Love At The Sea

Chapter #10

The company, including Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Marlene were sitting in a circle in Lily's room in The Palace of Hogwarts. James' narrowed eyes examined the thin, yellowed piece of paper in front of them.

'Sir Merlin Street.' He declared finally.

'Are you sure?' Sirius frowned. James nodded. Lily picked it up.

'The night he came back, I found this on the doorstep. It was torn. I was only able to figure out that it said Hogwarts.' She said.

'Well, we have check all the shops in Sir Merlin Street. It was years ago, but still, someone must remember it.' James said seriously.

'Not 'years ago'. It was just an year ago!' Lily snapped.

'Stop fighting!' Remus complained.

'Sorry.' She mumbled.

'Great. Can we sleep now?' Sirius yawned. Marlene rolled her eyes.

'You can sweety. We are having some serious adult talk here.' She said in a mock-serious voice. Everyone laughed whiled Sirius pouted.

Everyone went to their rooms to sleep. The Palace was quiet. The guards were patrolling the gates and the prisons. Thunder rumbled then and now. Rain was still pouring heavily.

Marlene turned in Sirius' arms to look at his face. He was snoring softly, his eyes closed. His long hair was tied back in a bun. She traced her fingers gently over her face and grinned when he smiled sleepily. All traces of mischief were gone from his face, he looked peaceful and calm.

'McKinnon, if you keep doing that I won't be able to sleep.' He mumbled, half-awake. Her grin widened.

'We can do other things than sleep.' She smirked.

'Like what? Snog?' He wondered.

'Maybe.' She said.

And then, they were snogging.

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Lily rubbed her eyes as she sat up on her bed. The sky was dark, it was still night. The rain had also stopped. She sighed and sat up. She lit a candle and pulled out a book.

She wasn't reading the book. She just stared at the pages. Here and there, a couple of ink spots decorated the pale pages. She closed the book and stood up from her bed. She opened the door to her room and went out.

The candles outside gave a warm glow to the corridors. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself and continued further. She turned a corner and bumped into someone.

'Who the bloody fuck?' A girl's voice complained.

'That's not polite.' Lily snapped and raised her candle to look at the girl closely. She had long black hair and similar black eyes. Her skin was tanned and she was probably 5'3.

'Right, sorry. And what, pray tell, are you doing at one in the bloody morning?' The Girl asked.

'I could ask the same you know.' Lily retorted.

'Spies don't think about that. Blame the two years of spy training in Diagon.' The Girl replied.

'Hell, I didn't even introduce myself. Well, I'm Lily Evans.' Lily said.

'You like flowers then?' The Girl asked. Lily blinked.

'Sorry, never mind. I'm Anushka Patil. Spy for Diagon.' The Girl--or Anushka--said.

'Indian?' Lily asked curiously.

'A proud one.' Anushka grinned.

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