AN: Thank you everyone who reviewed, very much appreciated. And the number of alerts has gone up too, meaning that I'm doing something right, LOL. Please keep up with encouragement as it motivates me to carry on. And with that, here is the next chapter.
…
"So Miss Lily Evans, are you ready?" James asked, nudging the girl next to him slightly. Lily's lips twitched faintly as if she was holding onto her laughter and she nodded determinedly once again. He extended his hand and she put her smaller one into his and James closed his eyes in concentration to apparate to his house.
A loud CRACK later, which of course went unnoticed by the ever oblivious few roaming humans, James and Lily stood in front of…a palace. There was no other word to describe it. It reminded her of all those Muggle Fairy Tales that she had read. It reminded her of the beautiful yet intimidating castles that the likes of Cinderella and Snow White married and lived in. But she Lily was most certainly not a princess. She was definitely not married to the black-haired man next to her. The man who was now looking at her, clearly waiting for her to say something.
Forcibly, she made her mouth move.
"You live here?" She was awed, shocked or excited but James couldn't quite decide which emotion best described the tone of her voice. "This is my childhood home, yes," he replied, a definite smile in his tone. Lily raised her eyebrows at his ambiguous answer and finally, finally, (Or James thought) some of her previous cheek reappeared.
"It's big." She stated. James grinned at her and ran his hand through his hair, absent minded. "You'll get used to its err…bigness," James said seriously but started sniggering at Lily's incredulous look. Just then the gates opened and an older man came walking towards the two youngsters. James straightened up suddenly and realising he was still holding her, hand, let go immediately. He proceeded to walk towards the man, leaving Lily behind.
The two men stopped a few metres ahead of her and although she probably wouldn't have heard them anyway, she was sure that a silencing charm had been placed around them. They talked together for a long time. Heads bent together, hands gesturing to each other and occasionally – her. They were talking about her, or maybe arguing about her but she couldn't make out their expressions from her distance. Lily observed that the older man looked similar to James Potter (was that what Malfoy had called him?). And the fact that they were obviously close to each other could only mean one thing. This was Mr Potter – the elder. Even she knew enough about the wizarding world to know that he was a very important figure. He was the head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement. Head of the department that passed the muggle-born servant's decree. His signature probably binded the whole document and made it illegal for girls like her to exist without an employer, or essentially an owner.
And his son was her master. She was the personal maid of Mr Potter's son. Great.
Lily stood there, waiting and eventually the two men raised their heads and were staring, to Lily's utter dismay, right at her. Scrutinizing her would be more fitting, she thought. James followed his father as he moved confidently towards the redhead. He glowered as his father made introductions and glowered some more when Lily's tiny hand was captured in his father's obnoxiously large one.
"Son, I trust you will be able to show Miss Evans her new living area." Mr Potter spoke softly, never once did his hazel coloured eyes leave Lily's face. It was intimidating but his eyes were honest and instantly Lily felt somehow at ease. James gave a non-committal sound and finally James' father turned to look at him. He raised an eyebrow at his son who just shrugged and took Lily's hand into his once more.
"Whatever you say, father," James muttered as he started to make his way towards the huge doors but not before his father replied in an equally quiet manner, "She is a maid, James. Not one of your girlfriends. Don't let your emotions become your hindrance." James pretended to have not heard and Lily sensed the tension between the two Potters and chose not to question James on the meaning behind his father's words.
The interior of the mansion did not fail to disappoint. It was every bit as magnificent as Lily had thought it to be. Large crystal chandeliers with candles burning hung from the centres of high ceilings in the many rooms that they went past. The walls were all painted a soft cream colour but ornate jewels from far away places or beautiful silk wall hangings, which Lily yearned to run her hand over, adorned the corridors that they walked through. Once or twice she even came across a sword and shield, or a coat of arms mounted up on a wall. These she assumed, must have been a collection of the family's, over generations.
Occasionally James would stop and explain the significance of a portrait. A particular portrait of apparently 'Great-uncle Damon' kept making bird noises every time James tried to explain, until thoroughly exasperated, James got out his wand and placed a well-performed silencing charm around the portrait. The resulting offended look that Great Uncle Damon's portrait made, sent Lily into peels of laughter, which almost had James laughing too. But he kept himself in check.
'Don't let your emotions become your hindrance'
Sometimes he would also point out what a locked room lead to such as the door through which noises of heavy pots and pans could be heard (that turned out to be the tertiary kitchen – the main kitchen was in the basement), but mostly James walked on ahead and Lily trailed dutifully behind. "Sir?" Lily asked timidly a while after walking past three or four rooms full of laundry and small house elves busily cleaning. James seemed to have not heard.
"S-sir?" she spoke a little louder as she reached up to him and lightly touched his elbow.
"Huh?" James asked startled and he looked down at Lily.
"I-I just wanted to know how I will be getting my robes and other garments," Lily said.
"They have already been delivered and are waiting for you in your room." James replied before a frown descended onto his forehead. "What did you just call me?"
"Oh. I wasn't sure of how to address you. Mr Bagman always made us call potential buyers 'sir,' so I thought that would be appropriate." Lily was blushing a little as she continued to speak. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. Of course you have bought me now, so you are really my master and in the future I won't make this mistake!"
"That's fine." James said quickly.
"So will Master Potter be an appropriate title?" Lily asked meekly.
"No! Good Merlin no! Just…sir will be fine, Miss Evans." James yelped, clearly flustered and started to walk again in an angry huff.
"Yes…sir." Lily whispered to herself as she tried to hide a smile and hastened to catch up with him.
"This is a really beautiful place and full of rooms to explore and discover," Lily said after a few more minutes of walking. She looked up at his face and felt her heart swell. James had a broad smile on his face. "It's my home, I don't know a better place to live," he said simply.
"Don't worry about it though, you'll probably not have to come up to this part of the house too often. Sirius and some friends are really only the non-family or business members who visit here. Besides the servants' quarters are in the lower levels of the house, so it is unlikely you will be here."
"Oh, are we too disgusting and inferior to be allowed near the nobles?" Lily said half mockingly but with a hint of resentment in her voice. James immediately stiffened up and his emotionless mask was back in place.
"It's for you own safety," he said in a clipped tone. And then as if he had said too much and needed to distance himself, he started walking at a relentlessly quick pace.
On they walked. Through many flights of stairs and living quarters for various people, as the plaques on each bedchamber suggested. It was amazing and also frightening just how much influence the Potters seemed to have in the magical community! There was even a bedchamber and an entire floor for Bellatrix and Tom Riddle. These people entertained the Minister of magic and his wife as their houseguests?
James' strides were long and full of brewing anger. Lily's slender, but most definitely short, legs had no chance. She tried valiantly to keep up but it was to no use. The distance between her and her new master just grew larger and larger until Lily was almost a length of a candle lit hallway behind James. And it was as if he had completely forgotten that he was with someone.
Finally giving up, lily stopped completely and waited for her breathing and heart rate to return to normal. As her head cleared a little, irritation started to take its place.
Irritation and frustration. Frustration at her forced new lifestyle, frustration that both James and his father were nothing if not cordial and civilized so she couldn't even resent them! Irritation that she had even less control over her actions and behavior than before. And most importantly, or at least in this moment, the fact that James hadn't even noticed that she was no longer following him!
Too exhausted from the day's events and in a state of helplessness and self-pity, lily slumped to the marbled floor and sat there, watching giggling portraits of fair maidens in pretty dresses.
With no watch or any other means of seeing the time, lily was not exactly sure how long she stayed put in her position but she daren't start looking for James herself.
She was afraid that she might meet a family member. Or even worse she might come face to face with Sirius Black, James had said that he visited sometimes-and today of all days would be a good day for them to celebrate, she thought bitterly.
And not to mention, this place was so big she would get lost before you could say 'pesky pixie!'
So lily Evans, knowing that James potter would most likely be furious when he found her, stayed as she was because if he was going to be angry with her, why speed up the process by actively seeking him out?
…
She was no longer following him. He had known immediately and in fact precisely the second when her light footsteps were no longer behind him. However, he was in no mood to slow down and he felt that she too needed some space. After all, she had been with him for a few hours now. Surely she felt smothered by his constant presence.
He wasn't entirely sure where he was going but it seemed that he had unconsciously wandered to his favourite place. The broom room. It was so named by a six-year old version of himself who had thought the name absolutely ingenious. His love for the twenty-three collector's broom and his love for the sport of Quidditch were not the only reasons he loved this room. It was his safe haven. The place he came to when he was angry, elated, tired or even just bored.
It was a place of solitude and a place where apparently Sirius Black thought he was welcome unannounced.
"Padfoot, at least don't bloody smoke in here! Look! Claudia's twigs are trembling in fright!" James snapped at his friend, who was lounging on a box shoved in the corner.
"It's fine, Prongs. Your damned broom is not going to catch fire!" Sirius said idly stroking the fine woodwork of James' favourite broom.
"IT?" James hissed. He shoved Sirius off of the box and sat on it himself. Sirius was on the floor, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
"I've deposited her to the room. She's sweet. More than can be said about yours, in all honesty."
"Lay off her, Padfoot. I'm not going to allow anyone to take advantage of her which includes you." James said crossly.
"So where is she? Surely you haven't left your harmless red-head to fend for herself in the big bad Potter Manor?" Sirius joked.
"She's too innocent for her own good." James stated and Sirius snorted as he took a long drag and stood up, releasing the smoke into the air between them.
"What? She's a servant. It's not like she knows the real dangers of the community!"
"Don't assume that she is all that naïve, Prongs. She's not your usual Charlotte or common Samantha. She has probably seen the most atrocious of deeds. The way she gets defensive. The way she reacted to Malfoy. Heck, the way she snapped at me. I think under that oh-so-sweet face of her is a tigress, waiting to pounce." Sirius said, every trace of jest gone from his tone.
"In that case, I better go save the poor animals of the house before the Lily the tiger pounces on anyone!" James said, reluctantly getting up again. "You'll still be here?"
"Aye Aye," Sirius saluted his mate.
James grinned and feeling lighter and a whole lot more cheerful went to retrieve his Lily. As predicted, Lily was still in the same hallway with the giggling daughters of Godric's youngest son's portraits. He approached her from the direction that they had started in and as he gently placed his hand on her left shoulder, she gave a shout, which she covered with her mouth and stared at him in shock, then irritation and finally apprehension. He grinned at her and his eyes gave way to his amusement, making Lily's cheek redden again.
"I'm sorry I startled you."
"I'm sorry I didn't follow," Lily hastily said as she got up on her feet and stomped around trying to bring life back into them. At James' questioning eyes she informed him that she had pins and needles.
A cooling and soothing sensations ran through Lily's toes, up her feet and over her lower legs, leaving a soft numbness behind. Lily glanced awkwardly at James and the wand in his hand. He smirked. "It's better than stomping around and causing the elves to come investigate."
"Right." Lily said, slightly wrong-footed.
"Right. To the room then?" James asked.
"After you, good sir," Lily said almost sarcastically, but she must not have put enough heart into it because James, albeit confused, took her words literally and started to walk once more.
…
It was pitch black inside the room and Lily stumbled on some soft but solid object.
"Ow! Damn it, who is there?" came a pained hiss. Lily's mouth fell open. "Marlene?" she asked incredulously. The person whose leg Lily had stumbled over sucked in a huge breath. Maybe of exasperation but Lily chose to believe it was of relief. "Lils? What are you doing here?" Lily squinted as her eyes got accustomed to the dark.
"Marls, are you tied up?" Lily asked. The girl snorted. "No! Trust you to think of the worst-case scenario. If I hadn't already known, I would have definitely have figured that you were Lily. Tripping Toadstools! Even Mallory isn't as pessimistic as you." Lily just waved her hand and wrinkled her nose in the direction of what she thought was Marlene. Marlene rolled her eyes and spoke again, "Again I ask, my dear, what are you doing here?" Lily crept up to where Marlene was sitting. Her feet rubbed silently on the smooth carpet. As she scooted closer to her friend, her back met with a soft cushion and with an excited yelp, Lily realised it was a large bean bag. Still smiling in satisfaction Lily turned to look at her friend. "Why are we in the dark? Where's your wand? Why haven't you lit it?"
Marlene sighed as her own question went completely ignored. "Uh, I gave it to him. He wanted to inspect it."
"WHAT! Marlene! That was your wand! You can't just give it to anyone!" Lily shrieked, clearly appalled.
"I let you use it all the time!" Marlene defended.
"Yes, but I'm your friend. Sirius Black is a git. He won't let you have it back, now!" One look at Marlene was enough to say that Lily had gone over the line.
"Stop it Lily. He's my master now. It's not my place to question him or ask what his intentions are. He orders, I obey. And might I add, he is also the owner of this house. Clearly you can't be bothered to tell me what you're doing here but let me tell you; don't get on his wrong side. He's from the Black family, Lily! Doesn't that name even mean anything to you? Do you realise just how much power he has? Don't get under his skin. It won't bode well for you." Marlene finished and both girls were silent for a while. Each thinking over the words that had just been spoken.
"But what about candles?"
"Huh?"
"You know, for light…?" Marlene marvelled at her friend's ability to switch back to things as if nothing had happened. But she was getting irritated. Lily kept not answering her question! "Will you or will you not answer the question?" she whispered heatedly. Lily raised her eyebrows. "Merlin, will you calm the pixies down? James brought me here. It's his home too."
"Are they related then?" Marlene asked out loud. "Potter and Black?" Lily replied. "Who else?" the former sarcastically added.
"Indeed who else, Miss Evans?" a sudden baritone of a voice echoed and its owner appeared a second later, accompanied, as always, with his messy and black haired friend.
"Sir?" Lily said politely, her voice rising as if in question.
"Miss?" Sirius replied mockingly, twirling Marlene's wand in his hand. He tossed it to her then, and winked at her.
"Is this room adequate?" James asked the occupants in general.
"Lumos," Marlene whispered and magical light filled the room. If the men thought anything of Marlene's ability to perform the spell, they didn't comment on it. In fact, James proceeded to light his own wand and was followed promptly by Sirius too. Now more than ever, Lily wished she had a wand of her own. If only, to perform the simplest of magic tricks like shining light out of a piece of wood.
With the wands light illuminating the vicinity, first thing that was clear was that this room was big. The second thing to note was that it had two king sized beds. The third thing to note was that there was a huge fireplace, opposite a big French window.
James quirked his eyebrow at Lily as she slowly revolved on the spot. Observing everything, commenting on nothing.
Marlene's eyes were fixated on the fireplace.
"Tripping toadstools," she breathed and rose her sparkling eyes to her master.
Fleeting expression of confusion flitted across his face as he realised that Marlene wanted his permission to light a fire. He watched her as she chewed her bottom lip and stared at him with those sparkling, innocent eyes.
His nod was enough for Marlene to squeak delightedly and whisper the incantation. Within seconds the room started to warm up.
The fire gave the place a warm joyful feel. Something that had been Amiss at the caravan with Ludo.
The fire, lily mused was a symbol for freedom. For purity and for a new beginning. It was ironic how much comfort it brought her when in fact the only think she had in common with it was the 'new beginning.
"Well?" James reiterated. "Did you not like it?" His tone might have held a hint of teasing and of course Lily could not help but fall for such jest. Sirius snorted and gave a rather condescending glance towards Lily, as if to say, 'You have never seen such riches, have you?' and prone as she was to trouble, Lily couldn't help but answer with a bit more insolence than necessary.
"Well we wouldn't know, we have both only now been able to see it properly. It's not like we had any candles that we could light and the only wand that we had between us was in the possession of some other being entirely," Lily breathed waspishly.
Lily could just about see Marlene's irritated gaze but she didn't care. That man just infuriated her so!
James looked half shocked, half amused. He struggled with which emotion to display but settled for amusement as his mouth twitched a little. Sirius however was far from being amused. His eyes narrowed and he was reminded of the night before.
Lily opened her mouth to speak again just as Sirius made to move forwards but James laid his hand on Sirius' shoulder to keep him calm. "Enough." He spoke firmly and quietly, his face an expressionless mask once again. Whether the reprimand was for Lily or whether it was intended for Sirius, no one was quite sure but both parties looked away, guiltily, from James. Said person surveyed the room; clapped Sirius' shoulder gave a perfunctory glance at the girls and left silently.
Sirius smiled sarcastically at Lily, making it clear to her that she was far from forgiven. He too bit them goodnight but before he left he reminded the girls of their new positions in the house. "A lot of people come in and out of these doors. Be ready to serve any one of them."
As soon as Sirius left Marlene rounded on Lily. "One thing! I told you one thing. And what do you go and do? Completely ignore me! Lily, are you even listening to me? Honestly, it's like I'm talking to a flobberworm!" she fumed.
Lily giggled. "Don't be ridiculous Marls; we all know that no flobberworm could match up to my wit and sarcasm."
Marlene huffed and got into a bed. "Yeh well, one of these days that very wit and sarcasm will get you killed." Lily smiled then and felt a small bubble of gladness that she knew at least one person in this new life of hers.
However as she lay in bed, by a small window she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. It was as if Marlene could read her mind for she spoke quietly, trying to comfort her friend. "It won't be like last time Lily. James won't be the way Malfoy was. James and Sirius are going to be nothing like Malfoy. Just don't unnecessarily annoy them, yeah?" Lily acknowledged her friend's words and Marlene closed her eyes, satisfied. Lily hoped Marlene was right. Merlin, how much she wished she could just believe her and fall asleep pretending that nothing had happened with Malfoy. But it had and there was no point pretending. Lily knew how the system worked. She knew how the masters were. Everything was great in the beginning. Perfect really. After all in the beginning, hadn't Malfoy been her knight in shining armour?
…
AN: and the plot thickens! So what do you think so far? Please tell me your thoughts, would love to hear from you.
-Vitzy-