I don't own Harry Potter.
Once again Lily found herself sprinting through Diagon Alley armed with the coffee from the Leaky Cauldron she had come to love. It was even earlier than the day she had literally ran into Sirius. It was three o'clock in the morning and she was rushing to work.
Merlin help the girl.
The things that she thought of while she was unconscious earlier were frightening. Although she wouldn't really be surprised if Anthony was a Death Eater, the meany.
…Okay that was a lie. She would be shocked if any of her colleagues were in cohorts with Voldemort. Stupid Lily and always thinking the best of people. But that did not excuse him for always wearing long sleeved shirts and robes or the fact that he was always rude and obnoxious and mean.
After Lily had waken up from that terrifying dream earlier this morning it was all she could think about. Nothing could pull her away from the image of Anthony and James glowing and merging together, James making quick work of his lips, the taste of Dolocelli on her mouth, her neck, all over her jaw line…
Shaking her head of those kind of thoughts, Lily slowed her pace down to a quick walk. She was positive that she looked absolutely stupid doing it, but she didn't really mind at this hour. With her luck, she would run into another Marauder even though the occupants of the alley probably reached a grand total of maybe thirty. But really, the last thing Lily needed was another Marauder on her case.
She walked up the great white marble steps and tugged on the heavy doors only to find them locked. Go figure she was the first one there. Now she had to dig all the way to the bottom of her bag to find the ridiculously small key to the front doors that Carlos had issued to all the employees. Bloody fantastic.
Setting her coffee down to not spill it, Lily simply sat down on the top step and placed her bag on her knees. Reaching in shoulder deep, she began to wonder how on Earth the bag was actually that spacious. By the looks of it, no one would ever be able to guess that Lily's entire arm would be capable of fitting in it and having about four more inches to it. She was a regular Mary Poppins, minus the cheeriness in the mornings.
So there Lily was, arm deep in green velvet when she felt a shadow casting over her. Looking up, there was a man smiling kindly down at her blocking the luminous lights that portrayed Diagon Alley all the time.
"Not you too," she groaned, still groping through her tote.
"Nice to see you too Lils!" he chuckled back down at her.
"Ugh. This is just bloody fantastic. First that bloody mutt runs into me at five in the bloody morning while I'm late to a bloody meeting and then you show up where I just so happen to be at bloody three o'clock. Do you guys have a tracker on me or something?" she grumbled, still fumbling around with her bag.
Casually taking a sip of her coffee and ignoring Lily's protesting remarks he answered her, "Glad to hear that you're particularly gruesome this morning Lily! You never were a morning person, now that I think of it. And I'm sure that Sirius will be insulted when he hears that you referred to him as 'that bloody mutt.' But really, is that how you greet someone you haven't seen in five years?"
"Well sorry, Remus, but we can't all be bright and chipper at three in the fricking morning," she snapped. "Oh fuck, where the hell is this bloody key!?"
"You know, I heard that Sirius got a much more pleasant response when you ran into him," Remus complained.
"Well Sirius found me later in the morning and that previous night I had a normal amount of sleep, not four hours," she replied smartly. "Aha! Tried to escape me, the little bugger!" she claimed proudly as she pulled out the tiny silver key.
"Why didn't you sleep well last night?" Remus asked in a nonchalant tone. But Lily knew him better. Concern was laced very subtly and skillfully in his voice. That was always Remus's approach; Play it off coolly, luring the person into a false sense of security while secretly wheedling out every single detail he wanted to know out of them. Sadly, Lily was often a victim of his coaxing skills. The damn wolf seemed to be able to control people's emotions.
"Bad dream," she muttered, knowing it would be useless trying to lie to him. He knew her just as well as she knew him, if not better. After all, his mate stalked her for two years.
"Well why didn't you just go back to sleep?" he suggested like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Or was it that disturbing?" he commented with slight curiosity that someone inexperienced might have not picked up on. Oh, but Lily knew better. He just wanted her to bite the bait, the stupid guy with his stupid soothing voice. Well newsflash, Remus John Lupin! This was one fish that he wasn't reeling in!
"That disturbing," she grumbled. Whoops.
"What was it about?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. Oh sure, play the innocent card now. Just see if it works.
"James and Anthony." Word vomit spilled out of her mouth. Quickly covering her mouth she said through her hand, "Blah you Remus and your stupid persuasion skills. Blah you."
"Blah me?" he said with amusement dancing in his honey colored eyes. "I'm rather disappointed, your insults are normally much more interesting and creative."
"Well I'm sorry that I'm not very alert at this time in the morning, try again around noon." Lily meant for this to come out snappish, but it just sounded very sleep deprived. "What're you doing here at this ungodly time anyway?"
"I have to open up the shop I manage of course!" he replied with a happy grin. "Same time everyday! You're looking at the general manager of The Flourish and Blotts," he said proudly.
"Congrats Lupin," she said, eyeing him up. "Not bad for Hogwarts' laziest prefect ever. Not bad at all."
"Hey, cut me some slack here," he joked. "I tried…really hard. Sometimes." Lily shot him a look. "Kay. So maybe I tried really hard to achieve the title as the laziest prefect ever."
"That's more like it," she muttered. "Now help me up, my arse is starting to freeze out here."
Chuckling, he stood up and offered her his hand after taking her bag from her. "Only you could be cold in early August," he teased her.
"It's early," she whined. "The stars are still out. That means it can be cold"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he brushed her off. "Your bag madam," he handed her the tote. "And your coffee."
"Hey, it's half empty!" Lily complained as she stuck the tiny key into the tiny lock of the huge doors. Really, it was a huge comparison the key and hole to the actual size of the doors. Quite ironic actually. Well not really, but everything seems more ironic at three in the morning.
"No, it's half full, you Negative Nellie! And you complain a lot." Remus teased her. "Now get in before you get even colder. In August."
"Let it go already, would you?" she quipped as she put the key into the pocket of her jacket. "It's morning people like you that ruin every-"
But what morning people ruined Remus never found out. Because the two of them stopped dead in the doorway gaping at the sight before them. There, hanging from the ceiling of the main lobby was Spronkle with a noose fit snugly around his neck. Like Wrollongsk, his body was in horrible shape and disfigured, displaying both magical and physical wounds. There was also a message on him. Burned in his chest along with the Dark Mark was Nearly Halfway There!
Cue Remus, stage left! Haha, now Lily's seen half the Marauders. And yet another goblin is found mangled and dead, this time by Lily and Remus. They're actually very lucky that they got there so early to open up; Imagine the fury of the other goblins if they had been the ones to find Spronkle. Or the horror of the clients had they been there nice and early to get their gold and had discovered him! Also Spronkle was lucky that he wasn't just beaten to death, he got the relief of a hanging! Hehehe those Death Eater are vicious little buggers aren't they? I love that word...buggers!
I adore people. Like no joke. I got bajillions of reviews last time i updated! Well not bajillions, but lots and lots! I love you guys! I love you so much that I decided to update super fast...AGAIN! Wow, this is becoming a regular thing for me. I'm scared! Hehehe.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HARRY&J.K. ROWLING&NEVILLE! (It's 12:58 AM on August first...I was close...) AND ONLY ONE MORE DAY TILL BREAKING DAWN! WHOOOOOO.
Review my lovelies!
Isabel