Hey guys! So I know it's been a while (even by my standards.) I had exams until mid June but right before they finished a close relative of mine was admitted to the hospital and within the next month, ended up passing away. After that pretty much any motivation to write anything for my WIPs disappeared and I ended up writing some other things to get me out of the rut. So again, I'm sorry for the wait!
Seven Devils
Pettigrew's face slowly stretched into a smile, exposing a row of yellowed teeth. "What would you like to know about your ... illustrious captain?"
Sirius pulled his cloak tighter around him and casually leaned against the wall. Down here he could feel the ship's every movement, hear the wood groaning and creaking against the currents pulling it in every direction. It was borderline unnerving. "Everything you know about her," he said, watching the other man carefully.
His bloodshot blue eyes lit up with joy. "She's a menace," he spat gleefully. "That wench has no soul. She kills without remorse."
He stared at the shorter man, a bored expression pasted onto his face. Meanwhile, his heart was pounding against his ribcage.
Undeterred, Peter ploughed on. "Have you ever heard of the Greenheart raid?" When Sirius shook his head, he went on to explain, "It happened five - almost six - years ago. It was a complete bloodbath. Greenheart was a merchant, and a bloody successful one too. He was just returning to England from Spain with at least twenty sailors aboard and five trunks of gold, when he was attacked. No, attacked isn't the right word for it. Three people - most everyone thought them to be men - climbed aboard in the middle of the night and wiped out the entire crew. No one knows to this day how three, young, inexperienced men managed to hijack a ship that big much less kill over twenty five men. The bodies were left in a small village at the coast and the ship - the Willow - was never found. When the few residents woke up the next morning, imagine the horror that they felt, seeing all of those corpses, the proof of the massacre. One of the men was hanging on to life by a thread and his last words were, 'the horror of red hair'."
It took Sirius a few moments to realise that the gooseflesh that had arisen on his arms had nothing to do with the cold at all, at least not anymore. It was quite a leap to associate that cold-blooded killer in Pettigrew's story with the Lily some five floors above. A leap, but not entirely impossible. Did they not see her singlehandedly take down two pirates a few days ago, all by herself while sporting a rather serious injury? At the time he wanted to know how she would be in a real fight in top form but now... now the thought scared the living hell out of him.
"How do you know about that?" he asked Peter, who was staring closely at Sirius.
The shorter man shrugged. "Every good sailor hears all of the old tales," he told him. "I didn't know she was actually a woman until she attacked my ship, killing everyone on board there too."
Sirius' face blanched. He had forgotten about that little piece of trivia. At the time, it was being told he feared for his life after realising that they were stuck on a pirate ship. Now it was almost the same thing; he feared for his life after realising that they were stuck on a pirate ship with a cold-blooded killer.
"Is that all you wanted to know?" asked Pettigrew innocently.
Sirius was jerked back to the present. He ran a shaky hand through his hair - a bad habit he picked up from spending so much time around James - and exhaled loudly. His grey eyes flickered up to look directly into Peter's watery gaze. "Does she have any affiliation with the Dark Lord?" he asked firmly.
Peter met his gaze evenly. "I haven't heard of any definite things," he said tentatively. He was wringing his hands nervously in front of him. "There have been rumours, of course. And I heard that he sought her out on more than one occasion."
The blood was pounding in Sirius' ears now, blocking out almost everything. Pettigrew sounded as though he was speaking from under water. "But let me ask you something, Black," Peter said, causing Sirius' gaze to snap to him.
"Anything."
"If someone is capable of killing people like that, don't you think she'd be in league with the Dark Lord?"
"Sirius, you're being ridiculous," Remus said exasperatedly. The two of them sat in the room, facing each other on the bed. "You're saying that Lily is part of Voldemort's group of lackeys."
Sirius set his jaw. "She knew Snape," he snarled, "Anyone who was ever in league with that slimy git is a Death Eater in my books. He's practically Voldemort's fucking lapdog and you know it, Lupin. If James was here, he'd agree with me. He hates him almost as much as I do."
The door squeaked open, causing both to jump. "Who do I hate almost as much as you?" the man in question mentioned, walking into the room with a slight smile on his face. He shut the door behind him.
Sirius sneered at him. "Finally stopped mooning over Evans' cabin door, I see," he said snidely.
He came to a stop, blinking several times behind his glasses. "What's crawled up his arse and died?" he asked Remus, who had rolled his eyes at the other man's antics.
"He's convinced that Lily is a Death Eater," Remus scoffed, "All based off of some bracelet or other."
James snorted loudly before dropping himself into a hammock. "Did you drink too much rum or something? What the bloody hell made you believe that?"
"She's a pirate, James," Sirius said, "One of the most dangerous pirates out there, second to Old Voldy. She's killed people. You've seen how she acts when she kills people. She's not even fazed by it at all. We need to get off this ship."
James sat up, his grin dimming slightly. "Christ, you're serious about this, aren't you?" he asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Wasn't I the one who was harping on about how dangerous she is and we should find a way off this ship? You're about two weeks late with this one, mate. What made you change your mind?"
"She knows Snivellus," he said through gritted teeth.
A dark look passed over James' face. "Snivellus," he spat, "How'd you figure that out? He's not something to joke about."
"Remember that dead ugly band he used to wear?"
"I remember seeing it before he punched my nose in, yeah," grumbled James, unconsciously passing a hand across his nose. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Evans has it," Sirius said pithily. "When I went to fetch her in the evening after the fight, I saw it, just lying there on her desk in broad daylight as though it was some normal trinket or something. She knows him. I'm telling you. I can feel it."
Remus huffed heavily from his corner on the bed. "Am I the only one who thinks that the two of you are blowing this whole thing out of proportion? Snape is a touchy subject for both of you, okay? Step back for a moment and think it through. How would Lily even know him, hmm?"
"You're mighty calm for someone who Snape tried to get thrown out of the court just because your mum wasn't noble," said James, the exact same time as Sirius bit out, "We don't know anything about her, much less who she knows."
He scrubbed a weary hand across his face. "I dislike him- and severely so," started Remus, "But I'm not going to start jumping to conclusions. And if you're so curious to know how Lily knows him, then go right ahead and ask her."
"I don't know if we've been in the same ship for the last few weeks, Remus, but Evans isn't exactly forthcoming," said James snippily.
"To you, and not without good reason," Remus shot back at him. He could feel the slight prickle of irritation flare up beneath his skin. He loved James and Sirius with all his heart but sometimes they could be abnormally thick-headed and small-minded. Not to mention pigheaded as well. "All you've done since we got here is antagonise the poor woman. Do you think she wants us on her ship? Of course not, anyone with eyes can tell that. The only reason we're here is because if she lets us off, one of you is going to run your mouth to the entire court."
"So you're taking her side in this, then?" Sirius asked in disbelief. "And it's your fault we're on the damn ship in the first place."
James bristled. "I don't 'antagonise' her," he snapped. "She's rude, and doesn't like me at all and she's done nothing to prove otherwise to me."
"The reason," Remus stated loudly, "That we're on this damn ship is because you," he pointed at James, "Have to pick a fight with everything that moves. Including Lily."
"Yeah, well forgive me for not taking an immediate liking towards the sociopathic murderess who happens to be the captain of this ship," James thundered over him, standing up. "If she knows Severus Snape, then I don't care if I have to jump off this ship while we're in the middle the fucking ocean, I will get away from her."
Enthusiastic nodding came from Sirius' direction before he started carrying on. "Snape is rotten to the core and you know it. He tried to get you thrown out of court because he didn't deem you 'noble enough,' the blasted hypocrite. He pulled a knife on James and sliced his cheek right open but got off scotch free because once you're with Voldemort, you're untouchable. He led my fucking brother to slaughter. He's mental. You see the kind he associates with. Mulciber is wanted for several murders. Avery, for larceny and murder of a judge. But no, Evans is perfectly fine," ranted Sirius, pacing the length of the room. His entire body shook with rage and he clenched his palms into tight fists at his sides. "I'm with James on this one; I'm completely prepared to jump ship and swim my way to the coast - I don't care if we end up in fucking France or Ireland or something - I just want to get off this ship."
"I know that Snape is a terrible person, I don't need you to tell me that," sighed Remus. "But you shouldn't throw Lily to the dogs with him just because you think she happened to know him." He turned to James now. "And you," he said, "You and I fully well know that he wouldn't have cut you if you hadn't picked a fight with him in the first place. See? There you go again with it. And don't even get me started on that whole 'not liking' her thing. Even Sirius noticed."
James coloured, a combination of his anger and embarrassment at Remus' insinuation, and curled his hands into fists. "The bloody wanker was asking for it, telling Sirius all of those things," he hissed, thumbing over the thin scar that marred his left cheekbone. "He practically confirmed that he was a Death Eater and that Regulus was on the way to being one as well. And what's this nonsense you're spouting about Evans and I?"
Remus stood up as well now, joining the other two. His height allowed for his angry stance to be more intimidating than the other two combined. The tension was palpable and each of the three boys was glaring at the others. "You know exactly what I mean," he said, "You go out of your way to see her every day and to talk to her. Bloody hell, you just spent five minutes staring at her door. And don't think we don't hear the rumours flying around this ship either."
He gaped at him, for once at a complete loss of words. Finally, James snapped his jaw shut and said, "I don't go out of my way to see her; the ship isn't exactly big, if you haven't noticed. The only way I could not run into her is if I stayed holed up in here all day. And I was not staring at her door."
Sirius snorted derisively. "Right, so then why did you walk in way after Remus and me? Surely it can't be because you were still on deck with that murderer," he rolled his eyes. Again, James was unable to fabricate any sort of excuse and he dropped his gaze to the worn wooden floors. Sirius' eyes widened and he stepped forward to jab his friend in the chest. "You fancy her!" he accused, staring at him in horror.
James' head snapped up. "That's preposterous," he scoffed. "I'd never fancy someone who's in league with Snape. Who's in league with Voldemort, of all people. Don't be thick, Sirius." His lip curled slightly.
"We don't know for sure if she's in league with them," Remus tiredly reiterated. "The two of you don't want to have your hate for her unfounded and this here is the perfect reason."
"I don't hate her," said James through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, he fancies her," said Sirius.
"The two of you are being completely ridiculous-"
"No, I'm not," James said, talking above the other two. "According to you two, I can either fancy her or hate her and it's neither. Although, if what Sirius is saying is true, then I'm leaning towards the latter," he tacked on thoughtfully to the end.
"What Sirius said is not true!" yelled Remus, finally losing his cool. "The two of you are just blinded by this inane hate for Snape that-"
"We have good reason to hate him!" Sirius fired back at him, "He's going to kill my brother!"
James rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, feeling the pounding pressure begin to build behind his eyes. "Is this why you were off since last evening?" he demanded, staring at Sirius.
The man in question merely shrugged his shoulders, his stance still tense and fury crackling in his grey eyes. "I want to get off this ship and away from her," he spat, pacing up and down the room like a caged animal and effectively evading James' question. "She's a right menace. I won't stand to be on a ship with a murderer any longer."
"Don't pretend that you're a saint, Sirius," Remus said through clenched teeth, "Maybe she's committed some atrocities in the past, but she's done nothing since we've been on board to make me wary of her."
Both James and Sirius' jaws dropped. "Nothing to make you wary of her?" the latter sputtered, unable to find proper words.
"Have we been on the same boat?" asked James, staring at him incredulously before he began to pace back and forth, "Because last I checked, incapacitating three men - while injured, might I add - is reason enough to be wary of her!"
"Besides," Sirius jumped to add, "I've heard rumours that she and the power duo up there singlehandedly took down an entire ship in something called the Greenheart raid. Innocent. People. And she just killed them all. Pettigrew told me all about her. How she came to get that name and I can say with full confidence that her closet is filled with skeletons. So many skeletons that it can't even close properly anymore."
"Pettigrew?" Remus asked sharply, "What's he got to do with any of this?"
Sirius realised his little slip up a moment too late and muttered a curse under his breath. Nonetheless, he straightened up and looked Remus right in the eye as he said, "I went to do my own investigating after my suspicions were aroused. He told me everything he knew about her."
"And you believed him because obviously the most reliable source of information is the lone prisoner at the bottom of the ship, of course, why didn't I think of this before," Remus rolled his eyes while counting backwards from ten to avoid strangling the idiot in front of him. "Absolutely brilliant, Sirius. Your genius astounds me."
Not taking Remus' sarcasm well, Sirius narrowed his eyes and turned towards James, who was still pacing, one hand glued to his hair and muttering darkly to himself. "What do you think, James?" he asked, drawing his attention back to the arguing duo.
James' face was like thunder. His hair stuck up every which way and his eyes flashed and crackled behind his glasses. "I think you're a right prat for going to Pettigrew of all people for answers," he said to Sirius. Before the other boy could even scoff, James turned to Remus and said, "And I think you're a prat for not worrying about Evans in the slightest." With those few words he strode - stomped, really - towards the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Sirius, still slightly bitter over his little snub.
"To get answers from Evans herself," he replied shortly before yanking the door open. He slammed it close behind him, leaving it shuddering ominously in its frame. Remus and Sirius shared a look, both of them still incredibly incensed.
"I hope you know it's your fault when she tries to kill him," Remus said before stalking off to the bed and throwing himself down on it. He pulled the pillow over his head so as to block out most of Sirius' defences.
James could hardly hear anything over the blood pounding furiously in his head. He was absolutely seething. If there was one thing he hated, it was Death Eaters and Snape was practically the embodiment of Death Eaters. Part of him - the majority - hoped that Lily wasn't involved in any of that. The other part, deep down inside him, hoped that she was. It wasn't that Remus and Sirius' accusations were right (him? Fancy Evans of all people? Please, just the thought alone would have made James laugh was he not stunned beyond belief), but they did hold an inkling of truth.
After she burst into their room and saved them from that attack he had gained... a less hostile attitude towards the pirate captain. None of that fancying business at all. He respected her at most, really. Besides, even if he did have any of those feelings at all, he couldn't do anything about them. They ran in different circles, squares, tetrahedrons, whatever. His lifestyle was ballrooms and making mischief while hers- apparently, according to Sirius- was killing people.
He shook his head to clear it as he reached the deck. According to his watch, it was only a bit after four, but the deck was still almost empty, save for the man at the wheel and the one in the crow's nest. Neither one paid much attention to him as he crossed the deck, shielding his eyes from the setting sun. James didn't bother knocking and merely just strode in, expecting her to be at her desk, poring over something or the other or maybe carrying out virgin sacrifices using that sword at hers.
What he didn't expect was to find her curled up in bed fast asleep. He stopped short in the doorway, trying to link the girl with dark red hair fanned out around her head with porcelain skin that slept, with the ruthless pirate that threatened to stab him on a daily basis.
Lily stirred for a moment and James froze like a deer in headlights. The prospect of her waking up and finding him in her room while she slept was not a pleasant one and would only end when James was missing several key appendages. Luckily for him, he need not worry about missing fingers and toes for the time being, as she simply muttered some nonsense or the other before pulling the threadbare blanket further up under her chin and continued sleeping. He let out a breath that he had been holding and slowly backed out of the room, when a glint of something gold caught his attention.
With a quick glance back at Lily to make sure she was still sleeping (she was), James quietly darted across the room. Her desk was surprisingly messy. She kept her ship in top form without a single thing out of line, but apparently that wasn't the case when it came to her personal effects. Parchment was strewn all over the wooden top of the desk along with quills, empty ink bottles, several knives and a small wooden box. In the box lay a delicate gold locket that winked merrily at him in the sliver of sunlight that passed through the curtains from the setting sun.
Lying next to the locket however, was the bracelet that Sirius told him about, crudely woven from scrap pieces of cloth and other things. Rage bubbled in the pit of his stomach as well as some other unidentifiable emotion, both of which made his fists clench. A part of him hoped that Sirius was not right, that he had just seen the wrong thing and that led him to jump to the nearest conclusion, but now, standing there and looking at the damned thing himself, he realised that that was not the case. Sirius was right and all the implications that that held came crashing down.
His relationship with Snape had always been a complicated one - and anytime their paths crossed, it was always for worse, never better. Of course, things between them were never as complicated as things between Snape and Sirius, but there was still no love to be found and that relationship only got more volatile after Snape pulled a knife on him in the courtyard of the Black's Manor.
That day, he wasn't alone, but accompanied by Mulciber, Regulus and Avery, all of whom sported ugly sneers as they watched Sirius lug his trunk out. Avery had stuck out his leg and tripped him, sending the trunk crashing to the floor and spilling its contents. Heavy, deep guffaws followed soon after and Mulciber chortled, "Watch where you're going, Black."
Remus and James bent down to help him quickly repack while Sirius merely crossed his arms and hitched an eyebrow. "Sorry," he drawled, flipping his hair out of his eyes elegantly, "I was distracted by the atrocious smell emanating from you four. What does it remind me of again?" he placed a finger on his chin and tapped it against his jawbone before his eyes lit up maliciously and he snapped his fingers. "Right," he said, smiling viciously at them, "Smells like death and decay. I mean, you all are murderers now after all. Tell me, does Voldemort smell like this too?"
The grins slipped off their face midway through Sirius' little spiel there and then they were all glaring at him, baring their teeth. All except for Regulus of course, who looked vaguely uncomfortable about what it was he was supposed to do.
"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, Black," snarled Snape after he had taken what James had assumed to be a threatening step forward. "No one in this house if going to care if you got hurt."
The words dug into Sirius and James jumped up to his defence before he could do anything overly irrational. "Yeah, well, not a damn soul in this country is going to care if you disappear anytime soon," he shot back. The words felt bitter as they rolled off his tongue. It sounded much too similar to what the society people went around spouting to each other about the commoners. James tried to reassure himself that he meant it in the context of Snape being a Death Eater to alleviate some of the guilt.
His eyes flickered over to James for a brief moment and he caught a glimpse of the dark fury swirling deep within them before they settled on Remus' lone form, still picking up the last bits of Sirius's rubbish to shove back in his trunk. They had lit up cruelly and Snape finally turned back to Sirius.
"I was going to ask if you'll miss being treated better than royalty, but then I realised that you and Potter have your own personal servant," he said softly, eyes firmly trained on Remus. Immediately both Sirius and James bristled but Snape was not done yet. He went on further to say, "Who knows how this piece of filth got in to be part of the court. Then again, I assume being friends with a dim wit like Potter and Black must have to have some perks to deal with all of that foolishness."
Once again, obnoxious laughter rang out through the otherwise empty corridor. Snape's eyes glinted victoriously and he took another step forward, looking straight at Remus. "Of course, at the rate things are going, he might not be working in the court anymore. In fact, there are people looking in to only allowing persons of noble lineage to be part of the court, and Lupin here sadly doesn't make the cut. Maybe he should look into becoming an actual servant for you all."
Amidst their laughter, Remus coloured and both Sirius and James lunged towards Snape. Sirius got there first and pushed him into the wall. The gloating gleam immediately disappeared and was replaced with cold fury.
"Listen here, you slimy son of a bitch," Sirius snarled, pressing him more forcefully against the hewn stone, "You better learn to shut up or else I'll knock your teeth in."
Snape sneered up at him. "Oh yes, I'm so afraid now, Black. Please spare me," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"It's funny," James began loudly as he took a step forward, "That you love to preach about how terrible people of lower status are when you yourself are from there too, Snivelly." James met his glare with one of his own and narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you," he taunted cruelly, taking another step so that he rubbed shoulders with Sirius. The three men seemed to forget the audience behind them and continued on with their verbal sparring. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Snivelly, but aren't you the same one who had to work as a - what was it you said? - a stable boy just to survive when you were younger?" he asked, "The hypocrisy sometimes is astounding."
Sirius and James both shared a smirk and the former said, "That's right, isn't it? Tell me, how did the Dark Lord take the news?" Anger bubbled in Snape's eyes and he clenched his hands into fists. Sirius tutted at his reaction. "Did I strike a nerve there- oi!"
He immediately ducked out of the way as a knife came flying his way, inadvertently releasing his hold on the man. He turned around immediately and struck out at James, who wasn't as lucky as Sirius. The blade tore open the skin that was pulled over his cheekbone and then all of James' senses were clouded with pain. Vaguely, he could make out the sounds of someone swearing at the top of their lungs but it seemed to be of no consequence to him at that moment. A hand automatically reached up to cup his injured cheek and was met with the warm stickiness of blood.
That seemed to jerk him out of his reverie and back to the present, where Remus was physically dragging Sirius away from Avery, Mulciber, Snape and Regulus. Blood was slowly trickling down his face in small rivulets, tracing his jaw and neck before leaving them outlined in red.
Thankfully, it wasn't particularly deep and the other two escaped relatively unscathed (Sirius' knuckles were slightly bruised, but he seemed more concerned about the fact that he had broken Avery's nose). James was able to stop the bleeding on the way back home by keeping a piece of cloth pressed against it. Unfortunately for the three of them, the moment they stepped into the threshold of the Potter manor, Mrs Potter noticed their ruffled attire and began to interrogate them. It didn't help that James' collar was stained with droplets of blood or that the cut now stood out vividly against his lightly tanned skin in the form of an angry pink line. Each of them got a stern telling off for mixing with Snape and them.
The cut healed over well enough, but left a scar in its place; a faint, white line that marred the skin right near his cheekbone that remained there up until this day.
"Did you ever learn that it's rude to snoop through someone's personal belongings?" a voice asked. James jumped and the bracelet fell out of his hand and onto the desk with a dull thump. His sheepish gaze met the sharp stare of the captain, who was sitting up in bed and still managed to look intimidating, even with a blanket pulled over her shoulders. A single crimson eyebrow rose, "Especially when that someone is liable to wake up at any given moment."
She had a certain talent for making him feel stupid. James dropped his gaze to the messy desk and felt the heat pool into his cheeks. His eyes found the bracelet that he dropped and all of a sudden, he was filled with determination. He came in here for a reason, and he would be damned if he did not get to say his piece first before he left.
"Did you ever learn that it's rude to kill innocent people?" he drawled, leaning against the wall behind him. There he could feel the ship's every movement coursing through the wood: the up and down bobbing of the ship with each swell of a wave.
Both of Lily's eyebrows shot up this time as she clearly did not anticipate that question. "Beg pardon?" she sputtered, after a beat of pin drop silence.
"Don't play dumb," James ordered, finding his footing and intending on giving her a solid piece of his mind. "Tell me Evans, what's the real reason you're keeping me on this bloody ship? Getting ready to hand me into your boss, Voldemort?"
Lily gaped like a fish out of water as she tried to wrap her still drowsy mind around the concept James was alluding to. "I'm sorry," she began to say, more confused than ever, with a small dip between both her eyebrows, "But I still don't think I quite follow."
"Bullshit," he snarled, his voice so vicious that it caused her to jump and grab the nearest weapon she could find - a knife in this case. James began pacing back and forth now behind the desk, fisting an agitated hand in his hair and causing it to become even messier. "You've been found out," he told her, voice quivering with anger, "Remus, Sirius and I have found out that you're in league with the Dark Lord."
The entire room flooded with silence once more. Lily's eyes widened and her grip on the handle of the knife tightened, making her knuckles go bone white. The two of them stared at each other, Lily's gaze wide and slightly frightened, while at the same time shrouded in confusion, and James' dark and stormy with hatred and anger blazing brightly, his eyes all but spitting fire at her.
Eventually Lily found her voice and she stared up at him incredulously. "You've got to be barking," she stuttered out. She pushed the blanket off of her shoulders and stood up carefully, never once taking her eyes off of his tense figure nor dropping her weapon. "That's the only reason for this; you've finally gone and lost it and have become a stark raving lunatic."
A strangled laugh bubbled its way out of James' throat. "Oh, I'm the one who's gone mad?" he asked, still laughing at her, "I'm not the one blindly following some moron hell bent on killing innocent people because he thinks that they're too low to be allowed exist."
"I'm not following anybody!" she said loudly, taking a step towards him.
"Liar!" he bellowed back at her. He could feel the air crackling with electricity that spurred from both of them in their anger. "I'm sure the two of you had a lovely time bonding over a hundred successful ways to commit a mass murder and tea while the cries of the tortured sung out in the background."
"Stop that," Lily ordered him, using her most authoritative voice.
It did not work on him. Instead, James merely scoffed and said, "I'm not one of your lackeys that you can bully into submission, Evans."
"I'm not trying to bully anyone into anything. All I'm asking is that you stop making me sound like a monster."
"You mean you're not?"
He said the words so simply and calmly that it hit her like a slap in the face, stinging more than anything she could have imagined. Lily did not consider herself the teary sort, but in that moment her eyes watered slightly and a small gasp escaped her.
Nonplussed by her reaction - in fact, he supposed he even revelled in it a little bit - James pressed on. "I heard of all those things you did, all those innocent people you murdered in cold blood-"
"None of them were innocent in the slightest," Lily choked out, still stunned by his previous words.
"You're telling me that no one on that - what was it again? - ah yes, the Greenheart ship was innocent?"
Her stomach lurched and Lily ended up catching herself on the edge of her desk to avoid falling face first. She swallowed thickly and ducked her head, unable to look him in the eye. "We've all done things that we aren't proud of," was all she said.
"Like becoming a Death Eater."
Lily's head snapped right back up again. Her eyes flashed, the green resembling venom. "I am not a Death Eater," she stated firmly. "I have never been a Death Eater, nor do I ever intend on becoming one."
"Somehow I highly doubt that," James drawled, crossing his arms over his chest. "People who know Severus Snape always tend to be on that side of things."
His eyes glinted when he heard her breath catch. Lily struggled to take another step forward but it was like her limbs had all turned to jell-o and she lost the control over them. Nonetheless, she gripped onto the edge of the desk and slowly managed to make her way behind it so that she eventually stood toe to toe with James.
"How do you know about him?" she asked lowly, stumbling forward slightly and gripping onto James' shirt. "No one knows about him. Not even Gideon and Fabian."
"So you do admit to knowing him?"
"I'm not admitting shite until you tell me how you know all of this," she shot back, shaking him for good measure.
"No," he shook his head, grasping onto her wrist and prying them off of his person. She fought against him of course, but this one time, James had the advantage due to his strength, and managed to pry the knife out of her hand and grip her wrists together. "I will get it out of you eventually," he said, tugging her closer so that their torsos were flush and noses merely an inch apart, "I always get what I want."
In another conversation under other circumstances, that would have been endearing but right now endearing was the last thing on Lily's mind as she hissed up at him, "Bastard."
"You can call me all the foul names under the sun, but I won't give in until I get exactly what I want."
"You know what," Lily said, an angry flush finally rising to her cheeks, "Fine, you want me to tell, then bloody fine." She tried to wrench her hands out of his but it was to no avail. With a disgruntled sigh, she continued, "Yes, I know Sev. Are you happy now? Is that what you were looking for? Sev and I were friends for a few years. I have no idea what this has to do with Death Eaters but there."
James shook his head. "This has everything to do with Death Eaters, Evans, because Snape just so happens to be one and, oh look, coincidence, all of this friends are too," he told her, sneering. He took a step forward, causing Lily to take a step back. The edge of the desk dug uncomfortably into the small of her back, but she ignored it for the most part, more focused on the fact that she was trapped in place by a man much larger than she.
Lily's face paled and James felt her heartbeat speed up through the thin layers of cloth that separated them. "That's not true," she whispered, adamantly shaking her head. Her red hair tickled against his skin. "He can't be a Death Eater. He just can't."
"Oh but Evans dear, he is."
"Liar!" she screeched, lunging over at him in a desperate attempt to get him to shut up. She broke free of her bonds and her nails ended up scratching against his face, leaving several red marks trailing down his cheek. "You're nothing but a fucking liar, James Potter!"
"I'm just telling you the truth," he countered back, trying and failing to bind her limbs together again.
Lily's eyes narrowed into slits and she glared at him. A hand snatched out and twisted itself into his shirt, pulling James down so that they were eye level and their noses almost brushed against each other. They were so close that James could see the tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, which were a swirl of confusion and fear but most of all with hardened anger.
"You got to be lying," she choked out, "That can't be true. He's not... he can't be."
"Well, apparently he is," he replied calmly, placing a hand on either side of her waist, effectively boxing her in.
"You're making this up," she accused him. "You just want me to admit that I'm a Death Eater or some tosh like that," she poked him hard in the chest. "Well, guess what Potter? You've just wasted your time because I'm not a Death Eater and if you even bothered to pay attention to a single thing on this ship, then you'll see why."
She did not even wait for his response. Instead, Lily forcefully shoved him away and James stumbled two steps back before she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. She slammed the door so hard behind her that it rattled in its doorframe and left a very confused James behind.
This is just my opinion, but I really don't think I did this chapter justice but it just refused to write. Not to worry though, I can assure the next chapter won't take 5 months to be published and will be better written as well.
Thanks for reading! xx
