She didn't really know where she was going, considering the fact that the Gryffindor common room was in the opposite direction. Lily simply knew that she had to get away; from the stupidly sincere looks of her family, the gossipers mutters situated around her, Amanda's painfully forced cackle and Leon's pained silence in the midst of it all. Lily clenched her fists at the thought of him, the memory of his sober expression. She's the one who should be upset, not Leon. After all, wasn't it he who cheated on her? But that's not Lily's style; she's the last person in the world who would want her emotions to be realised by anyone - she liked her mysterious, tough girl image. Even Rose had never seen her cry. Once, Franky had seen her cry; the first time she played Quidditch when she was six, and was hit by a bludger square in the face and knocked off her broom onto the ground. She got up with a smile and a shrug and tried to laugh the whole thing off, but Franky knew she was doing it halfheartedly. He then found her sobbing behind a tree in pain, but he promised not to tell anyone. And Franky has always kept his promises. Lily always thought of crying as the biggest weakness there ever was. If only Leon was so loyal, Lily thought bitterly. Her speed walk had slowed to her normal pace, now she was a safe distance from everyone. She was headed towards the grounds. Maybe an evening flight was what she really needed, or to sit beside the lake and pour out her heart to the Giant Squid.

She hated how weak and lonely the whole situation was making her feel. After all Lily Potter had always had loads of boyfriends, but she was the heartbreaker - she had never been heartbroken. She clenched her fist around her wand, and roughly wiped back another tear from her cheek. Which was an achievement for a tear, since they normally never made it past the eye lid. And of all the people, of all the stuck up bitches in the castle, it had to be Amanda he had been fucking around with, didn't it? She contemplated heatedly, the memory of her walking into the potions room at the wrong time two days ago fresh in her mind. The memory of Amanda's wicked smile fresher still. . .

A hand suddenly clasped itself around Lily's wrist, bringing her to an abrupt stop, almost making her trip. Not looking round, she tried tugging her wrist away, but the hand fastened its grip. Feeling really pissed off now, Lily shouted, "fuck off Franky, you are so fucking annoying!"

The hand suddenly swung Lily round, and she stumbled into the owner's arms. She looked up begrudgingly into his silvery green eyes, as he smiled back at her. "Or hello, as people used to say." Lily shoved Franky into the pillar, as he mocked a grunt, which then turned into a weak laugh. Franky brought himself up to his full height again, towering over Lily, while ruffling his soft, black hair. People often did a double take when they realised he was a Longbottom.

'What do you want?' asked Lily flatly, not looking at him.

'Well, I've been looking for you everywhere and I just went up to the Griffindor common room-'

'What do you want?' Lily repeated again more forcefully, staring Franky full in the face now. When Franky didn't respond, instead stared at her with a curious expression, she turned to carry on walking. Finally, Franky called after her, 'can I come? Only I'm a bit lonely.' Lily couldn't help but grin to herself, as this was as much fact as the crumple-horned snorkack; you rarely found Franky without his usual flock of simpering Slytherins, all of whom are dying to please. Either that, or he was always with Al and Scorpius. 'If you must,' she yelled back after a moment or two.

The two walked side by side into the grounds. The moon was already shining high above the castle, as the many lights of Hogwarts windows flickered on the lake's many ripples. Franky had been doing most of the talking, while Lily remained oddly silent, absorbed in her own thoughts.

'You going to tell me what's wrong then?' Franky asked at last, coming to the conclusion that his attempts at casual conversation were clearly proving fruitless. Lily turned and stared at him for a moment, as if sizing him up. How much should she let him in? Would she just end up embarrassing herself? Sure, they were perhaps closer than most, but would it really be wise to let her guard down? But as she delved into his deep, green eyes, Lily also wondered whether caution should be last thing to take into consideration. It's Franky for goodness sake. Before Lily could stop herself however, her throat began to feel tight and constricted, while her eyes began to burn. They had come to the edge of the lake now, and they could hear the soft rippling of the calm waters. Lily hadn't been here in days; the last time she was here was last Saturday, and she had been with Leon, strolling hand in hand, laughing and nuzzling, kissing on the lakes edge...

Franky opened his mouth to speak yet again, but Lily beat him to it. 'I hate her!' she spat suddenly, her voice echoing around the silent grounds, 'and I hate him!'

It would have been fool hardy for Franky not to know who she was talking about. He stuffed his hands in his pockets but did not stem the flow of Lily's outbursts. 'He's being so - so stupid! so pathetic! Why the fuck is he upset? Why is he moping miserably around the castle? That should be me, me!' Lily's vision was obscured by tears now, as they cascaded down her flushed cheeks. Franky remained silent, watching her, as Lily ploughed on whether he was listening or not. 'He cheated on me! I don't understand - if it upsets him so much he should have had held on to his trousers, and he hasn't even tried to apologise, not that it would have made any difference,' she added as a resentful afterthought.

'He humiliated me, Franky,' she sobbed, turning towards him, 'and I've had to act like I'm okay, it doesn't matter, I don't care, the usual bullshit.' Lily was hiccoughing now, while Franky still remained silent, watching her with a mixture of pity and apprehension. He didn't know whether he should say something, or was it best that she let it all out? He then dug deeper into his pockets, and then drew out two pocket sized bottles of firewhiskey, one tinted with cherry, and a slab of honeydukes chocolate. As Lily wiped away her tears, she spotted the firewhiskey and chocolate in Franky's hands and gave a watery chuckle, looking up at him appreciatively. 'Go on then, just one drop.' Franky grinned and winked, as Lily prised the pink bottle of firewhiskey out of his hand, and Franky then guided her to sit beside the lake under the large Oak tree, with the air of a waiter guiding a customer to their seat. Uncorking her bottle of firewhiskey, Lily kicked off her shoes and dangled her feet in the cool, clean water. She knocked back a large swig of whiskey, as Franky sat beside her on the lake's edge, opening his own bottle.

'I've heard what people have been saying you know.' It was as if she was accusing Franky, and even he seemed to swallow uncomfortably as Lily knocked back more firewhiskey. 'Staring, pointing, smirking; now I know how dad used to feel- they all deserve a good punch! They made a fool out of me, and holding my head up reduces the damage by so little. And the fact that it's her, makes it ten times worse!' Lily spluttered, having another swig of whiskey, 'because of that - that - slut! That foul little whore! Girls are the worst, always giggling wherever I go.' As Lily knocked her head back for her fourth swig, Franky snatched the bottle out of her trembling hands and then thrust the chocolate into them. 'Eat it,' he said. Lily scowled at him, and Franky fought the urge to laugh; Lily had the air of a five year old with a temper tantrum. 'You'll feel better,' he urged gently, yet he was grinning in spite of himself. Lily snorted. 'Rose, Rox, Molly and Lucy have already tried that, and what good has it done?'

'Well, did you eat it?'

Lily scowled at him again, as Franky smiled triumphantly and drank some of his firewhiskey. Lily grudgingly broke off some of the chocolate and ate it, as she stared out at the lake. The moonlight was dancing on the waves as the wind blew gently through her long, red hair. Listening carefully, the two of them could hear the beautiful, peaceful singing of the merpeople below. Lily could hear her father now, telling her that merpeople could only sing underwater. She did not want to leave this mellow place, to return to a castle that was completely otherwise.

'You don't have to keep it all bottled up all the time, you know.' Lily turned to look at Franky. He was lying back on his forearms, also staring out into the dark horizon. She sighed before saying, 'I'm not this girl though, Franky. I don't want to be this girl. What's the point in crying? It only makes matters worse after all.'

'The point is to prevent this from happening. Random outbursts. What if you had done this in front of others, or in a classroom? That would be even more humiliating. You're lucky it only just came out now,' said Franky, looking up at her. He turned his body slowly towards her, and raised his hand to her cheek; Lily gasped ever so slightly at his touch, as he tenderly swept away a lone tear. Lily opened her mouth to retort, then slowly closed it again. 'Well, yeah, I suppose you're right about that,' she admitted quietly, 'but I don't want people to know - I don't want them to think - it hurts Franky,' she moaned finally. Her face was closer to his now.

'I never imagined that he would do this to me. I thought - I thought -' her voice was constricted again. 'I thought we had something special.' Franky scoffed and shook his head, looking almost incredulously at an outraged Lily. 'You don't really want something special with Leon, do you? Look at him Lily, he's a brute! Everyone else can see it and we're still trying to figure out why you can't. Lily, you're a bright girl,' added Franky gently, as Lily flushed an angry red, 'which is why I'm not going to be sympathetic and also because you probably already knew this. It's disappointing really, because you've always been above and better than that, yet you clung on. Why?'

Lily looked as if she might punch, or worse still, hex him. Tears had streaked her red cheeks again, as she turned back towards the lake and ate more chocolate. After what could have been hours, Lily finally replied 'god only knows.' Then she gave a watery laugh. Franky casually raised an eyebrow at her as she slowly fell backwards onto the cool grass, and stared up at the glistening stars above. It was surprisingly warm for a night in March. 'I guess,' Lily said gently after a few minutes, 'it's not really the fact that it's him, but more of the fact that it's her. If it was anyone else I probably would've brushed it off like you said because they would have both been abysmal. But,' and her voice trembled slightly, 'we both know that Amanda is much better than me, right?' She almost sounded like a child trying to seek reassurance. Franky choked a little on his firewhiskey. 'No!' he spluttered, 'you mental? she's a complete psycho? And you've never actually cheated on anyone have you?' Franky's eyes bore into Lily's. 'Have you?'

'No, of course I haven't! What exactly do you take me for Franklin?' asked Lily, sounding slightly hurt.

'Well you did pause, so I thought-'

'Don't injure yourself, Franky.' The two looked at each other, then, faces softening, they burst into laughter. 'We should really do this more often,' sighed Franky, he too now lying back and looking at the stars. Lily lay next to him, close, so that Franky's enticing aftershave filled her nostrils. She shook her head. 'Can't can I? It's O.W.L's this year, remember?'

'Ah, yes.' Franky was a year above Lily in his sixth year. They had already been studying together before Christmas, although Lily never really seemed to actually need the extra help, however the buzz of concentration seemed to have died down shortly afterwards. 'Yeah, like you need to revise,' scoffed Franky, swigging some more firewhiskey.

'Well, you never know, I could still really fuck up if I don't study.'

'You'll be fine.' He wrapped his arm around Lily and squeezed. It felt so comfortable lying next to him, enmeshed in his warmth, her nose rubbing into his jumper. Lily suddenly felt Franky's hand on her back drifting slowly down her spine, drawing close to the rim of her jeans. As he stroked her skin, their legs entwining and their bodies drawing ever closer, Lily felt like she wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around his neck and wrap herself around him, so that there was no space between them, so that they would melt into each other, hardly daring to breath. . .

The two of them jumped. Lily sat bolt upright while Franky jumped to his feet, his hand in his pocket, holding the handle of his wand. A silhouette had emerged from the castle; stout, hobbling, slightly hunchbacked, a lanturn swaying from side to side in one hand, and the additional black outline of a cat hurrying along beside it. 'Filch,' muttered Franky, with a hint of regret in his voice. Grabbing Lily's hand and pulling her to her feet, the two waited a few seconds before pelting back up the slope and into the safety of the castle. She couldn't explain it, but for some reason Lily felt like a hot spark inside her had flared, flickered and burnt out.