D: Thank you to SarCoops for betaing this chapter. Standard Disclaimers apply. I own fanfiction and copious amounts of "I-wish-I-was-British" pride that I blame on the Opening Ceremony, Harry Potter, various residents of 221B and a mad man in a box.
AN: So a hectic week of work, broken A/C and a vacation later, I'm finally updating!
Notting Hill
In the days and weeks that followed the Prophet began the task of numbering the dead: one hundred and thirty-two Muggles perished with eighty-seven Witches and Wizards who had also joined the celebrations. The Prophet did not go on to tell how many muggles were still hidden in the wards of St. Mungos, but employees knew that the number was certainly more than the dozen initially reported. From what Alice and Vera told Lily, Ministry officials were struggling with what to do with the Insane Muggles of St. Mungos.
If Lily wasn't getting enough information pamphlets on how to protect herself provided by the Ministry and Order, James continued to give her details and tips on survival. He had suggest that she and Vera leave their apartment on Rawlings Street and move into a vacant apartment across from Sirius and Remus. It was enough that Vera made them sleep with kitchen knifes and talismans under their pillows, but Lily demanded some sense of normality. She had promised him that if she ever felt threatened she would apparate with Vera immediately to their hiding place in Godric's Hallow, but otherwise she was staying put in her shoebox apartment for now.
Preparations for her own personal safety had already taken care of, she found that she still had other plans to make. On a drizzly Thursday towards the end of November, Lily left Gringotts with an envelope of Muggle Money, stopped at a travel agency along Tokenhouse Yard and apparated to her parent's home in Stockport. She had come to check on them shortly after the attack, but had kept the visit brief promising to return later after she had made certain 'arrangements'. Now on a chilly November evening she found herself walking past the familiar yards of her childhood with the contents she had picked up in London heavy in her coat.
She knocked on the door out of habit before pulling out her key. "It's just me, don't get up," she called from the door. She could smell her mother's cooking mixing with the hickory smell of her father's pipe. Slipping off her shoes, she felt as though she was entering a different world, one that didn't have to worry about a Dark Lord and death threats and for a moment she found herself immensely jealous of her parents and sister. The threat is still there, but they don't know about it, she thought to herself wishing she had that same luxury.
"Ah, Lilybeth," her dad smiled setting down the news paper as she entered the living room, his readers dangling from his nose as he set aside his and pipe. "We weren't expecting you tonight."
"Richard, who is it?" Her mother called, a pan clattering in the sink amidst the buzz of her mother's radio.
"Just our little witch, Lettie," he hollered, rising up and hugging his daughter, kissing her cheek. She sat down in the chair next to him, relaxing in the old familiar feel of the chair and the scene itself. She felt like she was ten years old, trying to ask her dad's permission for something she doubted he'd grant.
"What's wrong Lily?" He asked, looking up from his iron-rimmed readers with the all knowing look.
"Who said anything was wrong?" She picked up a section of the paper, brushing off his question. "I can't come and visit my parents on baked chicken night?"
"You always can, but you rarely do," he remarked giving her an inquisitive look. "You just don't randomly show up and visit your dear parents unless something's wrong."
"You know me too well," Lily smiled looking at her dad. She hadn't noticed how grey his hair had become, there was more gray than there was the black she had grown up with. "I have a favor to ask you and mum."
"If you're asking if you can marry that Jeffery he has to come and ask himself," he said sternly, little puffs of red rising to his cheeks. "And even then the answer's no. Petunia married at twenty-one, you can wait three years too. A lot can happen in three years."
"His name's James daddy," Lily said, trying to hold back the smile that was tugging at her lips. "And don't worry, it's got nothing to do with him."
"Humph—Lettie," Richard called not looking up from his paper. "Lily has some news."
Lily's mother entered the room, patting her hands dry on her red apron, "There's my girl!" she beamed, meeting Lily half way through the room and hugging her close. "You look peaky, is everything alright? You scared us last time with talk of those Bon Fire accidents, didn't she Richard? And then Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon came over to make sure we were all right—they told us how awful it's been in your world. Kind people John and Cecilia—said they'd keep us posted if—"
"Slow down Charlotte and let Lily say her bit," Richard chuckled, patting at the chair by his side for her to sit.
"That's actually why I'm here though, what's been going on in my world," Lily said bringing out the envelope and pamphlet she had picked up earlier, "I want to give you guys your Christmas present earlier this year."
"What's this?" her mother asked taking the pamphlet, opening it and gasping at the sight of a beach sunset "A reservation in Barbados?"
"Professor Slughorn is going to the Caribbean this Christmas to get some ingredients for his class room. He's leaving school early and has offered to take you two along. Petunia and I went in together and rented you a little bungalow. And then when Professor Slughorn is finished he'll bring you home a little after New Years," she explained, feigning a smile. Not all of this was true. She had gone to ask the old Potions master her favor the weekend after the attacks in London. She had heard he was planning a trip abroad with the rise in attacks and knew that he'd help her if she asked. And as for Petunia paying that was an additional lie—but there was no need to her mother this. If Charlotte Evans thought her daughters were working together or at least on talking terms, she'd accept anything.
"That's a month Lily, we can't do that," her father began looking at the papers. "Besides, where would you go for Christmas?"
"I'd be fine," she insisted. "But until we know what the Death Eaters are up to, Professor Dumbledore thinks it might be best if you and mum went on a holiday, traveled around. If you don't like Barbados we can switch it to Aruba, or Havana—you could even switch it all together and spend the holidays with Aunt Mary."
"She's in Ontario Lily, it's practically the arctic this time of year—there's no need to be crazy," her mother said looking at her husband hopefully, "You have always said you wanted to see more then Northern England in your old age Richard."
"I'm not old yet," Mr. Evans grumbled, his readers dangling from his nose. "We're fine Lily, you don't need to worry about us. Besides, your mother and I were children of the Blitz, we can survive whatever your people are up too."
"I need to check on the chicken," her mother started, shooting a warning look to her husband before turning to her daughter, "Stay for dinner Lily, I have one of Mrs. Carraway's tarts we can have for dessert."
"Course Mum," she smiled as her mum patted her head and smiled, disappearing into the kitchen. Mr. Evans lifted his newspaper and returned to his reading as though nothing had happened, but the steady stream of puffs from his pipe revealed to her he was definitely thinking, and not about the latest labor strike.
"Daddy, please. I know you have enough time saved from work you can afford the break. And mum's right, you've always wanted to travel around; everything's taken care of. If you don't want to go with Slughorn we can buy you an aero plane ticket."
"It's not that Lily," he sighed, lowering his paper again. "If you're in danger, your mother and I want to be here to help you out. Perhaps returning to our world—you know, you could lie low, the Vicar could get you a job working in the church offices. He's always had a soft spot for you. These Death Eaters wouldn't go attacking a church…"
"They would too. And they'll come after you," she explained. " They would if I suddenly disappeared. Our side's been encouraging a lot of us from non-magical families to make preparations. No one knows about Petunia so she's safe—but they'll know about you and mum. I'll be safe with Vera, and James—but I don't want to risk something happen to you two."
She watched as her father think with his pipe. "We'll have to think this over. And if you think for a minute that I believe Petunia is in on this you're not as smart as I thought you were."
"Just let mum believe it," Lily mumbled tucking herself back into the chair, slowly relaxing. "I'll send an owl to the house when I get home so you can get a hold of me when you make your plans."
"Mhmm," her father responded, puffing little clouds of smoke from behind his paper. They stopped after a moment. "You say Jeffery will be able to keep you safe?"
"Yes, his parents have made arrangements," she answered, watching again as the little clouds returned only to stop a moment later. "And you're sure this isn't some clever ploy of his to make sure we're out of the country and you two can elope?"
"I remember when you once suggested the idea," Lily smiled watching as her chimney of a father continued at his puffing, faster and in uneven patterns.
"You know I was eleven years old when Hitler can knocking on my parent's door," he started as he always did recalling the war years. "Celebrated my twelfth birthday in the underground as the Luftwaffe leveled Liverpool. You really think these Death Eaters are a bigger threat compared to then?"
"For some people they will be," she answered quietly. "You remember the Fire last Christmas, and that was just one person on a whim. If they decide to come after someone, it's going to be worst. Once they made up their mind on killing someone, there's not much that can stop them. Unless they can fight back."
He lowered the paper, and looked over his readers the way he used to when she and Petunia were younger. "Well what about Eileen Snape? She lives all by herself on Spinners End. Does she need to run and hide?"
Lily chewed the inside of her lip. "He's making arrangements for her," she lied. "She and his grandparents are going to go abroad as well. He told me a few days after the attack. Didn't say where though, or when."
He returned to his paper and the little puffs of smoke returned. She hadn't expected them to accept the hiding plan. But she had at least for her mother's sake her father would go along with it.
"I'll talk to you mother tonight," he said as he turned a page. "She always wanted to go to the Caribbean. And after last Christmas having to put up with Marge and Edna Dursley—" her father gruffed and Lily knew their bags were all but packed.
((*))
The morning after her parent's departure, a very annoyed Mr. Damocles greeted her as she worked into their laboratory. The short-tempered potions master was doing his best to control his temperament but hearing Lily's usual "Good Morning 'Damo" flustered him even more.
"Is everything alright sir?" Lily asked hesitantly, tucking her coat and scarf on the door rack. Everything was never right when he was in one of his moods—either the Poitioneer Pioneer committee had ignored his most recent article, the supervisor was doing surprise visits, or one of some family member was badgering him about what he was really working on. He was always tight lipped about their project; Lily still didn't know what they were working on. It had been nearly seven months and she was still just fetching ingredients, refurbishing the stores and offering advice on everything from the poitoneers pets to what he should buy his nephew for his birthday.
"Humph" was all she got from him. Ah, his ex-wife, she thought. He rarely talked about her, but perhaps…
"Miss Evans," his heals snapped together. "You understanding that what we're doing here is highly classified, correct?"
Is he finally telling me what we're doing down here? "Yes Sir."
"And you know that when I accepted you into the internship, you agreed that to uphold certain levels of secrecy; Horace Slughorn said that you were very stalwart—"
"Yes sir," she replied slightly confused at the turn of events. His ex-wife wasn't in the hot water. She was.
"Then could you please tell me," the little man shrilled, his belly bouncing as he rocked angrily on his heels "Why I came in here this morning and there was a man standing over by your cupboard dropping off a bouquet of Lilies?"
"What?" Her eyes turned to the cupboard that he had given Lily. It was a small desk that served as her station when recording their progress on the potion. He'd then take her notes and lock them till they returned the next day. Normally empty except for a quill, and a photograph of her parents and another of James, today there sat a large vase of brilliant white Lilies, a small pink card tucked between the petals.
"I've already yelled at the girl at the front desk who let him in—she's under investigation be sure—'' he fumed "I want to know who he was."
"What did he look like" she asked, moving to the flowers. Her name was scribbled on the front. It didn't look like James' handwriting, but who else could it be? He was one of the few that knew where in the Institute she was working—only select members of the Order and Vera knew...
"Tall, dark hair. Cocky look. Said he wanted to surprise you—I think it was a rouse. Someone's feeling you up—"
"Pardon Me?" Lily asked raising her eyebrows, "Mr. Damocles, no one is feeling me up."
"Then someone's trying to distract us to get to Alpha Luna!" the man cried, scratching the back of his neck with one hand and pressing his wiry hair down with the other. "I've called security, they're going to—what is it muggle say, dust for prints?"
"Let me look at the card at least," Lily sighed, "My boyfriend—"
"Ah ha!" he jumped pointing at her as though she was a pox ridden leaper, "Someone is feeling you up!"
"He's in the Auror Academy," This man needs a calming draft, "He doesn't leave the Academy until the end of this week" she scanned the note for a moment and it didn't make any sense.
"Miss Evans, do I need to send security to the Auror Academy or should I—"
"Sorry," she cut him off, glancing at the card again before setting it aside. "Sorry it was a gift from my parents. They're going out of the country for the holidays—they just meant to send me a surprise before they left."
'Your parents are muggles," he said blatantly, his face still a shade of red. If this was any other day Lily would be touched that he in fact paid attention to details about her life. But on a day where he was acting as though a Hungarian horntail was chasing after him, she was ready for the dragon to take her out of her misery.
"They're friends with the McKinnon family. They sometimes send gifts through our lines so I get them," she turned the back of the card over finding the logo of a flower store off of Diagon Alley. "See? They just wanted to surprise me before they left that's all. Besides, there's no way they could have found out about the potion."
Her mentor looked at the flowers as though they were a trap but gave a reluctant grunt. The subject, Lily knew, was now closed. The flowers would stay, but he would still give his complaint to security.
She looked at the note again as Damo went to retrieve the locked box. "Dinner at seven? 135 Portland Road, Notting Hill. S." Why would Sirius be asking her to dinner? Since her almost attack at the park launched her roommate into fits of paranoia, Sirius had a made a point to call out how mental Vera had become. But to discuss it over dinner?
Must want to organize something for James, she thought with a smile. She liked the way the flowers looked next to the picture of her and James, the two of them laughing in the orange lights of the lily petals.
Damo was chundering asking her to get the asphodel out. She began falling into her usual routine, but kept her eye on the clock like she had for the past six months.
((*))
Lily was surprised at the Restaurant Sirius had chosen. It was very posh and she felt underdressed as she walked into Julie's Restaurant. She had come straight from work and was wearing her brown skirt and emerald blouse making her look like she had just gotten off her shift at a fashion store and was about to start another at the restaurant rather then arrived for a dinner with a friend.
"Name," a girl with a brown bob and bangs asked without looking at Lily.
"Black," she answered looking up on her tiptoes trying to see Sirius. The restaurant was full, and she was surprised when she couldn't find him sitting at the bar. "Excuse me?" the girl asked again, "Black?"
"Yes, Sirius Black," she could see the girl scan the list of tables, "Sorry, have another name?"
"It might be under Lily Evans," the girl looked up at her as though doing a double take. Her eyes grew hard and for a moment Lily was afraid they had met before and she had offended. "Right this way Miss Evans."
"I hope this doesn't mean he expects me to pay," she said hoping for a laugh to break the hard look in the hostess eye.
"Sure it's not that miss," the girl says without turning her back to face her. "Loads of blokes do it that way. Anyway, he called ahead and said he may be runnin' late."
They reached a room towards the back of the restaurant. Unlike the rest of the restaurant, it was empty. "Right up 'ere," she instructed, walking in front of Lily and climbing up a spiral staircase. Something seemed off. Sirius had selected a nice restaurant, called ahead-which didn't make sense at all-and had reserved a table in a secluded part of the restaurant.
The room was smaller with wood paneled walls and soft yellow curtains. There were several tables out only one was set with candles and bottles of wine. "Are you sure this is mine? My date's more of a bar man, bit of a wandering eye, no cure" if not so he could spike tea and send drinks to pretty girls, he knew they were less likely to be overheard in a crowd then in a secluded, windowless room.
"You're Lily Evans, this is your table," she poured the wine and gave her a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Your date's running a bit late, but he'll be here soon I'm sure."
"Is there any room downstairs?" she asked looking at the chairs and feeling the unease set in to her stomach. "The room we just came up from looked pretty empty—"
"It'll fill up soon enough." The girl continued to look hard at Lily's face as though she'd find no greater pleasure than to rip it off. " Your waiter will be with you shortly."
The minute the hostess left stepped on the staircase Lily began fumbling with her bag, pulling out the mirror and a tube of lipstick. Something was not right. She debated whether or not she could apparate from the room. If barriers had been put up, as she thought, there was a very good chance she'd be splinched rather than disappear unscathed. She held the mirror as though she was putting on her lipstick but called out "James—I need you. James."
Just their luck, he probably was busy and wouldn't get her message. Since learning they could communicate whenever though, they had gotten in the habit of contacting each other every night at eight, she was an hour early. She didn't know how long she had, but she scrawled Hello Sweetie, the restaurant's name, address and before she put on some lipstick of her lips.
"James," she whispered in the mirror. She should have asked Frank at the last Order meeting to teach her how to send a patronus. Course, that meeting they had all been glad no one from their number had been killed that night. Clearing her throat and she tried again, "James-"
"He'll be joining us later tonight," a voice said behind her. Lily felt her spine straighten. She mechanically put the lipstick in her leather case and tucked the mirror under her napkin. Her wand was tucked up her sleeve, but even three she didn't know if she could get it out in time.
"The waitress said you had been expecting Black," the voice continued, moving forward to her. She clenched her jaw and prayed that James would see her note soon, and that he would have the common sense to bring help. Her eyes filed with horror as she heard the door shut behind her."I hope you won't mind supper with someone else."
((*))
AN: I really do hate cliffhangers-but it would've been a very long chapter so in the long run it'll be worth it. I'm going to try and update a few more times before I head back to University, but to give you all a heads up next chapter includes the full and permanent return of James and a face to face with that chilling voice...
Also, just a little side note, when I was writing this chapter I actually did a little research on Notting Hill and the restaurant I've sent Lily too is real and would've been there in 1978. You can google search "Julie's Restaurant London" and see the pictures (the Party Rooms tab has fantastic photos and you can get an idea of the atmosphere of the place). It looked like the sort of place you'd want to visit in Muggle London.
Thank you all for the adds, alerts and reviews. I really adore them and get such a boost from your support and advice. If you have any feedback, I want to hear it. If you have any ideas, suggestions, I'd love to hear. This chapter took a couple tries to get right, so I really would appreciate thoughts via review or PM. Which ever tickles your fancy.
Until next time~KH.