James was sitting nervously in the players box watching the game. Puddlemere United was tying at 90 points with the Appleby Arrows and James was nervous for his team. At this point it was anyones game, either team could catch the snitch and they would win. The two teams were too similarly matched in skill and they're playing strategy too similar which made it easy for the Arrows to anticipate and block Pud U's plays. The only positive was that it also made it easy for Pud U to anticipate and block the Arrows plays. The hole game was riding on the seeker.
Pud U's seeker was Emelie Veranov. She was good but she wasn't the best, she'd never make it in the record books as 'one of the greats' so if it came to the two seekers spotting the snitch at the same time, James gathered that it would mostly rely on luck on Veranov's part because she was a little slow on acceleration and she wouldn't go that extra step to catch the snitch. The Arrows seeker, Milo Kingsman pulled absurd moves to catch the snitch all the time, the most notable ever being the time he flew, flat pressed against his broom and sideways between two players of the opposing team, snatching the snitch right as the opposing team players was about to grab it from the opposite direction. Reports say that the two seekers hands had actually brushed against each other — that's how close it was.
The Vincent Hellcot sat in the front row with the assistant coach and the manager, watching the game and James' nerves continued to build. It was the first match of the season and James' first game ever, he didn't even know if he was going to play but Hellcot had said possibly and James was wishing for that possibly to turn into yes but now, seeing how many people had showed up, he was nervous and maybe, only slightly, wished that the possibility would stay a possibility. He didn't need yes and he didn't want no and that's what he was feeling at the moment when a bludger hit Billy Knight in the head. Knight swayed on his broom dangerously for a few moments until another chaser went to steady him.
"Time! Medical assistance!" Jenny Merlin, Captain and fellow chaser for Pud U, shouted and the referee blew his whistle. Merlin and Dawson helped Knight to the ground, the rest of the team landing around them as the Arrows formed a huddle at the other end. Healers ran onto the field.
James watched as Merlin listened to what the healers were saying and then she looked up at the box and shook her head. Hellcot turned to James.
"Your time to shine, Potter."
—
Sirius hit her arm and pointed at the man that just flew out of the tunnel, except it wasn't a man.
"That's James!" Sirius whooped. "The son of a bitch!"
"He's playing," Lily smiled and then, "Holy Merlin! He's playing!" Sirius and Lily high fived and cheered like crazy for James as the commentator introduced him to the crowd.
"JAME POTTER! RESERVE CHASER FOR PUDDLEMERE UNITED. HE SEEMS TO BE TAKING BILLY KNIGHT'S SPOT ON THE FIELD! AND THAT IS A DEFINITE CONFIRMATION! HEALER'S HAVE DECLARED IT UNSAFE FOR KNIGHT TO FLY! REFEREE HEPBURN HAS CALLED AN END TO TIME OUT AND THE TEAMS ARE GETTING IN POSITION. POTTER TAKES LEFT FIELD OPPOSITE HOLMES. SEEKERS VERANOV AND KINGSMAN ARE SEARCHING THE FIELD FOR THE SNITCH AND CAPTAINS MERLIN AND BOSCOV WAIT FOR THE BALL TO BE TOSSED UP BY HEPBURN!"
Lily waited with baited breath, whispering, "You'll be fine, you'll be fine, you'll be fine," under her breath. She knew how nervous James was to prove himself and he'd never played nervous before and that made her nervous. He always had the confidence, the knowledge that he was the best at the game. He'd been a big fish in a little pond, now though, now he was the little fish in a big pond.
"AND PUD U TAKES THE BALL! MERLIN STREAKS DOWN THE FIELD. PASSES TO DAWSON! POTTER! MERLIN! POTTER! HOLMES INTER- POTTER DODGES AND SCORES! AND WHAT A START TO POTTER'S CAREER! THAT'S GOTTA BE A RECORD!"
Lily screamed louder than she ever thought possible and her hands hurt from clapping so hard. Then she started laughing. All that worrying for nothing. He wasn't on the field for a minute and he'd already scored a bloody goal.
"ARROWS TAKE THE BALL! HOLMES FLIES DOWNFIELD. POTTER'S HOT ON HIS TAIL! HOLMES PASSES TO BOSCOV! BING! BOSCOV! HOLMES! AND POTTER INTERCEPTS THE PASS TO BING! PASSES TO MERLIN! DAWSON! GOOD DODGE OF THAT BLUDGER HIT HIS WAY BY GREGORY! SPEEDS UPFIELD AND SCORES! PUDDLEMERE IS ON FIRE!"
Lily grinned at Sirius as they cheered on Puddlemere United. They watched, captivated as James intercepted another pass between the Arrows and streaked upfield, feinted left and put the quaffle through the right hoop.
"AND POTTER SCORES AGAIN! SCORING ACROSS FIELD AND BRINGING THE SCORE TO ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TO NINETY! AND KINGSMAN SPOTS THE SNITCH AND SO HAS VERANOV! KINGSMAN DODGES A BLUDGER! VERANOV HAS A CLEAR PATH! KINGSMAN DODGES ANOTHER BLUDGER AND VERANOV CATCHES THE SNITCH!"
Lily shrieked with happiness, cheering and clapping as loudly as she possibly could as James flew around the pitch with the rest of the team.
—
James couldn't believe it. They'd won! He'd played more than decent! He'd played how he always did and it was like a weight lifted off him when Hellcot clapped him on the shoulder, "You did brilliant."
"Thank you, Mr Hellcot."
"And I don't know about an all time Quidditch league record but you've definitely broken a Pud U record — first new player to score a goal within under a minute of being put on the field for the first game."
James allowed himself a grin. "I — thank you, sir."
"Get yourself cleaned up. I'll see you Monday."
James nodded and he left leaving James alone in the locker room. James' mind was still reeling from the adrenaline of it all. People had shouted his name, hundreds of people had cheered him on. Just thinking about it made James want to do something like dance really embarrassingly or shout or sing obnoxiously. Honestly, all three seemed viable that was until Lily waltzed in as though she'd been here a dozen times before and now, James did smile obnoxiously.
"How on earth did you get passed the security?" he asked with a grin, walking up to her.
"Knowing Sirius Black has its perks," Lily shrugged, slipping her arms around his shoulders, "One of those being his ability to create a diversion. You did amazing." She was looking at him like he held the stars and moon in the sky and he grabbed her pulling her closer.
"I was so nervous."
"You didn't look it and most importantly, you didn't play it."
"I know, as soon as I was on that broom, eyes on the quaffle," he shrugged. "Everything else just slipped away. It was just me, the quaffle and the hoops. Merlin, Lily, I could have played for hours."
Lily reached up to press a kiss to his lips, "You've still got it and it was so incredibly sexy." She kissed him again, slower this time and longer. Her fingers curled into his hair as she pushed up on her toes to get better leverage. He helped by lifting her so she wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing them even closer together.
He pulled back barely, "I'm sweaty," he mumbled as she attacked his lips again.
"So sexy," she repeated, nipping at his lip.
The bell rang and Alice groaned, keeping her eyes shut. It was a Sunday. A glorious, do nothing Sunday and she had planned to sleep in until twelve, a feat she hadn't been able to accomplish all summer and at this point her body needed it. Between running back and forth from the hospital for Emmeline, auror training and wedding planning, Alice had been dead on her feet so she rolled over and ignored it.
Except, it rang again. And again. And again. Groaning again, Alice threw the covers off and stomped out of bed and all the way down the stairs to open the stupid door only to be met with Narcissa Black.
"Oh, I've woken you," Narcissa exclaimed.
Alice gobsmacked as to why her cousin was on her front door with a basket of muffins and a bouquet of flowers didn't really think when she stepped aside and said, "Come in then. I'll get changed and we can have," Alice really didn't know why she was doing this, "Tea." Her brain was definitely still sleeping.
Alice walked with Narcissa to the drawing room before heading back up the stairs to her room. There she quickly threw on a summer dress, pulled a brush through her hair before using a charm to plait it and slipped on sandals.
She came back into the drawing room with two mugs of tea and after placing them both on the table between the couches, sat opposite Narcissa. Alice glanced around the room and saw that Narcissa had put the bouquet in the empty vase that they had on the side table and the basket of muffins sat next to it. Her eyes flickered back to Narcissa.
She was the same as Alice had always known her. Straight backed, pale blue eyes that were almost grey like her cousin's and like all Blacks, she had high cheek bones but like the Vances she sported honey blonde hair. Today, it was in a half-up, half down do and she wore a blue collared, button-up dress with a white belt fastened around her waist and white pumps on her feet, to top it all off, white lace gloves covered her hands. She was pretty as a picture and that's how Alice had always known Narcissa Black.
"I heard about your engagement to Frank," Narcissa started. "We were all thrilled to hear about it! Have you started planning yet?"
"Thank you," Alice said. "Frank's mum is taking care of most of it. We're thinking of keeping it small."
Narcissa smiled. "Nothing like mine then. You know, mama's sent out almost five hundred invitations. I didn't even know we knew that many people and she just about talks my ear off about everything."
Alice returned the smile tightly and maybe sense started seeping back in because she took a sip of her tea and then asked, maybe a little rudely, "Why are you here?"
"I — well, your sister and you haven't RSVP'd for the wedding yet and as it's only a few weeks away, mama and I really need to know. I thought I'd come pass, congratulate you on your own engagement."
Alice laughed bitterly. "I can't tell if you're being serious right now."
"The caterers need to know," Narcissa explained, sliding a lock of hair behind her ear.
"No," Alice snapped. "We won't be attending as Emmeline is in St Mungo's thanks to Bella."
"I was hoping we could put all that aside for the wedding. Politics shouldn't interfere with our personal lives." Narcissa looked at Alice almost pleadingly but Alice couldn't fathom why, like she said her mother had invited almost five hundred people so they shouldn't be missed, in fact, Alice didn't want them to be missed. She didn't want anything to do with that family.
"I repeat, I can't tell if you're being serious right now. Cissa, my sister is in the hospital because of yours. This is personal and you're delusional if you think we can just play happy families. We won't be attending. We want nothing to do with your family."
"I hope you reconsider," Narcissa said sincerely. "Your father is my mother's brother after all and we are cousins."
"Cousins don't shoot killing spells at each other," Alice said firmly. "We won't be reconsidering."
Narcissa nodded, biting her lip. "I suppose I should go then."
"Yes," Alice agreed. "You should."
Alice saw Narcissa out and then paced in her foyer. So much for her glorious do nothing Sunday, she thought glumly. She didn't even attempt to go back to sleep, she was way too wired. So she grabbed her purse and apparated to the hospital.
"Is Healer Adams in today?" she asked the front desk.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but she'll see me. We're friends."
"She'll be on the fourth floor."
"Thank you."
Alice made her way up to the fourth floor and asked the desk there, the lady directed her to a room Marlene would be in.
"Alice? Is Emmeline okay? I thought you weren't coming in today." Marlene was checking things off a clipboard in a storeroom.
"Em's fine. She's fine. I just I need to rant."
"What happened?"
Alice quickly explained about Narcissa's unannounced visit and Marlene whistled lowly. "God, the nerve of that family."
"I swear the whole family's gone mad!" Alice ranted to Marlene as they walked through the aisles. "She had the audacity to ask me if I was attending her wedding after her sister cursed Emmeline out of the goddamned sky!"
"Al, take a breath," Marlene instructed. "Your cousins are crazy. I mean we are talking about the same family who disowned their daughter for marrying a Hufflepuff-"
"He was muggle-born."
Marlene raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't make it better."
"Yes I know," Alice complained. "They're terrible, terrible people who clearly took after the Black side instead of the Vance side."
"You know, in the muggle world there's actually a study that says incest makes people mad."
Alice raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"
"Nothing," Marlene shrugged, "Just that the Blacks are probably the most incestuous wizarding family in England so your cousins crazy could be explained."
"That does nothing to make me feel better."
"Oh well it should since you're family is only family with the Blacks by marriage."
"Ha ha." Alice stopped as they approached Emmeline's room.
"Look, if you want to hang out for another half hour, I'll have an hour for lunch and we can go eat."
Alice nodded. "Yeah, yeah that sounds good. I'll just pop in on Em to make sure she's all right."
"I saw her this morning. She's doing real well, Al. They've started weening her off the potions she was taking and her body is responding really well. She'll be back to normal in no time."
Alice exhaled a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
Sirius sulked at the back of the meeting, his arms crossed over his chest, his head down as Euphemia lectured at the front of the small hall. Witches and wizards glanced at him because he did not look like the usual audience for something like this. In a leather jacket and ripped up jeans, his hair the most elegant part of his outfit, Sirius Black didn't blend in. Then there were the people who stared because he was a Black, the Black who betrayed his family's values and was taken in by the kind-hearted Potters.
People loved to stare at that because they didn't know what to expect of Sirius. Was he like the Potters? He didn't dress like them. Was he like the Blacks? He ran away from them. So was he good or was he bad? People couldn't answer the question, so they stared intrigued but too scared to ask.
"Later today I'll be in a meeting with Mr Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to persuade him to join our attempts at swaying the Wizengamot to abolish the Muggleborn Register Bill. This bill accomplishes nothing other than to make muggle-borns feel separate in our society. Why should the Ministry have to publish a list of muggle-borns every year? Are they criminals? Are they a danger to our society?" Euphemia asked the hall. "We cannot treat innocent people as criminals. They have done nothing wrong. If you feel the same way please owl members of the Wizengamot, we know so far that thirty-one members that are in favour of the bill, those members names are listed on the brochures Miss Bones has handed out. Thank you for attending and I hope to see you all next week! We have refreshments at the back of the hall!" Euphemia made her way off the small podium as everyone else started standing up and heading to the back of the hall.
Some left, some queued up for tea and biscuits. Sirius stayed seated until Euphemia, after making her rounds chatting with friends and members, found him.
"Come on."
"We're going?"
"To the Ministry."
"Are you really trying to get Crouch in on this?" Sirius quirked a brow.
Euphemia looked at him impressed, "You were actually listening. I couldn't tell with how you were slouching at the back and glaring at everyone."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah because they were staring at me."
"I see though you can hardly blame them, dear, you dress like you should be on a headlining tour for the Roaring Dragons. You can't expect them not to be jealous of your fabulous style."
Sirius cracked a grin and stood. "Please, they could never even pull this off. I didn't even know about that bill."
"A lot of this stuff gets passed through quietly. They don't want the public to know until it's too late so it's all hush hush unless you have someone in the know who tells you."
"And you do?"
"I do," Euphemia agreed.
"And so M.A.E stops all these super secret bills from passing."
"We do our best. You know, annoying Wizengamot members into submission. Ready? We're going to be late for Mr Crouch."
Sirius nodded and he and Euphemia apparated to an alley near the Ministry, entering through the visitors entrance — the telephone booth on a quiet London street.
It occurred to Sirius as they walked through the atrium that he'd see where Ella works for the first time. Euphemia walked briskly with Sirius a step behind ignoring everyone who turned their heads to glimpse at Sirius. When they reached security the brawly wizard gestured to Sirius and said, "What are you in for?"
"A fashion sense," Sirius remarked. "Apparently it's illegal."
Euphemia put her arm around Sirius' shoulder. "He's not in for anything, Mr Brennan. This is my son, Sirius."
"I didn't know you had a second son, Mrs Potter."
"She got bored of the first one," Sirius joked. "I'm much better."
Euphemia shook her head as Mr Brennan gave her their wands back. "You have a wonderful day now, Mrs Potter. Mister Potter."
They passed security and rode the elevator to level two where they stepped off.
"Please avoid your humorous remarks when talking to Mr Crouch. It's really important that we have him on our side. He has a lot of say with the Wizengamot, especially the old, stuck-up brutes."
"Yes, m'am."
They made their way to Mr Crouch's office only for Ella to be the one to greet them.
"Mr Crouch will only be a minute, Mrs Potter," Ella told Euphemia.
"Nice of him to make us wait," Sirius remarked only to receive glares from both women.
"Actually, Sirius, dear maybe it's better you don't attend the meeting. Why don't you go grab something to eat?"
Sirius was about to decline but Ella jumped in, "That's perfect, you can take me to lunch since my hour has just started."
"Convenient."
"Wonderful!" Euphemia enthused before being distracted by Mr Crouch's presence. She was whisked away behind a closed door and Sirius was left with Ella.
"Where to for lunch then?" he asked her.
After they were settled in a cafe off the atrium, Ella coughed, "So, it's almost the end of summer."
"Yeah. Time's really flown. It's odd to think we won't be going back to school."
"Only because you're unemployed," Ella teased. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Sirius cocked his head slightly and Ella bent down to pull out a folded prophet from her bag. She put it on the table in front of Sirius and an add for an apartment was circled.
"Oh," Sirius said.
"We always said at the end of summer, right?"
"Yeah," Sirius nodded, picking up the paper, "Yeah we did. I guess I just hadn't given it a lot of thought." The apartment seemed like a decent size for two people and in the heart of London, barely a five minute walk from the Ministry.
"Oh."
"Not that I don't want to," Sirius added. "This place seems nice. Let's do it."
"Seriously?"
"Dead serious."
Ella groaned. "I hate it when you pun your own bloody name. That joke got old like seven years ago."
Sirius chuckled. "But it's just so easy and satisfying. But seriously, Ella," he grabbed her hand, "Set up a viewing for the apartment."
Ella smiled. "Ok, let's do this."
By the end of the hour, an owl had been sent to the agent and Sirius and Ella were a little giddy when they meet Euphemia in the atrium. Ella bid goodbye to both of them and Euphemia and Sirius headed home, Euphemia telling him about how the meeting with Crouch seemed to go well and she was confident Crouch would support her.
"—And goodbye Muggle-Born Register Bill of nineteen seventy eight."
Sirius chuckled as they walked into the house together. "Have you stopped anything passing before?"
"We stopped a Werewolf Registration Bill from being passed about a year ago. It said all werewolves had to be listed, after we argued that being a werewolf shouldn't be a criminal offence they amended it to werewolves with criminal activity. Then there was the Magic Restrictions Bill that said houses in muggle towns or cities required permits to use magic within the property — as in people would have to pay the Ministry to use magic in their own homes. We shut that down about six months ago. There've been a few other dumb laws that we've stopped but those were the two hardest."
"Huh, this is just like a more political version of the Order," Sirius mused.
"What was that?" Euphemia asked.
"The Order of the Phoenix," Sirius said. "We focus more on fighting whereas you lot focus more on laws and stuff."
"We?" Euphemia asked.
Sirius seemed to realise he'd made a mistake. "Yeah, the Order."
"You said 'we' and how do you even know what the Order is? Did Monty tell you?"
"No — no," Sirius said. "I just — we found out."
"How?"
Sirius looked down. He hated lying to Euphemia. She had given him so much, a home, a family, a mother.
"Sirius Black, do not tell me that you and my idiot son joined that group?"
—
The front door swung open and James waltzed in, carrying his broom with a big grin on his face. "Hellcot told me that my flying is superb and if I keep it up, I can make it to the main team by next season!" James placed his broom down on the side of the foyer and looked up at Sirius and his mother, only to notice Sirius' I-fucked-up face and Euphemia's 'Minerva McGonagall's' face. "What's, uh, what's wrong?"
"Sirius and I were just discussing your involvement with the Order of the Phoenix," his mother said, hands on her hips, her hazel eyes blazing and jaw set tight.
James found himself wishing he'd gone to visit Lily or Remus or Peter or anyone really because his mother was now killing his very happy mood from Quidditch and all because his best mate couldn't keep his trap shut.
James pushed the glasses up his nose, "Well, that's, er, interesting."
"Is it?" Euphemia questioned. "Because I think it's stupid of the both of you! And how did you even find out about the Order? It's supposed to be a secret organisation! Children shouldn't know about it!"
"We knew that Dumbledore was planning to fight back for a while before he invited us to join," James sighed, knowing his mother would not let them leave until she knew every single detail.
"Who invited you to join? Dumbledore? Right, well, you'll both be writing him today to tell him that you've reconsidered and that you won't be joining."
"Mum!" James protested. "We aren't kids anymore and we joined for the same reason why you started M.A.E and for the same reason that you and dad back-up the Order financially. It matters."
"Don't you dare compare this to what your father and I do or don't do! We've lived our lives, we travelled, and got married and had kids! You're just starting out! You shouldn't have to fight!"
"Just because we shouldn't have to doesn't mean we shouldn't!" James retorted. "And don't act like you and dad don't put this whole family in danger by supporting Dumbledore because you and I both know that if Voldemort were to find out, he'd come after all of us!"
"There's a difference between financially backing Dumbledore and going off sneaking after Death Eaters trying to thwart their plans! You're going to get yourselves killed and you're delusional if you think Dumbledore cares about anything but his grand plans! No, you two will drop out of the Order now or else I'll cut the funding," Euphemia threatened. "The Order can say goodbye to headquarters whilst they're at it!"
"I can't do that, Mrs P," Sirius said quietly and Euphemia whirled on him. "Like James said, it matters and I didn't escape from the Blacks only to stand by as we lose to them. I don't think I could bare it if the world turns into what it was like inside that house so I'm going to do my bloody best to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Sirius is right, mum," James said.
"And what about Lily? What does she think about all this?"
James chuckled breathlessly, "She was ready to join the moment she heard about it." Euphemia had always taught James to fight for the world he wanted but Lily, Lily was born knowing it. She was a fighter, as bright and loud as the mightiest blaze, James knew just from the way she talked about the Order, nothing would get in her way. Not even James if he'd ever was stupid enough to try and tell her otherwise.
Euphemia looked between the two boys, and seemingly defeated, she walked away, her shoes tapping against the steps. James didn't let out a breath until he heard her bedroom door close. His shoulders slumped as he toed off his shoes, bending down to pick them up before heading up the stairs too.
"You couldn't keep your mouth shut," James accused as Sirius followed him.
"It just slipped out — you know how I am with your mum."
James just nodded because he did know but that didn't make him any less mad. "Yeah," he sucked in a deep breath and sighed. "She threatened to cut the money."
"Monty will talk her down."
James didn't think so. James thought Euphemia was likely to blow another gasket when she found out that Fleamont had known they'd joined. He'd have to warn his dad.
"Yeah. I gotta meet up with Lily," James said. They were supposed to be visiting Emmeline at St Mungo's and then going for dinner. "You'll be all right, yeah?"
"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll just be tinkering with the bike. Might go visit Pete and Remus."
James nodded before locking himself in the bathroom where he stewed for almost an hour until he decided Lily would really kill him if he kept her waiting any longer.
He shook his head at his girlfriend because upon entering her room, he completely forgot about his mum and Sirius and instead blurted out, "What in Merlin's name is all this?"
'All this' was Lily in James' old quidditch jersey, her hair piled in a bun atop her head writing on a blackboard of all things and Queen playing from the radio. Lily turned, chalk in hand and a determined look on her face.
"Good, you're here!" she exclaimed, she gestured back to the blackboard. "This is my six step plan to become friends with Francis Mulciber."
"You're what now?" James took a seat on her bed.
"Six step plan to befriend Francis Mulciber. New mission."
"Involving what exactly?" James frowned ever so slightly at the thought of Lily becoming friends with a Death Eater.
"Hey, don't frown at me," Lily protested, "I know what I'm doing and the mission is important. If Lovegood actually succeeds in doing what she wants to do and if we don't find out what Voldemort wants it for, well, we're screwed. We're even more screwed if we don't figure out a way to stop him from finding out the charm when Lovegood does figure it out."
"And what's the charm exactly?"
Lily raised an eyebrow, walking over and leaned down to peck him on the lips. "Nice try. You know I can't discuss that with you."
"Come on, Lils, this is important," he said, looping his arms around her waist to pull her in between his legs. "What if something happens to you and I don't have all the information? You," he hesitated for a moment, squeezed her hips lightly, "You could get hurt."
"I could," Lily agreed, resting her hands on his shoulders, "And then Gideon and Meadowes would come up with a plan."
"Prewett and Meadowes? The people we've only known — and barely — for under two months and you're going to trust them to have your back more than me?"
Lily sighed, leaning down to touch her lips to the top of his head and whispered, "James, this isn't about us. This is about the Order. We have to accept that they're are going to be some things we can't talk about. Besides, what I can't tell you has to do with work and you're going to have to respect that I won't be able to talk to you about the projects I'm assigned. Gideon's on the mission and he doesn't know what the charm is, well is trying to be."
James pulled her closer, burying his head in her stomach and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Of course you're right."
Lily hugged him back, her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just," he stopped and Lily pulled back to study him.
"What's wrong, Jems?"
"Sirius spilled the beans about the Order to mum and she threatened to cut funding if we don't drop out."
"Oh."
"I mean it's not Sirius' fault he can't lie to her. The bastard can lie to save his goddamned life but not if it was my mum he had to lie to."
"Sirius can't lie to your mum?" Lily asked, crinkling her nose at the oddness of the statement.
"It's not his fault … when he came to ours that night — hell, maybe it even started before then — but she's the mother he never had and he just, I don't know, he doesn't have a filter around her." James, at first, had thought Sirius was doing it to push Euphemia away, trying to see what buttons he'd have to push to make Euphemia push him away like his own mother did though after a while something changed. Sirius realised that Euphemia would love him no matter what he said and no matter what he did, and James figured out that he just trusted her — maybe more than he'd ever trusted another adult in his life and when Sirius started calling her mum, James knew he loved her like he did.
"How did you leave things with your mum?" Lily asked, sitting on his lap.
"Not good," James admitted. "She's not happy that we've joined. Thinks we're all going to get ourselves killed. She said Dumbledore doesn't care about us, he only cares about his grand plans."
"She'll come around."
"Sirius and I are hoping dad'll talk her down a little. I sent him an owl before I left. A forewarning, if you will."
"He wasn't home?"
"He was out with some old friends," James shrugged.
"He'll talk her around," Lily assured. "She's just worried."
James nodded and hoped she was right.
"Aren't we going to visit Emmeline?"
Lily nodded, "Let me get changed." She pressed a kiss to his lip before lifting off his lap. She busied herself with changing into jeans and a blue, sleeveless shirt and they set off for London.
Lily had been studying him all morning, analysing a way in. Of course she had a way in, being in the same project as him but she needed something more, something that would make him see her different than all their other co-workers. Something that would make him see her as a friend and so began Step One of the Six Step Plan to Befriend Francis Mulciber.
It was simple really. Give him the illusion that she was vulnerable. Nobody wanted to become friends with someone who looked intimidating or scary so she'd make him see that she was vulnerable, open to suggestion.
"Can you show me how you do that?" Lily asked, hugging a clipboard to her chest and peering at how Mulciber was forming a charm into a glowing red ball.
Mulciber looked at her studiously, as though wandering why a muggle-born was speaking to him and maybe he was thinking that. Lily shuffled her feet nervously as he turned back to his glowing red ball to concentrate. It was done, she'd need to find a way.
"All charms have a tangible form, you just have to stop it before it hits its target."
"I didn't know you could do that — that it was even possible," Lily exclaimed having no problem at filling her voice with extraordinary wonder — she might've been over selling it but that was the point. An over excitable intern, a charms nerd, could never be in league with Albus Dumbledore. "I never even considered that a charm doesn't have to hit its target."
"It's not really something that's taught. What use is a charm if it doesn't hit it's target? — Look, this is a stunning charm perfectly executed." A red ball glowed in front of their faces and Lily studied it, examining how the ball was seemingly made out of red strands all twined together. "And this is a stunning charm not perfectly executed." As the old ball vanished into nothingness, a new ball appeared but this ball was lighter in colour and it had less strands twining together, some sections of the ball looked as though they'd been broken.
Lily stared in awe and thinking back to Mulciber's question, she could find lots of reasons. Training. Combat training. Medical training. Any kind of training could be achieved using this technique. You could practise spells and never have to harm a person. You could know if a spell is performed correctly just by observing it's tangible presence.
"This is amazing," Lily gushed. "How do you do it?"
He glanced at her. "Don't you have something better to be doing?"
Lily shook her head, "We've reached maximum test tries on the mice today and besides, you can't just show me something that cool and not tell me how to do it."
"Spells are an extension from us. A lot of people assume that that extension ends when it leaves the tip of the wand — they're wrong. The extension ends when the spell hits its target. Like I said before, it's not taught in school and only few people have the mind power, the will, to do it."
"And how do you do it?"
"Theoretically, if a spell is an extension of us until it hits its target, if the spell caster wills it to, the spell can change in direction and speed no matter the way the wand is pointed."
"But don't spells do that anyways? Like the summoning charm. You can summon things that aren't in the same room."
"True but I'm speaking of even more direct spells. Spells you specifically aim at people, like a jinx or a hex. Watch. Stupefy." With a flick of his wand, the red light was shooting out of his wand but so slowly that the light wasn't a jet, it was like a slow moving lightening bolt and Lily could see it's energy, the red sparks that flew out of the main stream and she watched as a spell aimed at a wall, hit the table instead.
"That — that's impossible," she breathed with amazement, not at all over-selling it this time. "How?"
"Like I said, if the spell caster wills it, it will."
She desperately wanted to ask how he learnt to do it but she didn't want to scare him off. She didn't need or want him thinking she was too nosy and sticking it where it didn't belong. There needed to be trust between them if this plan was going to work and even if he was showing her the coolest thing she'd seen since magical stalker maps, she had to keep her head in the game. He needed to trust her and he wouldn't do that if he became suspicious about her too early on or ever really. Lily really needed to keep the suspicion to a minimum to the point of non-existent.
"That really is amazing. I've never seen anything like it — I didn't even think it was possible and there were a lot of things in my life that I thought weren't possible but were. I wonder when I'll stop being surprised with magic and what it can do."
"Lily!" Gideon called, "Ready for lunch?"
Lily waved at Gideon, "Just a moment. Thanks for showing me that," she rested her hand on his shoulder briefly before walking towards Gideon. She purposely tripped on a chair leg for good measure. The more clumsy and nerdy she presented herself as, the least reason Mulciber would have to suspect her.
Kate Adams smiled as she watched her daughter charm her hair into a stylish bun.
"Mum, can you pass my make-up bag?" Marlene asked.
Kate Adams complied, reaching over for the baby blue bag that held Marlene's make-up and she stood behind her daughter as she placed it on the dresser.
Marlene glanced at her mum through the mirror, distracted as she grabbed the bag and started pulling the things she needed out. It was only the second time she glanced when Marlene noticed Kate's odd expression. "You okay?"
"Oh, nothing," Kate pressed a kiss to her hair, "I just have no doubt, that one day, we'll be in this very room getting ready for your own wedding," Kate smiled at their reflection in the mirror and Marlene did too. "I also have no doubt that it'll be Nate you'll meet at the end of the aisle."
Marlene chuckled softly as she pulled a lipstick out. "If you say so, mum."
"I do. My mum always said I'd end up marrying your dad and when I asked her how she knew, she said 'mothers always know' and she was right." Kate caught sight of the deep shade of pink Marlene was about to put on her lips and picked up the make-up bag. "Try this," Kate said, pulling out a more neutral pink. "You don't want your face to look too busy, Marly. It's a wedding not a disco."
Marlene took her mother's suggestion and when she walked into the McKinnon's living room a half hour later, she smiled slyly at the sight of Nate in full on dress robes and she knew her mum was right. She'd found as she had grown older that her mum usually was and this time proved no different because seeing Nate in dress robes with his hair neatly combed she couldn't only imagine it. She wanted for it to some day be true.
"Oh, Marly! You look gorgeous!" Nate's mum, Charlotte gushed and where Marlene had been standing unnoticed in the doorway, now a pair of eyes looked her up and down, his face blank and Marlene only panicked slightly. Was her hair wrong? Her make-up? Should she have gone for the bolder colours? Her face must look too washed out. She knew it. Merlin, she knew it. Maybe Faith would know some charms to fix it.
"Marls," Nate said breathlessly, from across the room.
"Did you say Marly's here?" Faith's shout came from upstairs. "I need her!"
She shrugged in a 'duty calls' sort of way and turned to go upstairs where she was confronted with the sight of a pacing Faith. If Marlene looked gorgeous, Faith was on another level completely. A higher level.
The white dress sparkled and dazzled, tight around the bust and torso with intricate beading of pearls and crystals and then the dress just flowed out into a full skirt of soft material with the beading bleeding through it. She looked like a fairytale.
"Oh, Faith," Marlene smiled still admiring the dress, "You look amazing! The dress couldn't have turned out better."
"I'm having a you moment."
"What — ?"
"What if I fall down the aisle? What if he says no? What if I drop the ring? Or mess up the vows? What if it starts raining and my dress turns flatter than an a-cup? What if—"
"Okay!" Marlene interrupted grabbing Faith by the shoulders. "I think that's enough what if's. You're not falling down the aisle because you could walk in heels since you were eight and we used to play dress-ups in your mum's clothes. He's not going to say no because he's the one who asked and he loves you. You played seeker for three years, a gold band isn't going to defeat your iron grip. You're not going to mess up your vows because you've known them since your third date and your dress isn't going to turn out flatter than an a-cup because it is summer and there isn't a cloud in sight. Can we go get you married now?"
Marlene looked at Faith expectantly and she breathed out and nodded. "I'm getting married."
"That's the spirit. Now the photographer's waiting so let me help you down the stairs."
The ceremony was beautiful and the whole rush to the church and from the church to the reception meant Marlene didn't have a lot of alone time with Nate until the dancing started.
"I don't think I've had the chance to say you look beautiful," Nate said as they danced slowly on the dance floor.
Marlene laughed, "You're not too bad yourself. Faith looks really happy."
"Do you think we'll ever get to be that happy?" Nate murmured.
"Of course we will."
Even though she said it, she wasn't a hundred percent sure they would be. Their lives weren't set up to go down a happy path but she was optimistic. They'd already been in the Order for over a month now and nothing extraordinarily bad had happened apart from Emmeline being hospitalised and even she was going to be fine.
She hugged Nate closer, "We'll be even happier," she said.
The halls of Hogwarts were silent apart from their quiet chit chat. It reminded James of when they used to roam around after hours except they didn't need the map or the cloak now. They were just allowed because they weren't just aimlessly wandering, they were guarding.
"I'm moving out," Sirius stated. "Ella and I were house hunting all weekend and we've found a flat we're pretty sold on."
"It'll be weird without you."
"I always thought us four would live together after Hogwarts," Peter mused.
"So did I," Sirius admitted. "Never thought we'd be here."
"Here being patrolling the corridors after hours to guard it instead of mess shit up."
"Exactly. I think I know what it's like to be Filch. Still don't understand the bastard though."
James shook his head. "When are you going to tell mum and dad?"
"When she starts talking to me again."
James pursed his lips. The downside of being in the Order was that now his mother was not speaking to James, Sirius or Fleamont who had simply refused to pull funding for the Order and had, grudgingly, sided with Sirius and James. They were on week two of the silent treatment and if it wasn't for the house elves, James was sure someone would've cracked sooner but it was easier to ignore someone when you didn't depend on them to make food or wash the clothes.
Lily said that it was weird how long they'd all stayed mad at each other. "I swear mum and I will have a fight in the morning and by dinner we're fine." But James had never really had that experience.
"So what? You guys sit down and talk about it after only a few hours?" James had asked and Lily laughed.
"Talk about it?" she questioned. "God no. We just pretend like nothing happened with a mumbled mutual sorry."
James thought that was weird. Everything was always talked out in the Potter household.
"She'll come around. She always does," James assured.
"It's weird to be here in the summer."
Sirius shrugged at Peter, "It's like how it always is. Except hotter."
"Yes, that's the weird part."
Remus shook his head and checked his wrist for the time. "We've an hour left before the next team shows up."
"It's Fabian's lot right?" James asked.
"Yeah, Hestia, Fabian, Fenwick and someone else I can't remember."
"Do you really think we can trust them?" James whispered quietly as though something would smite him for the untrusting thought because of course he should trust them. They were all on the same side after all but the nagging thought couldn't help but badger him.
"Dumbledore does," Peter shrugged.
"Yeah but," James ran a hand through his hair. "Lily's in this mission with Gideon and Meadowes and I — How do I know they'll have her back?"
"They're good people, James," Remus said softly.
"I'm not saying they aren't but how can I trust them to protect her the way I would?"
"Lily doesn't need much protecting," Sirius pointed out.
"Yeah," James breathed out, "I know but…"
"But what?"
"I guess I would've just felt better if at least one of us was with her on that mission. I can't trust them like I trust you lot."
"Arrow through the heart, Prongs," Sirius quipped. "I'm swooning!"
"We're worthy enough to protect Lily, Merlin have mercy!" Peter dramatised.
"Urgh, bugger off the lot of you. I'm just worried."
"It's okay to be worried," Remus said gently, "Just don't forget who's with us and who's against us."
James nodded.
"So you lot are going to help me move all my crap, right?"
"Can we accio a whole bedroom?" Peter wondered.
Dear Adaline,
The war is scarier than I thought it would be and what scares me most is that I think I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. There's more to come and I don't know if we can win against them. They're terrifying. They're willing to kill us, to hurt us.
Emmeline's in St Mungo's because Bellatrix Lestrange hit her with some sort of curse and when Fabian came he sighed in relief because, "it wasn't an unforgiveable". He sighed like she was the luckiest person alive and yet she still has to drink three potions a day for two weeks and she was unconscious for thirty hours.
The healers say she'll be fine, that she'll make a full recovery but it was hard coming up with a story for dad. Fabian took care of it though, told him that they'd been out flying when the curse hit her out of nowhere. Dad's more worried than ever now, he grills me every time I leave the house.
The Auror Training helps, I suppose. It makes me feel more prepared learning more advanced protection charms and sharpening my fighting skills. I do feel like I've gone a round with the Whomping Willow most nights I come home though. I'm dead tired and I still have the wedding to plan. Frank wants to do it as soon as possible and Mrs Longbottom is right on his train of thought. We're planning something small though — a backyard wedding. I think it's all I can handle at the moment.
I hope you're being safe and having a good time on your travels.
Love, Alice
Adaline folded the letter and stuck it in her journal before setting about the room to pack her things away. Maybe it was stupid to set off for a country where there was a war waging. Maybe the sensible thing to have done was to keep travelling and follow her plan or maybe move in with her brother and help out with the baby. No, she knows for sure that that would be the sensible thing.
Her travels had been wonderful so far. She'd seen things she'd always imagined seeing, things she'd yearned to see when she read the letters her brothers sent to her. She saw ancient curses and Illvermony. She climbed mountains that looked over lakes and swam through water clearer than air. She visited each of her brothers, returning the favour from all the times they'd returned home to see her. She hadn't been all over the world but it was pretty damn close and now, it was time to go home.
"You know I rather thought I was done with the September first rush," her mum gushed as they all rummaged the entire house for Lily's old Charms textbook. They had decided it'd be rather stupid to have Mia purchase new textbooks when Lily's were perfectly fine.
"Found it!" Mia shouted from downstairs. "It was under the couch!"
"I wonder," Rosie shook her head. "I honestly wonder. Right, well you two better be off then."
Lily and Rosie brought down Mia's trunk — well Lily levitated it but Rosie was right behind her. "Okay, so you've got everything? Ready to go?"
Mia nodded, turning to Rosie. "Thank you so much for having me this summer!"
"Nonsense, it was a pleasure having you." Rosie hugged Mia tightly. "You keep in touch, all right? And you know that you can always come back here for next summer if you'd like to."
Mia grinned. "Thank you, Rosie."
Rosie pressed a kiss to her cheek before stepping back. "You two better go or else you're going to miss the train."
"All right, I'll see you tonight mum," Lily said before grabbing Mia's hand. "Ready?"
With Mia's nod, Lily took a firm grip of her trunk and spun on the spot so they landed right on Platform nine and three quarters. Lily checked her watch. "Come on, we've got ten minutes to get your trunk on the train. Where do you wanna sit?"
They navigated around the crowd towards the train and Mia stopped at a compartment almost at the end of the train. With a flick of her wand, Lily had the trunk in the overhead and turned to Mia.
"You'll be all right this year?" Lily asked nervously. It felt odd being on the platform on this day and not be in her Hogwarts robes with her own trunk, ready to bored.
"Yes, Lily. I'll be fine."
Lily nodded. "And just be careful at school yeah? Don't go out after curfew. Don't go out of bounds. I know they always say it's not safe, but," Lily paused thinking about the boys patrolling Hogwarts, "It's really not safe in these times."
Mia smiled and pulled Lily into a hug. "I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."
Lily hugged back. "Who's going to worry about you then?" Lily asked. "Make sure you write me."
"You too."
They heard a whistle being blown and Lily gave Mia one last hug. "Go on, you better get on the train."
Mia boarded the train, closing the door behind her and she waved at Lily before settling into her seat.
"Didn't expect to see you here."
Lily turned to see Mary MacDonald standing behind her with a pretty smile, her dark brown locks bouncing on her shoulders in pretty curls that most girls would die for. "Oh my God! Mary!" Lily laughed and pulled her into a hug. Mary MacDonald was a now seventh year Gryffindor and Lily wasn't surprised to see the Head Girl pin on her robes. "My successor I see!"
"Yeah, mum was over the moon. I think it was something she could actually understand. What are you doing here?"
"That's great, Mary! I'm just seeing someone off. I had Mia Scott staying with me this summer."
"Mia from fifth — well now sixth — year?"
"The very one. She's got a few family problems, couldn't go back home."
"That's terrible!"
"Yeah," and then getting an idea, "Mary, you wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her for me, would you? It's just I don't think she's got many friends in Ravenclaw. At least not any close friends and I am a little worried about her."
"I — yeah, of course. I'll make sure she's all right." Another whistle blew and Mary's eyes flickered to the train. "I better get on. First Head meeting and all."
Lily smiled, "Go on. Have a good year."
"Yeah, you too. It was nice to see you again."
Lily watched as Mary got on the train too and she watched as all the doors shut and the train started moving, wheels turning until all that was left was smoke. Lily twisted on the spot and ended up at James'.
Sirius watched as Ella walked around the flat once more. The real estate agent sat on one of the heavy wooden chairs at the wooden dining table with a bunch of papers for Sirius and Ella to sign.
"You ready, babe?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Ella turned to smile at him, "This is perfect!"
Sirius didn't know about perfect, the tap in the bathroom dripped and the paint in the second bedroom was peeling, not to mention all the crap they'd have to sift through since the old, now deceased witch who'd lived here before hadn't had any relatives to do it. He supposed it would be all right, once the crap was gone.
The flat was a decent size with the living room to the left of the corridor and the kitchen slash dining room to the right. The two rooms looked into each other with large archways which were equal in size with the same wooden trim. The living room was nice enough with a brick fireplace against ivory walls and two large windows with thick window seals sat on the far wall. The kitchen was a decent size, decent enough that it fit a six seater dining table in the middle of it and it was standard as far as kitchens went — wooden cabinets, granite bench top, oven, stove, fridge, it was all there — the fridge even had a few butterbeers in it. Down the corridor were three doors, two on the side of the kitchen leading to a bathroom and a second bedroom and one on the side of the living room leading to the master bedroom.
"Ready to sign, Mr Black and Miss Dearborn?" their realtor asked.
Sirius smiled and took the quill. He signed his name where the realtor told him to and then waited for Ella to do the same and then he grinned because he was home.
Author's Note: Hello Everybody! Welcome to Chapter 29. I must admit, this chapter and the next one there isn't a lot of action (some drama but no action) but I'm super excited for Chapter 31 and you should be too.
Don't be afraid to ask questions here or on my tumblr: .com
As always, THANK YOU for reading and please review with your thoughts as they're always appreciated!
-Natalie xx