So Far Away

A/N: Thank you thank you thank you everyone who reviewed! I've already got more reviews than I expected (I set low goals, I guess). Thanks! Sorry for the longer wait than usual, I didn't have time to write. Now, here's Chapter Four..

~~~~~

The man paused. James thought it looked like he was contemplating whether or not to tell him, but that couldn't be right. He had to tell James, or James couldn't do whatever this man needed him to do.

"You going to tell me?" James asked, annoyed.

The man opened his mouth and closed it. "Alright," he said. "This is what you have to do." He paused again.

James raised his eyebrows. "What are you waiting for?"

The man glared at James, but it wasn't so scary. "I got into this deal, see," he said. "With a stranger."

"And.." James said.

"And the deal was that I supervise this marriage or something. First, I was supposed to escort some girl to some place, and then I watch them for a year and a half. Make sure they're still married or something, I dunno."

"And you want me to do it for you?" James inquired.

"Yeah. Well, you have to do it for me. Either that, or you be my slave for a while or something," he said. "And if you were my slave I'd probably make you do this anyway."

"Oh," James said. "So, anymore details on this, or do I just pick a random girl and follow her?"

"It's a specific girl," the gray man said. "Something Evans. Red hair, if I remember from seeing her that one time. You're supposed to take her to some place a bit more north from here."

That didn't sound too bad to James. He could have his friends visit him a lot and write. It would be like a working vacation.

"Oh yeah," said the man. "You're not supposed to tell other people about this. 'Cause if the girl knows you're watching her, she might be mad, and the more people who know, the more chance of that happening."

James nodded. He wouldn't obey that rule, of course. He had plenty of ways to keep this Evans girl from knowing he was watching her. "So that's it?" he said.

"Well, yeah. You have an hour to get back here with all your stuff," the man said. Then he began grin. "And you go with Ivan."

"Ivan?" James asked.

"Yeah. This Ivan," he said, using his hand to beckon what looked like an extremely large shadow from the corner.

From what James could tell, Ivan was from Eastern Europe, was extremely large, and wasn't someone to mess with. He was, of course, a Muggle, just like everyone else in this mess, so James thought he had the advantage.

"You can go now. Hurry up," the man said, turning to go back into the pub. James turned to Ivan.

"Okay, er, Ivan," he said. "Just you and me for an hour, eh?"

Ivan grunted.

"Alright, then."

~~~~~

Eugene Grenwich woke up with his back sore. It wasn't surprising; he had hurt his back a few years ago after being hit several times with some kind of saw when he was drunk. It had never been the same since.

Of course, he never would have gotten drunk that night if it hadn't been for his wife's passing. Sophie had been everything to him. She had been a supporting and loving wife and a dutiful mother to his child.

Ever since she had died, Eugene spent every other night getting drunk and betting at The Oasis, and when he wasn't doing that, he was sleeping or out with some woman. It was safe to say that Sophie's death had ruined him.

He had a nanny, Frida Hasselhoff. She watched his daughter; she was like a mother to her. Eugene won enough bets to pay her sufficiently. But Frida's mother had taken ill, and Frida had to go home to her.

Eugene needed a replacement. He thought about getting another nanny, but he didn't think that would work. A nanny could just get up and leave, like Frida did. He decided he needed something more permanent.

That was when he decided to get married again. It wouldn't for love, of course. He didn't really want a wife, after all. He just wanted a mother.

And that was where the Evans' came in. Richard Evans, who went to school six or seven years ahead of him, had a daughter he was willing to marry off. Eugene had seen pictures of her; she was pretty enough, and would suit his purposes. He had forgotten her name, though. It was Leigh, or Lina or something like that. It would come to him.

Not that it mattered, though, what her name was. He didn't want a wife, after all.

~~~~~

"So, Ivan," James said as he collected his things from the cheap Muggle motel he had been staying at. Sirius, Remus and Peter weren't there, much to his dismay. "What do you do for a living?"

Ivan grunted.

"I see," James said. "You enjoy it? Good benefits?"

Ivan grunted. Then he muttered the first words James had heard from him. "I get to hurt people. Good benefit."

James forced a laugh. "Oh, right."

Ivan glared at him. "Hurry up. You slow."

James forced another smile. "Yeah. Will do."

Several minutes later, James was done, and he and Ivan exited the motel. James needed to take two steps to every one of Ivan's. That, combined with nerves, was enough to make James pretty tired when they got back to the pub.

"Ah, Ivan," said a voice from behind James recognized as the gray man. "Good to see you back." He slipped Ivan a few pounds and Ivan left. Then he turned to James. "We're going now," he said.

"Where?" James asked.

"We're taking a train to Glasgow. You'll meet up with the Evans' there."

"Oh," said James. "Sounds great."

The man looked at James. "Follow me."

James followed.

~~~~~

Lily woke up the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. It was probably her father. No one else ever called her, anyway.

Lily picked up the phone after it rung several times. "'Lo," she said sleepily.

"Hello, Lily," her father said. "I'll be brief. I'm coming in a half an hour to pick you up. There was a problem with the escort, so he will meet you at the train station, not at your flat. I expect you to be ready."

Lily yawned. "Okay," she said. She hung up the phone, and went to get ready.

After taking a shower, she chose her most comfortable muggle outfit, consisting of jeans, a t-shirt, and a large sweatshirt. She pulled her shoes and socks on. Her shoes weren't completely dry yet, and Lily was sure that would irritate her on the train. She sighed. Another annoying thing to add to the list of annoying things that would be happening today.

Lily poured herself a bowl of cereal and drank the last of the milk straight from the container. She ate in silence, thinking about her husband. Lily was pretty sure he was going to be older than her, maybe even old enough to be her father. The thought disgusted Lily, so she tried to put it aside. There was still hope that he would be kind, warm, and loving, but it was slim.

'Still, some hope is better than no hope at all,' she thought as she ate the last of the cereal. She left the bowl on the table and went to the living room, which was near the door. She sighed, and waited for her father to arrive.

~~~~~

The journey to Glasgow wasn't that long. James found out that they had been not too far away from Stranraer, which was not too far from Glasgow. The only bad thing was that James was forced to sit next to the gray man the ent0ire time, which was rather annoying since he had terrible breath and snored loudly James' ear as he slept.

The gray man herded James off the train, and they sat on a bench in the station.

"What am I supposed to do now?" James asked.

"We are supposed to wait for the Evans' to arrive," he said, not bothering to look at James. He was searching the crowd for someone.

A few moments later, the gray man seemed to have found who he was looking for. He told James to come with him as he worked his way towards a red-haired man in a deep green business suit.

"Mr. Evans," the gray man said, extending his hand.

"Call me Richard," he said amiably, taking the hand offered to him. "And who is this?" he said, nodding at James.

"This is the escort, Mr. Evans..er..Richard," the gray man said uncomfortably.

"Escort? I thought you were the escort, Baird," Richard Evans said. "Are you sure he is able?" he looked at James as if James was hippogriff dung.

"Oh, he's able," the gray man said. "I made sure when I chose him."

James almost laughed. Chose him - right.

"You chose him? Why?" Richard Evans asked.

"I can't..well..you see," the gray man started. "My wife is sick. I don't want to leave her."

Richard Evans obviously didn't believe a word of this. "I'm going to chose to believe you, Baird. I am, however, holding you personally responsible is this boy messes up."

"Oh, of course, Mr. Evans," the gray man said. "Of course."

Richard Evans nodded. "I suppose you can go. I may be in contact with you."

The gray man nodded, and walked away extremely quickly.

"So," Richard Evans said. "You're the escort?"

"Er, yeah," James said.

"I assume you know what you have to do? Everything you have to do?"

"Yeah," James said. "Everything. Even the whole spying-"

"Hush!" he whispered. "But good that you know about it."

James nodded. "So, where's your daughter? Isn't she the one getting married?"

"Yes," he said. "She's using the bathroom. She'll be out shortly."

They were silent for a minute. James looked at Richard Evans out of the corner of his eye. He already didn't like the man. What kind of father forces his daughter to marry someone? It wasn't right. He also seemed to control and intimidate an awful lot of people. For a Muggle, at least. No, James definitely didn't like him.

"There's my daughter," he said, gesturing to the bathroom door.

James took a sharp breath. The girl was astonishing. She had red hair, the same color as her father's, but much fuller. Even at a bit of a distance he could make out green eyes and flawless complexion. And it didn't even look like she was trying hard.

"Hurry up, Lily," Richard Evans said. "We're going to be late."

Lily rolled her eyes. "The train doesn't leave for a half an hour."

Her father narrowed his eyes. "You need to get on the train."

Lily looked at him, annoyed. "Whatever you say, father," she said.

Richard Evans sighed. "This is your escort," he said to Lily. Then, to James: "What was your name again?"

"James," he said, looking at Lily. As soon as he said his name, Lily looked over at him in the same way he was looking at her. As if they were trying to remember something.

Richard Evans cleared his throat loudly and the both turned to him at the same time. "You should get on the train now," he said.

"Okay then," James said. He grinned at Lily when Richard Evans turned. "Can I take your bags, Ms. Evans?" he asked, still grinning.

Lily was looking at him the same way as before. "Have you ever heard of..erm..Muggles?"

"Muggles?" James asked. "Is that a band?"

Lily looked slightly disappointed. "Yeah," she said.

"Or, were you talking about those Muggles?" James said, gesturing vaguely to the throng of people on the platform.

Lily smiled at him. "You're James Potter, aren't you?" she asked.

"Maybe," he said.

"Gryffindor," she went on. "A year or two ahead of me, I think. Head Boy, weren't you?"

"Ah, you remember me," he said. "I remember you as well, of course. Always thought you were the prettiest girl in Hogwarts."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Keep it in your pants," she said. Then she boarded the train.

James grinned a bit, and followed her. This escort thing might not be as bad as he thought.

~~~~~

A/N: That wasn't as much of a cliffie, was it? I kind of liked this chapter, my favorite so far, I think. What did you think? Tell me when you REVIEW. Is it possible for me to get 5 reviews for this chapter? Please? REVIEW!!!