The corporate world
— Lily? — a weak voice sounded from the other side of the door. It was Peter.
— Hey! — Lily huffed, forcing herself to interact. She opened the door.
The boy was dressed in a black hoodie and sweatpants, dark circles under his eyes from the previous night, his face even paler than usual from all the drinking. Had he thrown up? Lily had no way of knowing.
— Sorry… — Peter scratched his neck. — Didn’t mean to bother you, but I think you should see this…
Lily frowned.
— You still haven’t brought your laptop, right? — Peter tried to clarify.
Lily shook her head and followed him.
For the first time, she stepped into one of the boys’ rooms. Peter’s was an undeniable mess.
He had blackout curtains, making the whole place feel like a cave. Clothes were scattered everywhere: piled up on the floor, stacked on the bed to the point of falling, covering the desk, crammed behind the door.
Peter did have a few decorations. A lava lamp, a framed and signed football jersey, a radio wrapped in black vinyl. Lily thought about how much of a boy he was. Just a regular guy, like so many others.
— Oh—let me move that. — Peter mumbled awkwardly, noticing his desk chair was buried under empty energy drink cans and a raincoat.
Lily sat down, and Peter, moving quickly, clicked on a minimized tab.
Her eyes flinched at the brightness, but after a few seconds, she managed to read.
James Potter, son of Euphemia Potter, spotted with Sirius Black, heir to the controversial Black family.
The two boys, along with several other young people, were seen at the Cauldron nightclub in West End—the same venue where The X Factor’s rising star Cher Lloyd was also present.
Unusual pairings always seem to emerge. This time, our sources captured James Potter—son of none other than film industry royalty Euphemia Potter—alongside Sirius Black, heir to the notorious and aristocratic Black family, currently represented by Orion Black.
Our journalists ask: why would a liberal family like the Potters associate with figures as conservative as the Blacks?
At first, the connection didn’t make sense. The boys seemed to be out with a large group of friends, including a potential romantic interest for Black—an African-descendant girl, according to witnesses.
However, certain pieces started to fall into place. It turns out that James Potter has just graduated from the Fine Arts - Acting program at USC, the University of Southern California, in the U.S. Additionally, a familiar face was also spotted in the group—Marlene McKinnon, a rising actress best known for her minor role as Mean Teen #2 in Doctor Who. Could this suggest that an acting project is in the works between these young talents?
Imagine that—a Black getting involved in the arts. Now, that would be something.
Lily took a few minutes before saying anything. She kept staring at the screen, reading and re-reading, processing the tone.
It was ironic, obviously. But it was also something else. It had that we’re cooking something up, and you’ll see the full dish soon kind of feel. And that was terrifying.
— So? — Peter asked suddenly. — What do you think? Are we screwed?
— Well, Peter… — Lily sighed, getting up to leave. — You’re really lucky no one was paying attention when you were rambling about Shapeshifters.
It was a joke, but when Lily glanced back, Peter looked a little disappointed.
—
On Sunday night, Slughorn texted, summoning the entire team for a Monday morning meeting.
So, the next day, Lily woke up just after sunrise, threw on a pale yellow shirt, tied her hair up in a ponytail, had a solid breakfast with ridiculously overpriced cereal, and left a note stuck to the wall in the living room:
Went to the office. Meeting about you lot.
Simple, effective, and terrifying.
An hour later, Lily was stepping off her bus and walking toward the deep purple building with the neon MTV logo shining on top. She passed through reception—always crowded with aspiring models and young people begging for a chance to join the network’s newest reality shows.
She walked by Finance, Institutional Relations, and HR before reaching her department’s desk cluster. The backpacks and coffee cups were there, but no one was sitting down. Everyone must have already headed to the meeting room, she thought.
“Finally came to claim your desk.”
A voice sounded behind her.
Sev.
“Hey!” Lily said awkwardly, dropping her bag on the desk—still exactly the way she’d left it. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Sev answered, with no sarcasm in his voice. That was… weird.
Lily didn’t know what to say. The discomfort between them was thick.
“Is everyone in the meeting already?” she smiled, avoiding his eyes.
“We’re waiting on you,” he explained. “Only a weekend with the stars, and you’re already turning into someone important.”
Lily didn’t like the way he said that. It felt like a dig—like Sev had grown a little more bitter overnight.
They walked toward the corridor lined with meeting rooms, and Lily couldn’t help but think about how just a few days ago, she’d stood in this exact spot hearing about her new role. It felt like a lifetime ago—so much had already happened, and it hadn’t even been a week.
The meeting was boring at first. They went through every department agenda—other shows, upcoming events. Lily was dangerously close to nodding off when Slughorn finally raised his voice.
“Now, I think we should address the elephant in the room… LILY! Care to step up?”
Her stomach clenched. Slowly, she stood up—very aware of how tired her face must look—and walked to the front, next to the whiteboard covered in last-minute notes.
“Well…” Lily cleared her throat. “Basically, I’ve been staying at the cast accommodation with the actors from Shapeshifters these last few days.”
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on her. Sev scribbled something in his little notebook, his straight black hair falling into his face.
“At first…” Lily forced herself to skip over her whole disastrous first impression of the group. “I had a conversation with them, and they seemed to understand. The shooting day after I arrived went smoothly—much better than the pilot.”
“Can you tell us a bit about them, Lily?” Slughorn adjusted his half-moon glasses, his expression serious.
Lily took a deep breath and thought, Okay, time to put that PR degree to use.
“In terms of how we can work on their public image, we’re dealing with very different profiles.” She crossed her arms, finding a little confidence in her own voice. “Honestly, James Potter is a goldmine. First, being the son of industry insiders, he naturally draws attention—”
“We did see that in the news,” Sev muttered, just low enough to sound like a passing comment but still too loud not to be heard.
“We’ll get to that later, Snape,” Slughorn cut him off professionally.
“Right…” Lily forced herself to meet Sev’s eyes before looking away. “As I was saying… beyond his family name, James is incredibly charismatic. He’s clearly the leader of the group.”
For a second, Lily felt her face heat up—what the hell was that? She shook it off immediately. Get a grip.
“We could position him as the glue that holds them together—the one who leads interviews too.”
“Do you think he could be the heartthrob of the group?” Dani, the girl who ran MTV’s news portal, asked casually.
“Hmm…” Lily blinked, caught off guard. “I think… yeah. It makes sense.”
“What?” Dani smirked, clocking the way the whole team was eyeing her. “He’s exactly the type of guy girls are into right now.”
“Good thinking, Dani.” Slughorn slapped the table, pleased. “Do you know if he’s dating anyone, Lily?”
“He’s not,” Lily answered quickly, feeling strangely warm under everyone’s gaze. “None of them are.”
“That’s excellent!” Slughorn sighed in relief.
Lily noticed everyone jotting things down in their notebooks.
“Remus, on the other hand, is the most professional. He’s intellectual, which we can use in more serious moments.”
“He seems kind of boring to me…” Dani muttered, twirling a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face.
“He’s not!” Lily blurted out, surprised at how much she cared. She barely knew Remus, but she realized she didn’t like hearing people talk about him that way. “Remus is just a little shy, but he’s incredibly smart and funny. He’ll have his own audience, just like the others.”
Dani shrugged.
Lily hesitated for a moment, debating whether to bring it up. Was it relevant? But not saying anything could end up being worse.
“By the way…” She sat down, suddenly feeling uneasy about asking. Her stomach twisted slightly. “Does anyone here have his medical file?”
“Why?” Slughorn pushed his glasses up onto his head, confused.
“Well, when he was changing on set, I noticed…” She glanced around, feeling awful for even bringing it up. “Remus has a lot of scars on his back. I just wanted to know if it’s something we should be concerned about.”
“Give me a minute, I’ll check the records,” Sev said suddenly.
Lily blinked, surprised by his willingness to help. Sev got up and left, and for a few minutes, the room was silent. Eventually, Dani and Luca, the intern, started discussing the latest Britney Spears news. The rest of the team absentmindedly chewed on their pens or stared at their notebooks, probably too sleepy to start a conversation.
Lily wrung her hands, uncomfortable. The air conditioning suddenly felt way too cold.
Then, without warning, Sev returned, brushing past Lily—his black shirt and pants blending into one dark blur.
“Can I read it out loud?” Sev asked, sitting down with a file in hand. The room perked up, curiosity hanging thick in the air.
Silently, Sev skimmed through the document, his mouth pressed into a tight line, eyes narrowing as he read.
“He has ankylosing spondylitis,” Sev finally said, his tone flat, as if reading a grocery list. “Had surgery last year.”
“Oh my…” Slughorn’s face was a mix of concern and something more unreadable. “Does anyone know what that is?”
"I just looked it up," Dani said, her voice becoming increasingly irritating to Lily. "Apparently, it’s a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects the spine and can lead to the fusion of the vertebrae, resulting in loss of mobility and persistent pain. Wow, that’s heavy."
"But could this interfere with filming?" Luca asked, a bit shaken.
"It could," Dani shrugged. "Don’t they have to film a lot of scenes running and rolling around?"
"He doesn’t seem to have any major issues with that," Lily replied, almost offended. "I saw him running with the other guys around the house. He looked perfectly fine."
"Better look into it..." Dani said, giving Slughorn a challenging look.
"Alright, everyone," Slughorn raised his hands, as if surrendering. "Let’s be careful not to sound prejudiced or anything like that..."
"Yeah," Sev suddenly said. "Let’s not be assholes."
Dani raised an eyebrow, shocked. She looked at Luca, but the guy looked mortified. No one said anything further.
Lily smiled at Sev, who looked at her with some satisfaction. This was the Sev she knew. He didn’t stand for nonsense.
Lily took a deep breath before continuing. She’d already talked about the others, but now came him.
"About Sirius..." She crossed her arms, feeling the weight of the team's attention on her. "He’s the most rebellious of the group. Which, well... could be a problem."
Slughorn sighed as if he already understood. "Could you elaborate, Lily?"
Lily bit her lip, holding back the urge to roll her eyes. "He didn’t exactly follow the rules we set. He tries to avoid them, and when I called him out for a problem on set, he was really rude. He doesn’t want to care about what we say."
Dani smiled to herself, spinning her pen between her fingers. "Okay, but... being rebellious is kind of fashionable right now, isn’t it?"
Slughorn scratched his chin, deep in thought. "You’ve got a point, Dani. But we need to handle this carefully. The audience loves a bad boy, but no one wants to deal with a real scandal." He slammed his hand on the table, as if making a decision. "We need to train him for the media, gradually. Lily, can you start working on this? A few sessions a week should be enough."
Lily opened her mouth but closed it again. What? Train Sirius?
"I..." She tried to think of a good excuse, but nothing came.
Slughorn was already scribbling something down, not leaving room for discussion. "Great, so it’s settled."
Lily slouched in her chair. Great. Exactly what she wanted: to spend even more time with Sirius Black.
Luca, who had been silently taking notes until then, raised his hand.
"And what about his parents?" He tilted his head, curious. "They’re media figures, right? Is there anything we can use as a strategy?"
Before Lily could respond, Slughorn shook his head firmly. "Definitely not." His voice sounded categorical, making everyone turn to look at him. "Sirius’s parents are extremely controversial, deeply involved in politics and scandals. We don’t want any association with that for Shapeshifters."
Lily nodded, thinking about the little she knew of the Black family. "He’s never mentioned his parents. Not once." She straightened in her chair, choosing her words carefully. "The way he avoids the subject... I think his relationship with them isn’t good."
Dani exchanged a meaningful glance with Luca, as if to say interesting. Slughorn just sighed and went back to scribbling notes.
"Better that way," he said, almost irritated. "Let’s keep Sirius as Sirius and forget the rest."
Lily could feel the discomfort in the room.
"Well," she cleared her throat, sitting up straighter in her chair. "About Peter..."
The silence in the room made it clear that no one was particularly interested, but Lily continued anyway. "He’s the one with the least personality in the group. I still don’t know exactly what to do with him."
This time, Dani put her pen down, and Luca just shrugged. Lily sighed.
"Not to mention the party incident," she continued, hoping at least this would grab their attention. "He seemed really excited to tell people he was in the show. That could be a problem for keeping the production confidential."
"Reinforce the confidentiality rules with him," Sev suggested, a bit unsure. "That could be a huge problem, we can’t leak anything."
Lily pursed her lips. The idea seemed obvious, but at least someone had been paying attention.
Dani, on the other hand, had another thought. "We could sell him as the sweet, cute guy."
Lily furrowed her brow. "What?"
Dani gestured, as if it were obvious. "He’s chubby. He’s not going to be a hit with the girls. But we can work with the cute image, you know? Some girls care about personality."
Lily blinked, feeling her indignation rising. "I’m not sure about that..."
Dani shrugged, but before Lily could argue further, Slughorn intervened. "Actually, Dani has a point."
Lily almost choked. "What?"
"It’s a good strategy," Slughorn said thoughtfully. "If he doesn’t have a strong personality, we can create one."
Dani smiled, satisfied, and Lily felt awful.
Sev closed his notebook with a sharp snap. "Honestly, I don’t know why we’re discussing this like this."
Dani twirled the pen between her fingers, curious. "Like what?"
"Like the success of the show depends on how many teenage girls are going to hang posters of these guys in their rooms." Sev leaned back in his chair, bored. "What should matter is the chemistry between them, the quality of the story—"
Slughorn grimaced, adjusting his glasses. "Snape, let’s be real. The audience’s loyalty is what keeps any teen show alive. And loyalty isn’t built just on a good script, it’s built on faces people want to see, on characters that make them feel something."
"Of course, and feeling something is always synonymous with teenage passion," Sev said sarcastically, his patience clearly wearing thin.
Slughorn didn’t bother to respond. He just shrugged, as if he’d won this argument many times before. "It works, Severus. It always has."
"Good for us, then," Sev muttered, going back to his notes.
Lily couldn’t say anything. At this point, all she wanted to do was run out of that room, which felt more and more suffocating.
Damn, sometimes she hated the corporate world.