It may have been because she didn't look like a Weasley, with the dark hair and eyes that she inherited from her mother, or the fact that she was a Hufflepuff while they majority of them were Gryffindors, or maybe it was a bit of both, it didn't really matter. The point was that Lucy didn't really feel that close to her cousins and that most of the school didn't even realise that she was related to the famous group of students. Not that she minded though. Her friends were her family and they were all she needed.

She was happiest with them, laughing their way through the nights and giggling through the days. Stalking Quidditch captains and dressing up the knights of armour, it was always a laugh with them and it was with them that she felt her most comfortable. Her cousins were fun of course, but among them Lucy always felt on the outer. She got along with them well enough, but there was always jokes she didn't get, conversations she didn't understand. With her friends she could be really be herself. She could say what she liked without being over shadowed or feeling put down.

Her friends' view on her family however, that was a whole different thing. Lucy was in a position where she heard all the ridiculous rumours and stupid stories about her family firsthand, as people often didn't realise who they were speaking in front of. She always found these tales hilarious, and not to mention dead useful. Having her cousins bribe her to let them in on the inside goss about them was always a laugh, and could really come in handy when she needed a favour.

However, she couldn't lie and say that hearing her best friends obsess over her male cousins didn't get old fast. Although it gave her a strange burst of pride, knowing that she shared blood with the people her friends (and most of the rest of the school) so obsessed over, there was only so many times she could hear about Al Potter's "beautiful eyes" or Louis's hair ("it just looks so soft, I just want to run my hands through it!") without wanting to throw herself into The Black Lake.

Family gatherings -although they didn't involve her school friends- usually meant being able to avoid her immediate family and getting to hang out with her cousins like it was the old days (pre-sorting) again, so they were okay in her book. Plus there was always the vague hope that James would bring along one of his (gorgeous, gorgeous) friends along with him and, of course, the juicy gossip.

But Lucy arrived at The Burrow this time, like all the rest, to find no seventh years other than James and his best friend and their cousin, Fred. However there was someone else; Scorpius Malfoy, a fellow sixth year, who had been brought along by Al. Al and Scorpius were incredibly close, and it was common knowledge that Scorpius didn't exactly see eye to eye with his parents, and therefore spent a lot of time staying with the Potters.

Sure, Scorpius wasn't quite at the standard of some of James's mates (at least according to Lucy), but he was a) male and b) not related to her, so she was happy. Plus there was c) d) and e), those stormy grey eyes, chiselled features and infuriating smirk. Yeah, okay, she wasn't complaining that he was there. As long as he didn't open his mouth, she couldn't see why there would be a problem. Good looks aside, she wasn't the biggest fan of the Slytherin personally.

She'd left her parents and older sister behind the moment they arrived at The Burrow. The three of them, she knew, were in the kitchen right now with the rest of the adults. Lucy had already been hugged nearly to death by the sheer number she'd had to receive from not only her grandparents, but from what felt like hundreds of uncles and aunties. She stumbled into the living room where she knew the younger cousins would be, and stopped in the doorway. Al and Scorpius were standing against the far wall, next to the glowing fireplace, and appeared to be deep in discussion. Scorpius though looked up when she entered the room, shooting her that famous, teasing smirk. Lucy glared at him, and crossed her arms, her cheeks reddening slightly. Dominique, although quite a bit older than the rest of them at twenty-one, sat on the top of the couch on the right, perched on top of the backrest, as if holding court over those below her. Her sister, Victoire, had been in the kitchen. James sat next to Dom and Fred next to him, but Dom still looked like she owned the place. James looked as if he was trying to appear the same way, but didn't quite have the same commanding, striking presence his tall blonde and beautiful cousin did. Fred was trying to shove his fifteen-year-old sister, Roxanne, off the couch where she'd clearly tried to steal a seat between a sprawled out Rose and an awkward Louis.

"Children must sit on the floor," Fred objected, as Roxie fell to said floor, giving her a final kick once she'd landed there.

Roxie, ever polite, flipped him off. "It's comfortable down here," she decided, lying back fully, "this carpet's bloody luxurious."

Lily and Hugo were squashed into the much smaller couch opposite; it was obvious why Roxie wasn't trying to sit there. Their heads were together, whispering to each other while peering down at something Lucy couldn't see, clearly paying no attention to the events around them. After all, this was tamel for the Potter and Weasley cousins.

Before Lucy could even think about where she was going to try to fit in James called out to her. "Lowly sixth years down on the couch, Lu!" He motioned down to where Rose and Louis sat below him.

Rose pushed him off the top of the couch.

Al, having broken off his conversation with Scorpius, seemed to take that as an invitation to take a seat on the couch and leapt for the free space. James scrambled to his feet and quickly leant back over the top of the couch.

"What did we say?" he demanded. "No children and no slimy Slytherins!" He dived over the top the couch, landing on his brother. The two of them feel to the ground in a flailing mess of limbs, exchanging what they –if asked- would have described as punches but were really more like girly slaps. There may have even been some hair pulling at one point. All in good humour though. James stuck his head up for long enough to say, "There you go Lu, a seat for you!" as if the entire thing had been a plot to secure a seating placement for the lady, even though she'd been a "lowly sixth year" a minute ago. Oh so chivalrous James.

Lucy shook her head, laughing. She'd always liked James, however ridiculous he was. She skipped across the room, jumped out of the way of her wrestling cousins at the last second and threw herself onto the couch. She heard a yelp of protest and oh shit, oh shit, she'd landed on Louis, who looked terrified. Usually Lucy would be terrified too, as bad as it was, Louis intimidated her a little with his annoyingly good looks and sometimes abrupt manner, she always felt like he was judging her. His expression now though, was too funny; all wide eyed and startled. The entire situation was too funny and she found herself laughing as she fell backwards, rolling off Louis's lap (how her friends would kill to be in her place right now) and "Oww!" She'd hit her back on Rose's knee. She laughed even harder. Rose pulled her legs in with a laugh and Lucy turned around again, managing not to knock anyone out or anything before leaning back against the couch. Rose and Louis flicked their legs over her, the two of them lounging back with Lucy trapped in the middle, their living, breathing foot rest. James and Al as stopped fighting at the sound of a war-like cry as the three youngest cousins, Roxie, Lily and Hugo ran forward dived in unison for the couch. Pretty soon they were all laughing and fighting over the couch as Scorpius watched on, amused. The chaos didn't end until Dom pulled out her wand and vanished both of the couches with a sharp flick of her wand.

They ended up sitting in a circle on the carpet, which was not as luxurious as Roxanne had earlier described and relaxed chatter broke out amongst them.

Lucy wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation. She'd pulled out her muggle mobile phone and was busy texting her friend Cindy. But when Matthew Davies's name was mentioned she zoned right back in.

"He's right fit," said Roxanne, saying exactly what Lucy had been thinking.

The other girls nodded in agreement. James rolled his eyes.

"He tried to kill me!" exclaimed Louis, learning forward, wide-eyed.

"That's another credit to his name then," teased Dom.

Everyone was looking at Louis, who usually didn't speak out in group conversations, unless of course it was with a sarcastic comment or wry observation. Louis shrunk back at the sudden attention, blushing.

"Err… care to explain?" demanded Rose, not unreasonably.

"He tried to kill me," Louis just repeated.

"Define kill," said Scorpius, Louis glanced at him for a second before quickly looking away, his gaze falling to the ground.

"He tried to recruit me for the Quidditch team," he explained.

There were a lot of "ohhhhs" and everyone sitting back, thinking that that was it.

But Louis wasn't finished. "And I said no, so he chased me down three corridors. I nearly fell out of the owlery." He sounded quite distressed.

"…Bloody hell."

"I know. He said that I was small and a Weasley-"

"Both honest statements," nodded the rather tall Fred.

"And ridiculously handsome," continued Louis, in the same harried tone.

"And one not so much."

Rose rolled her eyes. "He did not say that."

"Who's telling the story?" he asked.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Carry on."

"Alright, he didn't mention that. But he said that I looked like a seeker and that he needed a seeker and I needed to play it for him."

"But you can't play for shit," stated James bluntly.

"That's what I said!" agreed Louis, "and he said that I was holding back on him on purpose. He was like 'all the other Potters/Weasleys play for Gryffindor and it's not fair if that won't play for us.' Then he yelled that he 'wasn't missing out on this opportunity!' and I said unless his 'opportunity' was to watch me plummet fifty feet to my death he was going to be disappointed."

There were a few quiet laughs, everyone knew it was true. Louis wasn't a bad flyer but add distraction such as other players and Quidditch balls and he was hopeless. He usually ended up screwing his eyes shut and covering his head, not the best tactic if you're attempting to stay on your broom. Plus he wasn't the most graceful person, even if he looked so. The last time he'd played Quidditch he'd slid off the end of his broom and to pull all the bristles off with him, when a bludger had come only slightly near his vicinity.

"So what happened then?" Lily, was wide-eyed, clearly very into the story.

"He killed me and buried the body," Louis replied dryly.

Lily glared at him.

"It's about time someone did," nodded Dom.

Lucy gasped; suddenly realising she knew more of this story than she'd thought at first. Everyone turned to look at her puzzlingly. "Is that when you blew up the charms corridor? Well, both of you, sorry."

Louis laughed lightly, shaking his hair out of his eyes. When he spoke again he sounded faintly embarrassed. "Yeah, things got kinda ugly…"

Fred let out a low whistle.

James looked impressed. "My dear boy," he said sounding scarily like their Uncle Percy. "I knew you'd make me proud one day." He learned forward to ruffle Louis's hair.

Louis batted his hand away. "Oi," he objected sternly, "no one touches the hair." He ran his own hand through it, pushing it back so it stuck upright. It suited him. Everything suited him, stupid part-veela.

He may has well have put out an open invitation. James and Fred looked at each other and grinned mischievously. They probably would have dived on him right then and there if Scorpius hadn't interrupted with a question, directed at Louis, that caught everyone's attention. "Is that why you dive into the nearest broom cupboard whenever you see him coming, then?"

Louis grinned. "I have a healthy respect for my own life, there's nothing wrong with that," he said, "And yeah, maybe Davies said he'd make me try out for the team, even if it kills him. -or, as I think is more likely, me- but it's not him I'm scared of, it's his dodgy spellwork. How else do you think the charms corridor blew up? I mean who messes a disarming spell up that badly? It's a wonder I made it out alive."

There was silence as everyone considered this, nodding slowly.

"He's does have a bloody good body though," said Roxanne, breaking the silence. "I'd 'join his team', if you know what I mean."

They did.

AN: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, I really appreciate it. If you've read this far then I'd love if you dropped me a line, let me know what you think. I love hearing from you. :)