The RED Era - 6
PETER: I mean, we were just on cloud fucking nine. The album debuted at #5 on the charts, which is in-fucking-sane for a debut album. It was because of our banger single, obviously.
REGULUS: We chose two singles, which both debuted #13 on the charts, I believe. James and I weren’t allowed to pick on account of we kept arguing about it. We needed a level headed person to pick them.
JAMES: So it was between Remus and Peter, and we couldn’t decide on that, so we chose the next best option.
REGULUS: Euphemia Potter was many things in her life, but she was never a goddamn coddler. She chose “Red” and “Come Back… Be Here”.
SIRIUS: About a month and a half into the album being out, we got a call from Dumbledore asking us if we wanted to go on tour.
PETER: Sirius cried.
REMUS: We were fucking stoked. I mean, who wouldn’t be? We weren’t anything super big then, so we’d only tour in the U.K. Ireland, England, Wales, etc.
JAMES: We got to practicing straight away. We’d be gone all summer, and I was so excited to be gone.
SIRIUS: James was still struggling with Lily. A lot. Especially when the news broke that she was spotted with a group of actors. The two guys from “Bittersweet”, the guy and the two girls from “Buzzkill”, and Mary McDonald. The cast of “Junnipeg”. But we didn’t know that then.
I love Mary.
MARY MCDONALD (Actress): I met Lily Evans some random night in January. I had just booked “Junnipeg” and I was getting to know the main cast. Lawrence Nott, Marlene McKinnon, Alice Fortescue, and Frank Longbottom.
LILY: At the time, I was sleeping with Nott. You’ve all seen pictures of him. He’s fit and at the time, not looking for any sort of commitment, which was great for me. I was at home one day when he called me and asked him to come to the bar he was at so we could go to his place.
When I got there, I saw him with a group of people. There was Frank Longbottom, Alice Fortescue, and Marlene McKinnon from “Bittersweet”, and this girl I had never seen before.
I was floored. She… I was literally staring at a goddess.
MARY: Before I could process how absolutely stunning Lily Evans was in person, the paparazzi showed up and started hounding us. We filed into the bar to avoid them, and Nott had an arm wrapped around her waist. I was so jealous.
LILY: Nott wasn’t even a thought after I saw Mary. I needed to talk to her, to know her.
I was sure she was single. Frank and Alice were together, and Marlene was dating Dorcas Meadowes, the rapper and songwriter. Mary was the only one alone.
And I thought, “I can fix that”.
And dear apologies to my Jamie, but he was long out of my head at that point.
REGULUS: You could tell James was just waiting for Lily to come back. But when those photos surfaced with Nott’s arm around her waist, he was devastated. But I knew him at this point, and I threatened to kick him out of the band if he fell apart again. We needed him. I needed him.
JAMES: [laughs] He said, “We already have a singer and a songwriter so we don’t need to keep you if you start fucking around.”
He was right. I loved Lily. But I also loved music, and that was what was with me. So I turned all my attention to that. After all, we had a tour to go on, and I’d be damned if they went without me.