AN: Basically thought "Man, Lilith Moon is a pretty good P.I. name." So a stupid little thought turned into a stupid little story. Set in Harry's 5th year.
Harry's year couldn't get any worse than this.
Even after having to deal with the smell of garlic for a year; dealing with a teenager with a superiority complex and his pet snake; a hundred soul sucking cloaks; and a tournament that single-handedly made him a social pariah.
Also the return of Voldemort, but even that didn't compare to the horror that was the human equivalent of a wart toad, Dolores Umbridge.
She was on him from the get go. Goading him in her classes, all the decrees that turned the school into her prison and her the warden, and the detentions that made him miss signing Lockharts fanmail; at least that only caused him torture in boredom, not actual torture. Forcing him to build up a little group of rebellion in protest to her indoctrination veiled to be her teaching. Even then, that brought up problems that urked him to no end; the little snot nosed brat Zacharias Smith and Cho Chang, looking for him to be a rebound for his dead boyfriend. Granted she was Harry's first crush, but he didn't want to be a replacement for someone, especially not Cedric, and he found himself finding more reasons to leave the DA meetings just so he doesn't have to get stuck into confronting her. Was it cowardly? Yes, but after what he faced in Hogwarts for four years, he thought he deserved to be cowardly every once in a while.
So here he was, in an unused classroom, surveying the corridor of the Room of Requirement. He wasn't in any mood to go back to the Gryffindor dorms, and in times like this he usually uses the Room of Requirement to relax and let off a bit of steam, but Cho was unusually tenacious this time around and hasn't left the room for quite some time, leaving him bored and with pent up energy that he couldn't dispel.
It was after a few minutes that he saw a name walking in the corridor where the room he was based in was at, Lilith Moon. He racked his brain for a few seconds trying to figure out if he had ever met her, then realized she was walking directly towards the room he was in. Harry frantically hid the map under his invisibility cloak behind his back and not a second later the door in front of him opened to reveal Lilith.
A fair complexion, with black, smooth hair caressing her back, and a cute nose (Harry blushed a bit at his freudian thought.) She stood straight, with her hands laced behind her as she surveyed the room he was in. He gently stood up from his sitting position on the desk and folded his armson his chest. His movement made Lilith focus on him with his brown eyes that held a slight twinkle of… something.
"Hello, Lilith right? Lilith Moon?" After getting a good look at her, he finally recognized the name with the few faces that mastered the protego charm a few days earlier in one of the DA meetings. He stood a bit taller than her but she still had an air of confidence as she tilted her head to the side.
"Yes, I'm pleased that you know of me, or at least remembered my name. Though I would like to properly introduce myself." She then pulled out a card from her breast pocket, ("She was wearing a suit?" Harry realized belatedly) and offered it to him with a wide grin. "Lilith Moon, working for Moon's Private Eye; no one hidden under the Moon's light!"
Harry was a bit nonplussed. He took the card and read the blurb on the card: "Is your mister out on numerous late nights? Is your mistress sending out owls in the middle of the night? Call the best wizard private investigator galleons can buy and we'll get to the bottom of it!" Harry's confusion increased when Lilith put down a briefcase he was sure she didn't have a moment ago.
Lilith pulled out a manila folder full of files, and as she did she pulled out her wand to summon a few more desks, creating a makeshift long table, with her at one side and him on the other. She gave a glance towards him and at the chair across from her, "Look, I'm sure you have plenty of questions, and I'll answer all of them if you can just give me a minute of your time and a bit of your help. So please, take a seat with me." She said with a smile. Harry thought that this was some kind of trap, but she was a part of the DA, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt and sat across from her.
She gave a thankful nod and continued on, "Now, I'm sure you're wondering how I managed to discover your location, correct?" Harry gave her a nod, "Well, please go into your left pocket. In there you'll be able to pull out a tightly-wound up piece of lintel." He gave her an inquisitive look but humored her by taking his left hand into said pocket, and lo and behold there was the aforementioned lintel. She took it from and gave a whispered finite.
After giving it back to him, she went on to explain, "Earlier, I put this lintel In your pocket when you came to give me some tips on my Stupefy, I put a tracking charm on it before-" Harry's nose flared in anger and she put her hands up in a surrendering gesture, "Wait! Before you get angry, believe me when I say that regardless of anything that might've happened afterwards I would have told you after meeting you, and I did, didn't I?"
Harry gave it a thought, and asked her "Why though? You could've just told me that you wanted to meet me after the DA meeting." Lilith gave an acknowledging nod and told him, "Because I wanted you to know my abilities, and what better way to show that than this?" She smiled an apologetic smile, "Though I am sorry, I know after what happened to you, if the rumors were to be believed, you wouldn't be receptive to this kind of stuff."
'Pretty sure everybody would mind being bugged and followed' Harry thought, but with a roll of his eyes he gave her a nod, "Alright fine, I guess you could have done something worse than this. Now, what do you mean by "showing off your abilities"? Why do you need to show off to me?"
Lilith sat straighter in her chair and said with a proud voice, "Because I wanted to show you why Moon's Private Eye is the best in the business; I could have simply put a tracking charm on your body but instead I put a small object that already had a tracking charm on you instead. So that if you were the type of person that regularly dispels tracking charm on yourself or have someone dispel them for you, you would only be dispelling the ones on your body, but not on your person. Magic is based on intent after all."
She gave a proud smile "Of course that's not the only thing I can do." Lilith pushed a white manila folder to Harry and as he opened it up he saw an endless sea of text; details of where the Moon's Private Eye was located; some of the personnel of the business; and finally, services that the business offered.
Lilith opened the briefcase and pulled out another manila folder, this time in the color red and glanced slightly behind him. He wondered if it was a trick of the eye,but her eyes were twinkling again. She suddenly started spouting off again, "Our business is in investigating whatever the client needs, whether it be to get information on a person or simply getting photos of several wizards in… compromising situations. We hold back against nothing to satisfy our clients."
Harry was on a bit of text detailing the accomplishments of the private eye and he was impressed to say the least. Several bureaucrats dirty laundry in the wizarding world being made public; happy reviews from clients; even some where cases of murder were solved thanks to them. He looked up at her and saw she was waiting for him to say something, so he obliged, "Ok, I see that you guys are pretty good at what you do, but last I checked I haven't even spoken to you before all… this. So why now?" And as he mentally rewound the earlier conversation he found himself asking another question, "And what do you mean you need my help?"
Lilith nodded and pushed the red manila folder over to him next, and as he took it she took back the white manila folder and put it back in her briefcase, "Well, before I go into any of that, can I ask you to look into the files in that folder?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion but opened it to see several details regarding… wait, him!
Several photos of him in the great hall were pasted along the files with lines of text about his, well everything. From his height to his academic grades, to even his diet! And further along was a section labeled "Rumors."
"I'm sure you've heard plenty of the numerous rumors that the student body has been circulating throughout your tenure here in Hogwarts, and I've come across a couple of rumors, that if they were to be true, could not only help us but the whole of Hogwarts as well." She swung her wand and the file turned to a particular page with several highlighted blocks of text. "I have not come for gossip but to confirm some of the rumors. You'll see before you a list of the rumors I would like you to confirm or deny."
Harry read some out loud, "Do you have an invisibility cloak, did you really kill a teacher in your first year, do you know any secret passages inside the school… Why do you need me to confirm any of these?" Harry looked at her with suspicious eyes. The latter two were questions he was fine answering, but the first one, well he needed to see what her intentions were first.
Lilith shifted in her seat, "Well, that's where I need your help. If you were to confirm the first rumor I would have asked you to let me borrow your invisibility cloak." Once again, she surveyed the room, and as she did Harry realized that the twinkling in her eyes was real and not something he just imagined. Two pairs of eyes meet and Lilith looked down blushing, "Ehem… Err, I'm sure you realize but if you do own an invisibility cloak, then it is one of a kind. I've been trying to locate it with some special contact lenses that my father created. It lets me see through any invisibility spells or anything charmed to be invisible."
Once again, Harry felt his temper rising up, but he held it down with great control and calmly asked, "And if I did have this cloak, you would need to borrow it, why?"
She hesitates but finally explains, "I'm sure you of all people know how much of a horrible person Umbridge is." Harry gave a nod, not knowing where this is going, "And well I haven't experienced anything yet, but word does go around and from what I've heard, she's been torturing multiple students with blood quills."
Harry's left hand reflexively twitches when he hears the words "Blood Quills." Lilith glances and either thinks nothing of it or ignores it knowingly, whichever it was, he was grateful nonetheless.
"If this is true, I could potentially amass enough evidence so that even with the ministry on her side, she'll be going down in flames, and her butt will be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say "Quidditch"." She looked into Harry's eyes and softly said, "I know you have no reason to trust me, but believe me when I say that I want that bint gone just like everybody that's not in her little troupe."
Harry was a bit conflicted, he can hear the sincerity in her voice and the conviction in which she said it. But lending his cloak, a heirloom of his father's, he couldn't bear to give it to her then it would suddenly be destroyed. A couple of seconds passed when he finally closed the folder and also his eyes.
"I'll help you."
Lilith almost did a double-take, then realises the words that came out of his mouth, but before she could begin thanking him he started talking with a strong voice.
"I'll help you with one condition." She tilts her head, wondering what he wanted, and she would find out soon enough.
"I want to be a part of whatever plan you have going on."
Lilith blinked, then she finally comprehends the words that had come out of the boy's mouth.
"What do you mean?" Lilith asked. Harry opened his eyes, gave a cool look and said, "What I mean is: Whatever plan you have to get rid of Umbridge, I want in. You can have all of the things you need me for at your disposal, but I'm not gonna be sitting on the sidelines while you do all the work. If you let me come with you on any expedition or stake out or whatever you're going to do, then I'll let you borrow my cloak."
Lilith bites her lips nervously, "Well… I guess. But wait, does that mean you have the cloak?"
Harry just shrugs and answers back, "Depends, does that mean you agree to my terms?"
Lilith thinks it over and as she does Harry begins to look at her, and he begins to notice little things about her. Like how her foot was tapping an unrecognisable beat, her hands intertwined and her thumbs fiddling back and forth, and did he just see her ears twitch?
Finally, she heaves out a sigh and says, "Fine, I'm sure you're more than capable enough, if your little showing at the triwizard tournament has given you anything, it's a healthy amount of fear and respect from most of the students. Well, in more ways than one." She mumbles the last part but was audible enough for Harry to hear.
Before he can retort she waves her wand and the red manila folders jumps up and floats back to its rightful place in the briefcase, she locks it and shrunk it ('That's how she suddenly had a briefcase.' Harry mused.) And stands up with her hand stretched out to him. "Well I guess this makes us a team, Harry Potter."
Harry gave her hand an amused look but stood up and shook her hand. And as he did Lilith began to speak, "I won't waste any of your time, well it's almost curfew anyways, but regardless. I'll contact you again and we'll come up with a plan. Doubtful it might be but I haven't really planned out what I was going to do, and well, it seems with your cooperation it will become a much easier plan if you do have that mysterious cloak and knowledge of the secret passages of the school." Harry might have deigned to reply but she still held his hand and shook it throughout her talking and even now still talking to him. "Anyways I'll be going now, please be ready for me when the time comes for me to call you. Goodbye."
She releases Harry's hand then promptly walks out of the room. Harry gives his hand a look of confusion, then a small smile comes upon his face as he replays the events that transpired. 'Well if anything, this will be fun.' He thought amusingly.
He turns around and remembers the map and the cloak, and as he checks to see if Cho has finally left the Room of Requirement, he sees the little footsteps of Lilith as she meanders back to the Ravenclaw tower.
'Yep' he smirked, 'definitely will be fun.'
I was planning for this to be a one shot of some sort, but thought 'What the hell, why not make multiple chapters?' Of course, my school schedule would beg to differ, but I digress. Please leave a review and see you in the next chapter!