Incognito

✑ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓.𝟏

𝚁𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚠 𝚁𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚖
𝟷𝟶:𝟺𝟸 𝚙.𝚖 I

When James Potter burst through the doors into the radio room it was the first anyone had seen of him in days. He had not announced his arrival to anyone but headed straight to Alice and took the headset off her ears and placed them over his own.
Alice eyed him incredulously. He looked like shit to put it bravely, and he was only armed with one gun strapped to his shoulder. Under his arm was a copy of an old fabric-bound book, titled Hamlet.

"This is comms to teams Alpha, Gamma, and Delta. Do you copy?"
He said urgently into the headset, calling the three separate teams they had sent out to look for Harry.

"Alpha copy."

"Gamma copy."

James frowned. Delta was the team Lily had left with last night according to the lists on the database, but they did not respond.

"Delta do you copy?"

"This is Delta, we copy." The voice belonged to Sirius, James was almost positive but he sounded annoyed.

"All teams call back to base as soon as possible."

"Copy."

"Ten-four."

Delta did not answer again, James figured he knew why. Lily would be refusing to return, and that was likely why she hadn't responded to the call to begin with. But it didn't matter anyway, because who he really wanted in was team Gamma. He had decided to call all teams back so as to not draw attention to the situation but the only person he wanted back on base was Ophelia Dollie Montgomery.

"Prongs? Are you alright?"

James glanced down at Alice and nodded once, handing the headset back to her.
"I'm going to take a shower, and then I've got some work to do."

●·○·●·○·●

𝙷𝚘𝚐𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙾𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎
𝟷𝟷:𝟶𝟾 𝚙.𝚖 I

James had a theory, and once he'd got an idea into his head, he was famous for clinging onto it with a vice-like grip.

The copy of Hamlet was open in front of him, the word Ophelia highlighted every time. It was from her, she was a traitor, but there was more to it. He knew it.

Burying a hand into his hair, James began to search the database. Then his memory.
"Jackpot."

There had been hints to this he'd ignored for so long. Suggestions they'd been tipped off, that the Death Eaters were prepared for them, that Tobias Snape got away for a reason. That Tom Riddle was getting closer and closer to them.

He knew there was a traitor amongst them, and Ophelia may not be a traitor in Hamlet but the one he knew was...

●·○·●·○·●

𝚆𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝙰𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚢
𝟷:𝟶𝟸 𝚊.𝚖 I

James had received word that Gamma had returned home and so he waited for his moment before entering the armory.
Ophelia had her back to him, replacing weapons in their correct place, calmly, slowly.

"Arson."

She turned over her shoulder, shining ebony hair swaying behind her. Ophelia nodded before turning back around, "Prongs."

"It's been a crazy couple of days, thanks for helping out."

"We haven't found anything as of yet, but I'm sure something will turn up. I heard from Frank that Delta aren't coming back until later."

James nodded though she didn't see it.
"Well Lily's been worried sick— so have I."

"I can only imagine," Ophelia said lowly, finishing unstrapping her garter belt and hanging it up.

"Yeah well, I guess we both just feel responsible."

"You do?" She turned to face him then, not registering the book on the table behind him, the copy of Hamlet she's left behind at the warehouse. Her mistake.

"Of course, Harry went missing. He's our child. Besides, it's been a while since I've felt a pang of guilt like this."

Ophelia leaned back against a counter, bracing herself on her hands. James nearly laughed at the concerned look on her face. Now that he knew the truth it was almost comical to watch her keep up the act.

"You wouldn't have been here when Evelyn was around, but she was very special to me. Not like Lily was, but she was someone I cared a lot about. She was underestimated, undermined, and frankly, she was lied to– mostly by me. But I loved her in a sense."

"I'm sorry, James."

He paid her apology no heed, barely breaking the sentence to accommodate her words.
"But eventually she began to pull away, and it was my fault, but that's not why I felt guilty. I felt guilty because when she found out I didn't care for her as much as she did me, Evelyn put herself up for a mission that she knew she wouldn't come back from. And she didn't."

James locked eyes with Ophelia, eyes that were striking silver, so different from the oceanic blue of Evelyn, or the emerald green of Lily.

"And we never found her body. That was that."

Carefully he took a step closer to Ophelia so they were eye to eye. He could feel her breath on his skin and it make him sick.
Ophelia watched him with hard eyes, her mouth in a firm line, painted red. She had a feeling she knew what he was going to say next.

"Except she wasn't dead at all was she? In fact, I'm looking at her right now."
James reached over to take the book off the counter with one hand and flipped through the pages. Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia. Circled over and over again.

"I've only ever known one person able to recite Shakespeare from memory, and one person to own a collector's set like this one."

James dropped the book onto the counter, not breaking his eye contact with Ophelia. She did not cower under his poisoned gaze at first.

"It's a pleasure to see you again," he winked, savoring the slight twitch in her gaze. The falter showed she was secretly terrified. She didn't notice James pull one of the guns from the wall behind her and turn the butt towards the back of her head.

"Evelyn Harper King."

There was a thud.

And Evelyn Harper King's world went black...

●·○·●·○·●