CHAPTER ONE: The Other Weasley

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can't tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start

– Wake Me Up, Avicii

"Mate, the time isn't going any faster," said Carter Boot as Elliot Thomas checked his watch for the fifth time in two minutes. "Maybe she's not com - "

"She's coming," Elliot said fiercely. "Look, Boot, I appreciate what you're saying, but you don't know Lucy like I do. She promised me she would be here; she doesn't break promises."

Carter sighed, feeding a treat though the bars of a large cage as his owl began to chirp loudly. "The train leaves in five minutes."

"She'll be here," repeated Elliot. But a small, nasally voice in his head argued, But what if she's not? After all, you were hardly there for her this summer. Maybe she found a new best friend - one who doesn't disappear off to Switzerland for months at a time without saying goodbye.

Shut up, Elliot told the voice. He scanned the crowded platform again. No. No. No. Wait - nope, not her. No. No. No... Could it be? Elliot let go of his trunk and moved towards the figure. The girl had the same golden hair as Lucy, the same pink lips and buttery eyes. But the hunched shoulders and blank expression were so unlike her that it made her almost unrecognizable to someone who'd known her for sixteen years.

As Elliot approached, he saw a big-eared Hufflepuff - Devon, was it? - try to make conversation with her. He was just close enough to hear Lucy snap, "Bugger off, will you?" and send an affronted Devon in the opposite direction.

Attempting to put a humorous smile on his face, Elliot shoved his hands in his pockets and said, "You're breaking the poor lad's heart, Lu."

"You act as if I care," Lucy muttered, not looking at him as she stalked towards the train. Bewildered by her cold attitude, Elliot grabbed his trunk and hurried after her as she boarded the Hogwarts Express.

"Lu, what - "

"I'm not really in the mood for talking," Lucy said shortly. They found an empty compartment, and while she didn't tell Elliot to go find a different one, her turned back and sour tone told him to bugger off as clearly as if she'd shouted it at him.

Too stubborn to give up that easily, Elliot crossed his arms and parked himself in the doorway. "Well that's too bloody bad, because I'm not going to move until you tell me what's wrong. So spill."

Lucy glowered at him, then dug through her things and pulled out Ancient Runes of the Alps. Elliot sighed quietly, realizing that in her ornery state Lucy was as unlikely to talk to him as he was to move. So he changed tactics, heaving his trunk into storage before flopping down on the opposite seat. "You know," he said casually. "You could skip reading that book and just ask me about runes in the Alps."

His words were met by stony silence.

"Or not. I mean, I totally get why you prefer to stick your nose in dusty, old parchment rather than converse with your best friend."

A muscle tightened in her jaw.

"Lucy Victoria Weasley, I swear on Merlin's left - "

"Oh, can it Thomas," Lucy said loudly, slamming her book shut and pointing her wand at him threateningly. "I will hex you."

Out of good humor and not doubting that she would indeed hex him, Elliot sat up and returned her glare. "I'm sorry for caring," he said with more than a little bitterness. "I didn't realize that it was offensive."

Lucy flinched and her wand dropped. Elliot's throat tightened as the hard, guarded look fell away from her face to reveal her inner agony. As tears swelled up in her eyes, Elliot moved over to wrap his arms around her. "Shh... I didn't mean to upset you. Shh..."

"My family hates me," Lucy sobbed into his chest. Elliot could feel his shirt becoming damp. "All of them hate me."

"That's bloody ridiculous, Lu. Why would you even think that?" Elliot asked, dismayed. Best friend or not, he felt slightly panicked to see her in such a state of emotional breakdown. He was just a lad, for Merlin's sake - heart-to-heart chats weren't his strong point.

"Dad left Mum because she disappears sometimes; everyone thinks she's cheating on him." Lucy sniffed and rubbed the tears away with the back of her hand. "She's not though; she's got cancer."

Elliot tried his best to look like he understood, but apparently he didn't do very well because Lucy took one glance at his face and clarified shakily, "It's a Muggle disease; she's dying, Elliot. The treatments aren't doing anything."

Another tear rolled out of her eye and Elliot brushed it away, rubbing her cheek gently with his thumb. "I'm so sorry, Lucy," he said. "What about Molly?"

"She doesn't know." Lucy lay her head on his chest, her violent sobbing gone to be replaced by a slow trickle of tears. "I wasn't supposed to know, either, but I caught her on the way to chemo one day. I guess she was just tired of lying all the time."

Elliot stroked her hair, not knowing what to say. After a few moments, he heard her breathing slow and deepen into a light snore. Glancing down, he realized how dark the circles under her eyes were. The poor girl must have been torturing herself at night over this mess.

He sighed, sliding her down so that her head rested comfortably on his lap. He and Lucy had been friends practically since birth; his father had been a dorm-mate and friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and as such was a regular visitor in the two households. Their children born two weeks apart from each other (his was the 12th of August and Lucy's was the 26th), it didn't take long for Audrey Weasley, the beautiful blonde Muggle whom Percy had married, and his mum, Alexandra Thomas, to commit themselves to the growing companionship between their son and daughter. Elliot had a sneaking suspicion that the two ladies secretly willed them to marry, but was relieved that neither had breached the subject to him. After all, he was only sixteen.

In Elliot's opinion, Lucy Weasley was the most beautiful girl in the world. Unlike the rest of the Weasley family, Lucy did not have red hair. Instead, her long curls were a bronzed blond color, and her eyes were blue. She was small but oddly muscular (a fact which Elliot had found out when she'd beat him in a thumb war in their third year), and was a wicked quidditch player; Elliot had been trying for years to get her to join the house team, with limited success; she said she would join "only if he was captain." And Elliot knew there was fat chance in that happening anytime soon.

Lucy was also different from her family in that she preferred to keep away from the celebrity attention that her cousins and sister enjoyed. Instead she hid herself away to the point that, even in her sixth year, she was often referred to as "The Other Weasley" - if she somehow managed to come up in conversation. It irritated Elliot to no end that she was known as thus, but Lucy shrugged it away. He couldn't understand why she liked being anonymous; she was bloody brilliant - as brilliant as her cousin Rose, who was thought to be one of the most talented witches in the whole school. And it wasn't as if she normally acted like the troll she was earlier that morning. The funny thing about Lucy's invisibility was that she wasn't quiet or unfriendly. She was a very pleasant person to be around normally, because she was cheerful, sympathetic and witty. She rarely got upset and never lost her temper (excepting the time Scorpius Malfoy had made a comment about Rose; the poor boy had sported purple wings for a week).

Elliot didn't realize he'd dozed off until the compartment door clicked open and awakened him. He looked blearily up at a grinning Carter. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." But the grin didn't leave Carter's face as he threw himself down on the opposite seat, already in his Hogwarts uniform. "So what was up with her?" he asked, nodding at Lucy who was still fast asleep.

"Oh, you know. Just a bad day combined with hormones," Elliot said vaguely. For once he was grateful for Carter's emotional denseness as his friend nodded knowingly.

"Girls," Carter said. "Crazy, they are."

"I'd watch your tongue if I were you, Boot," mumbled Lucy, startling them both as she sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes.

"Right. Of course. I mean, not that you're crazy or anything..." Carter babbled. Elliot coughed to hide his laughter. Two years ago, Lucy had transformed Carter's quills into snakes after he'd made an inappropriate comment - an event which Carter clearly remembered.

"Oh, I'm the craziest of the lot." Lucy gave him an exhausted smile before turning her attention to Elliot. "I expect we'll be arriving soon; I'll wait outside while you change your clothes."

"Alright."

As soon as she'd left, Elliot quickly stripped out of his street clothes and into his robes. He was just adjusting his tie when Carter's gossiping was interrupted by a yell from outside the compartment.

"Why the bloody hell are you ignoring me?"

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I should warn you - I am a slow updater. But I promise to do my best, and I hope you favorite/follow/review anyways. Please, feedback would be ever so helpful so that I can make this story AGAP (as great as possible). ¡Hasta la vista, mi lectores maravillosos!