Team: Puddlemere United
Position: Seeker
Prompt: Chessboard: Write about an event taking place on a battlefield. (Be as creative as possible: this could be the Battle of Hogwarts or Lavender Brown fighting for the last set of robes on sale at Madame Malkin's.)
Also for the Divination class at Hogwarts (ii. Pendulum: Write about someone in a life-threatening situation.)
Being involved in a war definitely counts as life-threatening and most of Europe could qualify as a battlefield during World War I.
Word Count: 1,003
A German forest, circa 1915
The first time she sees these two men stumbling in the woods, the ones that looks similar from a distance but don't sound like it at all, Lily herself is hiding in a tree. Not in the crown of one, but literally inside of a hollow tree.
It is one of her hiding places and it is necessary, as otherwise someone may see her change uniforms. It had taken her a bit of practice to be able to do this, but as there are two major reasons for that to have horrible consequences, so it is a necessary pain.
The first being, that as far as anyone alive is aware, she is a male named Ivan. That had been a lie she had told to get accepted into the Russian Army.
The second being that changing from the uniform of one country to that of another isn't exactly something that lets people ask questions before shooting. In times of peace, maybe, but not this close to the trenches in a war that has been going on for almost two years now and that had been brewing for far longer.
But Lily is a spy. She spies on the German troops and had gotten them to think she was one of their men months ago. They thought that she is spying on her people for them, but that is not the case at all. Lily—or rather Ivan—gives them just enough real information to be believable, while keeping the lies just far enough of the truth to be useless. She may just be a simple piece in the chessboard that is this war, but that doesn't mean she can't try to be the queen.
"They said that this Ivan usually appears around here," the man in the British uniform informs his companion in the best King's English Lily has ever heard. It almost sounds like an actual apology—one born out of friendship, not duty—but surely that is impossible.
"It zeemz like 'e is not," the other man replies. And that is a French accent if she has ever heard one. Which she has. "We need 'is 'elp to save mon frère from ze Germans! Zey 'ave 'ad 'im for almost two months now!"
"I bloody well know that, Sirius!" the first one argues. "I cannot do more than ask the most reliable sources I have, can I?" He sounds oddly desperate, as if he really cares about the other man's brother to go behind enemy lines, despite there being a strong likelihood that he had only met the brothers here. That is more than astonishing, honestly. Lily has met people that would not even think of doing that for their own brother and here is a Brit doing it for a Frenchman.
It is just interesting enough for her to reveal herself, as she had luckily managed to get clothed in the Russian Uniform they likely are expecting. She waits until the two men can't see her hiding place to leave it and come towards them from an entirely different direction.
"I heard that you are in need of my help?"
"Yes, we do," James replies after a moment. "Our contacts never told us you are so handsome, Ivan."
"'e's right," his companion agrees.
"You're not looking so bad yourselves. Now, I believe you mentioned something about a prisoner you have to free from the German forces?"
A trench, roughly the same time
"I really don't know if I kan kontinue doing this," Barty whispers as he sets the second meal of this week—it is Thursday if he hasn't lost track of time—at Regulus's feet.
"I know," Regulus replies as he moves forward to take it. "I zank you for what you 'ave done so far. Never would I 'ave expected treatment like zis when your people caught me."
Barty sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "You korrupted me. Your stupid French charm haz korrupted me."
Regulus gives him a weak grin before he stabs the meal again with the fork that definitely isn't starting to rust. "You 'ave done the same to me, mon cœur, so I am not sure if I am entirely responsible 'ere."
Barty is quite tense as he continues. "If anyone katches me giving you more food-"
"Both of us will be killed, I know," Regulus interrupts, somehow managing to swallow a huge bite of the ration . "I welcome you doing zis for me, but if ze choice is between food and your survival, I would rather 'ave ze latter."
"They never told us how nice and attraktive you people are. It vas always just 'Erbfeind'. I don't even know why," Barty adds the last part after a pause.
"Wasn't very different for me," Regulus answers once he has finished the ration of—honestly, it is probably better if he does not know what he just ate. "Let the people in charge 'ate each ozer, zat does not stop us from doing ze opposite."
"Nicely said," Barty comments as he gathers the utensils and makes a move to leave the cell. With a deep breath, he turns back around and gives Regulus a kiss.
"I really hope that your brother really komes and finds you. Should both of us survive, I promise you, we will meet again," he whispers.
Regulus holds the other man's face. "I know zat we will. It will be the two of us living somewhere—maybe in America—and constantly 'aving to fend of Sirius and zat boyfriend of 'is. Ze only zing separating us from zat is time," he says before letting go of Barty so that the man can leave.
He is trying to convince himself just as much as Barty. Both of them are aware that it is so much more likely for them to die than to survive. Should all four of them survive, it would border to a miracle.
But men must be allowed to dream in these dark times. There isn't much more one can do.