Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lily Evans had hid this part of her for a long time. 

Sure, her acting career wasn’t that long – she was only 25-year-old – but she had never even been considered for a romantic movie. She probably wouldn’t accept it. She had had that terrible experience on a TV show (of which she preferred not to talk about, if possible, thank you very much. But it had been his fault, obviously. And it had worked out in the end, so there .), and if she had the choice, she would refuse doing it again.

Her agent, Mary MacDonald, knew that (bless her soul), and avoided even passing on these scripts for Lily.

Lily kept on her drama and action movies (and, like, one comedy, in which she had had a lot of fun) and got some recognition for it – her crying face was a very famous meme and Mary used it abundantly; she didn’t mind, having grown up with Mary.

It meant Mary also knew about what Lily hid: she actually loved romances. Simply loved them, no matter how they presented themselves: books, movies, series, cartoons, true stories… they could be classics, or (and only Mary knew this) they could be simply fanfictions, Lily was caught from the beginning to the end.

It could, she thought as she logged on Mary’s Netflix profile to rewatch 10 Things I Hate About You for the millionth time, ruin her reputation if anyone knew about that. Her career had started right where many actresses wanted to get: drama. It was the kind of movie that got more attention and that made critics look at her.

Not like that pitiful attempt to be a love interest of a permanent character of a TV show.

She shook her head. She didn’t like to think about that – it had been five years already – but it came to her mind more times than she was willing to admit; the expectation and the disappointment (and, yeah, alright, the yelling, but she hadn’t been the only one to raise voices).

She was ten minutes into the movie when the door of the flat opened and Mary called her out.

“TV room,” she hollered back. She heard Mary dumping some groceries on the counter and taking off her shoes before entering the room.

“This better be on your profile,” Mary grumbled as she threw herself on the couch beside Lily.

“It’s on yours,” Lily answered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“You’re gonna mess up my account.”

“It’s a profile.”

“I pay for the account.”

“I pay you , so there.”

Mary snorted.

“I like a mushy movie as much as the next girl, Lily, but I haven’t had an indication that’s not a shirtless guy with a hot girl in months now,” Mary told her.

“Just use my profile, you lazy girl.”

“Your profile is all blood and gore. I don’t want to watch that either.”

“Then what do you wanna watch?”

Mary, however, didn’t answer; she snorted again, this time at the television.

“I’ve taken the liberty to arrange two auditions for you,” Mary informed Lily.

“Why, thank you! It’s very kind of you, considering that’s your job and all.”

“I mean I’ve confirmed you’re going to these two auditions.”

Liy frowned.

“I thought we had agreed I’d read the scripts and such,” she put in.

“It would be ideal, but these two sounded too good, so I confirmed them already. The scripts are on the counter. When you finish this brand new movie, read it and we’ll talk.”

Lily nodded and Mary got up to take a shower and peruse through the media regarding Lily. The red-haired was discreet, but sometimes people could be mean.

When the movie ended, Lily ordered a pizza for them. She usually followed her diet – no, not diet, her ‘nutritional suggestive guidelines’ as Mary liked yo call it – but it was Friday. She deserved a break on Fridays.

“What are these movies about, anyway?” Lily asked loudly. Mary appeared, laptop in hand, and sat besides her on the counter. “And why d’you reckon they’re that good?”

“One of them is Nolan’s,” Mary explained. Lily raised her eyebrows – since when she was Nolan material? “And the other is… a book adaptation. A mini-series, really. Three episodes, tops. They both want red-haired girls.”

Lily grinned. She might not be an Oscar-winning actress yet , but she was the top choice when the character was red-haired.

“Well, well, well,” Lily said, taking the first of the pile. “Let’s see what Nolan’s got for us.”

“Good luck with that,” Mary snorted. “I skimmed through it and I couldn’t figure out for my life what the fuck this is about.”

“Hm. Perhaps with wine, then?” Lily suggested with a grin. Mary clapped her hands together and offered to get the wine and glasses.

Lily put down Nolan’s script and picked up the one for the mini-series as Mary headed for the kitchen where they kept the glasses and the wines.

She stopped moving.

“Mary?” She called, keeping her voice steady.

Her friend-slash-agent returned, glass already full of wine stretched towards her, and a pleading smile plastered across her face.

“First of all, take a sip,” Mary said. Lily obeyed quietly – the ‘take a sip of wine’ was an easy order to follow.

“I thought we had agreed. No romances.”

“We had! I know we did! But… listen, the fan-base’s still so active. You’ll blow up ,” Mary said.

“Is blowing up even a good thing?”

“You’ve got a very nice resumé, but this will elevate you.”

“Usually people say that to the movies I already make, not Amazon romantic series,” Lily argued back.

“Your movies are great, don’t get me wrong. I mean, I get those for you,” Mary agreed.

“I thought I got them with my talent.”

“That, too. But this show will have so many viewers . It’ll break all sorts of records.”

Lily frowned.

“But, Mary…”

“I know, it’s a romance. But it’s a unique opportunity. And you’ll show all of your range! And you’ll get paid the big bucks,” Mary continued.

“You sure? This book, well, it flopped .”

Mary grinned.

“And you’re a fan ,” Lily’s chin fell with Mary’s last reasoning. “Don’t forget I was the one who pretended to like the movies so you could go to the debuts. You can stop pretending to be outraged.”

Lily sighed.

“I’ve got a reputation. And a promise. No romances after that disaster.”

Mary grimaced.

“Your reputation will be great. And we can move from that disaster. Listen, it’s one show, three or four episodes. You get rich, you get fans, you get better contracts, you get nominations.”

Lily pondered quietly. Mary made a lot of sense, actually. It could be a good thing in her professional life. Not to mention what it could mean to her personally. She quickly pictured her sister learning what mini-series she would star in and smirked.

“You’re talking as if I’d already been cast,” Lily pointed out.

“If they don’t cast you, they’re crazy. You’re perfect for the part.”

Lily mulled it over her wine. Was she any good or was Mary just being Mary?

“What about Nolan’s?”

“Psh, if you manage to understand half of what’s on screen, we’ll talk. His audition is a month away, anyway. This one’s Monday.”

“Monday?!” Lily cried out. “How am I going to learn the lines, Mary?”

Mary just smirked.

“I think you know all these lines by heart, Edythe Cullen .”

***

Although Mary joked Lily knew all the lines by heart (when, in reality she did not . Well, not for Life and Death, anyway, but Twilight wasn’t what she was auditioning for, so…), she spent the weekend reading the script.

Yeah, so maybe she knew the book more than your average Jane or Joe. Perhaps she had read it once already. Or twice. Okay, fine. Five times. 

But she knew how adaptations worked, and it could be very different. Mary wouldn’t know; her friend only pretended to like it so Lily had an excuse to attend the debuts. 

She was satisfied to see Stephenie Meyer’s approval, and the script was rather good. And if the author had approved, who was she to dislike it?

And even if her voice had any power, she would encourage the show. It was so good. 

It made her ache to be cast and it almost never happened – not that she disliked her parts, it was just this one …

She searched for audition instructions but found none, not even which scene she was expected to perform. So Lily made the responsible choice and tried to learn the lines from the more important scenes – knowing which were those wasn’t hard for her .

A true Twilight fan.

Not that anyone knew that, really.

When she became a fan as a teenager, she went in deep . Posters, books, movies, shirts, accessories… you name it and Lily had it in her room.

Until people (namely her sister and Petunia’s then boyfriend) started belittling and, well, bullying her for loving it.

She, then, started to hide her passion. She stored her merchandise in a big box in the garage and stopped talking about it. Mary was the only one who knew she still was a fan.

She supposed the whole world would know it now. If she got the role, that is.

Lily wouldn’t mind it that much if it meant she would bring Edythe Cullen to the screens.

And so she prepared for that critical Monday.

She was nervous and perhaps a bit anxious when she entered the studio for the audition. She could see at least twenty red-haired actresses, probably all there for the same part – some way prettier than her. She knew beauty was important to the character being played, but she didn’t let it get to her. 

Lily had to wait almost an hour for her turn.

There wasn’t a scenario to help her; only three producers, the director and a camera.

“Lily Evans, am I right?” Lily nodded and the woman smiled. “Hello! Nice to meet you! I’m Tricia! We’ll film your audition because we want Stephenie to approve our picks, is that alright?”

“Oh, yes, of course. No problem.”

“Great. Have you read the script?” Tricia asked.

“Yeah, I have.”

“That’s good. Our audition will be a little different from adaptations, however. We want to see if you understand the character. We want to know if you know Edythe Cullen. So I’d like you to choose a scene and perform here for us.”

Lily nodded thoughtfully.

“When can I start?”

She chose one of the last scenes of the book: Edythe making a decision when Beau got bitten by Joss in Phoenix. She knew it was a scene filled with emotion, and she hoped she had managed to show how much she had felt it when she read the book.

Tricia was smiling when she finished, and told her they would announce the results on Thursday.

“The rest of the cast has already been decided,” Tricia told her, “but it’s been kept under wraps. Our Edythe must come on Friday to do a, hm, let’s say… compatibility audition with our Beau, is that okay?”

Lily nodded; as every fan knew, in the Twilight movie this ‘compatibility audition’ had been a kissing scene. She wondered who had already been picked to be Beau, and hoped it was someone with whom she could have chemistry.

***

“Have they called yet?”

Lily sighed. Mary had asked the same thing six times in the past couple of hours – and it was a stupid question: they were together, she would see when they called.

“As you know, because you’re almost on top of me, no, they haven’t,” Lily pointed out. Mary rolled her eyes.

“I’m not almost on top of you, our legs are simply intertwined,” Mary corrected. “It worries me your notions of ‘on top of you’. You’re about to star in a romance.”

“Well, to be fair, Edythe wouldn’t be that cavalier with physical contact anyway.”

“Ugh, I hate you sometimes, Lily Evans,” Mary grumbled and took her legs away from Lily’s. They were lying down on the couch, a random Christmas movie playing on the television. “Why are we watching this? It’s September!”

“There’s never a bad time to watch Christmas movies, Mary.”

“Well, there’s a specific time to watch Christmas movies, Lily. There’s a reason they’re called Christmas movies.”

“Because they’re made for Christmas, yeah. Does that mean we can’t watch them any other time of the year? I say, no . We can watch any movie any time of the year. Christmas movies can be watched any time of the year.”

“But do you really want to watch Christmas movies during summer?” Mary was frowning. “Like, snow on the screen, sweat on your face?”

“It’s not summer now. And you’re too centered on yourself, Mary. Half of the world watches Christmas movies during summer. December is summer for the southern hemisphere.”

Lily kept talking, ignoring Mary’s eyes rolling and sighs at her very well-put arguments. At one point she raised her torso to sit and emphasis and such, making her phone drop on the floor and light up the screen.

She stopped talking and stared at the screen.

A text message from an unknown message.

Lily, this is Tricia from the Life and Death audition…

“She said she’d call whoever got the part, didn’t she?” Mary asked. Lily sighed.

“Yeah. Nothing about messages.”

They were silent for a minute.

“Aren’t you going to read it?” Mary prompted.

“I’m thinking about saving the humiliation for later. I mean, do we even have ice cream?” Lily pondered, to which Mary frowned.

“Uh, we’ve got ice and cream .”

“How’s that supposed to help me, MacDonald?”

Mary only shrugged. Lily’s phone continued on the floor, the screen now dark again.

“I really think you should read it, though. I mean, even if it’s a no, she took time from her busy day to tell you so. It’s nicer than… well, almost everywhere.”

Lily gave her an agreeing frown.

“Read it.”

“No.”

Lily got up and took the phone with her, lodging it in the back pocket of her shorts as she walked to the kitchen.

“As your agent , I’m telling you to read it,” Mary followed Lily as the red-haired girl opened the freezer. “There’s no ice cream.”

“As your employer, I’m saying, no, thank you.”

“You hire me to make professional decisions for you!” Mary reminded Lily. Damn it. Lily hated when Mary resorted to rubbish things such as logic .

“I hire you to give me professional advice . And to get me auditions,” Lily argued back, going now to their storage room. “I know I bought chocolate last time I went shopping.”

“ Advice ? Now, that’s being unfair!” Mary said. “And the last time you went shopping was a month ago, boss , you’ve already gone through all of your non-compliant-with-your-nutritional-suggestive-guidelines chocolate.”

Lily growled but kept searching. Mary rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics; she knew Lily was being like that because she had wanted the part terribly. She didn’t want to be horribly disappointed, but this childish behavior was, well… childish .

Mary cocked her head. Well, the phone was right there . If she approached Lily quietly… or if she kept Lily distracted… she might as well just… extend her arm and…

 “ Lily, this is Tricia from the Life and Death audition, ” Mary read out loud and Lily gasped, starting to run after Mary. Mary, however, had known Lily for far too long to not have started to escape Lily’s grasp the moment she began reading the message. “ I know I said I would call, but it’s mayhem over here, ” Lily managed to jump on Mary’s back and they both fell on the floor with a loud thump, “ but I hope you’ll read this in time. Tomorrow, two o’clock in the same studio you’ve auditioned. Oh, yeah. You got it! Welcome aboard, Edythe! ”

They went quiet, both staring at the phone screen. 

Then they started to scream, tangling themselves while they tried to stand up; when they were on their feet, they threw themselves on each other's arms and proceeded to fall on the floor again.

Lily was static; not even in her wildest dreams …!

And yet…

And yet, that Friday she was in the studio, now the only red-haired one waiting to see Tricia, curious about who would play her romantic interest. 

When Tricia called her in, it was all she could do to not gasp as she saw the famous writer herself in the room.

It was very hard to not be starstruck by Stephenie Meyer.

“I just wanted to see my Edythe,” she said with that kind smile. Lily nodded along.

She heard Tricia talking about how Lily hadn’t done much romance before, but they had loved the audition and thought her drama resumé would be actually helpful for portraying Edythe (Lily agreed; Edythe, much as Edward, had a flair for dramatics).

“The scene we would like you and our Beau to do for us is the one in the hospital,” Tricia said with a smile. “Very angry and such. Just as soon as he arrives. He is known for his tardiness,” she chuckled. “We’ve already seen your romantic chemistry with him, so now we want to see some arguing!”

Lily grinned, but then she frowned. Her romantic chemistry? But… last time one of her characters had had a romantic interest it had been…

But it couldn’t.

She couldn’t be that unlucky.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m here! Sorry!”

Lily didn’t need to turn to recognize who that was, but she did it nonetheless; the round glasses were the same – they were famous, even! – and the disarray of a hair was also familiar. 

When he saw her, he grinned.

When she saw him, she groaned.

“Alright, Evans?”

***

She knew he was the star of the show. She had known it because she, like half of the world, watched the show. The Marauders was very popular; a refreshing sitcom starring young people that didn’t glorify youth.

Originally, James Potter wasn’t supposed to be the star, but his charisma had won him the title. His character Prongs was charming, funny and smart – and Lily quickly discovered he was just the same.

She had a friend on the show: Severus Snape. They had done an acting class together for ten months two years before she started on The Marauders, and they still kept in touch for long after they “graduated”.

He was the one to tell Lily there would be a spot for an extra on one episode, and Lily suspected he had put on a good word for her.

Neither of them knew the future of her character – coincidentally named Flower. They didn’t know she was supposed to be Prongs’ love interest. Afterwards, Lily had a suspicion that had Severus known, he wouldn’t have told her about the part.

The first day of filming was great. The crew was very nice, the food was delicious and the people were amazing, just like she saw on the social media of the show.

Severus wasn’t a Marauder per say; he was a star, too, but his focus wasn’t on the comedy part. On that first day, she had gotten the impression he wasn’t really friends with the other four protagonists.

Boy, was she right .

Peter was that quiet sort of boy who observed a lot, laughed even more, but when he piped in it was a killer line that had everyone gasping for air. 

Sirius had the brooding man thing going on great for him – his fans agreed – but he showed very clearly he would do anything for his three friends. His remarks were sarcastic, and self-deprecating humour was his own invention.

Remus was quiet too, but you only had to talk to him for a couple of minutes to know he was a) very, very smart; b) the nicest person in the world. He had been Lily’s favorite to talk to, because his wit was very subtle and required knowledge of certain subjects that made the person feel smart to only understand what he said. His kind smile made one feel welcome and safe.

James was… well. He was loud . And boisterous. And a bit awkward, but he didn’t mind it that much, turning awkwardness into jokes and laughter. He was tall and gangly, with very pointed knees and elbows. His hair was a mess , and not only when his hand was up there as he fiddled with it. His glasses sometimes slid down to the tip of his nose, and instead of fixing it, he just threw his head back and smiled a lazy grin as he watched the person somewhat crookedly through hazel eyes. 

And yet, Lily couldn’t help but find him simply handsome. 

His awkwardness was sort of charming, just like his ridiculous pick-up lines. He claimed, after Lily pointed out how lame he sounded, he was just in character, so she thought he might be a bit smooth as well.

Needless to say, they went along just fine – they shared many tastes and opinions on movies, shows and music, and he even started listening to Arctic Monkeys because of her (a band he supposedly hated for being mainstream, but ended up buying all the albums and a leather jacket to match the AM vibe).

More than that: they went along so nicely that producers offered Lily more episodes, and she gladly took them. She hadn’t starred in her big movies by then, and this was a great opportunity to be seen and known. 

Even if she hadn’t wanted to , Mary would’ve made her do it.

One episode became two, then three, and she was filming the sixth when it happened.

It was a fun set, of course. The boys were fun. The crew was fun.

Except when Severus was there.

It hurt Lily a bit to see how the mood changed when Sev had to film. It went a bit… not so fun. She always made a point to sit with him and they would talk like they had done in those classes all those years ago, but she could sense something bothered him.

It only took one day to see it was James.

She had had no idea, of course. They all appeared in pictures together on social media and such, and everyone thought them the perfect cast. Lily hadn’t been different.

But when, on the second episode, she was talking with him, and James went by giving her a wink and throwing her a mint (“looks like you’ll finally get lucky enough to snog me today, Evans,” he had said, to which Lily rolled her eyes and told exactly who would be the lucky one of the duo), Severus’s face hardened.

“Didn’t know you were so close with him,” Severus said in a low tone. Lily shrugged.

“Oh, well. He and his lot are fun. And we are portraying a possible couple, you know? It’s better if we get along,” Lily replied. Sev didn’t comment further, but his tight lips spoke volumes.

It wasn’t, of course, one-sided. James and Sirius thought it hilarious to prank each other, but they loved to prank Severus together. Shaving cream on his chair, shaking a soda can before he drank it, wrapping his belongings in gift paper… the ideas were surprisingly ample for such a short amount of time.

There was also the small fact that they called Severus “Snivellus”, and damn Lily if she hadn’t had to use all of her acting skills to not laugh when she first heard it.

All in all, she was enjoying being a part of The Marauders , and she knew she was doing a good job.

The easiest part had been acting with James. He had incorporated his character so well that sometimes he didn’t even had a line, just some pointers about the scene and off he went, sputtering all sorts of Prongs-y gibberish.

Lily had had to up her game – if James hadn’t lines, neither did she. 

His smirk after the scenes told her how much he liked acting with her.

She had thought the romantic scenes would be the hardest, but, surprisingly, they had been very easy. Lily had James to thank for, in part. He always lightened the mood before the scene rolled, and had a huge grin and a witty comment when they finished filming.

She couldn’t help but notice that they hadn’t lines for those scenes either.

And the kiss in itself was… well. She hadn’t had a lot of technical kisses before, but she wasn’t sure if they had shared even one of those. For instance, the hand on the face was part of it, but she was positive technical kisses had less tongue, less biting of lips and none of that feeling on the pit of her stomach that asked for more – much less the little silent sigh James breathed every single time.

So not technical at all.

She hoped no one else noticed it, but Sirius’s smirk told her otherwise. 

Severus’s sneer agreed with the notion.

She reckoned she might want to talk to James about it, but she could see the producers liked those kisses. So much that she gained more and more episodes. 

On the day it happened, there had been talks to make her a regular on the show. Prongs and Flower had chemistry on the screen, and they knew the fans would love it.

Lily was radiant. She really liked Flower, and the only thing better than a job is a good job.

She left for a few minutes to redo her makeup and bumped into Severus in the hallway.

“Nice dress,” he complimented in a flat tone. Lily smiled, ignoring his sour mood.

“Thanks. Tonight’s the big night for Prongs and Flower. Perhaps if we do it just right I might stay for real,” she joked, leaving no doubt what ‘it’ meant. Severus didn’t seem to find the little anecdote funny; he just grunted.

“You’ll have no problem fooling anyone, believe me. I thought this scene was supposed to be with a closed set,” he said with a frown. Lily made a hand gesture indicating it wasn’t a problem.

“Nah, it’s only shirts off, it’s not that big of a deal,” Lily said.

Severus thinned his lips and left. Lily shrugged and continued her way to fix her makeup. She spent less than fifteen minutes away, which doesn’t sound like a lot.

But it was enough to create chaos in the set. Lily heard the yelling and sped up her step.

James and Severus were hollering, but so was everyone else, so she had no idea what was being said (shouted). Sirius was right by James, as mad as he was. 

Lily had no idea what was happening, what they were arguing about – but even from afar she saw James throwing the first punch. 

Then she saw red.

She wasn’t sure, to this day, what she had said (shouted) at James, but it had something to do with his pranks at Severus, and also about physically fighting.

She also didn’t know what he had hollered back, only that it got her even madder and it scallated until Remus pulled her aside.

Needless to say, they didn’t record anything else that day.

Not surprisingly, she didn’t receive more invitations to The Marauders . Flower stood up Prongs, who nursed a broken heart for some time (Potter, damn him, portrayed it like a champ), until he was paired up with another girl ( that she wouldn’t even talk about).

She also heard nothing else from Severus, or anyone else from the show – except for a reminder from their lawyers that she had signed a non-disclosure agreement and should not, under any circumstances, talk about what had happened at the set.

It was unnecessary, since she did her best to forget about the whole thing.

And she had succeeded (partially) until that annoying “Alright, Evans?”.

***

Lily clenched her jaw and held back a retort. From what she had learnt, he had already been cast, and she was the new one. She should play nice.

She definitely shouldn’t tell him where to shove his ‘alright, Evans?’, even if she really wanted to.

“Potter,” Lily said through gritted teeth. His grin turned to a wide smirk.

“Well, that’s a lovely surprise,” he said, running a hand through his hair. She had seen the same gesture so many times it was still very familiar even after all of these years.

“It is a surprise,” Lily’s smile was forced, but hell, she was an actress, and she would not sabotage herself.

“We were very glad when you auditioned, Lily,” Tricia said, not noticing the tension on Lily, “we’d already signed James and I was a Marauder fan. Those episodes with you were amazing. I was sad you had to leave to work on the movie, but you were brilliant at it too, so I can’t be too sorry.”

The mention of the TV show diminished Potter’s grin; perhaps he was, like Lily, remembering just the day it had ended and how convenient that movie had been for the show production.

A perfect excuse for her to leave the show.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it,” Lily replied. Tricia was beaming and Lily tried harder to look happier to be there.

They were given their lines and told to start preparing. It was a formality, they said; they knew both of them were perfect, but they had to do it.

Lily didn’t need the lines, so she put the script carefully on a chair. She didn’t notice she had been followed.

“I didn’t know you liked me to the point of auditioning for my next success,” Potter provoked her with a low whisper. Lily rolled her eyes.

“Mary picks my auditions, I didn’t know you would be in it, and I’ve got my reasons to want to be here,” she replied shortly. 

“Hm. For some reason I don’t see you as a Twilight fan,” Potter mused. Lily snorted.

“And are you ?” She challenged him with crossed arms. His grin widened.

“Heck yeah. I’ve read all of the books and seen all of the movies in the theaters. I’m a fanboy through and through. Sirius’s got the pics online to back me up, though he took them with another end in mind,” he finished with a chuckle.

Tricia called them up to start.

Lily was both glad and pissed.

Glad because she nailed the scene. She knew she had, because that was a scene that she loved and had thought a lot about – the different feelings going on Edythe in that hospital, the vibe she had to give off, her personal mission to drive Beau away. Also because Stephenie Meyer’s ( Stephenie freaking Meyer! ) face told her so.

She was pissed because dammit , it was so good to act with Potter. It was easy; she didn’t need to make an effort. It came naturally to her. He had more strict lines to follow, and yet she found it amazing that he had adapted so perfectly to Beau. He was a phenomenal actor, and she knew he was the right pick for Beau – the gangly boy with awkward manners fitted Potter like a glove. She was pissed to recognize it.

The show would be splendid.

Tricia’s expression said as much.

“That was brilliant!” She gushed when they finished. “I knew we’d gotten it right. Well, so. Filming only starts in a month. We’re announcing the show tomorrow, and your names should be out by the end of the next week. If you’d like, you can tease people with something from the saga. It will get the hype up, and we certainly want that.”

“Nice. I’ve got an old photo I can do a throwback,” Potter offered immediately. 

“I’ll come up with something,” Lily promised. 

“I don’t know if you’ve read more than the script, but we do suggest you read the book,” Tricia said with a smile. “We can get you copies. Also, we’re filling the show with scenes that happened with Edythe and Beau doesn’t know, so that’s good.”

“Kind of Edythe’s Midnight Sun?” Lily asked. They grinned at her.

“Exactly. It’s a surprise for the fans, and we didn’t want to risk it, so we didn’t add the scenes on the scripts we sent for auditions. Because of that, if you haven’t yet, we also recommend reading Midnight Sun.”

They both nodded; they both had already read it.

“Next week we need you to come here for wardrobe, hair, makeup… you guys know the drill,” Tricia continued. “James, we need to know your glasses prescription to order the contacts. Lily, you don’t need glasses, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Perfect.”

“Your eyes will look great on Edythe’s transformation scene,” Stephenie Meyer said with a smile. Lily felt the blood rushing to her face as Tricia clapped.

“I hadn’t even considered that! Amazing, really. Well, I’ll message your schedules. Thank you and congrats!”

There was excitement and happiness in the air; Lily felt them. But she couldn’t stop the tiny bit of dread when she thought about being Potter’s romantic pair again.

She didn’t like the notion, but she had a month to get over it.

She was ready to talk it out with Mary when she got home; but as she opened the flat door, red and green confetti flew on her face as people hollered “surprise!”.

It was Mary and her girlfriend Dorcas Meadowes, along with a few of their friends, a cake with a green apple on the center of the table.

Lily couldn’t help but grin widely; the small party showed how much Mary cared and was happy for her. She ate the cake, she accepted the drinks and she made a speech. 

Of course, everyone there knew the importance of keeping quiet about Lily’s new part, so Lily didn’t worry that much.

“Hey, Mary. I need you to do me a favor tomorrow…” Lily said as they cleaned up the flat after everyone but Dorcas left.

“No,” Mary replied quickly. Lily threw a plastic cup on her. “This isn’t swaying me to your side, you know?”

“You don’t even know what the favor is!”

“It does sound like I’ll need to leave the flat, so I’m not very fond of the idea…”

“Pah, it’s career-related!”

“I’ll do it on Monday, then,” Mary grinned. Lily wasn’t amused with the cheek.

“No, it’s got to be tomorrow. Otherwise he ’ll do it first,” Lily cried out. Mary finally turned to watch her friend raising both her eyebrows.

“Who’s ‘he’?”

“Beau.”

“Hm. You do know he’s fictional, right?”

Lily threw another plastic cup ignoring the yell in protest.

“I mean his actor ,” Lily explained, her annoyance clear as day.

“Oh, Lily,” Mary sighed, “how could you already have argued with him? It was one scene!”

Lily narrowed her eyes.

“First, how dare you, my agent , accuse me of starting an argument! That’s preposterous!”

“That’s based on prior events that have been happening your entire life,” Mary piped in flatly, but Lily ignored her.

“Second, it’s not my fault we hate each other. It’s his fault. It’s all his fault. Or rather; some of it is your fault.”

“My fault?” Mary exclaimed in indignation. “How can you fault me for your explosive behaviour?”

“It’s your fault you didn’t look into Beau’s actor,” Lily told her. Mary’s whole demeanor changed from outraged to curious.

“Uhh, I do love gossip. Spill it out! Who are you exchanging saliva with?!”

Lily made a face; there was no need to talk like that.

“I’ll give you a chance to figure it out, because it’s not hard. The character is dark-haired, lanky, no muscles, awkward and a bit hopeless when it comes to romance. Ring any bells?”

Mary frowned in concentration; Lily supposed the alcohol might be affecting her friend’s judgements. Or wits. Or investigative process. Or whatever.

It took Mary a few more moments than it should, but she finally gasped and widened her eyes.

“It’s not Potter !” Mary cried out, her face mixing surprise and delight.

“Oh, but it is!” Lily affirmed gravely. “To be honest, he’s sort of the perfect fit. Which I hate , because it makes so much sense. But you , as my agent, should’ve dug to know who would play Beau!”

“Would you have given up the audition had you known?” Mary asked, tilting her head sideways.

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but closed it right away. 

“Would you have given up this amazing dream-like opportunity because of an immature prick?”

“It’s not his prick I’ve got a problem with…” Lily mumbled and Mary laughed.

“Don’t be like that. I know you haven’t seen his prick,” although Mary affirmed it, her voice sounded like a challenge.

“Of course I haven’t, don’t be silly,” Lily said, rolling her eyes and blushing. Mary hadn’t mentioned anything about feeling it. Well. Potter wasn’t shy and Lily always knew their kisses weren’t totally fake. And… well… never mind.

“Have you argued already?” Mary asked when they finished throwing the cups in the trash.

“No. I mean, first I was very surprised to see him. Then I noticed he already had everyone wrapped around his finger, and I was the newcomer. But the scene we did was an argument. Does that count?”

“Were you very, very angry?” Mary pondered.

“Not really. More like annoyed. And a bit pissed because he’s good.”

“Then no.”

The two girls put the rest of the cake on the refrigerator and leaned against the counter. Mary sighed.

“Ok, what’s the favor?”

Lily beamed and hugged Mary, who just rolled her eyes.

“Dorcas is waiting for me, if you don’t spill it, I’m just gonna head back to bed,” Mary threatened.

“I need my old Twilight stuff,” Lily said quickly. “It’s in a box in the garage of my parents’ home.”

“What is the reason you cannot go?”

“Petunia’s there tomorrow and I don’t want to see her,” Lily explained with a grimace.

“And why does it need to be tomorrow, again?”

Lily sighed.

“Because they asked us to post some Twilight-related pictures and I want to show how much of a fan I was,” Lily said. “And curse Potter, he’s a fan, so he’s got a bunch of material. I want to get an old one, perhaps one from a midnight showing, or that one of me on the line for the tenth-anniversary edition.”

“Why didn’t I receive these instructions?” Mary crossed her arms to seem stern and professionally irritated, but she missed her elbows a couple of times and all of the composure she had aimed for fell through.

“Because you weren’t there. It’s a publicity stunt.”

“I know it is. I should have known about this,” Mary said.

“Have you checked your email since five in the afternoon?” Lily asked with a level of patience she didn’t know she still possessed.

“No.”

“You might start with that, then. Good night and have a nice hangover.”

***

“Are you finished?”

James sighed when he heard Sirius asking the same question for what felt like the millionth time.

“Nearly,” he replied, still frowning at his phone screen.

They were at their home; James occupied the couch while Sirius cooked something in the kitchen. Remus was sitting on a chair, a book in his hand, and Peter sat on the other watching television.

“You’ve been on that phone for two hours, now,” Remus noticed. “Any particular reason?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a very important job,” James told him. “It’s work related.”

Sirius’s snort was so loud it stole Peter’s attention from the Animal Planet documentary.

“ Work related ? You’re sending a text, for Christ’s sake!” Sirius cried out with a cackle. James hated this particular laugh of his best friend very much – he usually used it while making fun of James.

“A text? How is that work related? Is it to your father?” Peter asked. Fleamont Potter had been their manager since the beginning. He still was James’s and Sirius’s, since Peter and Remus had quit the TV rout.

“It’s for my co-star,” James mumbled.

“Do you really think it wise to flirt with her before filming starts? Shouldn’t you at least get to know her or something?” Remus asked in a skeptical tone.

Sirius, once again, laughed that damn cackle.

“I’m not flirting with her,” James retorted, but Sirius left the kitchen, some cooking instrument (that James couldn’t for his life say what was because he couldn’t cook a single meal) in his hand.

“He already knows her,” Sirius said. He was, James pondered, enjoying the situation far too much.

Was there no more… empathy between best friends? Shouldn’t Sirius be comforting James, instead of making his hellish life? At the very least not making fun of him, that’s for sure.

“How come?” Peter asked, eyes still on the rugby game.

“Because… it’s Lily Evans .”

It happened all at once: Remus lowered his book, eyebrows so high they were hidden by his fringe; Peter looked at Sirius, mouth slightly agape and running elephants forgotten; and James groaned loudly, throwing the nearest object (his phone) at Sirius.

He missed quite spectacularly; he was good with a ball on his feet, but he couldn’t throw to save his life.

Sirius, still smirking, took the phone from the floor (the screen had already been cracked beyond worry) and used the password to see what his friend had managed so far.

“‘ When r u posting ur pic ?’” Sirius read out loud, and James felt his cheeks glowing. “That took you three hours ?”

“I didn’t say I was done!” James cried out.

“Sure. If I’d given you a couple more hours what would you have added? ‘ It’s James, btw ’?” That damn cackle .

James prefered not to answer. For one, yes, maybe he was planning on identifying himself in the text. And also… he would’ve called himself ‘Potter’. That’s what Evans called him, anyway.

It was only logical. It had been ages since they had texted, and she might’ve changed her phone and lost her contacts. Or something of the sort.

“You’re texting Evans ?” Peter asked in disbelief. “ Why ?”

“Because,” James said, taking his phone from Sirius, “we’ve got to post something related to Twilight. I was thinking of using one of the pictures Sirius posted of me crying while reading New Moon. But I wanted to coordinate with her, so we’d post at the same time.”

“Do you even know she’ll see your message?” Remus asked. “I mean, for all we know she might’ve blocked your number.”

James paled; he hadn’t considered that possibility. Judging by the way Sirius and Peter laughed, neither had them.

“She hasn’t,” James disagreed weakly. “If she had, in the past, for no good reason at all, she should unblock me. I am her co-star, after all.”

“She had good reason,” Remus reminded him.

“She doesn’t know everything that happened,” James bit back.

“Yes, so for what she’s seen, she had a very good reason. She only saw the punch.”

“She shouldn’t make assumptions,” James insisted.

“She wasn’t allowed to know what really happened,” Remus said sternly. 

James sighed. He absolutely despised how things had ended with Evans. Not only because he had harbored a gigantic crush on the girl (though it had been a major factor), but also because it cast a bad light on his friends too.

He had wanted to tell her that she hadn’t known the whole story, that some big facts were missing, but his contract had forbidden him.

It had also forbidden more important things, so he had focused on these.

He had seen her movie career skyrocketing. He had watched all of her movies, and cried at a few. He knew firsthand how great of an actress she had always been, and he wasn’t surprised with what she had delivered. 

Perhaps sometimes there was that nagging thought torturing him: ‘ what if that stupid grease-ball hadn’t ruined everything? What if they had had a real chance? ’.

He usually shut down that voice; it made no good to dwell on the past and forget to live.

But when he received an email the previous day informing him just who his co-star would be, he failed at reigning in his imagination for a few moments (or a couple of hours. Who was counting, really?).

When they had faced each other, it was easy to see she hadn’t been warned about him . It didn’t matter; he knew he wouldn’t receive a warm welcome.

He knew that that possibility had been buried years ago on that fiasco of a filming day, so now he only hoped he could construct a civil relationship with Evans.

With that in mind, he sent the text ( with his identification) and waited for the answer, phone in hand while Sirius snorted and went back to the kitchen. No one really thought Sirius would be a good cook (people usually bet on Remus), but damn him, his food was brilliant.

Remus had stopped acting altogether. He was now in college, studying to become a director – he preferred that side of the camera. Peter discovered a talent for musical TV shows and had been presenting one for a long time now. Sirius, on the other hand, had been called to be a guest on a cooking show and had loved it so much that he had started his own YouTube channel about cooking. He hadn’t quit acting altogether, but he had to find something he really enjoyed to accept the offer.

When James’s phone vibrated (he had put it on silent mode), he pretended his heart hadn’t raced.

30min. Why?

He sighed. No hostility, at least.

Reckoned we could coordinate. Can u let me know the time?

There, this was polite, wasn’t it?

Ok.

Two letters, but no caps lock, no name-calling.

He considered it a success.

“Fucking hell, stop smiling , Prongs,” Sirius called him out. “For all we know, she still hates you.”

James just shrugged.

“We’re co-stars. We need to get along.”

“You’ll probably not get along as well as you might wish,” Sirius warned him.

He wanted to flick best mate, but he knew he couldn’t. Not when that stupid moron was right.

***

Lily knew what that bastard was trying to do, and she wasn’t falling for that. He would not get a rise out of her. That was low, even from him. 

Pft. Coordinate . Joke’s on him, though. She wouldn’t give up her part.

The public had gone wild with her picture; she chose to post two: one of her in line to get her Life and Death copy, a shy grin that couldn’t hold back all of her excitement; and the second of her sitting on the floor with the box filled with Twilight paraphernalia. The caption had been “ how was YOUR twilight phase (yes everyone had a twilight phase)? ”.

Of course, there were some vicious replies (like ‘ twilight is worse than my son’s stinking diaper ’) and questioning her judgment (‘ how can u like this shit ’) or even some sexist ones (‘ knew i shouldn’t trust a chick ’, and ‘ it had 2 b a bitch ’).

But most of the response had been positive: many of the people commented about their own Twilight phase, their favorite books and movies, their treasured memories and so on. It already was one of her most commented posts on instagram, and the number of replies and quote tweets were huge too.

And then she got curious about his approach; she held back a frustrated scream. The bastard had mentioned her when he posted his photo: it was of him crying with New Moon in his hands and the caption read ‘ @lilevans mine was intense (it felt like he broke up with us all didn’t it?) ’.

It had been a very good one (hence the held back frustrated scream). Lily got curious and decided to peruse his comments and replies. It was a lot like hers, but even more judgemental (‘ ain’t that a chick’s book ’) and some downright offensive (‘ always knew you were a lil fag ’), which she hoped to God he would report because homophobia was definitely not okay.

“That was very well done,” Mary said as she entered Lily’s bedroom. “James’s post, I mean. It creates a hype, but as the two of you have acted together, it’s not so suspicious.”

Lily just grunted. This little fact had her in bad mood too: because they had acted together, some of their fans had suddenly recalled they looked cute as a couple (Lily scoffed just to remember that, fuck, maybe they did, but that gone down the drain, hadn’t it?) and their pairing ( Jily ) was making a comeback that night.

Conveniently, people had forgotten about the other pairing very quickly.

Mary knew better than to comment on the matter.

“Yeah, it was,” Lily agreed begrudgingly. Mary hid her grin.

“Did you send him what you were posting?”

“No. He wanted to coordinate , and asked me to warn him when I was about to post. Then he must have changed his mind and posted that instead.”

“Well, that was very well done of him,” Lily’s reply was a scowl.

Mary laid down on Lily’s bed beside her.

“Lily. The pairing comments will reappear. You must have known that when you accepted the job.”

She hadn’t. 

Well, she had forgotten, at least.

“There’s still time to back down,” Mary reminded quietly.

“I’m not backing down. I want to be Edythe.”

“Then stop moping and celebrate your first successful marketing piece for the show.”

Mary was right, of course. She usually was right.

She pretended she didn’t see ‘jily’ as a trending topic on Twitter, but she was glad to see many people commenting that her withdrawal from The Marauders had been sad, that she had rocked the show.

Not that much when the photos and videos from Flower and Prongs surfaced. Damn, there was nothing technical about those kisses, and everybody knew it.

It had taken about thirty minutes after the announcement about the show for the first person to piece two and two together and suspect Potter and her as the main characters. Neither of them said anything online; no one had told anything about the revelation.

They sent out an email later that Sunday warning them to keep quiet for a little while. That was fine by Lily.

Her week passed by smoothly. She stayed home a lot to do what she had called research (judging by Mary’s face, Lily fooled no one): she decided to re-read and re-watch everything Twilight-related.

“I could use some inspiration. I want to see everything, to know what to do or not to do. I also want to enter Edythe’s mind, and it can only be done by reading both Life and Death and Midnight Sun,” Lily justified. Mary laughed.

“I’d believe you if I didn’t think you know all the lines by heart, Lily. But please, do go on. Someone might buy it.”

She actually went on. She made some notes on the script about ideas and thoughts and how to relate the books, about how Edythe might act based on Edward’s behaviour and the differences between the two of them. 

She loved to get immersed in the character she would be portraying. It made her acting much easier; she got to understand the character’s mind. And now, with everything that was to know about Edythe, it was a longer but even better job.

It took her whole week, to be honest. And she didn’t really see the time passing – Mary had to wake her up on Friday for the makeup and figurine test. 

“You’re lucky they’re doing your makeup. You look awful,” Mary said gleefully. 

“Joke’s on you, Edythe’s supposed to look tired,” Lily argued as she downed her coffee in a single gulp. Mary was ready to go, just waiting for Lily to finish so they could head over to the studio.

They managed to not be late (which was a good thing, because Lily was very dedicated to be more well-liked than Potter), but with just a couple of minutes to spare. The crew was already expecting them, all smiles and excitement. 

In truth, excitement was the word of the day. Lily got hauled up quickly to a dressing room that had a plaque written “Edythe Cullen” on it.

There were a lot of clothes and Lily stopped to peruse through them. They had done a very good job, in her humble opinion. 

“Hi! I’m Aurora Sinistra! I’m responsible for your closet and makeup!”

She had a clearly dyed grey hair, spiky, and a very kind voice. Her welcoming smile was wide, and Lily knew right then they would get along splendidly.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Aurora.”

They started talking and Aurora showed Lily what the producers had in mind for Edythe’s makeup, how the makeup and the costume would complement each other.

“ This might be uncomfortable,” Aurora said with a slight grimace when she finished the makeup. Lily opened her eyes to see contacts. “Now, let’s first try the golden ones because they’re the most iconic, then we’ll go for the black and crimson.”

Aurora taught Lily how to put the contacts herself. It was a weird feeling, but it didn’t really bother her.

She hadn’t been allowed to look in the mirror; they wanted her dressed first. Lily was as excited as Aurora as they picked an outfit.

But nothing prepared her for seeing herself as Edythe fucking Cullen . She looked amazing. She looked the part, really. 

Well, she did when she managed to wipe the tears that watered her eyes (but never fell or ruined the makeup). 

“You look fantastic,” Aurora whispered. “Come on. They’re waiting for us.”

She wasn’t lying; there were about twenty people in the common area chatting. They stopped talking when they heard Aurora clearing her throat, and turned to see them coming.

The first grin had been Mary’s, but the rest followed quickly, and Lily was sure she heard a couple of gasps.

Approved, it seemed.

She was asked to take some pictures, and Lily complied. It crossed Lily’s mind quickly that Potter wasn’t there. 

“He arrives late,” Mary muttered to Lily when she finished the photos. “He must be arriving in a few minutes.”

Lily shrugged; it didn’t matter to her.

Just a bit, maybe.

Their team, she decided when Potter arrived, was good. His hair was a bit shorter than what she had imagined Beau’s to be, but the rest was simply flawless. 

It was a bit annoying, to be honest.

After they took photos of him, Lily was asked to join Potter. She held back her sigh, and smiled, but he must have noticed it, because he smirked.

“So nice to see we’ll be a brilliant couple,” he teased her. Lily rolled her eyes.

“Never had a problem pretending with you before,” she replied quietly. Potter frowned.

“Well, I can tell when it’s real or not, you know?” He pushed, the flashes going crazy around them.

“Bully for you. Can you also not punch people?”

He looked at her intensely and signed.

“You’re not being fair,” he said. “You don’t know the whole story.”

“Enlighten me, then!”

“I can’t.”

Lily looked at him. Potter was squirming, which wasn’t that uncommon, but he was clearly bothered by something.

“Well, when you find something decent you can do, let me know, yeah?”

Potter’s mouth turned into a grim line as he stopped smiling for the first time.

“What I can do is not let past altercations interfere with my current job,” he jabbed quietly. Lily looked at him again, and then smiled.

“Then we are two,” she replied.

They managed to smile a bit, then they were asked for more in character photos, always with someone dictating their positions. She was used to being ordered around for photoshoots.

“It’s for the cast announcement,” someone told them. Lily just nodded along and focused on not showing her displeasure for being so near Potter.

“Now, James and Lily, face each other. That’s it. Ok, a bit closer. Brilliant. Now, James, both hands around her waist. Go on, now. That’s it. Lily, I need you to cradle James’s face. Just the one hand is enough. Nice. James, give me a lovey-dovey expression. Very nice. Lily, loving the pained face. That’s very Edythe-y. Ok, just a couple more now. James, touch your forehead with Lily’s. Perfect. Now, close your eyes. Both of you. Amazing. I’ve got literal chills.”

Lily only opened her eyes after Potter had backed away. It was just so… infuriating that the physical attraction was still there. She wanted it gone. She wanted it buried under a bazillion pounds of dirt and old stuff.

But her waist still tingled even after he had let her go.

“You’re crazy,” Mary told her when she unloaded her disdain. “Physical attraction to him is good for the series. You’re definitely going to use it.”

“Yes, but…” Lily whined. Mary glared at her sternly.

“Now, you listen to me, Lily Evans. What happened was years ago. I understand you were very upset about him punching Snape, and how you think he cost you the permanent part, but you need to move on now. You’ll need to be a couple again. Not hating his guts might be a good idea.”

Lily squirmed. She had been sure that Potter had asked the show producers to not make Flower a regular character after they screamed at each other. It was the logical explanation, after all of the rumours she had heard.

And honestly, everything that came after didn’t (shouldn’t) matter.

“But…”

“Besides, you can’t be that certain it was his fault. Or that those rumours were even true. Flower’s absence was very well done and explored. It might have been their intention since the beginning. You can’t possibly know.”

Lily frowned but didn’t reply. Mary was right, of course, but the whole thing had stung so badly that she let her rage blame Potter for everything. 

Was she wrong?

Well, maybe.

But whatever. Too late now.

“Just try to keep your mind open, alright?”

***

She tried. Not that much, mind you, but she did. A couple of weeks had passed when the cast began to be announced. The official Twitter account started with other characters: Alastor Moody would play Charlie Swan, while Hestia Jones would bring Carine to life. Everyone rejoiced as Marlene McKinnon and Arabella Figg were announced as Julie and Bonnie Black, respectively: they were both Quileute and would give the representativity that should have happened since the first movie back in 2008.

But people were anxious to know who their Beau and Edythe would be, and the hype was increasing more and more, until the production released one of the pictures from the photoshoot: they weren’t very recognizable because the light had been dimmed and they were mostly silhouettes, but she knew it was them anyways.

Again, it didn’t take much time until the fandom connected Lily and Potter, and the next moment there were people trying to measure the height of the silhouettes to compare with theirs.

Lily was impressed with the dedication.

The mystery lasted two days, when they officially announced Lily Evans and James Potter as Edythe Cullen and Beau Swan. This time they posted two pictures: one of James sitting on the chair with Beau’s name on it and looking back with a huge grin (a very dorky grin, Lily thought to herself), and the other of Lily showing the plaque of her dressing room with a proud smile – that one had been taken by Mary after the photoshoot.

Production told them to update their bios on social media – something mentioning their parts – and to acknowledge the announcement.

Potter, damn him, quoted the photos and added “ never thought I’d get this far, and yet here I sit. Excited to play Beau on Life and Death and glad to work with the very talented @lilevans again! ”.

The Jily shippers had gone absolutely mad (the other shippers… well…). Pictures, videos and drawings of the two of them surfaced online at an alarming speed. She barely had time to post before she had been tagged on at least a hundred fanarts.

“ If you can’t be with them, become them. Edy Cullen, here I come! ” was what she had wanted to post, but she stopped and reckoned she should acknowledge Potter too. She just had to.

“ My fourteen-year-old self would be screaming and crying if she saw me now. Let’s give her a reason to holler, @jamesfpotter! ”

After she posted, Mary pointed out that it might have a double meaning, but she didn’t care. She was supposed to be friendly, wasn’t she? She was doing her best.

Her parents called that same day to congratulate her; they both remembered how much she loved Twilight and were so very happy for her getting to be a part of it! Petunia, of course, had nothing good to say, but Lily couldn’t care less.

She read a lot of criticism: how her hair was too red, that she wasn’t pretty enough, that they would have a lot of work to do, that she was wasting her talent, that she wasn’t talented enough…

Lily decided to ignore all of that and focus on her job. They had received the full script and she was salivating to start filming. For a Twilight fan, being able to read this before everyone else was a gigantic privilege.

And damn her if she wasn’t going to enjoy it.

***

She knew it was silly, but she was crying nonetheless. It was silly because she had already read that book (more than once, by the way), and she knew it by heart.

And yet, she was crying.

She couldn’t help herself; Midnight Sun always did that to her.

And it was very bad, but it was her fault. She was aware, of course, that crying in public was a huge mistake for an actress, because of paparazzi and such. But she deserved it, because she knew she was going to cry, and yet she insisted on reading on the subway, and she had no one to blame but herself if pictures of her, puffy eyes and runny nose, colored the internet.

Mary said she was exaggerating, as she tended to do before important occasions.

“Remember when you said your life was over because you spilled some ketchup on the shirt you planned to wear for your press conference?” Mary laughed.

Lily rolled her eyes and slammed the door to her bedroom, irritated about Mary’s recollection and mad because her friend was right.

Next Monday, mere FIVE days away, she would start shooting Life and Death. She was nervous; of course she was. It was like a dream coming true.

And yes, maybe (just maybe) she was a bit more nervous because of… well, Potter.

She was uncertain about how they would behave together. If she could just put it all behind her and forget that it had been his fault ( probably ) that she had lost the permanent part on The Marauders.

And, of course, that they had lost whatever they had going on between them.

So when Monday arrived, she was understandably nervous. She checked her purse five times before leaving, and had to think and remember whether or not she was wearing underwear.

Before entering the studio, she took a deep breath.

This was it. 

***

Of course, Lily had had no reason to be so nervous. She admitted it to herself later. The first day was all about getting to know the rest of the cast, learning the schedule for the filming and sharing thoughts regarding the story and the script.

All in all, a good day.

They would, Lily learned, start with more mellow scenes; no romance or fight right at the beginning. School scenes, Beau and Charlie, perhaps some flashbacks from Edythe.

It was fine by Lily; it meant less interaction with Potter, at least until they got used to each other. Again, anyway.

They greeted each other from afar at first, both making the rounds with the rest of the cast. They had received a list of everyone’s characters previously, and Lily had tried very hard to memorize it, and was very glad that she had talked to everyone knowing just who they were.

She also made an effort to get to know the whole crew; they would be her best friends when she needed a break from filming without leaving the set.

Obviously she had approached Potter eventually. Lily knew everyone wanted this encounter to happen – they all wanted to see their star couple together. It was funny, because no one seemed to know that this relationship had a strain.

Well, no one apart from the other three.

“If I’d known we could’ve brought friends, Mary would be here,” Lily said with a smirk as she reached the group. “Now I look like a lonely fool.”

“Evans!” Black cried out jovially. Lily smiled involuntarily; his joy was contagious. “It’s been so long! How have you been?”

“Good. Making some people cry. The usual,” she replied with a shrug.

“Yes, I’ve seen your movies, they were amazing,” Black complimented. Lily faked a frown, exaggerating to show she was joking.

“Oh, yeah, there were those too,” she agreed. Black laughed.

“I missed this humor. Please keep it up so I can drive Prongs nuts at home while you do it at work,” he asked her. Lily’s grin faltered as she looked quickly at her co-star, but returned to place as she saw the others.

“So what are you doing here? I know there was nothing about bringing friends on our instructions,” Lily insisted. She was a bit curious.

“I’m, uh, actually interning here,” Lupin explained. “I’m in college now.”

“That’s amazing! Welcome aboard, then!” She exclaimed, then frowned. “Wait, you probably got the internship before I got the part, right?”

Lupin chuckled.

“Yeah. It’ll be nice to work with you again, Lily.”

“I’m here because I’m doing a segment for my YouTube channel about the food served on sets,” Black said, nodding to the treats table. Lily narrowed her eyes at his explanation

“Anyone who actually works here aware of that? Sounds like you’re gonna badmouth their production.”

“See? I love this,” Sirius chuckled. “Yeah, it’s all cleared, dearest Flower.”

Lily winked at him as she turned to Pettigrew.

“And you’re not looking for musical talent, are you? Because let me tell you, I’m awesome .”

“Uh, no. Sirius said there’d be food,” Pettigrew shrugged. Black rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, idiot. You’re my cameraman .”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Pettigrew said, getting his phone. “Let me know when I should start filming.”

Black sighed exasperatedly, and Lily cracked a grin. She missed this lot (if she blamed Potter for the whole fallout thing, that is – which she did).

Now she had a choice to make: she could continue with this feud and pretend Potter wasn’t even there, or she could engage with him and try for peace.

“And you are…?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows, to let him be absolutely sure she was teasing him, as she had done with the others.

“The star of the show, of course,” he replied with a cocky smirk.

So peace wasn’t an option, then.

“Wow, really? Tell your partner I feel sorry for her, will you?”

His smirk was still in place.

“Reckon she’s a rather lucky girl. She’ll get to kiss me, won’t she? Little bird says you know the experience first hand…”

So not an option.

“I know. That’s why I feel sorry for her,” it was Lily’s turn to smirk. Black muttered a ‘nice’, but Potter didn’t stop grinning.

“Always a pleasure talking to you, Evans,” Potter said. “Should we take a group selfie? For old time’s sake?”

She smiled.

“Sure, co lleague. Why not?”

Potter laughed at the emphasis she used on ‘co’; a not so subtle reminder that they were, in fact, costars. 

“Perhaps just us, now?” He suggested. His friends backed away as Lily turned to him.

“Of course. I never say no to a fan,” she said sweetly. Potter laughed again, a weird shine on his eyes Lily had seen before when they filmed The Marauders before.

She hadn’t realised then, of course, that there were other people watching them (if she had to be honest, the both of them had a tendency to ignore the outside world when they interacted, and by ‘outside’, she really meant anyone who wasn’t the both of them).

And by ‘watching’, she really meant taking a lot of pictures.

Like, a lot .

They were on the internet that same night, multiple photos of them. There were some with the other three boys, and a few more of the whole cast and crew.

But, damn, the photos of the both of them…!

Not only they dominated the overall number of pictures, obfuscating the group photos, they looked as if  they actually liked each other on those.

It was the grins, she decided as she looked at the pictures on her computer, eleven in the night. They were grinning at each other. She tried to remember when they were grinning at each other and failed. She had laughed at him, and they had smirked, but not at the same time. Not that she could recall, anyway.

Mary, the traitor, told her they had that tendency.

“You look rather cute together, actually,” Mary added.

“Which side are you on, anyway?”

“The side that gets you paid so I get paid. Get over it, weirdo.”

She, of course, hadn’t gotten over it. More like she had gotten all over it , obsessively. 

They didn’t look that cute together, right?

According to @james-hottest, @potter6969 and @evanspotter4ever, they truly did. And much more. 

And people felt it was a good time to either relive old fanarts or create new ones, and that’s when she opened the wine.

Filming was only in the afternoon the next day, anyway.

And well… speaking objectively, they looked good together. They looked like they were having fun and all. Like they were friends.

That one photo of him checking out her breasts looked like they were a bit more than friends – and the internet was being very vocal about it.

He had sent her a text about it.

Sorry 4 that 1 pic

Lily wasn’t aware what in the world he was talking about, but Black sent her the pic seconds later.

That had been unexpected.

Control yourself, perv.

After that she spiralled into the internet, and suddenly the wine was gone and she was cursing herself for going into the rabbit hole when they clearly had unresolved issues no matter how nice they looked together – and the internet clearly had no idea about aforementioned unresolved issues, judging by the things written about them.

That last one might have been Mary’s when she put Lily to bed with a huge glass of water and her famous anti-hangover mix. 

***

It was fun . The whole set was fun. She loved filming, even more than she had in any other movie she had been on. Everyone was carefree, loving and funny, but when it was work time, they got it done.

Her first ever scene was with Alice Longbottom, who would play Eleanor. Lily was amazed how nice the other woman was, and how good of a fit they made. It was one of the scenes that wasn’t in the book, and the Twilight fan on her screamed in delight.

The first scene she shared with Potter was the one in the hospital, the same from the auditions. It was amazing to see how much the clothes and makeup made a difference.

Potter had been joking around before they started and he winked at her direction before approaching her.

“Good morning, co-star. Anxious to start filming with me again?” He asked with a grin. Lily forced a smile back.

“Good morning, co-star. Are you going to keep your eyes where they should be?”

Potter’s grin widened, but he had the decency to flush and scratch his head.

“I’m sorry for that, Evans. Won’t happen again. I think.”

Lily rolled her eyes as he chuckled. Potter put his hands on his pockets, and looked serious for the first time.

“But are we really okay for this?” He asked, uncertainty tinting his tone.

“What? Arguing on screen? Sure we are,” she said. Potter gave her a half smile (damn him, he was adorable).

“Good, then. Let’s go?”

Then they filmed the famous biology class scene. Not that she told anyone, but she used the memory of that yelling match from years ago to canalize the necessary anger. 

She also did one with the whole Cullen family, and a few introspective ones (and how she loved those!). She watched Potter doing some scenes too, and she particularly liked the ones with Jules – Marlene McKinnon not only was a great actress, but also a great girl to hang out with. Lily learnt a lot about the real Quileute people and the changes they did on the series.

Marlene joined Lily and Mary on a spontaneous Thursday night out, and they had a brilliant time. After a couple of drinks (or six), Mary ended up talking about Lily’s and Potter’s old feud. 

“How are you going to do the romantic scenes and stuff?” Marlene asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Shhh, don’t ask things that might cost me money!” Mary exclaimed as the two of them giggled.

“I don’t think kissing him’s gonna be a problem,” Lily answered nonetheless. “I mean, I do think the idiot’s attractive.”

“Well, that’s not what I mean,” Marlene continued with a frown, “you know as well as I do that there’re a lot of romantic interactions between Edythe and Beau and pretty few kisses. It’s more feelings and stuff than making out. And please remember that Edythe is pretty melancholic and devoted to the frail human.”

Lily felt her chin falling in surprise.

“Oh, no,” she groaned.

“You seriously hadn’t considered that?” Marlene snorted.

“What does it look like?” Lily grumbled as the two other girls laughed. “Anyway, what does it matter? We’re far from any scene like that anyway.”

“Uh, miss Edythe? Haven’t you read the group? Alice’s got the flu, you can’t film with her, Hestia and Benjy tomorrow. It's not the flashback of Eleanor’s transformation anymore. You’re doing lunch after Port Angeles tomorrow. The feelings talk in the cafeteria? ‘Do you really believe you like me more than I like you?’ or whatever?”

Lily groaned again.

“I had a problem with my contacts, I haven't checked my phone since lunchtime. Why am I here if I’ve got a whole scene to do tomorrow?”

“Because you’re a star?” Mary risked it.

“Nice try. Marley, this has been crazy fun, up until you started making fun of me, but apparently I’ve got some lines to learn,” Lily said, signaling for the check too.

She was a bit too drunk to read the script that night, but her alarm rang pretty early the next morning. She might have gotten late to the set, but at least she knew all the lines.

Not that it mattered, really. The scene was a disaster. 

At first, the crew laughed it off when Lily couldn’t deliver the line with the right amount of emotion. She gave them a half-smile and shut her eyes, trying to concentrate again. 

It happened again four more times.

“Uh, are you alright, Evans?” Potter asked in a low voice.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Really? Because we’ve done this before and…well, it wasn’t like that.”

“Well, I know we did, and a lot of things happened after we did it, or am I remembering it wrong?” Lily spat out, angrily.

Potter widened his eyes but was interrupted from answering by the crew.

They asked if everything was alright, and although Lily guaranteed them it was, they suggested postponing the filming.

“It’s just a very important scene, and we need it to be perfect,” they told her. They looked worried as they watched the hostility between their stars (to be fair, toward Potter from Lily). Had they noticed it wasn’t the first time Lily couldn’t be nice to Potter? By their looks, they had.

And she nodded, but she felt terrible because she let her personal life affect her acting, and that was too much for her to take lightly. So Lily did the healthy thing: locked herself in her bedroom and wallowed in self-pity for a couple of hours, enjoying the bad weather that matched her mood.

Until, of course, she got the text message.

She wasn’t actively checking her phone; her Wallowing in a Pit of Despair (™) routine included popcorn, wine and old romantic comedies (in Mary’s profile, of course), which meant she preferred to look at the TV rather than her cell phone, and being the Millennial she so proudly was, the phone had been in silent mode since she had bought it.

But at some point she did check the phone, and there was the text.

storm’s bad ain’t it

Had Potter really texted her about the weather ? Like, about the rain?

She looked out the window. It was pouring terribly, but she could see that a bit afar the weather wasn’t so bad. Lily checked Twitter, it wasn’t raining that much in other points of the city. So maybe she should pretend it wasn’t, so she didn’t give away too much to him?

Like her general address.

the wonders of weather and distance

it’s not raining at my flat

It was an outright lie, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Lily didn’t think Potter would do anything too crazy. Right?

Right.

She was about to put the phone away, happy to have solved that one problem, when the screen brightened again.

wow it’s rlly wonderful

just imagine

raining at the door of ur condo but not in ur specific flat

truly amazing

Lily didn’t even gasp; she just stared at the screen until it went dark again.

At the door–?

what are you doing at the door of my condo?!

What the actual fuck was that stupid twit doing?

Her condo ?!

getting wet, apparently

come on, let me in

we need to talk

Perhaps they did need to talk (they definitely needed to talk), but that’s not what motivated her to get up from her bed, blanket and all, and allowed him upstairs.

“Hey, Evans!” Potter greeted cheerfully. Lily quickly noticed he was wearing the same clothes he had gone to the studio earlier that day, and he was, in fact, soaked.

“How d’you know where I live?” Lily asked quickly, crossing her arms.

“Jeez, Evans. Good evening to you too.”

“Who told you where I live?” She tried again.

“What? That blanket’s for me? I’d love that, thanks,” he said, pouting. Lily narrowed her eyes, but pity took the best of her and she threw the blanket at him.

Just pity. Not because he looked adorable or anything with his hair falling over his forehead and his fogged up glasses. Not at all.

“Did you follow me here?” Lily asked.

“What? Of course not. I’m not that much of a stalker,” he said with a smirk. Lily rolled her eyes.

“What d’you want to talk ab–” she tried to pretend she couldn’t even imagine what had been wrong but then frowned. “Wait, not ‘ that much’ of a stalker? Just how much of a stalker are you, Potter?”

“Uh, what do you consider to be a stalker?” He stalled.

“Following around, digging up social networks, taking unwanted pictures… that sort of thing.”

“Huh. Basically a paparazzi, then?”

“Yeah, they’re remarkably stalkerish.”

“I’d have to agree. They’re getting worse everyday, aren’t they? I saw those pictures of you, McKinnon and MacDonald out yesterday,” Potter said, mentioning the photos that had surfaced earlier that day. “At least, they’re very flattering. You reckon they picked the best ones or are you just that photogenic?”

“Potter.”

“Yeah?”

“How did you find out where I live?” Lily asked pointedly. Potter grimaced.

“Ah. And here I thought I’d managed to divert you completely.”

“Not even close.”

“Well, not stalking you, that is.”

“I swear to GOD, Potter…!” Lily exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

“I looked into your file,” Potter admitted sheepishly. Lily’s eyes widened and Potter used the shock to enter her house and sit on a chair, using the blanket to dry his hair.

“That’s stalking!” She cried out.

“Nah, ah! It wasn’t on your little list!” He argued back. Lily approached him in quick steps, but she got too close – again it hit her how terribly adorable he was with his hair wet and all over the place.

“Alright. Never mind. What’s done it’s done,” she said with a sigh, stepping back to safety.

“That’s the spirit, Evans!” Potter yelled with a grin.

“Ok. So what’s so important that compelled you to invade my home and privacy?”

Potter looked at her eyes intently, the grin disappearing. He cleared his throat, wet his lips and sighed.

“Because, Evans, we’re portraying a couple and you can’t stand to be more than polite to me. And I understand why, so I feel like I owe you an overdue explanation. Better late than never, right?”

Lily froze for a second, unable to speak. Was he talking about what she thought he was?

“I…” she stuttered. Potter raised both his eyebrows and she sighed. “Would you like some hot chocolate?”

***

“So you’re trying to tell me that Snape’s a racist piece of crap?” Lily asked, a bit dumbstruck.

“Really, this isn’t big news, you know? He’s been in a lot of controversy after The Marauders ended,” Potter told her gently, and sipped his cup of hot chocolate.

“I tried very hard to not see news about any of you, to be honest,” Lily explained, arms crossed and not looking at him. “I… the way I had to leave… the whole thing sucked a lot for me. I’d been told that very same day they were considering making me a regular. Then it all went down and… I just received a notice to keep my mouth shut,” and, of course, the way he appeared to have moved on so quickly, both on and off screen.

“If it makes you feel better, we got the memo too,” Potter tried to joke, but it fell flat on Lily. “They cared too much about having the perfect cast ,” he said ironically, “and they couldn’t handle anyone knowing Snape called Remus a sick, poor, waste of space, and used the n-word.”

“It’d certainly get bad recognition for the show,” Lily agreed half-heartedly. She was still in shock. She had never imagined Snape might be like that, after such a long time of friendship.

“I’m a hothead, always have been, and I do have the tendency to act first, think later,” Potter continued, “but I really don't reckon I was in the wrong in that one,” he considered, watching Lily through his glasses.

“Hm, no. Now that I know it all, it’s probably a well-deserved punch. Forty percent deserved, at least,” she judged, making Potter crack a grin. They went quiet for a couple of minutes, thinking and drinking the hot beverage. 

“I just…” Potter started and frowned.

“What?”

“I just never understood why you were so mad,” he admitted. Lily raised her eyebrows and he rushed to explain. “Of course, I knew in part, and I knew I had to back away for a bit because they made me not tell you what had happened, or they’d fire Remus. But you completely despised me until… well, today, hopefully. We just… the both of us got along splendidly,” he said, and hesitated, looking down at Lily again. She noticed a faint blush on his cheeks spreading to his neck. “I kinda had a huge crush on you back then,” he confessed.

“Oh,” Lily replied, shifting her gaze from him as she felt herself flush. They shared an awkward silence before Lily cleared her throat. “Well, I sorta thought you had asked them to remove me. You know, because of the yelling and such. Or that you told them you weren’t on board with Flower staying anymore.”

Potter’s eyes widened and he scoffed in surprise.

“You thought what ?”

“What was I supposed to think, really?”

“Well, anything but that . That’s simply daft,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s… c’mon, you had to know… I wasn’t alone back then, Evans.”

Lily cleared her throat again, shifting her footing. They were relatively close; she was standing against the kitchen countertop while he sat on a stool directly in front of her.

She would not mention the whole Amelia thing or he might get ideas.

“I… the whole thing got to me. I stopped and considered for real if I had what it took to be in that world. If every time I saw something that made my blood boil I’d just lose it and never manage to make a career for myself. I was really lucky I got a movie offer shortly after what happened. If it had taken longer, perhaps I wouldn’t have done what I have.”

Potter was frowning as he watched her intently. She sighed.

“And of course you weren’t alone back then, Potter. Which just made it all more painful, alright?” Even more when the other rumors started.

He kept frowning for a bit, then shook his head and stood up, moving to the sink and washing his cup.

“It’d be a terrible loss to the cinema community to have lost you because of that little altercation,” he said finally, his back to Lily. She kept quiet as he dried the cup and placed it on the counter. 

“Is that a compliment?” Lily asked, smirking just a bit. He looked at her again, leaning against the sink counter, a small smile on his lips. Lily remembered this one; Prongs gave it to Flower constantly.

“Of course it is. Or did you think I’d come here to make peace and wouldn’t be amenable to give off a few good words?”

Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. It was familiar, that quick, witty exchange between them. It was fun, too.

“Ok, then. So we’re good now?” He asked seriously.

“I think we will be, at least.”

He nodded.

“I’ll take it. I’m tired of arguing with you,” Potter said grinning. Lily raised a single eyebrow and gave him a half-smile. Provoking him. Instigating him. Engaging with him.

“Oh, worry not. I’m nowhere near done arguing with you. It’s our thing, isn’t it?”

The grin Potter showed her as he left was’t one Prongs used to wear; this one she recognized from their talks between scenes, their only two group outings, when they hid together on the set to eat something whenever they were starving.

This grin was all James Potter, and Lily wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

***

“What was he doing here?”

Lily grunted as she woke up. It was early – perhaps not really early, but earlier than what she wanted it to be – and Mary’s voice wasn’t the quietest.

“What are you talking about?” Lily grumbled, covering her face with the pillow. Mary sat besides her and yanked the pillow away, forcing Lily to properly rise.

“Potter. James. Whatever.”

Lily frowned and sat down.

“How do you even know he was here?” She asked. Mary raised her eyebrows.

“You’re not even going to deny it?”

“Why should I when you’re so sure it happened? Also, it’s really early.”

“It’s nine in the morning, lazy bones,” Mary argued and passed her phone to Lily. The redhead sighed and rubbed her eyes before focusing on the screen.

It was a tweet with pictures (paparazzi, of course) of James in the rain outside the condo, phone in hand and frown on his face. This must have been when he arrived, then. The thread continued with other photos of James – now he was grinning on his way out.

“So? Did you have angry sex?” Mary asked cheerfully. “Like, calling each other names while you get it done? His grin is a bit telling.”

Lily rolled her eyes as she read the speculations regarding James’s escapade: was he having a fling? Girlfriend? 

“Of course not, weirdo.”

Lily then proceeded to tell the whole story to Mary. She was less surprised than Lily about James not being the one to cut her off of the show.

“I told you he hadn’t done it, silly. So now you guys are friends or something?”

“I’m not sure. But… maybe? We’ll see how it goes?”

Mary looked at Lily speculatively, then she smirked. Not a huge smirk, just a tiny one, but Lily feared it nonetheless.

“What is this look, MacDonald?”

“Nothing.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“It’s nothing, really. Come one, I ordered a brilliant breakfast and we can eat in front of the TV.”

Lily allowed Mary to drag her – the promise of good food was enough to get Lily moving, even so early in the morning. She sat down on the couch and yawned.

When she opened her eyes and looked at the television, Lily scowled.

“Really, Mary? Are we truly watching me on The Marauders?” 

Mary grinned and brought many delicacies on a tray.

“As your agent and best friend, I say it’s a good exercise to remind yourself of how you and Potter used to get along just fine,” Mary explained, pressing play on the first episode she had appeared.

Lily looked at the television. They were so young! Her heart thundered a bit as she saw Prongs approaching Flower for the first time.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Lily murmured quietly. “None of it.”

Mary looked at Lily.

“I know. But sometimes a small push will do you wonders. This isn’t what we’re aiming for the series, but being polite and warm towards him is a good start.”

Lily sighed.

“I’m aware. I think it’s going to be easier on Monday.”

She wasn’t wrong. 

As usual, Potter gave her a huge grin in greeting when he got on the set. This time, her returning smile was natural and not at all fake; it must have been inviting, because he made a beeline towards her.

“Morning, costar,” he greeted, fixing his glasses. “Good weekend?”

“Oh, yeah. Not bad,” she allowed, and raised her eyebrows, “not better than yours, from what I’ve read around. New fling, huh?”

Potter’s lip twitched.

“Can’t keep a secret nowadays, can we?” He sighed dramatically. “A fling might be welcome, to be honest, but alas, the girl wasn’t very much fond of me.”

“What a pity,” Lily said with a fake pout. Potter looked at her lips a second too long, and she felt the long gaze on her stomach. Idiot, idiot, idiot!

“I think I left in a good tone, tho. Perhaps she might give me a chance in the future. If I’m repentant enough,” he added wistfully. Lily raised both eyebrows.

“Sounds like a lot of trouble to get her to like you,” she pondered. Potter’s smile was less provocative and more genuine now, and it made her a bit uneasy.

“She likes me already,” he guaranteed, “she just doesn’t know it yet.”

Lily rolled her eyes and shoved him as he laughed. The nerve of him.

“Good to see you, Lily .” 

The emphasis on her first name puzzled Lily.

“We saw each other quite a bit lately.”

“Yeah, but… Potter and Evans. Now it’s James and Lily, you know?”

“You’re an idiot,” she replied.

But she knew what he meant.

He left whistling and Lily shook her head.

He was an idiot, but… well, his going to her apartment actually had helped. It was palpable when they filmed the scene where Edythe introduces herself, or the scene where she half-carries Beau after the blood typing lesson.

The new non-hate vibe between them came in handy particularly on that last one, considering how much they laughed as Potter lost his balance not once, but twice, as he tried to not overwhelm Lily with his weight.

The set that was already fun became something close to a home to her. Day by day she became closer to everyone, but James especially. They shared plenty of laughs and internal jokes when the camera was off, and wowed everyone when the recording started.

James, she discovered, was a big fan of social media. His father put him to it, he claimed, but Lily knew he liked it. He loved posting pictures of the set, of the crew, of the cast… and of them.

At first she didn’t even notice, because he posted of her ; there was the one he took when she was training her growl of all things. 

“ scary, ain’t it? ” he had written.

Mary was delighted with the attention Lily was receiving, and ushered her to do the same: post pictures and create a hype.

“People love seeing you guys together,” Mary told her almost a month into the filming.

“Of course they do,” Lily agreed, eyes closed as her makeup was being done on the set. “We’re both very, very handsome.”

Mary laughed but said nothing else. Lily knew that wasn't what people loved about them. It was the illusion of the romance going beyond the screens.

Which wasn’t the case. At all.

Okay, maybe they had become terribly closer since that impromptu visit during the storm, but that was it. Friends. Costars.

Besides, they hadn’t even kissed for the show yet. Or outside the show. No kisses shared. Not since The Marauders, of course.

Marlene was specially entertained by watching them together. Lily knew this because whenever she laughed at something stupid James said, Marlene was there with a knowing smirk. Her smile became more noticeable as she had more drinks, and that tended to happen in the cast outings.

The outings started informally when Marlene and Lily met Mary for drinks. The following week, Fleur and Emmeline joined them, then Alice and Frank Longbottom. Frank got Benjy to come along, and later Bill Weasley appeared too – this one Lily had her suspicions regarding the motivations (more Fleur, less anyone else).

“Why do you never come to drinks with us?” Lily asked James as they snacked peanuts on the set on a Friday afternoon. James fixed his glasses and gave her a timid smile.

“Well, you’ve never invited me, and I didn’t want to intrude on your events,” he explained. 

“We don’t hate each other anymore,” she pointed out. James chuckled.

“I never hated you, silly,” he said, throwing a peanut at her. “But I wasn’t sure if we were this friendly.”

“It’s a cast group outing in a bar. Isn’t that what friends do?” She pondered.

“Hm. You might have a point there, Evans,” James allowed, grinning again.

“It’s settled, then. You and your friends are coming tonight. The only requirement is to enter the betting pool about when Bill’s growing the nerves to finally kiss Fleur.”

Lily slightly regretted the condition she imposed; either James was very lucky or he had a chat with Bill, because the first time James joined them – the first bet he placed – he won, a large smirk on his face as Bill’s hands disappeared on Fleur’s blond hair (later on, she learned, he had a pep talk with Bill, and Lily made him pay for everyone’s tabs for manipulating a very important bet).

His presence apparently brought along those damn paps; Bill and Fleur’s kiss was all over the internet the next day. They said they didn’t mind, but Lily got a bit uncomfortable reading speculations about a forged relationship to get more attention to the show.

“We’re not even one of the big ones,” Fleur argued on the set on Monday, her French accent sparking as her speech speed increased. “It’s not like it’s James and Lily, or James and Marlene.”

“McKinnon’s got more sense than that,” Sirius piped in, getting a smack over his head from James. Fleur rolled her eyes.

“Yes, but my argument stands. If there were to be a forged relationship, it’d have to involve two of them.”

“Or the three of them,” Marlene suggested. “Lily’s incredible, and James isn’t ugly. I’d date them.”

“I feel like a piece of meat,” James grumbled. Lily cackled and patted his mussed hair.

“Welcome to our world, little cricket. Worry not; you’re also wanted for your money.”

James gave her the finger just as Bill arrived and hugged Fleur from behind, kissing her neck quickly as she smiled.

“Oh, come on,” James groaned. “You don’t have to flounce your fakeness on our faces. That’s just cruel.”

“Jealous, Potter?” Bill asked teasingly.

“Not of Fleur,” Sirius explained as Jams sighed. “It’s just he hasn’t really kissed anyone since…” Lily pretended not to see Sirius’s smirk as her heart quickened (why wouldn’t he say Amelia’s name? It had to be Amelia. It couldn’t be Lily, could it? They hadn’t even really kissed, after all. It surely was Amelia. Right?), “well, in a very long time. Dude’s a hopeless romantic. Don’t take it personally.”

“That’s sad,” Marlene said with a pout. “You know, I’ve got a friend I can introduce you to…” she pondered aloud. 

“Is she pretty? No, never mind that. Is she funny?” James asked eagerly. Marlene hummed.

“Well, your sense of humor is weird, but I think she’s funny. She’s incredible , actually.”

As Marlene laughed away and Lily once more pretended it had nothing to do with her, James shrugged.

“After we wrap this up, it might be a good idea,” he said. Marlene rolled her eyes.

“It’s a joke, Lover-Boy.”

“So no girls, then?” James pouted and Lily snorted. Not because he looked ridiculous. No, quite the contrary. He looked positively adorable, but this was another thing she’d better hide.

“Would I ever deprive you of the experience of making a fool of yourself? Find your own girls,” Marlene scolded him.

Sirius laughed away, and James – although he tried to look sad – didn’t seem to mind all that much.

They stopped chit-chatting as they were called for a scene, but one thing puzzled Lily regarding all that conversation: had James really not kissed anyone since The Marauders? 

She shook her head.

They hadn’t kissed for real. It was all for the show. Well, officially, at least. She and James both had already admitted that the kisses had been a bit more.

Had they been so… transparent, about it? 

And well… yeah. That .

Maybe James had told Sirius, actually.

She shook her head again. She had to focus on the scene.

Sirius’s eyes on her were a distraction? Sure. But she was professional, and she could (over)think about it later.

Later came as soon as she finished showering from that day’s filming. To be more specific, it was brought to her by Mary in the form of a couple (of thousands) of tweets.

At first, she didn’t understand why there were so many tweets about the paparazzi photos.

“Well, we knew this place wouldn’t be kept a secret forever, right?”

Mary told her to keep scrolling.

“Oh,” Lily breathed out.

It was all she managed at that point when she saw people on the internet had connected this picture of her with James’s picture leaving her apartment.

And the fling thing.

“Well,” Mary exclaimed cheerfully, “it sure does bring some attention to the show,” she pondered.

Lily noticed she was right. The tweets poured before her eyes: most were about them being together, but quite a few mentioned their recent reconnection through Life and Death. It really was a good promo.

“What should we do?”

“Make out?” Mary replied cheekily. 

“I’m serious, MacDonald.”

“For now, pretend nothing’s going on. You haven’t seen it. You’ve got no idea what’s this all about.”

Lily nodded but kept scrolling. It was amazing the amount of content about them online; drawings, manipulated pictures, fanfictions, video montages, old interviews, scenes from The Marauders… everything was coming up yet again.  

It brought Lily back in time, but the knot on her stomach was easier now because she knew it hadn’t been James to ruin that (well, not only him, at least).

She tried to keep it quiet but the second she met James at the set, his smirk told her there was no way he would be letting this quiet.

“Hello, fling-o’-mine!” He greeted her happily. “How was the rest of your weekend?”

Lily rolled her eyes.

“It’s all your fault this is happening,” she told him. James just grinned, not a worry in the world.

“I know! I’m a genius!”

Lily tried to fight a grin, but failed. It always went this way when they talked; he said something mildly moronic, she made a pitiful effort to hide her amusement but never managed to go through with it.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to assume she anticipated such moments.

The week passed along with many whispers, which reached the set too.

“How come I’m the last to know you’re banging my best friend?” Sirius asked bluntly, throwing the door to Lily’s dressing room.

“Don’t barge into my dressing room like that,” Lily told him off, opening one eye as her makeup was done, “I could’ve been naked.”

“No downsides, then,” he winked. “I mean, not that that movie of yours hides much…”

“What do you want, Sirius?”

“That’s no way to talk to your boyfriend’s best friend!”

“He’s a fling, not a boyfriend,” she corrected him lightly. She didn’t see, but he raised his eyebrows. Sirius sighed and crossed his arms.

“Please tell me you’re not… toying with him,” he asked.

“What? Of course not. How would I be toying with him?”

“You tell me. He went to your place.”

Lily looked at Sirius firmly; had she not been in the process of having her makeup done, she would have frowned.

“You know very well why he went over. He just wanted to let me know what had happened on The Marauders. That was all.”

Sirius looked at her for a few more seconds.

“Ok, then. Today’s the kissing scene.”

Lily blinked.

“How do you know that? Why haven’t they warned me?”

Sirius shrugged. 

“I overheard people talking. They changed their plans. Something about seizing how nicely you’re interacting now. Viva la vida .”

Lily took a deep breath. This wasn’t planned, alright. She wanted to prepare mentally for this kissing scene. 

“Something wrong?” Sirius prodded.

“I just… I wasn’t expecting it.”

“James doesn’t know. Perhaps they’ll let him off the loop. It might be a good filming decision.”

Lily didn’t agree completely, but what could she do about it?

When Lily got on the set, James was on the corner, talking to Peter quietly. He was frowning, so perhaps he didn’t actually know. 

But he looked up at Lily, and he recognized her clothes; she watched as understanding dawned on him.

He gulped.

The directors explained why they had moved the scene forward a few minutes later, and guaranteed the set would be emptied for it. Lily didn’t mind much about that; it was the kissing itself she was a bit worried.

As promised, only the filming crew and the directors were on the set. Lily let out a breath and skimmed over the script; she had to get in the mood: Edythe was ecstatic before the kissing, while Beau was passing out.

When she and James faced each other, he gave her a small wink.

“Like old times, huh, Flower?”

Lily stared into his eyes; those hazel eyes that had held hers so many times, now hidden by blue lenses (she prefered his original color). Her gaze flickered to his mouth for a fleeting second – she knew those lips almost better than anyone’s, and wondered briefly if they would feel familiar.

“Looks like it, Prongs,” she replied with a smile. He grinned back and they started the scene.

He nailed Beau’s motion-sickness – he was an excellent actor after all – and sooner than she had expected, they were face to face, looking at each other’s eyes intensely.

She paused; Edythe was checking if she had control over her thirst.

Lily was remembering that one time.

***

They had agreed not to tell anyone, not even their best friends. Not that they had done anything wrong, far from it. They just didn’t want the pressure that came along with ‘the knowing’ and such.

In their defense, it was just once . 

Besides, there already had been talks and rumors about how well they worked, how brilliantly they portrayed their characters, and what such a good couple they formed.

Lily had been stood up by Mary, but didn’t feel like going back home. It wasn’t Mary’s fault her mother had needed her back home, she knew it, but she just wanted to have a drink and perhaps think about possibilities that were starting to become palpable.

She didn’t expect to meet him, not at all.

“Alright, Evans?” 

James was holding a beer bottle and smiling as he took the seat next to Lily. She smiled and nodded.

“Why are you here all by yourself?” He asked with a frown.

“Stood up,” she explained with a shrug. James raised his eyebrows.

“Had a hot date?”

“Nah, just meeting with Mary,” Lily told him. “What about you? I don’t remember the last time I saw you alone.”

“Sirius and Peter are trying a weird recipe, and Remus is in a movie club or something.”

“It’s Sunday night. What sort of movie club happens on Sunday nights?”

“Right?! They managed a private, special showing of an old movie in a theater. It’s a bit sad, but he’s a nice guy.”

“So your reaction to loneliness was to come to a bar?”

“No,” he replied quickly. “I went to a park first,” James nodded to the bar window, “but it was getting cold and I needed shelter. And a beer.”

“Spoken like a true alcoholic,” she said with a smirk.

James rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder with hers as he ordered another drink to Lily. 

“Who says I want more?” Lily asked with raised eyebrows. 

“Make me company, will you?”

And so she did, nursing her drink because she didn’t need it when she was in James’s presence. He had a sort of a high of his own – she was all laughter and grins.

She didn’t know exactly how it had happened; she had accepted him to accompany her to her place because it was late at night and she feared for her well-being – a goodbye hug had seemed natural.

Perhaps James had felt the same butterflies she had, maybe it just had felt natural because of The Marauders, but for some reason suddenly James’s lips were on hers, and her hands gripped his messy hair, his glasses fogging and crooked, his hands holding her face tenderly…

From there to open her door and pull him inside as his teeth nipped her neck was just instinct, and the same sort of feeling led to her to direct them to her bedroom, leaving clothes scattered around.

No, she didn’t know exactly how it had happened, but it didn’t feel weird at all to curl up against James in her bed as he made ridiculous comments and got her giggling.

He was being pure James before, during and after the sex, and she was soaking up on it.

They agreed they shouldn’t mention it to anyone before they fell asleep holding each other.

The next day she left The Marauders.

And a couple months later, James was photographed in a very close embrace with Prongs’s new romantic interest, Amelia Bones.

***

She paused a moment too long and the scene was cut.

“Everything okay, Lily?” someone from the crew asked. Lily closed her eyes and when she opened them again, James was staring at her.

“Alright, Evans?” He whispered.

Lily took a deep breath and nodded.

“Sorry. Let’s go again.”

The others agreed and there they went once more: face to face, a quiet pause and then…

It shouldn’t be so familiar, Lily reckoned as their lips touched. She had to give him a shy kiss (which she was very sorry about), he was supposed to be intense (not at all sorry about), and then she should stop him.

“Ok, let’s do another one? Lily, break the kiss, hm, a bit earlier?”

She hid her blush and they did it again.

“Perfect! Now, another angle.”

Had anyone asked, Lily would say they had shot about three hundred times from three hundred angles. She was ready to admit that perhaps she might be exaggerating a bit, but that was what it felt like.

When it (finally!) ended, Lily ran to her dressing room and locked the door. She needed to be alone for a bit, to control the boiling emotions from so long ago that had resurfaced on those fake kisses.

She knew those were fake. It wasn’t like before, when they both had just gone for it because they were young and wanted to have fun. A lot had happened ever since, and she knew the past should remain in the past, at least until they finished filming.

After that, well…

No, no, no . She shouldn’t think about that. Nope. No way.

Besides, all this thinking would only be valid if, if , James felt remotely inclined to rekindle that night, and she had no idea if he would.

He had hinted, back at her apartment when he went to explain the whole thing, that he had felt something more too, but it had been a lifetime ago. They were just buddies now. And co-stars.

A knock on her door made her exhale quickly and open it.

Of course it would be him.

“Alright?” He asked, leaning a single arm against her door frame.

“Sure,” Lily replied, letting him come in.

“You literally bolted from the set.”

“I had to use the restroom,” she lied.

“Uh, there’re lots of restrooms in the set.”

“I know, but I wanted a bit of privacy.”

James grinned.

“I didn’t think you were the type who could poop when you were not home,” he admitted. Lily rolled her eyes and he turned serious again. “Actually, I thought that whole thing might have had some sort of… dunno.”

“It’s just a scene, right?” She shrugged and then looked up. James was staring at her, brows furrowed and apparently concentrating. Finally, he smiled.

“It is, but it’s with me . I’ve heard of girls passing out for less than an acting kiss.”

Lily rolled her eyes again and laughed.

“It might’ve been for less flattering reasons than what you’re assuming,” she teased him.

The production decided to start filming more scenes around that first kiss to use the outfits, and they were warned they would filme the meadow scene the following day.

“It’ll be filmed outdoors, so get here earlier so we can start as soon as possible,” was the final warning as they were leaving, “we want to wrap it in four days, tops.”

Great. The most emotionally charged scenes, then.

Brilliant.

***

As it turned out, she shouldn’t have feared it that much. Mary had been right, and being on good terms with James actually made filming the more deep scenes easier. They actually were able to finish it earlier than planned.

The scenes were intense, as Lily knew they would be, and they lasted a very long time. The lighting was a problem – they had to work around it, but they managed. The restroom arrangements were also hard: too many people to shower.

But the hardest in Lily’s opinion was to separate things. 

She was not proud about it, but honestly? The feelings that had started to take over her so many years ago? All back. 

How could they not, if she had to adore him on-screen? If she had to lightly kiss him or try to seduce him to get him to go with her to the baseball game? If that last one had felt a bit too close to comfort?

It was hard to hold James’s face in her hands and separate him from Beau – and the way he looked at her, held her even, wasn’t unfamiliar. It was simply James .

She made an extra effort to not be alone with James during that week, not trusting herself. James, bless the boy, frowned but didn’t ask anything about it. Which, of course, only made matters worse for her.

“I’m in trouble,” Lily announced when she threw herself on the couch of her place as they got back from the outing. Mary was sitting on the floor, painting her toenails, and didn’t even look up.

“Why this time?” Mary deadpanned.

“I think I might fancy James.”

Mary kept going as if it was no surprise to her.

“You think ?”

“What do you mean by that?”

This time Mary looked up.

“You most definitely fancy him, duffos.”

Lily turned to glare at Mary.

“Shut up.”

“You know what, I don’t think I will. I’ve been waiting to hear these words ever since the Marauders. Of course you fancy the boy. You always have,” Mary said, looking at Lily.

Lily felt herself gaping.

“I… that’s… you…” Lily tried, but ended up sighing. “Is it so obvious?”

“Not to everyone, no,” Mary said, returning to her toenails. “But I know you very well, and to be honest, I think only one other person would pay that much attention to you anyway, which’s the boy in question.”

“You don’t think he…?”

“Nah, your loverboy is so oblivious it’s comical. Perhaps it’s because of how much he fancies you .”

“He doesn’t,” Lily corrected, shaking her head. 

“You told me yourself he admitted it!”

“He admitted to having had a crush back then, and, really, then I knew. It was obvious. I mean, we did…” Lily stopped talking suddenly, realizing what she had been about to reveal, “… we did act together and all. Besides, everybody knows he dated Bones.”

But it was too late. Mary stopped painting her toenails, closed the varnish and twisted her body so she could face Lily.

“What exactly did you do? And don’t you dare say ‘nothing’ because your face is all red and flustered. Did you make out with Potter in a non-Marauder capacity?!”

Lily was so relieved that Mary had jumped to only making out that she nodded quickly.

Mary gasped.

“You bitch! You totally slept with him!”

“What– you!”

“Lily Evans!”

Lily sighed and hid her face in her hands.

“I’m completely at loss for words! How come you never even mentioned you were sleeping with Potter?!”

“I wasn’t sleeping with him!” Lily cried out indignantly, “I slept with him, once , and that was it.”

“Why only once?”

Lily sighed again and told Mary about their ill-timing one night stand and everything that came with it, Amelia Bones included.

“It makes so much sense, now,” Mary mumbled, “why you were so shaken and closed up about the whole thing. And now you fancy the ponce again?”

Lily just groaned.

“Well, you could just go up to him and tell him.”

“No, I can’t. It would mess up the good thing we’ve got going in the series.”

“ Or it would make everything even better!” 

Mary stared as Lily sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

“I can’t risk fucking this one up, Mary. It might not be as important to the critiques and all, but there’re a lot of fans. And it matters to me.”

“It’s up to you, Lil. I just hate seeing you giving up something that would definitely be good.”

Lily smiled and took one of Mary’s hands.

“It’s fine. It’ll pass.”

***

But Lily knew it wouldn’t pass. Perhaps if she didn’t spend so much time with James, it could, but alas: they actually were co-stars on a romantic TV show and had to interact quite a bit (this might have slipped from her mind when she made promises to Mary). 

Not that the show required them to be good friends, of course, but that was neither nor there.

It might have to do with James himself, because he was like a spark; his grin was contagious and it usually was all that was needed to change a charged atmosphere for a light, relaxed space. It didn’t happen as often, but were he in a sour mood, it reflected on others too.

Furthermore, they (she) had to deal with the fans who agreed with that little (big) side of hers; the fanarts were going stronger than ever, the fanfics were exploding and people went crazy when Sirius posted a picture of Lily and James taking a nap together on set.

“You really shouldn’t have done it, Padfoot,” James reprimanded him. “People already have got the wrong idea.”

“So what?” Sirius shrugged and stuffed his mouth with chocolate. “It doesn’t hurt the show.”

“Yeah, but Lily might not like it.”

Sirius looked intently at James; he could call out James at that moment, but, uncharacteristically, chose to not make his friend uncomfortable. 

Not at that time, anyway.

He prefered to keep posting pictures of the both of them on set: chatting about lines, fixing each other’s clothes, a little film of Lily throwing chocolates and James catching it with his mouth, laughing at some stupid joke…

Honestly, they couldn’t really blame the fans for thinking something more was happening from those images. 

Such was the case in one of the cast outings; it was a Friday and the filming was closer to wrap up than Lily wanted to remember. Some of them were sitting in a booth, laughing at those who braved themselves at the karaoke.

Lily had already ventured off-tone with the microphone, joined quickly by a surprisingly good singer James. They were in the booth, watching Marlene and Edgar in an interesting rendition of La La Land’s Lovely Night, with Mary, Bill and Fleur.

“Oh my God, Lily, look at what I’m sending you!” Mary snorted. Lily grabbed her phone and gasped, then laughed too.

“What is it?” James asked, grabbing Lily’s hand so he also could see the screen. “Oh.”

James raised his eyebrows and kept looking at the phone while Lily laughed harder, joined by Mary. James then frowned, trying to take Lily’s phone from her hand, but she fought him.

“I want to see it too!” she complained. Their heads bumped together and James moved, getting so close to Lily he had to put his arm across her shoulders (she pretended it was normal and avoided Mary’s glance).

“What is this even…?”

“It’s fanart,” Mary explained. James looked at her quickly, but his eyes soon returned to the screen, “your fans are very creative. And profligate. And shameless.”

“But how would your leg reach this…” James pondered aloud and Lily laughed more. Bill and Fleur, of course, claimed they must be included and Mary sent them the image too.

“To be honest, I’ve seen worse,” Mary added, grinning, “this one at least respects proportions. No matter what people think, I refuse to believe your cock’s as big as those deviant girls draw.”

James only looked up, but Bill spilt his drink as the rest of the table laughed.

“Is that a proposition, Mary?” James asked after a few seconds. Mary winked at him.

“You’d know if it were, human boy,” Mary replied. James smirked, but soon returned his attention to the cell phone.

“No, really, this is physically impossible!” James argued, making Lily laugh again.

“To be fair, there’re some good ones,” Mary argued, scrolling down her phone and sending images to Lily.

“Wow, okay, that’s a bit too much,” James said, “why do you have all of these?”

“I’m the one who has to go through Lily’s social media,’ Mary shrugged, “it’s part of my job. So I get to see all of these, and send the best to Lily so she can laugh with me.”

James looked at Lily; her face was flushed but he couldn’t be certain if it was because they had already had some drinks or because of the drawing. Perhaps both.

“It’s weird, but funny weird,” Lily replied with a shrug and an enigmatic smile.

James grinned back, but their moment was broken by a gasp from Mary.

“Oh, damn,” she sighed, showing her phone to Lily and James, “look what Sirius did.”

It was a video of Marlene and Edgar finishing their song, but that’s not what caught Lily’s eyes – or the internet’s; in the background, James and Lily could be seen in a close embrace, laughing and looking at the phone.

“Shit,” Lily agreed. The timeline was already full of gifs of them very, very close, fighting for the phone and being in general very… well.

They really looked like a couple in those videos.

She exchanged a look with Mary, who smirked like crazy, and focused on her phone again. They were trending on Twitter already.

“Should I do something about it?” Lily asked Mary, who shrugged.

“I mean, you could if you want. Be funny about it. It’s been weeks since you tweeted.”

Lily nodded and scrolled a bit more, until she found a tweet with a gif of her laughter while James pointed at the phone, saying “ come ON what were they watching to make her laugh so MUCH?????????? ”.

@lilevans: i just found some weird fanart and i’d like to clarify that i’m definitely NOT that flexible

@jamesfpotter: so you are SOMEWHAT flexible?

Lily snorted when she read James’s reply; he was grinning and accepted the weak punch on his shoulder.

“Such wit, Potter,” she joked.

“You inspire me,” he said with a hand to his chest.

They joked a bit more, until Mary groaned looking at her phone again.

“What now?” Lily asked.

“Sirius Black again, of course.”

@evans4life: ok but is there something going on between james and lily or i’m crazy??

@sblack: @evans4life yes

James rolled his eyes and took out his phone.

@jamesfpotter: @sblack shut up

“Wow, now you’ve shut the rumors down,” Mary said sarcastically.

@sblack: @jamesfpotter srry was that a secret?

@jamesfpotter: @sblack just stop or lily’s gonna kick your ass

@lilevans: @jamesfpotter @sblack i will haven’t you seen how flexible i am

Her last tweet made the others laugh; Sirius even stopped by the booth to congratulate her (of course, respecting some distance from her somewhat flexible legs).

But when they were going home, Mary grinned at her.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t actually stop the rumors either,” Mary noted. Lily felt her cheeks flushing and smiled.

“I know.”

***

“I’m truly wounded,” James told Lily as they shared a can of Coke on set. Lily rolled her eyes as he continued to talk with a pained expression, “I can’t believe you’re missing my Lip Sync!”

“You’re being dramatic, Potter,” she replied, “as usual. It’s weeks away. We still need to finish filming.”

“We’ll wrap it up this week,” James argued, “there’s only one scene left.”

“Yeah, but it’s the transformation . It’s huge. And I still have to do my internal emotional monologue in your transformation scene.”

“What? I thought you’d already done it,” James made a move to fix his glasses, but he was wearing contacts and just dropped his hand.

“I did, but I didn’t like it. It was filmed right in the beginning of it all, and I reckon I can manage more emotion now.”

“More inspired? I wonder why that might be…” he hummed, barely holding back his smirk. Lily rolled her eyes again (he didn’t need to know he was right, right?).

“I also thought of a different way to approach the flashback. People liked it. I’m committed.”

“Were you really committed, you’d watch me doing Lip Sync.”

“I’ll be on Fallon that night, you idiot,” Lily smacked his shoulder.

“And whose fault is that? Yours, for being amazing.”

Lily rolled her eyes, but her blush spread from her face all the way to her heart. James winked and stole the can of Coke back.

As it turns out, it was as easy to wrap it up as James had predicted. Lily had feared that, because the scene was so emotionally charged, they would need more time, but they managed to film almost all of them in one take.

“We’re just that good, Evans,” he told her. 

Lily’s scenes alone would happen the following week, then the whole cast would return for the final scene after Beau’s transformation. 

To Lily’s surprise, James appeared on the set to see her new scenes. She tried to ignore the fluttering on her stomach when he grinned and gave her a double thumbs-up and mouthed “action” as the filming started.

Sooner than Lily expected, they were on the last and final day of filming the series and it was time to say goodbye. Of course, Sirius wouldn’t let it end quietly; he organized a party at the karaoke bar where they had gone for drinks earlier on.

The bar was closed for cast and crew only so people didn’t hold back as they usually did. 

“I see what you’re doing here,” Mary warned Lily as she ordered another Margarita.

“Uh, drinking and having fun?” Lily asked as she took another sip and grinned.

“Using booze to make you reckless and use it as an excuse to why you’re going to make out with James as if there’s no tomorrow.”

Lily blinked owlishly.

“I’m not. I won’t.”

“It’s just I realized that the biggest problem in your way has ended earlier today, and I wondered that you might, you know, need an excuse to do exactly what you’ve been wanting to do for so long.”

Lily just shrugged – her reply was interrupted by James’s voice requesting her presence for a duet. Mary raised her eyes and suppressed a smile.

Mary was, of course, wrong. Lily wasn’t using the booze to make her reckless and make out with James; she was using it to try and forget that she really, really wanted to kiss him.

“Okay, guys,” James said as they got on the small stage and everybody looked up, “today we’re celebrating the end of filming this amazing project. These past few months have been… I can’t even find the right words to describe them. I’ve always been a fan, and this was a dream come true. And even then, it was better than I’ve ever dreamed, because of all of you. You made recording this not seem like a job at all, and I can only thank you.”

There were whoops and cries from the tables – Lily’s heart jumped along as James turned to her with his most sincere grin, the one she knew he reserved for those who were really important to him.

“And I can’t not thank you, Lily, for being here with me. We’ve known each other before, and we’ve come a long way. I couldn’t think of anyone better to bring Edythe to the screens, and I’m so, so glad that I’ve had the opportunity to work with the best actress of our generation again.”

Lily didn’t notice people clapping; she was too caught up in James's eyes as they stared at each other.

What the fuck was that boy doing to her?!

“Emotional moment over, Lily and I are singing a special one to close up our filming days!”

“I don’t even know what the song is, how can you be sure I’ll know how to sing it?”

He smirked at Lily.

“Oh, you know .”

The opening notes to A Thousand Years made everyone laugh and cheer and Lily rolled her eyes. 

She definitely knew .

***

“Jesus Christ, Sirius posted the video of you two singing like one hour ago and it’s already got 5 hundred thousand retweets,” Mary said to Lily. They were in front of the bar waiting for their ubers – Mary was spending the night in her girlfriend’s place.

“He posted that?” Lily asked, opening the link Mary sent her. “Oh, it’s not that bad.”

“It’s very good, actually.”

Lily had no chance to reply when Mary’s uber arrived. Hers was still two minutes away. Lily was humming the song when they arrived.

“Why are you here alone? Where’s Mary?” James asked. Sirius was teasing Peter while Remus tried to hide his amusement.

“Not going home tonight, if you catch my drift,” Lily joked, “my uber’s pretty close.”

“You’re going home alone?”

“Wow, that’s not subtle at all, Prongs,” Sirius interrupted. James flushed.

“I mean that she, as a young woman who’s had some drinks, is going home in an unknown man’s car at three in the morning.”

Lily felt herself smiling and her heart swelling.

“It’s alright, James, I live very close to here.”

“It’s not that close. I’ll come with you and grab an uber from your place.”

“That’s really not necessary, James,” Lily replied immediately.

“I’ll never sleep easy knowing I let you go home like this. It’s no big deal, I’ve got nothing to do tomorrow.”

Lily didn’t miss the look Sirius gave James, but she decided to ignore it.

“Mary just left alone in an uber,” she said instead.

“Because I wasn’t here to stop her,” James replied. Her car approached and James opened the door to her. “Stop complaining and get in.”

Lily rolled her eyes but did as he said.

“What’s up with being bossy?”

“You’re intoxicated,” James shrugged as the car started moving.

“So are you,” Lily pointed out.

“Yes, but you haven’t tried to murder Sirius for posting the video of us singing, so I reckon you won’t hit me for being bossy.”

“I still might,” she replied, leaning against the door so clearly not going to hit him. James just grinned at this.

“Me thinks you just want to have the last word.”

“Me thinks shut up .”

James laughed.

“I missed a speech from you,” he added a couple of minutes later.

“I was surprised. And Mary made me promise a few years ago to never, ever create speeches while drunk.”

“You’re not drunk,” he disagreed.

“Well, not now, but I was when we sang.”

“Are you just finding excuses as to why I sound so much better than you?”

Lily scoffed.

“As if. You wound me, Potter. I know of my musical prowess.”

“You haven’t even seen the video.”

“I don’t need to see it. I’m very sure about myself.”

James laughed again and looked at Lily. She had a small smirk on her lips, strangely inviting and completely provoking; it was the sort of grin that he was certain she didn’t possess before meeting him – or at least she didn’t use it until recently –, the type that left him no other explanation but one: it was a smile she picked up from him after spending so much time together.

Lily didn’t know how long they spent just staring at each other’s eyes; their little bubble burst when the car stopped at Lily’s flat.

“Er…” James said as she got out of the car and pulled him along, “Shouldn’t you have added my address as a stop?”

Lily stopped and looked at him.

“Probably, but I forgot. C’mon, you can wait for your uber inside.”

She could have let go of his arm, but she couldn’t think of a single reason why she should (deserted street, middle of the night, and she just wanted to hold him) so they entered her building together.

It also felt very natural to drag him along to her flat as they bickered about who was the best singer (it most definitely was Lily, and James knew it too, but teasing her was much too fun to pass up the opportunity).

“I’ll bet you anything people think I sang better than you on that video,” she challenged him as she opened the door and ushered him inside.

“Of course they don’t,” James disagreed. Lily narrowed her eyes and grabbed her phone.

“Ok, careful now with drinking and tweeting,” he warned her.

“I’m not drunk anymore,” Lily clarified again, “and I’ll just quote the video and make a pool…”

“That’s not fair at all, you’ve got way more fans, Miss Academy-Nominated-Actress,” James protested.

“And you ’ve got more fangirls, Mr. Hot-And-You-Know-It,” Lily bit back. He raised her eyebrows.

“So you do think I’m hot,” he said with a smirk, “ that I didn’t know.”

“Fishing for compliments so late, James? Of course I think you’re hot. Why else would I have slept with you?”

James raised his eyebrows again and hesitated, clearing his throat.

“So we’re not going to pretend like it didn’t happen anymore?” He chose to ask.

“Maybe not,” was all Lily said.

“Okay, then… perhaps you slept with me because I’m funny and nice to talk to?” James said. Lily frowned.

“That would be the answer if we had dated , little man.”

“First of all, I’m way taller than you. And second, are you telling me that if all that shit hadn’t happened you wouldn’t have dated me?”

It was Lily’s turn to stammer.

“Would you have even wanted that?”

“What are you talking about, of course I would,” James replied instantly, “I was mad about you. Who’s fishing for compliments now?”

“I know you had a little crush, but we were so young, James. And you were in your prime, you could’ve slept with any supermodel you wanted, as many as you wanted!”

James shook his head, eyes locked with Lily’s.

“That’s not… I’ve never wanted that. I’m not into that whole meaningless sex thing. I thought you knew that.”

“C’mon, James. Back then, if you could choose between one girl and lots of girls, you’d pick just one?”

“You’re asking the wrong question,” he corrected her. Lily’s eyebrows shot up, and their eyes were connected. “The real question should be if I would’ve picked lots of girls or you , and it most definitely would be you.”

Lily’s chin fell a bit and she tried to reply, but honestly, what could she even say? What could be an appropriate response to that ?

Well, there was one, if she really thought about it but…

Well. No buts anymore, right? There wasn’t a single thing stopping her from just…

James was a bit shocked when Lily pulled him to her, but she swallowed his small grunt of surprise and finally – finally – ran her hand through his mess of a hair. His startle lasted only a couple of seconds; it was the time it took him to hold the nape of Lily’s neck and pull her even closer, ending years of frustration and distance.

He squeezed her waist once, twice… by the third time, she pulled his hair back as a warning, but all it accomplished was another low grunt that she felt all the way to her toes and made her direct him to her couch, breaking the kiss to make him lie down there and throwing herself on him.

“I should probably call my uber,” James mumbled in between kisses on Lily’s jaw.

“Probably,” she agreed breathlessly. They had kissed while recording, but absolutely nothing like this. She only remembered kissing him once like that once and… well…

“You’ve had a lot to drink, I should leave,” he told her. Lily shook her head and backed to look at him: swollen lips, disheveled hair, flushed cheeks, dilated pupils, and the spark of his soul shining on his eyes.

“I promise you, I’m as sober as I can get.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh my God, who are you? Edward Cullen? Just take off my clothes and fuck me, idiot.”

James laughed and kissed her again.

He really didn’t mind her being bossy.

***

James didn’t take it personally when Lily evicted him; he knew that she simply didn’t want people (meaning: Mary) to know they had spent the night together. Of course, it did sting a bit, but her reasoning was sound: it would be better if there was no fuss, at least while they didn’t know what that night had meant.

It didn’t mean, however, he was leaving quietly.

“So you really only care about my body, huh?” 

He was still sprawled on her bed, missing the warmth from her body while she wore a robe and collected his clothes.

“What was your first clue?” she deadpanned. James gasped, covering his chest with her duvet, “don’t make me physically make you leave.”

“You should try,” James suggested.

“Do you think I was born yesterday?” Lily snorted, “I know the second I touch your arm you’re going to pull me to bed.”

James smirked.

“And what’s the downside to it?”

“The downside is: you need to go , Potter. Before the paparazzi arrive.”

There was that, too.

“Just give me five minutes to properly ravish you, Evans, and I promise I’ll leave.”

Lily narrowed her eyes.

“You can’t properly ravish me in mere five minutes, Potter.”

“Come here and we’ll see.”

Lily snorted again.

“You’re impossible , Potter,” she said. However, she did go there, placing his clothes on the floor near the bed.

“I know,” James replied as Lily sat on top of him, “and yet, here you are.”

“One more proof of my insanity,” she added as James took her hand from his chest to kiss it, “five minutes.”

“That’s all I ask.”

***

Obviously , it took them more than five minutes (Lily prefered not to think how many minutes it took her to get off bed after James properly, properly ravished her); by the time James was dressing, Lily looked outside her window to see five or six paparazzi on the square in front of her condo.

“I told you,” Lily grumbled as she rummaged through her wardrobe, “everytime someone posts something with the two of us together, they appear.”

“Why?” James was bewildered.

“Because you were seen leaving the flat earlier this year, and they are waiting for you,” she explained, “here, wear this,” she gave him a shirt.

“I’ve got mine.”

“It’s the same one you were wearing on the video. I’m leaving first, so they’ll follow me. You’ll wear this cap and this shirt and then leave looking down.”

“Experienced, huh?”

“I’ve learned a trick or two.”

“Who’s shirt is this?” James asked when he finished dressing it.

“Mine. I bought some male shirts and hoodies to hide and all.”

“You can tell me it’s from an ex, it’s alright.”

“I would, if it were.”

James narrowed his eyes and Lily grinned, getting closer to him and getting on her tiptoes to peck his lips.

“I’m leaving now. Wait ten minutes, then you go as discreetly as possible.”

“See you later?”

Since the moment she attacked him last night, it was the first time James showed any sign of uncertainty. She had to smile.

“Of course. As long as you go discreetly .”

James nodded and kissed her again.

Lily’s plan worked out in the end. She chose to wear working out clothes because she knew the paps would go crazy. She faked trying to hide her face and was happy to see all of the leeches followed her to the Starbucks near her place.

She was perusing Twitter to see the response to the video when James texted her to say he was already on an uber on his way home.

Lily let him know she had been voted as the best singer.

James told her she was better than him in many, many things.

***

It was weird actively hiding something from Mary. Not a previous hook-up, like she had before; now Lily kept meeting with James a secret.

“You haven’t told Sirius, right?” Lily confirmed as they, cuddling, shared popcorn and watched The Office.

“Give me some trust, please,” James scoffed. 

“I am,” Lily argued, “see? I’m here again, trusting your bullshit lies to your friends as to why you need the place to yourself.”

“I didn’t lie ,” he disagreed, “I just didn’t mention you were my hookup.”

Lily sat up and paused the TV.

“You what?!”

James looked startled at her.

“I couldn’t think of a good reason as to why I’d need the place to myself that didn’t involve a girl, so…” he shrugged, “what did you tell Mary?”

“That I would sleep with someone tonight to get you out of my system.”

James raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Oh, you needed to get me out of your system? Does this mean I was in ?”

Lily rolled her eyes and James laughed; she had always thought James to be perpetually happy, but somehow this was different.

“You’re an idiot, did you know that?”

James grinned and took Lily’s hands on his to kiss the knots of her fingers. 

“Just to be clear, you really were in my system too,” he confessed, making Lily smile in response.

“Nice words for a man who just a few moments ago called me a ‘hook-up’.”

He laughed again and pulled her to him.

Lily didn’t actually know how she managed to fool Mary for so long; her friend was usually more questioning. She only asked once when Lily would vocalize who this mystery man was.

“I, uh… who says it’s one guy?” Lily replied, with her back to Mary.

“I know when you lie, you tart. It’s alright, tho. I’ll find out. I just need to know where and when you met him.”

“It’s an old pal,” Lily revealed. Mary turned quickly.

“Old as in much older than you as in… ‘ daddy ’ old?!”

“What?! No! As in, I knew him a long time ago and we reconnected.”

Mary narrowed her eyes but apparently couldn’t think of anyone to accuse.

“Are you ready for the interview?” she chose to ask.

“It’s like five days away,” Lily pointed out.

“I know, but please, please remember that there will be questions about you and James, about The Marauders. There might be some hate because it’s a Twilight thing. People will find out about your hidden love for romantic movies. Just take a deep breath and don’t fuck up. Okay?”

Lily rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway.

Since that first night until the show, she met with James only three times. Now more than ever he teased her for not watching him doing the Lip Sync live. She tended to smack him for it, but he didn’t mind because the weak assaults were usually followed by a tender kiss.

Mary’s warning right before going on stage bothered Lily a bit, but the good luck text James sent her made up for her nerves.

She was ready.

***

“Oh my God, Mary, I fucked up ,” Lily cried as soon as soon as she got in the car that Mary had rented to pick Lily up.

“You did not!” Mary disagreed, “let me see the video.”

Lily sent her the link and hid her face in her hands, cringing as she listened to some of her interview.

“ Lily Evans, everybody! Welcome again! I must say I was surprised to see you in a Twilight production after all of your movies and nominations. ”

“ Thank you! It’s been a while. I think it’s a wonderful story. I love it and I’m proud of what we’re doing. ”

“ I don’t doubt it for a second. Now, tell us: what is the greatest challenge of it? ”

“ I think… well, apart from the contacts, my character is very intense, and sometimes it’s hard to get into and out of her. Also, we’re doing a Twilight production. We’re obviously being compared to the previous. ”

It went on for a couple more minutes, a fun bantering back and forth; they talked more about the show, a bit about her older works, until it got to…

“ What was it like working with James Potter again? ”

Lily had used all of her willpower to stop the flush from her cheeks, but she was sure some of it came on – the yells from the audience gave her that certainty. She smiled and ignored it.

“ It was very nice. We already were comfortable around each other, which was great because this show required it a lot. The scenes were intense. I’m really happy about the work we’ve done. ”

She was actually proud of her reply until now.

“ Well, some people agree with you, and add that the two of you have a great chemistry. ”

She forced a laugh – she had had done it before.

“ It’s great that people think that. It’s our intention all along. ”

“ Is he watching you tonight ?”

Lily’s grin was real this time.

“ Not live, at least. He’s doing lip sync at the moment .”

“ Oh, did he tell you what song he’s doing? ”

“Not really. He says it’s supposed to be a secret and all. ”

“ Oh, it’s a surprise! No worries, I won’t dig anymore. Talking about secrets, what do you have to say about the rumors about the two of you? ”

In that moment, Lily’s mind was filled with the peculiar artworks and messages that were closer to the truth than she wanted them to be. It made her a bit mad because she couldn’t have a single thing to herself. 

Mary could see the moment it went south and whispered a small “oh, no”.

“ I think people have got way too much free time to talk about something as dull as my love life. ”

There was a silence on the cell phone and real life Lily groaned as she heard the audience roaring again.

“ I meant about you two hosting the Emmys. ”

Mary turned off the video.

“Ok, you did fuck up.”

Lily groaned again.

“I mean, not only because of that, but also because how’s your new boytoy gonna feel about this?”

Lily glared at Mary until her friend gasped.

“Oh my God , James is your new boytoy?!”

“It’s not… I don’t… can we talk about something else?”

“No, we can’t , you cow. You’ve been sleeping with James ? Since when?!”

“Since the final outing. That’s not important now. What should I do ?”

“Honestly? Talk to James to see how you’re going to deal with it. It’s gotta be a joint decision, even though I have reason to believe he’ll just go with whatever you want. Go on, give him a call.”

“I can’t, he’s on the Lip Sync– Oh, no, he’s doing the Lip Sync!”

Lily grabbed her phone frantically; the website was already opened on the live show. It showed James wearing a white shirt and leather jacket, stylish sunglasses on his face and hair filled with hair gel.

He wasn’t lip syncing the pop song; he was grinning and watching the other person dancing – the other person was dressed in a red leather outfit that clung to every part of her body. The clothing matched the song, and it hid almost nothing.

Lily noticed it as the blond smirked and winked at James before almost giving a lap dance to a loud recording of “ Oops, I Did it Again .”

Lily would see red if it were anyone, but seeing as it was Amelia Bones, what happened was the exact opposite: she closed up and locked her phone.

There were some things one was better off not knowing (or seeing).

***

The thing about having a lot of fans is that some people are wonderful, but others… not that much. Lily would be lying if she said she completely disliked the idea of James and her together.

Or how often they were considered cute together.

The bad thing was that James had a lot of intense fans, and although she was his fans’ favorite, a small parcel prefered him with another actress.

Amelia Bones.

Amelia was a blonde, beautiful actress. Her first part was Prongs’s love interest after Flower left the show. They brought her in only a month after Lily’s dismissal, and her character should be only a rebound, but the chemistry she and James shared was too great to be ignored, and they really kept Amelia for almost a year.

The chemistry was so good that James and Amelia had really dated during Marauders.

Well, at least according to the tabloids.

Lily had a policy to not believe the sensationalist sort of press, but the photos of James and Amelia together bombed her day after day when she was already suffering because of her… thing with James.

She felt smaller than she ever had, for fancying someone and being so easily and so quickly replaced like that.

No, they never had admitted to actually having being together, but those images were pretty incriminating.

An image was worth a thousand words, wasn’t it?

If Lily had to be honest, part of her ban on romance movies was based on the fact Amelia was well known for her parts on rom-coms (and damn it , they were good ) and she didn’t want to risk having to be in a movie with Amelia.

She had no problems with the girl per se – she didn’t even know her – but Lily had no interest in rubbing salt on the wound.

Seeing Amelia almost giving James a lap dance on national television was saltier than she imagined.

“Oh, wow,” Mary said, unlocking Lily’s phone and watching Amelia dancing around, “that’s, uh…”

“He didn’t say it was going to be Amelia Bones,” Lily said quietly. Mary frowned.

“Maybe he didn’t think it would be relevant,” Mary tried, “because he’s so very smitten with you.”

“Is he, though? I don’t know, Mary, we didn’t even talk about any of what it meant. Well, except when he called me a ‘hook-up’.”

Mary’s frown deepened.

“Ok, I see your point. But it’s just a TV show, Lily. What could possibly come out of this?”

Twitter answered Mary’s question in less than a day. Lily scrolled the timeline tirelessly, even when it hurt her. 

Her “love life” comment hadn’t passed unnoticed by her or James’ fans, and they got “#Jily” trending in a few hours. At first, people were gushing about how great they looked together, about their “ship not sinking after so long”, using pictures and videos of them together, showering the hashtag with fanarts… one of them even correctly guessed James was leaving Lily’s flat on that forgiveness day.

Then the negative comments came: accusing them of a PR relationship to bring attention to the show, that they were just copying Robert and Kristen, claiming that she was trash to him, saying an Oscar nominated actress deserved better, and so on.

As she perused Twitter, people started to watch the Lip Sync, and soon they remembered the rumors of James and Amelia dating, getting “#Jamelia” on the trending topics as well. 

As Lily knew it would happen, people made the same connection she had made: that just as Lily hinted about a possible romantic relationship with James, Amelia sang “Oops, I Did It Again”, raising suspicions of a suspected love triangle.

@potterlover: omg evans tried to force dating james but amelia said hell no lol

@jamel1a: deff not a love triangle just evans faking shit to get her name out there

@bones101: she sang oops i did it again because once again she stole james from evans i’m sorry i don’t make the rules

@jamelicious: it’s terrible but it does look like james cheated on evans??? like she JUST said love life and minutes later bones is rubbing herself up on james who does nothing but grin alng

@evanspassion: this serves to demonstrate you can’t trust men he’s done her wrong twice she deserves better

And just like that, she went from successful actress to pitied, cheated on girl. It only took a few words, one night and one song to give Mary a publicity nightmare.

“You need to talk to James,” Mary told her right after midnight, probably when she saw for the first time just what had happened.

“I really don’t,” Lily disagreed.

“Replying to his message won’t hurt.”

“Well, one, it actually would, and two, he hasn’t texted, so the internet might be right.”

Mary sighed and joined Lily on her bed. The light was off – Lily’s dark mode screen of Twitter was the only illumination on the room –, but Mary could see that yes, from a manager point of view, talking to James was priority number one, but from a friend point of view, the emergency ice cream screamed to be brought forth.

***

It was almost midday when James texted her. The vibration of the phone woke both her and Mary from their messy sleepover.

what’s up love life?

Mary read the text with an indignant huff (“the audacity ”, she hollered), but Lily didn’t let her send the raged reply Mary wanted. In fact, Lily chose to not reply at all.

“When’s my next interview?” Lily asked instead.

“Next Monday. You’ve got some time off.”

“That’s great. I’m going to use that spa discount and stay the whole week,” Lily said, locking her phone. Mary sighed. “What? I’ve just finished recording. I can take a break!”

“Are you taking a break or are you running away again?”

“What do you mean by ‘again’?”

Mary made a face.

“I love you, but it’s time you admit that you ran away after The Marauders.”

“I didn’t run away, I was sent away.”

“Lily. James tried to contact you a lot back then. You know that.”

Lily just closed her eyes.

“Maybe I am running away, but why shouldn’t I? Look at this mess. I know you’ve seen Twitter. I know you’ve seen the… arguing , the accusations, the pity . I don’t want that. I want to… I want to relax and do my job, the job I love and not worry about what other people think of me. Is that so wrong?”

In the end, Mary couldn’t think of a reason to stop Lily from going to the spa and helped her book everything, mixing the friend and manager jobs.

Between his first text and the end of Lily’s massage, James texted her three more times, all of them memes. She made herself not open them, because she knew that away from Mary she might do stupid things like reply him.

***

James stared at the phone screen for a whole minute; in this time, he didn’t even blink, just watched the Instagram post in front of him.

“You alright, James?” Remud asked with a frown. James looked up from his place on the couch.

“Lily’s at a spa,” he said, his voice sounding surprised, “relaxing after filming, it seems.”

“Uh, okay…?” Remus replied, uncertain.

“It’s just…she didn’t tell me she was going to be away. I texted her Sunday and she never replied, and now she’s at a spa.”

“I…sorry, I don’t follow,” Remus tried again.

“Why isn’t she replying? It’s been 5 days now.”

“What do you mean why isn’t she replying?” Sirius asked from the kitchen, “she’s fucking pissed at you?”

James got up from the couch in a second.

“What?! Why? How do you even know that?”

“On what planet do you live, Prongs?” Sirius’s voice questioned James’s sanity, “after Saturday and all the shit it stirred I’m surprised she’s only ghosting you and hasn’t still dumped your sorry ass.”

“What happened Saturday?”

Sirius looked at him incredulously.

“You haven’t checked Twitter since then, have you? The little number Bones did got people thinking you’re cheating on Evans with Bones, because of everything that happened on The Marauders.”

James was stupefied.

“What?!”

“Yeah, people are thinking that you were dating Evans back then and dumped her for Bones, and that you’ve done it again now, because she sang ‘Oops, I Did It Again’ and gave you a lap dance.”

“She didn’t give me a lap dance,” James disagreed.

“Oh, but she did. It didn’t help your side that she posted the video with a heart emoji.”

James groaned.

“But…what about me saying the song I was doing was for someone very special? That I knew from a long time ago?”

“It could be both of them,” Remus argued. James almost convulsed in agony.

“I’ve never dated Amelia,” James cried out, “I told my dad I should’ve denied the rumors all those years ago. I told him. ‘It’s good publicity, James. You don’t need to confirm it, just don’t deny it either’. Pah , now look where it landed me. Lily won’t even reply to my texts. Just last week we were sleeping on this very couch, and now she won’t talk to me.”

Remus made an unimpressed face.

“This very couch where I’m sitting, that’s where you willingly chose to have sex? Instead of using your giant bed, you chose a common area furniture to have sex?” Remus asked while Sirius smirked.

“Nice,” Sirius laughed.

“That’s not relevant now,” James growled. “That’s it. I’m calling dad. I’m not going to let it happen again.”

“What happen again? You just said you’ve never dated Amelia!”

“I’ve never dated Lily either.”

***

Lily chose to arrive last minute. Once again, she was strong enough to know she was running from James – Mary didn’t need to glare at her like that.

“I know I don’t need to, I’m choosing to,” Mary replied, “you’ve had your week. You’ve got an interview together. You should’ve talked to him before, to solve it. Now it’s going to be a disaster and I can’t do anything about it.”

“It’s not going to be a disaster, Mary. I’m a professional. He’s a professional. We’ve got it under control.”

Mary snorted.

“Well, last time you called him ‘love life’, so forgive me for being cautious.”

Lily huffed but, really, she couldn’t fight this argument. Just then the two of them arrived at the pre-stage area and there was James – looking down as someone talked to him.

“Oh, Lily! I was afraid you had given up!” The host called out.

James looked up at once (had Lily moved her head so quickly she was sure she would have pulled something on her neck); their eyes met and for the first time ever, Lily couldn’t even fathom what he was thinking.

Her heart sped up as one of James’s hands left his pocket and raised in greeting; she knew him well enough to recognize his acting smile. She returned the gesture, locked in the battle of her mind (keep distant and professional) and her body (throw herself on him and hug him until someone called them out).

Ultimately, the host decided the winner as she hugged Lily herself and asked about the spa she had gone to; they made small talk for maybe a couple of minutes (enough to get them invited to the after-party) before the show aired. Lily gulped as she made her way to James’s side to wait for their cue to enter the stage.

“How was the spa?” James asked in a quiet tone.

“It was good. Very relaxing.”

“Great. You deserved the time off,” he added with a small smile – it was so small it bothered her; that was not how James Potter smiled. Perhaps being called out on Twitter robbed him of some of his good mood.

She didn’t have much time to reflect on the change as they were announced and ushered in under loud cheers. Both their fake smiles were on; it was Acting Time (™) and they were going through with it.

As the interview rolled on, both their spirits lifted considerably. It was easy to talk to the host and to laugh and joke around, almost normal. They even shared a real grin when someone asked about Fleur and Bill, remembering the bet.

“I’m terribly sorry, but I need to ask about all that had Twitter going crazy last weekend. Are you up to discussing it or…?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not really into discussing some parts of my private life. When I feel ready to share whatever I want to share, I will do so on my own,” Lily replied quickly.

“Sounds fair to me,” the host said with a kind smile, “let’s talk about something else then, shall we? We know a few actors who make a lot of movies and such together, and we love them. You guys are absolutely included. What’s it like to act again with someone? And what’s different from doing a piece with someone new?”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” Lily said, “well, I can’t say I don’t like both. I like to act with many different people because each one’s got their own peculiarities, and I think it makes me a better actress to learn a bit from all of them. But acting again with someone is nice, too, because you already know this person. But the characters we’ve portrayed together are so different that the act of filming is completely different.”

“That’s true,” James agreed. 

“I mean, James and Prongs were very alike, personality speaking. But Beau is really different, much shier and quieter. It showed me how wide his range is.”

“What about you, James? What was it like for you to work with Lily again?”

James sighed, looked at Lily and gave her that smile; the one she knew he reserved for her. Her heart went thump, thump, thump ; she could hear her blood pumping, her throat drying up and her stomach free falling.

That smile…

“I think I’ve said it before, but I think Lily’s the best actress of our generation – sorry, Kristen Stewart, you’ve lost your position,” the auditorium laughed and Lily felt her lips twitch upwards, “so anyone who’s got the opportunity to work with her is a lucky bastard. And I’m the luckiest of all, being able to have that pleasure twice. Yes, it’s a bit more familiar, but she’s never not surprised me, since day one on The Marauders,” the host nodded along, “perhaps it’s one of the reasons I fell madly in love with Lily all those years ago, but working with her it’s an everyday pleasure.”

Lily was sure everyone in the audience was screaming, but her ears were buzzing and her eyes were James’s now. He said it so casually, so blasé , as if it were a widely known fact that he fell madly in love with her all those years ago, but she wasn’t aware until that point. Perhaps she wasn’t the only one, but James was staring at her right back.

His eyes now were intense, like he wanted to silently tell her just how he had always felt; Lily had to use all of her talent to stop her mouth from falling and the babbling to begin.

“Wow, okay,” the host said a little wide-eyed, “now that’s a revelation we weren’t expecting!”

“Oh, sorry. It’s a fact of my life, y’know? Like, you’re the host of this show, a chicken lived up to 18 months headless once, and I always have and always will love Lily Evans.”

The crowd cheered again and Lily knew she should focus on the love part but…

“18 months headless?” she blurted out with a frown.

“I swear!” James replied enthusiastically.

“You are making this up,” Lily shot back.

“Am not!”

“How could you have possibly found this out?”

James laughed; his eyes were shining again, like they usually did. Lily’s heart was still speeding from his prior declaration.

“Ok, so Sirius and I…” Lily sighed in understanding, “we were trying to buy a chicken, a live chicken, because he was trying a recipe that needed it fresh or whatever. The guy selling it to us said that a chicken can live for a while without a head, and I called him off, but Sirius accepted it as true, of course, we had to try it. With us it was almost instantaneous, so we talked to Remus and he helped us research and BBC has a story about this zumbi chicken from 1945.”

The auditorium went quiet; the silence was only broken by Lily’s quiet laughter. It took the host a few seconds to recover.

“Ok, but could we talk about this, uh, love thing?” the host asked.

“Oh, sorry, we can’t. You see, if we talk more about it we’ll be too close to Lily’s personal life and I’d really rather live to see tomorrow.”

To say Lily’s heart raced away the rest of the interview was an understatement; it soared so quickly she thought she might fly. She had to focus on what was being said, but her mind was all James, James, James , completely in sync with each beat of her heart.

When it finally ended and they left the stage, she gave him a meaningful look. James winked and nodded, talking with some people.

Before Mary could even find them, James took one of her hands, grabbed her purse with another and started directing them somewhere on the backstage.

And just like that, they ran away from the building and into the city.

“Are you sure we were finished back there?” Lily asked as he took her to the nearest diner.

“I am positive,” he claimed as they threw themselves on a booth, facing each other, “that they need us for the closing, because I’ve been told so, but I don’t really care.”

He was almost like himself again; his grin was closer to what it usually was and he was, as always, bouncing his legs.

“So you’re telling me that I’ve left Mary behind to people frantically looking for me?” Lily raised her eyebrows. James winced.

“I’ll take the blame,” he promised, and then, as Lily didn’t change her expression, “and I’ll pay for dinner.”

“I thought you were already paying for dinner,” she replied nonchalantly, perusing idly through the menu as he stammered like she knew he would. Finally, Lily chuckled, “okay, I’ll accept your offer.”

He smiled and grabbed a menu for himself, but spent half the time actually looking at Lily – so when the (really pretty) waitress came to get their order, he just blurted out whatever he saw first.

Without the menus as a buffer, they locked eyes, no longer smiling. It was the first time since she left his apartment that they actually got within a meter of each other.

“Hi,” he greeted her. “How was the spa?”

“You’ve already asked me that.”

“I want the full answer now,” James shrugged.

“It was a good spa. I had a coupon my mom gave me. I had a lot of massages, and there was a jacuzzi in my room. Oh, the external pool was to die for, and the food wasn’t that bad either. No double burger, but it was alright.”

“Did you use cucumbers over your eyes?” James asked with a grin. She laughed

“Yeah, a couple of times.”

“I’ve always wondered how that felt.”

“It’s a bit weird because it’s, like, wet? But I was so focused on other things that I forgot about them,” Lily explained, then stopped smiling, “what did you do this past week?”

“Oh, mostly wondered why you weren’t talking to me, but then Sirius told me to go on Twitter, then I convinced myself to not keep bothering you until we could talk face to face.”

Lily raised her eyebrows again.

“And what did you want to talk about?” 

James sighed and became serious again.

“Listen, I owe you a few explanations,” he started, but Lily cut him off.

“No, you don’t,” she said, “I did a lot of thinking on the spa, and I realize now that I assumed things I shouldn’t have assumed, you did say it was a hook-up, and I shouldn’t have thought that we had anything serious or-”

“Wait, wait, stop,” James interrupted, taking one of her hands, “I did a lot of thinking too. I think about you since The Marauders, Lil. I haven’t been able to stop.”

Lily was saved from having to answer as the waitress brought their order. Neither of them even looked at the food.

“I had a huge crush on you since I saw you, and it just grew . It grew and it spread. Well, forgive me for the crudeness, but it spread from my dick, to my head and to my heart.”

“Oh my God , I can’t believe you just said that. You’ve had a week to plan what to say and you willingly chose to go with that.”

“You know I’m terrible at this,” he said as Lily tried to hide her grin.

“I do know that, yes.”

“I’ve always been terrible. So I couldn’t really do anything about it until that night, and after that…”

“Yeah,” Lily agreed quietly.

“I couldn’t believe the universe when I saw that you were chosen for Life and Death. I kept watching you from afar, and imagining meeting you again. You’ve got no idea what you meant for me, Lil. And then I had the chance to fix it. I had to do it right. And it looked like it was going okay, after we talked. And every time someone mentioned us being together, I wished fervently it could be real. And then…”

He cleared his throat.

“Then you invited me to your place after the karaoke, and I was so scared you were only doing it because you were drunk and that I’d be taking advantage of you-”

“I wasn’t,” Lily assured him, “I knew what I was doing. I wanted it too.”

“I know that,” he continued, “but now I see I didn’t make things clear enough for you, perhaps because I was afraid it might scare you, but this week I reckoned it was time to tell you I love you.”

“And you thought doing that on live national television was the best option?” Lily asked skeptically. 

“To be honest, I had planned to ask you out after the show, but she asked, so I thought, ‘why not?’.”

Lily shook her head in disbelief.

“I need to make sure you have no doubts I want to be with you. And that nothing happened between me and Amelia. That’s her favorite song, that’s why she chose it.”

“And was that the reason she also chose to give you a lap dance?,” Lily deadpanned, removing her hand from his. James flushed and she pretended no to find it endearing.

“I mean, why she did that I’m not sure. Or care, really. Maybe because people remember us from The Marauders? I don’t know, I didn’t care to ask her. But I couldn’t just make her stop or push her away, because it was live TV.”

“It does make sense, it’s just…” Lily admitted, “the stuff people said also made sense. Like, right after that video and my slipping up? It made a lot of sense too. I always suspected you had dated after The Marauders, and seeing it all together on Twitter just made me… snap, I suppose, even though, as I mentioned, I had absolutely no right to, because we slept together once years ago, and then a few times again now, it wasn’t a relationship, and you could’ve done anything you wanted with her but I just felt…”

“Betrayed,” James finished and Lily nodded, looking away and holding back a tear, “I get, Lil. I would’ve reacted worse if the roles were reversed. So yeah, I owe you an explanation, and an apology, because I realize I’ve hurt you and it’s the very last thing I want to do ever.”

James took her hand again.

“So I’m really sorry, and I’ll promise I’ll never let anyone give me a lap dance on national live television again.”

“What if your character gets a lap dance?” Lily asked.

“It won’t be live,” he replied at once, “but if it bothers you, I won’t accept the part.”

Lily raised an eyebrow, and for the first time that night, she got closer to him.

“What if it’s me?” she challenged him. This time James smirked.

“Then it won’t be on television because I wouldn’t control myself all that much and it’s not something TV friendly.”

They stared at each other for a while, James smirking and Lily fighting a smile.

“Am I forgiven?” James asked.

“Yes,” Lily replied. His smirk turned into a grin and he kissed her hand. They seemed to remember they had ordered food and started to eat.

“Can I just ask you something?”

“Of course,” Lily replied.

“I see what you thought about Amelia’s presentation, but you thought nothing of mine?”

“I, uh, didn’t get to see yours.”

James shook his head.

“Maybe if you had, this all could’ve been avoided. I know ‘Suck It And See’ is your favorite Arctic Monkeys song, and I thought you might’ve appreciated the effort to style my hair.”

Lily stopped her burger midair.

“Your what?”

“It was for you, of course. We can watch it later.”

“Later?” 

“Now I’ve gotten your forgiveness, I don’t plan on letting you go easily. I want to date you, Lil.”

Lily just kept grinnin.

“Alright, I need to see that video, but perhaps back home. Can’t guarantee my reaction.”

James laughed.

“You can try all you want, but you’re a romantic deep down,” James said, “and I love that you’ve let me in. I really love you.”

“I also love you, but I had to forgive you before saying it. But I’m not announcing it on live television.”

“Maybe Twitter?” James tried. Lily pondered as she chewed a bite of her burger.

“Alright. But I am telling everyone you took me to a random diner as our first date.”

“Hm. Okay. Your fans already hate me anyway,” he shrugged. “Let’s take a picture, then. To post it. Or do you want to run it by Mary first?”

Lily rolled her eyes.

“We’re not posting it now because some weirdo might recognise the place and come,” Lily told him, stealing one of his fries. He made a face and bit the fry off her hand, “hey! That’s not a good way to impress your new girlfriend.”

“You’re already impressed, I’m good.”

“That’s why I get the diner around the corner?” Lily teased him.

James winked then frowned.

“Wait, you called yourself my girlfriend!” James exclaimed, then whistled apologetically, “that’s awkward, we haven’t talked about it, yet-”

Lily’s slaps on his arms were met with laughter from him.

“You’re impossible . Am I ever going to have peace with you?”

His smirk said no , no peace ahead.

Lily smiled.

No peace sounded just about right.

***

“I’m always late, Lily, relax.”

Lily huffed and rolled her eyes. 

“We’re not even late,” Mary added.

“We’re close to being late, and we’re still on our way, so we could be late,” she reasoned. James took one of her hands on both of his.

“Love, has something I’ve planned ever gone wrong?” James asked calmly. Lily made an indignant face.

“All the time!” She cried out, then looked at Mary asking for help, “see?! That’s what I deal with everyday!”

“Well, he’s not making you stay with him or anything. You can break up with him anytime,” Mary reasoned. James pretended not to hear her and kept looking at Lily.

“The limo is great. We’re finally hosting the Emmys, Lily. We need to act like it,” he reminded her.

“We’d still be hosting the Emmys without a limo that arrived late !”

“I promise you we’ll get there in time,” he swore in a quiet tone. Lily looked in his eyes and he kissed the tip of her nose quickly, making Lily smile and roll her eyes.

“Relax, Lily,” Mary added, “you two are still hot shit after Life and Death. Even more than two years after the release.”

She wasn’t lying; Life and Death broke all of the records it possibly could, and earned both of them Emmys.

More than that, fans and not fans loved the adaptation, and it had made them meet Robert and Kristen (needless to say, both James and Lily freaked out a lot about this).

Lily was being asked for a big action movie, and James received his first drama offer. As expected, the good reception of the show helped their careers quite a lot. Some directors openly said they dreamed of having them both as a couple in their movies.

The idea was interesting to Lily and James, but they wanted to do their work alone for a bit – when James announced that, the internet was quick to suppose they were separating. Sirius quickly shut it down by doing an Instagram live of the couple bickering about pros and cons of guinea pigs as pets.

James squeezed her hand and grinned; that special one she had learned to recognize as hers . She couldn’t help but smile back.

Deep down, Lily had to admit James had been right about the limo and the great entrance. She did feel incredible, and the flashes told her she wasn’t the only one.

“ Potter! ”, someone yelled, “ what do you have to say about Amelia Bones retiring? ”

“I’m happy she’s taking care of her mental health,” James replied simply.

“She didn’t deserve what you guys did to her those years ago,” Lily added

When James and Lily officially announced their relationship on Twitter, not only Lily’s fans went for the kill with Amelia because of the performance with James; the media was also quick to point a finger.

It grew to a point both Lily and James had to publicly ask people to leave Amelia alone, but it was too late: Amelia was attacked so much she decided to take some time off. Recently, her name was rumored for a new movie, and all people could talk about was the fake affair with James. Wisely, she chose her mental health and announced her retirement from the screens.

“ Lily, are you really pregnant? ” 

Lily turned quickly at the question.

“Dude, be more creative, you guys say I’m pregnant every other week. My belly just isn’t that flat.”

James grinned and rubbed Lily’s lower abdomen. Lily rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away.

“Besides, James can’t keep a secret, you guys will know when I’m pregnant.”

“Unless it’s not mine,” James adds.

Lily rolled her eyes again. She could already see the stories claiming she was cheating on James after this.

“Now we really need to be amazing or it’ll be our fifth break up,” she told him as they left the red carpet.

“Between the two of us, we can come up with something,” James guaranteed with a grin, “also, when you’re pregnant, and not if?”

“We both know it’s a when, James,” she replied. His grin widened and he kissed the back of Lily’s hand, their silent love promise.

“But I did take offense when you said I’m a blabbermouth,” he teased, raising a single eyebrow.

Lily laughed.

“Ok, perhaps you can keep a secret or two. But you did declare your love for me on national television,” she added.

“It was only a secret for you, to be honest. Everyone else knew it already, love,”

Lily was still thinking about her reply when they reached the stage entrance. They were mic’ed up, received their cards and checked everything was ready.

Of course, on this sort of event some sort of rapport was needed. James and Lily had much more than that; they had the most pure chemistry, the same one that made Lily almost get an offer to stay on The Marauders, the one that made Life and Death and everything else they did together be something else.

They were something else.

They entertained, they joked and they delivered. They laughed, they made it emotional and they bickered.

They were a hit.

And in the end, they hit it.

“So thank you for keeping up with us all this time and I hope it hasn’t been as insufferable as Sirius told me it would be,” Lily joked in the end.

“That’ll teach you not to trust him, Evans,” James quipped.

“It’s Potter now,” Lily replied quickly with a smirk at him.

In seconds, James raised his eyebrows, Lily clapped her hands over mouth and widened her eyes, and the crowd cheered.

“Who can’t keep a secret again?” James challenged, taking their wedding rings from the suit’s inside pocket and putting them on.

“Well, they definitely won’t say we split up now.”