Here's to the Forum Wide Competition.

House: Hufflepuff
Prompt: Mean
Characters: Lily L. P./Lorcan S.
Genres: Hurt/comfort/ Friendship

~Little mystery Box~
-Weird choice of words-

She was walking in a rather quick pace down a deserted corridor in Hogwarts. Her fiery red hair was bouncing in her back as she sobbed violently.

Her hazel eyes were so full with tear that it was no surprise she didn't see the blonde boy turning in the corner in the exact same moment she did. The said boy didn't seem to be paying much attention either; hence they both fell to the ground.

"Gah! Sorry, I didn't see you there" Said the boy in a rather deep voice.

The girl just shook her head violently without lifting her head, not trusting her voice not to break. At the lack of response the blonde lifted his head from the floor as he was gathering his belongings and fixed his light blue eyes on the girl sobbing slightly in front of him.

"Lily?" He asked doubtfully, not because he wasn't sure who she was, but more as if making sure she was ok.

"I'm sorry" She finally spoke in a bare whisper as she struggled to stand up.

Noticing the girl's distress the blonde stretched his hand and grabbed her by her elbow trying to calm her down.

"What's wrong?" Asked the boy in a soft voice as he kneeled in front of her and put both his hands to her shoulders, his frown increasing with concern.

"Leave me alone, Lorcan" She spat at him still crying endlessly and trying to shake him away but he managed to get a good grip on her.

Once the red headed was mildly quiet Lorcan took his right hand from her shoulder and put it on her chin and made her face him. Hazel and blue met for a few seconds before Lily Luna Potter hid her face into Lorcan's neck.

At first, the sudden move for the girl caught him by surprise and made him tense up but as he felt the girl's warm tears fall in his neck he calmed down and put his arms around her petite body.

For a few minutes he did nothing but to try to sooth her down by murmuring reassuring words into her ear and then when it seemed like she had calmed down he pushed her slightly to the nearest wall and made her sit with her back against it and then sat next to her.

"Now, would you please tell me what happened?" Asked Lorcan in a soft voice as he held her tighter from her hip.

Lily kept silence for a few seconds with her head still resting in the boy's neck and her hands on his chest. She was still sobbing subtly but hopefully the breakdown was now over.

"I caught Brett cheating" Said the girl in a very low tone.

The boy's surprise face was just priceless.

"Brett? As in your boyfriend?" He asked bewildered. Lily nodded. "But…"

"Yup. And you know nothing yet. Guess with whom" She said in what was supposed to be an exited tone.

"Hum…" He stuttered unsure of what to answer, but the read headed made it easier on him.

"Cassandra, no less" She said not waiting for him to answer.

"Cassie?" Asked Lorcan in a slight shriek straightening up without really noticing.

At this movement the girl finally took her head from the boy's neck and sat straight. Lorcan's shocked light blue eyes fixed in Lily's hazel ones which were a little puffy.

Lily nodded softly, noticing the question written all over the blonde's expression.

"But she's your best friend! She can't do that!" Half shouted the blonde indignantly. Not really believing it because of his tendency to expect the best out of people.

"And he is my boyfriend and they still did it" Stated the Potter girl calmly.

"Was" Corrected the boy.

"Oh yeah, that, it's hard to get used to it" Replied Lily in an emotionless tone.

"Well, it's only natural, eight months is quite a long time" Tried reasoning Lorcan coming back to his calming self as he noticed the girl was starting to get depressed again.

"Yeah, for eight months of lies and betrayal that's too much time" As the girl said this she finally took her eyes away from the boy and rested her body to the wall fully.

The red headed closed her eyes and tilted her head back. After about a minute of silence a quiet only tear slid down her cheek.

"Well" the boy's voice caused a slight frown in the girl's forehead "that's just… mean" He finally stated making the girl open her eyes and look at him as if he had grown a second nose.

"Mean?" she asked as thought she was making sure she'd heard right.

Lorcan nodded simply.

"I don't think you heard right, Lorcan, but I just told you my boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend!" As she said this her voice went higher.

"I know"

"And you think that's… mean?" she asked unsure.

"Yeah…" He said mimicking the unsure tone of her voice.

"I think heartless and cruel are the words you're looking for" said Lily finally giving up on the idea that she might have heard wrong.

"Nope. I don't think it's neither heartless nor cruel. It is just mean"

"Lor-"

"No, Lily, listen to me. They're not heartless because if they cheated on you it's because they obviously feel something for each other. Something from the heart hence they're not heartless" He said making an especial emphasis in the word 'heart'. "And they're certainly not cruel because I'm pretty sure they didn't do it on propose" At that last reason Lily snorted.

"Oh, you know what? You're totally right, they just probably trip and started snogging by mistake!" Said the red headed sarcastically.

"No, I don't mean it like that, I mean that they both love you a lot and the last thing they wanted was to hurt you"

"Well, if it really was the last thing they wanted they should have at least told me, if they had maybe… I-"

"Would you have forgiven them? Would it make much difference, Lil?" He asked looking deeply in her eyes in such a serious tone it took Lily by surprise. He had never seen Lorcan serious. Lorcan never took anything serious!

Lily shocked her head defeated.

"She shouldn't like him!" she whispered stubbornly.

"We can't control who we like, Lily" He said and his voice sounded almost wise.

"Yeah, but why him? Why her?"

"There will always be a bunch of questions Lily, but you won't always be able to answer them all. Sometimes things just happen" He replied earnestly.

Lily gaped at him in awe.

"Who are you? And what have you done to Lorcan Scamander?" She asked half heartedly.

At those questions the blonde laughed whole heartedly. At that Lily sighed in relieve half jokingly before joining his laughs shyly.

"Oi! Lil, I meant to ask you before. How did you know it was me? I mean, how didn't you confused me with Lysander and knew right away it was me?" asked Lorcan in a lighter tone as he noticed Lily was now feeling better.

"Because you're brother is a complete ass" replied the girl simply accepting the change of topic gratefully.

"Wha- …He is not!" The blonde seemed truly shocked by her answer.

The girl rolled her eyes as and it was obvious she wasn't surprised by the boy's reaction at all.

"Yeah you say that because he's you're siblings"

"I've heard you say worst things about James, and he's your brother" Said Lorcan frowning a little.

"Yeah, but I'm me and you are you… you can't talk badly about anyone, let alone that lame excuse of a boy you call your brother."

"Well, if you gave him a chance you'd see he's not such as bad guy as you think" Said Lorcan knowingly as he started gathering his long forgotten books. Lily mimicked him and gathered her few books in no time.

Only once they were both up in their feet did Lily reply.

"I don't trust your judging" She said with a small smile on her face. "Since I think you've made it pretty clear that the worst insult you can come up with is mean"

He looked at her with a shocked expression. She started walking away from him.

"Just because in this situation mean is the fitting word it doesn't mean that's the worst I can come up with!" He replied half offended as he started walking by her side.

"Sure, if you say so" She said jokingly in the tone she would have used with someone who had told her dragons were harmless.

"Oh C'mon Lily, don't be-" He fell silence.

Lily turned to look at him with a smile playing in her mouth.

"Yeah…?" She asked mockingly as she lifted her left eyebrow.

In all response he glared at her and sticked his tongue out to her.

Lily smile widely at him. Nothing better than Lorcan's weird choice of words to cheer her up anytime.

Xxxxxxxx

So, what you thought? I don't really love it but there's not much I can do about it now.

Now if you excuse me, got to get completing a bunch of other challenges I have…

Love…

Gii3.~