Lily groaned and rolled over, sunlight piercing her closed eyelids. “Wake up, sleepyhead!” Lily heard Alexis walk over to her bed and lean over her.
“It’s time to get up!” she exclaimed, her hair tickling Lily’s nose.
Lily reluctantly opened her eyes a crack to a smiling Alexis staring down
at her.
“Your hair,” she said sleepily. She blinked a few times, trying to control the dizziness that overwhelmed her.
“Yeah, Payton gave me the charm. She told me it would look nice for the first day of school.” Alexis patted her new curly hair.
“Would you keep it down? There’s forty five minutes ‘til classes, and I fully intend to get more sleep,” said Payton grumpily.
Alexis snorted. “Yeah, get more than enough, and stumble into class ten minutes late.”
Lily swung her legs over the side of the bed, and pushed open the top to her trunk. She fumbled around for the days clothes.
She adjusted her tie, and looked around for her robes. “Do we really have to wear these? Honestly, it’s so hot. I’m perfectly fine with just the sweater and skirt.”
“Only when class is in session. Take it off after class,” Alexis suggested.
Lily sighed and plucked the robes off her bed. “I will,” she grumbled.
She went to stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom and ran a brush through her hair, examining it. Her family liked to debate what shade of red it was.
It definitely wasn’t Weasley hair. Weasley hair was flaming bright and had a more orange tint to it. It was the red Uncle Ron and her mum had.
Her dark red hair was either Evans hair, or Prewett hair. Lily liked to think it was Evans hair ; it gave her more of a connection to the grandmother she never knew.
Alexis made her way over to Payton’s bed, who was currently buried deep under the covers. “Payton get UP! We only have forty minutes!”
“Go on, then. I’ll meet you there,” came the muffled reply. Alexis shook her head, and together, she and Lily walked out the door and down the stairs to the common room.
Max and Hugo were leaning against the sofa. Hugo said something, and Max laughed. Lily’s stomach did a flip-flop. Confused, she pushed the feeling away.
Hugo scanned the room quickly with his eyes.
“Looking for someone?” Lily asked Hugo.
He glared at her. “No one, thanks.”
Lily felt a tiny pang in her stomach. They pair of them rarely got annoyed with each other.
Keeping silent all the way to the Great Hall, Lily walked with three of her friends to start the new school year.
Lily walked through the portrait hole, dumping her books on the round wooden table her friends were sitting at.
“The first day back, and I already have an Arithmancy essay, a Transfiguration essay, and Neville’s going to give us a Herbology quiz next week.” Lily threw herself down in an empty chair.
“I know! It’s just cruelty,” said Payton. “Well, I’m off!”
“Where are you going? It’s eight o’clock!” Hugo said, checking his watch.
Payton sighed. “Detention. Professor Longbottom is so high strung, I was only ten minutes late this morning!” Payton flicked her hair over her shoulder.
“Only,” Alexis smirked, as she checked their timetable for first term. “We have double Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow!”
“A pleasure only to you,” said Max dryly.
“Oh, shut up.” Alexis swatted his arm lightly.
By the time all five of them had finished their homework, Alexis insisting on checking hers over a third time, (“Honestly,” said Max) it was ten o’clock.
They were just packing away their stuff in their bags when James wandered over. “Quidditch practice tomorrow night, six o’clock. No complaints.”
“Ah, well, what can you do?” said Max airily. “Moving on, what’s the plan for tonight?”
“What plan? We’re not on break anymore, Max, we have to be in our common rooms by ten,” exclaimed Alexis.
“Yeah, but I think we should wait up for Payton. C’mon, it’ll be fun! We’ll play Exploding Snap or something.”
“Yeah, I’m game. Let’s play,” added Hugo.
The four of them wandered over to the carpet area, and Max began shuffling his deck of cards as they arranged themselves in a circle.
“Okay. Do you want to play Classic version or Patience version?” he asked, laying the cards face down.
“Let’s play Classic tonight,” suggested Lily.
The clock struck eleven, and the four of them were still in the common room, poking cards with their wands, matching pairs.
“Nice, Lily!” said Hugo, bumping her with his shoulder as she got her sixth pair.
High fives were awarded to the winner after each game. Just as they were setting up their seventh, Payton bounced in.
“Yuck, that has got to be the worst detention I’ve ever been too.” Payton said grumpily.
“Yeah, and that’s saying something!” Max said, laughing.
“Ha ha. No, but I’m serious. Longbottom made me clean Myrtle’s bathroom, top to bottom.”
“That’s not so bad, Payton,” said Lily, frowning. She seated herself next to Payton on the scarlet couch, the game discarded on the floor.
“With no wand.”
The group grimaced in sympathy. Lily dragged a nylon-clad foot up onto the couch and tucked it underneath her.
“Anyways, what have you been up to?” asked Payton, changing the subject.
“Just waiting for you,” said Alexis. “And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted.”
The five of them agreed readily, so they bid each other good night and headed up the stairs to bed.
The first week of school went by fairly quickly, in Lily’s opinion.
On Saturday came the wettest, grayest day of them entire week. Alexis stood at the far window at five-thirty, dressed in her Quidditch things. “Just our luck, it rains on a practice night,” she said.
“Oh, well. Nothing we can do about it now, I suppose,” said Hugo, coming down with his broomstick. “Best be get going.”
The three of the trudged out of the warm and comfortable common room, and walked onto the pitch.
Lily shook her sopping wet hair out of her eyes. “Hurry up, Lily!” Hugo said impatiently.
She groaned, and carefully stepped towards him. “I’m so sore,” she said.
“Me too. C’mon, Alexis is already up at the castle, and I’m dying for a shower.”
Lily groaned and continued walking at the pace of a turtle. “Trust my brother to book the Quidditch pitch on the wettest, darkest day of the year,” said Lily.
“No, the wettest day of the year was sometime in January,” said Hugo, smirking.
“Don’t be such a tease, Hugo,” grumped Lily.
“Well, aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine today, eh?” Hugo shook his curls out of his eyes, spraying Lily with more water.
“Sorry. I know I’m irritable.” She pushed him a little with her shoulder, to let him know she was truly sorry.
“S’okay. Hey, after you shower, come downstairs. I bet one Galleon I’ll win a game of chess against you!” said Hugo brightly.
“Fine, but if I win, I don’t want a Galleon. Let’s see, here. You have to buy me a Colour-Changing Quill. I’ve always wanted on of those, but never really ever thought it was worth the money.” Lily tucked a wine red strand of hair behind her ear.
“Those are five Galleons!”
“I know.”
“Always the negotiator. You’re on.”
Lily laughed, then her smile turned into a frown. “A second year came up to me the other day, and tried to be best friends with me. She carried my books to class, and gave me a quill.”
To any normal person, this celebrity treatment would have been welcomed. But to Lily, Hugo, Rose, Albus and James, it was just tiresome and bothersome.
“Hey, that position’s already filled!” Hugo joked.
“I never said it was up for grabs. I’m just saying, this kid’s only twelve, and she has the guts to come up to me, and suck up to me. “
“The price of fame, eh?” Hugo shook his head slowly.
“I never asked for this fame. It’s so embarrassing sometimes! But I can’t tell Dad, because I know he hates it too!” Lily sighed.
“You’re going to have to live with it all your life, so my advice is to just ignore it. Tune it out,” said Hugo.
“You’re better at that than I am,” said Lily as they reached the Castle steps.
“Don’t dwell on it, Lily. It’s only going to make things worse,” said Hugo. “Hey, why don’t we go ask Rose and Al if they can sneak into the kitchens and get us some hot chocolate?”
“James said he was bringing some up after. I think Al lent him the Cloak after practice.”
“No one saw though, right?” “asked Hugo worriedly.
“Nah, everyone still thinks that he’s really good at avoiding teachers.” Lily laughed.
“Even Alexis? She’s pretty smart.”
“Even Alexis.”
Lily showered quickly and put on pajama pants and an old Quidditch practice sweater.
She walked downstairs, and into the cozy common room. She was glad that she had done all her homework, and wasn’t lying on the carpet in front of the fire like Payton, finishing it off.
Lily sank down onto the couch beside Hugo, happily accepting her hot cocoa.
“That had to be one of the most coldest Quidditch practices I have ever been to in my life,” said Alexis, filling the empty spot beside Lily. “I’m still freezing.”
Lily laughed. “I know, but this hot cocoa is warming me up. Go get some.”
Alexis sighed. “I’ve already had mine.”
Payton rolled off of her stomach, and pushed her homework away. Grabbing the red blanket from off the armrest, she wrapped it around her.
“Has anyone seen Max?” she asked.
“He’s over there, with Adrienne, Scott, Lea and Joel,” said Lily, pointing.
Adrienne and Lea were the two other Gryffindor fourth year girl who shared Lily, Payton and Alexis’ dorm. Scott and Joel were the two boys who shared with Hugo and Max.
“I’ll be right back,” said Hugo. He stood up and walked over to where Max and the others were chatting.
“Well, it looks like it’s just us girls then,” said Alexis. She took it upon herself to start braiding Lily’s hair.
Payton pulled a bottle of bright pink nail varnish out of her bag, and began stroking her nails with the brush.
“I’d almost forgotten what it felt like not to have boys around all the time,” Lily joked.
“Yeah, me too,” said Payton.
Alexis added her input. “I don’t really have a lot of cousins, so any company’s fine with me,” said the only child.
“Oh, so if Lily and I were replaced by Slytherins, you would be fine with that?” Payton asked, looking a little insulted.
“No! I’m just saying I don’t have a lot of company at home. But don’t worry, you guys are the best friends ever,” replied Alexis with a smile.
“Nice to know I’m appreciated,” said Lily dryly.
“Okay, so, guess who’s in my Arithmancy class?” Payton asked excitedly.
The two girls gave Payton a quizzical look.
“Mark Rueben.”
“You mean the Ravenclaw? The one you’ve been crushing on since first year?” mocked Alexis.
“Of course I mean the Ravenclaw!” She sighed happily.
Alexis laughed. “That’s great, Payton. You should talk to him.”
“I will. My Arithmancy class is on Monday. I’m really excited!”
“What about you two? Got your sights set on a Hogwarts hottie?” Payton asked mischievously.
Alexis threw her a pillow, holding Lily’s plait securely in her hand. “You’re crazy!”
“What? It’s just a question!”
Alexis smiled. “I know, but the answer to your question is no, not yet.”
“What about you, Lily?” asked Payton.
“No, of course not,” Lily answered quickly. The minute the words were out of her mouth, however, did Max’s face pop into her mind.
Not wanting to discuss this with her girlfriends, she kept silent, praying the subject would dissolve. She didn’t want to think about how Payton would react if she knew.
Only when Payton’s nails were drying, and Lily’s plait was long finished, did the pair of boys come back.
“Share some blanket with me, little sister,” said Max, pulling the half the blanket off of Payton and across his own lap.
Hugo flopped down on the armchair next to Lily. “What’s going on in this end of town?” .
“Oh, nothing, just thinking about how great my win in Wizards chess would have been,” came the witty reply.
“Oh, gosh, I forgot, didn’t I?” Hugo said apologetically.
“Yeah, you did.”
“I’m really sorry, Lily. I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” he said sincerely.
Lily twirled the ends of her plait, thinking of all the possible ways he could make it up to her.
She found none.
Right up the Road by leftrightmiddle
Chapter Notes: Here's the third one! Hope you like it! Thanks to my beta Aleesha, and Jenna for her support :)
I am not JKR, and I never will be. Ever.
Chapter Endnotes: Thank you for reading! Reviews are my motivation and are greatly appreciated!!