2021, Lily's Flat.
Lily stormed down the hall towards her front door, apparently, someone had thought that it was a brilliant idea to knock at her door at six o'clock in the morning, and she was less than pleased about it.
"Whoever you are, you must have a death wish-" Lily began, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Morning Lilyflower!" James Potter shouted enthusiastically, and Lily suddenly felt wide awake.
She blinked twice before registering that The Marauders were all standing in front of her, all of them looking reasonably hyper. Sirius had his long hair tied back and was holding a box of pancakes and a case of lattes. Remus was busy craning his neck, trying to sneak a look inside of Lily's flat, and Peter was holding a large stack of notebooks in one hand, and a bacon butty in the other. Lily thought that they all looked comically ordinary, for being, you know - worldwide superstars.
"Lilyflower?" Lily said dazily, she hadn't heard that nickname since- never mind. She looked at James who had on a Taylor Swift t-shirt, which Lily had to fight to not find completely adorable. Does this boy not own any normal shirts?
"It's his nickname for you, and I told him it's completely absurd, because Lily is already a flower-" Remus explained, looking apologetically at Lily, damn Remus Lupin! Lily wanted to hate the guy, but he was being too damn agreeable.
"Flower smower, can we come in Evans?" Sirius interrupted, looking quite puppy-like as he grinned at Lily. Lily crossed her arms, suddenly aware that she was only wearing a vest-top and joggers.
"Don't you guys have your own flat?" Lily asked, raising a brow at the four. She already knew in her heart that they were coming in. Whether she wanted them to or not. Lily had observed that The Marauders weren't used to hearing the word 'No' .
"Yes but, we missed you," Peter said quite sweetly, and the rest of the boys nodded in agreement. They'd missed her? Oh if Alice could see this.
"You miss me? You saw me last night!" Lily laughed, stepping aside and letting them in against her better judgement. She was thankful for her past self and her almost obsessive cleaning as she would've been quite mortified if The Marauders had seen her dirty knickers hanging over the back of the sofa.
"Your flat's brilliant Lily-flower, not as brilliant as you though," James said, winking at Lily, which made her groan. When would he give this up? It's so clearly not funny. She was fed up with him.
"Piss off Potter," Lily said, sitting down on her sofa. Sirius laughed at this, plopping himself at Lily's feet and placing the food on the table. He turned to Lily and handed her a coffee, which she was more than grateful for.
"It's a Mocha," Sirius said grinning, and Lily had to admit she was impressed as to how Sirius had found out her favourite way to have her coffee.
"How did you-" She said and he grinned, pulling out his phone and clearing his throat dramatically.
"The 14th of April, 2015, Lilyflower89-"
"That's where I found your new nickname! Sirius showed me your Tumblr !" James said, mouth full with pancake, and Lily glared venomously at Sirius, and Lily's eyes threatened to tear up, she thought about the origin of that username, the nickname that she used to hold so dearly.
"No Evans, I didn't show him that , you can tame that ginger rage." Sirius jokes and Lily nods, still a little bit sceptical.
"Anyways, Lilyflower89 blogs; Hello All, aka just Alice as she's my only friend. I just want to announce that if you hate mochas, you hate me - because they are a part of my soul as they are my favourite thing in the whole wide world." Sirius quotes dramatically, and Lily flushes embarrassingly.
"Oh, Sirius quit being such a stalker! I was fifteen!" Lily says, sipping her mocha subtly, secretly agreeing with her fifteen-year-old self.
"Well I was right wasn't I?" Sirius says victoriously, and Lily reluctantly nods, and murmurs,
" I hate you."
"Anyways, remind me exactly why you guys are in my flat and not your own?"
"Well, Lily, you're a writer - aren't you?" Remus asked, looking hopefully at Lily. "I write crappy articles occasionally, yes.." Lily said, feeling flushed under the four boys' intense gazes.
"No, I don't mean that, I mean are you a writer."
Lily thought about this for a second. English had been her thing for the whole of her life. As a child, she had written countless stories (With all of them ending with, ' And then she woke up at the end of them.)
She had a first degree in English Literature and journalism and she worked for a bloody newspaper, but was she a writer? Yes, she had written countless poems and had actually written half a novel, which has never been finished due to, well, life.
"Well, Yeah," Lily answered bashfully, and she swore she saw all four faces beam at her like she was the second coming of Jesus.
"Okay, then you can help us!" Peter said, chucking a notebook in front of Lily. Lily furrowed her brows but she opened the book, seeing the title and the scribbles beside it that read:
Song lyrics, shit & a lot of drawings of tits
James is the only one drawing tits - Pads
Sirius can't draw tits because he's never seen any - Prongs
That's a lie, I saw your mum's. - Pads
I'm telling Effie you said that. - Remus
NO PLEASE DON'T. - Pads
"Tit drawings?" Lily said with a laugh, looking up and seeing an already flushed James Potter, his dark skin turning crimson.
"Told ya that would come back to bite you." Sirius laughed, slapping James on the knee from the floor.
" Hey ! It's educational!" James defended, earning him a clip on the head from Remus, who tutted disapprovingly. Lily rolled her eyes and flicked through the pages, trying hard not to visibly fangirl overseeing the first drafts to some of her favourite songs, (And some really detailed drawings of boobs, accompanied by some lovely penises by Sirius.)
"And you're giving me your homemade porno mag because ..?" Lily asked, looking at all of the boys sceptically.
"It's not that bad," James said, hands raised defensively as the others laughed audibly.
"James, there's a song in here called Minge Binge ." Lily laughed, collapsing on the sofa as she read the lyrics aloud.
Minge Binge get me stuff,
Minge Binge I don't bluff,
-Yeah - Yeah-
Minge Binge but I won't cuff,
Shit, my Minge got up the duff!
By the end of this dramatic reading, all five of them were in hysterics.
"You see that Lils, that's why we need you to help us write!" Sirius said, and Lily stopped her giggling, "What? Write? Write what?"
"Songs. For the new album." Remus says and Lily freezes, writing songs for The Marauders? Was this her life now?
"What do ya say Red? Will you help us?" Sirius asked, that hopeful glint shining in his eye, and Lily looked at the boys again, and she hated that she knew she couldn't say no to them.
" Fuck yeah I'll help you," Lily answered and the four of them burst out in cheers. Lily smiled and her eyes met with James's, his big brown ones were looking so earnestly into hers that she wished for a moment, that he could truly like her.
But she was just Lily Evans, chubby, redheaded and with possible anger issues, and he was James Potter, international rockstar, a millionaire with hundreds of models lining up to date him. So she broke the eye contact, choosing to look at the floor, hoping that the flutters in her stomach were just from nerves.
2019, The disabled toilets inside the campus.
"And how do you even know that it's mine? For all, I know it could be anyone's." Severus said accusingly, only fueling Lily's rage further.
"Trust me, it's yours. I'm not just some skank Sev, You- I've not slept with anyone else but you." Lily flushed, her very limited experience making her want to crawl into a dark corner and cry.
She had only ever slept with Severus, once in high school and again, well - a couple of weeks ago. She felt the tears prick in her eyes, she regretted telling him, what was she thinking? Severus doesn't even want to be seen in public with her, let alone have a fucking baby with her. Not like there was any way in hell that she was keeping it. Him? Her? Whatever the fuck it was, she couldn't have it, she just couldn't.
"Well, It's not like most people would want to sleep with you." Snape snarked, blowing a strand of oily hair away from his face, and Lily wondered why on earth she had been so hung up about this arsehole for most of her life. It's not like he was a good shag, fucker couldn't last three minutes.
"Funny that isn't it? Since you didn't seem repulsed by me the other week, in fact, I remember you begging for it." Lily said with gritted teeth, looking down at the pathetic excuse that was Severus Snape. Lily knew just how in love he was with her, she wasn't an idiot . She knew that the only reason he had come to Kings College was just to be with her, so she wondered yet again why he made such an effort publicly to hate her guts.
"Fuck you, Lily, you're just an ugly fat bitch, I couldn't give a flying fuck what you do with the fucking baby, just don't speak to me again," Severus said, barging past Lily and reaching for the door.
"You act like that's a punishment, Snivellus." Lily quipped and Snape stopped and turned around, eyes burning into Lily, reminding her of a small angry mole.
"What are you doing? Getting one last look at me? You can pretend whatever you want, Severus, but I know the truth, I know that you cream yourself over even the thought of me." Lily said, pushing past Snape and striding out of the building, heading straight away for their flat, her art history class could wait, she just needed a good cry.
Twenty Minutes later, Lily, Mary & Alice's Shared Flat
As soon as Lily stormed into the girls flat, the sweet voice of Alice called out for her.
"Lils, is that you? Why aren't you in your lecture?"
Lily shrugged her coat off and walked past Alice, she was in the kitchen, painting the wall a forest green, (This phase Lily wasn't so keen on, as there was no way the three would get their deposit back now.)
"Lily? Honey, what's wrong?" Alice comforted, following a sobbing Lily into their room. Alice and Lily had shared a room as the three could only find a two-bedroom flat that wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg each month, but neither of them minded sharing, it was like a never-ending sleepover.
Lily looked at Alice but couldn't bring herself to speak, she looked at the short girl, her black hair was tinted green and her cheesy dungarees were splashed with various paints. Lily only cried harder, and Alice sat down on her bed next to her, throwing a green arm over Lily's shoulder as she sobbed onto Alice.
"Oh baby, what is it? Who hurt my Lilyflower?" Alice cooed, stroking Lily's red hair with her clean hand.
"I hate that nickname-" Lily sniffled.
"You love it." Alice teased and Lily peeled herself off of Alice, and opened her drawer, rooting around and sighing slightly when she found what she was looking for. She looked at the stick, the two pink lines looking back at her mockingly. She turned and handed it to Alice.
"What the hell's this?" Alice asked, brown eyes wide and sceptical. Alice turned the stick and Lily watched her as her jaw gaped open.
"Holy fucking shit. Lily, you're- When?" Alice said, eyes darting from the test back to Lily.
"This- this morning, I just- I knew ." Lily sobbed and Alice pulled her back in for a hug.
"Oh Lilyflower, what are we going to do?" Alice said, stroking Lily's back. Lily loved how Alice said 'we' it always made Lily feel like she wasn't alone like she would always have Alice to help her.
"Alice I- I can't, I have to" Lily stuttered and Alice pulled away, nodding slowly.
"Yes darling, of course." Alice comforted, grabbing a throw pillow and wrapping it around Lily.
Lily watched with blurry eyes as Alice left the room for a moment, before returning with a bottle of the girl's fanciest wine. Lily nodded and smiled weakly as Alice held up a glass, she then smiled and poured it, handing it to Lily.
"I told Severus," Lily admitted, and Alice spluttered out her wine, looking at Lily questionably.
"Oh Lils, why would you do that?"
"I dunno, It's just- I have no clue what I expected." Lily shrugged, taking another hearty sip of the wine. Alice nodded and grabbed Lily's hand and the wine bottle, dragging Lily into the living room.
"I promise Lil, that we'll sort this out. I'll phone the doctors tomorrow, yeah?" Alice said, standing in front of Lily with kind eyes. Lily loved how Alice didn't judge her for wanting to have an abortion, she just understood. She didn't judge.
"Yeah, that's what I want," Lily said honestly, and Alice smiled.
"There is plenty of time to have children honey, and there are a lot more men out there to share your DNA with, not that horrible greasy fool," Alice said and Lily laughed, a huge weight falling from her shoulders.
"Now, Lilyflower. We dance!" Alice said excitingly, connecting her phone to their speaker and playing their favourite song, Forget Me Not by The Marauders. Lily giggled and shrugged the blanket off, standing up and grabbing Alice's hands, dancing with her best friend as the voice of Sirius Black filled the room.
As I sang to her!
Forget Me Not, Little Bird,
Never leave me unheard,
Promise me you'll give me your word
And Forget Me Not, Little Bird.
2021, Lily's childhood home.
"Lily-pad!" Lily's mum, Aubrey said enthusiastically, throwing out her arms and pulling Lily into a hug. Lily smiled and smelled in her Mum's gingery perfume, the same one she had been wearing ever since Lily could remember.
"Hey Mum, I brought reduced prosecco," Lily said, waving the Co-op bag in front of her Mum's gleeful face.
"Och that's lovely pet, now come in, you must be freezing wearing that little dress," Aubrey said, looking her up and down and examining what Lily thought was a perfectly normal work dress.
"Mum, do you mean my work dress that comes down to my knees?" Lily said sarcastically, walking in and kicking off her boots and taking off her coat.
"Hmm, it's a bit fancy for work, unless there's some office hunk?" Lily's Mum asked and Lily remembered this morning when Sirius had thrust this dress into her arms, saying that she had to quit her job in style.
"Well, actually about the office-" Lily started, looking at her mum nervously, but before Lily could start, her Dad burst in.
"Ello squash, good to see ya." Lewis Evans said affectionately, kissing both of Lily's freckled cheeks.
"Hey Dad, brought reduced prosecco" Lily echoed, and Lewis grabbed the bag excitedly.
"Brilliant, have I ever told you that you're my favourite ginger child?" Lewis joked, ruffling Lily's hair.
"Last time I checked Dad, I'm your only ginger child," Lily said, walking into the living room, remembering her childhood annoyance over Petunia having blonde hair and Lily being cursed with red hair. Like how Petunia was somehow stick thin, while Lily had always been fat. Sometimes she wondered if Petunia was adopted, and as a child, she had prayed that Petunia was, so that she could be whisked away and Lily would be left at peace.
"Speaking of your sister, she's pregnant," Aubrey said, coming into the living room with glasses for the prosecco. Lily's smile immediately dropped. Petunia was pregnant . Her own sister was pregnant and she had no clue.
"Holy hell, really?" Lily said, imagining an ugly child with Vernon's horrible pig face and Petunia's sour face. She wondered what her baby would've looked like, would it have been a girl? With her red hair? Would it- Nevermind. There was no point thinking about it, it's long gone.
"It's a boy," Aubrey said proudly, and Lewis rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. Lily had always been closer with her dad, sharing his red hair, green eyes and sense of humour - the two had always stuck together.
"That's great, I'll need to message Tuney," Lily said with a smile and Aubrey looked visibly relieved. Ever since the incident, the sisters hadn't spoken, which obviously had stressed her out.
"So, there's actually a reason I'm here." Lily began, taking a long sip of her prosecco to summon her courage.
"Please tell me that you're not pregnant-" Lewis began, and Aubrey gave him a hard smack, making Lily giggle.
"Lewis!"
"No Da, I'm not pregnant it's-" Lily said, fiddling with her bracelet. Lily's mum looked at her cautiously, and Lily's stomach churned.
"What is it Lily-pad? Are you okay?" Aubrey said worriedly, and Lily shook her head quickly.
"It's nothing Mum, I'm fine. It's just that… I've quit my job." Lily said finally. Aubrey gasped dramatically and raised a hand to her mouth.
"What? Why! You love it there! You've worked so hard to get there!"
Lily shook her head at her mum, "I don't love it. I- I don't want to write bullshit articles about how teenagers hate their parents or how if you keep earphones in for too long you'll go deaf. I don't like it." Lily confessed, the thoughts finally slipping out after keeping them bottled up for too long.
"Oh Lils, why didn't you say?" Lewis asked, and Lily felt like crying.
"Because it's the dream isn't it? And I'm wasting it- wasted it." Lily said, choking up.
"Baby, it's not your dream, and that's okay." Her dad comforted and Lily nodded. Aubrey however, still looked nervous.
"So what are you going to do honey? How are you going to make money?"
Lily smiled and wiped her eyes, "You'll never believe me."
"It's not porn, is it?" Lewis joked and Lily burst out laughing.
"No Da, it's not porn, I'm- The- Ugh. I don't know how to say this and not sound ridiculous." Lily laughed.
"Honey, you're talking to the man who worked as a sea lion tamer for around five years," Lewis said and Aubrey laughed, shaking her head.
"It's true, I used to go to his sea lion shows just to see him." Aubrey blushed and Lily barked a laugh.
"Okay, well… The Marauders have just hired me as a songwriter." Lily said with a shaky breath, and her parents just blinked at her.
"You're talking about the boy band?" Aubrey asked sceptically, Lily nodded and rushed to explain.
"I know this sounds ridiculous, but they're my neighbours," Lily said, and her parents looked at her like she was a martian.
"Lily, I know that Alice's death-" Aubrey said, and Lily scoffed.
"I'm fucking serious! I'm not making this up! We're neighbours and-"
"Lily-" Aubrey said, and Lily stood up.
"It's fucking true . And they're gonna pay me! They're gonna pay me a lot. And then they want me to write a book or something! It's good money- It's amazing money."
"That sounds incredible squish," Lewis said with a fond smile, and Lily felt like her Dad was the only person alive who could truly understand her.
"Lewis, you can't be-" Aubrey whispered aggressively and Lily's dad turned to Aubrey, grabbing her hand.
"Why would Lily make this up? It's a dream." Lewis said and Aubrey relaxed a little bit and smiled at Lily.
"I'm sorry honey it's just-"
"Mental?" Lily finished.
"Utterly mental." Aubrey agreed and Lily sat down in between her parents.
"Just trust me, yeah?" Lily said, and they both nodded.
"Good, now stick on some Doctor Who. and let's get drunk."
2021, The buzzer from the street to The Marauder's flat.
"Hello?" A groggy James Potter answered the buzzer.
"Potter? That you? Can you buzz me upppp I cannae find my damn keys!" A very drunk Lily Evans asked, and James immediately perked up, a smirk spreading around his face.
"Miss Evans, are you drunk?" James asked playfully. Suddenly happy that he had gotten out of his bed at one in the morning to answer the buzzer.
"Drunk and very cold, can you buzz buzz me?" Lily said adorably and James felt his cheeks redden.
"I'm coming down to get you Lilyflower," James said, hanging up the call and grabbing his High School Musical hoodie.
Five Minutes later, Lily's Flat.
"There you go, sit on the sofa, I'll get you some water, otherwise our leading songwriter will have a massive hangover in the morning," James said, gently setting the drunken Lily on her sofa. His cheeks still felt red from how he had to grab her to drag her up the stairs. He cursed this stupid crush he was harbouring. She was wearing his High School Musical hoodie, and was burrowing into it happily to stay out of the cold.
"Mmk," Lily said dreamily, her mascara slightly smudged and her eyes sparkling in a way that made James want to scoop her up and take her in his arms. Instead, he poured Lily water and rooted around for some paracetamol.
"Evans, can you remember where you keep your painkillers?" James asked, handing her the glass cautiously, and she drank from it heartily.
"Waterrr." Was all that came out of Lily's mouth and James repeated his question.
"Lily, painkillers?"
Lily looked at him for a second before smiling and handing him her purse. He smiled and looked it in, smirking slightly when he saw the songwriting book there. After only a second, he grabbed a packet of paracetamol and popped two-out, handing them to Lily, who took them willingly with a gulp of water.
"Perfect, now let's get you to bed eh?" James said, running a hand through his hair.
"Why do you think it's funny to like me?" Lily asked drunkenly, sitting with her hands on her hips. James was taken off guard by this question and wondered what the hell she meant by it.
"What?"
"Why do you think it's funny to make fun of me by pretending to flirt with me? Is it caus' I'm fat? Because I'll tell you, something Potter, I am fucking gorgeous and I'm fed up of boys pretending that I'm not!"
James was frozen, wondering where the hell she had gotten that from, he knew that she was gorgeous, he was very aware of how gorgeous she was.
"Lily, I flirt with you because you're gorgeous," James admitted, and Lily looked surprised, before giggling.
"James?" Lily said, picking her nails shyly.
"Lily?" James said, still slightly flushed.
"Does Sirius know that he's gay?" Lily asked earnestly and James burst out laughing.
"Yes Lils, he does know he's gay," James answered, wondering how the hell Lily Evans had figured out something the rest of the world had no clue about.
"Do you know he's gay?" Lily also asked, now fidgeting with the toggles on the hoodie.
James nodded and Lily smiled a small, beautiful smile.
"It's a shame that you take the piss out of me," Lily said with a pout, sitting up and crossing her legs, now closer to James, so close that he could see every freckle on her face.
"Why- why's that?" James gulped, unable to keep himself from looking at her lips.
"Cause you're pretty," Lily said, before leaning back and lying down.
James felt lightheaded, and as he looked at Lily Evans, drunk with just a little bit of drool at the side of her mouth - he swore that he would win her over, even if it killed him.