A/N: So! I have apologies to send out to all of you. I think its been a month since I last updated and I'm very very sorry. Life's been very busy, what with college starting again and what not. But thank you to all of you who have patiently stuck out the wait and returned to read this story!
Thank you for all your PMs and reviews! Also, I won't address last chapter's reviews here, because I really just want you to read the chapter. Unfortunately, I do have some semi-bad news! I'm working on a fic for the Jily Royalty Fest on tumblr and I will be participating in Jily Week (July 28th) on tumblr as well. If you want to check those out, the link to my tumblr is on my profile. So the next update will also be a slow one. Sorry again! But I am not abandoning this story! It'll just be slow progress for a while, what with JRF, Jily week and life in general.
One last thing: Remus' dialogue is in Italics because he's not really there. Okay that's all. You rock guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"So. That was… interesting."
"To say the least."
James sat across from Lily in the small café. She leaned her head against the window. "Yeah. And we still have two more rows to go. What was Remus saying about tonight?"
James blinked, momentarily lost in the way Lily was biting her lip, but recovered fast enough to say, "He's, umm... going to run the facial scans of our neighbours through the database and see what comes up. He'll brief us tonight. "
Lily nodded, her hair bobbing softly with the gesture, and took a sip of her drink.
James took her silence as an opportunity to berate himself. Just a few weeks ago, he hadn't even been able to think about her without getting majorly annoyed, and now? Now he couldn't even look at her without noticing how endearing her lip biting habit was, or something else similar to that effect. It must just be the close proximity. Right? Yeah, it has to be.
Lily cleared her throat in an obvious manner, snapping him out of his reverie. "Sorry, what?"
"I asked, why did you react so strongly to being called an asshole? It was just another insult." she raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"Well, I don't really want to talk..." he stopped mid sentence and stared into his coffee. That was what he always said when it came to this topic. To anyone who asked. Relatives, girlfriends, even the boys - at first. It was always true too. He never wanted to talk about it. But for the first time, this was a lie. For the first time, James wanted to talk about it. Strangely, James finally wanted to talk about one of the most private things, which had haunted him for the longest time. And even stranger, he wanted to tell Lily. He wanted to tell this woman, who not two seconds ago, he detested. He wanted to tell her. So he did.
"When I was a child, around 4 or 5, my dad left. So my mom raised me. It was just the two of us against the world. Even at that age, I was glad he left. He was awful to mom. She was happier without him. Both of us were. And I loved her so much."
James stopped for a second, and furrowed his eyebrows, "I still do. But things started to change, I grew up, started working for the Order. Couldn't tell her though. Then I used to go on missions, and she would always ask where I was going, what was I doing, and now, in retrospect, I guess I handled it the wrong way. She was obviously concerned but I just used to brush her off, give excuses, snap back at her that it wasn't her business. Things got very strained. She was working a high tension job and so was I, and we weren't exactly a comfort for each other anymore. And one night, everything just kinda blew up, you know? There was a huge shouting match, and we were both pretty upset with each other. She said some horrible things and I said some pretty nasty stuff back and in her fury, she yelled at me that 'I was an asshole, just like my father'. And that hurt. More than anything she'd ever said before. I walked out, never went back. We didn't speak for ages. Months. Nearly years. But we've started again. We'll call each other. Once a week. Small talk really. Not much. But it's something at least." He looked up at Lily, who was biting her lip again. She looked slightly emotional.
She swallowed hard and pulled her hand away from his. They were holding hands? When did that happen? He looked up at her as she spoke. "I'm sorry James."
Lily pulled her hand away from James'.
Shit. She didn't even realize that she had reached out for his hand. She lifted her hand to brush her hair out of her face and hoped that James couldn't see how much her hands were trembling.
"I'm sorry James. If I had known that it was so personal, I wouldn't have asked."
Lily couldn't believe what James had told her. His face was a myriad of emotions as he spoke and Lily's heart went out to him. All she wanted to do was comfort him, and wipe his face from the pain she had seen there. She wanted to tell him, that she, too, knew the pain of losing a parent. She never had wanted to relive her childhood. Never wanted to talk about it. But now, now that James had revealed such a meaningful part of his life, she felt compelled to as well. But she knew, somewhere, deep down, she knew that she wasn't telling him because she was obliged to. She wasn't telling him because she had to. It wasn't an exchange program. She was telling him because she wanted to.
"I.. uh.. my parents died when I was just a kid. 8 or 9 maybe? They had gone out for an awards dinner and they met with an accident. I took it really hard, they were the only ones I really opened up to, the only ones that I was myself around, but Tuney took it harder, she just broke. We moved in with our aunt, but she was useless. Only interested in the insurance money that came with us. So, I had to grow up and take care of Tuney and myself. I became really independent and I just shut off my emotions from anyone else. I couldn't be vulnerable, I had to be Petunia's rock. And some people were horrible to me, they called me bossy and bitchy, just because I was independent. It was hard at first, but then it just became my default. But there's not… not a day." Lily broke off, and barely choked back a sob. "That I don't miss both of them." Lily's voice was nothing more than a broken whisper and the tears were flowing down her cheeks.
She clenched her jaw to prevent it from shaking and with a start, Lily realized that this was the first time since her parent's death that she had opened up to someone. She needed to get away. Where was all her composure?
She stood up quickly, her whole body trembling, "I… I have to go. I shouldn't have…" she turned away from their table, but James caught her wrist.
She spun around and locked eyes with him. He was glaring at her, his hazel eyes so intense, that she felt like it was burning her. "Don't. Don't close up again."
Lily swallowed hard but she moved when he tugged her wrist gently and sat down next to him. James moved his hand down to cover her own, and after a beat, Lily turned her hand and interlaced her fingers with his. They both sat like that, fingers caressing each other soothingly, until they both felt better.
Sirius huffed as he heaved the last box into the Hufflepuff delivery van. He stomped into the building and climbed up the stairs.
"Alright. Remus. I'm done for the day. What did you want me to do?"
"Go find Marlene. She's waiting for you in Room 204, twelfth floor."
"Shit man. It had to be the twelfth floor didn't it?" Sirius swore under his breath as he raced up the steps.
Upon reaching the twelfth floor, he moved swiftly through the corridors to Room 204. Making sure that no one was looking, he slipped into the room, locking the door behind him.
He turned, expecting to find Marlene, but he only found a brunette wearing cat eye spectacles looking at him.
"Oh." Shit. Hadn't Remus told him Room 204? Maybe Marlene had left. "Sorry. Wrong room." He began backing out, but the brunette called out to him.
"Sirius! It's me, Marlene, you dolt!"
Sirius moved towards her, guided by Remus' laughter in his ear and the brunette's smirk.
"Can't believe you didn't recognize me." Marlene laughed at him.
"You're in DISGUISE. I'm not supposed to." Sirius shot back. "Really good job, by the way. You look nothing like your hideous self." He smiled winsomely at her and was rewarded with a shirt being thrown at his face which he deftly caught. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Put it on. And this wig too." Marlene flung a brown wig at him as well. "Tell him the plan, Remus."
"So far, I've been able to access security footage for floors 1 to 11. Floor 12 is where I got stuck. 5 of the rooms on this floor, I have no access to. Tried to hack into the computer databases, the surveillance footage, mobile devices, but I couldn't identify what was inside the rooms."
Sirius pulled the shirt over his head. "What are the room numbers?"
"214, 215, 216, 217, 218. Marls has already checked rooms 217 and 218 though. Just empty office rooms. No sign of the stone. Peter said the last three are down the left, at the end of the main corridor. Marlene thinks that there could be guards patrolling there. That's why we needed you."
Sirius adjusted the wig on his head, "Alright. I'm ready to go."
Marlene and he ducked out the door, walking fast past the other rooms until they reached the end of the corridor. Marlene slipped left, and Sirius followed suit. The corridor was darker than the others and his hackles rose. Marlene, reaching room 216, looked left and right, before pulling out a small metal contraption. She pressed it against the door, and using a little holder, pulled it in a small circle. Sirius checked the corridor for people again before looking back at Marlene, crouched at the door.
The circle flickered, then an image of the room inside formed in the circle. Marlene and Sirius watched as an elderly man sighed, put on his glasses and stared back at the computer screen. Nothing looked suspicious, and there was no sign that the stone was stored in there. He jerked his head further down the corridor and Marlene removed the device and moved on to room 215.
She repeated the process with the device and Sirius crouched down beside her as the scene unfolded before their eyes. A young woman reached out to a man around the same age and grabbed his tie, pulling him close to her. He bent his head and kissed her aggressively, backing her up against the desk. Marlene turned to find Sirius grinning foolishly at her, silent chuckles escaping at the astonished look on Marlene's face. Before they could see any more, Marlene yanked off the device and began her way to room 214, Sirius following behind, highly amused by Marlene's reaction. "Marls, your face! Utter shock!"
She turned and scowled at him, "You be quiet. Who does that anyway? It's an office! Anyone could walk in!"
"They were only kissing Marls."
"Yeah. Sure. Nothing else was going to happen." She scoffed at Sirius as they reached room 214. She repeated the process with the device and they waited as the screen blurred in front of them to reveal a large room stacked with rows and rows of filing cabinets.
"Documents." Sirius said. "They must be. Any importance?" He glanced at Marlene.
"They could be proof of his insurance scams." She replied. "I think we should take a look. Now?"
"I don't see why not. I can just…" before Sirius could finish his sentence, Marlene had pulled him into the broom cupboard directly opposite the room.
"Somebody was coming!" she spoke in a urgent whisper, immediately silencing any jokes Sirius had been ready to make about them being in a broom cupboard. "I left the device."
Sirius eyes widened as he heard someone step out of room 214. The person – a man – let out a sound of anger, and Sirius could hear the device being pulled off the door. The heavy footsteps were rapidly approaching the broom cupboard, and he quickly pushed Marlene behind him as the door swung open.
Sirius did a quick estimate of the man in front of him and immediately threw a punch. The man grabbed Sirius by the collar and brought him close to his face. Sirius couldn't help but smirk slightly. Obviously the man before him was all brawn and no brain. The man had reeled his arm back, ready to punch Sirius in the face, but before he could do that, Sirius threw his head forward, head butting the man with such force that he staggered back and slumped against the door of room 214, clutching his nose. Sirius stepped forward and sending a swift kick across his face, rendered him unconscious.
Marlene stepped forward and quickly removed the device from the man's meaty paws. She stood up and took Sirius' hand, pulling him after her as she raced down the corridor. Stopping at room 204, she and Sirius both pulled off their disguises, stuffing them into a duffel bag.
"Come on Sirius. We've got to get off this floor. The man had set off the silent alarm. That's why we have to go. Stat."
Sirius nodded, leading the way to the stairwell. Close behind him, he could hear Marlene speaking to Remus.
"Yes. Yes Remus. Room 214. It's obviously being guarded, there's something of worth in there. No. It's too risky for Sirius and I to do it. If they find out, we're highly likely to be exposed, people here know our faces. We'll be killed in an instant." Marlene raced down the staircase next to Sirius. "James and Lily will have to take this one."
A/N: Cookies to anyone who gets the significance of Room 214. (Hint: Its in the numbers). Hugs for finishing the chapter! Lemme know how you feel about it.