Here We Go Again

At the Wrong Place, At the Wrong Time

Here We Go Again

Chapter 13: At the Wrong Place, At the Wrong Time

POV: Lily

Something was wrong.

Something was completely off with the way my regular day begun, proceeded, and ended. I hadn't gotten to the end of the day yet, but the beginning and middle of it was starting to make me think that it wasn't going to happen the way it always does and the way I like it.

To retell the tale, let me just say that my regular morning starts off with a kick and a whine, especially since Roxy starts jumping on my four-poster until I'm angered and I have no other choice than to wake up to chase her down onto the floor of our dormitory and straddle her back and pull on her hair; threatening that if she dares to do that one more time she won't live to see the sunset. After that, I would have a silent frowning competition with Lucy—who was still not talking to me—but she hadn't been there to judge me in mute like she always does. I thought that was strange, but Roxy, ever the informative, said that our dearest cousin hadn't shown up to sleep the previous night. (And that was far more bizarre because Lucy Weasley was not the rule-breaking witch.) Pretending not to be curious or worried about her whereabouts, all because we refused to acknowledge each other for the past weeks, I showered and dressed myself for the expected boring day that awaited me.

Down at the Great Hall, I walked in with Roxy, parted ways with Hugo who met us every morning outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, and we settled ourselves at the Gryffindor table. As per usual, the table had been buzzing with loud conversation and laughter, so the possibility of not having the regular loud, frantic, and hysterical breakfast with my relatives and friends had not crossed my mind. Well, I was surely corrected when I noticed that no one but James, Emily, Rose, Malfoy, and Zabini were present. My brother and his girlfriend tried to stick to the norm, with him eyeing her like she bewitched him, her blushing, and him telling a story that made everyone close enough roar with laughter. And somehow not caught in their regular bubble of love was Rose and Malfoy, who were sitting across from each other, but were clearly tensed from the other's company. A frown creased my cousin's forehead while her boyfriend reflected his surname by a cold expression on his face. Roxy and Zabini, I cared not for so I paid them no mind.

My first three lessons proceeded as they always did, but it wasn't until we were let out for the first break of the day that I noticed another unusual thing. Far away from that too pretty girlfriend of his, Al was sitting on a bench with a dark-haired witch that was fresh to Hogwarts, a certain Ophelia De la Cruz. They were sitting close together, facing each other, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was serious chemistry between them. (Well, if you call my brother's flirtatious smile and the girl's half-lidded eyes chemistry.) After that spectacle, I was heading away from the gardens to make my way back to the castle—after stumbling upon Artie reading a book underneath a tree by himself, a bloody book—when I spotted a missing person: Lucy. My cousin hadn't been in any of our lessons so far, which had added to my contained worry, but there she was, sitting on top of a hill with none other than Lorcan Scamander. The boy had kept his head down the whole time that I watched them, and I concluded that he must've been in a great deal of emotional pain because Lucy was giving him sympathetic eyes. (And Lucy was never sympathetic towards anyone.)

The short break of the day had been over and done with and I found myself sitting back in a dimly lit classroom and hearing a teacher drone on and on. That continued for two more lessons until we were dismissed for dinner. With a loud groan and stretch of arms, I proceeded with Roxy once again to the Great Hall. Expecting, like a damn fool, to have my regular loud, frantic and hysterical dinner with my boyfriend, family and friends, but I was once again misled when Roxy and I showed up and just found James and Emily.