Chapter Text
When Lily Evans was eleven years old she had one goal in life; to be a summer camp counselor. This was an extreme exaggeration of course, because eleven year-olds do not usually show that kind of conviction about anything. It was, however, something she would put up on her vision board the minute she got home from Camp Hogwarts.
Most people who attend a sleep-away camp do not immediately wish to be one of the people in charge. Most people, however, are not Lily Evans. It’s not that Lily loves rules or that she wants to be bossy- no matter what her sister Petunia may say- but because she wants to be cool. When you’re eleven years old and away from home for the first time, there’s nothing cooler than your camp counselor. They know how to do everything from horseback riding to canoeing. That first year at camp Lily’s counselor was Molly Prewett, and she idolized the ground Molly walked on. This pattern would continue with every female counselor for her entire time as a camper. Each of them had won the Cabin Cup at least once, the greatest honor to be had at Camp Hogwarts. When Lily graduated high school and became old enough to be a counselor she vowed she would lead Gryffindor to victory. She just hasn’t gotten there quite yet.
When campers arrive for their first summer at eleven, they are sorted into one of four cabins. While the sorting was technically random, Lily always thought you ended up where you were meant to be. There were four cabins; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each cabin was split into four buildings. One housed the younger girls, one the older girls, one the younger boys, and the last the older boys. The four buildings that make up a cabin sit in a U-shape about a half mile away from the Great Hall in each direction.
This will be Lily’s third summer as a counselor and they’ve lost the cup three years in a row. It’s not as if she hasn’t tried everything, it’s been a close match each time. Three times is too many, and she will stop at nothing to make this her year. The Cabin Cup is given to the cabin with the most points at the end of the summer. Points could be earned in small amounts from activities counselors, but the main time to earn points was during each challenge. Each cabin went ahead to head with each other in every major activity at camp. There was the ropes course, horseback riding, an arts and crafts challenge, and a canoe race on the lake. The whole cabin gets to participate, with the challenges being overseen by Director McGonagall herself. Lily was always best at arts and crafts as well as horseback riding.
“Ready for another exciting summer Evans?” Remus asked, coming up behind her in the office. The two of them are generally the first counselors to arrive, being the only ones semi-local to the camp. Lily had already gotten the key to the Gryffindor Girls cabin from the camp director, Minerva McGonagall, and put her bags on her bunk.
“Oh I was born ready,” Lily declared with a smile.
Remus let out a soft chuckle. “That’s what I like to hear. Let me grab my key and put my bags up so we can start the opening tasks.”He proceeded to push open McGonagall’s door and enter the office.
The office was a large log cabin with a door painted gold. It lies just beyond the camp welcome sign. A half mile north of the office was the great hall, made of deep brown wood with unnecessarily high ceilings. All of the buildings had a rustic feel as if it were the setting of an old western movie.
Camp Hogwarts was located in what was pretty much the middle of nowhere Florida. Both Remus and Lily lived about an hour away in different directions. He was the only one she could realistically hang out during the rest of the year, leading her to form a stronger bond with Remus compared to most of the other counselors. Their shared love of books and need for constant sunscreen also helped.
Lily checked her watch before starting the walk back to her cabin, determined to get a head start on unpacking before Mary Macdonald- the other female Gryffindor counselor- arrived. While there are technically four physical cabins they each fall under the Gryffindor category. Lily was the counselor for girls age fifteen to seventeen, while Mary was the counselor for girls age eleven to fourteen. Mary got along fabulously with the younger girls, with her special talent being that she could cure any case of homesickness. That little trick made she and Lily fast friends their first summer; with Lily immediately drafting a letter to her parents to come get her. All it took was Mary asking her if she’d ever gotten to pet a horse and Lily was fully invested in the whole idea of summer camp.
She heard a sharp knock from where she was standing in the private counselors bedroom, moving across the cabin to let Remus in.
“So what is it this time Lils, too many book or too many CD’s?” Remus teased.
“How could you ever have too many of either?” Lily replied over her shoulder, walking back to her bedroom. While Remus packs books for the summer as well, she’s the only one she knows who brings a CD player. “If you think I’m lasting the whole summer without a single Taylor Swift album then I think the humidity has finally gotten to you.”
“I’ll never understand buying so many CD’s when you also have spotify premium. Might as well just Venmo Taylor a hundred dollars every year!” Remus exclaimed, picking up the nearest album.
“Says the man who owns every single Bowie vinyl that has ever existed!” Lily said with a snort.
“It’s always different when it’s Bowie.” Remus said solemnly. “I won’t hear a word against him.”
“Well as long as you’re willing to accept that you’re a hypocrite,” Lily said with a shrug. “Speaking of Bowie, when are Sirius and the rest of the boys arriving?”
Remus pulled out his phone, checking something before sliding it back in the pocket of his jeans. “James should be here any minute with Peter, and you know Sirius will make a grand entrance just after we’ve finished any task that deals with cleaning or manual labor.”
Lily giggled in response, “I don’t think anyone could rival the drama of one Sirius Black.”
“I don’t know, I think Marlene gets pretty close,” Remus said with a smile. He began to walk back towards the office, likely to ask McGonagall about anything out of the ordinary that needed to be done before campers started arriving the next afternoon. “You hear that’s she’s getting a new co-counselor this year?”
“What happened to Emmeline?” Lily asked.
“She got an internship at an on-campus lab for the summer, so she’s staying at school.” Remus said with a shrug. “Hopefully the new girl knows her way around arts and crafts, you know that’s Marlene’s biggest weakness.”
“Well then I’m definitely hoping she’s not.” Lily teased. “Whatever gives Gryffindor the edge this time around.”
“God, you have some of the worst sportsmanship I’ve ever seen,” Remus replied. “It’s like you want to engrave your competitive spirit into these kids.”
A piece of paper is taped to the office door when the two arrive. Scanning it, Lily finds a meticulous outline of everything that needs to be done attached to the names of each cabin and activity counselor. She and Remus are responsible for organizing the check-in paperwork for the campers and setting out the signs to point them in the right direction. She goes down the list again to find the name of the mystery counselor for Ravenclaw cabin.
“Well there’s two names I don’t recognize, but I’m going to assume Evan isn’t the right one.” Lily taps her nail on the name in question. “So it must be Pandora.”
“Never heard that one in real life,” Remus muses. He peeks over Lily’s shoulder to read what’s she’s pointing at. “You think her parents like the myth?”
“I’ve never heard of someone naming their child after something they didn’t enjoy, so it must be true.”
The voice came from behind the pair, causing them to jump. Standing with matching pink and green suitcases was girl with what could only be described as princess curls, and what was certainly her twin brother. If this was a rom-com Lily was watching late at night when Petunia wasn't awake to tell her how unrealistic everything was, this would be the moment everything would be in slow motion. The woods of Central Florida would turn to pink watercolor swirls and a dramatic love song would be playing as Lily made eye contact with Pandora for the first time. Unfortunately this is not a rom-com.
“My mom named me Lily and she can’t stand the smell of the actual flower,” Lily blurted out before she could stop herself. Her face flushed immediately from the embarrassment of what she’d just said to this girl she’s literally never spoken to.
“I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” Pandora blinked away what Lily hoped was surprise and not horror. “This must be Director McGonagall’s office?”
“Yes, and she’s inside.” Remus said, coming to Lily’s rescue. “You can go right in, the building is only the one room.”
Pandora smiled as she moved to enter the office, her brother following close behind. The door shut softly as Lily groaned. “I don’t think that could have been any more awkward,” she said with her head in her hands.
“You could always say something worse next time,” Remus offered. He reached out to grab Lily by the wrist, pulling her in the direction of the Great Hall.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Lily exclaimed. She glanced back towards the office as they walked away, listening to Remus list all the things she could say to make Pandora think her even weirder.
Through the back window of the office she could see Pandora, looking right at her with a slight smile on her face.