Vanessa's POV:
The rest of that evening, Lucy and I chatted, played games and listened to the music from my record player.
It was a very suiting thing for the both of us, we found and we agreed to do this more often, maybe with Ginny and Lili.
When Ginny and Lili got back from detention and heard Lucy had skipped hers, Ginny was estatic.
"No way!" She cried out with a grin. "Lucy Potter! Skipping without us? We could've joined you!"
Lili looked skeptical. "I wouldn't have skip- ped Lockart, I mean he's awesome, but I would have loved skipping Snape's deten- tion. I don't think I have ever felt this filthy."
Ginny and Liliana started complaining about their detentions. Apparently, Lili had to clean the cauldrons without magic.
Seriously, if we have magic, why not use it?
Ginny had to clean the supply clauset, which was even dirtier than the classrooms, because no one ever cleaned it, except in a few detentions.
"Makes me wonder what your detention would have been Lu," I said, turning to her.
"Probably clean his posters of himself or something like that," she said flatly and Ginny and I laughed.
Next day in Lockart's class, Lucy was called upon by the idiotic teacher. "Lucy! I didn't see you in my office yesterday, couldn't you find it? I should've known, I'd have shown before!"
"Oh, I know where your office is professor," Lucy interrupted him. "I just didn't go."
The entire class gaped at her cheek and a few guys chuckled or whistled. Lockart looked a bit emberrassed. It was definitely a good look on him.
"Well, you will have to do it tonight then!" He said after he'd gathered himself again.
"But professor, I just said I-"
"In my office, after dinner!"
Lucy scoffed and sat back in her chair, acting up and not paying attention at all for the rest of it.
"Skipping again?" Ginny whispered to her eventually.
"You bet."
In Potions we had to make pairs of two, but Gryffindor with a Slytherin. I sighed, 'cause I had just went and paired up with Lucy.
Ginny went to sit next to a boy whose name I still didn't know, but they both seemed very unhappy, even though I had to admit the boy was pretty good-looking.
Lucy wasn't really lucky either: she got paired with Astoria Greengrass, a girl who was a pureblood, one of the 'sacred twenty-eight' even. But Lucy seemed to try and make the best of it and so did she.
Lili had to work with one of Astoria's good friends, also a pureblood witch and a total bully as well. Her name was Nancy Monta- gue.
I on the other hand got a boy called Peter Parkinson as a pair. (NOT PARKER!) He was literally the biggest flirt in our year and he kept throwing me winks and flrty smirks.
Snape seemed to encourage him in various ways, all very subtle, but it certainly worked encouraging.
He was good at Potions though, because we got an almost perfect potion, even if he got distracted all the time and I got annoyed with him a lot.
After class, Lucy couldn't stop laughing at his antics, apparently having heard and seen it all.
"I am 11 for God's sake!" I exclaimed disgusted. "Like, please leave me alone dude!"
"Age is just a number!" Lili sang with a smirk. "And look at you! Every guy loves a pretty blonde!"
Lucy and Lili laughed, but Ginny stayed quiet, looking a bit absent. "Are you OK, Gin?" Lucy asked when she realised how quiet the other ginger was.
Ginny merely nodded and we went to lunch in total silence. Lucy shot some worried looks at her, but Ginny ignored those com- pletely.
Lucy's POV:
The days after this were weird with Ginny. She was quieter than normally. I myself wasn't myself either to be honest.
Students started making mean comments about my appearence, in particular my scars, after the incident with Malfoy.
They did this either behind my back, while I could easily overhear them or when I was alone, in my face. I preferred the last one.
I was lucky that Harry was busy with his own shit to deal with, like his detentions after the car incident. He had to serve it with Lockart, while Ron had to polish trop- heys for Filch.
Hermione was also occupied with her ob- session with the library, even more than last year, Harry muttered one night.
"No! I'm done with your shit now Wood!" Alicia Suddenly cried out, standing up. "I'm so done! I am RESIGNING!"
with that, she stormed out with Wood looking shocked.
"Oh God, poor Alicia!" Hermione whispered. "I heard he's been harsh on her lately, because her Quidditch skills aren't improving!"
"Wood's hard on all of us though," Fred commented. "She's just taking personally." He sighed defeated and returned to his conversation with George.
"So now they really need new people," Liliana said, grinning. "It'll be even more exciting to watch!"
Quidditch tey-outs were that very afternoon and we all went to watch: Ginny, Liliana, Vanessa and I. The whole team was there, prepairing.
Since no one else was trying for Seeker, Harry didn't really need to try out, so instead, he was in the stands with Ron and Wood, watching.
"And who's being chosen up till now?" I asked them, when we came to stand next to them.
"The twins as beaters," Wood said decisively. "No one's gonna beat 'em, too good."
"And chasers?" Liliana asked on. "You miss one right now."
Wood sighed frustrated. "There's no one here who comes close to Alicia," Harry informed when Wood didn't say anything.
"Should've been nicer then?" Vanessa said with a grin.
"You sound like Hermione," Ron groaned.
"That's not a bad thing!" I protested, hitting him on the shoulder. He ducked, but couldn't avoid me and groaned in pain.
"Wait a minute," Wood said, thinking hard while looking at me intense.
"What is it?" I asked him, a bit uncom- fortable from his look.
"Nope," Harry already said clearly. "Don't even think of it Wood!"
"What?"
"Would you like to-"
"No she would not!"
"D'you wanna win the Cup this year or not?!" Ron yelled at him, suddenly seeing as well. "You've seen the candidates, it's our only chance!"
"I'm not having it!" Harry insiated.
"Wait, you're asking me if I want to join?"
The girls gasped in realisation and excite- ment.
"Yes!"
"She doesn't even play though," Harry tried. "She's never even been on a broom!"
"Neither had you, as I've heard it, Potter!" Liliana retorted.
"And as a matter of fact, I have flown on a broom before, my dear brother," Lucy added sassy.
"We'll have to see how good you are of course," Wood said nodding to the pitch.
I took the hint and went onto the pitch. "Lu wait!" Harry hurried behind me. "What about the problem?"
"You've been changing with the guys last year-"
"I meant your monthly problem."
I looked around shaken. "Talk a little louder, every- one'll know before Christmas!" I whisper- shouted angrily.
But he was right.
"Go on, mount that broom Potter!" Fred called to me and I did.
I wasn't gonna join the team, just play Quid- ditch for fun. Show Harry I could do this, and the other Weasley boys.
Angelina passed me the Quaffle. I felt the ball and instantly knew I could do this. I passed it on to Katie, who grinned and we played.
Wood joined, to play keeper, but when I threw the Quaffle, he didn't manage to catch it. Instead, it went straight through the hoop.
I heard my friends cheer from the stands loudly, with the other people who were here.
"Oh, you're definitely on the team!" Wood bellowed with a huge smile on his face, like Christmas had arrived early.
I landed quickly, the rest following. "I can't join," I told them.
"What? Why not?" George asked incredul- ously. "You're amazing! Harry got in last year as well!" Fred rambled, while Harry shook his head at me, telling me not to do it.
"I just... can't!" I sputtered, when Ginny, Vanessa and Liliana came to us. "You were brilliant!" The latter squeacked, hugging.
"Lili, don't kil her yet, she needs to live to play!" Vanessa joked. Harry turned around with wide eyes at the name.
I'd had the same struggle all this time and I gave him a look.
"Please convince her!" Wood asked them desperately. "She's saying she's not joining!"
They all looked at me confused. "But you liked it right?" Vanessa asked me.
"And you're really good too!" Ginny encour- aged. "You have to join!"
"If I had your talent, I'd've joined at eight!" Liliana shrieked.
"I can't do it! Please stop asking guys!" I stalked up to the castle, so they wouldn't see the tears in my eyes.
Of course I'd love to join, but I couldn't. Not when I turned into a monster once a month!
I stormed through the halls, to some place I could hide. From the team, from my friends, from all the bullies and from Harry.
"You seem in a hurry," a soft voice came from behind me. I turned around to face Luna.
"Hi. Well, I was just trying to get away..."
"Are you OK?" she asked calmly. Not Dumbledore calm, which creeped me out, soothingly calm.
"I think so. Sometimes it's just all a bit... much."
Luna nodded and we walked on together in quiet. "Sometimes all we need is some time alone," Luna said dreamily.
"Yeah..."
Talking with Luna always calmed me when I wasn't feeling great.
She wasn't like other people and not like my friends. She was a very unique person and extremely understanding.
That evening however, I had no choice and no escape: my friends, Harry and his friends and the team were quick to corner me at dinner.
"Where were you?!" Liliana asked. "We looked everywhere! You have to listen! You need to join!"
"You're our only chance!" Wood yelled. "Don't you want to win as well?!"
"Lu don't," Harry warned me, while Ron protested at him.
"Do you want to join?" Hermione asked pretty calm, but she was barely hearable through the crowd of people.
"GUYS!" I yelled at them all, making them quiet. "LEAVE ME ALONE PLEASE! I TOLD YOU I CAN'T!"
Everywhere students were staring now. If the team wanted it to be a secret, their plan had failed already.
I ran out of the Hall without having dinner, to the dorms. There, I decided I didn't want to see anyone and had to leave, so I got the Invisibility Cloak from Harry's dorms and left again.
I just needed some alone time right now.
*~*
Harry's POV:
"BUT WHY?!" Wood asked me for the millionth time that night.
We were in the Common Room, it was after dinner now, but Lucy wasn't here or in her dorm.
"You wouldn't understand!" I said again, to all the people sitting here. They were all worried for Lucy.
Except Wood, who was preoccupied with his quidditch obsession as always. "But she's so good! We can win this year with her on the team!"
"Oh, honestly!" Hermione scoffed. "Lucy is missing! Why are you still thinking of Quidditch?!"
"It's Quidditch!" Ron and Wood cried insync.
"Besides, Lucy's a big girl, she can take care of herself," Ron added careless.
"We pushed a bit too far though," Vanessa said in an absent voice. "She said no..."
"But she loves Quidditch! Of course she wants to get in!" Ginny argued with her. "She's just uncertain I guess."
"S'not that," I muttered, staring into space, zoning out of the conversation. We should've gone after her. I should've gone after her.
Ginny was right, Lucy wanted to be on the team, yet she couldn't. All because of her werewolf problem. I knew this hurt her.
Vanessa stood up from the couch and went up to her room, to be alone for a bit. Ginny took out a small book (probably a notebook) and Liliana Shacklebolt just sat there, staring out of the window.
The Weasley twins at least saw that Quid- ditch wasn't everything right now. Wood didn't and kept nagging on about it.
"Oliver, you do know we're talking about his sister, right?" Fred interrupted him. "You know, his only family left?"
"I think he's more concerned about that at the moment," George continued.
Hermione sighed. She'd taken out her homework, but by the looks of it, hadn't come too far. "For once I have to agree with them."
"Really?" George asked mockingly. "That's news! Put it in the Prophet!" Fred called. A few laughed.
By now, half the school knew Lucy wasn't here. Naturally, everyone listened in on the geoup, wanting to know more.
"I'm gonna go look," I suddenly said, before I had even decided I would. Without listening to anyone else, I left to go and find her.
Minerva's POV:
I was just walking my usual rounds at night, when I heard footsteps coming from the Astronomy Tower.
I was in my cat form, so I had much better hearing and I quickly darted upstairs, to where the student in the wrong would be.
When I got there however, I found Lucy Potter sitting on the edge. Not like she was gonna jump, just sitting there.
I had of course already heard what had happened. It was hard to have missed with the scene they'd caused at dinner.
I also noticed, when I went over to her (in cat form) that she had cried and still looked sad.
"I know it's you Minnie," she said when she turned to me out of the blue. I turned back to human form.
"What's my detention gonna be?" She asked, wiping her tearstruck face. I remained quiet.
"Well?"
"You won't. How are you doing Miss Potter?" I asked in a kind voice. This was not the time for strict.
She looked rather taken aback at my tone and shrugged. "I'm... well, I tyink you already know it's not 'fine'... I've been better to be honest."
"Is this about the Quidditch team?"
She turned away from me, looking out over the grounds. "I would have said yes. I love Quidditch... I just can't."
"If you really want to, why not?" I asked, although I thought I knew the answer and it wasn't weird she thought so.
"Because I'm dangerous," she answered. "I still have no idea why I'm even here. Or why I'm telling you all this. It's impossible with my... 'furry little problem'"
I'd heard this name for it before, from Remus Lupin and his friends. It was tye way they'd call his lycanthropy.
"I wouldn't know if that would make it impossible exactly. Hard yes, but maybe not impossible."
Lucy Potter, who looked so much like her Mom, especially now in the dark, turned to me again.
"Really? 'Cause I think it is..."
Before I could answer, the door creacked and Mrs. Norris, Argus Filch's cat came in, followed by her owner.
"Aha!" He said with a manecing voice. "A student out at night..."
Lucy's eyes widened and I was certain I saw her hide a certain cloak behind her, out of his sight.
Of course I knew about James' invisibility cloak and that Harry had probably gotten it last year. I didn't comment however.
"Argus, my apologies, but you are not to punish Miss Potter tonight," I interrupted the old grumpy man. "I asked her to come to me, as to talk a little. I took her out for a walk this night."
Filch and Lucy stared at me wide-eyed and Argus turned around and stormed off, frustrated.
"Thank you," the red head said quietly.
Not long after that, Harry Potter walked in, obviously searching for her.
I left them alone and heard them both walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room a few minutes later.
_____________________________________________
A/N:
Hi, it's been a while, I didn't know what to write and was a bit busy, but here's the next chapter!
New characters!! Fc are below! Some are more important than others, but I don't who is and who isn't yet, so I'll just give everyone a face. So you'll get a better view on Lucy's year 'caise I swear, other than Luna, Ginny Colin and I think As- toria Greengrass, there were no other characters.
I want to add more Luna scenes, but was this good?
What era do y'all like most (Marauders, Golden trio, second gen, maybe Minnie/Voldy or fantastic beasts etc.)
Any more suggestions, let me know!