Chapter Six
Writing + (receiving news with) The Band

2016, The Backstage At A Marauders Gig.

"Sirius, please don't jump up and down on stage like a wanker again," James said, and Sirius scoffed.

"It's called rocking out, and it's awesome," Sirius said with a wink towards a technician who was clipping a mic onto his collar.

"Well Pads it looks like you're having a seizure on stage," Remus shouted over the crowd and the rest of the Marauders all burst out into laughter whilst Sirius stropped.

"Whatever losers, looks like I'm the only rockstar in this whole band," Sirius said with a swish of his hair and James rolled his eyes, slinging his guitar strap over his head.

"Also looks like you're the only epileptic in this band," Pete joked and everyone burst into easy laughter, with Sirius even cracking a smile. Remus picked up his guitar and Sirius cleared his throat, finding Pete's other drumstick.

"Right Marauders, ya ready?" Marlene asked, and everyone nodded, "Amazing, now Sirius. Stop that whole…"

"—seizure thing?" James finished and Marlene nodded, a laugh escaping her mouth.
"Yeah, seizure thing. It looks very weird," Marlene said and Sirius groaned.

"None of you fuckers know or appreciate the true art of rock 'n' roll!"

Everyone shared a grin as Marlene led them onto the stage, "Right boys, do your thang!" She shouted, high fiving the band as they all ran out onto the stage.

The crowd went wild, screaming as the four seventeen-year-old boys walked onto the stage, and they knew then that they were doing what they were born to do.

2021, The Marauders' Flat

"I don't get it, one minute we're talking, and it's so good, then next thing I know she's screaming at me!" James said over the phone, pacing in his room.

"Well darling, you know how you can be," Effie Potter replied, and James scoffed.

"No Mum, I don't know how I can be, care to elaborate?" James asked, mildly offended.

"Hmm, for lack of a better word Priya, you can be well, a little bit… conceited?" Effie said softly, like she was trying to soften the blow.

James paused for a moment, shocked at the betrayal at the hands of his own mother, "Conceited?" James asked, a distinct whine in his voice.

"Oh dear don't take offense, you're a celebrity, of course you're going to be a bit big-headed, it happens," Effie said with an offhanded tone.

"Mum, you can't just tell me to not take offense when you say something offensive!" James said, still in shock over his mother's bluntness.

"Says who?"
"Me! I say!"

Effie laughed from over the phone, and James could hear his dad moan about how his slippers were starting to feel like, quote, "Too thin for comfort" whatever the hell that meant.

"Oh gosh Priya, I've got to go before your father starts trying to chuck out his slippers—just try to get to know her first eh? Try being her friend before getting into her knickers."

James rolled his eyes, "I never said anything about knickers Mum."
"It was heavily implied… Goodbye sweetheart, give Sirius all my love!"

"Bye Mum," James said with a small laugh, hearing his mum scream at her dad to, "Get that slipper out of the bin!"

He switched off his phone, throwing it on his bed and walking out of his room and into the living room, where Sirius was currently trying to flick a coin into Peter's arse crack.

"Check it out Prongsie, I call it, coin slot!" Sirius said excitedly, and James shook his head at the two.

"Aren't we supposed to be working on our third studio album?" he asked sarcastically, throwing himself on the sofa.

"Oh yeah, didn't we have a songwriter? Oh wait nevermind, Prongs scared her away," Remus said, walking in from the kitchen and sitting on a ratty armchair, a cup of fancy herbal tea in hand.

"Hey it wasn't me this time, Pads was the one who put salt in her tea," James said, raising his arms in the air.
"You're the one who gave her it! Since when does Pads make tea?" Remus rhetorically asked and Pete grunted in reply, clearly still feeling stung after receiving a salty tea.

"Sorry for the salty surprise Pete," Sirius said, stopping his game for a moment. Remus spluttered on his tea, doing a real life spit-take.

"Pads, that is not what salty surprise means. Don't call it that!" Remus said and James failed to hold in his laughter, giggling from his seat. Sirius looked cluelessly around at his friends.

"Then what does it mean?" Sirius said, and Pete laughed, pulling up his trousers.
"Google it," Peter said, getting up from the floor to no doubt make a proper cup of tea.

Sirius shrugged and whipped out his phone, seemingly googling it. James and Remus shared a long look as Sirius read the result, his face scrunching in disgust as he threw his phone down in his lap.

"What the actual fuck? That's—okay to clarify. I did not. I repeat, did not. Give Pete," Sirius turned to James, "Or Evans, a salty surprise."

By that point Remus and James were dead to the world, pissing themselves with laughter as Sirius cringed internally.

2021, Lily's flat.

Band Bitches

Lily-flower
I know I'm supposed to be mad at you guys, but I just had a dream where Pete was pregnant with Justin Timberlake's baby and it was actually kinda heartwarming

Wormy
How far along was I?

Lily-flower
You were ready to pop. I'd say eight or nine months

Wormy
Brilliant, and did we know the gender?

Lily-flower
A Boy. Nathaniel.

Wormy
I like the name, Nathaniel.

Lily-flower
So did Justin.

Pads
Okay but was this pre or post-Britney Justin?

Lily-flower
Post. Definitely. I'm talking about the movie Trolls era, Justin.

Pads
Damn Wormy, really?

Wormy

What can I say? He was bringing sexy back!

Moony
Guys it is literally four in the morning, can we please discuss this when the sun is up

Pads
The sun is a concept, Moonpie.

Prongs
Your mum is a concept

Lily-flower
You.

Prongs
Evans I am so sorry about the salty tea.

Lily-flower
Forgiven. But you're buying me a coffee tomro.

Prongs
Ofc.

Moony
Again. Four in the AM, go. To. SLEEP!

Pads
Yes mum

Wormy
No kinks on the main gc pads.

Pads
Says u mister M-preg

Moony
GOODNIGHT!

Lily couldn't help but laugh as she switched her phone off, popping it back on her nightstand as she sank into her pillows, falling into a blissfully non-Justin Timberlakeness sleep.

2016, The Crowd At A Marauders Concert.

"I think I'm going to pass out Lily," Alice said, fanning herself with her hand as the two stood at the barrier, waiting patiently for the concert to start.

"Do you feel faint? It is pretty hot in here—" Lily began, her motherly instincts kicking in.
"No! Not that! I think I'm going to pass out when I see Sirius. I bet you he's even more gorgeous in real life," Alice gushed and Lily rolled her eyes, flicking her curls out of her face.

The two had been camping outside the venue since the morning, Alice determined to be at the front like her life depended on it. Lily had appeased her happily, she had to admit that she was pretty excited. She'd gotten quite into the band ever since she bought Alice the tickets for Christmas.

"If you're into that sort of whole pretty-boy thing," Lily said dismissively, nose in the air. Alice rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Sorry, forgot about your undying love for Potter," Alice teased and Lily waved her away, blushing slightly.
"Oh shut it Fortescue, I just think he has a nice face, that's all!" Lily defended, glad for the darkness that hid her blush pretty effectively.

"More like you wanna sit on his face—" Alice said and Lily pointed towards the stage, where the four Marauders were running onto it. She could just make out the silhouette of their manager, Marlene, who was high fiving each of them as they entered the stage.

The crowd went wild, including Lily and Alice.

2021, The Hallway Between Flat 2b & 4b.

Lily knocked nervously on the door to the Marauders' flat. She felt slightly better after the ridiculous text messages they had exchanged the night before. But she still felt slightly embarrassed over her overreaction. It was just something about James Fleamont Potter that drove her completely up the wall.

Lily was almost certain that the band was out, but after a moment a very sweaty Peter Pettigrew answered.
"Sup Lily?" He asked, walking away and leaving Lily to close the door behind her. She noted that absolutely no cleaning up had even been attemptedand she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Do any of you even know what a bin is?" Lily said, toeing a crisp packet with her slippers. She had decided to make the executive decision of not bothering with shoes.

"Remus does, but he stopped cleaning for us in around… 2014?" Sirius said from the sofa. Surprising Lily as it was still early in the morning and she knew that Sirius wasn't exactly a morning person.

"True, I've been living with these slobs for far too long and gave up trying to clean up after them long ago," Remus agreed, putting down his copy of Jane Eyre. Lily laughed lightly and chose to sit in the armchair, bringing out her laptop and her brand new fancy notebook she had got at Rymans.

"What is that," Sirius said, a look of almost horror on his face as Lily continued to bring out her brand new pack of flashcards and a blissfully empty binder.

"This, Mister Black, is what the kids call, organization," Lily said sarcastically, pushing an empty diet coke can off of the coffee table so she could fit all of her stuff. If there was one thing Lily knew, it was most certainly organization (and a good old fashioned back-to-school sale at Rymans).

"Lily Evans, are we soulmates?" Remus mused from his seat, taking the flashcards and flicking through them eagerly. Lily smiled gratefully and decided that Remus Lupin and her were officially going to be great friends.

"Thankyou Remus, see Black? Some of us possess kindness," Lily said, flashing a smile at Remus, who blushed back, commenting about how they needed to order all of the flashcards by colour.

"Fuckin' nerds," Sirius mutters, flicking the channel onto a true crime show about a baby killer.

Lily and Remus shared a similar look, and Lily started booting up her computer, bringing her charger out of her bag of tricks. "Plug?" She asked, and Remus pointed to a closed door that was right beside the living room.

"Afraid that James's room is the nearest extension, but your charger looks long enough. The plugs' right by the door. Just leave it open," Remus directed and Lily nodded, standing up and opening the door. She knew that James couldn't be in since he hadn't annoyed her in the five minutes she had been sitting in the living room.

So she entered the room bravely. And wondered once again what Alice would do right now if she knew that she was standing in James Potter's room. Wet herself probably.

She inspected the room with a small smile on her face. It looked like a normal twenty-something guy room. He had posters of The Smiths, Bowie and Taylor Swift. He had dirty laundry strewn all over the floor but had managed to make his bed. There was a wall full of polaroids of him and the boys.
The only thing that signalled that he was a rockstar was the Grammy that was sitting on a chest of drawers.

"Stalking me, are we?" The cocky scouse voice said from the doorway, and Lily snapped her head around, spotting James, who was sporting a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and jeans.

"God Potter, do you own any normal shirts?" Lily couldn't help but say, and James laughed gently.
"Nope."

Lily rolled her eyes playfully, standing there for a moment as James looked at her. Then she remembered her charger in her hand.
"Oh can I um—can I use your plug for my laptop charger?" Lily stammered, holding up the charger like it was evidence.

"Only if you forgive me for last night," James said, his tone sincere and his eyes painfully beautiful. Lily awkwardly laughed, swaying foot to foot nervously.

"If anything I should be the one apologising. I had just had a horrible night and I overreacted," Lily explained. Being painfully honest for the first time since she had met Potter.

"And I must have made it so much worse, I'm so sorry," James apologised, standing up straight and taking his hands out of his jean pockets, fidgeting with them slightly.

"Well, it didn't make it better. But me shouting at you wasn't called for," Lily said, nodding. She felt grateful for James's apology. "So, I'm sorry," she added.
"Accepted. Are you okay? Is there a boyfriend we need to beat up?" James asked with a light humour and Lily shook her head with a laugh of her own.

"No, no. No boyfriend. It was just my mum…" She said, slightly reserved. James nodded and smiled crookedly.

"Well I don't beat up Mums. Sorry, it's the one exception," James joked and Lily clenched her fist with her free hand.

"Damnit," She said and James laughed.

"Plugs right there," James pointed, and Lily smiled, walking over and crouching down to plug it in.
"I um, I bought coffee, it's in the living room," James said with a smile, remembering his promise he made the night before.

Lily looked up through her hair and smiled, standing up and grabbing the end of her charger. It looked like it was more than long enough to reach her laptop.

"Oh my god—I was kidding," Lily said and James shrugged his shoulders.
"I wanted to. I got you a mocha, is that alright?" James asked as the two walked into the living room. Lily felt her breath hitch for a second. Incapable of not finding it adorable that James had remembered her coffee order.

"More than alright," She said, sitting back down in her seat. Sirius smiled at the two from the sofa.

"Kiss and made up, have we?"

"Piss off Padfoot," James said, sitting on the armchair across from Lily, a ghost of a blush on his brown skin.

Sirius blew a kiss to James, and Remus walked in from the kitchen, carrying Simone and Betty, the boys' guitars.

"Alright red, are you gonna explain why you've brought half the stationary from Rymans to our flat?" Sirius said, picking up his coffee from the table and taking a sip.

"I told you, organization. If we're gonna write twenty grammy worthy songs for this killer album then we're gonna need it," Lily said, grabbing her own coffee and taking a long sip. It was perfect.

"Twenty? Twenty songs for the album? That's a crazy amount!" Pete protested, sitting on the floor next to the table, he was tapping his drumsticks on the table leg.

"No it's not!" Lily said, turning and grabbing her bag, pulling out a CD of Mischief Managed—the boys' first album—and pulling out Mayhem Madness—the boys' second and last album.

"See here, for your debut you made fifteen songs. Yeah that's pretty solid, standard for a debut. But then on the second record, you only made 14. Now as an ex-fan—" Lily began, pointing to the songs on the back of the album covers as the boys looked at her curiously.
"Ex-fan?" Sirius scoffed and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Yes! I grew out of you guys by the time I hit uni. Alice didn't however, and she always moaned and moaned about how she wanted more. So that's what you gotta do. More!" Lily said, looking at the boys' reactions, which all seemed pretty neutral.

"Look boys, it's been a couple of years since your second record. Which is a pretty long time in teen years. So you need to come back with a bang. And you need to start growing up a little bit," Lily said bluntly. She had spent all of last night working on this 'pitch.'

"Growing up?" James asked, looking at her slightly puzzledly.
"Drop the whole private school boy act. You aren't in private school anymore, you are grown ass men. So write about your grown up lives!" Lily said, taking out her notebook.

"Okay, so I want each of you to tell me one word. Just one word about your life right now," Lily said, taking a pen from her jean pocket.

"Food," Peter said, holding up his sandwich.
"That's good! Sirius?" Lily asked, writing down the word food in the notebook.

Sirius rolled his eyes but then flashed a cocky smile, "Sex."
Remus scoffed and Lily stuck her tongue out at him, but she wrote it down nevertheless.

"Rem?" she asked, and Remus's eyes widened slightly.
"Um… Only one word?" he asked, and Lily nodded.

"One word."
"Confused," he said quietly and Lily smiled softly, scribbling it down.

"James?" Lily asked, pointing the pen towards James, who was flicking a guitar pick in between his fingers.

"Serendipity," James said with a smile, looking Lily right in the eyes. Lily felt herself flush from the blunt eye contact and she looked down quickly, writing the word down.

"Thanks guys, see, this is what you write about. Your life now. Your last album, as good as it was, still focused on your life together at school, which sounded quite odd coming from a pack of twenty year old men," Lily said and the band looked at each other and shrugged.

Lily smiled triumphantly before crossing her legs and saying, "Let's get to work on winning some more Grammys, eh?"

2016, On Stage At A Marauders Concert

The crowd is wild, and James can't believe this is his life.

It's a great show, the tour has been way more tiring than he would've guessed. Long nights and hard days studying, he promised his parents that he would finish school, it was the only way they would've let him even go on this door.

So he had to study, and then there was rehearsal, drinking and general bullshit. Who knew being famous would mean there was so much waiting? Just waiting around.

However, this show was magic, the crowd was amazing and Sirius was on fire. His vocals killed it as he jumped around the stage. His hands were on a mind of their own, playing every chord perfectly.

He and Remus shared a grin from across the stage as Sirius started jumping up and now, headbanging and doing his 'seizure' thing. He couldn't help but look into the crowd to see their reactions. He looked down at the barriers.

He started singing his usual backup and he found the gaze of a girl in the crowd. The lights are bright and the music is deafening but he swore he could hear her singing along. She looked around his age, with long curly red hair and eyes that he could swear fucking sparkled.

Her eyes rolled as she looked at Sirius—who's headbanging hadn't ceased—and she laughed at her friend—he was guessing she was her friend—who was so into Sirius that she wouldn't respond.

He found her intriguing, the way she hadn't fallen for Sirius's bullshit. He kept an eye on her for the rest of the night.

*
2016, After the Marauder's gig, meet n' greet.

James found himself looking for the redhead with sparkling eyes as he signed CDs and hugged squealing girls. Not that he didn't love his fans, Mischief Makers, they called themselves.

But he never understood how they could squeal so loud. Usually at such a high frequency that only dogs could hear them. He felt bad for all dogs.

He looked for her that night, but she never did appear again, and eventually she drifted out of his mind, being replaced with chords and drugs and other rock-stary stuff, like getting his A-levels.

2021, The Stag 'n Deer Pub.

"It's one drink Evans, calm your pink pyjama wearing arse down," Sirius smirked, tugging off his jacket and shuffling along the booth.

"Oi, I love those pyjamas!" Lily said defensively, tugging her own jacket off. She wasn't happy about being dragged out of the flat, but Marlene wanted to meet her and the band, apparently she has news.

"When did Marlene say she'd get here?" James asked, taking off his glasses to de-fog them. Lily couldn't help but notice how many freckles he was hiding underneath them. She tore her eyes away, pretending to check her phone.

"Dunno, soon?" Sirius said, and James sighed, popping his glasses on.

"I hope you've given her the right address, cause she'll be pissed if you get her lost," James said with a raised brow.

"She can kiss my perfectly round behind," Sirius said, sticking his nose in the air. Lily repressed a groan, noticing all her missed calls from her mother. James must have noticed as he gave her a stare that said, you alright?

She replied with a shoulder shrug as she placed her phone screen first on the sticky pub table. It was the kind of pub that always had sticky tables. No. Matter. What.

Her dad used to take her here for lunch after her ballet class. But the pub-lunches stopped when Lily quit ballet. Stacy Greg called her an 'elephant in tights' one day and she never went back. Stacy Greg is a fitness coach now, she has twins and a husband that looks like the type to not-so-secretly be a Nazi.

"Right, one pint of lager for Prongs," Remus said, him and Pete carrying over the drinks. "A pint of wanky beer for Pads…" Remus said, passing Sirius his artisanal beer.

"It's not wanky, it's artisanal!" Sirius whined.
"That's what I said, wanky." Remus grinned as he sat down in the booth, taking off his scarf.

"Rum and coke for you Lils?" Peter asked and Lily nodded, taking the drink gratefully. Pete smiled and sat down in the booth as well, carrying an elaborate cocktail in his hand.

"Oh, is that for Marls?" James asked, taking a sip of his drink. Peter pulled a confused look at his mate.

"Uh no? It's for me," Pete said, taking a big sip of the comically girly cocktail. Lily couldn't help but burst out into laughter as the confused Peter looked at her quizzically.

"I'm sorry, but you're gonna drink a Pina Colada?" Lily laughed and the rest of the band—bar Peter—laughed along as well.

"Hell yeah I am, shit tastes good," Pete said, taking a healthy sip.
"You do you Petey!" James said and Sirius patted him on the back, smiling whilst shaking his head.

"Only our Wormtail, eh?" Remus said fondly.

Lily shook her head, about to crack another joke, but Marlene Mckinnon approached the table. Lily felt herself straighten up, eager to impress—and still a little bit terrified—of the boys' manager.

"Sirius, you are an arsehole. You sent me to a random coffeehouse!" Marlene said, sitting down next to Lily. In this lighting she looked oddly human, she had replaced her pantsuit with a single tee shirt and jeans combo, wearing a leather jacket that was similar to Sirius's ontop.

"Told you not to let her get lost," James tutted, passing his lager to Marlene so she could have a sip. Marlene did, and exclaimed soon after she was finished.

"Damn, that is oddly… good? This is the deadest pub in London, how the hell did you find it?" Marlene said, looking around with a disapproving look, eyeing the bizarrely printed carpet and old fruit machines.

"Lily showed us it, it's brilliant because the old blokes here have no clue who the hell we are, so no squealing girls," Sirius said, pointing to said old blokes, who were all sitting at the bar, moaning about a football match.

"Brilliant, well done Lily," Marlene said, smiling sincerely at Lily, who replied with a nervous smile. She was confused about the dynamic, Marlene was supposedly their boss, but now she was like an old mate.

"Well, I'm gonna grab a pint of that lager, then I have news to tell lady and gents," Marlene announced, swaggering up to the bar.

"Evans, you can relax, Marlene's not gonna like, fire you or something," Sirius said, laughing slightly.

"Isn't she like, your boss? I don't understand!" Lily said hopelessly. Her whole life she had sucked up to authority. She was like the world's best teacher's pet.

"Who? Marlene? No!" Peter said with a laugh, sipping his Pina Colada.

"I grew up with Marlene, we went to primary school together, then she went to school with us. She's been our manager since we played school discos and random weddings. She's the one who got us our record deal, and she's been making the big bucks ever since," James explained, and Lily felt herself relax slightly.

"Well now I feel like a tit," Lily said, taking a swig of her drink. The boys laughed at her good heartedly and Marlene came back with her drink, sitting back down.

"Okay, will you tell us the bloody news now?" James asked, whilst Marlene chugged her drink.
"Ah, shits good." Marlene wiped her mouth and grinned wickedly at Lily, who smiled meekly back.

"Marlene? News?" Remus asked, and Marlene rolled her eyes, but smiled and leaned forward.

"Right, okay. So first things first I have your recording place all sorted, you leave Saturday," Marlene said, and everyone grinned.

Lily felt an excited jolt run through her. She was really excited about writing the album. Living with the Marauders for three months? Not so much. Leaving Mary and her family? Not so much.

"Is that it? Marls you could've texted that!" Sirius said, finishing off his wanky beer.

"No moron, that's not it. I have some big news!"

"You're going back into the closet?"
"You're pregnant?"
"I knew it, you aren't a real blonde!"

The boys shouted simultaneously, making both and Lily burst out into bewildered laughter.
"No you arseholes! It's none of those!"

"What is it then?" Sirius asked, exasperated.

Marlene leaned back smugly, "When the album's done, you guys are doing a UK & US tour."

"No fucking way," Sirius said, grinning like a kid in a sweet shop.
"Way!" Marlene said and the band celebrated.

Lily sat dumbly, wondering why the hell she was here, it wasn't like she was going to be on this tou—

"Lily, you're invited to join them on tour. They'll still need a writer for speeches and whatnot, and other press shite. Whatcha think?" Marlene asked her and she sat numbly.

"Say yes Evans! We need you!" Sirius said sweetly and the rest of the band nodded in agreement, James watching her closely.

"This is… We haven't even started the album yet!" Lily laughed and Marlene nodded.
"I know, crazy isn't it? But I know it'll be amazing," Marlene said with a wink and Lily picked up her drink, downing the rest of it.

"So, what are you saying Evans?" Sirius asked as Lily slammed her drink on the table.

"Do I get paid?" Lily asked, looking at Marlene, who giggled in reply.
"A shit tonne."

"Well then…" Lily looked around at the boys, who were all looking at her, anticipating her answer.

"Why the fuck not?" Lily grinned, and the table whooped.

2016, The Crowd At A Marauders Concert.

Lily was belting her heart out, this concert was officially awesome. The Marauders were on fire.

Lily watched with a sceptical look as Sirius started going crazy on stage, he was headbanging, no. Full body banging, and he looked almost like he was having some sort of fit.

She felt herself roll her eyes at his craziness as she looked at Alice, but she was gone to the world, going crazy herself over Sirius's mental movements.

She shook her head fondly and continued singing, staring up at James Potter, who was singing the bridge of Lunch Meat, and she could've sworn that he was looking at her.

However, she just shrugged this off as teenage desperation and continued ogling him from afar.