ask me no questions

i will tell you no lies

careful what you wish for

-miracle, chvrches

In the middle of a dark graveyard, a man stands, smoking a cigar as he waits for his companions to arrive. He does not appear to be bothered by the frigid air around him, though the well-fitted suit he sports appears to offer little protection from the cold.

The man looks down at his large silver watch, reading each of the dials on the face,and apparently satisfied with what he sees, he turns, just in time to see his two companions materializing out of thin air.

"You're late," He speaks just above a whisper, not because he's afraid anyone will hear, but because he knows his sharp tone will convey more than a loud volume ever could.

"We're right on time," The one to his left protests.

"On time is five minutes late," The man scoffs. "Do you think James Potter has gotten where he is by arriving on time?" His companion is wise enough not to respond and the man turns to the one on his right. "Is everything in place?"

"Everything is settled."

"Everything?" The man is unable to prevent himself from biting out.

"Yes," The one on the left confirms. "Everything,"

"Good,"

"And what do we do now?" The one on the left asks.

The man takes another puff of his cigar and blows the smoke out before responding. "We wait,"

His companions exchange a look, before the one on the left speaks again. "For what?"

"For him to get what's his," The man rolls the end of his cigar against the gravestone in front of him, to break the ash off the end, and pockets the rest. The protection spells against the stones prevent the marks but the man is satisfied all the same as he stares coolly down at the names. James Potter, Lily Evans Potter. "They all do eventually,"

With one final groan, James Potter rolls to the side, panting heavily as he falls to his back to catch his breath. The room is in pandemonium around him-sheets a mess on the bed he lies in, clothes strewn around the room, a glass broken on the floor in haste-but it doesn't matter to him.

It will be in perfect condition when he returns again.

The girl next to him-what is her name?-makes to roll over closer just as he purposely sits up over the edge of the bed and she instead ends up with a face full of pillow. "Oh! I thought we could-"

He's saved by at a knock on the door. "Hey, Boss?"

James is already slipping back into his pants. "Yeah?"

The door opens. The girl yanks the sheet up but Brian pays her no mind. "It's time,"

The buttons on his shirt are already done up as he nods. "You'll..." He trails off but it needs not be said.

There is a protocol for this sort of thing.

"Wait!" The girl on the bed cries out and sits up as he slips back into his shoes, suddenly uncaring about modesty. "Where are you going?"

Instead of answering, James picks up his blazer and checks the pockets. Wand, wallet, all seems to be in order. "Brian will see you home safely." He responds instead and slips out the door, where Julian waits.

He has far more important things to do than pretend to care in order to spare a girl's feelings.

"Minor issue at the ports last night," Tommy Lancaster strolls into James' office when given the all clear by both James and his guards, a mere hour after James' afternoon delight-which to his own disappointment, had done little to actually lift his spirits anywhere close to delight.

James pauses, letting the ends of the tie he'd been beginning to don fall, as he turns to stare down one of his captains. "How minor?" Tommy is too slow to answer. When James repeats, it's more forceful. "How minor, Lancaster?"

"Eight minutes late," Tommy responds.

"With full shipment?" James needles, doing the math in his head-routes, tides, the port it'd come into-and thinking of all the places something could have set them back.

Or worse, what could have gone wrong.

"Yeah," Tommy nods. "I triple checked, don't worry,"

It's moments like that where James recognizes why exactly Tommy is one of his best captains. He knows this business, can know what James is looking for from him before he's even asked for it.

Tommy is believable, Tommy is trustworthy; if Tommy says the shipment is still fine, then James will take his word for it.

But there's one thing to be discussed still.

"What happened?" James turns toward the mirror in his office, returning to the entirely-too-difficult task of trying to tie a cape knot.

"Dunno yet," Tommy shrugs. "Would you like to go find out?"

James purses his lips, eyes looking down at his watch. He'd taken entirely too much time with what's-her-name earlier. "No, I'm headed out," He tugs on his tie to fix the loop and tighten the entire monstrosity, mildly satisfied with the appearance of the knot. "You know what needs to be done,"

Tommy nods. "I'll see you later then,"

As Tommy steps out of the office, James makes his final preparations for tonight's gala. With wand and wallet on hand, he steps out.

"Ready, boss?" Brian is leaning against the wall, prepared for the night out in a suit of his own.

"I was born ready," James returns, and then they're spinning away.

"That's complete bullshit!"

"We've had this deal in place for weeks!"Freddy, James' best friend, cousin, and second-in command, responds. "Why are you coming out with these terms now?"

Privately James agrees, even though he's fixed a flat stare on his face to prevent any of these men from thinking he's entirely on either side of this battle.

To his credit, the man across from them does not back down, which slightly surprises James. Generally if his stare doesn't get it done, the sheer size of Freddy Weasley seems to do it. Combined they seem to be unstoppable. "We've got a legacy to-"

"Gentleman," James turns at the voice interrupting and swallows heavily as he looks to the perfect view of Charlotte Densmore at his side with her hand perched in his elbow.

Of course, there is one more option for getting what they want and she's standing next to him, smiling at the men surrounding him, and as James follows her gaze over to them, he's instantly aware that they are just as awed.

He can't blame them. She'd single-handedly brought the color white back into every witch's wardrobe in the late summer of their Fifth Year at the annual Hippogriff Races and it had been a signature of hers ever since. Tonight she wears a tight knee-length bandage dress in that very color with a deep v-neckline and a very low back, that her long dark hair barely covers half of.

It's been driving him crazy since he first set eyes on her. The tall red heels haven't helped.

The delay in murmured hellos confirms his theory that he isn't the only one looking, but she is far too polite to mention it, and instead only adjusts her grip on James, smiling wider as she addresses them. "Would you all mind if I borrowed James from you?" Her posh accent always sounding a bit stronger when she was turning on the charm, and it was no exception right then.

Of course, when Charlotte asks anything, nothing is a problem, and James is walking away, Charlotte still hanging on the crook of his arm, within a minute. "Thanks for getting me out of there," He mutters, immediately leading her toward the bar, ignoring the significant look that their mutual best friend is sending them for leaving him behind. "The McWilliams merger shouldn't be hitting that many issues; someone else can handle it,"

"I agree," She responds coolly, and away from the others, her voice loses it's extra edge. She sounds like the girl he's known since they were children.

"Mr. Potter and Ms. Densmore," The bartender greets before she can finish her thought. "1966 firewhiskey neat and a glass of champagne?"

James looks over at Charlotte, who nods, before confirming the drink order. His drink of choice was fairly consistent; hers tended to change based on her mood. He waits until the bartender moves on before leaning against the wood and speaking. "You were saying,"

"I agree about McWilliams. It's mostly legal now anyway; send Patrick to finish up," He nods; she's right on that thought. They retain her brother as a lawyer for a reason. Let him earn his keep. "But we have a bigger problem,"

He takes in her face; eyebrows raised and lips slightly pursed, she doesn't look happy. He follows her gaze across the room until he finds the issue. "Ah."

"Well?"

"This is your territory, is it not?" He takes a sip of his whiskey, unable to take his eyes off the way her fingers grip her glass of champagne.

Her eyes flicker back to him. Where before the blue was soft, they're now icy cool as they stare him down. Besides his mother, she's the only person able to do so. "Merely making you aware of what's occurring," In other words, it's being handled. She lifts her glass off the bar, clearly ready to return to mingling.

"You don't need my permission," He calls to her as she begins to walk away. Because he knows that she can take care of this particular issue in a way he never could.

Charlotte barely looks back over her shoulder as she responds. "I wasn'tasking," She says coolly and continues on her walk through the crowd, just reaching her target as James taps two fingers on the bar to signal for another drink. He watches as she smiles, leaning forward and wrapping her left arm around the man's bicep, the light catching on the diamond stone the man had placed on her finger nearly three years ago.

He holds in the sigh. Better make this one a double.

It quickly becomes a triple as said man moves his arm from within the crook of Charlotte's to around her waist. Damon Wright laughs with the group around him before pressing a light kiss to Charlotte's temple. As she takes on the role of adoring fiancee, Damon catches James' eye from across the room, his unspoken message clear.

James lifts his glass up in Damon's direction, unable to help the smirk that spreads across his face, his silent response understood just as well. For a few moments, the other man maintains eye contact, and James leans casually back against the bar, unblinking, before settling in to enjoy the satisfaction, as Damon breaks his gaze and turns back to his conversation.

It never hurts to let your enemies know you're watching.

"Won't talk," Tommy stops James on his way to back to the bar later that evening. He looks just like anyone else at this fundraiser, dressed the the nines now. The only hint that he'd spent the last few hours trying to get information from a captured ship captain is the bruise on his knuckles and the exhaustion in his eyes.

If you weren't looking for it, you'd never know.

James raises an eyebrow. "Won't?"

"Well," Tommy continues. "Ship's captain and all the crew say that they ran into trouble out at sea when they almost hit another ship,"

"But," James prompts.

"Their story seems too good," Tommy shrugs. "Avi's there now, still working." James nods. "And we've re-checked the shipment. It's definitely all there,"

James frowns. "We'll see what Avi gets then,"

Tommy nods. "It doesn't look like much,"

"We send that shipment right out tomorrow," James watches the woman pass in front of him, notes carefully as she coughs into her elbow and wonders if she's already carrying the disease and her lungs are shriveling in on themselves as her now toxic blood flows in her body. If she'll be admitted to St. Mungo's in time for them to administer anti-septic potion or if she'll ignore the symptoms long enough.

She'll die if she does.

He turns back to Tommy. "It gets to Mungo's for their shift switch tomorrow morning."

"I'll get guys on it right now,"

"Good," James nods. He's got another shipment to sneak in tomorrow night and there won't be nearly as much cloud cover to get it in with.

If the Ministry would just go ahead and clear neutralized antimony as a safe import, he could focus on his normal business operations. Instead he's smuggling potions ingredients in at an ever increasing frequency to try and help manage this crisis.

Because doing something is always better than doing nothing.

Tommy nods again, but it's only after he speaks that James realizes it's not directed at him. "Ms. Densmore,"

"Hello, Tommy," Charlotte smiles and Tommy blinks, visibly struck by her, no different from anyone James has seen all evening. "If you're all finished talking business," Like she doesn't know everything that's happening. "James and I have an old friend we need to say hello to,"

It is less a request than it is a demand; Tommy knows as well as any of them that Charlotte's word is just as much law as James'. The captain nods and smiles gracefully at the brunette on James' arm. "Lovely to see you as always, Ms. Densmore. I have a few things to take care of here before I attend to some business of my own,"

It's James and Charlotte who leave first, the crowd parting for them as they make their through to their target in the far corner. "You think your plan will work?" James mutters, watching Freddy grin down at the girl in question.

"Today is when you doubt me?"

"Love, I've never doubted you a day in my life,"

They don't have time to dissect the extra layer in his words, but Charlotte looks up at him, with a knowing smirk on her face. "Then act like it," She says instead, and before he can even blink, her smirk is fixed into a gentle smile and she's stepping away from him to pull the girl in front of Freddy in for a hug. "Erica, hi!"

Erica McGovern smiles politely back once Charlotte pulls away and she looks at Freddy for confirmation before turning back.

Because unfortunately for her, Freddy's staring back at his two best friends, trying to size them up.

With her almost ethereal beauty, Charlotte is intimidating to even the most confident of women. But it's the way that Erica seems to curl in on herself that lets James know this will be easy.

Charlotte will have the girl second guessing anything she's ever thought about herself and everything she's ever known in less than five minutes.

"Hello," Erica says, understandably hesitant. She couldn't have been expecting such a warm welcome, so James can't blame her skepticism.

"What brings you back over here?" Freddy's pursed lip stare does nothing to cut into either James or Charlotte. James sips casually on his whiskey and Charlotte continues to wait patiently for an answer, even as Erica visibly cringes at the unspoken implications of the question. What brings you back over here: after all this time, so sudden and abruptly, without a warning?

Erica takes a large gulp of her own drink before answering. "Work, actually. The Times sent us over to cover this fundraiser for St. Mungo's and to try and get some info on pulmonary sangunitis." She tries to finish on a light note, but her discomfort is clear.

"That's great," Freddy nods supportively, trying to ease the tension. "They must be really panicked over there in the States if they're sending a whole team of you,"

"Oh just me and a photographer," Erica nods awkwardly.

"Working tonight even?" Charlotte says in her most innocent voice; James fights back a laugh, but Freddy's gaze shoots over toward her and James is sure that the only thing stopping him from a full glare is their location. "I thought I just saw your photographer leaving."

Erica frowns. "Leaving?"

Charlotte nods, pressing her free hand over her heart, selling it with the utmost sincerity. "That tall blond you were with earlier?" Erica nods slowly. "He left with someone about twenty minutes ago?" She looks over at James, as if asking for confirmation, like she didn't ochestrate Erica's photographer leaving with James' cousin down to the exact minute.

"He left with someone? He's married!" Erica blinks back her surprise.

James puts on his sleaziest grin and shrugs. "You know how it is. Business trips and such,"

She does not, in fact, look like she knows how it is, but she nods, clearly shocked. "Yeah. Business."

Charlotte smiles pleasantly and James can see Freddy's jaw tighten but he says nothing as she reaches out for his arm. "I do need to steal Freddy from you though. We promised Monsieur Duval we would say hello tonight,"

"Oh, um," Erica starts, but Charlotte's already turned with Freddy and begun walking away.

"I'll catch you-" Freddy's words are lost as Charlotte pulls him through the crowd.

James sips on the whisky in his hand, reveling in the awkwardness in front of him as Erica fidgets. "It's been nice to catch up, Erica. Do enjoy the rest of your time in town,"

And without a second glance, he turns on his heel, stepping quickly to catch up with Freddy and Charlotte. "-Can't believe you just did that," Freddy hisses, keeping his face neutral.

Charlotte manages to keep her smile intact as she replies under her breath, "She left you here alone. Or have you forgotten that?"

James slides his hand on Charlotte's low back. Merlin this dress is killing him. "Would either of you care to hold this for later?" He says pleasantly. "We have an issue to take care of,"

Monsieur Duval has some explaining to do about an eight minute delay in a certain "all clear" shipment route.

"Fucking A,"

"Deal the fucking cards,"

"Fuck you, Freddy," James ignores his cousins in favor of searching out a cigar in his desk. By the time he resurfaces, Louis, James' cousin and chief accountant, has managed to reign in his drunkenness enough to shuffle appropriately and deal out the next hand.

"You got another one of those, James?" Patrick Densmore eyes James' cigar interestedly, giving it a much longer look than his current hand of cards.

James fights back the snicker that threatens to escape, but reaches into his drawer and pulls out an extra cigar for Charlotte's older brother. In addition to himself, Freddy, Lou, and Pat, a few other of his closest confidants had joined them for a poker game in his office, once the Mungo's event had ended that evening. Thus far, it'd had been mostly a shit show of epic proportions-and minimal card playing.

For a group of guys that run a gambling ring, they should be able to play a poker game better than this.

It moves a bit faster when the deck passes to Freddy and soon smoke fills the air when Lou helps himself to a cigar from the desk, passing a few around the room.

"I call," Tommy throws his chips in the pot.

"Fuck," Lou groans, rubbing his forehead. "I-"

The door is abruptly blasted open, and from the hallway, James can hear Avi attempt to stop someone from rushing in. "You can't-"

Freddy's got his wand pulled and is at the doorway before the rest of them can even react, but it doesn't matter.

Charlotte's brushing past him like he's not a giant block of muscle pointing a wand right at her. She's moving so quickly that it takes the entire time until she reaches the desk for James to realize that she's in a panic and that he's actually leaning forward to meet her halfway, to get to whatever it is that she's got in her hand.

So he's closer, even, when she drops two teeth on his desk.

Two blue, glowing, child-size teeth.

"Get out," James says flatly, unable to take his eyes off of them.

Some, like Tommy Lancaster, stand right away, moving toward the door. Others, like Lou, take their sweet time. "We're in the middle of a rou-"

"GET OUT!" James roars, and there's no more argument, everyone leaving without another word, and James stands, stepping around to the other side of his desk just in time to catch Charlotte before her legs give out to collapse.

Instead, he lowers the two of them to the ground slowly as she breaks down completely and he can do nothing more than stare numbly at the faint glow of blue on the center of his desk.

A/N: Hi! New story! Back to writing! All good things! If you know me over on HPFT (or follow me over on tumblr), you may know I've been hyping this one up for a while, so I'd love to hear any thoughts you have so far!

Lyrics from the title and story summary are form blood / water by grandson.