A/N: A Blackinnon and Jily Royal AU! women-inthe-sequel reblogged this prompt on Tumblr (Link on my AO3 and Tumblr) and my mind ran away with it. I'm going to be updating this one weekly and I'll post two chapters each week. One week will be our lovely ladies Marlene and Lily, and the next week will be our wonderful Marauders Sirius and James. I hope you enjoy!

Prompt: A princess runs away because of an arranged marriage, befriends a gang of outlaws, falls in love with one of them, only to find out he is actually the prince who she was supposed to marry, who also ran away.

Marlene:

This was an absolutely awful idea. Horrible. Stupid.

"Really, Lil's, let's think this through!" Marlene pleaded as Lily threw more things into her rucksack. "I know you're angry, trust me, I'm livid! These new proclamations mean my family has to leave the kingdom too! But it's not like you're going into potentially hostile territory by yourself. I'm going with you, and I'll protect you as I always have. I won't leave your side, I swear it!"

Lily just gave her a sardonic laugh.

Marlene eyed the princess she'd sworn to protect, "When has any royal demand stopped me from holding my oath?"

Lily shook her head, "This isn't going to be Petunia and Vernon power playing and having to fulfill the wishes of my dead parents. You're saying you're prepared to go to the chopping block for murdering a foreign king in the name of protecting his queen from him?"

Marlene grabbed Lily's arm as she reached for another item. "No! I'm saying I'll go to the chopping block protecting my best friend at any cost!"

That seemed to do it, at least Lily stopped haphazardly throwing things into the sack she'd somehow procured.

"Mar..."

"Lils, please..."

"I'm sorry, Mar," Lily shook her head, "I release you from your oath. You no longer need to protect me. I'm done being a princess."

Marlene managed to maintain enough self-control to not smack her best friend across the face. "Did you grab a second rucksack or do I need to go rummage one up myself?"

"You don't need to come," Lily shook her head.

"Like hell, I don't!" Marlene snapped. "Now give me my sac!"

Lily grinned, "I knew you'd come around."

"We need to stop by my parents' on our way out of the country. It would be best for them and my sister to make their way out before your sister and her pig husband connect the dots to them." Marlene took the proffered sac from her best friend. "Now I'm going to go pack every weapon a highway-woman would need to protect a former princess."

"I'm not totally inept," Lily glared daggers at her and Marlene blew her a kiss.

"I know love, but you didn't spend years training to kill a man with your bare hands. However, your bow skills will be immensely helpful in making sure we eat."

Lily stuck her tongue out at her as Marlene slipped into her room.

To get to the princess' room you had to go through her guardian's room, and that was Marlene. She'd been made Lily's official protector when they were sixteen, taking a magical oath to protect Lily at any cost, but her family had been looking after Lily for much longer than that. When Lily showed magical abilities the King and Queen had sought out magical families to tutor her, and the McKinnon's had been selected. From about nine years old, Lily had been a second sister to Marlene. When the King died after falling from his horse when the girls were fourteen, the Queen went into a deep depression. She asked the McKinnon's to house and care for the princess and that was when Lily moved in permanently.

Until the Queen died two years later.

Petunia and her new husband took over the kingdom then. They ordered the return of the princess, and McKinnon's were worried. They insisted that Marlene accompany Lily as her protector. Told the royal couple that they'd get both girls or neither of them.

Marlene smiled as she remembered how angry Vernon had been, but how the young King finally caved.

Then Marlene's dad contacted members of the royal guard he trusted, and Marlene began training to protect Lily not simply with magic, but also with skill and strength and weaponry.

Merlin, it was fun!

Now, three years later, Marlene was going to have to really use those skills. Vernon had decided he was done living with magic folk and was kicking them all out of the country. Lily was being married off to some unknown king in a country called Godric's Hollow, far away from their home of Privet. Vernon told Lily that it was the only way he could see to be rid of her while following her dead parents' wishes and Petunia said she hoped the man treated Lily as the scum she was.

Marlene nearly cut their throats out.

That had been this morning.

Marlene changed into traveling clothes and threw two more sets into the sac before opening her personal armory. She couldn't carry it all, which made her feel like she was going to be leaving behind one of her limbs. She was going to make Lily get her a new set once things settled down. Marlene slid her three hidden daggers into place, belted on her rapier, coiled her silk strangling cord neatly before concealing it, and secured her wand in its holster.

Now to see if Lily had thought far enough into this crazy plan to consider a tent.