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A/N:

So, this was a random little idea that popped into my head and I thought it might be fun to write because I don’t want to finish the re-writing of my massive Jily fic from ten years ago (that I'm re-working), or finish the next chapter of Hot Library Guy which has been sat in my OneDrive for ages, sorry, not sorry.

I've really enjoyed putting this together, so much so that I'm debating maybe doing another chapter, perhaps with baby Harry? So let me know if you'd like that. I also imagine the Marauders to be a bit like The 1975 (but less cancellable) or 5 Seconds of Summer, but maybe because I love two bands, but feel free to use your imagination.

PS I have totalled modelled Effie on a slightly younger Mary Berry, which I just adore.

Not double checked for spelling or grammar, so if you spot a typo, no you didn’t.

“How anyone could ever cheat on you is beyond me,” Alice said as she sipped on her glass of ice-cold rosé as she sprawled out across an armchair in the living room of Lily’s flat.

“Especially when he looks like the back end of an armadillo,” Marlene agreed. Lily shook her head and giggled, to which her friends grinned, thankful that she had started to laugh instead of cry. “I’m so sorry to break it you Lils, but it's true, now you're finally rid of Amos Diggory I can say it out loud; he really does have a face that looks like an armadillo’s arse,” she continued as her attention drifted towards the doorway where Hestia grinned devilishly as she held two tubs of ice cream aloft.

“Oh, I am fully in agreement McKinnon, the only thing I want to know is, how you know what the back end of an armadillo looks like?” she teased as she dropped onto the sofa next to Lily as Marlene scoffed from where she was sat on the floor.

“I went out with that zookeeper, didn’t I? The one with gorgeous eyes that turned out to be a right cow, pun intended,”

“Hey, this isn't about your woeful love life,” Alice interrupted, and Marlene rolled her eyes.

“My love life is not woeful,”

“Darling, yes, yes, it is, but today isn't about you, you're not the one whose boyfriend just ran off with his secretary,” Hestia responded as she passed one the tubs of ice-cream and two spoons to Alice, who gestured for Marlene to join her in the armchair that was far too small for both of them to fit.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Lily groaned as Hestia threw a spoon into her lap. With a sigh, Lily dived into the pot of cookie dough Ben and Jerry’s that her best friend had brought over that afternoon (along with several bottles of wine) after she had received the tearful phone call from her.

Lily had known something was wrong as soon as she had stepped into Amos’ department that Friday afternoon; both her and her boyfriend of 18 months, Amos Diggory, were junior solicitors at McGonagall and Sprout LLP and had a longstanding arrangement to meet for lunch every Friday.

As Lily made her way from the far side of the office, where she was based with the family team, she was sure that some of her colleagues looked her strangely as she passed them; self-consciousness prickled uncomfortably inside her, and she prayed she hadn't accidentally tucked her skirt in her knickers, again.

As she walked into the commercial property department, just as she did every Friday at 1:00 pm, Alastor Moody (head of the department) offered her a quick hello as he stood at the printer. As she returned the sentiment, Lily noticed the startled expression on the face of the team’s trainee solicitor, Emma Vanity, who appeared to be doing a rather accurate impression of a deer in headlights, which she tried to ignore.

“You can’t go in there,” Emma blurted out as Lily placed her hand on the door to Amos’ office; confused, Lily and Moody turned to face her as she flushed beetroot red.

“And why not? Diggory is in his office, is he not?” Moody asked gruffly, but Lily had already found out why, despite Emma’s warning, she had pushed open the door and found Amos’ secretary straddling him in his desk chair.

Frozen to the spot, Lily couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at the sight of her semi-long-term boyfriend as he kissed another woman with his hands on the bottom of her tight black skirt.

“Diggory, what in Minerva’s good name do you think you’re playing at?” Moody demanded as the secretary, Liz something or other, squeaked and jumped from Amos’ lap like he was on fire, which Lily supposed he was, if the flush up his neck and cheeks was anything to go by.

Despite Moody’s intimidating presence, Amos’ eyes only met Lily’s.

“Lil,” he had breathed, “it's not what it looks like,” but she was already gone, he tried to call after her, but she didn’t stop. As Lily quickly left the department, eyes trained on the floor as she tried not to cry, the door swung closed behind her, but it wasn’t enough to block out the muffled sounds of Moody’s raised voice, and she inwardly hoped it was simply the beginning of one of Moody’s famous dressing downs.

Alastor Moody was a very senior solicitor with a razor-sharp tongue who did not suffer fools gladly; he was also quite fond of Lily, who had done a stint in his commercial property team as a paralegal before she had started her training; although the same could not be said for Amos, who could be awfully pig-headed when he wanted to be, and often rubbed his superior up the wrong way.

Lily had managed to keep the tears at bay until she stumbled through the doors to part of the office where you found the family team, where she promptly burst into tears in front of her fellow solicitor, Emmeline Vance, who froze in place.

“God, Evans, what's happened? I thought you were just going to lunch with Amos?” Mary MacDonald, the head of the team, asked, as she jumped up and pulled Lily into a tight hug. Lily then tearfully filled her colleagues in on what she had just seen, and as she wiped her snotty nose on the back of her hand, her two friends scowled.

“You wait until I get my hands on that little monster,” Mary growled as she looked towards the door with a murderous glint in her dark eyes.

“Leave it with me Mary,” Kingsley Shacklebolt interrupted, as he appeared from the communal kitchen and placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder, apparently having heard everything. Lily’s cheeks flushed pink, this was just what she needed, someone else knowing how pathetic she was. Kingsley was an equity partner based in the private client team and dealt primarily with complex trust matters, but due to the nature of his work, he often overlapped with the family team. Lily very much enjoyed it when she got to work with Kingsley and had to admit that she felt a little brighter as he offered her a reassuring smile and a nod of his head. “I’ll go and speak with Moody now, I suspect he may need someone to reign him in,” he said as he cocked an eyebrow and handed Lily the cup of tea that he had just made for himself, before he headed off towards the other side of the office.

“Pack up your stuff, you're going home, I'll clear it all with HR,” Mary soothed before the door had even swung closed. She patted Lily’s cheeks affectionately as Emmeline offered her a box of tissues.

“But I have a client meeting, I’m meant to see Mrs Bagshot at three,” Lily sniffed as she gratefully took a tissue and loudly blew her nose.

“We'll cover that, don’t you worry, now, you get home and look after yourself, call up those gorgeous mates of yours, eat loads of ice cream, drink loads of wine, then come back in on Monday and we’ll regroup,” Mary said, so firmly that Lily didn’t dare argue. She nodded and accepted a hug from Emmeline who rubbed her back and gave her a squeeze, before she grabbed her jacket and car keys and slipped out the fire exit so no-one else could see her puffy eyes.

Lily only made it to the end of the road before she needed to pull over as tears clouded her vision; that was when she had rung her best friend, Hestia Jones, and shakily relayed the whole story through her car’s Bluetooth connection.

“Stay put, I'm coming to get you,” she said, and Lily didn’t protest.

Exactly 13 and a half minutes later, Hestia had appeared from an uber, shoved a handful of Tesco carrier bags into the boot of Lily’s car and shooed her over into the passenger seat.

“I've already called Alice and Marlene, they'll be over in 45 minutes,” she said as she took Lily’s keys and fired up the engine. Lily nodded numbly and allowed Hestia to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her in for a half hug, the best they could do in the front of Lily’s 2015 Ford Fiesta.

“I'm so sorry for calling you when you were, were at work,” she stammered, and her breath hitched in her throat. Hestia’s demeanour softened as shook her head and patted Lily’s knee before she put the car into first gear, indicated, and pulled back out into the road.

“Oh shush, you know I've got Gid wrapped around my little finger, I can basically do whatever I want because my billing is the best in the firm,” she said with a small laugh under her breath. Hestia too, was a solicitor at a boutique firm not far from Lily’s that specialised in high value personal injury work; Gideon Prewett, her boss, who very blatantly fancied the pants off her, hadn’t batted an eyelid when she had told him that she needed to slip off early for a family emergency and had even waited outside with her for her taxi.

For the duration of their 15-minute drive home, Hestia tried to distract Lily with silly stories of her clients or gossip about her co-workers, but her mind kept flashing back to the sight of another woman kissing her boyfriend and him kissing her back.

As they had arrived back at Lily’s one bedroom flat in Clapham, Hestia confiscated her phone and blocked Amos’ number before she opened the first bottle of rosé.

Their other two friends, Alice Prewett (no relation to Gideon) and Marlene McKinnon, arrived 35 minutes later with more wine, pizza, and packets of strawberry cheesecake pretzels, which were Lily’s favourite.

That was where they found themselves several hours, and many glasses of wine, later.

“Maybe this could be a blessing in disguise anyway,” Marlene said through a mouthful of ice cream. “This is the first time we’ve all been single in ages, so now we can all live our best lives together without pathetic plus ones tagging along,”

“Frank is obviously excluded from that statement, he is always invited,” Hestia clarified as she looked to Alice, who laughed as she nodded; Alice and Frank had been together since they were 15, so he was practically one of the girls.

“I don’t think I want to think about a man ever again,” Lily moaned as she rested her head on Hestia’s shoulder, and Marlene stretched her long legs over Alice’s knees, nonchalant to the fact that they were squished up in an armchair only designed for one person.

“Lily, I can assure you, dating girls is no walk in the park either,” she countered as she waggled a spoon in her friend’s direction. “But you're welcome to give it a whirl,” Marlene shrugged as she dug her spoon into the ice cream.

“Come off it McKinnon, you just have poor taste, and anyway, Dorcas clearly likes you, you're just too blind to see it,” Hestia said with an eye roll, and Marlene glared in her direction. Dorcas Meadowes was a girl in their wider university friendship group that was clearly interested in Marlene, and Marlene with her, but were both too oblivious to ask the other out.

“Now, now, this isn't about either of you, this is about Lily,” Alice said as she looked between her two friends, to which they both mumbled an apology.

“I need a top up,” Marlene groaned as she pulled herself from Alice’s lap and headed towards the kitchen, from which she appeared a few moments later with another bottle of rosé.

As the wine flowed, Lily felt her mood lift considerably, her friends were a tonic for her broken heart, which she gladly drank in as she laughed whilst Hestia reeled off all the ways in which Amos Diggory had been a horrible boyfriend: ‘he definitely dyes his hair Lils, that blonde is not natural, it 100% comes from a bottle, he uses a knife and fork in the wrong hand which is just bad manners, and I can tell just by looking at him that he definitely does not manscape’ and she had been right on all points, which had made Lily laugh so hard that wine had almost come out of her nose.

“And who runs off with their secretary anyway, that is so cliché, bleh, boring, if you're going to be a shitbag at least make it interesting,” she had continued with a dramatic wave of her hand and Lily giggled as Alice stifled a hiccup.

“Men are trash,” Marlene replied; she was now sprawled out on the carpet where she leant on her side, head propped upon her palm as she sipped her wine through a gold reusable straw.

“Actually, that's where you're wrong McKinnon, from my extensive field research into the male species, I have concluded that Andrew Garfield would never treat you that badly,” Hestia declared, semi-seriously.

“Oh my god, you're so right, Andrew Garfield would never,” Marlene agreed and Hestia grinned as she took a sip of her wine.

“I’m always right,” she purred triumphantly.

“What about Paul Rudd? I feel like he would treat you right too Lily,” Marlene suggested. “I literally swoon every time I see him and Pheobe together,” she continued, her eyes wistful.

“You do know Friends isn't real? Right? It's just an old and slightly problematic TV show,” Lily laughed with a shake of her head and Marlene shushed her. “Anyway, as much as these men are undoubtedly lovely, they are also at least 10, if not 15, years older than me, I mean, I love an older man as much as the next girl, but I'm only 25, I think I'd be too young for them,” she said nonchalantly, as if age was the only issue with her dating Andrew Garfield or Paul Rudd, not the fact they were superstars or anything.

“What about that singer from that band you like? He's about our age, isn't he?” Alice asked Hestia, whose ears pricked up at the word band, but then her brow furrowed.

“Al, you know you’re going to have to be more specific, I very much like men in bands, so that could mean any one of hundreds,”

“You know, the one we were listening to on Radio 1 the other day when we drove to Benjy’s, I can't remember their name, but you said the singer was cute,” Alice continued as she clicked her fingers as if that would help either of them remember.

“Ah, the Marauders!” Hestia exclaimed as she threw her arms wide and almost spilt her wine in the process. “Yes, Lily, the lead singer is so fit and he’s just your type,”

“You mean a cheating scumbag? I don’t need any more of those thank you,” Lily responded sarcastically as she took a sip of her drink.

“No, no, I mean tall, dark hair, ridiculously handsome, bit arrogant,” she responded with a grin. “Give me your phone, I'll find his insta and I just know you’ll change your mind,”

Without protest, Lily handed over her phone and Hestia tapped quickly at the screen before she passed it back.

When Lily looked at her phone screen, it showed an Instagram profile under her name @Marauderjames; original, she almost snorted, but she allowed herself to flick over the pictures while her friends looked on expectedly.

She had to admit, Hestia was right, he was definitely her type, well over six foot, with tousled dark hair, and an obvious devil-may-care attitude. Her eyes lingered over the videos of him as he strutted around the stage in a tight white t-shirt that showed off muscled biceps covered in tattoos, and selfies with his band mates, there was even a picture of him at a pool somewhere sunny with his shirt off as he proudly displayed a ton of abs and an inking of a large stag’s head that seemed to cover his whole chest.

“Well?” Hestia asked, although by the way she was grinning, Lily presumed she already knew the answer.

“He’s definitely my type,” she concluded as she pressed follow, then shoved her phone into her pocket. Marlene and Alice squealed, whilst Hestia beamed.

“You should definitely send him a message,” she cooed, and Lily laughed out loud.

“Of yeah, because he’s really going to respond to some random girl sliding into his DM’s,” she scoffed as she took a long sip of her wine.

“What do you have to lose? Worst that happens is he ignores you or doesn't read your message,” Marlene shrugged, and Lily had to agree, her friends were right, what was the worst that could happen?

“Fine,” she agreed with a sarcastic roll of her eyes as she tried to hide the grin that threatened to pull across her face, she needed no further persuasion. “What should I say?”

The next 10 minutes were chaos as they tried to decide how Lily should word her message to James Potter, lead singer of the Marauders, who Hestia explained were a sort of pop-punk band.

“Don't pretend you’ve never taken one,” she teased as Lily shot down Hestia’s idea of sending him a picture of her in her underwear.

Alice suggested sending him pictures of assorted furniture with the caption saying ‘Don't mind me, just moving into your DM’s’ but they eventually settled on Marlene's suggestion of a simple:

@LilyEvans1 Hey, just sliding into your DMs because you're cute xo’

Once the message had been sent, Lily actually felt quite excited, to her wine addled brain, it made perfect sense to DM a random celebrity, tell them they were fit, and expect to receive a response, and it had certainly felt even more sensible when Hestia opened the next bottle and topped up her glass.

As hungover Lily reluctantly woke up the next morning, the message did not seem such a sensible idea, she was even a little embarrassed that she’d allowed her friends to talk her into it. Bleary eyed and hungover, she flicked open her phone to delete all traces of the message and pretend the shameful attempt to chat up a celebrity hadn’t actually happened, but as she flicked over her notifications, her heart dropped.

1 New Message: @Marauderjames liked your message.

1 New Notification: @Marauderjames has requested to follow you.

Fuck.

She was sure her friends had stayed over last night and would be dotted about her flat, but the end of the evening was a little hazy so she wasn’t 100% sure; she was also so hungover that she wasn’t sure she was able to get up and check, so she did the next best thing, opened WhatsApp, and typed the fastest message she could.

Gossip Girl xoxo

Participants: Lily Evans, Hestia Jones, Alice Prewett, Marlene McKinnon

Lily Evans: Gang

Lily Evans: Code red, code red

Lily Evans: Attachment

After sending a screenshot of the notifications, Lily heard the message ping somewhere within her flat, so she knew at least one of her friends had stayed over. Her heart began to race as she stared at the group chat and willed one of her friends to wake up and read the message.

After what felt like hours, the grey ticks turned blue, and she was notified someone was typing.

Hestia Jones: Stop

Hestia Jones: Please tell me that’s real?

As Lily began to type a response, her bedroom door swung open, and Hestia, still wearing last night's makeup and one of Lily’s oversized gym t-shirts with no shorts underneath, barrelled in.

“Please tell me that screenshot is real?” she said again as she ducked into Lily’s bed and under the covers. Lily nodded numbly, she suddenly felt very sick, she wasn’t sure if it was the wine, or the fact a pop star had just liked her message and tried to follow her.

Hestia squealed and clapped her hands together.

“This is fucking great,” she said, far too enthusiastically and far too loud for Lily’s delicate condition.

“What the actual fuck Jones?” Marlene’s voice called out from down the hallway, and Hestia shouted back to check her messages. There was silence for a moment, then the sound of two pairs of hurried footsteps.

“Is this real?” Alice asked as she appeared in the doorway, still clothed in last night’s dress and her hair thrown up into a messy bun.

“Yes!” Hestia answered gleefully as Marlene, wearing nothing by Lily's dressing gown, stared back dumbfounded. “Get in, get in,” she urged, as she ushered Alice and Marlene onto the bed with her and Lily, who still felt quite sick.

“What are you going to do?” Alice asked, which pulled Lily’s attention from the notification screen back to her friends.

“She’s going to accept it, obviously,” Hestia answered before she took Lily's phone from her hand and accepted the request before she could protest.

“Hey!” Lily called out and she thought she might vomit. “Ugh, he’s going to think I'm a pathetic groupie,” she moaned as she held her head in her hands, but Marlene shushed her.

“No he won't, he obviously thinks your fit if he’s followed you, this is so exciting!” she said, and her friends exchanged conspiratorial grins as Hestia handed Lily’s phone back.

“I bet that’s the last I ever hear from him,” Lily said before she rolled over and hoped her friends would take the hint to leave her to sleep off her hangover, but instead they dragged her into her small kitchen.

“Have these, we’re going out for breakfast, somewhere cute,” Hestia ordered as she thrust a couple of painkillers and glass of water into Lily’s hands.

“Why?” she moaned but swallowed the tablets anyway.

“Because,” Marlene answered with her arms crossed, “we need to take cute pictures to show Amos what he’s missing and James that he should definitely sleep with you,”

“Marlene!” Alice chided as she slapped Marlene’s arm, but Hestia offered her a knowing grin. Lily, however, didn’t notice, she suddenly remembered the events of yesterday and that her boyfriend had cheated on her with his secretary.

“No, no, no, you are not going to cry, you are far better than that, Amos Diggory does not deserve any more of your tears,” Hestia said firmly as she noticed Lily’s bottom lip wobble. “Now, go shower and we’ll clear your social media of any pictures of the armadillo arse,”

Lily, who still felt sorry for herself, didn’t complain, and handed over her phone before she dragged herself to the bathroom.

When she appeared a while later, her friends were all dressed and ready for brunch; Lily recognised the dress Hestia was wearing as one of hers, but couldn't complain, she’d made it to her in record time yesterday and straight from work, so she wouldn't have had time to pack a bag.

“Mr Armadillo has now been scrubbed from your entire internet presence, and I posted a cute picture to your story, just in case he checks,” Hestia grinned as she handed Lily back her phone. With a raised eyebrow, Lily checked her Instagram profile and sure enough, the handful of pictures she had posted with Amos over the last 18 months were now gone. “I've unfollowed him too, and I found Liz's profile and blocked her, just in case,” she continued; the secretary must have been called Liz after all (how Hestia knew, Lily wasn’t sure, but her friend had an uncanny ability to find anything out, and often by any means necessary, so she didn’t ask).

The picture Hestia had posted to her story took a moment or two to load, but when it did, Lily smiled, it was a picture of the four of them, all in bikinis, looking tanned and gorgeous as they sipped champagne on a yacht in the south of France; the trip had been a spontaneous decision, but one that had turned out to be one of the best they had ever made. When Marlene had ditched her last girlfriend and needed something to cheer her up, they had booked the last-minute trip and headed off to some cruddy hotel in the back streets of St-Tropez. Whilst drinking cocktails in a bar, Hestia had chatted up an American businessman who had invited then to come aboard his yacht, where they had partied late into the night, it definitely hadn't been the safest decision they’d ever made, but they’d had a great time and taken tons of photos to prove it. The caption read ‘Would rather be here *heart eyes emoji*’

“I tagged us all too, just in case his band mates are interested,” Hestia winked as she followed the others out of the door and towards the tube station.

“I’ve booked a table for us at this cute place in Covent Garden,” Marlene said as they padded down the steps the ticket barriers, and held up a finger to silence Lily when she opened her mouth to protest. “Our treat, now shush,”

The tube was hot and sweaty and made Lily feel even more sick, but as they ploughed through the hordes of tourists at Covent Garden station and past the pavilion, the crowds thinned, and she began to feel a little better.

As they approached their destination, a little corner café that was decorated with flesh flowers and fairy lights, Lily grinned, she had seen this place on Instagram and had wanted to come for ages, it was almost too cute to be real, a cafe by day and cocktail bar by night.

Once they were settled in their booth, right under an air con unit that was absolutely glorious, they ordered a variety of dishes for them all to share (they weren’t able to decide on just one, and this way they could all try a bit of everything).

“Breakfast tapas,” Alice grinned as the waitress smiled and headed off to the kitchen with their order. “Now, Lil, smile, we need pics,” she continued as she scooched over in her seat so Lily could take her place in front of the wall of flowers behind their booth and a pink neon sign that read ‘GRL PWR’.

Lily obliged but felt a little silly as a few of the other tables turned to watch her friends assemble a full photoshoot for her. Hestia arranged Lily’s long auburn waves over her shoulder as Alice held her torch aloft for optimal lighting and Marlene snapped away, calling out direction like a flamboyant photographer on Britain's Next Top Model while Lily laughed and pouted at the camera.

They were still mid-shoot when the waitress brought over their food and grinned.

“Oh, don’t mind us, her boyfriend is a cheating scumbag so we’re taking cute pictures to show him what he’s missing out on,” Alice explained as Hestia drooled that the food looked amazing. The waitress laughed again.

“Do you want me to take a group one?” she asked, and Hestia nodded enthusiastically before she handed over her phone and waitress snapped a few more pictures. “Gorgeous!” she called out, before she passed the phone back to a grinning Hestia.

“These are great, she’s getting a big fat tip,” she said as the waitress headed back to the kitchen and Hestia flicked through the pictures. “Lil, look how fit you look?” she continued, and Lily looked over to her friend's phone, the pictures had come out great.

“Review later, eat now,” Marlene said with a grin and Lily nodded enthusiastically as they dived into the waffles dropping in cream and maple syrup, hangover long forgotten.

“I think you should post this one,” Marlene said as she held her phone aloft to show a picture of Lily laughing at the camera.

“I fully agree, look how great your boobs look,” Alice seconded. “Post it now and make sure you tag the location, so if he sees it, he’ll know you’re in London, y’know, in case he wants to see you,” she continued with wiggle of her eyebrows. Lily rolled her eyes but did as she was told and posted a picture of the food they’d ordered, then the agreed picture of her to her Instagram story, before she placed her phone, screen down, on the table; she knew she’d keep watching it if she didn’t.

“Spoilsport,” Marlene muttered as the waitress collected their plates and they ordered a round of coffees.

Lily grinned smugly, she had actually enjoyed this charade, but that’s all it was, a famous pop star had followed her on Instagram, that’s all it was, it wasn't like she was about to jump into bed with him, that would be a fantasy, no, he had probably just followed her because she was nice to look at, and whilst that was flattering, it wasn’t exactly a marriage proposal.

As another waitress brought over their coffees, Lily didn’t see Hestia slip her arm below hers and snatch her phone from the table.

“Bloody hell, he’s sent a reply already!” she exclaimed as she held the phone out for Lily to see. Marlene nearly choked on her drink as Alice craned her neck to read the small text. “He must have your post notifications on, because there is no way he saw your picture that quick,” Hestia continued with a shake of her head.

Lily grabbed the phone from her friend's hand and finally read the message.

1 New Message: @Marauderjames food looks incredible, but you look better x

She almost threw up her breakfast.

“He’s forward, I'll give him that, what are you going to reply?” Marlene asked when she finally stopped choking, but Lily could only shake her head, she had no idea, she was so out of practice with this flirting malarkey.

“Ooh tell him you’ll bring him next time!” Alice suggested and Marlene nodded keenly.

“Is that not a bit presumptuous?” Lily asked, but Hestia shook her head.

“Does it matter?”

Lily couldn’t help but agree again, so she tapped out the message and pressed send. She then turned her phone over again and refused to let her friends see if he had replied.

She refused to look at her phone as they boarded the train back to Clapham, nor on the walk to her flat, where her friends collected their things, and she had sent them back to their own places with a promise to fill them in later.

As her friends called out their final goodbyes, Lily locked the door behind them and pulled out her phone.

1 New Message: @Marauderjames are you asking me out on a date Evans? X

She wasn’t sure if it was the fact she was chatting with a supposed popstar, or just the fact he’d used her last name, but her heart beat a little faster, and butterflies swooped around her stomach. She pondered how to reply and tried to visualise how Hestia (the flirtiest person she knew) would respond. Before she lost her nerve, she tapped her response and pressed send.

@Lily Evans1 depends if you’re going to say yes x

She pocketed her phone and flicked on the kettle, she hadn't had a drink since they’d been in Covent Garden and she could murder a cup of tea; as she threw a teabag in a chipped mug, her phone pinged again.

1 New Message: @Marauderjames well obviously it’s a yes, look at you x

Lily grinned at her phone as she poured the tea and settled on her squishy sofa before she wrote out a reply, it started to come to her more naturally now.

@Lilyevans1 you sure? I could be an axe murderer or a crazed fan for all you know x

@Marauderjames nah you don’t look the type x

@Marauderjames and you're not following any of my bandmates, so I assume you're not a crazed fan, but feel free to prove me wrong x

@Marauderjames so, tell me about you, oh strange gorgeous woman who slid in my DMs x

@Lilyevans1 I promise I don’t make habit of sliding into DMs of people I don’t know! x

@Marauderjames so it's just me? Evans I'm blushing x

@Lilyevans1 okay, this is a bit embarrassing, but I found my boyfriend cheating on me yesterday, so my friends came over and we got into a conversation (after lots of wine) about how all men are rubbish and my friend said Andrew Garfield wasn’t, I said he’s too old for me and my other friend said she’d heard you on the radio and thought you sounded nice, so I should message you instead x

@Lilyevans1 told you it was embarrassing!

@Marauderjames well, your boyfriend was a prick and didn’t deserve you

@Marauderjames but since it brought you to my DMs, I can't say I'm sorry to hear x

Butterflies exploded in her stomach and Lily couldn’t help but grin to herself and kick her legs like a giggly schoolgirl; when she had woken up that morning, horrendously hungover and full of regret, she really hadn't expected the afternoon to go this way, but she thoroughly enjoyed the thrill you got from talking to someone new, and even better, she hadn't thought of Amos once.

That was until she had flicked on the kettle on to make herself another cup of tea and there was a knock at the door. She knew in the pit of her stomach that it was Amos, he always knocked like that; she paused and stared at the door from the edge of her kitchen and hoped he’d go away, but the person outside knocked again.

“Come on Lily, please talk to me, I know you're in there,” his voice said through the letterbox. Lily steeled her nerve, and opened the door where she found a sheepish looking Amos holding a bunch of tulips, Lily hated tulips, but he never remembered that. He stepped forward and tried to hug her, but Lily pushed back and held out her hand.

“You’re not coming in and I don’t want your flowers, it is over Amos, please leave me alone,” she said sternly as she replayed Hestia’s list of why he was a shit boyfriend over and over in her head.

“Please Lil, it was a mistake, a one-off, I've even asked for Liz to be moved so we won’t work together anymore, please, what can I do to make it up to you?” he begged, but she shook her head.

“Nothing Amos, you can’t make it up to me, my mind is set, it’s over and I don’t want to get back together,” she said, almost surprised at how steady her voice sounded considering her emotional state yesterday. Amos opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a ping from Lily’s phone on the side in the kitchen. As his eyes narrowed at the sound of the phone, it pinged again, and again.

“Someone's popular,” he said sharply, and Lily rolled her eyes.

“It's probably just the group chat, but I don’t see how it's any of your business anyway,” she said as her brow furrowed into a scowl.

“Show me,”

“No, why should I?” she scoffed and folded her arms in front of her chest.

“Because for all I know you’ve got someone else on the go already, prove its just the girls, you shouldn’t have any issue showing me if you're telling the truth,”

Irritation bubbled under Lily’s skin; how dare he accuse her of being the cheat after what he’d done.

“I think you're forgetting which one of us got caught snogging their secretary, goodbye Amos.” She said as she slammed the door in his face.

Once she had locked the door, she covered her face with her hands and sank to the floor, she wanted to cry, to crawl into bed with the leftover packets of cheesecake pretzels and wallow in self-pity, but then her phone pinged again, and she forced herself back to the kitchen.

2 New Messages in Gossip Girl xoxo

Hestia Jones: How's it all going? *side eye emoji*

Hestia Jones: I need all the details

1 New Message: @Marauderjames you alright Evans? You’ve gone all quiet on me

1 New Message: @Marauderjames sorry was that a bit much?

Lily shook her head and pressed the call all button on the WhatsApp chat. Hestia answered first.

“Unless you're calling to explain why we haven't received screenshots of your messages already, hang up,” she giggled and Lily’s voice caught in her throat, the only sound that came out was a strangled sob; as the tears pricked in her eyes, she knew she was close to losing it. “What's happened?” Hestia said; her tone suddenly more serious.

“Lily are you okay?” a new voice said, and she noticed that Alice and Marlene had now answered too. “Amos turned up,” she said, and Alice swore loudly.

“I'm on my way now, I'll stay over tonight, just in case he comes back, put the kettle on,” Hestia replied before she hung up. Alice and Marlene stayed on the line to reassure her that it was all okay and Amos was just a prick when the front door opened, and Lily saw that Hestia had let herself in with her key.

“It's okay gang, stand down, I'm here now,” she said into Lily’s phone and offered the others a brief goodbye. “Now, come here,” Hestia said as she took Lily in her arms and hugged her tightly.

“Amos is a massive arsehole and did not deserve you, and if he comes back, I'll kick him in the groin,” she said seriously, and Lily laughed lightly into her shoulder before she pulled away and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Now, I have brought over the fanciest bath bits I could find, so I'm going to run you a scalding hot bath with all the bubbles, then were going to do facemasks and I'll paint your nails, I've also ordered an Indian to be delivered at 8,” Hestia continued as she affectionately tapped Lily’s nose before she headed towards the bathroom and turned on the taps. As Lily flopped down on her sofa, she thought how beyond lucky to have someone like Hestia in her life; as the woman herself hummed something to herself in the bathroom, Lily looked at her phone and she once again saw James’ message.

@Lilyevans1 sorry, my ex turned up and made a scene, so had to deal with that, my best friend has come over now in case he comes back x

She set her phone down, but James responded almost immediately.

@Marauderjames ah fuck, you okay? He didn’t hurt you or anything?

@Lilyevans1 I'm alright, thank you for checking x

@Marauderjames what can I say, I'm a gentleman, but you sure you're alright, don’t need anything?

@Lilyevans1 Hess is running me a bath and has ordered an Indian, so I'm sure I'll be okay, but thank you x

@Marauderjames I'm glad you’re not by yourself, enjoy the curry (v jealous) and I'll check in with you tomorrow x

@Lilyevans1 she’s the best, speak soon x

Despite how crap she felt, Lily couldn’t help but smile.

“I very much hope that smile is because of a certain lead singer,” Hestia cooed as she loitered in the doorway, her long brown hair now thrown up in a messy ponytail. Lily’s cheeks flushed and Hestia grinned smugly. “I knew it, now get in that gorgeous bath and I'll find something on telly,”

Lily had very much enjoyed the bath that Hestia had run for her, it smelt divine and when she closed her eyes, she could almost believe she was in some fancy hotel and not a falling apart flat in Clapham; it was so divine that she was pretty sure that she had even fallen asleep for a while and was only woken up when the delivery driver knocked on the door to hand over their Indian takeaway.

Lily quickly pulled herself out of the now lukewarm water and cringed at her pruny fingers as she pulled on her dressing gown and padded out into the kitchen, where Hestia had pulled open containers of steaming curry.

“Didn't know what you fancied, so got a bit of everything,” she shrugged as she rooted around for plates and cutlery, and Lily agreed, she had ordered a bit of everything, literally. They both loaded up plates and settled on the sofa, two glasses of wine had already been poured and were settled on the coffee table, Hestia's lipstick already smudged onto the rim of one.

“I’ve found the Marauder’s set from Reading festival last year on iPlayer if you fancy seeing what they’re all about?” Hestia suggested, although she didn’t wait for an answer as she clicked play and the sound of a music festival sprung from the tv.

“Alright Reading, how you doing?” a voice called out of the screen and as the camera zoomed in, Lily saw it came from James, he sounded far more middle class than she had expected.

“Such a posh boy, isn't he?” Hestia giggled as she pre-empted Lily’s comment before she could even open her mouth. “They all are, met at private school apparently,” she continued as she spooned curry and rice into her mouth and the crowd cheered. “So, James is the lead singer and plays guitar as well, but that supermodel of a man is Sirius Black,” she continued as she pointed to the left of screen and a deep strum of a bass screamed through the applause, “he plays bass and sings a fair bit too, that’s Peter,” she said as she gestured at the next bloke, “he plays sax, that’s what makes their sound so cool, no-one has a sax in a pop-punk bank, but it works, he does a bit of guitar as well too,” she shrugged. Lily nodded and tried to remember the names of all the band members, but it wasn’t easy when she couldn't take her eyes off James who strutted confidently around the stage and waved to the fans, once again in a tight white t shirt which showed off his tattoos, including the very top of the stag on his chest, and black jeans. He had a small silver hoop in one ear, a bar through his eyebrow and a thin chain around his neck that bounced as he danced about the stage in his red converse, mic stand in hand. “And at the back, that’s Remus, he plays drums and sings a bit too,” Hestia said, this time through a mouthful of naan bread.

Lily nodded as she spooned piping hot curry into her mouth; it was difficult to match the James she had been chatting with, to the James on the screen, she knew it was just a stage persona, but they seemed poles apart, this James was confident, bordering on arrogant as he winked at the fans who threw their knickers at the stage, whereas the James she had been speaking to, seemed much more down to earth, still sure of himself, but a little more normal?

By the time they had finished their food, there was only a few more minutes of the set left and Hestia continued to give Lily a running commentary on the band and their songs; ‘so they met at school and were just gigging around when they got spotted and offered a recording deal, they’ve been a band for like ten years, done a few albums now and loads of tours, they play them on Radio 1 all the time, I bet you've heard them and not noticed,’

As Lily cleared away plates and topped up their glasses, Hestia flicked through the rest of the programmes and found an interview with the Marauders from the same festival, which she set to play.

James was effortlessly charming as he laughed and joked with a nervous journalist, to make them feel at ease. In the interview, he spoke about his bandmates with an affectionate grin, which only grew as they gate-crashed it and wrestled him to the ground, as everyone around them burst out laughing.

“Come on Prongs, stop hogging the limelight,” Sirius teased as he got James into a headlock and ruffled his hair, which was already gloriously tousled.

“They call him Prongs because of that stag tattoo,” Hestia explained as she barely concealed a yawn. “I think I’m going to get in bed if that’s okay? I'm shattered,” she continued, and Lily laughed under her breath.

“Sure, I'll be there soon,” she grinned as Hestia sleepily nodded padded over the bedroom.

Lily’s eyes wandered over the telly that was still playing the interview, now with all four boys, and she couldn’t help but smile, James’ enthusiasm was infectious, she couldn’t believe he was even real, let alone remotely interested in her. She pulled out her phone and flicked over the messages, there weren’t many, but she grinned like an idiot as she re-read them.

She then pulled up his profile, god, he really was attractive, a mop of delightfully messy raven coloured hair with hazel eyes that always seemed to glitter with mischief, sometimes she noticed he wore smart tortoise shell glasses that only seemed to add to his charm. She really was besotted, and she’d never even met the bloke.

She flicked over his profile one more time before she locked her phone and joined Hestia in bed, almost too excited to sleep at the prospect of getting to talk to James again.

The first thing Lily did when she woke up was check her phone, and, as expected, there was a message from James.

@Marauderjames hope you're feeling better this morning? x

Her heart did a little skip and it continued to do so every time he sent a message; as they finished their breakfast, Hestia sarcastically rolled her eyes when Lily ignored her for the third or fourth time, her head buried in her Instagram messages.

“Bet he asks for your number soon,” she winked as she kissed the top of Lily’s head and let herself out.

And, yet again, Hestia Jones had been right.

Lily had been making herself a simple pot of pasta for tea when the message had pinged, and she’d practically pounced on her phone to read it.

@Marauderjames it's probably a bit forward, but I've really enjoyed chatting to you, so do think I could have your number? x

A wide grin broke out across Lily’s face as she typed out a response.

@Lilyevans1 sure? I could still turn out to be an axe murderer? x

@Marauderjames it’s a risk I'm willing to take xx

If possible, she grinned even wider as she tapped her number out and pressed send.

Almost immediately, her screen turned black, and a facetime call popped up from an unknown number.

Shit, it had to be him, but she was nowhere near camera ready, she probably had pasta sauce down the front of her old baggy t-shirt and her hair badly needed a wash so it was piled up in a messy bun on top of her head. She quickly used her microwave as a mirror and untied her hair, she gave it a fluff before she looked down at her top to make sure she wasn’t too dirty, and finally answered the call.

“Thought you were ignoring me then,” his voice drawled out from her phone as his picture burst across her screen, it was definitely him, there was no denying it as his bloody gorgeous face grinned at her through the phone. James was sat on a bed somewhere, pillows propped up behind him as he held his phone out in front of him.

“Sorry for having a life, I was cooking tea,” she replied and hoped her voice didn’t shake as much as she was. She offered him a cheeky grin and he raised an eyebrow.

“Tea? It’s dinner sweetheart,” James teased. “Never had you pegged for a northerner,” he said, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes, to which he laughed.

“Nothing wrong with the North,” she said as she propped her phone against a tin of beans on her kitchen side and stirred the pasta which bubbled away in a pan.

“Never said there was, I suppose I just assumed you were a Londoner,”

“I've lived here since I was 18, so I'll forgive you,” she said as she added a pinch of salt to the water. She had already salted it, but she felt like she needed something to do with her hands to stop herself shaking, still in disbelief that she was on facetime with an actual celebrity who had asked for her number. “Moved down from Manchester for uni,” she continued, “and then just never left,”

“Ah yes the elusive university, I never went, big disappointment to my parents,” he said with a shrug.

“Were they not pleased that you got a record deal instead?” she asked as she finally forced herself to stop and focus on the face that smiled back from her phone.

“Eventually, dad was alright, but mum needed some persuading,”

“But they came around in the end?”

“Oh yeah, they’re dead proud now, mum used to record every interview we did, so I started doing it back and she stopped pretty quick,” he laughed. Lily had heard him laugh on the interviews they’d watched last night, but it was a hundred times better in person.

“Your mum does interviews?” Lily asked as she turned the heat off the hob, the pasta was probably mush by now, but she didn’t want to pause their conversation.

“Yeah, she’s a chef, on telly a bit,” he replied as he sheepishly ran a hand through his hair.

“Hang on, Potter? As in Effie Potter?” Lily asked, eyes wide and James nodded.

“Yeah, that’s mum,” he said, and she disappeared from view for a moment. “Lily?” he asked, and she appeared a moment later, a cookbook in hand and he groaned.

“As in this Effie Potter?” she said excitedly as she pointed at his mother’s face on the cover of the book.

“The very same,” he sighed, but his mouth had already pulled into a grin, now she was a little further away from the camera he could see she was wearing a tight pair of gym shorts under her baggy t-shirt; he just wished she wasn’t holding up one of his mother’s cookbooks as he tried to ogle her, luckily Lily didn’t notice.

“This is so exciting!” Lily exclaimed and James scoffed.

“I don’t remember you being this excited when you messaged me,” he moaned, and she grinned.

“Course not, all you do is prance around, your mum made the queen’s birthday cake!”

“I do not prance!” he spluttered as he tried and failed to keep a straight face.

He liked this girl, he liked her a lot, when you were in a band, it was hard to find someone who liked you for you and wasn’t just trying to get close for fame or for the money, but Lily Evans was different, yes, she knew he was famous, but they’d established that before her first message, she hadn't really known who he was and wasn't really interested in that all, his mother, however, she was very interested in, which he knew would amuse the woman herself.

“Oi Prongs, you definitely do prance, who you chatting to anyway?” a new voice called out as Lily put down the book, as James was joined by another bloke, who she recognised as Sirius Black. “Ah the red head you won't stop going on about,” he smirked, and James gave him a shove. Lily hid a laugh behind her hand. “I'm very disappointed that you haven't followed me yet though Red, I am clearly the best-looking member of this band and if you're going to slip into anyone’s DMs, it should definitely should have been mine,” he continued with a casual shrug of his shoulders. “But Prongsie here hasn’t stopped grinning all weekend, so I guess I can forgive you,” Sirius teased as he squeezed James’ cheek.

“Fuck off you prick,” he laughed as he shoved Sirius off him.

“Anyway, I need to break up this lil love fest, we’re needed for sound check,” he continued, and James nodded his head as Sirius peeled himself away.

“Sorry about him,”

“No worries, he seems fun,” Lily grinned, her pasta was almost certainly mush now, but she didn’t care.

“That’s one way to put it, I don’t want to go but we’re pre-recording a couple of songs tonight for a show next week, so I need to get off, but I'll catch you later,” he said, and Lily nodded, she wished him luck and he blew her a kiss before he hung up the call.

As the screen once again went black, Lily tried to steady her breathing, did that really just happen? Had she really just had a facetime call with James Potter? A facetime call that Sirius Black had gate crashed and said that James hadn't stopped talking about her, this was bonkers.

Pasta long forgotten, she dialled Hestia’s number and waited for her to answer, if there was anyone else who might be as excited as she was, it would be her best friend.

Lily breezed into the office the next morning feeling like could dance on air, she had woken up that Monday to a good morning text from James (something Amos had never done), and despite it barely being 8:30am, they had already exchanged a handful of texts and he’d promised to call her again later.

“Right, I've brought brownies and flapjacks, I wasn't sure what we’d need, so I bought both,” Mary said as Lily shrugged off her jacket and kicked her bag under her desk.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked as she turned her computer on and noticed Mary’s dark eyes study her with an odd expression.

“To console you, but it seems you're doing pretty well without the cake, you didn’t get back with him, did you?”

“Course not!” Lily spluttered. “I guess my friends just helped me see that it was probably for the best anyway,” she shrugged, she hated lying to Mary who was one of her one of her closest friends, but she didn’t want to tell anyone about James just yet, it was nice having a little secret that was all hers.

“You’ve met someone, haven’t you?” Mary asked knowingly as she ran a hand through her brown curls before she put her hands on her hips.

“Already?” Lily laughed in the hope that Mary would doubt herself, but she didn’t look convinced. Luckily Emmeline chose that moment to stumble through the doors, her hands laden with files as her long dark ponytail swung behind her. Mary sprung up to help her and took the files from as Emmeline shook her head, positively furious.

“You will never guess what I saw outside, Amos pissing Diggory getting out of Liz’s stupid little sports car, the bloody cheek!”

The rest of the day was awkward to say the least, the department was generally fine, but outside in the wider office, people stared at Lily wherever she went, and she was sure that two of the paralegals had been gossiping about her when she went to collect her printing. It seemed that the whole firm knew what had happened and had decided to talk about it behind her back.

It also wasn’t helped by Mary’s ‘I know you're hiding something’ stare, every time her phone pinged.

Her only saving grace was James, whose messages made her grin every time she saw his name light up her phone.

Messages between Lily Evans and James Potter:

James Potter: How's work going?

Lily Evans: Bloody awful

Lily Evans: My ex works here too, and he arrived this morning with the woman he cheated on me with, she's his secretary

James Potter: That’s so cliché

Lily Evans: Exactly what Hestia said!!!

Lily Evans: But yeah, it's all a bit awkward as everyone seems to know what happened

James Potter: You're okay, though?

James Potter: He’s not hassling you or anything?

Lily Evans: No thank god, he seems to have forgotten I exist, which is probably a good thing

“Okay, who are you texting me? You have to tell me, you’ve been smiling at your phone all afternoon,” Mary said finally, and Lily looked up from the screen to find her friend stood at the corner of her desk with her arms folded as she tapped her foot.

“Just the girls, they're very witty,” Lily answered cooly as she locked her phone and tucked it into the pocket of her trousers.

“Lily Theresa Evans, you are a crap liar,” Emmeline interrupted from her desk opposite Lily. “So, who is he? Do we know him?” she asked excitedly as her head rested on the palm of her hand and her fingers curled around her chin.

“Who is who?” Amos asked as he appeared in the doorway of the department and knocked lightly on the door with his knuckle. Lily thought he wore an overly concerned expression that frankly did not suit him, and she wondered how on earth she had ever found him attractive, he had none of James’ charm, his brown roots were beginning to poke through the blonde, and maybe Marlene had a point about the armadillo thing.

“No-one, it's just the girls,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes. “But like I told you on Saturday, its none of your business anyway,”

“Please, can we just talk about this?” he pleaded.

“How about we talk about you arriving at work this morning in Liz’s car? Had a nice little weekend together did we?” Emmeline asked, her sweet tone in contrast to the dark glare she shot in his direction. Amos visibly tensed, not aware that anyone had seen him arrive. His eyes flicked between Emmeline and Lily with alarm, before he nodded and turned on his heel just as Mary waved and shouted good riddance.

Messages between Lily Evans and James Potter:

Lily Evans: Finally home, the ex turned up at my dept, but my colleagues scared him off

James Potter: What a tit

James Potter: Does he not know you're talking to a rockstar now? Much more exciting x

Lily Evans: Who is this rockstar? I don’t know him x

James Potter: I'm a certified rockstar I'll have you know x

James Potter: I've been on the cover of rolling stone and everything x

Lily Evans: So has Taylor Swift but she’s not a rock star x

James Potter: I will not hear a bad word spoke about Swiftie x

Lily Evans: Oh god, no, I love her! But she not a rockstar, so that doesn’t prove your argument x

James Potter: I’m sure she’s very rock and roll, but I take the point x

James called her that evening as promised, and again the next day. When she spoke to him, she felt like she’d known him years, she talked to him like she did her closest friends, and there were no awkward pauses or silences, the conversation just flowed naturally; their evening facetime calls were the highlight of her day and she spent most of the hours before them counting down to the time until she would see his face again.

On Wednesday evening, they chatted casually whilst Lily made her tea and James pottered around his Paris hotel room as he packed up to return to the UK the next day.

“So, I'm back in London tomorrow,” he said casually as he folded a shirt and placed it in his suitcase. Lily nodded as she spooned chicken and rice into her mouth while she sat at her kitchen table, her phone propped up against a vase of flowers. “And I wondered if I could see you once I’m back?”

Lily froze, her spoon still in her mouth, James noticed.

“Alright Evans, no need to look so horrified,” he laughed, and she shook her head.

“No, no, you just caught me off guard!” she grinned. “I’d love to see you,” she said as her cheeks flushed pink.

Christ, she was so gone already, just the thought of seeing him already made her feel giddy.

“Amazing, we’re playing at Shepherds Bush O2 on Friday night, do you want to come down after work and watch, then we can hang out after? Bring your mates too, I can put your names on the door,”

“I’ll check with them and let you know, but that would be great,” Lily beamed.

“Amazing, send me a text with who's coming, and I'll let the team know,”

Gossip Girl xoxo

Lily Evans: anyone want to come and see the Marauders in Shepherds Bush on Friday?

Lily Evans: *side eye emoji*

Alice Prewett: Ah shit, we’re off to see Frank’s mum on Friday night *eye roll emoji*

Alice Prewett: Has James invited you?

Lily Evans: Maybe...

Marlene McKinnon: I am so game!

Marlene McKinnon: Also, this is so exciting, you're going to finally meet him!

Marlene McKinnon: You are going to meet him?

Lily Evans: Course I am

Lily Evans: @Hestia Jones I'm putting you down as a yes without even asking

Hestia Jones: Sorry!!! Gid just called me about a file, and I needed to sort it asap

Hestia Jones: And yes, course I'm coming, do you even need to ask?

Hestia Jones: Also, I am 1000% taking credit when you marry James, just saying *heart*

Messages between Lily Evans and James Potter:

Lily Evans: It’ll be me, Hestia Jones and Marlene McKinnon, Al can't make it x

James Potter: Great I'll let security know x

James Potter: Also, is your brunette mate single? Love S x

James Potter: Sorry, that was Sirius *face palm* x

James Potter: Ffs he’s now looking at me expectedly x

Lily Evans: Lol that’s Hess, and yes, she is x

Lily Evans: She’s the one that suggested I message you in the first place x

All through the day on Thursday, Lily felt like a tightly coiled spring; to the outside world, she was still composed Lily Evans, but inside she felt she could explode any minute. Since they had agreed a plan for Friday night, the volume of their messages had only increased, and she felt like she was glued to her phone. Thankfully, Mary and Emmeline had cooled off their questioning following the run in with Amos, but they still eyed her with suspicion as she grinned at the screen and no longer made any effort to hide her smiles.

She hadn't been able to call to him on Thursday night as he had been caught up in preparations for the show the following day, but they continued to message, and she positively melted when he signed off his final text with ‘can’t wait to see you tomorrow xx’

On Friday morning, Lily was honestly surprised she was even able to drive, she was so excited. She hadn't been this giddy about a guy like this for a very long time, and Amos had certainly never made her feel like this.

She'd already drunk two cups of coffee by the time Mary walked in at just shy of 9:00am and she sighed at the sight of her colleague.

“Jesus Evans, lay off the caffeine, you're practically bouncing in your chair,”

“So, what are you plans for the weekend?” Emmeline asked with a yawn as 2:00pm slid into 3:00pm. “Seeing the new mystery man?” she asked with a waggle of her eyebrows that caused Lily to scoff.

“I've told you, there is no mystery man,” she replied, as she slid her papers into a file and placed it back onto the shelf. Mary had gone off to a conference with a barrister, so the two junior solicitors were left to their own devices, which meant doing the bare minimum until it was a suitable time for them to leave.

“Well, he’s not a mystery man to you,” Emmeline said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. “Is he good in bed? I bet he is, he must be to have you grinning so wide,” she continued with a cheeky grin.

“Em, listen to me, there is no mystery man,”

“Delivery for Lily Evans,” came a shout from the door and Lily's head whipped around, she hadn't ordered anything, but maybe a client had sent something in for her? Emmeline’s eyes widened in surprise as they both saw the huge bouquet of flowers in the hands of the grinning messenger.

Lily took the flowers and placed them on her desk, they really were beautiful, an assortment of pink, red, and white roses that filled the office with a sweet floral scent, and even better, not a tulip in sight.

“Ooh there's a card!” Emmeline called out as she reached for it, but Lily got there first. She tried to open it covertly, but that was difficult with her friend practically attached to her shoulder, inside it read:

“Can't wait to see you later, J x’

“Still going with the ‘there’s no mystery man’ line?” Emmeline cooed knowingly in her ear as she squeezed Lily’s shoulder. “I need to call Mary to update her, like now,” she said as she rounded her desk and reached for her phone.

Lily shook her head, but that didn’t stop a grin spreading from ear to ear. She snapped a quick picture of the flowers and added it her Instagram story with the caption ‘Wonder who these could be from? *Thinking emoji*’ and braced herself for the barrage of messages that she knew would undoubtedly come.

It only took a couple of minutes before her phone began to ping.

1 New Message: @Marauderjames oi, who’s sending you flowers? *winky face*

1 New Message: @Marauderjames glad they arrived okay, I had to goggle you to find the address of your office

1 New Message: @Marauderjames cute headshot btw xx

1 New Message: @Siriusblackofficial please tell me those aren’t from Prongs?

1 New Message: @Siriusblackofficial he’s actually such a sap

1 New Message: @Siriusblackofficial but looking forward to seeing you later

New Messages in Gossip Girl xoxo

Hestia Jones: LILY

Hestia Jones: WTF

Hestia Jones: Those flowers are incred

Hestia Jones: Please tell me they're from James and not armadillo arse

Lily Evans: Attachment

Lily Evans: Look at the card!!!

Marlene McKinnon: Fucking hell where do I find a man like this?

Alice Prewett: @Marlene McKinnon we have been through this babe, you like girls

Marlene McKinnon: @Alice Prewett if a man sent me flowers like that, I could be tempted

Hestia Jones: @Marlene McKinnon go text Dorcas you big wet wipe

Hestia Jones: I am so excited for tonight, we all need to look phenomenal

1 New Notification: @Saxypeter liked your story

1 New Notification: @Loonylupin liked your story

As Lily, Hestia, and Marlene piled into an uber later that evening and headed towards Shepherds Bush, an anxious knot formed in Lily’s stomach, this was it, she was going to meet James Potter.

“We’re here!” Marlene exclaimed as the venue loomed into sight and Hestia clapped her hands together in excitement. Lily thanked the driver, and they all scrambled out; James had instructed her to use the side entrance and to just to give the security guard their names, and they’d be shown in.

As they walked past the excited crowds that pushed and shoved to get inside the venue, Lily and her friends walked around the side of the building where they found two burly security guards who appeared to be arguing with a handful of other girls, who seemed to be pleading with them.

“I’m with James Potter, you have to let me in,” one of the girls, who couldn’t have been any more than 18, said, as she stamped her foot and crossed her arms. “Go and get him and he’ll tell you I'm with him, then you’re going to be in so much trouble when he finds out you won't let me in,” she pouted; her long blonde hair cascaded down her back in pristine curls and her perfectly made-up face frowned at the bouncers who simply looked between themselves and rolled their eyes.

Lily’s heart sank, would they do the same to her? Would they turn her away and make her look foolish in front of all these people? Or even worse, was this girl telling the truth, and James had invited the other girls he was talking to, too? She realised, with a sharp gulp of breath, that they'd never had a discussion about exclusivity, but Lily had naively assumed he wasn’t talking to anyone else, but then he was a famous popstar so girls must throw themselves at him.

Lily's concern must have shown on her face as Hestia gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before she confidently brushed the younger girls to one side with the air of someone who did this regularly, Lily and Marlene only a step behind her. The blonde girl who had stomped her foot shot them a dark glare, but Hestia only flicked her chocolate-coloured curls over one shoulder and offered the security guards a dazzling smile.

“Evening,” she said as she paused to look at the security guard’s name tag. “Mundungus, darling,” she continued charmingly. “Lily Evans, Hestia Jones, and Marlene McKinnon, we’re here with James Potter,” she said with a flash of pearly white teeth before she turned to wink at the younger girls who glared daggers at her. Mundungus referred to his list, and his frown transformed into a genuine smile.

“Go right in girls, Sturgis will show you where to go,” he replied and he gestured to his colleague, who nodded his head and pointed inside. Hestia grinned triumphantly and Lily felt a wave of relief and excitement wash over her, this was happening, really happening, she was about to go backstage at a Marauders gig because the lead singer had really put her name on the list.

“Ugh, why are they allowed to go in, James Potter wouldn’t be seen dead with any of them,” one of the girls said in a faux whisper and Hestia stopped abruptly, before she turned and looked the girl up and down with a curl of her lip; and Lily was sure she saw Mundungus try to hide a smirk.

“Jealousy isn't pretty,” Hestia said, her tone sharp like a hex, “and by the way, you’ve got lipstick on your teeth,” she continued with an obnoxiously fake smile, before she turned back to flash the security guard a cheeky grin.

Sturgis shook his head and chuckled as he led Hestia and the others inside, and the frustrated demands of the younger girls faded into the background.

“There’s always someone outside trying to get in, its bloody comical that they think we’d just take their word for it and allow them to wander backstage,” he said as they walked, and Hestia nodded.

“So embarrassing,” Marlene said as his pace began to slow.

“Make yourselves comfortable in here, I'll let the boys know you’ve arrived,” he said a moment later as he herded them into a spacious room with comfortable green sofas and a long coffee table on which stood a handful of bottles of water and a couple of packets of Percy Pigs.

As her two friends thanked Sturgis and flopped onto the sofa, Lily’s excitement fizzled away, so she was left only with the anxiety.

“Are you sure I look okay?” she asked her friends as she looked down at her outfit of high waisted jeans, with a light blue shirt over a white crop top and matching heeled sandals. Hestia had twisted a light curl into her hair, which was loose around her shoulders and Marlene had accentuated her pretty features with lashings of mascara and highlighter.

“You look amazing,” Hestia said dramatically as she held a hand over her heart like she was personally offended that Lily could think she looked anything other than fabulous.

“Agreed, you’re so fucking fit Evans, but then you could be wearing a bin bag and still look like a goddess,” Marlene agreed as she placed a hand on Hestia’s knee, and they looked to each other like Lily had just grown an extra head.

“You should listen to your mates,” a new voice said, and Lily whipped around to see Sirius Black smirk as he leant casually against the doorframe, he was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans with his hair swept up in a bun as a stage earpiece rested on his shoulder. Lily grinned; she instantly felt a little calmer at the sight of a somewhat familiar face.

“Sirius,” Lily said happily and matched his grin before he threw his arms around her and hugged her, which she warmly returned.

“Nice to see you too Red,” he said as he greeted her like an old friend. “Gonna introduce me?” he continued as he gestured to her friends, who stood up and beamed at each other excitedly at the prospect of greeting a real-life celebrity.

Lily laughed and introduced Marlene and Hestia to Sirius; he hugged each of them in turn as the girl's grins only grew.

“Excited for the show?” he asked Hestia, who Lily could tell was trying her hardest to play it cool and not to fangirl in front of the man that she had branded a supermodel only a few days before. Lily wasn’t blind, she could see what Hestia saw in Sirius, he was a very elegant man and obviously very handsome, but she only had eyes for the spectacled lead singer.

“Oh course!”

“Amazing, we love playing here, so it should be a good one,” Sirius replied, but before he could continue the conversation, his attention was drawn to a light rapping of knuckles against the door and the girls turned in unison to find Peter Pettigrew in the doorway. “Lily, I assume?” he asked, and she nodded. “Peter, glad to meet you! Although I feel like we’ve met already, since Potter hasn’t stopped talking about you,” he grinned as he looked over his shoulder and back into the corridor, to which Sirius laughed out loud. “Speaking of Prongs,” he said as he turned back to Sirius. “You seen him recently?”

“He was tuning his guitar with Lupin last time I saw him,”

Peter nodded but they didn’t have to wait long to find out where James was, as his voice promptly called out from down the corridor. Lily’s stomach did a somersault as her eyes trained on the door, primed for his inevitable entrance.

“Padfoot, where are you? I swear, if you’ve already eaten all the Percy Pigs, there is going to be trou-”

James stopped in his tracks as he stepped into the green room doorway beside Peter and caught sight of who he’d been chatting with; as his eyes met hers, she was pretty sure she lost the ability to breathe. He was so very attractive, all chiselled cheekbones and sharp jaw line, laughter lines, and glittering hazel eyes. James’ adams apple bobbed nervously as Sirius exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Hestia and Marlene, and Peter moved aside to let him into the room.

“Hi,” Lily said quietly, and James’ face broke out into a wide grin.

“Hi, they didn’t tell me you were here already,” he said as he quickly crossed the floor and scooped her into a tight hug. She wasn’t sure what aftershave he was wearing, but as his tattooed arms wrapped around her, Lily thought it was absolutely divine. He was dressed in his usual stage outfit of a fitted white t shirt, black jeans, and red converse, which looked 100 times better in real life than it had on her TV.

“We’d only just arrived when Sirius came in to say hello,” Lily said when James finally put her down, her voice slightly breathier than she had anticipated. He kept an arm around her waist and as she looked up at him, she noted he was taller than she had expected, so she was glad she’d taken Hestia's advice to wear a heel, as even in her sandals, she barely scraped his shoulder.

“You look incredible,” he grinned as he allowed his eyes to roam over her outfit; if any other man had looked at her figure so blatantly, she’d probably have died from embarrassment, but under James’ gaze, she felt a hundred times more confident than she had five minutes before.

“You're not too shabby yourself,” she said, and his eyes flicked up to meet hers again. As sparkling green met hazel, it was as if they were the only two people in the world.

“Do you think they even remember we’re still here?” Sirius stage whispered to Hestia, who giggled as he folded his arms and pretended to huff, whilst he did an awful job of suppressing a grin.

“Considering they’ve been mentally undressing each other since he walked in, I presume not,” Hestia smirked with a cocked eyebrow, and Peter snorted a laugh from the opposite side of the room. “I suppose they can thank me in the wedding speeches,” she continued smugly with a one shouldered shrug and Marlene scoffed.

“Humble Jones, humble,”

“Ah, so you're the mate who suggested she message him, the one with a thing for men in bands,” Sirius smirked knowingly, and Hestia didn’t miss the devilish glint in his eye as he subtly looked her up and down.

“Depends on whose asking,” she grinned, and Sirius laughed under his breath as Marlene affectionately rolled her eyes and bumped Hestia’s shoulder with her own.

“Jesus Hess, you couldn't even wait five minutes before flirting with someone, I swear you’d chat up a lamp post if you stood still long enough,”

“I know someone else like that,” Peter cut in as he appeared at her side and gestured to Sirius, who simply shrugged.

“Pete, right? I think we’re going to get along swimmingly,” Marlene grinned as she held out a hand for him to shake, which he did with a grin.

“Watch out love, she likes girls, but one look at those flowers James sent Lily earlier and her head was already turning,” Hestia teased, and Marlene pouted.

“You make me out to be so fickle,” she sighed before she looked back at the two boys. “Anyway, would you mind if we all grab a quick picture to send to our other friend Alice? She’s having an awful time with her future mother-in-law tonight, but I promised to her pics,” Marlene continued as she pulled her phone from the waistband of her skirt.

“Facetime her, we can all say hello then,” Sirius suggested as he settled an arm over both their shoulders and Hestia beamed.

Marlene obliged and dialled Alice’s number before she called Lily and James over. As the call connected, she held the phone aloft and after a couple of rings, Alice’s face popped up onto the screen.

“Marly, if you're-” she answered, but stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide.

“Hey Alice love, heard you couldn't make it tonight, so thought we’d just call to say a quick hello,” Peter said warmly with a quick wave.

“Hi Al,” Sirius added, and Lily couldn’t help but laugh as Alice, still wide eyed, stared at the camera wordlessly.

“Frank, babe, you're gonna have to come here and see this,” she then shouted to someone off camera. As she did, Remus popped his head around the door to see what the noise was, and James ushered him into the line of the camera.

“What is it?” Frank asked as he appeared alongside Alice. “Oh god, you weren't kidding, they really are backstage at the Marauders!” he said, and the band laughed.

“That's us,” grinned Remus with a thumbs up, although not sure what was going on.

The group stayed on the line with Alice for a couple of minutes until a flustered looking stagehand rushed in and told the band that they needed to be on stage in five minutes. James nodded and bid a cheery goodbye to Frank and Alice, who waved and thanked them for calling.

“Thanks for that, she was gutted she couldn't make it,” Lily said as she grinned at James, whose eyes were already on her.

“It's no problem, really, they seem cool,” James said before he called for another stagehand to show the girls to their seats. A moment later, a young girl with an earpiece and a clipboard, appeared in the doorway and grinned, before she gestured for the girls to follow her. Hestia and Marlene happily made towards the door and were closely followed by the rest of the band, but James caught Lily's hand and held her back.

“Do I get a kiss for good luck?” he asked with a mischievous grin that made her heart flutter. She laughed and James grinned, as he tapped his cheek expectantly.

“So needy already Potter,” Lily teased as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, but just as Lily’s lips were about to connect with his skin, he turned and caught her lips instead.

It was the kind of kiss that made your insides turn to mush and made you feel like you could walk on air; she could feel his lips curve into a smile against her mouth as his hands slipped around her waist and pulled her closer to him. They only broke apart when someone shouted his name from the doorway and Lily felt lightheaded as James turned to see Sirius in the doorway with a raised eyebrow. “Potter, for god’s sake, put her down, we've got a show to do,” he said as he impatiently tapped his foot.

“Calm down mate, I'll be there, I just had something I needed to do,” he grinned, and his eyes quickly found Lily’s again. “As much as I would love to stay here with you, I need to go, but enjoy the show and I'll meet you here after,” he said as he pressed another lingering kiss to her lips. When he didn't pull away, Sirius loudly cleared his throat and gestured for them to wrap it up. Lily breathed a laugh as James clasped her hand and followed Sirius out in the hallway where they turned left towards the stage and Lily right towards her friends.

She chanced a look her shoulder and found James had done the same, he winked at her before Sirius shoved him through a door that she assumed lead to the stage area and out of sight.

The kiss had turned her legs to jelly, but she somehow managed to find their seats, which were on a box area on the left-hand side of the stage, a few metres above the standing crowd below. Hestia and Marlene were already seated and smiled knowingly at each other as Lily collapsed into her chair, still dizzy from the feel of James Potter’s lips against her own and his guitar calloused hands around her waist.

Hestia waved at some of the fans who looked up at them and pointed, but the crowd was quickly silenced as the lights dimmed and the stage burst to life with an explosion of lights and smoke. Lily’s heart hammered in her chest as the crowd screamed in anticipation.

“Hello London, you ready for us?”

Lily hadn’t been to a live show in years (the last time she’d been to a gig, it may well have been as a child when she saw S Club 7 at Manchester Apollo) and she had forgotten just how exhilarating it could be; the sharp line of Sirius’ base cut through the air as the vibrations from Remus’ drums thumped against her chest. She didn’t know all the songs, but she danced around anyway and sang along with the few she knew from the playlist Hestia had forced her listen to on repeat all day. Every time James stopped to talk to the crowd, his eyes flicked up towards their seats, she didn’t know if he could see her, but she couldn’t help but beam as Peter cut his friend off to declare that the crowd were ‘fucking amazing’, to which they screamed in agreement.

As the band began the next song, Hestia took out her phone and recorded the stage before she turned the camera to her friends.

“Say cheese!” she called out, her voice barely audible over the sound of the music. “Selfie!” she then instructed, as she pouted at the camera while Lily grinned, and Marlene threw up a peace sign.

She quickly posted it to her Instagram story with the caption ‘I’m with the band’ and she tagged the girls and the four band members before she tucked her phone into her jeans as the song came to an end with a flurry of drums, bass, and another roar of applause.

“Okay, this our final song,” James called out as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm. The crowd booed, and Remus shouted for them to shush from behind the drums, which prompted an enthusiastically screamed response. “It’s a new one,” James added with a grin. “I only wrote it this week, so this will be the first time anyone has heard it, it's about this girl that I just met and I think I might be in love with her, so I hope you like it!” he grinned and his eyes flicked towards their balcony seats and Lily was sure that she forgot how to breath.

“That’s you!!” Marlene shouted as she grabbed her friend’s shoulders and shook her as Lily stared wide eyed at the stage.

“Lil, he wrote a song about you! He said he loves you and he wrote a song about you!” Hestia echoed with a wide grin as she pulled out her phone. “I need to send this to Alice,” she continued as she started to video, and Marlene physically turned Lily back to face the stage.

As the words came out of James’ mouth, Lily felt like he was singing it directly to her, but even so, she couldn't concentrate on the words, her mouth suddenly felt like cotton wool and her legs like they might collapse from underneath her; James Potter had written a song about her, James Potter, an actual real life popstar had written a song about her, and he was singing it in front of a crowd of thousands of fans who had already picked up the chorus and sang it back.

This was a dream, it had to be, Lily had to pinch herself, this couldn't be real, surely?

Before she knew it, the song had finished with a solo from Peter and a dramatic flurry from Remus on the drums and the lights turned back on; Lily knew her friends had started to talk to her, but she couldn't hear them as her ears rang with James’ words: ‘I think I might be in love with her’.

One of her friends grabbed her hand and pulled her from the balcony back into the cool of the green room, but she couldn’t sit down, she couldn’t just wait for him, not when he’d just declared to a room of thousands of people that he loved her and played the song he had written about her.

“I need to see James,” she said breathlessly as she turned to her friends and wondered if they’d grinned that smugly all evening.

“His dressing room is that way,” Hestia winked, as she pointed down the hall.

“Sirius pointed it out earlier, y’know in case,’ Marlene giggled, but Lily didn’t even have time to ponder what her friend might mean as she made her way shakily down the hallway and knocked at the door that bore his name as her heart hammered in her chest.

“Come in,” he called out casually and she pushed open the door. He fumbled in a sports bag as she entered and didn’t look up until she said his name.

“Hey you,” he grinned; his skin glistened with sweat as his glasses sat crookedly on his nose. If she had thought he was handsome before, he was drop dead gorgeous now, all tanned muscles, tattoos, tousled hair, piercings, and bright eyes. Words weren't enough to convey how she felt, but he seemed to understand perfectly.

She met him halfway as her fingers curled into his hair and she returned his kiss enthusiastically, his hands roamed over her tight jeans as she caught his lip between her teeth; he groaned, and she felt like she could combust in his hands. Without a word, he lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist, and he pressed her against the dressing room wall whilst his teeth grazed her neck.

“You wrote a song about me,” she breathed as her fingers curled into fists and she clutched at his t-shirt. James chuckled into her mouth.

“I did.”

Well, when a man declares he loves you and sings the song he wrote about you to thousands of adoring fans only a week after you meet, you know it's not the kind of relationship where you decide to take it slow, and James and Lily certainly didn’t do so.

He had stayed over at her flat that night, the night after that, and the one after that, he had made her breakfast and kissed before she went to work on Monday morning, and she had gushed about him to Emmeline and Mary over their morning coffee. Her two colleagues had squealed with excitement at the news and earnt themselves a raised eyebrow from Kinglsey as he made himself a tea.

James had introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend the following weekend and, as predicted, Lily was far more excited to meet his mum than she had been to meet him, especially when Effie Potter had promised to show Lily how to make the cake that she had made for the queen's birthday.

James and Lily had travelled up to Manchester in his smart Mercedes a few weeks later and she had introduced him to her parents; Petunia had made a flimsy excuse not to attend, but that didn’t stop her parents, who had cooed over James while he them with wild stories of touring America (so wild that they usually involved the band all piling into one bed by 9:00 pm to watch a romcom).

They were pretty much inseparable so it had only taken a couple of weeks for their friendship groups to merge just like they’d been that way for years; Lily introduced the boys to the rest of her friends, Alice and Frank, Benjy Fenwick, and Dorcas Meadowes (‘That’s the one Marlene fancies’ Hestia had stage whispered as the woman herself flushed beetroot), and James had introduced their manager Caradoc Dearborn, and social media co-ordinator Edgar Bones.

“Right, it's my round, what does everyone want?” Lily asked as she looked expectantly around the table at their friends and noted who had an empty glass. To try and avoid the press (who always seemed to be on the coattails of one of the band), the group had taken to socialising somewhere different each time they all met up, and on that sunny September afternoon, they had found themselves tucked away in a booth at a pretty little pub in Mayfair.

“Rosé for me, and if you're paying, I'll have a large,” Hestia replied with a grin as she held her empty wine glass aloft.

“Actually, just get a bottle and we’ll share it,” Benjy suggested with a conspiratorial grin as Peter nodded in agreement, and Lily rolled her eyes.

“Course you’d say that on my round,” she teased as she typed the order down in the notes app on her phone to make sure she didn’t miss one as the rest called out their orders.

“Need a hand?” James asked as Lily stood from her chair, and his hand found hers without even trying.

“I should be fine, but I'll shout if I need saving,” she grinned as she squeezed his fingers and headed for the bar. As Lily made her way between the tables towards the bar, she was sure she heard Caradoc’s teasing tone, ‘you are so gone Potter,’ then a peel of laughter from the table that caused her to grin widely as she reached the bar.

“Hi, a bottle of the house rosé, two Bombay and tonic, and three Peroni, please,” Lily said, and the bar tender nodded.

“Let me just find a card machine, then I'll bring everything over to your table,” he smiled, before he disappeared from view. As she waited, Lily absently tapped her nails against the bar and leant on her elbows as she surveyed the different gins on offer. She smiled at the sound of her friends laughing back at the table; it really was a marvel, only a couple of months ago, she might have come here with Amos, maybe they would have sat outside in the beer garden and she would have listened to him drone on about something or the other (it was only with the value of hindsight that she realised how dreadfully dull she actually found him), but now she was here with her best friends, a famous pop band, and half their team, oh and it just happened that she was the girlfriend the lead singer, how times changed!

And things had changed, for the better; Lily didn't think she had ever been so happy, not even when she’d graduated university or when she’d finally qualified as solicitor, just being around James made her beam with elation, and even when he was out of the country, or away from home doing press or performing, he always made sure to remind her how much he thought of her.

He stocked her preferred coffee in his flat and learnt how to cook her favourite pasta; he had also arranged for bouquets of flowers to be delivered to her office every Friday afternoon when he knew she would need a pick me up. The reception staff loved the game of guessing which flowers it would be that week, much to the amusement of Mary and Emmeline, who teased her mercilessly every time they were personally brought into the office by a beaming receptionist. Despite their teasing, her colleagues couldn’t be happier for their friend, especially given the abrupt ending to her previous relationship.

“Piss off Dearborn, just because you're still woefully single,” James teased and their manager rolled his eyes, he was used to the Marauders by now, having worked with them since their very first single and knew that teasing was how they showed affection.

“Well, keeping you all out of trouble is a full-time job, so there's not much time left for romance,” he laughed, and Edgar scoffed.

“Hey, you think you’ve got it hard? You didn’t have to sort out the shit storm after Sirius when on that notorious drunken twitter rant last year, I was literally awake for 48 hours on damage control,” he said as he took a long sip of his beer and shook his head.

“And that ladies and gentleman, is why I am no longer allowed to have access to my own twitter account,” Sirius grinned and Edgar laughed, he was glad they could laugh about it now because at the time, he certainly hadn't found it funny, in fact he was sure that he had aged at least ten years in the space of the two days from the stress.

“So, if Sirius slides into my twitter DM’s, I know he’s been hacked?” Hestia laughed with a mischievous grin and Sirius almost spat out his beer.

“Oh angel, trust me, I don't need to slide into your DM’s to get you to go out with me,” he grinned as he winked in her direction and the girls rolled their eyes, already used to Sirius’ shameless flirting.

“Worked alright for Prongs,” Remus responded as he clapped James on the shoulder, but he was distracted by Dorcas as she squinted at the doorway.
“Hey, isn't that Amos?” she asked Marlene as she gestured towards a man who had entered the pub with a pretty blonde woman on his arm.

“As in Lily’s ex Amos?” Sirius asked as he side eyed James, whose jaw had tensed.

“Ah fuck, and that’s the secretary,” Hestia said, as she grimaced at Marlene and Dorcas, who similarly gritted their teeth.

“As in the secretary?” Peter asked with the tine of surprise and Marlene nodded.

“Might be a good time to see if Red needs a hand with those drinks, eh Potter?” Sirius suggested, but James had already risen from his seat and downed the dregs of his beer.

“Lily?” Amos said with a tone of surprise as he approached the bar. Lily looked up from the gin selection to be met with the surprised face of her ex-boyfriend and the woman he had cheated on her with, who wore a triumphantly smug grin. Caught off guard, she felt her chest constrict, Amos Diggory was the last bloke she had expected to see today, but she tried to swallow her shock as she offered the pair an awkward smile.

“Hi,” she managed, fairly impressed that she was even able to speak at all, but maybe that was down to the mix of gin and adrenaline that coursed through her veins, the kind of adrenaline that only came from bumping into your ex in public.

Amos opened his mouth to respond, but Liz cleared her throat and looked expectantly at him, which caused his cheeks to flush.

“Um, you remember Liz?” he asked with the tone of embarrassment, and Lily grimaced.

“How could I forget?” she said drily as she prayed for the bar tender to return with the card machine, but he was still nowhere to be seen.

A pregnant silence fell between Lily and Amos, as they looked anywhere but at each other, the only person who seemed to enjoy the exchange was Liz, who looked remarkably pleased with herself, that was until someone else finally arrived at the bar.

“Alright my love, you forgot my card, so thought I'd bring it over,” James said cheerily as he appeared behind Lily, placed one hand on her hip and pressed a kiss to her opposite cheek. Lily thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t got her card out yet as James tapped his against bar with a knowing grin. He had obviously come to save her, and she honestly didn’t think she had ever been so pleased to see him. As she half turned to face him, she matched his grin and butterflies exploded in her stomach, he was so bloody attractive that she wanted to swoon every time he threw her one of those gorgeous lopsided grins. Lily was sure she could feel Amos’ dark glare bore into her skull, but she didn’t care as she cupped James’ cheek and pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Thanks, I’m so forgetful sometimes,” she said as she purposefully avoided Amos’ stare. James offered her a wink and his hazel eyes sparkled with mischief, but before she could wonder what he was up to, Amos cleared his throat, and James’ eyes flicked up to meet his with amusement. “Oh sorry, Amos, this is my boyfriend Ja-” she began, but Liz cut her off with an excited squeak.

“You're James Potter!” she exclaimed and promptly dropped Amos’ arm as she offered James a dazzling grin, to which he tried to subdue a laugh.

“Yes, yes I am,” he replied, his left arm still tightly curled around Lily’s waist.

“I absolutely loved your last album!” Liz beamed, but James just nodded as he turned his attention back to the other man.

“James, nice to meet you,” he said as he held out a hand for him to shake, which Amos did with the enthusiasm of someone having root canal.

“You didn’t tell me you were seeing someone,” he hissed at Lily, who scoffed before she composed her expression to something more neutral.

“Neither did you,” she smiled dryly, and James snorted a laugh which he tried to conceal with a cough but failed miserably, to which Amos’ brow furrowed into a scowl.

“So, what do you do Jim?” Amos asked as he turned back to James, and Lily raised an eyebrow at the nickname. “I've just been promoted to senior associate, but I'm sure Lily must have told you all about me,” he continued as he leant against the bar as he tried to appear casual but did doing anything but.

“She hasn't actually, you never really came up,” James answered nonchalantly, and Lily tried to subdue a grin, of course she had told James about Amos, but she knew he was trying to wind him up, and it was certainly working. “But I'm a musician,” James continued as he squeezed Lily’s hip to which she beamed up at him and Amos subdued an eye roll.

“A musician?”

“For god’s sake Amos, do you live under a rock? James is lead singer of the Marauders,” Liz interrupted with a look of disbelief. “Sorry for him, he’s more of a Radio 2 kind of guy,” she said as she spoke directly to James as if she had completely forgotten Lily existed.

As Liz continued to gush over James and tell him how much she loved the new single (the single he had written about Lily), a devilish thought crossed Lily's mind, a thought that would certainly impress Liz and also cause Amos to flush even redder than he already was.

“The rest of the boys are over there Liz, I'm sure they’d be willing to sign something for you if you asked nicely,” Lily said as sweetly as she could and gestured back to their table, where the other three Marauders waved back, almost as if rehearsed.

“Of course, anything for a fan,” James seamlessly and Liz squealed with excitement.

“Sweetheart, is that really necessary,” Amos moaned as he wiggled a finger in his ear, his glare now on his date who practically bounced with excitement.

“Amossss,” she moaned and elongated his name in a way that Lily knew would infuriate him. “Do you not know who that is, that’s the Marauders!” she exclaimed.

“So you’ve said,” he muttered as a flustered bartender arrived and caught their attention.

“I am so sorry, the battery ran out so I had to try and find another one, and it was wedged right at the back of the stock cupboard,” he said, as he waved a card machine in the air triumphantly and Lily grinned.

“It’s no problem, really,” she smiled, but his attention was on James, she had quickly become accustomed to people fawning over him, that and the requests for her to take pictures of whichever fan had noticed them and thrust their camera in her hands.

“Ah, Mr Potter, so good to see you again! In fact, forget the card machine, this round is on the house,”

“Mate, I can't let you do that,” James said with a laugh and a shake of his head as he held his card out.

“No, no, I insist, last time you came in here and posted pictures, we were packed out for months,” the bar tender grinned, but James insisted. Reluctantly, he rang up the round and James added a hefty tip onto the top that left the bar tender wide eyed.

“Thanks bud, you're a star,” James said with a wink and Lily was sure that Liz actually melted at the sight. As he slipped the card back into his wallet (he wasn't letting Lily pay, especially not in front of her ex), he passed the bar tender a handful of notes. “And get these two whatever they fancy, on me,” he grinned, as he nodded towards Amos and Liz.

“That won’t be necessary,” Amos tried to insist, but he was quickly silenced by Liz.

“Oh my god, James Potter is buying us drinks, shut up Amos,” she snapped, and Amos was taken aback.

“Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day, Liz, Adrian,” James smiled as he addressed each of them in turn as Lily snorted a laugh as she dragged James back over to their table before Amos could combust.

For a few months, their plan to avoid the press and kept their relationship private worked so well that they had almost forgot that they were supposed to be keeping things low profile, so when Lily left James’ Chelsea flat early one Thursday morning as she headed off to work, she didn’t even think to check for photographers. As she struggled with a box of files and her laptop bag, James had helped her carry everything to her car before he gave her a long lingering kiss goodbye; he was due to fly out to Germany later that morning to pay a show in Berlin so he wouldn't see her for a few days.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” he had said as he gave her a tight hug and stroked her hair.

“It's only for a couple of nights, are we that co-dependant already?” Lily had teased as she pressed a kiss to James’ lips before he pulled open her car door.

“Yes,” James replied without hesitation as a grin spread across his face. “It’s just not the same cuddling with the boys, Sirius wriggles, Peter nicks the covers, and Moony always insists on being little spoon, sometimes I want to be little spoon,” he joked as he tapped at his chest and Lily laughed as she climbed into the driver's seat of her Ford Fiesta and rolled down the window.

“Right, I really need to go, or I'll be late, but ring me when you land and I'll see you on Saturday, I love you,” she beamed as James matched her sentiment, blew her a kiss and watched her reverse out the car park to head to the office.

Lily had a fairly busy morning at work and hadn’t had time to check her phone before she made herself a coffee and headed into a meeting. As she greeted her client with a friendly smile and settled down to take their instructions, she could never have prepared herself for the chaos that would be waiting for her when she came out.

As she closed the door of the meeting room behind her, and bid goodbye to her client, she turned to wish the receptionist a good morning (the one who usually brought her Friday flowers in) but found she wouldn’t meet her eye. Lily thought nothing more of it until she returned to the family department and found Mary and Emmeline as they paced the floor.

“Wow, who died?” Lily laughed as she entered and shrugged off her jacket; Mary and Emmeline looked between themselves with an expression that Lily couldn’t decipher, and her heart began to race. “Seriously, who died?” she asked, a sense of panic rising in her chest.

“Okay, don’t freak out, but someone got pictures of you leaving James’ place this morning and they're all over TikTok and Instagram,” Mary explained gently as she placed a hand on Lily’s arm.

“And we’ve already had three phone calls from journalists trying to speak to you about it,” Emmeline added, her tone soft as she handed Lily a lukewarm cup of tea and helped her into her chair.

“I've already spoken to Kingsley about it and he’s going to do a firm wide email threatening anyone who speaks to the press with the sack, and I've cleared it for you to work from home for a bit until the heat dies down,” Mary continued, but Lily hardly heard her as an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness enveloped her previously calm demeanour.

She, of course, had known this would happen eventually, Edgar had even warned them that the longer they went undetected, the worse the media frenzy would be, but they had enjoyed their secret little bubble a bit too much and had been content to stay there for a while longer.

Lily shook her head and took a long slurp of the tea that was far too milky, but she didn’t care. Mary suggested she ring James and at that moment, her phone burst to life as his name flashed up on the screen. She quickly answered it.

“Hey, just landed, hope your day is going well,”

“Have you seen the pictures?” she asked, without even saying hello.

“What pictures?”

“Somebody got pictures of us this morning, and apparently they’re all over social media, people are already ringing our office,” Lily said as she bit her lip anxiously and Mary and Emmeline exchanged a worried glance.

“Ah shit, let me call Ed and tell him to get on it, then I'll get a car sent over to pick you up, don’t use yours just in case someone follows you, can you arrange to stay with one of the girls for a few days until I get back? Then we’ll sort everything out,” he said, his tone calmer than she had expected, but then again, he had a lot more experience with the press than she did. She said she would call Hestia, which he agreed would be a good idea and he hung up to call Edgar, as she called her best friend.

45 minutes later, a blacked-out people carrier arrived outside the office and Mary helped Lily load her things into the car, before it took her to Hestia's house where she stayed until the weekend, when Hestia had driven Lily to James’ flat.

“There are still reporters outside Lily’s place, I did a drive by this morning to check,” Hestia said as they all slumped onto James’ sofa with a beer in hand, and Lily grimaced, she hadn't expected the press to be quite so invested in their relationship.

“I'll see if Ed or Doc can do anything about it,” James had said as he thanked Hestia for the heads up. The Marauders cleared their diary for the week to allow James and Lily to lay low, so during his unexpected down time, he often found himself sitting with her while she worked from home; sometimes he would try and distract her, or pop up in the back of her virtual team meetings to make Mary and Emmeline laugh, but generally he sat and read a book or the newspaper while she worked. He would leave the room when she needed to speak privately with someone, but he could often hear her chatting away and marvelled at the skill with which she dealt with her clients, all of which were very respectful and didn't even mention James, not once.

After a couple of weeks, the press attention seemed to have died down as they moved onto the next piece of gossip and Lily could have easily returned to her own flat, but James was keen for her to stay.

“I like working here, it's far comfier than my desk at work,” Lily joked as she sat on James’ squishy corner of sofa, her legs propped up on a footstool and laptop balanced on her knee as she sipped from a cup of freshly brewed coffee and changed the channel on the wall mounted flat screen TV.

“Why don’t you just move in then?” James responded casually without not even looking up as he chopped vegetables across the room in the open plan kitchen.

Lily was pretty sure that in that moment, her heart actually stopped as she turned to stare at him wide eyed.

“I didn’t, I didn't mean it like that, you don’t have to say that,” she spluttered as she pushed her laptop off her knee and crossed the room to join him in the kitchen where he stood with a wide grin.

“I was going to ask you anyway,” he shrugged as he resumed his dinner preparation and Lily beamed.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I know we’ve only been together a few months, but it feels right, doesn’t it? You living here,” James continued as he looked beyond Lily and around the flat in which he’d always lived alone; it was so natural now to hear her voice as she worked, or to have her jacket thrown over the back of the sofa, and her shoes by the door.

“Yes, yes, I'd love to!” Lily beamed, as she threw her arms around James’ neck and kissed his mouth. “I'd love to live with you,”

She gave her notice on her flat in Clapham the following day and moved her stuff into James’ flat the next weekend; when she finally returned to the office a few weeks later, James missed her being around all day, but it did luckily leave him with some free time to search for something special.

As they made breakfast together in the kitchen a few weeks later, Lily sung along with the radio as she popped two slices of bread into the toaster and took a sip of her coffee.

“Next up its Newsbeat, but after that, we’ll be playing the new Marauders track, hold tight because you're gonna love it,” the presenter said in a cheery tone, and Lily laughed out loud, she wondered if it would ever feel normal hearing your boyfriend’s voice on the radio, she supposed not. She turned to grin at James, who usually grinned back and hummed a few bars of the song, but he was noticeably quiet this morning.

“You alright?” she asked as her eyes flicking up to meet his, he was leant against the kitchen island with a tense expression, but he relaxed as she grinned up at him.

“I'm all good, in fact there's something I need to ask you, I was going to wait until we went for dinner this evening, but if I don’t do it now, I might burst,” he replied.

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but she promptly shut it again as James dropped to one knee, a black velvet box in his hands.

“Lily Theresa Evans, will you marry me?”

“I am taking full credit for this, I engineered this,” Hestia grinned as she gestured to the elegantly decorated barn conversion where the Potter wedding reception was being held. “Literally, none of this would be happening if I hadn't told her to message him,” she continued smugly as she plucked a flute of champagne from a waiter’s tray and grinned at her friends. Marlene scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“That is the seventh time you’ve said that today,”

“Doesn't make it any less true,” she beamed as Sirius threw an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple

“You just can't resist a humble brag now, can you, my love?” he smirked, and she laughed as she cupped his cheek and kissed his mouth.

“Ugh, get a room,” Alice moaned, “and anyway, I was the one who suggested James, you two were still going goo goo over Andrew Garfield,” she continued as she gestured between Hestia and Marlene, and Sirius snorted a laugh.

“Garfield, really?” he asked, and Hestia nodded enthusiastically.

“Sorry babe, but if Andrew Garfield turned up tomorrow and asked me if I fancied it, I would 100% jump aboard that ship,”

“Note to self, keep Andrew Garfield away from girlfriend,” Sirius grinned as he nicked Hestia’s drink and took a gulp, to which she spluttered her protests.

"Anyone seen Dorcas? She's still got my phone, and I want to take pictures when they come in,” Marlene said as she desperately scanned the room full of guests for her girlfriend; the bride and groom would be arriving any minute, and she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

“Here!” Dorcas sang out as she handed a battered iPhone to Marlene, who beamed back at her like she’d just handed her a winning lottery ticket, before she kissed her cheek.

“You two are so cute I might throw up,” Alice teased as she reached over to squeeze Marlene’s cheek as her friend tried to bat her hand away.

“Don’t do that, I'm sure they paid a fortune for those bridesmaid dresses,” Frank laughed as he appeared behind the girls and Sirius.

“And where have you been? I've been trying to find you since we got here,” Alice asked with a raised eyebrow as Frank grinned guiltily at Peter.

“Bar,” Peter replied with a shrug and Sirius scoffed.

“Without me?”

“Well, you were too busy snogging, so we figured you were busy,” Frank laughed, and Peter nodded in agreement.

“Pfft, it is customary for the Best Man to get off with the Maid of Honour, I'm just upholding tradition,” he replied with a shake of his head and Marlene laughed out loud.

“Ah, that’s it, is it? Not the fact that Hestia’s looks ridiculously good in that dress?” she teased, and Sirius grinned.

“That too,”

The conversation was cut off, however, by the sound of the voice of Edgar Bones over the microphone: “Please could all guests be upstanding for the entrance of the Bride and Groom, Mr and Mrs Potter!”