Albus sat alone scribbling away on a piece of pink parchment paper. He was writing a love letter. He wanted to thank his girlfriend for saving his life from whatever the hell Narcissa Malfoy had attempted to do to him.
Victoria had gone to sleep, so he sat alone in the common room with only the playful crackle of the fire to keep him company and the soft scratching of his quill on the paper.
Then, there was another sound. "Albus...?" He heard someone call his name, he didn't turn around. If only it were Victoria.
"Yes, Lily?" He knew from her voice.
She came nearer. "Oh, you're studying! What a relief, I was becoming worried about your upcoming N.E.W.T.s. You've just been-"
"You don't need to worry about me." Albus cut in flatly. "And I'm writing a letter."
Lily dropped her hands to her sides. "Al, your N.E.W.T.s are important, more than writing love letters." Her voice raised slightly.
"Lily, I know what's important for me." He said, his voice low and rasping. His eyes still had not turned to his sister.
Lily huffed quietly. "Really? Is she that important? Do you really love her that much?"
Albus's eyes finally gazed hers. Lily couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about them. His pupils were dilated like black holes and they quivered. Albus's face was set with hard lines, his eyebrows pulled downward. Lily must have given him a look because his features then relaxed instantly.
"I always have." He said after a beat.
Then Lily saw her brother, but he was smaller, still a kid. It was one of her earliest memories. Albus followed young Lily and Victoria to her room. They closed the door shut before he could step inside. He asked and asked them to let him in. They laughed but never opened the door. Lily remembered that he would attempt to unlock it with a stick he had found in the backyard-their parents had learned to never leave their wands lying around the house- and would go on shouting alohomora a thousand different ways but it never unbolted. He would give up after half an hour. This happened every time Victoria was over.
Lily remembered clearly the day when the door finally creaked open by itself. It opened up slowly, revealing her brother inch by inch. Albus held the twisted stick in his grip. His eyes were wide with bewilderment. "You didn't lock it properly!" Victoria complained. Lily insisted that she had. And she had.
Lily shook the image of her young brother out of her head. Had he really never stopped liking her? Had he just been pretending all those years that he was over Victoria?
Victoria was her oldest friend. She couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been close. They told each other everything. So why did it feel like there was something she wasn't understanding? Something that wasn't making sense?
Just a few months ago, Victoria had told Lily that Albus had forgiven her. She promised that they were on good terms again. That they were friends again, like old times. Then, she revealed that she had begun crushing on Albus. He was older- different now, not like how he'd been when they were kids, she assured. Victoria had crawled into her bed one night, her happiness so radiant that Lily had to ask what had gotten her friend so cheerful. She told Lily that Albus had agreed on going on a date with her to The Three Broomsticks. She was so nervous, she needed Lily to be there, for support. Of course she had agreed.
Everything was logical. They were madly in love. And yet, something still felt off. They were the people closest to her, wouldn't she know? But then, these days it was as if she didn't know them at all. Was this horrible feeling stirring in her gut like slush just jealousy of feeling left out?
I always have. His words bounced in her head like an echo.
There was a nauseous feeling in her stomach, but Lily decided to take a seat beside him. For the first time, she noticed that she didn't know how to speak to her brother. She feared he would snap, or shoot another one of those glares at her. There had been times in the past when they had fought. Siblings didn't always agree. But this didn't feel the same.
"What happened to your tie?" She asked him, keeping her voice light. "You haven't been wearing it." Not everyone wore their tie at school properly, including her brother, but it was part of the uniform and it was mandatory to wear it, at least. They could lose even more House points if he was caught without it.
"It was Narcissa Malfoy." Albus replied, without elaborating any further. His plain and unanticipated answer took Lily aback.
"What?"
Albus stopped writing but kept his quill resting on the paper. "She attacked me and stole my tie."
Lily let out a burst of laughter. "Are you serious?" She asked rhetorically with a smile.
"Yes! I was waiting outside the girl's bathroom for Victoria. Before I even noticed her, she jinxed me with locomotor mortis and dragged me to the other side of the hall."
"Wait, what?! Narcissa?" Lily's smile died down. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"If Victoria hadn't saved me, I don't know what she would have done." His muscles tensed involuntarily, as if he could still feel the magical bounds tying him to his body.
"Why would she do this? Just to steal your tie?"
Albus shook his head, he gulped. "She was removing my clothes."
Lily's throat seemed to tighten up. Her head was so crammed-full of questions, she couldn't pull one down to ask. They all tried to escape her lips at the same time.
"She was looking for something." Albus explained. "Something that Victoria had given me." He brought his hand up to his chest where his V-shaped locket hung. "I think she was trying to steal this from me." He said clutching it.
"Can I see it?" Lily asked. Victoria had bought that locket with her that summer in Diagon Alley.
Albus's expression changed. "No."
"I just want to see it up close, you know that I don't have great vision." Lily rarely ever wore her glasses.
"No." Albus repeated, more harshly this time. "I promised her I would protect it."
Why would you need to protect it? The thought flashed through her head. "It's going to be fine, I just want to see it Albus!" She reached to it.
"I said no!" Albus stood up and stepped away. Lily was grateful for the spell that prevented any noise from escaping the common room. They would have been overheard otherwise.
"C'mon, I won't touch it." Lily pleaded, trying to hide the desperation in her voice. She grabbed his arm before he turned away.
Albus attempted to pull her off but her grip was tight. "Gerroffme!" With a stronger swing he ripped free.
He was halfway up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.
"Albus!" Lily shouted after him. She watched him dissapear through the door.
* + * + *
Lily's breath caught in her throat when she spotted her. She'd been searching all day for her but it was like Narcissa Malfoy didn't exist at times. She didn't move with the crowds, and she was always there before everyone got there or after they all left. Catching her in the hallway was as rare as finding a nargal. Which is why Lily waited by the doors of the Great Hall.
"Narcissa!" Lily called, pushing past a group of second years trying to head to their tables. Issa, who had been standing almost camouflaged by the corner, turned her head, curious to see who had mentioned her name.
She was pushing back her cuticles. Her white blonde hair seemed to almost glow when you got hear her. She take a step forward, she waited until Lily had reached her. Narcissa only acknowledged her with the cock of her head.
"Can I talk to you, privately?" Lily asked, her breathing uncoordinated. Narcissa did nothing menacing, yet her presence was still unnerving. Maybe it was her indifference, or her half-lidded stare that bore into your eyes.
"Muffliato." Narcissa motioned her wand. Lily ears popped. The silence in their invisible bubble only broken by her breathing and the shuffling of her clothes.
Lily looked around. She had been hoping for a more secretive space, but Narcissa seemed to be grounded to where she was.
Cautiously, Lily ventured, "Look, Issa-"
"Don't call me that." Issa stopped her. Her voice always caught Lily off guard. She couldn't explain it. It was like hearing a sculpture talk, you never expected it.
"Narcissa..." Lily said, pronouncing her name slowly. "I don't know how else to bring this up to you but... Have you spoken to Albus lately?" Lily's breathing was picking up. She prayed for it to slow. She couldn't recall a time when she had spoken to Narcissa face to face.
Lily didn't wait for a response, "Haven't you noticed any kind of change in him?" The question shouldn't have felt so strange; almost everyone had noticed the change in Albus Potter, the love-stuck boy deep in infatuation.
At the mention of Albus Issa's eyes flicked with curiosity. Lily felt a slight relief. She stood up straighter.
Issa lowered her wand, which had been choosing innocent students to trip just a moment before, and rolled her eyes towards Lily. "He's always behaved like an idiot." Issa said, nonchalantly.
"But-" Lily began to object.
"But I won't deny he's been acting like a bigger flobberworm than usual." Narcissa crossed her arms and turned to look at the red-head with her entire body.
Lily turned and let her body drop against the wall, feeling some of the tension leave her body. She covered her face with her hands. Her fire hair closed around her like a curtain.
"I think something is truly wrong with my brother." She said without looking at her.
Lily felt her eyes on her. Her face grew hot.
It was quiet for a beat.
Issa raised an eyebrow. "C'mon Potter, it doesn't take a genius."
* * *
Well, maybe it did, Issa thought. It had been almost a week and no one had seemed to think twice about it. The teachers seemed annoyed but to them it just looked like the classic boy who's fallen hard in love.
She watched as Lily peeled her hands away from her face. She opened her mouth but the words didn't seem to come out.
Issa spared her the attempt, "I would have assumed that you knew of the love potion by now."
Lily's eyes widened. Something flared inside Issa, a skittish spark.
But then Lily shook her head. "No, no. I can't be. It has to be something else-"
"I also wondered if it was the Imperious Curse, but the clues point too obviously towards the love potion." Issa said, almost unfortunately.
Lily wasn't listening. "Victoria wouldn't-"
"I would rethink that." Issa said, with a chortle building up in her throat.
"I've known her since we were six, we're best friends." Lily almost cried out. Issa fell silent, whatever laugh she had bottled up died down. She could see the muscles on Lily's face tensing.
"It's in the locket." Issa told her. She laid against the cold stone wall next to her.
"The locket that Victoria gave him." Lily said to the wall opposite of them. It wasn't a question.
"It's a Vasius charm." Issa had learned the name for it in the potions book.
Lily looked at her again. "I know of those. When we were little our mother used to give us these colored rings to heal our fevers. Ashwinder eggs made us sick so we couldn't drink the potion."
Ashwinder eggs? Issa thought. The ingredient sounded familiar.
Lily stared into her eyes as something seemed to connect in her brain. "That's one of the ingredients for a love potion." She snatched Issa's wrist without thinking. Issa felt Lily's fingers press on her skin, they were strangely warm.
Issa restrained the urge to snatch her arm away, she felt like Lily would loose balance if she did.
Lily looked at her with a miserable face, "You knew this whole time. You're the only one who tried to do anything about it." She said. "You tried to take it away from him."
Issa felt herself tense up this time. She hadn't counted on anyone finding out.
"Why?" Lily asked her.
Issa's skin was washed with a tint of blue against the stone wall. "There is an overdue payback I need to settle."
Lily seemed confused at first. Then, the pressure on Issa's wrist softened and she let go.
"I just realized that I do too." Lily said, her voice heavy.
Issa eyes pierced through hers for a fraction of a second before jumping to the clock on the wall. Class was starting in a minute.
"I'm going to be late to class." Issa said, and the tension around them dissipated. She picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Lily's arms dropped to her sides, she looked like she wanted to say something, but Issa had already turned to leave.
"I'll tell you the plan this evening." Issa told her without looking back.