Lucy's POV:
The first three days after that fight, I spent only with Luna, Marley and Harry's clique. I did so for various reasons:
For one, I hadn't spoken to Luna or Marley a lot lately and wanted to catch up with them.
Two, I felt very guilty about how my friends acted towards Marley and wanted to make it up to her and show her I hated what they did.
Three, I needed to keep an eye on Her- mione, so she wouldn't find out about me. I mean, Harry could try keep her off, but we both know I'm the master of secrets. If anyone was to keep Hermione Granger from finding out, it was me.
Hangning out with Harry also meant seeing more of his classmates, in this case Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom.
Dean was Muggleborn, which meant he understood the Muggle world, unlike others and I had some very good conversations with him. He was also anything but judgy and really kind.
Neville was the sweetest boy I'd ever met in my whole life. He was very insecure though and also pretty shy, but the kindest and trustworthy person yet.
While I didn't really know Seamus too well yet, I could tell that though he was a bit prejudiced at times, unlike Dean, and not as sweet as Neville, he was definitely loyalty itself. He was also someone who could believe in you, especially when you didn't.
In short, I really liked them all and we became good friends.
Nevertheless, I couldn't escape the bored and lonely feeling of not being around Ginny, Vanessa and Liliana and people noticed.
"What even happened between you girls?" Harry asked one afternoon in the common room.
"I got angry at them for being mean to Marley," I responded flatly. "But they wouldn't understand. They just... judge her."
Harry made an understanding noice and sat down closer to me. "You're scared they won't accept you if they find out?"
I scowled and looked to him. "That's not at all what this is! I'm just saying-"
"Lucy..."
I stopped, knowing he was right: without knowing it, I'd distanced myself out of fear of being abandoned.
"So what do I do?" I said dreadfully after a while, looking back at Harry.
"Talk to them."
"I'm not telling them!"
"That's not what I mean... talk about the judging. It doesn't have to be suspiscious."
So in the end, the next day I did go and talk to them.
"Why were you even angry?" Liliana asked. "What did we do to you?"
"You still don't get it do you?" Vanessa scoffed at her and turned to me. "We were being bullies. Or well, sort of..."
"We were?!" Ginny sat up straight. She'd been absorbed by her diary a moment before, but was paying full attention now.
"It sure felt like it," I confirmed. "You were pretty stupid."
"You're right," Vanessa sighed and put her head in the palms of her hands in despair. "I should've seen... I'm so sorry..."
"You don't have to tell me that!" I scowled at her. "Tell that to Marley, she deserves an apology."
"You do too, especially from me," Vanessa said, looking me straight in the eye with pure sincerity.
"Where is Marley?" Ginny asked finally, standing up. "Let's do it now."
"In the library I think, with Luna."
"No," Liliana said suddenly and determined.
"Are you being serious right now?" I asked her harshly. "You were the worst!"
"I mean, we're not doing it there, we should go big," Liliana continued calmly. "A big mistake requires a big apology."
I sighed in relief and gave her an approving nod. With that, we got planning.
In the meantime, I noticed Ginny becoming more and more absent and quiet. Ever since Halloween (and even before then), she'd been on edge, but it got worse.
"Gin, are you OK?" I asked her end of Nov- ember, for what felt like the tenth time in a week.
"Of course!" She squeacked, flinching. I raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. "It's just... I'm nervous, after Halloween-"
"Nothing will happen to us, you know that right?" I answered reassuringly. Ginny smiled back uneasily. "You can't be sure..."
"No, I know I can't, but I can believe."
"And what about you?" She suddenly asked back. "You're not acting like usual either."
It was the full moon. I'd had two full moons here and was about to have another one coming up, in a week.
Both times prior, the girls had come visit in a worry, with loads of questions, same goes for Ron and Hermione, who accompanied Harry.
I was pale already. Sickly pale, so I got a lot of questions about my health. I lied to all my friends, including my best friends and people I knew trusted me.
"I'm just not feeling great."
"Again?" Ginny asked suspisciously. "What is it with you and your health?"
"I just have a weak immune system Gin," I muttered, trying to keep the conversation to ourselves, as we were walking the halls.
We passed the trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were whispering secretive.
I'm not always nosey, but when it came to Harry, I was extremely nosey: he was my big brother after all.
"What're they up to, d'you think?" I asked Ginny, observing the second years.
"Let's go find out," Ginny smirked and walked over. "What are you talking about?"
"N-nothing!" Hermione said hurriedly, looking between Ginny and I. Ginny looked at all three and blushed hard when she looked at Harry.
Oh. My. God.
Naturally, Harry didn't see this, being the oblivious boy he just was, but Hermione and I shared a knowing look and smirked.
"Go away Ginny!" Ron ended saying annoy- ed. Hermione smacked his arm harshly. "Be nice, Ron!"
"It's nothing for you guys to worry about," Harry told me. "No worries Lu."
I narrowed my eyes at him and we left, while the trio resumed talking in hushed voices. Harry obviously knew I wasn't going to let this slip.
"Oy, you two!" We heard an all too familiar voice call and we stopped, to let Vanessa and Liliana catch up with us.
"Are we still in for this?" Liliana asked us all, putting around my shoulders and doing the same for Ginny. "The 'great apology'?"
"You bet!" Vanessa grinned, walking beside me. "In the middle of lunch."
"Oh Merlin save us," Ginny sighed miserab- ly. "We'll be remembered forever this way."
"Hell yeah!" I cheered, bumping my fist in the air. "We'll go down in history!"
"Spoken wisely," Liliana nodded happily. "Hear that people? We'll go down in history."
*~*
Harry's POV:
During lunch, all of a sudden, Liliana, Ginny, Vanessa and Lucy arose from their seats, glasses in hand.
"Attention folks!" Liliana called out, turning all attention towards the group. "We've got an anouncement to make!"
"Y'see, we have been unfair towards one of you," Vanessa continued, looking around the hall, filled with students and teachers. "For this, we are extremely sorry, Marley."
This girl, another first-year girl squealed, blushed madly and bowed her head low in shame.
"And to prove that we're really sorry, we did this for you." Ginny finished by clinking her knife to her glass.
At this, a load of strange creatures flew in: they were pixies. Everyone shrieked and went to dive out of their way. But instead of causing mayhem, they flew in a circle and started a weird version of the Hogwarts anthem.
Instead, this one had way different lyrics!
Or at least, I think it did, because the little creatures were barely understandable with their unclear way of speaking.
Even so, it made everyone in the Hall laugh hysterically, including even the Slytherins, who usually hated the pranks, and the teachers.
"How'd you guys do this?!" I heard this Marley girl ask the quartet through her laughing.
"A magician never reveals their secrets," Liliana mused teasingly and they all laugh- ed. "I'm sorry Marley, I know I was worst."
"It's OK, at least now you're making up."
"Hell yeah they are," Lu said sternly, to her friends mainly. "It was getting unbearably mean."
I hadn't even noticed anything odd like that, but I decided to not say anything about this. I guess Lucy was right all along: maybe I really was oblivious.
*~*
Lucy's POV:
Two days went by in relative peace, or at least, for someone called Potter, that is. Upcoming Saturday was the first Quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. My first match.
Yes, I had eventually been convinced to join the team, by Minnie and the Weasley twins. Of course, Wood and the other girls on the team had done their bit, but it was mostly them that did it.
Harry was far from happy with this. He was really scared I'd get myself injured and seeing his history in injuries, I couldn't dis- agree with the boy.
He was scared with my Lycanthropy as well: "people are gonna notice even more now," he argued. "The whole school could see."
He had given up on trying to get me out in the end, when he saw I was 'really good' and his competitiveness got the better of him.
Well, Saturday was today and of course, the Full Moon was in three days, so I was lucky once again to be sore on my first match.
"You have to eat something," Vanessa com- mented when she saw me playing with my food. "You'll need it."
"She's right y'know," Liliana agreed. "Better not play your first match on an empty stomach, it's not exactly healthy."
Instead of eating, I looked around the table. "Where's Ginny?"
"Still in the dorms," Liliana answered with raised eyebrows. "She said she'd be coming to the match though. You heard that, you said ok!"
"I'm sorry!" I flinched a little, even though she wasn't angry at all. What was I doing?
"It's all fine if you eat something right now, Potter."
"You aren't eating?!" Wood cried out exasperated. "You have to eat! And it's al- most time!"
"Christ, just chill Wood," I sighed, taking a bite from my toast. "See? I am eating. Now, let me eat in peace please."
"You should really be nicer to your captain," Vanessa whispered to me when Wood walked away. "He could probably kick you off if he wanted."
"He won't though," I retorted. "He's too ambitious and he thinks he needs me to win."
"Because we do," Katie suddenly reacted. "You're our best chaser, and best on the team with Harry I think."
"What can I say?" I smiled at the girl. "It's in our blood."
"It surely is," Fred smiled and so did George. "And hell, how we need it."
"Team, it's time!" Wood called to all of us and Fred, George, Katie, Angelina, Harry and I all went after our captain, cheered on by all of Gryffindor.
"Good luck Lu!" Liliana and Vanessa cheered loudly, making me roll my eyes at them and go extremely red in the face.
The weather wasn't too great unfortunately: it had started to rain overnight and not stopped and it was even getting worse.
"OK team, this is the year, I can feel it!" Wood started his peptalk. "We now not only have one, but two Potters on our team. And we still have our incredible other chasers" Wood looked at Angelina and Katie. "And our unstoppable beaters!"
"It's a pleasure," The twins said, bowing dramatically. "And you're great too Wood."
"Are you ready?" Harry asked me, while Wood was going on talking. "Nervous?"
"Very, but I'll be fine," I whispered to him. "Anyways, I already have an overprotective brother to be scared for me, don't I?"
Harry snorted and turned back to Wood. "My first match was pretty scary y'know. I have my reasons."
"Well, I guess it's good I'm not you then."
"Maybe... but you're still a Potter. Trouble usually awaits around every corner."
"Potter and Potter!" Wood called us out. "Less talking, more listening."
"Yes sir!" I saluted, making Fred and George laugh.
I was extremely nervous and I realised this more than ever when we walked onto the pitch, while the stands were completely packed with students and teachers.
However, most of the nerves quieted down once I was on my broom (one I'd borrowed from the school while waiting to go get my own). Harry had been right: flying was magical and the crowds were encouraging.
But as soon as the balls (the quaffle, the bludgers and the snitch) were released, I spotted one bludger head straight for me and the other one went to Harry.
I dived away, but it turned around by itself and came at me again. What the hell? Katie, who had managed to capture the quaffle, passed to me, looking positively terrified.
"Don't worry, I'm coming!" One of the Weasleys, I couldn't see which one, came and smashed the bludger away. Yet again, it returned in less than a minute.
"Somebody must've tempered with them!" George said while aiming the bludger at a Slytherin chaser.
'Them?' Was the other one pounding on Harry as well? That couldn't be a coin- cidence.
In the meantime, the storm had worsened and we could all just see a bit around us. It became near impossible to play.
"Oliver!" I heard Angelina yell to our keeper and captain. "Time-out! We need to fix this!"
Because the bludger was still hunting me down, focusing on the game was harder: I hadn't had many chances yet and Wood had been attacked by the quaffle multiple times.
"We need to get some goals!" I yelled back to Angelina and Katie, my fellow chasers. "Pass it!"
Angelina did as I asked and passed the quaffle to me. It apparantly looked like a hard and impressive catch, because the crowd went wild and Lee Jordan, who was commentator made some comment as well.
I sped towards the goal posts, hoping the bludger was far enough away from me. I luckily still had the twins blocking for me, so that was one thing.
When I saw it come too close, I had to pass the ball to Katie in order to succesfully dodge, but got it back soon after.
"Go get 'em girl!" I heard a very familiar voice from the crowds and I smiled, while succesfully throwing the quaffle through the hoop and scoring Gryffindor 10 points.
"YES, SHE SCORED! LUCY POTTER, 11 YEARD OLD, SCORED THE FORST GOAL!" Lee Jordan screamed hysterically through his megaphone.
"Lucy, look out!" I turned and barely dodged the bludger again, making all of the stands make relieved noises or boos. I ignored those and went back to the game.
It became harder and harder to see with each minute. 'C'mon Harry, get that son of a snitch' I thought, while looking around. This was good, as I now saw the bludger racing my way again.
After Slytherin scored one more goal, Wood finally called for a time-out and the bludgers were stopped from coming after us.
"Why are we stopping?" Harry asked once he landed. I rolled my ryes at his idiocity like always.
"I called a time-out," Wood informed him. "We have to pick up this game. Harry, you have to end this match as quick as possible."
"I am in no way closer to catching the snitch than I am at befriending the giant squid right now, with these!" Harry angrily held up his glasses, which were impossible to look through with the rain.
"Harry wait!" Hermione suddenly emerged next to me with her wand out. "I've got something!" She took his glasses and charmed them: the rain repelled off of the glasses.
"Hermione, you're a genius!" I hugged her and Wood looked like he could literally kiss her. Hermione muttered a 'no problem' flustered and left again.
"That helps a bit," Harry said, putting his glasses back on. "But I still stand no chance when you (*he turned to the twins*) keep defending me. So go make sure Lucy's okay and-"
"ARE YOU INSANE?" I yelled at him, hitting the back of his head. "That's bloody suicide!"
"We have to win this match, right?!" Harry defended. "Or at least have it end. Malfoy isn't gonna catch it anytime soon."
"You talked this into him!" Angelina shoved Wood in his side angrily. "You and your 'catch the snitch or die trying'!"
"What?!" I spluttered when I heard this. "You actually said that? Are you mental!"
"No he's not!" Harry answered and turned to Wood. "Make them stay away from me and protect Lucy from the other one. I'll end it when I can."
Wood looked torn as he too, saw this was bad, but he also knew he had no choice and he turned to the Weasleys. "You heard him. Let him do his job and go focus on Lucy here."
"It's not like I can do anything when I'm being circled all the time!" I argued as well. "If Harry does this, so will I!"
"No you won't," Harry said flatly and with a stern look. "You could actually die Lu, we can't have that! I don't think I can take it."
"Well, that goes both ways Harry, don't you understand?! I also have only my brother left remember!"
With that, I gave Fred a meaningful nod and mounted my broom. "Either both or neither of us, boys!"
Fred gave me a thumbs-up and everyone mounted again, ready to resume the game.
Ready to go back into battlefield, one even worse than before.
_____________________________________________
A/N:
Hi, quick new update! Hope it makes up for last time...
You guys, I just wanted to say thanks for all the amazing comments and compli- ments and just all of you for reading this fic. It really helps me, both as a person and as a writer in getting more confident and I really appreciate it a lot.
Let me know what you think! If you have suggestions etc.!
Question: which HP character do you relate to the most? Entire series, canon or fanon, you name it! I think I relate to Hermione the most.