Hello, my friends! Sorry for the late hour; I'm travelling and my computer refused to turn on. Here I bring the next chapter, hoping it will be of your liking.

Twitter has finally returned to Brazil, so if you'd like to follow me there, just go to /psc_07_ and we can chat :) I'm also on tumblr as maraudersinparadise.

Well, here we go!

"Tell me about Friday. What did you do on Friday?"

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was sitting by the table with his training kit. Lily Evans sat in front of him, recorder and notebook set and ready to listen to what he had to say. Between them, a plentiful breakfast – Lily had told the others to go to the restaurant below and let them alone to enjoy room service as they talked.

"I spent the day at home, nursing a hangover, with the other three," James replied, making himself a cup of tea, "we ate, slept, ate again, and then we helped Moony. Sirius and I returned to my home, where we found Moody."

Lily took note of something and stared at him again.

"Then tell me about your Thursday," Lily asked.

"Well, it was the day the squad was announced."

"Yes, I recall that."

"Well, then. I was with my parents and Sirius when it was announced, lunching at their place. I stayed a bit longer, then I went to the Leaky Cauldron with Sirius, where The Daily Prophet interviewed me. Peter and Remus met with us there. We drank two doses of Firewhisky and then headed back to my home, until I was called to come here, got my credentials and returned home again. I showed the others my credentials, then Wormtail, Padfoot and I went to a party."

"Remus didn't go?" Lily inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"He wasn't feeling very well, being close to the Full Moon and all. He stayed at my house, since he was already there."

"And you took your credential to this party?"

"Uh, yeah, I did. Every player did."

"Can you tell me everyone who handled the credential?" Lily asked, pulling a paper from a folder. James frowned.

"Me, obviously. Suppose Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot too…can't think of anyone else," he finished with a shrug.

"And who gave it to you?"

"Nobody exactly. It was transfigured at the moment, so I was the first one to touch it."

Lily nodded, wrote some more and looked at other papers. James ran a hand through his hair, grabbed a few more bacon stripes and ate until Lily sighed.

"Now would be an excellent time for you to tell me what you were really doing on Friday night, Potter," Lily said finally. James gulped.

"I was helping Moony."

Lily sighed again and scratched her closed eyes in a clear sign of tiredness. James cleared his throat.

"It'll do me no good asking how, right?" Lily assumed.

"Sorry."

"Potter, I'll…advise you once more…it's not wise to stick to a doubtful alibi on an investigation where you're the only suspect."

It was James's turn to sigh. He ruffled his hair again and ate a piece of waffle.

"I get it, Evans. But it's…it's not…I'm not the only one involved in this."

Lily shook her head and stopped the recorder.

"Go get ready while I organise this. Apparently, I've got a Quidditch training to watch."

James headed to the bathroom and when he returned, Lily was waiting for him leaning on the couch. She wore jeans and a green shirt. He was sure her purse carried the recorder and the notebook. When she saw him, Lily went to the door.

They walked to the main hall in silence. The others were waiting for them, and the whole group made their way to the training site. James parted from his friends and went to the dressing room, while the rest took their place on the stands.

About thirty minutes went by until the team appeared on the field. Peter questioned the wait, but no one could explain why.

"Miss Evans?"

They all looked at the voice, and Lily smiled slightly.

"Mr. Miller, good morning."

Miller brought with him a boy and a girl, who seemed to be in their late teens. They both looked a bit apprehensive, eyeing Lily slightly fearfully.

"Miss Evans, these are Indira Choudry and Edric Vosper, the other two interns. Want me to take them to my office?"

"No, Mr. Miller. I believe you've seen the Prophet. I don't want to raise more suspicions about my involvement. I think you can understand," Lily refused the offer, "I can take it from here. They'll be free before the training wraps up."

Miller nodded and left. Indira and Edric looked away from Lily, and she noticed the moment they recognized Sirius – he was fairly known because of Potter.

"Indira, Edric, I'm Lily Evans."

"You're the Pre-, I mean, the Auror that was on the Prophet, right?" Edric asked with a hint of a flush. Lily smiled while Sirius held back his laugh.

"Yes, that's me. Can we talk a bit?"

They both shrugged, still on the cautious side.

"We'll stay here. I'll cast a spell so they can't hear us," Lily indicated to the others with her head, "they're my friends, but this investigation is secret."

Indira and Edric relaxed somewhat with that information. Lily cast an Muffliato and took out her recorder, explaining what it was.

"So you are here to investigate Jack?" Edric asked.

"Yes, but my participation in it is secret. You cannot tell anyone what we're talking about or my objective in being here, alright?" They both agreed. "So…are you both out of Hogwarts already?"

"We're starting Seventh year in September," Edric replied.

"What're your houses?" Lily knew that talking about other things might make them feel more comfortable.

"Hufflepuff," Edric told her.

"Ravenclaw," Indira spoke for the first time. Lily nodded.

"Suppose you both like Quidditch?"

"We play for our houses," Edric informed, and Lily felt the pride voiced. "I remember you," he told her nonchalantly.

"You do?"

"You were Head Girl with James, weren't you?"

"Oh, yes. I was."

"I remember, 'cause everybody thought you were either killing each other or ending up together," Lily raised her eyebrows, "James has never been, er, discreet about his intentions," Lily chuckled. Edric was completely right.

"Edric!" Indira scolded.

"What? Aren't we supposed to tell the truth?"

"Yes, but you don't need to go there!"

"No, it's alright. Edric's right," Lily agreed, "it was a big surprise to me when I learnt he would be Head Boy. Good thing we didn't kill each other, eh?"

"Guess everyone was sort of hoping for the second one," Edric said with a small smile.

"Oh yeah?" Lily asked with another chuckle. "And why's that?"

"Well, everyone just adored James, right? Still do, to be honest…"

"Everyone but me, apparently," Lily said with a smile and a wink, "I think people nowadays just don't know the same James Potter I did, or they wouldn't stand him…"

"Nah, Miss Evans, he's a nice bloke."

"You can call me Lily," she said smiling, "nice how?"

"Well, he's always treated us very well," Indira told her, "on the squad nomination day, he didn't remember the two of us, but when…when Jack introduced us, he asked us a bunch of things about school, promised to play a bit with us after the World Cup…and he's still like that."

"He's the player who talks with us the most, since day one," Edric added, "he worries about us, y'know? Most of the players don't mind much about interns, Lily."

"And Potter cares?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. Her memory of Potter had him cursing younger kids, not sheltering them.

"Yes, a lot. He makes us feel…important," Edric said, shrugging.

"And even if he knew Jack more, he tried to not show favouritism," Indira completed, smiling, "of course he wasn't very successful, but it was…cute, to see him trying."

With that statement, Indira blushed and Edric rolled his eyes. This combo reaction had Lily raising her eyebrows.

"Indira's got this little crush on James," Edric confided. Indira gasped and blushed more.

"Edric!" She cried. Lily held back her laughter. Of course the girl fancied Potter. "I most certainly do not!"

"You're right, it's more like a huge crush, ain't it?" Edric corrected with a smirk. "'Oh, James, you're amazing! You played so well today, James! I can only dream of being as good as you, James!'"

"Well, he's a tremendous player, isn't he?" Lily tried to control the situation. "And…well, don't tell him I said it, but he's rather handsome, right?"

Indira nodded while Edric narrowed his eyes.

"So how was Jack with Potter?" Lily asked.

"James loved Jack," Edric replied, "Jack was James's reserve at Hogwarts, and James said Jack had a bright future in Quidditch ahead of him. Got close to him, y'know?"

"Jack idolised James," Indira added, "James said something, and it was law to him."

"And it didn't bother James?" Lily pondered. "Someone pestering him all the time? Must be a bit irritating, right?"

She hadn't even finished speaking and the both teens shook their heads.

"James never minded. We got orders to not bother the players, leave them alone. Jack tried to do it, but James called him. Then us."

"You both talk like you've witnessed it a whole lot. How long were you with Jack and James together?"

"It was a very long afternoon," Edric said, "then later we went to the party. James invited us."

Lily nodded. She wasn't getting any bad things about Potter from them.

"You say that Potter and Jack got along very well. What about the other players?"

Indira and Edric shared a look and they returned to Lily.

"They're ok," Edric said, "they don't mistreat us or anything. But they're not as interested in being as friendly as James with people who are still at school."

"And we truly understand," Indira added, "but it's very different. On the first day they seemed a bit wary to see their captain being so matey with us, but they were ok with it later."

"Anyone in particular looked…upset or something, about the way Potter treated Jack?"

Edric and Indira paused to think, but denied.

"How was it working with Jack?"

Interrogating teenagers was a delicate matter, in Lily's opinion. She had to try to steer it without offending them while also gaining their trust. It was hard to build it keeping the possibility of one of them being guilty.

"It was cool. He was very nice," Edric said, looking at the pitch where the team was practising, "bloody hell, Jack was way too nice. The day we got here there was this reception gathering, and he wanted to meet all of the interns. 'Cultural exchange', was what he called it," Indira laughed at the nomination and Lily noticed a few tears leaking from the girl's eyes.

"Jack tried twice as hard as anyone. He wanted to show everybody he didn't need his mother's name to get his wins. He tried to befriend the Russians. The Russians sat on a table apart, ignoring the rest of us, drinking something…and Jack was hell bent on trying to be mates with the less welcoming people at the party," Indira told her.

"We didn't know each other all that well, even being in the same year. But I was counting him as a mate when we were back at the castle, y'know?" Edric said, not taking his eyes from the pitch.

"Any of the other interns ever showed any hostility?" Lily asked with a soft voice.

"I think none of the others managed to understand what he was saying. He only spoke English, and rubbish French," Edric explained, hesitating before continuing, "it wasn't really supposed to happen, but the interns sometimes threw some parties. Not a whole bunch of communication, because of whole the language barrier thing. But almost all of us danced, drank, and ate. And Jack helped glue us all together. Since the…since what happened to him, we had no more parties."

"Everybody was shaken up," Indira said, "even the other interns liked Jack's way. Or looked like it, anyway. They always laughed after Jack did some extravagant gestures."

Lily stopped to allow them to recompose themselves.

"Did Jack ever talk to you about someone bothering him? Threatening him, perhaps?"

"He got a few letters saying he only got the job because of his mother. He burned them all. Some said he was going to regret using his mom. But no direct threat. Not that he's told me about," Edric replied, and Indira agreed.

"Guess I'm done for now," Lily said. They looked at her. "Thank you so much for everything you've told me. I can only imagine how hard it was. I promise I'm doing everything I can to get who did this to Jack. I might have to talk to you again…"

They agreed and Lily uncast the Muffliato. The two teens stayed for a bit longer, watching the practice, while Lily reflected on what she had just heard.

"What is James doing?" Edric exclaimed suddenly.

"I've got no idea," Indira replied, frowning.

"Neither do we," Sirius completed. Lily looked behind and realised everyone watching the pitch with concentration and confused expressions – except for Marlene, who smiled slightly.

Lily stared at the field to understand what was causing so much doubt. Potter held the Quaffle, flying on top and dropped the Quaffle to Matthew, who grabbed it and after a feint, passed it to Brenda. Brenda quickly launched it back to Potter, who was facing the keeper. He tried to score, but the keeper stopped him.

Then, instead of flying back quickly to their half of the field, the Potter and his chasers went for the other chasers, who had to move away quickly to get the Quaffle.

"What sort of tactic is this?" Peter asked. Lily couldn't bite back her laugh and smirked widely when the others looked at her.

"This, my dear wizard friends, is high pressure."

"Rumour has it I'm 'rather handsome', Evans."

Lily and Marlene glanced back and saw Potter. He wore a large grin; the wet, messy hair indicated he had just showered. The girls were playing chess on the same table Lily had interrogated Potter earlier.

Marlene raised her eyebrows when she listened to Potter's question, while Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to the game.

"Edric is such a gossip," Lily complained. James's grin grew.

"How did you know he told me?"

"I doubt Indira would talk about it. Poor girl lives under the illusion you're a person worthy of sentiments," Lily replied with a smirk. James laughed and raised his hand to his heart while shaking his head.

"You wound me Evans!" Potter cried. "Well, at least you think I'm handsome."

"Don't flatter yourself, Potter. It was just an interrogation technique."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Evans," James said, sitting on the chair near the girl and flashing her a condescending smile.

"Couldn't help but notice you trained a new tactic today," Lily observed, while Marlene finally played.

"Yeah, I do that sometimes," James agreed, crossing his hands and looking at Lily through the glasses that fell to the tip of his nose.

"It caught my attention that your chasers moved a bit differently on it," Lily continued, "bishop on C4."

"You wouldn't be completely wrong on your observation, Auror Evans."

Lily looked at James, who was smirking widely.

"Nice to see you've heard the voice reason," she finally said. James chuckled.

"And yours is the voice of reason?"

"Obviously."

James shook his head, still chuckling, and got up.

"You never fail to crack me up, Evans."

Lily smiled again while James returned to his bedroom.

When Lily returned to the chess board, she noticed her friend eyeing her… weirdly. Lily frowned at Marlene's speculative glance.

"What?" Lily asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"'Rather handsome', Lily?" Marlene questioned, supporting her face on her hand and staring at Lily, ignoring the game between them. Lily rolled her eyes.

"As I said, it was an investigation te-"

"Yeah, tell this bullshit to James, he might believe it. Or are you telling me that staring at his shirtless self after the game was also an interrogation technique?"

Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the blood rising to her face.

"I thought we'd talked about this," Lily said.

"Oh, no way. We mentioned the fact, but things are different now. You've just shared a conversation. A normal one. A friendly one."

"Marlene…" Lily sighed.

"Do you fancy James, Lil?" Marlene asked. Lily sighed. "Is it the bad boy vibe?"

"There's nothing going on between us, Mars. He's had his…tolerable moments. I don't hate the bloke. I'd just rather he stayed away from me," Lily explained with a shrug.

"Well, except when he doesn't have a shirt on, huh?" Marlene smirked.

Lily laughed and threw a chess piece on her friend, not disagreeing completely.

"How's everything with Moody?" Lily asked as she sat down with Benjy for supper. Potter and Black were three tables away, and the rest had preferred room service.

"He's pissed, you know him," Benjy reported, eating a chip and looking at his dish, "pissed at the lack of evidence, with Skeeter sniffing around way too much…"

Lily sighed. She knew the feeling.

"I'm doing my best, Benjy, but it's hard, even more with the shrew on me."

"I know that, partner, and so does Moody," Benjy squeezed Lily's hand while she made a face, "and I also know how frustrated you are, but you know there're cases like this."

"My frustration is magnified for my position as Potter's nanny," Lily explained, looking at the table the captain occupied, "and for the shrew's visibility, of course. Can you believe I've not only been recognised, but also asked for interviews? Interviews, Benjy!"

He laughed at Lily's indignation; he didn't find it so hard to believe.

"That's because Skeeter outed you, Lils," Benjy told her, "she doesn't know the rest of us, mere mortals, who are also working the case," he added with a chuckle. Lily narrowed her eyes and threw a chip at him.

"This case cannot be solved soon enough. I'll request Moody to send me on lone, long missions in the middle of the forest for a few months. I'm tired of people."

Benjy laughed again and, seeing the waiter, placed their orders. When they were alone once more, Benjy placed a file on top of the table.

"Fingerprints reports?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. Nothing too exciting. It's got Potter, Lupin, Black, Pettigrew and the coach who found it. Some partial prints, which we couldn't process, so…"

"Utter and completely useless."

Benjy agreed and gave her the files.

"Your questionings?"

"No one I talked to seems to believe Potter's guilty. Everyone's saying Jack and Potter had a very nice relationship, that Potter's super attentive and blah, blah, blah."

"What do you believe, Lily?"

"I…I really don't know, Benjy. Potter's always done some very fucked up pranks at school until he was about sixteen, but he was never downright cruel or tried to gravely injure anyone. But people change, right?"

"And you can't say if he's changed for better or for worse."

"This and the fact we don't have another suspect. And that I'm absolutely positive that he's lying about his alibi."

"Didn't all the friends say they were together?"

Lily went silent and looked again at the table that Potter occupied. It didn't seem he had changed all that much since Hogwarts – he and Sirius could easily be sharing a table at Hogsmead five years ago, discussing the better ways to drive Filch spare.

"I don't know, Benjy. I don't have anything concrete so far," Lily explained, visibly tired, "and I can't base the whole case on my opinion of someone, can I?"

"You can't."

"What I need is more evidence."

"We all do."

Lily stowed the file on her magically amplified purse, and they ate silently for a moment, both thinking about the case.

"What intrigues me the most," Lily said, chewing slowly and eyeing Potter and Sirius again, "is the credential."

"What do you mean?"

"Benjy, if the murderer left the credential behind, it means he didn't need the credential to get out."

"That's true," Benjy agreed, looking at Lily with a frown, "I hadn't thought like that."

"Then how did he get out?"

"Apparition?" Benjy risked, but Lily shook her head.

"You can't Apparate anywhere, in or out."

"Maybe he stayed behind…"

"He had to leave eventually. Either that or he's still here."

"Maybe a Disillusionment Charm?

"Not possible," Lily explained, remembering the multiple files Cattermole had given her about the murder scene, "they placed a whole bunch of spells on the gates that invalidate these sorts of things. Invisibility cloaks, Disillusionment Charms, human transfiguration…"

"Jumped the wall?" The place was completely surrounded by a huge wall that helped hide the event from the Muggles and also increased safety by completely isolating the area. "Oldest Muggle trick."

"Can't happen either," Lily denied, "they can climb the wall, but if they try to jump over it, they get paralysed and fall, alerting the security. Can't get over it by flying too."

"So we've got this mystery."

"Another one, you mean. Benjy, if he's got some way to leave, this means he's got some way to get in. He didn't need Potter's credential.

"So you think the murderer tried to incriminate James?" Benjy whispered, and they both looked to James Potter, who, this time, glanced back and gave them a half-smile.

"I don't know, Benjy, but now it's certainly a possibility."

They both went silent, staring at each other, until the waiter neared offering dessert. Lily, having a sweet tooth, ordered a Petit Gateau, her favourite.

"What about Voldemort, partner?"

"Benjy, it's hard," Lily said, fumbling with the cutlery, "if it was him, it wasn't his wand. But of course it's a possibility."

"D'you reckon…it's possible…James doing it under Voldemort's order?" Benjy whispered.

"I don't know…I find it hard, to be honest. Despite everything Potter's done, he's always hated the Dark Arts, and never hesitated about defending Muggleborns."

"Potter family's known for not having bloody prejudice, it's one of the reasons they didn't make it to the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Benjy added, "but what if he rebelled?" Lily kept from answering by the arrival of the desert.

"I need to get the enemy view, Benjy," Lily said before her first spoon, "I need you to get all of the papers that connect Potter and any blood related issue, and also all that mention Voldemort. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, sure" Benjy replied and smirked widely, "but are you positive you don't prefer to ask this to your best friend Rita Skeeter?"

Benjy laughed at Lily's face, and ducked from the napkin projectile she threw – and then from the Butterbeer's cork. Still smirking, he grabbed Lily's hand just as Sirius and Potter arrived.

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows and showing his usual grin.

"Just the annihilation of Benjy Fenwick," Lily replied with a small smile.

"Nah, you love me way too much to murder me, partner," Benjy disagreed, winking at her, then looking at Sirius, "we're wrapping up."

"I'm done, just waiting for the check so I can pay my half," Lily grabbed her purse.

"It's on me, Lils, I still owe you from the last case."

"Hm, that's true," Lily replied and stood up, "when can you give me the material?"

"Couple of days. You demand quite a lot from me, Miss Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes and ruffled Benjy's hair before leaving with Potter and Sirius. Sirius whistled a Wizarding song, but Potter was quiet and – which was even weirder to Lily – serious.

"You alright there, Potter?" Lily asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure. Just…thinking."

Lily frowned – Potter wasn't the quiet and contemplative sort of bloke, but she supposed this was his reaction to all of the stress surrounding him: a murder investigation, captain of England's Squad, star of the team…

She wasn't one to talk, since she was queen of 'quiet and contemplative' – this was her favourite method to rationalise her cases, exactly like she was at the moment. Had someone really tried to sabotage Potter? And why?

But why would Potter kill Jack himself? Why would anyone kill Jack, who was so highly thought of?

"So, Evans…" Sirius said, interrupting Lily's thinking, "what's up with you and Fenwick?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Lily frowned.

"You and Fenwick? Friends with benefits sort of arrangement?"

"Oh, God, no way," Lily denied quickly, "no way."

"You sure?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at her.

"Positive. It's not like that with Benjy and me, Sirius. Really."

"Eh, I'm not sure, Evans," Sirius disagreed and, with a smirk, poked Potter, "that back there looked rather…well, intimate, don't you agree, Prongs?"

"I, er, I didn't see it, I wasn't paying attention," Potter replied, kicking a stone on the floor.

"Forget it, Sirius. I'd never get romantically involved with someone from my department. Couldn't work out."

"I could've sworn he was your relapse!" Sirius cried out.

"So much for you to remember, and this is what occupies your memory?"

"I never forget things that matter to me, miss."

"Sirius, up until a week ago the last time we'd seen each other was four years ago," Lily recalled, rolling her eyes.

"And you really think my heart shrinks with such trivial things as time and distance, Red?"

Both Potter and Lily grumbled with his declaration.

"Do tell me who your relapse was, then, Evans."

The whole way to the room was filled by Sirius's stubborn and pressing curiosity regarding Lily's love life. Potter seemed either bored or pissed – which matched Lily's own humour, but she could feel his eyes on her sometimes.

"Sirius, just give up already," Marlene told him when they arrived, "Lily won't talk about anything she doesn't want to. Years and years of experience."

"One day I'll find out, Evans, one…!" Sirius threatened. Lily rolled her eyes.

The sort of thing work put her through.