Lily took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. Nothing would go wrong this time. She was prepared for this, or well, as prepared for this as she could be. Ellie didn't think she had anything to prove, but Ellie was also not aware of the whole situation, so Lily thought her opinion mattered very little in this situation.

Sneaking out of Hogwarts wasn't as difficult as she had expected. Even with the fact that children had been kidnapped, and taken hostage, from Diagon Alley, Hogwarts still allowed students to leave for the Hogsmeade trips, especially the older years and Lily had taken advantage of that. Forging a permission slip from her parents to go to Hogsmeade a week before the winter vacations, she had walked out of the gate with permission from the school.

Getting to Diagon Alley took a little work, but floo powder doesn't counteract a glamour, and no one thought twice to question a tired looking woman, who was fondly grumbling about her children's excessive energy. Ellie's training in this infiltration thing was really quite useful.

Lily took another deep breath, as she stood still in front of the door to a dilapidated house. She couldn't believe she was doing this. It was dangerous, illegal and could potentially get her killed. But her death would probably not affect things too much in the future. The letter she got would go to Potter, who was charming but somehow socially awkward at the same time. Lily didn't like him anymore than she had before, but she had to admit that he was convincing when he wanted to be. After all, his terrible suggestion was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

Her back crashed into the wall of a random side-alley. She couldn't see who was attacking her, nor what they wanted. All she could do was try to calm her breathing and hope to get in a lucky shot, because there was no way she was going down without a fight. This had been a bad idea from the start, and she had known it. Anyone would want to prey on a lonely girl walking through Knockturn Alley. Why had Ellie decided this was a good idea?

There was a hand across her mouth, she could feel callouses and the strength with which it gripped her was unexpected.

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt, when a semi-familiar voice hissed, "Shh!"

Lily didn't know who they thought they were, if they assumed she would just let someone assaulting her do so without at least putting up a fight. Even if this was who she thought it was, well… how dare he?

Glaring at him, she bit his hand as hard as she could. He cursed and the hand moved away from her face, even as he remained crowding her. "Evans!" He yelped, cradling his hand to his chest. "It's me! James Potter. Don't scream, please?"

Lily had to stifle a laugh at that. If either of the two of them ended up screaming it would probably be him. Especially since he was such a fool. Who even tried to kidnap a person they wanted help from? Which is what he wanted, Lily found out, as he continued speaking about tricks and counterfeit and distractions. Lily wasn't entirely sure what James was talking about, and she certainly didn't know what made her agree to listen to his plan, but at the end of it, Lily nodded and agreed.

It hadn't been a bad plan, not in the slightest. Except James apparently had the worst luck ever. Lily transformed into a vampire, just as he asked, and stalked into Knockturn alley commanding the presence of everyone in the near vicinity. She remembered enough about vampires from the books she had read earlier that year, and impersonating one wasn't as difficult as she expected, putting Ellie's questionable training to good use.

Her problems started with Malfoy and the middle Black sister.

"Ah, miss," Malfoy's slimy, stuck-up voice reached her, and despite herself, Lily turned towards him. He met her eyes, with surprise and some amount of wariness, which wasn't something Lily had ever expected a pureblood to have for her. But she wasn't Lily Evans at that moment, was she? She was a vampire, and they commanded respect.

Not knowing what to say, she merely inclined her head slightly. What did that book say about wizard-vampire interactions? She couldn't remember, dammit.

"Is there anything you need?" Black asked, sounding much more confident that Malfoy. "It has been a long time since we've seen one of the covens here, after all."

Lily grimaced mentally. "I'm just browsing," she said, pitching her voice lower than usual. "It's been a while since I've left home and a lot of this is intriguing."

"Of course," Malfoy nodded, as if whatever she had said made perfect sense. Lily had to ruthlessly suppress the bubble of hysterical laughter that coursed through her. "If you need anything, we'll be here, enjoying the festivities."

Which was another thing Lily didn't understand. What were they even celebrating?

"Sure," she replied, wishing fervently that she had never met James Potter.

As quickly as she could, she made her way out of there, keeping her expression as disinterested as she could manage, even with her raging heartbeat. That had been a close call. Just as she calmed, settling into her role, James Potter's horrible luck struck again. Or maybe, at that point, she should just curse her own luck.

She walked to one of the stalls selling bracelet charms and necklaces that aimed to curse others, most of which she could tell were fake. Lily had just picked up a pretty green bracelet, that Ellie would appreciate her stealing for herself, when she felt a presence beside her.

"I haven't seen you before," the person mused, voice smooth and light. "Are you new to our ranks?"

"What?" Lily asked, whipping her head around to stare at the person beside her in shock. Dark hair, delicate facial features, tall and lithe. And then she met her eyes – bright red. The woman smiled, baring her sharp fangs slightly.

"Are you a newly turned?" she asked, turning back to the bracelet she was looking at.

Lily nodded. "Yes, I am."

Better safe than sorry. Since she remembered so little from that stupid book. If only the OWL year wasn't so chaotic, with so much to study and pay attention to. Lily forced herself not to sigh at the thought of exams.

"Ah," the female remained stoic, though there was a slight amount of amusement as well. Someone well known probably, with influence and knowledge about the vampire and wizarding worlds. "I should have figured that out. You have the smell of a human."

Lily almost cursed again. Why didn't she remember how good a vampire's sense of smell was? God damn the entirety of the aurors if they were hunting a vampire. Also, why was her luck this great? Why did the vampire have to turn up on the one day she was trying to impersonate one?

Luckily, she moved on before Lily had to fumble around with an answer. "Spend a lot of time around humans?"

Lily nodded once, as casually as she could manage, trying to loosen her shoulders as she did. Hopefully that satisfied the other, whose name she didn't know. "Do I know you?" she asked, the polite words falling from her mouth. She must be more nervous that she thought, if she was falling back on her sister's advice.

The vampire looked way too innocently at her. "Of course not. Nobody does." That sounded sinister. "I'm Aurora. And you are?"

That was an odd name for a vampire, but all of them were probably not named something as ridiculous as Dracula. Mentally shrugging, Lily continued her ruse, hoping the vampire would fall for it.

"Lily," she replied, knowing how popular that name was in the world. She couldn't be the only Lily after all.

"So," Aurora wanted to start a conversation. Just what Lily needed. "What brings you to Knockturn Alley?"

"Oh, just buying some books." Lily replied, suspicious and extremely cautious. This was new territory after all.

"Hmm…" Aurora seemed awfully interested in her. And Lily had the feeling it wasn't entirely curiosity.

Before Aurora could say anything else, there was a commotion at the other end of the street. Near Borgin and Burkes. Looks like Sirius was done with whatever he had gotten into. Lily was about ready to bolt, but Aurora's presence stopped her, even if she could feel the fear creeping up on her.

"Would you like to come and check out the commotion?" Aurora asked, a sly smile on her lips. "Or would that be too much blood for you to handle?"

Lily smiled, more of a grimace she was sure, glad about the convenient escape. "Too much blood, I think." She wrinkled her nose to add to the effect.

Aurora smiled, and the second before Lily ran, the vampire blurred. "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Lily. But you cannot fool a vampire that easily. Come see me some time, you are interesting."

And the vampire was gone.

Lily didn't even take a second to breath, rushing towards the end of the alley where James was. She couldn't keep this up any longer, even if her presence was supposed to be a distraction so Sirius and James could leave without being caught. She couldn't deal with any more surprises.

As she rushed away, she decided that she would never, ever contact the vampire – Aurora.

The piece of paper she found in her pocket said a different thing.

The door opened slowly, creaking as it did. Lily was reminded of the horror movies her mother loved, even as she walked into the house. Not wanting that imagery to cloud her mind, Lily looked at the walls for something else to focus on. They were dirty with empty spaces, as if whatever ornaments had covered them had been pulled off, in some cases violently.

"Ah, you did come to meet me," Aurora said, appearing beside her.

Lily clenched her fists to keep from clutching at her heart like she normally did when she was startled. Vampires would be the death of her, if they kept up this super speed thing.

"Yeah, I did," she said, refusing to meet Aurora's eyes. "I wanted to know something."

She was doing this whole thing for a reason, after all. She wouldn't seek out a vampire, especially since she had reread the book and found that vampires were ruthless and tended to play with mortals.

"Well?" Aurora demanded, taking a step closer to Lily, to tower over her. "Spit it out."

Lily gulped. She was doing this for the kidnapped children. She couldn't just back out now, not if she wanted to clear her conscience and lie to James about the meeting with the vampire. She hadn't told anyone that she had bumped into Aurora, and she wasn't planning to. Just like she wouldn't tell anyone about the letter.

She pulled out the Daily Prophet article, thrusting it towards Aurora. "Do you know anything about this? These five children."

Aurora read through the article much slower than even a human would read, and Lily could feel the anger and annoyance flaring up in her. The vampires were supposed to be so fast, then why was this one taking so long to read a simple article? Just before Lily could start yelling, Aurora spoke up.

"I had no idea that children had been kidnapped."

Lily scoffed. "Then why were you out in Knockturn alley that day when vampires haven't been seen by wizards for decades now?"

"I was out on business, if you must know," Aurora admitted, narrowing her eyes. "A scouting mission."

Her breath hitched, eyes widening at the thought. Lily wasn't self-centered enough to assume that she was one of those chosen, but she couldn't help but feel her impersonation of a vampire had made her a target, or at least interesting enough for them to watch her for potential. She didn't want to know any more about what Aurora was doing, as long as it wasn't helping Voldemort.

"Is there any way that another vampire was the kidnapper?" Lily asked, ignoring the amusement in Aurora's face.

"You might as well ask if any of us are working for the Death Eaters, or whatever the madman leading them is called," Aurora said, laughter threaded through her voice. But she didn't elaborate on it, happy to wait for Lily to ask.

Lily grit her teeth. "Well, are any of you vampires working for him?"

"Not that I know of, although I can find out if you like." Aurora shrugged, unconcerned.

Lily should have expected this. She should have expected that she wouldn't find anything of use here, and that the vampire would try to create more points of their lives intersecting. Even if she never wanted to see Aurora again, she would have to. Rationally, Aurora was a good source of information, and Ellie's lessons meant that Lily couldn't even ignore that.

"Thank you," Lily said, smiling tightly. "I suppose we'll meet again?"

Aurora inclined her head. "I'll find you in the winter break you have, I suppose."

Lily blinked and she was gone.

Shivering at the thought of Aurora, a vampire, meeting her parents, Lily walked out of the house. The door creaked, even as it fell shut.

She had taken three steps out of the house, when she was slammed into an alley.

Gasping and fighting the odd sense of deja vu, Lily pushed off the wall to see who had assaulted her. She frowned when she saw the blonde hair, the expression deepening when Ellie turned to look at her with blazing eyes. Where had she even come from?

"What do you think you were doing?" Ellie asked, voice deceptively light. "Meeting with a vampire in the middle of Knockturn alley, even after I told you that your plans were stupid. Have you no sense of self-preservation?"

Lily lifted her chin up and glared. "It is none of your business what I do with my time. Why were you following me anyways?"

Ellie sighed, slumping slightly. "It is my business when you do stupid things, Lily. You're my friend now, and friends take care of each other. Which is why," she added, with an annoyed expression, "I will be asking another friend of mine for a favor this vacation."

Lily's stomach swooped, curling with dread. She had a feeling this was about to be a horrid punishment. There was already too much happening, and anything more would be overkill. "What kind of favor?"

"Well," Ellie said, eyes lighting up, "I can't train you this vacation, since I have family matters to attend to. So, you'll be telling your parents that you're bringing a friend home. My friend, Alice, will be coming to stay with you for the entirety of the vacation."

Lily choked on nothing. "What?"

"You, Lily, are going to have your very own, personal Auror guard. You should be honored."

A bit of an awkward ending and a bit rushed, but I'm too tired to edit that rn...