24 YEARS AFTER THE GREAT WAR

CHAPTER-1

"Hey Lil…Will you pass me that jug of milk,please?"

"OH. MY GOD! He's staring at you! AGAIN!" my cousin squealed, paying me no attention.

"Who,Lily?" I sighed, knowing that she would have her way regardless.

"Dimitri! He's been staring at you for the past 5 minutes!"she exclaimed in glee.

"Rose!" she exclaimed when I didn't acknowledge her and instead, helped myself to the jug of milk.

"What?" I snapped, irritated.

"You're not listening to me."

"Yes,I am,Lily. I distinctly heard you say that Dimitri was staring at me."

"Then how are you so calm?"

"Well, how am I supposed to react?" I demanded, and she gaped.

"Well-I-you should-uh-"she stammered.

"Look, I'm sorry for snapping at you, but I'm not in the best of moods today, okay?" I said, gentler.

"You're never in the mood these days." She grumbled.

"I know. It's just…I have some stuff going on in my life that I'm finding hard to deal with." I vaguely explained.

"But what do we do now?" she pressed.

"About what?"

"Dimitri's staring. He's been at it since last week."

Wrong, I thought. Not a week. 5 days. Ever since that day. Ever since he found me doing that. From then, his gaze had followed me like a lost puppy. Wherever I went, I could feel his gaze on me,like it was a physical touch. A burning hot touch. It didn't help that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had nearly all the classes together, either. He and I always seemed to be in the same room together.

Avoiding him was fruitless. Trust me, I'd tried. Id even gone so far as to duck into the girls' loo, but when I came out after what was an acceptable amount of time, he'd be lounging outside, casually talking to his friend. Seriously. The man stuck to me as if he was super-glued, and I didn't even know why.

"Rose!" Lily snapped her fingers in front of my face, and I dismissed my thoughts.

"Yes, I'm listening, You were asking what we should do about all the staring, right?" I asked, and she nodded vigorously.

"I say we do nothing. He'll grow tired of it gradually." I told her, and she slumped in disappointment.

"But Roooosseeee!" she whined, and I shut her up with a look.

"No 'but's, Lil. He's staring; he's got an eye problem. We can do nothing about it." She opened her mouth once again to argue, but I was saved by an arm around my shoulder and a familiar voice near my ear.

"Hey! What's going on here?" James asked as he plopped unceremoniously next to me.

"Nothing much. Lily, here, is late for Care Of Magical Creatures." I said with a meaningful look at her, and she nodded slightly, understanding that I wanted the matter kept quiet. However, she also gave me a 'This-isn't-over' look before smacking her head and jumping up.

"Oh no! I completely lost track of time! Sorry James! Got to run!" she ranted, gave me a quick kiss on my cheek, ruffled James' forever-messy hair, and dashed off.

"She'll never change." James laughed, staring at her, and I agreed. Lily was always, always, late for her lessons.

"So what's up with you? I never see you these days." I asked him. He was always busy with Quidditch or the string of girls falling at his feet. Add that to the fact that we were from different Houses, and I rarely saw him. Or Albus, or Hugo, or Lily. It seemed these days that I was always alone.

All alone with myself, which was more dangerous than anyone realized.

But of course, I didn't voice these thoughts in front of them, ever, I didn't beg for them not to leave me, like I did in my head.

"Oh nothing much. Quidditch, girls, homework. You know, the usual." He answered breezily.

"And you? What do you do these days?"he asked, and I couldn't help but think that it felt like long-lost friends catching up, and not like cousins who went to the same school.

But that's how it had been, right from the start.

At first, everything had been ok, if not fine. I had my parents and family with me. But as years passed, we started growing apart, especially since I joined Hogwarts. Now I rarely saw my family. Even my own brother, I talk to once a week ,if lucky. That wasn't enough for me .I wanted to be close to someone. Close like Lily and Hugo were. Like James and Albus were. Me? I had no one.

I must've dwelled on my thoughts for far too long, because James touched me on the shoulder once to rouse me.

"Rose? Are you okay?" he asked, brown eyes full of worry.

My firs thought was that maybe the spell had worn off. I looked down at my hands and was relieved o see that they had stayed smooth.

"What? I'm fine. Why would you ask that?"

"It's just…you turned pale for a second there. As if you were about to throw up." He said. I internally examined myself, and realized that he was right. My body was getting ready to empty its stomach.

"No I'm fine. It must've been the lighting that made me look pale." I convinced him, while internally commanding my body to hold on for a little while longer.

Just then, mercifully, the bell rang, signaling the end of breakfast and the beginning if he first hour.

"James, I have to go. I'm going to be late." I lied, even though I had a free hour then.

" care." He said, and I nodded, dashing off on the direction of what he thought was my first class, but changing directions once I was out of his sight.

I confirmed that the loo was empty, went to the wash basin, and proceeded my daily routine; expelling the contents of my stomach.

Once it was all out, I looked up at the adjoining mirror, and was panicked to see that the spell had collapsed. Quickly, I recast it, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Still, as I trudged slowly back to the common room, the image of my horrible reflection; my true reflection staring back at me from the mirror stuck in my head…