Lily had to wake up early the next morning in order to find time to actually prep for parliament. She wasn't upset about it in the slightest, even though her eyes stung, and she had to take her notes with her to breakfast and she ended up spilling syrup on one of her papers.

James teased her about it, Mary gave her a look that had Lily smiling too much, and Sirius was giving her quite a look as well. Anita, Mia and Monty all seemed none the wiser, but James' hand was on her leg for the duration of breakfast. And that meant that she wasn't as focused on her notes as she would have liked.

She probably should have taken breakfast in her office.

But again, she wasn't upset about it.

But then she was walking onto the floor of parliament, holding her sticky notes with her brain jumbled from the 'see you later' kiss James had given her before she'd walked down to parliament, and she thought again, that she probably should have taken breakfast in her office.

She walked over to her seat and started organizing her papers.

A page named Bart (or maybe Berry, Lily wasn't fantastic with names) walked up and handed her the docket for the day, she thanked him and pulled out a highlighter. It didn't look like there were any surprises, which made her relax a bit. She had the research and knowledge to talk about these topics.

But then her nerves were back as she saw Rosier and Malfoy walk in whispering and giving her pointed looks.

They weren't going to want to talk about what was on the agenda. They were going to want to talk about what happened Saturday morning.

Dammit.

Even Flitwick and Bones were giving her looks that she didn't like.

She felt smaller and smaller as the room filled with the older men that made up parliament. She made herself sit upright, look tall and proud, even if her insides were shaking.

It hadn't been her fault, she hadn't done anything wrong. She kept repeating that to herself as their glares got more pointed and their whispers got louder.

She didn't owe them an explanation, but it was clear that they weren't going to get much done until she gave them one.

When everyone had shuffled into their seats and their mutterings and whispers were getting too loud for Lily to ignore, she stood up and walked over to the small podium.

The whispers stopped immediately when she set her hands on the old wood, pressing her fingertips against it firmly in an attempt to ground herself.

"Good morning, gentlemen," She said, forcing herself to look out around the room, to meet these men's gazes. They were not going to get to her. "We have a few things to discuss this morning while we're convened, but I am not going to pretend that I did not hear the comments many of you were making-"

"Well you can hardly blame us-"

"Excuse me," Lily interrupted, Lord Rosier. "You will not interrupt me, Lord Rosier. Or have we strayed so far from social etiquette within these chambers?" She took a deep breath. "The weekend was quite eventful. As all of you are aware, there is an individual amongst the castle staff who has taken to selling pictures of me to tabloids. Moody is doing his best to find this individual and remove them from the castle." She looked over the room. "I'm sure that you're all as concerned as I am about this breach of trust and security."

They all still appeared to be waiting for an explanation. She huffed, making sure that it didn't land on the microphone. "Obviously I was not sneaking out of Bertram's room, he has also made a statement, which I'm sure you've all made yourselves familiar with."

One of the lords raised their hands, Lord Amos Diggory.

"Yes?"

"If I may be so bold, who's room were you sneaking out of if not Lord Aubrey's?"

Lily waited a beat, letting the extent of her disappointment at the question be felt by everyone in the room. "First, I was not sneaking anywhere. I was walking about my own home. The only reason any of you believe that I was caught 'sneaking' is because there is someone breaking the law right now, taking pictures of me inside of my own home."

"Right, of course," Amos nodded. "I didn't mean to suggest that you had done anything wrong-"

"Yes, you did." Lily pressed her hands against the podium. "You all came in here ready to hand out scarlet 'a's."

"Well the entire country believes that you have been sleeping with-"

"Rosier," Lily sharpened her tone only slightly. If she did much more she would lose the room. She had to remain calm and firm, or she'd be labeled shrill and hysterical. It was a fine, fine line to walk. No female political leader had ever stayed on the right side. They had all been demonized at one point or another. Most were still demonized. "If you can not behave respectfully and follow the rules of the chamber, I will remove you from the chambers for the rest of the day. Do you understand?"

He raised his brows as though he thought she was overreacting. "Of course, princess." Even her title was used to make her appear less authoritative.

"I was with, James." She said, not letting her face turn red. "The fiancé I have because you all refuse to let me take the crown without a husband." She bit her tongue to stop anything else from coming out. The 'remember him?' She tapped her fingers against the wood and took another breath. "Do you think we might be able to get some work done now? We have much to talk about regarding Alice Fortesque and Frank Longbottom's project regarding the children's fund and education initiative."

There was agreement in the form of muttering and Lily nodded, looking down at the agenda and officially starting the meeting.

oOo

She went to her office after the session got out. It had been six hours straight, which wasn't entirely uncommon, as they were trying to get a lot done, but the general feel in the room was different than it normally was.

She was used to feeling as though the men resented her for her position, she was used to their derision because of her age, gender and where she'd grown up. She was used to them trying to talk over her, to ignore her good ideas in favor of backing one another, or because they didn't want to make big change to a system that worked very well for them.

But today had been something else. She had curbed their gossip, she had fed their appetite, but they were still suspicious of her. They were sure that she had done something wrong, something that they could pin on her, just because the papers had run that illegally obtained picture of her. They spent the entire six hours waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to accidentally confess something.

She collapsed in her chair and covered her face with her hands. She wanted to cry, but she had too much work to do.

Emma walked in, looking at her phone. "That was a long meeting," She said, taking a seat in front of Lily's desk. "I have a few things to ask you about the wedding."

Lily sat up and noticed that there were bright pink flowers sitting on the table near her door. "Did you put those there?" She asked, pointing over Emma's shoulder.

Emma turned to look and then shook her head. "No, but I do want to talk to you about flowers." She turned her phone around to show Lily two different bouquets. "Which one do you like more?"

Lily narrowed her brow. "Haven't you already planned the entire wedding? Why do you want my input?"

"It's your wedding, Lily." Emma sighed. "Which one?"

"Did my gran put you up to this?"

"No, I want you to feel as though you had a hand in the planning."

"But I didn't."

"Stop being difficult."

"If you didn't bring me those flowers, then who did?" Lily stood up and stepped around her desk. There was a small note sticking out of the arrangement and she plucked it out.

Thinking of you xx

Lily bit her lip. "Was it, James?" She asked, looking at Emma again.

"How would I know. There's no signature?"

"No." Lily shook her head and pulled out her phone.

"Lily, I just need you to pick a bouquet."

Lily sighed and looked at Emma's phone again. "I like the greener one. With the peach colors in it."

"Good." Emma nodded.

"That was the right answer?" Lily grinned.

"Yep." She swiped over to a new picture. "You'll be trying on two dresses on Thursday. They've both been tailored to perfection, so you should get to pick whichever one you like, but which veil do you think?" She turned her phone around again.

Lily gave her a look. "The shorter veil." She said.

"Perfect." She swiped again. Lily felt like this was some kind of game. "Shoes?"

She showed her three different pairs. Lily picked the shorter of the heels.

"Okay! Thank you! Do you want me to have lunch sent up here?"

Lily nodded and then opened her phone.

Lily: Did you send me flowers?

Lily: That was very sweet of you 3

James: Did I send you flowers?

Lily: Did you not?

James: I did not.

James: Sirius said he did not send them either.

Lily: Damn. I'll check with Mary.

James: Good idea

Lily: Did you send me this beautiful bouquet of flowers because I finally kissed James?

Mary: HAHAHAHAH

Mary: no. But I should have.

Lily: Well then who sent them to me?

Mary: Did you check with Sirius?

Lily: James said he didn't do it either.

Lily: Damn. Bertram.

Mary: Yeah. You want me to come destroy them for you?

Lily: That's a bit drastic. The poor flowers didn't do anything.

Lily: I don't want to look at them while I'm trying to work though.

Lily: I'm going to write a new card and have them sent to your room

Mary: Yay! I knew you loved me!

Lily: So much that I'm regifting deceitful flowers to you 3

Mary: 3

oOo

Lily was glad when five o'clock rolled around and she was able to leave her office and clock out for the day. She'd sent the flowers out to Mary after printing out the meme that Mary had made of her in a trash can, only, she put Mary's face on top of her own face and then put that in place of the note.

Sirius met her at the door of her office when she was locking up.

"What do you want?" She asked, narrowing her brow.

Sirius chuckled. "Hard day?"

She pressed her lips together. "No, everyone was lovely. Rita Skeeter did not call my office half a dozen times trying to get me to tell her when I was planning on calling off the wedding and running off with Bertram."

"He sent you flowers, so soon, I'm guessing." Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets and fell into step beside her. Lily wasn't surprised that he'd worked out where the flowers had come from.

"What do you want?" She repeated.

"You were a bit bold last night," Lily perked up, not sure where he was going with that. "Telling everyone that I liked you."

Lily scoffed. "Oh please. Did you really come up here to tell me that you don't like me?"

"No, I already told you that I don't want to make this week harder for you. But it's also hard to talk to you when James is around."

Lily narrowed her brow. "Do we need to talk?"

He sighed. "Yes, we need to talk, Lily We're going to be family when mum adopts you. And she will adopt you."

Lily rubbed her hand up her arm. "So, you're here for a friendly chat?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I figured that you probably had a hard day and I might have promised James that I'd get along with you as well."

"Sirius," Lily stopped walking, but kept her arms crossed in her middle. "I like you. I know why you were upset with me before, and I don't hold it against you. You know that, right?"

"I mean, I assumed." He shrugged, continuing down the hallway.

Lily didn't start walking again.

"I like you too," Sirius sighed, turning around. "I just don't want you to go around telling people." Lily tilted her head. "I've been rooting for you since you got here. Things have been pretty stagnant for too long. You fell onto the chessboard and no one knew what to do anymore. It's a lot of fun to watch."

"Thanks. I'm glad that you're enjoying my stumbling." She started walking again.

"Things need to change," Sirius said. "And you might feel like you haven't changed much, but you have, just by being here and putting up with everything. People care more now. Young people care more. People who wouldn't have given our political system a second glance are paying attention now."

"Okay, now you're being nice," Lily reached out and shoved his shoulder. "Why?"

He rolled his eyes. "I can be nice. I just need very few witnesses."

"Did you come and get me because you thought someone else might?"

Sirius shrugged. "I might have seen someone else on my way to find mum. I might have changed course."

Lily dropped her shoulders, letting her hands fall to her sides, very glad that she did not have to try and talk to Bertram today. "Thank you."

"Figured there'd been enough pictures of you sent about without your consent."

"Yeah," She narrowed her brow. "Thanks for not posting that photo of me and James. I know it would have made everything go smoother," She shook her head.

"But you didn't want to share it. I get it." He looked over at her. "What do you know about me?"

Lily tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, exactly that," He reached up and pushed a lock of hair away from his face. "What do you know about me?"

"Not as much as I'm guessing you think I should. I know you're old money, I know your family has been in government for a long time, I know that you consider James' parents to be your parents. I know you got uncomfortable when my gran brought up your brother."

"James is my brother."

"Okay, when she brought up Regulus."

"Right." Sirius nodded. "Look, I'm not about to just spill all my secrets here, especially when we don't know," And his voice got very loud here, "Who is listening!" He smiled at her and she laughed. "Anyway, I understand why you hate the press."

"I don't hate the press." Lily said.

"Right," Sirius mouthed and then pointed at the walls and then his ears. She closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. "But I do. My family loves attention and they don't care how they get it. Reg and I, we were toted around for publicity when we were little. There was nothing off limits, no one ever got too close for someone to tell them to stop, no one ever said anything too inappropriate for someone to step in. Someone tried to force Regulus to pose for a picture once. They grabbed his arm, he was seven or eight maybe? I don't know, I was probably eleven. I went batshit on the reporter. I kept screaming at him, kicking and hitting, telling him to get away from me and Reg."

Lily took a deep breath through her nose. "You were children," She said quietly. "Why would they treat you like that?"

"Because no one was there to stop them," Sirius shrugged, a rueful smile on his lips. "And after that, it felt like they were trying to make me lose my temper. And I did. A lot. I'm still weary whenever I see a reporter. So I get it. They don't want the truth, they just want a story, whatever story they can find."

"Fuck 'em." Lily said. She really didn't like seeing Sirius like this. Sirius wasn't meant to be subdued or sad.

He smirked at her. "Yeah, fuck 'em." He nodded.

"They shouldn't have done that to you."

"I know. And they shouldn't have told everyone that you slept with Bertram. Not only because you didn't, but also because it's nobody's business."

Lily stopped walking again, but this time it was because she needed to hug him.

He was surprised at first, but then he patted her back awkwardly. "Alright, enough of this. We don't need to be in the papers." She stepped back.

"Right," She nodded. "But you do like me, and I am going to tell people."

"I'll deny it."

"Yes, but I'll know that it's true. Also, it'll get on Mary's nerves if I tell her that you're my new best friend."

He raised his brows and thought about that for a minute. "I might not deny it then."

Lily laughed and linked her arm through his.

oOo

At dinner that evening, Lily did not announce to everyone that she and Sirius were best friends, but he did laugh loudly at all of her jokes, and that seemed to be enough to get Mary suspicious, which was probably the main reason he was doing it.

James seemed a little suspicious as well.

"What was all that about?" He asked after dinner had ended and they were safely back in her room, away from potential prying eyes or ears. Lily hated feeling like she wasn't free to walk around by herself in her own home.

"What was what about?" She asked.

"You and Sirius?"

Lily snorted. "He wanted to get under Mary's skin. Though I gave him the idea so I should get credit for it." She toed off her heels and walked toward her closet.

"So, you two really are friends already?"

Lily closed the door most of the way, though she left it cracked so they could still hear each other. "Yes," She picked out a comfy hoody and a pair of leggings. "I told you that we would be."

"Sure, but again, Sirius doesn't like to get along with people."

"Well, he likes me. We bonded over how horribly the press treats us and he told me how great I am at my job." She came out once out of her suit and joined him on the couch. "Bertram sent me those flowers today."

"Yeah," He nodded.

"I sent them to Mary."

"Did she like that?"

"Yes, pink is one of her top five favorite colors."

"Right." He nodded.

"Anyway, Sirius said that he was going to find your mum, when he saw Bertram headed toward my office. So then he came to my office to walk me to dinner."

"Because he didn't want you to deal with another damning photograph."

Lily nodded. "I mean, I'm sure he didn't want you to have to deal with it either. I don't want you to think that I'm stealing your best friend from you." James rolled his eyes.

"You can have him. Mary and I will start a support group."

Lily laughed and grabbed his hands, shuffling closer to him.

"How was your day?" She asked. "Did you also get accosted by Emma to make split second decisions about our wedding?"

He snorted and nodded. "Yes, I did. I got to choose between two different ties, and two different tux styles. I also have a fitting on Thursday apparently. What did you get to pick?"

"I chose the correct bouquet," James laughed again. "And I don't want to brag, but I had three options for shoes."

"Three? That's hardly fair. I didn't even get to pick my shoes."

"I got to choose the length of my veil, and I was told that I get to try on two dresses that I've never seen before on Thursday."

James squeezed her hand and then moved his hand to her knees, which she'd pulled up onto the couch. "It's going to be nice."

"Yes, it'll also be a surprise." Lily grinned.

He looked thoughtful for a minute. "We can plan our own wedding someday." He said quietly and Lily leaned her head against the couch and waited for him to explain. "In a couple years, and we can do it however we want. We can know all the details, including the cake flavors."

Lily bit the tip of her tongue and nodded. "There should be more than one cake. And more than one flavor." James laughed and leaned his head against the couch as well, so that he was only a few inches from her.

"Right, of course." She smiled at him and reached up and pushed her fingers through his hair. "Maybe it should just be a stack of different kinds of pastries."

"Now you're onto something." Lily nodded. "Why don't people do that?"

"I'm fairly certain it's a challenge on the Great British Baking Show."

"Well maybe I should hold a baking challenge. Gather up some bakers and have them compete to make me the best wedding stack of pastries." She laughed quietly. "Though I'd be the real winner, because I'd have about a dozen stacks of pastries."

James nodded. "I'd make you a stack of pastries if I knew how."

"You could still try." Lily grinned. "I'd appreciate it even if they're nothing to lust after."

James laughed and rested his forehead against hers. "I'll give it a go then. I mean, you did make me a pie, so it's my turn to bake."

Lily nodded. "And you still owe me chocolate so," She shrugged a shoulder.

"I haven't forgotten,"

"I won't let you forget."

James smirked and then closed the distance between them.

oOo

The next morning Lily woke up early when Mary came into her room and crawled into bed with her.

"What time is it?" Lily mumbled, starting to sit up.

"Too early, go back to sleep." Mary said, settling on the other side of Lily's bed.

"Are you okay?" She asked, though she did lay back down.

"Yeah," Mary nodded. "Things are changing though, and I just want to be near you."

"Okay," Lily nodded, reaching out for Mary's hand. Mary took it and squeezed before she shuffled a bit closer. "Love you, Mary."

"Love you, Lily."

When they woke up a couple hours later, Lily expected the rest of the morning to go quite like it had the day before.

And it did at first.

She went to breakfast, James kissed her before she went to work, Emma bombarded her with media requests that she swore she'd slimmed down, and today she was taking meetings instead of going to parliament, so she had the first hour of her day to make phone calls and answer emails, which she did at the same time.

Her first meeting was at ten, and she hadn't had time to check the list to see who had signed on to have meetings with her today. She knew that Alice wasn't coming in, so there wasn't really anyone to look forward to.

Or so she thought.

At ten o'clock, Euphamia Potter walked into her office.

Lily looked up, confused, but happy to see her. She smiled and glanced at the clock. "Mia, it's lovely to see you."

"Thank you, you as well, Lily." She walked further into the room and then took a seat across from Lily. "I want you to know that I'd be here even if you weren't marrying my son."

Lily narrowed her brow. "You would?"

"Yes," She nodded. "I'm not sure what my son has told you about me, but I've always been very involved in politics." She crossed her legs at the ankle and clasped her hands together.

Lily raised her brow in realization. "You're my ten o'clock?"

Mia nodded. "I went through all the proper channels so that no one could say that you were only seeing me because of James." She said, "I hope it's alright that I didn't give you a heads up."

"Of course!" Lily smiled at her. "I'm glad to have you on the docket today." That was one less slot that a member of parliament could take. "And James has told me quite a bit about, well not your politics per say, but about all the protests that you've um- that you've attended."

"I've been arrested quite a few time," Mia sighed. "But they haven't been able to make any of their charges stick and of course that's what James has told you about me."

"I think what you've been doing is very brave," Lily sat up straighter. "I wish more people wanted to enact the kind of change that you've been fighting for."

Mia smiled at her, "I appreciate you saying that. It seems as though your goals don't align with what your father had in mind for the kingdom."

Lily pressed her lips together, but kept her smile in place. "No, and there are quite a few disappointed parliament members." She shook her head. "But that's alright. I can take their criticism so long as we keep moving forward. The men don't like the word liberal, but as long as I disguise the word, they seem to be on board for liberal policies. Not big ones, mind you, but little ones."

Mia nodded. "I'm sure it's discouraging being the only woman in the room as well."

Lily nodded and then cleared her throat. "I wasn't expecting that. But it is a challenge that I will overcome."

"It's not something that you have to do alone though. I came here to talk to you about an organization that I started with my good friends Daphne Shacklebolt and Charlotte Parkinson. Our main goal is to get women interested in running for political offices. You might have heard of the group, Seat at the Table."

Lily leaned forward in her chair, elbows on her desk now. "Yes! I didn't know that you started that group!"

"I didn't do it alone," Mia grinned.

"I remember seeing pictures of the group from the International Women's March!"

"Yes, it was such a thrill to see all those women come together around the world like that. Were you in London still in 2017?"

"Yes, Mary and I went with most of the girls in our dorm. It was very inspiring."

"Yes, and I was so thrilled to see that the march had such a positive affect in so many places around the world. More women than ever before were running for office, but here," She held her hands out to show that there was really nothing to show. Lily nodded.

"Yes, well there were a few women who ran for mayor, but since our parliament appointments are life terms," She pushed back her hair. "And so many of them just get passed from father to son!"

"Yes." Mia nodded. "There are a lot of eighty-year-old men in that room and I'm afraid that there's going to be a period that sees a lot of turnover all at once. I'm glad that turnover is not right now, with you coming onto the throne in a few short weeks." She smiled at Lily and Lily nodded. "Our organization wants to hold an event, in May, so we have a lot of time to talk things over, but I wanted to bring it to your attention now, since I'm here and James has been talking to me about how certain people have been talking to and about you. I assumed things were hard, given what the papers were saying, but you never know."

Lily nodded. "What kind of event do you want to hold?"

"We're still working out all the details, we don't want it to be a fundraiser, or a march, but we want it to have the energy of a march. We want to create that kind of excitement, get women to sign up to run for offices." There was a spark in Mia's eyes that Lily had seen in James before. If this wasn't an issue that was close to her heart, she would have been drawn in anyway. "I wanted to ask you if we could use the summer castle as a venue. We could pull excitement from having our first Queen crowned, and being in a place that has affected so much change."

"The summer palace?" Lily pulled over her planner and flipped to May. "The event would have to be before the fifteenth, because I have plans to turn the palace into a group home for homeless children and teens."

Mia raised her brows. "Really? How did you get that through parliament?"

Lily smiled. "Technically and legally, I own the palace, so I didn't need their approval. They weren't happy about it though. Apparently, they all get to stay there whenever they want as a job perk." Lily shrugged. "But this way it'll be more useful."

"That's brilliant. And we can definitely make sure that the event is before the fifteenth."

When the meeting was over, Lily had the distinct impression that she had impressed her future mother-in-law, and it felt good.

Lily to Prince Jim: Listen

Lily: I think your mum and I are best friends now.

James: Wow. My family shows up and you just steal them all from me in less than two days.

James: I'm going to go find my father and let him beat me at chess before you take him from me too

Lily: I'm good at losing at chess too, maybe I'll find him first.

James: Doubt it. You have meetings for the rest of the day

Lily: Yes but none that I want to take.

James: Why are you best friends with my mum now?

Lily: She was my first meeting! She was here to talk about 'A Seat at the Table.'

Lily: Which you failed to tell me she started.

James: She's done a lot, I couldn't possibly have told you everything

Lily: You could have tried.

James: I'll do better in the future

Lily: Thank you!

Lily: 3

James: if we get hacked, people will see that

Lily: *middle finger emoji*

James: that's much better

AN: Alright, another weekend another chapter! Also I'm ahead again! When I posted last weeks chapter, that was the last fully written chapter I had, but now I have next weeks chapter written and half of the follow weeks. If I get any further ahead, maybe we can have another double update and finish up this fic sooner than later!

Let me know what you think! Did you like the Sirius and Lily moment? Did you like Mia? Prince Jim?