Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.
"James!" Lily called out the next morning. "Where are you?" She wandered around the entire house, finding it deserted. It was as silent as a haunted house without ghouls and banshees yelling, she remembered going to one of them as a small child. "Pathetic comparisons to the real things, Muggles really didn't understand too much magic," She mused. There was only one place left, his room. Taking a deep breath, she had never entered his room at Hogwarts unless it was later on in the day, never during the early hours of morn, it just seemed private and personal to her.
She walked in and stopped abruptly. James lay on his stomach, facing her. He had a lazy smile stretching across his face, it wasn't his usual smile with his eyes twinkling or the smirk he had when he played a prank. It was almost as if he was a little boy playing again without a worry in the world instead of a young man risking his life for the safety of others. Lily didn't know how long she continued staring at him, but when she finally shook herself out of her daze, she knew that something had changed, she didn't know what; all she knew was that something had. She shook herself out of her reverie and walked over to him, but hesitated near his shoulder.
"James, wake up!" she whispered, not wanting to startle him. She kept on trying without avail, he just wouldn't get up. She finally lost her patience. She quickly tiptoed over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass and filled with water with ice cubes floating on the top. She treaded softly across his carpeted floor and when she was as near to the bed as she could possibly she get, she poured the water on his face. His face changed from peaceful to surprised in a matter of seconds. He sat up sputtering as water dripped from his black hair, the water actually flattening his usual messy hair.
"What'd you do that for?" he growled, his voice gravelly with sleep.
"You weren't getting up," Lily chuckled.
"Ever heard of words?" he rebuked.
"I tried, but you slept as if you were dead to the world," she retorted.
"Doesn't mean that you wake somebody up with water! You're lucky that I didn't have my wand near me like I used to do back at Hogwarts, you have no idea how many times Sirius tried that trick on me and how many times I hexed him in return," James replied, still grouchy from being awoken in such a rude manner. Lily giggled; she'd never seen him like this. Usually, he was always happy, serious or angry, never irritated or annoyed in front of her. James glared at her as goose bumps appeared on his hands from the ice cubes melting.
"Aren't you going to get up?" Lily whined.
"Why do you need me to get up?" James asked, getting out of bed. Lily blushed, she hadn't realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Trying hard to keep her gaze averted from below his neck, she mumbled,
"I was wondering what we were doing today…and I was hungry." James let out a bark of laughter, while wondering what had suddenly overcome her and made her so shy. When he saw her quickly take a peek at his chest, he smirked, realizing the cause of her discomfort.
"So…Lily, you like what you see?" he asked, taking a couple of steps until he was right in front of her, where if she wanted she could put her hand out and touch him. Lily gulped at the proximity of him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she stuttered determinedly, not wanting to let him see the affect this had on her. She quickly looked down at her feet, hoping that he would forget about it and walk away, but James wasn't James for anything.
"Uh huh…I don't believe you. Look at me, Lily," he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. Once again, Lily felt herself drawn to his hazel eyes while he realized he was drowning in her emerald eyes once again. Lily felt her heart beating faster, and her hitched breathing become louder. Just as she thought she was about to lose all sense and lean toward him, she felt a shocking sensation of cold slide down her neck. That's when she realized that while she lost all sense of time and space, he had sneaked up an ice cube and put it down her back.
"AAaahh!" she screamed, as she tried to remove the ice cube before it melted and made her clothes wet. "James!" she shrieked and tried to catch him, but he was too fast for her. He jumped off his bed and ran to the other side, and when she tried to follow him, he just went over to the opposite side. She sat down, trying to get the ice cube out, but it wouldn't come out.
"Can you help me? It's melting against my skin and I'm FREEZING!" she snarled. James laughed.
"Now you know how I felt when you dumped a dozen on me…and when I was sleeping too on top of that."
"Just get it out." Still laughing, James retrieved the thin slab of ice that remained from the middle of her back. Shaking her shoulders like a dog, Lily removed the "wet" sensation and turned to glare at James, however before she could start her tirade, James interrupted.
"Didn't you say you were hungry? What does that have anything to do with me?"
"Yesterday, when I tried cooking, I made a mess of things. I was hoping that maybe you could take over and cook instead today…so we could actually get some edible food." Lily muttered, not wanting to emphasize on her lack of cooking. That had always been a sore point with her, especially since Petunia was an amazing cook and she could barely make a slice of toast without burning it. James chuckled but quickly turned it into a cough at Lily's glare.
"Today is a big day for the mission. We're going to go and call on our neighbors," James changed the subject, trying to avoid Lily's eye so he wouldn't start grinning again.
"Neighbors?" Lily asked, confused.
"Yep, the Malfoys." And with that statement, James stalked out of the room, leaving Lily behind with her jaw hanging open, wondering how on earth the Malfoys were their neighbors.
Lily sat in the kitchen, waiting for James to come out of his shower so she could finally get breakfast. She could feel the rats crawling around in her stomach, eating away at her stomach lining, eroding away her skin! At least that's what it felt like to her idle mind that was now thinking about Annie's pot roasts and her mashed potatoes.
"There you are!" she exclaimed as James finally walked into the kitchen. James raised an eyebrow at her excitement.
"Sheesh Lily, are you really that hungry?" James asked, grinning madly.
"You are enjoying this aren't you?"
"Of course…when was the last time I was better at you than something…other than pranks of course?"
"Transfiguration." She muttered. James laughed loudly.
"True. Well, that brings me to today. I know I told you that we were going to go visit the Malfoys today so…"
"Um yeah, about that. Why? How? What? Where? When? Why?" Lily rambled, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.
"Whoa, slow down. One question at a time. Why so that we can become Death Eaters. How, that's where the transfiguration comes in. What, we're visiting the Malfoys. When, is later on in the day."
"I am so lost. I hope you realize that. This is more complicated than when McGonagall tried to explain human transfiguration, and I still didn't get it. How is possible to change people's facial features with Transfiguration?"
"Aha, Lily you are amazing. You are leading right into what I have to discuss with you. But, I don't know if you're hungry or not, but I'm starving. While I explain today to you, I am going to make us some breakfast. Eggs?" Lily nodded.
"Okay, so remember when I said that we were going to become Death Eaters? Well, we can't exactly just walk into Voldemort's ranks and say that we believe in their cause. Well, mostly you can't…you know being that you're Muggle-born. They would probably kill you on the spot."
"So what are we going to do?" Lily interrupted once again. James frowned at her, while he tried to concentrate on the eggs in the front of him.
"We are going to change your looks. Let's go over our cover story, you need to know it really well. Remember, if we make a mistake in this story, it won't be detention with Filch. Instead, it will be our death. So, I am James Potter, obviously and you are my wife, we're just newly wed which is why they haven't heard of you before. But for us to actually get inside there, we're going to have to change the way you look, because I am 100 sure actually make that 150 sure that ex-Hogwarts students have joined Voldemort's ranks and they are sure to recognize you. Nobody misses an intelligent red-haired prefect who was one of the smartest witches that Hogwarts ever had." Lily blushed at this description, but James continued without noticing. "Since we don't anybody to recognize you, I am going to have to Transfigure your looks."
"How are you going to explain your sudden desire to join them? It was pretty clear back at school what you thought of them and their activities?" Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste as she remembered the countless fights she had had to break up between the Marauders and the Slytherins over the pure-blood issue.
"Don't worry, I have my story planned out." James left it at that. Lily prodded him for more information, but he remained silent.
"So anyways, we're going to go in and just you know casually bring up. You don't really have to do anything, just stand next to me and look pretty."
"Why, don't you think that I can handle this?" Lily asked in a menacing tone. James quickly realized where this was heading, and was quick to reassure the fiery-tempered girl.
"No, that's not it. It would just look out of place if a woman spoke out too much in the presence of her husband. That's old pure-blooded nonsense that these fools probably believe in." Slightly mollified, Lily continued listening. Even though she put up an appearance of being angry, she had felt slightly hurt when she thought that James didn't think her capable enough to handle herself in dangerous situations such as these.
"So all I have to do there is stand there and look pretty?" Lily asked.
"Basically." James turned around and with a flourish of his hands, he set a plate down in front of Lily. On it were eggs and bacon, in the shape of a smiley face.
"Cute James, it reminds me of what my Mum used to do for me when I was sick…when I was four." Lily teased. James shrugged his shoulders.
"It's what Mum used to do for me…last month." Lily giggled at the image of this full-six foot person eating a smiley face made of eggs and bacon.
"Eat up Lily. Once we're done, let the Transfiguration begin!"
They were back in the padded room, ready to embark on the journey of transforming Lily into an unrecognizable person. Lily sat on a chair in the middle of the room, while James stood in front of her, looking at her face thoughtfully. Squirming under the intense stare, Lily kept on grumbling.
"Are you done? Have you figured it out?"
"Quiet!" James finally replied, his lips in a thin line. For a moment, Lily thought he was actually mad, but then she realized that it was an impeccable imitation of Professor McGonagall whenever she had caught a Gryffindor house student misbehaving. Suppressing a smile under James's glare, Lily stared off into empty space. She didn't know for how long she just sat there, her mind drawing a complete blank, being completely relaxed for the first time in a while.
"Okay, I think I've finally got it." James said, breaking into her reverie.
"Got what?" Lily questioned, a little confused at the abrupt change.
"Your appearance?" James asked, sending her a confused look. Lily stood up and waited there patiently, as James closed his eyes and tried to remember the spells. He opened his eyes, and then muttering some words that sounded like gibberish to Lily, he waved his wand over her hair, all the way down to her legs.
"I don't feel any differenceeee…" Lily shrieked as she felt tugs throughout her body. Suddenly, the floor seemed so much lower than what it had before, and she looked down and saw that three inches of her ankles were being seen in a pair of jeans that normally fit her perfectly. Gripping her head as she normally did in moments of unease, she realized that her normal ponytail was gone. Abandoning all semblances of calm, she ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. All that came out was a gasp. She didn't see a green-eyed, medium height, red-haired girl. Instead, she saw a tall woman with fair skin and startling gray eyes. Even though she knew that it was really herself, she couldn't believe it. Her whole life, whatever insecurities she had had about her looks seemed to have been repaired by this incantation that James had waved towards her.
"Do you like it?" James asked, coming up behind Lily. Lily swirled around so quickly that she ended up slipping and closed her eyes, ready to feel the hard floor against her face, but instead, she felt firm hands gripping her shoulders and pulling her upright. When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was extremely close to James, but then she noticed that something was different. His normal hazel eyes weren't exactly hazel anymore, they had dark specks in them that seemed to be swirling, almost hypnotizing her. Feeling uncomfortable under his stare, Lily shrugged herself out of his arms and turned around, looking in the mirror again.
"Do you like it?" James repeated.
"Yeah, it's everything that I could've ever wanted." Lily replied, looking at James. An unfathomable expression crossed James's face, but before Lily could remark upon it, it vanished, leaving behind his normal impassive look.
"I'm glad." He replied shortly.
"I'm going to go change, and I suggest you do the same. It's time to go visit the Malfoys."
"Wait, what am I going to wear? I don't have anything that fits me. Everything is going to be too short for me." Lily commented, looking at her tall frame, she was taller than James's shoulder now, an idea that she had only dreamed of during those first couple of years at Hogwarts when she had been constantly teased for her miniature size.
"Oh yeah, that's right." Screwing his eyebrows in concentration, James conjured up a dress and gave it to Lily.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Lily looked at the dress in front of her, it wasn't anything fancy. In fact, it was the complete opposite of what she had in mind about James's likes and dislikes. It was a simple black dress that would go till her knees, tying around her neck to the back, with a white sash around her waist. Holding it up to her face, she rubbed it across her cheek, treasuring the silky and smooth sensation it brought. Remembering that they had to leave soon, she quickly changed her clothes.
Lily looked at herself in the mirror, she still couldn't believe it was her. It wasn't even the new face, hair or height anymore, it was a combination of that and the dress. It made her feel older, more sophisticated than she ever had. She had no idea how long she stood there in the mirror staring at herself, but she was shaken from her daydream by James's voice.
"Lily? Are you okay in there?" he asked. Lily shook her head, he was always so paranoid. She opened the door to see James's concerned face looming over her.
"Sorry…I was admiring the effect the dress had on me." She murmured. As James took a step back, Lily noticed him really for the first time. He was in simple dress pants and a dress shirt, but it made him look much older and sophisticated as well. His face was serious, without a trace of mischief in his eyes.
"Are you ready?" James asked. Lily nodded, not being able to speak.
"I wonder why…" she thought as they walked out of their house. For the first time in two days, Lily saw something else other than the house that they were staying in. As she and James walked down their front lawn, she noticed that James had picked a desolated area to move into. There didn't seem to be a soul living around them, all she could see was green grass for miles.
"James…where are we?" she exclaimed. James laughed, he'd forgotten that Lily didn't know the full plan yet.
"I know that it seems as if we're in the middle of nowhere…and well, we kind of are. But the Malfoys live here nearby, well it's one of their many homes. We're going to go and visit Lucius Malfoy and his wife, Narcissa."
"Narcissa as in Bellatrix Black's sister and Sirius's cousin?" Lily asked incredulously, not believing that the magical world could be connected in such tangled webs of bloodlines.
"The one and only."
"Wow."
"Yeah, well they don't live too far away from here, but I didn't want to go close enough to them where they could probably send someone to spy on us or anything like that." Lily nodded, appreciating James's paranoia for once. It wouldn't be very conducive to the well-being if they were caught on this mission.
"Okay, so now we're going to apparate to this little clearing near their house. Grab my hand." James looked around furtively, they were still standing outside their "house." Lily rolled her eyes, as if anyone would be there in a place this devoid of civilization. Lily held his hand, and she felt her world whirl upside down.
"Oof." Lily landed on something soft and squishy.
"Get off me, Lily." James groaned from Lily's weight.
"Oohhh James, I'm so sorry." Lily blushed, jumping off him and helping him stand. "What happened? Why did we fall?"
"Probably because … I don't know… maybe it was something to do with how we Apparated, I don't know." James replied, brushing his pants off. Lily made sure her dress was cleaned and turned to look at James and burst out laughing.
It was as if a bird had created a nest in his hair. His hair was always all over the place, but with pieces of hay and twigs, it looked as if a bird was going to swoop down any moment and lay an egg. His glasses were half off, balancing precariously on his nose.
"What?" James asked, glaring, but the glare had the opposite effect on Lily. She found it even funnier.
"Here." Lily reached out and straightened his glasses.
"Oh…so that's why I couldn't see very well." Lily rolled her eyes while trying to hide a smile as she picked out the leaves and twigs from James's hair.
"There, now you resemble a human being somewhat." Lily teased.
"Whatever." James stuck his tongue out at her.
"So where to now?"
"We are on our way down this path, and it leads us to the Malfoy residence."
The two walked along in amiable silence, both deep in their own thoughts.
"I wonder what Annie and Kiera are doing right now. I've never gone this long since third year without having some sort of communication with them. I hope that they're okay…not killing each other without me mediating their stupid fights." Lily thought, missing her friends desperately. "I hope that Mum and Dad don't worry too much either…I had told them that I was doing some Healing work but still, it's been so long since I've gone home. The first thing that I am going to do when this mission is over is to go home and stay with them for a couple of days. I miss Mum's cooking and hearing Dad's laugh…I miss them."
"Moment we get back, the Marauders are going to have a reunion. It has been way too long since we've hung out, just the four us, without the stress of saving the wizarding world, one Death Eater at a time. I wonder how this is going to work out, hopefully we come out of it unscathed. I hope that Lily
handles their cruel remarks against Muggles all right, it's always been really hard for her to hide her feelings, and it's going to be really important that she doesn't let them know that we're not Anti-Muggles!"
Lily stopped abruptly. In front of her stood this grotesque mansion with looming arches that seemed to spiral out towards the sky. Dark clouds lay over the house, making it seem even gloomier than it already is.
"It fits the stereotype completely." James muttered.
"Huh?" Lily asked, confused.
"Gloomy weather, ugly house…perfect environment for some trouble to broil." James continued. "Are you ready?" he asked, looking at Lily worriedly for a second.
Lily composed her face into the impassive expression that she had seen the Marauders do plenty of times, especially when they were close to getting into trouble and nodded her head determinedly. They both briskly walked up the cobbled pathway. Mentally, Lily noticed that even though their "house" was in a deserted area, it was much more attractive than this manor, at least more appealing to the eye and definitely cozier and more comfortable, at least from the outside.
They reached the front door, and on the large oak door hung a brass knocker in the shape of a basilisk.
"Okay, before I knock, your name is Alicia, I will handle the rest of it. Most of these people don't expect their wives to interact too much with other people so you'll be okay just standing there next to me."
"Of course they would have a knocker in the form of Slytherin's animal, what a pretty and cuddly creature it is." James added sarcastically. Lilly giggled, but immediately straightened her face as she saw the door being opened.
A stern looking man stood in front of them, his white beard almost reaching his waist. James was immediately reminded of Albus Dumbledore but when he compared the smiling Dumbledore to this stern man, he changed his mind. Exchanging a glance with Lily, he realized that even she had thought the same thing but then changed her mind as well.
"Yes?" he asked in a croaky voice.
"We're the new neighbors who moved in to that house over the hill, and we thought we'd just come and acquaint ourselves. I believe the Malfoys live here?" James introduced himself smoothly.
"Yes."
"We've heard so much about them, especially about their support of the Dark Lord." There, James had said it, the magic words. Now he held his breath, wondering what would happen next.
"Come in, I will take you to meet the Master and Mistress." James and Lilly followed him, Lily assumed he was the butler. They followed him down a hallway with marble walls. Even though Lily could see several fires lit along the way, the animal heads hanging on the walls chilled her. Involuntarily, she stepped closer to James. James noticed the movement from the corner of his eye and realized the source of her discomfort, and in response, gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Abruptly, the butler stopped and Lily almost walked into him, but she stopped herself just in time.
"Master and Mistress are in here." The butler remarked in a stately manner and leaving James and Lily standing there in the stone hallway, alone.
"You ready?" Lily whispered. James nodded yes, and both walked into the room that the butler had pointed towards, as if preparing themselves for battle. The moment they walked in, Lily felt a sense of cold terror descending upon herself and she willed her hands to stop trembling.
"Yes?" a cold and silky voice drawled out.
"Hello Lucius." James said strongly. Lily looked up to see a man with pale blond hair sitting on a dais next to a thin woman with a pointed nose. Lily was automatically reminded of Bellatrix, Narcissa was a couple of years younger than her.
"Well, well, what is a Potter doing in my house…unless he's inviting himself to a painful and cruel death?" Lily felt a rush of anger at James's defense. The Potters were known throughout the wizarding world for their stance against Voldemort and his antics, they were one of the pure-blooded families who hadn't decided to follow the madness. Lily expected James to rebuke Malfoy smartly, but he let the snide remark pass by.
"I decided that I don't exactly believe in my parent's policies on this whole pure-blooded issue, and I was hoping that maybe…we could let bygones be bygones and just start fresh. My and my new wife, Alicia have just moved into the small house over the hill and we just thought we'd come and pay our respects as friendly neighbors." James explained. Lily held her breath, wondering if the Malfoys would believe their story. Lucius stood and stalked over to them. He stared at James for a couple of seconds and then his gaze traveled over to Lily. His eyes narrowed and James felt a sharp stab of fear. Had he somehow missed one of Lily's features…could Lucius recognize who it was…could he recognize her for a Muggle-born? But his fear died down as Lucius nodded and then turned around and gestured his wife to step forward.
"This is my wife Narcissa. Narcissa, these are the Potters."
"Hello, how do you do?" Narcissa said politely, extending her hand towards Lily. Fortunately, Lily found the ability to reply,
"Fine, thank you. How about you?"
"It's such an exciting time to be living…especially with Dark Lord ascending to power, killing off those worthless Muggles." The whole time he kept his eyes trained on James to notice any signs of anger, but only as a true Marauder could, James kept his bland expression that gave away nothing. However, if he had looked at Lily, he would see her hands clenched so tight that they were turning white from the lack of blood flow. In what seemed like a casual gesture of affection, James grabbed one of Lily's hands and squeezed it tightly while trying to unclench her fingers. Lily expected him to let go when she had finally calmed down, but he held on.
"Probably to make sure that I don't blow this whole mission…" she thought gloomily.
"We're sorry to just barge in like this, we just wanted to get to know the area and all the people who live here." James apologized.
"Oh don't worry about it. It's always nice to meet the proper wizards who understand what magic is really all about. In fact, why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night? We'll introduce you to some of our friends." Malfoy suggested. James could hardly contain his excitement, it would be the perfect opportunity to discover who the traitor was.
"We'd love that, thank you so much." James thanked. Lily smiled at Lucius who just nodded in return and when she turned towards Narcissa who finally raised her head, Lily met her eye to eye. What she felt at the eye contact shocked her, she wasn't repulsed or disgusted as she normally had when Bellatrix had looked her in the eye or when she saw Narcissa in the background of the Slytherin cronies. Instead, she saw another woman who didn't seem very comfortable with the situation either.
"Okay, let's go Alicia." Lily turned mutely and followed James out of the room, feeling Lucius Malfoy's eyes seeming to bore into her back. As they turned around the corner into the stone hallway, she almost let out a sigh of relief but there stood the butler, waiting for them to leave the house. James seemed to be deep in his own thoughts, so Lily averted her eyes from the heads hung on the walls and kept her eyes on the ground. The moment they stepped out of the house and they walked off Malfoy property, Lily felt herself loosening up automatically and she saw James wipe away a sheen of sweat from his forehead.
"That was…" she ventured.
"Quite an experience. I don't think I've ever been that scared when he came to look at you." Lily laughed nervously, she had been terrified and she was sure that Malfoy had heard her bones rattling as she had tried to stop her trembling. They walked towards their house in silence for a couple of minutes when James spoke abruptly.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Lily asked, bewildered.
"For not really letting you talk. I know that it may have seemed that it was a very chauvinistic thing to do…but I couldn't let you talk."
"Yeah because of the whole stupid females not really having an opinion that a lot of these old-fashioned families have." Lily reasoned.
"Well that too. But honestly, and I have to be honest here, I'd promised you honesty years before and even if I hadn't, I actually didn't want you to."
"Why?" Lily asked, curbing the sharp shoot of anger she had felt at that remark. James smiled wryly, as if he knew the struggle that Lily was going through to control her temper.
"It's not because I don't think that you're good enough to handle situations like these in this kind of pressure…it's just that, I don't know I guess I wanted to make sure that nothing would be said to make Lucius suspect that it was really you. He knows you from Hogwarts you know, he's only a couple of years older than us." Stopping, James stooped on a boulder. Lily joined him and they sat there in silence.
"It's not that you're not good enough or that you don't have the skills, even though I know it seems that way. I do think that you're very capable of handling yourself, I just want to protect you. I want to make sure that I return you to your parents and friends in one piece, without any physical scars as evidence to what you went through. I want to be able to look at you in ten years when we cross each other in the street and know that I did everything in my power to keep you safe, to keep you alive."
"I'm not a china doll that breaks so easily you know," Lily answered shakily.
"I know that, but maybe that's even more the reason why. I can't explain it, it's kind of like all those times at Hogwarts when every time Sniv…er I mean Snape, he would call you Mudblood, I would feel as if I wanted to march over to him that very second and beat him to the ground, leaving behind nothing that would remind me of his horrible existence or anything that could torment you anymore. Wait, let me explain." James put up his hand to prevent Lily from interrupting him. "I know that it didn't even remotely bother you as much as it bothered me, but the idea is still the same. Just as back then, I would do anything in my power to keep you safe, even today, I would do the same."
"Why?" Lily whispered.
"Don't you know, Lily? After all these years?" James stared at Lily, gazing into her eyes. Lily felt as if her heart was alternating between beating too fast and skipping heartbeats completely as he looked at her, patiently waiting for an answer.
"Don't you?" He repeated.
AN: Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews. They really are a great motivation for me to keep writing and working on this story. I'm not sure if I made it clear enough in the chapter, but when Lily meets Narcissa's eyes, it refers to the part in Deathly Hallows – SPOILER to those who haven't read it, when she asks Harry whether Draco is alive. I guess its kind of an indication of the fact that she's not completely heartless as Bellatrix is portrayed to be, and that there are more important things in her life than Voldemort.
