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Lily was doing her best to neither cry nor hex the rally outside the little cafe on the bustling street of Diagon Alley. They were chanting slur after slur, spewing steaming piles of rubbish about blood purity and there was nothing the Ministry would do about it. She knew that for a fact because her supervisor had already summoned them. The useless Ministry official said they had the right to protest and didn’t agree that their vitriol was hate speech or inciting violence. He had referred to them as ‘traditional wizarding values’ before apparating away.
Lily was horrified that they seemed to be getting bolder, but wasn’t terribly surprised if Ministry sentiment was anything to go on. There were whispers of a war coming and of secret organizations of resistance fighters. She shivered at the thought, but she was relieved someone was doing something about it.
Every now and again, their creepy masks would catch the blistering summer sun and blind her as she steeped a tea bag for a customer or tried her best at pretty latte art. Customers were frowning at the disruption but few actually stopped to argue with them.
The current chant was that implying that too many mudbloods were in the service industry. They should all be banned to work muggle jobs like their families. She swore that if one of those dolts walked in, she’d spit in their coffee. It wasn’t a personal attack on her alone, but it felt like one. She wanted to check on Dirk Cresswell, who worked next door at Fortescue’s and was also a muggleborn, but she wasn’t due for a break for another half an hour.
She wondered bitterly if Severus was out there with them.
“Someone should go give those fools a piece of their mind,” complained Mary MacDonald loudly as she polished the dishes dry and stacked them on the rack beside the sink.
“Maybe a few well placed tongue-tying jinxes for good measure,” agreed Benjy Fenwick from across the cafe where he was wiping down tables.
Suddenly, a smooth saxophone number echoed out of nowhere. It was so loud that Lily thought for sure it was coming from the cafe and scanned the customers for their instrument. It definitely wasn’t in the cafe.
“I've got a cauldron full of hot, strong love,” rang out from a raspy male voice that also sounded like it was inside the cafe.
“What the bloody hell is happening now?” Mary groaned.
Lily joined Benjy at the window. A few patrons lined up beside them, pressing their noses against the glass. A few yards in front of her, she recognized two boys she thought she wouldn’t have to see again until Hogwarts started back in a few weeks. James Potter was standing on a bench and had his wand at his throat. His amplified voice was terribly off-key, but between his singing and Sirius’s saxophone, the Death Eaters were completely drowned out.
“Don't you be afraid, come and take a sip of this steamy, tasty treat!” James said with a saucy smack of his behind that made her choke on her laughter.
She scanned the crowd and realized that the Death Eaters were shouting angrily, but dancing a jazzy little jig. She spotted Remus, on the opposite side of the crowd, his wand swishing and his concentration glued on the crowd. Peter was facing the opposite direction, toward the entrance of the alley. She had a feeling he was playing the all important role of lookout.
As the musical number wrapped up and the Death Eaters temporarily regained power over their limbs, they advanced on James and Sirius looking nothing short of murderous. She was momentarily relieved that Remus or Peter wasn’t with them. At least James and Sirius were both purebloods and less likely to be seriously injured than two halfbloods.
“Take it away, lads!” James called to them and they progressed to their next musical number against their will. Their hips gyrated to the tune and their heads bobbed sassily like true back up dancers on a Celestina Warbeck world tour.
“You think you're quite the wizard, got me under your spell, but guess what, Mister Wizard, you don't know me so well,” James belted with seductive inflection and Lily couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling out.
“Dear Merlin, I think I’m in love with Potter,” she said and Mary snorted in response.
“‘Course you are. You’ve been in love with him for years,” she said and Lily tore her eyes away from the spectacle long enough to shoot her a dirty look.
The Death Eaters admitted defeat and slowly began to disapparate with a huff of black smoke. When the last of them had vanished, James took a deep bow for the crowd gathered.
“That’s all we have time for today, folks,” he said and hopped off the bench. He offered Sirius a hand and helped him down. She watched as Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius walked over to her cafe and rushed behind the counter so they wouldn’t see her watching them.
Remus recognized her first and gave her a warm wave that Peter immediately copied. Sirius jutted his chin at her with a wink–a standard greeting from him. James, however, froze in the doorframe with big doe eyes. He ran his hand through his untidy hair before giving her a tentative smile. She returned his grin.
“Hi Lily, how are you?” Remus greeted her warmly.
“Another day, another sickle. How are you?” she asked.
“Same old, same old,” he said as if they hadn’t created a massive spectacle of themselves only moments before.
“What can I get you?” she asked, poising over the till to punch in the orders.
“We each want a butterbeer latte, please,” Remus told her, fishing coins out of his pocket.
“Extra foam on mine!” Peter said from behind Remus and Lily gave him a nod.
“It’s on the house,” she said quickly and ignored his protests as she made four butterbeer lattes.
They didn’t linger near the counter long after receiving their coffee, but she felt James’s eyes rest on her the entire time and she could hear Mary’s voice over and over again in her mind as she tried to steady her trembling hand so she could do some basic latte art.
You’ve been in love with him for years.
They all got up from their chairs to leave after finishing off their coffee and she was choking on her tongue trying to find something, anything, to say to him.
“See you in a few weeks, James.”
“Remus, Peter, Sirius,” she added hastily with a flush. James gave her a dazzling smile though and Sirius shot her a knowing smirk.
“Right, bye Lily,” James said, shooting her one more hopeful glance.
“Bye Lily,” Sirius mimicked in a sickening sweet tone.
As soon as the door jingled shut, she sunk to the floor behind the till.
“Alright, Evans?” Benjy asked her with an amused grin.
“Shut it,” she snapped and buried her face into her hands.
“Ten galleons says she asks him to the first Hogsmeade weekend,” wagered Mary.
“Nah, Potter will be the one to ask first. It’ll take her ages to work up the nerve,” countered Benjy.
“You’re on,” Mary said and they shook on it.
Neither paid any attention to the dirty look from the flushed Lily on the floor who was now contemplating how she’d ask James to Hogsmeade without passing out on the spot.