Chapter Text
Lily Evans swirled her drink in her hand as she leaned against the balcony, looking down at the party down below. Her boyfriend, Evan Rosier, made his way up the stairs towards her, wearing a sharp blue suit. For a second, she considered what would happen if she just walked down the opposite set of stairs.
But now wasn’t the time to pick a fight, so instead, she went onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. She slid her hand around his waist, pulling him towards her so that he stood next to her, giving them a wide view of the crowd below. A few people looked up at them, and beside her, Rosier’s chest puffed out with self importance.
Lily tapped her fingers nervously on the railing, glancing over her shoulder to peek out the front window.
So far, it was quiet.
“You want to head downstairs?” He asked, taking a long drink from his glass. Lily shook her head. In a few moments, it would be safer for her to be upstairs, where she was less likely to get caught in any crossfire. She wasn’t taking any chances, not when she was minutes away from returning home.
“I’m a little tired, I think I’m just going to stay up here.” Her eyes flicked out the window and she caught a glimmer of headlights pulling into the driveway. But there was no more motion from outside, and her chest grew tighter with worry. She couldn’t handle any talking at the moment, anyway, so she drained her glass and handed it to him. “Do you mind getting me another drink?”
He grunted, and as he headed towards the stairs, he let his fingers trail across her exposed stomach. Lily sent him a coy smile, and he winked. As she waited for his back to turn, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead glancing back out the window, but now saw only darkness.
Her head felt heavy, and she pressed her hands to her temple, silently praying the plan was still on, and she could get out tonight. It was getting harder and harder to maintain her cover, and she didn’t know how much more waiting she could take.
Lily heard a scream somewhere in the distance. Most of the guests ignored it - it was a common occurrence in the Lestrange mansion. There was another scream, this time closer, and just as her eyes snapped back to the front door, it burst open.
FBI agents in full combat gear burst through the front door. The entrance caught most of the guests by surprise. Some instantly dropped to their knees with their hands in the air. Some reached for their guns. Within seconds, the room filled with screaming, shattering glass, and the sound of gunfire.
Lily glanced down the hallway. There had been only a few guests upstairs with her, and they quickly disappeared into various rooms. Not waiting for a stray bullet to find her, Lily moved away from the balcony. She followed them for a moment down the hallway, then spied an unoccupied bathroom. Running to it, she slammed the door and locked herself inside.
She pressed her ear to the door, listening to the chaos outside as the guests either surrendered or pulled out their own guns and shot into the crowd of agents. Music still blasted from the speakers, adding to the cacophony of noise flooding through the mansion.
The bathroom was small, but a tiny window sat above the shower. Carefully balancing on her heels, Lily clambered onto the edge of the bathtub. Outside, a perimeter of officers and cars surrounded the mansion.
Fights broke out as figures from the party tried to break through the line. Lily watched, wincing as Dolohov, a vicious old man she learned long ago to steer clear of, emerged from the mansion waving his pistol in the air, taking an officer down almost immediately.
As an undercover agent, working to infiltrate the Riddle crime ring, she’d seen her fair share of violence. While the Riddle family had long been rumored as dangerous and powerful, the FBI could not connect them to any crimes. Tom Riddle, the head of the family, was extremely secretive and distrustful of everyone, and while his reach seemed to spread everywhere - he was impossible to catch.
With Lily Evans, a fierce girl and one of the department’s top recruits as a witness, the FBI hoped that the Riddle family would finally face justice.
Lily could hear the teams move upstairs and begin sweeping the upstairs rooms. She climbed down from the shower, dropping to her knees and holding her hands up. A few seconds later, the bathroom door flew open, and she tried not to flinch at the gun pointed directly at her face.
A few seconds after that, an officer grabbed her roughly, snapping a pair of handcuffs on her. She crossed her fingers, one of her predetermined signals, but made no move to talk with the officer, hoping he understood who she was.
The officer grabbed her bound wrists and forced her out into the hallway with a few other people she recognized. He shoved her down to the floor, where she fell in a line guarded by agents with large guns. She sat with her head down, heart beating at what felt like a mile per minute.
It took half an hour before the entire mansion was secured, and another half hour before the agents started loading the cars. Lily stayed quiet, looking down at the ground for most of it. Big busts like this weren’t common - but when they’d happened before, she was always on the other side. She’d stayed busy throughout the entire process, following orders to the T and keeping her team safe. This time, she had no control over any of it.
To make things worse, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Any second, someone would point at her, screaming about how she betrayed them. The entire Riddle family would know she’d turned them in, and she would spend the rest of her life running from them.
So far, no one had even looked twice at her. The noise in the mansion gradually decreased, more people were hauled outside, and eventually, two agents walked her out and shoved her into a police car.
And then she was left alone, waiting in the car. Almost safe.
Lily sat, looking out from the barred windows as medics, police, and FBI agents rushed in and out of the extensive mansion. From what she could see, all of their primary targets had been arrested. She was grateful it had been successful, at least so far.
But even after a few minutes of watching the scene outside, the tension in her chest didn’t seem to loosen. In fact, it seemed to get even tighter. She was so close. Nauseous, and suddenly desperate for air, she laid her head on the seat in front of her with her eyes closed. She took slow, deep breaths, trying to steady herself.
It took a while, but just as she got her breathing under control, a man, tall, dark, with dark hair and black-rimmed glasses, slid into the driver’s seat. Lily picked up her head to watch him, but then let out a heavy groan as he turned around.
“Alright, Evans?”
“Great,” Lily said. Despite her annoyance at the man sitting in the driver’s seat, the relief she felt from uttering that simple word was enormous, and she had to take a steadying breath again.
“Welcome back.”
“They couldn’t have put me with Marly?’” Lily responded roughly, narrowing her eyes at him. She had met James Potter in her training to become an FBI agent, and the two had competed for the top spot of the class, battling back and forth for months. The majority of their conversations involved yelling, and both were too competitive to admit the other was right. After they’d completed their training, they’d been recruited to the same precinct, but their paths didn’t cross often.
It was clear he wasn’t happy about the situation either, but as usual, a smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Rabastan Lestrange is traveling with you to the prison, just to keep your cover. Once there, we will split you up, debrief you, and you can go home.”
“How’s my family?”
“Safe. And your father is doing well.”
Lily let out a shaky breath. Almost free.
“You ready?”
Lily took a second to respond, thinking through what needed to be done. “You need to punch me.”
“What?”
“Punch me before Lestrange gets here. I don’t want him to think I came quietly. Do it quick.”
James shot her a pained look before climbing out and opening her door. “Quick -” Lily started before he punched her, hard, right above the eye.
“It’ll swell up quick,” he muttered, climbing back out. Lily groaned as a headache formed. “Sorry.”
Lestrange, a beefy man, was shoved into the car a minute later, cursing bitterly. Lily stared straight ahead, ignoring him. Outside the car, Potter talked to another officer for a minute, before climbing back in, shifting the car into drive, and pulling away. Lestrange continued his stream of curses, before realizing there was someone else in the car with him. She had met him a few times, mostly in passing. He was large, intimidating, loud, and had enough connections throughout the city that Lily never wanted to cross him.
She shuddered to think about what would happen if he found she was the informant.
When Lestrange finally stopped his tirade, he switched his attention over to Lily. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily could see him look her up and down appreciatively. She was wearing a lacy, tight, low cut black crop top, which was really only a bralette, paired with a ripped pair of leather pants, and racy high heels.
He leaned over and whispered in her ear, then ran his lips over her ear.
“Back off, Lestrange, I’d rather not screw a rat with a mouth,” Lily said, unflinchingly, continuing to stare straight ahead. She had a part to play, and she knew how to play it well.
Lestrange glared, but reached out his cuffed hands and placed them on her knee, tracing patterns on her thigh, angling his head closer to her.
“I’ve heard Rosier talk about you. He called you the best screw since Elena Nott. Told me how you could do things with your tongue. Wouldn’t mind that royal treatment.”
“I wouldn’t trust him on that. He was the worst screw I’ve ever had. Almost like he’d never had a girl before.”
Lestrange grinned and pulled his hand away. “One day doll, I’ll get ya.”
Lily smiled and winked at him, then turned away, pulling her hair out of her face as best as she could with her hands behind her back. She frowned, a little confused why Lestrange’s hands were in front of him. Standard protocol for arrests was that hands got cuffed behind him. Had someone just messed up?
She turned back to him, intending to insult his outfit and check his cuffs, when she saw a gun sitting in his lap. As she watched, he pulled out the magazine with fumbling fingers, checked for bullets, then slid it back into the gun. Heart racing, Lily glanced up at Potter. But he had noticed nothing amiss, and was looking ahead at the road.
Looking back at Lestrange, she did her best to keep a neutral expression, trying to find a way out of this without compromising her identity. Lestrange winked at her and then pressed the gun into the back of Potter’s headrest.
Lily’s eyes widened as she had a half second to consider her options. If she stopped Lestrange, she would be in danger. He would know that she was the traitor who had turned them all in, and she would be a target for the rest of her life. But if she didn’t stop Lestrange, Potter would be dead.
“Damn it,” she whispered.
Unable to watch another innocent man hurt, Lily made a split second decision. She swung her legs up, knocking the gun away just before he fired. The bullet shattered the front windshield, and Potter slammed on the brakes, jerking the car around. Both Lily and Lestrange slammed into the seats in front of them.
Lestrange was still holding onto the gun and raised it again, but Lily drove her high heel into his stomach, and tried to use her other foot to pin the gun to the side of the car. But with her hands still cuffed behind her back, she didn’t have enough momentum to swing her legs up.
“A little help back here?” Lily said as Lestrange got one more shot off, this time hitting the roof of the car. A second later, Potter opened the back door and pulled Lestrange to the ground.
By the time Lily got her cuffed hands in front of her, James still didn’t have control of the gun, but he had pinned Lestrange to the ground. Lestrange swung a fist into James’ stomach, giving him just enough time to break from his grip. They both scrambled to stand up, but Lestrange turned the gun towards Potter, halting him in his tracks.
Lestrange glanced over at her, but kept the gun pointed at Potter. His eyes were wide with glee at discovering who the traitor was. “Just wait until Riddle finds out - you can’t hide from him.” The look on his face made Lily sick.
“I will shoot,” He said, backing away slowly, and Lily believed him. He gestured for her to get down, and Lily kneeled down next to Potter. Lestrange continued to walk backward. Lily expected him to shoot, but Lestrange turned and bolted down the highway towards a nearby exit.
The instant Lestrange turned his back to them, James tossed Lily his keys for her handcuffs, then jumped up and threw open the trunk.
Lily didn’t waste a second to turn on him. It probably wasn’t the most professional thing to do at the moment, but she had been so fucking close. “What were you thinking? Now he knows I’m the informant, and he’s getting away! He’s one of the worst!”
“Not my bloody fault, Evans. What was I supposed to do?”
“I had him,” Lily spat, grabbing a vest from the trunk.
Potter rolled his eyes. “You asked for my help.” He turned to radio the news before slamming the trunk shut. There were too many cars stopped around them now to take the police cruiser, so swearing, Lily and James began sprinting after Lestrange.
Ahead of them, Lestrange had just reached the exit’s intersection. Although he was strong, he wasn’t fast. Potter was running next to her, and determined to keep up, Lily matched his long legs pace for pace until they were nearly on him.
Lestrange didn’t pause in the intersection. Instead, he took a hard right, jumping over a concrete block into a grassy median. Potter cursed as a swerving car narrowly missed him, slowing him down by a few steps. Lily, now a few steps ahead, was almost in range of Lestrange when he turned and fired a shot. She dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, and behind her, Potter did the same. Lestrange may be running, but he was also an excellent shooter, and they didn’t want him to get lucky.
As she waited for Lestrange to turn back around, she heard sirens screeching in the distance. Breathing hard, she squeezed her eyes shut, desperately praying that backup would appear soon. Lestrange could not get away. She had worked too hard for this - for everything, for him to blow her cover.
James, kneeling behind a car, pulled out his pistol. He took aim over the hood of the car, but there were still too many civilians around to fire. Lestrange fired off a couple shots, but when he saw James wouldn’t fire, he turned and ran again. Lily jumped up, legs screaming as she tried to regain her lead.
Ahead of them, a police car whizzed around the corner, swerving to block Lestrange’s path. He raised his gun to fire, but only got one more shot off before his magazine was empty. An officer jumped out of the car, pulling his gun out. Lestrange skidded to a halt, attempting to go right, but Potter blocked his exit.
Swearing, he turned back around, but Lily, although weaponless, blocked his last escape. He might overpower her now, but as more police cars pulled into the street, Lestrange’s shoulders slump forward.
“On your knees,” the first man from the car ordered, finger on the trigger. Lily blinked, surprised to see Sirius Black, who had also been in her training program.
Sirius walked up from behind, keeping his gun trained on Lestrange. Lestrange’s face twisted into a scowl, and he dropped to his knees, throwing the empty gun to the side. The three of them moved to restrain him.
“You bitch,” Lestrange growled, spit flying from his mouth. “You’re gonna regret this. Riddle is gonna find out and -” James kneed his back roughly, and his chin banged the pavement. “- you’re a dead bitch.”
Lily ignored him. She grabbed a pair of handcuffs from James and snapped them on his wrists. Once secured, she stepped back, letting James and Sirius hoist him up and haul him towards the crowd of police cars now surrounding them.
Lestrange didn’t take his eyes off of her once. She met his gaze steadily, with her arms folded in front of her. She wanted to turn away, wanted to find Marlene and Captain McGonagall, and she wanted a drink of water - but the look in his eyes sent a chill through her body, and she found herself locked in lace.
It wasn’t until she heard Potter’s voice approaching from behind her did she tear her eyes away from Lestrange.
“Evans, you good?”
Lily exploded. “I can’t believe you,” she hissed at Potter, who had one hand in his hair and was still breathing hard. Around her, the scene drew attention from both her coworkers and bystanders, but she was so angry she couldn’t stop herself from shouting. “You complete arse, that was the biggest fuck up I’ve ever seen -”
“Hey, don’t turn this on me. I wasn’t the one who let him have a fucking gun. What was I supposed to do, leave you in the car with him?”
From the side, Sirius approached cautiously. “Evans, are you good? What happened to your eye?” He seemed taller and lankier than she remembered, and he had a big police jacket over his protective vest. And yet somehow, despite it, looked like nothing like an FBI agent, with shaggy hair, stubble, and a tattoo on his collarbone, just visible under his shirt.
Lily waved Sirius off, barely glancing at him. “I’m fine. How in the bloody hell - how did he get a fucking gun?”
“Evans, calm down. He’s taken care of,” James said. He looked annoyed more than anything, and not fazed by the fact that he had been mere seconds away from having a bullet in his brain.
She turned away from him and put her hands on her hips. To her right, she could see Captain Minerva McGonagall, her lead on the Riddle mission, jogging towards them. Taking several deep breaths, she attempted to calm herself down. But her heart was still pounding, and her head hurt, and she just wanted to go home.
“Good to see you, Miss Evans.’ Lily nodded briefly at her, still struggling to keep her anger in check. “Was it just Mr. Lestrange that escaped?”
“As far as I know. He had a gun on him. Someone hadn’t checked him properly.”
“Are you hurt?” Both James and Lily shook their heads, but McGonagall studied Lily’s bruised eye for a minute. But Lily said nothing, staring back with a blank face.
Pursing her lips into a tight line, she then gestured to the cars surrounding them. “We’ll talk about this at the precinct. We’ll let the others take care of traffic and clean up. Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon will give you a ride, and Mr. Potter and Mr. Black will meet you there.”
Lily nodded again, suddenly dizzy as the adrenaline wore off and the shock settled in. Sirius and Potter walked back to the cars, talking quietly among themselves. As McGonagall moved away, Lily almost called out to Sirius, wanting to thank him for getting there in time.
Lestrange was one of the smarter criminals, always thinking ahead. Everything he touched either shriveled or grew instantly, the smallest comment set him off, incurring his wrath. It hadn’t been easy to keep out of his large reach, even in the six months she had been undercover. She shivered just thinking about what would have happened if he successfully escaped. It was bad enough that he now knew she was the informant.
But before she caught up to Sirius, Marlene McKinnon, her first friend in training and current partner, ran up to her and gave her a giant hug. Lily, Marlene, James, and Sirius all met during training, and then were hired to the same precinct. Although Marlene worked as her FBI contact while undercover, meaning they had talked occasionally, Lily found she missed her the most.
“Your eye!” She pressed her fingertips against the sore, and Lily winced. “Oops, sorry. You need medical?”
Lily shook her head. Marlene nodded, understanding, and pointed at another police cruiser close at hand. “I’ll take you back to the precinct.” And with that, she spun on her heel and walked away. Lily followed silently.
Most of the drive was a blur. Her head ached where James punched her, her feet hurt from running in heels, and her chest was tight with worry. The dangerous look in Lestrange’s eye had unsettled her, and Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Once they were in the car, Marlene seemed to sense that Lily didn’t want to talk. Normally, the two of them chatted nonstop, but Lily thought if she tried to make any small talk right now, her head might explode. Instead, Marlene handed Lily a bottle of water and flipped on some quiet music.
X
Before Lily even had a chance to properly think or process the fact that her life was about to change for the second time in six months, she was sitting in McGonagall’s office with McGonagall and several FBI agents, each standing ready with tape recorders and notepads.
Just as she began speaking, Potter opened the door and slipped inside, nodding to Captain McGonagall. He sat down across from her, holding a small notebook and a pen.
Lily opened her mouth to ask why he was here, but when no one else objected, she closed it with an audible pop. She wasn’t in the mood to argue, and no one else seemed to be surprised by his presence. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, and then dove in.
“As you already know, my original assignment was one month. It was mostly to determine how far I could get. My first contact was Rosier, and I supplied him with drugs. But within a few weeks, he brought me to the Riddle manor.”
“Rosier and I started… dating.” Lily hesitated at the word. They hadn’t exactly been dating, but that was the closest description she could come up with. “At that point, I had pretty good access to people in the Riddle family. Rosier invited me to a lot of parties, and Bellatrix Lestrange liked me enough to invite me to some galas. So, Captain McGonagall requested I stay five more months and see what else I could find.”
“Five months is a big jump,” Potter said.
Lily shrugged. He didn’t know all her reasons for staying, and she didn’t feel like spelling them out to him. “At that point, I had no evidence, and felt relatively safe.”
He nodded, scribbling something down on his notebook, and she continued. “One day, I was waiting for Rosier in the Riddle mansion, when I heard Goyle and Nott talking about the Freeman fire. I’d been looking for weeks for evidence, but the only proof I have is a recording on my phone of the end of their conversation. I only got the last bit, and all it really says is ‘Riddle wanted it quiet.’ Then it cuts out.”
Lily looked down at her fingers twisting in her lap. The tension was back in her chest and she wished Marlene was in the room with her.
“I’m pretty sure Nott would testify against Goyle because a few days later, Goyle murdered Rosalyn Nott. There was some sort of fight at a poker game that got out of control, and Rosalyn happened to be in the way. Nott would have taken it to the police, but Goyle threatened to tell them about the Freeman fire.”
“Do you have proof Goyle killed her?” McGonagall asked. Lily nodded, but she couldn’t quite meet her eyes.
“I can testify. I was there.”
The room suddenly got much quieter. Lily pushed through. This was harder than she thought it was going to be. “Goyle was furious that Nott had something over his head. A few days after that, he kidnapped Nott’s youngest son. He had…” she took a shuddering breath in. “He had Bellatrix Lestrange torture him for information so that he could get back at Nott.”
“Nott was furious. He had his group of snatchers do a drive by shooting at a party Goyle was at. Goyle escaped, but they killed three women who were with him. They dumped their bodies in the river. I can show you where.”
McGonagall handed Lily a glass of water. “Anything on Riddle?”
Lily took a sip of water and then shook her head. “I have minimal evidence he knew these things were occurring. But nothing as solid as we wanted.”
“Did everyone trust you? That entire time?” Potter asked.
“Not at first. It took awhile, but Rosier trusted me the most. Riddle respects Rosier somewhat, so it got passed around, I guess.”
“Who ran the gambling rings?”
“Lestrange, working for Riddle. Riddle was just the face, but Lestrange did all the work for him.”
“Ms. Evans, did you perform any illegal acts while undercover?” This question came from McGonagall, who peered at her over her oval glasses.
Lily shook her head slowly, she glanced at James, who grinned at her and pretended to take copious notes. “A few drugs, gambling, lots of drug dealing. That was all cleared through Marlene and Captain McGonagall. But I never had to hurt anyone, or -” She stopped, looking down. “Nothing that is considered a felony.”
“Is there something else?”
“No.” McGonagall looked at her carefully, and she ducked her head. She hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone about this, especially with five strangers. “I… watched a lot of stuff happen. Those three girls that were murdered? I… was in the room next door. I could have easily been the fourth. Nott’s son got tortured by Bellatrix while I was standing right there. But I was ordered not to do anything that might tip them off, so I...”
“You did the right thing, Lily,” McGonagall said gently. Potter cast a look at her, but she refused to meet his eyes, instead playing with her hands in her lap.
“I could have saved a lot of lives if I had just told -”
“But more criminals are in jail now, which never would have happened if you hadn’t kept quiet. An entire crime ring has been arrested. You were right, Ms. Evans, I hope you know that.” McGonagall handed her a tissue, but Lily didn’t take it.
“I’m not going to cry,” she said shortly, and although she felt like she was seconds from punching a wall, crying was not something she currently felt like doing. James smirked, and one man said something under his breath.
At that, she lifted her head, eyes blazing, but continued to talk, fighting hard to keep her voice controlled and level. “Riddle is everywhere. He even hinted once at having spies in the government, but I couldn’t tell if he used that as a scare tactic.”
“His primary goal?” One man prompted.
“Money. Power,” Lily said simply, shrugging her shoulders.
“What was happening tonight? Why was everyone together?” Potter asked. “If they were at war, why did they get together?”
“Riddle needs them to get along. I’m not sure why he wanted everyone together. I thought he was smarter than that.”
“You think he planned the capture?”
Lily hesitated, words on the tip of her tongue, but unsure of how to phrase it. “Maybe… he rarely trusts anyone, and if he does, he never shows it. Everyone is wary of him because they know they rest on a knifepoint. ”
“But Riddle - we captured him tonight. Do you think he wanted that?”
“No, I don’t think he believed he could escape prison. But he would have a backup plan. He always has another plan.”
“So it’s not over?” Potter sat up straighter. “Why didn’t you stay undercover longer if-”
“Riddle’s hidden everything! No paperwork, records - only he knows about it. I tried for months, Potter, but there is nothing I could find. Not even a trace.” Frustration crept into her voice, and she looked away. “I tried.
McGonagall cleared her throat and stood up, resting a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Ms. Evans could use some rest. We will likely find all the information we need once we thoroughly search each house. I’m sure we will have more questions later, but for now, you may go.”
Lily set her glass of water back on the desk and nodded at the agents who now filed out the door. McGonagall continued. “While you were away, we moved your personal boxes to the other side of the city. There’s a bag in the locker room downstairs with all your personal items - phone, clothes, and your keys to your new apartment. We set up a security detail for the next few weeks. We aren’t expecting that anyone will be there after a successful operation, but for the first month, someone will always be nearby.”
She nodded again and stood up on shaky legs, shaking McGonagall’s extended hand. “When do I need to come back in?”
“Take all the time you need. I don’t expect you for a week, at the earliest.”
Lily nodded. She reached down and tugged her heels off, feeling instant relief . Then she walked barefoot through the empty office towards the locker room, finally alone after an endless day.
“Bloody menaces,” she muttered, tossing the heels in the trash. Running after Lestrange had ruined them, and besides, she wanted no reminders of her time undercover.
When she reached the locker room, a large black bag sat in the corner, with a piece of yellow duct tape with the word ‘EVANS’ written across in her handwriting. As she opened it, she thanked past Lily for having the foresight to pack sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a new pair of trainers.
Her undercover persona had worn far too many fancy outfits for Lily’s taste, and she would die happy if she never had to wear heels again.
Before she’d left six months ago, she’d packed a bag for her eventual return, although she thought it would only be one month. There was a stick of deodorant and a hairbrush, although Lily skipped those in favor of getting in the shower soon. McGonagall had added a few things to the bag, including a new phone, a slip of paper with an address, and an unfamiliar pair of keys.
It didn’t take long to change. Within a few minutes, she dumped her old clothes in the trash and slipped into her comfy clothes. Marlene had already texted her new phone, and her lock screen was a selfie of her and Lily laughing at a carnival last year. They looked so carefree and happy, and she smiled slightly, thinking back to when things felt a little lighter, and a little easier.
Marlene McKinnon: hope everything is alright luv, I helped pick out the phone and got all your contacts transferred over
Marlene McKinnon: your apartment should have you set up for a few days so just go home and get some sleep! I’ll see you in a few xx
Lily smiled at the texts, grateful that Marlene had seen she had everything she needed. The FBI agents had arrived late that night, and outside, she could see the faint light of sunrise peeking over the horizon. All she wanted was to go home and hibernate for a few days, and as she jogged down the steps of the building, she could hardly contain her relief.
It was easy to find her new apartment, although it took her longer than it should have because she circled around it three times to get a good look at all entry and exit points. If Marlene was with her, she’d tell Lily she was being paranoid. But this was her life now, and if Lily had learned anything in the past six months, it was habits are hard to get rid of.
Once she decided no one was following her, she parked the car, grabbed her duffel bag, and climbed up the steps to her apartment. A man she recognized from the precinct sat on the steps up, smoking a cigarette. As she passed, she nodded at him, but otherwise ignored him.
As she opened her door, the interior stunned Lily. Although by some standards, it would be considered a modest apartment, it was nicer than anything she could afford.
She dropped her bag near the door and kicked off her shoes, wandering first through the kitchen, then the bedroom, and the living room. It was clean, and white, and most of all, expensive. The rooms were spacious and immaculate, and the view from her window was enough to tell her that she couldn’t afford this place.
There was a note from Marlene on the kitchen counter that informed Lily that all her belongings were already unpacked, cleaned, and organized. Her messy scrawl also told Lily that she’d stocked the fridge. When Lily opened it to look, she found Marlene had bought her a giant tub of chocolate mudslide ice cream. Immediately, she grabbed a spoon and sent off a quick text to Marlene.
Lily Evans: thx for everything especially the ice cream!!! i’m going to sleep for a couple days, but i’ll call when I wake up xx
Her old apartment had been a tiny one-room apartment, with a microwave and a mini fridge that served as a kitchen. She only had a mattress on the floor, heaped with blankets, and a lumpy couch she’d found at the local donation center. It certainly wasn’t anything special, but Lily needed to put the money elsewhere.
Her smile turned to a frown as she wandered around, and she already had a list of things she needed to accomplish filling her head. But her exhaustion got the best of her, and her worry faded away temporarily as she stumbled into the shower and then immediately into bed.