Chapter Text
Lily limped over to the kitchen table and yanked one of the chairs back with her free hand, setting her wand and the book down on the tabletop as soon as she had swung herself into the chair.
“I told you to wait in the living room,” Marlene said, with a glance towards Lily’s swollen left leg. She was stirring the cauldron on the table with the ease of someone who didn’t even need to think about making potions anymore. The very short witch had been a healer until her husband’s death, and the Order probably generated the same workload.
“Sorry,” Lily said with a bright grin, “It’s too empty in there.”
“Single people have sad flats,” Marlene said, smirking, “We should get Caradoc a puppy, or something.”
“He’d do well with a puppy.”
Lily cracked open the worn book of poetry in front of her. It looked like the most readable thing in the living room - Caradoc’s flat was almost painfully academic, and his bookcases hosted more textbooks than Lily had seen since Hogwarts.
Of course, the bookcases were also the most lived-in thing about the place. It was fine enough when it was filled with people, but at the moment it was just her and Marlene, and Lily was painfully aware of the spotless sheen about the place.
It was just for sleeping, was the thing.
“Or he could just move in with Benjy and be done with it,” Lily said.
Marlene gave a bark of laughter and dropped a few sprigs of stargrass into the potion.
They fell into comfortable silence. Steam rose from the potion. Marlene turned on the Wizarding Wireless Network and sang along to Celestina Warbeck, dancing around the kitchen in her lime-green dress. Lily read Caradoc’s book and curled her uninjured leg up towards her chest.
Celestina Warbeck’s hour was halfway done when Marlene shoved a mug full of potion towards Lily.
“Drink up,” she said, “It’s going to taste like shite, in case you’ve forgotten.”
Lily dog-eared the page. “Cheers,” she said, raising her glass. She drained it in several large gulps and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand when she was done,
“That tasted,” Lily said, “like shit.”
“Told you so,” Marlene said, “What’re you reading, anyways?”
Lily cracked the book open and slid it across the table to the older woman.
“War Girls,” Marlene murmured, eyes scanning down the poem. “Strong, sensible and fit?” Her nose wrinkled with bemusement.
“They’re out to show their grit,” Lily completed, waggling her eyebrows.
Marlena laughed. “I’ll bet they are,” she said. She sat down in the chair next to Lily and shut the book, careful to leave the page dog-eared as she handed it back over.
“How long does the potion take to work?” Lily asked. It already felt like the swelling in her leg was going down, but it was still a bright red where the Death Eater’s curse had hit it.
“As long as it takes,” Marlene said, “Does James get home tonight?”
Lily shook her head. “Him and Sirius have got a portkey for tomorrow, if everything goes like it’s supposed to,” she said, the corners of her lips twitching up.
Marlene snorted.
“So you’ve got no plans for tonight, then?” she asked with a leering sort of grin.
Lily laughed. “Let me guess,” she said in a falsely scandalized tone, “I’m about to be swindled into going to a pub on this beautiful night.”
It was drizzling outside and had been drizzling for the past two days. She’d had no plans other than lying on the couch in her pajamas and listening to Dorcas Meadowes’ radio show. She wasn’t even going to be on call for the Order; going out would be much better, and would certainly keep her mind off of James and Sirius in Dublin.
“Not just any pub,” Marlene said, “But the Leaky Cauldron! Come on, my sons are at the Tonks’ tonight, I want to get out for something that isn’t a firefight.”
“Fiiiine,” Lily drawled, flashing her most cheeky grin at Marlene, “Why the Leaky Cauldron, though?”
“Because , ” Marlene said, “Kingsley goes there on Thursdays.”
“Oh, that should be fun,” Lily said, pushing herself upwards in her chair with her palms. She hazarded another glance at her leg - the pain was almost gone entirely, and the angry red mark had faded to a pink. It probably wouldn’t even scar. “Is Mad Eye going to be there?”
Marlene tilted her head back and laughed again. “I hope so,” she said, “No one plays darts like that man does.”
They’d barely walked into the Leaky Cauldron when Caradoc shouted, “Ladies!” at them from one of the tables in the back of the room by the extinguished fireplace. It was impossible to miss him - Caradoc was even taller than Sirius, but much more wiry, with dark hair and brown skin. Sitting across from him was Kingsley Shacklebolt, still clad in purple Ministry robes, who waved at them.
It was the only occupied table in the entire pub, making the place look rather desolate. There was a cloaked figure sitting at the bar and, of course, Tom the barman was there, but it was mostly sad.
There’d been two hours of war coverage on the WWN that morning. Perhaps that had something to do with it.
It’d be busy again soon enough. It always was.
Marlene and Lily hustled across the pub as Caradoc hauled over two more chairs with a swish of his wand. Lily dropped into the seat next to Caradoc and Marlene sat next to Kingsley, depositing her very-large pocketbook on the floor next to her chair.
“Two firewhiskeys, please!” Lily shouted at Tom, who grinned at her.
“I’m too old to drink firewhiskey,” Marlene said, laughing loudly and tucking a strand of rain-damp blond hair behind her ear.
“You’re thirty-five ,” Kingsley said, “You wouldn’t feel old if you didn’t insist on mothering everyone all the time.”
“If I don’t mother them they’ll starve,” Marlene said, with an over-theatrical glare to Lily and Caradoc.
Caradoc laughed. “You’ve got me,” he said.
“I’d be fine!” Lily protested, “Sirius might starve, though. James can cook, at least.”
“James isn’t too posh to cook?” Kingsley asked, raising an eyebrow at Lily.
“His mother believes in self-sufficiency,” Lily said, grinning, “He’d survive fine on his own.”
Nobody at the table looked convinced. Tom the barman, looking somehow even more bald than he had the last time Lily had been here, brought over the two firewhiskeys. Lily took a large sip, laughing as Marlene took an even larger one without batting an eye.
“So I take it you’re not worried about him on his trip, then,” Caradoc said, nudging Lily with one elbow.
Lily swatted at his arm.
“James is on a trip?” Kingsley asked, looking quizzically around the table.
“Mm,” Marlene said, non-committally, “It’s very relaxing.”
“Ah,” Kingsley said, in the sort of tone that everyone knew meant, ‘yes, of course, Order business.’
“You’d know these things if you joined our club,” Caradoc said, equally vague.
Kingsley laughed loudly. “I’m too busy for your club,” he said, genuine, “Who’s James with, anyways? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“Oh, I know he’ll be fine,” Lily said, holding her mug up in front of her, “I’m more worried that Sirius’ll crash his motorcycle into a roof than anything else, honestly.”
“Excuse me, Sirius has a motorcycle?” Kingsley asked.
“You haven’t heard!” Marlene said, grinning savagely at Kingsley, “I can’t believe you haven’t heard! The boy won’t shut up about it.”
“Let us tell you about the bloody motorcycle,” Caradoc said, scooting his chair closer to the wooden table.
“It fucking flies,” Marlene said dryly, and Lily tilted her head back and laughed at the expression on Kingsley’s face.
Once the three of them finally finished explaining, Kingsley gave a bark of laughter that startled the cloaked man at the bar into looking over at them for a moment. He still had a sort of angular boyishness about him.
“That sounds incredibly illegal,” Kingsley said, delighted, “I can’t wait to tell Arthur Weasley, he’ll be ecstatic.”
“Oh, God, it’ll compare to the birth of his twins,” Caradoc said, laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking with the effort of it.
Marlene grinned. “Speaking of kids,” she said, “I ought to go pick mine up before they drive Andromeda and Ted insane. See you later this week - my cauldron’s still at your house, Caradoc, I’ll be there tomorrow too.”
Caradoc nodded. Lily stood up to hug Marlene goodbye, and Kingsley got up as well.
“I’ve got to go, too - Moody has me scheduled for a shift tomorrow morning,” he said.
Once they’d all exchanged goodbyes and Marlene and Kingsley had both apparated off, Lily switched to the seat that Kingsley had occupied and sipped at her third firewhiskey.
“How’s Benjy?” she asked.
Caradoc shrugged. “Doing something with Remus tonight,” he said, “I’ll hear back from them tomorrow morning, though.”
“Mmn,” Lily said, drawing a circle in the condensation on the side of her glass.
“I swear, there’s something familiar about that man at the bar,” Caradoc blurted, peering past Lily at the hooded figure.
Lily looked over her own shoulder at him. “I know,” she said, “I just didn’t get a good enough look at him.”
“Dare you to go and get a look at him,” Caradoc said, grinning at her conspiratorially.
Lily shook her head emphatically, and immediately had to set her drink down to brush hair out of her face. “No,” she said, “I will not.”
“Come on, you’re a Gryffindor! You have to take a dare.”
“Piss off, you Hufflepuff bastard,” Lily said, wrinkling her nose.
“I’ll buy you another drink,” Caradoc said in an over-sweet tone.
Lily considered. “Fine,” she spat, pushing herself back from the table, “But you’ll buy me two drinks.”
“It’s a deal.”
She sauntered towards the bar, slipping into the stool next to the man in the white cloak. He shifted away from her, an unconscious full-body twitch, and Lily reached one hand up and plucked the hood away from his face.
The boy had familiar black hair, pushed away from his face, and aristocratic good looks. He was smaller and slighter than his brother, but they were unmistakable from one another, and Lily pulled her hand away from the hood almost as quickly as she’d grabbed it.
She whirled towards Caradoc and waved. “It’s just Sirius’ little shit of a brother!”
Regulus flinched away from her again, but puffed out his chest only a moment later. “Go away,” he snapped.
“I don’t feel like it,” Lily said, “Y’see, one of your friends tried to kill me this morning, and I’d say he was around your height.”
Regulus shifted away from her again, hand wrapped protectively around whatever he was drinking. “I didn’t do anything this morning,” he said.
“Maybe you didn’t,” Lily said, grinning savagely, “But what about last week? What about the week before? I’m sure we can find something for me to be mad at you for.”
She gestured, and flashed an apologetic look at Tom the barman.
“I don’t want anything to do with you,” Regulus said, curling his shoulders upwards, “Just leave me alone.”
“You know, just two years ago, you couldn’t wait to get out of Hogwarts and actually duel me,” Lily said, slipping off the barstool.
Regulus shrugged and downed the rest of his drink. As Lily walked back towards Caradoc, she heard him apparate away with a crack.
“We’ll take two more rounds, please!” Caradoc called to Tom, “That wasn’t nearly as fun as I was expecting it to be.”
Lily shrugged her shoulders. “I thought I was in good form,” she said.
“Oh, you always are.”
They were both significantly drunker when they spilled out of the pub and onto Diagon Alley, holding onto each other’s arms for some semblance of balance. “We can not apparate like this,” Lily said around peals of laughter, “We’d both bleed out and die and Marlene’ll never forgive us.”
Caradoc cackled. “We could catch the Knight Bus!” he said, “Doesn’t Dorcas live around here, anyway?”
“We can’t show up in Dorcas’ house pissed!” Lily protested, “That’s like showing up drunk at my mum’s house.”
Three one-second-apart cracks came from down the street. Lily and Caradoc both loosened their grips on each other, pulling out wands in practiced gestures.
“I bet you it’s nothing,” Lily murmured.
All three figures were cloaked - one in white, two in black - but she couldn’t quite tell whether or not they were masked. The shorter one in black apparated off again, reappearing not even a moment later just ten feet in front of Lily and Caradoc.
A silver mask covered his face.
Lily flung herself to the ground as a blast of purple-fire shot past her. Caradoc ducked behind the nearest street lamp and she rolled back to her feet, shooting a stunning spell in the Death Eater’s direction.
“Regulus Black, you piece of shit!” Lily shouted, ducking out of the way of a disarming spell as Caradoc shot a Confundus charm past Regulus’ head.
Everyone’s aim was off - the Death Eaters had to be drunk, too.
“Are you really going to let a mudblood talk to you that way?” the taller black-clad Death Eater shouted at Regulus. There was something unmistakably familiar about his voice, but Lily couldn’t place it.
Regulus shot a spell - not at either Lily or Caradoc, but rather at the street lamp outside the Leaky Cauldron, leaving them illuminated only by moonlight and hexes.
“You’re a shit too, Rosier!” Caradoc shouted.
Rosier laughed and sent a white hex hurtling in Caradoc’s direction. Lily swore loudly, and Caradoc fired a silent Confundus charm at the third Death Eater. He went reeling, and Lily laughed viciously -
- and was cut off a moment later, after Rosier struck her with a stinging hex.
Blasts of colored light and shouts echoed through the street. Lily sent Rosier’s wand hurtling out of his hand, but was hit only a moment later by a hex that launched her into the brick alley wall.
Caradoc ran out from behind the lamp as Rosier shouted “EXPULSO!”, showering them all in shards of wooden shrapnel. The confunded Death Eater muttered incoherent spells and Caradoc shattered a window with a swish of his wand, again showering them all in shards.
Lily wiped blood away from her forehead with the back of her hand.
“CRUCIO!” Rosier shouted, and Lily couldn’t see who he was aiming for but heard Caradoc screaming.
She yelled, “BOMBARDA!”, aiming her wand at the pavement between them.
Everything went quiet for a moment as the explosion blasted a hole in the street, sending them all rocketing into the air. A purple hex flew over Lily’s body as she rolled to her feet again, hauling Caradoc up with her left hand.
Her legs were wobbling and she could feel bruises on her arms, her stomach, her face. Caradoc was breathing in gulps, and the only consolation was that none of them were doing very well, not even the enemy.
A crack! came from behind her and Lily whirled, a hex already on her tongue -
Peter Pettigrew ran between her and Caradoc, sending a stunning spell square at Rosier’s chest. Rosier dropped and Regulus Black swore, carelessly aiming a hex as he grabbed Rosier and the other Death Eater by the arm.
“We’ll get you for this, Pettigrew!” the confunded - maybe less confunded, now - Death Eater called, just before they all apparated away with a crack.
“You just saved our asses, Peter,” she said, wiping the blood away again.
Peter nodded tersely. “WWN said there was something going on in Diagon Alley,” he said, “I decided to pop by here.”
“Thanks,” Caradoc said in a rasping voice.
Lily wrapped one arm around Caradoc’s shoulder. “Do you mind taking us home, side-along?” she asked.
“Your place?” Peter replied.
“‘f course,” Lily said, “Let’s go quick - I don’t want to have to explain this to their daddies.”
He wrapped one hand around Lily’s, and they were gone.