Lily made herself wait two weeks before calling. She ignored her Gryffindor impulses to rush in and made herself wait two weeks.
She couldn't believe it. That the war was over and she could go home.
No matter how much she wanted to.
The hope that had lit within her quickly disappeared in the morning.
So on the third Tuesday when the ad was full of capital letters and missing commas- she knew that it was really Sirius.
So…on the Saturday (which was laundry day) she took some extra quarters and used the pay phone outside of the laundromat.
She'd memorized the phone number.
She'd practised her southern accent and remembered the code she and Sirius had worked on as they made their way to America.
A big part of her believed it was all a trap.
That after 10 years, something broke Sirius and they'd found her and wer going to kill her son.
So she made herself summon whatever Gryffindor courage she had left and dialed the fucking number.
On the 7th try she didn't hang up when she heard a very lawyerly voice answer, "Nigel Babbbington's office-
how may I direct your call?"
The past six times she hung up before they could speak. But she knew. She knew Sirius' voice.
But anyone could mimic it.
Breathing deep and remembering how much southerners loved her vowels she responded, "Yes. I'm calling about the squid trainer position"
And exhale and then, " we have some preliminary questions to go over before the in person interviews"
"I'm ready whenever you are, hun!" Lily responded and wished she could see Sirius' reaction
There was a slight groan and then thand first question, "What is your favorite type of squid?"
"Giant ones that live in lakes." Lily answered easily
Sirius have no indication before, "Right, right- now how would you recommended feeding a squid?"
Lily breathed deep and responded, "Well I would just throw whatever the hell you want it to eat into the water and then ring a bell"
Sirius chuckled at that and then asked, "When is the best time to try to train squids?"
Inexplicably, this was the question that made Lily pause. This could be it.
So she took a deep breath and answered in her own voice, "At sunrise you fuck. Don't you remember the shit we went through when we tried to train the squid at sunset 6th year?"
There was silence. Then another deep breath before Sirius answered with something that could've been a laugh, "Alright, Evans?"