Nothing On Earth

Chapter Sixteen

2:45 PM

R.M.S Titanic

"Oy! Watch where you're going, you - oh." James blinked, straightening his glasses and looked at the steward he had knocked onto the corridor floor. "Hullo, Peter. I haven't seen you for a few days. All right?"

"Well, I'd be better if madmen weren't knocking into me all the time," Peter responded dryly, looking a bit tousled. James reached out a hand to help him up and he took it gratefully. "Where were you rushing off to anyway?"

"Er...nowhere in particular," James replied vaguely. He didn't know why, but, unlike Sirius, he was rather hesitant to go into detail about what he was doing or anything he'd done today. He leaned against the wall casually, watching Peter dust himself off. "Just...running about, causing mayhem, and all that."

Peter frowned, his watery eyes narrowing.

"Well, don't be causing any mayhem around me," he cautioned, reaching down to pick up the few towels their collision had knocked out of his arms. "Otherwise, I might have to severely reprimand you and take house points in McGonagall fashion."

James grinned, but it tightened and eventually faltered once he got a good look at his friend. Every inch of Peter's body looked positively exhausted. There were bags under his eyes and his movements were slower than normal. His usual well-kept appearance was lacking with uncombed hair, unshaven face, and clothes rumpled and stained.

"Pete, mate, you all right?" he asked with concern. He straightened up and moved closer to Peter. "I haven't see you this bad since the week before N.E.W.T.s...Not sick, are you?"

"No, just overworked," Peter admitted, sounding burdened. He shifted his towels under one arm and ran the free hand through his hair. "The other stewards seem to think that I can work all their shifts for them, since I worked a shift last night for my 'sick' cabin mate - they've been pushing all the work onto me and then going off to do whatever they fancy. I've been working since early morning and I'm an afternoon steward!"

Peter's outburst was unexpected, but James knew he had a reason to be so angry. Peter had always been picked on, even at Hogwarts, because he was smaller and would do just about anything to please someone or to avoid trouble. It was such a pity that even in the working world that he still let himself get trampled on or that some idiot had to bully the poor bloke. Very few people had bothered Peter at Hogwarts after James and Sirius had trounced a few of the bullies up; maybe it was time to teach Titanic's lazy stewards a lesson.

"Which ones were they, Pete?" James asked, beginning to roll up the sleeve of his jacket. "Point them out and I'll rough 'em up a bit. No one bullies you while I'm around."

"No!" Peter cried, just as James turned and began to march toward the crew's quarters. James didn't listen and kept on moving until Peter lunged forward, dropping his towels for the second time. He grabbed James by the jacket collar and yanked him backwards.

James, caught off balance and surprised, flew backward and collided into Peter for a second time. There was a lot of bumbling, fumbling, and misplaced hands until they regained their balance once more.

"What?" James demanded, once he had successfully gotten back onto two feet. Peter had two stabilizing hands on one of his arms and both men were breathing rather heavily, Peter more so. When had Peter gotten so strong?

"I said, no," he repeated, looking at James seriously. "I don't need you to go beating up people for me...It just makes things worse."

James stared at Peter, not believing the words that had tumbled from his mouth. Since when did Peter turn down an offer to disable one of his aggressors?

"You...don't want me to do anything? Not even a black eye or a bloody nose or - "

"No," he insisted, removing one of his hands from James's arm, once he was sure that James wouldn't go charging after anyone. "I don't want you to beat up any of my fellow stewards because then I'd have to report you and you'd get arrested or - or - " Peter stuttered momentarily, apparently the mental image of James being cuffed by the Master at Arms terrifying him beyond belief. "I - I heard about your incident on Tuesday - " James stifled an irritated groan - was that still going around? " - and the Master at Arms is already on the lookout for you, plus, the jail area is already full and he's in a bad mood - "

"All right, all right," James interrupted, shoving Peter's remaining hand off of him. "I understand. I won't beat anybody else up and consequently get sent to the Master at Arms because of it...but I'm only doing it because you asked me. Wouldn't want to be the cause of me getting arrested, would you?"

James meant for the comment to be a joke, but Peter's face went a shade lighter and he looked a bit shaky as he nodded his head. Maybe he didn't think James was being serious about his promise.

"Right," James said, clapping him once on the shoulder and grinning. "I'll see you around then."

James pushed past Peter and the smaller man bent down to pick up his dropped towels yet again.

"Oh!" he called, turning around momentarily. "And if you see Remus, don't tell him you saw me."

"Why? Are you two fighting?" Peter asked from his position on the floor.

"Er...Sort of."

"Is it about that Evans girl?"

James felt his heart skip a beat. How did Peter know about him and Lily? He hadn't seen Peter until now, unless talk was going around with the stewards -

"You...know about that?" James asked, trying to sound impassive and uncaring. He looked over his shoulder, hoping his nervousness didn't show.

"Well, yeah...Moony told me everything. Can't - can't keep his mouth shut about it." Peter mumbled, standing up. The towels were draped haphazardly all over his shoulders and arms. "But don't worry. I won't tell him a single thing."

James nodded tightly, muttered a goodbye and went on his way. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he seemed to weigh a lot more with his increased anger at Remus on his shoulders.

***

3:02 PM

"You seem absurdly chipper this afternoon. Care to share why?"

Lily glared exasperatedly at Sirius and pulled the collars of her coat up, shielding her face from his prying eyes. She did not want to be talking to him, of all people, at the moment, but she had little else to do and few other options.

The tour of the ship was winding down, just in time for tea. Thomas Andrews had led Lily, Sirius, Cal Hockley, and the Dewitt-Bukater women around for two hours, showing them the workings of his ship (of which he was immensely proud) and giving explanations to any question asked, which had led to a rather interesting conversation about the number of lifeboats on board the ship. It hadn't been a very exciting tour, but it was better than just sitting around all afternoon.

"Not going to tell me, eh?" Sirius continued in a whisper, his voice grating on her nerves.

They were in the bridge and Captain Smith was talking to the four in front. He was saying something about ice warnings and increasing speed, but as an infuriating someone was hissing in her ear, she couldn't catch was he was saying.

"Well, it's not your company that's improved my spirits, if that gives you a clue," she retorted under her breath, giving him an overly sweet smile before burrowing further down in her coat. She was not a fan of cold weather.

"That wasn't very nice of you," Sirius muttered. "You can't still be angry at me for that incident on Tuesday, can you?"

"Possibly, but as I'm not talking to you, you'll never know," Lily said pleasantly, trailing after the leaders of their group after they began to move forward, into the steering house. Sirius lagged after her, probably pretending to be put out by her smart reply.

Two of the officers brushed past them, one of them muttering an apology before continuing his conversation with the other man. " - have you seen the glasses for the lookouts?"

"Not since we left Southampton," the other replied as they walked out of the bridge. "...Bad luck, Mr. Lightoller, very bad luck..."

"What kind of ship doesn't have glasses for their lookouts?" Sirius muttered in her ear, waiting until the officers were out of earshot. "Honestly, that's just asking for trouble, even on an unsinkable ship."

"Do you really believe all that nonsense about Titanic being unsinkable?" Lily asked, lowering her voice so neither Mr. Andrews or Captain Smith would not hear her.

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

Lily glared at him, noticing the smirk on his face. She huffed, rolling her eyes, and looked away at one of the huge steering devices instead. They were certainly more fascinating then the man standing next to her.

"I hope your attitude will change once we arrive in New York," he continued, obviously not taking her hint and dropping any attempts of conversation. "I don't think James will like it very much if you and I are at odds."

Lily didn't turn around because giving him a reaction would just give herself away to him. What was he talking about? He couldn't be referring to her and James's plan, could he? Was he just trying to scare her, to get her to confess?

"Whatever are you talking about, Mr. Black?"

"I, of course, am talking about your plans to - excuse my terminology - jump ship with your fiancé and go off with James once you reach New York," Sirius continued, lowing his voice to conspiring tones. "Did you know that you'll be staying at my cousin's boarding house? You remember Andromeda, don't you?"

"Black, your ideas get more and more ridiculous every time you open your mouth," Lily shot back, trying to stay calm and not let him see that his antics were getting to her. She kept her eyes fixated on anything but him, hoping her nerves weren't showing. Maybe if she kept this attitude up, denying all his ideas and making him look like a right arse, he would give up and stop pestering her. But how could he have known all that information? She and James had been careful - "Who on earth fed you such nonsense?"

"James."

"What?" Lily cried losing her cool out of the shock of Sirius's reply. He had to be lying - James would never tell Sirius anything about them. Sirius supported the Death Eaters, Sirius worked for Lucius, Sirius would tell everything -

Her exclamation drew the attentions of the other members of their group. Lily was too busy staring at Sirius like a fish to pay any mind to Ruth Dewitt-Bukater's disapproving glare.

"Excuse us for a moment," Sirius muttered, forcefully grabbing her elbow and leading her out of the steering house. It took Lily a moment to realise what was going on and she wrenched her arm out of Sirius's grip the moment they were out on the deck.

"Who - What - Why in God's name would he tell you that?" she demanded, staring at him like something particularly disgusting. It occurred to her then that he might be leading her on, lying to her and trying to pry information about James out of her - but Sirius, even this new model, had always been straightforward with her, never sneaky. "You're a Death Eater! You work for Lucius! You - you - " she trailed off, noticing the strange look on Sirius's face, " - what was James thinking, telling you that sort of information?"

Sirius glanced over his shoulder, grabbed her by the shoulders, and led her into a corner, hiding her away like he had done yesterday. He bent down until his face was level with hers, and he almost seemed...nervous?

"Look," he said in a low voice, "he only told me all that so I wouldn't be shocked out of my mind when I arrived in New York and found you holding up with my best mate."

"But you're - you're - this doesn't make any sense!" she mumbled, utterly confused and shocked. She needed to sit down, but the closest thing to a chair was the wall and she leaned against it, pressing a palm to her forehead.

"I'm - I'm not exactly a Death Eater, all right?" Sirius whispered after a moment.

Lily stared at him, slowing lowering her hand away from her face. He was wincing, as if expecting a fatal blow from her.

What did he mean, not a Death Eater? He'd been hanging around Lucius and Riddle all voyage long! He had even told her that he was one of them! What the sodding hell was he playing at?

"Then what are you?" she snapped, levelling her stare.

His eyes darted around the deck nervously before settling back onto her.

"A spy," he said, his voice so low that Lily had to strain to her the words before they were blown away by the wind. "For the Order of the Phoenix...surely you've heard of that before?"

Lily nodded slowly, remembering many occasions when she had stumbled upon Lucius ranting and raving about Dumbledore's Order. She had always secretly approved of it and had always wondered if Sirius was a member. Now, a certain amount of things about him made sense and -

Wait a moment.

"So...So all that - everything you said on Tuesday, about switching sides and following Lucius...that was a lie?" she demanded, fixing her narrow gaze on him.

Sirius nodded and cringed, obviously sensing an Evans rant coming his way.

"You - you - you utter PRAT!" she cried angrily, striking out at his arm with all the force that she could muster. "Do you know how upset you made me? Do you know what I almost did - you idiot - Christ, Sirius!"

"Lily," he began bracingly, holding up a hand and trying to get her attention, "it was for your own good - "

"My own good?" she exploded, prodding him on the chest violently. "A fat lot you know about what's good for me! You foul, you worthless - "

The rest of her protests were rudely interrupted and muffled as Sirius slapped a hand over her mouth. She glared, her fury intensified, and she considered biting his hand in return for his bad manners.

"Keep your voice down and listen, will you?" he hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I lied to you because if I hadn't, I'd probably be dead and you'd have worse than a little bruise on your cheek." Lily glared at his callous mention of that incident and wrenched his hand away from her face. "It had to be done. Riddle would've found out otherwise - "

"How? I wouldn't have told him - It's not like Tom Riddle can read minds," she replied scathingly.

"Can't he?" Sirius responded levelly, not taking his eyes off of her. "Haven't you ever been around him when he says something rather peculiar or when he mentions a topic that you've just been thinking about?"

She stared at him, remembering all the times when Riddle had done something like that, when he'd mention something like the time when Lily would be worried about it or ask her about her Beauxbatons days with a little smirk on his face.

"I've seen it Lily - don't you dare try to tell me that Riddle can't read minds because he can and - and - I was afraid, all right?

"I was afraid if I told you, he'd see and find out everything and then not only I'd be dead, but Remus and James and Peter, and I couldn't bear - I - " His voice cracked slightly. "Not only that, but then you'd get hurt because you knew about it and you wouldn't have said anything - " He paused again, looking away and trying to calm himself down. He ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath, and turned back to facing her. "I knew lying to you would hurt you and you might do something stupid because of it, but it was the only way. I didn't want to cause all the trouble that I did; I just wanted to keep my friends safe. I'm telling the truth.

"Please believe me, Lily."

His intense blue eyes were begging her and his face was so desperate -

The door to the bridge burst open, expelling the remaining members of their group in a talkative mass. Sirius broke eye contact with her and turned around, following after the rest. His shoulders were slumped in a defeated way and he was trudging along very slowly.

Lily felt her heart break at the sight of him looking so dejected and she hurriedly ran to catch up with him. She knew he was telling the truth; James would never tell Sirius about them if he didn't trust him absolutely, and Sirius was so unfailingly loyal...He'd never meant to hurt anyone, and he had done the right thing...

She walked along Sirius, casually slipped a hand in his, and gave it a soft squeeze.

"I believe you."

***

3:32 PM

James was whistling an upbeat tune as he walked along the corridor, trying to use up all of the restless energy churning inside of him. He'd been wandering around the entire third class all day, trying to avoid Remus and the temptation to sneak back into the first class for another visit with Lily at the same time.

He hadn't been this furious with Remus in a long time. The only time he had seen his friend was at lunch, when they'd sat side-by-side in a tense, angry silence. Remus hadn't made any effort to speak to him and James had returned the favour, not even looking at him. He hated fighting with his friends, but Remus had been such an arse last night, he deserved it.

Before his encounter with Peter, James had run across Sirius during his wanderings; the other man had been trailing far behind a group of fellow first class passengers, looking sullen about the whole thing. James had been leaning against the wall near a gate (pondering the pros and cons of picking the lock) when the group had passed (he was sure he'd seen Lily amongst them) and spotted Sirius soon after. They'd had a brief conversation, barely five minutes, in which James told him of his and Lily's plans. He'd needed to tell one of his friends, needed their approval on the matter, and Sirius was the only one he trusted absolutely at the moment.

Sirius had reacted with surprise, of course, and then expressed more concerns about what Lily would do to him once she found him in New York than about Malfoy or anything else. Before he could make any encouraging or discouraging remarks, his group called and he had to leave, though promising to talk to James (and sort things out with Remus) later tonight.

The rest of the afternoon was incredibly uneventful, as James had gone out of his way to avoid trouble, mostly because of Peter's request. Without the grounding from his friend, he probably would've gone and tried to see Lily again, which would've successfully ruined all of their plans thus far.

But staying away from Lily was just so hard...

Brushing past an elderly couple speaking in a language James didn't recognise, he rounded the corner into another, larger corridor. He'd already been up and down this corridor several times today - it was the most popular and widely used in the third class areas. At the moment, it was the least populated James had seen it all day, even with the shrieking children running up and down the length, their parents hurrying after them, and the terrified stewards trying to stay out of their way.

James walked a few paces, glancing around at the activity occurring. He sidestepped a pack of screaming children, grinning at the sight of such playfulness, and then stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor, going numb as he caught sight of a horrifying picture ahead.

Just a few strides beyond, standing near a gated stairwell, were two burly stewards and one malevolent Severus Snape. Snape was talking to the stewards, a serious look on his twisted face, and his black eyes were darting around the corridor, looking for something -

Or someone.

There were only a select few who could make Snape's beady eyes burn with such loathing and determination, and James was proud to say he was one of them. Snape had to be looking for him - why else would he be down in the third class, looking like he had just eaten something particularly disgusting, and talking with stewards nonetheless?

James turned quickly on his heel, dread flowing through him, and he hurried back toward the corner before Snape could spot him. He didn't want to stick around for this confrontation; he didn't want to know what Snape wanted to him, as he was positive it was going to be something horrible...

"There he is!"

Too late.

James could feel Snape's eyes on the back of his neck and heard the sounds of heavy footsteps quickly following after him. He slowed down, knowing if he ran, the stewards would probably tackle him and make a scene. It would be better to get caught, not doing anything wrong, than run before he knew what was going on.

"Potter!"

A scowl on his face, James stopped and turned, dreading this.

Snape had caught up to him fast. The other man was already in front of him, a satisfied sneer on his face.

"What do you want, Snape?" James demanded, trying to look as innocent as he could with a snarl on his features. "Third class is a bit too classy for you, isn't it?"

Snape's pale skin flushed and his sneer faltered for the briefest moments. James felt a rush of satisfaction, glad his insults still had the same effect on Snape as they'd had at Hogwarts.

"Trust me, Potter, I wouldn't come into this sty without a perfectly good reason," Snape replied, glaring. The two trollish stewards were hovering threateningly over his shoulder, glaring at James as if they expected him to throw a punch and run. The taller, ape-like man actually cracked his knuckles in warning. "Lucius Malfoy sent me to find you. He requests your presence in his stateroom and he'd like to...ask you a few questions."

James arched an eyebrow, maintaining a cool façade as his insides twisted in panic. What could Malfoy want with him? He couldn't know -

Maybe this wasn't about Lily at all, James realised with a cold stab of panic. Maybe Malfoy had discovered that he was a member of the Order, maybe Sirius had been discovered, maybe Remus was the spy -

"About what?"

Snape sneered again, something vicious lurking in his face.

"I'm afraid you'll find out when you arrive."

"Sorry, but you can tell him I'm not interested - "

James's hasty escape was ruined by a meaty hand clamping down painfully on his shoulder.

"Refusal is out of the question, Potter," Snape said airily, apparently delighted that the steward-troll was cutting off the circulation in James's arm. "You'll either come of your own free will or Crabbe and Goyle here - " he gestured to the ape currently crushing the bones in James's arm and the other watching with hungry eyes, " - will persuade you by force."

Goyle chuckled, cracking his knuckles again for emphasis. Usually, James wasn't one to back down from a fight, but as it would be him against two hulking ogres and he would most likely end up being dragged to Malfoy looking like a piece of meat...

"Fine," he said, glaring. Crabbe loosened his iron grip on his arm and James tugged it away before any further damage could be wrought. He and the other monkey took up positions on either side of James, acting like guards escorting a condemned prisoner.

"Perfect," Snape said, a greasy smile spreading across his face.

And, if his growing feeling of dread was correct, James was on his way to his death sentence.

***

4:08 PM

"Ah, there you are, darling."

Lily slid out of her stateroom, shutting the door softly behind her.

Lucius was seated in an armchair near the fire, reading a book. He looked at her as she approached, one of his eyebrows arching in an amused fashion.

"Yellow, dear? You know your sister won't approve."

Lily stopped herself from rolling her eyes just in time. She had changed dresses once she had gotten back from the tour a half an hour ago, trading her tight-laced green dress for a loose, flowing yellow and blue sun dress. It was the most comfortable out of all the dresses she owned and Petunia could throw a fit for all she cared.

"Lucius, you...you didn't go into the safe this afternoon by any chance, did you?" she asked, ignoring his comment and pressing on about more urgent matters. "I found it open when I went in to change and I didn't take anything out."

Lucius's forehead crinkled in thought and he set his book down on his lap, keeping his place with his finger.

"No, I didn't touch it. Your sister found it open as well...I do think your maid or one of the stewards might be trying to steal some of my belongings. A few of the jewels are missing."

"Oh...I see," she muttered, shocked that someone would betray their trust like that and steal something of great value.

"I wouldn't worry, darling. I have Severus looking into it, and the Master at Arms will be here shortly to make the arrest once we've discovered the...ah, culprit," he replied, looking into the fire, a faint smile on his features.

She nodded, sinking into the armchair across from him, and looking anywhere but at him. She hadn't come into the sitting room to discuss thieves. She had been determined, making up her mind the moment she left for the tour, to break off her engagement to Lucius today. But now, it wouldn't be appropriate to break their engagement, not when Lucius already had important things on his mind, not when such a shocking thing had occurred.

Her engagement ring burned on her finger and the idea of being engaged to this man a moment longer tore at her insides. She wanted James, not Lucius -

"Lucius, we...we need to talk," she burst out moments later, twisting her engagement ring around her finger, trying to stop the burning.

He looked at her, his eyebrows knotted together in question.

"Do we?"

Lily gulped, gathering all of her courage, and stared at him in determination.

"Yes," she replied, sitting straighter in her chair. "We - I don't think...What I mean is - "

She wrung her hands together, the burning of the ring growing greater as she stumbled over her words. She had to do this, proper or no -

"What is it, Lily?" he demanded, his impatience showing.

"I - I don't want to get married to you any more."

Once the words were out of her mouth, it felt as though a great weight had been taken off her chest. She breathed, relieved, even as Lucius's face grew dark with bewilderment and in anger.

"You - what?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair, his eyes narrowed to slits.

"You heard me. I said, I don't want to get married to you," she repeated, feeling slightly more confident and courageous than before. "I don't love you - I never loved you, as much as I tried to fool myself otherwise...There's someone else - "

"Who?" he growled, throwing his book down and rising from his chair, his face thunderous. He leaned on the mantle over the fireplace, glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. "It had better not be - "

"James," she interrupted. "I'm in love with James, and I'm leaving with him once we arrive at - "

"Lily, this is preposterous! You've gone mad!" he interrupted, turning to glare at her. "You can't love that filth - you don't know him!"

"I love him more than I'd ever love you!" she declared, standing from her chair. She wrenched the large diamond off her finger and held it out to him. "What was preposterous was accepting your proposal in the first place!"

His face turned even darker and he walked toward her in a menacing manner. He snatched the ring from her out held hand, looking ready to crush it under his fingers.

"You're not leaving me, not for some worthless rag; I won't allow it," he breathed, his face inches from hers. He was flushed in anger and she was breathing heavy, furious at his insults. "I won't let my family and myself be publicly humiliated by a little girl and a boy not good enough to wipe grime off my shoes!"

"If you try and stop me, if you hurt James - I'll - I'll go to the police about you and your little 'organisation!'" she cried, burning in anger. Lily suddenly felt a rush of satisfaction seeing Lucius shocked expression and knowing that she had the upper hand for once. "James told me everything about your bloody Death Eaters and - "

"Listen here, you little tramp - " he roared, grabbing her left hand, his face murderous. Lily froze, screwing up her face in expectation, knowing what was coming -

There was a knock at the door.

Lucius glared at her, as if blaming this interruption on her, and then dropped her wrist, moving away. He shoved her engagement ring in his pocket with another glare and muttered, "We'll finish this later," in a menacing tone.

Lily turned away, not wanting to look at him a moment longer and tried to calm down. It wouldn't be good to appear red faced and angry to the Master at Arms. With their argument, she had forgotten all about jewel thieves, and he stomach sank in heavy anticipation. She didn't want to see this, but Lucius wouldn't let her walk out now.

"Come in," Lucius commanded, sounding like he had composed himself already. He was a master at concealing his emotions, as Lily was well aware.

Lily kept her back to the door, hearing it open and the footsteps of two people enter. One pair continued on into the room and the other stopped at the doorway.

"I've located our suspect, sir," Snape said, oily satisfaction apparent from his smug tone. "Do you want me to bring him inside so the Master at Arms can make the arrest?"

"Of course," Lucius responded, his tone laced with the impatience so characteristic of him.

Lily turned back around, having calmed down enough so she wouldn't scream at the next person who talked to her, just as Snape stepped outside to bring the supposed culprit in to face his jury.

Standing by the divan and squinting at something on the fabric, was the portly Master at Arms. He nodded cordially in greeting to Lily and then turned to Lucius, swinging a pair of handcuffs around in a manner that suggested he had already decided to make the arrest.

"I hope you have significant evidence to prove the suspect guilty this time," he spoke in gravely tones, glaring pointedly across the room. "I'm a very busy man, Mister Malfoy, and I don't have time to be running to your very false alarm."

"It isn't, sir," Lucius replied calmly. He was leaning against the mantle again, eyeing the door with an apprehensive, hungry look and a peculiar smile on his face. "There'll be enough evidence - trust me."

The confidence in his tone and his strange body language began to brew a storm of dread in Lily's stomach. She glanced to the door and then back, her feeling growing worse. Something horrible was about to occur, something wasn't right about all this -

The door opened again and Snape stepped through, looking particularly smug. He was followed by two huge men dressed in stewards uniforms, and squashed between them, looking thoroughly uncomfortable and wronged, was -

"You again?" the Master at Arms asked, his moustache twitching as his frown deepened.

Lily's mouth went dry and her stomach twisted into horrible knots. She took a step back, her knees weak, and placed a stabilising hand on the armchair behind her. She shot Lucius an accusing glare and demanded, "What is going on?"

***

James knew there had been something suspicious about Snape appearing below decks, telling him that Malfoy wanted to speak with him. That alone warranted enough suspicion on James's part; it had been two days since their dinner party and Malfoy had clearly expressed that he detested James. Even as he was being squashed between Crabbe and Goyle in the lift, James hadn't believed it would be anything serious, until he had caught sight of the Master at Arms entering the Malfoy stateroom.

He'd tried to ask any of them then, even Snape, what was happening, but they had ignored him. He didn't understand why the Master needed to be involved with all of this. He hadn't done anything bad to Malfoy, unless he had decided to press charges for that incident on Tuesday anyway...but they had cleared up that matter. Something bad was happening, something James didn't like at all -

Snape had just come back outside, having gone in with the Master moments earlier, probably to talk with Malfoy.

"He'll see you now, Potter," Snape said, his voice greased with a satisfaction of some sort. He looked like a puppy, eager to serve his master.

"What - "

Crabbe cut off any of James's protests with a guttural grunt and a meaty hand on his forearm. Goyle, following Crabbe's lead, clamped one of his fists around James's other arm, and they marched him into the sitting room.

The first thing James noticed was the elegance of the sitting room, right down to the gold trimmings on the porthole. At the sight of the expensive oak panelling and swirling carpet, James was immediately drawn back to earlier in the day, when he had been in Lily's stateroom, kissing her senseless...

James missed the Master at Arms's cutting remark as his eyes darted around the room, looking for Lily. If Malfoy were up to something, she'd be here...

And there she was, standing behind an armchair, her pale cheeks flushed and looking shaky. Her emerald eyes were frantic, glancing from him to Malfoy and then back again.

"What is going on?" she demanded of Malfoy, her voice cracking slightly. She looked confused and she shot a glare in his direction; apparently, Malfoy hadn't told her anything about this either.

"I'd like to know that myself," James said, shrugging off Crabbe and Goyle's hands impatiently. He glanced at Malfoy, trying not to betray any sort of emotion. "When Snape said you wanted to me questions, I didn't think I was in for the Spanish Inquisition."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small smile appear on Lily's pale face and the weight on his heart lightened considerably.

The moment quickly faded as Malfoy stepped away from the fireplace where he had been leaning oh so impressively, a strange look on his face.

"Delightful to see you as always, Potter," Malfoy said crisply, stopping in front of James and staring him down coolly.

"Malfoy," he returned impassively, matching Malfoy's stare. "Care to tell me why I'm here?"

Malfoy chuckled under his breath, bouncing like an excited child on the balls of his feet.

"Several of my possessions went missing earlier in the day, Potter," he said airily, turning his back to James and walking toward the Master at Arms. "Since you seem to enjoy stealing things that rightfully belong to me - " he shot a dark look at Lily, who glared him down defiantly, " - I thought you would be a primary suspect."

James stared at him, dumbfounded. He was accusing him of stealing jewels? What ever happened to a simple talk?

"W - What?" he sputtered a moment later, taken aback. He glanced at Lily briefly, hoping she didn't believe any of this nonsense. She looked rather surprised as well, but her gaze was nothing but warmth for him. "What - no - you've gone mad, Malfoy. When could I have ever found a time to steal something of yours?"

Malfoy shrugged, obviously thinking over his answer carefully.

"Well, perhaps you found the time to sneak into the safe when you paid my fiancée a visit this morning," he said, his tone loosing the airy quality and gaining a hard, furious edge.

James gaped at him. How could he have -

"Lucius, this is absurd!" Lily said, coming to his defence at last. "I was with James the whole time, he couldn't have stolen anything - "

"How would you know that, darling?" Lucius asked, turning on her. "From what I was told, he...distracted you very well."

"You - You - " James stumbled over the words he longed the throw at Malfoy, hate surging in him.

"I didn't do anything," he declared, feeling desperation beginning to set in on him. Five pairs of hostile eyes were on him and the last pair, the one he cared about the most, was simply staring, her eyes a sea of emerald confusion. "I don't know what you're playing at Malfoy, but this is a bunch of shit. I've never stolen anything - "

"Never?" Malfoy interrupted, looking positively evil. He had come back around the divan, glowering at James disdainfully. "Then I suppose your early days as a pickpocket don't count?"

If he eyes could accomplish such a feat, James was sure they would've popped out of his head. How did Malfoy know about that? It was one thing to know about this morning, but James's past...The only person he had told recently about that was -

Lily.

She wouldn't have, she didn't -

"Search him," Malfoy commanded, turning away with one last disdainful look and walking toward Lily.

"What?" James demanded, but it was no use.

The Master at Arms had already stepped forward, asking him to take his overcoat off. He froze momentarily, shock and utter disbelief flowing through him, before he slowly took the coat off and handed it to the Master.

James had gone through searches before and he knew the routine. But he had never felt as nervous about the outcome before. He didn't know why he felt nervous; he knew he was innocent, that he hadn't stolen a thing from Malfoy - but there was something about the unfriendly glint in Malfoy's cold eyes, something about the way he and Snape were already sharing triumphant looks, something about the way Lily was doubting him -

Mechanically, he lifted his arms, letting Crabbe pat down his shirt and sleeves. He glanced across the room at Lily, who was gripping the armchair so tight that her knuckles were white. Malfoy was standing next to her, a possessive hand on her shoulder, and James felt a wave of anger -

"Is this what's missing?" the Master at Arms asked, breaking the tense silence.

James tore his eyes away from Lily and watched, horrified, as the Master at Arms held up a glittering diamond and emerald necklace that had suddenly appeared from his coat's right pocket.