╰┈➤✧.* IN WHICH
 Lily Evans is a barista at a coffee shop and The Marauders her most entertaining guests

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

Lily frowned as she cleaned the milkshake and irritating seven year old had spilt on a table. Chelsea just had to take a break today.

quickly making sure the table was sugar free, she hurried back behind the counter and dealt with an old lady struggling to pay by card.

"we accept cash, ma'am"

"oh, dear, i don't have enough!" she said. "must have left it at home, my memory isn't what it used to be.."

no at the edge of her patience, Lily took a deep breath.

"tell you what, today's order is on the house, just for you, enjoy you day"

the old lady instantly brightened up. "well aren't you a dear, i'll pay you back tomorrow darling"

as she heard the chime of the door close, she sank onto the counter.

when she heard the door chime, she put on her 'happy' face. 

four boys entered, making themselves comfortable in one of the booths.

realising that none of them was going to be coming over, she cleared her throat. all four of them looked to her. she pointed at the sign that said "ORDER AT COUNTER" 

suddenly the went into a deep discussion. the handsome one with the long black hair tied back into a bun looked exasperated. the short one seemed to be complaining. the one wearing a sweater with elbow patches seemed to be reasoning with them. the one with the messy raven hair-

this one caught her attention.

he seemed to be gesturing to something. the four of them got into a very heated discussion before finally the long haired one kicked the messy haired one out of the booth.

stumbling slightly, he made his way to the counter.

"what can i get you?" she asked him.

"uh i'll have an iced americano, my friend in the sweater will have an espresso, my other friend, peter, the uh short one wants a chocolate milkshake and the last one would like a 'coffee as dark as his soul'" the messy haired boy chuckled. "i'll leave the that one up to you eh?"

"sure" Lily drawled. "why not. i'll just poison him while i'm at it, shall i? name?"

the boy grinned. "James. James Potter"

ignoring the butterflies in her stomach, she turned away from him. "lovely. i'll get it to your table shortly."

when she had their orders ready, she placed them on a tray and carried them over.

"one iced americano, one esspresso, one chocolate milkshake and one plain milk" she recited as she handed them their drinks.

the long haired one yelped. "why the hell do i have milk?"

"well" said Lily. "your friend did ask for coffee as dark as your soul and left the rest to me. so i did my best"

as she walked back to the counter she could hear the four of them laughing. well three and the long haired one.

as she signed off for the day, something told her she would see them again.

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

the next day, as she was serving the same elderly lady as before, now with her granddaughter, the chime of the bell caught her attention. it was the four boys from before.

"holy shit" the granddaughter said. Lily's attention turned to her. "those are the marauders. i went to uni with them, they were like practically gods"

Lily quickly gave the granddaughter her sandwich and rushed to the counter.

"you again" she said, looking James Potter in the eye.

"for the record" the long haired one said. "if i ask for a coffee as dark as my soul. it means i'll take the strongest one you've got."

"duly noted" she nodded.

"im Sirius Black" he said, sticking out his arm for her to shake.

"Lily Evans" she responded, ignoring his outstretched arm. "can i help you?"

 "Padfoot!" the sweatered one hissed before turning back to Lily. "please excuse my friend, he has no social etiquette whatsoever" 

"he's not allowed out of the house most days" James Potter commented.

"i believe only one of you is needed for the order" a man behind them in line yelled.

the sweatered one shoo-ed his friends away.

"i apologise for them" he said. "i'm Remus Lupin"

Lily smiled. 

when she was making their coffees, she made sure to add as much coffee as she possibly could to Sirius Black's cup.

she revelled when he yelled and reached for sugar and the milkshake.

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

"oh goodness Mar!" Lily exclaimed. it was the next day and Marlene, her best friend had burst in, looking paler than a white crayon, clutching her stomach.

"you are so lucky no one's here right now" Lily whispered, patting Marlene's back. they were sitting in the staff bathrooms. Marlene retched and then threw up into the loo.

"that food poisoning really got you eh?"

Marlene glared at her as though saying "well duh"

"i told you to not eat that shrimp at Laura's party, i told you it smelled weird but do you listen?"

Marlene groaned.

Lily didn't even hear the door chime till-

"hello" a familiar deep voice called. "anyone there? did i come when you guys are closed?"

Lily quickly stood up, and using her extra elastic, she tied her best friend's hair. "you're good for a minute. dorcas should be here soon" she whispered before running out.

"hi, i'm so sorry there was an issue-" she stopped short when she saw who was at the counter. "its you"

"yes well, its me" said James Potter.

"where's the rest of your posse?" 

"busy.. what happened?" he asked.

"my friend's got food poisoning, and i cant leave until my shift's over because we're short staffed"

James Potter winced.

"yeah, although i called another friend to come pick her up" Lily grimaced. "can i get you anything?"

"anything pre-made sounds good, don't wanna stress you"

Lily smiled gratefully at him, and began pouring him a lemonade.

"you guys close any moment now right?"

Lily glanced at the clock. "its twenty minutes to go" 

just as she was handing him his lemonade, her friend Dorcas Meadowes burst in.

"where's Mar-" she saw James Potter leaning over the counter and gave Lily the 'ooh whose that' look.

Lily quickly shook her head and said, "she's in the loo, and she's a bit of a mess"

"well," smiled Dorcas. "i'm sure i've seen worse"

Lily gave her a sceptical look.

"come on i'm her girlfriend you bitch"

Lily smiled at that and said, "hurry!"

Dorcas rand into the loo, and ran out a moment later, holding up Marlene.

"i think i'm gonna throw up" she groaned, as her feet buckled.

"i cant hold her any longer" Dorcas yelled.

James rushed to catch her, and Lily grabbed the largest thing she could find (which just so happened to be an old caramel container she had scrubbed shiny) and placed it under Marlene's head.

"ugh" she groaned, coming back from inside the container and accepting a tissue Lily was offering. "sorry Lil. sorry random stranger"

"eh thats okay" James replied. "i've seen worse"

all three girls gave him puzzled looks.

"my friend Peter, he once- never mind, all I'm saying is i'll help get you to your car"

Lily smiled at him. "you don't have to do that"

"but i will" 

as James was leaving, Dorcas turned to Lily.

"who the hell is he, on a scale from one to ten how much are you in love with him, and when will you date him- you are answering this when you get home because Marlene and Alice would also like to know"

not giving her a chance to reply, Dorcas rushed out the door.

James Potter came back in.

"well that was an experience" he said. "i can now say that i have carried a puking girl out of a coffee shop into her girlfriend's car while being threatened about hurting her beat friend in between puking."

Lily's ears turned pink. "well i'm sure that will be quite a story."

"not as good as the one where Sirius nearly blew our house up, Remus has been retelling that one since it happened, which was four years ago mind you"

"well i would just love to hear it sometime" Lily grinned.

"how about right now? over lemonade?" he asked, gesturing to his cup.

Lily's stomach felt as though the butterflies had overpopulated it.

"i uh.. i have to close right now, maybe tomorrow?"

"sounds great.."

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

as soon as she'd gotten home, she had been confronted by Alice.

"what is this im hearing about a hot boy you were found making out with before Dorcas barged in?"

Lily stared at her, "i was NOT making out with him!" she spluttered. 

"is he hot though?" Alice asked.

"what would Frank say?" Lily asked.

"that doesn't answer my question!" Alice yelled. "is he hot!?"

"think of Frank!" Lily called, taking off her apron and tossing it into her laundry basket.

"that response is an answer of its own- you think he's hot!"

Lily momentarily froze. did she think James Potter was hot? 

ignoring Alice, she took a quick shower to rid herself of all the germs she had acquired when that three year old had walked into her, and the puke smell.

she walked over to Dorcas and Marlene's bedroom to check on her best friend.

"how are you feeling?" she asked.

"like shit. but you're telling us about Mistah Pottah" Marlene teased.

"there isn't anything to tell!" Lily protested. "his friends had come over to the cafe a while ago and for some reason they took a liking to me, then James showed up today, a bit after Marlene did, thats really all there is"

"ooh so he's James!" Marlene grinned.

"please stop acting like a cringey 12 year old"

"tell us everything and don't you leave out a single detail" Alice demanded.

knowing there was no winning, Lily sighed and went into detail about when she had first seen them. they demanded to know what each of them looked like. Lily described.

when she was done, all three of them were wide eyed, acting like a bunch of fangirls squealing over their OTP

and then she told him how she'd responded to his offer to talk over lemonade.

they kicked her out of the room.

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

the very next morning, as she fumbled with the refresher of that one twelve year old, Lily found herself staring at the table a very peculiar group of four she had grown to know.

well actually three. James Potter was missing in action.

as soon as she walked back behind the counter, she was accosted by three girls.

well actually two, and Marlene on face-time.

"what the hell are you guys doing here" Lily hissed.

"we wanna see him." Alice informed her

"well," Lily responded, not even pretending to act like she didn't know who they were referring to "he's not here"

"but his friends are" Dorcas pointed to the table where Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and 'Peter' sat.

"no" said Lily quickly. "no no no no way in hell are you-"

she was interrupted the fact that they were already seated.

sighing loudly, she went into the back room to re stock on treacle tarts.

when she came back, she nearly tossed them all onto the floor because sitting on the barstools, where six expectant faces. (well five and one phone)

"so Evans" Sirius Black told her. "Prongs has talked a lot about you"

"who the hell is Prongs?"

"its their quirky way of saying James" Dorcas interjected.

"where is he anyway?" asked Lily, trying to nonchalant she didn't know why she suddenly cared.

"he's visiting mum" Sirius said. "i was invited but i told him Remus and i had plans. mum knows though"

"you guys siblings?" Lily asked, confused.

the three boys grinned. 

"nah, i just don't like my family" Sirius said.

Lily smiled at him. she could relate.

"you two should get together sometime to bitch about you siblings" said Alice.

i gave her a look. she shrugged.

"you guys haven't ordered." Lily informed them smugly.

"that's not what we came here for"

"no? then i am fully allowed to kick you out"

"I'll have a cookie" peter offered.

sighing, Lily got him his cookie. "what the hell do you the rest of you guys want"

"well see," began Sirius "James has a little teensy-meensy crush on-"

at that exact moment. the bell chimed and Lily came to the realization that the universe was fucking with her, and her life was just one big joke.

James Potter walked in.

when he saw the crowd gathered at the counter he blanched, and then gathered himself.

"Evans," he nodded. "boys. the girls from yesterday. girl i don't know"

as Alice introduced herself, Dorcas and Marlene, Remus discreetly snatched Lily's notepad and began scribbling something. when he slid it back, Lily glanced down at it.

'i know you heard what peter said, and i know you don't believe him, but look at how he addressed you first"

Lily looked up at him. he winked.

Scrunching it up into a ball, she tossed it into the bin.

"Peter, your cookie" she said, handing it to him. "Potter, order. rest of you, out unless you order and fast"

"uh" began James "I'll have-"

"one Iced Americano coming right up. the rest of you?"

James turned pink. the others exchanged looks.

they carefully gave their orders, and Lily hurried around making them. once she was done everyone (sans Marlene) was fitted with a beverage of their choice.

once they were done drinking, they filed out as though it was pre planned.

"well, Sirius and i should hit the..... arcade" said Remus.

as soon as they left Marlene began coughing (a little too) loudly.

"i should go and check on her" said Dorcas, running out.

"uh i have plans... with Frank" Alice ventured.

"i should uh.. go also" supplied Peter.

they both left.

Lily slammed her head on the counter gently chuckling. "those scheming bastards" she muttered.

"those what?" James asked, quite confused.

Lily looked up. "nothing. treacle tart?"

James' face brightened. "i love treacle tart!"

"me too!" she said, pulling the box out. 

they began eating and laughing over stories they shared. a customer came and interrupted them but Lily quickly dealt with it.

"this was nice.." she said.

"d'you think we should maybe do it again?" he asked.

"oh, Absolutely"

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

a/n: did you like that? im not used to doing muggle au's but i hoped you enjoyed as i had lots of fun and i'm definitely doing more. 

lots of love
ana❤️