Lily lay down on the floor, too exhausted to lift herself up. Playing catch in her childhood with Petunia didn't lead to long-term endurance and Ellie had decided to teach her the first thing ever con artist must know. There were apparently eight of those rules that Lily would have to master.
Rule one: Know when to run and run like hell is chasing you.
Thanks to Ellie's insistence that Lily know how to run fast and for a long distance, Lily had been running for over an hour. Ellie, who had also been running with her, was still running. The grass she had collapsed on was wet and cold. Winter was setting in, but Lily didn't care. All she cared about was that she wasn't running anymore.
"Lily?" A familiar, incredulous voice called.
Lily groaned and covered her face with her hands. She didn't want to talk to him yet, if ever, unless he was willing to put in the effort of growing up. She opened her eyes when the orange behind her eyelids turned black.
Severus was standing over her, and frowning down at her in concern. He looked at her like she was a puzzle and a mystery, something to sentimental but not something valued. Lily hated that look.
With a lot of effort on her part, and Severus just watching her, she sat up and pushed her tired muscles into supporting her weight. Once she was steady on her feet, and her vision wasn't covered in dots, she frowned at her former best friend.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Have you changed your mind about your friends so fast?"
Severus paused, stuck on how to answer her. Lily wanted to grin smugly, but she smothered it. If Severus answered yes to her question, then Lily would question if he would change his mind so easily about her as well. After all, there was obviously no loyalty in him. But if he answered no, then she wouldn't go back to being his friend anyways.
"If you haven't changed your mind, Severus, you know that I'm not going to be giving you the time of day." She said, picking up the hand towel she had left on the ground. She started the trek back to the castle, craving a bath in the prefect's bathroom and sleep. She could hear Severus' footsteps as he scrambled to follow her.
"Lily! Lily! Wait!"
She stopped with an annoyed sigh and turned around. "What do you want Severus?"
"Can we please go back to being friends?" He pleaded desperately. "I just need… please?"
Lily shook her head. "You can't have everything your way. I already told you it's either me or your friends, and I'm not changing my mind."
She turned and continued back to the castle. She wasn't even surprised when Severus followed her, practically begging for her to reconsider. Finally, close to losing her temper, she turned back to him and threw her hands up.
"Your friends are waging a war to kill me and my friends. I'm not going to be friends with you if you even associate with them and I don't care what you have to say about that. Do you understand, Snape?"
He took in a sharp breath, closing his eyes but not before she saw the hurt blooming in them. She couldn't find it in herself to feel guilt. She was doing the right thing. She had to be doing the right thing, and if Severus didn't break it off with future murderers, then he couldn't have cared for her all that much. Right?
Refusing to ponder upon it too much, she turned and fled to the Gryffindor Tower. She didn't want to have that bath anymore.
"Hurry up, Evans! How slow can you be?" Ellie taunted, skipping ahead of her. She was grinning cheerily and moving with a grace that Lily envied.
Lily knew that she was two steps away from collapsing, and a tiny mistake away from twisting her ankle. Her breath was ragged as she forced herself to take in a lungful of air, and breathe out again. Her legs were hurting and her heart felt like it would beat right out of her throat. She tripped over a stone, and fell, too tired to get up.
Ellie wouldn't leave her down. "Come on, Evans. Let's get you to a sane place to collapse at least."
She sounded exasperated, and Lily wondered where she had learnt this much about running away from people. And manipulation, but she hadn't seen Ellie con anyone yet, so she couldn't really judge.
Ellie hoisted her up, and Lily forced her legs to cooperate. Luckily, Ellie didn't make her walk too far and allowed her to collapse in the shade of a beech tree. Lily lay down instead, hands under her head and eyes closed. She could fall asleep right there.
Ellie poked her side. "Don't fall asleep just yet, Evans. We still have the rest of today's lesson to complete."
"Nooo," Lily groaned, inching away from Ellie's fingers. "Leave me alone!"
"So, you don't want to learn about the next rule of conning someone?" Ellie sounded like she was smirking.
Lily muttered a curse at her and everyone who thought it was a good idea to put Ellie in her path. Then, she opened her eyes slowly and glared at Ellie. "I'm listening McKinnon. Enlighten me about the next rule."
Ellie leaned back on her haunches, with a wild grin. "Rule 2: Dress to impress and play the part. You don't dress like you're trying to impress anyone, and that, Evans, will have to change."
Lily's tired brain took a few moments to comprehend what Ellie had said. She scrambled backwards, ignoring the stinging in her palms as she did so. "No way," she said, shaking her head wildly. Strands of her hair flew into her face and mouth and she spat it out. "I'm not going shopping with you. Never ever!"
Ellie laughed maniacally.
Two hours later, Lily was standing in front Ellie's wardrobe. It was eccentric at best, with the widest variety of clothes Lily had ever seen. She had everything from bright and hippie patterned, to dark, grunge fashion complete with chains at the belt loops on the trousers. She had summer dresses and evening ball gowns, and a farm boy's pants with suspenders. Lily had no idea what she needed all these clothes for, but for once she was glad that she came from a middle-class family.
"I don't have enough money to buy these many clothes," she said, turning to Ellie.
Ellie shrugged. "You think I bought all of this?"
"Well… yes." Lily hesitated before she spoke again, a little lost about what Ellie meant. "What else could you have done?"
The McKinnons were rich after all, so Ellie wouldn't need to save that much money. But Ellie sent her a look that practically screamed derision. "I stole it, of course. Why would I waste that much money on clothes?"
Lily sighed, wondering how Ellie hadn't been thrown in some prison already. Either she was as good as she claimed, or her family was rich enough to bribe the ministry into keeping her out of the magical equivalent of a juvie.
"And before you ask, I haven't gone to jail yet and it's not because my family bribed the ministry." Ellie said, smiling tightly. "You really need to keep your expressions more neutral than that absolutely horrified face you've had since I told you I stole the clothes."
Lily tried removing the scowl that had settled on her face. It wasn't as easy to control expressions as Ellie seemed to think. And it certainly couldn't be easy to steal clothes.
"You want me to steal clothes?" Lily asked, when she was sure her voice wouldn't give away her feelings on the topic.
Ellie shrugged. "I want you to steal something from a place of my choosing. I won't tell you where it is, but whenever you're ready you can come to me."
Lily sighed. "I thought this rule was dress to impress."
"More like dress to blend in and play the part, but dress to impress has a better ring to it."
Lily didn't see any way out of this. It was obviously a test on Ellie's part, and if she managed to pass then Ellie would continue to teach her. If she failed, then she wouldn't be learning from Ellie anymore. And if what Ellie had said was true, then she was an excellent thief. Lily had to learn how to steal and not get caught. There were some items that would need to be stolen, after all.
"Alright."
Ellie nodded, a satisfied gleam in her eyes as if Lily had passed some test. "I'll make this one easier for you. This Sunday, you go to Knockturn Alley and steal something for me. I don't care what it is, just get something back without giving anything in return."
Lily stared at Ellie in shock, wondering what she had agreed to. Not only was she stealing something, she had to leave Hogwarts without permission, walk through a dangerous street, and then get back into the castle again without raising any alarm. It was impossible for her to comprehend.
Ellie directed her out of the seventh-year girls' dorm and gestured down the stairs. Lily barely registered the anticipation in her eyes, fully focused on not collapsing.
"I'll even tell you rule 3, Evans." Ellie leaned in to whisper in Lily's ear. "Always start small."