Sixth Interlude: The Congirl

So, you're looking for a different perspective on our star-crossed protagonists of this epic saga, and here you are, come to me for it. Well, then, I'll do my very modest best to oblige – but you've got to keep your eyes on the prize. Are you reading this carefully? Are you sure you know what the prize is? Because you need to be certain that what you're paying attention to is really the right thing, after all – it may be just a diversion, to keep you focused on the wrong thing while skilful fingers slip into your pocket or two, to leave you a few pounds lighter and a few lessons more knowledgeable.

I'm kidding; you've made it this far into the story, you deserve a genuine look behind the scenes. So here it is:

We've got rules, in this business. They're not any sort of general rules, mind – what we do falls under the broad definition of a 'crime' for a reason, after all, so whatever you do, don't let our rules trick you into thinking that any random grifter off the street is a Robin Hood in disguise.

And just to be clear on it, we're not either, unless your definition of 'Robin Hood' involves taking from the corrupt and rich, and then keeping it for ourselves.

But over the years, we've come up with certain rules – Mickey's Code – and we do stick by them.

Find somebody who wants something for nothing, then give them nothing for something.
Feed the greed.
Always have a Plan B.
It's all in the details.

You can't cheat an honest man.
It's not just about the money.
We always take care of our own.

Now, as I've said, these are our rules. Most grifters and short-con artists that might pickpocket you on the street or swindle you out of a couple-hundred quid in a bar do this for the money. Long con is a different sport, though. It requires patience, investment and time, and usually, you need something more to keep you disciplined until you hit the payload. Ash is a Fixer – for him, it's about putting his practical skills to the test: electricity, construction, crafting, transfiguration, charmwork, you name it, he can do it, and he's always after the next big challenge. Mickey's the Inside Man, the big brains of our little operation – for him, it's about proving he's smarter than the mark; it's also about getting back at the system that's let him and his old man down, about getting even with those who've used the system to get rich on the backs of people like his father – but you've heard this story already, when he told it to Severus last year, so I'll needn't go into details on that. Me? I'm the Femme Fatale – for me, it's about using expectations and preconceptions to my own advantage; it's about having the skills and looks to twist those who'd use and abuse until they don't know who they are and what they want of me, about taking control away from those who feel entitled to control those weaker than themselves, about controlling them for a change.

It is also about the money, just in case you're still deceiving yourself about who we are. But it's not just about money – and I can't stress this enough, which is why it's ended up as one of the rules.

I know, we're not really here to talk about the three of us – after all, in this great saga unfolding, we're but peripheral players, and we rather like it that way; war may be a profitable business, but it brings too much misery for our liking. Even so, if you are to understand how I see the players you're interested in, what I'm doing with them and why I'm doing it, then you need to understand who I am and what I value, and thus this little introduction.

I can discuss all of these rules with you, explain in detail why you can't cheat an honest man and what the easiest way to rope a dishonest one usually is, but for the purposes of my narrative, I'd rather focus on the last one: We always take care of our own.

It's the newest addition, one that Mickey's come up with after the mess with Ash and that sham of a DADA professor. It's more about himself than the rest of us, if you ask me – so that he never loses track of it in his impatience. Mickey's brilliant, but if he's got a flaw, it's his ego, and when it gets a hit, it's always a kick in the nethers for him, shakes him up enough he needs a bit to get back into the groove. And the biggest things that slip by him invariably happen in that time when he's shaken.

Severus' situation is one such big thing. Of course, part of Mickey's problem there is the guilt. Not that Severus has ever spoken to me or Ash about it – he's locked up tight, that one – but for someone in our position, it's not that hard to pick up on what's been going on with him. We're not idiots, you know, and what he's doing? A classic long con; that's our business, we can sniff it out before you can blink. I may not know the details or the motivation that's been driving this con of his since he's come into the orbit of our group, but I know enough to tell that he's paid a steep price on that front for coming to our rescue. And Mickey's being eaten by guilt over it, because he's the one who said 'go' on our stupidly premature move on Professor Wilson.

You'll have to forgive our cunning leader, therefore, for missing one big fact – for all that he's now in con-rescue mode, there's a burden that Severus has shed off his shoulders. Whatever this con of his has entailed until now, there was some part of it he really wasn't thrilled about, and that's off the table for the moment. To be fair to Mickey, it's not actually that hard to miss this, not with the way Severus has been about ready to jump out of his own skin since the whole sorry mess with Wilson went down.

See, skill and proper planning can get you very far in our business, and Mickey's the living example of just how vital taking that belief to heart is. But for all that, I've learned something else in my fifteen years – woman's intuition is the biggest weapon of a conwoman, and my woman's intuition is telling me that when a man is acting the way Severus is, there's only one thing to do: cherchez la femme.

When it comes to Severus Snape, there is only one femme you should cherchez for – Lily Evans.

I'll tell you something – for all that he's got the beginnings of a superb con artist, Severus is actually quite unsubtle in his subtlety sometimes, and never more so than when it comes to the Gryffindor Princess.

Perhaps I should give him lessons. There's a thought.

And so we come back to that newest rule: We always take care of our own. Severus may not exactly be one of our own, in a purely business sense, but he's sacrificed something he's invested a lot into in order to save Ash and our long con – if that doesn't make him one of our own in a broader sense, then I'm not a grifter. So the least he is owed is for someone to look out for him, and if there is anyone who can look out for him in this particular sphere of life, then it's me.

And there we have it – reaching the point you're truly interested in: Severus Snape and Lily Evans, and this little drama on a miniature epic scale unfolding between them, all through the eyes of insignificant little me.

Let me tell you a story. It starts in a bathroom, on a cold January Sunday evening.

When she's startled, Lily Evans is actually quite pretty. It's the green eyes – a shockingly penetrant shade of green, and her red hair complements them perfectly. She's not a stunning girl, but in combination with her personality, I can see why so many boys are interested in her, at least on this very superficial level.

"This is the Prefect's bathroom," says she after a moment, narrowing her eyes at me as she tightens the bathrobe around herself. "You're not a prefect, Stacie."

"Will you tell on me, then?"

She needs a few moments to answer, as if to shift gears mentally. I've caught her by surprise with my question, that's plain enough to see.

"No, though I think you should be a bit more careful about not getting caught, if you feel like using it. It's just a bathroom, even if it is fancy," she explains with a dismissive shrug and a bit of a smile. "Give me a couple of minutes to change back and I'll be out of your hair."

That's not quite the response I was expecting, I'll admit. The general Slytherin impression, in as much as there is one in the first place, is that Lily Evans is very much a goody-two-shoes who thinks quite highly of herself for being a Prefect and thus in position of power over the rest of the student populace. I can't say I've thought about her enough to develop any sort of proper opinion, but even from just these three exchanged sentences, I can tell that there's more to her than the Snake den rumour mill insists on (though if we're being honest, that's not really hard to achieve; the Snake den rumour mill is rather dully biased, after all).

"Actually, I am not here to take a bath, though I won't deny I've done that on occasion previously."

"No?"

"I'm here to speak with you."

The Gryffindor girl takes a moment to study me, take my measure, put everything together. She's clearly got a quick mind, and while I might have actually quite liked her in other circumstances, I'm sure that the games she's been playing with Severus haven't endeared her to you any more than they've endeared her to me.

"If you'll allow me to impart a piece of advice on you," I tell her, taking a couple of steps towards her, to invade her personal space. It's a challenge – invading personal space is the easiest way to provoke a reaction out of someone. The rest is in the body language, in looks and tone of voice. A conman's greatest weapon is their ability to convince people of what they want them to believe, and the greatest prop of their trade is their own body. "Trying to make a man jealous might work for many of them. Severus is not one of those many men."

"Excuse me?"

The defensiveness in her stance is immediate and clear – exactly what I wanted to achieve.

"Your dalliance with James Potter, it won't get you what you want."

"And what is it that I want, in your opinion?" she asks prissily.

"Severus making a grand romantic gesture in a desperate attempt to sweep you off your feet. Or perhaps just admitting his feelings for you and doing what you aren't brave enough to do."

It's harsh and cutting, and I mean it to be – Severus deserves better than the girl he's in love with toying with his feelings. The way Lily pales and stumbles back a step is viscerally satisfying.

If you've gotten the impression that I am above pettiness, I'd gladly remind you to look at the animal and colour of my school crest – we Snakes don't tend to hold with turning the other cheek and all that rot, and we conmen never give another chance for an insult once given us.

"I... I hadn't..." She clears her throat, takes a shaky breath and stares down at her feet. "That had never been my intent."

"Hadn't it?"

She steels herself at my challenge.

"I don't know what sort of impression I've left on you, Stacie, but I would never deliberately hurt Severus in that way. Accidentally, yes, I'll admit, but not deliberately. And because you've tracked me down here for his sake, I will trust that you are a true friend to him and I'll tell you that your... advice... is appreciated but unnecessary. Severus and I have resolved things between us. Earlier tonight, in fact."

"Am I to expect having to pick up the pieces tomorrow, then?"

There's fury in her eyes – enough of an answer even before she hisses: "There are no pieces for you to pick up, no."

I pull back, relax my shoulders, smoothen my forehead and mouth. No longer a threat. It's a bit like playing an instrument, guiding people into what you want them to believe – it takes a lot of practice, and natural talent can get you a long way, but ultimately, it comes down to the feeling you have in the moment.

"Well, then," I say. "That is another thing entirely."

I take a step back, change my behaviour entirely – shifting with speed through displays of various emotions often leaves people unsure of how to respond, because they cannot predict you. Giving ground to her physically will make her feel triumphant, as if she's won points, when this is in fact exactly what I've hoped to hear.

The point of all this is to build up confidence – that's what a 'con' means, at its essence. The ultimate goal is to gain something without her quite realising that this was the goal from the start. Giving ground here will, if I pull things off (and I'm very good at what I do, so you can be sure that I will pull it off), make her think that she's giving me a concession out of the goodness of her heart later on, rather than that I've extracted something from her for my own personal gain.

"I imagine we won't be seeing you around in spite of it, though. Given how this school year's been going."

"No," she admits, shoulders dropping from relaxed to slumped – her disappointment on clear display. "We haven't much options as far as that's concerned, I'm afraid."

"Because of this secret mission of his that he's decided to undertake for your sake?"

"You know about what he's got planned?" she asks sharply; touchy subject – not surprising, and to be fair, I was expecting to have to tread carefully around this anyway.

"We know he's got something in the works, yes, though he's kept it to himself."

"I'd like to think it wasn't just for my sake."

I shrug; if it makes her feel better to think so, then that's just another potential thing I can use down the line – see, here's a lesson for you: always pay attention to the details, because you never know what'll give you an in with your mark. And once you've got an in, only then is the con truly on.

"We Slytherins usually have more than one motivation for everything we do."

That makes her smile. "Severus has told me that on several occasions, yes."

We fall into a brief silence, one of those where the conversational thread has ended, but you don't know the other person well enough to start in on a new one easily. Here's another lesson for you: silence can be a very powerful tool, because it makes people uncomfortable, and they have an urge to fill it somehow. But be careful not to overstretch it, because if the mark picks up on the deliberateness behind it, you'll be liable to lose them.

I do have other things already prepared to be said, but I give Lily a chance to fill the silence, and I get my reward for it.

"Stacie, if you three know about Severus' mission... is there any protection you can give Severus, you and your friends, if things go pear-shaped with this thing he's doing?"

"And why do you assume that we haven't already offered that to him?"

"I'm not," she protests. "I know you've got his back, and I'm really very glad he's got true friends in Slytherin House. Anyway, I just... if there was anything else I could also help with, or... you and Michael are closest to him, you have a better sense of where he stands within your House than I do. The last time I tried to help, I only ended up making things harder for him, so I figured maybe you'd have better ideas."

"Well, there is one thing," I admit, as if I've just now thought of it. "As things stand, I rather doubt he'll get as far into the upper social circles of Wizarding society as he wants to, unless he starts acting like a Pure-blood. I happen to be a Pure-blood, so I could coach him on it."

"Have you mentioned this to him before?" she asks with a frown, so I raise my eyebrows at her and let her come to her own conclusions. "What exactly would this coaching entail?"

"For instance, no Pure-blood would allow themselves to be less than perfectly presentable in public. I'd start with that."

That makes her snort. "A make-over? I had enough trouble getting him to just tie his hair back during that heatwave in the summer! Though I suppose if it was for the mission," she concludes to herself in the end.

For all that it makes this whole conversation so easy to guide where I want it to go, her glaringly obvious failing is on full display here – her thought process is written on her face throughout: What? No way, I already failed at it. But that was just in front of friends, this would be business. Severus cares very much about his mission, he's likelier to do something he doesn't want to do if that's the reason. And ending with...

"How can I help?

See, I told you – know your mark, and you can predict them even before they decide what they'll be saying. Really, it's almost unsatisfying, how much she allows herself to be read. Perhaps I should teach her a thing or two, as well, if she and Severus are to keep their arrangement a secret. It wouldn't do for him to fall afoul of some people because she didn't know how to pretend.

"If you could get him to agree with us on the necessity of it, I can do the actual work – hygiene, posture, clothing, manners, speech–"

"He doesn't have bad hygiene," she shoots back. Defensive of him; good. "It's just that he's got the hair type that gets oily quickly, and it doesn't help that he spends half his days over potion fumes."

"Nevertheless, physical appearance counts for a lot in those circles, so if he has to wash his hair every day, then that's what he needs to do."

"All right," she agrees, though her countenance doesn't seem overly enthusiastic – if they really are in some sort of romantic relationship now, then I imagine she'd have wanted to do these things herself, as a good girlfriend ought to, instead of giving another girl permission to be doing it.

And that permission is exactly what I needed from her.

You see, I'm not very big on being the better person, and while I'm genuinely happy for Severus to have gotten the girl he wanted, what she's put him through over the last semester and before that isn't something that she should be allowed to just get away with. And in any case, if she's liable to break up with him over something as innocent as a little attention by another girl, then he's better off without her.

If you're asking yourself why I'd felt the need to ask her permission in the first place – I hadn't. Severus has made clear he wants to be more involved with our long con, and if that's the case, then sitting down with him and getting him to fix his image will be necessary in any case. What this particular little con is about is making sure that this girl whom Severus has given his heart is worthy of it, because if she's not, then it's my duty as his friend to protect him from even more hurt. And the first step is making it impossible for her to heckle him over what's going to look rather gossip-fuelling in the next few months.

I've wondered, since Mickey brought Severus into our circle, what exactly exists between him and Lily Evans, to bind them so tightly that all the hurt and hardship haven't yet managed to destroy their connection. I still don't see it, just that a connection really is there, and that it's wanted by both parties. I can't judge quite yet – I've only spoken to Lily Evans three times, including this little tête-à-tête – so where I'll end up standing on this will depend on how Lily performs during this little con of mine.

As for my general impressions? There's potential, but I'm not convinced the price in effort and frustration is worth it. Severus has grown focused compared to earlier years, and with a bit of effort, he could attract a better prospect than a girl who seems to be quite self-centred. On the other hand, it's clear enough that he's only ever had eyes for her. If what Lily said is true – that they've reached a satisfactory agreement on the nature of their relationship – then chances of him realising this are even lower than they were before the holidays and whatever had passed between them during that time.

As for Lily herself, she's definitely overrated – as is the case with most popular boys and girls in any school. Possibly not to the extent that Slytherin House likes to think so, but she's certainly not nearly as perfect as the rest of the school imagines her to be. For one thing, she's far too defensive and quick to jump into an argument; not only is that sort of excitability grating on the nerves, it's also very much a liability in anything resembling a long con, where having cast-iron self-control is sometimes the only way to keep from being found out when you get tossed an unexpected curveball. For another, watching her interactions with the rest of the Gryffindor group – and knowing the rift and subsequent mending of it between the Gryffindor sixth-year boys – it seems to me (just as a removed observer, you understand) that she likes to think of herself as exactly that selfless goody-two-shoes the school has cast her as, when in reality she's quite taken with self-gratification.

Granted, very few seemingly selfless people truly are anything of the sort: for most, it's actually about hidden pleasure in being seen as such and the pride of achievement that gets them that coveted societal praise. And I don't see anything wrong with this, per se – selfishness is an extremely beneficial trait in many instances, and truly selfless people are also those who are easiest to manipulate (that's why we have many of those rules – because we're not thieves, and conning genuinely good people is theft, pure and simple; we build our cons on feeding the greed of those who want something for nothing, not on emotionally manipulating those who have foolishly given us their trust with the best of intentions). No, what I highly dislike is rather the duplicity inherent in it, the hypocrisy of it. Obviously, I don't know Lily Evans enough to say whether or not she's aware of being this type, whether she genuinely tries to be selfless and thus ignores the existence of these feelings of self-gratification, or if she just puts up fronts to fool people because she likes the attention. From our chat, I'd lean towards the former, but there's enough evidence for the latter too from having observed her over the last few months that I'm as yet undecided.

What I do know, however, is that she feels herself to be entitled to things that she doesn't actually have the right to, and that she has no compunction about forcing expectations and judgments on people around her – and like a lot of people, the closer she is to someone, the more she seems to think that's acceptable behaviour. Given Severus' prior social standing within Slytherin House and his association with You-Know-Who's teen followers, a blind man would see why these two keep constantly clashing.

Things are clearly different to what they were a year ago; for one thing, Severus has evolved an agenda that is putting him at crosshairs with the rest of his yearmates in our House (but then, that's their loss and our gain, so you won't hear me, Ash or Mickey complaining about it); for another, Lily certainly seems protective of him when before she was only judgmental. What they can build out of that, I couldn't say. I'm a hidden romantic, somewhere deep down in my heart where that last unjaded bit of me still resides, so I'd like to think that they could build something magnificent and breath-taking, something worthy of love epics of old. The pragmatic side of me, the one that's always been hyper-focused on survival, says that they're more likely to break under the strain of their circumstances.

You certainly won't find me feeling guilty about adding to that strain, just to see if the latter of the two options is likely to happen. Severus would be much better off without her sooner than later in that case, and while I can't say that I wish Lily Evans any ill in the grand scheme of things, I won't be spilling any tears about her getting hurt, either. Given what she's seemingly been playing at for the last year or so since Severus came to our circle, I'd say she deserves it. As for Severus, if what I think his long con is about really is the case, then breaking things off with the person pushing and pulling him onto this insanely dangerous path would perhaps make him reconsider putting his life on the line for something I can't really see him believing in in the first place. And if this were to come to pass, he'll most assuredly have a place in our little group, and no doubt a comparatively safer life out in the Muggle world with us.

A girl can plan, after all. As Mickey usually says, if you've got every little detail all planned out, you can never be surprised. And in our business, surprise is the surest way to lose a con.

I don't have any intention of losing this one, whatever its eventual outcome turns out to be.

I hope that's enough for you to be going on with, and if my sharing a few secrets of our trade along the way has made you a bit more curious of said trade, then there are plenty more stories I could tell you. Look us up sometime; I'll be happy to share some with you, and I'm sure Mickey and Ash would be, too.

A/N: Here we are, finally at the end of Part III, and after 450k words and four years (almost to the day, actually - the last chapter went up on the 26th of January 2020, so two days after the story's 4th birthday on January 24th, 2016), this can finally be honestly called a Snily story.

I want to thank all of you for sticking with the story until now, for tackling it if you're new readers and for coming back to it again and again if you're old, and for your comments and thoughts, which I've found are the best motivation towards putting my ideas down and making something concrete and serious out of them. And above all, I want to thank SilenceoftheSolitude, who's come onto my project with her thoughtful insight, with her brilliant ideas and expertise on world building and expanding what's until now been a relatively character-focused story into a sprawling epic that I've always wanted it to be, and of course, for all her time and effort she's put into betaing and writing her own sections. Here's to our continued collaboration, and even more of her input and influence in the future!

As should be usual by now, the story is going on hiatus as I wrangle Part IV into being; I can't promise when it'll come, just that it will, and when I start posting again, it'll be another 150k or so words all written up, waiting to be edited and put up for all of you to enjoy and pick to pieces in equal measure. In the meantime, I'll see about posting some one-shots that have been sitting on the backburner, as well as the five-chaptered telling of Voldy's failed coup that drove some of the narrative in the middle of Part III from the background, which Silence and I are writing in an even 50/50 split, a new exercise for both of us. That one depends on the time we've got to devote to it (in other words, not much for either of us), but we're committed to getting it completed, and I hope you'll find it as brilliant as we are.

Lastly, if this interlude has gotten you curious about Mickey, Stacie and Ash, they're characters of a British TV series 'Hustle', and I very heartily recommend it for anyone who liked the movie 'The Sting' or the US TV show 'Leverage', its spiritual companions. It's totally worth checking out!