where: the cross-section of Diagon and Knockturn Alleys
who: lily and @moonscflupus
They’d been there for hours, a flurry of activity easily used to fly beneath the radar of what they were actually doing. People were in a panic, and it seemed as if everyone was trying to get as much stuff as they possibly could in case things went from worse to worst. Lily and Remus had been tasked — by Moody himself, no less — with tracking down whatever they could in the busiest place in wizarding society.
It meant that she was clothed as inconspicuous as possible, her flaming hair tied back into a neat plait down her back and her robes also nondescript, and that she often stopped at windows, reaching out to lightly grab Remus’ robe to point at something in a window and, if only for a moment, speak hurriedly and hushedly as if she too was planning for the worst, when in reality her words were far more desperate than all that, “Everyone’s in a panic.”
The words didn’t match the frenzy at which they came, finding herself and Remus blending into the panicked crowds far easier than she’d thought. No one was giving them any attention at all, too worried about themselves and not even bothering to cover their tones as they spoke. Fear was the underlined word in most people talking, but it was the quieter tones and people stealing down smaller alleys that stole Lily’s attention.
She breathed out and dragged Remus suddenly towards the opening of one alley, trying desperately to hear the whispers of its occupants as they stole away, and — both hopeful and not, because as much as she wants information to give to Alastor she truly hopes that this isn’t part of a grander conspiracy — listens in closely, nodding to Remus to do the same. In reality, she’s waiting for an opening to follow them without suspicion, her own emotions keyed up by the murders and what was inevitable to follow.
