Chapter Five – Firing Shots

Lily showed up to James's cabin again that evening in another one of Marlene's dresses and knocked once.

James opened the door immediately, a warm smile on his face. "Welcome," he said. Algernon meowed loudly from somewhere in the room. "He says hello, too."

Lily stepped into his room and spotted Algernon stretching next to James's bed. "I might not speak cat, but I did rather guess at that one."

"Please, sit and enjoy the fruits of Caradoc's labors."

"You were very lucky to get him for your crew."

They took their seats, and Lily's mouth watered at the smell of roast potatoes. Caradoc should have been doing this work somewhere proper, like a nice household, not for pirates.

"He's an old mate," James said. "And he—well, he had his reasons."

Algernon stopped by Lily for a moment to receive a brief pat on the head, then sat down by James, his tail swishing across the wooden floor.

"Are you adapting to the ship all right?" James asked.

Lily poured the wine. "There's not much to adapt to," she said, handing him his cup. "You've a fairly typical ship, except for the magic."

"Spent a lot of time on ships, then?" He raised his wine at her in thanks.

"Oh, not usually more than a night or two at a time."

"Are you—have you spent longer than that, at all?"

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Is this an interrogation?"

"No, not—I'm just asking. I'm not much of an interrogator."

"Yes. I noticed."

He sighed. "So if you could just tell me everything I want to know, that would save us both a lot of effort."

She did have to tell him something, or he'd never let her go.

But if it had to happen, at least it could happen on her terms.

Her mouth pulled back in a coy smile. "I've a proposal for you."

"A proposal? I love a good proposal. Don't get enough of them, really. No one proposes anything anymore."

"It's simple, really: I'll trade you answers."

He mulled over this, one hand reaching down to scratch Algernon's ears. "I can't give you much on what we're doing or where we're going."

"I know, but if I have to tell you who I am, I think it should be a fair trade."

"And why are you so curious about me? Am I that fascinating to you? That irresistible?"

"Fascinating in the way one studies an interesting species of insect, perhaps. I just want you to know how it feels."

"I suppose, in the tradition of parley, a fair trade would be acceptable."

Lily served herself some potatoes. "In that case, would you like to begin by telling me who you are? Considering last night was all about me, of course."

"You've got me there," he mused. "Well. I'm James Potter. My parents raised me in Devon. I went to Hogwarts when I was eleven—Gryffindor, of course—and stayed there until Sixth Year."

"When What's His Face took over," Lily filled in. "Remus told me."

"He mentioned as much," James said, a bit sternly.

"What, did you not want him to tell me?"

"No, it's not—" He sighed. "It's not like this is some huge secret, that You Know Who's running the Ministry. I'm just—nothing. It's fine. So now you know."

"Yes," she said bitterly. "I know."

"You don't sound pleased about what you learned."

"Of course I'm not bloody pleased. Remus didn't give me loads of details, but it's enough that yeah, I'm less than perfectly thrilled to hear What's His Face is in charge."

James raised his cup. "I'll drink to that."

"I should hope you'd do more than drink," she muttered, and took a large swig of wine.

His face contorted as he nearly choked on his wine. He swallowed, cleared his throat, and let out a loud, barking laugh. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard. I thought I just heard the chirping of an enormous hypocrite."

"I'm nowhere near hypocrisy. I'm not the one gallivanting around, pirating and drinking and God knows what else."

"What've you been doing with your life, eh? You're not exactly the picture of nobility and chivalry."

Lily's wine sloshed around the edges of her cup as she set it down, perhaps with more force than was strictly necessary. "Chivalry? I didn't know this What's His Face business was going on at all. You abandoned your people when they needed you."

"Oh, and I expect that now that you know, you're going to catch the first ship back to England and go hunt him down yourself, is that it?"

"Why would I, that's not even—" She'd been planning to say my world, but that would reveal her Muggle-born status. She focused on her plate. "That's not fair. I'm not tied to England anymore."

"But it's your home, isn't it? The wizarding world is in a mess, yeah, but it's not like you're planning to do anything about it."

"Even if I felt the need to do something, what would I do?"

"You've got an easy out, you know." He leaned forward in his seat. "Why won't you just admit you're Muggle-born? I really don't care if you are, and I don't get why you think you need to hide it. You can't be afraid because of him, if you've just learned about him, so are you ashamed, or what?"

Shame had nothing to do with it – Sev had explained the terminology, but never implied she was anything less than him or anyone else.

"What would you do if I were Muggle-born, anyway?" she said. "I still just learned what was going on so I still have an out."

"I wouldn't do anything if you were Muggle-born. It would just explain a lot of things, and since we were supposed to be trying to get to know one another…."

He hadn't left her much choice. He could keep her as long as he wanted, since he had a wand and six crew members to back him up, and Lily had her wits, a candle, and a hairpin to her name.

He needed this to trust her. It was asinine, but that didn't make it any less true.

Besides, they didn't act like they cared if she was Muggle-born, or at least they didn't judge her for it. He cared because—because that was who she was, on some level. It did mean something, apparently. It just didn't mean everything.

"Fine," she bit out. "Yes, I am Muggle-born."

She was afraid he'd be smug in his victory, but instead his shoulders relaxed, and he sat back in his chair.

"Thank you," he said. "Now, that wasn't hard, was it?"

Lily shoved a forkful of steak into her mouth to avoid answering.

"Why were you so afraid to tell me?" he asked. "If you didn't know about What's His Face."

She swallowed and looked down at Algernon, who'd curled up in a ball at James's feet. "Someone told me it wouldn't be wise to reveal it."

"Someone like…."

"It's—complicated. My friend told me. He's the only wizard I've ever known, really, only he went to Hogwarts and I didn't."

James fixed her with a skeptical look. "He told you to hide being Muggle-born but not what's been going on?"

"He sent me a letter Before, so he must have thought it could happen, but maybe hoped it wouldn't…. He never came home that Christmas, and I don't know…."

"Oh. Right." James's expression softened. "What's your friend's name? I might know him. I might be able to—well."

James looked to be about their age, but Severus had been in Slytherin, and from the little he'd said about it, he hadn't seemed to care for Gryffindors.

She pressed her lips together. "His name's Severus Snape."

She'd expected a vaguely familiar nod, or perhaps a blank stare, but certainly not the shadow that crossed James's face.

"Snape." James looked as though he were on the verge of sicking up. "You're friends with Severus Snape?"

"Yes. Or I was, until he stopped coming home. I don't even know if he's alive, all right?"

"Oh," James said darkly, "he's alive."

He was alive.

It felt like a small elephant had moved off of her chest, and she could breathe properly again. "Do you know where he is, then?"

If he were alive, she could find him. He might be able to protect her, or maybe help her finally get a wand. And she could apologize for thinking poorly of him, even if he hadn't known she'd done so.

James's eyes narrowed. "How did you two meet?"

"We grew up in the same town." Which was technically true, even if she'd grown up on an estate and Sev had lived in the village. "He's the person who told me I was a witch."

"But you're a Muggle-born."

"And he's a half-blood," Lily said, as though it were obvious. "He never cared that I was Muggle-born."

"He's not…." James paused and gave his plate of cooling food a contemplative look. "Oh, Snape," he said, so quietly Lily nearly didn't hear him.

"Do you know where I can find him?"

"I know exactly where you can find him." He looked up at her over his glasses, head still ducked. "He's sitting at his desk at the Ministry of Magic."

"You think he—you're saying he works for What's His Face? What, as a spy or something?"

"Oh, no. He's always been evil, as far as I know. Rotten to the core, and when You Know Who came knocking, Snape and his friends all answered. Might as well have invited him in and served him tea."

She lifted her chin. "Well, obviously we can't be talking about the same person."

James let out a low laugh and ripped off a piece of bread from the loaf. "Severus Snape, a lanky sort of bloke with a big nose and disgusting hair? I'd never confuse him for anyone else. Trust me. I'm plenty familiar with him."

"He must be working there against What's His Face, then."

"Oh, Lily, you don't even know him, do you?" he said, in an awful, mocking voice. "He's Dark, that one. He knew more Dark spells as a first-year than all of Gryffindor combined. Or did he never show you those books?"

"He taught me loads of nice, useful spells."

"I wouldn't expect him to teach them to you. Harmless Muggle-born like you—he didn't want to scare you off."

Lily could feel her heart trying to leap out of her chest. Sev would never do something so monumentally stupid as to work for a man who wanted to kill her.

"Stop talking about him like that," she said sharply.

"What, like he is?"

"Severus is a good person. I've known him for years."

"I knew him for six years. Six years of watching him go deeper and deeper into the Dark."

Lily's lips pressed together, and she found she was shaking her head. "He wouldn't work for What's His Face and actually think he was in the right."

He snorted. "Well, he is. Ask any of my crew. We all knew him. I personally crossed wands with him plenty of times at Hogwarts."

James was either mistaken, or lying, but Lily couldn't figure out how he could be so completely misguided.

"Sev has always been a good friend to me."

"Oh, right, of course. He's such a good friend, he completely forgot to tell you about You Know Who?"

"Because it hadn't happened yet, obviously. He sent a letter the autumn before, warning me not to tell anyone I was a Muggle-born witch, and then he never came home for Christmas, and then—then I left home."

"Right after the takeover? Care to explain that?"

She primly placed her silverware on her plate, her appetite lost. "I'm sure it's none of your business."

"And here I thought we'd be trading answers."

"Obviously I was mistaken if I thought you'd tell me the truth."

His eyebrows rose, disappearing into the locks of hair hanging over his forehead. "You think I'm lying about Snape?"

"Maybe you're lying, or maybe you don't know what you're on about."

James set down his utensils and tapped the fingers of one hand on the table. He kept watching her, and Lily avoided his gaze by looking at her plate.

Finally, he said, "You've been spending a fair amount of time with Marlene and Remus, right? You trust them more than me?"

"To an extent," she said cautiously.

"Then ask them, if you prefer to hear it from another source. Ask Marlene what happened to Mary MacDonald, or ask Remus what Snape thinks of his condition."

"Fine. Maybe I will."

"I hope you do." His cruelty hadn't returned, but an intensity she hadn't heard from him before reared up in its stead. "Because if you see Snape again, ever, I'm not sure he won't turn you right over to the authorities."

"That doesn't—why would he warn me to stay hidden and then turn me over?"

"Why wouldn't he tell you he fights for the Dark? He's not exactly a forthcoming sort of person, is he?"

She'd always had to pry Sev to get him to tell her details about Hogwarts. He only ever talked about classes, though, and the castle. Never his friends, or the enemies she hadn't even known he'd had.

"He did enough, didn't he?" she said. "I haven't told anyone but you I'm Muggle-born, and What's His Face hasn't found me."

She shot him a triumphant look, but he didn't appear to see it, lost in his own thoughts.

"You know," he said, "you need to have a backstory about your heritage ready. If you're ever going back to England, I mean. You definitely can't tell anyone there about being Muggle-born."

"I suppose I will need some cover," Lily allowed. "But I don't know when I'll be back there next. I've plenty of time to come up with something."

"Use the Potter name if you need to. I'll back you up as an illegitimate sister or something."

"Thanks?"

"And if you do go back—be careful, all right? You Know Who and his Death Eaters are ruthless."

"Death Eaters?" She snorted. "Is that really what he calls them? He's a real penchant for naming things, doesn't he."

"Finally," James said, almost smiling, "something we can agree on."

James might pretend to be mad, might pretend to be kind to her, but hearing him judge Severus, or her for trusting him…. She hadn't seen the pirate side of him before, but it was clearly there, just well masked.

He'd regret it later when she grabbed whatever he was after out of his clutches. She only needed to figure out what Peter was working on. If they were willing to forgo raids, there wasn't much left they could be chasing except something truly valuable.

If she could find out what they were after, and more importantly where it was, she could sell the information once she was free. Assuming she got off the ship sometime before they found what they were after, of course.

In the early morning hours, while most of the crew slept, Lily lit her candle and snuck up to the main deck, where thick, dark clouds hung suspended overhead, threatening a storm. Dorcas worked on the far side of the main deck, ropes flying around her in a whirlwind. Marlene stood on watch in the crow's nest, hopefully without a book in hand, and the lone candle in the common room had to belong to Sirius.

Lily crept across the deck and slipped through the library door when Dorcas's back was turned, and began rifling through the papers along the shelves. She found personal letters, maps of the French coast, and lists of people she didn't know – nothing that struck her as terribly significant.

Thankfully most of the shelves held books, and while it was possible Peter was hiding his project in one of them, she'd have to come back later and search them strategically. For now she focused on the papers. If Peter was accessing his project every day, multiple times a day, he'd keep it in a convenient but secure location.

Her eyes slid over to the corner of the room, along the wall to James's cabin, to an ornate wooden cabinet.

Lily quietly strode over, pulling her hairpin out as she walked, and slid it into the empty keyhole. She examined the latch when she opened it and smiled – as best she could tell, it would lock upon closing.

Inside the cabinet she found more stacks of parchment, some folded, others rolled up and bound with twine. She flipped through several documents, all meaningless handwritten scribbles to her, before reaching for a loosely rolled parchment on a lower shelf.

She turned around to spread the parchment out on the table in the center of the room.

The map identified a few small islands in the typical fashion, but someone had drawn shapes all over the map and written short strings of Latin at random intervals.

Most curious of all, if it were being used as a proper navigational map, it should have been in the navigation room. But instead it was in the library, in Peter's workspace.

She sank into a chair and looked at the handwritten parchments she'd found underneath the map, her eyes flying over the pages. Someone had copied the words and phrases from the map onto the parchment and started translating them into English.

Some of the words resembled spells—single Latin words, like evanescere—while other, longer strings of words seemed like the ramblings of a lunatic. Peter had interpreted the longest string as sad wind follows a stormy sea.

Lily glanced back and forth between the notes and the map, wondering why the hell Peter would be puzzling over such a strange map, when a slow, heady pleasure washed through her.

There was only one reason pirates would pore over barmy maps. After all, there was only one thing pirates really wanted, in the end.

Treasure.

Particularly the sort of treasure that someone might want to conceal. Particularly the sort of concealed treasure that was buried on an island.

Lily had never seen a real treasure map before. Then again, she'd never spent more than a few months on one ship, and that was just the once.

She started to read over Peter's notes, absorbing bits of the map's language and immediately trying to translate them.

Peter had only translated the Latin—and not particularly well, from what she could tell—and tried rearranging the Latin words into anagrams. He hadn't worked on the shapes at all.

He also hadn't written anything about the lone English phrase at the bottom of the map, which read, Where he lay fettered.

Curious. Very curious.

By itself, the knowledge of the map would be useless. She'd either have to steal the map—difficult—or solve it before Peter did—much more feasible, based on his existing work. If she could find the treasure first, or sell the information on how to get there for a high enough price, she could….well, she'd have options. Better options than she had now.

Lily looked back at the map in earnest. Interestingly, the mapmaker had added shapes made out of smaller shapes: a ring of small squares dominated the western part of the map, a cross of stars stood over the middle, and a triangle of circles dotted the east.

It was almost a pattern, but not quite.

The cross of stars was the odd one out. It should have been a square made of small triangles, if the mapmaker had followed the pattern of the other two. Instead he'd made a starred cross.

She smiled to herself. Her mother had read her Romeo and Juliet when she was twelve, curled up on the sofa in the library, sunlight dazzling through the windows. As best Lily could tell, Peter seemed to be star-crossed with the meaning of the map.

It wasn't clear that the break in the pattern was important, but it was a start.

Lily hadn't known how to ask Marlene and Remus about Severus, but it turned out she needn't have worried. Despite everyone working disjointed schedules, word traveled quickly on board, and she'd barely sat down after breakfast when the crew came to her.

Sirius rested his arms on the back of the sofa where Lily was reading, rain-drenched windows blurring the sea in front of them.

"I find it very suspicious that you're acquainted with Snivellus."

Lily kept looking at her book. "I find it very atrocious that you'd call anyone a name like that, given your age."

"He and I go back, you know."

"No, I don't, and I don't actually care."

He grabbed the book out of Lily's hands, one of the pages slicing along her palm in the process. She swore under her breath at the sting and climbed to her feet, glaring at him.

"If you really are Muggle-born," he said, making it perfectly clear he thought anything but, "you wouldn't know, but I'm a Black by birth, and the Black family's nothing but Dark, rotten people."

"So you fit right in, then."

"The adults who raised me nearly pissed themselves with glee the moment they found out You Know Who had won."

"That's lovely to hear. I like you so much better now."

Sirius came around the sofa to loom over her. "I want you to understand that I know what Dark wizards are like. I'm plenty familiar with their ilk, and I know what I'm talking about when I tell you that Severus Snape is as Dark as they come."

"Oh, yes, that's why he cursed me all those times for being Muggle-born. Thanks for clearing that up."

He sneered. "He probably wanted to shag you."

Lily's hand reached out and slapped his face before she even knew she was going to do it, her cut leaving a thin, bloody streak on his cheek, bright against his fair skin.

"Don't you dare disrespect my friend that way," she said, her voice low.

They both froze for a moment, staring at each other. Another sheet of rain thundered against the windows, and Lily's mind had gone blank, still processing what had just happened.

And then the moment broke, both of them looking away at the same time.

Lily rubbed her sore palm with her other hand while Sirius absently reached one hand up to touch his cheek. He inspected his hand, his lip curling when he saw the blood staining his fingers.

He shot her a warning look, a cruel glint in his eye, and a bolt of fear shot through Lily. He had a wand, and she didn't, and by his own admission he probably knew more Dark spells than anyone else on board.

"No wonder Severus hated you," she said. "You're just as rotten as your family."

"No wonder you were friends with Severus. You're clearly on the same side as him."

She nearly told him to get out, but she had no right, and that burned. She had nowhere to run, nowhere safe to go. She was stuck on a ship with people who had joked about killing her, who had no respect for her friend, and who seemed to be following a map written by a madman.

"All of you think you're so clever," she said, "thinking you've caught me in the middle of some grand scheme. You think you can treat me like dirt because there's a slim chance I'm here to—well, I don't know, exactly, throw you off course? What am I supposed to be doing that's so bloody threatening? You've got no evidence to go on and you're being a complete arse just because you can!"

"Oi, what's going on here?" Marlene strode into the room and over toward them. Her hair had gone dark with rainwater, her shirt clinging to her body. She looked between them and saw the blood on Sirius's face. "Get up to the crow's nest, Black. Right now."

"You're not in charge, McKinnon."

"No, but James sent me to come remind you where you're supposed to be, and I find you hiding in the common room. What, afraid of a little thunderstorm?"

"Fuck off."

"I will once you get to work."

He made a low, threatening noise in his throat, and then spun around and stalked out of the room.

Marlene sighed and began wringing out her hair. "What happened?"

"He had some very unkind things to say about a mutual acquaintance."

"Oh, Snape? What a tosser."

"Sirius or Severus?"

"Both." Marlene reached out a wet hand to grab Lily's wrist. "Hold on, I can fix that."

She pulled out her wand and murmured a spell, tracing her wand along the cut. Lily's skin knit together perfectly behind the spell, without even so much as a scar.

Lily gave a rueful smile and dropped back onto the sofa. "Thanks."

"Did he do that to you?" Marlene sat down next to Lily, apparently unconcerned that the cushion beneath her began absorbing the water still dripping off of her. "Because James won't stand for that."

Lily shook her head. Her heart had started slowing down to a normal pace, but her body still prickled with leftover adrenaline. "He was just being a twat. He didn't mean to cut me."

"Not really fair, fighting an unarmed witch, is it?"

"I would think not."

Marlene grinned. "But it looked like you smacked him. That doesn't happen accidentally."

"Would that someone would loan me a wand so I could castrate him. Or give me a knife. Either way, I could do it."

"Mm, I know the feeling."

Thunder grumbled outside, just enough to remind the world it was there, but not with any particular malice.

Lily leaned back against a throw pillow. "Please tell me you're not here to warn me about Severus, too."

Marlene shrugged and pushed a wet lock of hair out of her face. "I don't know what the point would be. I never liked him, but James and Sirius have always hated him the most of anyone."

"Oh, the Fates would trap me on a ship with Sev's enemies, wouldn't they?"

"Fate didn't do anything. You brought yourself here."

"Doesn't mean I can't blame someone else, does it?"

"No. But I don't think the courts would buy 'The Fates made me castrate him' as an excuse."

"I suppose not," Lily sighed. "But from the sound of it, your courts aren't anything like fair."

"No," Marlene said sadly, "not anymore."

The rain didn't let up for the rest of the morning. Lily tried to get back into her book of plays, but her mind kept wandering, and eventually she set aside Aristophanes entirely.

The problem was, it wasn't entirely shocking that the crew said those things about Severus. He was difficult, and sad, and sometimes the way he spoke about other people…he did think he was better than them, in a way. He made disparaging comments sometimes about the idiots and fools in his classes, and expected Lily to laugh along with him.

Although that had bothered her sometimes, and although she'd never laughed at those things, he'd never treated Lily with anything less than the utmost respect. Sometimes he'd taunted Petunia, yes, but that was Petunia, and he'd never seriously hurt her.

He had the potential for malice, but to hear that he had joined up with What's His Face, with people who wanted to kill Lily…it seemed unfathomable. But if Sev had been offered a position of power, he would have taken it without question.

She wrapped her arms around her knees, feeling gutted, and more alone than she had in months.

She'd never know if he had stayed away out of concern for her safety, or if he simply couldn't face her when he was technically supposed to turn her over to the authorities.

It felt like losing him all over again.

Only this time it was worse because she wasn't just speculating about his absence. She knew perfectly well where he was, but if she approached him now, she wouldn't be able to trust him. She wouldn't know for certain that he hadn't changed his ways, that he wouldn't turn on her in a second.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face into her knees.

"Lily?"

She whipped her head back to look at the door, elbow running into the back of the sofa. But it was just James and his cat, both soaked to the bone.

"Yeah," she said.

"Ugh, I can't even see you." He wiped his glasses off on his shirt, replaced them, and slanted a small smile at her. "There we go."

She made a show of looking him up and down. "You're only concerned about your glasses?"

Algernon shook himself, the water from his fur splashing onto James's already drenched trousers, and James sighed. He drew his wand in a line from his shoulders down, steam trailing behind it as his clothes dried, and then used his sleeve to dry off his face.

"You're still dripping," she said as he approached her.

He'd done nothing to his hair, still plastered to the sides of his head and dripping water onto his shoulders.

"My hair is immune to most spells." He sat down on the other end of the sofa. "I'd have worn my hat if it wouldn't have filled up with water."

Algernon had followed him and looked ready to leap into his lap.

"Oi," James told him, "none of that. Either you suffer being wet, or you let me dry you off, and I'm not drying you off because I remember what happened last time, so there's really no choice at all."

Algernon growled and shuddered once more, sending a few more drops of water at James.

"Moody little thing," James said to Lily.

Algernon headbutted James's shin, and Lily found herself letting out a soft laugh.

"Still working on the mad pirate thing?" she asked.

"It's a work in progress."

Lily watched Algernon curl up in a ball on the floor, looking like a mouse he'd eaten had gone off.

"So I hear you and Sirius had a lovely encounter earlier this morning," James said.

"Oh, yes, very memorable."

"Do I need to intervene?"

Even though James had tried to get everyone to stop joking about killing her, this—this was something different. This was an active offer of protection from the people he trusted.

A strange ache blossomed in her chest, but she ignored it in favor of answering James.

"I can take care of myself."

"I didn't—I didn't tell him you knew Snape. He overheard me—well. He overheard me, and given we've got so little exciting news around here…."

"Everyone knows."

"Yeah. So, sorry. I didn't—"

"You didn't send me to talk to Sirius about Snape for a reason."

"They've—it's complicated." His hand automatically went up to his hair, and he frowned when he seemed to remember it was still wet. His hand dropped back down into his lap. "I don't think I can tell you much about them, but yeah. Neither of us is the most objective person to talk to about Snape."

"I gathered."

"So, yeah. I dunno what Marlene told you. She's not….yeah."

Lily nodded. "She seemed a little more balanced about it."

"Well, that's true about most things." He smiled. "So, anyway. Marlene said you're all right, and Sirius is moping up in the crow's nest, but I don't—I don't want either of you to hurt each other anymore, all right?"

"I've no objection to this plan."

James let out a strained breath. "He's just—Snape is such a sore topic, and with You Know Who, and Sirius and I—he's not at his best today."

She could have made just as many rationalizations for Severus, but arguing would get her nowhere.

"I'll talk to Remus later," she said.

"That's good. He'll…he's certainly got a different perspective than Sirius."

"Don't tell me they were friends."

"Oh, Merlin no. But—well, I'll let Remus do the explaining. He'll do it best, and it's only right, really…." He trailed off, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'll talk to him after lunch."

"Good. Good. Well." He stood up, looking down at his cat, but Algernon growled and curled up tighter. James shook his head, a small smile on his face, and glanced back at Lily. "I'll leave you to your book."

Lily nearly asked him to stay—if her shift tracking was correct, he wasn't on duty at the moment—but she couldn't seem to get the words to come out.

"All right," she said instead.

"And let me know if anyone jokes about killing you because that's—that's just off limits now, as far as I'm concerned."

"Thanks. I do…I appreciate that."

"Right. Then. Later."

Author's Note: The fabulous Zeina made a terrific graphic of the map Lily found – I've put a link to it on my FFN profile. If you are so inclined, you can take a stab at solving the map along with Lily. Almost all the clues you'll get are already on the map, and all you need to solve it is logic and some baseline cultural knowledge. I really don't know how hard it is to figure out since I created it, but thought I'd offer up the challenge in case anyone is interested in giving it a shot.