prompt: sirius and lily bonding without james.
A knock came at the door.
Lily walked over from the kitchen and opened it.
Sirius grinned lazily, tossing his hair with a flick of his head. He was soaking wet from the rain. “Now, that’s not very nice.”
Lily frowned in a nicer manner, crinkling the edges of her eyes while grimacing through her teeth. “Tea?”
“Oh, please,” Sirius said graciously, “with as many sugars and creams as possible. And no poison!”
She rolled her eyes, wiping her hands on her old skirt. It was already covered in flour, anyway. “Who do you think I am? James? We may be married, but we’re certainly not ‘one’.”
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, slipping off his soaked cloak and tossing his beat up shoes in the corner. “I’ve noticed, Lily Flower.”
Both he and his comment were not very clever.
“Don’t call me that,” Lily sighed, but she stepped aside and headed back into the kitchen. Not like he’d heed her request, anyway. “Look, you’re here for one task and one task only, Sirius.”
“I know, I know - don’t get sidetracked, don’t mess with the Muggle things -”
“- and don’t perform spells on the food,” the two said in unison.
Lily eyed Sirius carefully. “I swear, if you even touch your wand -”
“- you’ll spell all my hair off. I know, Lily Flower. Merlin,” he said, exasperated. “I know how to use my wand. I went to magic school for seven years.”
Lily paused mid-egg-cracking. She glanced up at him. She did not look convinced. “Please. You nearly set Marlene’s couch aflame last weekend.”
“I’ve become a better man since then,” Sirius said while inspecting his cuticles.
“Then I’m sure you can become a 'better man’,” she said with air quotes, “in the next hour before James comes back!”
Now that Sirius was really paying attention, his acquaintance seemed to be rather frazzled. Her wispy baby hairs were even more shocked than usual, her red-hair poking out of the ponytail usually so neatly gathered.
Time to draw the line, Sirius figured.
“So, which icing do I prepare?” They were making the cake Muggle-style, with some old family recipe Lily was using. She hadn’t cooked in a while, but apparently Potions was close enough. And Lily was scarily good with Potions.
“The buttercream one, page thirteen,” Lily said, distractedly. The egg was dripping all over her fingers onto the kitchen countertop. She cursed as some hit the floor, too.
“You’re a mess, Lily Flower,” Sirius said nicely.
Lily cursed him out, too.
Perhaps there was something to this one, after all, he mused. James had been so annoying - going on about her perfection for an entire seven years. It was terrible and annoying. But this frazzled and disheveled side of Lily Potter née Evans was intriguing.
Mulling this over, Sirius coolly began stirring together all of the ingredients called for. He had to ask after some of the units (“What in Merlin’s name is an mL?”) but other than that, his task was simple and straightforward. Easy.
Lily was having trouble, though. Every minute or so, a curse more vulgar than the last would free itself from her pursed lips, bounding over her mess of a bowl. When she finally got the cake in the oven, both she and Sirius were exhausted: Lily from trying to figure out her grandmother’s instructions and Sirius from watching Lily rant and rave.
“Maybe you want to calm down,” Sirius interrupted. The batter looked like some poor bloke’s vomit: chunky and utterly putrid.
“Maybe,” Lily gritted out, “you want to be quiet.”
Sirius went silent, though he continued grinning at her.
A few more minutes passed, the silence only punctuated by the clinking of spoons.
“I finished the icing,” said Sirius. He held up the ceramic bowl, which was tackily decorated with deer.
“Then help me with the cake,” Lily said simply. She sounded very tired now.
“Why can’t we just use magic?”
“The Muggle way is much better.”
“Ludicrous,” Sirius said. “The wizard way is much easier.”
“Then you make the cake!” she cried, exasperated.
“Fine!” Sirius snapped. He whipped out his wand, which he’d been itching to grab since the start.
Lily turned away, arms crossed over her chest.
Sirius aimed, prayed, and let loose one of the only baking spells he knew.
He didn’t dare look until Lily started screaming.
Instead of rising gracefully and fluffing into a delicious white cake, the stupid thing had gone and caught on fire.
“Aguamenti!” Lily cried, a spurt of water erupting to douse the flames.
Too late, though. It was charred black.
They both stared at the lump of burnt dough.
They both burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs.
“You knew this would happen!” Sirius accused through his tears of mirth.
“Of course not!” Lily spluttered, a broad smile lighting up her features. She managed to calm herself down, shaking her head but still beaming.
Sirius gave a last chuckle. “James is going to be upset.”
“He doesn’t have to know,” Lily said slyly.
“But that’s a crappy birthday then. No cake? C'mon, Lily Flower, even you’re not that cruel,” he teased.
“Your funeral,” she said simply.
“Also,” Sirius said suddenly, “you forgot my tea.”
Lily tossed flour at his face in retaliation.
When James got back from Diagon Alley, he was shocked to find Lily and Sirius, old nemeses, standing together proudly behind a very burnt cake with sickly sweet frosting. Also, they were covered entirely in flour.
“Happy birthday!” they shouted in unison, glowing with pride.
“Are you ok,” said James.
