I'm backkk. Very late. Yes. Ahem. I'll let you get to it then...

She wore a smile like a loaded gun
-atticus

Three years later

Auror's Department, Head Office
12 June 1964

James paced the length of the office, long legs carrying him over the painstakingly small space in only a few strides. Alastor Moody sat across him, legs crossed, arms loose, the very picture of relaxed. The same, however, could not have been said for him. Death eater attacks were growing increasingly rampant, secrets leaked, and the press was going out of hand. As Head of the Auror Division, it was his responsibility to head operations and ensure smooth execution. The Ministry had already lost more than ten fully trained aurors to simple 'accidents' that had occurred, very conveniently at the right time and place, causing death, destruction and mayhem. Prejudice against the muggleborns had reached an all-time high, no wonder the Ministry had doubled down on shifts.

Moody growled up at James as he increased his speed. "Quit it Potter, you're tensed enough already."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Really? And you're not?"

"Not enough to cut back on the sarcasm, it seems. And no, I am not."

"Why am I here?"

He got a scowl in response. "All in good time, Potter. Patience was never one of your redeeming qualities."

"Well, it helps me not to waste time on unnecessary matters."

"Such as right now?" The tone sounded slightly incredulous.

James smoothly met his glare. He didn't really care. "Exactly like right now."

The reply took thirty whole seconds of pacing. "Very well, Potter, you can go."

"Thank Merlin."

"However."

James paused at the edge of the door.

"We will be having a new recruit joining us today. Despite limited space in the office and fixed positions in the departments, an exception was made. She is quite an… extraordinary witch."

"She?"

"All in good time, Potter."

The door slammed shut.

James was lounging on one of the office sofas, head thrown back on the cushiony surface, legs sprawled, hands hanging haphazardly from the back of the sofa, flirting with the attendant when he thought he saw a flash of red. Of green. He had dismissed it, getting back to the task at hand. Distracting the attendant so Dorcas could sneak through to the records room. The files he had asked for the moth before were, sadly, restricted. But damn him if it only increased his determination to get it. There was a reason he was Head of the Auror division. Moody was only the supervisor. He got the results needed, and he knew it. However, that wasn't going to be happening for much longer. Especially if the ministry kept a strict hand on its own employees. Firm rules and guidelines were important, yes, but not so much that they constricted a person. Stifled employees from doing their own jobs. Strictness was needed out there, not in here.

He had jerked upright when Moody walked into the room, all pretenses forgotten, the very expression of innocence on his face as his lip curled slightly. Yet it had been the red haired beauty walking in the room that had him stilling impossibly further.

The harsh cadence of Moody's voice broke him out of his stupor. "Evans, meet James Potter, Head of the Auror division." It was enough. He shook his head, he had been swimming through fog, unable to form words, to move, save the hand he shoved forward to shake her own extended one.

For one painful, heart wrenching second, he wondered if she had forgotten him. Because he certainly hadn't. He didn't think he ever could. And yet he cursed himself for forgetting exactly what shade of green those brilliant eyes were as they flashed in the sunlight. For forgetting the violent red that ran through the length of her hair. Nevermind that every single woman he had dated the years following his graduation had green eyes and red hair. He'd long since deluded himself that they were his type. Nothing else would do.

His words were gravel wrenched from his throat. "Nice to meet you, Lily."

Snakes coiled in his stomach, nerves twisting with anticipation. She nodded, once. A terse, brief nod as her eyes darted towards and away from him, quickly. Too quickly. Too brief.

And that, only that had been enough. Enough to assure him she remembered him. His lips curled into a full out smirk as he smoothly slid his hands into his pockets. "I look forward to working with you."

Moody had taken her around the floor, making introductions. James concentrated on his previous job, trying his best not to glance at the redhead making herself comfortable on the desk opposite his own. He turned his attention back to the attendant, resumed flirting with her. His heart wasn't in it. She knew that. He knew that. She gave him a tiny smile, nevertheless writing her number on a tiny tissue and sliding it over. He grinned his thanks, feeling the hair on his neck prickle with awareness. Only one pair of eyes held the power to do that. Only one. He ignored it. James turned to the right just as Dorcas emerged from the direction of the washroom.

He leaned over. "Got it?"

"Yep." She gave him a cheeky grin. "Let's go before she gets suspicious."

They speed-walked the corridor, and Dorcas nodded at Lily's retreating figure as she walked towards Moody's office. "So that's her, isn't it?"

James backtracked before she voiced something he wasn't ready to admit. "Yeah, no. Dorcas, I have no idea-"

But… she was on another track of thought entirely.

"I heard she got the highest marks in Charms in over a hundred years. Plus several O's."

He scoffed, then. "You're kidding. A hundred years? Surely just her own year. That means…"

"Yeah, she beat yours. I know. Impressive right?"

His head swiveled towards the closed office door, respect shining in his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess."

They waited till Moody was long gone, up into the elevator, on another floor entirely, taking it as far as hiding in the shadows before Dorcas reached in her pocket and pulled out the precious roster. They had been begging to get a look at it for three weeks. It would be a pain to put it back. James scanned it from top to bottom, memorizing dates, names and places.

Dorcas looked at him. "It doesn't really provide a lot of information."

"No, no it doesn't.", he finally conceded.

"So… what now?"

He sighed. "Now we put it back."

"That's it? All that for nothing?" Dorcas looked at him incredulously.

"Even though it doesn't give us a lot of information, we can extract a couple snippets of intel, if we look closely. Look here." He guided her gaze to where his finger was pointing. "The ministry increased security here, here, and here. All in and around Sussex. And Hampshire"

She frowned as she pulled another paper out of her pocket. "Comparing that with the recent attacks and dementor sightings…"

He nodded. "Exactly. We knew it was in the south- west. That tells us where."

"Is the ministry covering up a death eater meet? Another one?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe it's another mad Ministry scheme."

Dorcas snarled. "They distrust us enough to conveniently leave their own Auror Division out of the process." She jabbed at the sheet. "Look who's patrolling. Kingsley, Dugrey, and is that Wessington? Wessington? The man's practically eighty and hobbling. Wonder what good he'll do."

"They kept their circle small. Clearly its under wraps."

James sighed. "I know, I know. Officially, our hands are tied. We can't do anything until they deem it important enough to tell us."

Raised brows stared back under wide eyes. "And unofficially?"

He grinned. "Unofficially we fight. But we have to keep it under wraps. A small circle."

"Yeah. Moody's been getting even more suspicious as of late. I know we tell him what we're doing, but last time he saw fit to tell half our plan to the Ministry officials."

He looked her way sharply. "This time we keep him out of it."

Dorcas frowned. "That was what I was going to say. Before you interrupted, so very rudely I might add."

He clapped her on the back and shot her a crooked grin. "Sorry, Dorcas. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime, Potter. Don't stress too much."

"Attention everyone." Moody's voice rung throughout the room and James winced. The amplifier was too loud. "You are to report to the conference hall in under ten minutes for an emergency briefing."

He huffed. Depend on Moody to make a simple briefing sound like a life-or-death mission. He stood, then, beckoned to everyone behind him. "Come on everyone, out."

He lingered to make sure everyone went through the double iron clad doors. And then stilled when he saw the flash of red. What was taking her so long?

"Just a minute, sorry Potter."

He frowned. "Yeah, no problem."

Potter. He still liked the way it rolled off her lips.

"I have a name, you know."

She stood, finally, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yes, I know. I thought it best to address you on a professional basis. Everyone calls you Potter, do they not?"

"Yes, I suppose so." He paused. "Evans. Well, let's go then."

They walked, side by side, the three floors down to the conference room.

"Thanks."

However, she didn't look any friendlier. He supposed Lily Evans was not one to be swayed by a courteous walk and civil conversation.

"Alright then." He went to stand with Remy, and Lily took up a spot beside Dorcas.

Moody surveyed the room impassively. The entire Auror Division was present. James already knew what he was doing, his magical eye looking for any hint of dark magic as he cast the enchantments to ensure no word escaped the hall. "You all will be given a sheet shortly." He fixed that glare on James. "Some of you are already aware of the ministry's involvement in Sussex. There are too many death eater sightings to be a coincidence. Recently, a fellow auror gave his life to get us the information that will be presented to you all shortly. Consider this of the highest importance, and treat it as such. Is that understood?"

The murmur of assent rolled throughout the room.

"I said, is that understood?

This time it was louder.

"Better." He clapped his hands briskly. "Now, all of you will be given a roster containing the shift timings for the next month. The Auror Division has been assigned supervision duty over Sussex, Hampshire and Brighton. We will start with Sussex, and slowly expand patrols over the other two cities."

Dorcas glanced towards him. "Brighton?", she mouthed?

James shrugged. He'd had no hint of this whatsoever.

The crowd queued up as an assistant Auror started handing out sheets of paper with illegible handwriting in Moody's usual scrawl.

James received his own. The sheet had a table drawn on it, neat, straight and spiky lines. Each column and row had timings and Auror pairs assigned to specific areas in and around the cities. Only so many as ten groups patrolled at the same time, with the two-hundred strong division fairly divided. Or so it seemed at a glance. His brow furrowed. Moody wasn't fair. The old tosser always had secret agendas hidden under his sleeves. This was no different.

The room itself held its breath as the aurors examined their sheets, working out their pairs and timings. The longer James studied the sheet, the more he glowered, his face turning blacker by the minute, like gasoline slowly being added to a fire. His rage only grew as his head shot up and his eyes found Moody's, blatant accusation simmering in his gaze. He seemed to anticipate his reaction and gave him an ugly look, telling him to wait or there would be consequences.

Moody's voice filled the room again. "The roster is as clear as day, and any competent auror should have updated themselves as to their timings and shifts. The surveillance starts tomorrow. The first five patrolling pairs are to meet me in my office immediately after dispersal. For the sake of clearing up confusion, I will ask this only this once. Are there any questions?"

The room was silent. Nobody dared utter a word. Moody seemed to be satisfied, opening his mouth to announce dispersal, when one tiny hand with red-painted nails shot up.

James felt his irritation across the room. "Yes, auror Evans? What seems to be the problem."

Annoyance slithered through his own veins. How dare he make her feel her doubt was not worth asking even before she had said it? Or even anybody else for that matter. No wonder the junior associates would be discussing their questions among themselves. And would refrain from speaking up in the first place. Lily's tentative voice shook him out of his thoughts.

"Well, um, maybe it's just me, merlin knows I might be wrong, but there seem to be quite a number of people by themselves several times throughout the shifts on the roster, patrolling upto a quarter of the city. And that seems to be particularly unsafe, especially to deal with whatever threats the ministry has deemed important enough to warrant patrols."

James felt a rush of pride. Attagirl.

Moody scowled. "Forgive me, miss Evans, if the ministry does not have enough staff to cover every street of the city with a different pair of aurors. There are bound to be overlaps and shifts wherein some aurors are on their own. The rosters were prepared with much forethought and were intrinsically discussed and planned before finalization. Count yourself lucky the ministry feels they can rely on you if you happen to be one of the few on their own on the one or two occasions." He looked her up and down critically. "Now, any more questions?"

She tucked her head down, quite thoroughly put in her place. "No, none, thankyou."

Moody's impassive gaze surveyed the room. "Very well. You are dismissed." He glanced his way. "Potter, meet me with the rest of the aurors."

James scowled. No way in hell. He was not going to have an audience to discuss what complete and utter bullshit the roster seemed to entail. He huffed. Intricate planning and discussion, his foot. He cornered Moody as he stepped off the stage, matching his stride to his rapidly increasing one.

James aggressively shook the sheet. "What the hell is this?"

Moody shook his head. "You know what."

"Yes, but if Kingsley thinks for one second that this will flush out the leak, he is mental. Utterly and completely mental. What does he hope to do?"

He received a sharp look, telling him to calm the fuck down and speak softly. "Everyone knows there have been too many ministry secrets being bandied about lately. This is better than nothing."

James repeated himself in annoyance. "What does he hope to do? There is no chance this will flush out individual leaks. The most they can do is try to catch death eaters and spend the rest of the month trying to wheedle information out. Which is almost always futile."

"This time it is different."

"How?"

Moody sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose between the tip of his thumb and forefinger. "The Ministry has authorized the use of Veritaserum in interrogations. Now things change."

James flexed his jaw. "Wonderful to know we've stooped so low."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"But..."

Moody held up a hand. "No more accusations. What's done is done. Prepare them for the patrols. I don't like it any more than you do, but it is what it is. All we can do is follow orders to the best of our capability to ensure all this is not futile."

James gave a stiff nod. "Fine". He turned on his heel and stalked down the corridor, slowing down to glance at the first couple of pairs needed in Moody's office. Him, Dorcas, Evangeline, Robards, Dawlish, Alice Longbottom, Williamson, Barden, Joyce, Maxwell and merlin help them, Evans.

He ground his teeth into smithereens as he walked to Moody's office, the aurors lounging around the door nervously. They all straightened as he approached them.

He looked at them. "Well, let's go"

And he opened the worn, cracked door to the gates of another three very long, tiring months.

He ruefully smiled to himself. Welcome, Evans, to your first briefing.

Now, I can say that I plan to continue this. Happy anticipating!
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