It was a strange feeling, watching someone you used to know so well on a screen, so close yet so distant. A strange feeling when the whole world knows their name, but only you know what their favourite colour was when they were eleven.
It was a stranger feeling yet to interview them on national telly.
‘So, Potter, how is your return to Anfield after the world cup?’
-
He saw her hair first, and the memories came rushing back. Did they expect him to get through an entire interview with her without a warning? He didn’t get paid enough for this.
‘Well, it’s only been twenty-four hours, yet I’ve already been thoroughly fed by my mother and managed to find an old friend, so, going pretty well,’ He laughed, watching her face as she murmured something about meaning about the football. She found her next question.
‘Do you plan any transfers in the near future?’
‘Liverpool is my home, and always will be. I don’t plan on changing that.’ And he meant it. He’d lived here since he was born, with the short exception of boarding school in the middle of a field. He didn’t know anywhere the way he knew his city.
He spotted Lily frown and put her next prompt card to the back of the pile, before smiling and asking the one after. ‘Who do you think…’
It continued like that. She asked, He answered. Regular, like all the other interviews they both did. Then he was ushered on so the next player had their interview, a quick glance being the next goodbye. He played horribly in that match; even missed the goal. That’d be in the papers tomorrow: Star Player James Potter Finally Misses. The gossip magazines had a field day, speculating if some model had got his ‘feathers in a ruffle’ or something. He went home to an empty flat and burnt one of them for good measure.
-
Lily Evans sat on the floor, eating out of a tub of ice cream and watching the highlights from the game yesterday. It was weird to see what she was watching in person just hours before on her TV, surreal even. She couldn’t believe she’d managed to land her dream job, straight out of uni, as well: and, during the first match, had seen James again. She wondered if he still wore glasses or just wore contacts all the time, like he did for his games. Heck, he was minted now, he probably had one of those surgery things, where they make you see well again.
She was waiting for Marlene and Remus, as well as his new boyfriend he’d been keeping secret. Apparently they were some singer or something. It was meant to be to celebrate her new job, but she was really just fifth wheeling: Marlene was bringing Dorcas as well. She was still thinking about the interview earlier, and how the prompt cards kept asking the most intrusive questions. Hopefully skipping a few didn’t put her career on the line, she’d only just got going.
There was a loud knock and suddenly her solitude was disrupted and all her alcohol was found.
-
The drunken phone call from Padfoot hadn’t told him much, but apparently he was needed at some bar near his old neighbourhood urgently, and to not be wearing his pyjamas this time. It was probably just Sirius wanting to show him how quickly he could do a half yard for the umpteenth time, but James had to be sure no one had died, for his own piece of mind. The bar was fairly full, but it didn’t take long to spot his roommate, what with his sparkly leather jacket and face full of piercings. Thankfully, he was alive.
‘Oi! Prongsie! Guess who I found,’ Sirius said, nodding his head towards the bar, before turning back to dance with his partner, who James vaguely recognised as a journalist who’d interviewed him before. However, as he turned to where Sirius had nodded to, he found the one he’d remember the most.
-
‘Oi, Evans,’ The familiar voice startled the girl, and she span round to see the very man she had been thinking of earlier, ‘Remember me?’
‘Give me a minute, it’s on the tip of my tongue,’ she replied with a grin, ‘aren’t you that big footballer? Almost won us the world cup and all that?’
‘That would be me. Would you happen to be the infamous Lily Evans, queen of the local swing set?’
‘And that would be me.’ They smiled at each other wondering where to start. How do you catch up on 12 years of your life, from the playground in the park to the bar in which they sat in now? There may have only been a block between them, but they were completely different summers.
‘You ran away, yesterday.’ They said in unison, then both laughed before smiling, ‘Management.’
It was strange, how they knew nothing of the current person standing in front of them, yet also knew some of their smallest traits, and what they were about to say.
‘You never dyed your hair.’
‘I grew fond of it.’
‘I can’t hear you in here, can we go somewhere else?’ James asked, wanting to continue the conversation in a more practical place. Lily frowned.
‘I’m not just going to walk out of here with you, how do I know you won't just murder me and leave me in a ditch?’
‘That would… considerably ruin my public image?’
‘That is not an adequate answer, but I’ll let you off because I have a headache. Only lit streets though, and you should know, if you so much think about leaving me in a ditch, I will make sure you get there first.’
‘Understood and appreciated, ma’am,’ came the reply. Lily smiled.
-
‘How have you managed to just walk straight in here unrecognised, you know, as one of the most famous footballers around?’ Lily asked, watching people glance at the pair without a glimmer of recognition.
‘I think it's the glasses,’ James replied, frowning, ‘No one expects a world-famous footballer to have round wire glasses. It comes in handy sometimes.’
‘I’m glad you still wear those glasses, they always seemed part of you.’
‘I couldn’t bear to be rid of them.’ because they remind me of you.
They walked in comfortable silence before James’ curiosity got the better of him. ‘If we both still live in this neighbourhood, how come we haven't bumped into each for years?’
Lily thought for a second before coming up with an explanation: ‘You were off at boarding schools and jetting off to France or Pakistan in the holidays. I was here until I left for uni in London when you returned for football. We’ve practically been avoiding each other for over a decade.’
‘Well, I found you now.’ They walked in silence for a few moments longer before Lily suddenly stopped.
‘This is me.’ She said, gesturing to the block of flats next to her. James watched as she opened the door and made her way through, before looking back at him. ‘You want to come up?’
-
‘I like your top, it brings out your eyes,’ He said, ‘My favourite colour was always -’
‘Green?’ She asked with a grin, ‘Mine too.’
They sat, feet tangled, FRIENDS playing in the background. They’d been like that for an hour, and were still finding things to talk about. Eventually, they would fall asleep like that, and wake up snuggled together.
-
Three years later, Harry James Potter was born.