Marauders Rare Pairs ♦ Fic: Half of Something Else
Title: Half of Something Else
Author: escribo
Pairing: Lily/Alice
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2187
Prompt: #90
"I'll ply the fire with kindling now, I'll pull the blankets up to my chin
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so
But she's got the urge for going and I guess she'll have to go"
- Joni Mitchell "Urge for Going"
Warnings: none
Summary: During the war, Alice and Lily find a moment of peace.
It was near dawn when Alice came through the door of the small cabin, bringing a blast of cold air with her. She hurried to slam it shut after Lily tumbled in behind her, shaking the snow from her thick ponytail and stamping her feet. They hadn't packed for winter. When the call had come, Alice barely had time to toss together a bag at all, and the message had said they would travel to the South. Of course, she had also thought the "they" meant her and Frank. Not that she was complaining. She'd always been rather fond of Lily, but she had to admit that she missed Frank, if only because he was such a furnace.
"I can't believe it's snowing. It's September for Merlin's sake," she whinged as she clapped her hands together, trying to restore some feeling to them. "There's a fireplace. Do you think we can get something started?"
"I don't know. Do you think it'd be safe to use a little magic? Dumbledore said--"
"Dumbledore didn't know we'd be freezing our bollocks off, figuratively speaking, of course." Alice walked around the cabin, pacing it off with her feet. It was nothing more than a shack, barely big enough for two. Alice kicked at the grubby mattress pushed up against the far wall and frowned at the broken chair in the corner.
"Well, we both have more than the boys, anyway," Alice continued on cheerfully. "You know, James and Sirius were offered this mission first but turned it down because they thought monitoring some boys' club on the high street would be more exciting."
"It's more than a boys' club." Lily hadn't moved from in front of the door, her arms folded over her chest. There was a long, thin cut along her cheekbone that had stopped bleeding but still looked like it hurt, and Alice felt bad that she hadn't noticed before. "Lucius Malfoy is known to be a member, and last year the Ministry raided the place and took out all sorts of illegal artifacts."
"So send the girls to the South while the boys have all the fun."
"They couldn't have known that it was a trap."
"I suppose not. I'd forgotten you could duel so well, Lily. Does it hurt much?"
Lily's hand flew up to touch her cheek, barely touching the broken skin. "Not much. I suppose I should wash it off. Is there--"
Lily looked around and sighed, clearly coming to the same conclusion as Alice--the place was a dump, but at least they'd be safe until morning. In the corner there was a cupboard of sorts, and Alice drew out her wand. "If I were a boggart," she said, grinning to reveal the gap in her front teeth.
"The magic--"
"Only in emergencies, I know. But there has to be--" Alice drew up the catch and carefully opened the cupboard, finding nothing more terrifying than a couple of moth-eaten blankets and a basin. "That's something at least," she said, drawing the blankets and thrusting them into Lily's arms.
"I have some tea bags with me," Lily said as she dropped the blankets onto the mattress then kneeled in front of the cold fireplace. She took her rucksack from her shoulders and began rummaging around inside. "I brought some cakes, too. They're probably crushed now."
There was a catch in Lily's voice that made Alice stop her own rummaging about and watch the other girl carefully.
"I could have been more practical." Lily gave up her search and tossed her bag down. "No matches. I didn't think we'd really be gone for long."
"No matter. There was a kettle in the back of the cupboard, and some dishes. We'll have tea and cake for dinner. I think I might even have a chocolate bar with me." Alice knelt down next to Lily, and cupped her cheek to look at the cut again. She could see that Lily's bright green eyes had welled up with tears though she was bravely fighting them back, unwilling to shed them. It made Alice like her all the more. "We'll have ourselves a jolly time tonight, Lils. Won't the boys will be jealous when we get home and tell them we fought off four Death Eaters?"
"I'm sure they'll never think to look for us here," Lily said as she shrugged her shoulder and forced a smile. "This can't have been used for ages, not since we used to come camping, I wouldn't think. It looked bigger when I was a kid. I can't imagine what made me think of it."
"I'm glad you did. I was so mad I probably would have apparated straight home, bringing most of them with me. The place is such a mess, I'm not sure I would have noticed. I might have been tripping over them for days."
"You wouldn't have," Lily said. Her eyes were still wet with unshed tears, but her smile was more genuine now.
"I suppose not." Alice stroked Lily's cheek with her thumb. Not for the first time, she noticed how pretty Lily was, with her bright eyes and hair. She smiled back softly when Lily leaned in to her touch, reaching up to pat Alice's hand as she looked steadily back. There was something in that look that made Alice feel warm, to make her oddly grateful that their contact, old Mrs. Guster, had turned out to have been Bellatrix Lestrange in disguise.
"It's really going to be all right," Alice whispered, then felt stupid for whispering. It was only Lily, after all, and they'd been friends since they were eleven years old. Of course, it was like Lily had grown up all at once, becoming a beautiful young woman instead of the little girl with freckles across her nose and braided pigtails that James Potter had once tried to dip into an inkwell. Alice had hexed him with the only spell she'd known straight off, making his hair stand up and wave so that he looked like a great sea anemone. She had once seen one in rare magical creature emporium her dad had taken her to a year before he died, and the sight of it there in their transfiguration class had made her laugh out loud before she burst into tears. It'd been Lily who had comforted her then, and they'd been fast friends ever since. She hadn't realized how much she had missed her old friend until this very minute.
"I'll just go find some water, yeah?" Alice said suddenly and stood up so fast that she cracked the top of her head on the old mantle piece. She rubbed at the sore spot before brightening up as she spotted a small cardboard box. "Look! Matches. We can break up that old chair and I'm sure I have some paper in my bag. See if I've brought something more than that bar from Honeydukes while you're at it."
Alice took the basin and the kettle, practically running outside before Lily could answer. Once the door was closed, Alice leaned her back against it and looked up at the sky, taking in deep gulp of the night air. It had stopped snowing but was still bitterly cold, surprisingly so for September. She hadn't thought to ask Lily where they were exactly but knew it must be very far north. She hurried to find the stream they had passed on their way in. As she knelt to fill the kettle with the icy cold water, she listened to an owl hooting very far away, and then an answering call. She stopped, nervous suddenly that it was a sign--a signal--and drew out her wand. She waited until she couldn't feel her fingers or toes anymore before she decided her nerves were getting the best of her. She quickly filled up both the kettle and the basin, slopping most on the way back to the cabin. Before she slipped back inside, she decided a protective charm was likely worth the risk and cast it quickly.
She was surprised to find the cabin was warm, a fire burning in the grate, and Lily was adding bits of splintered wood, which cracked and popped merrily. Soon, they had a bowl and small creamer as makeshift cups filled with tea, and had set the smashed and stale cakes on another broken half of a plate to warm by the fire. When they were finished with the chocolate, they added the wrapper to the fire, watching it twist and curl, and then sat huddled on the mattress Lily had pulled closer to the hearth, with the blankets pulled around their shoulders.
"Weren't you afraid at all, Alice?" Lily asked after a while.
"A bit," Alice admitted. "Once I realized that it wasn't old Mrs. Guster then my training kicked in."
"I hope she's all right. Dumbledore said she was a teacher at Hogwarts when he was in school, so I can't imagine how old she must be now.”
"I bet she cleared out ages ago. The house looked abandoned. That should have been our first clue, I suppose. I just, I don't know. I wanted to prove myself just as good as the boys."
"You're an auror, Alice, or you will be soon. You don't have to prove how brave you are."
"My mother calls it being reckless."
"It's courage. I see it often enough. You get that same look in your eye, like even if you're afraid, you're at least sure."
Alice felt her cheeks warm as Lily spoke. She knew that look, had seen it on the face of nearly every member of the Order at one time or another. She had seen it in Lily's just that morning before they stepped through the floo at the Leaky Cauldron and into the preternatural quiet of Mrs. Guster's house.
"They don't often accept girls into the program," Alice said. "Mad Eye is always watching me, as if he thinks I'm going to fall to pieces at any moment."
"And you haven't, have you?"
"Not even a whimper," Alice said and then grinned at Lily, her tongue pushing at the small gap between her front teeth. "I was scared when I saw Bellatrix go after you with that knife though. She never did fight fair. I couldn't imagine having to go back to tell James that I'd lost you. He would have never forgiven me."
"She might have had me, too, if you hadn't been there. I didn't thank you yet, Alice."
"Don't, Lily. I would do anything for you, you know that." Alice said in a rush. She could feel her cheeks burn harder as Lily looked back at her, surprise in her wide green eyes. Alice looked away to the fire, the flames jumping high to lick the blackened bricks of the chimney, until Lily caught Alice beneath her chin with gentle fingertips. Their first kiss was gentle, just a brush of lips, and this close up Alice could see the pale freckles dotting Lily's nose, spreading across her cheeks like a constellation of stars.
"Oh," Alice whispered against Lily's lips--against her sudden smile that was at turns beguiling and mischievous, the Lily of old. This was the Lily of secret treks into the Forbidden Forest, adventures in a magic castle, and holding hands beneath the covers late at night as they told secrets. This was her Lily--Alice's Lily--before they had grown up and apart.
Alice smiled back, no longer feeling shy and awkward--no longer the gangly girl. She claimed Lily's mouth with her own, kissing her with a fervency she hadn't felt in a long time, and Lily reached for her as well. Alice needed no other encouragement. She opened her mouth as Lily's tongue found her own, their kisses at once gentle yet urgent until they finally both had to pull away, breathless and giggling like schoolgirls.
"I suppose we should try to get some sleep," Lily said after a long while, and Alice wanted to tease her for being so practical but knew she was right. Lily usually was.
"We should leave at first light. They'll be worried."
"Not too terribly. James said he wouldn't as long as I was with you."
Alice laughed merrily as she lay down next to Lily on the mattress and pulled her blanket over them both. "Frank said you were a sensible girl and I'd be all right as long as we were together."
"I am glad you're here, Alice." Lily reached for Alice's hand, curling their fingers together.
Alice was glad, too, strangely contented, at least for that night, in the middle of this insane war. It gave her hope, and renewed her faith that all would be well. She pressed her lips against Lily's cheek and hugged her close, sighing when Lily moved closer and kissed her back just as gently. They'd go home tomorrow, back to their lives and back to the fighting and the fear, but for that moment they were safe and warm--happy. "I'm glad I'm here, too, Lily."
Author: escribo
Pairing: Lily/Alice
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2187
Prompt: #90
"I'll ply the fire with kindling now, I'll pull the blankets up to my chin
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so
But she's got the urge for going and I guess she'll have to go"
- Joni Mitchell "Urge for Going"
Warnings: none
Summary: During the war, Alice and Lily find a moment of peace.
It was near dawn when Alice came through the door of the small cabin, bringing a blast of cold air with her. She hurried to slam it shut after Lily tumbled in behind her, shaking the snow from her thick ponytail and stamping her feet. They hadn't packed for winter. When the call had come, Alice barely had time to toss together a bag at all, and the message had said they would travel to the South. Of course, she had also thought the "they" meant her and Frank. Not that she was complaining. She'd always been rather fond of Lily, but she had to admit that she missed Frank, if only because he was such a furnace.
"I can't believe it's snowing. It's September for Merlin's sake," she whinged as she clapped her hands together, trying to restore some feeling to them. "There's a fireplace. Do you think we can get something started?"
"I don't know. Do you think it'd be safe to use a little magic? Dumbledore said--"
"Dumbledore didn't know we'd be freezing our bollocks off, figuratively speaking, of course." Alice walked around the cabin, pacing it off with her feet. It was nothing more than a shack, barely big enough for two. Alice kicked at the grubby mattress pushed up against the far wall and frowned at the broken chair in the corner.
"Well, we both have more than the boys, anyway," Alice continued on cheerfully. "You know, James and Sirius were offered this mission first but turned it down because they thought monitoring some boys' club on the high street would be more exciting."
"It's more than a boys' club." Lily hadn't moved from in front of the door, her arms folded over her chest. There was a long, thin cut along her cheekbone that had stopped bleeding but still looked like it hurt, and Alice felt bad that she hadn't noticed before. "Lucius Malfoy is known to be a member, and last year the Ministry raided the place and took out all sorts of illegal artifacts."
"So send the girls to the South while the boys have all the fun."
"They couldn't have known that it was a trap."
"I suppose not. I'd forgotten you could duel so well, Lily. Does it hurt much?"
Lily's hand flew up to touch her cheek, barely touching the broken skin. "Not much. I suppose I should wash it off. Is there--"
Lily looked around and sighed, clearly coming to the same conclusion as Alice--the place was a dump, but at least they'd be safe until morning. In the corner there was a cupboard of sorts, and Alice drew out her wand. "If I were a boggart," she said, grinning to reveal the gap in her front teeth.
"The magic--"
"Only in emergencies, I know. But there has to be--" Alice drew up the catch and carefully opened the cupboard, finding nothing more terrifying than a couple of moth-eaten blankets and a basin. "That's something at least," she said, drawing the blankets and thrusting them into Lily's arms.
"I have some tea bags with me," Lily said as she dropped the blankets onto the mattress then kneeled in front of the cold fireplace. She took her rucksack from her shoulders and began rummaging around inside. "I brought some cakes, too. They're probably crushed now."
There was a catch in Lily's voice that made Alice stop her own rummaging about and watch the other girl carefully.
"I could have been more practical." Lily gave up her search and tossed her bag down. "No matches. I didn't think we'd really be gone for long."
"No matter. There was a kettle in the back of the cupboard, and some dishes. We'll have tea and cake for dinner. I think I might even have a chocolate bar with me." Alice knelt down next to Lily, and cupped her cheek to look at the cut again. She could see that Lily's bright green eyes had welled up with tears though she was bravely fighting them back, unwilling to shed them. It made Alice like her all the more. "We'll have ourselves a jolly time tonight, Lils. Won't the boys will be jealous when we get home and tell them we fought off four Death Eaters?"
"I'm sure they'll never think to look for us here," Lily said as she shrugged her shoulder and forced a smile. "This can't have been used for ages, not since we used to come camping, I wouldn't think. It looked bigger when I was a kid. I can't imagine what made me think of it."
"I'm glad you did. I was so mad I probably would have apparated straight home, bringing most of them with me. The place is such a mess, I'm not sure I would have noticed. I might have been tripping over them for days."
"You wouldn't have," Lily said. Her eyes were still wet with unshed tears, but her smile was more genuine now.
"I suppose not." Alice stroked Lily's cheek with her thumb. Not for the first time, she noticed how pretty Lily was, with her bright eyes and hair. She smiled back softly when Lily leaned in to her touch, reaching up to pat Alice's hand as she looked steadily back. There was something in that look that made Alice feel warm, to make her oddly grateful that their contact, old Mrs. Guster, had turned out to have been Bellatrix Lestrange in disguise.
"It's really going to be all right," Alice whispered, then felt stupid for whispering. It was only Lily, after all, and they'd been friends since they were eleven years old. Of course, it was like Lily had grown up all at once, becoming a beautiful young woman instead of the little girl with freckles across her nose and braided pigtails that James Potter had once tried to dip into an inkwell. Alice had hexed him with the only spell she'd known straight off, making his hair stand up and wave so that he looked like a great sea anemone. She had once seen one in rare magical creature emporium her dad had taken her to a year before he died, and the sight of it there in their transfiguration class had made her laugh out loud before she burst into tears. It'd been Lily who had comforted her then, and they'd been fast friends ever since. She hadn't realized how much she had missed her old friend until this very minute.
"I'll just go find some water, yeah?" Alice said suddenly and stood up so fast that she cracked the top of her head on the old mantle piece. She rubbed at the sore spot before brightening up as she spotted a small cardboard box. "Look! Matches. We can break up that old chair and I'm sure I have some paper in my bag. See if I've brought something more than that bar from Honeydukes while you're at it."
Alice took the basin and the kettle, practically running outside before Lily could answer. Once the door was closed, Alice leaned her back against it and looked up at the sky, taking in deep gulp of the night air. It had stopped snowing but was still bitterly cold, surprisingly so for September. She hadn't thought to ask Lily where they were exactly but knew it must be very far north. She hurried to find the stream they had passed on their way in. As she knelt to fill the kettle with the icy cold water, she listened to an owl hooting very far away, and then an answering call. She stopped, nervous suddenly that it was a sign--a signal--and drew out her wand. She waited until she couldn't feel her fingers or toes anymore before she decided her nerves were getting the best of her. She quickly filled up both the kettle and the basin, slopping most on the way back to the cabin. Before she slipped back inside, she decided a protective charm was likely worth the risk and cast it quickly.
She was surprised to find the cabin was warm, a fire burning in the grate, and Lily was adding bits of splintered wood, which cracked and popped merrily. Soon, they had a bowl and small creamer as makeshift cups filled with tea, and had set the smashed and stale cakes on another broken half of a plate to warm by the fire. When they were finished with the chocolate, they added the wrapper to the fire, watching it twist and curl, and then sat huddled on the mattress Lily had pulled closer to the hearth, with the blankets pulled around their shoulders.
"Weren't you afraid at all, Alice?" Lily asked after a while.
"A bit," Alice admitted. "Once I realized that it wasn't old Mrs. Guster then my training kicked in."
"I hope she's all right. Dumbledore said she was a teacher at Hogwarts when he was in school, so I can't imagine how old she must be now.”
"I bet she cleared out ages ago. The house looked abandoned. That should have been our first clue, I suppose. I just, I don't know. I wanted to prove myself just as good as the boys."
"You're an auror, Alice, or you will be soon. You don't have to prove how brave you are."
"My mother calls it being reckless."
"It's courage. I see it often enough. You get that same look in your eye, like even if you're afraid, you're at least sure."
Alice felt her cheeks warm as Lily spoke. She knew that look, had seen it on the face of nearly every member of the Order at one time or another. She had seen it in Lily's just that morning before they stepped through the floo at the Leaky Cauldron and into the preternatural quiet of Mrs. Guster's house.
"They don't often accept girls into the program," Alice said. "Mad Eye is always watching me, as if he thinks I'm going to fall to pieces at any moment."
"And you haven't, have you?"
"Not even a whimper," Alice said and then grinned at Lily, her tongue pushing at the small gap between her front teeth. "I was scared when I saw Bellatrix go after you with that knife though. She never did fight fair. I couldn't imagine having to go back to tell James that I'd lost you. He would have never forgiven me."
"She might have had me, too, if you hadn't been there. I didn't thank you yet, Alice."
"Don't, Lily. I would do anything for you, you know that." Alice said in a rush. She could feel her cheeks burn harder as Lily looked back at her, surprise in her wide green eyes. Alice looked away to the fire, the flames jumping high to lick the blackened bricks of the chimney, until Lily caught Alice beneath her chin with gentle fingertips. Their first kiss was gentle, just a brush of lips, and this close up Alice could see the pale freckles dotting Lily's nose, spreading across her cheeks like a constellation of stars.
"Oh," Alice whispered against Lily's lips--against her sudden smile that was at turns beguiling and mischievous, the Lily of old. This was the Lily of secret treks into the Forbidden Forest, adventures in a magic castle, and holding hands beneath the covers late at night as they told secrets. This was her Lily--Alice's Lily--before they had grown up and apart.
Alice smiled back, no longer feeling shy and awkward--no longer the gangly girl. She claimed Lily's mouth with her own, kissing her with a fervency she hadn't felt in a long time, and Lily reached for her as well. Alice needed no other encouragement. She opened her mouth as Lily's tongue found her own, their kisses at once gentle yet urgent until they finally both had to pull away, breathless and giggling like schoolgirls.
"I suppose we should try to get some sleep," Lily said after a long while, and Alice wanted to tease her for being so practical but knew she was right. Lily usually was.
"We should leave at first light. They'll be worried."
"Not too terribly. James said he wouldn't as long as I was with you."
Alice laughed merrily as she lay down next to Lily on the mattress and pulled her blanket over them both. "Frank said you were a sensible girl and I'd be all right as long as we were together."
"I am glad you're here, Alice." Lily reached for Alice's hand, curling their fingers together.
Alice was glad, too, strangely contented, at least for that night, in the middle of this insane war. It gave her hope, and renewed her faith that all would be well. She pressed her lips against Lily's cheek and hugged her close, sighing when Lily moved closer and kissed her back just as gently. They'd go home tomorrow, back to their lives and back to the fighting and the fear, but for that moment they were safe and warm--happy. "I'm glad I'm here, too, Lily."