Chapter Text
Knockturn Alley
Auror Lily Potter glanced around the dank and dreary alley she stood in and marveled at how much her life had changed in the last two years. She’d gone from playing professional Quidditch and being a Wizarding celebrity to becoming an Auror, and even more recently, to being in a relationship. Lily felt for her ruby pendant and for a moment she wasn’t in the alley; she was with him.
‘I miss you, Andrew. I miss you so much.’ Lily allowed herself to think about him, to remember him. A call over her earpiece shattered the moment.
“The Subject is passing my location.”
Lily instantly refocused on her job at the sound of her cousin and fellow Auror Hugo Weasley’s announcement. She could tell instantly that his measured tone was laced with concern. Her body tensed.
“Roger that Hugo. Is he alone?” Senior Auror Katherine “Kat” Meadows inquired.
“Wait! Negative! He has two bodyguards.” Hugo’s voice was still calm, but Lily knew he was concerned.
“Lily, Andrea-stay alert,” Kat Meadows ordered the two newly qualified Aurors on her squad, Lily and Andrea Dawson.
“Roger,” Lily replied back to her supervisor calmly.
“Roger Kat,” Andrea Dawson replied, her voice shaky.
Lily shook her head. Lily worried about Andrea. She was young, only 19, and just two years out of Hogwarts. Working right out of school was the standard in the Wizarding World, but Lily felt that her prior work experience, and the maturity her 27 years provided, gave her an advantage over the other new Aurors.
“Kat,” Senior Auror Albus Potter called, “Let’s stick to the plan. Let them enter the building…”
“Roger Albus,” Kat replied, “We’ll hold the perimeter.”
“Squad B,” Albus called. “ I have control.”
“I have eyes on the suspects. They are entering Alpha Door-Black Side,” Lily announced to her colleagues.
“Execute! Execute! Execute!” Albus called after a few moments of delay.
The sounds and flashes of spellfire were clearly visible in the building’s windows. Lily wanted to join the fight inside, but her job was to watch the door, and that’s what she would do. The spell flashes silhouetted Aurors and suspects alike, but the shapes were far too indistinct for Lily to respond with magic.
“One suspect escaping. Alpha Door-Black Side.”
‘My side,’ Lily thought to herself seconds before the door disintegrated from a blasting spell. A wizard ran out.
“Auror Office! Stop! Drop your wand,” Lily ordered the man. His hand moved a fraction and instantly his wand left his grasp as her disarming spell did its job; he then fell to the ground, frozen by her body bind.
Lily ran toward the down suspect, never taking her wand off him, and called, “Suspect down and in custody. Outside Alpha door-black side!”
“I’m pinned down,” Hugo called over the radio. “ Whiteside. Not sure how many I’m facing. A little assistance would be great!”
“Lily, go help Hugo, ” Kat called. “ Andrea, cover Lily’s suspect. I’m on my way.”
Lily raced toward her cousin and found him facing several attackers all under a Disillusionment Charm. The two Aurors blocked spell after spell and were on the verge of counter-attacking when the attacks suddenly ceased.
“They’ve pulled back,” Hugo announced, catching his breath. “They were under a Disillusionment Charm. No ID.”
“Roger,” Albus replied over the radio. “ Meet us upfront. We have the target and bodyguards in custody.”
Hugo and Lily arrived back to find Albus on his mirror phone and Kat and Andrea talking softly a few feet away. The suspects were nowhere in sight.
“Where are the suspects? I had hoped...” Lily demanded of her brother. She was annoyed.
Albus finished his call before replying curtly. “I know what you hoped, Lily.”
He stared thoughtfully at his younger sister. “Bags and Cross have seniority. It’s their case and they will do the interrogation.”
Albus watched his sister with as much detachment as he could muster. It wasn’t easy. The suspects were connected with the Black Widow killer, Invidia Sterling, and Albus knew how much Lily wanted to find Sterling. They all did, but she was getting very close to a point-of-no-return with Sterling. He waited.
Lily stared back at her brother, her mouth forming a tight white line, her fists clenched. She tried to pull herself back from the brink, from the explosion building inside her. Albus didn’t deserve an explosion. At least, not today.
“Lils,” Hugo called softly from behind her. “We’re done here… On to the next one, eh?”
Lily continued to stare at her brother as her cousin’s words filtered past the fire of revenge burning within her. She sensed Kat and Andrea looking at her. Both were momentarily put off their discussion.
Lily wouldn’t allow those gathered around her, some of the most important people in her life, to see her self-destruct. She wouldn’t give Invidia, that wicked bitch, the satisfaction, even though she might be hundreds of miles away at this point. Just like him… Andrew Fontana, her love. Thousands of miles away.
She wanted to not miss him so much. Love and loss were playing tug of war with her heart. This wasn’t working. They needed to talk.
MACUSA Auror Office, New York City
“Earth to Auror Fontana, come in Auror Fontana,” chided Auror Juliet Tauris. “Must I dye my hair red to get and hold your attention?”
Auror Andrew Fontana dragged his eyes away from the magically animated portrait of his redheaded girlfriend, British Auror Lily Potter.
“Sorry! What did you say? You’re actually talking to me? Nice of you! I’ve grown used to being ignored since my return. I’m persona non-grata around here, Tauris, remember that! You might not want to be seen talking to me.” Andrew’s eyes were cheerful, but his voice betrayed his true feelings. He was alone and fighting to regain his reputation. Nobody trusted him. They liked him, but they didn’t trust him. A hard place to be.
Juliet Tauris’ eyes unfocused and she began to lose her nerve after deciding to approach him. She didn’t know him well and she was keenly aware of how he’d been treated by their colleagues since his return. They’d been horrible to him, partly for what he did, and how he did it, but also because, in many ways, he’d come back better than before. He’d caught the bad guy and won the girl! He’d lost nothing or been heavily sanctioned for his rash actions.
‘He deserved the hazing. Didn’t he?’ Juliet wasn’t sure. She felt his piercing blue eyes on her. She even felt the redhead staring at her from her portrait. She awkwardly moved a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear. Andrew saved her from more awkward silence.
“It’s not your fault. I burned a lot of bridges. I can’t say I wouldn’t do it all over again. I would! But I know I have to reprove myself, regain trust, and I will!”
“I guess time will tell,” Juliet deadpanned, but she smiled at Andrew’s quick smirk and said tentatively. “You never did say if you’d like me better with red hair.”
“No, I didn’t.” Andrew agreed with a smile, but his voice was firm.
“So tell me about her.” Juliet pivoted boldly. Andrew’s surprised expression was priceless.
Soho, London
An impromptu dinner with Hugo’s older sister, Rose Weasley, helped dampen Lily’s anger. Hugo was one of Lily’s best friends, but Rose had, over the years, proven to be even more important as a surrogate older sister to Lily, rather than just an older cousin. An invaluable source of support to a girl with two bothersome elder brothers.
“Look, Lils,” the tall redheaded Rose began casually, her pale hands and long thin fingers about to make air quotes. “Your “superpower” is your focus. You see the Snitch and you go after it… It made you the star Seeker at Hogwarts, Quidditch Captain, and one of the best professional Seekers in the world. That same focus will make you one of the best Aurors, if, that is, you don’t burn up like the shooting star first.”
“You’re also patient, Lily. Very patient. So what in Merlin's name is going on with you?” Rose waited. She didn’t have to ask Lily for the truth; she knew she’d get it, and would give it right back to Lily.
Lily glanced around the room looking for a way to escape, even from Rose, but knowing it wasn’t possible, she met her cousins' eyes. “Invidia is getting under my skin, it’s true. The way she escaped. What she did to Hasdeu! The bloody Widow’s knife she left stuck in him to taunt me!”
Rose silently cast a Muffliato charm to counter Lily’s increasing volume. Lily realized what Rose had done and quieted herself, blushing in embarrassment and shame. Rose’s expression was both sympathetic and probing. Demanding. There was much more for Lily to tell.
“It’s Andrew!” Lily cried his name.
‘There it is,’ Rose thought to herself. ‘That’s the dam breaking’, she realized.
“He’d invited me to come and visit him in the U.S. a week after he left, but work got in the way. It’s been much harder than he expected, coming back. He’s become a pariah. So, he’s been working constantly and taking the worst shifts and assignments trying to fit in again; to make amends. And then for much of the last month, I was in Wales and then Scotland. We talked by mirror phone most nights, but it’s different: it’s static, it’s abrupt, and it’s nothing like being with him. I know it can’t be the same as in-person, but it’s all we have.”
Lily paused and tried to compose her thoughts. “It’s been over three months since we’ve been together. Recently he’s grown more distant. He’s stopped talking about me coming to visit. I feel… I feel like he wants to end it with me, but he doesn’t know how to. What else could it be?”
Rose sighed and shook her head sadly. “Hearing all this brings back memories of Scor… of you know who. I never got to know Andrew but those weeks...” Rose frowned, “not even quite two weeks, right?” Lily nodded slowly in agreement.
“Merlin, Lily, first you met him in the corniest and most adorable way possible. You began to fall for him, the handsome stranger with the dark secret, and you went on the run with him, against your father’s wishes, no less! It’s like a bloody romance novel, but it was your real-life and yet not. Nothing about your time together was normal. It wasn’t the real world! You need to make sure of your feelings for each other, and I have no doubt you have them, that you can become in a sustained relationship. You have to...”
Rose broke off and stared at Lily before continuing her thought.
“You have to go and see him. It won’t be easy. It might well be messy and maybe even explosive. Though from what I’ve heard, he fell hard for you, too. You see your Auror in Shining Armor is in purgatory and you, the beautiful Auror Angel, must go and save your man,” Rose finished, taking a sip of her wine, her eyes full of mischief.
Lily stared at her cousin. The audacity of it; the audacity of her truth. Everything she said, Lily knew, was right. She knew in her heart Andrew still loved her, as she loved him, but he was drowning-again, just as with the blood oath. Her love, their love, got them through it and would get them through this hard patch as well. Rose was right in another way. They had to bring their worlds together. Make them one.