Chapter 1 – Reunion

"He fainted?" Teresa shrieked with laughter. "You mean he actually fainted?"

"Teresa…" Ron said in a tired voice, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Please…"

"I'm sorry dad, it's just funny," Teresa said, still giggling to herself. "I mean, you usually don't hear about a 6 foot, 25 year old man fainting."

Lily gave a slight grin at the fifteen year old girl standing in front of her. Teresa always made her laugh and she always spoke her mind about anything. In a way, she almost reminded Lily of herself. She stood in the doorway of the hospital room; Eddie's hospital room, leaning against the beam with her arms crossed.

After Eddie had seen Lily and immediately fainted, Miranda got up from her desk and tried to revive Eddie, but he wouldn't move or wake up, so he was taken to the hospital. Lily was in such a state of shock that she hadn't been able to respond to Eddie fainting or him not reviving. After Eddie had been taken to the hospital, Miranda contacted Ron and the girls to tell them what had happened.

"Is he going to be okay, Davanee?" Ron asked wearily. Davanee checked Eddie's pulse before waving her wand and writing something on her clip board.

"He'll be fine, Ron," said Davanee, a small smile on her face. "He's just in a state of shock. I don't blame him after not seeing Lily after all these years and seeing her as the Mistress of Magic is bound to shock anyone."

"Especially since Eddie fell in love with her and everything and then like an idiot went and-"

"That will be enough Terry," Lily said in a warning tone, but still using Teresa's pet name to show that she was not angry. Ever since Hermione went into that coma, Teresa and Anne had both taken Lily on as their role model, being the only active woman in their life; besides Davanee. But, unfortunately, Teresa found Davanee extremely bubbly and annoying so Lily had become her idol.

"Sorry," Teresa mumbled. Lily was the only one who had the power to control Teresa's mouth. "Too awkward?"

"Just a bit," Lily said bemused, with a slight grin on her face. She then turned back to Davanee. "There isn't anyway of reviving him immediately? I'd really like to finish this case as soon as possible and get back to my duties as Mistress of Magic."

"I mean, we could use a potion but it's best to…"

"Then use a potion," Lily said firmly. "I want to have this case over and done with"

"Lily," started Ron, "isn't this case going to be a bit awkward for you? I mean, considering your past with Eddie. Looking for his kidnapped fiancé? Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course I don't want to do this!" Lily snapped, forgetting that she was talking to her godfather. "Part of me wants to just revive him so he can decide that he doesn't want me on the case and we can go back to the way we were!"

"Pretending that you both don't exist to each other?" Anne asked quietly.

"Exactly," Lily said in exasperated voice.

"Not a fun way to act and treat your former lover," Teresa said with a sigh. Both Lily and Ron turned to glare at her as Lily went scarlet in the face. Teresa's big eyes widened for a moment as she stared at the two. "Awkward comment again? Okay, I just won't talk anymore."

"Brilliant idea," came a groan from the bed. Lily's heart began pounding against her ribcage. Eddie's eyes fluttered open and he sat up slightly. "And that's not true Lily. I was told you were the best for the assignment and I only want the best to find Jane. You and me are going to have to put our past behind and work past this."

"Well, unlike some, it's rather hard for me to just simply 'put the past behind me.' I just don't throw away everyone that means something to me and not contact them in years," said Lily, coolly. "For some reason, it's not as easy for me as it is for others."

"Shut your mouth, Potter," Eddie growled, sitting up all the way. "I did what I had to do! And you'll be well-paid for this case."

"I'm sure I will be," Lily snarled coolly. "Send me an owl when you've been admitted out of this hospital. Unlike some, I can handle a good shock and not be hospitalized." With a billow of her cloak, she turned and stormed out of the room. Teresa's mouth dropped as she stared at Lily in awe.

"Wow, Ed," she said, "Lily one, Ed zero."

"Shut-up!" Eddie snapped again before rolling over in his bed.

"Is that your only comeback?" Teresa teased. Eddie rolled his eyes and tossed his pillow in the direction of her voice.

Eddie was following a young man to Lily's office where no doubt, Lily would start working on his fiancé's case. The young man looked grumpy, and had a sarcastic comment to everything Eddie had said. It did not shock Eddie to know that Lily had hired this young man as her secretary. The reached an office with the letters "Lily Julia Potter, Mistress of Magic," on the door, sparkling and the young man knocked. Eddie heard Lily's familiar scratchy voice mumble, "Come in," and they entered.

"Mr. Weasley here to see you," he said in a bored voice. Eddie walked in to see Lily sitting behind an abnormally large desk completely covered in files, folders, and papers. She had on her cat-like glasses and looked completely distressed and exhausted.

"Thank you, Jeremiah," Lily said hastily. "Just file the paperwork on the Bundlement case and you can go home."

"How kind of you Mistress," he said dryly with a false grin on his face. He closed the door behind Eddie and left. Eddie watched him close the door and turned back to Lily.

"Bad time?"

"No, its fine," she said hastily. "I just got elected Mistress of Magic so I'm closing up some final cases as Auror, is all."

"And opening mine?" Eddie asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily looked up at him, leaned back in her chair, took off her glasses and threw them on the desk.

"You wanted the best, Ed," she said simply, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "And not to sound arrogant, but I am considered the best."

"But what about your duties as Mistress?"

"Being Mistress has its advantages," Lily said with a slight grin," and so does having a good fair amount of assistants. Why are you even arguing? You're getting what you're paying for, aren't you?" Eddie nodded and wanted to laugh but bite his lip stubbornly as he stared at Lily as she cleaned out her desk. Some things just did not change.

"Alright," Lily said, taking out a fresh folder and putting her glasses back on, "please Ed, sit down."

Eddie obeyed and sat down in the chair that rested in front of Lily's massive desk. As she filled out some work, Eddie snuck glances at all of the moving pictures on her desk; five of them caught his interest. One was of she and Harry Potter when she was a child; resting on his knee as he bounced her up and down as the baby Lily giggled in delight. The other was of Lily and Asher; Asher was seen wearing a fancy tuxedo and Lily was wearing a long, fancy, baby blue gown. Eddie assumed that had been taken on Asher's wedding day as Yvonne could be seen wearing a wedding dress in the background. The third picture was a picture of Lily and two of the most stunning elderly women Eddie had ever seen, sitting on a bench, smiling at each other. Eddie recognized them as Fleur Delacour and Dominique Delinor. The fourth picture was of Lily and Eddie's little sisters; Teresa and Anne playing Qudditch. But, the fifth, the fifth was what intrigued Eddie the most. It was a picture of Lily, at about fourteen years old, wearing her Hogwarts robes and on her right stood a tall, pretty black girl; Eddie recognized her as their late friend, Robyn Andrews. On Robyn's other side was Asher and on Lily's left stood himself, smiling brightly and his hand rested on Lily's shoulder. Eddie's stomach did a lurch when he saw the picture and was pulled out of his thoughts at Lily's sigh.

"Okay, first, tell me what happened," Lily said, looking at Eddie square in the eye. Eddie was astounded at her intently she was gazing at him, like nothing serious had ever happened between them. He could not believe she was being so nonchalant about the whole situation.

"Erm…well…my fiancé is name is Jane Anderson," Eddie explained. "We've been seeing each other for about 2 years and living together for 6 months."

Lily waved her wand and her quill began writing the notes on it's own as Lily listened intently. Eddie raised his eyebrow at the quill.

"Is she a witch or Muggle?"

"Muggle," Eddie said with hesitation. Lily looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Does she know that you are a wizard?" Lily asked, the quill continuing to make notes on what was being discussed.

"Erm…no…" Eddie said slowly, with much hesitation. "I gave up magic about a year ago. I've only recently used it to get back here. She has no idea." Eddie chanced a look at Lily and saw nothing. Lily just stared at him, no emotion on her lips and her eyes completely impassive. For a moment, she just stared, said nothing before continuing her questioning.

"So, you've been living as a Muggle for the past year?" Lily asked, looking very disbelieving.

"Yes," Eddie said uncertainly.

"Then why are you here?" Lily asked, almost angrily. "How do you even know she was kidnapped by wizards and not Muggles?"

"By this ransom note," Eddie said, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to Lily. Lily narrowed her eyes at it for a moment before snatching it out of Eddie's hands. She put her glasses back on as her emerald eyes scanned the page.

"As you can see," started Eddie, "whoever sent this is a wizard. The letter threatens to take her here, to England, mentions Cruciatus Curse, and was sent by owl. It only makes sense that a witch or wizard did this."

Lily continued to the read the ransom note, her eyebrows furrowing and her lips pursed. She scratched her chin and the quill was scribbling away furiously, as though writing what she was thinking. Finally, Lily took a deep breath and put the note back down before nodding her head, encouraging Eddie to continue.

"Jane went to run some errands one afternoon, claiming she'd be home by dinner," Eddie explained. "But, she never came back, and I called the Muggle police. But it was later that night, at midnight, that jet-black owl came and dropped this note into my lap. I immediately Apparated here and demanded the best Auror to find my fiancé."

"And that's it?"

"That is it," said Eddie, raising an eyebrow at Lily's disbelieving, nonchalant attitude. Lily leaned back in her chair, and the quill was scribbling things down faster than ever.

It was a long pause before Lily finally spoke; "This all seems very suspicious, Ed."

"Suspicious?"

"I don't understand why a group of wizards or witches would kidnap an innocent Muggle," said Lily, narrowing her eyes in thought. "Unless they knew you were a wizard. Did you ever have a grudge with anyone at the University?"

"No," said Eddie, "I dropped out after one year."

"What?" Lily asked incredulously, her eyes widening. It was a great dishonor to drop out of the university, especially since it was very difficult to get in. And the fact that Eddie just gave up? There had to be a reason. Lily knew Eddie, and he never gave up on anything. But, in reality, Eddie left and gave up on everything, and to be extremely honest, Lily was not sure if she even really knew her best friend anymore.

"It wasn't for me," Eddie explained with a shrug, not meeting her eyes.

"It seems like the wizarding world in general wasn't for you," Lily said coolly, her quill stopping for a moment, and then quickly returning to scribbling everything down. Eddie glared at her but decided to ignore her comment. "In the one year you were at the University, you didn't make any enemies? No one holds any grudges against you?"

"Well, there's always someone who doesn't like you," Eddie said reasonably, "but I didn't have a disdain for anyone like I did for someone like Daris Malfoy." Lily nodded and the quill scribbled furiously.

"Does anyone have anything against you in general?" Lily asked. "Can you think of anyone who would want to do this to your fiancé?"

"Why do you think it's me?" Eddie asked with a snarl, clenching his fists, giving his former friend a dirty look. "Maybe someone had a grudge against Jane and that is why the kidnapped her."

"Now that wouldn't make any sense," said Lily reasonably, raising a cool eyebrow at Eddie. "Why would any witch or wizard want to take a Muggle hostage and then send you the ransom note? It makes more sense that someone was doing it to get to you."

"Oh," Eddie mumbled stupidly, "right." Lily grinned inwardly. For some reason it gave her great satisfaction knowing that she was right about something and Eddie was wrong. She gave him a slight smirk before turning back to her quill. "No, I can't think of anyone would want to get back at me for this. I went to school in Salem; after I dropped out I went to New York City, all the way across the country. No one in New York even knows that I am a wizard."

"I see," said Lily, biting her lip uncertainly. There was a long, awkward pause as she stared at Eddie intently, biting her lip and rubbing her chin as he just stared at his large hands resting in his lap. Noticing the tension, Lily waved her wand; two glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey floated towards her desk. Lily poured a generous amount in both glasses and handed one to Eddie. He graciously accepted it and took a large swig. Lily sipped hers slowly, looking like she was contemplating something.

"Lily?" Eddie asked unsurely. Lily nodded her head to show that she was listening, but did not make eye contact with him. "Do you think that someone from around here might have found me living in New York and kidnapped Jane? Maybe it was someone from the war?" Lily sighed and placed her firewhiskey on her desk. Eddie took another large gulp.

"It's possible," Lily said reasonably, refusing to make eye contact. "I was thinking along the same lines. But who did you anger that much during the war that they'd want to track you down all the way to New York and kidnap your fiancé?"

"Maybe someone from Hogwarts? Like Daris Malfoy? Raven Dawsetta?" Eddie asked, finishing off his firewhiskey.

"Neither of them hated you that much," Lily said, still not looking at him. "It had to be someone who really hated you…" There was another long pause before Lily waved her wand again and the quill finally stopped writing. She finally met Eddie's gaze. "I need a physical description of your fiancé."

"Um…tall…about 5'8, 120 lbs," Eddie, thinking. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Does she eat or is she anorexic?" Lily mumbled sarcastically. Eddie clenched his teeth in anger, but once again, chose to ignore Lily.

"Short brown hair, fair skin, blue eyes, pointed nose," Eddie said, listing off Jane's physical traits. Lily used her wand to try and draw a sketch. When that was done, she raised from her desk and sighed.

"Well Ed," she started, "I'll start the investigation immediately but for now, I need to know where I can find you, in case I need to send you an owl or to update you on how the search is going."

"Send me and owl?" Eddie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Update me on the search? There will be no need for that Lily. I'm going with you."

"I beg your pardon?" Lily asked incredulously, setting her firewhiskey down on the desk, taking off her glasses, narrowing her eyes at her former friend. "Mind repeating that?"

"Are you deaf?" Eddie asked angrily, getting to his feet and staring Lily down. "I said I'm going with you!" Lily continued to glare firmly at him and also got to her feet and leaned over the desk. She was nearly a foot shorter than Eddie, but he had never seen Lily look so terrifying. He was strongly reminded of his grandmother, Molly Weasley.

"I work alone," was all Lily snarled before waving her wand, her belongings all slamming shut. Eddie opened his mouth to retort, but Lily interrupted him before he could even say anything; "Besides, you have been living as a Muggle for the last year. Why start wizardry now?" Lily gathered her things and with a billow of her black cloak, started out the door.

"This isn't over, Potter," Eddie snapped, as Lily walked out of the office. "I'll be joining you on this case. You can count on it. This involves my fiancé and I'll do anything for her!"

At those words, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Eddie stared at her back wide-eyed, curious to her reaction. But she said and did nothing, only clenched her fist tightly and taking a heavy, shaky breath. For a moment, Eddie was sure she was just going to leave but instead, turned on her heel and Eddie gasped at the look in her eyes; they were blazing, like an emerald green fire and he knew that only happened when she was about to use the power of Gryffindor; Eyeluta. Eyeluta was an extreme power at attack others with one's eyes, inherited by only Gryffindor heirs with emerald green years, given to Godric Gryffindor by Merlin himself! Eddie gasped at the fire blazing in her eyes, but she ignored him and stared at him furiously.

"Fine, Ed," she snarled, "you want to come? You'll come. But, if you interfere with my investigation at all, I'll make sure you never perform magic again." Eddie noticed her fingering her wand and he had never heard such venom in Lily's voice, never saw such hatred and contempt in her eyes. The only time he ever heard her talk and look like this is when she faced Voldemort. He never imagined she'd look at him like that.

"Do I make myself clear?" Lily asked in that same snarl, her emerald fires still burning rapidly. Eddie nodded and gulped.

"Crystal."

And with a swish of her cloak, Lily was gone.

A note from the Jitterbelle. This is Chapter 1...I am working on Chapter 2 as we speak so I should have it updated within a few days. I hope you're enjoying the tension between Lily and Eddie but I assure you, it only gets worse. ;)