Chapter Text
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, The Beatles
[Music plays. Excerpt from Track 1 of “Lily in the Sky with Diamonds”: ‘Worst Excuses’.]
Lily
You promise you are different,
that after all those years you’ve listened,
to the sound of my voice,
as it rings through the midnight sky.
James
You come up with the worst excuses,
they set fire to my soul,
burning it to ashes,
making me lose all control.
James & Lily
Yet, as thunder rolls and rain starts to pour,
I realise that I could not have loved you more.
[Music stops.]
Interviews with each individual member of The Marauders and Lily Evans about their upcoming UK Tour to celebrate the release of the fruit of their labour, an album that has topped the UK Charts since its release a month ago: “Lily in the Sky with Diamonds”.
Nymphadora Tonks, Interviewer
RollingStone Magazine reviewed your latest album earlier this week: “Nostalgic, melancholic, heartbreakingly beautiful harmonies – “Lily in the Sky with Diamonds” is the album of the year and it has only just begun.” How did a collaboration between The Marauders and Lily Evans come about in the first place?
Sirius Black, Drummer
That’s an excellent question that I wish I had an answer to. I feel like all of us were right in the middle of it before it had even begun. <Brief pause.> I suppose it all started with Remus.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
We’d known Lily since we all attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts. She was an enigma, a sight to behold. I know it sounds obvious, knowing what we know now, but even when we first met each other at the age of fifteen, it was clear to everyone that she was going to be someone someday.
[Cut to Peter Pettigrew.]
Peter Pettigrew, Bass Guitarist
She is, of course, completely out of all of our leagues.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
Pete said that? <Laughs.> I think everyone would find it hard to believe I wouldn’t have a shot with her. <Winks at the camera.> But yeah… I suppose she hasn’t really wanted a piece of this yet. She tells me I’m full of shit at least ten times a day.
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
Well, he is, really. <Flicks her hair over her shoulder.> He always likes to apply hyperbole gratuitously too, though. Make of that what you will.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
To be honest, there had always been some tension between the five of us. <Frowns slightly.> Although that’s not entirely true. I always got on with Lily just fine -
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
Remus Lupin is a sweetheart. I have yet to discover a single personality flaw. <Seems to mull this over.> Perhaps the fact that he doesn’t think all that highly of himself.
[Cut to Peter Pettigrew.]
Peter Pettigrew, Bass Guitarist
It was James especially that always seemed to get on Lily’s nerves and vice versa. They always wanted to best one another.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
I wouldn’t say we were in a constant competition. <Crosses his arm in front of his chest.> Did Lily say that? <Some indiscernible mumbling in the background. He perks up a little.> Oh, right, Pete. <Sighs a little.> Well… I suppose that’s what it might have looked like, but I have always admired Evans -
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
God, was he annoying! I swear I got this close <gestures> to bashing his head in with that stupid guitar of his on numerous occasions.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
- it’s difficult not to, really. She is… <leans back, lost in thought> … I can’t put it to words, exactly. I suppose it’s like the song by The Beatles that inspired the name of our album: “Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she’s gone.” That’s Lily.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
You could call their relationship tempestuous.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
It still is, really. The making of this album hasn’t exactly been an easy ride. I honestly wondered whether Lily was going to show up at the studio again the next morning a few times. <Shrugs.> They are both incredibly stubborn, you see. Can get lost into details and snap at each other over a syllable.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
I mean, sure… we quarrel sometimes, but it’s all in good sport -
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
With James everything is a sport.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
I would say it’s definitely unfair to suggest that we don’t get on, because we do.
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
I suppose that James Potter is all of my ex-boyfriends combined <laughs> and you know how I like to write songs about all of them.
Nymphadora Tonks, Interviewer
Should we expect a solo album next in which you voice your complaints over the lead singer of The Marauders then?
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
I would be lying if I said I didn’t already have a draft for a couple of songs ready.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
<Laughs loudly.> Oh, how Prongs would love that!
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
<Amused.> I don’t think James will take that as an insult at all. He’ll probably light up like a Christmas tree when you tell him that.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
<Smile grows.> She said that? <Runs a hand through his hair.>
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
It's just like him to take that as a compliment.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
Anyway, we knew Lily in school and she’d just put out a great album -
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
I admit I listened to her album for two weeks on repeat. She knows how to write.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
- so when we were looking at ways to expand our horizon, I just dropped her name and said: “What if we do a collab?”
[Cut to Peter Pettigrew.]
Peter Pettigrew, Bass Guitarist
Everyone was pretty much on board from the minute he’d said it. James had even spoken about tattooing part of the lyrics of Lily’s song ‘Achilles’ on the inside of his wrist. <Shuffles a little in his seat.> He really was quite obsessed.
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
<Perks up.> Really? He never told me! <Contemplative for a moment.> I wonder which part of the song he had been eyeing up.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
She has a way with words. The lyrics of that song haunted me for weeks and sometimes I still find myself lying awake at night, wondering how anyone could create a song this transformative.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
Yeah, he is a sucker for metaphors.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
When I suggested that we collab with Lily and everyone pretty much agreed, I knew there was one obstacle still to take -
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
I was surprised to find how worried they were about me agreeing to record a song with them. When Mary, my agent, called me and told me they’d contacted her, I agreed pretty much straight away. <Pushes a lock of hair behind her ear.> They are incredibly popular and talented musicians. I would have been a fool to let that opportunity fly out the window. <Nervously bites her lip for a moment.> And, all right… I suppose I had always wanted to find out what James and I would sound like together. There is just something about his voice that has always made me think we would match well, you know? <A beat of silence.> As artists, I mean, of course.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
So, we get a call from her agent to say that she’s in and Prongs freaks out -
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
I don’t recall any of that.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
- he pulled an all-nighter, writing song after song, perusing lyric after lyric and begging me to read all of them as he went, picking up his guitar to try out some melodies -
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
I wrote half a song maybe, that’s it.
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
When I got to the studio to meet up with The Marauders and talk business, I walk in and -
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
She enters and she looks – well, it’s impossible not to be impressed, you know? <Smiles fondly.> Anyway, she walks in, waves and James jumps out of his seat, pressing a pile of crumpled pages in her hand and saying: “I wrote a whole fucking album last night.”
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
- so, I look down and see his all too familiar scribbles and I realise within three seconds that – while it needed polishing – saying yes had been the right decision.
[Cut to Peter Pettigrew.]
Peter Pettigrew, Bass Guitarist
Five minutes later we are making music together and it just clicked, you know.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
It is sickening, really, how well their voices mix.
[Cut to Remus Lupin.]
Remus Lupin, Keyboardist
I’m pretty sure they were born to sing together.
[Cut to James Potter.]
James Potter, Singer and Guitarist
There is no one like her. She is it for me. <Beat of silence, clearing of throat.> Musically, right? You get that’s what I meant?
[Cut to Lily Evans.]
Lily Evans, Singer-Songwriter
We finished writing our first song that afternoon, the third track on our album, ‘Runner-Up’. James had started it the night before, of course, so most of the credit for that song should go to him.
[Cut to Sirius Black.]
Sirius Black, Drummer
In short, after that one afternoon session, we all knew we wouldn’t just stop at one song. <Wiggles his eyebrows.> Their vocal lovemaking had begun and it was too sexy to just have it be a one-nightstand.