Snippets- Hey! Yes, yes. Amen. Long live Padfoot.
Quack Quack- Haha yea. I don't speak French as you could tell.
Larissa- Yep, the second chapter was actually divided from the first chapter. I've said it in the beginning of the chapter. But there was a small change in it. Go to the bottom of Chapter 2.
Everblue3/Holly- WOAH! I've never gotten a review so in-depth and long! Hehe that's so awesome! I took your advice and changed my title, as you can see.
Amour Aveugle
Chapter 3: Secret Identities
The next morning, I sent Hermia off with the letter to Bella the first thing in the morning. Then I finished unpacking my clothing and my third and last trunk, full of odd assortments of toiletries, memoirs, and other stuff. When I was setting my picture of all the graduating Gryffindors, my last year, by my bed, the phone rang.
"Li--, I mean, Holly Bartock."
"Holly? This is James."
"Hi!"
"How are you? Do you need any help maybe moving some furniture maybe?"
Argh! He was treating me like a 'damsel-in-distress' again.
"No. I'm done unpacking everything actually. I just need to buy some stuff." I said. I had no clue how I was going to buy them though. I guess, you just grab the item, and pay. No talking required, right? I surely hope so.
"Did you already eat lunch?"
"No." I'm starving!
"Well, we should eat together. Why don't you come over to my place?" Thank goodness.
"Why don't we just eat out? You've done too much for me."
"Well, I don't have any cash right now." Ha ha. Liar, liar, pants on fire…
"Okay." At least he's humbling himself.
"I'll come by your apartment in about fifteen minutes. Is that okay?"
"Sure. I'll see you then."
We said bye to each other and hung up. I looked at myself in the mirror. Argh. I was a mess. There was a few wisp of hair, hanging down, and my disarrayed hair was in a hastily done ponytail. I quickly stepped out of my clothes, took a shower, and got dressed in simple clothes. That took about ten minutes. I muttered a simple spell to dry my hair and drew it out of my face with a thin headband. I was half way done, applying my mascara on my left eye when the doorbell rung.
"Bloody hell! He's on time!" I was expecting for him to be about five minutes late, being a guy. I raced to the door and opened it.
"Hi James!" I said, brightly.
"Holly! Hello." He said. Being the damn gentlemen he was, he stood out there, looking around himself, not coming in until invited in.
"Well, come in." I said finally, after enjoying his uncomfortable situation. I'm evil, I know. I offered him a hand, knowing that he has to be touching me in order to walk in through that door.
"Thank you." He said gladly, walking in.
"Hold on a second. I need to get my purse and put on my shoes."
He nodded and I went back into my room, threw on a pair of black sandals, and grabbed my purse, after shoving my wand in.
"All right. I hope you don't mind a short walk. I realized that you live pretty close and decided to walk here."
"Oh that's all right." I responded.
We walked by the restaurant we met yesterday and a small park. Behind the park was a network of condominiums overlooking the Seine River. His apartment was obviously larger than mine, but it surprised me to see how clean it was.
"I already ordered some pasta from a restaurant down the street. The delivery should be here in about five minutes." He said, leading me to the balcony. The balcony was overlooking the River and the cool May breeze seemed to bring everything to life while at the same time the air was heavy with the early summer humidness. The river was crystal blue and there were clumps of water lilies at the shore, bobbing up and down to the soft current.
"Isn't it beautiful?" James said softly.
"Yea…" I murmured.
"It kind of reminds me of the school I went to. There was a lake behind the school and the water here is almost clear as the one back in Hog- I mean, my old school."
"Mmm…" I said, breathing in the fresh air. It did feel a little familiar, being with James Potter after all. "So what are you thinking of doing, since you quit your profession as a soccer player?"
"I've been training to become a special type of law enforcer." Hmm… Auror doesn't sound too bad for James Potter. Actually, it fit him quite well. He had plenty of bravery in him, even though it did lead him into trouble from time to time; He was smart and quick-witted, we both had scored tops in our NEWTS for our year.
"Well that's nice." I replied with a smile.
"So, an accountant eh?"
"Yea." I sighed.
The doorbell told us that our food had arrived and we brought the food out into the balcony, set it on the table and began our lunch. He was a very comfortable person to be with, I had to admit. It was kind of hard to carry on a conversation though, because when we really started to talk, one of us cut the conversation short, in case to revealing our true identities. It wasn't long before James brought out some ice cream from the kitchen.
"So, do you mind if I have a quick look around your apartment?" I asked politely.
"No, go ahead."
His living room was nicely furnished, I could obviously see that his Quidditch days were successful. I moved into his bedroom, which was, as all the other rooms, impeccably spotless and clean. The Marauders were all pranksters, careless for rules and what other people thought. However, as similar as James and Sirius were, Lily learned throughout her Hogwarts years that James was always very organized while Sirius left things cluttered and never bothered to clean things up after himself. She smiled to herself as she saw the Hogwarts diploma, framed with the Head Boy stamp above James' bed.
"That's the school you went to?" I said with fake curiosity.
"Err… Yea." He said carefully.
I walked closer to it, as if inspecting it even though my own diploma was also framed and hung in my room. "Hogwarts… What an interesting name?"
"Ehh… Yes." He said awkwardly.
There were some several Sickles and a Galleon on his desk, I picked them up, looking at them with wide eyes. "Wow! They're so big! What are they?"
"Some foreign coins I got from… Greenland."
"How interesting." I said, trying to keep my laugh inside. This one, however, really surprised me. It was a picture of me, smiling in front of the crowd in my graduating ceremony. I was waving to, well, myself. With a fake gasp of horror, I yelled. "SHE MOVED!" A grin was inevitably stretching across my amused face.
"Oh damn it!" He muttered, not noticing my grin. "I'm really sorry for doing this Holly. I have to modify your memory. You saw too much. " He said, taking something out of his pocket.
"No!" I yelled, taking my own wand out. "Expellerimus!" I said, before he could. His wand in my hand before he could say anything.
Haha. The look on his face was priceless. His usually calm and collected gray eyes were now confused and big as Sickles. He seemed to be choking on his words. "Y-you are a w-w-i—"
"Potter, for the seven years I've spent with you at Hogwarts, I never recalled you stuttering like that before!" I said humorously, twirling his wand like a baton.
"You're a witch?! Hogwarts?!!"
"Ack, heck with it. I might as well as tell you. Dumbledore said you were trustworthy enough."
"Tell me what?!"
I sighed. "It's me. Don't you recognize me?"
"Obviously not."
"You should. You have a picture of me on your desk…"
"LILY? LILY EVANS?!" He yelled, his eyes getting bigger, if that was possible.
I slowly nodded, wishing I had a camera to capture this precious Kodac moment.
"What happened? You're not… You don't have red hair! Blimey! What happened to your EYES!" He shouted, taking a step closer to me.
I rolled my eyes and was about to explain when he interrupted.
"Oh! I'm sorry for being so rude Lily! How are you?" He said, giving me a friendly hug. "It's so good to see you! How long has it been? Three or four years?"
"Four years. James, I have so much to explain. Can we sit down somewhere?"
"Of course!" He said, leading me into the dining room. We sat down on the table. "Would you like something to eat?" He asked automatically.
"James, we just had lunch."
"Oh. Right. I knew that." He muttered, sitting down. "All right. So explain."
It took a good half hour explaining my whole business here.
"So anything new with you James?" I asked after finally being done with my story.
"Well, you know, I played Quidditch for awhile. Then I decided I couldn't do that for the rest of my life so I went for the job that I was originally going to go for, before I was asked to play Quidditch. So I've been getting Auror training for the last seven months."
"But why Paris? You can get one of the best training in the world in London."
"There was a girl." He said, his eyes clouded. He began to fiddle with his wand. "We were thinking of getting married and she lives in Paris."
"And what happened?"
"I don't know… She wasn't right you know. I should've spent more time with her… try to get to know her better. About a month after I moved here, I just began to find out stuff about her. I realized that we were really different. She began to get bored with me I guess. We just both lost the passion, I guess. But I still loved her… I caught her sleeping with this man I didn't even know."
"Oh James. I'm so sorry to hear that…" I said, frowning at the unusual sadness hung over his face, instead of the usually happy and smiling face. I reached out and laid my hand on his arm.
"It's all right. I got over it. That was a year ago." He said. His boyish and roguish smile came back. "So Lily. Tell me. How many head-over-heels guys' hearts did you break?"
I laughed lightly but didn't answer the question.
"Come on, you can tell me. I remember in Hogwarts, you rejected all the boys, except for me." That was true. I dated James in seventh year. He was the only guy I dated in Hogwarts. "But who could resist my charms? Right Lily?" I could see his jaunty and playful side coming out.
"Of course. I just couldn't resist that bird nest on the top of your head, that you call hair." I said jokingly, fondly petting his messy hair. "Why don't you just do something to it? Doesn't it annoy you?"
"Nope. I've given up on it in my second year. Plus, I like it and obviously plenty of girls seemed to like it as well."
I rolled my eyes. "James, I have a favor to ask." I said, changing the subject.
"Anything for you, my flower." He said, his mischievous and lopsided grin that so many girls fell in love with coming onto his face. I found myself smiling at the nostalgic sight.
"If you're not doing anything for the rest of the day, will you come shopping with me? There's loads of things I have to buy, but, you know, I don't want to end up in the Chef Mortez situation again."
"Aww… Is Lily traumatized for life?"
"Shut up." I snapped.
"You, Lily-who-never-asks-for-help, is begging me, James-who-is-so-low-and-humble, for a favor?"
"Dammit Potter. It was hard enough asking." I muttered. "But yes, I really need help this time. I don't even know where the shops are."
"Wow, I think this is the first time you've ever asked me for anything."
"Is that a yes?"
James ignored me and went on. That bloke. "I remember! In our fourth year, I'm sure that you'll recall, you needed some help studying for the Tranfiguration finals!"
"Oh no. Not that again." I rolled my eyes. One of the most annoying aspect of James: He could remember everything… including that time when I was desperate for Transfiguration help.
"Ha! So you're asking me for my help two times? Wow! What is this, a personal record for you Lily?"
"Just shut up Potter." God, he could be annoying sometimes. "So are you going to help me with shopping?"
"Not without the magic word." His playful and childish side was still evident after four years of adulthood.
"Please?" I spat out.
In response, James grinned, took my hand and lead me through the door.
~*~
A month later I told James about my true identity, life was getting back to its normal cycle. Because I was known as a Muggle Accountant and my job as an Auror was on a temporary hold because everyone thought I moved to Australia for an unknown amount of time, I could spend a lot more time, working for the Order of the Phoenix. As for the money I needed because I dropped my job, Dumbledore mysteriously provided me with the money.
With me working full-time for the Order, I spent more time at the Headquarters at Godric's Hollow, than in my regular apartment. Sometimes, I stayed up all night, trying to figure out how to break the protecting charm on a intercepted owl between two Death Eaters. Other days, I went on missions with the other Aurors, breaking up small Death Eater meetings. Bella dropped in, very rarely though. About half of the members showed up regularly, even on days where we didn't have official meetings. The official meetings were one a week, the only time Dumbledore was seen.
Dumbledore insisted I didn't let my true identity be known to the members of the Order.
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"If more people know, the chances of someone accidentally slipping it out are higher. Don't worry; they will know when time is right. For now, you are Holly Bartock, who showed up with James."
"Albus, this is so confusing. Okay, so to Muggles, I'm Holly Bartock, who works as an accountant and recently moved from London; to regular wizards, I'm Holly Bartock, a Muggle; to most members of the Order, I'm Holly Bartock, a witch who lives in Paris who decided to follow James to help fight against Voldemort; then to some specially chosen people, I'm Lily Evans, just under disguise. But then, I have my other self¸ which most people know as the poor girl who was a great Auror but unfortunately fled to Australia to escape from Voldemart." I said, my voice getting louder and louder.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" Dumbledore said, smiling and walking quickly through the hallway into the meeting room. He was then surrounded by member of the Order, asking questions and telling the accounts of last night's attacks.
I sighed as I took my seat by James, wondering if Dumbledore finally had gone off his rockers.
~*~
Couple of weeks had gone by since the last time I saw Bella. I began to worry when I never got an owl back from her as a week passed. Some more days passed and I finally decided to visit Bella, to make sure she was all right. Since it took too much energy to apparate so far, I tossed the floo powder in my fireplace. After a few nauseating seconds, I stepped out, into Bella's living room.
"Bella! It's me, Li-"
A hand covered my mouth and I choked in surprise. "Don't! I'll explain later!" I recognized Bella's voice and relaxed. "Come on, we haven't got much time." She whispered.
"What?" I had no clue what was going on. I noticed that none of her cats were here and there were a few trunks by the couch. Then I noticed a quill, glowing green as a man muttered incantations on it. He was creating a Portkey. Soon, the quill stopped glowing and Bella grabbed the trunks and my hand. "Where are we going?"
Suddenly, there was a big crash and the front door fell. Three or four Death Eaters rushed in, shouting curses. Jets of red and yellow lights hit everything around us. The man who created the Portkey whipped around, shouting curses of his own. Just then, I caught a glimpse of his face and noticed that it was Sirius. I instinctively tried to move my right hand to get my wand, but Bella was gripping tightly on my wand arm.
"DON'T LET EVANS GET AWAY!" I heard a booming voice behind one of the Death Eater's masks.
"THE PORTKEY!" Sirius shouted, pointing to the precious quill in the middle of the coffee table. A curse hit the table's leg and as it crashed, the quill slid down the table, on to the carpeted floor. I gasped as the boot of a Death Eater stepped down mercilessly on to the fragile quill and stood on it firmly, not noticing what he had stepped on.
I yanked my arm out of Bella's fearful grip when I heard Sirius' cry of pain. He was hit with a curse that flew him across the room and hit the wall with such a force that it knocked down all the paintings on the wall. I gathered all my energy and used the Imperius Curse on the Death Eater who had his foot on our Portkey. 'Move.' I ordered silently to him. 'Attack the other Death Eaters.' I told him after. I could feel our bond breaking, him fighting to break free, but I held on, my back completely drenched in sweat. With the controlled Death Eater fighting the others, the coast was clear between me and Sirius and the Portkey was only inches away. My mind raced as I told Bella to grab the Portkey because I knew she couldn't apparate because she was a Squib. When she disappeared, I raced across the room to Sirius, who was just beginning to get up.
"Lily! You were supposed to go with her!" He panted, grimaced with the pain.
"I can't leave you Sirius!" I said. "Come on, let's apparate some where! We have to get out of here!"
"We have to get to Hogwarts!"
"You know you can't apparate—"
"Shrieking Shack! Go to Shrieking Shack!"
"All right!" I yelled, dodging a curse and apparating to the Shrieking Shack.
With a pop, Sirius appeared right by me, but collapsed immediately. "I can't move my back. I think something happened when I hit the wall."
I conjured up a stretcher and levitated him on it. "Let's go to Madame Pomfrey How do we get there? I never walked from Hogsmead to Hogwarts before."
"Go," He panted, pointing to a very scratched up door. I opened it and walked down the dark steps. "Lily, the curse… It's the Somnus Curse. I can't hold much longer."
"Try, Sirius, try!" I said desperately, tears starting to sting at my eyes. The Somnus Curse was a deadly curse where the person's energy will drain out like water and eventually lead the person into an unconscious state. Then the spell would draw all the heat from the body to the center. The person usually died either by freezing to death or extreme heat exhaustion. This, took usually from three to five hours, depending on the strength of the person.
"Keep going down the passage and press knot on the ceiling when you get to the end. That knot will open up and you'll find yourself by the Whomping Willow. Mrs. Figg should be at Hogwarts by now." He said.
"Okay. Now you stop talking! Apparating used too much of your energy. Just lie down, relax and try to hold on!" I said, as panic seemed to flood over me like a fever.
Hehe.. A cliffy! I love all you readers! If you haven't noticed, this story fits in with Order of the Phoenix… I'm pretty sure.
~Chryss