of euphoria?'

'I suppose…' Potter considered Lily's words for a moment. 'But surely leading a cursed life isn't worth it? I mean, you don't stay high forever.'

'No, but those few hours where you hallucinate good things are like gold dust.' Lily shrugged. 'You could ask the same question about all drugs – Muggle ones particularly – if it can kill you then why do you take it?'

'Unicorn blood can kill you?' Potter asked in alarm. 'I thought it's supposed to save you from death.'

'If you're on your death bed it can.' Lily answered, putting her notebook back in her pocket. 'Unicorn blood restarts a dying heart but if you're heart's healthy or not close to giving up then it makes it beat faster. Long-term use can lead to a permanently raised heart beat that increases your risk of a heart attack by over 90 percent – and even single use is dangerous. During the period in which a drinker is classed as high, the drinker's heart beats incredibly quickly and just as many are killed from heart attacks caused by one-off use as long-term users.'

'I didn't know that… I knew it cursed you, but I didn't realise it did that too.'

'I wouldn't expect any less from an Auror.' Lily comforted him with a grin and he opened his mouth to protest. 'Unicorn blood's nasty stuff – you'll see when we speak to Warbeck.'

'S-she uses unicorn blood?' he exclaimed, completely forgetting his indignation at Lily's previous statement.

'You obviously don't read Witch Weekly.'

'Well, it's for witches and seeing as I'm not a witch –'

'You had me fooled.' Potter elbowed her lightly. 'But yes, she uses unicorn blood.'

'And now she's in St Mungo's.' Potter concluded, nodding in understanding.

'Very good.'

'I am an Auror for a reason.'

'You're talking to a member of Law Enforcement, sweetheart,' Lily reminded him as they stepped onto the landing of the third floor. 'That doesn't mean anything to me.'

'You Law Enforcement people are just stuck up.'

'We don't like Aurors.' Lily knocked on the first door on the left. 'You make our lives difficult.'

'We make your lives difficult.' Potter repeated, gesturing to himself with a short laugh. 'Evans, tell me again who's out there catching death eaters.'

'Exactly, you only catch death eaters. You ignore everything else in the case and just go for the death eater.' She pulled out her notebook and pen again. 'There's more to a case than just catching a death eater or two but seeing as you take over everything in a case we can't do our job and help civilians affected.'

The door into the ward opened before Potter could respond and they looked at the Healer, who stood in front of them. She had an incredibly stern face and a clipboard clutched tightly in her hand.

'Yes?' she inquired tersely.

'Hello, my name's Lily Evans and I work for Magical Law Enforcement. I'd like to ask Miss Warbeck a few questions regarding our investigation into unicorn blood.' Lily relayed at once and Potter marvelled at how quickly she said it.

'Miss Warbeck isn't supposed to receive visitors.' the Healer responded irritably, making to close the ward door again. 'You shall have to go.'

'I'm afraid we have to speak to her.' Potter said, looming over Lily to hold the door open. He was much stronger than the Healer and held it with great ease while she desperately tried to push it shut. 'And I'll make a note that Healer…' He peered at her name badge. 'That Healer Davis was deliberately trying to hinder our investigation.'

'I… Of course not… Please, come in…' Healer Davis blushed with embarrassment, stepping aside so that they could enter.

'You're welcome to remain here and supervise.' Lily invited politely, and the Healer nodded.

'Yes, yes. Perhaps that's best…'

The ward had only a single occupant. Celestina Warbeck was shivering in the bed furthest from the door, her eyes wide as she watched the wall opposite her. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked from side to side, her face framed by strands of hair that were stuck to her skin with sweat. It was an alarming contrast with the usual glamourous state in which she appeared in the media with her hair arranged in elegant golden curls.

'H-hello, Miss Warbeck.' Lily greeted her, cautiously moving towards the seat beside Celestina's bed.

'Who're you?' Celestina shrieked, scrambling as far away from the other three people in the room. Potter winced at the pitch of her voice.

'I'm Lily Evans and I work for Magical Law Enforc–'

'I didn't know, I swear!' she wailed, interrupting Lily and suddenly changing course, crawling over to Lily and clinging urgently to her hands. 'I swear I didn't! I didn't know he was a death eater – not until a few weeks ago… We'd been sweethearts for years, but I didn't know! I never –'

'Miss Warbeck, I'm not here to ask whether you know Joseph Fawley is a death eater or not.' Lily told her calmly as tears began to pour down Celestina's cheeks, mixing with the sweat already situated there. 'I need your help.'

'My help?' she repeated lamely, glancing at the wall she had been looking at before. Without warning, she jumped up from her bed and shrank into the corner, waving her arms before her as if she was beating away flies. 'Please, please, I don't want to die…' she wailed, kneeling down on the floor and speaking to the wall. 'Please, please…'

'Miss Warbeck,' Lily said loudly, and Celestina turned her head sharply to face her, though her eyes kept flitting back to the wall. 'I need you to tell me where Joseph likes to go – any pubs or restaurants?'

'Pubs or restaurants?' Celestina stared at her wide eyed. 'He – he went to the Leaky Cauldron most days when we were together… You're trying to find him, aren't you? Aren't you?'

'We are.'

'He'll try to kill you!' she shouted, more tears streaming down her face. 'He'll try and kill you like he tried to kill me – HE TRIED TO KILL ME!' Healer Davis rushed over to her and placed an arm around her shoulder in an attempt to calm her. 'He tried to kill me…'

'I think it's best if you leave now.' Healer Davis said firmly and both Lily and Potter nodded in agreement.

'He tried to kill me and – and he knows it!' Celestina was pointing at the wall opposite her, her arm shaking.

'Thank you for speaking to us, Miss Warbeck.' Lily said softly and ushered Potter from the ward. The door closed behind them and they both let out a sigh of relief.

'What –'

'She hallucinates the Grim.' Lily answered, correctly guessing what Potter had been about to ask. 'There are various long-term effects of using unicorn blood, but they vary from person to person. Hallucinations are a common consequence – I have a copy of her medical file and the therapist she had before being admitted to St Mungo's discovered that Celestina almost constantly hallucinates the Grim. She believes it follows her.'

'The Grim is a real death omen though.' Potter pointed out, creasing his forehead in thought. 'She could be seeing it.'

'But then so would we.' Lily dismissed, and Potter nodded.

'Right you are.' He paused. 'Am I right in thinking we're going to the Leaky Cauldron?'

'Correct.' She smiled slightly. 'You're not as stupid as you look.'

'I don't look stupid!' he burst out and she chuckled. 'I look really handsome – I'm fit.'

'Not a good sign if you have to tell me that first.' Lily quipped, and he huffed. 'Oh, all right, Potter. You're not an abomination in the looks department.'

'Better.' Potter winked at her. 'Fancy going for a bite to eat once we've finished?'

'Forgotten Remus' birthday get together already?' Lily responded, raising her eyebrow.

''Course not!' Potter ruffled his hair. 'Tomorrow then?'

Lily laughed, and he grinned at her.

'We'll see.' she informed him evasively, but he grinned wider nonetheless, and she smiled. 'Back to the job in hand, should we floo or Apparate?'

'Apparate.' Potter decided. 'Just to mix things up.'

'Excellent.' Lily grabbed Potter tightly by the arm and Disapparated. A second later and they rematerialized in the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron. Letting go of his arm, Lily stepped away, straightening her clothes, and then pushed open the grubby oak door into the pub.

Potter led her over to a table and they both waved at Tom the barman, who came wheezing over, grinning toothily. They ordered their drinks and a portion of chips to share while they waited to Fawley to arrive.

'He might not turn up.' Lily reasoned ten minutes later. There was no sign of Fawley and of course it was very likely he wouldn't go to the Leaky Cauldron today. Celestina hadn't specified what days he went there after all. 'If he doesn't, we'll just have to try again tomorrow and ask Tom if he knows anywhere else where Fawley likes to go.'

'Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea to visit Celestina again.'

'I agree.' She took a sip of her butterbeer. 'Poor thing… I've been to see her a few times – she never recognises me – and her family…'

'How long's she been drinking that stuff?'

'Oh, probably the length of her official relationship with Fawley. She started around the same time he became a dealer I think.' Lily put down her butterbeer. 'She was about two years into her career when it was announced they were dating. Celestina rose to fame when she was still at Hogwarts and, well, starting out young never does any good to your mind.'

'I didn't realise she was a Hogwarts when she first released music – I've never really liked her songs so I've never paid much attention to her.' Potter confessed helping himself to a chip and dipping it in ketchup before he ate it.

'According to her mother, Celestina was in a very dark place after two years; her publicist had been putting pressure on her to lose weight since the start.' Lily scowled. 'Anyway, when she started dating Fawley she changed – she became happy again. At first, they thought it was just he was good for her and was bring her confidence back, but then her mother found a supply of unicorn blood in Celestina's room…'

'Bloody hell.'

'Unicorn blood does cruel things to its users.' Lily shuddered. 'It plays with the drinker's emotions – it messes with their brain. They start off happier than normal, almost like a left over from the high, but then it starts to numb their emotions. Users gradually lose their ability to feel empathy and become more impulsive and angry. They grow more violent and then…' she trailed off, her eyes darkening as she looked at the table between her and Potter.

'And Fawley's a dealer?' Potter prompted, hoping to snap her out of her scowling face. Lily shook herself and nodded, taking another sip of her butterbeer.

'But he's also getting money from higher up which means he's in direct contact with those in the inner circle – the ones at the root of the problem. Recently, he met with one of these people and I need their name. Once I have their name I can find them and then the rest of them as well.'

'That close, huh?'

'Oh, yes.' Lily smirked. 'I'm going to destroy the bastards behind all this.'

'I bet you will.' Potter grinned at her. 'So –'

But Lily held up a hand to stop him, her eyes on the entrance of the pub. Potter knew at once she'd spotted Fawley. He didn't turn around to look, however, not wanting to seem suspicious and Lily hastily reached for a chip to disguise her hand movement.

Whether Fawley had noticed them or not was unclear for he moved casually through the pub. But he didn't head towards the bar and Lily instantly comprehended that he at least suspected that they might be looking for them. Instead of heading over to the bar, he went through the door into the courtyard outside. Lily stood up, throwing a few coins onto their table to pay and then rushed after Fawley, Potter close behind her.

The stone archway into Diagon Alley was already starting to melt back into a brick wall so Lily sprinted forwards and they both dived through the gap, landing with a thud on the cobbled street, Potter directly on top of Lily. They scrambled to their feet, Potter holding out his hand and pulling up Lily, and then chased down the street after Fawley's retreating back.

Fawley was wearing a set of red robes made of a heavy velvet material so he couldn't run particularly fast. Lily ducked as he sent an Impediment Jinx over his shoulder, leaping over a crate of dried beetles a second later. Shop owners were starting to pack away their outside displays, so she had to dart between various witches and wizards, her eyes still on Fawley's red-clad figure a few feet in front. She could hear Potter running at her side and was glad for a second pair of eyes on Fawley for she didn't see him turn into Knockturn Alley, but Potter did.

They turned into the dark street and continued to pursue their quarry. Potter crashed into a woman selling human fingernails and they both fell to the floor.

'I'll catch you up.' he called to Lily, who had paused in her pursuit of Fawley.

She nodded her head and then sped up, realising that she could only just see the red of Fawley's cloak. Seeing the red material whip around the corner, Lily pulled out her wand and turned also. She came into a square of sorts with a rather disturbing fountain at its centre depicting a man on a torture rack. Her wand before her, Lily walked cautiously around the square considering which way Fawley had gone.

'Can't have you following me I'm afraid.' someone stated from behind her. Lily spun around to face Fawley, who smirked, pointing his wand at her.

'Fawley,' Lily acknowledged, bowing her head.

'And if you think I'm coming quietly, you're quite wrong.'

'Oh, I didn't think you would.' she assured him, waiting for him to make his first move. Fawley did not disappoint.

'Furnunculus.' he hissed but Lily cast a Shield Charm which absorbed his spell easily. The two of them watched one another. 'Defensive over offensive I see.'

Lily smirked at him.

She did a mocking curtsy and then twiddled her wand absently before sending a Stinging Hex in Fawley's direction. He dodged it and she took advantage of this to aim another one while he was distracted, and it hit him on the cheek causing a nasty burn to form there.

'Flipendo.' Fawley was knocked back into the fountain with an almighty splash. He let out a snarl of fury and pulled himself out of the water.

'Petrificus Totalus!' Lily wasn't fast enough to move out of the way and felt her whole body freeze up. She fell backwards, landing on the cobbles painfully, and saw Fawley loom over her. 'I may as well enjoy beating you before I kill you. Crucio.'

She couldn't even writhe in agony as pain spread across her body. It felt as if multiple knives were stabbing into her while her skin was being ripped apart and burned at the same time. The Full Body-Bind Curse kept her mouth shut so the scream that would have burst out of her remained inside her lungs, fruitlessly beating her lungs for a way out.

'Avad–'

'YOU BASTARD!' Potter roared, hurtling out of nowhere and barrelling into Fawley. He knocked him to the ground, punched him in the face and then Stunned him. 'E-Evans…' he whispered, rushing over to her and performing the counter-curse so that she was able to sit up. 'Are you okay?'

'Wonderful.' Lily replied, accepting the hand Potter offered her to help her to her feet. They walked back over to Fawley. 'Incarcerous.'

Ropes tied themselves around Fawley's frozen form and Lily let out a breath of air. She turned to Potter, smiling slightly.

'Back to the office?' he suggested, and she grinned.

'I think so.' They each took hold of one of Fawley's arms and Apparated into the corridor between their departments.

'You read my mind.' Potter observed and they both chuckled. Levitating Fawley in front of her, Lily led the way into a small corridor beside the entrance into the Auror Headquarters labelled Interrogation Rooms. They shut Fawley in one of them and then Lily tentatively reached out a hand, resting it on Potter's arm.

'Listen, Potter,' she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 'Thanks… You saved my life…'

'Any time, Evans.' he replied with a shrug.

A while later, when they were enjoying drinks with Remus, Sirius, Peter and Marlene, the two aroused suspicion by their amiable interactions with one another.

'Did you two shag while we weren't looking?' Marlene asked, eyeing them shrewdly over glass of Merlot (Remus had chosen a Muggle bar in which to celebrate his birthday so that they couldn't embarrass him with an obviously magical array of balloons).

'How d'you find out?' Potter joked while Lily grinned into her own drink.

'Then did something happen while you two were working together?' Remus pried, mimicking Marlene's piercing gaze.

'Nothing I can remember.' Lily replied, and she and Potter laughed as they entered what would one day be far beyond friendship.

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