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Hopelessly Addicted
Chapter 10
"Why don't we break up?"
.................................................
Why don't we talk about it?
Why do you always doubt that there can be a better way?
It doesn't make me want to stay...
Why don't we break up? There's nothing left to say
I've got my eyes shut, praying they won't stray
Oh, we're not sexed up, and that's what makes the difference today...
Robbie Williams, "Sexed Up"
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Alain Delacour was a nice guy; everybody thought so. All right, he had a few little flaws (who didn't?), but his many positive qualities more than made up for them.
One of those flaws was that he hated waking up early. Another was his often illogical, instinctive reasoning. For instance, even though he was a practical man and knew that everyone made mistakes, he insisted on maintaining high expectations regarding those surrounding him. Because of this, he was often disappointed.
At work, he was highly respected. Despite his tardiness, everyone knew he was a hard-working man. Of course he lacked Lily's brilliance and detachment and Sylvie's sharpness, but that didn't matter. He was one of the few Aurors who understood and effectively manoeuvred politics with expertise. One of his main tasks as a Chief Auror was to act as liaison between his colleagues and the Minister.
Lily Evans, a young girl fresh out of London training, had been the first person to correspond fully to his expectations. When she had first been assigned to his team, he had resisted her charms instinctively. Alain was one of those French Aurors who looked down on British ones, even though the latter were known to be the best, since most of the French lacked proficiency, and Americans, intuition.
But Lily... Lily had made him reconsider his prejudice. His utter incapability for strategy often forced him to depend on her to carry out any mission successfully. Slowly, he'd begun to respect her greatly, and, before he knew it, he had fallen in love with her. That had been a rather life-changing experience for Alain. Of course he'd been attracted to other women before, but these feelings were new.
When Alain had first met her, he'd been involved with Charlotte, a fascinating and downright breathtaking woman... But he had broken up with her without hesitation long before he had actually managed to start dating Lily.
Alain's feelings for Lily had caught him off guard. He'd stopped seeing her faults, watched over her protectively whenever he could (which wasn't often, unfortunately), and practically drooled when he was close to her.
Obviously, she'd noticed what was going on, but she had waited for a long time before responding to his advances. Later, Lily had explained that she had never gotten involved with a work colleague before. Near the end of the year, they had started going out.
Since then, Lily had been quite the perfect girlfriend. All right, she had a bit of a temper, and often needed more breathing space than Alain would have liked to give, but... Goodness, she was so beautiful, and witty! He was so proud of her brilliance, of the fact that everyone and everything in their world spun around her, including himself...
Alain had never understood why several people seemed to think she was sweet but provocative, and overall, tough. She had certainly never acted this way around him - and he, not everyone else, knew her for real.
Or at least he had used to.
Ever since Lily had started working in London, everything had changed. He felt like he didn't know her anymore. Not only did she keep shunning him, putting off his every attempt at tenderness, but she also refused to talk about her work... That led him to the perhaps exaggerated conclusion that she was ashamed of presenting him to her British friends.
Alain just had no idea what was going on in her life! How could he? She had cut him off completely! Her behaviour hurt him more than he wanted to admit, even to himself.
So Alain had made a rather rash decision. He had simply disappeared a few days ago, without leaving her any explanation. She still hadn't contacted him; she was probably too busy with work to care...
Maybe she was just too proud to admit that she'd made a mistake... But maybe - maybe she didn't really miss Alain... Maybe she just didn't care anymore...
What if Lily no longer loved him?
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Comme d'habitude, toute la journée
Je vais jouer à faire semblant
Comme d'habitude, je vais sourire
Comme d'habitude, je vais même rire
Comme d'habitude, enfin, je veux vivre...
Claude François, "Comme d'habitude"
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"M. Delacour?"
Alain looked up at the Auror standing respectfully in the doorway, startled by her arrival. Why was it so easy for him to space out when thinking about Lily?
"Yes, Mlle. Bonacieux?"
"London has sent word that the team will arrive in a few minutes. Whom should I call to work with you?"
Alain made a face. He still hadn't decided who would work with the British Aurors. Well, damn London and its bloody secrecy! He still didn't know how many were coming, let alone what their names or statuses were! All he was allowed to know was that they were going to plan the Minister's visit to England.
Jacques Neveu had told Alain several times that he wanted to improve the French Aurors' qualifications. The fastest way to do this seemed to be intensifying cooperation between them and London, but Alain wasn't too fond of this prospect. However, it wouldn't have been sensible to question the involvement of British Aurors in the security scheme of Neveu himself.
So Alain had been asked to lead a team to work with the British taskforce. He still hadn't chosen his Aurors, but that probably wouldn't be too hard... He sure as hell couldn't expect any of the oh-so-mighty Englishmen to speak intelligible French.
All right... which of the French Aurors spoke the best English?
"William Ryder," he said at once, looking at Bonacieux, who started writing the names down in a small notebook. Will was English - no problems there. "Valerie Dantès..."
Lily's best friend was a pretty good Auror. The Minister had asked him specifically to call young ones as well...
"Do you and your brother speak English well, Mlle. Bonacieux?"
She seemed surprised by his question. "Uh - well enough, I guess, sir."
"Excellent." The Bonacieux twins were some of the most promising young Aurors. "You should join the team as well, then. Oh, and call Katrina Fassbender. That should be enough."
"Should I lead the British to the conference room as soon as they arrive?"
"Yes, please. Well - actually, just leave instructions to direct them there. I want to speak with you all before they arrive."
"Yes, sir."
Sylvie Bonacieux left. After a few seconds, Alain got up and walked leisurely to the conference room. Who would come from England? He'd always avoided meeting British Aurors; a few years ago, he'd met a brilliant politician named Adrian Prewett... and then William Ryder had come to work in Paris... after that, Lily... Lily... Lily...
Alain entered the empty room, sat at the far end of the rectangular table, and waited. Slowly, the others arrived. Dominic Bonacieux was the first to arrive, soon followed by Katrina.
"Ryder's on a mission, sir," she said. "He'll come as soon as he returns."
"And Mlle. Dantès?"
"She's on her way."
Right then, Sylvie entered, chatting in English with a woman he'd never met. Alain scowled. He'd really wanted to brief his team before any British Aurors arrived... Well, it was too late now.
"Dorcas," said Sylvie, "allow me to introduce - Katrina Fassbender... My brother Dominic... And our Chief Auror, M. Alain Delacour. Sir, Kat, Dom, this is Dorcas Meadowes."
Unless Alain was very much mistaken, the look that Meadowes girl threw him was very odd, and perhaps slightly ironic. He stopped himself from frowning when he noticed her outfit. Did British standards allow women to wear that kind of clothes to work? Honestly!
Her long, bright orange skirt and floral blouse were incredibly offensive to the eyes. Her thick golden necklace with a disproportionably large pentacle pendant didn't match the rest at all... And, to make matters worse, her shiny red hair clashed horribly with all the other colors. Heavens, he'd get a headache if he had to work with that woman every day.
"Hi, everyone."
Alain, Katrina, and Dominic said "Hello," and Sylvie motioned for her to sit.
"Well, now, there you are," said an annoyed voice behind Dorcas. "I can't speak a bloody word in French and you left me all alone!"
"Sorry, Mel," Dorcas replied, turning to face the newcomer. "Well, you're here now, right? Look, this is Sylvie Bonacieux- she was at the party last night. Sylvie, this is Amelia Bones."
Amelia grinned and shook the girl's hand. "Hi."
"Hello. I guess I should -" Sylvie sighed, realising that she would have to play host from now on. "That's Katrina Fassbender; next to her is my brother, Dominic, and Alain Delacour."
This time, Alain really didn't think he was being paranoid. Upon hearing his name, Amelia glanced questioningly at him and then at Dorcas, who nodded imperceptibly. He became even more suspicious... What on earth was going on?
"Well, hi - I'm Amelia Bones."
Well, at least this one wore normal wizard robes. That wasn't too bad.
"Do you want some water?" Sylvie offered, swishing her wand to conjure a glass.
"Sure."
Loud male voices speaking in rapid, seemingly annoyed French were heard in the hallway. Everybody watched the door, waiting to see who was coming.
Two men, now silent, entered the room. One of them was one of the highest-level French Chief Aurors, Charles Friedrich. The other was a man Alain did not know; he was tall, with messy black hair and an exceedingly arrogant poise.
Alain quickly decided that he did not like this man.
"Well, thanks for nothing," said the arrogant one with a slight grin.
Charles hesitated for a second, and then laughed. "Merlin, James, you're incorrigible."
"I'm just not used to the French way of things, that's all. It was nice meeting you again, Charles."
"Likewise." Charles said, shaking James' hand. "I hope you get something done today."
"So do I."
Charles turned to look at the others. "Good luck, everyone. Oh, of course... Allow me to introduce to you one of the best Aurors I've ever met: James Potter. James, this is Katrina Fassbender."
James grinned and nodded hello. She couldn't help but giggle, and Alain rolled his eyes. There were few things about a guy that annoyed him more than the sickening ability to charm girls at first sight.
"Sylvie Bonacieux," Charles continued. "Oh, right - she was there last -"
"Yes, we've already met," she interrupted him, grinning. "Hello, James."
"Sylvie," he greeted with a warm smile. "It's wonderful to see you again."
They hugged.
Dominic was throwing James a rather annoyed look. The nerve of this Potter guy - flirting with the girl right in front of her brother!
"Her brother, Dominic..." Charles added hastily, noticing the frostiness in the young man's gaze.
"M. Bonacieux," James said respectfully, shaking his hand with a grin. "I've seen your Montmartre strategy - it's brilliant. I'd like to have a chat with you about it someday."
Dominic's face lightened up instantly, and he grinned broadly. "Please, call me 'Dom' - everyone does. I'd be honoured, Mr. Potter." His eyes widened; he seemed to suddenly realise something, and added, "You're practically a legend among strategists, sir."
James waved dismissively. Dominic was staring at him, having just realised that he was the James Potter.
"And that," Charles hesitated slightly. "That is Alain Delacour, the Chief Auror in charge here."
Oh, there was certainly no mistaking it this time... That Potter guy was quite shocked to meet Alain.
"M. Delacour," he said with a slight nod. Alain didn't stretch out his hand, and neither did James.
"Mr. Potter," Alain replied evenly.
With a grin, Charles noticed that Alain was the only team member James hadn't bothered to win over - quite surprisingly.
"Well, I should go now. Have a good day, everyone."
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Elle se dessine sous des jupes fendues
Et je devine des histoires defendues, c'est comme ça
Tellement si belle quand elle sort
Tellement si belle, je l'aime tellement si fort
Elle a les yeux revolver; elle a le regard qui tue
Elle a tiré la première, m'a touché, c'est foutu...
Marc Lavoine, "Yeux Revolver"
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After Charles left, everyone continued staring at James. He didn't seem to mind being the centre of attention.
"Well," he began, "we'll have to -"
"I don't believe it!" a voice behind him squealed delightfully. "You're the British Aurors working with us?"
Valerie stepped forward, hugged Dorcas and Amelia, and then turned to face James.
"Have you met - everyone?" she asked with a meaningful smirk. Alain had the distinct impression that she was talking about him.
"Yes, I have."
Val nodded. "Is - the rest of the team coming as well?"
Alain didn't know to whom she was referring, but a suspicion began to form in the back of his mind. What if -
"But of course," James answered in French with a boyish grin. "The two girls are just running some last-minute errands."
"You sound so sexy when you speak in French!" Dorcas said, smiling. "I didn't know you were so fluent."
Alain noticed Sylvie's coy smile and a faint blush on Katrina's cheeks... No woman in the room disagreed with Dorcas' statement.
James grinned - oh, he was probably used to receiving comments like this. "Did you get any sleep last night, Val?"
Katrina's eyes shot jealous daggers at Valerie. She noticed it, and laughed. Sylvie and Dorcas were grinning. Amelia was quietly sipping her glass of water, not understanding a word of what was being said. Dominic seemed oddly absent-minded, probably convinced that the oh-so-grand James Potter could do no wrong.
"I didn't, really, but... James," Valerie replied, "Do you really want my friends to envy me all that much? They might get the impression that the most handsome British Auror is -"
"What you don't need," a new voice piped from the doorway, "is to inflate James Potter's ego even more with comments like that."
Alain's heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice - he knew it very well.
Lily Evans entered the room with all that grace and poise of hers, immediately attracting the stare of every male in the room, including James. Ah, now that was elegance: her baby pink split skirt, white blouse, and delicate jewellery radiated classiness.
"Good morning to you too," Val said cheekily.
"Good morning, Val," Lily replied in French, and threw everyone in the room an evaluating glance. "Let's see - you... Alain... and who are you?"
"Katrina Fassbender."
"Lily Evans, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too."
"Sylvie... and I don't know you, either. Are you Sylvie's brother?"
He nodded mutely.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lily Evans."
She smiled at him, and Alain jealously remarked that she paid more attention to Bonacieux than she had to her own boyfriend.
Dom was staring at her, positively awestruck. Alain had met many men spellbound by Lily, but this was the first time that he'd actually seen her work her fascination on someone he knew.
"I've seen your Montmartre strategy, M. Bonacieux," she added smoothly. "It's very ingenious."
"Thank - thank you," he stuttered, still staring. "Please call me 'Dom'."
"All right, Dom," Lily replied, her voice suave. She then turned to Alain. "You didn't call Will?"
He spoke for the first time since she'd entered. "He's coming soon."
Amelia was staring blankly at them. "I don't understand a word of French, Lil," she said quietly. "But I wouldn't mind it if you just switched to English when you talk to me."
"Ah, non, pas du tout!" Sylvie replied immediately. "No, Miss Bones - we all speak English here. It would be most unfair to speak in French. Even though," she added with a slight grin, "I wouldn't object to listening to James' French a bit more."
He laughed. All the girls seemed enraptured by the sound - except for Lily, who rolled her eyes and shook her head, grimacing. Alain felt a surge of pride and relief. Thankfully, at least she was immune to the man's charm...
"Evans..." Katrina muttered pensively, "Potter-Evans! You two are Potter and Evans? Like, the strategists?"
Lily nodded.
"You guys made the P.E. strategies? Are you serious? Everyone who takes Advanced Strategy has to study them now! They're, like, flawless!"
James smiled. "They are not flawless, Mlle. Fassbender. Some of them - especially our earlier work, before Lily came to London - are in fact quite imperfect. Just because you study them -"
"They are role models," Lily intervened. "Mere examples. Certainly not something you should strive to copy. This 'P.E.' nonsense -"
"- you can see she's still upset because they put my name first -"
Lily glared at James. "- just creates an illusion that we're old scholars with nothing better to do than sit around in a dusty office creating crazy strategies. We just do what we can with the profiles we're given."
"Do you do field work?"
"Not as often as we'd like, unfortunately. But," James glanced at Lily, "that'll hopefully change soon."
She smiled and nodded. "I'll go hand it in soon, after everyone starts working."
"Okay."
"It must be incredible," Dom said, "you two are geniuses... Imagine what it must be like... How fortunate that you two work together!"
Lily raised an eyebrow. "It was no coincidence, Dom. I left France specifically to work with James."
"Oh."
Everyone was staring at her, obviously stunned by the statement. James didn't seem to be impressed.
"But that 'incredible' thing... That is a slight -"
Dorcas hurried to interrupt her. "- lie. They argue all day long, non-stop."
"But - their scenarios -" Dom began, confused.
"The thing is," Lily explained, "we're co-Heads of Strategy, and because of that we depend on each other's consent to get anything done."
"And she never approves of anything I do if she finds the slightest flaw."
"So what? That's good, no?"
"Oh, it's excellent. But it drives them crazy," James replied, gesturing to the other women of his team.
"Of course it does! Why do you always have to yell so much? Why can't you just solve your issues normally?" Amelia protested.
"But we're not normal! How can you expect us to -"
"You act normal around us. Why can't you at least be civil?"
"We yell, Amelia. That's what we do."
"But," Dorcas pointed out, "you didn't yell last night."
Valerie tilted her head with a smile. "Or maybe you did... We just weren't around to hear."
Lily and James threw her a stupefied look. Amelia choked on her glass of water, and Dorcas gaped at Val, who, having just realised what she'd said, clapped her hand to her mouth.
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Comme si je n'éxistais pas, elle est passée à côté de moi
Sans un regarde, reine de Sabbat...
J'ai dit, "Aïcha, prends, tout est pour toi!
Voici les perles, les bijoux, aussi l'or autour de ton cou
Les fruits bien mûrs au gout de miel; ma vie, Aïcha, si tu m'aimes..."
Khaled, "Aïcha"
.................................................
"I - I didn't -"
"Don't let Julia hear you choke like that, Mel," James said with a good-natured smile. "Or you'll get me in trouble."
Amelia nodded mutely, suppressing a grin. She didn't really know what had happened the night before - for obvious reasons, she hadn't attended Gideon Prewett's party -, but something surely had.
There was a brief pause, during which Alain, Katrina and Dominic continued looking at Lily and James with did-she-mean-what-I-think-she-meant looks on their faces.
Alain wondered, not for the first time, what exactly this guy's relationship with Lily was. He felt something was going on; what, he had no idea, but James Potter had made several alarm bells ring in his mind.
No one bothered clarifying anything. Lily was a bit annoyed; she was taking the blame (credit?) for something she hadn't even been close to -
Oh, all right. Lily had certainly been close to shagging James last night, but the point was that she hadn't. Unfortunately.
"We should really start," she said suddenly, with ease Alain certainly didn't feel. "Did you bring -?"
James frowned. "I thought you -"
"I said -"
"No, but -"
"You had only -"
"I arrived -"
"You have got -"
"Excuse me? I did not -"
"Why do I always -"
"That's got nothing -"
"But of course it does! I'm positive -"
"Well, you're -"
"No way! I told -"
Everyone was watching Lily and James' argument, which got louder every second. No one had quite understood what was going on, but, by the look on the couple's faces, they could all tell that something was terribly wrong.
Alain didn't fully understand why neither bothered to finish their sentences. How could Lily and James have gotten to know each other that well in just a few weeks?
"You're -"
"We need -"
"Why don't -"
"No, you -"
"Hey, you two! HEY! Stop arguing!"
They turned to look at Amelia. Lily's hand immediately went up to massage her temple. James frowned and took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
"I have a headache," Lily mumbled.
"I second that," he said.
Valerie grinned. "Well, don't we all? No one needs all this yelling, you guys, come on."
"The good thing about partying with the boss," Dorcas said cheekily, "is that no one gets yelled at for coming to work with a hangover."
Lily smiled feebly. "Where is Marlene? I desperately need some of that potion of hers."
James looked at her curiously. "You should know, Lily..."
"Well, I do know where she is, but I have no idea of when she's going to get here."
"Would you mind -?"
"All right."
Lily walked to the door, wondering whether she should Apparate to the office or send Marlene an owl.
"An owl would take too long," James said, reading her mind - as usual.
She turned and approached him. "Yeah, I know."
"While you're at -"
"Okay, no problem. But I still maintain -"
"Oh, go to hell."
"I'm already in it," Lily snapped, glaring at him. "This is your fault."
"Isn't it always? No, Lily. You said no such thing - I don't know why you're so sure -"
"Oh, but I did."
"You're wrong."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are -"
"Oh, for crying out loud! Can't you just stop yelling for once?" Marlene asked, entering the room. "You've been at it since, what, six in the morning?"
Lily grinned. "Five, actually. We started work early today."
Marlene shook her head.
"Lene, please tell me you were that adorable, thoughtful person we all know and love -"
Marlene blinked innocently. "I - I guess not. Why? Was I supposed to do something?"
James groaned. "Please tell me you're joking."
She laughed. "Of course I'm joking. Who needs HCP?" she asked, grabbing a few small bottles from her purse. Not waiting for an answer, she threw one to all her teammates, as well as to Valerie and Sylvie.
Lily hurried to drink hers. The warm, soothing magic working its way through her body sharply enhanced her senses for a few moments, and she was painfully aware of James' closeness. She knew he was feeling it, too... And, in truth, Alain's presence was the only thing keeping him from doing something.
"Here are the papers, you guys," Marlene continued, removing a big stack of papers and pieces of parchment from her purse, which was clearly spelled to be more spacious than it seemed.
Lily and James stared at her. "Where did you get those?"
"They were on Dorcas' desk. I figured she'd forgotten to bring them, since they obviously refer to Neveu's visit."
"Well... thank you. We were just talking about them - we thought -"
"It doesn't matter," James intervened. "Thanks, Lene. Lily, how are we going to -"
"Well... I think five -"
"It's reasonable. Pairs?"
"Remember? They have -"
He grimaced. "We'll -"
"Yeah."
"All right."
"Okay, so that's it," Lily said to everyone.
"Uh... Lil, we didn't really understand - well, anything," Val replied hesitantly. "At least I didn't."
James grinned. His complicity with Lily was exasperating Alain to no end. How dare this guy -
"We have a huge list of things to do, so you'll get to choose a few items to work on, divided into pairs. I think we'll choose the pairings, for the sake of expediency. We just have to wrap up the final details of this list; it won't take too long."
Lily and James sat across from each other at the table and got out a few pieces of parchment, discussing them quietly. Alain couldn't quite make out their words, but they were certainly work-related. He wasn't sure whether James' ability of sobering up when necessary made him feel relieved or annoyed.
A flutter of bird wings sounded behind them. James turned to look at the window, and grinned at the incoming owl.
"Hey," he said, holding out his hand to get the mail.
"Kayk," Lily called without turning around. "Here."
The owl made an abrupt turn on his way to James and gave Lily the envelope.
"It's my owl," James protested. "He's not supposed to obey you like this!"
Lily smiled, stroking Kayk's wing. The owl bit the tip of her finger affectionately. "If you didn't get so annoyed every time I did it, James, I would probably have stopped a long time ago."
"And, since he knows that perfectly well," added a new voice, "one can only suppose that, deep inside, he likes it when you steal his owl's affection from him."
Lily laughed and quickly stood to embrace the newcomer. "Remus! I wasn't sure you'd make it. Everyone, this is Remus Lupin. He's not an Auror, but he's collaborating with us on this mission. Moony, these are Valerie -"
"Hi!"
"Hey!"
"And Sylvie, obviously -"
"Hey," he greeted her, grinning.
"Hey..."
"Then Katrina Fassbender -"
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"Hello."
Lily threw James a questioning glance, and he mouthed something to her discreetly. She apparently understood. "This is Sylvie's brother Dominic, and -" again that damned hesitation Alain still hadn't completely understood, "Alain Delacour."
Remus' eyes darted quickly from Alain to Lily, and back to Alain, comprehension dawning on his face. Well, all these people evidently knew that he was her boyfriend. Alan just didn't know why it was that much of a problem.
"Have a seat, Moony. We're eleven now," she said, sitting across James and looking at him.
"No, twelve," he replied, showing her the letter. "We are soon to be joined by Mr. Black."
Lily seemed torn between delight and disapproval, but smiled nonetheless. "Wonderful. He told me that he'd try to come."
Remus sat beside Sylvie and squeezed her hand tenderly. They smiled at each other, and he kissed her lightly. Dominic looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"You guys are killing me with cuteness here," Lily whined, making a face.
They laughed and resumed their antics.
After a few moments, James tilted his chair back on two legs, yawning. "There. My part is done."
"Mine too."
"So - I guess we -"
"Yeah."
"Do you think -"
"Nah, he won't -"
"Okay."
"You know," Remus pointed out conversationally, "you guys should really stop interrupting each other like that when you're around other people. We really have no way of knowing what you're talking about, and it's very annoying."
"Sor - sorry, Moony," Lily replied, yawning. "It's a habit."
"You should -" James began with a smile.
"Okay," she agreed, standing.
Remus rolled his eyes.
"Sorry!" Lily repeated, chuckling, after realising what she had just done. "Do you want to go with me, Moony? I have to get a document from the Minister."
"Sure."
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On a vu souvent rechair le feu
D'un ancient volcan qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est, paraît-il, de terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir, pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir, ne s'épousent-ils pas
Ne me quitte pas...
Jacques Brel, "Ne me quitte pas"
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The room was uncomfortably silent after Lily left. Everyone was staring either at James or the floor, and his gaze was fixed on the parchment on which she had been working. Alain's mind was running wildly, trying to understand what was happening. Who was this guy? Why did Lily seem so at ease around him? She didn't look so stressed now - she didn't look at all overworked. Well, maybe her arguments with Potter were what forced her to take home so much work...
Suddenly, Lily's owl flew to the windowsill. Kayk hooted and flew over to stand beside her. Alain noticed that Myrie was carrying an envelope.
"Hey," he said, waving to try and get her attention. "Hey!"
The owl didn't move. James looked up when he heard Alain's voice.
"Myrie," he called softly.
She immediately went to him and dropped the letter on the desk. Alain glowered, but James didn't seem to notice; he was too busy examining the contents of the envelope.
"Shit," he muttered.
A few seconds later, Lily entered, laughing with Remus. She froze when she surveyed the scene before her.
James grinned, noticing her reaction. "Ah, revenge is sweet."
Lily clenched her jaw. "Myrie," she called through gritted teeth, "you're not supposed to obey him!"
The owl hooted and fluttered her wings cheerfully.
"Give it up, Lilikins," Remus said with a smile. "Myrie's known James for as long as you have. You can't expect her to ignore him."
What did this Lupin mean? Alain was truly beginning to hate James Potter! Alain had known Myrie for much longer than he had, and she didn't obey him! What the hell -
"It's been, what, thirteen years?" James asked, stroking Myrie's head. "I really don't know why you're still surprised, Lily."
Alain fought hard not to gape. Thirteen years? Lily - Lily and this - they - thirteen years? Why - how - what -
"Thirteen years?" she echoed with a grimace. "Seven... then six... Yeah, that's it. Merlin... that's a long time. I've known you for over half of my life!"
"The better half," he said, grinning.
She laughed. "There's no doubt about that."
"I want to start working," James complained out of the blue. "When is Sirius arriving? Moony?"
"No idea. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday."
"Me neither."
"I did," Lily said. James and Remus looked at her, startled. "I talked to him this morning."
"Where? When?"
"Breakfast," she replied with a grin.
Alain grimaced. Either Lily was fooling around with not only Potter but also with this Sirius guy... or she was really just joking. The latter possibility didn't seem very plausible, but - even if she cheated on Alain, she wouldn't be this blatant about it, would she?
"When did you -"
Lily's grin broadened when she noticed James' confusion. "Leylann's!"
"Oh."
"Hello, everyone. Missed me?" asked a loud voice coming from the hallway. Alain assumed that it belonged to Sirius.
"Not really, Padfoot," Lily replied, smiling at him.
Sirius gaped, mockingly horrified. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, Miss Evans."
He approached Lily and ticked her until she gave in to helpless laughter. "Okay, okay, of course I missed you!" she admitted, struggling to free herself from his grasp. "Now stop! Sirius! Come on!"
"Go on," he said, laughing. "I'm waiting."
"Uh... I don't know how - how I managed to survive this long without you!" she gasped between giggles.
"That's good; continue..."
"I - I don't - James!"
James Potter was watching the scene with vivid amusement. Hearing his name, he met Lily's eyes lazily, not at all willing to help.
All it took for James to change his mind was a significant glare.
"Let go of her, Padfoot," he demanded at once. "Now."
Sirius made a face and complied, knowing all too well that James wouldn't hesitate before hexing him if he didn't. "You are so whipped," he muttered with a snort. "Really, Prongs."
James grinned and said nothing.
Two voices, chatting happily in English, came from the hallway, drawing closer.
"Tell James I'll be there in a few minutes."
"All right."
Lily recognised the first voice instantly, and the other - ugh, no...
With a shudder, she realised that the second voice belonged to pretty much the last person she wanted to meet right now.
Lily threw James a quizzical look, and he smiled apologetically, with a look of feigned innocence that didn't fool her for a second.
Oh, he knew! James had probably found out a long time ago that this was going to happen, and he hadn't said anything! Damn him, damn him, damn him!
Well, if James had thought that Lily would work in peace with Julia Rutilia and Kate Malshirn, he was very much mistaken.
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