Chapter 1: back in the sunshine state
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.
Chapter Text
Lily couldn’t stop replaying her meeting with Pandora in her head. She felt like the biggest idiot on the face of the planet.
“I mean, what kind of greeting was that?” She huffed in frustration. “I told her that she was wrong, insulted myself, and insulted my mother! All in one go! How embarrassing!”
Remus gave her a disapproving look from his seat at the check-in table. “If I had a dollar for every time you said that, I wouldn’t have to be a summer camp counselor.” He gasped as Lily almost shoved him right out of his chair. “Hey! You know I’m right, there’s no need for such violence.”
Lily and Remus were sitting at one of the folding tables set up in front of the Great Hall, waiting for more Gryffindor campers to come up to them. They had only checked in 5 of the summer batch so far, but it was still early. One of Lily’s least favorite tasks as a counselor was waiting at the check-in tables. Campers had a three-hour window starting at eight in the morning to sign in and then another hour after that to move their stuff into the cabin. Lily was not a morning person by any means, so sitting and waiting when most of the campers would arrive at the end of the window tested her sanity a bit.
Sitting to the duo’s left, about 6 feet away, was the Ravenclaw cabin check-in table. Pandora was sitting proudly in the seat to the right of Gilderoy Lockhart. Lily had long considered Gilderoy to be the worst camp counselor, not just in the history of Camp Hogwarts, but the history of summer camp in general. He was arrogant, ignorant, and completely self-serving. Though they had attended the camp for the same amount of time, he always acted like he knew more than Lily about anything. It was entirely too much for Lily to handle consistently. Pandora seemed to be having no such problems.
“Look at her! She doesn’t seem at all bothered that she’s sitting next to the biggest asshole this side of the Mississippi river!” Lily exclaimed with disbelief. “How she can conduct herself thoughtfully right now, I’ll never know.”
“Have you ever considered your inability to have a conversation with Gilderoy without insulting him to be more of a you issue, rather than a problem with everybody else?” Remus poised. He looked over at where the two were checking in an incoming camper. “Just learn to ignore him.”
Lily huffed in frustration. “My two least favorite types of people are those who think they know more than everyone else and those who think they’re better than everyone else. He’s both.” She felt herself staring directly at the side of Pandora’s head. She was laughing gently at something Gilderoy was saying and it pissed Lily off. He wasn’t nearly funny enough or interesting enough for any sort of reaction from Pandora. She was glaring so hard that she ended up missing one of her favorite returning campers walking up to the check-in table.
“Yikes, this is not the warm welcome I was expecting from you, Counselor Lily,” Callie said with a chuckle. “Here I thought I was one of your favorites.” Lily felt her face turning redder than her hair. “Hey Cal-Bell, sorry I’m just distracted.” Callie gave her a look not unlike one she’d seen from Remus since they met the Rosier twins. “Yeah, no duh. What, checking in campers not exciting enough for you?” Lily ran her highlighter over Callie’s name before pointing in the direction of the Gryffindor cabin. “You know where to go.” Lily watched Callie’s long braid swish back and forth as she carted the two big duffel bags she was carrying in the direction she had just pointed in.
Callie was not the last recognizable face Lily and Remus saw during their shift. Most of the campers spend every summer with them until they “graduate” out of the program. It wasn’t just personal bias, but Lily thought Camp Hogwarts was one of the best out there. The whole place looked like the setting of a music video, or maybe one of those camp movies where an ax murderer starts coming after counselors. That might not be the best comparison, but it captures the unreal feeling Lily gets at camp.
After check-in, the campers met in the Great Hall to hear a welcome speech from Director McGonagall while the counselors met with the camp nurse, Madam Pomfrey. She was about McGonagall’s age, with a thick British accent uncommon in central Florida and more medical knowledge than Lily thought possible to have. She liked to go over any medical needs or concerns for each camper with their cabin counselor as well as each activities counselor to ensure proper preparation. This meant that Lily was face to face with James for the first time since last summer.
James Potter was a former Gryffindor camper, the current outdoor adventure counselor, and Lily’s ex-boyfriend. There was no bad blood between the two of them, even if the relationship was how Lily finally figured out that she was a lesbian. She had considered herself bisexual since she was around fourteen years old. She had never had a real crush on a man, and she thought she and James would work out because they had great friendship chemistry. It turns out, friendship doesn’t always lead to a great relationship. Lily and James met their natural conclusion; Lily was finally confident in her identity, and James ended up dating Sirius’ little brother, Regulus, the arts and crafts counselor currently standing in his personal space.
“What’s up, Red? Prepared to lead Gryffindor to victory this summer, finally?” James teased with a smile. The last time the cabin had won was Lily and James’ final year as campers, and he never let Lily forget it. She was never slow to point out that Ravenclaw hadn’t won in five years, as they had the misfortune of having Gilderoy as a counselor. This year would be Lily’s year, though; she could feel it, and she told James as much. “I’m telling you, Potter, this is the summer of Gryffindor!” Lily exclaimed vividly. “Nothing and nobody is gonna get in my way.”
“Not even the new Ravenclaw counselor?” said Sirius, slipping up behind Lily. “I hear you two have gotten off to quite the dynamic start.”
“How do you know about my interaction with Pandora?” Lily questioned. She hadn’t even seen Sirius yet, she doubted he’d been around to witness her awkward meeting. “Remus, how do you think I know anything?” Sirius grinned. Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Boyfriend privileges strike again.” The three men snickered, shaking their heads in agreement. “Oh, you know boyfriend privileges come in handy for all sorts of things, especially juicy gossip,” said Sirius. Regulus aimed a quick kick at the back of Sirius’ knee that he barely dodged. “Of course, you would already be spreading gossip about your fellow counselors. We’ve been here for what, an hour? Maybe?” He stated with a deadpan expression. Sirius cackled as he moved out of his brother’s reach. “It’s not every day we get new people, especially gorgeous new girls who make the great Lily Evans fall all over herself!” While he was prepared for a strike from Regulus, he had let his guard down with the rest of them, and Lily reached out easily to smack him lightly in the back of the head. “I’m telling Remus you’re calling other people gorgeous.” Rubbing the back of his head in disbelief, Sirius turned to look at Lily. “So you’re saying she isn’t gorgeous with a cool name and you didn't make a fool out of yourself in the first five seconds?”
Lily whipped around to make sure Pandora wasn’t paying any attention to their conversation. “For your information, I am positive I didn't make an absolute fool out of myself, I just said something silly, that’s all.” She huffed. James broke out in a wide grin. “Notice how she hasn’t refuted the ‘gorgeous’ part of Sirius’s claim at all.” Lily could feel her face getting warm again. “This must be the new girl we’ve all been hearing about,” Regulus said all of a sudden, looking over Lily’s shoulder. “Pandora, right?” He said.
Lily had never felt as fond of Regulus as she did in that very moment. How much of their conversation had she overheard? How embarrassed did Lily need to be now? Pandora looked infuriatingly good for someone who had just been outside in the humidity, dealing with teenagers. Her hair wasn’t frizzing at all, unlike Lily’s, which currently felt like it was standing straight up. Her eyes sparkled as she nodded, “Yes, I’m Pandora, and this is my brother Evan.” She gestured to someone who could only be described as the masculine version of Pandora. Evan gave a nod of greeting. “How’s it going?” The boys struck up a conversation with Evan while Pandora made unnerving eye contact with Lily. Lily stared back as it became increasingly clear that Pandora was not planning on starting a conversation with her. She wasn’t sure how long she could sit in silence, so she went for the first conversation starter she could think of. “Do you like Taylor Swift?” She asked. “You’re giving me major Evermore vibes.”
Pandora shook her head softly in response. “No, I’m not generally the pop music sort. Closest I get is Laufey and Beabadoobee.” Lily gasped in shock, clutching her imaginary pearls. “Not a Swiftie! I can’t believe it! That shouldn’t be allowed!” She declared dramatically, pretending to swoon into the wall. Pandora giggled at Lily’s theatrics. “Is it that big a deal?” She asked. “That big a deal? Taylor is the biggest artist since Elvis! Beloved by all? Global superstar? Lyrical genius?” Pandora opened her mouth in response, but was cut off by Madam Pomfrey calling over the Ravenclaw counselors to go over their campers. “Guess that’s me, but I’ll see you later.” Pandora said softly as she walked away.
“Pick your jaw off the floor, Red. Some spiders might crawl in, and we all know how you feel about spiders.” James said cheekily, coming up from behind Lily. “First, you say something awkward, then you ask her about Taylor Swift! What’s next, a marriage proposal?” He dodged Lily’s attempt to swat at him like she did Sirius. “I wasn’t flirting, I was just making conversation.” She huffed. “Prongs said nothing about flirting Evans, that was all you,” Sirius smirked. “Sounds like you’re the one drawing conclusions.” For the third, and hopefully final time today, Lily flushed bright red. Sirius was right, she was the only one who said anything about flirting with Pandora. Which she would never do, because she had just met the girl. This summer wasn’t about romance anyway, it was Lily’s summer to win the Cabin Cup! She wouldn’t let herself be distracted by pretty blonde girls who, for the record, didn’t even listen to Taylor Swift. She was going to win for Gryffindor, no matter what Pandora threw her way.
Notes:
hey guys! sorry for disappearing for so long, i had some really awful college roommates that made my spring semester literally terrible, and i struggled to do anything for me. i hope you like this chapter! for the next chapter, i hope to start leaning into the rivals part of this rivals-to-lovers story. have a beautiful day!
adslovesthemoon on Chapter 1 Sat 22 Feb 2025 05:31AM UTC
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superspicypisces on Chapter 1 Wed 04 Jun 2025 02:30AM UTC
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