â  interview room, ministry of magic,  with lily potter.  @boggartâ
â i donât know shit, man! this is such a waste of fuckinâ timeââ and other such protests have been the exclusive sound coming from this fairfaxâs lips since aurorâs made themselves known in theâalbiet shadyâbar archie and other known offenders frequent. but those protests fall uncharacteristically short once the auror stuck with questioning him opens the door. he only needs a second for his brain to link the red hair ( and eyes that have killed him countless times in nightmares ) and the awful dread that fills his rib cage to the right name: lily potter. archieâs bravado fizzles out and without giving his mouth permission, â fucking terrific.â he mutters into his palm, dragging a hand down his face and taking a tired breath. eye contact is now a thing of the past. he canât stomach it. as she moves closer to the table heâs tethered to, archie pulls down the sleeves of his shirt. her presence reminds him of a lot of emotions heâs spent years numbing with the very substance the aurorâs are trying to pin his twin for selling.
among the other tattoos that cover the entirety of his left arm, his fully formed dark mark blends in a little too well. and while he might be the stupid fairfax, heâs not brainless. if anyone is going to be looking for that mark on his inner forearm, it would be the daughter of the war hero they just killed. hands frantically fidget with the cuffs of his sleeves, pointless little repetitions to soothe himself as he pulls his hands as close to his lap as he can with the restraints. â âcourse youâre an auror.â  his tone is strangely neutral, a result of not quite knowing how to react. heâs not even sure himself if that was meant as a compliment or an insult. â gonna say the same thing to you that i told them. they got no proof. you canât keep me here. long.â
â -- iâm not sure how iâm meant to take that, but iâll pretend it was intended as a compliment. yes, iâm an auror. finally finished my training a few months ago. just before the world went to complete and utter shit. â thereâs a burning question on the tip of her tongue that almost slips out against her better judgment. did your brother not tell you that? she wants to ask him. leon knows sheâs an auror. she knows that he must know. thereâs no doubt in her mind that heâs kept tabs on her, just as thereâs no doubt in her mind that he will find out about this later, but she tries to push those thoughts away -- for now. she doesnât want to talk about leon right now. she doesnât want to even THINK about him right now. unfortunately, that is exactly what her superior has ordered her to do -- to question archie fairfax about the one person she never wants to see ever again. the truth of the matter is that she doesnât want to be doing this. ( interrogating archie in this case. if sheâs being completely honest, thereâs a lot of things she doesnât want to be doing right now. fighting this war for instance. but thatâs another thought she canât afford to have right now. ) but thereâs no getting out of it, not unless she wants to tell her boss about the conflict of interest, about how she knows archie -- and more importantly -- his identical twin brother. how leon had dug a knife into her back and archie had twisted it. thatâs not a conversation sheâs willing to have with anyone, much less with someone she desperately wants to impress. so just as archieâs stuck right now, sheâs also stuck.
â and yes, youâre absolutely right. we canât keep you here long. â lily admits plainly. and thank god for that is a thought that she keeps all to herself. archie is far from subtle, so sheâs very aware of how uncomfortable he is right now, and it only heightens her own discomfort. she doesnât like watching him squirm in front of her. thereâs no satisfaction in this, knowing that sheâs the sole cause of his distress right now and being forced to sit here and watch it. more than that, sheâs just tired. bone-tired. itâs been a long day -- just as it has been for her every single day -- and she wants nothing more right now than to go home, to the comfort and privacy of her flat, where she can try to forget this ever happened. unless the ministry forces her to work overtime again, her shift is almost over, and then she has a rare day off tomorrow. maybe thereâs a way out of this for the both of them, if she can just think.
absent-mindedly, she glances down at the papers in her hands and pretends to be reading them intently in an attempt to buy herself some time, her brows furrowing as she mulls over the best way to handle this. after about a minute of agonizing silence, she looks back up at him. tries to lock eyes with him, but of course, heâs not really letting her. â look, fairfax -- â she starts. even she isnât completely sure where sheâs going with this, how exactly she should word this. â -- i know itâs been...a while since weâve last seen each other -- â despite her best efforts, thereâs just the slightest edge in her voice when she says this, a bitterness that this is the first time theyâve properly spoken in years, that if he had it his way he truly would have never spoken to her again after kissing theodore burke. never explained. never apologized. ( or maybe itâs not bitterness sheâs feeling but something more like sadness. heartache. not that sheâll call it for what it is. much like leon, sheâs more than capable of feeding lies to people, especially herself. )
â -- but you look like PURE SHIT. you seem really sick actually. â she continues after a beat, her voice frank. â youâre covered in sweat. your pupils are dilated. youâre trembling. your breathing seems a little irregular. you look youâre about to throw up. i donât even have to do a diagnostic spell to know that you must be high right now. do you need...medical attention? â thereâs an intentional emphasis on those last two words, and she gives him an incredibly pointed look that she isnât even sure he catches due to his determination not to look at her. in fact, she doesnât even know if heâs listening to her at all right now. lily intakes a sharp breath and fights the overwhelming urge to bury her face in her hands and scream. how much clearer can she make this? â youâre showing signs that could point to a potential drug overdose. let me know if that might be the case. â she continues, hoping that will push him in the right direction. she knows full well itâs not a drug overdose, but the ministry of magic will be much more likely to release him into the care of the healers for that over a panic attack.Â
but he seems as though heâs somewhere else, faraway from here, from her. heâs the closest to her that heâs been in years -- so close she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to, not that she would ever dare -- but somehow, he feels further away than ever. itâs heart-wrenching to watch, to see him break down and know that itâs entirely her fault. â ...archie...can you hear me? â she murmurs after several seconds, calling him by his first name, something she hasnât done in years. itâs completely unintentional. a slip-up. just as heâs cracking in front of her, sheâs cracking in front of him, simply in a different way. she feels the steel in her voice slipping away, her tone softening, an instinctual reaction. she canât help it. even now, as much as she loathes him -- and there is definitely loathing there, stirring somewhere in the pit of her stomach, only now itâs being overpowered by something else, a residual love that she canât seem to shake -- as much as she hates him, she still doesnât enjoy seeing him in pain, not really. is this really what the mere sight of her does to him? as trapped in this room as he is, sheâs forced to sit with the thought -- to watch him unravel in front of her -- and thereâs a lump in her throat. archie hasnât been able to look her in the eye since their sixth year, and some of those reasons are his own fault, but he also has PLENTY of valid reasons to fear her, she knows. what does it say about her, that the simple presence of her terrifies someone else this much? she feels like there must be something heinous within her -- something monstruous -- if archie is this panicky right now about what she might say to him. might do to him. leon creeps into her mind again, a nagging voice thatâs always goading her, telling her that sheâs just as awful as him, and she shuts her eyes for just a moment, trying to will him out of her head. she really canât be thinking about him right now. but thatâs a difficult feet to accomplish when his mirror is right in front of her, reflecting nothing but genuine emotion, a complete contrast to the boy who haunted her still.
