#jilytober 2020 prompts

[thejilyship]

11. A Step Behind You

Hey everyone! I wanted to post this last week, but I only just got the internet situation figured out, so thank you for your patience! This is the third prompt that I’ve written for Jilytober from my list that you all voted on! 

Muggle office romance au

WC: 2.2k

James just wanted to get home before Sirius, Remus and Peter ate all of his mother’s Christmas biscuits. 

He had tried to steal a couple before heading into the office, but Mia Potter had insisted that he had to wait until tonight and then kicked him out of the house after she caught him in the kitchen ten minutes later, again, trying to knick a biscuit before he had to go to work. 

Also, he was angry that he had to be in the office this close to Christmas in the first place. 

He typed away at his computer, wondering why his boss had been so adamant that he wanted James in the office, when he clearly could have finished up these reports at home.

There were a few other people scattered through the office, looking just as miserable as he felt. 

He was falling into a hypnotic state, hearing nothing but the sound of the keys at the ticking of the clock. Still thinking about the Christmas biscuits. 

And then, out of the corner of his eyes, a flash of red. 

His breath hitched and he whipped his head around, spotting her rushing down the hallway. 

He didn’t know her name, he only saw her every few weeks, and he’d never been able to work out which department that she worked in. He didn’t want to be a creep either, so he couldn’t try too hard. He had just kept hoping that they would eventually run into one another. 

Now, she was carrying a watering can. 

And that just felt like the kind of thing he was allowed to follow her down the hallway to ask about. 

He jumped up from his chair, work and biscuits pushed from his mind, as he followed after her. 

“Excuse me!” He called out, spotting her at the other end of the hallway.

She stopped short, her hair swinging back and forth like a pendulum in her plait. She spun around to face him. “Yes?” 

“What are you doing?” He asked, his hand jumping to his hair now that she was looking directly at him. Her eyes were green. He hadn’t noticed that before. They were a brilliant shade of green as well. 

She looked down at the watering can and then up at him. “I’m surprised no one else has asked me yet,” She gave him a small smile and his heart skipped in his chest. “I came in to pick up my plants before Christmas break, but then I noticed that almost everyone in my office left plants here, so I thought that I would just water them so they’re not all dead when everyone comes back next week.” 

“Oh,” James blinked, not knowing what he had thought her answer was going to be, but the one that she’d given him was just so damn sweet. “Would you like some help?” 

She smiled again, dimples forming at the corners of her mouth. “I’d love some help.” Then she waved for him to follow her and turned around, continuing down the hallway.

James jogged after her so he could catch up. 

And he found out that she worked on his floor. 

For the last few months, all he had to do was follow her down this one hallway and he would have found out that she worked in billing, on the same floor as he did. How had they not ran into one another?

“My name is Lily, by the way.” She said, turning to look over her shoulder as she stepped into the first cubicle in the room and then turned to carefully pour water on a fern on the corner of the desk. “I’m not sure that we’ve met before.” 

“We haven’t.” James said, and then he furrowed his brow. Did he say that too quickly? “I’ve seen you around before, but I didn’t know that you worked just down the hall here. My name is James.” He knew that he needn’t have said all of that and he could feel his ears warming. 

Luckily, she didn’t notice his embarrassment, because she was now focusing on a second fern on the other side of the desk. “Well, I walk past your office almost every day, so I’ve definitely seen you around before.” She looked up and smiled at him, and then she was off to the next cubicle. 

He blinked after her and then followed her again. “What can I do to help?” 

Lily shrugged her shoulders. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t get wise on me, but I only have one watering can. I was hoping to keep you around for the company so that I could ask you for a favor in a few minutes.” 

James had already been intrigued by this girl but she had him on her rope now. He crossed his arms over his chest. “The company? And what if I have important things I should be doing right now?” 

She turned to face him fully, smiling with her dimples again. “Then you probably wouldn’t have offered to help me water plants. Here,” She handed him the watering can and then riffled through the top drawer for a pad of sticky notes and a pen. “Go to the next one, I’ll be right there.” 

James didn’t even question why he was listening to her, he just did as he was told. Which, if anyone who knew him could see him just then, they would think that was very strange. James Potter never did something just because he was told to do it. 

But now he was watering plants, and Lily was following behind him with the sticky notes and the pen. 

“What are you writing?” He asked after the fourth desk. 

“Goodbye notes.” She said, drawing a very embellished heart. 

“But they won’t see these notes until they see you again. Aren’t we watering the plants because-” He stopped and pushed his glasses up his nose. “You said that you were coming to collect your plants.” 

Lily nodded. “I did say that. I got a new job that I started after the new year. My last day was yesterday.” 

James frowned and Lily smiled at him. 

“This is where most people would congratulate a person.” 

“Right,” James nodded, “Right of course, congratulations! Where is your new job?” 

“At a primary school a few blocks west of here,” Lily smiled. “I’ve finally gotten my degree finished, so I get to start teaching!” 

“In the middle of the year?” 

“Yes,” Lily grinned. “One of the teachers went on maternity leave a week ago, so I’ll be taking over her classroom until she gets back.”

“Well that worked out perfectly!” He should have tried to talk to her before today. 

“Yes,” Lily was still grinning and James’ heart was still jumping around in his chest. “I’ve actually had a string of good luck lately.”

And now she was about to tell him that she had a boyfriend and demolish his hopes even further. 

“Like when you asked me what I was doing. That was lucky.” 

James narrowed his brow. He hadn’t been expecting that. “Why was that lucky?” 

“Because I’d never had a reason to go into your office, so I’d never had an opportunity to talk to you before. And I’m never going to have a reason to come back into this building, so,” She shrugged and the peeled off the sticky note and stuck it to the pot that James had just watered. “I don’t know, I’ve got nothing to lose here so I might as well be honest, yes? I think you are rather handsome.” 

James blinked at her, taken aback at her straightforward comment, but also completely shocked that she had noticed him in the same capacity that he had noticed her. 

“Biscuits?” He said stupidly and Lily wrinkled her nose in confusion. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I- I,” His hand was already buried in his hair at this point and he furrowed his brow. “That isn’t what I meant to say.” 

“I thought not,” Lily nodded and then started tapping the pen on her pad of sticky notes. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable-”

“You didn’t.” He said quickly. “I think my brain just- listen,” He dropped his hand from his hair to his side and thens et the watering can down on the desk. “I have obviously noticed you around the office before, and a moment ago I was just kicking myself for never trying to catch you in the hallway.” 

She was smiling again, and James took that to be a good sign. “And you said biscuits because…” 

“My mum is having a holiday biscuit party tonight. I’ve been thinking about them all day.” He shook his head. “Which sounds dumb, but I’m trying to ask you if you’d like to come with me. Unless that’s a terrible idea. I’m saying it outloud and it sounds like it might be a terrible idea.” 

Lily’s smile disappeared. “Is it a terrible idea?” 

“I just asked you to come to a family Christmas party for a first date, that definitely sounds like something that will scare you off.” 

“But it’s a biscuit party.” 

“Yes.” 

“I like like biscuits and I’m not afraid of meeting people either. How many biscuits could I eat before people look at me weird?” 

James started smiling again. It felt very nice to know that his intuition about this girl had been right. “I mean, so long as we don’t see the biscuits that you eat again, no one is going to look at your weird.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you want to come then?” 

“Yes,” Lily nodded, poking his arm with the end of the pen. 

“Do you have an ugly Christmas jumper?” 

“Of course.” Lily bounced on her heels and James laughed. “I love Christmas parties and it’s been a while so I’m very excited. Let’s finish up here so I can get home and change!” 

James laughed again and nodded, “Alright, let’s go.” And he picked up the watering can again and headed to the next desk, now even more anxious to get off work.

He still didn’t think that it was a good idea to bring Lily on a first date where not only Remus and Peter would be, but also Sirius and his mother. It actually seemed like a terrible idea when he remembered that Sirius and his mother would be there. It was almost a guarantee that they would scare her off. 

“Are you sure you want to come? I can take you-”

“I’m sure I want to come,” Lily cut him off, peeling off another note and sticking it to another coworkers desk. “The fact that you’re second guessing so much only makes me want to come more.” 

“Giving me a hard time already? We haven’t known each other for more than twenty minutes.” James sighed as he moved on to the next plant. “You’re going to fit right in at this party.” 

She looked over at him, her eyes sparkling. “I knew I was going to like you.” 

“Yeah, well, just remember that when my mum starts asking you how many kids you want.” 

She laughed out loud, startling him slightly, but then he was chuckling along with her. 

“Six.” She said suddenly, looking back at her sticky notes.

“Six?” James’ eyes widened. 

“Four?” Lily offered, looking back up at him. “I’m not entirely sure, but I know it has to be an even number more than two. I was one of two, and my sister and I don’t get along. I think if there were a few more siblings, then we would have had more people to fight with and it would have been spread out more.”

“I was an only child growing up, so my mother will be thrilled with that answer.” 

“Excellent.” She poked him with the pen again. “Alright, I think that’s everyone. Can you help me carry my things down to my car? I don’t know how I managed to accumulate so much stuff over the last year.” 

“Of course,” James set down the watering can and followed her to a counter on the back wall that had two boxes, one full of plants, the other full of books and trinkets. The contents of either box could comfortably fit into the other. “This isn’t so much.” 

“I had a bigger box that I took home with me yesterday.” Lily admitted. “But I uh,” She cocked her head to the side and eyed him before picking up the box with the books in it. “I wanted to make sure that I had enough stuff left here for two boxes so I could ask you for help.” 

“You know,” James picked up the box of plants. “For someone who hasn’t had the nerve to just walk into my office and talk to me, you’ve got a lot of nerve.” 

Lily laughed, “Yes, well, you’re bringing me home to meet your family. My confidence has been bolstered.” 

And as he followed her down to her car, carrying a box of plants that she’d packed separately just so she’d have a reason to talk to him, his heart skipping happily in his chest and his cheeks already sore from all the smiling he’d been doing, he had a feeling that he was stepping into the rest of his life. 

Because he was quite certain that there weren't many places that he wouldn’t follow Lily. 

#jily #jilytober #muggle au #jily au #office romance au #jilytober 2020 prompts

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Nah, He Didn’t... Jilytober Prompt #25

 This is for @magic-girl-in-a-muggle-world who made the list of prompts and is a star 😘😘😘😘

Prompt #25:  7th Year Lily thinking James is no longer interested in her…

(Btw, I am not a fan AT ALL of James chasing after an unrequiting Lily for ages, that stalkerish behaviour is more Snape, if anyone, and in canon James only asks her out once, just reminding you all…)

                                                   Nah, He Didn’t 

It was freezing cold outside and Lily wrapped her fleece-lined cloak around her tightly as she wandered off towards the Great Lake on that blustery morning. She hadn’t slept particularly well, and she needed to wake up before starting school. She rubbed her tired eyes and yawned widely, then blinked. A fluffy, large, black dog was trotting towards her, wagging its tail joyfully.

“Ooooh, look at you!” she cooed warmly, hunkering down as the dog approached her. “Aren’t you a dote? Such a gorgeous dog!”

The dog barked enthusiastically as though in complete agreement.

“Of course you are,” Lily said, rubbing behind the dog’s ears. “I’m sure you get told that all the time!”

The dog made a sound half-way between a laugh and a bark, wagging its tail with enthusiasm.

“Big-headed git,” Lily snorted, ruffling the soft hair on the dog’s head affectionately.

The dog’s chin shot up.

“Oh, a bit defensive, are we?” Lily quipped.

The dog sniffed.

“Fair enough, unlike some big-headed gits, you actually have something to be vain about,” she said, with a sigh.

The dog cocked its head to one side, as though listening attentively. It did the trick.

“Don’t get me started,” Lily muttered crossly. “I really, really need to cop on and move on. I mean, there was a stupid rumour in Fifth Year that he liked me, which was bollocks.”

The dog’s eyes grey wide.

“Nah, he didn’t, utter bollocks,” Lily amended, sitting down on the damp ground with a huff. “But then last year, we were getting on really well, and I started seeing him differently, you know…”

The dog moved closer to her and his ears pricked up.

“Fine, I started liking him, as in, you know, liking liking him,” Lily said, as the dog’s eyebrows shot up. “Whatever, fancying him rotten, alright? Satisfied? Ugh! I’m such an idiot! I never hated him, not really, it’s just that we were always annoying each other, engaging in verbal battles and whatnot, I mean I think we both liked spending time with each other, despite the sassy remarks, or maybe because of them.”

She stared moodily ahead of her, which meant she missed the startled and frankly shocked look that the black dog gave her.

“Which was fine. It was nice being friends with James, he’s a nice person, you know?” she added.

The dog barked at her pointedly and thumped his tail against the ground.

“And then this year, when I heard he was Head Boy, I was delighted initially. We got to spend loads of extra time together and I got to see more sides to him and, and… and it’s been rubbish! I can’t concentrate on anything when he’s nearby, I keep seeing all these adorable sides to him that I never knew existed, and his bedroom is next door to mine. Next Door! You don’t want to know the number of times I’ve seen him come in from Quidditch practice with his uniform stuck to his toned abs and biceps and Merlin…”

She sighed deeply and the dog whined.

“Oh dear! Are you not feeling well?” Lily asked.

The dog groaned.

“And then after seeing him looking so hot, gone to bed and dreamt we had a row and made up and then I was tearing his quidditch uniform off and-“

The dog let out a huge yelp. Lily huffed with annoyance and ripped some blades of grass.

“So then as he’s so clearly not interested in my any more, if he ever really was-“

The dog dropped his head onto the grass and whined loudly.

“I decided the only way to address this was by us both dating other people. Excellent idea, I thought,” she said.

The dog looked at her as though she had grown two heads.

“Except it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Helping him get changed and deciding what to wear on his date with Miranda Carlisle? Helping him think of where to take Lelli Kumar on their first date? IT WAS A NIGHTMARE, Snuffles!”

The dog growled under his breath and sank his chin further into the grass.

“Well, I don’t know what your name is, love, and Snuffles is sweet,” Lily said, with a wicked grin at the grumpy looking dog.

“And as for asking James’ advice on what to wear on that cringeful date with Jack Meadows? Merlin, it was a disaster! The worst was probably the day we were both going on separate dates and spent an entire afternoon trying to be all supportive and encouraging with each other. I was so sick of it all, I said to him maybe we should just forget about our dates and go on a date together instead, save us all the hassle,” Lily said, making a face.

The dog sat up suddenly and his right ear shot up.

“How much more bloody obvious can you get, right? And he said yeah, we should,” Lily said, imitating James’ deeper voice and throwing herself down on her back with a huge sigh. “And then we both just stood there, like idiots, and went on our respective dates. I mean, he’s clearly not into me at all, is he?”

The dog let out a strangled sound.

“I know, so embarrassing! And another time when we were bitching about the stress of dating people you don’t know, I literally said I’d prefer to just go on a date with you James. And you know what he said?” Lily said, turning her neck to look at the dog.

“I’d go on a date with you any time you want, Evans, you just need to ask,” Lily said, mimicking James’ flirty tone and ruffling her hair.

The dog looked at her expectantly.

“So I said now would be nice, Potter, and he laughed and said please stop taking the piss, Evans, I can’t cope with you,” she groaned. “Well obviously I didn’t ask him again after that, not when he was just saying it to be nice!”

She huffed and stuck her hands behind her head. The dog flopped sideways onto the grass as though momentarily incapacitated.

“Bloody boys!” she muttered. “They’re all stupid!”

The dog gave a small bark, as though disagreeing.

“Take Sirius and Remus, both totally head over heels in love with each other, both totally clueless!” she said, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know what either of them needs to do in order for the other one to realise it! Sirius sits in class gazing at the back of Remus’ head like he’s staring at a work of art, and Remus fell over his schoolbag cause he was staring at Sirius when he came in after a Quidditch match. I’m pretty sure Mc Gonagall knows it, she keeps giving them detention together for no good reason!”

The dog made a distressed sound, like it was choking, and Lily sat up.

“Are you alright, you poor thing?” she said, petting his back fondly, and watching as a particularly fit Quidditch Captain and Head Boy walked over towards them.

“He always looks particularly well in his tight quidditch top, showing off his toned forearms with the beautiful veins on the back of his hands and arms. I have a thing about his hands and his arms, and his eyes, and his smile,” she whispered to the dog, who made a hacking noise.

“You’re up early.”

“Couldn’t get back to sleep so I did some practice,” said James.

“If that dog’s annoying you, Evans, just send him on his way,” he added, folding the aforementioned beautiful arms, and looking at the dog with a raised brow.

The dog whined and squeezed in beside Lily.

“Leave him alone, Potter! Snuffles is a delight!” she glared back.

“Snuffles?” James snorted and beamed at the black dog. “Oh, Snuffles is pure joy.”

The dog sulked..

“You, er, you wouldn’t be available to help me with those prefect rosters later, would you, Potter?” she said, twisting her hair with embarrassment.

“Yeah, sure, no problem at all,” said James, looking at her wistfully. “I’m just going to shower before school starts.”

Lily stared after him.

“You know, you really aught to stop swooning over his arse, like an idiot, and ask him out, properly.”

“Sirius! Where did you spring out of!” Lily said, clearing her throat and giving him an unmerciful dig with her elbow.

“Ouch!” Sirius yelped, rubbing his arm fretfully. “I mean it.”

Lily rolled her eyes and linked her arm with his.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “Where did the cute dog go?”

“The cute dog who’s definitely not called Snuffles? I have no idea,” Sirius said breezily.

Lily looked around her distractedly.

“Lily, there’s something you should know,” Sirius said. “Boys are very, very stupid. Significantly more stupid than you’d expect. Never underestimate how stupid boys are.”

“Oh,” Lily said. “Right.”

“Right. Now. I dare you to ask James out, properly,” he said, raising his arched brow at her. “And if you do, I promise to ask out Remus Lupin.”

She stared at him.

“Well?” he said.

Her face split into a huge grin.

“Well, in that case, as a purely platonic thing, to help you two get your act together,” she beamed and squeezed his arm in excitement.

“Platonic, my arse,” Sirius said. “Shall we?”

Lily grit her teeth and nodded.

He grabbed her hand and raced with her towards the castle.

#jilytober 2020 #jilytober #jily #jily drabble #prompts #hope you like it #silly fluff

[matrixaffiliate]

Surreptitious

New Story! FFN and AO3

Lily doesn't think it will be that hard to hide she's been dating James for two years, and friends with him for five, but when she and James end up working together as temps every day, she finds out how intertwined with her boyfriend she really is. 

@thisismegz shared this Tumblr post with me (thank you, darling!) from @women-inthe-sequel and it felt so very Jily =) So obviously, I had to write it for Jilytober! Enjoy!

Surreptitious

Lily chucked her bag down on the table in a rage. The fact that the order had been misdelivered was not her fault, but that didn't change she'd been thrown under the bus and blamed for it, not that this wasn't the first time she'd been framed for something that went wrong. It also didn't change that she'd been fired over it either.

Her phone buzzed and she sighed as she saw James' picture on her phone.

"Feel like cheering me up?"

"Always," James laughed. "What can I do for you today, Evans?"

"Slowly pull out the bowels of Rosier and Yaxley with a white-hot hook?" Lily fell down onto her bed and kicked off her shoes.

"Vicious," James' chuckle was throaty and Lily wished he was with her where she could feel it rumble through his chest.

"Well, they managed to finally get me fired, so it feels justified at the moment."

"They what?!" All laughter and teasing had gone out of his voice.

"They blamed another misdelivery on me, and I found out they'd been filing complaints against me that I didn't know about, and I swear that Riddle was in on it with them because he showed me documents stating that he'd notified me of those complaints and strikes against me, but I know he didn't." Lily took a deep breath to try and calm down, "None of that matters now though, they got me out and that was what they wanted. They won."

"No!" James almost shouted. "I'll talk to Dad, I'm sure his solicitor will take your case! We'll sue them for everything they own!"

Lily smiled, knowing James was on her side always made her feel better.

"No, they aren't worth it. I'll report them, sure, but I'm not going to sue them over it."

"Lils, look," he went to say more, but Lily cut him off.

"No, James. I'm not going to waste my mental energy on them anymore. I'm going to take a day to calm down and then I'm going to get on to trying to find a new job."

James let out a long breath. "Love, I know you don't want to waste the mental energy on them, but wrong is wrong. Would you let me just mention it to Dad?"

Lily rolled to her side and shifted her phone, "I guess that would be fine, but I'm not personally taking them to small claims, alright?"

"Right," James sounded relieved. "I promise you won't be involved at all."

"Thanks, darling," Lily felt her stomach grumble and she groaned. "Needing a new job aside, I need to find something to eat."

"I'll call Mum, I'm sure she'll be happy to cheer you up with food."

Lily's stomach grumbled again, "Are you sure that she wouldn't mind cooking for us?"

James laughed, "Lils, my dear mother always tells me I'm not home often enough, and then immediately asks when I'm going to settle down and give her grandchildren."

Lily grinned, "See she never says anything about you settling down to me."

"Yes, because she wants to keep you around. Trust me, if she didn't like you, she'd be doing everything in her power to push you to marry me tomorrow." James paused, "So am I calling Mum or not?"

Lily pushed up off her bed. "Yeah, call your parents and ask if she'd make me some daal makhani to drown my sorrows in."

"You can count on it," James' smile was evident in his voice as they disconnected the call, and Lily internally admitted that she was looking forward to seeing it after the nightmare of a day she'd endured.

So, when Lily pulled up to the Potters' large home thirty minutes later, she couldn't stop the excitement bubbling in her chest, and even with the awful day, she smiled as she pushed open their front door.

"James?"

"You're here!" James came nearly running around the corner into the entryway, sweeping her into a tight embrace.

Lily took in a deep breath as she held him close. The smell of James mixed with the smells coming from Mia's kitchen were pulling all of the stress out of her and replacing it with warmth and happiness.

"Come eat while it's still hot!" Mia called from the kitchen.

Lily laughed and kicked off her shoes before taking James' hand to walk into the kitchen.

"Laadli," Mia hugged her, "Eat up, and there are jalebis too. A little sugar will make everything better."

"Thank you, Mia," Lily held on to this wonderful woman who had stepped in when her mum had passed on.

The family dinner was exactly what she needed. Lily finally felt calm, and while she still didn't know what she was going to do about a new job, she at least felt like life was going to get better, for no other reason than she was surrounded by these wonderful people.

"James," Monty handed him his plate as James cleared the table. "The new client at the agency finalized their paperwork for their trial run."

"You're taking on another company at the temp agency?" Lily asked.

James nodded, "Yep, which means 90 days of me pretending I'm not a part-owner."

Lily laughed. After they'd finished university, Monty brought James and Sirius on to the temp agency he started decades ago, but part of the deal was they would be guinea pigs to each new client to be sure the real temps would be treated well. Since they'd just signed a company a month ago and Sirius was currently being their guinea pig, James would need to take this new one.

"What does this company do?" Mia picked up her glass and drained it before handing it to Lily as she helped James clear the table.

"They're a paint manufacturer," Monty said, "But they want the temps for their customer service department."

"You told them they'd only get one, right Dad?" James looked over from the kitchen sink.

"I did," Monty nodded, "they asked me to try my best to get them two."

Mia looked at Lily for a moment and then smiled. "You should be the second temp!"

It took Lily a full ten seconds to realize what Mia was implying, but James beat her to a response as he shut off the water.

"No, Mum, Lily's an industrial engineer who deserves to find a job that will actually utilize her and not pin her to arranging low-level deliveries. She doesn't need to be working customer service while I evaluate this client."

"And why not, chotu?" Mia turned on him. "This way she gets a paycheck while she looks for something new and when she does find it, she can leave; no one expects a temp to stay forever."

"Mum," James' hand went straight for his hair.

"Mia, that's really sweet of you," Lily cut in but then Mia turned her mom-eyes on her.

"Laadli," she cupped Lily's face in her hands, "This will be good for you, give you something to think about other than that awful place that didn't appreciate your work. And you'd be with James so you'd have fun. Learn from an old woman, Lily, have more fun in your life."

Looking into Mia's wise umber eyes and feeling her small warm palms on her cheeks, Lily felt almost like she was under a magic spell.

"Well, if Monty thinks it's alright."

Mia held her eyes and kept her face in her hands. "Of course, it's alright, Monty will see to it."

A part of Lily's brain was sure that Mia was exercising some force of will over her, but there was something so comforting about it that she decided to ignore how much this felt like a magic spell.

"Then, I think it'd be fine. It'd give me time to find a position that I really like instead of settling for the first thing that pops up."

"There, see," Mia pulled her hands away from Lily's face with a smile, "We can always find blessings in disguise if we're willing to look for them."

"Lils," James stepped between her and his mum. "If you want to do this, we can make it happen, but don't feel pressured into it. You don't have to."

Mia tsked loudly behind him.

Lily gave him a small smile. "If you're alright with it, then it would really help me out."

James' returning smile lit up his face. "Eh, I guess I can handle it. At least I'll have someone to talk to, yeah?"

"And I suppose I could handle having to talk to you every day." She smirked up at him.

"Well then, that's settled." Monty chuckled, "James, I'll put you in charge of the paperwork and arrangements for all of this."

James shot his dad a grin, "I'll have it all settled by tomorrow evening. You're looking at the two newest temps for Royal Paint."

It wasn't a week later that Lily was pulling up to her new place of work - at least until she could find a new position in her field if expertise.

She saw James step out of his car and she waved him over. There was one thing that she wanted to clarify with him before they started this.

"Morning Evans," James moved to kiss her but she put her hand on his chest and stopped him.

"Does this place know you're one of the owners of the temp agency?"

James shook his head, "No, everything Sirius and I do is on the back end except for this, so no one knows we aren't real temps when we show up."

Lily nodded, "Alright, in that case, I think it would be a good idea for us not to broadcast our relationship while we're here for these three months."

"Really?"

"I don't want to cause any drama, and Sirius isn't available to switch with you if they have a problem with us being together. I think it would make everything easier and safer if we kept our relationship between us."

James sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Please, James," Lily smiled up at him. "I promise when we aren't here, I'll be the best girlfriend in the world."

James laughed down at her and laced his fingers with hers. "You already are but if it'll make you happy, then sure, while we're working with this client, we're just two temps, not a couple."

"Thank you," Lily looked around the parking lot and upon finding it empty, quickly pressed up and kissed him. "I suppose we should get this show on the road then, eh?"

"Yeah," James stole one more kiss, "We don't want to be late on our first day."

Lily and James walked into the grey cement brick building and were welcomed by the receptionist.

"Hi, I'm Amy, you must be our new temps."

"That's us," James nodded and Lily forced her down chuckle as she watched James start scanning the office. He may be wearing the badge of temp for the next three months, but James would never be able to stop being the shrewd businessman that helped his dad's company thrive.

"Just a minute and I'll fetch Scott, he's our manager." She clicked a couple of times on her computer before grabbing her desk phone. "Scott, they're here." She set the phone down and turned back to Lily and James with a happy smile.

"He'll be right out."

Not a moment later a man came walking around the corner.

"Welcome! Welcome to your new home away from home! Welcome to Royal Paint!"

"Thank you," James stepped forward and shook Scott's hand. "I'm James Potter."

"And I'm Lily Evans," Lily stepped forward as she watched James turn to introduce her. That was her first hint that hiding their relationship was going to be harder than she initially thought.

"James and Lily!" Scott shook her hand. "I can't wait to get to know you. I'm Scott and I hope you'll view me as your mentor and friend while you're here."

Lily nearly balked at the difference between Scott and Riddle. At least Scott didn't seem to be out to fire her from the get-go.

"Thank you," she pulled her bag higher up on her shoulder and smiled up at James.

"Look at you two," Scott stepped back and looked at the two of them, "You look like you could be on the cover of one of my wife's romance books. Don't you think so, Amy?" He turned to the receptionist.

Amy laughed, "You're a hopeless romantic, Scott."

"And I'm usually right about this sort of thing."

Lily felt something akin to panic gripping her stomach. "I'm sure that Mr. Potter and I can keep things professional."

James covered his laugh with a forced clearing of his throat and Lily fought the urge to glare at him.

"Don't be ridiculous," Scott laughed. "Royal Paint was started by a husband and wife team. We have no policy against workplace relationships. But let's get the two of you settled in and then you can get to know one another before you make decisions about first dates and whatnot."

He turned and led them down the corridor.

"Mr. Potter?" James whispered as he smirked down at her.

"I panicked!" Lily glared at him.

Before James could comment further, Scott had led them into the next room.

"This will be your launching pad!" Then he gestured to the two women sitting at desks that faced each other. "And these lovelies are the crew that will take you into the stars! Gladys and Arabella, this is James Potter, and here is Lily Evans. James, Lily, this is Gladys Vance and Arabella Figg."

The women smiled at them but before either could say anything, Scott had moved to the single desk to the left of Gladys and Arabella's workstations.

"This is where the two of you will be set up. I'm sorry but we couldn't get a second desk in here soon enough. You'll only need to share for a wee bit, but we'll get you your own desks in a jiffy. The two computers seem to fit alright, though, so shouldn't be a problem. Let's get you logged into those computers and Gladys and Arabella will train you up on what you need to do."

"Scott, slow down, you're spinning like a top." Gladys chuckled. "We'll take care of these two, you go do the manager things you do."

"Off you go," Arabella stood and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"I'll leave you in their capable hands then," Scott bowed awkwardly. "And if you need anything at all just step right into my office. My door is always open."

"Thank you, Scott." James chuckled.

Arabella shooed Scott again and he saluted before stepping out of the room.

"Well, you survived our fearless leader," Arabella chuckled. "We run things a bit more down to earth here in customer service."

"He's very enthusiastic, isn't he?" Lily laughed.

"Don't you two look cute standing like that?" Gladys smiled at them.

Lily looked over and realized she and James had gravitated towards each other, standing so close they were nearly touching.

"Oh, sorry," she stepped away from James, "I didn't mean to crowd you."

James' hand shot to his hair, "No problem, barely noticed."

Gladys and Arabella shared a long look but didn't say anything more. They helped James and Lily get logged into their computers and showed them how to respond to online inquiries from the website and how to find the answers. The job was so simple that by lunch Lily felt not only like she knew what she was doing, but that she'd been doing it for ages.

"Did the two of you bring lunch?" Gladys came to stand at their desk. "Because either way, Arabella and I are taking you out."

Lily laughed, "I brought a can of soup, but I have a hunch it'll keep till tomorrow."

"Are you sure about that?" James laughed, "Storing things in metal, who knows what could happen."

Lily laughed in spite of herself but stopped just before she went to playfully shove him.

"You two are cute," Arabella grinned at them. "Did either of you ever watch the American version of The Office? You two could be Jim and Pam."

"Oh, yes!" Glady exclaimed, "Lily's got red hair like Pam, and James instead of Jim!"

Lily looked at James and laughed, "I don't suppose you want to be called Jim?"

James rolled his eyes, "Do you know I threaten my brother with roasting him over a low fire for it?"

Lily grinned, she did know. "Oh, but it could be fun, couldn't it?"

James adjusted his glasses and leant across the desk, "Depends on your definition of the word fun, Lilian."

"Do you know that isn't my name?" Lily rolled her eyes. He did know.

"And now you know that Jim isn't mine," James countered with a smirk.

"I like them better than Jim and Pam," Arabella's voice brought Lily back to the present and she silently kicked herself for slipping into the banter she and James had built their relationship on.

Trying to avoid the habits that had formed from two years of dating plus another three years of friendship before that might just prove impossible.

And that premonition proved to be exactly right. She couldn't stop herself from the unconscious part of her brain that reached across their desk to touch his hand or his thigh. She could never keep herself from standing directly next to him. And she definitely couldn't stop the way her eyes would seek him out naturally. It was just so much a part of her to be connected to James.

How did she ever think she could hide this?

"Hey," she whispered across the desk three weeks after they'd started with Royal Paint. "I have to take my car in to have it serviced tonight, can you give me a ride tomorrow?"

"Of course, do you need a ride back from the service station too?" James nodded.

"I was going to request an Uber but if you want, we can make a night of it."

"Sure," James grinned at her. "We could make something at yours and watch a film or something."

"Sounds perfect," Lily moved to grab his hand but caught herself, opting to take a sticky note from the stack instead.

"How is the job hunt going?" James smirked at her.

Lily rolled her eyes at his smirk even as she grinned at him.

"I had a firm call for an interview and my references."

"That's amazing!" James' whisper went loud and Lily giggled.

"Riveting conversation over there dears?" Gladys smiled over at them.

"Just wondering when you're going to invite The Pips over and finally admit that your last name is really Knight." James smiled over at Gladys and Arabella.

Lily trained her gaze back on her computer and the mind-numbing work of answering customer questions.

"I'll be at yours at half six to go drop your car," James whispered and knocked her foot with his.

She looked up to see that smile that still made her stomach flutter.

"Thanks."

But James bringing her to work the next morning ended up being more of a to-do than Lily had expected it to be.

"Well, hello there!" Arabella stepped out of her car as Lily and James stepped out of his.

"Hi Arabella," Lily tried not to groan.

"Is your car alright dear?" Arabella looked as pleased as one of her cats might look had it caught a mouse.

"It just needed to be serviced. James was nice enough to bring me to work this morning."

Arabella nodded understandingly but her smile seemed to grow wider. "What a nice thing to do."

"What was a nice thing to do?" Scott walked up behind Arabella and Lily thought she might die.

"Lily's car needed to be serviced and James was kind enough to bring her to work today."

"A proper gentleman," Scott walked up and patted James on the back. "Well done, my boy!"

"Lily ought to take him to lunch to thank him," Arabella looked at Scott, "Don't you agree? They've proven they're hard workers, I think they could do with a long lunch today."

"Capital idea, Arabella! Yes!" He turned to James and Lily, "I agree, take a long lunch the both of you!"

Lily looked at James who was putting a great deal of effort into not laughing.

"Alright, then," Lily looked at Scott and Arabella helplessly.

Clearly, she'd need to rethink her original plan of hiding their relationship, seeing as everyone wanted them to have one.

"This whole thing has gone pear-shaped!" Lily huffed as she got into James' car for their enforced lunch date.

"Hey," James leant over and pulled her in for a slow kiss. "It'll be fine." He smiled as he pulled away. "You're going to go to your interview next week and they're going to wonder how they've ever managed without you. Then they'll hire you, and you'll be working for an amazing firm before you know it."

Lily kissed him again and let the warmth that had always been James ease some of the stress away.

"You know," James put the car in gear. "We could play this to our advantage."

"Play what to our advantage?" Lily fiddled with the radio.

"We could be the new office romance." James knocked her hand away from the radio as she tried to skip over a song he liked that she didn't.

"The new office romance?"

"Sure," James slapped her hand away again. "We could stop trying to hide the way that we're practically an old married couple, to quote my mum, and just be us."

"You're mum calls us an old married couple?" Lily laughed.

"Of course, she does."

"Why, of course?"

"Because she's my mum," James shrugged.

Lily grinned as the idea started to form in her mind. "We could sneak around like we did our last week of university."

James looked over at her with a smirk. "That poor custodian, I'm pretty sure we nearly gave him a heart attack."

Lily giggled, "I think you're right; this could be fun."

"Yes, and then I can stop smacking myself every time I go to touch you as well." James reached over and grabbed her hand.

"I know right? It's like I'm in love with you or something." She teased.

James parked in front of the restaurant and leant over to kiss her again. "That makes one of us, then."

Lily smacked his chest and pulled away but James caught her around the neck and kissed her passionately.

"I love you," he murmured as he slowed their pace.

"You better," Lily laughed and pulled back. "So, we're doing this? We're going to be Royal Paint's new office romance?"

"Yeah, let's have a bit of fun."

And they did. Lily didn't stop herself from making faces at him across their desk when she got bored. She didn't stop herself from asking James about their plans for the weekend. She didn't stop herself from walking out of the office with him after work. She didn't panic when Gladys mentioned how sweet it was that she was hitting it off so well with James. When Scott stepped in to tell them he'd managed to secure another desk for them if they wanted it, she agreed with James' insistence that they didn't need it.

The one thing Lily did still stop herself from bringing up at work when they were around their coworkers was her efforts to find a real job, and how things were going for James in his real job. Just because he was playing temp didn't mean he didn't still have his real job and everything that went with helping his dad run the temp agency.

She was trying to discreetly check her email on her phone to see if the company that had interviewed her and called all three of her references had made a decision on hiring her yet or not when she was spooked by James swearing under his breath.

Lily glanced quickly over at Arabella and Gladys before whispering to James.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a problem at the office. One of our temps went rogue." James' hands went to his hair before they immediately dropped to his phone to type.

"Is it going to be alright?" Lily leant closer.

"If Sirius and I get there in the next hour then probably." He looked up at her. "I've got to go. Do you want me to make something up for you to get Scott to let you out early too?"

Lily shook her head. "I don't want to make him suspicious of why you're leaving and then not let you go. I'll stay and finish the workday."

James grabbed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder before coming around the desk to kiss her. "Thank you, I'll text you once this is resolved."

Lily kissed him once more before he slipped out the door.

"They're already kissing goodbye," Arabella commented with a grin.

"They're meant to be," Gladys laughed, "Where is your prince off to?"

Lily rolled her eyes at them, "His brother needs him, he's going to see if Scott will let him out early."

"Oh, Scott is a pushover for that sort of thing. He probably would have let you go too if you'd asked." Arabella pulled a cat hair off her jumper.

"I wouldn't have been much help," Lily shrugged.

"So, how's having a new boyfriend been?" Gladys pulled her coffee cup to her lips and smirked at Lily.

"I'm rather enjoying it," Lily laughed and turned from her computer. It was becoming apparent that the two wanted to talk more than they wanted to work right now, probably because James wasn't there.

"I can imagine," Arabella winked at her. "Have you spent much time together over the last month and a half?"

"I guess we have," Lily tried to think of what sort of pace a regular couple would take, a couple that didn't have the history she and James had.

They'd been at odds in their first year of university, but when everything had happened with Severus and the Marauders at the end of first year, well, Lily realized that she'd been dead wrong about who her friends were. Thankfully, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were more than happy to put that year behind them and welcome her into their friendship. She and James had been friends for the last three years of their time at university; his parents were who she relied on when her mum passed away, joining her dad on the other side and leaving her with just Petunia and Vernon for living family members; James introduced her to Marlene and Emmeline and Mary and Bridget; the Marauders and everyone attached to them had become her family.

It was the last day of exams their final year at university that James had found her alone and somehow the two of them had finally stopped dancing around their feelings for one another and snogged the daylights out of each other.

They'd been inseparable for the last two years.

But how did one act like they hadn't been in love with the man they were with for years?

"You look unsure? Is everything alright?" Arabella frowned at her and Lily silently cursed herself for not having better control over her emotions playing out over her face.

"Oh, er, yes, I just, I, er, I'm waiting on an email." Lily reasoned she was a temp; she probably didn't need to hide that she was looking for something permanent; it was just James' position that she needed to keep to herself.

"A good email or a bad one?"

"I suppose I'm hoping it's a good one, but it could be a bad one."

Gladys narrowed her gaze. "Lily, what sort of email is this?"

"The sort of email that could get me a position with an engineering firm," Lily watched the two women carefully and sighed in relief when they both cried out exuberantly.

"That's wonderful," Arabella laughed, "but won't you miss working with James?"

"I'll miss it," Lily nodded because truthfully, she would miss it.

Working with James this way had been exactly what she needed after the fiasco at her last position. It had been healing to be with him day in and day out. It had made her realize how much she needed him, how much she relied on him.

"Well, most people don't work with their partners; you'd be joining the ranks of the rest of us." Gladys chuckled. "I love my husband, but I wouldn't work with him for all the money in the world. We weren't meant to be business partners."

"Amen, to that," Arabella rolled her eyes.

It was a couple of hours later that James texted her that he and Sirius had sorted out whatever had happened with the rogue temp. He followed that text up with the sort of response that helped Lily see why Mia called them an old married couple.

James: Meet me at mine, I'm bringing dinner.

Lily smiled down at her phone and then jumped when Gladys' voice spooked her.

"Email or boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend," Lily chuckled. "He managed to sort out whatever was happening with his brother."

"And…"

"We're having dinner tonight," Lily looked up at the clock and sighed; it was still an hour before she could leave.

Gladys looked over at Arabella and something passed between the two.

"Pack up your things, deary, Arabella and I are going to bully Scott into letting you leave early."

"No, that's alright," Lily shook her head, "I can wait."

Arabella laughed, "No isn't an option I'm afraid. We're rather fond of you and James there, so I think we're going to get our way and get you on your way."

"Really, it's fine," Lily protested again.

"Oh stop with the propriety and have a little fun, Lily." Gladys stood up. "Let's get you off to that boy of yours."

What could she do? It was as if these two were in cahoots with Mia. Lily packed up her things and tried to hide behind her two bullies as they approached Scott's office.

"Scott, dear Scott," Gladys stuck her head in Scott's office.

Scott looked up and laughed, "Oh dear, the both of you, what am I giving in to today?"

"What a dear he is," Gladys grinned at Arabella before turning back to Scott. "You're going to tell this sweet child to get herself off to her new boyfriend right now."

Scott glanced back at Lily and winked at her.

"I suppose you'll let the entire office know how hard it was to wear me down?"

"Of course," Arabella nodded. "We had to make a fuss about what a wonderful employee she's been these six weeks."

"And we had to point out that it has been slow all day and that it definitely won't pick up to where Arabella and I can't handle in the next hour," Gladys added.

"And don't forget how we're all invested in Lily and James," Scott added absently as he looked at an email on his computer.

"Oh yes, that too," Arabella laughed.

Scott looked back up and blinked, "Lily? Why are you still here?"

Lily shook her head and smiled, "I'm on my way out."

"Give my best to James," Scott called out to her as she walked out the door and to her car.

Lily texted James that she had been forced out early and then drove to his flat. For a moment she thought she saw Monty and Mia in their car on her way, but she was past them before she had a chance to do a double-take.

Walking up to James' flat felt like home. The knowledge that he'd be on the other side of the door when she opened it wrapped her in a blanket of comforting domesticity. Lily wondered if maybe she should forgo renewing her lease when it was up in a couple of months.

She pushed open the door but stopped dead in the doorway.

The lights were turned off, but there were battery votives on the floor making a pathway towards the kitchen.

"James…?"

He didn't answer and Lily resisted the urge in her to turn on the lights. She blamed it on Gladys' and Arabella's and Mia's insistence that she have a little fun. Instead, Lily kicked off her shoes and set down her bag to follow the flickering lights guiding her further into the flat.

Every light was off and the curtains pulled tight over the windows, making the floor look like it was glowing with the little votive lights lined against it. Lily stepped into the kitchen and paused. The lights led to a chair, sitting dead center on the kitchen floor.

"I am not doing a seance with you, Potter," Lily looked around. She nearly screamed when her phone vibrated and sounded in her pocket.

James: Please just sit down Evans

It was followed by at least twenty eye-roll emojis.

Lily rolled her eyes and texted back.

Lily: Fine, but I will kill you if this is some sort of prank…

She included five devil emojis before hitting send and cautiously sitting down in the chair.

"Now what?" Lily called out and looked around.

James stepped quietly into the kitchen and grinned at her.

"You always suspect me," he leant against the doorway, his hand running through his hair.

Lily forced her eyes back to his face. "You've given me plenty of reasons to do so."

James laughed, "You know, I've been thinking about how nice it's been to see you every day, but now I'm wondering what I was thinking."

She rolled her eyes but laughed with him.

"I was actually thinking the same thing after you left today."

James' smile went soft and he moved slowly, purposefully towards her.

"Good," his voice was that low rumble that made Lily want to pull him flush against her.

Then James came to kneel in front of her and Lily suddenly couldn't breathe.

"What do you think we make sure we see each other every day, even after we finish our stint with Royal Paint?"

"James," she laughed, but it came out a breathless sound.

"Lils, will you marry me?" He slid a ring out of his pocket and held it out to her.

"Of course!" Lily couldn't stop laughing, even as James pressed up to kiss her, lifting her from the chair and lifting her feet off the floor.

"We should turn on the lights," James laughed with her.

"Why?" Lily finally started to get a hold of her laughter and was trying to move their kissing a little further forward.

"Mum and Dad should be here any minute. Dad's parents took him and mum out to dinner when he asked her to marry him. I told them we could do dinner, but that I wasn't asking you at a restaurant."

"Oh! I saw them on my way over!" Lily laughed. "Well, I guess we can keep this going when we get back."

James hummed as he kissed her again, "And we can talk about what we're going to do with this darn temp job."

Lily's phone buzzed in her back pocket and she jumped when James reached into her pocket and pulled it free to hand to her.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about it," Lily grinned down at her phone as she looked at the screen.

"Yeah?" James looked down at her phone.

"I got the position!" Lily laughed. "I'm engaged and I got my dream job on the same day!"

"Well," James kissed her, "While we're discussing good news, I have one more thing to add."

"What?"

"Dad and Sirius and I have been working on a surprise for you; we've managed to get Riddle and his cronies into a world of trouble that I don't think they'll be getting out of anytime soon." James' grin was wicked.

Lily narrowed her gaze, "There was no rouge temp, was there?"

"Sirius and I were the rogue temps, we bailed at work and went to make sure our plan went exactly as we wanted it. I doubt that your old place of employment will still have a license to practice business for much longer."

"I love you," Lily linked her arms around his neck and kissed him.

James pulled back to look down at her, one of his hands coming up to trace along her cheek before tangling in her hair.

"I love you too," and he kissed her.

#Surreptious #jilytober #jilytober 2020 #jily #jily fanfiction #jily fanfic #james x lily #james potter x lily evans #james potter #lily evans #muggle au #modern muggle au #jily muggle au #workplace romance #coworkers romance #fluff #romance #from a prompt

[tumbledfreckles]

Decisions

After yesterday’s massive effort, I bring you something short and sweet and oh so domestically Jily for V’s day 11 prompt. If you haven’t had this conversation in your house, can I come live with you?

My Day 10 Prompt It Matters which is an extremely angsty piece that has caused sobbing and speechlessness didn’t make it into the tags, so if you wanted to read the follow up to the Day 3 initial break up scene I’ve linked it for you. 

You can read Day 11 here or on AO3

“It’s your turn.”

“Not it’s not.”

“It is your turn.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I picked last time.”

“I picked last time.”

“No, you didn’t. I did. It’s your turn.”

“Well what do you feel like?”

“That’s cheating!”

“No, it’s not, it’s being considerate.”

“It’s also cheating. If I knew what I felt like we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“You’re fussier than I am.”

“No, I’m not. Honestly, just pick whatever you feel like and I’ll eat it.”

“If I order it, will you at least go out and get it?”

“…”

“Really?”

“I’m already in my pajamas! I haven’t got a bra on!”

“We’ll probably get a discount.”

“I’m not going. Just pick something that can get delivered.”

“Well that narrows down the options.”

“See, I’m helping.”

“Delivery, delivery. Okay, how about…”

“Something healthy.”

“It’s delivery food. Healthy isn’t the objective.”

“No, I already ate so much junk this weekend. Something with veges in it.”

“Do you just want to pick?”

“No, it’s your turn to pick.”

“It kind of sounds like you want to pick.”

“Jaaaames, I don’t want to pick.”

“Alright, well, what about pizza?”

“No, not pizza.”

“Why?”

“Too unhealthy.”

“Lil, you said I could pick.”

“Just not pizza. Please.”

“Don’t bat your eyelashes at me woman. Alright what about Indian?”

“No.”

“You love a curry!”

“I had one on Friday.”

“When?!! I cooked on Friday.”

“Settle Petal. I had lunch with Marlene. She wanted a curry.”

“Oh.”

“What, did you think I was sneaking out to get midnight curries without you.”

“…No.”

“Just because Sirius used to do that. Honestly, we’re not all heathens.”

“Fine.”

“So, what are you picking?”

“You mean, what are you going to let me pick?”

“Don’t grumble, just because your hungry doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.”

“If you would just pick something, then I wouldn’t be bloody hungry.”

“It’s your turn.”

“Thai?”

“Hmmm.”

“Chinese?”

“Ummmm.”

“Kebabs?”

“Uhhhhh.”

“McDonalds?”

“James.”

“Lily.”

“Look I’m not even that hungry. Just get what you want and I’ll sort myself out.”

“No, we have to eat together. It’s what married couples do.”

“Not when one is starving and one isn’t hungry they don’t. Honestly, I’m fine.”

“Okay… Alright, I’m going to have Japanese. Do you want some?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

“Alright…”

 “Do they have sushi?”

“What?”

“Sushi? Do they have it?”

“I’ve just pressed order! Couldn’t you have spoken up sooner?”

“I didn’t think of it!”

“Do you want sushi? I can put in another order. They’ll probably give them to the same driver and come together anyway.”

“No, no, that’s okay. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“… no?”

“You want sushi now don’t you?”

“Will you hate me if I say yes?”

“No.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“I kind of want sushi.”

James threw his phone down on the coffee table and launched himself across the couch at his wife. Lily shrieked with laughter, dropping her on phone down to catch his head in her hands as he nuzzled into her neck.

“I’m sorry,” she giggled.

“You will be,” he growled as he nipped at her neck.

“I hate to interrupt you,” Lily gasped as James found her pulse point. “But shouldn’t we order the sushi first?”

James pulled back to look at her, grinning like a Cheshire cat, “I already ordered you some.”

“And that’s why you’re my husband,” Lily sighed happily as she pulled him down to press her lips to his.

#jilytober #jily fanfic #jilytober 2020 #jily fanfiction #jily fic #jily fluff #prompts #dinner decisions are the worst #this conversation happens routinely in my house #domestic jily

[mppmaraudergirl]

Hi!

I was wondering if you had any advice for fanfiction authors who want to get their works out to a larger audience. I currently have some stuff written but it isn't really taking hold on Tumblr or AO3...

I guess what I'm asking is if you have any advice on getting stuff out to a larger audience; maybe you could share your own personal journey through gaining a decent fanbase, etc.

Hi there!

I'm not certain I'm qualified to give the best advice here but I will walk through my fandom experience and hope it helps! I know it's going to be long so I'll put it under a read more.

I wrote my first fic in 2003 as a young teenager and have hopped in and out of the fandom ever since. Notably returning in 2015 then 2018 then back in 2020 to cope with life in the pandemic. If you would have told me in 2015 that I'd one day have a fic that got over 1000 kudos I would've laughed, thinking that type of response was never going to happen. And to be honest, I think luck definitely has a part to play in those things happening so don't discount that either.

But one of the things that is different now compared to any of my past forays writing/posting fic in the fandom is that I have been extremely active in the fandom in the following ways:

Joining the Jily discord—I've made some great fandom friends, and some I consider friends beyond the fandom now; I've chatted with people about random silly questions (like, between James and Lily who ignores the expiration date on food and who is a stickler for it; and, what do James and Lily use as bookmarks for their textbooks); beta read and had people beta read for me; taken prompts, submitted prompts, talked about some completely ridiculous prompts (@mabeltothknows and her Lollipop lady murder mystery fic). It is also a place where anyone can post fic recs (their own or those they've read and adored). The discord is 18+.

Joining Jily challenge/writer fests—Similar to the discord, joining these types of fests have gotten me to meet and chat with more people in the fandom. I've done Christmas exchanges, jilytober fest games, jily challenge monthly fic themes, and even joined in with a few others to make Shirtless JP May a thing in 2021. Those who put effort into running these fests (Clo, @siriuslychessi, @joyseuphoria, @theresthesnitch, @clare-with-no-i to name a few) are not only encouraging but also connect people with each other and boost the content out.

Engaging with people on Tumblr—I know this can be a daunting thought, to have an active blog, to send asks and messages with a name instead of on anon, but that's really a great way to get to know people in the fandom. And I acknowledge that may sound like you have to be "in" to get your fics read, but from my perspective, most people want to find new stories to read and don't purposefully ignore newer writers. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I know for me, I struggle to keep up with the amazing writers in the jily fandom with all of my real life obligations and the free time I try to spend writing. That means I don't spend a ton of time hunting for new fics to read. It does not mean I don't want to find new fics to read.

Anyway, I think this comes down to the fact that fandom is a community and the more I've engaged and made friends, the more people have engaged with me.

If you want to reach out to me directly via messaging or another non-anon message to share your work or talk about anything in more detail please feel free to! :)

#mpp talks fandom #mpp rambles as usual #idk man

[littlejeanniebean]

Jilytober 2020 | Chapter 1: Stuck in a Broom Cupboard

They heard two sets of footsteps retreating and then let themselves out of the cupboard.

“What were you doing in there anyway?” Lily’s curiosity got the better of her as she tiptoed down the corridor after her ex-best-friend.

“Hiding from Filch.”

“Typical.” She rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you want to know why?”

“I have a feeling the less I know, the better.”

The Slytherins disappeared behind the portrait to their common room.

“Too bad,” James sighed dramatically. “It would’ve really helped us now.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “What would?”

He grinned. “I just need a diversion. You’re a straight-O, trustworthy student —”

“No.” She frowned deeply. “Leave me out of this. Whatever it is. I bet you don’t even want to help me at all! You’re just an arrogant, selfish pig —”

“Hey! I’m not the one who just betrayed you for some vague shot at ‘greatness!’”

Lily huffed and stormed away. She had Potions in fifteen minutes. Then she remembered James was in that class too.

He slid into the bench beside her. “I’ll meet you in the cupboard same time tomorrow. Maybe we’ll catch another rendezvous. And I’ll help you get to the bottom of this. If he really is your friend and this is all some kind of misunderstanding, I’ll be happy for you both, I solemnly swear. I don’t know when we started getting off on the wrong foot, Evans, but I want you to feel like you belong in your own house too.”

Before she could answer him, her usual Potions partner, Mary MacDonald arrived. “Oi, you’re in my seat, Potter.”

“Tomorrow.” James left to join his disaster of a friend, Sirius Black on their bench, where they were bound to blow something up.

Read on Ao3 :) | Masterlist

A/N: Thank you for the prompts @magic-girl-in-a-muggle-world​!!! And @midnightelite​ for the encouragement xx

#jilytober #hogwarts #jily fanfiction #marauders fanfiction #jeannie bean writes #james potter #lily evans #severus snape #lucius malfoy #sirius black #mary macdonald #marlene mckinnon #dorcas meadowes #horace slughorn #albus dumbledore #tom riddle #potions

[ao3feed-jily]

cause you have a bad day, you’re taking one down..

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3Fb1a4t

by looneybabe

Jilytober 2021 prompt #16 fill.

A short oneshot set in sixth year, when Lily has a horrible, no good day, and James does his best to cheer her up.

First in a series of prompts I want to complete this month for @jilytoberfest

Words: 2020, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Jilytober 2021 Fics

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Lily Evans Potter, James Potter, Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald, Sirius Black

Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter

Additional Tags: Jilytober 2021, Minor Character Death, Pre-Relationship, sixth year jily, Prompt Fill, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Petunia is a bitch and that’s the tea

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3Fb1a4t

#ao3feed #fanfic #Harry Potter #Jily #James Potter #Lily Evans #Lily Potter #Lily Evans Potter

[siriusly-fuck-off]

should i make a jilytober 2020 prompts list?? i could?? i have some ideas??

[thejilyship]

1. Canon Jily Becoming Friends

I meant to post this yesterday, but it was day three or four of a migraine and I was not able to do that. But here it is! 

This fic is like a broom cupboard fic, but if the castle itself was Sirius or whoever normally locks jily in a broom cupboard. 

WC: 2.5k

“This is your fault,” Lily said, holding her Charms book against her chest as she marched down the corridor, anxious over the fact that she was going to arrive at her class late. She hated being late, it made the back of her neck feel prickly, even if Flitwick had never given her a hard time for anything over the course of her Hogwarts career. She was Head Girl now, and she’d never been late to Charms and so she felt even more anxious than that time she had walked in late to Potions. 

“Of course it is,” James muttered, though despite his languid tone, he was keeping pace with her, and to his credit, he didn’t seem too thrilled about the fact that they were going to be late either. Flitwick wouldn’t shout at them or deduct points in front of the entire class, but he would look at them like he was disappointed, and that was somehow worse. James didn’t do well with people he respected being disappointed in him. 

This extended to Lily. 

“Do you believe that this is somehow, not your fault?” Lily asked, pushing open a large oak door befitting the old castle. She used too much force and it clanged loudly against the stone wall behind it. 

The door slammed shut behind them and Lily turned her head to glare at James, because honestly, that was childish. (Even though she’d slammed it open. Frustration might just be the least rational of all emotions.)

He glared right back, assuming her glare was still about what had happened in the student office. 

It mostly was, but it also wasn’t. 

It wasn’t really about the door either. 

They reached another door in the corridor and Lily hesitated for a moment before opening it, because she couldn’t remember it being there the last time she went down the hall. Perhaps it wasn’t, the castle changed as it wished after all. 

She opened it and less than ten paces from where they were, was another door. The same type. Large, thick, oak and old. Lily tilted her head to the side and looked over at James. “Did I take a wrong turn?” Lily used to have stress dreams about getting lost in the castle on exam days. Today was not an exam day, but being lost with James might be worse. 

Perhaps. 

Probably not. 

“What?” He snapped, too lost in thought to be paying attention to the odd placement of doors. 

“I asked you if I took a wrong turn,” She repeated, turning to face him, a hand on her hip, still hugging her book to her chest. “There are too many doors in this hallway for it to be the right way to Charms.” 

“I don’t even understand why you’re so upset about being late. We’re the Head Students-”

“You’re not listening to me!” Lily threw up her hand, “Like always. Where are we?”

James was about to make a snide remark, but then he looked around, saw the two identical doors so closely placed together and tilted his head to the side. “Well this is strange.” He walked over to the door that they’d walked through and pulled it open. Or, at least he tried to pull it open, but it didn’t budge. 

Lily reached out and tried the other door again, but it decided not to budge either. 

“Are you doing this?” Lily asked, though even as she said it, she didn’t think that he was doing anything to the doors. 

“How would I be manipulating the castle? I mean, I’m thrilled that you think I’m capa-”

“James, what is going on?” 

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, “I mean, I know that sometimes the doors get funny and lead you to the wrong corridor or something, but I’ve never heard of something like this happening. We’re locked in here.” He looked back and forth between the two doors. “Is the room getting smaller?” 

“What?” Lily started panicking, but then she looked around and shook her head. “No, the room is not shrinking, stop trying to scare me.”

“I’m not trying to scare you, Evans, it is an actual concern I am having.” He had his hand over his heart now and he was taking deep breaths, looking very much like he was concerned about it. 

“Try your door again.” Lily said, reaching out to the door nearest her again. But nothing happened. Not even when she pulled out her wand and tried a few spells that were meant to open doors. When she looked back at James, he shook his head.

“I guess we just have to wait until the door decides to let us out. You shouldn’t have slammed it against the wall like you did.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and then leaned against the wall, sliding down until he was seated on the floor.

“Me? You slammed it too!”

“I did not! You slammed it against the wall and then I jumped in after you, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the face as it bounced off the wall and slammed shut. I didn’t know you had such impressive upper body strength.” 

Lily flushed, as she hadn’t meant to slam the door that hard and maybe for another reason. “Do you really think the door is upset with me” She asked, chewing on the inside of her cheek and glancing over at the door. 

James was quiet for a moment and then he started laughing. 

“What?” 

“Are you really concerned that you’ve upset a door?” He asked, his voice still full of mirth. 

“Of course I am, since that door has the ability to trap us in this room forever.” Lily huffed and then slid down the wall opposite of James so that they were sitting across from one another on the flagstone floor. 

“You might have a point, but still, it’s a door. You seem to love it when I’m upset with you, but if a door is upset…” He trailed off, shaking his head. 

“Are you upset with me?” Lily asked, that not sitting right with her. 

“Don’t you want me to be?” James asked, quirking a brow at her. “You’re always shouting at me and blaming me for things I didn’t do and trying to make me feel bad about making you late to class even when it was an accident.” 

There was hyperbole there, and Lily could hear it, but she could also hear the truth in his words. “I honestly just assumed you liked getting under my skin. It didn’t dawn on me that I might have been being a bit… dramatic about the whole thing.”

“Evans, I’m constantly doing whatever I can to make sure that I don’t upset you. I know it’s hard to tell, since you’re always looking for a reason to be upset with me, but still, I do try.” 

“I am not-” She could feel herself getting upset again and she took a deep breath. She looked at him, watching him run a hand through his hair and glance over at her. “You definitely said that to get a rise out of me.” She said, but she said it calmly. 

“No, I said it because it’s true.” He countered. 

“It is not true. I am not always looking for a reason to be upset with you.” He just offered up so many reasons for her to be upset with him that she was often upset with him. But it was his own doing, not hers. 

“Alright,” He sighed. “So in your mind, you think that I go around, thinking of nothing other than ways I can ‘get under your skin.’ That’s how I spend all my free time? When Sirius tosses me a note and it goes too far and hits you in the back of the head, I somehow orchestrated it? When I’m using a book that you were planning on using in the library, you think I somehow read your mind and knew what book you wanted?” 

It all sounded a little ridiculous when he put it like that. But in the moment, it had certainly seemed like he had been trying to bother her. “I didn’t know that Sirius had thrown that note.” 

“Course you didn’t. You didn’t want to listen to me.” 

“Well,” She shrugged her shoulders and huffed. “I mean, you can’t really blame me, can you? You used to go around doing things just to bother me. You might have sto-”

“No I didn’t.” He sighed and leaned his head against the wall. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little snitch that he always seemed to have on him, even though he was a chaser. “I know that I’ve pulled some stupid stunts in the past that have, rightfully, angered you, but I never went into any situation hoping that you would walk away pissed.” 

That just sounded completely false. “Really? No situation?” 

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Alright, that’s not fair. There was a few months last year, after we came back from Summer Hols, but only because you were refusing to speak to me otherwise.” 

“Of course I didn’t want to talk to you! I was angry with you!” 

“Yeah,” He nodded, his hand raked through his hair again. “Rightfully so.” 

“Gee, thanks for that.” She rolled her eyes, but for the first time since the incident down by the lake, she could see that he was remorseful about what had happened. That was more than she could say for Severus. He had said that he was sorry, over and over and over, but he wasn't. Not truely. If he was truly sorry, then he wouldn’t still be hanging out with people like Burke and Mulciber, people who were going to be death eaters once they graduated, people who believed that Lily being in school was an offence to them and their pure blood families. 

“I know that was a long time ago,” She said quietly, tucking her hair back behind her ear and then crossing her arms over her chest. “And I don’t mean to get so upset with you all the time. I guess it’s just easier.”

James narrowed his eyes. “Easier than what? Not being upset with me all the time?” 

Lily gave him a small grin and shook her head. “Maybe. Blaming you for a lot of stuff that’s happened these last couple of years though, it’s easier than actually dealing with it.” 

James dropped his head so his chin was touching his chest. “Evans, that’s not fair.”

“Well I thought you deserved it. Most of last year, I thought it was your fault.” 

“Are you talking about Snape?” He asked, looking up at her. 

“Yeah, but not just him saying that word. I tried to blame you for why he would even think to use that word in the first place. I didn’t want it to be his fault I guess, and you were always finding a reason to mess with him.” James opened his mouth and Lily cut him off. “I know that he was doing the same thing.” 

James was quiet. “I’m sorry.” 

“No, stop.” Lily shook her head. “I’m sorry that I’ve spent all morning shouting at you. And that I’ve gotten us trapped in this room. And that I’ve been holding a grudge for too long.” 

“Well, thank you, but I’m sorry too.” James crossed his legs, one of his knees bouncing. “I know that everyone always gave you slack for being friends with him in the first place, but it’s hard to watch someone that you know turn themselves into something you don’t recognize.” 

Lily tilted her head to the side. He was right. None of her friends had understood why she’d hung out with Severus, even before he’d started down the wrong path- or maybe he’d always been on the wrong path. She’d spent a lot of time thinking she could pull him back in the right direction just by showing him the Muggleborns could be the opposite of what his other friends were telling him. She might have worked harder in potions to get competing grades with him, she worked hard in all of her classes so she would have top marks, so that no one could point at her and say, ‘see, it’s because she’s a muggleborn, they’re just not as good at magic.’ 

It was all toxic, it was all heartbreaking. Because she’d asked him before they went to Hogwarts, and he told her that it didn’t matter. He’d lied from the beginning. He made an exception for her, but the moment he got angry with her, he’d used that word. 

“Do you know what that’s like?” She asked quietly. 

James nodded. “I mean, not to the same degree. But I grew up with a lot of these kids. Wilkes and I were friends before his dad threw his support behind a bill that would have limited the number of muggle borns admitted to Hogwarts each year. I mean, we were still friends after that, since we were nine and we didn’t understand at the time. Emma Vanity, Davie Greengrass, we had a lot of lessons together before Hogwarts.” 

Lily raised her brow. Surprised to hear that all these future death eaters had once been innocent children, and that they’d been friends with James. 

She stood up and brushed her skirt off. “Okay, I have an idea.” She said. James was looking up at her from the floor, his brow furrowed. 

“What’s your idea?” Lily held out her hand to help him off the floor, and he took it without hesitating. 

“I think we should start over.” She said, letting go of his hand once he was on his feet. “I can’t promise that I won’t mess up, but I think we should just wipe the slate clean and start over.” 

James’ brows shot up his forehead. “Really?” 

“Yes. I mean, we’ve both made mistakes, but why not? We’re not the same people that we were a couple of years ago, otherwise you wouldn’t be head boy and I- well, I would probably still be head girl, but still.” She shrugged and James laughed. 

“This sounds like a good idea.” He nodded. 

Lily grinned and held out her hand again, this time in mock greeting. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Lily Evans.” 

“James Potter,” His grin grew and he took her hand. She smiled back at him. “You have one of the best smiles I’ve ever seen.” 

Lily felt her cheeks heat up, but her smile didn’t shrink. “Well, thank you!” She dropped her hand and looked back and forth between the two doors. “Do you think we should try them again?” 

“We’re going to be very late,” James nodded, walking toward one door. Lily walked toward the other. 

“Ready?” She asked, looking over her shoulder. 

James nodded. 

Both doors opened. 

#jily #jilytober #jilytober 2020 prompts #I've been working on this fic for a while now #I'm glad I finally get to share it!

[thejilyship]

👻 Vote for my Jilytober Prompts 👻

Alright friends, thank you all for sending in such great prompts! Here is the list! You can just reply with the numbers you’re voting for, or send them to me in an ask! Thank you so much! 

Pre-jily/post Snape’s Worst Memory canon bonding

Hogwarts but make it spooky

James realizing how split Lily’s world is between muggle and magic

Only one lives 

Accidental pregnancy 

Fem!Jily

canonverse!theylive/ HEA

Jily meet when James rescues Lily - alt. timeline canonverse 

James meeting Petunia 

Marauders and co. in a corn maze

Muggle office romance

they were ROOMMATES

Pirates!

#jily #jilytober #jilytober 2020 prompts #don't be too upset with me if you're prompt isn't on the list #some of them I just know that I won't have the inspiration to write #like the snape pov prompt #i know that people like those #I've enjoyed reading a few #but I don't want to write one

[matrixaffiliate]

Unfolding

New Story! FFN and AO3

Lily and James make a life for themselves and their family after the war is won, and Hogwarts is going to end up calling them right back home. A little TheyLiveAU for you to hide from cannon on this Halloween, requested by the wonderful @thisismegz, thank you darling! Jily. TheyLiveAU. One-shot. Fluff. Family. Happy ending.

One last Jilytober story! @thisismegz sent me a Tumblr post that was too cute not to write! You can see @suspiciousnargles original post here. Enjoy a happy they live au where the Potter family gets the happy ending we all wish they did. =)

Unfolding

"This feels weird," Lily looked at James as they unpacked another box.

"Well, it is sort of strange to be in the Potion Master's private stores and not be worried about being caught.

"I can't believe Slughorn's retiring." Lily sighed and put another of her books up on the shelf.

"I can," James gave a short bark of a laugh. "The war took its toll on all of us. His nerves aren't what they used to be. At his age, I wouldn't want to deal with these hellions either after all that."

"Just you wait," Lily grinned over at him, "As soon as the Transfiguration position opens up, I'm putting in your name."

"I'd be a lousy professor, Lils, and McGonagall won't ever retire," James shook his head before snagging Harry around the middle and turning him away from the box of glass vials.

"That's exactly what I said when I told you they'd offered me this position," Lily smirked at him.

"Yes, and the difference is that I'm right," James smirked at her from the box of dried potion ingredients he was unpacking. "Besides, if I taught here too, what would we do with the house?"

"We'd live in it." Lily laughed. "We've talked about this; I'm coming home every night."

"Yes, with a stack of papers that need grading that's so high it won't fit in the chimney when you floo out." James' smirk was wide across his face and his eyes were full of mischief.

Lily turned to Harry, "You see how mean your daddy is to your poor mummy?"

Harry laughed and toddled over to her side, arms high to be picked up. Lily reached down and put him on her hip before kissing his cheek.

"I'm going to miss being home with you all day, though."

"Don't you worry about that," James came over and wrapped her and Harry in his arms. "We'll be underfoot now and again."

Lily found out as the school year progressed that James and her had very different definitions of the term "now and again."

It felt like every spare moment, James and Harry would come tumbling out of the floo in her office and Harry would run on little legs to hop up into her lap.

"Mummy!" Harry came barreling at her, cookie tin in hand. "We bing you cookies!"

"You brought me cookies?"

"Yes! Because it's Haoween! And Haoween needs treats!" He pushed the tin into her stomach as he tried to climb onto her lap.

"And because it's just about time for you to set all this work aside and enjoy yourself." James came and sat on her desk.

Lily looked at the still five-inch-tall stack of papers on her desk.

"Come on, you know you'll finish these up with no problem tomorrow, and I happen to know that you are all set on your lesson plans for the next year."

Lily looked down at sweet Harry in her lap as he tried to open up the cookie tin, and then she looked up at James. "Alright, but tomorrow I have to finish these."

"Bring them with you," James jumped up and pulled Harry from her lap, still trying to get his little fingers to open the cookie tin. "You're not coming back to work until Monday."

"You think so?" She asked, even as she waved the papers into her bag.

James came up and wrapped his free arm firmly around her waist and brought his mouth to whisper in her ear.

"I think I can make it worth your while to let work stay at the office for most of the weekend."

"Daddy, what are you saying to Mummy?" Harry stuck his head between them.

"Don't you worry your little ears over it, mate." James chuckled.

"Let's go, you two crazies," Lily laughed and summoned her bag. "I'm ready for some Halloween treats."

"Cookies!" Harry cheered and hosted the now open run over his head.

It was a few weeks later that Lily sent James a Patronus to come to her office just as soon as he could drop Harry with Sirius and Marlene. He was there within five minutes.

"What's wrong?" James came out of the floo so fast that he had to run to catch himself before falling flat on his face.

Lily bit her lip and tried to keep her nerves at bay.

"James, you remember Halloween?"

James' look of concern morphed into confusion.

"Sure, we had a good time."

"Did you remember to cast the spell, before we...?"

James frowned, "I don't know, but you're on the potion, so I guess I haven't been as concerned about it."

"I apparently have not been remembering to take it like I'm supposed to…" Lily trailed off.

James' face went from confused to a look of pure joy and excitement.

"Lily, Lily are you saying?"

She swallowed hard and nodded.

James cheered as he rushed to take her in his arms and spin her around in circles as he kissed her.

"What are we going to do?" Lily struggled with the emotions warring within her.

"What are you talking about?" James kissed her again. "We're going to have another baby!"

"What about this job?"

"Lils, it's going to be fine. Women have careers and children, isn't that what you tell me a bunch of the fuss I see on the Muggle telly is about? You're going to be fine, and we'll work through whatever you need. I'll even come be your substitute when you need it."

Lily laughed as the excitement finally started to win out over her anxieties.

"We're having another baby!"

"Merlin, Lily! We're having another baby!" James spun her again and kissed her, a much more serious kiss than the sloppy excited one had been when she first told him.

"James…"

"You don't have class for another hour." He murmured against her. "It'll be just like when we were Head Boy and Head Girl."

Lily smirked against him. "I hope not, you're much better at it now than you were then."

James laughed and swept her up in his arms.

"I'll get you for that."

While James had been certain they'd be able to work through it all, Lily found being pregnant and being a professor to be a fair side more frustrating than even she had anticipated. She had a fair amount of potion brewing going on to combat the morning sickness and the drowsiness and the forgetfulness. When the end of the year finally rolled around Lily thought she might faint from the relief.

"I can't believe I still have nearly two more months of this." Lily fell back into a chair as James translocated the things she wanted back home over the summer with her.

"Harry and I will do our best to keep you pampered. Besides, I think it being a girl is draining you more than when you were carrying Harry."

"All I know is that the end of July cannot get here fast enough." Lily smiled as James came over to kiss her.

"Let's get you home. There's a bed with your name on it."

"That sounds heavenly."

The last eight weeks of her pregnancy with Grace were trying, but holding her little girl in her arms was the kind of experience that left Lily speechless and on the verge of tears. The tears came when Marlene brought Harry into the room and he sat next to her on the bed, stroking his baby sister's sparse hair.

The tears came again when it was time to leave Harry and Grace at the start of the next term. Even with having left for a couple of hours here and there for faculty meetings and for the feast the night before, Lily still felt her eyes watering as she said goodbye to go teach the first day of term.

"Lils," James set little Grace down in her bassinet.

"I'm fine," Lily angrily swiped at her eyes. "I'm fine."

James gave her one of his critical stares before nodding. "Alright, we'll see you tonight. Have a good first day of term."

Lily pulled herself erect and fixed a smile on her face. "Thank you, love."

The day wore on and even as Lily lost herself in teaching, her mind kept wandering towards how her baby was doing. She'd been spoiled with Harry, forced to spend every moment with him. Not that she viewed it as some great thing at the time, she was more worried about all of them staying alive than the novelty of being with Harry all day every day. But now she could feel the difference, and while she didn't want to stop teaching, she definitely felt her body reacting to not being with her baby.

She'd just sat down to eat lunch in her office when her fireplace burned green and out toppled Harry, followed more cautiously by James holding baby Grace close to his chest.

"Mummy!" Harry came running up to her lap. "We've brought lunch so you won't be lonely because eating by yourself is lonely. Daddy says so."

Lily nearly cried all over again, but getting to hold Grace in her arms and Harry on her lap while she chatted with James about how her morning had been was exactly what she needed.

"Same time tomorrow then?" James asked as she handed Grace back over.

"Do you have time for that? I know you and Sirius are trying to get all those newfangled inventions off the ground."

James laughed and kissed her. "Sirius is not going to complain about being sent home to Marlene at lunch."

"Fair point."

It was those family lunch dates that really made a name for Lily among the student body. A student came to her office during lunch to ask a question about an assignment to find the Potter's all gathered around Lily's desk.

"Oh, er, sorry Professor, I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"Nonsense," James picked up Grace from Lily's arms. "Come and ask away, Professor Potter always has time to help a student."

Lily smiled warmly at the little first year. "What can I do for you?"

Tentatively they asked their question and after they understood the answer, Harry pulled on their school robe.

"Are you going to eat lunch with us too?"

The student looked up at Lily with wide eyes and Lily laughed.

"You're welcome to a sandwich if you'd like one."

"Here," James pulled out his wand and transfigured a napkin into a chair.

The student gawked, "That was wicked, sir!"

James chuckled and looked at Lily, "Sir, has a nice ring to it, don't you agree?"

From then on Lily found that at least once a week a student would manage to come have lunch with her family. To begin with, it was only first-years who needed that feeling of family being close, but by the time prep for exams was beginning to push hard, older students would come by just to ask for the chance to sit and laugh and play with Harry and Grace.

"Are you coming to the final match, Professor?" Gryffindor's Quidditch captain asked about a week before the match.

"I hadn't thought about it." She snagged Grace around the middle before the little girl could pull James' wand from the table.

"Can we go, Mummy?" Harry jumped up to stand on his chair. Lily and James both went to steady him.

"It could be fun," James smiled at her. "We haven't been to a match since I was the one leading the team."

"You were a Quidditch captain?"

James nodded, "Gryffindor took the cup the year I captained the team."

"Would you look at my plays? I bet between you and me Gryffindor can have the cup in the bag!"

Lily laughed as the mischief bloomed in James' eyes. She turned to Harry as she helped him to sit.

"I think we're going to the Quidditch match."

"Wahoo!" Harry cried out, Grace mimicking her brother's excitement.

Lily had worked very hard not to show any favoritism among the students, especially based on their houses. But James didn't feel that way at all. Lily had decided to go in early and get a few more exams graded before the match and James was going to bring the kids just a few minutes before everything started so they could walk to the pitch. When he stepped from the grate, both kids in his arms, Harry's face was painted red and gold, as was James', and all of them had shirts on with lions' heads in the act of roaring.

"James," Lily groaned.

"It's all in good fun, Lils," James grinned. "Besides, how cute does Harry look in all of Gryffindor's splendor?"

Lily couldn't help but smile as Harry roared.

"I'm a Gryffindor!"

"Did you take a picture?" She laughed.

"Of course," James set Harry down and took his hand. "Come on, mate, let's go watch Gryffindor win!"

Harry roared again in response and tried to walk on all fours out of her office to the pitch. James handed Grace over to Lily and swung Harry up onto his shoulders.

Lily didn't hear the end of it from the Gryffindor students for the rest of the term. No one questioned who the Potter's were siding with. Lily managed to keep her cheering polite and for both teams for most of the match, but she did show her house loyalty rather loudly when Gryffindor won.

Her family became something of a fixture in her teaching after that. James would often bring the kids to just be in the castle and visit McGonagall or show them the grounds and the giant squid. They set up the sleeping quarters so that they could have weekend sleepovers at the castle as a special treat for Harry and Grace. Students who were regulars for lunch would ask how the kids were doing when they came in for class. Harry adored the attention in the halls from students giving him high-fives or hugs. Hogwarts came to know that Professor Potter, Mr. Potter, and their kids were somewhat of a package deal.

Which meant they probably should have seen the next thing coming, but Lily was so content with their life, that she honestly didn't.

They were having lunch around her desk when McGonagall knocked and stepped into the room.

"Minnie!" James smiled. "Pull up a chair and have some lunch with us!"

"Mimi!" Grace toddled over to her and hugged her legs.

McGonagall smirked at James, "I hope you realize that these sweet babies of yours are the only reason I don't turn you into a frog for calling me that."

"Why would you turn Daddy into a frog, Minnie?" Harry frowned and looked up from his soup.

"Oh, I won't turn your daddy into a frog, my dear. I need him to do something important." McGonagall sat down and pulled Grace into her lap.

"And what's that, dearest Minnie?" James gave her one of his winning smiles and Lily laughed at all the memories it pulled forward.

"Replace me."

James nearly choked on the butter of bread he'd just taken.

"Replace you?" Lily stared. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"Dumbledore has decided to retire and go traveling, see the world, that sort of thing. And the governors have named me the new Headmistress. Therefore, I get to select the new transfiguration professor. My choice is James."

The Potter's sat speechless and wide-eyed for several seconds before McGonagall looked down at Grace and chuckled.

"I think I may have broken them."

Grace giggled and snuggled close into McGonagall's chest. That was about when Lily regained control of her brain.

"Would you mind giving us some time to discuss this, Headmistress? I'm sure you understand it's a lot for us to work out."

"Of course," McGonagall kissed the top of Grace's head before handing her over to Lily. "I'll need a response in two weeks though. I'd like for the new teacher to be introduced at the end of year feast and if you decide this isn't right for your family, I'll want the extra time to find the next best thing."

"Yes, we'll not keep waiting any longer than necessary." Lily smiled as James nodded absently. McGonagall smiled at them and slipped back into the classroom and out to the corridor.

"Well?" Lily looked at James.

"Lily," James' hand shot to his hair. "How would we handle the kids? And my work with Sirius?"

"You can tell her it won't work." Lily gently pulled his hand from his hair. "You don't have to do this."

James was silent for a long moment.

"But what if I want to?"

"Then we make it work." Lily squeezed his hand. "We can figure it out."

James sighed and looked up at the clock on her wall. "You have a class in five minutes. Let me talk this through with Sirius and then we can talk it out tonight."

Lily leant in and kissed him.

"Don't worry, there are no wrong decisions here. It's just what we think is best for you and our family."

They didn't get it figured out that night, or the next, but after a week of hashing through it all and determining the best options for all the scenarios, the little Potter family met McGonagall in her office, and James gave no warm-up to their conversation.

"So, when do I get to take over?"

McGonagall almost cried out in excitement before jumping up from her chair to embrace them.

It wasn't easy, change rarely is, but their little family adapted to their new life. Old friends from the Order pitched in to help with the kids. Molly Weasley really loved having Harry and Grace around to play with her youngest two. And the Professors Potter became a new sort of institution at the castle. If you couldn't track down the Potions Master you checked the Transfiguration classroom. And if you couldn't find the Transfiguration Professor, he was likely to be in the dungeons. They only showed their colors while cheering Gryffindor's Quidditch team, but even James couldn't stop himself from pulling the Slytherin captain aside after a poor match and explaining where their team could improve and how to train for it. Hogwarts and the Potter's were something of a package deal.

And when Harry and Grace were old enough to come to Hogwarts, it already felt like home, because in a very real sense, it was.

#jily #theyliveau #happy ending #jily fanfiction #jily fanfic #jily parenting #jilytober #jilytober 2020 #james x lily #james potter x lily evans #james potter #lily evans #fluff #romance #family #from a prompt #little harry #harry potter fanfiction

[tumbledfreckles]

Round and Round and Round

Jilytober Day 21: They do rounds together

Read it on AO3 with all the other prompts, or below

"You're quiet tonight." James glanced over at Lily, before returning his gaze to his feet, "Yeah, uh, sorry." "Not what I meant," Lily shook her head. "You don't have to be sorry. It's more," she hesitated, bit her lip, "Is everything okay?" "Fine, yeah, of course," James shrugged, but he frowned. "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want," Lily said gently. "But it's okay if it's not fine, and you do want to talk." "Oh, right, yeah, um, thanks, Evans," James made an attempt to smile at her, but it was like someone had forgotten to turn on the light behind his eyes. "Of course, Potter," Lily's brow furrowed but she didn't press further. They walked on, down empty, dark corridors and dusty, deserted stairs. Lily watched James out of the corner of her eye, but he never really looked up. She started to mentally revise their Transfiguration lesson that day, twirling her wand and mouthing the words of the new spells. "It's twist and pull," James muttered all of a sudden. Lily almost dropped her wand, she was so startled. "I'm sorry?" "It's twist and pull," he said again, looking at her wand. His eyes moved to her face when Lily didn't respond. "You were doing the enlargement spell from today, yeah?" Lily nodded, "Yeah." "Well, the wand movements a twist and pull. Not spiral and pull." "That's the same thing," Lily protested. She looked down at her wand again, completing the movement she'd practised in the lesson. "No, it's not," James shook his head. "Here, let me," he reached out to her wand hand, but paused halfway, looking up again, "You mind?" Lily shrugged, moving her arm closer to him. "By all means." He clasped his hand over hers, electric shocking her, "Sorry," he murmured. "But you need a smaller twist. The smaller the twist, the bigger the effect." He moved their hands, turning the wand in its place. "Of course it is," Lily replied dryly. "Because that's logical." James cracked a smile then, his first of the patrol, "Charm are logical, Evans. Transfig's all about the flip." "That's why it must suit you so well." "Could say the same about you." Lily took the retort with a smile and practised the movement again, by herself this time. James nodded approvingly. "Thanks, Potter." "No worries." They walked for a bit longer, and Lily was glad to note that while James was still uncharacteristically quiet, he no longer looked like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. Eventually he spoke, and Lily couldn't have been more surprised. "Do you think I'm a shit Head Boy?" "I'm sorry?" "Do you think I'm a shit Head Boy?" James kicked at the ground as Lily paused them with a hand of James' forearm. "I can't believe you're asking me that. Is that what you've been moping over?" "Can't believe I'd ask because it's so obvious I am?" James guessed glumly. "Can't believe it because it's not true, and I've ever heard you have any self doubt," Lily squeezed his arm to catch his eye. "What's this about?" "Nothing," James tried to shake her off and keep walking. "Forget it." "No, I don't think I will," Lily grabbed his hand this time and pulled until James resigned and turned to her. "Why did you ask me that?" James sighed, looked away, looked at the floor, sighed again, before finally looking at her, "Because people are talking and they're saying I shouldn't be Head Boy. I wasn't a Prefect, I've had a million and one detentions, I pull pranks, I-" "Got O's in all your OWLs, tutored students since fifth year, been Quidditch Captain since sixth. Confident, popular, good in a crisis, a voice people will listen to," Lily raised an eyebrow, "Need I go on." "You forgot handsome," James grinned, though his cheeks were a bit pink. "And concreted." "And a toerag," he nodded. "Not anymore," Lily shook her head. "You're not that boy anymore." James sighed, "So you don't mind it being me?" "Delighted," Lily said firmly. "I've almost whipped you fully into shape-" "Steady on." "- but it wasn't as hard as I expected," she finished with a grin of her own, but it faded changed to a more serious expression. "Seriously, though, I'm glad it's you." James looked down to where she still held his hand, and squeezed. "Thanks. Likewise." Lily smiled and dropped his hand, motioning for them to continue walking. "I mean, just think, Potter. I could have ended up with greasy old Snape instead. At least you shower."

#jilytober #jilytober 2020 #prompt #short and sweet #written on my phone so no formatting sorry #hogwarts rounds #prefect rounds #seventh year #10 days to go!

[tumbledfreckles]

Jilytober Day 16: A Date

Prompt: Lily asks James out.

#jilytober #jilytober 2020 #james potter #lily evans #fluff #hogwarts jily #prompts #over halfway through

[tumbledfreckles]

No more Flirting

Jilytober Day 25 Prompt: 7th Year Lily thinking James is no longer interested in her. Read it AO3 or below

Maybe Rankin

Lily tapped her chin contemplatively over her tea as she watched Thomas Rankin from across the Great Hall. The Hufflepuff was of fair build, blonde, blue-eyed, handsome enough jawline. He played Quidditch, so he’d be fit. He was in most of her NEWT classes, all heavy subjects, so he couldn’t lack for brains. Judging by the way his mates were laughing and falling about themselves, he was humorous too.

Yes, he might do nicely.

Ignoring her friends startled looks and questions, Lily stood from the table and crossed the Great Hall. Smiling widely as Thomas’ friends noticed her beeline towards them, she politely pretended not to see the elbows they gave their mate.

Thomas turned fairly quickly at their prompts, his eyebrows raising when he saw Lily standing in front of him, “Well, this is a bit of an honour. Hullo, Lily.”

“Hi Thomas,” she blushed slightly at his enthusiastic smile and warm welcome. “Mind if I sit?”

He nodded, and obligingly shoved a mate further down the bench to clear a space for her. Lily shot an apologetic look at the boy, who shrugged and grinned. Really no hard feelings amongst this bunch, she thought wryly.

“Don’t let me interrupt the conversation,” she said when she realised they had all fallen silent. “You were all laughing so much I just had to come and find out why.”

“Thomas was telling a story,” one of the boys laughed.  

“No, I really wasn’t,” Thomas glared at him.

“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t about him falling off his broom at Quidditch practise,” another boy muttered, only to be shoved by the first one.

Thomas laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head, “There might have been a bit of an accident last night,” he admitted to Lily with a sheepish smile.

She leaned forward, her hand brushing against his forearm, “Happens to the best of us,” she reassured him coyly, making herself feel a bit sick.

“So, what do we owe this pleasure?” Thomas asked curiously, pushing a glass of pumpkin juice towards her.

Lily took a sip, “Cheers. And nothing owed. Just thought we could catch up outside of classes for once. Complain about Runes where Venter can’t hear us.” 

Thomas laughed, “We’ve been partnered together this term,” he explained to his mates. “Did you get that homework done?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad once you got through the first couple translations. Kind of knew what to expect after that. You?”

“Unfortunately, not. I’ll be scrambling to get it all done tonight, I reckon,” Thomas grimaced.

“I’ll be in the library if you need any help. We could study together,” Lily put up her most charming smile, brushed his arm again, and batted her eyelashes a bit for good measure. In case he didn’t get her drift.

He didn’t, “Oh great, yeah, cheers. Sam and Mike might need a bit of a hand too. If that’s alright?”

Lily’s smile dimmed slightly, but with a bit of work she fought to keep it there, “Yeah, course. More the merrier.” She realised her heart rate hadn’t changed once during the interlude and decided it was time to cut her loses and run. “Well, maybe see you later. Better get back to the girls and ready class.  See you, bye, bye Thomas.”

After smiling around at them all, a hand to Thomas’ shoulder just in case he decided to become less oblivious, she left the group and headed back for the girls.

“What the,”

“Fuck,”

“Was that,”

Lily looked at Dorcas, Mary and Marlene respectively as she sat back down. They were looking at her in varying stages of disbelief and concern. “What?”

“Since when do you flirt with Thomas Rankin?” Mary curled her nose up. “And since when do you flirt so obviously.”

“It was like watching a dog on heat,” Marley agreed, and ignored the scowl Lily gave her. “It was, Merlin, girl. Have some class.”

“You did come on a bit strong,” Dorcas always displayed more tact than the others. She cast her eyes further down the table, “I thought you were interested in someone else though?”

“Don’t think that’s working out,” Lily admitted with a shrug, refusing to follow her gaze. She hadn’t known he was in the Hall when she’d gone over to Thomas but wasn’t sure what she would have done differently if she had.

“You seemed pretty chumming after the match last weekend,” Mary frowned. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Lily said hastily, packing up her things and shoving them into her bag. “I just, I don’t think he’s into me anymore.”

“Lily, I don’t think that’s true.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t think you could be more wrong.”

Where the girls had spoken in coordination early, now they spoke over the top of each other. Lily smiled at them and stood from the table. “It’s fine,” she assured them, trying to sound bright and carefree. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll get over it.”

Another round of protests started but Lily waved them off and turned away. She walked quickly out of the Hall, keep her head down, arms crossed over her chest as she walked past the rest of the table. She had Charms next, and felt relief knowing she could chitchat with Flitwick quite happily for all the time she was early. Now there was a man who would never let her down.

Just as she reached the long corridor that led to the classroom, she was grabbed from behind and pulled behind a tapestry. A hand covered her mouth to stifle her scream. Her captor pulled at her waist and pushed her against the wall in the small, almost pitch-black alcove.

“What the fuck was that, Evans,” the voice whispered harshly in her ear. The hand lifted from her mouth so she could answer, coming to rest on the wall next to her head, caging her in.

Lily simultaneously relaxed and tensed as she recognised the voice. “What was what?”

“Don’t pretend,” James tightened his grip on her waist. “Don’t be cute.”

“I’m not being cute. And I’m not pretending anything,” Lily pushed at James’ chest indignantly, but he didn’t budge. “Oi, let me out.”

“Not until you tell me why I just watched you flirt with some thick Hufflepuff who didn’t even have the brains to know his luck had come in.”

She huffed, “He is not thick.”

“He fell off his broom, Evans! Trying to talk and fly at the same time.”

“Not everyone can be a bloody show off like you.”

“He’s a Quidditch player! He should be able to multi-task at least a little bit.”

“He’s nice,” she protested feebly, not even sure why she was bothering.

“He’s a buffoon,” James squeezed at her waist again. “And you haven’t denied flirting with him.”

“Did you want me to lie?” Lily’s eyes were finally adjusting to the dim light, and she tilted her head up to look at the Head Boy challengingly.  “Because we said we wouldn’t do that.”

“I want an explanation,” James meet her stare head on. “I think I’m owed that, at least.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” she jabbed at his chest with her index finger.

“No? So, it’s normal for you to kiss someone at a party, and then flirt with someone else three days later?” James tilted his head at her challengingly. “That’s appropriate behaviour to you?”

“Is it appropriate behaviour to kiss someone and then ignore them for three days?” Lily glared at him, “Because that’s what you did.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“No, what would you call it then?”

“Trying to make bloody sure that you didn’t just kiss me because you were drunk! Trying to make sure you didn’t freak out after months of playing at this bloody dance with you.”

“I wasn’t drunk,” Lily blinked, leaning back when she realised she’d been leaning forward, into James. “Why did you think I was drunk?”

“You smelt like that punch Sirius spiked,” James shrugged. His hand loosened on her waist. “I only realised later that you’d probably had no idea he’d dumped all that Ogden’s into it.”

Lily shook her head, “I didn’t drink it. Mary spilt her drink on me early on, and I realised what was in it when I saw the empty bottles under the table when I got her a new one. I wasn’t drunk.”

“Oh,” James looked down, into the small, empty space between them. “Good.”

“Worried I was going to say you forced me?”

“Worried you were going to say you regretted it.”

“Well, don’t you? Regret it, I mean,” Lily hastened to continue when James looked at her in confusion. “You’ve ignored me since, so I figured it was a bad kiss and you realised you’ve been wasting all this time chasing after me.”

“Is that what you really think?” James moved somehow closer to her, and his hand slid further up until his hand spanned her ribcage.

“Or that it really was just all a game to you,” Lily kept her chin tucked, gaze fixed on James’ cloak pin. “That you’d caught me and now you were done with me.”

“Is that all you think of me,” his voice was rough again, but the hand that moved from the wall to tilt her chin up was gentle. “You really think that little of me.”

“I didn’t,” she tried to explain, “But when you didn’t say anything, avoided me in the Tower, sat down the other end of the Hall, I didn’t know what else to think.”

“You goose,” he growled. “I was trying to not freak you out. And I didn’t know if you’d told the girls, seeing no one said anything to me, and I didn’t think I could be around you without making it obvious.”

“How would you make it obvious?” Lily’s voice sounded small against his harsher tone.

“Because I didn’t think I could be near you without wanting to do this again,” James didn’t wait for Lily to digest his words before he surged forward, capturing her mouth with his. The kiss was searing, hot and demanding, pulling Lily forward into him, leaving her clutching at his shirt as she tried to keep up. His tongue sought entrance and slid along hers, his hand weaving into her hair to hold the back of her head. He used his grip to change the angle, creating a gorgeous slip and slide of their lips.

Lily’s hands travelled incessantly, across his chest, to his shoulders, to his neck, where her fingernails traced lightly along his hairline. She moaned as his thumb brushed against the underside of her breast. She fought to give as good as she got, pushing up onto her toes to even out the height difference. James took pity, wrapping an arm around her and lifting, pulling her against him and holding her there. Lily took advantaged of this new angle to latch her lips to his neck, sucking at his pulse point until he groaned in much the same tenor as her own response.

Eventually they slowed and pulled back, breathing heavily. James slowly released her, but the slide of Lily’s body against his as her feet hit the floor cause a fresh sheen of sweat to break out and a shudder ran through her body.

“I could never regret that, Lily,” James whispered huskily in her ear before kissing a sensitive spot just underneath it. “And it’s not a game to me.”

“It’s not a game to me, either,” Lily responded hurriedly.  “And I’m sorry, about before. I was embarrassed that you seemed to be over me and guess I wanted a bit of an ego boost.” She winced, “Not that it worked.”

“Tosser,” James kissed her again, a balm to her wounded pride. “If he can’t work out when the most gorgeous girl in school is flirting with him, he doesn’t deserve even a hello from you.”

“My heart wasn’t really in it,” Lily admitted.

“Good,” James half glared down at her, but she couldn’t tell he was trying not to smile at her admission. “No more flirting with anybody, except me. Or you won’t like what happens.”

Lily slid her hands from James’ shoulders to back up around his neck, “If it’s anything like this, I might be tempted.”

James roared and launched at her, stealing a kiss before returning his attention to her neck, nipping and sucking even as he muttered scolds at her. Lily’s giggles turned to a gasp as his hands went to her hip and her breast, taking no mercy as they glided across her body, setting it on fire.

“Alright,” she breathed shakily. “No more flirting. I swear.”

#jilytober #jilytober 2020 #james potter #lily evans #prompts #flirting #denial #ive overloaded on brownie and i have no regrets #except editing #but you guys won't care right? #its good brownie #can share recipe #freckles writes #freckles bakes

[tumbledfreckles]

Day 24 Prompt: One waiting anxiously for the other to come home.

#jilytober #jilytober 2020 #jilytober celebration #marauder era #angst #prompt

[tumbledfreckles]

Day 22: Baby Harry and Jily 

“Alright, Harry,” James lifted his giggling son from the bath, “I know you love bath time but we have to get you fed and put to bed before Mumma gets home and she kills me.”

Harry only gurgled and smiled a large mostly toothless grin back at him as James wrapped him in a towel before hoisting Harry against his shoulder. One plump arm reached out; the tiny hand attached to it grabbing at a clump of James’ hair as they walked down the hallway.

“Hey, hey,” James tried to carefully detangle Harry’s hand from his hair, “That’s only fun when your mum does it mate. It looks like you’re taking after me, so you’ll see what I mean when you get older.”

#jilytober #jilytober 2020 #prompts #baby harry #cuteness overload #james potter #harry potter #fluff and stuff