Lily Luna's Story

Chapter 11

September flew by without anything remarkable happening. James and Fred were trying – and from the sounds of it, succeeding – to try and break Fred and George’s and the Marauder’s record for amount of detentions. Albus was throwing himself into Quidditch, taking it much more seriously than our brother seemed to these days. Rose seemed to be buried in one book or another every waking moment. I was trying to stay out of trouble, keeping my nose clean and my eyes peeled for anything strange, but everything seemed normal. It seemed like life was starting to get back on track for me.

I was headed to my last lesson of the week; feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It had been nearly a month since anything strange had happened, and I was hoping it would stay that way.

A pair of large hands blocked my sight, making me stop walking. My brows furrowed as I thought who it would be. Maybe Albus or James? I had no idea.

I lifted my own hands up and removed the soft hands covering my eyes, spinning around.

“Teddy!” I squealed, throwing myself into his arms. He caught me and hugged me tightly.

“I’ve missed you Lils,” he whispered. “Favourite sister.” I laughed and tousled his turquoise, scruffy hair. Two strands at the front of his hair stood out clearly - one a bubblegum pink, and the other a sandy brown. Those were in honour of his parents, but only people who were close to Teddy knew that. It wasn’t something he willingly shared, as he didn’t like to show weakness.

“Come with me,” Teddy ordered, pulling my hand. I reluctantly pulled away.

“I have class to go to,” I said wistfully. I wanted nothing more than to catch up with my ‘brother’, even though I had seen him just a few weeks earlier at the party James threw.

“Just skive,” Teddy shrugged. I gaped at him. He knew I would never do that! At my incredulous expression, Teddy’s façade broke and he started laughing. “Chill, Lils. I talked to McGonagall, she doesn’t mind.” I sighed in relief and happily followed Teddy.

“The Shrieking Shack?” I stammered when we arrived at the destination Teddy was leading me. To be honest, I wasn’t scared to go in because it was supposedly haunted, but I was terrified because of the last time I had gone in earlier this year. That was the last time I had a ‘vision’ of the war, and the feelings I had tried so hard to suppress were quickly bubbling to the surface again.

Teddy smiled tauntingly. “Don’t tell me your scared?” he teased. I was, but not for the reason he was thinking of.

“Don’t be silly,” I snorted. I felt a sudden urge to pull him wrong, so I started running at the tree, dodging the swinging branches and blocking out Teddy’s shouting at me as I flung myself into the entrance.

I heard Teddy enter behind me, and I cursed myself for the impulsiveness I felt and acted on to prove Teddy wrong.

“What were you thinking?” Teddy’s voice boomed around the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. I shrank away from it.

“Sorry,” I muttered. He shook his head.

“Sorry for getting mad. You just scared me.” I gave him a tentative smile, which he returned. “Now, let’s go, I have something to tell you.”

I stayed close to Teddy’s side, his warmth and just his presence making me comfortable and safe. Finally we reached the end of the cold and muddy tunnel, and we sat down on a torn sofa in the corner of the room.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked. “Why aren’t you training?” Teddy was training to be an Auror, and he was just about finished the tough regime he had to complete to become one.

“Well it is part of my training… with not much work involved. I guess Harry knew I need a break and that you probably needed one too. He let me have a day off with instructions to come to Hogwarts. Like I’d go anywhere else on my day off! I’d rather come see you guys than spend the day at home.”

I looked at him expectantly, and he, realising he had not yet explained his reason for coming, launched into talking again.

“Victoire and I have set a date for the wedding. It’ll be in the holidays so everyone will be able to make it without the stress of exams.”

“That’s brilliant!” I exclaimed. “But surely you didn’t come all this way to tell me a date?”