Sorry this is a little late, but hope you all like it! (:
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Here We Go Again
Chapter 9: The Joke
POV: Lily
Though many people could say that the newest generation of Weasley and Potter descendants were completely chaotic and unstable, some of us actually were quite the opposite underneath all that crazy. In the whirlwind of things, if I ever sat down and took the time to ponder logically about my relatives, I could see why they just go with it; why they just live life. We do come from a family that literally had to watch their backs every few minutes to make sure someone wasn't coming with Death tagging along, and because of that, they sort of passed on the motto that life is short; make the best of it.
And as much as we all try to go by that rule, some descendants were just incredibly stupid and I pitied them. Life was a grand ol' adventure, sure, but some of us really didn't want to end up working for Uncle George and his shop while time is wasted doing nothing but having a laugh.
Life couldn't just be about going by the whim, right?
"Perfection, Lily." From the armchair right across from mine, Rose looked up at me with proud brown eyes. "Your Charms essay is brilliant. You wrote a better paper than the ones I've corrected for James or Freddie, and they're Seventh Years."
"They're also idiots," I replied with a satisfied smirk as she handed me back my scroll of parchment. "And thanks for double-checking it, Rosie. My usual double-checker is currently upset with me."
As we were in the middle of the school day, on the longest break that we have, the Gryffindor Common Room didn't tend to get so packed during that time because most Gryffindors would do anything for fresh air, a bit of food, or to prance around with their friends than to waste it going over essays or homework. As such, the only Gryffindors that tended to use the common room as a medium of study were Rose, Lucy, Lysander Scamander, Emily—on occasions when she managed to shake off James—some Seventh Years that decided to start relearning everything they hadn't before, a few Fifth Years who were taking advantage of the time and studying earlier on for their O.W.L's, and myself.
And because the common room wasn't as packed like it was during the nights, Rose and I managed to get a perfect glimpse of our cousin Lucy. She had taken the small table by the tower's window hostage, where all the sunlight poured down like a spotlight, with her books and neatly stacked notes. She'd been writing passionately, almost sniffing the books when she read, but on the occasions that she heard me speaking, she'd glance up and glare with distaste.
"Why is Lucy mad at you, Lils?" Turning away from our angry-faced cousin, Rose knitted her eyebrows in confusion.
"No idea," I lied, shrugging at her question. "Besides, you know Lucy well enough, Rose. You know she's moody and always aggravated. I must just be at the top of the list this month."
My Sixth Year cousin didn't shake off her look of confusion. "Lucy can be a bit serious, but she's been in such a great mood since the summer."
I scoffed. Where the hell had I been for that? Lucy had the replica of Uncle Percy's personality and the greatest her mood was going to get was if someone told her that having fun had been prohibited in the castle.
"It's true," Rose went on. "She's been nothing but smiles as of late. The other day she and I were heading to the library together when we ran into Artie putting graffiti on a corridor in the second floor with Uncle George's new Magic Markers and she just ruffled his hair and skipped along."
Aiming another glance at Lucy, the girl was still frowning at me deeply before she rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion and went back to her work. "Well, she has been helping Neville and Lorcan Scamander with those new herbs in the greenhouses. Maybe the fumes got to her that day. Trust me, Rose, Lucy is as dried up as a prune."
Rose threw me a disapproving stare, reminding me so much of the one Aunt Hermione gave me when I once randomly and casually suggested that maybe her love-and-hate relationship with Draco Malfoy was because they had undeniable chemistry that never got resolved or given a chance. (She'd sputter so much after that; it was hilarious.) "Don't be mean, Lily. Lucy is just more reserved than the rest of us."
"She sucks the party out of life."
The disapproving frown didn't leave the older redhead. "Oh, do try and give her some credit, Lily. If you dig a little deeper you'd see that she's that way because of what Molly did. She was only eleven when Molly took off on the family, breaking Uncle Percy's heart, that she just didn't want to risk adding more disappointment onto him. She just wants to make him proud by being excellent and admirable at everything."
My conscience poked at me, nudging me so I would recognize Rose's words as true. And they really were, and I knew that. Lucy had so much indirect pressure and expectations from Uncle Percy. He would never truly tell her that, because Aunt Audrey would kill him, but most of the family knew that it was there. Though Molly had been an excellent student during her time at Hogwarts, she never got on with her father. And when she had the chance to bail, a week after she completed her seven years at the castle, she took off and wasn't heard of for almost two years.
Lucy saw those things, noticed the hurt in her father's eyes, and she tried to restore the broken heart her sister had left. She tried being respectable, brilliant academically wise, mature, and responsible—everything her father was. And all for his sake. And since Artie, the youngest of Uncle Percy's three children, was chaotic and a troublemaker since before he could walk, Lucy's effort was doubled.
Before I could really decide to listen to my conscience and let go of the little spat Lucy and I were having, the portrait-hole opened and the almost-silent common room was invaded by loud laughs. Walking in together, arms wrapped around each other, was Liam and his annoyingly-gorgeous best friend.
"Merlin, that was hysterical," my boyfriend puffed out with a round of chuckles, lowering two schoolbags to an open table just a few feet away from where Rose and I were sitting. Everyone in the common room were still focused on their own things, no one paying attentions to the disturbers of our silence. "Who knew Peeves and Binns would ever throw it down ghost-style? McGonagall and the other professors didn't even know what to do when the two were fighting!"
Nia Harper smirked as the brunette boy kept chuckling like he was having the time of his life. "All you need is the help of George Weasley and you can get Peeves to do almost anything."
Liam pulled out a chair for his friend, his shoulders still shaking, but the laughter was dimmer. "Are you going to tell me why you have it out for Professor Binns now?"
"No, now shush," the blonde girl said between serious and playful as she sat down gracefully. She pulled out the chair right next to her, pointing a finger down and Liam obediently did what he was told.
"I'm glad I was there," he told her.
"Of course. Who else would I share that little triumph with?" She batted her blue eyes at him. There was something mocking about the way she did it, but it still was poking the jealousy monster inside of me.
Liam rolled his brown eyes, aiming a shove at his friend's shoulder teasingly. "Well, if you would've taken Al, I'm sure there was a nearby broomstick-closet you two could've defiled together."
"Oi!" Harper scowled, but her laugh contradicted it at the same time. "Don't keep spreading that rumor around. People are going to think that Potter and I can't even be in a room together without keeping our clothes on."
"I really hope you do keep your clothes on, Nia! That'd be disgusting images otherwise."
The blonde's eyes looked outraged. "Excuse me?!"
Liam started shaking his head, waving his palms about as if trying to avoid an attack. "Not like that!" He said quickly. "I mean, look at you! Who wouldn't want to see you out of your clothes? You're gorgeous girl." My heart felt like it plummeted down from its original spot and got lost somewhere in the pit of my stomach. "But I mean...Well...Al and you..."
"So you want to see Al naked?" Harper retorted, laughing again as if she didn't see anything wrong with what he'd just said before. "My, Liam! Back off my boyfriend!"
The boy snorted. "You know what I mean," he said patiently. "All I'm saying is that you and Al aren't really discreet about your...active lives, are you? And I don't really fancy knowing about my best friend's personal...things."
He was blushing intensely and his best friend didn't miss it. "Aw, look at you," she started cooing; acting so uncharacteristically sweet. "You mean our sex lives? Don't be shy. Just because you're not getting any doesn't mean you can't say the word. Come on, repeat after me: sex, sex, sex."
A few nearby Gryffindors turned to the two best friends at Harper's carefree tone and looked curious. At the attention, my boyfriend's cheeks turned redder and he softly shoved Harper; signaling for her to silence herself.
However, being the damn annoying bitch that she was, the blonde didn't. "Oh, relax," she told him, shoving him back. "I know that you and your baby Potter are still processing how to hold hands. And, just so you know," she leaned a little closer to him, "Al might have seen me without clothes, but that doesn't mean I've...you know...with him."
"Really?" Liam asked, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "But you two have always made it sound like...What else could you be doing, then?
Harper laughed loudly again, reaching over and ruffling Liam's brown hair teasingly. "Do you really want to have this conversation with me, Liam? I guarantee you you won't like it."
"Yeah, you're right," he replied. "I rather not know what situations Al has gotten into with my best friend."
"Definitely some that you haven't with his little sister." Harper stood up from the chair, picking up her schoolbag once again; after she pulled out a few books. "Anyway, go with me to find Lorcan? I need to ask him for his part of our Charms project."
Obediently like always, without thinking it, Liam stood up and followed his best friend back out the common room. He would follow her to the end of the world if he had to, honestly.
"Finished!" Taking up my peripheral vision, Rose started waving about the other essay I handed her to correct. "It was really good too, Lily. The only thing I suggest is that when you're breaking apart the..." Whatever she said got lost when I felt like a cauldron of ice had been dropped over me.
Is that really what I am to Liam's friends, Al's little sister?
Our relationship was a joke to them—I was the joke.
X
"Isn't this just brilliant?" Jumping up and down on a four-poster that was covered in navy-blue and bronzed material and decor, Roxanne kept sporting a giant grin on her face like she was five all over again.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Really, Roxy?"
"Oh, leave her." Right next to me, half-sitting and half-laying with his back pressed against the headboard of his four-poster, Hugo was tearing open another Chocolate Frog package as we watched our cousin. "She's just high on sugar."
"And this?" With a smirk on my lips, I started waving an almost empty bottle of Firewhiskey.
Hugo grinned. "Ah, yes," he said casually. "Gift from Malfoy and Al. Apparently the two stole loads from the kitchens. They started distributing them among the houses to get rid of the evidence when a Slytherin let it slip to the Headmistress that it was them."
Roxy squealed, still jumping on the bed across from us.
"She's going to break your roommate's bed," I told Hugo. "And like we really need more trouble with the Ravenclaws. After the teams get sorted out, Gryffindor's going up against your house. Tensions are high, especially since James, Louis and Freddie bet something ridiculous."
"Merlin, I really hope we beat Gryffindor. Your brother and our cousins have it coming, and it's going to be marvelous to watch them fall off their throne." Hugo let out a giant laugh, shaking his head to himself. "Anyway, the bed won't break. It's sturdy."
Knowing Hugo like the back of my hand, I turned completely around and launched myself forward, practically sitting on his legs. I rose an expecting eyebrow up, watching him smirk as he nonchalantly chewed on one of the frog's legs. "You did not hook-up with one of your roommates!"
"Not yet," he replied slyly. "But I am working on it."
"And?" I pressed. "Who is he?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," he replied with a laugh.
We were eleven when Hugo confessed to Roxanne, Lucy, and I that he sort of fancied boys. It was strange at that age, especially because you don't really start thinking about love, romance, and attraction at that point, so we never really gave it much thought. But when we went into our third year, Hugo had confessed to the three of us that he'd kissed a boy in his year, a Hufflepuff, and that he'd liked it. A week after that, Hugo was caught snogging some Gryffindor girl by a prefect in the seventh floor. He had meant to keep that bit to himself, I'm assuming, but the Gryffindor girl had let it slip to Roxy, and being the world's biggest gossip that she was, Roxy had let everyone know after that. When we asked him about it, Hugo had casually confessed that he liked kissing girls too.
We were Fourth Years now, going on fifteen, but Hugo knew perfectly well that he was bisexual. Seeing as Roxy, Lucy, he and I grew up together, since we were thick as thieves, he had only confessed that to us and forced us to take a vow to never tell anyone else. (Roxanne's had to be enchanted rather than a vow by word, but it all had been binding.) And even though we were as close as we were, Hugo never really liked telling us what he did and who he did it with.
"I—thought—you—were—talking—to—that—Slytherin—girl?" Still jumping on the bed, Roxy added into the conversation with every rise into the air; clearly still playing attention to what was going on.
The Ravenclaw shrugged. "It doesn't really mean I'm dating her, does it? You relationship people just assume that's all there is to it when two people talk to each other."
"Oh, shut up, Casanova." It was my turn to laugh. "First attempt to have a proper relationship with someone and then comment about us. But in all honesty, settle down, mate. I can't keep up with half of the people Roxy finds out your dating."
"Not—dating!" And with that, Roxy finally jumped off the bed across from where Hugo and I were laying on. She had her grin on her face still, flipping her dark, red hair behind her shoulders as she adjusted her t-shirt. "Hugo doesn't date, Lily; he snogs people. He's a great, giant slag."
My cousin and I laughed loudly. Roxy giggled along too, shaking her head, as she settled herself at the foot of the mattress and stole the bottle of liquor from my hands.
"Really, Hugo, who are you working on now? Surely there's someone if your even working anything at all. Aren't you alike all other rotten boys? Don't you just wait until they come to you?"
"This one's a little complicated," he said offhandedly. "But you're still not getting any details of my private life, Lily. I know that you don't necessarily get anything more than a kiss from Greengrass, but you're not going to live viciously through me."
All humor and curiosity was gone from me in a split second. "What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped. "You don't know anything about what Liam and I get into."
"You and Liam don't get into anything," he shot back.
"You don't know that!" I stood up from the bed in my flash of anger.
Hugo rose an eyebrow, his expression somewhat indifferent. "Lily, you tell me everything. If there was more to your relationship with Greengrass I would know." He let out a small sigh, clearly still noticing that my aggravation was not going away. He motioned for Roxy to throw him the bottle. "The thing with you, Lily, is that you're trying so damn hard to prove something," he added before taking a drink of Firewhiskey.
"I wouldn't have to prove anything if I wasn't taken as a bloody joke by everyone!" I finally snapped. I had reached the ultimate level of being teased for the day. "Why is it that all of you see me like that? I'm a grown girl! I'm not five fucking years-old!"
Hugo and Roxanne exchanged looks with one another. Like the secret messages passed with just a gaze among best friends and confidants, both cousins came up with something as they both nodded at one another.
"You don't have to prove anything," Hugo was the one to speak first. "You're getting so wrapped up on showing that you've grown up, Lily, that's it's getting ridiculous. And we know that you're not a little girl anymore. As the bloody unlucky boy that I am, I was there when Aunt Ginny bought you your first bra." He settled himself, trying not to shout at me. "Why can't you go at the regular pace? Why do you have to keep up with everyone else?"
"Because of Liam! Because of his friends, because of my brothers!" I shouted. "Don't sit there and pretend not to know that they all see my relationship with him as a joke. I love Liam, but they all seem to think we're just playing make-believe! It's like they've set up lines for us, and Liam's too fucking scared to cross one! You don't know what it's like to not be able to kiss your boyfriend because he's wary that one of my relatives will come out of thin air and hex him."
"Actually, Lily, I do know what that's like." No longer smiling, Roxanne gave me a slightly annoyed look. She folded her arms across her chest before settling the bottle between her pajama-clad legs when Hugo handed it back to her. "Freddie has taken it upon himself to monitor my every move since Lucas and I got together. And Merlin forbid that he and I go off anywhere together because then the reinforcements come in. My brother has people watching me. I actually had to be escorted away from a corridor by some Hufflepuff because Lucas and I were too close to a broomstick closet."
"Oh, please!" I scoffed nastily, frowning still. I found absolutely no comfort in her little story. "Like Freddie has anything to worry about with you! Look at you, Roxy! If you dusted yourself with glitter you'd be a fairy straight out of a children's book! Zabini is in no hurry to progress to any level of intimate contact because it'd be like defiling a puppy. You're a little girl caught in a fifteen year-old's body."
Roxy's annoyed expression was gone; it was instantly replaced with an offended and an aghast one. Her brown eyes were huge with outraged, but also welled up with tears; like someone had smacked her across the face and shocked her. Copying the outraged look, Hugo was more inclined to look thoroughly angry.
"Watch your mouth, Lily Luna Potter," he hissed at me. "You're getting so caught up with your own stupid ideas that you don't even see what you're saying to other people. Don't think we don't know about what you told Lucy either. Cool it before you offend everyone around you and you find yourself with no one to lean on."
A few seconds of thick silence passed—but so much was happening to me during it. I started thinking back to Liam, back to the way he pushed me away, how he was so scared to upset my brothers or cousins, how sometimes he'd just kiss my forehead like I was a child, and what his friends thought of our relationship. The insecurities startled flooding me.
With a shaky breath, the oxygen tough to pass down my throat as a knot of emotions invaded it, I felt my eyes water and sting. "...What about when they offend me?" I asked softly. "What am I...What am I supposed to do if he leaves me? He's a boy! He's...he's going to want what they all want, but I'll just be Al's little sister? What if he gets tired of waiting for me to...grow up that he leaves? I can't...I can't lose him."
At the tears rolling down my face shamelessly, Hugo and Roxanne both stopped looking so aggravated with me. Their eyes filled with what I thought looked like pity, and I honestly couldn't blame them for it. All of this was pitiful.
"He loves you, Lily," Roxy whispered.
Our male cousin nodded at her statement. "It's true, you know. We can all see it by the way he looks at you; like you're the only person in the room. He loves you so much, Lily, that he's in no hurry to pressure you into anything. If Greengrass was alike all those other blokes, I'd be concerned for you, but I'm not. He's just respecting you."
"And maybe he hasn't asked for anything physical because you're relationship isn't ready for it yet," Roxy added into the conversation. "You're not going to lose him, alright. Just trust him and on what he wants, not what you assume he does."
Adding as an interlude when more tears started falling, a sob starting to shake my shoulders, the door of Hugo's dormitory opened. Walking in casually, not really noticing us as he reviewed a book he was holding, a tall, dark-haired boy with creamy skin headed to the bed Roxy had been jumping on. A boy I knew as Anthony Goldstein Jr.
The boy lowered his belongings on the mattress with a free hand while still reading the page of his book. With the same free hand, he managed to tug off his Ravenclaw robes and toss them over the small nightstand next to his four-poster. He reached for his navy-blue and bronzed tie, tugging it off with skilled fingers and practically no concentration.
"By all means, Anthony, continue. You're giving the girls quite a show." And just as the boy had been in the process of unbuttoning his shirt, Hugo's voice boomed in the silent dormitory.
Dropping his book as he was startled, the Ravenclaw turned around and was met with my red-rimmed eyes, Roxy's embarrassed ones, and Hugo's smirk. "Weasley," he said smoothly, contradicting with his previous klutzy move. "Having a sleepover, are you?"
Hugo's smirk was still present, especially when he glanced at Roxy and I; all three of us in our sleeping gear. "That depends actually."
Roxy and I looked at one another, halfway torn between laughing and being offended now.
"On?" The other Ravenclaw boy asked nonchalantly.
"Are you joining our roommates in the Sixth Years dormitories? They're having their annual, vigorous Friday night study-sessions."
Goldstein leered now. "So, you're saying if your cousins were to leave we'd have the dormitory to ourselves?"
Hugo nodded, his aurora radiating out confidence and smugness. "And we could have a vigorous study-session of our own."
"You don't study on the weekends," Goldstein said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I can make an exception for you."
The dark-haired Ravenclaw boy's leer grew bigger, but it was directed to Roxy and I. "See you later, girls."
Roxy turned to our cousin and looked more offended than when I insulted her. "Hugo! I can't go back to the Gryffindor Common Room hopped up on liquor! Your sister can smell it from a mile away! She'll tell my parents!"
Hugo rolled his eyes and turned to me."Lily, please take Roxanne."
Nodding once, I walked over to Hugo's bed and yanked on Roxy's arm, dragging her along with me. And before we left the Ravenclaws dormitory completely and I could shut the door behind us, I looked back over my shoulder and watched Hugo for a second.
How was it fair that he could do with his body what he wanted, share it with who he wanted, and no one saw him as a kid? Why is it that we can't even get felt up for a brief second without assuming that it's an act against Merlin himself?
I was determined to prove that wrong.