Disclaimer: Chiho Saito, J. K. Rowling. Not mine. Please read the previous disclaimers for further references.
A/N: A litttttlle longer than usual. I might not be able to update tomorrow (today), as I start working. Also--there might be more errors in this chapter, since...yeah, I really don't give myself much time to reread and correct anymore. Anyway. Reviewers, I love you. One of these days I am going to write long, involved thank-you emails. Till then, know that I'm reading your comments and smiling. :)
Chapter 7 - Skirmish
"James," Terrence called, entering the master suite one evening.
James was just unbuttoning his robes tiredly, ready to crash into bed—or, well, to the sofa. Same thing. He turned at the sound of Terrence's voice.
"Something wrong, Terrence?"
Terrence glanced around the room. "Where's Lily?"
James sighed and turned back to unbuttoning his robes. "Out."
Terrence let out a sound similar to a growl. "Why aren't you out with her??" He stomped across the room and put his hands on his hips. "She's been out every night for the past week! Don't think I haven't noticed. Lily's pregnant with YOUR baby! Why aren't you out taking care of her? She shouldn't be out in the first place! Why don't you talk to her about staying home? You ought to make her stay here and rest. You should—"
James turned suddenly and slammed his fist on the bureau. "As if she'd listen to me!" he exploded. "You could CHAIN her in this room and she'd still find a way out!! Lily won't fucking listen to anyone because she's a spoiled little princess!"
Taken aback by James' outburst, Terrence jumped and his face turned a brilliant shade of magenta. As James paused to take a breath, Terrence found his voice. "Now just a minute! You don't—"
"Never mind, Terrence," James said, his shoulders slumping. "Forget what I just said. Forget it. I didn't mean it." He stood still for a second, then seemed to come to some sort of decision. He began buttoning his robes back up again.
"All right, but—wait, James, where are you going??"
James grabbed his wand and a crumpled bit of parchment from the table and took off running out the door. "I'm going out!" he called back over his shoulder, just before apparating away.
"Not you, too," moaned Terrence.
"Hello, gentlemen," smiled Lily. "Let's have a nice talk, shall we?"
She felt tired and she was sure her feet were probably swelling in those stupid pumps she'd decided to wear at the last minute. A hairpin in her updo was jabbing her scalp rather painfully. She was getting SO sick of dealing with these "gentlemen." She wished they would just go away and leave her alone. Alone with a dish of caviar and olives in tartar sauce. Mmm…that sounded good right now...
Shaking her head free of food fantasies, she managed to smile sweetly and indicate that the three men before her should enter the room first.
They were at the VIP lounge of The Aethonon, an upscale club patronized by the more well-to-do members of the magical community. It was a good place to go to meet people, but the drinks were ridiculously expensive and the price of reserving a room like the VIP lounge was probably equivalent to some people's annual salary.
Rosier lifted a perfect eyebrow at Lily as he entered the room behind Wilkes and Travers. She merely smirked back at him as she nudged him further in and turned to the attendant who stood in the shadows near the doorway. "We'll ring if we want something. Don't let us be disturbed." The boy nodded and flitted away. Lily entered the room and shut the door behind her.
Travers was already smoking again, as he leaned against the wall opposite the door. Wilkes had settled down on one of the sofas. Rosier stood just inside the door, watching Lily with a knowing look on his face as he leaned far too close to her for comfort. She ignored him and took a seat gracefully in one of the stiff-backed chairs by the table.
"So what's the real reason behind your calling us out here every night?" asked Wilkes, smiling. His eyes were glittering faintly in the dim candlelight. "Tired of Potter already, are you?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, boys," Lily said calmly, her lips curving up into a sultry smile. "Why can't I invite some old friends out for a good time if I want to? Doesn't mean I don't like my husband."
"Don't give us that line now, Lily," Wilkes said, grinning nastily as he winked at Rosier. "We all know that you invited us out for something different. Reheating old soup, hey?"
"How about it, Lily?" Rosier touched a finger to her cheek, running it from just below her eye to the low point of her chin. Lily barely suppressed a shudder—and it wasn't one of delight.
As his finger dipped lower, drifting past her collarbones, she decided she'd had enough. Fuck it. She stood up suddenly, avoiding Rosier's hand. "All right," she said, her voice hard. "I don't need any more from you three, anyway."
Travers threw his cigar away and strode toward her, his face expressionless. Lily took an involuntary step backwards and found herself backed into the table. Her fingers twitched toward the wand she kept in her pocket and she set her jaw.
"As you so kindly stated for me before, Wilkes," she said, looking at that man, who was standing slowly, "I've had you three meet me here every night for a week. We had a few drinks, went to a few other clubs where we danced, chatted like old friends.
"I've got a history with each of you—whether it was some sort of teenage crush," she nodded to Rosier, "or some friendly business dealings," her eyes rose to meet Wilkes', "or a chance acquaintance in a pub here and there." Travers gazed at her, unblinking.
"But the real reason behind all this time spent together was this," Lily said, pulling a tiny piece of crystal from her pocket.
"A sound stone?" Rosier said softly, gazing at the tiny facets.
"Yes. And lots more like it, lodged into the walls and floors and ceilings of every place we've sat and talked about our lives and what we do in our spare time…especially those parts when each of you mentioned muggle baiting, or conjuring the Dark Mark, or anything else having to do with Vold—"
Rosier made a mad swipe with one hand in an effort to capture the sound stone she held.
"Oh, no, no," said Lily, dancing out of the way. Her eyes were sparkling now and she could almost will away the pain of the hairpin pricking her head and the tight shoes in her glee. "This isn't for you. I'm taking this with me, for Carruthers' listening pleasure. Besides, you'd have to destroy each and every sound stone I've got of the conversations we've had—and believe me, that would take a longer time than you've got at your disposal. You see, boys, I was never planning to betray Carruthers and Defense to you and your master. I'm surprised you were taken in, even for a moment."
"You—you—" sputtered Wilkes angrily. "You mudblood bitch!" He let loose in a further stream of distinct, intense profanity.
"How unoriginal," she sneered at Wilkes. "'Reheating old soup'? What old soup?! We never had a relationship that I can recall! A few dances and drinks hardly qualifies us as lovers!"
She turned to Rosier. "And I'd have to be completely out of my mind to have another fling with you. I have it on good authority, Evan, that you've been none too careful about choosing bed-partners, and…well, it might be good to go to St. Mungo's instead of making your own potions and trying to heal yourself…" she glanced witheringly down at the juncture of his thighs in the tight trousers and wrinkled her nose. Rosier flushed and his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.
"As for you, Travers…don't think I never noticed all those draughts you tried to slip into my drinks, and the way you kept trying to look down or up my robes whenever I met you." She tossed her hair. "I don't think your wife would like that, if she knew."
The three men all made moves for their wands; but Lily beat them to it. She had her wand out in a flash and summoned all of theirs. "Oh, no, you don't," she said triumphantly. "I'm going to leave now, my friends. I shall lock the door after me and leave your wands at the front desk. But only AFTER I call in the Aurors."
She headed for the door, exultant. It had gone off without a hitch! Oh, wouldn't Terrence be pleased!
Just then, a rasped, "Expelliarmus!" threw her off-balance. Her mind let loose a million alarm bells.
"You didn't think I'd only brought one wand, now, did you, Lily?" chuckled a low voice beside her face.
"I'm sorry, sir, but the party you seek is not here."
James sighed as he was turned away from yet another club without Lily. Where could she be?! He'd done a little more background research and found a list of clubs and lounges that Lily used to frequent. He'd already visited…oh, he couldn't even keep proper count anymore…had it been six? seven? clubs that night…with no luck.
He was just turning away when a young girl stepped out from one of the side doors of the building. "Wait, sir! Please!"
He stopped and turned back. She couldn't have been more than sixteen years old, and her pale face was strained from overwork. "Oh, please, sir, I think I know who you've been looking for! But they're not at Dai Chimaera tonight. I heard the young lady say yesterday that they meant to meet at The Aethonon at about nine o'clock this evening. You might catch them there, if you hurry."
Just as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone. James frowned in concentration. The Aethonon. Where had he heard that name before?
Then he remembered: Sirius had mentioned it—as the two of them searched for possible locales Lily might be visiting—as one of the most expensive clubs in Britain. Posh and elegant, it didn't offer a bar or a dance floor like some of the other trendy clubs did when trying to attract young wizards and witches. Instead, it was known for its discretion and its private lounges for intimate parties.
Wait a second there… 'private lounges'?? Intimate parties???
As soon as he could clearly recall the address of The Aethonon, James apparated away with a loud pop.
Lily struggled as hard as she could, within reason. It was no use. Three men to one pregnant woman was no fair competition; in minutes, they had her silenced and tied up with invisible cords, lying on the sofa. Lily knew her underwear was showing and it made her even more furious than she already was.
"My, my, Lily," Rosier chuckled dryly. He tugged on the lace that was showing at the top of her thigh. "Feeling a bit racy today?"
"So, Lily," Wilkes said, his mouth curving into a grotesque smile. "You were going to use the sound stones as evidence to betray us to the authorities, were you? And you thought we would fall unsuspectingly into your trap, and be sent to Azkaban without a hitch?"
"Oh, Lily," laughed Rosier. He nudged Travers, who was smirking at her in his usual silent manner. "You really are living in your own private world of fantasies. You're deluding yourself…about everything!"
"For example," Travers finally spoke out. "Your pregnancy…you'll be about four months into it, by now? I believe that's what Carruthers said, in the Rita Skeeter article?" Lily made a feeble sound of protest.
"It is hard to tell," Wilkes said, twirling his wand idly in one hand. "You've kept your figure remarkably well, my dear."
"Four months ago," continued Travers, pushing Lily's hair away from her face, "you were here, or at clubs, every day—drinking and living it up with all of us. Then you disappeared off to France…came back, never showed your face at any of our old haunts, and suddenly up and married that stupid Potter…"
"We wondered, when we first heard the news that you were pregnant," added Wilkes, "whether the baby might not have been one of ours?"
Rosier laughed. "It certainly wasn't Potter's. You hardly knew him, even at Hogwarts."
"I wonder how your precious husband would feel, if he saw pictures of his wife and the three of us in some…compromising…positions, here in this club, published in tomorrow's Daily Prophet?" Wilkes was grinning maniacally. "How would Carruthers feel? And could the wizarding community accept you as a leading member of Defense if it came out that you consorted so much with Death Eaters?"
"It would be pretty hard to defend your innocence to Crouch, under those circumstances," stated Travers.
"So we think you'd better hand over all those stones…and then we'll give you a healthy dose of memory charms, before having a little more fun with you before we take those pictures…" Rosier tugged at the fastenings of Lily's robes.
"I'm sorry, sir, but only members are allowed into the VIP suites," said the attendant at the door, not sounding apologetic at all.
"I'm looking for my wife," said James calmly. "You ought to know her—Lily Evans. Did she come here, with two or three men?"
"I'm sorry, sir," repeated the attendant, rolling his eyes. "I simply can't—"
James shoved the key to a Gringotts vault into the man's hand. The man broke off and stared at the key for a few seconds.
"Well," he cleared his throat. "Right this way, sir."
They walked up some stairs, then down a dark corridor. "This room," the man said, pointing.
"Thank you," said James, quickly taking down any silencing charms cast around it.
"I'LL NEVER GIVE YOU THE STONES!!! YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
"Shut her up! Get your wand and put a silencing charm on her again!"
"YOU'LL BE PUT IN AZKABAN TO ROT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES! DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU PIECE OF FILTH! YOU—" Lily's voice screamed loudly, before getting abruptly cut off by a silencing charm.
James turned to the attendant abruptly. "Perhaps you ought to call the Ministry. We might need some…help…here."
The man nodded and hurried away.
Taking a deep breath, James unlocked the door and slammed it open.
Travers was holding Lily's legs down as Rosier pulled at the top of her robes. Wilkes was searching through Lily's handbag. They all looked up as James rushed into the room.
"YOU—" began James, his face stiffening.
"So the hero enters the scene to save the damsel in distress," laughed Wilkes. "Well, Potter, we have some problems with your lovely wife, here."
Lily's furious eyes were blinking rapidly up at James from the sofa and her lips moved silently.
"You see," Wilkes continued, "she's asked us to meet her at clubs every night for the past week, saying that it was just some fun with friends, telling us that she would betray Defense and bring information to our master's side…said Defense wasn't giving her the 'scope' she needed for her talents. It turns out, though, that she was actually betraying us…quite clever, wasn't she?"
"She tricked you, too, didn't she?" said Rosier, leering as he stroked Lily's face and chest.
James could feel the fury building up inside of him, and let it all out as he exploded into action. He'd thrown himself at the closest figure—Wilkes—and knocked him down, kneeing him savagely in the crotch and seizing his wand. Then, as Travers paused to make sure Wilkes was out of the way, James disarmed him and blasted him across the room. He hit the wall with a resounding crack.
Rosier cast Crucio, but James dodged just in time, catching just the barest hint of it and yelling before steadying himself and casting Conjuctivitus and Petrificus in rapid succession. Rosier fell over, stiff as a board.
"If I EVER catch ANY of you within 15 meters of my wife and child, I'll RIP YOU APART!!" James shouted. Lily was watching him from her place on the sofa, a look of complete shock on her face.
James set about taking the random spells from her and helping her up. "I can't believe you," James scolded, frowning deeply. "You just thought you could handle this on your own…never telling anyone what you were up to? There were three of them! No matter how much better at dueling you think you are, three against one is not the sort of situation you want to put yourself in!"
Lily sat up, refastening her robes. "But—"
"No 'buts'!" James said sharply, tying her hair back for her. It fell out again immediately. "Do you know how worried I was?!? I couldn't find you anywhere…tried seven different clubs first, with no luck…couldn't have faced myself if I'd gone home without knowing you and the baby were safe…"
James continued muttering to himself as he repaired the furniture he'd broken in the scuffle with Wilkes.
Lily simply stood and watched him, her eyes filling with tears. She wasn't sure whether she ought to laugh or cry—and James had stopped, and turned to watch her, with such an intense expression on his face—
A fist struck James across the face. Wilkes was up again and heading toward Lily; Travers was shaking his head slowly in his position on the floor across the room.
As Wilkes reached the spot two feet in front of her, Lily went into action. She grabbed something from inside her robes and pushed it into Wilkes' face. A fine mist sprayed out and Wilkes reeled back, yelping in pain. Lily plucked her wand from his pocket and took off running, grabbing James' hand on the way out of the room and dragging him with her. She slammed and locked the door behind them and they took off running as fast as they could.
"What was that?" James finally asked, after they'd reported everything to the Aurors and Ministry workers and were on their way home in the Knight Bus. Wilkes, Travers, and Rosier had all gotten away before the Aurors could get to the scene, but the information Lily had gathered was going to be very helpful in their files. "That stuff you threw in Wilkes' face?"
"Oh, that," Lily suddenly laughed. It was a beautiful sound. "That was pepper spray. Muggle thing."
"Oh," James said.
They were silent for a while, as the bus passed bumpily through the streets and lights flashed past the windows.
James sank back into a bed. "I can't believe it…this whole time, you were collecting information to pin the three of them as Death Eaters." He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, putting his hands over his face tiredly. "And I thought that you were just out having a good time…fooling around with random men…being completely irresponsible…" He shook his head. "I feel like such a fool."
"You weren't," Lily said passionately. She sat down next to him on the bed and took his hand from his face. "You were wonderful. If you hadn't come along, I don't know what would have happened to me…" She seemed to notice that her voice was wavering, and turned away quickly. "I mean, I could have handled the situation if I didn't have to worry about the baby…I was afraid that if I struggled too hard at once, something would happen…and I was trying to buy time to think of a better way out…" She shuddered and shook her head. "No, I wouldn't have escaped without getting seriously hurt, if you hadn't come…when I saw your face, when you burst into the room like that, I…I was so happy…"
James had been watching her during her whole speech. As her voice faded, he averted his eyes and slowly brought her hand to his face.
"I…I think I was jealous, to start with," he said softly, reluctantly. "To think of you…with any other man. Somehow…the idea just wasn't right. I…couldn't take it any longer…I had to try to find out who the baby's father really is…that's why I tried so hard to research, and that's why I asked you that night…even though I knew it was violated our agreement…"
"I'm sorry," he whispered, as he leaned his head against her, his eyes half shut.
It was Lily's turn to look away. "Well, it wasn't any of them, anyway. Rest assured on that point; no way in hell would I have a child by any of those men."
"That's what I thought!" cried James, sitting up excitedly. He grabbed Lily's hand in his, his other hand grasping her shoulder. "I knew you'd NEVER do anything like—like THAT with any of them!"
They were face to face, in a deserted tier of the Knight Bus. James' eyes widened, then slowly closed as he leaned in.
"Wait, James—" murmured Lily, half-heartedly.
"It's all right," whispered James. "It's all right. This is real, right now, this moment…this is real…"
Their eyes fluttered shut and they both leaned in, giving up all thought and concentrating on their lips and hands. It was slow, sensuous. James stroked the soft skin of her cheek, her neck, her shoulder with his lips, tongue, and fingers. He could feel Lily kissing him back, her fingers in his hair, on his neck, down his back. He tried to savor the moment, drinking in every feeling it was awakening deep inside of him…
They broke apart slowly, finding themselves out of breath and lying face to face on one of the beds. Just as they were reaching for each other again, the Knight Bus jerked mightily and knocked both of them to the ground.
By the time they had picked themselves up and restored things to rights, the moment was gone. They got off at their stop and slowly went home and went to bed without saying much more to each other.