Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Four

"Augusta?" Lily questioned as she stood up. "I'm really sorry. Louis pushed me."

"I'm fine, and I prefer Cecily," the knocked over Longbottom commented as she clamored to her feet.

Lily laughed awkwardly as she furrowed her eyebrows, "The last time I saw you two years ago, you were Augusta. How did you pull Cecily out of Augusta? Don't get me wrong, I like the name, but I'm just-"

"Augusta is a pain to say, and most people think of my scary great-grandmother when my dad introduces me as Augusta Longbottom. Cecily is my middle name, and my mother's mother's name; I suppose that makes it fit then," she explained. "And I like the name Cecily much better."

"Augusta Cecily Longbottom," Lily pondered for a moment. "It's got a nice ring to it although I'm out of breath after I say it."

"My sister's just Alice Grace, and Frankie's Frank Byron," Cecily sighed. "It's quite the mouthful, really when you compare them."

"Lil!" James yelled from a few feet away, rudely interrupting Lily's conversation. "Are you playing or what?"

"Are you playing Cecily?" Lily asked.

She scoffed at this, "Please, I'd end up falling off of the broom and breaking every bone in my body. I'm not too fond of playing Quidditch although I do-."

"LIL!" James yelled again, cutting Cecily's explanation.

"COMING!" Lily called back. "I get over there. I'll see you after the game, Cecily."

Quickly, she ran over to where her annoyed-looking brother, James, stood and was shocked when James threw their father's old Firebolt at her. Being the single best broom in the shed, it was usually picked by whoever got their first.

"Why'd you get me this one?" Lily asked, looking at the broom in her hand. "How did you-"

"You don't like it," James smirked. "I'm sure Freddie'd be willing to trade with you; he's got a half-broken Cleansweep. Just let me call him over-"

"No, I mean, thanks, James," Lily smiled, taking in the kind gesture from her normally snarky and sarcastic oldest brother. "I guess my question is more along the lines of why you grabbed it for me."

"I want you on my team, and on that broom, you're an unstoppable Chaser at least against these blokes," James laughed. "If you aren't on my team, I might have to take it off of you though; I wouldn't want you to beat me!"

"You git!" Lily exclaimed with a fake look of shock on her face as she checked into her oldest brother. "You are rotten to the core, James."

"I try," James smirked as their oldest cousin, and the newest member of the Holyhead Harpies, Victoire, called the group of Quidditch players over to the "pitch".

As the lucky team captain who got to pick first, James quickly selected Lily with the same confident and signature smirk on his face.

"We're going to win," he whispered to her as Victoire made the second choice.

And James' prediction was fully correct. With Lily racking up the most points for her team and James catching the Snitch, James and Lily's team was quick to crush the opposition, even with Victoire leading the charge.

"That was quite impressive," Cecily laughed as Lily caught up with her after the match. "How many times did you score?"

"More than everyone on the other team combined," Hugo interjected, slinging his arm around Lily's thin shoulders. "My cousin is a Quidditch star, and I am going to be her manager when she hits the big leagues."

"And by the big leagues, you mean?" Eli questioned with a laugh as he caught up to them.

"The Gryffindor Team, of course!" he said exasperatedly. "There is no way James won't put you in as a Chaser this year. He'd be mad not to! I'll have to draw up a contract, but-"

"So what salary are you aiming for?" Cecily laughed, looking towards Lily and then to Hugo and Eli. "I'm Cecily Longbottom, by the way."

"Hugo Weasley," he smirked, then elbowing Eli. "This is my friend and less charming colleague, Elijah Harris."

"Eli," Eli corrected with a smirk that only made Hugo's grow larger. "It's Eli Harris, and I am far more charming then you, Hugo. Anyway, do you go to Hogwarts, or-"

"It'll be my first year in September," she smiled. "I'm really excited for it; the train can't come fast enough."

"You'll be in Gryffindor, right?" Hugo asked, excitement in his blue eyes. "It is by far the best!"

She laughed, "I actually want to be put into Hufflepuff; I really think that-"

"But your dad's the Head of Gryffindor!" Hugo exclaimed, so shocked she would want to be placed anyplace else that he cut her explanation off.

"My mum was a Hufflepuff, and I think that I would do my best in the Hufflepuff house," she explained with a shrug. "I want to be in Hufflepuff."

"But come on, you have to see that Gryffindor is by far the best house, Cecily," Hugo continued to argue.

"I told you, I want to be in-"

"Can I have everyone's attention?" a masculine voice called through the conversation.

Lily turned to see Teddy Lupin, blue hair and all, waving all of the cousins and their friends over to where the adults had since stopped talking, looking at Teddy with a bit of surprise. Sharing a confused look with her friends, they wandered over to see what Teddy was going on about.

"What is it, Teddy?" Grandma Weasley asked, wrinkles folding at the corners of her eyes.

Lily and her friends stopped at the edge of the circle, squeezing in to see a nervous Teddy standing in the center.

"Well," he swallowed, his voice wavering a bit, "I'd like to thank you for taking me into your family, but I'm not really officially in your family."

"Teddy, you are officially in our family!" Lily's father reasoned. "You are a part of our family, no matter what. You don't have to-"

Teddy wasn't listening. Lily watched closely as he turned away from her dad's worries and towards his bewildered-looking blonde girlfriend.

"Teddy, what are you-"

"Victoire Marie Weasley," he said slowly as he got down on one knee, taking out a small, velvet box out of his pocket. "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

The entire Weasley-Potter clan and their guests held their breath as they watched Victoire's blue eyes grow wide at the sight of a diamond ring. Despite their love being well-known through the family, no one was expecting this to happen, not even Victoire. Although she wasn't usually one to show her emotions, tears threatened to overflow out of her eyes.

"Yes," she nodded, barely audible to Lily's strained ears. "Yes!"

And a celebration of their engagement commenced as cameras flashed and butterbeers flowed.

-+-
I suck. I know. It's been years since I've updated; I know. I suck. Boo me. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more chapters up in a timely fashion. I think I'll speed up with my writing once they get to Hogwarts. I just need to write the next two or three chapters before they get there. I GOTTA GET BACK TO HOGWARTS!!

Thanks for your reads/votes/comments! And LP & NT is at about 400 votes!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-aquaseahorse