Mexican food
Lily walked through the door around two in the afternoon, her backpack stuffed with papers and folders from the PR department, and three bags of Mexican takeout in her hands.
She had to update them on everything the department had decided—everything that had happened because of that damned news story—and what better time than lunch?
She set the bags on the table, dropped her backpack on the couch, and, determined, went to knock on the boys' doors.
From James's room, she could hear something melancholic playing. Sounded like Adele.
She knocked and called out, "Good morning! I brought lunch and production updates!"
Then she knocked on Remus, Sirius, and Peter's doors and shouted, "Come eat! I need to talk to you guys."
Surprisingly, Lily felt a lot more confident after the meeting than she had before. She'd thought everything would fall apart after that article—had even considered she might get fired.
Technically, she'd had Slughorn's approval, but she still couldn't shake the guilt. For trusting that promise made on the very first day.
But honestly? Whatever. No one had judged her or threatened to cancel the show. Everyone seemed more used to this kind of thing than she'd expected. Lily had never been on the strategic side of image management, so maybe she'd been panicking more than necessary.
And maybe being a little too moral about it.
She was worried about the media training she'd have to run with them. It felt difficult—and, in some ways, unfair. She barely knew these boys, and yet she was supposed to shape their public personas.
Peter was the first to leave his room. He was wearing a worn-out black hoodie and sweatshorts, his hair a mess, and there were crumbs on the bottom of his hoodie.
"Morning," Lily greeted him with a small smile, setting the silverware on the table.
"Hey," Peter mumbled sleepily.
Lily wasn't sure what to say. She considered putting on some music with the CD player in the living room, but she had no idea what everyone would like. Instead, she just started unpacking the Mexican food.
Peter made an appreciative noise, and Lily felt a little more at ease.
"Is that the smell of Mexican food?" James called as he walked down the hall, smiling but still looking tired. "Man, I love this stuff."
It seemed like he'd been up for a while. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and had attempted to fix his hair. Attempted being the key word.
"Same," Peter said, turning toward him.
"There was a time at USC when we basically lived off Chipotle," James said as he sat down and rubbed his hands together. "Like, every single day. Don't even get me started on what it did to our bathroom."
Peter snorted and covered his face with his hand.
"Morning!" Remus called from the hallway, Sirius trailing behind him. The first looked fresh and awake, while the other already showed signs of a rough night.
"Hey, what were you doing in Padfoot's room yesterday, Moony?" James asked, his expression slightly sour.
"Mate," Moony sighed but smiled. "Your music was making my brain creak."
"Yeah," Sirius grumbled, pushing his black fringe out of his face. "Were you suffering or something? What the hell made you need Adele that bad?"
"It's Sunday music!" James defended himself, gesturing with his hands. "But that still doesn't explain why you two were hanging out without me and Wormtail!"
He then crossed his arms, staring at the food.
Remus glanced at Sirius and had to hold back a laugh.
"It was nothing, alright?" Remus said as he sat down calmly. "We were just talking, and you two didn't leave your rooms all day anyway!"
"Well, we were hungover!" Peter suddenly blurted out. The boys turned to him, skeptical. He'd said that way too fast, Lily thought.
"Anyway..." Sirius added. "Don't worry. My one-on-one talks with Moony are boring without Prongs' dad jokes and Wormtail's fart humor." He winked at them, and just like that, the mood lightened.
Lily could hardly believe Sirius had any kind of charm, but apparently, he did—at least with the boys.
She cleared her throat, reminding them she was still there.
"Hmm..." She tried to smile, though all the eyes on her made her a little shy. "Hope you guys like Mexican food."
"Yeah, yeah..." James responded, trying to sound polite, but Sirius was staring at the table like there was a dead raccoon in the middle of it. Thankfully, he didn't say anything.
Lily sat at the head of the table. Even if she'd tried to make it casual, it still felt very professional.
"Well, you can start serving yourselves if you want," she said, though she didn't move at first.
James was the first to load up his plate—quesadillas, tacos, nachos, everything—prompting the others to follow suit.
Sirius eyed the food suspiciously, so Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, for god's sake, Padfoot... This one's just cheese, okay? Just tortilla and cheese."
Sirius didn't say anything but let Remus put a quesadilla on his plate. That's when Lily remembered to add, "Oh, this box has the spicy ones!"
"Then that's exactly what I want," James said, eyes lighting up as he eagerly reached for the burritos and nachos, drenched in a red sauce that made Lily's eyes water just thinking about it.
"Maybe take it slow, Prongs..." Remus suggested.
"Nah!" James waved him off dismissively. "I used to eat Mexican food in California. What could be more legit than that?"
"Maybe Mexico, you idiot," Sirius scoffed, making Remus and Peter burst out laughing. Even Lily hid a small smile, looking down at her lap.
James scowled but kept piling food onto his plate. Peter soon joined him, grabbing a few things as well.
Lily stayed far away from that box.
Once everyone was eating and the only sound in the room was the clinking of cutlery, Lily spoke up.
"Did everyone get Amelia's message about the reshoot?"
The boys all nodded. Remus tried not to sound annoyed as he muttered, "Of course they moved it to Thursday... That was the day I had a doctor's appointment."
"You alright, mate?" James asked, mouth full of burrito but gaze a little softer.
"Yeah..." Remus tried to sound casual, but there was a faint sadness to his tone. "Same as always, Prongs."
James just nodded in return, shooting him a knowing look.
Lily found them all surprisingly respectful. No jokes, which was unusual. She knew plenty of guys who didn't have a single filter when it came to teasing, but here, they all seemed to understand that with Remus, some things were off-limits.
"Well..." Lily said after taking a sip of her apple juice. "I think we can talk about last weekend now. And about the meeting I had with the department."
The boys looked at her with expressions that were wary but restrained. Sirius was eyeing her sideways, as if bracing for whatever was coming. Remus was picking at the skin around his fingers, which made Lily a little anxious just watching. Peter kept glancing at the others, searching for some kind of reassurance or a cue on how to react. James was staring at his lap.
"First of all, you don't need to worry," Lily sighed. "Nothing that happened was considered serious, though Slughorn did advise that we shouldn't go out alone to public places anymore."
The boys were now paying closer attention. Remus straightened in his chair.
"Did you guys read the article they published on Heatworld?" Lily asked, though she already knew the answer.
"That thing was completely disrespectful," James pushed his plate aside just to say it. Then silence fell over the table. It was strange seeing James that irritated. "The way they wrote about Sirius... Stereotyping him just because of his family like that..."
Lily glanced at Sirius. His gaze was fixed on the table, completely frozen. He looked furious.
"They made it seem like he and I are political opposites, and—" James kept going, his words speeding up, turning more chaotic with every sentence. "Bloody hell, we're not! They don't even KNOW Sirius!" He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "And the way they talked about Mary..."
"Racist pricks," Remus muttered, rolling his eyes.
"They were racist?" Peter asked, sounding startled.
"They called her the African-descendant girl, Wormtail," Remus tried not to snap, but the irritation was clear in his tone. "It's absolute bullshit."
Peter nodded, but Lily could tell from his expression that he still hadn't fully grasped the weight of it.
"Anyway," James huffed. "I hate when garbage like that gets called journalism. Seriously."
Lily looked around the table, at how visibly upset they all were—even though Sirius still hadn't said a single word. She took a breath and made sure to meet their eyes, so they knew she meant it.
"I can only imagine how awful that was. But that's why our department exists. To look after you, and to make sure you don't have to go through this again, alright?"
Sirius finally lifted his gaze, and for the first time, Lily thought she saw it soften—just a little.
"No one hates those sensationalist vultures more than a PR person," Lily added, still holding his stare.
"HELL, YEAH, PR!" James suddenly shouted, making Lily jump.
She burst out laughing, startled.
Why was he like this? And why did his chaotic energy make her laugh?
James looked at her, eyes widening in excitement, clearly thrilled that he had made Lily laugh.
"Alright, PR!" James grinned. "So, what do we do to screw over those idiots?"
Lily chose to ignore the fact that he was still calling her PR.
"Let's take it one step at a time." She took a deep breath. "First, since the rumors about you, Sirius, and Marlene being seen together started speculation about a new project, we decided to announce the series early. First, the producers and McGonagall will go to the media to share the technical details, and then we'll start rolling out behind-the-scenes content and press junkets."
The boys all exhaled at once. Lily knew how hard it was for a cast to keep quiet about their current work.
"And because of that, we also need to start working on your public images." The boys looked confused. "I'm going to start media training with you guys this week. We'll have individual sessions for a while. That cool with everyone?"
"Do we even have a choice?" Sirius finally spoke up for the first time in minutes. His tone, however, wasn't harsh.
"Not really." Lily shrugged, making it clear that this wasn't her call. "The management already made these decisions, including profiles and everything else..."
"What do you mean, profiles?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
"Kind of like personas." Lily tried to keep her tone light. "The idea is to highlight certain aspects of your personalities that make you—and the show—stand out more..."
"That sounds a bit..." Remus started pulling a face of disapproval, but the moment he looked ahead, his expression vanished. "Prongs, Wormtail, you two alright?"
Lily turned her head, curious—and the sight completely caught her off guard.
Peter, usually pale as a ghost, was now red, his face contorted in sheer discomfort, like he'd just stepped on something sharp. James, on the other hand, was sweating, his eyes watering.
"Go on..." James tried to say, but his voice came out high-pitched and strained. "Keep going, Moony."
Sirius let out a surprised laugh—one Lily had never heard from him before.
"Wait, is this because of the spicy tacos? HOLY SHIT."
The guy looked like he'd just won the lottery.
"What... the hell... I can't—" Remus started laughing, while James and Peter looked increasingly desperate.
Peter tried to chuckle, but all that came out was a strangled noise.
And well, Lily couldn't hold it in. The scene was so ridiculously stupid that every ounce of professionalism left her body in an instant.
She burst into the most genuine laughter, not even bothering to cover her mouth as it escaped uncontrollably. She turned away, trying to pull herself together.
"Oh, lads, this is embarrassing!" Sirius smirked. "Even PR is laughing at you."
Lily was still laughing, but she shot Sirius a sideways glance. And well, the guy was actually smiling at her.
For once, his smile didn't look like it was meant to mock.