Sorry in advance for mistakes.

Lily Potter stood outside the Great Hall self consciously trying to smooth her pleated navy blue skirt, barely meeting regulation length. She desperately was attempting to correctly button her sloppily buttoned shirt and she had yet to notice that her light, summer sweater was on inside out. Her long red hair was a ruffled mess and her knee socks had fallen to her ankles in a very put together, bunched up sort of way. Her lips were swollen and red and she was quite desperately trying to cover a rather prominent scarlet splotch on the side of her neck.

I was going to kill the boy who did this to her. Murder him. It would be easy. I'd have loads of help.

I wondered who this boy was. Bradley Brown? No, no I had it. It was definitely Charles Berkowitz. Lily had had her eye on him for awhile now. Merlin, after I killed him I was killing her. She's sixteen for crying out loud! She shouldn't have swollen lips and hickeys! Not unless I do. I don't.

I knew I probably shouldn't be snooping like this, probably shouldn't be hiding underneath the invisibility cloak on a Thursday morning, especially when I probably should be finishing the potions homework I had neglected to do, but I really just couldn't help it. I'm not usually a nosy person, it's just well- it's my sister's life we're talking about here.

Lily had finally noticed that her sweater was on inside out and she peeled it off, delicately turning it the right way. She didn't put it back on though and I really couldn't blame her. We were in the middle of May and the days seemed to be getting hotter and hotter and hotter. Long gone were the heavy cloaks and fuzzy wool hats. We could barely stand our dress shirts. More often then not the boys had the first few buttons undone and sleeves rolled up in a desperate attempt to cool down.

N.E.W.T's were coming up but lately I just didn't care. Grades seemed a lot less important when your sweet, innocent, baby sister was sneaking around with boys. Boys that needed to be hurt. Family comes before school, don't you know.

So here I was, leaning inconspicuously against the rough, stone wall, practically bent in half so that the invisibility cloak would cover my scuffed up loafers. The invisibility cloak was the perfect size when I was eleven but over the past seven years I'd shot up quite a bit.

I chewed on my lip, watching as Lily checked her watch and then tilted her head up, focusing her dark green eyes on the moving stair case and she sighed and adjusted her heavy bag on her shoulder, looking at the stairs impatiently.

She hadn't noticed the boy sauntering down the stairs. I had been right. It was Charles Berkowitz. He took a bite out of granny smith apple, glancing absentmindedly at a sheet of parchment, probably reviewing an essay due this morning.

I knew it was him.

He closed the distance between him and Lily but the anxious expression didn't leave her face.

"Good morning Charlie." Lily said, shooting him a quick smile.

"Oh hey Lily. How'd your essay come out?" He returned her smile, stopping by her side, making small talk.

"I think it came out okay. I don't know though. I had Rosie check it and she said it was fantastic so I think that must mean it's pretty good. Right?"

"I would think so. She's bloody brilliant." Charles reassured her. He paused to tuck his paper back in his bag and then asked, "Did you end up writing about the eighteen hundreds or the sixteen hundreds?"

"Well I started out writing about the eighteen hundreds but I got bored with it and so I ended up writing it on..." Lily continued to babble to Charles about their History of Magic paper, but I was no longer paying attention for I knew it wasn't Charles that had done that preposterous thing to her neck. It wasn't Charles at all.

It was Noah Gilligan.

Noah wasn't a silly fifth year. He was a seventh year. He wasn't someone I could easily beat up. He was just as tall as I was. He was more muscular than I was. He was the Hufflepuff's Quidditch Captain, the one that had led them to victory, the keeper that had won them the House cup for the past three years. Noah was the little eleven year old boy who had fallen out of the boats on our ride to the castle on our very first day. Noah was the lanky third year who had cracked his head open on Halloween. We were Potion partners in fifth year, failing with dignity, together. He was the sixth year who sleep walked to the Whomping Willow and spent the next three weeks in the infirmary. He was eighteen.

And suddenly I felt like I was going to throw up.

He was bounding down the stairs four at a time, his sleeves rolled up carelessly, his tie hanging loosely around his neck, a goofy grin spreading over his tanned face, sprinkled with freckles. Lily was still talking animatedly, completely unaware of the mousy brown haired boy who was practically skipping toward her, glowing. His happiness seemed to be oozing from every pore.

Charles nodded sympathetically at something Lily had said. She opened her mouth to say something else but Noah had finally closed the distance between them and had scooped her up, bag and all, swinging her in a big circle.

"Uh…okay, um...see you in class Lily..." Charles trailed off, awkwardly walking towards the Great Hall.

Neither Lily nor Noah made a show of saying goodbye to him. They were too busy glowing. Too busy spinning in circles. It was uncomfortable to look at them. I felt like I should look away, if not for their sake, for mine.

"Hey, Lily." His grin broke into a smile, making his eyes crinkle at the edges and his noses scrunch a little. I wanted to punch him.

"Hey, you." Lily squeezed her eyes shut briefly as if convincing herself it was all real, a smile turning up the corners of her puffy lips.

Noah had set her gently, safe and sound, back on the ground, keeping his arms, locked around her waist.

"How are you?" He drew back just a bit.

"Just peachy." She grinned, all shiny and sunny.

"Good." He planted a sweet kiss on her forehead and dropped his hold on my sister. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he let go of her. "Let me take that for you." He slipped her bag off her arm and slipped his arm around her thin shoulders as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world. As if it were okay. It clearly was not okay.

And Lily, tilted her little heart shaped face up and smiled up at him with the widest, happiest, smile I have ever seen on her face.

She casually glanced over in my direction, where I hid from under the invisibility cloak and gave me a look. A pleading look. The "Don't ruin this for me" look. And I am just like Noah Gilligan. I am just like Harry Potter. I am just like any boy in this girl's life. I am wrapped so tightly around her little finger that I just nodded back.

"Hey, Albus, this is Noah! I think you might know him!" Lily called and Noah's eye went wide as Frisbees. Of course he was scared. You should see what James and I did to the last two boyfriends.

"Hey, Noah." I slipped off the invisibility cloak and grinned at my friend, my classmate, my roommate.

"Hi, Albus." He nodded at me, forcing a grin. Lily gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before slipping out from under his arm to stand between the two of us.

"Now listen." She said her tone as equally happy and sunny as before. But there something else in it now. I very stern feeling that couldn't missed. "You are not going to kill each other." She gave each of us a stern and meaningful look before placing a kiss on each of our cheeks and slipping her teensy tiny hand into Noah's tugging him wordlessly to the Great Hall.

The invisiblity cloak slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. I had to write James.

Spinning around quickly I bumped right into Rose and Scorpius who were locked in a passionate embrace. Not too far away Hugo was leading a good looking Hufflepuff into a broom closet. He caught my eye and wagged his eyebrows.

Bloody hell. I need a girlfriend.

Please, please, please review. You have no idea how much it means.