Author's Note: Thank you to those that took the time to follow and leave a review over Chapter 1-you are the best!
I'm going to go ahead and put trigger warnings at the end of the chapters to avoid spoilers moving forward; if you are concerned about content, scroll to the bottom. I'll keep them vague enough that it doesn't tell you exactly what's happening but is enough to give you an opportunity to exit if this just isn't your thing. Take care of yourselves!
Chapter 2
"You better think and you better ask yourself is this really who you want to be?" Olivia Pope, "Scandal"
Now: Lily
When Lily woke the next morning, she felt like she had used to, back during the war days, heading into a mission. She woke early, as was her nature, at 5:00 AM, hitting the streets of London to get in her required five mile run before work. From there, it was a quick cup of coffee, followed by a shower, and then donning what felt like armor today.
She knew a huge part of public relations, especially the crisis management that had become her bread and butter, was image.
And she strived to ensure that image was flawless.
Choosing an all-black ensemble today, a black pencil skirt with a black chiffon top that tucked in with sleeves that flared slightly at the elbow and ended just above her wrist, she pulled her hair back in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, before swapping out her diamond studs for square gold hoops. On her feet went her black stilettos, choosing to go without pantyhose today, as the April weather was warm enough she wouldn't be too chilly when she left the office later for a lunch with a client.
After putting on her makeup and a quick dab of perfume at her wrists and neck, she returned to her closet to pick her coat for the day, a white trench that tied around her waist. Giving herself an assessing look in the mirror, she nodded, satisfied.
Today, more than usual, she needed to be the Lily Evans of LE & Associates.
The Lily Evans who had a run in with her ex-fiancé yesterday afternoon and spent the evening in her tub with a large glass of wine, lost in memories she swore she had compartmentalized away, could take a long walk off a short pier.
This was business, and it was for Moody, no less.
Keeping her thoughts solely on the older man who had been a protector, mentor, and friend during her three years in the war and the eighteen months after, and firmly not on the man who had taken over her office yesterday morning, she made her way out of her apartment to the street below, feet giving a confident click-clack on the pavement until she reached the end of the anti-apparation ward she had placed on her building. She had moved in two years ago, choosing a stylish and pricey Muggle area that was just blocks away from Wizarding London, allowing her easy access to both worlds. At the time, she had been contemplating expanding LE & A to Muggle business, too, but could scarcely keep up with her wizarding clients, and so the business remained firmly in the wizarding world, both in terms of location and clientele.
Arriving with a pop outside of her office, Lily checked her stylish gold wrist watch, thankful she'd have enough time to look over a few files for meetings later in the day and ensure she was completely prepared for Moody and Potter's imminent arrival.
Taking a deep breath, she entered the lobby and made her up the stairs to her fourth floor office.
It was time to get to work.
One hour later found her team all present and gathered in the conference room, Moody's picture on their big board, with several of the negative press clippings surrounding him. She was looking over some polling numbers one of her associates had prepped the night before when Audra appeared at the door.
"Lily, Potter and Moody are here," she called, giving Lily a knowing look. Audra had been the first "Associate" in LE & Associates, and remembered all to well those early days when Lily had been literally picking herself up off the floor, trying to survive.
"Thanks Audra," Lily responded, waving a hand for her to escort both men in and motioned for all three to take a seat.
"Evans!" Moody barked, making his way to her to give her a brief hug, his magical eye surveying the room. "This place up to my security standards?"
"Of course," she replied, giving him a warm smile. "But you are welcome to poke around before we start if it will give you peace of mind."
Moody's magical eye did a quick survey of the room, and then, satisfied, he took his seat. "Swanky place you got here. Always knew you'd be a success, kiddo," he said, causing a warm wave of affection to overtake Lily.
There was a clearing of the throat, and Lily turned from Moody to greet the other new arrival: James Potter.
Christ, she couldn't help but think. This would be so much easier if he wasn't still so sexy.
She gave him a quick look and then inclined her head to him, refusing to spend time contemplating his broad shoulders that were perfectly sculpted and stretched his white button down, or that inky hair, tousled to look like he had just finished up a raunchy romp in bed, nor the day old scruff along that jaw that could cut glass, which he knew she had a weakness for, the bastard. And she definitely did not notice that twinkle in his hazel eyes as his checked her out, appraising her appearance and clearly liking what he saw.
Because none of that would be professional.
"So, gentlemen, this is the team. I'm going to do quick introductions because you'll work with everyone to an extent, some more than others," she began, but saw Moody give a sharp look at James.
"You said I'd be working with Evans. That's why I agreed to this dog and pony show," he grumbled.
"I was under the impression you were working with Evans," James fired back, and then shot Lily a look. "You never mentioned a whole team. I thought you agreed to take him on."
"That's not how we work," Lily leveled at him, then turned and cordially explained to Moody, "We are a team, expertly assembled for our strengths and balance. We don't do individual cases. That's the policy," she said, giving James a quick, firm glance and the challenge was clearly issued. She was in charge; if James wanted Moody to come on as a client, he'd need to adjust quickly to the idea that she was calling the shots.
"Fine," James huffed out. "Continue."
"As I was saying: the team. You know me, but my role is to oversee everything. Nothing happens without my knowledge or approval. I have my hands in everything, but specialize in client management, communication, and strategy.
Next, we have Mundungus Fletcher, who you probably remember from the war," she said, inclining her head to Dung, a short, stalky man dressed in an Adidas track suit, rings adorning each finger. "Dung's official title is private investigator, but really, he does the work no one else wants to do. Fair warning, that occasionally includes operating outside of the law.
On Dung's right is Adella Valentino, ex-wife of Quidditch mega-star Hector Valentino. Adella is our lawyer and handles law suits, restraining orders, cease and desists, and any other legal matters we need," Lily continued, inclining her head to a model-like blonde, hair cut bluntly at her shoulders, brown eyes sharp, with olive skin, stylishly dressed in a pantsuit.
"My ex was an idiot," Adella said, revealing a slight Spanish accent. "Embezzled our money and then got caught up in gambling and hookers. Lily rehabbed his image, saw us through a divorce that salvaged both of our reputations, kept us out of jail, and then hired me."
Lily gave Adella a quick smile before moving to her next associate; instead of introducing him herself, she gave him a subtle nod, letting him speak, if for no other reason than she knew he would irritate James and she wanted to subtly observe.
"Carter Myles," he said, his American accent coming through. "American ex-pat. Specialize in strategy, so I work very closely with Lily," he said, and Lily noticed his smirk overtaking his face immediately. "I moved to London three years ago, but was working in the Muggle world when Lily found me. She convinced me to come aboard."
"Carter is muggleborn, like me, and so he was bouncing back and forth between worlds," Lily explained. "What he's also not saying is that he is incredibly charming and can out-schmooze even you, Potter, so he handles a lot of the client management as well," she continued, as she let her eyes rove over Carter for a second; he was bi-racial with dark eyes, close cropped hair, very tall and well-muscled. He also had dimples to die for, a sleeve of tattoos on his right arm, and as Lily could personally attest, several more along his ribs and chest, as well as in a few other places one would only see in compromising positions.
"Moving on, we have Harper Hayes, who graduated from Hogwarts last year, an absolute Arithmancy prodigy, so she does a lot of our polling numbers, but really does anything and everything we need around here," Lily continued, introducing her youngest associate, a cute brunette who looked about three years younger than the nineteen years she actually was. "And you met Audra yesterday; she's the one who is really in charge around here. If you want to get to us, you go through her."
"Very nice to meet you all," Moody said, and James nodded as well.
"Now, let's talk strategy," Lily continued moving to the board. "The challenge, here, is not that you had one bad story come out about you, but a series, which indicates you have enemies from within who have friends in the press. That means just about anything you do is fair game for the other side. They want to paint you as someone out of touch, losing his capacity to lead. We have to combat that two ways.
First: we focus on you. You will not apologize for the incident, but you will issue a statement: 'While others at the ministry see a threat on our minister's life as a fodder for gossip, I am protecting and serving the way I have for forty years.' You do not back down, you do not get into tic for tac about what actually happened. We use this incident to remind them you are a war hero, a seasoned veteran who has spent his life ensuring the well-being of our citizens through an interview with someone we trust—"
"I like Valesquez," Carter interjected, as Lily quickly threw up the trusted reporter's name on the board.
"And then spend some time on a make-over," Lily continued, pausing only for a second to allow Moody to grimace. "The wild hair, unkempt clothes, they don't scream authority. They make you look a bit too much 'Mad Eye' and not enough Alastor. Sorry," she tacked on thoughtfully.
"But we keep the eye," Harper added. "Polling shows it is your signature, and is an instant reminder that you literally sacrificed body parts during the war. People like that."
"Next," Lily continued, "You will do a panel. The War Memorial Society is putting together a gala as part of an anniversary to commemorate the war. They are asking several prominent members of society who fought in the war to participate, and your name will be on their list, and you will say yes. You will answer questions and again remind the public of exactly how crucial you were to winning the war, while the likes of Malfoy and Mulciber actively fought on the other side to destroy our society. It will also be the perfect time to discuss the role you've actively taken on the last six years, keeping peace, locking away as many criminals as possible, and continuing to be a beacon of justice."
Lily nodded to Adella to continue, pausing to take long swig of water, as Adella discussed the cease and desists she planned to invoke against The Daily Prophet to stop them from issuing defamatory stories about Moody ("We have a guy over there in legal who will make sure the bad press stops") as well as the information Dung had compiled thus far on Mulciber that they'd be leaking to the papers, trusting Marlene McKinnon, a reporter and Lily's close friend, to ensure it made it to the public.
"Essentially, we'll force him to defend himself. If we do that, he's been neutered. If you have to spend time defending yourself instead of getting out your message, you've lost. The public will not forgive Mulciber for what he's done in the past, and without public support, they cannot hope to appoint him. And as long as there isn't another viable candidate—" she paused, looking at James for confirmation, which he nodded in agreement, "they'll have no choice but to back off and allow you to do the job you were born to do."
Lily's team paused for a moment, allowing James and Moody to turn to one another, exchanging whispers. Lily busied herself scanning through Mulciber's file from Dung, and was just about to offer them the room to discuss, when James interrupted her thoughts.
"Evans, a word? Outside?"
Holding back a sigh, she followed James out the door, hearing Audra offer Moody a drink while Lily and James conferred.
"We have some issues with this plan," James started in as soon as the pair had moved to her office.
"Moody is my client, Potter, not you. If he has issues, he needs to discuss them with me personally. I don't work for you," she retorted, feeling instantly irritated. "And this plan is solid; it's what we do. Which of us is the expert here?"
James huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "I've been working directly under Moody over five years, plus the three by his side during the war. And I'm telling you, you've got some problems. Which of us is the expert on him?"
Lily snorted out a little laugh, and then pulled a notebook out of her drawer along with a pen—she had gone back to pens after Hogwarts, so much more convenient—and paused, looking at James. "By all means, please, fill me in on how to manage this crisis. I'm all ears."
James rolled his eyes, but continued nonetheless. "First, the panel. He's a disaster off the cuff. There is a reason we do not allow him to do his own press conferences. The man has no filter."
"We'll coach him, get our people on the inside to pick the questions, and practice his responses. By the time we're done, you won't recognize the man on stage. Next," Lily said, raising a brow at James in challenge. This was her game, after all. There was a reason she was the best at what she did; of course she knew Moody would need coaching.
"Fine. The image," he started, but Lily was quick to cut him off.
"My people did image polling. Moody is well liked, but he needs some refinement. That's non-negotiable and pretty standard stuff in this business, which you'd know, if, ya'know, this was actually your area of expertise," she finished, giving him a mock-sweet smile, unable to resist. There was no one who she could trade repertoire with like James Potter. "Anything else?"
This time, James let out a little chuckle. "You're enjoying this, are you?"
"Putting you in your place? Yes, I certainly am," she fired back.
"You can put me in whatever place you'd like, Evans. I believe you liked me best on top? Or was it from behind?" He retorted, sending heat directly to her face.
"Other issues?" Lily bit out, refusing to rise to his bait.
"Going after Mulciber could lead to some complications, as you know," James began, but once again, Lily headed him off.
"I'm not the client, Moody is. If it's best for him, we'll do it and I can handle any fall out," she said confidently, smoothly, even. She watched James narrow his eyes just slightly, but recognized the moment he accepted her answer. "Are we done?"
"Almost. Valesquez for the initial interview is a big problem," James said, but his eyes continued to dance. "He's anti-Auror. Hasn't liked them since his brother was wrongfully convicted during the war."
Lily paused. "I…did not know that," she said, making a note. "Are you sure?" she asked, studying his face carefully.
"Yes," James replied, "Positive. Your boy Myles didn't do his homework. Maybe if he hadn't spent the whole meeting eye fucking you..."
"Ah, so now we've gotten to the root of the issue," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "Jealous of Carter, are we?"
"If he's fucking you? Extremely," James said without missing a beat. "Is he? It really seems like he might be. Or at least wants to."
"I honestly don't see how that's your business," Lily responded, closing her notebook to stand. "We'll get Wilkins to do the interview. She has a bigger audience anyway," hoping to bring the matter to a close.
"You didn't answer my question," James said, standing as Lily stood, semi-blocking her path.
"And I'm not going to," she said, taking a small step toward him, but leaning against her desk.
"Play it that way, then. But don't forget: I know that you like it when I get possessive and jealous of you, and this is absolutely doing something for you right now," he smirked, giving her an appreciative look up and down. "And this whole boss bitch look you have going? It's definitely working for me."
"You're an ass," she replied, but was not quite able to deny the impact his words had on her, not even to herself, "but it's not for your benefit. Now, shall we?" she asked, pointing to the door.
"Lead the way, Evans. You know how much I adore chasing after you," James returned, shooting her a wink as she brushed past and then true to his word, stayed a step behind her the whole way back to the conference room.
She could feel his eyes burning into her the entirety of the short distance.
Many long hours later found Lily alone in her office, staring absent mindedly out the window behind her.
"I got more for the Mulciber file," came Dung's voice as he knocked but entered the office at the same time. "I wanted you to look first so you could decide how much you want to redact from the team."
He didn't expand, but merely gave her a pointed look.
"How hard was it to find?" Lily asked, turning to him as he picked up the file.
"It's buried pretty deep. Only someone as good as me would be able to put the pieces together. His plea deal demanded the Wizengamot expunge all of it from his record, the sick, slimy bastard. He should be in Azkaban. But Lily," Dung paused, giving her a searching look, "if we use this, which we might have to, it won't take long for others to realize you were one of the girls."
She inclined her head, acknowledging his point. He was right, of course. A lot of people overlooked Mundungus Fletcher with his short stature and seedy appearance. But his instincts were infallible and he could read people better than anyone else she knew.
"We'll worry about that when we get there. Make sure my name is taken out for now. If we need to go nuclear, we'll prep the team in advance. Thanks Dung," she said, continuing to scan the file.
Dung rose, understanding the dismissal, but hesitated for just a second. "A lot of déjà vu around here today. Moody, Potter, Mulciber…it wouldn't be a bad thing to let Myles take point on this one, ya know? Just something you might consider, boss," and with that, Dung turned to leave, yet his concern continued to linger in the room.
Lily let out a deep sigh, rubbed at her eyes, and then forced herself to look back at Mulciber's mugshot on the top of his file. The familiar ice blue, pale eyes staring her down, unblinking, frozen pits even in the wizarding picture. His honey blonde hair was perfectly styled, even post arrest, and those hands, wrapped around the card with his name and prisoner number were adorned with snake tattoos.
She gave an involuntary shudder, and then angrily closed the file.
Another knock interrupted her thought, and she looked up to see Carter leaning against her doorway.
"Everyone else is gone. You want to talk about it?" He asked, giving her a half-smile, showing off one dimple, his suit jacket discarded, dress shirt unbuttoned slightly, revealing a patch of skin just below his collar bone.
"No," Lily responded curtly, grabbing her notebook and pen, and jotting down "double check dates re: restraining order" before closing the notebook and placing both back in her drawer.
"You want to not talk about it?" Carter continued, moving from her door, walking carefully, allowing Lily to take in every inch of his ridiculously tall, muscular form.
"Not with you," Lily said, turning to him raising a brow. "We said last time was the last time—"
"Last time can be a spectrum. An umbrella, even. You had a run in with your ex-fiance," he drawled, continuing to make his way to her, sitting on the desk in front of her, forcing her to look up to meet his eye. "Can I help?"
"No," she responded, but rose to her feet anyway, moving between his thighs.
Carter chuckled deeply, his dark eyes drinking in her face. "I won't beg, Flower," he murmured, thumb brushing her lip. "Use me or send me on my way."
"As long as we're clear it was your idea this time," Lily whispered, just a breath away from his lips.
"Crystal," came Carter's response, and then, the two were on each other, his kiss punishing, domineering. His tongue invaded her mouth before he quickly switched their positions, with her front facing the desk and back pressed into him. She could feel he was already hard, had probably been since before he came into her office to proposition her.
"This work for you?" He whispered as his mouth ghosted her neck.
She murmured her consent, and it didn't take long for him to have her bent over her desk, skirt pushed up over her hips, panties pushed to the side. He quickly unzipped his pants, pulled his dick out, and slowly thrust inside from behind.
"So fucking good for me," Carter moaned, his hands clasping her hips so tightly she might bruise.
"Yes, please, harder, harder, harder" Lily moaned back because although Carter was hot, so hot, and this should be working, it was another set of Quidditch calloused hands she found her mind wandering to, another husky voice she recalled.
And as Carter moved a hand to her clit, the other pulling her hair just hard enough to keep her from retreating too far into her own mind, it was a set of dancing hazel eyes she kept thinking of and dark, inky, wild hair she longed to sink her own fingers through.
And when she finally came, she most certainly had to bite back an errant "James" from slipping out.
Then: James
"Baby, I'm home," James called, walking through the door of the cottage, not seeing Lily in the living room, but instead following the lights to the kitchen.
"Hey, just finishing up!" Lily called, turning her head to him to receive a kiss. "Good day?"
"Very good," James said.
"Do I get details?" She asked, looking so cute with an inquisitive twinkle in her eye.
"You know I can't, much as I wish I could," James replied, his hands making their way to her shoulders to massage her slightly. "You're very tense."
"I haven't moved for hours," she explained, relaxing into his firm grip. "Crouch is working me to the bone. I was in meetings from 7 to 4 and then had to come home to look over some statements Minchum's made in the past about overly friendly plea deals for Death Eaters. I think we are really going to nail him with this, especially when you consider Crouch's stance—"
"I like Minchum. He did the best he could with those deals, but we needed the intel however we could get it after the war," James said, and he knew he was being an ass, but couldn't quite bring himself to care. After all, Lily had most definitely not listened to what he knew was sage advice about this Crouch job and had gone ahead and accepted anyway. He had found out his fiance was leaving the ministry in a memo, the same as everyone else who worked there.
The fight that had ensued when he got home that evening had been reminiscent of their Hogwarts years, but after, they had essentially called a détente. He still did not like it, and felt he was more than justified to share that disapproval, but he knew Lily well enough to know the more he pushed, the more she'd dig in her heels.
Lily merely wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes and turned back to the newspaper clippings she was pouring through, pen in hand, circling statements.
James left her for a moment to pour himself a glass of firewhiskey to sip on and opened the oven to check on the dinner he could smell cooking—roasted chicken—and then made his way back to the kitchen table.
"I'm going to have a long weekend off work next weekend," he continued, attempting to pull Lily out of work mode.
"Mhmm," came her reply.
"Thought we might go away? It's been ages since we've had some proper time to ourselves. Think you can take a few days?" He tagged on hopefully, but Lily's pen continued to dance over a newspaper clipping, causing James to sigh.
"Yes!" She called out gleefully after a moment.
"Yes, you can take time away?" James asked, giving her a smile.
"What? No, there's no way I can go away. We're literally two months away from the election. Are you mad?" Lily asked curtly, eyes a bit wild.
"Right, of course," James replied, rolling his eyes, unable to keep the hurt out his voice.
"Listen, once Crouch wins—"
"He is not going to, babe," James said, a little harsher than he needed.
"He will! You don't understand because you're a pureblood but—"
"Oh, wow, just been holding on to that one, have you?" James said, temper rising. "Have you ever considered there is a reason I think this is a bad idea?"
"Yeah, and it clearly has something to do with the time it's taking away from you," she bit back, and James could see the telltale signs of her own temper coming out, too.
"That's incredibly unfair. I have never told you not to work—"
"But you certainly don't support my career either—"
"Because look at what you're doing!" James finally yelled, unable to hold back. "You scored more Outstanding OWLs and NEWTS than anyone we graduated with. You could be the Minister of Magic yourself if you wanted, and instead, you are looking for 'gotchas' in Minchum's speeches from, Merlin and Agrippa—these are from ages ago! He's updated his views since then."
"This is part of the plan. We find weaknesses in what other candidates have said on the record so I can send out press releases or write up statements for Barty to undermine. It's how we get his message out, make him look like the authority while Minchum has to explain himself. If you have to take time to defend yourself, you've already lost," Lily said, and her tone was so condescending, so un-Lily like, James could barely contain himself.
"This is what you do now?" He leveled at her, shooting her a sharp stare.
"What?" She asked, indignant.
"Sparse the words of other people who are trying to make a difference and poke holes in them? For Barty Crouch?"
"Spare me the judgement. Just because you are an auror does not mean you guys are automatically the good guys. I know plenty of aurors who do deplorable things—" She started, but James quickly cut her off.
"Because your boss gave them the authority to do so—"
"At least he did something! We were getting crushed by the other side, he gave us the means to fight back—"
"He is not the right guy for this job, Lil. I can't explain, but this is a colossal mistake. You are backing the wrong horse!" He bellowed, frustration boiling over.
"Why? You keep saying that but you aren't telling me something. You are asking me to walk away from the biggest opportunity in my career thus far without giving me any information—" Lily yelled back, and he knew he needed to stop, that he was pushing her too far, but he couldn't stop himself.
"You're supposed to trust me!"
"It goes both ways. And if we can't trust each other anymore, then I don't know what we're doing," Lily said, and he saw tears in her eyes, a sob barely contained in her voice.
Silence rang throughout the kitchen, far louder than any of their shouting.
James took a deep breath in, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. Fix it, he thought to himself desperately. Fix it now. There were few things he was very certain about, but the top of that list was his love for Lily, and his overwhelming desire for her well-being and happiness. These things absolutely outweighed his suspicions and dislike of Barty Crouch. And after all, just because some speculation about the man was looking very concerning did not mean it was true.
And it certainly was not worth fighting over with the love of his life.
"I'm sorry," he said. "This is getting uglier than it needs to."
"I am too," Lily said, but she sounded almost a tad robotic.
"What can I do to make this better?" James said, pulling her to him. "I hurt your feelings and I didn't mean to. I was being insensitive. You're right, Crouch is absolutely tougher than Minchum on sentencing."
"Just hold me for a sec," Lily whispered, and James rubbed her back soothingly. "And maybe don't talk about my work anymore. I'll do my best not to bring it home. I know you don't like it."
"Lil-" he started, concerned they were once again just brushing things aside. That they were just setting themselves up for an inevitable explosion down the line.
"I'll talk to Barty about next weekend. There's no reason Tom can't take over for a few days. Where did you have in mind?" She smiled up at him, and even though he knew they needed to push through, knew they needed to discuss it further, he couldn't bring himself to. Not when she looked as though she might still cry any second, or when she was trying to compromise.
"We're wizards, aren't we? Let's go somewhere you can be in a bikini as much as possible," he smirked at her, then leaned forward to kiss her head.
"Sounds perfect," Lily said, and her smile seemed more natural. "We can start getting serious about wedding plans, too. I'm thinking sooner rather than later."
There, he thought, relaxing as Lily moved to put away her work materials. Better. They were still a team.
Trigger Warnings: Sex scene, language, and implied heavier themes from Lily's past in the "Now" section of the chapter, but nothing will be explicitly stated regarding those themes in this chapter.
