Four Little Words

Chapter Eighteen

Lily took a long sip of her tea and then opened her eyes to look at Remus, a undistinguishable look on her face. "Let me get this straight," she said. "You and James and Sirius are not fighting anymore?"

"No," Remus shook his head, wondering why she was acting so oddly to the news.

"And you are all friends again?" she clarified.

"Yes, I believe so," he nodded. "Is there a problem with that?"

Lily seemed to ignore him. "And to make things right between the three of you, you told him that I was only at your house because I was ‘very upset' over Marlene's death?" Lily said, looking up at him, annoyed.

"That and that you didn't want to be alone," Remus nodded slowly.

With a slight nod of her head, Lily glared at him."Good, now I can be mad at you without feeling guilty."

Remus blinked. "What?! What for?!"

"For telling James that I was some sort of fragile doll," she said, rolling her eyes. "We can't have that."

"So...you're mad at me now?"

"Yes."

"Until when?"

Lily shut the door behind her.

"She's crazy, mate, sorry to tell you," James said, tidying up his desk. "I only wish I'd figured it out sooner. Would have made life easier to deal with."

"What happened to ‘I'll make up with her on Monday?'" Sirius asked, from across the hall. "And ‘I'll make up with her the next time I see her?'" He was pouring over a piece of parchment that was filled with black strike-outs and rewriting. A pile of parchment behind him was a testament to the previous attempts.

"I will," James nodded. "Just as soon as this damn Swedish Minister leaves."

"Oh, is that what you're doing this for," Remus nodded, leaning against the door. "I wondered why you were cleaning."

"Moody came in here, barking at us because our desks weren't clean. He says that both Ministers are going to want to interview us on our defense techniques and things like that," James rolled his eyes.

"You don't think he's going to bring any hot Swedish models do you?" Sirius asked, getting annoyed with his parchment and balling it up, throwing it behind him.

"How's Dorcas?" Remus called back.

Sirius grumbled in returned, and turned around to find the previous parchment to figure out what he had said before. While James continued to fight with his mess, Remus strolled across the hall to Sirius' office.

"What are you writing, Padfoot?" Remus asked, nodding to his pile of parchment.

"Letter to Regulus," Sirius mumbled. "I'm trying to remember how to get out of the castle from the mirror on the fourth floor."

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Gonna meet Reg at the Hog's Head to discuss his recent decision to become a Death Eater," Sirius said nonchalantly. "He's my brother, and he's sixteen, so I figured if I offered the chance of free firewhisky, that he'd come regardless of whether he thought he was going to talk to me."

"Minister's here!" Emmeline called, walking past their offices. "Moody wants everyone to look busy."

"There!" James said, standing up. He'd shoved everything on his desk into his drawers and everything he couldn't fit in there was put under his desk. Sirius frowned and balled up the paper he was writing and threw it away, giving up for now. He ignored Remus slightly and walked over to James' office to laugh at him.

"Can you even get under your desk, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Sure," James said, scooting as far as he could forwards, his knees barely getting underneath. Sirius turned his attention back to Remus who was standing in the hallway, looking at something mildly interesting.

"Go on then, Moony, take a look and tell us who we have to entertain," Sirius nodded.

"Sorry Padfoot," he whispered back. "All men, except our Minister."

Sirius cursed and went to go take a look for himself. Sure enough, the Minister for Magic was leading a black-haired man in black robes through the Auror division of the Ministry. The man was asking many questions and diverting the answers to his blonde-haired assistant, who was taking note after note after note.

"Minister Berggren, I would like you to meet some of our best young Aurors," Minister Bagnold said, coming up on Sirius' and James' offices. "They have been apart of our revolutionary new Auror training program at Hogwarts school, and were apart of the first group to begin training in the spring term of their sixth years."

"Meddela utbildningsministern om detta," the Minister said to his assistant, who quickly wrote on his notepad.

"James, Sirius, Remus, this is Minister Berggren. Minister, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin," Minister Bagnold quickly directed pleasantries. "And this is his assistant, and forgive me for saying this wrong, Hakan Williamson-"

The assistant looked as if he was hiding his annoyance that she had mispronounced his name. "Håkan Wilhelmsson," he corrected politely.

"Yes, well," Minister Bagnold cleared her throat and looked over to the Swedish minister who seemed to be thinking deeply.

He turned to Håkan and said, "Jag vill att du stannar här och lyssnar på de här männen och ger mig en fullständig rapport vid slutet av vår vistelse."

James and Sirius exchanged looks, as neither spoke Swedish. "The hell did he just say?" James hissed.

"I have decided," the Swedish Minister said, in near perfect English. "That Håkan will stay with you," he looked to James and Sirius, "until the end of our stay here."

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "Why?"

Minister Bagnold gave him a warning look. "They will be glad to play host to Hoken-"

"Håkan," he said, a muscle twitching in his cheek.

"Hakan, yes," she cleared her throat again. "Well, then, come along Minister Berggren, we have much more to see before the tour is complete."

"Lycka till," the Swedish minister said, continuing on his tour. Håkan gave him a slight nod, and when his back was turned, a very dirty glare.

"Lick it all?" Sirius whispered, loudly.

"Be nice," Remus admonished them. "Hello...erm..." he smiled embarrassed. "How do you pronounce your name again?"

"Håkan."

"Hawk-an?" Sirius tried.

"Hok-an?" James tried.

"Håkan."

"Any nicknames?" Remus asked, pleasantly.

"No."

"Right then, Hawk-an-" Sirius said.

"Håkan."

"Yes, well," James grumbled. "Let's just agree that we can't say your name."

"Obviously," Håkan muttered. "It's not that hard."

The three others exchanged glances.

"So," Håkan said, adjusting his notebook. "Explain to me what it is you do everyday."

"Well," Sirius said, folding his arms in front of him. "I laze about on my arse, gawking at the hot secretaries of my bosses, and occasionally dragging one of them into my office for a quickie."

Håkan didn't look amused.

He was about to retaliate when a flash of red caught his eye. His eyes landed on Lily, and were transfixed. His eyes dropped down her body and then came to rest on her eyes, which were focused on the paper in front of her. She looked up for a little bit to laugh at something Emmeline had told her, and then her eyes swept down the hallway until they met his.

It was James' turn to not look amused, for the look on Lily's face was one of piqued interest.

"Who is that beautiful creature?" Håkan muttered, walking towards her as if drawn by a magnet. It was interesting to see that the closer that Håkan got to Lily, the redder James' face would get.

"Hello," Lily smiled, extending her hand to him. "Might I venture a guess to say that you're the Swedish Minister?"

"No," he laughed, taking her hand gently. "I am the assistant to the minister. My name is Håkan Wilhelmsson."

"Lily Evans," she smiled, taking his hand. He raised it to his lips, kissing it lightly. Lily felt a healthy blush rise to her face. "Håkan, right?"

Håkan looked mildly astonished. "Y-You said my name right?"

"Did I?" Lily laughed.

"You are the first person to say it correctly that I've met here, I was beginning to doubt the language skills of Englishmen."

"That's because Englishmen aren't as good as Englishwomen," Lily winked at him.

"Apparently," Håkan threw a nasty glance back at James, Sirius, and Remus.

"Breathe, Prongs," Sirius said, holding his arm out in front of James to restrain him.

"Where is the Minister?" Lily asked, looking around.

"The Minister has left me behind to shadow an Auror for the next week," Håkan said. "I was going to shadow one of those three, but...pardon me if I'm being forward, but I somehow get the impression that I would learn so much more from you. I don't think my Ministry would benefit from...well...the practices that some use." He made an obvious gesture to Sirius.

Sirius merely snorted and continued to hold James back with little effort.

Lily finally noticed how angry James was getting, and had to hold back a laugh. He was so predictable.

"I would say yes, but I'm afraid that I'm not what you would call a ‘traditional' Auror...." Lily shook her head. "It's been ages since I've gone into battle; I'm actually more of the ‘stay-behind- and-clean-everyone-up' sort of person."

James smirked.

"Brilliant!" Håkan exclaimed. "You're perfect for my guide! My minister is looking into innovative uses of personnel!"

James frowned.

"Oh, well then," Lily giggled slightly. "Step into my office and we'll get to shadowing?"

"Excellent," Håkan said, putting his arm on her shoulder. "Actually," he paused. "I must still be on Swedish time, but are you hungry?"

"Yes, actually, a bit-"

"Then how about we discuss it over lunch?" Håkan offered. "My treat?"

"That would be lovely," Lily said. Before they could get very far, however, they heard a loud noise that sounded like a mix between an anguished cry and an explosion of frustration. And then they heard a slamming of the door.

"What was that?" Håkan asked.

"My ex-boyfriend," Lily said, conversationally. "So...lunch?"

"The hell is this...?" Sirius said, stopping short after turning a corner. A long telescope-type contraption was winding down the main hallway. He saw that it ended with a perfect view into Lily's office, where she and Håkan were currently going over the way that she did paperwork during the day. Though the door was closed, through the window, Håkan was making her laugh or smile with nearly everything she said. Sirius also noticed that his arm was on her chair, and she didn't seem to be minding it.

Knowing exactly who was on the other side of the telescope, Sirius leaned down and breathed on the lens, causing it to fog up. Then he wiped it off, and then put his eye on top of the lens and peered through, much to the annoyance of the hazel eye on the other side.

Sirius put his mouth in front of the lens and mouthed, ‘Nice try, Prongs.' Then he strolled down the office, following the barrel of the telescope and found James still peering through the telescope, very keen on seeing everything that was going on in that office.

"You know, I'm sure in all of the books of spells that we've studied over the years, there's bound to be a spell in there to spy on somebody without that bloody obvious thing," Sirius tapped at it.

"She hasn't noticed it yet," James grumbled.

"She hasn't, or she has and doesn't care," Sirius snorted. "Look, the bloke is going to be gone in three days. I'm sure Lily's just trying to make a good impression."

"He is not," James announced, huffily. "The berk got an extension of another week!"

"How do you know this?"

"I've been reading their lips."

"Since when are you an expert lip-reader?" Sirius pulled the telescope away from his eye. "You're taking this a bit too seriously. You broke up with her, why are you so worried about what she does with another bloke?"

"Because I don't like him."

"Somehow, I doubt that you'll like any bloke that Lily decides to date-"

"SINCE WHEN ARE THEY DATING?!" James exclaimed.

"Be a little louder, won't you Prongs? I don't think his parents heard him in Sweden."

"This is an outrage! How can we even be sure he's had his shots?" James grabbed the telescope back and stuck it in his eye, angrily. "Well, that didn't take long, did it Evans? Two days and you're already shagging him?"

"So you can do it but she can't, right?" Sirius asked. "I think she'll disagree with you there."

"Yes, but...but..."

"And for the record, they aren't dating per say. He's just taken her out every night since he's been here. I think last night they went to go see a play, and the night before, a museum, and the first night-"

"Gah!" James buried his head in hands. "I've got to stop this, it's out of control-"

"I'm not going to let you," Sirius shook his head. "It's her right if she wants to go out and find her own bloke. In fact, I would encourage it."

"WHAT?!" James sputtered. "B-But why?!"

"In the first place, you have no say over who she sees anymore. You aren't anything to her except an ex-boyfriend, and unless you want to change that, you're just going to have to get over that."

James frowned and picked at his desk.

"And in the second place, I know how you think, are you are not allowed to follow them to the restaurant," Sirius said.

"But-"

"Don't you think that you've broken her heart enough?" Sirius asked, seriously. "If you don't really love her, shouldn't you just leave her be?"

James sighed. "I suppose..."

"Look, mate," Sirius put his hands on both of James' shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes. "If you're so worried about other people getting with your girl, why'd you break up with her?"

"Because...it's habit I guess," James muttered to himself.

Sirius retracted his hands, irked that his prodding hadn't gotten James to admit that he really did love Lily. Until he admitted it, Sirius thought, he wasn't going to believe it himself.

"Well, I suppose it's time for me to move on anyways," James said, sadly.

Sirius sat down at his desk and said nothing. He really thought that he had cornered James, but apparently, James had found a backdoor.

"Of course, when she gets her heart broken, she doesn't need to come crying to me!" James proclaimed loudly into the hallway as he crossed it to get to his office.

Sirius clunked his head down onto his desk, frustrated beyond all belief.