A/N: Written for:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Assignment 2 - Performing Arts - task: write an actor/actress au

Days of the Month - Single Women's Working Day - Write about a single woman's day at work.

Song Lyrics Challenge - Round Two: 19. It makes the truth even more incomprehensible.

Piñata Challenge - Medium: Romance

HPFC

Disney Character Challenge/Competition - Faline: write a romantic pairing of your choice.

The Ultimate Doctor Who Challenge/Competition - Amy Pond: Write about Lily Evans.

Choose-Your-Wand Challenge - Dragon Heartstring.

iii. spill your colours

Her pale hands reached for the diamond necklace and she strung it around her neck, the hand covered in makeup dust. Someone opened the door of the room and she turned to look at him, her eyebrows raised.

"Miss, Miss Evans," the mousy little man said, his voice quivering slightly. She pitied him, he had gotten a lot of heat from his superiors that they were going to replace him, she had came to see them once, to ask for him to stay, she didn't think that her plea had any use at all. "You're on in one minute."

She nodded, and he walked out of the room.

Lily checked her robe once again, and patted them down. They were a colour of dark red, almost like dried blood, and they matched her hair perfectly. And Lily hated it. She never told anyone about how she hated her costume, she felt that she was the living embodiment of blood.

Grabbing her wand from the table, she swept out of the room, her robes billowing behind her.

"Bow to us, Boy King. You know nothing of this world. We do." spat Lily, "And you also do not know the difference between friend and enemy."

Opposite her, Owen, the wizard playing the muggle king Arthur, opened his mouth and roared, "I do not know, Red Priestess?! I think, it is you who do not know. You serve no one but power, and you will kill innocents by the thousands to achieve your means!"

"And you wouldn't?" replied Lily. Then she raised her wand and pointed it to the sky in which golden sparks flew from the end.

Lily was happy that her scene was so short. She wasn't a main character but she never really enjoyed acting as the red woman, but that was the closest she could get after graduating the SFDA. She actually did quite well, most don't even get a speaking part.

Adjusting her hair and robes once more, she strode out towards the screaming and cheering bows and took a bow with the other actors and actress. And it went on for two minutes.

After Lily had changed into her regular clothes, she was just about to tie her hair back until there was a kurt nock on her door.

Lily stopped and her arms fell down to her waist. She wondered who it was. At this time no one while come but fans and audiences, but she never had them. Then she decided that she might as well give it a chance.

Lily crossed over to the door and opened it.

"Hi," she greeted, a little confused as to what the man was doing there.

He was tall, around a head taller than Lily, who was already very tall on her own. And he had a mop of messy brown hair and a pair of chunky square glasses on his nose, which was shielding a pair of warm brown eyes.

"Hi," he repeated, leaning on the doorframe and smirking, "I think you've probably forgotten who I am. It's okay, we never really talked. I'm James Potter, from Hogwarts. Remember me, Evans?"

James Potter...

The name sounded familiar but she couldn't exactly place it.

Then Lily looked up at him once again, and then it clicked. The hair that his fingers would always thread through and the glasses he sometimes forget to wear. "Potter! What are you doing here?"

"I saw you." stated James, smiling softly and looking down at her. "And you were brilliant."

Lily blushed scarlet.

"And I really wanted you to have these," he reached over from behind his back and produced a bouquet of flowers from his back and Lily took it. It was Lilies.

James waited for her to give an response.

"Thank you," whispered Lily. This was the first time in weeks that she had ever had someone from the audience to come up to her and say that she had done a good job with flowers along with it.

"And I also wanted to ask if you have anything planned for the rest of the day." said James, scrutinising her.

Lily shook her head.

The anxious look on his face disappeared and his lips turned upwards to a smile. "Good. I'll be waiting outside for you then," said James, and he turned towards the exit but turned around once more. "If that's quite alright with you?" He asked awkwardly.

Lily cracked a smile. "Yes of course."

James grinned and walked out of the room and down the hallway to the exit, and Lily closed the door behind him. Ten minutes later, she found him waiting by the backdoor of the theatre. The moment that James saw her, he broke into a huge grin, and they walked onto the streets of London.

They were walking in silence for a few minutes until James lead her into a bar called The King George.

A lot of muggles were already in the dark and dingy bar, and music was coming from the ceiling. Lily had no idea where the speakers were. Lily looked around, wondering where James and her was going to sit, but he continued walking towards the end of the bar.

"Where are we going?" asked Lily, trying not to sound too needy of lunch.

James stopped walking and turned around and said, "Well, you might've been performing here for a few weeks, but I know all the places to have a good time around here."

Lily cocked her head, wondering what he was going with this.

They walked over to the 'Staff Only' door and Lily waited as James nocked on the door seven times. It was getting a little tedious. Of course, that was only until the door opened and James walked through, Lily following him.

She felt a huge flood of relief as she saw the room that she was in.

It was a small room, but it was identical to the room that they just crossed through. And it was packed with witches and wizards. She actually saw one of the stage crews drinking a bottle of firewhiskey.

"Wow. I can't believe no one told me about this place," said Lily.

James chuckled and lead Lily to the right corner of the room, and they sat down and ordered. While they waited for the food to come, they talked, like old friends.

"So how did you recognise me up there?" asked Lily.

James laughed. "Well, really? You think I wouldn't have recognised you? The moment that I saw your hair, I knew it was you. And you were really good, I think it's a shame that you weren't cast as any of the leading roles."

"Yeah, but you're just saying that," said Lily, blushing and refusing to make eye contact with him.

James shook his head furiously. "No, no, I'm not just saying that. I thought that you were making a mistake when transferring from Hogwarts to the School of Dramatic Arts, but you were amazing."

"Thank you, James," said Lily, smiling softly.

Looking up, she asked, "So, what have you been doing these years?"

"Well," replied James, threading his fingers from his hair like he used to do in school, "I haven't done as good as you though, I'm a curse-breaker working for Gringotts." This sparked an interest in Lily.

"What's that like?" she asked.

James cocked his head, hummed slightly and said, "It's not the dream job, but my dream job is not having any job but still being able to bring in the gold. Anyway, all I do most of the time is travel from country to country and doing whatever the bosses tell me to."

"And is the job dangerous?" continued Lily, she still had a lot of unanswered questions, since she had only worked one job all the while.

"Sometimes. I had a few run-in with dragons but I got away. Thankfully." said James. "But I have some questions of my own for you, Evans. How was the Academy like?"

A house elf came, his tiny head bobbing as he levitated their food and onto their table.

"Dramatic," said Lily, pulling her plate towards her. James laughed at this remark. "I honestly rather have been finishing my last years in Hogwarts. The lessons were-"

"No, I don't want to talk about the lessons," said James, waving away the rest of her sentence. "How was the students. What have you been up to? Do you have any future plans?"

"Apart from Merlin, I haven't really been doing anything. And Well, I do have a plan, but I don't really think that they will come to anyway." replied Lily, stuffing her mouth with salad.

James' spoon fell on his plate. "What are these plans?"

Lily, too, stopped eating. "Well, I presume you remember that I'm a muggleborn, so I grew up surrounded by muggle culture. And the muggle culture includes movies. And wizards have been a little lax about that part of culture. The only movies made by muggles are school projects run by half-bloods and muggleborns, and I really think that the wider wizarding community should be introduced to this too."

"What are movies?" asked James.

Lily laughed. James couldn't help but to stare intently as she laughed, because that was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

"And that is exactly why I made my plan!" exclaimed Lily, still smiling. "Well, movies are just pictures, just a few hours longer, they tell a story using photographs rather than words."

James still looked very confused.

"Tell you what, this evening, I'm going to take you to see a muggle movie, right after we finish this lunch. My character is dead for the rest of the play, so while they're grinding through their lines, I'll be going to see the newest muggle movie in town." said Lily.

James smiled widely and nodded. "I would like that very much."

The movie that Lily took him to was a rerun of The Shining. And Lily had laughed herself silly when James screamed and thought that in turn, he would be chased by an axe. It took a long time to calm him down.

By the time that they had finished, it was time for dinner, so James decided to walk Lily back to her apartment.

"I never really understood why you wanted to be an actress." stated James, his hands in his pockets and walked beside Lily. "But now I kind of do. But still, there's something that I can't get my head around."

"And what is that?" asked Lily, turning to look up at him.

"How can you possibly enjoy not being yourself for most of the day, wearing a mask all the time, aren't you afraid?" He didn't finish the question but Lily already knew what he was going to ask. Too many times has she seen her colleagues getting asked the same questions. Their answers are all the same.

But she wasn't sure how she should answer, she never had to.

"Well, I love books, and their just stories. And wouldn't it be wonderful to live in those stories." said Lily.

James couldn't help but smile. Lily was very nerdy, and it was impossibly endearing to him.

"What?" asked Lily.

James couldn't help chuckle. "Nothing, but just that thank you for being yourself with me. You know, you can always spill your colours when you're around me, because they are beautiful."

Lily couldn't help but smile but blush.

Before James climbed into his bed that night, a owl arrived with a letter from Lily, and he couldn't help reading them again and again and again before closing his eyes.

Hey, James. I really enjoyed the day with you, so I hope same time, tomorrow? Can't wait. - Lily.