The letter was an incredible treasure, proof that Lily Potter had lived, really lived, that her warm hand had once moved across this parchment, tracing ink into these letters, these words, words about him, Harry, her son.
After a bit of a wait here is chapter four! There’s a bit more plot, a bit more marauders, a bit more jily and a bit more Snape. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it. Let me know what you think!
As always thanks to the amazing @htcake for betaing and making this bearable<3
canon: sixth year | word count: 4.4k | ao3: read here
Hogwarts, September 1976
The fight is all anyone talks about for the next few days, but as in most semi-contained social eco systems it only takes another, just as dramatic event to catch everyone’s attention. This time it’s a third year accidentally accioing a girl’s robes. Lily is there when the accio event happens and it really is an accident, and far less dramatic then the fight, but she doesn’t mind that people have something new to talk about. She knows Remus has never liked this level of attention, even if Peter takes some enjoyment in stopping Madame Pomfrey from healing him and showing off his bruises much longer than he needs to. Plus, if people are talking about the fight, they’re also talking about the Slytherin boys and she’s definitely had enough of hearing about them. It’s bad enough being in Potions with three of them.
Especially when, in the last week of September, Sev and her are the first ones to arrive at the deserted dungeons. Maya is finishing the essay due in and Mary had forgotten her books and told Lily to go on while she sprinted back to the dorm.
She almost scarpers when she comes down the stairs and spots him there, alone, flicking through the textbook. From the steps she can see all his scribbling on the pages, his handwriting almost as familiar as her own. He looks up before she can hide and there’s a short second where his face lights up and Lily thinks he’s going to smile. He doesn’t.
Lily hoists her bag higher on her shoulder, resolutely deciding that she’s not going to give him the power to stop her from doing everything normally. She can stand behind him, waiting for everyone else. It doesn’t need to be a big deal. So she ignores the pain in her ribs, her heart, and simply joins him by the door, eyes fastened on the steps, hoping Mary hurries the fuck up.
“How- how- what do you think of Slughorn this year?” Sev says a few moments later, and Lily jerks her head around to look at him, almost in disbelief. He’s not looking at her. His eyes are firmly on the steps too and a distant part of her mind wonders what’s holding Avery and Rosier up.
“I think he’s being more dramatic.” She answers flatly, wishing she was able to ignore him just like she’d planned to do when she’d thought about this situation happening. If she was Marlene, or Maya, she could turn a cold shoulder or tell him to sod off.
Mudblood mudblood mudblood, in her head the scene replays, and she can see them all standing in a circle of other students, hatred and anger and confusion pushing them towards each other and tearing them away at the same time. But she can also see him lying on her bedroom floor, staring pensively up at her ceiling, asking how long it took her to cut out all the stars that are stuck up there. You can see the stars in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, you know. The real ones. He’d given her so much. Tried to take it all away too.
"I didn’t realise he could be more dramatic,” he laughs, cuts it off quickly. “At least he’s only given us one essay.”
“Yeah,” she pauses and mudblood deafens her. “Sev… We’re not-“
“I know.” He says it softly, still not looking at her, and she’s not sure what hurts more. Mudblood. I know.
There’s a sudden clatter of footsteps and Mary and Maya appear, followed closely by the rest of the class. At the same time Lily sees Avery and Rosier amongst the herd, Sev steps away from her, almost instinctively, and that hurts more than anything he could have said.
Don’t you dare cry over him, Evans. She bites back foolish tears as Maya and Mary join her at her side, shooting quizzical looks but knowing better than to say anything, partly in case they are overheard and partly because she’ll tell them when she’s ready. The Slytherins, led by Avery, leer at the Marauders, apparently hoping to goad them into a pre-class scuffle. In a surprising show of restraint though, Potter’s only response is to loudly ask Black what he’d thought of the article in the Prophet that morning about the Slytherins who slipped down the ladder of success.
Just as Black is telling Potter that he’d thought it rather insightful, Slughorn appears and ushers them in, tutting at the boys and jokingly asking them if they’re going to behave in his lesson.
Afterwards, Mary asks what Sev said to her but Lily brushes the question off and, thankfully, they don’t push it.
“I miss summer,” Maya moans, flinching at the cold as she presses her hand to the dorm window. Where she’s touched it, there’s a handprint in the frost and through the panes they can see snow on the tops of the distant mountains.
“It’s only been gone a week,” Lily says. October had arrived sharply, booting out the sun and heat very matter-of-factly and making up for how lazy summer had been in leaving. It hasn’t been sunny for quite some days, to the point that the Hufflepuffs had had to call off a training session on Tuesday because of the unforgiving wind.
“Still, I miss it.” Maya says and pulls her hijab closer round her neck. Their dorm is warm, even cosy, and it’s absolute shit that they can’t say the same for the rest of the castle. They’ve just got back from the library and walking through the halls had felt more like diving into the lake.
There’s a small tapping noise and Lily looks up from deciding which jumper is thickest and towards the window. Maya gets there first and lets the owl in. It hoots a thank you and flies over to settle on the headboard of Lily’s four poster, looking a little bit worse for wear.
“It’s Acklebey,” Maya can recognise the Hogwarts owl Lily uses to write to her parents and by now all of the girls have become familiar enough with each other’s mailing habits, so there’s no need to explain her excited grin as she hurries to untie the letter. The owl flies off as soon as she’s unattached the envelope, probably desperate to get to the shelter of the owlery. “You go down to dinner, I’ll catch you up.” She tells Maya, no longer hungry but desperate to read her mother’s words. Maya double checks that she’s sure, tugs on a jumper and then closes the door behind her.
Lily settles onto her bed and tears open the envelope, recognising her mum’s handwriting immediately.
Lily,
It was so good to get your last letter. I’m glad you’re writing so much. Your dad and I miss you lots n your letters make our week! Tuney is all moved out now and we’ve only chatted on the telephone a few times, but I think she’ll visit at Christmas.
About your letter: it’s good you’re enjoying the year so much. God knows your dad and I never liked school as much as you. Can you explain what human transfiguration involves… it sounds a bit too dangerous for younguns to be trying. Good that Potions is going well like usual, that teacher of yours definitely sounds like he knows what he’s doing.
Hopefully you’ll keep up with all your work, but it does sound like you’re getting a lot. Makes me tired just reading the number of feet.
Here everything is normal. Colder now September is over but your dad has more shifts down the mine and his cough seems to be getting better. He can’t finish the crossword without you and misses you a lot. I think I already said that.
Val popped in yesterday to say hi and asked how you were getting on. Everyone wants to know how you are! She brought over some apple pie but it’s too sweet for me. Maybe I’ll ask her to bake one I can send to you. Would you like that?
I’m sorry this letter’s so short, I’ve got about two loads of washing on and I promised I’d do the cake for Sunday’s service so I’m very busy. Say hello to all your friends.
Lots of love, your mum and dad x
She doesn’t realise she’s crying until a teardrop hits the paper, lined and clearly ripped out of a notebook, and she wipes them away quickly because there’s no need to cry. She just misses them. A lot.
Lily reads the letter a few more times, then grabs some parchment and writes an immediate reply. She explains the theory behind human transfiguration and tells her mum not to worry, there’s only a small chance she’ll get an extra leg. Then she asks about her dad’s cough, because she didn’t even know her dad had a cough to begin with. He’d had a ‘tickle in his throat’ over summer, but that had been there for years and no one ever paid much attention to it. Then she just writes and, by the time the girls come back from dinner, carrying a few new potatoes and sausages in a napkin for her, she’s got five sides of parchment finished.
“Do you want to write my letters home for me?” Marlene asks, taking a bite from one of the sausages before she hands her the food. “My mum would kill to get that many pages.”
“And mine,” Tegan says. Lily laughs and carefully folds the parchment up and tucks the pages into one of the muggle envelopes she keeps in her bedside table.
“Bad daughters,” Mary says with a shake of her head. “It’s not that hard.”
“You haven’t got Potter’s training schedule to contend with,” Marlene says, looking sick at the mere thought of it.
Lily licks the envelope and then asks, “What’s he got you doing now?”
“Four training sessions, two fitness ones and a strategy meeting every Wednesday lunch.” Tegan tells them with a dead expression behind her eyes and Maya, Mary and Lily all pull faces. Lily loves Quidditch but she’s glad she doesn’t have to play, especially with Potter as her captain too; for someone who prides himself on his casual façade, Lily’s heard enough stories, and seen enough, to know how much of a dictator he can be when Quidditch is involved.
“If he mentions the trophy one more time, I’m going to steal it and bludgeon him to death with it,” Marlene groans from where she’s sprawled face-down on Lily’s bed.
“I’ll help.” Tegan picks her beater’s bat up from where it’s propped upright at the end of the bed and pretends Mary’s old, stuffed bunny is Potter’s face. Mary rescues her bunny with a squeak of outrage, and they all squeeze onto Lily’s bed and listen to Marlene coming up with different ways to remove Potter’s legs from the rest of him.
“Oh, by the way, first Hogsmeade trip next weekend!” Mary says excitedly, once talk about murdering Potter has died down and they’re just ribbing Marlene for flirting with the new fifth year chaser. “It went up on the board over dinner.”
“Three Broomsticks?” Suggests Tegan.
“No I was thinking we could try out the Hog’s Head,” Marlene says sarcastically. They go to the Three Broomsticks every trip, it’s routine by now.
Tegan throws her a derisive glance from where she’s sat. “Whatever. Maybe you’ll be going to Puddifoot’s anyway, since you’re basically married,” Tegan jibes and, with a growl, Marlene dives at her. They fall off the bed and Maya, Mary and Lily lean over the side to watch them scuffle on the floor.
“Do you think this is because Marlene has about a hundred brothers?” Maya asks, sounding genuinely curious, as a snarling Marlene straddles Tegan and tries to get her in a headlock.
“Nah, it’s just because she’s feral,” Mary says and nods her head when Maya looks at her questioningly.
Lily pretends to think about the question, “Maybe it’s because Tegan doesn’t have any brothers. All the testosterone from the quidditch team is rubbing off on her because she’s not used to it.”
Maya and Mary stretch out an understanding “ah” and Tegan manages to give them the middle finger before overpowering Marlene and bending her arm behind her back. Mary throws a pillow into the mix and before anyone can blink, an arm extends from the tangle and she gets dragged into the fray too. Lily laughs but it’s quickly and efficiently cut off by Mary grabbing her wrist and yanking her off the bed, using her as a human shield whilst Tegan pummels them with the pillow.
The Hogsmeade weekend comes quickly and Lily and the girls race down the stairs, feeling a bit seasick by the time they reach the Entrance Hall. On trip days the stairs tend to get a lot more excited, as if they know how much everyone wants to get out of the castle and are trying to stop them.
With his usual litany of muttered complaints, Filch herds them into the line already stretching back from the doors, and demands to see their permission slips. He spends about five minutes inspecting each of them, and almost refuses to believe that Mary’s is real. It takes some time to persuade him, but then they’re out of the doors and huddling together as they follow the stream of students.
“I hate Scotland.” Tegan’s voice is muffled behind her scarf as they fight their way against the wind. “You never get shit like this in the valleys.” There’s no point replying because the wind would just snatch away any conversation, so they stay silent until they reach the Three Broomsticks and can recover from the biting gusts.
Maya points out the Marauders sat at one of the tables near the back, already surrounded by bags from Zonkos and she, Mary and Tegan go to join them whilst Lily and Marlene queue at the bar.
“You meeting your brothers?” Asks Lily while they wait to be served.
“Can you believe them? They said it was ‘too embarrassing’ to go for lunch with me,” Marlene says, drawing quote marks in the air. “All three of them. Bunch of traitors.”
Lily shakes her head in support, “Wankers, all of them.”
“Even Arnie and he’s only eleven. He doesn’t even know what embarrassment is.”
“What can I get you ladies?” Madame Rosmerta interrupts their conversation and they order four hot chocolates and a butterbeer.
“How is he getting on?” Lily asks once their drinks are being made.
Marlene shrugs, “Okay, I think. He’s got friends but I think he’s struggling with all the new magic. He never expected there to be so much theory.”
Lily thinks about how much theory they have in sixth year and laughs, “You gonna warn him?”
“I would if we had had lunch today,” Marlene says jutting her chin out. Lily grins and then accepts the tray from Madame Rosmerta, levitating it over to the table because she doesn’t want to risk dropping it. Tegan picks it up out the air and sets it down on the table, handing the drinks out.
“Butterbeer? In the morning,” Remus says, feigning outrage.
“Fuck off Lupin,” Marlene says and flicks some of the froth into his face.
“What’s that?” Asks Lily, leaning across the table to see what Potter and Black are reading. It’s a small pamphlet with a sketch of Hogwarts on the front.
“’A hit by hex commentary of the confrontation that has the whole castle talking’,” says Potter, pitching his voice to a tone that reminds Lily of him in first year.
"By Gilderoy Lockhart,” adds Black.
Lily frowns, “The Ravenclaw boy who tried to kick Peeves out the castle last year?”
“Hogwart’s very own Narcissus,” Remus confirms.
“What’s he saying?” Tegan asks, cradling her chin in her hand to listen.
Black clears his throat and then begins reading, “’If you weren’t lucky enough to witness the fight that everyone’s been talking about then, fear not, because our Editor-in-Chief, the one and only Gilderoy Lockhart was there and has all the action for you, straight from the side lines.’”
“Editor-in-Chief?” Marlene snatches the pamphlet from Black’s hand and looks at the back where there’s a list of contributors. “’Editor-in-Chief, Gilderoy Lockhart. Editor, Gilderoy Lockhart. Researcher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Manufacturing, Gilderoy Lockhart. Publisher, Lockhart Incorporated…’ Is this even allowed?”
“He was handing them out in the Entrance Hall until Filch confiscated them off him,” Peter shrugs, “so probably not.”
“Filch will confiscate anything though. Remember when he tried to take those dungbombs off us in third year?” Pouts Black, snatching the pamphlet back and tossing it onto the table. On the other side a sketch of Lockhart himself grins toothily up at them all, hair waving slightly.
“I wonder why he’d do a thing like that,” Maya says and rolls her eyes. Black pointedly refuses to acknowledge her comment.
“Apparently he’s petitioning Dumbledore to start an official Hogwarts newspaper.” Remus, wanting to get back on the subject, says and flips the pamphlet over to point at the title. Lily reads it upside down. If The Walls Could Talk.
“Sounds more like a gossip rag if you ask me,” Tegan says, although she does look interested. Students at Hogwarts are bred to be interested in everyone’s business and the idea of it being delivered routinely in a neat little phamplet isn’t too shabby.
“Funny you should say that…” Peter points to the contents, squashed below the sketch of the castle. He reads it out, “Page 1, Current Affairs; page 2, Affairs.”
"Very tasteful,” Lily says with a snort that almost sprays her friends with hot chocolate.
“Which does your fight fall under?” Asks Mary innocently.
“Ha,” Potter smirks, “both.” He stretches his arms into the air and then clasps his hands behind his head, knocking Black’s shoulder in the process.
“Arrogance isn’t a virtue you know,” Maya tuts.
“Let him have it, it’s his only personality trait,” Marlene says dryly. This gets a laugh out of everyone but Potter just frowns, looking genuinely upset. Although Lily can’t be sure, because she hasn’t got all of his facial expressions catalogued. That would mean she’d spent a long time looking at him, and that definitely is not the case.
They all leave just as it starts snowing, the hot chocolate in her stomach not hot enough to keep Lily warm for longer than a second. She shivers as the snow finds its way to every bit of her exposed skin and wishes she had a time-turner so she could dress more warmly this morning.
“No scarf?” Potter asks, letting the other three boys pull ahead with a more relaxed strut.
Lily looks up at him, ignoring Marlene’s eyebrows behind him. “At the bottom of my trunk. I thought the summer might hold out a little longer.”
“This is Scotland,” he smiles and then unwinds his scarf from his neck before holding it out to her. She waves it away, words stuck in her throat, so he just wraps it around her neck, warm fingers brushing her skin once, twice. “I’m built to handle the cold.”
“With all your layers of fat?” Finally she finds her voice, and manages to raise an eyebrow too. Cool, cool.
“Exactly Evans,” Potter grins and takes a step back, sliding his hands into his pockets, “exactly.”
“Thanks,” she says, before he turns away.
“What are friends for,” he winks and then turns, almost slipping on the wet ground but catching himself just in time. He jogs to catch up with the boys and Lily imagines the blush on his face.
“Nice scarf,” Maya says, slinging her arm over Lily’s shoulder at the same time Mary does. Lily blushes and ducks her head down, burying her chin into the scarf and pretending not to hear her friends.
October drags, sticking its heels in and refusing to leave. The snow doesn’t settle, just leaves the grounds soggy and the castle cold. Professors take the opportunity to give the sixth years even more work and Lily finds herself in the library every spare moment, trying to finish essays before she is handed the next one.
Distractions worm their way in though, and she finds herself playing Exploding Snap with the Marauders or walking down to the pitch to watch the Gryffindor’s practice or flicking through to the back of Witch Weekly. One day she even finds herself reading through all of Lockhart’s If The Walls Could Talk, which Filch had officially classed as contraband two weeks ago. A perk of being a prefect though is that she still gets access to all the contraband she confiscates, so she hides herself behind a pile of books on conjuring spells and flicks through the copies.
Rumour has it that Lucinda Talkalot is only second rate on the pitch, but first rate in bed… What a lot of people don’t know is that the Lockhart family actually founded… To take a sneak peek inside the library’s Restricted... This week in the Hufflepuff’s surprisingly rowdy… her eyes wander over the pages, taking in the Affairs section but skipping over the Current Affairs, which always seem to relate back to Lockhart or his family’s achievements.
She pretends she’s reading all of them just for something to do. But she also pushes all the other copies to the side when she finds the one she wants.
… straight from the side lines. It all began with a single, off-hand comment from Slytherin Quidditch team member Evan Rosier. “How did your summer go?” He asked the handsome member of the Marauders, Sirius Black. This was apparently a touchy subject for Mr Black, who didn’t answer Rosier’s question but instead hexed him. James Potter, Marauder and man who got rejected by Lily Evans… Lily stops reading and takes a steadying breath. …was not happy about this and soon it was an all-out brawl. The Marauders can certainly handle themselves in a fight, but so can Slytherins and it’s hard to say who would have won if Professor McGonagall, hard line teacher and animagus, hadn’t intervened.
“Not the best writer, is he?” Potter announces himself, appearing suddenly over her stack of books and making her jump. Lily slams the pamphlet down and pushes the pile away, although it’s too late to pretend she hadn’t been reading it. Potter winks as if he’s just discovered some big secret and is promising not to share it. “Don’t worry, we all have guilty pleasures.”
“It’s not… I was just…” Lily pulls her wand from her bun and arranges her hair to calm herself down. “I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about.”
Potter grins and asks, “Which one were you perusing… ah,” he snatches up the one she’d dropped like it’d burnt her. “Thought this was old news by now?”
“Took it off a Slytherin beater this morning. They’re still not over it,” she says, happy to have some sort of defence.
“No,” he drops down into the other chair, “they don’t seem to have the ability to get over things. Terrible at obstacle courses, I heard.” Potter smiles at his own terrible joke, half hiding it behind the pamphlet. Lily struggles not to smile back. “Hey,” he looks up, “I tell you who else hasn’t gotten over this. Pa- Black. He won’t stop quoting it to us. ‘The handsome member of the Marauders’ has really gone to his head. I don’t suppose you could do a mate a favour and –“
“Confiscate his copy?” Interrupts Lily.
“He’s got eight copies, Evans, eight! I don’t know where he’s getting them from. Every time I throw one away, another is on my pillow when I get back.” He shakes his head and tilts the chair back, looking quite put out by the whole thing, “Disgusting.”
“I did always think it was Remus who was the handsome one,” Lily says, looking at him out of the corner of her eye whilst she pretends to flick through the other pamphlets.
“Each to their own, I’ve always rather fancied Pete myself.”
“Potter?” She looks at him suddenly, the thought burning in her head since she read the story.
He looks at her. His smile hesitates, as if he knows what’s coming. “Evans?”
“Is his summer a touchy subject?”
Potter tilts the chair back further. Runs a hand through his hair. Considers her. Runs a hand through his hair again. Then he says, “I don’t know if I’m the one you should be asking.”
This is a fair answer. This is also a true answer, but Lily knows Black would sooner give Lockhart an exclusive on his summer than answer any questions she has about it. “But he’s okay? That’s what I meant.”
“He had a change of address,” Potter says, no longer looking at her and setting his chair back down. He hands her back the pamphlet and sounds eerily expressionless when he speaks again. “Good luck with all that reading.”
She doesn’t want him to leave on a sour note. Not that it’s sour. Just… stale. “Where are you going?” He swings around and shrugs, half smile, his half smile on his face.
“Got some planning to do. Can’t be known as the Marauder who got rejected by Lily Evans forever, can I? Need to make a name for myself.” His hazel eyes meet hers for a second, almost as if daring her to keep talking about the subject, but then -
“Shh!” Madam Pince appears, armed with her feather duster and a half manic look in her eyes.
“See you around, Evans,” Potter stage-whispers before saluting Pince. The librarian replies by chasing him with her duster. Lily watches him out the library and then drops her head onto the desk and groans to herself. You’re a knob.
A few seconds later, she’s jerking her head up again as a first year timidly approaches and shoves a familiar looking scroll onto the desk. Before Lily can ask anything or say thank you, the first year runs off and disappears amongst the shelves. She shakes her head and unfurls the scroll, happy to see that this year Slughorn has skipped the exploding confetti.
Dear Miss Evans,
It has been too long delayed but I would now like to cordially invite you to a meal to celebrate the start of the school year on 15th November. There will of course be excellent food and, as always, stimulating company. Do let me know if you’ll be in attendance, although I’m not sure what else you have to be doing!
lily is slightly drunk when she signs up for gbbo. her mum has just passed away and baking was their thing. lily would come home after a bad day and her mother would already be setting out things so they could bake a cake together
she works for a small online magazine and tells herself she could use the exposure, but really she knows she’s doing it because it would make her mum so happy
james is an teacher. his students love him, parents love him, his fellow teachers love him
he also makes the best scones in the entire world. sirius would marry one if he could
he, remus, and peter have definitely wrestled over which flavor james should make
sirius signs up in james’ name and announces it by spelling out “BAKE OFF” with jaffa cakes on their kitchen table
james cries, sirius cries, they clean up by eating every single jaffa cake in eight minutes
so the auditions are long and grueling but our kiddos are great bakers and they delight the producers and both earn spots on the show
when they come to film james’ intro on the show they think sirius is his husband at first
mostly because they call each other babe constantly
they ask how sirius feels about his partner doing this and he starts telling this ridiculous story about how he baked twenty cakes in the shape of toilets they saw on their travels around the world for their wedding
and then remus calls from the other room, “they’re not married!”
everyone has dinner before filming so they can all get to know each other
james gets there pretty late bc when is he not and the only available seat is beside the most beautiful person he has ever seen in his life
she smiles at him and he dies right there
he’s so flustered that instead of introducing himself, he’s like, “so, have you ever baked before?”
she kinda laughs but just says, “yeah, i bake a little.”
lily shows up on the first day of filming with five bags of ingredients
james shows up with a pair of novelty darth vader oven mitts
the signature and technical challenges are pretty simple stuff, they’re both in the middle of the pack
but then, the showstopper
they have to bake 48 fairy cakes/cupcakes
james ices and arranges his to look like paul hollywood’s face
mel and sue are laughing so hard they can’t speak
paul LOVES it ofc and james gets his first of TWO paul hollywood handshakes
lily has it a little harder
paul and mary love the flavor of her grapefruit and white chocolate fairy cakes but say they could’ve used a few more minutes in the oven and she cries
it’s not a big deal, plenty of people did a lot worse, but she’s so upset
james feels awful so in the next episode he makes a big show of tripping as he takes his eclairs out of the oven, which destroys them
(he was going to start over anyways, but he hopes it might make her laugh a little)
she knows exactly what he’s doing, but she laughs anyways
james has somehow made every single thing from the technical challenges but he always forgets what they’re supposed to look like
paul hollywood laughs for a solid two minutes when he somehow turns the buttercream in his opera cakes bright green
“they’re delicious, but james… they’re green”
“yes sir that would be the mint i added”
“why did you do that?”
“i don’t… know???”
james is better at showstoppers because he’s so dramatic and loves building things
lily is really good at tiny details and piping too
they’re making sculptures out of biscuits for one showstopper and he’s making a 3D postcard of the world (yes, he’s dumb)(yes, sue knocks over the eiffel tower four times) and he calls lily over to show him how to pipe details on the Sydney Opera House better
their hands brush over the piping bag
things are getting truly wild over here
people all over twitter are thirsting over james. he’s this season’s tamal
but people also notice how james and lily look at each other as they bake
paul makes a face over lily’s pomegranate iced matcha shortbread bc somehow he doesn’t like the matcha flavor but he can’t taste it either and she just barely rolls her eyes
the camera cuts to james who high fives her as she walks back
he asks to taste one after judging ends and she picks one up and straight up feeds it to him
he starts moaning about how it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten
the camera gets it all and the next day, there’s two buzzfeed articles and many, many gifs
james steals chocolate chips from her constantly
he throws some to her and she tries to catch them in her mouth like jake and amy in “the bet” from brooklyn nine-nine
they lay on the ground together as they wait for things to bake and he braids her hair
y’all know james is star baker of bread week. he nails that focaccia! everything is perfectly proved and baked! another paul hollywood handshake!
lily makes a pretty good apricot and chocolate braided bread for the signature
while james’ loaf is proving she’s making her apricot spread and is like, “while you’re sitting around, come knead this for a sec”
so she finishes up the spread as he kneads her dough
he does that really loud slapping method too
-lily: “so that’s the method you go with? i’m prefer really getting my hands in there”
mel and sue tell them they’re putting them out of a job
lily cries when they say james is that week’s star baker
at the end of the episode they interview her and through her tears she keeps saying how proud she is and how much he deserves it
“he never shuts up about bread! never! i’ve never met someone so passionate about dough!”
the next week is retro week
she ties a scarf in her hair and makes the best black forest gateau anyone has ever had
she and james bump hips when they announce that she’s star baker
and finally it’s the finale and they’ve both made it along with a nice grandmother who’s good, if a bit old fashioned
they both swear the other will win
they’re rolling out dough in the signature and lily starts humming “wannabe” from the spice girls and james just starts singing along
and they look up and do the rap together and roll out the dough in sync
the final challenge is to do a tower of macarons
lily makes him close his eyes and taste her fillings so she knows the flavors are strong enough
“what flavors are you getting?”
“lemon???”
“yeah, but what kind?”
“what kinds are there?”
“i don’t know!”
she smears some of his face and he doesn’t wipe it off
they finish and go out to the big tea party. sirius, remus, and peter sit at a table with them and eat both
they do their interview together. lily smiles and says, “i don’t care if i win. either way, i think things are going to be fine.”
they hold hands as they wait for the winner to be announced. neither of them notice.
when they call out lily’s name she turns to james and kisses him
mel and sue are shook
“looks like we’ve actually got two winners today!”
they both become famous afterwards, and both have cookbooks
james remains a teacher but lily becomes sort of a lauren conrad type figure and has a wildly popular baking blog
they are revered on social media in the best way (with no weird fans), and often post pictures of bakes with the caption “guess who made this one?”
there was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair harry had inherited standing up in all directions. there was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad.
jily, for @jilyss - happy holidays from your potter secret santa! hope you enjoy the gift ♡
Introducing the Twelve Days of Jily Christmas challenge!
Everyone loves a good marauder era Christmas, but not everyone has the time to create content for a deadline. The 12 Days of Jily Christmas challenge is a casual, no commitment challenge with 12 days of prompts for you to fill.
We accept all content and creations and all you have to do to submit your work is tag us in it when it’s posted!
There’ll be 2 prompts everyday for 12 days, focusing on Christmas as well as big moments in the marauders’ and jily’s life.
Prompts will be released by the end of November and the challenge will start on December 14th.
We’ll be tracking the tags #12daysofficmas, #12doxmas, and #12daysofjilychristmas and we can’t wait to see your creations in there!
If you have any questions (or prompt suggestions!) feel free to send us an ask and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
in the words of slade “IT’S CHRISTMAS”, so here i am giving you fic. i’m less reliable than an actual advent calendar tho so don’t expect too much from me. with the inclusion of sirius/mary for @prongsno. don’t ask where sirius was bc i don’t know just go with it. title from sia’s snowman
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James, buried in what could be considered to be a small mountain of wrapping paper, eyes the box Lily is offering him with mistrust. It’s not that the box itself has done anything to personally offend him, but the smile Lily is giving him is verging on manic, and it’s enough to make James’ palms sweat a little.
“Merry Christmas, love!” She says as she pushes the box into his hands. He only takes it because the alternative is dropping it on the floor.
“You don’t have to say that every time you give me something, you know.” He grumbles, even as his fingers dig into the wrapping paper. There’s a satisfying rip as he tears through the paper, and he feels excitement build in his chest regardless of any apprehension. There’s just something about opening presents, and more importantly tearing wrapping paper to shreds, that’s exciting. Even for a twenty five year old man.
“Yeah, but this time I really mean it.” Lily says. There’s a quiet rustle from the paper near the unlit fireplace and Lily’s head whips around to frown at it. “Harry, no-” She sighs as their son clambers into the fireplace and subsequently covers the front of his brand new jumper in soot.
“He gets it from you.” James says, mouth curling at the edges when Lily turns her frown on him.
“According to you, he gets everything from me.” Lily complains, although her lips twitch in the way that says she’s fighting a smile.
“His inability to stay clean is definitely from you.” James says, pointedly looking at the gravy stain on Lily’s tshirt. “His fantastic rugby skills, however, are mine.”
“Oh shut up, and open your present.” Lily says. The smile she’s been holding back breaks out in full force when Harry giggles. “Come here, monster.” She crooks a finger at him and he crawls back out onto the living room floor with a huff.
James turns his attention back to the box in front of him and tears the remaining paper off in one motion, throwing it somewhere behind him. He lifts the lid and hands it to Harry when he grabs at it. ““Thank you”, sprout.”
Harry doesn’t answer him, too content playing with the newly acquired piece of cardboard. He has a pile of toys neatly stacked under the tree, thoroughly ignored.
Inside of the box… is another box. James sighs, sees the way Lily is grinning at him, and sighs again. “Really?”
“Revenge for my birthday.” Lily snorts. She makes a half-hearted attempt at brushing some of the soot free from Harry’s jumper, to no avail.
James starts to protest, because completely duct taping her present and then supergluing the ends of the tape together had been a work of genius, thanks. He deflates pretty quickly, though, because he can’t be bothered to argue the logistics of putting multiple boxes inside one another, versus the mess of duct tape and superglue.
Instead, he lifts the next box out and uses his thumbnail to rip open the paper. He’s completely unsurprised to find yet another box inside, although this one is significantly smaller than the other two. He looks at Lily quizzically, unable to help himself. She winks at him, carefully pulling the cardboard out of Harry’s mouth and shushing him when he starts to make a fuss.
“How many of these things did you wrap?” James asks, ten minutes and six boxes later. Harry has more or less disappeared under the pile of them, the only part of him visible is his left arm.
“I promise this is the last one.” Lily says, and James would believe her if it weren’t for the fact she’s said it the past three times.
“Uh huh.” James isn’t looking at the boxes at this point, and so isn’t expecting to find plastic instead of paper. It’s so unexpected that he pauses for a moment, staring dumbly at Lily as his brain registers what he’s feeling. Eventually he looks down, and if it had taken him a while to figure out he was touching plastic, it takes him even longer to work out what he’s looking at.
“Surprise!” Lily is laughing at him. He knows she is, but he’s too dumbfounded to move. “D’you like it?”
“Is this real?” He asks, a familiar burn settling at the back of his throat. “Lily, you better not-”
“I took three tests to make sure.” Lily interrupts him, albeit gently. She pries the pregnancy test out of his fingers and grips his wrist. “I’m pregnant.”
James doesn’t move for a solid thirty seconds, and then suddenly he’s lurching forwards and wrapping his arms around Lily’s shoulders. He presses kisses to the top of her head as he feels her laughing into his chest. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
Harry’s small hands pull at James’ jumper. “Daddy, love.”
“Yeah, mate, daddy loves you too.” James’ laugh is watery, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Harry because he makes a happy sound and then looks at Lily.
“Mummy, love.”
“More than anything.” Lily promises, sliding an arm around Harry’s waist and dragging him in between them.
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That’s how Sirius finds them, fifteen minutes later when he lets himself in through the front door, a carrier bag slung over one shoulder and a bottle of mulled wine in hand.
“Potters.” He announces as he kicks his shoes off in the small entryway. There’s a soft thud as he puts the bag and bottle down in order to take his jacket off. “I’m back, so you better not have got up to anything too exciting in my absence.”
He pauses in the living room doorway, shoulder leaning against the jam as he takes them in; a sprawling tangle of limbs and laughter that makes his chest feel warm.
Harry is the first to notice him, and scrambles to get out of his mother’s grip so he can race across the room on his stubby two year old legs and into Sirius’ waiting arms.
“Sprout!” Sirius lets Harry blow a wet kiss against his cheek and then stands up straight, smiling at the startled yelp Harry lets out. “You alright, mate?”
“Love!” Harry says, smacking another kiss to Sirius’ chin. Sirius pulls a face, mostly for show and then makes a point of tickling Harry’s tummy and smiling at his delighted shrieks.
Neither Lily or James move and it’s honestly kind of eerie, so Sirius steps further into the room and stops beside the tree when Harry grabs at a strand of gold tinsel.
“Did someone take out your batteries?” He aims at Lily, mostly because she’s closest. He reaches out a hand to fiddle with one of the tree ornaments, twisting it between his fingers to inspect it. It is, from what he can figure out anyway, a rather glittery representation of Mary, judging from the small white bundle gripped in her arms. He strokes a thumb over her head and then wipes the glitter onto his jeans.
Harry struggles in his grip, so Sirius places him gently back on the floor and watches as he toddles off. “Okay, is something wrong?”
“No.” James says, voice quiet as he pulls himself free from Lily’s arms. “We’re good.”
“You sure?” Sirius lowers his voice to a whisper. “I was gone for half an hour, what the fuck happened?”
James doesn’t answer, just bends to pick the test up and pushes it into Sirius’ hands.
“For real?” Sirius asks, voice suddenly hoarse around the edges. He blinks a few times as he looks down at it. He peers around James to Lily and finds her smiling at them fondly. “For real?”
“Yeah. Yeah, for real.” She says, laughing when Sirius hugs James so fiercely they stumble a few steps, legs bumping into her.
There’s silence for a few moments, Sirius’ face pressed into James’ hair. James should know better than to trust it, but he does. And then Sirius opens his mouth.
“Jesus Christ, I can’t believe you tricked her into sleeping with you again.”
