4.

You must be swift as a coursing river,

With the force of a great typhoon,

All the strength of a raging fire,

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon

Gregory McKenzie led the wizards behind him with ease despite the underground tunnels being darker than the bleakest night. Wandlight made shadows fall on skeletons of wizards and witches from the dark ages—long dead from plague or dueling. The skeletons reminded the Walkers of the dangers of the caves. The floor was slippery with wet moss that smelled awful but it covered their footsteps from any trespasser into their midst.

They'd heard Aurors a day before but hadn't run into them. Auror scouts were also in the tunnels; they were much louder than the Aurors—and naive. The tunnels were a maze and Gregory only knew the proper way thanks to his owl Addie. The black owl was trained specially for finding her way through a maze such as the catacombs under London.

The tunnels were left over from the 14th century witches and wizards hiding from muggles. Gregroy found it ironic he was now using the tunnels as a way for wizard-kind to rise above the muggles and rule the world. The small army was sent to infiltrate the Ministry quietly and quickly by the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, spies (who had been quickly disposed of) had gotten the original plan to intrude the Ministry and now they had to hurry before they were apprehended.

Ahead there were noises that paused Gregory's swift walk. His owl screeched a sudden warning and something dropped down, shrieking, from the caverns above. A body landed with a thunk only kilometers from Gregory. He saw the outline of a young woman, struggling to get up. Behind Gregory his Death Walkers stopped short in surprise. Wands were raised quickly.

A voice called down to the body from above, "Jamie?"

Gregory stops and motions to his flanking guards, a wicked wandsman named Quinn and a transfiguration expert named Arnold.

"Auror Scouts," Arnold snarled, whipping out his wand, "No Auror would be this discernible."

Gregory licked his teeth in displeasure. Auror Scouts were fresh from recruitment and not as quick as a fully trained Auror but Scouts meant Aurors were not far behind. Another body shouted as it fell from above and landed beside the groaning girl. The caverns above must've been shattering from age. Some of the caverns were rotting and the floor could fall out from underneath any of the long hallways. The second scout that fell from above looked shocked at what they'd stumbled upon.

"Gregory McKenzie." The scout stood up quickly, nudging his companion on the floor to do the same.

Gregory nodded at Quinn and a wand was slashed aggressively in the air. The two Auror Scouts were thrown against the old rock walls with a shattering bang. Gregory walked slowly up to them and noted how young they looked. They couldn't be older than twenty.

"Nice work, Scouts." He chuckled darkly, "You found the Death Walkers."

The first scout who had fallen was a young woman, eyes vicious and spiteful, "The Aurors will stop you."

Gregory grabbed the girl by the shirt collar and pulled her into his face. She winced, and turned her cheek, a long brown braid falling over her shoulder.

"Stop us? They invited us. By the Minister announcing equal rights for muggleborns on the dawn of the new age, the Minister challenged our Lord's strength and power." The woman was pulling her head away from Gregory's spitfire speech, "I'm here to make sure nothing get's in my Lord's way."

Gregory threw the female scout to the ground and she tried crawling away in terror across the cold ground as Quinn pointed his wand the boy when he got up and ran after the female.

Gregory called out as they ran up the caverns, "Go! Tell your Minister to send her strongest armies." He snickered threateningly, "I'm ready."

Ahead, they heard the Scouts scrambling to find an escape route in the cavern.

Gregory scratched his beard and glanced sideways at Arnold who watched the scene with unimpressed eyes, "How many Auror Scouts does it take to deliver a message?"

Arnold raised his wand in understanding, "One."

There was a flash of green light that zoomed down the hallway and hit one of them in the back. A girl's cry was heard screaming the boys name in dread. The boy was most certainly dead. Gregory smiled in the dark, knowing that his plan was going to work.

~~~hope he doesn't see right through me~~~

Lily felt like throwing up as she stared down at the patch of tents set up outside of the forest she'd apparated too. Other recruits had already passed her, heading towards a gold colored tent to sign in. Some of them smiled at her, others just stared at her oddly. Check in was promptly at 8am according to the letter she'd stolen from Remus.

It was 8:01am.

Lily swallowed and scratched her newly chopped off hair. Of course, she'd only done an illusion charm to make herself look like a boy. Lily wouldn't dare take to her long red hair; in fact she wasn't even sure if she was going to go down into camp pretending to be a boy.

It was her original plan, to pretend to be Remus' boy cousin. She touched her newly cropped red hair and hoped she didn't look as ridiculous as she felt. She didn't know the first thing about being a boy and here she was, planning on masquerading as Remus' cousin. She knew they'd take her more seriously if she just played off that she was a boy. People didn't tend to questions boys as much as they questioned girls.

Talking to herself, she cleared her throat, "Okay, Ahem, excuse me, where do I sign in? I see you have a wand. I have one too. They're very useful and magical," Lily bit her lip as she mishandled pulling her wand from out of the pocket of the shorts she stole from Remus' trunk and it fell beside her feet.

Someone in the trees laughed so loud that Lily turned and simply covered her face in disbelief that someone was already laughing at her. This had been a horrible first plan.

"Merlin, what are you trying to do?" a voice cuts in, laughter still prevalent, "You know you're late for check in?"

Lily looked up and couldn't hide the surprise from her face when she recognized the laughing boy, "Sirius."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows quickly, hand going towards his wand, "How do you know who I am?"

That's when Lily remembered her masquerade. She dropped her face so he couldn't look at her clearly and a red blush rose on her cheeks as she realized that her idea wouldn't work with people who already knew her. Especially someone like Sirius, who knew her just as well as Remus did.

"Oh, uhm," she cleared her throat, "I went to school with you."

"Did you?" he countered, staring at her, "What's your name?"

"Liam Lupin." Lily said quickly, without thinking.

Black rose an eyebrow, "Lupin did you say?"

"Yes." She piped.

"I wasn't aware Remus Lupin had a scrawny git of a brother." Black stepped closer so Lily kept her head bent, "And I know secrets about Lupin that would make your skin crawl."

"Cousins." She murmured, he was silent and she dared look up…which happened to be a big mistake.

Sirius grey eyes met her green ones and it was like a light went off because his mouth opened in revelation. Lily's shoulders dropped immediately as her masquerade was figured out by the clever man standing against a tree in front of her.

"Evans?"

She winced noticeably enough for a grin to spread so far across his face he looked mad.

"Agrippa's sake, Evans!"

He laughed a great booming laugh that warmed her bones and he raced forward and enveloped her into a giant hug. She couldn't help but return his warm hug, as his laughter was contagious. She let her arms wrap tightly around his neck as he spun her around in a circle, still laughing.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, excited.

All Lily said as he continued hugging her, "Uhm…"

"Merlin this is great," he pulled back to rub his eyes and stare at her more clearly, "What's with the hair?" he glanced down at her chest, "And the, erm, bondage?"

Discouraged, Lily threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes, "Oh, whom was I kidding? It would have taken a miracle for me to sneak into an army full of Aurors." Lily angrily pointed her wand at her head.

The spell helping her feign her gender fell.

Red hair fell thick about her shoulders and down her back in waves. Lily pulled at the belt she was wearing so her pants weren't as baggy and stuffed her wand in the pocket. She reached inside her shirt and tugged at the bandage, allowing herself to breathe normally again.

Sirius grinned wolfishly as he watched her process to un-boy herself, "Evans you sneaky little vixen, how did you hear about the recruitment?"

"Remus got a letter in the mail." Judging by the look on Sirius' face he'd known Remus was recruited, "I figured it was better me, then him."

Sirius looked surprised, "You were going to sneak into camp as a Lupin in order to save my best mate from Azkaban?"

"Wouldn't you have done the same?"

"Yes." He stated firmly, "But I wouldn't have picked you as a cross dresser. Why not just sneak in as a girl?"

"People don't tend to question boys as much as girls," Lily told him sincerely.

"Unfortunately for you," Sirius slapped her on her back, "You were a sight for sore eyes as a boy."

"And I know Remus doesn't deserve this or want to be here." Lily ignored his jab at her disguise, "I'm going to help him. No matter what I have to do."

Sirius whistled and took her shoulder in his hand; "I can never thank you enough for being there for him when James, Peter, and I couldn't be."

Lily sighed, depressed, and leaned against a tree, "I don't see how I can help him if I can't even get past you. What if someone else recognizes me?"

"No one will—" and then he paused as if remembered some very important information, his face brightened, "Wow." He said happily, "You have no idea how happy I am to see—"

"A muggleborn?" Lily raised her eyebrows.

Sirius grinned again, "Didn't I just hear you ask for a miracle?" Sirius stuck a hand out, "I'll be your personal guardian, helping you through whatever you're planning on accomplishing through this cover-up."

He shot out an arm to hug her again but Lily spotted something on his sleeve that he must not have noticed.

"Sirius you're-" Lily started but Sirius cut her off mid sentence.

"Intimidating, awe inspiring?" he grinned a schoolboy grin.

"I was going to say, bleeding, but that works too." She pointed to his arm and he grimaced.

"Ah, yes that," Sirius lifted up his arm, "Hazards of training. Got my arse kicked out on the practice field for telling my Captain that he was a pansy."

"You haven't changed much from school, have you?" she shook her head and took out her wand to wave it at his new scar.

Sirius thanked her with a touch on her hand, "I've missed you. But one question?"

"What?"

He pointed to her hair, "Your boy cut threw me off for a moment but it's still that gorgeous red…how were you hoping to pass check-in with hair as red as a Weasley but a recruitment form that says you're a Lupin?"

"Ahhhhhh." Lily paused, thinking.

Sirius snorted cynically, "That's a brilliant plan Lil, one-way ticket to Azkaban for fraud where some pureblood would love to give you a dementors kiss for free..."

"Okay, okay." She admitted, "It wasn't a great plan, but I had no choice. I couldn't let Remus fight. He's got enough—"

"Problems?" Sirius offered and Lily nodded, "Well as Remus' friend I certainly appreciate you helping him—so I've got a plan to help you."

"You do?" she looked at him optimistically.

"I happen to be taken very seriously by the new Captain of the camp."

"The same Captain that made you bleed?" Lily raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

"You'll like him," Sirius countered with a wicked gleam in his eye, "He's quite the charmer."

"I could care less about charming your Captain." Lily said with a roll of her eyes, "I just want to help fight the Death Eaters."

"Death Walkers."

"Whatever."

Sirius laughed and pulled out his wand from inside his black robes.

"We'll dye your hair black, yeah?" Sirius looked at her red hair, "No one will be the wiser, especially since your hair is longer than it was in school."

"What does my hair length have to do with anything?" Lily pondered.

"Nothing," Sirius said avoiding her eyes as he touched the tip of his wand to her head, "You just look older, is all. I don't think you need to run around pretending to be a boy, at the very least."

"Whatever you think will help disguise me from anyone else who might know me." Lily stated, fingering her new black hair in awe.

"There's only one or two from Hogwarts who might be able to look past your hair," Sirius tucked her chin and looked her in the eyes, "It's your eyes that might—never mind—I'll tell him you're Remus' cousin. He'll believe me." But Sirius seemed to be convincing himself of that, more than assuring Lily.

"Maybe my hair is too black if I'm trying to be Remus' cousin." Lily muttered.

Sirius withdrew a mirror from his pocket and showed her. Lily's heart jumped when she saw the pale beauty in the mirror. The dark new colors surrounding her face made her eyebrows arch dramatically and even made her green eyes seem sharper. Lily thought she looked less kind, tougher, even though a temper was typically associated with red hair. She also looked older than seventeen, more like she was nineteen, even with her rounded cheeks. The reflection in the mirror stared back at her calmly, as if waiting for her to smile.

Lily didn't know if she ought to smile at the reflection, so distorted and fake in Sirius' mirror.

"You'd look plain with blond hair." Sirius muttered, picking up her bag and motioning her to follow, "And besides, no one's ever met Remus' whole family. His parents are withdrawn from the other Lupins."

The camp was tiny, only about twenty tents in all. Some people were cooking by a tent that smelled like beef and something fried. Sirius touched her black hair with a guiding hand to the line where people were checking in. The pressure from his guiding hand was firm, his fingertips digging into her back.

"We've been getting people in every two weeks, but your group will be our last." Sirius explained as they stood at the back of the line.

Lily eyed the boy picking his nose in front of them and scowled.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Sirius grinned as the man dropped pasta into his lap while he was busy digging in his nose.

Lily making a face of disgust and continuing to walk, "Men are disgusting."

"And to think you were going to try and masquerade as one." Sirius laughed gleefully, "Thank goodness I came just in time to help you."

"Why were you just chilling in the forest?" Lily asked, crossing her arms as she stared down another boy who looked at her like she was fresh meat.

"Ah, no reason." Sirius lied to her as he gazed at the boy staring at Lily, "Oi Goldstein. Eyes to your feet."

The boy, Goldstein, dropped his eyes and walked into the tent behind him.

"He acts like he's never seen a girl before." Lily snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They're men, and we haven't had a lot of woman recruits, certainly none as pretty as you."

"I'm not exactly-" Lily started.

Sirius cut her off, "shove off Evans, you're gorgeous and every single one of these boys is already planning your wedding."

Lily stopped complaining and watched a boy with red hair lift up his shirt outside one of the tents and proudly showed a dragon tattoo etched onto his skin to his surrounding mates. Lily wrinkled her nose. Sirius snorted, flipping hair back coolly.

"Look, this tattoo will protect me from harm." The red hair boy announced proudly, "It worked today in the field. McDonald shot a curse at me and I missed it!"

Sirius waved his wand in the redhead's direction and the man hit the ground in an instant, groaning. Lily winced and the men around laughed. One of them high-fived Sirius.

Sirius was laughing as he walked over to the tent to help the man back up, "Just keeping you on your feet Kion."

"More like off his feet," Another boy laughed as the one called Kion dusted off his clothes angrily.

Sirius smirked handsomely, "I hope you can get your money back."

Lily sighed to herself. Sirius definitely hadn't changed much from Hogwarts and still loved to cause trouble. The number of times he'd gotten detention was ridiculous. Sirius patted Kion's shoulder before waltzing back over to where Lily stood waiting.

"It's all attitude." Sirius told her when he spotted her less than impressed look, "Be tough and don't take anyone's shite."

Just then the man with the dragon tattoo knocked Sirius down with a wave of his wand, leering.

"Now whose off their feet, Black?"

"Hey!" Lily snapped, spinning to raise her wand on the boy angrily.

He immediately started screaming from pain as boils erupted on his skin and popped open from the pressure. Sirius laughed, noting Lily's signature jinx, until Kion sent his wand In Lily's direction and Sirius pushed her out of the way and into a tent. The wayward spell hit a boy wearing white robes who immediately sprouted hair like a gorilla. The boy in white spun around angrily, waving his own wand. All of a sudden it was like an all out brawl as spells flew in every direction from all the recruits.

Lily struggled to untangle herself rom tent ropes as Sirius leaned against the tent with a groan. They stared out at the masses as a boy erupted out in chicken noises and another was breathing fire like a dragon. Sirius whistled through his teeth and Lily pushed back her newly dyed hair in disbelief.

"He's gonna murder me."

"Who?"

Just then, from the golden tent that everyone had been checking in at, a man emerged looking quite annoyed when he saw the fighting pit happening before him. At his side, a woman wearing red lipstick paused before smirking condescendingly and disappearing on the spot. Lily held onto the tent ropes in surprise at the sight of James Potter. He looked older, his jaw chiseled as he stared out angrily at the crowd. Lily gripped Sirius' shoulder as Sirius stood up and looked guilty.

A man in a cloak appeared behind James and whispered something to him. James nodded slightly and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Scouts!" he shouted in a commanding voice that Lily hasn't heard since quidditch matches on cold days at Hogwarts.

She stood up, one hand still on Sirius. She watched as his eyes found their target. His hazel eyes narrowed at the sight of Sirius, who waved awkwardly from the tent he and Lily had been blasted onto. She waited for him to turn and look at her. She waited for his eyes to light up and his smile to take over his face, just like it did when they were at school together…but he doesn't see her. He looks right through her as all the Auror Scouts froze in their spots and looked over at James Potter.

Kion pointed at Sirius, "He started it!"

Sirius laughed uncomfortably and saluted James' furious glare, "Hey, Captain."

Lily's eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. James Potter was the Captain of the camp? Sirius' eyes shot down at her for a fraction of a second as if he realized her sudden discomfort. All the new recruits backed away with a glare at Sirius. Lily cowered in Sirius' shadow as he grinned halfheartedly at the Captain.

In her head, her brain is screaming to James to look at her but her heart is hoping he won't see through her hair dye. James would send her walking in a heartbeat.

"How am I supposed to gain Colbie's respect if my second in command is starting fights with the Auror Scouts?" James asked Sirius, taking a few short steps over to his best mate.

"Colbie's respect isn't exactly anything you really want…" Sirius muttered and James huffed and looked down at Lily finally.

"Just showing the newest recruit around." Sirius said swiftly when James' face twisted at the sight of her.

She smiled, "Hey." She offered, almost playfully, like they were still in school.

James just stared at her, his eyes swopping over her hair and skin and then resting on her eyes, like he didn't believe what he was seeing. The way his eyes stared dutifully into hers, Lily almost forgot he had no idea who she was. James' hand instantly jumped to his hair awkwardly and he cleared his throat, looking away from her welcoming face.

"A girl?" he says next, almost in sorrow.

Anger coursed through Lily at his sexism, "I could beat you in a duel, easily." She tempted him to let her show her wand work.

Lily's wit seemed to set something off in James and he snapped, "I don't need anyone starting duels in my camp!"

Lily frowned, "Sorry." She crossed her arms, not realizing that James had obviously gotten dumber as well as blinder during his time in the Auror force.

And here she was thinking it would've been the opposite. She had half imagined James to turn and give her a similar reaction as Sirius had. Instead he acted like he had no idea who she was.

As if Sirius could read her mind, he grinned and sent her a thumbs up.

James sighed and rubbed his eyebrows, "What's your name?"

Lily suddenly stumbled over her words, "Ahh, I, uhhh, I, uh—"

The other man who had come out of the tent with James barked, "Your commanding officer just asked you a question."

Lily looked terrified at Sirius, for help, "Uhh, I've got a name." James looked back, exasperated, "Sirius!" she hissed at her friend.

James sighed against his hand, "I didn't ask for his name. I asked for yours."

Lily was originally going to go as Liam but she couldn't now that Sirius had told her cross dressing was no help. Lily almost said her name, but she wondered if hat was the best idea...someone might make the connection.

Lily stood there like a deer in the headlights until Sirius spoke up, quickly.

"Lia Lupin."

Swallowing she decided on the change, "Lia Lupin." She agreed, sending Sirius a thankful look.

James looked to be in suspicion, "Sirius?" he looked at his second in command.

"It's true." Sirius shrugged effortlessly. At James' questioning glare Sirius added more forcefully, "Seems our problems were solved for us, Prongs."

James sighed and took off his glasses, polishing them on his shirt, "Okay gentlemen, thanks to your new friend Lupin, you'll spend tonight writing me an essay on why we don't fight in camp. A whole parchment. And tomorrow, the real work begins."

All the new recruits glared at her and Kion looked like he wanted to jump her in a dark ally. Lily glared at Sirius but he was too busy having a silent interaction with James. Lily looked at James and noted the bags under his eyes. She hadn't seen him look like that since his father passed away. Worry rushed through her but she couldn't say anything because Lia Lupin didn't know anything about James Potter.

But Lily wasn't sure she knew this James either.

Lily heard James whisper, "I told them no more girls, not since we lost Jamie in the caverns."

Sirius looked back at Lily guilty, "Ah, Lil-Lia. Go to the Mess Tent."

"The what?" she asked.

Sirius quickly searched the crowd and pointed at a pale boy with a cardigan and horn rimmed glasses.

"Alex, take Lia to the mess tent." Sirius barked.

The boy came forward and smiled the first kind smile at Lily, motioning for her to follow. Lily shot Sirius one more look before following the small boy (he couldn't really be called a man) to the tent that smelled like fried food.

Lily sat with quiet Alex in the mess hall, writing the paper James requested. Alex seemed to shy to talk to her because every time she tried he just muttered inarticulately. Candlelight waned as the night drew on and she was finally joined by other recruits coming from their training classes.

They sat around talking and laughing as dinner was served and then cleaned up by a kind old woman in orange robes. Other new recruits, most of them quiet and glaring at Lily because of the paper they were now forced to write, joined Lily and Alex. Kion flexed his muscles in her direction more than once. Lily struggled to not turn him into a armadillo.

Soon she was the only one left. Since she hadn't officially checked in she hadn't been given a tent to sleep in. Alex was the last one to leave her and he muttered that he'd see her in the morning for their first class. Lily watched him go with a frown and was about to go ask the nice old woman in orange what to do when Sirius appeared.

"Lupin!" she almost forgot he was talking to her.

"Sirius why'd James seem so upset?" she quickly asked as Sirius came to sit at her table.

"No reason," Sirius lied before throwing an arm around her, "Besides, James is none the wiser to you." He announced proudly, "You are Remus' cousin now and forever."

"Thanks Sirius." She mumbled, staring at the parchment she'd written.

"What's wrong?" he asked at her less than enthusiastic tone.

"He looked right through me." She mumbled sadly.

"James shouldn't know who you are." Sirius said empathetically, "He could get in just as much trouble as you if it was discovered you're a muggleborn."

"What about you?" Lily asked, "I don't want you getting in trouble."

"Trouble's my middle name." Sirius waved her concerns away, "Anyways, we have got to work on your people skills. No more starting duels, Lil, James just about roasted me in his tent earlier."

Lily stared at him flabbergasted then hit him, "That was you!"

"James doesn't need to know that!" Sirius grimaced when she hit him again, "He's already pissed that I let Remus' girl cousin in. He's writing a very lengthy letter to Remus now."

Lily bit her lip, "Well, that'll be an interesting letter for Remus to receive."

Sirius grinned wickedly, "He doesn't know what you did?"

"I think he probably has an idea?" she said awkwardly.

He laughed and stood up, dragging her up with him, "Come on, you can stay with me. I've got an extra bunk in my tent since my roommate got pulled to the front lines."

Lily smiled up at Sirius, suddenly very thankful that out of anybody, she had him there to help her on this adventure.

Next time:

"Am I late?" Lily asked, taking the oatmeal and blinking through her sleepy eyes.

Sirius chuckled as he stared at her, "No time to talk, eat."

Lily dutifully took a bite of the oatmeal, which was covered in brown sugar.

Sirius paced, talking like a mum on her child's first day of school, "Now remember, it's your first day of training so listen to your teacher."

Lily grinned, "You're telling me?"

Sirius lifted a skeptical eyebrow, "No back talk." He nodded his finger at her as she grinned nonsensically, "Play nice with the other kids, unless of course one of the other kids wanna fight, then you have to kick the other kid's arse."

"Shall I tell the Captain you encouraged me to fight?" Lily licked some sugar from her fingertips and Sirius frowned.

"Well," he said, "Maybe not. James was in a mood this morning."

"James seems to be in a mood a lot lately." Lily commented dryly, placing down her oatmeal and stretching as she got out of her cot.

Sirius avoided her point.

Thanks for all the reviews! You guys easily got me over five! I love that you guys are enjoying my adaption! Let me know what you thought of James and Lily's first meeting? More Jily with the next update :)

xxx

Petals