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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

The summer was hot and dry so far, bringing with it hose-pipe bans and longing thoughts of the beach. The sun, as expected, made anyone even remotely British rush outside and set up camp in the sun before returning inside half an hour later with third degree burns.

The change of colour showed the change of season. In spring the world turned green and the plants became colours, in autumn the leaves turn gently to golden brown, in summer lawns turned slowly brown and people turned slowly red.
School did not finished until July so those unlucky enough to still be in compulsory education or who had foolishly decided to stay in sixth-form or college were left staring at the sunny days passing them by from the inside of classrooms. Those sitting GCSEs and A-levels cursed the inevitability of sunshine during exam seasons and prayed that it would last for longer than their first afternoon of freedom like it usually did. University students were somewhat luckier. The spate of sunshine had begun in April, just around Easter time when the intensive revision period began but had held out far longer than the end of exams.

The students of the University of Manchester were particularly pleased about this, none more-so than Lily Evans. Although she commuted into classes from the suburbs of Manchester, she still relished any opportunity to see the city, and when it’s pouring with rain as it usually is – it is the rainiest city in the UK after all – it’s difficult to see the sights. In the last week that all of her friends had had in halls before returning home, she had been the unofficial tour guide, taking them to places that had been unrealistic to visit in the cold winter months. Parks and cafes and tiny terrifying bars that only the best Manchurian knows about became the centre of their universe.

They stayed out late in small bars hidden down side streets and woke up on the floor of each other’s bedrooms and slowly put together the pieces of the night before. For most of them this was one last week of fun and drunken hilarity before going home for the summer and getting to see their families. For Lily this was the last chance to be properly free for the summer, before she had to be at home with no uni friends to escape to.

She had sent CVs out into the world and the world had given nothing back so she had quietly accepted that she was not meant to escape from the dreary world of suburbia and instead would have to smile when her mum suggested an afternoon spent in Waitrose and would have to be polite and gracious when her relatives told her she had grown over the school year and how she should visit more, conveniently forgetting that Lily was still living at home and that all they had to do was pop round if they wanted to see her.

But she would bear it because it was summer and it was supposed to be a wonderful time of freedom and adventure and if you’re miserable over summer then that’s just your own fault. Even though she wasn’t about to experience adventure. Or freedom. Her sister was home too, so freedom really was out of the question. She was home for the last time too, spending the weeks leading up to her wedding with her parents and sister, so she was going to be unbearably emotional. Tearing up at every last thing – last time we go food shopping as a family! Last time we take Molly to the vets as a family! Last time Lily threatens to hurt me as a family! – and then thinking Lily cold for doing nothing more than rolling her eyes. Petunia hadn’t quite seemed to realise that marriage is the joining of two families, not the dramatic dissolving of them to make way for a new one. But of course, for Petunia, it was that dramatic. She had had, what she described as, a whirlwind romance and was now finally settling down with the man who had whisked her off her feet. In rational terms, this meant that she had met someone at the office she worked at, they had dated for two years and had decided that, since his parents wouldn’t like it if they moved in together without first getting married, they should have a large celebration of their union with meringue dresses and pastel colours and highly pollenated flowers everywhere. Lily thought this was a ridiculous way to go about it. Marriage was wonderful and a wedding is a very happy occasion, but it did not call for quite so many tantrums and folders of swatches in her opinion.

But that was Petunia for you. She was lovely when she wanted to be, the obedient daughter with her parents, the modest blushing bride with sales people and not completely awful to Lily in public, but when something was not going perfectly her way then she could bring out the big eyes swimming with tears, the wrinkled nose, the lip-bite, the convincing hesitation, and she could save any unsavoury situation. Lily wouldn’t say her sister was manipulative, but she would say that her parents and the people that surrounded Petunia sometimes had a strong resemblance to putty. It was a good thing her fiancée, Vernon, was such a strong stout man. He was the only person Lily had ever seen to flat out refuse Petunia something. They did later come to a compromise on the issue, whether or not to have seat covers with tassels or without, but it was a good half an hour later and Petunia did not exactly glow as they set out the details of the agreement. All in all, Lily thought Vernon was going to be quite good for her. He was not totally dreadful. He was totally boring and quite rude to Lily sometimes, but Lily thought that was fair enough, given that he was about to be promoted to being the youngest vice president of Gunnings Drills that there had ever been and she was a mere mortal being.
A week before the wedding Lily was informed she was to be a bridesmaid.
“I’m sorry?” she said, her fork half-way to her mouth. She was certain she had misheard. She must have been eating her shepherd’s pie with more concentration than she thought.
“I said I need you be a bridesmaid.” Petunia huffed, looking at her with pursed lips as though trying to imagine Lily in lemon coloured thing she had would have to wear.
“Are you sure?” Lily asked. She wondered whether this was an elaborate joke or whether Petunia was having some sort of fit. She half expected her to laugh and shout ‘gotcha!’ But she didn’t. She sat examining Lily, waiting for a response.
“We’ll have to see if you can fit into Maisie’s dress.” Petunia mused. Her brow was furrowed as if she were contemplating the solution to world poverty.
“Okay?” Lily found herself saying. At this point it seemed wiser just to accept it. “What happened to Maisie?” she asked, hoping that she had merely had a prior engagement and hadn’t been bumped off because she had suddenly sprouted spots or gained weight.

“Her Gran died. The funeral’s the same day as the wedding.” Petunia said is so briskly and so without emotion that Lily wondered if she had heard what had come out of her mouth.
“Well is she okay?” Lily asked.

“Yes, yes she’s fine. Well Maisie is, her Gran isn’t obviously. But it does mean that we are one bridesmaid down and everyone else I could ask are all arriving too late for the rehearsal. So you’ll have to do.” Lily looked at her mum who raised her eyebrows at her in a look that said, ‘don’t start anything.’ It was a look Lily was very used to ignoring.

“Thanks Tuney, I’m honoured.” Lily tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice more for her mother’s sake than Petunia’s. She wasn’t sure her mum would be able to deal with two feuding daughters as well as one insane one.
“Good. I’ll have you try it on later.” She said briskly, returning her attention to her plate of celery and raw carrots. She was maintaining a strict diet up until the wedding. Lily thought it was half the reason she was acting so batty. The other half was that she was just naturally batty.
Lily did end up fitting into Maisie’s dress, luckily. She was a size smaller than her, so Petunia told her, but for some reason the dress seemed to fit just right. It was knee length and strapless and chiffon and a shade of yellow that didn’t clash too badly with Lily’s hair. Petunia of course commented on that smugly. Lily just smiled, glad that she wasn’t going to be the one to give her another headache.

Lily went to unzip the dress but Petunia stopped her.

“Wait! You have to make sure the headpiece will look alright too.” She said as she plunged a hand into a paper bag and pulled out a shiny glittering contraption that Lily really didn’t want to have to wrap around her head. It might come alive mid-ceremony and attack them all. But the light in Petunia’s eyes and the smile on her lips made her keep quiet and bend slightly so her sister could arrange it just how she wanted on the redhead’s head.

Petunia spun her around to face the mirror and Lily saw that it didn’t look as much like a robot alien as she thought it would. It was a pretty hairband with jewels that matched those on the belt that Petunia was tugging around her waist. All in all, she didn’t make an awful bridesmaid.

She turned and smiled at Petunia. They didn’t always get on, Lily was far too sarcastic about things which were far too important to Petunia, but sometimes they could act like normal sisters. Petunia wasn’t massively affectionate so when her bony arms wrapped themselves around Lily she let them and hugged her back. Then her sister moved away and started pulling the accessories of her.

She had originally not been a bridesmaid because her mum hadn’t pushed Petunia to make her one. Lily wasn’t awfully upset about it, it meant less faffing about with Petunia’s dress and less flapping about making sure she didn’t need anything, but surprisingly her dad had put up quite a bit of fuss.

“But you’re sisters! How can these friends of yours be more important than your sister!” he had said, standing to his full, although sometimes comically not all that large, height and pacing around the living room.

Petunia was sat on the sofa with crossed arms and legs and pursed lips. Lily was sitting beside her and they were both wearing the same disbelieving expression. It wasn’t that hard to believe though really, their dad not understanding sibling relationships. He was an only child himself. But it was ridiculous that he thought that his daughters wanted Lily to be a bridesmaid. He knew them and he knew that they had grown apart since Lily was eleven and had won a scholarship to the private school up the road. Petunia thought she had turned all posh and pretentious and had refused to talk to her more than necessary. Lily had decided it wasn’t worth the effort to persuade her otherwise.

So why their dad was insisting they were the best of friends and that Petunia would be heartbroken not to have Lily in her wedding was beyond either of them.

“But dad, Lily doesn’t want to be a bridesmaid.” Petunia said calmly. Lily could tell she was holding back a dramatic sigh. She was probably saving it for later.

“Yeah, and Petunia has so many friends that she wants involved and I’m already involved enough, I mean I am her sister,” she said, trying not to look too bitter about it, “and she’s already asked me to sing something at the wedding. She doesn’t need to make an extra effort to involve me to remind me I’ll always be part of her life.” Lily reasoned. She tried not to vomit on her own sickliness. Petunia shuffled about next to her, avoiding looking at her.

Their dad frowned at them both in turn and then seeing how casual they were about it, how they were quite happy to sit there and reason through why it was ridiculous for Lily to be a bridesmaid, he shook his head and took a deep breath.

“If I had a brother,” he said and both the girls restrained themselves from rolling their eyes. He always brought this up when they weren’t getting along and by now they knew the ‘if I had a brother’ speech by heart. “If I had a brother,” he started again, “I would treasure him. He would be my best friend. He would have been my best man at my wedding, he would have been your favourite uncle and I would have appreciated him! Not like you two who don’t seem to understand that you are the only sisters you are ever going to have and you act as if you’re dispensable! You’re sisters! You should appreciate each other.” He finished with a snort of breath.

Lily and Petunia pointedly looked away from each other. It was a tad bit ironic that in a moment when they were being told to act more like sisters they were united in not wanting to do so.

Their dad sighed. “Fine. If you don’t want your sister in your wedding then don’t have her there. But you’ll regret it.” He said dramatically enough that Lily and Petunia both put their hands over their mouths to stop themselves laughing, but their mum who was sitting out of their dad’s sight, who had burst into silent giggles.

“What are you two laughing at?” he asked as Lily started shaking with laughter. Their mum let out a loud peel of laughter and their dad turned around in what Lily presumed was disbelief. It said something about their relationship that he only had to look at her to calm down and join in with her laughter.

It was good that Lily’s parents were able to keep each other laughing because in the week leading up to Petunia’s wedding there weren’t a lot of moments that naturally turned to laughter. On the Tuesday Petunia thought that her veil had a hole in it. There was a good half an hour of wailing before Lily pointed out that the thing that Petunia thought was a hole was actually just the gap in the lace edging where it would clip onto her hair. On Wednesday they found out that Petunia’s maid of honour was only going to be able to make it up on the morning of the wedding. Petunia screamed and wailed, the first two of her bridesmaids to arrive swarmed around her and Lily came out of her room expecting there to be blood and mayhem and instead found Petunia sitting on the sofa with a cup of strong sweet tea with Miranda using a magazine to fan her and Andrea was on the phone talking calmly and determinedly to who Lily later figured out was Carolyn, the maid of honour.

“Yes, we understand that you are unable to get train tickets before Friday, but is there any other way for you to travel up here? Yes, yes I understand that Carolyn, but this is your best friend’s wedding.” Andrea’s voice was so patronising Lily had a hard time not taking the phone away and smacking her. She spoke slowly and clearly and Lily could pretty much hear Carolyn sighing. Lily had met her a couple of times and she actually seemed a reasonably nice person, which had been a big surprise considering she was Petunia’s friend.

“Carolyn, Carolyn, Carrie, really is that necessary? If you can make it up here on time then that would be wonderful,” Andrea smiled sweetly whilst kicking a shoebox across the room, “But of course if it is really impossible, then maybe you could try extra hard to make up for it? Well I don’t know, I think that’s the sort of thing you should have come up with.”

Lily rolled her eyes, asked if Petunia needed anything, was shooed out of the way by Miranda and slinked off to hide in the kitchen with her mum and a large pot of tea.

The wedding couldn’t have come sooner. Well, no, it could have come before all of the drama and panic that only ended in giving Lily a migraine. But when it finally came it was not at all as bad as all the pre-wedding drama would have indicated.

Petunia looked lovely, Carolyn arrived early enough to help her get dressed and to fuss about her as she sat waiting for the wedding car to arrive. Lily took a back seat and let the other bridesmaids deal with Petunia’s wedding morning panics. They came every ten minutes and usually ended in another layer of lipstick and a puff of perfume. But then they were at the church and Petunia was smiling her way down the aisle and Lily was at the end of a long trail of bridesmaids following behind. She managed not to cry as Petunia and Vernon exchanged vows, but on glancing at her parents she saw that they were making good use of a large box of tissues her mother had managed to fit into her handbag.

At the reception Lily found a lovely spot next to a table full of champagne where she watched the guests fill in. She had been placed next to her parents on the seating chart and that was perfectly fine with her. Vernon had a few cousins that Petunia had teased her about and Lily half expected to find herself at a table full of stout moustached men. The food was wonderful, the speeches were tamely sweet and the first dance was a short awkward affair. Luckily for Lily by the time it came for her to sing almost everyone had one eye on the door to the kitchen, so nobody really noticed how dull the song was that Petunia had asked her to sing.

Petunia came up to her just before the end of the night, slightly tipsy and with the biggest smile on her face that Lily had ever seen.

“Lily,” she said, putting her hands on Lily’s shoulders slightly harder than a sober person would have, and in a more friendly fashion than a sober Petunia would have.

“Yes Tuney?” Lily smiled at her sister, gripping her waist to stop her toppling over.

“You – you might not – ” she started and then looked confused, shook her head and looked up at the disco ball above them.

“Tuney, are you alright?” Lily asked, laughing at her drunk sister.

“Fine. I’m fine.” She said grinning. “You however,” she said and her face took on a more sombre expression, “You are not as bad as I thought you were.” Her voice dropped and she spoke in what she evidently thought was a whisper.

“Right. Thanks for that Tuney.” Lily said dryly.

“It’s alright Lily. It’s alright. And hey!” she swung an arm out, narrowly missing knocking a hat off one of her new in-laws as they walked past, “Maybe this time next year we’ll all be at your wedding!” She finished with a manic look on her face.

Lily looked at her carefully, unsure where all this good-will was coming from, but then Petunia burst out laughing.

“That’s funny. That’s very funny,” She said giggling, “because for you to get married, you’d have to - have to -” She couldn’t hardly finish her sentence because she was giggling so much.

“Have a boyfriend?” Lily said somewhat sadly.

Petunia’s eyes became very bright and she smiled like a mad-woman, “Yes!” she cried before shrieking with laughter.

Lily smiled to herself. It was good to know she could still make her sister laugh. Petunia tottered off to find Vernon and Lily moved over to the table full of nibbles and champagne. Food and alcohol. The best companion for the single little sister. It’s not that she was always the bridesmaid and never the bride, this was the first wedding she had ever actually been to and she was only nineteen, but there was something quite sad about seeing your sister so secure of marital happiness without even being in reach of your own.

She smiled and waved as Petunia and Vernon left in a shower of rice. They would be jetting off to Crete, to a hotel that Vernon had decided on and had refused to tell Petunia about. It was supposed to be a surprise, but she had such trouble with not knowing what to pack he ended up telling her everything. Maybe he wasn’t so immune to her after all.

The night had started to get cold and Lily’s mum and dad were leaving. She climbed into the backseat of the car and let her eyes settle on nothing as the dark road slipped by outside. She went up to bed almost as soon as she was in the house, pulling her pyjamas on faster than should really be possible. It was nice being able to change out of the fancy dress, but it was also nice knowing that she had something fancy to put on if she ever wanted it. It wasn’t that bad a dress after all. She put it into a clothes bag and hung it on the side of her wardrobe.

The day was over and she could relax. No more panicking, no more Petunia, no more noise, no more excitement.

Nothing.

For the entire summer.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The days after Petunia’s wedding had passed so far with cool breezes, TV marathons, cold cups of tea and a lack of purpose. Early June might not be the most exciting time of the year for some people, but for Lily Evans it was positively stifling with boredom. Her sister’s wedding happened two weeks ago and now the house was devoid of purpose and, sometimes it seemed to Lily, life.

Her father would wake up in the morning and go to work, her mother would wake up in the morning and make breakfast for her husband and work through a to-do list as long the size of the Magna Carta. Lily would wake up and wonder how long she could get away with not getting up.

The only thing she really had to get up for was the shows she had recorded on TV and to check her e-mails and her facebook. And even those she could check from her phone as she lay in bed. If she was really quiet and her mum wasn’t pottering about upstairs she could get away with lying in bed until half past eleven. Last Wednesday she had managed to stay undetected until two o’clock, owing to a coffee morning she had just missed going to. Her mum had closed the front door just as she was waking up.

It was a wonderful morning. She had gotten through four chapters of her book, bought and listened to the new Royal Blood album and spent an hour fiddling away with her ukulele. All from the comfort of her own bed. Who said her summer was without adventure?

Her uni friends apparently. All of them seemed to be having far too much fun. Grace was in France, au-pairing for three young children. It helped that she was studying French at university and had two younger siblings herself, but she would often send messages asking how one gets glue out of clothes or how to get children to go to bed on time after spending the day high on sugar. As a younger sibling Lily found it funny. As a student partaking in a degree of Education with the intention of teaching one day, it was somewhat terrifying. When she was most panicky about her bad decision making she would turn to Marlene. Wonderful Marlene. Disgustingly rich Marlene. Marlene whose family had a beach house in Cornwall. Marlene who had offered Lily to come and stay in the beach house for the summer. Marlene who didn’t understand that a beach house with two bedrooms is not the best place to have as a base for wild nights out. Lovely Marlene. She would often post pictures of herself and her friend James, who was also in uni with them and whose family also had a beach house quite close to Marlene’s. They looked so much cooler than she ever could, sitting on the beach with the sunset in the background, shades on, barbeque lit.

The closest Lily got a beach barbeque was when her dad accidentally set the smoke alarm off by trying to cook the beef in the grill with the door closed, instead of in the oven. In his defence, the grill was directly above the oven and they looked exactly the same as each other. To his detriment they had had to stick a label on it saying ‘grill’ because he had done it so many times.

She had thought about taking Marlene up on her offer, but Cornwall was so far away from Manchester. The train tickets wouldn’t be cheap. And she had toyed with the idea of getting a job. She didn’t technically need one, but extra money would never be a bad thing. She was still trying to make what was left of her student loan last.

It was decided for her in quite a nice way really, or at least that’s what Marlene said. She rang her up one evening and told her that she had found her a job that she would love. Lily laughed initially but when Marlene told her how much it would pay she stopped laughing and started listening.

Marlene’s friend James’ parents were always jetting off places and were really only free to be at the beach house on odd weekends. This would be fine if they didn’t have two children under the age of twelve. James could keep an eye on them, only his parents weren’t completely happy with leaving him with them while his friends were down, as they would be over the next three weeks. And so, Marlene said quite smugly, Mr and Mrs Potter were looking for a live-in babysitter. Someone who would be okay with watching the little two whenever they weren’t there. They had asked around first, not wanting to go straight to posting an advert online, and Marlene had immediately thought of Lily.

“It’s not bad Lil, and I wouldn’t usually offer you up for menial jobs, but I know how you need experience with children for that internship you want to do next year. Come on, you have to. It’s the perfect solution to your dead summer problem.”

Lily let Marlene talk, rather than say anything. She thought that if she opened her mouth she would start reasoning her way out of it and actually, she really didn’t want to do that. It did sound quite lovely. And it’s not like the children were that young. They were eight and eleven and if they were anything like how Marlene made James sound, they were going to be wonderful charming angels. A faint whisper of ‘too good to be true’ sparkled in the back of her mind, but she shut it out.

“Yes okay.” She found herself saying to Marlene.

There was silence on the other end. She thought for a second Marlene had put the phone down.

“Wait, seriously?” Marlene sounded worryingly unbelieving.

“Yes seriously. It does seem like the perfect solution. And it’s not menial at all, it sounds like a good challenge. And you’re right, I do need experience with children.” Lily said, repeating Marlene’s logic back to her.

“I never thought you would say yes.” She said honestly.

Lily laughed, “Maybe it’s a sign of how much I don’t want to spend the rest of my summer here.” She said only a little bit bitterly.

“Well that’s great!” Marlene’s voice had suddenly perked up and become quite a lot louder.

“You don’t have to sound quite so enthusiastic about how rubbish it is here Marl, I already know.” Lily said.

“What? Oh no, it’s just that I didn’t really believe you when you said yes.” She said, clearly thinking that explained everything, even though she was still talking in that loud, perky voice.

“Well I did. Do you need my CV or something?” Lily asked, suddenly thinking about the fact that it was Marlene suggesting the job not the people that actually had the opening.

“Um, yeah that might be useful. Look, I’ll pass your number along to Mrs P. and she’ll give you a ring in the week if she’s still interested.” Marlene’s voice became distracted.

“Right. Okay, thanks Marl.” Lily answered, not sure Marlene was even paying attention.

“It’s alright. And hey, even if this doesn’t work out, you can still come down and visit! You could get a coach or something instead. They’re way cheaper than the trains.” Lily could hear noises in the background, the sound of someone laughing and the clatter of crockery. It was probably dinnertime.

“Yeah maybe.” Lily said, hoping Marlene could sense her rolling her eyes. Nothing was cheap when you wanted to go that far.

“Right, so I’ll ring you again and I’ll give them your number and I have to go sorry, but good chatting.” The noises in the background became louder and Lily was sure she heard the sound of a children which was weird because Marlene hated anything under twenty years old.

“Yeah, see you soon Marl.”

“Byee” she signed off cheerfully.

Lily put the phone down, smiling. She had missed Marlene more than she thought.

-

She did get a phone call in the week and it was from about the job, but it wasn’t from the Potter she had expected.

She answered her phone on the third ring after managing to extract it from the tiny pocket of her jeans. Why women’s clothes always had such small pockets she would never know.

“Hello?” she answered, hopeful at the sight of an unknown number.

“Hi.” A male voice said. “Lily?” It asked.

“Yes?” she said, unsure who she could be talking to.

“Hi it’s James.” The voice said.

Lily thought for a moment then said, “Potter?”

“Yes.” He said almost immediately.

“Oh hi! Sorry, I didn’t realise you had my number.” She said more enthusiastically, but still somewhat confusedly.

“Well I didn’t, but Marley gave it to me.” His spoke in a haltering staccato sort of way.

“Oh right.” Lily said, trying to ignore how awkward this conversation was turning out to be, “Um, is there is a reason you called?” She asked after a significantly uncomfortable amount of time.

“Oh yes, of course sorry,” he said very quickly, almost stumbling over himself to answer her, “I’m calling on behalf of my mother.” The fact that his words were so formal seemed strange to Lily. The few times they had met before he had spoken more quickly, his words often running into each other, and he hadn’t sounded like he was reading from a script like he did now.

“Your mother?” she said, confused for a second, then something clicked, “Oh yes of course, oh gosh, sorry I had a dumb moment. Of course, your mum. Marlene told me she had offered me up.” She gave a short laugh, which probably just sounded like heavy breathing through the phone.

“Yes, she did.” He paused before continuing and Lily thought she heard the rustling of papers. Maybe he did have a script then. “My mother wanted me to ask you a few questions before setting anything in stone.”

“Why did she want you to ask me questions?” Lily asked, then on realising that that could have sounded she added quickly, “Not that there’s anything wrong with you but it just seems a bit of a weird delegation. Sorry.” She tagged an apology onto the end of her sentence although she wasn’t massively sure what she was apologising for. Being a bumbling idiot probably.

“No it is a bit weird. I, um, I think she wanted me to talk to you to make sure that Marley hadn’t just dropped you in it without you knowing anything. I mean,” he gave a breathy laugh, “if some random is going to ring you up about a job for the summer, better it be a random who you sort of know than a random who is the middle-aged, quite serious, mother of someone you sort of know.”

Lily chuckled. She had forgotten that he could be funny. Not that she saw much of that, he was usually a bit quiet around her, but Marlene was often telling stories which involved him being funny. And charming. And dashing. Come to think of it, most of the stories Marlene told about him made him sound amazing. Maybe Marlene fancied him or something.

“Yes, I think so.” Lily smiled into the phone, “but don’t worry, Marlene did tell me. Truth be told I thought that maybe she was making it up.”

“It probably says something that we both thought she was lying.” James muttered.

“Yeah, that we’re both excellent judges of character.” Lily heard James laugh and felt pleased that she could make her Marlene’s funny friend laugh. “So what questions do I need to answer?” She prompted after a couple of seconds.

“What? Oh yeah, I forgot about those.” He sounded more relaxed now, not speaking in the stiff interviewer voice he had been before.

“I’m sorry, I’m just so witty I can charm anyone off topic.” Lily said sarcastically, “But carry on. If you can.”

She heard him laugh again before he said, “Right yes, well, how long would you be able to work for us?”

“I’m free all summer.” She said, not really trying to hide any bitterness. She thought that at this point there was little point in trying to pretend like she wasn’t a sad fool with nothing better to do than travel the length of the country just to do some babysitting.

“No better offers?” He asked, and it was a second before Lily realised he was teasing.

“No, ‘fraid not. I’m too poor to travel but just wealthy enough not to have to get a job. The worst sort of position to be in. Well, no not the worst,” she continued, some part of her realising that she was babbling, but the rest of her completely unable to do anything to stop it, “I’m sure there are worse, but I’m so sick of the inside of my house I would quite happily swap it for all of them right now.” She gave a short laugh, hating her mouth and brain and the stupid relationship between them.

“Okay. And do you have any experience with children?” he said, not reacting to the drivel that was so happily slipping out of her mouth.

“Oh loads. No wait, that’s a lie. I just lied to you. Good grief, what’s wrong with me?” she spoke quickly, certain she sounded as flustered as she felt. She took a deep breath and started her answer again, more slowly this time, “No, not really, but I need to get some because I’m trying to get this internship for next summer as part of my course and if it turns out I’m awful with little ‘uns then I should probably know before I apply. That sounds like a really cold reason to want to watch your siblings, but at least I’m being honest.” She finished, resolving to look into tongue removal surgery. Or a lobotomy. Or both.

But James didn’t sound like he minded because he moved onto the next question without comment.

“Would you mind living in the same space where you work?”

The question seemed like a simple one, but Lily’s twisted mind suddenly drew up images of other professions where that would not be so appropriate. Doctors living in operating theatre using the operating table as a dinner table, a teacher living in a school using Bunsen burners to cook on, a zoo keeper curling up at night next to a Bengal tiger.

“Lily?” James’ voice cut through her insanity. What was wrong with her today? She wasn’t usually this batty.

“Yes, sorry,” she said, wanting to be quick to reassure him that she wasn’t ga-ga, “I think it’s fine, and especially when in charge of children it’s probably more beneficial. I mean, it’s more appropriate than it would be other jobs, anyway.” She added without thinking and then scrunched up her face and made a mental note to slap herself later.

“Sorry?”

“You know, like if a doctor lived in a hospital it would be a bit weird, but a nanny having a room in the same house as the children they’re looking after isn’t that weird.” She said, her voice coming out slowly as if even it didn’t want to be saying the words her brain supplied it.

James laughed though, so maybe she wasn’t a complete nutcase.

“Right, yeah that makes more sense than what I thought you were on about.”

“What did you think I was on about?” she asked, curious as to whether everyone’s minds gave them weird images at inappropriate times.

“Oh I thought you meant having children in the living space for a second. Sorry, probably just going nuts.” He added quickly.

“Well that makes two of us don’t worry.” Lily said dryly. Sadly this was the best attempt she could make at consoling him. “I’m sorry,” she said suddenly, “this is probably the worst phone interview ever. I think I’m sounding completely nuts.” She sighed into the phone.

“That’s okay Lily,” James didn’t sound too negative about it, “It would probably be worse if you weren’t. We’re a bit nutty ourselves, you’ll fit right in.”

Lily laughed. “Any more questions Mr. Potter?” she asked, glad that they had come back to reasonable place in the conversation where she didn’t mind smiling.

“Just one actually,” he said casually, “How would you like to be reimbursed for you travel expenses, in cash or cheque?”

“Wait,” Lily said, her brain not quite catching up to her ears, “Is this still hypothetical? Because that didn’t sound much like a hypothetical question.”

“No, it’s not,” he laughed in response to her excited tone, “I do need to know though, or else you’ll have to pay for it yourself.” He added.

“So you want me?” she asked, hopefully.

“Of course.” He said.

“Well then. Whatever’s easiest will be just fine.” Lily beamed to herself. “What date do you want me?”

“As soon as possible really. School finishes on the twentieth of July, so that’s next Thursday. Mum wanted you down a day or two before Alice and Jon get here, so would Tuesday be okay for you?”

“Wonderful.” Lily said, not caring if she sounded pathetically enthusiastic.

“Great. Well you have my number now, just ring when you’re about an hour away and tell me where you’ll be getting into and one of us will come and pick you up.”

“Okay, great. I’ll see you next week then.” He could probably hear her fist-pumping and happy dancing all the way from Cornwall.

“See you.” He said before hanging up.

“Bye!” Lily said before realising he had hung up.

She wasn’t sure why exactly she had turned into a basket case during that phone call, she was just glad that James hadn’t thought it was a bad thing. She grinned and shoved her phone back into her pocket. Now she just had to let her parents know.

The grin did not last for long into that conversation. Her dad only took about a minute to bring up the fact that she was their only child left at home. Her mum pursed her lips and looked watery eyed. Lily rolled her eyes at both of them and reminded them that she had seen them every day for the past nineteen years, two months was not going to drive the memory of them from her mind. They did eventually consent (not that she needed it: she was nineteen for goodness sake! She was an adult, she could drink and drive and have sex and get married and vote and join the army, but her parents still thought she needed their permission to get a job. Ridiculous) but only after promises of a bi-weekly phone call and a completely tea-total summer. The fact that she had been tea-total for two years now didn’t seem to make much difference to their need to hear her say the words.

“I won’t drink, I won’t disappoint you, I won’t die. Is that good enough?” She asked, completely unable to take them seriously. Her mum pursed her lips. Her dad sighed.

She smiled at them both and hugged them. She knew they’d give in eventually. They always did in the end.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

The few days that Lily had to pack for her summer job were more stress-filled than she thought they would be. She spent most of Saturday and Sunday packing, trying to fit two months’ worth of things into one suitcase, one rucksack and one handbag. She didn’t try too hard; she was sure Marlene would let her borrow clothes if it came to that. What she did do instead was try to avoid her mum’s attempts at helping her.

She kept flittering in and out of Lily’s room with piles of clean clothes and with odds and ends she thought might be helpful: blankets and spare socks and three packets of new toothbrushes and a supersized box of tampons and moisturiser and washing detergent and whatever else from around the house that could possibly be thought of as even a little bit necessary. Lily tactfully went off to make a cup of tea every time the pile got too big to not start packing it. Then when her mum was distracted she would sneak back upstairs and distribute the pile back to where her mum had got them all from.

By the end of Sunday her suitcase was full to bursting with clothes and her rucksack was about to explode books and cosmetics across the room and all of her important things, like her purse and her coach tickets and her laptop, were in her handbag. At the last minute she had added her guitar to the pile. She should probably find some time to practise over the next few months.

She had already managed to get her parents to agree to it all, they had even paid for her tickets there, although they had insisted that she take the coach. They said it was safer, which Lily knew was not in any way true, and that it was cheaper, which was technically true, but not by enough to warrant the fuss they kicked up. They kept reminding her that she had promised to call and be sensible. Lily resisted rolling her eyes many times on Monday, wondering if Petunia had had to deal with all this pre-pining when she moved out. Probably not. She was far too practical to be of any worry to authority figures.

Lily on the other hand, could be quite a worry. When she was nine she had played such an elaborate joke on her teacher that had led to him needing to take a week off for health reasons and to this day nobody is really sure how she did it, not even her friends who had acted as her accomplices. Her parents had been more confused than angry, so she had pretty much completely gotten away with it. She still brought it up at dinner parties. Mainly because the only dinner parties she ever attended were compulsory ones with Petunia and Vernon, and Petunia hated the idea of being related to someone with that much trouble in their blood.

But that hadn’t been a one-off thing, the prank of ’04. Lily had been the sort of child who was clever enough to do well in class but hyperactive enough to not want to pay attention in class.

Even at the private school she had gotten into she managed to rack up more detentions than merits and was well known for being the sort of child that you never put at the back of the classroom.

Of course, that usually meant she got away with being in the middle, the true centre of trouble as all trouble-makers know. Nobody expects anything from the middle of the classroom so when someone’s throwing paper balls at the teacher’s back from somewhere beyond the front row, the initial suspect is usually the wrong one. Lily cottoned onto that fairly quickly. Only in music did she sit at the back, letting the teacher teach things she already knew, trying not to drift off to sleep. Music annoyed her most, mainly for its lost potential as a brilliant class for the sake of those who were not musical.

By year ten, when her and Marlene were firm friends, she had accomplished nothing as grand as the prank of ’04, but felt that perhaps GCSE or AS and A-level years weren’t the best time to do anything about it. So she arranged a huge end of term Christmas prank using to their full extent, her resourcefulness and the rest of the year tens.

On the seventeen of December, all fifty of the year tens at St Helga High for Girls stayed back after school, convening on the playing fields behind the changing rooms, just out of sight of the main building, to receive their orders from their ring-leaders, fifteen-year-old Lily and Marlene. A message had been passed around all day that there was to be a meeting of sorts and it would involve a huge Christmas prank, so they were all very excitable.

Lily checked who was there using a huge register her and Marlene and some of their other friends had made at lunch time, and then told them what they wanted to do. They had decided that since it was an all-girl school they would utilise the advantages gender isolation gave them at school. This involved a great deal of giggling and fuss when Lily explained the idea to everyone. They would be using certain items to adorn the school just in time for Christmas.

Namely, the unusually large supply of tampons from the nurse’s store-room. Enough for the two-thousand girls at the school for the first few months of the Winter term.

Earlier that day, at around half past two, a particular red-headed year ten had gotten sudden and truly dreadful cramps. She had made such a fuss that her English teacher, a stiff uncomfortable man called Mr. Clarke, had ordered her to be taken straight to the nurse. Her loyal friend, a Ms. McKinnon, had accompanied her. By the time the bell rang for the end of school at three o’clock one thousand tampons had come into their possession and subsequently been stored in the most god-forsaken building on site; the hockey changing rooms that sat out at the edge of the playing fields.

The other girls had slowly arrived in twos and threes, all giggling at the sight of the giant packs cotton wool monstrosities they had all had to suffer with at some point.

Lily explained as best she could without laughing what they were for. The girls remained on school property for a further thirty minutes and then all of them trickled away. The school was big enough, with enough after school groups, for a large group of pupils to leave at half three without it being too noticeable.

The next morning, before the rest of the school arrived and before any of the teachers’ cars pulled in, all of the year tens were there. Lily opened one of the ground floor windows and Marlene snuck in through an English classroom and opened one of the outer doors for them, before going back to lock the door to the English classroom and climb out the window again to be let in by a conventional entrance.

They spread out across the school and collected the tampons they had deposited last night, twenty each, in nooks and crannies all about the school building where the cleaners would never think to look. And then Lily distributed cellotape, glue and glitter. Some of the girls were quite mild, using their tools to make snowflakes on the floor and walls of the corridors, but some were wickedly inventive, sticking them under teachers’ desks as gluey glitter traps, taping them to board markers and door handles, a group of girls even snuck into the head-teacher’s office and used them as part of a cheery Christmas message using the red glittery a little too liberally.

Lily for her part used her twenty from the nurse’s office and the twenty she had bought herself to decorate the music classroom. She covered them each with glitter and then hung them by their strings, one by one, to a tile on the ceiling. Then she emptied her glitter pots in a trail leading to the Music Hall where, on stage, Marlene had somehow managed to fix tampons to the large, theatre standard, lights and had then pointed them all at the conductor’s podium which was centre stage and now covered in so much glue it was shining. She had then let Lily use her glitter to write in large gluey letters,

'Merry Christmas

X'

Marlene had come up with the ‘X’ bit as a signature instead of words. It saved glitter, seemed a bit more formal and was a clue as to who was the culprit.

They had told everyone to make sure to be off school grounds by the time the first teacher turned up, and so were a little annoyed that they were almost caught by Ms Joy, the head of the music department. They hadn’t turned the lights on so they were able to hide in amongst the chairs as she came in, following the glitter trail. As she made her way to the stage, they made their way out the door. They ran carefully to the toilets which were, thankfully, unlocked, and stayed there until the bell was about to ring for registration.

The staff all day seemed to be caught between finding it hysterical, needing to tell someone off about it and having their guard up ready for tampons to spring out at them at any second. The whole school found the whole thing hilarious, with everyone bursting out laughing whenever another tampon was discovered. All day, wherever Lily looked people were talking about it, laughing and telling stories about the different ways their lessons had been disrupted by it. Lily found it particularly funny in English when, on finding that someone had attached a tampon to each of his pens, Mr. Clarke dropped his pen holder on the floor, screamed and threw the pen he had been holding across the room.

It was lucky really, that they were such sensible girls. It can be assumed that if something similar had happened at a boys’ school there would be penises everywhere. As it was, there was only one penis made out of glue and glitter and it was only spotted when most of the snowflake it was hidden inside of had been washed away. Due to the harmless nature of the prank and the fact that there was nothing rude or offensive written with the resources, there was no search for perpetrators.

Most of the school had figured out that it was the year tens and had decided that they were complete heroes. Not only had they disrupted the last day of school spectacularly, they had also gotten attacked what was most hated at a girls’ school; awful generic sanitary products.

People had tried to pull pranks before, but they had always been the spur of the moment, terribly clichéd ones that never really do anything but get people in trouble. This was a prank of epic proportions that seemed likely to launch a tradition. Everyone was in awe of the year tens and all of the year tens were in awe of Lily and Marlene. Trouble-makers in chief, they took at least sixty percent of the glory, letting the other girls tell each other how they had launched a daring raid on the nurse’s supplies and how they had mobilised the rest of their year. Nobody said explicitly to the teachers that it was Lily and Marlene and the rest of their year who had started it all, but they seemed to be aware that the two had been involved somehow. They showed this understanding in different ways, with Mr. Clarke setting them extra homework, and with Ms. Joy coming up to Lily at break-time and offering her the forty tampons that had been on her ceiling back to her. Lily politely declined.

That was the highlight of Lily’s miscreant career, and she would often reflect back on it with Marlene. It was one of the glues of their friendship by this point. That time when they stuck it to the man by sticking the tampons to the school.
Lily wasn’t entirely sure why she thought she had any right to be looking after children, let alone teaching them, when she had been such a pest. Surely there was some rule that you had to fall under a certain level of troublemaking to be allowed to have authority with children. She had decided that maybe she wouldn’t bring up any of her dark deeds with the young Potters. At least not right away anyway.

-

She got on the coach at seven o clock in the morning at the coach station in Manchester and arrived at the coach station at St. Ives at half past seven in the evening. The twelve hour journey hadn’t been that much longer than a train journey would have been, although it was a tad bit more claustrophobic. Lily had had a window seat and unfortunately someone had had the aisle seat right next to her. This person was a large elderly lady who wanted to do nothing but have someone listen to her complain.
Lily sighed with more relief than she really should have felt she finally had to get off at Birmingham to change coaches. She had half an hour before her second coach would arrive so she bought herself an overpriced sandwich from the little WH Smiths and a large iced coffee from Starbucks in the station. She stood near the door with her luggage, letting the constant opening and closing of it blow cool wind onto her as she sipped her drink.

As they had slowly made their way down south, the weather seemed to be gradually getting better. It had been a nice enough day when the coach had left Manchester, the sun had been out and the blue sky had only been dotted with one or two clouds, but as each mile passed the sun seemed to shine brighter and hotter and the sky’s blue went from gentle to shocking.

There was something about freedom that made the world just that much brighter and better. The spot by the door where Lily stood was, at that moment, the most wonderful place in the world. It wasn’t that she wanted to get away from her parents, of course she didn’t, she loved them to pieces, but she did desperately want to go somewhere where people knew her as a person rather than a child and had new things to talk about. And if that somewhere was near the beach and had nicer weather than up north then that was just bonus.

Her second coach appeared and she dragged her things towards it whilst trying not to spill her drink. The driver stowed her bag and suitcase and she climbed on and settled into her seat near the back. She had another window seat, but this coach was emptier and nobody came and sat beside her. She set an alarm on her phone and let herself doze against the window for a couple of hours.

And then they were there.

She realised as she walked into the station that she hadn’t rung James as he had said she should. To be fair, how was she supposed to know when they were an hour away? She’d been asleep. But she had texted Marlene saying when she had left so she
presumed that that would have pretty much the same effect.

And she was right.

She had glanced around the station and upon not seeing anyone remotely familiar she had pulled out her phone and rung James.

His voice was loud in her ear and sounded more enthusiastic than last time.

“Lily! Hi. I can see you, I’m here at the station.” He said quickly.

“What? Really? But I didn’t-” Lily spun around, expecting his scruffy tuft of hair to stand out from the crowd at any second.

“Marlene told me what time you’d be in.” He said just as she spotted him at the far side standing just outside a small café.

“Oh good, I thought she might. Is she here too?” She asked, holding her phone to her head with her shoulder as she swung her rucksack onto her other shoulder.

“Yeah, she’s here. Couldn’t have stopped her if I wanted to.” He added and Lily chuckled at how bitter he sounded.

“Well that’s Marlene though, you have to love the quirks.” She laughed as she saw him roll his eyes just a few metres in front of her, before hanging up the phone.

“Yeah, but does she have to have so many?” He asked, reaching out to take her suitcase.

She let him. He rolled it inside the café to a table by the window where Marlene’s big brown eyes were watching them both. She stood up from the little metal table and pulled Lily into a hug, getting bashed by Lily’s bag as it slid off her shoulder.

“Oh my days Lily, I have been lost without you.” Was the first thing she said, keeping her in the hug longer than was natural or comfortable.

“Hi Marl, I missed you.” Lily said.

She leant on her as her bag swung on her arm, threatening to take her down. Still Marlene didn’t let go. Lily smiled so widely she felt like her cheeks were about to split in two.

“Ahem.” James’ voice cut through their embrace and they pulled back to see him grinning at them, with a bemused expression.

“Oh sorry James.” Marlene said, stepping back from Lily and practically launching herself at him.

Lily let her bag slide to the floor and let herself laugh loudly as James groaned.

“It’s good to see you haven’t changed Marl.” Lily said as Marlene let James go. He sat down in one of the metal chairs, rubbing his neck.

Marlene grinned at Lily and then flopped down into the chair opposite James’.

Lily picked her bag up and sat it down right-side up before perching herself on the cold metal.

“Tea?” James offered, looking from Marlene to Lily.

“Yes please, as long as you’re paying though, I forgot my purse.” Marlene said beaming.

James rolled his eyes again and looked at Lily who shook her head.

“I’m fine thanks.” She smiled at him. He nodded and went to the counter.

“So.” Lily turned to Marlene, expectantly.

“So,” Marlene said sitting up straight, “we’re waiting here for James’ friends who should be here in the next half hour, and then we’re going back home.”

“Oh right. Anyone I’d know?” Lily asked casually, trying not to grin as Marlene turned slightly red.

“Oh just Sirius, you know. There’s two others as well, but I don’t think you know them.” Marlene spoke quickly and avoided meeting Lily’s eye.

“Sirius eh?” Lily’s tone had turned dirty more quickly than she thought it would, but that was just the effect of being around Marlene she supposed.

“Yes.” She said firmly, then added, “I don’t know what you could possibly be implying Lily.”

“Who’s implying what?” James said as he stepped around Lily’s suitcase and set two cups of tea down on the table.

“I’m just making up for the lack of opportunity to be appropriate at home by making Marlene feel uncomfortable, it’s nothing.” Lily said quickly, seeing Marlene turn white at James’ entrance into the conversation.

“Oh.” He took a sip of his tea, before turning to look at Marlene. “You do look a bit flustered Marley.”

“I’m fine.” She said quickly, giving Lily a kick.

Lily laughed, “Yeah, that’s her normal reaction when being teased about-“

“Lily!” Marlene cried, making Lily laugh louder and James’ expression turn even more curious.

“What? What are you teasing her about? Oh come on Marley,” he said when Marlene clapped a hand over Lily’s mouth, “It’s only me.”

“Yes, that’s exactly the point. It’s you! You’d go blabbing and really, I embarrass myself enough I don’t need you doing it for me.” She said, ignoring Lily as she attempted to tug her hand away. “And Lily,” she said calmly without looking at her, “you can stop licking my hand that will have no effect on me, I grew up with this prat. I’m used to having strange liquids on me.”

Both and James and Lily and snorted with laughter at the same moment that Marlene realised what she had actually said.

“Oh God,” she moaned, “See what I mean about embarrassing myself? And it’ll be worse when the other lot get here because then there’ll just be more people to mock me.”

“Nah,” James waved his hand and brushed it through his hair, “They’re idiots enough, you’ll probably be the least embarrassing person about.”

“What about Lily?” Marlene pointed at her and then laughed as she turned and saw her with a wide sardonic grin and a thumbs up.

“Well, she’ll be hanging about with Jon and Alice, I reckon she hasn’t got much hope of dignity in that. Sorry” he added to Lily, who just shrugged.

“That’s alright. Anything to make Marlene not look like an idiot.” She said.

“Isn’t it a bit late for that?” a voice said behind her.

Lily turned around and had to stop herself from bursting out laughing again.

It was The Vomit Guy.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

During the first week of university Lily had stayed over in Marlene’s room almost every night. Not because they missed each other or were particularly lonely, but for the simple reason that Lily didn’t want to wake her parents up when she rolled in at four in the morning. She wasn’t usually a party animal, but there’s something about the first week of university that makes even the most mundane and modest people completely mad.

This is because the first week of university is not just the first week of living away from home, finding your feet, getting to know your surroundings. The first week of university is the week that is the most insane, the cheapest, the most chaotic, the most stressful, the most alcohol and activity filled of the year. In short, it was freshers’ week.

Marlene, although she was from not far outside Manchester, had wanted to have the full uni experience and so had opted into having the tiny room and communal bathrooms that make up the experience of living in a halls of residence.

She had met all of her floor mates and decided that they were nice enough and had decorated her room with pictures and posters and had decided that it was homey enough and then had tried to go out with her flatmates and had realised that you should never go on a night out with people who are desperate not to be lonely.

On the first night she managed to get lost and ended up waiting at the bus stop to go back to halls at three in the morning in the rain feeling like freshers’ was only going to get worse. It was luck and rain that had brought Lily to her rescue. She too had been out that night, although living at home she didn’t have any people to go out with, so had instead decided to just go to a club and make a few friends.

Obviously this didn’t go very well. Nobody wants to make friends on a night out, they just want to dance and get drunk with the friends they already have. Anyone new is probably either going to offer you drugs or make you desperately uncomfortable.
So Lily, too, ended up, at three in the morning, looking to head home. She had only managed to stay out so late because she had seen someone from school, but about twenty minutes ago the school-friend had started necking some bald guy and Lily took that as her cue to leave.

And then it started to rain. She decided that at this time of night and in this rain getting a taxi was pretty much pointless, so had headed towards the bus stop. The bus that ran from town to halls stopped at two in the morning and began again at four, so there wasn’t too long to wait for the first one. She ducked under the first shelter in a row of them and saw the big brown eyes of her partner in crime looking up at her.

There were lots of hugs and they both gave long whining descriptions of their awful nights and decided that the best way to wait out the night was to huddle together on the bench. As the shelter got more crowded Marlene decided the best course of action was to perch on Lily’s knee and cuddle into her. It was good to have her best friend there after a shitty night out.

When the bus finally came they sat at the back, stuck their feet down to the heater and Marlene talked Lily into staying the night. It didn’t take long. The rain was getting worse and it was a thirty minute walk home from Marlene’s halls and Lily was hardly wearing anything that could be described as waterproof. She texted her mum and left a message on the house phone letting them know where she was.

They ran all the way from the bus to Marlene’s block, holding their bags over their heads. They showered water all the way along the corridor and stood dripping outside G12 as Marlene fumbled with her keys. Her room inside was in fact quite homey. She had two lamps, which she used instead of the electric strip light, a brightly patterned bed spread and she had filled the top two of three shelves with books and personal effects. Her window looked out onto a patch of grass that was currently black and drowned with rain.

Marlene offered her a spare set of pyjamas and they changed and hung their wet things over a clothes-horse by the radiator. There was an air bed in Marlene’s wardrobe but neither of them much wanted to spend the time and waste the effort setting it up when they were really only going to be asleep for so long - they both had introductory meetings the next morning – so they each grabbed one pillow and took opposite ends of the bed. They fell asleep to the sound of rain and woke only briefly at about five when the rest of Marlene’s flat stumbled back in.

The next day, Lily ate breakfast at Marlene’s, went home in some of Marlene’s things and went to her welcome meetings and library induction and then that night came back and went out with Marlene.

And so a pattern was established.

It was on Thursday that she met the Vomit Guy.

They had been separated in Revolution - the chain bar that was usually full of chavs but tonight was doing a special offer on shots so Marlene had dragged Lily inside - when some guy had started talking to Marlene. Instinctively Lily had moved between them, but Marlene shook her head, so she let them disappear towards the dance floor. She only sort of followed them, letting them do their thing over by the DJ while she tried not to get in the way of the people at the bar. It took her about an hour to realise that they had left. It was only at about two o clock when she got her phone out to check the time that she saw she had a few missed calls from Marlene, a voicemail and three texts.

She left the club to listen to her voicemail.

“Hi! Lily! It’s a-me! Marlene!” Marlene seemed to be doing a strange sort-of-impression of Mario. She stopped and then continued speaking normally, albeit a little bit drunkenly, although not so much that Lily was worried, “Um, so I have left with, with, what’s- what’s your name?” Lily heard the guy’s voice in the background, “Yeah, with you! And we’re going back to mine, so maybe find someplace else to be for a little while. I’ll ring you when can come back, or if you’d rather you could just go home. Um, yeah, so I’ll uh – I’ll – I’ll, um, I ‘ve got to go, bye Lily.” She trailed off slowly, sounding more and more distracted by the male voice.

Lily looked at her texts and saw that they increased in enthusiasm with each one.

‘Think will go back with guy. Will maybs ring you.’

‘OH MY DAYYS, GUy paid for taxi. WHAAAT a gent.’

‘DO NOT COME BACK. GUY IS AMAZE-BALLS. NEED ROOM ALL NIGHT.’

She sighed and walked to the road to hail a taxi. It looked like she would have to go home, but halfway there she realised that she had left her key in Marlene’s room. She sighed again and leant forward to tell the cabby of their new destination.

As luck would have it, someone had been really careless and left the door to Marlene’s block on the latch, not quite shut enough to be safe. Good for Lily, but bad if it had been anyone with more nefarious intentions. Yet another reason why Lily was glad to not be living in halls.

She trudged down the hall to Marlene’s room, really not wanting to interrupt them. She listened at the door for a minute and heard Marlene’s peal of laughter and the sound of what Lily thought was probably the wardrobe door closing. She crinkled her nose and knocked the door, hoping her friend wouldn’t open the door stark naked. She didn’t. In fact she didn’t open the door at all. Lily was left standing in the hallway for half an hour before she heard any more noise, and this time it was bed springs. She decided it was probably best not to interrupt that.

She sat down on the floor and played with her phone, going through the photos from the last couple of days. Marlene was a lover of selfies, so there were more pictures of the two of them than she ever wanted to see. There were also quite a few pictures of Marlene and her neighbour Grace who had come out with them on Tuesday and Wednesday. She was an adorable Scottish girl who had no problem chatting with Lily whilst still in a towel, fresh from the shower. They had exchanged numbers and decided to go for coffee when freshers’ week was finally over. She was probably asleep now though, and they really weren’t good enough friends for Lily to knock on her door at – she checked the time again and sighed, honestly Marlene, you had to pick a guy with stamina – four twenty five in the morning.

She was in the middle of seeing how many silly faces she could pull in pictures when Marlene’s door was thrown open with a bang. A tall person with black hair around his face and a leather jacket clutched in one hand was standing there. He looked very pale and seemed to stagger past down the hall rather than walk. He passed Lily without looking at her. She watched him go and then stood up and pushed Marlene’s door open.

“Marl, it’s me, Lily. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I left my keys here and- what are-“ Lily spoke as she came into the room but as her eyes fell on Marlene she stopped. She was sitting on the bed with her legs out and her mouth open, covered in sick. It was soaked into her top and the sheet that was pulled across her lower half. As Lily kept looking she saw splatters of it on the wall and the floor. She even saw some on the desk chair.

“So,” Lily said, not sure whether to laugh or not. The look of shock and embarrassment on Marlene’s face told her that now was not the time, “Should I, I mean, do you want me to get you some clean clothes?” she asked tentatively, not really sure how to deal with the situation. The smell was starting to be awful. Marlene just nodded. “I think you should maybe shower first though.” Lily said gently.

She took a step towards the bed and then thought better of it. She pulled a towel from the wardrobe and placed it beside Marlene’s bed and let her stand of it. Bits of what looked like carrot fell onto the towel. She opened the door and let Marlene toddle her way down the hallway to the shower. She followed with a large towel and Marlene’s shower bag. Then she came back and stripped the bed and threw the sheets into a big black bin bag before stuffing them into Marlene’s washing basket. She wiped the wall and got the mop to dab at the floor. Then she re-made the bed.

By the time Marlene came back from the shower Lily had changed into pyjamas and decided that she was definitely going to have to laugh about this. Marlene stood there in a towel with a shell-shocked look on her face, wincing when Lily said where she had put the vomit covered sheets. She sat down on the bed and Lily couldn’t hold it in anymore. She snorted with laughter and started giggling. Marlene turned to look at her and the empty horrified look set Lily off again as soon as she had calmed down. It was only about thirty seconds before Marlene joined in. And then they were just two teenagers giggling at five in the morning after a pretty insane night.

“What are you like, Marl?” Lily said when they were finally calm enough to speak.

“It wasn’t me!” She cried, horrified, “It was him! He was- we were- you know-ing-“

“Having sex?” Lily filled in, smirking.

“Yes, that,” Marlene said, “and then- then he just throws up!”

Lily started giggling again.

“It’s not funny Lil,” Marl whined, “He was kissing me.”

This just sent Lily into hysterics.

“I’ve brushed my teeth about ten times now and I can still feel it. Eugh.” She said slowly and then gave a shudder. Lily was still shaking with laughter.

Marlene glared at her for about a second before grinning again. “Well at least I have a story.” She sighed before closing her eyes and burying her face in her hands.

“It could be worse Marl, you could have thrown up on him.” Lily’s attempts at reassurance were met with a glare. “Alright then, it could have been worse, it could have been someone you have to see again.” Lily tried again. This time Marlene just groaned and put her head in her hands again.

“What, Marl?” Lily asked, hoping that it wasn’t someone she knew.

“I don’t know if I won’t though!” Marlene cried dramatically. Lily gave a laugh, but then stopped. She did have a valid point. What if they were on the same course?

“Don’t worry about any of that now Marl, just get some sleep and we’ll have a good panic about all this in the morning.” Lily reassured as she reached for a pillow.

Marlene nodded and lay down. It was quarter past five already.

“Night Lil.”

“Night Marl.”

-

The panic that Lily had anticipated for the morning never came however, as when Marlene woke up it became apparent that she didn’t remember very much of what had happened.

“I remember a guy with really great hair,” she mumbled into her tea that Lily had so kindly brought to her in bed, a hand covering her eyes from the bright light of day, “and a leather jacket. I also remember you changing my sheets but I’m not sure why.” She added. Then her face changed and she looked horrified, “I didn’t wet the bed did I?”

She looked up at Lily with wide eyes and Lily, like a good friend, just laughed back.

“No, you didn’t. Don’t you remember?” She asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.

“Yeah, I remember the guy. What did he do though?” Marlene asked, frowning.

“Do you really not remember?” Lily asked incredulously.

“I was really drunk Lil.” Marlene muttered.

“You seemed alright at the time, you spoke to me clearly enough. You showered and brushed your teeth and everything.” Lily’s voice was full of disbelief.

“I’m just a really sentient drunk Lil, it doesn’t mean I had any idea what was actually happening.” Marlene whispered.

Lily laughed gently and shook her head. Maybe it was for the best that Marlene didn’t remember what happened. She had been so mortified the night before, she would be even more embarrassed now. Especially, Lily thought, if she told Marlene that she had managed to snap a picture of the guy as he left Marlene’s room. She had taken it to show to Marlene after to tease her about how when she had sex with a guy she was so thorough it was the guy who couldn’t walk straight afterwards, but now it didn’t seem to be entirely appropriate. It was still funny though. Lily laughed to herself as she watched Marlene try to drown herself in tea. Maybe she would have to bring it up again at some point, but until then she’d keep mum.

-

Lily had never expected the time to talk about The Vomit Guy would be while he was standing there completely unaware that he was The Vomit Guy in Marlene’s drama that was her life. She decided that maybe now wasn’t the time, especially considering he had turned out to be James’ best friend who Marlene was always ‘casually’ mentioning. Lily had heard his name so many times now she felt like she already knew him. Of course, it looked like she really did know him from somewhere.

In the café, nobody seemed to notice that Marlene’s newly arrived friend was having serious trouble not bursting out laughing at James’ newly arrived friends. They were all talking jovially, carrying on the teasing from where it had been before they arrived; Marlene being mocked.

“I know you all think I’m a complete plonker, but for at least five minutes can you try not to break my heart?” Marlene turned her big brown eyes on the Vomit Guy, apparently knowing him well enough to slip into banter without even a greeting.

“You know, McKinnon,” he responded, pulling a chair out beside James, the two boys standing behind him dragging chairs over from nearby tables, “I think what you need, more than kind coddling, is loving honesty. You are in fact a complete idiot and I don’t understand why that would break your sad little heart. Didn’t you spring out of the womb confused about the concept of fresh air?” He spoke with an arrogant expression that wasn’t completely out of place on his handsome face. James leant around him to share a look with the other two boys.

“Fuck off Black, the sun was shining on the morning I was born. Birds tweeted, choirs sang and the world was made infinitely better.” Marlene flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned to the other two boys, “How are you two then, Remus, Peter?” She smiled at them pleasantly.

The thinner of the two laughed and gave her an easy smile, “Fine thank you Marlene, how’s your summer going so far?”

“Perfectly marvellous thank you Remus, all the better for seeing you.” She beamed at him and then turned to the boy who must be Peter and winked. “How you doin’, Pete?”

Peter flushed and nodded but didn’t say anything, instead he looked down at his shoes.

James laughed, “No need to babble on so much Pete, let other people talk for once.”

Lily laughed, causing the boys to look at her. Remus looked at James curiously who jumped and then said quickly,

“Ah, yeah, yeah, sorry, Lily this is Peter, Remus and Sirius,” he said, clapping a hand on Sirius’ shoulder, “And this is Lily. Marlene’s friend.” He added meeting her eye before looking away quickly.

“Hi there.” She said, waving a hand at them. Marlene snorted when Peter waved back, but Lily smiled at him. Remus nodded but Sirius looked at her with a furrowed brow.

“Have we met before?” he asked.

It took quite a lot for Lily to keep a straight face and a calm tone, “No, I don’t think so. But Marlene’s probably mentioned me before.”

“Right.” He said curtly. “That must be it. Maybe I’ve seen you on facebook or something.” He relaxed his brow and looked away from her.

”Probably.” Lily mumbled. She had decided that it was a good thing he had puked in Marlene’s mouth if it meant that this was the first time she had had to see him.

“Should we- er- get going then?” James asked, sounding a bit anxious.

Marlene looked at him quickly and nodded, “Yes I think so.”

She stood up and grabbed Lily’s rucksack off the floor and made a move towards the door. The rest of them followed her out the door. Lily caught up with her at the edge of a car-park with only a handful of cars in it. The sun was still out, but it was edging towards the horizon.

“Was it just me or does he not like me very much?” Lily muttered to Marlene.

“Yeah, he can be a bit gruff sometimes. Don’t worry about it.” Marlene advised. Then she turned and looked at Lily with a big grin.

“What?” Lily asked, thrown off by the suddenness of the mood change.

“I’m just happy to see you.” Marlene said, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer. They walked the last few metres to the car with their arms interlocked.

When they reached the car, Lily gave a laugh.

“How are we all fitting in that thing?” she asked Marlene who had turned and was looking at the boys who were slowly following them, with a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

“Oh we’ll fit. We always do, somehow.” She said carelessly, not bothering to look at the small green car she was leaning against.

Lily looked up at her dubiously.

“Okay, whatever you say,” she said, turning to the boys who had finally reached them, bags in arms, James with the car keys in his hand, “but I am not sitting in the boot.”

“Okay” Marlene said in a tone that gave Lily the idea that she wasn’t really paying any attention to her.

“Marlene.” Lily said sternly.

“Lily” Marlene said mockingly.

“Marlene!” Lily said, more distressed now.

Marlene just winked at her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

The Potter’s beach house was insane. With eight bedrooms, a pool house and pool, in-house bar, and full sized snooker table, it was incredibly fancy and the most pretentious place Lily had ever set foot in. And she had been inside Petunia’s room at least nine times in her life. It was difficult to imagine exactly what an ordinary family of five would want with all this space and all this ostentatious-ness, especially as it was so far away from civilisation that there was nobody anywhere around that could be impressed by it. It sat on a cliff about thirty metres above a small cove with a beach made of pebbles and rocks and although the house was an artificial addition to the coastline, it seemed to belong where it was, in amongst the thick bushes and the pale cliff-face. It was huge but not imposing and clearly expensive but not externally flamboyant. However fancy the inside was, the exterior was simple and classic, in-keeping with the small houses and fishing cottages of the village further down the coast.

The drive from the coach station to the house had taken an hour and a half, although it felt longer for Lily, squashed in the front with Marlene and two of her bags on her lap, and even after they had reached the Potter House it was another ten minutes to get down the driveway. This sort of ridiculous, frivolous private wealth was something that Lily thought only existed in dreams and eighteenth century France. But apparently, in twenty first century Cornwall, there was a house that embodied everything that Lily imagined when she thought the word ‘rich’. James had just waved a hand around and said they should make themselves at home as they had come in the front door (actual oak double doors), hardly looking at the pristine interior that had Lily spinning around in wonder.

James’ friends had taken his suggestion literally and had run upstairs to fight over rooms and Marlene had gone with James into the kitchen. Lily was still standing in what could only be described as the vestibule, not quite believing that she had gone from her parents’ three bedroom semi-detached house to this maritime mansion in less than twenty-four hours.

“Lil?” Marlene asked, popping her head back around the corner from wherever the kitchen was, “are you alright?”

“I- I think so. It’s just-just-” she stuttered, eyes wide, moving over to meet Marlene but getting stuck on the painting on the wall, “it’s just so rich.” She half whispered, feeling bad for being so overwhelmed.

Marlene laughed and Lily blushed.

“Aw, Lil, so sweet. You should probably go and claim a room before the boys spread out too much.” She said, nodding her head towards the staircase that curved its way down the wall to her right.

Lily nodded and made her way to the staircase. She was standing with her foot on the bottom step when suddenly James appeared, as if out of nowhere.

“Can I help you with your bags?” he asked politely, reaching a hand towards her suitcase.

Lily had to laugh. Apparently the mansion came with a butler too.

“Yes, alright. Thank you very much.” She smiled at him as he grinned and picked up her bag. He pretty much ran up the staircase with it, even though it was about twenty kilos. When she reached him, he was leaning against the banister, not looking at her. She could see that he was visibly panting.

“That’s quite impressive.” She said, smirking at him, even though he was still gazing down the hallway.

“Well,” he sighed dramatically, clearly attempting to hide just how out of breath he was, “You know.” He said just as dramatically.

She laughed and he turned to look at her, eyebrows raised, his half grin fading slightly.

“It would have been even more impressive if you had walked up the stairs like a normal person and not nearly died.” She said before starting off down the hall.

“I didn’t nearly die,” he objected, half frowning “I’m fit.” He said childishly.

“Yes, yes you are.” She said condescendingly, reaching over and flicking him under the chin.

“Unbelievable,” He grumble, “In my own house.”

“Yeah, but what a house. If I were going to be ridiculed, I could only dream of being ridiculed in a place like this. It’s insane.” She said, looking down towards the front door and having her eye caught by a chandelier instead. An actual chandelier. Indoors. In a private home. She wasn’t ashamed to let her jaw swing open.

She heard James laugh, but her eyes were on the light fitting.

“Shouldn’t you give that thing back to a production of Phantom of the Opera or something?” she asked, looking at James. He spun around and looked at it and laughed.

“I wish. Mum hates it, but dad refuses to get rid of it because his mother picked it out when they first bought the place. She gave it to them as a wedding present.” James said casually, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

“Wow. How quick did they buy this place for that not to be an embarrassingly late present?” Lily asked, wondering about whether etiquette mattered when you were that rich.

James laughed again and grinned at her but didn’t answer.

“What?” she asked, noticing him staring at her.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, looking away. He started walking down the hall again and she followed, “Yeah, well the house was a wedding present from my dad to my mum, so that thing,” He nodded back to the chandelier, “was here before they got married.”

“Wait, seriously? A wedding present?” Lily’s jaw was swinging again.

“Yeah.” James looked away and Lily saw his cheeks go a little bit red.

“Wow.” She said slowly, “Your dad got your mum a house when they got married.” She whistled. James just nodded silently.

“All my dad did was get my mum pregnant when they got married.” She muttered.

James snorted and looked at her, the grin back on his face and larger than before. Lily smiled back at him, glad to not have made him feel too uncomfortable. As much as it was weird for her, it must have been weird for James too, having people come into his home – one of his homes, she corrected herself – and have them make assumptions about him and his family.

“So is this my room then?” Lily asked as they came to a stop.

“Yes,” James nodded, “I normally let that lot choose whichever they like, but I thought that this one would be best for you. It’s in between mine and Jon’s so I thought it would be a good way to make things that bit easier. If Jon’s being a nuisance you can hear and go and sort him out, and if you’re being a nuisance I can hear and come and sort you out.” He grinned at her and she nodded, only half grinning back. She had almost forgotten that she was here to work, not to just hang about like his friends were. Talk about feeling singled out.

“Right. Okay then.” She smiled and turned to push the door open. She let James go through first with her suitcase and then followed him into a large yellow room with a, not entirely out of place, four-poster bed in the centre. The bed-spread was white with large daisies splashed across it and the wardrobe was a soft cream colour. Instead of a window there were two glass doors leading out onto a small balcony.

“Is it alright?” James asked in a small voice, looking at Lily nervously. She realised that she had the fish-out-water face on again. She quickly dropped it and smiled at him.

“Yeah of course, it’s lovely,” she said quickly, “It’s just Wow.” She said, hoping he would understand what she meant even though she was less than extensive with her vocabulary.

He shrugged modestly and made for the door, “Marlene’s in the kitchen if you wanted to go down, or you could stay and unpack or you could do whatever. I’ll be- I’ll be with the boys.” He said shortly before disappearing down the hall, not waiting for Lily’s nod. She sat down on the bed and kicked her shoes off. She turned her head to look out of the window. She could see the sea just beneath the cliff top the house rested on. It was a calm sort of grey, the waves little white tips flopping onto the beach. Not ideal beach weather but typical of a British summer. A beach day was probably inevitable with two children to entertain. She turned her head to look at the door ahead of her. It would be so easy just to stay here and watch the sea and hide, but what would that achieve? You never achieve anything by being timid. She stood up and took a breath. Then she went downstairs.

-

She found Marlene making a mess of an omelette in the kitchen about ten minutes later. She had gone downstairs only a few minutes after James had left but had had to try and find the kitchen and then on top of that had had to deal with the wonderful distractions that exist inside a mansion. She quite daringly broke the neatly arranged balls on the snooker table before hurriedly putting them back in that perfect triangle shape. She had never in her life played snooker, but her dad sometimes watched it on TV and she had always like when the players took their first shot and made the balls spin about the table madly.

She had poked her head into the dining room briefly, and had stood ogling the books in the library for longer than was polite. She shook herself and moved away when she heard the crowd of boys heading downstairs.

The kitchen was at the back of the house, overlooking the pool and just in sight of the little cottage that had been labelled the pool house. It had one of those large fancy marble islands in it and a large electric cooker where Marlene was failing to show any culinary prowess with a frying pan.

“Is it meant to smell like that?” Lily asked, hopping up onto a stool behind the island and watching with her head resting on one of her hands as Marlene scratched at the pan with a plastic spatula.

“Yes, of course it is, this is what a healthy omelette smells like.” She snapped back sarcastically, coughing into her elbow, “Could you open that window for me?” she nodded at the window over the sink. Lily jumped down onto the cold tiled floor again and walked around to fling the window open.

“Why are you trying to cook anyway?” Lily asked, leaning back against the island, watching Marlene fan at the black smoke coming off the frying pan.

“Because,” she said through a tea-towel as she waved her arms around ineffectually, “James is never going to make anything,” she took the tea towel away from her mouth and started whipping it about in circles, “and if I go home I’d have to eat my mum’s food which really,” she threw the tea-towel down and walked around to sit on a stool, “is worse than anything I could have made here.” She nodded towards the frying pan that was still sitting on the heat with the remains of an omelette slowly burning into the pan. Lily reached over and turned the hob off and moved the pan into the sink.

“I think I’d rather die than eat your food Marl.” She muttered, wrinkling her nose and turning the tap on. She flicked it off when the pan was full.

“I think with the way I cook, those two aren’t mutually exclusive.” Marlene grumbled.

Lily turned and looked at her. “Did you just burn yourself?”

“Literally or banter-ally?” Marlene said, sullenly, leaning on her hand.

It took Lily a second to work out what she meant. It had been a while since she had had to interpret Marlene, “The – er – the second one. Although that’s really not a word Marl.” She added, frowning at her.

“Sorry Miss, I’ll never use it again.” Marlene said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Why so glum chum?” Lily said, leaning over to put the kettle on and then settling back against the counter.

“I’m not really glum.” She said sadly.

“No, you’re downright depressed. What’s hap-uh-taining in Marlene world?”

“That’s not a word Lily.” Marlene said mockingly. Then she sighed and smiled, “I’m not glum, it’s just not going to be all that fun with you being all the way over here while mum’s going to try to keep me busy all the way over at home.”

Lily laughed, “Marl, I’m pretty sure we’ll see each other every day,” she soothed, and then she grinned and leaned forward to pinch her on the arm, “especially as I know that you are about to launch your attack on Sirius.”

Marlene didn’t react enthusiastically to Lily’s manic grin, instead she frowned and rubbed her arm where Lily had pinched her. “I’m not going to attack him.” She grumbled, frowning.

“No, I know you’re not Marl, I’m just teasing.” Lily said relenting. She said apologetically, “I didn’t mean it like that Marl, you know I didn’t, it’s just that you’ve been going on about him for so long I can only presume that you are not going to let this opportunity go.”

Marlene’s grumpy face contorted as she tried to hide a smile.

“Maaarl, come on,” Lily moaned, “don’t be so lugubrious.”

Marlene looked up at her thoughtfully, not smiling but no longer pouting. “Lugubrious.”

“Lugubrious: adjective; looking or sounding sad and dismal.” Lily spoke clearly as though reading from a dictionary.

“Good word.” Marlene nodded decidedly.

“I learnt it last week.” Lily grinned.

“Is it on the wall?” Marlene grinned back, sitting up a bit straighter and leaning forward.

“Is it heck,” Lily snorted, “You know how slow I am at getting round to things. I still haven’t put cunnilingus up yet.” She said, lowering her voice slightly and leaning into her friend.

“What? How can you not have put it up? It’s a brilliant word! A brilliant thing some might say.” She wriggled her eyebrows and smirked as Lily blushed.

“Oh my days Marl, don’t be obscene.” Lily pursed her lips lightly in an attempt to not laugh and looked away from her embarrassing friend.

Marlene started laughing, “Oh I’m sorry Lil, did you not claim to love it just weeks ago?”

Lily groaned and closed her eyes, “I didn’t know what it meant when you first said it!” When Marlene just laughed harder Lily opened her eyes and glared at her. “I may be inexperienced, but at least I don’t turn into a puddle of slime every time a certain someone comes into my eye-line.”

“I do not turn into a puddle!” Marlene cried indignantly, “I just go soft and alluring.” She batted her eyelashes and pulled quite an impressive duck-face.

“Alluring?” Lily laughed incredulously, “How is swearing and being mean alluring?”

“You just don’t understand the allure when you see it darling.” Marlene stuck her hand out as if she were holding a cigarette, making Lily laugh even more, “He understands, he feels it in his bones.” She sighed heavily and dramatically and then flopped down onto the counter.

Lily was still laughing a little too uproariously when the boys walked into the kitchen. At the looks on their faces she lost it again.

“Are you alright?” James asked, half laughing and half concerned about what these was happening in his kitchen.

Lily nodded in amongst her giggling fit and Marlene just smiled widely at the four of them.

“What’s happening?” Sirius asked, looking away from Marlene’s smile to Lily’s bright red face and watery eyes.

“We were, um, we were-” Marlene started to speak confidently but then she met Sirius’ eye and her lips quivered and she had to look away. She met Lily’s eye and they both snorted with laughter again.

“We were talking.” Lily said, using a breath she had been working up to speak quickly and loudly before collapsing back into short little gasps of laughter.

“About what? What is that funny?” asked James, a little bewildered.

“It’s not that funny. Not really. It’s really good though.” Marlene was suddenly very chipper. Her strangely wide smile had returned.

James and Sirius were still looking at the two girls with expressions of confusion and arrogant amusement, respectively, and Peter was still standing in the doorway nervously, so it fell to Remus to ask the obvious question.

“What is?”

Lily snorted again and then sobered up as Remus looked a bit offended. Marlene however didn’t skip a beat in saying loudly and proudly, “Cunnilingus.”

Lily snorted again, and this time Sirius joined her. Peter gave a belated laugh but James sort of froze and looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Remus raised an eyebrow and spoke clearly in his next question.

“Pardon?” It was a strange word to hear from a teenager and it reminded Lily that this world she was in was full of strange people who would never do something so ill-mannered as say ‘what’ instead of ‘pardon’.

“What a wonderful word.” Lily sighed, more calmly now. Her fit of laughter had subsided and left her with a red face and bright eyes and a faint sense of embarrassment.

“You are such a nerd.” Marlene sighed reach out to pass a hand over Lily’s fringe.

“Not your best rhyme, babe.” Lily wrinkled her nose and let herself be petted.

“I tried,” Marlene proclaimed dramatically, “but alas I do not have the experienced vernacular that you do, my dear.”

“Well obviously.” Lily nodded. She stood up straight and turned to pull a mug off the mug tree next to the kettle.

“What are you two on about?” James asked, shaking his head, “Did those omelette fumes go to your heads?”

Peter, still standing near the door giggled, and Lily turned around and smiled at him before answering.

“No, we’ve always been this nutty don’t worry, it’s nothing new.”

“Right,” Sirius said matter-of-factly, “So what are you on about?” He sat on the stool beside Marlene and stared intensely at Lily with a half smirk on his face. She smiled back and then turned back to the cup of tea she was making.

“We collect weird words.” Marlene said cheerfully, turning to look at Sirius straight on. He raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded.

“Good words,” Lily corrected, “not weird words.” She spooned the tea bag out and dumped it on the draining board.

“Yeeeah,” Marlene agreed thoughtfully, dragging out the word to an almost uncomfortable length, “but most of them are pretty weird too though.” She continued grinning at the back of Lily’s head as it dipped and her shoulders shook once.

Lily turned back and saw Marlene sandwiched between Sirius and James quite happily. Remus had joined Peter who had finally come full into the room at the larger table that was further back. Lily grinned as Marlene winked at her.

“True.”

“And -” James started hesitantly, “And that- that word is one of the words?” he raised an eyebrow and cocked his head and Lily was struck with his similarity to a puppy.

“Yes.” Marlene smirked, “It’s pretty much lily’s favourite word ever.”

Lily blushed and set her jaw. “Shut up Marlene.” She said tersely, sipping her tea.

“You preferred it when I was lugurgrious didn’t you?” Marlene bit her lip and flicked her hair as Lily rolled her eyes.

“No,” she tried not to be condescending, she really did, “I preferred it when you were lugubrious.”

Marlene sat up a bit straighter and rolled her eyes back at her friend, “Same thing.”

“No it’s not,” Lily frowned as Marlene stuck her tongue out, “The whole point of the word wall is that they’re each different and wonderful.”

“Word wall?” James asked slowly and sceptically, as if it was an entirely foreign concept.

“What the hell is that?” Sirius asked, scoffing.

“Lily’s bedroom wall.” Marlene said quickly, “It’s full of words.”

“You should see it, it’s starting to look really cool.” Lily grinned, nodding at the two less than impressed faces, and then beamed widely at Remus who was smiling.

“You know Ginge,” Sirius said, leaning forward and putting what seemed to be his signature smirk back on his face, “it’s only been a few hours, are you sure you should be inviting me into your bedroom?” He clearly thought he was being incredibly smooth, and Lily saw Marlene’s smile drop a bit and James for some reason shuffled about on his chair.

Lily breathed quickly out her nose, not quite letting it become a snort, and kept her smile in place.

“Of course I am. My bedroom is open to anyone who wants it.” She said pleasantly, “Especially considering I’m not there right now.” She continued, “Although,” she couldn’t help herself from continuing further, “If you were to want to go into my room upstairs then you’re more than welcome. The view is lovely.” She added.

Sirius’ expression seemed frozen in place for a second, as were James’ and Marlene’s. Only Remus and Peter moved; Peter to turn his head to look at Remus for clarification and Remus to shake his head in amusement.

Taking advantage of the momentary silence, Lily asked, “Do you have any milk in? It’s not really a proper brew if it’s black.”

“Uh – um – yes – er – I mean no.” James stuttered, trying to answer quickly to make up for the fact that he didn’t realise she was talking to him.

“Right, okay. Is there a shop nearby or anything?” Lily asked looking from James to Marlene who was still looking a little bit subdued.

“Not really,” Marlene said absently, “but there’s one by me, so you could pop in when you take me home.” She said turning to James.

“Right, okay, I’ll- uh – I’ll do that then.” James said uncertainly, looking from Marlene to Lily.

“Good, it’s getting quite late and mum’ll have a fit if I’m not back by ten.” Marlene said as she hopped off her stool. “I will see you tomorrow, pet.” She said with a smile, walking round to pull Lily in for a hug.

“See you tomorrow.” Lily said as she let her go.

“Well we might as well go with you,” Sirius said casually, “there’s very little of interest round here without you.”

“Aw, Sirius that’s so sweet.” Marlene said, slightly startled.

“I didn’t mean you.” He said bluntly, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Of course not,” she muttered, “Arse.”

They left the kitchen arguing and James followed them. Remus and Peter stood up and nodded at Lily before following.

She was left standing by the sink in an empty kitchen with her black tea and the foul smell of burnt eggs.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

The sun woke Lily in the morning, falling across the room through the balcony doors. She hadn’t closed the curtains before going to bed, so the sunrise was startling enough to stir her from sleep. She woke up squinting at the room around her listening to the silence of the house and the waves on the beach outside, thrumming like a heartbeat. The bathroom was somewhere down the hall but Lily really couldn’t be bothered to find it. Her pillows were too soft and the sun too warm on her face.

Then a door slammed somewhere outside this softly lit wonderland and Lily sighed. Really the bathroom mission couldn’t be put off and if someone else was up, then maybe she should be too. She rolled out of bed and pulled her slippers on. In the hallway she could hear noises from the kitchen and the voices of the boys. She found a large shiny bathroom just at the top of the stairs and then went back to her room to get dressed. Even with the boys making such a noise somewhere in the house, the upstairs was still quiet. Coming down the stairs was like coming down from a cloud and into a party. The secluded silence was entirely broken by the clanging of cutlery and loud laughter.

She found her way to the kitchen by keeping one hand on a wall and walking. She passed through several rooms, none of which she had seen last night, and several windows, out of which she could see the view from the front of the house. The driveway seemed longer than before and the huge green lawn seemed greener. The sky was a more pleasant shade of blue this morning, no more hinting at rain that it did at snow, with the clouds in it floating somewhere along the horizon. In a conservatory Lily found herself in that seemed to be situated on the side of the house, she had a full view of the sky stretching from each horizon and found herself feeling a little lost. Even inside she could see the full expanse of the world and wasn’t sure exactly what she was doing in it. And then she heard more clattering from the kitchen and moved on.

On walking into the kitchen, shining metallically in the morning light and full of a sort of pleasant smoke, Lily found it impossible not to laugh. Remus had a comically large chef’s hat perched on his head and Peter had a frilly apron pulled tightly around his plump frame, while James and Sirius were sitting at the table in the corner with their feet on chairs and a large glass of cold orange juice in front of each of them, the condensation visible from the doorway.

“I didn’t realise slave labour was still in fashion.” She said smirking slightly, looking from the two boys by the stove to the two boys lounging about.

Sirius laughed shortly and Peter joined him. Remus nodded at her and smiled as she moved forward into the kitchen. James simply fell off his chair in surprise.

They all turned to look at the boy sprawled on the floor. Lily covered her mouth with her hand, so as not to be seen laughing out loud at James’ idiocy but the boys seemed not to share her desire for subtly. They all burst out laughing and Sirius reached out and kicked James’ shoulder as he tried to get up.

“Oh piss off, would you?” James groaned as he plonked himself back down on the chair, unable to hide his blush and grin.

“If only we could all be that graceful in the mornings.” Remus mused to Lily with a wry smile before turning back to the pans sizzling with food. She laughed and gave James the dignity of not looking back at him to see his reaction, instead moving forward to climb onto a stool behind the island.

“Morning.” Peter beamed at her as he slid a plate full of eggs across to her. She smiled back at him.

“Good morning. Is this for me?” she asked, aware that there was a stack of clean plates sitting next to the frying pan, waiting to be filled. It didn’t seem entirely fair for her to be served first.

“Well, of course.” He replied before turning back to help Remus, completely ignoring the complaints from the two boys at the back of the kitchen.

“What?” James said indignantly just as Sirius whined,

“Don’t ‘of course’ her, we’ve been waiting ages!”

“You’ve been waiting for about a minute, shut up and wait a minute more.” Remus rolled his eyes at them.

“That’s right.” Peter agreed, somewhat smugly. Lily thought he looked as though he was about to stick his tongue out at them.

James and Sirius’s voices echoed around the kitchen all the more loudly for being ignored by Peter and Remus. The abuse finally stopped when Remus and Peter carried food over to them, along with their own plates.

The silence of teenagers eating is a silence so great it can never be described, but for the moment Lily basked in it. It seemed that silence with this four was like rational thought with Marlene; it did sometimes happen when completely necessary, but the other party did not find it enjoyable or entirely tolerable. This Lily discovered when the noises from the table erupted into a crashing of dishes on the floor. Sirius and James, it turned out, had been playing fork-football with a stray tomato. The juice from the poor fried thing had stained most of the table cloth and the flesh of the thing itself was now lying sadly on the floor along with James’ plate and most of his eggs and bacon.

“Aaargh” Sirius and James groaned in unison, holding their hands out to each other like Italian street vendors, “Look what you did!”

Peter laughed at them and Remus cracked a smile before looking somewhat concerned. Lily chose a position half-way between the two of them, asking with a wide smile,

“You know, it won’t clean itself up.”

Her words interrupted the two boys who had broken out into a tussle at the table. James nodded at her a bit more seriously than the occasion warranted, but Sirius laughed,

“Isn’t that what you’re here for, ginge?”

Lily raised her eyebrows at him.

“To make you act in a civilized manner? I think not.” She said delicately, “You can clean up your own messes, I’m sure.” She shook her head and stood up to carry her dish to the sink. She rinsed it down and placed it on the draining board.

“Is there anything I’m needed for today?” she asked, and although her question was directed mostly at James it was Peter who answered. That probably had something to do with the fact that James was once again distracted by trying to punch Sirius in the balls while Remus commentated.

“I don’t think so. We were planning to just hang about here.” He said, smiling at her. It was quite a wide smile actually, disconcertingly so.

Lily nodded, half frowning, “Right, o-okay then. I’m gonna head down to the village then. Ring me if you need me.” She added before dashing out the door, leaving Peter smiling widely, Sirius sitting on a groaning James and Remus who was calling them both idiots whilst pretending his fork was a microphone.

She found her way back up to her room and pulled on shoes and grabbed her handbag, still with her purse and phone in it. The front door closed behind her with a satisfyingly loud slam just as she thought about whether she would need a key. But the sun was shining on her and there was a breeze blowing the trees that drew her away from practical thoughts and down towards the ocean where it lay at the foot of the cliffs. She stood on the sand and let the sound of the waves wash away the silliness of breakfast and let herself be entranced by them for far longer than was sensible. Then she looked at the time and climbed back up to the cliff-top path. The path didn’t technically pass through the Potter property, but it was close enough that you could see into the windows of some of the rooms at the top of the house. Lily made a mental note to close her curtains as her eyes passed over her own small balcony.

It took almost two hours to walk to the small village of Porthead, but Lily didn’t mind the walk. It was the first time in a long time that she had been truly alone. There is nowhere in an inland city where it is possible to be completely secluded but here, as she rambled across the Cornish coastline, she was sure she could be completely ignored by the world until she chose not to be.

There is a reason that Cornwall has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches alongside a long history of shipping fatalities. It is because of wind that comes in off the Atlantic. The cool spray reached even to the footpath at the top of the cliff, leaving Lily feeling lucky the wind was blowing the tide in and not out, otherwise she would be lost to the sea by now. By the time she reached Porthead she had been thoroughly blown about and was completely ready to be protected from the wind by the sturdy buildings that make up the sweet little tea shops, the Fish and Chip shop and the rows of brightly painted terraced houses, sitting just beyond large imposing sea walls.

It had been four years since Lily had visited Porthead with Marlene and her family, but for all it had changed, it might as well have been five minutes ago. The same groups of old ladies sat in the same old tea shops sipping from the same cups with their eyes cast out upon the beach full of the typical collection of tourists. Young children rolling about in sandcastles and then running back to their brightly coloured towels and beach tents, the deck chairs with the same red and yellow striped canvas, the rocks and the caves where Lily remembered spending hours looking for crabs, the little blue wooden huts just waiting to be filled with tired parents attempting to pry swimming costumes off the young children. Porthead was not a large place, but in the summer it swelled with tourists and the need for them was reflected in the way the place accommodated them. There were at least three guest houses on every street, there were signs for the camp site and caravan park everywhere, there were little shops selling buckets and spades on every corner, and on the hill just a little way away there was a large hotel peering down over on the people of Porthead.

Lily remembered when the hotel had been built, how Marlene’s parents had been in a long line of people from in and around the village who were protesting the ‘scar on the landscape’ that was now the main reason anyone came to Porthead. They had driven all the way from Manchester to Cornwall just to sign a petition and attend a village meeting. The hotel had started construction a week later, after the petition failed to meet the necessary number of signatures, and a year later when it opened nobody could fully remember why they had objected to the increase of tourism in the first place. The trees that grew around the tree helped it blend in and now it was no more a scar than any of the other large houses on one of the surrounding hills.

At around midday, after a morning of strolling through the few streets and then clambering over the rocks in the far side of the bay, Lily collapsed into a deck chair. There was nobody around who she obviously had to pay for the privilege and nobody came and asked her to move, so she sat there until she was disturbed, happily watching the tide come in.

When she was disturbed she was so pleasantly relaxed she didn’t even mind the handful of sand that a playful hand tipped over her head. She jumped as the cool sand found its way down the collar of her t-shirt and then squinted up at the person standing over her, blocking her sun.

Marlene, Lily had decided a few years ago, somehow always managed to look like she was wandering home after a night out. She had a habit of wearing scruffy clothes with incredibly nice ones and never really doing anything with her hair. It was almost convenient for her when it came to actually doing the walk of shame since nobody would ever suppose it was what it was, but on a sleepy beach in the mid-day sun it was rather strange to find a girl with a black t-shirt tied in a knot to show off her stomach, a glittery blue mini skirt, and doc martins, topped with a navy hoodie, unzipped and dangling off her. Her hair was appropriately dishevelled, hanging loose over her shoulders but with a definite sense of ‘recently mussed’ to it.

“Hey.” The bedraggled looking Marlene drawled as she plopped herself down in the deck chair next to Lily. Her smile fell into a gentle smirk as Lily raised her eyebrows at her friend.

“What have you been up to?” Lily wasn’t entirely sure she wanted an answer, given the furtive looks her friend was giving to a boy further down the beach. He had turned bright red under his already-very-red hair and glanced away quickly.

“Oh nothing really.” Marlene replied distractedly, her eyes still on the boy.

“Who’s that?” Lily grinned, letting her sunglasses slide down her nose to wiggled her eyebrows at Marlene.

Marlene looked a bit startled as she realised Lily was looking at her so suggestively. She didn’t quite turn red, but she couldn’t quite rid her face of her slightly smug expression,
“Oh that’s no-one, just Fabian.”

Lily laughed. It was never no-one. “Fabian, eh?” she said cheekily.

“He’s just- oh shut up.” Marlene finally blushed and rolled her eyes at her friend. “We snogged last summer and I was just saying ‘hi’. I thought it was the polite thing to do.”

Lily snorted, “I would love to live in your world. I don’t think I could ever be so casually flirty with someone I’d gotten off with.”

“I didn’t get off with him,” Marlene frowned, lowering her voice slightly, “we just snogged.”

“And that is not getting off?” Lily asked dryly, pushing her sunglasses back up her face.

“No.” Marlene said firmly, swinging her legs across the sand, “Snogging is snogging, getting off is, well, the whole nine yards.” She said emphatically, not quite meeting Lily’s eyes.

“Why can’t you just say sex?” Lily asked, apparently more boldly than Marlene expected since she jumped and spun around to clamp a hand on her mouth.

“Lily!” Marlene exclaimed.

“Wha?” Lily asked from behind her friend’s hand.

“There- there are children!” she half-whispered.

“They’re all the way over there!” cried Lily, waving a hand towards the three little children who were running in and out of the sea, giggling.

“Yes, but they are still children!” Marlene said indignantly. When Lily raised her eyebrows at her she added so quickly the words almost bled into each other, “Whose mother is the sister of the previously mentioned boy.”

Lily started laughing and Marlene groaned, “Oh come on Lil, would you shut up, please. You know this is a small world. There’s only so many options.” She finished in such a practical tone, Lily snorted.

“Of course, I’m sorry, I forgot that you only have limited waters to tread in.” Lily said, shaking her head.

“Exactly, now shut up please.” Marlene said with a tone of finality that Lily suspected the woman in question might be looking over at them. She said nothing else, but shook her head again, laughing quietly.

“Do you want some chips?” Marlene asked suddenly, and with the suggestion came a strong desire.

“Oh yeah, I could murder a chip butty right about now.” Lily moaned.

“Oh good,” Marlene grinned, “fetch me a battered sausage while you’re there.” She said nodding her head towards the little chip shop that sat at in amongst the tea shops.

“Why, afraid you’ll meet another relative of someone you once snogged?” Lily laughed as she clambered up out of the deck chair.

“No, I just saw Sirius up on the prom and I don’t think I’m going to be able to get up as gracefully as you, I might embarrass myself in front of him.” She said wryly as Lily climbed up off the sand where she had just fallen.

Lily rolled her eyes and bit back a response. She dug in her purse for her bag and then stalked off across the sand.

She had left her shoes with her chair beside Marlene and so it was barefooted and covered in sand with her clothes all askew and her hair completely messed up that she ran into Marlene’s friend Fabian.

She was standing waiting for their food, trying to subtly use the mirror behind the counter to re-do her hair when a tall boy with a mop of ginger hair and plastic flip-flops started talking to her.

“We’re not related are we?” he asked as he watched himself try to brush sand out of his hair.

“I’m sorry?” Lily asked, confused.

“The hair.” He clarified, grinning at her before running his hands through his own.

“Oh right,” Lily said, giving a polite laugh, “uh – no, I don’t think we are.”

“Nah, I didn’t think so,” he said, “haven’t seen you around before. Although,” he added wryly, “with the number of Weasleys in the world that doesn’t really mean much.” He grinned at her as if he expected her to know what he was talking about.

“Right.” She said, smiling uncomfortably.

“You’re not from around here are you?” he asked, his tone and grin not losing any of their enthusiasm.

“Uh- no, I’m not sorry.” She answered, her tone apologetic.

“Right. Course. If you were that joke would have landed. But then,” he added thoughtfully, “it’s probably a good thing you’re not because then I would probably hitting on a cousin and that could get messy.”

Lily snorted and his eyes glinted.

“I’m Fabian.” He said, holding out his hand.

Lily shook it, noticing how warm it was as she did, “I’m Lily.”

“Oh,” he began as his eyes lit up “you’re-” he stopped and turned red almost immediately. It was quite impressive really.

“Marlene’s friend, yeah. She mentioned you, by the way.” She added. Then she clamped her jaw shut and wondered why she hadn’t submitted herself for a lobotomy yet. This was the second time in a week she was being awkward with an attractive boy.

“Oh so this is awkward for both of us then, good.” His face was grim, but his voice teasing.

“Yeah,” Lily laughed as he nodded sagely, “Sorry.” She added.

“Ah, it could be worse,” he sighed grimly, “You could be someone who doesn’t know my relationship history.” Then his face split into a grin and Lily was laughing again.

“Yeah, or worse still,” she said, waving a hand in the air for reasons she wasn’t entirely sure of “I could be someone who does know your relationship history but doesn’t think you could do better.” She shrugged as he blinked at her before bursting out laughing. For the sake of their friendship, she was hoping Marlene would accept that the pay-off was worth the insult.

“And how is it that you do think that?” he asked, folding his arms and grinning at her curiously. It seemed that he was incapable of pulling any expression without putting a grin into it.

“Well, it’s not that Marl’s not great, because she is,” she clarified defensively, making sure she didn’t leave this boy she had met five minutes ago thinking she disliked her best friend of eight years, “it’s just that she has a very specific kind of person in mind and really there’s no hope for anyone who tries to fill that position. They just end up sad and alone.” She shook her head sadly, feeling pleased when he started laughing again. Then he winked at her.

“Speaking from personal experience?” he asked, leaning in conspiratorially.

“Well of course,” Lily said, humouring him with a hushed tone, “why do you think I let her drag me around places? I’m the most sad and alone of all her friends.”

“Well then.” He said, suddenly very stern, “We shall have to ensure we pull you out of this awful place. How often do you think you will be able to get away from her?” he asked, his quick turnaround to a formal tone making Lily laugh again.

“Quite often, I’m not actually staying with her.” she told him.

“Oh?” He asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. Lily noticed that he did it smoothly, even though it was something she had decided long ago was a talent for only the most suave of people, and not for flip-flop wearing ordinary folk.

“Yeah, I’m actually technically working this summer.”

“Working?” he asked, pulling his face into a disgusted expression, “In summer? Whatever is this nonsense?”
Lily laughed before answering, “Well, it’s not going to be that bad I suppose. I’m meant to be working for the Potters, sort of like an au-pair. Well,” she added quickly, “they said nanny, but I have a high opinion of myself.” She grinned at him.

He snorted softly and shook his head. “So you’re staying with the Potters? All the way out there?” he seemed genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, it’s actually really nice” she said, trying not to sound too defensive. She definitely hadn’t been here long enough to be defensive about it.

“Well yes of course,” he said politely, “but it’s just so far away.” He groaned, rolling his eyes. Lily laughed the second she realised he wasn’t about to start insulting her hosts. “These posh-oes” he added, “they all want the big house by the sea, but nobody wants to be near the people who actually live here.”

“They’re not all like that surely?” Lily asked.

“No, of course not, I’m exaggerating, oh that’s me!” his face split into the widest grin Lily had seen yet as he span toward the counter. He picked up the carrier bag and then turned back to Lily, “it’s just that with them only being here for a few months in the summer they’re not really members of the community, that’s all, so all we locals,” he cringed at the word ‘locals’, “sorry, awful word, all we really know about them is that they’re rich and have summer holidays. It’s not the best situation for happy neighbour relationships, you know?” he said as Lily picked up her own food, wrapped in paper and polystyrene.

“Yeah I guess.” She said pensively, and then added, glancing sideways at him, “I suppose it doesn’t help relationships when one of the summer folk snog you and leave you.”

He turned from the window he was looking out at to look at her with a pleasantly surprised expression on his face.

“My, my Lily, haven’t we got friendly.” He shook his head in amazement.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She grinned at him as they both headed out of the shop.

“Yeah, well,” he replied, his tone teasingly indignant, “You know-“

But he was cut off before he could finish his sentence by another tall boy with ginger hair running into him from behind.

“Come on Fabe, we’re dying out here!” he cried, messing up his hair. Fabian screwed his face up until the boy stopped.

“Sorry Lily, this is my stupid brother Gideon.” He said dryly, his grin coming out flat at the edges.

Gideon, who apparently hadn’t noticed Lily turned to her and grinned. It must be a family trait, she decided.

“Hello there, nice to meet you.” He greeted her enthusiastically and went to take her hand, but seeing that it was holding down a parcel of chips he just patted the back of it instead.

“Uh, hi, nice to meet you too.” Lily laughed.

The two boys were clearly twins with their button noses and matching grins, but the difference in their demeanours was comical. While Fabian’s grin was large and friendly, and his attitude comfortable and unassuming while Gideon’s grin was almost manic and he seemed completely unsatisfied with standing still. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet and swung his arms by his side and seemed to be tapping his teeth together while he was smiling.

“She’s a friend of Marley’s.” Fabian added, less enthusiastically, and then looked at Lily in a self-aware-sitcom sort of way as Gideon’s grin became open mouthed and he quite literally laughed in his brother’s face.

Lily joined in with Gideon’s laughter and nodded when he turned to her with an inquisitive grin.

“Ha! And have you teased him sufficiently, Lily?” he asked her, raising his eyebrows.

Fabian groaned, “She doesn’t have to Gid, I think you’ve done it enough for the whole world.” He shook his head miserably. His grin was so seriously diminished Lily felt that she really had to step in and save in.

“It’s not that bad really.” She said. Both boys looked at her with the same expression of comical disbelief. “Well it’s not! It’s only Marley.” When their expressions didn’t change she laughed and shook her head, “She hates awkward situations, she won’t let it be awkward for long. She’ll probably start making jokes about it the second she sees you.”

Fabian snorted, “But she didn’t! She came over and said ‘hi’ and it was awkward and then she pretty much ran away.” He exclaimed.

“Oh well then you’re pretty much screwed.” Lily said apologetically, as Gideon laughed again. She reached over and patted Fabian on the arm awkwardly, trying not to spill her hot load over him, “Welcome to the sad and alone club.”

Fabian just groaned again.

“As lovely as it is to find a fellow mocker,” Gideon said, nodding at Lily, “we do need to get going. They’re dying of starvation over there!” he said dramatically waving his hands in the direction of a small red-headed family, the same one from the beach, only the three children were now sitting sedately at the bottom of the steps leading down to the beach, just under the shade of a large umbrella that a tall man was fiddling with.

“Alright,” Fabian nodded at his brother who took this as a cue to grab the plastic bag of food and run back at full speed to his sister and her family, “It was nice meeting you Lily.” Fabian grinned in farewell.

“And you. I’ll tell Marlene you say hi!” she said before turning away, just catching the beginning of another groan.

She found Marlene still sitting in her deck chair, staring out at the sea.

“Do you think jelly-fish just want to be loved?”

Lily didn’t even think about that one before flopping down beside Marlene, “Yes. All hearts desire love.”

“Even jelly-fish hearts?” Marlene asked curiously, accepting the food parcel that was handed to her.

“Of course.” Lily nodded. “Even jelly-fish hearts. Even ex-boyfriend hearts too.” She added casually, picking up her chip butty and taking a massive bite out of it.

“Sorry?” Marlene frowned at her.

Lily pointed to her mouth and chewed for a few seconds before getting out, “I met Fabian in the chippy.”

“Oh.” Marlene nodded and turned back to her chips.

Lily looked at her. She seemed relatively unperturbed by the news. “So it’s not going to be awkward then? With you and him I mean.” Lily asked, thinking of Fabian’s red face at the mention of Marlene’s name.

Marlene turned to look at her grinning, “What with Fabe? Nah, don’t be daft. Why?” she suddenly turned suspicious, “have you set him in your sights?”

Lily spluttered on her chip, “Wha- in my sights?” she repeated, “What are you on about? He’s not a deer!”

Marlene just shook her head at Lily’s indignation. “And that is why you are a sad little virgin Lily dear.” She smiled as she looked at her.

“Hey!” Lily said, the indignant tone coming out again.

“What?” Marlene looked up, concerned.

“I am not sad, nor am I ‘little’ thank you very much!” Lily cried, her tone firm but her face split by a grin. When Marlene laughed she threw a crust at her.

“Little Lily. Sad Little Lily.” Marlene laughed. Lily threw more crusts.

They stayed on the beach, half swallowed by deck chairs until well after they had finished their lunch. By three o clock Marlene was looking to convince Lily to go home with her for dinner and by four o clock she had succeeded. They pulled themselves up at about half five, with Marlene trying to push Lily down for comic effect, and then ambled up to Marlene’s parents’ house. Both Sharon and Dylan McKinnon were there and it was about two hours of catching up before they made any kind of move to the kitchen, and so by the time Lily made a move to leave it was getting quite dark.

One of the reasons Lily had always gotten on so well with Marlene’s parents was that they were both very interested in their daughters’ lives, something which Lily loved to indulge and watch Marlene squirm over. Another reason, however, was that they treated Lily like she was just another of their children, and when you’re nearly three hundred miles away from home, having parent-figures about is incredibly comforting. So, when she said she would be walking back, both of them had protested loudly, with Marlene’s dad jumping up to get the car keys and Marlene’s mum pressing Lily to the sofa with offers of another cup of tea.

By the time Lily got back to James’ house, the front of the house was dark. She told a quick lie to Mr. McKinnon about having a key so as not to keep him out too late and then snuck around the back once the break-lights on his car had disappeared down the driveway. It was a testament to Lily’s luck that Remus was still awake, and a downright miracle that he had forgotten to shut his balcony doors. Through them, and the curtains being blown away from them by the night air, Lily could see a little of the commotion that she could clearly hear. All four boys seemed to be in Remus room, messing about before bed, she presumed.

She took a deep breath before calling up to them, “Hey! Hey you lot!”

The noise from the bedroom died down slightly, but nobody came to the window, so Lily winced and screwed up her eyes and shouted again, “Hey, it’s me Lily. Outside. I need you to let me in.”

She opened her eyes to Remus’ head poking through the doors. She grimaced up at him as he looked down at her.

“You know, traditional courtship demands you throw rocks at my window, not shout at me.” His tone was sarcastic, but Lily could see even from the ground that he was smiling.

“I’m sorry,” she shrugged and held up her hands, “There’s only so many ways a girl can get a boys attention these days.”

He gave a laugh and then asked mock-scornfully, “And this is the best one?”

She grimaced apologetically, “I didn’t want to ring and wake anyone.”

“So you shouted instead?” It was more the logic than the disbelief in his voice that made her feel ridiculous.

“Yes.” She grumbled, “I saw your light was on. Can you let me in please?” she asked impatiently

“Don’t you have a key?” he asked, clearly not understanding that night, even in the summer, is not a warm time.

“Yes I do I just really wanted to do an updated version of Romeo and Juliet.” She called up sarcastically, “‘Remus, oh Remus, wherefore art though Remus, if I were but a key in your hand as you opened the door to your beloved Lily flower.’” She fell to one knee and held her arms in the air to him.

He laughed and shook his head “I don’t think that’s quite right, you know.”

“Well there’s not much about Romeo and Juliet that is to be honest.” She shrugged as she stood up again, “Now could you open the door for me please?” she whined.

“James went down about a minute ago.” He answered grinning wickedly.

She let out a groan of exasperation “Argh! And you couldn’t have said? Good grief.” She shook her head.

“Sorry.” He called as she turned away and walked towards the back door where she could see clearly now James was standing waiting for her.

He stepped back as she came in and wiped her feet on the mat.

“Are you alright Lily? You’ve been gone all day.” He asked, clearly concerned.

She smiled at him, “Yeah I’m fine, I’m sorry, I just, um, I was down the beach with Marl and then went back to hers for tea and lost track of time. I’m really sorry.” She said quickly.

She only now thought that maybe he had had some things that he needed to say to her, what with him technically being her employer and his brother and sister arriving tomorrow, but instead she had run off to the beach. It wasn’t the best impression she could have made. But he didn’t seem to have anything to say about that.

“Oh, okay. I was just a bit worried that’s all.” He muttered, not looking at her.

She grabbed his arm as he moved to go back upstairs, and he looked up at her. “I really am sorry,” she said, biting her lip, “I didn’t mean to be gone the whole day and to worry you, and I don’t know if there’s anything you needed me to do, but I didn’t do that either so I just-“ she cut herself off and took a deep breath, “I’m sorry is what that babble was. Sorry.” She said again.

He nodded and gave her a small smile.

“It’s fine, I was just really worried.”

“Not worried enough to call?” She pulled her phone from her pocket and saw that there were still no messages.

“Well, I thought you might be doing something important.” He muttered.

“So you were worried I was doing something important?” she could feel a smile growing on her face as a blush was growing on his.

“No, I wasn’t sure- I mean, you might have been- I didn’t know what you were doing, but I was worried that maybe you had made a friend or something and then gotten lost or-” he stopped and looked up from his feet and straight at her. “I didn’t really know what I thought. I’m sorry, next time I’m worried, I’ll ring you.” He said.

She gave him a small smile and nodded, “Thanks. And thanks for worrying,” she added, “It’s nice to be cared about.”

He nodded and smiled back and then turned away. She followed him out of the kitchen, but on the way her foot crunched something into the floor. She looked down and saw the dishes from breakfast still sitting where the boys had knocked them to the ground.

“What the-” she exclaimed, stepping away quickly.

James stopped and turned back to her. “Oh yeah, we couldn’t agree who should clean it up so none of us did it.” He said casually, running a hand through his hair.

Lily just looked at him, frowning in confusion.

“What?” he asked.

“Boys.” She said breathily, shaking her head.

He grinned, “Yeah, but we’re nothing compared to Alice and Jonathon.”

“You’re not?” Lily asked worriedly. For the first time she was thinking about the children she would be looking after.

“Oh no, they’re much worse. Think me and Sirius, but ten years younger and hyped up on sugar.” He winked, and then seeing her expression laughed.

“Oh no.” Lily groaned.

“But don’t worry,” James stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, “they don’t get here until tomorrow. That’s a whole twelve hours away.” He reassured her.

She just looked at him and groaned.

Chapter Text

Hello! Sorry it’s been a bit of a while since the last chapter, but to be fair I did (for reasons I’m not totally sure on) double the chapter word count in the last chapter and so now I don’t feel totally comfortable giving you anything less than 6000 words. So there’s that.

Thank you for reading and thank you for reviewing, it’s so cool that there’s real live humans reading this. I hope you enjoy!

x

Chapter 7

Lily’s breakfast the next day was a much quieter affair than that of the day before. She came downstairs at about seven, finding the kitchen in double-quick time and sighed deeply before cleaning up the mess that was still sitting on the floor.

She ate alone in the kitchen, with her eyes fixed on the sea. It took about an hour before the others stirred, in the quietest hours of the morning when the sky was still deciding what colour it wanted to be. It was barely eight by the time she had finished, so she treaded back through the house to fetch her shoes and slipped out the back door and down to the beach. She made sure to slip her phone into her pocket too, not wanting to meet an irate James on her return.

The sand was cold and the water colder, but she still stood there at the water’s edge letting the waves lap at her toes. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was so fascinated with the sea, but she put it down to her being a city girl, unfamiliar with being so intimate with the uncontrolled and uncontrollable water.

The sun had risen properly by the time her phone rang, and the sky had settled into a startling sapphire blue. It was James ringing, she saw as she pulled her phone from the pocket of her hoodie, probably concerned for her whereabouts once again. She smiled as she answered the phone.

“Hey, don’t worry I haven’t gotten lost, I’m just down on the little beach.” She said, turning away from the water and walking back to where she had left her shoes.

His voice was calmer than she expected when he answered, “Yeah, I know I can see you.”

She looked up and squinted at a figure standing at the top of the cliff. The figure waved and she waved back.

“Oh yeah. Hello.” She smiled, even though he probably couldn’t see the details of her face from where he was.

“Hi.” He said, and she was sure from the tone of his voice that he was smiling too.

“Are you going to come down and join me or am I about to be told off for wandering?” she asked, swinging her shoes in her hand as she squinted up at him. The sun was behind him so she couldn’t make out anything but his silhouette, but she saw him shake his head.

“No, neither actually. I need you to come up so I can talk to you about Alice and Jon.”

Lily nodded and then remembered that physical indicators didn’t work that well on the phone.

“Of course, give me five minutes.”

“Why?” he asked, sounding bewildered, “You’re right there.”

“Because that path is dead steep. It takes me about thirty seconds to get down and about five minutes to climb back up. Really there should be some sort of pulley system so no-one has to kill themselves to get back to high ground. Eugh.” She made a noise of disgust as she wiped her feet on the tough grass before stuffing them into her shoes, still covered in a fair amount of sand. She heard James laughing from the other end, but she was now focusing more on not falling back as she scrabbled her way up a sand dune and onto the thin sandy path. She hung up the phone and shoved it into her bra so it wouldn’t fall out of her baggy pocket.

“Don’t fall.” James shouted down unhelpfully as his head slowly came into view at the end of the path.

Lily sighed loudly, “Thanks, but I think I’d rather if you gave me something more helpful than pathetic advice.” She called up to him, huffing and puffing.

“Like what?” he asked curiously as she finally reached the top and came to stand next to him.

“Like a hand you moron.” She answered sardonically. “Don’t shout at me not to fall, when falling is clearly not a desirable option. Give me a hand instead!” She was sounding a little bit outraged, but she couldn’t stop her face breaking into a smile.

He smiled back at her and then held out his hand to her.

Her smile dropped slightly and she rolled her eyes again. She gave him a low-five and he gave a laugh and then they turned to walk back to the house.

The other three boys were sitting outside by the pool on sun loungers with drinks and a large plate of pancakes sitting on a table between them.

“You don’t do anything by halves do you?” Lily frowned at the tottering pile of pancakes. It could easily have fed about ten people.

“Nah, not our style.” Sirius smirked, leaning back with his hand behind his head.

“Pancake?” James asked enthusiastically, thrusting the plate under her nose as she sat down between Peter and James.

Lily shook her head and smiled at him, “I’ve already eaten.”

“Right.” He said, surprise showing in his eyebrows raising slightly and the corners of his smile dropping. He placed the plate back on the glass table carefully and then leant back and ran a hand through his hair.

“So you wanted to talk to me?” Lily turned away from the other and looked at James, and when he looked at her a little blankly she added, “About your brother and sister.”

“Oh yeah, right, sorry.” He gave a little cough and then turned to her with a more serious expression. The sudden change of mood made Lily laugh. James’ lips twitched and he pulled a face.

“Hey, this isn’t going to work if you can’t take me seriously.” He pouted. Lily laughed again as he stuck his bottom lip out and then squeezed her lips together when he frowned.

“Yes, of course. I’m very sorry Mr. Potter.” She said sternly.

He gave a snort, “I see what you mean. It is ridiculous. Anyway,” he took a deep breath and looked at her finally with some sincerity, “The little ones arrive into Penzance from Paddington just after five.”

“Right.” Lily nodded, then frowned, “On their own?”

“Yeah,” James said casually, and then seeing Lily’s look of concern explained, “It’s a direct train from London and Mum and Dad saw them off so all they had to do was just stay on the train until they got here. They both have their phones in case anything happens though, it’s all fine.”

She nodded and relaxed slightly, now that she no longer had images of little children wandering around the countryside running through her mind.

“Okay, so what exactly are we going to do all summer? I mean, there’s only so much you can do around here.” At Lily’s words James gave a snort and a sardonic grin.

“Yeah, there’s really nothing to do here, it’s pretty rubbish.” The bitterness of his tone surprised Lily who frowned but didn’t say anything, just listened as he continued speaking, “But whatever the two of them want to do you can do. Mum and Dad are pretty relaxed about what we get up to.”

“Wait, anything? Like completely anything at all?” Lily asked, slightly excited by the idea of such freedom. Heaven knew she had never had that sort of thing when she was their age.

“Yeah, well within reason. Don’t leave the country or anything.” James laughed.

Lily smiled, “Is there anything particular they want to do, do you know?” she asked, hoping he would be able to give her some sort of an idea for what to do with them.

He frowned for a minute, and then said, “I think Jon will probably want to play football or something at some point but I haven’t a clue what Alice will want to do. She’s a girl. She’s not that into messing about like Jon is.” He shrugged and reached for a pancake which he folded and shoved in his mouth.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Right, so what you’re really saying is just to wing it.”

James nodded and chewed. “ee ull ee easy.” He said through his mouthful of food.

“Why did you hire me if this is going to be so easy?” Lily asked, ignoring the slight spattering of food that landed on his lap, not skipping a beat being well used to the language of the full mouth. Marlene too was a chatty eater.

“Because I have to look after this lot.” He said simply nodding his head towards the other three who now seemed to be having a burping competition.

Lily wrinkled her nose and nodded, “And you lot clearly aren’t capable of looking after anyone else.”

She had said it seriously but James still laughed. “Something like that.” he agreed, and then added, “They both object to having a nanny though. They think they’re too old for it.” He explained when Lily looked at him quizzically.

“How old are they?” she asked, pulling her knees up onto the sun-lounger and crossing her legs.

“Jon’s fourteen and Alice is eleven, so they do technically need adult supervision, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell them that.” he grinned, clearly proud of his little siblings for being so rebellious.

“And you lot don’t count as adults.” Lily smirked, raising her eyebrows.

“And the some of us do count as adults have to run around those of us who don’t.” James said, his face showing how unfunny he found that, but that didn’t stop Lily laughing at him anyway.

He shook his head, barely stopping short of pursing his lips at her as she giggled.

“So I’m not the only nanny in the house then.” She laughed, and James shook his head smiling.

“Yeah, we should probably have nanny meetings or something.” He said cheekily, grinning.

Lily chuckled, “More like a nightly drinking session, I’ll bring the gin” She said dryly, “Especially if you’ve spent the day shepherding them about.” She grinned as James nodded his head seriously.

“Yes, you’re right, although we might need something stronger than gin. Maybe two gins.” He suggested, with a deadpan face.

Lily started laughing again and he joined her after a couple of seconds.

“I don’t even drink.” She said still laughing.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that!” he said, leaning back and raising a hand, half folded into a pointed finger.

“Yeah, I’m the dull one.” Lily said, smiling a little embarrassedly.

“No, it’s not dull, it’s incredibly wise.” James said in a tone that suggested he was impressed, but the fact that he was smirking made Lily think he wasn’t in the least.

She glared at him softly, and muttered, “Shut up.”

“No, seriously, I’m sure being sober is a great thing when everyone around you is upchucking.” He laughed loudly as she groaned and put a hand to her head.

“Oh yeah, I love being the permanent designated driver!” she groaned again and shook her head. “The number of times I have had Marlene call me at two in the morning because she can’t remember how to get home is beyond a joke at this point.”

“Not the most considerate of friends is she?” James asked dryly. Clearly he had also experienced Marlene’s arm-twisting.

Lily snorted, “Nah, she’s alright. She’s just over zealous about things, she’s harmless really.”

“Yeah, true. But she’s dead annoying.” He seemed unable to resist adding the last bit. Lily laughed again.

“Okay,” Lily said straightening up, her laughter dying down, “So the gist of what I need to know is that your brother and sister do not want me here and that they can do whatever they want, right?” she looked at James expectantly who pressed his lips together and nodded. Lily shook her head again smiling, “Right, so if that’s all, does that mean I have the rest of the day free?” she asked hopefully.

James looked a little taken aback. He blinked at her and then stuttered out, “Oh, yeah – um, yeah of course – I mean, you have to be back before them, but yeah, you – you’re free.” He finished with a nod.

Lily smiled wider and nodded back at him, “Great. So what are you lot up to today?”

The second question was not any more expected than the first one. “Oh we - um – we were – I don’t – we haven’t discussed it yet.” He said lamely, shrugging.

Lily nodded, “Okay, well you have fun with that. I’m going to meet Marlene down in the village. I’ll make a point of being back by four?” she asked and he nodded so she continued, “Do you think you’ll need a hand with dinner?”

Once again James was confounded by one of Lily’s questions. “Um, we haven’t thought that far ahead, I don’t think.” He mumbled going a bit red.

“Okay,” Lily said slowly, “Do you want me to pick something up for dinner?” she asked, smiling as he nodded his head quickly and looked utterly relieved. “Okay, I’ll grab chips or something. I can put them in the oven to keep warm for when you all get back or something.”

He nodded dumbly again so she presumed it was okay. She smiled again and stood up.

“Okay, well I’ll see you all later then.” She said, nodding at the other boys as she walked passed them on her way into the house to get her things.

She emerged a few minutes later with her bag and said another goodbye before heading down the footpath, trying to keep her eyes on where she was going, but unable to draw them too far away from the rolling mass to her right.

When Lily arrived at the end of the footpath, at the top of a steep street leading down towards the main street of the village, she took a second to take in the view. It really was very strange for her to see such a small place. It was by far the smallest place she had ever been to. The only comparison she could think to make was the town her grandparents lived in Northern Ireland, Ballycastle, which had a population of only five thousand people and hardly any major chain shops. Petunia had always hated visited Nanna and Bampa McCollum.

Lily was sure her sister would hate this place even more, with its independently owned supermarket and lack of cinema or shopping centre. But Lily was quickly deciding that she loved it. It was the sort of place where you knew your neighbours, not just because you were nice enough to want to but because your families had lived there forever so of course you know your neighbours. She understood completely why Marlene had been so unhappy moving all the way to Manchester. They were two different worlds. Although, Lily thought as her eye was caught by a figure on the promenade, there were some similarities.

Marlene was clearing visible running full pelt across the paved stones, moving so fast that Lily wasn’t sure she wasn’t passing straight through the people moving quickly out of her way. Her brown leather bag was banging against her hip and her jacket was once again handing off her arms. Lily watched as Marlene came to a skidding stop outside the phone booth outside the post office. She nearly threw herself inside and a moment later Lily felt her phone buzz. She pulled it out frowning.

“Something happen to your mobile Marl?” Lily asked without any introduction.

“Lily!” Marlene panting on the other of the phone completely ignored what her friend said and instead rushed out in one long breath; “MrsRogersaskedmetodirecttheconcert!”

Lily took a second to see if she could figure out what her friend was on about. When it became clear that she was never going to make sense of that mess she said, “Didn’t quite catch that Marl.”

She heard Marlene sigh loudly on the other end before saying very condescendingly said, “Mrs Rogers asked me to direct the concert.”

After a second Lily shook her head and said, “No, that still means nothing to me, Marl.”

Another sigh from Marlene. “Where are you? This is going to cost me a lot of money if you’re going to be this slow.”

Lily gave an indignant laugh, “I’m not being slow Marl, you’re being obtuse! But I’m coming now, I’m up on the hill. I’ll be two minutes.” She hung up before Marlene could sigh at her again and started walking down towards her friend.

When she reached the promenade Marlene was no longer anywhere in sight. She stood at the end, casting her eyes around searching for an energetic brunette in amongst the contented tourists. What she found instead was two ginger heads bobbing about just above the wall to her right. She took a few steps over to the walk and looked down. Beneath the wall were two lanky young men who Lily had recently become acquainted, one of each side of her current best friend. Gideon and Fabian, it appeared, had taken it upon themselves to protect the people of Porthead from the insanity that was Marlene McKinnon.

From up on the wall in what just happened to be the perfect position to watch the spectacle, Lily could both see and hear perfectly what was happening. She leant forward and rested her elbows on the wall as she watched.

“Oh, no, you two- Argh! – no! Oh Come on! Guys!” Marlene was grunting as she tried to wriggle out of the arms of the two boys.

“Marlene, you really should know better.” Gideon was saying with a grin and a shake of his head.

“Yeah, I mean causing havoc up there like that, there has to be consequences.” Fabian said, grinning like his brother and neatly dodging an elbow in the ribs.

“Oh, so it’s up to you two oafs to provide appropriate consequences, is it?” Marlene asked haltingly and bitterly, still struggling.

“No, but we felt that as dutiful citizens of this here fine village we couldn’t let you going round scaring people.” Gideon said with a sardonic tone and, still grinning, gave a wink to his brother who nodded back.

“Well of course we did, Gid, we’re fine upstanding gentlemen.” Fabian agreed, grinning.

“And as fine upstanding gentleman we have to fulfil our duty of keeping the peace.” Gideon continued.

Marlene groaned, “Are you two going to do your stupid twin thing all the time? It gives me a headache.” She had stopped struggling now and was hanging limply between them.

The twins grinned identical grins at each other and in unison dropped Marlene’s arms so suddenly she took a step back and promptly fell over. And then the boys spoke.

“But.” Gideon said lifting his shoulders and then freezing as Fabian spoke.

“Of.” Fabian nodded solemnly.

“Course.” They said in unison. Gideon unfroze so that they could nod together and each hold a hand out to Marlene. The routine happening so quickly it could have been one person speaking.

Marlene groaned again before grabbing both of their hands and letting them pull her up off the sand. “I hate you two.” She grumbled.

“Well that’s lovely, but that doesn’t solve the puzzle of why you were behaving like a lunatic.” Gideon said, giving Marlene an inquiring look. She looked from him to Fabian who was wearing a look exactly the same. Clearly unnerved she took a step back.

“I was trying to find Lily.”

Lily snorted, but none of the players in the drama on the sand noticed.

“Why couldn’t you have done that at a normal, human speed?” Fabian asked, and Lily couldn’t help noticing that his exasperation was quite affectionate. Marlene, on the other hand didn’t seem to notice anything since she just rolled her eyes and scowled.

“Well, it should be much easier now anyway, since you are so much calmer and reasonable than you were five minutes ago.” Gideon said happily, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“It wasn’t that hard to do in the first place,” Lily called down, making the three of them jump and swirl their heads up to look at her, “It’s just that she’s such a lunatic she was too impatient to wait.”

“Lily!” Marlene cried gleefully, “You found me!”

Lily laughed as Marlene beamed up at her, “Of course I did. It wasn’t hard,” she added ruefully, “I could see you running about from up the hill.” At this the twins turned and looked at each other proudly. “What’s wrong with using your phone instead of your Tasmanian devil powers?” Lily asked, laughing as Marlene gave filthy looks at the boys.

“I forgot it.” She moaned loudly, “I walked out the door with it on charge and didn’t think I’d need it that badly. It’s only Porthead, there’s not much potential for news worthy events here, well,” she added, rolling her eyes, “not usually anyway.”

“You forgot it?” Lily repeated, ignoring for the moment the rest of what Marlene had said.

“I was having a moment.” Marlene said flatly, putting her hands on her hips and pursing her lips.

“I bet you were.” Lily muttered. The boys both snorted with laughter.

“Hey!” Marlene cried, outraged, “I’ve already been attacked by these two, I don’t a verbal attack from you too!” Her sad face made Lily simultaneously feel bad and want to laugh again.

“Sorry.” Lily called, holding a hand up.

“Good.” Marlene huffed, folding her arms.

“So why were you rampaging to find me?” Lily asked, sitting on the wall and swinging her legs over to dangle beside Marlene and the boys.

“I had to tell you something.” Marlene said calmly.

“What?” Lily asked, tapping her heels against the wall.

“Come down and I’ll tell you.” Marlene said stubbornly.

“Tell me and I’ll come down.” Lily answered cheekily, grinning.

“Don’t be silly now Lily.” Marlene said smirking.

“I’m not being silly, you’re being silly.” Lily answered childishly.

“Well you’re-“ Marlene began, but she was cut off by Lily’s yelp as she was suddenly dragged down onto the beach by a pair of miscreants.

The two boys had each grabbed a leg and tugged Lily off the wall, and as she had fallen Fabian had stepped under her and caught her before she hit the sand, with Gideon stepping up behind her in front of the wall so she wouldn’t hit her head. It was so practised Lily thought this must have been something they did often. It was most likely how they had ensnared Marlene, at least Lily thought, from the way that Marlene had whooped and was laughing loudly.

“Hey!” Lily said loudly at Fabian who was still cradling her.

“Hey there.” He answered, grinning at her.

“No, not hi,” she said indignantly, “Hey!” She said firmly, glaring at him.

He laughed and she whacked him on the arm. He acted as if she hadn’t done anything and kept laughing. She could hear Gideon laughing behind her somewhere too.

“Would you be so kind as to put me down?” She asked dryly, trying her hardest not to purse her lips.

“Why of course!” he answered politely, gently setting her down on the sand.

She scowled at Marlene who was still grinning widely. “You can be quiet if you want.”

“I’m alright.” Marlene answered casually, then her face changed, so quickly and suddenly Lily thought she might have been struck by something, “Oh! You’re here!” She looked partly elated and partly worried.

“Yes, I’m here. Standing on my own two feet and everything.” She shot a glare at the two boys who were laughing at something together.

“This means I can tell you my thing!” Marlene said excitedly.

“A thing?” Lily asked warily.

“Oh a thing!” Gideon appeared at Lily’s shoulder.

Fabian’s head propped itself up on the other, “I love things! What’s the thing?” it asked.

Marlene didn’t seem put off by the floating heads and just continued as though this was a normal thing to happen, even though both of the boys were almost bent double to reach Lily’s shoulder.

“Mrs Rogers, the local dance slash music slash acting teacher is ill!” she began gleefully. Lily was quite disturbed by how happy Marlene was at someone being unwell.

“That’s dreadful.” She said sympathetically. The floating heads nodded in agreement, pulling exaggeratedly unhappy faces.

“No, it’s not, she’ll be fine, it’s just that she’s old so she needs a break. The good thing about this,” she took a deep breath before continuing. Lily hoped it was good, there weren’t, as far as she knew, many good things about an old lady being ill, “Is that she needs someone to direct the summer concert that she puts on at the end of the summer every year without fail. Her being ill isn’t going to stand in anyone’s way of the summer concert. I’m pretty sure the show would go on even if she died.” She added thoughtfully, “But anyway, she’s ill so she asked me to direct it!” Marlene finished with a massive beaming smile.

Lily nodded and smiled, “That’s great Marl.” The heads nodded again.

“You don’t seem enthused.” Marlene said a little sourly.

The heads turned to look at Lily’s face. She tried not to laugh as she answered, “I am I just suppose I don’t really get how big a deal it is.”

“Eugh. Tourists.” Marlene shook her head and tutted. Both of the heads tutted as well.

“It’s a big deal.” Fabian whispered to Lily.

“It’s a huge deal.” Gideon whispered, agreeing with his brother.

“It’s the biggest deal there has ever been in this village.” Fabian’s breath tickled Lily’s ear as he spoke.

She grinned grimly at Marlene as Gideon spoke again too, but in a louder voice than his brother “It’s the biggest deal there has ever been on this planet.”

“That’s true.” Marlene said, nodding sagely as if the comment hadn’t come from an adolescent boy leaning his head on someone’s shoulder to pretend it was floating.

Lily started shaking with silent giggles and she felt the boys’ heads nodding on her shoulders and saw Marlene’s seriously nodding.

“It’s not a laughing matter Lily!” Marlene cried, “It’s going to be incredibly stressful and I could do with your support actually.” She folded her arms.

Lily nodded, through her giggles, and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the heads again.

“Not funny Lily.” Fabian grumbled.

“Ssso ssstresssful.” Hissed Gideon.

Lily burst out laughing, shaking so much the boys had to stand up. Her shoulders were no longer a stable surface.

“I- I’m sorry Marl!” she hiccupped, “I will t-totally s-s-support you.” She nodded, stuttering through her laughter.

Marlene laughed and shook her head. “Well I should hope so too. How would it look if my music director didn’t support me?” 

“What? No, I am not doing that.” Lily laughed, a little incredulously.

“Oh come on!” Marlene whined, “You have to!”

“No I don’t.” Lily argued, folding her arms and clenching her jaw.

“Lily!” Marlene whined again, but Lily just shook her head.

“No. absolutely not.”

Marlene groaned.

“Are you musical then?” Fabian’s pleasantly asked question was so out of place with Lily and Marlene’s pouting match that Lily didn’t understand it for a second.

“Wha- oh yeah, I play a couple of instruments.” She said, letting her arms drop to her side.

“And it’s one of her degrees.” Marlene nodded proudly.

“It’s not one of them, it’s a combined honours. I’m only doing one degree, Marl.” Lily responded, clenching her jaw again, frowning at her friend.

“Yeah, exactly, so you’re really good at it and this will totally count as extra experience. Wouldn’t it help for that internship thingy you want?” Marlene asked, knowingly.

Lily rolled her eyes, “Not even a little bit. Now stop trying to talk me into it, I’m not doing it. I can’t anyway,” she added, when Marlene’s face dropped to a truly sad expression, “Jon and Alice are getting here this afternoon.”

That tidbit of information took Marlene by surprise, “They are?” she asked, raising her eyebrows, “What time?”

“They’re into Penzance at five.” Lily answered, feeling suddenly self-conscious without understanding why.

“Oh.” Marlene looked down for a second before looking up again, “Maybe you could get them to be in it?” she suggested hopefully.

Lily groaned and Fabian gave a laugh.

“Personally we’re offended that you didn’t ask us to co-musically direct Marley.” Gideon said loudly, with an exaggerated expression of outrage on his face. Fabian’s face changed immediately from laughter to a matching expression.

“Yes, we’re very hurt.”

Lily laughed and Marlene rolled her eyes, “I was going to ask you two to be in the band, don’t worry I hadn’t forgotten your windy talents.”

Gideon stuck out his bottom lip and nodded his head appreciatively and Fabian grinned widely and said, “Oh great!” happily.

Marlene shook her head at Lily, half trying not to smile.

Lily smiled at her, “Well at least you won’t be completely alone.”

“Oh hush up you.” Marlene grumbled, “Come on, let’s go for an amble to the rock pools.” She reached forward and grabbed Lily’s arm. Lily let herself be dragged and after a few steps she turned and waved to the two boys who were still standing where they had been left.

“Bye you two! See you soon! Don’t drag anyone else off any walls!” She hollered at them as Marlene pulled her off at a pace that was definitely faster than an amble.

They pretty much ran across the beach to the rock pools and then scampered across them to reach a little cave which was completely out of sight of the beach. It was quite dark and most of the rocks were covered in slimy moss, but Marlene clambered inside and sat herself down on a rock that was not too damp. Lily gingerly followed her, dodging drips from the cave ceiling and trying not to think about what her jeans would look like at the end of the day. The bottoms of them were still rolled up from her early morning paddle and there was a coating of sand and salt-water up to her knee. Now it seemed there would be a lovely coating of moss on her bum too. Wonderful.

“So how are you feeling about nannying?” Marlene asked when Lily had finally settled next to her.

“Fine I think.” Lily said, looking out at the children scavenging for crabs in the rock pools.

“Not nervous at all?” Marlene asked in such a way that Lily turned and frowned at her.

“Well I wasn’t before but now I think you’re trying to make me nervous.”

“I’m not trying to make you nervous, I just think you should be aware that these aren’t just any children you’re looking after, Lil, these are Potter children.” Marlene’s tone was so grandiose and mysterious Lily found it hard not to laugh.

“Okay,” she said smiling, “They’re Potter children. Why does that mean you have to describe them like an M&S advert?”

“Because,” Marlene said slowly and clearly as though speaking to someone who was a bit thick, “I knew James as a child and he has set the standard that all the Potter children are judged by, and if I’m being honest, they’re almost as bad as him.”

Lily laughed, “You make it sound as if James was a complete terror.”

“He was. In a good sort of way. You know, like pranks and mischief, not like violence or whatever.” Marlene said, waving her hand about vaguely.

“So he was a bit like us then.” Lily said. She thought she had seen a kindred spirit in him.


“Yeah!” Marlene cried, clearly pleased to have a comparison Lily would understand, “Only he was about as bad as we were at fifteen when he was about nine.”
Lily became a little more serious. “Did he peak at nine?” She asked hopefully.

Marlene laughed loudly, “Oh no, absolutely not. Even though I wasn’t there, I heard tales that his primary school mischief carried on. It got worse I should think, especially after he and Sirius became friends.”

Lily’s interest was caught by Marlene’s last sentence. “They met in comp? I thought they met at uni.”

“Oh no, they met, as they will tell in grand narrative style if you but ask, on the very first day of school on the bus from the train station to the school. They ended up sharing a dorm room and everything.”

“Wow.” Lily muttered, “It’s like a more destined version of us.”

Marlene grinned at her, “Nah, we’re soul-mates, they’re just partners in crime.”

Lily grinned back and then swung her arm up around Marlene’s shoulders.

“And as my soul-mate,” Lily began, running a hand through the patch of Marlene’s hair that she could reach, “Does that mean you will be helping me with the devil-children?”

Marlene snorted, “No. Absolutely not. They’re not that bad.” She added when Lily looked outraged, “I mean, they definitely have the Potter mischief gene, but you’re not short of genes like that yourself.” She said pointedly.

Lily grinned back at her. “That’s true. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, I grew up with Petunia, how much more trouble can they be?”

Marlene nodded and then laid her head on Lily’s shoulder, “That’s true, although Petunia was emotionally troubling and these two are children troubling, but yeah, it could be worse.”

Lily nodded slowly “Maybe we’ll just take lots of visits to Aunty Shazza, she can feed them up with cake and then they can sleep the days away.” She mused.

“I wouldn’t bother trying that, Mum wouldn’t be any help. She’s gone on a health craze and banned all forms of sugar from the house.” Marlene said miserably.

“Oh you poor thing. What is Sharon thinking?” Lily asked in only partly pretend horror, “I’ll have to make my own sleep-inducing cakes.” She paused for a few seconds in thought before starting to speak again, “Do you think-” but Marlene cut her off.

“You can’t drug children Lil, it’s not really good practise.”

Lily frowned, “Spoilsport.”

Marlene grinned. “You could always get them to take part in my summer performance.” She suggested with the most mischievous look on her face.

Lily looked at her and with a completely deadpan face said, “No, Marl, no.”

“Spoilsport.” Marlene muttered.

“What are you going to do for it?” Lily asked. She had no idea what the summer performance was about and so was intensely interested in the task that her friend had allowed to be placed on her shoulders.

“I have no bloody clue!” Marlene burst out, throwing her hands up, “The bloody woman has left me her notes which is a great help.” She muttered sarcastically.

Lily tried not to smile at her friend’s distress and instead asked, “What’s in them?”

“Class lists and a mind-map of ideas for themes for the performance.” Marlene said bitterly, scowling at the sky.

“Oh.” Lily said quietly, biting her lip.

“Yeah. I’m pretty much doing everything from scratch.” Marlene mumbled.

“I thought you were excited though?” Lily asked, pulling her arm away from Marlene’s shoulders so she could turn and look at her.

“I am.” Marlene began, and then stopped, biting her lip.

“But?” Lily raised her eyebrows.

“But it’s just going to be really hard.” Marlene admitted.

“Well, I can help some of the time when I’m free.” Lily offered, knowing it was nothing near what Marlene need from her right now.

“And when are you going to be free Lily?” Marlene asked irritably.

Lily shrugged, “Well I’m free right now.”

“Until when?” Marlene asked suspiciously.

“Until about four o clock. I said I’m bring tea back for when James returns with the children.” She explained.

Marlene nodded and narrowed her eyes in thought. She looked from Lily to the sea, not really looking at either of them. Then she jumped down off the rock they were sitting on.

“Come on then. Let’s go and be productive.” She held out a hand to Lily who sighed and slid down off the rock gingerly and came to stand on a rock nearby.

“So what are we doing then?” Lily asked happily, pleased that Marlene had thrown off her glumness so quickly.

“I don’t know, we need to make up a to-do list.” Marlene said thoughtfully as she began to pick her way across the rocks towards the beach which was no more crowded than it had been forty-five minutes ago.

“Okay, we can – ah! - do that once we reach – eugh - solid ground.” Lily said slowly and haltingly as she slipped about in an attempt to keep up with the pace Marlene had set.

“Yes, of course,” Marlene called, beaming. She now stood on the sand a few metres away and was watching Lily struggle with a smirk on her face, “but first I think we should have lunch.”

Lily looked up from the rocks beneath her feet to look at Marlene, “It’s eleven o’clock!” She cried.

“Yes I know,” Marlene said as Lily finally reached her, “and I’m starving. Come on.”

She grabbed Lily’s hand and started walking across the sand again, dragging Lily with her. Lily laughed and skipped for a few steps to catch up properly. She threaded her arm through Marlene’s as they headed towards the deck chairs they had positioned themselves on just yesterday, wondering if there had been enough time since breakfast for her to justify getting chips.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

“Right, so do you have any paper?” Marlene asked expectantly looking at Lily who was still stuffing chips into her mouth.

Even though it was still barely eleven, Lily had felt that she had done enough walking and clambering that morning to be allowed to have an early lunch, especially since Marlene had offered to pay. They had walked together to the chip shop and then back to the deck chairs where they were now situated and had made their way through their cones of salty potato goo     dness. Lily still had a few chips left but Marlene had emptied hers a few minutes ago by tipping the crumbs into her mouth.

“Well? Come on, Ginge, I don’t keep you around for your witty conversation. Paper? Pen?”  Marlene asked insistently.

Lily laughed through her food and shook her head. She swallowed and said, “You could use the polystyrene.”

“Yeah,” Marlene said doubtfully, “It’s a shame we weren’t hungrier really. If we had bigger portions we would have had paper. Ah well. We’ll remember next time.”

Lily nodded and smiled at Marlene’s ramblings, only half listening. She was searching through her bag with one hand for anything that could be used as paper. The only thing she really had was her phone and her purse, so it was a quick search.

“Isn’t there a shop nearby?” Lily asked.

“There is but it’s all the way up there.” Marlene waved a hand in the direction of the promenade and made a face.

Lily laughed. It had been hard enough getting into the deck chairs, it was always harder getting out and it didn’t really seem worth it to run to a shop that might or might not have pen and paper for sale.

“Do you have memo app on your phone?” Lily’s suggestion was probably the first sensible that had been said for quite some time. They were both struck by their own stupidity for a second and then they both grinned foolishly.

“I was about to go and get a shell to carve into the cone.” Marlene said simply, holding up her empty cone.

“We thought of using polystyrene carved with a shell before we thought about using our phones.” Lily said in the same simple tone Marlene had used.

“We’re idiots aren’t we?” Marlene asked.

Lily nodded, half smiling.

“Right. Well it’s a good thing nobody was here to witness that. Just you, me and the seagulls.” Marlene smiled up at the birds scavenging about the bay.     

Lily laughed, “Right, so what do you need to do then?” She asked, her phone ready in her hand.

Marlene took a deep breath and bared her teeth, thinking. It was a couple of seconds before she said, “I think I need to find someone willing to be a musical director, since you’re so adamant about not doing it?”

“Yes, that seems like a good start.” Lily said firmly, typing ‘MD’ into her phone’s memo pages, under the heading ‘M’s To-Do List’. “What about a theme? What ideas did Mrs Rogers have?” she asked, turning to look at Marlene who wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

“They were all really bad ones.” She said honestly, “Like, ‘A Day at the Seaside’ and ‘Under the Sea’. I wasn’t impressed by any of them to be honest.”

“Do they have to be related to the sea?” Lily asked, a crease appearing between her eyes as she looked thoughtful.

“Well, it’s technically a charity concert, so I think she wanted to tie it to the charity.” Marlene said promptly.

“What’s the charity?” Lily asked, hoping it wasn’t anything completely impossible like WaterAid or Cancer Research.

“Seafarers UK.” Marlene answered, looking as if there was a bad smell under her nose.

“What’s wrong with Seafarers?” Lily asked, grinning at the look on Marlene’s face.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that there’s nothing that directly links to it that isn’t completely naff.” She groaned, leaning her head back against the canvas of the deck chair.

Lily thought for another minute, looking out at the sea. “Does it have to link to the sea or could it be linked to Porthead?”

Marlene raised her head, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Lily began, speaking slowly so as to give Marlene a chance to cut her off if she was being ridiculous, “what if the concert is more about the people giving the money to the charity? I mean, there’s already a link with Seafearers since Porthead was once a port, and so why not do something that people will actually want to watch.”

“What, like ‘Porthead’s Got Talent’?” Marlene asked dubiously, wrinkling her nose again.

“No, nothing as bad as that,” Lily snorted, shaking her head, “Is it meant to be a play or a concert?” she asked.

“It’s more of a concert. We’d have to pay to get the rights to a play.” Marlene said, pursing her lips.

Lily smiled, “Okay, so nobody’s expecting a storyline or anything, just a common theme.”

“Yes Lily. That’s why we’re having this conversation to decide a theme.” Marlene said slowly and condescendingly.

Lily ignored Marlene’s tone and continued, “Why not make the theme something good but with a Porthead twist.”

Marlene considered it for a moment, frowning. “Like what? Under the Sea in Porthead?”

“No, I said something good.” Lily muttered.

“Well I don’t know, this is hard!” Marlene objected, glaring at Lily.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Lily said, “But why not something that makes it easier to use everyone involved?” she asked, starting to smile again.

Marlene still glared at her, “Don’t toy with me Lily, if you have an idea give it to me.”

Lily smiled, “Okay, well if you have to use actors and singers and dancers, why not do something to do with Musicals? And since nobody is expecting a storyline, you don’t have to do it fully, you could just do a few songs from a few musicals and so long as it’s done well it could be good.”

Marlene considered Lily’s idea for a minute, turning to look away from her friend to consider the waves on the beach and the few people playing in them.

“How about something like, ‘A Night of Musicals in Porthead’.” She mumbled when she finally looked back at Lily.

“Yeah!” Lily’s tone was at least twice as enthusiastic as Marlene’s. “You could choose a few musicals of different genres and pick out the best songs from them and that way it’s a bit different and it keeps it interesting for the whole night.”

Marlene’s head was bobbing as Lily spoke, the brain inside it whirring as the idea took hold.

“I could do completely different styles of dance for each one, like if I do Hairspray to begin and then move onto something like Cinderella it will completely mix it up and stop it being boring or expected.” Marlene stopped suddenly in her haze of ideas and excitement to slap Lily on the arm, making the other girl jump, and cry, “This is a really good idea Lily!”

Lily beamed at her. “And you’re clearly having so much fun with it already.” She laughed.

Marlene nodded, and then her face took on a sadder expression, “You have to help me with this Lil, please!”

Marlene’s wheedling made Lily’s heart twinge, especially since the idea had been hers, but she really didn’t want to commit to something she wasn’t sure could do. “I really don’t know I can Marl, I don’t want to get your hopes up and then pull out at the last moment.”

Marlene’s disappointment quickly slipped underneath another expression as she set her jaw, “Fine,” she declared, “You don’t have to commit to it if you really don’t think you can, but you do have to help me recruit other people.”

The gleam in Marlene’s eye really should have worried Lily, but she had seen it so many times by now it just made her nod in inevitable acceptance.

“Okay, but I don’t really know anyone other than Fabian and Gideon and you’ve already got them on board.” She warned as they tried to pull themselves up out of the deck chairs.

“Ah, Lily.” Marlene sighed, smiling sweetly at Lily, “Sweet naïve Lily. You’re kind and pretty and charming. That’s all I need.”

Lily frowned suspiciously at her friend. “So I’m going to charm strangers into helping you with this?”

Marlene nodded, “Yeah pretty much.”

Lily rolled her eyes and laughed. “Oh my days Marl.”

Marlene grinned. “Now come on! We have people to see!” she cried before once again grabbing Lily’s hand and pulling her across the sand.

The first person they went to see was someone Lily had already seen twice but not realised. Dorcas Meadows was a tall Asian girl with a red streak running through her hair who manned the counter at the Fish and Chip shop. She had a large friendly smile that spread even wider when she saw Lily and Marlene walk through the door. She seemed to relish the opportunity to talk to anyone, regardless of topic or amount of interest the other person had in the conversation. She and Marlene had had a seven minute conversation about fryer grease before Lily stepped on Marlene’s foot and gave her a look. Marlene jumped and then started with realisation.

“Oh! Yes of course, sorry.” She turned back to Dorcas, “Dor, this is Lily, Lily this is Dorcas Meadows. We were in primary school together. Mr Mayor’s class.” Marlene grinned at Dorcas who was smiling prettily at Lily.

“Hi.” Lily nodded politely at her.

“So Dor,” Marlene began, smiling at her with a smile that usually made Lily expect to be doing something uncomfortable very soon, “How’s the violin going?” Marlene asked, leaning forward to rest against the counter.

Dorcas perked up a little bit at the question and smiled even wider, “Oh it’s going well actually, I just passed my grade 8 theory last week.”

“Wow that’s really good!” Marlene said, even though Lily was certain she had no idea what that meant.

“Yeah, it was pretty difficult but Mrs Rogers helped loads with it.” She said nodding as she spoke.

Marlene’s eyebrows flicked up slightly and she cocked her head interestedly, “You know, it’s funny you should mention Mrs Rogers,” she began grinning, “Did you hear that she isn’t going to be directing her summer concert his year?”

“Oh I did!” Dorcas cried, her smile replaced by a look of concern, “It’s so sad! Mrs Rogers’ concerts are an institution, They can’t just stop!”

Marlene nodded sympathetically as Dorcas spoke and then let a small smile form on her face as she spoke, “Well actually, Mrs Rogers’ isn’t well enough to organise it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to go on.”

Lily thought Marlene was milking it a bit, but she had rarely seen her enjoy herself more, so she let her carry on.

Dorcas leant forward, her eyebrows raising and her eyes gleaming, “Oh? Who’s directing instead of her?”

“Well actually she asked me to do it.” Marlene said, mixing just the right amount of embarrassment in with pride in her voice.

“Oh!” Dorcas cried, her mouth falling open in a perfect circle.

“I know, I was shocked too.” Marlene stage whispered, waiting for Dorcas to laugh before continuing. She did, so Marlene continued speaking, “But the thing is Dor, I kind of want to do it a bit differently to old Mrs R, and I want to build it up a little bit.”

Dorcas frowned and cocked her head to the side, letting her expression ask her question rather than speaking.

“Well, you know how Mrs Rogers always just plays the piano for and has her classes do a number, one by one,” she paused and waited for the other girl to nod before carrying on, “Well, I think I want to make it a bit more professional and mix it up. I was thinking of having a band rather than just a piano.”

Comprehension dawned in Dorcas’ eyes and she started smiling widely again.

“Yeah, so I was wondering, would you help make up the string section of the band?” Marlene asked, biting her lip and looking hopefully up at Dorcas. She needn’t have tried so hard, the other girl agreed so quickly.

“Of course I will! I’ve always wanted to do something for Mrs Rogers’ concert, but she’s never wanted musicians before.” Dorcas was evidently over the moon at being involved, so Marlene nodded, told her she would text her when she would need her at rehearsals and Lily and Marlene left the chip shop with a cheery goodbye from the girl behind the counter.

They walked a little way down the promenade and then stopped when they were out of earshot of the chip shop.

Lily shook her head as Marlene turned and raised her eyebrows at her, smiling. “You could have been a con-artist in another life Marl, really. She was eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Marlene laughed, “She was rather, wasn’t she?”

The two of them laughed and Marlene slung her arm through Lily’s as they began walking again.

“Where to now?” Lily asked.

“Hmm.” Marlene hummed, looking thoughtful. Her eyes fell upon the ice-cream van parked almost out of site on a street off the end of the promenade. She grinned widely at Lily before walking them swiftly in that direction.

The window of the van was closed but Marlene rapped on it long enough that an angry face appeared when it was finally swept aside. The anger was probably not helped by the fact that the window was removed so quickly Marlene hadn’t been given a chance to stop knocking, and so consequently ended up knocking on the angry person’s face.

It wasn’t the best start to the conversation.

“Oops!” Marlene laughed.

The boy who had opened the window did not laugh. His face was quite red beneath his fluffy blonde hair and set in a frown so deep that Lily thought that maybe that was just what his face always looked like.

“Hi there Caradoc, how are you?” Marlene beamed at the boy.

The boy completely ignored the question and instead turned his attention to Lily. “Who are you?” he asked shortly.

“Um, I’m Lily.” She said quickly and uncomfortably.

“Are you a Weasley?” he asked bluntly.

Lily almost laughed, but the look on Caradoc’s serious face stopped her. “No, I’m not, I’m – er – my name’s Lily Evans and I’m from Manchester, I’m not from round here.”

“Well of course you’re not from round here if you’re from Manchester.” Caradoc grumbled, “And that doesn’t mean you can’t be a Weasley.” He added defensively.

Lily frowned. “Well I’m not. I’m an Evans.” She said firmly. She couldn’t stop herself from adding, “And just because I have red hair doesn’t mean I’m automatically a Weasley. Good grief, I’m sure the south is more diverse than that.” She spoke quicker and more angrily than she meant to. “Who are you anyway?” she asked, trying to sound less aggressive.

“Shouldn’t you know that, since you’re the one who came knocking at my door?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I didn’t knock your door, this git did,” Lily said, nodding towards Marlene who was standing watching them talk, “and she never tells me anything.” She finished, grumbling.

“Yeah, well she’s tricky.” Caradoc muttered.

Lily snorted, “Tell me about it.”

Caradoc shot her a little grin. Lily thought it was strange that such a small change of expression could change his looks so completely. He seemed younger and more handsome when he was not quite so surly.

“So what do you want anyway, Marley?” Caradoc asked briskly, turning back to Marlene.

Marlene smiled broadly at him, “How’s that bass guitar of yours going Car?”

He looked at her suspiciously, “It’s fine. What’s it to you?”

“I was wondering if you want to be in the band for the summer concert.” Marlene said simply, not bothering with the extra information she had supplied Dorcas with.

Caradoc thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright. Is she in it too?” he asked, indicating Lily.

Marlene sighed and shook her head sadly. “She doesn’t think she can. If she could she would be my MD but she thinks she’ll be working.”

Caradoc nodded.

“Was there anything else?” he asked, looking coolly from Marlene to Lily.

 “Nope, just that.” Marlene said happily, smiling at him.

He nodded and closed the window.

Lily turned to look at Marlene who nodded.

“He’s harmless enough, just a bit grumpy. Come on, more people to see.” And she rushed off again.

“But- what?” Lily said, looking over her shoulder at the ice-cream van.

“What?” Marlene asked distractedly, apparently unaware that there was anything worth questioning.

Lily frowned at her in confusion, “I just- does he live in the ice-cream van?”

Marlene shook her head, “No, he’s probably just on a break, he’s normally parked out by there.” She nodded to the end of the promenade they were heading back to where there were bollards in front of a dead end to a road which had double yellow lines all around it.

Lily nodded and decided that this was probably just one of those small town things.

The last person they went to see was a skinny blonde girl who looked to be about sixteen. She had dirt blonde hair that she had shoved into a bun on the top of her head to keep it out of her way as she served customers from behind the counter in the Post Office.

The expression on her face resembled Caradoc’s more than Dorcas’ when she caught sight of Marlene and Lily. The Post Office was completely dead, the only sound coming from a whirring desk fan sitting on the window sill by the door, blowing stale air onto customers as they walked in the door.

Marlene meandered her way up to counter. The girl maintained her blank, tense look right up until the moment Marlene put her hands on the countertop and smiled widely at her. Her expression slipped down into a glare, her thin lips set and her blue eyes narrowed.

“Hello there Emmeline.” Marlene said lightly, “How’s your summer going?”

The casual question was not received with any kind of equivalent lightness. If anything the girl’s glare became more pronounced. “Fine.” She snapped shortly.

Marlene was apparently unaffected by the girl’s attitude. She maintained her pleasant smile and nodded as if the girl’s answer had been incredibly interesting. “And how’s uni been?”

“Fine.” The girl repeated, still glaring, still snapping.

Lily couldn’t understand why Marlene was completely ignoring the fact that this girl did not want her anywhere within a hundred miles of her, let alone making awkward polite conversation over a post office counter.

“So,” Marlene began with the same casual charm she had used with Dorcas and Caradoc, “are you still playing the drums, Em?”

The girl clenched her jaw at the use of the nickname and nodded her head once.

“That’s good!” Marlene cried. Her enthusiasm was almost comical in comparison to the girl’s lack of. “So would you be interested in helping out with Mrs Rogers’ summer concert?” Marlene cocked her head, raised her eyebrows and leaned forward smirking slightly, a look that she evidently thought was cheekily charming but which made the girl’s eye twitch.

“Not really.” The girl said slowly, letting her lips pull themselves apart in an exaggerated fashion to form the words.

Marlene pressed her lips together and nodded. “Well if you’re sure.” She shrugged and turned away. She made a face at Lily who was still standing by the door frowning. “Come on Lil.” Marlene made to pull Lily out of the shop, but Lily stepped out of reach.

“Hang on Marl, I need to – um – get some stamps.” She muttered to Marlene, her eyes flicking to the girl behind the counter. She was looking at the two of them with a look that was closer to confusion than hatred, although her eyes were still narrowed.

Marlene shrugged again Lily heard the bell ring behind her as Marlene left. She made her way to the counter with sharper steps than Marlene and when she reached the counter the girl hardly looked at her.

“First or second class?” she asked before Lily could speak, pulling out a draw somewhere down by her knees.

“Um, I – um, second please.” Lily stuttered. She opened her mouth to speak but the girl cut her off again.

“How many?” she looked up expectantly now, so quickly Lily was a little thrown.

“Um, just- just the one.” She mumbled lamely.

“Fifty three pence” the girl said, tearing a stamp and sliding it under the glass.

Lily pulled out a fifty pence piece from her pocket and exchanged it for the stamp.

The girl put it in the till and avoided meeting Lily’s eye.

“I- um-” Lily began, not sure how to phrase something that would make the girl actually meet her eye.

“Was there anything else?” the girl’s voice was flat and toneless, Lily noticed. With Marlene it had been quietly incensed.

“Yeah, actually.” Lily’s tone, in comparison had become indignant. “I wanted to ask you why you hate Marl so much.” She stood looking at the girl with her eyebrows raised.

“Because she’s a bitch.” The girl said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She’s worse than the out-of-towners. She added scathingly.

“Is she though? I mean, what has she done to you that you hate her so much for?” Lily asked, bewildered, wanting to defend her friend but not wanting to do it blindly. Marlene could be a bit much at times, but Lily had never known her as being anything more than passionate.

“She- Look, you don’t know Marley like I do, alright, she was awful in primary school and then she left and she came back and expected everything to be so much better without so much as a hint at an apology.” The girl spoke quickly and with a surprising finality, her eyes fixed on Lily’s nose rather than her eyes.

Lily nodded. She didn’t know much about Marlene’s life in Cornwall, but she knew that Marlene hadn’t been all that keen on returning every summer. Lily had always thought it was something to do with having to be so far away from her school friends, but there being conflict with old school friends also made sense.

“I’m sorry she’s such a bitch.”

Lily’s words seemed to take the girl by surprise. She looked up from the beige countertop to finally, properly, meet Lily’s eye.

“It’s not your fault.” She said cautiously.

“I know, but I’m sorry. The Marlene I know is lovely and clearly that’s a later version of her, so I’m sorry that you had to deal with her being horrible.” Lily cringed a little bit at her words, hoping that they would be enough for the girl to understand that Lily wasn’t as bad as the girl thought Marlene was, and Lily’s Marlene was equally not-awful.

But she didn’t look like she was having her world view changed, she looked more suspicious and a touch defensive. “What’s she said about me?” She asked, her voice rising in pitch.

“Nothing!” Lily said quickly, seeing that whatever happened previously was a touchy subject, “Nothing, I just- I mean, for you to hate Marlene so much she must have done something, right? Or if not one particular thing, then she must have had a bad attitude or been mean or something, so, I mean, I know she’s not like that now, so she must have changed by the time I met her. That’s all. She doesn’t really talk about people from here much.” Lily tried to tag an understanding smile on the end of her little speech but she thought that maybe it was more patronising since the girl’s frown returned.

“Marlene was my best friend when we were little and then suddenly she was friends with Dorcas and that lot and started bullying me. She started them on me and they carried on for the next five years.” The girl didn’t quite spit the words but there was a certain fire behind them, even if there was a resigned note to them.

Lily frowned. She really didn’t know Marlene like the girl did.

“Well then I’m doubly sorry that my best friend was such a bitch and that she’s no longer your best friend.” Lily said calmly. The girl said nothing, just stared at her.

“Um- you- your name is Emmeline, right?” Lily asked, cautiously. The girl nodded.

“Look, Emmeline, I’m sorry for what Marlene did and I’ll talk to her about it if you want, but she really does need you for the concert.”

Emmeline rolled her eyes, “I’m sure she’ll be just fine without me.” She spat sarcastically.

“No, actually, she won’t.” Lily answered, the patient tone replaced by an impatient one. Emmeline stayed silent and let Lily continue, “Look, Mrs Rogers is ill and asked Marlene to cover for her and direct the concert, only Marlene being stupid Marlene,” Lily let a bit more bite than was really necessary linger on the word ‘stupid’, “has been all ambitious with this and had gotten people dedicated to it who she now can’t disappoint. She’s promised a band and she has most of one, but what she doesn’t have but desperately needs,” Lily paused and looked pointedly at Emmeline, “is a drum player.”

Emmeline’s expression had softened slightly in response to Lily’s coaxing, but she did not yet look happy.

“Look, Emmeline,” Lily began again, trying incredibly hard to maintain her composure, “I know Marlene’s a bitch, and yeah, you will have to spend extended periods of time in the same room as her, but she really needs you and it’s not like she’ll be bossing you around,” Lily added fairly, although the thought had only just struck her, “She’s the overall director, but she’s going to get a musical director to help with it all, so you’ll only really have to deal with whoever she gets for that.” Lily ended with an expression that she hoped was a mix between hopeful and friendly.

Emmeline took a minute to sigh and consider Lily before responding.

“Do you promise she won’t be bossing me about?” she asked, anxiety clear in her face behind the mask of bitterness.

Lily nodded and spoke clearly as she said, “I promise.”

Emmeline took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it.” She spoke quietly and reluctantly.

Lily smiled widely. “Thank you so much Emmeline.”

Emmeline gave a half smile, “You can call me Emma.”

“Not Em?” Lily asked, guessing that it was something else that Emmeline had a deep-rooted issue with.

Emmeline wrinkled her nose and shook her head, making the bun on her head wobble. “No, I hate that. Marley used to call me that.”

“Em and M?” Lily guessed.

Emmeline nodded and gave a self-conscious laugh, “It was awful.”

“Yeah, that is awful. M’n’Ms. Where you the yellow one?” she asked, grinning.

Emmeline laughed and nodded, “I was the yellow one and Marlene was the green one.”

“Green? Why green?” Lily frowned and shook her head, “She doesn’t look green at all.”

“No,” Emmeline laughed, “She had a green coat she always wore.” She explained, biting her lip.

“Oh.” Lily said slowly, nodding. “Well of course. I am definitely going to tease her about that.” she added, noting that Emmeline tensed up a little bit. “Of course, I might just dye her hair green when she’s asleep instead.” Lily added mock-thoughtfully.

Emmeline snorted and Lily smiled.

“I’d better get going, she’ll probably ditch me if I don’t get back.” Lily said without thinking, and then caught herself.

Emmeline clocked the awkward look on Lily’s face and gave a soft laugh, “Don’t worry, I think she likes you.” She didn’t sound as bitter as she had a few minutes ago.

Lily laughed, “Well I hope so, she’s been hanging about me for eight years now, either she likes me or else this is a very long ploy to have me killed or something.” She shrugged, “We’ll probably never know. Or,” she added, turning towards the door, “I’ll never know. I mean if it is, I’ll be dead, won’t I?” Emmeline laughed again and Lily smiled too.

“Bye Lily.” The girl behind the desk nodded.

“Bye Emma.” Lily gave a little wave as she swung the door open.

The sun outside was almost blinding after the cool and dark, cave-like interior of the post office and so it took a few seconds for Lily to adjust before she looked around for Marlene. When she did she had to spin around a couple of times before she spotted her at the opposite end of the promenade to Caradoc’s ice-cream truck, talking animatedly to someone just out of sight behind the large grey sea-wall. Lily raised her hand when Marlene looked over to her, but lowered it when Marlene’s eyes widened and she quickly pushed her conversation partner away. Lily frowned and started walking towards Marlene who was still talking to the mysterious person. To Lily it looked like she was shouting at them, but considering how Lily was now only a few metres away and couldn’t hear a word she thought that maybe she was whispering.

“Marl?” she called when she was only a few paces away.

“Lily!” Marlene shouted, making Lily jump violently. Marlene was only throwing her quick glances since she was still trying to shoo someone away, but in those glances Lily could see she was desperately trying to look casual and unaware. Since the other half of the time she was looking frantic and incredibly anxious, it didn’t have that much effect.

Lily stepped closer to peer around the edge of the wall, “Marl, who are you-”

Marlene practically jumped on her, throwing her arms around her in a bone-crushing hug. “Lily! How good to see you! Are you alright? Did you get your stamps?” She asked, an over the top concerned look on her face.

Lily nodded warily and held up the stamp in her hand. Marlene beamed.

“Good! That’s so good! And did you get to chat to Em?” she asked expectantly.

“I- uh-” Lily stuttered, taken aback by Marlene’s expectation that she would have spoken to the girl who had appeared nothing but surly in front of Marlene. “Yes.” She finally got out, frowning at Marlene’s smile.

“And what did she say?” Marlene sang.

Lily sighed. “She said she would help.” She answered, resignedly.

“Excellent!” Marlene grinned, clapping her hands together once in a large dramatic gesture.

“Marl-” Lily tried to say, but Marlene cut her off by rushing forward down the promenade and pulling Lily with her by a strong grip on her arm.

“What else is there now?” Marlene asked loudly.

“I don’t know, it’s your list.” Lily replied, in a frustrated tone.

“Yes it is. And do I have everyone on it?” Marlene asked frustratingly.

Lily groaned and didn’t answer.

“Wait!” Marlene stopped dead and accidentally managed to kick Lily in the shin with her heel that was suspended in mid-air.

“What now?” moaned Lily, rubbing her poor shin against the back of her other leg.

“I need a piano.” Marlene narrowed her eyes and ran them along the promenade and across the beach, searching.

“I don’t think you’ll find one out there, Marl.” Lily muttered.

“You’re right. I should probably look for a piano player first.” Marlene mumbled, distractedly. “Oh!” she cried and spun around to look back towards Lily and the space they had just walked from, one hand raised in the air. Lily resisted the urge to give her a high five. Then Marlene lowered her hand and frowned at Lily. “What time did you say you need to get back to the Potters?” She asked.

From the intensity of Marlene’s stare, Lily felt as though she should have been asking about nuclear launch codes or the location of a deadly virus, not what time she had to be back for dinner.

“I said I’d be back with food for when the children get back, so I thought about four-ish.”

“I’ll come with you.” Marlene said immediately and without explanation.

“Okay?” Lily shrugged, accepting that Marlene was not going to explain herself moments before she did.

“I need to see James about his piano playing skills.”

Lily was startled. She hadn’t known he played the piano, although now Marlene mentioned it, she had seen a rather lovely grand piano in one of the downstairs rooms on one of her wanderings.

“Okay, what do you want to do until then?” Lily asked, turning to look once again at the beach.

“We could go back to the rock pool.” Marlene grinned as Lily groaned. She walked forward to the wall and climbed on top of it.

“No more rock pools today. Why don’t we go for a little stroll along the hilltop?” Lily asked hopefully, joining Marlene up on the wall and swinging her legs over the edge to hang above the sand as Marlene had already done.

Marlene snorted, “Fuck no, that’s boring. Let’s go back to mine. Mum and Dad are out because they’re picking up Miranda.”

Lily’s face lit up, “I didn’t know your sister was coming today too!”

“Yeah.” Marlene shrugged, uninterested. She didn’t seem much bothered about seeing her sister for the first time since the Easter holidays.

“Oh come on Marl, it’s Mandy, you have to be happy to have her back.” Lily poked her on the shoulder.

Marlene just shook her head sadly. “No, Lil, you don’t understand. This means I have to share TV privileges. It’s inhumane.”

Lily snorted, “I’ll be sure to contact Amnesty International.” She deadpanned.

Marlene grinned. “Tell them how I also have to share a bathroom with her too.”

“That’ll get them here in double quick time.” Lily commented lightly.

“Well I should hope so, this is a human rights catastrophe.” Marlene’s superior tone, for some reason, suddenly set Lily off into a fit of giggles. It was only a few seconds before Marlene joined her and they were both sitting there giggling like lunatics.

And then they felt hands on their backs and found themselves face down on the sand.

After hearing so recently that he had once been a renowned mischief-maker, Lily wasn’t sure why she was so surprised to see James’ face grinning down at her when she looked back up at the wall she and Marlene had been sitting on just moments ago. She was less surprised to hear Sirius laughing as Marlene spat out sand and was simply saddened that Remus and Peter seemed to have been participants in this. She shook her head sadly at them as she propped herself up on her elbows. Their heads floated next to James’ and Sirius’ and they all wore the same sort of self-satisfied grins.

“Dicks.” Marlene muttered.

Lily turned to her a raised her eyebrows. “Not so funny now, is it?”
She didn’t have to be so supercilious, but she was slowly seeing the funny side as Marlene flapped at her hair in an attempt to get sand out of it. She bit back a laugh when she accidentally slapped herself.

“Yeah, but it was funny when Gid and Fabian did it because they caught you.” Marlene mumbled, paying far more attention to her hair than her friend.

Lily laughed, “Yeah, it’s always nice to be caught when you fall.” She pulled herself up and brushed the sand of her already quite dirt jeans as she stood up.

“Especially if the catcher is six-foot tall and smoking.” Marlene winked as she held her hand up for Lily to take.

Lily rolled her eyes and pulled her friend to her feet. “No fear of that then.”

They both turned and looked up at the four boys who had now themselves climbed up onto the wall and were in the process of trying to throw James off.

“No,” Marlene said affectionately, “no fear.”          

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

In the time it took to get the boys to stop acting like idiots and to agree who was going in the car with James to the train station, the food had gone cold.

Lily wasn’t entirely sure how to work the oven, and couldn’t see a microwave in the chrome kitchen so was rather hoping that no-one would mind having cold fish and chips. In hindsight it was probably a mite optimistic to have bought the food so early.

Neither of the boys in the kitchen had had anything to say about the matter and there was nobody else around to ask. Marlene had been obligated to get back before for dinner with her own family now that her sister was home too, so even she wasn’t there to chime in. Lily was sure it would be fine, but couldn’t help but panic at the thought of them all arriving back. But she was being silly. It would be alright. If it wasn’t then one of the boys would just have to figure out how to do it. They couldn’t be completely useless after all. It would be fine.

Lily knew she was fussing over nothing, but the ball of worry that sat somewhere beneath her ribcage hadn’t appeared to have gotten the memo yet and was still spinning around as if the world was about to end. She had found herself nibbling at her finger nails twice now and had been told to stop tapping her foot by an irate Sirius four times in the last ten minutes. She had tried, but something in her was wound up tightly in anticipation of the younger Potter children.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to meet them, it was just that with all the teasing warnings from Marlene about what terrors the two of them were, her firm foundation for authority trembled. From what she could gather, she hadn’t been that much better than them and she knew that at their age she too would resent unnecessary authority. But then, according to Marlene, James had been worse than them and he seemed to be nothing more than a bit cheeky every now and then.

Lily sighed and started tapping her foot again. She was half listening to the conversation Sirius and Peter were having over their card game at the kitchen table. She had asked them about the oven, but Sirius had just shrugged and Peter had blushed and looked away without saying anything. Now they were engaged in a game that moved too quickly for Lily to fully understand what was going on. She wasn’t even sure what it was called. The two boys had argued for a full minute over whether it was called ‘speed’ or ‘spit’, with them finally setting the differences down to Peter being Irish and therefore backwards. Lily had frowned but Peter had laughed so loudly any defence she might have given died on her lips.

Peter laughed loudly at a lot of things, it seemed, although nothing Lily ever said. Whenever Lily spoke to him he either went quiet and avoided her gaze, or he smiled a huge uncomfortable smile.

She had felt uncomfortable before when he was just smiling at her, but his silence and refusal to join in the conversation added to the general aura of awkwardness Lily felt about Peter, especially when the rest of them were talking quite happily. Several times at the beach that afternoon there had been awkward silences when Peter should have been laughing or making a joke. It wasn’t that distinct, but Lily, once she had finally noticed his odd behaviour, couldn’t help but wonder what caused it. The rest of the boys seemed to behave perfectly normally.

Well, as normally as teenage boys ever do.

After they had found the girls on the promenade, they had started a game of beach rugby. The ball was Marlene’s bag, and the teams were Sirius and Peter against a furious Marlene.

Lily had tried to calm them down, but James and Remus had convinced her not to worry by offering her an ice-cream. She had seen the sense in it and had walked with them to the ice-cream van, leaving the other three down on the sand. Caradoc had been just as surly as earlier and neither James nor Remus seemed to think it odd that he already knew Lily’s name. They had sat on the steps leading down the beach with their backs against the metal hand-rail, contentedly licking ninety-nines, quite contented.
They watched the game quietly before Lily broke the silence with a comment, and a smirk she thought the others wouldn’t notice.

“Poor Peter, he’s third-wheeling out there spectacularly.” She muttered, shaking her head.

“How come?” James asked absent-mindedly, watching as Marlene successfully kicked Sirius in the balls but then managed to face-plant onto the sand herself.

“Well,” Lily began awkwardly, “You know, Sirius and Marlene being terrible flirts. Although I mean, any situation where there’s two of one gender and one of the other is probably going to end in third-wheel awkwardness.” Lily mumbled into her ice-cream.

“Does that make me a third wheel as well?” Remus asked, smirking at her.

She raised her eyebrows, “I don’t think so, I mean, me and James aren’t violently flirting right at this moment, so I think you’re safe.” She smiled at him.

Remus laughed but James looked surprised.

“Are we not?” he asked, turning to her in concern.

She laughed, and shook her head. “Sorry, but no. I’m this attentive to most people.”

“Oh.” He said sadly, “And I spent all that money on an ice-cream.”

She held back a laugh as she held up what was left of her cone. “This cost you 99p.”

“Yeah, and that’s almost a pound that I’m never going to see again.” James said indignantly.

“Gosh, I hope you’re not this flash on all your dates, you must be so intimidating.” Lily looked at him with wide eyes and a mouth that was very set on not smiling.

“Well,” James gave a short laugh and grinned at her with what she presumed he thought was a cavalier expression, “I don’t want to brag but I did just pay for more than one other ice-cream.”

“Yeah, for Remus. He’s one of your best mates.” Lily laughed.

“Exactly.” James said pointedly.

“Oh so, I’m the one third wheeling?” Lily asked, turning to look at Remus who was laughing quietly.

“Well obviously.” Remus grinned.

“And really it’s just getting embarrassing. You would have thought that someone who can pick up on flirting at that level of subtlety,” James paused to nod at Sirius who was holding Marlene by the waist and spinning her around. Peter was standing off to the side, looking away from them and up towards the three ice-cream eaters on the steps, “then I would have thought you would have been able to see the raw sexual chemistry happening here.”

Remus snorted but Lily looked serious.

“I can only apologise.” she said so genuinely that James blinked quickly at her, taken aback, “I only hope I haven’t completely stopped your chances.” She turned and looked Remus straight in the eye and said, “Remus, I think you’ve pulled.”

Remus snorted again and started laughing, “Well I can only hope so after such violent flirting.”

Lily and James started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Peter puffed as he clambered up the steps to them, eyeing the ice-cream dribbling down Lily’s fingers.

“How would you feel about two of your friends hooking up Pete?” James asked with a casual air, although Remus and Lily’s laughter ruined the effect.

Peter looked thoughtful nodding. “I think it depends which ones.” He said finally, barely noticing Lily and Remus.

“Well, which ones would you object to?” James asked, waving his empty hand apparently unconsciously at Lily and Remus.

Peter looked at him for a second and then his eyes flitted to Lily and then back again, before turning a little bit red. Lily looked down at her ice-cream, suddenly very concerned about the drips on her fingers.

“I dunno, it depends.” He mumbled, looking down at his feet.

“That’s a rubbish answer.” James declared.

“No it’s not though,” Lily piped up, “It does depend. Like, I’m fine with Marlene dating, obviously I’d have to be well clingy to not be,” She muttered shaking her head at herself before continuing, “but I have a few male friends I would definitely not be okay with her going out with.”

“Like who?” James asked, his lips pulled into a half smile.

“Like-” Lily thought for a minute, frowning and then said, “Like my friend Michael. He’s doing a music degree, and he’s brilliant and a laugh and whatnot, but he’s a massive druggie and an awful boyfriend.” Lily took advantage of the silence after her statement to take a few more licks of her ice-cream.

“True,” James said slowly, “but would you not feel a similar feeling of protectiveness and dread if she went out with some perfect choir boy?” He raised his eyebrows at her and used his ice-cream to point at her.

Lily laughed, more at him than the question, “Well yeah, but that’s just the general fear I have whenever Marlene goes outside.”

“True, true, it’s a dangerous world and she’s a naïve young girl.” James nodded sagely.

Lily laughed, “Actually I was thinking more that it’s a naïve world and she’s a dangerous young girl, but whatever you say.” She nodded at him politely.

The others laughed and James nodded his head fairly.

“Hey, is that for me?” Marlene’s voice called up cheekily as she climbed the steps to them, her head nodding at the half-eaten ice-cream in Lily’s hand.

“No.” Lily said, looking at it, pouting slightly. Then she looked up at Marlene who was waggling her eyebrows and rolled her eyes, “But you can have some if you want.” She finished resignedly.

Marlene grinned and clambered the last few steps to where the four of them were sitting. “Thanks babe.” She said as she grabbed the cone from Lily’s outstretched hand and took a huge bite out of it.

The three boys’ reactions were almost comical. James frowned deeply, his expression becoming a mixture between confusion and pain, Remus physically recoiled and Peter let his jaw swing open, a look of horror on his face. When James turned to look at Lily who was looking at Marlene with an unchanged expression, Lily smiled at him.

“Dangerous young girl.” She said, by way of an explanation.

James gave a half-laugh before looking back at Marlene who now had ice-cream all around her mouth. She opened her mouth in a wide smile and more white stuff oozed out.

“I don’t think I should tell you what that looks like.” Lily said lightly.

Marlene guffawed and turned away from them to wipe her mouth.

“What’s all this then?” Sirius voice boomed as he came running up the steps. He stood beside Marlene and surveyed the group with an expectant expression. “Is that ice-cream?” he asked, pointing to James’ ice-cream cone.

James nodded, still grinning at Marlene.

“Can I have some?” Sirius asked lightly.

James’ expression dropped and he turned to look at his friend. Then he slowly shook his head.

Lily giggled, and James looked at her. He smiled and then stood up.

“I’ll get you a whole one of your own Sirius, not to worry.” James said, winking, before making his way back to the ice-cream van.

He came back with three ice-creams in his hands. One was his half-eaten one, but the other two were brand new ones that he gave to Sirius and then to Lily.

“Aw, thanks! That’s so sweet.” Lily grinned as she took her fresh cone from him.

“That’s alright, it’s all part of the violent flirting.” He winked at her.

She laughed, “I thought that was with Remus.” She glanced over at the boy in question who was rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, it is,” James nodded, “but now I’m playing hard to get.”

Lily laughed again.

“What’s violent flirting?” Marlene asked, screwing up her face in a confused expression.

“Rugby tackling someone.” Lily said with a deadpan expression.

“So that’s why you didn’t want us to come and what your matches, Prongs.” Sirius called to James who nearly choked on his flake as he snorted with laughter.

“You play rugby?” Lily asked, turning to James.

“Yeah, since I was little.” He muttered, grinning slightly, but only glancing at her, not meeting her eye for long.

“I would never have guessed.” Lily mused, “You’re far skinnier than the typical rugby lad.”

“I’m not skinny!” James cried indignantly pouting at Lily who just laughed.

“Oh get over it chicken legs.” Marlene laughed, throwing a piece of wafer at him, which landed in his hair. Before he could complain Marlene continued loudly, “Why are you lounging about here anyway? Shouldn’t you be anxiously preparing for the munchkins?”

James rolled his eyes, “There’s loads of time before they get here, don’t worry McKinnon.”

“No there’s not, you have like,” She answered leaning back to check Remus’ watch, “three hours.”

James was not phased at all, “Yeah,” he shrugged, “there’s enough time. It only takes like twenty minutes to get to the train station.”

“And, like, an hour and a half to get to home,” Marlene added raising her eyebrows at him, “and then however long it will take for you to faff about getting ready to go and then a last minute panic when you remember you haven’t done up their rooms yet and-”

“Alright!” James cut her off before she could add yet another minute to the timeline and sighed heavily, “I get it, there’s not really enough time to be lounging about eating ice-cream.” He looked down at his cone which was by now looking very sad.

“Well, you can definitely finish it, but then we probably should get going.” Lily said fairly, noting the sad look on James’ face as he contemplated his ice-cream.

He smiled at her.

Sirius sighed loudly, “Can’t I just stay here? I can’t be arsed to walk all the way back.”

James and Lily shared a look and Marlene shoved his shoulder, beginning another ten minutes of loud arguing and nobody wanting to actually get up and go anywhere.

By the time they had managed to all get up and start walking, Marlene had gotten bored and left them with a huffing sigh and an overly dramatic wave, leaving them to trek back across the cliffs to the Potter residence. The day was still fine so they were quickly hot and bothered, but James and Sirius maintained an admirable attempt at keeping conversation flowing. Every now and then Lily would hear some snippet of a conversation float back towards her.

“Lovely sea you have here by the way, Prongs.” Sirius flicked his head to the left, managing to flick his hair back effortlessly at the same time, just as they were within sight of the house.

James nodded, not looking at his friend but instead straight forward towards the horizon where the house stood.

“Thanks very much, Padfoot. Had it installed specially for you.”

Lily snorted quietly to herself. She couldn’t help admiring sarcasm, even when not for her ears.

“How charming.” Sirius commented, “So quaint.” He added, turning his head just enough that Lily could see a grin on his face.

“Quite.”

James was still looking directly ahead, but Lily could imagine a flick of his eyebrows and a smirk on his face.

The wind changed direction and their conversation was that much more faint that Lily couldn’t hear it any longer. She smiled to herself and looked out at the sea. It really was quite lovely. She still wasn’t used to it though. Feeling eyes on her, she looked back to the boys again. She caught Remus’ eye before looking away quickly, somewhat disappointed.

They continued talking what Lily presumed was the same nonsense but she didn’t join in, instead allowing herself to get lost in her own head. She hadn’t realised they were back until she almost walked into Remus, who was taking off his shoes by the door.

“You alright Lily?” He asked, concerned.

She blinked a couple of times, and then nodded and smiled, “Yep, I’m totally fine. I just- uh – have to go to the loo. Would you put this in the kitchen for me?” She asked holding out the plastic bag.

Remus nodded and took it from her and she ran upstairs. She went into her room first and sat on the bed for a couple of seconds. She suddenly realised that she had an awful headache and closed her eyes against the light streaming in from the window. The room felt stuffy and too close. Lily had the strange feeling that she would be able to fill up the whole space if she stretched out her arms. All of her senses were heightened and her energy drained, and she wasn’t totally sure why.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she jumped. She shook herself and stood up and went to wash her face.

When she came back downstairs the boys were sprawled across sofas in one of the living rooms. She frowned slightly and hid her laugh in a sigh. None of them looked up. She bit her lip,

“Should you be getting a move on?” she asked, not really sure which one of them she was addressing. It didn’t seem to make any kind of difference to them, they all ignored her.

She shook her head and turned to leave the room.

“Don’t worry Lil, we’ll get round to it.” Sirius drawled from a sofa pushed against the back wall. Lily felt her lips twitch and rolled her eyes.

“Right. It’s fine,” she replied lightly, “It’s not my family.” She shrugged and left the room.

In the kitchen she filled the kettle and found the tea bags, half listening to the sound of the boys arguing a couple of rooms over. Sirius and Peter came in a little while after the door slammed closed.

The waiting didn’t seem to bother the two boys at all, but Lily was quite a bit more impatient, as was evident from the foot tapping, so when the front door opened she snapped to attention. The voices of James and Remus reached their ears, along with two unfamiliar ones from, presumably, James’ brother and sister. Sirius and Peter’s heads snapped up towards the door, and Lily bit back a laugh. They jumped up and pushed pass Lily out the door. She smiled and followed, breathing quickly through her nose and trying not to clench her teeth.

Jon was completely different to James, but Alice was like a mini-me, and Lily wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t freaked out by it. While James always stood tall, with his chin parallel to the floor, Jon’s shoulders curled over and his chin nearly touched his chest. They both had brown hair and brown eyes, but Jon’s eyes were more focused on the floor than anywhere else. He looked as if he was hoping not to be noticed. Alice on the other hand, looked as though she wasn’t used to not being the centre of attention. She looked around her, meeting each of the boys’ eyes and smiling widely at them. They all smiled back or ruffled her hair, acting as if she were everyone’s younger sister not just James’.

Sirius even picked her up.

Lily loitered cautiously by the door from the living room, watching them greet each other, trying to decide whether she should go out and introduce herself boldly or if she should just run back to the kitchen like a coward and wait to be found. Then James caught her eye and it wasn’t really a choice anymore. His grin spread into a wide smile and he beckoned to her, yelling loudly across the space and over the hubbub of the others,

“Hey, Lily, come meet the munchkins!”

A laugh came out of Lily before she realised she had found anything funny. Her own smile seemed to make her bolder somehow because she shook her hair out of her face and took bold steps towards them.

“Munchkins? Really? They’re not that little.” She laughed at James, before turning to the children in question, “Hi there, I’m Lily.”

She felt a little silly, but allowed her surge of confidence to carry her through. Jon looked somewhere near her hairline and nodded, whereas Alice looked up at her with wide eyes and a blank expression. Then she spoke in a clear tone that still had that childlike presumption that what she was saying was perfectly obvious and naturally fell into the current conversation, even when it is completely random:

“Your hair is a lot redder than I thought it would be.”

Lily blinked a couple of times and glanced up at James who seemed to be waiting for some sort of explosion. His lips were pressed together as part of a sort of grimace. Lily’s face slipped from bewilderment to momentary amused confusion, then she looked back at Alice.

“Yeah, it’s- it’s natural.” She stuttered, glancing up at the group of boys behind the little girl briefly, still confused about the grimace on James’ face, before adding in a more dry tone, “Although nobody in my family has it, so I’m potentially adopted.”

Alice raised her eyebrows and Lily smiled. James gave a laugh so loud it made everyone fall silent. He quickly turned red and looked directly at Lily, ignoring the stares from his friends and brother.

“Sorry.” He muttered, “that tickled me.” He said slowly with a straight face.

Lily pressed her lips together to keep her laughter from spilling out and found herself shaking slightly. She raised her eyebrows at him. He shrugged, clearly not sure where to go from here. Thankfully Sirius stepped in before it became more awkward.

“Did someone say something about food?” he looked expectantly between James and Lily, the latter of whom turned to him and nodded,

“Yes Sirius, we did. Food.” She said shortly looking back at the two children. “Fish and chips. I hope that’s alright with you two?” she said, biting her lip as Jon shrugged at the sofa and Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

“It’ll be fine.” James said stepping towards her, “Come on, kitchen.” He commanded the youngest two, although the other four followed as well.

There was all sorts of commotion in the kitchen as they set out plates and cutlery and glasses and condiments and the like. James and Sirius seemed to have taken charge, so Lily sat herself in a chair against the wall as soon as Alice had climbed up onto a chair beside Jon.

Finally, after a great deal of fuss with the microwave and a scuffle between Sirius and James, all seven of them were sitting around the table with a plateful of chips and some sort of extra. Lily found a sausage on her plate and directly across from her sat Remus with half a Cornish pasty on his. They hadn’t bought enough of the fish substitutes so they had had to cut up and share out some of them. Sirius had managed to wrangled a whole battered cod, James had a rissole, Peter had the other half of the Cornish pasty and Jon and Alice each had half a battered cod. It was all a bit of a mishmash, and nobody had really had any say since all of the plates had just been thrown onto the table next to Alice and then passed down the row.

The silence of a roomful of people enjoying a meal is the most pleasant sound one can hear, especially after a long day, and Lily was starting to feel like it had been a long day. She could feel her eyes starting to close and wanting to rest, even though it was nowhere near night-time.

She woke up with a start when she took a bit of her sausage and found it quite literally coated with salt. She gagged and spat it back onto her plate.

“Hot?” Remus asked, managing to look amused and concerned at the same time.

“Uh- it’s-“ Lily began, stuttering through her gag reflex. Then she noticed that down the end of the table, Alice and Jon were watching her, grinning at each other. “It’s hot.” Lily muttered, nodding at Remus.

“Here.” He picked up the jug of water and filled her glass.

She smiled at him, before gagging again and making a funny sound in the back of her throat. Remus looked at her in surprise, and she blushed.

“Hiccups.” She said firmly, decidedly not looking down at the end of the table where Alice was giggling to Jon. She took a deep drink of water and then a deep breath. She held her breath until there seemed to be little sparks coming off Remus’ head. The she let it out slowly, angling her breath down towards her plate, making the grains of salt wriggle about and scatter away from her food. She suddenly didn’t really have much of an appetite, and was suddenly wanting her bed far more than she wanted any sort of food. She looked out the window and saw that the sun was still far off setting, although it was much lower in the sky now.

She played with her food until everyone else had finished and then as soon as James stood up and started gathering plates she thankfully put her fork down.

“Do you want me to wash up?” she asked, not sure who she was directing the question towards, but hoping that whoever it was would take pity and say no. She nearly cried with relief when Remus shook his head.

“Don’t worry Lily, we should probably do the dishes at least some of the time.” He grinned at her as he added her plate to the stack in front of him.

She returned his grin and nodded.

“Well at least you’ve acknowledged it. Maybe before there’s ketchup on the floor though next time, yeah?” Lily teased, standing up and pushing her chair back under the table.

Remus laughed as he passed plates to Peter who was supervising Sirius and James by the sink. They were slowly filling it with alternately hot and cold water by turning the tap on for thirty seconds at a time. Lily frowned in concern, but didn’t want to say anything. They looked so happy. She glanced around the kitchen and noticed that Jon and Alice had disappeared. She looked back at the boys who either hadn’t noticed or weren’t bothered and bit her lip. If she was supposed to do something she would incompetent to ask, but if she wasn’t it would look pathetically eager.

She edged towards the door. When nobody said anything she sidled out and wandered through the house towards the stairs. There was silence, apart from the ruckus in the kitchen. She could heard the waves through the open windows and nothing else. Upstairs a door slammed and Lily jumped. She shook herself, laughing at her silliness. It was a door. It wasn’t a gunshot. They were only children. She shouldn’t be so paranoid. But then, she thought, they had managed to prank her already and they hadn’t even been here two hours.

She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t expected pranks. Well, no, she had expected them, but she had expected harmless ones once she had actually gotten to know the children, not three minutes after meeting them. She sighed and leant against the back of a sofa in a sitting room near the entrance hall. From here she could just about see the bannister on the stairs, and through it she glimpsed two children sitting with their heads together, conspiring. She watched them for a second and then looked away, and stood up. She went to leave, to go outside, but glanced up at them again for a second and caught Alice’s eye. She was staring at her with a frown on her small face. Behind her Jon was watching Lily with a blank look, biting his lip. Lily smiled at them, but Alice’s frown turned to a deep scowl. Lily blinked and looked away, slightly shocked. She looked back up and nodded before walking swiftly away. On a sun-lounger outside she scolded herself for being silly. It wasn’t that she was scared by them, it was just that she felt like they had more right to tell her what to do than she did them, and worse than that, they knew it too.

She shook herself. She was being silly again. They were children who didn’t want to be nannied not psychopath killers. It was just the shock of it, she thought. It wasn’t every day that she was intimidated by a ten year old with a fringe.

They couldn’t be that bad though, no matter how good at scowling they were. Maybe she could talk to James about them later, she thought, ask him for some advice. They were his siblings after all. He would have some tips on how to deal with them, and Lily had a feeling that he wouldn’t laugh at her quite as much as the others would. At least she hoped not anyway.

But then who knew, maybe he would think her crazy for worrying this much over adolescents.

And maybe she was, but at that precise moment, as she sat with the light of the setting sun on her face, and the sound of the ocean in her ears, she didn’t really care.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Bloody Hell. They hated her. They actually hated her. They thought she was worse than a slimy, snivelling, sea-creature. She had spent all trying really hard and they still hated her.

The little monsters.

It had started in the wee hours of the morning, at that lovely time of night when you might wake up and shuffle to the toilet and then get back to bed to realise that you can sleep for another five whole hours.

Lily’s alarm had gone off right at that time, just before the summer sun rises, when it’s still dark outside, when it’s still and silent in the house and nothing else is stirring.

She had rolled out of bed, dazed and confused as to why her alarm was ringing while it was still dark and why she had decided to leave it on top of a cupboard across the room where it was impossible to press ‘snooze’ when unbearably drowsy.

She staggered back to bed, trying to make out why the hands on the clock-face were trying to tell her it was three o’clock in the morning when actually it was sleep o clock, only to be jerked to full alertness by another alarm ringing, across the other side of the room.

The bell of this one was not a sound that Lily recognised and when she had finally shut it off and held the infernal device in her hand, it still wasn’t familiar to her.

She didn’t have long to ponder it as the next thing she knew there was a knock on her door.

She almost didn’t answer it. She wanted more than anything to ignore it and just to crawl back into bed, but there was something in her brain that was so unyieldingly set on being well mannered that not only did she open the door, she opened with a smile and said in a pleasant voice to the figure on the landing,

“Good morning.”

A very confused looking James stared back at her. His eyes were still half glued with sleep, his hair was even messier than usual and he was wearing pyjamas with teddy-bear Jedi Knights on them. Lily was quite glad that she had opened the door.

“What the hell is going on?” he mumbled, squinting at her face as though he were blind. He looked her up and down and then frowned at her. “You’re not escaping are you?” he asked, scrunching up one eye and wrinkling his nose.

“No, not as far as I’m aware.” Lily whispered, deciding to not feel too self-conscious about how see-through her top was and instead deciding to think about how it was very dark and he wasn’t even wearing his glasses so he probably couldn’t see anything anyway.

“Then why the bloody hell is your alarm going off?” His voice came out as something in between a groan and a yawn. “It’s r-r-really early.” He yawned again, patting his mouth for emphasis as he did so.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, I definitely didn’t set it. And there was another one which isn’t even mine and-” Lily started babbling and probably wouldn’t have stopped if another alarm hadn’t cut her off.

James jerked to attention and pushed past her into the room. He span around once and then leaped across the bed and dived head first into the wardrobe.

Lily stood stock-still by the door, unsure what had just happened. She kept her eyes of the legs protruding from the wardrobe, and watched as they wriggled about in the air. She wasn’t sure if this was really happening or if she was dreaming. Either way, a few minutes later James was standing in front of her again, this time with a clock in hand and a scowl on his face.

“Little bastards.” He said.

“That’s not a bastard that’s a clock.” Lily’s mouth said before she could stop it. James’ scowl dropped as he looked up from the clock and smirked at her. “Wait,” she said, holding up a hand and feeling like she probably should have been embarrassed by that, “No, I mean who’s a bastard? That’s just a clock.” She nodded to herself, quite sure she had said the right thing this time.

“Yes,” said James, smiling at her, apparently completely awake now that she was dozing off again, “But this isn’t just any clock. This is a clock that was once used in an elaborate prank. One I think that is potentially being repeated.” He added, muttering.

“Oh.” Said Lily. “What prank?” She asked, tilting her head at him.

“One that works brilliantly but is a complete bitch to be on the receiving end of.” He announced solemnly.

“Right.” Lily nodded, “But what actually happens?”

Another alarm started ringing and James just held up a hand. “This.”

“Alarms ring?” Lily asked as she headed towards the source of the noise, this time behind the curtains.

“Yeah, for ages.” James muttered, sitting down on the edge of the bed, carefully surveying the room. “When we did this at school we did it to the house master with all of the alarm-clocks we could find in the dorms, so it was doubly bad in that he got woken up at two in the morning, but none of us woke up for lessons.” James smiled as he reminisced and Lily couldn’t help smiling at him, sitting there in the gloom, talking about past pranks like an old man talking about his war stories.

“Proper rebels you Public Schoolboys.” Lily teased as she sat down next to him.

“Who said anything about Public school?” James asked, turning to her.

She laughed again, “You did when you said ‘House Master’. Also, where else do you sleep in a dorm? Unless you went to a posh sort of military camp?” Lily inquired.

“Why does it always have to be posh?” James grinned.

“Because you’re posh, you toss-pot.” Lily said, elbowing him when he scoffed. “You play rugby, this mansion here is just one of your houses, you went to boarding school. I don’t think there’s a better definition of the word posh than you. You even talk posh.” She added as he opened his mouth to speak.

He sighed and shook his head. “I think what you mean to say, dearest, is that I talk proper.” He said in a put-on posh voice, raising his eyebrows at her and leaning forward

“Ha! Like an old person more like. I bet you speak Latin and all.”

James didn’t say anything, but became incredibly interested in his feet all of a sudden.

Lily laughed again, and James gave a soft laugh, but didn’t look up from his feet.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing bad about being posh. Just means you’ve got some class.” She said. “Well,” she amended, “it means you’re meant to. I dunno about you lot, if you go around sticking alarm-clocks in walls. I think that just means you’re all barmy.”

Just as she finished speaking another alarm went off. They both groan quietly and Lily stood up to get it.

“It might be worth trying to find them all.” He suggested after she had defused it. She nodded. He sighed and stood up. “In that case, I should probably get my glasses.”

Lily laughed as he trundled off to his room. She turned and looked at her room. She couldn’t see any more clocks, but if James was to be believed, the room was infested with them. She closed her eyes for a second and let herself doze slightly as she stood on the soft carpet. She opened her eyes when she thought she might be in danger of falling. The carpet might have been soft and lovely, but her bed was looking softer and lovelier.

James returned a few seconds later with his glasses secured on his face along with a smile and they set about searching the room.

They continued whispering to each other as they spread out across the room, talking about school and about pranks. James admitted that the alarm-clock prank hadn’t actually been his idea, he had simply been part of the team that had put it into motion. “But to be fair,” he whispered indignantly, standing up from his search of the chest of drawers and looking at Lily’s reflection in the mirror, “if we hadn’t planted them, it would have just been a rather weak running joke. As it was, it became legendary.”

Lily snorted with laughter, “Alarm-clocks were legendary? How bad were your pranks?”

“Hey!” James held out alarm-clock filled arms in protest, “That was a brilliant one! I doubt you’ve ever done anything like that!”

Lily smirked and began to recount the year ten tampon prank as they worked. By the time she had finished there were fifteen alarm-clocks lined up on the dresser and James was rolling about on the bed in silent hysterics. Lily stood by the bed post and giggled silently at James who kept trying to get up, but kept laughing himself back down again.

“I’m sorry,” James managed to get out, “But what happened after that? How did they get them all do-down?” James asked, collapsing again. Lily just rolled her eyes at him, and tried not to laugh.

It might have the lateness of the hour, or the gratitude for his company, but Lily suddenly desperately didn’t want James to go back to bed. Even though it was gone three in the morning and even though neither of them really wanted to keep their eyes open anymore, all she wanted was for him to stay so she could sit and talk to him like this all night.

“Are you alright?” James asked, as he quietened down and managed to sit up properly.

“Yeah,” Lily answered, “It’s just-“ She paused and took a breath, “I hadn’t realised you were so nice.”

“Nice? I save you from hours of alarm-clock pain and all I get is nice?” James complained, nudging her with his foot.

“Hey, don’t dis niceness, it is a highly underrated characteristic. If there was a little more niceness in the world there wouldn’t be a need for cruel pranks.” She had moved so she was sitting further onto the bed, with her legs crossed.

“That’s true.” James conceded, although he couldn’t help himself from adding, “But would life be truly fun without them?”

Lily laughed and kicked him gently.

“Hey, smelly feet away please, these pyjamas are new.” He complained, batting away her left foot.

“And they’re really grown-up too.” Lily muttered.

“Hey!” James protested, laughing “They are wonderful! They’re incredibly comfy and I look super cool in them! There’s no age limit on cool!”

Lily smiled and stopped trying to kick him. “Since you couldn’t get through that sentence without laughing at yourself, I think we can both agree that they are ridiculously adorable and your friends definitely don’t know about them.”

James nodded slowly with a look of mock sadness on his face, staring down at his trousers.

Lily laughed again and swung her feet down onto the floor again. “So why do you think your brother and sister decided to do this to me then?”

“I don’t think my brother and sister decided anything,” James began darkly, “I think my sister decided and my brother went along with it so as not to cause trouble.”

“Bit ironic that, really.” Lily muttered.

James gave a little laugh, and then shook his head. “I don’t know. I think Alice resents the fact that mum wanted a nanny rather than just me, since my friends are here, and I suppose she doesn’t know how nice you are yet, so she doesn’t know that she shouldn’t prank you.” James said thoughtfully.

Lily blushed, hoping it was still too dark to see. “And she didn’t know about my pranking prowess.” She added.

James laughed. “Of course. That too.”

They sat on the bed in silence for a couple of seconds, before James spoke again.

“Look,” he pointed at a gap in the curtains, “the sun’s coming up.”

Lily leant over to see it from his eye-line and indeed the sun was coming up. The sun, of course, was on the other side of the house, but it’s light was making the sky turn from a deep navy to a soft blue.

“It’s very pretty.” Lily muttered, blinking as her watered. “But I don’t think I want to stay to see the rest. I think it’s bed time.” She closed her eyes and leant on James’ shoulder. She felt rather than heard him laugh, and then she felt nothing at all.

-

In the morning, the real morning where the sun is up and there aren’t a dozen alarm-clocks going off, Lily awoke to the sun streaming in on her face and something soft on her neck. She opened her eyes and peaked at her curtains through a veil of brown tufts. It was a mark of how tired she was that it took her a good few seconds to realise it was hair, and then a few seconds after that to realise that she didn’t have brown hair. She jerked awake and yelped as the owner of the soft brown stuff moved suddenly and, quite without meaning to, Lily pushed him off the bed.

He yelped and Lily gasped, before scrambling across to the edge of the massive bed and peering down at the mess of a man who was sprawled out on the floor.

“I’m so sorry!” She squeaked, her hand pressed to her mouth, “I didn’t know you were there! I didn’t think you’d end up on the floor!”

James groaned and sat up. He looked at her from over his crooked glasses. “I do a nice thing and I get shoved on the floor for it. Classy, Evans.”

A laugh escaped from behind Lily’s hand as he was picking himself up off the floor, and he turned sharply to look at her with a surprised and affronted expression on his face.

“Hey!” he cried.

“I’m sorry!” Lily tried to say in a sincere tone, but couldn’t help giggling as he glowered at her. “I didn’t know you were there!”

“It’s fine.” James said shortly, brushing lint off his pyjamas, not quite looking at her. “I come to your rescue, I put you to bed-“

“And then sleep in it too!” Lily interrupted indignantly.

“Well I didn’t mean to do that bit.” James muttered, rolling his eyes. “It was the middle of the night and I was knackered, of course I fell asleep. But even after all that,” he continued, changing back from his muttering to his dramatic ranting voice, “you just push me out of bed like a common whore.”

Lily burst out laughing, and buried her face into the duvet.

“Even now, she laughs at me!” James exclaimed. Lily peaked up to see him gesturing to her and then at the window as though there was an audience there to address.

“I’m sorry! I’m dreadfully grateful, I just can’t get over the fact that you couldn’t be bothered to walk ten paces back to your own room!” Lily laughed, rolling herself back to her side of the bed and under the duvet.

“It was very early.” James sighed sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“It still is.” Lily grumbled, glancing at the alarm-clocks all lined up on the dresser. She pulled the covers back up and closed her eyes.

“No, no, no, if I’m up then so are you, come on.” James protested, pulling the duvet back.

Lily moaned and pushed him away, but he grabbed the duvet and pulled it off the bed.

Lily scowled in his general direction but didn’t open her eyes. When she didn’t hear anything she opened them and looked around. James had gone, and it seemed he had taken her duvet with him.

“Bastard.” Lily muttered.

-

The sun was too hot and too bright and too painful and it was only half past ten.

Lily was sure she already had sunburn after only half an hour at the beach. She hadn’t had a chance to check, but she could feel how hot her face was, and there was a faint ache whenever she frowned too deeply, but she wasn’t getting seriously concerned. Not that she had much time to think about it. The Potter children were both so busy dragging her about everywhere that she was only half aware of anything.

She stood with one foot in the sand and the other on the stone steps, scanning the beach for any small child that might resemble one her charges, half hoping they had both been dragged into the depths of the rock pools. The beach was a lot busier today, with about a dozen families taking up residence on the sand, identifiable from their little umbrellas and large picnic blankets. More than one child was being forced into the shade and slathered with sun-cream as the sun reached its peak.

And yet, the two dark haired children who Lily had spent the morning chasing were definitely not among them.

They weren’t over by the deckchairs or picking their way across the rocks, and they almost definitely weren’t on the promenade. Lily gave a huff and pushed her hair off her sweaty forehead. If they wanted to hide, she was going to let them. It wasn’t like they had cared about her so far.

Neither James nor Lily had actually said anything about the alarm clocks, but from the glares and general haze of bad mood that circulated the breakfast table, it wasn’t hard to guess that something had happened. Nobody said anything, the boys sensing enough to know not to make any sudden moves, but Alice sat there the entire time with a smug grin on her face. Lily tried not to grind her teeth as she thought about it. That little-

“Eugh!”

Lily’s train of thought was interrupted by some large thing being thrown into her, knocking her into the sand. She groaned as she felt it roll around on top of her.

“Oh My God, I’m so sorry Lil!” the thing said, which was strange really. Things don’t tend to talk. Although, to be fair, this ‘thing’ did have a striking resemblance to a one, Marlene McKinnon.

“Eugh, so much sand.” The Marlene-shaped obstacle moaned as it crawled off Lily, leaving her lying on the ground.

“It’s a beach Marl, of course there’s sand.” Lily said dryly as she pushed herself up and onto the step that Marlene had crawled onto.

“What’s up your butt?” Marlene asked, nudged her knee against Lily’s once she was sitting comfortably.

“Nothing.” Lily grumbled, scowling out to sea.

“Oh yeah, it definitely sounds like nothing.” Marlene nodded, her sarcasm accompanied by another nudge of the knee.

Lily sighed. “It’s the children.” She muttered, folding her arms as she squinted about the beach.

“The munchkins you mean?” Marlene asked, turning to look at her.

“Yeah, although I can think of a few more fitting words than ‘munchkins’.” Lily mumbled.

Marlene snorted, “Yeah that sounds about right. Is that why you’re not with them now?”

“No, although that is definitely a factor,” Lily said darkly, “But no, it’s mainly because I can’t bleeding find them.”

Marlene laughed, “They’re over there, with the Weasleys.” She said lightly, as though this wasn’t a problem that had been giving Lily heartburn.

“Oh good. Not dead then.” She said without looking over at them.

“You sound so pleased.” Marlene laughed.

“Well as long as they’re alright, I don’t really mind what they do with themselves.” Lily said as she pulled her shoes off. Her socks were so saturated with sand they had turned yellow.

“You don’t want them to know you’re here.” Marlene accused, smirking at Lily as she purposefully didn’t look over.

“No, I don’t want them to know that I know where they are, because then they’ll just run off again. They’ve been doing that all morning.” She muttered, leaning her head against Marlene’s shoulder.

“Aw, poor Lily. Is your job of playing with children all day at the beach really hard?” Marlene teased, pouting her lip and jolting her shoulder up and down so Lily lifted her head up.

Lily pouted back at her. “Don’t be mean,” she whined, “You’re meant to be sympathetic and lovely and let me know all the little secrets you know about the munchkins so I can win them over and they can be my munchkin minions.” Lily’s eyebrows raised and her lips pursed as she nudged Marlene.

“Munchkin minions?” Marlene laughed, “Please tell me that’s not one of the nicknames you have for them. They will absolutely not go for that.” She shook her head at her best friend.

“See!” exclaimed Lily, “that’s the sort of thing I don’t know because I am a stranger! You are a good friend to the Potters, and so you know what these rascals are like. And,” she continued, her enthusiasm bubbling down to persuasion, “you’re also a good friend to me,” she said nudging Marlene again, “and so you’re going to tell me all the ways I can make them love me without really trying.”

Marlene didn’t even take a second to consider it, she just laughed.

“You’re completely ridiculous, Lily. There really aren’t any tricks with these two, you just have let the love grow.” She said simply, shrugging and smiling sweetly.

Lily scoffed and mimed throwing up. “’Let the love grow’. What are you?” she asked, shaking her head and turning away from her friend.

“I am a master and wise old scholar in the study of the Potters, and that is my expert advice.” Marlene said in such a stern way Lily looked up at her.

Lily opened her mouth to make a sarcastic comment, but stopped, taking in Marlene’s serious face. She sighed instead.

“Alright, I’ll just try and be nice.” Lily said, trying her very best not to roll her eyes.

“Good.” Marlene smiled. “Now, does trying your very best involved going over and talking to the Weasleys? Because it seems it might to me.” She raised an eyebrow at her, and Lily smiled.

“Why yes, of course it does, dearest Marlene. And,” she added, noting which members of the ginger family Marlene’s eyes fell upon, “it also means potentially conversing with the Prewett brothers as well. Only I don’t know if that would be the best use of my time if I am to apply myself to appeasing the munchkins. Perhaps you would be free to come and help me fulfil such obligation?” Lily asked, keeping her face very straight as Marlene’s became very animated.

“Well,” Marlene sighed slightly, watching as Gideon let one of his nephews ride on his back and Fabian threw a ball towards Alice, “if I must.”

Lily smirked and shook her head, “Come on then.” She said, standing up and brushing the sand off her jeans.

Marlene followed her quietly, smiling widely.

“Hey!” Fabian’s eyes sparkled and he grinned hugely in greeting as they neared. He knelt in the sand a couple of metres away from where the umbrella was pitched, throwing a large inflatable ball back and forth with Alice.

Lily smiled and gave a little wave back.

“Have you come to reclaim your munchkins?” he asked, not managing to dodge the ball that Alice threw at him. Lily laughed as it bounced of his head.

“Yes. Well, sort of. If they want to be reclaimed.” Lily shrugged. “Or if they’re perfectly happy then we’re perfectly happy to spend the afternoon here, I just thought I should probably be within reach at least.”

Fabian laughed, “In case anything exciting happens?” he winked

Lily laughed, trying not to sound too bitter, “More if anything dreadful happens. I am sort of responsible.” She shrugged, avoiding looking at the munchkins she was responsible for.

Fabian looked a bit surprised, but not enough to knock the smile off his face, “Are you expecting dreadful things?”

Lily opened her mouth and didn’t answer, instead pausing before letting a laugh fall out of it, “You never know.” She shrugged again, this time pointedly looking at Alice who was currently wrestling Marlene into the ground.

Lily and Fabian watched the two play-fighting for a couple of seconds before Fabian turned back to Lily.

“She doesn’t seem to be a monster to me.” He said pointedly.

As if to emphasise this, peals of giggling floated over to them as Alice started tickling Marlene. Lily sighed, a trickle of guilt running through her mind.

“They’re not dreadful, I’m just tired and rubbish at this. They really don’t want to be told what to do by me, they keep running away.” She groaned, rolling her head back and looking up at the sky as though searching for answers. Then she let her head drop forward and flopped down on the sand next to Fabian.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily could see Fabian shake his head and tuck his head down to hide his gigantic grin. She pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling and kept her eyes on the horizon to avoid his gaze as he turned back to look at her.

“They’re not actually dreadful.” He said finally, nudging her shoulder with his.

Lily sighed, “I know, I’m just tired.” She muttered, wishing she had brought sunglasses.

“And it’s only day one!” Fabian sighed dramatically, throwing his hands mockingly into the air, laughing as he did. He grinned at her and she just scowled. This just made him grin more. When he started laughing she turned away from him and set her face into a decided frown, pressing her lips together. She stared at Marlene who was playing with Alice and the three little Weasley boys, but out of the corner of her eye she could see Fabian making faces at her. She pressed her lips together even tighter as she felt them twitching. By the time Gideon came over Fabian’s face was contorting itself into something inhuman and Lily’s lips were pressed together so tightly they were practically non-existent.

Gideon laughed as he came to stand in front of them. “You alright there, Lily?”

She looked up at him and felt a bubbling in her chest. Gideon’s face, usually so animated, looked so concerned that she couldn’t stop a long and loud laugh bursting out. She felt rather than heard Fabian join in as she fell against him. Gideon’s face was a hilarious combination of bemusement, concern, and a gigantic grin. This did nothing to stop Lily and

Fabian laughing.

“Sorry, Gid, it’s just a bit of a weird day.” Lily managed to get out when she finally caught her breath. He nodded at her, but his concerned look didn’t go away.

“Nah, it’s alright Lil, it’ll get better now that you’re here with us!” Fabian proclaimed, grinning at her and making a sweeping gesture with his arm towards his family.

Lily laughed politely, but raised her eyebrows dubiously. Gideon snorted, as Fabian nodded self-consciously and blushed slightly, sitting back on the sand.

“What is happening over here?” Marlene’s voice cut through all the laughter and general silliness in a muffled sort of way. When Lily finally made it to wiping the tears from her eyes and focusing on the voice, she saw that Marlene was being ridden like a pony by a small ginger child. The child was giggling almost as much as Lily and Fabian, and kept trying to use most of Marlene’s hair as reigns. The rest of it was swinging in her face, blinding her. Marlene swatted half-heartedly at a pudgy hand gripping onto her tousled locks before leaving him be.

Lily laughed again and smiled at her friend as Marlene pouted and grimaced as she let her head be dragged up and down by the little boy.

“Having fun?” Lily asked grinning, as she sat up properly to observe her friend.

Before Marlene could respond with something snide, the boy pulled sharply on her hair in two opposite directions.

“Charlie!” Marlene cried, trying to get away from the hair falling, but also trying not to let the boy fall. She slipped forwards on the sand onto her forearms and for a worrying moment Charlie wobbled dangerously. Before anything had a chance to turn dramatic, a tall red-headed man swooped in.

“Come on, you little tyke, stop with all that now.” The man grinned as the boy laughed and reached out to snatch his glasses off his narrow face.

Lily watched Gideon and Fabian laughing. She saw when the tall man handed Charlie over how comfortable their little nephew was with them and for entirely selfish reasons felt slightly bitter. She had never been that good with a child, and she definitely wasn't as loved by her current charges as the twins were by Charlie. In fact they pretty much hated her.

She had thought that several times throughout the day, from the alarm clock prank to the real beginning of the day. They had all started the morning, after a subdued and painfully drowsy breakfast, with a run from the house to the beach. Lily had not been warned that there would be running, so had had to chase after Alice and Jon with her bag banging against her hip and her jeans feeling awfully tight. By the time they got to the hill above Porthead, Lily was very close to passing out. Her chest was tight, her vision was blurry and she felt like she was melting inside her clothes. Of course Alice and Jon didn’t stop. When Lily had looked up they were already at the promenade and making a swift course towards the beach. It took her about an hour to find them hiding in amongst the rock pools, and even then she wasn’t entirely sure it was them and not just some hallucination she was having.

After that they had made every attempt to get away from her and her attempts to get them back had become more and more half-hearted. By the time Marlene found her she was very prepared to let them disappear and never be seen again.

Lily sighed. She knew it would take quite some time to have the sort of familial relationship with the Potter children that Gideon and Fabian had with their nephews, but why couldn't the two monsters at least try to be a little bit nice to her?

Lily cast her eyes over to where the munchkins were sitting with the twins' sister and the other small ginger children. The older woman was liberally applying sun cream to any face that came within her reach, not caring if it belong to her own child or not. Well, at least somebody was taking proper care of them.

Lily was shocked out of the midst of all this deep thought and self-pity by Marlene's face appearing upside down in front of her own. It was quite red and grinning. At the same time her fingers dug sharply into Lily's shoulders as she grabbed them. Obviously this wasn't expected so Lily jumped and managed to bash heads with Marlene and knock her off balance, sending them both toppling back onto the sand.

"Oh come on!" Lily groaned. She was half lying on top of Marlene and half buried in all the sand that had been kicked up when they fell. She rolled to her left and slumped onto the sand.

"It's not my fault!" Marlene moaned back, rubbing her forehead.

"I know," Lily said apologetically, "I didn't mean it was, it's just a bit of a bad day." She tried to sigh but it turned into a yawn. she frowned and damned the night for not coming quicker.

"A bad day? In Porthead? Never." Marlene hissed, glaring around at the beach.

Lily frowned. a second ago Marlene had been all laughter and sunshine. She had willingly acted as pony for a child. She had laughed at laughter and smiled at sunshine. Now she looked as if someone had just told her Take That were disbanding for a second time.

Marlene grunted something at Lily which dragged her back from the drowsy depths of thought were she was dwelling on 90s bands disbanding.

"What did you say?" Lily asked quickly, hoping that Marlene hadn't noticed she had been drifted away.

Marlene just glared at her.

"Is something wrong, Marl?" Lily asked tentatively.

"That! That's what's wrong!" Marlene cried, throwing her hands into the air. "Well, no it's not." she added glumly, leaning back on the sand, almost level with Lily who was still lying out where she had fallen. Marlene looked at her for a second and then frowned. "Well, no actually it sort is I think."

"What is?" Lily asked, confused by the many changes in Marlene's mood.

"You haven't really paid attention to me today."

Lily couldn't stop herself from laughing, "You're not a dog, Marl! You're a person who has more friends than just me, I don't want to stifle you with my presence."

"No, that's not what I mean. I don't want your constant attention, I mean, as adorable as I would be as a puppy, you are correct in pointing out that I am not one." Marlene flipped her hair out of her eyes in a very showy way that made Lily laugh. "What I meant was," she continued, "You haven't noticed how down I've been today."

"But you've been fine today! You were a pony!" Lily exclaimed.

"Exactly!" Marlene's voice was so sharp and squeaky so much that Lily was having doubts about her not being a puppy. "I let a child touch me, Lily. What more do you need to know that I'm not okay?"

Marlene let her lips twitch into a smile as Lily snorted.

"Okay, fair enough." Lily grinned, "So what's wrong?"

Marlene sighed and blew her fringe out of her face. "It's a lot of things." she said solemnly.

"Okay, well if we haven't got time for everything, what would you say is the most prominent?" Lily asked, pushing herself into a sitting position. This was so she could see Marlene properly but also so that she had some level of privacy from the others as she spoke.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Marlene mumbled, looking away from Lily, instead focusing intently on digging a hole in the sand with her finger.

"Are you joking?" Lily looked at her, not sure whether to laugh or be afraid. "You always want to talk about it." When Marlene didn't reply but just continued digging her little hole, Lily said, "Okay, well is there a part of it you do want to talk about?"

“I still haven’t found anyone to be Musical Director for this effing summer performance.” Marlene whined.

Lily laughed, but shook her head, “Nope, not talking about that anymore. I can’t do it and I don’t know anyone round here, so that is completely on you, my friend.”

Marlene observed her for a minute before saying slowly, “You’re a cold-hearted bitch sometimes Evans.”

“Whoa!” Lily cried, laughing, but noticing that Marlene was slow to join in.

Marlene just shrugged, although she did grin apologetically.

“How about something else? Something that doesn’t involve that wretched performance.” Lily said sternly.

Marlene nodded. She dug in silence for a few seconds before bursting out with: "I haven’t seen Sirius in ages, and I only have so much time being in such close proximity and I’m totally wasting it being on this stinking beach.”

While Marlene’s outburst had been quite a subdued one, in hushed tones and slightly slower than the usual outbursts, Lily still felt a bit like she had just been shouted at.

“Okay, why don’t you come round for dinner?” Lily asked, not entirely sure that was the best thing to say but it was the closest thing she could think of that resembled a plan.

Marlene just nodded. Then she sighed and sat up, letting her hand brush across the little hole, filling it in. "You know, I really don't want to talk about it much, I just kind of
wanted you to pay attention to me."

“Well it’s too late for that now, I’ve got a plan forming in this here brain of mine.” Lily smirked at her friend who frowned back. “Come on Marl, I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to.” Lily wheedled. Marlene just glared at her. “Please, Marl? Come for dinner.”

Marlene considered it for a minute and then said, “But it’s well past dinner time now.” She checked her watch, sounding slightly confused.

Lily frowned, “No it’s not, it’s only about 3pm.”

“Yeah,” Marlene said looking up at her, “it’s way past dinner time.”

Lily sat there in confusion for a minute before she noticed the growing smile on Marlene’s face. Then she sighed and let her face drop into a highly unimpressed expression.
“Dinner is an evening meal, you sloppy southerner!” Lily cried, getting slightly too close to Marlene’s face.

Marlene just laughed at her. "It's okay Lil, I know you meant tea. And yes, that sounds lovely."

"Great!" Lily beamed at her.

Marlene sighed and shook her head at her, "And yes, I will help with the munchkins up until then."

Lily's smile became even bigger. "Even better."

"Yes. Now come on, let's stop being antisocial. You haven't even properly met Molly and Arthur." Marlene said, getting up and then grabbing Lily's wrists to drag her up as well.

"Well, no, but I don't want to be rude and interrupt-" Lily began.

"Lily Evans," Marlene interrupted, "You need to stop being such a coward. Go to the children you are in charge of and meet the lovely people who have given you a couple of hours off." she ordered.

"Yes Ma'am." Lily replied, matching her response with a salute.

"Good soldier. Now, quick march."

They marched over to the family where Lily was formerly introduced to the tall man and the twins' sister, Arthur and Molly, who were as affection with Lily as they were with Marlene.

There was a moment when Arthur and Marlene were teasing Gideon about something and Fabian was playing with the children, when Molly reached over and patted Lily on the shoulder.

"It's alright dear, you get used to it all." She said so reassuringly that Lily felt a rush of warmth and smiled at her. Then she frowned, not really sure what Molly had meant. She didn't get a chance to ask what however as the youngest of the little boys - who Lily had discovered was called Percy - waddled up to Molly crying about something or other.

Lily sat thinking for a second and then shook it off. She had probably meant the children. They were a handful after all.

Chapter Text

For the second day in a row Lily was awake to see the sunrise, and just like yesterday, she wasn’t entirely happy about it.

Somewhere at around half past ten Alice had said dreamily that they might as well stay up all night. Before Lily or James or someone sensible could tell her that of course they weren’t going to do that, Marlene had yelled out an agreement and they had started to make plans for what to do during the night. Lily and James had shared a slightly despairing look as Sirius had laughed and joined in. It was already late, and they were all quite tired. They had just finished the first of, what would turn out to be, seven films, and they were all full of popcorn and pizza, sprawled out on the sofas in the main room. Strangely, Lily had never been in this room before, even though it was only a few doors down from the kitchen. It was large with a squishy ‘L’ shaped sofa as well as various bean-bags scattered around the room, and large portrait photographs on the wall of all three children. James had blushed slightly when Lily had pointed them out initially, and then groaned loudly when the boys started ripping into him about them.

“Thanks a bunch.” He glared at Lily.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “If you didn’t want your friends to make fun of you, you shouldn’t have such huge pictures of yourself lying around.”

James frowned at her, visibly trying not to laugh, “That is a ridiculous statement.”

“Nowhere near as ridiculous as that photo of you on the horse.” Lily said pointedly, nodding at a photograph of James on a rocking horse bedecked with ribbons. He looked to be about fifteen at the time.

James groaned and quickly changed the subject, hurrying Alice to pick a DVD.

It was, some might say, a shame, as well as the humouring one receives as a child,  that they had allowed Alice to pick the film, and an even bigger one that none of them had paid her much attention when she put it on to play. It wasn’t until the singing and subtitles started that they collectively realised what they had let themselves in for.

“Is this-?” Remus frowned.

“Why-?” Sirius began to grumble.

“Alice!” James and Jon said in unison.

Alice beamed at them before breaking into a terrifying peal of giggles.

Lily watched the reactions with a touch of amusement, and a large spoonful of sympathy. Nobody should be tricked into participating in a Mamma Mia sing-a-long. She opened her mouth to say as much, but before she could even try and defend the boys, Marlene’s laughter cut across everything.

“I love Mamma Mia! Oh Lil! Remember when we did that sing-a-long last year? What a genius idea, Al!”

“Oh yeah!” Lily laughed, remembering the impromptu musical spectacular in Marlene’s neighbour Grace’s room. It had been somewhat of a turning point in their friendship with Grace, and had solidified her as co-chief theatre-visit-coordinator, alongside Lily. Since Marlene had always hated the theatre this made her quite outnumbered. As much as the sing-a-long was cringey and a terrible form of torture, it had also led to Lily being able to go and see Wicked with another human being, and so as far as she was concerned, sing-a-longs could do nothing but good.

Marlene’s enthusiasm was infectious and Lily felt her negativity drop away. There was, she supposed, still hope for the others to see a child-like happiness that can be found in the bright-lights of musicals.

Lily glanced over at the sofa where the five boys were all squashed on together and held in a laugh.

Their faces, collectively, were the picture of discomfort.

Individually they told very different stories, however.

James and Jon were both somewhat annoyed and embarrassed, but entirely prepared to humour their sister. Remus looked amused if a little defeated at the idea of having to sing. Peter looked like he was dying to join in with Alice’s shrill little voice and Marlene’s cracking belt, but he kept shooting glances at the others, Sirius in particular, who had a face like thunder.
Lily got the feeling that if Alice were his sister there would be no humouring of bad film choices. She caught James’ eye just as the song reached its peak and suddenly they were both smothering laughter rather than discomfort. She looked away.

It was on the fourth song that Marlene decided it was time to dance. Frankly Lily was surprised it had taken so long. It wasn’t like Marlene was ever afraid of an audience. She wasn’t surprised, however, when she felt a poke in the ribs and a hand around her wrist.

“Come on, Lily, you’re my dance partner!” Marlene cries as she dragged the girl to her feet.
Lily laughed and let herself be dragged around.
“No, come on, you have to sing as well! The full effect of the insanity that is sing-a-long Mamma Mia is singing and dancing like a loony At The Same Time.” Marlene somehow managed to be stern whilst flopping around. She had put away all of her years of dance training for tonight and had instead embraced the good old fashioned principle of ‘doing whatever the heck you feel like’.

Lily tried to answer seriously but ended up laughing again. “I’m sorry, Marl, I’m just not the dancer you are!”

Marlene groaned and then huffed, completely ignoring Lily’s sarcasm as she turned her attention to the boys still sitting uncomfortably on the sofa, clearly trying their best not to get caught in Marlene’s sights. They were doing a very poor job of it.
“Why are you lot so grumpy? This is quite literally the cheesiest and happiest thing in the world.” Marlene cried. Lily started cracking up at the combination of Marlene’s dance moves and stern face, mixed with her ridiculous exaggeration.
When the boys’ faces stayed exactly the same Marlene pursed her lips and took a step forward.
Lily saw Peter lean back, in synch with Marlene and throw a terrified glance at James who was trying to hide a smile.

At that moment Lily felt a small hand in hers and then next second herself flying across the room. Alice, it seemed, had been tasked with not letting Marlene’s good work go to waste, and suddenly Lily was weak from laughter as she danced around the sofa with Alice.

“This is ridiculous!” Lily laughed

“But it’s so much fun!” Alice squealed, spinning around so that her skirt fluttered around her. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were fixed on the TV screen as she tried to follow the dance, and then every couple of second she would just start spinning around instead, giggling.

She beamed as Lily tried to join in with the dance, and they ended up half tangled up in each other. Lily ended up on the floor, but Alice somehow had kept her balance and was still dancing despite her lack of Lily.
From her spot on the floor round the side of the sofa, Lily saw Marlene pulling Remus around the room with her and Alice had moved on quickly and was now in the process of getting Jon to stand up and shuffle about a little bit with her.

In amongst the laughter and embarrassment, Lily saw her chance for a break and clambered up using the arm of the sofa and part of James’, and dived for Remus’ recently vacated seat. She moved so eagerly that she landed half on Sirius’ lap, with her feet dangling over Peter’s legs.

Peter and James started laughing. Sirius did not. His face was stony and unimpressed.

Lily bit her lip and pushed herself away from him. “Are you not a Dancing Queen, then Sirius?” She asked innocently, humming along. She saw James snort on the other side of Sirius, and heard Peter’s giggle in her ear but Sirius was glaring at her as though she had just offended his family.

She laughed again and then threw her arm around him. “Aw, poor Sirius. Don’t you know that you’re young and sweet? Even if you’re not seventeen anymore.” Lily told him matter-of-factly, trying not to laugh.

He just shook his head slowly. “Please don’t touch me.”

His cold response just made Lily snort with laughter, and around them James and Peter started laughing openly as well.

“I’m sorry, dearest,” she said sweetly, and then in the heat of the moment pressed a kiss to his cheek before moving her arm away.

There was an awkward second where the world seemed to wait upon Sirius’ reaction. Lily wasn’t sure whether he was about to punch her or be sick as he glared directly at her. And then she saw his lip twitch quickly before he looked away.

Lily gasped and let out a chuckle. “Aha! A smile! I saw that, Black! You smiled! You like this!” she accused.

“Wha- No! I didn’t- well I did, but that doesn’t mean I like this!” Sirius stuttered, struggling to maintain his cool exterior.

Lily just kept laughing. “I saw it and I know what it means.” His face started to turn red. She could feel herself filling with sickening smugness but couldn’t quite stop it, and instead started to poke his cheeks. “It means that somewhere in here,” she took a second to poke his chest before returning to his face, “is someone who just wants to dance, but can’t because what man dances to ABBA?”

“Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan do.” Peter pointed out loudly and excitedly, reaching forwards to grab the DVD case and wave it in the air, and accidentally managing to whack Remus around the face with it as he passed by.
Lily turned to see if Remus was okay, but Alice had dragged him away too quickly to tell.

“Yeah, but they’re getting paid shitloads.” Sirius snapped.

“What about Remus?” James pointed out.

They all turned to watch their friend do something which looked like the Macarena had some regrets about a night spent with the cha-cha-slide.

“You know,” Lily whispered conspiratorially, “I really don’t think we can count that as dancing.”

“Aren’t you trying to convince him to get into the spirit of it, not remind him of how silly he’ll look?” James asked, grinning. Sirius briefly turned his frown on his friend as Lily took a second to chuckle.

“No,” Lily said boldly, “what I’m doing is letting him see how great a need there is for a strong male dancing role model out there. Do you really want to leave that responsibility up to people like Remus? People who don’t even seem to be able to count to eight?”

Lily could see James shaking with silent laughter as Sirius just frowned at her.

After a moment of strong silence Lily broke.

“Fine.” She said tersely and for a second Sirius looked hopeful that she might give up. It could not have been clearer that he didn’t know her very well. She took a deep breath and said, “I dare you to.”

Sirius snorted, “I’m sorry, are we thirteen? Haven’t we gotten past dares being the be-all and end-all?” he scoffed.

Lily answered with a stern gaze and a less than stern shrug.

“No, but come off it, we’re not really teenagers anymore, are we?” he half laughed.

“Aren’t we?” Lily asked in that way teachers sometimes do when they know the answer, “I’m not twenty until January. When’s your twentieth?”

Sirius’ face had turned back into a scowl. “September.”

Lily smiled sweetly back at him. “Well then. Up you get. I dare you to.”

Sirius continued glaring as Lily continued smiling.

“I dare you to.” She repeated smugly.

Sirius sighed. “Next song, this one’s pretty much over.” He mumbled.

Lily beamed in triumph.

“But I dare you to join me.” Sirius said quickly, his smugness rising quickly to match Lily’s.

She just winked at him. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Sirius gave her a begrudging smile.

They did indeed dance along to the next song, shocking the others with both their enthusiasm and with their lack of rhythm. By the fifth song they were all being ridiculous and by the end of the film they were sorry there wasn’t another. But when Alice suggested another cheesy Rom-Com musical swiftly off the back of her all-nighter suggestion, they all groaned and called for something else. Sirius was demanding another film saying he would have nightmares otherwise.

“And nothing quite so girly. My manliness desires some action!” he cried from the top of the sofa where he was balancing with a cushion held on his arm like a shield.

“So not Legally Blonde then?” Marlene asked, waggling the DVD case in his direction.

“Nay, maiden, I fear that would not satisfy my bloodlust.” He answered, skilfully avoiding James and Peter’s attempts to knock him off the back of the sofa.

“Gladiator?” Jon suggested from the beanbag in the corner of the room.

“Yes!” Sirius and Lily cried in unison.

“The battle scenes!” Sirius grinned at Lily who laughed.

“The music.” she disagreed loudly, shaking her head before lobbing the half full popcorn packet at him. As he reached out to catch it he lost his balance and tumbled face first onto the sofa. The boys crowed, Lily laugh, and their film night became a marathon.

After Gladiator came a fierce debate about whether there was enough time to get through all of the Lord of the Rings films and still get enough sleep to function for the next day. In amongst the argument in which Remus and James were arguing fiercely in favour of bed and sleep and all things comfortable, and Marlene and Sirius who were both red faced and valiantly defending Lord of the Rings, Peter and Jon started a low key contest of catching popcorn in their mouths. Lily, after nearly being hit in the head by popcorn at least five times, ducked and crawled her way over to Alice who was sitting by the DVD player watching the others acting like children.

“Do you reckon we could just leave them it?” Lily asked, slumping down on her belly so as to avoid flying confectionary.

Alice pursed her lips, wrinkled her nose and then shook her head quickly. “No, we should make up their minds for them.” She was so certain in her response that Lily found herself nodding before she had actually formed a coherent thought on the topic.

“What do you have in mind?” Lily whispered, letting herself join Alice in an evil smirk.

Never before had sliding a DVD into a machine been an act of treachery, but to look at James and Remus’ faces as the opening credits rolled one would have thought it was a crime punishable by firing squad.

“Alice! Lily!” James stood like a football player being called out for a foul, and he shouted like one too. But just like the average referee, Lily and Alice didn’t care a jot for James’ opinion.

“You lot need to hush up!” Lily said sternly. “If you don’t want to watch the film, then go to bed. You are master of yourself, stop enforcing your decisions on others!” She finished grandly, waving her arms in the air before using their confused silence to flop down onto the sofa, specifically taking the best seat.

“Uh-huh.” Marlene nodded solemnly, casting a stern glance at the others who didn’t look in any way as if they were about to disagree. “Mama Lily has spoken.”

Lily took a second to process that before looking at Marlene. She let all of the confusion and revulsion she felt seep into her facial expression until her face was twisted almost beyond human limits.

“Mama Lily?” she left the question in the air between them.

Marlene turned and winked at her. “You’re welcome.”

Lily just let her face drop into a glare. “You’re the worst.”

She saw Marlene’s shoulders shake slightly as she leant back against the arm of the sofa.

-

The room was dark and a little stuffy. The TV was glowing in the blackness with the menu screen flickering over and over again, although someone had set it on silent. It was only when Lily sat up that she realised that she had been leaning against Sirius’ shoulder. He was still fast asleep, as were the other boys. Marlene and Alice on the other hand, were nowhere in sight.

When one has lived alongside Marlene Mackinnon for as long as Lily Evans had, one would be a complete fool not to be made suspicious by her absence, and Lily Evans was no fool.
She lifted herself up off the sofa as silently as possibly, trying not to jostle the others, and tip-toed over Remus who, for some reason, was sprawled on the floor with neither pillow nor blanket.

The hallway was as dead as the lounge had been, but somewhere in the distance Lily was sure she could hear the faint sound of laughter. Not being one for horror films, she didn’t give a thought to any consequences as she headed towards the sound.

At the end of the hall she found herself in the billiard room, and from there she could see, through the glass doors at the other end of the room, the entrance-hall. More specifically, Lily could see what looked like giant snowflakes falling to the ground. It was probably a mark of how out of it she still was that it took her over a minute to realise that it doesn’t snow inside and that those weren’t snowflakes.
When she finally looked closer she realised that the non-snowflakes weren’t even all white and most were made of cotton and all of them were pants which had been packed in Lily’s suitcase when she had last seen them.

Lily moved closer to the falling underwear and looked up to see where they were coming from. She was a little bit ashamed at how surprised she was when she saw Marlene and Alice leaning against the bannister, pants in hand, aiming at the chandelier.

Lily frowned, glaring at them. She willed them to look at her so she could let them see how annoyed she was, but they were deep in conversation, and when she heard her name, she found herself rooted to the spot.

“Poor Lily!” Alice was giggling as she threw, bouncing up and down with the hilarity of it all.

Oddly, Marlene herself seemed quite far off doing the same. Her face was the picture of determination, and Lily was sure she looked angry about something. Although her voice was not totally devoid of humour as she muttered just loudly enough for Lily to hear from downstairs,
“I don’t even feel bad, this is hilarious if she’s annoyed and still hilarious if she’s not.”

“Do you think she will be?” Alice asked turning to look at Marlene’s not entirely un-sour face.

“Nah, Lily knows how to take a joke. Besides, even if she is annoyed by this, I’m still annoyed at her.”

“What are you annoyed at her for?” Alice’s little voice unknowingly doing Lily’s bidding.

“Oh, this and that. Mrs Rogers performance mainly.” Marlene’s voice was a little thick and even from this far away, Lily could hear the lie in it.

“Oh, right.” Alice said quietly.

“Why?” Marlene asked so suddenly that Alice gave a little jump.

“Huh?” she spluttered.

“I mean, you asked that like you were also had a bone to pick with her.” Marlene accused.

Alice went a little bit red and bit her lip, apparently steeling herself to speak. She took a deep breath and then said, “I don’t like her.”

Of the two people listening, only Marlene was surprised by this. Lily had felt the animosity coming from the little girl for most of the time they had been in each other’s company. Even in the fun of the dancing last night, she hadn’t felt fully accepted by the girl.

“What? Why? Lily’s lovely!” Marlene cried. Lily felt something glow bright inside her. Even when angry with her, Marlene was still Lily’s best friend.

Lily noticed that Alice didn’t meet Marlene’s eye, but instead focused intently on the chandelier, her hands now empty.

“Alice,” Marlene sighed, turning to face the little girl, “it’s not what we were talking about at Easter is it?”

Alice nodded without looking up at Marlene.

Marlene sighed again. “Alice, that is not going to happen. And even if it was, Lily would have no idea about it! Not least because she’s the most ridiculously unobservant person I’ve ever met-” Lily had to stop herself from snorting at this – “but because she thinks I like Sirius.”

Lily saw Alice recoil and scowl up at Marlene.

“Sirius? But he’s gross!” She whined.

Marlene gave a laugh, “Yeah, he is. Which is why I don’t. But I need her to think that I do.” she said conspiratorially.

Lily felt like recoiling now. Marlene liking Sirius had been a staple of her life for the past year. They had planned nights out around him, they had spent hours discussing how to get him to realise she liked him. Admittedly, Lily had never seen the boy before this summer – not actually knowing who he is anyway - but she had always presumed that there was something between them. And it wasn’t like there wasn’t. They seemed to be flirting most of the time, and they did get on really well. But if Marlene said she didn’t even like him, then why-

Marlene was speaking again, so Lily quickly cut her inner monologue short and tuned back in.

“It’s okay, Alice, I promise that James doesn’t like me. And neither does Sirius. There is no boy under this house who is in any way attracted or, in fact, attractive to me.” Marlene stated, folding her arms. “I promise.” She added with a flick of her eyebrows and a deepened tone that suggested she was somewhat dissatisfied with the selection of boys. “But Lily on the other hand,” She carried on with a smirk, “is another matter entirely.”

Lily found herself listening even more intently.

“What plan did you have in mind for me and James, Alice? Because I think it can be re-adjusted somewhat.”

Even from thirty feet away, Lily could see Marlene’s scheming face. Even more worryingly, she thought the look on Alice’s face might just be the little girl equivalent of it.

“Come on,” Marlene said turning to the stairs, “We’re done here and I’m hungry. Let’s go and see what’s in the kitchen.”

Lily drew back and hid as they passed, but she still saw Marlene’s face drop as Alice looked away from her. Despite the talk of scheming, something was still bothering her.

Originally Lily had intended to make some sort of noise or to make herself more visible so they would see her and stop, but sometimes a girl just has to eavesdrop, and it seemed that this had been one of those times. It wasn’t something she wanted to make a habit of, but she was quite grateful for Marlene getting Alice to explain her behaviour, even if it wasn’t to Lily. Only now it was Marlene who Lily was worried about.

She frowned to herself as she stepped into the hall and looked up at the chandelier. As much as this underwear prank was inconvenient, and as much as she would have found it funny had she discovered it herself, Lily couldn’t help feeling that Marlene hadn’t done this to be funny.
There had only been a few times over the years when they hadn’t discussed something that had upset them, and so Lily was sure that whatever it was must have been serious. And looking up at the glass reflecting the dawn through the cotton underwear, she was certain that this was about more than just a local amateur dramatics performance.

-

Lily’s bedroom was pale in the dawn light, but she could still see the mess that the two girls had made in their attempt to find her underwear. She sighed, and forced herself to smile about it as she picked her clothes up off the floor. She hadn’t yet tried to get her undergarments off the chandelier, but had managed to gather all of the ones that had been left on the floor and so she proceeded to fold them and put them away. The only difficulty with silent physical activity is the amount of time it gives you to think, and Lily had suddenly found herself with a lot to think about.

By the time the sun had risen, Lily’s head was spinning and she had worked herself up to the point where she wasn’t even sure of her own name anymore. Marlene not really liking Sirius had begun to seem more like a symptom than the true problem, and the plan Marlene and Alice were putting together had grown itself into a giant of insensitivity and selfishness which towered over what Lily considered the surface issue of Lily not wanting to be Marlene’s musical director. Her thoughts were bouncing all over the place. Lily sat on the bed and looked out the window and let herself realise that the Marlene issue, as she was now calling it, was not going to be solved by Lily overthinking it.

She shook her head and took a breath and thought her first straight thought of the morning.

She needed to talk to Marlene.

-

The kitchen was louder than Lily expected it to be. Not for the first time that night – morning? – were Lily’s expectations being struck down, but not before had they been destroyed in such a loud fashion.

Meghan Trainor was bellowing from the speakers and it was to this background it appeared that Marlene was teaching Alice how to slut drop.

Even with the Marlene Problem looming over her, Lily couldn’t help but laugh, and when she laughed Marlene noticed her which just made Lily laugh more because she was halfway to the floor looking like a deer in the headlights. A very slutty deer.

“What is this?” Lily asked through her laughter.

Marlene stood up slowly, trying not to look guilty. Lily laughed again.

“It is never too soon to know the essentials of dance.” Marlene declared. Alice nodded sternly in agreement next to her.

Lily looked at Marlene and it wasn’t more than a few seconds before they were both giggling and arguing over how to do the perfect slut drop. It wasn’t a large step from that to doing a fully choreographed dance to Uptown Funk on the breakfast bar, and from there the Cupid Shuffle whilst frying eggs.

“How do we always get to this point?” Lily asked Marlene breathlessly through her laughter and a cloud of smoke coming from the frying pan.

“What do you mean always? This only happens once or twice a week!” Marlene cried pirouetting on the tiles and narrowly missing kicking Alice in the face with her foot as she flicked herself around. Alice ducked quickly to the floor and crawled away. Lily laughed after making sure Alice still had a head and turned back to the eggs.

In amongst the morning dance session Lily hadn’t forgotten how desperately she needed to talk to Marlene, but she couldn’t bear to be the one to stop the fun. So it was lucky, in some ways, that Sirius had such a small bladder.

“What the hell?!”

His shout echoed through the house and over the music in the kitchen, making Lily drop the egg carton onto the counter and Marlene and Alice to grin at each other. Lily looked towards the door and then at the two girls who were now watching her with expectant faces.

“What?” Lily asked, tentatively.

“Nothing.” Alice answered quickly, still grinning.

“Should we-?” Lily pointed at the door.

“I think so.” Marlene nodded and held out an arm indicating that Lily should go first.

Lily left the eggs on the counter and walked out of the kitchen with Marlene and Alice close behind. It was only when they got halfway down the hall did she remember about the flurry of underwear sitting on top of the chandelier.

She quickened her pace.

In the entrance-hall Sirius was standing looking up at the chandelier in confusion. He was still bleary eyed and looked like he had just woken up, which, Lily thought, he probably had.

Lily groaned as the scene came into view, and she heard Marlene and Alice giggling behind her.

“Marl!” She cried, spinning around to look at her as soon as she set foot in the entrance-hall.

Marlene didn’t even try to answer, she just stood there laughing.

“What’s going on?” Sirius asked, looking at the girls.

“Marlene and Alice have played a trick on me.” Lily muttered as she glared up at the chandelier. Part of her reaction was act, but a lot of her was just realising that she would actually have to come up with a way to get everything down.

“Oh.” Sirius said. Then he nodded. “Seems like a good one.”

Lily just glared at him. “If you aren’t going to help would you mind not commenting?”

He snorted, “Oh, I think you’re beyond help.”

Lily crossed her arms and scowled. Then Marlene snorted behind her and Lily remembered who was responsible.

“How do I get all this down?” Lily demanded.

Marlene smiled sweetly. “I could tell you, but it occurs to me that I have a certain amount of leverage that I didn’t have before.”

Lily looked at her, worried.

“Oh Lily dear,” Marlene drawled. “What would you say about a little deal?”

Lily sighed.

“What do you have in mind?” Lily replied, completely resigned.

Marlene smirked and Lily trembled.

“How do you feel about being my Musical Director?”

Lily heard Alice giggle just as Sirius barked a laugh, and she let herself acknowledge Marlene’s genius.

Sometimes you just have to let your best friend win.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day was not quite as strange as the night had been, but it was definitely close.

It began with Lily asking James to help get her underwear down off the chandelier.

After Lily had agreed to help Marlene with Mrs. Rogers’ performance, it turned out that Marlene actually had no idea how to do anything about solving her little trick. Lily couldn’t have been angrier if she had told her that she was going to drop out of university and join the circus.

“Are you joking?!” Lily yelped, her voice carrying surprisingly well across the hall and echoing up to where her pants were still strewn across the light fitting.

“Whilst I may be hilarious at most times,” Marlene began with what she probably thought was a debonair smile, “I’m afraid this isn’t one of them.” Marlene revealed, her smile quickly turning into a shifty grin.

Lily felt like she was holding in a scream as she turned to fix her eyes on Alice.

“You’ll know.” She snapped, Alice visibly cowering, “How do I get it down?” She demanded, not entirely kindly, but not friendly enough for Alice to look her directly in the eye.

“Um, I’m not- I don’t think- I’m not- You should- I don’t know.” Alice stuttered under Lily’s glare until she just trailed off into silence.

Lily sighed and frowned. Sirius had already scampered up the stairs to the toilet so there was nobody else to glare at.

“I think it’s time the rest of the boys get up, don’t you?” she asked the other two suddenly. Then she swept off down the corridor, not waiting for an answer.

The boys weren’t all too pleased about being woken, but then when they realised that Lily really only needed James the other three went back to sleep, Jon on the beanbag, Peter on the sofa and Remus still on the floor for some reason.

James wasn’t too disgruntled about being woken up before nine in the morning, but he could have been nicer.

“What?” he groaned as he stood and stretched, rubbing the side of his face that had been pressed against the cushion of the sofa and now had a detailed imprint of the fabric.

“I need you.” Lily stated simply.

James looked at her with confusion that didn’t look like it would break any time soon.

Lily sighed and clarified, “I need your help with un-doing a prank.”

“Oh.” James nodded. And then he got up without another word and started stumbling towards the kitchen.

“It’s in the hall, not the kitchen.” Lily called after him.

“I know, but my brains are in the kitchen. Under a pile of crispy bacon.” He called back to her, not turning around. “Or at least some toast.” He muttered, shaking his head.

The kitchen was empty when they got there. Marlene and Alice hadn’t ventured downstairs. They apparently didn’t want to be around for the dismantling of their handiwork. Or perhaps they didn’t want to see James dismantle it.

“So how’d you get pranked then?” James asked as he buttered toast with a spoon, sitting at the kitchen table.

“I- er- Marlene and Alice.” Lily said shortly, taking the spoon from James’ hand and replacing it with a knife. He nodded at her in thanks. “They- well.” Lily hesitated. She hadn’t thought about being embarrassed before, but she was suddenly struck with the thought that she had woken James up at eight o clock in the morning during the summer to look at her underwear. She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to fall into a hole and die.

“Well.” James prompted, waving the knife at her and slopping jam onto the table as he did so.

“Well, Marlene and Alice, the two monsters,” Lily grumbled, “took it upon themselves to – er – dig through my things and throw some of them over the chandelier in the entrance-hall.”

James froze and looked up at her, a panicked expression on his face. “They didn’t break anything did they? It’s okay, right?”

“Oh yeah, it’s totally fine, it was just clothes. Small bits. Underwear actually.” Lily stuttered, not looking at him. She had finally gotten her mouth around the word ‘underwear’ and almost wished she hadn’t. James’ cheeks went red before his lips spread into a grin that was quite something.

“They threw your underwear onto the chandelier.” He said more calmly and with more admiration than Lily thought the situation called for.

“Yeah. Well, mainly just my pants. Some didn’t land on the chandelier and landed on the ground, so I got them up, but there’s a lot of them. I think there might be one on top of the door to the study as well, but I was a bit distracted when I went to look.” Lily answered, frowning at her cup of tea.

When she looked up she was a little surprised at how bright James’ eyes were. As she looked into them, hazel and shining, she realised for the first time how good this prank actually was. Harmless, ridiculous, completely embarrassing and highly inconvenient. The work of a true master. It took Lily a second to realise that the look on James’ face might have been something akin to pride. Lily smiled at him.

“They’re really something, aren’t they?” she chuckled.

James just shook his head and looked at her. “Well at least it’s not alarm clocks.” He grinned.

Lily laughed properly and was suddenly quite grateful that she had woken James up, regardless of pants lying on light fittings.

“That seems to be a theme in these pranks.” Lily mused. James looked up from his fourth piece of toast inquisitively. “They all get you out of bed.” She said apologetically.

James just laughed. “I don’t mind,” he shrugged, “it seems like a good enough reason.” He leant forwards over the butter dish and lowered his voice, “I’m something of a prank master myself.”

Lily leaned in as well, smiling, “I know, you told me last time.”

“Did I?” James asked, cocking his head to the side in such a way that his glass slid down his nose a little bit.

Lily nodded and resisted pushing them back up his nose for him.

He shrugged again, “It must be the ridiculous hours these pranks happen at.”

“Probably.” Lily agreed. “But you did say it was worth it just a second ago.” She reminded him.

“Just because it’s worth it doesn’t mean I remember everything.” James grumbled through a mouthful, dusting his hands off.

Lily snorted and looked down into her mug. “Lucky you.”

James frowned at her, “What else happened this morning?”

Lily blinked and looked up at him. He was looking at her in such a way she felt like she was being examined. For a split second she felt like she should spill out everything that was happening with Marlene. Then she remembered that Alice had thought Marlene and James would have been a cute couple and didn’t feel quite like sharing. Nobody wants to know their sister is that invested in their love life. But James was still looking at her and as much as she liked him looking at her that didn’t mean it was wholly comfortable.

“Mrs. Rogers.” Lily’s mouth said. Lily’s brain caught up with it a second later. “Mrs. Rogers’ play I mean. The musical play thing. That Marlene is doing. She made me agree to help.” Lily sighed when James’ facial expression changed, but then her brain took the leap forwards to the present and realised he was confused, so she took a breath and started again.
“Marlene asked me to help her with Mrs. Rogers’ performance that she has been tasked with due to Mrs. Rogers’ illness, to help with the music, but I initially said no because, well, for a dozen reasons if I’m being honest, but this morning she made me promise to be her Musical Director in exchange for her getting my things down off the chandelier.”

“That was before you realised she didn’t know how, I presume.” James interjected.

“Yeah. So now I’m agreed and I still haven’t gotten my things back, and I still don’t want to do it.”

“Why not?” James asked, cocking his head, his glasses sliding again. Lily looked away.

“Well, for a dozen reasons. I’m on holiday for one. From work and music stuff anyway. I do so much music stuff during term, orchestra and band and I teach a bit, so I don’t really want to get all caught up in it again over the summer. Summer is time to practise and to chill and to not think about how best to help people. I know that sounds awful, but summer’s the time to be selfish and enjoy yourself. Plus I never work well with Marl, she’s demanding and flighty and always needs watching. I’m neither her teacher nor her mother, I don’t want to have to act like it. And,” Lily added, suddenly remembering, “I’m meant to be looking after Alice and Jon, and that should be the priority, not Marl’s thing. Sorry, that should probably have been top of the list.” She apologised, giving him a half grin.

James just nodded, “Yeah, but it’s not really anyone’s priority, is it?” he remarked.

Lily frowned, “What do you mean? Childcare is incredibly important.”

“Yeah, I know, but they’re quite self-sufficient, and there are multiple adults around, they’re not going to wander themselves over a cliff. It’s more of a cover story for you being here than a real reason.” James shrugged.

“A cover story?” Lily asked, part confused and part outraged. If this was part of some trick-

“Well, that’s how Marley put it. Not in a creepy way.” He added quickly, seeing Lily’s face, “But she just really wanted you to spend the summer down here and this was the perfect excuse. Plus Mum did say we needed to hire a nanny, so it is all legit. It’s just that Mum underestimates how capable the other two are, and so leaves wonderful possibilities for us to play the system.” He smirked. Lily got the feeling that she wasn’t the only way in which they were ‘playing the system’ this summer, but she didn’t really have the guts to ask what the others were.

“So it’s alright for me to help Marl then? It’s not shirking my duties or anything?” Lily asked, a little warily, not entirely sure she wanted him to say yes.

He shrugged. “So long as you don’t abandon them completely and you actually want to do it, why not?”

Lily nodded slowly and sipped her tea.

“Alice can join the younger ones. They’ll probably just be doing ensemble stuff, or simple stuff, so she wouldn’t be behind or anything.” Lily mused.

“Yeah,” James nodded, “and Jon can hang out with us, or if he doesn’t want to, he can hang out with you and do ‘music stuff’. He’s learning the guitar in school.”

“I didn’t know that.” Lily smiled, finding herself feeling pleasantly surprised.

“Hm.” James nodded. “He’d never tell you, of course, but he does. I hear he’s quite good.” There was a faint note of pride in James’ voice.

“If he doesn’t tell you, how do you hear that?” Lily asked.

“I have my ways.” James answered mysteriously.

Lily laughed. “Seriously?” He sounded like he was part of some Mafia network.

James snorted and shook his head, “No, I have team mates. One of the boys I played rugby with, his brother’s in Jon’s year at school.”

Lily nodded, then shook her head.

“What?” James asked, looking at her curiously.

“I just forgot that you’re a posh lad for a second there. Good of you to remind me though.” Lily teased.

“Wha- I’m not- how does rugby make you posh?” James asked, bewildered.

Lily laughed at him looking amused, confused, and little bit embarrassed.

“It’s just a posh lad’s game. You’d never find the boys on my estate playing rugby.”

“Yeah, because they’re working class chumps who’ve been sold the lie that football is the meaning of life.” James groaned.

“What do you have against the working class?” Lily spluttered through her mouthful of tea.

“Nothing,” James replied quickly trying not to laugh at her but to maintain his outrage, “It’s football I hate. The true opium of the masses.”

“Good. That’s the correct answer.” Lily muttered, only half joking.

“You got very defensive very quickly there, Lil.” James observed.

Lily shrugged. “I am quite defensive about it. It’s one of those things that you wear as an armour so nobody can make fun of you. Like being ginger.” She added quickly, realising how ridiculous she was sometimes.

“Or having glasses.” James countered, looking at her over his. Lily couldn’t help but be reminded of how much she liked him and his tact. And his eyes.

“Being short.” Lily said quickly before she thought too much about those eyes.

“Being lanky.” James replied, grinning now at the game.

“Being crap at maths.” Lily suggested, suppressing flashbacks of painful GCSE lessons.

“Being Dyslexic.” James returned, pressing his lips together.

“Being a bit pudgy.” Lily pinched at her wobbly chin.

“Being too skinny.” James held out his arm sadly.

“Small boobs.” Lily said boldly, making James laugh.

He looked down for a second, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh good grief, please tell me you have more flaws than that.” Lily pleaded, only half joking, her smile slipping somewhat.

“What?” James looked up, his face a little bit flushed, “Oh no, I was just- er – checking that last one.”

“Sorry?”

James looked at her and then smirked. “Don’t know why that’s even on the list. You have great boobs.”

Lily gasped and then squealed, reaching across the table to whack him on the arm.

“Oi!” she cried, still laughing.

James laughed, leaning back and jokingly shielding himself from her. “You’re also not that pudgy or short either.” He added in amongst the laughter.

Lily blushed and wrapped her hand back around her tea. “I like your glasses.” She muttered at the table cloth.

“Thanks.” James beamed, pushing them back up his nose.

“Designer?” Lily asked quickly, looking back up at him.

James nodded in appreciation, “Yeah, they are actual-“ His face dropped down to suspicion, “Wait, you’re teasing me about being posh again, aren’t you?”

“What? No!” Lily cried, but she was laughing and they both knew he was right.

“Yes you were, you get this gleam in your eye when you tease people.” James accused, pointing at her. “There, I see it there.”

Lily laughed again. “I’m so sorry. I’ll stop now.”

“I really don’t believe you.” James protested.

“I promise,” Lily started solemnly, “that my intentions for this conversation are solely to get you to help me get my underwear down.”

It took them both a few minutes to recover from their laughter, and then a few minutes more to finally head towards the troublesome spot of the house.

Once there James needed another minute.

“It’s the frogs, I’m sorry.” He gasped.

Lily looked up and saw that at least three pairs of pants had little frogs hopping around on them. She shrugged.

“I like frogs. They’re happy little creatures.”

This didn’t help James in sobering up.

“Look, come on, it’s not that funny!” Lily cried finally as James moved to sit on the step, doubled over. “I’ll give you a pair if you love them that much, just help me get them down.” She grumbled, folding her arms and glaring up at the offending underwear.

“Did you just offer to give me your pants?” James’ voice was a little bit too enthusiastic for Lily’s liking.

“Not like that,” she said sternly, glaring at him, “but if we don’t get this lot down you’ll have to keep all of them. Bit of a strange piece of decorating though.” She mumbled the last bit to herself, squinting up as the sunlight drifted through the entranceway.

Staring up at it now Lily had a bizarre moment where she could imagine this is being an exhibit in one of those peculiar galleries in London. Then she looked over at James who was staring at her, twitching with supressed laughter and the image was shattered. She didn’t think there was a gallery in the world which wanted to have strange boys to sit there and laugh at their exhibits.

“How does this happen in your life?” the boy who wasn’t part of an exhibit laughed, “I’ve seen my fair share of pranks and mischief, but nobody gets tangled up quite as well as you.”

“Apparently it’s a trait shared amongst my possessions.” Lily said glumly.

“Yeah.” James said mildly, yawning and standing up. He strolled over to the front door and flicked a switch on the wall.

As the chandelier slowly lowered, Lily’s mouth fell open slightly, and then she caught James’ eye and saw the glint in it and let out a sigh, trying not to smile too much. She couldn’t let him know that she was impressed.

“Good prank.” James grinned. “Harmless, inconvenient, embarrassing.”

Lily rolled her eyes.

“Stop being smug and grab a handful.”

James laughed but within minutes they had a neat pile on the stairs and the chandelier was restored to its original state of pristine, underwear-less beauty. As James went over to the switches to raise the chandelier again, Lily flopped onto the stairs beside the slightly wobbly pile. She was suddenly overtaken by a wave of tiredness.

“How do you want to get them back?”

Lily looked up at James frowning and blinking, the light from the sun too bright in her eyes, shining behind him and giving him a slightly ironic halo.

“We just got them back”

James frowned at her in his nose wrinkling.

“What?”

“Were you not talking about my underwear?” Lily asked in confusion.

“Well, as often as it seems to come up, on this occasion, I’m afraid not.” he smirked.

“Oh shut up.” She mumbled, closing her eyes.

“No, come on, you can’t just let them off.” From his voice it sounded like he was somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“Hmm.” She made a non-committal noise, and let her head fall back against a step, resting on the soft carpet.

After a second he groaned and she tried not to laugh.

“No, if I’m awake so are you, get up.”

His voice was so snappy that Lily made herself crack open an eye-lid and squint up at him again. She tried not to laugh, she really did, but he was standing there with one hand on his hip and one stretched out towards her and his face was the face of a child. He was scowling, but his lips were definitely twitching. Irritated but amused. Lily was quite impressed with herself that she had pinned his mood without even having to open her eyes.

“Oh for goodness sake.”

He didn’t take her laughter all that well, he pulled his hand back and put it on his other hip, which really didn’t help in stopping Lily from laughing.

“Will you just get up, woman?” he cried, throwing his hands up in the air.

Lily sighed. “Well, since you asked nicely.” She smiled at him sweetly as he tried to maintain his scowl.

“Come on, then.” He turned and walked down one of the corridors.

Lily followed him quickly, in case she lost him somewhere between the early morning haze and the labyrinth of a house.

They ended up back in the kitchen, but didn’t stay there for long. Nobody else had been through by the looks of it, the toast crumbs were still scattered on the table and the smell of slightly burnt eggs lingered in the air, not yet disappeared through the open window.

Lily stood and watched as James filled a plate with what seemed to be the entire contents of the fridge.
It was a little bit remarkable, watching James in search of food. It was like releasing her mum into the John Lewis kitchenware department, or Petunia onto the treadmill a week before her wedding. Relentless, determined, single-minded focus, leaving nothing in their wake.  

Lily tried not to smile, but James’ hands were so full of food he couldn’t see her anyway, so she felt no guilt in silently laughing as he staggered his way out of the kitchen door. It took her a moment to regain her composure and then when she did she realised that the door he gone through was the back door, open to the sunny morning.

She stumbled out into the sunlight after him.

He had spread his food hoard out on a glass table under a large umbrella, a little way away from the pool. The light glinted off the table, and was casting James in a bright yellow haze of light, stronger than it had been in the hallway.

He had spread his food hoard out on a glass table under a large umbrella, a little way away from the pool. The light glinted off the table, and was casting James in a bright yellow haze of light, stronger than it had been in the hallway. Lily tried not to think too much about the implications of seeing James in new and purer lights.
Luckily James wasn’t looking quite as dreamy as his lighting. He had a bit of lettuce hanging out of his mouth, and had already dropped mayonnaise onto his t-shirt. Lily watched as he ran a sticky hand through his hair and let herself smile. He was disgusting, but he was smiling at Lily as she examined him.

She shook her head and sat down.

“So,” his voice was slightly muffled and he had flecks of hummus around his mouth, “I reckon that’s the second prank that my sweet baby sister has pulled on you,” Lily’s lips twitched into a smirk as his tone darkened, “I think it would be absurd to allow her a third. Not to mention embarrassing.” He added, reaching forward to construct a second sandwich, using lettuce to spread some humus onto burnt toast, all the while managing to maintain eye-contact with Lily.

She couldn’t help but laugh at him, leering at her across the table, gleeful at the idea of revenge. What more could a girl want? Lily stretched her arms out across the table and dropped her head down to his level.

“What did you have in mind?”

James smiled widely as Lily leaned forward, and for a second they wore identically mischievous grins. Lily was excited. Pranks had boundaries, rules, immediate results. Pranking, she could do.

-

By four o clock that afternoon all of the residents within the house, both temporary and permanent, had stirred themselves and made it outside into the sunshine and onto some form of sun-lounger.

Surprisingly, it was Remus who was last up, staggering outside in slippers and the t-shirt he had slept in. He got a wet pool noodle in the face for it, and would have gotten more but was spared a soggy hug off Sirius by the collective male hormones around the patio focusing in on a barely covered female.

Marlene had decided it was time to go swimming.

She strutted outside in what Lily hoped was a bikini, although from where she was sitting she wasn’t entirely sure her friend was wearing anything. But then Marlene turned and waved exuberantly and Lily saw something sparkle on her chest, and the tie at her neck and was satisfied her friend wasn’t skinny dipping.

Lily laughed as Marlene tried to drag Jon into the pool with her, the poor boy blushing and trying his hardest to look at anything other than her face or the floor whilst clinging to dry land. He didn’t last long. Within a few minutes he was diving into the pool just to get away from the girl.

Lily turned to say something to James and instead found Alice glaring at her. She had clambered onto her big brother’s sun lounger as soon as she had come outside, and had apparently decided it was her job to keep him and Lily apart. (Not that James had noticed, he was too busy trying to draw rude things on Peter’s back in sun-cream.) Lily gave a laugh and smiled at her. Her time would come. She turned back to Marlene.

Lily watched the frolicking in the pool for a moment before she felt a frown creep onto her face. There was something off and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. The boys seemed fine, with Sirius challenging Remus to a cannonball contest, James having finished covering Peter with sun-cream was now pulling him into the pool, and Jon had crawled onto a sun-lounger across the way from Lily. No, they weren’t the problem. It was the two girls sitting on the edge of the pool, their feet dangling into the water, talking quietly, that was bothering Lily. Every now and then Marlene would look up at her and look away quickly when she met her eye. From the serious looks on their face, Lily highly doubted they were discussing their next adventure. It was far more likely, Lily thought, that they were still trying to pull at strings.

With one last look at the two of them, she closed her eyes against her own bitterness, letting the sun warm her, and she looked at the red behind her eyelids, giving herself a moment of not thinking about Marlene.
She thought about Alice, about James, about the sea she could hear in the background, about the concert she had agreed to help with, about the many concerts she had helped with in the past.

She was just wondering what had happened to that cute boy from the National Youth Choir three summers ago when she felt cold wet hands wrap around her ankles, making her jump.
She opened her eyes and squinted at the figure by her feet, fully prepared to kick if necessary. But she was pleasantly surprised when it was Peter’s soft blue eyes she found hers meeting, not troubling hazel ones she had expected.

He grinned at her and flicked the water from his hair over her, before running back to the pool and belly flopping down next to Sirius who had been floating lazily on a lime green lilo.
Lily shook her head and wiped her ankles. She reached for her phone to check the time and saw a missed call from her mum.

She waved her phone in the direction of the pool as she stepped inside, to let anyone interested know where she was going and climbed up to her room. The cool of the inside of the house rushed over her and she let herself enjoy the peace and quiet before calling home.

Her mum didn’t have much new to say, and her dad was out, but it was still nice to hear what news there was. Petunia and Vernon were enjoying their honeymoon, and Petunia said they had a lovely tan, apparently. Lily forced herself to sound happy for them. They would be back in three weeks, her mum said, and then moving into their new house in Surrey the week after. Lily’s parents were going to help them unpack apparently. Lily had to keep herself nodding and smiling to maintain the cheer in her voice.

She said, “That’s great mum” about a thousand times and had to keep counting to ten to stop herself saying something rude. She did love her sister, but she had known about the move for as long as her mum had. She had been there when she had found out, in fact. None of this was news, but Lily could sense that maybe her mum wasn’t doing too well with having such an empty house all of a sudden, and so let her blather on for a solid twenty minutes before finally saying that she out to return to the others.

“Oh, are you doing anything interesting?” her mum chirped.

“Oh, you know, just spending some quality time by the pool.” Lily tried to make it sound like something unimportant enough to skip for a phone call, but not important enough that he mum would feel bad. “But I’m meant to be keeping an eye on the little ones so really I should be down there with them.”

“Ah, well that sounds lovely!” Her mum’s happy voice sounded a little too jolly, for Lily to take as genuine. “Don’t forget to wear sun-cream, love, you do burn awfully quickly.”

“I will mum.” Lily said over the lump in her throat. She had already half forgotten what it was like to have her mum fretting over her.

“And say hello to Marlene for me, won’t you?”

“Of course I will. I’m sure she sends her love back.” Lily pressed her lips together before she could say more about Marlene.

“Well, I’ll let you go. Keep me updated on anything interesting, and if you need me I’m just a phone call away. Love you.”

“Love you mum. Bye.”

Lily ended the call and put the phone down. It was strange being so far away and hearing someone’s voice. Nothing made Lily want a hug from her mum more than not being near enough for one.

She wiped her eyes and went to the wardrobe and pulled out a bather. It was nowhere near as revealing as Marlene’s but Lily wouldn’t exactly wear it walking down the high street, so she didn’t feel like a total prude.

Once dressed, she turned to leave, but for some reason her guitar caught her eye and she just couldn’t resist. That was always the way with Lily. If she could be making music or doing anything else in the world, well, there was rarely a choice. She grabbed it and went back downstairs.

The others had barely noticed her absence and when she settled back on her sun-lounger and starting plucking at the strings she was perfectly happy to be ignored.

However it wasn’t five minutes before she felt a shadow on her shoulder and a silent presence sit down next to her. She didn’t say anything, just smiled as Jon sat watching and listening. Anyone who would choose to sit and listen to music rather than mess about in a pool on a hot day was alright in her book.
She wasn’t really playing anything in particular, more just messing around, so she wasn’t really bothered when he asked if he could have a go. She was a little surprised at his boldness but when the instrument sat in his lap it sort of made sense that it would be a guitar that would drag Jon from the solitary edges. His expression didn’t change, but his face seemed to gain some sort of intensity, his eyes more certain and his small smile managed to widen even as he nibbled at his bottom lip.

He played his way through a few songs which were vaguely familiar to Lily and she was happy to just sit and listen, but when she couldn’t help laughing when he started on an Ellie Goulding song.

“What?” he stopped abruptly and looked at her, worriedly.

Lily just laughed again, “I just didn’t expect it. Sorry,” she added, reaching out to touch his arm and then thinking better of it, “I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just most teenage boys with a guitar play ‘Smoke on the Water’ or ‘Wonderwall’.”

Jon shrugged and went back to playing, but Lily could see him hiding a smirk as he pressed his chin against his chest.

It took less than thirty seconds for Lily to start singing along, and it was a relief to see Jon smile again. When he finished, Lily insisted he play another she could sing to, expecting something more traditional for guitar-playing-by-the-poolside like Jason Mraz or Train, but was surprised by her own surprise when the twinkling sounds of One Direction. She laughed and joined in.

Lily was just about to suggest what to play next when the others in the pool started making a loud noise. It took a second for her to realise it was applause. Sirius was wolf-whistling. She blinked and nodded before turning back to Jon who was blushing.

“Do ‘Hey Soul Sister’!” James’ heckle drew a snort from Jon and Lily turned and guffawed at him.

“This isn’t a request show. Get back to your nonsense games.”

“Nonsense?” James dropped his mouth open in mock-horror.  

Lily laughed and turned away. Jon was smiling, but had put the guitar down.

“I think I’m going to go inside for a bit. You know,” he added, not fully meeting her eye, “get out of the sun.”

“Oh, okay.” Lily replied softly, nodding slowly. Two steps forward, one step back. But, she thought looking across the pool and meeting Alice’s gaze, at least she know knew the way to Jon’s heart. At least he wasn’t trying to ruin her summer.

Lily stood up, refusing to dwell any longer, and turned to the pool. Sirius had monopolised that lilo for far too long. Surely it was about time someone shook him off.

Chapter Text

Rehearsals were a nightmare.

If Lily had dreamt up an actual night-terror situation where she was leading a group of musicians through some fairly basic musical theatre numbers it wouldn’t have come close to this.

In all fairness, her scenarios would probably have included zombies, evil wizards, and her mother telling her she was a terrible accident. All sorts of awful situations which threatened the very life of this cosmically-important amateur dramatics performance.

She didn’t think, however, that she would have dreamt up a scenario where the violinist cried every time she was spoken to and the drummer refused to look up from her instrument. Oh, and Marlene sitting at the back taking notes on the whole thing. In silence. It might not have been zombies, but Lily definitely felt like she was being eaten alive.

 “Okay,” she sighed, trying with all her might not to appear as defeated as she felt, “if we can get to the end of the page, then I am happy to call it a day, deal?”

The hope that surely gleamed in her eyes shone back at her. Or at least something was gleaming. Lily glanced up at her reflection in the window surreptitiously just to check that it wasn’t the reflection of a raging fire that had erupted behind her. No fires, just a peaky face and half-torn-out hair.

She looked back to the group. To their credit, they didn’t look all that defeated. Well, Dorcas did, but that was because she was still recovering from her last outburst of emotion. Gideon, who was sitting next to her, was patting her gently on the arm and whispering what Lily could only hope were soothing words. Fabian winked at her and nodded, and James gave an encouraging smile. Caradoc looked slightly less cantankerous, and Emmeline nodded up at Lily quickly before staring back down at her drums again.
Marlene crossed her legs and leant back on the table she was sitting on in a surprisingly elegant way. Sometimes Lily wondered how she can possibly forget that she’s a dancer. Marlene raised an eyebrow at her and she looked away.

“Okay,” she said again, taking a deep breath, certain that they were all bracing themselves, “from the top.”

*

“You mustn’t blame yourself.” Marlene’s first words to Lily since the morning were comforting and supportive, as a best friend should be. Her next words were not quite as bang on, “It’s not your fault you’re not that experienced as a musical director.” She patted her upper arm gently and Lily wanted to slap her.

“Thanks Marl.” Lily nodded at her and stepped out of her reach. She didn’t really feel very much like getting her arm patted right now.

She turned to the others, packing up their music and instruments. Some of them were chatting as though this had not been The Worst Rehearsal In History, although one or two were noticeably separated from any sort of cheerfulness. The practice room in the town hall wasn’t that big, but the gulf between cheer and downtrodden seemed to gape right at that moment. Gideon’s laughter rang round the room, and Dorcas gave a sniff. She wasn’t crying anymore but Lily had rarely seen redder eyes.
Marlene had whispered an explanation to her quickly at the start that Dorcas had just had some kind of big argument with her parents, but hadn’t had the chance to fully explain before the others arrived. Lily wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to know, to be honest, considering that it was Dorcas’ problem to tell. Lily wrinkled her nose and turned away, nodding at Marlene half in thanks and half as an indication to Shut Up Immediately. To her credit, she had, but that was really only because the twins had walked in.

More and more Lily could see how they drew Marlene’s eye. She wasn’t really sure in what way, whether romantic or in that sort of platonic crush you get on someone who you just really appreciate. Either way it was a strong pull that made Marlene drift over towards them whenever they were in the room.
Over the past week, as they’d been trying to organise the whole band meeting together, Lily had been privy to some of Marlene’s strange actions.
She said it was the ‘stress of responsibility’, but Lily was pretty sure it was a ‘Marlenism’, a word they had coined over six years ago, writing it in purple gel-pen and adding a full explanation before sticking it to the word wall. ‘Marlenisms’ were the strange things Marlene did for which there may or may not be an explanation, but it absolutely definitely was not the reason she gave. In this case, Lily was certain that Marlene’s new habit of painting her nails every night, and then scratching them off in the day was not to do with the stress of responsibility. Nor did Lily think that her wriggling and fidgeting was just out of excitement for the concert.
She watched now as Marlene stood talking to Gideon, scraping at her nails, and jostling her shoulders up and down one at a time. Marlene who, in year 8, had stood stock-still when questioned by the headmistress about the graffiti found in all the toilets telling anyone who cared to look that Marlene Mackinnon was ‘da shit’. And yet, standing in front of a boy having a friendly conversation, Marlene just couldn’t keep still.

Lily shuffled her papers and looked away, quietly adding it to the small pile of mysteries in the back of her mind.

*

It’s strangely easy to mistake sunbathers for dead bodies. Even when on a towel under an umbrella, a person lying flat-out on a beach never looks comfortable enough to just be sleeping, but clearly isn’t exactly active. Yes, the thick layer of sunscreen and a half-read book lying beside them were clues pointing to their blood still steadily pumping round their body, but really doesn’t that just take the fun out of it, if we start applying facts to the imagination?
Confused brown eyes squinted up at Lily as she shared these musings. Jon pressed his lips together and nodded at Lily, more in acknowledgement of her having spoken than in agreement, and Alice shook her head.

“Maybe you’ve had too much sun.” The girl’s patronising voice was remarkably like Petunia’s on a good day. Or Marlene’s on a bad.

“Maybe you’re right.” Lily gave a short laugh and stood up off the sand. “I’m going to go seek some shade, anyone fancy a wander to the shops?”

“What shops?” Alice replied, looking disdainfully up at the gift shops along the promenade.

“We’ll have to find out, won’t we?” Lily smiled widely at the girl. Even though there was a part of Lily was afraid of Alice, she had decided since the underwear prank to not let her get to her.

Well, it was more James’ suggestion.

“I swear, as her big brother, I know there is nothing that annoys Alice more than someone not being annoyed when she’s annoying.” James flattened his hands on the table as he spoke, making direct eye-contact. Lily tried very hard not to laugh at both his repetition and his intensity. She glanced back towards the house. She nodded very calmly, biting the inside of her bottom lip to stop it from wobbling before looking back at him.

“That’s stage one of our revenge for Alice, then?” she asked when she knew she wouldn’t laugh in his face.

James nodded very seriously. His eyes glinted with what Lily was sure was supressed laughter, but his voice was steady when he said, “Stage one of six.”

The conversation had deteriorated from there, but in amongst the insane plotting and half-desperate reasoning, there emerged a clear plan that Alice was to be humoured and enjoyed, and then when the time was right she would reap what she sowed.

The sun was incredibly bright and Lily was slowly getting a headache from squinting. A trip to the promenade couldn’t have been better timed. Alice and Jon were perfectly happy sunbathing, so Lily left them to it.

The groups of pensioners perched outside the tea shop nodded as Lily as she passed, and Caradoc gave her an unsmiling wave from his van parked opposite. She smiled at them both and kept moving. There was a red mane of hair bobbing about near the end of the street and she needed to get to it.

“Dorcas!”

The girl spun around so fast Lily had a momentary mental image of a top spinning on a table, her hair flying over her shoulders and her skirt spreading out around with her.

“Lily!” her eyes were bright and tear-free as far as Lily could see, but she wasn’t exactly smiling.

“Hiya Dorcas, I just wanted to see if you were okay, you were all out of sort the other day.” Dorcas’s lips tightened and she blinked a few times, but the floodgates seemed to be holding, so Lily pressed on, “I know we don’t know each other very well, but if you ever want to talk you have my number. And if you ever need a place to stay the Potter’s house is so big I don’t think anyone would notice if I brought a herd of elephants in, let alone a houseguest.” She gave a quick grin before carrying on hastily, lest Dorcas think of an excuse to leave and never speak to her again, “I was also hoping to grab for a second to ask about band rehearsals. Sorry, the first bit was genuine, but the to-do list never ends!” Lily smiled brightly, aware that any joy from her smile was merely being reflected off Dorcas and the girl was not taking any of it for herself. Lily lowered the wattage.

“Yeah, sure, uh, do you want to- er- schedule another rehearsal or something or-” Dorcas looked at her vaguely, her heart clearly not in the conversation.

“No, I wanted to pick your brain a little bit, actually.”

Dorcas tilted her head in vague interest, “Oh?”

“Yeah, how do you think they’re going? And I don’t mean how is the playing going,” Lily said quickly. She knew very well how her rag-tag band of musicians were playing now. She also knew how they needed to be playing, but getting from A to B was much harder than she thought it would be. “I mean more the structure, the set-up, the location, is there anything I can be doing, doing better, doing at all? Do you have any major criticisms?”

Dorcas looked a little taken aback, so Lily let her mouth go on a little wander while the girl thought. “It’s just that there’s nothing worse than a terrible group project experience, you know? When everyone knows something’s wrong, but nobody wants to be the one to say it, or when you have to play together but the conductor’s a dick so you can’t say anything. I kind of just want to make the best space possible. I mean, I know it’s not the London Symphony or anything, but that doesn’t mean that I can just do a bad job. And I’ve just put you on the spot, so if you need time to think, then that’s okay as well. You know where I am.”

Dorcas had been nodding as Lily spoke, which she took to as an encouragement that the girl was taking her seriously.

“So,” She began slowly. Lily took a breath. “I don’t think there’s anything major, not that you’re doing anyway.”

“No? But someone is.” Lily knew an avoiding of criticism when she heard it.

“Well- Don’t hate me for saying this, because I know she’s your friend, and I like her too, she’s a grand old sport and all, but well, it’s just, like-“

“Dorcas, that is so much build-up, is something really wrong?” Lily frowned

“No, no, no, nothing too serious, just- well-“

“Dorcas!”

“Marlene.” She said abruptly and then clamped her lips together. Her puppy-dog eyes were spot on, Lily had to give her credit. Just the right amount of worry and apology.

Lily gave a sigh.

“Thank goodness you said it. I can legitimately tell her to eff off now.”

Dorcas’ eyebrows shot up. ”What?”

“I do know how annoying she is, I’m not blind and deaf.” Lily rolled her eyes. “And she’s as unsubtle as a streaker at the Grand National. She sits and stares at me and it’s the most unnerving thing. She drives me up the wall. But we love her through her faults.” Lily added quickly, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself she loved her best friend than telling Dorcas.

Which really she was, because Dorcas had been nodding along the entire time.

“Yes, that’s my main problem with band at the minute.” She smiled properly for the first time, and Lily felt something of a weight slip off her shoulders. She felt it settled back on them again when Dorcas said, “So are you going to ask her to leave or something?”

Lily made a face that made Dorcas laugh.

“You don’t know?” She asked, still laughing.

“I said this was an early assessment! This was just the picking of brains, no plan set in stone.”

“Okay, well when there is a plan, feel free to ask me if you need any help.”

Lily smiled broadly, “That’s very kind of you, Dorcas! Much obliged.”

“Right, well, I should get on.” Dorcas looked a tad uncomfortable, so Lily took the hint and turned to go.

“By the way”, Lily suddenly remembered, spinning back around again, “I meant to say earlier, but I really love your hair.”

“Oh thanks.” Dorcas brightened noticeably for a moment, and tugged a lock next to her face, “I did a colour test on a chunk of it and it didn’t look too awful, so I thought why not go for it, and it turned out totally different to what I expected, but I actually kind of like it. Nothing quite like natural though.” She grinned, squinting up at Lily’s red mane.

“Oh no,” Lily shrugged, “but this way you have full control over your redness. I am at the whim of my genes.” She sighed.

Dorcas laughed, and Lily turned to go again.

“I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Bye Lily.”

One down.

*

Emmeline was surprisingly less easy to find. She should have been in the post office, but it was Saturday, so the post office closed at midday. This left Lily with a clear problem. It wasn’t imperative that she spoke to Emmeline today, but it would be incredibly helpful. She sighed and cast her eyes to the beach, checking that Jon and Alice hadn’t disappeared. They were sitting quite happily, chatting with – Emmeline! Emmeline was sat where Lily had been minutes ago!

It’s hard to speed-walk gracefully, especially not across sand in damp flip-flops, but then again, nobody had ever called Lily Evans graceful.

Emmeline blinked up at Lily as she skidded to a halt, scattering sand in her wake.

“Hi there!”

Lily’s enthusiasm seemed to wash over Emmeline like a tsunami. She snorted and then started giggling.

“Hello! How are you, Lily?” Emmeline laughed.

“I’m great!” Lily beamed, forcing more fake-enthusiasm into her response to make Emmeline laugh more. She did. Some of Lily’s fake joy turned into really warmth. “I’m so glad to have found you, not just because it’s always a pleasure-” Lily batted her eyelids and squeezed Emmeline’s arm.

Emmeline laughed again, “Are you alright, Lily? You seem a bit weird.” She was still laughing as she was asking after Lily’s wellbeing.

Lily grinned, “Yeah, I’m grand, I think I’ve just had a bit too much sun.”

“That’s good,” Emmeline patted the back of her hand like one would their deranged old grandmother, “it’s only week 1 after all.” She nodded knowingly.

“Oh, isn’t it just?” Lily groaned, “And speaking of, how are you finding things?”

Emmeline’s casual demeanour didn’t change so to speak, but it seemed to Lily as though it had turned into an outer skin that no longer fit properly, and she couldn’t quite see what the second layer was like.

“It’s okay, I think.” Emmeline nodded and then didn’t say anything else.

Lily raised her eyebrows, “Okay isn’t amazing, what can be improved? What do you hate? Whose clipboard would you like to break?”

Emmeline snorted, “And how are you finding band practice, Lily?” her knowing look made Lily laugh again.

“This isn’t about me, I just want to give you the space to vent if you need to, and then I’ll see if I can do anything about it.”

“Okay, Ms Musical Director,” Emmeline said, responding to Lily’s formal tone, “I think we need some band bonding time, just so we don’t feel so awkward together.”

“Hm.” Lily frowned. “Could you elaborate?”

“Well.” Emmeline shrugged and looked towards Alice and Jon who appeared to be building a sandcastle together. Lily saw this suspicious circumstance and stored in the back of her mind.

“Yes?” She prodded, also physically prodding Emmeline in the belly.

“Well, I kind of feel weird not knowing everyone properly. I mean, I’ve only spoken to Caradoc when I’ve bought ice-creams from him, and I only really know Dorcas from school, and that was a few years ago and we weren’t on the best of terms. I think it would help us to meld as a group if we actually got to know each other.”

Lily’s mind was filling with ideas, “Like go to the pub or something? Or we could go for a meal – no wait, that’s money – what were you thinking?” she turned from her own ramblings back to Emmeline.

“I don’t know, we could just go to the pub and hang out or something, or we could play have a board game evening or a wine and cheese or something if you’re feeling fancy.”

“That is such a good idea, you should run it past the others, and then someone should suggest it at the next practice so we’re all there and can set a date. Get Gideon to say it or Dorcas – Ooh!” Lily raised a finger in the air, “Hold that thought, I need to ask you about another thing.” She raised her other hand and put just one finger in the air. It looked like she was telling Emmeline how big a fish she’d just caught was. “Dorcas: do you know why she’s so upset? I don’t want to pry or gossip, and Marl did try and tell me but I stopped her, but I do want to know if there’s any way to help or to just make things less awkward, and I thought you would be more tactful that Ms. Mckinnon.” Lily rolled her eyes.

Emmeline looked up from Lily’s fingers, still in the air between them, and met her gaze. “I think it’s-“ she paused and shrugged, “I think it’s family stuff. Uni and-” she caught Lily’s eye and something inside seemed to click.  She pursed her lips and spoke very quickly, “I don’t talk to her much, but I saw her last week when we were both on break and she had just gotten a letter from Bristol uni accepting her onto one of their engineering courses and she was absolutely gutted because she really wants to do music, but her parents made her apply to engineering. That’s all I know, and I don’t really think she wants many people to know, so maybe don’t spread that.” Emmeline looked a little bit guilty at revealing the cause of Dorcas’ distress.

Lily nodded quickly, reaching out to put a hand on Emmeline’s arm, “It’s okay, I won’t pass it on, I just wanted to know if it was anything serious we should be sensitive about or if it was something to do with one of the others that we could sort. That’s sad though,” she added, frowning, “it must be really hard.”

“Yeah, it’s making me think how lucky I am.” Emmeline looked a bit glum for someone considering themselves lucky.

“Do your parents not mind?”

“No, they do mind, they just don’t want to put pressure on, I reckon, so they’ve not mentioned anything about university yet. I think they want me to go through clearing, but I really don’t think I want to go to uni yet.”

“Are you going to do a gap yah?” Lily grinned.

Emmeline scoffed, and then pressed a finger to her nose and did an awful posh accent, “Oh yah! Of course babes, Thailand, yeah? It’s going to be so authentic!”

The two girls laughed, and it was nice to swing the conversation back around to a humorous note. 

“It’s nice to see you laughing about stuff, you seemed quite tense at rehearsal.” Emmeline nudged Lily

“Yeah, the last one wasn’t exactly great.” Lily grumbled, trying not to think about Marlene. Although the fact that she could go to Marlene with a legitimate reason for her to not come to practice did brighten Lily’s thoughts about her friend.

“Yeah, how are you going to get rid of Marlene?”

Lily looked up, surprised by the question. “Is it that obvious?”

“Well,” Emmeline began, her voice a little high-pitched, “I know I don’t want her there, and I don’t think anyone else is exactly set at ease by her.” Emmeline pulled a face, and Lily had to laugh.

“You’d think she’s some kind of monster.” She shook her head, “Yeah, I’m going to have to have a conversation with her. It’ll be fine, she just wants to do it all well, and I think being a bit controlling is her way of caring.” Lily sighed.

“Hm-hm.” Emmeline agreed, biting her lip.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Lily watching Jon trying to stop Alice invade his freshly built castle, Emmeline visibly working up the courage to speak.

“I think you should ask Jon to join the band as well. And Alice seems quite keen to do something.” Emmeline spoke quickly, but fondly.

Lily smiled at her, “I’m so glad you said that. I’ve been thinking about Jon, and he is good he’s just not super confident. I don’t know about Alice though,” Lily wrinkled her nose, “I think she hates me.”

“Maybe,” Emmeline nodded, smiling a little bit, “but I think she hates being left out, youngest child and whatnot,” Lily smiled at her in sympathy, nodding, “and all the Potters are musical in some way, so maybe she’s got rhythm.”

“Really?”

“She can’t be worse than the rest of the children, the standard really isn’t that high.”

Lily laughed at Emmeline’s expression, “Okay, I’ll get Marlene to find her a place.”

“Great! My good deed for the day is done. I should probably get back, my break’s nearly over. See you on Tuesday?”

“Yeah, see you then. Bye Emmeline!”

*

“Alice, you can dance, can’t you? Well, it doesn’t matter, I can teach you. Do you mind going in junior ensemble? Fab. And Jon, I’m sorry but you don’t get a choice, you’re playing, so suck it up.”

Marlene meant everything with love, Lily told herself, but sometimes she was so brusque that it was hard to believe that. Jon’s face was pale and bewildered and Lily wanted to stand up for him, but she also really wanted him to join in. Was she being selfish? Well, it didn’t really matter because the moment was passed and Alice and Marlene were talking about costumes now, so it looked like that was just going to be the way of things.

Lily sighed and threw an apologetic look towards Jon, but he barely acknowledged her. Instead he looked down at his food and kept eating.

“Do you want me to do anything? I’ve been told my pirouettes are phenomenal.”

Sirius’ voice was a welcome distraction, and Lily felt her face easing into a smile.

“I imagine you’re big into ballet, Sirius, you seem the delicate sort.” Lily nodded at him, with an encouraging smile. He winked at her, flipping his long hair over his shoulder. Through the glossy locks Lily could see a black stud in one ear.

Sirius’ response was completely deadpan, “As a flower. My middle name is actually Florence, which is of course from the Latin ‘florens florentius’,” he nodded his head forward in a move that almost looked like a bow (lily gave him a little round of applause when he looked up again), “meaning ‘to blossom’, and really it is within the art of ballet that you see me truly blossom.”

Lily could feel her chin shaking as she tried to keep a straight face. Sirius, with his leather jacket and ripped jeans was as far from a prima ballerina as you could get, and yet a few faces around the table were looking at him curiously.

“I, of course, believe you and support you in this, but I really think we need to see a little performance to truly understand who you are as a dancer.”

Lily heard James snort beside her, and Remus had a hand over the lower part of his face to cover a smile, but Peter and Alice were looking at Sirius curiously. Sirius himself was giving Lily a slight scowl, and for a second she thought she had won and he was going to admit that he was more Sex Pistols than Swan Lake. But then, when had Sirius ever done what Lily expected?

His pirouettes were indeed a sight to behold, they discovered a few minutes later as he span on the kitchen tiles. Not an elegant sight, exactly, with limbs flying and hair flicking, but one that had them all bubbling over with mirth. Sirius, it seemed, had been forced to ballet at one point in his life. He had clearly not been very good, but the muscle memory was still there. Somewhere.

“Ta-da!” Sirius cried as he stood, feet in a very imperfect sixth position, arms spread wide and head flung back. He took a deep breath before sweeping into a bow and flouncing back to his seat at the table to thunderous applause, and more than one wolf-whistle.

They finished dinner with cheeks and stomachs aching, and no more mention of Mrs. Rogers’ concert.

Lily volunteered to do the dishes and after much polite faffing the others disappeared, apart from James who felt the need to show her how the taps worked.

“James, believe it or not, I have been in a kitchen before, and I have washed dishes.” Lily pursed her lips at him.

He raised his hands in surrender, “I just thought I could be helpful.”

“You can definitely be helpful, but that’s just not the way to go. Here, you dry.”

James shrugged and took the tea-towel offered to him.

“So how’s the concert stuff going?”

Lily groaned. “Did you have to? I’ve only just forgotten about it.”

“Sorry, I just thought I’d ask. Cor, I really can’t do anything right, can I?”

Lily grimaced and apologised, “No, sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

“Lily, I’m teasing, don’t worry. I just thought I would ask and see if you wanted to talk about it.” James’ voice was calm and Lily couldn’t help but appreciate its soothing quality.

“I don’t mind, it’s just that Marl is being a bit annoying. Well, no, that’s not really fair she was quite good earlier.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I asked her not to come to band practice anymore, as well as including Jon and Alice, and she actually took it really well.”

“Oh thank goodness, she was making it so awkward.” James shook his head, scowling into the mug he was drying.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Lily asked, trying not to sound too frustrated.

James laughed, “Do you want to be the one to tell Marlene that she’s highly-strung?”

Lily turned to look at him, frowning, “I was.”

James gave a quick laughed, meeting Lily’s unimpressed look, “Is that what you said? ‘Marl, you’re highly strung, please get out of my practice room.’”

“No, of course not, that would be mean.”

“And you would never be mean.” James shook his head and wrinkled his nose at her, teasing.

Lily flicked dishwater at him. “No.” She said firmly. “I just said that it was a bit intense and was putting some people off.”

“Some?”

“There’s this thing, right,” Lily began turning to look at him, partly just to look and partly to check that he could tell she was joking, “it’s called tact, and it’s something that I really think you should look into.”

James laughed and flicked her gently with the tea-towel, “I’m super tactful. Tact is my middle name actually.”

“Not Florence?”

“No, alas only Sirius was blessed with such a name.” James sighed wistfully. “Actually, I don’t have a middle name. My mum wanted to add in a family name, but my dad refused. Most of our family names are terrible.”

Lily laughed, “Yeah? They can’t be that bad, we’re all named after flowers.”

James span to look at her, open mouthed, “Are you actually? That’s adorable!”

“Sure, when you’re five,” Lily groaned, but still laughing, “it’s cute on children, but when you’re introducing your family and you have to say that Aunty Daisy will be along with Tulip in a minute, but for now here’s Grandma Violet and your sister Petunia it gets a bit ridiculous.”

“You don’t really talk about your sister much, do you?” James’ remark took Lily off guard.

“Wha- oh yeah, she’s a bit older, and we don’t really get on, so if she does ever pop up in a thought it’s rarely a pleasant one.” Lily wrinkled her nose and looked down at the sink of dishes.
“So go on, what are the terrible names in your family?”

“Well you don’t have to look much further than my parents, to be honest. They’re terrible.”

“I bet they’re not that bad.”

“No, they’re really ridiculous names, I promise. Lovely people, but my grandparents on both sides were clearly stark raving mad to have produced Fleamont and Euphemia.”

“Oh my days, are you serious?” Lily took a break from the soapy water to stare at James. She thought she knew by now when he was joking, but she couldn’t quite work it out from his face.

He nodded gravely, “Deadly serious. I promise I’m not joking, you can ask the other two, ask Marl, that’s why we’ve all got such simple names.” James grinned, and then whispered, “They didn’t want us to bear the shame.”

Lily liked how their laughter filled the empty kitchen, the sound bouncing off the tiles and filling the space designed for a family. It made her think of her parents doing the dishes at home, and all the times they would sit around the kitchen table after dinner talking, or playing games, or just enjoying each other’s company. This laughter with James felt like that. The pleasure of each other’s company. It felt like home.  

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

“Sunburn is the worst form of punishment.” Lily declared, slamming herself down at the kitchen table.

She had woken with it all along her shoulders and right down the middle of her back, and could see the skin on her nose already peeling off. She had somehow managed to fall asleep on her front to avoid hurting her skin further, but the stinging itch of peeling skin was crawling over her this morning. She was really feeling the effects of the sun from yesterday as her eyes stuck together and her head ached.

“What are you being punished for?” Remus’ eyes sparkled slightly as he asked the question.

Lily glared up at him from the puddle of pain she had let herself become on the table top. “I don’t even know. Being ginger probably.”

“Isn’t that already a life sentence?” Sirius said casually, disinterestedly, from across the table. He was sat leaning back in his chair with what looked to be James’ glasses perched on his nose and a large broadsheet newspaper spread out in front of him.

Lily was thinking up a witty retort when James walked into the kitchen whistling.

“Alright Lil?” He asked, slapping her on the back as he walked past. Lily froze and clenched her teeth against the stinging. She took a second, and then when James sat down next to her she punched him in the leg.

“Ow!” He cried and bent over his leg, “What was that for?!”

“That was right on my sunburn, you eejit!”

“Aw, bloody hell, you could have said!” Lily rolled her eyes at his theatrical gasping and pawing at his leg – she had hardly touched him for goodness sake, the drama queen. When Peter started snickering she hit James on the leg again, although lighter this time, really just nudging him. He winked at her, “Genuinely sorry, do you want some after-sun?” It had been a question, but he was halfway out of his chair before Lily could answer and out the door when she did.

“No, it’s- it’s fine.” She said to an empty doorway. When she turned back to the table, Sirius was watching her with narrowed eyes. Or else he was simply squinting through the thick lenses.

“What?”

“Didn’t you wear sun-cream?” He asked, and Lily wasn’t a little offended by the suspicion in his voice.

“Of course I wore sun-cream, if I hadn’t I would just be a pile of ashes by now. As you so delicately pointed out I am eternally cursed.”

Sirius nodded slowly and slid the paper up to cover his face.

“That’s funny.” Peter said suddenly, nodding at Lily. She couldn’t help smiling back. He may not be quick on the uptake but he was sweet.

“Well at least someone’s amused. How are you lot this morning anyway?” Lily asked as she pulled the stack of toast towards herself.

Peter nodded energetically, but no words came from him. Lily nodded back.

“We’re well, I think.” Remus replied mildly over his cup of tea. “No dramatic-risings, so I think everyone’s in a fine mood.”

Lily half-smiled, “It probably helps that Marl isn’t here making trouble.” She said as she stuck her knife in the jam.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s a factor.”

“And what about you Sirius?” Lily called to the newspaper at the end of the table.

The paper lowered slightly and Sirius’ eyes focused on her intently for a moment. Then he gave her a small nod and raised the paper again. She looked at Remus for an explanation but he just shook his head and shrugged. It was beyond even his friends to explain the actions of Sirius Black, apparently.

Lily shook her head and reached for a glass.

“Could you please pass the orange juice?”

Peter nodded enthusiastically again and reached for it, but it never made it to Lily. Well, not in the jug anyway.

Within seconds the tidal wave that had once been a refreshing beverage made its way over the edge of the table and splashed its way down Lily’s legs.  If it hadn’t been morning she probably would have jumped up, but with the weight of sleep only just lifted she simply sat and let the juice drip to the floor.

“Well this is unfortunate.” She pressed her lips together, looking down at the mess of her shorts.

“Rather.” Sirius voice came from the behind the newspaper.

Lily glared at him.

“It’s okay, there’s plenty of time to change before we leave on our adventure today!” Peter somehow managed to combine a look of sympathy with and encouraging smile, and Lily thought she might has seen a cringe of apology slipping in there somewhere. For a quiet person, his face was unbelievably expressive.

“Lily’s not coming with us.” Remus spoke before Lily had a chance. “Marley’s claimed her for rehearsals since we’ll have the munchkins. Sorry you’re missing the fun though, I hear James has planned quite the day. Roller coasters and bouldering were both mentioned when I last spoke to him.” Remus gave Lily a look of sympathy (she couldn’t help but be grateful that there was only one emotion in it).

“Are you implying that Marlene and a dozen teenagers who just want to shine isn’t a basket of fun, equal to the grand adventures planned by our dear Master Potter?” Lily let her mouth hang open in outrage until Remus laughed. “Well, either way, I suppose it will be more fun if I’m not covered in orange juice.”

**

.

- -

On the landing Lily was met with the peculiar sight of Jon, not only up and active before midday, but standing casually outside her bedroom as though this was his usually hangout. When he saw Lily he gave her a grin and greeted her cheerily.

“Good morning! How are you today, Lily?”

His voice was loud, his stance was wide and Lily sensed a trap. Jon was never this merry. Quietly content, maybe, but definitely not bouncing-on-the-balls-of-his-feet-happy. One of his hands was behind his back and the other was in the air held out as though waiting for a hi-five.

“Jon, as sweet as you are, you are still a Potter, the direct relation of known trouble-makers James and Alice; I am going to be suspicious of you loitering around my door even if you engage me in polite chatter.” Lily let her stern gaze fill in any feeling of being caught that her words failed to provide.

“I- I don’t know what you mean.” Jon pulled himself up and looked Lily directly in the eye. She couldn’t help but give him credit for courage.

“Jon- ”

Lily began to speak, but she was cut off by a strangled cry from further down the hall.

Lily looked at Jon. He gave a shrug.

“James is talking to mum and dad.”

“Is it always that-” Lily paused, glancing towards James’ room, the door ever so slightly ajar, she could hear pacing now, “-dramatic?”

Jon shrugged again. “They’re not always that intense, but they worry.”

“Because they’re away?”

Jon nodded. “I suppose it is alright for them to worry, but we all like the freedom. We can be a bit ridiculous.” He grinned at her, before realising what a suspicious statement that was for a boy loitering where he shouldn’t be.

Lily just smiled at him, “And how are you planning on being ridiculous today, Jon, you wild thing?”

Jon blushed and shrugged. “Maybe I’ll call my parents. Two phone calls in one day, they’ll definitely think we’ve burnt the house down.”

Lily laughed, “Ah, parents, such funny creatures. My mum has rung me about four times a week so far while I’ve been here, and two of those phone calls this week were just to ask if I’d spoken to my sister yet.” She let out a great puff of exasperated air, “My sister’s on her honeymoon, I really don’t want to know what they’re up to.”

Jon started to look uncomfortable, his smile edging towards a grimace, his unusual stance a little more frozen.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that,” Lily laughed, “just that I’m sure it’s wonderful and sensible and utterly boring and I just don’t give a toss.” Lily expanded, trying to draw Jon back out of his shell of awkwardness. He nodded up at her, but was still a stiff and dying version of his jolly demeanour of three minutes ago. Lily kept on talking, because surely more words would fix this.
“I mean, she’s older than me and we’re not really that close, not since I got into music properly and she finally accepted that she’s tone deaf. Seriously, she doesn’t understand the noises she makes.” Lily shook her head, and silently gave thanks that Petunia’s hen-do hadn’t involved karaoke. “Eugh, but her husband is – well he’s fine I suppose, we’re just not exactly best friends. When you get married Jon, make sure you ask your siblings about your potential spouse, you know, just to check that they don’t suck the fun out of you.”

Jon just nodded, which was fair enough, seeing as, in Lily’s experience, teenage boys tend not to think too much about the realities of marriage. He glanced over his shoulder again, towards Lily’s door.

“Of course you and your siblings are closer than me and Petunia.” Lily kept her voice casual and unassuming, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she spoke. “Take you and Alice for example,” Lily fixed him with a stare, “Quite the team.”

His lip quivered, and he glanced back at the door once more. “Well, I’m sure you know what it’s like being the younger sibling. You end up in all sorts of ridiculous scrapes.”

She was sure that if she knew him better she would be able to work out whether he was genuinely a bit scared of her or just trying not to laugh.

“Speaking of scrapes, I somehow ended up covered in orange juice, so I should probably change.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wash first?” he spoke quickly, pressing his back to her door, with what seemed like genuine concern in his voice this time.

Lily rolled her eyes, “Okay, fine, but if I no longer have any clean clothes or I find a hundred spiders in there or something then it is your head, and yours alone, that my revenge will come back on.” She left her warning hanging and marched off to the bathroom.

She closed the door and pretended not to hear the whispers and pattering of feet outside, instead reaching for a towel.

It would seem, however, that since she was to be without the Potters for the rest of the day, they had decided to inject her short time with them that morning with as many hijinks as possible.

James burst into the bathroom with the Aloe Vera lifted high as though he were presenting Simba to the pride. If his eyes had also been raised high then that would have okay – slightly embarrassing, a little funny, but swiftly dealt with.
Instead, he swung the bathroom door open, after-sun held aloft, and a broad grin on his face that froze when he saw Lily in her state of undress. If she were a more confident person she would have merely stood there with her hands on her hips, but there are not many nineteen year olds with sort of boldness. Not in Lily’s neck of the woods anyway.
Her shrieks bounced off the bathroom tiles as she span around reaching for her t-shirt, hung on the towel rack. She span a little too far however, and suddenly her feet were not beneath her but up above her head as she slammed down onto the bathroom floor.

“Lily!” James leapt forwards to help, and then thought better of it. “Oh- no, wait – argh, are you okay?”

“What do you think, James?” she snapped, groaning at her throbbing hip and still trying to grab at her t-shirt with her foot.

“Here.” James grabbed it and laid it over her, as one would a foil blanket over a victim of a terrible accident, although perhaps without quite so much physical contact.
“Are you alright to get up?”

“Yes, fine thank you!” Lily bit back, wriggling herself into a sitting position besides the bathtub, even now unable to look at him.

“Right, I’ll – er – I’ll go then.”

With the door shut, Lily allowed herself a moment to laugh. Of all the things to happen, it would be James this happened with, wouldn’t it? There was nothing actually wrong with her, but anyone bursting in on you topless in the bathroom is disconcerting, let alone James. That boy.
She looked at her sticky orangey top and then at the soft towels, and chickened out, clambering to her feet and then into her second shower of the day.

About twenty minutes later she found on the carpet outside the bathroom a large bottle of after-sun, with a hastily scribbled note next to it.

Sorry again! Hope you didn’t break anything!
We’ll be out until seven, drop me a text if you no longer fancy sorting dinner.
Have a good day!
x

She folded the note and picked up the aloe vera and went back to her room chuckling.

**

.

- -

Lily had gotten dressed without incident, and felt no further desire to seek out trouble in her own room (what was coming from Alice would come, Lily couldn’t stop it, so why worry?) so as soon as she heard the front door shut behind the group, she went downstairs to put the kettle on.
She had a meeting schedule with Marlene at midday, and then four hours of rehearsals. Lily had already met the groups and had started working on all the numbers, but this afternoon was her time with the soloists.
Some of them were lovely and had been pleasantly surprised to be told they were getting a solo. One girl with big brown eyes looked like she might cry she was so pleased.
Some of the soloists, however, were decidedly not lovely and had been unimpressed to only receive one solo. Two boys who had come in together had apparently been expecting to be able to tell Lily what they were doing and when they heard that, actually, no they couldn’t just choose a handful of songs they felt appropriate for their ranges, and that they were indeed expected to adhere to the outline Marlene had established, they found themselves very quickly coming face to face with the stern eyebrows of their Musical Director who told them in no uncertain terms to get an attitude check and re-evaluate their motivation for performing, or they would find themselves in something of a sticky situation.
It hadn’t been a bundle of laughs for Lily so far, but dramatic artists were her bread and butter, and she hadn’t been bested yet. After all, a challenge was a challenge, whatever form it took; arrogant artist or moody Marlene, Lily would be able to deal with whatever the day sent her.

This optimistic attitude began to fade away after approximately ten minutes with Marlene.

Lily waved a hand in the air front of her, wafting some of the steam out from the space between the two of them. She could see why Marlene liked this café – small, authentically rustic, bizarre craft opportunities – it had every making of a regular-Marlene-perch. Of course it was also a tiny Cornish coffee shop with poor ventilation that was very well advertised amongst day-trippers, so lunch was a sticky, crowded affair.

Lily picked up her drink – raspberry tea in what appeared to be a hand-crafted ceramic mug. Or at least she assumed that was why it was lumpy and covered in smudgy painted fingerprints. Either way, it was still a little too hot on her knuckles as she gripped the handle.

“How’s your sister? What’s it like having the whole family back under one roof?”

Marlene didn’t look up from her coffee.

“She’s fine. Mum likes having her home, but I think it’s too crowded.”

Lily bit back a sigh.

She hadn’t spoken to Marlene properly for days, not since she had come round for dinner. She hadn’t actually said very much when they had spoken then. Lily had broken it to her that the entire band would rather she didn’t attend band rehearsals, and had then mentioned a band-bonding-activity without meaning to and Marlene seemed to have snapped. Her lips had pursed, and she had pushed her hair behind her ears and sniffed.

“Of course, that’s your domain, MD. Now about Jon and Alice. You’re quite right they really should get involved. They’re not exactly talentless, you know.”

She had sniffed again, stuck her nose up in the air, avoided Lily’s eye and swept into the kitchen.  

The unspoken tension made Lily’s skin crawl. It had been building over the last few days with Marlene speaking to her less and less, but it seemed to be reaching its peak now, with Marlene turning into an unsmiling, anxious version of herself, toe-tapping, brow-furrowing, and generally grumbling at anyone who dared cross her path.
Right now, that person was Lily.
Marlene’s saucer rattled as she set her coffee back down. Lily watched her stare at the arts and crafts table.
Under this blanket of stress Marlene was under, there seemed to be a particular pocket of frustration focused around Lily. She was slowly trying to piece together why Marlene was so annoyed with her but if she couldn’t get her friend to say two civil words to her, then it almost wouldn’t matter.
This lunch was more than a lunch. It was a mission. A Get-Marlene-To-Talk mission. This was not a new mission for Lily. About twice a year Lily had to drag out various props or promises to bring Marlene out of a self-imposed silence. This past year she had gone through this no fewer than seven times. But none of those had been because Marlene was annoyed at her, they had been stress, or flat issues, or family drama, or because her favourite character on a TV show had died. Lily really had no recent experience with a silent Marlene who was angry with Lily.

“Well, you can always come round to James’ house if you need space, you know nobody minds.”

“You mean nobody notices.” She said it casually, but seemed to be making a point of not looking at Lily.

“You know that’s not true, Marl-”

“Look, Lil, I don’t want to hash it out with you now, I just want to eat lunch and sort what we need to for the rehearsals and stuff, so can we not please?” Her mouth was a firm line when she finally turned round and her stare was hard. That didn’t really do anything to mask the tears in her eyes.

“Why? What’s wrong Marl?” Lily pushed, feeling bad, but unwilling to accept Marlene just brushing her off.  “I feel like you need me to apologise for something, but I don’t know what, and you know I’m not the most observant, so please can you just explain? If I’ve upset, will you please tell me so I can say sorry and not do it again?”

Marlene sighed, “It’s not – well it sort of is, but it’s not really your fault, I do know that. It’s just-”she paused for a second, glancing again at the table of young children covered in paint at the back of the shop, and at the woman behind the till, “This is just such a small town. A small place, with small people. Or not small people, but slow people. Nothing happens here, nothing is interesting or special here.” She was moving her hands as she spoke, but not as one would normally to emphasis a point, but in the manner of someone who was missing a squeezy stress-ball.

“What about the performance?”

“Well, that’s the point – that was interesting. And then the snail-disease that is Porthead took over it and turned it to shit.”
She flung her hand out to the side as she spoke and narrowly missed smacking an elderly gentleman on the rear. Lily looked away from the man and back to her friend, frowning.

“What do you mean? I thought it was going okay?” The last Lily had heard of disasters was when Mrs. Rogers had sprung a fundraising tradition on them – Busking on the Boardwalk. It didn’t usually raise that much money, but it was a good practice and did raise some awareness according to Fabian.

Marlene’s head was in her hands, her fingers gripping onto her dark roots. She sat up so suddenly Lily started.

“Take my hair: when I dyed my hair, literally everyone knew and had an opinion. In church on the Sunday morning I had six ladies come up to me and ask me about it.” She held up six fingers in front of her reddening face. “In Manchester, nobody would bat an eyelid if I dyed my hair green but here going two shades lighter is cause for a major incident. It’s just such a small place. You can’t do anything without someone commenting or just plain sticking their nose in. Every decision I make has to be run by all of the town busy-bodies and every parent of a child who has vague hopes that they might be talented. I can’t just make a decision and let the work stand for itself, I’m constantly under scrutiny. And I am not made for that, I’m not good enough!”

The Marlene sitting in front of Lily was a world away from the one who had chased Sirius around on the beach when Lily had first arrived in Cornwall. She was clutching her clipboard to her now, staring down at the top page, and whatever was written there seemed to be the last straw. Tears splashed down Marlene’s cheeks.

 Lily felt like she was hollow, with nothing but an ache inside. Marlene hadn’t cried when her boyfriend had broken up with her at Prom. She hadn’t cried when she got a U on her Physics A-level. And yet here in this Cornish café under the pressure of putting on a performance for a local dramatic arts school – along with other upsets, Lily was certain – Marlene was a puddle of emotion.

Lily didn’t know what to do. She had never been very good with crying people. She picked up her napkin and placed it on Marlene’s side of the table.
“What can I do, Marley?”

Marlene looked up at her friend. “You don’t call me Marley, you call me Marl.” She sniffed, and dabbed at her face with the paper serviette. “And I like that, because the people who call me Marley all seem I’m think I’m a bit of a shit and failure.”

Lily frowned. Something hot and angry was flaring inside of her. “Well, that’s not true.”

“No, it is, they’ve said as much.” Marlene’s head drooped and she seemed to almost curl in on herself. Lily was bristling with anger now.

“What? When?”

“Here.” She tore the top sheet off her clipboard and flopped it onto the table.

Marley,

I’ve heard many good things from Mrs Rogers over the years about your dance and acting ability. Hence mine and my daughter’s excitement that you would be temporarily replacing Mrs Rogers this summer to direct the annual summer concert. However, it has been three weeks since dance rehearsals started and I have heard nothing positive. My daughter is too polite to speak ill of anyone, but she does not return from dance class with the usual excitement, and in fact seems to be under a lot of pressure. I find it hard to believe that a dance teacher who has not even graduated yet can flatten a spirit such as my daughter’s quite so quickly. If this continues, I shall be raising concerns with other parents and seeing that your harmful techniques are put to a stop and someone more capable and forgiving is put in charge of this project.

Yours,
Margaret Macdonald

Lily’s jaw tightened more and more the further down the letter she got. The red pen pricked at her, and the names that Marlene had been called stung her eyes. She looked up at her friend, and scrunched the letter up.

“Right, we’re going to be a united front from now on.”

Marlene’s brow crumpled, “What? Why?”

“Because if they’re calling you shit, then they can call me shit too.”

“How does that help?”

Lily waivered for barely a second, but it was just enough time for her overly honest blabbermouth of a tongue to take over. “It doesn’t, but it makes me feel less crap for letting you take all of this flack on your own. Plus I thought it would sound kind of impressive. But I now realise it doesn’t. But also,” she reached across the table for Marlene’s hand, “because you’re not on your own, and you’re doing so much of  this alone when you shouldn’t be and the credit for it – good or bad – doesn’t rest solely with you.” Lily was trying to be a fierce and protective friend, but Marlene was still staring at her in mild confusion and deep despair. “Band rehearsals are going well enough, do you think it’s time we started mixing in some live musicians with the dance rehearsals?”

Marlene barely acknowledged the question. “But that won’t stop me not a shit of a human being.”

“Well, no, because you’re not a shit of a human being, you’re a wonderful human being who thinks she’s terrible and lets shits like this talk to her as though she is. You’re not perfect Marl, but who is? Who is this woman anyway?” Lily glared down at the paper that had landed in Lily’s half-drunk tea.

“She’s Mary Macdonald’s mother.” Marlene sighed glumly.

Lily looked at her blankly.

“The ballet one.” Marlene said as though that meant anything to Lily. She rolled her eyes, “She’s got a place at RADA in September, so I think she’s feeling the need to prove herself to everyone. Surely you’ve seen her, she never leaves the practice room.”

“So would you say that she is putting herself under pressure and not finding dance classes as much fun as usual?” Lily raised an eyebrow at Marlene.

“Probably.” She shrugged.

“And then she goes home and is not her usual self? And perhaps her mum has jumped to conclusions?”

“Maybe.”

“Marl, this isn’t your fault. And even if it is, it’s not intentionally your fault. Now that we’ve got it in mind, we can rectify and prevent these things. Not” – she raised her finger, held it out sternly for a second before tapping Marlene on the nose – “that I in any way think that you are ruining anything.

Marlene sniffed again, “Well you have to say that.”

“Because I’m your best friend who loves you and thinks you’re amazing?”

A grin poked through on Marlene’s face, “Because you’ve recently been promoted to co-director and are now equal culpable for my mistakes.”

Lily grinned at her friend.

“Well this can only be a good thing.”

***

.

-

The afternoon sped along after lunch, filled with music and many opinions. More than once Lily found herself bringing out her ‘teacher voice’ on pupils. By the time five o clock came, however, she was starting to dispense with formalities.

“Eugh, what are these notes? Ben you’re the worst.” Lily held her pen over Benjy Fenwick’s copy of the sheet music ready to make alterations, yet completely unable to due to the illegible scrawls all over it.

The boy tilted his head and looked at her. “The worst? Worst singer? Person?”

Lily looked up at him, leaning against the piano with his long legs crossed at the ankles, looking, she hated to admit it, rather elegant.
“Yes.”

“The worst person? Are you sure?” He looked at her over the top of his thick-rimmed glasses with mock concern.

“Am I sure? Have you seen this page? Yes, I’m pretty sure you’re the worst person ever.” She waved the sheaf of paper with one hand and let the other rest on her hip to show she meant business. Scruffy sod.

“Oh okay, so you haven’t heard of Mao or Stalin or Trump. Okay, cool.” He shrugged sarcastically.

Lily rolled her eyes, and looked over the top of the piano at the pianist behind it. He was grinning openly at their squabbling. She turned back to Benjy, “Can you just make this a bit neater? And stop jazzing it up so much.”

Benjy reached for his music, “But last time you said to add a bit of razzle dazzle.”

“I definitely wouldn’t have said that.” Lily said with a straight face, decidedly ignoring the boy at the keys who had now started laughing.

“Not in so many words, but you did say to add in some jazzy-ness.” Benjy stepped forward and waved his arms around Lily to emphasis his point. She felt like she was being put in a mime’s box.

She laughed, “Okay, yes, but now I’m re-thinking this bit.” She tapped the page with her pen before tapping her chin with it. She bit her lip and wrinkled her nose, grinning up at him.

“Lily-” Benjy sighed.

“Yeah?”

“You’re the worst.”

“Benjamin! Can you just sing the song?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Thank fuck.”

It wasn’t often that Lily was pushed to swearing. She normally really didn’t like it and felt it an unnecessary feature of the language. Rehearsals with her soloists were slowly convincing her of the need.

Benjy Fenwick was by no means the worst person she had to work with, but he enjoyed winding her up and that escalated her frustration far quicker than anything else. But he was good, and worked hard enough that she was never actually that annoyed at him. Actually, they all worked hard, but they all had their quirks that had Lily wanting to tear her hair out.

Daisy Brown was incredibly nervous. She had a lovely crisp voice that she was terrified of sharing.

Rhian Jones thought she was a soprano.

Edgar Bones never wrote anything down but had a mind like a sieve.

Amelia Mccollum kept trying to convince Lily to give her another solo.

Amelia was the most aggressively annoying - more than once she had been waiting outside the practice room to ambush Lily and foist upon her yet another proposal for a second song - but on the whole they were capable and flattered, the best combination. It also helped that she was never alone. There was always a pianist with her for these sessions, usually James, but every now and then he was unavailable and so Fabian had offered to fill the gap. Today was Fabian’s day.

She sighed and flopped down in the chair next to his piano stool.

“Has Benjy always been that annoying?” She set her elbow down gently on the lid of the piano and slumped her chin onto her hand.

“Ah, Benjy’s not annoying, he’s just always up for a bit of banter.” Fabian was still grinning as he tidied up the pile of music resting in front of him.

Lily laughed, “That’s such a polite of putting it. You’re so polite, Fabian.” She turned her head to look at him, not lifting her head from her hand and instead letting her cheek stretch against her hand. “I believe my mother would have called him a cheeky monkey and had no nonsense out of him.”

“You look cute like that,” he smiled, “with your face all smooshed. Like a monkey yourself.”

Lily blinked, and then let out a snort. “Great.” Shaking her head she leant back in her chair and yawned. “I can’t get a straight conversation out of Benjy, but at least I can relate to him on a most fundamental level.”

“Precisely. Made of the same stuff.”

Lily snorted again, and turned to watch him put the music in the folder. It had been him who had suggested keeping everything in one place in the practice room, thus putting them all to shame with his organisation. Lily had been a little bit impressed, but had mostly enjoyed the look on James’ face as he tried to work out what had been wrong with the old system of lugging a heavy box to and fro.

“Thanks so much Fabe, you sure know how to compliment a girl.” She rolled her eyes.

“Fabe?” he paused in his sorting and swung round to look at her with a wrinkled nose and what Lily thought was best described as an upside-down smile.

Lily couldn’t help giggling at that look. “Does nobody call you that? Fabian,” she paused and put a hand on his upper arm, “as nice a name as it is, is really quite long.”

She pulled her hand back when he frowned, “Its three syllables.”

“Yeah, but ‘Lily’ is only two and the number of people who call me ‘Lil’ is unreal. And I was never given a choice about that.” She put a hand on her heart and leant forwards as though utterly crestfallen. When he laughed she sat up straight and tipped her head back so she could peer down her nose at him. “Not that I’m better than you, of course, I just think you could learn a lot from me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! Oh the ways of life I could teach you!” she shook her head at him in mock disappointment “You have so much to learn, Fabe.”

“So teach me.” He laughed softly and leant forwards.

His left hand reached to pull her face to his and he smiled before he kissed her. His lips were chapped and Lily could feel the bubble of laughter in her chest waiting to spill out of her as though this was the next joke in their conversation.

But it wasn’t.

In the silence of the practice room, in the empty minutes after a rehearsal, Fabian was kissing her and his arm was around her waist and her hand was in his hair and she had no idea what was happening.

Chapter Text

12.38pm
Main Sitting Room, the Potter’s House

“Drink from ME, DRINK from MEEE”

Nobody had ever said that Caradoc was a bad singer.

“I’m fee-he-eeling drunk and high, soo highhh-ai-ai”

But then, nobody had ever felt the need.

“Pour on a sssymphoneeeeeee”

On any other day, and at any other time, Lily would have been laughing so hard her stomach split open. Her arm would have been around Dorcas’ shoulders and she would have joined her in singing badly on purpose, a fitting backing track to Caradoc’s one-man karaoke show.

And at the start of the night Lily had seen no reason why that shouldn’t happen.

It had been the right night for this kind of madness; warm and dry, the stars covered by clouds, the sound system blaring, the cliffs empty of people to disturb. But more than that there had been something bristling in the air. Call it anticipation, call it a warning, whatever it was that wrapped around them acted like a catalyst for that night, for all that was to come.

By the time the sun set they were all at least a little bit drunk, even Jon, to whom Gideon had sneaked more than one beer despite him being four years too young. Emmeline was giggling at something he had said and the boy looked surprised and then pleased with himself, his cheeks turning pink. As he glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching, Lily quickly looked away.
Caradoc was still dancing, Dorcas was still hysterical, Gideon was egging them on and Fabian and James were absent.
James had said he was doing to get more drinks over half an hour ago. Lily could understand taking your time in this mansion of a house, but she knew it wasn’t likely that that he had gotten lost, however much she might have liked him to. That boy. And Fabian was no better. She cursed them silently before downing the last of her drink and reaching for another.

10am
Waitrose, St Ives

“How many melons do you think we need?”

Lily frowned. What was the boy on about now?

“How many melons do you normally need for a party?” she held her hands up helplessly at James’ back, not quite resisting the temptation to make a face at it.

“Well normally- What?” James had seen her and she felt no shame; the rolling eyes and pure disdain was truly owed to he who had insisted on stopping in every aisle of the supermarket to look for any possible thing they might need for tonight.

“James, it’s a few friends over, it’s not the celebration of the century.” Lily sighed. Even at these levels of frustration she still couldn’t help the smile that sneaked its way onto her face.

James laughed, “Ah, but there’s your mistake, you see,” he pointed at her, his hand reaching over the trolley to tap her on the nose, “every occasion should be treated like your last.” He said, nodding sagely and turning back to the fruit. “Now if you were in fact throwing the celebration of the century”, he turned his head to raise his eyebrows at Lily, “which melon would you choose?”

Lily snorted, “What sort of parties do you go to? When you said we’d be going to the supermarket to get some things for tonight, I thought you meant we’d be going to the Lidl for Doritos and pop, not picking up exotic fruits in Waitrose.”

James gave her a look, “Is there a posh joke in there somewhere?”

Lily laughed again, “There doesn’t need to be.” He shrugged at her, clueless, and turned back to the produce. “Sorry, I think I tease you too much for being posh.”

James just nodded seriously, holding a punnet of blueberries up to hide his face from her.

“James.” Lily groaned, “I’m actually trying to apologise.”

He rested a hand delicately on his chest, “Well you will just have to make it up to me later. For now I am burying my pain and focusing on party preparation. Now, which of these papayas is more suitable?” He held up two identical pieces of fruit.

She laughed and shook her head. “I really don’t know, I’ve never had a papaya.” She looked up and down the aisle, “I’ve never even been in a Waitrose before.”

James turned fully to look at her now, “Have you not? It’s not that fancy surely.” He rolled his eyes.

“No,” Lily admitted, “It’s definitely a step up from Tesco, but it’s pretty much the same as Booths, and we used to go there every Saturday with my grandparents.”

“What’s Booths?” James asked, placing a reasonably sized honeydew melon in their trolley.

Lily gasped, “Booths is the best! It’s like Waitrose but better. Well, it’s like Waitrose but northern.” She amended, and then paused, “But when you think about it, isn’t that the same thing?” She pretended to ponder for a few seconds before James shoved her with the trolley. She laughed and followed him down the aisle, “It’s basically just a high-end supermarket that you only get in the North, and I think it’s probably a Lake District thing because it has that kind of ‘fancy but rural’ feel on bits of it.” Lily explained as James continued adding seemingly unnecessary fruit into the trolley.

He grinned at her as he put each item in, but didn’t explain any of them. Lily didn’t pass any more comments, but enjoyed the amusement of it all. Along with the melons and papaya, James thought their small soiree would require celery, a single dragon fruit, a bag of mandarins, three types of grapes and a tiny packet of raspberries. She looked up at his back and shook her head, smiling at the ridiculousness of him.

8.30pm
Main Sitting Room

“What’s 2 truths 1 lie?”

Dorcas’ innocent question was met with several groans.

“What do you think it is Dor?” Caradoc scowled at her, “It’s a game where you say two truths and one lie.”

“And then the rest have to guess which is the lie.” Gideon finished quickly in a softer tone, smiling broadly.

Dorcas nodded at him, but said nothing else. She brushed her hair from behind her ear – to hide the blush forming on her cheeks.

“I’ve only ever played the boring sober version of this game, how does one add alcohol in?” Lily knelt down next to Dorcas on the carpet. There was space on the sofa between Jon and James but Lily didn’t want really fancy being part of a Potter sandwich at the minute, not with a certain Prewett sitting across the way, anyway.

“How does one play it without alcohol?” Caradoc frowned at her, looking suspiciously upon her naivety.

Lily met his frown with a blank look, doing her best not to roll her eyes.

“Calmly.”

“Pah, that’s rubbish. Get some liquor in you.”

She laughed, and took the bottle he offered.

“I don’t really drink though, so one is my absolute limit.”

A gasp came from Lily’s left. “What? No!” Dorcas’s eyes were dinner-plates, “Lily, you are not allowed to be more sober than me tonight, promise?”

Lily looked towards the others for support, but there was very little out there. Emmeline gave the most sympathetic look, but then she shrugged and drank deeply from a glass of something blue.

“Drink up, Evans.” Caradoc ordered.

Dorcas nodded vigorously, her hand sharp at Lily’s wrist.

“Is this what peer-pressure feels like?”

“Yes, and unlike what the leaflets tell you, there is no resistance.” Fabian said.

Lily laughed and lifted the bottle to her lips.

12pm
Side Lawn

Despite her best efforts, Lily could feel her nostrils flaring and her chin wobbling. Her vision blurred but she would be damned if she let a tear fall from her eyes. Not because of this. Gideon had left her now, but his words were still hammering their way around her head.

Selfish. Oblivious.

Lily sniffed and wiped her nose with her fingers, pinching the tip a little too tightly.

The night was cooling down, although it was by no means chilly. The clouds were still covering the house, trapping the warmth from the day’s heat. The back garden was motionless but Lily could hear the waves crashing against the rocks somewhere beneath the cliffs. When all else goes tits up the sea at least can be trusted to keep its course.

‘Are you an idiot? Or are you just really that selfish?’

She pulled the bobble from her ponytail and tugged her hair down around her face, even though there was nobody to hide from now. Maybe they were missing her, had noticed that she hadn’t come back. Half of her wanted to never come back, to never set foot in a room full of people who thought she was cruel. Because surely they must all think that, if Gideon did. If he, in his kindness, in his humour, could call her self-centred then what must the rest of them already be thinking about her? Marlene was right; this is a small town full of small minds. Secrets do not stay that way for long.

‘Are you an idiot? Or are you just really selfish? Or maybe you really are that oblivious. But then, isn’t being that stupidly inward-looking the same thing as being selfish?’

He seemed to have hit his stride now, the words flowing freely and confidently. Lily half suspected he might have rehearsed them.

‘Fabian isn’t just interested in being your fun friend who comes to your rescue all the time. How can you not see that? No, I know you see it, you have eyes in your head. But then to drag him and James together, when you’re clearly stringing them both along, Lily, come on! That’s just cruel! No, I don’t need to say anything else, you know what I mean. Just- just pick one or fuck off. We were so much better off without you.’

Lily sniffed again and turned back to the house, slamming the glass door behind her.

10.45pm
Secondary Drawing Room

She was good at hiding. Always had been. In a game of hide and seek, she was usually the winner. She was good at finding small spaces and sitting quietly. She used to do it when Petunia was being a particular nightmare. Here, in this mansion of a house she was certain that she would have at least ten minutes before anyone came and interrupted her silence.

And yet here he was.

The door creaked slightly as it was opened, and he shushed it, pressing a finger to his lips and frowning. Lily smiled despite herself. The fool.

She had chosen a spot between a large squishy sofa and the wall, half tucked under a coffee table. It wasn’t the obvious position behind the sofa because she wasn’t an idiot. Hidden round the side at this awkward angle she should have been almost invisible to anyone entering the room.

“Hello!” Fabian’s voice was hushed, but still bounced with excitement. His face was in front of her, his red hair flopping down and almost brushing her lap as he hung over her, grinning. Lily gasped and jumped back.

“Argh!”

Crack!

“Oh god, Lily I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

Lily laughed because really what else could she do? “Yes, I’m fine, just – flip, ow – just hit my head a bit. But it’s still attached so no real worries.”

“Right, that’s good then.” He nodded, upright now and wriggling into place beside her.

“Oh yeah, splendid.” She rolled her eyes, but made herself grin back at him, shuffling along to make room for him. This was awkward enough without Lily acting as she wanted. Which was as though he wasn’t there and they hadn’t kissed and she knew what she wanted and she could just go back to being friends with this floppy-haired, goofy-grinned boy. Which she couldn’t do. Because they were hidden under a table together and his face was very nearby and he was grinning at her again. Her stomach fluttered.

“This is a good hiding spot.”

She nodded, hoping something semi-decent would spill out of her mouth. “Obviously. I’m not an idiot.” That would have to do.

“Well, no, but there are lots of sort-of-okay places to hide here, especially in this room.” He peered over the arm of the sofa at the room. The large dresser pushed against the wall, the long thick curtains hanging beside a wide window-sill. Really, this was a hide-and-seekers dream.

“Yeah, but as has been said, Prewitt, I’m no fool. I’ve got this Sardine’s business in the palm of my hand.” The Potter’s house might have been a mansion with many nooks and crannies, but there was nowhere for Lily to hide right then. Fabian’s face was close to Lily’s that she could see the pores on his nose.

“Oh yeah?” he grinned and Lily felt something in her stomach twist, and maybe not in a good way. She spoke quickly, hoping to cover it with babble.

“Yeah. I bet we’ll not be found for hours yet. When you opened that door I nearly keeled over in shock to be perfectly honest with you, I’m that confident.”

“Ah, but what you seemed to have missed is that you are not hard to find. You stand out a mile, Lily Evans.”

“I do?”

“Yes. To me at least.

“Oh. Must be the hair. Ginger detection has come a long way in recent years.”

He laughed

“Yeah, sure. It’s the hair.”

“What? It is. We’re kin of sorts. I mean, we must have a common ancestor somewhere, at least.” She carried on speaking, when he looked at her awkwardly.

”Yeah, but I don’t think we’re that closely related. No more than most people.”

“Maybe not by blood, but there’s definitely something here.”

“Is there?”

She froze. In her efforts to keep this from being awkward she had somehow dug herself into a place of soft looks and shallow breaths.

“Well, I don’t know. I mean we- we-“

“Kissed?”

“Yeah, that. But that was just- well, it was – was it?”

“That wasn’t really a sentence, Lily.” He laughed, but Lily could see the glint in his eyes dimming slightly.

“No, it wasn’t sorry, I just- I mean- I don’t really- er – know-”

She was building to a point, honestly, she swore to herself that there was a meaning behind all this hesitation and she could feel it on the tip of her tongue, but before it could tumble forth the door to the room swung open for a second time and she silenced herself.

A second ruffled head poked its way into the room. Lily pressed a finger to Fabian’s lips, glaring at him. He had looked as though he was going to say something, and as necessary as this awkward conversation was, it came second to winning.  

“Hello?” Jon called in a whisper, taking a few steps into the room. Lily sunk lower behind the sofa, part praying to be found, part wishing for victory.

Footsteps shuffled on the carpet, and they heard a cupboard being opened. Lily hadn’t taken her hand away from Fabian’s face yet, and was becoming more uncomfortable with the contact by the second. She saw the top of the curtains swish to one side, and then fall back to centre. Jon wasn’t like James; he was more careful. He might find them. He also might take his sweet time about it.

Lily took her hand away from Fabian’s face, and he let out a breath.

The next second, Jon’s head poked over the top of the table.

“Hello.” Jon said again, looking curiously between them. He met Lily’s eyes with a twinkling smile. “Found you.”

11.35
Kitchen

“That Jon is a crafty one.” She narrowed her eyes at him over her drink. He had his back to her, and was up to his elbows in soap suds and yet still somehow she thought he looked smug.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, carefully wringing out the dish cloth.

Definitely smug.

“He was in on it! This plan of yours. Honestly, you Potters are a conniving bunch.”

James’ shoulders shook and when he turned to look at Lily, to spread that smirk and its implications throughout the entire room. She glanced down at the glass in her hand. She thought she’d put just a few drops of whiskey in with her coke – a goodwill gesture to appease the giggling gate-keeper to sobriety that Dorcas had turned into after half a glass of wine – but her cheeks were warming and her legs felt like they might not be able to hold her much longer.

“We never said that was out of bounds. I specifically remember that ‘no cheating’ was never written into the rules.”

“Because it doesn’t have to be!” Lily was aware that she was shouting, and knew that James was laughing at her giddiness, but she couldn’t help throwing her head back and tossing her hair to emphasise her point. Her hand had also found its way to her hip. “Cheating is breaking the rules and if you have just spent twenty-three minutes establishing rules then you shouldn’t go ahead and break them in the next second! Caradoc was very firm on the rules. We were to keep them-”

“-upon pain of death, I remember.” James held his hand up like the good boy-scout he surely must have been at one point and nodded solemnly. “But technically I kept all the rules. Not once did the Grandmaster say I couldn’t recruit someone to spy for me.”

Lily huffed and rolled her eyes. “He said so many things, how am I supposed to know if he didn’t say that? If we’d given him more time he probably would have. It’s like monkeys and typewriters.”

“Did he really go on that much? I must not have been paying attention. I think I was a bit distracted.” He reached across her for the bowl of crisps on the other counter, meeting her eye as she leant back into the corner out of his way.

10.20pm
Main Living Room

“Is everyone okay with the general concept, then?”

Lily didn’t know exactly what it was that controlled a person’s personality. She could easily picture a big remote control in the sky poking away at different parts of some people. She had been told often that there was a scientific answer to what drives people and what led to different dispositions, but she had never been all that bothered to learn it. She liked to think of people like robots still functioning after they’re batteries had been taken out.
She was also sure that there was supposed to be a function, a mute button perhaps, that stopped the flow of internal thought from billowing out into external action.
But gazing around the room, watching as Caradoc gestured wildly, only just missing a blinking Emmeline with his sharp elbow, she thought that maybe he had mislaid one vital component, one extra button on the control.
Every now and then Lily could feel the point at which he would normally stop himself, the pause in a sentence, the second deep breath. Only now with three pints down him and a sudden rush of power the pause was followed by a loud laugh, the deep breath by a firm voice.  

He was a stern drunk, certain of what he wanted, and set on making sure that everyone else understood exactly what that was, and was okay with it. If Lily had to choose a moniker for the sort of drunk Caradoc was she would have gone with ‘Grandpa Doc’. Grumpy, lacking in sympathy because he wants you to be able to stand on your own two feet, needs a lot of toilet breaks. 

Not everyone in the room was entirely compatible with this

“For crying out loud, yes, we all understand how you play this ridiculous dinner party game – one person hides, we all try and find them. Lily’s hiding first, can we please just start? You’ve spent a whole ten minutes explaining the rules, Doc.” Emmeline’s drunk persona was an angry toddler. She was sat on the sofa plaiting her hair and scowling at everything, completely oblivious to the numerous near-collisions with Caradoc’s elbow.

“Yeah, let’s just start. I’ll go and hide and then I’ll see you guys in like three hours, ‘kay?” Lily wasn’t sure what her persona was, but it felt sassy.

“Pah! Ten minutes more like.” James was upside down on the sofa, his feet tapping at the wall and his hair brushing the carpet.

“I really don’t think you understand how good I am at winning. I’m also an impeccable hider.” Despite her bravado she was finding it hard not to freak out at the upside-down face she was addressing. The upside-down mouth was particularly starting to weird her out. She looked away when he grinned.

“Im-peck-able?”

She looked up at his feet, tapping out a constant rhythm on the wall next to Jon’s head. “James, I need you to understand that I will never do the funky chicken, no matter how many puns you make about it.”

“Ah, don’t beak like that! You’re in such a fowl mood. What if I find you first?” he asked quickly to stop any pun-repercussions.

“Ha! You’re not going to, so this isn’t even worth talking about.” Lily shared a look with Jon, who was watching the conversation with a sleepy sort of grin on his face. If Lily were a good sort of au pair she would probably have sent him to bed. But who cared about sensible when there was victory to be had?

“Okay, sure, you’re an im-peck-able hider, but this is my coop, I know you’ve been here a while but you’ll still be winging it. And even if I don’t find you first, I’ll still be eggs-ceedingly close to the top. What if I come in the top three? Oops, sorry Dor!” he held out three fingers to illustrate his point, his hand flopping onto the carpet right in Dorcas’ (persona: Cheerful Enabler) path as she wobbled over to the table of drinks.

“I just really don’t think you will.”

“So you’re risking nothing by accepting this wager.”

Lily thought for a moment. The serious glint in his eye and the refraining from fowl puns made her pause. She glanced at the others, at Caradoc trying to explain just one more time to Gideon (persona: The Guy Who Just Wants To Dance) exactly how and where they would all wait while Lily hid. Dorcas was offering Fabian (The Overprotective Dad Friend) something green and bubbling. Emmeline now had a head full of plaits and had moved onto trying to knot them together. Lily turned back to James and sighed dramatically, doing her best to hide the tingly feeling growing in her at the thought of such competition. “What are your terms?”

Even from upside down his grin looked ominous.

11.42pm
Kitchen

The room was spinning. Lily wasn’t sure what was a table, counter, glass door, it all blurred into a rainbow. James’ hands were on her waist, and his feet were definitely on the ground, but Lily felt like she was about to fly off the tiles. His breath was hot against her neck and her fingers hurt from gripping his t-shirt, but still they span.
It was her own fault really. He had mentioned the funky chicken again and she had challenged him on his dancing ability. It had been completely natural to have him wrap his arms around her and lead her in a waltz. And then another. And then just to hold her tightly and whirl around in the big open space of the kitchen.
Lily on a normal day would have enjoyed being spun around with someone who knew how to dance.
Lily dizzy from excitement and whatever Caradoc had last put in her hand had giggled at the thought of it and dragged James away from the dishes.

In her haze she felt like the chairs were flying around the room, pots and pans swirling around them. She bent back, letting herself be held, and stared up past James’ nostrils to the ceiling, trying to breathe through her laughter.

There were other voices now, mirth that echoed around the kitchen. James stopped moving but Lily stumbled on, grabbing onto the nearest firm object.

The object coughed, “You alright there, Lil?”

Lily looked up into Dorcas’ brown eyes, crinkled from laughing. “Oh! I’m so sorry Dorcas!”

The floor was tilting, so Lily couldn’t let go let, but Dorcas was smiling, so she probably didn’t mind.

“Just having a whirl! Are you guys alright?”

“Oh! Yes. We came to get another drink. Caradoc has decided that karaoke is the next event of the evening, so I wanted to stock up before the fun begins!” Dorcas beamed so brightly Lily hardly noticed that she had gently removed Lily’s hand from her shoulder and placed it on the wall. She leant there as Dorcas carried on talking.
“I just wanted to get some water, and Gideon wanted to get out of singing.” She winked at Gideon who nodded.

“Not my forte, unfortunately. Is there anything that I can help with in here?” he looked between Lily and James, the latter of whom had returned to the sink.

“No, we’re good.” James said shortly.

“Actually, you could carry one of these jugs. I’ll get the other.” Lily picked up the jug on the table and turned to the door.

She span back to look at James, her hair flicking back over her shoulder, “Thank you for proving me right! That was definitely better than the funky chicken!”

James gave a cry and clutched his heart, “How dare you!”

“I’m sorry, I know it hurts that I’m right all the time.”

“That’s okay, you can just make it up me later. Just like everything else.”

Lily laughed and span back around to leave the kitchen.  

Somewhere in the swirl she saw Dorcas’ narrowed eyes and Gideon’s raised eyebrows, but the giddiness in her chest floated her right past them.

Halfway down the hall she heard someone calling her name. When she turned back she was greeted to a frowning Gideon.

“Lily, can I talk to you for a minute?” It may have been phrased like a question, but there was steel in Gideon’s eyes. He gestured to the patio doors.

01.14
Living room

It was all finally hitting her. The drink, the boys, the mass-confusion. God dammit, she had just wanted to make some music and meet some people, how had she ended up in the middle of this mess of emotions? This shit-show, as Gideon had put it.
He was sitting on the other side of the room, and if Lily knew him better she might have said he was brooding. Tonight however, as she second-guessed all of her judgements, she decided not to think too much about him. Let him sit, let him hate or applaud. It didn’t matter anyway.
Maybe it was his words carving themselves into her mind or the glass of rum in her hand, but her blood was running hot and her eyes were prickling with tears. When Caradoc took a bow and high-kicked his way off-stage, Lily found herself accepting the wine bottle microphone and stepping up to the laptop.
Dorcas’ whoop made her smile and as she turned the speakers up, familiar music seemed to set her soul at ease.

“1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, drink!”

The pattern of music was familiar, like sinking back into an old pair of jeans. She felt a rush of gratitude towards Caradoc, that in his overbearing desire for fun, in his dizzying drunkenness he had chosen the one activity that could make her feel better.
She had missed singing. Of course she had sung with the band and with the kids in the concert, but it wasn’t proper singing; it wasn’t enough. It was like going for a short walk when you really needed to stretch your legs properly and run.
It was the first time in a while that Lily had felt in control.

“Throw ‘em back till I lose count, oh I’m gonna swing-”

The door to the living room opened and some figures entered but Lily didn’t care if it was Fabian or James or Petunia and Vernon popping in on their way home from their honeymoon, her eyes were on the screen and she was just focused on getting the words out.  

“-I’m gonna fly like a bird through the night-”

Caradoc was beside her again with his own bottle of wine. Lily thought he might have been beatboxing the amount of spittle that was flying from him, but his hand was warm on her shoulder and the room was filling with laughter so she didn’t mind.  

“I’m holding on for tonight.”

When the song finished Lily looked up. When the others had finished the room had been filled with cheers and laughter and squabbling over who was next, but apart from Caradoc next to her, still making noises and dribbling, the room was quiet. Lily’s cheeks went warm and she sat the wine bottle down on the coffee table.

“It’s quite hot in here, I think I’m going to get some air.”

“Yes! Air! I want to breathe! Are the stars shining tonight? Let’s go and see!”

 Caradoc bounced his way out of the room, and when nobody immediately bounded after him he poked his head back through the door and beckoned to Lily.

“Come along!”

01.26am
The Cliff Above The Beach

It was warm and a bit more real than the rest of the night had been. Maybe it was the cooler air on her face or the grass prickling her toes, but she was more aware of herself. And of the noise around her. Caradoc was singing something as he bounced along the path, the others behind. Lily didn’t particularly want to look back, but she heard voices that might have been Dorcas and Emmeline, with just a touch of Jon in there too.

The stars were indeed shining, and Lily found her eyes stuck to them.

“It’s so pretty it makes me think I could paint a picture.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Because-” he paused and frowned. He looked from her to his feet to the sky and then back to her again. “That is so fucking inspirational. I can’t draw for shit, but why the fuck not paint a picture?”

Lily would have laughed but the others weren’t paying attention. She realised sharply that the only person still inside was James. Even Gideon, with his stern big-brother brow had joined them. He was looking more relaxed in the fresh air. Lily turned back to the sea.

Caradoc had reached the turn in the path now, the place where you can either carry on walking and eventually get to Porthead, or where you can slither down to the inlet below. He span around on the sandy path and looked at the others.

“I feel like we should all just stop here and appreciate. Does anyone have any poetry to share?”

Lily thought she heard at least three groans from behind her, so felt like she was justified in shaking her head.
“Doc, I really don’t feel like this is the moment for it.”

“Of course it’s the moment! We’re out under the stars, at one with the world!” He swung his arms wide, as though trying to embrace all of nature at once. When he turned and saw their faces his nature-hug wilted. “If not recitations, then dance at least!”

Lily laughed and not for the first time that night let herself be drawn into a twirling madness before pulling away. She no longer felt like dancing.

“I think that’s enough for me tonight, Doc.” She smiled, but struggled to put any heart into it.

Perhaps he saw her spirit wilting, because he said nothing, just tutted at her, making her chuckle.

There was some noise behind Lily from the others, laughter and something else, as Caradoc started spinning around again, but Lily was no longer paying attention. She could see the water now, and what little light there was reflected back at her. She took a step towards it, away from everyone else, and would have stood there all night if she had been allowed.

But the path was loose and the roots under their feet were brittle. A few steps more, a little more spinning in the sand and the ground crumbled beneath them.

Lily barely had time to realise she was falling, she was just suddenly a lot closer to the shoreline than she had been a moment before. The ground had crumbled beneath her feet, and down she had gone.
By some luck, some blessing of the stars, or perhaps by sheer coincidence, Lily found herself wedged in between thick tufts of grass. Her heart pounded, her arm was throbbing, and she couldn’t tell if her backside was stinging from the impact or if the wet of the sand had already seeped through her jeans, but all in all she thought she might be okay. She lay there for a second, in her breathless damp state, and looked up at the sky again. The stars were still twinkling. Surely she was fine. So why were the others shrieking so loudly?

Picking out the meaning of the noise felt like spotting a seagull on a cloudy day, but she got there eventually.
It turned out they weren’t all that bothered about her.

“Caradoc!”

“Doc! Oh my days, Lily, can you reach him?”

“Fuck me, that’s steep!”

She saw him dangling a little way below on a slightly less stable section of cliff. His wails split the air, but they were somewhat comforting; he could still make a scene, so how gravely injured could he be?
He was gripping onto the root of some plant that did not look sturdy and his face was white as moonlight. Lily had never seen a more pathetic creature than the one who blinked up at her, his face twisted in pain.

“Maybe dancing wasn’t such a good idea.”

*

It wasn’t broken. He could still move his toes and put weight on it, so his leg wasn’t broken. That was the main relief. After they had dragged him back up to stable ground, Caradoc had managed to limp a little before insisting on being carried back to the house.
He sat now on the sofa with his foot resting on a mountain of pillows on the coffee table. Jon, ever the sensible one, had found an ice pack for the pain in his foot and a large glass of water for the gathering pain in his head.
They were grouped around him in the living room, watching with a mixture of guilt and pity and exasperation. Lily would have felt more sympathy if she hadn’t been standing quite so close to him.
Once the invalid had been dragged back to the house and waited upon, she had assessed her own state in the aftermath of the fall. She had discovered that her bum was in fact very damp and her arm was badly scraped. Her elbow had swollen a little, having been landed on and was very red. Without any prompting Jon had found a cold-pack for her too, saying nothing as he covered her arm.

“Thanks, Jon.”

He nodded to her, but didn’t quite meet her eye. She frowned, but put it down as yet another thing that she was too tired and too dizzy to think about right now.
She stood in the doorway to the living room, watching this band of hers. Caradoc was lapping up the attention, letting Dorcas wipe his brow like a more ethnic, less trained Florence Nightingale. Fabian was doing his best to make everyone laugh, re-enacting the fall with faces and voices that Lily thought might be a little cruel. But the others were laughing, even Emmeline, who usually spent so much time on the side, was right there.

“How’s the arm?”

And there was James, his eyes not missing her loitering by the door.

She smiled, “It’ll be fine.”

4:43am
The Top Landing in the Potter’s House

Lily stared at the windows over the front door. She wasn’t sure what she was looking at anymore; whether it was the reflection of the chandelier, or out into the night, or perhaps just the glass itself. She wasn’t really looking anyway, she was thinking. Or not thinking, as the case may be. Resolutely not thinking. There were too many things pushing at the bubble of not-thinking and staring at the windows watching night turn to day was doing a fine job of keeping them at bay.

Not that it was by any means morning yet, but the darkness was slowly becoming less black-as-sin and more the deep-blue-of-wrongdoing. Lily stared hoping to pull the light back through, and put the people back, and allow her to understand, and to not act like an idiot. She had made so many mistakes.

The house was quiet now. Jon was asleep down the hall. He had gone to bed only after James had left for the second lot of drop-offs. He had tried to sit with Lily as she brooded on the stairs, but his eyelids drooped and his shoulders swayed so she sent him off to rest. James would be back soon, anyway. She wouldn’t be alone for long.

She picked at the carpet, feeling the strands of wool between her fingers. She hadn’t had the chance to speak to Gideon again - she hadn’t wanted to but he seemed to want particularly to avoid her - and it was all she could do to meet Fabian’s eyes as he waved goodbye. She had lifted a hand in farewell but it had just hung there uncomfortably in the air. This situation truly was untenable.

There was a crunching of wheels on gravel outside, and headlights sweeping across the drive.

She let her eyes rest on him as he stepped in the door, taking in the sigh and the mussed hair. She saw as he stood there with his back against the front door, looking into the house. He was looking almost directly beneath her, at the corridor to the kitchen.  

Later, she wasn’t sure exactly why that sight cleared the fog in her brain. It was so simple but it had taken her so long. It had taken until she was exhausted and confused and weak of spirit just to acknowledge the decision she had already made.

As she looked at James standing there, smiling at nothing, she knew why kissing Fabian hadn’t felt right. Because that boy there, the one with the glasses that never sat straight, who had a joke for every occasion, and a resilient joy, that boy had burrowed his way firmly into that place in her where all logic goes out the window.
‘Him,’ it said, whispering to Lily’s conscious brain, ‘it’s him you want, do you understand now?’
And she did. She understood completely.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Over almost a decade of friendship, Lily had seen Marlene in various states of indignity. From the undressed and unashamed to the consciously shambolic, ‘the brunette who has more fun’ was no stranger to a rough morning.

One of Lily’s fondest memories of Marlene was the morning after their Sixth Form Prom. Sitting in Lily’s living room with tangled hair and streaky make-up, she had slurped at her cereal and made Lily laugh so hard she had fallen onto the floor and spilt Cheerios all down herself.

The morning after a long night was when Marlene was most at home, when her relentless energy came through most strongly, and it was usually when Lily needed her the most.

This was not one of those mornings.

Marlene’s grinning face hung over Lily like the sun hangs in the sky, or indeed like a drunk person hangs off a cliff.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Marlene’s voice was shrill and Lily’s head ached. She screwed up her eyes and flung her arms about her head, a last-ditch attempt to protect herself from the waking world.

“Oh for goodness’ sake.” Lily tried to mumble but it came out so muffled and raw she might as well as just growled for all the effect it had.

“There’s no need to be grouchy, Lil, I just popped by to say hello.”

Lily tried to speak again. She really tried.

“Bu wha yawuhk.”

“I woke you because it’s half past eleven and everybody else is awake. And because I really want to know how you ended up passed out on the sofa.”

“And because there’s food on the table if you want it.” A softer voice added. Lily thought it might have been Remus, but she just wasn’t ready to check yet. She pushed her face further into the cushions and pretending like she couldn’t hear.

“Lily if you don’t get up I’m going to sit on you.”

“Go for it.” She tried to say, but with the sofa and the problems she was having with speech this morning, Lily wasn’t sure how much of that Marlene caught.

“If you don’t get up now I’m going to put weird things on you.”

She felt something being placed over her. It wasn’t spikey or hideously heavy. If anything, it felt more like a blanket. She curled her feet up under her.

“Lil-ee!”

Marlene’s whining was loud and insistent, but Lily’s head was foggy and not ready. She wasn’t sure if she was actually capable of seeing any of them yet.

She had come downstairs after James got home, hoping to see him if just for a little bit. She wasn’t about to confess her undying love to him, but she at least wanted to check to see if the sparkling of realisation she had had on the stairs had been real or if she was just too tired and out of it. She had thought he had gone through to the kitchen, but she found him slumped on a sofa in the lounge.

He had been right there and for the first time she had felt nervous to approach him. His head had lolled onto the back cushions with his eyes were closed. She watched as he reached a hand up to wipe his brow and pull his glasses off. His fingers ruffled through his hair and she felt that rush again, like she had just taken a large gulp of rum and was about to dance around the kitchen. Like maybe she couldn’t hold herself up and would need someone’s arms around her.

She laughed at herself, a quick snort, but still he heard.
He turned at the noise, startled, but his wide-eyed concern turned so quickly into a sleepy look of welcome that Lily couldn’t do anything other than move towards him.

“Hey,” he grinned as she sank onto a cushion next to him. His eyes looked in danger of shutting again, but he was smiling at her.

“Everyone get home okay?” It was the first thing she thought of to say, but didn’t actually care for an answer. She just wanted to spend more time talking with him.

He nodded and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, they’re all fine. Some will be worse off tomorrow than others, but I don’t think anything’s irreversible.”

The way he said it made it feel more significant than just a sprained ankle. Lily stared at him and tried to look innocent, but couldn’t quite keep the blush off her face.

She made herself keep his eye contact, “That’s good, it would be … it would be sad,” she paused, not sure that was really the word she wanted, “if something had been ruined forever.”

He squeezed out a smile and sighed, “No, you’re good. It’ll all be okay.” He let his head drop back again and closed his eyes.

Lily would have sat and stared until the sun rose, but he could feel herself sinking to sleep, “We should really get to bed. Have some sleep before all the mad things Marlene’s got lined up for tomorrow.”

He laughed, “Yeah, good luck with that one. The lads and I are off up to Perranporth,” he grimaced, “I promised Peter that we’d get some proper surfing in, but I really don’t know if it’s going to be his thing. He’s bigged up his skills so much I reckon he’s never actually seen a surfboard before.”

“But I’m sure he’ll be smiling when he falls on his face.”

James laughed, “Yeah, he is cheery like that. It’ll be fine, we’ll take some beers and a barbeque maybe, and I’ll make sure there’s a first aid kit in the car.” He sighed again, but he was smiling.

Lily laughed, “So after Peter cracks his head open you can crack open a cold one.”

“Precisely.”

He had nice eyes, eyes that grew brighter when he smiled, even when he was this tired. His hand was running through his hair again.

“Coming up?” he nodded to the door.

“No, I still haven’t worked out what Jon and Alice have done to my room most recently and I just can’t be bothered to deal with it now. I’ll just stay down here.”

James nodded, frowning a little, “We really do need to get on with sorting that out.”

“It can wait ‘till tomorrow.” Lily let herself be swallowed by the sofa, closing her eyes. After a minute she felt him stand, but she didn’t remember hearing the door close.

-

At some point Marlene and Remus must have left Lily alone because when she woke a little while later the room was silent. Whatever they had put on top of her had become heavier and was poking into her. She opened her eyes.

There were several things poking into her, least of all the kitchen chair partly resting on the back of the sofa. The cushions and laundry basket wobbling on top had made it harder for Lily to work out what it was. And of course the plant pot on her chest obscured most things from view anyway. She sighed and laughed, and then groaned.

There was a pitter-patter of feet in the hallway and a slamming of a door. She stopped moving and squinted past the leaves to see if there was anyone around to help or, more likely, take pictures and mock.

The room was empty.

“Eugh.”

Lily wriggled, testing the integrity of the structure they had built around her. The chair wobbled. Some soil fell into her hair. Nothing came crashing down, so she wriggled a bit more.
It took about ten minutes and more flexibility than Lily thought she was capable of to extract herself.
Her phone told her it was not long after she had first been woken, so with only a few scrapes and a light coating of glitter, icing sugar, and plant-life she made her way down the hall to the kitchen. She had left the croissant on the table, but the Borocca was clasped in her hand.

The kitchen was so bright it took her by surprise, and so she was greeted with hoots and laughter as she stumbled across the tiles, squinting and shielding her eyes.

“Oi oi, here she is!”

“Morning Sunshine!”

“Good night?”

Sirius and Remus were openly laughing at her pathetic state, Remus more kindly than his fellow, an edge of sympathy filling his jeers. Peter was giggling along, and so was Jon to a certain extent. Or at least he was half smiling and gave her a nod before he turned his head back to his coffee mug. That seemed about right. Marlene patted the seat next to her, the one not taken by a scowling Alice.

“Oh, you can fuck off immediately.”

“What!” the indignation was somewhat watered down by the massive grin on Marlene’s face.

Lily glared at her, “Was the plant really necessary?”

“Absolutely. It completely the look. But don’t glower at me, it was Peter’s idea!”

“Peter!” Lily pulled a hand to her chest, and let out a cry of outrage, “How could you?”

Peter just carried on grinning, “It was funny!”

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes, glancing towards James who was sat crumpled at the end of the table. He grinned at her.

“Nice tiara.”

She pawed at her head, confused, and found the lopsided tiara stuck into her mess of hair. She lowered her hand gracefully, gesturing to him as she dipped into a curtsey.

“Thank you kindly, sir.”

“Like a real life Disney princess.” Sirius said as he passed the plate of toast down the table.

Lily chuckled blearily and plonked herself into the seat next to Marlene, “Have you seen many Disney films, Sirius?”

“I’ve seen many a versions of Disney films.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Lily pretended to throw up into her cereal bowl, “You’re disgusting.”

“But definitely not the most disgusting person at this table. Honestly, look at the state of you.” Marlene tutted and started tugging at Lily’s hair.

“Marl, can you not? I’ll just wash it in a bit, honestly, just- would you- leave it!”

“Well, someone got out of the wrong side of the sofa.”

“Marl, you have to be nice to me, I’m a princess.” Lily sat up straighter and straightened the tiara in her nest of hair.

“Okay, ‘real life Disney princess’, I think you need to sober up a bit.”

“I am sober, I’m just not happy.”  

“But you’re wearing a tiara, how can you be unhappy?”

“Why do you think the Queen never smiles? It’s a heavy duty.”

“Okay, Lady Lily, besides your heavy crown?”

“Well someone woke me up by throwing the contents of a small cottage on top of me. It doesn’t exactly make for a pleasant wake-up call.”

“But we did that ages ago? Why are you only up now?”

“Royal privilege. I’m allowed to take my time.”

“Well you’re taking your time with breakfast.”

“I’ve only just sat down!”

“And yet your tea has already gone cold.”

Lily pouted at the mug of scummy tea and got up to make another one. Well, she used the slightly sticky table top to pull herself up and then let Marlene’s firm hand push her in the right direction.

“I am not awake yet.” She muttered to herself when she finally got to the kettle.

“You know what could wake you up?” a mischievous voice asked from the end of the table.

Lily turned and tried her best not to smile too widely at the smirking boy.

“What?”

James waggled his eyebrows at her. He was far more put together than he had any right to be, and had no trouble tucking into the full English in front of him, but Lily was comforted by the fact that he hadn’t quite managed to dress himself properly today. His t-shirt was inside out and it was fairly clear he had no idea. But he was still far too smug for Lily to tolerate.

“I will never dance the funky chicken!” She swung the tea-towel in his direction, outrage, “You cheated, I would have won, I think we need to let it go.” She took a deep breath and let her rage sink away as the kettle clicked. It was remarkable really, how a rolling boil could soothe all pains. 

James stretched back in his chair, bringing his arms up behind in his head in a position that Lily could only call ‘knowingly antagonistic’, “Who hasn’t let it go?”

The chair legs wobbled as he swung back in his chair and the confidence slipped into embarrassed panic for a second and Lily had to stop herself from gurgling out an ugly laugh.

Lily turned back to the kettle, grinning like a loon. James and his funky chicken, honestly. She took a minute to focus on the simple, calming task of making a cup of tea. Only Marlene’s eyes had lit up and she raised her voice above the general breakfast hubbub – Sirius had somehow engaged Alice and Remus in a conversation about the merits of mayonnaise over ketchup, something which had Alice glaring at him like he had just said he fancied stepping on some turtles, and Remus looking quite ill.

“Dancing! I have the perfect wake-up dancing song!”

“Oh good grief.” Lily moaned as she dropped back into place beside Marlene. She dragged the plate of eggs towards her, slipping a modest spoonful onto her plate. She wasn’t hungry, but she wanted to avoid joining in with anything energetic far more than she didn’t want to eat right now.

“Oh don’t cluck so now, Evans.” James was still smirking from down the end of the table.

Lily wrinkled her nose at him and stabbed at her eggs.  “Bite me, you fowl thing.”

“Leg or breast?”

The others at the table were peering at them in confusion. Remus’ eyebrows were up somewhere near his hairline.
“Can whatever this is be replaced by something wholesome, please?”

“They’re chicken jokes, Remus.” James raised his arms in explanation and shrugged.

“How about a wholesome sing-a-long?” Marlene waved her hands in front her, jazzing far too close to Lily’s breakfast for comfort.

“Oi, Mckinnon, watch it.”

Marlene placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, still looking out at their fellow breakfasters, “Look at how much this poor wretch needs it? Do you want her to be this Shrek-like creature all day?”

Lily glared down at the table, daring them to agree. Peter was nodding along and Alice was jiggling about so much in her chair it looked like this might have been her idea all along, but Sirius snorted and gave Lily a sympathetic grin, and James was visibly holding back laughter. Marlene paid no heed to them.

“Who doesn’t want to dance their cares away? Who doesn’t want breakfast to be fun and exciting?” Lily tried to raise her hand, but Marlene reached across and clasped her wrist tightly. “Who’s with me?”

Alice and Peter cheered in quick succession, and even Jon laughed but Remus and Sirius were looking at each other cautiously. It reminded Lily of whenever Marlene would get bored at the end of a Music Society Social and make eyes at her to leave immediately. The dull eyes, the tight lips, the desperate hope of freedom from these inane activities. The exchange was not unnoticed by James who spoke up sensibly for the first time that morning.

“Actually, we’ve got plans, sorry Marl.” James sounded apologetic, but his look was decided.

“And what plans are these, that mean you can’t spare ten minutes to spin around in giddy glee?” she was still leaning over Lily to stop her, presumably, from running away as fast as was humanly possible.

“Surfing, beach, all sorts of fun things.”

“Yeah!” Peter cheered. It was as excited as his one of a minute ago, and Lily was starting to suspect he would cheer at anything, given the chance. “Got to get them waves in before we go!”

Marlene huffed and rolled her eyes. James glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall, “We should probably have left about an hour ago actually, what with tourists and all,” he grimaced at Sirius who just shrugged.

“We couldn’t miss breakfast mate, especially not when we’re graced with a royal presence.” He nodded courteously down the table to Lily.

She gently inclined her head in response, holding as much dignity together as she could with her Marlene-manacles still in place.

“Yeah, but we’d better get shifting now.” James stood up and Lily saw that his failure to dress himself extended to fluorescent yellow swimming shorts. They were the right way round, but surely he can’t have meant to don such an offensive colour on such a painful morning? Lily turned away, blinking the white spots from her vision.

“Car in five or you can stay and help Marley with her madness!” he shouted behind him, already halfway out the door.

Once the boys had trailed out the door after James – Sirius with a suggestive wink and Remus following him directly with an apology and a small smile – Lily turned to her jailor,
“Am I allowed my eggs now?”

“Only if there’s no more strange inappropriateness today. I need you on top form today.” Marlene clapped her hands together in anticipation, the gleam in her eye as bright as ever.

“Not even a little pun?” Lily asked, blinking innocently.

“Nothing like what was witnessed here.” Marlene frowned.

Lily reached out a hand and rested it on her friend’s shoulder, “They’re chicken jokes, Marlene.”

“I’m sure.”

-

The beautiful thing about a British summer is that it is always unexpected. Days of sunshine, dresses and flip-flops, unbearable heat; these are things that are longed for but never expected. So when one is organising a summer concert, one does not take into consideration the fact that England does on occasion undergo a heatwave, and furthermore is ill-equipped to handle it. More specifically, one does not realise that the main rehearsal space in the church hall had been built long before air conditioning was invented and seemed quite resolute in ignoring its existence.
With doors and windows flung open in the faintest hope of a breeze, Marlene and Lily did their best to maintain a certain level of professionalism at the first of their joint rehearsals. This lasted well until just after eleven o’clock when Benjy Fenwick finally turned up, bringing with him several boxes of ice-creams, and all order and sanity went directly out the open doors.

“Okay, ten minute break!” Marlene called across the hall, as though everyone hadn’t already decided that, “Get yourself a drink or an ice lolly or whatever your heart desires, but be back ready to go in ten minutes!”

Lily clambered up out of the chair she had claimed earlier, her thighs peeling away from the plastic with an unflattering squelch. She followed Marlene to join the little circle of people around the blessed ice-cream boy.

“Chocolate or strawberry?”

Lily beamed at him, “Strawberry, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem, Miss.” He winked at her, “and may I say, you are looking like you need it today. Up late preparing, were we?”

“But of course. As I’m sure you were practising at home this morning, yes?” Lily raised her eyebrows at him, trying maintain a stern look whilst biting into her ice-cream.

“Of course,” Benjy winked.

Benjy turned away from Lily to continue gleefully handing out refreshments. He tossed one to Caradoc, still in his seat with his bass propped against his uninjured leg. He looked rather pleased with himself and his bandaged limb, despite the obvious hangover clouding him this morning. He caught the ice easily and gave Benjy a nod in an Ice-Cream-Man-Solidarity sort of way before turning to Emmeline and saying something that made her laugh.

Lily glanced around the hall at the various performers on break. They had the older set in this morning, milling around at the minute, pretending that they weren’t all a little shaky with nerves, hoping not to embarrass themselves.
The young ones – singers and dancers and little over-actors alike – were due in later, after lunch. Marlene’s theory was that if the littles saw how seriously the older ones took it, even if just for a few minutes as they arrive, they would be inspired to be true performers and not just mess around. Lily had shared her doubts about that, knowing the sort of jokes and general ridiculousness that some of the older ones had tended towards in their music practices, but Marlene had been certain.

In hindsight, Lily thought that maybe Marlene just didn’t want to have to deal with fifty tiny children first thing in the morning.
In hindsight, Lily agreed with her; she was barely dealing with the people they had there now, and none of them were taken to running around shrieking.
Although there were a few people who looked like they would very much like to. Lily was very keen to avoid that sort of energy right at this moment in time. Her gaze fell upon two girls sat on the edges of the mingling, not looking to get into any mischief, just sitting and eating cold things. Lily threaded her way across the room and plopped herself on the floor beside them.

“Hello, you don’t mind if I just sit here with you two for a minute do you? Everyone’s very energetic over there.”

They looked a little surprised, but shuffled over a little so she could join them in pressing her back against the wall.

“Oh!” she jumped a bit in surprised as she leant back, feeling the cold stone imprint against her spine, “not super comfy, but a lovely temperature. And a breeze!” she looked up and watched as the curtains fluttered and shifted the air downwards, “How did you two so cannily find this spot?”

Amelia shrugged, and muttered her answer into her ice-cream, “We just sat here.” She said it so quietly that Lily almost didn’t notice the slight croak in it.

Mary was a little more welcoming, and met Lily’s eye when she spoke, “Luck, I guess. We were getting a bit bored of the chairs and we aren’t in any of the numbers yet, so we thought we’d skulk back here.” She gave a giggle to show good will – everything Mary did was to show good will. She was the nicest person Lily had met for a while - and Lily smiled before giving an apologetic grimace.

“Yeah, I’m sorry that you’ve been waiting around so long, hopefully things will speed up from now on. Plus I think you’re next on the schedule, Amelia.”

Amelia nodded, “Yes, I think so.”

Lily frowned. She had definitely heard it that time. “Do you have a bit of a cold, or something?”

Amelia’s eyes widened and she shook her head quickly, looking down at the cone in her hand. She licked at the cream fast descending onto her fingers.

Lily was not one to be put off though, and pressed her further, leaning forward a little so she could see the girl’s slowly reddening face better, “A sore throat then? You don’t sound quite yourself.”

Amelia just shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together.

“Amelia? What’s wrong?” Lily looked from Amelia to Mary who was chewing her lip. She would crack. She was too nice to hide anything.

Lily had known for many years that she wanted to teach. Since the first day of secondary school when her drama teacher had clicked her fingers and captured the room’s attention with just a word, she knew she wanted to be that person, so respected, so capable. Marlene used to make fun of her for having a ‘teacher voice’ but Lily never really minded. It got people to do as they were told. She cleared her throat.

“Mary, what’s wrong with Amelia?”

Mary’s hands twitched in her lap, picking at her nail polish and her eyes darted from her friend to Lily and back about three times before she opened her mouth.

“Her voice is a bit tired.”

“Mary!” Amelia croaked out a cry.

“Amelia!” Lily’s voice, however, was in full health. She levelled a glare at the girl, who was trying to hide behind her curls. “Amelia, it is so much more important that your voice is healthy. If singing today is going to harm it then I absolutely forbid it.”

“What! No!” the ice-cream was forgotten now, thrust aside in outrage, “I can sing, honestly, it just sounds a bit rough around the edges.” She looked like she was on the brink of tears, with red cheeks and a wobbling chin.

Lily spoke more softly, “I’m not trying to punish you or ruin anything, but you really shouldn’t sing if your voice needs rest. You wouldn’t carry on running after you’d sprained your ankle, would you? Your voice is so precious, you have to take care of it properly. Which means vocal rest. No singing, no more speaking than absolutely necessary. Drink lots, and see how it is after a day or two.” Amelia looked like she was about to protest again, but Lily held up a hand and returned the stern look to her face, “It’s not optional – if you keep on singing when your voice is telling you not to then you can you permanently damage it. Just rest for a few days, take notes today on blocking and anything else we throw in to the number, but you’re not going to be singing.”

It was probably a good thing that she was on vocal rest because if she had had full power of speech at that moment in time, Lily was sure she would have had some very choice things to say to her. But as it was, her chin wobbled some more, she sniffed, let Mary stroke her arm, and she, grudgingly, angrily, nodded.

“Thank you. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if anyone got hurt because of me, because of this. Caradoc’s already hurt his foot, and as much as that was eighty percent his own stupidity, I still do feel a bit responsible.”

“What happened?” Mary twisted her face into curious concern.

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes, “He sort of fell off a cliff last night whilst a little bit intoxicated.” She turned her lips down and shook her head as two mouths fell open beside her, “Would not recommend.”

There was a screeching noise across the room and they all turned and watched as Caradoc gleefully slid past, his chair legs scraping against the floor, Emmeline’s teeth bared like she was doing the Hakka and her knuckles turning white on the back of his chair.

“He doesn’t look like he fell off a cliff,” Mary half-whispered, squinting at him, as though still expecting to see the soil and shock on him.

“Yeah, well we got him sorted out. Now he just has to rest his ankle a bit. But he’s well taken care of, so that’s no trouble.” The last bit was more to herself than the girls beside her, but Mary’s gaze sharpened.

“Do you think?” she tilted her head and bit her lip again, watching as Emmeline and Caradoc continued to mess around.

Lily shrugged, already regretting her speculations. “I wouldn’t really be an authority on it, I’m notoriously unobservant.” She flicked her hair and inclined her head elegantly towards them, as though she was acknowledging a very shrewd comment.

The puzzled looks she got in response were really the only sensible response.

-

Jon was smiling at Emmeline. She had whispered something to him and he had shrugged and now he was smiling. With his mouth. His teeth were even a little bit visible.
Lily check her watched. No, the end times hadn’t come yet. She frowned. She had nothing against smiling. It was a delightful sight most days, particularly from the most reserved Potter. Getting him to say more than a few words was usually a challenge, but chatting and smiling? Surely there must be some sort of voodoo at work.
Lily squinted at the pair, watching them whisper behind their music stands. Seeing them chum it up so suddenly was unsettling. They hadn’t been this close the past few weeks, it was only after yesterday that this friendship had blossomed. Perhaps Lily was unsettled because Emmeline had been the one to pass more than a few beers along to the underage boy. Or perhaps she was finally going mad from the heat and lack of sleep and the ever-present fear of a Potter Prank.  More likely it was the way the pair would glance up every few seconds and look towards Lily before returning to their whispering and smiling.

Not since primary school had Lily cared what other people whispered about her – as soon as she had started doing musical theatre she had brushed the critics away and started stretching her view of herself. But there was something off about this, and something that made her feel like they weren’t just whispering foul things about her to each other.

Fuck, she was going insane, wasn’t she? This was the beginning of the spiral into paranoia and she really didn’t have time for it.

She took a few deep breaths, and stared down at her stand in front of her. Her music folder was propped open ready, waiting.

The sight of the music brushed away such a large part of the wriggling in her stomach that she almost sighed in relief. Unobservant and out of the loop she may be, but she was not less-than.
She had proven that this morning, hadn’t she? She had hit every target, passed all expectations. The music had been the strongest part of the morning’s rehearsal, and none more so than Amelia Bones’.
With the girl in question silently walking through with script and pencil in hand, it was Lily who drew the room’s attention. She noticed the stares no short of three seconds before they began playing. It was likely that the shouted-conversation with Marlene would have something to do with that.

“Oi, Evans, What Baking Can Do next.”

Lily nodded and gave Amelia a big smile before shouting back, “Yup, but Amelia’s on vocal rest so she’s just going to walk through it.” She stood waiting for Marlene to acknowledge the unexpected bump. She did so with an even louder shout.

“What? She can’t sing?”

“No,” Lily said in her best Patient Teacher voice, “She can sing very well, but currently she needs to rest her voice. Thus she will be silently walking through the song.”

Marlene’s hands went to her hips and her jaw clenched as she took a deep breath, “Okay, but somebody needs to be singing this.” Even from across the hall Lily saw Marlene’s nostrils flare. She just smiled more widely and waved a hand in the air, batting away Marlene’s concerns.

“Yeah, I’ve got it, don’t worry Marl, when have I let you down?”

“Oh, shall I count the ways?” Marlene rolled her eyes and it may have been the odd acoustics of the room, but Lily could have sworn she sounded more bitter than sarcastic.

“Maybe later,” Lily gave her a quick salute before turning back to her music stand. She pretended not to see the others watching her. Marlene wasn’t necessarily aware that she was being rude; she did this sometimes when she got stressed, but with the whole bag of crazy that had been hanging from Lily for the past few days she didn’t want to imagine what they might be whispering about her.
She took a few more seconds to glance over the music in front of her, and then finally looked up.

“We all good to go?” she asked, gaze flitting between them, doing her best not to meet anyone’s eye for too long. She saw Dorcas’ head bobbing and presumed the rest of them were ready.

It was a funny song, not as slow and showy as Amelia had wanted, but still relatively tricky and definitely interesting enough for Marlene to go full on weird with her choreography. The grade 6 ballet class and the senior tap class somehow didn’t look out of place on the stage together, but there was a line across Marlene’s brow that told Lily she wasn’t completely happy with it.
Lily wasn’t either if she was honest. The bassline was being drowned out, making it difficult to pick out Caradoc’s steady rhythm.

The piano was too loud, but then it would be with Fabian covering again. James had become well attuned to Lily’s many facial expression, and he knew what her face looked like when she wanted him to shut up a bit. Not that she was casting many looks in that direction today; she still couldn’t quite bring herself to meet Fabian’s eye and so the piano banged out the accompaniment and Lily kept on singing.
They ran it through once just to give it a go, and then went back over and Marlene picked out the things she wanted to iron out, but with Amelia out of action there wasn’t much that Lily really needed to say. The band were fine really, and anything that did need altering could wait until they were all back to full alertness. Even busy simultaneously singing and conducting Lily hadn’t missed Caradoc happily dozing off in his chair during his rests.

And so Lily just enjoyed singing. It was almost the same thought she had had last night in the Potters’ lounge. Now, without the foggy head and heightened emotions, it was less an outburst of emotion and more of a solidifying of what she already knew.
She was a good singer. Or rather, she was more than just a good singer. Her voice and her abilities didn’t matter as much as the music that made up the core of everything she did. It was the home she returned to at the end of a long day, the one thing that was properly hers and that she couldn’t be without.
Amelia had a good voice. Strong where it needed to be and with the potential to grow into something special. Lily’s voice was already something else. This song that Amelia had spent weeks perfecting came from Lily as easily as leaves falling from a tree, dripping from her like nectar. And even though Lily wasn’t sure why Marlene was cross with her yet again, or what to do about romantic dramas, she knew her own skill. The flame of self-certainty flickered a little brighter within her.

When Marlene had finished her tweaking she fell silent. Lily looked away from Jon and Emmeline whispering smugly together and instead looked to her silent friend. The frown on her face was contemplative, however, and Lily didn’t feel she was putting herself in danger by asking for her thoughts.

“What do you think, Marl?”

Lily tapped her pencil against her music stand, and took a deep breath. Marlene, the girl who span through life like a toddler through a crayon factory, was not one to be rushed when making artistic decisions. She finished re-tying her hair and nodded to Amelia, giving her a more indulgent smile than Lily believed her to be deserving of.

“Yeah, that’s fine, thanks for that Meels.”

“Next one?” Lily called. They did have a running order, but Marlene was enjoying mixing it up.

“Yeah, Benjy was late so he can go last. Ed, Daisy, front and centre.” She called and they came, the two youngest of the group. It had been a good call putting them together; Daisy kept Edgar organised and Edgar helped Daisy to relax. Lily had been seriously concerned about whether she would be able to deal with her stage fright well enough to perform on her own.

“What!”

Lily turned and immediately jumped backwards. Benjy was far closer than she initially though he would be.

“You were late. So you are last. Can you maybe move? You’re definitely too close for comfort.”

“But I brought refreshment!”

Lily laughed, “I think Marl just wants a bit of a challenge. You’re not going to offer her anything much to change, so let her have her fun.”

“So what you’re saying is, I’m already perfect, why mess with it?” he winked, and tossed his hair dramatically.

Lily rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh, “If that’s what you need to hear, then sure, that’s what I’m saying Benjy.”

“So we’re just two tens living their best lives.” He nodded solemnly to her.

The laughter rolled out of Lily, “You might be Benj, but I think I’m a nought point three by this point. Oh, I’m so tired.” She ran a hand down her face and gave her head a little shake.

Benjy looked as though he wanted to say something else, but Marlene called for them to start again.  Lily shrugged at him and stepped back into her place behind the music stand.

-

When lunch finally came Lily nearly ran out of the hall. They had just under an hour before the littles arrived, and Lily was determined to make it to the bakery and back before the others. She was hoping for a little bit of quiet and some space from all of the many tensions that were radiating around her today.

In addition to Marlene’s behaviour, and whatever Emmeline saw fit to whisper about, Gideon was refusing speaking to her. He hadn’t yet succumbed to gossiping, however, and appeared to be alright with glaring intensely.
If it wasn’t for Dorcas and Caradoc, Lily felt certain that she wouldn’t have had a single normal conversation that day. She could hear them even now, their voices floating out the open door to Lily outside.
She had tucked herself on the steps outside the fire escape, in between the door, propped open with a chair, and the hand-rail that ran down the steps. She pulled her sausage roll out of its paper bag as quietly as she could, hoping not to draw too much attention to herself. She hadn’t exactly avoided the rest of the band, she told herself, she just wanted somewhere to sit quietly. It was merely a coincidence that the quietest spot she could find was as far from the others as she could possibly be. It wasn’t like she couldn’t hear much of what was being said inside anyway.

“But for reals, what is going on with Lily?”            

The silence following Emmeline’s question was deafening. A moment ago there had been a hubbub of laughter and chat, but now it was silent. Lily heard the squeak of a chair. She thought she might have heard a cough from Marlene, but wasn’t a hundred percent sure. Even from outside Lily could feel the tension. And then, somehow, effortlessly, graceful beyond belief, Dorcas’ laughter trickle through the treacly atmosphere and pushed breath back into everyone’s lungs.

“The real question is how is she still going? Last night was rough,” there were a few mutters that Lily took to be agreements. Dorcas continued, “I mean you look half dead.”

“I fell off a cliff,” Lily could picture Caradoc leaning back in his chair, a complete absence of effort to wipe the smug look off his face. He had stopped pretending not to be proud of his fall at around half nine that morning.

“So did she!” Dorcas cried, and Lily couldn’t stop the smile forming on her face.

Caradoc scoffed immediately, “Yeah, but she didn’t fall as far.”

“But surely she had as much of a shock and emotional reaction. Plus she’s got more to think about today.”

“Yeah, I am impressed by how on it she is. But then she’s normally pretty good.”

It intrigued Lily to hear Dorcas’ reasoning. Lily had been shocked to slip down a crumbling cliff-face, but she hadn’t really thought about it. There hadn’t been time to think about, in all honesty. And she didn’t feel like she was particularly on it today, her head was all over the place. Dorcas couldn’t know how right she was: there was more to think about.

The conversation swiftly turned to a ranking of the different singers which Lily really didn’t care to hear. Even listening to their praise made her feel uncomfortable, and not in a ‘I don’t want to have to pretend to be humble’ sort of way, but in a way that set her stomach on edge again.

She liked these people. She liked that although they were barely more than strangers they trusted her enough to follow, and that they took her at her word. She liked meeting people, and having her own trust rewarded.

But she didn’t like gossip, and that had been a leading question from Emmeline if Lily had ever heard one.
She frowned, now that there was nobody to see her, and let her mind drift to what she had avoided thinking about Emmeline. She had been whispering to Jon all afternoon, she had been scowling at Lily every chance she got, and she still refused to speak directly to Marlene. Lily knew that she was not the most observant person, but surely this was not normal behaviour. Maybe there was a more rational reason that Emmeline and Marlene had broken friends than she had previously imagined. Maybe it wasn’t Marlene who had been in the wrong. 

Lily didn’t care. She wanted to, she wanted to be the sort of person that went round to everyone and sat them down with a warm cup of tea and sorted out their life problems, made them understand and tried to see from their point of view, but she just wasn’t. And even though Emmeline had said from the beginning that she had a problem with Marlene, Lily had at least thought she might be civil. She did play when told to, and she helped pack away at the end, and she had seemed to enjoy herself last night, but the more Lily watched her the more angry she seemed. It was as though with every second she was dragging more and more history onto her shoulders and letting it drag her down, twisting her inwards.

Lily sighed, and crumpled up the wrappings from her lunch. She was so over all this drama. Why couldn’t they just make music? Why did they have to drag so many emotions into it?

She was met with several bouts of emotion that afternoon. The little ones were very excited to be dancing with a live band, and Marlene shouted herself hoarse trying to control them. In the end Lily got Emmeline to thump loudly on her bass drum whenever Marlene looked like she was losing them.

“Thank you, Em! Right!” Marlene clapped her hands to her chest as she surveyed the crowd before her, “If you could get into your groups, I need Choir One,” She held up one finger looking at stern as Lily had ever seen her, “to stand ready on this side of the stage,” she pointed to the exact spot she wanted them, over by the band, trying to look as many of them in the eye as possible to limit potential escapees, “and Choir Two, if you can sit in the chairs at the edge, but please sit together,” she raised her voice as the second choir started muttering, “and for now I want all dancers to stay exactly where you are. Is that clear? Good. Now if you could go to your places.”

It was testament to how well Marlene had mastered the stern-teacher-voice and terrifying glare that so few children ended up running in the wrong direction. Marlene turned to Lily with a look that only a best friend would recognise as fear,

“Are you alright to sort your singers out?”

Lily nodded and reached for her many folders of music.

“Oh, it’s here,” a hand offered it up to her just as she had it in her grasp and suddenly there were fifty pages fluttering to the ground.

Lily groaned at the sight, “Oh, come on!”

Fabian flushed, and looked down, doing his best not to meet her eye. He sprang from his seat and was scrabbling at the mess of music before Lily had even finished her exclamation.

“I’m so sorry.”

She felt a rush of shame, and her own face turning red. She dropped to ground beside him,

“No, it’s my fault, sorry Fabian, you were just trying to help.”

He nodded and for the first time they looked at each other. It wasn’t as awkward as Lily had thought, both red-faced and scrabbling about on the ground. A laugh bubbled out of Lily’s mouth before she could help it. How ridiculous was this? It was Fabian, the nicest person she had met this summer, always the first to help and the last to be offended, what was she so afraid of?

“It’s just been one of those days, hasn’t it? Thanks.” She added smiled at him and he blinked in surprise.

“No problem.”

It wasn’t a clear and mature conversation, but it was at least better than what she had been doing all day. They stood and Lily shuffled the sheets back together.

“Right-o!” she turned towards her little group of singers and gave them the biggest, most confident smile she could muster. It was a little more than half-hearted, but then it was nearly three o clock. Surely any musical director would be flagging by now, even without the withering glare of a dozen pre-teens. Lily did her best to ignore Alice’s glare from the back of the group, and handed out the recently rescued music.

Only a few more hours to go.

-

“So if we swap those two songs around, that’ll make an easier transition into the Cinderella bit, with Mary.” Marlene tapped her pen against her leg at a rate so fast it was making Lily nervous. It sounded like she was furiously tapping out a message in Morse code, as though there was an urgent telegram for the front line.

Lily kept her thoughts about Marlene’s pen tapping to herself, doing her best to look away from it, and out at the hall before them.

“Okay, do you still want the choir on for that though?” she squinted at the space before them. It was fit for purpose, but definitely not the largest stage in the world.

“It won’t be too much of a kerfuffle if they just move to sit at the steps on the edge, would it?” Marlene replied in a manner befitting a busy wartime telegrapher operator: hasty and emotionless. Her facial expression barely changed as she looked from her pad of paper up to meet Lily’s eyes.

“Hmm,” Lily thought about it for a second, sweeping her gaze across the empty stage, trying to imagine how well the gaggle of pre-teens would scuttle across it, and also doing her best not to wither under Marlene’s glare.

“Yeah, I think they’d be okay with a bit of practice.”

She turned back to her friend. Marlene’s glower was still on full beam, but Lily could see the tell-tale signs of something deeper than frustration. She didn’t just look tired, she looked like she could sleep for a week and still need a lengthy siesta.
And she hadn’t even been at the party last night.

Lily looked away, pretending to re-examine the space. She had more than a few stirrings of guilt in her stomach. It was for everyone’s benefit that last night had been a Marlene-free zone, but it was just catching up with Lily now that it might not have been the easiest thing for Marlene to take. Lily wasn’t sure how she had missed those tinglings of guilt before now, before sitting with her friend, alone for the first time all day. But then, Lily had probably not felt the Marlene-Guilt-Twists underneath the tsunami waves of guilt she felt about everything else.

“What?”

The tapping had stopped. When Lily turned back, Marlene was watching her more closely than she expected, her pen resting on her lip and her eyes narrowed.

Lily looked at her friend, and felt her mouth stretch into a smile.
Apparently, a tiny church hall in the back of beyond was the prime spot for clarity. Maybe it was being on the stage together, as they hadn’t been for years, or perhaps it was that they were half hidden in the wings and Lily was kneeling half in shadow, but Lily’s mind found a little blank space on which to lay out all it needed. She didn’t know why this was the moment when clarity had been sprung upon her. She had thought it had been last night when she had seen James in the light of her feelings, or even at lunch time when she had heard the honest silence of a group of people who maybe didn’t want her there at all. But no, it was here on this crappy stage with her best friend of eight years looking at her like she had no clue what could possibly be going through her head. Lily finally felt the pin go in and the balloon pop.

“I’ve fucked up.”

She took a breath, and took a chance on the startled look Marlene was giving her and she ploughed on. Worse come to worse, Marlene could always send her a telegram midway through. Stop.

“I think I might be a little obsessed, and if not obsessed then maybe in love, but maybe I just think he’s fit and lovely and too kind to be real, but also off-limits because he’s not mine – um but all of that, I think-” she hesitated for a second trying not to notice how Marlene was reacting to the sudden burst of waffle. The pen had dropped from her mouth, and her eyebrows were almost to her hairline. This was clearly a lot to deal with so late in the day. Well, badly begun is still half done. She took a breath and continued, slower this time,
“That bundle of feeling that I just spewed at you is how I feel about your friend, who should really be off-limits because he’s yours first and foremost and I am this close,” she scowled down at her finger and thumb separated by a hair’s width, “to screwing it up irreparably.” She sighed, and in her rush to share she hadn’t noticed how the stirring in her stomach had turned into a tightness in her chest and a lump in her throat.
She felt her chin wobble as she looked up again at Marlene. Her voice came out thinner and higher than she wanted,
“And I really don’t know what to do. Because it’s not as simple as just telling him, but it’s also not as simple as ironing out details and contriving a plan either. Especially-” she leant forward, sitting up off her heels before throwing herself back onto the ground, twisting her legs out from under her. The plastic was sticky under her palms from years of half-dragged up gaffa-tape, “especially because I’ve fucked things up with another person you care about,” she rolled her eyes to stave off tears, and then laughed, “and then also with someone you maybe don’t really care about, and then I’ve not done much to other people, but really,” She paused and took a deep breath because this was it. This was the clarity she had been scrabbling her way towards, and was now cradling in her hands like a fluttering bird too soon flown from the nest, “I have been thinking too much about what these people think of me, and haven’t realised that everything here,” she gestured to the room, but in her mind’s eye was seeing the whole of Porthead, the whole of Cornwall, “is yours.”

She stopped, her mouth still open and ready to continue, but it mattered – by God did it matter – that Marlene understood this. That she understood, if not the garbled rundown that had just projected itself out of Lily, then at least how sorry Lily was, how wrong she had been, and much she needed to say all of this. Lily sniffed, and Marlene offered a tissue. Lily sniffed a bit more before continuing.
“This is yours, and I am just a privileged guest. The fact that I am only now thinking of people in terms of who they are to you shows how selfish I’ve been with them before now. So I’m sorry, which is not enough, but is a beginning. It’s a shit beginning, but it’s a beginning of reparation, technically.”

It wasn’t a strong finish, especially since the tears had made their way out from her now and were streaming down her face. She wiped at them angrily, not wanting Marlene to pity her, not wanting her to think that she was trying to play the sympathy card.

Marlene had handed her the whole packet of tissues and was looking at her with at least some pity, and not small amount of confusion.

“That is the most dramatic shit you have ever thrown at me, Evans.” The words were harsh, but there was a light in Marlene’s eyes that had been previously dimmed by, Lily was now seeing, her own reticence, her refusal to talk to her best friend.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice wobbled and she tugged another tissue from the packet.

“Well I can’t say I forgive you.”

“No?” Lily dared a quick peek up at Marlene.

“No. I haven’t a fucking clue what you’ve done. You said a lot, but also literally nothing. I’m not a mind reader, Lil. No- so, I get that you like James, but the rest of it is just a mess. Start from the beginning.”

Lily laughed. It wasn’t more scowling and it wasn’t immediate commendation. If she was alright with Lily liking James then maybe she would be alright with the rest.

She tried, she honestly tried, to make it as simple as possible, but every few minutes Marlene would cut across with the same confused look and the same frustrated question,

“What are you on about now?”

Lily laughed every time, because Marlene had laughter in her eyes, but it wasn’t often that the humour was there after she unravelled. It was more frowning and there were more tears from Lily and more than a few exasperated sighs from Marlene.

“So Fabian kissed you, and you were too polite to turn him down, but then Gideon got all offended because you clearly prefer James and he thought you were just playing? And you’re worried that Emmeline hates you and has twisted young Jon against you too? Is that the gist of the waffle that’s happened in the past ten minutes?” Marlene had sat back now. The notepad had been abandoned a while ago, and were sat on an old sofa they had dragged out from the wings. It must have been part of the pantomime set design for at least ten years or so considering the amount of dust that flew from it when they had sat down.

“I think so.” Lily nodded carefully, nibbling at her bottom lip. Marlene rolled her head back against the dusty headrest and gave a huge sigh, her body visibly deflating.

“Thank fuck. I thought we were going to have resort to a diagram.”

Lily laughed and Marlene quickly joined. It wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it was natural and Lily’s stomach finally felt calm when Marlene smiled at her.

“I’m so sorry. Not just for twisting your mind, and taking up your free time, especially after a day like today, but I’m also so sorry for-“

“Will you stop apologising? A boy kissed you. Lil, I’ve met you, I know you don’t know how to flirt. You think any interaction between two people who could possibly be attracted to each other is flirting. The last time you intentionally flirted you ended up spraining your ankle and hitting the boy in the face.”

“Sean was so nice about that, I can’t believe he still asked me out the next day.”

“He was too drunk to really remember that it was you who hit him. He ditched you when he realised.”

“Did he? I thought he just realised there was nothing there.”

“No, that’s what I told him to tell you after I told him you’d hit him.”

“Marl!” Lily yelped and whacked a mouldy cushion in her direction.

“Hey!” Marlene spluttered, “he was not great, Lil! Plus-” She held a hand up to stay any further cushion-attacks (Lily was poised ready with another musty weapon), “-it was like a week before I wanted to introduce you to the perfect guy for you.”

Marlene’s eyes sparkled as she grinned at Lily. She was suddenly unsettled, the wide smile, the hands rubbing together in glee, the rocking back and for, Marlene looked more like a little goblin delighting in its forthcoming chaos than a matchmaker hard at work.

Lily shrank back slightly, “Oh?”

“Do you know how long I have been trying to get you and James to meet? I think it might actually be about six years. You two are the same. You’re so stubborn, and so silly, and so honourable. I have always known that you would be perfect for each other. I am just grateful you realised it before we all turned old and grey.”

“I’m not saying we’re perfect for each other, I’m just saying I like him.”

“You started this whole waffle with ‘I am obsessed, maybe in love’. Lil, you know you’re allowed to say it out loud, don’t you? In fact, you might also want to say it to him at some point too.”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve not actually spoken to Fabian yet. I’ve just avoided him until he’s gotten the idea, and that’s really more of a Marlene move. I have more class.”

“Pah.” Marlene scowled, but didn’t say anything else. She sat back and shook her head at Lily. “You also shouldn’t worry about Emmeline and Jon. That’ll all come out in the wash. It doesn’t take long to realise that you don’t have a conniving bone in your body. You’re too nice to plot.” She doffed her on the head gently with the cushion.

Lily laughed, “Oh I’m sure you know that’s not true. Actually, me and James came up with a plot to get revenge on Alice and Jon for the pranks.” Lily tried not to blush at the mention of James. For some reason, telling Marlene about the platonic fun activities they done together was more embarrassing than admitting she liked him in the first place.

“You did?”

Lily ignored Marlene’s delighted grin, pretending it was prompted only by the idea of revenge, “Yes, but it’s top secret.”

“Aw, you already have secrets together!” she twisted her hands together and stuck her bottom lip out to complete a gooey puppy-dog expression.

Lily sighed, and refused to give into the fudgy centre her friend was poking at, “Marl, don’t be like this.”

Marlene snorted at Lily’s deadpan expression, “Well at least-” she was cut off by her phone, a jarringly jaunty ringtone singing out from her back pocket.

“Oh! Speak of the devil!” Marlene winked at Lily who finally felt herself blush in full.

“Marl!” she groaned, hiding her face in her hands. When Lily looked up Marlene was huffing at whatever James was saying.

“Yes, yes, will do.” She sighed down the phone before hanging up.

“Grand. Do you have any other thoughts or feelings that need to be shared at this point or can we fuck off and go home?”

“I think so. I reckon the munchkins have had enough time to rest by now, don’t you? They should be up for a walk.” Lily heaved herself up off the sofa and stretched her arms out. She turned to offer a hand to tug Marlene up, but before she could stand her phone rang again. This time she just looked at the screen.

“Eugh, I am not answering that.” She wrinkled her nose at the phone, before looking at Lily and laughing.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, I’m knackered. Nice ringtone by the way. Tune.” Lily high-fived the air in a terrible attempt at a dance move.

“Oh yeah, banging.” Marlene bobbed her head in time with Lily’s twitching, jumping up to join in. Lily progressed from the Queen-of-Genovia-Wave to Badly-Climbing-a-Ladder and Marlene set off into a peal of laughter, louder than Lily had heard for a while. It echoed around the hall, and was quickly joined by Lily’s own.

“Your face! It’s like you’re a mime sliding down a glass skyscraper!”

“That’s so specific Marl, have you maybe pushed a mime off a tall building recently?”

“Not this week, no,” Marlene shook her head, “But I hear you’ve had your escapades.” She shot her a pointed look, “Did you actually fall down a cliff?”

Lily shrugged and tried not to look too entertained by something that Marlene wasn’t invited to, “Only a little bit.”

“Look at you and your near-injury experiences. What a trooper.”

“Well, you know me,” she sighed, “I’m a survivor.”

“You sure? Because you really look like a person who fell a lot down a cliff.”

Lily groaned, “I’m just so tired, Marl. I’m ready to sleep for a week.” She let her head sink into her hands, squishing her cheeks.

Marlene rested a hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry, kid. Next week you can sleep for as long as you want.” She stretched an arm out in such an Aladdin-showing-you-the-world kind of way that it just felt right for Lily to slip her head onto Marlene’s shoulder and stare into the distance.

“The land of dreams.”

The door to the porch banged behind them.

“There’s a girl crying out here.”

They turned towards the voice, Lily straightening up. Alice had her arms folded, and looked to be only a few seconds away from tapping her foot.

“Who is it?” Lily asked, frowning towards the doors, but unable to make anything out through the stained windows.

Alice just shrugged.

There was a moment when Lily felt like she ought to reprimand the girl, but one look at Marlene and she was silenced. Not right now.

“I’ll go and see.”

Marlene nodded, focusing on Alice. Lily heard her speak only as she stepped through the porch door, “You alright, Little P?”

Lily tried not to think of herself as a meddler, but it took rather too much self-control to stop herself eavesdropping on whatever conversation she had walked out of. Far too much, especially when there was a crying dancer right in from of her.

“Mary?”

The girl jumped at the sound, and pulled her head up off her knees. She didn’t turn though, just stared straight ahead, as though bracing herself.

Lily took a breath. In a day spent swimming in pity, she had not done well to look for hurt outside of herself. Because this was Mary Macdonald, the prima ballerina of their little company, the girl who had spent the entire day dancing circles around everyone else – literally on more than one occasion – and had asked if she could be excused from the lunch break to do some solo work on the stage. The girl who had been checking her phone every five minutes for the last half an hour of the day and wincing every time she saw the notification that sat waiting for her.

Lily sat down on the step beside her.

“When I was doing my grade 8 music theory exam,” she started speaking and hoped that her wayward tongue would let her swirling thoughts on acceptance and achievement flow into something helpful, “I had to spend so many hours revising stuff that I knew when I did it, but could not for the life of me explain to anyone, and it was just horrible.” She shook her head, chasing the memories away. Sitting and studying really wasn’t her strong point, and her theory exams had all been horrendous. “But my mum,” she continued, “would do what she normally does when I’m revising and trying to focus,” Lily snorted, and glanced at Mary. She was showing no signs of listening, but also hadn’t run away yet, “she would distract the hell out of me. Cups of tea every five minutes, ‘do you want the heating on?’, both early and late lunch breaks, and just generally fussing and caring too much. I thousand percent thought I was going to fail and when I didn’t it was magnificent. But it was impossible to explain to my mum that I had succeeded despite her support, not because of it. No matter how well intentioned, she made my life really difficult.”

Mary hadn’t moved an inch, and Lily had a sudden fear that she was hitting too close to home. With the thrill of reconciliation in her, she had hoped she could pass that feeling onto someone else, although it looked now that may be have been a vain hope.
But then Mary sat back and looked at Lily. She nodded, sniffing.

“I get that.”

Lily fished a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to Mary. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“How are you finding rehearsals? Other than the-” Lily stopped herself. She wasn’t quite sure what she would have said, but Mary seemed to understand the sentiment.

“I like them.” she gave her a watery smile, “Marley’s choreography is really interesting, and it’s nice to have someone who can actually do the moves. I mean,” she flushed and spoke quickly to catch up with herself, “I really do love Mrs Rogers, and she’s a good teacher, but I just find it so much easier to pick up when I’m following Marely than being told what to do.”

Lily hummed in agreement, “You don’t learn a practical thing by thinking about it.”

“Exactly.” Mary smiled.

“So I know it’s not in any way my business, but don’t let your mum get on top of you. You are doing well, and,” Lily leant in conspiratorially, “don’t tell her I told you so, but you’re easily a better dancer than Marl.” 

Mary laughed, but shook her head, “No, she’s way more confident than I am.”

“Yeah, but confidence grows. Natural ability is God-given. And He was very kind to you.”

She tucked her chin against her chest, but Lily could still see her smile.

A car beeped its horn somewhere down the road, and suddenly Mary was gathering her things.

“That’s my dad.” She nodded to the man waving from inside a slightly battered grey car.

“See you soon, Mary. Rest well, you really did brilliantly today. You champion, you.” Lily grinned at her as she span and waved when the car drove past. Mary was already chattering away to her dad, but she stopped to wave back.

Lily stayed on the step for a little while, not sure if she would be interrupting if she went back in now. She thought it best to wait until she was called upon. She didn’t have to wait long, but it didn’t come from where she was expecting.

“Taxi?” a voice called from somewhere in front of the setting sun.

Lily threw a hand up to keep the light from her eyes, and immediately felt herself start to smile, “What are you doing here?”

“Marl rang,” James grinned at her, “I think Alice is in need of a bit of TLC, and a bit too rundown to walk back. I was in the area anyway, and it looks like maybe you’re all a bit too rundown.”

“I am exhausted.” Lily ran a hand up her face, reaching back to tug at her ponytail. “How was surfing?”

“Good.” He nodded, chuckling. He sat down in Mary’s recently vacated spot. “Many a gnarly wave was surfed, more than a few cold ones consumed – by the others,” he added quickly.

Lily held her hands up in a declaration of innocence, “I presumed as much. You’re a sensible one, you.” 

“Yeah,” James agreed,   “Well,” he wobbled his head and turned himself to face her, “maybe not that sensible. We think Peter might have chipped a tooth, but he’s refusing to tell us. Because he wanted to be one of the surfing lads.”

“Is that like a band you guys are forming? Because even then that’s a terrible name.”

James laughed, “Oh I dunno, I’ve heard worse.”

“Me too. My friend Nick is in a band called ‘the Cardboard Cutouts’.”

“Dear me.” James shook his head in disdain, leaning back and resting his arms out behind him. “Kids these days, eh?” Lily shifted so that the sun was still behind, rather liking the halo effect it was giving him.

“Tell me about it.”

“Yeah,” he mused, “Speaking of, shall we?” he nodded at the door behind her but she shook her head.

“I’m afraid that I am now stuck to this spot. This is the second time I’ve sat down in about five hours, see, and I used all my energy standing up the first time. My legs have buckled and I’m not sure I’ll ever walk again.” She exhaled dramatically, sweeping her hair over her shoulder.

“Ah, there’s a shame. Well, nice knowing you.” James gathered himself up and gave her a nod before swinging the door open and leaving her out on the steps alone.

Lily laughed even though there was no-one to hear it. She wasn’t quite why she was so glad to be surprised by James - whether it was because it meant they didn’t have to walk home, or just because he could make her laugh at the end of a long day – but she felt she could get used to it.

Chapter Text

In the haze that sits between June and August where soft summer memories are made, there is always a day when the sun stops shining. The heat that lays so heavily over the land that it suddenly feels oppressive and far too close. Its grip on the season slips and it snaps into a thunderstorm. The city streets flood, fields are swallowed up, and little villages like Porthead are consumed with sheets of driving rain and loud barks of thunder. Holidaymakers hide themselves under eaves at first - hoping that it’s just a summer shower and they can laugh it off when it finishes in a rainbow - but locals know better. They can see the darkness hovering over the rolling waves, and don’t wait to be caught in the crash. They retreat to their homes, bar the doors and – just for an afternoon – pull the winter blankets from the cupboard.

The Potters, as proud Porthead natives, were usually among the sensible souls who stayed far from the front. Their family tradition was to gather in the master bedroom together. With the balcony doors shut tightly and the curtains flung open, they would watch the waves climb the cliffs behind their house. There was often popcorn and laughter, and sometimes a pillow fight.  

Unfortunately, this afternoon the only Potter around to advice everyone was Alice, and she was in no way inclined to help to her brother’s friends, those big-headed imbeciles.
She watched from her own room as they laughed at themselves, caught in the rain. She noted the empty driveway and the quiet left by her brothers’ absence and said nothing.

“Pete, you wanker! You could have said it was going to rain!”

“I’m not blinking Michael Fish, why’d you think I’d know?”

Remus was also tucked up indoors, and like Alice he was watching his friends race towards the safety of the house, only he wore a wry smile. Sirius with his hair plastered to his head, Pete hiding beneath his fabric tote bag. Excellent blackmail material. He snapped a few pictures before sliding his phone back in his pocket.

“Bit wet out, isn’t it?” he laughed, as the two boys dripped over the mat by the back door.
Lily had sensibly asked Remus to take charge of pre-heating the oven for dinner, and so the kitchen was pleasantly warm and waiting for them.

“What’s cooking?” Sirius sniffed, looking around at the empty surfaces.

“Nothing yet, they’re bringing it back with them after rehearsal,” Remus replied, offering a towel to each sodden soul.

“When are they back? I’m starving,” Sirius grumbled, shaking his hair out like a dog before wrapping it up in the towel.

Remus glanced up at the clock and frowned. Half past seven. “Should be any minute now.”

. . .

“Won’t be long, I just need to grab a few bits,” Lily told them as she clambered out of the car, leaving her head in till the last second to look at James and Jon as she spoke.

“No worries!” James waved her off, “We’ll be here.”

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as she slammed the door and dashed across the car park. One of his hands went to the door-handle as he watched her struggle to pull out a decent trolley, but he stayed put as she had made clear she wanted. No need to fuss, she had said, only bits and bobs. The faint dusting of her cheeks made James think it might be feminine hygiene related, but he obviously didn’t want to ask outright. But still, he wouldn’t have minded walking round the supermarket with her. No more than he minded waiting in the car with his brother.

“No worries!” Jon mocked, making his voice as high-pitched and jolly as James’ had been, only now it had a nasty edge to it.

“What? I was only being nice,” James scowled at his brother through the rear-view mirror.

“A bit too nice to her,” Jon muttered.

“What’s your problem, Jon? Lily’s been nothing but nice to you,”

“Yeah, right.” He huffed, curling up in the back seat, tucking his head into his hood, his hands deep into his pockets.

James turned around to look at his little brother properly, his leg bent under him awkwardly, elbow on the back of his seat, but ignoring the discomfort in order to set a real glower at his little brother,  “What? She has been. There’s no need for this attitude, Jon,” James was frustrated that his brother had apparently decided today was the day to become a real teenager.

“Just because they left you in charge of the house doesn’t mean you have to turn into Mum and Dad.”

“I’m not! You’re just being a brat!”

“Well, she started it,” Jon rolled his eyes, and James had to take a deep breath.

“How?” James demanded after a moment, doing his best to be the calm and sensible one, “What did she do to make you hate her?”

“Hmph,” Jon picked his feet up and stabbed them into the back of the seat, hunching himself up into an even smaller ball. “I don’t hate her; I just don’t think she’s this paragon of virtue that you all do. I mean, come on, you’re wrapped right around her stupid little finger.”

“Paragon of virtue? What are you on about? Who’s- Where’ve you gotten that from? Jon, she’s a nice person who’s doing us a favour, and doing Marley a favour. We’re lucky she hasn’t seen sense and gone home yet.”

“Bet you’d hate that, seeing her leave,” Jon grumbled, scrunching his nose up.

“What are you talking about?” James asked not bothering to hide his exasperation this time.

“You fancy her!”

“So? I – er – I mean, no – I,” James spluttered at the accusation, “So what? She’s nice, and funny and we get on, why can’t I fancy her?” He pulled himself up to his full height, pretending not to be embarrassed, valiantly ignoring how red his ears were turning.

“Oh come on, James you can do better,” Jon scoffed, “She prances around showing off all over the place, and then smiles and pretends to be nice.” He waved his arms around as he spoke, as though mimicking Lily’s prancing. It wasn’t particularly flattering.

James was angry now.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Everything she’s done so far has been genuine. Everyone else likes her, nobody else has this problem – and you didn’t until 5 seconds ago!”

“That’s not true, Emmeline doesn’t like her either,” he spat smugly, kicking the back of the chair again, this time pushing himself up straighter, tall enough that his hair brushed the roof of the car.

“As though that counts for anything!” James cried, and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “Emmeline hates anyone who has anything good to say about Marlene, no matter how nice they are to her. I don’t even know why she said yes to doing the flipping show, she’s so sour.”

“She said yes because Lily guilted her into it!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Jon, can you actually see Lily guilting anyone into anything? She apologises to flowers for stepping on them,” James rolled his eyes this time, and Jon’s jaw jumped as he clenched it, “and Emmeline’s not some wilting flower, she’s a person with her own will and could absolutely have said no. From what I hear she’s just jealous that Marl sorted herself out and we’re all still friends with her, while Emmeline’s been stewing away.”

“That’s not true,” Jon’s voice was cold in its confidence, but James didn’t notice.

“How would you know?” His voice rose higher than he thought possible, completely unbelieving that his brother would inject himself into a decade’s old argument about nothing significant. He shook his head, laughing. “Jon, this is all about some old argument between Emmeline and Marlene from primary school. Marl’s apologised, Em said it was fine, and they went their separate ways. If Emmeline is still hurt over it, she should talk to Marlene. She shouldn’t be bitching about it to you.”

“She’s not bitching about it, she’s just shared some perfectly valid opinions about who Marley – and you – decide to spend your time with. Uptight, big-headed-”

“-talented, hardworking, kind people who have never said a bad word about anyone and have been trying really hard to get to know you all summer. She doesn’t deserve this- No,” Jon opened his mouth to interrupt but James raised his voice, his hand becoming a pointed finger wagging in Jon’s face, “when Lily comes back, you’re either going to be nice to her or you’re going to be quiet. I’m not having this rubbish. Sort yourself out before we talk again, yeah?”

It was phrased like a question, but James immediately turned around in his seat and flipped the radio on, not giving his brother a chance to respond. He turned the engine on, suddenly realising how heavily it was raining. The windscreen wipers screeched across the window when he turned them on, clearing the layer of rain away for less than a second before it was replaced.

“I’m going to move closer to the entrance, put your seatbelt on.” James flicked the lights on and reached for his own, but by the time he had clicked it in place the passenger door had opened and Lily tumbled inside.

“It is raining stair rods out there! Oh my days!” She laughed as she shook her hair out of her face, looking far too excited for someone who had just run across a supermarket car park in torrential rain.

James managed a tight smile, “Yeah, it’s come on quick.”

Lily rubbed her hands together to warm them, and glanced from James’ tense expression back to Jon, now hunched into his hoodie, face hidden, feet dug into the back of her chair.

“Well, we have been due a storm,” she shrugged, “The lady at the checkout was ecstatic when I said it was picking to rain. I just hope it doesn’t last too long.”

“Nah, it’ll probably be gone by morning. You know what summer storms are like,” James muttered, leaning forward to fix his eyes beyond the wipers on the window.

“Are you sure you’re okay driving in this? We can wait here until it calms,” Lily suggested, but James shook his head quickly.

“It’s not that bad. It’s only ten minutes to home.”

It was a tense ten minutes.

They were close enough to the house that Lily could see the cliffs. The road wound down towards the driveway, and the house was tucked behind a crop of trees, but she could clearly see the way the waves swept up and over the vertical drop. She could only imagine what the path down to the little beach looked like now. She shivered at the thought.

“Do you want to turn the heating up?” James asked, glancing sideways at her.

She shook her head, “No, it’s okay. We’re almost back now. I’ll just pull a thousand jumpers on when we get in,”

James snorted, “Planning to bury yourself in wool?”

“Something like that. I know it’s summer, but I still remembered my knitwear. I actually think it’s multiplied,” Lily scrunched her nose up at the curious thought.

“Yeah?” James asked, distractedly. There was a tractor coming the other way with a row of traffic behind it, all looking to overtake by swerving into his lane. If they would just hold on-

“Yeah, I found a jumper that I thought was mine in the living room the other day, but it was too small when I put it on. I think Dorcas or Emmeline must have left theirs behind the other week. I’ll have to remember to take it to practice for them.”

“Give it to Jon,” James muttered sourly.

“What?” Lily asked, turning to look at him, her eyebrows pulling together. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jon’s foot dart across the car into the back of James’ seat.

James jumped like he had been shot and span in his seat to shout at his brother, forgetting for a split-second that he was driving in torrential rain and there was a queue of traffic on the road beside him.

“Will you cut it out?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Watch out!”

BEEEEP!

Lily’s scream was lost in the noise of the other car’s horn. She hadn’t meant to. But then, none of them had meant for this to happen. The sound had jumped from her on instinct, much like her hands had reached across James, elbowed him out the way and grabbed onto the steering wheel.

They had passed the tractor, luckily, and the car behind had been so desperate to overtake it had left a ten-foot gap, perfect for James’ car swerved into. Lily pulled it back just in time but couldn’t stop it from slamming into the hedge on the other side and skidding a hundred feet down the road before James managed to get his foot back on the break. The car slammed to a stop half in some poor farmer’s field and with a heavy silence inside.

. . .

Lily could hear her heart beating loudly but her head hurt and there was a ringing noise. Someone’s phone’s ringing, she thought, and someone is shouting too. They all needed to be quiet so Lily could sleep. She was suddenly very tired.

. . .

“What the fuck happened?” Marlene was not in the mood to mince her words, “Did you totally forget how to drive, dickhead?”

James didn’t answer. His head was in his hands. He couldn’t look Marlene in the eye. He hadn’t been able to look anyone in the eye for the past hour since Lily had been taken through to see the doctor. She had been conscious at least, but the gash on her head was bleeding and she wouldn’t look at him properly. At least he hoped it was wouldn’t and not couldn’t. James pulled at the strap on Lily’s bag, pushing it back and for through the buckle. It was brown leather and shiny and the only thing in this room not blaming him.

“What about you? You’ve been awfully quiet.” Marlene turned her attention to Jon, sat on the sticky blue seat beside James. They had tucked themselves into a corner of A&E that was mercifully quiet. Or had been before Marlene had arrived. James had called her as soon as he had clambered out of the car, pulling Jon with him, desperately trying to get to the other side where Lily-
One of the other drivers on the road had pulled over and called an ambulance, and with that had come police to manage the site of the accident.

Accident. Far too kind a word for what had happened. James had been stupid – beyond stupid, pathetic, childish, idiotic – and he had driven the car off the road.

“Idiots, the pair of you,” Marlene said in disgust. She threw herself down on a chair opposite, arms and legs folded, glaring at the Potter boys.

“I know,” James mumbled through his hands, finally pulling his head up, “I was stupid, and now Lily-”

“Lily’ll be fine,” Marlene said sternly, the attitude hiding the shake of her hands. She had been so scared when James had told her down the phone that Lily had been taken away in an ambulance, “They’re doing a CT scan to make sure there’s no fractures or bleeding, but they think it’s just a mild concussion. But you are so lucky, you absolute pillock.” The last bit was delivered with some fire behind it, and James knew that there was a lot Marlene wasn’t saying.

“I know,” James said again, forcing himself to meet Marlene’s eyes. He was surprised to find tears floating there.

“Marl, I’m sorry,” he whispered. His voice couldn’t quite make the journey up his throat right at that moment, so whispers was all he could offer.

“Good. You should be.” She still sounded furious, but she reached across the aisle to kick him gently enough that she really just tapped his knee with her toe. Marlene-style comfort.

Next to him, Jon was silent. Marlene hadn’t even bothered speaking to him. He hadn’t been the one driving. Just to look at him James knew his brother was as upset as he was, and probably blaming himself just as much. But James wasn’t ready to have a restorative conversation yet, so he just let the silence sit.

The hospital around them was far from quiet, with loud voices and banging doors, so it was no surprise that Mrs McKinnon managed to sneak up on them. Her bag was still on her shoulder, and her coat slung over her arm.

“Well, aren’t you a sad sight,” Mrs McKinnon looked like she was trying not to laugh at the three of them.

“There, see - all angry at each other, not talking, waiting to come pray at my deathbed,” Lily rolled her eyes as she reached for her bag.

James jumped up at the sound of her voice, looking her over. She had a bandage on her head, and was a little pale, but she was walking and talking and rolling her eyes at them so she wasn’t dead. He tried to meet her eyes, but she wouldn’t look at him. She pressed her lips into a smile and glanced at the wall just behind his head before turning back to Mrs McKinnon.

 “Do you mind waiting until we get home before calling my parents?”

“Yes, that’s no worry, pet. I’ll take you all home, and we’ll see about getting this all sorted then, is that alright?” She aimed the last question at James who nodded mutely.

It was still raining when they stepped outside, but no longer in Biblical proportions. James and Jon were mostly still damp from earlier, and so didn’t mind the fresh coating of raindrops, but Marlene dashed through the car park. Ms McKinnon laughed and followed her to open the car. James took stepped closer to Lily and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” he asked, quietly, hating that she wouldn’t look at him.

“Hm,” she nodded, “I’m okay. Just a bit concussed. My head feels all foggy.”

“I’m really sorry,” James muttered. It was all he could get out, but he knew she deserved much more than that.

“I told Mrs McKinnon that a fox jumped into the road and you swerved to avoid it. I thought that was better to say than whatever actually happened,” She frowned as if she wasn’t sure, like she was trying to remember. “Were you and Jon arguing?”

“Uh- yeah, we were- we were arguing while you were the shop and then I said something stupid and he kicked the back of my chair and I turned around while I was driving.” He said it quickly as though that would get rid of it.

“That was a stupid thing to do,” She said it plainly, not teasing, not angry, but James still felt ashamed.

“Yeah. I know.”

They fell silent and James could feel the moment going. It felt as though he needed to say something now or they might never talk to each other again.

“Thanks for not telling Marlene’s mum, you didn’t have to do that.”

Lily just shrugged, “It’s not like I really knew what had happened. It wasn’t proper lying.”

“Yeah, but still-” James didn’t know how to finish that sentence in a way that properly summed up how grateful and how sorry he was. There probably weren’t the words anyway.

They were near the car now, so Lily just shrugged and walked away. She moved to the other side of the car and climbed in behind Marlene.

James let Jon climb into the middle, filling the space between them.

Marlene was still complaining about the rain when Mrs McKinnon pulled out of the car park.

“It’s meant to be summer, why are we suddenly freezing cold and wet?”

Mrs McKinnon laughed at her, “It’s only rain, love, you’re not made of sugar.”

“You don’t know that, maybe I am,” Marlene sniffed haughtily.

Mrs McKinnon laughed, and out of the corner of his eye James saw Lily smile through her confused haze.

“I just wish the sun hadn’t gone – I was still working on my tan,” Marlene held her arms out for her mum to see how brown they had turned. James couldn’t see any different colour in them, not in the dark of the car.

“It’s okay,” Lily said quietly, and James felt his stomach twist as she glanced across the car, finally looking at him. Those green eyes which had never yet lost their glint were now looking dull and tired in the early morning light, “it always comes back.”

.  .  .  .

The house was a mess when they got back. There were leaves strewn across the lawn, branches across the driveway and chocolate bar wrappers littered across the living room.

“And what time do you call this?” Sirius voice was loud and full of humour that was quite clearly covering up his worry. He burst into a grin at the sight of Jon and James – still damp, still miserable – and started laughing when Mrs McKinnon came through the door.

“Did they do something naughty, Mrs M?” he asked, laughing when Marlene punched him in the arm. She moved to flop down on the sofa next to a snoozing Peter. He jolted awake and his face twisted into a confused frown.

“Whazzat?”

“Don’t worry, Pete, only our friends who have been missing for over twelve hours. Don’t bother yourself,” Sirius’ voice too loud and despite the grin on his face, James could hear the undercurrent of worry and anger.

“Sorry, mate, we- there was an accident,” James started to explain, but Sirius brushed it aside.

“Nah, don’t worry telling me now. You didn’t need to twelve hours ago, why bother now? Anyway, you alright?”

“Yeah, more or less. Lily’s a bit banged up, but not too bad, right?” James turned to look at Lily, to encourage her to confirm that she was okay, but she had already left the room.

“She’s alright,” Mrs McKinnon reassured them, resting a motherly hand on James’ twitching shoulders, “She just needs a bit of rest.”

“We’ll take care of her, Mum, don’t worry,” Marlene wrap an arm around each of Peter’s and Sirius’ shoulders and turned to give her mum a big grin.

Mrs McKinnon fixed her with a stern look, “You better had – a concussion is no joke.” She reached for Lily who was still standing in the doorway, “Your only job for the next 24 hours is to rest. Don’t let this lot pull you into shenanigans, d’you hear?”

Lily couldn’t help but smile at her. Mrs McKinnon had been her second mother since she was thirteen. Far from home, cold, hurt and feeling sorry for herself she was overwhelmingly grateful to have a hard motherly look fixed upon her.

“I promise.” She answered, leaning into open arms.

“Shit, that means I have to cancel rehearsal,” Marene muttered from the sofa.

“Yes, it does,” Mrs McKinnon said over the top of Lily’s head, “Get that phone of yours out, my girl.”

Marlene sighed, “Yes, mum.” She stood and swept across to the hall, holding the door open for Remus who came bearing a steaming tray.

“Tea anyone?”

“Ah, Remus, you’re a darling!”

They saw Lily settled with perhaps more fuss than she thought the situation warranted – Peter found four blankets to wrap around her, and Sirius propped her up on the sofa surrounded by all of the throw cushions. Although it was a little annoying, Lily couldn’t help but feel a rush affection for these boys. Silly, loud, childish, welcoming, hilarious boys. Boys who gave her a solid excuse not to look towards James or Jon and instead sip her tea and let herself be amused.
The Potter boys were sat on opposite ends of the second sofa, not looking at each other. There was a conversation to be had here, but Lily refused to get involved. There was enough drama around her as it was.

“Tragedy has struck!”

Marlene crashed into the room, phone held aloft, eyes wide.

“What’s that, darling?” Mrs Mckinnon asked, reaching for a biscuit off the tray.

“Tragedy! Ruin! Devastation!”

“Are you alright, Marl?” Lily sat up in her cocoon, face creased in worry. Sirius was also looking at Marlene with concern, but more the sort that was for her sanity than anything else.

“The Great Storm has claimed a victim.”

“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Peter leaned over and whispered to Remus, eyes swivelling around the room as though there was a joke he was missing out on.

“Not a clue – Marley, will you speak plainly for us mere mortals please?” Remus raised a delicate eyebrow at their resident drama queen as though daring her to continue with her nonsense.

“The storm yesterday – last night – whenever – there was too much water. The tide came in, the wave broke the banks, but also the rain. A record amount fell in one night and now it’s going to take- it’ll be so long – months before- before-“

“Before what?”

“Before the halls sorted.”

“The hall?” Lily leant forward, “Do you mean that there’s a problem with the community hall?”

“Yes. It flooded last night and is completely unusable,” she stared at Lily in despair, eyes still wide, breath coming in gasps. She was clearly more upset than she wanted to let on. Her silliness was covering everything she couldn’t quite articulate. Lily knew what she was going to say next, but still felt like she was being punched in the stomach when Marlene said them:

 “We’ll have to cancel the show.”

***

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