Spellbound
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and accept no credit towards it. I am not the wonderful J.K. Rowling or any of her affiliates.
Warning: instances of bad language and very mild sexual references.
Muggle AU!
As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.
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"Concert tickets!" Lily squeals, tearing the rest of the hastily wrapped paper off her present. "Oh, James, you're the best!" She throws her arms around his neck and he grins, going slightly pink.
"Told you she'd like them." He says to Sirius, who makes a rude gesture at his best friend and folds his arms.
"And here's me thinking I'm the favourite. I got you socks, Lily!"
Lily laughs.
"I love the socks," she says drily, holding up a pair of the stripy things. "Best birthday present ever." She chucks them in Sirius' direction.
"Good," Sirius grumbles, licking a smudge of icing from his paper hat. "Took me ages to choose."
"Ooh, yes," James says dramatically. "Spotty or stripy, what a choice!"
"Put a sock in it." Sirius says, deadpan, and throws Lily's socks at James, who dodges and has to straighten his glasses.
"Idiot. Trying to poke my bloody eye out."
"God forbid you only have one eye to stare at Evans with," Sirius says, grinning when Lily flushes crimson. "You can't deny it, Prongs."
"I do not stare!" James says defensively. "You make me sound like such a stalker."
"To be fair," Lily points out, winking at Sirius. "You did follow me to the library that day at school."
"It was one time!" James groans and puts his head in between his knees. "I thought that you were crying. I was trying to be supportive!"
"And yet you managed to trip over the table leg, knock my water all over me, set off the fire alarm with your stupid cigarette and get us both a lifelong ban from the library!" Lily throws up her hands, the concert tickets raining down upon their heads.
"Yeah, but I still got a kiss out of it." James declares triumphantly and smirks at Lily. The redhead turns round to face Sirius and mouths,
"Worst mistake of my life." But she's grinning as she kisses James on the cheek, accidentally knocking his glasses off with her nose. Sirius picks a ticket out of his hair absentmindedly.
"God, I hate being left alone with you two. It's like watching a bad rom com. I wish Moony was here." He flicks the concert ticket dejectedly.
"He's saving rhinos," Lily says patiently, even though she's explained this a thousand times before. "This documentary he's directing could rake in a lot of money for the charity."
"I bet the birthday present he gave you wasn't as good as socks." Sirius mumbles. Lily pulls a small package out from under a heap of discarded wrapping paper.
"New headphones actually."
Sirius makes a sound of disgust and disappears under a cushion.
"Y'know, for someone so good with the ladies, you are completely clueless when it comes to presents." Lily says, leaning against James' shoulder, who's grinning and enjoying the scene playing out before him. Sirius pokes his head out from under the pillow and shoots Lily a look of mock outrage.
"I am excellent at buying gifts for my lovers, but you are just so hard to buy for, Lils. I mean, I don't even know what your favourite colour is!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius. We've lived together for four years."
"Yeah, and all I know is that you like Prongs here for some reason, oversized jumpers and baking loads of stuff that we aren't allowed to eat!" He snaps his fingers suddenly. "Goddammit, baking! You love that!" He fixes her a dazzling smile. "You want a new mixing bowl, Lil?"
"Sirius," Lily's face is solemn. "If you ever get me a bloody mixing bowl, I swear I will stuff these socks down your throat." She smiles sweetly.
"Blimey, Prongs," Sirius holds his hands up. "Your girl is vicious."
"Sirius, a mixing bowl is a pretty crap present," James says. "Much worse then concert tickets anyway." He grins, putting an arm around Lily's shoulders.
"I hate you both." Sirius moans and hides back behind his cushion.
Much later, when the cake has been entirely devoured, a food fight has ensued (Lily gets crumbs in her hair, James' glasses are covered in icing, and most of the jam filling oozes onto Sirius's new jeans) and a small friendly argument has occurred in which Lily shatters the tacky gold mirror Petunia sent her, James is sitting absentmindedly on the sofa, polishing his glasses. Sirius flops down next to him.
"Where's Lily?"
"She's getting ready." James says, sliding his glasses back onto his face.
"We've got two hours until the concert," Sirius says in mock horror. "How long does she need to match her shoes to her eye colour?"
"Padfoot," James turns to look at his best friend. "You match your shoes to your eye colour."
"Yes, but in my defence, I have hundreds of adoring fans to amaze," Sirius wrinkles his nose. "Lily only has you. And we've both seen her with absolutely zero makeup and the least sluttiest clothes ever on so that begs the question, who's she trying to impress?"
James laughs.
"Sirius, your hundreds of adoring fans consists of Marlene and the two creepy cat ladies who live above the fish and chip shop."
"You've forgotten that waitress who works at The Three Broomsticks and my ever growing collection of female co-workers." Sirius points out, winking.
"They can't all love you," James says, both amused and exasperated. "What about the lesbians and the asexuals?"
"I am so gorgeous that I make people question their sexuality." Sirius promises and they hear a peal of laughter from Lily upstairs.
"Sirius Black!"
"Love you, Lils!" Sirius hollers back and turns to James. "So, who are we seeing tonight? Did you actually check before buying the tickets?"
"I did this time," James says, grinning. "So it shouldn't turn out to be as much of a disaster as Moony's Christmas present."
"Never again. I still don't quite know how you managed to buy the wrong tickets," Sirius says fervently. "I was scarred."
"Well," says James and Sirius' mouth falls open, horrified.
"Prongs, what have you done?"
"It's Lily's favourite band." James says, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"Which is?" Says Sirius, anxiety flooding through his voice.
"Spellbound." James mutters and falls about howling with laughter while Sirius gapes at him, horrorstruck.
"No, you're lying!" He exclaims. "Haha very funny. My best friend wouldn't really make me stand through three hours of those cheesy empowering girl songs, would he?"
"He would," snickers James. "Just to see the look on your face!"
"Prongs!" Sirius yells and chucks a cushion at his best friend.
"Everything okay down there?" Lily's voice calls, lined with faint amusement.
"Sirius has just discovered our entertainment for tonight," James replies, still chortling. "Suffice to say, he's not impressed."
"How could you, Lily?" Sirius cries. "Spellbound, honestly!"
"I like them!" Lily says defensively. "And so does James."
From downstairs, James slowly shakes his head at Sirius.
"I'm only going because there's gonna be alcohol," Sirius calls up the stairs to Lily. "Good thing too," he mutters to James. "I'm gonna need to be sloshed to be able to survive this evening."
"You won't be getting sloshed tonight, Padfoot," says James impishly. "You've got a job."
"So I can't even get drunk?" Sirius says, crossing his arms. "Ooh, this night gets better and better."
"No, because you've got to watch Lily." Whispers James and puts a finger to his lips, pointing upstairs.
"Watch Lily-"
"Ssh!"
"Sorry, watch Lily! She's twenty three, not some annoying little toddler!"
"Not for the whole time," James explains in a hushed voice. "Just after ten o'clock."
"Why?" Says Sirius and James looks apprehensively at the stairs.
"Because that's when the final act comes on."
"And? Why are you being so cryptic?"
"So, Lily doesn't hear." James flashes Sirius something inside his pocket.
"Oh, shit!" Sirius exclaims excitedly in a whisper voice. "Holy fucking shit! No way! About bloody time, Prongs!"
"Keep your voice down!" James hisses but he's grinning. "You think she'll like it?"
"If she's got any sense and she's Lily so of course she's got far too much." Sirius grabs his best friend in a one armed hug.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Comes Lily's voice from her room and both men jump.
"Sirius was just complaining about the concert, Lils," James lies. "It's fine."
"Speaking of the concert, we need to leave in a hour. You guys should go get ready."
"We already look gorgeous!" Sirius calls back, striking a suggestive pose in the living room which makes James double up laughing.
"Except that his shoes and eye colour doesn't match." He says and Sirius looks genuinely concerned.
"Bugger!"
James is leaning against the kitchen table, texting Remus on his phone when Lily comes downstairs.
It's like a really cliched scene from one of those chick flicks Lily loves so much except there's no cheesy music playing and there's no moment where James realises how beautiful she is because she's always been stunning to him. She's wearing a light blue floaty dress which reaches her knees and sets off her red hair and she has the gold necklace which James bought her for Christmas around her neck. She smiles sheepishly and trips down the last stair in her short heels.
"Fuck, I'm so clumsy." She says and giggles slightly which means she's nervous. James laughs and steps forward to kiss her.
"You're useless in heels, Lil," He tells her, pushing her hair back from her face. Green eyes glitter back at him mischievously. "You sure you're not going to fall over?"
Lily mock frowns at him, her irises twinkling.
"James Potter, isn't this the part where you're supposed to tell me how pretty I look?"
"I tell you that you look lovely every day," James says, standing so close to her that he can feel her breath on his face. "If I carry on, you'll get a big head like Sirius."
"Gee, thanks." Says Lily, grinning and moving away from him toward the fridge. "You sure know how to make a girl feel special."
"Seriously, Evans, you look amazing." He tells her and she throws him a backward smile as she opens the fridge and pulls out a cartoon of juice.
"Want some?" She asks, unscrewing the lid.
"Lily, that better not be my infused bourbon!" Sirius calls as he tramples down the stairs, his eye colour now (thankfully for everyone) matching his shoes.
"Ugh, Sirius, nobody drinks that stuff except you!" Lily laughs. "It's like drinking weed killer or something."
"Evans has a remarkably good point." James adds, accepting his mug of apple juice from Lily. Sirius folds his arms.
"I still maintain that it's good for my skin." He says and Lily snorts into her drink.
"You sound like Petunia."
Sirius looks rightfully offended.
"Do not compare me to that woman! No offence, Lil, I know she's your sister but she's a horrible person."
"Tuney is a bitch," Says Lily matter-of-factly and downs the rest of her juice. "Especially since she got married to that Vernon Dursley."
James sniggers.
"You mean the fat beaver?"
"James!" Lily admonishes but she's biting back laughter too.
"I'd have paid to be a fly on the wall when you and the ungainly mammal first crossed paths." Says Sirius, looking interested. Lily shakes her head, a smile creeping up onto her lips.
"It was painful."
"Yes, I had an hour of hearing 'so, what do you do for a living?' 'I make drills at my drill company' 'I don't think rugby is a proper profession but if you like it...' Oh God, it was infuriating!" James huffs in annoyance.
"The man's an asshole," Lily adds, draining the last dregs of her juice. "He was telling me that he wants to name his first born kid Dudley, as in, Dudley Dursley. Like, honestly, do you want this poor child to be mercilessly teased?"
"It sounds like any kid of this man deserves to be mercilessly teased." Sirius mutters.
They all bundle into the taxi which comes at precisely half seven and manage to completely confuse the hell out of the driver when Sirius realises that Lily is not wearing his socks.
"Wait, stop, stop the car!" He yells and the taxi driver looks astonished.
"Ignore him," James interjects. "He's extremely melodramatic."
"Lily, where are your socks?" Sirius throws a hand over his chest. Lily snorts.
"Sirius, I can't wear socks with this dress, what will people say?" She mimics Sirius in an overly exaggerated motion. Sirius huffs.
"Since when have you cared what people think?"
"Okay, point taken," Lily says, grinning. "But I'd like to actually look nice on my birthday for once."
"Evans always looks nice." Says James, reaching over and kissing her. Sirius makes such a vile retching noise that the taxi driver almost swerves into a lamp post. He shoots Sirius a dirty look in the rearview mirror but Sirius doesn't look the slightest bit abashed.
"One day I'm actually going to have to admit I ship you two," He groans and hides his face in his hands. "Don't make me do it, Prongs, please don't."
James grins.
"Evans and I can't help being so enticing."
In the mirror, they see the cabbie raise his eyebrows.
"Enticing, ha!" Snorts Sirius. "More like sickeningly cute- CAN'T YOU TWO DO THAT SOMEWHERE ELSE?"
The car very nearly crashes and James looks up guiltily from playing with the neckline of Lily's dress. The taxi driver looks ready to murder the lot of them but Lily, calm and composed as always, reaches into her purse and pulls out a twenty.
"We'll walk from here." She tells him. "Keep the change."
The taxi driver looks extremely relieved as he pulls over and waits anxiously for the three of them to clamber out. Once the doors are shut, he zooms off into the night without a backward glance.
"What did you do that for, Lils?" James complains. "Don't you know how dangerous it is in London this late?"
"Aw, don't worry, Prongs," Sirius says, winking at Lily. "Me and Evans will protect you."
James goes a funny colour.
"I meant for Lily, idiot! London is full of pickpockets and thieves and murderers-"
"Wow, it is so obvious that you went to a sheltered private school." Lily grins as the three of them begin to set off down the pavement.
"Hogwarts is not a sheltered private school!" James splutters. "It is an ordinary boarding school-"
"Which just so happens to have a duelling club." Sirius mutters to Lily who giggles.
"Hey- you guys went there too!" James says indignantly.
"Yeah, me on a scholarship. And I hated you," Lily laughs. "How did I even become friends with you two?"
"Because of my intensive charm and subtle wit?" James says, flicking his hair back and shooting his trademark grin at an invisible camera.
"No, because I was at one of the school rugby games with my asshole of a boyfriend, Sev, who bet that no other boy in the stadium would even look at me so I chucked him and went straight for the hot flanker who I knew had had a crush on me for three years." Lily's eyes twinkle mischievously.
"It wasn't that obvious!" James says defensively. "It wasn't, was it?" He adds to Sirius who snorts.
"Of course it was obvious," Lily says and suddenly her voice goes alarmingly deeper. "'Oi, Evans! When you gonna go out with me, eh? Come watch one of my rugby matches; I'm too brilliant for my own good!'"
James flushes.
"I did not sound like that!"
"I hate to break it to you, Prongs, but you did." Sirius says, clapping his best friend on the back. Lily entwines her fingers with James'.
"You were just as bad, Sirius Black!" She declares. "Remember? 'Hey, Lils, James needs a partner for that music project and he wants you to work with him and also can you tell Marlene that I think she's really cute?'"
This time it's James' turn to laugh.
"Padfoot, when are you going to actually tell her that you like her?"
"I do not like her!" Sirius says resolutely.
"Oh, uh huh, sure," Lily says, squeezing James' hand. "And what you two were doing in the bathroom during McGonagall's retirement party, that was you showing her that you didn't like her, was it?"
"Evans!" Sirius gasps. "I can't believe you spied on me!"
"The name's Evans, Lily Evans." James says and both him and Lily crack up.
The concert venue is big, noisy, and terrifying and Lily feels a slight tingle of nerves as James hands over their tickets and they enter the hot, sweaty mix of people trailing cheap perfume and sloshing drinks. The music is loud, the lights are glaringly bright and James has to yell in order to be heard above the din.
"You okay, Lils?" He shouts and wraps an arm around her. Lily nods and fights to hold onto Sirius' wrist as the three of them push their way through the crowd. There's a lot of complaining as the trio jolt and shove past people, knocking over one lady with a blonde beehive. She mutters a very rude word at them and Sirius glares at her.
"Fix your hair!" He hollers, swigging from a drink that he's managed to swipe from somewhere. Lily giggles and she and James drag Sirius a bit further until they are pretty close to the stage and the warm up music is almost deafening.
"Good spot, eh?" James shouts and nudges Lily to get her attention.
"Huh?" Cries Sirius, surging forward, beer slopping from the sides of his cup. "What did you say?"
"I was talking to Evans!" James yells, jumping back to avoid alcohol spilling on his shirt.
"Squawking lemons?" Sirius bellows, accidentally knocking into Lily as a pair of teenagers elbow past them. "No, that's not one of their albums."
"Evans!" James roars, waving his hands and indicating at Lily. "I was talking to Evans!"
"Evans?" Sirius looks around and spots Lily. "Oh, hi, Lils."
If this were a film, Lily thinks this would be the appropriate moment to face-palm.
An hour later and Lily's really starting to get into her stride, dipping and diving around everyone, sipping what must be her fourth gin and tonic which James has bought her from the bar. He's standing on the outskirts currently, watching as Spellbound begin their third rendition of 'Magic Works'. It's a great song and Lily's blood is pumping, the crowd is screaming and bloody James Potter is slouching against the wall like he's at a Celestina Warbeck concert. Lily weaves her way through the mass of people and dances up to him, her hair messy and tangled around her face, her green eyes wide and bright and grabs his hand.
"Come on, Potter," she says, slamming her drink down on the side. "Come dance with me."
James looks at the screaming, stomping crowd and then back at Lily.
"Evans, you know I love you but if it's all the same, I'd rather wake up tomorrow with ten toes intact."
"Spoilsport," she grumbles but hoists herself onto a barstool next to him. "Where's Sirius?"
"Sirius," James says dramatically, sweeping his hand in the direction of the toilets, "is currently indisposed."
Lily follows his outstretched fingers and sees Sirius pressed up against the wall, kissing the beehive woman from earlier.
"God, he's not picky, is he?" She says, wrinkling her nose.
"Padfoot is incredibly skilled in the art of not caring." James declares and Lily laughs, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You can't stay here all night, y'know," she says after a minute and looks up at him with big green eyes. "You're too handsome for your own good, you are, so I can't leave you here alone and I don't particularly fancy babysitting duty this evening so you've got to come dance with me."
"Lils," James looks at her, his lips twitching into a smile. "I know that I am utterly irresistible," he tosses back his hair. "And you are stunningly beautiful and our children are going to look like Aphrodite incarnated but not even those eyes can persuade me to enter the Pit of Death."
Lily snickers.
"Indiana Jones, much?" She says and latches her fingers onto his hand. "It's my birthday, James Potter, and so, until midnight, you have to do as I say. And I want you to dance with me. Please?" She stretches the syllables out extra long and James sighs, his irises twinkling.
"Oh, alright," he huffs and squeezes her hand. "But if I die out there, you are completely and intentionally being written out of my will."
"I'm in your will?" Lily perks up, grinning at him teasingly. "How much did you leave me?"
"Enough." James says and Lily claps her hands together.
"You'd better be careful, Prongs," Sirius says from behind them, the blonde hanging off his arm. "Lily's gonna try and bump you off now."
"Aw, goddamit, Black," Lily says in sarcasm. "You've only gone and ruined my secret plan!"
"Ah, don't panic, Padfoot," James says, kissing Lily on the cheek. "Lils loves me too much."
"Too right," Lily mutters but she kisses him back and stares at the girl who's accompanying Sirius. "Who's this?"
"This is Caroline," Sirius explains and the blonde waves enthusiastically. "We're going to get a drink now, so, Prongs, Lily, I'll see you later," he goes to move away but James puts his hand across his best friend's chest and whispers something that Lily can't quite make out. Sirius laughs.
"Stop fussing, James. I'll be back by ten."
"What's happening at ten?" Lily inquires immediately- she hates being kept in the dark- but Sirius merely shrugs infuriatingly.
"Ask Prongs." He says and saunters away with Caroline.
"James?" Lily turns to her boyfriend who goes rather red and coughs something unintelligible before fixing her with a brilliant grin.
"You said something about wanting to dance?"
Lily jolts backwards and swears because this must be the seventh time somebody's stepped on her foot. She looks over to James for sympathy but he's standing there like Christmas just came early, his grin smug and his arms folded like an irritating toddler.
"Told you so," he says and smirks when she glares at him. "This is a death trap."
"James bloody Potter," Lily says, hopping over to him and resting a hand on his shoulder so that she can nurse her bruising toe. "Remind me why I keep you around?"
"Because I am excellent in bed?" James says and he's so annoyingly arrogant but bugger, bugger, bugger, she loves him all the same.
"Careful," She says, massaging her foot. "You're starting to sound like Sirius."
"Pfft!" James scoffs. "Where do you think Sirius got it from?" He points to himself and Lily exhales through her nose.
"Come on, then, you, if you think you're so clever, dance."
"I am dancing!" James protests and shuffles a limp foot across the floor. Lily lets out a cry of laughter.
"That, James Potter, is not dancing! Gosh, and to think I let you take me to prom."
"Well," James says, swallowing his pride. "Show me how, then."
Lily's eyes widen and she looks around at the violent, crazy crowd who are throwing arms left, right and centre and grinding so close to one another that Lily's sure there must be some sort of impregnation risk.
"James, it's not exactly hard," she says. "You just, you know, let go."
"Let go?" James looks both baffled and determined to figure it out. "What, like this?" He does an awfully cringe-worthy dab and Lily doubles over laughing, her head hidden in her hands.
"James, would I be right in assuming that this is the first concert you've attended since the Lorcan d'Eath one when we were nineteen?" She says when she emerges, her eyes crinkling with amusement. James looks mortally offended.
"I'll have you know that me and Sirius took Moony to a concert for Christmas while you were visiting your parents."
"That doesn't count!" Lily says. "Remus told me that you guys completely messed up and accidentally bought tickets for Stubby Boardman - God knows how - instead of The Bent Winged Snitches one you'd been planning to. You stayed five minutes and then left!"
James mumbles something which sounds suspiciously like a swear word and looks extremely disgruntled. Lily giggles - she seems to be doing that a lot this evening - "Face it, James Potter, you can't bloody dance!"
"Of course I can!" James says haughtily and then yelps as a passerby steps on his toe. "Bugger!"
"Told you it hurts." Lily smirks and pirouettes on the spot.
"Alright, then," James says, holding her hand and pulling her close until they are practically touching. "I'll dance with you."
The music is loud and lively and yet James starts to waltz, leading her with one hand as they revolve slowly in their small bubble and Lily's face is a mixture of amusement and confusion.
"James, what are you doing?" She exclaims, allowing him to spin her around. Several people stop and stare.
"Isn't it obvious, Lils?" James says with a cocksure grin. "I'm dancing." As they complete another circle of their out-of-character waltz, Lily starts to laugh and- God, James could listen to that all day- gently pushes his shoulder.
"Only you would take me slow dancing whilst at a pop concert." She reaches up on her tiptoes and kisses him, and James' grin inflates to the size of the bloody moon.
"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius' voice yells above the others, cutting across the pumping music. "Lils!" The duo look over their shoulders to see Sirius staggering his way through the crowd, yet another drink in hand. He makes his way up to them and downs his shot in one gulp, shooting a toothy smile at James and Lily.
"Sup, you guys?" The crowd surges forward in response to a popular song being played and Sirius follows them, throwing up his cup. "Eeeeyyyy!"
James puts his hand on his best friend's shoulder, looking concerned.
"Padfoot, you promised."
"Promised what?" Sirius slurs and winks at a passing brunette. "I'm back by ten, aren't I?"
"You promised you wouldn't get drunk." James says reprovingly and folds his arms.
"No," Says Sirius. "Actually, you told me not to get drunk and I complained. I never agreed to anything."
"Padfoot!" James groans and hides his face in his hands. Sirius shrugs and tosses back messy hair.
"Loopholes, mate."
Lily laughs and edges closer towards the pair of them.
"Where's Caroline?"
"Who?" Sirius says blankly. "Oh, her. She's still in the bar somewhere. She's extremely clingy." He stumbles and falls into a group of middle aged women wearing matching pink t-shirts. They grumble at him and move away but not before Sirius has given them the finger.
"Bloody pricks." He mutters and if Lily was being her usual prim and proper self, she would've berated him. But it's her fucking birthday so instead she just giggles and rolls her eyes at James who looks like he's about to cry.
"Sirius, can I talk to you for a minute?" He says in a low voice and grabs on to his best friend's arm so that he can't say no.
"Where are you going?" Lily says, her ears pricking up and James Potter, aka the worst liar in the whole wide world, goes the colour of a tomato and starts spluttering like he's choking on chewing gum.
"Sirius- drunk- coffee, black- um- stay here." He goes to drag Sirius off through the crowd but Lily latches on to James' hand and stops them.
"James, I love you, but you could at least come up with a better lie than that."
"Liar, liar, pants on fire." Sirius mutters and sways slightly on his feet.
"Lily, I-"
"Oh, Lils, if you must know," Sirius says, straightening up and shooting a grin at his best friend. "James is-"
"Leaving!" James yelps, his face redder than ever. "I am leaving. See you later, Lil." Him and Sirius disappear off into the crowd before Lily can comprehend what's just happened. She tries to follow them but the throng of people is tight and sweaty and, even standing on her tiptoes, Lily can no longer see them.
James steers Sirius over to a quieter section of the venue, over by the men's toilets. He tries to ignore the sound of retching which is coming from inside and decides to breath through his mouth, just in case. Sirius leans against the wall and looks faintly green himself or maybe it's just the weird lighting in there.
"Wassamatter, Prongs?" He asks and rubs his eyes like he's tired. James would kill Sirius right now if it wasn't for the fact that there would be no Lily Evans in prison.
"Everything!" James makes a sound of exasperation. He loves his best friend but sometimes he is more of a hindrance than a help. "I need you to stay with Lily and make sure that she doesn't try and find me otherwise it'll ruin the surprise and you're too drunk to even properly enunciate your words!"
Sirius' head snaps up.
"What surprise?" He asks and seems genuinely bewildered. James groans and puts his head in his hands.
"This, Padfoot!" He cries, delving his hand into one of his pockets and bringing out a small black box. "Y'know, I'm going to propose to Lily!"
Sirius' grin seems to stretch wider than the Milky Way.
"You finally said it, Prongs."
"Sirius!" James cries. "Please, please, please, will you just keep an eye on Lily when we go back? Make sure she doesn't try to come get me."
"Of course, James," says Sirius and throws an arm around him, his smile wildly exaggerated. "Anything for my best friend."
In hindsight, James thinks, trying to sneak backstage during a highly famous girl group's performance was probably not the best idea he's ever had. He makes it as far as the sign which says 'Authorised Personnel Only' before a security guard, who looks surprisingly similar to ones in films, steps forward and stops him.
"Sorry, sir," he says. "'Afraid you can't go any further."
Bloody bugger, James thinks, staring uncomprehendingly at the security guard like a complete idiot. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Sir?" The security guard says and waves his hand in James' face. "Did you hear me?"
James realises that he has about five nanoseconds to decide what to do before the guard will loose interest and so he is about to set in motion a complicated plan involving a French horn, some pretend poison, and a re-enactment of the I-am-your-father scene from Star Wars, when it occurs to him; French. Bloody, bleeding, brilliant French which he did not learn at Hogwarts - they took Latin and no, it definitely was not a posh private school (Sirius and Lily would disagree with him) but he knows a little from Lily (who took it at her junior school) and a few films he watched with his parents.
It's not the best plan but it's all he's got and James Potter is not a one for giving up.
"Er," he says and snaps his fingers. "Er, how you say in zee English- parlez-vous français?" He hopes very much that no French people are watching as he thinks that he may have just offended them with his God awful language attempts.
The guard looks bewildered.
"Uh," he stutters and his forehead creases like he's trying to think. "J'aime- oui, non?"
James hides his fit of laughter under a well timed cough and tries not to think of what Moony would say if he saw his best friend snapping his fingers and pretending to be French just to sneak backstage and propose to Lily Evans. On second thoughts, he tries not to think what Sirius would say.
"Zat is all they taught you?" James does his best to look unimpressed, despite his own terrible French. "In la Normandie, nous learn zee Anglais!" He glares at the guard who seems to be recovering from his confusion and now has a very stern expression on his face.
"Well, I don't care language you speak, you need to move on, go!" He makes a shooting motion with his hands. James pretends like he hasn't noticed.
"Zis way to zee toilettes?" He asks and points past the sign. "Merci, merci." He tries to sidestep the security guard but the man is annoyed now and grabs the back of James' collar.
"Now, lookie here, mate." He snaps. "I don't know what you're playing at but the toilets are over there," he peers closer at James. "You sure you're French?"
"Sacré bleu!" James exclaims (it's his favourite line in Beauty and the Beast) and tries to look offended. The guard frowns and looks round for back-up and James takes his chance. He shoves his shoulder sideways into the guard and knocks him to the floor (who said rugby wasn't a proper profession, Vernon?) and runs past the sign and into the closest room which he promptly locks and sinks to the floor, laughing, because he's James fucking Potter and his spectacularly stupid plan just worked out.
"Where's James?" Lily demands for what must be the hundredth time and for what must also be the hundredth time, Sirius sighs.
"Wow, Lils. You're usually fun."
"Sirius!" Lily shoves him and folds her arms like a grumpy teenager. "This is important!"
"Why?" Sirius laughs at her expression. "Lily, don't take this the wrong way but you're starting to act like one of those super clingy girls who just clutch at your hair and clothes and don't let go and- ugh," he shudders. "Do not be a Caroline."
Lily cracks a smile at this but her green eyes are still sharp.
"Where's James?" She persists. "It's been twenty minutes. Even he doesn't take that long in the bathroom."
"Well, maybe he found an adoring fan and he's signing a photo." Sirius suggests and Lily snorts.
"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius, James isn't that good at rugby."
"That's not what you said at his last game," Sirius says with a devious grin and Lily flushes red. "I seem to remember you clambering onto the pitch at the end of the game, screaming your lungs hoarse about how fantastically fabulous James Potter is and nearly getting yourself banned from the stadium in the process."
"Don't remind me," Lily mutters. "Marlene made fun of me for weeks after that."
"Aw, you can't blame her," Sirius teases. "In her defence, it was pretty funny, Lils."
"You're only saying that because you like her." Lily sings and this time it's Sirius' turn to go red.
"No, I don't."
Lily laughs.
"I'm not getting into this again with you, Sirius, but she never shuts up about you, you know that?"
"Really?" Says Sirius and, if possible, he becomes even perkier. "Ooh, Evans, lets dance!" He grabs Lily's hands and twirls her round twice and all Lily can think is at least he's a better dancer than James.
James sits against the wall for at least ten minutes before he dares peering through the keyhole to see if he's being chased.
His blood is flowing and this energy pumping round his body is exhilarating and for a moment it's exactly like being back at school with his best friends, getting into stupid shit to annoy the teachers and making up crazy schemes just to get Lily Evans to notice him and then he looks at the clock on the wall and realises that he has twenty five minutes tops to successfully out his plan into action before the final act finishes. There doesn't seem to be a lot of noise from outside the door so James risks unlocking it and sticking his head out comically like a character from the cartoons he used to watch (and maybe still does, don't tell anyone) on Saturdays.
He can't see anyone so he decides he's safe and shuffles into the corridor, trying to look extremely innocent incase a security camera is trained on him. He saunters a few steps down the hallway, passing doors labelled 'Maintenance' and 'Employees Only' before breaking into a jog and looking around somewhere for a map to tell him where he is.
Lily dances with Sirius for a grand total of three minutes before Sirius breaks away from her, annoyed, because 'you keep staring over my head".
"I thought I saw James!" Lily protests. "You'd think he be back by now."
"Calm yourself," says Sirius, slurring on the word 'self'. "He's busy."
"Do you think he's okay?" Lily frets. "What if something's happened? What if he's been strangled by his own hands or- or been stabbed or bitten by a snake or murdered in the bathroom and been forced to float around as a ghost for eternity-"
"Blimey, Evans," Sirius says, grabbing Lily's shoulders. "You've got yourself in a right state. How much alcohol have you had?"
"Less than you," Lily mutters. "Oh, alright. I've had four gin and tonics."
"Well, there you go, then," Sirius says, wobbling slightly on his feet. "You're tipsy and emotional and- hey, are you on your period or something?"
"Sirius Black," Lily says very firmly. "It is none of your business when my monthly cycle begins but let me assure you that today is not one of those days where I woke up drenched in my own blood."
If Sirius is fazed by this he doesn't say.
"You're no fun when you're drunk," He tells her, throwing an arm around her much like he did to James. "You either go complete zombie or super strict teacher and start lecturing us all."
"That's not true!" Lily says. "At Dorcas' party I-"
"Jumped from the second story balcony and broke your leg, yes we know," Says Sirius teasingly. "That's nothing to be proud of."
"Okay, then," Says Lily and pushes her hair out of her face. "What's the worst thing you've done when you were drunk?"
"Hmm," Sirius ponders and strokes an imaginary beard. "Hold on a minute, Evans, there's a list."
"A list?" Lily says disbelievingly and Sirius chuckles.
"A figurative list. Just because you don't get into lots of shenanigans when you've had one too many, doesn't mean the rest of us don't."
He winks and Lily groans.
"Well, if I'm judging by the amount of shenanigans you and the Marauders got into at Hogwarts when you weren't drunk, I don't even think I want to know half the stuff you lot get up to when you are."
"Oh, you will," Sirius promises. "Definitely. It's hilarious. Mainly because James is in it and he always fucks shit up."
Lily giggles.
"Ready, Evans?" Sirius says as though he's telling a bedtime story. "Well, if course you remember the great Sirius Black party of 2012 but-"
"No," Lily interrupts. "I heard about it obviously because the bleeding fire brigade and police were called multiple times but I wasn't there. I was at Tuney's wedding."
"Oh yeah," Sirius says as though he's just remembered this. "James was pining all weekend."
"Classic James." Lily jokes and Sirius chortles.
"Anyway, Evans, the SB party of 2012 will become the stuff of legends- don't laugh," he says to Lily who's trying not to snicker. "Honestly, Lils, you'll be telling your kids about it one day- or at least James will because you weren't there and they'll look at me and think 'man, I wish I had been alive to attend my godfather's awesome party'- because I will be godfather, right?" He checks and Lily thoroughly assures him that in the event that her and James do get married - Sirius smirks for some reason - and have kids, he absolutely will be named godfather.
"Right, so at this completely awe-inspiring party, me and James decided to play a little drinking game where we took a shot each time the f-word was written in the Quibbler," Sirius starts and already Lily has put her head in her hands. The Quibbler is renowned for it's crazy abuse of swearing. "And we may have locked Remus in the cupboard under the stairs when he tried to stop us so there wasn't anyone sensible around to moderate our actions so we got very, very, very drunk. As in, I couldn't remember my best friend's own name and James forgot that he was a rugby player and went round asking people if they knew he was secretly a time travelling Albert Einstein. And Peter, dear old Pete, you remember him, Lil? What happened to him?"
"He's in prison for armed robbery," Lily reminds Sirius, her arms folded and looking disapproving. "Serving a six year sentence, I think. Messed with people he shouldn't've messed with."
"Yes, well," Says Sirius. "Him, Pete, Wormy, Wormtail, dared us to run naked across the street and, er, we did."
"You what?" Lily explodes and she's not sure wether she's angry or amused.
"Well, you know me and Prongs," Sirius says. "Never turn down a dare. So, we stripped and did a quick lap up and down the street. Bit nippy if you ask me but I think James enjoyed it. And that was the second time the police were called that night." He grins conceitedly.
"Sirius Black," Says Lily, torn between being annoyed at the constant immaturity of these boys and laughing at the idea of Janes and Sirius dashing up and down in nothing but their birthday suits. "You sound almost proud."
"Course I am," Says Sirius. "One of the worst dares I've ever got and I bloody did it. You know my grandparents lived on the same street at the time?"
Lily hides her face in her hands again.
"Ugh, it gets worse."
"Beats your balcony jump anyday." Sirius says, nudging her gently in the side.
"How have I never heard this before?" Lily wonders out loud and Sirius coughs uncomfortably.
"Well, Evans, lets see, 2012, we would've been about seventeen- so this was when you and James had only been dating for a year. He wasn't going to tell you that he nearly got arrested for stripping in a public place."
If Lily had been drinking, she would've spat out her drink at this point.
"He nearly got arrested?" She cries. "I'm dating a fugitive!"
"No, you're dating an almost convicted convict who wasn't convicted purely because he had rich, prominent parents to bail him out." Sirius corrects and grins.
"Ooh, bloody brilliant, this gets better." Says Lily sarcastically and Sirius gently punches her arm.
"You're loving it really, Lils."
"Maybe." Says Lily, her eyes twinkling.
Ten minutes later and Lily has almost completely forgotten about her missing boyfriend, that is until Spellbound announce their final song of the night and James still hasn't come back.
"He's going to miss the finale," she complains to Sirius. "And he's the one who bought the tickets."
"I don't think he's missing anything much," Sirius points out, tilting his head to the stage where the various members of Spellbound are throwing glittery confetti in the air. "If this is their idea of a finale." He shakes his head, trying to comb out the pink glitter which has become tangled in his hair. Lily laughs.
"Just embrace the pink, Black. It's inevitable."
"Remind me to chose the band next time," Sirius mutters. "Celestina bloody Warbeck would be better than this."
"Don't be rude." Lily jokes, shoving him playfully. "You're just jealous because you can't sing as well as them."
"Yes, I can!" Sirius gasps, mock outraged, and, with a determined look on his face, he starts very solemnly singing the words to 'Do the Hippogriff' and Lily has to join in, laughing as she spins and swirls and dips and weaves, just forgetting the world and enjoying her birthday.
When the song finishes, Lily's out of breath and panting and so is Sirius; he leans on her shoulder, clutching his side and trying to breathe.
"We- really- belted that." He says, sounding so proud, and immediately collapses to the dirty, germ ridden floor.
"Thank you for being here with us tonight," The lead singer proclaims, stepping forward and shaking back heavily curled blonde hair. "We-"
But before she can continue, the microphone is snatched from her hands by none other than James Potter who's wearing a silly hat and is also gasping for breath and he's being chased by two burly looking security guards who look like something out of an action movie.
"I told you, I am French!" He cries and points to his striped shirt. "See, stripes!"
Lily pokes Sirius, rendered speechless.
"This is a serious breach of-" one of the security guards starts but James interrupts, making a face.
"Yes, yes, I've heard it all before, mate, trust me, but this is for a very good cause." He grins and all Lily can think is what the hell is her boyfriend doing wearing a stereotypical pirate hat and stealing microphones from world famous singers- if he makes it out of here in one piece tonight, she'll be very surprised. The lead singer looks put out, not surprisingly, considering her concert has just been ruined by a seemingly drunk, probably high youth.
"Do you mind?" She snaps, reaching out for the microphone. "This is our concert."
"I'm not drunk or high," James promises, as if he can read Lily's mind. "And, yes, I know who's concert it is, love, but this is important."
He whispers something in her ear. The crowd is getting restless now, shifting on their feet and muttering starts to spread like wildfire. Beside Lily, Sirius is grinning from ear to ear, bouncing on his tiptoes and giving James thumbs up that there's no way he can see.
James finishes his mumbling and the lead singer looks torn.
"That's very sweet," She says. "But-"
"What's he saying, Jo?" One of the other band members demands and steps forward. "Why is he here?"
Cue another furious whispering conference and by now, there are uneasy murmurs erupting from the crowd.
"I don't see why not," The guitarist is saying, running her hand through bright blue hair. "I think it's lovely-"
"Oh, do be quiet, Cassie," Another one hisses. "If he does it, it'll encourage others to too-"
"You've just never been in love before." Cassie retorts and that seems to settle the matter because they all step back and James looks immensely relieved, sticking his tongue out like a five year old at the security guards. Lily's just waiting for the inevitable police sirens to wail in the distance, come to take James away.
James squeezes the microphone.
"Hello," He says confidently and people shoot each other looks, wondering who this strange boy is. "My name is James Potter and you don't know me nor is there any point knowing me because tonight is not about me in the slightest." He grins and, as if on cue, Spellbound erupt into a slow, melodic ballad called You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me which is horribly soppy and completely Celestina Warbeck-y but is secretly Lily's favourite song.
"Tonight, as many of you know, is the thirtieth of January and it just so happens that tonight is the woman I love's birthday."
There's a load of squealing from the crowd and Lily's heart drops. He's not- he is- he's going to sing happy birthday to her whilst wearing a stupid hat or do something equally as horrendous- doesn't he know how much she hates being in the spotlight? She shoves Sirius frantically, mouthing something about going outside. He shakes his head, gives her a reassuring smile and grabs her arm.
"So, Lily, Lily- where is Lily? Sirius, you'd better not have let her go to the bathroom or something because then I'd look like a right idiot,"
The crowd laughs.
"Come on, Lily, come up- ooh, she's going to hate me for this but it'll all be worth it-" his voice is so gleeful and Lily's sinking lower and lower, wishing for the ground to swallow her up, people are staring, searching for this mysterious Lily and all of a sudden James is pointing at her, smiling, beckoning, and Sirius is propelling her towards the stage and- honestly, if they're both still alive tomorrow, they're going to need to start planning their funerals because she's going to murder them.
"Lily!" James cries, looking ecstatic, as though he hasn't seen her in months. "Perfect timing! As I was saying-"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lily hisses but James merely laughs.
"Patience, Evans, I promise you won't be angry with me by the end of the evening."
Lily's not so sure she agrees.
"Lily Evans is one of the most beautiful women in the world not just because she has a fucking amazing body-" the crowd laughs awkwardly and Lily flushes bright red "-or has bloody fantastic hair - and she does have both of these things - but also because she is one the kindest, smartest, wittiest, bravest people I have ever known and I know that I'd be lost without her." James looks over at her, winking cheekily and Lily has to bite her lip to stop herself from crying because she's wearing her new mascara and- oh God. The crowd sniffles. "So, Lily Evans, on the evening of your twenty-third birthday, in the year 2018, will you-" he kneels down and Lily's heart is hammering harder than ever before, the world is spinning, her voice is singing "-make me the happiest man alive and become Lily Potter?"
And the crowd is waiting with bated breath and the whole auditorium seems to go silent as her favourite song plays quietly in the background and she thinks that she might have found Heaven with this strange, pirate hat wearing man named James Potter.
And if she was being responsible, part time job working Lily, she might think about the risks of getting married at twenty three and how it could either make or break her future-
But tonight she's being crazy, slightly reckless Lily who makes stupid decisions only to regret them in the morning and so she agrees, knowing deep in her heart that this is the one choice she's never ever going to repent.
"Yes." She whispers, tears falling down her face- God she looks a mess - and she throws herself into James' arms, ignoring the ring offered to her and just kissing him above the whooping cheers of Sirius and the rest of the crowd-
Because she's Lily Evans and he's James Potter and beneath all the jibing and the insults and beating of their own hearts, they love each other more than life itself.
.
.
Fin. Okay, so that got a little soppy towards the end but, hey, it's Jily so who cares?
This story has actually been in the process for about three months and I could never find the inspiration to finish it until now so I hope it's alright.
Pretty much all of the bands/songs mentioned are actual canonical bands/songs taken from either Pottermore of HarryPotter Wiki.
Hope you enjoyed. As always, thank for reading, feel free to leave me a review and lemme know what you thought, and have a great day/night!
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