25: Chapter Fourteen, part three - the one with the word Ministry in the title somewhere
According to the Nano website in precisely 43 minutes our time, half of November will be gone. A second post for today. I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have tomorrow, but I've been looking forward to writing the next bit, so I'm determined to make it happen.
“Why are you saying you’re stupid then Lils?” James asked tucking into his plate of freshly cooked and steaming Lasagne, drips already running down onto the clean t-shirt Lily noticed.
“I’d forgotten, although I don’t know how I could have done,” Lily paused to blow on a forkful of her own food. “Moody gave us some names today.”
“Yeah,” James paused to let his next forkful cool down a bit before he risked shovelling it into his mouth. “Karkaroff, Jugson, Rosier,” he tested the food carefully with the tip of his tongue and decided it would be painfree by now.
“”Macnair and Dolohov,” Lily finished the sentence for him. “Antonin Dolohov.”
“That’s right,” James said, sorting himself out another forkful of the delicious meaty meal and blowing on it to speed its way.
“Antonin, James,” Lily hoped to nudge is memory. “See, you’ve forgotten too. I don’t know how either of us could.”
“Snivellus,” James jumped in quickly. “Antonin was his friend in the bookshop. The one who knew someone,” he ate the mouthful and allowed Lily to continue the sentence.
“Someone who could help him with finances for his mastership in exchange for certain services.”
“We need to check the mugshots Lil.”
“We could do that in Archives.”
“You’re sneaky my lovely lady,” James looked over to her admiringly.
“It’s a perfectly good reason to go down there,” Lily explained herself. “We get to see Dorcas and perhaps find out if there’s been any more movement with the files in the Mysteries mystery.”
They finished the rest of their meal in comparative silence, the food having cooled to eating temperature.
“Any more?” Lily asked James taking his empty plate.
“No thanks Lil,” James rubbed his splattered stomach before picking up his wand for the first successful scourgify since returning home. “That’s better.”
“Less for it to cope with that time,” Lily agreed, moving into James lap, snuggled into his arms. “Mhmm, this is nice,” she said.
“I’m really sorry Lil. I honestly thought we’d be gone an hour or so at the most. I should have been home in good time to get your meal, not the other way around.”
“I told you I’d show you how worried I was,” Lily said squeezing him to her and meeting his mouth with hers.
“That worried love,” he asked. “I’d better make it up to you.”
“What exactly happened then?” Lily asked. She’d no problem with him making it up to her a bit later.
“Siri knocked on the door,” James explained, nuzzling her neck as he spoke. “He’d got today off and spent the morning tweaking with an invisibility shield. Something from the book we gave him for Christmas.”
“He’s never still reading that?” Lily asked amazed. Sirius and books weren’t known to be best friends.
“Avidly, I think. Anyway, he wanted to try the invisibility shield. This upgraded one included a silencing charm. He had this wild idea of riding it at low level through the centre of muggle London.”
“Oh my,” Lily laughed as James took a breath.
“Fortunately he came around, thought I’d like to see just how well it was going and I persuaded him that it might be an idea to try it somewhere different first. Give it a fair test. Only move onto masses of people once he knew it was working properly.”
“A very good idea,” Lily agreed, nibbling gently at James’ ear.
“So we had to think of somewhere and the best idea we came up with was finding a field of cows or sheep or something and testing it on them.”
“Not many of them in London,” Lily said, breaking from James’s ear for a moment.
“Exactly. So we headed off until we found one.”
“Did it work?”
“That’s working its magic Lil. I might not get very far with this story you know if you carry on like that.”
“Sorry,” she moved away and settling back into James’s lap, fingers tucking inside the loop his belt threaded through his on the waistband of his jeans.
“So we headed out towards the west. Apparently there are loads of cows in that direction, real milking country. Except we didn’t see any for ages, and then when we did they were doing exactly that, going off for milking.”
Lily’s fingers had toyed with his t-shirt now, created a little gap where it was pulled from his waistband.
“That tickles Lil,” James leaned into kiss her gently before continuing. “So we kept flying. Its not like being on a broom, but its still good, the throb of the engine, you know.”
“I’ve heard Sirius, James. The low throaty throb rumbling between your legs.”
“That sounds disgusting coming from your mouth Miss Evans. I love it,” James said tempted by another kiss. “Perhaps you can show me later.”
“The story,” Lily’s mock stern voice was betrayed by her smiling face probably in turn betraying her thoughts that he’d had an interesting idea.
“The story,” James agreed, this thoughts interrupted again by her fingers brushing against his stomach, the gap where shirt didn’t meet jeans any longer bigger than last time he looked. “So we decided it was time to try the charm. Siri had to cast it again, the original one, if it ever worked, had long time worn off.”
“It backfired?” Lily asked still puzzled by the mess he’d arrived home in.
“Not quite, or perhaps it did. I’m not sure. The engine spluttered and decided to vomit up its guts. Right over the two of us. It was a case of a quick landing and see what we could do to get it running again.”
“Where did you land?” Lily asked, assuming it was on the edge of a town somewhere for the bike to get mended.
“In the middle of a whole field of cows Lil. They’re not fun when they’re mad. Seriously, a herd of them is far more scary then Remus at the full moon.”
“You mended the bike yourselves?” she asked brightly. “I’m well impressed.”
“Not exactly,” James explained. “The cows were a bit against that. So, just as when faced with our friend at the full moon I transformed charged them as Prongs and left Siri to repair the bike.”
“Go on Prongs,” Lily said, her hand openly stroking at his stomach now.
“The stuff that it had vomited over us was the fuel needed to make it fly. There was another problem. That’s really nice Lil, by the way.”
“It’s designed to be,” she said her hand making progress underneath the t-shirt.
“I’ll repay you shortly.”
“You’d better. But in the meantime. How did you get back if you’d no fuel.”
James laughed. “MacGoogles would have been proud of us. Well proud of Siri anyway, he did a bit of advanced transfiguration.”
Lily looked puzzled, her hand stroking firmly across his chest now.
“When you’re in the middle of a field of rampaging cows with a motorbike that needs fuel there’s only one thing you can do,” he whispered into her ear.
“You two,” she laughed. “And your pranks. That’s probably one that she’d prefer not to hear off.”
“Probably. But it got us back. Lucky I didn’t take a toilet stop on the way.” James shifted Lily in his lap and tugged at her own t-shirt, pulling it from her jeans. “Your turn.”
“You haven’t told me what Siri said about Snivellus.” Lily reminded him.
“Nothing about Snivellus and not a lot generally Lil. Just that his brother had contacted him, an owl or something.”
“Siri and Regulus haven’t spoken for years,” Lily said, enjoying the feel of James’ finger tips against her skin now.
“Two years at least, probably three. Since before Siri stayed at my place.”
“Why the sudden change of heart? Did he say?” Lily turned her head to find James’s mouth delaying his answer for a bit.
“He wanted for them to meet. He couldn’t say any more than that in the owl.”
“What’s Siri going to do.”
“He owled back and said it was a bit difficult right now and could Reggie give him more of a clue why. The return owl said all he could say was it was a change of heart.”
“Oh, interesting,” Lily commented, smiling at the progress James’s fingers were making.
“Can’t get much further than this Lil, unless you take your top off.”
Lily lifted up her arms.
“What did I do to deserve such a wanton and brazen hussy?” James asked, smiling all over his face as he threw the removed t-shirt down beside them.
“You must have done something very good.”
“I’m hoping I’ll do something very good next Lil,” he grinned, kissing down from her collar bone.
“Is Siri going to meet him?” Lily asked.
“Not alone. That wouldn’t be sensible,” James said replacing his mouth with his finger. “Any good yet?”
“Getting there, not bad. A bit more practice should do it Prongs,” Lily encouraged.
“I know your sort,” James teased, practicing a bit more just the same.
“So?”
“So, I thought I’d move on to … Oh you mean Siri? So, I suggested we went with him.”
“Neutral territory. Open space, maybe someone else to cover.”
“Top marks in Stealth and Tracking sweetheart.”
“Seriously James. Regulus Black’s name was mentioned today. Siri is the only one in that family not gone dark.”
“And it could be a trap.” James finished for her. “I know. I don’t think he’s going to meet him anyway.”
“That’s good,” Lily answered, not sure whether she was replying about Sirius not meeting Regulus or James fingers on her skin.
“Have you got an early start in the morning?” James asked.
“I think we both have.”
“I suggest we move now then,” James hitched her up out of his lap, his glance lingering on the newly uncovered skin. “While I’m still able.”
“That good hey?” Lily asked.
“As always Lil. Come on, I’ll show you.” Bending down he lifted her into his arms and kicked the door shut behind them.
Word Count: 1,674
Previous Total: 43,256
New Total: 44,930
44,930 / 50,000
(89.0%)
“Why are you saying you’re stupid then Lils?” James asked tucking into his plate of freshly cooked and steaming Lasagne, drips already running down onto the clean t-shirt Lily noticed.
“I’d forgotten, although I don’t know how I could have done,” Lily paused to blow on a forkful of her own food. “Moody gave us some names today.”
“Yeah,” James paused to let his next forkful cool down a bit before he risked shovelling it into his mouth. “Karkaroff, Jugson, Rosier,” he tested the food carefully with the tip of his tongue and decided it would be painfree by now.
“”Macnair and Dolohov,” Lily finished the sentence for him. “Antonin Dolohov.”
“That’s right,” James said, sorting himself out another forkful of the delicious meaty meal and blowing on it to speed its way.
“Antonin, James,” Lily hoped to nudge is memory. “See, you’ve forgotten too. I don’t know how either of us could.”
“Snivellus,” James jumped in quickly. “Antonin was his friend in the bookshop. The one who knew someone,” he ate the mouthful and allowed Lily to continue the sentence.
“Someone who could help him with finances for his mastership in exchange for certain services.”
“We need to check the mugshots Lil.”
“We could do that in Archives.”
“You’re sneaky my lovely lady,” James looked over to her admiringly.
“It’s a perfectly good reason to go down there,” Lily explained herself. “We get to see Dorcas and perhaps find out if there’s been any more movement with the files in the Mysteries mystery.”
They finished the rest of their meal in comparative silence, the food having cooled to eating temperature.
“Any more?” Lily asked James taking his empty plate.
“No thanks Lil,” James rubbed his splattered stomach before picking up his wand for the first successful scourgify since returning home. “That’s better.”
“Less for it to cope with that time,” Lily agreed, moving into James lap, snuggled into his arms. “Mhmm, this is nice,” she said.
“I’m really sorry Lil. I honestly thought we’d be gone an hour or so at the most. I should have been home in good time to get your meal, not the other way around.”
“I told you I’d show you how worried I was,” Lily said squeezing him to her and meeting his mouth with hers.
“That worried love,” he asked. “I’d better make it up to you.”
“What exactly happened then?” Lily asked. She’d no problem with him making it up to her a bit later.
“Siri knocked on the door,” James explained, nuzzling her neck as he spoke. “He’d got today off and spent the morning tweaking with an invisibility shield. Something from the book we gave him for Christmas.”
“He’s never still reading that?” Lily asked amazed. Sirius and books weren’t known to be best friends.
“Avidly, I think. Anyway, he wanted to try the invisibility shield. This upgraded one included a silencing charm. He had this wild idea of riding it at low level through the centre of muggle London.”
“Oh my,” Lily laughed as James took a breath.
“Fortunately he came around, thought I’d like to see just how well it was going and I persuaded him that it might be an idea to try it somewhere different first. Give it a fair test. Only move onto masses of people once he knew it was working properly.”
“A very good idea,” Lily agreed, nibbling gently at James’ ear.
“So we had to think of somewhere and the best idea we came up with was finding a field of cows or sheep or something and testing it on them.”
“Not many of them in London,” Lily said, breaking from James’s ear for a moment.
“Exactly. So we headed off until we found one.”
“Did it work?”
“That’s working its magic Lil. I might not get very far with this story you know if you carry on like that.”
“Sorry,” she moved away and settling back into James’s lap, fingers tucking inside the loop his belt threaded through his on the waistband of his jeans.
“So we headed out towards the west. Apparently there are loads of cows in that direction, real milking country. Except we didn’t see any for ages, and then when we did they were doing exactly that, going off for milking.”
Lily’s fingers had toyed with his t-shirt now, created a little gap where it was pulled from his waistband.
“That tickles Lil,” James leaned into kiss her gently before continuing. “So we kept flying. Its not like being on a broom, but its still good, the throb of the engine, you know.”
“I’ve heard Sirius, James. The low throaty throb rumbling between your legs.”
“That sounds disgusting coming from your mouth Miss Evans. I love it,” James said tempted by another kiss. “Perhaps you can show me later.”
“The story,” Lily’s mock stern voice was betrayed by her smiling face probably in turn betraying her thoughts that he’d had an interesting idea.
“The story,” James agreed, this thoughts interrupted again by her fingers brushing against his stomach, the gap where shirt didn’t meet jeans any longer bigger than last time he looked. “So we decided it was time to try the charm. Siri had to cast it again, the original one, if it ever worked, had long time worn off.”
“It backfired?” Lily asked still puzzled by the mess he’d arrived home in.
“Not quite, or perhaps it did. I’m not sure. The engine spluttered and decided to vomit up its guts. Right over the two of us. It was a case of a quick landing and see what we could do to get it running again.”
“Where did you land?” Lily asked, assuming it was on the edge of a town somewhere for the bike to get mended.
“In the middle of a whole field of cows Lil. They’re not fun when they’re mad. Seriously, a herd of them is far more scary then Remus at the full moon.”
“You mended the bike yourselves?” she asked brightly. “I’m well impressed.”
“Not exactly,” James explained. “The cows were a bit against that. So, just as when faced with our friend at the full moon I transformed charged them as Prongs and left Siri to repair the bike.”
“Go on Prongs,” Lily said, her hand openly stroking at his stomach now.
“The stuff that it had vomited over us was the fuel needed to make it fly. There was another problem. That’s really nice Lil, by the way.”
“It’s designed to be,” she said her hand making progress underneath the t-shirt.
“I’ll repay you shortly.”
“You’d better. But in the meantime. How did you get back if you’d no fuel.”
James laughed. “MacGoogles would have been proud of us. Well proud of Siri anyway, he did a bit of advanced transfiguration.”
Lily looked puzzled, her hand stroking firmly across his chest now.
“When you’re in the middle of a field of rampaging cows with a motorbike that needs fuel there’s only one thing you can do,” he whispered into her ear.
“You two,” she laughed. “And your pranks. That’s probably one that she’d prefer not to hear off.”
“Probably. But it got us back. Lucky I didn’t take a toilet stop on the way.” James shifted Lily in his lap and tugged at her own t-shirt, pulling it from her jeans. “Your turn.”
“You haven’t told me what Siri said about Snivellus.” Lily reminded him.
“Nothing about Snivellus and not a lot generally Lil. Just that his brother had contacted him, an owl or something.”
“Siri and Regulus haven’t spoken for years,” Lily said, enjoying the feel of James’ finger tips against her skin now.
“Two years at least, probably three. Since before Siri stayed at my place.”
“Why the sudden change of heart? Did he say?” Lily turned her head to find James’s mouth delaying his answer for a bit.
“He wanted for them to meet. He couldn’t say any more than that in the owl.”
“What’s Siri going to do.”
“He owled back and said it was a bit difficult right now and could Reggie give him more of a clue why. The return owl said all he could say was it was a change of heart.”
“Oh, interesting,” Lily commented, smiling at the progress James’s fingers were making.
“Can’t get much further than this Lil, unless you take your top off.”
Lily lifted up her arms.
“What did I do to deserve such a wanton and brazen hussy?” James asked, smiling all over his face as he threw the removed t-shirt down beside them.
“You must have done something very good.”
“I’m hoping I’ll do something very good next Lil,” he grinned, kissing down from her collar bone.
“Is Siri going to meet him?” Lily asked.
“Not alone. That wouldn’t be sensible,” James said replacing his mouth with his finger. “Any good yet?”
“Getting there, not bad. A bit more practice should do it Prongs,” Lily encouraged.
“I know your sort,” James teased, practicing a bit more just the same.
“So?”
“So, I thought I’d move on to … Oh you mean Siri? So, I suggested we went with him.”
“Neutral territory. Open space, maybe someone else to cover.”
“Top marks in Stealth and Tracking sweetheart.”
“Seriously James. Regulus Black’s name was mentioned today. Siri is the only one in that family not gone dark.”
“And it could be a trap.” James finished for her. “I know. I don’t think he’s going to meet him anyway.”
“That’s good,” Lily answered, not sure whether she was replying about Sirius not meeting Regulus or James fingers on her skin.
“Have you got an early start in the morning?” James asked.
“I think we both have.”
“I suggest we move now then,” James hitched her up out of his lap, his glance lingering on the newly uncovered skin. “While I’m still able.”
“That good hey?” Lily asked.
“As always Lil. Come on, I’ll show you.” Bending down he lifted her into his arms and kicked the door shut behind them.
Word Count: 1,674
Previous Total: 43,256
New Total: 44,930
44,930 / 50,000
(89.0%)