Lily woke up with her face in James' hair. It smelled amazing.

He was laying on his stomach, an am draped across her and his head tucked against her shoulder. The arm he was laying on was a little tingly, but she definitely wasn't ready to move and wake him yet. She flexed her fingers and closed her eyes.

If she just lived in this moment for the rest of the day, then she didn't have to think about anything else. She could just enjoy the smell of James' hair and listen to him breath. It would all be very peaceful.

She tried to fall back asleep, but she heard her phone buzzing on the couch where she left it last night. Or maybe it was James' phone. She couldn't go back to sleep though, because as soon as she was thinking about her phone, she was thinking about all the work she had to do today, and how busy things were going to be.

She bent her arm up and buried her hand in James' hair.

She thought it was unfair that his hair was a soft as it was.

He took in a deep breath and shuffled closer, his hair tickling her nose. His arm tightened around her middle and he pulled her closer, his lips finding her shoulder. "It's still early, yeah?" His voice was rough and quiet. Lily bit the inside of her cheeks.

"I don't know what time it is," She said, still playing with his hair.

He turned his head away for a moment, glancing at his watch. "It's seven."

Lily sighed. "Well that explains why my eyes are stinging."

"Five hours of sleep isn't enough for you?"

His hair, his voice, there was so much that wasn't fair here.

"Not typically." She sighed. "And Mary woke me up early yesterday, so I didn't sleep well then either."

"And I kept you up late. Two days in a row now."

Lily smiled and then turned on to her side, scooting down so her forehead was resting against his. His eyes were still closed. "I like waking up next to you."

"I don't mind you waking me up." He pecked her lips without opening his eyes. "Now, go back to sleep. Breakfast isn't for another hour."

"I'll try." She agreed. "But you're distracting." Which was not a bad thing. It was ridiculously easy to focus on him instead of whatever was causing her phone to buzz.

"I'm not sorry about that." Lily smirked and kissed him again.

"I'm not either." James chuckled and then his hand was on her cheek and he was kissing her again, less peck-ish and more like he meant it now.

"Yes," James nodded. "I like waking up next to you too." Lily hummed against his lips and then turned her head away.

"I'm trying to go back to sleep, James."

"No," He pulled his hand through her hair. "I was trying to go back to sleep."

"Well, my apologies."

"You're forgiven."

After Amelia and Gwen came in just before eight, looking flustered enough to turn Lily's face red, James went back to his room to get properly dressed and Lily got ready for the day. She put on a dark navy skirt and jacket and did her hair up. She wanted to look more professional today, since she thought it might help when shit hit the fan.

And if, miraculously, shit did not hit the fan, then it wouldn't hurt to look extra professional anyway.

She was stepping into her heels when James knocked on the door. She smiled at him as he walked in.

"Moody caught the mole, you don't need to walk me to breakfast."

"I missed you too much, I couldn't stay away," James shrugged, leaning against the door frame. "Also I want to talk to you about something."

"Snogging is not the same as talking, James and I don't have time to reapply my lipstick if we're going to get to breakfast before Mary eats all the good toast." James laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

"If I meant that I wanted to snog you, then I would have just said that. I mean, I do want-" He shook his head. "You distracted me earlier. I want to talk to you."

Lily smirked at him and then nodded. "About what?"

"I want to go with you to parliament this morning." James said. "Or not, with you, but I'd like to go to parliament, as well. I don't know if that's out of the ordinary for someone in my position, but I think I'd like to be more involved."

Lily looked at him, arms crossed over her chest and really looked at him. "Are you sure that's why you want to go today of all days?"

"I'd like to start going before people start calling me king." He blinked when he said that. "Is it weird that I keep forgetting that I'll have that title after you're crowned?"

"James, if you want to be more involved in politics, then of course I want you to go, but if you're suggesting that you go today because you're worried that Bertram is going to storm in, then I don't want you to go."

His hand jumped to his hair. "I wanted to go to the last one, but I knew that if I brought it up then, that you'd think that it was because I wanted to be there for you when they started asking you questions about the photo. There really hasn't been a time for me to ask you where there hadn't been something else going on as well."

Lily nodded and walked over, taking his hand, "Just say it though. Say that you're not going to watch for Bertram."

"I'm not going to watch for Bertram. I'll keep my eyes peeled for Sirius, maybe Mary too, but Bertram is all yours."

She squeezed his hand and nodded. "Alright, perfect. I didn't want to have to look for Sirius and Mary." James smiled at her and pulled on hand a bit. "Even though Mary is shite at hiding and is usually very easy to spot. I mean at least half of her outfit is normally sparkly or neon."

"That's true. I am here for you though. I know I just said that I didn't want you to think-"

"James Potter. I know that you're here for me. I cried all over you last night and then didn't let you leave. I know that you're here for me." She repeated. "Now let's get down to breakfast so Sirius can make fun of me with his eyes for having had you spend the night."

James snorted. "You hope he only uses his eyes."

"Yes." Lily nodded profusely. "I really hope he only uses his eyes, or I'll have to kick him in the shin."

"The shin?" James tutted as they walked toward the door. "I never would have guessed that you'd threaten his shin."

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, you have two threats. Side pinching and shin kicking." Lily pinched him and he laughed, "Ow, and now you're just proving my point."

"I don't care. They're effective threats. Do you think they would work against Rosier?" James laughed again.

After breakfast, Lily and James walked into Parliament together, though Lily made sure to let go of his hand before they were in the room. She nodded at him with a small smile as she went to her seat at the front of the room, and he took a seat along the left side of the room, where visitors and the press were allowed to sit.

She was always nervous when she walked in here, because she knew that it was going to be hard to walk the line between firm and docile, soft and authoritative. She had to please everyone in the room as much as she could. Today, she was nervous for a different reason. She was worried because James was here, and she didn't really want him to see how some of the members of Parliament talked to her.

She took her seat and picked up the agenda for the day. There were no surprises on the list, which was a good thing, because she didn't know how well she would deal with any more surprises.

She took out her notes from her meetings yesterday and their session on Monday and looked over them, marking a few things that she wanted to make sure to touch on.

Today everyone seemed to shuffle in a bit slower than they did on Monday. There were no salacious rumors going about that she was sleeping with her rival for the throne, and so they didn't feel the need to be sitting in their seats before nine o'clock.

Unlike Monday, she got a few friendly waves from Flitwick, Bones, and Meadows. She often forgot that Dorcas' husband was part of the parliament, since he was twice her age and she never thought of him as Dorcas' husband. She waved back to the three of them and saw Rookwood roll his eyes at her being friendly. Was she somehow doing that wrong? Waving to people was worthy of an eye roll?

She bit down on her tongue and cleared her throat.

What a great way to start the meeting.

Frank Longbottom came up to her and gave her a few new sheets about the project that he was overseeing with Alice, who had taken a seat next to James.

"Thank you, Frank,"

"Of course," He grinned. "Thanks for being so prompt about getting back to Alice and I. I know that you've got a lot going on right now."

Lily shook her head. "The children have to be a priority. Nothing is more important than the work that you two are doing. It's going to help so many people."

Frank smiled at her. "Yeah, I hope so. Let's just hope that they see it that way." He nodded toward the rest of the room and Lily smiled.

"I'm sure that you will. You've done fantastic research and all of your numbers are sound."

He walked off to take his seat and Lily felt a little bit better. Not everyone in the room hated her. And she was making positive changes.

"Alright, let's get started," She said, standing up and walking toward the podium with her pen and the agenda. "We are lucky enough to have borrowed Alice from her school today, so she could present the bill that her and Frank Longbottom have been working on. We're going to let them take the floor first so that Alice can get back to the children," Alice smiled, standing up and collecting her bag.

"Hem hem,"

Lily flinched at that noise. It was obviously feminine, but Lily and Alice were the only women in the room to her knowledge.

"Excuse me," There was an audible shift as everyone in the room turned to look at the door, where there stood a short, elderly woman stood in a bright pink skirt and blazer made out of what appeared to be the worst fabric in the world. Possibly carpet? There was no way that it wasn't scratching up the woman's arms.

"You're interrupting an active session right now," Lily narrowed her brow. She looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "If you have something that you'd like to share with us, you can take a seat and we'll get to you when we can, though it will probably be a few hours. We have a full list today."

"Yes, I understand that, and I appreciate order and procedure as much as the next, but I'm Dolores Umbridge, I work for the ministry and I need to speak with you." Lily blinked at her, refraining from grinding her teeth at the woman's self-importance.

"That's fine, I'll be taking meetings later in the afternoon."

James stood up, probably to help her find her way to the proper person to deal with an intruder, but when he stepped up in front of her, she side stepped him.

"I'm a lawyer, Princess." Dolores had a small smile on her face like she was about to gleefully inform everyone in the room that all of their pets had just died. "And I need to talk to you. I'm representing Bertram Aubrey."

There it was. Though she was surprised that he'd gone the lawyer route. That didn't seem as hands on as he liked to be. Though he did hire Barty to follow her around the castle. Maybe he didn't want to get his hands dirty in front of everyone.

As soon as she'd said Bertram's name, all eyes were back on Lily.

"And that's fine, I will meet with you after we're done here."

"That would be fine, if you hadn't barred him from entering the castle. It is his right as a Lord and second in line for the throne, to attend these sessions should he wish to."

"I did not bar him from the castle," Lily said, and she could feel the tension in the room growing. "Even though he has not attended any of the parliament sessions while he's been staying in the castle, I did expect him to show up at some point today. He was barred from the living quarters, and if he told you otherwise, then you were misinformed. If you need any more information, you can find Emma Vanity or Alastor Moody." Judging by the look on her face though, Lily was quite sure that Dolores had walked into this room knowing full well that Bertram would have been allowed to enter the chambers had he shown.

This was a show.

Just like everything else where Bertram had been involved.

And Lily was so fucking tired of it.

Dolores smiled at her. "Of course, I am so sorry to have interrupted your very important business." Lily did not like this woman's tone.

"I highly doubt that. You're welcome to leave now." She saw James' brow jump and couldn't believe that she had actually said that out loud. She looked at Alice, "I'm so sorry that you've been needlessly delayed, Alice. Please, come up and take the floor."

Alice looked toward Frank, who was also standing up.

She saw Dolores leave, and as soon as the door closed, she went back to her seat and flipped open her notepad.

"That's it?" Rosier shouted, standing up from his seat. "Dolores bloody Umbridge walks in here telling us that you've taken to barring people from the chambers and we're not going to talk about it?"

"I know that you've taken a shining to deliberately ignoring about half of what I say," Lily didn't stand up from her seat, "But please don't stand there and pretend as though you didn't hear me tell her that I had not barred anyone from the chambers. Anyone and Everyone is always welcome to sit in on our proceedings. You know that as well as anyone."

She'd been getting more brazen with him in their private meetings, but that was as far as she'd ever taken things with him in public.

Lord Meadows raised his hand from his usual seat in the back of the room. He never said much, so Lily was surprised to see his hand in the air.

"Yes," She nodded in his direction.

"I think what Lord Rosier is trying to ask, is why Lord Aubrey has been removed from the castle at all. After all, you had agreed to let him stay when Lord Rosier," He paused and looked around the room, "And others, asked for the accommodation. The two of you seemed to be getting on rather well."

"Very well," Someone muttered a little too closely to their microphone. Lily wasn't sure who it was, but she saw them all shift their gaze from Lily to James, who had taken his seat again now that Dolores was gone.

She swallowed down the childish things that she wanted to say and stood up. "Bertram was asked to leave the premises last night after an incident. He was asked to leave because my head of security thought it best to have everyone, but family leave the castle so that he would have less to worry about. With more family being in the castle than usual, due to the wedding on Saturday, manpower needed to be used differently than say, if this incident had happened last week."

Malfoy had the decency to raise his hand now. Alice and Frank were both standing next to the podium awkwardly. "This incident," Lucius always carried around a cane with him, a stupid, hideous thing with a snake head on the top, and he tapped it against the floor before he continued. "Are you going to inform us what it was?"

Lily shook her head, "Though I'm sure some of you already know, no. I'm not going to discuss it at this time. No one was hurt, Moody was able to foil the plot, and some of you will be asked to talk to him or the chief officer soon, but as of now, it's an active investigation and I'm not at liberty to give you all the details you want."

They didn't like that answer, and a few of them shifted uncomfortably in her seat, though she didn't mind either. "Now, do you think we could do our jobs? You've all been far too interested in distractions these last two sessions. Alice and Frank are going to give us a presentation about their bill that would bring education and healthcare to thousands of children throughout Gryffindor. A very worthy cause, we've all agreed. So, let's give them our undivided attention."

Gordon, the prime minister, came up to her when they all took recess for lunch.

"We knew they were going to try something." Lily said before he could say anything.

"Yes," He nodded, taking a seat beside her as she finished packing up her things so she could go to lunch. "Yes we did. I did not expect them all to sink so low though. What happened last night?"

Lily huffed and looked around the room. "Barty Crouch Jr has been working for us for about six months. He's also been the leak these last couple weeks."

"Barty?" Gordon sighed and ran his hand over his face.

"Yes. He said that he's been working with Bertram, but we haven't pressed charges against Bertram since there's no hard evidence saying that he hired Barty, or that he knew what was going on."

Gordon nodded slowly, looking around the room as well, his eyes stopping to rest on a few people in particular. "And you think they're in on it as well?"

"I just don't know what they're plan is exactly. First, they wanted to use Bertram to lure me away of my own free will, now they want to what? Scare me out of the castle? It's not going to work."

"Bertram came out and denied that there was anything going on between the two of you too Why did he do that?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I think he was trying to get me to talk to him in person. He sent me flowers the other day too. But after today, I'm pretty sure he knows that I know that he's full of shite. So I think he's going to be done playing nice."

"I can't believe he sent Umbridge in here. I despise her."

"I've never met her before today, but she seems unpleasant."

James made his way up the stairs and Lily smiled at him.

"Great first meeting, no?" She asked him and Gordon chuckled.

"Oh yes," James nodded, "They should televise these things if they're half as entertaining usually."

"Regardless of what happened, I am glad to see you here today." Gordon stuck his hand out and James shook it.

"Yes, I figured it was time I start working out what my role will be. I know that I'll be the consort, but I don't want to be passive."

"Good to hear it. Though I don't know how you could be passive, being Mia's son." Gordon chuckled and James nodded appreciatively.

"That's a good point."

"Well, I'm going to go and grab something to eat before our break ends."

"See you in a bit," Lily waved, picturing Rookwood rolling his eyes as she did.

"Are you alright?" James asked once he was gone.

"Of course." Lily nodded.

"Do you still think he's going to show?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, I do. Did you see Mary or Sirius?"

"No, I think Anita is keeping them preoccupied."

"Ah," She nodded.

"I know you've told me about your customer service voice, but the voice you were using to address them was something entirely different." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I went a bit far with Rosier." She bit her tongue and looked down at her hands.

"No," James shook his head, "Maybe, I don't really know, but I don't think so. And that's not what I meant. You were very confident, very sure of yourself."

Lily snorted. "Well I have to appear that way. Otherwise they'll eat me alive."

"True, but I bought it."

They went back to her office for lunch, which James had ordered from a local Thai place. Her office smelled amazing and she fell back onto her chair, ready to stuff her face.

"Lily?" Emma knocked on the door and then walked in without waiting for a reply.

"Emma, I'm sure this can wait until I'm finished with my lunch."

"It should be able to wait but it's rather impatient. Dolores is here."

"I told her to get a meeting with me after parliament is done for the day."

"Bertram is with her."

Lily looked over at James and he put down his takeout box and sat upright.

If she spoke to him now, then maybe he wouldn't come out onto the floor of parliament.

Or maybe he would.

She hadn't spoken to him in a long time.

She didn't know what the right answer was.

"I don't think they'll take no for an answer, Lily." Emma said, which made up her mind.

"Tell them that I'll see them in twenty minutes." Lily said. "I'm not going to let him or his uppity lawyer boss me around."

Emma gave her a small smile and nodded. "Very good, ma'am." That was the most formal Emma had ever been with Lily, so she figured she'd done something right. She closed the door behind her and Lily picked up her food. "I don't want to talk to them," She sighed, shoveling in a bite that was too large.

"I know." James nodded. "But he can't really do anything, from a legal standpoint. I don't know why he brought Umbridge into this. My mum can't stand her."

"I've never heard of her before today." Lily shook her head. "Though, I saw Gordon's face and it didn't look as though he was all that fond of her either. And Gordon is good at getting alone with everyone."

"He really looks out for you, doesn't he?"

Lily shrugged. "He's a good bloke. He'd like to see me succeed."

The twenty minutes she bought herself disappeared rather quickly, and soon Emma was knocking on the door again and leading Bertram and Dolores into the room. Lily didn't bother to put away her food, but she did stand up to properly introduce herself to Dolores.

"It's nice to meet you in a more appropriate setting," She said as Dolores took her hand. The older woman gave her a very tight-lipped smile and nodded.

"Well, I wished to speak to you before parliament started-"

"I don't make myself available at all hours of the day, though you could have called my assistant. Barging into the middle of a meeting that's in session doesn't paint you in a good light in my eyes. Especially when you immediately start spouting falsehoods." She sat back down and took a bite of her food, deliberately avoiding Bertram's gaze. She chewed and swallowed before she spoke again. "I hope what you have to say is worth interrupting my lunch?"

Umbridge didn't seem to like the fact that Lily was not at all flustered or intimidated by her presence. Lily could see how she would make for a good lawyer. She had an air about her that told Lily she didn't allow anyone to say she was in the wrong, she seemed strong willed and determined, both admirable qualities, and yet Lily was sure this woman used them for less than admirable causes.

Umbridge straightened her jacket and opened her mouth, but it was Bertram who spoke up.

"Lily, what's going on?" He asked, and Lily slowly moved her gaze from Umbridge to him. She narrowed her brow slightly and set down her fork to cross her arms over her chest.

"What do you think is going on, Bertram?"

"I don't know," He said just as slowly, and Lily had to give it to him. He was a good actor.

She could see the look James was giving him out of the corner of her eye, somewhere between incredulous and exasperation.

"You really think that Barty didn't immediately spill all the information he had?" She asked, tapping her fingers on her arm. "Or that I didn't realize what you were up to weeks ago? Did you think that no one in the entire castle had seen you doing shady shit since you got here? Did you think I wouldn't notice that you only ever appeared when I was alone? Or that your feelings toward me were entirely insincere?"

He blinked, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "I don't know what you mean." He said, shaking his head. "What have I done-"

"Other than tell James that you wanted to get me to fall for you so that I'd call off the wedding and hand my crown over to you?" Lily interrupted. "I'm going to need you to stop playing dumb. You know exactly why you were escorted out of the castle last night."

Bertram turned his head to look at James, who gave him a mock salute and then stuffed noodles into his mouth. Lily smiled.

"I can't believe that you're standing there on your high horse, accusing my client of such terrible things."

"They are terrible things, aren't they. Using someone, lying, tricking, identifying with Holden in Catcher and the Rye. Not things that good people do."

Bertram shook his head and gave her one of his pointy smiles, but it had no warmth. "If you knew that I wasn't really into you, then why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Bertram, I don't think you should-"

"I wanted to kick you in the shin earlier." Lily interrupted. "But I figured it was best to let you continue with the plan that I was aware of." She picked up her fork again and took another bite.

Bertram let out a bitter laugh. "You're more clever than I gave you credit for, that's for sure." He turned toward James. "And you, when you came and asked for my help,"

"She knew then. We talked about it beforehand."

"You knew that he asked for my help?" Bertram spun back to Lily.

"We're not really in the business of keeping secrets from one another." Lily shrugged. "Wouldn't make for a solid foundation. And we are getting married after all. Best to put our best foot forward."

"We came in here to discuss the legal matter of-"

"Lily didn't break the law." Bertram interrupted his lawyer this time. "And she's not going to. She's not above playing dirty, but she won't break the law." He pushed his hair back, only for it to spring forward again. "Look, I want to be king. I haven't always wanted to be king, but it's what my father wanted for me before he died."

"How interesting." Lily deadpanned.

"Right, yes, your father is dead too and wanted- Anyway, I couldn't just give up. Especially not with my uncle- you've met him. And Rosier was breathing down my neck-"

"Are you trying to play all this off like it's not a big deal?" Lily shook her head. "You almost ruined my career before it even began."

He looked at Umbridge, "I'm not going to implicate myself in any crime that's been committed, but if I had done something, I wouldn't have thought that they'd think you were sneaking out of my room."

"Bull shite," Lily shook her head. "After the other pictures you made sure were in the paper and all over the internet? How were they going to come to any other conclusion?"

"I refuted it, didn't I? I didn't have to do that, I could have just sat back and watched your ship sink. And I sent you the flowers! I felt bad! I was trying to sway public approval in my favor, but I wasn't trying to get you burned at the stake over a sex scandal! Which I've been trying to tell you, but you've been avoiding me- Not that I blame you!" He put his hands up when she made to interrupt him again.

"Bertram, you brought a lawyer-"

"I did not tell her to barge into parliament. I brought her in case Emma or Moody gave me any trouble." He eyed Dolores. "She decided to go rogue while I was on the phone with my uncle."

"When there has been an injustice against a citizen of the great country of Gryffindor, I can't just sit back and do nothing."

"There wasn't any injustice," Bertram muttered, shaking his head. "Other than Lily being ahead of me in line for the throne."

Lily looked over at James, who appeared to be just as confused about what was going on.

"I'm bowing out, Lily. Rosier, my uncle, all them, I'm sure they're not, but I am. I'm done playing this game. I wasn't cut out for this shite." He shook his head. "I mean, I was. But- I don't know what I want to do, but trying to take your job isn't it. You're better at it than I would be, anyway."

"I'm not going to fall for that." Lily said, hoping that she didn't sound as young as she felt. "Your ego would never let you say something like that sincerely."

Bertram nodded, "Sure, and I get that, but I really am going to bow out gracefully. Well as gracefully as one can after being escorted off the premises."

"At least there were no photos of that," James muttered into his box of noodles.

"You told me that you require my services, Lord Aubrey."

"I told you that I might require your services."

"I'm a very busy woman,"

"My uncle has you on retainer." He shook his head and held his hand out across Lily's desk. "I'm not really sorry about how things went down, except that last photo, though I do hope to be your competitor once again someday soon. Perhaps I'll get to debate you on the parliament floor."

"She'll eviscerate you." James spoke up again. Bertram gave him a tightlipped smile and Lily took his hand because he was still holding it out and she wanted everything to stop feeling awkward and itchy.

"I look forward to it." He released her hand and spun around. "I'm sorry that I interrupted your lunch. I leave you in peace for now."

And then he walked out of the room.

When the door shut, Lily turned to James with her hands on her hips. "What the fuck was that?"

AN: This was a fun chapter for me. Lots going on, lots of balls in the air.

Hope you enjoyed!

Don't forget to leave a review!