4Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, J.k. Rowling do.
Also, this is my first attempt at fanfiction, I enjoyed reading them too much to concentrate on writing for about 2 years...
Ah, and I'm French, so English is not my first language.
So be kind please ;)
Quick background info for the story:
The Earth, our planet, reached its limits. It was just too damaged to live on any longer. Its people and beings, magical and non-magical, had long since mended bridges in an attempt to save their planet. The only solution left was terraformation. Only the planet had to be evacuated during the process, so everyone left on spaceships created with the joint efforts of the magical and non-magical communities, to come back once the Earth had morphed into a brand new one. But with its new environments, climates, lands and species of flora and fauna, the new planet literally became Unknown Territory, a dangerous place with unusual plants and creatures: a New World to explore and colonize. Those assigned the task were "Explorers", either specialized in combat or science, working under the International Association of Banks & Museums which is a part of the Confederation.
A few definitions:
The International Association of Banks & Museums (IABM, it is run by Goblins and humans, but mostly Goblins because they are a warrior race -and still run banks, hence part of the name- as for the Museum part, well Explorers amass tons of knowledge from the new planet, let's call it Neo-Earth, and this knowledge is transmitted to the Colonies for when they will be able to inhabit it, to educate them on their new planet.
The Confederation (it is the union of the many magical and non-magical states of the Earth, and possesses a lot of organizations working on their common goals, like the IABM)
The Colonies (they are the many spaceships where the populations settled while waiting for the Earth to be terraformed)
'What am I doing here again?'
Before her, a sea of nameless faces. Big round eyes and eager expressions, all staring at her, some with fear, some with awe, both, some even hunger?! Hundreds of whispers flying across the huge room, in a never ending 'melody' that was slowly grating on her nerves…
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, releasing it gradually while counting in her head, trying to calm down and persuade herself that this was just a dream.
No scratch that.
A nightmare, one she would soon be waking from. Bright green eyes slowly opened, taking a peek through the thick eyelashes…
…and closed immediately again. The sea of faces was still there.
…
'Ok, a nightmare it is. What the hell am I doing here?!'
Lily opened her eyes again, taking in the sight before her. She was in no way prepared to face this, this, was way too much for her to handle, too many people, too many stares and whispers…she was growing sick. But then again, it was her own damn fault for accepting that deal in the first place, and she had no way to back out now, she had already checked and all the emergency exits were blocked.
So no escaping for her.
Oh how she truly despised authority figures now… she really had never been good with them and had done everything she could to not have any in her way but still…for her boss, Griphook, to block all the exits...
First there had been her father. Diplomat of High standing, buried in his work for the Confederation, the Evans' patriarch was never there for his family. Apart from when he had been wanting to marry her off to further his position of power. Of course with Lily's temper it didn't go well.
Then there had been her headmaster at Hogwarts. The old goat that wanted to pass himself as human and was actually succeeding with most of the population had been a pain in her ass for way too long. Given that the education of Hogwarts lasted 7 years before the Apprenticeships and DE* she had lashed out a few good times at him over the years until the blessed graduation ceremony- freedom. There was that time for example when she literally burnt his ridiculously long beard after he tried to force her into an Apprenticeship with one of his lackeys… Ahhhh, it was SO satisfying seeing the man whine after his lost beard for weeks afterwards!
(AN: DE is short for direct employments which are low-rate jobs for less successful graduates but that still contribute to the community)
Apprenticeship-one she got into of her own volition at the main Explorer-spaceship of the Confederation- surprisingly went quite well. Lily even liked the instructors. The same couldn't be said for her fellow 'classmates'. Particularly the annoying prat James Potter. The git had actually thought he could woo her. If you can call that wooing… the others were not worth her interest (or even boredom) bar a few: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black (with whom she'd been, to her dismay, keeping contact).
And then there was the actual work- employed shortly by a ground research group from the Confederation.
Shortly because of the slight altercation with her boss.
Slight, because the problem was dealt with quickly and accordingly. (Translation: her boss was no more, not that it was a big loss to begin with).
And the International Association of Banks & Museums didn't put any complaint (translation: too scared to act and Lily is too skilled to lose in the Upcoming Migration- also the man really had been a worthless rat, what with his biddy eyes and cowardly attitude. One wonders how he even got so high in the hierarchy before he crossed Lily's path).
Then there was…. Wait. Not the time nor place reminiscing. Where was she again? Ah, yes, the sea of faces. Disgusting. But Lily was also angry at herself for falling for such a trick. Severus- her longtime friend, childhood friend in fact- had bribed her with chocolate for a favor: to attend a minor conference on her exploration of District 172 last month. She was supposed to give an update on her team's latest discoveries of the poisonous flora and their possible use in medicine. So only the IABM's scribe and a few scientists should have been present.
How wrong she was.
Severus, the fiend, had failed to inform her of the sheer scale of the intervention: half the bloody colony attended the largest conference room of the building, as well as Lily's new personal bane, journalists. The vultures were everywhere with their cameras and microphones, and the flashes and noise was giving her a bloody headache!
Why the agitation around Lily you would ask?
Well, it was actually quite expected for people to get excited at the mention of Lily Evans, the young woman had become something of a celebrity among the Colony in the last few years working as an Explorer- for Lily WAS a skilled warrior and of high intelligence (she wouldn't have started as a scientist on the team otherwise). The problem concerning Lily was that she was something of a misanthropist and did not like socializing bar with a few people (her team and friends) and was also known for her extremely fiery temper (you know what they say about redheads…) and so getting her to attend any kind of conference or interviews was almost impossible.
This is also what leads us to Lily's major flaw, and in this case a major weakness that got her in the conference room- her Gluttony. Lily Evans was more than a healthy eater; food was an addiction, even if it was needed for explorations in the Unknown Territories (Warrior-Explorers needed fuel to perform at their best in case of Unknown beast attacks to protect the team), and she had a unhealthy fondness for chocolate (no doubt Remus Lupin's influence) which was a rare treat in the Colonies.
So right now Lily, on top of being mad at her boss, her friend, the journalists and the situation in general, was feeling particularly betrayed by her beloved chocolate, because it got her in this mess, (she had been promised two months of free chocolate by her friend and former co-worker) and she couldn't find a way out. And despite the many cameras recording her every movement at the time, Lily had never cared a thing about public opinion, so she did the only thing she could about her unwanted situation.
She pouted, and drawled one word out.
"Crap".