Here We Go Again

Chapter 13: At the Wrong Place, At the Wrong Time

POV: Lily

Something was wrong.

Something was completely off with the way my regular day begun, proceeded, and ended. I hadn't gotten to the end of the day yet, but the beginning and middle of it was starting to make me think that it wasn't going to happen the way it always does and the way I like it.

To retell the tale, let me just say that my regular morning starts off with a kick and a whine, especially since Roxy starts jumping on my four-poster until I'm angered and I have no other choice than to wake up to chase her down onto the floor of our dormitory and straddle her back and pull on her hair; threatening that if she dares to do that one more time she won't live to see the sunset. After that, I would have a silent frowning competition with Lucy—who was still not talking to me—but she hadn't been there to judge me in mute like she always does. I thought that was strange, but Roxy, ever the informative, said that our dearest cousin hadn't shown up to sleep the previous night. (And that was far more bizarre because Lucy Weasley was not the rule-breaking witch.) Pretending not to be curious or worried about her whereabouts, all because we refused to acknowledge each other for the past weeks, I showered and dressed myself for the expected boring day that awaited me.

Down at the Great Hall, I walked in with Roxy, parted ways with Hugo who met us every morning outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, and we settled ourselves at the Gryffindor table. As per usual, the table had been buzzing with loud conversation and laughter, so the possibility of not having the regular loud, frantic, and hysterical breakfast with my relatives and friends had not crossed my mind. Well, I was surely corrected when I noticed that no one but James, Emily, Rose, Malfoy, and Zabini were present. My brother and his girlfriend tried to stick to the norm, with him eyeing her like she bewitched him, her blushing, and him telling a story that made everyone close enough roar with laughter. And somehow not caught in their regular bubble of love was Rose and Malfoy, who were sitting across from each other, but were clearly tensed from the other's company. A frown creased my cousin's forehead while her boyfriend reflected his surname by a cold expression on his face. Roxy and Zabini, I cared not for so I paid them no mind.

My first three lessons proceeded as they always did, but it wasn't until we were let out for the first break of the day that I noticed another unusual thing. Far away from that too pretty girlfriend of his, Al was sitting on a bench with a dark-haired witch that was fresh to Hogwarts, a certain Ophelia De la Cruz. They were sitting close together, facing each other, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was serious chemistry between them. (Well, if you call my brother's flirtatious smile and the girl's half-lidded eyes chemistry.) After that spectacle, I was heading away from the gardens to make my way back to the castle—after stumbling upon Artie reading a book underneath a tree by himself, a bloody book—when I spotted a missing person: Lucy. My cousin hadn't been in any of our lessons so far, which had added to my contained worry, but there she was, sitting on top of a hill with none other than Lorcan Scamander. The boy had kept his head down the whole time that I watched them, and I concluded that he must've been in a great deal of emotional pain because Lucy was giving him sympathetic eyes. (And Lucy was never sympathetic towards anyone.)

The short break of the day had been over and done with and I found myself sitting back in a dimly lit classroom and hearing a teacher drone on and on. That continued for two more lessons until we were dismissed for dinner. With a loud groan and stretch of arms, I proceeded with Roxy once again to the Great Hall. Expecting, like a damn fool, to have my regular loud, frantic and hysterical dinner with my boyfriend, family and friends, but I was once again misled when Roxy and I showed up and just found James and Emily.

After that silent dinner, I headed to the library, which was free of Madam Pince because, as the rumour has it, the old hag had a formal dinner to attend to. And as if that wasn't weird enough, especially with Binns being in charge of the head of the library—which basically was him rambling incoherently to himself, the demented ghost—I found two people together in a lonely aisle that shouldn't have been alone together in the first place.

"Oi!" Stomping my way into the aisle, I pulled out my wand and lit it with a quick Lumos to see the faces of the two students instead of their shadows. "What the hell is this?"

Still with his arms tightly wrapped around a blonde, the brown eyes that belonged to my boyfriend looked up at me with a bit of surprise. "Lily—"

"So this is where you were all bloody day?" I snapped, cutting Liam off before he could say anything else. "I looked for you, Liam!"

He didn't let the girl pressed tightly into him go. His arms were still clutching her around the waist, her face pressed to his neck. "Lily—"

"What are you even doing, Liam?" I interrupted him again, my anger bubbling in the pit of my stomach. "Do you know how this looks? I've told you plenty of times that it's not okay to be alone with her! She needs to learn to back—"

"Lily, shut it!" Startling me, Liam's yell was added onto the list of weird rubbish going on today. He never raised his voice at me, ever. It made me press my lips into a tight line, but my eyes were sure to express my surprise.

Giving me a firm stare, which was so rare for him, Liam glanced down at the girl he was holding. He moved his hands from her waist to hold the sides of her face as he pushed her back slightly, gently, to stare at her face. With a muffled something, the girl shook her head and used her hands to shove him roughly on the chest. Thrown off by it, Liam stumbled back onto the giant bookcase and the blonde got away.

Before she did, however, I caught sight of blue eyes overflowing with tears.

The Gryffindor boy settled himself quickly, taking a step forward, almost as if he was going to run after her, but his eyes found mine for a quick second and he stopped his movements. He frowned at me, crossing his arms.

I coward slightly. "Sorry," I mumbled. (See? Weird rubbish! I don't usually apologize.)

"She needed me, Lily," Liam stated. "And we've talked about this—"

"I know." He frowned deeper. "Sorry," I repeated, pressing my lips tighter so they wouldn't let out any more interruptions.

He sighed. "Nia is my best friend, Lily, and nothing is going to change that. She was clearly upset, why wouldn't I go out of my way to make her feel better? She needs me, Lily."

He paused and I got the indication this was my turn to speak. I didn't, though.

"Your brother is behaving out of order, you know," he continued on when I said nothing. "I don't know what it is because Nia refuses to let me know, but he made her cry—Nia doesn't cry."

Well, that can be added onto my list of bizarre crap going on today, then. "You're not going to say anything to Al, are you?" I raised my eyebrow at him. Liam's the peacemaking kind, so to think for a moment that he would go up to my brother to defend his best friend seemed rather odd. But then again, today's not going according to plan.

"No," his response was immediate. "Nia wouldn't like it if I meddled. But if he doesn't let up, then I will."

I smiled. "You're amazing." I started approaching him, forgetting all about my previous annoyance. "As much as I'm a jealous bint, I have to admit that you stay seriously loyal. To me and to Harper."

His harshness was instantly melted away and that smooth, charming smile that was always littered with love and cheer came back onto his face. He was quick to open his arms, wrapping them around me as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "I'm sorry I haven't seen you all day."

I pressed into him. "It's okay," I moved us back a few steps, pressing him back against the bookcase, "you can make it up to me later tonight."

And as I squeezed tighter into him, trying to leave no centimeter of space open, my ears picked up a groan from him. And it wasn't the type of groan I was expecting to entice from him. "Lily," he sounded frustrated, "don't."

"Don't what?" I asked, pretending not to know where he was going when I lifted myself onto my toes, pressing my mouth against the side of his jaw.

My lips moved from the skin of his face to the smooth one of his neck. His breathing became a little haggard, but the boy still managed to think coherently. "Lily, we're in the library," he mumbled, gulping as I nibbled on his skin. "We're going to get caught."

"Then we'll go somewhere we won't," I whispered, tracing my tongue a little closer to his ear. "How about the Room of Requirement?" I took his earlobe between my teeth, lightly pulling. "You can have your way with me there."

Any other circumstance—any other boy—and that guaranteed invitation to a very fun night would've been taken advantage of in an instant. But like it was so bloody accustomed, Liam was not about to take it. The hands that were shakily holding my waist loosened and fell, moving up to grip my extended arms to push me away from him.

"I don't think so," he said, suddenly somber.

"Why not?" I furrowed my brows, not pleased. (Pun intended, by the way.) "We won't get caught, Liam. I can easily borrow the Invisibility Cloak from James. Live a little."

"Think a little," he retorted instantly at me, frowning. But he did not elaborate on what he wanted to say or what he meant. Instead, he dragged in air through his nostrils, shook his head, and maneuvered me several long inches away from him. "I've got to go. I have an essay to complete and I need to find Nia."

An irate expression took over my features; slightly appalled. "You rather do your homework—you rather listen to Harper's sob-story than to spend some time with me? What's your problem, Liam?"

"What's yours?" He retorted, now angry himself.

And like the weird day that I'd been having, Liam didn't stay to talk things through like he usually would if we were in a spat. No, instead he passed by me, accidentally shouldering me out of the way and he disappeared out of the lonely aisle of the library.

Slapping a palm on my mouth, I let out a shrill scream before following pursuit. Stomping my way, not paying attention to my surroundings, I collided with what felt like a bookcase and I was knocked backwards. Cursing at the pain crawling on my forehead, I glanced up to hex whatever was standing in my way. And I would've—except if I cursed someone rather than something, I'm sure I would've gotten expelled before I could even make a run for it.

Black eyes were staring at me, a glimmer of amusement dancing in the foreign gaze as they looked down at me. "That must've hurt."

"You think?" I snapped at the boy with a Spaniard accent. "Who the hell stands in the middle of a hallway with a collection of books?"

"Someone putting the books away," the boy responded smoothly. "Besides, who runs into a pile of floating books?"

I didn't reply. I just glared at him.

That seemed to amuse him more. "Are you just going to stay there?"

"Are you going to help me up?"

At my idiotic retort, the boy actually did step away from the floating books to stand before me. His smirk grew wider as he looked down at me, scattered and with a few of his books around me. He extended his palm forward. "Feel free to help me put these books back."

I snorted. "You're joking, right?"

His smirk went crooked. "It's the least you can do, really." He cast a levitation spell to put the fallen books back on top of the pile. "Actually, I can use the help. Professor Alan wants me to get acquainted with the library so he's making me put all the return books back to their rightful place. And, honestly, I paid him no attention when he was giving me a tour around it."

Lily L. Potter didn't do things for people, for people she didn't know that is, especially if they mocked her, but the day had already gone to the dogs and one more odd thing on my shit-list wasn't going to hurt anyway. Rolling my eyes, stretching to my toes, I picked up a small book from the pile and looked back at the Spanish boy. "You'll have to pay me."

He grinned, aiming a flick of his wand to the books and it started floating ahead. "I'll find something to give you." His dark eyes twinkled mischievously. I liked it. "I'm Octavio De la Cruz, by the way."

And as his palm was extended forward once more, I smiled. "Lily."

The handshake upon strangers lasted a little longer than necessary, but later I would find out that it was destined to be so.