XXX. TO HAVE THE DAYS OF SPRING, FRIEND
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❝Eyes like sinking ships on waters
So inviting, I almost jump in❞
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PLACING DOWN THE FLORAL JOURNAL on her lap, Lucia drew a breath as she sat soundly on a heap of trunks that consisted of hers, Hermione's, Ron's, and Harry's, swinging her legs back and forth aimlessly as she waited in the crowded entrance hall with the rest of the fourth years for the carriages to arrive that would take them back to Hogsmeade station.
Running her hand through her hair, it was another beautiful day that she should enjoy, yet she felt gloomy instead. She had been dreading for this day to come, but she was also hoping that the inhabitants of the Beaumont household had grown in maturity as they did in age and height...
A bit far-fetch of a wish really.
"'Arry!"
It was Fleur Delacour. She was hurrying up the stone steps into the castle. Beyond her, far across the grounds, Lucia could see Hagrid helping Madame Maxime to back two of the giant horses into their harness. The Beauxbatons carriage was about to take off.
"We will see each uzzer again, I 'ope," said Fleur as she reached Harry, holding out her hand. "I am 'oping to get a job 'ere, to improve my Eenglish."
"It's very good already," said Ron in a strangled sort of voice. Fleur smiled at him; Hermione scowled.
Lucia smiled wholesomely at the interaction between Fleur and Harry, ignoring Ron and Hermione.
"Goodbye, 'Arry," said Fleur, turning to go. "It 'az been a pleasure meeting you!"
Fleur turned to Lucia suddenly, causing the latter to jump in surprise before she pressed a long kiss on both side of Lucia's cheeks, leaving a print of her lipstick on her. "I 'ope to see you again, Lucia," said Fleur with gentle eyes on the girl. "Gabrielle 'ould love to write to you if zhat's ookay?"
Lucia giggled uncontrollably, touching her bright red cheeks. "O-Of course," she hugged Fleur tightly, taking in her sweet scent of flora, seeing as Fleur was itching to hug the little girl. "Tu vas me manquer,"
"Moi aussi," breathed Fleur, teary eye already. "I'll be 'eading off now. Merci and adieu!"
"Adieu!" Lucia waved back at Fleur as the veela descent hurried back across the lawns to Madame Maxime, her silvery hair rippling in the sunlight.
"Since when can you speak French?" Ron asked, perplexed.
She merely smiled.
"I don't," Lucia said, "I just remembered watching this French TV show when I was really young, and memorised some words, I guess? I actually didn't know what I was saying but was lucky enough that it was right. Practically fake it till' you make it kind of situation, huh?"
"That's pretty impressive of you," said Hermione truthfully. The air of animosity between them disappeared ever since a month ago. The first time she had seen Lucia in such severe state between life and death brought her to shed tears, causing her to appreciate more of her company than before. "Even I can't memorise a new languange and understand them without learning them,"
"I never said I understood, but I'm flattered," smiled Lucia appreciatively.
"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," said Ron. "D'you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"
"Karkaroff did not steer," said a gruff voice. "He stayed in his cabin and let us do the vork."
Krum had come to say goodbye to Hermione.
"Could I have a vord?" he asked her.
"Oh... yes... all right," said Hermione, looking slightly flustered, and following Krum through the crowd and out of sight.
"You'd better hurry up!" Ron called loudly after her. "The carriages'll be here in a minute!"
"You're just saying that because you're jealous, oh dear Ginger snaps," said Lucia teasingly, seeing as he let Harry and Lucia keep a watch for the carriages, however, and spent the next few minutes craning his neck over the crowd to try and see what Krum and Hermione might be up to.
"Do not!" Ron scoffed.
"Do too," she said in a singsong tone. "Though I have no idea whom you're jealous of: Is it Krum, or is it Hermione? Who knows,"
"I'll throw you in the Black Lake one day, I swear,"
"Been there, done that!" yawned Lucia, waving her hand at Beauxbatons carriage. "Also, Sir Squid wouldn't let me get soak unwillingly, he'll catch me before you could even say Quidditch. You won't let me get soak as well, would you Harry?"
Harry smiled amusingly, looking between Lucia and Ron. "Nope," he said.
Lucia had a smug look on her face. "See,"
Ron scowled. "Traitor," he said.
Seconds later, Hermione and Krum returned. Ron stared at Hermione, but her face was quite impassive.
"I liked Diggory," said Krum abruptly to Harry. "He vos alvays polite to me. Alvays. Even though I vos from Durmstrang — with Karkaroff," he added, scowling.
"Have you got a new headmaster yet?" said Harry.
Krum shrugged. He held out his hand as Fleur had done, shook Harry's hand, and then gave Lucia a firm shook before it was Ron's turn. Ron looked as though he was suffering some sort of painful internal struggle. Krum had already started walking away when Ron burst out, "Can I have your autograph?"
Hermione turned away, smiling at the horseless carriages that were now trundling toward them up the drive, as Krum, looking surprised but gratified, signed a fragment of parchment for Ron.
"Couldn't help yourself, could you?" said Lucia to Ron, who look nothing but dreamy, like the one he had when the Durmstrang delegations first arrived.
"I'm going to frame this when I get back home," sighed Ron, holding his signed parchment to his chest.
Lucia and Hermione giggled while Harry smiled at his best friend's antics.
Subconsciously, Lucia entered the Hogwarts Express alone, her legs automatically going into the same compartment as back then. She laid back on the chair, leaning her head against the window before sighing defeatedly.
Another year past, but something about this year felt different than before. Sitting in an empty compartment didn't feel the same as it did before and she wondered why? She only had company once back when they were going to Hogwarts for their fourth year, so why the sudden shift in atmosphere?
Somehow, she felt... lonelier than usual.
"Lucia? Lucie!"
She turned her head to the doorway and before she knew it, a head peaked into the compartment. It was Harry.
Then another two heads peeked in as well. Ron and Hermione.
What are they — ?
"Gosh," Harry heaved an exasperated sigh, running his fingers through his hair. "We thought that we'll never find you before the train leaves."
"Did you lose us too?" Hermione tilting her head to the side, asking.
"Uh... n-no?" Lucia replied, puzzled.
"Then why did you walk away from us when we were calling for you?!" Ron inquired.
Lucia was instantly surprised by this. They were finding her this whole time?
"Why?"
"Why?" Harry looked at her as though she had grown two heads, incredulous. "Because... because..." Because why exactly, Harry?! "Y-You could've told us that you didn't want to sit with us. We just automatically assumed that we were all going to sit together until we reached King's Cross, but if you don't feel comfortable and all... it's perfectly fine —"
"NO!" Lucia intervened, standing up abruptly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione blinked at her, as she blinked back before heat rose to her cheeks. She drew out a bashful laugh, sitting back down. "I... uh... don't mind at all," she said quietly. The three looked at one another, a grin present. She then turned to them hesitantly, "I guess it's just a force of habit, you know? I actually love if you guys sit with me..."
"Well, that's reasonable. You've been sitting alone this whole time, right?" said Ron with no restraint, entering inside the compartment and stowing his, Harry's, and Hermione's trunk away before sitting down.
Lucia smiled wearily at him, and Hermione sent him an abrasive look. "How tactless can you be?!"
"Me? Tactless?" And before she knew it, Ron and Hermione went into another session of baseless argument.
Harry sat down across from her, smiling. He was glad that she felt comfortable enough for them to sit with her, because after this whole year he didn't think anything would be the same as before.
That smile of hers... he wished for it to never fade.
The journey back to King's Cross wasn't as enjoyable as it had been on their way to Hogwarts the previous September. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucia had managed to get a compartment to themselves. Pigwidgeon was once again hidden under Ron's dress robes to stop him from hooting continually; Hedwig was dozing, her head under her wing; Crookshanks was curled up on Lucia's lap like a large, furry, ginger cushion.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucia talked more fully and freely than they had all week as the train sped them southward. Dumbledore's speech back during the Leaving feast seem to have unblocked him somehow. It was less painful for him to discuss what had happened now. They broke off their conversation about what action Dumbledore might be taking, even now, to stop Voldemort only when the lunch trolley arrived
When Hermione returned from the trolley and put her money back into her schoolbag, she dislodged a copy of the Daily Prophet that she had been carrying in there.
Lucia picked the skin of her orange that she stole during the feast and stared at the newspaper with uncertainty, but Hermione, seeing the bunch looking at it, said calmly, "There's nothing in there. You can look for yourself, but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Just a small piece the day after the third task saying you won the tournament. They didn't even mention Cedric. Nothing about any of it. If you ask me, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet."
"Coward," muttered Lucia, plopping a tangerine in her mouth.
"He'll never keep Rita quiet," said Harry. "Not on a story like this."
"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything at all since the third task," said Hermione in an oddly constrained voice. "As a matter of fact," she added, her voice now trembling slightly, "Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."
"What are you talking about?" said Ron.
"You sound like an evil mastermind right about now, Hermione." Lucia said jokingly, before muttering, "It's rather attractive actually..."
"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," said Hermione in a rush.
From the expression on her face, it was clear to see that Hermione had been dying to tell them this for days, but that she had restrained herself considering everything else that had happened.
"How was she doing it?" said Harry at once.
"How did you find out?" said Ron, staring at her.
"What did you do to find out?" said Lucia curiously.
"Well, it was you, really, who gave me the idea, Harry," she said.
"He did?" said Lucia, surprised.
"I did?" said Harry, perplexed. "How?"
"Bugging," said Hermione happily.
"Okay..." said Lucia worriedly. "I... I think she's talking gibberish now..."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Lucia.
"But you said they didn't work —"
"Oh, not electronic bugs," said Hermione. "No, you see... Rita Skeeter" — Hermione's voice trembled with quiet triumph — "is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn —"
Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag.
"— into a beetle."
Lucia let out a sound that sounded incoherently close to a gasp.
"You're kidding," said Ron. "You haven't... she's not..."
"Oh yes she is," said Hermione happily, brandishing the jar at them.
Inside were a few twigs and leaves and one large, fat beetle.
"That's never — you're kidding —" Ron whispered, lifting the jar to his eyes.
"No, I'm not," said Hermione, beaming. "I caught her on the windowsill in the hospital wing. Look very closely, and you'll notice the markings around her antennae are exactly like those foul glasses she wears."
Harry looked as though he remembered something. "There was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his mum!"
"Exactly," said Hermione. "And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we'd had our conversation by the lake. And unless I'm very much mistaken, Rita was perched on the windowsill of the Divination class the day your scar hurt. She's been buzzing around for stories all year."
"When we saw Malfoy under that tree..." said Ron slowly.
"He was talking to her, in his hand..." said Lucia, still wrapping her head around this.
Hermione nodded proudly. "He knew, of course. That's how she's been getting all those nice little interviews with the Slytherins. They wouldn't care that she was doing something illegal, as long as they were giving her horrible stuff about us and Hagrid."
Lucia snatched the glass jar from Ron and stared at it, still in awe. The beetle buzzed angrily against the glass.
"I feel like I should kiss you right now, Hermione." Lucia said, shaking the jar violently with a mischievous smile. She shook the jar profusely as though she was making a milkshake.
Sweet revenge.
Hermione took the glass jar back from the unrestraint girl. "I'm flattered, but pass," she said playfully before smiling at the beetle.
"Still going to kiss you!" Lucia pressed a kiss on Hermione's cheek.
Hermione let out fits of giggles.
"Anyway — I've told her I'll let her out when we get back to London," said Hermione. "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I've told her she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible lies about people."
Smiling serenely, Hermione placed the beetle back inside her schoolbag.
The door of the compartment slid open.
"Very clever, Granger," said Draco Malfoy.
Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him. All three of them looked more pleased with themselves, more arrogant and more menacing, than they had ever been.
Lucia rubbed her temples with her forefingers. "There it is again," she said. "The headache..."
"So," said Malfoy slowly, ignoring Lucia's remark as he advanced slightly into the compartment and looking slowly around at them, a smirk quivering on his lips. "You caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal."
His smirk widened. Crabbe and Goyle leered.
"Trying not to think about it, are we?" said Malfoy softly, looking around at all three of them. "Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?"
"Get out," said Harry.
Lucia perked when she felt little needles poking her skin as animosity in the air heightened. She snapped her head up to Harry and saw that he was gripping his wand from underneath his robes.
Uh oh.
Here we go again, though she didn't blame him. Malfoy was on thin ice with this one.
"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" He jerked his head at Ron and Hermione. "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well — second — Diggory was the f —"
It was as though someone had exploded a box of fireworks within the compartment. Blinded by the blaze of the spells that had blasted from every direction, deafened by a series of bangs, Lucia blinked and looked down at the floor.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all lying unconscious in the doorway. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on their feet, all three of them having used a different hex. Nor were they the only ones to have done so.
Lucia used her hanky and moved Malfoy by the hand, dragging him out to the corridors before throwing the hanky in her bag in disgust. She may need to do some sanitising once she gets back...
"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," said Fred matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment. He had his wand out, and so did George, who was careful to tread on Malfoy as he followed Fred inside.
"Interesting effect," said George, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"
"Me," said Harry.
"Odd," said George lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."
Ron, Harry, and George kicked, rolled, and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle — each of whom looked distinctly the worse for the jumble of jinxes with which they had been hit — out into the corridor, then came back into the compartment and rolled the door shut.
"Exploding Snap, anyone?" said Fred, pulling out a pack of cards.
They were halfway through their fifth game when Harry decided to ask them.
"You going to tell us, then?" he said to George. "Who you were blackmailing?"
"Oh," said George darkly. "That."
"It doesn't matter," said Fred, shaking his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."
"We've given up," said George, shrugging.
But Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucia kept on asking, and finally, Fred said, "All right, all right, if you really want to know... it was Ludo Bagman."
"Bagman?" said Harry sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in —"
"Nah," said George gloomily. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."
"Well, what, then?" said Ron.
Fred hesitated, then said, "You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"
"Yeah," said Harry and Ron slowly.
"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?"
"So," said Fred impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"
"But — it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" said Hermione.
"It's leprechaun gold," stated Lucia simply, "of course it was gone. Bagman knew and took the chance to scam them. No wonder I didn't like him. He's always been a dodgy guy, so..."
"You didn't like him in the first place without a reason actually," pointed Harry with a ghost of smile.
"Bite me," she scowled.
Before Harry could retort, George laughed very bitterly.
"Yeah, that's what we thought, at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."
"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," said Fred. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."
"So we asked for our money back," said George, glowering.
"He didn't refuse!" gasped Hermione.
"Right in one," said Fred.
"What rubbish of a man," said Lucia, sneering.
"But that was all your savings!" said Ron.
"Tell me about it," said George. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"
"How?" said Harry.
"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."
"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" said Harry. "Well — I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"
"Nope," said George, shaking his head. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."
George sighed deeply and started dealing out the cards again.
The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough and before they knew it, the Hogwarts Express was pulling in at platform nine and three-quarters. The usual confusion and noise filled the corridors as the students began to disembark. Ron and Hermione struggled out past Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, carrying their trunks.
Lucia was the same, though she purposely made sure to hit her trunk against Crabbe and Goyle's head twice before following Ron and Hermione out.
They waited patiently for the others and once they were all out, together they pass through the barrier, where they were greeted by Mrs. Weasley and a very unattractive, grumpy looking middle-aged man, whom Lucia assume was the infamous uncle she had heard from Harry about, Harry's Uncle Vernon Dursley.
She narrowed her eyes at the man as she went and gave Mrs. Weasley a smile, in which the witch simply reciprocated by pulling the girl in a very tight, unexpected hug.
Lucia couldn't quite fathom this and frankly, she was a bit uncomfortable. She barely knew the woman except for the time when she had taken care of her and Harry, which was short. Nonetheless, feeling that she had owed the woman for being so kind to her, Lucia hugged back. Though awkwardly.
"How've you been doing, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Er... d-dandy?" responded Lucia unsurely.
"That's not very convincing..." frowned the matriarch.
"Truthfully I'm not convincing myself either, but I'm getting better," she admitted.
"Well, that's a start," said Mrs. Weasley, nodded. She then looked around the station. "Pardon me for asking, but do you have anyone to escort you home? If not, I don't mind..."
Lucia was then struck by lightning as realisation dawned on her with fright. She cursed herself repeatedly for forgetting one particular, yet important thing, home. She almost forgot about it.
How could she forget about that? No one would ever forget that they were supposed to go home at this time of the year... but it wasn't as though she was excited in the first place. The thought of returning to the house and having to be an obedient and 'perfect' adoptive daughter to the Beaumont couple was simply anguishing.
Yet, like always, she finds herself back to them. Like a magnet.
"Lucia?" Mrs. Weasley called for her, concern.
"Oh — er — yes?"
"Are you all right? You're not straining yourself, are you?" she asked.
Lucia tried her best to hide the fact that she was in a slight of a predicament behind a very convincing smile, rubbing her neck as she did so. "No, not at all, Mrs. Weasley. I'm perfectly fine now. I... I was just thinking, is all," she said. Did they even remember that she would be returning...?
"Luciana!"
That voice... there was no doubting it. It was —
"M-Mother?!" Lucia yelped, voice cracking at the sight of Mrs. Beaumont approaching the group of them, hiding the look of distaste that Lucia knew so well with a kind smile. Not far from the wicked woman was a dark-haired man in his late thirties. Lucia's look of surprised only twofold. She couldn't believe that even Mr. Beaumont had the time of day to come here.
"My, why do you look so surprise to see your mother, dear?"
Lucia swallowed the lump in her throat, hard. She felt like she could gag right there and then. What are they, out of all people, doing here?
She mostly expected Hugo to come and get her like last year... and the year before that... and the year before that... But never them.
"You're Lucia's mother, then?" said Mrs. Weasley, surprised by the woman.
"Ah, yes," said Mrs.Beaumont, shaking Mrs. Weasley's hand before quickly pulling away. "You might be surprised because my husband and I don't look like her, but she's indeed our daughter. We fostered her to the young woman she is now,"
"That explains it," said Mrs. Weasley smilingly. "You are a very kind woman then,"
Kind? Lucia could barf. The word "kind" was something she would never affiliate Mrs. Beaumont with.
"Oh, you flatter me," chuckled Mrs. Beaumont coyly, before turning to Lucia, who flinched at the woman. The braveness she felt for the last year vanished and was replaced by the constant panic and dread she felt before she met Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And it was all because of that wicked smile...
The way that smile could haunt her dreams would be an extreme understatement...
"Now, Luciana, go and say goodbye to your... friends before we go. Your father is a busy man, he doesn't have all day," she said. "And fix that posture of yours,"
Lucia, immediately, she straightened herself in a robotic manner. The summer gears she had put a halt before going to school a few months ago, began moving. She really didn't like following her mother's or father's orders, but as the words that were engraved in her mind already, she must be obedient.
Well, thought Lucia, at least she acknowledge that she had friends...
Lucia turned away swiftly and made her way to say her goodbyes to the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry. She said goodbye to the Weasley twins and Ginny, giving all three of them her slightly awkward hug that they found the attempt very amusing.
"Don't forget to write to me, okay?" Ginny said, hugging Lucia tightly as they swayed on the spot.
"I'll try, but you have to promise me too" said Lucia quietly.
"Don't worry, I promise," Ginny said, before reluctantly pulling away.
"Finally, it's our turn," said Fred.
"Yeah, way to hog her, Ginny," scoffed George.
Ginny rolled her eyes.
Lucia smiled at the sibling interaction before she yelped, surprised, as the twins hoisted her off the ground, rubbing their cheeks together with hers.
"We'll miss you, Little Flower," said George. "But we'll see each other again,"
"So don't miss us too much," finished Fred.
"Gerroff me!" Lucia giggled with slight teasing of disgust at their touchiness. "Yuck!" she said after the put her down.
"You know you love us, Lucia," the two said simultaneously.
"That's why you tolerate us so much," mused Fred smugly.
"Barely, you mean. I barely tolerate you, Fred."
He hummed in response.
"What's going on between you and Erin?" she asked, causing Fred's face to burn in the colour of scarlet.
George and Ginny looked at one another amusingly.
"That's so sudden of you —"
"Think of it as payback. Also, you're diverting the question, answer me now," demanded Lucia shamelessly.
Fred scowled. "Nothing," he said coyly.
"That's a lie," scoffed Ginny.
"No one asked for your opinion, shortstack," Fred said snarkily.
"Just tell her what she needs to know, Freddie," said George teasingly. "Tell Little Flower that you kissed her friend."
"No!" gasped Lucia, a hand clamping over her mouth as she stared at the three Weasleys in shock.
"Oh yes he did," said Ginny, grinning,
"Shut up," groaned Fred, rubbing his face.
"Saw it first hand," George said beamingly, "Lee and I thought it would never happen."
"I thought so too," said Lucia. "Fred just doesn't seem to have the balls to do it,"
"Okay, can we stop with insulting me now?" scowled Fred.
"For now," the three said to him, causing him to deepen his frown. Well, that was until his bright brown eyes locked with ones of icy greys. He soon found himself smiling like an idiot.
"Oh, there he goes again," said George, whispering to the two younger girls. "His been like that since a few months ago,"
"I wonder how kissing Erin would feel," wondered Ginny.
"Probably great," Lucia beckoned Fred briefly.
"Heaven," nodded George.
Lucia chuckled until she heard Mrs. Beaumont calling her, "Luciana! Hurry up!" and instantly she sighed. She needed to be fast if she wanted to be safe from being tormented by them this summer...
She hastily moved to her other three friends.
It was time to say goodbye to them. She was going to missed them.
"See you, Harry," said Ron, clapping him on the back.
"'Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.
Lucia quirked a brow at this while Ron narrowed his eyes but soon, the two shrugged.
"W-Want a hug, Ron?" offered Lucia, feeling a bit left out.
"Please," he said, nodding. The pair wrapped their arms around each other before smacking one another at the back of their heads.
They scowled but couldn't refrain themselves from smiling at this.
"My turn," Hermione chirped giddily.
Lucia giggled and gave Hermione a nice hug, something neither of the two imagined could be reality, before pulling away. She then turned to Harry, who looked as though he was waiting for her to throw herself on him.
Harry bit his lip with hope.
Lucia smiled gently at him and before he knew it, she was in her arms after running to him. The two relished each other's scent. Who knew this would be a hard goodbye for them?
They pulled away slightly, looking at each other's eyes. The shimmering night eyes of the DiFiore was quivering calmly into the lively spring of the Potter.
"Write to me?" she asked softly.
"Only if you write to me too," he said with a genuine smile, mirroring hers.
The look in their eyes were enough to confirm it; they were falling for one another. But also scared.
Lucia rested her palm on the side of his face before pulling him to her. Harry felt nervous all the sudden.
Soon, he felt her soft lips pressed against his cheeks, directly on where Hermione had pecked. The gesture was little yet felt so right. The pair didn't want to pull away from one another, wanting to stay this way forever, but knew that they couldn't stop the time in the world for it.
Lucia pulled away and flashed him one last smile before pulling away from his arms. She picked up her trunk.
"You'll be there for me?" said Harry, staring into her eyes.
Turning her heel to walk, Lucia looked back to him with the smile that only he knew. "If I have to, I'll be there for you until the very end."
With that, her fourth year came to an end. A very tragic end.
Lucia DiFiore followed closely behind both of the Beaumont whom she was sure she was about to get a lecture from when they reached the car, but somehow, she didn't felt as though she cared much anymore. All she could think of right there and then was the memory of her kissing Harry's cheeks.
It felt right.
The way her heartbeat to no end as she did that, and she wasn't even sure what possessed her to do that in the first place. All she knew was that when the time comes for her to let him go, she didn't think she could do it. Not without shattering anyway.
Because, unknowingly, he became something more to her.
She stowed her trunk into the bonnet and slipped inside the backseat. The car ride was both silent and loud as she recounted this past year. The more she thought of him, the more her heart move in an abnormal pace. The more she reminded herself of his presence, the more she felt as though she was running through a field of peonies and pink asters, happy.
She had fallen for him.
Merlin, she actually did...
She had fallen for someone she never thought she would fall for.
It'd made sense, how every time he was to utter her name, "Luciana," she would always crave to hear for more. Every time he was to touch her hair, she felt calm. She had fallen in a deep rabbit hole before she even knew it and she didn't think she could ever come out of it unscathed.
Once again, the universe brought her into yet another dead end, but she couldn't find herself to complain about it this time. This dead end seemed to be much better than the ones in the past. She rather this predicament, than something worse.
Because she wasn't in love with him, so she still had time.
Time to save herself from agony.