Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lily tapped her foot in time with the music as she watched the Marauders perform from behind a monitor screen at the side of the set. The screens in front of her displayed various different camera angles of the small stage, but in all of them James bounced around and dragged a hand through his hair as he sang, a guitar in the other, Peter as he danced his way through the sax solo; Sirius who swung his hips and smirked whilst he strummed the bass, and the sweat beaded on Remus’ forehead as he grinned from ear to ear and smashed out the final drum beats of their latest single. With a flourish of vocals, drums, bass and sax, the performance reached its crescendo before it faded out, and the audience erupted into wild applause. James chanced a look over towards where Lily was stood behind the crew and winked.  

Even after she had changed her surname to his and he’d slipped the wedding band onto the second finger on her left hand, he still managed to make her feel like a giggly schoolgirl with her first crush. If James hadn't also been completely smitten with her, the amount that she fancied him might have been embarrassing, emphasis on the almost , because she didn’t care that it was cringey how completely and unabashedly in love with her husband, James Potter.   

She also had to admit, being married to the lead singer of a popular pop-punk band did have its advantages, advantages like being invited to watch them perform on the Graham Norton Show.   

Lily had loved the Graham Norton show for years; before she had headed off to uni, it had been a Friday night ritual to settle down in front of the telly with takeaway and to watch that week's episode with her mum. Her father or Petunia would then come in and roll their eyes before they declared ‘ not this rubbish again ’, but they all knew they’d end up next to them as they laughed at Graham’s jokes and innuendos. Lily watched the band smile and wave to audience, and she wondered what her 18-year-old self would think if she could see her life now, it would probably be enough to make her teenage brain explode.    

When James had casually told her over breakfast a few weeks ago that the Marauders had been invited to perform as a musical guest on the Graham Norton Show, Lily had almost spat out her coffee, and then choked on her toast when he’d asked if she wanted to come with them to watch the taping. She had squealed, thrown her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek.   

“I'll take that as a yes then, yeah ?” he had laughed as she showered him in toast crumbley kisses.   

“Of course it’s a yes!” she had laughed, playfully shoved his shoulder and tried to decide what to wear.   

Lily had excitedly counted down the days until the performance and upon arriving at the BBC earlier that day, the Marauders (and Lily) had been personally greeted by Graham. She hadn't known where to look as her eyes darted around the studio, there was the famous sofa and the trademark set, she could even make out the notorious red chair. Whilst Graham chatted with the band, she hadn't dared to look him in the eye for fear of coming across as a blithering starstruck fan, but Sirius introduced her anyway.   

“It's so lovely to meet you,” Graham said as he clasped her hand when she held it out to shake. Her inner teenager squealed with delight, but she tried to keep her composure and not make too much of a prat of herself.   

“You too, I'm a big fan of the show,” Lily said as her cheeks flushed pink. Graham thanked her and said she was too kind, before Sirius had rolled his eyes and stage whispered to Graham that Lily was more than a big fan and she lived for the Graham Norton Show, to which the host had laughed loudly and suggested she come and meet his producer to have a look around. Graham introduced her as if she were a personal friend and the producer promised that she could watch the show with them and that she would give Lily a tour of the set after the taping had wrapped. Lily had been so excited that she hadn’t been able to actually speak and had simply nodded eagerly. She had then been whisked off by the band to sit with them whilst they got their hair and makeup attended to.   

The hair and makeup team had been angels, they’d chatted to Lily like they’d known her years, complimented her hair, and joined in the ribbing when James shamelessly flirted with her.   

“Potter, stop trying to chat up your wife, I'm trying to set this powder and you just won't shut up,” the first makeup artist laughed as she dabbed a makeup sponge onto his tanned cheeks.   

“Can you blame me though? Look at her, every bloke in the country wants to chat her up, but fortunately she’s married to me ,”  

“Oh, I fully agree, but I'm trying to do your makeup, so can you please close your mouth for more than ten seconds?”  

“Is he always like this?” a hairstylist laughed as she pulled some sort of product through Peter’s hair.   

“Always,” Peter and Remus chorused, to which the whole room erupted into giggles and Sirius barked a laugh.   

Once hair and makeup were done, the band headed out for a quick sound check, where James strummed at his guitar and Remus bashed out a quick beat on the drums. Lily settled down to watch in one of the empty seats whilst Sirius and Peter talked animatedly with a sound tech and tinkered with the settings and staging.   

“Alright boys, wanna try the song now?” the producer suggested, and James nodded. Lily thought he looked a little nervous, despite his larger-than-life stage persona, he still got nervous before performing and she could see the anxiety etched onto his face. James looked in her direction and she offered him a quick thumbs up, to which his face broke into a dazzling grin as Sirius started off the song with a sharp strum of the bass.   

Lily relaxed into her seat and allowed the music to wash over her, she had, of course, heard the song a hundred times over, but she still wasn’t bored of it, which she hoped was a good omen for the rest of the album. The boys had been busily writing and recording their third album over the last year, and after endless hours in studios across the world, it was finally ready. James had played it to Lily a couple of months ago and she had loved it from the first play; so, she could understand why the fans had been so eagerly awaiting its release.   

The lead single from the album had been played on the radio for the first time a few weeks ago and had entered the chart in the top 10, which the band had been ecstatic about, and with the album release looming, they had set about on a whirlwind press tour of promotion which included an appearance on every talk show and radio programme that would have them.  

The Graham Norton Show was their last stop for now, following which the boys would have a few weeks off, the album would launch, and the boys would start a short tour of the US; James and Lily had decided to take advantage of the temporary lull to finally jet off on their long-awaited honeymoon.   

Okay, well, it wasn’t that long awaited, they’d only been married a few weeks, but that didn’t matter, they couldn't wait to jet off together for two weeks of rest and relaxation.   

James and Lily had purposely kept the news of their wedding off social media and away from the press until they were ready to announce the news themselves, and that day had finally arrived.    

Given Lily’s love of the Graham Norton Show, they had mutually decided to exclusively announce the happy news on the show; it also helped that the taping of the Graham Norton Show took place on a Thursday evening, but wouldn't be shown to the public the following night, by which time, James and Lily would already be on their way to a private resort in the Maldives and far away from any media storm that might try and follow them.  

Before Lily knew it, she wasn’t just watching the Marauders sound check, she was watching them perform in front of a live audience who joined in with the lyrics and danced in their seats.   

“The Marauders, ladies and gentleman!” Graham shouted as he held an arm aloft as the performance came to an end with a flurry of drumbeats and sax notes. The boys made their way over to greet Graham and he shook each of their hands before they flopped down onto the infamous red sofa, and the other three guests scooted up to make room for the four boys, but even so, it was a squeeze.   

“Fantastic, hello, hello,” Graham continued as the band waved to the crowd and Sirius took a sip of the large glass of red wine that had been set out for him. “Now, boys, can I call you boys? Lads, have you met our other guests before?”   

“We’ve met Tom,” Remus answered as he gestured towards the comedian sat closest to the band in a neat black suit and pink tie. “We were both on the bill for the Royal Variety show last year and our dressing rooms were next to each other,” he smiled as he pushed up the sleeves of his long stone coloured t-shirt to display a handful of forearm tattoos and the crowd whooped appreciatively.   

“You really don’t know how many people I had to bribe to get that honour,” Tom Allen, a popular comedian, said as he fanned himself with his hand and grinned knowingly at the crowd, Sirius laughed heartily and slapped a hand to Tom’s knee.   

“And what a time we had, didn’t we sweetheart?” he winked at Tom, who playfully pouted and continued to fan himself, to which the rest of the guests laughed.   

“So, you’ve not met Andrew or Dina before?” Graham asked as he gestured at the other two guests. Dina Asher-Smith, a world champion sprinter who represented Great Britain, grinned widely at the band.   

“We haven't, but you're amazing by the way,” Peter answered directly to Dina, who beamed even wider.  

“Me? You're amazing! I’ve literally had that song on repeat while I've been training,” she replied as she held her hands together and looked towards the boys. James nodded his head as Peter mouthed a thank you over the audience applause.   

“So, you’ve not met Andrew Garfield before then?” Graham asked the boys knowingly as he looked at the guest sat closest to him and furthest away from the band. Sirius narrowed his eyes over the top of his wine glass and a few audience members giggled in anticipation.   

“Where are you going with this Graham?” he asked suspiciously as James shook his head.   

“Never, but it's great to meet you man, no offence to Tom Holland, but you're my favourite Spiderman,” he laughed, and Andrew smiled.   

“Thank you, you're too kind, too kind,”  

As Graham gave a signature twinkly eyed grin to the camera, Sirius looked back at his three bandmates who pointedly ignored his gaze, much to the amusement of the audience.   

“Now, you may not have met Andrew, but that doesn’t mean that one of you hasn't got beef with him, does it?” Graham continued with a giggle behind one of his cue cards as Andrew looked at the band with a cocked eyebrow.  James looked to his left and found Remus and Peter wearing matching conspiratorial grins as Sirius dramatically grimaced, having already guessed what was about to come, much to the amusement of the rest of the room who seemed to be in on the joke. “Isn't that right... Sirius ?” Graham continued after a dramatic pause as Sirius covered his face with his hand and looked towards the ceiling.    

“Ah fuck, how did you find out about that?” he laughed, and crowd oohed in anticipation. “Shit, can we swear on here?” Sirius asked as he dropped his hand and turned back to Graham.   

“I think you just did,” the host said drily as he fanned himself with his cards.   

“Well, I suppose I should explain myself, shouldn’t I?” Sirius groaned, as Remus and James grinned at each other. “Sorry Garfield,” he began as he looked over to the actor who sat forward in enthusiastic anticipation.  “But I'm afraid we do have beef, my girlfriend told me, completely unashamedly by the way,” Sirius continued as he looked to the audience, before he turned back to Andrew. “That she fancies the pants off you, that she would quite happily ditch me if you were to ask her out, so yeah, you're not exactly my favourite person in the world,” he finished and the crowd burst into fits of loud laughter, as did Andrew who clapped his hands together.   

“That’s great,” he laughed as he pointed a finger at Sirius who shook his head as he looked back to the audience.    

“This isn’t funny, how do I compete with a face like that ? Look at him, he’s gorgeous,” he said as he held a palm out to gesture to Andrew as Remus reached across James to tap Sirius affectionately on the knee.  

As the laughter began to naturally tail off, someone at the back of the room whooped loudly and shouted: ' I love you Sirius!’ to which Graham raised an eyebrow.   

“Might have found you a replacement,” he teased, and Sirius called back that he loved them too, to which there was another loud whoop.   

“What’s your girlfriend’s name?” Andrew asked Sirius with a cheeky grin.   

“She’s going to kill me, but Hestia, her name’s Hestia,” he answered with a shake of his head.   

“Which camera am I on?” Andrew asked Graham, who pointed at one of the cameras in front of where Lily stood with one of the producers, who chuckled to herself.   

As Andrew looked directly down the lens, Lily giggled too.   

“Hestia, darling ,” Andrew began seriously, whilst Sirius groaned loudly and slumped backwards in his seat. As Sirius covered his face with his hands, Andrew made a ‘call me’ sign with his hand and winked down the camera, to which the audience and the rest of the couch to burst into bouts of laughter again, including Peter and Remus who were bent double as they wiped the tears from their eyes.   

“She really does, fancy him, I mean, thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread,” Lily grinned and the producer next to her laughed.   

“She’s got good taste your mate, Andrew, Sirius ,” she said with a grin. “Not that your fella isn’t lovely, but there's just something about him,” the producer grinned dreamily as Sirius moaned “what have I done?”  

Lily snorted a laugh.   

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you saw what these boys get up to,”   

The producer laughed quietly behind her hand.   

“Oh, I can imagine!”  

As the two women turned back to the interview, Lily’s eyes found Sirius, who had pulled himself back to sit straight up as Graham made a witty comment that she didn’t catch, but caused her friend to laugh as he bantered a response.   

Lily could see what the producer meant, Sirius was objectively a very handsome man, and even more so when you got to know him, he sometimes came across haughty and aloof from afar, but underneath he was a sweetheart who would do anything for his friends, and now for Hestia.    

There was no denying that from the moment they had met, Sirius and Hestia had had chemistry, and they quickly became nigh-on inseparable; where you found one, you usually found the other. They constantly texted and Facetimed, joked and bantered, and would spend hours together watching movies or binge-watching series together; then there was that one occasion when they’d been papped looking particularly cosy in the back of a nightclub, but both seemed worried about ruining their newfound friendship and hadn't broached the topic of potentially pursuing something more.   

That was until their friends had gotten bored of their brazen flirting and forced them on a date, and the rest, as they say, was history.   

Six months on, they were still inseparable and had even discussed moving in together.   

As Dina and Tom continued to giggle at Sirius’ expense, Graham tried to bring everyone under control and looked back at his cards, before he turned his attention back to the band.   

“Now, James, I know it was a little while ago now, but we haven't had you on the show since, but you had some very exciting girlfriend news, didn’t you?” he asked, and someone booed at the news another member of the band was accounted for. In response, Peter teasingly shushed them and as the rest of the audience looked at James expectantly.   

Lily felt her jaw clench, here they go, the news was finally going to be out there; as the moment loomed, she was suddenly overtaken by worry, worry that this wasn't the right time, worry that they should just keep their relationship completely out of the spotlight, and worry about any backlash they might receive once the news broke (she had, after all, received a number of horrible Instagram DM’s from over-zealous fans when their relationship had first been made public).   

As if she sensed her apprehension, the produced reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly.   

“It’ll be fine, promise,” she said with a soft smile that immediately put Lily at ease as she looked back over to the set.   

“Does your girlfriend fancy Andrew too ?!” Tom gasped with faux surprise and the audience laughed as Tom looked between Andrew and James like he was watching a tennis match, his hands perched dramatically on Sirius and Dina’s knees.   

“Probably, probably,” James laughed as he sipped on his vodka and tonic and Lily rolled her eyes, everyone sane woman in the country fancied Andrew Garfield, that wasn’t a secret. “But yes, Graham, I do have exciting girlfriend news,”  

“You asked her to marry you, didn’t you?” Graham grinned happily, and James beamed. It still didn’t quite seem real that James Potter had really asked her to marry him, once in their kitchen over breakfast, which she had excitedly accepted, and again (a ‘proper one’, James had said) at dinner that night, where they’d been showered with champagne and well wishes from the staff at their favourite Italian restaurant.   

It had been a rollercoaster year since then, but she didn’t care, she never wanted to get off.   

“I did,” James agreed, and Lily felt the producer look over to her with another soft smile that she couldn’t help but match as she grinned back. As the crowed clapped, Lily could feel James’ eyes search for her in the darkness beyond the bright stage lights, so she offered him a little wave and he winked at her before he turned back to Graham who pointed to the screen to his left.   

The screen bore a picture they had jointly posted to Instagram of their hands, his under hers that now wore a beautiful emerald and diamond engagement ring and with matching green nails (after the kitchen proposal, Lily had run to the nearest nail salon, she refused to have any pictures with a ring that beautiful when she still wearing two week old chipped Rimmel London orange nail varnish).  

As the audience caught sight of the picture of her ring, they oohed and aahed in harmony (they had probably seen the ring online before, but she appreciated the sentiment), and Dina covered her mouth with her hands.   

“Oh, that's beautiful!” she said, and Tom and Andrew nodded in agreement.   

“It is very beautiful, and I assume she said yes considering that we’re here talking about it,” Graham laughed as he sat back in his chair, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. “Bit awkward if she said no,” he continued as he turned to the crowd with a faux grimace.   

“Actually Graham, she said I do,” James grinned as he held up his left hand so everyone could see the wedding band that adorned his second finger. The crowd burst into wild cheers as Andrew reached across the other guests to pat James’ knee.   

“Congratulations man,” he beamed, and Tom clapped his hands excitedly.   

“How lovely,”  

“Oh look,” Graham cooed as the picture of Lily’s ring was replaced by another of James and Lily which had been taken from the far end of the aisle as they exchanged their vows. “Now I do believe that is an exclusive ladies and gentlemen, and I think we have some more pictures too,” he beamed at James before he returned his attention to the screen. “Oh, there we go,” he said as more pictures flashed up, James and Lily’s first kiss as man and wife, the guests throwing confetti over them as they left the church, Sirius holding a champagne flute aloft at the end of his best man speech.   

“Oh gorgeous,” Andrew said as he looked back to James and the band with a warm smile.  

“Beautiful,” Dina agreed as the screen shifted to a picture of James and Lily’s first dance, the other band members stood behind them on a small stage, acoustic guitars in hand as they stood around a single mic stand.   

“And you lot all played for the first dance, didn’t you?” Graham asked the other members of the band, and Sirius nodded.   

“I was best man, ring bearer, entertainment, might as well have done the ceremony too Graham,” he said with a smile and James bumped his shoulder with his.   

“What did you have for your first dance?” the host asked, and James beamed.   

“Everything I do, I do it for you, Bryan Adams,” he answered, and the crowd oohed.   

“Oh, nice,” Andrew said, and James nodded appreciatively.  

“ You didn’t have to sing it,” Sirius muttered, and the audience giggled as Remus and Peter looked at each other and nodded.   

“Now, this is you and the lovely Lily dancing away,” Graham said as the image changed to one of the reception, Lily and James were on the dance floor with their guests, champagne flutes in hand, Sirius and Hestia could be seen just behind them, with Alice and Marlene half in the shot.   

As the crowd clapped appreciatively, the image flicked to one of Lily and her bridesmaids just before the ceremony.   

Lily couldn't help but grin as she saw the photo; she was stood in the middle, clothed in her simple A-line wedding dress, her makeup done, and long hair curled and loose. To her left with her arm linked through Lily’s and a beaming smile on her face, was Hestia, her maid of honour. Hestia's chocolate brown curls were half pulled up into a complicated knot, with a few loose strands that fell loose her shoulders in bouncy waves.   

On Lily’s other side, stood Alice and Marlene; Alice’s blue eyes were already watery with happy tears, whilst Marlene pouted and threw up a peace sign, her bouquet of flowers in her free other hand.   

When Lily and James had started planning the wedding, there had never been any doubt in Lily’s mind who her bridesmaids would be, her three friends had been with her through everything, they had supported each through the move to London, their university degrees at LSE, the follow up postgrad courses, the start of their careers, the break ups, the make ups, family dramas, the works, so she couldn't have imagined having anyone else by her side as she became Mrs Potter.   

Although Lily was biased, the wedding had been beautiful, the sun had shone and the predicted clouds hadn't dared to make an appearance, so they had been bathed in glorious warm light from start until finish. Lily had gotten ready at James’ parents' house with both their mothers, her dad and bridesmaids; they had all teared up as they drank Bucks Fizz and had their hair and makeup done.   

Alice had cried so much that she’d had to have her mascara redone, and Effie and Mrs Evans had held hands and told Lily what a beautiful bride she made, their eyes glassy with happy tears.  

The bridal party had then piled into two vintage cars and made their way a few minutes down the road to a small church in Godric’s Hollow where the ceremony was to take place, specifically chosen as it was where Effie and Monty Potter had gotten married many years before.   

James had cried when she walked up the aisle on her arm of her father, and although Sirius denied it, Lily was sure she had seen him wipe away a tear or two as well. They had elected to keep the ceremony short and sweet, so once they had exchanged vows, had a short reading from Remus, and exchanged their first kiss, their guests headed toward the reception, which they held in a converted barn on the Potter estate ( yes, estate).   

As their guests sipped on champagne, the wedding party posed for photograph after photograph, James with Lily, Sirius with James, Lily with the boys, Lily with her bridesmaids, with their parents, and just as her mouth began to ache from smiling so much, the party finally made their way towards the venue and James and Lily could finally steal a moment together.  

“You look beautiful Mrs Potter,” he had said quietly as he took her face in his hands and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Her eyes had filled with tears as she was overwhelmed with the love she felt for him, she could have never in her wildest dreams expected to find a man as beautiful, kind, and caring as James Potter; from the moment she had met him, she had known he was special, not because he could sing and play every instrument under the sun, but because he had an uncanny ability to make her laugh when she didn’t want to smile, feel safe whenever her confidence waivered, and to feel so much unconditional love that she thought she might burst.   

“Please don’t cry, being married to me isn’t that bad,” he teased as she pulled away and they laughed together.   

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she had giggled as they savoured a moment of quiet in the chaos of the day. As she kissed him again, she thought she might explode with happiness because they were married now, they were Mr and Mrs, she had his last name and he wore the ring she’d picked for him, they were together now, forever.  

“Lily,” he said as he squeezed her fingers, “from the moment I saw your first message, I knew I was gone, I have loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you, you are the most beautiful person I have ever met, inside and out, you’re so smart that you leave me in awe, so kind that just being around you makes me a better person, and I still can't believe that out of all the people in the world, including Andrew Garfield , that you chose me, I love you so much, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together,”  

“I love you too,” she had whispered as she allowed herself to get lost in the green and gold flecks in his hazel eyes. At the sound of faint footsteps, they looked up and saw Caradoc Dearborn grin at them sheepishly.   

“You ready to head in Mrs and Mrs Potter?”  

As they made their entrance into the reception to whoops and shouts from their friends and family, Lily waved at Emmeline and Mary, who held hands and dabbed at their eyes with a tissue, before she allowed herself to take in the venue.   

The conversion from simple barn to wedding venue had been done with the utmost care and attention and perfectly merged the original beams and features with modern touches, which included twinkling lights and a fully stocked bar.   

The hall had been adorned with fresh flowers and as they made their way to the top table, Lily had felt like a princess; she had beamed through the three-course meal and managed to avoid spilling any on her dress. She had then laughed through James’ speech as he regaled everyone with the unconventional way they’d met and she had swelled with emotion, never happier than when James described how he had known immediately that she was the woman for him.   

But as Sirius stood up and started his best man speech, where he firstly thanked his brother James, Lily's heart felt heavy, and she looked down into her lap.   

Even though they hadn’t been close since Lily had moved away for university, she had never imagined getting married without her sister by her side, but Petunia hadn't spoken to her since the news had broken that she was seeing James. Despite her sister’s obvious happiness, Petunia had taken an instant dislike to James, how he dressed, his tattoos, his piercings, and most of all, his music.   

“Pfft, you can hardly call that music ,” she had spat when Lily had tried to explain, but she wouldn’t listen, and dug the knife in even further when she had sent Lily a furious email where she demanded that she end her ridiculous relationship because of the negative impact that even being associated with someone like James could have on her precious Vernon’s business.   

Lily had hashed out a furious reply and told her sister where to stick it, but that didn’t mean it hadn't hurt. She had cried for days, but through everything, James had been there by her side, he had held her hand and stroked her hair as she tried to swallow the hurt.   

Then, as if she could feel her emotion, Lily felt Hestia's eyes on her from Sirius’ other side and they exchanged a small smile as if to acknowledge the moment. Lily swallowed the lump in her throat and looked back at Hestia, and then at Alice and Marlene on the table closest to them, they were her sisters in all but blood, who had been unwavering pillars of support for her at her lowest points but also on the happiest day of her life, her wedding day. That was what she chose to focus on as she pulled her attention back to the Graham Norton show and the photo of the four of them that beamed out from the screen.   

“That’s your new girlfriend Andrew,” Graham grinned, as he pointed at the photo and gestured towards Hestia with a teasing grin towards Sirius.   

“Oi, you,” he called out and as Andrew laughed and offered Sirius a sympathetic grin.   

As the audience clapped politely, the pictures disappeared from the screen and Graham turned back the band, this time with a vinyl in hand.   

“Now, onto the real reason you're here, tell us about the new album,”  

Hestia was done with the day; on top of her secretary being off ill, she’d had to spend 45 minutes on the phone with IT trying to fix her broken laptop, before she had spilled coffee down her cream dress, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, the cherry on top of the cake was that it was still only fucking Thursday, so she’d have to do it all again the next day before she could finally have two days reprieve.   

Just as the end of the day came into sight and Hestia had begun to think about her evening, the post had come in, and in it, a last-minute hearing notice addressed to her.   

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she had shouted into her quiet of her office as she laid eyes on the notice which detailed a hearing for Tuesday, as in only two full working days away, Tuesday. She had her head in her hands when she heard her door squeak open and felt the stare of her boss Gideon Prewett from the doorway. If she hadn't been so bloody furious that the other side had requested yet another pointless hearing in a futile attempt to get her client to drop the claim, she might have felt embarrassed that she’d been caught out swearing loudly by her boss, but she didn’t, and after all, this was Gideon, she could do no wrong in his eyes.   

“You alright?” he asked carefully; Hestia sighed, shook her head and wordlessly handed the notice to him so he could read it.   

“Sneaky bastards,” he hissed, and she nodded.   

“Oh, I fully agree,”  

“Want to borrow Jasmine for a bit? Tracey is off today, isn’t she?” Gideon offered and Hestia thought she could (if it had not been wildly inappropriate) kiss him (and also wildly awkward as she had a boyfriend and was pretty sure Gideon still had a bit of a soft spot for her).   

“Yes please, if it's not too much trouble?” she responded as she slumped back into her chair. Jasmine was Gideon’s assistant, and she was frankly fantastic, it would certainly be helpful to have her around until Tracey recovered from whatever illness she had made up this time. Gideon nodded and called for Jasmine from his office next door. As the bright-eyed law graduate appeared behind Gideon, she greeted Hestia politely before she settled at Tracey's desk and the two of them dived headfirst into the hearing prep.   

Jasmine, as expected, had been a great help; she had made strong start on the preparation, but it would take hours, and Hestia had felt guilty when the girl had offered to stay late to finish it, so she had sent her off not long after 5:00 pm. Now at almost nine, Hestia was alone in her office and still woefully underprepared as she shifted through the papers on her desk, highlighter in hand, and a pencil stuck in her haphazard bun.   

“I’m going to order pizza, you want one?” Gideon asked when he appeared in the dark doorway to her office and leant against the doorframe as he rolled his shirt sleeves up. Helpfully, he too had decided to also work late so she wasn’t in the office by herself and to get ahead on some managerial paperwork.  Hestia dragged her gaze away from the papers to meet his, and she offered him a warm smile.   

“You know me so well,”   

“Double pepperoni with extra jalapenos?” he asked with a knowing grin as he tapped her order into his phone.    

“Course,” she beamed back, and rubbed her empty stomach which grumbled in agreement. Gideon must have heard as he looked up from his phone with a teasing grin.   

“I'll stick on some garlic bread too, looks like you're going to be here all night,” he said as he glanced at her ever-growing stack of papers.   

“Don’t remind me,” she groaned as somewhere underneath her pile of papers, her phone buzzed to life and vibrated against her desk with an annoying drill. As Hestia scrabbled about to find the phone, Gideon nodded and returned to his office.   

“Ah ha!” she announced loudly as she finally located it and saw the subject of the interruption, a FaceTime call from her boyfriend, who was supposed to be at the taping of some tv show tonight (she couldn’t remember which). She debated declining the call so she could concentrate on her work but then changed her mind, maybe the glorious face of Sirius Black would cheer her up, or at least make her feel better.  

She swiped across to answer the call and whilst the screen was still black, she propped her phone up against her pen pot and her gaze dropped back to her paperwork.  

“Hey babe, sorry I'm super busy, I've got a last-minute hearing to prep for,” she said without looking up, but out of her periphery she could see the screen was now lit up with a face, a face she assumed belonged to Sirius.   

“Ah that’s a shame, I was hoping we could get to know one another, seen as though you're allegedly ditching Sirius for me,” a voice laughed, a voice that definitely did not belong to her boyfriend, no, it couldn't be? Could it ?  

“Fuck me, you're Andrew Garfield!” she exclaimed as her eyes flew to the screen, wide with shock. Andrew offered her a dazzling grin and laughed as a familiar face appeared at his side.   

“Keep it PG love,” Sirius interrupted as he clapped Andrew’s shoulder, and they exchanged a conspiratorial grin.   

When the pair had casually caught up after the show, Andrew had cheekily suggested that they facetime Hestia together as surprise, Sirius couldn't believe his luck and agreed immediately; he was definitely going to get brownie points for this, or at least he would when Hestia got over the shock.    

“Andy here is a guest on the show as well, so thought we’d give you a quick call and introduce you to your new bf,” Sirius grinned as Hestia thought she might die of shock, not only was she on FaceTime with an Oscar nominated actor, but she had coffee down her front, wasn’t wearing any makeup and her hair was piled in a pineapple bun, this was not how she would have wanted to look if she had known she was going to meet the love of her life, Andrew Garfield. Then a horrible feeling swept over, Andrew had mentioned that she was going to ditch Sirius for him, so that meant that he must be aware of what she’d said at the wedding, and she felt her cheeks flush.   

Despite the embarrassment that festered in her stomach, she still felt like a giddy schoolgirl, and her mouth tugged into a grin as Andrew (a FaceTime call put them on a first name basis, didn’t it?) beamed back at her with that gorgeous, gorgeous face.   

“I shan’t keep you as it looks like you're super busy, but it was lovely to meet you, and good luck with the hearing!” he said as he blew a kiss to the camera and handed the phone back to Sirius who grinned like a cat that had got the cream.   

“Now, who has the best boyfriend in the world?” he purred, and Hestia massaged her fingers against her temples, still in disbelief at what had just happened.   

“I can't believe you told him I fancied him,” she said with her eyes closed, but Sirius only grinned.   

“Oh angel, I told the whole show tonight, I didn't know he was going to be a guest until we got here, but one of the boys must have, and they dobbed you in to get one over on me, my vote is Pettigrew, sneaky bastard,” he laughed and Hestia covered her face with both her hands, equal parts mortified and amused. “Wait until you watch it tomorrow, you’ll love it,” he grinned as he revelled in her embarrassment.   

“Hang on, which show are you filming?” she asked as Sirius beamed triumphantly, his steely eyes alight with mischief.    

“Graham Norton,” he grinned as Hestia groaned.   

“Now the whole country, all my colleagues, my clients , are going to know I fancy Andrew Garfield,” she said with a shake of her head, but despite everything, a laugh escaped her lips, even though she was embarrassed that Sirius had told pretty much the whole country that she would ditch him for the actor, she had managed to get a FaceTime call out of it, so maybe it was worth all the teasing texts she would undoubtedly get tomorrow night when the show aired.   

“Hey, it could be worse, Tom Allen was on the show too, I could have told the world you fancied him instead,”  

“Oi!” a shout came from somewhere off camera and Sirius grinned. Hestia knew that the band had met Tom Allen earlier in the year and thought he was a riot, but even so, she tried to stifle the giggle that threatened to escape.   

“Sorry Tommo, its true though,” he said to someone, presumably Tom Allen, before he turned his attention back to Hestia. “Right, we’re almost finished shooting here, just got a few bits to wrap up, do you want me to swing by your office and pick you up?” he asked, and she sighed.   

“Course I would, but I've still got so much to do, so I might be here for a while, and Gid’s just ordered pizza,” she sighed as her eyes travelled back to the pile of papers.   

“No worries, I'll come keep you two company and we can have a pizza party, see you soon, love ya,” he said with a wave and then the screen went black as he hung up.   

For a moment Hestia stared at the blank screen as her heart hammered in her chest, had that really just happened? Had she really just had a FaceTime call from Andrew Garfield, Andrew fucking Garfield?  

“Gid?” she called out and he hummed out an acknowledgment from somewhere down the hall, presumably his office. “Is it too late to add a bottle of wine to that pizza order?”  

After a glorious fortnight in the Maldives, James (gloriously tanned) and Lily (gloriously sunburnt) had returned to find their flat to had been helpfully redecorated by their friends, their best guess was currently Sirius and Hestia; ‘Just Married’ banners blocked all the doors, rose petals and confetti covered their bed and ‘ use protection ’ had been scrawled across the hallway mirror in lipstick. Once they had got over the initial shock, the whole thing was fairly comical, but the amusement had only lasted until their cleaner found their box of cleaning supplies under the sink had been replaced with an XL pack of condoms.   

Lily had blushed beetroot as James laughed and tried to explain to their flustered cleaner that this was his friend’s idea of a wedding present but Lily wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to look the poor woman in the eye again, so when the day arrived for her to return to work, it was almost a welcome relief.    

“There she is, Mrs Potter !” Mary sang out as she stood up from her desk and twirled around the office, cup of tea in hand as Lily pushed open the door and walked into the family department. Her desk was exactly as she had left it, aside from the pile of post that had been dumped on her chair and would undoubtedly need filing.   

“It's still Evans at work,” Lily muttered as she pushed the pile of post from her chair to the floor and fired up her laptop. “And you’re far too cheerful for this hour,” she added with a grimace. Still not quite over the jetlag (nor the embarrassment of what her cleaner had found), so she was in a foul mood and not prepared for her colleague’s enthusiastic greetings, especially when she hadn't had her coffee yet.   

“Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning, what happened to our blushing bride?” Emmeline teased as she exchanged a conspiratorial grin with Mary.   

“You’ve seen me since the wedding, and you were there,” Lily responded with a yawn as she typed her password and pulled up her emails. Luckily for her, Emmeline and Mary had diligently covered all her files while she was away, but she still had to trawl through her inbox and try to piece together what had happened while she had been on honeymoon.   

“I know we’ve seen you since the wedding, but last time we saw you, your wedding pics hadn’t been shown on the Graham Norton show,” Mary replied.    

“And lovely they were,” Emmeline interrupted, and Mary glanced over at her colleague before she turned back to Lily.   

“Nor had you spent two weeks shagging in the Maldives!” she exclaimed, rather loudly, as she threw her arms out dramatically. Lily almost rolled her eyes when their conversation was interrupted by a snorted laugh from the kitchen behind them. As the three women turned in unison, they were greeted by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who barely stifled his laughter as he made himself a cup of tea.   

“Sorry Lily, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, did you have a good honeymoon?” he grinned knowingly, and she thought she might die of embarrassment, first the cleaner, now Kinglsey, what was it with her friends and driving her to an early grave?  

“It was lovely, thank you,” she replied stiffly through gritted teeth as she glared at her friends. “I hate you both,” Lily muttered under her breath as she opened her emails and Mary waved goodbye to a still chuckling Kinglsey.  

“No, you don’t, you love us,” Emmeline grinned as she settled at her desk, directly opposite from Lily. As she stared at her messages, Lily’s brow settled into a frown, it would take hours to get through them all, so she would need coffee, and lots of it.     

She shook her head and made her way to the kitchen, where she located her mug at the back of the shelf and shoved it under the coffee machine.   

When the machine clicked off, Lily withdrew her mug, and as she did so, she looked up to see a familiar face waving back at her.   

“Morning Daedalus,” Lily said as she took a sip of her coffee, she was too lazy to source milk so drank it black.    

“Morning Evans or is it Potter now?” he asked with a grin; the smiling Scotsman worked in accounts and was always up for a chat around the coffee machine.   

“It's Potter, but I'm keeping Evans professionally,” Lily replied, as she took Daedalus’ mug from him and put it under the machine for him. He nodded and started to tell her about some of the office gossip she had missed while she was away (Amos and Liz had broken up again, and someone from residential property had handed in their notice), and she tried to concentrate, she really did, but as he talked, she noticed he was holding a bacon sandwich from the canteen. Lily loved a bacon sandwich, in fact it was usually an end of week treat to get herself one, but today, as the smell of crispy bacon filled her nostrils, instead of making her mouth water, it made her feel violently sick.   

Lily made a polite excuse to leave, waved a quick goodbye to Daedalus, and scurried back to her desk.   

“You alright Lil, you've gone a bit green?” Mary asked with concern, but Lily just shook her head.   

“I’m fine, probably just the jet lag, give me a few hours and I'll be right as rain,” she answered hopefully, and prayed that if she repeated that mantra, the queasiness in her stomach might settle and let her enjoy her coffee.   

She took a deep breath, and pulled up her emails, she would get these sorted today, she would.  

“You okay, you’ve barely touched your food?” James asked as he sat across the dining table from her. He had cooked her favourite pasta dish to cheer her up after her first day back at work, but she wasn't really in the mood to eat anything; she had even turned down donuts in the office that afternoon, which had caused Emmeline to comically place a hand on her forehead and ask her if she was feeling okay. Lily had brushed off her friend’s concern, but the truth was, she had felt all out of sorts since that morning.   

“I’ve just been feeling a bit crap all day, have you felt ill at all?” she asked, and James shook his head as he took a mouthful of pasta.   

“No, I've been fine, it could be from the flight though, long-haul used to make me feel awful when I first started travelling,” James suggested, but he still surveyed her with worry.    

“Yeah, that’s probably just it,” she said with a forced smile as she tried to eat some of the food, but after one mouthful, her stomach growled in protest, so she pushed the plate away from her.   

She looked up at her husband as he set down his own cutlery and made his way around the table to wrap his arms around her shoulders.  

“You sure you're alright?” he asked as he pressed a kiss to her temple. She relaxed against the back of her chair and nodded.   

“Yeah, I think I'm just jetlagged, so I might head off to bed,” she said, and James stepped back to allow her to stand up and he followed her to the bedroom. Lily quickly changed into her pyjamas and slipped under the covers, with James not far behind.   

As he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, she sighed.   

“I don’t like it when you’re ill,” he whispered as he pulled her as close to him as he could and as he tattooed arms wrapped tightly around her, and she exhaled a small laugh.  

“I'll be alright, probably just need to rest,” she said, and he nodded, and he stayed by her side until she had drifted off to sleep.   

The next morning Lily was woken up early, not by the alarm clock, her husband, or even the sun, but the urgent need to be sick.  She rushed to the bathroom and clutched the edge of the toilet bowl where her legs began to shake as she emptied the contents of her stomach.   

When the wave of nausea had passed, she pressed her forehead to the arm that was still curled around the seat and closed her eyes as she tried to steady her breathing.    

“Lil, are you okay?” James asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes from the dark doorway of the ensuite.  

“Not really,” she said without looking up, her eyes still closed. “I must have a bug or something,” she said as he heard James settle down on the floor next to her.   

“Can I get you anything?” he asked gently as he stroked her back and she finally opened her eyes to look back at him. She knew she must have looked bloody awful by the worry etched across his face. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and offered him a weak smile.   

“I don’t think so,” she said, and he nodded as he ran a flannel under the tap and squeezed it out before he wiped it across her forehead, the cool of the material was welcome against her warm skin. As James pulled himself to his feet, he offered her a hand; shakily, she stood, but her legs felt like they might give way, so she was relieved when she felt James’ arm snake around her waist and help her back to bed.   

“Take the day off,” he said as he pulled the duvet over her and pushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear.   

“But I’ve only been back one day,” she said with a shake of his head, “I'll work from home, I'll be fine,”   

“No, take the day off, please?” he said, a little firmer this time “I’ll even call Mary for you,” he continued as he pressed a kiss to her temple before he headed into the living room to call her boss.   

By that evening, Lily was feeling significantly brighter and happily wolfed down the leftover pasta from the previous night. She was a little apprehensive about waking up the next morning, but she was pleasantly surprised to wake up feeling fine, so she headed back to work, much to the dismay of Mary and Emmeline, who were convinced she was going to spread some exotic plague around the office, but she waved off their concern.    

“I’m probably just a bit out of sorts from the travelling, it was a 30-hour flight back,” she replied with a shake of her head. “And I feel fine now,” she shrugged as she settled at her desk and sipped on her morning coffee.  

For the rest of the day, Lily felt fine, and continued to feel fine until the end of the week; she had woken up feeling a little rough on the Friday morning, but nothing a coffee or two couldn't fix, so she had ploughed through her work and finished at 5:00 pm on the dot, following which she rushed back to the flat to quickly tidy up before her friends arrived. James and the Marauders had been invited to perform at a music festival in the US and had left early that morning, so the flat was free for a much-needed girls' night.   

When Lily got home from work, she wasn’t surprised to find Hestia already pottering around the kitchen in her work suit and heels.    

“I logged off early so thought I'd just bring my stuff over, no point going back to mine,” she shrugged as she flicked on the kettle, and Lily nodded. It wasn’t uncommon to come home and find either Hestia or Sirius in the flat having let themselves in with their keys, often accompanied by one of the other Marauders, Caradoc or Edgar, and occasionally one of the girls.   

“Are Tara or Camilla coming tonight?” Hestia asked as she threw two tea bags into mugs and searched through the fridge for milk. Lily shook her head; Tara was Caradoc’s new girlfriend and Camilla was Edgar’s fiancée, they had been trying to incorporate the other girls from the group into their plans, but it wasn't easy when everyone was so busy.   

“Tara has gone to the states with the boys and Cam is working tonight,” Lily said as she took the cup from Hestia and took a sip, the liquid burnt her tongue, but she didn’t care, it tasted like heaven after a long day. As Lily kicked off her shoes, both her and Hestia’s phones buzzed.   

LSE Survivors  

Participants: Lily Potter, Hestia Jones, Alice Prewett, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Benjy Fenwick  

Benjy Fenwick: Sorry guys, I know Cas and I were meant to be coming to yours tonight @Lily Potter, but we’ve only just heard back from our client on a project and looks like we’ve got a fair bit to do before we can clock off *sad face emoji* 

Dorcas Meadowes: So fucking annoyed, it’s a time sensitive matter so I've been chasing them all day and they only reply at 5:39 pm when I'm about to leave!!! 

Marlene McKinnon: No worries guys, just let us know when you're done, we can save you some good if you'd like? 

Marlene McKinnon: *food 

Dorcas Meadowes: Thanks love, but we’re gonna be here for hours, enjoy your night and I'll see you at home *heart* 

Alice Prewett: Ffs lads 

Alice Prewett: Why couldn't you two be shit graphic designers? Then we wouldn't have this problem 

Benjy Fenwick: Apologies @Alice Prewett I’m incredibly sorry that I'm so handsome and incredible at my job that I'm always in high demand  

Marlene McKinnon: Sorry, did I miss the bit where she called you handsome @Benjy Fenwick you cocky twat 

Benjy Fenwick: Didn’t need to, it was implied *kissy face* 

Alice Prewett: @Benjy Fenwick you’ve been spending too much time around Sirius 

“Well, guess it's just the four of us then,” Hestia said as she looked up from her phone and Lily nodded disappointedly; she hadn't seen Benjy or Dorcas properly since the wedding and she had been looking forward to a night of wine, food, and catching up, just like they all had at university; but she supposed they weren't at uni any more, they were adults with real jobs, and for Benjy and Dorcas, a business to run. “Oh well, more wine for us!” Hestia giggled as she pulled a bottle of Cote De Provence Rose from an Asda carrier bag and winked at Lily, who grinned.   

“You know me so well,” she replied as there was a knock at the door.   

“Bet that’s Marly, I'll go and let her in,” Hestia said as she placed the bottle on the side, and she headed towards the front door like it was her own flat. Lily smiled to herself and called out a hello as Hestia unlocked the door.   

“It's just me,” Marlene called back, and Lily heard her kick off her shoes and pad across the laminate floor to the kitchen. “My, my , Mrs Potter, what a spread,” she exclaimed as she took in the sight of the kitchen island that was still covered in carrier bags filled with pizzas, crisps, and snacks, her eyes wide.   

“Blame Hess, you’d think she was moving in permanently with the amount of stuff she’s brought,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes.  

“Oi, I heard that!” Hestia said as she appeared at Marlene’s side. “Wine?” she asked, and Marlene nodded.   

“Make it a large one, today has been a nightmare,”   

Hestia obliged and pushed a wine glass towards her friend with a grin. Marlene took a long sip and sighed gratefully.   

“Better?” Lily teased and her friend nodded. “Now, do tell us what has been happening in the world of corporate banking and why it's so awful?” she continued, gladly taking a similarly sized glass from Hestia, who then poured herself one.   

As Marlene tried to explain the complexities of her day (Lily didn’t understand a single thing about banking, but nodded enthusiastically anyway), the front door opened, and Alice shout out a greeting before she locked the door behind her. Still dressed in her nurses' scrubs, Alice flopped onto the stool next to Marlene and across the kitchen island from Lily and Hestia.   

“Bad day?” Alice laughed as she eyed up the glasses of wine in front of her friends as she started to rummage through the carrier bags to see what food they’d brought.   

“The worst,” Hestia sighed. “Gideon got asked out this morning by a fit waitress when we went for our mid-morning coffee and croissant trip, and he accepted ,” she continued with an eyeroll and Alice narrowed her eyes at her friend.   

“Surely that’s a good thing? That means he’s getting over his infatuation with you, and anyway, you have a boyfriend, so why do you care who your boss is going out with?” she asked as she pulled two pizzas from the bags and began to unwrap them.   

“I'm just impressed that you find the time to have a mid-morning coffee and croissant trip, I got for a wee and come back to 67 emails and 42 voicemails,” Lily said with a raised eyebrow and Hestia rolled her eyes.   

“I don’t care whose he’s going out with, I just don’t want to lose my cushty position in the office, when your boss fancies you, you can get away with bloody murder, but I'll have to play nice if he gets a girlfriend,” she pouted, and Marlene almost spat out her wine.   

“So, correct me if I'm wrong here, but what you’ve just said is that you want your boss who is also a good mate to be forever unhappy and pining after you, while you run off into the sunset with your gorgeous rockstar boyfriend, just so you can have an easy time at work? Wow Jones,”  

“Oh fuck, it sounds awful when you say it like that,” Hestia grimaced as Lily took the pizzas from Alice and placed them in the oven. “I take it all back, he can go out with whoever he likes, anyone got any attractive colleagues I could set him up with? Alice, wine ?” she asked, if only to change the subject as she reached for another wine glass and began to pour.   

“None for me actually,” Alice said as her cheeks flushed, and the three girls turned to face their friend with suspicion.   

“Why?” Marlene asked suspiciously as Hestia tipped the amount of already poured wine into her own glass.  

“Oh my god, you’re pregnant!” Lily blurted out and Alice stared back for a moment with wide eyes before she gathered herself, grinned and nodded her head.   

“We didn’t want to say before, but we’ve been trying for a while, and well, yeah, it finally happened!”  

“Oh Al, that’s such great news,” Lily said as she ran around the kitchen island to fling her arms around Alice’s neck. “I'm so happy for you and Frank,”  

“I still can't believe it,” Alice agreed as she looked down at her still flat stomach and rubbed her hand against it affectionately. “We’re obviously keeping it quiet until we have the 12-week scan, just in case, but you can tell the boys,” she smiled at Lily and Hestia. “I’d planned to tell everyone tonight and then they’ve all bailed,” she giggled as she covered her mouth as she laughed. “But I'm glad it’s just us actually, it feels so much more special sharing this with you three,” she continued as her eyes glistened with tears and Marlene hugged her.   

“Now you can't have the wine, I don’t know what I've got for you, I think I've got some lemonade; would you like that? We can put it in a wine glass, and you can pretend,” Lily suggested as she gripped the handle of the American style fridge freezer.   

“That would be great actually,” Alice grinned, and Hestia laughed.   

“It's like were 10 again, playing grownups, shall I stick a pillow up my top and pretend to be pregnant too?”  

As her friends giggled away and debated how else they could cosplay as adults, Lily pulled the fridge opened and searched for the lemonade, James was always rearranging things so she could never find a bloody thing. After a few more seconds, she found the cans of diet lemonade tucked at the back of a shelf behind a handful of babybels and a Tupperware box of leftovers that James had left her for the weekend. As she moved the tub to reach the lemonade, she caught a whiff of the contents and her stomach lurched. Lily pressed a hand to her mouth and tried to swallow the wave of nausea that now threatened to wash over her, no, she wasn't going to be sick, she was going to enjoy her evening with her friends.   

“You alright Lil?” Hestia asked over her shoulder. As she exhaled shakily, Lily nodded.   

“Yeah, just looking for the lemonade, James always hides them,” she said with a forced smile. She took a couple of cans from the shelf and held them in the air triumphantly before she passed them over to Alice. As she returned to her glass of wine, Lily felt her enthusiasm for it diminish and she set it down on the side. With a sigh, she looked back to her friends where she found Hestia watching her with an odd expression.   

“Now we’re all sorted, I want to hear all the sordid details Al, tell us how baby Longbottom came about,” Marlene giggled as she pulled Alice towards the sofa, providing Hestia with the perfect distraction from Lily.   

As self-appointed designated driver for sat least the foreseeable future, Alice bundled a tipsy Marlene into her car at half past midnight, and an equally tipsy Hestia crawled into Lily’s bed with her; Hestia had agreed to stay over at the Potter household until the boys were back so they could keep each company.    

Still feeling nauseous, Lily snuggled down into the covers.  

“I'm so happy,” Hestia said over a yawn, her eyes already closed. “I can't believe we’re really going to have a lil Longbottom soon, like Alice and Frank are having a proper baby,” she said as she smiled to herself and Lily hummed a nonchalant response, she wasn’t sure what else she could say that hadn't already been said, the girls had spent the last few hours discussing possible names for baby Longbotom (they’d decided the baby would take Frank’s surname and not a hybrid of Prewett-Longbottom, because that was a bloody mouthful), searched Pinterest for ideas to decorate the nursery and trawled through Instagram to find the cutest sustainable children's clothing brands they could, so she simply agreed with her friend. Hestia mumbled a goodnight before she quickly fell asleep, but Lily was wide awake as her stomach churned painfully.   

With a huff, she looked towards the door, maybe some water would help. She would try anything, so she crept out of bed as carefully as she could and headed towards the kitchen where she found her discarded wine glass tucked away behind a potted plant. After the episode at the fridge, Lily couldn't bear to drink the stuff so had hidden it out of sight and topped another up with lemonade and her friends had already been too pissed to notice, even sober Alice hadn't clocked on.   

As she sipped on a cold glass of water, Lily started to worry, she was well over her jetlag and surely a bug would have passed by now, but she still felt awful. She had kept it from James when he’d facetimed her that afternoon because she had known he would just worry, as would Emmeline or Mary, so she had brushed them off when they said she looked a little pale, nor had she mentioned anything to Hestia, Alcie or Marlene.    

Lily unlocked her phone and made a diary reminder to call the doctor first thing on Monday.  

She pressed the cold glass to her forehead, which burned hot, before she pressed her glass back against the water dispenser on the fridge to re-fill it, but only a dribble came out and she stifled a groan. She pulled open the fridge to re-fill the water cooler, but as she did so, she was caught again by the faint aroma of the leftovers and her stomach lurched. She barely made it to the sink before she was overcome; as she tried to steady her breathing, she turned on the tap and hoped she hadn't woken up Hestia, but thankfully the flat remained silent.   

She wiped her brow on her hand, cleaned the sink and refilled her glass from the tap; as she did so, she allowed her gaze to settle on the other side of the window for a moment; the dark streets were illuminated by streetlights and there were still a few brave souls that hobbled around, some on their way out, or some on their way back home; that would have been her and her friends a few years ago as they drunkenly stumbled around London looking for the cheapest nightclub they could find only to sing on the tube home and generally be student nuisances. How things changed, now she couldn't even handle one glass of wine, oh yes , how things changed.   

“Wow Evans, Potter, whatever, how much did you drink last night?” Hestia teased as she stroked Lily’s back while her friend emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. Lily shook her head, it had been years since she’d been sick from drinking and Hestia knew that, so as she wiped her mouth with a piece of tissue, she fixed her best friend with a worried expression.   

“I didn’t,” Lily admitted shyly, and Hestia's brow furrowed.   

“I don’t understand?” she asked as she passed Lily another clump of toilet roll to blow her nose.   

“I didn’t drink anything last night,” she replied as guilt settled in her stomach. “I started feeling really sick, so I switched to lemonade and none of you noticed,”   

Hestia looked blankly back at her best friend before she nodded slowly.  

“How long have you been feeling like this, and have you been sick a lot?”   

“Since we got back from the Maldives,” Lily said sheepishly, before she explained how she’d been feeling really grumpy and run down, then the foods she usually liked were making her feel ill and she’d had to have a day off work as James had found her on the bathroom floor as she threw up. Hestia nodded as she exhaled deeply as Lily slumped back against the radiator with sweat beaded across her forehead.   

“You don’t think you could be...” Hestia asked but her voice tailed off as Lily fixed her with a wide-eyed stare, she didn’t need to finish the end of the sentence, they both knew what she was implying.   

“Of course not!” Lily spluttered and Hestia held her hands up in surrender.   

“Just asking, because last night Al said she’d been really sick for a few weeks and that’s how she knew,"  

“I can’t be, we’re always careful,”  

“Are you sure? Even after the wedding? You were both pretty spangled,” Hestia said gently as she squeezed Lily’s knee affectionately.   

Lily shook her head; she couldn’t deny though, the possibility had swirled around her head since Alice had announced her news last night, but the thought was far too scary to even think of, no, it wasn’t that, couldn't be, but then again, they had been pretty drunk after the wedding and she couldn’t remember if they had used protection, shit .    

She shook her head again, no, she was Lily Evans, fuck , she was Lily Potter, she was known for always being sensible and practical, there is no way, even if she was hammered, that they’d have not used anything, they always did, so they must have.   

“I’m sure we did, this is probably just some weird, delayed food poisoning or something, I'll book an appointment with the doctor on Monday when they open, I promise,” Lily replied and Hestia nodded, although still not convinced.   

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments until Lily felt the now familiar churn of her stomach and heaved into the toilet bowl. Brow furrowed, Hestia rubbed her friends back as Lily squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the nausea to pass.   

“There's a Boots around the corner isn’t there? I'll nip out and grab some stuff to hopefully make you feel better, is there anything you need or want me to get?” Hestia asked as she pulled herself from the bathroom floor and dusted down her pyjama bottoms.   

“Mints please, and there’s some leftovers in the fridge that make me want to be sick every time I open it, can you get rid of those?” Lily mumbled; her head still pressed against the cold ceramic. Hestia nodded and headed back into the bedroom where she quickly pulled on a jumper and a pair of leggings before she threw her long hair up into a messy ponytail.   

As Hestia slipped on a pair of Lily’s trainers (she’d somehow forgotten to bring any shoes other than her work heels), she heard her friend once again being sick and she momentarily faltered, maybe she should just wait and head out later? Then she shook her head, no, they needed to know sooner rather than later, so she grabbed a set of keys from the bowl and headed out.  

“That’ll be £22.96 pet,” the cashier said as Hestia nodded. “You got an advantage card?” she continued as Hestia shook her head an held up her debit card, which she tapped against the card machine. As she did so, her headphones announced an incoming phone call. She mouthed a thank you to the cashier, shoved her card in her purse, picked up her purchases, and answered the call.   

“Hey you, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until later on, what time is it there?”  

“Far too early, but I couldn’t sleep, so thought I'd see what you were up to,” Sirius said sleepily on the other end of the line.   

“I assume I was your second choice and you’ve only called me because the others are still asleep?” she teased as she spotted a gap in the traffic and nipped across the road. Sirius chuckled lightly as she held her hand up to say thank you to an upcoming car for slowing down and not running her over.   

“Course,” he said in that sleepy voice that was simply adorable. “Where are you? You sound like you're on a motorway,” he continued.  

“Just the high street, Lils is ill, so I nipped out to get some bits for her,”  

“Again? Prongs said she wasn't well the other day,”  

“Yeah, but don’t say anything to James, you know he’ll just worry and it's probably just a bug or something,” Hestia said, not quite ready to confide in Sirius of her suspicions of why Lily wasn’t well.  Sirius sighed on the other end of the line and she grimaced; she felt awful asking Sirius to keep this from his best friend, but they both know that if James knew Lily was still feeling unwell, he’d probably jump on a plane back to the UK, and they had commitments in the US that they needed their front man for.    

“ Hess ,” Sirius warned, and she sighed, almost wishing she hadn't said anything.   

“Look, I know you don’t like keeping stuff from him, but I'm looking after her, she’ll be fine and it’ll just upset him if he knows,”  

Sirius hummed in agreement, but he still didn’t seem happy about it.  

“Anyway, shall I let you know something exciting? You're sworn to secrecy, but they said I could tell you,”  

“I'm intrigued, go on,”  

“Alice and Frank are having a sprog,” she said excitedly as a grin pulled across her face.   

“A what ?”   

“A baby!” she said, and she heard Sirius laugh.   

“Oh, wow, I didn’t expect you to say that? How far along is she?”  

“She’s due middle of July I think, isn't it so exciting? We’re going to have a little nephew or niece soon,” Hestia beamed.  

“It is,” Sirius agreed, although she didn’t think he sounded as pleased as she did. “don’t go getting any ideas now though,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes.   

“Trust me, I don’t think I'm made for having kids, I'll just be a fantastically gorgeous and wealthy aunt who brings all my friend's kids expensive presents from my numerous exotic holidays, and gets them drunk on champagne when they’re 15,”   

“God, I have never been more attracted to you,” Sirius responded, and she breathed a laugh, she was almost back at the flat now and she knew she would lose phone signal once she stepped into the lift, so she needed to wrap the conversation up.  

“Good, because I'm hoping you’ll back me up as the wildly inappropriate uncle who takes them out on the back of his motorbike,”  

“I was made for that job,”  

“Great, now I need to go, I'm almost back to chez Potter and you know the signal is shit in their building,”  

“No worries, but send me some pictures, I miss your face,” he whined, and Hestia was sure he would be jutting out his bottom lip and giving her puppy dog eyes, even though she couldn’t see him.   

“Fine,” she agreed.  “Do you want pictures, or pictures ?” she asked suggestively as she used the fob to pull open the door and waved at the doorman as he tipped his hat in her direction.   

“Surprise me,” he said, and she grinned.   

“Will do, I love you,” she said as quickly as she could when the lift doors opened in front of her.  

“Love you too, and tell Lily I hope she feels better soon,” he said as she stepped inside and ended the call.   

She pressed the button for the top floor as the doors shut and took her up to penthouse where James and Lily lived. Hestia exited the lift and headed towards the front door; she patted down her pockets for the keys and groaned when she realised they were probably in the bottom of her bag, she tried to door anyway and was pleased that Lily hadn't locked it after she had left.   

“Hey, it's just me,” she called out as she kicked her shoes off and headed into the kitchen area where she found Lily perched at the kitchen island as she nibbled on some dry toast and sipped on a milky cup of tea. “Mr Black sends his best by the way,” she continued as she held up the white and blue carrier bag for Lily to see. “He said he couldn't sleep, and the others weren't up yet, so he called me just to see how we were doing,”   

Lily nodded meekly, and Hestia fixed her friend with a sympathetic smile; she had now thrown her long auburn hair into a haphazard bun, and she was still dressed in one of James’ baggy old bands shirts and pyjama shorts, purple bags hung under her green eyes that seemed to lack their usual sparkle.   

“Take these, hopefully they’ll help with the sickness,” Hestia said as she pulled a packet of anti-nausea tablets from the bag and threw them at Lily, who caught them with ease. “And then take this,” she continued as she slid a white box across the kitchen island, Lily stared at Hestia wide eyed as she saw what it was.   

“Jeez Hess, I've got a sick bug, I'm not pregnant!” she said with surprise, toast long forgotten as she stared open mouthed at her best friend.   

“Well, if you're so sure, then you’ll have no problem taking the test then,” Hestia replied as she crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrow. “Because you’re being sick all the time and going off the things you like, so there has to be a reason, that was also your favourite wine last night and you weren't able to drink any, then the leftovers in the fridge made you want to vom, so do it, for me , please?” she said as she batted her eyelashes and channelled her best Sirius Black puppy dog eyes. It must have worked as Lily relented.   

“Fine, but I'm not pregnant,” she said firmly as she snatched up the test and headed off to the bathroom while Hestia grinned triumphantly before she clicked on the kettle and started to make them fresh cups of tea.   

Hestia danced around the kitchen to the radio as she poured water over the teabags and left them to brew before she fished them out and added milk; once the tea was made, she searched through the cupboards for biscuits and was disappointed when he couldn't find any, instead she helped herself to a handful of the leftover cheesecake pretzels from last night, she was sure Lily wouldn’t miss a few, even if they were her favourite.   

She settled at the island and took a sip of her tea before she glanced at her watch, Lily should have done the test by now, but there was still no sign of her. Hestia set down her mug, not able to handle the suspense, and headed over to the ensuite in James and Lily’s bedroom where she knocked quietly on the door.   

“Lily?” she asked and there was a sniff from behind the door. "Lil?” she asked again as she twisted the handle and pushed open the door. Inside, she found Lily sat cross legged on the floor, the pregnancy test in her hand.   

“It’s positive,” she whispered as her eyes brimmed with tears and she stared the result spelt out in red lines. Without hesitation, Hestia dropped to her knees and took Lily in her arms, she heard the test clatter to the floor as Lily wrapped her arms around Hestia's torso and she buried her head in the shoulder of her jumper.   

“Oh Lily,” Hestia soothed as she rubbed her friend’s back, just like she had that morning when she was sick. “Why are you crying? You silly sod, this is exciting !” she continued as her own eyes pricked with tears at the thought of two of her best friends being pregnant at the same time, completely unplanned.  

Lily laughed softly into Hestia's hair as she pulled away, her eyes rimmed with red.   

“I don’t really know,” she said softly, “it's just so, so, overwhelming ,”  

“I know it is, but you're going to have a baby, a baby Potter,” Hestia said as she took Lily’s face in her hands. “And I bet they’ll have your red hair, and James’ eyes, and they’ll be so fucking adorable, really darling, think about how cute your kid is going to be,” she said, and Lily smiled for the first time. “Lils, with parents as fit as you and James, that kid is going to be breaking hearts all over the shop,” she continued as she pulled Lily to her feet.    

“Oh god, I'm actually having a baby,” she said as she reached over to grab a wad of toilet roll to dry her eyes. “An actual real-life baby,”   

“You are , you're gonna be a momma, and if you don’t mind me saying, probably the fittest mum there ever has been, the other parents are going to lose their minds when they see you dropping kiddo off at school,” Hestia teased as she squeezed Lily’s shoulders affectionately. “And all the teachers are going to be fighting over who gets Potter junior in their class because they’ll all fancy you or James, or both , we don’t judge,” she laughed as she allowed herself a moment to properly take it in, she was stood in the bathroom of James and Lily’s flat with a positive pregnancy test by their feet, James and Lily were having a baby, her best friend was having a baby, two of her best friends were having a baby!  

“And there's me hoping I wouldn't have to book that doctor's appointment,” Lily laughed quietly, her eyes were still watery, but they had a little of their glitter back as she started to smile.   

“God yeah, good luck getting a GP appointment before the baby arrives,” Hestia grinned, before she reached down to the floor and picked up the test to set it down on the edge of the sink.   

“Shit, I've just thought, if I'm pregnant, I'm going to have to go without rosé for months, aren't I?” Lily said as her eyes fell on the positive test, but this time she smiled.   

“Yes, yes you are, and it's going to be hell, but at least you and Al can do it together,” Hestia said with a dramatic nod that made Lily laugh out loud. “Baby Potter and baby Longbottom are going to be so close in age that they're going to grow up together, how adorable is that going to be?” she continued but as she did, she noticed Lily’s bottom lip tremble.   

“Oh god, please don’t cry again,” Hestia panicked as she threw her arms around Lily’s shoulders.   

“These are happy tears,” she said, and she laughed lightly as Hestia released her and clasped their hands together, which set Lily off again, which in turn set Hestia off, so they stood together in the bathroom, hands together and tears on their cheeks.   

“I am so, so happy for you Lily, you are my best friend and you deserve the world, you deserve happiness , after all the shit with your sister, with Amos, with everything, you deserve to be happy and I'm so pleased you found James and you got married and now you're having a baby, and I'm going to spoil it rotten and it's going to be so loved, so, so loved,” Hestia babbled through her tears and Lily nodded, baby Potter was going to be so immensely loved by so many people, was already loved so much, and for a moment, words didn’t seem enough, so Lily pulled her in again and they stood there in silence for a few moments. Lily finally pulled away and wiped her eyes on the edge of her t shirt.   

“Come on, shall we go and celebrate somewhere, there's a new place near Marble Arch that I want to try out?” she suggested, and Hestia nodded eagerly.   

“That sounds great, just give me some time to sort my face out first, yeah?” she giggled, and Lily agreed as she left Hestia the bathroom so she could get ready.   

1 New Message: @Marauderjames Mrs Potter, you look so fit x 

@Marauderjames how is legal for my wife to post pictures looking like that when I'm in another country? x  

@Marauderjames Sirius says to tell H she looks fit too x  

@Lilypotter1 I miss you x  

@Lilypotter1 can't wait for you to come home x  

@Marauderjames only a few more days my love x  

“Can you stop sending soppy insta DMs please? We're supposed to be having a romantic stroll through the park, but you’re sexting your husband,” Hestia teased as she squeezed Lily’s cheek affectionately as her friend stared back wide eyed. They had been out for brunch at the place Lily had suggested and had posted a few pictures to Instagram; the food had looked incredible (‘as did we’ Hestia purred), so it would have been a crime not to.  

“We are not sexting!” Lily spluttered, but her voice came out a little louder than she expected it to, and an older woman who had been walking her dog nearby stared back at her with disgust and tutted under her breath as she shook her head.   

Hestia snorted a laugh as Lily flushed scarlet and prayed the ground would swallow her up.   

“This isn’t funny,” Lily hissed as she grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged her up the path, away from the old lady who continued  

“Oh really? I thought so,” Hestia giggled as Lily looked over her shoulder to confirm they were safely out of earshot of their new dog walking, sexting disapproving nemesis, Lily turned to her friend who was still giggling to herself.   

“Come on, it wasn’t that funny,” Lily huffed as she crossed her arms.   

“Course it's not, its fucking hilarious , you just declared to half of Hyde Park that you weren’t sexting, and you did it with so much vigour that it definitely sounded like you were,”   

“Sirius said you look fit,” Lily said to change the subject as she linked her arm through her friends and continued up the path. There was chill in the air, but the sun shone brightly and bathed the park with a warm light.   

“Course he thinks I look fit, I always do,” Hestia said with a half shrug before she dropped her mouth towards Lily’s ear and began to giggle. “And I sent him a picture in my underwear this morning, so his brain has probably short circuited,”   

“You didn’t ?” Lily exclaimed as she slapped at her friend's arm with mock affront but that only caused Hestia to laugh more.   

“Hey , he’s my boyfriend, it's like he’s a randomer I just met on tinder,” she laughed as she pulled Lily’s arm closer to her as they walked. Lily shook her head and began to laugh too.   

“You,” she said as she poked at her friend’s arm, “are a tease, Hestia Jones,”   

Messages between Lily Potter and James Potter:  

James Potter: Just landed at Heathrow, won't be too long they're rushing us through security Lily Potter: amazing, can't wait to see you 

Lily Potter: got something to show you when you're back 

James Potter: oh, do you? *side eye emoji* 

Lily Potter: not like that, head out the gutter Mr Potter 

James Potter: got to go, but will be home soon  

James Potter: I love you x 

Lily Potter: love you too xx  

Lily paced up and down the kitchen as she anxiously fiddled with the lose thread on the bottom of her jumper, she had just received a text from James to say he had safely landed back in the UK and was being rushed through security. It would only be a couple of hours then he would be home, and she would have to tell him the news.  

She had woken up that morning from an anxiety dream in a cold sweat; Hestia (who had only gone back to her own flat half an hour ago) had already been awake and aimlessly scrolling through her Instagram feed, had been thoroughly alarmed.   

“What if James doesn’t want the baby? The band are just taking off in America and I'm only a few years into my career, the timing is all wrong and what if he isn’t happy about it?” Lily had babbled as she burst into tears and Hestia had wrapped her arms around her.   

“Don't be so silly, this is James Potter we are talking about, he’s probably been fantasising about having a baby with you since the moment you met, he’s going to be over the moon,” she had soothed as she stroked Lily’s hair, but she still couldn't shift the anxiety that had settled in her chest.   

To make her feel more at ease, Hestia had even pretended to be James (wearing one of his old rugby hoodies and a backwards cap) so Lily could practice how she was going to tell him, but that had been a ridiculous fail and no help at all, mainly because she hadn't been able to breathe from laughing  so hard when Hestia put on a dramatically deep voice and kept interrupting to flirt with her.   

“What? It’s what James does, need to keep it as close to the truth as possible,” Hestia had giggled as Lily had thumped her with a sofa cushion.   

With Hestia by her side, the whole thing hadn't seemed so scary, but now she was alone, the anxiety crept back in, and she couldn’t help but pace back and forth along the tiles of the kitchen.   

She needed to calm down; she flicked the kettle on and pulled the decaf coffee from the cupboard (the doctor had told she shouldn't drink too much of her beloved caffeine, so she had sulked all the way to Waitrose to browse the decaf sections and had chosen the best of a bad bunch). As she topped up the mug with milk, she felt her rapid heartbeat slow a little, the routine of making a drink helped to calm her a little.   

Maybe watching some telly would help too? She settled on the sofa and pulled her favourite blanket over her knees; Lily flicked through the channels, but there wasn’t much on, so she settled for a re-run of Qi on Dave. She smiled as the buzzer went off and Alan Davies dramatically threw his arms into the air as he muttered something about a blue whale and Stephen Fry tutted; Lily instantly started to feel better, yes, this was definitely a good idea.   

She wasn’t sure when she snoozed off, but as the front door clicked shut and she groggily blinked herself awake, she saw that Qi had been replaced by an episode of Taskmaster and that there were footsteps walking towards her, footsteps that chuckled.  

“Sorry, did I wake you?” James asked, his tone light as he leant over the back of the sofa and kissed her forehead. At the contact, her brain registered that James was home and she was suddenly wide awake, she jumped from the sofa at speed and turned to face her husband. Jesus wept; how could someone look so criminally good after a ten-hour flight? His hair was gorgeously tousled as if he’d been asleep, and a thin layer of stubble now coated his chin; he wore one of the bands tour shirts and she wanted to stare with how well it fitted his arms and chest.    

“You alright?” he laughed as he dropped his bag to the floor and looked over towards her as mischief twinkled in those hazel eyes, bloody gorgeous hazel eyes; why did he have to make this so difficult? If he had just turned up looking like shit, like every other person after a long-haul flight, she might not be so distracted.   

“I'm pregnant,” she blurted out before she could even give it another thought, and he froze. James looked her blankly and she felt her heart hammer in her chest.   

“Come again?” he asked a long pause, and he blinked hard as if he hadn't heard her correctly.   

“I’m pregnant,” Lily repeated slowly as she swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. “I know the timing isn't great, the band is just kicking off in America and you're booked onto loads of festivals next summer and I'm only a few years qualified so it's not a great time but-” she babbled as she talked with her hands. She hadn't been able to look at James, so she hadn't noticed he had closed the gap between them until he wrapped his arms around her middle and cut her off with his lips.   

As he held her, she felt the tension leave her shoulders and she pulled the soft fabric of his t shirt closer to her. He pulled away and she almost wished he hadn't, she had missed him so much while he’d been away and she wanted to kiss him again, just for a moment more.   

“Are we really having a baby?” he whispered as his hands reached up from her waist to cup her face; tears pricked in her eyes as she nodded. James held her for a moment more before he crashed his lips into hers, this time with an urgency that hadn't been there before, a fire, a heat.   

Her fingers grasped tighter at his shirt, and she returned his kiss until they breathlessly drew apart. As James rested his forehead against hers, she could see that his eyes had swelled with tears.    

“We’re having a baby,” he said as he reached down to touch her stomach, she knew the baby wasn’t anything more than a bundle of cells at this stage, but she still hoped it could feel James’ touch.   

“We are,” she said as she nodded and the anxious knot in her stomach unravelled as he threw her one of those lopsided grins that made her want to rip his clothes off there and then.   

“You're not having me on, you're really pregnant?” he asked as he ran a hand through his hand through his air. Lily nodded eagerly, as she dived into her handbag and passed over a crumpled sheet of paper; it was confirmation from their doctor that she was indeed pregnant and due in early August. “My best guess if we got a little carried away on our wedding night,” she said with a laugh under her breath and a grin spread across his handsome features.   

“Lily,” he said as he shook his head and looked up to her with that shit-eating grin. “we’re having a baby, a real baby,”  

“God help us,” she beamed, and he laughed out loud in disbelief. “And do you want to know something even better?” she asked, and he looked at her with surprise.   

“Better than us having a baby?”  

“So are Frank and Alice,”  

When she was 8 months pregnant and felt like a whale, Lily hadn't expected to have to trudge around a muddy field in Somerset; she sighed as her wellies once again got stuck in the ground and groaned when Hestia had to pull her free. As another shout of ‘ Steve ’ and a response of ‘ Alan ’ called out, she rolled her eyes and wondered why she hadn't just stayed at home instead of being the dutiful wife that followed her husband around the country as his band played every festival under the sun, including the big one, Glastonbury.   

Lily had never been to Glastonbury, but she had always wanted to. However, when she had imagined attending the festival, she had usually been dressed in something skimpy, with glitter across her face and warm can of beer in her hand, not 8 months pregnant in a maternity dress and having to waddle like a penguin to get around. It also didn’t help that to top it all off, she was brutally sober.   

“Come on Lils, dance with me?” Hestia grinned as she took Lily’s hands and tried to make her twirl to the music. The group had congregated in the wings of the main stage as they waited for the Marauders set; while the boys got ready, the rest of the team had gathered to watch the other acts, dance, and altogether have a great time, that was, aside from Lily.  

“I really don’t feel like dancing,” she moaned glumly, as she looked up to her best friend and felt bigger than ever; it really wasn't fair that Hestia somehow managed to make a silver bikini top under a mesh t shirt and denim cut offs look effortlessly glamourous, while she felt like a blancmange. Hestia disagreed as she shook her glitter covered braids.   

“You have to dance with me,” she pleaded as she jutted out her bottom lip and pouted, which was certainly a sight to see when her face was adorned with crystals.   

“Nah come on Lily, you know you want to dance,” Benjy said as she appeared from over Hestia’s shoulder with a can of cider in hand; Lily sighed, she could murder a cider right now.   

“You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17 !” Marlene and Dorcas, similarly adorned with crystals and glitter, sang out loudly and over the music from the stage. Hand in hand, Marlene, dressed in florescent pink cargo pants and black crop top, twirled her girlfriend under her arm and dissolved into fits of giggles as Dorcas almost lost her footing and she had to cling to Marlene to keep herself upright.   

Lily loved a good festival, she loved getting dressed up, drunk, and dancing to her favourite bands, but as she eyed up Dorcas’ tiny waist, adorned with thin gold chains, she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. When she had agreed to come to Glastonbury, she hadn't realised just how pregnant she would be, nor how much the sight of her old uni friend in a pair of bright orange cycling shorts and a matching bandeau, would make her feel so rubbish.   

She knew she was being silly though; she was 8 months pregnant for goodness sake, she was growing an entire human; inside her there was a whole person, who if he decided to arrive right there and then at the side of the Pyramid stage, would probably be fully cooked. That in itself, was amazing, but it did nothing to stop the jealousy that coursed through her veins at how bloody incredible Dorcas looked and how well orange and gold complimented her dark skin.   

“I think I need to sit down,” Lily said as she shook her head.   

“Let me grab you a chair,” Tara said helpfully as she pulled one over as helped Lily ease into it. “And here, have a drink, its boiling,” she continued as she passed Lily a can of diet coke which she cracked open and took a long swig from before she offered Tara a smile. When Caradoc and Tara had started going out just under a year ago, the rest of the girls hadn't been sure they would last as they were so different, but a year later, they were still going strong.   

“I can see why Alice decided not to come,” Lily said quietly, and she looked over to the rest of her friends who had now all joined in the out of tune rendition of Dancing Queen, completely ignorant of the act currently on the stage (some American rapper that she’d never heard of).   

“They’re just excited,” Tara giggled as she covered her mouth with her hand as Benjy and Marlene decided to simultaneously slut drop to the chorus. Lily nodded, her friends were having fun, she was just being a spoil sport.   

“Oi, oi,” a voice called out from somewhere behind them and she craned her neck to see Sirius Black stride from the dressing room area to the side of the stage in leather trousers and a white unbuttoned shirt. “You’re not allowed to have this much fun without me,” he laughed as he grabbed Hestia from behind and pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek, to which she squealed in delight.   

“Stop, stop! ” Dorcas interjected as seriously as one could when they couldn’t stop giggling. “You’ll get yourself covered in glitter,” she warned as Benjy and Marlene pointed at the flecks of pink that had already found their way to his cheeks. Sirius, however, shook his head and pressed another kiss to Hestia’s cheek before she managed to wriggle free and sashay back to her friends.   

“And who says I don’t want to be covered in glitter anyway? Sparkle me up Meadowes,” he grinned as Dorcas and Marlene beamed at each other before they dived into a rucksack and produced several pots of multi-coloured glitter, which they packed onto Sirius’ cheeks as he winked at his girlfriend.   

Lily breathed a laugh as she took another sip of her coke, it wasn't cider, but it would do for now.   

“How you holding up Mrs P?” Remus asked, as he appeared behind Lily and patted her shoulders affectionately; she tilted her head backwards to look up at him as he offered her a soft smile.   

Remus Lupin, who brushed 6 foot 3 ( ‘and a half!’ as he would chime), was like the boy next door, if the boy next door was a successful pop star. He was down to earth with that sandy brown hair was cut short on the sides and left longer on top. As he smiled at Lily, his mischievous amber eyes were bright and alert as he nudged his silver lip ring with his tongue.    

With his boyish good looks and cheeky personality, it was easy to see why so many of the fans were # Loony4Lupin and had instructed tattoo artists up and down the country to copy the intricate howling woof design that spread across his inner forearm. It also helped that he was probably the best drummer Lily had eye seen ( well , aside from Phil Collins and Dave Grohl, which Remus whole heartedly agreed with).  

“Not well, I feel like a beached whale,” Lily moaned as Remus dived into the ice box and pulled out a can of Red Stripe, he smirked as she glared at him, her diet coke still between her fingers.   

“But a beautiful, beached whale,” Sirius called out as Marlene continued to paint stripes of glue on his cheeks as Dorcas followed up with pink glitter. Hestia jabbed him sharply in the ribs and he almost doubled over.  

“What was that for?” he wheezed as he looked up at Hestia with wide eyes.   

“You’re not meant to agree with her dickhead,” she chided as Benjy snorted a laugh.   

“You're getting the infamous Evans glare now mate,” Edgar joined in as Sirius exhaled deeply, rubbed his ribs and pulled himself back to his full height.   

“That's gonna leave a bruise,” he said to Hestia who grinned triumphantly.   

“Good,”   

Then Benjy laughed again.   

“And there's me thinking I'm the only one she used that glare on,”   

Dorcas rolled her eyes and momentarily paused her glitter application to look over her shoulder at her business partner.   

“And every single time you did, you deserved it you wanker,”  

“Hold up, hold up, who is a wanker and why are we yelling?” James laughed as he arrived from the dressing room area with Peter. As they approached, James clapped Remus on the shoulder and surveyed the sparkly carnage that was Sirius Black with a cocked eyebrow.    

“Well, Benj is, but that’s nothing new apparently, and Sirius called Lily a beached whale,” Remus explained as he took a gulp of his beer and Sirius held up his palms in surrender.   

“Actually, she called herself a beached whale, I simply corrected her to say she was a beautiful, beached whale, it was a compliment, really,’ he said simply.   

“Will you just shut up?” Hestia muttered with a dark glare and a ‘see what I have to put up with’ roll of her eyes towards Lily and Remus, who grinned conspiratorially.   

“And anyway, Hestia already punched me, so I've been thoroughly punished,” he continued, and Hestia scoffed.   

“I did not punch you, I elbowed you because you were being a prick,”  

“You struck me, brutally punished me,” he said dramatically as he put a hand to his forward and pretended to swoon.   

“I'll show you punishment,” Hestia muttered under her breath, but Sirius heard anyway.   

“Oh, will you now ? Please do elaborate Miss Jones, because I am all ears,” he said with a knowing smirk, and she flicked him a middle finger.   

“The way those two flirt is borderline disturbing,” Peter said to James and Remus, who nodded in agreement before James returned his gaze to his wife.   

“You okay?” he asked quietly as she crouched in front of Lily and his hands rested on her knees. “If it’s too much, I can get a car to take you home,” he said, and Lily spluttered.   

“And deprive your son of watching his father's first performance at Glastonbury, of course not!” she laughed as she rubbed her swollen stomach, and James flashed her one of those grins that made her stomach swoop (at least, that’s what she assumed it was, it could well have also been the baby moving but, but she preferred the first option).   

“ Technically, he won’t be seeing it, but hearing it, or maybe just feeling the vibrations of it,” Peter interrupted, and James laughed under his breath.   

“Yes Pete,” he said as he shook his head, as Peter called over the girls and tapped his cheek. Marlene grinned widely and grabbed her pot of glitter and glue whilst Dorcas finished up with Sirius.   

“I just need to perk up a little,” Lily said to James as Edgar placed a firm hand on Dorcas’ arm.   

“Come on ‘Cas, no more glitter or it’ll play havoc with the TV cameras,” to which she looked him dead in the eye and added another dollop to Sirius’ cheek.   

“You know what you need?” Remus asked as he patted Lily shoulder from behind her chair and grinning when she looked at him quizzically. “ Glitter, ” he said proudly, as he gestured for Hestia to bring some over their way.   

Hestia immediately agreed and plucked the glitter from Dorcas’ hands, much to the relief of Edgar, who sighed as Dorcas shouted 'thief!’ after her. She handed the pot of blue glitter and tub of glue to Remus who clumsily patted it over Lily’s cheeks.   

Hestia watched over his shoulder and helped him tidy it up, so it didn’t look like a five-year-old had thrown glitter at Lily, and Remus beamed.  

“Bellissima!” he declared in a fake Italian accent as he kissed his fingers and dramatically threw his hand in the air like that chef Gino D’Campo did on the telly.   

Remus then turned to James and slapped some on his cheeks before he could protest as Lily allowed Hestia to pull her to feet and twist her hips in an odd sort of dance. She felt miles better than she had only a few moments before and even allowed herself to quickly glance around her friends; Peter and Sirius pouted as they took glitter covered selfies, Caradoc laughed as he slung his arms around Marlene and Tara who failed to hide their laughter as Edgar and Benjy unsuccessfully tried to avoid the glitter avalanche that was Dorcas Meadowes.  

“Team photo!” Edgar called out once he was thoroughly adorned with glitter and he handed a bunch of iPhones to a stagehand for them to snap some pictures.   

“Cheese!” Benjy called out and they all repeated it as they grinned the camera; Lily stood in the middle, her full stomach prominent under her long dress, with Tara and James on one side and Remus and Sirius on the other. Benjy, Caradoc and Edgar crouched in front of them as Marlene and Dorcas sat on the floor and held up the pots of glitter like fashion accessories whilst Peter threw an arm around Hestia as they pouted and threw up a peace sign.   

“Perfect!” the stagehand called out before they handed the phones back out to everyone, and Hestia rushed over to Lily to show her the screen.  

“Look at you, you’re glowing !” she cooed as she zoomed into one of the pictures as she slipped her hand into Lily’s, and she gave it a reassuring squeeze. Although Lily wasn’t particularly fond of having her photo taken at that particular time, she was loathed to admit that it was a great photo and her best friend was right, she did have a certain glow about her. “And I love that baby Potter is in it too,” Hestia continued as she squeezed Lily’s hand again.   

“I’d say pregnancy suits you,” James winked at Lily as he took an earpiece of a technician and ran a hand through his hair, before he called out a thank you to the sound team.  

“If you think I'm ever doing this again, you'll have to find yourself another wife, because it ain’t happening,” Lily countered with a furrowed brow and Benjy almost spluttered his cider across the stage. James shook his head with amusement and pulled her in to press to a kiss to her temple.   

“Never my love,” he said with a grin before he turned back to Remus and said something that she didn’t catch.   

“You're up guys, T minus 2 minutes,” a sound technician called out as they held up two fingers.   

For the first time, Lily noted that the stage had been vacated and the crowd were eagerly waiting for the next set, the Marauders; an excited fizzing (that was definitely not just heartburn) started to build in her stomach, this was happening, really happening, the Marauders were about to play Glastonbury!  

James nodded at the technician with a serious expression and gestured to the other band members to follow him to the side of the stage where they appeared to have a brief conversation, Lily couldn't hear what they were saying as it was drowned out by the screaming of the crowd, some of whom seemed to have caught a glimpse of the boys in the wings.   

With one last grin at each other, the boys gave the rest of the team a quick thumb up and strode out onto the stage where they were met with screams, shouts and barrels of applause.   

Lily allowed Hestia to pull her by the hand to the edge of the stage where she dared to peek around at the crowd; as she took in the sight, Lily couldn't help but gasp, the crowd was probably the largest she had ever seen and stretched as far as the eye could see.  

“Hey, hey, what's up Glasto!” Sirius called out as the glitter across his cheeks reflected the light and he ran his fingers across his bass, which rippled through the air like electricity. The crowd screamed as Sirius winked at James, and Lily heard a bunch of wolf whistles from the front of the crowd. “Oi, less of that,” he laughed as he pushed his mic away from his mouth so only the fans closest could hear. “My girl is just there, and she will fight you,” he said as he pointed to Hestia, who seemed to have missed the exchange.   

“So, ladies and gents, for those of you that don’t know us, we are the Marauders,” James said into the mic and the crowd once again screamed in appreciation. Lily couldn't help but grin, this was where James was in his element, he seemed so happy, so at ease. “ Now ,” he continued as he tried to talk over the crowd but had to shush them. “This is our first Glastonbury, so be kind, yeah ?” he said with an arrogant grin and the crowd whooped. “I've also got to say, it's not only our first Glasto, but also the first time here for my gorgeous wife who is very pregnant with our baby boy, so everyone, I want you to scream so loud he can hear you!” he grinned as he turned to wink at Lily and held out his hand in her direction.   

“And there she is!” Peter called out fondly as the camera panned from the band to the side of the stage.  Hestia whooped and jumped up and down as she pointed to Lily who stared wide eyed at James.   

“Isn't she beautiful guys?” he beamed into his mic as Lily shook her head and looked to Hestia who cupped her hands around her mouth.   

“Woo! Lily you're so fit!” she shouted, and Lily burst into fits of giggles as Hestia threw an arm around her shoulder and pressed a glittery kiss to her cheek.   

The camera remained on the two girls for a moment longer and Lily knew her parents (and possibly Petunia and Vernon out of spite) who would be watching the set from their living room in Cokeworth, would now see their daughter’s face beamed across the festival and to however many millions of people were watching at home, it was surreal.   

Lily dared to look up at the big screen behind the band and was met with the sight of her own face and her grin which was plastered from ear to ear as the crowd screamed.   

“Lily, Lily, Lily!” came the chant from a group of girls in the audience not far from where they were stood. The two girls looked at each other and grinned before they turned back to the crowd and recognised a few of the fans from the recent tour. Both Lily and Hestia waved enthusiastically back at them and blew kisses as the girls jumped up and down with excitement.   

“They waved at us, they waved at us,” they girls squealed as they shook each other's shoulders.  

“Now, now, back to us guys, this is our first ever single Mischief Managed, sing if you know the words,” James grinned as the cameras panned back to him, and Remus drummed out the opening bar, which was promptly followed by a screech of Sirius’ bass, a tinkle of Peter’s Sax and finally James’ husky vocals.   

Still wearing her work suit and heels, Hestia paced up and down the hospital waiting room, as Sirius, who was seated in a chair, head tipped back and eyes closed, sighed.   

“Do you really have to pace?” he asked exasperatedly and the sound of her heels against the tiled floor came to an abrupt stop, even without opening his eyes, he just knew she was glaring at him.   

“I can't help it, Lily went into labour 6 hours before Alice, and Neville has been here for 4 hours already,” Hestia cut back as she resumed her pacing. As she fiddled anxiously with the new diamond ring on the second finger of her left hand, she tried to subdue the nervous energy that swirled in her stomach. Honestly, she thought that having a judge tell you off in court was stressful but that paled in comparison to two of your best friends going into labour on the same day, it was almost too much.   

She had already briefly popped her head in Alice’s room (she wasn’t strictly allowed in to visit yet so she’d had to be quick) and spotted a pink bundle with a mop of blonde hair in Alice's arms.   

“His name is Neville; do you want to hold him?” Alice had asked as Hestia tearfully nodded, not caring if that witch of a nurse Bertha saw her in the room or not. As she held little Neville in her arms, Hestia had felt more emotion than she ever expected to and was already bowled over by how much she already loved this little boy with all of her heart. Arriving two weeks after his due date, Neville was a rather large baby with chubby cheeks that she just wanted to squeeze, and a thick mane of blonde hair that rivalled his mums.   

“He looks just like Frank,” Hestia said quietly as she bounced the baby ever slightly, trying to drink in as much of the scene as she could.   

“At least I know he’s mine,” Frank joked from a chair in the corner of the room, he looked shattered, but he beamed from ear to ear.   

“Does Marlene know yet?” Hestia asked and Alice shook her head.   

“I don’t think so, do you want to give her a ring? I would but I just need to sleep now, apparently pushing a child out of your body really knocks it out of you,” Alice smiled, and Hestia laughed, even after hours of labour, her friend still had her sense of humour.   

“Course I will,” Hestia agreed as she reluctantly handed Neville back to his mum. “Congrats momma, he’s gorgeous,” she continued as she pressed a kiss to the top of Alice’s head, just as she was discovered by the nurse who chivvied her out.   

“Easy on love,” Hestia chided as she returned to the waiting room and glared at Bertha who headed back to the staff room. Once the nurse dictator had left, Hestia pulled out her phone, and dialled Marlene’s number. The international dialling tone rang out before the call clicked straight over to voicemail.   

“Hey hey, you’ve reached the voicemail of Marlene McKinnon, I can't get to the phone right now, so leave a message,”  

“I swear to God McKinnon, I am going to murder you, who books a holiday in the middle of her two friends due dates and then turns her phone off? Anyway, ring me when you get this,” she said as she hung up the call. She shook her head as footsteps cut into the quiet of the waiting room and found Sirius striding towards her, a panicked expression on his face.   

“Have I missed it, is Prongs junior here yet?”  

“Nope, Lily is still in labour, but I've just been in to see Alice and Neville, at least I was until that witch of a nurse told me to get out,”  

“I guess we just have to wait then?”   

And wait they did, for hours, getting tetchier and more irritated the longer they did. James appeared periodically to give them updates, but that was all they had to keep them occupied, other than each other.   

“I know you're anxious, but please stop pacing, you are driving me insane,” Sirius pleaded as he opened his eyes and fixed her with a steely glare. Hestia opened her mouth to issue a sharp retort but was cut off by the shrill of her phone. She pulled the phone from her pocket and Marlene’s name flashed up on the screen.   

“About fucking time,” Hestia answered, and she heard two voices on the other end of the phone laugh.   

“And hello to you too, my little ray of sunshine,” Marlene teased.   

“McKinnon honestly, if you weren’t in Croatia, I would have killed you by now, Lily and Alice have both gone into labour and I'm running between their rooms at the hospital like a bloody lunatic without back up,”  

“Oh my god, they’re both in labour?” Dorcas interrupted, at least she sounded a little guilty.   

“Well, actually now only one of them is, Neville Longbottom entered the world 4 hours ago, and he’s bloody adorable,” Hestia replied, and she heard Marlene and Dorcas squeal on the other end of the line. “I still can't believe you booked a DWA in between your two friend's due dates,” she continued, shaking her head at Sirius who laughed to himself.  

“It’s not my fault Alice went two weeks overdue, and Lily is three weeks early! There was meant to be ages in between,” Marlene protested, but Hestia just scoffed.   

“I swear to god, you’d better make that holiday worth it, if you don’t come back engaged or pregnant, I will murder you,”  

“Hess, we’re lesbians, how could either of us come back pregnant?”  

“Not my problem,”   

Sirius snorted a laugh and Hestia felt her mouth curve into a smile. “Anyway, are you having a nice time?” she asked, her irritation ebbing for a moment.   

“We are, but now I can only think about you there, are you by yourself?” Marlene asked, a tone of concern in her voice.   

“I was for a few hours, Sirius is with me now, Benj is snowed under running the agency after his business partner galivanted off to Croatia, Caradoc and Edgar are stuck in Birmingham because of a train strike and Peter and Remus were in Newcastle recording, but they’ve hired a car and are currently on route,”   

“At least you're not by yourself,” Dorcas soothed, and Hestia nodded, although her friends couldn’t see it.   

“Keep your phones on and I'll keep you updated,” she said, to which they both agreed before saying goodbye.   

“Now, calm down and sit with me?” Sirius said softy, as he patted the seat next to him. Reluctantly, Hestia agreed and sat down next to him. “See, it’s not so bad, is it?” he teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in so her head rested on his chest.    

“I can't help getting worried though, poor thing has been in labour for hours,” Hestia said, allowing herself to relax a little. Sirius nodded, there wasn’t much more he could say, all he could do was be there for her. “I just wish I could be there to hold her hand, but they won't let anyone in but James,” she continued, and he nodded again, brushing her hair from her face and pressing a kiss to her forehead.   

They sat there for a little while longer until Hestia couldn’t hold it in any longer and stood up to pace again, much to Sirius’ disapproval. As he sighed and rolled his eyes, the silence was broken by the loud cry of a baby, Hestia's head whipped towards the sound, as did Sirius’, and they stared at the door down the corridor which had been closed for what felt like hours.   

“Do you think...” she began, but she was cut off by the door swinging open and a beaming James Potter stood in the doorway, a wide grin on his face and his arms thrown sidewards.   

“He’s here!” he beamed, and Hestia’s eyes began to well with tears.   

“He’s really here?” she asked, her voice trembling and Sirius appeared behind her, his hand resting gently on her shoulder.   

“He is, want to come and meet him?” James asked, nodding enthusiastically as he gestured for the two of them to come in. Hestia’s heart thumped in her chest as she shakily made her way towards the room and under James’ arm as he held the door open. Inside, she found Lily in the bed wearing one of those awful hospital gowns, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, but looking radiant with a small bundle in her arms, her green eyes glittered as she looked up, her mouth stretching into a grin.   

“Hey,” she said quietly, and Hestia felt her eyes prick with tears as she slowly made her way around to the other side of the bed, so she could meet baby Potter for the first time. “Auntie Hess and Uncle Padfoot, meet Harry James Potter,” she said turning to her friends with a smile.  

“Harry, like your grandad?” Sirius asked, looking up at James, who was still beaming, and he nodded.  

“Like my grandad,” he agreed as he settled on the edge of the bed and pressed a kiss to Lily’s cheek, causing baby Harry to yawn and open his eyes.   

“He has your eyes,” Hestia gasped causing baby Harry to look around wildly for the sound of her voice. Lily smiled softly.   

“And James’ hair,” she continued as she looked down at the bundle in her arms.   

“Poor thing,” Sirius said quietly, but he wasn't sure anyone else heard, they were too busy watching the baby.   

“Do you want to hold him?” Lily asked and Hestia tearfully nodded, her arms shaking as she took baby Harry from his mum.  

As Harry stared up at her, Hestia felt the tears finally slip down her cheeks, she had been there when Lily had her positive pregnancy test, she had been there for her first scan (James was away performing) and attended every antenatal class with Lily (she was sure that everyone else assumed they were a couple) and now he was here, in her arms, his green eyes finally meting hers. He was much smaller than Neville, with a paler complexion, but he was wonderful, properly wonderful, a perfect mix of Lily and James.   

“He recognises your voice,” James said with a smile and Hestia looked up.   

“He had better do, how many other Welshmen does he know?” she laughed, bouncing him lightly in her arms. She had been so absorbed with baby Harry, that she hadn't noticed that Sirius had wrapped an arm around her waist until his hand affectionately squeezed her hip. With his free hand, Sirius reached out and stroked Harry’s cheek, before he brushed the tears from Hestia’s.  

“Are you really crying? You big wet wipe?” he laughed, although, he too felt his eyes prick with tears. “He’s perfect guys,” he said quietly as Harry’s eyes searched for his, his tiny arms reaching out to grasp his finger. Lily nodded as she laid back on the bed and closed her eyes.   

“He’d have been more perfect if he’d arrived 10 hours ago,” she mumbled and James laughed, his hands rubbing her thigh over the covers.   

“Lil was a trooper guys, honestly, never seen anything like it,” he said, and Lily opened her eyes to glare at him.   

“I’ll remind you of that next time you're being an arse,” she said, and James laughed. “Have you asked him already?” she said quietly as she cocked her head towards their visitors and James who shook his head.   

“Ask me what?” Sirius asked looking up from Harry’s face to James’, even as a newborn, he already resembled his father.   

“Lily and I would like you to be Harry’s godfather mate,” James said, and Hestia felt Sirius tense behind her. She looked over her shoulder to grin, but Sirius was staring back expressionless.   

“M-me?” he stammered. “You want me to be godfather?”  

“Course, who else is gonna teach my kid to shred the bass?” James grinned, but Sirius was shaking his head.   

“With all my family shit, do you really think that’s a good idea?”  

“Honestly, it wasn’t even a discussion, there is no-one else we would want more, you are my brother Sirius, and we want you to be Harry's godfather,” James grinned, and Lily nodded, reaching her hand to intertwine with James’.   

Sirius was numb, he hadn't expected to be a godparent, he thought it would go to Remus or Pete, or maybe one of the girls, they were far more sensible than him, he had a complicated family life and sometimes questioned that if he didn’t live with Hestia, if he would even be able to survive at all, but as little Harry grasped at his finger, he was overcome by a wave of emotion, the likes of which he had never experienced. This little pink wrinkly bundle, with big green eyes and a mop of jet-black hair, was suddenly the most important thing in the whole world and he would do anything to protect him, protect his godson.   

“I’d be honoured,” he said shakily as he looked up to James and Lily, who were beaming.   

“Are you really crying? You big wet wipe?” Hestia teased, as she held out Harry for Sirius to take, her own eyes still wet. Sirius wasn't sure if he had held a baby before, he knew he probably had held his brother when he was a child, but he wasn’t more than a baby then himself, and he couldn't remember it anyway, so he was glad that the first baby he got to hold properly was his godson, Harry James Potter.   

“Can we have one?” Hestia cooed as Sirius looked down at Harry and a laugh escaped his lips.   

“We’ll see,”