Inevitable

Chapter Twenty-One

The Flat

Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship- Dorothy Parker

Lily blew hair out of her face as she struggled to lift an old chair into the back of her father's car. She would, normally, simply use her wand to levitate it in, but as she was in her parents' driveway that wasn't an option.

Lily was moving out.

For the past week, she and Lene had gone flat hunting. They had disagreements over where it should be and how much and how big, but Lily had finally found one on the east coast of the country, in a town that thrived during the tourist season and was fairly quiet the rest of the year. Lene, although she hadn't seen it yet, liked the fact that the town was small enough that they could use magic openly. Lily liked it because it was near the ocean, and she could afford it.

Of course, her parents weren't overly thrilled with their baby leaving, but as she had told them, she had to go. She was beginning a life as a witch; she couldn't stay in a Muggle household and not use the magic she had been learning for the past seven years. She couldn't give it up like that.

Petunia, on the other hand, was overjoyed, and had even offered to help carry out Lily's luggage. Her parting words to her little sister, before going off to examine flowers for her wedding, were: "Bye - and don't bring that freak boyfriend of yours to my wedding."

Lily had promised not to. She had conveniently forgotten to mention to her family that she and James were no longer together. It meant she could disappear for a few hours every few evenings, to go to Order Headquarters, and no one would worry. Well, not in the same way as they would if they knew where she was really going.

"Argh!" she finally yelled, kicking the stubborn chair. Seeing as it still didn't jump up and move itself, she kicked it again.

"Lily?" her father called from the doorway. "Do you need help?"

"No thanks," she replied, "I'm going to get it."

She was determined to get the bloody chair in the car without any help. She would not let the chair win. Glancing around nervously, Lily pulled her wand from her sock, where it stayed flattened against her calf under her pants when she was in Muggle clothing, and muttered a quick weightlessness charm. Hastily, hoping no one had seen, she shoved her wand back and resumed her task.

*

"This is it?" asked Marlene in disbelief.

"This is it," Lily answered.

The flat was much smaller than Lene had anticipated. There were five rooms, including a bathroom. The living room was just large enough for the odd, mismatched assortment of chairs the girls had brought; some purchased from jumble sales, and of course, the chair that had taken Lily the morning to wrestle into her parents' car, and two tables borrowed from Marlene's parents' basement.

The kitchen was barely big enough for the two girls to sit around the small table; they wouldn't be having much company. The appliances were outdated, but, as Lene pointed out, they'd replace them with things that didn't run on electricity anyway.

The bedrooms were also very small initially. Finally becoming too frustrated with her lack of space, Lene whipped out her wand and expanded her room to give her a few extra feet in each direction. She offered to do the same for Lily's room, and her offer was happily accepted.

"We should make dinner," Lene said suddenly, as they went through Lily's box of books.

Lily nodded. "I'm hungry."

"Our first dinner in our new home."

"We should commemorate this."

"With a picture."

"I'll get the camera."

Lene walked into the kitchen while Lily glanced around at the boxes, wondering which one had a camera in it.

"Lily?"

"What?"

"You didn't think to bring plates, did you?"

Lily's mouth fell open. Kitchen things. Of course. "No, didn't you?"

"Hmm. How about forks?"

"None of those, either."

"I think we're going shopping tomorrow," Lene sighed.

"We can't eat without forks and plates and things. We don't have pots or pans either. And I didn't bring any food..."

"But we'll starve!" Lene exclaimed.

"I guess we'll have to go out."

"I'm not buying."

"Me neither! I have no money."

"Well then, whose house do we crash?"

"Lene, it's Sunday, we can't-"

"Sunday! You're a genius!"

Lily was confused. "Um... Why am I a genius?"

"Because Sirius won't be home if it's Sunday and dinner time! We'll have to go to the Potters' for food. They always have extra food for unexpected guests."

"Er, Lene? I don't know if I really want to-"

"You want to eat, don't you?"

"I'm starved, but-"

"So let's go! No one'll care. We used to just show up there all the time during the summer, they'll be worried if they don't have any unexpected guests."

"Wait - why don't we just go to one of your cousins?"

Lene gave her a look, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Lily, how much do know about being one of the babies of a family?"

"Not much, I'm guessing, despite the fact that I am the baby of my family."

"Going to one of them for food would be admitting defeat! I must do better! I must not make their mistakes in life! I have to step out of the shadow and not turn to them for help!"

"Okay, okay, so we're going to the Potters'." She racked her mind for a solution that would not require looking at James. "Or, we could go to Sirius', steal his food, and then come back here and eat the first meal of our flat in our flat."

Lene grinned. "As much potential as that has, Sirius keeps inventory of his edibles."

"What's your point?"

"Too true. Okay, let's go to Sirius'."

*

Despite some of its obvious flaws, and their lack of preparation, the girls soon loved their new home. It represented the freedom that they had never experienced before. They could decorate it how they liked, live however they wanted, and go to sleep when they felt like it. The clashing furniture and walls that changed colour every few days added to the overall personality of the flat.

It was in a building inhabited entirely by witches and wizards, although it was located in a Muggle neighbourhood. This meant that they could use magic and keep their magical devices in plain sight, but when they went out they had to dress like Muggles.

Lily had begun her internship at St. Mungo's, having received E's on six of her NEWTs, an O in Charms, and a very well deserved A in Study of Ancient Runes, and she loved it. She had been accepted immediately, as she had a personal recommendation from Professor Dumbledore. Placed into the Spell Damage Wing, since Charms were her speciality, Lily was quite happy helping to fix the dozens of improperly applied charms that came through every day. Of course, it would be eight months of training before she could consider herself a Healer, and that was eight months of rather poor pay, but it would be worth it. She was currently training under Rebecca Stock, a plump woman in her sixties, who had the habit of calling everyone 'honey' and who knew everything there was to know about jinxes. Not to mention, as Lene and had pointed out, rather sarcastically, the green robes were the perfect colour for Lily's complexion.

Marlene had just been hired by the Ministry as an Obliviator. She now routinely travelled around the country, modifying the memories of Muggles who had seen magical creatures, magical fights, Quidditch games, anything remotely magical really. It also meant that she got to work closely with members of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Department, the Department of Magical Catastrophes, and other law-keeping departments that were full of younger wizards in very good shape. Although she didn't particularly like the idea of the job, she admitted that it was fun.

She also, coincidentally, had been dating a wizard she met at the Ministry, named Brent. He worked for the Department of Magical Catastrophes, and although Lily had only met him once, she agreed that he was very sweet, not to mention cute.

Lily had not seen James Potter since she had walked away from him at King's Cross, and was regretting it daily. She convinced herself that if she ever saw him again, she would tell him. She had tried to write a letter, but that didn't work. She had called Isabelle back about two seconds after sending her off and ripped the letter to shreds. She had Apparated to his house, and hovered at the front gate for about twenty minutes before backing out and Apparating back to her flat. She knew she loved him, she knew she wanted him back in her life, she just didn't know how to get past all the stupid, horrible things they had done and said to each other.

Lene however, had talked to him, and had happily informed Lily that he had begun training as an Auror, and that his mother was caught between extreme pride and excessive worry. Apparently, it made for quite interesting dinner conversations, as Mrs Potter panicked about the danger, even if there wasn't any.

Lily had decided that she was no longer mad at him, and she really should have accepted his apology the first time. Or maybe the second. She missed him. A lot. She missed his voice, his quick laugh, his warmth. She even missed that annoying habit of running his hands through his hair, and she especially missed how he never managed to say what he actually meant. Unfortunately, her pride would not allow her to admit this, and she was determined to last until the end of the month, the time she had given, before going back and begging for forgiveness.

Sirius, who Lily had spoken with, was quite happy doing whatever it was that he was doing that allowed him to have more magical gadgets than Moody. She wasn't sure exactly, but was fairly certain that it involved security. She wasn't so sure that it was entirely legal, however, and so she didn't ask questions.

A week passed without many incidents.

"Lily?" Lene called as she walked in one day.

"What?" Lily called from her spot on the couch, where she was scanning the headlines of the Daily Prophet and pondering who she should take to Petunia's wedding in a week.

"How would you feel about doing me a huge favour?"

"No."

"You don't even know what it is yet!"

"I don't care. Last time I did you a huge favour I was stuck baking biscuits all afternoon."

"Yeah, you burnt all of them."

"Not true! One batch came out alright..."

"Right. The soggy ones."

"This is very bad way to get me to help you."

"Come on! I'll pay full rent this month if you help me out of this."

Lily sat up straighter. The prospect of not paying rent was a very nice idea indeed. "What would you like me to do?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I kinda sorta promised someone that I would baby-sit tonight, but I totally forgot and said that I'd go out with Brent... can you baby-sit for me?"

Lily raised her eyebrows and leaned back. "How many kids?"

"One."

"Age?"

"One."

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"Holy terror?"

"I don't know."

"The whole rent?"

"The whole rent."

"Fine. What time?"

Lene grinned. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed.

"What time?" Lily repeated.

"Oh, they're dropping the kid off around seven, they'll be back around two."

Lily considered. She liked little kids. At least - she thought she did. Come to think of it, she'd never taken care of a baby all on her own before. She'd held them, played with them, sang to them, but there was always a parent there to pass the baby off to the minute he or she got fussy. What did one do with a baby for a long period of time? How exactly did you make a baby stop crying?

"Lene?" she asked timidly.

"What?" Lene stuck her head out of the kitchen.

"What - what d'you do with a baby?"

"Oh, Merlin. D'you want me to call someone else?"

"No! I can watch a baby for a few hours, Lene. So... who am I watching?" She was beginning to not like this idea, but if Lene could watch a baby, so could she.

"Oh - his name's... um... Cedric. Cute little kid. I was on a job with his dad a while ago and he saved my ass from a dragon, so I said that if there was anyway I could repay the favour... and he said he was always looking for a baby-sitter..."

"So you're panning your repaying off on me?"

"I'm paying rent!"

"True. But you never know, I might have had a date tonight, and then where would you be?"

"Well, I'd be screwed then, wouldn't I? Of course, I know you wouldn't have a date, as you've become a regular ice queen to any guy that even thinks about flirting with you."

Lily stuck her tongue out. Even though it was true, Lene had no business pointing it out.

*

Lily glanced warily at Cedric for what was probably the seven-zillionth time. He wasn't crying, but he wasn't doing much of anything, either. He just sat there. Like a bump on a log. He didn't want to play with any of the toys his parents had left him, he didn't like the pictures in the book of animals Lily had pulled out for him, and he wasn't walking yet.

Lene had left a few minutes after he was dropped off, and would be back before he was to be picked up, so hopefully the Diggorys would never know that she had left their son with someone else.

Lily had no idea what to do with this baby. She had had a vague idea that he might want to sleep, but that hadn't gone over well. He had cried for nearly five minutes straight, and Lily figured that she must have been doing something wrong, so she went and got him back out of bed.

She had sang to him, tickled him, pulled out an old football she had brought along from her parents' shed and rolled it back and forth, but this boy had an attention span of about fourteen seconds. She was out of ideas. And, from the looks of things, he was getting bored too. Maybe even tired...

"So, what d'you want to do?" she asked him.

"Gee," he said.

"Really, I never would have guessed."

"Gee."

"Do you want... to have a drink and a cookie? I think we have the stuff for chocolate milk..." Lily wandered into the kitchen and began looking through cupboards. "Found it!" she called to Cedric when she pulled out the tin of mix.

CRASH

"Shi-oot!" Lily ran back into the living room.

Right... you're not supposed to leave kids alone.

There was Cedric, beside a bookshelf, looking rather proud of himself. Around him were several broken picture frames, having fallen from a shelf near the bottom.

"Gee." He grinned up at her and reached for a large piece of glass.

"Oh no," she said, scooping him up quickly. "Come on, you can't stay there."

Shifting him to her hip, she waved her wand at the glass on the floor and directed it to a wastebasket. She then went to put him down on the couch. But, apparently, Cedric was happy being held.

"Ow!" Lily cried.

He had a firm grip on her hair, which she had foolishly left down, and was eating the ends.

"No, no - Come on, get that out of your mouth. Let go!" Lily tried to pry her hair out of his fingers, but he had a very tight grip.

"OW!"

He had ripped out a small handful of her hair.

Lene not only ended up paying the entire rent, but she also paid for the connection to the Floo network.

Lily vowed that she would never look after a one-year-old boy ever again. Lene had simply laughed at this statement.

"Okay," she said, rolling her eyes, "so when you have kids, what're you going to do with them when they turn one?"

"Well, I'll just have to have girls then, won't I?" Lily responded.

*

Lily woke up to the smell of bacon. And to the yells of Marlene McKinnon.

"Lily Evans! If you don't get out here right now I'm going to come in and dump a glass of water on your face and then I'll be really mad 'cause I'm acting like my mother and I don't like it!"

Groaning and rolling onto her stomach, Lily pulled her pillow over her hear to block out the noise.

"Lil!"

"Shut up... M'tired," she mumbled.

"We're both going to be late and it's all your fault!"

She lifted up one end of the pillow to look at the clock. Narrowing her eyes, she waited for her vision to focus. Eight... Eight twenty.

Eight twenty!

"No!" Lily sprang out of bed. Hopping on one leg, she pulled on socks and squirmed out of the T-shirt she slept in. She flung on her robes and pulled her hair into a ponytail in one swift movement. Glancing in the mirror, she applied a quick coat of mascara, decided she had no time for anything else, and ran into the kitchen.

"Heythanksbacongottago!" she blurted. Grabbing a piece of bacon right from the frying pan, burning her fingers in the process, she burst into the hall, Disapparated, reappearing almost instantly in the alley beside St. Mungo's.

Rushed, she sprinted through the halls and up to her floor. Rebecca was waiting for her.

"Lily, honey," she said sternly, if indeed Rebecca could say anything sternly, "two minutes tardiness can be the difference between a live patient and a dead patient."

"Sorry," Lily gasped, trying to catch her breath. "Overslept... roommate... didn't... wake... me...."

"No time for excuses, honey! We've got people to heal!"

Lily, still trying to catch her breath, was led into a room with several people who were all half animal. A woman on her right held wet sponges to her gills, so that she could breathe. The man next to her had floppy dog-ears sticking out of the top of his head and a tail wagging behind him. Another man, across from the dog-man, was playing idly with his elephant trunk.

"Failed Animagus transformations, and other animal Transfigurations" Rebecca explained. "Quite common, you'll see many of them. People attempt it without all of the proper research, and look what happens. It takes a great deal of control and power to become an Animagus, and often several years of ending up here. As well, it takes a lot of focus to Transfigure one's self into an animal, and they are often not done completely. And are hard to reverse in some cases. Sir - if you'd please keep your tail under control."

"Really?" Lily asked. "How long?"

"Five to ten on average," she replied. "I remember your old Professor, Minerva McGonagall - she was here every few weeks for near three years before she could do it, and she's the shortest I've ever seen. That woman had the longest tail I have ever seen in my life. Now to fix-"

Five to ten years? That doesn't make sense... It only took them two or three. They aren't that powerful, and with only the resources at school, and only being fifteen... No. No! Stop thinking about him! Stop it.

"Lily, honey? Will you get started on this trunk?"

Lily snapped back to attention. "Umm... could I watch you first? Just so I know what it looks like?"

Rebecca smiled at her. "Excellent suggestion. Far too many people come in here assuming that they can do everything first try..." She trailed off as she performed the counter-charm, and the trunk morphed back into a nose, completely unaware that her pupil hadn't paid any attention whatsoever.

*

What is it, Lily wondered, about using chopsticks that makes people feel cultured? It's not like they magically give you an opinion on art, or that they give you perspective on classical music. They're just a couple sticks, she told herself. A couple of stupid, useless sticks.

Lily could not use chopsticks, and was currently acting as the laughingstock of the room for Lene and Alice as the three ate lunch at Headquarters.

"Like this, Lily," Alice explained, showing her how to pick up the wontons for the fourteenth time.

Lily tried again, but when it didn't work, she went back to stabbing her food with one, and eating it that way. "I'm sorry," she explained, "but I need a fork. These things were designed to drive me insane."

Lene laughed at her friend's incompetence. She had conquered her chopsticks after only a few tries, and Lily was quite obviously bitter.

The three were at Headquarters, and had been checking the wards, and putting up new ones all morning. For their lunch, Alice had brought along a wide variety of Chinese food, failing to realise that neither of the girls she was working with had ever used chopsticks before.

"That's it," Lily said, as a green pepper went flying across the room. She irritably whipped out her wand and transfigured one of her wooden sticks into a fork. She continued to eat, ignoring the chuckles of the other two.

Suddenly, the fire roared emerald, and Frank Longbottom stepped out.

"Hello girls," he said with a smile. "How're the wards coming?"

"Fine," Alice said, standing up to kiss her husband's cheek.

"Good." He turned to his wife. "I need you to do me a favour."

"What?"

"Dorcas is running after paper trails all over the country trying to get access to those records. If we have to bypass the regular forms, I don't care anymore. Dorcas can't steal them though - she's already in too much trouble over those Mandrake disappearances, and we can't have them seeing a pattern. And we don't have access anymore."

Lily winced. She had to make a potion out of said Mandrakes in the next few weeks, and was not looking forward to cutting up something that didn't look like a plant.

Alice furrowed her brows. "What records? The Law Enforcement ones, or the Employment?"

"Both, if you can."

"I'll do it," Lily said quickly, not really thinking about what she was saying. "If someone else wants to handle the Mandrakes, I can do it."

Lene raised her eyebrows at her friend, but said nothing.

Frank looked surprised as well. "You want to go? You know you'll have twice as much trouble. The Ministry's hard to get into, and you might not even be able to wander into all the places that a pureblood could."

She smiled, knowing that he didn't mean to insult her, just warn. "Why not? It can't be any harder than using these things." She waved her non-transfigured chopstick for him to see. "Besides, I don't have to talk to anyone. Plus" she added, "I can always just steal the records at night. I can't blame Dorcas, the Ministry's so slow."

Frank laughed, but didn't look convinced. "Right then. But you should know that there are always people there, no matter what time of day. Moody can get you into Auror Headquarters, but the rest you'd have to do yourself."

"I can do this, Frank."

"Didn't say you couldn't. I need them by the September - that's when they'll all come back from their summer homes and start supporting Voldemort again."

Lily nodded.

"And Lily - thanks. I'd do this myself, but they're breathing down our necks over there. It can't be an inside job this time. They're following all the wrong leads, and at the moment I'm one of them."

The Ministry of Magic top officials were impractical, illogical, and rather stupid. As much money as they poured into their Auror department, Death Eaters were infiltrating everywhere, and no Ministry secret stayed that way for long. It was even harder for the Aurors who also worked for the Order, because if they let on that they knew some of the things the Order dealt with, they would be branded as Death Eaters as well. It was a very confusing time. Employment or criminal records for those who the Order suspected were in the Inner Circle of Voldemort's supporters would be incredibly valuable.

The idea that she had to work alongside Dorcas Meadowes, however, irritated Lily even more than the Ministry. Meadowes always managed to get under Lily's skin.

Alice saw the look on her younger friend's face. "Don't worry," she said, "it's just her way of testing you. Once she realizes that you're talented she won't be that way anymore."

"Or," Lene suggested, having been 'tested' several times herself, "you could just tell her to keep her mind on catching bad guys and leave us alone."

Lily smirked. She had never been present to see Lene snap at Dorcas, but she had heard the stories, and they were quite funny. Lene had an extraordinarily little amount of patience for some things. "I'm sure that that could be arranged" she said, "but you have to pick up the pieces after she blows me up, 'just to see if I'd take it.'"

It was then that Alice gave the younger girls what could have been interpreted as a warning glance, and Lily went back to her wontons.