Chapter 6
Technically speaking there was a no phones at the counter rule at the store but Horace was the only one who ever really enforced it so Lily spent most of her morning shift working alone as Emmeline, who was supposed to be cashiering with her tapped away at her phone and would giggle cutely whenever it pinged with a response.
“You’ve been smiling at your phone all morning. Did you finally find cricket guys' instagram?” Lily asked after a while.
“Huh? Oh, no this is Pandora”
“The one Reg set you up with?”
“Mhmm Lils they’re so fucking cool. They have like a super successful etsy store where she sells homemade earrings and she’s studying theatre production so they have like full sets that they’ve built in her apartment and she makes these gorgeous costumes” Lily smiled. Emmeline got infatuated easily yes but this seemed different it wasn’t just physical attraction bolstered by the character she made up in her head. This was building something real.
“So when’s the wedding?”
“Ok slow down we haven’t even gone on our first date yet.” Emmeline replied with a light laugh.
“Like that’s ever stopped you before. Come on show me the pinterest board I wanna see if you went with fully matching or just coordinated wedding dresses”
Emmeline huffed a sigh. “I need to get new friends who don’t know me so well.”
Lily felt her heart swell at that. Less than a month ago she’d considered Emmeline nothing more than a coworker, a kind coworker she sometimes carpooled with but that was the extent of their relationship. Now though she knew her, and knew her well. It was an unfamiliar feeling. She decided she liked it.
“If you must know” Emmeline continued, trying to sound exasperated but being betrayed by the smile on her lip, “we’re going on our first date tonight.”
“Ooh tonight! What are you two doing?”
“We’re getting gelato and going to her friend's band’s gig” Emmeline said, smiling more fully now.
“Sounds like fun,” Lily replied, grinning back at her friend.
“Yeah but I have no idea what to wear, like do I go casual cause it’s a garage rock gig or do I go fancy picnic attire to fit in with the cute little gelato cafe we’re going to? And do I do rave makeup for the show or no makeup makeup for the date?” Emmelines words were coming faster and faster in a panic.
“Ok calm down how about I come over after our shift ends and me and Cas will help you get ready and not have a meltdown” Lily said still smiling. Emmeline exhaled a soft sigh and nodded.
“Yeah, yeah that would be good. We should invite Mary and Marlene too, make it a girls night” She said getting excited again.
Right at that moment Regulus walked up. “What do I hear about a girls night?” He asked in a high pitched voice that made the girls laugh.
“I was just gonna have the girls and Marlene come over and help me get ready for my date with Pandora.”
“Why am I not invited? I set you two up, it's only fair that I get to be there to get you ready.” Reg said, voice full of indignation.
“Oh I guess I just didn’t think you’d want to sit and gossip with a bunch of girls.” Emmeline said looking a little confused.
“Emmeline darling, I come from money, I love gossip” He deadpanned and the girls laughed.
“Ok well then meet us at the end of our shift and we’ll walk to my and Cas’ apartment together”. Just as Regulus was about to open his mouth to respond static emitted from their walkie-talkies followed by Frank's distorted voice saying “Hey guys I really hate yelling at people so if you could all get back to work before I have to do that that would be great”. The group laughed lightly then dispersed throughout the store.
——
Lily didn’t grow up with a lot of friends, especially not a lot of female friends. There was Hestia the girl she studied with after school in secondary school, and Emma who coached her that one ill fated year she’d tried to be on the volleyball team but those relationships were transaccional. Sure she wished that when she went over to Hestia’s they could gossip and braid each other’s hair but Lily was never good at asking for what she wanted. All this to say she was very nervous as she waited in the parking lot of Fang and Fluffy’s. She knew logically that these people already liked her, that she wouldn’t have to perform for them but it still made her palms sweat thinking about spending her afternoon with people who weren’t Remus.
A hand on her shoulder jolted Lily out of her thoughts and she turned to see Emmeline’s kind smile. “Ready?” she asked softly and calmly. Lily nodded looking behind Emm to see Cas and Reg bickering over what spotify playlist to shuffle.
They rode the train in relative silence with Cas and Reg sharing one pair of earbuds and Emm and Lily sharing another. Lily watched Emmelines fingers drum nervously against her thigh and Lily grabbed her wrist to still her and gave a reassuring smile. Lily understood her anxiety, first dates were always nerve racking and she was happy she could be there to calm her.
They arrived at the flat a few minutes later. Lily had dropped Cas and Emm off at the building before but she’d never actually been inside. It was cozy. She could tell it was their apartment with Dorcas’s queer art prints on the walls and Emmelines romcom posters. It felt like a home.
They stood in a slightly awkward silence as Lily and Regulus took in the place and Emmeline waited with bated breath for their approval (Dorcas could care less, it was her space not there’s). They both smiled and the tension drained from the room. Then a loud ping broke the silence and Dorcas looked down at their phone smiling widely. “Marlene’s on her way” she announced, her voice soft.
“And Mary?” Emmeline asked eyebrows raised.
“Oh yeah she’s coming too” Cas added as an afterthought and Emmeline giggled.
“God Cas I’ve never seen you this smitten and I’ve known you since you could crawl” Emmeline said with laughter in her voice.
“I’m not smitten. Marlene’s just really… cool” the whole group laughed at the denial.
“Hey I get it, Marls was my first crush. Although I realize now it was just gender envy and comphet” Regulus said and they all laughed again. They fell into comfortable conversation about sexual awakenings —Emmeline’s was Meg from Hercules, Lily’s was Jade from Victorious and Regulus’s was Milo from atlantis (a character who very much gave off James Potter energy but Lily decided not to mention that)— and then the buzzer sounded and Dorcas’s face went impossibly soft at the sound of Marlene’s lilting South London accent asking to be let up.
Mary and Marlene entered the room like a hurricane. Mary had brought a large makeup kit and seemingly every item in her wardrobe “Ok I brought all my best date attire including shoes, I don’t know your size Emm but we look about the same so feel free to steal anything you want. You said it was a gig right?” she didn’t pause long enough for Emmeline to answer “So I brought some more grungy dark makeup. I should be able to mix you a foundation shade with everything from my school kit. Phew gotta breathe” Lily couldn’t help but smile, how was she so adorable? “I’m just really excited. I love first dates and it’s been a while since I’ve been on one so I’m gonna go ahead and live vicariously through you Emms.”
“Really? I’d have thought you dated constantly” Emm asked
“Are you calling me a slag Vance?” Mary asked in a playful tone and Emmeline laughed good naturedly.
“No just you’re such an extrovert and you put yourself out there I just assumed anyone you wanted you got.”
Mary blushed slightly “Yeah I don’t know I just haven’t really wanted to do the whole getting to know each other awkward phase it’s so much easier with someone you already know you get along with” she finished and Lily could swear she saw her eyes drift to her but it must’ve been a trick of the light.
——
Of course Mary Macdonald would be great at doing makeup Lily thought to herself. She also thought it was entirely unfair that someone so naturally gorgeous should be so good at making herself even prettier.
Mary was sitting in a chair in front of Emmeline’s vanity mirror holding a black felt tip liner and drawing gorgeously detailed butterfly wings around Emmeline’s closed eyes. She looked adorable, biting her lip slightly as she concentrated.
“How’d you get so good at this?” Lily asked softly, trying not to disrupt the quiet in the room.
Mary smiled. “I’ve always loved makeup. I used to give all the girls in the group home makeovers on their birthdays with those crappy Claire’s kits and then when I moved in with the Potters Effie got me a huge makeup kit that had literally everything not just beauty makeup but liquid latex prosthetics it was insane. We did family costumes every year, still do actually, and I’d do all our makeup. It’s what I’m going to school for actually.”
Lily looked at her, at her precise delicate fingers and her wide focused eyes, and thought it made perfect sense for Mary to have a career like this. It was creative and out of the box but required time and dedication and most of all it was for others not herself.
“Alright Emm, have a look!” Mary said putting down the eyeliner and moving away from the mirror. Emmeline opened her eyes and beamed.
“Oh My God Mary it looks amazing!” she exclaimed and turned around to show Marlene Dorcas and Regulus who all oohed and awed in appreciation.
“You look great Emm, Dora’s gonna piss herself” Reg said with a look that seemed too soft for his usually cold features.
“Awww people call her Dora, that's so cute! Tell me more about her pretty please Reggie I need the inside info!” Emmeline begged with an adorable pout on her lips.
“Well I don’t really know her all that well we just met through class”
“Yeah but you’ve gotta know more than me all I know is she’s an adorable theatre geek who’s obsessed with Shakespeare and early 2000’s pop punk.”
Reg breathed a deep sigh “Alright she’s the youngest of three siblings, has two cats named Mercutio and Tybalt, loves going thrift shopping, and tells horrible that’s what she said jokes. The band you’re going to see tonight is her sister's boyfriends’ band I think, some folk punk indie thing. Oh and she’s been talking about you nonstop since I gave her your number” He finished trying to maintain his detached facade but there was a small gentle smile resting on his lips. Emmeline on the other hand didn’t try to put on a calm exterior at all and let out a loud excited squeal.
the potter fam
emmeline: guys look at the amazing makeup mary did for my date!!!
peter: ahhh emm you look great!! keep us updated!!
About twenty minutes later Emmeline skipped out of the apartment giddy and nervous. The remaining five of them looked around at each other unsure what to do next when Regulus said “So we’re totally crashing this date right?”