AN: Okay, so we're having a double update this weekend since someone asked for one on Tumblr and sometimes I'm a push over. This is the first update, I'm going to go and finish editing the second update, and then you'll have two nice and shinny new chapters to read!
Lily took a seat at the table and told the boys what had happened to her while she'd been at Snape's manor. James sat quietly and listened since he hadn't heard most of the story either, only the really interesting bits, like how he hadn't been able to glamour her, and how she'd broken her wrist.
When she told them when she realized he was trying and failing to glamour her, Sirius laughed loudly and slapped the table, startling both Lily and Peter.
"I knew he was a crackpot!" Sirius hollered.
Remus had a different reaction altogether. "Of course he couldn't glamour you."
Lily cocked her head at Remus. James' gaze zeroed in on him as well. Remus looked around the table and when he spoke, he was looking at James. "You all had a very twisted sense of humor, and even if you never did anything to her, that doesn't mean that no one would ever try to hurt her for a laugh. I wasn't going to bring a mortal to fairyland and not protect her." He shrugged and then looked at Lily. "My mum made a charm for you. It was the only way she'd allow you to come with me. It's not the traditional kind, since it's permanent. She disguised it as a freckle on your left knee."
Lily immediately pulled up the nightgown she'd been given and looked at her left knee. She didn't have a lot of freckles on her face, but they were all over her arms and legs. And there were at least five prominent freckles on her left knee.
"How did you do that without me knowing?" She asked, not sure what she was looking at, would the charm freckle look any different? If so then it wouldn't be a very good disguise. Which one of them wasn't real? She ran her fingers over her knee, but then glared back up at Remus, "Why wouldn't you tell me?"
Remus rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I couldn't tell you because I couldn't risk you telling someone else. And it's easy to do magic on mortals, you know that." That made her uncomfortable of course, as Remus accidentally did when speaking nonchalantly about these kinds of things.
"You did magic on me without my permission?"
"Well, I didn't, since I don't have any magic. But my mum only did it to keep you safe. I was twelve at the time, Lily, I wouldn't do it like that now. But my mum said that if I wanted to take you to fairyland, then I had to make sure you were protected. A charm to keep you from being glamoured was the easiest way to do that, other than never leaving your side." Then he shook his head. "Though I broke that last rule, and then you were kidnapped."
Lily wasn't really upset about the fact that he'd charmed her so that she couldn't be glamoured. And twelve year old Lily might have told all kinds of people about the charm had she known, so she understood why he didn't tell her too, but the fact that she'd been charmed for the last decade without knowing it, the fact that she'd spent time worry about being glamoured when she didn't have to, well that was kind of rubbing her the wrong way.
"Well, what other charm did you put on me then? Why do flowers grow when my blood touches the ground?"
Remus' face froze mid reaction, like it did when he was really surprised by something.
"Your blood does what?" Peter squeaked, looking back and forth between Lily and Remus, waiting for the latter to give some sort of explanation.
"I got cut on a rose bush earlier and when my blood hit the ground, flowers started sprouting. It happened when we were kids too, Remus. Remember that time at the pond? I scraped my knee? I didn't put it together back then, just thought flowers sprouted wherever and however quickly they want in fairyland." She rambled slightly, as Remus's face was still frozen and when she chanced a glance at Sirius, he was giving a very significant look to James.
"It is her then." Sirius said quietly.
"We do not know that." James said just as quietly.
"It seems pretty clear." Peter said, leaning forward so his elbows were on the table. He tilted his head and looked at James. "She can heal the land."
"We definitely do not know that." James said more forcefully. Lily looked around at all of them.
"Snape took me because he thinks I fit the prophecy too. He was trying to force me to marry him." Judging by the look on their faces, she hadn't divulged that information yet.
"He was doing what?" Remus asked.
"Don't make me repeat it. I thought it was a joke when Charity first told me, but she seemed thrilled about it- this was before I knocked her over the head of course. And then I overheard him talking to some other people about it, though they seemed to be talking about a different prophecy. He said that whichever- is he a prince?" She tilted her head. James blinked, having been hanging on her words until she interrupted herself.
Peter answered her. "He thinks he is. The Court of Death has four princes. Severus is one of them. You heard him say that he wanted to marry you for your power, didn't you?"
"I don't have power, and no. I heard him say that whichever prince marries me will 'rule with immeasurable power.'" She looked back at James. "But that wasn't part of the prophecy that you told me. Right?"
He ran a hand through his hair and then ran his finger up one of his antlers. "No, no, that is not part of the prophecy I told you about."
"But there have been countless prophecies made about the arrival of the true queen. So he could be talking about one of those." Sirius shrugged. "Or he might have talked to a prophet who did not report their prophecy."
"Do people have to report-"
"No," Peter shrugged. "But it is encouraged. Most people do because the crown gives you coin."
"Doesn't that encourage false prophecies?"
Remus nudged her knee with his. "They can't lie."
"Right." Lily nodded. "But you can willfully mislead people, and prophecies are more vague than assertions of truth, right?"
"It's not really an issue." Remus shrugged. "There aren't that many prophets."
"Okay, so there could be a secret prophecy?" Lily felt like her head was spinning. She'd been through too much in too short a time. She hadn't even known about prophecies until the other day.
"Maybe," Sirius shrugged. "The real issue is that Snape thinks there is some reason that marrying you will give him more power. And of course, that your blood causes things to grow and could potentially stop the spread of the darkness."
"Potentially." James emphasized.
They were all quiet for a moment.
"Well, we should test it then, yes?" Lily asked. "It's the fastest way to find out what our next step should be."
"You do not owe us anything, Lily." James stood and put his palms flat on the table. "You have a life outside of fairyland-"
"Our world is dying, James." Sirius interrupted. "If she can help, we should accept that help."
"Except, we wouldn't only be accepting her help." Remus had his arms crossed over his chest. "If her blood heals the land, then she would be…" He took a deep breath and looked Lily in the eye. "She would be the queen of fairyland. The true queen."
"Yes," Sirius nodded. "You think she would hate being trapped here like you?"
Remus narrowed his gaze at Sirius and Lily almost kicked Sirius in the shin. But then changed her mind, "No one likes being forced to stay somewhere through the actions of other people."
"That sounded like something a queen would say," Peter said quietly. Remus elbowed him.
"Would I have to stay here?" Lily asked, looking at James since he probably knew best. "If I tried to help and I could, would I have to stay?"
"Could you walk away from that?" He asked instead of giving her an answer. "If you found out that you could save this place, could you walk away from that?"
Lily chewed her lip. "I don't know. I've never had to think about something like that before." She'd always loved it here in fairyland, and not being able to visit for the last few years had been very hard, and not only because she had missed Remus. She had always felt like a part of her woke up when she walked through the Forbidden forest.
Colors were brighter, sounds were more melodic, food tasted better, everything felt more. There was a part of her that was only alive when she was in fairyland, and every time she went back to the mortal world, it was like she was wearing grey lenses for days, weeks even. It took so long to forget how bright the color blue was in fairyland. It took so long to forget how the sun had felt on her face as she lay in the soft, vibrant green grass next to the lake. Nothing in the mortal land had even been able to compare.
She had always thought that all mortals experienced that after being around magic, but maybe they didn't. Maybe there was a different reason that her blood, her being sang when she left the mortal world.
Maybe this prophecy wasn't as far out of left field as she had originally thought.
"Well, if we find out that your blood can reverse the darkness-"
"It might not be her blood," James interrupted. "We are not going to bleed her onto the earth in hopes that it fixes everything." Lily didn't know if he'd phrased it like that in order to frighten her, but a chill ran up her back and she clenched her fists. She looked toward Sirius with wide eyes, trying to decide if that had been what he meant or not. Sirius reached out and patted her hand, and there was no part of Lily that felt as though she should pull her hand away.
"Of course not," Sirius went on, and he almost smiled at her. "But we are not going to do nothing. We have her here and she is willing to help, so we are going to accept that help."
"I do want to help, if I can." Lily said, looking between all four of them. Peter looked the most excited about this, and Lily couldn't decide if James or Remus looked the most upset. "Of course I want to help!" She said, narrowing her brow at the both of them.
"It's dangerous, Lily." Remus said quietly, wringing his hands as he looked away from her. "And you're mortal. You're a lot more fragile that we are." Lily kicked him under the table. "Ow!"
"Seems like you're pretty fragile." Sirius snorted and then cleared his throat.
"Remus is right," James said. "We will have to be extra careful." He wasn't saying no. He wasn't telling her that she shouldn't do it.
"You already promised to keep me safe." Lily sat up straighter.
"Yes, and at the time, I did not know that you would make that difficult for me." James fell back onto his chair, causing two of the legs to leave the ground for a moment and then crash back against the stone floor.
"Oh please," Sirius clapped him on the back. "You always get bored without a challenge anyway."
"Lily's life is not a game, Sirius." Remus sighed and then looked back at Lily, "And you understand that you don't have to-"
"Yes," Lily nodded. "You and James have made that abundantly clear." Her stomach chose this moment to growl angrily and Lily crossed her arms over it, as though that might muffle the sound. "I guess I'm hungry now." She said.
"I will escort you to the kitchens." James stood up quickly. "The rest of you keep looking for answers."
"We already found the answer," Sirius said under his breath. James acted as though he didn't hear him, and Remus shook his head. Peter just smile and started flipping through his book again.
Lily stood and followed James into the corridor. Was it weird that he was showing her to the kitchen instead of someone else? Was this just considered polite? Technically this is his house, and she was his guest, but it didn't feel like it was just polite.
She glanced over at him, her brow slightly drawn. For the first time since she'd stepped foot in the castle, she was distracted from inspecting the stone artwork and stained glass that made up the castle.
James' face was inscrutable.
"What are you thinking?" Lily asked before she could decide whether or not she should be asking him that.
He glanced over at her with a small grin. "I am thinking about how lucky we are that Remus and his mother charmed you. Deals made with fae, whether you have been glamoured or not, are hard to get out of." His eyes traced over her face before he looked away.
Lily felt her face heat up, though there was no real reason for it to do so.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, I suppose I am very lucky."
"We would have gotten you out of there no matter what, but the charm made it much simpler. Are you upset that he charmed you?"
Lily shook her head. "I think it was responsible of him. If he was going to take me here, where many fae think it's funny to glamour mortals into doing stupid or dangerous shit against their will. I would have liked to know of course, but he's right. I probably would have told someone when I was younger."
"Were you not good at keeping secrets?"
Lily snorted. "No. Do you know how many times I told my mum about this place? I mean she thought I was just making it all up, but still. By the time I was sixteen, she was starting to get worried about me because I wouldn't stop telling her what the real color blue felt like." She shook her head.
"You feel colors?"
"That is a thing, but no. I was trying to explain to her how things here are brighter and… more. Every time I went back to the mortal world, I felt kind of hungover." She looked out the window, taking in the great blue of the sky and letting the nostalgia wash over her. Her scraped knees and twin braids as she told her mom that the sky in the mortal world looked grey in comparison. "I think it's going to be really bad when I go home this time. This is the longest I've ever been in fairyland, and while it's not all been fantastic," She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at him. "I did find out that mermaids exist and get to stay in the castle."
"Huh." James said quietly, looking down the corridor.
"Sorry," Lily crossed her arms. "I didn't mean to ramble on."
"No," He shook his head and smiled at her. "No, please do not apologize. I was just wondering if that is how all mortals feel when they get back to the mortal world."
"Most mortals don't have a positive experience here." Lily shrugged. "It might not be a universal thing."
"I am glad that you like it here enough to miss it when you are gone." James reached over and touched her shoulder lightly. Lily watched his fingers, long and lean, trail down her arm before his hand went back behind his back. Her cheeks felt warm again. "Yet, I feel the need to tell you one last time, that if you are only agreeing to help because your life is in danger, it is not necessary. Snape dragged you into this mess and he had no right to do that, your life is your own to spend how you see fit. I will protect you if you wish to go home now."
Lily stopped walking and looked at him. "You don't think the prophecy is about me?"
James sighed and turned to face her. "It does not matter what I think. That is what I was trying to tell you earlier. This prophecy is about you, only if you believe that it is. If you do not, then it is not about you."
"What about my blood and the flowers?"
James shrugged a shoulder, "It is not normal of course, but it is also not unheard of. Blood magic is actually pretty common."
"Not among mortals." Lily pointed out.
James mimicked her posture and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, you believe in the prophecy? You believe that it is about you?"
Lily bit the tip of her tongue and shrugged. "I don't know what I believe, but I know that a lot of other people think that it's about me and I think it's a little silly to act as though their opinion isn't going to affect the way that things play out."
"Of course- I know that-" He racked a hand through his hair and turned away from her for a minute. "You do not have to stay here."
"I know that. I know that I can run if I want to, but I don't want to. This place has always meant a lot to me, and I know that you don't think that I have a right to-"
"Excuse me," James interrupted.
"Well you're the prince, right? So, you think that it's your job to fix things and so who am I to come in and step on your toes? I understand-"
"No, you do not." James turned back to her. "My job as the high prince of this land is to make sure that the people who can solve problems are given the tools to do so. I do not always know how to solve the problems plaguing my citizens, and if I do not help the people who can solve the problem, then I become a new and more dangerous problem. My issue does not lie with thinking that you do not have a right to be here or to help." He had stepped closer to her at some point and they were only a few inches apart now, his hazel eyes that had always reminded her of the forest during autumn, now blazing. The gold flakes shown through brightly, like little pricks of starlight. Like his magic might be glowing from within.
"My priority will always be protecting those that I have been charged protecting. And I made you a promise when you came here a few days ago. I promised you that I would keep you safe. Taking you back to the mortal world would be the easiest way for me to keep my word, and I am incapable of breaking my word, so perhaps that is where my bias comes from. But I am not some petty puppet prince who would deny my people assistance because of my ego." It wasn't just power shining in his eyes but hurt as well.
Apparently, he had feelings that she was capable of hurting.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, wondering if maybe she should take a step away from him. Or if maybe she should put a hand on his arm. "I only meant that I don't want to come in and act like I know how to fix everything. I haven't been here in over five years, and even when I did come here, it wasn't very often. This is your home, I want to help, but I don't want to overstep."
James pressed his lips together. "No one is suggesting that you are overstepping."
"Understood," Lily nodded. "But you did recite the entire prophecy to me. I'm just trying to make it clear that I'm not- I mean, I'm trying to say that you are-"
"You are referring to the line in the prophecy that speaks of the true queen?" The corner of his mouth quirked up for some reason and Lily looked away with a huff.
"Yes, that's what I'm talking about." She started walking down the corridor again.
James, still smiling, jogged to catch up and then clasped his hands behind his back. "I do not think I would mind sharing the burden with you, should the prophecy turn out to be about you."
Lily bit down on her tongue and glanced over at him. He seemed to mean what he was saying. She didn't see any mischief in his eyes where there should definitely be some, his words were plain with little room for deception. "Really?"
He raised his brow slightly when he looked at her. "I cannot lie, Lily."
"I know. Everyone else would mind."
"I do not care what everyone else would think."
Lily felt like she had stepped back into the fog. "It's a mute point. I'm a mortal and I'm going to go back home when this is over." It didn't feel like the truth though, it only felt like it was what she should say.
James' smile dampened. "Of course."