Gobstones
Lily Luna Potter
Lily Luna found the gobstones when she was rummaging through James' things.
She knew she wasn't supposed to go in his room, knew James would throw a fit if he ever found out - but James was at Hogwarts, and so was Al, and it wasn't her fault that they'd left her alone with nothing to do.
"Lily?" her mother called from downstairs. "Lily, where are you?"
"Up here," she yelled. "Looking for my . . . jumper."
Her mother's light footsteps echoed on the stairs; Lily stuffed the gobstones in her pocket and bolted out of James' room. "Your jumper's in your room, I just put it - Lily!"
"What?" She widened her eyes and gave her mother her best innocent-princess smile.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Her mother narrowed her eyes. "You did something. You have that look."
"A look?" She blinked twice. "What look?"
"The look Uncle George used to have when he was up to something."
"I don't have a look."
"You do." Her mother leaned against the banister, laundry basket balanced on her hip. "It must be genetic. James inherited Daddy's hair, and Al inherited Daddy's eyes, but you inherited Uncle George's look."
"Well I'm not up to anything," she said, refusing to glance at James' room. "I'm just bored. I don't have anyone to play with anymore. Everyone's at Hogwarts."
"Oh, sweetheart." Her mother set the laundry down and pulled Lily into a hug. "Not everyone's at Hogwarts. What about Lucy? What about Hugo?"
"Hugo always teases me," she said. "And Lucy's alright, but whenever I go over there I don't know how to act. Uncle Percy won't let me sit on the furniture."
"Uncle Percy didn't let you put your muddy feet on his new couch," her mother corrected, tapping Lily's nose.
"I still don't want to go to Lucy's."
"You could invite her here."
"Our house is boring," Lily moaned, letting herself fall against the wall. Something slimy began to trickle down the outside of her leg, and her breathing hitched as she realized she'd landed on James' gobstones in her pocket and prompted them to squirt black ink.
"What about Roxanne?"
"Roxanne." Lily shifted to hide the giant stain spreading on her trousers. "Yes, I like her. I'll go over there right away." She scooted around her mother and started down the stairs, hugging the wall with her hip. "Bye, Mum!"
"You've got that look again," her mother called after her, stooping to lift the laundry basket.
"Oh, Lily," Roxanne giggled when she saw the state of her cousin's trousers. "And Aunt Ginny didn't notice the ink?"
"No. Careful!" she added as Roxanne reached out toward the stain. "It's wet. Don't want it to get all over you, too."
Roxanne retracted her hand. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know." She buried her face in her hands. "Mum does all the laundry, she'll see it for sure. And then she'll know I was in James' room, and she'll tell him, and I'll be in trouble."
"Just tell her they were your gobstones."
"No, that won't work. James is the only one in the family who has a set. Dad bought it for him when he got into Hogwarts. He wouldn't get any for the rest of us, said it's too messy and James is the only one careful enough." She looked down at herself. "S'pose he wasn't wrong."
"Gobstone juice is hard to remove without magic," Roxanne said unhelpfully. "We could ask my mum to do it."
"She'd tell my mum, and then I'd be done for."
"What about Dad? He wouldn't tell, he kept all kinds of secrets from his parents when he was our age. He'd be sympathetic."
Lily bit her lip. "My mum did say I sometimes look like him."
Roxanne tilted her head to the side. "I can see it. You sort of smile like him. Like you've got a giant secret, and you know it's hilarious."
"What's hilarious?" asked Uncle George, coming into the kitchen.
"Lily's trousers," Roxanne said immediately, pointing at the black stain that was still spreading over her cousin's left leg.
Uncle George burst out laughing. "Gobstones?" he guessed. "Same thing happened to me once. You forgot they were in your pocket?"
Lily nodded. "Can you fix it? Before my mum sees?"
"Don't be afraid of your mum," Uncle George told her, pulling out his wand and motioning for her to come closer. "She used to be the worst of us all. Got herself into so many tight places doing things she shouldn't have been doing. It's a miracle our mum didn't kill her."
"Grandma wouldn't kill anyone," Roxanne said. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Hah!" Uncle George tapped Lily's trousers with his wand, and the ink stain began to recede. ("Oh, Uncle George, you're a hero," Lily said.) "Grandma used to have a terrible temper. It went down a bit after - the war." But he hesitated, and Lily knew exactly what he'd been about to say.
"Grandma with a temper?" Roxanne repeated. "I can't even imagine that."
"I can," Lily said. "It was probably like my mum's."
"Oh, no. Worse than your mum's." Uncle George put his wand away and leaned up against the counter. "She nearly murdered me once."
"Why?"
"I borrowed the flying car. Fr - Uncle Ron and I took it to go pick up Uncle Harry."
Lily's eyes were huge. "You had a flying car?"
"Yeah. Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry drove it to Hogwarts once. They missed the train. Grandma sent a Howler."
Roxanne began to laugh.
"What about when Uncle Ron was belching slugs?" Lily begged. "Tell that story!"
"It was on the Quidditch pitch," Uncle George said. "The whole team was there. Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnett, your Auntie Angelina, and your dad. And maybe Lee Jordan, too."
"You had a lot of friends," Lily interrupted. "I only have my brothers."
"And me," Roxanne added.
"Yes, and you. Uncle George, did you meet them all at Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, most of them."
"That's why, then." Lily looked glum. "I'm too young. Too young for Hogwarts, too young for friends."
"You'll have plenty of friends," Uncle George assured her. "Don't worry. Anyway, Uncle Ron tried to curse the Slytherin Seeker, but the charm backfired - "
"How do you know she'll have plenty of friends?" Roxanne asked.
"I dunno, because it's Hogwarts. Everyone makes plenty of friends. The charm backfired, and - "
"I don't think I'll make friends." Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out James' gobstones. "Even my siblings don't like me enough to let me borrow their things."
"Nobody likes their siblings," Uncle George said. "Not until they're older."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I used to hate Uncle Percy."
Roxanne giggled. "I still hate Uncle Percy," she admitted. "He always makes me whisper."
"That's because you're quite loud, Roxanne," Lily said, carefully depositing James' toys back in her pocket.
"Am not!" Roxanne gave her cousin a little shove with her hip.
"Are too!" Lily giggled, shoving her back.
"I'm not loud!" Roxanne shoved her harder, and Lily went flying into the counter.
"Are - oh, no!"
And then everyone - Uncle George included - dissolved into a fit of laughter, because Lily had landed on the gobstones again, and a brand new ink stain was working its way down her trousers.
[Tien Len Competition: Four of Hearts: Lily Luna Potter, Gobstones, "Careful! It's wet.", "Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears."- John Lennon]
[Disney Character Competition: Ariel - write about a Next-Gen kid. Prompt: Child]
[Oh The Thinks You Can Think: Bartholomew Cubbins - write about an unlikely hero.]
[Collect A Collection Competition: Roxanne (Weasleys)]
[Fiddler on the Roof Character Challenge: Bielke - write about the youngest child of a large family.]
[Fiddler on the Roof Song Challenge: Sabbath Prayer - write about a mother.]
[100 Prompts: "Whoa! Seriously!"; A sudden change of topic]
