notes: I'm sorry this sucks. Majorly. But I haven't written anything in, like, ever. So yeah. :/
wordcount: 835.
summary: And immediately, she thought he was somewhat like a rock star. -—LysanderLayla.

before
LysanderLayla.

i.

She meets him for the first time when they are both eleven, small and tiny and he enters with stories of their new school in his heads on repeat. But born into a Muggle family, she has heard hardly anything but what the Headmistress has told her, so she listens eagerly as he tells tales of ghosts and talking portraits and the Whomping Willow.

And immediately, she thought he was somewhat like a rock star.

ii.

Fast forward a year later and they've gotten the hang of things. Of school, carrying around notebooks and other supplies. Of friends and managing them; of knowing how to get on the Professor's good sides. They're twelve, then thirteen and they feel like they're on the top of the world. Fourteen comes quickly, and suddenly it's all about who's with who and who did what because in this school, gossip flies around as fast as a hummingbird.

Which is why she kept it to herself, how she was feeling.

iii.

"So, Layla, who do you like? I mean, you must have a crush on somebody, don't you?" Her roommate, Anya Peterson, asked her. She leaned forward towards her as if watching a film and Layla laughed.

"No one, Anya," she replied. "I've told you that a million times and the answer hasn't changed."

Anya leaned back, smiling. "But I know that it will change, eventually."

Layla sighed and left her roommate to herself as she went down to the Gryffindor Common Room. She saw Lysander at the end of the room with James and Lorcan, surrounded by twice as many girls. For a second, she wished she was one of them. But she wasn't like one of those girls, she reminded herself.

And I don't need to be.

iv.

She watched him. Not in the way where she became obsessed, following him to classes and such. But she threw a quick glance at him when they shared classes and somehow always found him in a crowded room. He never paid much attention to her, honestly, and she wasn't surprised.

But she may have been just slightly disappointed.

v.

"You are so in love with him," Anya declared one evening as she painted her nails. This declaration caused Layla to almost choke on the mint she was sucking on, however Anya made no expression.

"I'm sorry, but what?"

She leaned forward. "You. Are. In love. With. Lysander."

"Now, this wouldn't happen to be Lysander Howell, the famous Muggle artist, right?" That made Anya give Layla a confused look. Then she remembered. "Right. Pureblood. Never mind, then."

"Well, for your information, the Lysander I meant was none other than Lysander Scamander. Y'know. That boy you're always watching."

Crap. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Ans," Layla replied coolly. Anya leaned back.

"You can deny it as many times as you want, but I know love when I see it."

Layla didn't reply.

vi.

At sixteen, Layla made a deal with herself to get over him because they never had anything in the first place and probably never would. But when she saw him on the platform on the first day of their Sixth Year, she realized how ridiculously and utterly foolish she was being about him.

She also realized that she was not, by far, over him, no matter how much she tried to convince herself.

vii.

"Will you go out...with me?"

That was what Robbie Henson asked her on November 27th at seven fifty-two pm, exactly.

"Yes.

That was what she replied a minute afterwards.

viii.

Robbie Henson was nice. He was sweet. He was careful. He was funny. But he was also awkward and shy and wonderfully himself. She could go on and list what she liked about him that would end up being pages of traits that he possessed.

But there was always that little voice in the back of her head saying something along the lines of, But there's more that you like about him.

And that him? Well, if you hadn't caught on yet, I can say that it wasn't Robbie Henson with certainty. I'll let you figure the rest out by yourself.

ix.

"Layla." A pause. "I think we should break up."

Startled. "What?"

"I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"O-okay." Her voice broke.

Robbie stood up and walked away. Layla stayed still as she tried to process what just happened. It would have been their nine month anniversary the next day if he had stayed. She couldn't help but remember that.

x.

The day that Lysander asked her out was the thirty-second day after The Breakup and the thirtieth day after he first talked to her - really talked to her. He laughed at her jokes, which was big because she had an unusual sense of humor and if you didn't get it than the friendship would be doomed automatically.

And she thought that maybe that was the beginning. The real beginning.

And so it was.

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