An Opportunity
“Ms. Evans, Mr. Slughorn will see you now.”
Lily nodded her thanks at the petite, blond secretary as she walked into the office of Horace Slughorn, the editor of the music section of The Quibbler, the USA’s leading entertainment magazine. Lily had joined five years ago, newly out of college, fresh faced and looking to make a difference in the world. She had been convinced that she would become an investigative reporter and break her first big scoop a few weeks into the job, get hired by The Post or any such establishment, and make her millions while changing the world for the better and holding those in power accountable.
How naïve had she been.
Lily had been assigned to the post of junior copywriter in the entertainment division. She had been tempted to quit right there and then, but roommate Mary McDonald had convinced her to stick to it.
“There’s no better job that you could get at your age and with your experience, Lils. With any luck, the magazine bigwigs will recognize your talent within a year at least at give you that promotion that you’ve spent your whole life dreaming of.”
Lily, despite her occasional penchant for daydreaming, was nothing if not rational, and agreed that Mary’s way seemed the most sensible course of action. Unfortunately, the magazine bigwigs had hardly noticed her, and she had struggled to rise to the post of a writer, ultimately taking four years to get there.
It was not like the post of writer was exceptionally fulfilling, either. She had yet to get a big story, worthy of any attention.
Until now. When Horace Slughorn had specifically requested her into his office, for what she could only presume was to offer her first big story.
Lily mustered up all her confidence and walked into the room.
“Lily, darling, good to see you!”
Horace Slughorn was a fat, balding man who wore thick rimmed glasses and had an obnoxious sense of style, and was living proof of the fact that money cannot buy taste.
“Mr. Slughorn, the pleasure is all mine.”
He waved at her to sit down.
“Lily, I’ve been reading your work for the past couple of months, and you’ve been really impressing me. You have managed to put your best in every little, irrelevant story that you’ve been given, and I appreciate that. But I think you’re ready for something bigger.”
Lily leant forward in her chair.
“We’re looking for someone to shadow the Marauders and write a cover story on the making of their new album, and I think you would be perfect for the job. What do you say?”
Lily swallowed nervously. “The Marauders... do you mean the band?”
“Well, of course, my girl, who else would I be talking about? I would strongly suggest you take it, because, if you don’t, I’ll be forced to give it to Ludo. And just between you and me, I can’t stand the bastard and all his prancing. I’d rather give it to someone who deserves the praise.”
“Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Slughorn. It would be an honour to do it. I’ll get started right away.”
Slughorn smiled at her as Lily shakily got up and quicky walked out of the room back to her desk, where she flopped down on her old, creaky chair. She looked down at the copy of The Prophet lying on her desk, a picture of the Marauders beaming up at her with their too- perfect, slightly cocky smiles.
Lily saw no way out of this. There was nothing more important to her than her career, and she had to admit that a lead feature in The Quibbler covering one of the biggest bands in the world as they attempted to hold onto their crown would be an incredible opportunity. And well, James Potter was a prat, but that didn’t mean the others in the band were too. Remus Lupin, for instance, seemed quite nice, and more importantly, appeared to lack the pretentiousness that was a known hallmark of both Potter and Black.
And more importantly, it would be nice to have something to lord over Petunia. Her sister had been rather insufferable lately, following her engagement to a drill salesman named Vernon Dursley. Lily saw nothing interesting in drills and thought her future brother-in-law to be a little repulsive, but she said nothing. The last time someone had joked about Dursley, Petunia had thrown a fit and uninvited them from her wedding. Petunia loved the Marauders, in fact, she used to have a poster of them in her college dorm. The poster was promptly thrown out after she met Vernon, who informed her on their first date that he found their music too loud and uncivilized to listen to, and that he considered someone who was a fan of theirs to not be “wife material”. Lily could not make heads nor tails of this logic and chose to simply avoid spending time alone with the man, partially for her own sanity, and partially because she was afraid that prolonged contact with him would only lead to her emptying her drink on him. As someone who was rather fond of her drink and would prefer to not have to leave her chair to fill up a new glass, she chose to avoid contact with the man altogether.
Lily spun her chair around and looked at the photo again.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so terrible.
And maybe, just maybe, she might even get some answers.
This might work out quite well after all.