Meet the Team
James
When James stepped through the glass doors of the SaveWay+, he already felt at home. He knew it was irrational, as he had only been there once before. But James had a very good feeling about the job.
They had even arrived at the entrance hall on time. James had wisely changed all the clocks in their flat by an hour. That way, he could even get Sirius to be ready on time. Even though it had taken him extra long to do his hair today. James assumed that it might have something to do with a certain member of staff at SaveWay+ that they had met yesterday.
So now Sirius and James were standing in the entrance hall, waiting to be picked up.
Shortly afterwards, a girl with fiery red hair came towards them. She was also wearing the light green SaveWay+ waistcoat and her name tag read ‘Lily’. James decided not to call her by that name until he was sure that her name really was Lily. Perhaps others here shared Remus' habit.
To his relief, the girl introduced herself as Lily and explained that she was going to give them a tour of the shop. James exchanged an excited glance with Sirius before they followed her.
First, she led them to a long row of tills. Lily turned to them with a smile.
‘Here are the tills. Most of the employees here have a permanent position, but it's always possible that you'll have to cover for others. Especially at the checkout, as it's always very busy.’
James nodded politely as Sirius looked round the rest of the shop. There was a girl with curly hair at a till. Lily seemed to have seen her too, because she made her way over to her. As they got closer, the girl began to wave slightly. Lily smiled at her.
‘Hi, Mary.’
The girl, whos name was apparently Mary, looked at Lily with a grin.
‘Hi, gorgeous.’
Lily leant forward and pecked Mary lightly on the lips. James looked in surprise at Sirius, who mirrored his expression. Mary looked at them promptly, as if waiting for them to say something. But James gave her a wide grin and held his hand out to her.
‘Nice to meet you, Mary. I'm James, this is Sirius. We're the new employees.’
Mary and Lily seemed to relax and Mary shook his hand with a beaming smile.
After talking to Mary for a while, Lily decided it was time to continue the tour. She kissed Mary on the cheek before starting to walk deeper into the shop. James and Sirius waved to Mary before following Lily.
She showed them the different aisles, where she immediately warned them about aisle 5. This was the sweets department and something always seemed to go wrong there.
They bumped into Marlene again, who greeted the small group with a grin and assured them, that she has had faith in them from the start.
After they had walked through the corridors, Lily decided to take a short break. She led them to the announcement table, where Remus was already sitting. Lily told them, that Remus usually handled the announcements in the store. James took a quick glance at Sirius and realised with a grin that he was fixing his hair, even though he had already spent half an hour doing it that morning. Remus greeted them with a grin.
‘Hi Lily! I see you're showing the new staff round?’
He winked at Sirius, which made him blush furiously.
Lily smiled and sat down on the table.
‘That's right. We've already been through the tills and the aisles.’
‘Have you warned them about aisle five yet?’
Lily shook her head with a laugh.
‘Of course I have. I didn't just start doing my job yesterday, as you know.’
Remus just shrugged, but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly.
‘And the team? Who have you met yet?’
Lily smiled at James.
‘Mary and Marlene.’
Remus gave James and Sirius a quick, studying look. James tried to look as harmless as possible. After a while, Remus looked questioningly at Lily, who nodded briefly. Remus then began to grin again and turned to Lily.
‘Then I won't keep you any longer. I have to take care of the speakers anyway. Wouldn’t want our customers to miss out on my announcements.“
Lily just rolled her eyes, while Remus shoved her playfully. It was clear, that those two had a very special bond.
Remus grinned at them and gave Lily a two-finger-salute.
„Good luck, you'll need it.’
As their little group made their way to their next stop, Sirius tapped Lily on the shoulder.
‘What did he mean by ‘good luck’? What's next?’
Lily just rolled her eyes and smiled fondly.
‘Don't worry about it. Remus was just referencing some staff members. Those two can be quite annoying, but you'll get used to it.’
Sirius, looking rather relieved, threw James a smirk. They both had a reputation as troublemakers as well. So it couldn't be that bad.
Lily showed them to the storage rooms, where they were introduced to two other workers called Fabian and Gideon. The two were twins and had a good sense of humour, as James and Sirius quickly discovered.
As they left the storage room, another girl with dark skin and beautiful braids ran into them. Lily gave her a smile.
‘Hi, Cas. Have you seen Dora and the boys? I have someone to introduce them to.’
With those words, she gestured to James and Sirius, who smiled shyly.
So far, James liked each of the people Lily had introduced them to. They were all unique and enjoyable in their own way. James couldn't wait to spend every day with this group.
Lily started talking again, which snapped him out of his thoughts.
‘Dorcas, this is James and Sirius. James, Sirius, this is Dorcas.’
Dorcas smiled politely at the two of them, at which her gaze lingered on Sirius.
‘So you're Reg's brother, right? I must say, you two look alike. I've heard a lot about you.’
Sirius threw her a dazzling grin.
‘I do hope Reggie's only said good things about me.’
Dorcas chuckled.
‘Of course he has. Only the very best.’
That made James laugh. To be honest, he didn't have an accurate picture of Regulus in his head.
The last time James had seen him, they had both been small children. Regulus always looked very sickly. He had been a shy boy who hid behind his big brother. James was definitely eager to see Regulus again. He was torn from his thoughts when Dorcas began to speak again.
She turned to Lily with a fond smile.
‘If you're looking for Panda, she's in the break room. And I'm pretty sure the boys are there too.’
Lily thanked Dorcas and then led James and Sirius to the break room. It wasn't particularly large, but it seemed quite cosy.
There were several small tables with chairs in the room and a small kitchen against the wall. There was a snack machine and a small couch with two guys sitting on it. Or to be more precise, one was sitting while the other was lying across the couch with his head in the other's lap. They seemed to be talking about something. The guy lying down had brown, spiky hair with green tips. He had an earring and a tattoo was visible on his neck. The guy in whose lap the other was lying had blond curls decorated with small metal rings. Next to them sat a girl on a chair who seemed to be crocheting something. Or knitting. James could never tell the two apart. She had the same blonde hair as the boy, which she had also decorated with jewellery.
As Lily approached them, they looked up. Lily cast a reproving glance at the two boys.
‘Work hasn't even started yet and you're already hanging around the break room.’
The guy with the green spikes sat up and gave Lily a cheeky grin.
‘Oh come on Evans. Someone has to use our break room. Otherwise it would be all empty and deserted.’
Lily just sighed before turning back to James and Sirius.
‘Sirius, James, this is Pandora, her brother Evan and the troublemaker over here is Barty.’
Sirius looked thoughtfully back and forth between Pandora and Evan.
‘So you're brother and sister?’
‘Twins,’ the two replied at exactly the same time, reinforcing the statement.
Sirius nodded slowly.
‘And what is your job, here at the shop?’
Pandora smiled slightly before answering.
‘I help out wherever help is needed. As for the two of them here, they're actually useless. Everyone knows they're only allowed to work here because they're best friends with Regulus.’
Evan gasped and clutched his heart dramatically, while Barty pretended to faint. James chuckled slightly as Sirius looked at them both scrutinisingly.
‘You're Regulus' best friends?’
The two of them sat up straight again and looked at Sirius curiously. Evan smiled gently.
‘That's how it is. Together through thick and thin.’
Sirius still looked slightly confused, but he nodded slowly. It looked like he was about to say something else, but a voice sounded from behind them.
‘So you really are here. Remus wasn't lying when he said he'd hired you.’
James and Sirius both whirled around. Standing in front of them was Regulus Black.
The first thing James noticed was his eyes. They were grey. Grey like the fog on a cool morning. Regulus' black curls fell neatly, not a strand out of place. Unlike the other employees, Regulus wore a dark green waistcoat. He had his arms crossed and was looking at them with one eyebrow raised. A slight smile played at the corner of his mouth.
Before James could note anything else, Sirius launched himself at his brother and wrapped him in a hug. Regulus seemed momentarily shocked, but shortly after, he hugged his brother back. When Sirius leaned back, he had a huge grin on his face.
‘We got the job, Reggie! We got the job!’
Regulus rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.
‘Believe it or not, Sirius, I already knew that. I am the assistant manager, after all.’
Sirius shoved Regulus playfully.
‘You little shit! You never mentioned that while we were talking! Why didn't you just say that you're practically the boss of everyone?’
Regulus laughed softly and exchanged a look with Barty, who was still sitting on the couch. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders.
‘I wanted to see the look on your face when you found out.’
Sirius just shook his head. James chuckled slightly. Regulus gaze snapped over to him. James was instantly silent. Regulus tilted his head and smiled slightly at James.
‘James Potter,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘Long time no see.’
James realised that this would be the moment when he would have to say something, but he found himself unable to speak. All he could think about were those grey eyes.
James heard Barty and Evan giggling behind him and realised that he had only been staring. He cleared his throat slightly.
‘Erm, yeah. Long time no see. Thanks for letting us work here.’
Sirius gave him a funny look, while Regulus nodded curtly. Finally, he turned his gaze to Lily.
‘Thank you, Lily, for showing them around. Now everyone can get back to their work. We have a store to run here.’
Regulus threw a pointed look at Barty and Evan, who immediately stood up and hurried out of the room, giggling. Regulus looked after them, a slight smile on his lips. Sirius and James also made their way to the aisles, where they had been assigned for the day. James took one last look at Regulus. He was torn from his thoughts when Sirius began to speak.
‘Ready for our first day of work? We're going to rock this!’
James nodded in agreement, a grin on his face.
‘Let’s go.’